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00:00:01
At The Punk Rock Factory
38 Plays2 days ago
"Punk is not really a style of music. It was more a state of mind" - Mike Watt
Steve and Giles, (two actual brothers) unearth a song from their extremely angsty college band and then marvel at the understated wonder that is Frankie Machine. There's also a fabulous song about loving a body part and a musical joke that seemed to get lost.
If that's not enough for you, we've got…
- Poetry!
- Beauty!
- Enmity!
- Drollery!
Related audiovisual material is available on the This Are Johnny Domino blog.
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
Reunion Reflections and Emotional Connections
00:00:00
Speaker
Especially for you. I want to let you know what I was going through. All the time we were apart, I thought of you. You were in my heart. My love never changed, I still feel the same.
00:00:15
Speaker
Especially for you, I want to tell you I was feeling that way too. And if dreams were wings, you know I would have flown to you. To be where you are, no matter how far, and now that I'm next to you. No more dreaming about tomorrow. Forget about the loneliness and sorrow. I've got to say, it's all because of you. And now we're back together.
Introducing the Podcast and Brotherly Musical Journey
00:01:00
Speaker
Hi. Hi. How you doing? Magic. Welcome to the This R Johnny Domino podcast. My name is Steve. My name is Giles. Hello.
00:01:12
Speaker
We are brothers and in the 1990s, we're brothers in the real sense of the word, aren't we? We're actually brothers. We're not just like fake brothers. No, we are real brothers. As you can tell by the fact that we're both getting on each other's nerves so and we're barely three minutes into the recording. Back in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, we spent a lot of our spare time writing and recording songs and recording them at home. As I'm sure some of you did. And we just had a lot of fun with our mates. That was what we did, just having an a laugh. We're still having fun now because we're just talking about stuff. Yes. And still recording weird stuff. Some of the weirdest being this very podcast. Indeed. What have you been doing, Giles? What have I been up to?
00:02:05
Speaker
it's been all right you know things have been pretty steady You all right? Been okay.
Musical Inspiration from Unpleasant Concerts
00:02:10
Speaker
But I know that you have had another interaction with the frequently mentioned on this podcast, Punk Rock Factory. I know, I know. I'll tell you where I didn't go first though. Okay. I didn't go to see Whitetown. No, you didn't get a chance to buy a ticket, did you? No, they sold out. Sold out? And it would have been good to go to see Whitetown because they were like,
00:02:35
Speaker
the successful people in the sort of music scene that we were sort of part of. Yes, we're adjacent to. Yeah. And there were lots of people that were there and they were supported by MJ Hibbert and our mate Frankie played guitar and trumpet for White Town at the gig. Yeah. But we can't say anything about it because we weren't there, so we don't know whether it was any good or not. No.
00:03:02
Speaker
But hooray for them anyway. Yeah. Anyway, I didn't go there, but I went... i don't I can't quite believe it, but I did go and see Punk Rock Factory. Again. Yeah. By choice. Well, no, not by choice. It's very complicated. I didn't really want to go and see them, to be honest.
00:03:20
Speaker
Basically, I'd recommended them to somebody who I thought would like them and then they bought tickets and then they expected me and Tracy to go as well. Okay. And then they found us tickets as well. I didn't want to go. I was just saying that it was something they would like. Okay. But we ended up going. Did they enjoy?
00:03:42
Speaker
I think they quite enjoyed it. yeah My instincts were right. They did enjoy it. which That's good. But I didn't enjoy it. I found it quite a scarring
Creating a Pastoral Poem with Music
00:03:52
Speaker
experience, to be honest. And I wrote a poem about it. Please share it with the group.
00:03:57
Speaker
At this point, do you think you, do you think you could put some nice music in the background? What? Like edit editors talking about this, but like a shitty punk rock cover no, no, I'm thinking more like pastoral reading a poem kind of music. Okay. Oh, right. Right. Okay. That's going to be a great Google search reading a poem music. Just like little flute or something. Okay. Anyway, the poem is called at the punk rock factory.
