THE WILD ONES

Suede's recent 6Music session at Maida Vale got me thinking...

I grew up on nineties indie, not just the obvious - Oasis, Cast and Blur (in fact not at all, except Blur) but those glamorous fringe-lurkers Suede and Pulp. Their songs spoke of the glamour of a London I had yet to get to know, a thrill in the down at heel and an epic sense of the self. Their romantic escapism was just what a teenage girl growing up in the Norwich suburbs wanted and needed. Suede were my obsession, I had posters of Brett Anderson on my wall and would make a weekly pilgrimage to Sainsburys - the only local outlet big enough to stock NME and the now defunct Melody Maker. 

I became obsessed with the (early) Manics - all blood, glitter and rage. They introduced me to some of my earliest literary loves as well as one of my favourite albums ever in the form of the oft-forgot Gold Against the Soul. Their sense that they'd broken out of Blackwood and into the big time cut through everything they did.

Watching it back now, the videos seems a little dated - all enhanced colour - but there's no way that I can listen to these lyrics with any real purpose and not cry, or even shed a little tear. I want everyone in love to feel a little bit like The Wild Ones. Shut your eyes and just listen.

That floppy haircut slayed a million girls (and boys) in the nineties.

Note - the carpet is the same as in the Overlook Hotel (The Shining - also another one of my favourites)

Me, and my best friend Tilly put together a fanzine (an actual printed fanzine) where we interviewed bands, drew the cover art and self published.

What does this have to do with what I do now? Well, both nothing and everything. Who I am, runs through everything I do. I am who I am, with my vision of the world, because of how I grew up, and I thought I'd like to share a little of that with you.

{Pictures from the week} Pulp at Wireless

Firstly, there's something a little bit unappealing about the Wireless festival normally. Maybe it's the proliferation of corporate sponsors and the lack of boutique-iness but ordinarily it's not my fave. That was all changed by Pulp, who reformed to play to a sold out Hyde Park. Different Class was the first CD I bought, back when I was 12 (no flies on me - I had some dodgy old cassettes though) so I had to go. What made it even better was that the band had curated the lineup with various other artists they felt their audience would enjoy - this included Grace Jones, TV on the Radio, Foals, The Horrors, Metronomy and Yuck as well as many others.

At security there was a list of camera equipment that was banned and due to be confiscated, and they gave my speedlight a good long looking over before admitting it. Any lens over 6" was banned, but fortunately I'd only brought along my nifty fifty so whilst it wasn't so great for trying to get up close I was able to capture some of the amazing light scapes created in the tents. I love how they have an abstract, almost painterly feel.

Jarvis was on totally top form, regaling stores inbetween songs (if you've ever listened to his 6 Music show you'll get the idea). He said that many people associated them with being a band from Sheffield, but in fact most of their songs were written after they moved to London, and are about their understanding of London as outsiders initially, and then part of the fabric of the city and I think that's something that most people I know can relate to.