Getintothis editor Peter Guy offers his end of year reflection
As a remarkable year in music draws to a close, Getintothis’ Peter Guy offers his annual reflection and ponders a more extraordinary future.
“There we were, now here we are, all this confusion nothings the same to me.
This is confusion am I confusing you?”
It’s all just noise. We are, we are told, surrounded by noise.
When I was growing up ‘noise‘ was something I made a lot of. Or so I’m told. Anyone who knows me probably finds that hard to believe, however, noise is something which has followed me around for much of my 37 years. And I don’t anticipate this trend being bucked anytime soon.
My first memory, of my first day at nursery involves three young boys who would become my close primary school friends – Adam, Alex and Stuart were building a large fantastical structure on the wiry industrial carpet that were prone to be fitted in schools in the 1980s. The type of carpet that should you skid on your knees would result in second degree burns and scaring akin to being attacked by a large shark. Over the course of the early part of the morning, Adam, Alex and Stuart had built their impressive wooden block structure and it now towered above most children’s heads. That was until I was dropped off by my patient and saintly grandfather, who watched in horror as his blonde-pudding-bowl-haired enfant terrible darted across the fuzzy-felted carpet and proceeded to destroy the magnificent skyscraper with several flying kicks of his blue patent shoes.
As the children balled their eyes out and the walls of wood came tumbling down, a reception class teacher came rushing through exclaiming: ‘What is that noise?‘ Four-year-old Peter Guy had arrived.
Noise nowadays is a byword for chaos and confusion. A perpetual pest on the senses and we are ever-increasingly in the grip of terrifying white noise; harsh, screaming and so loud it doesn’t just deafen but blind and knock us off balance. In our quest for more of everything: information, technology, better standards of living and happiness we consciously choose to shower ourselves in noise. And if we don’t not only is it near unavoidable, but we’re seen as either lower rate citizens or losing out in the noise game.
Much of this year’s television – or the television that is considered of cultural importance (Hypernormalisation, Black Mirror etc) – has concerned itself with information, technology, how we receive it and digesting our future. Yet the sheer volume of noise means it’s sometimes near indecipherable to digest tomorrow, let alone our future. Post-truth politics is now the norm while Question Time is closer to the bear-baiting original format of X Factor or Jeremy Kyle than a serious current affairs panel programme. But you know all this. Surely? You’re all playing along on Twitter. Our living rooms and mobile phones are the new communal worldwide pubs and last orders is never called.
It seems somewhat ironic then, that within this perpetual battle for sense and structure that it is our true noise-makers – our musicians and artists – that provide a regular platform for clarity and space (as an aside, if you want a televisual companion piece, surely the quiet, wholesome beauty of Planet Earth II is the visual accompaniment to this year’s best new music, but I digress…) – and it is quite often immersing oneself in music that helps provide relief and something of a safety net from the outside unsettling world of unrelenting, crushing noise.
And in 2016, these paradoxical worlds of noise provided the most dramatic 12 months imaginable.
With sociological and political uncertainty abounding it was the very reason why Solange, and her contemporaries, demanded quite literally a seat at the table through their musical message – and how we, as the listener, desired it more than ever. And while the new, emerging musicians roared stridently we similarly felt profound sadness at the musical giants who passed away; theirs was a loss we as music fans felt so deeply because some of the light, hope and truth they provide through the gift of song was taken away.
But the noise, keeps coming. And as 2015 closed with a tempered sigh of resignation as we mourned the passing of The Kazimier in Liverpool, we embraced the new noise and the vigour and power to renew it always offers.
This year, Liverpool music always felt like it was reshaping. A friend of mine, David, recently said he didn’t go to music events in the city centre anymore – but that was very much what many of us were forced into doing; be it promoters, artists or fans – we reacquainted ourselves with many of the older venues on offer as bands that would have surely been booked for The Kazimier were now in the more traditional spaces while pockets of smaller venues – and the odd bigger ones were to become utilised.
Intriguingly, 2016 seemed like Liverpool music’s busiest yet – for all the uncertainty about audiences and the lack of independent spaces there was never any respite – and wealth of festivals all year round again was plentiful. Punishing even. I’ll concede that these last 12 months was certainly the first when I truly started to feel my age and at times, while the mind and soul willed us on the body simply said ‘that’s quite enough of that‘. It was also the first year that we felt the positive rush of nostalgia and youth rushing though our veins as the glory years of Oasis were revisited both on screen and in art form in suitably bombastic and brilliant fashion.
