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Gavin Friday (Virgin Prunes) launches title track first solo album in 13 years: ‘Ecce Homo’ – Out now

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 12:42:09 +0000

Irish musician and artist Gavin Friday (Virgin Prunes) is back with his first solo album in over a decade, “Ecce Homo”, set for release on October 25 via BMG. Produced by Dave Ball of Soft Cell and Michael Heffernan, this marks Friday’s first album since 2011’s “Catholic”. Along with the announcement, the title track is now available as a digital EP featuring two remixes and an instrumental version.

Friday, known for his role as the frontman of Virgin Prunes, has a career spanning four decades, collaborating with artists like U2, Sinead O’Connor, and Scott Walker. His work extends beyond music into visual arts and composing for films, earning Ivor Novello and Golden Globe nominations for “In The Name of The Father“.

“Ecce Homo” blends electronics and acoustic sounds, exploring themes of anger, independence, love, and loss. Friday describes the album as his “most honest, reflecting on personal and collective struggles.”

The album’s first single, the title track “Ecce Homo”, is a track confronting societal challenges. Accompanied by a video created entirely with AI, Friday calls it “a personal kick in the head and kiss on the cheek to a world gone very wrong.”

The album will be available digitally, on limited-edition vinyl, and as a deluxe CD featuring bonus tracks and remixes.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Interview with Mat Smith (The Engineer) on pop music articles and sleevenotes

János Janurik — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 17:51:40 +0000

(Interview by Janos Janurik) Ever since I got into online music journalism, I’ve always been interested in the background characters around my favourite musicians’ releases that add something important to the product we, the fans end up with.

With this in mind, over the years I have interviewed personalities such as Anton Corbijn (photographer of Depeche Mode and many other music greats), Gareth Jones and Mark Saunders (producers and mixmasters of Depeche Mode and Erasure amongst others).

About eight years ago I had the honour of helping to promote Vince Clarke’s then newly founded mini-record label (VeryRecords) and his releases. In addition to the artists whose albums have been released there in recent years, I also got in contact with Mat Smith, who, like me, is a freelancer – readers of Electronic Sound and Clash know him well – and works as a publicist for VeryRecords as well as being commissioned by Erasure and Mute for a number of press pieces. He also wrote the sleevenotes in the booklet of the new “Cowboy” Deluxe-Edition.

In addition to his journalistic work, he also has his own project “Mortality Tables”, which has just released a new mini-album on cassette and as a digital download. Last November, at the premiere of Vince Clarke’s solo album in London, I had the pleasure of meeting Mat in person and we had a lively chat about our shared passion for music. Knowing how important this project is to him, I approached him and asked him a few questions about it.

But then life, or rather death, intervened. I didn’t mean this as a cheap shot, but it was indeed a sad event that forced me to make changes to the interview I had with my friend and colleague almost three weeks ago. Now that the aforementioned label is going on holiday, and before I do the same, I would like to bring this exciting musical venture (“The Engineer”) to your attention – and this interview with the man behind it.

SL: Tell us briefly about how you became interested in music. Have you had any musical training, have you learnt to play any instruments? Do you remember the first record you bought?

I grew up in a house where music seemed to always be playing, either on the radio or on my parent’s stereo. My mother listened to a lot of ABBA. Nothing about that was exceptional, particularly. When I used to go to friends’ houses, they always seemed to have the TV switched on, which felt strange to me. My family chose music, and I’ve surrounded myself with it ever since.

I tried to play the recorder, which was the instrument that most of us learned as kids. My parents gave me a blue one for Christmas one year. I couldn’t play a single note. I briefly learned the basics of notation at school but very quickly forgot all of it. In early high school music classes I was more interested in recording real-life sounds into the Casio keyboard and using those to make compositions. Not long after that, I started making sample-based electronic music on my Amiga 500.

The first album I owned was Nik Kershaw’s ‘Human Racing’. I was given for my birthday the year it was released, along with a Sanyo portable cassette player. I played that album constantly. I wore out the cassette player after two weeks but I still have the ‘Human Racing’ tape and it still sounds incredible to me.

SL: When did you discover electronic music? And who was the first electronic artist who introduced you to the world of electronic music?

My father is responsible for switching me on to electronic music. There were three pivotal events, and they all relate to times I was with my father.

The first was one evening when my mother was at her restaurant job, and my father was looking after me. I was playing with Lego in the lounge and Gary Numan was performing ‘Cars’ on TV. That performance completely captivated me.

The next was driving around in my father’s car while he did his second job as a debt collector. A friend at work had recorded two tracks from OMD’s ‘Architecture & Morality’ album onto a cassette for him. The songs were ‘Joan Of Arc’ and ‘Maid Of Orleans’, and we’d listen to them over and over.

The third was Soft Cell’s ‘Non-Stop Erotic Videotape’, which he brought home from work one day. That was pretty mind-blowing for a five-year old, and I can only imagine he didn’t realise what it was. It was definitely not suitable for a kid of my age, but, looking back, I don’t remember the imagery – I only recall the music.

So I owe my father a huge debt for how he shaped my music tastes at a very early age. He was also the one who brought home a cassette copy of ‘The Innocents’ by Erasure and gave it to me. He had no idea quite what he started that day.

SL: When did you start writing journalistic texts for Mute Records and its artists? What was your first article for Mute and about which artist, which release?

I began a blog called Documentary Evidence in 2003, which was focused on my personal Mute Records collection. I’d just write about the releases from a mostly non-musical perspective, explaining how they made me feel. I still write reviews like that today for Electronic Sound. I also got really interested in telling the stories of specific releases or artists, and that led me to interview people who released music through Mute, or were somehow connected to the label. I have a natural curiosity and inquisitiveness, and that seems to mean people like talking to me and opening up.

From there I started writing for Clash, and then Electronic Sound and some other places. In 2017 I got asked to chair a panel discussion with Anton Corbijn, Daniel Miller, Paul A. Taylor and Steve Claydon (Add N To (X)) at Rough Trade East in London, about the visual identity of Mute. The first written Mute commission I got was to write a press biography for Chris Carter’s ‘Chemistry Lessons Vol. 1’. I couldn’t believe they asked me to do that, and I couldn’t believe I was being paid to write for the label I loved so much. The team at Mute liked what I did and I’ve been given a few more things to do since then, as well as with the team at BMG who look after the Erasure reissue programme, and Erasure themselves.

SL: Did Vince Clarke’s VeryRecords label and the associated promotion give you any impetus for your own project, which you called “Mortality Tables”?

Indirectly, yes, but perhaps not in the way you might expect.

My task with VeryRecords was to assemble the press releases. It was the first time I’d worked behind the scenes of a release, where I’d often get involved before the album was even mastered, or before the artwork had even been considered. So I’d be talking to the artists – Reed & Caroline, Alka and Brook – at a very early stage, generally when Vince felt that the album was finished enough for me to listen and for me to start engaging the artists.

It took a while for me to realise this, but the process of working with the artists to write a press release became a collaboration – between all of us, and between my words and their music. I wasn’t just a writer but part of the collective effort to put this music out into the world. I did the same with Nick Hook’s Calm + Collect label, working on releases by Gareth Jones, Spiritual Friendship and others.

In 2019, when I began forming Mortality Tables, I envisaged it as a creative community of collaborators. You can definitely draw a line between that and the ideas that began to form as I worked with VeryRecords and its artists. I also took a lot of inspiration from Vince, who didn’t feel that he needed to only focus on the music that people would expect him to release. That sense of freedom, which Daniel Miller also brought to Mute, directly fed into what Mortality Tables has become. I wanted something where I could work with people making sound art as well as people making images. It had to have artistic breadth.

I wanted Mortality Tables to be like a gallery, with a portfolio of artists in vastly different disciplines. That’s why Neil Coe deigned the first sleeve image to look like the description of an artwork on the wall of a gallery.

SL: The name of the project refers to the work of actuaries who measure the statistical probability of life insurance payouts. You do something like this in your everyday working life, don’t you?

That’s right. I work with insurance companies all around the world, and have done for over twenty years. I find lots of parallels between the worlds of insurance and electronic music, and the kinds of people I engage with in both of my jobs.

The story goes that I was meeting a friend in a café in Bloomsbury in London one morning. He runs a record label, which is another big inspiration for Mortality Tables. He wishes to remain anonymous, but he is actively involved, in the sense that he must approve anything we decide to do. I call him the Creative Consultant.

So I was meeting him and he had an LP of one of his releases to give me. He asked me if I had a bag to put it in, and I reached into rucksack and retrieved a tote bag. It was from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and had been given to me by an actuary a few years before. The Creative Consultant saw the bag with its logo and Latin inscription (‘e peritia ratio’ – ‘reason from experience’) and asked what it meant. I replied, “It’s all mortality tables and shit like that.” The name stuck.

We created our first Mortality Tables Product that morning. It’s called FORKTALK and is a conversation between two friends. We do not publish the details of our conversations. Its entry in the Mortality Tables Catalogue is MTP0.

SL: Dave Clarkson, who is mostly active in electronic and experimental music and Wonderful Beasts, a sound art/electronic music duo consisting of the anonymous Xqui and Carl Knott (boycalledcrow, Spacelab) were your first artists, right? How did you get in touch with them?

The release that moved Mortality Tables from something conceptual to something ‘real’ was ‘Two Meditations For Freya’ by Goodparley (whose name has now changed to Please Close Your Eyes). That was in 2022. It signalled what I wanted Mortality Tables to be: I would come up with ideas and hand them to someone to ‘respond’ to.

That concept has stayed consistent through the first two years of Mortality Tables. I’ll come up with an idea and pick someone to get involved. At the last count, there are at least fifty people who are collaborators. And it isn’t just sound projects – Mortality Tables encompasses sound, art, and words. And insurance.

However, all rules in creativity are there to be broken, and I broke my own rules in 2023 with the release of Dave Clarkson’s ‘Ghosts Of Christmas Past (Music From Vintage Toys)’. I had nothing to do with the concept of that album, so I guess that’s a bit like Mortality Tables acting like a traditional record label, which is a description I never want to use. The same is true of Andrew Brenza and Alka’s ‘pod’ and boycalledcrow’s ‘Kullu’. However, all these releases only existed because of an earlier collaboration, and that’s how I got myself comfortable with releasing these projects. You’ll see a few more of those types of projects from Mortality Tables over the next few years.

