C&CM Conversations: Shaun Micallef

 "What happened when you talked to Shaun Micallef, did you combust?" What a term! I took note of it because, yes! I was reduced to a big pile of ashes!

What was nice about interviewing Shaun is that I've managed to live through it a couple of times, editing out the half-second pauses and some of the more disruptive cackles. It's a little faster now and marginally less shambolic...

Timing comes up a lot, whether it's dealing with an uncertain Channel Nine audience or film dialogue from 54 years ago. It's an aspect of rapport I didn't really appreciate before. Speed comes into it. Wit, speed and responsiveness.

It could have all gone terribly wrong. You only need to think of the name, "Gigi Rosetti" to remind yourself of the agony of the Micallef Programme interviews. They were fake, sure, but it's better to observe conversational cul-de-sacs and poorly-managed snobbery from a safe distance.

I'll leave you with the conversation I had with Shaun (or at least a sped-up version of it), as well as a selection of songs from his ancient iPod.

C&CM Conversations - Shaun Micallef (57.8 MB)

Selections from Shaun Micallef's iPod (65.9 MB) (tracklist in comments)

Shaun's new book, Tripping Over Myself

C&CM Exclusive: Download Rare 1985 Radio Interviews from The Direct Hits!

I'm thrilled to announce that The Direct Hits have graciously donated two radio interviews to C&CM that have been unplayed since their original broadcast in 1985!

Originally broadcast in April 1985 on the South East London pirate radio station, Skyline Radio, host Nick Miller talks to Colin Swan, Geno Buckmaster and Brian Grover about fostering talent on their imprint Direct Records, the mood of London audiences and the interest surrounding their forthcoming tour of Germany and Italy.

The second interview dates from July 1985 and features both Colin and Geno discussing exploits from their most recent tour ("I lost a shoe in Hamburg"), humorous reflections on Live Aid not to mention their thoughts of some new record releases. Both clips are fascinating portrait of the band both before and after their career-defining tour of the continent.

The Direct Hits - The Skyline Radio Interviews (1985)
The Direct Hits - Radio Press (1985)

The discovery of these interviews comes with The Direct Hits unearthing artefacts including previously unseen photographs, gig posters, tickets for the Christmas release of a new book called "My Back Pages". You can keep up to date with this and other upcoming developments on both the band's official page and their Facebook page.

As an added incentive, check out these nifty badges dating from 1987 which recently featured! I want each and every last one of them.

EDIT: Be careful what you wish for! These fair badges just arrived in my mailbox! AMAZING!

And just in case you missed it the first time round, this is the C&CM Conversation with Colin Swan.

It was hard to believe that I'd managed to secure an interview with Colin Swan of the Direct Hits. Only months before, I had suggested that the existence of Colin Swan and Geno Buckmaster was one of the greatest mysteries of the entire mod revival. Up until that point, friends and I were satisfied with ignorantly listening to their remarkable 1984 album, Blow Up!. We knew nothing of the stories surrounding the recording, but it did little to detract from our enthusiasm for songs like My Back Pages and Ever Ready Plaything.

It was a really pleasant surprise to discover an official online presence. I appreciated that it was more than a mere press release, it really satiated that part of me that loves hilarious anecdotes of messed up band antics: August 1981 - Steve Warburton sacked as drummer for refusing to cut his hair, following a disastrous gig at The Castle in Tooting High Street. This was the night Robbo borrowed a scooter from a mod, and runs into a wall in the pub car park. Talking to Colin revealed even more tales of lunacy, from unreliable drummers to rickety aeroplanes held together with sticky tape. It was great and I just wanted more.

I took the opportunity to ask him how much material was in "the vaults". I was startled with the response, "Oh, about 100 songs..." I urged for an immediate release of everything, just as I would later urge for a re-print their highly celebrated fanzine, The Direct Hits Monthly. Sure, it's frustrating to know that there is so much more material in existence, but then it's incredible to think that almost every band has this sense of history and dialogue. Providing there is a sentimental type in the band, there is this assurance that there is always more material, whether it be stories or demos or even explanations. There is hope that it can all be duly celebrated at a later date.