But, in truth, it’s still the new noise that keeps us thirsty and invigorated, and the discovery of new artists, new spaces, new innovators and new media that drives us on – and 2016 was simply awash with it. Whether Getintothis captured it is up for debate – but I like to think we did our best…
The Magnetic North at Skelmersdale’s Engine Rooms
Best 15 Gigs of 2016
As previously alluded to, 2016 was a year of change – the default setting of The Kazimier was gone – so to was that sense of community that the space afforded. In the early part of the year audiences were noticeably down and there was a genuine sense of loss. However, by late Spring, Liverpool shook a leg and everything picked up, that’s what we’re good at. And so once again, assembling the top gigs of the calendar year was no easy task. We were miffed to miss out on some good ones (Mick Head at St George’s Hall – no press were allowed, Psychic Ills at Magnet and Fucked Up at the newly revitalised EBGBs) while there’s inevitably a few which don’t quite make the cut (Joanna Newsom at the Philharmonic Hall and Money at Leaf another two that spring to mind).
However, there was one band that seemed a constant throughout the year – both on record and through live performance – and that was The Magnetic North. Having not heard their debut album, it was through a press release and the very notion that an album had been created about a neighbouring town to my own home town that I was immediately drawn in. Prospect Of Skelmersdale would become one of my go-to albums of the year and led me to research and write about the new town which I had covered as a young journalist starting out for the Ormskirk & Skelmersdale Advertiser. Once again, I fell in love with the myths and urban tales and marveled over its eccentricities and somewhat associated sadness. All of which – and more – is covered in the band’s album; a must-listen.
That The Magnetic North would then bring the album to Skelmersdale and play DIY club, The E Rooms, which was formed to help the youngsters and artists in their small community was the stuff of dreams becoming reality. The night itself was something else; young and old gathered from Digmoor to Sandy Lane, from Tanhouse to Old Skem – joined by national press, notable Liverpool musicians, label reps and artists from Skelmersdale – and boy, the band delivered. With Skem’s Cat Called Dog kicking things off, Domino Records and Liverpool quintet We Are Catchers followed suit in what was their best performance to date with added flute and injected rhythms, before the main drawer took to the stage. What makes them quite unlike any other band around, is the three central musicians – who in turn, are so unlike each other; Hannah Peel is imbued with that sense of magic around her keyboards and assorted instrumentation and fizzes with an understated charm, Erland Cooper bounds around the stage with his bass, energy and assured wit while guitarist Simon Tong appears almost detached, an island, just doing his own thing amid a cavalcade of wondrous, almost mystical music.
There were two other occasions we caught the band; down in the woods during Festival No. 6 (review and gallery) and later in the year in a similarly enchanting performance at Liverpool’s Central Library (review and gallery) but the band’s trip to Skelmersdale will live long in the memory.
The Magnetic North
1. The Magnetic North, We Are Catchers: The E Rooms, Skelmersdale
2. George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic: O2 Academy, Liverpool (review – plus read our feature on Maggot Brain)
3. Three Trapped Tigers, Lawoftheland, Taws: Buyers Club, Liverpool (review)
4. Bill Ryder-Jones, John Grant, Richard Hawley: The Drama Studio, Sheffield (review)
5. Louis Berry, Jalen N’Gonda, The Mysterines: Leaf Tea Shop, Liverpool (review)
6. The Zutons, The Coral, The Matt Barton Band, Howie Payne: Mountford Hall, Liverpool (review)
7. Goat, Hookworms, Jane Weaver, Mugstar, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation: Albert Hall, Manchester (review)
Goat at The Albert Hall, Manchester
8. The Early Years, Xam Duo: Aatma, Manchester (review)
9. Steve Mason, Nick Ellis: Arts Club, Liverpool (review)
10. Ulrika Spacek, Shrinking Minds, FUSS: Studio 2 at Parr Street, Liverpool (review)
11. John Carpenter: Liverpool Olympia (review)
12. Ex-Easter Island Head, Kepla: Philharmonic Music Room, Liverpool (review)
13. The Brian Jonestown Massacre: O2 Academy, Liverpool (review)
14. Johnny Echols and guests perform the songs of Love: Sefton Park (review)
15. Steve Gunn, Nathan Bowles: Philharmonic Music Room, Liverpool (review)
16. Explosions in the Sky, Entrance: Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool (review)
And if you’re after knowing what was our most bizarre and quite possibly poorest live showing we’ve seen in a good time, click here.
