Labelobit: Alan Wills

Alan Wills, drummer with Shack, Top and The Farm and founder of Deltasonic, has died.

The importance of Deltasonic's support for Liverpool's music scene is shown by the one paragraph from the Echo:

Mr Wills went on to sign some of the biggest and most influential bands to come out of Merseyside in a generation, including the Zutons, The Dead 60's, The Little Flames, The Rascals, The Basement, Candie Payne, The Longcut and The Suzukis, The Sand Band, The Tigerpicks and The Dirty Rivers.

And that's without even mentioning the Coral - for whom Alan originally founded the label - or the publishing arm of the business.

Wills died Sunday following a cycling accident on Thursday night, which the police are investigating:

Inquiries into the crash are continuing, with witnesses being spoken to.

Police are appealing to anyone with information to contact them.

Inspector Mike McFall, said: “We are investigating the full circumstances of this incident and would appeal to anyone who was in the area at the time and might have seen something to call police.

“The information you provide could be really important for our inquiries.

“The incident took place on East Prescot Road near the junction with Ashover Avenue, which is a busy area, and I would urge anyone with information to call Merseyside Police on 0151 777 5747 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.”

Bookmarks: The Farm

Liverpool's SevenStreets fears for the poor receptionist at the Maritime Museum, forced to listen to The Farm's Altogether Now on an endless loop, all day:

Can you feel that pulsing ice of terror running through your veins at the thought of having to hear “All together now…all together now…All together now…In no-man’s land…” hundreds of times a day with no respite? Listening to the fading sound of Peters Wylie and Hooton wailing away knowing that the Pachelbel-cribbing opening bars are about to remorselessly start up again and there’s nothing you can do to stop it? You couldn’t even put headphones on as that would look ‘unprofessional’.

Footnote: I once spent a New Years' Eve in a small Cambridgeshire village; the locals in the pub were unamused by someone in our party putting Altogether Now on seven times in a row. I had a degree of sympathy of them.

New start for The End

Somewhere up in the loft, I've got a copy of The End, the fanzine put together by The Farm. I can read the rest now, should I wish to, as there's a book gathering all 20 issues together. And there's bit and pieces from the title on that site, too.

Amazon are aware of the title, but don't have any right now.

Any chance of a perfect-bound collection of the run of Debris, do you think?

Liam Gallagher to pretend to be a pop star

I suspect it was always going to happen that Kevin Sampson's Powder would be turned into a movie. I'm not sure anyone would have put money on it featuring Guru Josh and Liam Gallagher.

But apparently that's the plan:

The DJ's website said: "Producer-author Kevin Sampson has asked Guru Josh to play in the movie of his bestselling novel Powder. Guru Josh will act as himself alongside co-star Liam Gallagher."

The entry continued: "Is the world ready for Liam Gallagher and Guru Josh together on the silver screen?"

This seems to have been picked up from the Sun and spread around the world, although there isn't actually any such post anywhere obvious on Guru Josh's site. There is this:

June 17th 2009: Guru Josh has signed to appear in what will be next years most talked about movie,at present details are hush hush as the final details are put to bed.Dont forget to check the NEWS for more details real soon!

However, if you check the current Google Cache version of the Josh's page, the story is there. Never mind if the world is ready for the pair of them on the screen - was the internet ready for the announcement, Josh?

The exciting thing about this project is Sampson's book was based on his time managing The Farm, offering the prospect that Liam Gallagher's big screen debut might be playing, effectively, Peter Hooton.

Capital of Culture update: Liverpool's Got Talent

If only Liverpool had a pier rather than the Pier Head, for Phil Redmond's stewardship of the Capital of Culture year seems to be an end-of-the-pier show in search of a venue.

Just announced is a talent show with a prize money can't buy. If the workings of the Liverpool Culture Company so far are anything to go by, being close to organisers might help, but money? Money won't buy the prizes:

The winner, or winners, will play a starring role in the closing ceremony of Capital of Culture, make a guest appearance in Hollyoaks and win £1,000.

Curiously, given that this is supposed to be an open talent contest, two of the prizes seem to suggest that specific talents would at least be an advantage of some sort.

So, who are the judges?

The star judge is Jennifer Ellison - music fans will recall the extent to which her estimation of her talents diverged from those of the general population; there's also Emma Rigby, who is in Hollyoaks, apparently. And:

Liverpool comedienne Pauline Daniels, ex-Brooksider Philip Olivier, celebrity hairdresser Herbert Howe, Sir Paul’s brother Mike McCartney and The Farm guitarist Keith Mullin will also be judges.

Keith Mullin is a lovely bloke, and Macca's brother at least has a track record. But, really, Herbert Howe? He's going to bring his way with a styling brush as a way of judging stars?

It's fine for a bit of fun; a bank holiday bit of nonesense. But when you're trying to show the depth of talent a city has, it undermines you a little if the best judge you can find is the man who styles the hair of the woman who does the books for the man who wrote the cheques for the now-defunct Brookside.

Liverpool bands plot Wilson tribute

Liverpool is set to pay tribute to Tony Wilson - who was, after all, their local newsreader too - with a tribute gig that might include The Farm, Pete Wylie, the Bunnymen and... oh, you can probably write this list yourself.

The bands have been paying their tributes:

Peter Hooton, from The Farm, told the ECHO: “We had wanted to do something when he was alive to show how much he was appreciated. It was because after John Peel died there was a great outpouring of grief and tributes which he obviously never got to see. It was all banter with Tony, it wasn’t vitriolic. He loved football and music.

“We played at the Hacienda with the Happy Mondays and were always skitting him in the press about how well dressed he was.

“I’m pretty gutted. He’ll be sadly missed.”

More tributes were today paid from people on the Liverpool music scene including singer Ian McNabb. He said: “I remember he asked me to play at In The City when Liverpool hosted it some years back and he did a wonderful speech about Liverpool music and the so-called rivalry between the two great north-western cities.

“He loved music, pure and simple, which made him one of us.”

Singer Pete Wylie said: “When you look around at what’s happening now with the Capital of Culture, you realise Liverpool needs its own Tony Wilson, a man who dedicated his life to promoting the arts in a city he loved.”

Extra points, of course, to Mr. Wylie for managing to find room in a tribute to a deceased Mancunian to have a pop at Liverpool City Council.