Last Sunday I began to see the news trickle out that Geordie Walker, the guitarist of genre-unto-themselves Killing Joke had tragically died of a stroke in his home of Prague. We now know that he had the stroke two days prior, but he has been the thread of continuity along with lead singer/madman Jaz Coleman, with the band’s rhythm section being more fluid over its 40+ year history.
How I wish I’d first heard the band in 1980, when they were the hardest sound ever happening on the usually ambient and effete E’G Records label. I did recall hearing the band’s sound; singular at the time, being referred to as “Punk Funk” in the music press I managed to see at the time. Like many an American, my first sampling of Killing Joke was down to the airing of the video for “Eighties” on MTV starting in 1984.
Against a sea of Bruce Springsteen, Journey, and hair metal erupting like a musical pimple at the time, one certainly stood up and took notice of “Eighties.” The fiery intensity of Coleman’s lyrics and delivery contrasted mightily with the brutal elegance that Walker brought to his guitar tone. His weapon of choice a hollow-body Gibson that was put to great use in the least likely setting for it. Swooping down through the songs like a pitiless kestrel ready to shred its prey to ribbons.
By the time of their next album, “Brighter Than A Thousand Suns,” I was ready to take the bait. Darkly hued melancholic songs like “Sanity” got plenty of videoplay on MTVs nascent 120 Minutes College-Rock Ghetto, and made me a believer, but when I finally got the CD, I was entranced by the deep cuts which were even better. The band at that point were elegant and propulsive; having their way with the “Big Music” of the mid-80s period. Where they managed to shine the brightest was with the confrontational and questioning point of view that Coleman brought to the songs. If the songs approached grandiosity, they still had bite and meaning.
In 1985, MTV brought British live music series “The Tube” to American eyes and I was treated to the appearance of Killing Joke playing their new single “Kings + Queens” and the impact was visceral for me! The band’s live sound was bleeding edge and incredibly loud, even when television tries its best to restrain and tamp down such antics. Though I rail against Google and YouTube as being enterprises diametrically opposed to the values of Killing Joke itself, I am going off policy to embed the clip here for any who have not seen and heard it. Revel in the ragged power it manifests.
You know me, YouTube = SATAN, but if you’ve never seen this… I had to embed it!
Over the next year or two, I had bought most of the band’s earlier albums on the silver disc. I remember seeing “Outside The Gate” appear in 1988 and I didn’t hesitate to pick it up. The album only had Walker and Coleman on it and the years have revealed that it was intended as a Coleman solo album shoehorned into the Killing Joke brand for commercial reasons. I can recall that it was April of 1989 when the band were going to appear at Visage, the A-list night club that booked the rare concerts I wanted to see in Orlando at the time. I went there with chasinvictoria and a mutual friend and we regarded with raised eyebrows the lit brazier onstage with the band! Those sorts of pyro effects will never happen in a rock club again!
But the staging wasn’t the half of it. While I had been anticipating a tour behind the recently released “Outside The Gate,” what was delivered instead was a set showcasing the new material the band were writing concurrently which would not see tape for another year. When it appeared as “Extremities, Dirt, And Various Repressed Emotions!” We were simply unprepared for the brain-melting intensity of that show, which was so loud I heard about it from chasinvictoria for decades later.
When that album appeared, it was my favorite album of 1990 as I was more than ready for its tightly channeled torrents of righteous ferocity. The heavy synths that the band had investigated by the mid-80s were duly banished for the most part and the power of Walker’s approach was set front and center as the rhythm section were his tireless engine room. In 1989, I’ll admit to having been blind-sided by the bulk of the unknown and scorchingly intense material. If ever there was a time machine to re-attend a concert, this one would be at the front of the queue. After I came to hear and love the recorded album, it still occupies the position of my favorite Killing Joke album in their canon that I’ve heard.
This hype sticker accompanied the DLX ED of their last album, “Pylon.” Says it all, really.
This hype sticker accompanied the DLX ED of their last album, “Pylon.” Says it all, really.
This hype sticker accompanied the DLX ED of their last album, “Pylon.” Says it all, really.
I also bought the follow up in 1994,”Pandemonium.” Which saw original bassist Youth rejoining the group and hybridizing the band’s heavy intense approach with some of the ravetrance factor that Youth had been swimming in and defining around the turn of the decade. It even appeared on the Big Life niche dance label. When the follow up album “Democracy” appeared a scant two years later, my head was in a radically different space as I was getting married and at that point went out of synch with Killing Joke.
After the appearance of “Democracy” [that sounds like an oxymoron, actually] the band seemed to go “off grid” for a number of years. Only appearing again in 2003 with the second eponymous “Killing Joke” album, Notable for the appearance of Dave Grohl on the band’s drum stool. A highly ironic event considering that Killing Joke famously sued Nirvana at the height of their pomp for using the “Eighties” central hook of Walker’s as the basis for “Come As You Are.” The last two decades have seen that album go out of print and start to command high prices in the aftermarket before its reissue last year.
