| What's Old? | |
| Last update: 16 August 2010 |
These are old What's New entries going all the way back to July 1996, archived for your edification.
Les Meilleurs
avec XTC: Michael Kijser wrote to let us know that the French band Les
France Cartigny released their latest album Les Meilleurs in
2008. On the cover, you can see the musicians and a few record sleeves
in the foreground. Look carefully, and perhaps you will be able to
identify one of their influences.
New Nigels With Attitude show
in Atlanta: The tribute band Nigels
With Attitude have announced their next show! The show will be
on Wednesday, April 14, 2010, at The
Earl in East Atlanta. Come see the best musicians of Atlanta perform
the music of XTC! (Thanks to Rob Leary.)
Tributosaurus
Signature Series: XTC 2: Tributosaurus returns for two
XTC tribute shows, so here's your chance to see and hear a reconstruction
of XTC's unique production style in a live venue. They will be playing
two shows (7pm & 10pm) on March 3 at Martyrs' in Chicago. Don't miss
them this time!
Ape Loves Haiti: Ape
Loves Haiti is a download-only compilation, all proceeds of
which will go to the Disasters Emergency
Committee, so please be generous. There are a few surprises and
exclusives, and beautiful artwork has been donated by Andrew Swainson.
The album is offered through July, so buy early and buy often. You can
also donate an extra £3 or £5 when you buy, so please support
the people of Haiti and hear some great music in the process.
Leisure does XTC: Last September,
the Ohio pop band Leisure (formerly The Bees)
received a request to play an entire evening
of XTC songs as a surprise for the bachelor party of a diehard XTC
fan. They're going to reprise the show for public consumption next
month. Don't miss this show if you're anywhere near Cincinnati.
Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 9:30pm, 3rd floor, Molly Malone's, 112
East 4th Steet, Covington, KY. $5, ages 21+.
Orpheus in Orpheus: Orpheus,
a new ballet by John Neumeier, is being performed this month at the
Hamburg Ballet. The ballet, “dedicated to the mythical figure
Orpheus — Champion of boundless civilization, poet and singer,
unquestioning lover, mediator between this life and the hereafter, son of
pagan gods and harbinger symbol of Christ”, features the music of
Stravinsky, Ignaz, Biber, and four songs from Orpheus — the
Lowdown by Peter Blegvad and Andy Partridge.
Fossil Fools at the
Furnace: Tin
Spirits, featuring erstwhile XTC guitar slinger Dave Gregory,
will be performing at The Furnace, Swindon, on Friday, 29 January 2010. Tin
Spirits is a prog rock band covering the likes of Yes, Radiohead, Genesis
and more, but on that night Mr Gregory will also be supported by XTC
tribute band Fossil Fools. Tickets are £8 advance/£10
at the door. Thanks to Status Promotions!
Mr. Partridge is not
Lightheaded: Years ago Andy Partridge worked with animator Mike Dacko on
music for a short film called Lightheaded.
Apparently Mr. Dacko has more recently worked with Thievery Corporation
and has decided not to use Mr. Partridge's music. The film has gone on
to win numerous awards.
Keneally and
Partridge News: Remco Engels sent a note recently in he said,
“. . . big big and huge compliments for your fantastic
Chalkhills site!” But he also pointed out that Mike Keneally says that he is
working on “. . . a collection of new songs co-written
with Andy Partridge . . .” Of course, Keneally said
the same thing in April 2008 and the project appears to have kicked off
in some small way in May 2004. Patience. Patience.
Tin Spirits Play Stompbox: Stompbox,
the UK's first dedicated effects pedal shoppe, is hosting a launch party
on Wednesday 18th November at their shoppe located in Northwood, North
West London. The band Tin Spirits, featuring Dave Gregory on
guitar, perform live at neighbouring Woody's Music Bar. There will also
be a charity raffle to raise money for Cancer Research UK.
Atlanta XTC tribute to
play again: The great XTC tribute band Nigels With Attitude
(featuring Tim Smith and Peter Stroud from Sheryl
Crow's touring band) is playing again. Their little septet also features
Nick Niespodzani, Kevin Spencer, Geoff Melkonian, Mark Cobb and Mark
Bencuya. The show starts at 8:30pm on Tuesday, November 24, 2009, at The
Earl, 488 Flat Shoals Ave. SE, Atlanta, Georgia. Tickets
are $10 in advance. (Thanks to Andisheh Nouraee.)
