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BAGGY TROUSERS!! That'll do nicely thank you! TONY FLETCHER awaydays with MADNESS
"DON'T BE silly, it isn't him," a 12-year-old covered in Madness badges informs her mate as Chas Smash and Mark Bedford stroll through the centre of Nottingham in search of food. Two days in the company of Madness prove, to me at least, that this group's success has a lot to do with the fact that they are as ordinary a bunch of blokes as will ever get to be famous, and that this is something that continually confuses their fans.
The purpose of the group's visit to Nottingham is to record a concert for ATV at the Theatre Royal. Their two live shows will be edited into an hour-long programme to be shown in November, part of a series which also features The Stranglers, Selecter and Ultravox. Only a year ago, Madness were still playing pub gigs.
The Royal is a four-tiered theatre of about 1000 seats, altogether too posh a venue for Madness who start to live up to their name as the TV people arrive with their equipment. Everyone has the piss taken out of them. Mark Bedford has a joke shop laughing machine which he sets off every 30 seconds.
Lee Thompson has gone off to buy a music stand. The piece that appeared in Sounds stating that his sax playing has been out of tune by a semitone throughout the band's career is apparently quite true. Lee is now having to relearn every song with completely new fingering, ironic when you consider that "One Step Beyond", a major hit, was virtually constructed around the sax part.
They run through the complete set for the soundcheck, which includes nine unreleased tracks most of which are being performed live for the first time. The new LP, "Absolutely", will surprise many people, not least for the fact that it is almost entirely devoid of non-originals. After a brief session of autograph signing the group return to the hotel for a pre-gig drink.
At this point I might as well pass on some messages picked up over the two days: the Go-Gos, Swinging Cats and Clive Langer's Boxes are frequently name-checked in complimentary terms, and Madness think The Face is a great magazine. On the other hand it wasn't Chas but a mate of the band who appeared in the photo with Miranda Bodysnatcher in issue No 4, and Mike Barson, Chris Foreman and the others would like it known that they don't all have their hair cut at Smile - mainly just Chas who's known by his real name, Carl Smith, offstage. Someone points out that Keith at Smile would have a field day if he could get his hands on Barson's current unruly barnet.
I RUN into some aggro getting in for the gig, missing the first 15 minutes and being forced to stand at the back on the first floor balcony. It isn't one of the group's best. "Land Of Hope And Glory" is righteously cocked up, "Swan Lake" is a bit lacking, but the worst thing - with no fault attached to the band - is that people on the balconies standing up for "One Step Beyond" are ordered to sit down while the cameras focus on the kids dancing down below. In other words, while half of the crowd is being encouraged to dance the rest aren't permitted to.
Outside hundreds of little kids are milling about, many I would guess attending their first-ever gig. While I'm trying to figure out Madness' appeal to these hordes of 13-year-olds, a middle-aged mother appears at the stage door with an album sleeve to be autographed.
Back at the hotel the night porter serves drinks in the lounge and issues directions to a nearby club where entry has been prearranged for the band. Suggs is off clubbing; Mike Barson, Chas Smash and Lee Thompson have disappeared. This leaves the three possibly least-noticed members to chat to: Mark Bedford (bassist), Chris Foreman (guitarist) and Woody (drummer).
There's a story going around about a particularly exotic Madness world tour which had a week of inactivity in the middle. Given the chance to spend the week holidaying anywhere in the world by Stiff Records supremo Dave Robinson, the band unhesitatingly chose to fly home to Camden Town. Chris makes it sound quite logical when he explains: "When you tour all over the world, there's nothing you want more than a week back at home." Cynics might think otherwise but to my mind the story is typical Madness; they can't be described as superstars when half of them still live in council flats. It's something their younger fans who've seen them on telly and treat them like Gods, don't seem to understand.
About those young fans Mark says: "I'm glad the kids now buy records when they're 11. It's great; you can't knock it."
Chris: "It does worry you. You think, 'Where's our audience?' We talk about it a lot. I remember there was a thing in Sounds that started it. We did about four gigs and Pete Silverton came up for the last one. And it was hysteria. I've never seen anything like it. We came out of a gig and there were all these little girls chasing us. They were chasing us around the hotel. Normally they just go after old Suggsy while the rest of us walk in, and that's alright. But no, I suppose I don't know what sort of audience I want - just an appreciative one."
Mark: "I think really we're quite good about that. We do any amount of interviews, we sign any amount of autographs, we let people come backstage and into the dressing rooms. I don't think we've changed much at all. I don't feel any different now, except that I work totally different hours."
Chris says suddenly: "Some people talk to us, and all they put down is what Suggs said. It's a real old stigma. Capital Radio did an interview and only wanted to talk to Suggs."
Does this worry them? After all, Suggs and Chas weren't even around at the start of the group.
Mark: "It doesn't worry me. But the thing is, Madness are a lot more than people realise, a seven piece band. We all write the songs, and that's what makes the band."
