The Laughing Clowns part 2 and a 50 mn long show with Jeffrey Wegener the drummer at last on Meltingpod !! We started when Jeffrey met Chris Bailey and Ed Kuepper at school in the 70’s, his first show with Kid Galahad and the Eternals aka The Saints, the first meeting with Ed back from London to found the Laughing Clowns in 78/79 and then we entered more in the details of the music and his work with Ed.
Ed in Dresden June 2009, Jeffrey at Mt Buller January 2009 (thanks to Justin for this nice pic !)
I played a lot of songs’ excerpts from their 3 albums compilation Cruel But Fair (Lucky Days, Ghost of an Ideal Wife, Holy Joe, Song Of Joy, Time No Hit But Missed) and The Laughing Clowns’ last album recorded Live at GoMa in Brisbane last January and produced by Ed’s own label Prince Melon Records (Bully in the Town, Come One Come All and Eternally yours) !!
The current line-up is : Ed Kuepper (guitar vocals) Jeffrey Wegener (drums) Louise Elliott (sax flute)) Leslie Millar (upright bass) and Alister Spencer (keyboards).
Ed and Jeffrey in Australia 2008 (pic from the greensea); Ed in Dresden with the Bad Seeds 2009
We closed the show with some of Jeffrey’s memories when he played with Nick Cave and his band the Birthday Party in 84 and the last performance at ATP in January 2009 in Australia which reunited the Laughing Clowns, The Saints and Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds the same days in Sydney !
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds with Ed Kuepper at the guitar : I couldn’t miss that event for nothing even if I had to travel to Dresden in Germany (close to the Czech Republic !) June 21th (the Music Day in France !) to see them for the unique show which was not played in a festival during their current European tour 2009.
A nice intimate atmosphere in Junge Garde, an amphitheater with 3500 people (ref.the press) among the beautiful trees in the town’s central park, which allowed me to be in front of the stage without any big troubles : I can’t appreciate a show at another place, so close to the energy !
Nick Cave the charismatic poet and Ed Kuepper the guitar’s devil !!
Nick Cave taking the guitar to add still more electricity in the air…the threatened dark clouds disappeared subitely from the sky for our luck (it was raining almost all the time I was in Dresden !!).
Nick happy to have put the rose he got from a fan in Warren Ellis ‘ shirt : the poor had the both hands busy on his violin and couldn’t protest; Nick outside the stage, fascinating the audience with his voice and hands…
« Midnight Man »‘s excerpt just to give you an idea of the ambiance Live on stage and surely one of my favorite songs !
Ed Kuepper very focused in the music, Thomas Wyller who did a fantastic job using every tools which make sounds to beat his drums; Nick always involved 100% in his lyrics. The words I can remember which chronologically came through my head during the show : Magnifique, Excellent, Intensity, a dramatic intensity which gives you thrills on the skin.
« Papa Won’t Leave You Henry »‘s excerpt : a magic moment with Ed Kuepper at the acoustic guitar accompagning Nick Cave who told us a new story always as close as possible to the audience…
All the 7 Bad Seeds on the same pic (from right to left) : Ed Kuepper (guitar), Thomas Wyller (drums), Conway Savage (keyboards), Martyn Casey (bass), Jim Sclavunos (drums), Nick Cave (vocals, guitar and keyboards), Warren Ellis (very small guitar and violin).
Ed Kuepper and Nick Cave constantly moving from a place to another one; another word coming to my head later was : Elegance in their attitudes, subtleties in the light shows (which unfortunately were not really captured by my slow camera) and sometime the feeling to penetrate in their musical laboratory where they are re-creating Live a new performance every night. By the way, even if front of the stage the sound quality was simply perfect ! Congratulations to Matt Crosby the sound engineer !
Ed, Nick and Thomas; Nick often pointing the sky; everybody singing the backing vocals. The show started precisely at 8:30 pm with the twilight and fortunately finished at 10:30 in the night allowing us to appreciate at least the colorfull light show with the music climbing in crescendo until the last song « Get Ready For Love » and the red and white lights effects at their maximum : Nice sentence for a goodbye !
PS : I was allowed by the security to enter in the audience with my small compact camera (no extra lens; the clips are just filmed with the basic video option) thanks to the management teams who are admitting right now that everybody who has a mobile phone in his pocket has in the same time a camera and a video recorder too. Nice they accepted now my little camera without phone. In fact at the AC/DC’s show in Marseille it was allowed too but I didn’t know it ! I dedicated all these pics and clips to Nick Cave’s and Ed Kuepper’s fans in Australia hoping you could see them Live too one day ! Thanks to Martyn and Gudrun who were my fantastic hosts in Dresden ! Thanks to Ed for everything : terrific to see him again in person and on the stage ! Long Life to the Bad Seeds !! For the European fans, check their tour’s next dates on their myspace pages and don’t miss them !
