Two of my favourite albums from the 90s are 'Ophelia' by Natalie Merchant, and 'Jet' by Katell Keineg. Natalie is the former lead singer of 10,000 Maniacs. Katell was raised in Cardiff but has lived in Dublin since 1990.
Listening to 'Ophelia' again today, it just dawned on me that it's been ten years since I first heard it. I started to think back to 1998. I visited Galway quite a bit that year and that album, along with 'Jet' by Katell, coloured so much about my moods, likes and loves at the time. It's always nice to listen to something that can still take you back to where and how you were when you first heard it - right now in my head I'm kicking a ball with a bunch of French people and street drinkers in the middle of Eyre Square, Galway, after France just defeated Brazil in the World Cup Final, and 'Veni Vidi Vici' is ringing in my ears, as is 'Kind and Generous', 'King of May' and 'When They Ring The Golden Bells'. Music's a powerful medicine, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Natalie and Katell worked together earlier in 1995 on Natalie's debut solo album, 'Tiger Lily'. They toured together as part of the Lilith Fair shows. Natalie also covered the Katell penned 'Gulf of Araby' live, a version of which appears on her 1999 album 'Live in Concert' and for many would be the centerpiece of the album.
Two different vocal styles but both with their own personal stamp on their deliveries, their catalogues are worth delving into if you haven't sniffed already. Here's both ladies with a live rendition of 'Carnival', which featured on Natalie's 'Tiger Lily' record.
Katell Keineg performing 'The Gulf of Araby'. Introduced by Glen Hansard.
Hailing from Armonk, New York, Preston Reed has for over twenty years been showcasing his “self-invented” guitar technique around the world. Since his debut album released in 1979, aptly titled ‘Acoustic Guitar’, Preston has released 15 albums, most of which have been instrumental guitar albums. His solo live performances have become the stuff of legend, so much so that one Irish Independent journalist declared Preston “the best one-man show since Bruce Springsteen”. Speaking to the Strabane Chronicle ahead of his show in the Alley next week, Preston was very welcoming of such high praise.
“I think that reviewer saw me play at the Crawdaddy in Dublin. It’s quite a compliment and publicity that I didn’t even have to pay for, which was nice,” he joked. “The technique I use when playing the guitar tends to draw people in and they get puzzled as to how so many sounds can be coming out of one instrument. It’s something people like that journalist tend to remember.”
Indeed, Preston is like a one-man orchestra, combining percussion, rhythm and melody lines all on one guitar. It’s an ambitious technique that Preston developed in the mid-eighties.
“I wanted to figure out how to play guitar and drums at the same time. Conventional guitar playing would never allow for such an idea, so I began by going at the guitar fret board with both hands instead of one. I wanted to get away for the finger picking techniques and basically leave behind all that I had learned previously and try to come up with something new. I developed an almost ambidextrous way of playing the guitar. Sometimes I’d have both hands on the fret board, sometimes just my right-hand, sometimes just my left-hand, with the other hand finger picking at the same time,” he explained.
While it all sounds very original and inventive, Preston is consciously aware that it serves little purpose if the music does not have a substance of its own. “It’s may be a style I invented, but it’s not a gimmick. It’s completely music driven, and has many facets and colours to it with so much going on at one time,” he stressed.
Preston’s beginnings on the guitar stemmed from a few chords learned from his guitar-playing father. While secretly practicing some of his favourite Beatles and Stones songs on his father’s guitar, he studied classical guitar for a while only to quit due to an overly strict classical guitar teacher and a teenage rebellious streak.
“I was a bit of a rebel back then and in many ways I still am, if I’m honest. If someone tells me how to do something, I’ll do it another way. When I play guitar I need to be in control. Unfortunately for me, learning classical guitar is steeped in rigour and tradition, so we were destined to be on a collision course from the start,” he laughed.
It was this determination to do things his own way that would eventually see Preston re-write the guitar rulebook and become the innovative figurehead he is today. After being disillusioned following his classical guitar encounter, his interest in the guitar was rekindled in a big way after hearing Jefferson Airplane's rootsy blues offshoot, Hot Tuna. After studying acoustic guitar heroes John Fahey and Leo Kottke, Preston played his first live gig, supporting beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg had long been associated with musical figures like Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney and Preston found such unconventional collaborations to be beneficial not just to his rebellious nature but to his playing technique.
