I first saw Jackie Leven more than 30 years ago, at the Ad Lib club in Nottingham, fronting his band, Doll By Doll. I’d just bought their debut album, which I thought was staggeringly good, and dragged my new girlfriend and a visiting mate along. That album Remember consists of six tracks of blistering, rock music and a gorgeous ballad, Janice, which I adored (still adore). The Ad Lib DJ obviously adored it too. He played the track no less than five times before the band came on. It is never a good idea to play music by the band who are about to appear and, sure enough, in revenge, Doll By Doll didn’t play the song that night. Never mind, they played a visceral,…
For my first post proper on this blog, I want to deal with one of those things that I’ve meant to write about before but has always seemed too petty. Indulge me while I go a bit Nicholson Baker. One of the trickier aspects of getting older is whether to change your name. All Davids (except the insufferably up themselves ones) are Daves in their youth, and remain ‘Dave’ to people who have known them since then. But, at some point, we ‘Dave’s have to decide what name to go by professionally. As a schoolteacher, in my mid 20’s, I chose to go by ‘Dave’. It would have felt pompous to do otherwise. Then my first short story was accepted for publication. A fortnight later,…
Welcome to my new website and blog. One of the new things that I plan to do here is post a song of the week, every week. As an appropriate way to start, here’s a superb new song, The Suburbs, from the forthcoming Arcade Fire album. It’s just come out on a white label 12″. Can’t wait to hear the album and see them live again. Note that songs of the week are for promotional purposes and will only be available for a short time, so visit often! Some will be songs that the artists themselves have released to the internet, like this one. Others will be obscurities that have never been released on CD or favourite numbers by artists that I believe deserve wider…