11 Feb, 2009 The Mighty MAGAZINE
Although things are getting busy as we involve ourselves with the campaign leading up to the new album launch, that doesn’t mean to say that it is all work and no play. This week I hope to get the chance to see the return of no other than Magazine as they embark on their first concert dates since the very early ‘80’s; it’s something I never thought would happen and with me being in awe of their music you can understand my excitement.
I expect that everyone attending the shows feel just like I do, as there was never a half way house with Magazine, you either loved them to death or just did not get them at all. Obviously I belong to the former.
But has their music stood up to the test of time you may well ask? To which I would say that it has indeed, and then some, as is the case with all the greats, and make no doubt that the Manchester band belong in that category. Having recently recorded a version of their wonderful ‘A Song From Under The Floorboards’, evidently some thirty years later we still feel very close to this group that was such an influence on the fledgling Simple Minds as we grappled around literally still in the dark, while playing support to them during our first nationwide tour back in April/May ’79. And what a thrill I recall that being?
Having become obsessed by the band after seeing them a year earlier in Edinburgh, I was ecstatic that Simple Minds had secured the opening spot for what was the tour in support of their critically acclaimed ‘Secondhand Daylight’ album. Getting the chance to perform throughout the UK was already a fantastic proposition, but getting to watch my favourite act each and every night was more than I could bear. But that I did, I watched them every single night and not once did the hair on the back of my neck refuse to stand, as they played the classic “Shot By Both Sides”, with Scotsman John McGeoch proving that he was the most exciting guitar player in the entire genre of post punk.
Despite touring together and playing most nights over a five week period, it would be wrong to say that we got to know them as people, as is the norm with us when we work with other touring acts. They were a pretty aloof bunch or so I recall and not much for having a pint and a game of pool. Then again neither was I. I may be wrong but I even got the sense that we irritated them somehow. Perhaps we were playing too obviously with our hearts on our sleeves. Perhaps we were encroaching a little too much on their territory as some implied. Perhaps while our quirky debut was climbing up the charts, the reality that commercial success was eluding them etc. Or perhaps in the end they just thought we were crap. I really don’t know, but it mattered not to me, it was an honour to watch this unique band up close.
Devoto was an intriguing individual to begin with and surely the first in rock to make having a chrome dome seem cool. Or thinking about it, make that the second, Brian Eno was undoubtedly the first. Both made it so cool that it even got to the point where I remember wishing that my hair would fall out in the same way giving out the coveted intellectual aura that belonged to them. Strangely enough that is something I don’t do these days as I hold on for dear life to every strand!
Nevertheless on stage Howard was as lithe as a cat with a very real sense of danger about him. He also had a look on his face that sneeringly said ‘I know it all and you know nothing’. Not averse to his own ego, somehow he could get away with singing lines like the “Light Pours Out Me”, and it coming across as being believable. I for one thought the sun shone out of his backside, but Howard would never stoop so low, or put things across in such a common fashion. Or maybe he would, what do I know, given that we have already established that he was not the sort that you bump into down the dog track every day!
Equally stellar in different ways were bassist Barry Adamson who had a brilliant rhythmic feel and to this day has continued creating music of intrigue. Dave Formula meanwhile, and his idiosyncratic keyboard style also brought a ton to the party. Formula was amazing to watch on stage and a great counterpoint to the superbly spring coiled silhouette that was Devoto. But way and above all I mention once again the guitar playing of Greenock born McGeoch. Please listen to Shot By Both Sides, Rhythm Of Cruelty by Magazine, or Arabian Nights by Siouxie And The Banshees of whom John played with latterly. You will then hear exactly what I mean as well as understand how much of a loss it was when he disappeared out of music before his untimely death some years ago.
Over the next days while I am head over heels with Magazine, you may be reading about the details of our new album and the style of it. Look out for the single I say. A tremendously up beat track with a very dangerous sounding guitar logo played of course by Charlie Burchill, but it could be John McGeoch. And a fine tribute it is to him at that.
Welcome back Magazine, make some more records, and hang around for a while even. Come have a game of pool! Maybe even see you down the dog track Howard!
Jim Kerr