Flaaars: “So, what went on with you and Madness back in the day?”

Uncle Matt: “In 1977 and early 1978 quite a few member of Madness used to come to our gigs. They gave me a tape and asked if they could support us. They were called Stage Fright at the time. They used to do gigs at the Dublin Castle in Camden and I think I went along to watch them.
In March 1978 I gave them their break to support us at the Music Machine (later to be called The Camden Palais) in Camden Town. It was the first time they ever used the name Madness. They were brilliant that night and went on to make records with Clive Langer producing them. You should ask your dad about Clive, he played with him in a band called The Meddowes a few years before this.
Suggs continued to come to our gigs. For our Christmas gig at the end of 1978 when Madness already had a couple of hits under their belt Suggs came on stage with us. We were all wearing fezzes. Next thing we knew he was wearing one on TOTP.”

Flaaars: “Cool… What’s all this I hear from family gossip that they copied a ‘Sore Throat’ vinyl cover?”

Uncle Matt: “Oh, the leaning. We did that on our single that came out in August/September 1978. Soon after, ‘Madness’ brought out their album ‘One Step Beyond…’ with a similar pose. But everyone used to borrow from each other. That’s the way it goes, Georgia.”

Ask Dad about ‘Clive’, eh? Maybe I’ll just do that… So, Uncle Matt basically gave Madness their name… Sounds like they were actually inspired by Sore Throat and really looked up to them. I’ve listened to a lot of Sore Throat and they’re well good, it made me wonder what went wrong for them… What stopped them becoming what Madness are? I thought I’d pick at my Dad, Adam’s brain as well.

Flaaars: “So Dad, who’s this ‘Clive Langer’?”

Addy: “Madness’ producer. I met him back when he was at Liverpool Art School where he was in a band called Deaf School. They were doing quite well; I was invited to join but I declined. In the early 70′s he joined my Rock ‘n’ Roll/Free Jazz band The Bombers that I had going with Julian Temple (film director of ‘The Great Rock and Roll Swindle’, ‘The Filth and the Fury’ and ‘Glastonbury’). We then became The Meddowes. He was a very cool cat. Last time I saw him was ’75, don’t know the details of his producing Madness.

Flaaars: “Oh right. So, why do you reckon Sore Throat didn’t succeed as more than just a local band?”

Addy: “They were wrong-footed by punk; the ‘new-wave’. Unlike them, Madness found a ‘groove’- in ska revival, so they succeeded. Sore Throat were too middle class, they didn’t groove to black music. They were doing well in the pub circuit, had a bit of a ‘Police’ sound to them, but they couldn’t do ska reggae… I’ll always remember what Matt used to say to me; “We’re not New Wave, we’re PERMANENT Wave!”… ”

Ok, my Dad has the tendency to waffle, and get an idea in his head and not be able to let go of it; in this case, ‘grooving to black music’ or some shit. There’s no point in my trying to challenge him to this, as he’s very stubborn.

Addy: “Thing is, musicians like Joe Strummer and Hugh Cornwell, they got on the ‘wave’ and converted their bands to Punk/Rock ‘n’ Roll, part of a scene.”

Flaaars: “So, you think Sore Throat didn’t fit themselves into a scene/niche, and that let them down… But surely if a band is good, and are getting the right publicity, they DO good…”

Addy: “They didn’t have a manager which didn’t help. You need someone to hold together a bunch of young, loose cannons. The band just drifted apart and everyone went in different directions because of it.”

Sad times. Imagine if I was the equivalent to Suggs’s niece and I lived in a mansion and everyone thought I was really cool.

Listen to Sore Throat here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nUoWE1Esg8

Other related links:
http://blog.madness.co.uk/1979_part_01.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Langer

What intrigues me is that this ‘genre’ of tee shirt holds such specific (and not really THAT accessible) design and subject matter, yet attracts such a vast range of wearers… To name the stereotypes, you’ve got children, geeks who spend their whole life on ‘World of Warcraft’, weird old men with ageing gurns and overgrown stained beards who wander round car boot sales with a load of carrier bags, wholesome yet socially inept tourists, heavy metallers ( ref. Rag Freak!), and ///Uber Trendies///Art Fags///… (Note the signature use of excessive forward slashes there///Art Fag punctuation trademark, yeah?///)
Kids wear them because they’re inoffensive and you know kids, they LOVE animals. Oldies/tourists wear them as attempt to be a bit ‘jazzy’; it’s a bit more exciting than a grey smock, yet doesn’t make any crude advertisements. (E.g. “I’m With Stupid ?” or something similarly lame). Metallers wear them because the aesthetic style of the tee shirt is quite glam rock/gothic looking, so would therefore go well with their style visually. Geeks wear them because, to be fair, the tee shirts are rather naff, and TRUE geeks are attracted to the naffest shit out there. Uber trendies///Art Fags base their style on geeks, hence the clear lensed glasses, etc, so perhaps wear the tee’s as a celebration of their love for their idols…
How is it possible for such a garish and eye-catching item of clothing to bring together so many different ‘types’ of people, cultures, and ways of living from all over the place?
There is no real answer, but it’s cool to think there is a unique piece of clothing that can bring a lot of different people together through a visually random form.
From what I’ve seen, the tee shirts are worn to be the owners own. One of my animal tees is the classic three wolves howling at the moon one, which is very popular, as you’ll see in the photos, but I personally think the tee shirts look individual and unique on everyone I’ve seen them on. Maybe that’s just ’cause I like ‘em!

