GHOSTPOET - A PRIZED SPECTRE

AFTER a heavy night out, when the sun and moon were at war and thoughts were pleasantly hazy, Tricky’s Maxinquaye album filled the silence with an intense cosy wooziness.
Sixteen years later the same foggy evenings are now smothered in Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam, the debut album from Ghostpoet.

One of Mike Skinner’s favourite MCs, and hailed as one of the most exciting new hip-hop talents in the UK, Ghostpoet aka Obaro Ejimiwe, was recently nominated for a Mercury Music Prize.

 We last saw him solo, accompanied by a complex-looking console of laptops at Barfly for the Camden Crawl. Next week, after his nomination for one of the industry’s prestigious music prizes, he plays Scala (Oct 13), with an entourage of musicians, promising a number of surprise guests.

Although he had never met Mike Skinner, The Streets’ frontman – on temporarily taking over the Guardian music page – nailed his colours to Ghostpoet’s flag, citing him as one of his favourite MCs and streaming his album on the website.

Obaro said: “It was really amazing because I’ve been a fan of his music for so long. The idea of him bigging our music up is really out of this world.”

Less verbose than his songs, his blog reveals some curious insights, like his appreciation for Haribo wine gums: “It’s one of these comfort things that sometimes you need in your life. It’s kind of fundamental on tour life to have a few sweets you can eat so Haribo is the sweet of choice at the moment.”



Food is important to Obaro, explaining how his album was named after household spreads: “I needed a title that encapsulated the feeling of the album to me personally. I never listened to it as a whole piece until it was finished. For me it was quite a lot of melancholy in there and the idea of being a bit down, a bit out, a bit grey, the idea of not having a great day but still hope for the future. That was where I was getting the melancholy...I like comfort eating when I feel under the weather so I like peanut butter, I like jam so I thought I’d put it together.”

He’s not as morose as his album, swearing he’s like any normal person: “Like everyone else I guess, (I have) good days and bad days. Some days I don’t want to get out of bed, I want to stay in and wallow, other days I want to enjoy the sunshine, whatever works. Up and down good and bad, left and right, round and round.”

Obaro, who is engaged but coy about how he proposed, is more reserved than expected, saving his innermost insights for his music: “It’s connected to emotions. I try to pour into the emotion and feelings I get out of the music I create, it’s about tapping into that and letting the music tell me what to write. I guess the lyrics are a combination of the things I come across over a period of time, it could be from my life, from someone else’s life, from something I come across on the road and I try to shape it around a particular tune that I’ve made.”

His mild superstitions prevent him from revealing any unrecorded lyrics: “I couldn’t do that, I’m really bad with stuff like that. I don’t like saying lyrics until they’re recorded, they may change if I say it out loud it may jinx it, can’t say anything until it’s recoded...I don’t like saying much about potential things, rather wait until its set in stone before I announce stuff.”

He harbours a plan to one day open a dog farm: “It’s not an easy task starting a farm for dogs. But I think it could potentially happen if I have the means and the finances. I have one, I wish I had four. I never really was into dogs when I was a kid. I got one about three years ago and they’re just great companions, no matter what kind of mood you’re in they’re always there for you.”

While the glare is all on Obaro, his reaction couldn’t be more understated.
He said: “I’ve become slightly busier... people who may have never heard of my stuff before have been exposed to it a bit more I guess and that’s great, kind of what I wanted from the Mercury if anything so I was grateful to get that awareness, pick up a fanbase and cement a career of sorts...to be part of the Mercury was a complete shock to me.”

He added: “It’s definitely a case of more doors are opening because of the position I got myself into now and I’m really pleased with how things are going.”

AMY WINEHOUSE - OUR TARNISHED CHANTEUSE

Here's a piece I wrote for the Camden New Journal. I took the picture at Amy's Snakehips DJ night, The Monarch, 2008.

AMY Winehouse, our treasured, tarnished chanteuse whose talent lay as much in the heart-shattering cracks in her vocals as her ability to bare her darkest moments in song, soul laid bare on the kitchen floor, has left us too soon. Camden without Amy is muted, the loss immense. Such was her omnipresence that the void is even greater.

I saw her at her best – The Dublin Castle, Camden Crawl 2008, entrancing as her aching vocals beguiled observers into feeling her pain, and her worst – oblivious, lost, transformed into a museum piece during her Snakehips DJ night at The Monarch as, roped off like an exhibit, Blake brooch in her hair and blinded by a constellation of camera flashes, she barely played a disc. Instead she painted her nails. I last saw her at The Dublin Castle, Camden Crawl 2010. A combination of brassy barmaid and vulnerable child, she pulled pints, enjoying every delicious second of her semblance of normality.

Some mourn Camden of old, before the market mushroomed into a mall of trinkets, when punks were more than just a curiosity carrying a sign to the nearest tattoo shop.

But Amy saw past this. She exposed the lure of Camden to a new crowd, each eagerly mimicking her style with backcombed punctuations on every corner.

While tabloids leapt in excitement every time Amy made a surprise appearance, Camden barely raised an eyelid. She was a fixture, part of the furniture, and one that was expected to turn up any moment. This knowledge was a comfort.

Amy showed her fierce loyalty to her beloved borough by not becoming precious, visiting her favoured kebab shops, newsagents and pubs regardless of the 24/7 media glare.

As she showed her allegiance to Camden, the borough returned the favour. When spotted in the street at night, it wasn’t the locals who followed Amy but the paparazzi. Her attraction to the area could well be put down to the safe familiarity of the characters and venues that went out of their way to protect her.

She saw the positive side of Camden while others were busy pointing out the dark side.

Her troubles were widely known and while the sorry end to this tiny girl with the exquisitely loaded voice was somewhat inevitable, there was the always hope that another surprise appearance was imminent and this time, those troubles would have melted away.

SHE BECAME A MASCOT FOR CAMDEN - IT IS A QUIETER PLACE TODAY [Amy Winehouse tribute in today's Times]

AMY Winehouse was synonymous with Camden. Here is a piece I wrote for today's Times.

IF HOME is where the heart is, then Amy Winehouse’s heart — larger than most and perhaps more prone to bleeds and breakage — was in Camden Town in North London.

Her fierce loyalty to the place was made obvious in 2008 when she was at the height of her success. Thousands of miles away, having heard that she’d won a Grammy Award for Back to Black, a stunned Winehouse dedicated her award to London “because Camden Town ain’t burning down”.

She was referring to the infamous fire that razed half of Camden Market, taking with it her drinking headquarters, the Hawley Arms.

Asking what the appeal of Camden was to Winehouse is a bit like asking about the private habits of bears in the woods. It doesn’t require interrogation. She was attracted to its intimate villagey community but also to its excess. The vibrant market centre, which sits between the commercial district of Westminster and the cosy affluence of Hampstead, has a long history of this. In the early 1800s, the influx of Irish railway workers brought with it a legacy of institutionalised alcoholism that lives on today. Added to that today is a lively drugs scene.

More recently, the Britpop heyday brought the first generation of the celebrated “Camden caners”. Blur and Oasis drank in the Good Mixer, an unreconstructed drinking hole that focuses more on fun than on pretty decor. The second wave of Camden caners — including actress Kirsten Dunst, Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell, Kelly Osbourne, Mischa Barton and Paris Hilton — was headed up by Winehouse. Their home was the Hawley Arms, right in the heart of the market. Messy-haired, vested bar staff in skinny jeans kept the beer flowing, and then it was back to someone’s house for a party.

Musicians love the place. Name any act, from the Killers to Supergrass, from Madness to the Specials, and they will have played the darkened stage of the Dublin Castle, one of the borough’s most iconic music pubs. And this is why the tastemakers will always be here. Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq can often be found at the Barfly checking out the latest talent, or curating a night at The Bull and Gate. The Camden Crawl — a two-day festival bringing together more than 100 acts in as many venues — has become known as one of the few places you might get to see a superstar act in a tiny venue.

Winehouse and Camden were mutually dependent. She helped make it cool again after Britpop faded; after the glorious downfall of the Primrose Hill set and later the huge redevelopment of the market. She became a mascot for the borough.

No matter where you were, Winehouse’s influence, in music and style, shaped Camden’s culture. Take a walk down Camden High Street tomorrow and count the backcombed hairdos and ballet shoes. Although her minders were a necessary accompaniment, there were no airs and graces or presumptions about her. She didn’t demand special treatment, and no matter how infamous she grew, she was more likely to be seen eating kebabs at Marathon Kebab House, than sipping cocktails at the Met Bar.

Winehouse loved playing the Dublin Castle backroom and told the landlord, Henry Conlon, as much. Once, she was waiting to be served and Conlon told her to come around and serve herself. She stayed three hours and came back again and again. She craved the interaction and chat with the locals, but needed the safety of the bar between her and them.

Winehouse’s addictive character extended to more than substance abuse. She was hooked on music and the jazz and soul records she grew up with. In Rehab she says she’d rather be at home with Ray and Mr Hathaway, a reference to Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway. But she was addicted to her ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil too, and to drink and drugs and to Camden. No matter how often she moved away, to Barnet, a calmer more suburban area at the end of the Northern line, or St Lucia, her home from home, she always came back.

I became used to seeing the tip of the diminutive Winehouse’s beehive as she made her way through the crowds, sandwiched by 6ft tall, 6ft-wide minders. Her catalogue of performing appearances included a spellbinding set at the Dublin Castle, an unforgettable evening during which I witnessed the raw beauty of her voice, up close and away from the drama surrounding her.

Most telling was the night in July 2008 when she was due to DJ at the Monarch, but turned up looking vacant. With a “Blake” brooch in her hair, she painted her nails while someone else took over the decks. Events took a bizarre twist when the crowd spent two hours photographing her rather than dancing, as she became a real-life waxwork.

Now her neighbours and fans will have to go to Madame Tussauds to see her. Camden is a quieter place today. We miss her very much.

Roísín Gadelrab is music editor of the Camden New Journal

CAMDEN CRAWL 2011 - LAST MINUTE TIPS

IT RAINED for the first time in the history of the Camden Crawl last year. When I say rained, more like giants stood atop Primrose Hill hosing down Camden High Street until all the little indie ants were washed down the drain.


So let’s hope this year, the giants take a break from watering their gardens just long enough to let us music-loving ants swarm over Camden and Kentish Town’s finest venues for the Camden Crawl’s 10th anniversary.



