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Twirly Curls Stephen Doll
137 Plays18 days ago
Dear listener, we hope you enjoy this overdue, jam-packed feast of Domino goodness. It's full to the brim with opinionated yammering about the music we love, including Beck, Take That, and many others.
Featuring songs by us, Marc-O, and Cable, as well as the usual adverts, poetry, and abuse.
Key listening points include…
- Giles is still a weirdo
- Funeral folk music
- Ted Rodgers style lyric analysis
- Chip shop orders
Interesting links from the episode have been squeezed out onto the blog here!
Visit the Johnny Domino website
Connect with Johnny Domino on Facebook and Instagram
Podcast artwork by Giles Woodward
Edited by Steve Woodward at PodcastingEditor.com
Recommended
Transcript
Email Prediction Mishap
00:00:00
Speaker
I've sent you an email which is a prediction of what I think the lyrics are going to be at the start of the podcast. Okay. And if I'm right, I will ask you to open the email.
00:00:12
Speaker
Okay. So ready when you are. You really you really have ah you've you've guessed it, have you? i've i've I've sent a prediction. I'm that predictable? No, no, no, no, no. no no I've sent a prediction, that's all.
00:00:26
Speaker
Okay. Okay. In a time of chimpanzees, I was a monkey. Butane in my veins and I'm out to cut the junkie with plastic eyeballs, spray paint the vegetables, dog food stalls with the beefcake pantyhose. Kill the headlights and put it in neutral. Stop car flaming with the loser at the cruise control. Baby in Reno with vitamin D. Got a couple of couches, sleep on the love seat. Someone comes saying I'm insane to complain about the shotgun wedding and the stain on my shirt. Don't believe everything that you breathe.
00:00:55
Speaker
You've got a parking violation and a maggot on your sleeve, so shave your face with some mace in the dark, saving all your food stamps, burning down the trailer park. Yo, cut it. That was not what I predicted.
00:01:32
Speaker
I'm a perdidor, Steve. Yes, well, I am the loser because that was not what I... Have you opened the email yet? No. Okay, you can open it now. i'm opening the email. Open the email that I sent you with my prediction. i was 100% wrong. Yeah, yeah.
00:01:46
Speaker
really yeah yeah yeah yeah
00:01:50
Speaker
Never forget why I take that. Okay, you're right. That's what I thought you were going to do, but
Reminiscing Beck and Brainiac
00:01:55
Speaker
there you go. So, ah on the 11th of May 1997 at Rock City, Nottingham, yes I believe we saw Beck.
00:02:07
Speaker
On the Odor Lake tour. We did. And that was good, wasn't it? It was good. Brainiac supported him. Now, yes, ah very interesting and very energetic band, Brainiac.
00:02:19
Speaker
Very much at that point in time, very much on the rise. and Apparently, Rick Rubin was penciled in to produce their new album. They had a major label deal on the cards. They were about to go on tour with Rage Against the Machine.
00:02:32
Speaker
And a few weeks later, on the 23rd of May, 1997, sadly, Tim Taylor, the leader of the Piniac, died in a car crash.
00:02:45
Speaker
I didn't realize it was so close after we saw them. It was literally the same ones. Yeah. That's mental. man, I remember that band. Yeah, yeah. that was something because, know, Beck was pretty impressive yeah on that tour. He had a great band.
00:03:01
Speaker
But Brainiac, the sport, they were a very interesting, very weird, very noisy band. And I kind of loved them. Yeah. But sadly, sadly cut short.
00:03:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:22
Speaker
Anyway, apparently Beck is not a slacker and not a Scientologist. Apparently not. So, Steve, what I'm going to ask you is, what is he... What is he? he's ah he's ah He's a chameleon. He's a hes a shapeshifting artistic magi. I don't know. what do you want me to say?
00:03:39
Speaker
I don't know. I think you should introduce podcast.
Podcast Introduction and Hospital Tales
00:03:41
Speaker
Okay. Welcome to the This Our Johnny Domino podcast, where I, Steve, and my brother Giles explore our musical past, present, and future, listen to a few tunes, and have a bit of a chat.
00:03:54
Speaker
We do. How you doing? What have you been up to? Are you alright? Well, I'm alright. but Since we last spoke on this here podcast, I spent a day in hospital having some medication, and which was a lot of fun.
00:04:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Are you being sarcastic? No, no, it was fine. You know, sit down for... It wasn't a lot of fun, was it You know what? It's all right. It's all right because you have intravenous antihistamines and then you have a dose of intravenous steroids.
00:04:25
Speaker
So you've got the downers, in the upperput and then then you have the bag of magic juice to keep my MS at bay. Yeah, yeah.
00:04:36
Speaker
Listen to some podcasts, listen to some music. It's all good. So what was the highlight of your listening on this particular session? Oh, I did. like You see, I did send you a list of everything that i listened to, didn't I?
00:04:47
Speaker
Because that's how sad i am. Well, I listened to Geese. That was good. Yeah. Spot. And then there was a lot of Deerhoof on it and a lot of Killdozer.
00:05:00
Speaker
Okay. Which is always... You love a bit of Killdozer, do you? I do. I love listening to Killdozer and Butthole Surfers if I'm ever putting together any flat pack furniture. I think that sounds nightmarish. No, it's beautiful.
00:05:12
Speaker
That's not what I want to listen to when I'm doing something like that. You obviously don't find it stressful putting together flat-backed furniture, like unlike me and everyone else. You're a quandary inside a contradiction, you madman.
00:05:26
Speaker
I'm like Beck in many ways. In many ways. What about you?
Take That Documentary Discussion
00:05:30
Speaker
You've been up anything? Well, we want you we were talking about the fact that we both watched the Take That documentary on Netflix. Yes, lakes yes. The new 2026 documentary about Take That, a three-part intimate look at the history of the British boy band.
