LTW Newsletter 72
Welcome warriors,
I am busy typing this missive to you whilst dog tired and weary on my endless road trip. The spoken word ‘Do You Believe In The Power Of Rock n Roll’ tour has been invigorating and great fun but I’d forgotten how knackering just talking can be!
I’m currently sat on a late train with no wifi which is common place in #brokenBritain where the disaster capitalists have kept taking so much out of the pot that all the infrastructure is creaking and we the people are left grinding out our digital/medieval existence in its near ruins.
I have been doing this spoken word tour talking about my life in music and it has been going great. One of the highlights has been to meet many of our readers and subscribers as I wend my way around the country. The last week has seen me in the South West and then taking a jaunt around the South East and into towns like Colchester where I’ve not been for ages - returning to the great well run Arts Centre and then up to Norwich to their Arts Centre - not only do both venues have the same name they also are in old churches. It was a really weird deja vu as I had done them both back to back in a 1998 tour!
These are all fine towns that feel like another country compared to my normal northern stomping ground with their winding back streets and history in every pore!
It’s been fab talking to people about music after the shows and swapping band tips in machine gun conversations. Another highlight has been the onstage interviews with the likes of Steve Lamacq or Andy Cairns from Therapy - the bond we all have through music is indestructible and powerful!
There are a few dates left on the tour now…
In the meantime, Louder Than War has been firing along…
Crass, of course, have their crucial space in the post punk landscape reserved for ever. The band or collective or anarchist art project or whatever they were changed hearts and minds and made a series of groundbreaking albums that were like multi-media experiences. Our reviewer went to the London premiere screening of the documentary The Sound of Free Speech. The film’s title is taken from the silent segment of empty vinyl that opened the band’s incendiary Feeding of The 5,000 debut on Small Wonder Records, an album which remains unique for its introduction of elements of chant, drone, silence, spoken word and sound collage into anarcho punk’s sonic arsenal. As ever with Crass it left as many question marks as answers and that’s a good thing…
https://louderthanwar.com/crass-the-sound-of-free-speech-2023-film-review/ (Opens in a new window)
House Of All have already lifted the post Fall crown in the empty void left by the passing of Mark E. The band’s albums have already been embraced and they delivered a killer show at Gorilla in Manchester. The band comprised of various ex Fall members have been operating in that hinterland of captivating awkward bands that have spring up in the post Fall interzone. Led by Martin Bramah and arguably featuring the cream of the Fall lineups like the Hanley brothers, they certainly have the pedigree, and they have somehow moulded this into a powerful machine that both stakes acclaim for the Fall musicians to be far more than a ‘granny playing bongos’ whilst also celebrating the grout sound of the mothership band.
https://louderthanwar.com/house-of-all-gorilla-manchester-live-review/
Gary Marx formed the Sisters Of Mercy with Andrew Eldritch and was core and key to the story. Without him, the project would not have happened in the same way. He was there for the early period when they truly set their stall with those minimalistic, darkly funny, and stark releases; when he left, there were further triumphs, but it wasn't quite the same again. Gary rarely does interviews so it was great to catch up with him and get the low down on those early days.
The Only Ones members Peter Perrett and John Perry in conversation with John Robb live at Rebellion Festival punk festival in Blackpool 2023. They talked about the band’s long history that threads back to the early seventies, the punk rock scene that they were observers and players in with friendships with many of the key players and mutual respect that saw people like the late and great Jordan often evangelise about them.
Also they talk about friendships with Malcolm and Vivienne, Johnny Thunders and other players in the then scene. They also talk about how drugs were, in hindsight, a waste of time and so much more in this touching and often funny interview which was a real pleasure to do.
https://louderthanwar.com/the-only-ones-the-john-robb-interview/
Big Special are on fast track to becoming one of your favourite bands this year. They’ve already been tipped as one of our bands to watch earlier this year and listening to this you’ll hear why. Sleaford Mods comparisons are thrown right off a 50ft foot cliff here as Joe Hicklin’s sound of soul soars across the funkiest hip hop beat of the year. Read on…
https://louderthanwar.com/big-special-unleash-new-video-for-black-dog-white-horse/
Malin Anderson is a songwriter via Sweden, London and Los Angeles. Her album is mostly self-produced with a little help from storied friends. It is personal but personable, a window into her world. Old scars and new wounds, healed but never really gone.
Children’s books stay with you, whether your own childhood or your children and grandchildren. Not always the gothic Guignol of Hans Christian, the scarring tragedy of Fifties era Disney, or the Black Plague warnings of Old English fairytales. Sometimes, the seemingly lost and innocent will send you down any number of rabbit holes, each one potentially stranger than the next.
https://louderthanwar.com/malin-andersson-space-to-feel-album-review/
We are sorry to hear of the death of Graeme Naysmith former guitar player from Pale Saints. The band formed in Leeds in 1987 were loosely part of the shoegazing thing but very much had their own sound and musical agenda. Signed to 4AD they had a worldwide cult following and respect for their crafted sound and creative intensity. After the band ended in 1996 Graeme continued playing guitar played with Lorimer.
https://louderthanwar.com/graeme-naysmith-former-member-of-pale-saints-rip/
