Photo by Kane Hibberd
Contents 04
the screaming jets 30 year anniversary
05 jimi hocking interview 12
WE ARE COMPLEX CREATURES john adams
18 26
film noir review psycho
denise on fiction cold coast
Contents 30
are you a good liar?
33 44
ALBUM REVIEW adam and the ants
pop to the shop
46
RUBY'S art QUIZ
The Hornet Press 229A Swan Street, Richmond 3121 Editor - Anthea Palmer A s s i s t a n t - R u b y Wa t s o n Inquiries: info@jimmyhornet.com
Photo by Athol Maxwell-Davis
In the early 90s, five unlikely blokes from Newcastle took the Aussie music scene by storm. Thirty years later, The Screaming Jets are ready to perform their debut album, ‘All For One" in its entirety for the very first time. This album has a sense of fun and energy that takes you back to the days when rock music was used as an excuse to get out, dance, and run a-muck! The Screaming Jets epitomize everything there is to love about Aussie pub rock. Singer Dave Gleeson knows how to work a crowd and is known for his zany facial expressions and playfulness. The love these rockers have for each other is evident in their joyful stage strut.
up-close-and-personaL with guitarist jimi hocking what first inspired you to become a musician? I grew up in a musical household, both parents working in music, so it was the family business. I started on piano as that was my Dad'sinstrument, but after watching "A Hard Days Night," I soon wanted a guitar. There was no single point that I 'decided to be a musician. I just evolved into the role. I was always obsessed with guitars and it took up most of my time, so I guess it was always 'going to be'.
Do you have a particular method for writing songs? I think most songwriters have a variety of methods, I have a notebook that I'm always scratching lyric ideas into, and a recorder/phone that has hundreds of brief musical ideas on it. Every now and then they come out cohesively and I'll have a musical and lyrical idea that instantly work together... but more often I'll sift through my book and use the lyrics... or a musical idea as a springboard to start developing a song. Sometimes I'll just write down the title of a fictitious song... and start composing ideas based on the images the title suggests.
What or who's new music are you currently into? I don't listen to music as much as I used to for relaxation... but I should. I still listen to T-Bone Walker and BB King, but also recently discovered Samantha Fish and Jared James Nichols, both doing some great high energy blues-rock.
What would you do differently career-wise, if you had a time machine? I'm not sure there is any one thing that I would change, a career is an elastic experience, what appears to be a mistake may lead you through another door that becomes a positive. If you change something, you may not arrive at the same place. However, there may have been one or two relationships that I should have run far away from... that might be worth a time machine. ;-)
What has been the standout highlight of your career so far? I have a number of moments that would fit that bill. I played in a band in the '80s that was musically ahead of its time but had very little commercial appeal. Then I was called upon to join The Angels for their national Live Line tour, it was my 'big break', and a remarkable experience. After that I had a band Jimi the Human & Spectre 7, we had a top 20 album and it was the first time I'd had a taste of success performing my own material. Then I joined the Screaming Jets (1993), it's the band I've been part of the longest. I've had the pleasure of playing to big crowds and hearing myself on radio/TV and all that... the music industry is a cruel beast, but it's nice to break through and arrive in people's record collections. But I suppose my most talked about experiences are probably winning the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, and touring the USA. But for me, seeing Les Paul perform in NYC, and hanging out with BB King for a couple of hours ... was simply unforgettable.
Jimi the Human & Spectre 7
Photos by Athol Maxwell-Davis
How did you come to join The Screaming Jets? The band was having some problems after an early tour in the USA... it was a tumultuous time. Ritchie, the original guitarist wanted to take some time off and I was asked to step in to replace him for a threeweek tour. It turned out that Ritchie had no love for the band and simply never came back. I stayed on for a few years and Dave and I grew very close, and even though I left the band for a time to pursue my blues 'career' I was always in the loop with Dave and returned when the time was right.
What have been the greatest challenges that you've faced as a band? Well, that would be a book in the making right there. We have had many ups and downs... but in some ways, it's like any relationship, there will be constant challenges... it comes down to who has the moxy to keep pushing on and make it work. Certainly these past two years of lockdowns and canceled tours have been a bad time, but we managed to undertake two recording projects as a band that has had a great outcome.