00:05:45
Speaker
We both enjoyed it, didn't we? I particularly enjoyed the second part where everything went wrong. It's like a three-part movie structure. You've got the equilibrium, you've got the disequilibrium, then you've got the re-equilibrium where everything works out at the end.
00:05:58
Speaker
Absolutely. It did work in that respect. didn't it Yeah. I mean, I enjoyed the first part with the early performances and know I didn't really realize, I think, how hard they worked. Oh yeah. Well, I thought they were just like some manufactured band, I suppose.
00:06:13
Speaker
As 1990s indie boy, yeah I just thought, oh, they're just like some manufactured band. But they were grinding hard, pardon the expression. No, absolutely. Touring in gay clubs and a tour of schools, assemblies as well. yeah You know, and there I don't know, man. It kind of made me think that Gary Barlow was obviously a talented composer of like classic cheesy pop songs and stuff, I suppose. Yeah.
00:06:41
Speaker
And he obviously there was a bit where he was struggling to write their first hit, which turned out to be It Only Takes a Minute by Tavares. Yeah. But they were a real band in the sense that they were all necessary and they all brought something to the table, didn't they, really? you know They did. You've got Howard,
00:07:00
Speaker
and Jason, who were dancing men. Yeah. Right. And then you've got Mark Owen, who was a cute, cute boy. Yeah. And then got Robbie Williams, who was like the edgy Joker. Edgy Joker. He was the edgy Joker. And you needed all of those things, really.
00:07:17
Speaker
I mean, if like, is is Howard Donald like less of a key band member of his band than, say, the bass player of Coldplay? Yeah.
00:07:30
Speaker
No, he's not. Guy Berryman. Guy Berryman. I had to give him that. Yeah, but you know that I like the bass player from Coldplay. We've discussed him on this podcast before. respect his work? I do. I think he just holds it down. He does. He's a good bass player. Yeah. He's got the best job in music.
00:07:46
Speaker
No one knows who he is. But like, you know, he's i don't think Howard Donald is less of a key member of his band. i mean what But yeah, the whole documentary was very good, really. Nigel Martin-Smith, the manager, Sven Ghali.
00:08:02
Speaker
He came across as a little bit seedy, I think, really. Well, that is the way with these documents. I think we talked about, you've not seen on the BBC, on the iPlayer, there's a series called Boy Bands Forever. Again, it's another three-part series.
00:08:14
Speaker
And you do learn from that that the boys work incredibly hard. And there's also Girl Bands Forever, which is they work incredibly hard and they're up against, you know, the patriarchy and misogyny and sexism. So it's not a life that I would want for a child of mine.
00:08:33
Speaker
Well, no, I know, exactly. They went through some ups and downs to take that. They did. There's a good bit in the documentary where Garibalo loses it for a while when when when Robbie becomes super famous. His fat Brian Wilson stage. That was pretty sad, really.
00:08:49
Speaker
And then in 2005, they had their major comeback. I couldn't believe that was 2005. That seems like Not that long ago, but that just makes me realise how old I am.
00:09:01
Speaker
And then in the end, they bit they're like, it's the triumphant ending of the documentary where they're grey-haired, stubbly men coming to terms with the fact that they needed each other all along. yeah And it's a beautiful thing.
00:09:13
Speaker
I would urge anybody who's not seen that three-part documentary to watch it. yes It is a beautiful thing. and And I would also, by the same token, urge people to watch Boy Bands Forever and Girl Bands Forever.
Poem Inspired by Take That
00:09:26
Speaker
Anyway, the the take that documentary prompted me to write a poem, so I'm going to read it to you now. Good. It's called Let's Get the Band Back Together.
00:09:37
Speaker
I feel that enough time has passed. I miss the arguments. I miss the laughs. Let's get the band back together. Gary and Robbie, you know they made friends. Let's get the band back together.
00:09:49
Speaker
The years of adult wilderness have got to end. Let's get the band back together. We are grey and dusty, but we've got the gear. We heard it on Six Music that our time is here.
00:10:02
Speaker
Let's get the band back together. No one ever noticed. They ignore us still. You think that ship has sailed. I know it never will. We're closer to the end, but we've got time to kill.
00:10:16
Speaker
Of damp Tuesday gigs, I've not yet had my fill. Let's get the band back together. yeah I mean, I did an English degree, but I'm struggling to pick out what you're trying to say with that poem, Giles.
00:10:32
Speaker
Is it too subtle, the message? Is there some kind of subtle meaning I'm meant to tease out from verbiage? Maybe. it was I think you're saying it was a bit too route one, wasn't it?
00:10:44
Speaker
Yeah. So what, you want to get the band back together? Well, no, that's what the that's what the Take That documentary made me feel right like um at the time.
00:10:56
Speaker
Yes. And just the joy of the fact that these people that knew each other as youths still enjoyed each other's company. And even though they still got and got on each other's nerves in the same sort of way. Yeah. And it was just, i know it was a cheesy documentary and stuff, but it did make me think, oh, wouldn't it be nice to spend some time with people and do stuff like that? But, you know, as I said, you know, in the poem, you know, dump Tuesday gigs.
00:11:26
Speaker
I'm not sure really how much I want to get involved in that again. Yeah. Yeah. I always remember gigs on Tuesdays being very damp. Well, I just remember all of our gigs being quite damp. Yeah. And my wife remembers me coming home from band practice and just being absolutely raging.
00:11:45
Speaker
Yeah. Just because, just because. Yeah. It's like the stupid said in the song, oh, is it called, is it Life's a Drag? Yeah. Yeah.