In answer to your question about how I find artist, it’s actually really straightforward. Anyone involved with Mortality Tables is someone whose music I’ve written about. As for how I choose an artist for a particular project, that’s mostly a case of matching a collaborator to an idea that feels aligned to what they would usually do. However, some of the most enjoyable projects are where the artist is working a long way outside of what they might normally do.

SL: After artists like Andrew Spackman, Rupert Lally, Simon Fisher Turner and Veryan, two years ago you released a strange and experimental piece called “On Mortality, Immortality & Charles Ives”. The piece is a spoken word piece in which you read out the Mortality Tables’ manifesto: “In life, our one true certainty is death.” This narration, recorded by Gareth Jones, was then sent to Vince Clarke who recorded a musical response to the text, which forms the soundtrack to the release. How did you come up with this, somewhat absurd, idea?

I had bought a copy of a book by Alex Danchev called ‘100 Artists’ Manifestos – From The Futurists To The Stuckists’ at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 2021. I read each of the manifestos from groups like the Surrealists, Dadaists and Situationists as if they were short stories, and it became a really profound experience. On the back of ‘Two Meditations For Freya’, people had started to ask me what Mortality Tables was all about, so it seemed completely natural (and not absurd at all) to write a manifesto.

Mostly it was designed to help me understand why I was doing this, and then I decided to explain it to everyone else. That’s when I asked Gareth to record my narration. At the same time I approached Vince and an anonymous sound artist called venoztks to create sound pieces to accompany it.

The listener can judge whether it successfully explains what this is all about, or not. It does explain why the composer and actuary Charles Ives is so critical to the evolution of Mortality Tables. In fact, the second Mortality Tables Product to be made available was a postcard containing an illustration of Ives in front of a mortality table from 1874, the year of Ives’s birth. That piece was a collaboration with Savage Pencil who had illustrated a lot of the Blast First sleeves.

SL: Released on June 16th, the 40-copy limited edition cassette “The Engineer” is a charity project for Alzheimer’s disease featuring Vince Clarke, Penelope Trappes, Chris Illingworth, Barney Ashton-Bullock, Lara Jones, Simon Fisher Turner, Hattie Cooke, Gareth Jones, Veryan and others. The title character is your father, isn’t he? Is that why you chose Father’s Day as the release date? Tell us a bit about this project!

The title character, the engineer, is based on my father. This project dates back ten years, probably longer, a long time before Mortality Tables was an idea.

I wrote a short story that tried to deal with my feelings about my father as he approached retirement. He lived for work, had no hobbies or friends, and I envisaged him struggling to cope with the concept of stopping work. I was angry when I wrote it, but I was also scared for him. It’s fiction, but it’s rooted in his reality. His actual retirement was very different to what happens in the story. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2018, and that’s why we’ll donate all profits from ‘The Engineer’ to the Alzheimer’s Society. Sadly he passed away shortly after ‘The Engineer’ was released.

When I published the story on my blog, an electronic musician called Laica (Dave Fleet) offered to create some music inspired by the story. He composed a beautiful piece but the project never got completed. A few years later, I came up with a different idea, which involved someone narrating the story with a piece of music behind it. That version also never got off the ground at all, but I liked the idea of asking someone to narrate the story. That’s when I asked Barney Ashton-Bullock if he would do it. He has a brilliant speaking voice, and it was perfect for this story.

It was Gareth Jones who suggested the idea of having different artists respond to different sections of narration. He said it was a bit like the Surrealist game ‘Exquisite Corpse’. I think of Gareth as my spiritual guru. He has a way of unlocking ideas, and freeing you from obstacles that are only there because you’ve put them there. ‘The Engineer’ wouldn’t exist in this form if it wasn’t for Gareth.

From there, it was a case of picking the collaborators and asking them to respond to a specific 30-second section of narration. No one heard the full story, and no one asked to hear the whole thing. The order the artists agreed to say yes determined which section they got. The only rule I gave them was that their sound response needed to last exactly thirty seconds.

There are two editions of ‘The Engineer’. One is a digital file that combines the narration and sound responses. The other is a cassette that splits the narration and responses apart. That means the only place you can hear Vince Clarke’s sound response without Barney’s narration is on the cassette, which has now sold out.

SL: Barney Ashton-Bullock (the creator of Andy Bell’s “Torsten” projects), Vince Clarke, as well as Reed Hays, Alka and Gareth Jones will be familiar to most of our readers, but who are the other contributors?

Again, everyone involved is someone I’ve written about. When I came up with my collaborator list for this, it was important to me to achieve some sort of diversity. So a lot of the artists here are electronic, but you have artists covering everything from pop to sound art. That was deliberate.

I also wanted diversity of textures. That’s why I included Charlotte Keeffe, Chris Illingworth from GoGo Penguin and Luce Mawdsley. When you put all 29 sound responses together as a single piece, it sounds like a right fucking mess. As the responses were coming in over a 30-month period, I realised that the sprawling, messy quality was a lot like my father’s Alzheimer’s – ideas form, are quickly forgotten before they develop, and are then replaced by something else. That wasn’t planned, at all, but now I can see it was a subconscious idea that must have been there from the moment that Gareth suggested involving lots of artists.

SL: What plans and ideas are currently circulating in your head? Will it be something journalistic or another Mortality Tables release?

I’m always writing, and I’ve got a few big things underway right now, including something for a label I’ve done a few pieces for before.

In terms of Mortality Tables, now that ‘The Engineer’ has been released, all activities will he paused until later in the summer. We’ve released a huge number of Products in just over two years and I need a break. We’ll return later in the summer with Season 03 of LIFEFILES, which is an ongoing project where artists respond to my really basic field recordings.

We’ll also release a single from Please Close Your Eyes, an album from Andrew Spackman and the full version of Andrew Brenza and Alka’s ‘pod’ collaboration. I’ve been working on one of several projects inspired by Charles Ives, ‘Central Park: A Picture-In-Sounds’, which will be issued as a ‘score’ in October, along with some additional performances of the piece. We’ll begin work on another large-scale collaboration called ‘The Impermanence Project’.

Other things will happen. Other things will not.

More information on Mortality Tables releases.

Use code janos for a 10% discount off anything in the Mortality Tables Catalogue.

I would like to end this article with a personal message from Mat Smith, who asks the readers and the music listeners to support, if they can, the Alzheimer’s Society, which has received the proceeds of the tape release mentioned in the interview. If you feel able to, please donate to alzheimers.org.uk directly.

János Janurik

I began my career in online music journalism in 2001, writing about artists I had followed since the late ’80s and early ’90s, including Depeche Mode, Erasure and The Cure. I later edited the Hungarian Mute microsite for EMI Music Hungary. This led to interviews with Erasure, Nitzer Ebb and Alan Wilder, and some of those collaborations developed into lasting friendships. Since 2014, I have been part of the editorial team of depechemode.de. I also contribute interviews to Reflections of Darkness, Peek-A-Boo Magazine and Kaput Mag. I maintain a close connection to Mute Records artists and have also supported releases on Very Records. I am proud to collaborate with Side-Line Magazine, where I regularly publish interviews and features.

Daryl Bamonte announces debut single Hence: ‘Stuck In My Throat’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 30 May 2024 17:50:44 +0000

A chance meeting at a climate conference in Berlin in 2023 has led to the formation of the musical collective Hence. Behind the project we find advertising strategist Knuth who met music publisher Daryl Bamonte during a lunch conversation at said climate conference.

Knuth mentioned his recent purchase of modular synths despite having no musical experience and Bamonte encouraged him by saying, “Record something and I’ll release it.” Knuth simply responded, “OK!”

Yes, things can be very simple sometimes.

The debut single “Stuck In My Throat” will be released on 5th June 2024 on the duo’s newly-formed label, Cosmic Cassettes. It features Danish singer Kennie Orsted and Brooklyn-based Yasmin Haddad from NightNight. The release is rounded off with a remix by Portuguese electronic producer Phaser.

The track will be available through Cosmic Cassettes and distributed by Danmark Music Group, with publishing handled by Archangelo Music/BMG.

Here’s a video teaser.

About Daryl Bamonte

Daryl Bamonte has a career spanning nearly four decades in the music industry. He began working with Depeche Mode, a band formed by his childhood friends, in 1980 while he was still in school. Over the next 15 years, he held various roles with the band, including tour manager and project manager, and even replaced Andy Fletcher as the keyboard player during the final legs of the Devotional Tour in 1994.

In addition to his work with Depeche Mode, Bamonte has been involved with The Cure, taking on broader roles such as executive producer for their self-titled album and the Trilogy DVD. In 2005, he founded Bamonte Artist Management, representing various musicians and bands, and later co-founded Archangelo Music, a label and publishing company, in 2021. He remains active as an artist manager and is also involved in the Norwegian post-punk band Permafrost as a keyboardist.

Bamonte also is an ambassador for Europe in Synch, a consultant for Schubert Music Europe, and is involved in several international music projects and conferences.

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Erasure sees updated vinyl release of 2015 album ‘Always (The Very Best Of Erasure)’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 10:21:14 +0000

(Photo by Douglas Brothers) Out on Mute / Bmg on 18 August 2023 is an updated release of “Always (The Very Best of Erasure)”, out on vinyl for the very first time as a double disc heavyweight viny edition.

Originally released in 2015 to celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary, “Always (The Very Best of Erasure)” offers a journey through nearly four decades of hit singles. Also included are post 2015 tracks such as “Love You To The Sky” (from 2017’s “World Be Gone”) and “Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling)” from 2020’s album, “The Neon”. Those two tracks replace the “Be with You” and “Sometimes 2015” which were on the original release.

When it was released in 2015, “Always (The Very Best of Erasure)” was the fourth compilation album released by the British synthpop band Erasure. The deluxe edition contained two additional CDs with corresponding remixes, including some of their singles that did not make the compilation. The compilation followed the release of the first and only single from the album, entitled “Sometimes 2015”, a re-vamped version of the original single mixed by David Wrench. The single was released on 23 October 2015, and contained a mixture of previously released remixes of “Sometimes” as well as a new remix by Love To Infinity.

Erasure recently released “Day-Glo (Based on a True Story)” and their eighteenth studio album, “The Neon”.

Erasure are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985, consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter Andy Bell with songwriter, producer and keyboardist Vince Clarke, previously known as co-founder of the band Depeche Mode and a member of synth-pop duo Yazoo.

