‘Sociology’ by Waveney Wilcox: digital release 1 March 2024
At the age of 71, Suffolk-born singer Waveney Wilcox has recruited an all-star line-up of stellar musicians for the release of his debut solo single, ‘Sociology’ on 1st March this year.
Waveney Wilcox: “I wrote this song in the late ‘70s whilst playing in the band Plazma from Halstead, Essex. All these years later, living in the Black Forest in Germany, it has been exciting to remake/remodel it for my first single release.”
‘Sociology’ was inspired by a long conversation with a man Waveney shared a night in a police cell with back in the late 1970s. The man had been in institutions most of his life and claimed to just want to be put in a cell and forgotten about; having no interest or belief in joy, love, and a normal life of societal conventions. The horror of those stark nihilist statements made a deep impression on Waveney – then a father of young children – that has lasted for almost 50 years.
Waveney Wilcox, a complete unknown in the music world, made this record with world class musicians – multi instrumentalist and producer Paul Cuddeford (Ian Hunter, Steve Harley, Bob Geldof) and saxophone player Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey, Gallon Drunk, Yoko Ono) – who volunteered to work on the project on the strength of the song and the vocal delivery.
Waveney will be performing ‘Sociology’ with Fifteen Lions (AKA Stuart Fiddes) on all dates on the Feb/March 2024 Lust For Life Tour: https://www.lustforlifetour.com/
Friday evening saw me make a whistlestop trip to the capital to catch up with my old friends The Pouk Hill Prophetz, who were performing a gig at London’s Water Rats.
Coming together through a shared love of Slade and a determination to celebrate the glam era in their own unique fashion, The Pouk Hill Prophetz have been around for a decade now. Never far away from anything Slade-related and raising a ton of money for various charitable endeavours along the way, they’ve long been a fixture at various Slade conventions (which is where I first caught them back in 2016). They even performed at my own Slade book launch last summer which was a huge load of fun.
The band have built up quite a dedicated following over the last ten years and the venue was nicely packed-out for them, their first gig in the capital with new drummer, James Hannington, who joins established Propheteers Nigel Hart and Martin Brooks.
I’ve seen many glam-inspired tribute acts and numerous glam covers bands over the years, but what really sets Pouk Hill Prophetz apart is that they don’t just restrict themselves to the most obvious foot-stomping big hits. You get a good blast of those, of course. But as far as their love as Slade goes, you can always expect a liberal smattering of obscure B-sides, carefully-chosen album tracks and archive material from the early pre-glam days thrown in as well.
Accordingly, tonight starts with a stomping version of ‘Know Who You Are’ – Slade’s last non-hit single before they struck gold with ‘Get Down and Get With It’. ‘Gudbuy Gudbuy’ from Slade’s classic Slayed album makes an appearance, as does ‘Darling Be Home Soon’ and ‘In Like A Shot From My Gun’ from the much-celebrated Slade Alive album.
It’s not just Slade though. They also give us a blast of The Sweet’s ‘Hellraiser’ and T Rex’s ‘20th Century Boy’ and later on a suitably pounding sing-along version of the Bay City Rollers’ ‘Shang-A-Lang’. It’s not even just the glam covers either. We get some great hard-rocking version of ZZ Top’s ‘Tush’ and Billy Idol’s ‘White Wedding’.
Things slow down for an acoustic segment mid-way through, with guitarist Martin Brooks moving on to keyboards for heartfelt renditions of Slade’s ‘Everyday’ and its lesser-known cousin ‘She Did It To Me’ alongside ‘Dapple Rose’ and a highly emotive ‘Old New Borrowed And Blue’. Although taking the title of a Slade album, the latter is not a cover version at all but an original composition cleverly taking fragments of various Slade lyrics from across their career to create a unique and utterly sincere musical love-letter to the famous foursome from Wolverhampton.
A few more raucous classics to round off the evening, including ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’ and ‘Born To Be Wild’ as well as a Slade-inspired vintage rock and roll medley, and then it’s time for me to say some hurried goodbyes and make a swift exit in time to get the last train back to Hastings.
In February and March 2023 an all-star line-up convened to celebrate the forty-fifth anniversary of the release of Iggy Pop’s classic Lust For Life album. Legendary Blondie drummer, Clem Burke, was joined by former Sex Pistol and punk pioneer, Glen Matlock on bass; broadcaster and Pet Shop Boys dancer, Katie Puckrik on vocals; Iggy Pop and David Bowie collaborator, Kevin Armstrong on guitar; Luis Correia, who’s toured internationally with Earl Slick on second guitar together with classical pianist, composer, and touring member of Heaven 17, Florence Sabeva on keyboards.
Lust For Live, recorded live over two exhilaratingly riotous nights at London’s Lexington on 11th and 12th March 2023, sees the band perform Iggy’s Lust For Life album in full, as well as revisiting songs from across the individual band members’ careers with legendary artists including Blondie, David Bowie, Iggy Pop and the Sex Pistols.
Lust For Live is available as a 19-track, limited edition, double-gatefold, live album as well as being released digitally. One disc will be pressed in opaque white with the other in opaque yellow, in a limited-edition pressing of just 1,000 copies.
New album: A Drop Of The Morning Dew: Live At Bacca Pipes Folk Club released 1 March 2024
Distilling both folk and country influences and performing a heartfelt mixture of self-penned and traditional songs on 12-string guitar and banjo, Serious Sam Barrett was raised in the Dales village of Addingham and began performing in and around Leeds in 2004. With the release of his debut album Close To Home in 2009, word began spreading further afield and Sam was soon grabbing the attention of audiences both around the UK and in the US.