00:11:57
Speaker
It goes, I'm lying here just after a practice. I feel depressed. But that's the way it is. In actual fact, the song we are referring to by the stupid from the album Peruvian Vacation is called So Much Fun.
00:12:16
Speaker
You know what mean? I remember that lyric from when we used to listen to the album lot. It's great lyric from a great song.
00:12:44
Speaker
I've got more to talk about, want, before we go into a song. I've got a whole other thing I want to talk about.
DMA Concert Experience
00:12:50
Speaker
Go. I went to the O2 Birmingham ah the other a Sunday night go see to go see the DMAs.
00:12:59
Speaker
Why, you may ask. Please tell us. Why? Well, it was a freebie. I was ferrying my son and his band and they were on the guest list because their de facto manager, Gary Bandit, more of him another late date, is the road manager of the DMAs on this tour.
00:13:18
Speaker
And after the event, I will be happy if I never hear another DMA song again in my life. Really? meaning They are a trio from Sydney, Australia, and they really, really, really rate the songwriting of Noel Gallagher.
00:13:37
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know whether you've heard much of them, Steve. I've heard a little bit because a friend of mine does rate them. But they've definitely got a thing. And that thing is We Like Oasis. Yes. Yeah.
00:13:51
Speaker
It doesn't rock my world. No. why' it But it does rock a lot of people's world, apparently, because at the o two in Birmingham, which is a fucking nightmare to get to, they had rabidly keen fans.
00:14:06
Speaker
Rabidly keen fans. There was sellout, and people were loving them. The fans of the DMAs are very male, and very white, yeah very football-chanty. Oh, yeah.
00:14:17
Speaker
And have to say, I did feel a little bit out of place. And some very drunk giant lad grabbed me by the collar at one point and asked me if I was some kind of weirdo at one point.
00:14:29
Speaker
and And then I just pointed at my son and said, I'm his dad. and my son and his friends are not in a famous indie band. However, they do look like they're in ah a famous indie band. And that was enough to distract this audience young, drunken meathead.
00:14:48
Speaker
I think he was feeling blurry enough to be confused by this. And then he spent the next five minutes trying to impress Fred, who, like I say, looks like he could be kind of famous and certainly stood out in this particular crowd.
00:15:02
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it was a weird night, really. My favourite bit, really, was watching Fred and his friends dance extravagantly at the back of a crowd of rapped DMA fans, all singing along to another song, which had the chords G major, D and C. Sometimes G major 7, I think.
00:15:23
Speaker
Did they ever experiment with E minor? They did some E minor. Let's not be snooty about the chords G, D, and C because the entire Galaxy 500 back catalogue was written on those chords.
00:15:35
Speaker
You know, you can do things with those chords. You can. All right. Okay. But you know, um what the point I'm trying to make is that they were fairly fucking repetitive. Not for you. Not for me.
00:15:46
Speaker
Not for me. Though I did meet the singer. We went backstage and stuff. and yeah I even went on their tour bus. Nice. It was very fun. Can I just ask one last question on this? Please do.
00:15:57
Speaker
What do you think it was about you that attracted, you know, in scare quotes, what attracted the meathead to you to say, what do you say? Are you a weirdo? Are you some sort of weirdo?
00:16:09
Speaker
I don't know, man. But i in a way, i was quite i was quite happy about it because I haven't lost it.
00:16:17
Speaker
It means i haven't lost it. No. no You know, even though I am sort of much older now, um maybe my hair's, I've grown my hair out a bit.
00:16:28
Speaker
a i was, you know, maybe I had the wrong sort of shirt on. I'd sort of trimmed my beard so I look a bit slightly I don't know I don't what I don't know it's so something about my look anyway and also I was like pointing my phone randomly at the crowd taking pictures of people yeah that's probably why then possibly that possibly the fact that you were taking photos of people time for a song ah's Let's have a song. This is a song by the band Johnny Domino, and it is from our second album, which
Analysis of 'They Walk'
00:17:03
Speaker
is called Players.
00:17:04
Speaker
it songk It's a song called They Walk. Yes. Players was an album which I think we've got a better title for it. I don think i want to call it Bros If and His Amazing Technical at 8-Track.
00:17:20
Speaker
That's the new album. Yeah, it len let's just let's just stick with players. Yeah. I think players is better. All right, this track... Basically, verse one and verse two it's sort of saying there are bad people out there. Yeah. There's a middle section, which is kind of all kind of like... Pastoral. Pastoral, which kind of then goes into, oh, actually, the temporary nature of our constructed reality, apocalypse in brightness.
00:17:50
Speaker
And then the final verse, it's like there's a bad person grinning at us as you take your coat off. Don't let down your God.
00:19:20
Speaker
She walks among us with cameras instead of eyes Makes you feel lousy, unhappy with your social life It's a small wonder the star shines so bright Jump into the sky you can take a holiday jump into the blue skies you can take a holiday climb another mountain you can find another one climb another
00:20:35
Speaker
He walks among us, now take a deep breath and go in. As you enter the temple, the palace of rhythm and sin.
00:20:49
Speaker
You take your coat off and he starts to grin.
00:21:04
Speaker
And that is They Walk by Johnny Domino. Yes. I think I might have been listening to a bit of Sherlock at that point in my life.
00:21:15
Speaker
Yeah? What, the guitar sound? Is it a bit gent-like? Djent. I don't know. Is that how you call it? Djent. Djent. Djent.
00:21:28
Speaker
Yeah. Is that how you would describe that sound? I don't know. Are you muting with your palm? There's a bit of that. I think it's very much an album track. And listening to that there, I think it needs to go into this one's for the kid.
00:21:42
Speaker
It works really well in the sequence. At the end of that song, I just want it to come into the next track. I feel like leaving it on its own, it kind of leaves me feeling a bit cold. But as part of the sequence, I think it works very well.