Find the Silver
Key: The
Silver Key has been released and the treasure hunt has begun!
Dave Gregory plays on two tracks on the rather unusual album by The
Weirdo Deluxe. “Somewhere in the United States is hidden The
Silver Key. All the clues needed to find it are hidden in this
album.” The initial shipment to CDBaby has sold out,
and the album is also available for download there and at iTunes.
Songs The Dukes of Stratosphear Taught
Us: The English Psychedelia That Influenced The Dukes of
Stratosphear: Picture yourself in a boat on a river that leads from
1967's jolly wonderland of English Psychedelia right up to the paisley
lollipop of 1984's 25 O'Clock by the Dukes of Stratosphear. DJ
Robby will play an upsy-daisy assortment of classic English 60s psych
that directly influenced the Dukes (and a healthy bit of the Dukes as
well!). And if that ain't enough, continue further up selfsame river to
2 hours of Robby's favourite XTC songs on WXDU's Mystery Show immediately
thereafter. 9pm-Midnight Sunday August 23rd, 2009!
XTC tribute at Eddie's Attic Aug
12 in Decatur, Georgia: Peter
Stroud and bandmate Tim Smith have pulled together a group of friends
including Nick Niespodzani, Kevin Spencer, Geoff Melkonian, Mark Cobb and
Mark Bencuya, to play An Evening of XTC. The show starts at 8pm
on Wednesday, August 12th, at Eddie's Attic, Decatur, Georgia. Tix
are $10 in advance/$12 day of show. (Thanks to Andisheh Nouraee.)Find the Silver Key: Dave Gregory
plays on two tracks on The Silver
Key, a rather unusual album by The Weirdo Deluxe.
“Somewhere in the United States is hidden The Silver Key. All the
clues needed to find it are hidden in this album.”
Famous Jonny Mambo has
a radio show called “Mojo Ballroom” on WCOM FM, Carrboro, North Carolina. It will
be an all XTC/Andy Partridge show this Tuesday, June 30, 2009,
from 10pm to midnight. WCOM is an all-volunteer, non-profit,
community-oriented radio station and a labor of love. The show should
appeal to both hardcore and new XTC fans.
Zak Schaffer
has a Los Angeles-based XTC tribute band called Terry and the
Lovemen. They will be performing Black Sea start to finish at
the Bootleg
Theater (2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, 213.389.3856) on July 3,
2009.
Paul Wilde writes,
“I'm now looking at an XTC 20th Anniversary Music and Friends
Convention early 2010, venue TBC, in Manchester, UK. I have the
archive material and now looking for a suitable venue. I'm looking at
making it a special event worthy of the group and fellow fans. I feel
well equipped to stage the event having the experience of organising the
original set between 89 - 93. As content I have down to include archive
XTC interviews, a live recording of XTC from Andy's shed plus all the
rare music videos! ALSO 'live music' and an XTC DISCO through to the
early hours! ALL THIS PLUS a celebration of Ape House! Anyone
interested please contact me at: wildecartoons
at btinternet dot com”
Reissued Dukes as XTC The Dukes of Stratosphear have revealed
their unsavory pasts as erstwhile members of one hit wonder proto-punk
band XTC. Seeking absolution for their sins they have gone back and
remastered both 25
O'Clock and Psonic
Psunspot from the original analogue tapes. Both albums are now
available on CD, packaged in high-quality digibook sleeve with lyrics,
photos and liner notes. And, lest we forget, the CDs also include many
bonus tracks and demos. Get yours today!
Absolute Iain
and Andy: Big XTC fan Iain
Lee, from UK's Absolute
Radio, has announced he will be interviewing Andy Partridge at
some point this week, and the result should be broadcast on his national
radio show, The
Sunday Night Show With Iain Lee, Sunday 3rd May 2009, beginning 10.00
p.m. Listen on 105.8 FM in the UK or online internationally. (Thanks to
Adrian Warren.)