“I was 17 and playing tunes at a party for my sister. A friend of hers, who was at the party, rang me a few weeks later telling me that Allen Ginsberg was looking for a guitarist to accompany him for some of his readings. I was quite literary and read a lot of beat literature by the likes of Ginsberg, Burroughs and Kerouac, so I knew what he’s be looking for musically. He was big into improvising and would read his poetry while playing a squeezebox, stopping randomly to allow for me to play a guitar solo. It was all very interactive and a great thing to be around. “By the time I recorded my first record in 1979 I had pretty much perfected finger picking guitar techniques. By 1987 I was feeling held back by the guitar, so that’s when I started to develop the kind of guitar playing I’m known for now. It’s always been about creating new music for me and searching for fresh new sounds,” explained Preston.
Preston’s guitar style has influenced many, most notably American freestyle guitarist, Andy McKee, who, after seeing Preston perform in 1995, set about developing his own guitar technique from an instructional videotape made by Preston.
“Andy McKee was indeed influence by what I do. He has always been respectful of that fact and has actually helped build my audience. He sends a lot of people who go to his shows my way, which is fantastic,” Preston enthused.
Next Thursday will be Preston’s first visit to Strabane, but not his first visit to Ireland. He has been a regular performer in Dublin, Cork and recently performed in Derry’s Playhouse also. “Ireland has always been a great place for me to perform. The audiences really appreciate what I do. I’m looking forward to the intimate set-up at the Alley in Strabane. What I do can work in every environment. I’ve played rooms with only a handful of people present and I’ve played festivals in front of thousands. You get away with less at the more intimate gigs though, being more exposed to the audience, but that’s also exciting. I’ll have five guitars with me, including a solid body baritone guitar, steel guitar and an acoustic 12-string.
“The shows seem to appeal to all ages. It’s pretty much across the board – young kids, families to old ladies. They are always very complimentary to me after the show, which makes it all worthwhile. I want share the experience with people and hopefully they will have a great evening of instrumental guitar music. There’s a lot going on when I play and I’d like to hope everybody will find something in there for themselves,” stated Preston. His music can be heard on his myspace page (www.myspace.com/prestonreed).
Chris Helme was lead singer of The Seahorses, the band formed by guitar great John Squire following his acrimonious departure from The Stone Roses in 1996.
While Squire could've had his pick of lead singers when forming The Seahorses, such was his musical clout in the mid-nineties, he still opted for the unknown Chris. Legend has it that Chris was discovered by Squire while busking outside a Woolworths store. Speaking to Chris last week, the Chronicle had to find out if this was true, or yet another myth not uncommon with John Squire throughout his music career.
"It's true and then it isn't," Chris laughs. "John didn't actually see me busk. It was more a case of a friend of a friend of his called Denis who saw me. He asked if I could give him some recordings if I had any. It built from that. I was doing steady gigs at that time too and John, after hearing my tapes, came along and watched me a few times. After a couple of gigs he came up and asked if I wanted to sing in his new band. I gladly accepted of course."
Squire's psychedelic flavoured guitar innovations assisted in making The Stone Roses one of the most important bands of their generation. His departure from the band was mourned by a devotional tribe of fans. An outpouring of shock ensued among the 'baggy' generation. With his iconic status, whatever Squire planned to do next was certain to be watched with eager eyes. Was Chris ready to go under the unavoidable microscopic lense?
"It was a bit scary. I never even had a record contact before, never mind being in a band with John Squire. It was all quite bizarre to be suddenly on stage with the guy who opted to leave The Stone Roses but there was no point feeling nervous about it. No matter what we did we were never going to please that faction who never got over John leaving The Stone Roses. To be honest, they were only a minority. They used to come to the early Seahorses gigs and just shout for Stone Roses tracks. We called them 'Liam Browns' on account of them all looking like a cross between Liam Gallagher and Ian Brown. All we could do was ignore them, they eventually went away and what was left was the people who wanted to hear what we had to offer right there and then," he says.
In April 1997, The Seahorses released their debut single, the anthemic 'Love Is The Law'. With a big chorus and more traditional guitar approach by Squire, it became clear that The Seahorses would not be dabbling in the dance and rock fusions of Squire's former band. Two months later, the band's one and only album, 'Do It Yourself', was released and it featured hit singles 'Blinded By The Sun' and 'Love Me and Leave Me', which was co-written by Liam Gallagher. The album was produced by Tony Visconti, who worked on classic albums by David Bowie, T-Rex and Thin Lizzy. What was it like to be working with the guy who produced classic albums like Bowie's 'Heroes', T-Rex's 'Electric Warrior' and Lizzy's 'Bad Reputation'?