00:05:08
Speaker
between song chat
00:05:19
Speaker
Have you ever heard the bit on Coltrane's My Favourite Things, where McCoy Tyner plays like Sunshine breaking through
00:05:42
Speaker
Genuinely quite moving. ah but But I did get the impression that Punk Rock Factory was not music to live and die to. That's the message I was sending him. I was saying, listen, while you listen to it, just try this, because this is what it could be like. This is what he could be doing with your music. Yeah. See what I'm getting is that it's rather than it being music to live and die to, it was music to rage and kill to. Well, well yeah ah obviously, i I just was very apologetic for getting in the way of people. But, you know, I didn't enjoy it, put it like that.
00:06:15
Speaker
I won't be going again. Did you write the poem at the gig? No, I wrote the poem after the gig, Steve. It would have been great if you'd got your paper and your quill out and gone, I'm sorry, I must dash some thoughts off about this. Yeah. They actually did an advert in between songs. They actually did an advert. I've never seen a band do an advert for their stuff.
00:06:38
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. With like kind of a billboard type thing. Oh, right. Yeah.
Listener Engagement and Musical Contributions
00:06:43
Speaker
At times it was very, um, buttons, you know? Yeah. Yeah. ah I mean, look, if you like that sort of thing, good it's good. Right. But me, I hated it. I hated it. And what I was on at that festival, I do not know. I don't know what was going on.
00:07:04
Speaker
ah Rock and roll redcoats is what you're you're telling me. But less likeable than that, to be honest. There you go. So, yeah, Punk Rock Factory, they inspired us to create an engagement opportunity, which was to get people to send in songs about childhoods and stuff like that. And we have still got lots of engagement opportunities going. You know, please do get engaged. Please do send us some music. We need it, to be honest. yeah It could be any old thing, really.
00:07:33
Speaker
and we'd love to hear it would love to hear it it could just be some random stuff you recorded it could be something to do with the stuff we're talking about you know whatever what will play it will play the hell out of it i just like to say you keep saying we need it.
00:07:51
Speaker
We've got a lot of stuff to get through of our own, but we do appreciate it when people send their stuff to us and we do love to hear things that people have recorded. So. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And the other thing is we've got quite a lot of stuff to play this episode and we're talking a load of crap at the start here. So we really do need to get on with it. Okay. Don't we?
Revisiting 'The Usual Rosie' Band History
00:08:10
Speaker
It's the Johnny Domino podcast.
00:08:13
Speaker
give it a chance. So the name of the podcast is This Are Johnny Domino and the purpose of the podcast when we set it up was we wanted to listen to some old songs then choose one of the recordings that we talked about in the episode to go on a compilation called The Very Best of This Are Johnny Domino.
00:08:33
Speaker
Now, we are going back into the Volts. This time we are going back into possibly one of the more controversial pockets of our musical past. oh Yeah, it was a band that when I first went to college to do my A levels, for the first half term at least, this band was kind of the college band.
00:08:58
Speaker
where people would go out and see us. I think we only ever did three gigs in this particular lineup. It was a band that went by the name and it is a name which... You could stop building it up. It promises very little and delivers less. What's the name of the band? The band was called The Usual Rosie. I quite like it. I don't think it's a bad name.
00:09:25
Speaker
And it was from a comic that you read, and it was an advert about toasters. It was. It was from Bill Schenkovich's Stray Toasters. I was an achingly pretentious 15 year old, and I loved that comic.
00:09:40
Speaker
and And I've still got it. I think the comic link is like the coolest thing about the band. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, this was on the back of issue two. It was a ah series of adverts on the back of each issue for a company called Ball Happel Appliances who made toasters.
00:09:58
Speaker
On the back of issue two, there is a series of toasters in an advert, ah the Dink, the Log Rider, the latest Think, the Executive, the Big Mo, the Classic, the AT27, and the Usual Rosie. And the description of the Usual Rosie is, toasts one slice of bread to golden perfection every time, non-adjustable heat setting, toast remains in toaster until you remove it, guaranteed no surprises, mostly.
00:10:24
Speaker
So anyway, the band Usual Rosie was not a classic. No. But it was, it was me and you. And and Andy, our singer. Yes. Andy Gillet. Yeah. A long time listeners will remember the tale of Andy's lyrics from a few episodes ago when he was in the millers. Yeah. No, it was in Space Rat at that time. Oh, Space Rat. It was a Space Rat play. We did a whole play. Yes, we did. So yeah, Andy Jilla is the singer and you play the keyboard bass and drum machine and I played the guitar and Andy was the singer. And we're going to listen to a song that we recorded and we're going to listen to Fall In Down, or is that right? That's the one that you wanted. That's the one that you selected. I'm just going to point that out to you. Yeah. Can we listen to this one? right So this is Fall In Down. It's from a so four song demo that we recorded.