Has the dynamic of the band changed over time? Oh sure, we have been around for thirty years now, we've had line-up changes and we've also evolved as human beings. I also think we are a group of people with a lot of idiosyncrasies. I feel it could be hard for new people to break into the inner circle with us. But we still love to create and perform music as we always have, we are not trying to be influencers... we just love the process... and we still love to rock out.
Photo by Athol Maxwell-Davis
What is coming up for you in 2022? Well, we've been trying to get our thirtieth-anniversary tour off the ground, but we have been scuttled by restrictions... all going well, we hope to embark on a major tour from July to October. In the meantime, I will do some solo shows and I have some festivals coming up... Bruthen, Port Fairy, and Blues on Broadbeach.
What's your favourite Dad joke? I'm a nightmare... my poor kids. I constantly make ridiculous 'back in my day' remarks... "Back in my day, there were no lamingtons, we had to paint blocks of polystyrene and chew on those." My kids yell/moan .... "Daaaaaddy ... stop it !"
the screaming jEts WEBSITE JIMI HOCKING WEBSITE the screaming jets on instagram
WE ARE COMPLEX CREATURES IINTERVIEW WITH IRISH ARTIST, JOHN ADAMS In a sentence, how would you describe your art?
Animals Matter Turtle in Turquoise by John Adams
I am an expressionist painter who paints landscapes, seascapes, and portraits. In my work, I try to have meaning and comment on the things that I feel passionate about that are happening in society and the World in general. Currently, I am highlighting the destruction of the environment and struggles animals face to survive because of Humans destruction of the Planet.
What materials do you like to work with, and why? I generally work in Acrylics because I find oils quite toxic and smelly also for some of my techniques use a lot of paint in quite a liquid form so it would take forever to dry. I am recently using corrugated metal sheets found dumped on the beaches of Cork harbour near me. I am using these metal sheets to highlight the amount of rubbish in the oceans, plus the overfishing of the oceans and the amount of fishing tackle dumped into the sea. This it is making the survival of so many species very difficult. Angel Model in Florence by John Adams
Do you know what a piece will look like before you start painting it? Every painting I do is different. I am not an artist who has any desire to paint the same thing for the rest of my career like so many other artists. I believe art is about expression and feelings. We are constantly changing as humans and we have so many issues and stories to tell. If I am trying to tell a particular story or if I am trying to depict something realistic then yes I think I would know what my painting is going to look like at the beginning. So much of my work is based on my subconscious mind, these paintings go where my imagination and my mind takes me. These are the works I do not know what to expect when I am starting them.
Frech Horn by John Adams
How long does a piece typically take to complete? Every painting is different and the time it takes has no bearing on the quality of my paintings unless I am trying to create a realistic image of something complicated. Many of my very fast paintings take less than a day to complete, they can be very detailed and look like they took a very long time because of my techniques of pouring and liquid painting. Other realistic paintings take a very long time. I have worked on portraits and seascapes for over a year. Sometimes I nearly give up because they are taking so long and I am not happy with them, so I put them aside, and maybe a year or two later I will look at them again and see what's good in them. I recently finished one such painting of a famous singer in Ireland (Paul Brady).
Paul Brady by John Adams
What is your main source of inspiration or ideas? My main source of inspiration and ideas is definitely the world and politics. I am always wanting to comment and make the world a better place so often my work highlights the things I find wrong with the World. One example would be my Brexit series, paintings of English Politicians who caused Brexit. My paintings of the Popes highlight the horrific evils of the Catholic Church. These paintings might not be wanted on too many people's walls, but I feel compelled to tell these stories because they have affected my life so much. I think it's very important for artists to tell these kinds of stories.
Who do you find most challenging about running your art business? I find Irish politicians most challenging in running my business because the arts are run so so badly in Ireland. Politicians have no interest or understanding of the arts in Ireland yet they are constantly using and interfering. They put all the wrong people in charge, administrators who are only interested in themselves and their careers so they prefer to show artists from other countries because it looks better on their CVs. These administrators think they are more important than the artists, who are not allowed onto any decision making committees.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring artists? I advise you to be independent, to make a living in any way you can. You must have a studio you can work in at all times, and you must have confidence in your work to constantly promote yourself. You must be many things, not only a creator. Also, you must not be too sensitive (like me) or you'll become fed up with rejection.