Since that time, the band have been in the studio an additional four times, but there have been ceaseless tours and innumerable live albums as we have now. Given how intrinsic that Geordie Walker was to the entire Killing Joke saga, it’s difficult to imagine the band continuing with a pickup guitarist and moving on with a shrug. But I’ve been terribly wrong about this feeling before with many other bands. The world needs the bitter medicine that Jaz Coleman would bring to any solo work, but whether Killing Joke can be said to exist without the potent guitar of Walker is debatable at best. Our condolences to his family, bandmates, and friends during this time of loss.
The last post about Derek Forbes’ autobiography touched on the connections between Australia’s Icehouse and Scotland’s Simple Minds as both bands had significant history dating back to their teaming up in 1981 for tours of Oz and the UK in each other’s company. But that’s last week’s news! On Friday the call came from Mr. Ware that the inevitable has happened: Icehouse and Simple Minds have teamed up on a new single together as Simple Minds are once more touring with Icehouse in the Antipodes in a few months.
Icehouse are no strangers to cover versions as the band began its life as “New Wave Jukebox” band Flowers where the Roxy/Bowie/T-Rex roots of the band were the foundation of what came afterward as Iva Davies began writing original music to move up a few levels. When the band signed to Chrysalis worldwide in 1981, they re-branded as Icehouse and they’ve been known by that moniker ever since.
Icehouse furthermore have a history of cover versions to grace the occasional B-side as well as one of my all-time favorite cover albums ever with their 1995 studio album, “The Berlin Tapes.” On it, the band managed to indelibly re-define some classics as well as cover a Simple Minds song in “Let There Be Love.”
Simple Minds have also not shied away from cover versions after many years where they didn’t release them. Once they recorded “Street Hassle,” the gloves were off. They had recorded two cover albums [“Neon Lights” – 2002, “Searching For The Lost Boys” – 2009] a few years after Icehouse did, and both bands covered The Human League’s “Being Boiled” on their own! Making it only a matter of time before they linked up to pay homage to the mutual influence of Marc Bolan on a new version of “Get It On.”
The ball started out in the Icehouse court as Iva Davies carried the meaty boogie guitar riffs that were the song’s calling card. Iva carries the first verse but both bands were all in on the chorus. Jim Kerr stepped up for the second verse as punctuated by a screaming Hammond organ patch. While I have little doubt that the lead guitar on the track was in Davies’ hands, right before the third verse came a lick perpendicular to the topline melody that was the calling card of Charlie Burchill; stepping back in time 42 years to replicate his modus operandi as it was in 1981. To add complexity to the song with a left-field countermelody that heightened the tension. That he was doing it in a song that was all about The Boogie was nothing short of miraculous.
In the last couplet of the third verse with Iva Davies, Simple Minds’ Sarah Brown joined in with her backing vocals an octave higher for a bit of ear candy that I cannot resist. Leading into the sax break and a further example of Charlie slashing into the song from an oblique angle as only he could do in the middle eight.
Sarah Brown joined Jim Kerr in the fourth verse; also at a split octave in the last couplet. After which the song climaxed with Iva, Jim, and Sarah trading off on the repeat chorus with Ms. Brown taking on [dare I say] a Merry Clayton aspect that I was more than down with. Until the guitar and sax doubled on the final, crunch chord riff that put the skidmarks into the song.
Both bands have a penchant for cover versions, but the disparity in execution could be quite profound. Icehouse have managed to re-define what were classic songs like “All Tomorrow’s Parties” in definitive performances that managed to leave artists like Bryan Ferry and David Sylvian in the dust. That’s how successful Davies has been in covering a song. Meanwhile, Simple Minds can make us break into a cold sweat at the notion of a cover version. Usually stumbling while never quite stealing away Duran Duran’s loving cup for worst ever cover artist.
Fortunately for our ears, both bands here navigated the centerline between such poles. No one has to rewire “Get it On” after the memory of what The Power Station did to it in 1985 still lingers to sting the inquisitive mind. Making this new cover neither triumph nor embarrassment. It gets to coast by on exactly what it was; a bit of fun for old friends ready to re-acquaint themselves with where they were at 40+ years later prior to an upcoming tour together. A tour with at least one sure-fire encore ready to go.
SIMPLE MINDS/ICEHOUSE | RED HOT SUMMER TOUR | OZ 2024
Feb. 10 | Mornington Racecourse | Mornington AUS | SOLD OUT Feb. 11 | Rochford Wines | Yarra Valley, AUS Feb. 17 | Sandstone Poin | Bribie Island QLD AUS | SOLD OUT Feb. 21 | Kings Park & Botanic Garden | Perth, AUS
The Feb. 10 and 17th dates are sold out but the Yarra Valley and Perth dates still have tickets for any fans in Oz of what should be a great pairing of two of PPM’s favorite rock bands ever. The single is streaming at all the usuals or you can still buy a DL at iTunes if you’re an inveterate curmudgeon like we are.
