Keep It Peel

[Andrew Morrison]

I was lucky enough to be one of the two hundred or so in the audience at Maida Vale Studios last night for Radio 1's evening of live music in honour of Uncle John Peel, and an invigorating experience it was too, with enough bands and DJ sets in one five hour broadcast of live music to fill a reasonably-sized festival.

Two studios at Maida Vale were taken over by a variety of sound engineers and presenters, with us audience members literally dashing between each one when it was a different act's turn to perform.  Studio 3 was the largest of the two, with enough space to hold the entire audience, and three stages - for acoustic, electric and DJ performers - along one side of the lengthy hall.  Studio 4 had the broadcast studio in which Steve Lamacq, Underworld and the Peel team presented and produced the show, as well as a viewing gantry for 40 or so audience members to watch the  few bands that played in there, including Belle & Sebastian, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, the abrupt and raucous Trencher, and the angst-ridden and intense Steveless.

As my involvement in the Peel shows was simply providing a few tongue-in-cheek "offensive content" warnings, it was rather cool to be watching all the performances in the company of such "icons" as Fergal Sharkey, Colin and Edith, Mary-Anne Hobbs (didn't realise how much of a fox she was until now, by the way), Annie Nightingale, the various band members involved, and John's wife and family.  Not being the sort of person to fawn over celebrities, I chose to just have brief conversations with Peel's producer (and generally lovely person) Louise Kattenhorn and current Peel Show stand-in-presenter Rob Da Bank (real name Rob Gorham, and originally from Warsash, geography fans) who was extremely down-to-earth and laid back.  Rob seems a pretty understated and "normal" guy, but refused point blank to tell me who has won this year's Festive Fifty.  Talking of which, I have a sneaking suspicion that the recently-reform Wedding Present's new single 'Interstate 5' will have a high placing, and the only "artist" I plucked up enough courage to actually introduce myself to was The Man Gedge.  Confirming that this was indeed the Weddoes first live performance for some seven years, he said the reason Cinerama have evolved back into The Wedding Present was basically that their sound got "louder" again, and an engineer at their Peel Session earlier this year reckoned they were sounding like their former moniker rather than Cinerama's more orchestrated sound.  Whatever reason, it was good to have them back, albeit for just three songs, and they seemed to be the most sought-after band to watch.

For those unable to cram into the smaller Studio 4, three video screens relayed the sound and pictures of the performers set up in there.  In the larger studio we had acoustic, minimalistic performances from PJ Harvey (still singing - and looking - as great as she ever did), Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon and Nina Nastasia (who ended the "band" part of the night, getting a very emotional reaction from John's family members).  On the electric side of the studio, it was great to see Hefner reformed for one night only - another one of those bands with a singer "who can't sing" that nevertheless performs great vocals.  Welsh band Melys have long been one of my favourite bands, and they lived up to the literal "sweet" translation of their name with two new songs and former Festive Fifty number one 'Chinese Whispers' (which sounded fantastic, it has to be said).

Even though the line up of bands was exceptional, the highlight of the night for me was the final ninety minutes, which was handed over to some truly top quality DJs.  The "MC" in MC Dynamite for once could have stood for "Master of Ceremonies" rather than "Mic Controller", as he adjudicated a freestyle mixing session in which each DJ (or set of DJs) got just ten minutes to do their stuff.  It led to an extraordinary collage of sounds and styles, with slick house from Dave Clark, to colossal Drum 'n' Bass from Hixxy, incorporating some gritty MC-led Grime, and dubby Alex Patterson beats along the way.  I think the best thing about the DJs ending the night was that it really summed up John's shows from recent years - embracing the new and the different, rather than dismissing it as 'not being music, etc.' as many do.  It all left me wondering how much a club promoter would have to spend to get all these well-established DJs in to play their sets professionally.  Such an elite set of DJs in one place I shall never see again, I suspect.

As humour so often played a part in John's musical choices, it was a hilarious end to the DJ's sets to see DJ Scotch Egg running around 'performing' his idiosyncratic style of hard house with just his minuscule (and retro) Gameboy blasting out the music, while he shouted abuse at the audience through a loudhailer into his microphone.  This was abruptly halted, and followed by what can only be described as a genius set from DJ Shitmat, who mixes entirely on his laptop, crashing together TV themes, bits of speech and jungle and old school beats with such fast-paced precision and energetic enthusiasm, you can't help but either smile, or laugh hysterically.  From the ridiculous to the sublime, Underworld calmed us down with ten minutes of ambient pads, before this perfect tribute night to John was over.

The best thing about the whole evening was the eclecticism of the artists involved - and how close-up I could view them.  I could hear PJ Harvey slapping her thighs in time with the songs that she didn't play guitar on, and watch Dave Clarke's intricate mixing work during his DJ set.  When the DJs took over, various band members, Radio 1 presenters, listeners and staff turned Madia Vale Studio 3 into an impromptu night club - hell, even I was dancing at one point: I think it was during the Happy Hardcore.  The last hour and a half of the night was eerily reminiscent of the 'last night of the Hacienda' scene from '24 Hour Party People', with loads of familiar, smiling faces dancing and remembering earlier good times, despite the current sadness.  Just as in that movie scene, where the late Ian Curtis is seen joining in on the dancefloor, I couldn't help but half expect John himself to be wandering around the edges of the studio, looking on with a pint of beer in his hand.  But definitely not dancing.  Where the musicians made us sad for the loss of John, the DJs made us happy for all the cool and crazy music John helped feed to us.  I only wish every night out clubbing could instil such a sense of fun and positivity into people.

An enjoyable night, in recognition of a sad occurrence.  Left me wondering how many mad, manic and majestic new bands I'll be missing out on - let's hope Radio 1 do him justice when they decide how to continue his legacy in the New Year.  For those who missed it, the show can be streamed in three parts - and loads of photos viewed - at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/alt/johnpeel/keepitpeel/. It was an honour to be invited, it really was.

After returning from London this morning, I find 65 Days Of Static's 'The Fall Of Math' in the post, marking the incredible milestone of bringing the grand total of tracks in my record collection to 10,000!  Congratulations to them - the last track on the album holds that accolade.  I have pre-ordered one of those new fanged Sony 'Network Walkmans' from Amazon, and have already downloaded its file conversion software and begun transferring all my CDs into the ATRAC format on my PC to eventually download into the Walkman.  I may be some time...  But it'll be nifty to have all my CD collection in my pocket when I'm out and about.  A CD collection that would have been 50% smaller had John Peel's shows never affected my musical habits.

Regards,
Andrew Morrison
Email: morriso@...
Website: http://www.AndrewMorrison.co.uk