What platform do you sell the most work from? I have a website, and I am on Instagram, but over the last five years, Facebook is the only internet platform that I have actually sold any art on so I keep my Facebook account going even though I loath Facebook and its policies.
How has the rise of social media influenced your career? Social Media has been very good for my career. In the last ten years, through a terrible recession and terrible economic conditions in Ireland, social media has been my main way to show my work to the public and it has been good for selling my work.
What other artists or artistic movements have influenced your style? I am a huge fan of Francis Bacon and William Turner and my work has often been compared to their work, but other influences have been the Pre Raphaelites, their paintings in the middle of the 19th century are amazing. To this day I know no other artists better at painting nature and women so well. I have always loved painting nature, in particular trees. The Pre Raphaelites were the ones I looked up to for inspiration. There are so many other movements that I have been inspired by such as the Impressionists, the Renaissance artists, and artists such as El Greco, Rembrandt, David Hockney, and Jackson Pollock. I know they are a diverse bunch to be inspired by, but we are complex creatures.
do you have a go-to soundtrack or music genre when painting? I really need music to work to, I need music in my life every day. I am a rocker through and through and love punk rock and heavy rock. I love most genres of music and I particularly love painting to classical music especially classical piano.
VISIT JOHN ADAMS
P S Y C H O
ALFRED HITCHCOCK 1960
By Steven Scheloske It is time to revisit Psycho. Alfred Hitchcock is quite possibly the most highly recognizable director of all time. His name alone has become a widely used adjective... Hitchcockian. Even those who are only mildly interested in film can rattle off at least a few of Hitchcock’s works. But what makes Psycho so enjoyable, so remarkable and so memorable after all these years? Hitchcock was at the height of both his powers and popularity. Hot on the heels of the box office smash North by Northwest and his TV Show Alfred Hitchcock Presents he became interested in the Robert Block novel Psycho as well as the real story of Ed Gein, who was arrested for the murders of two women with the purpose of making a “woman suit” so that he could pretend to be his dead mother. While Hitchcock did not think highly of the novel itself, he was fascinated by the story of the lonely cross-dressing man and therefore quickly snapped up the rights to the book and commissioned newcomer Joseph Stefano to write the screenplay.
THE PLOT The plot revolves around Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) who uncharacteristically decides to steal the $40,000 cash her employer entrusted her to take to the bank. We can only assume that the act is spurred by her boyfriend’s debts and the unlikelihood of their marriage. She packs lightly and quickly, then hits the road. The people she crosses paths with on the road, (a policeman man and car salesman) all believe something is odd with her. She nervously continues her journey, gets lost in a storm, and ends up and the incredibly creepy-looking Bates Motel, run by the childlike Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Quite early on, Marion is brutally murdered at the Bates Motel in the infamous shower scene. Enter Marion’s sister Lila (Vera Miles), private detective Milton Arbogast (Martin Balsam), and Marion’s boyfriend Sam Loomis (John Gavin) who together try to find out what has happened to Marion.
PURPOSELY B-GRADE It's important to stress that this film is deliberately presented as a BGrade Movie. Hitchcock shot the film in black and white, not just for aesthetics, but also for budgetary reasons. Like an artist working with limited canvas space, Hitchcock limited his budget for Psycho to $800,000. To put things into perspective his previous film cost $4.3 million, and his following film cost $4 million. He had been impressed with the concepts of many B-Grade movies but felt they were let down with the execution. Hitchcock wanted to make a great B-Grade movie. To further the authenticity of a B-Grade movie Hitchcock, he opted to use the crew involved in the filming of his television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, rather than using the crew that he had been working with on all his major motion pictures. Again, this was a multi-purpose decision, one was budgetary, the other was to use people who were more accustomed to making cheaper films and working quickly.