00:21:54
Speaker
Well, Players is the album where we actually got the sequence in right. Yes. Because the rest of them are too long and there's too many songs that you could cut, whereas Players is a tasty...
00:22:09
Speaker
around about half hour yeah nine tro if there's anybody out there who's either not listened to players by Johnny Domino or has listened to it for a long time is on Bandcamp it is and you go and listen to it and you'll see what I mean yeah I've got a recording of his playing that at the Old Angel oh yeah on the 3rd of September in 1999 and that was the gig when we supported Bardo Pond Yeah, we talked about that one before. Yeah, yeah. They're big fans of pornography, that band. Yeah, yeah. Let's just let's just hear how audience-friendly this song is ah in the live arena. very...
00:23:00
Speaker
challenging, I think is the word they're looking for there. yeah I mean, it doesn't help that Mark had just bought his mini disc recorder and had a microphone and you put it on high input rather than low. laugh So it might not have sounded that bad. No, but that's that's what that recording sounds like. But anyway, look i've but I've always liked that song. I particularly like the um they're kind of the floaty pastoral bit in the middle when it goes from, i think it was...
00:23:28
Speaker
It's 6-8-ish in the verses, then it goes to 5-4 on the middle bit. And we've got ah we bought a set of percussion instruments from Ikea. he And we're all kind of having a go with those little maracas. And there's some castanets, I think, on there as well.
00:23:45
Speaker
Good times. Good times. Good times. Good times. Jingle? Yeah. Tell you what, why don't we have an advert? Yeah? Please. There's a reason why I'm playing this to you, and I want to know if you're going to remember why I'm playing it.
00:24:01
Speaker
Twirly curls for me. Ooh, twirls. How'd you do that? This is my twirler. Twirly Curls Barbie. She's got beautiful extra long hair.
00:24:14
Speaker
You can twirl a little or a lot and make your own pretty styles for Barbie. Twirly Curls Barbie doll comes with a twirly curler, a chair, and these hair accessories.
00:24:28
Speaker
From Mattel. Well, it's a magnificent earworm, isn't it? It is. Can you remember the the relevance of that? No. You really can't. No, I can't. You lie, you lie, you lie, you lie, you lie like a rug. That has no relevance. I'm sorry, but when I was 9, 10-ish,
00:24:48
Speaker
ish my hair went from being blonde, short and straight to being brown and wavy. And my elder brother,
00:25:00
Speaker
That would be me. Yeah. I mean, that i was from 1982, that advert. And my older brother took great pleasure in singing Twirly Curls, Stephen Doll.
00:25:14
Speaker
Yep. Mainly, i did that while I was sitting on your chest with my knees on your arms as I slapped you about the face. yeah Yeah. Oh, I'm having a good sense memory back then. Yeah.
00:25:30
Speaker
You enjoy that. earn Play again more one more time. Twirly curls, Barbie. Ooh, twirls. How did you do that? Stop it, stop it. That'll do. Do you enjoy the vocal stonings of Emmylou Harris on that then? Yeah, she was good. Yeah, she was very good. I think it's one of the best work. Yeah.
00:25:48
Speaker
Yeah, very good. Thanks. Hi, I'm Giles and Stephen's mum, and I don't listen their podcasts. I think they're very silly boys.
00:25:59
Speaker
Anyway, changing the subject, have you been listening any new music? I
Wu-Tang vs. The Beatles Album
00:26:03
Speaker
have been listening to ah an album which I got off Bandcamp, and it is called Wu-Tang vs. The Beatles Enter the Magical Mystery Chambers. I'm so glad you mentioned that because that's what I wanted to talk about. man, it's so flipping good, isn't it? It is. It's so good. It is. It's by a guy called Tom Caroon.
00:26:23
Speaker
don't know. Caroon, I don't know? Yeah. Is that right? And he does remix projects. yeah And on his band camp it says, taking this and mixing with that, creating listening experiences that are mostly for myself.
00:26:37
Speaker
Jesus, it's so good. Boy, this guy does some good stuff. It's really good, Dal. I mean, I don't i think i it was like... poked towards my ears by Instagram. And sometimes, know, the algorithm, I hate it, but it works.
00:26:52
Speaker
Sell it to the listeners, please. Okay. Because I'm already converted. Yeah, yeah. But what he's done, he's taken acapellas of the Wu-Tang... album Oh God, was it 36 Chambers?
00:27:03
Speaker
e And he's put them over Beatles songs. not In a lot of cases, not the original Beatles recordings. A lot of them are kind of soul covers or in one particular instance, which sticks out, it's like a reggae cover yeah and just layered the Wu-Tang vocals over the top.
00:27:21
Speaker
And it is it's so good. It is it's so, so very good. It makes both things better. Yeah. Weirdly. It's a beautiful thing. i love i do love a mashup.
00:27:34
Speaker
I love a bit of girl talk. ah But, oh my God, the thing that's gutting about it is that when I first had the advert on Instagram, I went and had a look. And I noticed that he was selling double vinyl sets for something like 20 quid. And I thought, really interesting. Then I went back the next day to buy it.
00:27:53
Speaker
All of the vinyl had sold out. no So i I bought it as a download, but oh yeah God, it's so, so, so, so good. Yeah, it's good. I mean, I've not listened to all of the stuff. that He's got a lot of stuff on Bandcamp. But another thing that I did listen to was there' one called Inner Space from 2019. And that features a multitude of MCs and samples from Cannes.
00:28:17
Speaker
Yeah. And a cappella vocals, some of which are recorded specifically for the album. Yeah. It's really good. It's really it's great. The of the the rap and the and the vocals over the top of the spacey Can beats is really interesting and good.
