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The Stone Roses documentary to be released in June

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The Stone Roses documentary to be released in June
The Stone Roses documentary Made Of Stone is to open nationwide on June 5, it has been confirmed. The film was made by This Is England director Shane Meadows and goes behind the scenes on the Manchester band's 2012 reunion, from the early stages to their celebratory hometown gigs at Heaton Park. Th...

The Stone Roses documentary Made Of Stone is to open nationwide on June 5, it has been confirmed.

The film was made by This Is England director Shane Meadows and goes behind the scenes on the Manchester band’s 2012 reunion, from the early stages to their celebratory hometown gigs at Heaton Park. The event will be satellite-linked to 100 cinemas as part of nationwide preview screenings running concurrently with the premiere launch, with tickets for both the host venue and the satellite-linked cinemas made available to the public.

A premiere for the film, with all members of the band in attendance, will take place in Manchester on May 30 with a number of fans who attended last year’s Warrington Parr Hall and Heaton Park gigs who are featured in the film receiving tickets to the premiere in Manchester. Images of the chosen fans will be posted on the film’s official Facebook and Twitter pages in the coming weeks.

Speaking about the film, Shane Meadows said: “Making this film, I got to be part of something truly remarkable, the double decade awaited ‘resurrection’ of my all time favourite band, The Stone Roses. People say that you can’t recapture your youth, it’ll never be the same second time round etc, but that’s utter rubbish. The Roses were never allowed to reach their peak first time around so as far as I and millions of fans around the world were concerned, with this comeback the Roses could be even greater. This film isn’t a history lesson, nor is it a two hour concert film. It is a film about defying the odds, sticking it to the man and telling the cynics to shut their pie-holes!”

Discussing the film with NME recently, producer Mark Herbert teased: “I’m not allowed to say very much, but what I can say is that it feels like a Shane Meadows film as well as a music documentary. Imagine the amazing music of the Roses combined with all the qualities that Shane’s films are known for.”

Meadows filmed the band for almost a year from their reunion press conference in October 2011 to their most recent live shows in August 2012. He was granted unprecedented access to the band, so his film will include intimate scenes of early rehearsals in a remote barn as well as the only official footage from the Roses’ comeback shows in Barcelona, Amsterdam, Lyon, Hamburg, Belfast, Japan and of course Heaton Park.

Michelle Shocked responds to homophobia furore (sort of)

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Michelle Shocked responds to homophobia furore (sort of)

Michelle Shocked, in a series of vague, hard to parse tweets, may be claiming homophobic remarks made on Sunday were intended in irony. As we have reported witnesses claim Shocked told her audience at a March 17 show in San Francisco “When they stop Prop 8 [the California initiative that banned gay marriage] and force priests at gunpoint to marry gays, it will be the downfall of civilization and Jesus will come back” and "You are going to leave here and tell people 'Michelle Shocked said God hates faggots” amid an anti-gay rant. Shocked is yet to publicly respond. Though the singer has replied to a number of tweets, she rarely answers in a straight answer and it’s often hard to tell her serious message – like when she corrects users who ask her why she said “God hates fags:”

Michelle Shocked, in a series of vague, hard to parse tweets, may be claiming homophobic remarks made on Sunday were intended in irony.

As we have reported witnesses claim Shocked told her audience at a March 17 show in San Francisco “When they stop Prop 8 [the California initiative that banned gay marriage] and force priests at gunpoint to marry gays, it will be the downfall of civilization and Jesus will come back” and “You are going to leave here and tell people ‘Michelle Shocked said God hates faggots” amid an anti-gay rant. Shocked is yet to publicly respond.

Though the singer has replied to a number of tweets, she rarely answers in a straight answer and it’s often hard to tell her serious message – like when she corrects users who ask her why she said “God hates fags:”

She chides fans, journalists and miscellaneous people looking for a clear response to the incident.

But to extrapolate from the three tweets that seem both serious and address the heart of controversy, Shocked appears to be saying her statement was misunderstood by the crowd, taken out of context, meant ironically and reflects the opposite of her beliefs.

As Shocked alludes in her response to Ultramundane, she will be giving a full account on Nichole Sandler’s radio show, tomorrow at 8 am PST.

David Bowie Is… V&A, London

Michael Bonner
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David Bowie Is… V&A, London
Towards the end of the V&A’s David Bowie Is… exhibition, tucked away on a wall next to the handwritten lyrics for “Heroes” and a postcard from Christopher Isherwood, are a set of door keys that have evidently seen better days. After a fascinating, exhaustive trip through over 60 costumes...

Towards the end of the V&A’s David Bowie Is… exhibition, tucked away on a wall next to the handwritten lyrics for “Heroes” and a postcard from Christopher Isherwood, are a set of door keys that have evidently seen better days. After a fascinating, exhaustive trip through over 60 costumes and 370 objects, including pages of handwritten lyrics, sheet music, diary excerpts, photographs, posters, record sleeves, video installations – the full extent of Bowie’s 40 year plus career, in other words – the one recognizably normal object here is a rather cumbersome set of rusting keys to the apartment at Hauptstraße 155, Shöneberg, Berlin, that Bowie shared in the late 1970s with Iggy Pop. Even rock stars, it seems, need front door keys.

Long before the front door keys, the first thing we see as we enter David Bowie Is… are a pyramid of oranges. This is Pyramid (Soul City), a 1967 installation by South African sculptor Roelof Louw; next to it, on a video screen embedded into the wall, Gilbert & George explain in grainy black and white footage the origins of their Singing Sculpture performance. The curators of David Bowie Is… are clearly conscious of the problems involved in mounting an event about an artist who has lived so vividly in the public eye. As Bowie’s career has been rigorously analysed, dissected, studied and documented, you could be forgiven for wondering exactly what David Bowie Is… plans to offer us that we didn’t already know. But with their surprising opening salvo of Louw and Gilbert & George, they’re telling us: wait, we know, this is something different.

The Louw and Gilbert & George are indicative, too, of something else. Ostensibly, they’re here to help present Bowie – particularly during his early years – in a broader cultural context. Other artifacts from this period include photos of Mick Jagger, the front cover of The Times from Monday, January 6, 1969 showing the first colour photograph of the Earth from outer space, the Japanese poster for 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Sgt Pepper album sleeve and David Pelham’s original cover art for JG Ballard’s novel, The Drowned World. But these also illustrate Bowie’s ability to assimilate external influences and use them to better himself, to propel him beyond Beckenham to the stars. His cultural appetite is ferocious.

Alongside this, we get the first glimpse of the memorabilia from the Bowie archive itself. There’s a letter, dated September 17, 1965, from Bowie’s first manager, Ralph Horton, advising his future manager, Ken Pitt that “I have now changed David’s name to David Bowie.” A poster for a show at the Festival Hall, with Bowie on the bill below Tyrannosaurus Rex, Roy Harper and Stefan Grossman – “vibrations by John Peel” – on Whit-Monday, June 3. There’s sketches, record sleeves, the green striped jacket he wore in the Kon-rads. On a video screen, you can watch the teenage Bowie on television defending his right to have long hair.

To be honest, the sheer volume of objects, installations and displays is pretty overwhelming. In the second room, I realize at one point that I am standing in front of a mannequin wearing the “short bodysuit with rabbit design” Bowie wore on the 1972 Ziggy tour which stands on a giant copy of George Steiner’s In Bluebeard’s Castle next to a Marshall amp with ‘David Bowie is… plagiarism or revolution’ written on it, while above the mannequin’s head 20 or so books are suspended from the roof, including Room At The Top, The Divided Self and The American Way Of Death. Meanwhile, “Jean Genie” in playing on the PA and on the headset we’re given on the way in, Howard Goodall is explaining how Bowie writes songs. I honestly don’t know where to turn.