"It was great to work with someone like Tony Visconti," recalls Chris. "I'm a huge fan of the records he worked on with Bowie. He's an amazing string arranger and really knows what he's doing in the studio. He's got an advantage over most younger producers because they've learned their craft with modern digital techniques whereas Tony comes from the old-school recording process but is also well versed in the modern ways. He has an amazing musical knowledge."
To promote the album, The Seahorses toured extensively for three years, playing alongside The Verve at Slane Castle in 1998 and also supporting acts such as The Rolling Stones, U2 and Oasis. How did Chris feel mixing rock's aristocracy?
"It all got a bit mental. I was in the kitchen having a cup of tea one day and I got a phone call asking if I fancied playing with The Rolling Stones. Well I've never really wanted fame, I don't think 'celebrity' is a particularly healthy thing but when The Rolling Stones come knocking you can't say no - it's a one in a million chance," he stresses.
In 1999, John Squire pulled the plug on The Seahorses in the middle of the recording sessions for their second album. The results of those sessions are widely available on a bootleg album called '2nd Album Recordings', alternatively titled 'Minus Blue'. Squire would eventually retire from the music business completely and return to his first love of painting. Chris went on to form a band called The Yards.
"For a while I didn't know what to do," he recalls. "I just bought a house. I was about to become a dad. I started to do a few gigs - nothing big. It was all really chilled out and I started to be joined on stage by people I knew. What was first a series of solo gigs developed into full band gigs. Eventually we all decided to become a band. We called ourselves The Yards and split things five ways."
The Yards' self-titled debut album was released in 2005 and they're currently busy at work mixing their follow-up. Alongside his work with The Yards, Chris keeps busy as a solo performer. He released a solo album called 'Ashes' in May. He also helps run an acoustic night in York called The Little Numb Numb Club and believes that his home city is currently becoming quite the musical hub.
"There's a great scene in York at the moment and people are really starting to take notice. People like Mark Wynn, The Runaway Sons and The Sorry Kisses are all worth looking out for. There's a lot going on and I'm just glad to be in the middle of it, keeping busy and doing things the way I like to do them," he says.
The Seahorses, with the Chris Helme penned 'You Can Talk To Me'
Formed in London in 1994, The Bluetones had huge success in the nineties, achieving thirteen Top Forty singles and three Top Ten albums in the UK chart. Their debut album, 'Expecting To Fly', topped the UK charts in 1996. With classic tracks like 'Slight Return', 'Marblehead Johnson' and 'Bluetonic', the band, fronted by Mark Morriss, were at the forefront of what journalists deemed, the 'Britpop' scene; a period in the nineties when all things english were celebrated in the music of bands like Pulp, Suede, Blur and, of course, Oasis.
While much of the scene had an unendearing Norman Wisdom quality to it that quickly ran out of steam, The Bluetones were one of the few acts that remained loyal to their own artistic instincts rather than succumbing to the 'cheeky chappy' flag waving that dominated. They crafted guitar driven songs that reawakened a notion of 'indie' music that preceded them. Rich in melody, their songs floated above the hype and possessed a quality that makes them as fresh sounding today as they did in the nineties.
"Well 'Britpop' didn't really exist," explains Mark, speaking to the Chronicle last Friday. "It was invented by a few people to help sell magazines. But we were never part of any group or scene. Britain has had a long history of great guitar bands, from The Beatles to The Who to The Sex Pistols to The Smiths. These bands were never part of a movement, they just did what they wanted to do regardless, and that's what made them special. So for us, it wasn't about flag waving or being part of a scene. It was about writing great guitar tunes that we liked. It wasn't anything new, because guitar music had never really gone away."
As confident a band as The Bluetones were at that point, Mark admits that getting to number one in the UK charts with their debut album was a big surprise.
"We did hit a good wave at that point, but we never really expected that kind of success. But we were well prepared to take it on board. There is nothing else for it but to go with the flow," explains Mark.
Go with the flow is exactly what The Bluetones did. Following chart success with their debut album and with the single 'Slight Return', which was kept off the number one spot by the intensely irritating 'Spaceman' by one-hit wonder Bowie copyist Babylon Zoo, The Bluetones took to the road and toured the world extensively. The tour on the back of their debut album included a very memorable show with Radiohead at the Castlegar Showgrounds in Galway in the summer of 1996.
"That was a great weekend in Galway,” recalls Mark. “It was an amazing concert, although the weather was absolutely disgusting. Some quality acts played on that day and Radiohead were just unbelievable. There was such a great buzz about the place because not only was the gig on but the Galway Races were on too, so the place was really busy.”
