I’m sure that when John Pasche designed the Rolling Stones famous lips logo (based on Mick Jagger‘s lips) back in 1971 he wasn’t taking the piss. But that is exactly what is happening to his iconic design now. the lips have now been turned into a set of urinals in a small German Rolling Stones museum. they have caused a wee stir in both the art world and among feminists. Read the story on the NME site by clicking here. I’d love to know what you think of them.
Anyway the Stones have certainly come a long way since 1965 when three of them were arrested for urinating in a garage forecourt after being refused use of the toilet. When the case came to court the garage attendant testified “when told they couldn’t use the toilet Mick Jagger said ‘we piss anywhere man’. Presumably anywhere now includes a Stones logo urinal in Germany.
The Stones.......probably downgraded from urinals to bags now!
Madonna has been in the news a lot lately hasn’t she? Presumably because she has a new single out, a new album coming out and she is the half time entertainment at the Super Bowl this weekend. Unless of course she is just a media whore, no wait that’d be David ‘Call Me Dave’ Cameron wouldn’t it!
Elton John has given her some advice for that Superbowl show, he told her to ‘Make sure you lip-sync good’ which seems to follow on from his earlier digs at her for lip-syncing and frankly someone at the top of their game in music should have no need to lip-sync. What do you dear readers think about this? She has also hinted strongly that she will be giving up acting. Good news in my opinion and no real loss to Hollywood either.
Madge has also come out with some rather odd pronouncements recently. In a response to a complaint that tickets for her live’ lip-sync shows are too expensive she has told her fans should ‘work all year, scrape the money together and come to my show. I’m worth it’. She has also compared Lady Gaga with Britney Spears, not by comparing their music but by suggesting of Gaga that ‘I mean, she’s not Britney Spears. She’s not built like a brick shithouse’. Strange or what?
NME readers have given her new single “Give Me All Your Luvin” a big thumbs down. Click here to read that story on the NME website. Micki Minaj and MIA guest on the single which you can hear below. It really is a long way from Madonna’s best stuff and sounds just a little plain to me, Catwoman reckons it sounds old-fashioned. What do you think of it?
Recently I had a rather excellent band recommended to me by the name of Colour Me Wednesday and not only have I been enjoying their damned fine tunes I have also had the pleasure of interviewing them earlier this week. They hail from Hillingdon and have some educational links to Peckham.
They see themselves as a punk band and I have to agree with that. I always felt that the first wave of UK punk in 1976/77 was more about attitude, outlook and enjoying yourself. This bunch of talented guys and girls has all of that in abundance. They prove that punk is about so much more than just image; they don’t have a tattoo between them!
The band members are Jen on vocals, Hat on guitar and backing vocals, Sam on drums and backing vocals and Danny on bass. They all have a hand in the song writing and frankly it’s hard to believe they are children of the late 80s given the meaning and maturity in their lyrics. They have great principles too, so do not expect to see them in a bigoted, racist pub near you anytime soon.
Every year when I plan my trip to the Reading Festival with my good friend Nick we always select a band that we have never heard of but have an interesting name as a must see act for the weekend. Whilst Colour Me Wednesday (CMW) is a pretty cool name (and more on that later) I may have to choose my must see bands by interesting song titles in future. CMW have some fantastic songs in their repertoire including my current favourite “Purge Your Inner Tory” and “Unicorn In Uniform” Just how good are those titles? But it goes beyond that because the songs have real class both musically and lyrically. Regular readers will know that “Purge Your Inner Tory” plays well to my own political leanings and I just had to use a lyric from it as the title to this post!
“Carefree” is one of Sam’s songs and I particularly love the lyrics which the band say are about the feeling of not being able to stay ‘punk’ But the closing lines for me could be even more universal than that. Just how good is the following? ‘Seems we could go on forever, without another care about the world beyond our own doorstep. But I don’t think that’s for the best and I hope I’m not alone. Yeah I hope I’m not alone’
“Lost On The High Street” is reminiscent of one of my favourite Clash songs “Lost In The Supermarket” I reckon CMW could make a great cover of the Clash’s “Julie’s Been working For The Drug Squad” (Folks that is a request from me!). A remix of their “Lost On The High Street” features on their wonderful Sampler 2011 CD along with demos of the aforementioned “Purge Your Inner Tory” and “Unicorn In Uniform” along with the beautiful and fragile “Holiday From Your Life”. You can click here to buy the EP for the almost criminally low price of £1.79 including postage (if you’re in the UK). Not only are the songs superb but the packaging is wonderfully hand crafted just like the early days of punk.
