2008

Where did I get to in 2008, now that I look back to my final blog posting of 2007? Well, I'd have to say that in personal terms I had an enjoyable and successful year freed from the rigid structures of the 9 to 5. I did a marketing course a few weeks back where I was asked about a typical working day. Ha! The previous day I'd spent the morning working on some credit management stuff, driven to Devon in the afternoon to do a presentation to a prospective client on e-billing opportunities and been on the phone for an hour in the evening interviewing Steve Lake from anarcho-punk band Zounds. And that wasn't an untypical mix of jobs, so I can say that certainly 2008 was varied and interesting, if a little bit 'false' in the sense that I had one particular contract that provided the financial foundations for all the other stuff that I was free to do. And it was a year, as I anticipated, where I built financially for 2009. Not quite as well as I should perhaps have done but enough that I can start the year still not feeling the pressure of impending overdrafts.

The festivals book, Festivalized, has occupied a lot of writing time and still there are many potential contributors still to be interviews, and previous chats waiting to be transcribed, and it's clear that any and all spare time in January will be devoted to finishing this project to final manuscript stage, but I think both Bridget and I are very excited about the material that's been gathered and the extensive list of contributors assembled. The biography of Armand and Michaela Denis that I talked about at the end of last year, however, still remains just that... talk; it's very much the next item on the agenda and I'll be spending time in the first quarter of 2009 trying to get this one off the ground. There's two or three other possibilities as well, so I'll be pulling together a collection of proposals and once again revisiting the idea of acquiring an agent.

I continued to write for Record Collector and Rock N Reel, contributed to the Independent and other places, and felt I made some modest in roads into getting my name about. The sleeve notes for Freq and Cherry Red's two Hawkwind compilations were particularly pleasing jobs. The last quarter of the year was particularly intensive with a couple of projects that should see the light of day in 2009 all being well. And, as Bridget noted the other day, one of the great things about 2009 has been the wealth of great contacts with fascinating and eloquent people that we've had through the festivals book.

2009, I want to achieve another book sale, gain more freelance work with a wider range of magazines and newspapers, and expand my writing 'subjects' so that I'm not so dependent on writing about music. On the other hand, I've plenty of CDs waiting review for the Spacerock blog and there'll be a major overhaul of that over the coming week.

On the credit management front, this should prove a busy year if I market my self properly and I need to set-out from day one as I mean to continue, pitching for work, networking and generally getting myself noticed and contracted. One thing is for sure, in this awful business environment there is work out there for me and what I must do is chase it for all I'm worth.

I caught up with the guys from Space Ritual at Glastonbury Assembly Rooms a few weeks ago and enjoyed again chatting with Nik Turner and Jerry Richards. And at Falmouth Princess Pavilions in early December, enjoyed meeting up for the first time since the publication of the Waterboys book with Anto Thistlethwaite who now plays with the Saw Doctors. One of life's gentlemen. A couple of days later, and I was a Truro Hall for Cornwall, relishing the opportunity to interview Jeremy from the Levellers for the festival book and, knowing him to be a big Waterboys fan, pressing a copy of Strange Boat on him! Fascinating chat about his days on the travelling scene and a great gig as well.

Nik Turner, Ian Abrahams

Jerry Richards, Nik Turner, Bridget Wishart,
Ian Abrahams

Is this obvious?

Here’s my pet hate at the moment. Obviously. Is there a word that is so misused in current parlance that it’s practically taking on a new meaning that is diametrically opposed to its proper one? Example, the news bulletin a few nights back, credit crunch focused, as you’d expect. Poor chap on the brink of losing his job, much sympathy to him, we’ve all got a very challenging and tough 2009 to ‘look forward to’. “It’s a big worry for me,” he says, of his impending redundancy, “because obviously I have three children.” Who is this obvious to? Him and his wife perhaps, his mother as well, I assume. Hardly anyone else! Cold callers, “obviously our product is better / cheaper / more efficient [delete as appropriate].” It’s not obvious! It’s just not! Really gets me wound up. Obviously.

It’s a bit like that sign you so often see that starts, ‘Polite Notice’. Thank you. Write your notice politely and we’ll know it’s a ‘Polite Notice’!

Hawkwind Compilations

Just received my copies of the new Atomhenge Hawkwind compilations, one three-CD set covering the years 1976-84, Spirit of the Age, and another set taking the story through to 1997, The Dream Goes On. Really lovely packaging on these boxed sets, lots of colour photographs in the extensive booklets on each, and detailed sleeve notes by you-know-who. Or, me, in other words!

I've also contributed my first 'Digging for Gold' collectable piece for Record Collector , a spoken-word release from the 1960s by Armand and Michaela Denis which is in the latest issue, on sale now (that would be the Christmas 2008 edition); I'm also holding forth there on the excellent BBC Sessions Magazine CD from EMI.

And I'm to be found in the latest edition of Credit Collections & Risk holding forth on a two pager on electronic debt reporting via SQL. Which is something of a change of pace, right?

At the 100 Club!

No, stop it, the 100 Club is not the group that I now belong to having seen another birthday come around. I'm officially half way to 90 though. Or, as my old Gran would have described it, nearly 50. Or 45 to be exact. See how I did that? I made myself sound younger by reducing in stages the possible age that I've now reached. Clever eh?

Bits of news first then. The reissue of Robert Calvert's solo album Freq has now been released, containing my sleeve notes / essay. "Make 'em fun", said the label, of an album that's about the Miners' Strike of 1984. "Hmm", said I, went and looked up what Tony Benn was writing in his diary about the strike during the month Bob was recording the album and then wrote a serious essay instead. Actually, we all think the notes have come out ok! I've also just turned in the booklet notes for Cherry Red's two Hawkwind Compilations that the trade have asked for to kick start the Hawkwind back catalogue reissue - there's two three-CD sets coming, great selection of tracks and a package designed for the casual buyer to give them a flavour of things to come.