Following on from their debut album and the extensive touring, The Bluetones then released their second album 'Return to the Last Chance Saloon' in 1998. Although it failed to repeat the number one status of its predecessor, the album still reached the Top Ten. It was also a much louder record than 'Expecting to Fly'.
"The second album was a development from the first one alright. It's definitely heavier, that's for sure. We've always tried to stretch ourselves as musicians and build on what we've done before. With my voice the music will always have The Bluetones stamp on it, but we always have fun with our sound," says Mark.
By the time the band released their third album 'Science and Nature' in 2000 the musical landscape had changed in England and many of the bands who stood under the 'Britpop' banner had fallen by the wayside. Despite this, and despite little or no support from the increasingly fickle NME, ‘Science and Nature’ went on to become The Bluetones’ third Top Ten album. While similar commercial success may have alluded The Bluetones since then, their fanbase has remained loyal, and the band still record and tour successfully today.
"We're very lucky in that people have stuck with us," says Mark. "It has always been about the journey and not the destination and I've been fortunate to be able to still do this with the guys in the band. The four of us are best pals."
While he remains busy touring with The Bluetones, most recently in May and again this coming December, Mark still found time in between to write and record a solo album called 'Memory Muscle', which was released in May this year.
"I got to a point where I was curious to see if I could make a record on my own. The rest of the guys in The Bluetones were very supportive. It was fun to make have final decision on everything for a change, but still nothing beats that chemistry you get with a band," urges Mark.
He is now looking forward to his first visit to Strabane and can promise a set mixed with Bluetones classics and new material and even one or two covers.
"I always get requests for Bluetones tunes and I'm more than happy to accommodate. Those songs are the reason I’m there in the first place, getting that chance to do what I do, so I'm happy to embrace all those songs and I look forward to playing them in Diceys in Strabane." says Mark.
Mike Joyce drummed with The Smiths from their formation in 1982 until their split in the autumn of 1987. Within that five year period the band, fronted by enigmatic lyricist Morrissey on vocals and Johnny Marr on guitar, stood out like a celebratory beacon of hope for the outsider left cold by the impending big-haired bland pop of the time and the uncompromisingly fatal ripples of Thatcherism. With a catalogue of songs laced with venom, wit, melancholy and tenderness and soundscapes that owed as much to Bob and Marcia, The Shangri-Las and T-Rex as they did to Punk and New Wave, The Smiths were arguably the most important British band since The Sex Pistols. Their music had a personality, a stomp and a bite.
The dichotomy between Morrissey and Marr, one being an idealistic guitar hustler, the other being a reclusive introverted Oscar Wilde reading New York Dolls fanatic with a his own special Northern-English croon, saw to it that The Smiths sounded and looked like nothing that preceded them or that has come in their wake. With four studio albums and a collection of exclusive non-album singles with B-sides that put their contemporaries' A-sides to shame, The Smiths packed a lifetime into five short years.
As lauded and as important as Morrissey and Johnny Marr were as a songwriting team, one of the key factors of The Smiths was the rhythm section. The band boasted one of the tightest live units around thanks to Mike on drums and Andy Rourke on bass. Did Mike feel at the time that he was part of something special?
"Well when you're young and starting a band, you like to think that you're going to be the best band in the world," he says. "Those early days in the rehearsal with Johnny and Morrissey were interesting, but it wasn't until we recorded our first single, 'Hand In Glove', when I stood back and realised, Christ, this is amazing. This sounds like a band I want to be a fan of. It just built from there. We knew we were a great band and were never afraid to say it. Every time we recorded something it just got better and better. We raised the crossbar each time we did a song and that went right up to our last album 'Strangeways Here We Come'. The fact that people still talk about what we did together twenty years after we split shows that it was something special. Those records still stand up today. The appeal of The Smiths endures and I'm privileged to have been a part of it."
Despite the attention of major labels, and the Manchester label Factory, The Smiths opted to sign for London-based Independent label Rough Trade. A dogged reliance to do things their own way saw to it that The Smiths had the freedom to present themselves in a way that many major labels prohibited their acts from doing.
"Rough Trade gave us the freedom to put out whatever single we wanted and tour in any manner that we wanted," reflects Mike. "Obviously releasing albums called 'Meat Is Murder' and 'The Queen Is Dead' would cause concerns to certain labels, but Rough Trade went with the flow. Morrissey took care of all the sleeves for the singles and the albums as well"
This approach saw the band break from the conventional touring path, taking themselves to venues many popular bands tended to ignore. This was perhaps realised best in the relentless touring The Smiths did of Ireland.