Steve Reich’s Different Trains at Edge Hill Station
Best Event of 2016
There was certainly no shortage of things to see and do in Liverpool over the last 12 months and I found myself drawn to more and more away from live music. The John Moore’s Painting Prize and the lazers in the Toxteth reservoir plus some odd goings-on involving half-naked pig men in bras in the Open Eye Gallery were personal highlights from this year’s Biennial while staples Liverpool Irish Festival, Light Night and the Voodoo Ball all were hailed as triumphs once again (full round up of all the best arts event in 2016 here).
However my top three events of 2016 couldn’t be more contrasting – which just about sums up the year.
Running in at third is, Ryoichi Kurokawa‘s stunning digital experience at FACT. Not since Kurt Hentschläger migraine inducing ZEE have we been thrilled so much by a senses-destroying digital piece of artwork. Kurokawa enveloped us with interstellar void-like panaramas which shape-shifted and plunged us into new worlds of colour and textures before blowing our inner ears with deafening noise and high pitched clicks and glitches. It was visceral yet beautiful and compulsive too; so much so we stayed in for the experience three times before entering the white washed walls of the outside galleries and wondering for much of the remainder of the day what we’d experienced. For a fuller experience check out Sinead Nunes reflection on the rise of superlative digi performance art in the city.
In a galaxy far, far away, a nine-breasted woman entertained the masses in November in a show few people will ever witness ever again.
Yep, after 11 years of trying Club EVOL finally ensnared Peaches – and it was truly worth the wait. It almost seemed like fate, that after missing out so many times down the years, that Liverpool would finally have Peaches play to them in a venue which could finally match her supremely provocative performance art – the Invisible Wind Factory (review and gallery) and on her 50th birthday. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Dancing vaginas, Yeti-like monsters, a 40 foot inflatable phallus with gushing liquid and so much more (all of which explicit to the max) was played out as the IWF transformed into a hyper-sexual vision of the future – imagine 70s New York meets Blade Runner.
The Faux Queens and Stealing Sheep added Merseyside verve to the occasion to ensure this was no ordinary gig on a Friday evening but a once in a lifetime spectacle with impossibly good fun the likes of which we’re unlikely to see again.
Happy Birthday Peaches, love EVOL!
However, in the city that never sleeps, this year’s Liverpool event was undoubtedly the world premier of Steve Reich‘s visionary piece Different Trains performed for the very first time with visuals and played out at the world’s oldest fully functional passenger railway station – Liverpool’s Edge Hill Station.
What unfolded on that cold rather grey evening was simply extraordinary. People had travelled from around Europe to experience the event while Boiler Room, The Guardian and BBC all live streamed it.
Mats Bergstrom‘s opening of Electric Counterpoint was an exercise of outlandish musicianship which had me recalling moments of Popol Vuh‘s Einsjäger & Siebenjäger while the centre-piece of the evening saw a quartet from the London Contemporary Orchestra reduce people to tears as the combination of sweeping orchestration married to film-maker Bill Morrison‘s imagery (the profoundly moving pictures of the Jewish concentration camps was quite terrifying) was literally something else.
Absorbing & hugely emotive evening, #DifferentTrains was something else – genuine 'were you there' kinda night. pic.twitter.com/XN1PuU6D8n
— Peter Guy (@Getintothis) September 29, 2016
It all seemed slightly surreal too; standing there on a sloped cobbled street on the fringes of the city drinking lacklustre red wine amid such evocative artistry while real-life electric trains whizzed past as the steam ones simultaneously chugged on across the makeshift stage. Each one accompanied by wry grins or the odd cheer. When it finished there was a genuine sense of wonder in the air, people mooched about digesting it all not quite knowing what had unfolded. We then made our way back to the station.
For the full treatment, read Joe Giess review which includes an accompanying gallery plus a live recording from Parr Street Studios.