Having performed at SXSW in Austin, Texas in 2010, he has toured the US widely, usually in the company of friends and fellow skaters The Pine Hill Haints. Along the way, Sam has shared stages with the likes of Martin Carthy, Dave Burland, Katherine Tickell, Lucero, The Young Un’s, Frank Fairfield, Deer Tick and Karine Polwart, and received airplay and praise plaudits from the BBC’s Bob Harris, Marc Riley, Mark Radcliffe and Mike Harding.
Recorded live at a gig at a celebrated Keighley folk club in January 2023, Sam’s forthcoming album A Drop Of The Morning Dew: Live At Bacca Pipes Folk Club includes eleven self-penned highlights from his career, along with his own arrangements of a further seven traditional songs. A folk club has existed in Keighley in one form or other since the early 60s, adopting the name Bacca Pipes during the early 70s and playing host to a long line of notables such as Mike Harding, Swan Arcade, Julie Felix, Peter Bellamy, Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy and many more. It was a tradition into which Sam Barrett was born.
Serious Sam Barrett:“Folk clubs have always been part of my life. My parents met in one and I was taken to the clubs and festivals from a young age. The clubs have always been a massive source of inspiration for my music. The magic that happens week in and week out is impossible to put into words. Sometimes the experience is almost transcendental. The old pubs, the reverence for the singers, the jokes, the raffle, the stories and the music. There’s nothing like it.”
When I asked for a quote for this piece, Sam came straight back:
“What an honour to be part of Darren’s Music Blog!! Thanks so much I can’t wait! I’m in some very esteemed company there!!! Can’t believe I’m getting to play the world famous Liverpool philharmonic!! What an honour. And it’s all thanks to Mellowtone!!”
Well it’s not every day you get to the chance to see Steve Harris from Iron Maiden performing in a small upstairs venue above a bar on a wet Tuesday night in Hastings. But it seemed like an extremely promising choice for my first gig of 2024. Strictly speaking, it was actually my first ticketed gig of the year because I did see the impressive Lost Asylum in the Carlisle (Hastings’ main rock pub) a few nights back.
Blackbox is a great small venue but it can sometimes take quite a while to fill up. Not tonight though, as the place is completely packed-out as I walk in and the support act has already just taken the stage. Multi-instrumentalist and singer-song-writer, Tony Moore, was very briefly in an early line-up of the fledgling Iron Maiden but remained friends with Steve Harris over the years which landed him the support slot. He tells the crowd that as a kid he got to see Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull and Ziggy Stardust. And he ended up wanting to be all of them. His multi-media one-man show ‘Awake’ is a flamboyantly bombastic mix of prog-meets-glam-meets-rock-opera. It’s slightly bonkers and absolutely glorious. Hugely entertaining, moving and packed full of great songs, it was not what I was expecting at all as the opener tonight but I’ve definitely added Tony Moore to my list of people worth seeing again.
I’d long been aware of British Lion, Steve Harris’s side-project which originally started out as a solo album and then evolved into a fully-fledged touring band . But in terms of actually seeing them live or hearing either of their two albums they had completely escaped me. I turned up, therefore, without any familiarity with the material and with a completely open mind about what to expect.
It is said that Harris formed the band as both an opportunity to pursue different writing styles, away from the Maiden-esque long epics, and also to get up close and personal with audiences playing the small, sweaty clubs. I’m completely won over a few seconds into the first song and although British Lion is obviously a very different beast to Iron Maiden, they do come across as being very much a Steve Harris vision of what a successful rock band should be about. And that is meant as a compliment. There’s some real power-house rhythm, front and centre of the band’s sound, a great collection of songs with some shit-hot memorable melodies and while it’s all done on a miniscule scale compared to Maiden, the whole thing just oozes energy and charisma.
The band themselves (Richard Taylor – lead vocals, David Hawkins and Grahame Leslie – guitars and Simon Dawson – drums, alongside Harris on bass) work great together. This looks and feels like a proper band not just an occasional side project and the crowd clearly contains many dedicated British Lion fans, not simply Iron Maiden fans wanting to get a glimpse of Harris in the flesh. Every song from across the band’s two albums (plus a couple of newbies) is greeted like an old friend and I came away thinking I had some catching up to do. The merch desk didn’t seem to have any CDs for sale and Amazon drew a complete blank as well but I’ve just ordered their first album off ebay. I have got some serious catching up to do. British Lion are superb!
Ahead of Fairport Convention’s 2024 Winter Tour, starting in February, I catch up with Simon Nicol. We discuss Dave Mattacks’ return to the Fairport fold, the forthcoming tour, this Summer’s Cropredy and why he won’t be retiring any time soon.
So you’re obviously looking forward to the Winter Tour then which starts early next month. What can fans expect this time?
Well, for those who didn’t catch DM (Dave Mattacks) with us last year, you’re in for a different kind of musical experience than the last twenty-five years with Gerry. That’s one thing. But the other thing that’s happened with DM, it’s not just the style of playing, it’s the way it’s easily opened up a lot of the repertoire that Peggy and I, and Ric, and DM kind of all know. Because that line-up from ‘85 to ’98, when DM moved over to America, created a lot of its own material. But, of course, Ric was easily able to adapt to much earlier material so it’s really only a case of Ric and Chris now having to learn old stuff if we want to go back to the early days of when Peggy joined. It’s suddenly opened up a huge tranche of the back catalogue which, I’m happy to say, we’re having a look at this year. We’ve been dusting off the old LPs and we’ve found some things that have never really been in the repertoire at all. So it’s going to be an adventure for us and a real voyage of discovery for some of the older – well the more mature members of our audience who perhaps remember us from college days and are now in retirement. They’ll be hearing some stuff that they haven’t heard for decades. And a lot of that will be brand-spanking-new for newbies.
Excellent. So there’s going to be quite a few surprises, then?
