Rockfeedback - 5000 Articles In!
By: Thomas Hannan
7 years and 5000 pieces down, here are what we consider to be 25 of the best articles, Basement Club events, interviews and comment we've mustered. Chronologically ordered, because we're geeks.
ED HARCOURT USHERS IN THE DAWN OF THE BASEMENT CLUB: The debut Basement Club - there have now been over 40 - and certainly one of the most eventful, with the ever charming, Mercury nominated friend of ours Ed Harcourt putting in a sterling performance. It all culminated in a very f**ked DJ set from none other than Boy George, and hasn't got any more normal since, to be honest.
THE LIBERTINES PLAY A 3 HOUR SET - BASEMENT CLUB #5: True, there was a point when we weren't even sure if they'd show up. But then Pete comes strolling casually down the stairs, and he and Carl lead the crowd in a singalong of every song they'd ever written, and a few rare covers to boot.
GORDON RAPHAEL DISCOVERS REGINA SPEKTOR: And Rockfeedback readers are the first people to hear of this stunning new talent via Strokes producer Gordon's regular column - he'd later go on to record the singer's breakthrough, classic LP 'Soviet Kitsch'.
REGINA SPEKTOR, AND SOME KIDS CALLED BLOC PARTY - BASEMENT #11: Gordon just happened to be totally right. We grant Ms. Spektor a headline set on her first UK tour, and it sees grown men cry. Meanwhile, an unsigned young band of students from London called Bloc Party are first on.
GRAHAM COXON'S GLORIOUS RETURN - THE BASEMENT #12: Just a month afterwards, another classic gig - this month, Graham Coxon plays live with a full band for the first time since officially leaving Blur. 'Freakin' Out', 'Spectacular', 'Bittersweet Bundle of Misery' - the Basement Club heard them first.
ALAN MCGEE DONS ROSE TINTED GLASSES, SHARES AN OMLETTE: We chatted to Alan at the initial stages of his new Poptones project, a time in his life which had provided him enough distance to comment frankly on the whole Creation saga - and comment he did.
GEOFF TRAVIS SPILLS BEANS ON ROUGH TRADE, THEN CLEANS IT UP: Legendary label head discusses starting the shop, the label, and the legend that is Rough Trade, and everything superb and sh*t that came with it. One of Rockfeedback's greatest inspirations.
DAMON ALBARN MOMENTARILY STEPS OUT FROM BEHIND GORILLAZ: The first ever cartoon band? A laughable concept, some suggested. So taken were we with Damon's explanation of and enthusiasm for the project in this interview that we were sold from the beginning.
A NOVELLA ON THE LIBERTINES: Throughout 2002, rockfeedback creator Toby L spent many hours interviewing, documenting and reviewing The Libertines', an endeavour which culminated in this mammoth work, still the definitive piece of literature available anywhere on the band to this day.
SONIC YOUTH TALK REBUILDING: After having their studio all but destroyed as a result of the September 11th attacks, Sonic Youth here discuss the NYC cultural climate in 2001, and what it felt like to be making any kind of art at the time.
THE STROKES INVADE ENGLAND, ENGLAND LAYS BACK AND THINKS OF ITSELF: Caught the very first time they stepped on to these shores, we got some valuable one on one time with the band who were to change the course of popular music forever.
THE SHINS DO THE TOURIST THING ON FIRST VISIT TO THE UK: Tom Hannan meets a band who would go on to become Sub Pop's biggest ever success on their very first trip to London - they were as excited about having visited Harrods as they were about their forthcoming LP, the classic 'Chutes Too Narrow'.
PATTI SMITH BEMOANS MODERN PUNK: Tim Dellow interviews the legendary songstress, and it's as firey and empowered as he ever hoped it could be.
THE MAGIC NUMBERS BEGIN THREE MONTH RESIDENCY - BASEMENT CLUB #18: Unsigned at the time, so wooed were we by the melodies of the Stoddart siblings that we asked 'em to come back three consecutive Basement Clubs in a row. And boy, did we get it right.
IT'S GENIUS, I SWEAR - SFA & COXON: Super Furry Animals and Graham Coxon take it in turns to out-weird each other in discussing their favourite old, rare, unfairly overlooked records.
CAVORTING WITH THE KILLERS: Rockfeedback's ever glamorous Sam Hall (aka DJ Goldierocks) gets personally invited on a trip to 'hang out, chat and generally cavort' with the Killers, who had just released signature tune 'Mr Brightside' as a limited edition single, in Northampton.
JOHN PEEL O.B.E., R.I.P.: Perhaps the saddest news Rockfeedback has ever had to report, Matt Tomiak tenderly reminisces about the greatest DJ of all time. At a milestone for ourselves like this one, it's worth taking a moment to remember John's attitude to music, and study it, in the hope that we can all do a better job.
INTERPOL GET DIRTY: Behind the morose emotional guitar-scapes that litter their fine albums, there's a thinly veiled sleaze that exists to Interpol. In this interview, they unveil it in all its clammy glory.
NINE INCH NAILS DISCUSS THE ROAD TO RECOVERY: Out of rehab, new record in hand, Trent Reznor wasn't the most chipper of gentlemen we've ever spoken to, but certainly one of the most fascinating.
SELLING OUT - THE FUTURE IS ADVERTISING AND PUBLISHING: Tim Dellow's grim view of the future ably demonstrated the state of the industry at the time (if anything, this is even more true now), an example of how we're aware that everything's not entirely rosy even if we're determined to keep forever enthusiastic about new music.
THE MYSTERY JETS LAND BACK HOME - THE BASEMENT CLUB #32: In between doing all the above, Rockfeedback also started an offshoot, sister record label, Transgressive. The Mystery Jets were one of their first signings, releasing the classic 'Zoo Time / Lizzy's Lion' on the label. It filled us with delight when they returned as superstars to our own Basement Club some years down the line for one of the venue's best ever nights.
FUTURE SOUNDS - Rebranded so as to be much more than a mere 'demos' column, this saw the launch of one of Rockfeedback's most treasured features - delving forward in to the fabric of time yet to occur to pluck bands from the future and unveil them boastfully to the present.
NICK CAVE EXPLAINS GRINDERMAN: The sometime head Bad Seed lets Rockfeedback in on the reasons why this year's incredible 'Grinderman' LP even exists, and also reveals how little time he has for his national Cricket team.
FORCED IN TO DA CORNER? GRIME IN '07: Years down the line from the release of their classic debuts that spawned a whole scene - grime, to be precise - Dizzee Rascal and Wiley, now reportedly arch enemies, released their third albums in the same week. What did the changes in the sounds and their lyrics, not to mention their attitudes towards each other, say about the once lauded but now much maligned genre?
BRYAN FERRY PREDICTS HIS OWN DEATH: Amid a promotional jaunt for his Bob Dylan covers record, we somehow managed to get the Roxy Music legend to assert that he might only have another five or so years left to live.
And if that's not enough for you, there are four thousand nine hundred and seventy five others to be getting on with. Rockfeedback will continue its ascent in the coming months when we finally unveil our new site design (achingly close, and looking sexier than any of the handsome Rockfeedback team themselves) and launch an assault on the music world at large. Thanks to all those who continue to make it happen, and those who set the wheels in motion in the first place - you're saintly, the lot of you.