I Fought The Law

One of my favourite songs of all time is 'I Fought the Law' by The Clash.

It is also one of The Clash's best know songs and everyone universally seems to either love it or at the very least enjoy hearing it from time to time.

But what most people don't know is that it is a cover version. It was not written by The Clash and furthermore, they decided to cover it themselves on hearing someone else's cover of the original song.

The song was actually written in 1959 by Sonny Curtis who after Buddy Holly's death in 1959, became the new frontman for Holly's backing band The Crickets.

The song was not a huge hit and lay relatively unknown until the Bobby Fuller Four recorded a version of it in 1965. It was their second single and flew up the billboard charts to number 4. Just as the single reached the Top Ten, Bobby Fuller was found dead in his car, covered in multiple wounds and drenched in gasoline. Although the police at the time considered the death a suicide, witness statements indicated that it may have been murder. Several key witnesses testified that they had seen a police officer throw away a can of gasoline found at the scene. The police were forced to change the official cause of death to accident but mystery still shrouds the affair to this day.

The song disappeared quickly from circulation after dropping out of the charts and once again, became a collectors item for people that were born in the era of it's release or were fans of the Bobby Fuller Four.

In 1978, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones of The Clash were working on a new album in a San Francisco recording studio when they heard the Bobby Fuller version on an old studio jukebox and decided to record their own version. It became an instant hit for them and helped propel them onto the US radio playlists that had previously eluded them. It also became a staple of their live set and one of the fans' favourite encores.

The song has been covered by several other artists both live and in the studio including; Bryan Adams, Bruce Springsteenm Green Day, The Ramones and Roy Orbison.

There have also been numerous cover versions where the lyrics have been altered for a particular cause or event. The Dead Kennedys wrote and recorded their own version of the song featuring the amended lyric 'I fought the law...and I won' in reference to a famous 1978 murder case in San Francisco where the murderer in question was set free based on a technicality.

In January 2008, an amended version of the song by Oystar reached number 25 in the UK charts featuring the line "I fought the Lloyds' in support of the campaign by Lloyds customers who were mounting a legal challenge to get their bank charges refunded.

Possibly, the most bizarre use of the song was in 1989 by the U.S. Marines. They had Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega trapped and surrounded in the Holy See's embassy in Panama. In an effort to flush him out, they repeatedly played the song through a set of giant speakers. The Vatican complained to President Bush about the use of audio torture and the Marines were forced to cease and desist. As a footnote to this episode, Noriega surrendered days later.

The Bobby Fuller version of the song is now ranked at number 175 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of all Time.

I still prefer The Clash's version though.

Born to Run

Lyrics are the poetry of music and without them, music just becomes two dimensional for me. True there are some very good instrumental pieces of music from the big classical pieces all the way through to some of the catchier TV themes but I like to hear the story of a song as told by the writer/ singer.

As a songwriter myself I really absorb lyrics and like nothing more than listening to a song with a lyrical theme which grabs my attention and then leads me on a journey throughout the song.

My favourite kind of lyrics fall into two categories. The anti-establishment lyrics of people like Billy Bragg and Joe Strummer whose words are rife with angry political and social commentary, and those of people like Paul Weller and Bruce Springsteen which usually tell a story that centres around characters that the listener can identify with on some level by the end of the song.

Some of my favourite lyrics include 'Down in the Tube Station at Midnight' by The Jam, 'White Man in Hammersmith Palais' by The Clash and 'Like a Rolling Stone' by Bob Dylan which was actually developed from a short story that Dylan wrote prior to converting it into a song.

My favourite set of lyrics though are 'Born to Run' by Bruce Springsteen. The song was written in 1974 and was Springsteen's self confessed 'last ditch attempt' to make it big. Although he had garnered critical praise and amassed a small fan base up to this point, he had not enjoyed a runaway commercial success and this song which deals with adolescence desperation was his last shot at cracking the charts.

It is written in the first person and is actually a love letter to a girl named Wendy. It charts the angst and desire of being in love pitted against the burning desire to break free from where the protagonist lives. The themes within the song, although very American in places, have a universal appeal which echo situations and emotions most people have felt at one time or another.

A lot of Springsteen's lyrics conjure up images of middle America, run down towns that time has forgot, industrialised wastelands full of factories spewing out smoke long into the night and blue collar workers, united in their quest for true love and friendship. For those of you who are unfamiliar with his lyrics think of films such as 'The Deer Hunter', 'An Officer and a Gentleman' and 'All The Right Moves' with their backdrop of small town politics, poverty stricken characters and the all important factory or mine where it seems the entire town is employed. For an example closer to home, 'The Full Monty' picks up on exactly the same themes and the story arc of it's characters could have come straight from the pen of Springsteen.

His lyrics set out the characters very quickly and then start to tell the tale of their lives, dragging you into the story and forcing you to care about these people. They give hope and despair in equal measures but there is nearly always a bittersweet tinge of optimism about his stories - that his characters might just make it and achieve their dreams.

The last verse to Born to Run is fantastic in my opinion.

The highways jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybodys out on the run tonight but theres no place left to hide
Together wendy well live with the sadness
Ill love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl I dont know when were gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go and well walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us baby we were born to run

There is a message of hope and the promise of better things to come which really touches a nerve with me. I want these guys to walk in the sun, to stop running and find the place they want to escape to.

And this to me, is the genius of these lyrics.

What's in a name?

I should start off this article by saying that this a totally personal viewpoint on band names and that everyone will have a different spin on what I am about to say.

I think that band names fall into 3 distinct categories for me.

The first is band names that immediately sound quite cool and seem to roll off the tongue. The ones that seem both instantly familiar and seem to have an iconic sound to them from the word go. Examples of these would be:

* The Rolling Stones
* The Kinks
* The Strokes
* Massive Attack
* The Libertines
* Dirty Pretty Things
* Led Zeppelin
* Supergrass

The second category for me includes band names that don't seem quite as obvious at first but soon become second nature to reel off and in retrospect actually seem very clever names. These would include:

* The Arctic Monkeys
* Blur
* The Beatles
* The Beach Boys
* The Stone Roses
* Razorlight
* Basement Jaxx
* Wolfmother
* Babyshambles
* Nirvana

Then, there is the third category which comprises band names which I think are utterly ridiculous and memorable in their stupidity. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the wonderful niche world of heavy metal. Now before going on, I'll exclude some of the bigger acts of heavy metal as their names, like their music are a cut above the rest of this genre and deserve to be separated from the dross that makes up the mainstay of this bizarre niche. Acts such as Guns N Roses, Metallica and Aerosmith to name a few are exempt from the following comments.

Those who are not exempt include:

* Lawnmother Death
* The Motley Crue
* Slayer
* Megadeth
* Anthrax
* Poison
* W.A.S.P. (this stands for We Are Sexual Perverts)
* Def Leppard
* Limp Bizkit
* Slipknot
* Iron Maiden
* Black Sabbath
* Ratt
* Whitesnake

Is it just me or are these names horrendously childish, puerile and just down right inane? Who names their band after an acute infectious disease caused by a spore-forming bacterium (Anthrax), or a medieval torture instrument (Iron Maiden)? What kind of message do bands with names like Lawnmower Death and Slayer send out? Megadeth - I'm guessing that people in places such as Zimbabwe, Tibet and Burma do not see the supposed irony in this particular moniker.