Yeah! I hope so! All good ones. You say it’s quite soon but I’ve got a daunting number of things to do before we all actually get together and start practicing under the one roof. Because we all live miles apart. Peggy’s in France when he’s not in this country, he’s over there. DM, obviously, he only comes over a few days before from Boston. I live down in East Kent. So we don’t actually see each other very much considering we’re kind of based in north Oxfordshire.
Has it all slotted in place, in terms of working together. Does it feel very comfortable having Dave Mattacks back?
Yes. We’re used to planning a repertoire in this way. There’s a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and discussions on the phone and WhatsApp groups, where we chew the fat. And then people go off and listen to the songs in question and we end up with a big rag-bag, a bucket of songs if you will. And Chris is the clever one. He sits down and tries to work it out – “Let’s put this one here. Let’s put that one there.” And then there aren’t too many instrument changes and not too many things in the same key and a bit of a rise and fall to the shape of the two sets.
Yeah, we’re very much looking forward to it and we’re used to working that way so when the time comes and we get together in the studio for the rehearsals – two days of that – everybody’s on the same page and there’s not much to be worked out. Just – “Does this still work in this key?” That’s one of the big questions (laughs) because obviously voices and so forth change.
Voices change over the decades! And talking of Dave Mattacks coming back, you never seem to have suffered the sort of rancour with former members that have often bedevilled other bands. That seems to suggest that Fairport Convention has always been a relatively happy working environment. Is that true?
Well, it’s many things. It’s a band. It’s an environment. It’s a family in many ways. I’m closer to the guys I’ve been working with for fifty years than I am to my own immediate family really – I spend more time with them! Been through more adventures! It’s been said before but no-one gets out of Fairport alive. You may stop coming to the gigs but, you know, underneath it all, if you scratch deeply enough do they not bleed Fairport?
So you’ve never really had any of those Noel and Liam Gallagher moments?
Oh.. well. Obviously there are hearty and firm disagreements occasionally and there have been moments when you haven’t spoken to people but there’s a parallel there going back to the family thing or in any small office. Occasionally there’ll be frictions but basically, if you’re a band and a band-member kind of person, I don’t get it. If you’re at daggers drawn and you don’t cut each other slack all the time then you’re probably in the wrong band. You’re probably working with the wrong collection of people because you’re just making life unpleasant for yourself.
Yes, it seems an incredibly sensible philosophy but it seems to evade quite a few bands.
Well I think there’s the famous difficulties which brothers always have when they form groups. There never seems to be a seamless happy bunch of brothers. I mean the Finn Brothers seem to do ok but what do we know about their.. they just make wonderful records. But the Kinks were at it when they were kids. And the Gallaghers dear oh dear. And even the Everlys used to travel to gigs separately and have their own managers and their own lawyers. They would talk to each other through their lawyers and they’d come on to the stage. One time I saw them they came on from different sides and when they went off they didn’t look at each other and they walked off separately…
So Fairport’s a largely happy family rather than a dysfunctional one then..
I don’t want to be all Pollyanna-ish about it but, you know, I think we’re all cutting each other slack all the time and happy to do so.
And moving on, from Fairport Convention’s vast back-catalogue, what album are you most proud of?
Oh God, I don’t know. It’s that favourite child question again isn’t it? I think it’s more of a repertoire to me. A performance on one album enshrines a particular place and a time and a collection of people at that point in their lives. But, you know, we’ve had ‘Crazy Man Michael’ in the repertoire, along with ‘Matty Groves’, since they first surfaced on Liege & Lief in 1969 and I don’t think there’s a definitive version of either of those songs. Certainly, there isn’t in my head when I go to sing that song. If I see it on the list and it’s coming up, I’m not thinking, “Oh, the definitive version of this was recorded on this particular album. This is what I’m going to try and emulate now and try and make it as close to that as possible.” You now, I’m not a human juke-box and the band doesn’t feel like that. We’ve got this song. We all know where it starts and finishes, what key it’s in, what tempo it is. And on the count of four, we’ll start playing it and what comes out that night will be tonight’s performance. It’ll have the same structure as last night’s performance but it’s not the same song. Because my mind will be somewhere else in this song. The person standing next to me playing will be on their own little passage from note one ‘til the end. And I’m sure it’s the same with actors. They perform the same play every night but every night is a first night for that play and that song because it’s a performance.
Fairport Convention’s second album where ‘Meet On The Ledge’ first appeared
Even ‘Meet On The Ledge’ – probably your most well-known song from the live repertoire – that’s evolved massively over the years from the quite gentle and understated song when it first appeared to the rousing anthem for live performance now.
That’s right. It was just a ‘no-big-deal’ song on the second album. It was tucked away on Side Two, Track 4 which is a bit of a graveyard slot for most songs. It wasn’t what you heard when you dropped the needle but it has grown in the telling. It’s a song that’s grown in the telling and it’s acquired more reasons to perform it every year. And I know it means the world to people at Cropredy when we come to it – and not just because we can all go home soon! But because of what it’s come to mean to all the people who are there.
Yeah, it’s gathered extra meaning along the way for the audience and gathered more and more meaning over the years.
You also recently announced the final line-up for Cropredy this year. What are you most looking forward to? (apart from your own set of course!)
