Embrace, Daylight, Sunshine, Dance.

Daylight, the second album by Hifi Sean and David McAlmont, came out in August. 

 

Given that their debut, Happy Ending, was my album of the year for two consecutive years - 2022 for the initial double vinyl, 2023 with the official multi-format release - expectations were high for the follow up.

 

So, how do you follow up the grand ambition of an album that spanned genres and sounded like it cost a million bucks to produce? Well, by recording not one but two albums in quick succession, for starters!

Daylight is out now, its companion Twilight will be with us on Valentine's Day 2025. The promo blurb will tell you that Daylight "celebrates, expresses and explores the colours and feel of summer". Which it does with gusto, but it's even more than that.

 

Daylight opens with the title track, sounding like a transmission coming from another planet, David McAlmont intoning,

 

Daylight becomes twilight,

Twilight becomes daylight,

Daylight becomes twilight,

Twilight becomes daylight

 

before Sean Dickson drops in lovely layers of insistent chords and synth waves, building up a bubbling, clubby anthem. The chorus fades in with Embrace, Daylight, Sunshine, Dance at 1:50, only for the entire song to fade out a minute later.

 

Lesson one: Daylight is short and snappy, an album full of bangers, all but the last two of twelve tracks under four minutes. None outstay their welcome, all make you hungry for more, which is exactly as it should be.

 

I described Happy Ending as sounding like a greatest hits album and, despite Daylight's different aesthetic and raison d'être, it plays like volume two of a Best Of. Second track Sun Come Up was the second single just ahead of the album coming out, but Coalition and You Are My would have been equally strong contenders. They're all really that good.

 

Meantime comes in like a lost New Order track, though we're inevitably talking Bizarre Love Triangle vibes rather than In A Lonely Place. 

 

Lesson two: April's lead-in single Sad Banger is the closest things get to melancholy, but even then there's an insistent, progressive pace that propels the listener forward and ultimately into the next, er, banger.

 

 

USB - USC is a mad, brilliant paean to packing a suitcase for an overseas holiday. Who would have thought a to do list could sound so uplifting?

Sunblock

Repellent

After sun

Moisturiser

Papers 

Bluetooth speaker

USB to USC

Phone charger

Laptop

Euro adapter

...and so on. Proof if needed that David McAlmont could read the contraindications in a packet of prescription medicine and still make it sound like the most joyful thing that you've ever heard.

 

I feel like I'm arbitrarily skipping songs here, but I'm struggling to find different ways of saying it's all so beautiful, so invigorating, so much fun. What Sean and David have done here is demonstrate beyond all doubt that you can write songs that are aimed squarely at the dancefloor, are sonically uplifting without sacrificing vocal or lyrical heft.

Lesson three: The songs are choc full of one-liners. When David asserts in Living Things that he's "gonna rig [his] own aurora borealis", you think, "yeah, why not?". 

Third single and penultimate song Celebrate contains the brilliant line, "My instinct for survival is to celebrate", which inspired Friday's Dubhed selection title and is a great big hook in a tune that's full of them.  

 

I'll divert slightly to also recommend the Celebrate Remix E.P. which came out earlier this month. Three varied and superb mixes, including reworkings by Shaka Loves You and Tronik Youth, as well as Hifi Sean's own extended Night Version. 

 

 

In the blink of an eye, it's time for album closer The Show. If I were aiming for a soundbite summary, I'd perhaps say it's like 21st century O.M.D. locked in a room with Giorgio Moroder circa 1977. At the same time, it's unmistakably Hifi Sean and David McAlmont and could be no-one else. The album ends as it began, with David intonation of "Daylight becomes twilight".

Brilliantly, the duo have gone into the studio fizzing with creative energy and joie de vivre and managed to channel that into a 12-song, 40-minute album that does exactly what the title promises. 

 

Lesson four: I've been listening to the album frequently during the height of summer. Now that we're getting into autumn, the temperature has dropped, the nights are drawing in and the rain seems ceaseless, more than ever we need Daylight.

Cover Stories

I hope you're sitting comfortably, this is a mammoth Marc Almond post...

 

On Wednesday 18th September, Mrs. K and I spent an evening in the company of Mr. Almond and band at the Bristol Beacon. I first - and last - saw Marc live in concert on 11th October 1988 (and wrote about it in 2022) so, at just shy of 36 years, it's the biggest gap between gigs that I've been to by the same artist.

