Honest John Plain - Still One Of The Boys

Punk rock legend Honest John Plain plays The Dolls House in Abertillery this weekend. 

Honest John met Matt Dangerfield at Art College in Leeds and moved to London with him in 1971. Dangerfield, joined London SS with Casino Steel, Mick Jones (The Clash), Tony James (Generation X) and Brian James (The Damned) with Plain joining them on drums for one session.  As London SS disintegrated in 1975 Plain, Dangerfield and Steel formed The Boys.  

The Boys quickly built up a reputation as a white-hot live band and in January 1977 became the first punk band to sign an album deal when they signed away their recording lives to NEMS.  After signing for NEMS Plain sold The Boys equipment for £500 and put it on a horse, which came second!  This and other dodgy deals quickly earned him the nickname ‘Honest’.

Widely tipped to make it big The Boys with songs penned by Steel/Dangerfield & Plain and were highly respected by both the music press and their peers.  They quickly became known as ‘The Beatles of Punk’ but unfortunately through a series of poor marketing, bad decisions and appalling luck they never converted their potential to chart success. 

Following the demise of The Boys Plain joined the Dirty Strangers and recorded an album with Keith Richards and Ronnie Woods of the Rolling Stones.  After almost 40 years in the music business Plain’s musical career is looking extremely healthy with many young musicians citing him as a major influence.  The release the new Boys album with gigs aplenty with The Boys and The Landslide Ladies it is certain to enhance his growing reputation and increase his popularity even further. 

The Boys have just released “Punk Rock Menopause”, their first brand new album since 1981’s “Boys Only”.  Plain continues to tour extensively with The Boys with dates in Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, USA, Spain, France, UK, Canada, Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Germany & Japan in the past couple of years to be followed by numerous live dates planned for 2014 including China & USA.  

Honest John Plain recently answered questions from Andy Howells:

The Boys released Punk Rock menopause earlier this year can you tell us a bit about that?
It's the first brand new Boys album in almost 35 years. We had been discussing recording a new Boys album for a few years but all had our doubts over the venture. We finally agreed to take the plunge in 2010, although it took us another year or two to finally make it into the recording studio

It had been a long time since the release of the last album (1981) what was it like getting back in the studio together?
I was a little apprehensive at first and we initially agreed to record just four new songs and see how it went. However it quickly became apparent that the old creative magic was still there and we ended up recording a whole album, which we are all extremely pleased with.  Matt, Cas and I were the songwriters in The Boys, although I wrote separately from the prolific Steel/Dangerfield partnership. With the new album we agreed to write songs between the three of us and it appears to have worked very well. I think it's our best ever album and the response from critics and fans alike has been phenomenal.

You’ll be visiting Abertillery soon. What can we expect from your show if we haven’t caught Honest John live before?
I'm really looking forward to the Dolls House! I love South Wales, and have recorded quite a few albums at Rockfield. We'll be performing many of the songs I've written over the past 40 years or so including "First Time", "Terminal Love", "New Guitar In Town", "Where Have All The Good Girls Gone" and "Never Listen Rumours".

What has been your most memorable live performance?
It's very difficult to pick out just one show but if pushed I'd have to plump for The Boys show in the castle high above Ibiza in 1982. It ended up being The Boys last performance for 17 years.

What other projects are you working on at the moment?
I've just started recording a new album with Petter Baarli, of The Backstreet Girls and have been touring quite a bit with The Boys as well some solo stuff with my own band and solo acoustic shows. I recorded an album at Rockfield a while ago with the likes of Michael Monroe, Sami Yaffa, Glen Matlock, Casino Steel, Verden Allen, Martin Chambers, Darrell Bath & Robbie Rushton and hopefully that'll be out very soon. I seem to keep myself busy!

• Honest John Plain plays The Dolls House in Abertillery on Saturday, October 18.
• Honest John Plain's Facebook Page
• The Boys Official Website
• A version of this Q&A with Andy Howells appeared in The South Wales Argus supplement The Guide on October 17, 2014

On Stage: Eric and Little Ern, Newport Riverfront

Morecambe and Wise were the funniest comedy double act on television during the 1960s and 70s and even though their partnership ended when Eric Morecambe died of a heart attack in 1984 their popularity has endured.

Ian Ashpitel and Jonty Stephens stage presentation Eric and Little Ern (Newport Riverfront, October 8) is therefore most welcome. A tribute to Morecambe and Wise’s greatest comedy moments combined with dialogue of what Ernie might have said to Eric had he had the chance to see him one final time.

