Category: Live Reports (Page 10 of 37)

APOPTYGMA BERZERK, THE INVINCIBLE SPIRIT + VILE ELECTRODES Live In Cologne

22 August 2019 /

An electric line-up was gathered at Cologne’s Essigfabrik covering various mutations of synthesizer driven music as part of APOPTYGMA BERZERK’s 2019 European tour. 

Also featuring THE INVINCIBLE SPIRIT + VILE ELECTRODES, when APOPTYGMA BERZERK mainman Stephan Groth spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK earlier in the year, he explained: “It’s very important to have a whole evening that makes sense and which will tell a story.”

That story began with British South Coast duo VILE ELECTRODES. New favourite artists of Stephan Groth’s, Anais Neon and Martin Swan have rarely ventured out live in the last two years, but the opportunity to reach a new audience familiar with the darker vein of electronics was not to be missed.

Using a portable Eurorack set-up which was still quite hefty in comparison to other live acts and almost obscuring the diminutive Swan, there was also a tiny Yamaha Reface and compact Arturia MicroBrute included in the Viles armoury. As well as familiar tunes such as a reworking of ‘Empire of Wolves’ and ‘Proximity’, there was also ‘Red Bead’ and ‘Incision’ from the epic if bleak second album ‘In The Shadows Of Monuments’.

Meanwhile, there was new material in the shape of two modular derived songs ‘We Are A Prism’ and ‘The Kill The Cure’. It hinted that for VILE ELECTRODES at least, their future is perhaps not yet so bright that they’ve got to wear shades. Closing with the arpeggio-laden ‘Re-Emerge’, its frantic synthesized throb warmed up the steadily building throng at Essigfabrik.

In the vein of DAF and DIE KRUPPS but with a tighter electronic backbone, EBM veterans THE INVINCIBLE SPIRIT produced the sort of alternative club music that would have been popular at The Jolly Joker in Braunschweig and the like. The project of Thomas Lüdke, the debut album ‘Current News’ became a cult favourite after its release in 1987 on ZYX Records with tracks like ‘Make A Device’ and ‘Push!’

Accompanied by Anja Vorel on synths, the towering presence of Lüdke loomed over the audience as they became captivated by the energetic body of ‘Irregular Times’. But the powertrain entered a new gear with the magnificent of ‘Hate You’, the lead single from the 2015 comeback album ‘Anyway’.

Such frenzy could only be followed by the Teutonic tension of ‘Push!’, a mighty statement that other acts now try desperately attempt to imitate, but who inevitably fall at the first fence. A great new number ‘Coming Home’ kept up the pace and the action, but there was the surprising inclusion of JOY DIVISION’s ‘Atmosphere’ as an uptempo cover to end, which worked well in the former factory complex that forms Essigfabrik.

As the crowd squeezed up to the barrier in anticipation of APOPTYGMA BERZERK, what was noticeable that save three or four goth boys of varying ages, the entire front row was female. First on stage was cheerleading keyboardist Jonas Groth, while sticksman Ted Skogman quietly followed over to the drum stool.

As the electronic pulse of ‘Weight Of The World’ began and the younger Groth vocodered “pleased to meet you”, guitarist Audun ‘Angel’ Stengel joined his bandmates before wearing a leather jacket with “YAZOO” emblazoned on the back, Stephan Groth ran to greet his excited fanbase. The industrial pop of ‘Unicorn’ continued the adrenaline rush and prompted chorus singalongs, before moving towards the anthemic rock overtones of ‘In This Together’.

Over the years, Stephan Groth has straddled EBM, synthpop, futurepop, alternative rock and more recently instrumentals with APOPTYGMA BERZERK, and the upcoming EP ‘Nein Danke!’ sees a return to the synthpop format.

From it, the excellent ‘Atom & Eve’ with its mechanised rhythms saw drummer Ted Skogman leave his kit to assist on backing vocals. As the evening continued and other drum machine led tracks were performed.