00:11:17
Speaker
and we're really mining that really rich seam that is the crossover between dipesh mode and huskadoo. It's really angsty this is. Let's go.
Memories of Performance and Popularity
00:12:51
Speaker
I really hate that lyric. It's one of the worst.
00:14:26
Speaker
The crowd goes wild. You know what? The crowd did go vaguely. wild. I've got a recording of one of the gigs that we played. It was at J.C.'s wine bar in Nottingham. I remember J.C.'s wine bar. So yeah, there is a live recording. We did sell some copies of that demo, but the most successful thing we did is we made some badges. We made some yellow badges with with the words, the usual rosy written on. And I remember my communication studies lecturer, Pete,
00:15:00
Speaker
he clocked people wearing it. And he actually asked him the lesson, what the hell does that mean? I keep seeing them all over college. And I was in the class, I say, Oh, that's my band. you But that was absolutely the high point of the usual Rosie's career.
00:15:15
Speaker
was good Yeah. I think we should change the name of the podcast to This Are The Usual Rosie. No. I do. Well, you can think that. You think that on your own time, buddy. Obviously, Andy was in space, right? And that was me, you, Jock and Andy.
00:15:33
Speaker
And then Jock left the band and it was me, you and Andy. And then we split the usual Rosie up. We decided to not do that anymore. And then we basically reformed Space Rat without Andy, which became the Millers. So that was me, you and Jock. So that's kind of your classic. Get and read the rid of the lead singer. Subliminal dicks. By reforming the band. Yeah. Yeah, basically.
00:15:59
Speaker
I really liked that. I really loved that. I did. It made me kind of wish that I was the sort of person that didn't listen to lyrics. but because if ah if If I was the sort of person that didn't listen to lyrics, I could have just got into that. That's some of the finest keyboard bass playing I've ever heard. Yes, so that's what you said. No, I mean it though, Steve. Yeah, I know. But what you said was, can we talk about falling down? I kind of love it slash hate it.
00:16:28
Speaker
Yeah, well, I love the music, but the lyrics are terrible. No, I really like it. It's good. What about that whiny keyboard sound? I think I was trying to do feedback, but if you remember the start of it, is this sort of like... mail wheel This sort of like whiny little plucking sound. steve It's good. It's good. I think that band, I don't know, it's one of those cases of what if, what if, you know, it could have been good.
00:16:55
Speaker
If we only had Mark in the band with all of his expensive keyboards and um maybe perhaps you could have switched to guitar and then, I don't know, we could have been in the next Dalek I Love You.
Recording Adventures and Musical Connections
00:17:06
Speaker
Would you be singing? No, I think I'd taken more of a bass type lead. and You'd be dancing. You'd be dancing to the usual Rosie. I would. I'd be dancing. I don't think anyone was dancing to the usual Rosie.
00:17:19
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we recorded that. i It doesn't sound like much of a demo. We recorded it at an eight track studio called the Cannon Factory in Nottingham, engineered by a man called Dave Chang. Yeah. And I'm absolutely convinced that he is down as the producer on that Fudge Tunnel album we were talking about.
00:17:42
Speaker
Well, it's quite possible, isn't it? What was it called? Hate songs in E minor. I used to quite like Fudge Tunnel, actually. Listening to them now, I'm less keen, but I think I went through a stage of quite liking them. I went went into a few Fudge Tunnel gigs and I had a Fudge Tunnel t-shirt as well.
00:18:02
Speaker
having fudge tunnel on your chest. Bit weird really, because it's like you've made them for an anus, isn't it? It is, it is. You know what, I'm looking at the ah Wikipedia page for hate songs in E minor and Dave Chang is not listed.
00:18:20
Speaker
You're completely making this up then. Well, I'm misremembering. I don't know if he gets, he might get a thank you on there. Anyway, it doesn't matter. I did vaguely know Dave Riley, the bass player from Fudd's tunnel actually at one point in my life. Yeah. It was nice chap. Have you ever seen him again? Ask him what? Ask him where did he record that?
