Essex legend Kunt and the Gang played a gig in a Liverpool pizza bar last week and our wizard Chorizo Garbanzo was there to witness it.
Have a listen here.
Download his review right here.
WARNING: Podcast contains lots of swearing including fuck, cunt and wank.
an ejaculating penis
One of these men is a cunt and that’s an actual fact.
And whilst you’re here, you might like our podcast number 12, the swearing special.
Obligatory shit quality gig photo
A couple of old-timers for you this week. It’s only that outlaw cowpoke, Willie Nelson,and the man formerly known as Warren Zivotovsky .
With a link as simple as trying to unlock QPR’s defence, surely someone’s gonna get this one. If you reckon you know, tell us via smoke signal, why doncha?
Two legendary front men on show this week.
Yes, we’ve got Iggy with his Stooges and Macca’s own Ian Curtis here appearing on TV for the first time with Joy Division. But, how are these two wizard favoured acts linked?
If you know, give Rebel Rikkit a lascivious wink.
We might have mentioned once or twice how much all we wizards love the guitar stylings of Chuck Prophet, both with his previous band Green On Red and solo. It will, therefore, come as no surprise then that we were all very excited about the prospect of catching Chuck and The Mission Express on their current UK tour. Hell, we even decided to drop him a line to ask if we could meet up and have a chat. As if.
Well, being a man of large heart and generous disposition (as well as having fine taste in obscure musical podcasts), Chuck made our year by agreeing to let us ask him a few of our fanboy questions. Having fought off illness in Manchester, he readied himself for a Paxmanesque grilling from our own Kicker of Elves when he caught up with him before the gig at The Trades Club in Hebden Bridge. Here’s what happened:
Part One
Chuck settles down to deal with questions about his touring schedule and playing in the UK. He also tells us about the new ‘Night Surfer’ album, glam rock and living dangerously.
Here’s one of many fantastic tracks on the new album:
And this is the Ezra Furman track that Chuck mentions:
Part Two
The conversation moves on to Green On Red and talk of some of Chuck’s musical heroes. He also chats about his guitar sound and playing in a band with his partner, but perhaps most importantly, he answers our infamous Breakfast Question.
Here’s a video of Green On Red more for the sound than the picture.
And here’s a song Willie Nelson needs to hear. (You can send us the requisite stamps and we’ll sort it out.)
Part Three
We now find out about Chuck’s taste in films and discuss his fantasy band line-up. He also takes us through some of his favourite songs and how he got Peter Buck on his new record. We also have a surprise visitor who regales us with tales of Neil Young.
Chuck doing it live:
Some of Chuck’s favourite songs:
Once again we would like to send our heartfelt thanks to Chuck for being so generous with his time and to all the brilliant members of The Mission Express whose soundcheck at Hebden Bridge was very much delayed (sorry about that!). Thanks also go to tour manager Chris Metzler for helping to set up our interview and to Andy Kershaw for seemingly doing the impossible and adding to what was already a great experience.
More Chuck Prophet related stuff:
– our review of Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express playing the Deaf Institute in Manchester on 11 October 2014
– our review of Chuck playing The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge in 2013
– a whole bunch of other times Chuck has appeared on our blog and podcast
Here are a few of our favourite Chuck Prophet songs:
Yowza! yowza! yowza!
This week, not only do we present for you the always wonderful Edwyn Collins with the second Orange Juice single, we also have perhaps my favourite Boo Radleys song with its ace trumpet riff.
As always there’s an unlikely link between these two. If you know what it is, get yer megaphone out and let Rebel Rikkit know. He’ll pass it on.
As the mighty Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express storm back into Manchester, Rebel and Kicker make it in time to get the best view (whilst sitting down) at The Deaf Institute.
a cracking view of the best band in town
Despite being under the weather, Chuck and his gang play a storming set of numbers old and new and throw in a couple of requisite cool covers that the wizards, for once, claim to recognise. We also talk about the support set from Jonah Tolchin, a name that will become familiar to many (if impossible for Rebel Rikkit to get right).
Have a listen to our preamble and review right here and check back later in the week for an exclusive interview with Chuck, once the cold remedies have done their thing.
Stay gold, baby!
A few more photos
Jonah (John? Johann?) Tolchin
To say that Chuck is very popular with us wizards is an understatement. We were unanimous in naming his previous album “Trust the Wizards Album of the Year 2012“. The very first song played on our very first podcast was one of Chuck’s and we all got very excited on a previous gig review podcast. Check out his tour dates and go and see him when he plays near you, you will leave the building as fanatical as we are.
In the meantime here’s a video from his brilliant new LP “Night Surfer”
A couple of 90s titans for you this week.