Steve Power (second left) receives the GIT Award 2015 on behalf of Bill Ryder-Jones from Bella Union’s Simon Raymonde (far right) and Heavenly Recordings’ Jeff Barrett (centre) with host Roger Hill (far left)
The GIT Award 2016
The fifth GIT Award was perhaps our best yet – moving from The Kazimier to Constellations proved a real treat. We welcomed new faces to the judging panel in the shape of 6 Music‘s Gideon Coe and Jon Hillcock, the Unsigned Guide‘s editor Louise Dodgson and Vevo‘s Dot Levine. The launch at Buyers Club including Pink Kink, Ohmns, Nelson, Trudy and the Romance and Harvey Brown was one of my personal favourite events while in March we announced this year’s set of nominees.
From Deltasonic-signed psychedelic collective The Vryll Society to Polydor Records’ fuzzy-poppers Clean Cut Kid through to do-wop trio Trudy; electronic machinehead TVAM, Heavenly Recordings’ slacker rock & rollers Hooton Tennis Club and mutant-rock outfit RongoRongo; through to fast-rising soul pop band MiC LOWRY and death metal behemoths Dragged Into Sunlight; through to critics’ pop diamonds Stealing Sheep and Domino Records’ visionary Bill Ryder-Jones; through to cosmic Rock Action Records’ droners Mugstar and bedroom electropop L U M E N – this year’s shortlist represented a kaleidoscopic musical picture few cities in the world could match.
On the night, Tayá followed in the footsteps of Louis Berry and Låpsley (who both featured in a whopping new piece of artwork) by winning our One To Watch Award. And Bill Ryder-Jones was revealed as this year’s GIT Award 2016 winner. Liverpool Vision‘s Kevin McManus followed in the footsteps of The Kazimier‘s directors crew and Africa Oye organisers by collecting the Inspiration Award. Later in the year he was named UNESCO City of Music producer.
We closed the year with a mighty fine 2017 launch party at Liverpool Music Week featuring former nominees Xam Volo and RongoRongo plus a raft of new artists. It was a hoot. We will be back in 2017 – and entries are open.
Bernie Connor
Hero of 2016
Looking through the list of former Local Unsung Heroes on Merseyside and it’s easy to see the parts they’ve played in the new music scene; whether that be shaping a festival, providing the imagery or colour of what plays out before our eyes and ears or perhaps even being a new kid on the block who provides a label or platform for the artists to develop and share their talent.
This year’s hero is a bit different. He’s one who many people from different generations of Merseyside music know and love but perhaps more than ever is needed within the community. He provides not just the knowledge and passion on a daily basis through his music podcasts and inimitable social media offerings but sometimes extends the paternal arm around shoulders or ears when we’re not sure if things are going quite right.
He’s also an ever present fixture in the myriad of festivals that the city has to offer, often providing the best musical interludes or dance floor offerings that some of the main drawer artists fail to match. Whether it was in the wet and cold of Liverpool Music Week‘s closing party, tucked away somewhere at LIMF or certainly offering a sober set of eyes and ears while the world loses it’s shit amid the mess that is Liverpool Psych Fest. Interestingly, he’s also been the go-to guy when the city needed to reflect on the passing of David Bowie, spinning tracks in the early hours at Buyers Club and making sense while we partied like lunatics. Speaking of which, he’s fast becoming the Godfather to the latest set of loons playing wired rock and roll around the city’s various lofts and bunkers.
In what’s been another whirlwind 12 months, there’s few people who have offered steady assurance (armed with a box of killer tunes) to so many than Bernie Connor, and that’s why he’s our Hero of 2016.
2015 – Robert Lewis
2014 – Christopher Tyler
2013 – Sam Wiehl
2012 – Tom Lynch
2011 – Joe Wills
2010 – Gary ‘Horse’ McGarvey
2009 – Mark McNulty
2008 – Andrew Ellis
The Early Years – great to have em back
Label of 2016
No easy choices this year – as exemplified by our first democratically assembled top 100 albums of 2016 there were more than 70 individual record labels making up that pile.
