Hi guys Meant to do this last week, but have been buried with stuff at home, anyway, here's the interview with Woody in the Record Mart & Buyer, if you get a copy, they have copies of Wonderful to give away in a draw. But you can enter through their web site; www.record-mart.co.uk Record Mart & Buyer - Madness Every Issue we choose an artist/band & examine the music & style that makes them what they are. Look upon it as a recipe that goes to make the band, it' s intimate components.It also acts as a buying guide to build a collection according to a buyer's taste. In this issue, Rich Wilson interviews & takes a look at the influences musical & otherwise of Madness whose new album Wonderful is due on October 18th via Virgin. "I thought we got a bit up our own arses to be honest", declares Woody in reference to the period in the mid '80s when Madness attempted to manoeuvre away from their traditional sound. "This time around we just went 'Well we are mad, so let's just be ourselves & do what we do best' ". In case you hadn't noticed Madness, creators of the Nutty Sound have reformed once again to attack the charts. Their latest single Lovestruck has increased their tally of top 20 singles to a phenomenal 22, with the next planned single, Johnny The Horse odds-on to add yet another notch. Surprisingly it has been 14 years since the original line-up of Suggs, Woody, Mike Barson, Chris Foreman, Bedders, Lee Thompson & Cathal Smyth recorded together. Created in 1979, Madness originated from the North London Invaders (which featured Barson, Thompson, Foreman & Suggs). A name change coincided with the recruitment of more members & the rest, as they say, is history. Whilst Madness technically disbanded in 1986, they reformed in 1992 to perform at their first Madstock festival at Finsbury Park, something which Woody admits aided the current full reunion. "Well without the Madstocks we would never have got this album together. Since 1992, we have been playing every year & the initial freshness of getting back together was really good. But year after year it gets a bit tainted because you are doing the same old stuff again. We always talked about new material, but we have always been a bit cautious. With Suggs coming back into the fold & it being our 20th anniversary it just seemed like a good time.! The release of the new album is also accompanied by a box set of all the previous Madness albums, each having been digitally remastered & featuring some of the promotional videos as part of an enhanced CD. Apart from their ability to make the perfect pop song, Madness were dab hands at producing the more memorable accompanying video, complete with flying saxophonists & pianos, Morris Minor cars & pairs of rather baggy trousers. "It's just the sense of having a laugh." Relates Woody. "We had a couple of ideas for a video, which is normally where it all kicks off. You pick a few locations that fit vaguely around your ideas & then it's a case of how many funnies you can fit into three minutes! I had forgotten what a laugh it was. Obviously it's tougher on the more serious numbers. The new single Johnny The Horse is all about a down & out & it wasn't the easiest video to make. It was harder to lark around & take the piss as we normally would have done." The influences of the band are harder to define. Obviously there are Ska & Blue Beat influences, but Madness have always been more than mere plagiarisers of 1960's Jamaican music. This was something Woody was clearly keen on avoiding. "We never jumped on any band wagons, we were just ourselves. We enjoyed playing music. We used to take things from so many different sources because there were seven of us. As a consequence we always got this jumbled sound." Prince Buster Of all the musicians who shaped the early Madness sound, the relatively unknown Prince Buster was unquestionably an enormous influence. Born Cecil Bustamante Cambell in Kingston Jamaica, he was an ex-boxer turned musician & claimed to have been the inventor of Ska. Giving an indication of the talent that he possessed, his first visit to a recording studio produced the classic track Oh Carolina. The Ska sound that he subsequently developed consisted of a more upbeat & eminently more danceable reggae sound coupled with his witty & often humorous lyrics. The influence that he had on Madness is fairly blatant. In deed the band named themselves after his song Madness. By way of a tribute, their first single release The Prince, was also written about him. Anyone in any doubt as to the validity of this claim, need only listen to the opening words of the song - 'Buster, he sold the heat, with a rock steady beat'. The single One Step Beyond, which Madness released in November 1979, had also been written by Buster (the Madness version reaching number 7 in the charts & was their first top 10 single) "All the band were fans apart from probably Mark Bedford & myself. Lee & Cathal seemed able to quote from every song that he had ever done, & they really knew the history of Blue Beat & Ska. Yet to me & Mark it was a complete mystery!" Confesses Woody. The ultimate accolade & hero worshipping opportunity for most of Madness occurred at the first Madstock festival at London's Finsbury Park, when Prince Buster joined them onstage for a couple of numbers. "Yeah he did. He just turned up. I think he just happened to be in the country at the time. We heard thorough our manager that he wanted to come along. We just said come on down & he came onstage & performed with us." The Specials Emerging on to the Ska revival scene at around the same time were The Specials (or Special AKA, as they were known then), whose numerous hits included 'Ghost Town' and Rat Race'. "Yeah that was amazing really" explains Woody. We were doing our stuff, obviously heavily influenced by Prince Buster as well as Motown, and Mike Barson and some of the others went to a gig and saw The Specials. I remember they were absolutely gob smacked that this band from another planet; Coventry, were doing exactly