CINEMATIC FIRSTS The film today is most well-known for the highly choreographed “shower scene”. This 3-minute scene has spawned countless articles, myths, legends, and disputes. It even has its own documentary 78/52 (relating to the alleged 78 shots and 52 cuts). But Psycho is a trailblazer for many more reasons than the “shower scene”. The use of suggested nudity, infidelity, lingerie was all new. The death of the leading actress in the first third of the film was a legitimate shocker and as such was cinema's first intentional jump scare. It was also the first film to take an honest approach to the psychological assessment of the so-called insane. It was also one of the first films to spend a great amount of time painting the villain as a sympathetic character. Likewise, the “good guy” and the victim, Marion Crane, committed a crime - she IS a thief on the run, yet we never see her as a bad person. These are all cinematic firsts. BUT the first that astounds me the most in Psycho is that we see a toilet flushing for the very first time in a film!
the score Another aspect of the film that is incredibly memorable is the score. Even people that have never seen the film know the strings only score. The music from the shower scene alone is known by most. It has its own life. It was at one time one of the 40 best ringtones! But there is more to be said about the arrangement. Bernard Herrmann was one of the few bigbudget movie people that Hitchcock had worked on the film.
Herrmann initially refused to work for the reduced fee but eventually succumbed. It’s hard to believe that Hitchcock originally wanted the scene to be void of a score, but Herrmann persuaded him to view the scene with what he had composed. Legend has it that Hitchcock agreed that it intensified the scene, and subsequently doubled Herrmann’s salary. While the choice to use only strings for the score was a budgetary decision, it ended up being a visionary one, that draws a connection to the B-Grade films of the ’40s and ’50s.
Thematically, Psycho offers so much more depth than a “slasher” film. There is an enormous amount of depth in the characters. All are suffering from the mistakes of their, or their partner’s pasts. These mistakes are hindering them in the present and are crushing their hopes for the future. Marion's passion for Sam leads her to actions that deny her the love, the marriage, and family home which she desires. Likewise, Norman is surrounded by his childhood toys and taxidermied animals (which are “frozen in time”). He is hanging on to a past that may have never existed hoping that it will happen in the future.
performances The performances are outstanding. Despite initially mixed reviews, award nominations started accumulating, particularly for Janet Leigh. Her portrayal of the disillusioned innocent criminal and victim is brilliant. Anthony Perkins, who had a hit and miss career since 1954 as a lowlevel “pop star” (he had released several albums and singles as Tony Perkins), and as an actor in theatre, television, and film, delivers his best performance. What makes Norman Bates so good is his childlike likeability. His innocence, integral to the story, is genuinely delivered. His emergence as Mother is truly spectacular. Second act leads, Vera Miles, Martin Balsam, and John Gavin all deliver fine performances as well.
CINEMATOGRAPHY The cinematographer John L Russell uses all his tricks in this film. Psycho may be his successful segue into film from TV, but under the direction, watchful eye, and detailed storyboards of Hitchcock, the visual impact of Psycho is incredible. Leaving the “shower scene” out for a moment, Psycho is simply marvelous photography. From the twisting surreal shots on the staircase of the Bates home to Milton Arbogast falling backward down the stairs. Many techniques were not necessarily new at the time but were executed in ways that have never been done before.
birth of the slasher Alfred Hitchcock’s low-budget horror may have given birth to the slasher film but is so much more than its offspring. It is an intelligently and tightly scripted movie, magnificently shot. It is an intense and entertaining psychological thriller. It is filled with shocks and thrills, incredibly nuanced performances with commonly identifiable characters that will stay with you for years. If it has been a while since your saw the original film, or your memory of the film has begun to fade, then it is time to revisit Psycho.
DENISE on fiction Cold Coast by Robyn Mundy Ultimo Press, 2021. Just reading the blurb about Robyn Mundy is like reading an adventure story. Her first novel, The Nature of Ice, was shaped by winters and summers spent in Antarctica. Her second novel, Wildlight, is set on an island that is home to Australia’s loneliest lighthouse. Cold Coast is influenced by working for over twenty years as a shipbased tour guide in Svalbard, Greenland. Cold coast is the story of an intrepid woman who yearned to experience the freedom and beauty of the trapper’s life in the high Arctic. The book draws from the diaries of Ivanna (Wanny) Waldstad, a woman whose determination resulted in Anders (Chief) Saeterdal taking her on as a working partner in his team of two in the 1930s.
