Amazingly, I am now in the privileged position of actually getting to speak with Andy Partridge from time to time. Here are the news items I've extracted from our conversations so far, interspersed with news from other sources (noted where applicable).
It is not possibly, however, for me to keep on top of fast-breaking news so for the very latest information, make Chalkhills your next stop...
Tuesday, 20 October 1998
I just spoke to Andy tonight and he had lots to say about lots. Firstly let me tell you that the band have been doing lots of interviews for publications on both sides of the Atlantic - fans should check out upcoming issues of the Guardian (this week, it seems), Raygun (they did a huge photo shoot for this), Pulse, Mojo (a BIG feature on its way, apparently), Record Collector, Bassist magazine and either (he couldn't recall which) Guitar Player or Guitar magazine.
Colin and Andy are heading out to the US on November 5th to do some instore and promo stuff for "Song Stories", the big push for both album and book publicity seems - unfortunately for we Brits - to be the US, it's the biggest market the band have at present. On this note Andy assures me that he does, indeed, say _Arse_ - "with about six A's, the hint of an R and a lot of ZZZZ" - and that Hyperion insisted that Neville Americanize the spelling and idiom to suit the larger, parent, market. One suggestion for US Song Stories publicity was a series of readings by Andy and Colin in coffee houses, an idea Andy rejected because of the obviously fake nature of reading an edited version of actual conversation as if it were a considered 'text'. He regrets also that Neville (whether by choice, at the behest of Hyperion or because they were the best bits) seems to have chosen to use the most "sweary" bits of conversation. He claims that he won't let his daughter Holly read it...
It seems doubtful as to whether there will be a single for the first album - Andy had just got off the phone after a long conversation with TVT who were asking him how, exactly, they were going to market "Apple Venus Vol. 1". He told them they could wait six-months for the "dumb album" if that would make it any easier. They aren't waiting.
The album is all finished apart from the running order - he's going to spend the next few nights running through it a few times to get the best mood-swell possible - the final mastering of the disc is to be 3rd of November, and Transistor Blast hits the shops around November 16. There have been a few teething troubles - the neon (!) plastic for the cases has proved very caustic and has eaten various other bits of the package during testing. American fans should be aware that TVT are relasing an 8 track sampler CD called "What do you call this noise?" into record stores at around the same time. If anyone wants to arrange a trade for one of these, I'd be _potently_ grateful.
The bootleg series of CDs is still planned and will run, Andy hopes, to six volumes - most of Colin's demos remain lost, presumed gone forever.
I asked him if the current UK movie release "Still Crazy" is the very movie for which Andy was approached to supply music for. He said yes, and that he was initially under the impression that by "'70s band" the producers had meant a glam band, but when the script revealed a Rainbow-style metal band he lost interest. He also didn't find it very funny and agreed with many of the more serious reviewers over here that it's basically a TV play with pretentions. Sadly, it looks as if the film is going to be a big hit (at least over here) and the soundtrack album could have been a big seller...
I think that's about it for the 'news' content of the conversation other than the fact that he's just been working with Terry Hall again. I asked about this process - imagining something like those publicity shots of Lennon and McCartney stooped over acoustic guitars in a corner - and it seems Andy has a unique variant on this notion. The prospective collaborator sits in front of Andy, is bombarded with a torrent of musical and lyrical ideas for hours on end and is then ejected - bewildered, blinking and I imagine a little punch drunk - with pockets full of paper and tapes from which to go away and form an album.
Tuesday, 29 September 1998
Jesús Quintero, Bungalow's top scout, informed me of this news from the Billboard page:
"XTC will return in grand fashion Nov. 3, when TVT releases a 4-CD boxed set from the English pop act. Entitled "Transistor Blast," the 52-track collection will comprise classic tracks recorded between 1977 and 1989; the first two discs will be culled from the band's BBC Sessions, the third from a 1980 gig recorded live at London's Hammerstein Palais, and the last from a pair of BBC In-Concert sessions taped live at London's Paris Theater. Front man Andy Partridge and bassist Colin Moulding will pen the album's liner notes, and the discs will be delivered in a package shaped like a transistor radio.
TVT plans to release two new XTC studio albums in 1999. The first, expected early in the year, will combine orchestral and acoustic flavors, while the second, due in the fall, will be a more traditional pop record."