00:28:37
Speaker
Yeah, man. That's best thing I've heard in ages. Yeah. But, you know, Can were some funky German mofos. I've been listening to another thing on Bandcamp, Joshua Ederhain.
00:28:49
Speaker
who is a British-born Nigerian spoken word artist. I think that just means poet. And the musician. He's on Six Musical at at the moment. People are playing a track called This Is The Place.
00:29:04
Speaker
And it's the one on that you hear on Six Musical where a woman's voice is going. The rhythm and the love. The Rhythm and the Love. It's good track. You will have heard it if you listen to Six Music. Yeah. And it's got an album coming out called, and this is a really good title, I Know You're Hurting, Everyone Is Hurting, Everyone Is Trying, You Have Got to Try.
00:29:29
Speaker
Yeah. That's a good name for an album. And I went and dug into some of his other stuff. And there's EP called Mum Does the Washing. And there's a really good track on that. That is like my favourite track at the moment. And basically on it, every every major political and philosophical ideology is explained through your mum doing the washing.
00:29:52
Speaker
The world, according to your mum, doing the washing.
00:30:01
Speaker
Capitalism. Your mom does the washing. You pay her a dollar. You get her to do your mate's washing. Your mate pays you $50. Communism. Your mom does the washing.
00:30:11
Speaker
You do the washing. Every night you salute a picture of your dad. Socialism. Your mum does the washing. You do the cooking. Everybody is happy in fury.
00:30:24
Speaker
Feudalism. Don't you think Steve is good? It's really good. I very much enjoyed it. And, you know, the thing is, it's actually right. I think he's a very wise man. Yeah, yeah. He's playing in Nottingham. I'm going to go and see this guy. He's cool. Where's he playing?
00:30:41
Speaker
I think he's playing rescue rooms. Cool. What's going on? None of your business. Rack off. You know, this is our Johnny Domino podcast. it is a It's very much a family affair.
00:30:55
Speaker
It is. Isn't it? It is. And, ah we you know, we are a relatively musical family, should I say. Yeah. And our dad has turned me on to a new band.
00:31:08
Speaker
he's got this hot He's telling me about this hot new folk band um that keeps turning up on daytime TV. And they've got a really catchy song. And he wanted me to play it on the podcast.
00:31:21
Speaker
Oh, God.
00:31:25
Speaker
Simplicity cremations, way to go, way to go. Who needs the complications, way to go, way to go. You'll find help and consolation with those who really know.
00:31:40
Speaker
Simplicity cremations, way to go, way to go. They could save you quite a packet, way to go, way to go. Save your precious money, it only goes to show Simplicity Cremations, way to go, way to go Simplicity Cremations, way to go, way to go They own places across the nation, way to go, way to go So the ending of the story could come somewhere you know Simplicity Cremations, way to go, way to go
00:32:20
Speaker
I think they've got a big future in the Mumford & Sons kind of market market there.
Simplicity Cremations Jingle Humour
00:32:26
Speaker
Yes, Our Dad has been going on about that advert for a long time. It's better in Dad's version, I think. Once I finally heard the actual recording, it didn't really hit in the same way as Dad's interpretation.
00:32:39
Speaker
Well, i I think it hits hard. I think that hits hard. Yeah, but I mean, there's a lot of these sorts companies doing like simple cremations. It just makes me think, you're on a patch dirt outside the back of some kind of building. That's not the vibe I'm getting from that. It sounds very bucolic in the advert. It's a non-acoustic guitar and violin, and it sounds like the best way.
00:33:04
Speaker
Yeah, but you think about what is the simplest cremation? You know what I mean? it's It's like there's always those scenes at the end of Star Wars films where people are just set alight and everyone stands around and no one's going, Jesus, that stinks.
00:33:18
Speaker
Okay. So I think they're just using kind of pastoral folk music to obscure the fact that they're talking about cut-price cremations. Is that what's happening there?
00:33:29
Speaker
Well, yeah. but but It's the simplest of cremations is... But it sounds lovely. It does sound lovely. Lovely, smiley people doing a gig. Yeah. Apparently it's on all the time on daytime TV. Daytime TV is full of those sorts of adverts. That particular one has been yeah on ah on very hard repeat.
00:33:47
Speaker
Yeah. It's in heavy rotation. Yeah. Yes. ah Talking about a heavy rotation, I've got another poem. Please do. It's called The Brian Jonestown Massacre Again.
00:33:59
Speaker
Oh, God. Yeah. I've been going to the hardware store and on the way back and there I've been listening to the Brian Jonestown Massacre again.
00:34:10
Speaker
It's just like it was before. Sometimes you need that not quite there music. I have been listening to the Brian Jonestown Massacre again. You know, I'm still the same old kid, sat drawing faces on dolly pins.
00:34:25
Speaker
My mind is open, my sins I forgive. And that's what I get every time when I'm listening to the BJM. That's what fans of the Brian Jonestown massacre say when we need a shorter version of their name.
00:34:40
Speaker
The words, they are spurting. The tunes are off the shelf. It sounds almost like one thing, and then it's nearly something else. Do I like them? Do I find them annoying?
00:34:52
Speaker
I think that's a point I could do with exploring. But look into my eyes and you can ascertain that I have been listening again to the Brian Jonestown massacre.
00:35:05
Speaker
Again.
00:35:15
Speaker
jingle chingoo jingoo chingoo jing go So the ah PRF Monthly Tribute Series, yes which we've talked about extensively over the previous surface episodes of the podcast over the last year or so.
00:35:29
Speaker
yeah Big news is coming to an end. It's sad but true. Zach Hench pulling the plug. ah Zach Hench of this parish. Hello out there in listener land.