For another terrific ‘Nein Danke!’ number called ‘A Battle For The Crown’ and material from Groth’s FAIRLIGHT CHILDREN synth side-project, Skogman simply walked off the stage as the songs did not need the interference of live drums. It begs the question as to why Christian Eigner can’t voluntarily disappear for half of DEPECHE MODE’s concert set for the sake of authentic art?

With smoke machines on overdrive and huge blocks of flashing lights from across the spectrum set to stun, this was a dense display of visuals that worked well in extremes. Presenting all aspects of the APOP catalogue, the 1997 vintage ‘Love Never Dies’ revisited Groth’s grandiose futurepop adventures while from the same ‘7’ album, ‘Deep Red’ kept the body strong with Angel adding power via his chunky flanged guitar, mutating into metal when necessary.

‘Stitch’ from debut album ‘Soli Deo Gloria’ took the form of respite as Groth performed totally alone in a moody whispered Numan-esque manner, before ‘Dead Air Einz’ saw the band return for some steadfast Schaffel.

No stranger to the cover versions, Groth’s choices have been eclectic to say the least, ranging from Kim Wilde to THE CURE and METALLICA with OMD, Peter Schilling and KRAFTWERK caught some place in between. APOPTYGMA BERZERK’s cover of THE HOUSE OF LOVE’s ‘Shine On’ was a German hit in 2006 so when its familiar riff revealed itself, the crowd indulged in a spot of goth dancing.

Aesthetically akin to THE KILLERS, the energetic ‘Asleep or Awake’ which followed most definitely kept them all awake. Off ‘Welcome To Earth’, the gothic rave of ‘Kathy’s Song’ with its call-and-response interplay between the Groth brothers maximised audience involvement, even during Kathy Macintosh’s Mac OS voice centrepiece.

One thing about Stephen Groth is that he is humble gentleman who is free of ego, so it was a touching moment for him to leave brother Jonas on stage to perform ‘Nearest’; an update of ‘Near’ from ‘7’, this has been the younger Groth’s lead party piece for the last two years at APOP shows and is due for inclusion on the Nein Danke!’ EP.

Opting for the OK MINUS remix, the dark vibrant electro of ‘Eclipse’ maintained the smiles and rave friendly atmosphere. However, best of all was the superb JEAN-MICHEL JARRE meets SIMPLE MINDS trance rock fusion of ‘Until The End Of The World’ from 2002’s ‘Harmonizer’ to complete the main set; prompting a massed hands in the air moment, Stephan Groth even threw in a few Jim Kerr mannerisms during this slice of euphoric dystopia!

The appreciative crowd didn’t have to wait long for an encore, and they were rewarded with a long one, beginning with an extended ‘Starsign’ and an electro-rock cover of METALLICA’s ‘Fade to Black’. Onto the home straight, it was now time to party like it was 1993 with two final songs from ‘Soli Deo Gloria’.

Styled around the sweaty new SUBSTAAT treatment, ‘Bitch’ provided some aggressive enthralment while Stephan Groth ended the night by paying tribute to the influence of THE INVINCIBLE SPIRIT on APOP and asked Thomas Lüdke to join him onstage for a redux duet of ‘Backdraft’.

Generous in spirit, as Stephen Groth took the curtain call with his band, he beckoned VILE ELECTRODES to join the ensemble on stage to accept the roaring approval of those all gathered at Essigfabrik.

Those hoping for a rendition of ‘Burning Heretic’ would have been slightly disappointed but overall, it was an exhilarating live presentation with superb sound quality providing a fine balance of power and clarity for all three acts.

Small in stature but big in stage presence, as Stephen Groth once said: “Take the red pill and join our ranks, the truth has its rewards!”