The opening scene, set in a private hospital room has an ailing Ernie visited by Eric (in Doctor Coat) and transformed back to Morecambe and Wise’s glory days. Classic scripts from the pens of Eddie Braben and Hills & Green were thrown into the mix including Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Eric’s throwaway comment when a police car siren wails past the hospital window, “He’s not going to sell a lot of Ice Creams going at that speed.”

Of course, it’s not just the dialogue that makes Eric and Little Ern brilliant, its Ian Ashpitel and Jonty Stephens delivery and portrayal as the duo. Everything is there from the face slapping to the adjusting of Eric’s glasses via Des O Connor jokes and dance routines.

Sunshine and laughter certainly came into the Riverfront Theatre as the pair kitted out in trademark suits performed famous Eric and Ernie routines in the second half of the show.

Let’s hope it’s not too long before this brilliant show returns to Wales, as Eric Morecambe might have said, “Keep going you fools!”

• A version of this review by Andy Howells was originally published within The South Wales Argus on October 10, 2014. 
• For more information on Eric and Little Ern visit the official website.

Bluesbreaker - John Mayall Interview

Andy Howells chats with legendary Blues musician John Mayall about his forthcoming Cardiff show.

As John Mayall embarks on his 80th decade, the Blues legend shows no signs of slowing down. He is about to embark on a yearlong world tour which sees him stop off at Cardiff’s St David’s Hall in October.

This all follows a career spanning over half a century which has seen him release some 60 albums while simultaneously contributing to the rock-blues scene more than any other musician in history. He recently released his first new studio album in 5 years, “A Special Life”, along with his band, Texan guitarist Rocky Athas, bassist Greg Rzab, alongside fellow Chicagoan Jay Davenport.

“The preparation for it was only a couple of weeks,” says John, “with the same band you just fall into things naturally. The actual recording of the tracks only took three days to do and a couple of more days to put vocals and bits and pieces on, it was all very quick. That’s the way we like to work.”

While the trend for many musicians is to spend, months or even years laboring over recording an album, John’s approach to recording the album was spontaneous. “It’s very important to catch the feeling before you start running it into the ground,” he continues, “it was pretty much all first takes, just like we play live.”

John’s place in music history goes back some five decades, when he put together the first of his bands, the Bluesbreakers in 1963.  “It was pretty easy because people were so thrilled with this new music in the clubs,” he recalls. “There were so many venues for people to play.  They called it the British blues boom because there were so many bands that started off at the same time.”

The Bluesbreakers, acted as a finishing school for the leading blues-rock musicians of the day including Peter Green, Mick Taylor and Eric Clapton who joined Fleetwood Mac, Rolling Stones and Cream respectively.

John recalls Clapton’s arrival in The Bluesbreakers as a very important move for them both. “Eric had left the Yardbirds because of the direction they were going in," he says, “He wanted to play blues, so it just coincided with me hearing him properly because his progress was quite rapid. It was perfect timing for me to hire him; it was just what he wanted and just what I wanted. “

The forthcoming tour sees John still shining limelight on new talent as Glasgow four piece, King King play support. The concerts will also hold some special treats for Blues fans old and new. “The set list changes every night,” says John, “it’s not always the same show but I try to make it a pretty good match of old and new stuff. I think there’s something for everyone.”

I ask John how after over 50 years of performing he still manages to make his music sound so fresh and exciting.  He responds philosophically and poetically, “The blues is an endless fountain of inspiration, with so many shades of expression of what’s going on around you, what’s happening with you, emotionally all these things are the source of it all.”

• Catch John Mayall at St David’s Hall, Cardiff on October 22.  Tickets available online at stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk or at the box office on 029 2087 8444.
• A version of this interview with John Mayall by Andy Howells appeared in The South Wales Argus entertainment supplement The Guide during August, 2014.
• Visit John Mayall's official website

Counting Down The Minutes with Alison Moyet

In April 2013. Andy Howells spoke to Alison Moyet about her album The Minutes as well as touring later that year.

“For a long time I've wanted to work with electronica but the problem is finding the right person to work with,” Alison Moyet tells me as we discuss her album The Minutes. “The great thing about my producer, Guy Sigsworth is he studied harpsichord at Cambridge, so his musicality is sublime.  

