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Sitting On The Pavement, Playing Little Tunes
88 Plays5 months ago
Giles and Steve dig once again through their archive to find a more lugubrious selection of past recordings. Along the way, there are more tragic memories of live disasters and four-track recording fun.
Featuring:
- The voice of Jim
- Steve’s Down nightmare
- Scotsman admits song theft
- The legendary Xylophone Man of Nottingham town
- A new Engagement Opportunity?
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
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Theme Discussion
00:00:00
Speaker
Sometimes I don't thrill you. Sometimes I think I'll kill you. But don't let me fuck up, will you? Because when I need a friend, it's still you.
00:00:34
Speaker
What a mess. What a mess. It's incredible. It's taken so long to get to those lyrics as the lyrical quotes at the start of the podcast. Do you think it's a little bit obvious? No, no, it's good. It's a classic. It's a classic, isn't it? Maybe to people our age, it's obvious, but you know, all the young folk that are listening. It's poetry. It's new to them.
Introduction of Hosts and Podcast Purpose
00:00:55
Speaker
Welcome to the This Our Johnny Domino podcast, a podcast where myself, Steve, and my brother Giles,
00:01:02
Speaker
Hello. Listen to and comment on songs that we wrote and recorded in our bedrooms over 30 years ago.
00:01:12
Speaker
We were quite busy. We made quite a lot of recordings. We have a mountain of tapes. Yes. And that's the point of the podcast. We listen to old recordings and the memories that spring up and thereof. That's what we're doing today.
Listener Engagement and Music Submissions
00:01:28
Speaker
Now, recently we have been concentrating on an engagement activity where we have been getting people to send in their recordings of a song
00:01:37
Speaker
Well, we found the lyrics in an old book called Rock Talk, which is a 40-odd page book about how to be a rock star. And the lyrics that were in the book have brought us a lot of joy over the years. Indeed. It's a song that we have been calling All Them Trimmings. Now, the last one of this particular trench of All Them Trimmings versions is coming in the next episode.
00:02:01
Speaker
but the engagement opportunity is still available. So please, if you have a burning desire to record a piece of music based on some lyrics that are fairly odd, weird, then please get in touch and record your thing. Go for it.
00:02:21
Speaker
do it. Yeah, the song is by a band called Out to Lunch and in our nasty little sarcastic indie boy way did find the lyrics quite funny.
00:02:33
Speaker
But since lots of people have been recording versions of it, we've found hidden depths in those lyrics. It's got so many layers, so many layers. In fact, we're managing to make three podcast episodes out of it. So there must be something there. So that's good. And that is an engagement opportunity. So we're trying to engage people in the Johnny Domino brand here.
00:02:54
Speaker
Yes. We want people to
Podcast Format and Music Compilation
00:02:56
Speaker
get involved. We want people to send us stuff in. We want to play your music as well as ours. Yes. Because, you know, at the start of this podcast, we were very much like, oh, well, we don't want to be too self-aggrandizing, you know, playing all our music and stuff and talking about how great our old music was. That's not really the point. It's just memories. And we just, I guess we're just trying to share
00:03:19
Speaker
our love of making music, I suppose, really. It's not anything more than that. We're not going to make ourselves out to be the big great artists because we're not. We know we're not. And that is another thing. If you have recorded your own music in the past, whether it's on a four track or a manky little tape recorder that you're stuck in the middle of the room, send it to us and we will analyze your greatness and talk about it.
00:03:49
Speaker
We will. And you may be admitted into... It's been a while since we've had that jingle. I enjoyed that.
00:04:04
Speaker
Yeah, that was good. Get that out of your system. So that's the point of the podcast, but this is a regular edition of the podcast where we listen to songs that were recorded by, in this one is songs that were all recorded by the band Johnny Domino.
00:04:19
Speaker
And at the end of the podcast, we will select one of them or none of them or two of any, any number of them.
Song 'Down' Discussion and Performance Insights
00:04:30
Speaker
We're going to basically to pick something to go on a compilation tape of the best of this, our Johnny Domina. Volume one is available on all streaming sites right now.
00:04:41
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, listen to the best of This or Jolly Domino, volume one, it's out there. Yes, terrifyingly, we're working our way through volume two right now.
00:04:55
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Anyway, this is a potential for volume two. And this is a song which we wrote when I don't know, Steve. I'm hoping you can tell me when we did this song. I'm a bit confused because this is a song that we wrote and recorded for our third album, the first 100 years. But we re-recorded it because no one listened to the first 100 years. And this is a version of a song called Down.