As it was an interview I had to ask a few questions so I did. I started with who is the best band or singer on the planet and agreed that they could include those sadly departed artists and defunct bands if they wished. They all love the Beatles and Jen and Hat particularly love Juliana Hatfield. (Formerly of the Blake Babies and Some Girls). Danny loves REM and Elvis Costello; the band has covered Costello’s “I Don’t Want To Go To Chelsea” at some point too.
My next question was on a ‘what if’ trip. If there was a Colour Me Wednesday chat show who would be the guests on the first episode. Hat went for Russell Brand and Jen would invite Kathleen Hanna from Bikini Kill. Sam suggested that he would invite a selection of those cute YouTube cats. I’d be happy to send my two cats Benny the Ball and Mrs Betty Slocombe to audition for that! Incidentally I reckon that would make a good chat show especially if they invited Mr Costello as well.
A recent survey claims that the biggest tear-jerker of a song is “Everybody Hurts” so that was my lead in to ask if any of the band could think of a particular song that made them cry. Jen offered one of my own favourites from the late, great Jeff Buckley with “Lover You Should Have Come Over”. Ben Folds Five’s “Brick” was Hat’s choice. Sam went for “My Baby…” from band favourite Juliana Hatfield while Danny opted for Weezer’s “Pardon Me”. Some interesting choices I reckon; what do you think dear readers?
I then asked the rather shameful question of what is the most embarrassing song in your collection. The band rightly pointed out that music shouldn’t be embarrassing and if you enjoy it what’s the problem. It’s difficult to disagree with their argument (but if “Macarena” comes up on my iPod shuffle facility any time soon I will not be able to avoid that embarrassing feeling; sorry gang!). Jen and Hat did offer a song and a band that they felt they shouldn’t really like. In my view I would say these were pretty cool choices. It was “Kiss Me” from Sixpence None The Richer a song that sisters Jen and Hat used to practice their harmonies on. They also felt that Paramore fitted the bill here as well given their heavily teenage fan base and image.
My next interrogative line was is there a song that sums up your life so far and obviously I had to extend that to albums as well. When I think about it could I answer that question myself? Only with great difficulty! Any way they did come up with Belly’s debut album from 1993, ‘Star’. Along with Juliana Hatfield’s “Become What You Are”. The band have been to see Juliana on one occasion and it was made even more interesting and exciting by the appearance of one time Blake baby Freda Love.
Jen went on to speak about how it felt singing other people’s lyrics. She said that very, very occasionally she might want to edit a line. In particular she feels that the end of a line should be very evocative. She also admitted that she felt almost possessed when singing a cover version.
When travelling up to Sheffield for a recent gig they amused themselves by swapping jokes about cheese, especially vegan cheese as all the band are vegetarians. Are there many cheese jokes? I can only think of two and they are cheesy indeed. Which cheese would you use to entice a grizzly down from a mountain? Camembert. (It’s all in the pronunciation) and what do you call cheese that isn’t yours? Nacho cheese.
I promised you more on the name later and here it is. How did the name come about? Well it was back in the days before Jen was in the band and Hat wanted to find a name that didn’t evoke Goth or death metal. So she used a bag of fridge magnet poetry and pulled out random words until she found a combination that worked. That combination was obviously the pretty cool Colour Me Wednesday.
If you get a chance to see them live then I urge you to take it. I haven’t had that opportunity yet but I will certainly take it when I can. If you want to book them for a gig then get in touch I am pretty damned sure you will not be disappointed. I would like to offer some big thanks to the band for letting me interview them and for becoming the very first act ever to be interviewed for the With Just A Hint Of mayhem blog in nearly three years!
Now enjoy a few of the band’s songs and make sure you order the sampler 2011 EP. If I find that you haven’t bought it, remember……. I know where you live! If you missed the link earlier click here to order the CD.