Mundy lays bare the masculine world of the trappers. You can hear them, see them and smell them. At the end of each season they meet in men-only bars to swap stories of their conquests and to find a partner for the following season. There are no debates about whether trapping is right or wrong until the end of the book, where twenty years after her first season together, Wanny is confronted by animal activists.
‘Animal rights? The Chief would laugh aloud at the notion of a wild animal having entitlement, having value beyond the price it fetched. He and she never entertained such indulgence. A time of simple needs, she has written in her letter. We depended on ourselves and we got on with it, made do with what we had.’ Mundy fearlessly and appropriately reports true to the approach to trapping of the 1930s. To have tampered with the prevailing views would have dishonoured the protagonist – and the writer - and undermined the beauty of the story. Despite her determination to work hard and skilfully at everything a male partner would contribute, Wanny is always and every inch a woman. Mundy is uncompromising in the picture of Wanny’s life in the wild. There is no softening of her experiences to make them more palatable. Neither is there exaggeration to make them sensational. You watch her growing thinner, hands calloused, nails shredded. You share her revulsion at the smell of animals opened end to end with a sharp knife. You want to stand with her when she walks out of the hut into the wide sky and drinks in the wonder of the landscape.
Rare man-made constructions sit without confidence in the majestic landscape. Foxes spray huge crosses left behind by Russian Orthodox Pomors as they pass. Huts, built to make human habitation possible, are raided by bears. There is no doubt where control lies, and it is not with man or woman. This is also the story of a female blue fox cub, the runt of the litter, who learns fast how to cope when thrown out by her parents, where to find the meat on which she will opportunistically gorge until it hurts, and how to walk the thin line between wary avoidance of the hunters and accepting titbits of food before they are ready to trap her. Little Blue, as she’s named, lives a life parallel to Wanny. She learns to adapt and survive. She learns how to avoid risk. And she seeks a partner to share her future. The language of the book is taut and lean, the perfect vehicle to conjure the trapper’s world of ice and risk and aching beauty.
‘Beyond the finger of land an ice tongue pushes out across the water. Inland is a patchwork of crater rims, knife-edge ridges, pointed mountains too numerous to count, each broad valley filled with a river of ice. It is not simply the sight of all this wonder that has her turn to look again; it is the need to place herself solidly within in. People see her as a woman of small stature but out in nature she has always felt tall, made bigger and stronger by breathing in the mountains of home. Yet here she is as small as a saxifrage flower….All the stories the trappers tell; none can fully prepare you.’
‘She shakes off the racing in her chest. Why should this one matter? She is immune to every white fox she pulls from the fall traps. She is held by a fug that eddies through her gut, seesaws into numbness. This is just another fox caught in a trap. Another to bolster their numbers. Their reason for being here. But her body will not be placated. Her skin prickles. Her hands fumble, all nerves and jitters. Why? Why Ivanna? Because you are too soft to be a trapper.’
I experienced a chill wind throughout the reading, at times thinking to find a coat and gloves despite the Clare Valley sun on the mild spring day outside my window. I read this book in one sitting, but I will reflect on it for much longer.
VISIT DENISE PICTON
ARE YOU A GOOD LIAR? Do you tell your kids everything’s fine, as it’s all turning to caca? Does her bum REALLY look big in that?
Compassionate people are more likely to indulge in little white lies, intended to smooth over interactions and soften the truth.
These are what scientists call “prosocial lies,” told for someone else’s benefit. Lies told for personal gain are therefore called “antisocial lies.” More than just a theory of mind, prosocial lying requires the ability to identify suffering (empathy) and the desire to ease that suffering (compassion). It also involves anticipation of how our words may cause suffering with hypothetical reasoning.
BEING A GOOD LIAR REQUIRES EMPATHY, COMPASSION, AND A COMBINATION OF MEMORY AND IMAGINATION.
