Showing posts with label mike skinner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mike skinner. Show all posts

Friday, November 14, 2014

Dapper Laugh's geezer mate

Dapper Laughs. Has there ever been so much misinformation contained in a two-word name since the government dubbed burning irradiated corpses and shooting looters "Civil Defence"?

Popbitch has a great piece which explains why ITV commissioned the series in the first place - basically, it's not how you treat women, but how ITV treat its few remaining successful entertainers - but there's also this:

The extent of Holly Willoughby’s involvement probably goes no further than getting her mate (Mike Skinner from The Streets) the job of composing Dapper Laughs’ theme tune.
Mike Skinner was working for Dapper Laughs? Oh, Mike. Oh, Mike.


Monday, February 16, 2009

Gordon in the morning: Touché, Lily

Gordon stands on the sidelines as Lily Allen takes on Mike Skinner, applauding. Or at least copying stuff down from MySpace:

She said: “There’s a guy called Mike Skinner who records as The Streets and he did a record that basically talked about how awful it was to be rich and famous. I found that really boring.

“I’m always aware when I’m writing songs that other people have to be able to relate to them. If you look at a song like Not Fair, I think probably quite a lot of girls feel unsatisfied by their boyfriends in bed. I do. I think girls relate to that.”

You're right, Lily - god, Mike Skinner and his couplets about getting getting rich and famous and taking your clothes off and packing plastic and not knowing how it's supposed to make you feel. Oh... hang on, that one's yours, isn't it, Lily? You know, the song at number one that talks about how awful it is to be rich and famous?

And given that Skinner also managed to make an album out of a broken television and missing the return deadline for a DVD rental store, you might wonder if Allen has chosen the wrong target.

And since when did every song you listen to have to reflect your own life, anyway?

Perhaps she should stick to talking about drugs.

Still, Gordon must have taken in all this, and prepared a real zinger of a riposte, right?
It takes a brave man to date Lily.

Uh...

Let's move on, shall we? Mick Jagger has issued some sort of statement to kick off Brits week:
Mick thinks this is one of the best EVER times for British music — and he ruled rock for five decades.

He told me: “With British acts doing so well at the Grammys last week it’s proving to be a great period for home-grown talent right now.

“And what is so refreshing is the different styles that have been recognised — COLDPLAY, DUFFY, ADELE and RADIOHEAD make up an eclectic bunch, proving there’s a lot of fresh British talent out there.

“I like that these acts have paid their dues in the way we had to. There is certainly an upsurge of diverse Brit acts breaking through in the US and overseas — good to see it. Long may it continue.”

Jagger's ruled rock for five decades? What, from exile since about 1985?

Still, let's applaud that diversity - Coldplay, with their slow guitar music, Duffy, with her slightly faster guitar music, Adele, with her slow guitar music, but with a woman singing, and Radiohead, who make music that covers "everything else".

It's a pity Gordon didn't reveal if Jagger had memorised the BPI press release he was quoting, or if he was just reading it down the phoneline. Actually, Jagger's so rich, he might have a device which allows him to cut and paste someone else's words into his actual conversation.

Nice to see Jagger so enthusiastic about "paying dues", too - slightly ironic from a man whose band arranges tours to avoid paying taxes as far as possible. Even if you do accept that it's a Good Thing to slog around the lower levels before achieving success, it's hardly as if Adele and Duffy spent five or six years humping drumkits into TJs and the Roadmenders, working their way up through indie labels, before landing a slot on a major and releasing two overlooked albums before their breakthrough.

Still, this time, Gordon, you must have a zinger, right?
I can’t wait to toast them all at Wednesday’s bash.

Oh.


