Word #30

 

Issue 30

August 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cover star – Paul Weller

Word shuffle

1)      P55 – half of a 2 page ‘Word To The Wise’ interview with Jon Ronson by John Naughton.

“We [people in general] stay in way too much and when we come out we’re slightly crouching and fearful and then we scuttle home and write aobut ourselves on our blogs. You have to fight your natural instinct which is to stay at home. The internet lures us all into a solipsistic funk which we should all resist.”

2)      P109 – albums reviewed on this page are by Pajo, The Posies, the Raveonettes and Madness.The Nutty Boys ‘Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1’ is reviewed by Andrew Harrison. “Madness’s prodigal return…gives me and my fellow co-religionists the same delicious shiver that other Word employees experienced when Cream got back together.”

The Raveonettes get a less favourable review by Gareth James. The old cliché, ‘it’d make a good EP’ seems rather apt for ‘Pretty In Black.”

3)      P15 – Sue Perkins, subscriber Mike Wilson and Luke Haines are quizzed for the ‘Word Of Mouth’ section. Music that gets a thumbs up is Basement Jaxx (Sue), Mars Volta (Mike) and ‘Here Comes The City’ by The Go-Betweens (Luke). “It’s got a fantastic, disturbing lyric about being stuck in a train carriage with three strangers. I tend to avoid modern music. I prefer late 60’s, early 70’s British singer-songwriters, Kevin Ayers, English whimsy music.”

Sue likes reading ‘The Essential Garden Book’ by Dan Pearson. “I don’t know anything about gardens, but when I’m really tired I look at the pictures of undulating hills or ferns blowing in the Cornish breeze, instead of my garden which is a small patio with my dog’s shit in it.”

Mike enjoyed ‘Sideways’. “I can’t remember seeing another recent film which so instantly felt like a classic.” and Luke raves about ‘Beloved Elektra’; “…an allegory to the Russian Revolution, enacted as a dance on a Hungarian plain. I saw it with a friend who thought it was the worst thing ever. I loved it! Imaginative, moving, quite pretentious…what more could you want?”

4)      P58 – Third page from a six page Paul Weller interview by Paul Du Noyer. They talk about Paul’s latest child, born two months ago. “He wanted to name him after all four Small Faces, but had to settle for two: Stevie Mac. It’s believed negotiations broke down at bass guitarist Ronnie ‘Plonk’ Lane.”

5)      P123 – a review of various music DVDs by David Hepworth. “There are a million live DVDs and precious few of them get beyond the clichés of form to reveal much about the personalities of the people playing the music. They’re a promotional obligation rather than an opportunity for expression.”

The documentary called ‘Rough Cut and Ready Dubbed’ gets a positive write –up: “…an intriguing documentary shot on three-minute Super-8 cassettes by Hasan Shah and Dom Shaw during that period at the beginning of the 80’s when the tide of punk had gone out and left the likes of the Cockney Rejects and Sham 69 on the beach trying to work out what had changed. The interviews with Garry Bushell, John Peel and Tony Wilson at the time are fascinating.”

 

Interesting

In the ‘Departure Lounge’ section, Andy Gill mourns the loss of Hasil Adkins, the lo-fi rockabilly one-man band. “His virtually all-meat diet proved a significant influence on his art, as reflected in such titles as ‘Chicken Walk’ and 1999’s ‘Poultry In Motion’. He enjoyed cars, girls, huntin’, shootin’, and drinkin’ routinely to excess, the various colliding indulgences sometimes drawing him into the orbit of the local police.”

The Zappa family are taking ‘Zappa Plays Zappa’ out on tour. Dweezil is asked about teenage rebellion. “The only way you could rebel in our family was to become an accountant, or a lawyer or a Republican!”

Some of the magazine staff travel to Glastonbury and report back. Mark Ellen witnesses “… over-experimental Costello, uneventful Doves, spirited Babyshambles, veggie food vendor called ‘No Bones Jones’, engaging Royksopp, feet-warming Fatboy Slim, spectacular White Stripes and chipper Indian cdnce act at divinely titled Croissant Neuf. Nobody fell on our tent in the night.”

Jude Rogers is “… hugged by a stranger. Almost buy a tin flute but remember that I’ve got to snap out of this ‘cos there’s work in the morning.”

Andrew Harrison is awoken “…at 6am to military tattoo of rain on tent roof. Lightning strikes the Dance Tent, proving that even God thinks rave has had it. Greenpeace climate change campaigners all wear ‘I told you so’ faces.”