Amazon US now have pre-orders for next July's stateside release of Festivalized (there you go, you heard the title here first!), which is a survey of the free festival scene (music, politics and the alternative culture) by some old music hack by the name of Ian Abrahams and Bridget Wishart, former Hippy Slag, Demented Stoat and ex-Hawkwind singer of this parish. Don't know when the UK pre-orders start but you can bet that I'll be here straight away with an affiliated link. Don't miss a trick, me. US release can be ordered here.

Back to the 100 Club then! I was there a couple of fridays back to see Nik Turner's Space Ritual outfit play - a hugely enjoyable performance (as always). Get this, I was asked to sign two copies of the Hawkwind biography that some very fine fellows had brought along to get various band members to sign. How embarrassed was I? So embarrassed in fact that I dashed to Facebook asap to announce I'd been signing in the 100 Club. That's now embarrassed I was!

I was down at the Royal Albert Hall the following night to see (for Rock N Reel magazine) another group that have a strong claim to the title of 'The People's Band' - The Levellers. Second time I've seen them this year (ok, strictly accurate then, second time I've ever seen them!) and I get more impressed by them the more I see and hear them. And it's only taken me twenty years to really catch on!

Sunday morning was spent travelling down to Herne Bay from London Victoria. Ah, I'd worked it all out, had the journey plan nailed down, hour and half by train, all well and good. Time to get down there early, find a pub to watch the Grand Prix in and everything. Saturday morning, do the double check and find there's engineering works and the prospect of an hour extra in a hot and stuffy bus that, it turned out, looked as though it had been trashed at the Beanfield in 1985 and deteroriated ever since. But, at the end I get picked up from Faversham by my old Contico friend Denis, get whisked down to Herne Bay at *** miles per hour (I forgot to mention what an awful passenger I am), taken to his fantastic house, find his lovely wife has laid out food and has put the F1 race on the TV. How great is that!

This was for the Robert Calvert memorial gig featuring 'Nik Turner & Friends' who are former Hawks Steve Swindells, Harvey Bainbridge, Alan Davey, Martin Griffin, Ron Tree, Jerry Richards and Adrian Shaw. Great day down in the Kent sunshine talking to various Hawk Yahoo List friends and acquitances from previous Hawkwind gigs including Steve from Leeds, someone who I only know (sorry!) as Rob Dreamworker's mate Tommy, Chris Purdon, Trev Hughes, Dave Roberts and others! The show itself, just fantastic really. Totally unrehearsed apparently and somewhat curtailed due to an unexpected 10pm music curfew but played with reverence to Bob's memory and in celebration of his all too short life. It's hard to pick out specifics because it was all just fab but to highlight a few things, a real lump-in-the-throat watching Adrian Shaw playing on 'Damnation Alley', Nik's unexpected flute playing on 'Psi Power', Alan's usual huge stage presence, Steve's excellent keyboards, the usual cool poise of dancer Miss Angel... just for starters. I get a quick word after the show with Ron and tell him, truthfully, that his delivery of the lyrics to 'High Rise' was "Just fucking immense, man", get two hugs from Miss Angel (ok, ok, but then I got three from Alan) and, equally truthfully, tell Jerry that I thought him 'Man of the Match' for his guitar-playing and holding things together so well. But really, fantastic job everybody and Bob's memory was really done proud.



Oh! And I get my picture taken with Steve Swindells - the man who wrote 'Shot Down In The Night'! How cool is that! :)

Standing at the Front, Looking Awkward

A few catch-up items to report!

I've written the sleeve notes for a reissue of the late, great, Hawkwind front-man Robert Calvert's solo album Freq, which is released on the Atomhenge label (through Cherry Red) on 29th September. There's a memorial gig for Robert, commerating twenty years since his untimely demise, down in Herne Bay on Sunday 28th September and I'll be heading down to that via Space Ritual's appearance at the 100 Club this Friday, and the Levellers show at the Albert Hall the following night.

Last week I spent a most enjoyable and interesting hour on the telephone with Tori Amos, talking principally about Image Comics' Comic Book Tattoo, a massive collection of sequential art (that's comics, ok?) inspired by her back catalogue. The finished interview should be turning up in Rock 'N' Reel towards the end of the year but in the meantime the book is highly recommended (look for my review of it in Record Collector soon.

There'll be an update on the festivals book on its myspace page really soon (definitely before I head off to London) but safe to say Bridget and I have been hectic on this project and its shaping up really well. More soon on that, honest!

And here's me (and my old mucker Joe Beer) at Rosie & The Goldbug's album launch at Truro HMV a couple of weeks back. Joe is, of course, upfront and doing the 'Lover' dance, and I'm to be spotted (about 1.30 in) loitering trying to look sensible and not doing said manouevre:



Jokes aside, I bought a copy of the new album (get this, "I bought a copy of the new album", me, rock journo extraordinaire (with tongue firmly in cheek, honest) and absolutely love its idiosyncratic Blondie-meets-indiepop sensibilities. Get it, it's wonderful.

Marillion You Tube Competition

My old mate Ian Atkins has an entry in the Marillion You Tube Competition, producing a video for their forthcoming single 'Whatever is Wrong with You'. Ian's really terrific and thought-provoking entry is here, and I'd really appreciate readers giving it a click! Thanks!

All T & No G

How about this? I am available in translation! Me! Well, not to get too excited because it was something done specifically for a foreign-language magazine but I can at least say that my work has been translated into other languages. Or, Finnish at least. I have three pages for the cover feature of issue #34 of Colossus magazine from Finland – an interview with Don Falcone of Spirits Burning, done at the request of Don and the Italian Black Widow Records label. Black Widow kindly sent me a double-LP vinyl of their new Spirits Burning release Alien Injection in return – a lovely package on heavy vinyl, really high-quality stuff. As for the interview, God knows what bits they used (Don sent me his interpretation of the parts used, I’ve not even tried to work it out!) but it’s nice to be in print in Finland anyway!

Yesterday we departed en-family-mass for the all-day music festival at Lanhydrock, near Bodmin, a country estate maintained by the National Trust. This was the first time the boys had ever been to a music festival but they seemed keen to give it a try and we thought it would be a great experience for them. Anticipating rain we set out with some trepidation and plenty of waterproof clothes – to discover that (as someone put it from the stage) the power of positive thought had brought us sunshine instead. So I am now sunburned and sore, and frankly, pretty tired, but we’re all very happy at having such a great day.