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Bon Harris (Nitzer Ebb) featured on new The Mobile Homes album, ‘Tristesse’, out in September

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 09:59:56 +0000

Out on September 22nd, again via the Wild Kingdom label, is the all new album by the Swedish melancholic synthpop act The Mobile homes. “Tristesse” comes two years after their last album “Trigger”. One of the tracks on the new album also features a guest appearance by Bon Harris (Nitzer Ebb).

The album will be out on vinyl and CD, and the CD contains the bonus-track “When Everything is alright”, which is not included on the vinyl version.

The Mobile Homes was formed in 1984, and have since then been active in various constellations. The band’s been collaborating with Julian Beeston (Nitzer Ebb), and Denniz Pop, Karl Bartos (ex Kraftwerk) amongst others. The band has been signed under many labels. It started with Papa Records, but that company didn’t last for long, so they had to search for a new label. Later they changed record company again, and this time they signed up with Hawk Records. At Hawk they released the albums “Hurt” remixed by Denniz Pop, “Nothing But Something” produced by Christian Falk, “Test” produced by Julian Beeston (Nitzer Ebb) and “Meanwhile”.

After a long break they signed under the German company SPV GmbH, and in Sweden under Arcade/CNR. Together with the ex Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos they released the album “Mobile Homes” in 1998. The radio picked up the track “You Make the Sun Shine”, and it was later used in a commercial for the airline SAS.

At Subspace Comunications they released the album “The World Will Listen”, with the singles “Nostalgia” and “The More I Think the Deeper I Sink”. “The World Will Listen” was recorded in the legendary Polar Studios, formerly owned by ABBA. In May 2003 Mobile Homes signed under BMG Sweden and released an EP produced by Sami Sirviö from Swedish band kent and Stefan Boman. In 2009 they released “Today Is Your Lucky Day” on Megahype Records, it was produced by Sami Sirviö.

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35th anniversary release of Suicide’s ‘A Way of Life’ set for May 26th via Mute/BMG

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 07 Apr 2023 21:06:30 +0000

(Photo by Renaud Monfourny) The 35th anniversary release of Suicide’s third studio album, “A Way of Life”, will be available on May 26th, 2023 through Mute/BMG. The album has been remastered and includes previously unreleased tracks. Suicide, consisting of members Alan Vega and Martin Rev, was a pioneering duo in the punk and synth-pop scene.

The anniversary edition of “A Way of Life” will be released on transparent blue vinyl (including an art card and two bonus tracks), CD (with a 4-page booklet and five bonus tracks), and digitally. Jared Artaud discovered the unreleased bonus tracks while working on the Vega Vault archives. Denis Blackham of Skye Mastering, who worked on the recent remastered reissues of Suicide’s first and second albums, remastered the album. The album’s artwork design and concept were created by Artaud and Michael Handis.

Listen to the unreleased version of Suicide’s 1988 live cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” right below.

“A Way of Life,” originally released in 1988, more than a decade after their groundbreaking self-titled debut, features classic Suicide tracks like “Surrender”, “Jukebox Baby 96”, and “Dominic Christ”. For the production of the album, Alan Vega and Martin Rev collaborated once again with Ric Ocasek, frontman of The Cars.

Suicide, formed in the early 1970s, became an integral part of the New York punk scene by 1976. Their debut album has since been recognized as a significant influence on countless artists and musicians, such as New Order, Depeche Mode, Bruce Springsteen, KLF, Spiritualized, Moby, Soft Cell, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Sisters of Mercy, Primal Scream, and Nick Cave.

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Nine Inch Nails rework Puscifer’s ‘Apocalyptical’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Sun, 02 Apr 2023 11:27:04 +0000

(Photo by NIN) Puscifer was established in Los Angeles by Maynard James Keenan, who is known as the lead vocalist for the bands Tool and A Perfect Circle. Initially, Keenan was the sole permanent member, and as a result, he regarded the project as his “creative subconscious.” Later, regular collaborators Mat Mitchell and Carina Round became permanent members.

The initial version of “Apocalyptical” was featured on their 2020 album “Existential Reckoning”. It was the fourth studio album by Puscifer. and was released by Alchemy Recordings and BMG Rights Management. The album has since been remixed and reworked by other musicians. This new album follows a tradition for Puscifer, where a remix album is released shortly after the original.

Other artists contributing to the remix album include Phantogram, Greg Edwards, and Tool’s Justin Chancellor. “Existential Reckoning: Reimagined” is available now.

Nine Inch Nails have also been working on the OST for the film “The Killer”. “The Killer” is an upcoming American neo-noir action thriller film directed by David Fincher and with a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker. The film is based on the French graphic novel series of the same name by Alexis Nolent and Luc Jacamon. The film stars Michael Fassbender, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Sophie Charlotte, and Tilda Swinton.

“The Killer” (Le Tueur) is a French comic book series written by Matz and illustrated by Luc Jacamon. The story revolves around an unnamed, ruthless hitman who carries out his work with cold professionalism. As the series unfolds, readers delve into the complex psyche of this anti-hero, who grapples with moral dilemmas, loneliness, and the nature of his chosen profession.

Living a solitary and secretive life, the hitman develops a code of ethics that he follows strictly, justifying his actions with a twisted sense of morality. However, when a botched job puts him in the crosshairs of law enforcement and rival assassins, he is forced to confront the consequences of his actions and question the path he has chosen. As the story progresses, the hitman must navigate the dangerous and treacherous underworld, reevaluate his relationships, and determine if he can continue living a life filled with violence and bloodshed.

Here’s a first unofficial teaser.

About Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1988 as the recording project of Trent Reznor. Working as an assistant engineer at Right Track Studios and inspired by Prince’s practice of playing every instrument himself, Reznor recorded demos alone, programming drums and playing the rest, and performed under a band name despite being its sole permanent member. Nine Inch Nails played its first live show on 27 October 1988 in Pittsburgh, and released its debut album, “Pretty Hate Machine,” through TVT Records in 1989.

After a contractual dispute with TVT, Reznor signed with Interscope Records and founded his own imprint, Nothing Records, releasing “The Downward Spiral” in 1994 and “The Fragile” in September 1999. The band left Interscope after “Year Zero” (2007) and self-released the instrumental “Ghosts I-IV” (2008) through the Null Corporation before returning to major-label releases with “Hesitation Marks” (2013), “Bad Witch” (2018) and the companion albums “Ghosts V: Together” and “Ghosts VI: Locusts” (both 2020).

English musician Atticus Ross became an official member in 2016 after years of production work with Reznor, including their Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning score for David Fincher’s “The Social Network” (2010). Guitarist Robin Finck first joined in 1994 and has rejoined the touring band multiple times since; drummer Josh Freese first joined in 2005. Nine Inch Nails was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 7 November 2020, alongside Ross, Finck and other past members. Puscifer is Maynard James Keenan’s project, separate from Nine Inch Nails.

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Inspiral Carpets to release ‘The Complete Singles’ in March – UK tour starts spring 2023

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 15:50:31 +0000

Out 17 March on Mute / BMG is Inspiral Carpets’ “The Complete Singles” compiling all of the Manchester band’s 24 singles to date. “The Complete Singles” coincides with the start of a major UK tour kicking off in Northampton in March.

The album will be available on double vinyl, and as a 3CD set with an exclusive remix bonus disc. Included on that 3rd disc are classic, rare and unreleased remixes from across their career alongside two new unreleased mixes, from The Go! Team and Martyn Walsh & Simon Lyon.

The Complete Singles sees all of the band’s singles remastered and available on one album for the first time. From 1988’s “Keep The Circle Around” to their latest single, 2015’s “Let You Down”.

Inspiral Carpets introduced the mainstream to the ‘Madchester’ sound which you can also find back in those other Manchester bands the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays.

Here is the tracklist of the bonus tracks on the 3CD set.

Dragging Me Down – Jon Dasilva Remix
This Is How It Feels – The Go! Team Remix*
Caravan – No Windscreen Mix (Justin Robertson)
Generations – Denmark 2 Germany 0 mix (Fortran 5)
Commercial Reign – Rub-A-Dub Mix (Forgemasters)
You’re So Good For Me – Like A Tonic Remix (Mark Reeder & Micha Adam)
Dubville – (Chris Nagle)
Two Worlds Collide – The Twelve Inch Mix (Mike Pickering & Paul Heard / M People)
Saturn 5 – High Energy Mix (Paul Van Dyk)
This Is How It Feels – Robbery Mix (PK & Dashboard)
Skidoo – Possession Mix (Justin Robertson)
Bitches Brew – Horse (Fortran 5)
Changes – Martyn Walsh & Simon Lyon Remix*
Uniform – Scripka Mix (featuring The Balanescu Quartet)

Inspiral Carpets 2023 Tour

23 March – Northampton, Roadmender
24 March – Newcastle, Boiler Shop
25 March – Oxford, 02 Academy
26 March – Brighton, Concorde 2
31 March – Cambridge, Junction
1 April – Manchester, Albert Hall
2 April – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
8 April – Leeds, 02 Academy
13 April – Glasgow, SWG3 Galvanizers
14 April – Sheffield, Leadmill
15 April – London, 02 Shepherds Bush Empire
21 April – Coventry, HMV Empire
22 April – Frome, Cheese & Grain
25 May – Holmfirth
26 May – Hull, Welly
27 May – Neighbourhood Festival
15 June – Buckley, Tivoli
16 June – Cardiff, Tramshed
17 June – Sign of the Times Festival
20 July – Dunfermline, PJ Molloys
21 July – Edinburgh, Liquid Rooms
22 July – Kubix Festival
24 August – Derby, Hairy Dog
25 August – Norwich, Epic Studios
26 August – Victorious Festival

And for those who don’t know the band, check the below videos.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Virgin Prunes to release 40th anniversary edition of ‘If I Die, I Die’ – vinyl / 2CD set with rarities

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 17:39:27 +0000

Out 11 November on Mute / BMG is Virgin Prunes’ 40th anniversary edition of “If I Die, I Die”.

The release comes in a remastered version and it will be available on vinyl for the first time since 82, and as a 2CD set with rarities. The vinyl comes in a transparent vinyl with a 16 page photobook and brand new sleevenotes by Dr Jonathan Wood.

Watch the brand new video for the previously unreleased “Baby Turns Blue (Colin Newman Remix 2004)”.

“If I Die, I Die” was recorded at the Windmill Studios in Dublin in the summer of 1982 and features one of the band’s best known songs, “Baby Turns Blue”, Produced by Wire’s Colin Newman the sides of the 1982 vinyl and album cover, designed by Steve Averill, were given brown and blue colors, signaling earth and sky respectively.

