Alvin Stardust

September 2014

ALVIN Stardust will be back in his home county tonight for a gig that will span his 54 year career.
And it’s all down to an old friend who Alvin, born Bernard Jewry, used to watch on TV back in the Fifties.
“He was one of the original Oh Boy! rock ‘n’ rollers alongside our idols like Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and Billy Fury,” says the 75-year-old of Vince Eager, who has organised the gig at Grange Hall in Radcliffe-on-Trent to raise funds for the RSPCA.
“Vince was great and he’s still got a great voice,” says Alvin, who grew up in Mansfield, where he formed his first band Shane Fenton and the Fentones.
“We’d play Mansfield Palais and Nottingham’s Odeon Cinema, before touring with Billy Fury, Joe Brown and Marty Wilde.
“We were playing 50s rock ‘n’ roll and a few American covers, before making a couple of records.
“We became household names before we’d even had a record deal because we played The Saturday Club, the TV show that had 25 million viewers. We sent a tape asking if we could go on it. It was that simple.”

By 1961, they’d signed to EMI, picked up by A&R man George Martin, who would soon begin his legendary role as The Beatles producer. It was during the 70sthat the renamed Alvin Stardust would become a household name, famed for the black quiff, leather jacket and gloves, with a string of hits including My Coo Ca Choo and the number one Jealous Mind.
“We will play such a cross section of stuff,” he says of tonight’s show.
“We do 50s rock n roll, a few 60s bits and bobs, the 70s hits and the 80s hits. I actually sold more records in the 80s than the 70s. It started with Pretend on Stiff Records, which was a street cred label.”
Over the years he has appeared in a number of West End musicals, including Godspell, David Copperfield, Phantom of the Opera and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

“But they became UK tours and I didn’t want to sign up for six months or a year of being away from my family,” he says.

Instead he has hopped aboard a wave of 70s nostalgia, which sees him playing his past hits right across Europe. “We do festivals and stadiums. Tens of thousands of people. But at the same time I’ll do little clubs, because I love it. I’m lucky that I can pick and choose.”


Alvin, who lives in Surrey with his third wife and 13-year-old daughter, is working on his first album of new material in 30 years.
He says: “We’ve recorded a few tracks but nobody knows for sure where it’s going to go.”

