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While the PledgeMusic campaign counts down (now over halfway there), here's some more from the deep vaults of post-punk pop history. The Grinding Halt fanzine will feature again next month, but for now, this is a review of The Distractions' gig at the Fulham Greyhound in West London in 1980.
THE DISTRACTIONS FULHAM GREYHOUND
Typically, I went all the way up to London, to discover that the support group came from Reading... they were, in fact, Modern Jazz, a light-weight, punky combo, who played a full, original and interesting set, vaguely reminiscent at different times of the Buzzards and Starjets.
Eventually The Distractions came on, and initially made little impression on an audience when, in the main, had come for a night out rather than specifically to see the group. Certainly none of the group had made much effort to look particularly captivating - especially lead singer Mike, who wore sensible shoes, smartly co-ordinated tie and trousers, the latter displaying what can only be described as a distinct flare. However, as they opened the set set with 'It Doesn't Bother Me', most people could not help out be impressed by their music which gained a lot more guts live without losing its smooth, fluid beat. Most of the set consisted of tracks from the album or singles, 'though there were a couple I did not recognise, and although I had to leave before the end, I did not get away in time to prevent my being won-over by The Distractions.
E.S.
By the way, although there are still 41 days to go, the quicker we reach the target, the quicker that Parabolically Yours becomes a reality. And remember, if you Pledge by credit or debit card, no monies are taken unless/until the target is reached (PayPal will withdraw funds immediately, but return them if the target isn't reached). More updates, including track list information, to come soon... www.pledgemusic.com/projects/thedistractions
This is the second half of the Penny Black Music magazine interview by Malcolm Carter. Here, Mike, Steve, Nick, and Neil, reveal more about the contents of the tantalisingly-close 'Parabolically Yours' boxset, including the possibility of a future standalone release of Nobody's Perfect. Last but not least, the forthcoming album by The Granite Shore - inspired by The Distractions song, 'Wise' - is discussed.
The Distractions: Interview
Author: Malcolm Carter
Published: 08/12/2014
Penny Black: There are a number of live tracks included
in the package; do these cover the recent reunion gigs as well as the original
ones?
Steve Perrin: There’s stuff from three line-ups – Finney, Perrin, Wright, Nichols,
Sidebottom; Finney, Kadmon, Wright, Nichols, Sidebottom; Finney, Perrin,
Halliwell, Torabi, Kellie. Obviously we don’t want three live albums in there
so we have to make decisions about which tracks to use.
My current thought is that we should include any live songs of which there are
no studio versions, which might lead to more Arthur than me but that’s not
firmed up yet.
Mike Finney: Not forgetting Van Den Burg and Usher, but there were no live recordings
with that line-up available. The Dingwalls, Newcastle University and Hurrah!
Club recordings are interesting, as are the very early ones. However, interesting
is not always good.
Neil Storey: The live tracks we’ll be including range from ‘79 / ‘80 to 2012.
Nick Halliwell: Occultation had the 2012 Salford shows recorded and filmed, and I’ve told
Neil he’s welcome to any material we have, with no restrictions. The 2012 live
tracks are certainly among those under consideration and I’d particularly like
to see the closing “Tribute to Adrian Wright” section on there, especially
‘Nothing Lasts’, a fabulous song which has never been released in any form -
unless someone can find a proper studio recording of it, anyway.
PB: We’ve still not seen a complete track listing, but is this release going to
bring The Distractions’ story bang up to date?
SP: Yes, there are some acoustic versions of songs from ‘The End of the Pier’
and possibly one track that didn’t make it onto the album because we didn’t get
it finished in time.
MF: I agree with Steve
NH: I’ve not seen a complete track listing either but it should go at least up
to 2012.
PB: Given that ‘Parabolically Yours’ has been a massive project, years in the
making and, given that it will be up to the usual high standard of all the
HiddenMasters releases, this understandably reflects in the price. Are there
any plans to release just the ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ album at any point in the near
future?
SP: Not to my knowledge.
MF: No idea, but after the last four years I wouldn’t be surprised at anything!