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its special thanks to Per Aksel Lundgreen

APOPTYGMA BERZERK + VILE ELECTRODES play Oslo Parkteatret on Saturday 24th August 2019

http://www.theapboffice.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ApoptygmaBerzerk/

https://www.the-invincible-spirit.de/

https://www.facebook.com/InvincibleSpiritOriginal/

http://www.vileelectrodes.com/

https://www.facebook.com/vileelectrodes/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Grit Cheraka and Chi Ming Lai
22nd August 2019

A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS + KNIGHT$ Live in London

20 July 2019 /

Photo by Simon Helm

Out of the bands that emerged post-Synth Britannia, A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS were among those to actually make a worldwide cultural impact, initially gaining traction in the US via the cable phenomenon of MTV.

While frontman Mike Score’s outlandish hair style was honoured in Hollywood with comic references in ‘Friends’, ‘The Wedding Singer’ and ‘Pulp Fiction’, their fourth single ‘I Ran’ has been a ubiquitous staple, appearing in commercials for Grand Theft Auto Vice City, Sensationail, Diet Pepsi and Lexus. Greek synth duo MARSHEAUX even borrowed the main riff from ‘Space Age Love Song’ for their signature tune ‘Dream Of A Disco’.

Today, Mike Score is the only remaining member from the original line-up which included his brother Ali on drums, bassist Frank Maudsley and guitarist Paul Reynolds. Notably his hair is now absent, while his scouse accent has mutated into a Trans-Atlantic drawl from years of living stateside.

Dingwalls in Camden was packed for the second London date of A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS’ first headlining UK tour for many years and opening proceedings was KNIGHT$ whose debut album ‘Dollars & Cents’ has been one of the contenders for best album of 2019.

Photo by Richard Price

Fronted by the suave and charismatic James Knights, dressed in a black leather jacket and sequined shirt combo, he began support set with Eurobeat thrust of ‘What We Leave Behind’ and the heavenly pop ‘Playin It Cool’.

Playing the role of the perfect beat boy, Knights was slightly restrained physically, thanks to the small stage, but he made every effort to engage the audience with his brand of BRONSKI BEAT inspired Britalo like the amorous ‘Gelato’.

Meanwhile, the snappy ‘Alligator’ provided an amusing observation on the phenomenon of one-sided conversations. ‘Julia’ offered a more romantic take on the appealing KNIGHT$ sound while presenting a token of musical friendship to the audience, there was an authentic rendition of PET SHOP BOYS’ ‘Heart’. The slinky ‘What’s Your Poison?’ appropriately threw in some sunset sax at the riverside venue, before the catchy ‘Dollars & Cents’ closed an impressive warm-up on an already hot Saturday evening.

Standing behind a Roland Fantom 06 outputting crystal clear electronic sounds, Mike Score took his position to begin A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS’ performance with the vintage Sci-Fi rock of ‘Modern Love Is Automatic’. Backed by his usual North American band of guitarist Gordon Deppe from Canadian New Wavers SPOONS, drummer Kevin Rankin and bass player Patrick Villalpando, the debut album opener was followed by ‘Hearts On Fire’ from 1995’s ‘The Light At the End Of The World’ which had the classic air of ‘Space Age Love Song’ about it.

Photo by Roger Kamp

With a rockier growl to his vocal presence, the gothic gloom of ‘Nightmares’ came over more like THE CURE, but the darkness turned to light as the under-rated ‘The More You Live, The More You Love’ provided the first rousing moment of the evening for the mature audience.

The moody ‘Man Made’ and more Motorik ‘She Won’t Let You Down’ showcased varied aspects of the band beyond their singles, but 1983’s UK Top 40 hit ‘Transfer Affection’ was spoiled by some unnecessary bombast and Score being unsure of what octave to sing the tune in.

However, a magnificent rendition of that paean to neu romance ‘Space Age Love Song’ snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, aided by Rankin’s use of a synth drum and his bandmates’ triple call-and-response vocal, while Deppe ably reproduced the textures of original guitarist Paul Reynolds.

Photo by Richard Price

That said though, it all got awry again with the quartet going all SIMPLE MINDS with a prolonged reinterpretation of ‘Telecommunication’; the song was originally two and a half minutes for a reason!