00:35:43
Speaker
This is Hench. Zach Hench. he He posted a short while ago, it was in early January, he said, I think we're going to wrap this thing in June at the 12-year mark. He's been going for 12 years, which is which is an insane effort.
00:35:57
Speaker
i ah Could run a little longer than that, no guarantees. Don't think it will go any shorter than that, unless it's an infrastructure-breaking sort of deal. It's a real bummer when something just shuts down without warning, so I'll continue to post reminders of the wrap-up every once in a while. So yes, it will be coming to an end.
00:36:14
Speaker
he which is Which is sad, but, you know, we'll just need to find another way to keep our creativity going. Well, I've got some thoughts on that. But in the meantime, shall we have a listen to a track from the current PRF monthly tribute series? Yeah, currently, for February in 2026, the tribute artist being celebrated is Beck and young Mark Elston.
00:36:41
Speaker
Marko. Marko. Marko. hyphen O, latterly of Bulldozer Crash, The Liberty Ship and the Johnny Domino Band has done a version of Cold Brains from the Best Beck album, Mutations.
00:37:16
Speaker
No thoughts, no mind to ride behind a trail of disasters.
00:38:12
Speaker
We write this song, brought it to the
00:39:33
Speaker
We write this song
00:41:00
Speaker
straight from the fridge That was a cracker, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, those long, hot summer days that the Great British Isles are renowned for, you really need to cool your chocolate bars in the fridge.
00:41:15
Speaker
Cool. Yes, particularly ones like Topic and Marathon that have nuts in them, because that's really going to help your teeth. I liked that. That was nice. I'd like to hear the full version of that song.
00:41:28
Speaker
a um Anyway, Marco. Yes. Cold brains. Yes. I think he did a good job on that. He did. When he posted it into the PRF group, he said, as much as I'd love my own Prince-style funk show band, I record on my Lonesome on a Tascam digital 8-track so lo-fi it is. I used an old trick from my Johnny Domino days, the Casio PT20 chord buttons through a synth.
00:41:51
Speaker
Oh, what fun we had. I think Mark's done something interesting with this. He has done, yeah. I've listened to it quite a few times. And I went back and listened to the Beck version as well. And the Beck version, in comparison, is very slack sounding.
00:42:08
Speaker
I would use the word drifty to describe it. Also kind of kaleidoscopic in its sounds. From Mark's version...
00:42:19
Speaker
and I don't know whether this is intentional, possibly not, I think it sounds a lot more intense. And the arpeggiated sound that he's got going on there, yeah the keyboard thing that's going on, it's a very strong sound. It's almost like it's some kind of weird technological beast that's taken him for a ride in my head. And it sounds like he could get thrown off at any point, really. Yeah.
00:42:48
Speaker
I can hear it. He's is struggling to so to stay on that beast and ride that beast, but he he does. He triumphs in the end.
00:43:00
Speaker
And um it's it's an update of that song. I feel like yeah the Beck version just doesn't sound right for today. Hmm.
00:43:11
Speaker
I think Mark is bringing it up into 2025. I'm getting a 2025 vibe from that version of it. yeah You know it's 2026, don't you? I'm getting a 2025 vibe from this. Okay, so it's last year.
00:43:26
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Yeah, a 2025 vibe, right? Okay. That's still more up to date than the back version. Well, yeah. You know, i mean, Mark's never going to be completely current. He's always going to be at least a couple of months behind.
00:43:42
Speaker
Right? Oh dear. It's 2025. Yeah, it's February 2026.
00:43:50
Speaker
Okay. and No, i think it's I think it's a great version and very much enjoyed it. ah Yeah, it is. Beck is the the subject of the PRF monthly tribute.
00:44:03
Speaker
I think there's been ah about three songs so far. Yes, there'll be more. I doubt we're going to do one, but we might. We've already won. We've lost interest now. Anyway, you know how it's going to end the PRF Monthly Tribute Series? I think that's time for us to start something else. I know,
00:44:21
Speaker
I think we need to start a ah ah some kind of monthly challenge yeah ah where we can we can kind of ride on the the wave of the PRF and start a new thing, man. But yeah we can't just do versions of other people's songs.
00:44:38
Speaker
So what are you thinking then? Well, I've got i've the i've got the i've got a name for it. Okay. It's called The Right Club. you know what the first rule of Right Club is?
00:44:50
Speaker
You don't talk about Fight Club. No, you do talk about Right Club. Okay. You talk about Right Club. Right? It's the Right Club. Yeah? we have to You have to write a song about something.
00:45:04
Speaker
And there's a different theme every month. It's a different something every month. Yeah. The Right Club. What do you reckon? ah but Well, let's run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes it.
00:45:16
Speaker
i'm just thinking like men with their tops off. What? With a lot of sweat, you know, in a basement with four tracks writing songs.
00:45:28
Speaker
Yeah. About obscure stuff that we just, we can maybe, we just, you know, you can, everyone, if you win, you choose the theme for the next month.
00:45:39
Speaker
Wow. And everyone has to write a song about that theme. It's like a, it's like a whole different thing. It's whole new thing. not whole different thing. But it's like a development on it. Yeah, yeah. Do you not think?
00:45:52
Speaker
No, ah look, I think it's good. I'm all for... At least pretend to be enthusiastic. No, no, no, no. Look, I think it's good. Rewind Steve's i'd say enthusiastic voice. Go. I think it's great. it's cool, man. was that Is that enthusiastic enough for you? Yeah. But I do think it's good because ever since we started this podcast, we are quite hot on getting people to inject a little bit of creativity in into their lives. Yes, and our own lives. And our own lives as well. yeah So ah think we need to have some kind of outlet.