Thursday, September 24, 1998
Mitch Friedman mailed me to say:-
"Here's my iminent posting to Chalkhills for your pre-perusal:
...last Friday it was off to Rockfield Studios in Monmouth,South Wales to spend some time with Andy and Colin as they mixed the new orchoustic album. We sat and chatted a while as he took out the famous lyric book you've heard about and seen samples of in Song Stories and then commenced to take a trip down memory lane occassionally singing me songs that were never finished and showing me endless drawings of toy soldiers and long lists of possible song and album titles, etc. We were waiting for Colin to return from his stroll before we headed down the walk to the studio where the very friendly and talented Nick Davis and his assistant Simon were busy at work mixing Colin's "Frivolous Tonight". Prior to my arrival they had finished mixing "I'd Like That"and "Harvest Festival". Then it was down to the studio to listen!
All I can say is WOW!!! Folks there is no other band doing anything even remotely similar or as great as what I heard while I was there. We listened and they worked on "Frivolous Tonight" for a while with both Colin and Andy providing suggestions to Nick about things to slightly change or redo. Although I must have heard "Frivolous Tonight" at least 50 times while I was there, I am not in the least bit tired of it. It's the classic olde tyme Noel Cowardish/Ray Daviesesque song that Song Stories hints at. Colin's vocal and lyrics sound great as do the brass and piano work that Dave Gregory was present for. This song has quite a bit of Dave's background vocal work too. It's a beauty. You'll all love it. Possibly Colin's best effort yet.
Then Andy sat me down between the speakers and they played me "I'd Like That" and "Harvest Festival". Stunning stuff. "I'd Like That" is actually a bit more stripped down than the demo but somewhat different too in structure. You'll see when you hear it. They've done a fantastic job with it. Lots of great percussion and handslaps and acoustic guitar playing. "Harvest Festival" is quite moving and regal and full and orchestral with great singing. Andy's vocals sound truly superb this time out.
Then next day work was started on the epic and incredible "Green Man". You will be bowled over by how amazing this one turned out. The rolling and bombastic tympani rolls and tons of little percussion accents and the orchestral arrangement are incredible. This is by far the most epic sounding XTC track ever. Nick Davis is a truly inspired mixer and Andy was thrilled with how this track ended up. On Sunday they got to work on "Your Dictionary" and were just about to finish it on Monday morning when I left. This one sounds better than the demo, especially due to Colin's bass line. So essentially I got to hear half of the album and believe me it will have been worth the wait. This could be a landmark recording for any band ladies and gentleman. As is the case with past albums and songs, Andy has taken the liberty of changing a lyric here and there from what appears on the demos. Don't ask me which ones. You should just be surprised when you hear them.
Andy was busy going over the final packaging for "Transistor Blast" (which is the BBC box set). All four discs will be surrounded by an 1960's looking plastic radio. Each separate disc will be in a see-through case of some very bright and flourescent color with each one having a certain image of some little weird toy that would be found in a Cracker Jack box covering the cd underneath. Each one is meant to represent one of the band members. You'll see what I mean in a few weeks. It looks really 1977! Both he and Colin have written some excellent liner notes too. Andy revealed to me that he would like to call the album(s) "Apple Venus" but hasn't yet told Colin. Yes, this time it was intentional to use a lyric from a song on their last album whereas the other times it was purely by coincidence. I suggested that he might get flak for using another piece of fruit in an album title and to which he replied that "Snapple Penis" wasn't much better.
I drove to Swindon and got to hang out at Dave's nice little house for two days. He's as funny and generous and genuine as Andy and Colin were and was genuinely interested in hearing how the mixing was going. He does remain very fond of Andy and Colin and told me lots of hilarious and sometimes scandalous stories from over the years. I got to see Dave's guitar collection and several hours of stuff from his very enormous and completely catalogued and organized video library including a great Joe Meek documentary, another Capt. Beefheart one, and XTC doing a lip sync to "The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul" from a special episode of The Tube in which they parodied "The Prisoner".
He too signed my Song Stories book, on the same page as the caricature that Andy did of he and Colin. Dave drew a sketch of himself hanging off the side of the page, waving his arm in anger and saying "I'm outta here!".
Mixing will go on for another week at least and then it's home to start building Idea Studios in Colin's garage. The album will be fantastic. You can take my thousands of words for it. "
Friday, September 4, 1998
Mitch Friedman posted the following report to Chalkhills:-
"Some news for you . . . on Thursday September 3rd, Colin Moulding completed an overdub on "Easter Theater" and with the pressing of 'stop' on the multitrack, XTC's new album was finally finished being recorded! Whew. On Monday September 14th Colin and Andy will start mixing the album in South Wales with Nick Davis at the helm (he did the mixes on Nonsuch too).On Tuesday night Andy was busy writing the liner notes for the BBC CDs.