Throughout the show, while Score did speak to the audience, it was the more flamboyant Villalpando who acted as Master Of Ceremonies with a loud “rawk” address that although probably endearing across the water, may well have been anathema for British audiences.

‘Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)’ was the moment many were waiting for. A Top 10 UK hit in 1982, it was interesting to be reminded that most of the song’s hooks were instrumental rather than vocal while inspired by a photo of two people running from a UFO, the brilliance of ‘I Ran’ ended the main set.

Photo by Simon Helm

There was room for an encore and that came with the pleasant surprise of ‘Messages’ from the self-titled debut album, with its more guitar driven dynamics enabling the quartet to fire on all cylinders. There was no ‘D.N.A.’ or ‘(It’s Not Me) Talking’ but on the whole, the crowd were entertained and satisfied.

When things were good, it was glorious at Dingwalls and while some may only remember the iconic haircut rather than the music, what A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS have proven is they have a number of great songs which more than stand up in the 21st Century.

And unlike say OMD, DEPECHE MODE and SIMPLE MINDS, they also have a Grammy Award on the mantelpiece. A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS more than deserve their place in British pop history.

With thanks to Debora at London Variety

A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS ‘Inflight (The Extended Essentials)’ is released by August Day Recordings in various formats available from http://www.augustday.net/aday054.html

http://www.mikescore.com/

http://www.aflockofseagulls.org

https://www.facebook.com/AFlockOfSeagullsOfficial/

https://twitter.com/REALSEAGULLS

KNIGHT$ ‘Dollars & Cents’ is released by Specchio Uomo in various formats, available from https://knights101.bandcamp.com/album/dollars-cents-lp

http://knights101.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Knights101/

https://twitter.com/JPSKNIGHTS

https://www.instagram.com/knights101/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
20th July 2019

RAMMSTEIN Live at Stadium MK

13 July 2019 /


If you’ve ever been fortunate enough to see German Industrial rockers RAMMSTEIN tour in the past, the main question you will end up asking yourself is “will they be able to top their previous show?”.

The answer to that question after ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK witnessed their only UK date this year was a resounding “ja!”, but more about that later…

An early arrival at the Stadium MK was greeted with the sight of an enormous part ‘Mad Max’, part Fritz Lang inspired stage set which immediately reassured the gig goer that this band WOULD be able to fill and deliver to a 20,000+ venue.

The warm-up was by pianist duo DUO JATEKOK who (set up on a podium midway in the standing area) treated the crowd to an eight song set from RAMMSTEIN’s ‘Klavier’ album for two pianos and four hands. The piano versions that the duo delivered showcased RAMMSTEIN’s songs in a different light and revealed unheard layers which aren’t always immediately apparent in their bombastic guitar-driven incarnations. After a crowd sing-along to ‘Sonne’, DUO JATEKOK disappeared from their podium and the sense of expectation in the crowd for the headliners was palpable…

The strains of Handel’s ‘Music for the Royal Fireworks’ was accompanied by the raising of a digital RAMMSTEIN flag on the central structure within the stage design. Drummer Christophe Schneider took to the stage first, raised both arms, hit his drums and an earthshaking barrage of fireworks exploded across the stage.

Entering one by one, the band started their set with the downtempo ‘Was Ich Liebe’ from their eponymous new album; keyboardist Christian ‘Flake’ Lorenz dressed in a fetching shiny gold outfit (which from a distance made him look like C3PO) and bassist Oliver Riedel in a red cat gimp suit. This was a very different set starter than previous UK shows and for RAMMSTEIN could even be classified as ‘understated’(!).

Normal service was resumed when the marching sample of ‘Links 2-3-4’ filtered through the PA system and the band’s signature twin guitar attack was back with a vengeance. For a band well known for their pyrotechnic usage, RAMMSTEIN held back the fire and flames until later on in the set, but for the MK crowd this didn’t matter one iota when most of the songs had their own stunning individual theatrical set-pieces.