Odd Future, Miles Kane, Killing Joke, British Sea Power, St Etienne, Graham Coxon, Frankie and the Heartstrings, Villagers, Giggs – the list of unmissable acts is endless but to be sure to catch your top choices requires military precision.

Army-style discipline alone is tough but throw in sun, good times, queues, clinging onto friends in a sea of people, navigating dark venues, and mountains of alcohol and the best laid plans are bound to dissolve into a haze of good intentions and gigs you didn’t quite plan to see.

This is not a bad thing –the Crawl is the ideal spotting ground for new music so enjoy the unknown acts and see if you can predict which ones are going to make it.

Here’s a few tips for the day – I won’t labour the wear comfy shoes point this year no matter how vital I think it is:

- It’s not all about gigs in dark places. There’s a whole daytime programme of comedy, theatre and the chance to pit your mind against some of the industry’s biggest musos at a choice of challenging pub quizzes.

- Manage expectations – don’t expect to see every band you want – there will be timetable clashes, mad dashes from Mornington Crescent to Kentish Town, and just plain old queues so prioritise and enjoy the unknown.

- Keep your eyes and ears open for secret appearances, pop-up gigs and the unexpected, last year Amy Winehouse was pulling pints at The Dublin Castle and Pete Doherty was hanging around outside the job centre, a few years previously David Schwimmer joined the crawl.

- Try to predict collaborations – as Giggs and Lethal Bizzle are both booked to play and they’ve just released the Monsta Man remix, that’s the one I’m guessing.

- Check out the Red Bull outdoor stage – it’ll be a rare chance to see rap collective Odd Future who made waves at this year’s SXSW festival. And if you can prove you’re an NW1 resident, you can get into Hawley Crescent for free.

- Download the Gaymers Camden Crawl 2011 The Album compilation – free to ticketholders from www.7digital.com/camdencrawl – and check out the bands you haven’t heard yet, you never know, it might just stop you missing out on the next band of the year.

- AND FINALLY – follow me on twitter for live updates throughout the weekend and tweet me any Crawl news, gossip or rumours of secret gigs – I promise to share – @roisingadelrab

ROCK 'N ROLL MAYORESS LINES UP EXTRAVAGANT BARFLY BALL

CAMDEN'S rock and roll Mayoralty were such a hit the first time they DJd at Barfly Camden they’ve been invited to return.
But this time Camden’s illustrious Mayoress Amy Lamé takes control alone as she plays gracious hostess at The Mayoress of Camden’s Charity Ball.

Ms Lamé has handpicked the acts that will invade Barfly Camden on May 6, chosen a bunch of class DJs and thought very carefully about the entertainment for the night.

And unlike what you might expect from a parochial do, this mayoress will not be turning out the lights at the respectable time of 10.30pm and there will be no carriages awaiting.

Instead, the night will run into the early hours – 3am to be exact so pack your flat shoes in your handbag for the stagger home.

Playing live will be The Caezars, UP, Suburban Mousewife, Emily Cappell and Kites with DJ sets from HORSEMEAT DISCO, Kevin Rowland (Dexy’s Midnight Runners), Hushpuppy, Gary Crowley, Readers Wifes, Martin Green and Broken Hearts.

There will also be installations and performances from the notorious Scottee, last year’s Time Out Performer of the Year, a Charity Cake Stall by Lily Vanilli (who has baked for Elton John, Alexander Mc Queen and Henry Holland), a mini salon giving Camden makeovers – a must for outsiders keen to capture that deliberately scrappy look – by Nina's Vintage Hair Parlour and a badge making stall by Philip Normal.
Expect surprise guests and performances throughout the night.

Proceeds go to the Mayor’s chosen charity, The Roundhouse Trust.
Tickets - £5adv from www.barflyclub.com

CAMDEN CRAWL TWEETERS + POLY STYRENE SLEEPS + PALOMA FAITH, TIM BOOTH AND HUGH LAURIE

A QUICK reminder to anyone not heading for the Camden Crawl – though can’t imagine what else you want to do with the long weekend – you can still feel like part of the festivities by catching Graham Coxon, Marques Toliver and more at their Levi’s Crawl set at Proud Camden on Sunday for a separate £10 ticket. Entry free to Crawl wristband holders.


And in case you didn’t see my appeal in our final preview, remember to tweet any Crawl news, sightings, gossip or secret gig rumours to me @roisingadelrab, I’ll be reporting the whole weekend live on Twitter.



• Really sorry to hear about the death of X-Ray Spex frontwoman Poly Styrene. Poly, whose real name is Marianne Elliot Said rejoined the band for a one-off show at Camden Roundhouse in 2008.

In a tribute this week, Jonathan Ross told how X-Ray Spex were the first live band he ever saw – at the Hope & Anchor in Islington.

• Coming up at the Union Chapel – Paloma Faith’s special charity show (May 5) to help raise funds for a friend who suffered brain damage in an accident. She will be joined by Noisettes, her X-Factor favourite Rebecca Ferguson, Michael Nyman, Claire Maguire, Rox, Alfie Boe, David Arnold & Ricky Wilson and the night will be hosted by Keith Lemon.

• Remember when James was great? Maybe Tim Booth can recreate some of their heyday magic when he headlines Koko on Tuesday – maybe he can fill us in.

• Former Record of the Week contenders and all-round new favourites Warehouse Republic play The Bowery on Wednesday – what else have you got do?

• Anyone got a golden ticket for Hugh Laurie’s Union Chapel show on Wednesday? Let me know, is he a better musician or actor?

KENTISH TOWN'S HIP HOP CONNECTIONS - SNOOP DOGG & WU-TANG CLAN HEADING TO NORTH LONDON

WHO said genuine hip-hop is the domain of south London?


Camden may be the natural lair of the guitar-plucking indie kid but it’s fast becoming a credible rival to Brixton when it comes to quality rap – both old school and decidedly much newer school.



These days anything slightly urban is no longer confined to the Jazz Café, which continues to host the gold standard acts for which it has become famous.

It’s just as likely that visiting rappers will play Koko, Electric Ballroom or, in the case of Ghostface Killah, be found chilling with Mark Ronson at Proud Camden.

Take a stroll down Kentish Town Road over the next couple of months and you’ll find some of the biggest names in the world bringing their hip-hop vibes to HMV Forum.

First, tha DoggFather himself, Snoop Dogg and his lazy ways launches his album Doggumentary – the permutations of the moniker knows no bounds – on May 17.

Then, on June 11 and 12, the stage will do well not to buckle under the heavyweight players that make up the Wu-Tang Clan.

Snoop has picked Kentish Town to debut his 11th studio album and is bringing a bunch of as yet unreleased special guests to the party.

Although we do know countless international producers including Damon Albarn, Gorillaz, DJ Khalil and Kanye West worked on the plaited rapper’s latest album.

Doggumentary chronicles Snoop’s long career – nearly 20 years in the business – and will be a useful aid-memoir to established fans as well as a convenient pocket history for a whole new generation.

The Long Beach rapper’s long been a fan of Twitter and now he’s using his social media prowess "doggument" – yes seriously – the album’s progress online.

He has launched the obtusely-labelled #PuffPuffPassTuesdays campaign, where he releases exclusive clips and tracks to his 2.5 million Twitter followers every week and is giving unprecedented access to his inner circle via his frequent Ustream sessions.

And did you know his real name was Calvin Broadus?

Don’t forget the sunglasses to avoid being dazzled by his accompanying bling.

The second and arguably more significant hip-hop show to hit The Forum this summer will be the might of the Wu-Tang Clan.

Over the years, RZA, GZA, and Ghostface Killah, among others, have appeared separately in Camden Town but to have the collective together at last is what we’ve been waiting for.

In their first tour together in four years, Method Man, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, U-God and Masta Killa as well as the aforementioned trio should all be there.

Significantly absent will be Ol’ Dirty Bastard, who died in 2004, but his son, the aptly named Young Dirty Bastard will take on the rhymes of his father.

Yelawolf, recently signed to Eminem’s Shady Records label will also support.

RIP GERARD SMITH - TV ON THE RADIO BASSIST DIED TOO YOUNG

How sad to hear about the untimely death of TV on the Radio bassist Gerard Smith of lung cancer at just 34.
The band put the following on their website.:

"We are very sad to announce the death of our beloved friend and bandmate, Gerard Smith, following a courageous fight against lung cancer. Gerard passed away the morning of April 20th, 2011. We will miss him terribly.


The following shows will be cancelled:
April 20 St. Andrew Halls, Detroit MI
April 22 Metro, Chicago IL
April 23 First Ave, Minneapolis MN
April 24 First Ave, Minneapolis MN
April 26 Ogden, Denver CO
There will be more information as it becomes available."

Terrible news for a stunning band, due to play the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park later this year in support of Pulp.
In the meantime, take a moment to appreciate Gerard Smith's talents in Nine Types of Light, linked here.

Alternatively, here's an older video but worth watching.

GLASVEGAS NEW DRUMMER JONNA LÖFGREN - "I DIDN'T KNOW WHO THEY WERE"

GLASVEGAS have toured with U2, Kings of Leon and supported Oasis.

Three years ago they were winning universal critical acclaim for their debut album but over in Sweden, young drummer Jonna Löfgren, had never heard of them.
In fact she nearly missed the lecture that changed her life and catapulted her into one of Scotland’s most talked about bands of the last decade.




It may have been a joke, no-one really knows but when Rab Allan (guitarist and frontman James’ cousin), said he wanted a female Swedish drummer to replace original drummer Caroline McKay, Sony listened.

“I’m glad they took it seriously, otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” 23-year-old Jonna says.
She still not clear about Rab’s motives: “He likes Sweden, he likes Swedish girls and he likes girls. I think he just said it one day, I don’t know if he was really serious. When they tell me, they don’t know if he’s serious or not.”

Glasvegas play HMV Forum in Kentish Town on May 10. Expect to hear tracks from album Euphoric /// Heartbreak \\\ released last week.

Jonna has been in the band for just five months.
She was studying at music college in Sweden and had just signed a contract to drum for a musical production of Snow White for the next six months when everything changed.

She said: “We had a guest teacher for a day (at college) and I just had a fight with my ex-boyfriend. I didn’t want to go but we ended up going to the lecture. I think it was meant to be.”
She got talking to the speaker who mentioned Sony was looking for a Swedish female drummer.