Lawson: Joel Peat

March 2013

HIS grandmother will be there, in Rock City, along with the rest of his family, to see him in action. As long as they can find her somewhere to sit.
“She has this broad Glaswegian accent, I’ll finish a song and I’ll hear her shouting “JOEEEEL! It’s so off-putting,” he laughs.
“But she’ll be there. We’ll get her some ear plugs but she’ll love it.”
The show, on Wednesday, is part of guitar-pop band Lawson’s sold out UK tour.
And for their guitarist Joel Peat, it’ll be a yet another milestone.
“I grew up seeing bands at Rock City,” says the 22-year-old from Ravenshead.
“Funeral For A Friend, Fall Out Boy, Reel Big Fish, All American Rejects... it was all rock stuff because I was well into my pop punk when I was a teenager.
“I also saw Ted Nugent there. That was a bit random because he had a bow and arrow on stage. It was petrifying.”
He adds: “And we’ve played Nottingham quite a few times. We’ve played Rock City’s Basement, Stealth and the Rescue Rooms but I have never stood on that stage.
“And the first time that I do will be for a sold out show. I can’t wait.”
Joel joined Lawson, whose debut album Chapman Square reached No. 4 last year, in 2010.
Before that he was in bands in Ravenshead and Mansfield, where he moved aged 16.
After taking A-levels at Joseph Whittaker School, he moved to Guildford to study at The Academy of Contemporary Music, which he compares to the Jack Black film School of Rock.
“You played the guitar every day and learned about the music business. It was such a good environment for learning how to play in a band.”
It’s where he met Ryan Fletcher, Lawson’s bassist and the pair formed their first band together.
For three years he worked in various odd jobs, from shops to restaurants, while writing and rehearsing with the band at night.
They toured the UK in a van, including their first show in Nottingham at Rock City, as part of the Dot to Dot festival.
The break came through boy band The Wanted, whose manager saw their video, a cover of Bruno Mars’ Grenade, on YouTube.
Lawson’s frontman Andy Brown had been in a band with Max from The Wanted which helped.
They were offered the support slot on The Wanted’s UK tour, after which they were immediately signed to Polydor.
“We joined The Wanted again when they did the Arena tour last year, which opened in Nottingham. I remember during the afternoon standing on stage looking out at this empty arena that I’d seen so many gigs at. It was one of those moments...”
He’s had plenty more since, including a promotional jaunt in North America.
“It was eye-opening and over whelming,” says Joel of the ten-day visit earlier this year.
“We were initially going to put just one show on in New York, to see what it was like over there.
“We had no preconceptions about how we’d be received because we weren’t being played on the radio, hadn’t released anything there and there was no promotion.
“But we were getting a lot of messages on Twitter asking us go over.”
He adds: “But then the New York gig sold out.”
It was at the Bowery Ballroom, which he’d dreamed of playing since he was 15.
“I’d seen a video of John Mayer, who is my idol, playing there and I remember thinking ‘that venue is wicked, I’d love to play there one day’. And we ended up selling it out.”
A date was added in Los Angeles, which also sold out.
“It was funny because the crowd knew all the words to our songs and yet we had no music on sale there.
“We said to them ‘how did you get the album?’ and they all looked embarrassed,” he laughs, knowing the fans must have illegally downloaded their album.
“But if they’re liking the music and they want to come and see us because of that then I don’t care,” he adds.
“The fans all talk to each other all over the world and then you see them come to gigs and make friends. That’s quite amazing. We were totally overwhelmed by it all.”
After Los Angeles, they flew for a third gig in Toronto.
“That was phenomenal, as well. And we had dinner on the CN Tower, which was quite funny because Andy is petrified of heights. Watching him standing on the glass floor was hilarious.”
Along with the gigs Lawson appeared on network TV, including MTV, E! and Access Hollywood.
“We met Taylor Swift while we were there and she said she was a huge fan of the band. We’re huge fans of country music so it was a real Twilight Zone experience.”
Drifting back in to Notts dialect he adds: “I thought ’owd up, I’m gonna have to pinch meself here.
“She was saying that she’d seen all our videos on YouTube, that she loved Standing In The Dark and that should be our first single in the States.”
They recently signed to Mercury Records in the US and their first single will be released in the summer.
As soon as they returned to the UK, Lawson hit the road for their sell-out tour and so there’s been little time to return to Notts.
In April the band will be on a promotional tour of South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
“The album was reaching No. 3 on iTunes in places like Singapore and Malaysia.
“After that we’ll either fly to LA and do some more promo or come back home but I just want to keep at it.”
His last visit home was at Christmas.
“It was wicked. I love coming back,” he says.
“Every Christmas Eve we go to a pub in Ravenshead and all of my friends were there. It was a good laugh.”
For New Year he was in California, where his girlfriend lives.
Is she a model, an actress, a pop star?
“No, she’s not anything like that,” he laughs.
They met over a year ago in Los Angeles when Lawson were recording Chapman Square. He reckons the Notts accent helped.
“It’s the only reason I pulled her,” he laughs.
“No, I’m kidding. It’s funny because in the States a lot of people thought I was Australian, because it’s not a traditional London accent.”
Mum is a music teacher. Dad was a professional footballer, who played for Sheffield United but now works for Notts Police. And he has a younger sister who recently moved away from home to go to university.
“I try to take her to as many things as I can,” says Joel.
“She got to meet The Wanted and Jessie J, which she was buzzing about.
“They’re all really proud and want to be involved.”
Home is now just outside London.
He says: “We’re pretty flat out and I don’t get to go home much, which is a shame, but it’s a small price to pay for doing a job you love.”

Lawson’s show at Rock City on Wednesday is sold out.

