Confessions of a Sperm Donor

I’m not used to taking my own PA to gigs, but on this occasion I did and it seemed to work out just fine. It’s not always been the case, indeed there was a time when I wondered if I was possessed of some digital destruction gene that made all connectivity crackle such was the frequency of gear not working and PAs petering out, amps, well, dont get me going ... I arrive at Bar 67 in Shropshire at 745 pm and its raining bats and frogs and I’ve got a PA that packs up and looks like airplane carry on luggage. There are some kids drinking and buzzing in and out of the venue as I order latte and iced water rehab style. It’s a small modern space, the kids are watching me set up – 'know any OASIS' one of them says – they seem nice enough and full of the joys of youth. My daughter and her partner Joe arrive. I start the gig; people turn up in dribs and drabs. I play a couple of sets. The gig gets interactive, the lads have comic timing, and we play the pass the tambourine game and make a right good racket. The gig feels like a workshop at a young offender’s institute! - in a good way. Cousin by proxy Josh arrives and in the break we talk about Masterchef, the inevitability of him winning it and the boys in claret and blue. Leah joins me on stage for a few of the songs and we have fun, just trying out things, improvising. This was a proper up close and personal gig – and whilst the audience were not exactly a listening crowd it didn’t detract from the sense of energy and engagement shared. Woo hoo....

To hell with Fashion

To Hell with Fashion -this fly on the wall acoustic session from the Janice Long Show, BBC radio 2, London 6.8.09 - with Andy Lyth [drums] + Martin Clarke [bass]-

state corner

from the Manchester show at The Corner on 17.9.09 with State Broadcasters-

state corner

from the Manchester show at The Corner on 17.9.09 with State Broadcasters-

Actions Speak Louder

another clip from the Corner gig- 17.9.09 - I played this song as one of four live performances you can hear on Dermos Recession Sessions Radio which is aired on Monday night [5th Oct] at 7 pm UK time on www.tincan.tv - it's radio on the internet - performances, favourite tracks and conversation. VP

state corner

This video from the Manchester show at the Corner with State Broadcasters- 17.9.09 -

Batman

Recorded in semi darkness in Blackburn's media centre in January of this year I've only just today taken delivery...this is one of four songs Tim and I did to promote the 'Goodbye My Angry Friend' album. This one is dedicated to my youngest daughter Pru with love x

New Single

This is the week this is…the week the new single Lazy Bohemians is available for download, its b/w Ghost Camp [co written with Craig Gannon] and Get Well Soon [from the Spooner Sessions of 2005] , both previously unavailable, both with little stories to tell. All profits go to Salford Lads Club. It’s most readily available from iTunes and Amazon as well as several other download sites. It costs a couple of quid.

I’m just off to get my picture taken inside The Lads Club by the Manchester Evening News who are getting behind the release; hopefully it will raise a decent amount of cash. There’s more info on the Salford Lads fundraising campaign on their website. ‘Do what you can when you can and the rest will surely follow’…anon.

PMS Radio

It’s Sunday night and I’m at Charlie Parkers in Crosby for John the chefs birthday bash, that and a live radio session on PMS, Roger Hills long running Merseyside alternative music show which kicks off at midnight. John the chef played flute on the Growing Up album and has a right and proper collection of oddball instruments, I keep meaning to check them out when all we do is talk about them. I’m sure I will one day. Tim and I have just rehearsed the songs and I’m feeling like a scouser by proxy as I tend to on nights like this. I drive to the restaurant and after eating some the finest burritos this side of Guatemala [I know…that was unnecessary] head off into town and park up outside a new rave bar in Wood Street. The new Radio Merseyside building is deep in the heart of the renovation zone, the automatic doors work and the intercom too which helps. Richard the engineer meets us and soon we’re sound checking; we even manage a test run to assess the mix. At 12.35 am we play the first of three songs back to back; Lazy Bohemians, Kiss me I’m a Social Worker and Batman, we’re especially enamoured by Social Worker which I might well add to the my space site at some future juncture if it sounds any good. The station is forwarding a CD. We then talk on air to Roger about the new album; he compares me to Jegsy Dodd as a social commentary type song writer. I am of course, this being Liverpool, referred to by my real name, something that’s not really happened in interviews for awhile. What comes around goes around Tim says and he’s right. It’s just the bit in the middle that blurs and confuses. I drop Tim off and we end up talking for ages about the nature of success. This is it I tell him, we’ve arrived at last. I listen to the demos for the new album on the way home and they sound amazing….VP x

The Up Escalator

Perhaps I'll dig out some Graham Parker and the Rumour! I'm back on the vinyl and feeling much better today. Sometimes this diary thing encourages a sense of doom and gloom that lurks within and leaks out all too readily. The fact that people have noticed and mailed me to this effect is much appreciated so thanks for that.

Sadly I never made it to the Eels show last night despite some assurances regarding guest lists, the show was what promoters call over subscribed, the list was massive apparently. That’ll teach me to take these things for granted; next time I’ll just buy a ticket.
I was in Liverpool the other day, shopping in Bold Street stocking up on various spices in a shop called Mattas [ still the only Indian store in the city] and was recognised by the charming sales man who quipped 'are you still in a band' which took me by surprise as I’ve not been in there since 1994. We had a little chat about music, it was really nice to se them, a proper family store at the heart of the community. I plan to frequent the place more often. Later on today I’m meeting with Bonehead to collect our equipment from the Lads Club. It’s been gathering dust since we were last in rehearsal back in October; we’re on sabbatical for half this year so we need to de clutter.
In case you wondered I’m reading the Tony Visconti auto biography and am much absorbed in it, he’s the Bowie/Bolan producer. He also did the only half decent Mozzer record of recent times, the one with ‘Last of the Gang to Die’ on it. He shared a hippy commune with Bowie and nurtured Bolan going electric, I can’t recommend it enough. He’s the George Martin of the 70’s and of course still doing great work today.

There you go, bright breezy as my girl always says…it’ll rub off on me in the end, VP x

Cheer up Vinny

I remember it well, we were playing Glastonbury, the acoustic stage around 4pm, it was the Ironing the Soul band minus Tony the Teacher who was teaching back in Huyton. The year was 1999 and as the song dropped down to a breathy middle eight someone shouted it out, clear as a bell, ‘cheer up Vinny’, at which point I spontaneously stopped the song and a kind of hush descended through the tent that seemed to go on forever when it was probably no more than 20 seconds but those 20 seconds have continued to inspire me to this day. The band all stopped in unison and I felt something akin to a presence [I’m an atheist so I’m not exactly spiritually attuned to such experiences]. It was one of those moments you feel fused to things you know you’ll never quite understand. I was just thinking about it then. The band all kicked back in on cue as if we’d been touring the stop for years when of course we’d not even rehearsed; Tim had flown in from his cabaret sabbatical with only hours to spare. Of course there were no helicopters to wiz him from the airport, that kind of thing only happens when you’re in REM, who were that years headliners. I was last at Glastonbury in 2005, this time with a different band; since then I’ve not been near the place and I miss it in truth, despite the id card corporate remodelling and the occasionally silly choice of artists like Kylie and Pet Shop Boys. A few people email me every year asking me if I’m playing, I always reply it’s a possibility. I just have as it happens. You never know. I’m feeling quite positive today. I need to start believing in myself a bit more, I can sense from the odd diary entry here [and the depressive twaddle I don’t share] that alls not quite as it should be, still, I’m moving forward I think. Thanks for listening, VP