Meadies Musical Marconi

  Manchester, UK indie rock and pop group Asia Fields who incorporate elements of funk and dance with layered percussion have just released ‘Goodbye Frank’ featuring much loved tunes such as Dazed, Save Me, Ain’t That Just What Love Is, Friction, and many more unheard demos from ’88 onwards available on vinyl and CD. I interview lead singer Graham Maley about his days in the band and what he’s up to now! Louder Than War: Can you give us a bit of background of your upbringing?   I was born and grew up in Harpurhey Manchester 9 in the 1960’s.  I attended St Thomas’s county primary in Crumpsall and then the, ‘famous for all the wrong reasons’ Plant Hill high school in Blackley in the mid 1970’s. A more Northern, working class background would have been hard to find. Both schools developed and finely tuned my survival instincts; academia would have been a bonus if at all possible. Having said that sport was high on the agenda and I spent most of my youth playing foot...

  Manchester would not be the same City if it wasn’t for Factory Records and Tony Wilson. Spawning bands such as Joy Division, Happy Mondays and The Wendys, Colin Gibbins has been trying to get an exhibition space in Manchester to show the full Factory Discography in 2019 for the 40th anniversary of the birth of Factory Records, but has had the door slammed in his face at every venue. Here Matt Mead tells the story of Colin’s journey and current frustrations. In January 1979 a new record label launched their first ever record in the vinyl medium. It was called the fac sampler discography code fac 2, which featured two 7″ singles with the band Joy Division among others adorning it. Colin Gibbins was 12 years old at the time and little did he know he would go on to be the first person in the world to collect every item number in the factory records music medium. Colin grew up in Blackley in the Manchester postcode of M9 and he loved his music. By 1980 Colin had started to list...

  1983. The Smiths released their debut single Hand In Glove, Star Wars Return Of  The Jedi was released in the Cinema and Liverpool FC were the toast of the football world. How things have changed. In this same year in Manchester came the birth of a true gem in the ears of those in the northern quarters. The Waterfront. Now 30 years on it has been  announced  that they are to get their debut release for Record Store Day 2018. The Waterfront featured some of the music heavyweights that would light up the Manchester music scene in the years to come and were at this time not fully aware what would come to fruition. Lead singer Kaiser takes up the story: “I was brought up in north Manchester New Moston going to the local schools North Manchester boys but ended up at South Chadderston. I was never into music as a kid but one day I got listening to Anarchy In The UK and they blew my world right open.” Drummer Chris Goodwin further explains: “I wa...

  Corinne Drewery is the well recognised singer of Swing Out Sister. After a 10 year break from recording material the band are due to release a stunning pop, ballad new album entitled Almost Persuaded released via Absolute Distribution June 22nd. Matt Mead caught up with Corinne for this exclusive interview. Can you please let me know some of your childhood, where you grew up and what your first musical memories were? I grew up in Nottingham. My dad played bass in a band and my mum sang in a jazz band in their spare time so I was always surrounded by music. I remember going to the local record shop where you could listen to the latest release on headphones in a booth. I also remember going into a coffee bar with my mum & her friends and being mesmerised by the neon coming from the jukebox, the sound of pin ball machines and the aroma of espresso coffee. Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones was playing. I was intrigued by the fact they wanted to paint everything b...

 Amongst all of the music that was released in the 1980’s China Crisis released some of the most perfect pop you will ever hear. Immaculate production, lyrically intriguing, engaging instrumentation, you get all this and much more with the back catalogue of China Crisis. It is with this charge that they have decided to go on tour later this year to play in its entirety their stand out album Flaunt The Imperfection. Matt Mead catches up with lead singer Gary Daly in this exclusive interview to discuss all things from the bands creation to what their plans are for the future. Please tell me some of your background and where you both grew up? Ed (guitarist Eddie Lundon) and myself grew up in Kirkby, a small new town just outside Liverpool. Our parents would have been relocated here from Liverpool sometime during the 60’s. We both attended Roman Catholic Schools meeting in St Kevins School for boys Europe’s largest Roman Catholic school for boys at the time. This would have been ci...