The list of bands ranged from a Jazz orchestra, through a ten-piece Soul band (which the boys loved because they knew most of the numbers being covered) and onto indie-rock and world music. We particularly enjoyed The Hollies (I’m not going to say ‘surprisingly’ because I still think ‘The Air That I Breathe’ is a great song) and local heroes Rosie And The Goldbug. Here I’ll note that Morgan and Niall, determined to be at the front, did not enjoy one of the Goldbugs attempting to dance with them - though their Dad enjoyed the dancers immensely and not because their gold costumes left nothing to the imagine. Honest.

Though the boys flagged a bit towards the finish (fortunately not so badly that we couldn’t make it through to the wonderful firework display at the end), we really enjoyed, despite their sound problems, the headlining Dandy Warhols and especially liked the African-Blues-Rock fusion of Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara. We all watched this rather compelling set from the front of the stage and it really heartened me to see my guys getting into something different than simply guitar-based white rock music. Apparently, Adams (who plays guitar) and Camara (who is a noted player of the riti – a traditional Fulani one-stringed fiddle) recently won a ‘Crossing Cultures’ prize at the BBC World Music Awards; their blend of North and South African sounds with electric guitar rock was terrific. It’s interesting as well, because I recently interviewed Simon Williams from Earthdance (formerly Mandragora) who was telling me about the work he does in India and Africa on bring together fusions of different world music. What we saw on Saturday evening chimed with what Simon had been telling me about his work in this area.

I interviewed Simon as part of the Free Festivals book - a progress up-date on the book’s myspace page is long overdue, and having been out and about a bit recently on this project I’ll write that up sometime this week. I spent a day down and around Brighton a few weeks back, meeting up with Michael Dog (of Club Dog fame), Simon, and Gary from 2000DS, who still lives a full-on life parked up on a scrapyard with his bus and various motors and, on the day I visited, awaiting eviction. All three are articulate guys, passionate about the legacy of the Free Festival movement and are excellent interviewees that have all brought something valuable to the book with their commentary.

Oh! T & No G! Right! Went down on Friday night to the Falmouth Princess Pavilion to see Suzanne Vega – the first time I’ve seen her perform since a gig at the old St Austell Cornwall Coliseum about seventeen or eighteen years ago. Courtesy of my review of her latest album in Record Collector in 2007, I’d been on the guest list for her gig at the Queen Elizabeth Hall last year, but couldn’t make it due to business commitments. Friday’s show was just wonderful, Vega has this ability to project to each and every audience member as though he or she is the only person in the room and is enjoying a one-to-one conversation about her life. Anyway, it was just fantastic to go to this show with my old mates Joe and Raymond (anyone remember Sunday nights downstairs at the Penventon in Redruth? Those were the days!) but I was just so tired when I got back that I figured I’d have a G&T wind-down with and then go to bed. I carefully poured out a measure of Gin, went to the fridge and got out the tonic, poured it into the glass, added an ice-cube and settled down to watch a repeat of Coupling for ten minutes or so whilst I drank my G&T.

Turns out, what I drank was T and no G; the Gin was still sitting there in the measure come the morning.

To Do Lists and Radio Stuff

What I need, really need, to do right now is to make a list. A ‘to do list’. Only it’ll be a ‘to do list’ from my current ‘to do list’ … a ‘list of lists’ as it were! You know, they say that if you want something doing, you need to ask a busy man. I’m not sure about that, I can see there are woods and trees but I’m really not sure which is which at the moment! And yes, it’s a nice problem to have!

Years ago, when I worked for my father, one of the Monday morning tasks was to drive up to one of our bases of operation to collect invoicing data, clock cards, petty cash and stuff like that. Which I always enjoyed because it gave me the chance to stick on the radio and listen to Radio 4’s Start the Week. I’d dropped out of the habit of catching that until recently when the freelance lifestyle made things a bit more flexible, and the arrival of ‘Listen Again’ and torrent sites on the Internet made catching-up with radio stuff so much easier. And the other great thing about Start the Week is that nearly always there’s one or two books discussed that sound really fascinating – so my Amazon Wish-List looks incredibly impressive! I am truly an intelligent, educated, culture-vulture. Or at least appear to be…

Other radio stuff recently on my MP3 player on long train journeys (aside from the three or four editions of Just A Minute that I always load-up on if I’m travelling for any length of time):

A documentary on the Telly Savalas narrated city profiles that used to run in the cinemas in the early 80s as support to the Hollywood blockbusters of the day. “Birmingham, it’s my kinda town” says old Kojak himself, totally sincerely without ever setting foot there in his life.

Biographical overview of John Cooper Clarke’s punk-poet career. I remember seeing Clarke doing a spot at the St Ives Festival one year and him going into his ‘Japanese Kamikaze pilots – why did they wear crash helmets?’ gag – a week after 9/11 and the audience sitting stone-faced whilst Clarke has a horrible realisation on his face. Enjoyed this documentary but it skirted rather over his three poetry-set-to-music albums, which have always been favourites of mine. And oddly, it claimed that despite all his vinyl output he remained an unpublished poet. So why do I still regret e-baying, in a financial crisis, my copy of his Ten Years in an Open-Necked Shirt volume? Apparently it never existed in the first place?

Another career overview, this time of Mel Blanc – the voice of Bugs Bunny and others. Apparently to imitate the sound of Bugs eating carrots, Blanc ate carrots and did this because no other vegetable sounds like a carrot. Why not just use carrots in the first place? Strange…

Which reminds me, loads of good James Bond related stuff on Radio Four in the last few days (and again today), including a dramatisation of Dr No and interesting looking things on the life of Ian Fleming. Will be seeking all of those out.

