James McLaren
Blog posts in total 519
Posts
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John Cale at 70: interview (2005)
In 2005 成人论坛 Wales Music contributor Louis Pattison talked to John Cale about Iggy Pop, tonality and that chicken. Here we republish that in-depth interview. John Cale playing at Glastonbury You've been touring the new album, BlackAcetate. How's it been? We didn't get further than B...
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John Cale at 70: interview (2010)
In February 2010 成人论坛 6 Music talked to John Cale about performing his classic 1972 album Paris 1919. Here are excerpts from that interview, in which he discusses both the record, his former bandmates and the notion of the 'album'. This was the last record you wrote before you left LA to retur...
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John Cale at 70: Desert Island Discs
As we celebrate the 70th birthday of John Cale, here's a piece of superb radio from the 成人论坛 archive. Listen here to Cale's appearance on Desert Island Discs from 22 February 2004. His choices included songs from Bob Dylan, his former band The Velvet Underground, Brian Wilson, The Beatles, Elbow, Leonard Cohen, John Tavener and Peter Gabriel. Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any other 成人论坛 blog, you will need to sign in to your 成人论坛 iD account. If you don't have a 成人论坛 iD account, you can register here - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of 成人论坛 sites and services using a single login. Need some assistance? Read about 成人论坛 iD, or get some help with registering.
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John Cale at 70: songwriting
John Cale turns 70 on Friday 9 March. As part of our celebrations we're raiding the 成人论坛 archives for some great material from his career. Here's clip of Cale talking in 2003 about songwriting for 成人论坛 Four Sessions . Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any o...
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British Council broadcasts Welsh bands to an audience of four million
Three Welsh bands are getting a St David's Day treat as the British Council, in partnership with Cardiff's S诺n festival, will broadcast a live event with three up-and-coming Welsh bands. Truckers Of Husk, Kutosis and Gallops will have material broadcast on the British Council's international radio show, The Selector, this Saturday (3 March). The Selector is aired across 33 countries with audiences in excess of four million, say the British Council Hywel of Truckers Of Husk "The Selector gives people around the world the chance to experience UK music and for up-and-coming bands to connect with new audiences," said a Council spokesperson. "The show is broadcast in 33 a range of countries around the world, from China to Mexico, Indonesia to Malawi (including NME Radio in the UK), as well as on British Airways' in-flight radio." Hywel Evans of Truckers Of Husk said: "We as the Truckers of Husk play no shows, write prog rock for menchildren, release records slower than it takes than a diamond to form and have faces for radio, so this an ideal opportunity to kill four million birds with one stone." John Rostron of S诺n said: "Saturday's show brings together three incredible bands from Wales. As an event, it's a cracking line up of three bands we've championed through S诺n Festival. "The fact that the show will be recorded for broadcast, with all the crowd chants, applause and noise too, and be broadcast across the world on Selector Radio is a real treat for these emerging acts. It's an amazing opportunity to showcase to the world just how good music is from Wales." Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any other 成人论坛 blog, you will need to sign in to your 成人论坛 iD account. If you don't have a 成人论坛 iD account, you can register here - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of 成人论坛 sites and services using a single login. Need some assistance? Read about 成人论坛 iD, or get some help with registering.
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Escape Into The Park takes break in 2012
Escape Into The Park, Wales' biggest dance festival and one of the biggest in the UK, won't take place in 2012, it has been announced. DJ playing Escape Into The Park Organisers of Escape, which is held annually in Swansea's Singleton Park, have said that their reasoning has been dict...
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Feeder: The songs that made us
Last week I talked to Feeder about the songs that made their career. Prior to the release of their latest album, Generation Freakshow (out 26 March), the band were in the Radio Wales studios to record special acoustic tracks and an interview with Georgia Ruth Williams' show, to be broadcast t...
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Spillers Records to sell exclusive limited edition Tom Jones/Jack White single
As we reported last month Jack White, once of the White Stripes, has recorded a single with Wales' evergreen Tom Jones, but if you want to get your hands on a special vinyl version, only one record shop in the world will be able to help you. Evil (Is Going On) cover Evil (Is Going On)...
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The Blackout and Attack! Attack! singers to release split album
The lead singers of two of the biggest of Wales' new wave of rock bands are to release a split acoustic album, it has been announced. Gavin Butler and Neil Starr Ghosts & Echoes, an acoustic 10 track record by Gavin Butler of The Blackout and Neil Starr of Attack! Attack!, will be rel...
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Tom Jones and Stereophonics Brits duet tops poll
A nationwide poll by the Brits of 3,000 people has placed a performance of Mama Told Me Not To Come by Stereophonics and Tom Jones top of the pile of duets. You can watch a clip of the performance on YouTube. Stereophonics and Tom Jones The annual music industry celebration has bec...
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Acts confirmed for Gary Speed tribute match
Super Furry Animals, Bryn Terfel and Only Men Aloud have been confirmed as the acts performing at Gary Speed's memorial match. Super Furry Animals The artists will play prior to kick off at Cardiff City Stadium on 29 February as Wales play Costa Rica in remembrance of the Wales manage...
