upfront Feature
‘Madness’ Suggs: “We lived through a golden generation”
With a massive show at Singleton Park in Swansea on the horizon, new music on the way and the band still in good health after more than 45 years, Chris Andrew finds Madness frontman Suggs in good spirits and slightly reflective, as he gets the lowdown on life in the legendary 2 Tone band.
With Madness’ Singleton Park show just around the corner, I’m sure it must feel great to be back on the road again for the iconic north London band? “It does feel amazing to be back,” chirps Graham ‘Suggs’ McPherson in his instantly recognisable cockney tone. “We’ve just started back up and the shows so far have been really extraordinary and I’m not being big headed, but really everybody’s just so happy to be out and about again.”
Madness have long been used to playing huge venues, going back as far as the open-air Madstock concerts in the early 90s, but how does Suggs feel about these types of shows? “I think I love it more as I get older! You do tend to get whole families and their kids coming now and it’s a fantastic thing to behold.
“I mean, we’ve always been into creating a little bit of joy,” he continues, “but it seems to be an unbridled joy – especially this time of the year, where it doesn’t get dark until a bit later, so you get to see the whole audience. We were in Halifax recently and it was just fantastic to see people enjoying themselves and skipping around.” The leader of the self- styled Nutty Boys adds, “I often joke with kids in the front row – ask them if their mum made them come and see us….”
Changing tone slightly, there’s a hint of sadness to Suggs’s voice as he reflects on enjoying the moment. “As I say, it’s really lovely to see, as I’m still alive and a lot of my contemporaries aren’t. I’ve been to a lot of funerals in the last six months, so I just feel very grateful.” Speaking of contemporaries, the world recently lost Terry Hall, frontman of The Specials – a band indelibly linked to the 2 Tone scene and label, like Madness – so I was interested to hear of Suggs’ relationship with Hall.
“I knew him very well. He moved to Islington down by me, five years or so ago, and I used to see him in the café by me. It’s so sad to think that these people aren’t around anymore, and it doesn’t not affect how I look at it; I think to myself ‘Jesus Christ, I’ve got to be so grateful for everyday I get out of this. It’s weird – I look at my phone and I can’t believe that they are all dead. I can’t delete them, it feels like I’m deleting their souls.”
When
homestead of Camden Town already had a music scene - punk and new wave was on its way, with 2 Tone to follow – but it wasn’t always easy to get a gig. The band became synonymous with a venue called the Dublin Castle, though initially they had to describe themselves as a jazz band to get booked. Suggs fills us in with the story.
Madness formed in 1976, their
“We were coming out of punk which was very energetic and nihilis- tic, but the kids wanted to do something with more groove and some- thing to dance to”
“I hate to sound like the old man, but I really think we lived through a golden generation. Camden had all these fantastic pubs, about 12 of which you could get a gig in – probably about two now – but you could go out in Camden with not much money and see a band every single night. One night you could see Ian Dury & The Blockheads, next night you could see The Pretenders. As for The Dublin Castle, I know Henry who still runs it – it was his dad who gave us our first gig, thinking we were jazz-stroke-country and western! It was a little off the beaten track, but it still books gigs now.”
When you look back at any Madness setlist, it’s chock full of famous hits, predominantly from their early- to mid-80s period where songs like Our House, Baggy Trousers and House Of Fun were played in every household in the UK. When did Suggs have that first “we’ve made it” moment?
“It was incremental. Early on, we were just knocking on pub doors, but when we got a residency at the Dublin Castle, we had a chance to get something going and build up a following. Suddenly there’s a queue around the block and you think – hang on a minute, this may be more than just a bit of fun. Also recording our first record [1979 single The Prince] on 2 Tone, having that vinyl in your hand and thinking, well nobody can take that away from me now, that’s there forever. Then it just was hit after hit. We certainly never expected it to go like that and still be here 40 years later.”
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The success of the ska/2 Tone revival in the 1980s, with bands including The Specials, The Selecter and Madness themselves reaching the upper echelons of the UK charts. How exactly did that become such a successful, indeed mainstream sound? “I believe that I am a genius, that’s what I’d put it down to…” deadpans Suggs, followed by a bout of laughter. “No, it was timing, my friend!” he continues. “We were coming out of punk which was very energetic and nihilistic, but the kids wanted to do something with more groove and something to dance to.
“So with all those types of bands forming at the same time, it started a movement, which snowballed – much to the surprise of all of us. We were in London, The Specials were in Coventry and The Beat were in Birmingham: we weren’t connected in anyway but we all came together. Everything comes around and I guess we were all thinking that this hadn’t been played in a while, so it would be interesting.”
It may come as a surprise to people that one of London’s most famous sons actually spent a chunk of his childhood in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. “I used to go to my auntie’s there for my summer holidays and one year I ended up staying there for three years. I loved it. Fantastic. I still have really vivid memories. It makes me think about Van Morrison songs, swimming in the river, building dams, dunking apples, running around in fields.
“I went back there about four years ago, actually, and it hasn’t changed that much. It’s still very rural, lots of farmland. It really was the most amazing place to be at that point. Pembrokeshire has the most amazing beaches. I also went back there about 10 years ago, having not been there for about 20 years, and there were these woods which I realised had been planted when I was there as a kid. Talk about the passing of time.”
So after the Singleton Park extravaganza, what can Madness fans expect next? “We’ve just finished recording our new album. It’s called The Theatre Of The Absurd. After the lockdown we had so much material stored up, so we thought we’d just get an album out and it turned out that we had 24 songs. It took about six months to record them, but hopefully there’s a few good songs on them. I think it’s pretty good.”
Madness,
Singleton Park, Swansea, Fri 21 July. Tickets: £52.50/£125 hospitality. Info:
swansea.gov.uk
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