It's not just the band names but the song titles themselves - there is a small pot of common themes they all draw on which include; blood, hell, the devil, whiskey, guns, jail, war, murder, halloween...you get the idea. For example Iron Maiden sang about the devil in 'The Number of the Beast' and in 'Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter' they sang about...well, slaughtering your daughter! They believe the names of their bands and songs will strike fear in the hearts of disbelievers and that they are truly in touch with the devil and have already reserved some prime spots in Hell, ready for the day that they finally die from a whiskey and shotgun induced riot.

If you need any further proof that this entire spandex and leather wearing genre is taking itself way too seriously, then watch Spinal Tap. It sends the big bands of the day up in a glorious way, riffing on their influences, style of music and general attitude towards the cult of being in a heavy metal group.

So, how hard can it be to come up with a name for a heavy metal group? Here are my suggestions:

* Rattlesnake Death Virgin
* Ebola 55
* Guillotine Nightmare
* Roadkill Viper
* Hell Puppets
...

I could go on but what is the point. A small child could be given a scrabble bag full of heavy metal cliches and asked to pull them out in a random order to form band names - this would be no better and no worse than five long haired morons, sat in a squat, trying to decide what combination sounds the most fearsome and satanic.

While you listen to 'Time to Die' or 'Thermo-nuclear War is Good for You' by Lawnmower Deth, I'll be listening to 'Good Vibrations' by The Beach Boys.

Noel raps Glastonbury

So Noel Gallagher doesn't think that there should be a place for rap or hip hop music at Glastonbury - I thought he was right when I first heard his comments. I though he was bang on the money right up until Jay-Z stormed the main stage at Glastonbury and embarrassed Gallagher senior's comments for what they were - disgenuous, jealous and completely wide of the mark as it transpires.

Before examining the rights and wrongs of having a rap artist at Glastonbury, it's worth looking at why Noel said what he did.

The main problem is that Oasis still see themselves as a big stadium band and the voice of the common man - a fanfare for the working class legions desperate to escape the monotony of the inner city council estate that apparently all of their fans live on. When Noel, or Liam to a lesser degree, speak on any subject, they do so with an air of total arrogance - they truly believe they are speaking on all of our behalves as they have their finger unswervingly on the pulse of the nation. For years they have been full of self bloated opinions on who is hot and who is not in the music world as if artists worldwide are hanging on their every word, desperate for the artistic approval and subsequent fulfilment that praise from the Gallaghers brings. So when Noel, potentially upset that he was not headlining Glastonbury with his 'greatest hits' album, decided to voice on opinion on the line up, the dye was cast, the votes were in and it was going to turn into an unmitigated disaster.

Except it didn't.

Whereas Oasis, even in their heyday, stood stock still on stage looking cool in their Stone Roses hand me downs and let their music alone entertain the crowd, artists such as Jay-Z realise that the key word in the phrase 'live performance' is performance. Like him or loath him, understand his music or not, he is a born entertainer. A lot of rap artists are. I remember seeing Snoop Dogg at Live 8 and he took the entire crowd on an a frantic and breathless musical journey - everyone jumping and swaying together, waving their arms in the air in unison, shouting out chorus after chorus and loving every minute of his energetic performance. As an indie boy myself I have to say that he pleasantly surprised me and easily held his own with some of my favourite bands who were playing that day.

Jay-Z's slot arrived and he took to the stage to the soundbite of Noel Gallagher informing the world there was no place for rap at Glastonbury. He then launched into an ironic cover of Wonderwall which quickly turned into a massive sing-a-long and firmly put Gallagher and his fellow detractors, myself included, in our place.

His crowning glory had to be when he shouted at the crowd 'They told me you weren't into hip-hop' only to hear 100,000 people cheer back that they clearly were. Game, set and match.

So Oasis didn't want Jay-Z there but he came, he saw and he conquered. Maybe next year Status Quo will object to the Arctic Monkeys playing the festival only to be proved very publicly that they are out of touch and totally incorrect!

Drifting apart...

You know when you lose a friend to a new boyfriend/ girlfriend. Your once reliable and very social mate suddenly disappears from sight because they are in love and can't stand to be separated from their new 'life' partner. You feel let down and slightly rejected but safe in the knowledge that once the novelty has worn off and the cracks start to show, they will come back to your social group, tail between their legs ready to pick up where they left off. We've all done it and we've all been the victim of it.

Now one of my favourite bands of the last five years was the Ordinary Boys.

Led by the enigmatic Sam Preston, they burst onto the scene with 2004's debut album 'Over the Counter Culture' which was a laddish, tongue in cheek affair that was in equal measures energetic,fun and heavily influenced by the mod, ska and Northern Beat bands of yesteryear such as The Specials, Madness, The Buzzcocks and The Jam. Preston had the look and mannerisms of a young Jam era Weller and his casually cool demeanor found a resonance with the lads culture of the early 90's.

Their first album spawned 4 hit singles including 'Talk, Talk, Talk' and 'Seaside' which were both staples on radio playlists and the influential Soccer AM, which helped launch the career of several indie bands through the years.

They looked the part dressed in their vintage Fred Perry tops, Harrington jackets, Sta-Prest trousers and Pork Pie hats. In an era where most bands were choosing the Manchester baggy look and were not seen without their vintage Adidas trainers and zipped all weather jackets, Preston and the gang bucked the trend in favour of their Carnaby Street inspired mod trappings.

Their live shows were like a warm and fuzzy trip down memory lane with their fans, 'The Ordinary Army' pogoing in unison to the foot stomping mod anthems delivered by Preston et al with a cheeky chappy charm that was reminiscent of the dance hall scene in Quadrophenia - you almost expected Phil Daniel's Jimmy to sidle up to you and offer you an upper or downer.

Their follow up album brassbound was equally as strong and like it's predecessor, was jam packed with hit songs that sounded like they were pulled straight from the London of the 60's'. 'Boys Will Be Boys' and 'Life Will Be The Death Of Me' were the two singles from this album and both are excellent examples of Preston's uncanny ability to write punchy songs, with memorable verses, sweeping choruses and compelling and thought provoking lyrics.

Preston was definitely the coolest cat on the block and led myself and the rest of The Ordinary Army on an musical adventure back in time, to an era when braces and Doc. Martens were cool and the night air was alive to the sound of Vespas and Lambrettas as the disconsolate youth of the time travelled from club to club, desperate to hear the best beats and a new sound they could dance the night away to.

Then he left us for a girl.

He deserted us in favour of a whirlwind romance whose inception was very publicly played out on the Celebrity Big Brother show. He turned his back on The Army he had amassed and decided to declare his undying love for an Essex girl, Chantelle Houghton, whose had said of herself, 'I'm a bright, blonde bimbo' and has been nicknamed Paris Travelodge by the press after announcing she felt she looked uncannily like Paris Hilton.

Overnight he lost all of his cool credo as day after day we were forced to watch him stalk Chantelle around the Big Brother house with a puppy dog expression on his face. He became soft and cuddly in front of our eyes and whereas most friends candy sweet romances are played out behind closed doors, we were privy to Preston's worst excesses of undying love complete with their sickly and gushing Clinton Cards sentiment.

He left the Big Brother house with Chatelle on his arm and almost immediately married her and set up an increasingly tacky home for them both, indulging all her Essex tastes no matter how outlandish, gaudy or downright bizarre they were.

He then committed his worst crime and the one that his Army will always find hard to forgive. He released an album so devoid of any decent material that he included the hit single 'Boys Will Be Boys' from the previous album to bolster the obvious shortcomings of his latest opus. There are no stand out tracks on the entire album and as a whole it sounds laboured and rushed...poorly executed. It also contains the ballad 'I Luv U' written for Chantelle, complete with phone text friendly moniker, that is truly dreadful. It deserves to sit alongside Celine Dion's Titanic song and Bryan Adams 'Everything I do...' as one of the tackiest and most contrived love songs to have been released in modern times. Some sentiments need to be kept private and vocalised face to face with the person you are talking to. Not recorded for prosperity and then released on the record buying public.