Radio Bandcouver Working Overtime XTC - "Senses Working Overtime" A
Celebration in Two Parts. Mark Bignell would like you to know that he
is “. . . producing two 90-minute XTC radio
specials. They're on April 23 & 30, 2009, 10:30-Midnight UK time on
Co-op Radio 102.7 FM from Vancouver, BC, Canada. A commercial free,
corporate free, listener-sponsored radio station. Audience participation
is greatly encouraged as there will only be room for about 30 tunes from
their long and illustrious career. You can send your requests to: mark at bandcouver dot com
The show can be heard live and as a podcast at www.myspace.com/bandcouver”
AP on
the BBC Jamie Crampton turned us on to the fact that “Mr P will be
on the Radcliffe
& Maconie show on BBC Radio 2 Monday 6th April between 8
& 10 PM, not sure what he'll be doing/plugging but no doubt will be
enlightening.”
Tributosaurus becomes XTC -- again! Jerry Kaelin wrote in
to point out that Tributosaurus becomes XTC
again on Saturday, April 11th, 2009, at 7:30pm, at Park West, 322 West Armitage,
Chicago. Guests this time include Steve Frisbie (Frisbie), David
Blamires (Pat Metheny Group), Jeff Freling (Jeff Freling and the Rock
Squad, Blue Man Group) and noted XTC fan and Chalkhills friend Dag Juhlin
(Poi Dog Pondering). According to the Tributosaurus web site, they've
decided to do an XTC show every year as a part of their “Signature
Series”!
Reissued Reissues:
Benjamin Lukoff wrote to point out that the recent issue of Mojo
mentioned expanded two-disc reissues of English Settlement,
Skylarking, Oranges and Lemons, 25 O'Clock,
Psonic Psunspot, and more, will be released during 2009. Colin
Moulding, in his Rundgren Radio interview, also mentioned that
some additional recording has been done and some previously unfinished
and unreleased tracks may also see the light of day as part of this round
of reissues. Let's hope they don't bungle the mastering again.
The Mysterious XTC?
A.J. Hartley writes to let us know that his new mystery/thriller novel What
Time Devours will be published next week. He says, “it
is dotted with XTC references which have both plot and thematic
function.” Sounds like a must-read.
Jim Moray
writes that because of his cover of “All You Pretty Girls”
the song has been nominated for Best Original Song at the BBC Radio 2
Folk Awards. Jim has been asked to play the song at the ceremony and
he says that Andy has accepted the invitation and will be there at the
event. It happens on February the 2nd in London and will be broadcast on
Radio 2 on February 4th.
Doug writes,
“You might remember the Andy Partridge and Dave Gregory interviews
on Rundgren Radio? Well, you
may find this hard to believe but ... COLIN MOULDING WILL BE ON
A RUNDGREN RADIO SHOW!
December 7th, 2008, at 2pm ET. Just like before with Andy and Dave,
listeners are welcome to call in and ask questions!”
Toby Howard recently took
delivery of Mellotron:
The Machine and the Musicians that Revolutionised Rock by
Nick Awde. According to the official blurb, “Featured in this
volume are some of the musicians (not all of them keyboardists) who
spotted its potential and ran with it, many of them confessing to having
a love-hate relationship due to the Mellotron's extremely eccentric
mechanics.” The book includes a great interview with Dave
Gregory.
Chris Lawrenson noticed that The Redway school —
a school for children with severe and profound and multiple learning
difficulties in Milton Keynes — has recorded a version of “Everything
Will Be Alright”. Money from the sale of the CD will be
used to raise funds for their new MiLE
(Multisensory Interactive Learning Environment) room and hydrotherapy
pool. Andy Partridge has given his thumbs up to the project.
As it turns out, Lighterthief's
Stutter Drop is not a full “album”, “long
player”, or whatever we call a full-length release in these
download days. Instead, it's a sampler of sorts, containing parts of
songs which may or may not appear on a full-length release at some
unspecified time in the future. Andy Partridge appears on six songs,
including “All Done Things”, “Lover”
“Falling into the Future”, “Up on High”,
“Surface” and “The Hoodoo”. The EP is not
available in stores, but it may or may not be available if you ask Stuart
Rowe nicely. Snippets are also available for streaming.
