With their futuristic sound and frontman Mike Score’s outlandish haircut, A Flock of Seagulls were as synonymous with the eighties as yuppies, ET and DeLorean cars. They achieved rapid fame – perhaps too rapid in retrospect, burning brightly but briefly – the original quartet releasing just two albums before imploding in a whirl of breakdowns and inter-band rivalries. But now, […]
David Bowie
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Dub Sex guitarist Chris Bridgett is back with new power trio Cold Water Swimmers. Geordie Bridgett, whose short-lived previous outfit The G-O-D supported The Stone Roses at Wembley Stadium last year, says his new band “tell stories of life and death and all the stuff in between”. Formed in February with Carrie Lawson on bass and Selina Clements Woolnough on drums, Cold Water Swimmers promise […]
Funny, open and engaging, Daniel Ash is not quite what you might expect from the man behind some of the darkest and most experimental music of the past 40 years. The founder of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets is back on the road with new ensemble Poptone and teasing the prospect of new music and a European tour. Featuring the father-daughter […]
Sex Pistols – you go years without encountering one – and then three come along at once. No sooner had I finished recounting the exploits of John Lydon and Paul Cook at Camden Rocks, than I got the chance to have a chat with Glen Matlock ahead of the release of his new solo album Good To Go. Replaced by Sid Vicious – so the legend […]
Something of an alternative supergroup, Shriekback came into being – at least as Barry Andrews tells it – after he was doggedly pursued by bassist Dave Allen. Allen, looking to form a new band after the demise of Gang of Four, was keen to hook up with the keyboard player who’d quit XTC, after losing a power struggle with Andy Partridge. Initially reluctant, Andrews […]
Coming 10 years after its predecessor – and with David Bowie‘s right hand man Tony Visconti in the producer’s chair – there were naturally big expectations surrounding Evil Spirits, the latest offering by The Damned. With founder members Captain Sensible and Dave Vanian well into their 60s – many have predicted it might be their farewell album – a last run around the track for the band, […]
Bauhaus drummer Kevin Haskins was behind the kit for one of the most iconic groups of the late ’70s and early ’80s. Now he’s got together with Cleopatra Records to document his life and times with the band in a glossy, coffee table art book. Featuring largely unseen memorabilia, Bauhaus Undead is Haskins personal account of the goth rockers turbulent history, from their inception […]
When I was about nine or 10 and just starting to take a serious interest in music, my elder brother, in a rare show of fraternal indulgence, took it upon himself to introduce me to the delights of indie synth-pop. To my great surprise and eternal gratitude he presented me with a cassette tape (ask your parents kids!). On […]
In no particular order some of my favourite music moments. No37 O Superman by Laurie Anderson. Eight minutes long and performed by a then little known American street artist, Laurie Anderson‘s O Superman is perhaps one of the unlikeliest UK chart hits of all time. Written in response to Operation Eagle Claw, a disastrous 1980 attempt by the American military to rescue hostages […]
It’s not often you get to talk to someone who’s had a number one single and double platinum album, had a song covered by David Bowie and who also just happens to be a fully qualified psychotherapist. So it was with some degree of trepidation I picked up the ‘phone to chat with Mark Nevin about his new solo album My Unfashionable […]