His marriage lasted just over a year and then Chantelle was gone - probably in reaction to the musical tragedy that was 'I Luv U' but we'll never know. The one thing we can say for sure is that somehow Preston needs to pick up the pieces of his once potentially glittering career and come back to his mates. We'll gladly accept him and in time forgive his dalliances as long as comes back undamaged and bearing presents - a shiny new album full of the classic Ordinary Boys material we all love so much. What we don't want to hear is an album filled with mournful dirges that show Preston crying into his beer. We want cheeky, chirpy, soulful tunes that bring us all back together again like the bunch of mates we used to be in the Summer of 94'.

Second chances

You know when you first meet someone and you take an instant dislike to them? They could be the new kid at school, the try hard 'Gareth Keenan' at the company you have just joined or someone you bump into in a pub who wants to pretend they're a middle class gangsta' and will 'pop a cap in your ass' just for looking at their Chris Martin inspired fair trade jacket. It is very hard to change this initial opinion as you then look for reasons why you were right in the first place. I personally have enough friends as I write this article that I don't feel the need to re-evaluate what I think of people I do not warm to. A few get through the net and prove that I was wrong to doubt them, showing previously hidden qualities, but for the main, my first gut reaction is normally right on the money. Everyone deserves a chance though.

So, when I watched The Courteneers play in Manchester last year I was prepared to give them a chance. I had heard the hype surrounding them and everyone I knew was either raving about them or were 'Their biggest fan'. Even those that had not heard their music where informing me that they were supposed to be the next biggest thing. Bigger than even Oasis apparently! Now I'm not one for jumping on the musical band wagon and I actually enjoy turning left when everyone else turns right but the sheer fact that the nation was not idolising Alex Turner for once made me sit up and listen. My girlfriend got me a ticket and we were off to see them at one of the smaller, more intimate venues in Manchester.

What followed was an utter disgrace. Their lead singer Liam Fray, who had clearly put half of Columbia's gross national export up his nose before staggering onto the stage, spent the whole evening trying to be more like a young Liam Gallagher than Liam Gallagher himself manages these days. He had clearly watched the young Liam strut around the stage with a moody arrogance, bait the audience repeatedly and generally tick off every roll and roll cliche in the book and decided that this was the route he would take. After all, imitation is the most sincerest form of flattery so they say.

Except...

Liam Gallagher used to do it with charm. For all his failings on a personal level, Gallagher junior seemed to be the right person in the right place at the right time. His audience all wanted to 'have it big time' and were more than happy to raise a can of Stella stagewards as Liam led them into another monstrous sing a long. Unlike the modern bands before them, Oasis gripped the nation and appealed to both men and women, football louts and intellectuals and just about anyone else with a set of ears with their infectiously catching tunes, bad boy rock and roll personas and a soap opera family feud that played out weekly through the gossip magazines and tabloids.

Liam Fray on the other hand was the wrong side of acceptable arrogance, rude, surly, aggressive and simply too far gone on the cocktail of drugs he had clearly taken to actually care about whether he was in tune, in time or even on the stage. I actually walked out of the gig about halfway through as I was tired and bored of the moronic Fray announcing that all other bands were 'sh*t' and that we in the audience weren't as good as him.

I vowed that from that day on, I would not buy their albums and would bring up his sorry antics that night every time some baggy student came up to me in a pub and told me that Fray is going to be bigger than Lennon or McCartney.

So they released a single. Big deal. I would not be listening to it let alone buying it. Except that I heard it on the radio and without knowing who was singing it, enjoyed it. And enjoyed it a lot. Then the D.J. (clearly not Chris Moyles who actually never plays music but talks loudly for the entire length of his show) told me who it was. Damn. The Courteneers and I had enjoyed it. One nil to them but I was strong enough to ignore their album when it came out.

Except that someone brought it into work and insisted on playing it. And it was good. In fact, without sounding too Manchester or obviously trying to ape anyone else's sound like a lot of modern bands seem to do (you know who you are Kasabian), it was full of catchy, clever songs which had layers of both sound and emotion and showcased just how good his voice can be when he leaves the drugs alone. The lads at work all loved it as well and on that fateful day we must have played it half a dozen times. Game, set and match to Manchester's brightest new sons and long may they shine - it is important for a city like Manchester with it's rich musical heritage to have important bands that come forth and conquer the nation's hearts. The Courteneers have it in them to take on the UK and maybe the rest of the world as their stock is rising faster than a freezing cold monkey and I for one am happy to say that some people do deserve a second chance. Use it well Liam.

The Streets are empty

Music is deeply personal and very subjective. What is one man's pleasure is another's poison. I happen to love certain bands which I have in common with some of my friends whilst there are others that we are polar opposites on.

No two people share exactly the same list of favourite bands, the same order of preference and agree wholeheartedly on all things musical.

There are certain bands that fall way outside of any genre I would enjoy listening to which I can appreciate from afar for their musicianship and dedication to their art. 'Take That' are a good example of this. I would never dream of buying any of their music, nor watching them live, but I do appreciate that within the confines of the pop world they are extremely talented and have elevated themselves above the rest of their peers with their infectiously catchy tunes and energetic live performances.

So I can appreciate that whilst something may not be my cup of tea, there is still a lot of talent on show and I can applaud and respect this.

What I do struggle with is the lyrical content of Mike Skinner's music. The 'Mockney' Brummie's lyrics just astound me in their banality and stupidity.

His lyrics remind me of a combination of playground skipping rope chants, juvenile Peckham council estate slang and homeless people drunk on Thunderbirds who either cannot get their words out in the right order or simply miss out words for ease of delivery.

Apparently he is an urban poet, bestowing the word of the street on us all and providing rife political commentary on all things English. I think he is a chav with a microphone. A fool with his own soapbox to stand on, incessantly preaching the gospel of Skinner to all ASBO's and delinquents, eager for some sign of empowerment to affirm they are not actually in the minority and a social ill but the future of mankind.

His lyrics have a childish simplicity to them and instead of writing flowing and coherent lyrics, he conveniently squashes seemingly unconnected sets of words and thoughts into a verse or chorus and then adds nonsensical phrases such as 'yes yes oh yay' to pad out lines and add a convenient rhyme.

The following is an excerpt from his song 'Fit But You Know it'.

See I reckon you're about an 8 or a 9,
Maybe even 9 and a half in four beers time.
That blue top shop top you've got on IS nice,
Bit too much fake tan though - but yeah you score high.

So when i looked at you standing there with your hoard,
I was waiting in the queue looking at the board
Wondering whether to have a Burger or chips
Or what the shrapnel in my back pocket could afford
When i noticed out the corner of my eye
Looking toward my direction
Your eyes locked onto my course
I couldnt concentrate on what i wanted to order,
Which cost me my place in the queue i waited for YEAH

I'm not sure what you think but this sounds like the musings of a 12 year old who has just got chucked off the top deck of the number 6 bus for sticking chewing gum on the seats.

This is not social commentary. This is not hard to do and worse still, this means nothing. A good set of lyrics will stand up to scrutiny without the music...poetry if you like. If you have never heard this song before and were presented with these lyrics would they mean anything? Would you guess a grown man had written them? I wouldn't. Annoyingly some of his music is quite catchy and does draw me in - right up until the point where I start listening to the words and then I lose interest.

