Slow Songs For Fast Hearts: Words

Pauline Black interviews women of the new wave...

Only 3 days left to listen to this on the BBC iplayer, so get to it!

From the left: Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders), Deborah Harry (Blondie), Viv Albertine (The Slits), Siouxsie Sioux (Siouxsie & the Banshees), front: Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex), Pauline Black (The Selector).

Harking back to the famous photograph taking by Michael Putland for the New Musical News in 1980, Pauline Black, lead singer of two tone band The Selector interviews Viv Albertine (The Slits), Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex), Siouxie Sioux (Siouxie and the Banshees) and Gaye Advert (The Adverts) about their experiences as female musicians of the “new wave” in the late 70s, early 80s.

Particularly interesting for me was Pauline’s mention of the fact that both she & Poly Styrene were mixed-race, which affected how, Pauline at any rate, presented herself on stage. The topic didn’t really get much further than this mention, but it was very intriguing, and I’d love to hear more about what the two women have to say on the matter.

Oddly, she interviews Jean-Jacques Burnel, lead singer of the Stranglers, and he discusses how his band were sadly misunderstood, and even persecuted by the feminists of the day, boo-hoo to him. I thought it quite an excellent juxtaposition though, to have all these amazing women who inspired and empowered so many other women, speaking about their experiences alongside someone who was their peer, and yet who achieved exactly the opposite effect.

Anyway, check it out here.

Posted Mar 19, 05:05 AM | By Melissa | Comment [2]
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I'm going to the Dum Dum Girls tonight...

And now I’m excited, cos I just watched a couple of videos and I think that rather than the slightly twee, cutely nostalgic show that I thought I was gonna get, (admittedly after having listened to only a skant few songs), I reckon going to be more like some sort of intense, goth/garage/60s pop fusion…Er, ok, that sounds like a really lazy description, but I guess what I mean I was quite taken aback by the look of the band, particularly Dee Dee, the founder and original solo member of the DDG, cos she reminds me more of Mary Timony, rather than the expected drifty-garage-overworn white tshirt-&-blue jeans person, or floaty floral dress girl, all of whom I am a bit sick of looking at. Don’t get me wrong, these days I really love the Vivian Girls, but you know I can’t go past a band with a bit of darkness hanging around.

Speaking of MT, funnily enough, I kept seeing this picture of Dee Dee:

which I could’ve sworn was a picture of Mary Timony. I didn’t understand why it kept being used in Dum Dum Girls articles, so then I googled Mary Timony, and realised that I was actually thinking of this picture:

No, I don’t really know how I made that mistake either.

I have so far come across the Dum Dum Girls being described as a mashing together of the Bangles & the Cure, and the Shangri-Las and the Jesus and Mary Chain. I’ll give my own verdict in a couple of days.

Meanwhile, have a look at these clips on Tobi Vail’s Jigsaw Underground blog.

Posted Feb 26, 02:55 AM | By Melissa | Comment
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New Bikini Kill archive

Members of Bikini Kill have set up a new archive, where people can document their personal experiences of the band. It’s an interesting idea, and there are some great stories on there, particularly about people’s gig-going experiences. However, I can’t help but remember an interview that Kathi Wilcox did with a New Zealand zinester years ago when Bikini Kill were touring Australia. The girl asked why Bikini Kill hadn’t been to New Zealand, and Kathi had made some vague comment about people telling BK that no one had heard of them in New Zealand, so they didn’t bother to come. Lame! Not that I’m bitter, or nothing…
Bikini Kill did change my life, though.

Posted Feb 18, 04:53 AM | By Melissa | Comment
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I need to get out more...

I’m sitting here listening to a recording of my friend Alex’s show on Fleet Fm, Auckland’s free form radio station. She & Kat do swapsies on Saturdays on the “Queer Not Folk” show (awesome name). I used to do shows on Fleet too, back in the olden days of 3 years ago or so (see early posts on this blog, which have my playlists and a few silly recordings).

I love the magic of the internet which lets me listen to my friends play records on the otherside of the world, and reminds me of what the New Zealand accent really sounds like (it’s teeen thurtyseeevun, eh Alex! * love *). I was even lucky enough to get a dedication from Sam, who was doing a show on 95 bfm on Thursday last week, his Auckland 11pm or so, my London 10am boredom in the library office, trying to stay sane. It definitely made clicking my mouse around the computer a lot more warm and fuzzy.

Anyway, it also kind of made me a bit sad, cos I haven’t really been all that excited about music much lately. Which is pretty odd, considering I now live in London and have my pick of, like, 4 gigs a week, plus cheap records and amazing record stores etc etc.

I can only put it down to settling in issues. When I was in Auckland and was doing a radio show, and updating this blog more often etc, I had more motivation to hunt out new music. Plus, gigs were always in 1 of 3 places, all within walking distance of my flat, and all of which people I know would definitely be at.

Which totally sounds like me whingeing and copping out, poor Melissa, has to catch the bus all the way to South London to go see the Slits or whatever….It’s not really like that, I feel super appreciative of the fact that there is so much to choose from here, but I guess yeah, the travelling that is so inevitable in London can get me down (especially after commuting to and from work Mon-Fri – bleuchy boringness), as can the occasional lack of a gig buddy. I shudder to think about how many amazing shows I’ve missed, merely cos I’ve been too lazy to go to a gig on my own. Obviously I lack commitment! This is the sort of thing that happens when you move to a new country, right? And other people manage to sort themselves out and go anyway, right? So I’d love to know some tips for solo-gig going so I can learn to get over myself! What does one do between sets? And, take a book, or just stand around looking gormless, pretend to text someone or, horror of horrors, strike up conversation with a stranger? Get drunk or no? What about if it’s not just a straightforward gig, but more of a club night gig, with a band playing in the middle that you really want to see? huh? huh?

Near the end of last year, I made a rough list of the number of bands I’ve seen since I arrived in London. The list came to roughly 50, which, if you consider most gigs have around 3 bands each really only works out to me going to 1 gig a month (this is not counting DJ nights, or btw, punk gigs which I occasionally go to with my girlfriend, but generally have no idea who is playing, so don’t think it counts to add to my list, fun as they are). That is a really piss-poor amount of shows, and I aim to try harder this year!

Here is a list of shows coming up in London which I am really and truly going to make a big effort to go to, and which I am excited about, to boot:

MEN w/ Trash Kit + Bunny Come
Vivian Girls w/ Male Bonding + Trash Kit
Hole
Dum Dum Girls w/ Male Bonding
U.S Girls
The Magnetic Fields

....Is this enough for now? More to come I’m sure.

Posted Jan 18, 11:05 PM | By Melissa | Comment [2]
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Comanechi - Crime of Love

Read the Rough Trade review of Comanechi’s debut album, released near the end of last year: www.roughtrade.com. Sounds amazing, and I want it, please.

I meant to write more about how much I love Comanechi etc etc, but then xxxmas etc got in the way, and I didn’t. Suffice to say there is an article about Comanechi earlier on in this blog’s archive, so perhaps you can just read my ravings from a couple of years ago there.

Posted Jan 4, 06:55 AM | By Melissa |
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