It’s only Georgia’s finest janglers, REM and some two bit band from Washington called Nirvana, but what is the link between these two? I can tell you it’s not their Euro-friendly hometowns of Athens and Aberdeen, so what is it?
Get yourself a tattoo of the answer and send Rebel Rikkit a pic on tumblr.
October, eh? By rights, of course, the eighth month, but here we are 5/6 of the way through the year and the numbers are all over the place. Appropriate, then, that my first three selections for this month are all not on Spotify and therefore not on the playlist below. You’ll have to listen elsewhere or write to us begging for a copy of the Monthly Mix on CD if you want the full impact.
However, I wanted to share with you the pleasing (non-instrumental) start to proceedings that rather brilliantly [we will be the judge of that – TTW Ed.] links They Might Be Giants and Luke Haines. We kick off with Welcome To The Jungle, no not that one, the one on TMBG’s The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) EP – I think you’re gonna like it. This is followed by my favourite track on Luke Haines’ new LP, and third part of a trilogy of quite brilliant concept albums, New York In The 70s, it’s Cerne Abbas Man. And the link? Well, apart from the ‘mythic’ chorus, the song also includes the repeated line ‘I wanna be like you’, which has to be a steal from The Jungle Book, right? Oh, please yerselves. The third unavailable track is also a newie, Road from We Are Shining’s album Kara. It sounds like Jimi Hendrix fronting Goat to me, which is very much a good thing, and should be, ahem, tracked down.
muthafucking rock and roll
By the time this playlist is posted, I will have been to the Liverpool Psychedelic Festival and apart from the aforementioned Goat, one of the bands I am very keen on catching is Amen Dunes. Their Love LP is a particularly fine thing, full of lo-fi songs of heartbreak much like the one on offer here. A fabulous listen. Brightening things up somewhat are Pizzicato Five, my favourite Shibuya-kei band, with a song I know from a great compilation on the Matador label back in the day – Matador At 21 – that for some reason contains casino chips. Anyway, enjoy what the band liked to term ‘A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular’. Another new song next, this time from a well established artist. It’s taken from the album Red Beans And Weiss by Chuck E himself and rather neat it is too; Tupelo Joe opens the album and is the standout track in my view.
amen
With the recent news that the most recent version of Guided By Voices had split up leaving GBV fans like me with only a new Circus Devils LP and another Robert Pollard solo album to look forward to this year, it seems only right to return to one of their classics this month. From Propeller, how about a song that starts with the immortal line “I dare not say the way I feel /About your inability to suck it up and win the game”? Yes, that’s you Leeds United/QPR/Bolton Wanderers (delete as applicable). Another act I’m hoping to catch at the Psych Fest is former Black Angels guitarist Christian Bland and his newly formed Revelators – their Pig Boat Blues album is a real grower and I reckon they’ll be a blast live. More new stuff next from Debbie Harry soundalike Alice from the band Cosines and the track Binary Primary from their latest Oscillations LP, which features some excellent accurate adding up and is undeniably great.
where are all the black ones, Christian?
Best band name of the mix time now, it’s Jesus And His Judgemental Father with the, frankly, marvellous, Princess Piss from their Kings & Queens collection. This band came to my attention following a recommendation from Nathan of the band Oh No Shit It’s Neil Diamond and this track is just a fantastic singalong tune. Some classic garage rock sound after that from The Chesterfield Kings with the track She Told Me Lies that I really like with its Ramonesy vocals and Stranglersy organ. Another Nathan recommendation next with the closing track from The Spook School album Dress Up that now comes highly recommended from me. Check them out.
of course, you don’t want to leave
Next up is a track from another Kickstarter project I was pleased to be invloved in. This one came my way via Chuck Prophet and involved supporting the work of one Kris Delmhorst, whose Blood Test LP is a moody piece that showcases her fantastic voice to great effect. As part of the deal, I not only bagged myself a signed copy of the LP, but also received 2 of her favourite books. You can’t say fairer than that. Recently, when filing away some of my newer 7″ acquisitions I came upon an old favourite from Andrew Bird – See My Enemy, which is actually a B-side, and stills sounds brilliant. The picked violin (possibly?) at the start reminded me of the opening track on XTC’s Apple Venus -which you can find below – but, it is the Bird-Partridge link I have gone for with a track from Andy’s Fuzzy Warbles collection that I have also been revisiting lately. The track My Land Is Burning comes from Volume 5.