00:05:24
Speaker
And fantastically, we have some more words from the voice of Jim. Now, Jim was our singer and frontman for a while, and he's recorded as a nice little intro for this song. Hello, Charles. Hello, Steve. And hello to your listeners. I'm Jim.
00:05:47
Speaker
So Down is a song that despite its title and the words I think of as an up song, the first hundred years the album that it comes from has been described as miserable. I don't agree with that.
00:06:04
Speaker
I think it's true that many of the songs are a bit more introspective. They're quite delicate in places, pretty even in places. But holding those together at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the album are these three more upbeat songs. Kind of like a musical club sandwich in my mind. And down is the top slice of bread in that sandwich.
00:06:31
Speaker
What do I like about it? Well, a few bits. I like the lyrics. Those are Giles' lyrics, as is most of the album. I think they're really strong throughout the album. The guitar playing, I mean, pretty much every Johnny Domino song, I like Steve's guitar playing, but I particularly like the synth on the guitar solo. It kind of makes my teeth tingle, like I've had too much candy floss, but it does work.
00:06:57
Speaker
The sound of the song in general is quite spacious and propulsive if that's even possible. I also like the little bit where Giles makes the sound of serotonin jumping about halfway through the song.
00:07:12
Speaker
Can't remember how much we played this live. I know we played it a bit. We were quite fond of it at the time, but I sort of have the feeling that we didn't really play it enough. I'm not even sure if by the time we got a real drummer, we stopped playing it. We definitely played it enough. I mean, that would have been a shame because I think it's a really good song. So there you have it. Down.
00:07:34
Speaker
As you were just interrupting, we definitely did play it live, and I have a waking nightmare about playing this song live, which still strikes me cold to this day, which we'll talk about later. The person you are talking to You know we don't exist The man that was just faded
00:08:03
Speaker
Like a tattoo on the wrist So don't try and understand it You can't even pin it down But you can see how dark it gets If you just stick around It's down, I'm down, she's down
00:08:27
Speaker
I'm down, she's down Don't think I'll ever understand I'm down, she's down Don't think I'll ever understand I'm down, she's down
00:09:15
Speaker
Like bat TV Ever since you've been around Got a serotonin jumpin' Dancing to another sound The meaning of a love of you Is my brain has rearranged And I can't see a future in it But I'm getting on that train
00:10:12
Speaker
I'm down, she's down Don't think I'll ever understand I'm down, she's down Don't think I'll ever understand
00:10:47
Speaker
avoiding side effects but it has always been there but we never ever checked you and I are so dark now we made a black
Reflections on Band Dynamics and Performance
00:11:54
Speaker
I'm down, she's down, don't think I have heard it down I'm down, she's down, don't think I have heard it I'm down, she's down, don't think I have heard it I'm down, she's down
00:12:48
Speaker
That was the 2024 edit of Down by Yes, Johnny Domino. Dear listener, that song actually went on for considerably longer than that. That was a recording that we did when we were
00:13:05
Speaker
starting to record the album Solid Ground which came out in 2004, 20 years ago and when we were just getting ready to get started we recorded different versions of some of our old songs and that was just one of them and I played it to you and you quite liked it so that is why we used that version. Yeah I think that is the best version of that song definitely. It's pretty pokey.
00:13:30
Speaker
Yeah, regardless of what Jim said, we did play that song quite a lot live actually. And yeah, I mean, it kind of worked most of the time. Yes. I seem to remember it being okay in the set. Yes. I liked it. It's got a bit of a talking heads kind of thing going on listening to it now. But it's like a not funky kind of version of talking heads. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, I do.
00:13:54
Speaker
What's the worst moment of your life? Well, no, it's just we did play it live at an evening in Derby. It was a series of gigs called Hunting for Teeth and we played a gig and that was the first song in our set. Now, when we got to the bit, it's the guitar bit that makes Jim's teeth itch. I pressed the wrong pedal.
00:14:20
Speaker
I pressed the pedal to stop the drum machine. So the song finished, and this is like a full two minutes into it. Now, as it stopped, we kind of looked a bit confused at each other, and Jim came up to me and said, play Oh Chimpy, which is a song that we featured on episode 19 of the podcast, the podcast episode called A Disc Horse on Contemporary Society.
00:15:07
Speaker
Yeah, so he said, move on to the next set. No, that song wasn't even on the set list. But he said, let's do Chimpie, because it's a good live song, let's go straight to it. And I said, no, we'll do Down.