Random Events, Random Songs

Popped up to London recently (not very rock ‘n’ roll, it was for the annual Credit Management exhibition at Olympia, where I caught up with old friends in the industry, haggled for some work and talked to magazine editors. Very productive, but, yes, not very rock ‘n’ roll). But this is a bit like my blog posting from last year about the dangers of drink and e-bay. This time it was me and sister Ruth staggering back from a couple of beers in the Fitzroy Tavern, and a pizza and wine at the Pizza Express opposite, at 11pm to catch the tube back from Oxford Circus and discovering Borders still open. Two purchases, a copy of Ian MacDonald’s Revolution in the Head which I’d been meaning to read for years … and a discounted Man About The House Series Five DVD. The former I can honestly justify (and tax-deduct), the later … did your parents warn you about the dangers of drink?

Also managed to nip into Forbidden Planet and pick up the first issue of my old mate Paul Cornell’s Captain Britain & MI13 Marvel Comics series. I really enjoyed Paul’s Wisdom series for Marvel last year, this new series kicks off even better; I’ve read on the Net that it’s already a sell-out and going to second print. Well deserved. I caught up with Paul at Bristol’s Comics Expo earlier in the month and had an enjoyable hour in the afternoon chatting to him, his lovely wife Caroline (who I met for the first time) and new Punisher artist Laurence Campbell. I also bored (I’m sure) Bryan Talbot silly with the story of how one of his original 2000AD pages is on my office wall, having bought it from him in Plymouth in the early 80s. Caught up with my old Doctor Who fandom friend Peter Ware for a bit of a natter as well. A really good day out.

Last night I hit the road to Tavistock which is a really beautiful road to drive (or is after you get off the A38 and get onto the A390) if rather tight and twisty – but the Mazda loves it! Playing as special guests of Limehouse Lizzy at the Tavistock Wharf were Alan Davey’s Gunslinger who I was catching live for the first time. Very Loud. They’ve a terrific drummer, Sunil from the Meads of Asphodel who was really high in the mix and very impressive, reminded me somewhat of Dave Grohl in Nirvana days (particularly in terms of presence), and I really liked what he was doing. It struck me that although the Lizzy crowd isn’t a typical catchment audience for the sort of stuff Gunslinger play, the younger part of the crowd really got it. And there were (again, it seemed to me) quite a few Hawkwind fans who’d turned out to specifically catch Gunslinger rather than the main act, which is encouraging.

Random tracks on the play-list recently:

Jupiter One: ‘Mystery Man’. Never heard of these guys before, but a promo of their debut CD arrived unexpectedly on Friday (just in time for my Tavistock drive) and I’ve really been enjoying it and definitely want to find somewhere to review it. Album is self-titled.

I See Hawks In L.A: ‘Carbon Dated Love’. I don’t normally like Country & Western at all, but this blend of country and psychedelia with a humorous twist and an environmental theme has really grabbed me. Album is Hallowed Ground.

Earthling Society: ‘The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes’. Krautrock / Acid Folk / West-Coast Psychedelia with Space-Rock elements. Album is Beauty and the Beast and I’ve reviewed it here.

Devotchka: ‘The Clockwise Witness’. Gypsy Punk, apparently. Heard this track on last month’s Word magazine’s cover-mount CD and immediately bought the album (A Mad and Faithful Telling). Unfortunately, this is by far the best thing on the CD. So I’d say it was worth the price of admission on its own but then, I had the track already. But it is.

Gunslinger: ‘Cyanide’. Doom-laden Motorhead-esque heavy rock but still manages to be catchy as hell and best played at maximum decibels. Album is Earthquake in E Minor.

Loose Acoustic Trio: ‘Pinball Wizard’. The Who interpreted by Good old boys as a jugband cover! Hilarious! Album is Sorrow Be Gone.

Stephen Emmer: ‘Passengers’. Various luminaries in spoken-word recitals set to music by Emmer. Again, this was on the May 2008 Word cover-mount. Haven’t picked up the album yet by from this track alone (recited by Lou Reed) it’s worth investigating. Album is Recitement, appropriately enough.

Jim Bob: ‘Batting the Bottle (Fighting the Flab, At War with the World)’. Hilarious resume of overweight middle-age by former Carter USM / Jamie Wednesday man from his excellent A Humpty Dumpty Thing.

Steve Gerber, London,

Can't believe its been three months since I last updated this blog!

Things have been particularly hectic with first a family trip to London for a few days and then a worrying time over last the last few weeks with Dad in hospital for a major heart operation that has seen me driving to and from Plymouth on a regular basis. He's doing fine and has arrived home now, but his discharge from hospital was a protracted affair and gave us all cause for concern even though the operation itself went well.



London was, of course, a much happier few days - the first time the boys have been there. We went specifically for the King Tut exhibition, which was just marvellous, but also managed to cram in their first proper theatre visit (to see the excellent Wicked), their long awaited visit to the Natural History Museum and many of the principle London landmarks. They were pretty blown away with their visit but it's interesting to see the different perspective they have to it. The first time I went to London I was just a little older than they are at the moment and yet the noise and traffic I found most unnerving - they took it all in their stride and weren't fazed whatsoever by it.

In the meantime and back to business! The Independent last week published my obituary of Marvel Comics writer Steve Gerber, creator of 'Howard the Duck'. I loved his run on The Defenders and was really pleased to have been allowed this small summation of his career which is on-line here.

My good friend Bridget Wishart now has an on-line website promoting the release of her collaboration with Don Falcone and Spirits Burning, Earth Born. Loads of good stuff there, plenty of photos of the multitude of contributors to this excellent CD and detailed notes on the recording of each track. Well worth visiting!

A big cheer for Alan Davey's lastest project, the revival of one of his earliest Bands, Gunslinger, and the release of their debut album Earthquake In E Minor. I'll hopefully be reviewing this for one of the glossy music press in the next few weeks (and was delighted with an acknowledgement in the liner notes); the band's Myspace page can be found here. Gunslinger have plenty of live dates over the next few months, I'll probably be going to their Tavistock date on 23rd May.

Plenty of other stuff going on including the planned article on Darts, a Space Rock collectables feature which is nearly finished and the on-going Festivals book which contracts have recently been signed on and which will be appearing in the spring of 2009.