In 1988, I had to miss the tail end of the show to get the last bus home (!). No such worries in 2024 but on both occasions it was a weekday concert with work the following day. Nearly four decades on, this can be a more grueling experience, especially as (for me, at least), it was my third gig in the space of a week. There were consequences later.

Having not been to the Bristol Beacon since it was renamed and relaunched in 2020, this was the third time Mrs. K had seen a gig there this year, after O.M.D. and Future Islands. This was notably different for a couple of reasons:

1) It was a fully seated show;

2) We had seats in the lower tier, rather than the stalls.

 

Due to the usual logistical challenges of crossing Gloucestershire to get home from work, grab a bite to eat with Clan K, then drive into Bristol, it was inevitable that the support act, Alex Lipinski, wouldn't get a look in. 

 

I've not (yet) heard any of Alex's music, but I'm always disappointed to miss an opening artist and we at least had the consolation that he joined Marc and the band onstage for a couple of songs later in the evening.

As we entered the venue, it was notably quieter in the foyer and up the stairs than on our previous visits and as I proffered the tickets for checking, the usher brightly but ominously said that we were welcome to swap our lower tier tickets for the stalls if we wanted to. We politely declined, but the whiff of an undersold show was suddenly apparent.

We made our way to our seats, a narrow and precarious front row with a higher row behind separated by a wired barrier. No such protection for us from pitching over the front and down into the stalls below. What we did get was a fantastic elevated and full view of the stage. Unfortunately, we also got a view of just how undersold the gig was.

There was a delay to the start of the show, presumably to persuade a few more audience members to swap their tickets. These gaps weren't much smaller as the lights went down, we had plenty of spaces in our row, and it didn't look like there was anyone in the upper tier at all. At least Marc won't see what a piss poor turnout there's been, I thought to myself.

 

The band came on first - all eight of them - including Neal X aka Neal Whitmore, infamously with Sigue Sigue Sputnik but arguably now

 better known as Marc's foil since the mid-1990s. After a few seconds to settle, the band launch into I'm The Light, the opening track of Marc's current album, I'm Not Anyone.

And then Marc himself arrives, all in black (hair included) with the obligatory shades, taking to the microphone, grandly proclaiming

It's not the Devil that you conjure
When you turn your back on me
You'll just be looking in the shadows
I'm the light, I'm the light
I'm the only one you'll see.

I'm The Light was originally released by Blue Cheer in 1971 and tonight the opening song of a setlist that was entirely comprised of cover versions. Marc's a great storyteller in his own right, but his career has also seen him as a consumate interpreter of other people's songs, going right back to Soft Cell's first #1 in 1981, featuring cover versions on both vinyl sides, with Tainted Love and Where Did Your Heart Go.

I'm Not Anyone is as good as any of the many covers albums that Marc has previously released (and that's not meant to be faint praise). Surprisingly, it's dispatched early on, four consecutive songs and then just one more, right at the end. It's less a reflection of the album's quality and more of the sheer number of songs Marc has covered in the last forty-odd years.

After a moving version of Trouble Of The World, joined up front by Bryan Chambers, we then get an expansive and delightful tour of Marc's back catalogue. First up a brace of early solo releases with a majestic version of A Womans Story, followed by The Heel, respectively made famous by Cher and Eartha Kitt. I was also delighted that The House Is Haunted (By The Echo Of Your Last Goodbye), my first solo Marc Almond single purchase in 1985, also got an airing later in the evening.

 

There's an introduction (and frequently an anecdote) between each song, Marc acknowledging the songwriters as well as the performers, and explaining what the song or artist means to him. We're about 25 to 30 minutes in when Marc then takes to his chair and tells us about Charles Aznavour.

As any Marc fan will know, two songwriters that he has been hugely influenced by and revisited frequently in his career are Charles Aznavour and Jacques Brel. The latter featured later, but what we got at this point was four Aznavour songs, back-to-back.

 

Starting with a stripped back version of The Boss Is Dead, Neal also seated and swapping guitar for thigh slaps, they're all great performances, though it did feel that the energy dipped a little. Or maybe that was just me. 

 

The exertions of a full-on day at work and getting to the gig clearly caught up with me and I was mortified to get a poke from Mrs. K, as I was apparently - and noticeably - nodding off at one point. And during Yesterday, When I Was Young to boot. Oh, the irony! It wouldn't have happened if I'd been standing...