00:15:23
Speaker
So we went back and did the whole song because it's a drum machine. You can't start in the middle of a song. You have to go back to the start. And that song goes on for around six minutes. So we'd already played two minutes of it. And then we do a song which is six minutes long and it's one chord progression throughout the whole song.
00:15:48
Speaker
Yeah. And I sometimes think about that when I'm struggling to get to sleep and it keeps me awake because why didn't I just say that's a really good idea. Let's do Chimpi.
00:16:01
Speaker
I'm glad you're sharing this with us today. It's just horrible. This trauma. These things happen though Steve, you know? I mean it's like you don't dwell on it. It was a mistake and I think perhaps we didn't sell ourselves to the audience very well on that night. No. And we also left before the other bands played.
00:16:22
Speaker
Oh, that's always bad form, I think. It's bad form. And we took our bass amp with us and the headlining band, who I won't name, needed a bass amp.
00:16:33
Speaker
Oh, how to win friends and influence people. Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, it was not a good night for us, putting out that, right? But let's not worry about it, right? Maybe some people saw it and thought it was fairly avant-garde, you know? I don't know. Maybe they didn't realise that we'd stopped it by accident.
Musical Influences and Personal Adaptations
00:16:52
Speaker
Maybe they thought that was part of the song. I don't know. I'm sure some people were bored to tears by us. But there may have been someone in there who enjoyed it.
00:17:03
Speaker
It's all part of the fun. It's a learning process. I don't want you staying up at night thinking about that, Steve. Thanks. Thanks. It's too long ago.
00:17:13
Speaker
Yeah. The epic guitar bit that Jim's talking about. I was listening to the song the other day. I think, again, Talking Heads influence. I think it's Adrian Blue influence, isn't it? Do you not think? Probably, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I can hear it. I can hear it. And I did a bit of a dig into Adrian Blue, actually. Yeah. He's the guitarist who started off with Zapper, actually. Do you know that?
00:17:40
Speaker
started off playing on Shake Your Booty, and he was on the video Baby Snakes as the guitarist. He's quite an interesting guitar player, I think. But I was listening to some of his solo stuff. You're going to be very excited to know, I'm going to now bring back a very beloved old feature of the podcast, songs that should have been written by a wean, but were in fact not written by a wean.
00:18:09
Speaker
yeah because there is a song if you want to hear a song that should have been written by ween but it's not it's by adrian belue on the album mr music head and the track is called oh daddy
00:18:25
Speaker
already knowing the title there, you know, you're sort of thinking, I don't want to hear it. You should go away and listen to it. Oh, Daddy, by Adrian Ballew. It's a song that could have been written. And then wash your hands afterwards. Yeah. It's got that kind of guitar sound as well. Yeah. Yeah.
00:19:00
Speaker
Well, now that guitar request was such a smile.
00:19:11
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the thing about down is musically, I think it was invented in a jam. And I think when we recorded it, I was determined to get every guitar idea that I had in that jam on the song. All I could say really is just because something feels good, it doesn't mean it is good. Let's put it like that, shall we?
00:19:34
Speaker
Yeah, so that is down from the first 100 years, but that recording was not from the first 100 years. Is it going to make it onto volume two of the compilation? Potentially, in its edited form. Yeah, I'm going to have to do a bit of an edit on it. Jim does a good job, I think, on that one. I like his singing. You can tell he's well practiced and he's like really worked out like his vocal lines and stuff and he's kind of showing off a little bit on it, which it sounds really good, I think. I think we all work. So, yeah, it's cool.
00:20:03
Speaker
down right next song this is a song which has been prompted by a conversation that i had with my friend jock who we've mentioned several times on the podcast we've mentioned him as jock brian the archdeacon of pop
00:20:19
Speaker
I think we again need to clarify that we are not using, well, although it is a racial slur, it is this said individual's chosen moniker. It is. And I asked him about that when I met him. I met him a long time ago, so I've had this recording for a while, but it was a song that he had a confession to make about.