Photos by: Nima Elm

Photos by : Milo Belgrove and Nima Elm

Illustrator Sarai Vardi has her first solo exhibition on at the moment at the famous Mario’s Cafe in Kentish Town. I was going to put this up a while ago, but since the internet has been down at Smack That HQ for the last fortnight it has proved difficult.

The exhibition has already been on for a couple of weeks and will stay up until the end of March, so if you’re around North London at any point between now and then be sure to check out some of her wonderful pen and ink drawings and space-y collages.

Here are some pix.

Hello Eleni, how are you today?

I’m fine, skiving off college ‘cause it’s raining.

When did you first start taking photographs?

I started taking photographs properly when I took photography as an A-level. So I was 16, shit, that’s nearly 3 years ago.

You use a lot of sexy young models in your work, is that something that you have done consciously, or are you just lucky to have good-looking friends that don’t mind being photographed semi naked?

I consciously only make friends with good-looking people. I’m joking, not really. I’m lucky to have a collection of lovely looking and willing friends which helps, but yeah the naked thing is a totally conscious decision.

Some of your most recent photographs on you flickr are of girls with guns, my two favourite subjects, where did you get the guns from and why?

I really like guns too… and girls! There that’s it, that’s my thought process. Easy right? Nah, I was at my friends’ house and he has such a weird collection of weapons I was like ‘I bet you don’t have a gun though’.  Two minutes later he walks in with a huge rifle. We all had a go shooting it and I just thought this is fucking cool… Imagine if we were all naked! It would be amazing. So I decided to photograph it!

I recently read somewhere that you are Brighton’s best FEMALE photographer, do you agree with this statement? How long until you are just Brighton’s BEST photographer?

Well yeah, but that’s just one persons opinion. No, I don’t agree with it. I’m sure there are loads of other girls taking amazing photos, they just might not be exposed on the Internet the same way I am.
I kind of like being the best FEMALE photographer. It’s good enough for me.

I spoke to Louie Banks a few months ago, just before the release of Gang Up issue one, you’re going to be in issue two. How did you land that?

Well, one of the main curators of the magazine Kevin Mason (darkdaze) discovered Louie over a year ago. I met Kevin when I went to the studio with Louie as one of his models, but I wasn’t actually that good in front of the camera. Kevin realised I was better behind the lens, plus he’d seen my work on flickr and I guess he saw some potential, even though at that point the stuff on there was pretty average. He has basically been the best mentor for both Louie and me since then. He has exposed us loads, bigged us up and got us jobs. Thanks Kev!
I had a picture in issue one and was always planning on putting more in issue two, even if they didn’t know it! But it turned out they did want me in issue two so Kevin asked me to keep him updated on ideas and shoots I had coming up and that’s how it worked.
I have just planned the second shoot for issue two with Emma Sandam King, one of the Ophelia Fancy two, who help with styling and ideas. They’re amazing. It’s going to be good, I’m excited.

You know the Louie Banks interview on Smack That is the most viewed thing on the website. Do you reckon you could beat him?

Nah, probably not he’s already riding the fame boat. Which is alright I don’t mind. I know I’m better, haha.  Jokes, Louie’s amazing I hope he makes it big, ‘cause he deserves to.

You shoot a lot in odd locations. Are there certain secret places to shoot that only photographers know about?

I know of a few places like abandon factories and stuff like that, which a lot of photographers know about. Maybe there is some sort of photographer only location guy leaking out all these secrets. Who knows, its just word of mouth isn’t it?
Most of the locations I use are places I’ve been around a lot at the time or friends houses. For example those pictures in the lift and corridor of Martha, was round the back of Churchill Square where I was working at the time. I’ll probably never go back there. I like that the locations kind of reflect what I’m doing in my life at that point, it’s a personal thing.

Is there one particular photographer that has influenced you, who’s your favourite?

My influences change constantly, my style changes constantly, sometimes I want to take natural un-posed and un-edited stuff and sometimes I want total control over everything about the image. At the moment I’m more into natural lighting, film and the outdoors, so not too much planning.
There is no way I can put my finger on one particular photographer because I feel that I’m influenced by so many different styles, not just fashion photography. Well… not just photography! Art, people, music, trends, all has a say in the outcome. I probably don’t look enough at other photographers work. I’m not actually studying photography at the moment, so finding new work is hard without a photography teacher with a brain full of artists to suggest to suggest to me.

You signed that photograph for me which was in the back of the last gang up magazine, it was two girls legs protruding from behind a curtain, I’ve seen quite a few photos by you that seem to just be girls legs. Is that a theme you like to follow? I quite like the idea of a whole exhibition following a theme like that.

Yeah, the legs thing. I started getting into that when I was doing my A Levels because I was looking at Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton who do a lot of that, suggestive narrative. I think they also got me so obsessed with naked girlies! I’ll probably always go back to just legs, I like them a lot. It’s like a tease, and I like teasing. Maybe you will be seeing an exhibition following that theme soon. That’s a good idea Luther. But then again maybe you wont… ooo teasing.

Whose in the next issue of gang up and when’s it out, will there be another launch party like the last issue?

It will be the same as before; Kevin Mason, Sam Hiscox, Louie Banks and little bit of me. We’re having a party as well; it’s going to be well fun. Hope to see you there.

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Silver seems to be the new black at the moment. Starting the new decade in the most futuristic way possible, the youth in the south-east are covering themselves from top to toe in shiny, metalic, reflecting silver.
As you can see in the image below, model Worcester Aprons is sporting an all in one silver jumpsuit, a mask in post Renaissance style and sneakers to match. In six months time we’ll all be dressing like Mr. Aprons.

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Here are some from the last year and a half.

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