Suitably chastened and alert, I was immediately rewarded with a version of Terrapin, the Syd Barrett song that featured on Marc & The Mambas' debut album, Untitled. This was followed by Gloomy Sunday, the Billie Holiday classic, also interpreted by the Mambas on their second and final album, Torment And Toreros. 

 

The studio version of Gloomy Sunday was part of a medley and included a snippet of Bobby Darin's Dream Lover. Marc revisited the song in 2007 for the covers album Stardom Road and fittingly, it was the next song in this setlist. Marc then performed the title track of said album which, over the course of the show, got as many songs (5) as his current effort.

It was apparent by now that the song selection skated and danced back and forth across Marc's long and storied and deep cuts were as likely as the big hits. One Night Of Sin, recorded in 1952 (released in 1956) by Smiley Lewis but famous for the later version by Elvis Presley, is a prime example. 

 

I think Marc's version was an exclusive for the soundtrack of Jez Butterworth's 1997 film Mojo. I got it via a music magazine freebie CD (sadly, not Mojo!) around the same time and it's since popped up on the deluxe reissue of contemporary album Open All Night. It's a rousing, showstopping version in it's live setting.

Marc and band were far from done, though. There were inevitable nods to Marc's other teen idols, David Bowie and Steve Harley, the latter with a hilarious introductory anecdote before Marc (eventually) got a to a beautiful version of Sebastian.

 

From there, Marc and the band switched up a gear for the final leg, all the big hits with a big, big sound: The Days Of Pearly Spencer, Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart, Soft Cell's breakthrough Tainted Love and Jacky, the second Jacques Brel song of the night albeit better known for Scott Walker's translation.

 

Technically, the last few songs were encores but, from our vantage point, Mrs. K and I could clearly see that on the couple of times that Marc said he was leaving the stage, he barely made it as far as the door before turning on his heels and heading back to the microphone. 

After a stirring rendition of I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten (sadly, no Sarah Cracknell, as on the studio version), it really was time for the final song, the title song of I'm Not Anyone. Despite acknowledging that he'd been suffering from a cold all week, Marc was in fine voice throughout and delivered a stunning show, nearly two hours, the spaces between songs filled with one brilliant story after another.

In true showbiz fashion, Marc gathered the band in a row for a final round of bows and applause. Possibly due to the late start and the strict curfew, the house lights abruptly came up before the stage had been cleared. Marc will have inevitably clocked the rows of empty stall seats in his direct line of sight and it seemed a rather cruel stroke, after such a wonderful performance. 

 

I'm not sure when or if I will get to see Marc perform live in concert again, but this show was one for Mrs. K and I to treasure always. 

...So, how can I possibly hope to recapture a 26-song, 2-hour show in a Dubhed selection? 

 

I briefly toyed with the idea of doing it in two parts, as with the recent Lloyd Cole concert. However, whereas that was two separate and distinct sets, Marc's show was a continuous sequence of songs, so strap in, there's a mega 100-minute selection coming up.

Since my 2022 post, I've pretty much filled the gaps in my Marc Almond collection, up to and including the current album, so recreating the setlist was mostly straightforward. There were a few challenges, however.

To the best of my knowledge, Marc hasn't (yet) recorded The Boss Is Dead and premiered it live on the current tour, with no bootlegs currently available online. To preserve the entire setlist, I've taken the unusual step of including the original English language version by Charles Aznavour from 1962. Marc pretty much delivered the song as you're hearing it here. 

Likewise, I don't believe that there's a studio version of What Makes A Man A Man, but the live version featured here was released as a single and on the album 12 Years Of Tears in 1992.

As mentioned above, Gloomy Sunday appeared on the Marc & The Mambas album Torment And Toreros as a medley with an original song (Narcissus) and another cover (Vision by Peter Hammill). The medley runs to nearly 12 minutes so I've carefully edited the relevant section, retaining the Dream Lover intro.  

 

Marc & The Mambas' debut Untitled featured the first of many versions of If You Go Away that Marc has recorded. I found it deeply moving then and still do now; here though I've opted for a later, warmer version that Marc featured on 1989 album Jacques, entirely dedicated to covers of Brel songs.

Sebastian by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel is another cover that has been performed by Marc for the first time on this tour. Fortunately, I found a live bootleg from the Brighton show a couple of nights before, including (most) of Marc's hilarious Harley tale whilst Martin Watkins gamely ad-libs on piano.

It would have been sensible to go for the chart-busting version of Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart with Gene Pitney on board. Naturally, I've gone for the solo recording that appeared on initial versions of The Stars We Are until it was replaced by the subsequent, hugely successful duet. I prefer the former, to be honest.