From ‘Puppe’, which saw vocalist Till Lindemann wheeling out a huge metal pram replete with a disfigured animatronic baby (which he duly set on fire), through to ‘Mein Teil’ with a giant cooking pot which revealed ‘Flake’ who is well known as the band’s ‘whipping boy’. At the song’s climax, Lindemann brought out progressively larger flame-throwers until he was left with what could only be described as a giant artillery fire cannon which left the poor synth player (now wearing a full fire-retardant suit) waving the white flag of defeat.

So what was new? The single ‘Deutschland’ provided an epic highlight of the midpoint of the set; starting with Richard Z. Kruspe’s dance remix being played from a DJ booth which was raised like a flag in the middle section of the set. The remaining members of the band then donned black bodysuits with hoodies which subsequently lit up as stick men and delivered a comical dance routine through the remainder of the song. The usual band version of ‘Deutschland’ was delivered afterwards, showing that the band was willing to take risks and not just stick with their tried and tested stage dramatics.

Their new album is arguably their most synth / sequencer-oriented since the band’s first two hybrid electronic metal albums ‘Herzeleid’ and ‘Sehnsucht’. The recent single ‘Radio’ is a case in point, which as well as being very synth dominated, is also one of the band’s catchiest earworm singles for many a year.

The band’s main signature synth / guitar track ‘Du Hast’ was the first in the set to fully feature a blitzkrieg of fire effects with keyboardist Flake delivering his Nord keyboard parts whilst on a moving treadmill which was introduced on the band’s last world tour. Structures set further back in the arena also set off pyrotechnics in case you didn’t feel the full force of those set off on stage; this truly was a mind-blowing immersive experience which was continued with the next track ‘Sonne’.

After a full band version of ‘Ohne Dich’, the five members of the band then re-appeared on the podium / pilot stage with DUO JATEKOK to play an acoustic ‘Engel’, the lyrics running Karaoke-style on the stage that they’d just left. The next part of the show was a moment of pure theatre with the band (minus Lindemann) jumping into three rubber dinghies and ‘boat-surfing’ across the MK crowd and back to the stage. Lindemann then re-appeared there to greet them with a “Willkommen” sign, providing one of the few moments of political commentary within the show.

Appropriately the next track to be delivered was ‘Ausländer’ (‘Stranger’); this song has provoked some frenzied Reddit debate as to its meaning and depending on your viewpoint, it’s either a commentary on the refugee crisis or sex tourism. But as usual with RAMMSTEIN lyrics, they are deliberately left open to (mis)interpretation! In terms of song omissions in the set, only two were missed, ‘Feuer Frei!’ and ‘Keine Lust’, both previously long-term set favourites, but probably maneuvered out to make room for some of the RAMMSTEIN’s newer material.

Sadly, all good things must come to a (fiery) end and the band climaxed their MK show with versions of ‘Du Riechst So Good’, ‘Pussy’ (with Lindemann shooting a massive foam cannon into the crowd), ‘Rammstein’ and ‘Ich Will’. Truly no other band can compete with RAMMSTEIN for a show of this scale and although it would be easy to stereotype them as ‘just a Metal act’, the diversity of the crowd at Milton Keynes disproved this, with ages from 8 up to 60 somethings present.

It is a cliché, but this is a bucket list band to see before you die and one that you should beg, steal or borrow to get a ticket for; don’t quibble on ticket prices, you will NOT be disappointed and you will get a stadium-sized show in a stadium. At this point in time, RAMMSTEIN unquestionably provide the greatest live show on the planet…

‘Rammstein’ is released by Universal Music Group and available in various formats

https://www.rammstein.de/en/

https://www.facebook.com/Rammstein/

https://twitter.com/RSprachrohr

https://www.instagram.com/rammsteinofficial/

Text and Photos by Paul Boddy
13th July 2019

MAPS Live at The Southbank Centre

7 July 2019 /

MAPS gigs are as rare as hen’s teeth (especially in the capital) and tonight’s gig at The Southbank Centre attracted a bit of a Mute Records “who’s who” with DEPECHE MODE producer / engineer Gareth Jones and Polly Scattergood both in the audience.