Time for a band from one of our favourite labels, the legendary Alcopop, and it’s Liverpool’s own punctuation-ignorers, goFASTER with a track taken from the brilliantly titled AQA Does Not Much Care For Alcopop. Pimm’s Is Delicious from some 6 years ago. Surely time for this lot to reform. A more recent release comes from Hi-Fiction Science’s James McKeown, whose blending of Folk and Krautrock (Fraut Rock, anyone?) is served up beautifully on his 2010 self-titled album, which came my way, as so many things seem to have done recently, via our friends at Fruits de Mer and one of their generous goodie bags. This is followed by another garage band classic from The Music Machine and a track that I resisted following with anything off Spirit Of Eden. This version craps all over the better known Alice Cooper cover in my view.
slow the fuck down (and capitalise)
As threatened last month, we now turn to the irregular feature that is Tex Pix. Friend of the pod, and all-round rootin’ tootin’ gun-totin’ good guy, Texas Paul gives us The United States Of America. Not all of it, and not even just Texas, but rather a track from said band’s eponymous, and only, album. Very nice. This is followed by a track I found on The Rough Guide To The Music Of Palestine compilation. The most interesting track was by Jowan Safadi, but I am afraid that is all I know about it. See what you think. Then, finally, to close, it’s a track from the ever prolific, Stephen Jones, here recording under his own name with a track from the album Dream Walking – a 3 LP affair that purports to be a soundtrack to a film. I really love all his instrumental stuff (and he has produced a lot of it – just the 175 tracks this year alone), but I do hope we get a full vocal album at some point too.
See you next month.
Those tracks in full:
1. Welcome To The Jungle – They Might Be Giants
2. Cerne Abbas Man – Luke Haines – the track Lou Reed Lou Reed is on the playlist.
3. Road – We Are Shining (feat. Shingai Shoniwa) – there’s no link to this track, but you can get an idea of the sound here
4. Lonely Richard – Amen Dunes
5. Baby Love Child – Pizzicato Five
6. Tupelo Joe – Chuck E Weiss
7. Some Drilling Implied – Guided By Voices
8. Black Crayon – Christian Bland & The Revelators
9. Binary Primary – Cosines
10. Princess Piss – Jesus & His Judgemental Father
11. She Told Me Lies – The Chesterfield Kings – the equally great Up And Down is on the playlist.
12. Who Ya Gonna Call? Goatbuster! – The Spook School
13. Saw It All – Kris Delmhorst
14. See The Enemy – Andrew Bird
15. My Land Is Burning – Andy Partridge
16. NHS Dentist – goFASTER
17. Poachers Feet – James McKeown
18. Talk Talk – The Music Machine
19. Coming Down – The United States Of America
20. Tayran Ababil – Jowan Safadi
21. The Lost Train – Stephen Jones
Not Complaining, Simply Dying
Playlist
Previous monthly mixes
All fifteen previous mixes are still available for free! Why not follow us on Spotify to avoid missing out?
A trip back in time this week for a couple of classics from way back when.
We present you with two-tone titans, The Specials, with a performance from the OGWT and inventors of big hair, The Cure, with one of my favourite songs of theirs. But how are these two strange bedfellows linked, eh?
If you know, tap out your answer in morse code for Rebel Rikkit to pick up on his pop radar.
Tune in to our latest podcast to hear talk of film soundtracks, colobus monkeys, plastic footballers with oversized heads, advice on how to listen to the U2 album and unusual uses for pencil sharpeners. Oh and lots of great music too of course!
You can download it here.
Here’s some of the stuff we played.
Related posts:
Kicker of Elves returned to his homeland on Saturday to catch Kristin Hersh with Throwing Muses and Tanya Donelly at the fantastic Picturedrome in Holmfirth. On the way he met up with friends of the pod old and new.
Great photo courtesy of @trishatarpey
After the gig, there was plenty to talk about and a suggestion that they may just have witnessed the gig of the year.
Have a listen and download here or indeed here:
Please note that we are fully aware that Honeychain is a Throwing Muses song, but the Yorkshire ale got the better of us. Apologies.
A couple of excellent photos from Farmer John:
And some, frankly, piss-poor ones from the O’Elves camera:
Other related podcasts:
More Kristin related stuff here:
A couple of suitably cool videos for you this week. Firstly, enter the Sandman, yes, it’s the guitarless band Morphine and alongside them we have the rush of former Delgado, Emma Pollock sans bicyclette.
But, what could possibly link these two? Get your answers injected into the veins of our own Rebel Rikkit as soon as you can.
On Friday, the Wizards went to Manchester to see Sleaford Mods and 2 unforgettable support bands The Ceramic Hobs and Evil Blizzard.
Here’s what we made of it all.
Some photos of an amazing night.
Related links on trustthewizards.com:
Here we all are again.
This time we have Milwaukee’s very own Violent Femmes up against Guilford’s favourite sons, The Vapors with a couple of their best known and most loved numbers.
But, how the hell are they connected? Let Rebel Rikkit know by sending him a tweet.
