With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

Smashing Pumpkins Announce Huge Gunnersbury Park Show For August! February 10, 2025

Filed under: Gig Announcements — justwilliam1959 @ 6:42 pm
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Gunnersbury Park in west London is now established as one of the capital’s favourite outdoor venues and plays host to a series of day shows offering an eclectic mix of music genres and incredible acts in August 2025. Those already confirmed include shows with Khruangbin, The Libertines, PAWSA and Martin Garrix. Now the iconic masters of alt.rock, the Smashing Pumpkins have confirmed that they will be headlining the venue on Sunday 10th August 2025. The Smashing Pumpkins formed nearly 37 years ago in Chicago and since then they have sold in excess of 30 million albums across the world. The have also received two Grammys, seven MTA VMAs and an American Music Award.

Their back catalogue never goes out of style and includes a raft of classic albums such as their debut, the platinum ‘Gish’ (1991), the quadruple-platinum ‘Siamese Dream’ (1993), the diamond-certified ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’ (1995), the platinum ‘Adore’ (1998), and the gold ‘Machina/The Machines of God’ (2000). The band released their eleventh full-length double album ‘CYR’ (2020), creating another evolution in sound, and more recently, ‘ATUM’ (2023), the sequel to 1995’s ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’ and 2000’s ‘Machina/Machine of God’. The band’s 2024 album, ‘Aghori Mhori Mei’, written in the immediate aftermath of ‘ATUM’, sees a return to form for original members Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin, and James Iha, and reaches back through the musical tendrils of time to the band’s early canon; where guitars, bass, drums, and spiking vocals ruled. My favourite Smashing Pumpkins album is ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’. What is yours?

The support announced so far looks epic and there will be more to come. Skunk Anansie are a hugely talented British band formed in 1994. Their songs detail their experiences of living in Britain during the last thirty years. They are one hell of a spectacular live band. Not only are they back but they are giving the world new music. Current single “An Artist Is An Artist” is a wonderful slice of spiky, punky new-wave gorgeousness! The second confirmed support act is the hugely talented London band White Lies who hit the world with guitars blazing in 2009. Their first album ‘To Lose My Life’ hit the top of the UK album charts in 2009. They have now released six albums in total and continue to grow and remain one of the finest British guitar bands to emerge in this century.

TICKETS ON GENERAL SALE  FRIDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2025 AT  www.ticketmaster.co.uk  

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The Music Industry Gives Kate Nash And Most Artists And Musicians A Bum Deal! December 26, 2024

Filed under: News,Observation,Rants — justwilliam1959 @ 4:22 pm
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I began my With Just A Hint Of Mayhem journey in 2009. At that time, I had no idea about the future. I never expected that one day I may be writing about what is essentially a porn site. I am talking of OnlyFans. This site was created back in 2016. It was initially a social network. The purpose was to serve as a meeting point between fashion influencers and followers. Its creator, Tim Stokely (a Brit), initially conceived it as a premium content platform. Users paid to see the publications of their celebrity idols. It has grown into a, mostly, soft porn site. It caters to some fetishes and tends to focus where possible on celebrities. However, plenty of ordinary people seem to make money from it. It took off hugely during the COVID-19 pandemic. I can state categorically that I do not have an OnlyFans account and nor am I ever likely to. Not because I have high morals but because no one wants to see a fat old white blokes body. Recently, Lily Allen mentioned that she earns significantly more money selling pictures of her feet on OnlyFans. This income surpasses what she makes on streaming services like Spotify. Check out the screenshot below for more detail and click here to read Drowned In Sound’s’ take on the story.

Since then, Kate Nash has set up an OnlyFans account. This highlights the predicament many artists find themselves in. Nash has said this about her ‘Butts For Tour Buses’ campaign on OnlyFans. “I think it’s bit of a punk protest as a woman to take control of my body and sell it to be able to fund my passion project, which is actually my 18-year career. I want to highlight that, and I want people to talk about it, and I want people to know the truth about what what’s happening in the music business. The only way I could find to make a profit on the tour – you’re either going, hopefully I sell enough T-shirts to cover the debt, or you cut people’s wages, or you fire band and crew, or you travel dangerously. So that leaves me in a position where I’m not profiting from tours. So is this a job, or is it a passion project?” She later said that it was “an important time for women to take control and to feel empowered” The pictures of her derriere that she has posted on OnlyFans so far are revealing but a long way from being explicit. She has also said of the pictures that “I think the arse is the perfect combination of comedy and sexuality” and “I actually like bums. I think they’re just quite great. I think it’s funny. I enjoy taking pictures of my bum. Always been a bit of a flasher. So I’m going to enjoy doing it, and I’m already putting it online anyway.” She has stated that she expects to make more money from her backside than her music, particularly in the short term. Kate has called this protest “as punk as fuck” and I completely agree with her.

Is this right? no of course it isn’t. The music industry needs to wake up and stop being so fucking greedy. It shouldn’t be all about the money for entertainment corporations, but sadly it is. What happened to nurturing artists, supporting them and the grass roots music venues while you are at it! So many talented and upcoming artists are affected by shabby and arrogant treatment by the industry. Remember Little Simz’s lyric from her song ‘Angel’? “They don’t care if your mental is on the brink of somethin’ dark/ As long as you’re cuttin’ somebody’s payslip/ And sendin’ their kids to private school in a spaceship”. That was a sharp and brutal remark directed at music industry executives. Many of them know nothing about music, but they know a lot about ‘product’. What will it take for the industry to change? Sadly, it is likely to take a lot more than Lily Allen’s feet. Even Kate Nash’s arse won’t be enough to change everything, but it is a start. I hope it doesn’t happen, but I can see a distant future where new music never happens. What good will come of that? Well at least the corporations and the misogynist fat cats that ran them will no longer exist. I can’t imagine a life without music so we need to act, and act fast! What can we do? Here are a few thoughts from me, feel free to let me have your views.

