Hey Now!
The following is an article taken from The examiner
(Irelands 2nd national Newspaper) from Tuesday
November 9th 1999, in other words this very day! A few
discrepancies one should note in the piece were the
stupidity of one editor to include a photograph not of
Madness, but the very weak tribute band Complete
Madness. Lees age is also questionable and oh yeah the
fan is not from Dublin, trust me;)
Paul Byrne asks Lee Thompson of Madness whether
they�re now back together for the money or the music.
�Still crazy after all these years�
Some would call it sadness, but when the seven
original members of Madness decided to record their
first new material together in 13 years, their
saxophonist Lee Thompson reckoned it was the only
decent thing to do. Having been tempted out of
retirement in 1992 (after officially splitting up in
1986) with two special reunion concerts at London�s
Finsbury Park, the band�s popularity after so many
years took them completely by surprise.
�I remember having this big lump in my throat when I
looked out at all these people singing our songs�,
says the 44 year old Thompson, �but at the same time I
was thinking, I don�t want us to turn into Status Quo
here. That�s why I thought, if we�re going to stick
together here, let�s make some new music. Otherwise
we�re just cabaret.�
Of course, as cabaret acts go, having hits like Baggy
trousers, Our house, One Step Beyond and House of fun
on your set list pretty much guarantees a good time
will be had by al, but Thompson had a point. And he
was keen to let it be heard.
�It was the following year after we�d gotten back
together and we were doing a Christmas tour when I
stepped out on stage and started to say; �this will be
our last ever show, unless we do some new material�,
but before I could get the second part of the sentence
out, the rest of the band had come on stage and
started kicking the shit out of me. They put their
hands over my mouth and laid into me.�
Truth be told, at the time all was not quite as well
as it seemed in the house of Madness. Having suffered
a long humiliating break-up, with four of the original
members going under the name of The Madness in 1988
for a short-lived and ill-fated semi-reunion-like
Thompson, original members Chris foreman, Mark
Bedford, Mike Barson, Lee Thompson and singers Cathal
Smyth and Suggs were wary of becoming an embarrestment
once again.
After two Finsbury Park gigs, Chris and Mark walked
away from the band. And then Suggs decided to go solo.
�The thing was, none of us were millionaires when the
reunion idea came along,� says Thompson. �You take a
cheque and you divide it by seven people, then you
take away 40% for tax, and you�re left with what�s
known in financial circles as not very much at all.
When the Finsbury Park gigs were suggested, I was
about to take out a mortgage on a tent, my house was
being on the verge of repossession. So it made a lot
of sense to get back together on a purely financial
basis, even just for those gigs. But then, as it
looked as if we might actually record again, Suggs
decided that he was going to make a solo album. So he
headed off with Mike and that was that. We were
disappointed, of course, and we had to accept it.
�To be honest with you, I don�t give two tosses about
the whole thin. I�ve done it once, I�ve been there,
and I�m happy now to let some other people have a go.
I�m ready to polish up my zimmer frame at this stage.
My lungs are are packing in, my teeth are falling out,
my hair�s gone, and I have a nice beer gut coming on,
so I am up for the easy life. I don�t want to be
battling against the forces that be.�
That Suggs should get dropped from his record label,
and that the band should eventually reform for a
one-off album through Virgin seems to have tagged on
something approaching a happy ending for the band
though. Their new album, Wonderful, is unlikely to be
slugging it out there with Mariah Carey and steps for
the number one spot, but it is, as it�s title boldly
professes, a rather splendid collection of pop tunes
infused with the band�s early Ska trademark and
produced by their hey-day know-twiddlers Alan
Winstanley and Clive Langer. Of course there are those
� and they are not necessarily wrong- who would argue
that the thrill has long gone for Madness, and the
band should have let a sleeping, well-respected back
catalogue lie. �I�m concerned about our legacy to the
extent that this album had to be something we were
proud of,� muses Thompson.
�I didn�t particularly want to use Clive and Alan to
be honest. I was thinking of Linton Kwesi Johnson and
Dennis Bovell, or maybe even Ian dury, I thought that
would have been a great combination. It�s the first
time I mentioned this, but if we did do another album,
I�d love to use Ian and Linton Kwesi Johnson: I think
that would be a good mixture. But, you know, who knows
what�ll happen next here.�
So is there a sense within the band that the upcoming
tour could be their last waltz? �Oh, absolutely, there
is with me, definitely. It�ll always be there if we
want it, and as I said, I�m quite chuffed with this
album anyway. This Christmas tour, I can confidently
say, is going to be the tour of all tours for us, but
after the New Year, personally, I�m going to sit back.
I want the easy, normal life.�
Before Thompson nods back into a deep sleep, he tells
he�d like to take this opportunity to thank once again
the Dublin fan who sent him a Zippo lighter ;). Oh and
Supergrass are the new Madness.
So there it is folks, the great one, he hath spoken.
All the Best
Vince!!
PS finally got a job today after so long�teacher of
History in College in Cork!!!!
��.happier than most�
=====
"If it ain't Vince, it ain't worth a F*CK!"
ICQ 46099201
NEVER SAY NO TO A MAD IDEA!
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