That’s another bit of a favourite child isn’t it! I’m looking forward to seeing the reactions of the audience who, implicitly, trust our judgement in selecting the bill and you always get the positive feedback and you always get… it’s a bit like TripAdvisor. You hear the best reviews and you hear the worst ones, you know? And you have to disregard the complete outliers because those aren’t a good ship to follow. And some acts you just know are nailed-on. They’re going to be an absolute banker in terms of the reaction. People’s response to them is just.. that’s why you book them. They’re a certainty. But the funnest acts or the ones that create the most warm feelings at my time of life are the ones that are largely unknown or perhaps under-exposed to the audience. And they go on and they’ve got this huge stage, this wonderful setting to perform to and an audience which is trusting and agog and waiting to be entertained. And you put somebody that’s not had a go before or maybe only has a hundred-and-fifty friends in the audience and then ten minutes later they’ve got the whole audience. Ten thousand new best friends! And that’s a wonderful feeling. And I can think of the Travelling Band having that experience happening to them and, of course, the Pierce Brothers
The Pierce Brothers, they were incredible.
If you weren’t there, I feel sorry for you!
I’d actually seen them, I think a week or so before at Womad and they were just on a small stage with maybe a hundred or so people and I thought, “There are going to go down pretty well at Cropredy.” But yeah it was just incredible.
They went down so well we booked them the next year which is, you know, an absolutely unique experience. Buy yeah, that’s like if you go back to last year for instance, we knew that Chic would be an absolutely 24-carrat performance. But what surprised me was the act before them. Because Toyah and Robert (Fripp) were a little bit of an unknown quantity. You had no idea what their repertoire would be derived from and then they came on and they just tore the place up. It started with ‘Paranoid’ I think, just the set-list from heaven and the performance was just… everything was turned up to the right level and it just absolutely cooked. So I had that same experience. I knew it was going to be ok. It might be great but it was better than both.
This year though, we’ve got some unexpected people, unknowns. And I can tell that you know the Spooky Men’s Chorale. I think that they are going to surprise a lot of people who wouldn’t have come upon them. And they’re so different. What they do is just absolutely heart-stoppingly beautiful and so funny and so moving and you can get all of that in the space of about ten seconds. He’s a brilliant showman, Steve, and I’m really pleased we managed to get them.
Photo credit: Simon Putman
Other bands have run their own festivals over the years. The Levellers have been doing Beautiful Days for about 20 years I think, but I can’t think of a single one that’s lasted anywhere near as long as Cropredy. What do you think the secret is?
I don’t know but if I could put it in a bottle I could sell it. No, it’s great and all festivals have to confront the same logistical situations. The same questions have to be answered in many different ways. But there are more questions that set Cropredy apart really than make easy parallels with other festivals. It’s just the way it’s grown out of something that was in the village. It wasn’t started as a commercial thing. It literally was the village hall committee asking us if we’d perform for them after the village fete. So it got it’s roots down deep into the heart of the village at the very beginning rather than being something that was imposed on the village. So it’s always been welcomed and enabled by everybody in that postcode. And the fact it’s just grown little by little, almost just incrementally.
Photo credit: Simon Putman
A big change was going from the one day, the Saturday thing, to incorporate the Friday. And that happened after quite a while and it was just such an obvious thing to do. It didn’t feel that weird because people were camping anyway in advance of it. Similarly, we moved again, changed it into a three-day festival but instead of incorporating a Sunday, we thought we’d go back again and bring people to the village a little early and everyone gets a relaxing free day to go home on the Sunday. Most festivals end on the Sunday night and there’s definitely a different feeling from ending a festival on a Sunday morning. That’s one thing that makes it stand out. And the fact that we’ve always tried to look at it as a punter would. You know, your experience from arriving. You see some festivals where people have to go and park half a mile west from the village and then they have to carry everything to a campsite a mile-and-a-half the other side of the village. Whereas at Cropredy we’ve got enough land to play with and the right size, with the smaller number of people attending. It means people can actually camp next to their car. But it’s just a practical thing like that. And because we wouldn’t want to stumble around on an unlit road, we light the village. We put our own lighting in because it’s safer and it’s practical. And road closures and things like that, we try to make it as good an all-round experience as we can.
Indeed, I’ve been going for years but I went with a friend who had not only never been to Cropredy but had never been to a festival before. I think this was two years ago, the first one after Covid. And he’d done loads and loads of camping so he knew campsites inside out and the drill with that but he’d never been to a festival before and he was like, “Oh, it’s really well-organised. It’s not what I was expecting at all. It’s like proper camping!”
Well, you can always improve things so every time you try and tweak things. The glamping has really taken off. So every year we expand that and it still sells out immediately, however many tents we put up. Because I suppose the demographic is not getting any younger, same as the band. So yeah, we try and make things comfortable but, you know, if you change anything in a way that’s noticeable there’ll be uproar! It’s like tinkering with the broadcast time of The Archers. You can’t do it quietly!
Fairport Convention’s Dave Pegg up on the big screen (Photo: Simon Putman)
Wonderful. Is there anything else you want to tell us, ahead of the tour and ahead of Cropredy?
You can just take it from me that I appreciate every tour more as I get older. And I look forward to every Cropredy more and more. But after the two lockdown years, the two missed Cropredies, that period of enforced retirement made me value all the more what this band and this lifestyle and this business, this fellowship of people, has given me. And if I was ever thinking of retiring, making a choice to step away, that thought was sent to the bottom of Davey Jones’ locker big time. Because I would just miss it so much. And I love what I do and I love the people I work with and I’m so grateful for the opportunity when I wake up every morning and I can wriggle my toes and fingers and look forward to the van pulling up then it’s alright with me.
Fairport Convention’s Winter Tour begins on 6th February 2024
Seven Stories (parts one and two): released 23rd February 2024
“Storytelling is at the heart of Duffy’s songwriting but she finds a unique angle or topic on each track that brings a fresh perspective to a common and relatable issue.” – Maverick magazine on the 2021 debut EP from Little Lore
Following her fantastically well-received debut EP as a solo artist back in 2021, Seven Stories is the latest project from Tricia Duffy and her singer-songwriter alter ego, Little Lore. The first four songs, Seven Stories part one, were released digitally back in September 2023 with the final three songs Seven Stories part two being released in February of this year. A CD version, featuring all seven songs from both parts one and two, is also set for release on 23rd February 2024.