Darting About

Just got back from a day in Salisbury where I met up with Griff Fender and Den Hegarty from 70s Doo-Wop band Darts for a very extensive career overview; no specific home for that one yet but it’s likely it’ll get used across a couple of magazines over the summer. Actually, had a really good time on this one; Griff and Den can talk for England and are both really engaging and enthusiastic characters. They’re completely different from one another but they have a real bond and have known each other since they were fourteen and I think on this occasion enjoyed meeting up and shooting the breeze on old times as much as I liked talking to them. Loads of good material on the formation of Darts, the pub-rock scene of the mid-70s, bringing doo-wop to the unwashed masses, dealing with racism from the Teds and the NF and other things. They were a great little band (little? Nine members?) who were perhaps grudgingly embraced by the punks and who did a lot to bring more obscure doo-wop records to the British record-buying public’s attention with their choice of covers. And it has to be said they wrote some pretty good songs themselves, to the point at which when you listen to the first couple of albums you have to stop and think which are the covers and which the newly minted material. Very under-rated, I think. A good day – pity about the cost of getting into the cathedral though, I’ll save that one for when I’ve a crisp fiver to spare and plenty of time to have a good look around.

So it’s been a pretty hectic start to 2008. Not only have I done more days than originally scheduled in the 9-5, the Free Festivals book has really got going, the rewrites for the second edition of the Waterboys have been completed, Space Rock Reviews updated and plenty of ideas have been pitched around. I spent an afternoon in St Teath, up in North Cornwall, talking festivals with Swordfish and Wayne from the Magic Mushroom Band (and currently Astralasia). Swordfish had also been kind enough to invite along Pete Pracownik, who supplied not only the cover for Hawkwind – Sonic Assassins but also generously donated the fantastic full-page photograph of himself and Nik Turner that’s in one of the early chapters of the book. Pete’s a really excellent fellow, one of life’s gentlemen. He resides in Tintagel where he’s a noted fantasy artist and these days also spends a lot of time working on his guitar playing and running a shop in the town. Busy chap – so it was extra special to get him along for the interview and all the better for having him there.

Driving up with precious little time to spare, I took the wrong left turn (thanks, AA Routemap!) and ended up in the village of St Teath itself where family rumour has suggested my Great Grandfather is buried. I’d like to have had a look around the churchyard and seen if I could find his grave, always assuming it’s a marked one in the first place and, indeed, that he is actually interned there. He survived the first World War only to die following an accident in the Delabole Slate Quarry; we always understood that he’d been killed outright as a result of a fall or explosion or some such thing. When my dear old Grampie (his son) was diagnosed with the cancer that killed him some ten years back he started talking about the experience. It transpired that not only was he not killed outright as we believed, he’d actually survived a number of days at until succumbing to his injuries at home with his second wife (my Great Grandmother having died some years earlier at no great age herself). Strange how family stories held true for years turn-out to be somewhat different than the truth. I’d like to pin down where the old boy lies and make a visit as I was particularly close to my Grampie, a big influence in my life, and it would be really something to be able to make a visit.

On the festivals book, Bridget and I (particularly Bridget as she’s been really busy with the book’s Myspace page and generating contacts) have been really heartened with the amount of good vibes and interest we’ve been getting, including some really good questionnaires returned. I also did an excellent interview during last week with David Stokes who’s a painter whose work is mainly informed by what he saw of the festival scene, the buses, the characters, the landscapes etc.

Drove up to Bristol last weekend to see Bristol RFC comprehensively trounced in the Heineken cup by Cardiff, to whom they had no response losing 17-0. Of course, the huge advantage of going to see a match where neither side is one that you particularly support or have a tie to is that you can change allegiance on the turn of the game. So, given there’s a Celtic connection, by half time it was ‘Come on Cardiff’, ‘Bread of Heaven’, ‘Did you spill my pint, boyo’ and the rest! I mean, we didn't drive 180 miles to support the loosing side, and, as we comforted ourselves with, probably the lovely Eve Myles from Torchwood supports them as well…

2007

Its hard to be too enthusiastic about a year that was, to all extents and purposes, a transitional year. I made the journey, not quite voluntarily but certainly with a degree of consent, from the 9-5 life into what is currently a hybrid of office-based and work from home freelancing that means that for the first time since leaving school at sixteen I’m not a PAYE worker. It’s best described as a portfolio working life at the moment, I’ve set-up a website (not yet fully completed) to promote myself as a credit management consultant and I’ve done (and am contracted to continue to do so for at least a couple of months yet) some work in that vein with a divested part of the business that I worked for over the last fifteen years. That’s not going to be a continuing contract in the manner in which I currently support them and will over the first half of 2008 start to diminish but it’s been useful in finding my feet post-redundancy and has been a help in loosening bonds rather than cutting them dead. But clearly that part of my life is now drawing gradually to a close and I’ll be working hard in the early months of 2008 to attract additional business customers to this element of my freelance endeavours.

More to the point, the taking of redundancy coupled with the continuing contract as it stands has enabled me to see out 2007 in a good financial position and, major unexpected expense aside, means that I can see that 2008 will not be about keeping the wolf from the door during the year but instead will be about building financially for 2009, since as things stand, should I take the easy option and decline to rise from my nice and comfortable bed for the duration of the year, the bills are met. A happy position but also a rare opportunity which needs to be seized with both hands and met full-on if its not to slip away without tangible benefit in channelling my working life in the right direction and enabling me to be more flexible in my working hours and arrangements.

On the writing front, I can be satisfied with my achievements as long as I maintain a healthy degree of frustration keeping that properly in check. I did okay, I could have done better. SAF published my book Strange Boat – Mike Scott & The Waterboys in April and we look forward to a revised edition making its appearance in the Spring of 2008 after solid sales of the first edition. SAF have also accepted the book on the Free Festivals history and culture that I’m working on with Bridget Wishart and that should see publication early in 2009 so all things being equally I should be in the happy position of new books appearing in three consecutive years. I recently enjoyed chatting to former Hawkwind guitarist Jerry Richards and to Here & Now’s bass player Keith Bailey for this project and early in the New Year anticipate many interviews with musicians, organisers, performers, artists and attendees. Also on the book front, I’ve very tentatively started plans for a biography of the fondly remembered husband-and-wife wildlife filmmakers, Armand and Michael Denis, and whilst this is at a very early stage right at the moment, it’ll be another project that will occupy time in the first half of 2008 in an attempt to get it off the ground.