Georgie Rose How

February 2013

WHEN I was little I used to take a harmonica around with me everywhere. I don’t know why. My great-grandad played harmonica at the local pub in Mansfield but it wasn’t his. My mum bought it for me when we went on holiday to Wales.
When she was young she used to fold paper over a comb and make that sound like a harmonica. Maybe, subliminally, it’s why she bought me one.
My parents aren’t musical. My dad works in the pharmaceutical industry. My mum is my roadie. She takes me to all my gigs.
She remembers that my grandma used to sing Patsy Cline and Ella Fitzgerald but not professionally.
I used to sing in the back of the car and my mum said I had a nice voice but I was really into sport more than music – mainly tennis and football. I scored 126 goals in a season once.
My uncle was a professional footballer. I know he had a trial at Man City but he got injured and went to America to play. There’s a photo of him with George Best when he played against him over there.
When I was 16 I started playing the electric guitar, playing along to Pete Doherty and BabyShambles songs.
The first gig I ever did was in a pub called the Railway Inn in Mansfield doing Elvis covers.
Elvis was one of my biggest influences. My mum introduced me to his music and Dusty Springfield, Karen Carpenter, Fleetwood Mac and Al Green.
By then I’d switched to an acoustic guitar and started writing my own songs.
My first gig in Nottingham was a year ago at The Maze as part of the Acoustickle night. I contacted Parisa (Eliyon, promoter) and asked if I could play. She gave me a chance. And she said she liked my set. Parisa also introduced me to a few people.
I’ve played about 80 gigs since then. I love it.
But I’ve not done much recording so I’m looking forward to going in to the studio next week to record an EP. It’ll hopefully be released in the spring on Farmyard Records.
I’ve already been played on XFM. They made my track, Stranger, the Song of the Week.
Mark Del from Nusic sent it to them without me knowing and when I was on my way to London someone sent me a text saying it had just been played on the radio.
The same weekend, he sent Billy Bragg a message on Twitter with a link to one of my songs and he said that he really liked it.
When I was in London I met KT Tunstall, which was great because her album was the first I ever bought. I was doing a gig and she just happened to be there. She came up to me after to congratulate me and said she really enjoyed my music.
There’s a lot of talent in Nottingham at the minute. I love Harleighblu, she has a great voice. And the Gorgeous Chans are really cool.

Georgie Rose How plays the Rescue Rooms in Goldsmith Street on Friday, February 15, with Bitter Strings and OneGirlOneBoy. It’s the official Jake Bugg after show party, following the Clifton chart-topper’s sold-out Rock City gig. Doors open at 10pm. Admission is free. For details of her other shows in the city go to www.facebook.com/IamGeorgieRose or follow her on Twitter: @GeorgieRoseHQ.

Alvin Stardust

May 2010

NEXT week Alvin Stardust will be releasing an album of hits. Nothing unusual in that you might think.

But the collection, called I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll, will be released on a major label. Added to that, there’ll be TV advertising to promote it. And a full on tour of UK theatres.

It’s the latest revival of the Notts hitmaker who has already experienced quite a few over the years.

“I had the success in the sixties touring with the rock n rollers, then in the seventies with the black leather,” says the Mansfield raised musician.

“When that was over I figured that was going to be it. But then in the eighties Pete Waterman gave me Pretend and I signed to Stiff Records.”

Next up in the regeneration of Alvin Stardust came a few year later when Mike Batt gave him the song I Feel Like Buddy Holly. He signed to Chrysalis where he became their top selling male singles artist. Further hits included I Won't Run Away and So Near To Christmas.

By the late nineties Alvin, 67, had moved in to musical theatre. The plum role was as the Child Catcher in West End smash Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

“I really enjoyed the theatre but I missed the music and I wanted to get back to it,” he says.

Not that he believed that in his sixties he was going to crack the charts again. Or so he thought.

“About six months ago I had a phone call from Universal saying they wanted me to do an album,” says Alvin, whose Notts accent is still evident despite having lived out of the county for decades.