Couple that with a really fantastic way around technology and he’s got a great edge to him which meant we could do something not only musically pleasing, but also really interesting soundscapes. It’s the most cohesive album project I've done. It’s definitely an album to be listened to as a whole as opposed to albums made by a myriad collection of songwriters and producers that are just a collection of singles.”  

Alison’s approach to making an album borders more on Serendipity, “My motivation is not about being famous or selling lots of records. It’s a creative project I want to make. Of course, I’d like it to be well received, I’d like it to go well, but that can’t be the starting point. It has to be a happy accident as opposed to shaping your work.”  

Alison has seen some changes in the music industry over the years, she started out working with musicians such as Dr Feelgood’s Wilco Johnson and numerous punk outfits before collaborating with Vince Clark to form Yazoo in the early 1980s.  

“I think my generation was one of the most blessed when it came to music,” she says “ When we grew up we had pop, prog and punk rock, new technologies, the reinvention of pop. We had such a great bed to grow in and the great thing about radio and television in those days was you’d get what you considered really fantastic stuff next to something really horrible. That was part of the joy to determine who you were in the world as opposed to this kind of colour by numbers; everyone’s cloning everyone else, which I find kind of dull now.”  

Alison feels there’s a personal return to form with The Minutes which can be compared with her Yazoo days “I see Yazoo as a very happy creative time," she says, “That has been created again now in the sense that we made this record without the record companies A and R men in the same way I did in Yazoo, I feel really good about that.”  

Following the release for The Minutes, Alison will be looking forward to the autumn when she takes the album on the road.  “Touring’s my favourite thing , she says , “the vocals are going to be quite challenging to transfer to the stage as I'm using a lot of falsettos and very deep voices on this album but live is the place I'm comfortable as its that communion with people.”  

“The best thing about this is I'm going on tour with screens and synthesisers which means that I can approach the older material with  the grandeur of the sound they should have had with electronica, also with tracks from albums such as Raindancing which were more programmed it allows me a wider bed of hits to choose from.”  

Clearly Alison sounds both happy and excited about her latest album and continues to lavish praise on her producer, “I have to say this experience with Guy has been my favourite. We’ve come to shorthand so very quickly. My esteem of him is absolutely massive and if you said who would I like to record with again, I'd say I'd like to work with Guy.”

• The Minutes by Alison Moyet is available now on Cooking Vinyl
• A version of this interview appeared in The Guide during April, 2013 and can be seen on The South Wales Argus website.
• For the latest news on Alison Moyet visit her official website.

Pet Sounds - Petula Clark Returns With Lost In You

In February 2013, Petula Clark released a new album entitled Lost In You, this coincided with an announcement that she would tour later in the year. Andy Howells spoke to her about Lost In You, touring and her career.

Not many popular singers or musicians can admit to have been on the music scene since 1949, and even fewer can release an album in 2013 that sounds as fresh and contemporary than anything around at the moment, yet international music star Petula Clark has achieved just that with her new album Lost In You.

Fans shouldn’t be surprised; Petula has seen more musical changes than most artists. Her million-selling release Downtown reached the top of the charts in several countries as Beatlemania rocked the world in 1964. A very different release compared to her UK Chart-topper of five years previous Sailor where musical tastes were still heavily influenced by the music of the post-war years.

‘It’s never a conscious thing;’ says Petula, ‘I never sit down and think I’ve got to move with the times. I just live for the day and if the music comes out sounding different or contemporary that’s just the way it is.’

Her latest album Lost in You opens with the beautiful ambiance of Cut Copy Me, a release which has surprised many of Petula’s fans and she couldn’t be happier: ‘That was the first song we’d done actually. My producer John Owen Williams said: "Why don’t we go into the studio and see what happens?" I just went up and did it and its come out very well.  It is contemporary but I’m not trying to sound like someone else, they haven’t fooled around with my voice, it’s that track which was the driving force to do this CD. We just got together with some young writers and co-wrote most of them and of course we did some covers including Downtown…”

There’s almost a giggle in Petula’s voice as she mentions Downtown, but why return to it I ask… ‘That was exactly my reaction when John suggested we did it.’ She says, ‘I said "Why?" And then I said "No!" I went to Paris and when I came back a couple of days later he said "Have a listen to this!" He put the track on which was very beautiful but it had no melody, so I didn't know what it was. I said, "What is that?" and he said it’s "Downtown!"’