Here’s what you can expect from the extras (^ previously unreleased).

Baby Turns Blue (Colin Newman Remix 2004) (2022 Remaster)^
Chance of a Lifetime (UK 12″) (2022 Remaster)
Yeo (UK 12″) (2022 Remaster)
The Faculties of a Broken Heart (What Should We Do If Baby Turns Blue) (UK 12″) (2022 Remaster)
King of Junk (Instrumental) (Rough Mix) (2022 Remaster)^
Ballad of the Man (Rough Mix) (2022 Remaster)^
Fado (Rough Mix) (2022 Remaster)^
Bau-Dachong (Rough Mix) (2022 Remaster)^
Theme For Thought (Rough Mix) (2022 Remaster)^
Pagan Lovesong (Demo) (2022 Remaster)^
Pagan Lovesong (2022 Remaster)
Dave-Id Is Dead (2022 Remaster)
Pagan Lovesong (Vibeakimbo) (2022 Remaster)

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Soft Cell partners with Pet Shop Boys for new single ‘Purple Zone’ – new album ‘*Happiness Not Included’ out in May

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 16:31:08 +0000

After closing 2021 with a sold-out tour, Soft Cell are to release their long-awaited fifth studio album “*Happiness Not Included” on May 6th. The single to announce this release is “Purple Zone”, a new collaboration with Pet Shop Boys so BMG Spain informed us.

The two electro-pop legends initially planned for Pet Shop Boys to remix the song, but their collaboration quickly turned into a joint effort. Their collaboration is not just a new single from the album but this version has also been added to the tracklist of “*Happiness Not Included”.

“Purple Zone” will also be released on CD and 12-inch format. The CD also includes Soft Cell’s version of X-Ray Spex’s cult classic “The Day The World Turned Day-Glo”, and the Manhattan Clique Remix of “Purple Zone”, plus the 12-inch includes a full selection of Pet Shop Boys mixes.

“Purple Zone” single tracklists:

CD:

‘Purple Zone’ (single version)
‘Purple Zone’ (Pet Shop Boys extended mix)
‘Purple Zone’ (Manhattan Clique remix)
‘The Day The World Turned Day-Glo’

12”:

‘Purple Zone’ (single version)
‘Purple Zone (Pet Shop Boys extended mix)
‘Purple Zone’ (Pet Shop Boys remix)
‘Purple Zone’ (Pet Shop Boys remix dub)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Inspiral Carpets announce two new reissues on coloured vinyl of ‘Revenge of the Goldfish’ & ‘Devil Hopping’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 10:42:58 +0000

Out on 15 April 2022 via Mute / BMG are the reissues on coloured vinyl of the 2 Inspiral Carpets albums “Revenge of the Goldfish” and “Devil Hopping”. This is the first time that will be made available on vinyl since their initial release.

Celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year, “Revenge of the Goldfish” is the band’s third studio release and will be available on limited orange vinyl. Featuring the line-up of Tom Hingley, Clint Boon, Craig Gill, Martyn Walsh and Graham Lambert, the album saw four classic single releases: “Dragging Me Down”, “Bitches Brew”, “Generations” and “Two Worlds Collide”. “Devil Hopping” – available here on limited red vinyl – followed in March 1994 and included the singles “Saturn 5”, “Uniform” and “I Want You”.

Watch the HD video for “Saturn 5” below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Suicide announce career spanning collection with unreleased tracks + Watch ‘Frankie Teardrop (First Version)’ film by Douglas Hart

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 14:40:17 +0000

Out on 25 March 2022 on Mute / BMG is the official collection, “Surrender”, by Suicide (Alan Vega and Martin Rev). The release holds sleeve-notes by longtime fan and friend of the band, Henry Rollins. As Rollins explains: “This gathering of songs is not a ‘best of’ nor is it a ‘definitive’ all-you-need-to-know compilation. It is an introduction that will hopefully compel you to explore the albums.”

“Surrender” includes tracks from their debut album “Suicide” (1977), through to their final studio album release, “American Supreme” (2002), plus two brand new, unheard tracks: “Girl (Unreleased Version)” and “Frankie Teardrop (First Version)”. The track-listing has been collated by Martin Rev, Liz Lamere (Alan Vega’s collaborator and wife), Henry Rollins and Jared Artaud.

All in all 16 tracks which will be released on blood red double vinyl with an embossed, mirror-boarded gatefold sleeve; CD with embossed outer sleeve and digitally.

Here’s already a previously unreleased version of “Frankie Teardrop”, with alternative lyrics. The accompanying short film was directed by Douglas Hart (My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream, The Jesus & Mary Chain).

About Suicide

Suicide formed in the early 70s, reemerging in 1976 at the heart of the New York punk scene.

Their debut album – which was given barely any credit at the time – has had an incalculable influence since its release in 1977, and went on to feature in numerous magazine’s Greatest Albums of All Time lists. The volume of artists and musicians they went on to inspire throughout the decades is huge, with New Order, Depeche Mode, Bruce Springsteen, Moby, Soft Cell, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Primal Scream and Nick Cave just a few who have acknowledged their debt to the duo.

The band continued releasing and performing for 40 years, until Alan Vega’s passing in July 2016.

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’30 Years Of Journalism – Celebration Interview’ with Uwe Kanka / Armageddon Dildos: ‘We Were In The Right Place At The Right Time!’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Back in 1991 I started writing my first reviews for Side-Line magazine. I would have never thought to go on writing reviews and making interviews non-stop for 30 years. So 2021 is a special year to me, a kind of ‘celebration year’. I got the idea to celebrate this special event by interviewing people from the scene who all have a special meaning to me. EBM formation Armageddon Dildos definitely is a band I had to interview. The German band, which started as a duo, composed a very dynamic EBM sound and got rapidly famous for their impressive live shows. The band never stopped to evolve and rapidly started experimenting with harder Industrial elements to finally move towards a more ‘Poppy’ production. Uwe Kanka kindly accepted to look back at the impressive career of ‘the dildos’.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Armageddon Dildos was originally set up in 1990 (!) by you and Dirk Krause. How did you guys meet and what was your music background?

Uwe: Dirk and I met us in 1986 in the same rehearsal room in Kassel. I played guitar/vocals in a classic three-man band (Beat The Beat) and Dirk keyboards/synths in a Synth-Pop group.

We liked each other immediately and very quickly it became clear to us that we wanted to explore new musical ways. Harder and more aggressive Electronic sounds and harder beats, that was the plan. After a few jam sessions, we knew that it worked great!

Q: Armageddon Dildos became an instant successful EBM band; you got directly signed to Zoth Ommog, releasing the EP’s “Never Mind / Pressure”, “East West”, “Resist” and of course the debut album “That’s Armageddon”. According to you what made the success formula of the early productions and what has been the impact of Talla 2XLC who produced your first works?

Uwe: I am still firmly convinced that it was largely due to the symbiosis between Dirk and me – added to that the incredible energy of that time.

Actually, something new was always happening; musical as well as social (fall of the Berlin Wall) changes certainly played a part in it. It was an unbelievable dynamic, open and wild time. Being signed to Talla 2XLC and Musik Research/Zoth Ommog was a blessing for us. It was the perfect timing for Armageddon Dildos. Talla and its staff convinced us with their high level of competence and passion for music. Frankfurt and the Techno Club, for example, was, along with Berlin, the measure of all things in Germany for us at that time. Looking back, I am sure that the success of Armageddon Dildos was largely due to Talla 2XLC and his team. We were in the right place at the right time!

Q: Zoth Ommog was one of the absolute leading labels from the 90s Electro underground scene. How do you look back at this period, the 90s, Talla 2XLC, the label and label mates?

Uwe: Zoth Ommog was very important for the development and spread of Electronic music at that time worldwide. Label bands like Leather Strip, X Marks The Pedwalk, Bigod 20, Orange Sector, Consolidated, Psychopomps, The Armageddon Dildos to name a few, played an important role in the scene in the late 80s to the mid 90s. Those were very exciting times.

Through Talla’s contacts and our gigs at the New Music Seminar 1991 and 1993 in New-York, Howie Klein became aware of us and we got a contract with Sire Records in the U.S.A. Rüdiger Ladwig took over our management and booked our concerts. “Homicidal Dolls” was released by Sire Records in 1993 in The States and “Lost” followed in 1994. After the release of “Lost” we went on tour and played among others at the Zillo Festival in December 1994 at the Zeche Karl. We were accompanied at the Zillo gigs by Markus Hartmann, who would play an important role for us in the next few years.

Q: Quite progressively the band evolved towards harder music, still EBM driven, but with an Industrial input with guitar play and samplings. What made this evolution towards a more ‘Industrial’ sound?

Uwe: We have always worked with samples. That was our usual way of working. Sampled speech, noises but also instruments like guitars were part of almost every production.

On some tracks I played the guitars later myself. In 1994, for the production of “Lost”, we went to Chicago to Wax Trax Studio to work with Keith ‘Fluffy’ Auerbach (producer/sound engineer of Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Pigface, Skinny Puppy etc.). During this time we recorded guitars and drum sequences instead of sampling them. To bring the production to the stage, Vom, who now drums for The Toten Hosen, and Uwe Osterlehner, played guitars, joined the band.

Q: You also started working with another producer; Sevren Ni-Arb produced several productions and I remember a lot of bands wanted to record in his studio. What made him that special and what has been his true impact on the final production? Are you still in touch with him?

Uwe: Most of our albums/EP/singles from ’89 to ’99 were produced by different producers. However, Dirk and I were always significantly involved.

We met Andre Schmechta (Sevren Ni-Arb) through Talla in Frankfurt. We immediately got along really well, had a very consistent understanding of music and, not to be underestimated, a very similar sense of humor. Therefore we decided to produce “Homicidal Dolls” with Andre. Working on the album was a lot of fun, full of energy and musical creativity. Later on we worked again with him on “Fear” and “Homicidal Maniac”. Besides, it always smelled wonderfully of freshly baked goods in the studio because there was a bakery in the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, we lost track of each other over the years and are no longer in contact.

Q: I got the impression the “Speed”-album (my favorite by the way) released in 1997 was a kind of turning point in the band’s early years. You signed to a major company (BMG), got produced by Bob Kraushaar and Andy Gill (Gang Of Four). The sound became ultra-professional, but how did you experience the “Speed”-album and the move to a major company?