“I thought it was a spoof to start with. I then thought they meant the plan was to just re-release the greatest hits. So I said ‘sure, go ahead’. But they said ‘no, we want you to write some new songs and record three covers for it’”.

The result is a best of album with a twist. As well as three new songs and three new covers, Alvin has re-recorded all of his old hits.

He admits: “I don’t like it when artists re-record hits. I like them to sound exactly as they did. But when we play the hits on stage we always do them exactly as they were. So, we tried recording them in the studio in one take and they sounded great. Exactly as before but with a rockier fell.”

To sit alongside the revived hits of Pretend, My Coo- Ca- Choo, I Feel Like Buddy Holly and Jealous Mind are covers of Joan Jett’s I Love Rock N Roll and Duffy’s Mercy.

“My daughter suggested those. She’s nine. I thought she was going to suggest doing a Miley Cyrus song,” he laughs.

The new songs include My Sweet Elvis, a tribute to his hero.

“It’s also about growing up in the East End, then moving to Mansfield when I was two. My mum ran lodgings for the Palace Theatre and I remember sitting in the wings watching people like Tommy Steele and Arthur Askey. And they’d all stay over at our house.

“It was in Mansfield that I first discovered Elvis.”

He adds: “I remember talking to Ian Dury about his song Sweet Gene Vincent and how great it was as a tribute. It occurred to me to do my own tribute to Elvis.”

The closing song on the album, Reverend Jack Daniel’s, is another new one.

“Two minutes before going on stage I’d always get the band and crew together to join in a prayer. A prayer with the Reverend Jack Daniel’s. We’d have a glass of Jack and coke each then go straight on stage.”

The revival is gaining momentum as he plans to write a country album this year.

“I’m going to Nashville in a couple of weeks to work with a guy who writes for Garth Brooks and people like that.

“And next summer I’ll be headlining the Americana at Newark which we’ll record to release an a live album.”

I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll is released on Universal Music TV on Monday.