00:20:44
Speaker
So this song, the next song, he's got a confession about the next song. He has. So you were telling me that you ripped off one of our songs. I did, yeah. I have to give both of you a sincere apology. I was also in another band called Peru, which we've talked about a few times. But Peru were kind of the reason
00:21:06
Speaker
Johnny Domino got together and obviously you've spoken about this before, the four track, we borrowed the four track, gave you the impetus to start that project and then Prue carried on and carried on and carried on and there is definitely guises and different line ups and I took it to Bristol
00:21:22
Speaker
But I didn't really take you to Bristol, I kind of left it alone for a long time. You went to Bristol. And then I went to Bristol, and then I had the opportunity to start the band again. I tried to get you to, you and Chris. And this very pub we sat in, had a conversation about, and we were up for it. We were looking a bit at logistics and things.
00:21:44
Speaker
got in the way and we couldn't do it. So I had to borrow a band from Bristol and get through back up and running with them. And then one day I was booked to do a gig in Bristol and I had no band because the band were on holiday as often happens. So I just decided rather than pull the gig I'd do it myself. So I sat there in the chair and very well done thinking like and playing some acoustic songs. But I didn't have enough songs really to fill out the gig.
00:22:13
Speaker
So I did some covers to fill it in a little bit and then I performed it to run a Domino song. But I kind of took it and I changed it. So it wasn't really what you put down in today. It was the beginnings of what you put down in today. The song go down, where did it go from here?
00:22:31
Speaker
So it started to get to the street, decided to go for a walk, meet it on, keep an eye on it, just in case, et cetera, et cetera. So I used that order of that bit, and then I used the chord structure, because it was easy for me to play, and I'm a very, very basic guitar player, I acknowledge that, but I used those chords, I used that first verse, and then I extended it into a story that I could fit with that first verse, and so I never told you all about it until now.
00:23:00
Speaker
It's just me admitting my theft. Like I said, there's literally no one in the audience. No, there's not. I would've known.
Creative Processes and Song Naming Debate
00:23:08
Speaker
And on the set list, I remember seeing it because my best player at the time, Jim Dyke, was happy. And he used to be like, what the heck is that song? Why has it got a question mark? Rather than the title, I said, because I can't remember the title of the actual song that I've stolen. And I didn't want to give it an untitled thing, so I just put my question mark. I'd like to hear that.
00:23:28
Speaker
Yeah. But can we just take a moment to recognize the fact that my impression of Jock that I did on the tale of Andy's lyrics, episode 23 of the podcast, it's pretty good.
00:23:40
Speaker
Yeah, kind of. Yeah, nice to hear him, though. Yeah, I would like to hear his version of it. Did he not record it? I don't think so. Well, he should go away and do it. I think he should. I think he should. Definitely. We do need to at some point to talk about Peru. I want to hear some Peru. Well, let's do that. Let's book that in for a future episode.
00:24:04
Speaker
Yeah, let's hear some Peru. In lieu of Peru, here's Where To Go From Here by the Johnny Domino Band.
00:24:59
Speaker
I see all the things I like about you that I had forgot We are migrating at the same speed Making noises at each other We think about it, try to control it But now I'm trying to find
00:25:44
Speaker
you
00:26:29
Speaker
All the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time,
00:27:22
Speaker
more makeup.
00:28:27
Speaker
You know, making music and making art and stuff, right? Don't you think it has a bit of a, it has a weird effect on your memory? Yeah. Because I was listening to that and I was thinking, I wonder if everybody else feels like this, that like, you're not just one person, you like lots of people.
00:28:47
Speaker
I don't think I even know the person who wrote that song. No. It's like a completely different person. Yeah. But it was me. I wrote the lyrics and I really don't remember it. And I can't really even imagine writing those words. And I feel like that about a lot of stuff that I've done in the past. And is everybody like that? Is it like that? Do you go through your life and are you lots of different people? Well, I think when you look back at things that you did in the past,
00:29:16
Speaker
There's a thread, but there are things where you look back and go, what the hell was I thinking? I'm not necessarily, I don't think that about that song. No, no, exactly. I mean, I'm just talking in general, I think.
00:29:29
Speaker
You know, you look back at past relationships or whatever and friendships and you think, oh my God, you know, the signs were all there. But you know, that's called hindsight, isn't it? I mean, I was listening to that thinking, wow, I really liked Uncle Tupelo. Yeah, definitely. I can hear that. And it's like, I don't think it's an autobiographical song.
00:29:51
Speaker
I don't think I can't remember. I think it probably was. Why? How? How do you know? How do you know? I don't know. You've been stalking me. Yes, I've been in your mind.
00:30:08
Speaker
It feels like a little biographical song, but I don't think it was. I think it was me trying to write a song that had that kind of emotion in it. But I don't think I was actually writing about something that actually happened. That's weird, isn't it? That's really odd. Yeah, I know. I can understand why Brian slash Jock liked it. Yeah. It does sound a bit like a Peru song in a way. Hmm. I think we should listen to Peru.