Uwe: Through Markus Hartmann (see above) we got the contract with Metronome and later also with BMG Ariola in Hamburg. The move from Zoth Ommog to a major label changed a lot for us: first of all, of course, the financial means for production, marketing etc.. We travelled to London in search of the right producer and met Bob Kraushaar (Pet Shop Boys, Paul McCartney, ABC etc.) among others. Bob had very concrete ideas about the production of the new Armageddon Dildos album and suggested to have one half of the CD produced by himself and the other half by Andy Gill, the legendary guitarist of Gang Of Four. We agreed immediately and went to London in the Summer of 1996 to produce “Speed”. But some tracks on the album were also produced at Skyline Studio in Düsseldorf. “Speed” is, and I agree with you 100%, a very professional production and an excellent album.

Q: Do you remember how much albums you were selling at that time and was it possible to earn a living from your music?

Uwe: We had very good sales at times and could also live on it during such periods. However, the consistency was missing. I think many artists are in the same situation. You should always have a plan B in mind. But let’s be honest: there were never enough albums sold to be able to make a living from it in the long run.

Q: BMG became a one-shot experience, you get back to Zoth Ommog, revisiting some of your early songs by the album “Re:Match”. It also was the last work together with Dirk Krause. How do you explain the split of the band and are you still in touch with Dirk today?

Uwe: In hindsight, I think the events following the completion of “Speed” were key to the band’s development. We had a fantastic team behind us at the Metronome, a killer production and a very good video for “Open Up Your Eyes” recorded in Kenya. Everything was great and then we got the devastating news: Metronome was dissolved!

What a bummer. We got the rights for “Speed” and ended up with BMG Ariola, but that didn’t work out. The label split up with us and we had to look for a new label. All that was hard stuff and the band didn’t take it too well.

Dirk decided to leave the Dildos to start a new project. I wanted to continue. We decided to do one last release together and that became “Re.Match” on Zoth Ommog in 1999. Dirk and I have hardly any contact today.

Q: “Morgengrauen” released in 2003 on Electric Blue was the first album you were totally involved in the song writing. That was something new and without offending you Uwe, I think the only Armageddon Dildos-album that couldn’t convince me. What’s your personal analysis about this work?

Uwe: I underestimated, as I see it not only now, that this kind of music definitely does not fit to an EBM/Industrial band like The Armageddon Dildos.

I like “Morgengrauen”. It’s an Electro album with good songs, artwork and photos. However, I should have released it as a new project with a different name. But as we all know, hindsight is always the wiser!

Q: “Sangreal” got released in 2005 on Ausfahrt, but it finally was the “Untergrund”-album released in 2011 on Alfa Matrix that put you back on the map. You joined back hands with a leading label from the scene and for the very first time you also produced the album. What does this album mean to you and where do you place this work in the band’s discography?

Uwe: “Untergrund” is a very important album for me. It combines interesting Electro sounds and beats with hard guitars without slipping too much into pure Industrial. Unfortunately, I could not convince Ausfahrt/Electric Blue with this production. I asked for a termination contract, got it and signed with Alfa Matrix a short time later.

However, this is not the first independently produced album. I have been working with sound engineer and producer Mathias Black since 1997, who mixed and co-produced all Armageddon Dildos albums from “Re:Match” onwards.

Q: After “Untergrund” it took your nine years to strike back with the “Dystopia”-album, which became one of the most achieved, diversified and professional albums. Do you feel this album as different from the others? And tell us a bit more about the ‘teamwork’ to achieve “Dystopia”?

Uwe: “Dystopia” is the first Armageddon Dildos album where I did everything on my own until the mixing phase. From the composition/lyrics to the recording and programming of the instruments to the recording of the vocals including Malin’s vocals for “Neon”. I had quite clear ideas in which direction “Dystopia” should move. Mathias changed or added vocals and some sounds later while mixing the tracks. We had a very good division of labor. I am really satisfied with the result of this production!

Q: Armageddon Dildos always had a strong live reputation. How did you see the shows evolving throughout the years and what’s your connection with the fans?

Uwe: What has changed over the last thirty years is the number of musicians on stage: Dirk and I started in ’89 as a duo. In the mid-90s, there were four of us for a while with Vom and Uwe Osterlehner. After that with Vom it was three.

At the first gig without Dirk at the beginning of 2000, Malin and Dave Anderson were there with me. Then Ulf Häusgen joined on guitar/vocals. A short time later Rene Nowotny took over the keyboards. On our five-week U.S. tour with Inertia in 2007, Gabriel Shaw joined me and Ulf Häusgen.

And for almost ten years now, it’s been just the two of us on stage again: Uwe Kanka and Sven Mouhcine. Last but not least, it is very important to say that Mathias Black has been responsible for the sound of the Dildos as a member of the band for 99% of the gigs since 1996.

What has not changed at all during this time, thank God, is the energy and power of every Armageddon Dildos show, which also includes the very close contact to the audience and the fans.

Q: I remember there was an Armageddon Dildos fan-club. How important is it for a band to have a fan club?

Uwe: I think that a fan club is very important for artists. In our case it was phenomenal. The Armageddon Dildos Fan Club was founded in Aachen after our gig in Übach-Palenberg on 24.06.1991. After that, regular meetings took place in Düsseldorf or Aachen. The fan club did unbelievably good public relations work, e.g. published an info letter. Members of the fan club were at almost all the band’s concerts until the middle of the ’90s. Due to personal changes and also due to the musical development of the band from the middle of 90s onwards, the interest of the members of the Fan Club in the band waned.

Q: If you had to introduce Armageddon Dildos to people who never heard of the band before, what song and album would you choose first?

Uwe: It depends on the people. I have friends who can’t do anything with our older songs; I would play “Stay” or similar tracks for them. People from the scene who don’t know us, mmhm, that’s not so easy. Maybe “I Can’t Remember” or “White Room”. But I could also think of pieces by “Speed” and “Homicidal Dolls”. I personally like “Gottland” very much.

Q: Do you’ve other passions in life next to music?

Uwe: Ride a motorbike, skiing and enjoy the tranquility of nature.

Q: Did the success of the band had an impact on you as human being?

Uwe: I don’t think so. Rather the failures. Because those were the ones that kept me going.

Q: What’s your best- and worst memory after more than thirty years Armageddon Dildos? And do you still have secret wishes and dreams?

Uwe: I would like to mention two of the many wonderful memories: the fantastic concert in Übach-Palenberg together with And One, when we met the people from the later Fan Club, and our performance at the Roskilde Festival at midnight in front of about 10,000 spectators. That was gigantic.

The worst was definitely the moment when we were informed about the closure of Metronome.

Secret wishes and dreams? Yes, I do. And they should be kept secret.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Duran Duran launch all new video, ‘Anniversary’ filled with lookalikes

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 16:45:36 +0000

Duran Duran have released the new video for “Anniversary”, directed by photographer and filmmaker, Alison Jackson. Not a coincidence as the video is filled with lookalikes and actors, her trademark. “Anniversary” is taken from the band’s upcoming fifteenth studio album “Future Past”, set for global release on October 22 via Tape Modern for BMG.

The video was shot over three days at the historic Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, which dates back to the 11th century. Opening its doors to a wealth of celebrity lookalikes, Alison Jackson created lavish scenes of pure decadence. Watch what Elton John, The Queen, Daniel Craig, Lady Gaga, Dolly Parton and a host of others get up to in one long weekend with Simon, John, Nick and Roger.

Watch “Anniversary”.

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Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes and British artist and singer/violinist Wendy Bevan release new video + new Duran Duran single to be revealed tonight

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 15:06:03 +0000

(Photo by Radka Leitmeritz) Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes and British artist and singer/violinist Wendy Bevan have released the third installment of their four part Astronomia project “Astronomia III: heaven and hell in the serpent’s tail”. Ahead of the release, the pair have shared the album’s opening track “Meteor Shower” which you can check below.

Over the course of 2020, the duo collaborated on a series of 52 cinematic instrumentals inspired by the universe. These works are presented across four 13-track, individually named albums, as the Astronomia project. The first release “The Fall of Saturn” was on the Spring Equinox (March 20), the second; “The Rise Of Lyra” on the Summer Solstice (June 21) and this third release falls on the Autumn Equinox (September 22). The final installment will be released on the Winter Solstice (December 21).

In related news, today, Duran Duran will reveal their new track “Tonight United”, produced by the band alongside the Italian producer Giorgio Moroder. It’s the fourth song to be taken from their fifteenth studio album, “Future Past” to be released on October 22 via Tape Modern for BMG.

For now, here’s “Meteor Shower”.

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Duruan Duran return with all new single, ‘More Joy’, feat. Chai

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 07:59:59 +0000

Out now is Duran Duran’s newest single “More Joy” taken from their upcoming 15th studio album “Future Past” to be released on October 22 via Tape Modern for BMG. You can expect that band’s signature pop blended with a flavor of J-pop-disco-punk with collaborators Chai.

Keyboardist Nick Rhodes explains: “The song was born out of a crazy jam with Duran Duran, Graham Coxon and Erol Alkan. It was such an unusual piece we weren’t quite sure if it would fit in at first. It reminded me of one of those retro Japanese video games, which I always found quite uplifting. We came up with the chant “more joy” early on, and that became the key to the rest of the track. We all agreed that it would sound really great with Japanese female voices on it, and that’s when Simon had the inspired idea to ask Chai if they would possibly collaborate with us. To our joy they agreed, and the result most certainly brought an incredible new energy to the song.”

For the new material the band has been working with British DJ / producer Erol Alkan and Italian composer / producer Giorgio Moroder. The band has also enlisted the help of Swedish qrtist Tove Lo, Ivorian Doll, and of course Japan’s Chqi< In addition, Blur’s Graham Coxon co-wrote and lends his guitar to several tracks on the record, and David Bowie’s former pianist Mike Garson plqyed on the album closer “Falling”. The record, which was recorded across studios in London and LA over lockdown, also features long-time collaborator Mark Ronson who co-wrote and played on “Wing”, and was mixed by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent.

Here’s the new track.

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2 years ago The Cranberries lead singer Dolores O’Riordan died aged 46

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 16:38:42 +0000

(Photo by Wikipedia) Today, exactlt 2 years ago the sad news broke that Dolores O’Riordan, frontwoman of The Cranberries, had died, aged only 46.

O’Riordan was in London to work with Martin “Youth” Glover on her side project D.A.R.K. and to meet representatives of the BMG record label about a new album of The Cranberries. She was found unresponsive that morning at the London Hilton on Park Lane hotel in Mayfair and died.

