littleBIGMAN Records, a label put together by Happy Mondays drummer Gaz Whelan and Pete Carroll, the man behind Shaun Ryder's Amateur Night In The Big Top album are finalising the new album by Australian band The Panics.

The Panics were in Manchester late last year to play at "In the City" and they also supported Happy Mondays at Clapham Common. Shaun Ryder, who is a big fan of the band, interviewed them when he presented a radio program on BBC 6Music. He also got the Panics to play 3 songs live to air. The band's new, as-yet-untitled album will be available sometime in August.

Labels: Amateur_Night_In_The_Big_Top, Happy_Mondays

The unreleased 'remix' album of 2003's Amateur Night In The Big Top album entitled 'The Return of the Majestic' is quite a revelation, being a poppier, more instantly accessible version of Clowns and Pet Sounds (with a few new surprises thrown in for good measure)

Tracklisting

Confessions of the Money
Perfect People With Brittle Bones
A Talent For Runaway Razorblades
Soldier Blues
Wham Bam Zap Pow
Johnny Wrote Songs About Murder
The Heebie Jeebies
All I Really Wanna Do
Got The Talent For Dancin

[promo only on Offworld Sounds]

Shaun Ryder and Bez can be seen in the new Peter Kay / Tony Christie 'Amarillo' video marching alongside the cream of British showbiz including Keith Harris, Orville, Bernie Clifton, Jim Bowen, Geoffrey and Bungle.

Labels: Amateur_Night_In_The_Big_Top

More details on the May 2004 edition of Grafik (the "Journal of the best in international design") which centres on design in The North. There's a small feature on Central Station Design, talking about Amateur Night In The Big Top / Clowns & Pet Sounds: "Things have been tough for Shaun Ryder since record company legal battles plunged him into penury. Not one to let the bastards get him down, however, Ryder is back with a solo project, Clowns & Pet Sounds, with cover art by Central Station Design (also responsible for Happy Mondays and Black Grape covers).

"The original idea for Clowns & Pet Sounds (or Amateur Night In The Big Top if you will) came from Shaun saying that he hated his future being in the hands of clowns in suits", Matt Carroll of Central Station says. "I came across an article saying that in 1936 The Daily Herald dismissed Hitler as nothing more than a clown. I loved the idea of the most evil man on the planet being mistaken for a clown." And lo, another unforgettable cover was born."

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, Amateur_Night_In_The_Big_Top, Central_Station_Design, design, graphic_design, Happy_Mondays, Matt_Carroll

In these two interviews, from theage.com.au and dbmagazine.com.au, Shaun Ryder's discusses his recent stays in Australia (with and without visas) with cousin Pete Carroll (Off World Sounds) and the events which led to the recording of the Amateur Night In The Big Top album.

Labels: Amateur_Night_In_The_Big_Top, Pete_Carroll, Shaun_Ryder

Pete Carroll, the man behind Amateur Night In The Big Top, has been working on a new track by Bez and Shaun Ryder called 'Rattle'. Bez 'n' Shaun have also made a video with Pat Carroll who was part of Central Station Design. Watch out for other great new Ryder tracks and don't forget to watch the Shaun Ryder fly on the wall documentary on BBC3, starting this month.

Labels: Amateur_Night_In_The_Big_Top, Central_Station_Design, Pete_Carroll

Mmmm, maybe not a good idea. Poet he may be but Shaun William Ryder's lyrics on Clowns from the Amateur Night In The Big Top album 'Clowns and Pet Sounds' have not escaped the attention of Am I Right - The Dumbest Song Lyrics an irreverent site devoted to making fun of music. This site also includes sections on New Order, Happy Mondays and Joy Division.

Labels: Amateur_Night_In_The_Big_Top, Happy_Mondays, Joy_Division, New_Order

(in alphabetical order)

Clowns and Pet Sounds - Amateur Night In The Big Top (Off World Sounds)
Cool As Ice - The Be Music Productions - Various Artists (LTM)
Elephant - The White Stripes (XL)
Ether Song - Turin Brakes (Source)
Gentle Sound - The Railway Children (Ether)
Room On Fire - The Strokes (Rough Trade)
Sleep / Holiday - Gorky's Zygotic Mynci (Sanctuary)
Someone Else's Party - The Durutti Column (Artful)
Tour de France Soundtracks - Kraftwerk (EMI)
Youth and Young Manhood - Kings of Leon (Hand Me Down)

Labels: Amateur_Night_In_The_Big_Top, The_Durutti_Column, The_Railway_Children

It is of course Pete Carroll and not his brother Pat from Central Station who has teamed up with Shaun Ryder et al for Amateur Night In The Big Top...