00:18:44
Speaker
That music. I will. I will. I'll see if Dave Chang did it. Because Dave Chang was good. he was He didn't really know what to do with us. He just he just plugged the drum machine in, didn't he, Steve? Well, the drum machine had a single audio out. Hey, Gear fans. It's Boss DR220A. Yeah. I like the sound of it on that record. And, you know, Dave managed to capture Andy's angst and emotion in the lyrics there quite well, I thought.
00:19:13
Speaker
It made my guitar sound half decent even though I was literally just playing like three chords at the most and having a ridiculous amount of like fuzz on my guitar. But that keyboard bass man, that keyboard bass, that little guy with his curly hair playing the keyboard bass.
00:19:36
Speaker
I can't remember moving my hand up and down that fast in my life. You used to model yourself on Martin Gore at that point, didn't you? Did I? Yeah, you know. I don't think I did. You did. OK. If you say so. I went to see Depeche Mode. They were the first band I ever saw in 1983. 1983. On the Everything Counts tour.
00:19:59
Speaker
You know how long ago that is? That's 41 years ago. Thanks for that. 41 years ago. Yeah, it was it was it was all right. It was at the bless it Royal Concert Hall. m Anyway, they grab in hands, they grab all they can, don't they, Steve? I tell you what I was thinking, though. Where is Andy? Where is Andy Gillett?
00:20:22
Speaker
You know how a few episodes ago, we had a thing about you know all them trimmings and we found Dale, didn't we? We found Dale. And it was amazing because yeah the podcast created a thing. I wonder if anybody can find Andy. Yes. Wouldn't that be amazing?
00:20:41
Speaker
I remember the last time I saw him, Johnny Domino were doing a gig at Junction 7 in Nottingham and he'd basically set up a small indie label and we were playing a gig with one of the bands on his label and he was obviously there to see his artist. I mean, we didn't end things particularly well with Andy, let's be honest, ah or in a particularly mature sort of way. yeah You know, it took a while to clock me and we had a bit of a chat and I said, oh, you know, we're playing, you have to stick around for us. And he didn't. He absolutely did not stay to watch us. So there you go. No bad feeling. I'm not necessarily saying it's a bad feeling. He probably had other things to do, but he did not stay.
00:21:29
Speaker
Well, you the serious play but anyway, I think things, that's all water under the bridge and it would be lovely to hear from him again. Cause if I've got anything to do with it and I kind of have sort of, we're definitely going to listen to some more, the usual Rosie in the future. Cause there's more of that beautiful stuff. Yeah, but please don't be worried. The big one away.
00:21:51
Speaker
last episode, we talked about our friend, Frankie machine. He was one of the people who recorded a song for the aforementioned or them trimmings compilation. And you wanted to talk about one of his songs called 1973.
00:22:08
Speaker
Yeah, it's one of my favorites, I think, by Frankie Machine. I think it's one of my favorite songs by anybody, actually, this week anyway. And it's on the No Sales and No Sellout compilation, an Artist Against Success compilation. And I think it's one of the best tracks on it. And it's a really good compilation. It's on Bandcamp. You should definitely listen to it. It's got my favorite MJ Hibbert song, Bored with the Century. Great song.
00:22:35
Speaker
Brings a tear to my eye, that one does. And then it's got a really weird sandwich in the track listing. It's got a Johnny Domino, Pala sandwich. It goes like, Johnny Domino, Dick's Kitchen, then Pala, be a celebrity, and then Johnny Domino, Ricky and Fred. It's like a sandwich made out of two Rivetas with a marshmallow filling, I think. I think we need to reassess that Pala song. I listened to it the other day, I thought it was great. Was this immediately after you went to see Point Rock Factory?
00:23:04
Speaker
No, no, this was another day, another day. I mean it, it's good. It's like, it's not the worst Britpop type song ever. It's kind of a bit late for Britpop, but I thought it was cracking actually. And it's got, then after that, after that, after that, getting to the point, it's got Frankie Machine 1973, which is beautiful. We need to listen to it now.
00:26:18
Speaker
my God. Oh my God.
Celebrating Influential Music and Artists
00:26:21
Speaker
You like that, don't you? Oh, so good. That was so good. I just want to tell you something. I don't know if you've been onto Frankie Machine's band campaign, but he's got the album that he released in December 2021, The Late Frankie Machine. And Frankie Machine has been shipwrecked on a desert island from 2015. And he's put a remix album up there. And that's it. He's taken them all down.