Little Lore:“I had seven songs and I decided to release it in two parts: Seven Stories part one and Seven Stories part two. I’m now thrilled to be releasing the final three songs from the project as well as the CD bringing all seven songs in the collection together. There’s a real variety of styles. Death is one of my go to subjects to write about so there are a couple of quite bleak, sad songs. I’ve got some wry wit in there as well. There’s obviously a climate change one as well – I always like to include one of those. It’s a figurative song written from the perspective of the planet.”
Featuring Little Lore’s compelling storytelling, irresistible melodies and heartfelt vocals, Seven Stories is again produced by renowned New York-based producer and multi-instrumentalist, Oli Deakin (who records under the name of Lowpines). As with the debut Little Lore EP and subsequent singles, Oli Deakin provides the lush instrumentation on each of the tracks, with Morgan Karabel, once again, featuring on drums.
Little Lore adds: “I recorded the vocals in a studio in Kent with an amazing producer and engineer called Paul Stanborough. Lowpines (Oli Deakin) has done the production and all of the instrumentation again and Morgan Karabel is playing drums once more. It is important to me to have women in the team so having a female drummer is really cool.”
On working with Little Lore, Oli Deakin comments:“Working with Tricia on her records as Little Lore has been a really fun journey. As a producer it’s always exciting to work with people who have great ideas, and even more so when they’re also open to building on those ideas and trusting where that might lead. Tricia has been very generous with that trust, which I think has given us both a lot of confidence to be adventurous with our approach, both in the writing and the recording. It’s super rewarding to go out on a limb with an idea and have it land in a place we both get excited about!”
For the full interview with Little Lore visit here
Six of the seven tracks were again written by Tricia Duffy while the final track, ‘It Would be Easier to Miss You if You’d Died’ was a writing collaboration between Tricia and musician and songwriter, Thiago Trosso. A part of the US Ska/Punk/Reggae scene and playing as a session musician in his home country, Thiago Trosso moved to the UK in 2015 with the goal of building a career as a songwriter and solo artist. He finished a Songwriting MA in London, and is now doing a PhD in therapeutic songwriting, opening the path for co-writing with numerous artists around the world.
Seven Stories (parts one and two) will be released on CD on 23rd February 2024 and the final three songs from the project will also be available on all the main digital platforms on the same date.
Running on Empty:“Written from the perspective of the planet, it’s sort of a love letter to the human race. The lyrics start “I hold you gently, while you destroy me. Running on Empty. I love you anyway. To get into the frame of mind I needed to write the song, I physically wrote a letter to humanity to help me get the sense of what I wanted to say, that the planet will survive the climate crisis just fine after we humans have wiped ourselves out, but she (Mother Earth) acknowledges that she benefits from some of our interventions. Despite the big topic, it’s a relatively simple song with a haunting Americana vibe.”
Stolen Glances: “I wrote this song in response to a prompt from the Song-a-week challenge run by James Tristan Redding in Nashville. The prompt was “Stolen Glances” and I was travelling home from Cornwall on the train. I remember opening my computer and typing “on a train facing backwards, I steal glances”. It has had quite a lot of re-writes since that first draft – I think the original version is still knocking around on YouTube somewhere – it’s quite a different song lyrically now. I tried to capture the sense of movement and observation that can be inspired on long journeys, the narrator is searching for answers, but there is almost a sense of not quite knowing what questions she is asking. I think we have all felt that way at some point in our lives.”
The Bench: “This devastating song was inspired by the benches that line the seafront in St. Ives in Cornwall and the true story of a friend of mine who tragically lost her husband a few years ago. The song tells the tale of a man and a women who meet and fall in love despite their age difference. He leaves her once because of the social discourse around their circumstances, but later returns and they marry only to have him leave her again. In the bridge it is revealed he hasn’t left her voluntarily, but died. In many societies benches are incredibly important to people, who use them to memorialise their loved ones with plaques that articulate their feelings about a particular place. “He loved this place” – for example. By centring the story around the bench, we have a sense of a specific location with which to build the narrative. And I believe this makes it more relatable as a result.”
Sebastian Says: “This is a song about imposter syndrome and the inner critic. I have named the voice in my head Sebastian so this is my tribute to him and a good way to tell him to button it! Obviously it had to be a man who tells me I am too fat, doormat, too old, too cold etc. It is a full on driving rock Americana song which probably needs to be played at full volume!”
The Jackal: “I originally wrote this for a TV Americana Crime brief, but I liked it so much I decided to release it myself. There are lots of myths surrounding the Jackal, which are known in some communities as ‘death dogs’ or as tricksters. The Egyptian God of the afterlife, Anubis, had the head of a jackal, so seeing a jackal was considered a warning that someone was in danger. A bit like a fox in European folklore, in African folklore the Jackal is recognised for its ability to adapt with cunning and stealth, a wily creature that dodges traps by feigning death. It has a black saddle because it offered to carry the sun on its back, burning his fur, and inspiring the words in my chorus.”
Little Pieces:“I wrote this in response to a brief which was simply to write a song that was titled “little pieces” with a I IV V chord structure. I started mind mapping the words little pieces and somehow landed on the idea of food. I asked myself who eats food in little pieces? The infirm, babies, people at ‘80s dinner parties with pineapple and cheese on sticks? The lack of control people in care feel over all their choices I think can be summed up with the concept of food. Imagining what it must be like to have so little influence over your daily life that you can’t even decide what you eat must be disturbing. I had a lot of doubts about releasing this song as I know it is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea! But I took inspiration and confidence from the likes of Nick Cave and Tom Waits and decided to just go for it – with a lot of support from Oli who always believed. The arrangement is entirely unsettling and I am sure it is not an easy listen but sometimes stories just need to be told.”