Thursday, January 29, 2009

The long Streets

Mike Skinner - like everyone - is now Twittering. Given that my Grandma has signed up for a Twitter account despite being dead for decades, you'd think this clumsy bout of catch-up would be something you'd keep quiet about. Oh no. There's been a press release:

It's fair to say that in the last week or so, Mike has taken quite a shine to Twitter. That, if you don't know already, is the hot new social website where you can tell people what you're up to in 140 characters or less. So far, Mike has posted 94 updates, telling us such things as how best to make tea, what he's having for dinner, which microphone Dr Dre recommends and whether or not his arms are in Moses-based agony.

The idea of such a long message promoting an idea which values brevity might be an in-joke. But, boy, wait until Mike discovers Facebook. A regular press release telling us how often he's tickled his Slide Pet pig and the changing status of his friends would come most in welcome.


Monday, June 02, 2008

Streets to be blocked off

There are only to be two more The Streets albums, reckons Mike Skinner: the next one, Everything Is Borrowed, and the one after that, and then that's that:

"If you like The Streets you are about to experience the peaceful positive vibes that come after a disturbing work such as the last you heard.

"But the final Streets album (the fifth one) will be dark and futuristic. This could not be further from the album you're about to hear, but it's what is on my mind at the moment. I feel inspired by the synthesizer exhibition we just visited in Graz after the gig we just did."

Of course, there might be a sixth album if prices keep rising the way they do. You know, just to make ends meet.


Friday, May 16, 2008

Perhaps he's got some special floaty shoes

Mike Skinner has set himself a tricky challenge, according to NME:

The Streets' Mike Skinner has announced his intention to walk from Britain to the south of France.

Perhaps he's just very good at holding his breath.


Monday, January 21, 2008

Beaten over

Mike Skinner has decided to bring his label, The Beats, to an end.

So, he's burned it.

No, really:



In unrelated news, Guy Hands has been down his local Asda collecting "as many boxes as he can cram into the back of the van".


Thursday, August 23, 2007

Mike Skinner's future in ribbons

ContactMusic launches a surprising claim about The Streets and Mike Skinner's plans:

MIKE SKINNER has vowed to write all of his future material on a rusty old typewriter he found in his dressing room at a Belgian festival.

Really?

Erm... no:
"We found a typewriter in the dressing room, so I took it and had so much fun all the way home, just typing stuff. I typed a poem entitled, Drowning Doom, which was written while we were in the Eurotunnel in the tour bus, which if you've ever sat in a vehicle in the Eurotunnel you'll understand.

"I'm going to use it to type some songs but then I'm going to return it next time we do Pukkelpop."

So, he's going to write some songs on it, and then give it back. Which is quite a distance from "vowing to write all his future material" on it. Which is just as well, otherwise his future would last only until the ribbon spool ran out.


Monday, August 13, 2007

For whom the bong tolls?

Curious. Earlier today, Pitchfork reported that Mike Skinner was pushing a bong-making contest via The Streets' MySpace site.

Oddly, if you follow the link they offer, you get this message:

This user's profile has been temporarily disabled for special maintenance.
The profile will be available again shortly.
Sorry for the inconvenience. 8/13/2007

"Special maintenance", eh? I wonder what that could mean.


Sunday, July 01, 2007

Zoe knows all

Sunday Mirror Showbusiness expert Zoe is fretting about Mike Skinner:

Skinner's second album A Grand Don't Come For Free was about how he liked taking a punt. Now he's into poker, says ex-bandmate Leo "The Lion" Iheanacho.

A Grand Don'tCome For Free was "about how he liked taking a punt", was it? Admittedly, there was a track on it that was about gambling, but we could have sworn it was about a bloke who'd lost a thousand quid down the back of his television. But then we've not been to one of these supercasinos; perhaps that's what goes on in them.


Saturday, March 24, 2007

Robbie Williams is not a bad rapper

Robbie Williams has admitted he's a rubbish rapper. Not, though, that his attempts at rapping were poor - as it seems, erm, that wasn't rapping. He's like cough Mike Skinner:

"Well this is the thing. I absolutely, positively know that I'm not a rapper.

"I'm not. I'd love to be, but I'm me, I come from Take That! I believe everyone is saying 'Robbie can't rap.' Yeah, I can't, but I'm not rapping.