I had a simple idea for a new blog earlier this evening after leaving my glasses on a copy of this months Q magazine while I answered the phone. It looked like Florence was wearing those spectacles. So that is how the Stars In My Glasses blog began. Click here to check it out.
The photo that kicked off my new blog
And to finish here are a couple of glasses related songs (ok I know the last one is only very, very loosely related, but I haven’t heard it for ages!).
Apparently Hulk Hogan nearly joined Metallica as a bass player in their early days. He was once a session musician and a good friend of drummer Lars Ulrich. He is also a fan of the Stone Roses and used them as part of his workout soundtrack.
He also revealed mock anger at the fact that Kasabian check into hotels using his name. Click here to read the story on the NME site, which was sourced from the Sun. just a thought though, after their recent collaboration with Lou Reed maybe the next Metallica joint effort will be with Mr Hogan.
this man is a Knight of the Realm................ no seriously, he is!
I think it would be fair to say that there is one area of my life that my Mother may be disappointed in me. That is my dislike of the institution of the British Royal family and all condescending pomposity it has. Yes in case you hadn’t noticed I am very much a Republican (not in the US political sense obviously) and most definitely not a Royalist. Having posted recently about Mick Jagger (aka Sir Michael Philip Jagger) turning down afternoon tea with ‘Call Me Dave’ Cameron and Boris Johnson it’s strangely appropriate that a story about those who turned down Royal Honours appeared in the news today. Following a freedom of information request by the BBC a list of those now deceased who have turned down various Royal Honours form 1951 and 1999 has been published. There are 277 people on the list including artists Henry Moore, Francis Bacon and LS Lowry and authors Roald Dahl and Aldous Huxley. There are no rock or pop stars on the list. Read the full story on the BBC site by clicking here.
Sir Tom shows off his first house
However it got me thinking about those rock and pop stars who have accepted honours and those that haven’t. The obvious list of those who have are the rock and pop ‘Sirs’ Paul McCartney, Cliff Richard, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Tom Jones and Bono and Bob Geldof who as Irish citizens are Honorary Knights of the British Empire (KBE). Add to that list Dame Shirley Bassey. A large number of British musicians have received the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), which is the highest honour a British subject can receive below a knighthood or damehood. Those include: Annie Lennox, Roger Daltrey, Eric Clapton, Sting, Robert Plant the Bee Gees and Rod Stewart. It was alleged that at the time of Elton receiving his knighthood Rod was just a little jealous.
Macca ponders his failure to win top score in Rate My Mullet
What really interests me though are those rock and pop stars who turned down Royal honours. David Bowie turned down a CBE in 2000 and a knighthood in 2003 and was quoted as saying that “was not what he spent his life working for”. George Melly and Paul Weller also turned down the offer of a CBE in 2001 and 2007 respectively. Thankfully Keith Richards also turned down a CBE; I’d have been gutted if he had accepted! His comment on Jagger’s knighthood was that he felt it was ludicrous. Influential guitarist and stalwart of the Shadows Hank Marvin turned down an OBE as did Dub Poet Benjamin Zephaniah. At the time Zephaniah publicly stated ‘I get angry when I hear the word ’empire’; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds me of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised’ An MBE was offered to John Lydon who turned it down. I’m pretty amazed that they offered him one really.
Never a Knight of the realm but the only one who came close to looking the part as opposed to looking like an anagram of part
The four Beatles all received the MBE in 1965. John Lennon later returned his to the Queen in 1969 accompanied by a note which read ‘I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam, and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts’. It has been alleged that his Aunt Mimi who brought him up and upon whose mantelpiece the award lived was not amused!
Sir Michael Philip Jagger has turned down an invitation to partake afternoon tea in Davos, Switzerland with ‘Call me Dave’ Cameron and Boris Johnson among others. The meeting was allegedly set up to help promote Britain and British industry. However Sir Mick has claimed that inaccurate comments and suggestions have been made about his political allegiances. This is the reason he has subsequently declined the offer.