‘It was the most amazing experience, because I don’t know how many times I’ve sung Downtown over the years, I thought I knew it and suddenly I was singing the song in a different tempo with a whole different feel to it. I was like singing a brand new song, I find that very interesting.’

Petula also returned to her Welsh roots for another song, the autobiographical Reflections, which recalls her time growing up in Abercanaid when she was a child. ‘There’s a reference to Bach which means little and I wrote the lyric. John said to me why don’t you do something autobiographical and then I thought why don’t I just take myself back to Wales, that’s what it’s all about. I’m quite pleased with that track it’s very different to everything else on the CD.’

Petula will be returning to Wales later this year when her UK tour brings her to St David’s Hall on October 14, ‘I’m really looking forward to that’ she says with excitement. Will she get time to visit some of her old homeland? “That’s the problem will I have time?’ she sighs, before continuing more hopefully ‘I’ll be off down the valleys and maybe drop in to Abercanaid or Merthyr Tydfil, that trip from Cardiff down to Merthyr is one of my favourite things in the World.’

• Andy Howells interview with Petula Clark was published in The South Wales Argus entertainment supplement The Guide on March 1 2013 and can be currently viewed on The South Wales Argus Website.

Martyn Joseph - Going Back To His Roots

Andy Howells spoke to Welsh singer/songwriter Martyn Joseph in January 2014, prior to Martyn's appearance at St David's Hall in February.

Welsh singer/songwriter Martyn Joseph clearly loves been busy, despite recently completing a UK tour following the release of two albums and a tour in 2013, his 2014 diary is already rapidly filling up.

He plays a date later this month as part of St David’s Hall, Cardiff's Roots Unearthed season which focuses on global sounds in the intimate setting of the L3 Lounge, an environment Martyn himself particular excels in during his concerts.

Among his set will be songs from his very latest release Tires Rushing by in the Rain, showcasing tracks written by Bruce Springsteen.

“I’ve always done a couple of his songs in gigs” Martyn tells me. “People said "we’d like to have recordings of these", but I was always a bit shy because it’s sort of hallowed turf. Then a couple of years ago at a radio station in New York I met a guy called Dave Marsh who is married to Barbara Carr, Bruce Springsteen’s manager. Dave has written biographies on Bruce and he suggested that if the covers were well thought out, he would write the sleeve notes. I thought maybe I should take the risk; I recorded the 17 songs in three days last summer. We put that out and it’s done really well.”

“The reaction has been incredibly strong and I'm doing a special gig in London of all 17 songs in one show and I’m suddenly getting all these Bruce fans coming to my show who have never heard of me.”

Despite the fact that Martyn began his musical journey back in the 1980s, and has since released many albums including chart success in the 1990s how does he feel about  been described as ‘The Welsh Springsteen’?

“That makes me a feel a little uncomfortable to be honest,” he replies, “I think a reviewer said that once and people have run with it. I think it’s interesting, it’s a need to be able to understand who you are, what you do and what you’re about so I guess it’s a useful tag to say he’s a bit like this, but it’s a lot of weight to carry.”

Martyn is still very much his own artist, touring and recording regularly as well as fulfilling his charitable work. “I’ve run my own label for over 15 years. After the heady days of the 90s, I've been able to manage everything myself and control it and keep putting albums out, playing 160 odd shows a year  travelling the states, Canada and Europe. The latest thing I’m excited about this year is I’m forming my own foundation and trust fund to aim finance some of the projects I've been involved with and others I’ve always pointed towards social concerns within songs. After a visit to Palestine last year, I thought its time to help some of these people who do a lot of great grass roots work. They help each other and other people and are always in worse off situations but don’t get a lot of attention or get the big grants and money. Its going to be called the Let Yourself trust with a small team of great people around me we can keep going.”

Its Martyn’s awareness of worldwide situations that has kept his approach to music fresh and relevant over the years, fans can usually follow his latest work through his frequently updated website as well as regular newsletters. “I’m just following a path. It’s a natural thing, in life, as you walk along the road things change. I suppose my job is to try and articulate in an art form called song writing. In a way the slant of the music has changed through the years and I think it’s important in terms of having longevity to keep something of reinvention about what you do. There’s a lot of ways of getting your message across these days with modern communication, you’ve got to be clued up on that.”

