A near-Frequently Asked Question from the mailbox:
I have been listening to On Earth to Make the Numbers Up non-stop lately… and, upon hearing the line in ‘Storytelling Johnny’ about t-shirts which proclaimed “Lose friends in days: ask me how”, I remembered that you actually have had such t-shirts (and badges) printed. I was just wondering if the t-shirts and badges were available online anywhere, or if they were only done for the Swedish tour? The prospect of Fosca merch is pretty enticing…
Yes, there are indeed t-shirts with that lyric now in existence, made by But Is It Art? of Stockholm. Or at least, there were when we toured Sweden. I can’t find a reference to the t-shirts on their website, so I suggest you use their Contact page to find out if they have any left:
http://www.butisitart.org/index2.html
***
Am pleased to find the Fosca album on sale in HMV near Piccadilly Circus. So it must be elsewhere too.
Also pleased that the music news site No Rock And Roll Fun has the album in their sidebar of ‘This Week’s Key Releases’:
The huge Zavvi megastore by the Circus that used to be Tower Records (and then Virgin) doesn’t stock the CD. When I ask an assistant, she looks it up and tells me it’s not out till May 8th. And they’re not sure if they’re going to get it in even then. So today HMV are officially better than Zavvi.
Fosca are filed between Forward Russia and Fountains Of Wayne. I’m slightly aware of the latter, but entirely ignorant of the former. What I do know is that more than a few other people must have heard of them, because Zavvi have crammed seven copies of their album into the racks where one by Fosca would ideally be, while on the front on their CD is one of those little stickers singing media praise.
Says Uncut Magazine on the sticker: “Pushes the punk-funk template into brave new territory.”
I’m sure they’re terribly good, but ‘brave’? How brave can punk-funk be? Do they regularly parachute into Middle Eastern warzones, naked except for t-shirts with that Danish cartoon on one side, and the words ‘COME AND HAVE A GO IF YOU THINK YOU’RE INSURGENT ENOUGH’ on the back? THAT would be brave. Playing guitar in a manner pleasing to someone from Uncut doesn’t necessarily have me reaching for the George Cross nomination form. But what do I know? I hear the Carling festival can be pretty tough.
Then again, maybe it’s the potentially euphemistic kind of ‘brave’ that’s not always what a band wants to hear. As in Lou Reed’s ‘brave’ Metal Machine Music. Or Scott Walker’s ‘brave’ Tilt. Brave is in ‘well done, but don’t expect anyone to play it too often.’
And indeed:
A: Do you like my new trousers?
B: Um. They’re very… brave.
Still no reviews from the music mags for the Fosca album, brave punk-funk or not.
But I do know I’m not quite the pariah dog of the UK rock press yet. Because yesterday I received an email from a journalist at Q Magazine.
They wanted to ask me… if I knew how to contact Shane MacGowan.
