Hi, Taken from the London Evening Standard newspaper: Suggs on... Ian Dury and the Blockheads "I joined Madness a few years later than the others and they were always talking about Kilburn And The High Roads, who played in a Kentish Town pub, the Tally Ho. Our sax player, Lee Thompson, got me the album, Handsome, which was a huge influence. Punk was the prevalent musical force then but here was a band who had attitude, yet also used saxophone and piano - all elements that later became Madness. We used to go and see them when they became the Blockheads. When we left 2-Tone we didn't want to sign to a major label and so Stiff Records, which Ian Dury was on, was the obvious choice. No matter how successful you became, there are always people you remember who had an impact before you made it - he was one of those, so we were nervous about meeting him. The Blockheads had a massive influence on us. Ian's lyrical quirkiness was a big factor. We liked 'Razzle In My Pocket' [flip-side of 'Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll'] because it was about stealing magazines from newsagents. 'Baggy Trousers', the first song I ever wrote, was supposed to sound like Ian. I liked all the details he put in, and the aspects of ordinary London life. We did a charity cancer thing for Ian which we were very happy about. Our sound man has always worked with him, so he's the intermediary, and our ex-manager now looks after him - strange coincidences. He sings a song, 'Drip Fred Fed', on our album, which Lee wrote. Lee was in an Amsterdam hotel foyer when Ian walked in. It is a very Ian Dury title but Lee didn't intend him to sing it, he just wrote it with his voice in mind. Lee gave him the demo and Ian thought the title, because of his current predicament, was taking the piss. He sang it anyway. There's also talk of Madness contributing to an Ian Dury tribute album. We've been doing 'My Old Man', one of our favourites. So that's in the pipeline. When he plays at the Palladium there's every chance we'll be on stage for a couple of numbers. It will be a pleasure." Chris - ______________________________________________________________ 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