00:30:35
Speaker
We really should. We definitely will. Put it in another episode soon. Yeah. So that was from spring 1994. So we are talking more or less exactly 30 years ago. I suppose it's not that surprising, is it? That like you're a completely different person 30 years ago.
Art, Memory, and Personal Growth Reflections
00:30:52
Speaker
If you were the same person, that would be really, really upsetting. Pretty weird, wouldn't it? Yeah.
00:30:57
Speaker
I quite enjoyed that. That is you on drums. Me, really, my arms hurt a lot at the end of recording that song, but it's my own stupid fault for making up that bit of music. You had to move your arm up and down a lot. I've never had to move my arm up and down so many times in my life. That's not true, Colin. That's a bad news reference from the Lesser Heard Bad News album, which was, again, is another thing that we talk about.
00:31:26
Speaker
Albert on bass. Yeah, Albert's good on bass. He always holds it down, doesn't he? Yeah, yeah. But you know what? I enjoyed that more than I thought I would. Yeah, me too. Me too. It could be a completely different band. Yeah. I don't feel like it is me or us even. But then that's good, I suppose. I think so. Shall we go on to the next one? I don't know.
00:31:53
Speaker
I don't know what else there is to say about that. I mean, I thought it was entirely autobiographical. Did you? I like the fact that it was a bit Uncle Tupelo, but I held back from singing it in a drawing Southern American accent, which was a good save, I think.
00:32:10
Speaker
Absolutely. I think by this point into the Johnny Domino story, we kind of moved past that now, which is a good thing. There's a limitation because that was recorded on Fortran. We didn't have any space to record anything else. I think it could have done with another
00:32:27
Speaker
instrumental layer somewhere. It could have done with a bit of violin. A bit of violin, and obviously we didn't know anyone who could play the violin. If anyone could play the violin and would like to overdub some violin on that track, please go ahead. That'd be great.
00:32:45
Speaker
So that is the song Where To Go From Here. I think it's the wistfulness of it has kind of taken us aback. A little. But we've got another wistful track though, haven't we? Coming up. Yes. Now this is a song called Real Life. Now this was recorded, weirdly, I've just had a look, it was recorded a couple of months after Where To Go From Here.
00:33:06
Speaker
Now, where to go from here was recorded on an old four track, the Texon 4x4, which by the time we were using it, it wasn't really recording particularly well and wasn't deleting tracks when you tried to record over them. So it was a very limiting machine. And then shortly after that, I bought a new four track. It's a Tascam 424. And the change in sound is startling.
00:33:35
Speaker
I mean, it's still four tracks. It's still four tracks. It's not, you know, it's not Steely Dan, but in comparison, it might as well be Air Studios. Yes. Yeah. This song is about the inevitability of having to get a job.
00:34:04
Speaker
Anyone but Billy Sitting on the pavement Playing little tunes You don't need anything but some change
00:34:27
Speaker
It is a stare and you're floating through Too fast and too smooth How far do you think you'll get Before you run out of food Sitting at the desk Typing numbers in all day You don't need anything Apart from some new friends
00:34:58
Speaker
Lying in the bed You just need to wake up You just need to wake up a little bit more today
00:36:04
Speaker
The drum track on that is very ween as well. Lots of bongos. Yeah. I could have done with hearing a bit more of that. Yeah. I think... Unlike Dowd, I think that one should be extended slightly. Yeah, but I quite like it does what it has to and then it goes. I quite like the brevity.
Influences and Personal Experiences
00:36:24
Speaker
Obviously we were recording on a new four track and I'd obviously bought some new strings for my guitar. So that sounds quite nice as well.
00:36:31
Speaker
I was recorded not that long after where to go from here. Sounds very different. Yeah, yeah. Talking about a man on the street playing little tunes that reminded me of Frank Robinson. Frank Robinson! Who was the xylophone man in Nottingham. That was what that line was about. Frank Robinson was a man who sat outside Marks and Spencers in Nottingham for, I don't know, was it about 10 years? Playing a xylophone. I found an article about him, I think he did it for about 15 years.
00:37:00
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And he just used to play on his xylophone and he did play little tunes. And he was very happy. He was a very happy man. He definitely projected happiness, waving a stick around in between phrases. I can still picture him now. He was a funny old fixture of the town, wasn't he? Yeah, but he was always very, as you say, he presented a very happy persona, playing his little tunes.
