I Love The Music

OK I will write this blog, was not going to attempt it tonight as I rather feel my brain is taken apart, I’m coming off Tamazepam again, and large great chunks of flying faeces are hitting the fan with horrible regularity in my life, and especially in the lives of those close. (PS Which impacts on me. What touches those close to us seems to touch us very much). I came to the conclusion recently that life, is about making hay while the dark clouds amass above us. Because, they never stop for long. Or to put it Lou Reed’s way, ‘make a point of having some fun’. Things can go along quite well for a good while, but I think life’s ever shifting kaleidoscope regularly turns to monochrome and this is why my new philosophy, is to take this into account and put some splashes of colour into life’s mix from now on. I mean, all sorts of shit is going to happen. I used to be the sort of person who thought my life a horrid mess because the sky was never free from clouds, whereas everyone else’s life seemed relatively sunny. Sorry for obvious metaphors. Whereas now, I have no reason to assume my life is particularly bleak. I now think most people’s lives are, frankly rather bleak, and that therefore lets all make hay, and sun, as a deliberate policy amidst the grey skies.

Thank you Marcus Rossi, an extremely clever, good looking, intelligent man who writes for Shindig! Magazine, for the following review of England’s Dreaming Spires, my LP available now from villagegreenmachine.com:

VILLAGE GREEN MACHINE
England’s Dreaming Spires
Paisley Arcade CD
www.paisleyarcade.com

‘Shindig!’ Out now!

Village Green Machine is to all intents and purposes a one-man operation, the man in question being the estimable Mark Lemon: and a man of considerable taste and refinement he is.
England’s Dreaming Spires, as its title readily suggests, taps into a very specific and cherishable vein of UK popsike. However, while Marks unadorned English singing voice betrays a loving debt to Syd Barrett and often calls to mind David Gedge of The Wedding Present, oddly the finished product utilises a considerably broader palette than one might expect. The super-clean guitars and splashy drums, deliriously awash in a bath of reverb, are closer in essence to Joe Meek than George Martin, while Marks lyrics throughout are sharply observant, wholly contemporary, insightful and witty.
You Make Me Feel That Way, Rollercoaster and The Whole Of My Heart, all effortlessly immediate, would be hit records in any truly civilised society, while My Eccentric Cousin is what 65-era Dylan would have sounded like sharing a travelling rug with Phil Spector in a rainy Birmingham bus shelter.
Marco Rossi

Thanks Marco.
One thing is for sure, I always use 60s sounds. Usually I experiment as well. The truth is beyond this what I do is difficult to pin down, as I never stay still for long. So England’s Dreaming Spires echoes Cliff Richard one minute, The Ramones the next, while being made to sound like early Beach Boys. And I mean, I sing in a British accent. I utilise whatever influences come to mind, I mix everything up but ofcourse one has to be able to write a good song. A certain plugger recently accused me of being reliant on other people’s material as the basis of my work, this is complete arse. I celebrate my influences but, if he had bothered to listen to the substance which is mine alone, I think he would have found some worthy original substance. Great that Psychodrama has been played on Radio 6. Wiithout the assistance of a plugger.

This week, we got in despite some heavy personal issues and got recording, I did a song called I Love The Music, kind of Beatles folky/sea shanty style. But I let go of this blueprint and experimented with the types of overdubs, and just generally experimental….the muse flew in the window when I was producing and its a happening track, its got this very distorted fuzztone guitar- the one given to me by a close personal friend from a very cool famous group from the 1960s lol- . Describing music is plainly like trying to describe a colour, … but I am glad because I am never secure, in as much as I can never sit back and think, the next recording will be really good. That would just be a dangerous conceit, and not everything I do turns out. I am still not happy with English Cafe, and I’ve recorded that maybe 6 times or even more. If you like Village Green Machine I will tell you though, I am really thrilled by the way the second album is shaping up. Doing this thing is my life, any money I’ve earnt before VGM has been snorted up someone else’s nose, or worse, and music, is all. I think album 2 will be on its way in spring next year. File sharing, I can’t condemn that since I expanded my own musical landscape a lot by copying albums onto tape when I was a kid, but, supporting us with an album purchase will help keep this thing going.

Did anyone see that interview with Cliff Richard recently by Piers Morgan? Why ever doesn’t that bloke come out of the closet- and Cliff Richard as well.
I have criticised Cliff in the past, for having made a lot of bad records, but now with my blog apparently being read by several hundred people a week, (look I’m not Rupert Murdoch) I think I had better be careful incase I offend the over 70s, Cliff fan club. There is a Monty Python sketch where the Conservative women’s institute or some such decide to sort out lazy working class men, and people interested in sex, and go on the attack with their handbags- (ps pre Margaret Thatcher) I am shaking in my shoes at the thought of the very real possibility of offending at least one Cliff fan I know – but anyway I’m sorry but I am going to speak my mind. I think, he was, and is, a great bloke. No, hold on hipsters, don’t go yet. I was in a band with a drummer who was also a security guard at a major UK venue, and apparently when CR played there, he gave them all T Shirts (which they wore of course) and was really nice and allright. Well, it does count for a lot and I’m not being ironic. Whereas when Barry Manilow played, allegedly, he made all the security guards turn their backs when he mounted the stage. The thought of being mounted by Barry is enough to make me thrash around in search of something, anything, less horrific to distract and console- where was I, yes, Cliff Richard’s good records. Now I defy anyone- to you know, tell me I’m talking crap on this. I think, Move It, In The Country, When Blue Turns To Grey, Miss You Nights, We Don’t Talk Anymore, Carrie, Wired For Sound, and especially Devil Woman are great records.WBTTG and ITC, I take that sound as a role model, among a thousand others in the Village Green Machine mix. Its no good being snobbish, if a record is good its good, however dodgy the image, dance routines etc. And with Cliff, I suspect a choreographer was to blame for some cringeworthy performances. Also I have to say, I was disappointed by that clip of the latest Shadows reunion. They’re 70 and looking amazing, but they had these girls doing the hand jive for a song called guess what Willie and the Hand Jive, and it was kitsch nostalgia taken a step too far. I mean, theres no need for that. Because, among musicians, guitarists at least, who are into old pop, The Shadows are, I don’t think I am exaggerating to say, iconic. Hank leading all those hits with great melodies, on guitar? And Brian Bennett, a very class act on drums with a great sound. I happen to know the tickets for these shows were £60 a head- (I didn’t go) but I have 2 original copies of greatest hits on original vinyl, looking cool sounding even better, and anyone who knows Village Green Machine stuff will surely recognise the influence of The Shadows ”The Rise And Fall Of Flingel Bunt” on my guitar playing. (Cliff and the Shadows on tour)

Thanks for enquiries about Jacobites and related, it was great, we had a lot of fun. All go and listen to It’ll All End Up In Tears on youtube, that’s incredible.

Three times a week is a lot for anything (l o ******* l) no thats nasty but it is – and I’ve watched The Anniversary starring Bette Davis and Sheila Hancock three times, not in a week but in as many days. I got a DVD of it on ebay. Made in Britain in 1968, Bette Davis plays the tyrannical matriarch a few of us may recognise in our own experience. With a patch over one eye, she waltzes down her staircase dressed in an orange Crimpelene mini dress to greet her 3 family business sons for an anniversary gathering. One son is a ‘knicker snatcher’ ooh er, another a regular workman with his own children and wife sheila Hancock, the third a dapper young mod with a beautiful fiance to introduce to mother. It is a black comedy period piece without conceit, every aspect exuding conservative sixties style aesthetically.The knicker snatcher speeds away in a Vauxhall Victor FC estate with chrome bumpers, ofcourse. The mod son wears a double breasted jacket with small high lapels, a ‘pea coat’, and has a good haircut unlike myself (bad hair day thanks to Christos) The film looks old, in an indescernable way which I, we?, like. Basically, Bette Davis plays this dragon who runs the family building firm, the entire plot being a study, an hilarious disturbing observation of family politics, when a tyrannical nasty woman is in charge. High entertainment. I won’t disclose the plot further, but I highly recommend this film as a suitable companion to Entertaining Mr Sloan. It is pithy, direct, unpredictable, outrageous and funny. I found it on UK ebay.

For more reviews and the usual news, come back soon ie next week

Cheers

Mark Lemon

Village Green Machine

Lemon Gets The Horrors!

VILLAGE GREEN MACHINE NEWS/NEW POETRY WRITTEN BY MARK LEMON FOR LIVE PERFORMANCE/ LONDON DATES UNDER DISCUSSION/ COVER OF JACOBITES PIN YOUR HEART TO ME RECORDED/ LIVE GIG AS PART OF MOSELEY FOLK FESTIVAL WITH DAVE KUSWORTH/ LITTLE STEVENS PEOPLE GET CD THEY ASKED FOR…..

And here I go again. Last night I wrote a 2 hour blog into which I poured my innermost self, or even innermost self, then accidentally hit delete just as I had finished telling you, all about the nasty 1980s (which were OK for some music) and all about, my gig with the aforementioned Dave K. But actually, this deletion gives me the opportunity to stay up late again and drink a little more than usual, so really I am relishing the opportunity to prattle, rant and extrapolate.

