NOVEMBER 2009

10 Birmingham 02 Academy

11 Manchester Academy

12 Birkenhead Pacific Rd Arts Centre

13 Islington Academy

14 Day Off

15 Norwich Waterfront

16 Leeds Uni

17 Oxford Academy

18 Day off

19 Lincoln Engine Rooms

20 Sheffield Plug

21 Aberdeen Lemon Tree

22 Day off

23 Glasgow ABC

24 Newcastle Tyne Journal

25 Bath Komedia

26 Cambridge Junction

The band will be performing a short acoustic set this Thursday 13th August at THE DONKEY, LEICESTER as part of the SUMMER SUNDAE FRINGE FESTIVAL.

This is a fund-raising event for a local hospice that has 9 venues and over 35 bands around Leicester taking part.

All venues are linked by 3 open top buses dropping and picking up wristband wearing punters.

If you are near Leicester come and check the evening out.

NBS will be onstage at 7.30 prompt for a 25 minute slot – hopefully out in the garden weather permitting. Tickets £4

The Housemartins 2009

IN THEIR FIRST FOUR-CORNERED interview since the departure of drummer Hugh Whitaker called time on the band’s classic line-up, The Housemartins reform this month for MOJO magazine.

Although their post-fame journeys were darkened by drummer Hugh Whitaker’s five years in jail for an axe-assisted assault, singer Paul Heaton’s alcoholism and bassist Norman “Fatboy Slim” Cook’s troubled years of DJ infamy and tabloid intrusion, they insist that “nothing bad that happened in our subsequent lives can be blamed on the Housemartins”.

The quartet took gospel harmonies and left-wing politics to the top of the charts between 1986 and 1988, and their musical legacy is confirmed with the re-release this month of their classic debut album, London 0 Hull 4.

But another angle on their story is provided by the diaries and scrapbooks kept by Heaton, a zealous collector with OCD tendendies. His 1986 diary testifies to the volume of work undertaken by the band (106 gigs in 1986), but also to the more prosaic realities of a lad in his early 20s: a preoccupation with Sheffield United jostling with the band’s chart positions and a record of his intake of pints.

The scrapbooks – a home for photos and cuttings documenting the band’s rise from their earliest musical stirrings – testify to Heaton’s drive, publicity-awareness and humour. They’re a Proustian rush for any pop fan active in the mid-’80s, or anyone curious about the pop biz as seen from the inside.

Get over to the Mojo site for clippings etc. Here

London 0 Hull 4 (Deluxe Edition)

The new release will take place on 8th June under the Universal label.  It wll include a bonus 2nd disc with a number of B’Sides and also some unreleased live tracks;

DISC 1 (original album)

• 1. Happy Hour
• 2. Get Up Off Our Knees
• 3. Flag Day
• 4. Anxious
• 5. Reverends Revenge
• 6. Sitting On A Fence
• 7. Sheep
• 8. Over There
• 9. Think For A Minute
• 10. We’re Not Deep
• 11. Lean On Me
• 12. Freedom

HULL’S most successful band is to reform – relaunching with an intimate city gig.

Members of the Beautiful South, who announced a decision to split two years ago after 19 years together, are reforming under the name The New Beautiful South.

The Beautiful South shot to fame with A Little Time in 1990, their only number one single, and went on to become one of the UK’s biggest bands.

Singers David Hemingway and Alison Wheeler are teaming up with drummer David Stead for a gig at the Welly Club in Beverley Road, city centre, on March 29.

Original frontman Paul Heaton, guitarist David Rotheray and bassist Sean Welch have opted not to rejoin.

However, guitarist Phil Barton will complete the line-up with original backing musicians Gary Hammond, Damon Butcher, Tony Robinson and Kev Brown, and will play in Hull and King Tut’s in Glasgow before heading off on a UK tour later this year.

David Stead said: “We never really split up – all that happened was Paul made the decision to leave. But Dave, Alison and I wanted to continue. We’ve been twiddling our thumbs for a while, but this is what we do best.

“There are still an awful lot of people out there who want to hear our music and we still want to play it.

“We’re going to be playing all our greatest hits and the old favourites along with a few new songs.”

The Beautiful South was formed in 1989 from the ashes of The Housemartins and had a string of hits including Perfect 10, You Keep It All In and Old Red Eyes. The band’s album Carry On Up The Charts was one of the biggest sellers in British pop history.

However, their success waned in the years before the split, with later albums failing to achieve the commercial success of earlier offerings.

Paul Heaton dabbled in a solo career, recording under the guise of Biscuit Boy aka Crackerman, but made little impact on the charts.

Finally, in 2007, the band decided to split due to “musical similarities”.

In the meantime, Paul Heaton has relaunched his solo career, releasing his album The Cross–Eyed Rambler last summer.

David Rotheray also formed a new band, Homespun, and released three albums, warmly received by critics, but achieving little commercial success, and the band split last year.

Fan Elaine Ainsworth, who attended an exclusive Beautiful South gig at the Welly in 2003, said she was excited.

Elaine, 47, of Buttfield Road, Hessle, said: “I think it’s brilliant news. It’s a bit of a shock because I didn’t think they would get back together.”

Tickets for the Welly gig go on sale at 9am on Monday and are available from www.giveitsomewelly.com

Tickets are also available from The Chinese Laundry in Queens Gardens and from Beasley in the Hepworth Arcade.

What do you think – please let us know?

Everything is Everything

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November 2007 Tour Dates:

Nov 6 -  Fibbers, York
Nov 7 – Sugarmill, Stoke
Nov 8 -  Leadmill, Sheffield
Nov 9 – Carling Academy, 2 Oxford
Nov 11 – Whelans, Dublin
Nov 12 – Auntie Annie’s, Belfast
Nov 14 – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
Nov 15 – Carling Academy 2, Liverpool
Nov 16 – University, Hull
Nov 19 – Bush Hall, London
Nov 20 – Glee Club, Birmingham
Nov 21 – King Tut’s, Glasgow
Nov 22 – Club Academy, Manchester

A Good Old Fashioned Town

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The Rules:
Since we gave you the option of 1st, 2nd and 3rd favourite album we devised a method for creating a league table. Each vote for favourite got 10 points 2nd favourite gets 5 points and 3rd favourite 3 points. Also we left best-of’s out – these are just the studio albums.

The Results:

Dave Hemingway released his solo album earlier this year and Homespun have made some new material available on their Myspace – news is also trickling in about a new album from Paul Heaton. He’s rehearsing some solo material with a view to releasing a full album of new material followed by a tour later this year.

Rumour has it that Alison is recording a solo album also – and self financing! More news as and when!