Yesterday, one of the wizards (Chorizo Garbanzo) ventured out into the wilds of West Yorkshire to go and see his beloved Wedding Present play the Long Division festival in Wakefield. His mate Mr Fingers accompanied him and they reminisced like the sad old gits they are about a quarter century of Weddoes-watching together. They had a busy day at the festival watching 15 (fifteen!) bands play in 9 different venues.
Hear all about it on our podcast:
Download podcast here
Links for the bands we saw:
Other Wedding Present posts on trustthewizards.com:
Obligatory poor quality photos below.
Years ago, I read a book called “A Drink With Shane MacGowan”, a collaboration between Shane himself and his then beau Victoria Clarke (a lady whose fling with Van Morrison inspired Shane to write the immortal lines “Victoria, you left me for a fat monk singing Gloria”)
But that book was quite unsatisfying and it felt like the full story of one of my favourite bands had yet to be told. There was plenty of vitriol in MacGowan / Clarke’s book but, perhaps inevitably given the main subject, details were vague and timelines were unclear.
Back row: Jamie Fearnley, Jem Finer, Andrew Ranken, Spider Stacy. Front row: Shane MacGowan, Cait O’Riordan
Accordion player and multi-instrumentalist James Fearnley was there right at the start of the band. In fact his working relationship with Shane goes back even further to the days of The Nips / Nipple Erectors. Early on in the book after a night of heavy drinking at Dingwalls, a vomiting MacGowan shouts abuse at Fearnley when he tries to offer help, a scene that the author is reminded of a few more times over the next decade. With MacGowan seemingly intent on the romantic ideal of self-destruction (live fast, die young, not sure about the good-looking corpse bit) the band’s patience with him is pushed to the limit.
Other bandmembers are almost as wayward and unpredictable with their excessive drinking, sudden disappearances, illnesses, tantrums, excessive drinking, suicide attempts and of course excessive drinking. If you like reading about people puking up blood then this is the book for you!
Fearnley doesn’t hold back with his opinions and it’s quite a shock at times to read his words on some of his fellow Pogues. He still gigs with them, so they must be very forgiving or maybe they just haven’t read the book yet! As well as the band, three of my biggest idols crop up quite a bit, Elvis Costello, Kirsty MacColl and Joe Strummer. Kirsty comes across as a thoroughly good egg, but you definitely can’t say the same for Elvis or Joe!
James Fearnley performing with The Pogues in 2012
Fearnley had ambitions as a writer before he got sidetracked by music and it really shows. He’s clearly an erudite and well-read bloke and his writing is well-constructed, passionate and has got some of them fancy long words in it. It’s not one of those music biographies that reads like some bloke down the pub telling funny stories. (like the book I’m reading now, review to come soon)
Overall, I don’t think I have EVER read a music biography that makes being in a band sound so awful! There is some genuine affection between some bandmembers, for example Fearnley and banjo player Jem Finer. But overall it does make you question why on earth anyone would want to be in such an unhappy band with a dysfunctional lunatic like MacGowan who’s so off his head he can’t even get onstage and do his job.
Why would anyone put up with this shit? But in his heart, Fearnley knows exactly why. Pogues fans like me know why as well. Those fucking lyrics man. The lyrics on those first 3 albums have got everything in them: horror, joy, violence, wild abandon, adventure, death, sex, filth and of course excessive drinking.
Here’s a bit from the book on the song “Streams of Whiskey”…
The book is a great read, essential for any fan of the band.
As for MacGowan, “no great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.” The words of another great drinker Aristotle who was a bugger for the bottle.
Remind yourself of those fucking amazing MacGowan lyrics with our playlist:
Other Pogues related posts on our blog:
Time again to get yer thinking caps on.
This week we have the New York cool of Stephin Merrit’s Magnetic Fields and the neo-psychedelic sound of Sydney’s The Church. But how are these cool popsters connected? Let us know by telepathically communicating with the subconscious mind of Rebel Rikkit. Yikes!
Another month, another mix and surprising no-one, we’re going to kick off with an instrumental. However, there is a surprising backstory to this particular selection. It’s the opening track from Volume One of The Secret Cosmic Music Of The East German Olympic Progam 1972-83 by the band Kosmischer Läufer. Oh, yes. Turns out this is a bloke called Martin Zeichnette, a fifty year old Dresdener who was summoned by the GDR authorities to write motorik repetitive songs for potential Olympic athletes to train to and it’s only now that these mesmeric pieces are seeing the light of day. I have been playing this first volume for weeks since I first caught up with it and am very excited by the release of a second set on gorgeous red vinyl. Suffice to say, if you like this track, you’ll love the second volume. Of course, the concept may be pure hokum (the record was sent to me from an Edinburgh address after all), but the music is just great and I, for one, will choose to believe the story.