NS: Actually… I’d forgotten (until I cross-checked some document dates) that
we’d begun this just over four years ago! Time flies, eh?!
The basic set-price has been governed by the equivalent of walking a tightrope
300 feet up; an exercise made a bit more dodgy when there is no safety net and
one doesn’t really have a head for heights.
As I said a bit earlier, from day one, we’ve set out to fulfil the following.
It has to be the best possible package we can put together plus, of course, it
has to be something the band are happy with and proud of – that, hopefully goes
without say we have to make it the best value we can for the fans.
But… we have also to recognise we inhabit a limited market thus we have to
carefully consider how many we’re likely to sell in a reasonably short period
of time… Going fairly low slightly stymies us because the lower the
manufacturing quantity, the higher the unit price.
Then, we have to balance all of that against not pricing ourselves out of the
market (and pissing the fans off) while, at the same point, pricing the end
product at a level where we can pay our own bills as well as the royalties to
those we pay royalties to as well.
Part 2 of the question – Yes, it is possible; the required permissions are in
place. Maybe in time… Right now though, concentration is on this!
PB: When can Pledgers expect to actually hold ‘Parabolically Yours’ in their
hands?
NS: So long as the actual Pledge goes according to plan and we make our target
(fingers crossed!), then we’d aim to start manufacturing within (approximately)
a month of the Pledge closing. That interim time will be when we start to lock
down the various elements.
Manufacturing this time around for us will be a slightly longer process than
normal as we have the vinyl to consider plus we’re a teensy bit geographically
challenged with regard to test pressings being approved by Steve… It is a long,
long way round of saying, I’d imagine we’d be supplying finished copies in June
’15 or thereabouts.
There are also a big number of items that will be individually signed – to be
honest, I’ve yet to figure out precisely how that will work… but, we’ll find a
way!
PB: Is the package only going to be available via the PledgeMusic site?
NS: Pre-ordering is (as usual for all Hidden Masters sets) exclusive to
PledgeMusic.com. If there are any copies left after the pre-ordering closes
these will be made available – solely – via HiddenMasters.net.
These will only be the book-set and won’t include any of the extras which are
exclusive to pre-ordering. But… just to complicate things a tiny bit (sorry!),
the ‘NME’ re-imagined advert will be available via Hidden Masters as a separate
item (it is another line we’re starting to develop).
PB; Are there any plans for live gigs to promote ‘Parabolically Yours’ as the
band did for ‘The End of the Pier’?
SP: Geography makes it difficult but don’t rule anything out.
MF: I do hope so… but Steve being in Australia is a bit tricky and we can’t do
it without him. Tried it once and it didn’t work.
NH: As Steve says, the problem is geography. At best, we all get together for
maybe 3-4 days once a year, whenever Steve can get over from wherever in the
Antipodes he happens to be residing at the time.
PB: To leave this exciting release just for the final question, we’ve heard
that all the current Distractions make an appearance on the forthcoming Granite
Shore album; can you tell us a little about that? And is that the only way we
are going to hear more from the current line-up or can we look forward to some
new Distractions material at some point?
SP: The rhythm section on The Granite Shore album is the same as on ‘The End of
the Pier’ – Arash Torabi on bass, Nick Kellie on drums – I’m doing something –
either guitar or backing vocals – on every track. Mike’s on backing vocals on
several tracks.
The plans for a third Distractions album are still a little tentative, but it
looks like it will be recorded in late 2015 for release in 2016. That’ll be the
last record, I think but, again, you never know.
MF: I really enjoyed The Granite Shore recording. Very powerful stuff, put
together with love from all parties and it sounds that way. Another
Distractions album is late 2015 as Steve points out, but, as it is not yet
written, it’s difficult to confirm much about it. The Distractions has also
taught me that nothing is final.