If all of this has left you wanting even more Marc Almond, then I've also reactivated links to two previous posts / selections:

A Promise Of Heaven Or Hell In Your Song (Jan 2022)

Playing Up The Vamp (May 2023)

A final thanks to Mrs. K for supplying several of the photos accompanying today's post and for being there with me on the night. A wonderful experience, even more wonderful for sharing it. Oh, and thanks for that subtle poke during the Aznavour suite!

Phew, I need a lie down after all that…

 

1) I'm The Light (Cover of Blue Cheer): Marc Almond (2024)

2) Gone With The Wind (Is My Love) (Cover of Rita & The Tiaras): Marc Almond (2024)

3) Elusive Butterfly (Cover of Bob Lind): Marc Almond (2024)

4) Trouble Of The World (Cover of traditional song / Mahalia Jackson): Marc Almond ft. Bryan Chambers (2024)

5) A Womans Story (Cover of Cher): Marc Almond (1986)

6) The Heel (Cover of Eartha Kitt): Marc Almond (1984)

7) The Boss Is Dead: Charles Aznavour (1962)

8) Yesterday, When I Was Young (Cover of Charles Aznavour): Marc Almond (1993)

9) What Makes A Man A Man (Live @ The Royal Albert Hall, London) (Cover of Charles Aznavour): Marc Almond (1992)

10) I Have Lived (Cover of Charles Aznavour): Marc Almond (2007)

11) Terrapin (Cover of Syd Barrett): Marc & The Mambas (1982)

12) Gloomy Sunday (Cover of Billie Holiday): Marc & The Mambas (1983)

13) Dream Lover (Cover of Bobby Darin): Marc Almond (2007)

14) One Night Of Sin (Cover of Smiley Lewis): Marc Almond (1997)

15) How Can I Be Sure (Album Version) (Cover of The Young Rascals): Marc Almond (2017)

16) The London Boys (Cover of David Bowie): Marc Almond (2007)

17) Stardom Road (Cover of Third World War): Marc Almond (2007)

18) If You Go Away (Cover of Jacques Brel): Marc Almond (1989)

19) Sebastian (Live @ Brighton Dome, Brighton) (Cover of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel): Marc Almond (2024)

20) The House Is Haunted (By The Echo Of Your Last Goodbye) (Single Version) (Cover of Paul Whiteman presents Ramona): Marc Almond ft. The Willing Sinners (1985)

21) Extract From "Trois Chanson De Bilitis" / The Days Of Pearly Spencer (Album Version) (Cover of Claude Debussy / David McWilliams): Marc Almond ft. Sally Bradshaw (1991)

22) Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart (Album Version) (Cover of Gene Pitney): Marc Almond (1988)

23) Tainted Love (Single Version) (Cover of Gloria Jones): Soft Cell (1981)

24) Jacky (7" Version) (Cover of Jacques Brel): Marc Almond (1991)    

25) I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten (Cover of Dusty Springfield): Marc Almond ft. Sarah Cracknell (2007)

26) I'm Not Anyone (Cover of Sammy Davis, Jr.): Marc Almond (2024) 

 

1962: The Time Is Now: 7 

1981: Tainted Love EP: 23

1982: Untitled: 11

1983: Torment And Toreros: 12

1984: Tenderness Is A Weakness EP: 6 

1985: The House Is Haunted (By The Echo Of Your Last Goodbye) EP: 20

1986: A Womans Story EP: 5

1988: The Stars We Are: 22

1989: Jacques: 18

1991: Jacky EP: 24

1991: Tenement Symphony: 21

1993: Absinthe: The French Album: 8

1993: 12 Years Of Tears: 9

1997: Mojo OST: 14

2007: Stardom Road: 10, 13, 16, 17, 25

2017: Shadows And Reflections: 15

2024: I'm Not Anyone: 1, 2, 3, 4, 26

2024: Live In Brighton 2024 (bootleg): 19            

 

Cover Stories (1:38:51) (KF) (Mega)

If It's Saturday, It Must Be Friday

The dust has barely settled on my Gavin Friday post earlier this month, enthusing about his long overdue new album, Ecce Homo, out on 25th October.

However, trawling t'internet for a completely unrelated music video threw up a performance of Caruso (from 1995 album Shag Tobacco) for Dutch TV show 2 Meter Sessions on 14th September 1995. 

