16th July 1983, price 40p
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New Musical Express 16th July 1983, price 40p |
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| Page 1 · Page 2 · Page 12 · Pages 16 & 17 · Pages 32 & 33 · Pages 34 & 35 · Page 36 · Page 47 · |
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Page 1 - Front Cover Cover photo - Cabaret Voltare. Main feature - Cabaret Voltare: CULTURE VERSUS COMMERCE, THE CABS GO MAINSTREAM - BY ANDY GILL Other features - YELLOWMAN, ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN, GEORGE BENSON, BIG COUNTRY. |
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Page 2 - Contents page NME INSIDE INFORMATION 16 - BIG COUNTRY Out in the wilds of Oxfordshire there's Big Country - the group that is - having a picnic with Kirsty McNeill. Photo of Stuart running. 32 - Tour News 33 - Record News 35 - Gig Guide |
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Page 12 - Half Page advert for Reading Rock The Last READING ROCK at the Thameside Arena, Richfield Avenue. August 26th, 27th, 28th BLACK SABBATH The Stranglers, Big Country, Thin Lizzy Survivor, Marillion, Steel Purse Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul, Suzi Quatro, Steve Harley, Magnum Climax Blues Band The Enid, Hanoi Rocks, Mama's Boys, One The Juggler, Pallas, Sad Cafe, Wendy & The Rocketts Plus Opposition & Crazy Angel More to follow. Big Country - "Fields of Fire" (Reading Rock 1983) |
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Pages 16 & 17 BIG COUNTRY - In A Field Of Their Own SO WHO PUT THE BIG POP INTO BIG COUNTRY? KIRSTY REPORTS. PHOTO: PETER ANDERSON WHEN THE studio's quiet, and the only sound interrupting the peace of the late afternoon is the distant whir of a lawnmower, only the Space Invaders in the toilet and the framed Grateful Dead In Egypt poster in the bedroom betray the stately Manor's affiliation with the whacky world of popular music. In the games room, Stuart and Sandra Adamson's 15 month old son Calum is tackling the problem of cues and coloured balls in a somewhat direct manner - perched on top of the snooker table. "Stuart phoned me at home the other week." recalls Sandra, "and said, I think I've written a good song, but I wasn't so sure when I heard it..." The song was 'In A Big Country', the follow-up single to 'Fields Of Fire', and it has now consolidated the success of that fiery hit; and incidentally, it's also a very good song. Currently between tours, the group have recently been recording their first LP - 'The Crossing' for release at the end of this month - at The Manor, with producer Steve Lillywhite putting the 'Big' in Big Country. "What's great about Steve," Stuart enthuses, "is he makes a Big Country record. He doesn't make a Steve Lillywhite record. And he doesn't have that set producer sound." It's two years now since Stuart effectively disbanded The Skids when he left to lay low for a while in his hometown of Dunfirmline, gather his wits and team up with guitarist Bruce Watson. Bruce (also from Dunfermline) began his musical career in the lesser known Delinquents. "That when was when I was 15 and still at school. It was just all mucking about really - we were the sort of first punk rockers at school, Ken? My heroes were Alex Harvey and Bill Nelson, but punk was just magic. Stuart told me about a year before The Skids split up that he wanted to get another band started. I was working in the dockyard at the time... My dad still thinks I work in the dockyard! AFFABLE, SKINNY and handsome, and just turned 25, Stuart has changed little over the years. With Bruce and a handful of songs, he waited another year to find the right musical half to complete the group. I was getting really fed up with it all towards the end of The Skids, and that's one of the reasons I left. But I knew I still wanted to be writing songs and making music in some sort of form. So I got together with Bruce, and we never intended to get a full group together. We were probably going to be one of those duos with the tapes in the background! "But we tried some boys from Dunfermline and that didn't work out - it was too much of a wally sound. Everybody was playing like mad all at the same time; so we knocked that on the head and came down to do some demos for Phonogram. "I'd previously known Tony and Mark anyway, so I asked them to come along and play. And it just clicked right away. Because if you're going to have a complete group - especially with the situation that I'd just come out of - it's got to be the right people as well. There's got to be some sort of meshing of spirits at certain points. And you've just got to have people that are level headed: because there's enough bullshit that goes on in music without people believing their own publicity and getting ego-ridden stuff like that. I just hate all that. "I wouldn't have thought it would be possible for me to work with people who were distanced, because Bruce and I still live in Dunfermline, and Mark and Tony are down here; it never worked with Richard and I, having it like that. We just got into totally different things and it really diversified." Stuart met drummer Mark Brzezicki and bassist Tony Butler when their group On The Air (with Simon Townshend) supported The Skids on last tour. From a completely different background to the others, Mark and Tony did