Latest 7 magazine

Goth-rock legends Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds play the Brighton Centre this week. Nick Aldwinckle spoke to Bad Seeds and Grinderman drummer and frontman of The Vanity Set, Jim Sclavunos

What have you been up to lately?
I’ve been doing a lot of sessions in New York. I have a studio and a friend down in Long Island and we’ve been working with a band called The Bellmer Dolls. They’re named after the Dadaist Hans Bellmer who used to make obscene doll sculptures. I’m about to do a Vanity Set session too. We’ve just finished a US Bad Seeds too, so this is my ‘in-between time’. We played the Hollywood Bowl with Spiritualised and Cat Power on the bill. It was a thrill to play such an iconographic venue. We’re heading to Europe for a tour, playing a few places we haven’t played before.

Do you come to Brighton much?
The last time we were in Brighton was with Grinderman, when we played a secret gig at the King Alfred Centre. It was fun. What’s not to like about Brighton?
Read the rest of this article »

Nick Aldwinckle spoke to former Joy Division and New Order bass player and all-round ‘Madchester’ legend Peter Hook, who brings his Haçienda Tour to Brighton this week when he opens the city’s new Bench store

What have you been up to?
That’s a loaded question! It’s pretty busy these days. Because I don’t have a manager anymore, so I ‘m now involved in all the negotiations I used to luckily get out of. It seems you spend a lot of time talking about things that come to nothing! It’s only at this point you realise what a manager actually does! I’m still very active in promoting the Haçienda nights, which are going very well and has given a new lease of life to all of us old f*ckers! I’m playing a DJ set at the Brighton Stone Love night Friday.

Has not having a manager made you more business-like?
Yeah, definitely, unfortunately. It’s a funny thing, I suppose. It’s always the problem with life that you don’t like people wasting your time. It’s a funny situation, because when we started off with the Haçienda brand when we started, it seemed like an impossible thing to do. Now, we’ve actually got something that people want to hear, it’s like ‘wow!’, but if you believe in something you’ve really got to keep at it. I do find that even though it’s immensely frustrating doing the business side of things, it’s also really satisfying when it comes together. It’s difficult to find people that feel the same as you. It’s been nice going round with Graham Park, 808 State, Happy Mondays, as you do realize why you were together in the first place. Y’know, Factory Records, The Haçienda, that old ethos; the atmosphere, the music; I think that’s still as valid today as it was then. It’s about making it attractive to a younger audience and to be honest, the younger audience seem really up for it and really open. We incorporate sounds from today in with the old sounds of then, really. I’m doing a Haçienda Acid House evening soon which is proving to be fantastic for one reason or another. I don’t remember a lot of the music from first time round, so it’s great to sit down and experience it all again! Sometimes it’s like I’m listening to stuff for the first time despite it being twenty years old!

There are a lot of newer bands influenced by music from that era…
It was funny. I was reading a book and realized we payed £2,400 as Joy Division for a synthesizer in 1980, which must be the equivalent of about twenty five grand in today’s money. I was reading an advert that said you could buy a synthesizer in Asda for £25. If that isn’t a f*cking revelation, what is? It’s unbelievable. Maybe, in a way, you hit the point where, sound-wise, you’re not going to go any further. Technology’s so much better today it’s almost disposable. In a funny way it makes music open to everybody, but it also makes it open to people who can’t make great music.

“Rob Gretton told me and Bernard to shut up because we were a pair of f***ing idiots!”

Does technology exclude people from music who can’t afford it or don’t have much technological knowledge?
The technical knowledge thing: I’m not good at that- I can’t do that sh*t. I have to get someone to do it for me. The thing is that if you’re driven enough, you can find somebody. You don’t have to be technical-minded. If you have a kid that can play the keyboards or whatever, you don’t have to be like that. You can make a career out of being that person, like Brian Eno was. The thing is that it’s so much cheaper now that it doesn’t bear comparison to when we began. If you watch The X Factor and Pop Idol and all that crap, think of how easy it is: go to Old Trafford, do an audition, and you could be as big as Leona Lewis or someone. This just isn’t true for some people. It’s like what Mani always says: “Well, it’s just total f***ing b***cks is that! F***ing Simon Cowell is a ****!” (laughs madly). It’s just glorified karaoke. There’s the illusion that they’ve got some kind of control, but these kids have no power. There’s very little money for the performers and the record label gets all the money. I’m lucky that I’ve always been given a lot of freedom. That’s one thing Tony Wilson always gave us.

