Kingdom Come, September 29, 1977

Bibliography   72 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 UK & Ireland weeklies UK & Ireland magazines UK & Ireland newspapers US newspapers US rock magazines US music magazines US magazines US alternative weeklies European magazines European newspapers Canada  •  Mexico  •  Asia Australia  •  New Zealand South America  •  Africa Blogs  •  Fanzines  •  Books Online publications Kingdom Come   1977 September 29 1977 October 14 1977 November 25 1978 April 1978 May 1978 December  Fanzines  Alternative Rhythms Alternative Ulster Austin Vanguard Aware Back Door Man Barbed Wire Beat It! Beyond Belief Blaze Blitz! Bucketfull Of Brains Burnt Offering Candybeat 504 Censur City Chains Clubland Costello Fanzine Cripes Despair Deviation Street Elvis Costello Chronicles Elvis Costello Info. Service Final Notice Fröken Äsping Gabba Gabba Gazette Gabba Gabba Hey Ghast Up Grinding Halt Hamburger Orgienpost Hannover Spargel Heat High Roller Hoopla Imagine In The City Jet Lag Juice K-79 Kingdom Come Kvinde Hader Klub Larm Live Wire Living In Paradise Loaded Look At The Time Maximum Rock'N'Roll Moods For Moderns Negative Reaction New Pose Nerve No Fun Noise Noise For Heroes Nürtingen Slit Omaha Rainbow On The Beat Ostrich Overthrow Ox Fanzine Pig Paper Poser Public Enemy Raw Power Record Digest Safety In Numbers Shades Shews Slash Sniffin' Glue Snot Rag Spuno Street Fever Substitute Summer Salt Surfin' Bird Talking In The Dark Terminal Wool City Rocker — The Stiff story Johnny Waller With the advent of the new wave & greater accessibility of bands who are getting back to basics, perhaps it was on the cards that we might get a few record companies being formed on the same basis. Geez, we have! Ladeez n’ Gennulmen may I present Jake Riviera & his bunch of Stiffs. Stiff record company was formed just over a year ago by Riviera & Dave Robinson (manager of Damned, Graham Parker) using £100 they had between them, plus £200 they borrowed from photographer Keith Morris, plus another £200 from Lee Brilleaux (Feelgoods vocalist) Riviera himself has said it was easy to start up; “All you need is to make a tape and get it mastered” After a project EP, to be released in Holland, fell through because of contractual difficulties, Nick Lowe recorded a demo tape consisting of “So It Goes” & “Heart Of The City” which cost £45 for both sides. This then became Stiff’s first release on 14th August 1976, and, in fact, “City” although it was the B side, was picked as a record of the week by two music papers it wasn’t actually a hit (good record though, mate) but after the first 1,000 copies were sold, Stiff simply re-ordered & so it goes! In fact, none of the first 14 singles failed to sell more than 5,000 copies. The material for the other early singles was obtained by hard work & money. These first discs included the Damned’s frantic version of ‘Help’, Richard Hell’s ‘Blank Generation’ EP, Roogalators 33⅓ rpm single (with Beatles take-off cover shot) & the Tyla Gang’s ‘Styrofoam’/ ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ double B side (thereby beating the Rezillos by several months). The Adverts were noticed by Jake down at the Roxy & recorded “One Chord Wonders” before leaving for Anchor & current chart stardom. Elvis Costello sent in a tape, which Jake liked (he doesn’t usually listen to them, as he says most are rubbish) & the result was the sadly neglected “Less Than Zero”. After a degree of success (certainly saleswise) with the singles, an album was planned – with The Damned. Over to Jake: “The Damned was the most risky release, because it was the first album we’d ever put out & we didn’t have very much money, but Island records gave us lots of money, cos it was selling well.” In an attempt to have “Damned, Damned, Damned” released in the States, Jake & the band went over, but “We lost £4,300 taking The Damned to America. We had record deals before we went out there. Business acumen it’s called.” Incidentally, early copies of that record showed The Rods on the reverse of the sleeve by mistake (Oh Yeah?). It got lotsa publicity, dinnit Jake? Kingdom Come, No. 1, September 29, 1977 Johnny Waller profiles Elvis Costello and Stiff Records. Images Page scans. The Elvis Page Johnny Waller Extract: The king is dead ... Never was a great Presley fan myself, but anyone who makes records that sound as fresh 20 years on (Hound Dog, Heartbreak Hotel…) has got something pretty special. Still, I must agree with one of J. Rotten’s comments that his gut has cast a shadow over rock recently. Think I’ll stick to the Sun recordings & early RCA records. (Look what happens when you join the army!) The saddest thing about this whole Elvismania trip is the sudden demand for anything remotely connected with Presley. Where were these ghoulish collectors when we was alive (obese & releasing nondescript music, for sure but still here) & needed a final shove back to rock. What’s even worse is the proliferation of ‘tributes’ ; Dross like “I remember Elvis’ makes me sick. If you really want to remember him, go out & buy some of his early albums (not film soundtracks) or check out the later compilations such as ’40 Greatest Hits’ which has all the good (& not-so-good) stuff he ever did for RCA. ...long live the king If you’re still not hip to the other Elvis (Costello, dummy) by now, you’re a bit late … but don’t give up, read on. I don’t intend to review the sublime album here, as it’s been out a while & you should already have bought it, suffice to say that it’s the most immediate album since……. (fill in your own choice). The songs are all short (some too short) & punchy, with biting lyrics and memorable hooks. Boy, is Elvis angry, and frustrated, and intense, and great. He’s got the same sort of intensity as Graham Parker, & this was fully shown at his Tiffany’s gig, when (after breaking strings on 3 successive guitars & unable to get new ones from behind a locked door) he threw his guitar at the amp & shouted “I’ve just been on Top of The Pops, meant to be a big star & still can’t get in the fuckin’ dressing room.” That gig highlighted that his newer material (try “Chelsea” or “Watching The Detectives”) is , if possible, better than the album trax. If you missed him at Edinburgh, there’s still a chance to catch him on the Stiffs tour at Glasgow Apollo on October 13th. See you there! Cover and page scan.

External links

• kinemagigz.com
• issuu.com