The man behind MAPS, James Chapman recently released his fourth album ‘Colours. Reflect. Time. Loss’ which saw a massive direction change from the electronics-based ‘Vicissitude’; the new work seeing the synths and drum machines being mainly replaced by live drums, strings and brass.

There was an expectation that tonight’s sound would be dictated by the new MAPS aesthetic. But from the off, it was apparent that this was going to be a ‘rock’ gig with the orchestral instrumentation being absent, Chapman’s live synth / Korg Electribe / guitar set-up was augmented by drums, bass and ably flanked by Cecilia Fage (vocals + percussion) and Rachel Kenedy (vocals + synth).

The Southbank set spanned three of MAPS’ four albums with ‘Turning the Mind’ being the only work to be overlooked. Kicking off with ‘Surveil’ and ‘Both Sides’ from ‘Colours. Reflect. Time. Loss.’, Chapman created a carefully controlled wall of sound with the newer tracks arguably sounding even stronger than their recorded versions.

The show’s psychedelic visuals were worthy of a mention with microphone stand mounted mini-camera feeds being warped in real-time and projected onto the screen behind. MAPS debut Mercury Prize nominated album was well represented with ‘So Low, So High’ getting an early airing; listening to this track now, it still sounds like a Glastonbury anthem waiting to happen and it would be a criminal shame if Chapman doesn’t get some festival appearances as a result of his performance here.

Midway through the main set saw two tracks back-to-back from ‘Vicissitude’, ‘I Heard Them Say’ and ‘You Will Find a Way’. Both tracks translated incredibly well to the live stage with Fage and Kenedy’s providing some quite beautiful harmonies to back up Chapman’s lead vocals which at times evoked those of THE STONE ROSES’ Ian Brown.

The looping shuffle of ‘It Will Find You’ climaxed what felt like an all-too short set and the band disappeared literally for a couple of minutes before returning for a two song encore. ‘Liquid Sugar’ and ‘In Chemistry’ drew the evening to a close and the Purcell Room crowd were left wanting more. Chapman appeared visibly moved by the reception and spent time after the show mingling with the audience and signing albums.

Even after thirteen years, MAPS still remain Mute Records best kept secret; criminally overlooked and deserving of a much wider audience. Hopefully the success of this show will see Chapman and his band taking to the stage far more frequently as he now has a band that is tailor-made to interpret his tracks live.

If you get a chance to catch MAPS in future, don’t pass up the opportunity to catch this consistently innovative and brilliant musician / performer.

Special thanks to Sarah Pearson at Wasted Youth PR

‘Colours. Reflect. Time. Loss.’ is released by Mute Artists in CD, white vinyl LP and digital formats

https://thisismaps.com/

https://www.facebook.com/MapsMusic

https://twitter.com/thisismaps

https://www.instagram.com/thisismaps/

http://mute.com/features/maps-colours-reflect-time-loss

Text and Photos by Paul Boddy
7th July 2019

An Afternoon with STEPHEN MORRIS

15 June 2019 /

Stephen Morris is best known as the drummer of JOY DIVISION and NEW ORDER.

Together with Ian Curtis, Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner, JOY DIVISION had released just one album ‘Unknown Pleasures’ in June 1979 before the untimely death of Curtis in May 1980. Following the posthumous release of their second album ’Closer’, the remaining trio continued as NEW ORDER with the addition of Morris’ girlfriend and now-wife Gillian Gilbert.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK interviewed Stephen Morris in March 2011, a few months prior to the relaunch of NEW ORDER, and his informative humorous conversion remains one of the site’s most popular interviews. So an autobiography by the man who wanted to be a human drum machine was always bound to be an entertaining read.

‘Record Play Pause: Confessions of a Post-Punk Percussionist Volume 1’ is part memoir, part aural history and captures a dual narrative of growing up in the North West of England during the 1970s, while providing knowledgeable observations on the dynamics of music and the politics behind being in a band. It naturally also gives a first-hand account on the myth and haunting legacy of JOY DIVISION, while maintaining Morris’ noted wry and witty sense of humour.

