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...
Monday, 25 November 1999
Andy called me tonight and we had a brief chat. He told me that XTC are no longer poor - the world-wide sales of Apple Venus Vol 1 are around the 250,000 mark and - despite the cost of the album ( around £108,000, after all the shenannigans with the recording process) - they have finally cleared some worthwhile profit. Apparently, they stand to make more from the Homespun disc than they did from Apple Venus (even though it's limited to only 20,000 copies in the US - TVT were worried about flooding the shelves with XTC product), simply because the overheads are negligible. I asked why the lyrics had been supplied with the Japanese version of AV1 when they had been deemed to expensive for the UK/US releases and he said it was because the record trade in Japan has an interesting flip - import discs are actually cheaper that domestic releases, so the Japanese releases have to offer that little bit extra to attract buyers.
Apple Venus 2 is due out early 2000 and Andy says the content will be as follows - though, not necessarily in this order:-
Stupidly Happy
Playground
You & The Clouds
Wounded Horse
Wheel And The Maypole
We're All Light
In Another Life (Colin Moulding)
Standing In For Joe (Colin Moulding)
Boarded Up (Colin Moulding)
My Brown Guitar
Church Of Women
I'm The Man Who Murdered LoveI've heard all the tracks in demo form and they're as good as one might wish (though Wounded Horse might take some time to grow on me...).
Colin no longer has the famous "five sheds" - most of them were knocked down to make way for the studio which the band have set up by his house. Andy sounded very proud of what they had achieved there. By the way, the 'scraping chair' sound after the piano intro to 'Harvest Festival' - which I mentioned to him as being particularly evocative - was built up from 24 takes of Andy and Colin moving two chairs.
I asked him what had happened to the 'Green Man' single and he told me that the ariplay testing in America had returned failry negative results - it wasn't an 'aiprlay hit' - but that this news came too late to top them wasting around £ 45,000 of half a video for it. They got the guy - whose name eludes me - who did some pretty imaginative vignettes for the BBC weather forecasts recently, but after spending all that money TVT said, stop, it's terrible, and the band agreed. An appalling video, by Andy's reckoning.
The upcoming Jim Carrey (retch) movie 'Me, Myself and Irene" will feature 'I'd Like That', and Andy was hopeful that this ended XTC's musical associations with down-the-dumper movies - based on the evidence of 'The Truman Show' this is a reasonable enough prospect, I'd imagine. Still, Jim Carrey, eh? What a git.
When we spoke Andy was in the middle of working on the Fuzzy Warbles project (a multi CD package of 'cleaned-up' versions of every demo he and Colin can lay their hands on). He'd been sent a few gold-CDs of the various demos which have been circulating and, aside from being utterly astonished at how his personal little 'sketches' had escaped into the public domain, he was happy to say that the versions he's producing for Fuzzy Warbles sound many times better and cleaner.
One of his 'sketches' so affected Becki di Gregorio that she felt compelled to asking him is he might cover the track - when music is published it can be covered by anyone, but an unpublished track requires permission to be sought. Andy was again stunned that the track, 'Susan Revolving', had actually been heard by people, and protested that the song was not actually finished. Eventually he 'sold' Becki the right to cover the song by dint of telling her to spend $15 on a particular Pink Floyd album and to listen well, swiftly supply a finished version for her to work with. What a nice man!
Tuesday, 21 September 1999
XTC Demo Album Drops From Out Of Nowhere On Oct. 5 writes Kevin Raub (CDNow News)
XTC's Apple Venus Volume 2 won't hit stores until next year, but fans of the English alternative pop band will get an early Christmas gift on Oct. 5 when TVT/Idea Records releases Homespun - The Apple Venus Volume One Home Demos.
With the same track sequence as Apple Venus Volume 1, XTC's last studio effort, the home demos features the original eight-track recordings of the songs from the album as well as liner notes by the band and the lyrics, which were missing from Apple Venus Volume 1 the first time out.
Meanwhile, the band is currently holed up in a Swindon, England studio with producer Nick Davis putting the finishing touches on the follow-up, Apple Venus Volume 2, now set for a tentative release date of spring 2000.
Here is the track listing for Homespun - The Apple Venus Volume One Home Demos:
1. "River of Orchids"
2. "I'd Like That"
3. "Easter Theatre"
4. "Knights in Shining Karma"
5. "Frivolous Tonight"
6. "Greenman"
7. "Your Dictionary"
8. "Fruit Nut"
9. "I Can't Own Her"
10. "Harvest Festival"
11. "The Last Balloon"
Friday, 11 June 1999
XTC's 'River Of Orchids' Goes To The Ballet writes Claire Borzillo (CDNow News)
Rock bands have seen their songs turned into elevator music via Muzak; they've had them symphonically reworked via full-on orchestras, and even performed to laser light shows. But performed to choreographed dance by a ballet company? That's just what noted dance choreographer Neta Pulvermacher has cooked up with XTC.
Pulvermacher, who studied dance in Israel before attending Julliard School of Dance and has worked with John Zorn and the Jazz Passengers, will debut a dance piece choreographed to XTC's "River of Orchids" from Apple Venus Vol. 1 (released early this year on TVT Records) this weekend in Cleveland.
The piece will be performed on Saturday (June 12) and Sunday (June 13) at Halle Theater, and will return on June 19 at the Paul Daum Theater in Akron, Ohio. According to a spokesperson for TVT, Pulvermacher is also working on creating dance pieces for all 11 songs on the album.
The idea originated in February, when Pulvermacher met XTC mastermind Andy Partridge at a photo shoot in New York. The two got to talking about the idea, Partridge was receptive, and Pulvermacher got to work on it right away, according to the spokesperson.
Meanwhile, TVT is working the second single from Apple Venus titled "Greenman," while Partridge and Co. are hard at work wiring their studio to begin working on Apple Venus Vol. 2. The second installment probably won't surface until early 2000.
Friday, 5 February 1999
XTC To Appear On Space Ghost - writes Joe Silva (CDNow News)
Old school brit-poppers XTC will be taping an appearance for an upcoming episode of the Cartoon Network's Space Ghost: Coast to Coast program on Feb. 19 in Atlanta, which will air this summer.
While band members Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding have long sworn off touring, the Space Ghost gig is part of the U.S. promotional jaunt in support of their forthcoming TVT release Apple Venus Vol. 1, due Feb 23.
The duo, who retired from the stage during the early '80s when Partridge became the unfortunate victim of panic attacks, have only done TV and radio performances to make up for the lack of live shows. The second, more electric volume of the Apple Venus project is expected before year's end.
Other musicians that have recenlty appeared as Space Ghost's guest include R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, Dave Grohl, and Blues Traveler's John Popper.