00:37:29
Speaker
I mean, there were very little tunes. It was very like, bong, bong, bong. They'd wave his stick around and they'd go, bong, bong, bong, wave his stick around. You know, they were very little tunes. They were. But, you know, it was people recognized him when I went to university. People kind of knew him. If you said you're from Nottingham, they go, oh, yeah, I went there. Xylophone man. Yeah. Oddly, that song was recorded in 2004. He died in 2004.
00:37:55
Speaker
No, which is a... It's a tribute. It's a shame. Yeah, so I've found an article on the Left Lion website, which is very interesting. It actually has an interview with him.
00:38:07
Speaker
Oh, wow. Yeah. I'll send it over. But the other thing that I like about this article I found is got a, an advert on the side for a tribute band festival, which is coming to Nottingham in July, 2024. You know, we talked about people with the tribute bands, the names thereof. Yeah. We've got almost pink. Nice. Attic monkeys. Yeah. Kings of Lyon. Oh.
00:38:36
Speaker
This is a good one, you'll like this. Yeah, yeah. Sham Fender. Oh, classic. That is a good one. Yeah. What else have we got? The Oasis Experience. They're not even trying in the Oasis Experience. Come on, man. That's probably why they're so low down the list. But I do like this one. Viva Forever Sprice Girls.
00:39:00
Speaker
Cool. I mean, what do... Sprice? Where the hell does that come from? What is Sprice? Exactly. Ah, the Sprice of Life. Yeah. Interesting that, Steve, that you mentioned that, because I've got something to say about similar sorts of stuff later on. Excellent. For now, let's just take a moment to recognise the genius of calling your band, Champhenda. Champhenda?
00:39:24
Speaker
Real Life by Johnny Domino. Very nice little tune about not wanting to get a job but facing up to the inevitability of having to work for a living. Which I do remember the disappointment I felt when it dawned on me that that was what life was. It does seem, again, a million miles away from where I am now, but I do remember the feeling of thinking, oh, fucking hell, really?
00:39:52
Speaker
This is it. This is it. This is it. This is it. This is it. Oh Jesus. That's what it makes me think of that song really.
00:40:04
Speaker
Yeah, I was just going into my last year at university when we recorded that. So that was in the back of my mind, I guess. Yeah, but it hadn't dawned on you at that point. No, no, no. You were in it. You were up to your neck in it. Oh, well, it's not so bad. You've got to earn a crust. You've got to live somehow, mate.
00:40:27
Speaker
Yeah. Something's got to keep the lights on on this podcast. Something. Right. Should we, should we deal with the best of first? And then I've got some other things to talk about. So out of those three songs, we've got Down, which prompted a very sad story from Steve, of his trauma, but was a talking headsy type song. Lumbering funk song. And then we've got Where To Go From Here.
00:40:53
Speaker
Nice to hear, Jock, and very open, emotional Uncle Tupelo kind of strummy song. And then we've got real life about the little tunes and real life. Which one is going to go on to the very best of, this is our Johnny Domino, volume two, if any. Steve, state your case.
00:41:22
Speaker
I'm kind of surprised how much I enjoyed listening to Where To Go From Here. I really enjoyed listening to it. I'm just stunned it's not about anything in particular, but I don't know if it needs to go on the best of. I do really like Real Life. I've always liked that song, but I do quite like that version of Down as well. So for me, it's between those two, and I'm going to let you cast the vote.
00:41:48
Speaker
What, between real life and down? Yeah, unless you've got a hankering for Where To Go From Here. I think Where To Go From Here is a song that's got potential, and I think it needs to be recorded again, either by Oz or by someone else. Hint, hint.
00:42:02
Speaker
Okay. But yeah, I think down really in its edited form, I think it would sound pretty good on a best off. So I think I would go with that one. Okay. Well, I'll have a play around with it, but I'm going to put real life on a reserve list. Okay. Yeah, cool. I'm happy with that.
00:42:24
Speaker
Cool. Cool. So last weekend I went to Bearded Theory Festival at Cat and Hall in Derbyshire. And I had a cracking time. It was really, really good.
00:42:38
Speaker
Some good bands on, I enjoyed the whole atmosphere of the place, and walking around it, I was just thinking, wow, this is our target audience for the podcast. These are people who would actually possibly listen to us rambling on about music. I wrote a short poem actually to describe it. I'm not going to go on about the festival that much, but I'm just going to read you my short poem.