Introduced by BUZZCOCKS manager Richard Boon who recalled how he tried to get the then-punk band called WARSAW to change their name to STIFF KITTENS, Morris was interviewed on stage by The Guardian’s music critic Jude Rogers about his book as part of the Stoke Newington Literary Festival.

Morris told her that he wanted initially to write a Russian novel only he couldn’t speak Russian and what he wrote was “sh*t”, so he settled on doing something to di-mythologise JOY DIVISION, something which he said was “never black and white”, because the public thought the band lived in the snow, while they actually having a laugh in the pub as were most ordinary young men of the period. Throughout his insightful Q&A, Morris was friendly and down-to-earth, occasionally offering a cynical and sarcastic take on his life.

With his book recalling a childhood of daily school milk rituals, Airfix kits, half day closing on Wednesdays and going on holiday with his parents to Torquay to see a shipwrecked oil tanker, Morris was frank about a period when “misogyny was rife” but men would want to marry one of the ‘Top Of The Pops’ dance troupe Pan’s People. Meanwhile joining a band was an escape because “you married young and that was it!”, adding that “you got a job, had a couple of kids and then died!”

Of his early live music experiences, Morris recalled how his father had agreed on a concert exchange in an effort to bond: “He took me to see Marlene Dietrich which was nice, and I returned the favour by taking him to see HAWKWIND! It’s a shame we didn’t get to the end of their set as he didn’t like the drugged out hippies there.”

Morris also told of how he had applied to be a ‘Record Mirror’ journalist but while he didn’t get the job, he was asked to freelance and report on live gigs. “I assumed I could pick the gigs” he said, but he was wrong and remembered how he was despatched to review Roy Chubby Brown’s mates SMOKIE to roars of laughter from the audience; “THAT’S NOT THE FUNNY BIT!” he retorted… having been charged 75p for the privilege, he told of how the concert was cancelled when ironically the fire curtain refused to go up!

The anecdotes of his first encounters with key figures in Morris’ life provided much amusement for everyone gathered in the Stoke Newington Town Hall. Rob Gretton had told him to “F**K OFF” when he told him he was a budding journalist at a gig at Rafters, where the future JOY DIVISION and NEW ORDER manager was the resident DJ who refused to play requests! And in another story regarding a merchandising opportunity to produce ‘Unknown Pleasures’ T-shirts, he remembered Gretton had kiboshed the idea by responding “T-SHIRTS? THEY’RE SH*T!”

While Morris’ memories of his first meeting with bandmates Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook featured no expletives, he admitted he got confused when following his recruitment by Ian Curtis via a small ad in the Manchester fanzine ‘Shy Talk’, the vocalist suggested they meet the pair at the local prison! “Strangeways?” Morris remembered, “What were they in for?”. And when a villainous looking Jaguar pulled up as they waited, Curtis started talking about someone called Hooky; “I assumed Hooky was Bernard and Peter’s father”, not realising Peter and Hooky were the same person! “There’s a lot of misunderstanding in my life” he admitted.

Answering an audience question about meeting Factory Records impresario Tony Wilson for the first time, Morris told the audience “It’s weird because you knew Tony from the telly and your impression of him was not exactly favourable; you thought he was a bit of a show-off, a clever b*stard who had to impress on everyone that he knew Trotsky did this and that… but once you got to know got to know him, you found out that your first impressions were correct!”

As the audience recovered from Morris’ amusing account, he added “I think he liked to wind people up, but he was very clever in that he would put people together, like getting us Peter Saville. Tony was a good catalyst, I always thought Tony would have got into politics eventually”. Meanwhile, he remembered how Gillian Gilbert’s mum had said to Wilson: “You know Tony, a lot of people don’t like you, and now that I’ve met you, I can see why!”