The
Hoodoo That You Do So Well: Lighterthief,
with multi-talented Stuart Rowe lightly holding the reins, has a new
track available. It's called “The Hoodoo”, and it
features XTC's Andy Partridge on strings. This may or may not be a track
from the forthcoming long-player entitled Stutter Drop. So give
'er a virtual spin now.
Debie Edmonds
wrote recently to let us know that although Guitargonauts
disappeared off the radar it's not dead. In fact, Guitargonauts has been
reborn at www.guitargonauts.info, with
the help of new webmasters Daniel Prendiville and Jefferson Ogata.
Photographer
C. A. Vanaria spent years shooting bands for various Boston
fanzines, and has now published a book entitled The Boston Years: The
Music Scene in Photographs 1979-1986. The book collects about 80 of
her photographs, and is somewhere between a total DIY effort and a
professionally put together project. It includes many photographs that
have not been included in previous gallery shows of this body of work.
Many bands are featured but of course one of them is XTC. More details
available at http://www.thebostonyears.com.
Ken Leicht noticed a psychedelic Andy on the cover
of the May-June 2008 issue of Shindig!
magazine. Ken says, “Inside is a great interview/article with Andy
Partridge and David Gregory about the whole history of the
Dukes . . . with detailed breakdowns of all the songs in a
similar manner to the MySpace interviews. Great stuff. Definitely seek
it out.”
XTC
Fans writes: “For those of you despairing that Andy
Partridge is merely sitting around the house drinking absinthe and
spraying Easy
Cheese on crackers, then eating them, one after the other after the
other after the other after the ... well, fear not, for Mr. P is far
more productive and motivated than that! In fact, he's been in the
studio with playboy millionaire Stuart Rowe, multi-instrumentalist and
engineer extraordinaire (he twiddled the knobs on Monstrance, among many
other things), working on a track for the upcoming Lighterthief
album, Stutter Drop. Titled ‘All Done Things’
and mixed by Stu and Andy, the track features the latter on
‘harmony vocals, guitar solo and Motown guitar in final
chorus’ ... so get thee over there and give
it a listen or three. Add it to your player.”J. D. Mack pointed out this entry in Mike Keneally's blog entry for
April 2, 2008: “. . . Andy Partridge and I have
re-engaged on our project which was started four years ago now, sheesh.
This year we're going to actually finish the songs we started writing
together, I hope, I hope.” I hope, I hope.
According to Robyn Hitchcock, he and Andy Partridge are collaborating
on a “self-generating” album. Says he, “I write the
words on the train going up to Swindon and then, bang, we record it in
his shed.” No word on any release date. But according to Billboard
and NME,
Mr. Partridge is also working on a post-XTC solo album! (Thanks
to Wes Long.)
Dave
Gregory on Todd Rundgren Talk Radio: “Apologies if this is old news
to you:” David Gregory of XTC fame will be the special guest on Todd Rundgren Talk Radio,
where he will answer questions, both pre-recorded, emailed, and live
on-air. Todd Rundgren produced XTC's album Skylarking. The show
will ‘air’ on Sunday, 9 March 2008 at 2pm EDT (really, but
check the site that morning for the correct time). (Thanks to Deb and
Todd.)Tributosaurus becomes XTC: Don't miss Tributosaurus becomes
XTC, on Friday, March 7th, 2008, at 9:30pm, at Martyr's, 3855 N. Lincoln Ave.,
Chicago. This is a great bunch of Chicago musicians, and special guests
will include Steve Frisbie (Frisbie), Jeff Freling (Jeff Freling and the
Rock Squad, Blue Man Group) and noted XTC fanatic and Chalkhills fan Dag
Juhlin (Poi Dog Pondering).