a lot session work together; forming a team called Rhythm For Hire. "We tried to build up a reputation as a rhythm section, which was beginning to work. But it was in the back of our minds always to find group," explains Tony. "Mark and I were just moping about when Stuart called, which was just brilliant - totally out of the blue. I cherish that day when I got that tape through the post. "What's going to happen now is like somethlng I've been working for for the past 15 years. I'm doing what I want to do and that's the way I've always functioned. I want this group to be good and there's nothing that's going to me from making it good - and that is my own quarter of determination for this group. "Personally, I was really quite shocked that 'Fields of Fire' did so well. Considering how badly 'Harvest Home' did anyway, it was a tremendous shock..." "Tony was more into Big Country than I was to start with," continues Mark, "because I'd got used to living off playing with anyone. I was actually good at it. But it gets a bit stifling: I never get to hear half of what I've done unless it's actually on record and out in the shops and I go and buy it. It's not very fulfilling. With Big Country, Tony was over tho moon about it all, and I felt the same. But I found it harder to say, Is this it? because I suddenly realised that I'd got used to - I'd actually got to like - not being committed. I suppose it's like being a bachelor too long. You know, when the right thing comes along you're a little bit more dubious than you should be. I think we're in a field of our own and I like it for that a lot. Being original is a great feeling. I don't think we sound like anything else..." ALTHOUGH THE group evidently have a distinctive identity, what makes their interpretation of the rock mould different? "Well, it is basically a rock formula," Stuart agrees. "It is a totally standard line-up, but we do — or I'd like to think that we do - something that's a little bit different within that, by orchestrating all the parts, say, instead of just strumming chords. And I don't think that anything we do is in an American style. And I think that's probably why people accuse me of having a guitar that sounds like bagpipes sometimes. Because it's not based In American muslc at all - it's much more British-based than say Hendrix and rock 'n' roll and all that sort of stuff." Is rock an attitude to gultars? "Aye it Is. Totally. Rock guitarists definitely have a certain way of holding it and standing with it - the total phallic posture. You've got to have it at least down at groin level... right? ...on a long strap, and one arm fully extended as if you ve got mighty penis!" "There's one thing that we'll never get away from," adds Tony. "Stuart's guitar sound and the way he plays it. Because that was basically The Skids. What Big Country can do - the rest of can form another identity around that guitar playing, which I think we're doing. "I think The Skids were heavily reliant on his guitar sound and the way he played things and the songs that he wrote at that time. But I think that we're all putting in so much more, and I think Stuart had drawn a lot from the group to inspire him to start writing songs as good as 'Fields Of Fire'. You need that amount of inspiration to get going I suppose." WOULD THEY accept that 'Fields Of Fire' was something of a terrace anthem? "Well, we talked about this before," answers Stuart, "and I went, '400 miles until Kevin Keegan scores a goal' and it doesn't work" There's no 'ois' or 'oh ohs' in it or anything like that. It is basically a simple melody anyway. And there's only two choruses in the whole song." What was the idea behind it? "There's four or five different ideas in the song. First of all, 'The 400 miles' thing is like the distance between me and my family when I'm in London working. 'Between a woman and a boy, between a child and a toy' is about a special relationship in families that sometimes gets spoiled. And another line as well 'Before the falling of the West' is about how ordinary people are totally ignored by people in positions of power. No matter how much they say they're doing for you or whatever... "I just think that it's totally ridiculous that that much money should be spent on fucking bombs really. It sounds a really cheesy thing to say, but there's no other way to put it. I've got plenty of questions, I suppose, but I don't have many of the answers..." And Dunfermline's still home? "Oh, completely, I draw a hell of a lot of inspiration from just being there in the peace and quiet. Being around the family and people that I've known for years." "Some of my friends are alright about the group," adds Bruce. "But some of them treat it different. You think that it's you, but it's not - it's them. I've got friends that I've been with since primary school, and they're fine. But the pals you meet going into the pub are like, Oh, on Top of The Pops the other night, you must be rich - lend us a tenner. Or it's, Oh there's that poof that plays guitar with Big Country. "They treat you like something different. You're always a poof..." Half page advert for One The Juggler New Single out now - "Damage is Done" Available as 7" & 3 track 12". |
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Pages 32 & 33 - Tour News & Record News