McNidder & Grace | UK | hardcover | 272 pp. | 2023 | ISBN 0857162624
McNidder & Grace | UK | hardcover | 272 pp. | 2023 | ISBN 0857162624
McNidder & Grace | UK | hardcover | 272 pp. | 2023 | ISBN 0857162624
If we have learned anything in the 42 years of listening, often compulsively, to Simple Minds, it’s the fact that the band’s most compelling music was usually down to the sinuous and trance-inducing bass lines of Derek Forbes. I first heard Simple Minds with the single “Sweat In Bullet,” and the fretless bass playing on that was a clarion call to make sure my eyes and ears were clapped on Mr. Forbes, since whatever he was doing in the song was of paramount importance. The only other bassist I could point to of comparable skill and vision was William “Bootsy” Collins.
This was also a point of view shared by Peter Walsh; producer of the band’s epochal “New Gold Dream [81, 82, 83, 84]” album. In his forward to this book, Mr. Walsh exclaimed that when he heard Simple Minds, he perceived the entity that could unite Bowie/Roxy/Gabriel Art Rock leanings with the Funk and R+B he shared passions for within a singular band. That was absolutely down to the world-conquering bass lines that Forbes crafted as the foundation of the endlessly compelling material.
I loved Simple Minds from the very first, and over time, my ardor has grown to consider the band’s albums from 1979 to 1984 the finest musical arc of development of any artist I can name. Even the masters that influenced Simple Minds, were mortal and slipped, but the astonishing thing that their imperial period of albums showed was that it was possible for the acolytes to surpass the masters who inspired them without stumbling.
THE END WAS THE BEGINNING
The point at which Simple Minds finally showed their fallibility to these ears, was in 1984 following the heady blur of the “Sparkle In The Rain” Tour Le Monde and the decision to cut Forbes loose from the band. Forbes was friends with John Giblin and by the end of the tour in October of 1984, the Minds were in John’s studio in Barwell Court writing material for the next album. Knocking songs like “Oh Jungleland,” “All The Things She Said,” Ghost Dancing,” “Sanctify Yourself,” “Come A Long Way,” and “Once Upon A Time” into shape. The year had been a rush of gigs and revelry; with Forbes having a drunken argument with his girlfriend and crashing his car. This got in the press, who were all too happy to publish topless shots of his girlfriend, because that’s just how they roll on Fleet Street.
It was determined by then that Forbes was a bigger liability than asset to the band. The feeling was that he was not giving his all to the group effort. Spending too much time with his girlfriend. Jim Kerr had previously told him that they would not lead with the bass for this new batch of material being worked on. Forbes was called in to a meeting with Jim Kerr on the phone with band and management there and fired. Kerr had offered Giblin the position and he cleared it with his friend Derek before accepting. Forbes was stunned by the blow and gave Giblin the torch with his blessings and wondered what his next move would be.
EARLY ADVENTURES
Like many, Forbes spent his youth obsessing with football and not really getting into playing guitar until his teens. He was a guitarist by the late 70s, but when he got into the Scottish Punk band Subs, he was asked to play bass instead. They managed one single for Stiff Records in 1978 before disbanding. It was at that time that Jim Kerr popped the question to Forbes after his audition for The Rezillos got a thumb up from Jo Callis but naysays from Fay Fife and Eugene Reynolds.
1st SM lineup with Forbes, L-r: Jim Kerr, Mick MacNeil, Derek Forbes, Charlie Burchill, Brian McGee, Duncan Banwell [from Dream Giver]
1st SM lineup with Forbes, L-r: Jim Kerr, Mick MacNeil, Derek Forbes, Charlie Burchill, Brian McGee, Duncan Banwell [from Dream Giver]
1st SM lineup with Forbes, L-r: Jim Kerr, Mick MacNeil, Derek Forbes, Charlie Burchill, Brian McGee, Duncan Banwell [from Dream Giver]
The Simple Minds lineup was now Jim Kerr [vocals], Brian McGee [drums], Charlie Burchill [guitar, violin], Mick MacNeil [keys], Derek Forbes [bass], and Duncan Barnwell [guitar]. Their first gig as Simple Minds at Glasgow’s Mars Bar in 1978 had the band roaring out of the starting blocks with “Act Of Love.” That was the point where Bruce Findlay was exposed to the group and simply had to manage this band. Opening slots for luminaries like Squeeze and Ultravox had Forbes forming a friendship with the latter’s Billy Currie early on.
Arista A&R came with a signing offer contingent upon losing Barnwell; then deemed an incompatible fit with the rest of the band. Forbes cited the “Jim and Charlie Show” and how it fell to them to make the decision. His friend Barnwell then claimed that Jim and Charlie revealed to him they would sack Forbes once they made it. While the early songs were written by Kerr and Burchill, once they had MacNeil and Forbes on board, this would be changing.
EARLY WAXING
The Simple Minds debut album “Life In A Day,” was recorded with the Rolling Stones mobile, whose driver, Pete Stevens, had started making the coveted Wal basses that Forbes bought both fretted and fretless models of. Their first tv appearance on The Old Gray Whistle Test preceded a tour opening for the esteemed Magazine on their “Secondhand Daylight” tour. At The Apollo Manchester the backstage area was far more plush than most environs.