C&CM Conversations: The Direct Hits
Modesty Blaise
Ever Ready Plaything
Henry, The Unhappy Inventor
Just Like An Abacus
My Car
What Killed Aleister Crowley?
My Back Pages

Download (75.1 MB)

It goes without saying that I have been reveling in the shock and surprise that is Blur's Hyde Park reformation. As well as contemplating how I could possibly come up with the cash to fund such a jaunt, I had been thinking about how the reunion could have come about. After all, I had been long convinced of the tattered relationship between Albarn and Coxon. I had read all about it in magazines, you know. Not to mention in online publications. I thought I had worked out the dynamics of their working relationship and in doing so, I had dismissed the possibility of any reconciliation. Then I was struck by unusual thought. I thought of exactly how much of our engagement with music is derived from our construction of a musician's character. I am fully aware that my prior sentence sounds distinctly like meaningless "Bachelor of Arts" speak, but just bear with me here.

I can recall the days where I would fervently research the character of Steven Patrick Morrissey of the Smiths. In a very doting fashion, I would read all of Morrissey's archived interviews at The Arcane Old Wardrobe. Everything he said was always laced with a very deliberate ambiguity. Morrissey fancied himself a bit of a modern day Oscar Wilde. In retrospect, he came across as Wildean in the true Uncyclopedian sense of the word. I can never take his oblique statements seriously nowadays. They seem too much like flippant non-sequiturs, designed to create lust and intrigue in the hearts and minds of alienated young girls. I came to question his sincerity, really. My perennial issue with Morrissey is how is it that he came to write lyrics that are imbued with such intense feelings of yearning when he claims to be an individual entirely devoid of romantic inclination? What the hell is all that about?

I know that it is not just me. I know that others have carefully studied the personal background of their most admired musicians. I suspect that research is intended to uncover any trace of arrogance, indifference or insincerity on the part of the musician. When I realise that this musician is not "for real" as such, it becomes a real turn off for me. I know in my own interviewing experience, I could never listen to the music of Moving Units, The Departure, Editors, Kings of Leon or Ambulance LTD after I discovered what they were really like. I understand that I possess this hyper-romantic preconception that my musicians must care for music as much as I do. There must be some kind of requited nature in all this, otherwise my love is based on something that is fake and inconsequential.. and I can't have any of that.

So, where does this all leave us really? Must we all face up to the reality that our entaglement with music derives from a hyper-romanticised depiction of a person's character? I suppose so. Much like crush mythology, we should take solace in the understanding that we develop an affinity with the idea of a person, not the person itself. Perhaps I only speak for myself when I admit that I want to find affinity with musicians that have depth, warmth and doleful complexity. With that being said, I want to flesh out as many musical characters as possible so they all have a distinct role in British musical history. I suppose that is how I could understand how the hell Albarn and Coxon could have possibly mended their tattered relationship and play apart of Blur once again.


Cassettes & Chocolate Milk: Britpop Podcast #10
The Fakrays - All Day
Elle Milano - Ooo Beyoncé Baby (Demo)
Let's Wrestle - I Won't Lie To You
Oasis - I'm Outta Time
Ocean Colour Scene - Huckleberry Grove
Suede & Pet Shop Boys - Rent (Live)
Mint Royale - Don't Falter
Kill City - Hooligans on E
Not the Nine O'Clock News - I Like Bouncing

Download (27.8 MB)

Admittedly, it has been far too long between posts. My apologies extend to those who take personal offense to this. So I should really start off by referring to my last post where I announced that C&CM would be enjoying a brief sojourn at 3RRR. Since then, I'm happy to report that readers of the blog have missed not one, but three graveyard shifts in the past few weeks. Fortunately, I've included a tracklisting to these shows in the comments so you can relive some of the show's glory. If glory is synonymous with an aural catastrophe.

Although it appears that I will always be plagued by extremely irritating perfectionist tendencies, I was just relieved that I could do live radio again. A lot of it had to do with the exploitation of my Listen Without Prejudice segment, which provided ample opportunity to play white-labelled Roxette demos. Haha. To top off the whole experience, the Programming Manager actually said you certainly have the skills to be as good as any of the broadcasters on Triple R at the moment. It's enough for any girl to develop a chronic blushing problem.