Ly i n g f o r G o o d G u i d e l i n e s BE KIND When in doubt, be kind. It's better to tell a well-intentioned lie if there are no long-term consequences than to hurt someone's feelings. Don’t use honesty as an excuse to be cruel or selfish.
timing Think about timing. There's no need to be brutally honest at a time when the person involved has no ability to change the situation.
SEEK PERMISSION What’s your preference? Directly ask the person seeking your input whether they prefer the truth, or want a watered-down version.
motivation Be aware of your motivation. Are you trying to make the person feel better, or are you hoping he or she will give you something in return?
EFFECT CHANGE Be truthful if you want to assist with change. If there's a real issue the target may pay too high a price for your white lie. Better to address the problem directly than try to avoid embarrassment or an argument.
REASSURANCE Less-than-honest reassurance. Often people are seeking reassurance more than a statement of fact. ”Did I make a fool of myself at the party last night?”
GOLDEN RULE Remember the Golden Rule. Ask yourself if you'd like to be told the same lie.
Research and Reading Link
Adam & The Ants Prince Charming 1981
by Victor Stranges
“Adam and the ants were unequivocally the biggest pop band in the UK, a position they would occupy for the next 18 months (at one dizzying juncture in 1981, they had seven singles in the Top 40 at once).” (Alexis Petridis, THE GUARDIAN).
Adam and the Ants’ debut independent album release, “Dirk Wears White Sox” (1979), peaked at number one on the UK Independent Albums Chart. Indie success had caught the ear of Sex Pistols’ manager, Malcolm McLaren who agreed to manage the band. Unfortunately, McLaren took possession of his backing band to form Bow Wow Wow. But before parting ways, Adam Ant said that McLaren “…didn’t think much of me as a singer, but he said: ‘You’ve got muscles and you look all right, your face should be on the cover.’” McLaren insisted that the current wave of artists was not filling the void of a ‘teen idol’ and that Ant should do it. Armed with looks and punk smarts, McLaren also left Ant with a compilation cassette featuring a French musician, Michel Bernholc, playing over an old recording of drummers from Burundi’s musical ensemble, Ingoma Tribe. It drove Ant to research “all these traditional ethnic albums – hours and hours of tribal music and people grunting and whooping, different ways of using the voice. I wanted to use my voice as an instrument, like a battering ram.”
Fortunately, as fate would have it, Adam Ant was able to recruit an entirely new group with new members, including Marco Pirroni to release their second album; their major-label debut with CBS Records, “Kings of the Wild Frontier” (1980). Pirroni brought to the table some icing on the cake with his guitar sounds. “John Barry, Duane Eddy, The Shadows,” Pirroni says. “We didn’t sit around thinking: ‘Wow, this is a recipe for success.’ It’s just not, is it? We weren’t really sure what we were doing. There was this South African musical called Ipi Tombi on in the West End at the time and, at one point, Adam had this idea that we should get the drummers from that.” Ant claims the inspiration to feature two drummers in the new lineup came from soul singer, James Brown. Their sound transcended their contemporaries with the hitting of guitar cases, clumps of wood, doors, and walls to culminate in “an enormous barrage of percussion”. The new members also adhered to Ant’s in your face, and larger than life colourful dress code. “It was all the things I’d grown up with that I felt were heroic and sexy and had a warrior bravado to them,” Ant says. “I’d been reading about and studying pirates and the Native Americans for a few years – the Native American thing was as close to a religion as I had. Putting the Apache war stripe across my nose was a declaration of arms against the music industry, which I felt had ignored me and treated me very unfairly. I wanted to look like a buccaneer: when they raided somewhere, they would take all the stuff they could carry or wear and not take anything else. And then I got the Hussar jacket, the one worn by the 11th Hussars in the Charge of the Light Brigade. They were the most ridiculed regiment in the British army because they were thought to be too welldressed. People called them “the Cherrybums” because their uniforms were so tight, and all the young ladies came out to look at them when they were on parade. They were despised by the rest of the army, but they did this heroic, disastrous thing.”