So Jonna sent demos to Sony and Glasvegas’ management but it was a DVD recording of her drumming over the track Geraldine that clinched it.
“I was playing the song standing up like how they play it. I think that video was the thing that got them to like me. I think they felt my drumming was good enough so I didn’t have to audition for them.”

Jonna was invited to meet the band in London.
She said: “I was really nervous. I had a whisky on the plane down. Before I went I looked on Youtube for interviews with them speaking because I wanted to practice the accent, it’s so difficult. It didn’t work because I couldn’t understand them at all. Now it’s different because I’ve been hanging out with them so much. I really enjoy the accent.”

Jonna confesses she didn’t quite understand the enormity of being chosen to play for Glasvegas.
She said: “When I got the first phone call I didn’t know who they were. (The caller) was telling me on the phone how big this was. My hands started shaking when he was telling me. When I hung up the phone I Googled them. There was so much to read about them, how they’ve been touring with U2 and Kings of Leon, I was like Oh my God.”

Jonna showed early ambitions to be a drummer. At three she was banging pots and pans around in the kitchen, at six, she was telling her father just how much she wanted to be like a drummer on TV and at seven she got her first drum kit.

She said: “My dad said he was going to take me to buy some winter shoes and I was so happy because I have three siblings and he was only going to take me. I was like “yeah I’m going to get winter shoes”. So we went to this city and then it turned out we didn’t go to the shoe store. We went down to a basement and this guy opened the door and it was a drum kit. My dad asked me "Do you want this?" and I was like "Oh yes", I was so happy. So my first drum kit is my winter shoes.”

HUGH LAURIE'S GOT THE UNION CHAPEL BLUES + ODD FUTURE AT THE CAMDEN CRAWL

LISTEN up NW1 residents.

Those generous Camden Crawl people have saved up some of their most treasured signings for the Red Bull Bedroom Jam, which takes over Hawley Crescent for the May Bank Holiday weekend (April 30 – May 1). Entry is free for residents aged 14 or over (under 16s accompanied by an adult) who show proof of residence and age on arrival space allowing.

The King Blues headline on Saturday and the much-hyped ODD FUTURE WOLF GANG KILL THEM ALL play their first UK festival show on the Sunday. Others lined up include Attack! Attack!, The Qemists, Turbowolf, P Money and S.C.U.M. Crawl wristband holders also welcome.

Not easy to find a clip of Odd Future in their collective element so here's Tyler the Creator doing his own thing - Warning some may find lyrics offensive.


Forget the menacing hip-hop, this second clip shows Odd Future as straight-up skater boys - brings back memories of my own reprobate skater friends of the past.



• He’s so convincing on House, I’d forgotten he’s English – now Hugh Laurie’s embracing the deep South soul. He plays New Orleans blues from album Let Them Talk, which features collaborations with Tom Jones and Dr John, at the Union Chapel on May 4 – shame it’s sold out.

• Want to break into the music biz? Head to King’s Place for MusicConnex (April 19-21) where more than 100 industry experts will share their expertise on securing a career in the digital age in a series of seminars sponsored by Facebook, Youtube and MPA. Plus showcases from ILUVLIVE, Canadian Blast, One Taste and Busker Tales.

• We’re in the middle of London Latin Music Festival and the best is yet to come – see Ojos de Brujo’s 10th Anniversary Show at the Barbican (April 15), supported by Depedro, and A Night of Twisted Cumbia ft Mexican Institute of Sound, Axel Krygier and Pollito Boogaloo at Koko (April 17).

RECORD OF THE WEEK - GLASVEGAS, Euphoric /// Heartbreak \\\

GLASVEGAS have evolved just the right amount – the music is bigger, more produced and tinged with futuristic elements in the Blade Runner vein – but they’re still in there.

The accents haven’t softened, the lyrics are as gritty as expected and James Allan’s vocals are as laden with pain and heartbreak as ever.
What is missing is much of their characteristic retro percussion, which seems to have been superseded by Euphoric /// Heartbreak’s spacey dimension.

Single The World is Yours bursts through the French intro as a formidable anthem, an apt preamble to Euphoric///Heartbreak’s oddly jarring and hypnotic arrangement – expect to wake from your slumber. Almost faultless, although we could do without the forward/backslashes in the title.

SHAKESPEARE V WORLD CLASS RAPPER - AKALA'S HIP HOP SHAKESPEARE COMPANY PUTS THEM TO THE TEST

“MAYBE it’s hatred I spew, maybe it’s food for the spirit,” – Shakespeare or an internationally renowned rapper?
This is just one of the tests Akala poses in his quest to show young people the Bard’s work is not as archaic as they think.



For those who couldn’t work it out, the answer’s Eminem, on Renegade with Jay-Z.
The success of the hip-hop Shakespeare Company – which explores the social, cultural and linguistic parallels between Shakespeare and hip-hop – spearheaded by rapper Akala aka Kingslee Daley, and brother of Ms Dynamite, has not gone unnoticed.
They’ve featured on CNN, there’s a film in the pipeline and they’re due to appear at the Roundhouse Studios during the Camden Crawl (April 30-May 1).

Any trepidation youngsters have when joining a workshop is immediately broken when faced with the Shakespeare v Rapper test.
Kingslee, who grew up in Camden, and went to Acland Burghley School, said: “We ask if they think they can tell the difference between a quote from one of their favourite rappers and Shakespeare and they all say it’d be obvious, Shakespeare’s so different, so old. We do the test and no one can ever tell the difference.
“Once you take the language out of context you start to get a sense of how much your perception affects your treatment of art... Whether you like it or not, that’s just a part of the human condition. You make these judgements not solely based on the quality of the work and that’s what really becomes obvious to people.”

The Company aims to remove the elitism that surrounds Shakespeare, the “ignorant crass stereotypes” that surround hip-hop and to highlight entitlement.
Kingslee was attracted to Shakespeare from an early age because of its parallels to the lyrical music he already listened to: “It just clicked with me this is the same kind of stuff I already listen to – it’s poetry...he captured to human condition the way few writers have,” and is torn between Hamlet and Richard II as his favourite play.
He said: “Richard II is the most rhythmic, it sounds like a rap. Hamlet for the complexity of the story, the betrayal, the cauldron of feelings – it’s maybe his strongest character.”

The project has provided jobs and training for some of the most promising participants. One young writer has gone on to scribe plays for the Young Vic and Kingslee hopes one day to set up a whole institution dedicated to the cause.
Kingslee said: “Ultimately we all want the same thing – young people that can read and write well and are enthusiastic about language. Whatever methods we use that are most effective – that is the most sensible thing to do.”
Kingslee finds the job particularly rewarding.
He said: “When you work with young people in difficult circumstances and they share something with you through a piece of writing and it becomes a cathartic experience for them or they realise they have a passion no-one’s ever stoked in them or they have an intelligence that no one ever told them they have – that kind of ability to help people self discover is the thing I’m most proud of.”

He has just returned from Sudan, where he hosted workshops in-between gigs.
He said: “It went really well. I hate to say it but every time I travel, particularly to countries in the so-called third world, it’s embarrassing the level of education. No disrespect, but they have a much firmer grasp of the English language than most of the young people (he works with here). You have 16 year old kids when we’re talking about Shakespeare, saying, yeah he wrote in archaic English – this is the level of grasp of the language we’re talking about.

“Perhaps because education over there is so much more difficult to obtain, there’s so much more respect for it once it’s gone...They take it very seriously if they get the opportunity to get a decent education.”
And while Shakespeare proved a hit, so did the hip-hop.

He said: “Hip hop over there is as big as it is over here – all over Africa – hip hop and reggae – Bob Marley’s become bigger then he even was in Jamaica. He’s become a larger than life persona throughout the African continent. And hip-hop, particularly the more politically aware socially conscious hip-hop, has really connected, from my experience throughout the continent and the world.”

Kingslee no longer lives in Camden, having left for the peace of Hertfordshire but he’s having a change of heart: “I’m out in the sticks now but it’s a bit too quiet for me. I think I’m going to move back into Camden.”
• Further info from http://www.hiphopshakespeare.com/

SPOILED FOR CHOICE + ADAM ANT BOOK LAUNCH + JOSE GONZALES WAS A PUNK + THE VACCINES DJ

I SOMETIMES forget how lucky we are, living on the music-rich soil of Camden, Islington and Westminster – but then a week like this comes along and I remember how spoiled I am.


I was supposed to exclusively reveal Killing Joke are playing the Camden Crawl but Japanese Voyeurs beat me to it – Romily told Glasswerk Wales website they’ll be supporting the post-punk legends at the Electric Ballroom – Don’t forget to enter our ticket competition.

After the Crawl there’s still Wireless, Kenwood, Hard Rock Calling and the totally free iTunes Festival – and that’s just the festivals.

• Adam Ant’s as spirited as ever. He plays live at the launch of his book All The King’s Horses – there’s also a short play featuring a surprise actor – at Monto Water Rats tonight (Thurs).

• Badly Drawn Boy, Gideon Conn + Jim Noir join special guests at the Union Chapel tonight (Thurs) for Manchester Aid to Kosovo’s Ten album launch.

• If you miss The Vaccines at the Electric Ballroom, they DJ afterwards at The Wheelbarrow (April 8) – totally free.

• Did you know Jose Gonzales was Swedish? He’s mellowed since his days in hardcore punk bands and has teamed up with the 20-piece Gothenburg String Theory orchestra to play the Barbican (April 11).



• Music Week’s Breakout night is NOT to be missed – acts include Dog is Dead, Manchester Orchestra and felon turned rapper Fem Fel – Proud Camden (April 13).

• Wonder what Dinosaur Jr frontman J Mascis would sound like on his own? He plays solo at Relentless Garage (April 14).

THE VACCINES DRUMMER PETE ROBERTSON ON TATTOOS, TAYLOR SWIFT AND HOW NIRVANA CHANGED HIS LIFE

A YEAR ago Pete Robertson was doing the usual rounds as a session drummer, convinced he’d reached his childhood rock musician dreams had reached their pinnacle.
Then along came The Vaccines, critical recognition, a top 5 album (What Did You Expect from The Vaccines) and an awful lot of fuss.

“(Radio 1 DJ) Zane Lowe asked us “How did this happen? You survived. We tried to destroy you with our hype and yet you’ve managed to make a great debut album.” Part of us that was like yeah you’re kind of putting us in quite a difficult position with this. But I feel like we’ve overcome it and hopefully proved some people right,” said Pete.