The whole thing smacks of hypocrisy to me. Why take a knighthood in the first place if you are not prepared to be a tool of the highest order for the government, the royal family and associated flunkies? What has happened to the anti-establishment, rebellious nature of rock n roll? Would Mick argue that he is trying to change things from within? Maybe, but turning down a chance to imbibe warm milky drinks and crust free sandwiches with a bunch of toffs is not that rebellious is it? It’s hardly like depicting the Queen with a safety-pin through her nose or emptying an ice bucket over John Prescott.
What happened to the Stones of old? What about some “Sympathy For The Devil” or “Gimme Shelter” instead of ‘Sympathy For The Coalition’ and ‘Gimme Earl Grey’. Mick you chose to wear the ermine robes you must have known this kind of thing would happen. Keef would never have found himself in this position he remains a true rock n roller who would almost certainly publicly turn down a royal award if it were ever offered!
Does rebellion still have a place in rock music? I believe it does, what do you think? In the meantime click here to read more about it on the BBC site.
Back in 2009 I had the opportunity to see a band at a charity gig in York. I said some very good things about them in my review of that gig. Click here to read it. In fact I finished my write up of them with ‘My advice is gather up all of your X Factor shite and burn it, then replace it with whatever you can get by 3 Foot Ninja!’ The band have recorded an album which is scheduled for release in March this year and if the new tracks from them that are out there right now are anything to go by, it will be a real scorcher. You can get hold of new track “Fear” for free by clicking here and you can watch them playing another new song; “England Rains Over You” by clicking here. Are these boys the ones to take up a recent clarion call for a new powerful protest song in these dire times? As a big fan of the Clash I certainly hope so. I feel that they have a bit of the Clash about their attitude and that can never be a bad thing.
This music will move you on many levels. You will move your body, your emotions will shake a leg and your mind will tango with your soul. These boys have it all; great songs, great hooks, great lyrics, a social conscience, buckets of talent and a desire and hunger to be the best rock band they could ever be. They will be touring to support the album so if they play anywhere near you do whatever you can as long as it’s legal to raise the money to see them. You will not be disappointed, I intend to be at least one of those gigs myself. So feel free to come and say hi to the Hint Of Mayhem guy after you’ve pogoed and moshed the roof off the venue.
The band consists of Jordan and Joe Bell aided and abetted by Kane Waterfield on skin thumping duties. Did you wonder where their name came from? Well I’m pretty sure it was after a certain member of this powerful trio spent some time playing the original 3 Foot Ninja game on-line. I was also keen to see that they had posted a list of really good bands they have played gigs with on Purevolume. That list is; The Subways, Ash, Wilko Johnson, The Fratellis, Cage The Elephant, The Buzzcocks, Pete and the Pirates, Elvis Presley (they don’t look old enough for that one do they?), British Sea Power, The Airborne Toxic Event, Chico, Twisted Wheel, The Nostalgic Oasis Reverence Band, Little Comets, General Fiasco, Flashguns, Shrug (feat. Barry White). And there was me thinking my musical tastes were eclectic!
So prepare yourself for the arrival of the new album in a few weeks by downloading “Fear” and checking them out on Facebook and MySpace and of course going to see them at a gig near you. I am hoping to bring you more news about this brilliant band very soon; watch this space.
3 Foot Ninja prepare to take the head off of all that bland X Factor style shite!
President Obama was in attendance at a fundraising event in the Apollo in Harlem, effectively on the same bill as the Reverend Al Green. Obama decided to show his vocal prowess with a bit of Al Green karaoke. He followed that up with the comment ‘Don’t worry Rev, I cannot sing like you, but I just wanted to show my appreciation’
What a guy! I really can’t imagine George W Bush or any of the current crop of Republican hopefuls doing anything like that, can you?
I may be a few days late but big congrats go out to Paul Weller and his wife Hannah. She recently gave birth to Weller’s 6th and 7th children; twins John Paul and Bowie. My assumption was that John Paul was named after Weller’s father John and the Modfather himself. However I read somewhere that John Paul is named after Lennon and McCartney. There is no need to guess who Bowie is named after is there? I do seem to recall that Weller only became a bit of a Bowie fan relatively recently, so maybe he is a bigger fan of the Dame than we perhaps thought! I wonder if John Paul and Bowie will come to call their Dad the Modfather as some of his older kids do?
