026_029_LS526_previews_editorial 13/05/2011 13:16 Page 3
LATEST PREVIEWS MUSIC&CLUBS 27 CLUBS: GUILTY PLEASURES Guilty Pleasures is all about pop. Lots and lots of bangin', catchin', pumpin' tunes that will get on you on to that dancefloor, shakin' that thang, and will make you never want to leave. That's the idea. Concorde 2, 21 May, 11pm–4am, £10/7 CLUBS: CU NEXT TUESDAY It's all about the funky house, the R'n'B with maybe a dash of indie, dance and selected cuts of D'n'B and electro. Expect a night of mostly students, all ready for a non-stop dancing till they can dance no more. Digital, 17 May, 10pm–3am, £4/3 MUSIC: GIANT SAND AND DEVON SPROULE A one-off Brighton Festival special brings together two of the finest writers of off-road adventures in the spirit of Americana. Howie Gelb’s Giant Sand have been making some of the finest and yet skewed post-hardcore sounds that have significantly influenced the current generation of Americana players such as M Ward, Bon Iver and, of course, Devon Sproule. Since her breakthrough album of 2007, Keep Your Silver Shined, Sproule's generally sparkling and uplifting songs have shined very brightly, in part thanks to her highly compelling live performances. Dome Concert Hall, 19 May, 8pm, £18-10
MUSIC: LEE 'SCRATCH' PERRY The crazy dubmeister aka The Upsetter has played in Brighton many times over the years, including legendary performances at the old Essential Festival. Despite his advancing years there seems no letting up for this producer whose eccentric dubheavy and groove-laden sounds have influenced everyone from Bob Marley to Adrian Sherwood who shares the bill tonight along with Max Romeo. Dome Concert Hall, 20 May, 8pm, £20-10
MUSIC: WALLIS BIRD Impassioned and energetic performer, this Irish gal is perhaps best known for her storming cover of ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’. A 5 foot 2 inch bundle of white heat, Bird (for we may call her that!) has acquired a fanbase who just can't get enough of her infectious zest for life. Born left-handed, after losing five fingers in a lawnmower accident (and having four sewn back on again) on her left hand, she became used to playing a right-handed guitar upside-down, which contributes to her unconventional style of playing. Winner of the prestigious Meteor (Irish Brits) as Best Irish Female in 2010. Latest Music Bar, 17 May, 9.30pm, £7
MUSIC: JOHN CALE Jeff Hemmings profiles the Welsh legend.
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omewhat the unsung hero of British 'pop', John Cale is dangerously close to being viewed a national treasure, an artist who has refused to compromise his art in search of perhaps greater fortune. Last year he was appointed an OBE. Of course, without his stint with the original art-rockers Velvet Underground, we may never have got to properly hear this Welshman, who found his way to New York in 1963 to further his nascent career in music, with his viola his first instrument. It was in that same year he performed with John Cage and others in an 18-hour piano-playing marathon that was the first full-length performance of Erik Satie's Vexations! But it was as a founding member of the Velvet Underground that truly laid the foundations for a musical career that has veered from the musically confrontational and threatening to the quiet, refined and accessible, and always with the beating heart of a thoughtful thinker at its core. Although he only appeared on the first two VU albums, his contributions as a musician, co-writer and occasional vocalist would have secured his place in rock'n'roll history.... but life went on after that, and still does. “The big debate was: is it pretty music or is it the edgier stuff?” says Cale about leaving the band. “It became a headlong collision, it didn't work after a while.” After that, Cale wasn't sure of his direction... “I was clutching at straws, but I thought one of things I could do was produce...” The roll call of musicians he has performed with or produced over the years includes Nick Drake (two tacks on his Bryter Layter album), Terry Riley, The Stooges, Nico, Squeeze, Patti Smith, Sham 69(!), Brain Eno, Suzanne Vega, Siouxie Sioux... the list is long and endless. For such an iconic and influential figure Cale has remained the cold outsider, a loner all the way. Cale spoke no English at all (his Welsh speaking mother taught him that at the beginning) until he was seven years old, and in his 1999 biography, What’s Welsh For Zen, he speaks of everything from the dourness of life in a mining village to being molested as a child at the local church... Three marriages later, Cale has shifted through neo-classical, pastoral, rock'n'roll and electronic influences, plus even a little hip hop in recent years. Cale has said about his music, “the songs are about characters talking about things, so you can make it very different each time you do it depending on the ecology of the character in each song.” For Cale the 70s and 80s, while witnessing some outstanding works including Paris 1919, Music For A New Society and Artificial Intelligence, were a period of prodigious drug use which finally came to an end on the birth of his only child, Eden. “What I was fooled by was thinking that I was working harder than without all that stuff. I didn't find out till I stopped that the floodgates opened... All that time!? What was I doing!?” For the Brighton Festival, guest director Aung San Suu Kyi, the human rights advocate and Nobel Peace Prize winner, has invited Cale to appear with his band for a one-off appearance performing songs to the festival's theme of exile and home. An apt theme for this still restless and yearning rock'n'roll pioneer. John Cale, Monday 23 May, Dome Concert Hall, 8pm £25-10 follow me on twitter
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