OK, last post on this for now. When I first notified you I was uploading my old embarrassing pop journalism to Medium, there were five articles to view. Well, now I’ve got to the end of phase one (the writing for free or next to nothing years), and we’re up to 44. It’s not quite everything from the period. If anyone’s got my interviews with Pulp. the Charlatans, Teenage Fanclub (again), the Wildhearts, Tori Amos, OP8, Gene, Juliana Hatfield, Utah Saints or Jellyfish, in their lofts I’d love to see them again.
But in the meantime, if you want to know why Tim Booth from James was so reluctant to answer his phone, why Alan ‘Fluff’ Freeman always carried an asthma puffer, and why Brett Anderson walked out of my interview with him after only three minutes, fill your boots.
I just read the Suede piece. Loved it – took me right back to the nineties. Thanks for sharing…
No worries, although the Suede one will for ever give me the collywobbles. Even my best friends have never known what went down that afternoon. Dramatic, though!
I really liked the Suede piece – nowhere near as embarrassing as you had hinted at. Brett’s flounce was just thin-skinned and silly. I don’t think you have anything to feel bad about.
Great bands south of the Thames? Shurely The Jam and The Cure for starters. And that’s before even mentioning Level 42.
These are great! I suspect we are similar ages so these are right in my sweet spot. The Fannies are exactly how I imagined them to be at that time.
Thank you. I’m ready fed up that I can’t lay my hands on a better Fannies interview I did around the time of Grand Prix. I had the pleasure of going for a few pints with them one night. I literally bumped into them as they made their way from Radio 1, and took them to all the pubs I’d go to after work. I remember them putting Bohemian Rhapsody on the jukebox and, when it got to the Wayne’s World bit, saying they’d love to record something with similar dynamics. I left them on a street corner, pretending to busk a version of About You. They were meant to be on Zig and Zag the morning after.
The thing that’s great about your published piece is that it’s on the back of 13, an album of considerable charm that can only be considered a severe misstep between Bandwagonesque and Grand Prix. So you have the slight cockiness of coming off the back of a much-lauded album before their balloon was burst.
I also really like your footnotes. Great context. Kylie seems adorable, Brett seems insufferable and Jay seems hugely likeable. Who would have thought?
Thanks, @Podicle – I hadn’t scrolled far enough to find the Fannies!
Would love to see that Jellyfish interview if you can find it Martin – an incredible band who burned out too soon. Can you remember which band members were involved?
I want to say Toby Manning (?) and one other. They were very genial and knowledgable. It was for a new music glossy that was launching out of Bristol but sadly I can’t remember the name of the mag or its editor. It was fairly professional but only lasted three issues, I think.
I’m guessing that, if it was two people, it would be Roger Manning (keys, vocals) and Andy Stuermer (Drums, lead vocals) who were the driving force of the band and did most of the interviews for the second album Spilt Milk. Musical titans both!
Yep, I think you’re right. I wish I could find it. It got me a job interview at NME because the editor saw I’d done it and was a bit of a fan.