It Would be Easier to Miss You if You’d Died*:“This was a co-write with my friend and fellow songwriter, Thiago Trosso. I always like to come to writing sessions prepared with some ‘writable’ ideas. I don’t always need them, but I think it is the spirit of co-writing to bring your best stuff to the room. That day I read out a list of ideas to Thiago and when I told him the concept I had of being ghosted and it being easier to miss that person if they’d died – he smiled and said, “Let’s write that one!”. We knew it had to be a careful balance of wry wit and humour with sadness and I hope that we have struck that balance. It was inspired by a real experience of being ghosted which seems to be more common these days. Or maybe we just notice it more because we are all so connected. I think Oli thought I was crazy when I first sent him the song. It doesn’t fit a typical structure, starting with a half chorus to land the premise from the start. But he really leaned into the wry nature of the song and I think the instrumentation really enhances the feel. This is the first time I have ever cut a co-write, but I am positive it won’t be the last.”
Seven Stories: release information:
All Tracks written by Tricia Duffy except *written by Tricia Duffy and Thiago Trosso
Vocals – Tricia Duffy
Produced by – Oli Deakin
The Bench Drums – Oli Deakin
All other tracks Drums – Morgan Karabel
All other instruments – Oli Deakin
Vocal Recording – Paul Stanborough at Chapel Studio, Kent
Artwork – Afiya Paice
About Little Lore:
Little Lore is a London based, Indie-Americana singer-storyteller whose songs are both charmingly accessible and beguilingly challenging. You’ll want to listen twice. When you combine British wit and wordplay with cherished Americana roots, musical magic starts to happen. Based in Chiswick, West London, and originally hailing from Portsmouth, Tricia Duffy started her singing career as a teenager, which included a stint on cruise ships in the United States. She began writing and performing her own material with Americana duo Duffy & Bird and they released a well-received album ‘5 Lines’ in 2017 and a follow-up EP ‘Spirit Level’ in 2019.
Tricia’s solo project Little Lore was created in 2020 during the pandemic. Her debut solo EP, Little Lore, was released in 2021 to glowing reviews. The singles, ‘Shallow’, ‘Brown Liquor John’ and ‘Birds’ were released in 2022 to similar acclaim, followed by another equally well-received single ‘Normal’ in January 2023. An enthusiastic advocate for songwriters, she is the London Chapter Coordinator for NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International) and is especially passionate about creating opportunities for female, transgender and non-binary songwriters.
In her songs, Little Lore brings together an affection for the heart and heritage of Americana music, with an intelligence and maturity of storytelling that can sweep you away into new and unexpected emotional worlds.
Seven Stories (parts one and two): released 23rd February 2024
Ahead of the ten-date Lust For Life tour (featuring Clem Burke, Glen Matlock, Katie Puckrik, Kevin Armstrong, Luis Correia and Florence Sabeva) where she will appear as their special guest, I catch up with Suzi Ronson. Suzi was a small-time hairdresser in Beckenham before being swept up in a world which saw her become stylist for David Bowie and the originator of the iconic Ziggy Stardust hairdo as well as falling in love with the late Spiders From Mars guitar icon, Mick Ronson, who she would go on to marry.
You’ve got the Lust For Life tour coming up in February/March this year. Can you tell us about your role in that?
I’m going to be telling a story! A bit like a Moth story when I did that. I think I’m doing it right before the Lust For Life band go on. I’ve got a couple of stories but I think the one I’m going to use is my journey from a little hairdresser in Beckenham, meeting Mrs Jones (David Bowie’s mother) and getting involved with David and going on the road with him. That basically is what it’s going to be about. It was quite a journey that’s for sure!
You mentioned the hair salon in Beckenham and then being introduced to David Bowie. What were your first impressions of David?
The first time I saw David he was wearing a dress walking down Beckenham High Street. So when we all ran out to have a look we were like [mouth wide open] it’s a man in a dress! But when I first met him, he was quite shy really. I mean he wasn’t particularly… Angie was the one who would talk all the time. David was quite quiet. But very determined. Very conscious of what he was doing I think – all the time. He was really ambitious. He was so ambitious, David. I didn’t realise quite how ambitious until I started doing research for my book and I realised that since he was 15 years old, he’d been playing like five nights a week every week anywhere that would take him. And I mean that is dedication for you. I was surprised when I read that. I think it’s that old adage where people say to you, “Oh, it’s overnight success.” But, of course, it’s anything but that. David had been doing this for years before I met him. I just happened in on the pivotal moment I think.
Working as David’s stylist which you went on to be, were you surprised to find just how influential your ideas would be in shaping British pop culture in the early 70s?
No, I mean if you told me that some fifty years later we’d still be talking about this haircut I would never have believed you! I think when the punks came in and they still had that sticking up hair-do which I think was my influence from David. And it changed. I mean David’s hairstyle was originally inspired by a Kansai Yamamoto model But that wasn’t the haircut he ended up with. That was just a little froo at the front. But it developed and evolved and in the end it was definitely my haircut. That long – what was it? – the mullet I suppose is what it ended up being! And the colour!
And, as you say, it had that enduring impact across one different fashion and youth cult to another so it didn’t just come and go.
It didn’t. I still get asked about it. David was asked once what he’d most like to be remembered for and he said, “Always having great hair.” And he was right! I mean he had great hair. He really did. And a great face. I mean I saw 200lb truckers wearing that hair-do and it didn’t look quite the same. David certainly was the perfect person to do this hair on, yes. It helped he was tall and skinny!