To be fair though, it is easy to criticise something without offering an alternative or better solution. So with this in mind, I have decided to have a go at writing my own lyrics in the style of The Streets to make sure that I am not being unduly unfair and that it is actually harder than it looks

Here goes:

I is sitting on my chair in the dole office queue
Wondering might I should be cracking on to you
My mates is not 'appy coz my Reebok's are dirty
But oh yeah yeah, you seem for real flirty

Catching your eye I offer you some shandy
You like a good drink, bish bosh very handy
I say 'fancy a stroll back to mine in a minute
You leave with my can yeah yeah I don't get it

We bomb out the dole and head for the chippy
My my yeah yeah those lads is well lippy
We bog them out good style they head for the bus station
Yeah yeah double good yeah yeah celebration

Just as I thought. Easy. A real social poet is Alex Turner. Listen to any of his tracks and you will hear depth and resonance in all of his lyrics. At a tenderly young age he seems to have an intuitive understanding of relationships and people which allow him to write bittersweet lyrics which actually force you to listen to the stories he is telling.

Try writing your own Mike Skinner lyrics and then have a go at aping Alex Turner. See which one is easier.

Oasis or Quoasis

This article is relatively painful for me to write as I used to be a huge Oasis fan and supported them blindly whether it was their music, the politics or Liam's headline grabbing antics. But the hazy summer days or Britpop are over, acceptable lager fueled laddish behaviour is now a thing of the past with the advent of ASBO's and underage drinking and the whole music scene has moved on and is now dancing to the beat of Mr. Turner and his Monkeys - a far cry from the sloganeering monster choruses of the Britpop elite.

So where does this leave Oasis.

Well, Damon Albarn in the midst of the Blur Vs Oasis war suggested Oasis should of been called Oasis Quo on hearing their new single 'Roll With It' as he felt it sounded like Status Quo. Noel, with tongue firmly in his cheek, retaliated by having tour t-shirts made for the band saying 'Quoasis.' The incident was soon forgotten and they both found something new to argue about but the reference still rears it's head every time that Oasis bring out a song which bears even a passing resemblance to Status Quo's sound or song structure.

Now I'll describe a band for you and you tell me which band I'm referring to.

1) They have been going for donkey's years now
2) They haven't really changed their sound very much - their songs have simply got weaker and less well received every time they release new material
3) The members are all visibly aging but are keen to overlook this by retaining the same style they had as a young band
4) They built a loyal fan base back in their heyday which just about keeps them ticking over in their 'long in the tooth' era
5) The new songs have a familiarity to them which seem to hint at and echo parts of previous releases
6) Their lyrics are unlikely to be remembered in a 100 years...or next year
7) They sound highly derivative of bands which have gone before them and now seem to even parody themselves
8) Both have undergone extensive line up changes with the core of the band being the two front men

and to be fair...

8) Their best songs from the start of their career are actually superb pieces of music which were instant classics and will stand the test of time

So, which band am I talking about? Both.

In the midst of the Blur Vs Oasis war, a young Damon and less young Noel argued incessantly about which band was the best, both rubbishing each other's outfits and using any medium, whether it was column inches, radio interviews or even awards ceremonies to start bickering and verbal haranguing the other. Noel, with Liam as his General, Master at Arms and foghorn always seemed to come out on top and even though Blur won some campaigns (Country House beat Roll With It to number 1), I think it's well documented that Oasis won the war.

As Oasis famously said at the time, "Blur are middle-class w***ers trying to play hardball with a bunch of working-class heroes. There can be only one winner.'

So where are Blur today. They took an official hiatus from about 2004 onwards after sacking their guitarist Graham Coxon and have been in limbo ever since. However, Albarn has since started 2 new bands, Gorillaz and The Good, The Bad and The Queen, the former being a concept virtual band whose sound is most likened to a crossover between Hip Hop, Dub and Electronica and the latter being a collection of musicians whose album managed to win the 2007 Mojo Awards best album.
He has also released solo material, written music for films and had brief stints in front of the camera, most notably playing a bank robber in the UK film Face. His last project was to bring an ancient Chinese legend, Journey to the West, to the stage and wrote an opera around the story which had it's premiere at The Palace Theatre in Manchester in 2007. Not bad for the loser.

And where is Mr Gallagher and his errant sibling. Still playing Live Forever and Roll With It to a diminishing crowd of aging fans. Still wearing the same Manchester jackets and bragging about their rare, imported trainers. Still sounding a bit like Status Quo while trying to sound like The Beatles. Winners eh?

If the very essence of an artist is to continually improve yourself, challenge yourself and move outside of your comfort zone in an effort to improve your perception of both your art form and the world around it then for my money whilst Damon Albarn is painting with the Masters, whilst Oasis are still painting by numbers with increasing worn out paint brushes.

All hail the new kings of live music

A couple of years ago I was introduced to a new band by my girlfriend. They were coming to Manchester on tour and she waxed lyrical about their both their music and energetic live show. Soon, her cries were echoed and joined by those of her sister who also suggested that I was in for a treat watching them perform in the flesh.

Being a real sucker for a good old fashioned sing-a-long, I decided to listen to their album first to get an idea of which songs had lyrics worthy of committing to memory - I am hugely accomplished at making up words on the spot when either I forget them or do not know them and am fully confident in my own mind that at least 70% of them are usually correct. However, I thought that if this was to be the pinnacle of my live music experiences, it would be worthwhile going fully armed with at least a couple of choruses.

On hearing the album for the first time I thought that although it was a solid rock/ punk offering with some catchy tunes it was not overly special - imagine Oasis's third album and you will know what I mean. Not quite a 'Definitely Maybe' or 'What's the Story...' but nevertheless a good album in it's own right with it's fair share of barnstorming rock numbers with memorable choruses. However, when I went to see them live I was absolutely blown away. As the singer climbed the dizzyingly high speaker stack for the third time that evening and threw himself into the crowd, I thought to myself that he had probably expended more energy in a single hour than I normally do in a whole month. The gig was over in a flash but the lasting memories will stay for a long time - this was old school rock and roll played with an energy and urgency that most modern bands seem to lack. There was no posturing, no pouting and no arrogant rants at either the crowd or the establishment. This was a sweaty, passionate, high speed adventure into the land of 70's rock excesses. Windmilling guitar arms, head banging choruses, epic stage diving and best of all, a front man who seemed the real deal. He was loving it up on the stage, as were the rest of the band, and with his naked torso drenched in sweat as he whirled around incessantly, he was reminiscent of an early Iggy Pop fueled by an neverending supply of adrenaline and eating up the stage as he moved from one side to the next.

It was pure genius as far as a live experience goes - the entire crowd was with him all of the way and I felt slightly isolated in the fact that I did not know every single word of every single song. Normally at a live gig, the excitement of the headline band taking the stage creates such an outpouring of energy that the crowd jump around like demented half lit silhouettes and sing their hearts out for the first few numbers. However, this energy level normally subsides four or five songs into the set and everyone settles into a steady rhythm only getting possessed again for the big numbers and set finale. Not so at this gig. The energy levels went through the roof the minute the band appeared on stage and did not dip or subside until the last note had been played and the band has left us alone to recover from our excesses. I have never seen such a phenomenal display of commitment and downright joy from an audience before - it was if the frontman had somehow passed on his energy levels to the crowd and challenged them to keep up with him for the evening.