Keith Drummond bumps into “George Galloway, Tony Benn and naked man painted white, dancing in puddle. Allow massively ‘refreshed’ loon dressed as a pixie to read to my daughter – the story seems to lack structure and goes on for ever.”

Jude reviews the ‘TV Cream’ book. “This book’s worth the cover price alone for its description of ‘Absolute Beginners’ era Bowie: “there’s meandering around LA with orange hair or wailing underneath the Berlin Wall, but there’s also hoofing around with Mick Jagger on a piece of urban scaffolding.”

 

Longer article

Jude meets the engaging and thoroughly bonkers Tori Amos.

 

Word Interview #1 – Jude Rogers

This is the first of an occasional series of interviews with people who wrote for Word. In late March I spoke to Jude about how she first became involved and what her abiding memories are.

How did you start writing for the magazine?

I’d come to London to do an MA and then didn’t know what I wanted to do – well, I knew I wanted to write, to be a journalist, but thought that world was completely unavailable to me. I didn’t know anyone who was doing that. I spent a couple of years buggering about doing different things and ended up working for a charity in a job I didn’t particularly like. My friend Matt (Matt Haynes who used to run the indie label Sarah Records) and I started a fanzine about London called ‘Smoke’.  We saved our very little amounts of money over a year and put the magazine together. The first issue came out at the end of March 2003 around the same time as ‘Word’ started. Matt had run a record label but I had no idea how anything worked so I thought I’d just send the magazine off to some people who might review it, including ‘Word’. I’d fallen in love with the magazine straight away, right from the 1^st issue with Nick Cave on the front cover. I was so pleased that there was something out there that was for me.

David Hepworth got in touch first, which was exciting. He wanted to meet us in a pub in central London – I think him and Mark Ellen were off to see Blur at the Astoria. Mark joined us later on so I got to know them both a little then. The person that probably got me writing for ‘Word’ even more than Mark and David was Paul Du Noyer. I’d also sent him a copy of ‘Smoke’ and he’s very much into his London lore and stories so he got in touch with me a few months later. He wanted some new writers and was really keen to get more women and younger writers involved. I hadn’t reviewed music before, just written some things for the magazine at University and weird things about London for ‘Smoke’ but he liked my writing and wanted to take a punt on some new people. It was very much right place, right time.  It was before blogging had really taken off and I don’t know if I’d have got into writing through that anyway.

I kept in touch and did a few reviews for them. Then I did an interview on August Bank Holiday when Andrew Harrison called me up (obviously no-one else was available!) to interview Billy Bragg at the Leicester Holiday Inn. I was blessed because you just put a recorder in front of Billy and he’s brilliant. I didn’t know how dictaphones worked and had to go out and buy one. My uncle lived in Leicester so I went to stay with him and he drove me to the Holiday Inn, it was just comical really. Anyway Mark loved the interview, so after that I was sort of in with him as a writer. Paul needed an assistant for a few days a week to help with basic tasks like opening the post and speaking to PRs and they said I could do some writing too. I found the original offer letter from them the other day when I was tidying up the house. I took a 50% pay cut from my job with the charity but it was the chance to work with these great people – Andrew Harrison especially because I was from the ‘Select’ generation. I knew I had to do it.

 

Being younger and less experienced than most of the staff there could have been quite intimidating and nerve-wracking. What do you remember about the first time you went to work at the office?

I was really nervous going in that first day but also incredibly excited. As soon as I arrived I felt at home there – Mark was so bouncy and friendly that I never felt intimidated. Paul was incredibly supportive too and gave me bits of work that would stretch me. I remember him giving me the first four Brian Eno album reissues to review and asking for 1, 400 words on them. I said “I don’t really know these records”, I was only 25 but he said that was why he wanted me to do it, he didn’t want to read someone who’d written about Brian Eno hundreds of times before, he wanted a fresh perspective.

They were flexible with the days I worked too – I was putting cards up in supermarkets offering to teach kids for their English GCSEs and doing pub shifts around that, anything to make ends meet! They really looked after me and there was a lovely family atmosphere, right from the start.

 

What were the moments that stand out for you as highlights?

We just laughed so much. When Mark came into the office and started one of his anecdotes and half an hour later we’d all have stopped working. The podcasts were fun too, cramped into the cupboard. And going to Glastonbury was always enjoyable, driving down with Mark in the car and laughing all the way.

I remember interviewing Richard Hawley on the phone for the ‘Word of Mouth’ feature and The Pet Shop Boys came into the office. I was totally star-struck as they were my favourite band. Richard was distracted by the noise they were making saying, “What’s that racket behind you?” I told him it was the Pet Shop Boys. “Tell them to shut up!” That was a pretty surreal experience.