00:26:48
Speaker
He says, I took down the older stuff when I released the last one as I just didn't think they sounded that great and not like anyone was clamoring to purchase them. So I think you need to start a campaign. Well, I'm starting it right here. Absolutely. Right. Yeah. It needs, it needs to put those albums back up there and they need to be on Spotify as well because that song.
00:27:10
Speaker
it gets me. it may it take You know what? It's that feeling of being like, I don't know, you're like 22, 23, 24 and you've literally just had your heart broken and that is what it feels like. You're just absolutely desolate and that is exactly what I get from that song. I must voice my own personal interest because I play on quite a few Pranking Machine recordings. Don't play on that, but I agree. I love his stuff. And my response to his message about, oh, no one's clamoring after it. I said, well, no one's ever clamored after any of our stuff, but i've got enough of an e I've got enough of an ego to think I'm going to stick it up there so people can listen to it if they want. And also, you know, we're doing a podcast about it. Yeah, exactly. So put it up there.
00:28:03
Speaker
Let's make a t-shirt that says Frankie Machine. Stick it up there. That could be the campaign slogan. Stick it up there, Frankie Machine. Knowing Frankie, as I do, he will be all over that particular slogan. A bit of marketing there for you. Absolutely. There you go. Now, as we mentioned on the previous episode, we at one time plan to do a split single with Frankie Machine where We were going to do a version of 1973.
00:28:35
Speaker
And he was going to do a version of the song that we talked about last time called Solid Ground. And we did record some interpretations of the music for 1973, but we never got around to finishing the song off. And when Frankie started talking about doing a remix album, I said, well, I haven't got the technical way with all to do a remix, but we did record some instrumental stuff and I gave him a disc of all the instrumental takes that we did. And he basically jammed them together.
00:29:05
Speaker
He came up with a version of 1973 which is called the Johnny Domino lean against the machine mix.
00:33:47
Speaker
So I'm expecting to come back very much the same, the same attitude towards life and towards people, and to say the same sort of things that would be expected of me.
00:34:00
Speaker
So, for your sake, I do this, because I know for dear your struggling self-death will be hard to convince, and if I can assist you to convince, then I should be doing some good work with me while I have some of my blocks.
00:34:15
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, I think unwittingly Frankie Machine there has created some kind of 3D simulation of what it was like to be in a Johnny Domino rehearsal. oh yeah with With all of the headache inducing repetition and joy that entailed basically.
00:34:35
Speaker
I just want to say something about the sample at the end because ah Frankie let me know. It was from a 1962 seance which Sun Bloke recorded and it's supposed to be the voice of Oscar Wilde from the other other side. So that's a nice little detail. I don't think he was using it for any other reason other than he thought it sounded cool. Well it does.
00:34:54
Speaker
The Johnny Domino playing on that version is the only recording, really, other than a rehearsal room recording that features the Jeff Bot. And he was playing this like weird drum pad, like a big circular pizza box type drum. And he was just beating the hell out of that. Yeah. Well, it's just a bit annoying. And it's one of those annoying things that we never recorded any more stuff with Jeff Bot.
00:35:19
Speaker
but We're going to just have to enjoy that, aren't we? It's not really as good as the original version it might be. No, no, no, no. Do you want some more Frankie Machine? Because we've got one more recording, Frankie Machine. um because the reason we Have we got time? Have we got time, boys and girls? We've got well we've got only got a couple of more songs to talk about, I think. And the reason we were doing that is because we wanted to do a split single, as I mentioned earlier, with us doing 1973 and him doing a version of the Johnny Domino song, Solid Ground, that we talked about last week, which has some problematic lyrics. Now, Frankie didn't finish his version, but he finished it in the last week and he sent it to me. And here it is. good good to good good
00:39:08
Speaker
I'm sorry. It's quite unlike Frankie Machine to deal with a problematic lyric. He usually keeps them in, but he dealt with it quite beautifully, I think. Admirably. Admirably. Yeah, that's now the definitive version of that song, really, in my opinion.
00:39:26
Speaker
My response when I heard it was, that's better than our version. It really is. It's very good. I'm trying to think like, you know, it's like, it's like Libra and Stoller hearing Elvis for the first time. And it's like, you know, that's how it should sound. It's just someone doing a really good version of it a song that was done all right in the past.