As I said earlier, their music will not win any awards. But nor should it because in the traditions of the great old rock and roll bands of the 70's, these guys are about the live experience. Buy their album and never see them live and you will never truly understand what they are about. The songs are merely a vehicle for them to connect with their fans and serve only as a backdrop to one of the most amazing stage shows you are likely to see.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the band in question is The Subways.

10 out of 10?

Just a quick entry here.

I am slightly confused about the way that some people seem to rate and rank albums. I'm not talking about publications necessarily because they seem to justify their reviews to a certain degree even though it is frustrating when some work off a scale of 10 and some work off 5 (how do you represent 5 out 10 on a scale of 1 to 5?).

I am talking about my friends and colleagues and the average man in the street. Their ratings seem to be so biased and not objective in many cases.

Take a die hard fan of Kasabian. He had probably already decided in his own mind that their second album was going to be 10 out 10 in his head so when it was released and was considered by most people in the music industry to be a regression from their inspiring debut album, he simply marked it down to 8 out of 10 and told all of his friends it was a 'grower'. I don't understand this kind of partisan blindness. Star Wars fans across the planet were more than happy to pan the three new films that came out a few years ago and this was a franchise they had held dearly close to their heart for 20 years. So why can't I find a Killers fan who can admit that Sam's Town is not a great album? It is not a bad album but this comment I found on an Amazon review sums it up for me -

'This is a 5 star album people.
I can listen to this album form start to finish, that is very rare for me !
No mainstream songs, far from It.'

I don't understand this. You loved the first album with songs such as 'Mr Brightside', 'Somebody Told Me', and 'All These Things That I've Done' so you went out and bought the second only to find there are no real standout tracks (with the possible exception of 'When We Were Young') yet you still gave it full marks! Can I suggest that that score was written before even hearing the music. I am not afraid to mark down my heroes when they release material which is either below their par or is not worthy of an inflated score. I used to be the biggest Oasis fan on the planet, had ever rarity and bootleg CD released and have seen them live more times than I can remember. However, ever since Standing on the Shoulder of Giants scored 3 out of 10 with me I have not bought any subsequent material. Much like the Star Wars fans, my love for a band is not the unconditional love I have for a family member - more the love I have for a girlfriend or close friend and as in life, I am perfectly capable of falling out with a band and not speaking to them again. And before anyone criticises me or calls me shallow bear this in mind. We all bought the albums Kick and X by INXS in the late 80's/ early 90's but I'm guessing you haven't gone out and bought their last 12 albums.

Anyway, I mentioned that I gave Oasis's 4th album 3 out of 10. If you're heard the album you too were probably disappointed but you are also probably thinking that 3 out 10 is a bit harsh. That is because you are using your system of rating albums and not looking at it objectively. Allow me to explain...

The average number of tracks on an album is 10. If you use a scale of 1 to 10 then you can roughly assign 1 point for each track. If a track is good it gets a point. If it is not a standout track or a clear album filler then it doesn't score. If you want to err on the side of caution give any tracks which may be 'growers' a half point. Using this system seems to me to be the fairest way of marking an album on merit without taking into account previous releases or any other stock the band has built up with you. You are reviewing the album, not your love for the band.

Bear in mind that 10 out 10, or 5 out of 5 is 100%. Top marks. Perfect. Nothing you would change as it is perfection personified. Can you really say that about some of the albums by your favourite bands you have given 10 out of 10 to?

It is simple. 10 tracks on the next album you buy. 6 are good. Score it 6 out of 10 if anyone asks. Don't let the fact that you had your picture taken with the singer last year in Spain cloud your judgement.

I give this article a 6.5 out of 10.

The Luckies NY Trip

'When Tommy and me felt so lucky
We plotted a course for overseas
The pieces of eight lay open in our palms'

So begins the song 'Liberty Bell' which was written by my band The Luckies about our impending trip to New York to record our first album, 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen'.

As I have explained in a previous posting (Corbieres - New Wave Revivalist Mod Pop), The Luckies are a side project to my main band Corbieres who are taking an extended break for a variety of reasons. The Luckies consists of myself and Tommy who both share guitar and vocal duties, albeit Tom, unlike myself, can sing in tune and I can play a proper F Chord so we compliment each other well. We perform live as an acoustic two piece but for the purposes of recording our album we programmed the drum tracks on my laptop and I took on bass guitar duties.



The idea for this adventure came about from some inheritance I received at the start of 2007 and the long held dream I have always had to record in New York. We decided that it would be nice to bring out the WAGS as well although we decided to fly them out half way through the process so we could get a chunk of the recording done prior to being forced to go sightseeing and shopping. We also invited our good friend and Corbieres manager Vix who has supported and helped us for years.



We managed to book a recording studio in the East Village which turned out to be great. Off the beaten track and just run down enough to make the experience memorable without being dangerous. The studios themselves were small and cosy, with a hint of bohemia and the perfect size for a duo masquerading as a five piece band. They also more importantly, allowed smoking within the studio building which was a godsend. If you can imagine being without a cigarette in a creative and stressful environment with the temperature outside at minus 8, then you'll understand the impact this provision made on proceedings.

Hayley (my half of the WAG's unit) found us all an apartment in Hell's Kitchen to use as a basecamp, complete with exposed brick walls and original wooden floorboards and Tom and I flew out on the Sunday with a view to starting recording on the Monday. The girls were due to fly in on the Wednesday in time for the final mix down and a three day party to celebrate our achievements.

When we arrived at the studios on the Monday morning, we were slightly apprehensive on first meeting our sound engineer for the project, Hernan, as he was a very large and imposing, softly spoken native of the Bronx who vocalised very little and mostly under his breath. An awkward first hour soon turned into a fantastically creative environment as we realised that it was only a bout of shyness which had kept him so quiet. We soon found that Hernan had no qualms about telling us what he thought of our musicianship and he began to earn his cash in spades by directing us, educating us and generally helping us achieve the sound and feel we wanted. He became such an integral part of the process that by the end of the week we had christened him 'The Third Lucky' and given him honorary status in the band. We have worked with many sound engineers through the years at various studios and nearly all have fallen into the dual traps of either being too quiet or too opinionated. Hernan struck the perfect balance and the final result was more than we could of hoped for. In return, we taught him sarcasm (no mean feat when dealing with a New Yorker who has never left the State, let alone the USA), a variety of English swear words from the vulgar to the downright offensive and educated him on the best and worst of modern British music (apologies to Robbie Williams for not making the 'best of' list).



We later found out that Hernan was a producer of some note and was actually working with signed Hip Hop groups on a daily basis. His love though is indie music and in particular New Order and Joy Division. When he heard on the grapevine that two musicians from Manchester were coming over to record an album he asked if he could run the sessions. He also asked his good friends The Strokes if he could borrow a bass for me to use (see my profile picture) and promptly turned up with the bass that The Strokes had used on their last two albums!

The recording started with the guitars and bass being laid down over the pre-programmed drum tracks and this took the best part of a day and a half. I played on most tracks but Tom weighed in with a stellar acoustic performance (no mean feat in a studio environment) which was so good we decided to drop the drums altogether and just leave in Tom's singing and guitar playing augmented by some quiet and simple bass work from myself.

Day three consisted of the recording the vocals. We had planned to share the vocal duties equally but I had a combination of a minor throat infection coupled with a very bad day at office which conspired to make me so nervous that I started to embellish my mistakes rather than correct them. We decided in the end that I would only sing on a couple of songs but provide backing as and when necessary and with Tom taking the helm, we recorded all of our vocals in a day and a half. This was a herculean effort from Tom who rose to the occasion like a seasoned studio pro and saved the day with a string of faultless performances - I say this but if you listen to the demo in his presence he still gives away all of his perceived mistakes by giggling every time he hears one!

