Right, you lucky lot. We’ve got not one, but two, pairs of tickets to give out for London Electronic Dance Festival. The line up looks sick with acts like Soulwax, Aphex Twin, Goldfrapp, oh and David “Damn, who’s a sexy bitch” Guetta.
L.E.D is on the Friday and Saturday of the August bank holiday up in Victoria Park in Hackney, which means you can still visit Notting Hill Carnival on the Sunday.

For complete line up and infomation click here.

To enter to win a pair of ticket simply answer the following question, which one of these albums is by Leftfield?

Leftism

One Love

Ready For the Weekend

Send your answers to editor@smackthat.co.uk the winner will be notified mid august.

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Check out both songs (as well as some pretty dire remixes) on their myspace.

“Raucous joyous skronky dancey whatever-wave with more ideas than time and more pep in its step than a five-year old on a Pixie Stick high” – Pitchfork.

“If Girls Aloud did a duet with New Young Pony Club..” – The Guardian

SEE SPACES by TEETH

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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

We are really pleased to announce that one of Brighton’s most hyped bands of the moment The Gaa Gaa’s will be playing at Teen Creeps on the 28th May. Their new EP Repulsion Seminar, produced by James Aparicio who has also produced the likes of Nick Cave and Mogwai, sounds really fucking cool and will be out anytime soon. You can check out a few of their tracks on their Myspace page, but you should really be coming down to the Jazz Place on Ship Street on the 28th to see them in their only live show in the UK for a long long time. Hopefully see you all down there, it’s going to be mEnTaL. xoxox

Photos by: Nima Elm

Photos by : Milo Belgrove and Nima Elm

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Holy fucking shit – New semi-interesting band for us all to talk about for a bit! Yuck are a stupidly new project, only setting up their myspace a few months ago, and already have a shitload of hype surrounding them, including a whole NME wankfest thing recently. Yuck comprise of two members from Cajun Cunt Party, some bird and some fat bloke. Thankfully they sound nothing like the previous band they were in and instead play a kind of early 90′s dreamy grunge ting. New single “Georgia” and personal favourite “The Wall” are perfect lo-fi pop tunes with great melodies that thankfully never become too cheesy, unlike bands they played with in the past…
With some gigs lined up with fellow HYPESTARS Egyptian Hip Hop and Dum Dum Girls at places like The Old Blue Last and all those shitholes on the horizon, im sure they’ll be getting ’nuff props in the coming months. A little bird told me theres a BTN gig in the pipeline so keep your eyes and ears peeled lads and ladettes…

http://www.myspace.com/yuckband

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Alright, Smack That minions. We have something very exciting to tell you all. Lutworth, Hulk Rogan and Murley Bassey have been organising a new and exciting monthly club night soon to hit the streets of Brighton.

TEEN CREEPS is to be held at a secret location in Brighton each month, with live music from some of the UK’s hottest new acts, guest and resident DJ’s playing the best in Electro, Synth, Rap and Dancable Indie, plus loads of cheap booze. All of this will be available to you for under a fiver. What more could you ask for?

We are also looking for people to join us and help with promotion etc, as well as DJ’s or bands to play at TEEN CREEPS, so if you’re interested in working for an exciting new club night please send an email stating what service you think you may be able to offer us and we’ll go from there:

teencreeps@smackthat.co.uk

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