From what I understand, XTC will permanently set up shop in Colin's two car garage that will now be converted to a recording studio for the band's use. Construction will start after mixing is finished and will take about 4 months to complete.
Dave has a 3 day recording session with Gus Dudgeon producing with an American artist I cannot recall (but it's no one we've heard of . . . yet). [it's a guy called David Mead, apparently - Simon] September 17th through the 20th. Dave is looking forward to having some fun and just playing his guitar with a drummer and bass player doing the same."
Wednesday, August 12, 1998
Friend of the band and author of the new book, Neville Farmer, mailed me to say:-
"Andy and Colin are now working in Colin's front rooms out in the Marlborough Downs. It's a lovely spot and they are progressing well at last. They will mix at Rockfield Studios, near Monmouth. One feels an air of positivity in the camp for the first time in a while. I have heard rough mixes of "Frivolous Tonight", "I'd Like That" and "Fruit Nut" which sound excellent. Also segments of "The Last Balloon". It is hard to compare with the demos which have become such public property and will take a while to get used to but these new recordings are definitely better."
TVT Records Press Release, August 1998
LEGENDARY POP BAND XTC SIGNS TO TVT RECORDS
Songwriter Laureate Andy Partridge Brings Ecstasy To New Label And Long-Time Fans
New York, NY, July 30 -- TVT Records is proud to announce the North American signing of English pop purveyors XTC, one of the UK's most prolific and treasured musical imports. TVT plans to release the band's first studio album since 1992's Nonsuch during the first quarter of 1999 followed by a subsequent release in the Fall. XTC's first album under the TVT agreement will feature a mixture of orchestral and acoustic melodies along with the band's trademark lyrical content. The band's Fall 1999 release is scheduled to be a more traditional XTC pop album. The band previously recorded for Virgin Records in the UK and Geffen in the States.
XTC founding members Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding are currently working on their yet untitled 15th studio album with producer Haydn Bendall (Kate Bush) and longtime collaborator and Nonsuch producer Nick Davis. The record also features former XTC guitarist Dave Gregory as well as the 120-piece London Sessions Symphony. The album was partially recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London and at band-mate Colin's Wiltshire home.
"I like to call it an Orch-ustic record really," said Andy Partridge. "It's not Rock-n-Roll and we like it!"
"The return of XTC already makes 1999 a great year for music," said TVT Records President Steve Gottlieb. "From what I've heard so far the songwriting for this orchestral record is some of Andy's best yet. This is a great addition to the TVT family."
Formed in the urban English town of Swindon in 1975, XTC fashioned a smart, quirky brand of power pop that made them one of the most influential bands to emerge from the post-punk movement of the late-seventies/early-eighties. Their enigmatic 23-year career includes many critically lauded records, several offbeat "side" projects and an abundance of memorable singles including "Life Begins At The Hop" (1979), "Senses Working Overtime" (1982), "Dear God" (1987), "The Mayor Of Simpleton" (1989) and "The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead" (1992).
Tuesday, July 28, 1998
The word from Andy himself - currently working on some recordings at Colin's house - is that the "first disc" set of songs will be released in January 1999.
Neville Farmer tells me that his book has been delayed, for reasons beyond his control, for about a month.
XTC - TVT
XTC have hooked up with the record label TVT. Further details can be gathered from the MTV web site.
My thanks to Jesús Quintero & Mark Streeter for notifying me about this)
Q magazine say:-
XTC are planning to return to the studio after a two year break. According to MTV the band behind such pop gems as Making Plans For Nigel, Senses Working Overtime and, not inappropriately, This Is Pop, have signed a deal with TVT records and will start recording at the end of the year.
See also Wall Of Sound. (Thanks again to Jesús Quintero)
Tuesday, May 12, 1998
I just got off the phone with Andy - it was just a short chat, as you can imagine it's a busy time for him. Actually it was two chats - the first lasted only a few seconds and then the line went dead. He called me back a few seconds later and blamed his "magnetic head".