• Spread the knowledge of how badly artists are treated and rewarded by streaming companies.
• Boycott artists who don’t share a part of their ticket price to organisations like the Music Venues Trust.
• Reduce your usage of streaming services. Alternatively, stop using them entirely.
• Use Bandcamp more
• Buy more artist merch and physical product.
• Support your local music scene and grass roots venues
• Never buy ridiculously overpriced tickets. Oasis and many festivals for example.
• Never use Viagogo or their dark brotherhood of ticket exchange companies
• Contact your MP and tell them to speak up for artists

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“Is it really necessary 4 me 2 go out of the room, just because u wanna undress?” March 31, 2009

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:21 pm
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Well here we are again and it’s the end of March, that’s a quarter of the year gone already, where did it go exactly? I mean you often hear people say where did the time go, but does it actually go anywhere? Answers on a postcard please or just in the blog comments, or maybe you don’t have the time, if that’s the case where did it go? I mean you often hear…….. oh bloody hell it’s not Groundhog Day is it? 😉

I was going to call this post Big Balls and Sugar Walls, read on and I’m sure you’ll guess why!

If you read yesterdays post you may recall that I spoke about some of the search stats for the blog, well don’t worry I’m not going into that much detail today! But I just had to tell you that there have been 4 searches using the phrase ‘invisible man and invisible women naked’ that have arrived at this blog. The reason they arrived here is that in a previous post I made a joke comment about the invisible man in a picture. however what interests me is why anyone would search for something like that, I mean how would you know from a picture that the invisible man or woman was naked? So if you are prepared to admit it was you who searched then let me know. Also let us know whether you actually found the picture too.

I spent the usual ridiculous amount of time trying to buy Reading Festival tickets last night. The Seetickets site was down almost from the start and the Ticketmaster site seemed to have run out of tickets in a matter of minutes. As for the telephone lines, what a waste of space! So rather than give up I tried Viagogo, official ticket exchange partner of the Reading and Leeds Festivals. Viagogo are aimed at preventing touts from scamming money off real music fans, that is a principle I totally support. However when I pay more than double the face value and also get hit with a £50 plus admin fee my support diminishes somewhat. This seems no better than touting to me. What is the answer in the longer term, probably a Glastonbury style registration system and also stop putting the tickets on sale at 19.00 on a Monday evening, what happened to 9.00? when tickets used to go on sale in the morning they were usually available throughout the day. I have been going to the Reading leg of the festival for around 20 years and have missed only one in that time, but the shambolic way the tickets are sold tells me that I could be in line for missing more in future. Well at least the line up is pretty strong. Headliners are Kings Of Leon, Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead. I was totally gobsmacked that Radiohead are appearing, I mean I love them, but they always seemed like more of a Glasto or V Festival band. As for the rumours of AC/ DC or Blink 182 headlining, well that came to nothing. But already the rumour mill for Reading 2010 is turning and suggests that two of the headliners will be Blink 182 and Green Day. If that’s correct remember where you read it first ok? 😉

Reading Festival 2009 Line Up

Reading Festival 2009 Line Up

Now on to the usual stuff, starting with a birthday. It is Angus Young off of AC/DC’s 54th birthday today. Although some sources have him as 52 or 50, this is thought to have come about following comments made to the press when he first adopted the school uniform look for gigs. Although a part of one of the biggest and best Aussie bands ever, Angus McKinnon Young was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He was just 18 when he formed AC/DC in 1973 with his brother Malcolm. They took the name from seeing those letters on the back of a sewing machine owned by their mother. Here is Angus with the rest of the AC/ DC gang with “Big Balls”

probably the only 50 something man who might seem attractive to Michael Jackson, but only if he is fooled by the school uniform!

probably the only 50 something man who might seem attractive to Michael Jackson, but only if he is fooled by the school uniform!

On this day in 1967 Jimi Hendrix began his first British tour with Cat Stevens. It was on this tour that Hendrix set fire to his guitar for the first time

No one could light farts the way Jimi could. The wind didn't cry Mary it cried fan me and flame me!

No one could light farts the way Jimi could. The wind didn't cry Mary it cried fan me and flame me!

And on this day in 1987 Prince’s – ‘Sign O’ The Times’ double album was released. The Purple One actually intended it to be a triple album but Warner Bros talked him down to a 22 track double album. I still rate this as my favourite Prince album. he even duets with Sheena Easton on “U Got The Look”. Although my favourite songs are “Starfish And Coffee” and “If I Was Your Girlfriend“. He also wrote a rather risque song for Ms Easton called “Sugar Walls”

Say what you like about Prince but he sure had big balls, well at least one anyway!

Say what you like about Prince but he sure had big balls, well at least one anyway!

And finally on this day in 1992 White Zombie’s ‘La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. One’ was released. It was their first release on a major label. The band named themselves after a Bela Lugosi film and lasted until the fabulous Rob Zombie left in 1998. In 1993 their single “Thunder Kiss ’65” was played hundreds of times on MTV. Here are White Zombie with a fantastic video and cover of KC and the Sunshine Band’s “I’m Your Boogie Man”

So they made ugly music for ugly people did they?..........

So they made ugly music for ugly people did they?..........

....... yeah she is butt ugly right? ;-)

....... yeah she is butt ugly right? 😉