00:43:03
Speaker
Okay. Captain Beefheart album. 8.30 Saturday morning. Madder Rose t-shirt. Aging hipsters looking confused. Junglist massive 25 years on. Silver trousers. An eight-year-old in a rudimentary P9 t-shirt. Mud. Mud. Mud.
00:43:32
Speaker
Do you like that? That's beautiful. I really enjoyed that. I think you did threaten when we first started talking about this podcast. You did threaten that you were going to share some of your poetry with us. But that was very good. I enjoyed that. More poems coming up. But it was really good. But on Saturday afternoon, I was
Cover Versions and Game Challenges
00:43:50
Speaker
provoked to think about the next engagement opportunity for the podcast.
00:43:56
Speaker
because I saw something that made me think of it. Basically, on Saturday afternoon, on the main stage, four blokes that had clearly been in less successful bands for many years got up on the stage and delivered a blistering set of songs in the vein of Blink-182, that kind of punk power pop type stuff.
00:44:21
Speaker
to what can only be described as a hysterically appreciative festival audience. The thing was all of the songs were cover versions of children's songs, like mainly theme songs to TV programs such as Pokemon and Power Rangers or Disney songs like Let It Go and Moana.
00:44:44
Speaker
it created a cross-generational fun fest really in the whole field and it generated a huge energy and I feel that those men and they were perhaps a few years younger than us but not much they were definitely you know they've been around a while you could tell they've been in a lot of bands I feel that they will never
00:45:08
Speaker
be out of work again. I imagine they're going to be able to play many festivals and they're a band called Punk Rock Factory. Go and listen to them. They're pretty big on the festival circuit. I'd never heard of them. I mean, it was one of those things where you just watch something that you didn't really set out to watch them.
00:45:28
Speaker
I really enjoyed their set. I thought they were they were very very good. And it wasn't just because I was already quite drunk. It wasn't entirely because of that anyway. Their version of let it go actually brought me to tears. And as I've said before, I normally only cry in the car on my own. But I cried in the field to let it go. Yeah, I know. I know. Anyway,
00:45:58
Speaker
That got me thinking about the fact that we make a podcast for obscure middle-aged musicians, unsuccessful, obscure middle-aged musicians. And how about we get a slice of that pie? Okay. What if we, dear listeners, create a collection of alternative children's favorites?
00:46:26
Speaker
Maybe trying to wring out the latent emotion and poignancy of those lyrics. Okay. Over surprising and original musical stylings. Could that work? I'm asking you that question. Could that work? I think it's got potential.
00:46:46
Speaker
Could it work? Not necessarily old children's songs. No, it doesn't have to be. Doesn't have to be. No, because there is a song for a fairly recent song that was on CBB's or was it CBBC? Yeah, it's called Bits and Bob. And it had a chord progression that I used to find incredibly moving. And of the two of us, I'm the crier. And I'm not ashamed to say there was sometimes the chord movement
00:47:16
Speaker
almost brought me to tears. It's at the point where my daughter was looking at me going, he's gonna go again.
00:47:22
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. There's stuff there. I think there is this material there, Steve, you know, and we could, you know, we could throw the net wide. You know what I mean? It could be, it could be older or newer TV shows. It could be songs from films. We can push the boundaries. I mean, they, Poonk Rock Factory, they did a version. It wasn't a children's song. They did a version of the Kate Bush song from Stranger Things.
00:47:49
Speaker
I'm running up the hill. They did that one, but they kind of did the Stranger Things intro at the start of it. So it's not strictly speaking in that particular remit, but most of the songs were the Pokemon theme or Power Rangers theme, which they did brilliantly. I'm sorry, I've been doing some research while you've been talking about Pongrock Factory. There's a song listed for them called Red Car Blue Car, which I can only assume is the Milky Way advert.
00:48:19
Speaker
from the days the red car and the blue car had a race. All red want to do was stuff his face. He eats everything he sees from trucks to prickly trees, but a smart old blue, he took the Milky Way. You see, this is a song that's in my head. Yeah, they've done a lot of stuff and it's not just necessarily... It could be an advert. It could be an advert tune, you know what I mean? It could be a good advert tune you could do a version of.
00:48:43
Speaker
So, I don't know, but I think that could be a gawa, right? So it's cover versions, not necessarily kids songs, but songs from youth, whether it is your own youth or the youth of your children or whatever. Songs that are aimed at children we're going to do new versions of. We're going to aim to become relatable.