00:46:25
Speaker
As we've discussed before, people need an outlet. Yeah. And, you know, if we can do anything to provide that for all the people that will be bereft when the PRF tribute ceases operations, then and that's good. Right Club.
00:46:41
Speaker
Right Club.
00:46:43
Speaker
I wasn't enthusiastic enough, I'm going to have to come with another idea. Why? Why? I wasn't enthusiastic enough. Yeah. On the 90s, I'll be seen.
00:46:56
Speaker
I just want to be seen. On the 90s, I'll be seen. Where have you been? On the 90s, I'll be seen. I just want to be seen.
00:47:07
Speaker
What musical cuisine, Stephen Jardim, going to serve today.
00:47:14
Speaker
Oh, yes. And what musical cuisine will Stephen and Giles present today? We will be presenting, I feel, we'll be presenting a rather meaty main course.
00:47:25
Speaker
Mmm. It's the meatiest of all meaty main courses from the Derby music scene. It is a band called Cable that we have discussed previously on the podcast.
Discussion on Cable's History
00:47:35
Speaker
um Cable were a band who did their first gig supporting our band, The Millers, and...
00:47:44
Speaker
they We were always there. were always there about us. We were kind of like, we were like the Big Lebowski. Always there, also runs. Yeah, we were we were the dude in the Big Lebowski. We were just standing to the side where the main plot was happening. Yeah. and Anyway, ah we used their rehearsal room and they were very nice to us. Let's talk about Cable, though. They they were a pretty successful band. Yeah. Well, probably the most successful band from Derby at the time. Three albums yeah used by
00:48:21
Speaker
albums produced by quite cool people. Yeah. you've got to Well, you've got your album produced by... um by your man Kramer. Kramer.
00:48:33
Speaker
Yeah. Of Bonwater. Kramer of Bonwater. Fucking love Bonwater. And, you know, producer of, um, Galaxy 500, recorder of Galaxy 500, um, tour mate of Galaxy 500, when, when I saw them. And, um,
00:48:48
Speaker
Was it was his John Robb as well? He produced something by that as well. Yeah, that was the first album. And then the last album was produced by oh was a guy who it was something to do with Stereolab.
00:48:59
Speaker
um So, yeah, I mean, and, you know, they famously had a fight with the members of Oasis. Yeah. Which, you know, we can do nothing but applaud them for that. Yeah, absolutely. and They had some tunes. Yeah.
00:49:14
Speaker
You cannot hold that back, right? They had some tunes, and they could play those tunes pretty darn well live. Yeah, they were great. And back in the 1990s, you could shake your hair around...
00:49:28
Speaker
in an indie disco style to this stuff extremely well. Yeah. So Cable were fucking good, actually. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously, though, being us, we were fairly jealous of them. Oh, God, yes, very much. Until, you know, um I became quite good friends with Darius. yeah And, know, he's just a ah fantastic bloke.
00:49:50
Speaker
So the thing I'm most annoyed about, they they reformed for a couple of gigs they did a gig in London but they did a gig in Derby and for some reason I didn't go to the gig in Derby I'm really pissed off I didn't because it would just been nice to see them occasionally I used to bump into Darius quite a lot at Ikea I wonder what he listens to when he's making his flat pack furniture I don't know maybe you could let us know hey Darius if you're listening that would be good to know in fact um I might send him a message and and ask him that very question yeah and um get him to record his answer
00:50:21
Speaker
Are we going to play a song? Which going to play? Which one are we going to play, Steve? Well, we're going to play a song called Freeze the Atlantic, which was a single from their second album, When Animals Attack. And it's a great little song.
00:50:51
Speaker
You reflect on how you did it on your own. You've done the even smile. You've cracked the ceilings off.
00:51:02
Speaker
You've hide the smile behind. Fifty fingers. Now you're looking for calm to bite. If everyone's hypnotized, you won't take a seat as long.
00:51:37
Speaker
Oh
00:52:30
Speaker
Everyone's hit the tide, mother's back later gone, but can't turn nearby There's nothing left with glass and stone, these berries will be changed
00:53:00
Speaker
Yeah, I always like that song.
00:53:19
Speaker
always like that song I like the guitar playing, first of all. Darius has got a very, um it's kind of, i don't know how I would describe it. It's kind of quite, it's not jangly. No, no.
00:53:32
Speaker
But he's got, it's kind of like a wiry kind of, twangy kind of guitar yeah style. He plays these lines of guitars that I quite like. They don't go through their songs, that which is nice.
00:53:45
Speaker
Yeah, anyway, that song, I kind of want to analyze it a bit. And i know i don't want to offend anybody, so I'm just going to say again, I really like this song. Okay. But i've been looking I've been thinking about it quite deeply today, perhaps a bit too deeply.
00:54:01
Speaker
The lines, you're looking for compromise, everyone's hypnotized. What's the thing that hypnotizes us all, Steve? Television. Television. Yeah. Advertising.
00:54:13
Speaker
Yeah. What was that song used on? Well, interestingly, it was on an advert for Sprite. It was used on a Sprite advert. Obey your thirst, Steve. Obey your thirst. yeah It was a Sprite advert, right?
00:54:28
Speaker
Yeah. Okay, everyone's hypnotized. They got this song on an advert. Yeah. And it was like kind of an advert where there's this guy sort snowboarding through a street. Yeah.
00:54:38
Speaker
Very 90s looking. And the song sounded very good on the advert. Yeah. But I think the lyrics, I don't know whether they intended it, but they're strangely kind of anti-capitalist.
00:54:54
Speaker
Even though it ended up on an advert. You know, everyone's hypnotized, right? All the spectators of ball games you devised. Not sure what that means, right? But again, it's like, you know, devising a ball game seems a bit like of a pointless thing to do right?