As with all sessions in a recording studio, you lose time at an alarming rate and true to form, we found ourselves behind time. Ordinarily this would not be a huge issue but we had managed to get a slot at a local music venue to play our set list and this had to be jettisoned due to our increased recording commitments - it was a real shame as being able to say you played live in New York would have been great but the album had to take priority.

The WAGS and Vix arrived mid week as expected and they were able to come into the studio and meet Hernan during the final mix down. We spent about a day and half on the final mix (anyone who has been in a studio will tell you that this is the most important part and cannot be rushed) and had our final demo ready on the Friday night.

We left the studio and rushed out to the 24 hour Apple store on 5th Avenue to get some speakers for my laptop and then hopped in a cab back to the apartment to give the girls the first ever listen to our new opus. When we arrived back we realised that there was actually a CD player already in the apartment and our midnight dash for speakers was unnecessary. Stupidity aside, we put our CD on and the rest is history. The girls loved it, we loved and more than the music, we will always have the memory of the time we flew out to the Big Apple to cut an album.

To listen to some of the tracks, click through to our Myspace page at: www.myspace.com/theluckiesuk

1980's - The Theme Tune Golden Years

I may well be a child of the 80's and what I am about to say is tempered by the fact that I lived through a decade of excess, dodgy music, outlandish fashion statements and technological advancements such as portable Donkey Kong and the Casio calculator watch - all of which I fell prey to and adopted as my own personal style. So, maybe not the best person to comment on the best and worst the decade had to offer.

This said though, wasn't the music on TV better than it is now.

We downloaded a load of old 80's theme tunes the other day at work and there were some real gems in there. In fact we had to try hard to find some theme tunes which were duff.

Why are TV theme tunes these days so bland and unremarkable. Wasn't an integral part of the Saturday evening viewing sitting down in time to hear the theme tune to Knight Rider or Magnum PI. When we used to play in the woods near our house it was a straight red card for jumping out of a tree or charging the enemy base camp without singing the A-Team at full volume. No apache war cries - just that well known fanfare.

If I were to list a number of 80's shows, I bet anyone between the ages of 25-35 could hum them on the spot. For example, the aforementioned A-Team, Knight Rider and Magnum stand out as does The Fall Guy, Dallas, Airwolf, Dangermouse, Only Fools and Horses, Mysterious Cities of Gold, Ulysses, Cheers, Different Strokes, Grange Hill and so on.

Now take the best and most popular of modern television. Can anyone hum the theme tunes to Prison Break, 24, Lost, Desperate Housewives etc. The Soprano's and Sex in the City stand out as theme tunes I can remember on the spot but they are hardly classics when compared to the list from the 80's.

In fact, while I'm on a roll, let's look at classic film scores. I'll need to go back to the late 70's for this one but if you take movies released from 1977 through to the end of the 80's you'll see the point I'm making.

Hum the following theme tunes; Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones, E.T., Jaws. Easy enough. Now try humming Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park or Titanic (and not the Celine Dion's appalling attempt at a ballad). It's not so easy is it?

I think the facts speak for themselves - the music that accompanies both films and tv shows these days does not distinguish itself enough to be truly memorable. I can speculate why this might be and would probably guess with the big name actors and actresses taking the lion's share of the budget, the soundtracks and themes have become marginalised and are not of the same importance as they used to be.

The fact remains though that I can't remember the last film I saw with an original soundtrack that I can hum as I write this piece.

Cheer up Chris Martin!

If you go to Wikipedia and look up Chris Martin you are given the following snippets of information amongst others.

He has a baritone voice and is known for his frequent use of falsetto.
Martin attended Sherborne School, a boys' boarding school in Dorset and is an honours graduate of University College London[1] where he captained the 2nd XI Hockey Team.

Not very rock and roll is it?

Now I realise that a lot of big name rock acts went to university and are well educated, and I would never hold an academic career against anyone but being famous and using your fame as a sounding board is a difficult trick to pull off. Joe Strummer in my opinion managed it while Bono to be frank scares me. I listen to Bono and feel guilty for eating a bar of Toblerone in case the bees used to make the honey that went into the chocolate were mistreated or marginalised in some way.

Education and a perceived higher thought process is not a badge I want my rock stars to wear 24/7. I mean Pete Doherty is probably not used on prospective brochures for the University of London which he attended. Not than Pete Doherty should really be used as a shining light for anything educational other than the depths of social despair. Maybe a better example of rock stars with surprisingly studious backgrounds is Dexter Holland, lead singer of The Offspring who has a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine who graduated from Harvard University. I have seen both of these acts live and I was entertained by both without either act feeling the need to preach to me from an ivory tower about the complicated frets and woes of having such a brilliant and socially aware mind. Neither did they feel the need to inform me that their guitar straps were fair trade and that a if we all shed a tear in unison, we could collect those tears and rid Africa of famine and drought forever.

My issue with Coldplay and therefore Chris Martin (the other members are too tiresome and boring to even have names apparently) is that there is nothing remarkable or fascinating about the man. There is nothing controversial, nothing interesting and nothing compelling me to be drawn into what he has to say.

Coldplay have a few good songs in my opinion but a lot of their repertoire is middle of the road, minor sounding, angst ridden and just plain dreary. At least Keane pull the same trick with a smile on their faces. Have you ever seen Chris Martin smile. He can't because he is too busy worrying about the world and the fate of some rare species of poriferans (sea sponges to you and me) off the coast of the Galapagos islands to enjoy life.

The man probably can't make a cup of coffee without weeping endlessly about the carbon footprint he has just placed on the planet. He probably weeps on holiday because his presence on the beach has disturbed the migratory cycle of the Bar-tailed Godwit and this in turn will affect the cycle of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird etc. When we turn on the TV and see Bono tirelessly rattling on about another so called worthy cause he has just found, Chris probably makes an effigy of Saint Bono and cuddles up to in bed to give him hope of a better place we can all live in harmoniously. Although clearly he won't cuddle his Bono effigy at the cost of cuddling Queen Gwyneth as this could be deemed dysfunctional family behaviour and have a profound effect on the apples of his eyes (pun intended), his children.

I'm not sure how Coldplay classify themselves musically but the important thing is in the following phrase 'Rock and roll act/ Pop act' is the word 'act'. Try to entertain your audience lads. Standing stock still at the microphone wearing plain and drab outfits that UNICEF have approved whilst playing songs at half the speed of the dreary album tempo is not an act. If they classify themselves as pop I would invite them to watch some Elton John, Madonna or Michael Jackson DVDs, and if they somehow think they can call themselves rock then please Chris, ask Queen Gwyneth for a Queen, Blur, Manic Street Preachers or Supergrass DVD for Christmas - that is, if you support the commercialization of the Lord and actually celebrate the festive season.

I am not trying to pop at Coldplay for the sake of it but I just wish that they would cheer up, be happy for the success that their bland music has brought them and try to view the world and their careers as something visibly joyous.

And here are some more great facts about Chris:

He is vegetarian.

He was a strong supporter of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.

He has been particularly outspoken on issues of fair trade and has done a great deal of campaigning for the charity Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign.

He personally traveled to Ghana and Haiti to study the effects of unfair trade practices.

When performing, he usually has variations of "Make Trade Fair", "MTF" or an equal sign written on the back of his left hand and the letters "MTF" can be seen emblazoned on his piano.

He writes with his left hand and draws with his right hand.

