Music & Motorcycling links

Martin Craig at Newcastle's biker community on Westgate Hill

Music & Motorcycling links

MARTIN CRAIG

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Updated 03.09.2009

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Music & Motorcycling Links: Scroll down to see a selection of useful and/or interesting links to web sites we like!
Click on the link name to load the site of your choice.


Revel Yell Music: Revel Yell Music is an independent Japanese cult label run by Mune Tagaki who is based in Aichi. Apart from releasing some wild CDs by Rockabilly, Punk, Rock'n'Roll, Psychobilly and garage bands from all over the world, Mune also puts together themed compilation albums.
His latest, 'Teds'n'Rockers', is based around bikes and rockers and four of my tracks are on it - it should be available from this site and from Revel Yell Music direct in late November 2003.
Take a look at Mune's catalogue by clicking the above link and sample some frantic tracks played by bands from Russia to Brazil...


The Ace Caf� London: Superb award winning site about the reopened legendary Ace Caf�, spiritual home of the ton-up boys and rockers.


CD Baby: My solo acoustic CD 'Mile After Mile' is on sale internationally from this site in the USA. You'll find CDs by some real independent (as opposed to just Indie) musicians on this site.


Beverley Knight: My younger son DJ Munro has known and worked with Beverley Knight for some years and she has become a close family friend. OK, we're biased, but we think she's our best soul & R&B singer, performer and writer bar none - you don't believe us, see & hear for yourself...


Irene Sutherland: Irene Sutherland recorded and sang with The Kindness of Strangers in their full-band, acoustic band and duo formats from 1987 to the early 1990s. She then moved to London and became a successful and popular jazz vocalist. Now she's returned to the North of England and this is her web site.


After The Battle Publishing Company: Part of Battle of Britain International Ltd, After the Battle publish a book series called 'Then and Now', featuring descriptions and photos of sites of famous battles as they were at the time and as they are today.
Editor-in-Chief Winston Ramsey has compiled The Ace Cafe - Then and Now, a 180 page history of the legendary rockers' haunt in North London, featuring eyewitness accounts and hundreds of high quality photos. The complete lyrics of Rockin' at the Ace Cafe are on page 150. The book is available from the above site, as well as from the Ace Cafe and many booksellers. Truly unmissable!


The Barbulators (St.Petersburg): Site of the fabulous Barbulators, a Russian rockabilly band from St. Petersburg. Seems like this town has a rock'n'roll club on every corner...
Listen to their brilliant originals, such as A Cup of Coffee, Night in the Jungle, Barbarian Dances, Vampa Twist and more.
They take a fast rockabilly beat, slap bass and echoey guitar tone, then play in a minor key and add in bits of Russian folk music - sensational!
Their web site has a section in English, so no excuses please, just check it out. Oh yeah, and..."Woolly Bully!"
So naturally, I want to see these guys playing live in the UK. Soon.


Hunter S Thompson: The Great Thompson Hunt, Christine Othitis Bennett's unofficial but excellent web site about the greatly missed founder of Gonzo journalism, edge-dweller, motorcyclist and sports writer Hunter S Thompson.
The Ducati 900 in this picture was road tested by HST in a brilliant piece of writing from his last great book, Kingdom of Fear where he says his tombstone will read 'It never got fast enough for me.' RIP, HST.


Marlon Brando, 1924-2004: "Whaddya got?"


Muther Grumble magazine online archive: Muther Grumble was a fine early seventies example of a magazine that dared to challenge the power-holders of the day and was simultaneously a no-bullshit arts review paper. How did it achieve this? No paid corporate advertising!
My report on the North East Rock'n'Roll Society's growth in early 1973 was called 'Rave On' and it appeared in Issue 10.


Rik Walton's photography: Rik Walton took the best shots of the SabreJets during their time with Blueport Records. He has also photographed most of the touring rock, jazz and folk greats over the last 25 years. His new website lets you browse through selections from his huge back catalogue, and you can order prints of your favourite acts online.


Bread & Roses, S.F., USA.: Bread and Roses was founded by the late and talented Mimi Fari�a to offer live performances to disadvantaged people in care homes, hospitals and prisons. Although not formally linked to the charity, MG & Lynnette have played many similar gigs in venues from residential care homes to a high security prison in the UK. This site describes the achievements of the large number of professional acts who give their time freely to Bread & Roses gigs in the Bay Area of San Francisco, USA.


Rockabilly Hall of Fame: Also home of the Official Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps website.