"For me, it's about having more bars in a song and therefore more words, more pictures painted. Mike Skinner's not a rapper."

So, if we've got this straight, Williams can't be accused of being a pisspoor rapper because he's not trying to rap, he's just being a pisspoor embarrassment at something else entirely.

Mike Skinner might not be a rapper, Robbie, but he's good at what he does.


Sunday, February 04, 2007

This week just gone...

As usual, here's a report on what's been happened on No Rock and Roll Fun

The ten most-read stories were:

1. S Club 7's Jo prompts questions in parliament
2. People still want to know if KT Tunstall is gay, but we can't figure out why
3. McFly nude as they day they were born. Which wasn't very long ago
4. Jo O'Meara's fans campaign for her character...
5. ... but she doesn't actually help their cause
6. Brandy faces blame in death crash
7. RIP: U-nee
8. Girls Aloud and the Sugababes. United
9. Pete Doherty caught on camera singing Damon Albarn songs and injecting coke
10. Heather Mills muff and so on

The big thing, from our point of view, was the first redesign in about eighteen months - of course, everyone hates it and just wants a roll back to 2001's yellow-and-brown nightmare. Our feeds were broken for half a week, too, but they're working again now:
Subscribe to the glittery new feed

The real big events, though, were the NME award nominations and the Irish Meteor awards. In other news, Kylie is back on the market; lock up your daughters as Gary Glitter's lawyer reckons he's about to be releasedand Hefner abandons airbrushing and sets Photoshop to "fill" to put Mariah Carey on the Playboy cover.

You can read the whole week on one page or
skim the previous week in one post

Five years ago this week, an advert appeared in the Guardian Guide calling for the Pixies to reform; Noel Gallagher predicted that "in five years, Liam will be the best songwriter in Britain - that would be by now, then; and 6Music got nearer to launch - "a bit like the old Night-time Radio One meets GLR meets the old Radio 5", we suggested.

In the midst of it all the excitement this week, we suggested you try some of these:


Kristin Hersh's Learn To Sing Like A Star, best bet of this or any other week



Klaxons' Future arrives



Jamie T proves that what Mike Skinner does isn't as easy as it looks



Little Man Tate's "Sexy In Latin" might be the best song title of the year so far



...or it was, until Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's "Upon Encountering The Crippled Elephant"



Comsat Angels get a long-overdue rare and never released compilation



Shins pick up U2 producer, release third album, lose way a little



Veteran industrial sex goths Deutsch Nepal promise songs "addictive in every sexual way"



Madge reduced to releasing a live album/DVD combo - "Madonna dressed in a John Travolta suit strutting herself, it just took my breath away!" says Amazon fan review. Yes, that bad.



Of course, if it really was a genuine Fall live experience, it'd leave your CD player half way through looking for a bottle of vodka


Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Mike Skinner almost dies. Apparently.

It's not quite staring into the eyes of the Big D, but Mike Skinner reckons he's caught a glimpse of Death's flowing cape. On a big dipper:

“I swear I almost died. We were on a pirate ship-style thing and as the bar came down into my lap I stopped it going too far to avoid it hurting.

“When we swung upside down I started slipping out of my seat. I was hundreds of feet up in the air, like in an action film. I was bricking it.


No, Mike... not "like in action film" - there's yet to be a Die Hard film in which Bruce Willis goes to the fairground. This is akin to the time I nearly got eaten by a lion at a safari park, and it was only because the car didn't break down and a door fly open that saved my life.


Wednesday, December 13, 2006

A grand does come for free after all

Mike Skinner is celebrating a modest casino win and not being killed by polonium poisoning (don't ask us) by offering a faasand paaands (USD2000) for anyone who can tell him what the new Mitchell Brothers single is about:

“After a long day last Thursday talking to the Mitchells about their new song, it was The Beats’ Christmas dinner. I decided to have it at a casino when I saw the James Bond film.

