With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

Hey Bill Don’t Ask Me Questions with Lost Trends June 12, 2017

Filed under: Interview — justwilliam1959 @ 11:02 pm
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I recently had the pleasure of interviewing (or throwing questions at) Pete, John, Adam and Rusty of one of York’s finest rock bands Lost Trends. Pete and Rusty over a few pints at the Duke of York pub and John and Adam outside Fibbers after the boys played a storming set in support of Billy Bibby and the Wry Smiles. Click here for that review. If you have never heard Lost Trends or seen them play live yet then you really need to rectify that soon. But in the meantime find out a bit more about the band with questions about their musical influences, favourite chocolate bar, rejected band names and which of them reckon they could take Justin Bieber in a fight.

  1. Who are your biggest musical influences?

Pete – Funky, jagged, staccato sounds especially Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead

Rusty – Punk, funky punk, Foals, Bloc Party, Radiohead

John – Bloc Party

Adam – Foals, Arctic Monkeys, Motley Crue

  1. Where does the name Lost Trends come from?

Rusty – A previous band had an Arctic Monkey’s style song called “Lost To The Trend”

Rusty & Pete – Mentioned that they had considered Swedish Jesus and the Dyslexics. But the latter would be spelt wrong!

  1. What brought you together as a band?

Rusty & Pete – They were at York College and become mates after a friend of a friend introduced them. John’s brother was the original drummer and they found Adam via GumTree

Adam – Was looking for a band on Gum Tree (so it worked then!)

John – He took his brother’s place in the band

  1. Are there any Lost Trends side projects?

A resounding NO from both Pete and Rusty

John – A cryptic who knows!

Adam – Maybe some acoustic stuff one day

  1. Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

Rusty – Radiohead’s “Let Down” but perhaps the greatest impact is from Lindisfarne’s 70s classic “Lady Eleanor”

Pete – Thought about this for a while before deciding on a song that always makes him happy and upbeat, another 70s classic “September” from Earth, Wind & Fire. At a recent wedding they made sure the DJ played it.

Adam – Chose “Stay The Same” by a band that you may know, they are called Lost Trends. He is very proud of his bass on that track. He is also really keen on some good bass sounds in a Motown, Soul environment.

John – His choice would depend on his level of intoxication

  1. What would be your first big purchase when music makes you rich and famous?

Rusty – A recording studio

Pete – A Ferrari

John – Loads of kick pedals – he has a habit of losing them

Adam – A barrel of coconut rum

  1. Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

Pete – Kurt Cobain

Rusty – Was lucky enough to walk past David Bowie at Glastonbury in 2000, he didn’t know what to do (Rusty not Bowie that is) so he nodded hello and got a nod in return

Adam – Don Broco, he would love to tour with them

John – Jimi Hendrix

  1. Which instruments do you play?

Pete – Guitar, piano and backing vocals

Rusty – Guitar, piano, drums and vocals obviously!

Adam – Power chords on a guitar

John – Didgeridoo

  1. When and why did you start playing?

Pete – Grandad was in a York band called the Modernaires. They were once played on Radio 2 after being introduced by no less than Patrick Moore. It was his Grandad who bought Pete his first guitar.

Rusty – His Dad was obsessed with music and he had a Beatles book with chords for every one of their songs. Rusty learnt to play by borrowing his Dad’s guitar and the book.

John – Started playing at school

Adam – Started playing bass at High School as there were no other bass players there

  1. What was the first tune(s) you learned?

Rusty – “Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles

Pete – No particular song, just plenty of riffs.

Adam – “She Sells Sanctuary” by The Cult

John – Can’t remember but probably something simple

  1. What are the best and worst things about the music industry today?

Both Pete and Rusty agreed that they really don’t like pay to play.

Pete – He said that nowadays reality TV has made the industry very hard to get into. There is more of a need to win a competition or to have a back story, particularly one that would tug the audience’s heart strings

Rusty doesn’t like the favouritism that many promoters and industry people show. Also the apparent lack of daring, no one wants to take a chance any more.