The trick, I think, is to take your time and not try and do everything. If you want to look at costumes, you can take your pick on everything from the pierrot outfit Bowie wore in the Ashes To Ashes video to a Freddie Buretti suit he wore to the 1975 Grammy awards and so on. Outside the first room, there is no particular sense of chronology. The Screaming Lord Byron costume from Julien Temple’s Jazzin’ For Blue Jean film stands opposite the blue suit he wore in the “Life On Mars?” video.

The memorabilia is, arguably, more rewarding. As a fan, the handwritten lyrics for songs like “Ziggy Stardust” and “Fashion” just bring out the geek in me. Look at his funny little handwriting! But things like the diary excerpts offer us a tantalizing glimpse inside Bowie’s thought processes. One page, from January 30, 1975, begins “some wonderful publishing in Fame, my first co-write with Lennon, a Beatle, about my future”. There is a mileage chart of the first Ziggy tour, neatly written in biro, his proposal for the Beckenham Arts Lab, a set of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies cards, the painstakingly detailed lighting plan for the Station To Station tour… It’s hard not to list everything in the show, simply because it’s all fascinating. Even the small area given over to Bowie’s paintings exerts a certain pull: although you probably only need to see his ‘Berlin Landscape With J.O’ (Iggy Pop to you and me) the once. All of this shows a man constantly engaged with the creative process, who is – quite literally – sketching ideas on the back of a packet of Gitanes as he goes. And the deeper you dig, the more rewarding this exhibition is.

The final room is dedicated to the music. On a triptych of giant screens you can watch footage of Bowie in performance. I watched the Top Of The Pops performance of “The Jean Genie” run in full on one screen while Mick Rock’s promo video ran concurrently on the next screen. A reminder that, whatever there is to analyse, dissect, study and document about David Bowie – whatever David Bowie Is… – the songs are chiefly amazing.

David Bowie Is… runs at the V&A from March 23 until August 11

Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner

An Audience With… Jeff Beck

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An Audience With… Jeff Beck
Original Yardbirds members Jim McCarty and Chris Dreja take us through their career in pictures in the latest Uncut, dated April 2013 and out now. Jeff Beck, perhaps the band’s most explosive lead guitarist, took on questions from Uncut readers and famous fans in our March 2010 issue (Take 154), a...

Original Yardbirds members Jim McCarty and Chris Dreja take us through their career in pictures in the latest Uncut, dated April 2013 and out now. Jeff Beck, perhaps the band’s most explosive lead guitarist, took on questions from Uncut readers and famous fans in our March 2010 issue (Take 154), answering queries on haircuts, hot rods and playing with, er, Beverley Craven… Interview: John Lewis

__________________________

A few things become clear during a conversation with Jeff Beck. He really does look like Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap (strutting around in his trademark black jeans and cap-sleeve T-shirt). He doesn’t swear much (just two “shits” in an hour). There’s still some unresolved anger about being chucked out of The Yardbirds more than four decades ago (“imagine that – you’re off ill and you come back and find that they’ve kicked you out!”) and a prickliness about former bandmate Chris Dreja (“he called me ‘Neanderthal’, did he? Oh yeah? Where does he live?”). There is a faint regret about not being a part of Led Zeppelin or The Rolling Stones, who both requested his services (“who wouldn’t want to have a private jet with a fireplace?”). But he seems happy spending hours in his garage, customising cars (“it’s a terrible obsession”).

Now he’s going to play to a quarter of a million people in a couple of weeks, sharing the bill with his old adversary Eric Clapton on a string of enormous arena dates. The show is billed “Together Apart”, as both will be fronting their own bands as well as trading licks on a series of collaborations. Clapton might have been dubbed “God” by some, but it’s Beck who wins hands down among six-string aficionados, mixing a bad-boy swagger with a fearsome set of jazz chops. “You’ve got to be careful playing jazz to a rock audience,” he says. “Too many chord changes and their eyes start to glaze over. You’ve got to keep that fire going. You’ve got to keep them hooked, innit…”

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It was fab to see you perform and also spend time with you in Australia earlier this year. Now – have you ever played “Apache”?

Hank Marvin

Hank! I invited him to my show in Australia, where he’s lived for a while, and he graciously attended. Actually, I did play “Apache” recently. It was a rockabilly party thing, with Imelda May, and you can’t celebrate the 1950s without a salute to Hank. The audience just went berserk after the first few bars! Hank has such a dangerous tone, which is only safe in the hands of a master. You can see why he spends so much time tuning up because, when you play the way he plays, you simply cannot make any mistakes. There’s no bullshit runs – it’s always straight-ahead, simple solos, every one a beauty. I’ve never heard him make a mistake. He’s very different from me. I crash and burn, like a drunken trapeze artist!

You’re touring the world’s biggest arenas with Clapton – what was it like taking his place in The Yardbirds?

Les Wells, Grantham

At first, some fans were grumbling, but I got a standing ovation after an instrumental that I played at The Marquee. So that kicked that shit into touch right away. From then on I had no problem with any audience. By the time I joined, Eric was long gone. I never even met him for about a year. We’d been on the road for months and I was in a club called The Cromwellian. I heard he was there that night, so I thought, well, I’d better talk to him. I thought there was going to be a massive punch-up, but he was really sweet. And we’ve been mates ever since, really.

I saw Jeff’s jazz project at Ronnie Scott’s, which I loved, but my favourite stuff is the Jeff Beck Group period with Rod Stewart, like “Throw Down A Line”. What was it about that band?

John Lydon

You’re joking! Johnny Rotten? In a way, I can understand why he liked that group, ’cos we were quite punky. We were the best unrehearsed band on the planet! That was because, a) we couldn’t afford anywhere to rehearse, and b) we got thrown out of most places after five minutes for being too loud! I remember us doing our first-ever gig at The Marquee without having rehearsed, and we were quite rightly roasted. Ha ha! But we did believe that what we were doing was fantastic. The only way to describe it is super-charged blues: Howlin’ Wolf and Buddy Guy put through this psychedelic filter, with changing tempos in the middle of songs, and Motown basslines.

How does it feel to be the role model for Nigel Tufnel in This Is Spinal Tap?

Fred Rudofsky, Delmar, NYC

I went to see the film at Westward Village in Los Angeles when it came out, and I sat in the cinema with a bottle of champagne, not knowing what to expect, and I think I was the only one in the audience laughing! Sobbing with laughter. All these people were shooshing me! I’ve since become friends with Christopher Guest. Boy, does he do his research. He spent a year going around dog shows before he did Best In Show! And he and Rob Reiner went through tons of footage and followed lots of rock bands for …Spinal Tap. Apparently, Nigel Tufnel was modelled on a heavy metal star – I can’t tell you who – but Chris adopted my look, because he could do me better! Obviously, I never had anything to do with metal, as such. However, I’ve also become good friends with Peter Richardson, who did Bad News. Another fantastic parody, absolutely spot on.

What’s the weirdest session you ever played on?

John Paul Jones

Oh God, there’s been a few. I did one for Beverley Craven. I don’t know how that came about. But I let go in one of my solos, and she said, “Christ, you made my record sound like a tower block being blown up.” I said, “Thank you very much.” And walked out. I dunno whether she used it or not. I don’t even know what the hell I was doing there.

Any chance of rejoining The Yardbirds?