I could probably draw some conclusions about how it’s great there’s such a wealth of choice and isn’t it great to have so many independents flying the flag for new music, however, having spoken to many of these indies the truth is, running a label is perhaps harder than it’s ever been. That said, huge props to all that do. Our perennial favourites 4AD (Liima, Merchandise, LNZNDRF) served up some new gems and Rocket Recordings (Goat, Josefin Ohrn) while XL Recordings had another stormer with big hitters Radiohead and Kaytranada backed by Låpsley‘s strong debut offering. Elsewhere the Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar and Secretly Canadian stable delivered a trio of our albums of 2016 in Whitney, Ryley Walker and Bon Iver.
However, for our label of this year goes to one which has influenced the soundtrack to our favourite festival and one of our most memorable nights of the year – as well as two of our top new band discoveries – and that’s Sonic Cathedral. Having DJ-ed almost every year at Psych Fest (usually at some ludicrous hour in the morning; thus showing commitment and stamina for the cause) and delivering new albums by Xam Duo and The Early Years – plus other delights such as Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, Spectres and a special EP of Kraftwerk covers, there’s was a year of glorious unabated noisy abandon. It was marvellous to be caught up in it.
Way Out West, Gothenburg
Festivals of 2016
Barely a week passes in Liverpool now without some form of festival. Gone are the months of respite – nope, Liverpool is quite literally capital city for festivities. Unlike previous years in my annual review where I’ve reflected upon the highs and lows of each event, I will instead point to some personal highs. The reason is obvious – I’d be here all day – and further, we’ve provided extensive coverage of all in great detail – of which I will list below.
That said, Threshold Festival which kicked off 2016 once again proved a genuine big hit with many of our contributors who now rate the Baltic Triangle event as perhaps their favourite – and it’s understandable – what with the vast array of arts on offer plus a genuine sense of fun amid the diversity of musicianship on offer, Threshold has done what so many other festivals fail to do – bring atmosphere and inclusivity to their event: festival goers now feel a sense of belonging. The same could be said for newcomers Positive Vibrations Festival (review and gallery) and Liverpool Disco Festival 2016 (review and gallery) as fun and vibrancy were perhaps the overriding factors over that of major music bookings. Perhaps that’s their key to long-term success?
Sound City 2016
Liverpool Sound City, meanwhile, proved an up and down affair but my personal highlights were Black Ice‘s superb talk in the Titanic Hotel while the array of dance artists in the cavernous Baltic Warehouse was a stellar bit of curatorship – Floating Points the undeniable weekend set of the festival. Paul Higham‘s extensive feature including the 17 best artists from the festival plus what we learnt provides a clear picture of one of the city’s flagship music operations.
When once the summer time signaled we could all down tools and enjoy a little break, with the advent of Liverpool International Music Festival, our seasonal break was no more. And in 2016, LIMF upped its game once again – to such an extent, we can now view it as a serious heavyweight contender – we’d argue it is the best in the city for offering new talent a fair crack, the diversity is second to none when it comes to bookings and with the night-time programme back in the city, there’s a greater emphasis on the entire festival having a more rounded coherent programming. While these year’s special commissions offered slightly less than 2015, the overall LIMF effect was seriously impressive – and the itsLiverpool Stage unmissable. With council cutbacks inevitable in 2017, we sincerely hope it doesn’t impact what is fast becoming a big player in the UK’s festival season.
On paper, Liverpool Music Week looked slightly underwhelming, what unfolded was anything but – and it was the homegrown artists who outshone some of the bigger bookings. Whatever Louis Berry has for breakfast, we want some, as his gig in Leaf was a near out of body experience while She Drew The Gun and Clean Cut Kid both matched Berry in selling out their shows. If there’s a criticism, and we’ve alluded to it in previous years, LMW’s format is in desperate need of change – 11 days of straight gigging is impossible for even the most hardy of music fans – and smaller shows such a Dream Wife (which was ace) were in need of a little bit more love. That said, with John Carpenter and a chaotically-fun closing party finale, Liverpool Music Week 2016 should be hailed an unequivocal triumph.
Warpaint at Liverpool Music Week
Similarly triumphant was a sunsoaked Africa Oye (review and gallery) while Lemar brought the pizzazz to Liverpool SoulFest (review and gallery) and Skeleton Coast in Hoylake (review and pictures) proved a hit for emerging new artists.