Shirley Bassey had played there, and anywhere she played she would have the dressing room decorated to her taste. The carpet was so thick Charlie nearly got lost in it and we had to throw a rope down to get him out.
Derek Forbes on The Manchester Apollo Dressing Rooms
The group had their famous rethink before recording their transformative “Real To Real Cacophony” album of 1979 and their first European tour happened, which would pay huge artistic dividends soon enough. There was also a trip to NYC to play at the club Hurrah for The Old Grey Whistle Test. This event was duly enshrined on film and used for the “Changeling” live B-side. The band were thrilled to see the likes of Iggy Pop and Blondie in the audience. Rusty Egan had picked up the “Changeling” single and had added it to his influential playlist, but at Arista Records the band’s relationship was deteriorating. The band and management had a dust up over a meal to see if they could come to grips with their differences but even as each member of Simple Minds laid blame at various components of the Arista team, it was apparent that it would end soon. The band even considered the “nuclear option” of a breakup to exit their contact!
The European tour experiences had fed in the strongest way possible with their third album, “Empires + Dance.” Handclaps on “I Travel” were recorded by the entire band with their girlfriends slapping the table tennis playing field. Forbes was thinking far outside the box; forming letters on his fretboard as the basis of his nimble and unique bass lines. “Thirty Frames A Second” was a “Y.” “Twist/Run/Repulsion” was a run of the letter “X!” The band were invited to be the guests for hero Peter Gabriel’s 1980 tour to their astonishment. I can hardly imagine a more compelling pairing than Gabriel with Simple Minds opening on the former’s 1980 European tour! The Frankfurt gig went well but John Giblin of Gabriel’s band was stuck in traffic and Gabriel conscripted Forbes to fill in with a hasty Walkman session before Giblin arrived at the last minute.
GAINING VIRGINITY
Early 1981 found the band courted by Virgin Records thanks to the enthusiasm of A+R man Ross Stapleton. Virgin bought them out of the Arista contact and the band entered a productive phase that saw them finally achieving chart action in various worldwide markets. The first of which being Australia where Stapleton hailed from and knew the market well.
Steve Hillage + Derek Forbes ca. 1981
Producer Steve Hillage was kept very busy with the productive album sessions; so much so that he was hospitalized for a suspected heart attack which was merely stress related. Drummer Brian McGee finished the sessions and his time in the band as he didn’t like the time apart from his family. Meanwhile the album had grown into two albums. “Sons + Fascination” and “Sister Feelings Call” would mark a period of expansive growth as the band managed to unite Krautrock, Art Rock, and Funk [as noted up front by Peter Walsh] into a riveting hybrid cocktail of their own making. The first single, “The American,” made inroads to the UK charts for the first time.
By August of 1981, new drummer Kenny Hyslop (ex-Slik) joined up for the tour. The band hit Australia for a tour where the bill was Divinyls, Simple Minds, and Icehouse as A+R man Stapleton sagely teamed them with the locally ascendant and stylistically congruent Antipodean band. The tour helped to deliver Simple Minds with their first top ten placing as following on from the lead of “The American,” “Love Song” charted high in Oz.
Late 1981 Minds, L-R: Mick MacNeil, Derek Forbes, Kenny Hyslop, Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill [pic: Dream Giver]
Kenny Hyslop wasn’t fated to be their drummer for long but his primary legacy was taping NYC radio stations and capturing a horn riff from a Funk track that became the hook for “Promised You A Miracle; the band’s entrée into the British top ten charts and the euphoric calling card for their next album. Meanwhile, Sweden capitulated to the band’s charms with a gold album for “Sons + Fascination.”
Hyslop never gelled with the band and was replaced with Mike Ogletree (ex-Cafe Jacques) as the “New Gold Dream [81, 82, 82, 84]” writing sessions had begun in Edinburgh. What I wouldn’t give for a peek at a video Forbes and Kerr made of “Vienna” with the former in Midge Ure drag while the latter looked “every inch the doppelgänger of Ultravox’s Billy Currie.” By summer of ‘82 the time for hi jinx was over as the recording sessions for the new album were under way.
THE DREAM MADE FLESH
Producer Walsh was unconvinced by the percussive touch of Ogletree so he roped in a favorite drummer; Mel Gaynor, for more power. Mel and Mike performed as a trio with the drum machine on the epic title track; still one of the band’s acmes. But Mike would be shown the door, leaving Gaynor on the stool. The release of “New Gold Dream [81, 82, 83, 84]” found the band finally fulfilling the enormous promise of their music with solid sales and popularity. Marking a lock on the UK album charts that the band would ride for a solid decade. Cementing their reputation and place in UK rock.
By the time of the Summer of 1983 Euro tour the band had added Lou Reed’s “Street Hassle” to their festival set with an eye on recording it for their next album. A mooted US tour with The Police never happened; leaving the band to split up and write for the next album. Forbes had just procured an amp with a digital delay that could loop 1.5 seconds of sound. From two notes on his Wal bass overlaid with slap bass and harmonics came the juggernaut that was “Waterfront.”