Meltingpod Connections : Update June 29th
I found Dresden gig’s set list in Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Forum : Tupelo, Dig Lazarus Dig !!!, Red Right Hand, Deanna, Midnight Man, The Ship Song, Henry Lee, Moonland, The Mercy Seat, Love Letter, There She Goes My Beautiful World, The Weeping Song, Papa Won’t Leave You Henry, Stagger Lee, (encore) Breathless, Straight To You, We Call Upon The Author, Jesus Of The Moon, Get Ready For Love and Lucy !! btw : I’m sure « Get Ready For Love » was the last song though…:)
PS : Thanks to the Queensland Music Festival, Ed’s next act after this tour, who chose my very first video at l’Olympia 2008 to present Ed’s work !!
A Live Interview with Rob Younger (ex Radio Birman) playing in Marseille with The New Christs : what a pleasure for me and I hope for you ! Rob allowed me to record the show and I illustrated the interview with some Live songs’ excerpts among the excited dancing crowd !
We spoke with Rob Younger about their current European tour, their ex-label Citadel where Rob was the producer, Radio Birman, the New Christs’ current line-up, the song writing process, the Saints’s last show at ATP, the girls in Marseille…:)
Rob Younger and Jim Dickson (both in Radio Birman before); Rob Younger; Jim and Brent; Dave and Rob
The New Christs’ line up 2006-2009 is Rob Younger (vocals), Jim Dickson (bass), Brent Williams (guitar), Dave Kettley (lead guitar) and Stuart Wilson (drums).
The French band Holy Curse opened the show for the New Christs that night in Marseille : a big thanks to Paulo the guitarist who organized the whole thing (the first time in Marseille for the New Christs) and to Vinz the bass guitarist (with Dimi Dero Inc too) who made the meeting and interview with Rob possible in a very relaxed and friendly ambiance !
Rob and Jim; Rob fronting a very attentive audience during the quiet parts of the show (last pic from my friend Pirlouiiiit photographer at LiveInMarseille review in French here; I’m somewhere in front of the stage !)
The New Christs are touring Europe right now with a new album « Gloria » : check their site and don’t miss them !!!
BTW : A little back in the history to 77 : Live at Paddington Town Hall where The Saints gave such a good show too, in the same year Rob Younger with…Radio Birman !!!
The Laughing Clowns, Ed Kuepper‘s second band after The Saints, reformed last January at All Tomorrow’s parties festival, after a 25 years long break !! In that interview Ed speaks about this exciting experience to play again with Louise Elliott (saxophone) Jeffrey Wegener (drums) Leslie Millar (upright bass); Alister Spencer joined them at the keyboards.
Ed Kuepper and Jeffrey Wegener at GoMA 2009 (Thanks Justin for the pics)
Ed formed that band in Sydney in 1979 and after producing many albums and performing with different line-ups the band spit up in 1984. We spoke about the writing song process and their projects for the future.
I illustrate Ed’s talk with many songs from the compilation « Cruel but Fair » : Diabolic creature, Ghost beat, That’s the way it goes, Stinking to High Heaven, Winter’s way + some surprises like Jeffrey’s and the King of disco’s short appearances !
Ed Kuepper, Louise Elliott and Leslie « Biff » Millar (Justin‘s great pics)
I close the show with Eternally yours recorded Live at GoMa (Gallery of Modern Art) in Brisbane after the ATP tour last January in Australia : Ed sent me that special file to play it on Meltingpod, Enjoy !! A Live album and a DVD recorded during that whole performance should be released by Prince Melon Records very soon.
If you’re Australian, don’t miss their next shows : in Melbourne May 1st, in Sydney May 2sd and 3rd !!!
Four years ago I published my first podcast on Meltingpod !! A incredible adventure which started in 2004 from the USA with Adam Curry (the podfather) and Dave Winner and for me with my friend Michael Butler from San Francisco who hosts the Rock and Roll Geek Show…So I chose to play a lot of songs from American bands for that fourth anniversary !
Frank Meyer (the Street Walkin’s Cheetahs – L.A.)
I started with a song called « Annie » by Copperpot (New Jersey) Michael found and dedicated me on his own show, then : The Hangmen (L.A.) : Here she comes Kick Kick (Kansas) : Heart over the bar Frank Meyer and Thor (L.A.) : Standing On The Edge Of Hell Small Doses (Washington DC) : B-Train Michael Butler & American Heartbreak (S. Francisco) : Things are looking up Texas Terri Bomb (L.A.) : Dream Wrecker
I hope you will enjoy that rock and roll from Obama’s country !!…
and a kind of my first birthday’s song coming from Australia…:)
The Angels from Australia created a new website when Doc Neeson joined the band again at the vocals and I’m happy to see they gave me a nice place in their news page remembering to their fans all the infos I published on Meltingpod about the band between 2005 and 2008 : 13 podcasts-phone interviews with Buzz Bidstrup, John and Rick Brewster, Doc Neeson and around 30 reviews about some of their special events and shows.