Byron Lewis, Barry, Wales

Never. Never ever. Once the lead singer is not there, you can’t really revive a band. And that goes for Queen as well. I understand the box-office attraction, but it just isn’t Queen, is it? It’s like replacing Elvis Presley with a lookalike. I’m not putting down the current Yardbirds [featuring Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty]. Good luck to them – and the fact they’re around is cool – but they’re not gonna come up with anything as groundbreaking as anything we did, ’cos Keith [Relf, lead singer who died in 1976] is not there. It was the chemistry between Keith and the rest of us. He came up with crude ideas and the rest of us would develop them.

What cars are in your dream garage?

Garry Lansdowne, Glasgow

I’m lucky enough to own most of my dream cars! The new Corvette is the only contemporary car I have. Everyone should have one of those. The rest are vintage. I got bitten by the hot-rod bug in 1950. My mum made a mistake of buying me a Hot Rod magazine to keep me quiet one day. And, once that sets in as a six-year-old, you’ve had it! Hot rods were basically rusty old cars from the 1930s – the 1932 Ford Roadster was the iconic one – and in the 1950s people started to scrub them up, paint them candy apple, put chrome on them and race them. I was obsessed. And, when I started work in the paint shop of a garage in the early 1960s, I began to do up old wrecks. Then I spent all my advance with The Yardbirds on a 1963 split-window Corvette Coupe, which I sold for 800 quid – what a twat. But I did reinstate one in my garage lately. I now have 14 hot rods and four Corvettes!

When did you stop using a plectrum? Does this mean that someone who gave me a plectrum 35 years ago, claiming it was yours, was lying?

Chrissie Hynde

It could well be mine. I started phasing out the plectrum in the 1970s. I was studying Chet Atkins: country players used metallic picks on three or more fingers, including the index finger. So I got into playing with picks on my fingers, but played with a plectrum on stage. Then when the booze hit in the early 1970s, I started to drop my plectrum when drunk! Rather than fumble around in the dark, I carried on playing with fingers. And I thought, this is amazing. It was like having another turbo charger in your engine. Because you can do a lot more with bare fingers than with a plectrum. You don’t get that clunking sound on a heavily amplified guitar. It’s also a more personal sound, with more control.

The Jeff Beck Group were managed by Peter Grant. As big a monster as he’s made out?

Chuck, Baltimore, Maryland

He was fantastic. What he realised, long before the others, was that there was a sizeable audience for an underground scene away from the Top 40. We’d been playing shitholes in England for two-and-a-half years, and he took us to America. Within months he had us selling out 12,000-seat arenas without having a record in the charts. I never really saw any threatening side of him – he was ultra-professional with us.

Dear Jeff, if I knew how you play the guitar, I’d steal everything you do, but I don’t. Can you help me?

John McLaughlin

Oh man, stop there. I can die happy. Johnny McLaughlin has given us so many different facets of the guitar. And introduced thousands of us to world music, by blending Indian music with jazz and classical. I’d say he was the best guitarist alive. When the band I had with Rod Stewart broke up, I was left wondering what to do. While the charts were full of stuff like “Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep”, I became aware of this underground music scene. And what hit me right between the eyes was John’s playing on Miles Davis’s A Tribute To Jack Johnson. That changed everything. After that, a new chapter of rock music was formed, with his blistering performances with The Mahavishnu Orchestra and everything else. And John’s been at it ever since. He’s a hard one to keep up with!

What was Keith Relf like?

Rick Barnes, Lebanon, Connecticut, USA

When I first met him, I remember thinking, who is this little shrimp? Ha ha! He looked great on screen, but I thought, surely girls can’t scream at him? I thought, I look better than him, even if I have got more spots! Keith was vitally important, but unfortunately he wasn’t that fit. He had breathing problems. He wasn’t the classic strutting, macho frontman. But if you listen to him singing on the records, he means it. He made up for lack of vocal gymnastics with sheer belief in what he was doing. And that’s all it takes, really. The worst thing about him was his drinking problems. It’d be 12 noon and we’d be on the road in America and you’d hear a “fizz” as he opened a can of beer. And then, five minutes later, another one. And another. You’d think, come on Keith, leave it out. And it led to him hating everyone. I think he needed hands-on help at the time, but no-one gave it to him.

Did learning to play “Nadia” further your interest in Indian classical music or was this already a fascination? If so, what Indian classical musicians were most inspiring?

Nitin Sawhney

I was listening to Nitin’s Beyond Skin, and that track “Nadia” really caught my ear. I spent ages learning to play the melody, as sung by the Indian classically trained singer. But I’ve been interested in India since the 1960s, when the BBC let us in to watch a recording of a concert with Ravi Shankar. Obviously, George Harrison was a big fan; he was brilliant at interpreting Ravi’s vision of the sitar and modifying it to fit in with Beatles music, and remaining very melodic, too. And later John McLaughlin was brilliant at adapting those Indian scales. So both George and John turned me on to Indian classical music, and now Nitin’s doing the same. He’s a tremendous talent.

Picture: Ross Halfin

Parquet Courts, London Highbury Garage, March 19, 2013

John Mulvey
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Parquet Courts, London Highbury Garage, March 19, 2013

On their fine "Light Up Gold" album from the end of last year, Parquet Courts often come across like a kind of self-mythologising, self-effacing Brooklynish hipster band, allbeit one who are, of course, a) disdainful of the term 'hipster'; b) focused on a rather old-fashioned hipster sound that, until they became hip, was probably too hip, or not hip enough, for hipsters; c) snarky about self-mythologising, self-effacing Brooklynish hipsters; d) probably reflexively quite snarky about themselves. "You should see the wall of ambivalence I'm building," they claim in "Master Of My Craft". "Adam Savage and Austin Brown make the kind of music that would be dumb stoner fun if only it weren’t so smart," notes my colleague, Joe. Parquet Courts, it seems safe to conclude, are not only a good band, they're one who are too cool to be cool. Oddly, though, not much of this is apparent – or, at least, audible - when they make their London debut on Tuesday night. "Light Up Gold" contains a bunch of songs that could feasibly satisfy those Strokes fans who've finally given up on the band in the wake of "Comedown Machine". Parquet Courts do not, however, have much in the way of the old Strokes' poised nonchalance; they will not, one suspects, blaze a trail into the fashion world elite. Instead, Savage, Brown and their keen rhythm section look and sound pleasingly nerdy, thrown together, and just about ready for a slot above The Grifters in the NME tent at Reading circa 1993. When they begin with a tune that would have found a comfortable home about three-quarters of the way through "Wowee Zowee", the game is already up: writing about Parquet Courts without mentioning Pavement might be a noble endeavour, but to be honest it's a bit of a mug's game. This is not, importantly, a criticism. I love Pavement, and Parquet Courts channel their collapsible spirit better than any band I've seen or heard in a long time. They have an apparently unquenchable love and respect for "Debris Slide", and two singing lead guitarists, though as another Uncut colleague notes, it's a bit like watching Pavement fronted by two Spiral Stairs (cf “Careers In Combat”, especially). As should ideally be the way with all bands influenced by Pavement, Parquet Courts don't appear self-conscious or hamstrung by their antecedents; instead, they just get on with playing their terrific songs at a fair clip, studded with cranky semi-solos and breakneck twists, and being a lot of fun. To be fair, there's plenty more going on in these songs than mere homage to one band. Looking for other comparisons, their wiry ramalams fall into a tradition that began with The Velvet Underground (with "Loaded", more specifically), rattled on through early '80s Fall, and manifested itself most recently in the brilliant Australian garage band, Eddy Current Suppression Ring. Bands like Parquet Courts are often portrayed as diffident slackers – or certainly were 20 years ago, when slackers were a thing – but it probably takes some work and practice to sound like this. “Light Up Gold” sounds like Parquet Courts will be a very enjoyable live band, and they are. Some songs are sped up to a hectic velocity, like the title track, which suggests that Savage and Brown might see themselves as a punk band. Others are strung out and jammed, after a fashion, though it’s a form of jamming that seems to come from capriciousness rather than virtuosity. Best of all, and loosely in the latter category, are two crotchety indie-rock masterpieces, “Master Of My Craft” and “Stoned And Starving”. “Master Of My Craft”’s rampant drollness is somewhat lost here – the “Fuhgettaboutit” line used as punctuation comes across as gawky singalong more than self-satirising archness – but the heads-down glee with which it’s played, and the false endings (at least three) which momentarily derail its rush, are mighty exciting. Ditto “Stoned And Starving”, the predictable set closer, which rides an overdriven Dingerbeat and devolves into ranting, skronk and a belligerent reprise of “Light Up Gold”. As a nostalgia band for people who at least try not to be sentimental about their youths, Parquet Courts work brilliantly. But I think there’s enough craft and sleight-of-hand here to make them more interesting than that. Bring on the major leagues… Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