Adam – Worst thing is dodgy promoters who insist that you sell 30 tickets or more

John – A good thing is that there are often more opportunities at the moment

(Incidentally one thing that at least two of the band mentioned is that Simon Pattison of York is an excellent promoter!)

 What tunes are you currently grooving to?

Rusty – Anderson Paak and the Free Laterals – “Come Down”.  He also loves the new Jamiroquai album ‘’Automaton’, and is a big fan of the creative genius of Jay Kay.

Pete – A big fan of the new Bonobo album

John – Chase and Status

Adam – Sofi Tukker – “Drinkee”

  1. Best Saturday night record?

Rusty – King Curtis – “Memphis Soul Stew” or “Milk and Black Spiders” – Foals

Pete – “Move On Up” – Curtis Mayfield

John – “Upside Down” – Diana Ross

Adam – “This Girl” by the Kungs

  1. Best Sunday morning record?

Rusty – “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers. This was a particular favourite with an old housemate and would often get them properly woken up on a Sunday. Rusty is also partial to a little Ralph McTell on a Sunday morning.

Pete – “Daydream In Blue” by i Monster

Adam – “Sunday Morning” by Velvet Underground

John – Kruder & Dorfmeister

  1. What is your favourite book?

Pete – Autobiographies, Anthony Kiedis is a great one

Rusty – Tolkein, plus Luke Reinhart’s Dice Man, Kerouac’s On The Road and Atonement by Ian McEwan

Adam – Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

John – Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts

  1. What is your favourite film?

Pete – Nothing in particular

Rusty – Apocalypse Now, Raging Bull

John – Pulp Fiction

Adam – L.A. Confidential

 

  1. What is your favourite TV show?

Rusty – Twin Peaks, Breaking Bad

Pete – Game of Thrones, Red Dwarf

Adam – Residue (Netflix)

John – Better Call Saul

  1. What is your favourite chocolate bar?

Pete – Boost

Rusty – Double Decker – he is a fan of the girth!

John – Another vote for the mighty Boost bar

Adam – Wispa Gold

  1. What is your favourite board game?

Rusty – Pictionary, Cards Against Humanity

Pete – Monopoly – and yes like everyone he cheats!

John – Risk

Adam – Another vote for Monopoly, no admission of cheating from John though

  1. What is your favourite place in York?

Pete – Mansion House, down Stonegate towards the Minster

Rusty – Back of the railway station near the Iron Bridge out towards Acomb. It is the contrast between old and new that he loves.

Adam – Museum Gardens

John – York Dungeon

  1. Could you beat Justin Bieber in a fight?

Pete – Definitely

Rusty – Definitely

John – No

Adam – It would be a close one which Adam might lose on points

  1. What do you sing in the shower?

Rusty – Falsetto stuff, maybe Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”

Pete – Doesn’t sing in the shower, he thinks!

John – Pretty much anything by Diana Ross

Adam – “Bad and Boujee” by Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert

  1. Who is your favourite super hero?

Rusty – Spiderman

Pete – Batman

Adam – Gambit from X Men

John – The pink Power Ranger

  1. Who is your non-musical hero?

Pete – F1 legend Ayrton Senna

Rusty – Marlon Brando, the man who changed cinema

John – Adam!

Adam – Not John, but Jeremy Corbyn

  1. What band names did you reject?

Lucas AIDS

  1. What was the first single you owned?

Rusty – “Bad” by Michael Jackson

Pete – “The Locomotion” by Kylie Minogue. The first video that he owned was Wacko’s Moonwalker

John – “Ooh Ah Just A Little Bit” by Gina G

Adam – “Here To Stay” by Korn

  1. What was the first album you bought?

John – Virtual Insanity – Jamiroquai

Adam – Dandy Warhols – 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia (because Bohemian Like You was on it)

Pete & Rusty – Bad – Michael Jackson

  1. Who is the richest – Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark?

Pete, John and Rusty – Tony Stark, he sells weapons and Bruce Wayne gives too much to charity.