Although I didn't go looking for "Davegate" news (I think we all know as much as we need to about it; he's gone, the rest is no-one else's business) Andy reiterated what has already been reported here; Dave was unhappy and Andy and Colin were unhappy about Dave's unhappiness. Andy and Colin are feeling very positive about the future of XTC. He did reveal, though, that Dave was asked to join the Blondie reunion tour and perhaps even work on the accompanying record but that he delayed until his ties with XTC were fully cut and missed the gig by a day! Although Dave has quite definitely and finally left the band and his legal connections with XTC are almost played out, he's still contracted to Cooking Vinyl in his own right. The impression I got was that it was part of the XTC deal and he would be looking to leave the contract - I forgot to ask if there was any chance this connection may result in solo projects.
The glam rock film Andy was going to be contributing songs to turned out to be dreadful, a dull comedy about what appeared to be a prog-rock outfit - "the Uriah Heep story," Andy called it. One look at the script and he stepped away. His other film-related work, the single with the Verve Pipe guy for The Avenger's movie, is a happy prospect though - apparently it is/will be the lead-off single for the film, so a chance of some loot there it seems, even if he did only write the chorus. I asked him if the song was any good and he evaded the answer smartly by calling me a bastard ;)
All the money the band were given to record the album is spent, and there's still some work to be done. No title for the album yet. Even though Dave objected to "The History Of The Middle" ages - though he was the oldest band member; Andy said "Dave still thinks he's the face of '68" (and he said it quite fondly too, conspiracy theorists) - there seems little chance of it being readopted; it seems Colin is uncomfortable about the ageist implications now. Whatever title is finally chosen both albums will bear it along with a clear "Vol 1" and "Vol 2" - Andy is adamant that they are seen as being of a piece. Planned release for Vol 1 is January 1999, with Vol 2 four or five months later. A scrummy detail from Vol 1; "River of Orchids" now has a one minute intro. It's a collage of fragments of the main music dropped in like tiles in a mosaic - Andy's hoping to mix in some water sounds - building up to the main song in a bubbling flow. I - rather churlishly, I suppose - brought up the name of Philip Glass at this point and Andy welcomed the opportunity to tell what I imagine is the only Philip Glass joke in the world:-
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Philip Glass.
Philip Glass who?
Philip Glass.
Philip Glass who?
Philip Glass.
(repeat until alone)
I asked him about remixes - this had been a subject Neville and I touched last night; those dreadful "King For A Day" remixes had been done without the band's consent or involvement, but the _enormous_ costs had been taken out of _their_ share of the profits - and he said he'd never hand XTC's music over to anyone in that way again. I posited the conceit of a dance artist approaching the band and asking to use fragments of some of the new tracks in a single and he said he couldn't see that happening. After I pointed out the massive dance hit someone has just had from sampling the resolute anti-groove that was The Dream Academy's "Life In A Northern Town" he rethought and said he'd quite enjoy having one of his songs blown apart and rebuilt like that. Those are the songs he likes best on the Chalkhills Childrens tapes too, the radical reworkings. I told him of my dream to get my arse in gear and do a full on James Brown/Wilson Pickett take on Colin's "The Meeting Place" (pumping bass and those "groiny" sassy horn) and - something that I think will stay with me forever - we spent a happy few moments humming funked-up fragments at each other. Oddly, he thought it might work.
"Drums and Wireless" and the "BBC Live In Concert" CDs which were released through BBC subsidiaries are going to be released again with a wider distribution through Cooking Vinyl in the fairly near future, and the search is also on for two "lost" BBC sessions from 1978 and 1980 which are known to have occurred but of which no tape can be found. There is apparently a vinyl recording (I forgot to ask if this was a bootleg, but I assume it must be) in existence, but the master tapes are missing.
He made the noises of the recently-well-fed while we talked and said he'd been eating lamb - "I think it was dead" - which made me think of his questionnaire in the old Virgin "Pop Secrets" book (the text of which is on Bungalow and somewhere in the Chalkhills archive too), where he claimed to be a big fan of vegetarian food. He said he was still pretty much into veggie food but that the "questionnaire" deal in that book had been a complete sham - it hadn't been his handwriting, he'd never even seen the questions, it appeared to have been cobbled together from other sources and most of it was untrue. He accepted the report of his fondness Hayley Mills when young, though - which I shared - and claimed he didn't know what he was supposed to do with her, but he knew the warm feeling he got "down below" in the cinema was nothing to do with the Maltesers melting in his lap. I remarked how fabrication of such a insubstantial publication seemed petty and exploitative beyond words and he replied, "That's Virgin."