I think it’s really important that my journalism expands out of the area that I’ve been working in during 2007, the rock music genre. So whilst I’m planning to expand upon what I’ve done so far in that vein, it’s one of my principal challenges to start making sales of articles outside of that arena. But it’s been a pretty good year on the music journalism front all told. Record Collector continued to be an important source of commissions. They published a major eight page feature that I wrote on Hawkwind, surveying the fragmented state of the band’s back catalogue for which I very much enjoyed interview main-man Dave Brock, their former manager Douglas Smith and Voiceprint’s MD Rob Ayling. And, having shied away from writing about Hawkwind for some time, it was good to start learning how to ‘work my material’ as it were. Record Collector also gave me the opportunity to interview MC5’s Wayne Kramer and also Suzanne Vega though sadly due to schedule pressures a planned telephone interview ended-up as an exchange of e-mails. A shame. I also wrote stacks of reviews for the magazine and got my name on the Waterboys guest-list at Colston Hall to review their Book of Lightning tour gig for the magazine. Quite what Mike Scott made of that, Lord knows!

I also made sales elsewhere, notably a thousand word interview with Hawkwind’s Alan Davey (now, unfortunately, former-Hawkwind bassist!) for Bass Guitar Magazine; I also interviewed Alan for the SpaceRock website Aural Innovations and did some PR work on his solo album, Human on the Outside. It’s been enormous fun working with Alan on this stuff in 2007. On a sadder note, I made my first sale to The Guardian which, whilst it ticked the box on my ‘to do’ list for the year in terms of writing for a national, was an obituary for Killing Joke’s Paul Raven, someone whose music I’d greatly enjoyed over the years.

So I guess I’ll feel that 2007 was a modestly successful writing year. I currently have another sizeable article in progress for Record Collector and, of course, the book projects. I need to continue to gather new customers for my music journalism and have a few promising pitches to send out in January. I’d like to be able to add ‘liner notes’ to my writing CV if the opportunity arises and I’ve enjoyed the PR work I’ve done so far and will look for more chances to work in this area if they arise. I need to build on my first national newspaper sale. My networking skills need a lot of work on them but I do need to get out and about and get myself better known – I was delighted when meeting Esoteric Records’ Mark Powell at Space Ritual’s 100 Club gig in October to discover that he not only recognised my name but even knew some of the stuff I’d written! But I’ve not been great at taking networking opportunities in 2007 and it’s a skill I’ve got to work on. I’d like to try my hand at some fiction, though I’ve never really seen myself as a fiction writer. And most importantly, I’ve got to keep pushing at other popular culture subjects for my journalism. And get an agent!

Aqua Sulis Calling

Just got back from a trip to Bath to see the Aqua Sulis Calling gig, a reunion of ‘80s Bath bands. Actually, I missed the headlining Jonah and the Wail as I’d mainly gone to see the revival of the Hippy Slags and chat to a few people about the Free Festivals book which has now been green-lit by SAF Publishing. I did catch the opening set, by Childe Roland, which I thought really rather good and the rockabilly sci-fi of Wild Planets in addition to the, let’s say frankly triumphant, appearance of the Slags themselves. And to cap it all, I enjoyed an hour or so in the company of former Demented Stoats and Smart Pils man Steve Bemand and his lovely lady Juliet in the warm-glow of their candle-lit flat – ostensibly to chat about festivals and the like but which quickly turned into a rambling natter about Doctor Who and other things in the Cult TV line. At the gig, I was also pleased to meet-up again with Neil ‘JollyHawker’ and Jules ‘The Roadmeister’ who I met previously at the Abingdon ‘Space Rock Spectacular’ even if this time they did embarrass me (i.e. leave me secretly very pleased) by producing copies of Sonic Assassins for autographing! I also enjoyed catching-up with Hawkwind drummer Rich Chadwick and meeting some of the ‘Slags’ for the first time!


I stayed outside of Bath, up at Corsham on the road to Chippenham where the next day brought a rather fetching but particularly chilly covering of frost and, exploring after a suitably filling breakfast I discovered that the pub I was staying in (the now highly recommended Methuen Hotel) backed on to a grove of trees in their vibrant autumnal glory and a wide-expanse of open access farmland. If only I’d travelled more properly attired I’d certainly have taken the opportunity of rambling across crisply coated fields.


In the meantime, I’m trying hard to work to a ‘to do’ list. Record Collector recently published a bundle of reviews and Q&As of mine, of which I particularly enjoyed talking to MC5’s Wayne Kramer (extracts from this not used for RC can be found on my SpaceRock Reviews blog) who still has the indignant fire that fuelled the agit-prop of the 1960s and has his sights firmly targeted on the Bush administration and other sources of unrest. A real gentleman and an excellent interviewee.

I’m also working on a ‘space rock’ collectables feature that’s really coming along nicely and should look visually very good and hopefully that’ll be finished-up before the Christmas season hits us full-on (though I’m not banking on that). SAF are reissuing Strange Boat – Mike Scott & The Waterboys in a standard paperback format in March, 2008 and I’ve committed to revising the final chapter to more fully cover the release of Book of Lightning and the subsequent tour and make any corrections the remaining text requires; another pre-Xmas task there.

At the start of the year I had on my list of things to achieve, ‘write for national newspaper’. This I ticked-off in November, though not quite in the way I’d have liked to. I’m sure many will have been saddened by the untimely death of Killing Joke bassist Paul Raven at the end of October. My obituary of him was published by The Guardian recently and can also be read on-line. His albums with Killing Joke are amongst my favourite LPs of all-time and I was proud to have been commissioned to account for his life.