the same stuff as we were. They were covering old Blue Beat stuff and we thought 'Bloody hell, someone out there is doing the same as us, wearing the same clothes and influenced by the same things', and we couldn't believe it. We spoke to Jerry Dammers [keyboard player and unofficial leader of The Specials], and he got us a couple of gigs". Following on from that initial meeting in 1979, Dammers founded his own label, 2-Tone, on which The Specials released their material. A close friendship between the two groups ensued, and Madness along with Selecter signed to the label. As a result of this, an extensive tour of the country followed with the bands all appearing together on the same bill. "The 2-Tone Tour was a brilliant time" remembers Woody. It was absolutely fantastic. I mean we played to every club up and down the country that I can think of to packed houses." Despite the unquestioned success of the tour, the fact that Madness were appearing with two classic sounding Ska bands made Madness realise that they were being pigeonholed as nothing more than 'another Ska tribute band'. Which certainly wasn't how the band pictured themselves at all. Well we weren't just a Ska band. We were always much more than that. It comes down to influences again. We had many more diverse influences than people like The Specials and Selecter, who were very much down one single road. They would be desperate to try and recreate the original, authentic sounds such as the bass and drum sound from the original record, whereas we just wanted to play music and didn't care about trying to recreate anything." Madness consequently left the 2-Tone label (which was later purchased by Chrysalis), and signed for Stiff Records. Despite this, the two bands remained on good terms, and Dammers has worked with Madness on a number of occasions, including playing the keyboards on 'Yesterdays Men'. Three ex-members of The Specials, The Fun Boy Three, also appeared in the video for the Madness track 'Driving In My Car'. Ian Dury/Kilburn & The High Roads Ian Dury has always had an innovative approach to music, illustrated by his often-bizarre lyrics. His musical career began when he formed Kilburn & The High Roads in the early 1970's, before forming Ian Dury & The Blockheads & finding fame with the likes of Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick & Reasons To Be Cheerful. "We have come to know Ian for years" says Woody "He has come & done guest appearances at gigs & stuff. He was also signed to Stiff Records like us. We have always got on well & he was one of the bands major influences, so it was something for us to actually get to know him as well." Despite his recent health problem, Dury makes an appearance on Drip Fed Fred, a track on the forth-coming Madness album. "It was funny. Lee Thompson was over in Holland - because Mike Barson lives there- & Lee was staying in this hotel. He walked through the lobby & who was sitting there? Ian Dury. Lee told him about this song that he had written, Drip Fed Fred & because it has loads of characters in it, he asked Ian if he wanted to do a guest vocal on it. When Ian found out what it was called he thought Lee was taking the piss, because due to his ailments he has been on a drip. In fact he is Drip Fed Ian! [Laughs]. But it's not to do with that, it's all about the underworld & individuals in jail, I think." Labi Siffre London born Siffre Is not exactly well known for his talent in the Ska field, but did of course originally write 'It Must Be Love', which was a bit for Madness in 1981. It was also re-released in 1992 after it was featured in the soundtrack to the movie 'The Tall Guy'. "I don't know who brought that song up actually" says Woody. 'I hadn't even heard the song when we played it, which was quite good really. If you listen to our version and then his version, they are worlds apart. His is very light and skippy. In a sense it was a good thing that I hadn't heard it because it would have influenced me and I might have changed my style. It is a great little song, but the original was a little too wishy washy for my liking. It's a bit lightweight. I mean, you know, no disrespect to him, because it is a fantastic song, but 1 think we gave it a bit more weight." Elvis Costello Another artist who was exceptionally well respected in the Madness camp was Elvis Costello, as Woody explains. "I think that the biggest Elvis Costello fan was Mark Bedford. He used to absolutely love him. I didn't see the attraction [laughs] -that's a good one- until I saw him live, and then it all clicked into place. I was like 'God almighty, this is absolutely frigging awesome.' It was a bit of an eye opener I couldn't quite see what everyone was going on about, because for a start 1 couldn't understand what he was singing about because of his style. But once 1 got to hear the lyrics I was blown away. He is just such a brilliant craftsman, and seeing it live brought it all to life." Not for the first time, Madness found themselves in the fortunate position of having the respect they had for an artist reciprocated, with Costello appearing with them in the studio as well as on stage. "He was produced by Clive Langer in the early days, along with ourselves. So we often used to see him in the studio. Then we were doing a B-side and wanted to rework 'Tomorrows Just Another Day' as a slow version. Costello did this awesome track called 'Shipbuilding', which we loved, so we wanted to do this B-side in the same style. We thought it would be nice if Eivis came along and sang on it, which he did. Then, when we were touring around the country, if he was nearby he used to pop in and play on stage with us. It was amazing because he was like the elder statesman and we were in awe of him. He used to put his hands behind his back and give me signals.. It was fantastic! I was like 'I've arrived, I'm playing drums with Elvis Costello.' I couldn't believe it!" The Kinks Producing a blend of a commercial sound & down to earth lyrics, The Kinks were extremely similar