On their fine “Light Up Gold” album from the end of last year, Parquet Courts often come across like a kind of self-mythologising, self-effacing Brooklynish hipster band, allbeit one who are, of course, a) disdainful of the term ‘hipster’; b) focused on a rather old-fashioned hipster sound that, until they became hip, was probably too hip, or not hip enough, for hipsters; c) snarky about self-mythologising, self-effacing Brooklynish hipsters; d) probably reflexively quite snarky about themselves.

“You should see the wall of ambivalence I’m building,” they claim in “Master Of My Craft”. “Adam Savage and Austin Brown make the kind of music that would be dumb stoner fun if only it weren’t so smart,” notes my colleague, Joe. Parquet Courts, it seems safe to conclude, are not only a good band, they’re one who are too cool to be cool.

Oddly, though, not much of this is apparent – or, at least, audible – when they make their London debut on Tuesday night. “Light Up Gold” contains a bunch of songs that could feasibly satisfy those Strokes fans who’ve finally given up on the band in the wake of “Comedown Machine”. Parquet Courts do not, however, have much in the way of the old Strokes’ poised nonchalance; they will not, one suspects, blaze a trail into the fashion world elite.

Instead, Savage, Brown and their keen rhythm section look and sound pleasingly nerdy, thrown together, and just about ready for a slot above The Grifters in the NME tent at Reading circa 1993. When they begin with a tune that would have found a comfortable home about three-quarters of the way through “Wowee Zowee”, the game is already up: writing about Parquet Courts without mentioning Pavement might be a noble endeavour, but to be honest it’s a bit of a mug’s game.

This is not, importantly, a criticism. I love Pavement, and Parquet Courts channel their collapsible spirit better than any band I’ve seen or heard in a long time. They have an apparently unquenchable love and respect for “Debris Slide”, and two singing lead guitarists, though as another Uncut colleague notes, it’s a bit like watching Pavement fronted by two Spiral Stairs (cf “Careers In Combat”, especially). As should ideally be the way with all bands influenced by Pavement, Parquet Courts don’t appear self-conscious or hamstrung by their antecedents; instead, they just get on with playing their terrific songs at a fair clip, studded with cranky semi-solos and breakneck twists, and being a lot of fun.

To be fair, there’s plenty more going on in these songs than mere homage to one band. Looking for other comparisons, their wiry ramalams fall into a tradition that began with The Velvet Underground (with “Loaded”, more specifically), rattled on through early ’80s Fall, and manifested itself most recently in the brilliant Australian garage band, Eddy Current Suppression Ring.

Bands like Parquet Courts are often portrayed as diffident slackers – or certainly were 20 years ago, when slackers were a thing – but it probably takes some work and practice to sound like this. “Light Up Gold” sounds like Parquet Courts will be a very enjoyable live band, and they are. Some songs are sped up to a hectic velocity, like the title track, which suggests that Savage and Brown might see themselves as a punk band. Others are strung out and jammed, after a fashion, though it’s a form of jamming that seems to come from capriciousness rather than virtuosity.

Best of all, and loosely in the latter category, are two crotchety indie-rock masterpieces, “Master Of My Craft” and “Stoned And Starving”. “Master Of My Craft”’s rampant drollness is somewhat lost here – the “Fuhgettaboutit” line used as punctuation comes across as gawky singalong more than self-satirising archness – but the heads-down glee with which it’s played, and the false endings (at least three) which momentarily derail its rush, are mighty exciting.

Ditto “Stoned And Starving”, the predictable set closer, which rides an overdriven Dingerbeat and devolves into ranting, skronk and a belligerent reprise of “Light Up Gold”. As a nostalgia band for people who at least try not to be sentimental about their youths, Parquet Courts work brilliantly. But I think there’s enough craft and sleight-of-hand here to make them more interesting than that. Bring on the major leagues…

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

Michelle Shocked tour evaporates; nearly all venues cancel post anti-gay rant

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Michelle Shocked tour evaporates; nearly all venues cancel post anti-gay rant
Michelle Shocked will have a lot of free time to think about Sunday’s (March 17) anti-gay tirade. All but one show in her US tour have been cancelled. Billboard reports that 10 dates on her tour of the West Coast and Midwest have been vacated. It does not appear she should be too optimistic abou...

Michelle Shocked will have a lot of free time to think about Sunday’s (March 17) anti-gay tirade. All but one show in her US tour have been cancelled.

Billboard reports that 10 dates on her tour of the West Coast and Midwest have been vacated. It does not appear she should be too optimistic about the one hold out – a May 4jaunt at the Harmony Bar in Madison, Wisconsin, either. The person who answered their phone told Billboard “I won’t know a damn thing until the boss comes back in eight days.”

The Evanston [Illinois] SPACE, one of the first venues to cancel, posted this statement to Facebook. “Many of you have reached out already following an ugly rant given by Michelle Shocked at her show in San Francisco last night. After speaking with the promoter of that show about the nature of the remarks, it’s clear that this is no longer a show we’re willing to put our name on. The May 5th performance at SPACE has been cancelled and refunds will be issued at point of purchase.” A similar note was put on Twitter.

Shocked’s assumed surname became the source of many a pun when she told a San Francisco audience “When they stop Prop 8 [the California initiative that banned gay marriage] and force priests at gunpoint to marry gays, it will be the downfall of civilization and Jesus will come back.”

She later told the crowd “You are going to leave here and tell people ‘Michelle Shocked said God hates faggots.’”

Amid the fallout, Shocked has been silent.

Shocked’s cancelled dates, as compiled by Billboard are as follows:

March 23, McCabe’s – Santa Monica, CA

March 28, Moe’s Alley – Santa Cruz, CA

March 29, HopMonk – Novato, CA

April 24, the Palms Playhouse – Winter, CA

April 25, the Alberta Rose Theatre – Portland, OR

April 26, Meanders Kitchen – Seattle, WA

April 27, Cozmic – Eugene, OR

May 3, eTown Hall – Boulder, CO

May 5, S.P.A.C.E – Evanston, IL

June 23, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Telluride CO.

Blondie announce UK and Ireland summer tour

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Blondie announce UK and Ireland summer tour
Blondie are set to embark on a tour of the UK and Ireland this summer. Of the jaunt, which kicks off at Nottingham’s Sherwood Pines Forest Park on June 14, frontwoman Debbie Harry said: "England will always have a special place in our hearts –we're all so excited about the forthcoming tour of t...

Blondie are set to embark on a tour of the UK and Ireland this summer.

Of the jaunt, which kicks off at Nottingham’s Sherwood Pines Forest Park on June 14, frontwoman Debbie Harry said: “England will always have a special place in our hearts –we’re all so excited about the forthcoming tour of the UK.”