00:39:49
Speaker
does I think that's about as far as it goes. But thank you, Frankie. I love that version. And I would urge listeners to this podcast who haven't heard Frankie Machine to explore his oeuvre. And I will tell Frankie to get more of his music available online.
00:40:09
Speaker
Now, you put a request in for a song that we wanted to talk about that was done by a friend of ours and it was my mate James. Yes. And his band, The Carry Nations. Yes. Now, this is the wonderful thing about having a podcast, you see, because I really, really wanted to hear this song.
00:40:30
Speaker
And it it was nowhere to be found. And I remember it was really strongly in my head. The song was right. yeah But now because of the podcast, you've been asked to dig it out from under your bed. No, and no, no. Well, where's it come from? Where's it come from? I've been messaging James because he is I'm sure he would agree pretty crap at staying in touch using things like Facebook Messenger and things like that. And I've been messaging him because I wanted him to send it in when we started doing things like the eternal halls of the four track gods. And he said, yeah, I'm up for it. And then I didn't hear from him for about a year. And when we talked about it last week, I thought, I wonder if I've got another way to find him. And I got his mobile phone number. And since then, he sent me the belly song by the Cari nations.
00:41:20
Speaker
And he also sent me a little voice note as well talking about the recording. But so it is exactly it is exactly the same as I remember it being. Obviously. I think it's better. I think it's better.
00:43:02
Speaker
No! No!
00:44:01
Speaker
When did you die, die? When did you die?
00:44:13
Speaker
still good it's still good do you think james was a fan of the butthole surfers or is that just in my head it did me some compilation tapes it did me a copy of the first arab strap album but i think on the other side was was an album by manner war he was a complicated character and so and but but no butthole surfers Well, you know what? I can't hear any influences from Man O' War or Arab Strap in that. But I can hear some bottle surfers. It's the hey bit. Oh, yeah, vocally. Yeah. Hey. And it's also a bit like cannonball, you know, like the music. I don't know. It just reminds me of all sorts of like early fast. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That that cannonball, not cannonball by the bridge. No, no, not doo doo doo doo. Not that one. No, the last time I saw him, I did do him a compilation CD and
00:45:05
Speaker
I think I did him too. I did him a compilation CD of various things. I think he got most of them anyway, so I could have a look and see what was on that. But I did him a Steely Dan ah compilation for for his drive back, which he very much appreciated. So I'm sharing the smooth with him. I don't hear that in it either. No, no. Well, I mean, that was, you know, that was a couple of years ago, probably longer than a couple of years ago. Anyway, James sent me a ah recording talking about that song.
00:45:31
Speaker
The belly was written sometime around 1996, possibly about a girl called Claire that I'd met whilst working at the Virgin Megastore in Derby. um She was a customer and was no doubt impressed with my career prospects. I never saw her belly, the lyrics of they're all fictional.
00:45:51
Speaker
And I think at this time, Steve had been promoted to the lofty jazz stroke classical room upstairs, and I still dealt with the cassette singles downstairs. But I'd also been given the reggae section to look after, which really meant dusting it and putting it in alphabetical order and taking the EB40 out and putting them in rock and pop. That was quite important for me at the time.
00:46:14
Speaker
Anyway, being a basic guitar player, I wrote the bones of the song and Adam and Dale added their little bits of sparkle to it, which made a massive difference to all of the songs that I ended up writing. in We recorded the song at a little studio somewhere near Belfort or Ripley, that kind of Amber Valley area. And it was a time when we were gigging quite a lot and then convinced ourselves that we could become actual pop stars. So we needed a demo to help get assigned. And my dad very kindly stumped up some money to record the demo.
00:46:44
Speaker
it was a bloke day or new somehow, and the studio was most famous for recording the incidental music in episodes of Sharp, starring Sean Bean, and ah ultimately was the wrong environment for a band like us.
00:46:57
Speaker
because it didn't come out how we wanted it to sound at all. There's like tons of reverb and double track vocals and the guy who aimed it was really nice and really enthusiastic but didn't really ask us what we wanted and we didn't really tell him what we wanted so it just came out how he wanted it really. But it was quite exciting at the time. Adam played the drums and the lead guitar. Dale played bass and they're both smashing those BVs. I'm one rhythm guitar and vocals.
00:47:22
Speaker
That's it, really. It was always our best received song when we played live at a gig. That probably our only well received song. It always felt like a bit of a novelty song to me, but so I'll take that. Cheers. Thanks a lot, James, for sending that through. Nice to hear from you. After I heard that clip, I went and I had to go and watch some episodes of Short.