In little under 12 months, the band has gone from non-existence to attracting the world’s attention at SXSW – and they can chart the turning point in their supersonic rise to one night in Camden.

Pete said: “We loved The Flowerpot. It was kind of a landmark for us. We’d done a couple of gigs around the country playing to about 10 people. We were opening to school bands, playing to them and their parents.”
But they were noticed by the music media and a demo was championed by Lowe.
“We got to The Flowerpot and no-one was there. We thought, it’s just one of those shows. We went up to the dressing room, hung out till it was time to go onstage, went downstairs and they were queuing out the door.”

The word was out, the muso crowd had shown up and the likes of Alex Kapranos (Franz Ferdinand) and Nick Hodgson (Kaiser Chiefs) crammed into the former Kentish Town venue to see them.
“It was a very special gig for us. When we were writing and rehearsing even when we were playing our little toilets we still felt like we were doing something, we could connect to people, we just thought it might take a little longer.”

The Vaccines play Electric Ballroom next week (April 7 and 8) and are planning a bit of an experiment.
Said Pete: “We’ve done it once or twice but it’s not really taken on for us – the last track on the album Family Friend turns into a noise fest at the end. We’ve only dabbled with playing that live before it’s so sparse at the top for the first half that it’s right on a knife edge but we will be doing that at the Electric Ballroom.”

Unable to describe his own character, except to say he questions himself regularly, Pete kindly summed up his bandmates: “Justin’s got an incredible mind, an amazing way of thinking, incredibly intelligent and thoughtful. Freddie is in a similar way a bit of a geek. He knows his music inside out, it’s pretty encyclopaedic. He’s got a wicked sense of humour as well. Arni (from Kilburn) is like a typical Scandinavian. I guess he’s quite quiet but when he has odd days he gets very passionate about it.”

Coming up with the band name was difficult he said, adding: “We had a few good names we weren’t allowed to use because they were a bit inflammatory. We did one gig as The Catholics. But we were told it would probably cause a bit of outrage in about half the world. We’re not Catholics. We were Red Indians as well for a while – apparently that’s racist.”


His own music preferences vary dramatically.
Pete said: “I don’t really go in for hero worship. There’s an awful lot of drummers I admire. The drummer who put me on to wanting to play drums, my first inspiration was probably Dave Grohl.
"Nirvana basically changed my life as it did for most kids at that time – that was a proper landmark. Dave Grohl’s drumming is brilliant but I think it was that whole band and that whole ethos they had that was so inspiring to people of that generation.”

He has time for the softer side too: “I don’t believe in guilty pleasures. I find music snobbery like wine snobbery. I’ve been derided for liking one of Taylor Swift’s songs the Romeo and Juliet one – it’s such a good song.”

He believes drumming keeps him fit: “I’ve got quite skinny arms but I think it must be (good exercise) because I’m not fat and I should be, I eat and drink quite a lot. The most impressive muscle I have is in my hand, no-one ever sees it, it’s my thumb muscle. Most drummers if you have really massive biceps it’s because you have bad technique. I don’t get much love for that (thumb).”

They’re due to tour the US with the Arctic Monkeys although they haven’t met yet, and have already devised coping techniques for touring.
Pete said: “We entertain each other by basically taking the piss out of each other to the point that we end up fighting and then fighting for fun and watching fights for fun. We’re in a bit of a pressure cooker at the moment. It gets pretty full on, the gripes are bound to happen. Fortunately we know each other well enough to chill it and then it’s over – no grudges or anything.”

They recently caused a fuss at SXSW, where they caught the ears of the US media, but Pete had a more important mission on his agenda.
He said: “I got my first tattoo. I kind of knew what I wanted but I was still wondering if I was still going to have the guts. I met this guy and he was a tattoo artist and drew me one and I loved it so thought why not drill me with needles repeatedly so I now have a rising sun stamped on my arm forever.

“All the guys came down and I thought they were going to help talk me through a difficult period but they just laughed and drank cocktails. They say it’s addictive. I was halfway through getting it done when I already had an idea for the next one. You never know, by next year I’ll be a painted man.”

Recalling the band’s beginnings, while still a session drummer, he said: “It’s great to be able to make a living doing music but I thought that was it and the dream you have as a kid was fading fast. I realised I needed something more from my music, some creativity and everyone else was kind of in the same boat so when we got together there was a real energy and enthusiasm. It felt like we were escaping and it was really great. The first rehearsal we had together you could kind of feel something there.

“We’re all fans of depth and meaning through simplicity. Listening to I guess brave music – stuff that’s laying the character and soul completely bare for everyone to see. “

And for now, life looks rosy for The Vaccines.

Pete said: “I’ve never been busier in life but it doesn’t really feel like work it’s something we want to do. It’s all really exciting and fun. I’ve yet to experience getting bored with playing music. I’m sure it happens but I can’t imagine what that would feel like.

“It doesn’t feel like a rush, it’s been quite a steady and natural progression. There are odd moments when you kind of pinch yourself but the majority you just kind of get on with it and enjoy the moment.”

THE VACCINES PAY TRIBUTE TO THE FLOWERPOT + KENTISH TOWN'S CAMDEN CRAWL COUP + RIGHT SAID FRED - FOR REAL

THE Vaccines’ drummer Pete Robertson had plenty to say when I spoke to him last week – not least high praise for the guys behind The Flowerpot, now The Wheelbarrow on Camden High Street.


He told me: “The best thing about The Flowerpot was the promoters. They’re obviously incredibly passionate – they’re part of the industry’s good guys. The venue’s possibly secondary to the people that organised it and I’m sure they’ll do really well.”
See Pete’s SXSW first tattoo revelations, his secret admiration for a Taylor Swift love song and his belief that Nirvana changed his life – in my full interview above.



• Camden Crawl Update – there won’t be that much crawling while the sublime Miles Kane, Villagers and Frankie & the Heartstrings all perform at HMV Forum. Kentish Town may just dominate our route this year. The King Blues will headline the Red Bull Outdoor stage so pray for good weather.

• Each member of The Dum Dums has the words Dum Dum tattooed on a finger. See for yourself when they play Dingwalls on Tuesday (April 5).

• Plan B, Katy B, Eliza Doolittle and Devlin play a free gig at Proud Camden tonight (March 31) for Sony's Music Unlimited new music streaming service – will it be better than Spotify?

• Former Record of the Week pick The Chakras play the Bull & Gate (April 7) – looks like Kentish Town’s fighting Camden for the live music crown.

• If you’re too young to remember Right Said Fred, head to 02 Academy Islington (April 27) – your life will not be complete without hearing “I’m Too Sexy” at least once.

• Soul singer Lemar’s so far departed from the reality show that made him that it’s hard to remember he was ever a product of Fame Academy. He sings at Shaka Zulu tonight (Thursday) supported by Daniel Debourg.

FLOURESCENT ASOBI SEKSU

FOLLOWERS of New York quartet Asobi Seksu will know their fourth album is already drawing favourable attention.
But for those not yet familiar with the group’s latest offering – Fluourescence (out this week) – a visit to Relentless Garage, Highbury Corner, on April 17, may shed some light on what all the fuss is about.



Asobi Seksu melt from dream pop to shoegaze to soaring heavy-effect instrumentals, which have historically attracted comparisons with My Bloody Valentine.
Singer and keyboardist Yuki Chikudate is an accomplished frontwoman, playing the solid lead role around which her three male counterparts congregate, while remaining solitary and disparate onstage.

The scattered stage arrangement provides a strong visualisation of Asobi Seksu’s newer stripped down sound, while the remaining heavier riffs defy gravity as they lay thick in the air.
As guitarist/singer James Hanna said: “This time, our agenda was to not have one at all, to be mellow about the entire process instead of obsessing over everything.”

They may have made a conscious decision to keep things sparse but their resolve has proven patchy at best, allowing the power chords for which they are most popular to remain, even more pronounced against a newfound crystalline audio backdrop.

RECORD OF THE WEEK - FRANCIS NEVE, Winterbury

FRANCIS Neve mourns the end of a relationship against stark lo-fi instrumentals while guest vocalist Lucy Randell calmly revels in the chorus to remind him “I don’t like the way you are” – essentially Ugly Kid Joe’s Everything About You but more refined. A composed lament for the polite generation. It works because it’s believable. (Out March 28).

EXCLUSIVE: PAUL HEATON, THE SAUDI PRINCESS AND AN ILL-ADVISED QUEST FOR BEER - Former frontman of The Housemartins and The Beautiful South reveals all

“I’m sort of like the Elton John of iTunes. I live in a fairly modest house, I don’t have a car, I don’t holiday in Barbados but I spend a ridiculous amount – hundreds of thousands – on iTunes,” Paul Heaton explains his guilty vice as he sips alcohol free lager at the pub around the corner from his Manchester home.

The former Housemartin and founder member of The Beautiful South is looking relaxed as he reveals he has just celebrated the birth of his third daughter – named Meredith in recognition of his recently discovered Welsh roots – and exclusively recounts the time he nearly caused a diplomatic incident in an ill-advised quest for beer. But more about that later.


The internet has taken over from the days since Heaton first scribbled his monthly alternative Top 20 in a notebook in May 1980 and now his personal charts are held on iTunes.

“I only listen to music that’s not in the charts. I root around deep and as soon as something gets in the charts I drop it, which is pretty bad, apart from old soul songs,” he said. “It’s a hell of a lot of work – the one thing I fear losing in a house fire.”

He plans to publish them, alongside his song lyrics, notes of daft office conversations (78-81) and collected crisp packets and beer mats (1980-1990) in a coffee table book.
He plays Koko on April 1 and will dredge up a couple of old Housemartins songs for the set.

Heaton said: “We’ve got a support band called Admiral Fallow. They’re absolutely brilliant. It would scare me that people will feel slightly deflated when they see me after them.”

Camden should bring back memories for him: “MTV is it still there? That’s how popular I am these days I wouldn’t even know. We’d go drinking in Camden before and after MTV in The Elephant’s Head. In general The Beautiful South used to drink in central London and The Housemartins used to go home because they couldn’t afford to have a drink in London.”