And if we can just talk a little bit about Mick as well, one of the dates on the tour is going to be Hull on 1st March. That’s going to be a rather special night surely, in Mick Ronson’s home city?
It’s always a special night when I’m in Hull. It always is. I went to see Turn & Face The Strange (Mick Ronson tribute) there a year or so ago. I mean, I would go every year but I’m not in England all the time. It’s a great show. They took such care to do that show. I think it’s a really good show. And they love Mick in Hull. I think he would be shocked at just how revered he is in Hull still. His old band-mates still play and talk about Mick. And, yes, it will be an interesting evening and I always get a bit emotional when I go to Hull. Because I go and visit him, of course, in his grave and it’s a bit emotional. And it’s also a bit terrifying because they knew him. And I kind of do that accent at some point coz (adopts strong Hull accent) I can take Mick off quite well now. I can talk a bit Hull like. And I’m always a bit nervous to do that up there!
And given it’s the Lust For Life tour, will you be sharing any particular memories of Iggy Pop as well?
Yeah, that’s the other story I’ve got. I’ve got an Iggy story. I met Iggy at the Dorchester Hotel. David, Lou and Iggy were doing a press conference for the American press and it was the culmination of a couple of weeks where they’d all played in London. David had played at Aylesbury. Both Lou and Iggy played at the Scala. I went to the Lou one. I wish I’d gone to the Iggy one because the reviews from that night were like completely outrageous. So I wish I’d gone to that one but I was exhausted, I couldn’t go to them all. And I met him there and then I met him in California. And his hair – he wanted something different so we dyed it blue. And I said to him as I left, “Don’t go in the pool. Don’t wash your hair for a couple of days. Let the colour have time to set.” Well, he paid me no attention whatsoever. He goes in the pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel and left a streak of blue from one end to the other. So those were my two most memorable moments with Iggy.
And if we can move on to another key figure in rock and roll. One of Mick’s long-term collaborators was Ian Hunter who wrote that wonderful tribute ‘Michael Picasso’ when Mick passed away.
Oh my god. I can’t listen to that song. I can never listen to that song. What an amazing song.
It still always brings a tear to my eye when I hear it.
I can’t. I can’t. When Ian does a show he always says, “Suzi, time to leave!” Because I can’t. I’d just sit there and I’d just bawl. It’s such a sad song but it’s such a great song. Ian’s a really good writer.
It must have been incredibly moving hearing that for the first time.
Yes, I mean yeah… Lisa and I for years we would go and see Ian. They’re still friends of mine today. And Lisa and I we’d just look at each other and go, “No please, don’t do this song.” But an incredibly moving song, yes. Brilliant writing. And Mick well deserved it. He was an amazing person, Mick.
Yes it just seemed to capture both the friendship and Mick’s personality in that song.
Yes. Brilliant title. What a title – Michael Picasso. What a great title.
And personally, I became more aware of Mick’s work with Ian Hunter when I was a teenager in the 80s than I did with Mick’s work in the Spiders really.
That first record was just destroyed by managers. The Ian Hunter record that first one they did together, ‘Once Bitten Twice Shy’ – what an amazing record that was. We all thought – hold on, here we go! Managers… Record companies… They were not going to allow that to continue. And it just ended up… I’m amazed that we’ve remained friends to be honest after what went on during that time with Tony Defries and Fred Heller – and they should check their egos at the door but they did not. Especially Tony and they just wanted it all under their control and it’s just ridiculous. Ridiculous really because that should have been a hit record and it should have been a hit touring band. Because they looked fabulous together. It was all working out because Mick had done the Mott thing. I don’t know what went wrong there but that was a massive failure! And then he and Ian decided to work together and do a record. They still couldn’t be a band because we had two different managers and two different record companies and neither one of them wanted to be, you know kind and nice and ‘let’s make something work’. They just didn’t do that. But the record itself, I thought, was fantastic.
Absolutely. And it’s so nice to hear that the friendship has endured all of that.
Yes! I’m seeing Ian in a couple of weeks. I still cut his hair! Isn’t that funny. I still cut his hair!
And finally, is there anything else you want to tell us about the tour before we wrap up?
Oh, come and see it! I think it’s going to be great. That band sold out last year. I didn’t see it – I was in New York – but apparently it was amazing. The whole tour was great. And Katie (Lust For Life band lead singer – Katie Puckrik) I met her and I saw some videos of her and I thought, “Damn, this girl is really good.” I kind of missed her not living in England. I kind of missed what she was doing before. And Glen (Matlock) is an old friend of mine so that’s going to be really nice. And there’s Clem (Burke). I don’t know Clem and I don’t know Kevin (Armstrong) but by all accounts that band are really hot and I can’t wait to work with them. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.
And I think you’re going to be a fantastic addition to the tour as well!
Away Beyond The Fret is the third album from husband-and-wife folk duo, Lucy and Jon Hart, and the follow-up to the highly-enjoyable Journey Through The Roke, which I reviewed back in 2021.
Lucy Hart:“Many of the songs on this album focus on our Suffolk home and the close bonds of family, friendship and community.”
Fresh-sounding, slightly genre-hopping and once again deeply rooted in the history, culture and landscape of their Suffolk homeland, Away Beyond The Fret is delivered with the duo’s characteristic elegance and beauty. The highly-talented duo of Lucy and Jon Hart continue to delight and this, their third album, is proof that Honey & The Bear have blossomed into something truly magnificent on the UK folk scene.
Three Galleys is the debut album from Holly & The Reivers, a project formed back in 2017 that brings together Holly Clarke (vocals/guitar), Merle Harbron (vocals/fiddle) and Bertie Armstrong (vocals/banjo).