Elsewhere, the Getintothis team were up and down the country like proverbial yoyos: Download proved wet and sometimes wild, the Glastonbury Festival (review and pictures) was it’s usual all-encompassing monster, Rebellion Festival in Blackpool reminded us in glorious detail that punk’s very much alive and booting (review and pictures), Green Man (review) and End of the Road (review and pictures) once again were superlative mid-tier offerings, the mania of Boomtown (review) almost proved too much, the pop oddity that was Fusion Festival (review and pictures) came to the North West, Festival No. 6 was almost ruined by the car-park furore (review and gallery) but we still had a ball, Off The Record, which combined awesome new artists and insider’s talks (review and gallery) and fellow Manchester festival Neighbourhood (review) had a fine inaugural years, Fest EVOL overcame a mini hitch and expanded to its most ambitious offering to date (review and pictures) and Beat-Herder was hailed as the finest boutique the north has to offer (review).
And as if to emphasise just how good we have it, the city once again led the way at the Festival Awards with Cream, Liverpool Music Week, Sound City and Positive Vibration scooping major honours. It was quite the achievement. If somehow you’re short on festivities – next year Liverpool has another to look forward to with the birth of Wrong Festival – a uniting of underground rock and experimentalism. It looks very good already.
But there can be but three and here’s our top 2016 festivals…
Kikagaku Moyo
1. Liverpool Psych Fest 2016: Camp and Furnace, Blade Factory, District (review and gallery plus what we learnt and the top bands of the festival).
2. Liverpool International Music Festival (reviews and galleries, plus what we learnt).
3. Liverpool Music Week: various venues (reviews and picture galleries).
Pusha T at Primavera 2016
Overseas Festival 2016
The last 12 months has seen the Getintothis team travel the globe in search of new music – and the festival season proved our most fruitful yet.
Way Out West in Gothenburg proved a treat (review and gallery) as did Electric Castle in Romania (review) and Sziget in Hungary (review and gallery) however there was simply one unequivocal overseas event which had everyone talking.
Organisers of Barcelona’s Primavera Sound may well have put together the line up of all-time – and boy did it deliver. Having waxed lyrical almost every week since returning home more than six months ago, we’ll simply urge you to get your ticket for this year’s festival – and if you were there this year, consider reliving the majesty in our epic review here. It really was an unforgettable experience.
Finally, to add balance, a word of caution to all festival organsiers was delivered by Laura Brown…
Black youngsters interviewed for television in the aftermath of race disturbances in 1972
Top 10 Getintothis‘ Posts of 2016
It was only our second year as an independent entity since moving away from the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo, and my, how the ship sailed. As a website we’ve increased from a post a day just a couple of years ago to now publishing around eight and on some ludicrously busy weeks around a dozen. It’s a staggering achievement given that we’re still an entirely voluntary enterprise. None of which would be achievable without the commitment of a small team of sub-editors who spend their own time editing the schedule which I put together each week.
What was once a make-it-up-as-we-went along approach there’s now some semblance of structure – however, in the world of music it’s rare everything goes to plan. That said, in 2016, we made an incredible leap publishing some of the finest pieces yet; in fact going through the 205 pages of published material we’ve produced this year was an enormous and humbling task – it’s fair to say, Getintothis has come a long, long way since its inception in April 2007. With that in mind, posting our top 10 posts of the last 12 months is far from definitive – these are merely a snap shot, in no particular order, of what came to mind while I trawled through, and I’ve selected them for various reasons; be it they struck a chord with myself or readers, or they’re superbly written or just very funny. I think overall, they provide a fine indication of what we’re trying to do which shows a solid insight into the cultural happenings unfolding not just on Merseyside but around the world – thanks to everyone who got involved and to those who read them.
1. For Black History Month, I suggested Janaya Pickett reach out to the Merseyside black community to see where we’re at as a city in helping artists – what came back was something altogether different, as few felt comfortable in speaking out and it was perhaps unsurprising given the National Action organised White Man March and the rise in unease given the refugee crisis, Brexit and a resurgence of black politicism in the form of Black Lives Matter and other campaigns. Instead Janaya reflected on her own multicultural past and the legacy of Liverpool’s Afro-Caribbean community in her feature on Black Scouse.
2. More than ever in 2016, we spoke to artists who we really cherish. And what came back was a brutal, uncompromising and sometimes laugh out loud picture of artists new and old with still very much something to say.
