My Life With Rock N' Roll People
There’s always a frisson of excitement when Bob Geldof is back in town and this time round there are a couple of reasons why he should have popped up again. Firstly it’s the fiftieth anniversary of his band, the Boomtown Rats, the Dublin punk band famous for their chart-topping hits 'Rat Trap' and 'I Don’t Like Mondays'. The group has…
You’ve probably heard the name Spizz since he’s been around for years, decades even. Six, to be precise, dating back to the early post-punk scene of the late ’70s. In those days he and his ramshackle bunch of chums went under the brand of Spizzoil, making a name for themselves touring with Siouxsie and the Banshees. This coincided with the new…
As geopolitical chatter about World War III rises to a crescendo, one news organisation recently came out with a right old howler: how Russian aggression was leading to increased UK defence spending which would inevitably impact upon… The British Way Of Life. The lesser appreciated social commentator/cult rocker Chris Pope wrote about TBWOL some 45 years ago when he joined punk-mod…
Cast your mind back to the late '80s and it was a strange period. Rock was rubbing shoulders with indie, new country, dance, hip hop and a major back catalogue scene based around old records being reissued on CD. At the time I was editing a magazine and would receive all manner of advance cassettes, one being Kick, the forthcoming album…