cosmically trained
Getting right up to date we follow the Läufer (as nobody calls them) with a track from the latest Stanley Brinks & The Wave Pictures LP called Gin (and of course it’s on gin coloured vinyl). Stan is the artist formerly known as Herman Dune, who definitely sounds German (although I think he’s French). Anyway, this song is in English and damn fine it is too. A Scouse classic up next with former Pale Fountain Michael Head and a track from his Magical World Of The Strands album that I was reminded about after our friend Huw Wild Eyes nominated it as one of his favourite tracks on a previous podcast. Then it’s The Pretty Things with a song Shindig magazine recently called ‘The Best British Beat Single Recorded In 1964’ and despite the specificity of that award, they had to, er, beat off plenty of competition. Of course, it’s Rosalyn.
yup, better than these
Time to move into a technicolour world with a song that came my way via the New Yorkist Partisan Records Sampler 2014. It’s the band Ages And Ages with a magnificent singalong track and that’s all I know. Back to the 70s and it’s time we had a cool Beatle on, isn’t it? Everybody’s favourite thumbtastic headshaker, it’s Macca with a neat little instrumental from his second solo album. No doubt in my mind, it’s Paul who was the experimental one. Rather brilliantly that leads into a modern day celebration of the interesting Rolling Stone. A band, by the way, the wizards would happily nominated as the most over-rated of all time (OK, that might just be me). Anyway, the Bermondsey Joyriders, for it is they, have crafted a very catchy anthem to Brian Jones that is worth a listen. It’s another track from the wonderful Active Listener series next and another band I know nothing about, Black Springs, with the song Silver Ship. Or is it Silver Ship with the song Black Springs? It probably doesn’t matter. Very neat it is in any case.
presumably not from florida either
Former Morrissey tips for the top, James, have got a new album out and rather fine it is too. It’s mostly about death, which is usually right up my street. The album is La Petite Mort, which doesn’t necessarily refer to an orgasm (as I previously thought), but also to a great disappointment or a dying inside. Like how I felt on hearing of the appointment of David Hockaday – more unorgasmic, you could not get. Rather more exciting is the news that a big favourite of mine, Darren Hayman, will be playing up north (well, Crewe) next month. He recently released a limited edition of hand painted EPs about dogs, which I failed to get hold of (cue another petite mort – and not one of the good ones) and one of the tracks was a very nice solo version of the next song on the mix. It had me listening to the remarkable Table For One all over again. Regular readers of this blog will be aware of the virtues of a high fibre diet. They will also know that I enjoy picking up records by local bands when I happen upon a record shop in a faraway town. And so it was that when I was in the marvellous Soundclash Records in Norwich earlier in the year, I picked up the eponymous debut album by the band Juke & The All-Drunk Orchestra. A little bit Waitsy (Tom), a little bit Spencery (Blues Explosion not Frank), they make a very enjoyable sound indeed. As do the pleasingly named Everthus The Deadbeats band. They appear on this mix as part of an irregular ‘Tex Pix’ feature, where friend of the pod, Texas Paul gets to suggest a track for inclusion. He knows there is no certainty that his selection will make it, but hot on the heels of his excellent recommendation of The Growlers, this track damn sure has to be played.
one that got away
At Wizard HQ, we are all very excited about the forthcoming Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia with loads of must-see bands. On the Friday, I am hoping to see Purple Heart Parade and Plank (both Manchester bands), the magnificent Amen Dunes and Allah-Las. For Saturday, I am lining up Bed Rugs, Gnod, The Lucid Dream, Mazes, Teeth Of The Sea, Christian Bland & The Revelators and, of course, headliners, Goat. I also don’t want to miss Grumbling Fur, whose Glynnaestra album is still getting regular spins on the O’Elves turntable. Here’s one of my favourite tracks from that set. I was attracted to the next band, Pujol, not by their floppy haired football link, but by this, on the Noisetrade Sampler site: “Pujol’s latest LP, Kludge, idiosyncratically captures life as it exists in our weird almost future world of flying robots, cancer from food, cell phone wire taps, metadata, $7.25ish minimum wage and $15.50 an hour endless choice buffets.” And yes, they really sound like that. The Parrots, on the other hand, do not sound like parrots. They appear on the indispensable Vaultage 78: Two Sides Of Brighton compilation and outshine local heroes Peter & The Test Tube Babies. Another new one next and it’s Drive-By Truckers with the song title of the month in Shit Shot Counts from their English Oceans LP.