00:55:12
Speaker
Spectators of a ball game. It's like sport. So is this sport? Well, there's nothing left but glass and stone. Okay, well, that's basically saying it's all gone to shit, right? You know, it's just glass and stone. We're left with inhuman...
00:55:29
Speaker
stuff around us. There's no nature. No. There's no nature. It's just glass and stone. Nothing left but glass and stone. Right? Spare me some change.
00:55:41
Speaker
Change could be double meaning there. Spare me some change. Right? Can I just say, you currently sound like Ted Robbins on 321. You just sounded like a little bit... That's what I'm going for. That's what I'm going for. and you won't buy buy me spear with it buy buy me a new catchphrase buy me a new catchphrase
00:56:12
Speaker
Okay, a catchphrase, right? So what's a catchphrase? It's, you know, could you say a catchphrase? It's like a kind of a simplified version of something. Like a meme.
00:56:23
Speaker
Like a musical hook could be a kind of musical catchphrase, right? So like Cable have made some art, right? And that art was then parceled up into a catchphrase.
00:56:39
Speaker
Yeah, it could be bought and sold by a multinational corporation selling pop as a cool thing that cool people who snowboard like to consume. So you've got to drink this pop, right? So that's the catchphrase. It's turned them into a catchphrase.
00:56:56
Speaker
Buy me a new catchphrase. You can't just buy a catchphrase, though. Can you, Steve? No. You can't. You've got to come up with your own, man. Yes. and It's true. i mean, but unfortunately for cable, they kind of, they missed the moment for late stage capitalism. You know what I mean? Because yeah at that time it was frowned upon to do something as bass as selling your music.
00:57:25
Speaker
but oh for you For use on ah on an advert, you know what i mean? i didn I didn't frown upon them. No, but no but i'm I'm just saying it was potentially frowned upon. It's like, oh, they're selling out.
00:57:36
Speaker
Didn't hurt the Dandy Warhols. Well, the Dandy Warhols were never really controversial, possibly. They were never really about the art. were they that's what I'm picking up from reading of the film Dig however Joe Star Massacre again listening to them again apparently you know what I mean it was the kind thing about oh Sonic Youth have sold out this sign to a major label that kind of thing And now it's not even discussed if a band gets their music on an advert or it gets picked up on TikTok because that's pretty much the only way they can get any money.
00:58:18
Speaker
he um And Cable obviously felt quite conflicted about it because they did a song on the B side of that single called the brackets. We did the music for the Sprite and close brackets, blues.
00:58:34
Speaker
I'm around all day in alcoholic haze Counting all my money in the profits I have made Money makes me dizzy cause it turns the world too fast I push it down the toilet.
00:58:51
Speaker
It's blocking up the U-Bend. My secret must be kept. Because I'll be robbed if they find out. It must be £90,000 in my aquatic bank account.
00:59:04
Speaker
I tried and tried again to reach the fortune in the drain. And now my hands are trapped inside a vacuum in the water. Television.
00:59:15
Speaker
It's telepathic. I mean, lyrically, it seems to be mirroring what you were saying about them. I think they were very conflicted about it. um They were very small people. Yeah. they're not they weren' They weren't going into this um in a naive way. They're all quite clever people. Yeah.
00:59:32
Speaker
And hooray for Cable. Yes. Hooray for Cable. Let us celebrate them on this, our Johnny Domino podcast. And if Darius would like to get in touch and contribute, that would be a wonderful thing.
00:59:48
Speaker
Have we got to the end of the podcast? I think we've got to the end of the podcast. Yes, I thought so. Yes. Thank you very much for listening to this episode of the This Our Johnny Dominant podcast. You sound very tentative, like as if I'm going to interrupt you.
01:00:03
Speaker
I've been burnt before, but you promise you won't?
01:00:08
Speaker
Go on. I'm going to take your silence as a tacit agreement that you will not interrupt me. Thank you for listening to this episode of the This Our Johnny Dominant podcast.
01:00:20
Speaker
If you are enjoying the podcast, please share it. Stop around a minute. I've just thought of something. Got a question. I've got some quick questions for you, Steve. Yes. Have you got any ah ah more alternate names to the podcast yet?
01:00:34
Speaker
I haven't got any new ones, no. and then I've got one. Oh, go on. It's music time, Brosif.
01:00:42
Speaker
This Brosif thing, you're leaning into it quite hard at the moment. yeah um Next question. Have you got any new funeral songs? Oh, have I got any new... Because we were thinking about good songs to play at your funeral because, you know, we're getting on a bit now.
01:01:00
Speaker
No, I'm still quite happy with my choices, which were Birdhouse in Your Soul, They Might Be Giant's best song ever written, and Anarchy in the UK by Frank Sinebottom from the Frank's Firm Favourites EP.
01:01:13
Speaker
Okay. I'm going for Sea of Love by Cat Power because I want everyone to cry. ah Next question. Yes. What's your usual chip shop order?
01:01:28
Speaker
You see, you'll remember this from my days at the Bernie Inn, but I do like a bit of scampi. From a chip shop? Yes. From a chip shop, yes.
01:01:39
Speaker
But the thing is, it's very expensive from our chip shop, so mostly I will have haddock, or I will have deep-fried halloumi. Yeah. And chips, obviously. Yeah? Is that it?
01:01:50
Speaker
Yeah. like What else do you have? Salt vinegar? Salt vinegar? Oh, yeah, on everything. good I'm glad about that okay what about you but I'm just glad you didn't say so sausage because that would mean you're a wrong one basically I like the ah the classic regular chips large haddock medium peas yeah gotta love peas man Please do like and subscribe to our podcast and recommend it to someone who you think might like listening to all this kind of weird shit. Send us some of your old music and enter the eternal halls of the four-track gods.