Miscellaneous - 2

  by Admin

published: 31 / 8 / 2013

Article

GILLIAN FISH (London) I started writing for Pennyblackmusic after my sister’s boyfriend put me in touch with Richard Banks, the Pennyblack webmaster who in turn put me in touch with John Clarkson. Although I only started writing for the site just under a year ago, I have already managed to cover some great artists and gigs! The first pieces I wrote for Pennyblack were CD reviews, some of bands I’d never heard and probably never would have done otherwise. Inevitably some I enjoyed and some I struggled to remain objective about, but it’s provided me with great experience. One particular highlight was having the opportunity to go up to Leeds in May to cover the Live at Leeds festival. It was such a great experience that started with watching the Strypes on the Friday night and finishing with the brilliant Peace on Saturday night with plenty of other great bands in between (before a very funny and memorable after show party at the dark and dingy Cockpit). One of the bands I was particularly keen to cover was Drenge having stumbling across them at the XFM All Dayer in the New Year. After raving about them to John, I got the chance to review their Barfly show in May, so naturally when their album was released I jumped at the chance to review it. They are probably the band I have most enjoyed covering so far. I was also happy to take part in the Gig of a Lifetime series recently where I reminisced about a secret Cribs gig from back in 2007. DAVE GOODWIN (Nottingham) I have only spent the last year with Pennyblack. I joined initially as a photographer, although I had done other reviews before both for my own and other sites. John Clarkson has slowly but surely over the time I have been here guided me along the tricky path, and now I contribute both images and writing. Since a child I have always had a passion for music, although I can't play a thing. I have also had a secret passion for the life behind the lens after seeing the work of Anton Corbjin in the 'NME', so now I combine them both. I think myself very, very lucky to be able to do what I do today. I have been to some fantastic gigs (Gary Numan, the Edwin Starr Band at the Jazz Cafe, London, saw the brilliant New Zealand band Die! Die! Die! at last and have got my Skin/Skunk Anansie shot!), and have spoken to some wonderful people along the way (the brilliant Hazel O'Connor, Huey Morgan, Skin and Sheila Rock among others) and all under the flagship of Pennyblackmusic. Happy 15th Birthday, Pennyblack! TOMMY GUNNARSSON (Stockholm, Sweden) I still remember when I first wrote to Pennyblackmusic, asking if they needed any more music writers. Back then, in the year 2000, I was a loyal customer at Pennyblackmusic's then mail order service, and I don’t want to know how much I spent on records there. One day, while browsing the catalogue, I saw a little ad to the right, saying that they were looking for more writers for their magazine. I thought that I had seen this ad too late, but I still wrote an e-mail to John Clarkson, and I quickly put together a sample review for him. The rest is, as they say, history. And for these past thirteen, almost fourteen years I have done quite a few reviews and interviews for the magazine, and some of the most memorable bits have to do with the interviews. First of all, I managed to find the singer/lyricist of McCarthy, Malcolm Eden, in Paris, and interviewed him about his band’s career. The interview was published in three parts on the site, and Malcolm and I continued to e-mail each other for more than a year after the interview was done. We still get in touch every now and then. That was a case of a interviewee that liked to talk to me. It was the other way round when I interviewed Bid, singer of the Monochrome Set. Anyway, I got a hold of Bid’s e-mail address and asked him if I could do an interview with him. He agreed to do it by email, and I sent him a bunch of questions. When I got his replies I was devastated. He had simply answered “yes” or “no” to every question, which meant that I could never base an article on these replies. I don’t remember how we solved it in the end, but I think we published it as an simple Q&A type interview. All in all, I have a lot of fond memories from these first 15 years, and I’m looking forward to 15 years to come! Happy birthday, Pennyblackmusic! MARIE HAZELWOOD (Liverpool) I joined Pennyblack as a photographer in April 2011 when I was introduced to John Clarkson by a friend of mine and fellow contributor Richard Lewis. The first gig I covered was Jenniferever in the Leaf Tea Shop. Since then I've covered many gigs: from local bands to some of the biggest names in the music industry. If I can name but a few: Arctic Monkeys, Johnny Marr, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Miles Kane, Patrick Wolf and Blondie. Every show was different; the smaller venues with the bands I'd never heard of before or the arena shows with me holding a camera being more excited then anybody in the crowd. There are two gigs that stand out though above all others: The Arctic Monkeys: They were my personal heroes since I was a teenager rocking in High School. I