He’s enjoying his solo career but is finding it hard to get national exposure, Radio 1 won’t touch him, he’s not current enough for BBC 6 Music so Radio 2 is the only station who realistically will play his music, he said, adding: “It’s quite a struggle. I can’t get on radio very easily. A couple of people in radio who don’t like my voice are quite high up, which is fair enough, there’s nothing I can do about it nothing they can do about it...Either I’m making shit records or they’ve got shit taste. I’m not one of those people who thinks I’m making brilliant records so perhaps it’s a mixture of the pair of them. I’m not making records as commercial and their taste isn’t as good as it used to be.”

While he may have fallen out of mainstream consciousness, Heaton has been busy.
He said: “I’ve written a 60-verse song based on the Seven Deadly Sins, which sounds very pretentious, which is being premiered at the Manchester International Festival. I’d done two solo albums I just wanted to throw a curve ball. I wasn’t getting any airplay I thought I’d write a song that’s an hour long.”

Last year he cycled more than 1000 miles stopping off to play gigs in pubs including The Monarch on his Pedals and Beer Pumps tour, accompanied by support and bicycle guru Gus Devlin and an old soft toy he rescued from a muddy puddle dubbed Centipede Business Solutions.

Next year, he plans to mark his 50th birthday by cycling 50 miles for every year he’s been on the planet (2,500 in total) across Britain and Ireland.
But it’s his adventures in London that really capture the imagination.

He recalls the time he and Beautiful South lead guitarist Dave Rotheray were in London after a gig. Their hotel bar was closed so they returned to the Columbia Hotel opposite Hyde Park, where they stayed the previous night to ask if they could use the 24-hour bar. They were turned away. But as they walked away miserably, Paul noticed scaffolding on the side of the hotel.

He said: “There was a window open. I said, we’ll get up the scaffold, which is several hundred feet high, jump through the window, run through the person’s room, leg it downstairs and we’ll get served at the bar as residents.

“We climbed up, got onto the ledge and suddenly this bloke... he must have been close to 7 ft, in full white robe and hat, an Arab, grabbed my neck, flung me to the edge of the scaffold and started saying I’ll kill you. Dave legged it, went straight back down the scaffold, didn’t help me. I’m being pinned back looking down below at the streets of London and the traffic. Next thing the police come, I’m being taken to a cell...he’d been the bodyguard to a high ranking Saudi princess that I’d got onto the balcony of.”
He was questioned in Marylebone station and released 14 hours later but miraculously kept the story out of the papers.

PAUL HEATON - LABOUR "FREE MARKET APOLOGISTS" PUTTING UP NO OPPOSITION TO CUTS

THE voice behind The Beautiful South and The Housemartins has told why he has turned his back on the Labour Party.

Speaking ahead of a gig at the Koko in Camden Town (April 1), singer Paul Heaton warned Labour was putting up “no opposition” to Conservative policy of cutting public spending.

“It’s a very similar situation to the 1980s, a worse situation now, there’s no opposition. With Thatcher there was opposition from trade unions, people and Labour,” he said.



“I haven’t voted for Labour since Neil Kinnock in 1993. I didn’t vote for Tony Blair in 97, I was proud of it because I had the vision to realise he was a scumbag right from the start. Gradually, since then Labour has been taken over by a Miliband tendency – who have got their eyes on a different prize, who are just free market apologists. I find it impossible. I can’t find anything they say inspiring because they’ve got one eye on the market.”

Heaton, whose bands stormed the charts with songs like Happy Hour, said: “What worries me most is that the argument against cuts is being lost. It’s being seen as something we have to do.
“England in 1945 was in a much worse state in terms of the infrastructure of the country and the debt and we built the welfare state and invested money in people and jobs.

“This time, the argument has been lost because of the failure of Labour to say this is not the case, we can invest in people again and we can spend our way – not stupidly – and survive it without making cuts. But their only opposition is we’re making the cuts too quickly, that’s all they’re saying.

“Unfortunately Labour has control of the Left and is still patronising the Left.
“The Labour Party needs to be told, along with the Liberal Party and the Conservatives, that they’re non-representative of anybody other than the business class.”

THE LEMONHEADS + MILES KANE FOR CAMDEN CRAWL, MARK E SMITH'S GOT A BEER NAMED AFTER HIM + BOY GEORGE AND SOPHIE ELLIS BEXTOR'S CAMDEN CHARITY GIGS

CRAWLWATCH week 8453. So The Lemonheads have just been added to the Camden Crawl line-up. Remember them? If not, here’s a crash course.

Frontman Evan Dando – once a teenage grunge pin-up, even after cutting his flowing locks – took an odd turn when he briefly became an Oasis groupie and ended up playing guitar on the roof of the Buckley Tivoli (that’s north Wales to you London types) after one of their early gigs.

The Lemonheads has had many incarnations but Dando has remained a constant.
Their famous album was It’s a Shame About Ray (video to title track featuring Johnny Depp)...



(Official video not available to be embedded so here they are on Letterman instead)

...and Liv Tyler more recently duetted with them on a cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hey, That’s no Way to Say Goodbye (see below).



Also added to the Crawl this week are one of my favourites Miles Kane, as well as Razorlight, Giggs, Guillemots and Yasmin.

• Anyone tasted the Mark E Smith beer at The Snooty Fox in Canonbury? Wonder if they were inspired to commission the exclusive ale by The Fall’s Crawl appearance last year.

• Charity gig week? Sophie Ellis Bextor hosts at Proud Camden on Tuesday (March 29) to raise funds for the young son of her friend, a make-up artist who died last year. The Aspidistras and Sinead and the Dawnbreakers support.

On Thursday, there’s An Evening with Boy George including Jazz by George, and support from Adam Ant, Josh Weller, Paloma Faith and special guests at the Jazz Cafe for The Hepaptitis C Trust’s Get Tested campaign. Snap up signed celeb photos in the charity auction – Boy George, Mat Horne, Sadie Frost, Jimi Mistry, Eliza Doolittle and Paloma Faith.

• Cutting edge alternative and electronic music promoters The Playground host their first Weekender at Electrowerkz, Angel, (March 25-26) featuring an exclusive debut London performance by San Francisco’s oOoOO as well as French popstar Yelle, In Flagranti, Punx Soundsheck and Waylayers. See www.theplayground.co.uk/event.

RAP FOR THE NHS - Andrew Lansley Rap

HERE'S a clip for all those who think rappers are obsessed with bling and gangs.
Yes, even rappers care about the sanctity of the NHS. Tories take heed.




The Andrew Lansley rap by binman Sean Donnelly aka Nxtgen.

CAMDEN CRAWL APPROACHES

NOT too long ago a group of wise old music moguls gathered in Dingwalls for the annual “pick me” fest that is the Camden Crawl band allocation day.

As DJ Steve Lamacq described it in his Going Deaf for a Living blog: “It’s like picking teams in a school playground.”
Except a fair amount of young musicians I knew at school would’ve run a mile at the mention of PE.



So while we don’t yet know who the 14 promoters hosting gigs for the Crawl managed to wrangle for their chosen venue, we can still bring you a selection of the names that have been released so far.
St Etienne, Villagers, Frankie & the Heartstrings, Lethal Bizzle, British Sea Power and Simian Mobile Disco – the most high profile of the names we know right now.
Toddla T, Hadouken, Mazes, Young Dreams, The Qemists, Dinosaur Pile-Up, The Phantom Band, and Hudson Mohawke are also on the known list.

But there are a whole lot of not so well-known musicians that are worth a look-in.
You never know – one day Florence and the Machine’s playing to 100 people in The Crescent pub for the Crawl, the next, young Flo’s sharing the stage with Jennifer Hudson at The Grammys, playing the socialite’s entertainment in Gossip Girl and Dog Days is being assimilated into Glee choir’s indistinctive repertoire.



While the main headline acts are yet to be announced, rumours are rife.
Although I’m hoping Aerosmith will be among the headliners, I’ve a feeling Steve Tyler’s caught up judging a little talent show over in the states.

So here’s a basic summary of what it’s all about:
The Camden Crawl – one wristband, two days (April 30 – May 1), music, comedy, fringe arts, and interactive events, 250 live acts and special guests across 50 venues.
While there is music all day from the very start, there’s a whole bunch of other activities during the sunshine hours to help crawlers prepare for the hardcore trek around Camden (and Kentish Town) venues as dusk sets in.

The real games begin after the taxing music quizzes, comedy, spoken word and performance, visual arts and crafts, interactive events and games (see www.thecnj.com/music) are over.
I leave you with a brief summary of our recommendations.

There’s the Island Records showcase at the Enterprise featuring Tribes, Kid Adrift and Jon Fratelli, as well as Cocknbullkid and Rizzle Kicks (previously featured on this page).
Or take vantage on the Roundhouse Terrace for the Summer Sundae Weekender with Benjamin Francis, Leftwich, Delta Maid, Dog is Dead, Lulu & the Lampshades, Marques Toliver, 2:54, Beth Jeans Houghton, Dry the River, Peggy Sue and Young Dreams.

We don’t yet know who else is playing where so here’s a brief list of some of our picks from the rest: Visions of Trees, Paris Suit Yourself, DELS, Dananananaykroyd, Divorce, Japanese Voyeurs, John and Jehn, Wild Palms, Flats, Little Comets, P Money, Sound of Rum, The Chapman Family, Teeth and Fiction.

For tickets, as well as profiles of all these bands and the rest of the line-up, visit www.thecamdencrawl.com

SLOW CLUB READY FOR CAMDEN CRAWL + WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

YOU may have heard Slow Club cancelled their tour due to illness. Well...sounds like things are back on track - Rebecca is recovering and they have been added to the Camden Crawl line-up.


