Mike
the backstory — I’ve done the reissues
and the remasters, I wrote the sleeve
notes and put out all the demos and
outtakes. So there’s not a lot more to be
said, I would think.” So then I thought
I would just go out and play them as if
they were songs that I had written now
and see how they sound, just play
them on acoustic guitar and maybe tell
some stories. And I took them all into
my studio and started working them
up as if they were songs that I had
written that day. And they came out
quite different, so then I started to look
at it historically, look at these 39 or 40
tracks and wonder what was the first
one that was missing. And it was the
last one that came out, “A New South
Wales,” from Hurricane back in ’86. I
read the lyrics and thought, “Well, who
is this guy? Who am I singing about
here? It’s obviously the end of an era,
and he’s walking home alone, but
where is he going?” So I looked at the
other songs and thought, “Maybe he’s
going to “New Town Jericho” — that’s
his destination.”
And then I started to realize that it
was more of an autobiographical story
weaving into it than I had planned for
or realized at the time. And I always
thought that in that time, back in ’86,’
07•2020
The Alarm was hitting the skids a little
bit — it was a time of real turmoil,
internally, and band members were
changing, and new people who
entered into the ranks questioned who
should be writing the songs and
singing them and stuff. Everything
was being undermined, and it was
affecting my creative process, and I felt
like I’d lost a little bit of myself in the
process, or that I gave up a lot of
myself. So I always thought they were
quite dark records from that point of
view. So to go back to them with an
open mind and see a new creative path
through? It really felt like I was meant
July 3
Boris
Paul Weller
Willie Nelson
July 10
Glass Animals
Margo Price
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Rufus Wainwright
Sam Prekop
The Beths
The Jayhawks
July 17
Bush
Ellie Goulding
Gang of Four
Protomartyr
Surfer Blood
The Chicks
The Pretenders
July 24
Jessy Lanza
Jon Hassell
July 31
NO
On Sunset
First Rose Of Spring
Dreamland
That's How Rumors Get Started
Co-Starring
Unfollow The Rules
Comma
Jump Rope Gazers
XOXO
The Kingdom
Brightest Blue
Anti Hero
Ultimate Success Today
Carefree Theatre
Gaslighter
Hate For Sale
All The Time
Seeing Through Sound
Creeper Sex, Death & The Infinite Void
Daniel Blumberg On&On
Fontaines DC A Hero's Death
Imperial Triumphant Alphaville
Land of Talk
Indistinct Conversations
Steve Howe
Love Is
Sam Prekop
Gang of Four
10 illinoisentertainer.com july 2020