The band will play the Isle of Wight Festival on June 16 as part of the tour and will also head up two London shows, at Camden’s Roundhouse July 7 and Kew Gardens on July 9.

Blondie released their last album, ‘Panic Of Girls’, in 2011. The follow up to 2003’s ‘The Curse Of Blondie’, it contained a cover of Beirut’s ‘Sunday Smile’. Beirut’s Zach Condon appeared on the album, providing guest vocals.

Blondie will play:

Nottingham Sherwood Pines Forest Park (June 14)

Thetford Forest (15)

Isle of Wight Festival (16)

Liverpool Academy (18)

Isle of Man Villa Marina (19)

Gloucestershire Westonbirt Arboretum (21)

Kent Bedgebury Pinetum (22)

Dublin Olympia (25)

Belfast Waterfront (26)

Yorkshire Dalby Forest (28)

Staffordshire Cannock Chase Forest (29)

Glasgow Clyde Auditorium (July 1)

Edinburgh Usher Hall (2)

Newcastle Academy (4)

Cheshire Delamere Forest (6)

London Roundhouse (7)

London Kew Gardens (9)

Smiths demo sees light of day online – listen

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Smiths demo sees light of day online – listen

A previously uncirculated Smiths demo tape has surfaced on a fan web forum. Listen below. User bellapintura, who posted the so-called “Pablo Cuckoo tape” on smithstorrents.co.uk on March 16, claims the tape was from 1983. “The Smiths ran through a selection of songs at a rehearsal in a room in manager Joe Moss' jeans warehouse,” bellapintura wrote. “The tape was recorded for Troy Tate, in order to give him something to work with before going into the studio.” “I was lent the master cassette by a source close to the band who made the recording - let's call him Pablo Cuckoo - in 1997, with a view to trying to put it out as a semi official release...” bellapintura continued. “But a combination of the poor sound quality and threats from Warner Bros, meant that the idea was shelved.” After the tape was posted to the forum, it was subsequently uploaded to YouTube. The track listing on the Pablo Cuckoo tape is as follows: You've Got Everything Now Accept Yourself What Difference Does It Make Reel Around The Fountain These Things Take Time I Don't Owe You Anything Hand In Glove Handsome Devil Miserable Lie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39qb3Q5mTmk Read more about The Smiths in our new Ultimate Music Guide: The Smiths.

A previously uncirculated Smiths demo tape has surfaced on a fan web forum. Listen below.

User bellapintura, who posted the so-called “Pablo Cuckoo tape” on smithstorrents.co.uk on March 16, claims the tape was from 1983.

“The Smiths ran through a selection of songs at a rehearsal in a room in manager Joe Moss’ jeans warehouse,” bellapintura wrote. “The tape was recorded for Troy Tate, in order to give him something to work with before going into the studio.”

“I was lent the master cassette by a source close to the band who made the recording – let’s call him Pablo Cuckoo – in 1997, with a view to trying to put it out as a semi official release…” bellapintura continued. “But a combination of the poor sound quality and threats from Warner Bros, meant that the idea was shelved.”

After the tape was posted to the forum, it was subsequently uploaded to YouTube.

The track listing on the Pablo Cuckoo tape is as follows:

You’ve Got Everything Now

Accept Yourself

What Difference Does It Make

Reel Around The Fountain

These Things Take Time

I Don’t Owe You Anything

Hand In Glove

Handsome Devil

Miserable Lie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39qb3Q5mTmk

Read more about The Smiths in our new Ultimate Music Guide: The Smiths.

The Men premiere their first ever music video – watch

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The Men premiere their first ever music video – watch
The Men have unveiled their first ever music video for the track 'I Saw Her Face' – watch it below. Speaking about the video, singer Mark Perro told NME via email: "We were trying to make a video like Earth, Wind and Fire's 'Lets Groove Tonight'". Drummer Rich Samis added: "This was shot in Dece...

The Men have unveiled their first ever music video for the track ‘I Saw Her Face’ – watch it below.

Speaking about the video, singer Mark Perro told NME via email: “We were trying to make a video like Earth, Wind and Fire’s ‘Lets Groove Tonight'”. Drummer Rich Samis added: “This was shot in December 2012 at our friend Alexander Perrelli’s apartment. All video effects were generated through the use of commercial grade video mixers and enhancers. The raw video footage was shot entirely on VHS cameras. Our friend Brian Chillemi was nice enough to help us out in the painstaking process of editing this video. Brian and our buddy ZZ Ramirez helped out with the camera work. Nick’s [Chiericozzi – guitarist] guitar is actually on fire on some shots. We like it.”

The track is taken from the Brooklyn quintet’s fourth album ‘New Moon’, which was released earlier this month (March 5). The band will play London’s Garage tonight (March 19) along with fellow NYC rockers Parquet Courts.

The Men released their debut LP ‘Immaculada’ in 2010, which was followed by ‘Leave Home’ in 2011 and the critically acclaimed ‘Open Your Heart’ in 2012.

Paul Weller: “Wilko Johnson is unique, a one-off”

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Paul Weller: “Wilko Johnson is unique, a one-off”
Paul Weller has paid tribute to one of his musical heroes, Wilko Johnson, in the latest issue of Uncut, out now. Weller admits that he took elements of the Dr Feelgood guitarist’s playing into his work with The Jam after seeing the group perform live at Guildford Civic Hall. “I don’t think...

Paul Weller has paid tribute to one of his musical heroes, Wilko Johnson, in the latest issue of Uncut, out now.

Weller admits that he took elements of the Dr Feelgood guitarist’s playing into his work with The Jam after seeing the group perform live at Guildford Civic Hall.

“I don’t think I’d ever heard anyone play like Wilko before,” he says. “You could liken his playing to someone like Bo Diddley, but Wilko is unique, a one-off.

“He is also a great songwriter as well, especially on all those early tunes from Down By The Jetty and Malpractice. I thought they were very special songs… I took elements of his playing, that choppiness, into The Jam.”

Wilko Johnson has been diagnosed with cancer, which is expected to be terminal, and recently performed a set of sold-out farewell gigs.

To read an in-depth interview with Johnson, and more from Paul Weller on his hero, check out the latest issue of Uncut, out now.

Picture: Brian David Stevens

Bauhaus’ Peter Murphy arrested for suspected hit and run and drug possession

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Bauhaus’ Peter Murphy arrested for suspected hit and run and drug possession
Bauhaus' Peter Murphy was reportedly arrested on Saturday (March 16) on suspicion of causing injuries while driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and for hit-and-run offences. According to the Glendale News Press, the singer of the British goth rock group allegedly injured another drive...

Bauhaus’ Peter Murphy was reportedly arrested on Saturday (March 16) on suspicion of causing injuries while driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and for hit-and-run offences.

According to the Glendale News Press, the singer of the British goth rock group allegedly injured another driver after crashing a car in Glendale, Southern California before fleeing to Los Angeles, where he was held up by an eyewitness until police arrived. The passer by was “afraid [Murphy] would kill someone with his driving,” police told reporters.

Police officers in Glendale said Murphy, who now resides in Turkey, appeared to be “very confused” and had difficulty recalling what day and time it was, Police said. The singer denied he had been drinking alcohol, but said he had taken his regular medication for depression. He admitted he had been involved in a traffic collision, telling police he was jet-lagged after a recent flight.

Officers also report that they later found a small plastic bag inside the police patrol car where Murphy had been detained – which they believe may contain Methamphetamine (more commonly knows as crystal meth). Murphy denied the bag belonged to him, but police believe he was trying to get rid of the substance in the car.