It’s time now to the Angels to come and sing their famous song « Marseille » (written in 78) IN Marseille !! Hoping some help from the sky will accompagn our efforts to meet each other in person soon !!
In this podcast and interview ED KUEPPER explains how he is joining NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS for their next European tour this Summer !! He is playing guitar in the band for a lot of festivals after Mick Harvey one of the founding member and guitarist left at the end of the ATP 2009 in Australia.
The Saints and the Bad Seeds at ATP in Sydney January 2009 (thanks Judi !)
Invited by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (ATP’s curators) Ed Kuepper and Chris Bailey reformed with their drummer Ivor Hay The Saints‘ original line-up for 6 shows during that festival last January and they added Archie Larizza at the bass and a three pieces horn section. We spoke with Ed about the rehearsals and specially about two songs I heard through the internet and recorded Live by fans : One Way Street in Melbourne (a new/old version!!) and Nights in Venice in Mt Buller.
Chris Bailey and Ed Kuepper together on stage with the Saints at ATP (Mt Buller) January 9th 2009 (pics Black Shadow Photography)
But Nick Cave invited Ed to reform the Laughing Clowns for three shows at ATP too, two shows being scheduled in the same night than the Saints !! I played for the first time on Meltingpod some Laughing Clowns’ songs : « New Bully in the Town », »As your bridges burn behind you » (studio versions) and a excerpt from « Come One Come All » (recorded Live at Mt Buller by a fan). In the second part of the podcast we will speak with Ed about the Laughing Clowns’ reunion after 25 years and their projects in the next future with more songs’ excerpts from that incredible band !!! (post punk ???..:)
Louise Elliott, Biff Millar and Ed Kuepper with the Laughing Clowns at ATP (Mt Buller) January 10th 2009 (pics James Edge)
I couldn’t be in person there but my Meltingpod’s correspondents in Australia sent me their spontaneous reviews and live pics about the All Tomorrow’s parties’ festival 2009 these last days at Mt Buller, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney with both of my favorite bands : the Saints and Laughing Clowns !!!
The Saints at Melbourne January 14th : Chris Bailey and Ed Kuepper having fun on stage together again with the horn section in the background
Ed and his Laughing Clowns (Louise, Leslie, Jeffrey) at Mt Buller January 10th : their first show since 1984 ! Alister Spence joined them at the keyboard.
Thanks to Richard Sharman for his agreement to publish here his fabulous pics; check his gallery at Black Shadow Photography for more.
Ivor Hay with the Saints at Melbourne (pic Froggie) Chris and Archie Larizza at Brisbane (pic Bob Nebe) Laughing Clowns at Sydney : Ed and Jeffrey Wegener then Louise Elliott with Leslie Millar and Jeffrey (pic Papageno)
To imagine the ambience at Sydney with THE SAINTS playing « Know your product », thanks to the fans !!!!!
I will publish later more of their pics to illustrate I hope a podcast soon with interviews and live recordings about these performances: in the waiting I’m editing a still unpublished long interview recorded with Ed in August 2007 about his Saints’ period at Brisbane and at London : yes it’s a shame but I never found the good moment ! so from now stay in touch !
Here the live reports from : Froggie who was at the Saints’ Melbourne’s show January 14th, Bob who was at the Brisbane show January 15th where the Saints created a scandal because they didn’t play their famous song « I’m stranded », a kind of ironic story !! check his blog That Striped Sunlight Sound for more, Papageno who was at the Sydney show January 17th with Laughing Clowns and the Saints !! Malcolm who was at Mt Buller completly seduced by the Laughing Clowns !! It’s very funny because at my request for a review he proposed to me to publish the spontaneous private message he sent to her friend in N.Y. !!
I hope you will appreciate their enthusiasm and sincerity.
Dimi Dero Inc : A French band who loves Australia as much as me, you could hear it in the live interview I recorded with Dimi Dero (vocals and guitar) and Vinz (bass) after the show-case they did at Lollipop Store in Marseille just before their show at « la machine à coudre » in October 2008. We spoke about their connections with Australia, their friendly and musical complicities with a lot of Australian musicians : Penny Ikinger, Loene Carmen, Delphine and Warren Ellis, Mick Harvey, Rob Younger from Radio Birman and the New Christs, Steve Lucas and Cathy Green from X, the Drones…
Jean-Luc (guitar), Dimi (vocals and guitar), Pascal (drums)
Experimentation with an electric drill used as a mediator; Vinz at the bass.