00:47:43
Speaker
Excellent.
Nostalgic Discoveries and Song Homages
00:47:44
Speaker
All I wanted to say was for regular listeners, please don't be confused about the fact that there is another bass player called Dale. Not to be confused with Dale of and John T fame, also of out to lunch fame. This is a different Dale.
00:47:58
Speaker
There are the Dales that play bass. It's astonishing. And as soon as I got that note from James, I remembered Dale. He was a good 10 years older than the rest of the band. And he had a particular taste for really weird floppy hats, which he refused to take off. The times that I saw the Carinations when they played.
00:48:18
Speaker
So there you go. Yeah, Sharp, the soundtrack to Sharp, it's weird. It's weird folk songs, but with like Brian May guitar playing over it. Weird. Recorded in Belper. Apparently so. But I started watching some episodes to see what the soundtrack was like, but then i ended up watching like the whole of Sharp's Rifles. Jesus. It was bloody great.
00:48:43
Speaker
I loved it. I loved it. It was really good. I got right into it. Yeah. Napoleonic drama. Fabulous. Sian Bean. Sian Bean. Or Sean Bourne. Whatever his name is. You can't kill innocent people.
00:48:58
Speaker
I believe. Is that a quote of his? Something like that. That's quite a good impression there, Steve. Better than your Kylie Minogue at the start of the series. Well, that's my second-hand impression that my wife does. Whenever you mention Sean Bean, she says, you can't kill innocent people. And that was rubbish. That was more like Alan Partridge when he pierced his foot on a spike. It was. That was a lot more like Alan Partridge. A lot more Partridge in that one. It was.
00:49:27
Speaker
ah You know what? you know this You know what the name of this as podcast is? It's not this our usual Rosie, is it? It's this our Johnny Domino, right? Do you think we probably should listen to a Johnny Domino song? Let's do that. This is a song from the third album released by Johnny Domino. It's an album called The First 100 Years. It's probably, well you've said in the past, it's our most miserable album. It's certainly our most downbeat album and we were bands that could be quite miserable at times, particularly if you caught us in the wrong frame of mind.
00:50:03
Speaker
And this is a song called A Don't Cry. And this is another example of something that was fairly apparent throughout our whole recording and writing song career as Johnny Domino, is we would do things that we thought were hilarious and really obvious and nobody ever commented on them. See if you could spot what it is.
00:54:05
Speaker
on this mountain.
00:55:37
Speaker
So how come nobody spotted the tribute to Elaine Page? I have no idea. I remember we were rehearsing it in my old bedroom and For some reason, I thought, I'm going to play a bit of Don't Cry For Me, Argentina. And I think we all just laughed our heads off. And the version just like collapsed because I just started playing it and it fitted really nicely. And then we just kept it in. And we were thinking, oh, people just think it's really funny. But maybe no one got to that part of the song. Maybe no one got that far. I think they did. I don't know. I mean, maybe they just got a different sense of humour towards Steve.
00:56:18
Speaker
Yeah, that's probably true. But I found it quite funny at the time and I still find it quite funny. But also, weirdly moving. Weirdly moving. Did you like the appearance of the patented Johnny Domino vibraphone type keyboard sound from the Casio Sita 3000? Yeah, I always like to hear that. That's a good one to bring back. and Nice to hear Jim there singing away, sounding good. I honestly can't remember who did what on that song.
00:56:45
Speaker
I mean, I think I did a couple of guitar tracks and I probably played the keyboard bit at the end. I think Mark must have played a guitar track as well. I'm not sure. You did bass and Jim sang. There is one guitar track that you can barely hear. I think that's probably Mark's. I probably just mixed it really, really low for which many apologies um and just kept mine up nice and loud. You don't really apologize. No, but you know what I mean? It does sound like the sort of dick move that I would do. So I apologize. But you don't apologize for that sort of thing. You just do it.
00:57:18
Speaker
Okay. Right. I quite like that anyway. It was all right. I haven't heard that for a very long time. Not heard it for ages. Ages. And I don't know. Be interested to see what people think of it. I quite enjoyed it. Me too. And that's the end of the podcast. These are the songs that we are talking about. Are we going to choose one to go on as a putative compilation of the best of Bizarre Johnny Domino? That was always a feature of the podcast. It's kind of what it was about. That was kind of the point at the beginning.