At this point I wonder if Suggs' disappearance as the interview was about to begin was his way of letting the others share the attention.
ALTHOUGH hopefully everyone now accepts that Madness are not racists, and have no sympathies with fascist organisations, it's unhappily true that a lot of their fans are. Why?
Chris: "Well, I think a lot of people like us because we are all white."
Mark: "That is really dreadful, to have to say something like that. But our hands are tied. People were saying, Get a token black."
Chris: "They were complaining that we were a 2 Tone group and we didn't have any blacks in the band. In New York they thought we were fascists because we had a Union Jack on the wall."
Woody: "At the very height of all this, all the whites I met said, Urrgh - are you NF? But every black I met knew that we weren't."
According to them, it's some time since they suffered gig aggro of that particularly nasty persuasion. Anyway they reckon Bad Manners are the big skinhead band now; Madness are thought too commercial.
On the train to Nottingham, Mark had expressed sadness at The Selecter's departure from 2 Tone and in front of the tape recorder all three start getting despondent about this turn of events, although their admiration for The Specials remains very much intact.
Earlier in the day Chas Smash and Mark Bedford had talked about their relationship with Stiff, and the small label set-up which allows them to go straight to the No 1 man in the company if they feel the need to. The only major argument with Stiff has been over "Night Boat To Cairo". Madness wanted "Beat Pete" released instead. Whatever, it has left no bad feeling.
Madness now make enough money to pay their wages without Stiff support, and to take care of their road crew. Chas: "Some groups live flash and then have to get rid of their road crew; we've lived sensibly and we've still got the same people with us."
AT THE CLUB a notice above the door reads: "Proper clothes to be worn at all times. No denims, no exceptions." The manager makes an exception for Madness though, approaching Suggs every few minutes to check that everything is to his satisfaction.
In the morning two stories are on everyone's lips: that Suggs and Co have been only one step from a massive ruck outside the club, averted by the intervention of the manager; and that someone had gone to actress Connie Booth's hotel room at three in the morning seeking an autograph, but had stumbled into Alec Guinness' room by mistake. The theatrical knight had apparently filed a complaint with the hotel management.
At midday we go to see a video of the previous night's gig. Again there's a swarm - about 50 strong - of autograph-seeking 12 to 14-year-olds. Personally I can understand Madness' popularity among these only just teens. As kids get into music at an earlier age they are no longer prepared to accept the rubbish of the pop business. Brought up on magazines like Smash Hits they want real groups, and can tell the difference. Madness are young, they've been on the telly, they're a hard-working band and - unlike, say The Specials who get a mite too serious now and again - they are pure entertainment.
And while it's true that these young kids can be easy meat for the fashion sharks, at least they're trying. Give them a year or so and they'll be a lot wiser than previous generations at that age.
In the afternoon Madness have to go through the ridiculous process of miming to the previous night's tape so that ATV can get close ups. The theatre is cleared entirely of audience. Chas has to dance on his own for the camera, Suggs has to mime the words to a new song he isn't sure of, and the director keeps ordering "more sweat" from Woody.
Things get even more farcical later on when Lee is refused entrance backstage because he doesn't have a pass. The atmosphere improves as Foreman and Barson put on an impromptu dressing room show for ticketless fans in the street outside but deteriorates again when Chas goes out front for a drink and finds his return blocked by a dozen bouncers. Chas, already incensed that some friends are not being allowed in, is ready to take on the lot of them but the arrival of the police makes this unnecessary.
Tonight I get in downstairs, in the midst of dancing. This is a better show all round. The new numbers work well. Best songs are "Baggy Trousers", with its simple memorable chorus, and "Disappear", which starts with a soulful piano solo. "Crying Shame" and "Not Home Today" maintain the bluebeat tradition, and "Ernie" and "Beat Pete" are the new characters. "Embarrassment" has a rather slow chorus; "Mistakes" is "about last night's gig."
The final number, "Deceives The Eye" is dedicated to me by Mark, as the line "the quickness of the hand deceives the eye" is supposed to have some cryptic meaning concerning the two days spent with them. Chris Foreman tells me afterwards that I am the only person from the press he's ever seen dancing at their gigs. All I know is that Madness may not be the most original or musically competent band on earth, but as long as they continue to do it because they enjoy it then they've got a fair old lifespan ahead of them, with me as a fan.
That would seem a reasonable way to end this piece, but the last word has been there since the interview the night before. It was Woody's answer to charges that Madness are unoriginal and regressive. It seems totally out of line with the Madness image, a long way removed from their Fuck Art Let's Dance t-shirts, but it does say a lot about why people get drawn into this crazy world of rock 'n' roll: "Music is like a painting - no one can say it's good or bad, but the person who creates it enjoys it, so that should be appreciated." Says it all.
- Contributed by Graeme Sharpe
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