Here at the Village Green we have been writing, recording and producing as usual. The cover of Pin your Heart is partly a cover of myself in as much as I played bass on the 3 original versions. Now I’m singing it, as did Lemonheads Evan Dando with Lemonheads. ps surprise surprise. I never heard his version. I don’t know hoiw many Jacobites covers there are; but Mercury Rev did Silver Street. I was a little miffed they missed my 3 part harmony vocal intro off their version- I managed to put it back at the gig I did with Dave Kusworth last weekend. I also played the guitar parts on the Robespierres Velvet Basement songs which I originally recorded, and the intro to Kings and Queens was reinstated for the first time in years. Dave and I did mostly Robespierres songs at this gig which was a tributary to the Moseley Folk Festival. I got there 2 minutes before he went on stage, hadn’t seen him for a few years. No rehearsals.I got up and played my 12 string acoustic to the songs, improvising and also playing the parts I originally played on the records. Of course Nikki Sudden is sadly no longer with us, nor is Epic Soundtracks. Epic and Nikki were in avant garde punk band Swell Maps before teaming up with Dave and myself for the Jacobites early albums. Dave was very much in his acoustic mode for this gig, and of course the songs remain very distinguished.” Famous When Dead” is the badge I have seen Mr K wearing, but actually he is famous in many countries around the world, we sold tons of records, and if Britain can’t get it, well sod them. A few do. The albums keep getting re released as well.

Dave Kusworth

I bumped into Pid at the Moseley gig, who runs the Birmingham mod club. There is a do on at Cobs bar on Sat Oct 10, 125 Sherlock St Birmingham. 8.30- 2.30 playing r&b, rare soul, boogaloo, 60’s funk, and mod rarities. Just about every time I go out I see Pid, whether its at Le Beat Bespoke or wherever. I send him e mails, which he answers but when he sees me he doesn’t connect me with the e mails! But I think the mod club idea is great. It is called the Brum Beat mod club, you can find it on myspace. Why should the city centre music clubs be a no go zone for everyone with taste? Pid is helping redress the balance.

In my accidentally deleted blog I was talking about British 80s music, and owning up that my appreciation of this decade is growing, when I consider how good some of the leftfield pop actually was. Obviously I was in nappies at the time. But I do remember Lloyd Cole, I was a very sophisticated 4 year old. Lloyds records had a clear air of bohemian literacy about them, it was said he was derivative of Lou Reed but in fairness, thats an easy stone to throw, and Morrissey considered him a worthwhile friend, until LC ’started saying nasty things behind his back’. I’ll slap your hands and face for you! There must have been a hissy fit, handbags hurled with no regard to human life, copies of On The Road torn to pieces before the others eyes, Oscar Wilde posters ripped down, and quiffs ruffled. Lost Weekend sounds great now though, so does Jennifer She Said, I love that and always did. Easy Pieces is a great album, in my opinion better than the very good Rattlesnakes- and, much good taste was in evidence in the artwork, guitar sounds, and so on. In fact it was 20 years ahead of its time aesthetically. Nice graphics. I would like to do a cover like that done for Rattlesnakes, but look at the 80s graphics on Easy Pieces! I suppose some people think that looks cool now. I don’t know exactly where the chart run petered out for Lloyd, it seems a shame it did, but he went solo with an album which had a harder attitude musically and presented Lloyd Cole as a man’s man- and, this is purely my opinion, but I wonder if the record company image making dep’t had a hand in trying to toughen up his image. Stubble, cigarettes, and a much harder musical edge. His voice seemed to change and he was recording in New York. All the delicacy of instrumentation went in place of innovative Indie rock, but The Stones Roses and Happy Mondays were waiting around the corner with their baggy jeans and house inspired aesthetic.

The Smiths

Just as punk killed Brian Ferry (for a while) perhaps so too did Indie Dance sweep aside most who went before it. It shook the Jesus and Mary Chain up, who, unnecessarily as it may now seem, began adding dance beats to theiir records. Morrissey hated all that, and managed to survive the shift in fashion, unlike Lloyd Cole. But then The Smiths were for whatever reason a much more important group than LC and The Commotions. They were so adamantly original, and self confidently so. And, they were the soundtrack to the 80s. Stretch Out And Wait is a song I keep on about, but it is just beautiful and special. It is a working class song of innocence. It will change your life forever, if you let it. That’s art, and genius.

Genius. It was chemistry, and how old was Johnny? 21? Somebody had to claim the decade and make it theirs, and it wasn’t going to be, you know lets be frank here. Frank who? Frank. Frankly Mr Shankly, I am aiming my harpoon of good taste right now at- oh my goodness, can I even bear to think about it, wiithout collapsing- I am a sensitive artist- look, oh God. I’m sorry I have to mention it. Mark Knobflers headband. And his lyrics about micro wave ovens. That is such sad boyo cock rock. We are now entering a frightening malaise of very bad taste, no, don’t turn away. If I am man enough to face it, you too must come with me on a brief exploration of that which was so bad, it caused madness. Actually I might get threatened if I go on. But, him with the perm, right? Long shaggy perm. In band with moustachioed singer. Bland, massive. John Peel compared their shows, perhaps a little unfairly, to the Nurenburg rallies. But, we have to be honest about the overall aesthetic. Was it not absolutely vile? Indeed, the Queen I like sang in the fucking Smiths, not in that lot. Really bad offences against good taste in the 80s then.

The mainstream pop and its presentation were obviously the main offenders. George Michael admitted he behaved in deliberately commercial ways- he could sing, but wasn’t that music plastic and horrid? And ubiquitous. That’s the problem I had with it. Queen Dire Straits and George Michael. There I was trying on my nappies in Debenhams and on it came “microwave oven”, and something about magic by Queen. Now to take this further and into more controversial territory, wasn’t Live Aid, however noble the intentions of its creators, just the absolute bottom of the barrell? The low watermark. It encapsulated the very worst aspects of 80s pop, in a perfect nutshell. Thanks heavens for the arrival of The Stones Roses. Many imitators rode the wave for a while, then Nirvana kicked in here in a big way with Teen Spirit and once again all was swept aside. I would like to offer my thoughts on Cobain and Courtney in a future blog. Suede were a great band, glam inspired but intense, talented and new. They had a great look, although Brett Anderson happily confessed that he did not ‘ponce around in Suede type clothes at home’.

Guitarist Bernard Butler was a huge Smiths fan, and I think it fair to say they were part of a certain lineage of great British bands. The Stairs shone briefly with their fantastic retro single Weed Bus, and by now the 80s was gone in spirit, and style, and almost in politics. I think by then Mrs thatcher had gone, the Tory administration staggering on under the deeply unpopular John Major.

The Horrors

Whatever, things were becoming exciting and pop music, its fashions and attitude were renewed. Most mainstream pop was undoubtedly dire, but something glimmered in the midst of it. I am too tired, and so are you for me to go into the 90s, but plainly something altered radically when Oasis put Cigarettes and Alcohol on a free NME tape. It was I think a great record. They were so strong and powerful, their songs so excellent they defined a whole era. Songs like Rock & Roll Star, and Some Might Say inspired George Martin to describe them (or Noel anyway) as the best, supposedly they heralded the ‘new laddism’, Cool Britannia! Jarvis came out with his erratic but brilliant band Pulp, Common People being my favourite record of all from the mid 90s.

Tony Blair’s arrival seemed to signify enormous hope. It was really exciting. There were bands to get really excited about, and what about the hedonism? A lot of young people got very smashed. It was a working class thing, ladettes and Loaded magazine. A clearly defined era. I’m no expert but I really feel it, how it was back then. It is amazing to compare the feel of the glam era of the 70s, with the punk era, and then the whole atmosphere of grunge, how incredibly distinctive these scenes seem in relation to each other. It is heartening to reflect that, however much the money people seek to take over, the true spirit of pop music seems to keep resurfacing in different guises.

Creativity and artistic sincerity have continued to thrive in this atmosphere of scarcely disguised commerce. We saw The Libertines, The Strokes, The White Stripes come through, Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian and others with something real. And latterly, The Horrors. I met Mr Spider Web a while back, he’s a really nice lad. I gave him one. Yes, a copy of England’s Dreaming Spires, the cover of which he appeared to recognise. He was DJing at Dr Robert’s Le Beat Bespoke event, playing obscure 60s vinyl, we were all dancing and having a great time. Their drummer Coffin Joe was wearing a nicely tailored mod suit and dancing to Northern Soul…not what anyone would expect, but then neither is their second album. Well outside my usual sphere of reference, I almost crashed the car listening to Primary Colours. What a collision of experimentation that album is, it is so intense and soulful. They seem like the new heroes to me.

Mark Lemon

Village Green Machine

“A Very Rare Thing!”

Yep, things are going crazy. the snowball is starting to roll, if anyone is wondering.

Did you get a chance to look at Bill Rivers myspace page last week?

Well I think Bill likes the England’s Dreaming Spires album, judging by what he told me:-

“Yes, your record is simply brilliant! As well as just being a joy to listen to (which, when it comes down to it, is the main thing) it is really smart! It’s probably instinctive on your part, but there is that kind of fusion (horrible word I know!) of early 60’s surf with the later 60’s sound and then the great bands of the 80’s (yes, there were some!), my eccentric cousin is a great example, reminding me of dylan, the smiths, the kinks, pulp, byrds all in one and then that break…smile period beach boys!!!…just awesome! Your vocal reminds me of a mix between syd and morrisey, warm, charming, heartfelt! Infectious, clever pop, fresh and an extremely well thought out album. Seriously, there’s not a duffer! It is an album ‘proper.’ And that is a very rare thing nowadays!

You talented bugger!!”

Thank you Bill

On with Village Green Machine,

The new song I’m recording, ‘Dog’ has wah wah to go with the Farfisa, it sounds like Joan Jett and the Blackhearts singing I Love Rock & Roll done by The Archies with Syd Barrett singing. Of course, it sounds like nothing on earth. But it is adding up, the thing is, its all experimental all this music, but I only use 60s sounds and instruments. And so, this new pop is happening. I like the heavy reverb pop Andy Warhol liked, My boyfriend’s Back, The 4 Seasons, Shangri- Las, things like this. And I do not filter these influences into an ‘Indie’ guitar sound, ie distorted guitars.