I mentioned that Neville had seen the very final and utter proofs of the forthcoming book and had declared that there were elements which he knew Andy would be unhappy with. Andy agreed, but said these were mostly down to the necessary editing - he felt that some parts made him appear brain dead because, for the sake of word count, ostensibly superfluous sentences had been removed, breaking up the flow. Sadly, he revealed that Dave was interviewed separately for the book, largely as a favour to his friend Neville - his heart was never in the project.
That’s about it, though I’m bound to remember bits of other stuff later on.
Direct mail from Mitch Friedman, February 2nd, 1998
Sit down and get comfortable folks because this could be a long one . . . I heard from both Dave and Andy within the past 24 hours. To summarize what they both told me into some kind of presentable story, let me start off with the fact that they have only ten more days at Chipping Norton in which to do an enormous amount of recording. At the moment all the drums have been recorded and Prairie Prince has gone home. They are busily editing together his best work for each song and in some cases leaving an entire take intact when it's sufficient. Dave says that Prairie did a very admirable job. But of course the problem of time and money constraints has reared it's ugly head again. Thanks to the whole Chris Difford set back (which I can now explain in more detail and will a bit later on), they had to redo the 5 or 6 bits they had already recorded and add that to fleshing out some 21 songs in under 2 months and what you have is a band trying hard to be perfectionists but running out of time in order to get things perfect. So there have been some stressful situations and some differences of opinion on what is good enough but things are back on track and according to both Andy and Dave, once the album is done it will be fantastic. The question is when will it be fantastic, i.e. done. After Chipping Norton the band will take a short break and then at the beginning of March they will head to Hayden's studio to do vocals and any quiet guitar parts. They also have a short block of time scheduled at Abbey Road to record an entire orchestra. Mixing may not happen until June which is when money will be available and so will the producer. So there may be an even further delay in releasing the album depending on how the cash flow ebbs.
Both Andy and Dave indicated that the band was trying exceedingly hard to stay true to the demos and that is the cause of things going somewhat slowly after the false start last November. Andy thought it was a shame that everyone had heard most of the demos because he thinks a good part of the surprise of a totally new batch of songs is now lost. In addition he's concerned that those of us who have been listening to the demos for quite a while may not like the studio versions if they veer even a little bit from the demo versions which they surely will in several instances. I assured him that hardly anyone has heard more than half of the songs that will be on the album and had the demos not become available the interest in the band may have waned a bit more than would have been healthy at this point and either way all the real fans will buy the album no matter what. Andy also noted that he thought some of the orchestral things might really piss people off and he based this on some of the Chalkhills printouts he has been reading from the past few years in which Nonsuch was not as well liked as he thought. I mentioned that XTC has never made a bad album and I'm sure there have always been people who have had a hard time adjusting to the new directions the band has taken with each new release and this one should be no different but maybe the fact that people have heard some of the demos beforehand will make this album a little easier to accept and get used to.
Now a bit more about DiffordGate. While at the present time Mr. Difford is still refusing to turn over the master tapes and is being somewhat of the villian in all this, it hasn't always been the case. Originally he offered XTC the use of his studio (or more accurately the studio his company owns) for free for two months. At this point XTC had to pre-pay for two months stay at a barn converted into living quarters. When they arrived to start recording and found the studio completely unworkable, Chris felt terribly embarrassed and apologized repeatedly and promised it to be up and running as soon as possible, still for free once it was ready. So XTC went home for two weeks, wasting a lot of money they had already spent to stay in the barn while they waited to be told when they could start. Once they got the call they returned only to find the studio was still not ready. The workers that were there insisted they would be done that day but this went on for almost a week while Dave spent the time programming and notating things based on Andy's demos. The band had lost all momentum after spending weeks in pre-production and was quite annoyed with the whole situation. When the studio was finally ready, they started working in it only to have a series of technical problems and delays while only recording 6 bits of usable sounds in about a month's time. Then suddenly Chris Difford informed them that while the studio time was free, they had to pay for the engineer and the price he told them was more than twice what the engineer said he was to be paid for his week's work so XTC decided that rather then be ripped off again and waste more time, they booked time at Chipping Norton in January. So when the truck arrived to cart off all their equipment, Chris Difford ran in and grabbed the master tapes and refused to give them back unless he was paid the balance for the engineer but XTC refused and will not pay for it ever. It seems that Mr. Difford's brother runs the company with him and he was the one who decided that they couldn't let XTC use the studio for free and I suppose he eventually convinced Chris (who according to Andy was a very nice guy and a big fan up until the ugly turn of events at the end) to change his tune and demand payment. So to sum up, Chris Difford was nice but is now not nice. End of story.