00:49:10
Speaker
That'd be nice, wouldn't it? Do you know what I mean? Because like people always have like, I mean, it's annoying conversation, but people love that conversation. Don't they really talk about stuff that, you know, Oh, would you remember this? Yeah. So, you know, I think, I think it could be good. So should we give it a go? Let's have a go. It's pretty vague.
00:49:27
Speaker
But we want people to do cover versions of songs from youth. From youth, yeah. We'll think about it. We'll put the idea out on social media as well. And we'll talk about it again in the next podcast. But if you want to start thinking about it, dear listeners, start scoping around for what you might fancy doing. Yeah. And we'll talk about it again in the next podcast.
00:49:50
Speaker
Cool. I think we've narrowly avoided AI life with Brian, Steve, aren't we? That was the other alternative idea. That was quite good. Do you want to talk about that one then, Steve? No, it's your baby. You're the one person in the world who is obsessed with Flowered Up's album, A Life With Brian.
00:50:14
Speaker
I like it. Well, I don't like it as much as we can do the single. But yeah, I thought maybe we could do an AI rewrite of A Life With Brian. But I don't know. And I do want to do something with AI, definitely in the future. Yeah. Because we've been talking about that a lot last episode. But I just think this doing cover versions of children's songs is a
00:50:36
Speaker
It's got potential. And I feel that people, the sort of people that listen to our podcast will be able to squeeze out the emotional content in some of those chord progressions and lyrics that are out there. It might be worth not looking at punk rock factory songs because they've got a lot of songs. They've done a few albums as well. So I'm not saying they've done them all, but
00:51:01
Speaker
I'm not necessarily into the idea of doing a punk rock version. I like the idea of ringing the emotion out. Yeah, we need to do it in whatever style you like. I mean, you could even write new music for them. We'll see. Thank you very much for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it. One more thing.
00:51:22
Speaker
Is this the thing now that you're going to let me get to the end of the whole thing and then you're going to interrupt me? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
00:51:46
Speaker
Yeah, okay. Ready? Okay. Bands with body parts in the name of the band. Go. Elbow. What? I hate this. I hate these things. I've got 50 seconds. I've got nothing other than elbow. Come on! Come on, Steve!
00:52:16
Speaker
Come on. I know my brain just goes completely blank. I can't deal with the pressure. I absolutely cannot deal with the pressure. Think of a name. Think of it. Talking ads. Go. Elbow. Talking ads. Talking ads. Radio ads. Didn't you ask me this before?
00:52:35
Speaker
golden earring. There you go. Keep going, keep going. No, I've got nothing. I've literally got nothing. I know people will be shouting at me but you don't understand the pressure that I'm under on this podcast. And there's my minute.
00:53:02
Speaker
I have to say that was rather bad. You got like three. Oh man. Oh my God, Steve. I was determined not to cheat and look at my music folder. Okay. Listeners, see if you can do better than Steve. You can do any worse. And let us know how you do.
00:53:24
Speaker
What was the point of
Episode Reflections and Future Plans
00:53:25
Speaker
that? What was the point of that? It's just a bit of fun at the end of the podcast, Steve. You know, a bit of challenge. You can set me a challenge next week. I don't want it. I mean, I'm just looking at my music folder. I've got, you know, water from your eyes and all these things. You know what I mean? It's like, I'm just scrolling through the music on my computer. It's just the same thing. Well, you caught with one for me next time. Yeah.
00:53:48
Speaker
Come on for me for next time and we'll see how I do, right? But you, I have to say you did quite badly. Right. Okay. Anyway, don't feel too bad about it. You've done a very good job today on the podcast. I really, I've enjoyed talking to you. We've had a nice time. Yes. And we're going to be back again in a couple of weeks with some more memories.
00:54:10
Speaker
or some more trimmins next time. And more trimmins, hopefully, with an exciting denouement to the trimming saga, hopefully. Hopefully. Hopefully. Hopefully. Fingers crossed, everybody. Because, you know, we didn't know who wrote the song.
00:54:28
Speaker
We didn't know. Well, but maybe we do now. I think maybe we do. You see, I'm still going through my list of music. Oh, my God. This is going to upset me for the rest of the day. Thank you for that. OK, well, it's just let's just stand now and I want you to go away and do something that cheers you up. I will do. OK, don't be too down. It is my real life.
00:54:57
Speaker
Where do we go from here? I don't know. I think we need to stop. Goodbye. Goodbye!