Tour News - This Week's round-up One The Juggler have added further dates to their previously reported tour, which supports their current single 'Damage is Done' on Regard Records. The new gigs are at Liverpool Venue Club (July 27), Glasgow Night Movess (28), Ayr Darlington Hotel (29), Retford Porterhouse (30) and London Woolwich Tramshed (August 4). Tour News - It's all happening outdoors! READING TIMETABLE READING FESTIVAL has finally got itself together and organised a running order for this year's event (August 26-28), now that the bill is virtually complete. Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul are now officially confirmed, but negotiations for The Belle Stars have fallen through, Another new booking is Stevie Ray Vaughan, who was lead guitarist on David Bowie's 'let's Dance' album, asn was a member of Bowie's tour band until he left to pursue other projects - he'll be appearing with his own group. A few more acts have still to be finalised, and will obviously have to be inserted into the running order, which stands at present as follows:. FRIDAY: The Stranglers, Big Country, Steel Pulse, Palla, Hannoi Rocks. SATURDAY: Black Sabbath, Marillion, Suzi Quattro, Survivor, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Magnum, Mama's Boys, Heavy Pettin', Wendy & The Rockettes. SUNDAY: Thin Lizzy, Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul, Steve Harley , Climaz Blues Band, The Enid, One The Juggler, Sad Cafe, The Opposition. A reminder that advance tickets for the full weekend are £15.95, including camping and parking - available from NJF/Reading Festival (to whom cheques and POs should be made payable), P.O. Box 4SQ, London, W1A 4SQ, enclosing SAE. |
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Pages 34 & 35 LIVE ADS THE ALARM *14th LEEDS - Warehouse *16th RETFORD - Porterhouse *17th DARTFORD - Flicks *SUPPORT - UNDER TWO FLAGS NATIONWIDE GIG GUIDE DURAN DURAN pictured in their secret hideaway. ALL QUIET on the tour front this week, as the live circuit indulges in a touch of midsummer lethargy. Not a single new tour of any consequence hits the road and, apart from local festivals, there are no major outdoor events. If you can hold your breath long enough, you'll find that things start to hot up again next week, but meanwhile the principal attractions for the next few days are mainly one-off shows. The top event is unquestionably the Prince's Trust rock gala at London's Dominion Theatre on Wednesday, with DURAN DURAN and DIRE STRAITS, though that's long since been sold out and tickets are like the proverbial gold dust. But both bands will be in action again a few days later, as next week's Gig Guide will reveal - and Irish readers have the opportunity of seeing Straits topping an open-air Dublin festival on Sunday. With so little to shout about this week, attention again turns to London's Capital Music Festival, which continues to do us proud. The WOMAD season at the ICA comes to an end on Sunday with a final night all-start party, and the same evening jazz star TANIA MARIA is at the Dominion. Then it's over to the Royal Festival Hall on Monday for a rare appearance by the great FATS DOMINO, who's joined by JAY McSHANN and JIMMY WITHERSPOON - and at the same venue on Tuesday, HERBIE HANCOCK fronts his reunited VSOPII. ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN started their tour almost within spitting distance of the Arctic Circle, and they continue their southbound progress - stopping off in Blackburn (Thursday), Liverpool (Friday) and Birmingham (Saturday)- before coming to the grand climax in London's Royal Albert Hall on Monday and Tuesday. The only other two big-name acts still doing the round at the moment are BIG COUNTRY and STEVE WINWOOD. Also worthy of note are a couple of shows by THE FALL at Derby (Thursday) and London Brixton (Friday), their only dates prior to an extensive autumn tour... a one-off by NEW ORDER in Manchester on Wednesday... and a three-nigh stint by the highly talented ROY AYERS at London's The Venue, starting on Wednesday. THURSDAY 14th Coventry Dog & Trumpet: One The Juggler Leeds Warehouse: The Alarm St Austell Cornwall Coliseum: Big Country FRIDAY 15th Bath Moles Club: One The Juggler Salisbury City Hall: Big Country SATURDAY 16th Dunstable Queensway Hall: Big Country SUNDAY 17th Dartford Flicks: The Alarm |
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Page 36 NATIONWIDE GIG GUIDE (cont.) SUNDAY 17th Dartford Flicks: The Alarm Poole Arts Centre: Big Country TUESDAY 19th Guernsey Beau Sejour Centre: Big Country WEDNESDAY 20th Jersey Fort William: Big Country LIVE ADS THE WAREHOUSE CLUB 19/20 Somers St, Leeds 1. Phone 468287 - Thursday 14th July THE ALARM - Thursday 21st July THE BOX - Thursday 4th August THE EUROPEANS - Thursday 11th August THE SMITHS LATE BAR 9-2am Sunday Gigs doors open 7.30pm - 10.30pm RED TAPE (U.K.) presents THE ALARM + UNDER TWO FLAGS Sunday 17th July at FLICKS, Kent Road, Dartford. Doors open: 7.30pm. Admission £2.50 |
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Page 47 T-ZERS ("news" in brief) ...Still no word from the SPEAR OF DESTINY camp on the recent split which has left the original nucleus of Kirk 'ears' Brandon and bassist Stan Stammers. However, ex-drummer Chris Bell confirms he and saxophonist Lascelle have fled following "personality clashes and religious differences." That's a new one... |