An image from Warhol's show

I just do this 60s sounding pop, but it is pop with a capital ‘P’. Its just that the experimentation and lyrics mean it moves into a new area. ‘New area’ sounds like something you’d find in a shopping centre, I know. All you may have heard is England’s Dreaming Spires, but we have recorded a lot more since. If I were to be specific I would say, I am bringing the 60s sounds through, note sounds. But, creating new music. So the new, consists (again a rubbish word) of the old, only rearranged, with fresh creative input. I mean, look. You’ve got to be able to write to do this thing. I mean, write melodies and good words. You’ve got to be able to know when to stop when you write a song, one has to understand economy. Melody writing is about hooks, this isn’t so much a commercial proposition, as the basis of all good music. Human beings need, I think, an attractive sequence of notes in order to connect with music. There may be music which requires a broader attention span, Mahler is it? But, I prefer Moonlight Sonata. The melody is there immediately, it is beautiful, it is transporting. And isn’t this the secret of good pop- it has this kind of uplifting melody, which hits straight away. That’s joy. Underpinning this is ‘the groove’, which should be in my view, the percussive equivalent of a really filthy, dirty shag. I know you don’t all smoke tobacco, but I’m sure you can understand what I mean.  where were we, oh yes, the groove, seriously, is like that and, then you get something much more fine over the top of this, ie the melody.

A Warhol event flyer, 1966

Now this is where a group like the Stone Roses come in, because you had Rennie giving the sex rhythm, and John Squire providing the high art melody on guitar and vocal melodies, and IB too of course. Put some good words with this, and you’re in business. There’s more to making a good pop record, but it seems to me the basis is something like this, it is fascinating. As Keith Richards said, many bands know how to rock, but its the roll that’s missing. It wasn’t missing on Brown Sugar and Start Me Up. But, it seems to me very few bands now have that swing/groove. All these ‘Indie’ guitar groups, they bluster. I mean to be honest, there really isn’t much out there at the moment, yet again. Its an overcrowded marketplace, with too much dodgy goods on sale. Village Green Machine have the melody, the groove, the song structure, the lyrics and the experimental instincts. The passion and the soul – I feel this too is coming through. There may be an ‘X’ factor in great pop, I don’t know, but it is tantalising to think there may be an aspect which one cannot account for. This would mean, it could not be consciously included by even the most devoted pop musician, like myself. I’m not sure I like this idea but, it remains fascinating. I mean, what is music, where does it come from? Good music seems to be an expression of the human spirit connected to creative talent. But, what exactly is talent? I don’t know, but I’m off to bed. Passion in the arts, there’s a subject to contemplate. The Village Green Machine album England’s Dreaming Spires is released on Oct 5, along with the single Psychodrama which has 2 new tracks not on the album. I’m hanging onto the rocket, hang on yourself and, see you soon,

Mark

Village Green Machine

STRETCH OUT AND WAIT

Hello, I am in the mood for a mellow 60’s tune, maybe a Manfred Mann… those were surely the days of innocence. The songs back then were literal, there was no hidden agenda in the lyrics. Times of gentle, maybe psychedelic exploration in music. The Up The Junction soundtrack by Manfred Mann is a case in point, actually.

That music almost seemed to convey the message that music would never die, and that it never could. But as we know, put music in the wrong hands, and it does die. Also, television. What an incredible medium, of unlimited potential. And yet again, it has been taken over by the ratings junkies, who churn out garbage to appeal to the lowest common denominator. As an artist, I want to make a living, and I have paid a horrible price for following my chosen path. But I don’t compromise to make money, if I did it hardly needs saying my integrity could follow all these other peoples, down the path, and over the cliff. I think the really bad art happens when people JUST want to make money, and will churn out any old crap. Then, where is the art? Of course, someone like Phil Spector challenged all this. He made bubblegum mass fodder which was the best art around. The Warhol trash aesthetic is not hollow, trash can be high art. Now, if you’re confused, don’t worry so am I.

One thing for sure, is that music is art. Bad art, is defamation to its creator and if people make bad music, it is personally disgracing.

Manfred Mann

Village Green Machine activities this week are, I recorded and finished a new acoustic based song, No New Messages. I am very proud of it, it is influenced by my Jacobites days, by Neil Young and Syd Barrett. It has 12 string acoustic and slide bottleneck guitar. Also we are preparing a press release for the launch proper of England’s Dreaming Spires, and the single from it, Psychodrama. Official release date for both is Oct 5th. We’re having fun working on the envelopes for the press release, which are a teacup and saucer. I’m going through hundreds of radio people, deciding whom to send promos to. It will be fun to see how it all goes. Psychodrama, the single, is a belter though I say it myself. The other 2 tracks on the CD single are, Believe In Love and Battling To Survive. Believe In Love is a surrealistic avant garde piece as far as guitars are concerned, but the rhythm track is pure 60s r&b. Man, that bass booms, its the boomiest deepest bass sound I’ve ever used. You can dance to it, its a nice record, the singing is good, its a really good song, and this is a b side. Then there’s the last track written from a place of despair, or at least from a dark corner of my soul. That was how I felt that day.A lad a few doors down had just been killed on his motorbike, and my Aunt had died a few days earlier. From the pain, and artist can create something, hopefully of beauty. In our society, we artists get trampled on by, a philistine mentality, but we can produce a silver lining to the darkest of clouds. I am a tunnel vision artist, I will pursue my creative line until I die. And, I won’t be doing a lot else.

The frontmen I admire are Peter Perrett, Syd Barrett, Lou Reed, Ray Davies, Chrissie Hynde. I can relate to them, their hair, clothes, sensitivity, introversion v extroversion, and these all had integrity. They looked cool, still do, and it is simply too tempting a mantle to not wish to step into oneself. Tom Petty, too, years back. And Dave Kusworth. Pleased to hear from you Dave and hope to see you soon.

Peter Perrett

Now, sounds this week. I have been listening to some new Chess compilations, a class collection of jazz, blues and r & b which had the pop crossover factor over 45 years ago. Its quite a primitive sound, with of course the classiest of musicians. Bo, Chuck, Etta James, a distinguished roll call of talent. The blueprint to the British 60s r&b boom too, along with a lot more. I believe Britain was a pretty dowdy place in the early 60s, the hip kids wanted more and found it in Black America. At least, in the imported sounds. People can think black music is primitive, certainly it scared conservatives with its sweat and grind. But, is it not sophisticated too, the jazz side, the soul and r&b side? So that late 50s/ early 60s black music had both, and great songs which worked commercially. And of course it sounds fresh and vibrant now.

Also this week I played a 2 Tone compilation, it was a great phase for British pop. And, I have been listening to Louder Than Bombs, an essential Smiths compilation. Morrissey came from the type of environment which creates a lot of pop people in this country. Not middle class, just bog standard lower middle class suburbia. OK working class suburbia. It is so boring, it makes us have to break out, to blossom, to explode like a firework. Some of us can’t hack that environment, especially the prospect of being consumed by it and becoming part of it. So something has to give and we become musicians, artists, writers, footballers and so on. With Morrissey, and Johnny Marr, there was and is a very high intellectual level combined with the creative gifts, and an imperative to escape suburbia, or in Johnnie’s case, a rougher environment I believe. He was a star that man. He said in an interview that The Smiths were at the time the greatest band in the world, I think so too when I listen at last to a proper copy of Louder Than Bombs. I’m not a Smiths expert but I think it is a collection of a and b sides, the extra tracks from the 12 inch singles and it is, a revelation. I hope you will read on as I talk about some of my favourite songs from this exceptional album.

Sheila Take A Bow. Who knows what that was about, a glam stomper of which I never tire with words which entice while Morrissey’s voice strokes the soul.

Sweet and Tender Hooligan has words which offend even me, but is a pinnacle performance combining lyrical substance, however dubious, with the band’s taught power. It is immeasurably more focused than most other 80s music. What were they on back then? The 80s was a barren time for pop,all show, no substance, dreadful.

Half A Person is an old Smiths favourite of mine, in which Morrissey enquires at the YWCA if there is a vacancy for a backscrubber. Of course he changed it from YMCA. Putting Charles Hawtrey on a record cover is one thing, putting Truman Capote quite another…Half A Person is The Smiths doing consciously what their heroes did- putting a great ‘b’ side onto a vinyl single. Half A Person has a great melody, a medium tempo drum groove, typical multi tracked jangling guitars, and an REM style riff. It is their talent which lifts it above the mundane though, it is an addictive narcotic.

Panic holds well as a classic Smiths single, with its thumping glam delivery. The lyrics ‘Hang The DJ’ were surely aimed at the radio 1 DJ who played the record at the time, in not only a desperate effort to be cool, but surely in shocked recognition of his depiction.

William, It Was Really Nothing is a thrilling rush, classic Johnny, with Morrissey’s lyrical depiction of the details of ordinary events in a young, working class relationship elevating the song. That’s a paradox. Armchair critics at one music magazine particularly have dismissed this song, but they do nothing for the reputation of that magazine and the reputation of music journalism generally by trashing good work.

The Smiths

Of course, The Smiths singles were thematically linked by Morrissey’s visual artwork, which drew from his self confessed obsession with kitchen sink films.

Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now was a defining Smiths moment. It is high art in pop music. ‘I was looking for a job and now I’ve found a job, and heaven knows, I’m miserable now’ influenced me very much. I used to have rubbish jobs and it was not worth it.

Back to The Old House is infinitely better on the Hatful Of Hollow album, but here receives the full band treatment. The acoustic version with incredible mandolin playing, is a highly evocative piece of work, delicate and beautiful, melancholy yet uplifting. I imagine a beautiful victorian house, I am transported. It is one of their very best but, is not enhanced in my view by bass and drums, an unwanted intrusion. The acoustic version proves in my view that they were, at the time, the very best band in the world.

Please, Please Please Let Me Get What I Want is another of their best. Perhaps this is the one with the mandolin, sorry its late at night. The melodic construction suggests a place among the greatest pop songwriters of all time, and the thing is with all this is its very British feel, with the Mancunian accent on the vocals, they were our greatest after The Beatles. Really.

There are many other great tracks on this album Louder Than Bombs. They will always be very important to me with my work with Village Green Machine, a certain subtle informing has taken place, the shape of VGM’s music… embodies The Smiths just as much as any other influence. They quit when the going was good as well, and I’m now glad never reformed. They created a very formidable body of work, and the kids knew something very special was happening. What was their magic? Was it a combination of things? Certainly a huge self belief was inherent in their ascent, at the end of the day its only pop music but if you’re still reading, that proves how important it is, to some people at least.

Mark Lemon.
Village Green Machine

Sky Saxon

Wow, its mad today. In the last 2 hours I have learned of the deaths of Michael Jackson, Sky Saxon and Farah Fawcett. Farah, God bless her, meant very little to me. She was a glamourpuss from a trashy highly entertaining 70s girl cop show, and nothing more to me. But she is very famous. But then Michael Jackson- and I know this will be old news by the time you get it but please stay with me. I was really shocked by that, still am. I was in a bar a couple of hours back when the news broke, people swarmed around the tv in disbelief, totally shocked. Then some callous jocks were making remarks as you might expect. It is a shock, when someone who has intruded into our consciousness to this extent, dies. I foresaw it. That’s not, some psychic gift (although I know when a car crash is coming, and can avoid them because of precognition). But no. Its massive news, and the media were already having a field day a short while after the story broke.

Jackson Five

I had thought about MJ quite a bit, as a musician, performer and entity. Like many serious pop fans, I have always liked the Jackson 5. I know Noel Gallagher rates them, Ian Brown seemed to like them. Johnny Marr perhaps. Their bubblegum late 60s/early 70s Tamla sides were incredible pop. Great songs, sound, singing and musicianship, great production. Then there was disco material, like the beautiful Show You The Way To Go, with MJ looking beautiful too, as an untouched natural young man. He could dance, sing, he had everything. I do not warm so readily to the 80s material, although there was Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough, formidable enough not to have to apologise to anyone, being a top notch pop side. Then the big hit singles, produced by soul brother Quincy Jones. Billie Jean strikes me as a really excellent record. It was very simple with incredible orchestral flourishes which had a distinctly cinematic bent, befitting an enormous hit record by the world’s top singing star. Ofcourse there were other massive hits, which defined the times and I think it is fair to say, he made the best mainstream pop records of the day, and as such probably deserved the success. But what happened then? He became known as an increasingly eccentric and erratic figure, better known for his antics than current releases. How many face jobs was he having, and all that stuff about having his own theme park, while being in essence a lonely figure. He seemed increasingly emasculated, then there was the film of him dangling the baby out of a window, and shaking violently while being interviewed. There were ofcourse other unfortunate episodes. But I always hoped, but never seriously believed, he would make another great record. What if, say, he had recorded with Lenny Kravitz, with a bunch of good songs? He could have worked with anyone, and I fail to understand how he somehow lost touch with musical greatness. It seemed an inexorable downward spiral. It is such a tragic story ending as I more than half expected.

Sky Saxon

But what has really not sunken in, is the news I got on returning from the bar of the death of Sky Saxon. I didn’t think Sky would ‘go’. When you hear my record She She Spider you will realise how much Sky’s music meant to me. So, what happened to him , I don’t know. I loved him, I did. He was fantastic. And I am glad I sent him a message not long ago, saying I thought he was a genuinely good person who wanted good things for the world. He apparently loved dogs, and seemed to talk about them at any given opportunity, apparently believing God had put him here to help dogs, or something like this. He was very into mysticism, very much a product of the mid 1960s acid orientated alternative ’spirituality’. Now that is a controversial term, and I will state I had no empathy with Sky’s type of systems. But we’re getting into deep water here, suffice to say I went down a similar road to Sky’s and got my toes burned. Off. All that Leary stuff, forget it. But I loved Sky, actually and am very sad to hear he is no longer with us. In fact my very latest (as yet unreleased) recording is indebted to his last but one fuzztone meets Farfisa sound, as well as the one I made before. The latter-day Seeds were brilliant live with the organ, and fuzztone guitar played through an AC30- check my records next year for Sky’s reflection. RIP brother Sky, you made the coolest garage sounds of all. Here’s a great clip of the great man with the original Seeds. Gassy!

So this goes a fair way to telling you about what I’ve been up to with Village Green Machine. Last week I set out to make a record with just fuzztone guitar and Farfisa, which is coming together. It is called Bored With Being Ignored, and is addressed to persons it would be undiplomatic to name.This song is also based on the Sonics ‘Have Love Will Travel’, I made a new riff up influenced by that song. Then put a Seeds type instrumentation to it. So its a garage rocker, into which I put a middle eight which contrasts sharply with the other, aggressive lyrics. I wanted to create a sense of beauty in the song too, so I have a fairy with gossamer wings and a Midas Touch entering the scene. Not a, male fairy. What are you laughing at? I mean a real fairy, wafting in and transforming my … oh well its wasted on you brutes but you get the idea.

We are releasing a Village Green Machine single before long. We’re sorting the track listing, there will be a new song called Believe In Love plus another as yet undecided upon, although chances are there will be 2 tracks not on England’s Dreaming Spires. Believe In Love reminds me of Smokey Robinson’s Going To A Go Go, rhythmically, and has a strong James Brown influence too. The guitars are psychedelic and experimental, surrealistic and crazy. The bass booms like an old jukebox 45, and the vocal is very soul influenced. It sounds incredible.

Also, we are still working on a video. We’ve got the story line, I want it to be great like I want everything I do to be great, but we’ve never done one before. We are having to learn everything as we go along- how to design a website and work with the new technology, how to rediscover old sounds and recording techniques, how to produce, engineer and market music in the modern age. Its a lot. Hello to everyone who had bought the CD or downloaded – I hope vinyl by VGM is on the way, its my big wish to do this and there are beautiful artwork ideas. We’ll see, I want to make it happen.

All the best

Mark.L

The Seeds

Interview: Frank Allen of The Searchers

IN THIS WEEKS LETTER FROM ENGLAND…Bay City Rollers loved by The Ramones…(true!)…Village Green Machine start filming video…Margaret Thatcher blasts 80s pop… Mark Lemon’s new interview with Frank Allen from The Searchers…Link to youtube video of brilliant lost Searchers song ‘Umbrella Man’…

I think, pungent smells are things which cannot be bottled. Which is why, I am not going to try to rein in my wildest ramblings, control my outpourings, behave myself in any rational or reasonable way, or put a bung in my bottle. If I want to prance around outside medieval stately homes dressed in a 1966 corduroy pea coat and breton cap, to my new video for Psychodrama, then I shall do so. If I want to scour the shelves of HMV in search of the Bay City Rollers greatest hits, I shall do so. I should have bought it on original vinyl when Reddington’s closed down. And if I want to thumb my nose at all narrow conformity while growing old disgracefully, I shall do so, while blowing a vulgar raspberry at HMV’s manager for not stocking the 70’s bubblegum groups greatest. OK I must confess to a little embarrassment at liking the tartan clad 70’s terrors. However, it is well known to serious pop historians that the Rollers were a primary influence upon US Kings of Punk Cool The Ramones, and if it was good enough for them its good enough for me. Described by Pete Waterman as beautiful records, I sincerely feel their best sides should be dusted down and allowed critical acclaim. And that starts right here…

Bay City Rollers

Ramones

In Village Green Machine land, where I have just received the answers to the questions I recently put to Frank Allen, original bass player with 1960s Pop Kings The Searchers. My interview with him will be printed in full later in this blogzine.

But first, I will tell you what I have been up to with Village Green Machine. We have started the video, it looks like Psychodrama will be the single. We filmed outside the church doors and the stately home, its going ok and coming together in a ramshackle somewhat chaotic way, but we are learning on the job, as Mrs Thatcher once said live on television, she was always at her best when she was on the job. Yeah I know I’ve said that before as well. Apparently quite a few of the cabinet ministers found her quite sexy, its a power thing, you know. Notorious Tory rogue Alan Clarke, who once allegedly bedded a judge’s wife and BOTH his daughters, thought she had pretty ankles. I heard former Labour Chancellor Dennis Healey on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs the other day, talking about her and he said she was a terrible Prime Minister because she never listened to anyone, but that he saw her a while ago at a garden party and gave her a hug. He gets on with her now. How old is he, over 90. And she? He said he feels sorry for her now because no one listens to her. I saw her interviewed on an 80s TV pop show the other day, passing comment on the latest releases. They played her one particularly appalling piece of 80’s doggum, to which she responded that they hadn’t got beyond the rehearsal stage, with a cynical turn of phrase which would impress the most hardened NME hack. She got that right at least. I would love to interview her.

Margaret Thatcher

Denis Healey

I hate talking about Village Green Machine cos its me, but I will tell you we’ve been recording a 3 part harmony today to ‘My Decision’, a kind of Art Garfunkel 3 tiered harmony with the multi tracking. Also pleased with the vocals to Tomgirl which I did today. And so the music continues to gradually build in quantity.

Now, I first interviewed The Searchers in the reception of BBC Pebble Mill about 10 years ago. I had just turned down a record deal and at that stage was an aspiring music writer, with a fascination for guess which decade. What I did not disclose to my heroes was that it was only the second interview I had ever done. It was a thrill to see Frank Allen and John McNally blast through the doors, dressed in a tasteful fashionable way and looking youthful. Their records have always been a very important part of my point of pop reference, I have maintained a fascination with their place in pop history. I have always tried to work out exactly how influential they were, and are. For instance, was the intro to When you Walk In The Room an influence on the intro to The Beatles Ticket To Ride intro? And didn’t that Searchers side come before The Byrds Tambourine Man, with its very similar introduction? The Searchers Needles and Pins has a slow/medium 4/4 rhythm, like the later Tambourine Man. And doesn’t the high harmony singing of The Byrds David Crosby sound a lot like the earlier Searchers records? Anyway, their records were part of a glorious explosion of melody, rhyme, and tambourines played in time from around 1964-6. They were intrinsically involved in pop/folk rock, and actually were and still are one of the best bands in the world, despite the unfortunate departure of lead singer Mike Pender. Mike and Frank sang joint lead on their seminal 45 When You Walk In The Room. Frank played bass with the band since mid ‘64, playing with a whole lot of feel and soul.

Hello Frank, tell us about your book.

The title is and was always going to be THE SEARCHERS AND ME for a few reasons. Firstly it’s exactly what`s in the tin. It is my story and that of the Searchers. I was only going to undertake a project of this size once and so I decided to include every detail I thought interesting or relevant. And that included some of my early life, my time with Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers which was a vital learning curve and, as far as I could, the early days of the Searchers before I met them in Hamburg in `63.

Another important reason for the title was that if someone wants a book on the Searchers the first thing the will either look up or Google will be The Searchers. Clever titles full of witty puns and deep meanings are wonderful but only work if you are of a high enough profile to have your stuff out there and visible to begin with. Important as they were the Searchers never quite had the kind of public profile and individual identities that gave them this kind of image. Always make it as easy as possible to get the product is my motto.

The publisher, as was my previous book Travelling Man (still in print and available) is a small Welsh based company called Aureus. Why them? Well, getting a book published is a far from easy thing and for someone not in the current public eye to any degree publishers are not exactly trampling over competition to get to me. Aureus responded and responded with positivity and enthusiasm. The owner, Meuryn Hughes, had faith in me and it seemed right and proper to let him continue the association and I am flattered he still wanted to.

A decision we came to very quickly this time round was to make the book available on-line only through the publisher direct. We aren`t even releasing it through companies like Amazon. The reason for this was that low profile product never gets on the shelves anyway and the subsidiaries take amounts of commission that are so high as to be almost iniquitous. Someone who hears about the book and wants it will find it very easily. Computers are wonderful things for this. And if we sell less product then I and the publisher will still make a greater profit that vast amounts being siphoned off by others. And it is selling very well.

Travelling Man was in essence an anecdotal tome based around what I thought I could cope with to write a first book and was mainly based on my style of humour. And it worked very well. It was not a biography proper but it contained much biographical detail. Of course people then asked when I was going to write the full story. It was daunting task that I did not think I was equipped for and I put the task off for a long time before deciding that if I was really going to call myself a writer. Eventually I worked out a plan and dived in head first.

There was a lot of research in which I was helped by our ‘website collator` and friend Wendy Burton. We trawled through acres of microfilm and hard copies of music mags to check on our tour schedule and items of news that I had long forgotten. I peered through old diaries to jog my memory. And I raided my memory banks for any and every story that would enhance the book. What I did not realise was that I was amassing an enormous amount of word space and ended up with a total of more than 220,000 words which eventually took up an enormous 433 pages. On top of that I included 167 photo images. I always feel cheated if a biography doesn`t have plenty of pictures.

Of course this meant that the end product was going to be expensive. Publishing, especially in hard cover, is far from cheap. But there was no getting away from it. I could not possibly whittle it down to the extent that the price would be significantly less and we had to accept that if afficionados of either The Searchers or that decade in general wanted it they would pay the price. And it seems they are. It is a truly beautiful object and, if I may say so, a must for lovers of this era and music in general.

The Searchers

ML- What was the experience of writing this book like emotionally?

Emotionally I was, as I mostly am, controlled, and any excitement for me was more to do with the realisation that I was really achieving with my writing than any sentimental stirrings brought on by early memories. It was certainly fascinating, especially when discovering the reality behind the myths that had grown up along the way. The truth about who really did write Saturday Night Out. And the facts behind the signing of The Searchers. The demo album did not land unsolicited on Tony Hatch`s desk one day as was generally believed. I revealed the clauses of the first contract and explained the outrageous terms that would be looked on as indenture to slavery today. I mapped out the details of the litigation during our troubles with Mike Pender and the abuses of our name which we fought desperately in court to protect. Quite surprisingly as I went on I enjoyed the read as much as I expected the eventual purchasers to.

ML- I recently showed a clothes designer friend of mine in Italy your video for Umbrella Man on Youtube. His name is Claudio, well known to modern mods he is a top designer running a label called DNA Groove who was impressed by the clothes the Searchers were wearing for this video. Clothes and presentation have obviously been important to the Searchers, could you please talk about the mod styles the band gravitated towards in the mid sixties. Who were your sartorial peers?

It`s nice that someone should admire our taste in those odd post psychedelic times but in retrospect it was possibly not the right thing for The Searchers. We were not fashion leaders in any way and mostly we were groping in the dark trying to keep up with the bands that had left us behind musically, sartorially and in the hearts of the record buying public. Some times we looked okay and at others downright stupid.

I did have some interesting items made for me by a young lady called Barbara Richter who lived in Parsons Green, Chelsea. She would translate my ideas into reality. The multicoloured velvet jerkin in the Umbrella Man advert was made by her along with the flamboyant Romaneque yolk collared shirt pictured in my book which was copied by Graham Nash of the Hollies and also a brown hand stitched leather shirt which made it into many of our early seventies shots. Some of these sartorial car crashes are to been in all their glory in the book`s illustrations.

There was no one I especially admired in the way of clothes back then. I just watched to see what everyone else was doing and copied. And in the end The Searchers quite rightly got back into our high buttoned black suits. We eventually started to realise our strengths and the preferred image of our loyal followers.

ML- You have expressed a disdain towards much modern music, how do you think pop music could progress now?

I don`t know and I don`t have much interest. My musical tastes veer from The Dixie Chicks and Alison Kraus through Van Morrison and Bryan Ferry and on to Broadway show tunes and the great American classics written by Jerome Kern and George Gershwin. I am a Stephen Sondheim fan and an admirer of Michael Feinstein. One of the greatest performances I have seen was by Eartha Kitt at the Carlyle Hotel in New York in 2008. She was eighty one years old and was magnificent. In my book I tell a story of asking Dionne Warwick what she thought of Eartha. “Well, she can`t sing, that`s for sure,” was her reply. Who cares if her voice was not a perfect instrument. Neither is Bob Dylan`s. Eartha emoted like no one I had seen in many a year. There is a picture of me and her in the book. She died at the end of the year and we will never see the like again .

Young people like what they like. Who am I to judge or dictate? My parents didn`t like rock and roll which was my passion, and to a great extent still is. I am a child of the fifties. It was their right. It was not their kind of music and why should it be?

One thing I definitely would like to see more genuine live music, not just adding live embellishments on click tracks where the majority of what is being heard, including the lead voice I might add, was recorded in advance. I accept that this is done to ensure a brilliant sound and that the show will go on no matter how much an artiste`s voice is suffering. But live music should have the element of danger.

You can and should go wrong from time to time. Your tempos should vary although preferably not too much. Mistakes are all part of it. It`s okay for the sound quality to vary from night to night. That is real life. Real life is not just pressing a play button for the automatons to prance and pose about to. Much of the time these days you can`t even call it karaoke. Karaoke performers, to their credit, are actually singing. The public would be horrified if they knew how little live voice they were getting at a lot of big shows for their £60 ticket. And I desperately want less choreography and spectacle. But that`s me. I am from a different generation. Kids can call me an old fart and they are entitled to. Just as long as they realise that they are the next generation`s old farts too. No one gets away with it.

ML- What motivates the band to keep up such a punishing tour schedule after so many years? Is it still loads of fun to play live?

We love being musicians. We once did it just for fun and it became a profession. How many people can make their play their work? There were times when it was harder and times when it was depressing but mostly it has been somewhere between pleasant and brilliant. I love the challenge of getting a reaction out of an audience. I love the applause. In the new millennium I am in the happy position of not having to work for a living but we probably work harder than any musicians in any other band no matter how big or small. We do a phenomenal amount of shows each year. This year it is somewhere around 180-190. Retirement is an alien concept for me. I was brought up with the work ethic and I am daunted by the thought of not having the next show to look forward to. Maybe I`d like it to be a little more controlled, less shows. But when things are quiet I just start to worry about how our roadies are going to cope without the money coming in. They serve us well and will never be rich. They have to be looked after.

I don`t know when the end is. When we fall out of love with our kind of life. When our health fails and we can no longer do it. I suppose that comes to us all. Or when a jaded audience no longer turns up in enough numbers to keep the show on the road. That won`t be for a few years yet though. And when it does I hope to be still writing. Performing and writing are my passions.

New book
‘The Searchers and Me’

_______________________________

A while back I was delighted to find an unearthed Searchers gem on Youtube called Umbrella Man. This really fine 60s pop record is an absolute favourite of mine. Italian mod style guru and design genius Claudio from DNA Groove was impressed by the suits, and so was I, despite Frank Allen’s humble appraisal of his band’s dress code. I’m sure Paolo Hewitt has said Mike Pender has been admired for his snappy suits, too.

The band’s original guitarist John Mcnally gave me his fuzz pedal last year, an original Gibson. It is all over the second Village Green Machine album which will be available next year. Its the fuzz with the buzz and sounds mean, its the same one John used on Have You Ever Loved Somebody, one of my very favourite records of all time. Actually he asked for a small charity donation for it, which I sent. But I do cherish that historic artefact.

Thank you Frank for the interview.

Come back soon to read the next Village Green Machine blogzine. It will be either weekly or fortnightly, not sure yet, as I will be doing interviews so may take up more time.

BW

Mark and

Village Green Machine Letter from England

Art In The Woods

Ever since I began blogging, I have never pre planned what to write, it is gratifying that it is being read, thank you for coming back yet again to partake in my ramblings.

I have been out of action again tonight with one of those infernal headaches. I think drinking can get rid of a headache, I honestly do. At least I am willing to give it a try. The theory is, headaches are mostly caused by tension in the neck muscles, which is eased by the relaxing properties of alcohol. So, cheers.

Now. Have you downloaded my free track yet? It is a fab blast I promise. You will enjoy it, in a real groovy way so don’t forget to find it on the Village Green Machine website. White Plastic Moccasins is free at the moment too, so you get 2 of the very best Village Green Machine tracks for nothing, at the moment.

DOWNLOAD TWO FREE SONGS HERE!

What music have you been listening to this week? Just Village Green Machine? This week, we went in to record a song called My Decision To Be Free, which, in theory, was all set up to work.

The Stone Roses

I wanted to cross Thunderclap Newman with something else good, I forget now what the idea was entirely, but I thought it would work, but it is frankly a dud/ a Pete and Dud. Now, I have promised it will only be really good stuff which gets released, so I am scrapping this version. We may re record it next week, as a sort of camp-fire version without the drums, a bit like Tightrope by the Stone Roses. That should work. Since Christmas, I have completed a number of new recordings. There are several I am really pleased with, but 2 or 3 which simply aren’t happening. Which reminds me of a conversation I had with Roses producer John Leckie. John was very keen to work with me and invited me to his home. He took me out for a meal, and to see Roger Mcguinn play at the Town and Country club.

John Leckie

The Dukes Of Stratosphear

He also sent me copies of his recent work, the latest of which was Dukes Of Stratosphear. He said that after the second Dukes LP, it was generally felt they had done enough, and that a couple of tracks hadn’t really worked- apparently because they sounded like The Jam! I’m only repeating what he said! I see this week considerable space in the music press is being dedicated to The Dukes and their records, complete with, in Uncut, some very ‘far out’ photos of the boys in their psychedelic gear, liquid lights projected upon them. Of course any fool knows they were actually XTC, I believe in a more commercially successful guise. I will bet those Dukes albums still sell quite well. The project was probably conceived as something of a joke, but the results at times were quite astounding. The bass playing on 25 o’Clock is still influencing my playing. They were truly satisfying records. I was very sad indeed that nothing materialised with myself and John Leckie. I was very yong, he picked up on my second 4 track demo and frankly went overboard on it. But it was flattering to say the least, after all he was used to Pink Floyd and George Harrison. Just earlier today I was discussing my commitment to doing music with my father. It is things like Leckie’s endorsement which keep me going, and also the incredible reaction of many who have heard England’s Dreaming Spires. I have sacrificed a lot to do music, but I don’t regret the price I have paid, I consider it worth it. I could have got a day job I suppose, but I have an absolute myopic commitment to what I do. I intend to make 20 albums in 20 years. You know, people will have to pay attention in the end, because we won’t let up. Its a slow train. And I keep waving from the window.

Hello to the Bardot light show- I was always fascinated by those San Francisco style psychedelic light shows. They look brilliant in the photos of ,say, the Jefferson Airplane on stage. Aren’t they just absolutely stunning? I know Mr Hoppy Hopkins did it here with the Floyd at UFO. I scarcely need ad that I would very much like a really good 60s psychedelic light show for any live work I do. The Bardot guy does the lights at the Sweet But Deadly nights in London- guys if you are reading, I am itching to come down and play, band and all.

The Animals

Eric Burdon

This week I have been listening to the later recordings of The Animals, does anyone like them? I had always liked a handful of their singles, especially Its My Life, Don’t Bring Me Down, and We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place. But there are other great ones, really bluesy pop records deviating from straight blues chord progressions. I have always also liked Inside Looking Out, a really savage garage blues rocker, and its ‘b’ side Outcast. Very primal. But I have found several other later tracks which I think are incredible, and so their status for me rises all the time. In fact I found myself wondering whether they were infact- here it comes- I really mean it- better than the Beatles. No? As good as the Rolling Stones? I can’t find the case with the titles, but one I love is their version of See See Rider. And Don’t Bring Me Down, is just superbly paced, with the really cool fuzz guitar, John Steels incredible feel on the drums, all in this bluesy pop record written I think by Carol King and Jerry Goffin. Its a class act, and so quintessentially 60s. But its ‘66, and that, well. That needs no further explaining. Music just seemed to reach an all time high that year, when you think what The Kinks were doing, Revolver came out, Aftermath, Brian Wilson, the soul and r&b artists, everything seemed to hot up to white heat pitch that year before exploding in psychedelic colour. Maybe ‘66 was the most psychedelic year, not ‘67. Almost everyone seemed to make some good records around then. The Move, Otis Redding, The Mamas and Papas, Del Shannon, the list is incredible.

Micky Most

Regarding the Animals, I find Burden’s voice very satisfying and convincing and pleasing. He had a great vocal sound, their records just sounded brilliant in that low tech mid 60s way. They were very cleverly made, some credit surely being due to Mickie Most, a producer for whom I feel much admiration. Mickie just seemed to have great ideas for sounds- think of Donovan’s Mellow Yellow with its incredible array of instruments, party atmosphere and sheer adroitness from the producers chair. Mickie never cluttered stuff. He also made stuff sound commercial without being corny, I exclude some of Herman’s Hermits from that but having said this I have a generally excellent record by them which is a film soundtrack, mostly comprising fab jangly versions of PF Sloan songs, another hero of mine. And I still love No Milk Today, as you can hear from my song ‘You Make Me Feel That Way’. I’d like to do an out and out pop album at some point.

The fantastic Sharon Tandy

Les Fleur De Lys

Now, I would like to know some examples of acid folk music. Do Pentangle count? Is it all obscure? It sounds very Wikkan to me. It takes me a while to get the hang of these terms sometimes. Freakbeat, I didn’t grasp the idea straight away but I do now, and of course those sounds are an influence on Village Green Machine. Bands like Les Fleur De Lys, with their great ‘Circles’, and with that cool image too, just fantastic.The Creation as well, its the soundtrack of my life- of our lives I dare presume. I will just add that Hold On by Sharon Tandy, featuring the guitarist from Les Fleur De Lys is just my favourite ever record, it is just the greatest most exciting thing you could imagine if you have not heard it, you really must hear that one. That and See Emily Play, my other no.1.

The Artwoods

One other band I have been listening to this week with refreshed ears is the Artwoods. Somewhere along the line, I have been changed into a more bluesified musician, in terms of my sensibility. I was in a great rock and roll band with Dave Kusworth, called The Rag Dolls. Then later I dropped the 60s thing for a while, and learned to play lead rock & roll guitar from 50’s compilation albums, I learnt the solos on the Buddy Holly records, the Elvis records, the Everlies and so on.

Booker T and the MGs

Then I got into northern soul on top of Tamla. And to me it all sounds pretty bluesy. And I think listening again to the Artwoods I have the sensibility to really appreciate what they were doing. I read in Shindig! this week a review by Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills who says the new Artwoods compilation is vital. They were such a great band, with of course the young Jon Lord, and who was the fantastic drummer? I will look him up. They seem to me to have been a superb, slip sliding British Booker T and the MGs, another band who grow on me all the time.

Other things- I have been having a spot of trouble in the woods again this week. Actually when you go into the woods, there is, a police sign up which reads, ‘any sightings text…so and so number. Any sightings of what? UFOs? Little Green Men? Buddy Holly? No miners are to read beyond this point without parental consent.

I will tell you some things. I saw a man and a woman in there, and how her back didn’t give out I just don’t know. and in fact, how the 400 year old oak against which she was being rammed didn’t give way I don’t know either. Really. I mean, not hidden away in the woods, but this was right in the open! And, here’s this other thing. This is truly very strange. Some while ago, I saw a weird ritual taking place. A man was wearing a robe and kneeling down chanting. But, I saw something very similar a few days ago, (ps I hid behind a tree and tried to get a closer look without being seen) only this time it was 2 men, who had white robes on, the one man chanting a strange incantation over and over, ever more urgently, the other one replying, getting more and more wild all the time, jumping up and down going crazy! PS They were hanging onto each other as well! I’ll tell you what, with one thing and another I could write a dossier, it has really been an education. I wonder if anyone could shed any light on these goings on for me. My friend in California Mr Nomo Gurus will no doubt be as concerned as I was! Then there’s the other stuff which happens. I say!

A bit more Village Green Machine news. We have started recording a lot more onto tape, the first track being a new song of mine called Blood On The Rocks. This song is sparser than anything on EDS, with a harder edge and is influenced by early Who and Arthur Lee. It has wild electric guitar like Pete Townsend or an electrified Syd Barrett, with this jangly acid guitar break, loads of rolling toms and stuff. It is one of my best ever. We have a new drum sound on it too, deeper sounding. Plenty of tape hiss. I couldn’t believe how great the drums sound on it, partly because its on tape. It seems to make a big difference. Also it is more ambient miked.

OK thanks for reading, I really would like to know who is reading so feel free to leave a comment, I will get back to you.

What about Bob Dylan having a number one album after 40 years? That’s internet advertising for you. I am a great fan of Bob.
Mark Lemon – Village Green Machine

Mark Lemon

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Why I love Syd Barrett

Blog oh right then, I’d better sit up, and sober up right this very second, because, this week I am saying hello to all you Shindig readers who have looked here after seeing the ad for England’s Dreaming Spires. You know I only discovered Shindig a while back.(PS don’t forget to download the free VGM tracks from the website) thank you Shindig for sending a complimentary copy, its heavy. I see the back issues are full of groovy people and the annual is full of all my favourite really groovy people. I haven’t bought any of this yet, but I will in time go for some back issues. Because, the material is targeted towards people like myself. I mean, I like The Kinks, Roky Erickson, Steve Ellis, Billy Nicholls, PP Arnold. This is what impresses me about the magazine, it is very focused in a very cool way. I would sooner pay a little extra than pay around the same for a fatter magazine which is partly dedicated towards my taste but is full of loads of stuff which isn’t my thing.

Billy Nicholls and PP Arnold

And yes at last people are paying attention to VGM. I don’t have an agenda when it comes to writing a blog, maybe I ought to think ‘this is how to write it to fans to get them to buy more music’ but you know, I love writing a blog and I just talk as I wish (while I can, but lets not go there).

Now Village Green Machine. Basically its me, Mark Lemon. There will be a live band, comprising the coolest musicians around. PS A London date is being organised.
I go into a church hall somewhere in England, with a Vox AC30, a Farfisa organ, a Vox Continental organ, an Epiphone Casino guitar and a 1961 drum kit. And I record my songs, layering up the instruments on top, and then I produce it, with the noble help of my engineer. I just do this stuff. I try to write songs with good construction, good melodies, good lyrics. I aim to do great music and make great records. Ofcourse its gratifying but is harder work than most imagine. We remixed England’s Dreaming Spires many, many times. I was learning to produce on the job. As Margaret Thatcher once said live on air, I’m always at my best when I’m on the job. She also said everyone should have a Willie. I wonder what Dennis thought. Her fave 45 was Telstar- she’s a Meek fan! The Willie she had in mind was home secretary? William Whitelaw.

Mark Lemon

Yeah so that’s it. People seem to adore England’s Dreaming Spires, and its great some Welsh groovers are buying the CD. I reckon you’ve seen the pics of me at Portmeirion. What you don’t know is that we did a video there for One for The Mods. This week I finished recording English Cafe, its a song with a lot of organ and 6 and 12 string acoustic guitars. It is a melancholy song about the passing of that great time you have when you are, say 17 or around that age. When there are no responsibilities, and you are discovering life for the first time, how fresh it all is and exciting. It is about how this passes, and I will tell you I was 21 when I wrote that. Good heavens, a whole decade passed since those days.

I can’t stand musicians who boast. Isn’t there a very thin line between self confidence and absolutely deplorable, over confidence? And what about a really big headed rock musician- oh please that’s horrid.
Come to think of it, how many of you like ‘rock’ music? One thing I cannot stand is what I call ‘cock rock’. Music like this, is played by macho men who grow their hair in an outrageously feminine fashion. Now that’s a dodgy trip before we even start. Real nasty redneck vibes, with the long hair. It really stinks, I’m sorry but it is horrid. I once came face to face with a very famous guitarist of this ilk, who smiled to me. But I couldn’t say hello, ok I was being a bit mean really but, can you tell me, why this whole ‘rock’ thing has monopolised so many young male musicians? I still hear them on the odd occasions I go into guitar shops, noodling their worth and it is sad crass embarrassing. Personally, I don’t think of myself as a rocker, maybe I am a mocker, in some ways much closer to the mod thing.
For clothes, for hair, it has to be mod. Shoes? You won’t catch me in cowboy boots. When did rock go stinky? I think, actually, around the late 60s, when Woodstock took place, and then ofcourse the unspeakable Altamont festival. In fairness, there were some very good rock groups, like Thin Lizzy and ACDC. But that’s way outside my territory and the source from which I derive inspiration. And, crucially for me, by the 1970s pop production was beginning to lose its way. The sounds began to deteriorate, just as technology was in theory improving them. By the mid 70s we had much more controlled drum sounds, close miking. But it sounded an absolute unaesthetic crock of shit. Things got worse as the 80s unfolded, with content becoming secondary to image, and goodness knows the 80s was not a decade of any aesthetic merit, pop looked bad but relied on its looks, like an ugly prostitute. Picasso painted a picture of 80s pop- excuse spelling: D’amoiselle D’Avignon.
But you know, I was just learning to play then, I was a young kid. And something rather monumental happened to me. You’ll like this. One day, when I was a 15 year old boy, a picture caught my eye. I thought they looked absolutely fantastic, it changed my world and direction and life, that one picture. Who was it? I will tell you. It was, Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd. Syd’s Floyd. I was 15. I had been listening to rock, and disco. But I had a collection of 60’s 45s my father had given me from his days on hospital radio, when they threw out the non charting promo 45s ( this is where I got freakbeat classic I Don’t Want You by The Anteeeks from). I saw this picture of The Pink Floyd, and it began a journey of discovery for me. Into the world of 60s music. I got The Doors first 2 albums on a back to back double vinyl. The Byrds greatest hits. Soon after, The Velvet Underground, Revolver, and other landmark 60s albums. I also began to collect 60s vinyl, particularly 45 rpm vinyl. I remember now buying the Stones The Last Time in the rag market. Ofcourse, there are loads of great singles by all the big 60s British names, the singles bands. When did the Hollies, The Searchers of Manfred Mann ever make a bad single? Track by track, I discovered the soundtrack which would sustain me. I might add that 20 years later I am still discovering. The 60s seems to have been an extraordinarily prolific time, I thought I knew it all but ofcourse new tracks keep coming to light, and the northern soul compilations I buy often contain a number of absolutely unbelievable tracks. But anyway back to the 80s. …

Syd Barrett

It wasn’t good, as anyone with taste knows. Ok there was great music but the general cut and thrust was pretty dreadful. I could look through my Virgin Encyclopaedia of 80s music and find all sorts of vile examples. Who wore a peacock yellow jacket with the sleeves rolled up, with a mullet hairstyle? I don’t know. But its bad. Some young kids now call this classic pop. However… (ps wasn’t that David Bowie? I love him, I think he has renounced those days now- but has he ever really been welcomed back?)

I was already turned on towards the 1960s, especially the ‘64-7 period. Hungry for current sounds, what was there? Well, Joy Division had just come and gone. I liked some of their stuff. Julian Cope made 2 excellent psychedelic tinged LPs, the first of which was a masterpiece. Australia’s Church made Unguarded Moment, I’m Almost With You, and other attractive if at times clumsy (early) stabs at psychedelic beauty. But they mattered to me, and to we Birmingham musicians who were disenfranchised from 80s Britain and its music culture. REM had mystique, a compliment returned to we Jacobites people, when REM backed Jacobites Nikki Sudden on an LP of his. We listened to compilations, like Nuggetts, Pebbles and Chocolate Soup For Diabetics. Other bands like Dream Syndicate, Green On Red, and especially for me the magnificent Rain Parade from the US, this was the trip. It was at this time I began to take an interest in a specifically English sound, though. The Beatles exemplified this, especially with the Strawberry Fields/ Penny Lane 45 ofcourse. But more than this and above this monumental artistic achievement, for me lay 2 records, both I am glad to say British hit singles. One was Arnold Layne, the other See Emily Play, by the early Pink Floyd ofcourse. Experimental pop masterpieces of the first order, zeitgeist defining, psychedelic, pop, poetic, and extremely English with Syd ofcourse. How wonderful and beautiful. And Syd ofcourse, he dressed cool didn’t he? Compared to George Michael and Duran Duran? He looked like a deity compared to them. And a romantic psychedelic poet. Handsome, young, great hair, fantastic dress sense, charismatic, poetic, very gifted with melody and structure in songwriting, and with an attractive vulnerability in his voice, which he managed to combine with being really cool as well. An avant-garde artist, voyaging into the unknown, taking the listener then and now on the, er, trip. Syd remains the English exemplar, as an artist.

I think now you get the idea of, how I got into the scene I did and am still into. Ever since I began writing songs when I was 15, people have been telling me I am talented. I try at all times to remember what I am up against. I am confronting genius.

Mark Lemon- Village Green Machine

SHINDIG! magazine out now!

Chatted up – by a lady!

This week I have been working out the guitar parts for the song Sitting In An English Cafe, one of the first songs I wrote. Most would presume this song to be Kinks influenced, it is not. I wrote it having been influenced by a book I read, which talked about Englishness in 60’s music, referring specifically to The Beatles and Syd Barrett. I loved this idea, and wrote ‘Cafe’. It is odd though, because it is very acoustic orientated, was written on my Fender acoustic, and is a slow/mid tempo song with, a melancholy wistful atmosphere- just like Waterloo Sunset! But, I insist, I wrote it at a time I didn’t even like the Kinks. I had a tape of their greatest hits, which I didn’t particularly like at the time. Daniel —— persuaded me ‘Cafe’ wasn’t much good, no offence Daniel but he was always a bit like this with me. Listening back to it recently I realised it is a good song, one of my best. I recorded it with 6 and 12 string acoustics bass and drums, and will add tremolo guitar and organ, should be good! It has never been done properly.

Imagine my astonishment this week when, something drew me deep into forest woodland where I came upon a tree, with the words Village Green Machine etched, some might say artfully, into the trunk. I could scarcely believe my eyes when beneath this rabid fandom graffiti was the Village Green Machine logo, a tea cup with a union jack upon. Vandals will stop at nothing these days.

Over Easter David, my manager and myself went down to London to the Le Beat Bespoke event organised by Blow Monkeys Dr Robert, a very active promoter on the good taste rock & roll scene. He does a night in London called Mousetrap playing cool 60s 45s. He has a recent LP with Blow Monkeys which has had excellent reviews.

Have a look at the ‘New Untouchables’ website, I think Rob is in charge of all that, call it ’sixties central’. Le Beat Bespoke it a 3 day yearly event, with wild sounds and bands in every room. I went primarily to see The Pretty Things, imo one of the greatest bands of all time who should have known much greater success commercially. Still, their reputation is strong enough to attract a good crowd 40 years down the line. Dick Taylor was on splendid form, kicking out some great rock & roll lead and psychedelic improvisation, and sounding much as he did in the 60s. No nasty modernisations, no 70s metal grafted onto his playing. No heavy distortion. Phil May is still a great singer and frontman, even if he pointedly ignored me when I spoke to him. The band was rather fleshed out though with young helpers. Whatever happened to Vivian Prince?

In the back room cool DJs spun psychedelic 45s, dancing all night long. See Emily Play mixed into My White Bicycle, stylish people with spot on clothes enjoyed it all. The event attracts mods, psychedelics, a few rockers. Outside though we attracted a nutter who followed us, one pace behind, as we went to a shop, left the shop, etc. One pace. What do you do? Most people would have hit him I suppose. Security kept him outside while we rang a taxi. Also someone else tried to start a fight with me in the street, and I began to wish I’d stayed at home. PS Some think people like this should be allowed to walk the streets. Personally, I would have them incarcerated, and forced to listen to Coldplay records for as long as 48 hours. If this didn’t send them completely mad, it would be an excellent deterrent against further offence.

The next night, equilibrium restored, we watched the great Montesas. Essentially an early 60s influenced (and German) rock & roll group, they were one of the best bands I think I have ever seen. Incredible dynamics, great, funny performances, really rocking, and on came 2 dolly birds who looked like the Shangri Las in 60s air hostess dresses and hats. Indeed, they sang ‘Give Him A Great Big Kiss’ towards the end of the set.

I will check the band out on myspace, it was really uplifting and enjoyable, and authentic sounding rock & roll. Again, they got the guitar sounds right, and old keyboards are essential, which they had.

We also saw The Flirtations, but for some reason the otherwise excellent sound was not good, I assume due to a technical problem. I didn’t stay for the whole set. There were more great sounds and dancing and great dandy displays, by the end of the event I was really getting into the whole thing. I was pleased to meet the following; Mr Eddie Piller, I got an album to him at last and we shook hands. Mr- Spider Webb from The Horrors. He had sat next to us with his small circle of friends, I rather thought they resembled the British poets of the 1930s, Spender, Auden and all those rather more than a rock & roll tribe. Mr Spider Webb was splendidly attired in a Breton top, leather jacket and black trousers, looking ‘just so’. And, I thought seemed a very sorted lad, with a nice aura and no bullshit, an art school kind of thing. I like people like this who are what they are and are pleasant. Some think art and pretence are synonymous, why is this? It is inverted snobbery, that’s what. I am fairly sure Dick Taylor and Phil May were art students, a book should be written about British art school bands. ‘Art School Rock- from Barrett to Blur and Beyond”- there’s a cool title. I also met, having immediately recognised, Bob Stanley. Of course he is in pop group St Etienne, but is also a music writer of renown, among other things apparently. I hope he enjoys England’s Dreaming Spires. His ideas shaped it. Also hello to the cool dj’s I met, hope you like Psychedelic Ice Cream Man, it is dare I say it a true story.

Here’s to pop! For that is what I do. I got chatted up by a dolly bird, with buckles on her shoes. My Breton cap inspired her most heartfelt and grave concern, she said ‘Its so bleeding hot in here, I’m surprised that you don’t burn’.

I was chatted up- by a lady! That makes a pleasant change. I met a lady in the woods, but she was very strange. Varnished nails of silver, then next day her nails were pink, a bra encased her chest hair, (you do the last line) ps IT REALLY MAKES YOU THINK

Does that work? In an Alan Bennett sort of way, maybe.

Take care
Mark

Click here for Village Green Machine!

Jacobites

And so. In my last blog I was banging on about the horrors of my school days which dwarf Tom Brown’s School days for unpleasantness. I escaped into music, and of course what happened was I started to be treated with respect, by other musicians at least. I played on some successful records, including Robespierres Velvet Basement and the 2 other early Jacobites albums. That was me tinkling on the acoustic, the jangly bits, as well as playing bass, singing, some drumming and so on. I wonder if Jacobites fans can hear the same sounds on my new recordings, as I still play the same instruments, exactly the same guitar and bass. Jacobites fans may be interested to know that Nikki Sudden approached me a while before he died with a view to recording another Jacobites LP in Berlin. Alas fate intervened. So did my demands for money upfront, but lets not go there! I remember recording those early LPs really well, mostly at Bob Lamb’s home of the hits, although we recorded with John Rivers in Leamington for the first one. That is me, singing the 3 part harmony at the start of Silver Street. Nikki was pleased to tell me something special had been done, I was very happy to hear they had taken a harmony section and put it on its own, accapella style. Unfortunately Mercury Rev did not record my part when they covered the song-. I remember going to meet Tyla from The Dog’s D’Amour at the train station, Nikki had invited him (or was it Dave- he is Dave’s mate apparently) to put down some vocals and slide acoustic. I think this was one of the days Nikki’s mate Mike Scott was in the studio. They tried to get me to do some backing vocals, but that was my first time and I can remember Mike Scott laughing, I couldn’t get the pitching but frankly considering the voice I was singing against, it was hardly any wonder but I shouldn’t say that I know! I just remember Mike Scott had some things with him, and I had some and actually felt sped up to a point of paranoia by the time I left. However, Mike did point out the faults in my early bass playing, and it was he who really showed me how to play, so thanks Mike. He taught me to lock in with the bass drum, and he pulled back much of my improvising for the song Road Of Broken Dreams. I think that was my first ever proper recording. I haven’t played that first LP for a good while, I must listen to it again. I was very young, we all were (mostly!).

Then later we did a mammoth session at Bob Lamb’s, with Epic. Nikki had dozens of songs and Dave Kusworth had plenty. There were no rehearsals, but with simple material, it wasn’t necessary. I clearly remember Epic. He seemed a quiet person, reserved, and removed from the whole Jacobites rock & roll vibe. But I think that was the whole point to be honest. Epic and myself were not really rockers. I was heavily into the Byrds at that point, and Epic had a pedigree which perhaps was influenced by Can, by Maureen Tucker, by folk. He liked the Barracudas and I remember him enthusing about their new record, Endeavour To Persevere. Epic had a different circle of friends, we weren’t close but he seemed a likeable bloke. I still can’t believe what happened to him. If something is upsetting you, express yourself I say. That’s what I do here.Peace Be Epic. He was a talented drummer. He had many friends on the American avant-garde scene, really famous people like Thurston Moore who played on his solo records.

Of course I remember the whole Jacobites image, black velvet jackets all the time, scarves, cool shoes, good haircuts and really for the 80s, there was a lot of good taste going on there. A lot of smoking, drinking etc too. It was pretty obvious that Dave Kusworth had some special songs going at that point. songs like Son Of A French Nobleman, Heart Of Hearts, Into My Arms, Before I Die, and plenty of others were at that stage in my opinion in their best setting. Sure, there was rock & roll going on with the guitars, but there was another more folky/country sensibility at play. And that to me defines Jacobites more than that whole Keith Riichards thing, which, along with the New York Dolls and other hardcore rock & roll, eventually took over more.

I was surprised to hear Robespierres had hit no 1 in the German independent charts. I was as removed from the world as Maureen Tucker was latterly, not realising what was going on in terms of the escalating profile of Jacobites. I knew Dave very well, we are still friends. Nikki was not the world’s easiest person, but I was shocked though not surprised when he passed away. I remember some of the scene there in Berlin but I wont talk about that. Nikki was, shall I say, a person who liked a party- and I believe he lived that philosophy to the full over about 30 years! I remember he was given a silver Victorian case, a small cigarette case by a close lady friend, which contained talcum powder. I couldn’t understand why he had to keep putting it up his nose (only joking). Nikki always smoked rather esoteric cigarettes, which he always kept in a silver case. Later I toured with him in Germany, where he was very popular. He always had a bottle of champagne after the shows. It was the full rock & roll trip. Groupies- there was this one woman with fishnet tights I seem to remember,backstage at the rock & roll Babylon club. Then one time there was this pimp with a hooker, who was trying to palm her off onto Nikki. He started to camp it up, turning his attentions, however insincerely, on me. ‘I’ve always liked you’ and all this. This was a Nikki solo tour around ‘93. The drinks cabinets were ridiculous. Dozens of beers, and always several bottles of spirits. I was throwing up blood after a couple of days, only a few spots- but it shows, that lifestyle takes a high toll. On one occasion a young lad came up to me, complaining that Nikki was with his sister. Upstairs. I went and had a look and sure enough- I can see him now- he was cavorting with this girl on a mattress , I wasn’t going to intervene however. I spoke with Max Decharne from Gallon Drunk recently who drummed on that tour- I was already a heavy drinker and with mates like that, it was hardly a recipe for restraint, lets say. Hi Max!

Nikki Sudden

It was all quite an experience. It showed me another side of life, which was eye opening for a lad from the suburbs. It was fun, and intense. But then of course came the sad news that Nikki had passed away. I got to hear about it from close quarters, it wouldn’t be appropriate to go into detail but it was such a shock. Nikkis reputation as a songwriter and personality was such that his death was covered by the New York Times, and by the Guardian in this country, and was also on the BBC news. He had been working with Mick Taylor, and Mac Mcclagan. He was a larger than life character. I think he would have liked England’s Dreaming Spires. He was truly passionate about music, it was his life- and his taste sometimes surprised. He was not closed minded, naming Candi Staton and Barry White, and the Chi Lites among his favourite artists. RIP Nikki.

So, this weekend coming we’re off to Le Beat Bespoke to see the Pretty Things , and Wildebeests, among others. Theres a northern soul all nighter, a big record fair, all sorts. Will be a thrill to get down there, maybe see you there.

We recorded Sitting In An English Cafe,

Cheers!
Mark

Village Green machine

The Musics Over – Nikki Sudden – March 26, 2006