NH: When I was thinking about who should play on The Granite Shore LP, Arash
and Kellie were my first-choice rhythm section, then we’ve got Phil Wilson on
12-string electric and myself. Steve appears on every track. Mike and I spent
an afternoon in the studio this summer, so he’s on more than half of the record
in some vocal capacity. There’s also an appearance by Martin Bramah (The
Fall/Blue Orchids/Factory Star) and the cast is completed by Probyn Gregory
(Wondermints/Brian Wilson/Arthur Lee/etc.) who played brass on all songs, and
Bella Quinn on vocals on most tracks; both appeared on the ‘Flood of fortune’
single a few years back. The LP, entitled ‘Once More From the Top’, should be
out around March 2015. In some ways the process that led to the whole concept -
and believe me, there is one - probably began with ‘Wise’, one of the songs I
wrote for ‘The End of the Pier’.
Steve and I have just started the process of thinking about and writing the
third - and, realistically, probably final - Distractions LP, aiming to record
late 2015 for release early in 2016.
PB: Thank you.
Here's the first half of the revealing Penny Black Music magazine interview with Mike Finney, Steve Perrin, Nick Halliwell, and HiddenMasters', Neil Storey, by Malcolm Carter. Here, we get confirmation that as well as a remastered version of 'Nobody's Perfect' on 180 g vinyl, the intriguing possibility of 'Nobody's Perfect' remixes are revealed.
The Distractions: Interview
Author: Malcolm Carter
Published: 08/12/2014
Penny Black: Is this the first
time any of The Distractions have been involved in a Pledge Music campaign?
Steve Perrin: Yes.
Mike Finney: Yes
PB: ‘Parabolically Yours’ had already reached 25% of its target within 24 hours
of the campaign starting. Were you happy with that result, surprised even?
SP: Surprised and delighted, although that probably came from the people who
already knew about it. Now we have to convince the floating voters.
MF: Very pleased – but we now have to try and spread the news! I agree with
Steve.
Neil Storey: Yes, surprised is a bit of an understatement! Personally, I’d have been
happy if we’d hit 10% in 24 hours… It’s quite a long campaign and we’ve still
got a good deal to tell people about – the track-listings plus no one has seen
any images of the packaging yet either… All will be revealed over the coming
weeks. Plus, as you’ve undoubtedly seen, both Steve and Mike are posting
videos… and, I suspect more are to come!
PB: There are a number of different packages available. Were members of the
band involved with what should be offered?
SP: We’ve been consulted at every stage.
NS: In brief, Hidden Masters put all the different packages together, but
nothing was officially included until both Steve and Mike said okay. Luckily
they did! Also, from a reasonably early period, they’ve both been seeing the
various elements of artwork for the book. I think they both first saw it when
it was 60 pages and it's now increased to 100 – and may grow a bit more as well.
So far, it’s a thumbs up so that’s encouraging!
PB: Is the whole of the ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ album going to be included?
SP: Yes, it’ll be a remastered version. Also, Nick Halliwell has been working
on some remixes to make it sound a little bit less ‘80s’ – basically stripping
out the keyboards and strengthening the rhythm section. We might also include
some of that.
MF: When I first heard the ‘new’ mixes, I was taken aback a little…I prefer
them to the original mix. They are more like we really sounded.
NS: Yes – it’ll be re-mastered by Richard Whittaker from the original analog ¼”
production reels. Richard you’d otherwise know from his work on archive
projects with the likes of The Who or the Stones.
Nick Halliwell: With the remixes Steve mentions, I’ve just tried to make it sound a bit
more like The Distractions. I’ve not tried to deconstruct it or anything like
that, just stripped off some of the “new wave” production, trying to play to
the band’s strengths and let the songs breathe a little more.
PB: The basic package includes three CDs and a vinyl album. Is the vinyl a
reproduction of ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ or a selection of the tracks spread over the
3 CDs?
SP: It’s ‘Nobody’s Perfect’.
NS: The vinyl is ‘Nobody’s Perfect’.
PB: Given that ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ is now getting on for being 35 years old and
some of the other tracks on ‘Parabolically Yours’ are even older, are you
surprised that there is so much interest in that music now, especially as,
although loved by the critics at the time of release, not so many put hands in
pockets back then?