i might’ve shinned it, but it went in
Do you remember The Pop Group? Bristolian post-punk pioneers, they released the next track, She Is Beyond Good And Evil, as their debut single back in 1979 to critical acclaim and no sales. They are still name dropped by the likes of Nick Cave as being important and have recently popped up on Pledge Music trying to raise funds to release a remastered version of We Are Time and a bunch of rarities. Worth a punt, I’d say. Also, always good value is Wizard-fave, Roddy Frame, whose new Seven Dials album has already featured on our podcasts. The reflective track Postcard not only recalls the iconic record label, but also echoes one of our favourite guitar solos. The whole album is just beautiful. Just about time then for a track from one of the more recent Rough Trade Album Club selections. This is from the Typical System LP by the Aussie band Total Control. It’s difficult to describe the sound of this lot as they vary from punk to krautrock to synth pop from one track to another. It all works surprisingly well as an album and it is really growing on me. See what you think. Then, finally, it’s the track that has often been described as ‘the ballad of GBV’, not least (in fact, probably only) by the band themselves. The track is Dayton, Ohio 19 Something And 5, which appears on the fanclub Tonics & Twisted Chasers album (not on Spotify) and as a live track on the Selective Service set (on Spotify). Just so you can enjoy both versions, check out the video below. Isn’t it great to exist at this point in time?
See you next month.
Those tracks in full:
1. Kosmischer Läufer – Zeit Zum Laufen 156
2. Stanley Brinks & The Wave Pictures – One Minute Of Darkness
3. Michael Head – Something Like You
4. The Pretty Things – Rosalyn
5. Ages And Ages – Divisionary (Do The Right Thing)
6. Paul McCartney – Front Parlour
7. The Bermondsey Joyriders – Brian Jones (The Real True Leader Of The Rolling Stones)
8. Black Springs – Silver Ship
9. James – Bitter Virtue
10. Darren Hayman – The National Canine Defence League
11. Juke & The All-Drunk Orchestra – Howlin’ At The Moon
12. Everthus The Deadbeats – Dinosaur
13. Grumbling Fur – Galacticon
14. Pujol – Dark Haired Suitor
15. The Parrots – Vicious Circles
16. Drive-By Truckers – Shit Shots Count
17. The Pop Group – She Is Beyond Good And Evil
18. Roddy Frame – Postcard
19. Total Control – Safety Net
20. Guided By Voices – Dayton, Ohio 19 Something And 5
Where The Produce Is Rotten
Playlist
Previous monthly mixes
All fourteen previous mixes are still available for free! Why not follow us on Spotify to avoid missing out?
So, it’s back to school with the Trust The Wizards Podcast.
Help get through the first week back with a couple of rip-snorters. Today we have The Clash live in 1983 with a suitable wound up Mr Strummer and little Bobby Smith’s lot from circa 1991. The question is, what links the two?
I have to take my hat off to Chorizo Garbanzo for the devious connection.
Today would’ve been John Peel’s 75th birthday and last night we were proud to be part of “Peel’s Big 75” at The Kazimier in Liverpool. We were asked to DJ for the night so we played a Peel-flavoured set that went like this…
After that, there was some witty poetry from John Kay including one about Scousers, a ballsy move from a Mancunian in an away fixture!
No Christmas for John Kay?
Here’s a Spotify playlist of the songs we’d played so far.
The rain was coming down hard by now and it was time for Double Double Plus Good who were exactly that. First time we’d heard these fellas but we were impressed with their instantly catchy punkypop sound.
2 x 2 x + Good = Great.
Next up was Mean Jean, organisers of tonight’s gig and big favourites of the wizards from when we saw them supporting Scott & Charlene’s Wedding last August. They included some Festive 50 covers in their set including that Camper Van Beethoven classic and Chorizo’s favourite Pavement song. You can also hear them on our recent podcast number 26.
Jean Genies
Last band of the night were Avenging Force featuring bassist Graham who rose Lazarus-like from his sickbed to play the gig and ended the last song in a heap on the floor. As might be expected from a band who’ve made an album with Steve Albini, they were REALLY LOUD which is always a good thing. Monstrous drumming, lots of crazy effects pedals and plenty of fucking about with feedback here, all of which created a truly beautiful racket.
Can you feel the Force?
Here a Spotify playlist of the second half of the set.
The whole evening was in aid of the 2 charities Crisis and Shelter. You can donate on this page.
The wizards and everyone on the stage last night had their life significantly enriched by John Peel’s radio shows. Have a listen to our special podcast celebrating the music he championed. Happy birthday John.
Related posts:
Hot on the heels of helping DJ at the recent Liverpool bash commemorating what would have been John Peel’s 75th birthday, the wizards have only gone and put together a Peel flavoured pod for you to suck on.
were you one of the cool kids who made it?
