‘We’re like The A-Team’: The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess on marking an unusual 31-year milestone
When The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess was spending time looking through the band’s back catalogue for ideas to mark their 30th anniversary, a gem was unearthed in the unlikely setting of his mum’s CD collection.
Sandwiched somewhere between Queen’s A Kind Of Magic and Abba’s Arrival, Burgess found a long-forgotten Charlatans demo, created around the time of seventh album Wonderland in 2001, which had sat gathering dust for the best part of two decades. The CD contained some rough mixes of some familiar songs and then a track Burgess didn’t recognise.
“I thought, okay, well, it’s going to be an instrumental, but that’s still a great find,” he tells Sky News. And then he heard his own vocals kick in. “I started singing [on the demo] and I thought, I don’t even remember doing this. It’s kind of like, so long ago and probably at a period where we were quite frantic and frazzled as well,”
It’s been 31 years since The Charlatans released debut album Some Friendly in 1990
The song is C’mon C’mon, a once lost track that has been included in a special vinyl album boxset, the band’s “archival restoration project”, which has been released to mark 30 years since debut album, Some Friendly. Or rather, 31 years now, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the celebrations. As well as the greatest hits, it includes live performances, unheard demos, remixes from the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Norman Cook and Sleaford Mods, and previously unseen photographs. There will also be a tour, with the band visiting 18 cities across the UK and Ireland in November and December.
“Many people over the last year or so, they’ve celebrated [special occasions] over Zoom,” says Burgess. “So we had a Charlatans 30th anniversary party on Zoom. [We’re] super excited about doing the shows coming up in November and December, on the 31st anniversary. It’s very Charlatans to do something a little bit odd, you know. The 31st kind of has a better ring to it with our band.”
C’mon C’mon was one of a few “‘why did we not release this as a single?’ moments”, Burgess says the band had as they sifted through the archives. “It was quite a find but had been there, you know, since probably 2001. When you’re making an album, say you put 10 songs out, you normally write at least 16 and then some songs, you know, might sound a little bit like something else and you have to decide on the spot which is your favourite, or in some cases we haven’t finished off a track in time for an album, but yet made it one of the best B-sides that we’ve ever done. But in this case with C’mon C’mon, we just, no one… I don’t remember it at all.”
The boxset, titled A Head Full Of Ideas, is a career-spanning collection that sums up The Charlatans’ journey from young indie hopefuls to a veteran band that has released 13 top 40 albums, three of them chart-toppers, still going strong after more than 30 years. But The Charlatans could so easily have become yet another of rock’s casualties, with the band facing near bankruptcy in the early days and indulging in the typical drink and drugs excesses of rock ‘n’ roll life. They have also lived through tragedy; keyboard player Rob Collins was killed in a car crash in 1996, drummer Jon Brookes died of a brain tumour in 2013. Both were founding members, who brought Burgess into the band.
“We always have memories,” says the singer. Looking back over 30 years has brought them to the fore. “Tracks from Modern Nature [the band’s 12th album, released in 2015], which fill up the kind of latter half of the greatest hits element of the boxset release… you know, John died just before making that but we always felt that he was a big part of that record. That even though he’d died, he was still, I don’t know, talking to us from another realm. And with Rob, we talk about him every day, still, you know.”
Burgess remembers his first rehearsal after joining the band in 1989. “They had three songs that were instrumentals and I just thought they were the best sounding things I’d ever heard,” he says. “I just wanted to be involved straight away. And, you know, within six months we were playing our first shows. The music scene in the UK was just amazing [at that time], probably the best it’s ever been.”
Playing at Glastonbury in 2015, one of several appearances at the famous festival. Pic: Jim Ross/Invision/AP
The singer was living for the moment. “I was kind of in it just thinking it was the right thing to be doing at that time,” he says. “Obviously I was a massive music fan and it was what I really wanted to be doing. But I had no clue [how long it would last]. I didn’t really think it would last for longer than a year, maybe. Maybe we could do one album. And I had no real idea what to do after that… But it just felt so great. We’d all been in bands before and we just all knew that we had a chemistry, something that was unexplained and something that we all believed in.”
While only Burgess and bassist Martin Blunt remain from the original Some Friendly line-up, the Charlatans sound – signature Hammond organ combined with the Northern Soul and house-influenced rhythms – is still instantly recognisable. They are older but “certainly not any wiser”, Burgess jokes. “Well, I’ve grown up a little bit.”