00:57:49
Speaker
But I don't know. I can't be arsed anymore. Fair enough. We'll just pick one. When it comes time, when we've got enough songs ah for a compilation. We'll choose some. from ones that we've listened to. There you go. That's the deal from now on. yeah There's no way I can't, k' k in all good conscience, it can't be Usual Rosie. Let's see. We're going to listen to some more Usual Rosie in a future episode. I think there're are guys there are there are better songs by them, definitely.
00:58:23
Speaker
But I did enjoy the contributions from Rob this episode. That was beautiful. Yeah. And and James as well. Great job. Great job with the Carrie Nations. Were they named after the Russ Meyer film, the band in that film, or were they named after the um radical member of the temperance movement? Who knows? um It was not. It wasn't a Russ Meyer film, was it? It was was my it beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
00:58:51
Speaker
By Russ Meyer. I don't think you You're going to look really bad in a minute. Oh, well, you know, that's just how it goes. to to to Don't go editing this out. No, I'm not going to. When you've got an egg on your face. Well, if you've got an egg on your face. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls from 1970.
00:59:12
Speaker
to did to did that God, oh my. What is it? Are you reading the longest Wikipedia? No, no, no. It was a Russ Meyer film. I didn't realise it was a Russ Meyer film. I mean, obviously it's got women with huge boobs.
00:59:25
Speaker
in it. Did that distract you? No, it's a Russ Meyer film, but obviously it's going to be. It was a sequel to the 67 film Valley of the Dolls, which was not a Russ Meyer film. That's probably why I was getting confused. Oh, yes. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. That was it. All right. You've got the tail between your legs. It's all right. Ah, shut up. Is that the one where there's a guy There's like a transsexual character in it. Oh, I don't even watch it. Runny Z-Man Barzell.
01:00:35
Speaker
are Thank you very much for listening to another episode of the This Are Johnny Domino podcast. If you are enjoying the podcast. Hold on a minute. Wow. Just thought one more thing. It's getting so late. Go, go. Just thought of one more thing. Yes, go. What is the best song about work that you could think of, Steve?
01:00:59
Speaker
You asked me this the other day and you asked me to prepare for it and I forgot to prepare for it. Oh, you're such a fool. Oh, I'm such a fool. I mean, a fool when you mentioned it to me, the first song that popped into my head immediately was the dead Kennedy's version of Take This Job and Shove It.
01:01:16
Speaker
There you go. Basically, you've ruined the end bit. It's fine because you didn't prepare anything. But I'll take that as an answer. That's a pretty good answer. It's a great song. It's a good song. What is it you like about it, Steve? What is it you like about it? What do you like about that song? I like the fact is take this job and shove it. Do you like the sentiment? I do. And in my current field of work, I don't have a boss. So that's always quite nice as well.
01:01:42
Speaker
And there have been times when I've wanted to say that to various bosses throughout my employment career.
Songs of Work and Sentiments
01:01:48
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. You do, don't you? It'd be good to just play that song to them, wouldn't it? My favourite song about work is 16 Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford. That's a good one.
01:02:00
Speaker
It's a good one, isn't it? It is. I thought you we were going to go 9 to 5, Dolly Parton. Yeah, that was all right. But yeah, 16 tonnes is what appeals to me at the moment. yeah You load 16 tonnes, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. St Peter, don't you call me because I can't go. I owe my soul to the company store. Wow. Nothing quite sums up working in the modern education system.
01:02:26
Speaker
like that yes yes it's really exactly what i feel like maybe you have a different favorite song about work please let us know i've got another end bit as well i can't have a double end bit i've got another end bit where i want to talk about an amazing album that i found yeah in a charity shop it's like a contemporary christian music album do you think we should just like leave that as a teaser for people because you really want to hear about that don't you remind me what it's called No, I'm not going to tell you what it's called, but I'll tell you about it next week.
Engagement Reminder and Contribution Call
01:02:59
Speaker
okay nice Not next week. It's a beauty. All I'm going to say is the front cover looks like a very beautiful, well-fed angel flying. Intriguing. There you go then. That's the end of the episode. Fabulous. How do we end it? What do we say? What should we say? Well, I'm just going to say things like
01:03:18
Speaker
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.