However, despite the lovely feedback, it may take up to 10 years to actually obtain a show. Clearly, this is a severely depressing reality.. but I'm more disenchanted with the prospect of no more interviews. No more ridiculous chance meetings. No more life altering deep and meaningful conversations with gifted lyricists.. and more to the point, no more realisations that many of my musicians are in fact a drug addled prima donnas with no love and little respect.

Yeah, it breaks my heart.
So that's why I want this entry to feature some of those infamous excruciating interviews that I am certain many of you have seen before. Occasionally they illustrate the extreme ineptitude of the interviewer. Sometimes they highlight the most cruel and nasty characteristics of the musicians we admire most. It is for this reason that I dedicate this post to those struggling journalists who rarely have the opportunity to deal with their raging, ill-tempered heroes. You know I love you anyway.

Noel Gallagher on Triple J, November 2005
Here, a nameless Triple J presenter adopted what I believe to be a profoundly ungrateful, disrespectful and ditzy attitude upon interviewing one of the greatest songwriters of our generation. Not only did she talk to Noel Gallagher as if he was completely musically irrelevant, but her vague and aimless questions somehow managed to successfully provoke the desired response: Noel's views of former nouveau indie darlings Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and the Kaiser Chiefs caused a needless and ridiculous furore, offending many and surprising few.

Peter Hook on New Zealand radio, December 1982
Many would recognise Hooky as the oft-lovely dexterous bassist of New Order.. and I always had it on good authority that Hooky would be also lovely guy to interview. Right? Wrong. In this infamous early interview with a clearly shaken and overcome radio host, Hooky becomes so difficult and snarly that it effectively wants to make you crawl inside a cupboard and forget you ever heard Bizarre Love Triangle. That's how this whole mess started in the first place.

Freddie Mercury on Rio TV, promoting Rock in Rio, 1985
The fact that Freddie can't speak Portuguese and the interviewer can't understand English makes for a profoundly disjointed interview. But obviously, awkward multilingual exchanges are inevitable when you are the lead singer of the most famously fantabulous band in the world. However, this problem is aggravated by the fact that Freddie is clearly suspicious that the interviewer is distorting his responses. In typical style, my Freddie deals with it in a way that involves a lot of wit, class and flirtation. What can I say, he's my hero.

Pete Doherty on MTV News TV, May 2005
It's difficult to narrow down one excruciating incident with Pete Doherty. As much as I love his music, his behaviour during this interview sickened a vast many of his most loyal defenders, including myself. Initially Pete refused to join his bandmates for the backstage interview after a gig in Berlin. Midway through the interview, Pete joined the band and then proceeded to squirt a syringe full of his own blood at the camera. Needless to say, his bandmates were less than impressed, promptly apologising and walking out of the interview. Charming.


You can lose a lifetime thinking of it & lose an era daydreaming like I do
Paul Weller on Swedish TV, 1981
As much as I adore Paul Weller, I acknowledge that he is pretentious at the best of times. That being said, I cannot possibly understand why this Swedish television presenter felt so compelled to ask whether The Jam was named after a condiment. After a consistent sequence of slack-jawed questions and a persistent refusal to dignify those questions with a response, Weller still stands so close to this girl that it's unclear whether he wants to jump or slap her. I don't know, you tell me.

Noel & Liam Gallagher, the Wibbling Rivalry interview, Glasgow, 1994
What we have here is fourteen farcical minutes of arguing, swearing, cussing and shouting from two indecipherable drunken Mancunians. I can only imagine the sheer panic of interviewer, Q journalist John Harris who actually had the pressure of finding some shred of coherency between the pair. Fortunately Fierce Panda obtained the rights to the recording of this interview and it was later entitled Wibbling Rivalry. The disastrous interview between the squabbling Gallaghers later became the most successful interview release in the UK charts, reaching #52 in November 1995. Similarly, Q Magazine managed to find some use for the interview and published the transcript of Wibbling Rivalry interview, much to the amusement of Britpop lovers alike.

