Tuesday, June 12, 2007

'Clive Burr was a better drummer than Nicko McBrain' - Discuss

Maplin technician in not-pedantic shocker

I went into Maplin to buy a soldering iron. My flatmate's gas soldering iron melted itself. I asked the technician about the battery powered ones and he said 'For kids. Electrical is best, and it's cheaper'. When I told him the gas one had melted he said 'yes, bad design'. Then I asked him about a an S-VID to SCART lead and he recommended not buying theirs and showed me how to do it much cheaper using separate leads and drew three different diagrams for me. What a dude.

His name is Michal, he has lots of tattoos and is from Eastern Europe. Or he could be from France for all I know; these skilled, helpful migrants all look the same to me. If enough of them come here, they are in danger of wiping out the "Pffff....Nah mate, you won't get it... it's gonna be at least six to eight weeks for parts..." mentality that keeps our Nation strong, resourceful, efficient and welcoming to outsiders.

Ashton Court Festival

Very good news that Ashton Court Festival, Bristol's community festival will be going ahead. The extra costs incurred by the new licensing regulations, plus the ₤8,000 bill for graffiti damage and the ₤11,000 bill caused by people vandalising the estate, have left the festival owing over £100,000. As an independent and not for profit organisation they are entirely reliant on sponsorship and gate income to survive, so there is no margin for error. Find out more here.

I'm a little disappointed that the festival team rejected my specific strategy of wholeheartedly embracing corporate sponsorship whilst keeping Ashton Court essentially a community festival. By working closely with Imperial Tobacco, Bristol Community Festival could secure it's own future whilst giving the people of Bristol an opportunity to celebrate a key part of their city's rich economic heritage. But never mind.

The full line-up hasn't been announced yet but Gravenhurst are playing. I want Iron Maiden to headline. That's unlikely. Impossible, in fact. I've listened to Iron Maiden since I was eight. They got shit after Seventh Son of a Seventh Son though. People say Iron Maiden are silly. That's like saying a horse has hooves, and what sort of scoundrel would deny a horse his hooves?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I actually quite like "Fear Of The Dark" probably because it was played over and over in Games Workshop during a thousand games of Spacehulk.

RE: burr vs mcbrain: I'm very bad at working out what constitutes a good drummer. I really like the drumming on the new Braindonor record even though i've been told by people who know about this kind of thing (drummers) that it's really shit. I like the way it sounds lazy and sort of swings in and out of synch with the rest of the band, it gives the feeling that the musicians are all standing a really long way away from one another in a thunderstorm.

Nick Talbot said...

Well, Clive Burr was probably better. Me and Dave think so.

Grant Hart in Husker Du consistently played behind the beat. It was consistent but unintentional. Colm from MBV had a similar style.

Nick Talbot said...

Dude, Games Workshop... careful... they'll rumble all of us. Warp want me to get more people to read my blog in order to promote Gravenhurst's web profile. I can't remember how to check how many people read a particular blog but I don't think it's that many. Someone suggested that it's probably because other musicians use their blogs to discuss music and conduct interesting debates about contemporary artists, whereas I use my blog to write about films nobody wants to watch and books nobody wants to read.

Anton Maiof said...

You'll be pleased to know I have been acting as a one man promotrion vehicle in Germany. Everytime someone asks if I know you, I say "Yes, Nick and I share a loving relationship based entirely on sexual competition and lust for violence."

They say "really?"

I say of "course", then bugger them with a bottle of Bionade or Afri-Cola, which ever is available.

PS. I won't be back until the end of the month, but I've secured opies of FANTOM KILLER 1, 2 & 3 and Joe D'Amato's EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD. We have a date dude.

PPS. The Iron Maiden song Flash of the Blade in Phenomena is awesomely placed.

Anton Maiof said...

Also, I cannot spell for some reason.

jfk said...

you guys are such fucking geeks. it's getting me wet. helleww, warp? that'd be groupie talk.

Anonymous said...

I found out the other day that Godspeed You Black Emperor inadvertently did a cover version of an Iron Maiden song. They were walking through New York taping the stories of drug addicts, street preachers and the homeless when they encountered a man who allowed them to make a recording of him reciting a poem he’d written about urban decay and the growth of government intrusion into people lives. They used the recording of this poem as the centre piece for one of their tracks and released it as a 12” later that year. It was only then that it was pointed out that the guy had been reciting the lyrics of “Virus” from Maidens Best of the Beast album.

The alarm bells should have started ringing when he gave his name as Blaze Bayley Finnigan III.

Anonymous said...

I agree that Clive Burr was better than Nicko according to my taste.

dudester415 said...

I saw Iron Maiden a few times with Burr and always thought he offered a unique touch the band never had again after him. McBrain was tighter and the band more professional but I always thought the music more interesting with Burr. He had a crazy style in the way Keith Moon did for the Who.