As well as The Charlatans – and releasing a solo album – Burgess has been spending a lot of time on Twitter over the past 18 months. Tim’s Twitter Listening Parties, something he had previously done with Charlatans albums, became something of a social media phenomenon during the first lockdown in March 2020.
The idea was for fans to play an album, all starting at the same time, with the artist or significant people behind said album offering commentary and answering questions on Twitter. Such was the response that soon listening parties were being organised for Blur, Oasis and New Order albums, and eventually megastars such as Paul McCartney and Kylie Minogue.
By the end of the month, Burgess will have organised listening party number 1,000 – with Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein looking back at the 1978 album Parallel Lines. At a time when people across the world were isolated from friends and family, it was a force for good in a little corner of the internet. “Together, apart,” as Burgess put it.
“It became a kind of sharing community between lots of people who really needed something during lockdown,” he says. “I had no idea how big it would be but I think it’s just an amazing thing that people can all listen to an album together with a major player in the making of those records.”
Burgess cites receiving a simple thumbs up emoji from McCartney in response to his invite to take part as one of his highlights. “But there are just so many… Iron Maiden – amazing! Spandau Ballet – amazing! All of the New Orders ones, the Kylie one… all of them.” And if Kate Bush or Peter Gabriel would like to do one, he adds, “that would be amazing”.
And when it comes to Charlatans highlights? After more than 30 years, there have been many of those, too. Most recently, the band playing a storming set at the last Glastonbury festival in 2019, after being brought in at the 11th hour, is up there.
“We were stepping in for Snow Patrol at the last minute,” says Burgess. “We only knew we were playing like a day before and I think we smashed it. I think that is very telling of the band I’m in, really.” He laughs. “We’re like The A-Team.”
The Charlatans’ boxset A Head Full Of Ideas is out now and the band’s UK and Ireland tour starts in Belfast on 22 November
Manchester Pride has been put into voluntary liquidation – and the future of the event is now in doubt.
Artists and suppliers are owed money following this year’s event, according to an Instagram statement issued by Pride’s board of trustees.
Pride’s organisers cited rising costs, declining ticket sales and an unsuccessful bid to host Euro Pride as factors behind the decision.
The organisation is a charity and limited company that campaigns for LGBTQ+ equality and offers training, research, policy analysis, advocacy and outreach activities, as well as putting on the annual parade and live event.
The statement said: “It is with enormous sadness that we announce that Manchester Pride has started the legal process of voluntary liquidation.
“A combination of rising costs, which are affecting the entire events and hospitality industries, declining ticket sales and an ambitious refresh of the format aimed to challenge these issues, along with an unsuccessful bid to host Euro Pride, has led to the organisation no longer being financially viable.
“We regret the delays in communicating the current situation; however, we were keen not to jeopardise financial opportunities while our discussions were ongoing.
“We were proactive and determined to identify solutions to the financial issues. We’ve been actively working with several partners, including legal and financial advisors, to do everything we could to find a positive solution.
“We had hoped to be able to find a way to continue, and, most importantly, to support our artists, contractors and partners.
A scene from Manchester Pride 2024. The future of the event is in doubt. Pic: AP
“Despite our best efforts, sadly, this has not proved to be possible. We are sincerely sorry for those who will now lose out financially from the current situation.
“The volunteer board of trustees are devastated at this situation and sad to share that our staff team will be made redundant.
“We, along with the team, have put our hearts and souls into the celebration and community activities over two decades and are very distressed at the position in which we find ourselves.”
“The Manchester Pride team have now handed over the details of suppliers and artists who are owed money to the liquidators who will be handling the affairs of the charity and contacting everyone.”
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Manchester Pride’s financial difficulties were first reported by The Mill last week.
Last year, industry experts warned that without urgent intervention the UK looks set to see “the end of a clubbing era that has defined generations”.
Research found that in the last four years the UK had lost 37% of its clubs, which works out at about 10 clubs closing each month.
Sky News has previously reported how small, independent music venues have been closing at the rate of one per week and pubs have been shutting at a rate of one per day.
A White House official has said there is “zero truth” to a report that Donald Trump is considering commuting Sean “Diddy” Combs’s prison sentence as early as this week.
On Monday, US entertainment site TMZ reported the US president was “vacillating” on whether or not to reduce the music mogul’s sentence, citing a “high-ranking White House official”.