 

It's a hugely underrated album by a (in my opinion) hugely underappreciated artist and this is a fantastic version, Gavin alternating between jewel encrusted megaphone and cigarette gravelled voice right into the mike.

This inevitably started a meander through other Gavin videos out there, so here are six for your weekend pleasure, including - at last - a decent quality version of another Shag Tobacco classic (and lead single), Angel. 

I've also discovered an extract from a RTE TV tribute to David Bowie called Starman, aired on Irish TV in 2021, and featuring Gavin performing The Bewlay Brothers from Hunky Dory. 

King Of Trash, another should-have-been-a-hit single from 1992's Adam 'n' Eve, also got the bold, brash, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink official video treatment.

 

You Take Away The Sun featured on 1989's album Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves, Gavin's first with Maurice Roycroft aka The Man Seezer. No idea where this live version was performed, and it looks like it's been taped off the telly, judging by the abrupt ending. Lovely, impassioned performance.

Lastly, Caucasian Walk by Gavin's former band Virgin Prunes, from the Waterpop festival on 11th August 2012. It's one of seven songs available online, possibly the entire set, all worth a look.

I can only hope that Gavin's planning to tour Ecce Homo and, better still, wind up in my neck of the woods as he is a mesmerising performer and I would love to see him live on stage.

1) Caruso (Live On 2 Meter Sessions) (1995)

2) King Of Trash (Official Video) (1992)

3) The Bewlay Brothers (Cover of David Bowie) (ft. The RTE Orchestra) (2021)

4) Angel (Official Video) (1995)

5) You Take Away The Sun (Live) (1989)

6) Caucasian Walk (Cover of Virgin Prunes) (Live @ Waterpop, Netherlands) (2012)

In April 2022, I posted a Gavin Friday mixtape side that I originally recorded in July 1997 called Hearsay & Heresy. I've reactivated the link and you can find it here.

 

 

 

 

My Instinct For Survival Is To Celebrate

No mash, all bangers, as today's selection focuses on some club friendly highlights from 2024 so far.

 

Not just a nod to the artists themselves, who have all delivered some great music this year, but also to the labels that have continued to be a go to each Bandcamp Friday (and in between):

 

Electric Wardrobe Records

Higher Love Recordings

NEIN Records

Paisley Dark Records

Paper Recordings

Plastique Recordings 

Psychederek

 

Enjoy!

1) Bibbles (Craig Bratley's Cali Gold Remix): Andres Y Xavi (Lagos EP)

2) On Fire (Single Version): Stylic (PoPoPoPom EP)

3) Celebrate (Night Version): Hifi Sean & David McAlmont (Celebrate Remix E.P.)

4) Trance Stance (Cole Odin Vocal Mix): Electric Blue Vision (Trance Stance EP)

5) Tongue-Tied (Moodymanc's 'Listen To Me' Mix): Psychederek (Tongue-Tied EP)

6) Jellyfish Albino (Single Version): Elninodiablo (Infinitely Venus EP)

7) I First Learned About Shelley's Through A Magazine (Single Version): La Guardia De La Luz (México 24 EP)

My Instinct For Survival Is To Celebrate (44:10) (KF) (Mega)

No Time For Dancing Or Lovey-Dovey

If you were in the audience for Talking Heads' shows at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood between 13th and 16th December 1983, could you have imagined that people would still be talking about it over forty years later?

We're in the fortunate position that these shows were scheduled to be filmed and edited by director Jonathan Demme to create Stop Making Sense, which is deservedly referred to as one of the greatest concert films of all time.

This is a performance of Life During Wartime which, like many other songs in the show, surpasses the original simply for the energy and heft that the extended 9-piece band bring to it. David Byrne is a mesmerising front person, but with the front row choreography with Tina Weymouth, Alex Weir on guitar and backing singers Ednah Holt and Lynn Holt, you wonder how they managed to catch a breathe to actually perform.

But...it sounds just perfect. 

You may also be wondering whether Chris Frantz got David Byrne's memo, instructing the band to wear neutral coloured clothing. Allegedly, Frantz's laundry had not come back in time for the first night, and so he wore the same polo shirt for all of the shows for continuity. But, was turquoise really the only one in his wardrobe?! 

 

Sitting on the raised back row, centre stage directly behind and above Byrne, you might wonder...

The Drug Which Gives The Clown Power

Time for The Human League, I think, with Circus Of Death. 