• New feature – ex-members-of-once-revered-bands-in-new-band-shock corner (catchy title eh?)
#1 – Remember Afghan Whigs? Frontman Greg Dulli has worked with Dave Grohl, Mark Lanegan and appeared in Steve Buscemi’s directorial debut Trees Lounge. Latest project The Twilight singers play the Electric Ballroom (March 18).
#2 – Raekwon (Wu Tang Clan) plays HMV Forum (March 18) – we’ve had GZA and Ghostface Killah before, why can’t the living Wu Tang coordinate their diaries and come to Camden en masse?
#3 – Bonehead, founding member of Oasis, is not quite attempting to rival Liam Gallagher’s new project Beady Eye with his less imaginatively named collaboration “Bonehead and John Mackie”. See them at Monto Water Rats (March 19).
#4 – Artmagic, side project of Suede guitarist Richard Oakes (he replaced Bernard Butler), play The Bowery on March 22.
#5 – Andy Burrows (ex-Razorlight bearded one) and new band I Am Arrows play The Old Queen’s Head (March 23)
• The fancy dress theme has been announced (rock stars, pop stars and divas) and the madness begins at Bestival’s preview featuring Kentish Town’s retro darlings Kitty Daisy & Lewis Koko (March 19).
• Had to mention this year’s JD Set at XOYO (March 24) where Ash’s Tim Wheeler, Emmy the Great, And So I Watch You From Afar, Ma Mentor and The Crookes bravely take on the great works of the Pixies. Follow their progress at http://www.thejdset.co.uk/

RECORD OF THE WEEK - BEAU AND THE ARROWS, Fix

YOU know that familiar calming tone Radio 4 presenters seem to be born with?
Beau and the Arrows have managed to capture that essence of serenity, channelled it into ultra-cool vocals – and male-female harmonies recalling The XX – and laid it over a soaring all-encompassing backdrop of impatient drums and nonchalant guitar. They have mastered the art of leaving space in their tracks, allowing the raw naive vocals to cut right through. Signed to Kentish Town label Happy Release Records. (Out April 4).

FRANKIE AND THE HEARTSTRINGS KNOW HOW TO GRAFT

FRANKIE Francis has to leave soon.
He and his band Frankie and the Heartstrings have just arrived in Sheffield and need to start unloading their equipment for the next free Topman Ctrl gig.

You might think a band that has just reached number 32 in the charts would have roadies but The Heartstrings – from Sunderland – have their own ideas: “We do it ourselves because we don’t want to be “that band” and let the local crew load it. It’s our gear, we’re playing the gig, it’s our responsibility to get the gear upstairs. We’re guests in the city,” said Frankie.
“We’ve all had jobs – pubs, restaurant, office – been the other person, we’ve put gigs on ourselves and we know how people should be treated.”



Frankie’s in high spirits despite being mid-tour and suffering from travel sickness, which is why he’s sitting in the front of the van. He may miss some of the banter but it’s a small price to pay for surviving the road.
He said: “There’s been a lot of travelling involved but we’re full of energy and if one person gets off their backsides to see us they’re going to get as good a show as if there were 10,000 people there. We’re constantly on the road, we get the odd day off to go home and wash our pants.”

Frankie and the Heartstrings play this year’s Camden Crawl (April 30 – May 1), alongside Villagers, Lethal Bizzle, British Sea Power and Simian Mobile Disco.
Frankie, who has never been to the crawl before, revealed the band will play HMV Forum alongside a mystery headliner: “It’s something you always hear about and we’re certainly looking forward to being involved in.”

Frankie’s acutely aware of the band’s good fortune: “Being no 32 is such a feat for an indie band on an independent label, doing things our own way. (It’s) an amazing achievement not just for us but our label Wichita deserve a lot of glory. We’ve all worked in normal jobs so we know how lucky we are and value it a lot more preciously.”

He attributes the band’s style to Sunderland’s working class environment, adding: “(It’s) still very deprived in comparison to the rest of the country in terms of the arts and jobs generally. We’re constantly around that so we’re influenced by it. Growing up in Sunderland, we’ve all got our own success stories in that we’ve done things off our own backs. It’s a mentality driven into you – if you’re ambitious in a good sense you can achieve it if you get off your arse.”

The boys take advantage of twitter to speak to fans, respond to their most mundane requests (“what time you on tonight?”) and give away spare guest list spots: “We like the connection we have with the people who enjoy our music.”
The tweets are also an outlet for wild drummer Dave’s outlandish behaviour – he recently promised to run naked along the beach eating a plate of chips if the band hit top 10.
Said Frankie: “He does that sort of thing anyway, constantly making a fool of himself, so we can’t encourage him too much but if we get top 10 he’ll do that or if he gets too drunk tonight he’ll probably do it anyway.”

Sunderland has shaped their politics “the Tories absolutely desecrated us in the 80s and those wounds still cut deep where we’re from” but not so much that they can afford to turn down offers when they get them.

Frankie said bands might refuse to play for Topman because of the "lack of tax contributions they make as a company, but we can’t afford to do that. Being on an indie label, if someone offers you a headline tour you’ve got to do it. We’re not The Vaccines or the Brother of this world who can afford TV ads”.

Much has been made of Frankie’s new tattoo – a line drawing by singer Edwyn Collins.
Frankie said: “We recorded our album with Edwyn, he’s a massive influence on our band. He had a big health scare, a brain haemorrhage and stroke about five years ago and he overcame that. He drew an image during his recovery in hospital of a man. No-one knew what it was and he kept on drawing it because he couldn’t express himself. He didn’t know what he looked like and was bed bound so he’d draw this image. When he was able to talk he was able to say it was himself.

“I’ve wanted a tattoo for so long. I knew I wanted something memorable. It’s got such a nice story behind it. He’s more of an inspiration as a person than musically now because of what he overcame. It’s a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be.”

Taking his cue from James Dean, Frankie’s become a style icon, named GQ’s 39th best-dressed man last year.
He said: “I guess it’s a nostalgic look, I don’t think you can go wrong with smart shirt and trousers and a good pair of shoes. I’ve always dressed a little differently.”

His style doesn’t always go down well in Sunderland, he added: “You bring it on yourself if you have a quiff I guess. It takes two minutes to get ready, it takes longer to do my hair.”
Frankie’s bouffant has become a focal point, described as “impeccable” by Hurts’ Theo Hutchraft.

Frankie said: “I never use a brush or much gel, the secret of the haircut is a good taper round the sides, grade 2, a lot of weight taken off the top so you can play with it all day and then the hair dryer in the morning, get it between your knees, blow dry it till it’s bone dry, then it settles into a sort of floppy style for the whole day. “

He recalls one particularly odd gig where they played a teenage party in a village called Stanley, following a covers band playing Blink 182 and the Foo Fighters.
He said: “They went down a storm, the kids were going crazy and then we went on and we’re like this is going to be good, a big stage, loads of lighting, a sports hall. We went onstage and by the 2nd song the whole crowd like 200 kids did the conga out the door. They were dancing in the street while we’re in the venue... They didn’t mean anything by it they just weren’t interested at all.”

Frankie and the Heartstrings truly are men of the people, so don’t leave early if you want to meet them.
Frankie said: “It’s become a tradition, before the last song we’ll tell everyone if we know the area which pub we’ll be in after the gig.”
Frankie and the Heartstrings album Hunger is out now.

CAMDEN CRAWL'S KENTISH TINGE + STEAMPUNK AT PROUD + SUPERGRASS LIVES ON...SORT OF + INTRODUCING FIRST PLACE

THINGS are hotting up on the Camden Crawl front. We’ve heard some exciting names yet to be announced but we wouldn’t dare divulge.
All we can say is that Kentish Town will be playing a much larger part this year so prepare for a little more walking – but it will be worth it.

Frankie and the Heartstrings (see interview above), play HMV Forum – alongside an as yet undisclosed mystery headliner – and Annie’s Bar, The Bull & Gate and a whole lot of other venues along Kentish Town Road will be opening their doors to the crawl’s hottest acts.
If you haven’t got your ticket yet remember this – there’ll be nothing but the royal wedding on TV that weekend...

• Don't be frightened if you see goths clad in Jack the Ripper style cloaks and top hats lingering outside Proud Camden next week. No doubt they’re fans of steampunk band Bitter Ruin – an acoustic two-piece outfit who play there on Tuesday night. Musicians Ben and Georgia are an item but take on the stage personas of lovers trapped in a destructive relationship with sinister lyrics to match.

• Supergrass may have split but that didn’t quell their creative juices. See former Supergrass bassist Mick Quinn and Paul Wilson of Shake Appeal in their new incarnation as DB Band at the Bowery (March 11).


• Heard of First Place? Apparently they’re the next big urban pop act on the cusp of making the big time. Hailing from Bristol, frontman Yomi Davies, soul songstress Allegra, 19-year-old rapper Frenzee and producer OD Hunt, have been attracting attention with new single Best of Me, which has just reached number 2 in the AKA Music Channel chart. See them at Camden Rock, Kentish Town Road on March 17.

STICK YOUR NECK OUT FOR ST PATRICK

FORGET the green Guinness for a minute – there are more important considerations on St Patrick’s Day.


Apart from honouring the man who drove the snakes out of Ireland, there’s the important business of finding the best live rowdy Irish band to properly mark the night.


So who better than London Irish “psycho-Ceilidh” punks Neck, led by a former member of Shane MacGowan’s Popes, who have already got themselves a worldwide reputation for their rocking ways.

So if you’re anywhere near Tufnell Park head down to The Boston Arms, Junction Road, on Thursday (March 17), where Neck, Calico Street Riots and The Muleskinners will be filling the void for those unable to make the parade this year.

RECORD OF THE WEEK - YOUNG BUFFALO, Catapilah

HERE’S another gem from the Mississippi. There’s a lot going on in trio Young Buffalo’s debut download single Catapilah – imaginative lyrics, an absorbing structure and an intense mesh of melodious energies. Although the prevailing chorus teeters on the edge of plain old teenage indie rock, the disjointed harmonies and manic overlaid affirming vocals, like an overeager friend tapping you on the shoulder, lift it into another class. (Out now).

TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB ON GROUPIES, VEGETABLES AND KANYE WEST

TWO Door Cinema Club frontman Alex Trimble sounds weary. Polite, but weary.
The Northern Ireland trio returned from Tokyo yesterday after a six-week tour and have retreated during their limited downtime.
They’ve been touring like mad and play Camden Roundhouse on March 12.
But for now, Alex has allowed us to disturb the precious time with his girlfriend, to discuss keeping healthy, his debt to Kanye West and handling groupies.



Two Door returned from Japan with a selection of very personal souvenirs he said: “It can be a lot more quiet and more mental. I guess it’s more extreme. The (fans) are kind and polite and bring us presents. We got drawings of ourselves, caricatures, which are a bit strange, some chocolates with our faces on them and a lot of socks –strange but quite cool.”
The band have collected new material from snatched soundcheck jams and notes on the road and Alex expects some of this new material to make a debut at the Roundhouse.
There are no outrageous demands on their rider, although lettuce may be deemed contrary to the rules of rock ‘n roll.
Alex said: “I’m vegetarian so I get very picky – there have to be healthy things. If we don’t say that we end up with bread and cheese so there’s a lot of veg. Being healthy is important when you have such a hectic schedule.”