And so the die was cast for the look and percussive, mysterious sound of the band. “Kings of the Wild Frontier” reached number one on the UK Album Chart, with three hit singles, "Kings Of The Wild Frontier", "Dog Eat Dog" and "Antmusic". The LP ended up being the number one highest-selling album in the UK in 1981. It was produced by Chris Hughes (AKA Merrick), who was also one of the band’s drummers. Hughes went on to be a highly successful producer, most notably, producing Tears For Fears’ albums, “The Hurting” and “Songs From The Big Chair.” He also co-wrote “Everybody Wants To Rule The World.” Pioneering a highly individual sound, Adam & The Ants combined a post-punk attitude with pop-savvy, romantically heroic lyrical themes and a unique percussive sound. They were a record labels’ dream come true as they dressed like no one else and rode the new romantic wave to its peak. With a massive scaling of success, the band took to the road and led an extremely busy schedule capitalising on their newfound success.
Historical documents of the band often cite them as a passing fad or a band without any real talent. In a cookie-cutter post-punk musical landscape, the band would not have existed if it weren’t for the vision of their leader, Adam Ant, who was a highly skilled performer, not wanting the band to be pigeonholed. Their carefully crafted lineup developed their own sound, “Antmusic” as they called it. Teaming with Marco Pirroni, Ant embarked on a songwriting partnership that lasted years. Using highly complex chord arrangements and percussion, their sound highlighted the age-old pop idea that handclaps and unique percussive rhythms can be a nicotine-like hook in a pop record. There was no doubt the band was influenced by visual musicians like Roxy Music and David Bowie. In fact, when bassist Kevin Mooney left the band in 1981, he was replaced with Gary Tibbs (Roxy Music). Pirroni recalls, “I was totally a child of the glam era. I basically consider glam rock to be the pinnacle of all human achievement. I’d seen Bowie doing Starman and Roxy Music on Top of the Pops and, in the back of my mind, that’s exactly what I wanted to achieve. You wanted to cause that argument in the playground the next day.” Their follow-up album, “Prince Charming” (1981) had, at the time, received indifferent reviews, even though it contained two number one songs, “Stand And Deliver” and “Prince Charming.” In retrospect, at least for this listener, the album has stood the test of time and contains some insanely well-written pop songs that would be hits in a parallel universe. It contains off-the-wall rhythms, weird melodies, and perfect art-pop. It is bold as it is creative and needs to be revisited as a lost treasure. The album starts off ambitiously with “Scorpio” sounding like a James Bond instrumental. That is until Ant starts rallying his troops to be confident in themselves. He exclaims to his enemy onlookers that “watching us is stopping you from cruising Ugly Avenue.” A tapestry of multifarious vocal stylings and harmonies brings joy to the ears as the
melodies take you to harmonic corridors of your mind that you thought never existed.
“Picasso Visita El Planeta De Los Simios” is a thrilling piece of pop
near-perfection. It starts with a remarkably oblique verse that immediately falls into the most drop-dead gorgeous heartfelt chorus you’ve ever heard. All the while, the song sounds like you are swinging from the trees in an Amazon forest, though I also hear a laughing kookaburra at the start. There is so much going on. There are tribal background vocals blending in with guitar-slinging licks. I recall enjoying this song as an eleven-year-old listening to the cassette of this album. Today I listened closely to the complexity of it all and how it really holds together. The band was really breaking new musical ground which really left their contemporaries in the dust musically.
“Don't you ever, don't you ever stop being dandy, showing me you're handsome Prince Charming, Prince Charming ridicule is nothing to be scared of” Next up is what can only be described as the weirdest number one song of all time. “Prince Charming” starts off with rhythmic screaming and boasts the finest display of Ant’s prowess as a noble warrior .. and proud to be so. Interestingly, the song has an amazing resemblance to Rolf Harris’ song called “War Canoe” from 1965. In March 2010, Harris
claimed on BBC Radio 5 Live's Danny Baker Show that an out-of-court settlement had been reached with a large sum of royalties received after a musicologist had found the two songs to be musically identical. "Prince Charming" producer Chris Hughes has stated that Harris withdrew his complaint "with a bit of a giggle" when Adam Ant pointed out that both tracks borrowed heavily from an old Maori recording of a 'War Canoe'type song.