John Peel may well have been the biggest influence on the musical tastes of all of us and without doubt was a major inspiration for us releasing these podcasts into the world. We all listened religiously not only to his late night shows on Radio 1, but also his half hour oasis of sanity on the World Service. In this podcast we finally shut the fuck up and play the songs that mean the most to us, the ones that John Peel introduced us to.
Happy birthday, John! Thanks for all the music.
You can download and stream the podcast by clicking here or just press play below.
Oh, and here’s one more.
And some physicality from the show…
On our most recent podcast, we played a track by the Durham based band ONSIND called Pokemon City Limits, which demands to be heard. We also mentioned that Nathan from the band had kindly agreed to answer a few of our questions. Please feel free to read his thoughtful responses in the voice of Davey Stott (as demonstrated by Rebel Rikkit on the podcast) if you wish. The questions themselves should reflect a mixture of Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cockney full the full live effect.
not ONSIND in the studio
Anyway, thanks again to Nathan for his time and apologies for any upset Rebel Rikkit may have caused. Here is that Q&A in full.
Hello Nathan. How’s it hanging?
I’m good thanks for asking.
The band ONSIND is you and Daniel. Can you tell us how you started to make music together?
Well, we’ve known each other for a very long time, since we were little kids. We grew up on the same street in the same village called Pity Me in Durham. As teens we played in bands that played together a lot, ska and punk bands. Then about 7 or 8 years ago, we decided to do a band together, and this is it.
The band name often appears capitalised. Is it an acronym? How should we say it (“on – sind” or” oh-en-ess-eye-enn-dee”)? What’s it all about in any case?
Our name was originally ‘One Night Stand in North Dakota’, but that’s kind of an overly long, terrible name, with loads of weird connotations that don’t really fit (like, vague americana and sexual conquest). So we shortened it to Onsind, because that’s just a nonsensical made up word, with no real connotations (other than “what?”). So that’s our name.
Your songs have fantastic titles that don’t actually appear in the songs themselves. Do you start with a song title and write the song or the other way round?
The song names usually come after. Naming a song after the lyrical hook feels a bit boring, so we try and come up with names that are often (somewhat cryptically) related to the song.
Your music sits between Yuji Oniki and Orange Juice on my alphabetised shelves and to quote Edwyn Collins from 1994, there are ‘too many protest singers, not enough protest songs’ – how do you feel about that line 20 years after it was written?
I don’t really know what that means but it sounds good. Does he mean that there are people claiming to be protest singers who aren’t being political enough? Or is it just that the politics (and ‘issues’) should come before the ego of the individual? I don’t really have any strong feelings about the volume of protest singers/songs out there!
What moves you to write a song more – injustice or love? Why?
Injustice. We don’t really have any love songs. I find it hard to write love songs. Also I feel like there are enough love songs out there (especially sung by cis-men with acoustic guitars), I don’t have anything unique or interesting to add.
Might we see an ONSIND song about the current situation in Gaza?
It would be pretty hard to write a song about Gaza that would be sensitive to the nuances of the situation. I’m involved with a charity in Durham called the Durham Palestine Education Trust which raises money to pay for Palestinians to come and study in Durham, and promotes peace and justice for Palestinians. We’ve raised money for DPET in the past through downloads and such (and recently, selling records). That’s probably a more constructive way for us to engage with the conflict. The whole situation breaks my heart and boils my blood.
Who is a more hateful figure Tony Blair or David Cameron? Why?
That’s like asking which head of the Hydra is worse. They’re all parts of the same monster. We need to destroy the whole thing, from the ground up.
Who do you consider a hero? Why?
Having heroes isn’t really very anarchist, but if I had to pick someone Audre Lorde would be up there. For her writing, and providing a political analysis that left room for poetry, emotion and passion. Others might be Kurt Vonnegut for writing some of my favourite books. Alison Bechdel, for the same reasons. Musically, Paul Heaton and Billy Bragg are big influences on me. No one is perfect though, and generally I try not to put anyone on a pedestal.
pretty close to a hero
What 3 songs would appear on the soundtrack to your life?
This changes on an almost daily basis. I’ve been listening to ‘Up The Junction’ by Squeeze a lot lately, since Pete Dale covered it at Indietracks. It’s pretty much a perfect song. Tight as a drum, funny, sad, total kitchen sink drama. Great music, heartbreaking. I guess, on a similar theme ‘Old Red Eyes is Back’ by the Beautiful South- a song about an alcoholic looking back on the wasted potential of his life. It’s brilliant. Being straight edge, the relevance to me might not be immediately apparent, but as a storytelling song I love it. Also, I can relate to feeling like I’ve wasted my life. And, I guess sticking to the theme of story songs, ‘Over and Done With’ by the Proclaimers. But that’s just this week. Ask me again next week.