The boys learned the hard way: “At the start when we were a smaller band…we didn’t carry the weight to get what we needed and ended up living on crisps and bread. We were in a terrible way, always tired and never got anything done but it’s getting easier.”

Alex has learned from touring with heroes Phoenix, the importance of keeping the band’s friendship, which can be tested when trapped in a tour bus.
He said: “You all need your own space. You can always get into your bunk, put your headphones on and zone out from the rest of the world.”

And they owe a debt to Kanye West for posting their first music video for I Can Talk on his blog.
Alex said: “He seemed to like it, we haven’t heard from him since. We were an unknown band…for such a famous person to give us that press – did so much for us, thousands of people heard of us after that – so many liked us on facebook and followed us on twitter after that. That was a really big thing for us.”

I can also reveal the band have rented a house in Glasgow, where they will record the next album: “We’ve got a lot of connections in Glasgow…it’s always a place we loved. We can go there and have a bit of a social life rather than being completely cut off when we’re on tour.”

And his tip for handling groupies?: “There’s a lot of attention, a lot of groupie-esque propositions. We’re always happy to talk to fans but as soon as it gets a bit more heavy we make our excuses and move on.”

GIVE JOSH HOMME AN AWARD + VIV ALBERTINE MOCKS MUSIC HISTORY + FOO FIGHTERS CAN'T KEEP A SECRET + DJ DEREK

SO newly haloed God-like genius Dave Grohl and the rest of his Foo Fighters played a not-so-secret gig at Dingwalls on Saturday. Sadly the news missed my print deadline so best I could do was tweet it – sorry. Anyone spot Dave roaming around Camden?


On to more important things – Dave’s Them Crooked Vultures buddy Josh Homme and his Queens of the Stone Age play their debut self-titled album in its entirety at the Roundhouse (May 17) – is it wrong to prefer them to the Foo Fighters?



• Ex-Slits guitarist Viv Albertine mocked musical history at the Roundhouse’s mammoth music affair Unconvention on Saturday. In a mischievous nod to ex-boyfriend The Clash’s Mick Jones, she recorded a Clash track in 30 minutes. She told me: "I chose Train in Vain because it was written about me and I thought it would be really cheeky. Like Mick Jagger doing a cover of You're So Vain I haven't dared tell Mick as I’m not sure he would find it very amusing. It's all about what a useless girlfriend I was. We are still very fond of each other so hopefully I'll get away with it."

• One-time Cadbury’s accountant Bristol’s DJ Derek has become a bit of an icon with his patois MC skills, and choice reggae, roots and dub tunes – nevermind that he’s 68. In fact there’s a facebook page dedicated to his legendary status. Catch him at the Old Queen’s Head, Angel, (March 4).

• The Charlatans' Tim Burgess and Mark Collins play an acoustic show at the Union Chapel (March 16). Support from Blue On Blue and Joseph Coward. A low-key night out?

• Don’t forget Detroit Social Club at Monto Water Rats on Saturday (March 5).

• Ps – Does anyone have a synonyms for music for next week’s column ?

RECORD OF THE WEEK - WRETCH 32 feat Example, Unorthodox

THERE are two ways of looking at this.
One - that Wretch 32 has taken a classic Stone Roses hook (from Fools Gold) and presented it to a "Landan"-centric generation that will never realise or understand the fundamental importance of its Manchester indie roots.
Or, two - that he has just confirmed the greatness and enduring mass appeal of the Roses and introduced it to a crop of pop aficionados who may then go on to discover the real thing.
I prefer the latter.
Either way, this is a one-listen-don't-forget kinda tune gilded by Example's popular touch that's unlikely to escape chart popularity.

GHOSTFACE KILLAH'S PROUD APPEARANCE + CAMDEN CRAWL 2011 + JANELLE MONAE, GODDAUGHTER OF SOUL + THE CUBAN BROTHERS, SAY NO MORE

WE HARDLY raise an eyebrow when rockstars and famous waifs stumble past us in Camden, but Ghostface Killah? He would turn my head. We hear, in True Wu Tang style, he caused a bit of a ruckus at Mark Ronson’s afterparty at Proud Camden last week – but where were the rest of the Clan?

• The first lot of names have been released for The Camden Crawl. My picks so far – the stunning Villagers who sadly had to pull out last year, former ROTW Frankie and the Heartstrings and Lethal Bizzle. Canadian comedian Tony Law on the Comedy Crawl will be memorable.



• Thanks to Camden’s rock ‘n roll mayor Jonathon Simpson for pointing out the Camden New Journal’s star appearance in Kentish Town’s rockabilly family Kitty, Daisy and Lewis’s 2008 video for (Baby) Hold Me Tight. But which page is being read?



• Show off your music knowledge at the Mayor of Camden’s Charity Quiz at The Monarch (March 2) – hosted by the mayor in aid of the Roundhouse Trust.

• Tiny soul superstar Janelle Monae, whose dancing owes the late great James Brown a major debt, arrives in Camden fresh from the Grammys to play The Roundhouse (March 1). Support from CockNBullKid.

• They’re crazy faux-Latin breakdancers with a penchant for taking their tops off and the Gumball rally - always breathtaking. The Cuban Brothers play Proud Camden on Saturday (Feb 26).

• I may not be the greatest fan of celeb DJs but at Proud does it in style. The club has taken over 02 superclub Matter with Proud 2 - Little Boots, White Lies, Mr Hudson, Hot Chip, Jazzy Jeff, Bloc Party and Tim Burgess are all lined up over March and April. Official public launch on March 5.

IN CAMILLE'S HEELS

“I’M A big scaredy-cat,” Camille O’Sullivan declares, explaining how she first turned to singing.

Not how one might describe a woman who abandoned a safe career in architecture after a serious car accident to pursue a not so stable life as a singer.
But that’s how the Irish French singer sees herself.
Audiences who witness Camille’s stage antics –being electrocuted and burned after wrapping Christmas lights around herself, stumbling over speakers and landing on glass, teetering on the edge of tables in heels – might disagree.


The Irish-French singer may loosely inhabit the cabaret genre but to confine her to that term would do her a disservice.
She uses her wild, dark, storytelling streak, to interpret the likes of Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Jacques Brel and Arcade Fire by becoming their most vivid characters.

Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody recently wrote a song for her and she’s performed with Shane MacGowan, Tim Robbins and Damien Rice.
Camille is holding a charity Q & A at the Shaw Theatre in aid of Mayor of Camden Jonathan Simpson’s chosen charity the Roundhouse Trust (March 3).

But she fears the idea may suggest she’s an “egomaniac”, saying: “As long as people know I’m not going (affects luvvie voice) “I’ve so many things to tell the theatre” – that would horrify me”. I always hoped someone could’ve guided me and I’m happy to share my experience in what is quite a closed, unstable profession. I still think I’m on that journey, it’s not authority, I spend my time worrying about the next gig.”

Camille loved singing from an early age but it wasn’t until she went to Berlin that she realised she wanted to emulate the types of characters personified in Brecht and Eisler songs.
She said: “It’s good to have good fun but it’s also nice to go to a dark place to make people have a bit of black humour....You’ve got to have a certain amount of obsession to keep singing people’s songs that aren’t your own.”

As an architect, Camille flirted with the idea of becoming a professional singer but it was a terrible accident, which changed her life: “I was on morphine and euphoric to be alive. I was like what are you doing? This is your life. I don’t want to be 80 and look back and think I didn’t try. It took a year to use my hands, walk again and hand in my notice. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing... I placed every obstacle because I was blooming nervous and not confident. I’m a big scaredy cat.”

Her days are a whirlwind of tours and Camille avoids hotels as she drags her life around.
She recently shared a flat in Soho with the rubber man (who can put his body through tennis rackets) and is currently staying in a cottage in Stratford, while working with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

She said: “I’m looking at my suitcases because I’m horrified by them. I want globetrotter luggage but I know it’d cost too much. It’s my dream that I would actually look like a cool traveller when I’m going places instead of the wheel that’s falling off the suitcase today.”

Essential items include red lipstick and perfume she said, adding: “I have to get all my costumes in first, then I might bring a candle or a toy from home, a little bear or something. It may sound ridiculous but a friend gave me a little rabbit it’s just a little thing you put on the bed so you start making the place look like it’s yours.”

She added: “I do a lot of my tax and thinking up ideas – they end up on pieces of paper – so I bring a big plastic bag of that to put on my computer. It’s trying to make sense of my life. You know when you’re at home and chaos is in your house, I just take portions of it away with me so I can solve myself when I’m gone.”

ROUNDHOUSE RISING'S UN-CONVENTIONAL WEEKEND

LISTEN up struggling musicians.
You work hard, gig every venue, and often come home with less money than you left with at the start of the evening.
But it’s worth it and those who have done it before are here to give you faith.
Un-Convention, on Saturday, is part of the Roundhouse Rising Festival, which has filled the past week with masterclasses in band photography, sound engineering and music video masterclasses for youngsters.
But Saturday is for all ages. While top artists scramble to record an album in 10 hours, the timetable is heaving under the musical wisdom from panels of veterans, gurus and experts keen to share their insights.

Highlights include ‘Music as a Tool for Social Change’ – featuring figures from music projects in Sri Lanka, Brazil, Colombia and the UK, ‘Sustainable careers in music’ with Jon McClure (Reverend and the Makers), ‘The Politicisation of Music’ and ‘Women in Music’ with Viv Albertine and Zoe Street Howe. Guests include Green Man Festival’s Fiona Stewar, John Dyer from Domino Records and BBC 6 Music’s Tom Robinson.

There are also speed networking sessions, workshops and demos.
The festival wouldn’t be complete without some great live new music, see Ghost Eyes, Teeth of the Sea and Prizes, curated by Eat Your Own Ears (EYOE) on (Thursday), Swimming, DT, Beaty Heart and Chicago DJ Brenmar tomorrow (Friday) and EKO, DELS, Sampha and RoxXxan on Saturday.