Still focusing on the live show, Martyn tells me that there will be a good mixture of new and old material as well as a special guest from America , “Billy Porter is one of the best guitar players I’ve ever seen. He’s a good friend and he’s coming over to open this show. While the shows still contain some very serious issues were having a good time these days. There’s a lot of getting the crowds singing. I want them to have a good time, a laugh, it’s a mixture of all those things one is trying to do every night and make that connection so that it feels like a dinner party and not concert!”

A version of this interview appeared in The Guide supplement and The South Wales Argus website during February 2014.

Visit Martyn Joseph's Official Website for latest news on Martyn's projects.

Meet The Band: Remembering August

Ahead of their new release Brother Jessie Hallett and Luke Searle of South Wales duo Remembering August chat to Andy Howells

What are your names and where are you both from? 
Jessie Hallett (Cardiff) Luke Searle (Beddau)

How did Remembering August come together? 
We met studying Music in Bridgend College. We were paired up by our tutor for our end of course project to sing a duet together, we really connected through that experience and it all went from there! We started to stay behind after College to mess around with some covers to see how well our voices blended together with harmonies. Then we started gigging in our local area and then went onto songwriting which has lead us to where we are today!

Where did you get your name from? 
August was a month where we felt we had two very different paths to choose from. Both needing a lot of commitment and dedication. So we always look back to how we felt at that particular time, and how passionate we were to follow what we really wanted.

How would you describe your music? 
Our lyrics are always very personal to us, they always tell a story of an experience that either one of us has been through. Our live gigs are always very intimate with a lot of chemistry when we perform.

How do you go about writing your songs, do you find it easy to work together and inspire each other?
As solo artists we were both song writers in our own right. So making the transition from being a solo artist to being part of a duo was always going to be difficult. Majority of the time Luke will come up with amazing one-liners or a really catchy hook. He’ll then call me over and we’ll start developing his ideas. Once we start writing a new song, we work on it intensely until we feel perfectly happy with the outcome. We tend to get more inspired whilst at different locations. A lot of our songs have been written at the beach or just somewhere with a nice view, we like experimenting by putting ourselves in various areas. We've been fortunate to sign a publishing deal with Seemonkeysongs Ltd so will continue to write new songs.

You have already released one EP how did that come about and how well was it received? 
Our first EP was recorded and produced by Ed Sheeran's co writer Amy Wadge. We met Amy whilst participating in a songwriting workshop in The Muni, Pontypridd. We performed our single ‘Stay’ for her, and she then booked us into her studio a few weeks later. The EP was self-released and we really learned a lot by doing that. We worked extremely hard to do everything necessary that would make the release great. Working off our own backs was hard, but It was a great learning curve for us.

What's been your best live experience so far? 
One of the highlights of our career so far was definitely performing on the Forum Live Stage at Birmingham LG Arena before the Katy Perry show. It was an amazing crowd, and a real honour to be asked to play. We also supported James Walsh (Starsailor) at Clwb Ifor Bach, which was actually our favourite audience to date. We also played in the Park & Dare Theatre (which was Sold out) supporting Only Boys Aloud. We've been really fortunate to have played these fantastic venues with appreciative audiences.

Are you working on any more material? 
We've finished recording out next EP ‘Brother’. We recorded it in Monnow Valley studios where the likes of Oasis, Led Zepplin have recorded. The EP consists of 5 tracks, one of which is our next single ‘Stay’. ‘Stay’ will be released on the 20th October followed by the EP release on the 27th October. Everything will be available for download on all major distributors e.g. iTunes, Spotify, Amazon etc.

We’re extremely excited to see our hard work come to life - a lot of blood, sweat and tears (literally - watch the music video!) went into this EP and we can’t wait to share it. Lee House (our producer) is doing an amazing job with our tracks so far so we hope you’ll all love them as much as we do!

Where can we see you live? 
Our next gig is The Big Cwtch Festival in Camarthen on 13th September. We are currently booking live shows for the rest of the year, all of which will be released on our social media very soon - so keep your eyes peeled! We’re also happy to have announced our signing with booking agent Swb Artists!

Where can we find out more about the band? 
Our official website is www.rememberingaugust.co.uk / facebook.com/rememberingaugustmusic / twitter.com/rememberingaug / youtube.com/rememberingaugustuk / soundcloud.com/rememberingaugustmusic

• A version of this Q&A with Andy Howells appeared in the South Wales Argus entertainment supplement The Guide during September 2014