SP: I find it pretty amazing, though pleasantly so. It’s easier to understand
as a fan. When they reissued the first four Scott Walker solo albums on CD I
not only had to buy the CDs, I had to buy a CD player so I could listen to them
and I was happy to do so. I’ve since bought the vinyl reissues. Music fans are
crazy. What can you do?
MF: Not too shocking (although amazing as Steve says) as I still love Northern
Soul, Sam Cooke, Otis... all of which are older still. Northern Soul probably
sells more now and the time factor isn’t really important.
NH: I’m one of those who put their hands in their pockets in 1980. Essentially,
although the production was felt to be a little dated even at the time, the
songs are so strong they’ve stood up beautifully.
PB: Looking back, if ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ and the rest of your work then had
achieved the sales it deserved do you think the band would have carried on
longer than it did?
SP: Hard to say. I really needed some time off at that time, but I guess if we
had been selling some records we could have afforded to send me to a health
farm for a few weeks.
MF: Steve is right. If we could have all afforded to go somewhere for a few
weeks, I would have joined Steve at the Health Farm, but he probably would have
killed me in my sleep and there isn’t usually a bar.
PB: Who had the final say in the track selection of ‘Parabolically Yours’?
SP: It’s still not been finalised but it will be down to Mike and me in the
end.
MF: I agree with Steve.
NS: The short answer is Steve and Mike with Nick H because more recent
Distractions material is being included.
That said, the final track listings are work in progress. Why? There are two
radio sessions we know of but…they’ve disappeared! The BBC one doesn’t exist at
the BBC – we’ve all heard tales of reels being reused and I’d imagine that is
what happened there…shame but it is what it is. Same goes for the Piccadilly
Radio session.
What we’re hoping… and I stress the word hoping here… is that someone,
somewhere, taped either/or off the radio and has a cassette copy. And gets in
touch! Meaning, we’ll keep our options open as long as possible on the
finalised track listings.
Reasonably soon, however, I’ll put together a draft running order for the three
CDs. From that rough map, fine-tuning will begin and, eventually, we’ll reach a
position where we have three running orders all agreed.
NH: The decision-making process in The Distractions usually goes like this: I
say, “Mike, what do you think?” He says, “I agree with Steve”, I point out that
Steve hasn’t said what he thinks yet to which he replies “Well, when he does
I’ll agree with it”. So I ask Steve who usually says, “I agree with you”. As I
generally agree with Mike and Steve this makes for a happy ship. As the others
say, overall it’s up to Mike and Steve for most of it, with me coming in on the
latter-day stuff.
PB: Is there anything usable left in the vaults now that’s likely to get a
general release in the future?
SP: I don’t think so. This will sort of clear things up. Then we can get on
with making the next record.
MF: What about the a capella triple concept album we recorded at St
Aspinall’s…?
NS: From day one, we’ve only thought of making this set as comprehensive and as
musically and artistically brilliant as is humanly possible.
Without a doubt, there is bound to be music we won’t use… in just the same way
there are images we’ll put to one side or bits of interviews that won’t be
included. Better to keep quality at 110% rather than include item X for the
sake of it.
Obviously, IF something does turn up in the fullness of time something that
no-one, at this point, can remember… and all are agreed it is something that has
merit / should be issued… then, we’d look into ways of doing that. It’d be great
to be proved wrong but, right now, I don’t think there is anything substantial.
NH: Ask us again once the final track listing is decided.
The Distractions: Interview
Author: Malcolm Carter
Published: 08/12/2014
Alex Sidebottom, Adrian Wright, Steve Perrin, Pip Nicholls, Mike Finney.
(c) Adrian Boot (www.urbanimage.tv).
The news that fans of '80s band The Distractions have been waiting what
seems like an eternity to hear finally came through; PledgeMusic started
in early December their campaign for ‘Parabolically Yours’, a box set
put together by Hidden Masters, the company responsible for going more
than that extra mile when compiling box sets of music that should never
be allowed to fade away.
This shouldn’t be personal but it is.