More info from www.roundhouse.org.uk/rising

RECORD OF THE WEEK- IRON & WINE, Tree by the River

IRON & Wine.
Oh Iron & Wine.
This is just the soundtrack to carry us through the coldest days - more than a touch of James Taylor and some beautiful harmonies.
The beardy ones look and sound like they stowed away in Marty McFly's Delorean when he stopped off for fuel in the 70s (not strictly sticking to the script but it could have happened).
And sound all the better for it.
Iron & Wine play Camden Roundhouse on March 8.

THE POLYMATHS OF MELODICA, MELODY AND ME

THERE’S a lot to learn about Melodica, Melody and Me.
The Brixton six-piece have as many assorted facets as the eclectic range of instruments they employ.
Take singer Huw Williams.
On face, he’s a polite singer and musician who formed a band with his schoolmates – a band which has progressed to touring with Mumford and Sons, Laura Marling and Bombay Bicycle Club among others.
Inquire further and you find he’s a philosophy graduate and special needs teaching assistant.
But it’s not until much later that Huw reveals he’s just completed his tree surgeon qualification, is a bit of an environmentalist and used to grow vegetables on his own allotment – all at just 23.



He’s not unique, among the group are a mental health worker and a sports journalist student who’s somehow managed to rope eminent political philosopher Noam Chomsky into an email exchange on his thesis on the socialist nature of American sports.

Not a simple lot, Melodica, Melody and Me are tough to define.
They have at times referred to their music as folk-step “but it never stuck”, said Huw.
Central to their sound is the melodica, but the Kora and the Charango (a Latin American lute) are also in there as their harmonies and folk finger-picking are laid over Andean sounds, reggae skanks and African rhythms.

The work of legendary dub producer Augustus Pablo shaped their use of the melodica said Huw: “He plays it on dub and reggae tracks, that’s what defined our sound at the start. We played acoustic instruments but with the melodica playing reggae-ish melodies or sort of skank.
“When we first got the melodica we thought it was special but it turns out they’re used all over the world to teach kids how to play the piano. So in some parts of the country it’s like the most annoying instrument in the world – the equivalent of the recorder.”

They’re haunted by their choice of band name, inspired by Roald Dahl’s The Giraffe The Pelly and Me.
They wanted to use the word melodica and liked the alliteration but it seems no-one can get it right: “The amount of times we’ve had it in reviews and billings as something completely different like Medolica, Medallions and Me. They’re coming up with better ones!”

They’re lucky enough to be able to record in guitarist Rudi’s old bedroom, which has been converted into a home studio, with the help of Rudi’s father, Bafta-winning sound editor of The King’s Speech, André Schmidt.
Huw said: “It’s good we’ve got access to good equipment but without having to pay the hourly rate at a studio – it’d bankrupt the whole thing.”
The four boys only really began playing instruments aged 17, later bringing in Rudi’s sister Anna (vocals) and drummer Greta – they all attended the same school.

They’ve played Camden a few times: “Whenever we play there, we always try and find food first, struggle really badly, eat those cheap pizzas and end up feeling really ill. And we get enticed by the Chinese foods – it always seems like such a good idea.”

How does he compare the scene here with Brixton?: “Brixton’s a good place to come for music, there’s the Hootenanny and The Windmill, it’s one of the few places in South London where you get to see live bands play. Camden’s really good but there’s a bit more relaxed, gritty, grimy atmosphere I suppose in South London. But it’s changing. Brixton is getting so trendy these days that it kind of feels like east London sometimes.”
Growing up in Brixton “inspired us to be more open to exploring different types of music. There’s so much noise and vibrancy,” said Huw.



They’ve just toured with Johnny Flynn: “We did an acoustic line up with only four of us so we all crammed into one car and were driving round the country. Luckily in every town we had a friend of a friend who let us sleep on their floor. It was in the height of the winter and the snow and we were sleeping on kitchen floors, having the worst night sleep but it was good. I don’t think it’s ever glamorous – the most glamorous it gets is staying at the Holiday Inn. I think I prefer to be at a mate’s house.”

They also forged friendships with Bombay Bicycle Club with whom they toured in July: “We hung out with them quite a lot, they’re really young as well, really nice, quite not shy but quite quiet, they’re really gentle guys. The funny thing about touring is you get very few windows to actually hang out and get drunk because you’re always driving on to the next gig but we did our best. On the last night of the tour we had a big party at one of their houses.”

The band are working on their debut album but haven’t picked a name yet.
Said Huw: “That’ll be a big discussion, that might lead to a fight. You don’t want to name it after one of the tracks or maybe you do but then you don’t a name you’re embarrassed about for the rest of your life. Our band name gets derided enough, we’ll have to balance it out with a good name for the album.”
Melodica Melody and Me play the Lock Tavern on February 22.

PADDY CONSIDINE'S MOONLIGHTING, AN UNEVENTFUL BRITS AND PETER, BJORN AND JOHN MOVE ON

SO THE Brits grew up? There was less silliness (bar James Corden), less rock ‘n roll and no irreverence – but is that what we want, or do we prefer the spectacle?
Don’t we watch these things for car crash moments, drunk speeches and offensive egotistical rock stars? Still, good to see Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons win awards, shame The XX were overlooked.

• Feeling Gloomy won’t let up with the “can’t miss” events. This time brooding Irish hardman Paddy Considine (of Dead Man’s Shoes, Hot Fuzz etc) and his band Riding the Low play the 02 Academy Islington (Feb 26). All I know is they describe themselves as “lo-fi, raw guitar rock with the fat cut out”.



• Don’t forget the Camden Crawl’s essential preview night CC Tips with Spectrals, Paris Suit Yourself, Patch William and Frontiers at The Bull & Gate (Feb 24).

• When your big hit turns up on Homebase ads, it's getting a bit old. And "whistling song" Young Folks was conspicuous by its absence when Peter Bjorn and John previewed new album Gimme Some to a crammed Old Blue Last in Shoreditch recently. Maybe they're sick of it, but probably not the royalties. Some good new songs though. See if it’s resurrected when they play The Lexington (Feb 23).

• It was the venue for Joy Division's first London show, a Stranglers live album, and has hosted everyone from Madness and Ian Dury to countless indie hopefuls. Now the Hope and Anchor, Upper Street, is getting a major makeover, reopening later this month. Just hope they don't get rid of the atmosphere along with the musty smell of faded glory.

• The Union Chapel’s free Daylight Music events are fast becoming the highlight of the weekend. This week see Chris T-T, Model Village and Padriag Whelan from midday.

RECORD OF THE WEEK - BRIGHT EYES, The People's Key

IT’S been four years since Bright Eyes last released an album but Conor Oberst has used the time well. He fell out of love with rootsy Americana, worked on a couple of side projects and returned with The People’s Key – an exploration of the universe and everything in it through the medium of synth-pop. There’s much more to it than this, ethereal lyrics, a touch of their old selves in the acoustic title track and an ode (of sorts) to Haile Selassi. (Out this week).

RECORD OF THE WEEK - JOSH T PEARSON, Last of the Country Gentlemen

THERE’S a danger of trivialising this masterpiece by suggesting it is one for the broken-hearted.

But the anguish mournful Texan Josh T Pearson painstakingly lays out in Last of the Country Gentlemen has more than a hint of “I feel your pain and I’ve suffered tenfold” about it.
With just seven songs over 60 minutes, Pearson takes his sweet time building each sorrowful track. Stunning but not for the impatient. (Out March 14, plays Union Chapel May 11).

CAMDEN'S ROASTING REGGAE HEART

WHO’D have thought one of the hubs of London’s reggae scene would have originated in Tufnell Park?

Former Acland Burghley pupil James Harper (aka Moodie) and ex-LaSwap student Greg Burnell (Exel), were a few years apart growing up and independently of each other set off on their own paths.

But some years later, after James had a brief stint as a hip-hop DJ, worked at a record label and studied music production, he found himself looking for a new way to bring business into a quiet Sunday night at Kentish Town’s Grand Union bar, where he was a DJ.

He roped in Greg, a friend’s brother, and Reggae Roast was born – a night of reggae beats, MCs, Exel and Moodie on the decks, while roast dinner was served.

The food element has been somewhat sidelined now although on special occasions at the Big Chill House, a barbecue is available.
Within weeks news of the popularity of the night spread and the venue was overwhelmed with fans.

You may have seen the signs for Reggae Roast nights at the Big Chill House, CAMP, the Jazz Cafe and a bunch of other venues across London.
Said James: “We move around a lot between north and east London, we try to keep it fresh.”

Since it began in 2007, the night has hosted the likes of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Collie Buddz, Sly & Robbie, Finley Quaye and Mad Professor.
The duo have also recently started their own Reggae Roast label.
Their latest release, Righteous EP, featuring Ramon Judah – Reggae Roast’s main MC – came out on Monday.

James said: “There’s been a massive revival of reggae slightly due to the whole dubstep thing, which originated from reggae. Because younger people are so into that, they checked out the reggae scene. Then there are older people who are here for the music.
“Everyone likes it. For some people that come to our nights, it might not be their first choice of music but it’s got a massive universal appeal. It’s not aggressive, it’s positive music and all inclusive. There’s a good atmosphere at our events, that’s why people come back.”

James only really turned to reggae under the influence of his avid record collector half-brother, after turning his back on hip-hop.
He said: “I was a scratch DJ and I became disappointed with hip hop in the early naughties. It lost its soul, became too commercial, the whole sound and attitude, and I just stopped feeling the music.”

While still at school James started his first DJ night.
He said: “I started at a Jamaican place called Posh Nosh in Tufnell Park. It only holds about 150 people but we used to get all our mates down – there were queues outside.”
He added: “I was quite naughty at school, a bit lippy and got in a lot of trouble but I did alright. I was born just off Falkland Road, Camden couldn’t be a more diverse, interesting place to grow up in.

“My school had so many amazing, gifted musicians – my brother’s best friend is an incredible drummer, my best friend Louis Slipperz DJs for hip-hop group Task Force. He put his own record out off his own back. It did really well and that was an inspiration to me to do things myself. It showed me if you do things the right way and produce good quality music, everyone can put out a successful release.”

Reggae Roast is also taking over the Edinboro Castle during the Camden Crawl (April 30 – May1) to provide some alternative uplifting beats away from the rest of the weekend’s joyful chaos.
As well as DJing and producing records, James, who lives in Kentish Town, is training in graphic design.
He said: “We need so much artwork for our releases and flyers I just thought it would be useful to do it myself.”

More info from www.reggaeroast.co.uk