to Madness in their approach. Songs such as Waterloo Sunset & Dedicated Follower Of Fashion are not a million miles away from the likes of Our House or Embarrassment. Whilst not all of the band were fans, Woody sees elements of The Kinks sound, even in their latest album. "You can hear it in the earlier stuff. The Kinks were a huge influence on the band. Even on this latest stuff it still sounds a bit like The Kinks, to me anyway. I absolutely loved The Kinks. They were one of the very few bands that I had actually heard of. The band used to fire names at me & I used to go, 'Who? Never heard of them!' " Voice Of The Beehive Named after the Bette Davies movie of the same name, Woody and Bedders joined Voice Of The Beehive following the demise of Madness in the late '80s. Whilst Bedders only stayed for the first album, Woody remained and undoubtedly enjoyed his time with the band. "I loved it. 1 was on the first two albums, they went on to make a third. The second album was getting a bit frustrating because they were beginning to go down the road of just programming everything. A lot of the bass and the drums in the latter days were forgotten about. I am just doing a project with Martin, their bass player. He's actually playing the guitar now and I'm getting involved in that, just as a sideline. It's always good to keep your hand in! They are really good, but I'm not saying a lot about them at the moment, as it's early stages. Martin is a bloody good writer. The girls in Voice Of The Beehive started to pick up on his writing skills at the end of their career, but by then it was all going a bit pear-shaped." Tracey Ullman Not an influence as such, but she was the first person to cover a Madness song when she released her version of My Girl' entitled 'My Guy'. Whilst for most Madness fans, this was tantamount to sacrilege, Woody is not too critical of her for ruining a perfectly good song. "Well Bedders played bass on that. We were happy enough. We thought it was a bit cheesy, but it was quite flattering that someone had covered one of songs. So it was like 'Wow, we really have arrived', even though it was her unfortunately! It would have been fine if Burt Bacharach had done it that would have been alright! [Laughs]." Tracklisting Lovestruck Johnny The Horse The Communicator 4AM The Wizard Drip Fed Fred Going To The Top Elysium Saturday Night, Sunday Morning If I Didn't Care No Money Fourteen years is an exceptionally long time for any band to be apart. Reunions after such a period are generally unmitigated disasters, with the original members normally finding that the creative spark that provided their success first time around has long since dissipated. In the case of Madness they have either rescued a lost batch of songs from the archives or rediscovered a fresh creative vein. If you were to load Divine Madness' (one of their many greatest hits releases), and the new album into multiplay CD player and then select the random play option, you would not notice any discernible reduction in quality. Tracks such as Johnny The Horse', 'Saturday Night, Sunday Morning' and 'Elysium' are quite simply superb Madness songs. Yet despite this, Woody admits that the project nearly didn't start, as the band were unsure as to whether a full studio reunion would be a successful venture. "We approached it slowly and were a bit tentative, not knowing how it would all turn out or how we were going to work with each other. But I think that it's one of our better albums to be honest. I mean, I'm not just saying that because it's the new one, but it does have an element of freshness that 1 think we lost. Everybody brought songs, although some people have been writing more. Cathal Smyth had a huge bag of songs, and Lee was desperate to write lyrics. So if Mike or myself had any music, Lee was prolific and was coming out with lyrics left, right and centre. So it was quite a creative period." Admittedly, they have not changed their distinctive style at all, but then would you want them to? After all they are Madness, undisputed champions of what can loosely defined as modern Ska. Why should they pretend to be something that they are not just to please the critics? Woody was also once of the opinion that being called the 'Nutty Boys with their nutty sound' was more of a hindrance than a help. But time has changed his mind. "I don't mind being put in a box now. Initially being labelled like that was a bit wearing. We were constantly told to be funny and wacky. We went on tour in Europe and they were all like 'Where are your nutty suits you crazy guys?' And when you are told to act stupid all the time you kind of go 'The reason we act stupid is because we are having a laugh. I don't want to be told to have a laugh' As for the 'nutty sound', well we were serious musicians trying to make as good a record as possible. We just didn't want to be too serious, gazing at our shoes, because that would have been missing the point. But years later you realise that is what you're good at & where your talents lie. And it is what people want. Madness had a nutty sound, & we are Madness, so that sound has to be that." If the new album isn't enough Virgin are also releasing the aforementioned box set of all their previous six albums, all lovingly re-mastered and re-packaged with extensive sleeve notes. The band are also set to tour December, playing a number of stadium shows across the UK. As for any album after this one, no one is saying, but certainly they have nothing to be afraid of. Except maybe that they have set a very high standard to try and emulate. Any advice for the band? Yes, don't wait another 14 years before you do it all again. - ______________________________________________________________ Visit the Total Madness Mailing List website for: latest news, madmeet info, list charter, games, and more ... http://members.xoom.com/totalmadmail/ Contact the TMML Moderators at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and in the message body put: unsubscribe total-madness