The Festivals Book, co-written with Bridget Wishart, is now starting to take shape and interviews are starting to roll-out. I was delighted to be invited to talk to former Hawkwind guitarist, now Space Ritual bassist, Jerry Richards when Space Ritual appeared at the 100 Club in October and, of course, was pleased to catch up with SR-friends including Nik Turner, Thomas Crimble and Chris Purdon. Chris was kind enough to introduce me to their dancer Angie ‘Miss Angel’ Fallon and Vicky & Mark at Esoteric Records were generous and ensured Jerry’s kind invite to me for a guest-pass was organised. Thanks to all, and if you get a chance, make sure you pick-up Space Ritual’s stonking new studio album Otherworld which I’ll hopefully be commenting on in next month’s Record Collector. I’ve also recently talked with Keith ‘Le Missile’ Bailey from Here & Now for the festivals project and many more interviews are being lined-up for the next couple of months.

One other project has started to look quite promising, this time one outside of the music arena. More on that soon!

Praise for Strange Boat

I received an e-mail through Myspace the other day that I was particularly chuffed with, concerning Strange Boat and sent by someone who had only recently discovered the Waterboys through hearing Fisherman’s Blues on a car radio. That inspired him to buy the album and subsequently the latest Waterboys album, Book of Lightning, through Amazon, which in turn resulted in a purchase of Strange Boat.

“I do love the crazy tales of New York Dolls type excesses,” wrote my correspondent. “But in the absence of this type of behaviour in the Waterboys, you have produced a no less intriguing view of the bands/Mike Scott's development and motivating psychology in an extremely intelligent and balanced way.” Which was a nicely glowing endorsement, but not really the point of mentioning this very kind message.

“I finished the book in a day,” he added. “Being a Waterboys novice I was not able to fully appreciate your commentary of some of the albums with which I am not familiar but found your views on those I knew (Fisherman's Blues and Book of Lightning) spot on. I now intend to collect all their albums and when so done will read your book again.” And this is what really made me warm and fuzzy, to be honest. It’s the thought that the book has helped along a new fan’s enthusiasm for Mike Scott’s music and has played a small part in encouraging someone to seek out the music I was writing about. That’s something that tells me I’ve achieved something with this book.

I had a similar experience recently on the Yahoo Waterpeople discussion group. A new poster to that list (not aware that I was a member and would see the comments first hand) commented that, having been a fan in the 80s, “Strange Boat has rekindled my interest in The Waterboys.”

“The book is decent in a genre that often disappoints, I can't say it is earth shattering but it has made me want to plug the gaps in my Waterboys/Mike Scott collection.” I think that’s good enough for me right now! I don’t expect to be considered in the upper echelons of rock music journalism (yet!), I haven’t written a book as definitive as Revolution in the Head or England’s Dreaming. But if I’ve pulled together a text that has reminded its readers what a singular talent Mike Scott is, or what a wonderfully diverse band the Waterboys are, then I’m satisfied that my work on this one was reasonably well done. I know people like the stories of rock excesses, the sex and drugs and rock ‘n’ roll thing but I think there’s also room in the genre of rock biography for the careful and thoughtful appraisal of a body of work. And in the end, we might like the lurid and the over-the-top, but we also want a book that says, “Hey, this person whose work you’ve invested so much of your own time and emotions into, y’know, is a creature of flesh and bone and human failings. But still your faith and your commitment wasn’t misplaced. The work, and the person, was really worth it.

I don’t know what Mike Scott made of Strange Boat. My impression is that of a perfectionist and of someone for whom a third-party assessment of his work couldn’t ever really be correct however well intentioned. But to have achieved a little in opening some of the readers up to his wider body of work, I’m comfortable with the end result.

Great Expressions!

Graham Taylor got the ball rolling with his legendary explosion on nearing the end of his less than illustrious career as England Football Manager with the famous "Do I Not Like That."

Michael Melia once ended an episode of Dangerfield by arresting somebody with the fantastic expression "You're nicked, Chummy-Bum."

Peter Windsor in F1 Magazine has just gone one better in his piece this month (well, character assassination wouldn't be too unfair a description) on Ralf Schumacher. This, of course, is the Toyota driver who has sucked up something like $72M over the last three years for driving around the midfield - on the rare occasions he's got the car off the grid and through the first corner. Anyway, Ralf had turned up for a photo session for the magazine and demanded that for his cooperation the magazine should in turn take a more favourable view towards him. Windsor, apparently, refused, taking the wind out of Schumacher Jr's sails. Still Ralf persisted, it was only fair, quid-pro-quo. And so on.

Eventually Windsor lost his patience and ordered the spluttering driver out of the photo shoot. When he refused to go and continued trying to negotiate the improvement in his profile with the publication, Windsor yelled what surely is an immortal line:

"Ralf, Off You Fuck."

What a great expression! Mind you, "You're nicked, Chummy-Bum" is still my favourite.

The one with Facebook

I added the 'Compare People' function on Facebook the other day and I have to agree with one of my friends there that the application, wherein you compare two friends and determine which is, for example, the more famous, the better marriage prospect or indeed which you'd prefer to be handcuffed to, can be thought of as a 'bit moldy'. And yet, it's quite compelling in its own way. But it reminded me today of that episode of Friends where Ross decides that sleeping with people other than Rachel would be ok as long as they were famous and on a predetermined list of five celebrities. Rachel of course takes it all as a bit of a joke, and Ross naturally takes it extremely seriously and spends the episode agonising over who should be on his approved for sleeping with list.

And so to Facebook where today I was confronted with two of my female Facebook Friends and asked the rather awkward 'who would you rather sleep with' question (answer guaranteed as anonymous thankfully). So that's been my task for this afternoon ... trying to decide.

As the starting point for a new project, yesterday I wrote to a genuine legend of broadcasting. And on that note ...

When the sun shone

I'm so unlucky in picking the right week to take a holiday that given this year's pathetic excuse for a summer you couldn't imagine that in the meteorological Russian roulette I'd manage to pick the loaded barrel and enjoyed a week away from the 9-5 in relative good weather and sunshine. But I did. So in the run-up to the incredibly long awaited move to the freelance lifestyle (that's redundancy if you want it spelt out - but, hey, I've been a 9-5 guy for so long I can only now see the positives), I grabbed a week of what Cornwall has to offer, let down my hair and relaxed. Which was great since it included a leisurely lunch gazing over the river at the Pandora Inn, a lazy ramble through the sub-tropical gardens at Trebah and down onto it's small beach where, unprepared for such nice weather at least Janet and the boys managed some paddling.