The cause of death was not immediately made public until an inquest at Westminster Coroner’s Court held on 6 September, which ruled that she died as a result of accidental drowning in a bathtub, following sedation by alcohol intoxication.

Dolores O’Riordan brought the rock band The Cranberries to worldwide success for thirteen years before the band took a break starting in 2003, reuniting in 2009. She also started a solo career with her first solo album “Are You Listening?” being released in May 2007. It was followed up by “No Baggage” in 2009.

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Erasure announce a brand new remastered & expanded 3CD edition of ‘Chorus’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 15:07:04 +0000

On February 14th 2020 BMG will release the latest in their series of remastered and expanded Erasure CD reissues with a 3-CD edition of “Chorus”. It features a remastered version of the original album on one disc; a selection of new and classic remixes, b-sides and bonus tracks on disc two; and a live version of the entire “Chorus” album, recorded on Erasure’s Phantasmagorical Entertainment Tour, on the final disc.

This track is a brand new remix of “Am I Right?” taken from the forthcoming remastered and expanded 3CD set.

“Chorus” was Erasure’s 5th proper studio album and was released on 14 October 1991 by Mute Records in Germany and the UK and 15 October 1991 by Sire/Reprise Records in the USA. The remastered and expanded edition of ‘Chorus’ comes in deluxe hardback book packaging with brand new sleeve notes by Mat Smith.

MIDI slop killed the chorded voices

For the geeks, prior to the album’s production, programmer Vince Clarke had noticed technical limitations of the by-then-predominant MIDI sequencing standard, notably that the protocol’s low signal rate resulted in timing errors (known as “MIDI slop”) when multiple notes were triggered simultaneously. In an effort to eliminate this and give the album a “tighter” feel, he avoided the use of MIDI completely, using primarily analog synthesizers and the Roland MC-4 CV/gate sequencer. The avoidance of MIDI had other side effects on the sound of the album, such as the lack of chorded voices (the MC4 can only trigger one note at a time per instrument) and the absence of digital synthesizers and samplers, due to lack of CV/gate control on available models. Clarke would continue with this production technique for later recordings through the 90s.

Tracklisting.

CD1 – CHORUS REMASTERED
• Chorus
• Waiting For The Day
• Joan
• Breath Of Life
• Am I Right
• Love To Hate You
• Turns The Love To Anger
• Siren Song
• Perfect Stranger
• Home

CD2 – B-SIDES, REMIXES & RARITIES
• Over The Rainbow – Originally appears on the single ‘Chorus’
• Turns The Love To Anger (Vince Clarke Remix) – New Remix
• Perfect Stranger (KROQ Mellow Version) – Taken from ‘The KROQ Sessions’
• Waiting For Sex (Full Length) – Taken from the single ‘Am I Right?’
• Love To Hate You (Robbie Rivera’s Juicy Mix) – New Remix
• Twilight – Originally appears on the 2006 EIS release ‘Buried Treasure II’
• Let It Flow – Originally appears on the single ‘Am I Right?’
• Chorus (Fishes In The Sea) (Ben Grosse Remix) – U.S. Promo
• Siren Song (Alternative Lyrics) – Originally appeared on the 2006 EIS release ‘Buried Treasure II’
• Breath Of Life (Divine Inspiration Mix) – Remixed by Phil Kelsey. Originally appears on the single ‘Breathe Of Life’
• Love to Hate You (KROQ Blunder Version) – Taken from ‘The KROQ Sessions’
• La La La – Originally appears on the single ‘Love To Hate You’
• Mirror To Your Soul – Originally appears on the 2006 EIS release ‘Buried Treasure II’
• Waiting For The Day (Demo Version) – Originally appears on the box set ‘From Moscow To Mars’
• Perfect Stranger (Acoustic) – Originally appears on the single ‘Am I Right?’
• Am I Right? (Glen Nicholls Extended 12″ Mix) – New Remix
• Home (Minute Taker Remix) – New Remix

CD3 – CHORUS LIVE
• Chorus
• Waiting For The Day
• Joan
• Breath Of Life
• Am I Right
• Love To Hate You
• Turns The Love To Anger
• Siren Song
• Perfect Stranger
• Home

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Interview with Erasure ‘s Vince Clarke, Mark Saunders and Gareth Jones on re-release ‘Wild!’ LP

János Janurik — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 09:02:29 +0000

(Interview © Janos Janurik) 2019 is a year full of anniversaries and anniversary releases and tours, just think of bands and records or special concerts such as Alphaville (“Forever Young” (Super-Deluxe-Box)), the anniversary tour to A-ha`s debut album “Hunting High And Low”, special live performances of The Cure to their legendary “Disintegration” album – just to name a few…

This series is complemented by the re-release of Erasure’s “Wild!” LP. The album was originally released in October 1989 and put the duo of Vince Clarke and Andy Bell on the top of the charts. According to Erasure’s fan base this record is still one of their best and contains timeless classics like “Drama!”, “You Surround Me”, or “Blue Savannah”, which are still part of their concerts.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Wild!”, our contributor, Janos Janurik, invited three people involved in that project for an interview: the unique and unrepeatable Vince Clarke and his right hands, who also have a good reputation among Depeche Mode fans: the two producers, Gareth Jones and Mark Saunders.

They were all ready for a discussion and answered the questions of our colleague as follows.

(Erasure press photo by David Scheinmann (1989))

Vince Clarke

SL: In the series of the Mute album re-releases the last Erasure LP of the eighties, “Wild! ” will be published on the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary. Which (not only musical) memories of the autumn of 1989 are still awake in you?

VC: – I remember the music was recorded in my very first home studio in London. Mark Saunders worked with me whilst Andy recorded with Gareth Jones at the ‘Church’ studio.

SL: The producer of this album was Gareth Jones, a long-time studio employee of Mute Records artists like Depeche Mode, Wire, and Nick Cave. His partner in the production team was the legendary mix master Mark Saunders. You worked together with Gareth on other Erasure albums. Which cooperation do you remember best? Do you have a favourite remix of Mark’s Erasure catalogue?

VC: – Mark did a fantastic remix of ‘You Surround Me’. He was/is very easy going and we got on well. At that point I didn’t really know Gareth.

SL: The single releases “Drama!” and “Blue Savannah” are still fix parts of your live setlists. On the Violet Flame Tour you performed remixes of the rarely played “Wild! ” singles “Star” and “You Surround Me”. Except “2000 Miles” you actually played all album songs at your previous concerts. Are you still satisfied with this material? How do you rate this album after 30 years of time?

VC: – Not bad. 🙂

SL: The “Wild! Tour” has perhaps been the biggest of your tours so far. You toured the world with a gigantic stage set. For the first time you had dancers on stage besides the background singers and there were also several costume changes and two different setlists. During this tour you also played live behind the iron curtain in Prague and then in exotic places like South America, Japan and Australia for the first time. Not to mention the legendary finale at the Milton Keynes Bowl. Do you have any special souvenirs from this tour that will bring back good memories?

VC: – I don’t have any souvenirs, but I remember that the tour was very exciting, especially play to such big crowds.

SL: The second disc of the forthcoming re-release will feature 14 bonus B-sides, remixes, rarities and live recordings, five of which are previously unreleased, including a brand-new remix of “Drama!” by Richard Norris and a recently discovered unreleased mix of “How Many Times?”. This song is my favourite song from the album and which one is yours?

VC: – “Blue Savannah”.

SL: But Erasure is not a nostalgia band of the 80s, because in the meantime you have released more than a dozen albums that have all been received positively – by fans as well as critics. What does the band-future of Erasure look like? Are there any plans for new material yet?

VC: – We hope to be writing for a new album in 2019.

SL: What would your message be for your fan base?

VC: – THANK YOU!

(Gareth Jones photo by GJ)

Gareth Jones

SL: Gareth, you’re supposed to be the in-house producer for Mute Records. Before working with Erasure, you’ve worked with renowned Mute artists such as Depeche Mode, Wire and Nick Cave. How do you remember the first meeting with label boss Daniel Miller and the studio work in Berlin with Depeche Mode on their „Construction Time Again” album?

GJ: – I have told this story many times, so I will keep it brief.

I was introduced to Daniel Miller and Depeche Mode by my friend and mentor John Foxx. He owned a studio called “The Garden” in Shoreditch in East London, and Daniel and Depeche Mode were interested in recording there. I was working for John at the time and he sent me over to the MUTE Records office, which at that time was in Kensington Gardens Square in West London, to meet the whole team. I was a bit nervous, but they were all super nice and normal people, and agreeably weird. Luckily for me they felt good about me too, and offered me the job.

SL: How did the request to produce Erasure’s „Wild!” album come about? Have you had contact with Vince Clarke and Andy Bell before?

GJ: – Before we started working on the “Wild” album I didn’t know Vince or Andy very well at all. For this record they had decided to make sure that there was plenty of time for Andy to work on his vocals. They were looking for someone to engineer and produce the vocals. I had already been working in Berlin with the incredibly talented Diamanda Galas. She had met Andy a couple of times I believe (I don’t know where) and she was kind enough to recommend my vocal production skills to him. So that is how I join the team.

SL: How was it working with them compared to Depeche Mode?

GJ: – This was a very different process from working with Depeche Mode. Initially I was hired to record and produce Andy’s vocals. Vince was in another studio with the other co-producer of the record, Mark Saunders. We were in the church studio and I think Mark and Vince were in Swing Studios.

The studios were both in North London so we were able to have meetings often, and we were continually exchanging musical and vocal ideas.

When it came to mixing it was decided that Mark and I would both mix the album. I was mixing in the Church and Mark was mixing in Konk. We were all determined to get the best out of the songs, so we all pushed each other to do our best like a Sound System contest.

I remember the first single “Drama!” went back and forth between our two studios a few times! Eventually we were all happy.

SL: Are there any favourites from this album that you are still proud of today?

GJ: – The whole record was an amazing experience. Vince and Andy are such strong song writers, talented musicians and all around wonderful people that it was a real pleasure and privilege to be a part of this great record.

I loved the whole process and I have a special affection for “Drama!” and” Blue Savannah”.

SL: You were not only involved in the „Wild!” project as a producer, but also as a remixer, for example the „Syrinx Mix” from „You Surround Me”, which is one of my favourites. Do you have a favourite remix from Erasure`s discography that you particularly enjoyed working on?

