I mentioned before that Nicky Almasy had interviewed me for an upcoming That's Shanghai feature on music in 2010.
So the feature has two versions, a less cut, rambling version which is most of the conversation and a punchy Q and A version that will appear in the print mag soon.
So, the longer version is now online ... right here.
It's always interesting to see all ends of the process. Anyone who has written for a mag or paper before, one that thinks of itself as professional and all that, will have notice the huge amount of butchering editing that goes on. In some cases errors need correcting and some adjustments are good, but I mean the wholesale cutting and all too obvious bursts of we're not going to talk about that.
Which is why I'm surprised that the bulk of the Expo comments are in, and some of them into the print edition too. Although Top Floor Circus had not had the song banned at that point.
Here's the odd thing. The Expo stuff is in but a mention of Soma is out. In the long version which you can go to at that link, I mention the Mushrooms. In this one it talks about them going back to their roots, without having gone anywhere else yet. That's because originally there was a few lines saying how they signed with Soma/Indietop and then stagnated etc, you all know the story by now. Then they go back to their roots.
So yeah, you never know.
Good for them for putting up the full version online though, even if some of the stuff got cut. And also good for them for leaving the Expo stuff in. It's always annoying as a writer/interviewee when some things get chopped out, but I guess that's the nature of editing.
Speaking of which, there's a line in my bit on Duck Fight Goose in Time Out which was added in by someone else. It's about Panda and Damen, you'll see what I mean. Unfortunately, I didn't see the article again before it went to press so couldn't take it out. Oh well, the rest of the Music section looks pretty good I reckon. Not that I'm biased.
Anyway, the That's piece looks good (not seen the magazine yet, only read the online stuff) - let's hope it's the start of them ramping up their local scene coverage.
The mags yo-yo around it. Occasionally someone gets excited about it, or worries that another mag has it but they don't etc. But it rarely lasts. As writers and culture enthusiasts, most of them know of the indie culture stuff but the mags run around the advertisers and their demographics ..which have nothing to do with the local arts and music scenes really.
The coverage only goes up when there is someone who champion's it, like you,or in this case, Nicky.
I was watching the Iron Maiden Flight 666 DVD the other day. They mention it like a badge of honour but it's true ... millions of albums sold and they can jet around the world and sell out any football stadium in the world, and yet they have always been completely absent from any of the British news or TV outlets.
They are one of the most successful British cultural products ever. Bruce Dickinson is Oxford educated and their songs are mainly about literary works or history. There's so much for the press to get a hold of but they can't get past the fact they are tattooed rockers, who love footy and do what they like, I suppose.
Also, they are nice guys off stage and don't get involved in any tabloid antics.
I was listening to Revelations today, with the lyrics from the famous Chesterton hymn and then the Aleister Crowley poem as a counter point. So f*cking good.