The Dukes of Draught: At long last, The Dukes of
Simpleton have booked another show! Be at Hanover's Draught Haus in
Pflugerville, Texas, on Saturday, 22 March 2008, 9-11 pm. The Dukes of
Simpleton are a tribute band dedicated to bringing you the music of XTC,
performed live.Andy and
Todd Talk Radio: Andy Partridge will be a special guest on Todd Rundgren Talk Radio,
where he will answer questions: pre-recorded (MP3 or WAV), email (rundgrenradio
at earthlink dot net) and live on-air. The show will
take place on 17 February 2008 at 2pm EST (7pm GMT). (Thanks to
J. D. Mack and Doug.)
GHP Complete Complete: Volumes 13-16 of GHP Complete
are now available from Go
Home Productions. GHP Complete CD13: ‘Official Remixes Vol
1’ includes David Bowie vs XTC: “I'm Afraid of Making
Plans for Americans” which samples, remixes and otherwise folds,
spindles and mutilates, in a good way, XTC's “Making Plans for
Nigel” and Bowie's “I'm Afraid of Americans”. Download
your copy today!
Everything New is Old Again: Work continues apace on 11 Modern Antiquities,
the forthcoming album from Pugwash. Dave Gregory played on their 2006
Christmas single Tinsel & Marzipan, and it is rumoured that
Pugwash was also the backing band on the last XTC single, Where Did the Ordinary People
Go?. In any case, Andy Partridge has co-written two of the
tracks (“My Genius” and “At The Sea”) with
Pugwash main man Thomas Walsh, and we believe Partridge also plays guitar
on one or more of the tracks. You can hear an excerpt from a rough mix
of “My Genius” on the new 11 Modern Antiquities MySpace page.
Pour a Glass of Fine Wires: Fine
Wires Humming A New Song, the new EP from Monstrance,
recorded especially for Stuart Maconie's
Freak Zone show on BBC
6 Music, is now available for download from APE House Records. An animated video
for “I Lovely Cosmonaut” (from the Monstrance album)
is also included.
Mark of Go Home Productions (XTC
fan and remixer extraordinaire) writes: “‘Bootlegs’
have been fun but have become less spontaneous for me in 2007.
‘Mashed’ was initially an exciting project/prospect but 3
years took its toll and really watered it down to the laughing stock that
it was.” So Mark “put a lid on this particular GHP
chapter” and released GHP Complete, the first 12 of
16 mp3 compilation albums now online. “Basically all the bootlegs
from 2002-2007. Unofficial Remixes. Rarities and Unreleased.”
Including many tracks which sample or remix XTC. Download yours
today.
12 Bar, 179 Westcott Place,
Swindon, has been booked to host an XTC-themed event on Saturday 29
September. The
Shebeats and The Fuzzy Warblers are scheduled to appear.
(The SundayDogs
unfortunately will not be able to perform.)
Monstrance will be playing live on Stuart Maconie's BBC 6 Music
programme Freak
Zone, on Sunday 29 July. Yes, you heard it right, Martyn, Barry
and Andy will wield their musical tools in the studio for a session of
improvised sound. The show starts at 17.00 UTC.
Kathleen Davis writes to say that there will be a mini southern
California XTC gathering starting at 6:30pm on July 21, at the
AMAZING-sounding Library Bar
in Downtown Los Angeles! (630 West 6th St, Suite 116-A, Entrance on Hope
St.) Please write Kathleen
for more details.
May
2:
April 17:
“Winterwerk”,
the first single from Monstrance, the new album
by Martyn Barker, Barry Andrews and Andy Partridge, is now available for
download from the Ape store (67p excluding VAT, 79p inclusive of
VAT).The
Dukes Of Simpleton (a tribute band dedicated to bringing you the
music of XTC, performed live) will be playing Saturday, April 14th at Threadgill's World
Headquarters in Austin from 9-11 pm. They've got five new songs and
a new drummer! (Thanks to Chris Vreeland.)
According to
the Ape
House, the new double-disc live improvised (“and overdub
free”) album Monstrance from
Barry Andrews, Martyn Barker and Andy Partridge has now been mixed and
mastered and is mostly ready to go. The album will be released on 2
April 2007 in the UK, and on 3 April 2007 in the USA (via Ryko
distribution). Check the Ape site
for more details on the track
listing, free downloads,
podcasts, blogs, etc.
Apple Vinyls, the
Special Collector's Edition box set of 13 vinyl 7-inch singles with
special sleeves, is now available from Idea Records.
The box set includes all the tracks from Apple Venus Vol. 1 and
Wasp Star, plus three
bonus tracks “Where Did The
Ordinary People Go”, “Spiral” and “Say It”.