Bobby Hatfield, 1940 - 2003: The soaring voice in the Righteous Brothers, Bobby Hatfield was born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin in 1940. He died in November 2003 whilst on tour with Bill Medley and the Righteous Brothers show.
His biography page is on the official Righteous Brothers web site.


Lonnie Donegan, 1931 - 2002: Lonnie Donegan opened up the door and dragged the rest of us through it. Responsible for the world shortage of washboards, tea chests and string. The true King of Skiffle, this is his official site.


Barry Sheene, 1950 - 2003: World 500cc Motorcycle Champion in 1976 & 1977, Barry Sheene was loved for his rebellious lifestyle and great sense of humour as much as for his racing ability. Fiesty as ever, his monthly column for Bike magazine, published in March 2003 carried a classic exit line, 'There's no startling news on the health front, so let's get straight on with the bikes.' Whilst that copy was still on the news-stands, Barry died in Australia on March 10th following an 8 month battle with cancer.
Since the illness was diagnosed in July, 2002, Barry's public appearances at classic events and his journalism showed that he was every bit the fighter in everyday life as he was on the racetrack.
This web-site traces Barry's career on and off the track and includes a photo gallery and message board.


Adam Faith, 1940 - 2003: Mike Smith's unofficial web site devoted to British rock'n'roller and actor Adam Faith, who died in the early hours of March 8th 2003 following a performance of the play 'Love and Marriage' at Stoke-on-Trent. The first big live gig I attended featured Adam and the John Barry Seven at the Newcastle City Hall in the early sixties.
He made a strong appearance in the film 'Beat Girl' (scenes from which influenced my 1979 single 'Voodoo Cave') and went on to play a rock entrepreneur in 'Stardust', which still brings the seventies gigging life back to me with almost documentary accuracy in scenes filmed in vans, transport caffs and dressing rooms. Adam survived 16 years following a heart operation, but suffered a major setback in 2002 when his tv channel crashed into bankruptcy. Not prone to giving up, he announced a forthcoming retrospective tour, a play and he had begun filming for a BBCtv series, 'Murder in Mind'.
Adam Faith played a major part in Britain's pre-Beatles rock'n'roll era, and some of his films are a lasting record of those times. Mike's informative web site traces his career, discography and filmography and is well worth visiting.


Joe Strummer, 1952 - 2002: When Joe Strummer died in December 2002 we lost a songwriter, musician and man with more honesty and integrity than our media and music 'industry' could handle. Joe understood and dug rock'n'roll and rockabilly, but in the '70s, the Clash were caught up in the teddy boy/punk violence that both ignited and blighted the UK gig circuit, so some rockers missed out on his music. It was their loss.
The Sabrejets felt like half-breeds in that world, a bit older and caught between the two cultures, with friends in both camps.
Last year I saw Joe & The Mescaleros live and had the kind of adrenalin rush that use to send us somersaulting onto the dancefloor at the best rock'n'roll society nights when Tongue-Tied Pete Forrester was on the decks.
Would-be songwriters should be locked in a room with Joe's lyrics and songs until they can work out for themselves what music is actually for.
The Strummernews site opens Joe's world up to fans and newcomers alike. Note the Ace Cafe London badge worn by Joe in the photo...


Mickie Most, 1938 - 2003: Mickie Most was born Michael Peter Hayes on June 20 1938 in Aldershot, Hampshire; he died after a year-long battle with cancer on May 30 2003, at the age of 64.
Mickie was one of the UK's most successful record producers of the 1960s and 1970s; producing hits for The Animals, Herman's Hermits, Lulu, Donovan, Suzi Quatro and Hot Chocolate. He first discovered The Animals at their residency at the Club A-Go-Go in Newcastle and went on to produce some of their best tracks over a two-year period; including seven singles and two albums, The Animals and Animal Tracks.
Before becoming a producer, Mickie had recorded 11 number one hits in South Africa, home of his wife of more than 40 years, Christina Frisco, and he performed in Britain in The Most Brothers on the Decca label.
Mickie is survived by his wife Chris, their son Calvin Hayes (who played in the '80s band Johnny Hates Jazz) and two daughters.
I was in Newcastle's New Orleans Club, a mainly traditional jazz dive on Forth Banks above the river Tyne, when someone brought in a test pressing of one of Mickie's productions, The Animals' House of the Rising Sun. We played it over and over, it raised everyone's game and homegrown music in Newcastle was never the same from that day on.
This link is to a site that focusses on Mickie's earlier career as a rock'n'roll singer in South Africa.


Austin Music Links: Find out more about the Austin music scene.


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Some Song Lyrics

Martin Craig
English Road Stories