He can play the clarinet.

PARTY ON CHRIS!

Joe Strummer - a very important man

Joe Strummer was not only a musical pioneer, a radical political commentator, and an award winning songwriter but he is my primary inspiration and one of the driving forces behind everything musical I have done from learning the guitar, the style of music I play through to the lyrics I write.

The thing about Strummer is he is important...very important - he is not simply a footnote to the music revolution of the last century but he was a key player in shaping a whole music genre and his name will forever be endelibly linked with both the punk movement and the iconic image of him front of stage, electric leg pumping to the beat, singing his heart out for a cause he truly believed in.

He stood for what he believed in throughout the course of his musical career and his lyrics both informed and shaped the minds of the disconsolate youth of the 70's. He sang about social injustice, the unemployment levels and strikes that blighted the early Thatcher years, and championed racial harmony and acceptance. His music crossed genre boundaries and included influences as diverse as rockabilly, ska, reggae, jazz and world music. In fact his lyrics still stand the test of time today as important social and political commentaries on the 70's and 80's and this is what elevates him above many of his peers both past and present. For example, take the modern bands of the britpop era with their songs about drugs working/ not working, everything being alright and cool and the convenient rhyming couplets of Noel Gallagher - in years to come they will not be remembered as anything other than catchy tunes which in itself deserves rich merit but Strummers contribution to musical history works on so many more levels.

He never let any musical project he was involved with become stale and mundane and shied away from a formulaic approach to his art. Take, The Clash - their star shined bright and burned with a fierce intensity for ten years. Strummer however intuitively knew when to call time on both various band members and the project as a whole. The Clash went out on a high.

In a world where you can still watch The Rolling Stones with their ever bloated, over produced stage shows tour the world, or listen to the latest Oasis album with it's ever diminishing musical returns, The Clash are stuck in the era they defined and The Clash's Joe Strummer will always be a rake thin thirty something with a glint in his eye.

Post Clash, he moved on to a new challenge musically and began examining world music with his new band The Mescaleros. He assembled a group of gifted multi-instrumentalists and brought a new sound and cultural reference point to his eager fan base.

He also never forgot his musical routes and knew instinctively how to play to his fans' hearts. He would pepper The Mescaleros live sets with old Clash songs which would bring the roof down. This may seem like an obvious decision to make but how many people, myself included, have watched Paul Weller live and wished that he would play 'Going Underground', 'Down in the Tube Station at Midnight', or any of the other big Jam songs from his back catalogue.

The Mescaleros officially split up mid 2002 but on November 15th of that year, they reunited to play a benefit gig for the striking fire fighters at the Acton Town Hall. It was at this gig that he was finally joined by Mick Jones on stage after a 20 year hiatus. Mick happened to be in the audience and was spontaneously called up on stage by Strummer. They played 3 Clash songs and finally mended the bridges that had been broken for two decades. This was the last life performance The Mescaleros ever gave.

In later years, he became a regular visitor to the Glastonbury festival and began setting up his own campsite there. He would invite friends, relatives and other festival goers to join him as he erected giant flag poles, built the largest fires and sat round evening and evening talking music, politics and life with anyone who wanted to join in.

After his death, the Strummerville foundation was established with the goal of providing "rehearsal space and studio time to individuals, groups and organisations to enable the production of music by creative young people who would otherwise be preventing from doing so simply because they lack the necessary funds." The foundation also runs a stage at Glastonbury which has helped launch several of the big name acts of the last few years including The Holloways, Dirty Pretty Things and Jamie T. The foundation also released a cover of The Clash song 'Janie Jones' performed by amongst others Babyshambles, Carl Barat and The Guillemots.

The essence of Strummerville is very much in keeping with the values that Joe Strummer held dear and the equality and encouragement given to all new acts, whatever genre their music would have made him proud.

His final gig was on November 22nd in Somerset near his home. He died on the 22nd of December sat in his favourite armchair having just walked his dogs. A peaceful and fitting end to a great man.

My favourite Joe Strummer story concerns The Clash, in their heyday at a large festival in the United States. They were all stood around in the backstage hospitality area drinking free beer and champagne and generally having a good old time. They realised that Joe was missing and turned around just in time to see him scaling the fence that separated the hospitality area from the rest of the festival crowd. This was not an uncommon site at large festivals years ago except that people were usually trying to get in to the hospitality area, not out. He was last seen running into the melee of people and was found hours later sat around a camp fire with a group of hippies talking animatedly about music and hanging on every word they had to say. I think this captures the essence of the man and is a shining example of why he will be fondly remembered.

He was and is very important.

I have written a song about Joe Strummer called Citizen Joe. The lyrics can be found here.

Citizen Joe

This song was written as a homage to Joe Strummer who has meant a lot to me musically and personally and has help shaped my views and opinions on a whole range of issues and subjects both musical and otherwise.

Citizen Joe

Verse 1
Born to spies the old empire lies so stiffly
One way flight in a Turkish Delight sing 50's
Jumps ahead to a middle class bed near Croydon
Public schools and the breaking of rules for the young sun

And all converging ways
Lead to better days for

Chorus
The Westway boy leading the action
He cries loudly that love is a fashion
Rude Boy in a White Riot blazer
Screams loud with a mind to change the views
Of everyone

Verse 2
Forged a group, a political coup in Blighty
Sings aloud the common man proud nightly
Black man white anything goes he measures
Raised from bricks in the urban sticks bleak treasures

And oh so silently
For the train in vain for

Verse 3
Hides away 'neath The West Wing he's a loner
Grows so weary of business suits and stoners
UK slides further away from his feelings
Strong wind blows through The Palais he's realing

The defense of Pete Doherty...

Let me start off by saying I am a huge fan of The Libertines, Babyshambles and more importantly Pete Doherty. I not only think he is a talented songwriter and musician but I feel that along with Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys, he is one of the most important and influential artists from the last 5 years.

Post Britpop the guitar based indie scene was faltering in the UK. There were still noises coming from some of the bigger Britpop bands such as Blur, Oasis and The Charlatans but the golden years of British indie bands seemed to be over and even those still releasing material seemed to have aged and changed sufficiently that some of there fans were feeling slightly apathetic and alienated towards their latest releases. Overseas, things were not much better in the US which was becoming more and more dominated by R &B and Hip Hop. Sure the big bands of yesteryear such as REM and a handful of others were still releasing superb albums but there was a staleness to the whole scene which seemed to be crying out for a new sound to capture the imagination of the indie crowd. Enter The Strokes. They came from nowhere to capture the hearts and minds of the indie crowd with their low fi, 70's sounding rock tunes and their punk influenced haircuts and dirty leather jackets. It also helped that their debut album was jam packed with a variety of instant classics. A new music scene was starting to take shape.

Enter from stage left Messrs. Doherty and Barat who decided on hearing The Strokes to form their own band. Aptly named The Libertines they mirrored their US influence by crafting a debut album which was strong in depth and breadth and contained some musical pearls both lyrically and musically.

With Pete as the driving force and figurehead of the band they connected with their fan base like no other musicians before or since them (save for Alex Turner who openly admits aping their approach). They had a guerilla attitude to interacting with their fans, turning up at open mic nights, holding secret gigs, organizing free concerts and just busking as and when they felt the urge. Pete would often leave a gig and go back to a fan's flat to give an impromptu rendition of both songs and poetry until the early hours of the morning. Fans were regularly invited backstage to hang out with the band and quite often, after a gig had finished, Pete would appear on stage or at the stage door with his acoustic in hand and start performing a more intimate set list of requested songs. They also had a distinct look with their red Chelsea pensioners jackets, Strokes inspired leathers, and charity shop second hand chic. I remember being at a Libertines gig and losing count of the number of retro military jackets on show - it was almost like a uniform for the hard core followers.