GJ: – I did 2 remixes of “Blue Savannah” (“Der Deutsche Mix 1 & 2”) in Berlin with my friends Sun Electric – Stephan Fisher, Max Loderbauer and Tom Thiel. I really enjoyed this – they are all so musical, creative and professional. It was truly a fantastic experience.

SL: After the „Wild!” album you had numerous co-productions with Erasure – among them you worked on one of my favourite albums from them, on the self-titled „Erasure”. And how about you? Do you have a favourite album from Erasure?

GJ: – The first album, “Wild!”, is dear to my heart. I also love the “Erasure” album. It was such a pleasure to work with my friend Thomas Fehlmann as a co-producer on the album and he bought so much to the table. I was so happy that Diamanda agreed to do a guest vocal on the record. We also had the pleasure of an amazing LP mix by Francois Kevorkian.

– The „Wild!” album also included an extensive world tour. Did you see Erasure live back then? If so, where? What did you think of them as a live act?

GJ: – I saw the Wild tour in Hamburg I think. I invited my parents to come along. The show was incredible. I am always impressed by Erasure live shows. The love between the band and the audience is so tangible and touching. Andy is an outrageously talented frontperson, and Vince is always Mr Cool. What a great combination!

SL: What are you currently working on and what are your plans for the future?

GJ: – I am currently writing and recording a solo electronic music project and a new collaboration that I am very excited about.

This year I will also be writing and releasing a new LP for the “Spiritual Friendship” project – an ongoing collaboration with the amazing Nick Hook.

I am also producing an exciting and enjoyably weird electronic pop album with American and European musicians for a new project called “Of Love And Lust”.

I will be back in Yann Tiersen’s fantastic new studio on the island of Ushant (Ouessant) later in the year, helping out with a new recording.

(Mark Saunders photo by MS)

Mark Saunders

SL: Among your early outstanding works is the engineering of some of David Bowie’s songs from 1985 and 1986, who was the idol of several generations of musicians, including Erasure’s Vince Clarke. How do you remember this studio work?

MS: – I feel incredibly lucky to have been in a studio to witness the true legend, David Bowie at work. It was just under a year from starting at West Side Studios in London when Bowie first came in to work on songs for the movie that he was also acting in – „Absolute Beginners”. Before that, I’d been making demos on a Tascam 8-Track tape machine in a dilapidated cow shed on my dad’s farm. Working with Bowie was an unfathomable step up! When the Bowie sessions started, I was transitioning from assistant engineer to house engineer. My bosses, producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley (Madness, China Crisis, Elvis Costello, Bush, Bowie & Jagger), were constantly throwing me in the deep end on sessions. There were quite a lot of jazz songs that we recorded for the Absolute Beginners soundtrack were and there would often be drums, bass, piano, guitar, and sometimes up to 9 brass players all playing together in the studio. It was intense as a newbie engineer to get thrown in on those sessions. I remember one session feeling somewhat overwhelmed and turning around to my boss Alan to get some confirmation that I was doing ok and he was asleep on the sofa behind me! For Bowie’s songs for the soundtrack, when the band were laying down the backing track for Bowie to sing on, Bowie would always sing along a ‘rough’ vocal to keep the band inspired. His vocals were always brilliant and as far as I was concerned, nearly every one could have been the master vocal take. But surprisingly, when Bowie was happy with the backing track, he would approach singing lead vocals in quite a clinical way. He would often sing one line, stop, and listen back to it before moving on to the next line. He would also quite regularly check his vocal on the demo version of the song to during this process. His vocals always sounded fantastic though. The pinnacle of those Bowie sessions was when on one day, we recorded the epic title track „Absolute Beginners” and then late in the afternoon, Mick Jagger came in to record „Dancing In The Street” for Live Aid! This was incredible for me – this was a year and one day from starting in a professional studio – and I was working with Bowie & Jagger! This being before cellphones and frustratingly, I had no way to text friends and say – „You’ll never guess who I’m working with today!”. „Dancing In The Street” was one of the first records I ever got an engineering credit on.

SL:Erasure are part of the success story of Mute Records. Your first commissions with the record company included remixes of Depeche Mode`s „Strangelove” and „Everything Counts”. These tracks are – after 30 years – still firm parts of the Depeche Mode club evenings. Did you like making them (with Tim Simenon)?

MS: – I think that these remixes occurred just after or around the time that I worked with Tim on Neneh Cherry’s brilliant debut album „Raw Like Sushi”. Tim was great to work with, he was young and came from the DJ-ing aspect of music rather than being a studio musician or an engineer and he had a naive (in a good way) approach to making records that kept things moving along and fresh sounding – particularly noticeable on „Buffalo Stance” by Neneh Cherry – her first hit. The „Everything Counts” Depeche remix was a pretty simple affair. I seemed to remember hiring in a Roland SH-01 for that session which was definitely used for the bass. Personally I would have preferred to have made the remix more musical – but Tim was happy to keep it more of a hardcore club track. Our Strangelove remix was much more complicated and fraught with technical difficulties.

In those days I was syncing my Atari 1040st computer, running Cubase, to a timecode track (SMPTE) which was recorded on one track of the multitrack tape that contained the song.

This quite often lead to difficulties because after hours or playing and rewinding the tape, the tape would start to wear out. Usually the code track was on the edge of the tape and the edges wore out faster.

So as it go late into the night, we had real problems syncing the computer to the tape machine. And the computer was running all the new parts and samples that Tim and I were adding for the remix. I think this one turned out pretty well though!

SL: Before the release of “Wild!” you also made remixes for Erasure songs like „A Little Respect”, „Stop!” and „Knocking On Your Door”. Did you follow the band`s history from the very beginning?

MS: – I’d been a fan of Vince since the early Depeche days and the Yazoo era but I missed the early Erasure days. My first Erasure work was a remix of „A Little Respect”. I’m sure this came about because of my work for Tim Simenon who was signed to Rhythm King records which was based out of Mute’s offices. I didn’t meet the band though until I mixed the „Crackers International EP” which included the songs „Stop!”, „Knocking On Your Door”, „God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman” and – my favourite – „The Hardest Part”. I mixed „The Hardest Part” first and that was the first time I met Vince – when he came in to check the mix. I was nervous and nobody had warned me about his very dry, deadpan sense of humour. For one thing, when he listened to the mix, he barely moved. He barely even seemed to blink! He didn’t tap his feet, smile or turn around to me to give me an assuring look – nothing! He sat like a robot with his head between the speakers. I took this as a sign that he must absolutely hate the mix – I was literally pacing back and forth behind him wondering how I’d got the mix so horribly wrong! Eventually the song finished, Vince stopped the tape and then paused for what felt like an eternity before turning around and saying „I love it!” And then with a dead straight face he said – „Just one thing… Did you not like like the kick drum?” My heart nearly stopped! Had I really missed out the entire kick drum track on an Erasure record! But before I had a chance to respond, he said „Just kidding… there’s no kick drum on this song!”

SL: In 1989, Erasure`s „Wild!” album was released that still belongs to the fans’ favourites and includes such classics as „Drama!” and „Blue Savannah”. What memories can you recall of these studio works with Erasure?

MS: – As Erasure had time constraints for the making of „Wild!”, I was hired to co-produce the tracks with Vince Clark and Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Wire, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Interpol) was hired to work on vocals with Andy. When Vince and I finished a track in his basement studio in his house in Notting Hill, London, the multitrack would be whisked off to The Church studios in Crouch End in the north end of London for Andy to sing on. On the first day of the recording, Vince sat me down and said – in his deadpan way, „Do you want to know how much money you’re going to make from this album?” Before I could utter much more than „Oh… well… err”, he’d tapped away on a calculator for a few seconds and was holding up the resulting calculation to show me and said „How’s that?” To which I gulped and said „Err… that looks just fine… thanks.” Vince’s basement studio contained nearly every great synth known to man and it was beautifully laid out, with a mixing board against one wall facing the window, and the other three walls had floor to ceiling racks laden with all the synths. One thing completely stunned me on day one though. We decided on what song to start with and Vince then proceeded to expertly get a kick drum sound from one of his synths – an ARP 2500 I think. When he was happy with it, he said, „OK let’s print that to tape (an Otari 24 track 2in Tape machine)”. I said „Are you sure you want to record it now?” He frowned and said „Why not?”.

I said, „Well, wouldn’t you prefer to hear the kick drum in context with a bass and maybe a couple of synths before you commit it to tape?” He still looked completely baffled – like I was asking him to pilot a space craft to the moon or something else outside of his comfort zone.

He replied „But this is the way I’ve always done it.” – which is a fair response from someone whose already produced a shed load of mega hits! „OK”, I said, „but surely, you have more than enough excellent gear here to have all the parts running live from your sequencer and refine all the sounds in context with each other before we need to commit to tape – right?” Long pause and more deep frowning – followed by „I’ve never thought about doing it like that”. This blew me away! This was Vince Clarke, the guy that I watched on Tomorrow’s World many years before I got into the music biz explaining how the Fairlight could sample sounds and play them musically on a keyboard and then sequence them to create a song – all inside a massive computer. Ground breaking stuff! And yet here was the same guy who hadn’t thought of running multiple parts on his sequencer before! Anyway, luckily, rather than kick me out of his studio, Vince gave my suggestion a go and after a couple of hours he said „I like this way of doing it…” and so that’s how we worked from then on. Vince is a musical genius and I loved working with him. He was all about keeping stuff dead simple and keeping songs short… He would quite often say „That’ll do”, like a builder who’s just skimped on the bolts holding some majorly important steel beams together. An example of the Vince Clark genius was the rising and descending piano riffs in „Blue Savannah”. Vince, during the programming/recording said „This needs a piano riff”. Then he just seemed to sit there and stare into space. After a while, I said „Why don’t you just try and play something?” He said… „Sshh… I’m thinking!” After what seemed like an eternity, he started furiously typing numbers into his ancient BBC UMi computer. Minutes later, he sat back and said „Right, let’s have a listen then.”… and my jaw dropped when the brilliant piano riffs popped out of the speakers. He had worked it all out in his head and then had typed in – numerically – each note, the position of the note, the note length and the velocity. Bloody brilliant! At the beginning of the record, Daniel Miller, the Mute Records boss, said to me „I want you to try and get Vince to try some new sounds on this record – experiment a bit more. He’s been using the same sounds for years.” So I tried, but I didn’t push the idea with Vince because I loved all his tried and trust analog synth sounds. We did use some samples from my Akai S1000 sampler a few times, like the acoustic guitar sample on „Star” – although Vince had no interest in using a sampler, as far as I remember. When the recording was finished, both Gareth and I started mixing the songs. I can’t remember if we both mixed all of the songs or not – and I can’t remember exactly who’s mixes ended up on the record – but I think it was a fairly even split between Gareth’s and mine. I mixed in Konk Studios, just up the road from The Church where Gareth was mixing. Konk, owned by The Kinks, had a great big room with a full size snooker table in it which was fab. Vince drove up from Notting Hill one day during the mixing and said „Come on, take a break… Let’s have a game of snooker!” So that’s what we did – we played at least two games and then I said, „OK, let me play you some mixes then”, to which he replied ‘nah, I only came up here for a game of snooker’. I assumed he was joking because, for one thing, the drive from his house to Konk was a fairly arduous journey across a big chunk of London. He told me he was deadly serious though and it took a great deal of effort to persuade him to stay and listen to a mix. I decided to play him „Blue Savannah”. Now, if you’ve ever heard the acoustic slide guitar samples in my 12” remix of this song… well, I had originally put them in the album version. I found the samples in my library while I was working on the song and when I loaded them into the Akai S1000, I loved them! They fit the key of the song perfectly. But somehow I had a feeling that I might be on shaky ground when Vince heard them. My instinct was right. When I played him my album mix, he assumed his normal position… stone faced, and dead still in front of the speakers. But when the first slide guitar riff came in, he positively flinched… like someone had slapped him around the face! But amazingly he kept listening without moving again until the end of the song.