Adam – Bruce Wayne

  1. Use three words to describe yourself.

Pete – Unsure, confident, contradicting

Rusty – Bright, angry, sexy

Adam – Very very lovely

John – Can Bang Drums

  1. What is your favourite website?

Rusty – Daily Mash

Pete – Digital Spy

John – BBC Sports

Adam – YouTube

  1. Tell me a joke.

Pete – No idea of a good one that I remember

Rusty – What is the difference between a large blue whale and a small white whale? Size and colour. J

Adam – An English man, an Irish man and a Scots man walk into a bar. The barman says is this some kind of joke?

John – (You need to read this one out loud) An English cat called One two Three and a French cat called Une Deux Trois decide to have a swimming race across the English Channel. One Two Three won because Une Deux Trois Quatre Cinq …. Cat sank……geddit?

 

 

“She wears them micro mini dresses, hair hanging down her back” March 21, 2009

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 11:47 am
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It’s Saturday 21st March and I’m back with even more delightful crap for you today. But before that here is some of the recent music news. Leon Jackson winner of X Factor 2007 has been dropped by his record label after just one album. Now I wonder if it’s down to the ‘Credit Crunch’ or simply because he’s crap. I bet you can’t guess which one I think it is! So I suppose he’ll be working in McDonalds with Gareth Gates before long. The Arctic Monkeys have put some new material on YouTube, including a cover of Lady GaGa’s “Poker Face” Click here for an update from their current rehearsals. And in a final piece of news Justin Timberlake is launching his own brand Tequila called 901. Not a very imaginative name is it? How about “I’m bringing Tequila Back”? or “Cry Me A Bottle” Anyway I suppose that it is a true AlcoPOP drink!

Leon Jackson

Let’s kick off with a few birthdays. Firstly Ray Dorset off of Mungo Jerry is 63 today. The band took their name from a poem in T.S Eliot’s ‘Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats’. The poem is called ‘mungojerrie and rumpelteazer’ The band are still around today with Mr Dorset being the ever present original member. To most people these days the band are probably sen as one hit wonders following the success of “In The Summertime” which went to number one in more than 20 countries in 1970. They reached the UK top 20 six times in the early 70’s and in addition to “In The Summertime” they also hit the top with “Baby Jump“. A Ray Dorset song reached number 1 in the UK in 1980, it was “Feels Like I’m In Love” by Kellie Marie. Dorset originally wrote the song for Elvis Presley although he never recorded it.

ray' dastardly plan to take over the world with his sideburns was in its early stages

ray' dastardly plan to take over the world with his sideburns was in its early stages

Meanwhile Russel Thompkins Jr off of the Stylistics is 58 today. Russell was the falsetto voiced lead singer until he left the group in 2000. Their biggest UK hit was “I Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love)” which was produced by the late great (here they come again those ‘ole l’s & g’s) Van McCoy. Most of their earlier hits were produced by the equally talented Thom Bell and often co written with Linda Creed. Although they never appeared on the famous Philadelpia International record label the group hailed from the city and were one of the most talented proponents of the soft sound of Philly Soul. Some might say that nowadays their biggest hits come across as somewhat cheesy, does that make them Philadelphia Cheese?

Meet Austin Powers' style advisory team

Meet Austin Powers' style advisory team

The new lead singer of the Stylistics was very happy with the groups new, more cheesy direction! Well if Isaac Hayes can do Hot Buttered Soul then why not?

The new lead singer of the Stylistics was very happy with the groups new, more cheesy direction! Well if Isaac Hayes can do Hot Buttered Soul then why not?