 

In late 1980s/early 1990s, I started picking up budget priced music video compilations on VHS, usually from my local WH Smith or Woolworths. Human League Greatest Hits (no definite article, for some reason) originally came out in 1988 to accompany the album of the same name. 

 

It was re-released on the 4Front Video label, essentially identical packaging, but with their logo and a gold trim on the front, back and spine. I should point out now that the above photo is neither my video nor my laminate flooring. I have lived in a house with both at some point in my life, but neither made the transition to the current Casa K.

 

The 13-track vinyl, cassette and CD versions of Greatest Hits kick off with Mirror Man and continue with varied shuffle through The Human League's history, the only pre-Dare song being Side 2 opener Being Boiled, and including Giorgio Moroder & Philip Oakey's Together In Electric Dreams, setting a precedent for most compilations to come.

The VHS of Greatest Hits is a different proposition altogether, the 12 videos presented in strict chronological order and strangely omitting Love Is All That Matters, from 1986's presciently titled album Crash and belatedly released as a single in 1988 to promote the Greatest Hits compilation. 

 

However, after a quick online check, the video turns out to be one of those hideous collages of previous hits, which make no sense visually or narratively, so it's absence is understandable.

Love Action (I Believe In Love) didn't have a video at the time, although one was made several years later, with Phil Oakey shorn of his trademark lop-sided haircut and singing to camera, intercut with snippets from the Don't You Want Me? video. Wisely, the compilers of Greatest Hits also ditched this version, presumably for the same reasons as Love Is All That Matters, instead including a majestic 1981 performance from Top Of The Pops.

The finest inclusion - and perhaps the most head-scratching for those who were unaware that The Human League even existed prior to Dare - is Circus Of Death. The strict adherence to a chronological track listing, and the lack of a video for Being Boiled, means that this song opens proceedings stretching the Greatest Hits title to near breaking point. 

The video omits Phil Oakey's spoken word introduction, but I'm going to share it here as it tells you all you need to know before listening to/watching the song.

This is a song called the 'Circus Of Death'
It tells the true story of a circus we met

 
The first two verses concern the actual arrival at Heathrow Airport
Of Commissioner Steve McGarrett

 

The third emotionally describes a map
Showing the range of the circus

 
The fourth and fifth were extracted from an article
In the Guardian of March the 19th, 1962

 
The last is a short wave radio message from the last man on Earth

All nonsense, of course, but don't you miss that in pop songs these days?

Circus Of Death was filmed in 1979, one of the first to be directed by 26-year old Australian Russell Mulcahy, who did pretty well for himself in subsequent years, to say the least.

I love Circus Of Death, the song and the video, and it more than made up for a VHS that achieves even greater heights, before the slippery slope to compilation closer Human.

£4.99 well spent, in my opinion.

More Sweets Than A Pick 'n' Mix

Manchester rapper Meekz has put out Manny, a tribute to his birthplace because "My city doesn’t have an anthem."

 

Whilst I'd love to offer up The Times' 1989 classic Manchester to the contrary, it's hard to argue that the song is embedded in our consciousness. And besides, Edward Ball was a London boy, born and bred. 

 

This is Meekz aka 28-year old Mico Howles telling you about the place that he comes from.

 

Meekz' other USP is that he is never seen without a facial covering. Meekz explained further in an NME interview in June

 

“I don’t really like to say I wear a mask or balaclava, 

I like to say I hide my face. 

I wear a pink mask because I don’t want it to 

look like this ghetto gangster rapper with a black bally on. 

In my own past life, I used to buy ballys every other week to… 

let’s not get into it, but when I used to wear them, 

you’d actually get arrested just for wearing one. 

So I think it’s crazy how far it’s come.

 

“I’ve made it cute, man. 

I like to wear white ones, pink ones, red ones 

– because that’s my smile. 

If I put a bright mask on, I’m smiling underneath. 

Now it’s just my character, my persona. 

At first, I wanted people to take my music in 

and not be distracted by how sexy I am."

Yep, there's a serious undertone to Meekz' narratives, but it's laced with a playful humour... 

 

...says this reviewer at least, who's heard the sum total of four Meekz songs immediately following a listen to Manny, so what do i know really? Well, enough to have my curiosity piqued and I want to check out more.

Though I may stop short of buying my own Meekz bally. For now, at least.

 

Meekz is currently on tour, playing the Thekla in Bristol tonight (sadly, I'll miss it) before heading to Cardiff, London, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool.