10 posts from March 2009

I leave to go and catch the AC/DC show,   To my enormous relief a taxi pulls up as I step outside the venue and is driven by a sharp young kid who speaks good English.   He takes me to the Olympiahalle, another big Arena on this never ending world tour.   I enter through the back stage corridors.

  And so another AC/DC show rolls into action, that iconic animated film which is still pretty dark and chilling and hitting every schoolboy fantasy along the way, heralds the arrival of that great steam locomotive crashing through the backdrop and the band launching into “Rock and Roll Train”   When they drop into “Hell Ain’t A Bad Place to Be” It is really underway and everyone realises just what a joy it is to behold this band right here right now.  

The set is a perfect mixture of all their classic songs with a healthy smattering of new tunes.   Plenty of duck walks from Angus with his fist in the air, Brian running down the catwalk cheering on the crowd, reminding them just what a great party they are at.   We get the strip during “The Jack”, Brian leaping for the bell rope during “Hells Bells”.   The crowd are all captivated by the new inflatable Rosie that straddles the train, and those authentic looking cannons that roll up and fire during the finale of “For Those About to Rock”  

I ride half an hour out of town to Zenith, a 6,000 capacity Arena where the View are opening for Mando Daio.   They are clearly a big band here.   Some hit singles have driven an otherwise awkward band to the top of the charts.   But then this is a country where Razorlight still get mobbed in the streets.   I make my way past the sausage sellers to find the backstage dressing rooms.  I run into Kieran,  Kyle is sitting there like a prince, huge smile, playing his acoustic guitar.   They have been having fun here in Germany

We head down to watch them play to the assembles 6,000.   It’s a great crowd, young, hip, good looking.     The band go down really well, play all of the hits

I manage to be up at 5.45, actually feeling okay.  Go down and get the girls breakfast sorted and get myself changed into my suitably smart rock and roll gear.   The full enormity of visiting Downing Street is now hitting me.  
 
We pull up outside the great iron gates at the end of the street and go through all of the security checks, somewhat like getting onto a plane before we walk up the most famous street in England.   I remember doing this as a child in the seventies on a trip to London with my parents.    I am struck by what a bizarre street it is, with a huge unnatural gap between number 10 and number 11, and how they are all painted such a shiny black.   The famous numbers on the door painted on in white.   We are met at the door by Maggie Darling the wife of the Chancellor.   She is a Scottish woman with a blonde bob and a fierce energy, not a woman to cross, but I imagine that is true of every politician’s wife.   As we arrive so does Professor Alan Brinkley, the provost of Columbia University with the girl from the British Council.   He is here to give some context to the meeting.   We are shown through a substantial hall into a reception room with a fine view over Horse Guards Parade.  Martin takes me upstairs to a room, which is laid out with a number of circular tables and a podium at the end.   There is some impressive modern art on the walls.  
Back downstairs the room is quickly filling up.   I introduce myself to Louise Wilson, half of the Wilson Sisters whose work I have always loved.    She is totally charming and probably grateful for someone sympathetic to talk to.   Richard Greer the art collector comes over to talk to us, introduces us both to Alan Yentob.  I am impressed with the turnout, there is Jenny Abramsky, the head of the national Lottery fund, there is Mark Thompson from the BBC, John Tusa, David Puttnam.   Clearly the opportunity to get inside Number 11 Downing Street has brought out the great and the good from all areas of the arts.
We all head upstairs for the meeting.   Martin had the brilliant idea of getting John Wilson, a reassuring voice from Radio 4, used to marshalling a room full of big personalities to moderate the meeting and hopefully get the best out of it all.   Martin is up first explaining what New Deal is, how he took inspiration from Roosevelt’s New Deal to look to how white collar workers, creatives, writers, painters musicians could be allowed to pursue their dreams rather than be forced to dig roads in order to claim some benefit or income from the state.   First up is Andy Burnham, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media Arts and Sport.   He comes over pretty well, a mildly pressured looking guy, like so many labour ministers, a good man forced to do a job under impossible circumstances.   He is basically saying this looks like a good idea and good luck.
Next up is James Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary.   He recently abolished the New Deal for Musicians, a fact he has the grace to acknowledge and something that has caused great consternation for people in our business and something which Fergal Sharkey is desperately trying to get to the bottom of.  He talks for a bit before he and James head off to cabinet at 9am.   Then we get some historical perspective with Alan Brinkley and DD Guttneplan the London Correspondent for The Nation stepping up to explain to us all about the original New Deal and how it assisted writers artists and musicians back in the 1930s.  The fact that it allowed creatives to actually draw down a wage is something in itself.   The final speaker is Ed Vaizey, the Shadow spokesman for Culture.
Then it is open to the floor.   Any fears that Martin and John had about people being reluctant to speak are all too quickly dispelled.   This is a very impressive guest list and all of the invitees are used to being heard.  If you have made an effort to be here it is important that your point gets across.   John is also good at making sure all of the names in the room get an opportunity to speak.   There is also an opportunity for some interesting debate.   There is a lot of talk about getting money from the state directed into the arts however Catherine Meyer who is the London Bureau Chief for Time Magazine rightly points out that such funding can often lead to quite unispiring art.   This is something that Alan Yentob fiercely disagrees with, arguing that we should push for as broad a democratisation of art as possible.
There are calls by a noted architect to bring a green agenda to any funding that can be achieved, which is a very wise request.  Several people mention the Enterprise allowance scheme and how it was essential to the launch of their own careers.   It is wonderful to sit here amongst these grandees of the UK arts thinking of them working in bars back in the eighties, trying to use what little money they could to launch their careers.   There are calls to open up buildings that are not being used and set them up as artist’s studios and workspaces.   The most inspiring comments come from Trevor Phillips from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.  He rightly points out that he is one of only three people in the room from an ethnic minority, which says a lot about the arts in the UK, my own industry included.  He is also the one person today who actually offers to put money on the table, calling for someone to take up the challenge and use this cash to set up an initiative for the benefit of minorities.
Mark Thompson the Director General of the BBC makes a good point that The Arts are all undergoing a revolution at the moment when so many of us are seeing are business models transformed as content that was previously only available at a cost such as film, newspapers, novels, is now available for free and this is bringing so many challenges to what we all do.   John Wilson uses this as my cue as nowhere has such a revolution cut deeper than in my own industry.   I manage to point out that the slump that has hit the music business has been going on for the last five years and we are being expected to achieve more with fewer people.   The need to find fresh recruits into our business has never been as pressing as it is now.   We have our graduate training schemes and our internships and apprenticeships, but we need to ensure that money spent by the government on unemployment benefit and the like can be put together with our own funding to enable more people to get into the business.
The meeting winds up around 11.   I feel enormously proud to have been here and congratulate Martin on finally making it all happen.  Of course this is only the beginning.   It was a stroke of genius by Maggie Darling to host this discussion as everyone wants to get inside Downing Street so we were able to get a very impressive turn out which might not have been the same had we held the meeting in a local town hall.  We also need to capitalise upon the energy shown here today and make sure we actually achieve something on the back of all this.  

We make good time driving through the night to see the opening night of Ksabian’s run of warm up shows prior to The Teenage Cancer Trust performance at the Albert Hall this Saturday.   The A2 is clear as is the Motorway.   We get to Margate at 8.15 and the band are not on until 9, time for food.   It is a bleak place, much as any seaside town is in winter.   There is a gale and rain is coming down.   We drive along the front until we find the Winter Gardens, a Victorian Theatre down by the sea accessed by a long covered staircase.  We park up a little way back after we spot a Greek Restaurant.   It is deserted inside but the food is okay, I get a decent sea bass fillet and salad.   Then we realise we are late for the show and the venue is rather further than we thought, this is after we decided to walk there.   So I make everyone break into a run which nearly cripples Lee and David as we battle through the wind up hill past the amusement arcades to the theatre.   

 It is a great Venue, big dancehall with the stage along the long wall as it would have been for the big bands facing the dancefloor.   Kasabian roar on all excited and deliver Underdog.  “Shoot The Runner” really kicks it off and everyone is going mental.   Suddenly I feel really excited, we have a huge band on our hands again.  “Reason is Treason” is similarly impressive but then the PA blows up during the third song.   They carry on regardless.      There are so many moments in the set that shine such as “Processed Beats” and “Sun Rise”.   “Fast Fuse” soars out of the new material.   The encore is matchless and everyone in the place is singing arms aloft by the end.   I can’t fault Tom.    He has been their secret weapon since day one more than ever now.

We walk in brandishing our laminates.  Now in the UK, a Judas Priest show will pull in a bunch of people my age , out in Spain there are plenty of kids here, in fact the majority are in their twenties.   Plus there are girls, attractive girls to boot.   This is the stuff of adolescent dreams.

We make our way backstage and find ourselves in a room marked “Food and Booze”   Rob Halford is in there making a warm honeyed drink “for my throat lads”  he mutters before heading off, almost in disguise under a beanie hat, calf length shorts and sunglasses.  KK Downing and Ian Hill are the perfect hosts, insisting we have something to drink and help ourselves to the food.    I manage to almost empty a jar of mixed nuts and dried fruit as we sit chatting to them.

Glen Tipton joins us, fiddles with his guitar and a practice amp, hammering out harmonics whilst telling us about Gaudi’s cathedral.    I am happy to indulge my lost knowledge of British Heavy metal acts from the late seventies as we discuss potential supports for the British Steel tour of America.   Sounds like a great idea taking that album out across America.   WHitesnake are supporting.  Interesting as Coverdale is the only original member when Priest with the exception of their drummer have held the same line up for 37 years, give our take the 14 without Rob.

Shacky and I walk into the arena.   It is a fair size, maybe 5,000 people in this space usually reserved for basketball.  Dave gets a beer from one of the vendors walking the floor with a tank on their backs, 9 Euros it costs, outrageous!   Two teenage girls ask if he is working with the band and look very excited when he says he is with the record company.   We find a spot at the back as the lights fall to reveal quite an elaborate stage.   The drums are up high on a vast podium, there are two towers on either side with steps running down to each side of the stage.   A vast image of Nostradamus with bright lights in his eyes dominates the back wall.   The band start to power out the riff from the last album’s title track and Rob Halford emerges from the heart of the tower on the stage left, dressed in what looks like a hooded cloak made of silver, clutching a staff.  “I am Nostradamus” he is singing as he makes his way to the centre stage, all of us trying to work out if that really is him under the silver.    Then the band open up into the riff from Metal Gods.   The trademark synchronised rocking out of the three guitarists, KK, Glen and Ian, as distinctive as the Shadows Walk, dominates the stage.   Then Rob emerges from the wings dressed in an elaborate cloak trimmed with silver.    He launches into the song with its wonderful emotive chorus.   He still has the voice that stuck such a chord with me back when I was 14 listening to Radio Luxembourg.  I stand here marvelling at what my teenage self would have made of me now, running Judas Priest’s record label, watching them sagely from the back of an Arena in Barcelona.  

There are many great moments of course amidst Robs endless costume changes.   “Breaking the Law” is an obvious highlight and “The Four Horseman” from Nostradamus sees Rob emerge from beneath the drum kit high on a throne.   I am thrilled when a song from the seventies crops up; “Green Maharishi” is a particular favourite.   And I can’t fault the show, they really do put on a great performance, Rob is everything you could possibly ask for.   The encore is well worth the wait.   Rob arrives on the stage astride a great silver motorbike, wearing the leather cap and all of the studs.  This is the image that I want of him, belting out “Hell Bent for Leather”   I am not disappointed.

We are held on the ground for an hour before the two hour flight down to Nashville.   I don’t mind.   I love flying, for a couple of hours no one can reach me, how wonderful is that?  I fear the day they get internet access on aircraft, I am not convinced at all that it will be progress.    We need more time alone not more time in touch.   I am met at arrivals by Peter Leak and Lissie.   He is in a big yellow coat and clear framed glasses that have a touch of eighties alternative about them, like something The Feelies might have worn.   Lissie looks well.  She drives us to the studio in her beat up Honda that she drove down from LA.  It smells a little of her pooch Byron, he travelled with her.   She has a cute pink car seat that her cousin made for her.   On the way we stop at whole foods and I pick up a vast take-away salad.   

The studio is in a residential area on the edge of town.   Flying in it looked a bit grim down below, lots of small shacks and trailer parks, but this area is way more upmarket, big detached houses on decent plots of land.    It is a wooded hillside, reminds me a bit of the Canyon in LA which makes sense I guess.   The place they are renting is a long single story family house, really quite a big space.  It looks like it was built in the eighties.   I was sceptical at first about renting a house and then filling it with gear but now I am here it all makes perfect sense.   They did explain to the owners that an artist would be staying there, but no one could anticipate the transformation that they have brought about.    The main live space in the main hall of the house where the band is all set up, with Jacquire having brought a glass siding door and placed it under the stairs to create a vocal booth.

There are musicians littering the house, they seem like a bunch of cool guys in their twenties and thirties.   The drummer Paul reminds me of Shag.   Jacquire has pulled them all together himself having used them on the Landen Pigg record.  He plays us a track they laid down yesterday; I think it is called “Record Collector”.   I am delighted with the results, it has a darkness to it, a sinister edge created by an atmospheric use of strings and keyboards that makes it feel a little David Lynch and a little Dr John.  This is exactly what I hoped Jacquire would bring.  

We go outside for a cigarette, it is bitterly cold today, incredibly it was 80 degrees yesterday and all the trees seem to have come into blossom to celebrate only to have been caught by freezing weather today.   I like the atmosphere here.  The old adage is that when times get tough; get back into the recording studio.    The easiest way out of a recession is to have more hits so I am doing the right thing being here.  I wish I could stay longer.

Then off to The Apollo where Soft Pack are opening for Franz Ferdinand.   They are a band from San Diego who sound like Rocket From The Crypt, actually they are really good, it is a big rock and roll sound.   It might be a lot of fun to do this one.

.   We make it to Ealing Studios at 5pm.  I am very excited at being at the home of British Comedy.   All of those Ealing classics as well as all of the Carry On films were made here.   It feels very special.  The Ting Tings are just beginning their rehearsals when we arrive and we watch them run through.   They are a bit hungover having hit the bar heavily when they finally got out of Brixton.  It was a huge disappointment to not play the London show last night but they are back on it again now.  Their gear is all covered in paint from the Adidas show they did up in Manchester a couple of weeks ago, which turned into this incredible paint fight.