The day before the Phoenix Park Festival in Dublin, Forbes let the nascent “Waterfront” out of the bag and soon afterward the rest of the band added their sauce and by the next day their festival conquering ace in the hole was ready to spread like wildfire; first on festival stages, and then on the world’s charts.
The album had Steve Lillywhite behind the desk and was a radical shift from the gossamer vibe of “New Gold Dream [81, 82, 83, 84].” Never as much as on my long-standing favorite from the album, “The Kick Inside Of Me.” On that furious gem, Forbes was slapping his bass so violently that he cut his thumb open; straying blood all over the place, but never stopping until the track was in the can. And we can hear every drop in the intensity of the track.
APRÉS MINDS
The “Sparkle In The Rain” tour followed and soon after recording “Don’t You [Forget About Me],” Forbes was on the outside of the Simple Minds mothership looking in. He retreated to his farm, ultimately hooking up with his pals, including Billy Currie, which led to him playing on the track “India” on Currie’s first solo album. It’s regretful he didn’t play on every track since “India” was the best track by far on an admittedly great album.
Forbes and McGee joined Propaganda for their first tour and beyond
Forbes and McGee joined Propaganda for their first tour and beyond
Forbes and McGee joined Propaganda for their first tour and beyond
Forbes had an offer to play on a Frida Lyngstad album but before he could say “yes,” his old Simple minds press agent, Keith Bourton, was also managing a fine stable of bands including Propaganda. With the added incentive of Steve Jansen as their rhythm section for a two week tour. Quoth Forbes, “wow, thought I, he’s great!” What began with the “Value Of Entertainment” shows at the Ambassador Theater ended up lasting for a seven year run with the band. Eventually re-linking with Brian McGee on drums after Jansen left to form The Dolphin Brothers.
During Propaganda’s layoff as they extricated themselves from their ZTT contract, Forbes would still socialize with Charlie Burchill and even the full band. It was during one of his larks with Charlie that he met Wendy Kemp, who would become his wife soon afterward. Indeed, his proposal happened only a week after meeting her!
RETURN TO SIMPLE MINDS – YEA AND NAY
After his family, including his son, Kai, had stabilized, Forbes was invited to Bonnie Wee Studios in late 1988 to hear the songs which would become “Street Fighting Years” and was given an invitation to return to playing and writing with Simple Minds at a generous wage, but the songs didn’t convince and he wisely [for my ears] demurred. Forbes bass would have no place in the gaseous events which were the songs of “Street Fighting Years.” Next to that offer, staying with his year old son was far more compelling.
“My one desire at that time was to be back in the band touring, writing, and playing, but the songs I was hearing left me cold. I just didn’t like them.
Derek Forbes on “Street Fighting Years” and his job offer
In late ‘94 Propaganda decided that their touring days were over so with his friend McGee given his walking papers, Forbes left as well; ending that chapter in his CV. Afterward Simple Minds came calling again and that time, Forbes signed on for the “Néapolis” album, but only as a session player. When Forbes said if he wrote a bass line then that’s co-written, he was informed that “we don’t work like that anymore.” Brian McGee also got the call but wasn’t used. Jim and Charlie also reached out to Mel Gaynor who drummed on “War Babies” and played with Forbes and the band on the tour. Including a few European dates opening for The Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge world tour in Torhour and Werchter. The final date in Fourvièr, Lyon stands as the last time Derek Forbes has played bass live for Simple Minds. He did manage add some vibe to the “Black and White 050505” album, uncredited. As one listen to “Stay Visible” clearly revealed.
Derek Forbes today: looking back without anger
Derek Forbes today: looking back without anger
Derek Forbes today: looking back without anger
The book ended on that note with a scant coda barely mentioning a few of the other gigs that Forbes had occupied his time with over the last quarter century. Such as his talk show on Los Angeles radio, “May The Forbes Be With You.” Or his stints in Big Country, The Alarm, the Zanti album, or his current Derek Forbes + The Dark. Has it really been that long since “Néapolis?” That album was an intriguing example of the band trying to tap into the trance vibe that looked back to the group’s first classic era encompassing “Real To Real Cacophony” to “Sister Feelings Call.” That it didn’t connect in quite the same fashion or with the same level of success might be put down to the fact that the “Jim And Charlie Show” were firmly in control.
Their sole album for Chrysalis Records was deemed a flop and that seemed to really rattle the band; kicking off a fallow period for the group that saw them wondering aloud if they still had it in them. That Simple Minds Tours Ltd. preferred to keep Forbes as an employee rather than cutting him a slice of the pie as a writer spoke of the values at work there. I have to look back on that period as a missed opportunity for Simple Minds that only paid some of the potential dividends we could have luxuriated in.