And finally for the birthdays Deryck “Bizzy D” Whibley off of Sum 41 is todays young whippersnapper at just 29. Sum 41 come from a rather clean sounding town in Ontario, Canada. It’s name is Ajax! Although Whibley was actually born in Scarborough, Ontario. On July 16 2006 he married Canadian Punk Popstrel Avril Lavigne. Deryck has been guest guitarist on releases from Tommy Lee off of Motley Crue and also the legendary Iggy Pop. Sum 41’s download only single ‘March Of The Dogs” stirred up enough controversy among supporters of Dubya that Whibley was allegedly facing deportation from the US back to Canada. This came about because the opening couplet in the song was “Ladies and gentlemen of the underclass/The president of the United States of America is dead” Whatever happened to freedom of speech? Watch out for a new Sum 41 album later this year. In the meantime here are Sum 41 with “Fat Lip”

Avril preferred hobbits

Avril preferred hobbits

On this day in 2001 Eminem was ordered $476,000 as part of his divorce agreement with his wife Kimberly ‘Kim’ Anne Scott. Also as part of the agreement Eminem would keep the US Mansion and the couple would share custody of their daughter Hailie Jade. The couple married for a second time in 2006 but were divorced again around three months later. Here is Em with his current single “Crack A Bottle” which also features 50 Cent and G Unit.

Mr Mathers gives us a comment on his divorce settlement

Mr Mathers gives us a comment on his divorce settlement

And finally on this day in 2001 Michael Jackson’s Interior Designer was interviewed by the Times newspaper and claimed that Jacko kept 17 life size dolls, of both adult and child sizes in his bedroom for…….. errrrrrrr……….company!!!!!! What’s that all about then?

It was strange how all the dolls appeared to look like Jacko too and how much easier would it be to perform plastic surgery on something made from plastic!

It was strange how all the dolls appeared to look like Jacko too and how much easier would it be to perform plastic surgery on something made from plastic!

 

“did you see the suits and the platform boots?” March 1, 2009

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 8:34 am
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m back again and it’s a brand new month, time Marches on doesn’t it? Anyway there have been some excellent comments in response to the current banking farce and also about the Chris Allen naked story, we still don’t know who he/ she is although Tom has owned up to searching for naked pictures of the elusive Chris. No one has found us yet via the Lily Allen naked route though, I’m beginning to think that’s a good thing.

I have also received a couple of e mails relating to my comments about that splendid airline company Ryanair who as you know offer some very cheap headline fares and then charge for everything else on top. The UK press today says they are floating an idea to put coin op slots on the aircraft toilets. You’ll need to spend a pound to ‘spend a penny’. On a similar note I reckon you’ll love the link sent to us by Nick H, just click on Ryanair. Maybe it’s actually true!

The new cheaper Ryanair fleet had just been delivered

The new cheaper Ryanair fleet had just been delivered

Larry sent this one to the Dead Zone Yahoo Group, which is where I borrowed it from. It’s an excellent link to a site showing Billy Idol’s “White Wedding” video but doctored so that it has him singing about what is actually in the video. Trust me this one is very funny!

Billy held out his arms ready to fly, he figured it would be so much cheaper than Ryanair

Billy held out his arms ready to fly, he figured it would be so much cheaper than Ryanair

Feel free to send me things that you think the other readers may enjoy, mostly music related but hey there’ll always be the occasional rant about things like Banking and Ryanair 🙂

So onto todays ton of trivia, well maybe not a ton, but quite a lot! Starting with a couple of birthdays. Firstly 1st March 2009 is Roger Daltrey’s 65th birthday. Does that mean he’ll be getting a “Magic Bus” pass? Roger is one of the two surviving members of the Who along with Pete Townshend. In 1972 Roger took the starring role in a fully orchestrated version of the Who’s “Tommy” at the Rainbow Theatre in London. According to Pete Townshend, who was in the audience, this was the moment when he realised just how good Daltrey was. He spent the next few years worried that Daltrey would leave the band, thankfully for us that didn’t happen. In 1973 Daltrey released his first solo album called, very imaginatively, ‘Daltrey’. Most (or maybe all) the songs for it were written by none other than Leo Sayer with his co writer Dave Courtney. Leo went on to record some of the songs for his own albums in the future, notably “One Man Band”. My favourite track from that album and yes it’s also one of the 50 songs in my top 10, was “Giving It All Away” This clip is from a 1973 edition of the Beebs excellent “Old Grey Whistle Test” it also features Russ Ballard from Argent on guitar.

