Is the U.K. music scene a lost cause?

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a few weeks ago after eight weeks of constant radio4 touring i decided to take a break and try and resolve where we go in america with our distribution of the record company. i could either have stopped in n.y.c. or l.a. and l.a. seemed the better option as it's less hectic and there were a lot of shows on there that i wanted to see that week.

on the saturday night radio4 put on the pattern from san francisco and simon from january, who was over on holiday and did an impromptu acoustic set. the pattern are an affirmation that america has rediscovered its rock'n'roll soul and the audience went nuts. simon showed why january have so much potential and so much to offer, easily pulling off an acoustic set that included 'atmosphere' by joy division. it's no mean feat to make that work acoustically.

on the tuesday night i saw the von bondies and the white stripes. the von bondies included the bass player from slumberparty and were again very rock'n'roll. the singer was one part iggy pop, one part jon spencer. white stripes are the band of the moment in the u.s. underground and easily sold out two nights at the troubadour. the showmanship and musicianship were excellent, but it wasn't as good as their recent lp. still it was another good night and a sign that real rock'n'roll is about to return and storm the barricades again and displace the tired corporate rock of limpid bizkit and their ilk.

on the thursday night i was torn between brian jonestown massacre and teenage fanclub. out of loyalty i opted for the fanclub and as usual they were wonderful. i hang out with the brian jonestown lot later in the week and they remain one of my favourite american bands. on friday i went to see paul weller play an acoustic set and it was the best i'd seen him play in years. acoustic weller is raw and he did three jam songs: 'english rose', which was sublime, 'that's entertainment' and 'butterfly collector'. it was a really strong show and afterwards weller asked me what i was doing in the states. when i told him about radio4 he showed his sense of humour by telling me that 'everyone is a fucking dj these days'. then he proceeded to ask joey stec who is fifty-four and an ex-member of the millennium, crazy horse and the blues magoos if he was a dj too. joey got confused and i explained to paul who joey was. then paul got confused. it was one of those nights. it sounds like paul's next album is going to be great. i love weller. i always have and i always will.

saturday night and me, tim burgess and martin blunt dj at radio4. the place is busy because i get on the hip la radio show by nic harcourt on kcrw that morning and get a chance to big up the club. i get tim to play me 4 tracks over the club pa from the new charlatans album and it's a small part curtis to a big part prince with the charlatans engine room cooking away underneath. the tyde played as well and got an amazing response. they could be a huge group next year. watch this space.

i got to see a lot of bands and i chilled out as well. whatever the u.k. media is doing at the moment doesn't really matter because the states still rock and they have the bands to prove it.

-- doomie (doompatrol@hotmail.com), August 16, 2001

Answers

ps. I clipped and pasted this from the poptones website.

-- doomie (doompatrol@hotmail.com), August 16, 2001.

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