While this book was heavy on the touring hi jinx [in fairness, it is titled “A Very Simple Mind On Tour”] and lighter on the creative nuts and bolts I had been hoping for, one aspect where it surpassed expectations was in providing an unfettered voice of Forbes throughout its pages. It was pure, unfiltered Derek Forbes with nary a ghost writer within miles of its pages. A refreshing occurrence in the now locked down and gentrified rock autobiography world.
BOOK TOUR
Forbes has already begun a UK book tour this month with the following dates still yet to happen. Of special interest would be the Liverpool date at British Music Experience, where there will be an interview hosted by Kevin McManus as well as acoustic music from Forbes.
We’ve been watching the Skafish reissue program unfold patiently over the last handful of years as the artist first obtained the rights to his I.R.S. masters and then set about remastering and rebuilding the package for a stunning reissue that cut no corners. The first album made a splashy return in 2019, and we’ve watched the gears turning for his second album, “Conversation.” The decision was made to not merely reissue the album as it reached stores but to also include the full original album of material that Miles Copeland had balked on issuing for…any number of reasons.
The package now includes 21 songs; the original eleven abetted with the eight rejected songs, and two live tracks which completed the Skafish picture. One of the live tracks is the widely known live recording of “Sign Of The Cross” from “Urgh! A Music War” soundtrack, so this second project will draw a neat and tidy bow on the whole I.R.S. era for Skafish. Here are the contents of the reissue.
DISC 1/LP SIDES 1+2
Secret Lover
Wild Night Tonight
Made Up In The Dark
Victims Of The Night
She Lives For Love
Mother Is Waiting
Lover In Masquerade
She’s Taking Her Love Away
I Might Move In Next Door
Bad Feelings Have Died
In Another Time In Another Place
DISC 2/LP SIDES 3+4
Let’s Play Doctor
You Invited Me Here
Barbie Doll Dream House Single Monologue
Executive Exhibitionist
Home Invader
We’ll See (The Chicago Cubs Baseball Game)
Five O’Clock Face
Barbie Doll Dream House Double Monologue
Beefcake Touch (Live In France)
Sign Of The Cross (Live From URGH!)
I’m happy to report that the Kickstarter campaign began yesterday and the project is already funded at 150% of the modest $1,000 goal, which surely was only the cost of reproduction and not taking into account any of the considerable back end costs [remastering, design, etc.]. That’s not too surprising as people need their challenging to obtain Skafish musical nutrients, but there are 20 days left for all and sundry to pledge for what is an authoritative reissue program with the following levels of rewards. All formats include extensive liner notes and full lyrics and the CD booklet is a digipak™-busting 40 pages which becomes a 44 page PDF booklet with the download version.
CROWDSOURCE PACKAGES
Download album [with 44 page PDF lyrics and liner notes] – $13.00
2xCD [250 edition, original album + Rejects, includes DL album] – $18.00
Autographed 2xCD [250 edition, includes DL album] – $25.00
Autographed test pressing 2xLP [2 edition, includes autographed 2xCD, DL album] – $150.00
The ultrafan test pressing package is already long gone, daddy-o, but the other packages are still plentiful. And the intriguing difference to this Kickstarter campaign is the salient fact that the prices for the reissues will be lower than the retail price of the goods after the campaign. It’s a surprising reversal of the normal crowdsource paradigm of having initial buy-in costs at a premium which are then undercut in the marketplace following the campaign. So it behooves us to get in on the ground floor of a good deal! That CD is the apple of my eye, of course. For numerous reasons, I’m in such a tight period lately that we’re squeaking, but I will try my best to find an extra eighteen… or maybe twenty five dollars in seat cushions to put my money where my mouth is. For your part, you know the deal…D.J. hit that button.
We were gone on travel last week when I got the notification that Fluid Japan had released their new single, “Equilibrium,” on Bandcamp. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that on PPM I’m sometimes privy to music long before it reached the public ear. “Equilibrium” was one such time, and I’ve been waiting patiently for the chance to extol its virtues here on PPM; even a day late and a dollar short.
Right out of the gate, the compulsive drum programming; shot through with sizzling cymbal hits that never let up, established the urgent framework that the song was built upon. The contrast between the frantic percussion and the placid drone chords of the synths and the chorused vocals of Todd Lewis intoning the title, encapsulated the carefully balanced tensions of the song.
Then, the squelchy synth bass and Jan Linton’s eBow guitar entered the mix. Linton’s guitar drone wove an impulsive melody that leapt and darted among the frenetic drum programming like an expert danseur in full flight. Reiko Minamikawa’s crystalline electric piano notes descended on it all like delicate snowflakes as Lewis’ voice soared within the confines of the piece until it all dropped out, save for the pulsating bass in the coda. Let’s all listen.
The poise and dynamism of this song is quite a calling card for the Fluid Japan collective. This time out, prime mover Todd Lewis was abetted by his c0-writers Jan Linton [eBow], Heather Heimbuch [vocals], and performing double duty, electric piano and vocals from Reiko Minamikawa, who also modeled for the cover photos. Building together an impressive Art Rock edifice here that legitimately dazzled the ear with its ability to balance its disparate components marvelously in attaining the qualities of its title. The download is available on Bandcamp for any price you’d care to name, but you know the score. Pony up, not down. D.J. hit that button!