Which band would you have liked to have been a part of? Why?
Fleetwood Mac- Buckingham era. Maybe not. But it would have been nice to have been a fly on the wall during the making of Rumours.
Which other current bands should we be listening to?
Oh god loads. Keeping it limited to poppy UK based stuff there’s No Ditching, Spook School, T-Shirt Weather, Chrissy Barnacle, Twisted, Jesus and His Judgemental Father, Martha (our other band) plus tonnes of others I’ve forgotten that I’ll kick myself about in five minutes.
Oh, and the Trust Fund/Joanna Gruesome split that’s about to come out on Reeks of Effort is gonna be amazing! Buy it.
Cricket – cool as fuck or a load of old bollocks?
I have no strong feelings about cricket! Never played it, or watched it, but I’m sure there must be something good about it, if people play it all over the world. Or maybe it’s politically fucked up in some way I don’t know about. I prefer rounders.
You’re in a caff ordering breakfast. You can have tea or coffee and toast. What are the first three other items you will order?
Linda McCartney Sausages, Baked Beans and fried Mushrooms.
My son, Kicker Jr, was well impressed that we will be playing a song that name-checks Pokemon (at least in the title). This is his question: which pokemon city do you prefer – New Bark or Pallet?
Daniel would be better at answering this! I guess Pallet Town, because, as I remember it, it’s your hometown, and we’re hometown kind of people.
nowhere like home
Can you tell us a little about how the song Pokemon City Limits came about?
Well, prepare to be confused/bored. Propagandhi had an album called ‘Potemkin City Limits’, which is incredible. Then on their next album (Supporting Caste), they had a song called ‘Potemkin City Limits’ about Francis, a pig who escaped from a slaughterhouse. It’s a wonderful, heartbreakingly amazing true story and the song is a tribute to Francis. The idea of a Potemkin city is one of a hollow visage, concealing a horrifying reality.
Our second album was called ‘Dissatisfactions’, but on our next album (Anaesthesiology), we have a song called ‘Dissatisfactions’. That comes from a Sylvia Plath poem called Elm (‘is it the sea you hear in me? It’s dissatisfactions?’- which we use in our song ‘Suicide is Painful’). I’ve used the term ‘dissatisfactions in a few songs in connection with the recurring theme of depression and sadness (bubbling away beneath a visage of presentability- like bodies buried beneath the street). Seeing as Propagandhi were being intertextual with their songwriting, and so were we, we thought it’d be cool to have a meta-intertextual reference to the Propagandhi album/song- hence ‘Pokemon City Limits’. Also, crucially, the main character in our song, Chelsea, is playing on her gameboy and not really paying attention (distracted by a hollow visage). But her grandfathers anger breaks her out of it. It’s a metaphor for political awakening. It takes place in 91′ so she can’t technically have been playing Pokemon, but never mind- it makes sense to me.
You are, I believe, currently on tour. Can you tell our listener where he/she might be able to catch you?
We are doing a run of shows with Chris Clavin (from Ghost Mice). August 28th-September 2nd- details on our facebook page. We also might be playing Get Cape Wear Cape Fly’s last ever Nottingham show on September 3rd. Hopefully there’s more in the pipeline too!
The album Anaesthesiology came out in 2013 – have you got anything in the pipeline for this or next year?
We both play in a band called ‘Martha’, who released an album earlier this year (marthadiy.bandcamp.com)- we’re both really really exicted about that and we’re trying to tour with that band and push that a bit. Onsind will hopefully do a 7″ at some point next early year, and maybe even do a Euro tour if we can swing it.
Many thanks for taking time to talk to us. Will you come and play in Liverpool soon?
We’d love to. We’ve not played there since December 2013. Would be great!
You can find out more about Nathan’s bands on the following sites (and you really should).
You will, of course, have heard the dulcet Boltonian tones of the real musician, Ballard, on podcast number 26, where he explains that our chosen track from his Napoleon album, Build Break Repeat had more to do with washing-machines than Lego.
bound to fucking break
The great news is that Darren Riley, for it is he, also agreed to answer of few more of our questions about his music making and glamorous rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and even put up with Rebel Rikkit’s series of ”Bolton Questions’. You can hear the whole interview interspersed with some of our other favourite Ballard tracks right here and on the s/cloud widget under these words.
Many thanks to Darren for his time and insight. We very much hope to catch him in the Dog & Partridge in the near future. For more Ballard information, please visit his bandcamp page and give generously.
Here is some live Ballard footage featuring a very natty scarf and other musicians at the recent Dogstock. Woof!
Robert Pollard’s Guide To The Late 60s podcast
TRUST THE WIZARDS 