The singer was arrested on suspicion of causing injuries while driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, felony hit-and-run and possessing methamphetamine, police said. He remains in police custody awaiting bail.

Bauhaus released five albums over their career – the first being 1980’s ‘In The Flat Field’ before 1981’s ‘Mask’, 1982’s ‘The Sky’s Gone Out’ and 1983’s ‘Burning From The Inside’. Bauhaus first broke up in 1983, with Peter Murphy embarking on a solo career and other members forming Tones On Tail and then Love and Rockets. The band reunited for a 1998 tour, and again from 2005. They released their last album ‘Go Away White’ in 2008.

Earlier this year, Peter Murphy announced that he would be setting out to perform Bauhaus material on a 49-date US and European tour. He is due to play five dates in the UK in June.

Depeche Mode stream new album ‘Delta Machine’

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Depeche Mode stream new album ‘Delta Machine’
Depeche Mode are streaming their new album 'Delta Machine' in advance of its release on March 25. The album is the duos 13th and was recorded over the last year in in Santa Barbara, California and New York City and was produced by Ben Hillier and mixed by Flood. Speaking previously about the recor...

Depeche Mode are streaming their new album ‘Delta Machine’ in advance of its release on March 25.

The album is the duos 13th and was recorded over the last year in in Santa Barbara, California and New York City and was produced by Ben Hillier and mixed by Flood. Speaking previously about the record, frontman Dave Gahan insisted that he and the rest of the band never discuss the possibility of releasing another album.”We never know if we’re going to do another record together – we don’t really talk about it,” he said. “We’re planning a big tour that is going to go on towards the end of the summer of 2014. When I actually think about that now, it sounds daunting, but I want to enjoy it. You never know if there is going to be another one.”

The singer also said that the atmosphere in the band was currently positive. “We went through a lot together on the last tour, and probably the one before that and the one before that,” he said. “When you’re together with people for more than 30 years, there are bound to be ups and downs, things that bother you and things that you celebrate together. This one feels kind of like that. Martin [Gore]’s in a really great place; really in great shape, great health; excited about this record. He and I, we’re both in that place where we’re in awe of life at the moment, and what it is and what it still offers us.”

The tracklisting for ‘Delta Machine’ is as follows:

‘Welcome To My World’

‘Angel’

‘Heaven’

‘Secret To The End’

‘My Little Universe’

‘Slow’

‘Broken’

‘The Child Inside’

‘Soft Touch/Raw Nerve’

‘Should Be Higher’

‘Alone’

‘Soothe My Soul’

‘Goodbye’

You can listen to ‘Delta Machine’ on iTunes now.

Depeche Mode play two shows at London’s O2 Arena on May 28 and 29. These are currently the only UK dates the band have announced as part of 34-date European tour which will include appearances at Rock Werchter Festival in Belgium (July 7), BBK Festival in Spain (July 11) and Optimus Alive Festival in Portugal (July 13). A North American tour will follow later in the year.

Jarvis Cocker: ‘David Bowie makes me feel lazy’

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Jarvis Cocker: ‘David Bowie makes me feel lazy’
Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker has said that Davie Bowie makes him feel lazy after viewing the new London exhibition documenting the iconic singer's life though costume. Speaking to the Evening Standard about the David Bowie Is exhibition which opens at London's V&A gallery on Saturday, March 2...

Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker has said that Davie Bowie makes him feel lazy after viewing the new London exhibition documenting the iconic singer’s life though costume.

Speaking to the Evening Standard about the David Bowie Is exhibition which opens at London’s V&A gallery on Saturday, March 23, Cocker said that he was staggered by how many items from Bowie’s past were on display and just how much he had achieved in his career. “The main thing that will impress people as they go around the V&A is the sheer volume of stuff Bowie has done, it makes me feel very lazy,” he said. “He made a real impact on our culture: he brought a lot of those quite subversive and alternative ideas right into people’s living rooms. He had a very normal name – David Jones – and in a way he was a very typical person of his era, and yet he turned himself into a unique creature.”

Discussing his feelings for Bowie, both past and present, Cocker went on to say: “When I was growing up David Bowie was like the patron saint of the music scene, and then he disappeared for a while and I feel that now he is back like a benign force floating above us. I’m getting into his new album. Recycling the sleeve of the ‘”Heroes”‘ album with ‘The Next Day’ stuck over the front of it says interesting things about looking back. Maybe it’s saying that the latest idea to go forward is that you have to go back – that’s kind of what is happening in culture at the moment.”

David Bowie’s ‘The Next Day’ went straight to Number One this week following its release on March 10. The much-anticipated album becomes his first Number One in his native Britain since 1993’s ‘Black Tie White Noise’, and has also become the fastest-selling album so far this year, shifting 94,000 copies. Biffy Clyro’s ‘Opposites’ previously had that title, having sold 71,600 copies during its opening week in January.

Ian McCulloch records orchestral version of Echo & The Bunnymen hit – listen

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Ian McCulloch records orchestral version of Echo & The Bunnymen hit – listen
Ian McCulloch has recorded an album worth of orchestral versions of Echo And The Bunnymen songs as part of his new solo album. Scroll down to hear the new version of 'Bring On The Dancing Horses' now. McCulloch's latest solo album will be a double album with one disc dedicated to orchestral version...

Ian McCulloch has recorded an album worth of orchestral versions of Echo And The Bunnymen songs as part of his new solo album. Scroll down to hear the new version of ‘Bring On The Dancing Horses’ now.

McCulloch’s latest solo album will be a double album with one disc dedicated to orchestral versions of the Liverpool band’s greatest hits. The idea for the album came about following a show McCulloch played at the Union Chapel in London in May 2012. Producer Flood (PJ Harvey, The Killers) has re-recorded the tracks, which will be released under the title ‘Holy Ghosts’.

Speaking about the Union Chapel show which inspired the plan to re-record his bands songs in a new fashion, McCulloch said: “It was like, something’s happening here that you might want to document. The fact that it was so spontaneously decided we’d record it was lucky, because on the night I’d more or less forgotten. Usually you’re too aware of everything being mic’d up and all that, but this time, after the first chord had been hit, I was in a world of me own.”

Other songs which have been reworked by McCulloch and Flood include The Bunnymen’s ‘Lips Like Sugar’, ‘Rescue’, ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’, and ‘The Killing Moon’. Holy Ghosts is released on April 22 via Edsel Records and will come with McCulloch’s fourth solo studio album ‘Pro Patria Mori’.

Echo & The Bunnymen will support Primal Scream in London on Thursday (March 21) as part of the Noel Gallagher curated Teenage Cancer Trust concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Nine Inch Nails share ‘Self Destruct’ tour documentary featuring David Bowie – watch

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Nine Inch Nails share ‘Self Destruct’ tour documentary featuring David Bowie – watch

Nine Inch Nails: "Closure" part one: Self Destruct (1997) from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.

Nine Inch Nails have posted a full-length version of a documentary about their ‘Self Destruct’ tour online – scroll down to watch it.

As Spin reports, the 75-minute film chronicles the band’s tour from 1994 to 1996 and features appearances from David Bowie and Marilyn Manson. The footage was originally only available on 1997’s Closure video.

Trent Reznor recently revealed that Nine Inch Nails are working on two new songs, which they could play live when they perform at the Reading and Leeds Festivals this summer.

Reznor recently announced the return of Nine Inch Nails after spending time working on a number of film scores and also writing and recording an album with his other band, How To Destroy Angels. Nine Inch Nails will perform their only UK shows of 2013 at Reading and Leeds, performing directly before headliners Biffy Clyro.