"It was Morrissey's idea to travel to parts of Ireland that other bands would ignore. Most bands still to do this day will play Dublin and Belfast and that's it. We would do Belfast and Dublin, but also places like Dundalk, Coleraine and Letterkenny. We also played the Leisure Centre in Galway, which was great for me because Galway is where my family is from. We had a big Joyce gathering that night, I remember," recalls Mike.
"We wanted to break away from that big arena set-up," he stresses. "The gigs were like celebrations between the crowd and the band - we were both the same. We never wanted it to be a case of, well you're way up on the stage and we're down here. It was a case of all of us together."
The band toured relentlessly throughout their existence and for Mike, it gave him an opportunity to approach the songs differently at times from their recorded incarnations. As a fan of the John Peel Session recordings of their early material as opposed to the studio versions that made up the band's debut album, I put it to Mike if he felt the same.
"John Porter produced that first album and he was keen on having a consistent beat running throughout songs like 'What Difference Does It Make?' remembers Mike. "When we played the song live it was broken up a bit more. I did prefer it that way and Morrissey did too. John convinced us into doing it his way in the studio, even though we continued to do it the way we liked live. Still, we had a hit with 'What Difference Does It Make?' and did it on Top of The Pops, so John knew what he was doing. I like both versions. I recently heard the studio version at a fairground and it sounded amazing. It was the perfect setting!"
For many, The Smiths' opus was their 1986 album 'The Queen Is Dead'. Undoubtedly one of the finest intros to an album ever, Mike's tribal drum roll led into Johnny Marr's furious and chaotic guitar swagger and Morrissey's wry and blackly comic tale of envious royal siblings, nine-year-old drug peddlers and tone-deaf piano players breaking into Buckingham Palace. Does Mike share my enthusiasm for that intro?
"Well I never get sick of hearing people tell me that," he laughs. "It was an unusual recording process for me when we did that track. There were drum loops and samples running through the song. But they were recorded live in the room. I wanted to do the whole thing live. Stephen Street, the producer, said I could do it when we played it live but the studio should be a different dynamic because of what's available. We all agreed for that to be the case throughout the band's history. That's why Johnny had so much scope in the studio for 'How Soon Is Now?' There must be about thirteen guitars layered on that track. Concerts were always a different dynamic and I always loved it when we played 'The Queen Is Dead' live - it was a killer!"
Despite all that has been written about 'The Queen Is Dead', Mike's favourite Smiths album is their final album together, 'Strangeways, Here We Come'.
"There is this idea that it was all falling apart when we recorded 'Strangeways', but nothing could be further from the truth," he stresses. "Everyone was getting on so well and we really were on fire as musicians. There was obvious pressure on Morrissey and Johnny to deliver, but once the songs were written we were so confident in them. It all came together so easily after that, and we felt like we had nothing to prove. For five years we were getting bigger and better. The momentum just kept growing by the day."
Yet despite the unified front during the recording of 'Strangeways, Here We Come', disagreements and tensions between Morrissey and Marr saw the band split just prior to the album's release. Since then, Mike has remained busy as a drummer.
"I toured with Sinead O'Connor after The Smiths. It was great to play with Sinead at that point. She had never really played with a band before and it was just before she had the worldwide success that she did. Those were precious times. I also got to go on tour and drum with The Buzzcocks, which was a great honour as they were always my favourite band and John Maher on drums was a major influence on me as a musician."
Mike also has his own band now in Manchester called Autokat, who have just recorded an EP, which will be available in October. He also fronts his own Radio Show called 'Alternative Therapy', where he plays rock and alternative classics from over the past forty years. He also tours as a DJ playing these classics.
Having one quarter of my favourite ever four-piece on the other side of the phone left me with no other choice but to ask Mike the, at last count, £40 million dollar question. "I think I know what's coming," laughs Mike. So, if Morrissey or Johnny Marr were to phone Mike up today and say lets reform, what would Mike say, in light, of course, of modern events such as a certain court case over an equal share of recording and performance royalties in 1996?
"It was all such a long long time ago," says Mike. "Morrissey is happy doing his solo thing. Johnny is busy touring with Modest Mouse. Andy has his own thing going on too. Ideally, I'd like to think that we did enough. Of course, if we were to get together for, say, a charity gig, and do maybe four songs, of course I'd do it. It would have to be all four of us. But it's all pretty hypothetical talk by now. The body of work has lasted and will always last - that's satisfying for me."
The Smiths in all their live glory in 1985 peforming 'Hand In Glove'