  The Essex Green are about to release their brilliant new summery pop album Hardly Electronic on Merge Records after a break of over more than 10 years away from recording. Matt Mead chats exclusively to the band and reviews the album. By chance I bumped into The Essex Green after a tweet from Carl Hunter, bassist from Liverpool indie legends The Farm, who was proclaiming his love for the band. Intrigued by the 60/70’s hippy type sleeve of the album I delved into the back catalogue of the band and was kindly sent the band’s new album  Hardly Electronic. The album title aptly describes the album, being a full-on merry go round of organ, catchy choruses and all the fun of the fair song arrangements. Singles, Sloane Ranger and The 710, kick things off in great fashion. Punchy instrumentation, hypnotic organ and tight rhythm section, matched with sultry vocals from Chris Ziter and Sasha Bell bring the listener up close and personal as the album joyfully gallops f...

  Formed in Manchester in late 2017 taking musical influences including The Damned, Slaughter And The Dogs, The Clash and Public Enemy, Time For Action have recently released their debut album Turn It Up on Strawberry Moon Recordings. The album sees Dermo fronting a much heavier song base compared to his indie pop blissed out band Northside. Nonetheless, the distinctive Dermo Manc-tinged tones are still there with the additional of a Johnny Rotten type growl. Matt Mead interviews Dermo. LTW: Can you please let me know your first musical memory? Dermo: My first musical memory is hearing the opening riff to ‘Alternative Ulster’ by Stiff little Fingers. It blew my mind then, still does and always will. What was the first serious music you got into? Punk. I loved the energy, imagery and attitude. I still do. When did you first start singing and writing music? I first started singing at my first Northside practice in 1988. Never sang before that. First music I wrote was arou...

  Hi Corey. Can you tell us abit about your upbringing? I was raised in a quiet town 15 miles east of San Francisco. Like many of my music heroes, i was a bored teenager looking for action and discovered skateboarding and punk rock at a young age, and was doing whatever I could to spend my time hanging out in the city and getting away from normality of the blue collar burbs. What was the first music you got into? My mom always had good rock n roll playing in the car and introduced my two brothers and I, to good stuff at early ages. I cant ever remember not having a turntable or boombox around for us to enjoy. In the car, even to this day, my mom still listens to the alternative rock station. In the 90s, it was MTV, and my older cousins would give us tapes with cool bands. I remember buying Beck ‘I’m A Loser’, at 9 years old. My mom took me to the store to pick up the cassette single. She probably picked up a Nirvana, album that day or Smashing Pumpkins. I remember thinking it...

Hi Chris, how are you? Hello Matthew, tonight im gonna be Chris Goodwin, all good in the hood. Tell us abit about your upbringing? Music was everywhere in our house growing up. My Dad was (is) a great singer and loved sinatra, my Mum was (is) into Shirley Bassey and the carpenters. My 3 sisters (no brothers) were massive fans of Bolan, Bowie then later punk and my youngest sister Gill is a Paul Weller obsessive!! Lol So i couldn’t have asked for a better grounding than listening to these artists booming out of every room ,so you could see from an early stage i wasnt gonna take up stamp collecting ……….saying that i did a good racket with the green shield stamp books………(older viewers only) How did you get into drumming? The first time i picked up two of my mums fat knitting needles and started whacking f@ck out of a cushion (percussion) i knew 2 things. 1: I was gonna be a drummer & 2: I’ve just found out im allergic to dust …. In the school holidays me and a couple o...

  How are you Simon? I’m very well thanks, Matt. Can you tell us about your upbringing? I was born in Urmston, Manchester and lived in and around that area until I was fourteen years old when the family moved out to Poynton, Cheshire. My upbringing was a mixture of Manchester suburbs and open fields, which I’ve always felt fortunate to have experienced as a kid. What was the first music you got into? I did what every musically inclined kid who doesn’t have any older siblings does and gravitated toward my dad’s record collection. The music that I found in there was Santana, The Who, Led Zeppelin, and some weird chanting stuff from Denmark – but that’s another story. How did you start playing bass? My dad was a bass player in Manchester bands during the 1960’s. But in the 70’s he started to frequent the Ducie Arms pub where an older Irish guy named Danny (Shovlin, I believe was his surname) led a traditional Irish music session and mentored my dad to learn the violin. D...