Unfortuately, Pete's continually erratic lifestyle, lack of reliability and ultimately his betrayal of his best friend and band mate led to the dissolution of the band. Carl took the drummer and Pete's temporary replacement to form Dirty Pretty Things, a fantastic band in their own right, and Pete decided to focus on what had been his side project up until this point, Babyshambles.

Since leaving the Libertines and becoming further embroiled in the seedy drug world, Pete's musical output has fluctuated from the highs of pseudo genius through to the lows of disorganized and self indulgent skiffle-esque jams with no real musical theme or structure. This said though, he has approached his music with an open honesty, writing and playing songs from the heart whatever their artistic merits. He continues to openly court his fans and has retained the loyal and forgiving following his musical career has amassed so far. Talk to the average Doherty fan and they will tell you openly he's a genius and that they will quite happily travel to the other end of the country if they hear he might perform a solitary song at an open mic night.

However, talk to the average man on the street and you will probably get a combination or variation on the following repsonses; 'Some of the Libertines' stuff was alright but....', 'I don't see what all the fuss is about', and 'He's a complete disgrace. I have not time for him'.

The problem is that people cannot or are not willing to see the two Pete Dohertys. They see either the talented musician or the helpless drug addict spiraling further and further out of control. It's not hard with the British tabloid press to see which Pete they've come to know and accept. In Pete's defense he does not court the press - he doesn't turn up at gala award ceremonies drunk and disorderly, nor does he appear in London's trendy nightclubs with dolly birds on his arms intent on causing a scene and winning column inches the next day. He is hounded and pursued by the press because they feel he is newsworthy and see the potential to run yet another story about his sorry slide into deeper addiction. There are many addicts all over the country who are in a similar and worse situation to Pete but he is forced through his celebrity to play out his inner struggle with his demons on a public stage. The only person he has really truly hurt is himself yet the cries of public derision and condemnation still ring loudly whenever he is caught in a private moment with drugs paraphernalia.

Is it simply that he was born in the wrong era. A brief stroll through rock and roll history throws up all manner of illegal and immoral acts from some of the musical greats but for some reason they are not repeatedly judged for their behaviour. Is is a combination of the fact that these acts took place in the more liberal 60's and 70's or is simply the passing of time which has dulled their crimes? If we are honest, their social slips and criminal behaviour are akin to and even worse than Pete Doherty's continued dalliance with hard drugs.

Take for example Ozzy Osbourne - he continually and publicly used hard drugs during his heyday, often to the detriment of his live performances and has famously bitten the head off a live bat and dove respectively. The public perception of him now is a lovable rogue based on the fact that his drug addled mind's logic centre is completely shot and he is amusing to watch as he shuffles around his house, screaming and shouting at his family, dogs and a variety of inanimate objects. Worse than Pete?

Or how about Jim Morrison whose behaviour far outweighs anything Pete has managed thus far. Morrison's drug addiction and dependancy make Doherty's look like a minor dalliance. Morrison was arrested repeatedly, was charged with inciting a riot and was wanted by Dade County for lewd and lascivious behaviour and exposing himself. And how do we view this behaviour now in the year 2008? Any trip to a university dorm or common room will undoubtedly throw up the infamous poster of him with the tagline 'Wanted in Dade County for...' Criminality turned into Pop Art for the masses.

Liam Gallagher's errant behaviour more recently has been given a complete pardon, even as it was occuring in the mid 90's, because his music and attitude was one of laddishness and he therefore fit the mould he was promoting perfectly. Immediately forgotten and forgiven are his acts of assault, arrest, vandalism, drug taking and refusal at times to honor live commitments. All because it was Liam Gallagher and what more did we expect from him? Maybe Pete is too artistic, too well read and ultimately too sensitive to be forgiven his crimes.

If at this point, anyone is thinking that I am comparing fools with fools and that rock and roll is indemically
linked with this kind of behaviour then I would suggest people look up the much respected Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Luckily his comments of "An alcoholic is someone you don't like, who drinks as much as you do" were delivered pre tabloid era and therefore did not cause the moral outrage that celebrities behaviour does nowadays.

Now in order to defend and argue his case I must be objective from my point of view. I have seen him live about 7 or 8 times. He used to be habitually late for his slot on stage, often not turning up at all and I think I have personally been kept waiting for him for a combined time of about 5 hours. His crowning glory on the tardiness front has to be at V Festival 2007 where he eventually turned up about 7 hours late because his helicopter was late! Of course each time he has kept me waiting has been immediately forgiven when he has taken the stage as his music connects with me on a level that most other bands simply cannot achieve and by the time his first chorus comes around, we are back to being at one musically and time becomes irrelevant.

He has also cost me £70 which I may never recoup. I bought tickets on the black market to see him perform in Paris only to hear that he was finally jailed for repeatedly goading the UK criminal justice system and was therefore unable to fulfill his touring commitments. My view is that he owes me big time and being the loyal follower I am, am in no doubt that he will make good on this whether it be a secret gig, some outstanding new material or just staying the course and continuing to do what he does best - be an important musical force in my life.

I am not arguing that I in any way condone Pete Doherty's behaviour and I truly fear the worst for him. He seems hell bent on spirally downwards in an ever addictive cycle which can only end badly for him. I would however like people to judge the man on his music alone and separate the tabloid buffoon from the true artist.

Introducing Corbieres - New Wave Revivalist Mod Pop

I thought for my first post I would introduce my band/ music.

I have been playing guitar in bands since I was 15 which if you say it fast enough is 19 years ago!

My current band has been together for about 4/5 years although the nucleus of the band played together in a different incarnation 17 years ago.

We started off life as The Superfinks but then dropped this as it was deemed really really crap. After much ponderous brainstorming, we settled on Corbieres as this was the name of our favourite bar in Manchester - and also where we happened to be sat when trying to decide on a new name...what can I say beer makes you lazy so Corbieres stuck. It could have been worse - we could have been sat in The Prancing Swan.

We started off playing small venues around Manchester albeit our first gig was at The Academy 3 in Manchester which was a ticketed affair with tickets being sold on Ticketline alongside other household names such as Hawkwind, Heather from the M People and the guy who came 4th in the last series of X Factor.

After gigging infrequently and inebriated, we decided to cut a demo. In fact we cut several. And then some more. Of all of the addictions you can have, a recording studio addiction is one of the lesser known vices but one of the most costly for all involved. After figuring out we had more material than The Beatles, we tried to distribute some of our material locally but the two band members charged with sharing our crown jewels with the world just got drunk and concentrated on discussing the possibility of recording more demos.

Corbieres did however get played on the Clint Boon show on XFM radio as part of an amateur band search based in the North West. Clint played one of our songs and was supposed to read out a profile of the band live on air but he lost the piece of paper it was written on! We were voted the best of four bands on that weeks show and were put into the final at the end of the month only to find we were unsuccessful at this stage - due mostly to reasons of politics, seasonality, socioeconomic unrest and possibly just not being good enough.

We then decided after a few more gigs (including a local festival) to call a band hiatus so we could concentrate on not spending money in the recording studio.

The singer and myself then decided to start a new musical collaboration (which is more highbrow than a band apparently) called The Luckies which is still going strong today and we are currently gearing up for a spot at the inaugural Richfest later this year. I will be posting more about The Luckies in a future article.