“So Magic Mike was saying he would take it easy but, as each beer flowed, he seemed to be taking on strange powers.

“He’s not just a pretty sound engineer, he had this thing that he called ‘the vibe’ and by the time he was hammered he was always right.

“Then I got into an argument with one of the bankers who thought I’d been stealing from this Russian dude, which I thought might escalate into me getting polonium in my drink, but the security cameras were on my side. Anyway, I walked away with £1,025 cash (I woke up with £1,020 due to a lady taking £5 on the way out to work).”


So, that clears that up, then.


Sunday, November 05, 2006

Mike Skinner won't be hitting the streets

Spend a few hours in the company of Pete Doherty can really do you in: One minute you're planning to run the New York Marathon; then, a joint interview with NME later, and you're unfit to run your eyes over Sarah Beeney.

Apparently, he's torn something:

“I can't fucking believe it. I've torn a muscle and I can't run in New York this weekend. Typical. Been training for months and the first time I hurt myself is a week before the race!”

To make matters worse, apparently he can't get the rental money back on the ostrich costume, either.


Saturday, September 02, 2006

SOMETHING TO LISTEN TO: Pete Doherty special

The much-vaunted meeting of two former Mecury alumunis, Pete Doherty and Mike Skinner, has resulted in a new version of Prangin' Out. You can listen to that over on the The Streets MySpace, and perhaps ponder how doing a record with Doherty fits with the Streets' original manifesto to push things forward.

Meanwhile, Pete's Mum went on Woman's Hour this week to talk about having the world's most famous drug addict as a son. She attempted to square the circle between trying to keep it a private matter, and writing a book about it as well. Listen to how well she managed that one.


Wednesday, August 09, 2006

PETE DOHERTY WITH DRUGS ON THE STREETS

It's only an Alex Kapranos short of defining a generation: Babyshambles and The Steets working together on a version of Prangin' Out. Mike Skinner explains:

"I was the same generation as The Libertines and the first tour we ever did was in Japan with them," he said. "It was a festival tour where I first met Carl (Barat) and Pete.

"I wanted to get Pete on 'When You Wasn't Famous' but that didn't happen. He's quite a difficult person to get hold of."


As the magistrates courts can testify.


Monday, July 24, 2006

THE LONGEST STREETS

As part of the victory celebrations for its 25th anniversary, MTV is getting The Streets to make the longest music video ever.

We know it seems crazy - MTV planning to show a music video, but older readers may remember that before it started showing rappers touring houses they were pretending are theirs and Tim Westwood presiding over the ElizabethDukification of cars, MTV used to be a pop music station.

Actually, though the finished piece will weigh in at twenty minutes, since Mike Skinner is going to provide the music for footage shot by filmmakers, this isn't a music video at all. Videos are films shot to fit music; what this seems to be is The Streets providing a short score for a film.


Saturday, July 01, 2006

WE'VE ALL HAD A DRINK, MATE

They really can't work out why, over at the Sun, but Mike Skinner has sworn off the beer in a bid to get fit enough to run the New York Marathon. Like, just before the match and everything.

The paper has decided that this has made him a "health nut", so it can only be a period of time before he moves to the country and starts to try out living as a breatharian.


Wednesday, June 07, 2006

DRY YOUR, ERM, EYES, MATE

We suspect that Mike Skinner may have been, you know, doing that joking thing when he was talking about how much he gets it:

“Out on tour it gets a little boring.It probably is pretty easy to shag a different girl every night.”

But he adds: “But I don’t think I’d actually want more than three girls a week.”


Although we do have an image of him trying to juggle his 28 alcohol units, 35 portions of fruit and vegetables and three women across the week, and ending up having to have sex and two kiwi fruit on a Sunday evening.


Thursday, June 01, 2006

POUNDING THE STREETS

This Bonfire Night, Mike Skinner will be running round New York. He's going to take part in the New York Marathon.

Doubtless, he was inspired to do this after seeing East 17 walking about one day.