The
latest news: the Ape
House web site now features audio and video podcasts,
the first being Andy Partridge talking about the Fuzzy Warbles Collector's
Album. There will also be a video preview from Monstrance; a download
single will be released early in 2007, the album is expected in April.
More audio and video podcasts will follow. Oh, yes, there will also be
some sort of blog thing.
Pugwash have released a new Christmas single
entitled Tinsel & Marzipan. All proceeds from sales of
the single go to Brainwave, the
Irish Epilepsy Association. The recording features some special guests
including Mundy, Eric Matthews, Neil Hannon, Peter Fitzpatrick, and Dave
Gregory. We'd like Dave to get a Number One, and we reckon we can get
this CD into the charts if enough people buy it the weekend of December
8th. And, even if you purchase this song as a digital download it will
still count toward the chart position! So buy it now, either as a digital download
or as an honest-to-goodness
CD single! Let's go all the way!
Ian E
and Paul Culnane pointed out this unsettling comment from Andy Partridge
in the December issue of MOJO magazine: “I
speak of XTC in the past tense. It's in the freezer and I dunno if it'll
ever come out again. Colin [Moulding] phoned me recently and said he
wasn't interested in music any more, and it wouldn't be XTC without
him. . .”
Bill Wikstrom wrote to point out that
“XTC are briefly seen in the new DVD Everyone
Stares: The Police Inside Out by Stewart Copeland (yes, the
very man who seemingly lived in that Drums & Wires T-shirt).
They are seen: 1) On the tour bus with The Police (Andy sitting next to
Terry and Colin and Dave scattered across from them). 2) Orange, France
- Terry standing behind Police tour manager Kim Turner as Kim spittles
out some water. 3) Orange, France - Andy rabidly talking to Sting
backstage about the bands The Yachts and Holly And The
Italians.”
The
latest news from the Ape House:
“Andy Partridge has recently recorded an edition of Freak Zone
hosted by Stuart Maconie, for BBC's 6 Music digital radio station.
Several numbers from the Fuzzy Warbles series are
played with Andy and Stuart shooting the breeze in between. The show
rounds off with an exclusive airing of a nine-minute extract from the
forthcoming double disc set Monstrance, called ‘I
Lovely Cosmonaut’. The show will be broadcast on 19th November at
1700 GMT.”
The Official Fuzzy Warbles
Collector's Album will be released on 16 October 2006 by Ape House UK. The box set includes all
8 volumes of Andy Partridge's Fuzzy Warbles, a bonus
9 track CD entitled Hinges, a book entitled A Brief History of
Home Taping and a sheet of Fuzzy Warbles stamps. For those of
you who have already bought autographed copies of Fuzzy Warbles
volumes 1-6, the box is available with volumes 7+8 at a special price, as
of 25 September. Order yours today!
will be released on September 14 in the U.S.A.
Like the show, the twenty-five track compilation is a celebration of all
things late Seventies and early Eighties, featuring tracks by Rush, Styx,
Joe Jackson, Joan Jett and XTC, who contribute the powerful statement
“No Language in Our Lungs”. The complete series is also
available on DVD.
[Rolling
Stone
]
. Numerous readers have asked, “Why didn't
they just use the original?” Well, perhaps it's because when XTC
have granted permission in the past, the movies were crap. But that's
only a guess.
. Edited by Stephen Thompson and the staff of
The Onion A.V. Club, the book is
available in better book and record stores now.
. Andy also offers a back
cover endorsement for Mouthing Off by claiming, “I'm not
cool enough to be in this book.” In addition to some funny and
truthful observations from the XTC frontman, the book features photos and
quotes from all sorts of rock, punk and indie artists. Compiled by
Rolling Stone/Billboard contributor John D. Luerssen,
Mouthing Off is available in better book and record stores
now.Monstrance, the
live improvised no over-dub-lum, featuring the instrumental magic of
Martyn Barker, Barry Andrews and Andy Partridge, was released on 2 April
2007. The reviews are pouring in. Hear for yourself what the fuss is
all about. Order yours today!
, originally rumoured to include XTC with John
Cleese, was released without any contribution from the band.
. for advance order.
