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If you've been enjoying the latest sound from fun-group Madness, Shut Up, then very soon you'll be able to enjoy something visual as well from the band, when their long-awaited film Take It Or Leave It is released.
The film is the brainchild of Stiff Records impresario Dave Robinson and is the true-life story of how seven London lads travelled the road to success. It covers the five years of trials and tribulations, part-time jobs and low-paid gigs, that lead up to Madness hitting the charts and playing to capacity audiences in 1979.
As well as being a fascinating story, the film's full of comical episodes and funny antics - as you'd expect from Britain's craziest group!
Many Madness fans went along to watch the filming in the band's old haunts, and Dave Robinson took the opportunity to put lots of them 'in the picture'. The fans entered into the spirit of things by dressing in 70s gear and getting their hair trimmed, as many were skinheads at the time!
Are the boys good actors?
The film's producer and director, Dave Robinson, definitely thinks so. "They're naturals," he says, "and I think Lee and Mike really showed some considerable talent - I'll be surprised if they don't get any offers from other film producers."
Were there any funny moments during the making of Take It Or Leave It? "It was just hilarious from start to finish," laughs Dave, "and working with a band like Madness, what do you expect? We were using a 29-man film crew and for a start it was difficult to find the boys amongst them when we wanted to shoot ... though Chas could usually be found near the catering bus!"
"We have an exciting car chase as one of the scenes. As I was directing a particularly tricky shot, I slipped and fell off a camera support. I broke my leg and, what's worse, I didn't even get the shot I wanted!"
Bedders said it could have been a disaster.
"This film had no script, its stars had never acted before, and its producer and director had never masterminded a film before ... it sounds like the makings of a complete disaster," laughs Bedders. "But in fact it's turned out as we'd all hoped it would - just a down-to-earth story of how some honest guys from North London got out of a rut and made the big time."
Bedders is glad that Take It Or Leave It isn't a glossy glamorous film of the type that the Hollywood movie-moguls might have made if they'd been given the chance. Instead, it's set in the London streets, rehearsal rooms, clubs and pubs that the boys used. "For example," he says, "there's a scene in a hall off the Portobello Road where a big gang fight broke out during one of our gigs. It was quite eerie going through things like that again, in the very same places that they originally happened."
The music.
Though the new film only charts the history of Madness up until their first big single - The Prince - you'll recognise many of their hits on the soundtrack. This music helps create an exciting mood, and makes an interesting contrast to the band's early material which they play 'live'.
Lee's favourite scene.
One of Lee's favourite scenes is where the lads go for a job as plasterers. "Boy did we make a mess of that," he hoots, "plaster and cement everywhere and the look on the face of the boss was like something out of a horror movie! We soon got the sack!"
"Making the film was hard work but we enjoyed every moment," says Lee seriously, "though having to keep on re-taking the scenes got quite tedious. For example, one particular scene we had to take eight times - we must have spent an hour at it - but in the film it only lasts two minutes."
The first film of many?
None of the group see themselves as budding film stars - the future Roger Moores or Robert Redfords. They're deeply into their music and making a film was just a one-off project, not to be taken too seriously.
If the movie has any purpose other than to entertain the fans, they feel it will show that, with a little luck, young people from ordinary backgrounds can make the top.
And maybe we will see more films from Madness if enough fans go to see this one and tell them they want more!
A sentimental journey.
Making Take It Or Leave It was like taking a trip down memory lane. Says Bedders: "The whole group sat down one day and recorded a six-hour tape, talking about our personal memories. From this we chose the 30 favourite episodes from the past five years. That's more or less what the film is - these 30 real-life scenes linked together."
To make sure everything was totally realistic, everyone spent many hours pouring over scrapbooks and family snapshots, checking details like the clothes they wore and the length of their hair at the time.
The message.
The film's message, according to Dave Robinson, is that almost any group of young people could be a Madness if they put their minds to it. "Madness are just a group of ordinary lads," he says. "If they hadn't become pop stars they would probably have been unemployed."
"There aren't many light-hearted bands around and Take It Or Leave It illustrates that Madness has always been a fun band - success just hasn't changed them."
- Contributed by Lee 'Loobyloo' Buckley
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