“5 Guns West” is a fabulous spaghetti-western workout. The glamour of it all is infectious. We seem to have gone south of the American border with the next track, “That Voodoo.” Twangy guitars and schizophrenic vocals are the order of the day with a Mariachi horn section to boot.
“Stand and Deliver” most resembles the previous album with their
signature percussion, guitar motifs, and a rousing chanting of “stand and deliver your money or your life.” Another tilt at 18th-century England, with the “dandy” highwaymen demanding the traveler halts and surrender their money or goods. “We're the dandy highwaymen and here's our invitation, throw your safety overboard and join our insect nation." I still don’t know what “da diddley qua qua” means but its use is effective in asserting their “Antmusic.” The song at the time was huge and no wonder. A pop jewel.
“Mile High Club” harkens to their early experimental period building vocal layers and harmonic textures. It is awkward but a beautiful rendering of psychedelic chants with an angular guitar band playing in the background, juxtaposing rhythms with stops and starts. The most controversial song on the album was “Ant Rap.” It received widespread criticism for a former punk band was experimenting with rap. I’m not sure what all the fuss was about. Everyone did it. Blondie sang “Rapture” and The Clash” produced “This Is Radio Clash.” It was experimentation. Ironically its lyrics were scathing of so-called punk ‘purists’. “So tired of anarchists looking at me. Don't need their credibility. "Destroy" they say, "defy, condemn". As long as you don't destroy them.” The song was somewhat dippy but had some amazing samba rhythms going on. I believe if the song was called “Naughty North And The Sexy South” it would have received much more praise than calling it “Ant Rap.”
“Mowhok” combines Victor Feldmen smarts using vibraphone with a
dusty Cowboys and Indians landscape. “S.E.X.” closes the album with some strange vocal meanderings interspersed with reverberated guitar from Pirroni. The album’s bookend is a Hawaiian-like piece of dreamy music with “a-wim-a-way” repeated to a fade-out.
Apart from the two huge singles on this album, the album would have been hard to market the rest of the album tracks (at the time). Perhaps the band suffered from an indelible stamping of their image in the mind of the listener. Such an easy band to write off. Many bands suffered this fate over the years who were musically brilliant but somehow ‘went out of fashion.’ Maybe so but the music today stands tall as it ever did.
VISIT POP PRESERVATION SOCIETY
pop to the SHOP the collective store A collection of Australian, home made goods from hundreds of artists. You can find fashion, accessories, home wares and heaps 104 Bay Terrace, Wynnum QLD 4178 more!
THE CRAFTY SQUIRREL
A wonderful mix of unique gifts, cool craft kits, homewares, vintage fabrics and gorgeous haberdashery collected from around the world. Cnr Errard & Urquhart Street Ballarat Central, Victoria
Shopping small? You're kind of a big deal!
pop to the SHOP potts point vintage
2 / 8 A H u g h e s S t , P o t t s P o i n t N S W 2 0 11
A cute little retro store in Potts Point, S y d n e y, f i l l e d with beautiful vintage clothes, collectables and rare finds.
gizmo gifts A little gem of a store in Fitzroy, with gifts and goods that will make you smile and giggle. 343 Brunswick St, Fitzroy VIC 3065
Shop like your High Street depends on it!
's y b u R
art quiz
Feel like you know your art pretty well? Let's see if you know these paintings and their artists based on these snippets.
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a ans n swe w er rs s 1. mona lisa by leonardo da vinci
8. son of man by René Magritte
2. the starry night by vincent van gogh
9. the creation of adam by michelangelo
3. the birth of venus by Sandro Botticelli
10. the great wave off kanagawa by hokusai
4. guernica by pablo picasso
11 .the kiss by gustav klimt
5. . girl with a pearl earring by johannes vermeer
12. Bal du moulin de la Galette by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
6. impression, sunrise by claude monet
13. american gothic by grant wood
7. the persistence of memory by salvador dali
14. the storm of the sea of galilee by rembrandt
INTIMATE MUSIC LOU NGE