Nine Inch Nails: “Closure” part one: Self Destruct (1997) from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.

Harry Taussig, Hiss Golden Messenger, Golden Gunn, Steve Gunn etc

John Mulvey
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Harry Taussig, Hiss Golden Messenger, Golden Gunn, Steve Gunn etc

Reading about the South By Southwest festival tends to produce, in me at least, a mix of empathetic fatigue and terrible envy, and last week’s bombardment of tweets, blogs, news stories was no different. Amidst all the reports I read of Prince secret shows, buzz gigs by a selection of Britain’s next purportedly biggish things (on my visits to Austin, it always seemed sensible to avoid bands I could see most months in London, but whatever) and so on, one show stood out: the Tompkins Square label showcase at St David’s Episcopal Church. I remember once seeing a great gig there, organised by the Table Of The Elements label and featuring Tony Conrad and Jonathan Kane, and taking a pew in the cool old church provided a necessary meditative respite from the chaos that predominates at South By Southwest. This year’s Tompkins Square evening sounds like it worked in a similar way, according to a report in the Washington Post which discussed the performances there by Daniel Bachman and Hiss Golden Messenger. “I didn’t even want to come to this,” Hiss’ MC Taylor is quoted as saying. “I don’t feel like my music is really conducive to a situation like South by Southwest. . . . It’s hard to get people to listen to a songwriter with an acoustic guitar. But it’s hard anywhere.” Evidently, the Washington Post writer was elsewhere when one of the weirder and more noteworthy events of the evening took place: the first ever show by one of the surviving guitarists of the Takoma generation, Harry Taussig. Taussig is 71, and somehow avoided playing live in the mid ‘60s, when his first (and until recently, only) album was recorded. NPR have a great story about Taussig, including this prediction from him: "My great fear is that I'll be eating tomato salads for the next three weeks from what people throw at me. So I'll bring my own basil and mozzarella to make a nice insalata caprese." Unlikely, I imagine, but please let me know if you saw the show; I’m intrigued. As alluded to here many times, Taylor has a very fine new Hiss Golden Messenger album, “Haw”, due out on Paradise Of Bachelors pretty soon; it’s an indication of how strong his writing is right now that Taylor managed to leave off the standout new song from his recent sets, “Brother Do You Know The Road”, and save it up for what one assumes will be another record. In the slipstream of “Haw”, though, there’s yet another Taylor-related release pending: the debut album by Golden Gunn, his collaboration with the equally recommended guitarist – and, increasingly, singer – Steve Gunn. Gunn is busy at the moment, too: following a couple of Sandy Bull/Billy Higgins-style duo albums with the drummer John Truscinski, the pair have roped in a bassist and made a tremendous full band album, “Time Off”, due soon, in which Gunn shows that he’s as affecting a singer/songwriter as he is a dextrous American Primitive. Here’s an early version of my favourite track, the desert blues-inflected “Old Strange”, recorded with The Black Twig Pickers… ANYHOW, Golden Gunn. “Golden Gunn” is ostensibly a bunch of cosmic porch jams, touching on Takoma folk, outlaw country and plenty of JJ Cale vibes (there’s an artist I need properly schooling in…). Easygoing virtuosity is a given, but the songs are pleasingly substantial (cf “The Sun Comes Up A Purple Diamond”, which loosely resembles a campfire Lou Reed), and there are touches of dub and funk hark back to earlier Hiss Golden Messenger outings, and to territory Taylor has neglected a little on recent sets: the standout “From A Lincoln Continental”’s slick gris-gris was first essayed on a live record released in 2010, “Root Work”. “A Couple Of Blackbirds”, meanwhile, reminds me of Shuggie Otis and, serendipitously, of next week’s new issue of Uncut, which features a lengthy review of the newly expanded “Inspiration Information” and an interview with the generally elusive guitarist. I shall be professionally coy about most of the other contents for a day or two, but I did recently take a trip to Richmond, Virginia to interview another SXSW player, Matthew E White, and you’ll be able to read about that in there. More of all this from Allan next week, if you can bear the suspense… Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

Reading about the South By Southwest festival tends to produce, in me at least, a mix of empathetic fatigue and terrible envy, and last week’s bombardment of tweets, blogs, news stories was no different.

Amidst all the reports I read of Prince secret shows, buzz gigs by a selection of Britain’s next purportedly biggish things (on my visits to Austin, it always seemed sensible to avoid bands I could see most months in London, but whatever) and so on, one show stood out: the Tompkins Square label showcase at St David’s Episcopal Church.

I remember once seeing a great gig there, organised by the Table Of The Elements label and featuring Tony Conrad and Jonathan Kane, and taking a pew in the cool old church provided a necessary meditative respite from the chaos that predominates at South By Southwest. This year’s Tompkins Square evening sounds like it worked in a similar way, according to a report in the Washington Post which discussed the performances there by Daniel Bachman and Hiss Golden Messenger. “I didn’t even want to come to this,” Hiss’ MC Taylor is quoted as saying. “I don’t feel like my music is really conducive to a situation like South by Southwest. . . . It’s hard to get people to listen to a songwriter with an acoustic guitar. But it’s hard anywhere.”

Evidently, the Washington Post writer was elsewhere when one of the weirder and more noteworthy events of the evening took place: the first ever show by one of the surviving guitarists of the Takoma generation, Harry Taussig. Taussig is 71, and somehow avoided playing live in the mid ‘60s, when his first (and until recently, only) album was recorded. NPR have a great story about Taussig, including this prediction from him: “My great fear is that I’ll be eating tomato salads for the next three weeks from what people throw at me. So I’ll bring my own basil and mozzarella to make a nice insalata caprese.” Unlikely, I imagine, but please let me know if you saw the show; I’m intrigued.

As alluded to here many times, Taylor has a very fine new Hiss Golden Messenger album, “Haw”, due out on Paradise Of Bachelors pretty soon; it’s an indication of how strong his writing is right now that Taylor managed to leave off the standout new song from his recent sets, “Brother Do You Know The Road”, and save it up for what one assumes will be another record.

In the slipstream of “Haw”, though, there’s yet another Taylor-related release pending: the debut album by Golden Gunn, his collaboration with the equally recommended guitarist – and, increasingly, singer – Steve Gunn. Gunn is busy at the moment, too: following a couple of Sandy Bull/Billy Higgins-style duo albums with the drummer John Truscinski, the pair have roped in a bassist and made a tremendous full band album, “Time Off”, due soon, in which Gunn shows that he’s as affecting a singer/songwriter as he is a dextrous American Primitive. Here’s an early version of my favourite track, the desert blues-inflected “Old Strange”, recorded with The Black Twig Pickers…

ANYHOW, Golden Gunn. “Golden Gunn” is ostensibly a bunch of cosmic porch jams, touching on Takoma folk, outlaw country and plenty of JJ Cale vibes (there’s an artist I need properly schooling in…). Easygoing virtuosity is a given, but the songs are pleasingly substantial (cf “The Sun Comes Up A Purple Diamond”, which loosely resembles a campfire Lou Reed), and there are touches of dub and funk hark back to earlier Hiss Golden Messenger outings, and to territory Taylor has neglected a little on recent sets: the standout “From A Lincoln Continental”’s slick gris-gris was first essayed on a live record released in 2010, “Root Work”.

“A Couple Of Blackbirds”, meanwhile, reminds me of Shuggie Otis and, serendipitously, of next week’s new issue of Uncut, which features a lengthy review of the newly expanded “Inspiration Information” and an interview with the generally elusive guitarist. I shall be professionally coy about most of the other contents for a day or two, but I did recently take a trip to Richmond, Virginia to interview another SXSW player, Matthew E White, and you’ll be able to read about that in there. More of all this from Allan next week, if you can bear the suspense…

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

Singer Michelle Shocked goes on homophobic rant at San Francisco show.