Gig

Who: Alvin Stardust

Where: Palace Theatre, Mansfield

When: Tonight, 7:30pm

Tickets: £16/£17, 01623 633133

Web: www2.mansfield.gov.uk/palacetheatre

Adrian Edmondson

December 2008


THEY are one of the most famous comedy couples in Britain but, before Jennifer Saunders, Adrian Edmondson was married to a Nottingham girl.
" I was very young and stupid," he says.
"We were students when we got married."
How old?
"19"
That's young. Even for the mid-70s.
"It's idiotic. I apologise to everyone involved. Including me."
They'd met while at university in Manchester. She was from Mapperley.
"It gets more stupid, this story... we used to live there in the summer holidays. With her mum and dad.
"It's a bizarre idea."
He adds: "I worked in the Horizon Players Factory in my summer holidays. I also worked at Pork Farms."
I imagine that was a bit grim.
He guffaws: "I'm partial to a pork pie."
As the marriage dissolved, Edmondson, who graduated with a degree in drama, teamed up with university buddy Rik Mayall to work the comedy circuit as 20th Century Coyote, who became an attraction at London's The Comedy Store. With fellow upcoming comedians Alexei Sayle, Peter Richardson, Nigel Planer, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, they created their own comedy night The Comic Strip which eventually led to the TV series of the same name on the fledgling Channel 4.
At the same time, the BBC signed Edmondson, Mayall, Planer and Sayle for the ground-breaking anarchic comedy The Young Ones.
It was to launch the careers of its lead actors and co-writer Ben Elton.
Edmondson would continue to draw on the violent punk character of Vyvyan Basterd for his later roles, most successfully in Bottom with Rik Mayall, which transferred from the small screen to the stage and then to the cinema in 1999 with Guest House Paradiso.
Edmondson's character of Abra Durant in the BBC's Holby City, which he's played since 2005, is also an anti-authoritarian figure.
But it's neither comedy or acting that brings him to Notts tonight, rather music and his Cajun punk band The Bad Shepherds.
They play classic punk and new wave using traditional folk instruments.
"It works really well," he says.
But isn't punk meant to be played loud?
"Well, we all get a bit older and our eardrums start to hurt. Loud guitar music gets a bit wearing."
It's been a life-long fantasy to be in a band, he says.
"I don't know anyone in the world who doesn't want to be a rock'n'roll star. I dreamt about it all through my school days. I was in a band at school. And that's all we talked about."
He played out the fantasy with The Comic Strip team in Bad News, the Spinal Tap-style rock band spoof for Channel 4 in 1987.
But this is the real thing – he's joined by Maartin Allcock (ex Jethro Tull and Fairport Convention) and Troy Donockley (ex Maddy Prior and Midge Ure's band).
"It's music from 1977-82. We do a bit of The Jam, The Clash and The Pistols. We're attacking a bit of The Specials. We're doing Ghost Town. We're also doing a bit of Talking Heads, Tom Robinson and Kraftwerk."
Is there any song that didn't lend itself to the folk treatment?
"I really wanted to do (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love and Understanding (written by Nick Lowe) but it didn't work. It's bizarrely slow."
Edmondson was introduced to punk while at Manchester University at a venue called The Squat.
"The Buzzcocks were the only name that ever made it," he says of the bands he saw.
Not that he was always so cool – his first record was...?
"Val Doonican's Irish Stewpot," he says without hesitation.
"I was only ten. I had a postal order from my grandma and it had four great Val Doonican comedy songs on."
Have you still got it?
"No, I don't think so. I haven't got any vinyl anywhere. There's some stuff in the loft but I don't know what it is."
These days he's more into his folk music but his musical hero is Nick Cave.
"I absolutely adore him.
"In fact if you listen to his stuff, his stuff is actually punk done with a kind of folk style. His lead guitarist is a mandolin player, really."
And he's a great storyteller.
"Yeah, it's kind of a folk ballad style a lot of his stuff."
If there was any musician he'd like to be it's him.
"I'd just like to be that ****ing cool."
He adds: "I sat next to him in a pub once. I don't know about you, if you've met any of your idols but it's generally disappointing.
"And I thought, 'Well I'm not going to say hello because I still want him to be my idol'".
I interviewed in a few years ago and he's fine. Quite dry.
"I thought he might be a bit sticky."
Bum-bum.
"I thought he might be a bit offish."
Not at all.
So what are his all-time favourite albums?
"There are two albums I keep playing as albums.
"It's very rare you play albums these days, isn't it? Because you shuffle on your iPod.
"One of them is Sweetheart Of The Rodeo by The Byrds, when Gram Parsons was in The Byrds, which is just a fantastic album. And the other is a very early Velvet Underground record called Loaded. It's got the first versions of Waiting For The Man and Heroin on it and it's just brilliant. Much better than when they went cod dark. They went purposefully moody and they didn't need to because their songs were brilliant anyway."
Talking of not wanting to meet your heroes I interviewed Lou Reed earlier this year...
"(Laughs) Was he grumpy? He's about 80 now, isn't he?"
If you find yourself sat next to him in a pub, don't bother saying hello.
"I like a lot of naff stuff," he admits.
"A lot of 70s glam metal. Like The Sweet. Do you call Focus naff? There's a track, Sylvia, that I play once a month. It's got that good driving home feel to it."
I quite like Hocus Pocus.
"Well that is pretty naff, isn't it? And I like that, too. Yoddle-oddle-ay yoddle-oddle-loo," he adds with a chuckle.
Edmondson married Jennifer Saunders in 1985. The couple have three daughters.
"I cry when my daughter sings," he admits.
"She can sing anything, really."
She's no toddler, though, but a 22-year-old singer-songwriter.
Is she a better musician.
"She's more of an accomplished writer. I wish I could write like she writes."
He adds with a laugh: "I'm a better player than her. She knows that."


The Bad Shepherds bring The Lost Sheep Tour to The Intake Club, Kirkland Avenue, Mansfield, Friday December 19