Addendum: No really, this has to be the most awkward interview in existence.

So yeah. That's all from me.

Here are some songs for your enjoyment:
The Sounds - Tony the Beat
Kasabian - Empire
!!! - Myth Takes
Pop! - Pop! Goes My Heart
Röyksopp - Poor Leno [Silicone Soul's Hypo House Dub]
Talkshow Boy - I Know A Girl Who Spots Foxes
Space - Neighbourhood (Radio Edit)
1984 - Step On Me (Take 1, Thames Television Studios Demo Tape, 1967)
Asobi Seksu - Thursday

All my loving, Elly x

Don't worry. I haven't abandoned C&CM. Despite the lack of posts, it's been something that's been at the forefront of my mind for months now.. particularly moreso since my prospects of a law career eventuating has become more improbable. Radio isn't something that I could seriously rely on as a career but it's something that I will always want to do, paid or unpaid. I can't imagine a time when I'm not preparing for it, either by doing interviews or research or editing.. or basically killing myself that I'm not good enough as I should be. The fact is that I love it and I miss it.

I suppose student and community radio can provide a sense of comfort in that there are few people perceiving you. It allows you to build confidence in your content, presentation style and ultimately yourself. Luckily this is afforded by the fact that the people who do listen most likely know you on a personal basis. In this way, I am overly grateful that my friends do listen to me and they, in turn, provide me so much support in my moments of doubt. However, because there is this lack of truly critical, professional advice. I obsess about what the hell I can do to improve. Not what I can do "to get on a particular station", but how I can properly refine my style and project the confidence I had on such projects such as Radar and Counterfeit.

This brings me to what happened to spur this ridiculous entry. For about a week, I've been attempting to record the second of my summer podcasts and I found I couldn't do it. This inability to record anything of remotely acceptable quality is somewhat ironic, in light of criticisms such as "you can't even string a sentence together" and "you say um". Although I used to be able to argue until I was blue in the face that I never actually "say um" on the radio (in the same way that I never dot my i's), I have suddenly become crippled. I can't do what I love.

I see this as a long time coming. As much as radio was a self-indulgent and extremely passionate distraction, it has become an excuse to believe the hype and consequently shred my self-confidence. I even see this in the progression of C&CM as well. In the 8th and final semester of the show, I did refrain from making this a personal entity. I don't retell personal stories or anecdotes, neither do I share any profound details on the blog. It could be because all my stories have to do with ex-boyfriends who have run over my heart in their car.. or else it could be because people just want to hear the music. People don't necessarily care about what I have to say.

I am aware that anyone's presentation style need not be perfect. I use to teach kidlets that it's important to be enthusiastic, passionate, open and confident. Slick presentation manner aside, it's most important to be engaging. It's how so many listeners developed a rapport with icons such as Peely.. and as much as I would dream of commanding such a faithful listenership, I just want to be on air again, anywhere.

I apologise for the awkward self-indulgent rant. Hopefully many of you have skimmed over it and rushed for that Morrissey b-side further down the page. For those of you who have been unfortunate as to read it, I hope you take something away from it. With any luck, someone suffering from the same neuroses will read this and recognise how stupid it is to dwell on such things. Then they will promptly get over themselves and consequently achieve great things. That's the idea, avoid my example.

So, since I haven't got a podcast to present, I decided to upload an unedited (this means I “say um”) interview that I've never released before. I recorded this a few days before I left for the UK in mid 2005. This interview is with Peter Freestone, famously known within the Queen community as Phoebe, Freddie Mercury's personal assistant. I never had grand intentions to air the interview as it bore such a great deal of personal significance. It was my opportunity to become better acquainted with the person who started all of this, the musician who I still claim to know everything about. To me, it was so fascinating to have my misconceptions clarified. It was an interview where I did gain a proper, realistic insight about the character and motivation of a person who has inspired me so greatly. But this is all retrospective though. The interview itself sounds like two teen girls gushing about a crush. But that can only be expected, right?

Interview with Peter Freestone (mp3, 17mb) (linkie updated)