We’ve already discussed Rory Sullivan-Burke’s biography of the crucial Post-Punk guitarist John McGeoch which appeared last year. That was a cause celebre as far as we were concerned, but the book managed to reach the eyes of Scot documentarian and co-director Nicola Black, who then reached out to her friend and fellow co-director Paul Sng to collaborate in bringing McGeoch’s story to film. Mr. Sng has already dazzled us recently with “Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché“so we anticipate great things from the film of “The Light Pours Out Of Me.”
We’ve beaten the drum for the astonishing career of McGeoch for the breadth of the thousands of posts here at PPM. His CV as a guitarist is such that we own every album he played lead on and his important contributions to the body of Post-Punk made him the first “Post-Punk MVP” we honored here at PPM. His music career ultimately saw him step back from the tensions of playing and touring to utterly change his life; ultimately training and becoming a nurse to Alzheimer’s patients in middle age.
When we lost him in 2004, after he died in his sleep, we lost a player who was the measure of any guitarist who strove to modernity following the cleansing fires of Punk. His daughter Emily lost more than that. She lost her father, who ultimately and wisely removed himself from the destructive rock treadmill so that he could be a presence in her life. Long a custodian of his legacy, she has now figured in the cinematic retelling of his story.
KICKSTARTER
The campaign to fund the film will begin today, November 6th, 2023, and continue until Friday, December 8th, 2023 with numerous levels of buy-in for the funding fans. Each level of funding reward gets the title of a McGeoch classic song.
Fireworks | £10 | Limited edition John McGeoch plectrum
Hong Kong Garden | £15 | Limited edition John McGeoch badge
Melt! | £25 | Named in the Thank You credits
Christine |£50 | Limited edition John McGeoch tote & named in the Thank You credits
Fade to Grey | £100 | Limited edition tote bag, plectrum and badge & named in Thank You credits
Voodoo Dolly | £200 | ‘The Light Pours Out of Me’ authorised biography signed by writer plus all items in the Fade to Grey package
Halloween | £250 | Invite to the film premiere in the UK plus all items in the Fade to Grey package
Castles in Spain | £350 | One-off John McGeogh memorabilia. Set of pins from Banshees tour & named in Thank You credits plus all items in the Fade to Grey package
Night Shift | £500 | John McGeoch unique memorabilia. Tour t-shirt worn by John, provided by the McGeoch family (authenticating photograph of John wearing item) plus all items in the Fade to Grey package
Arabian Nights | £750 |Original, John McGeoch leather jewellery worn during gigs & tour t-shirt, plus all items in the Fade to Grey package
Happy House | £850 | John McGeogh tour t-shirt + authenticating photograph, plus all items in the Fade to Grey package
Spellbound | £1,000 | Presentation box with John McGeoch memorabilia, including John’s tour t-shirt, PiL tour cap, copy of ‘The Light Pours Out of Me’ signed & dedicated by author, plus all items in the Fade to Grey package & Special Thanks credit
Shot On Both Sides | £3,000 | Associate Producer credit
The Light Pours Out of Me | £5,000 | Logo sponsorship in end credits
It’s amazing that some might get some of John’s personal artifacts for a particularly generous contribution. This is a particularly tight time for me right now, but in a perfect world, I would be honored to have the PPM logo onscreen for a £5K pledge. As it is, I’ll be lucky to be able to at least find a spare £25.00 to support at the “Melt!” category and put my money where my mouth is. No matter how it all turns out, I strongly encourage any who held McGeoch in the sort of esteem that I did, to kick in and see that this necessary film gets the widest possible audience.
Was it already four years ago when Rain To Rust released their impressive debut album, “Flowers Of Doubt?” At the time, I was more than impressed with Mert Yildiz’ mastery of the playing and recording process as merely his guitar playing was compelling to the ear; never mind the singing, synths, and the engineering and recording of the music. Near the conclusion of my review, I wondered if he was going to move next in a more commercial if not outright dance oriented direction. I’m happy to state that I couldn’t have been more wrong.
The occasional dance beat was not the thread that I should have been paying attention to. The direction to follow was “No Longer Human;” the song based on the posthumous novel by Osamu Dazai who had committed suicide before its publication. While much of the first album was steeped in dark, difficult emotions that lead to depression and forms of self-destruction, the second Rain To Rust album is eight more songs all touched by the musicians and writers who took self-destruction to its ultimate expression. Adrian Borland. Ian Curtis. Yukio Mishima.