Then he turned to me and said „Yeah, it’s good… but… I would never, ever, have a slide guitar in any of my songs… ever!” So that was the end to the slide guitar in the album mix. And now I think about it… how did I ever get away with putting them in the 12” version?!

Vince had an unerring confidence in what he was doing. If Daniel Miller, the Mute Records boss, had any doubts about anything to do with the record, Vince would say „Don’t worry Daniel, it’s going to go to number 1” – which of course it did, in it’s first week of release!

SL: A remix of „You Surround Me” also bears your name. You made a danceable club hit out of that original ballad. Erasure even played this version live on their Violet Flame Tour 2014. Please tell us a little about it! Which song, by the way, is your favourite from the „Wild!” album?

MS: – I was in Mayfair studios in London for this remix. I remember getting depressed because for quite a long time I couldn’t get anything going that I liked – mainly because of the tempo of the track I think. Then I tried playing double tempo drums along with the song and all of a sudden I was up and running and excited about the mix! I’m pretty sure I was thinking Billy Idol when I did this version. I was pretty happy with the result and was very flattered to learn that the band played my version live. My favourite song from „Wild!” is definitely „Blue Savannah”. My next favourite song that I worked on with Erasure was „All This Time Still Falling Out Of Love” from the album „Nightbird”.

SL: Not only for Erasure, but also for Yazoo you made a remix for their hit „Situation”. Did you see the duo live during their reunion 10 years ago?

MS: – Working on the remix of „Situation” with Daniel Miller was a great honour. What an absolutely perfect pop song… and less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds long! On my website is an extended edit of the song that never got released… actually, I don’t think I ever played it to the band or Mute. I was lucky enough to see them in New York during their reunion tour. They sounded great. Alison Moyet is awesome… I got to work with her too a couple of times and she, like Vince, has a very dry sense of humour and is very down to earth.

SL: What future plans and current works in progress do you have?

MS: – I moved back from the States in 2017 which was a big deal after 21 years of living there. I feel much more inspired musically in the UK. I’m in love with the BBC 6 Music radio station… best radio station I’ve ever heard. They play the most eclectic range of music that you could possibly imagine but they somehow nearly always play stuff that appeals to me! I have two young boys and for a few years now life has been more about family life than pursuing my career but I feel that as they are getting older there is going to be room for both – hopefully soon!

P.S.: A short info for all those who have missed a conversation on the topic with Andy Bell, he is currently very busy with his new solo project “Torsten in Queereteria” (release date: 12 April 2019) and therefore unfortunately could not be at our disposal.

“Erasure – Wild! – 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition”, is out Friday, 29th March 2019 via BMG / Mute Records.

CD1 Track Listing:

Piano Song – Instrumental
Blue Savannah
Drama!
How Many Times?
Star
La Gloria
You Surround Me
Brother and Sister
2000 Miles
Crown Of Thorns
Piano Song

CD2 Track Listing:

Sweet, Sweet Baby – The Moo Moo Mix
Drama! – Richard Norris Mix (unreleased)
Blue Savannah – Mark Saunders 12″ Mix
Piano Song – Live at the London Arena (unreleased)
Runaround On The Underground – Remix
How Many Times? – Alternative Mix (unreleased)
Supernature – Daniel Miller & Phil Legg Remix
Star – Soul Mix
No GDM. – Unfinished Mix
Drama! – Act 2
Brother and Sister – Live at the London Arena (unreleased)
Dreamlike State – 7″ A Cappella Mix (unreleased)
You Surround Me – Gareth Jones Mix
91 Steps – 6 Pianos Mix

János Janurik

The Prodigy to release new single ‘Need Some1’ later today – but you can already preview it here

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 13:17:01 +0000

The Prodigy, the English electronic dance music group from Braintree (Essex), will release a new single later today. “Need Some1” will be played tonight on Annie Mac’s BBC Radio 1 show in the UK. 45 minutes later the official music video will be premiered via the band’s website.

Here’s how the song will sound like.

It’s been a long way coming for the band’s 7th studio album. The Prodigy signed a new recording deal with BMG Rights Management which was to release their seventh studio album in early 2018. During their European tour in December 2017, the band premiered three new songs including “Need Some 1” (initially titled “New Beats”).

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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RIP Robert Miles – the man behind the massive trance hit ‘Children’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 10 May 2017 18:30:31 +0000

Very bad news, again, from the music world. Robert Stiles, birth name Roberto Concina, has lost his battle with cancer. He died yesterday (aged only 47 years old) in Ibiza, Spain, after a short battle with stage 4 metastatic cancer.

Roberto Concina was a Swiss-Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ who rose to worldwide fame in 1994 thanks to the beautiful trance/chill-out piece “Children”, which was later developed into a dream trance song featuring a piano theme on top as you can hear below (compare the Dream Version with the Original Version).

Miles’ next single was the equally delicious “Fable” which was loosely based – especially sound wise – on “Children”. Part of this song was used in the theatrical trailer for the U.S. movie “Ever After” starring Drew Barrymore and Dougray Scott.

His debut album “Dreamland” was released on 7 June 1996 in Europe, and released in the United States about a month later, including “One and One” of Polish pop diva Edyta Górniak. This cover also became very popular and was later released as a single in Europe and the U.S..

In November 1997, Miles released another track, “Freedom”, which was one of the key tracks on his second album “23am” featuring vocals provided by Kathy Sledge of Sister Sledge. “23am” incorporated more lyrics-driven songs than its predecessor while maintaining Miles’ trademark piano sound from the first album.

After splitting from /deConstruction/BMG and his former management in London, he set up his own independent record label S:alt Records in 2001 and released his third album, “Organik”, featuring the new single “Paths” with vocals provided by Nina Miranda of Smoke City. Guests on the album included Trilok Gurtu, Bill Laswell and Nitin Sawhney.

His later career was less commercially successful but nevertheless quite an interesting one. In 2004, Miles released “Miles_Gurtu”, his fourth album, which was a collaboration with percussionist Trilok Gurtu and included jazz and electronica elements. Also guesting on the album were Nitin Sawhney, Jon Thorne, Mike Patto and Paul Falloon.

His fifth album entitled “Th1rt3en” was released worldwide on Salt Records in February 2011, and featured guests such as Robert Fripp, Dave Okumu, Jon Thorne, Mike Patto and Davide Giovannini. For this album, Miles produced a blend of alternative and progressive rock with ambient and electronic soundscapes.

In 2012 Miles finished working on the soundtrack for the movie documentary “The Turn of THIS Century”, directed by Peter Beyak and featuring the photography of Life Magazine. He also founded a new FM and online alternative radio station named Open Lab, broadcasting from Ibiza, a project bringing together culture, arts, media, technology and innovation.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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The Charlatans return with new album ‘Different Days’ featuring Paul Weller, Johnny Marr, Stephen Morris of New Order, …

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 17:30:33 +0000

The English indie act The Charlatans are to release their new album on May 26th through BMG. “Different Days” is the bands’ 13th album and was self produced at the band’s studio in Crewe.

For this new album, the core quartet of vocalist Tim Burgess, bassist Martin Blunt, guitarist Mark Collins and keyboard player Tony Rogers, opened their doors to allow contributions from an array of friends from Paul Weller and Johnny Marr to crime writer Ian Rankin and writer/actress Sharon Horgan. Also included are former Verve drummer Pete Salisbury, Anton Newcombe from Brian Jonestown Massacre and Stephen Morris of New Order.

The album will be available on 12” vinyl, CD, cassette and limited edition clear 12” vinyl featuring five exclusive 7” singles.

“Different Days” is the follow-up album to “Modern Nature” released in 2015.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Rave pioneer DJ Guru Josh dead, aged 51 – ‘Infinity’ will remain a cult house hit

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 23:52:48 +0000

Very sad news has reached us from the dance/house scene. Paul Walden aka DJ Guru Josh is no more. He died in Ibiza on Monday December 27; his death was confirmed by his art assistant Chris Goodchild and his agent Sharron Elkabas. The cause of death has not yet been disclosed.

Walden was a Jersey (UK) based musician, active in the British post-acid house scene, best known for his smashing house debut single “Infinity” initially released in 1989 on Walden’s record label, Infinity Records, and later re-released in 1990 by BMG Records. The single was remixed for re-release in 2008 by the German artist DJ Klaas. The song achieved success in Europe, especially in Germany, the UK, Portugal and Austria when it was released and re-released.

Walden released several other well-received singles in the 1990s including “Freaky Dreamer”, “Holographic Dreams” and “Whose Law (Is It Anyway?)” but none achieved the success of “Infinity”. Following the success of “Infinity”, Guru Josh moved to Ibiza, concentrating on art and running a promotions company.

In 1988, Walden tried ecstasy for the first time at a London pub where he was playing a gig with his rock band Joshua Cries Wolf, subsequently switching from rock to house music. That must have been the only positive thing ecstasy was responsible for we fear though. Soon after, he joined forces with the likes of Seal and Adamski.

The rest is history. Our condolences to Walden’s family and friends.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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