Labels: Amateur_Night_In_The_Big_Top

"Matt and Pat Carroll would rather crack open a brew than pick up a pencil, they moan that they can't draw and can't paint, and yet they've provided the visuals for a major musical uprising. Their technicolour graphics, block(ed) capitals and casual images are already splashed across half the scrawny bodies and bedroom walls in the country. Having designed the visually eclectic covers for Happy Mondays, James and Northside, Matt and Pat have kicked art into the '90s, dusted off the cobwebs and made it accessible, relevant and fashionable. Through cutting corners, dribbling paint and clashing colours, their design company Central Station have taken art down from the top shelf and shoved it right back where it belongs, back to reality and into sticky fingers...."

So begins an NME article on Central Station from back in 1990 which deals with their early days in Art College, onto designing the early Happy Mondays and which centres on their exhibition 'Hello Playmates' of gaudy portraits of characters from British cultural folklore which ran in Manchester and then London at the time.

Their recent outings have been for Matt and Pat's brother Pete (who wasn't in Central Station) who teamed up with Shaun Ryder, Shane Norton and Stephen Mallinder to spectacular effect in Amateur Night In The Big Top and for Gorky's Zygotic Mynci whose album Sleep/Holiday was released in August and whose single Mow The Lawn came out last week.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, Amateur_Night_In_The_Big_Top, Central_Station_Design, Happy_Mondays, Northside

- - - -

08.03 | 09.03 | 10.03 | 11.03 | 12.03 | 01.04 | 02.04 | 03.04 | 04.04 | 05.04 | 06.04 | 07.04 | 08.04 | 09.04 | 10.04 | 11.04 | 12.04 | 01.05 | 02.05 | 03.05 | 04.05 | 05.05 | 06.05 | 07.05 | 08.05 | 09.05 | 10.05 | 11.05 | 12.05 | 01.06 | 02.06 | 03.06 | 04.06 | 05.06 | 06.06 | 07.06 | 08.06 | 09.06 | 10.06 | 11.06 | 12.06 | 01.07 | 02.07 | 03.07 | 04.07 | 05.07 | 06.07 | 07.07 | 08.07 | 09.07 | 10.07 | 11.07 | 12.07 | 01.08 | 02.08 | 03.08 | 04.08 | 05.08 | 06.08 | 07.08 | 08.08 | 09.08 | 10.08 | 11.08 | 12.08 | 01.09 | 02.09 | 03.09 | 04.09 | 05.09 | 06.09 | 07.09 | 08.09 | 09.09 | 10.09 | 11.09 | 12.09 | 01.10 | 02.10 | 03.10 | 04.10 | 05.10 | 06.10 | 07.10 | 08.10 | 09.10 | 10.10 | 11.10 | 12.10 | 01.11 | 02.11 | 03.11 | 04.11 | 05.11 | 06.11 | 07.11 | 08.11 | 09.11 | 10.11 | 11.11 | 12.11 | 01.12 | 02.12 | 03.12 | 04.12 | 05.12 | 06.12 | 07.12 | 08.12 | 09.12 | 10.12 | 11.12 | 12.12 | 01.13 | 02.13 | 03.13 | 04.13 | 05.13 | 06.13 | 07.13 | 08.13 | 09.13 | 10.13 | 11.13 | 12.13 | 01.14 | 02.14 | 03.14 | 04.14 | 05.14 | 06.14 | 07.14 | 08.14 | 09.14 | 10.14 | 11.14 | 12.14 | 01.15 | 02.15 | 03.15 | 04.15 | 05.17 | 06.17 | 07.17 | 08.17 | 09.17 | 10.17 | 11.17 | 05.18 | 12.18 | 01.19 | 08.19 | 09.19 | 10.19 | 11.19 | 12.19 | 03.20 |

- - - -