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Singer Michelle Shocked goes on homophobic rant at San Francisco show.
Michelle Shocked lived up to her nom de plume on Sunday (March 17) by telling a San Francisco concert audience that gay marriage will lead to the apocalypse during a series of bizarre homophobic rants. According to the Bay Area Reporter, Shocked (nee Karen Michelle Johnston) played a two set show ...

Michelle Shocked lived up to her nom de plume on Sunday (March 17) by telling a San Francisco concert audience that gay marriage will lead to the apocalypse during a series of bizarre homophobic rants.

According to the Bay Area Reporter, Shocked (nee Karen Michelle Johnston) played a two set show at Yoshi’s. The former Grammy nominee completed the first set without a hitch. The second set, however, went awry as soon as she told the crowd it would be “all about reality.”

As detailed in the Reporter:

“‘When they stop Prop 8 [the California initiative that banned gay marriage] and force priests at gunpoint to marry gays, it will be the downfall of civilization and Jesus will come back,’ she said.

“Loud gasps were heard from the audience. Many fans walked out.

“’I believe the Bible is the word of God,’ Shocked continued.”

Shocked continued her rant, culminating in the line “You are going to leave here and tell people ‘Michelle Shocked said God hates faggots.'”

To the venue’s credit, the Reporter says it attempted to stop the disaster.

“A Yoshi’s manager announced, ‘Thank you for coming ladies and gentlemen. This show is over.’

“‘It’s not over,’ Shocked protested and she continued to sing.

“Management cut off her microphone and shut off the stage lights. Shocked continued to sing for her few remaining fans.”

Shocked, 51, came into prominence with a 1986 European bootleg of one of her shows, ‘The Texas Campfire Tapes.’ Her next three albums, ‘Short Sharp Shocked’, ‘Captain Swing’ and ‘Arkansas Traveler’ were Grammy nominees, each charting in the top 50 in the UK.

Shocked was at one point a hero of LGBT community. She left her sexuality up to question in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. By the mid 90s, she announced being born again as a Christian.

In 2011, Shocked told the gay-friendly Christian audience of the Wild Goose Festival “Who drafted me as a gay icon? You are looking at the world’s greatest homophobe. Ask God what He thinks.”

Shocked’s scheduled upcoming appearances in Bolder, Colorado and Evanston, Illinois have been cancelled.

Vampire Weekend reveal new songs ‘Diane Young’ and ‘Step’

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Vampire Weekend reveal new songs ‘Diane Young’ and ‘Step’

Vampire Weekend debuted two new songs from their upcoming album late last night(March 18). Listen to them both below. The New York aired new tracks 'Diane Young' and 'Step', teasing fans with the news on Twitter. "We're dropping a double a-side single today – Diane Young/ Step. Get Ready" wrote the band. Both songs are taken from Vampire Weekend's forthcoming third studio album 'Modern Vampires Of The City', due for release via XL Recordings on May 6. Vampire Weekend appeared at this year's SXSW festival in Austin, Texas and performed a number of new songs during their set on Saturday (March 16). Among the new songs played by the band were 'Diane Young' and 'Ya Hey'. The tracklisting for 'Modern Vampires of the City' is as follows: 'Obvious Bicycle' 'Unbelievers' 'Step' 'Diane Young' 'Don't Lie' 'Hannah Hunt' 'Everlasting Arms' 'Finger Back' 'Worship You' 'Ya Hey' 'Hudson' 'Young Lion' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX46e4GtlXM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mDxcDjg9P4

Vampire Weekend debuted two new songs from their upcoming album late last night(March 18). Listen to them both below.

The New York aired new tracks ‘Diane Young’ and ‘Step’, teasing fans with the news on Twitter. “We’re dropping a double a-side single today – Diane Young/ Step. Get Ready” wrote the band. Both songs are taken from Vampire Weekend’s forthcoming third studio album ‘Modern Vampires Of The City’, due for release via XL Recordings on May 6.

Vampire Weekend appeared at this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, Texas and performed a number of new songs during their set on Saturday (March 16). Among the new songs played by the band were ‘Diane Young’ and ‘Ya Hey’.

The tracklisting for ‘Modern Vampires of the City’ is as follows:

‘Obvious Bicycle’

‘Unbelievers’

‘Step’

‘Diane Young’

‘Don’t Lie’

‘Hannah Hunt’

‘Everlasting Arms’

‘Finger Back’

‘Worship You’

‘Ya Hey’

‘Hudson’

‘Young Lion’

Bowie, Morrissey, T-Rex producer Tony Visconti to appear at Record Producers Live event

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Bowie, Morrissey, T-Rex producer Tony Visconti to appear at Record Producers Live event
David Bowie's producer will take part in a new stage show as part of The Record Producers Live series. The producer, who was behind Bowie's new album 'The Next Day' and has also worked with Paul McCartney, Morrissey, T Rex and Sparks, will feature as part of the event at London's O2 Shepherd's Bu...

David Bowie’s producer will take part in a new stage show as part of The Record Producers Live series.

The producer, who was behind Bowie’s new album ‘The Next Day’ and has also worked with Paul McCartney, Morrissey, T Rex and Sparks, will feature as part of the event at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on April 28, 2013. The show will be hosted by record producer Steve Levine and BBC Radio 2 presenter Richard Allinson – who are behind the BBC series The Record Producers, which looks at the recording process behind some of the world’s most influential albums. As well as discussing his recording techniques and showcasing recordings from Tony Visconti’s private collections, the event promises a series of “very special guests” later on in the evening, including Bernard Butler.

“As a record producer myself I have been an admirer of Tony’s incredible and varied production work over the years,” Steve Levine says in a statement. “I think I speak for everyone that we are all really honoured to share the stage with Tony, I’m looking forward to exploring the studio secrets behind the mixing desk.”

Tickets for the event go on general sale on Friday (March 22) priced at £32.50 and £25.00. An O2 Pre-Sale will take place on Wednesday (March 20) and Live Nation pre-sale on Thursday (March 21).

The Strokes stream ‘Comedown Machine’ ahead of release – listen

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The Strokes stream ‘Comedown Machine’ ahead of release – listen
The Strokes are streaming their brand new album, 'Comedown Machine', ahead of its official release on March 25. 'Comedown Machine' is The Strokes fifth studio album following 'Is This it?', 'Room On Fire', 'First Impressions of Earth' 'and 'Angles'. Listen to the album via Pitchfork Advance, bassi...

The Strokes are streaming their brand new album, ‘Comedown Machine’, ahead of its official release on March 25.

‘Comedown Machine’ is The Strokes fifth studio album following ‘Is This it?’, ‘Room On Fire’, ‘First Impressions of Earth’ ‘and ‘Angles’.

Listen to the album via Pitchfork Advance, bassist Nikolai Fraiture recently explained that the band have no current plans to perform but that he is hopeful of working something out soon.

“I don’t know. I would love to tour,” Fraiture said. Discussing the making of ‘Comedown Machine’ at New York’s Electric Lady studios, the bass player added: “We hashed it out all together like the good old days. It’s a legendary studio and it is not far away from us all, apart from Nick who lives in Los Angeles, but he made the trip out to record.”

The ‘Comedown Machine’ tracklisting is:

‘Tap Out’

‘All The Time’

‘One Way Trigger’

‘Welcome To Japan’

’80’s Comedown Machine’

’50 50′

‘Slow Animals’

‘Partners In Crime’

‘Chances’

‘Happy Ending’

‘Call It Fate Call It Karma’

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