Beside their musical project with Dimi Dero Inc or with Penny Ikinger when she is touring Europe, Dimi plays in many bands as a drummer (Tex Napalm, Mark Steiner, Youpi Youpi Yeah…) and Vinz with Holy Curse.
Their next album will be produced by Rob Younger but Dimi has his own label too Stagger Records created at the origin to release a tribute album to Rowland S. Howard (Birthday Party) and for other bands in a next future.
To illustrate the interview I played some excerpts from Dimi Dero’s solo album « Good Morning Monsieur Edvard » and from Dimi Dero Inc’s both first albums « Greetings from Trauma » and « Sisyphus, window cleaning » + some live recordings at la machine à coudre for the ambience !! Enjoy !!
the show-case at Lollipop Store; at the end of the show, Dimi wanted to play drums !!
THE SAINTS with founding members Chris Bailey (vocals), Ed Kuepper (guitar) and Ivor Hay (drums) + Archie Larizza (bass) and a three piece horn section, they will bring you 5 times to their Paradise :
9th Jan at Mt Buller Victoria and 17th and 18th Jan at Sydney (Cockatoo Island) during the ATP festival
14th Jan at Melbourne and 15th Jan at Brisbane for two ATP besideshows where The Saints will perform their whole first album « I’m Stranded » !!!
BTW : X (founded by Ian Rilen) will open the Melbourne show with performing their whole album « At home with you »!!
and… LAUGHING CLOWNS with Ed Kuepper (guitar and vocals) Jeffrey Wegener (drums) Louise Elliott (sax) and Leslie Millar (upright bass), they will do their first return on stage since 1984 with 4 shows :
10th Jan at at Mt Buller Victoria and 17th and 18th Jan at Sydney (Cockatoo Island) during the ATP festival (3 hours before the Saints’ show !! Go Ed !!)
and 23th Jan at Brisbane (outside the ATP festival)
PS : I will publish new podcasts as soon as the flu’s bad virus which catched me from Christmas will let my ears and voice free again…it’s Winter and cold here !
Meltingpod Connections : Update January 10th : THE SAINTS are giving another show with NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS at Mona Foma festival at Hobart in Tasmania Januray 12th !!
Update January 7th 2009…when I told you…
it’s Winter at Marseille city !! more pics on MELTINGTALKS !!
Penny Ikinger from Melbourne Australia played in Marseille during her European tour 2008 with a special line-up called Penelope Inc including Dimi Dero on the drums and Vinz at the bass guitar, both played together in the band « Dimi Dero Inc« . It was a great musical and human pleasure to meet them three together : a true Australian-French Meltingpod as I love !!
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Penny Ikinger playing at Marselle at la machine a coudre !!
Penny gave me a very spontaneous Live interview after the show and I illustrated our talk with some rough excerpts of the Live show at la machine a coudre : the best underground punk rock place in Marseille !! Thanks to the Relax and co’s team who organized that show !
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Penny and Dimi Dero on the drums; Dimi very focused…
I started and closed the podcast with two songs from her first album « Electra » : « Poison Berries » and « Kathleen » to give you a better and proper idea of her music.
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Dimi; Penelope Inc : Penny, Dimi and Vinz (Dimi Dero Inc and Holy Curse from Paris)
Penny explained how she chose Dimi and Vinz to make that European tour; I will introduce you later in details these both French musicians from Paris in a next podcast when they gave a show in Marseille with their band « Dimi Dero Inc » : they played in too much different line-up in the same time to write it here.
Norbert Krief aka Nono, guitarist and founding member of the French band TRUST in 77, accepted to give me an interview when they played in Marseille on October 10th during their European tour 2008.
Trust in Marseille : Nono (guitar), Bernie (vocals), Farid (drums) and a wonderful lightshow but pretty hard to take good pics in three songs !
Nono was enough kind to answered to my questions in English for being understable by my listeners and all their fans around the world even if it was not easy for us both to really express ourselves in a foreign language. I hope you will appreciate the performance !! We spoke about their new album « 13 Ã table », the critique about our society and politics’ drifts or failures in their lyrics (even if Bernie is the master, he was not free for the interview), the evolution of their music (Nono writes the melodies),
Nono, Bernie, Deck (DJ), Vivi (guitar) and Iso (bass) in action !
…their world reputation in the hard rock scene (cf. the American band Anthrax covering « Antisocial » in English), even if they just considered themselves as a rock band, their friendship with the Australian bands Rose Tattoo and AC/DC and I illustrate the interview with some excerpts of their new album as well as some good old songs which crossed and touched all the generations during 30 years.
no break and the audience is crazy, sang all a long the show (at the fire front Nono 55 a big fan came from the East of France)
First French Woman in Podcasting – Meltingpod : the Queen of Rock and Roll Podcasters will rock your world Live from Marseille