With an eye on the future, Morris’ electronic percussion journey was initially inspired by the cover of the UK edition of CAN’s ‘Tago Mago’ and a misunderstanding about a device attached to one of Jaki Liebezeit’s drums. Eventually he acquired a Synare 3, Simmons SDS4 and Roland CR78 while Sumner built a Powertran Transcendent 2000 before upgrading to an ARP Omni MkII.

In the book, Morris tells of his KRAFTWERK-influenced rhythmic experiment triggering his Simmons SDS4 off producer Martin Hannett’s ARP sequencer to produce ‘As You Said’, said by many to be “the worst JOY DIVISION song ever” although ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK rather likes it. Morris noted that the eccentric genius of Hannett added a depth that set ‘Unknown Pleasures’ apart and this pushing of sonic boundaries continued throughout JOY DIVISION’s short existence.

One instance was the aerosol used on the 12 inch disco re-recording of ‘She’s Lost Control’ inspired by BLONDIE’s ‘Heart Of Glass’. The idea had been to make the drums sound as powerful as possible, but Hannett suggested using an aerosol spray sound to give the rhythmic elements some fizzy top end.

Trapped in the vocal booth, Morris recalled noticing the can had a burning flame symbol and warnings of “danger” as the fumes started suffocating him… when the recording was completed, he reached for his pack of Player’s No6 King Size and was about to have a smoke but ”luckily I’d lent Rob Gretton my cigarette lighter”. As Morris put it, “it could have been a ‘Spinal Tap’ moment”, referencing the film’s recurring joke of spontaneously combusting drummers!

Despite Morris highlighting in the book about his lack of sartorial elegance and geography teacher look in the iconic JOY DIVISION photos taken by Kevin Cummins on Hulme Bridge, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK asked about his 2011 ‘Arena Homme+’ fashion shoot; “It was the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done in my life, never again” he snorted, recalling his parents were saying “What are you doing, standing in a tank with a suit on? You don’t look well??!”

But of that iconic Hulme photo and its mystique, Morris said “people look at those pictures and see different things which is great, but all I can remember is the reality which is I was excruciatingly cold because Hooky had forgotten to bring his coat and I offered him mine!”.

Compared with bands of the time, JOY DIVISION’s monochromatic austere stood out as Morris confirmed: “We looked strange, we looked like we didn’t belong”.

In memory of Ian Curtis’ sad passing, Morris said “It was such a shock, one of Ian’s failings was he’d try to be everything to everyone, he’d never want to let anyone down… if he’d have turned round and said ‘I don’t want to do this’, I’d like to think we would have gone along with it, but he wasn’t like that. He’d say he was fine when he clearly wasn’t fine. We were all excited about going to America and suddenly BANG! I couldn’t make sense of it”.

But concluding on a lighter note, when asked what NEW ORDER song Ian Curtis would have loved, Morris sheepishly replied “Ooooh! ‘World In Motion’” to roars of laughter, adding “I could imagine him doing that!”. However, Morris conceded that it was likely that material from ‘Power, Corruption & Lies’ would have appealed to the late JOY DIVISION frontman while also surmising that if Curtis had lived, JOY DIVISION might have mutated into something like RADIOHEAD.

From tom riffs and gothic disco to club friendly four-to-the-floor beats, ‘Record Play Pause: Confessions of a Post-Punk Percussionist Volume 1’ covers up to the end of JOY DIVISION and the start of NEW ORDER. With moments that make you laugh out loud as well as making you cry with an emotional account of a very personal tragedy, this book is a must read, capturing the background behind the post-punk generation’s dysfunctional creativity that manifested itself under the spectre of The Cold War and appropriately unleashed itself during Britain’s winter of discontent.

A second volume covering NEW ORDER up to the present day will be published in 2020.

‘Record Play Pause: Confessions of a Post-Punk Percussionist Volume 1’ is published by Constable

NEW ORDER + LIAM GILLICK ‘∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) So it goes..’ is released as a limited edition triple coloured vinyl LP and double CD by Mute Artists on 12th July 2019

http://www.neworder.com/

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Text and Photos by Chi Ming Lai
15th June 2019

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