We all have those albums that will forever mean just that little bit
more than the others for a million and one different reasons. When
‘Nobody’s Perfect’, The Distractions’ debut album, came along in 1980 it
sounded out of time. It looked back to a rich musical past while not
sounding dated, yet at the same time it fashioned the music of the
future. It was, simply, like nothing else around at that time.
The
albums that had sound-tracked and shaped my life up to that point, ‘Pet
Sounds’, ‘Odgens’ Nut Gone Flake’, ‘The Who Sell Out’ (to name just a few)
now had some new company. ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ was as important to me as
that Beach Boys classic, it didn’t just define a certain period of my
life, I knew, even then, that it was going to stay with me forever.
Over
fourteen songs the band touched on every emotion I’d ever felt not just
in the lyrics but also in the wonderful rush of music that they clothed
their songs in. The urgency of ‘Valerie’ doesn’t just make me feel like
a teenager again; it confirms that I’ve never been anything else.
‘Looking for a Ghost’ is still the most hauntingly beautiful yet
chilling song about lost love (maybe) I’ve ever heard. It still,
thirty-four years after first hearing the song, sends shivers down my
spine. The Distractions wrote lyrics that those whose hearts had been
broken could identify with but they had a unique way of doing it. Was
Mike Finney imagining the whole thing in ‘Looking for a Ghost’? Who
knows, but it’s unsettling how this guy, still one of our most
underrated soul singers, can turn our darkest feelings into something so
scarily beautiful. There isn’t a dud song on the album, even the only
cover version on the album, that this writer remembers spending his
paper round money on (Eden Kane’s ‘Boys Cry’ on Fontana) somehow worked
even if it did seem an unlikely choice at the time.
I hardly
ever lent albums out then but ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ I just had to because I
knew that, even after that glorious single on Factory and the wonderful
‘You’re Not Going Out Dressed Like That’ EP, that preceded it and even
with the positive press the band were receiving, I just had to get this
music heard. I wish now I hadn’t because my copy of ‘Nobody’s Perfect’
is the most worn album I now own. It’s almost unplayable. And if
everyone who loved the album had bought their own copy instead of
wearing mine out maybe The Distractions would have had more success and
stayed around a little longer.
But now, with the Pledge campaign
underway, it seems like I’m going to have the chance to replace not only
that album but also all the singles and EPs that the band released too.
The Distractions story didn’t end back in the eighties,
although for a long while it seemed that we’d heard the last of them.
‘The End of the Pier’, a 2012 set of new songs that followed a couple of
EPs of new material proved that mainstays Steve Perrin and Mike Finney
had lost none of the magic that made the original band so special. In
Nick Halliwell the guys had found a kindred spirit; Halliwell’s
production, playing and writing confirmed he was the perfect choice to
breathe life into this band again. ‘Wise’, which wouldn’t have sounded
out of place on ‘Nobody’s Perfect’, is but one of the songs written by
Halliwell for the album and which captures the sound and spirit of the
original band perfectly.
Hidden Masters haven’t taken the easy
route and just reissued ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ with a few choice bonus
tracks. Although we’re still uncertain exactly what will, or will not,
make it to the final track selection, one thing is certain; it will be
created with the care, love and passion that all Hidden Masters releases
have so far been afforded. What has been confirmed is that there will
be three CDs and a 12” vinyl album all housed in a book which will cover
the band’s early days, and which will take us up to ‘The End of the
Pier’ and maybe even beyond.
We tried to find a little more about
the Pledge campaign and what pledgers can expect from Distractions Mike
Finney, Steve Perrin and Nick Halliwell. Neil Storey, founder of Hidden
Masters, also had a few things to say too which make for interesting
reading not for just those who have already pledged but those who are
still need a little convincing. And, if the music itself and what
promises to be the box set of 2015 still don’t have you reaching for
your credit card, then check out www.pledgemusic.com/projects/thedistractions and enjoy Steve
Perrin’s and Mike Finney’s hilarious video updates on ‘Parabolically
Yours’.
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