My first big interview as a main feature was Arcade Fire in Vancouver. I went out alone and had 3 days there – it was the most exciting experience but I was also terrified about having to write it up. Andrew Harrison would be editing it and he was the toughest editor but he was brilliant and you learnt a lot from him.

There was always too much to do because we were such a small team and at times it got stressful with sales going up and down. I left in December 2007 to concentrate on my own website, The Lipster which focused on women-led pop culture and write more widely for other papers and magazines. I’d realised I didn’t want to be an editor, I wanted to be a writer. If you’re editing a review section, there’s not much time to write. It broke my heart when I went out to the local caff with Mark and told him I’d decided to go – it was like telling your Dad you’re leaving home, it was really awful!

Although it could be stressful and was always busy, I really enjoyed it at the time and I don’t think I realised then how lucky I was. It was my first experience of being at an office long term and it was like a big family – my husband and even my Mum came in at one point and everyone was made to feel welcome. I just got the the proofs of Mark’s book earlier today and read the ‘Word’ chapter already; I forwarded straight to that bit to see what the hell he said about me! It felt special and magazines don’t have that feeling anymore because of the nature of the business – it’s sad.

 

Are there any magazines you subscribe to now?

I subscribe to ‘New York’ magazine (not ‘The New Yorker’), there’s a lot of good pop-culture writing in there. I also subscribe to a couple of the women’s magazines I write for like ‘Red’. I’ve always liked ‘Esquire’ and Andrew works as an editor for them, so I get that. Plus I’ll often buy magazines depending on the front covers.When ‘Word’ was first out I remember getting the bus on the first Thursday of every month from my charity’s office in Acton to Ealing Broadway just so I could get it. I couldn’t believe that 6 months later I was working there (wistful sigh).

 

 

Word #7

Issue 7

September 2003

Cover star – Dido

1)      p121 – full page, largely positive review of Black Rebel Motortcycle Club’s ‘Take Them On, On Their Own’ by Toby Manning. “Anglophilia is an odd affair. Particularly when emanating from Americans. They can’t possibly envy our dentistry, our climate or what we laughably pass off as a sandwich, so US Anglophilia tends to be all about Britain’s supposed sophistication. Perhaps Big Brother’s Jade, Girls Aloud and Chris Moyles haven’t made the Atlantic crossing.”

2)      p45– part of a 4 page report from Serbia’s Echo Festival by Matthew Collin. “Radio B92 was the voice of alternative Belgrade during the Milosevic years, and was shut down four times by the regime for telling the truth about the political situation while playing a fierce brew of indie rock, rap and techno. It has become so well-known that even Kim Gordon applauded its courage at the end of Sonic Youth’s set at Echo”.

3)      p90 –part of a 6 page feature on So Solid Crew. “For his 19th birthday, Megaman bought Swiss a car. A black soft-top Audi TT, the So Solid car of choice. But he had to sell it. ‘A little bit of money problems. I’m gonna get a new one soon. Another TT, I think.”

4)      p139 – short review of photography book “The Eye Of War”

5)      p145 – the letters page, ‘InBox’. A letter called ‘The Demographic Scam’ accuses Word of bigging up Steely Dan in the last issue to appeal to a certain demographic.  The magazine reply: “We may be right and we may be wrong about Steely Dan but it’s not because of demographics. This issue has not been precisely tailored to the needs of a garage-loving, blues-singing submarine enthusiast with an interest in quality American TV drama, technological advances in home entertainment and Gabby Logan.”

Interesting – This was the only copy I ever dropped in the bath.

A review of The Coral’s ‘Magic and Medicine’ entitled “Captain Pugwash meets Captain Beefheart”.

There’s a 2 page piece entitle “The Future of Music?” about Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio. A decade on, I’d say possibly not.

Jude Rogers writes her 1st review for the magazine for a book about London’s lost rivers called ‘The Groundwater Diaries’. “In essence, it’s crackers. But brilliantly crackers. A mass of daft streams of consciousness – with pun firmly intended. Half-crazed flights of fancy that could only emanate from an abuse of cheap lager, and from the eternally, endearingly, insane streets of London.”

A review of a Spike Milligan biography by Mat Coward claims “The two abiding passions of his life were self-pity and self-worship.” Which, as I read his autobiography, makes me wonder if Morrissey is the Spike Milligan of pop music.

Longer article – David Hepworth on how the beautiful people took over everything.