January 14, 2007
MUSIC NEWS
FROM THE BASEMENT GOSSIP & 2 EXCLUSIVE PERFORMANCES FROM FRANK BLACK
I got to know Nigel Godrich, the prodigiously gifted producer of some of my favourite albums by Radiohead, Beck, Pavement, Travis and many other indie behemoths when I met Fran & Doug from Travis back in 1999. Since that time Doug, Nigel and I along with our friend Garth Jennings from Hammer & Tongs always talked about doing a new music show that would be an alternative to Jools Holland’s excellent but sometimes maddeningly diverse show and in 2005 we came very close to actually getting it done. Nigel would record the acts, I would present and crap about with them, Garth would direct it and Doug would make us drinks and tell us we were very clever. It was supposed to be like the best bits of shows like The Old Grey Whistle Test, Rapido and Snub TV, all music programmes that weren’t averse to mixing great straightforward performance stuff with other, less reverent ballcrap. I thought of calling it The Basement Tapes but Nigel didn’t like that cos he thought people would just think of the Bob Dylan record so Garth came up with From The Basement. In the end Nigel decided to go it alone with the legendary Sophie Muller directing and no one presenting or making drinks, but they kept the title I see.
Nigel plundered his contacts book and lined up Thom Yorke, Four Tet and The White Stripes for their pilot show. I went along to a little bit of the taping they did at the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios in London and caught the end of The White Stripes set. I felt a bit of a lemon because a few days before that I was all set to be presenting the thing and now I was just a hanger-on, but I couldn’t resist having a look and I’m glad I did because The Stripples were extraordinary and I got to stand just a few feet away as they did their pretend-brother-and-sister-rock-pyrotechnical shtick. It was like a fucking bomb going off I’m telling you! Between songs Jack would noodle about and stare at Meg and she would stare back as he noodled and boy, those were some delicious noodles! Whether you like the Stripes or not you’d have to be a bit of a duffer to deny the man has some pretty enjoyable guitar chops. And when he opens his mouth, whether it’s a blues rip-off Led Zep spoof or not, it’s quite a thing to hear! Oh goodness!
I left Maida Vale feeling a strange mix of elation at having seen The White Stripes in action at such close quarters and melancholy that we weren’t going to make the show we talked about but having seen the results on I-tunes I have to admit Nigel and co did a great job. I must say though, I do think it’s a shame that they went so big budget with the whole production that they’re having to charge people to recoup their costs but as it was their own money they were spending I guess that’s fair enough. It’ll get bootlegged anyway so no big deal. I recommend you check it out. As you’d expect from Godrich it sounds wonderful and Sophie Muller has made it look very nice indeed. I still think it would have been even more wicked if I’d got Thom Yorke to do some improvised rapping with me though…
I haven’t given up hope that one day we’ll get it together to do a new music show that is cheaply produced but good and funny and focuses on underground bands as well as heavy hitters but for the time being here’s a bit of footage that I shot of Frank Black back in 2001. Frank (or Charles to give him his proper name) was in town warming up for some solo shows so I called him (as I still had his number from when we did a video for his song Dog Gone) and asked if he’d mind me coming along to John Henry rehearsal rooms in north London and filming a few numbers with my camcorder. I was about to get married so I had the idea that I’d get him to dedicate the songs to my wife and I’d play them to her on our wedding day. How’s that for taking advantage?! I’ve cut the dedications out of these videos as I’m putting them on You Tube and it would look weird, but Charles was so charming and generous about the whole thing and it really made our wedding day extra memorable. He did a big long speech before each one for my wife as if they were old friends and she was really knocked out when she saw them. I’ve never met Dave Grohl but I have him and Frank Black bracketed in my most hardest rocking yet lovely men section of my brain.
Even before he indulged my giant sentimental streak so outrageously Frank Black was always quite a hero of mine and his music means so much to me, both with the Pixies and in his solo capacity. The Pixies body of work is pretty lean and well known but Frank Black’s is a little tubbier, less celebrated and sometimes maligned by music snobs, keen to judge everything they hear by their favourite Pixies moment. I’m sentimentally prejudiced, but they’re missing out is all I can say. My clips aren’t exactly up to Nigel Godrich/Sohpie Muller standards (I had 2 mini DV cameras and no proper mic so the sound was shitty, hence the ludicrous amount of reverb I stuck on afterwards…) but if you’re a fan you should dig them. I asked Charles if he’d mind me posting these bits and he was fine about it so I may stick up a few more nuggets Joe and I filmed with him at a later date. And if you’re not yet a convert, buy Teenager Of The Year NOW and get on the Black bus! And don’t forget to check out From The Basement on I-tunes or here. Don’t be afraid to think ‘it would have been better with Adam Buxton presenting’! Though to be honest, you’d be slightly mental if you did…