The front row at this gig soon became aware just how many baked beans Roger had eaten before the show

The front row at this gig soon became aware just how many baked beans Roger had eaten before the show

Today is also the 36th birthday of Ryan Peake guitarist with the band Nickleback. For some strange reason my mate Dave always calls them Stickleback, but then his better half calls him Nobby, so perhaps we shouldn’t go there eh? Nickleback got their name from something Mike Kroeger, also a band member, used to say every day when he worked at Starbucks. After a sale if a customer paid cash he often asked “would you like your Nickel back?” I presume that if Gareth Gates formed a band now it might be called ‘Doyouwantfrieswiththat’ what do you think? Anyway here are the Nickleback boys with “How You Remind Me”

The band much preferred fans to wave their phones and not their flame throwers during the slow songs

The band much preferred fans to wave their phones and not their flame throwers during the slow songs

On this day in 1970 Mott the Hoople appeared at the Northcote Arms in Middlesex (I think I’ve had a pint or two in there in my much younger days) They were supported by none other than Genesis in the days before they had a singing drummer! Mott have reformed for a London gig later this year are any of you guys going? If you ever read Rock books you must read Ian Hunter’s ‘Diary Of A Rock n Roll Star’ Ian was Mott’s front man and the book is about the bands early 70s days touring in the US. It is truly an excellent book. In 1972 after a show in Zurich the band decided to split up. After hearing this news one of their biggest fans, none other than David Bowie (another Bowie reference at last!) offered them one of his new songs to persuade them to carry on. The band rejected “Suffragette City” but went on to record “All The Young Dudes”. The rest as they say is history. Here’s one for you fact fans, Mick Jones of the Clash was also a big fan of Mott too. My favourite Mott the Hoople song is “Saturday Gigs” which is about the band’s history and also features the late great (another l & g comeback) Mick Ronson who was a member of the band for just a short while in the mid 70s

It was clear that Ian Hunter had the Austin Powers look even before Austin existed

It was clear that Ian Hunter had the Austin Powers look even before Austin existed

On this day in 1977 Iggy Pop appeared at Friars in Aylesbury and his keyboard player was none other than David Bowie. (Whaddya know, no Bowie references for a while and then two arrive at once, a bit like Mr Daltrey’s Magic Bus perhaps?) Iggy with Ziggy now that’s cool! The support band that night was the Vibrators. I wonder if they’ve changed their name and now tour as the ‘Rampant Rabbits’? 😉 Well if the Stones Roses (see yesterdays post) considered ‘Angry Young Teddy Bears’ as a name it’s not beyond the realms of possibility is it? Anyway let’s get back to the Igster, if you haven’t heard his original version of “China Girl” click the title to check it out, it really does blow Bowie’s version away!

Iggy had to sell his shirts to pay for his RyanAir extras

Iggy had to sell his shirts to pay for his RyanAir extras

And finally I’ve included this as I used the word motley the other day and didn’t mention the crue at all. On this day in 1997 a Motley Crue fan who claimed his hearing had been irreparably damaged after a show in New Jersey had his lawsuit thrown out of court. The judge told Clifford Goldberg (aka Chris Allen? Well you never know!) ,who was sat near the front of the stage that he knew what risk he was taking. Presumably Clifford said “Wot?” In the meantime here are the boys with “Smoking In The Boys Room” Is that headmaster scary or what? “Wot?” oh shut up Clifford I’m not talking to you!

The boys had looked forward to Halloween all year long. "Wot?" said Clifford

The boys had looked forward to Halloween all year long. "Wot?" said Clifford