photographed them for Pennyblack at the Echo Arena in Liverpool in November 2011. It was also the first time I shot a gig in such a massive venue. My nerves were on the edge just before they came on stage, I felt a bit like a groupie with a camera seeing my favourite band ever. I was so close to the pit, holding my camera and felt so privileged to be a photographer on this night. The second gig was Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Bird again at the Echo Arena in September 2012. This time the band were far away from me, as I was located with other photographers on the balcony. I remember during my favourite song 'The Death Between You and Me' I turned round and saw all these people singing along with Noel. Having this unique chance to capture moments is as magical as live music is itself. Moments like that make me so proud to be a photographer. I contribute to other publications, but since my first gig Pennyblack has been my favourite. I've only been on board for the past two and a half years but I always find the atmosphere unique. I hope as a contributor there are many more great shows. BEN HOWARTH (London) I've never been very good at tipping bands for success. When I interviewed Rydell in 2001, they had been enjoying good reviews and were set to tour America. I didn't expect Rydell to become rock star famous. But I thought then (and still think now) that they'd made a great album ('Per Ardua Ad Astra', 2001), and could at least start playing somewhere nicer than the Tunbridge Wells Forum. They were the first band I interviewed in person, aged 17 in the summer of 2001. To cut a long story short, they were unbelievably nice. I was bought dinner and sent home with my backpack stuffed with free vinyl. Frankly, it was an unrealistic introduction to rock journalism. Rydell never made it. Their US tour was cancelled (they had been due to touch down in New York on September 11th 2001), and they'd packed it in by the time a second album was posthumously released. This begun my less than illustrious career as a rock tipster. Bands I've cursed by interview include the Beauty Shop (broke-up without releasing another album), Reigns (never heard from again), Sounds Like Violence (“What do you have to do to get noticed in the UK?” they asked despairingly the next time I met them) and Despistado (broke up almost immediately). My current tips for 'the top', It Hugs Back and Frontier Ruckus, ought to watch their backs. Joking aside, it has been a pleasure to speak to all those bands. I hope that my articles helped them find more listeners than they would have done otherwise. There will always be a spot on my part of the internet for bands with more good songs than good luck, provided they don't mind me phoning them up to ask what difference the producer made to their new album. ADRIAN HUGGINS (Newcastle) Several things struck me today while preparing to write this – how long I’ve actually been writing for Pennyblack, how much has changed and how little has changed. The fact that I was reminded about doing this by my closest friend Jonjo McNeill, who is also a bandmate, who also happened to be writing the same piece and who is also the person that got me into this in the first place made sure of this. As we realised we’d be rushing to finish this in time we couldn’t help but laugh, the two of us sat at work discussing plans via the internet for our own musical endeavours, while we should be working and also pondering the state of the music business all these years later. It’s hard to believe it’s been eight years. After all these years I am fiercely proud to be part of a website, a magazine, a community of people that do things for the love of it. Sure, the free CDs and gig entries now and then are nice bonus, but for me the joy is being involved and the feeling you get when you speak to people who don’t quite get why you’d do this for free that they’re missing out. Here’s to another 15 years. FIONA HUTCHINGS (Sheffield) I have been a writer for Pennyblack since the summer of 2009. The very first piece that I wrote was about Madness playing Nottingham Splendour. This was a huge deal for me, as four weeks shy of turning thirty I was finally seeing my favourite band of all time in the flesh. I got the dreaded swine flu the week before, and for once followed the doctor's advice to the letter swallowing pills, drinking plenty of fluids, resting yadda yadda because there was nothing on the planet that was going to stop me getting to this gig. Writing about it afterwards I was somewhat concerned my lack of objectivity might be a problem, especially as I wanted to impress John Clarkson our editor and for him to offer me the chance to be sent free music every month to listen to and write about. I mean, don't tell my mum I said this, but I would never have bothered with my degree if I'd known the explosion of the internet would mean I could write about what I loved without first submitting my CV. When I was fifteen, I mapped out my educational path on the basis that perhaps a media degree might get me closer to meeting Madness one day. Luckily John and Pennyblack as a whole embraces genuine enthusiasm and music geekery in the writing