Combs was sentenced to 50 months in prison and given a $500,000 fine at a hearing on 3 October, after being found guilty of prostitution charges relating to his former girlfriends and male sex workers at the end of his high-profile trial in the summer.
Earlier this week, the 55-year-old’s legal team filed a legal document officially signalling their intention to appeal.
Combs was in tears during his sentencing hearing. Pic: AP/ Elizabeth Williams
Now, a White House official has pushed back on TMZ’s report about a possible commutation.
There is “zero truth to the TMZ report, which we would’ve gladly explained had they reached out before running their fake news”, the official told NBC, Sky News’ US partner.
Mr Trump, “not anonymous sources, is the final decider on pardons and commutations”, the official added.
Casey Carver, a spokesperson for TMZ, said in a brief statement: “We stand by our story.”
In an update to the story on the outlet’s website, the news site said: “The White House Communications Office is saying our story is not true. We stand by our story. Our story is accurate.”
Lawyers for Combs did not immediately return a request for comment about the disparity between the White House statement and TMZ’s reporting. However, they previously told NBC News they had been pursuing a pardon.
What has Donald Trump said?
In August, before Combs’s sentencing, Mr Trump said in an interview that he had been approached about a possible pardon but implied he would not be granting one.
“You know, I was very friendly with him. I got along with him great and he seemed like a nice guy. I didn’t know him well,” the president said. “But when I ran for office, he was very hostile.”
When asked if he was suggesting he would not pardon Combs, he replied: “I would say so.”
“When you knew someone and you were fine, and then you run for office, and he made some terrible statements. So, I don’t know, it’s more difficult,” Mr Trump said. “Makes it more – I’m being honest, it makes it more difficult to do.”
The president has issued several pardons and commutations in his second term – including to around 1,500 criminal defendants in connection with the attack on the US Capitol in January 2021.
Last week, he commuted the sentence of disgraced former Republican congressman George Santos.
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Combs was found guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution in July, but was cleared of more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking, which carried potential life sentences.
Ahead of his sentencing, he told the court he admitted his past behaviour was “disgusting, shameful and sick”, and apologised personally to Cassie Ventura and “Jane”, another former girlfriend who testified anonymously during the trial.
He told the court he got “lost in my excess and lost in my ego”, but since his time in prison he has been “humbled and broken to my core”, adding: “I hate myself right now… I am truly sorry for it all.”
The rapper is serving his sentence at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where his team has said conditions are “inhumane”.
He has asked to be moved to a low-security federal prison in New Jersey, but the Bureau of Prisons has yet to approve the request.
Entertainment
Police should focus on ‘tackling real crime’, No 10 says, after Met Police halts non-crime hate probes
Officers should focus on “tackling real crime and policing the streets”, Downing Street has said – after the Metropolitan Police announced it is no longer investigating non-crime hate incidents.
The announcement by Britain’s biggest force on Monday came after it emerged Father Ted creator Graham Linehan will face no further action after he was arrested at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of inciting violence over three posts he made on X about transgender issues.
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Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said police forces will “get the clarity they need to keep our streets safe” when a review of non-crime hate incidents by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing is published in December.
“The police should focus on tackling real crime and policing the streets,” he said.
“The home secretary has asked that this review be completed at pace, working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing.
“We look forward to receiving its findings as soon as possible, so that the other forces get the clarity they need to keep our streets safe.”
He said the government will “always work with police chiefs to make sure criminal law and guidance reflects the common-sense approach we all want to see in policing”.
After Linehan’s September arrest, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said officers were in “an impossible position” when dealing with statements made online.
File pic: iStock
On Monday, a Met spokesperson said the commissioner had been “clear he doesn’t believe officers should be policing toxic culture war debates, with current laws and rules on inciting violence online leaving them in an impossible position”.
The force said the decision to no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents would now “provide clearer direction for officers, reduce ambiguity and enable them to focus on matters that meet the threshold for criminal investigations”.
Justice minister Sarah Sackman said it is “welcome news” the Met will now be focusing on crimes such as phone snatching, mugging, antisocial behaviour and violent crime.
Asked if other forces should follow the Met’s decision, she said: “I think that other forces need to make the decisions that are right for their communities.
“But I’m sure that communities up and down the country would want that renewed focus on violent crime, on antisocial behaviour, and on actual hate crime.”
The Met said it will still record non-crime hate incidents to use as “valuable pieces of intelligence to establish potential patterns of behaviour or criminality”.
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