Holly & The Reivers:“Three Galleys reaches into the depths of the darker side of folk song and brings forth the messages in the songs that are deeply rooted in human experience through history. Each track has been meticulously arranged to help interlace the story with a musical setting that enthrals listeners to submit and be swept away in a journey of rich storytelling.”
This is an older live video but still carries their instantly-recognisable signature sound based around the trio’s banjo, fiddle and guitar and their contrasting but complimentary vocals. Beautifully atmospheric soundscapes combine with stunning interpretations of traditional ballads that tend dwell on the darker side of human existence, borne of an enduring fascination of folk horror cinema. In Three Galleys, Holly & The Reivers have served up a highly impressive debut album.
Martinmas is the fourth and final release in Gavin Marwick’s Quarterdays series, and this one sees the Scottish fiddle-player and composer team up with pianist and accordion-player, Phil Alexander. The two have played together both socially and professionally over a number of years.
Gavin Marwick:“Martinmas celebrates the life of St Martin of Tours, the only actual historical figure to appear in the Quarterdays canon. Born in what is now part of Hungary, serving in the Roman army and ending up as Bishop of Tours and ultimately one of the patron saints of France, Martin offers a very broad European vision of the spread of the early church across the continent during this long ago fourth century period.”
Marking the final season of the year and celebrating the life of St Martin of Tours, whose feast day is marked on November 11th, the six tune-sets, all composed by Marwick, distil Scottish, Eastern European and French traditional influences alongside more contemporary ideas. Once again, Marwick hits us with more wonderfully expressive fiddle and he and Alexander deliver some nicely evocative tunes that perfectly capture the time of year. Quarterdays has been a fascinating project and Martinmas is a worthy finale to the series.
Playing in bands such as Paper Tiger, Unspeakable Acts, Delicious Houdini, Bamboozle, Tom Houston and the Keltic Band and davesnewbike as well as working as musical director in theatre, Tom Houston has also had a prolific solo career and Everything In The Delicatessen is his sixth solo album. His current work encompasses spoken word, soundscapes, stories and songs.
“Everything In The Delicatessen attempts to give the listener that ‘up close and personal’ experience with ‘local produce’ of high quality,” promises the accompanying press publicity.
An album that transcends musical boundaries and is brimming with drama and musicality, great lyrics and great melodies, Everything In The Delicatessen is the kind of album you’ll come back to again and again and always find something new.
Aberdeen-based musician and songwriter, Colin MacDuff, says he “dabbled” in music and poetry when family and career commitments allowed time but things got more serious upon his retirement when he enrolled on Boo Hewerdine’s and Findlay Napier’s mentorship scheme for aspiring songwriters. With their encouragement he soon found he had more than a dozen original songs and his debut album, The Past In The Sky, was released in 2022 to positive reviews. Separations is the follow-up.
Colin MacDuff:“During the past year I wrote a lot of new songs and got thinking about whether some might fit together in an album. At first, I thought they were very disparate. But, aided by a glass or two, I had the revelation that they were all songs about different aspects of separation.”
The theme of separation in the songs extends across a range of subjects, from relationship break-ups, to bereavement to economic displacement. The main accompaniment is MacDuff’s own acoustic guitar-playing but he’s joined by Angus Lyon (accordion), Jenna Reid (fiddle) and Hugh Halton percussion, with pianist Maria Quinn also providing some beautifully eloquent piano on three tracks. With his gentle vocal and engaging storytelling, Separations acts as an excellent showcase for Colin MacDuff’s fine songwriting.
As the Lust For Life band (Clem Burke, Glen Matlock, Katie Puckrik, Kevin Armstrong, Luis Correia and Florence Sabeva) hit the road in February/March this year there will be one song in the set-list that will be particularly special for guitarist, Kevin Armstrong.
As Kevin explains in this video, getting the call to work with Bowie on ‘Absolute Beginners’ was a life-changing day for him, not to mention a pretty unique experience for his sister, too!
But how did Kevin’s sister come to be performing backing vocals for David Bowie?
Kevin takes up the story in his recently-published autobiography, Absolute Beginner:
“After twenty minutes of trying various things, we had a structure and shape that seemed to please him. He took a pen and paper and started jotting down lyrics. We recorded the whole thing in one or two takes, and it sounded fucking amazing right off the bat. David seemed really impressed and asked me, Neil, and Matthew to be ready to do the real session in a week’s time at Westside Studios near Ladbroke Grove.
‘Oh, and I need to find a girl singer who sounds like a shopgirl,’ he said.
‘My sister Janet sings a bit, and she works in Dorothy Perkins,’ I ventured.
‘Great,’ he laughed. ‘Get her in.’
This was no idle comment. He really meant it. That really is my sister Jan harmonising sweetly above Bowie on ‘Absolute Beginners’.”
Janet and David Bowie in the studio recording Absolute Beginners
Janet Armstrong recalls the session as follows:
“It was all a bit surreal. The atmosphere that he created in the studio – even before he turned up – was electric and upbeat. I remember Mathew Seligman was making everyone laugh.
When David came in he lit up the room just a bit! He was lovely, chatty and engaged. He listened to people and their ideas and joined all these elements with his to get the track done. When we did the vocals I was really nervous but David was so sweet and encouraging. Mathew suggested some breathing exercises, which he directed. So there I was standing a foot away from the great man himself doing these breathing exercises together!
Then he sang and I joined in, he corrected me on phrasing and I think we only did a couple of takes and that was it. David left shouting ‘see ya’ and went off for a Sunday roast. Like I said, a bit surreal, it was a whirlwind!”
Janet today
You can catch Kevin and the rest of the Lust For Life band at the O2 Academy, Islington on 9th March where Janet will be joining the band on stage to relive that “surreal” experience.
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