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Amy Wadge: my role in Ed Sheeran's success
Next Tuesday's Brit Awards, the annual celebration of the UK's music industry, will have more than a passing interest for a Welsh singer and songwriter by the name of Amy Wadge. She has written with and mentored triple Brits nominee Ed Sheeran since he was 17. We invited Amy to write a piece for us about her time with Ed: Amy Wadge and Ed Sheeran For the first time in my career as a singer/songwriter, which I am slightly astonished to admit now spans some 20 years, I will be watching The Brits knowing in some tiny way I am part of things. It's been a long time coming but thanks to a 21-year-old ginger-haired guy from Suffolk called Ed Sheeran my life has completely changed in the last year. Four years ago, as I was about to have my first child, I realised that the endless touring that I had done for my own career was about to come, in some part, to an end. Although I still intended, and have continued, to work as a singer/songwriter in my own right, gone are the days of chasing a deal and hoping for mega stardom. I had co-written a fair amount and always felt that as a lyricist and top line writer I had something to offer. Luckily Sarah Liversedge at BDI Music Publishing thought the same and signed me. Working with Sarah changed everything as suddenly I was being hooked up with new unsigned artists from all over the UK. The very first person I was sent was Ed. I distinctly remember picking up this young lad at Trefforest station with a 'back packer' guitar thinking 'What the hell is going to happen here?' But then we drove back to my house, sat in my kitchen and he sang to me. I can't imagine there will be many times in my life that I will meet someone so incredibly gifted and to be honest I spent much of the next few days running in from my studio in the garden to tell my husband how sure I was that he was "going to make me a millionaire". In a normal writing session I would hope to get one or two songs, but with Ed we wrote nine in two days. It was just one of those crazy things that is very rare - we clicked and what happened was amazing. Another few sessions followed and then Ed asked me to do backing vocals on an EP he was doing at the time. I was heavily pregnant with my second child so couldn't travel. Ed carried on without me and the EP was released, and to my surprise he'd called it Songs I Wrote With Amy. Last February, as Ed was about to be signed to Atlantic, he called and asked to come down to write again. This time when I picked him up from the station people were recognising him and it suddenly became clear that things were about to change. And boy, they changed. The various EPs he'd done, including Songs I Wrote With Amy, started selling by the bucket load and charting. I then got the call to say that one of the songs we'd written on his last trip down had made the Deluxe Edition of +, his new album. The day it went to number one I went up to London and we all had + tattoos to mark the occasion. Since then it's been incredible to watch things get bigger and bigger. I played Cardiff with Ed and for the first time in my life heard 3,000 people singing a song I had written back at me. The album has just crossed the million sales mark and he's about to head Stateside. A track from Songs I Wrote With Amy was recently featured on an episode of Cougar Town and is the b-side to the American release of The A-Team, so I will now be watching the American Billboard chart to see what happens. All of a sudden all the doors that were so tightly shut before have flown open and I am writing with some incredible new artists. It's the most exciting time in my career and I can do it all from the comfort of my own home. And Ed? He hasn't changed one little bit; he's still the most laid-back person you will ever meet. But I did go to see him play in Wolverhampton a few weeks ago and for the first time realised that this guy who I think of as my little brother is now a huge star. Live, Ed is a force to be reckoned with but there is still so much more to come. He was 17 when we wrote a song called She and he came up with these words: Strange as it seems She is endless to me She's just like paperwork But harder to read I knew right then he was incredibly special. Join Amy Wadge with Roy Noble on 成人论坛 Radio Wales this Wednesday (22 February) at 4pm. Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any other 成人论坛 blog, you will need to sign in to your 成人论坛 iD account. If you don't have a 成人论坛 iD account, you can register here - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of 成人论坛 sites and services using a single login. Need some assistance? Read about 成人论坛 iD, or get some help with registering.
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Manics Street Preachers' Generation Terrorists on Radio Wales
Today we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of the first album by Manic Street Preachers, Generation Terrorists. Radio Wales have joined the festivities. Listen to Simon Price and me talk to Jamie and Louise on the station this morning: And listen to Oli and Bethan of Good...
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John Robb on Manic Street Preachers
John Robb, singer of Goldblade and music journalist of renown, yesterday published an article on his site, Louder Than War, celebrating the career of Manic Street Preachers. It was in memory of Richey Edwards, who went missing 17 years ago. Here we publish, with kind permission, an excerpt fr...
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Gruff Rhys to join 6 Music's 10th birthday bash
Welsh folk popper and Super Furry Animal Gruff Rhys is to be one of the stars of a multi-venue bash to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the launch of digital radio station 成人论坛 6 Music. Gruff Rhys On Friday 16 March Rhys will join Anna Calvi and Beth Jeans Houghton And The Hooves Of D...
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Manic Street Preachers' Generation Terrorists - 20th anniversary
This Friday (10 February) is the 20th anniversary of the release of the first album by Manic Street Preachers, Generation Terrorists. Manic Street Preachers. Photo: Martyn Goodacre That simple fact is enough to make a lot of people exclaim something along the lines of, 'cor that makes...
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Manic Street Preachers' Generation Terrorists: Matthew Olivier, studio engineer
As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Manic Street Preachers' Generation Terrorists, we ask sound engineer Matthew Olivier about his work on the album at Black Barn Studios in Surrey. Manic Street Preachers. Photo: Tom Sheehan "At the time I was the in-house engineer f...
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Manic Street Preachers' Generation Terrorists: Steve Brown, producer
As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Manic Street Preachers' Generation Terrorists, we ask producer Steve Brown about his recollections of the album and its recording. Steve Brown "I got the job with the Manics because they liked the work I did on the Love album by T...
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Manic Street Preachers' Generation Terrorists: Jarrad Owens, Amped
As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Manic Street Preachers' d茅but album Generation Terrorists, Manics-superfan Jarrad Owens of the website Amped gives his thoughts on the album. Manics at The Marquee in London, 1991. Photo: Martyn Goodacre "Generation Terrorists (wo...
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Manic Street Preachers' Generation Terrorists: Dave Eringa, session musician
As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Manic Street Preachers' Generation Terrorists, we ask session musician Dave Eringa about his role on the album and his friendship with the band. Dave Eringa with James Dean Bradfield, backstage at Reading Festival, 1992 "I was the...