Read the rest of this article »

Nick Aldwinckle caught up with Katie Melua ahead of her Brighton Centre show

It’s been five years since Katie Melua first burst into the public consciousness with her breakthrough hit ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy’ and the multi-platinum selling album it featured on, Call Off The Search. Those five years have seen the Georgia born, Belfast/London bred singer-songwriter become Europe’s biggest selling female artist worldwide, with her first three albums selling more than ten million copies combined. She also gained her first UK number one single last year with her posthumous duet with Eva Cassidy, What A Wonderful World and after a year of touring, shows no sign of slowing down. Katie plays the Brighton Centre on 11 November to promote her forthcoming career retrospective, The Katie Melua Collection.

You’re in South Africa at the moment. Today, the country’s president, Thabo Mbeki has resigned due to a corruption scandal. What’s the mood like there?
To be honest, the news being particularly relevant to people in that sphere of life, doesn’t affect me so much. As we’re touring, we don’t really get to be exposed to the effects of what’s been happening.

You’re signed to legendary Steeleye Span/Elkie Brooks/The Wombles(!) songwriter Mike Batt’s label, Dramatico. How is working with him?
He’s been amazing. Our relationship has changed so much. Because we’ve been working so closely together for so long, we’re really comfortable with each other. I think that was part of the reason why between us we decided that after this album, we’re going to creatively go our separate ways. Perhaps it’s become too comfortable and safe and I need to be challenged, aiming for something different. I haven’t really got a proper idea myself of where I want to head musically. I’m still working on this current record and touring it and I won’t even start properly thinking about the next album for another six months at least, as I’m touring for that long. I’ve got no idea of whom I might be working with.

You were in a relationship with Luke Pritchard from The Kooks. Are you still in touch?
We’re in touch on and off. I haven’t seen him for bloody ages actually. Occasionally, we bump into each other but not that often.

Being Georgian, with family out there, how has the recent Russian invasion affected you?
I’ve been really worried about my family, but they’re ok. My mum and my brother are back now but most of my family are still out there. The situation is that life is totally fine. It’s just politically a bit scary. Imagine another country coming along and just claiming a third of Britain as their own. It’s a real visual catastrophe in your head. Thank god though- it could have been much worse but you have to be grateful for that.

“Perhaps it’s become too comfortable and safe and I need to be challenged, aiming for something different”

What do you make of the American presidential election?
It would be so amazing if Obama got in, but I don’t want to get my hopes up because I’d be so devastated if he didn’t. I reckon McCain’s going to win. It will be like we’ve all died and gone to heaven if Obama wins and if he doesn’t, I think I’ll go and kill myself. I’ll definitely be staying up and watching that election.

Do you like touring?
I love touring, but you try not to do it for more than two months or so at a time or else you go crazy. It’s good because when you do go home, you’re intimately attached to it. It takes a week or two to get back into the flow of things and get back into normal life.

Do you mind having an older fanbase?
Not really. It’s cool to have anyone listening to my music, really. It’s weird, actually. The UK is quite an old fanbase, but other countries, we have a lot younger fans, like teenagers, which is odd. It’s just nice to have the diversity. I wouldn’t try and deliberately appeal to a younger audience, as then you’re just trying to chase an audience and it’s not how it should be. I just play the music that I like. If the older people like my music, then that’s cool!

You’ve done some wacky things – raced around Silverstone, flown a plane, you hold the world record for the world’s deepest underwater concert in an oil rig- any other mad plans?
At the moment, no, although I did a gig recently at the bottom of a mine in Norway, which was pretty wicked! Not at the moment- we’re touring through til next year so we have nothing else planned except for me to go off, live a little and chill out.

Music guru Mark Ede starts explains why Soul music, in its widest sense, remains an important influence to us all.

Soul Music is in our culture. No longer merely the domain of African-Americans, the back beat of its influence can be heard everywhere from Abba to the Beatles, from the Arctic Monkeys to Radiohead. If, as the song says, we built this city on rock and roll, then rock and roll itself is a city built on rhythm and blues.

Soul retains a universal appeal - not least as a prompt for taking to the dance floor - and, whilst it arguably lacks the specific supporting infrastructure and profile of old, it’s not any less popular. Perhaps it’s now so ingrained in our day to day musical culture that its existence and influence are simply taken for granted.

Read the rest of this article »