I first heard Nightporter whilst listening to the Top 40 on Radio 1 one Sunday evening. It was sandwiched incongruously between Supertramp and Dionne Warwick. The elegant simplicity and lack of clutter in the sound created space in my head. Everything else seemed clattering and brash by comparison; it was uniquely at odds with the world. I …
I have a dark secret. Actually I have lots of dark secrets. But I digress. Occasionally a beautiful girl will come to me in a bar1 and say, “Hey boy! What was the first band you ever saw?”. In such cases, I look her squarely in the eye (or eyes, if she has two) and …
The late John McGeoch once opined that, “everyone remembers where they were when they first heard Public Image”. Certainly, that was true for me. I was in my bedroom, where I spent all my time when not in record shops. I recall I was lying on the bed. I also remember where I was when …
Are teenage dreams so hard to beat? Once you leave home, you can never go back. Yet when I was 19, I did; for weeks and weeks. At home everything seemed smaller – the stairs, my room, the bed. I was welcomed and resented. I suffered from persistent, low level stress. I felt like a …
On the afternoon of Saturday, 17th August 2013 I was drinking a cocktail on the balcony of my friend Wendy’s flat in Brixton. It was a humid, sunny day. The trees were heavy with dust. I reflected on summers past. I felt that sweet melancholy that comes at the end of the season. The cocktail …
Brendan Benson is a singer-songwriter from Michigan, USA. He is best known in the UK for his work with the famous singer-songwriter Jack White, as part of the adequate, so-called ‘supergroup’, The Raconteurs. I am familiar with his first three solo LPs and would aver that of these, his sophomore* album “Lapalco” is the finest. …
Popular music did not have much impact on me as a child. I attribute this to the fact that 1970s pop was universally dreadful. Moreover, my limited exposure to it was either via light-entertainment programmes such as the Two Ronnies, or through children’s TV such as Crackerjack. The former would feature the likes of Dana and …
“I have a feeling,” I said to Mandeep, as we paused speculatively at the top of the glittering staircase, “that we are going to be tremendously successful in life.” Mandeep momentarily stopped glancing left and right and glared up at me. “You’re off your rocker, boy!” he boomed. He pointed ‘forward’ with both hands, “Now …
Have you ever: Gone up the hill with a couple of mates, drunk several litres of Woodpecker and set fire to a bunch of stuff? Driven round a corner on a sunny Saturday afternoon into the middle of a full scale riot conducted for the most part by 12-14 year old kids? Steered a stolen …
After the party I drove her home. Day was breaking as I stopped outside her flat. “Thanks for the lift,” she said. I lit a fag. She paused, “Come in if you like”. I exhaled. I pretended to misunderstand. “Thanks, but coffee’s probably the last thing I need. Gonna head home”. She looked me in …