We spoke to Savages on adoring life and their search for perfection, Merseyside purveyors of noise, Conan talked doom, touring and opening their first recording studio, Earl Slick spoke candidly to us on working with Bowie, the forgotten guitarist of Liverpool, Lee Southall chatted about life after The Coral and his forthcoming album,.
We spoke to Welsh Music Prize winner, Meilyr Jones as he declared his love of Byron, Keats and how poetry has infused his art, founding member of The La’s Mike Badger talked rockabilly, rhythm and Lee Mavers‘ ego, Eleanor Friedberger relayed the sacrifices the modern day musician has to make particularly in these worrying financial times, tying in with Slavery Remembrance Day, Akala talked about his social consciousness in music.
Michael Gira (photo: William Lacalmontie)
Ahead of Liverpool Music Week, Go Go Penguin talked about the influence of Blue Note and the jazz resurgence in rock, Swans frontman Michael Gira was in characteristically fatalistic mood and Nicky Weller talked about the Mod aesthetic when she brought The Jam exhibition to Liverpool (which culminated with a gig at the Arena).
Later in the year, Hannah Peel talked dementia, hallucinations and always dreaming in song, Cats Eyes talked Pacino and The Beatles ahead of their Leaf gig, Baltic Fleet returned with his new album and James talked Trident and escaping Madchester ahead of their double-header with the Charlatans at the Arena,
However, our classic interview of 2016 goes to Patrick Clarke‘s exclusive first chat with the enigmatic and wily front-man Ashley Martin of underground Liverpool legends The Pies as they prepared to finally release their debut album – a full 30 years in the making. “We want to change the world,” proclaimed motorway-bridge-daubing Martin. Well, we’re not quite sure if that’s on the agenda – but this hilarious exchange was worth waiting for.
The Liver Birds
3. We now have around a dozen monthly columns on Getintothis, and one that proves both popular and a regular education to both myself and readers is Lost Liverpool – and in 2016 there were some corkers.
Paul Fitzgerald provides the regular delving into the city’s myths, folklore and former treasures and several favourite columns tied in with the topical themes of cultural hubs which have been lost over the passage of time including Trading Places, Macmillans and the Holmes Buildings as well as a two parter on the Beat of Bold Street (part one and part two). Elsewhere, there’s a fond reflection of when Arthur Lee teamed up with Shack and brought California sunshine to Liverpool city centre’s Wolstenholme Square plus an exploration of ‘that French film‘ and a sometimes hilarious insight into the debacle of the Lennon tribute gig at the Pier Head.
But my personal favourite was a look at The Liverbirds – Britain’s first all female rock band – the tale of four Liverpool girls who went to late 60s Hamburg to make their rock dreams come true, and had such a good time, they never came home.
4. You were more likely to talk politics than new music at a gig these days and as such we published more politically orientated pieces than ever. Jono Podmore asked what has the EU ever done for me? It turned out to be a fair bit – which made the UK’s decision look even more disappointing. Crushingly, so. And Joseph Viney offered his desperate take on Brexit insisting “it’s impossible to lie back and think of England when you’ve been so rudely pushed to your knees.” With Jeremy Corbyn resoundingly returned as Labour leader, Jono considers why powerful vested interests are so keen to brand him as unelectable.
Best of all though, was Jono‘s examination of the rise of the right, the Brexit effect, Trump and the looming threat of fascism – it’s a frightening compulsive read.
Burial’s Drowned World – a career peak
5. Back to the future we ventured throughout 2016. While we’re writing and shouting about more new music than ever, we extended our feature writing at pace throughout the year and anniversary features proved hugely popular among writers and readers alike – take a deep breath – because here they are…
We wrote about the Manic Street Preachers‘ post-Richie Edwards commercial peak Everything Must Go at 20, the collaborative wonder that was Brian Eno and David Byrne‘s My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts at 35, ten years on we looked at Sufjan Stevens‘ Illinois and Burial‘s Drowned World both proving career highs, we explored Weezer‘s difficult second album Pinkerton and The Fugees classic The Score both of which celebrated 20 years.
Later in the year, we looked at three timeless classics – Joni Mitchell‘s Blue, Carole King‘s Tapestry and <strong