team. He liked the piece and four years, one brain haemorrhage and many reviews later I am still here. I have heard countless bands that would have otherwise passed me by, 'had' to read books and review them - a bibliophile's dream and stood at the very front of some pretty good gigs, notably the Human League playing our shared home town of Sheffield. If my fifteen year old self had known one day I would get given deluxe Madness compilations complete with pull out poster for free AND asked to write about it, I may have combusted on the spot. I have many happy memories of my time at Pennyblack and long may it continue. Oh, by the way, by the time you read this I will have interviewed one Daniel Woodgate AKA Woody, drummer of Madness, about his Magic Brothers project. Thank you, Pennyblack. Thank you very much indeed. ADRIAN JANES (Basildon) A rainy March night in Brixton. Some distance from the Tube station, and set back from the road, I found Jamm, the venue where my first experience of a Pennyblackmusic Bands' Night was to take place. I hadn’t been writing long for the magazine, and this was also the first time I was going to actually meet editor John Clarkson. He was on ticket duty outside the club. He matched his emailed description - tall and bearded, though he’d omitted to mention the head to toe black clothing - and we exchanged greetings before I headed inside. In the small stage at the end of the room, a seated trio paradoxically named Ten were already coaxing out a kind of ambient music in front of a backdrop of gradually shifting images. It wasn’t what I’d expected, but I immediately admired the conviction to offer up such music live, as well as the attentiveness of the audience. They were followed by the complete contrast provided by another trio, T.O.Y.S. The keyboard player sang in an Alex Turner accent that betrayed his Yorkshire roots, over a dynamic, driving bass and energetic drumming. The sound created was like some fantastic amalgam of Joy Division, Suicide and the Arctic Monkeys. Impressed as I was by this band (and there were still solo performer Dave Harding and bill toppers the Galileo 7 to come - you evidently got your moneysworth at these gigs) - what I took away from the night above all was the heartening sense that there are still committed musicians plugged in and plugging away at the grassroots. It’s an impression that has only been strengthened as I’ve reviewed more albums for the magazine, often by bands I’ve never heard of, on equally obscure independent labels. Too often our attention is diverted by the latest over-hyped “superstar”, but it’s at the level of a Bands Night that music truly comes alive. JONJO MCNEILL (Newcastle) In 15 years the music industry has changed beyond recognition. Physical media, assumed to be the first victim of progress, has fought back and still claims its place in music shops, nightclubs, record stores and bedrooms. The charts are now meaningless contests between advertising departments, yet grubby toilet venues around the country are bustling with music fans - young and old - who won't settle for the uncomfortable happiness a television set radiates into a moribund soul. People who really love music don't become dismayed about the state of an industry they have no interest in. They carry on looking for music they can love, they can grow with, they can share. Pennyblackmusic have been good enough to let me share some music I loved, indeed a lot of the music I love I found through other Pennyblackmusic people, and these writers, photographers, coders, designers and editors still share their music with me today. 15 years ago none of us knew what lay ahead, but hopefully one thing we know we can look forward to is another 15 years of Pennyblackmusic. Congratulations to everyone involved! CHRIS O'TOOLE (London) Memory is perhaps the most unreliable narrator of them all; twisting, amalgamating, and embellishing our recollections of our own experiences until they are distorted beyond recognition. We run our most cherished memories over and over in our minds until they fray like fabric and begin to disappear. All we are left with after a while is an easy narrative, a bold poster paint version of the most complex images. But even now, years later, the memory of Boredoms’ live show at Kentish Town Forum sticks in my mind: vivid, personal and cherished. An experience which cannot be neatly filed away alongside the countless other performances I have seen for Pennyblackmusic over the years. It was, quite simply, an event which cannot be forgotten. Eight drummers surrounded the shamanic leader of the group, Yamantaka Eye, who himself played a tree like instrument with eight guitars protruding in all directions. An unconventional set up to say the least. Eye acted as a conductor, instructing his percussion orchestra, while alternately stroking, striking and cajoling his own demonic instrument. A startling spectacle quite unlike anything I have seen before or since. The hour long show passed in a moment, all screeching, wailing and frantic drum circles, building to a spectacular finale. Utterly unique and one of the many highs I have had working for the site over the last decade.