Swiss Dark Nights | SWISS | CD | 2023
Rain To Rust: Martyrdom – Eight Exercises – SWISS – CD [2023]
Tonight I Will Meet My Friends Who Died Untimely
Cutting Moments
The Killing Room
Sleep And Death Are Brothers
The Patriot
Letterfrack Penal Colony
The Big Dive
And The Ravens Left The Tower
Pounding motorik beats over a minor key melody being driven by acoustic rhythm guitar was the basis of “Tonight I Will Meet My Friend Who Died Untimely.” The acoustic flourishes strummed over the top of it were not what I was expecting, but thinking that guitarist Yildiz was interested in exploring the terrain that John McGeoch had established with his sterling work in both Magazine and imperial period Siouxsie + the banshees, this all made perfect sense to hear in that context.
The propulsive urgency of the beat had been selected to echo the train by which the song’s inspiration, Adrian Borland [The Sound] had ended his life with. The acoustics mated the rococo sound that Siouxsie had employed on “Christine” with Krautrock ethos to build a crepuscular mood that was restrained, yet indefatigable.
The rhythms were more complex on the following “Cutting Moments,” but they they were still employed in a loop while the melody was carried on a mournful piano. But the piano gave way to ambient dissonance as vocalist Özüm Özgülgen recited the lyrics in a sprechgesang delivery. Eventually ceding the space in the song to the piano in the relentless song’s coda as the elements of the mix dropped out to leave the last word to the underlying drone.
This high drama of “The Killing Room,” inspired by Ian Curtis, was pregnant with high drama in the implacable thunderbeats overlaid with choral patches and wintry piano. The unremitting tension finally undercut by the sound of broken glass in the coda, leaving Yildiz’ spoke words and the synth drone locked in a fatal dance as sound bites of Phil Shankland speaking on the issue of suicide provided a final word.
After three tracks heavy on piano and atmospherics, “Sleep And Death Are Brothers” finally unleashed the twin krakens of Yildiz’ guitars and Ertan Aslan’s tarpit bass. It felt good to have a sense of the great playing that had thus far been absent in the album. The tight rhythm riffing cutting a serrated path through the song and was matched by the effects on Yildiz’ vocals. Leaving them slurred and distorted while the guitar did the talking.
The second half of the album would take its remit from writers who had taken their own lives. “The Patriot” actually managed to best “Death + Night + Blood” [The Stranglers] as my favorite song inspired by Mishima. Aslan’s bass was ever ready to pull the listener under the waterline at all times. Yildiz affected a phrasing new to these ears; coming close to the feel of Julian Cope from his Teardrop Explodes period. Water torture beats formed a merciless loop as crystalline piano contrasted beautifully with the deep bass vibe and choral patches. Sound bites from Mishima himself added context to the dark beauty of it all.
The assiduous rhythm pattern of “Letterfrack Penal Colony” suggested an unholy blend of “Flowers Of Romance” era PiL with “JuJu” era Banshees. Music for plunging into the abyss, which was a largely instrumental tone poem based on Peter Tyrell’s traumatic childhood. After that corrosive song, the the casual loping insouciance of “The Big Dive” was almost enough to make one forget that this was a thematic album based on suicide. In this song Yildiz had managed to paradoxically find the approximation of a dreamy love ballad within the death of writer Osamu Dazai and his girlfriend.
The closing piece, “And Then The Ravens Left The Tower [Howard’s Dream]” was inspired by the friendship between H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard where Howard comes in death to Lovecraft’s dream and tells him that they will soon be united in death. With Matt Loftin’s spoken word performance of the dream eventually subsuming the sustained drone chords of the track as the speech fractalized into multi-crystalline fragments of chaotic reverb as the piece ultimately broke down.
The album was not at all what I was expecting. For an accomplished guitar/bass unit such as Rain To Rust, the lack of reliance on these strengths of playing, called out to the spirit of experimentation that was at the core of “Martyrdom.” This album reminded me of the rigor that Bill Nelson brought to his late 70s-early 80s work where he deliberately eschewed guitar to see what he could accomplish without his pillar of strength.
The material was certainly intriguing for it and while I can accept the lack of guitars, there was one other factor that concerned me; namely the tendency to bury the vocals into the mix; sometimes in perversely obscure ways that were deliberate obfuscation. I like Mert’s approach to vocals and really, only on “The Patriot” and “The Big Dive” were they readily discernible in the mix. Given the morose thematic impetus for the album, perhaps that was a small mercy, though.
For an album that has congealed around the suicides of a handful of musicians and writers, it doesn’t have what I would call an impenetrable funereal pall cast over it. There’s too much vigor in the pacing and tempos of the songs. With nothing too plodding and quite a few songs possessing highly energetic, Krautrock-derived rhythms. And ultimately, this balance makes for a compelling listen, even for subject matter as stygian as this.
Going forward, I will admit that I would like to hear more of the powerful bass, guitar, and vocals that Rain To Rust are very capable of contributing. This album was almost them tying one hand behind their backs to see how it would turn out. That it did as successfully as it did, was cause for [black] celebration. And this time, the album is available not only as a DL but the band were signed to Swiss Dark Night Records, who have pressed up 500 glass mastered CDs for purchase. I’m thrilled and amazed that there are still concerns that will do this in 2023. The DL is €12.00 but the physical CD is only €14.00. Mr D.J. hit that button.
Post-Punk Monk 