More serious watersports (if, let's face it, a somewhat overweight middle-aged man in a wet-suit can be taken seriously at all) saw Morgan and myself surfing (well, ok, body-boarding but surfing sounds so much cooler) at Portreath with, as it happened, a sizeable seal that was picking up the waves alongside us. Quite thrilling actually.

Record Collector last month featured the Hawkwind article that I'd sent them a few months back and though it needed some trimmings for over-length, it looked really good and ran to some eight pages including the full page advert taken out in support of the piece by my friends at Voiceprint Records. Really encouraging to see that in print, and in the same issue as a quick interview with Suzanne Vega that I'd unfortunately had to conduct by e-mail when all attempts to schedule a phoner into her hectic dash to Europe and the UK in July came to nowt. I've been a bit barren of major magazine pieces since the Damned interview last year so the publication of the Hawkwind piece came at a very timely moment. I'm now working up a few new ideas for various targets - following the advice I was given recently to pick ten prospects, consider what I'd pitch each of them ... and get on with it.

I also have a couple of book projects now taking shape. The Festivals book with Bridget Wishart is starting to take shape and early contributors will be receiving a questionnaire to get them started very soon now. We've received some excellent photographs from Stonehenge and elsewhere, and I'm hoping we'll be in a position to announce contracts and stuff really soon, though the wheels of publishing grind slowly. I've also started to gather material for another solo book, this time outside of the music genre so I'll say nothing more about that until I can see whether it really has good prospects, but short of there already being a work in progress on the subject in question I think it's a great chance to broaden the literary horizons.

Finally, mentioning the Damned, those old scally-wags turned up in Cornwall last Friday for their third appearance in recent years at the Falmouth Princess Pavilions. Honestly, they are a karaoke band ... but a bloody good one. They (unwisely I thought given the strength of the material) declined to play anything written this century, eschewing any tracks from 2001's Grave Disorder and dropping last years' excellent single Little Miss Disaster and keeping the set-list to Phantasmagoria and prior. But they really get the crowd going, can still pull a decent sized audience, and Dave Vanian clearly still has the wizen picture stored away in his attic that can be the only explanation for his lack of ageing over the years. I first saw them on their 10th Anniversary gig at Finsbury Park and I'd swear that Vanian looks no different now than he did then. I had my own Vanian moment once, at the insistence of the girl I was dating at the time - though it didn't do me any good in the longevity stakes I fear. Anyway, judge for your self at the gig photos I found on-line here and this photograph that surely I should have never let see the light of day.

Bass Guitar Magazine

Latest issue of Bass Guitar Magazine includes an interview I did with Alan Davey a few months back. Really pleased with how this one has come out - it's one and a half pages, about 1,000 words. Covers his experiences of joining an established band at a young age, solo work and rickenbackers.

I've also this week finished up captioning some photographs for an extensive Hawkwind feature that should be appearing in Record Collector over the next couple of months.

Several Updates in Search of a Thread

OK, conversion to SAP at work and due dilligence on sale of another part of the business leaves me out of breath and barely finding time to write let alone blog. So, a few very quick updates to keep things alive and kicking here!

Update! Terrific review of Strange Boat in Record Collector this month. I am 'bang-up' biographer apparently! Of course, it's a bit like 'pants' ... I never know whether 'pants' is good or bad. It's a generation thing. But a fab review and I'm really thrilled with it. At the same time, our local paper, The West Briton, devoted a quarter page to the book (and it's author!). Lovely.

Talking about whether 'pants' is good or bad, I do recall being in St Ives one summer evening waiting for someone, when an open top car with an American tourist stopped. 'Sir, you're pants', he said. I'm stratching my head. Is that good or bad? And why does he want to tell me either way? I manage a small smile. 'Sir, you're pants' ... again. Ah, 'Sir, your pants'. My trousers have indeed been dive-bombed by a local seagull.

Update! I spent a highly enjoyable twenty minutes on a trans-atlantic phone call to Wayne Kramer of MC5 a couple of weeks back ... talking counter-culture and politics for a Q&A to go with a review of John Sinclair's Guitar Army, recently reissued as a 35th Anniversary edition. Wayne's an easy to talk to, no pretensions sort of chap and the call was highly enjoyable and quote worthy. Great stuff.

Update! Shot up to Bristol last month for the annual Comics Expo event, which mainly entailed loitering in the bar with my old mate Paul Cornell and talking comics and Doctor Who. Paul's episodes of the 3rd series of Who, 'Human Nature' and 'Family of Blood' have just been broadcast and qualify as two of the very best episodes of the show ... ever. Just thought I'd name drop next year's sure-fire Hugo award winner!

Update! Just received a few promo discs of interest. Black Widow Records, from Italy, kindly sent me review copies of their latest prog/goth releases. Taro Pede in Magiam Versus by Jacula I'll be covering in Record Collector very soon. I'm also looking to place commentary on their other discs Re-Animaton, an HP Lovecraft concept thing by Paul Roland, by Areknames and Love Hate Round Trip and Witchflower by Wicked Minds. I'm also currently working on a potential review of Yesterday I Saw You Kissing Tiny Flowers by Alison Faith Levy & Mushroom (4ZeroRecords). This weekend, my SpaceRockReviews blog should be updated with EMI's remaster of Space Ritual and the fantastic new Litmus album Planetfall, as well as the Mushroom disc I think. Meantime, check out Record Collector for my reviews of a Strawbs CD reissue and the ABWH/Yes DVD from Voiceprint Records.

The Answer ...

Found on E-Bay today. The answer to the question I posed here, is, as a kindly but anonymous commenter suggested (and as I sort of suspected from seeing the first issue on Lew Stringer's blog a few months back) Target. A case of remembering the paper (a mix of strips and articles ... and free Sea Monkeys in the first edition) but not recalling the name for the life of me!