‘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
Entertainment
Former London’s Burning actor John Alford guilty of sexually assaulting girls aged 14 and 15
Former London’s Burning actor John Alford has been found guilty of sexually assaulting girls aged 14 and 15 at a friend’s home.
Jurors heard the 53-year-old, who rose to fame in BBC show Grange Hill, sexually assaulted the girls while they were drunk following a night out at the pub.
St Albans Crown Court was told he bought £250 worth of food, alcohol and cigarettes from a nearby petrol station in the early hours of the morning, including a bottle of vodka which the victims subsequently drank.
Alford then had sexual intercourse with the 14-year-old girl in the garden of the home and later in a downstairs toilet, and inappropriately touched the 15-year-old girl as she lay half asleep on the living room sofa.
He denied four counts of sexual activity with the younger girl and charges of sexual assault and assault by penetration relating to the second teenager at a property in Hertfordshire on April 9 2022.
But, after 13 hours of deliberations, he was found guilty.
As a firefighter in one of his most famous roles. File pic: PA
Alford, of Holloway, north London, who was charged under his real name John Shannon, had previously told the court the allegations were a “set-up”.
He put his head in his hand and shouted “Wrong, I didn’t do this” from the dock as the verdicts were read out in court.
‘I didn’t want sex with an old man’
During the week-long trial, Alford, who cried while giving evidence, told jurors “I never touched either of them girls”, adding there was “no DNA” evidence and that he would stand by his denial “until the day I die”.
However, the 15-year-old girl said: “We were all just like dozing off. That was when John started to touch me.”
Asked how she felt after the assault, the girl said: “Sick. I felt absolutely sick. I wasn’t going to tell anyone.”
In a video of her police interview played to the court, the 14-year-old girl said she had never had sex before the night of the alleged incidents.
“I told him to stop because I didn’t want to have sex with an old man,” she said.
Legendary fashion designer Giorgio Armani has died aged 91 – with the worlds of fashion and showbiz paying tribute to a “giant” and a “master of his craft”.
The Italian billionaire died at home surrounded by his family on Thursday.
“With infinite sorrow, the Armani Group announces the passing of its creator, founder, and tireless driving force: Giorgio Armani,” his fashion house said.
Tributes flood in for Armani – as it happened
“Il Signor Armani, as he was always respectfully and admiringly called by employees and collaborators, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones.
“Indefatigable to the end, he worked until his final days, dedicating himself to the company, the collections, and the many ongoing and future projects.”
A funeral chamber will be set up at Milan’s Armani Teatro for people to pay tribute between 9am and 6pm this weekend.
At the end of his autumn-winter show at Milan Fashion Week in January this year. Pic: Reuters
Armani did not appear at his runway shows in Milan for the first time ever in June as he recovered from an unknown illness.
Only a week ago, when he was interviewed by the Financial Times, he revealed he “oversaw every aspect of the show remotely via video link”.
“My greatest weakness is that I am in control of everything,” he told the newspaper. “Everything you will see has been done under my direction and carries my approval.”
‘A symbol of the best of Italy’
Italy’s President Giorgia Meloni was among the first to pay tribute.
“Giorgio Armani leaves us at 91 years old,” she wrote on X.
“With his elegance, sobriety, and creativity, he was able to bring lustre to Italian fashion and inspire the entire world. An icon, a tireless worker, a symbol of the best of Italy. Thank you for everything.”
At the Royal Academy in London in 2003. Pic: Reuters
Fellow fashion mogul Donatella Versace followed, saying: “The world has lost a giant today. He made history and will be remembered forever.”
American designer Ralph Lauren said he “always had the deepest respect and admiration” for Armani.
Dame Anna Wintour, who this year stepped down as head of American Vogue after 37 years, said the designer “understood power and attitude and elegance as well as anyone ever has in fashion”.
Julia Roberts, who famously wore Armani menswear to the Golden Globe awards in 1990, shared a picture of the pair together on Instagram with the caption: “A true friend. A Legend.”
American model Cindy Crawford called him a “master of his craft” – while the Italian football world also offered its condolences.
Juventus described him as a “timeless icon of elegance and Italian style”.
Inter Milan, who Armani supported, said he was “an icon of our city, a fashion legend who, with his creativity and elegance, knew how to tell the story of Italianness around the world”.
Legendary film director Martin Scorsese also paid tribute, heralding Armani as “more than a clothing designer”.
“He was a real artist, and a great one – people use the term ‘timeless’ quite often, but in his case it happens to be true,” said Scorsese.
Armani contributed to the wardrobe design for the director’s 1995 film Casino, creating suits for Robert De Niro’s character, Ace Rothstein.
The pair came together again for The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), where Armani this time suited up Leonardo DiCaprio.
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‘Colossus’ Armani ‘brought gravitas’ to the fashion industry
‘King Giorgio’
Born in the small northern Italian town of Piacenza in July 1934, Armani originally wanted to be a doctor but changed his mind after a part-time job as a window dresser at a Milan store exposed him to fashion for the first time.
As one of the most influential designers of the 20th century, he is often credited with spearheading red carpet fashion and was planning a major event during Milan Fashion Week this month to mark 50 years of his brand.
He put Italian ready-to-wear style on the map in the late 1970s with his signature ‘Armani suit’ before adapting its classic style for women with the launch of the female ‘power suit’ in the 1980s.
He also dressed Hollywood and music stars, including Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Lady Gaga.
Read more:
From Gere to Gaga: Armani’s best celebrity looks
With actors Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton in 2003. Pic: Reuters
With Robert De Niro in Milan in 2000. Pic: Reuters
With singer Beyonce in 2003. Pic: Reuters
With David Beckham in Milan in 2009. Pic: Reuters
Armani, or Re Giorgio (King Giorgio) as he was widely known, worked on more than 200 films, most notably earlier in his career on American Gigolo with Richard Gere in 1980.
He was awarded both the French Legion of Honour and Italian Order of Merit for Labour for his contributions to the fashion industry.
With an empire of more than £7.44bn at the time of his death, his work expanded beyond clothes to home furnishings, perfumes, books, flowers, bars, clubs, and restaurants.
He also owned the basketball team EA7 Armani Milan, better known as Olympia Milano.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Armani sparked controversy in 2015 for comments he made about fashion choices among gay men – and previously in 2009 when his company was forced to settle with the Italian tax authorities over its offshore subsidiaries.
Entertainment
‘Ketamine Queen’ Jasveen Sangha pleads guilty to supplying fatal dose that killed Friends star Matthew Perry
A woman known as the “Ketamine Queen” has officially pleaded guilty to selling Friends star Matthew Perry the drug that killed him.
Jasveen Sangha initially denied the charges but agreed to change her plea in a signed statement in August, just a few weeks before she had been due to stand trial.
The 42-year-old , a dual citizen of the US and the UK, has now appeared in a federal court in Los Angeles to plead guilty to five charges, including supplying the ketamine that led to Perry‘s death.
She faces up to 65 years in prison after admitting one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
Prosecutors agreed to drop three other counts related to the distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of methamphetamine that was unrelated to the Perry case.
In a brief statement when the plea deal was announced, her lawyer Mark Geragos said she was “taking responsibility for her actions”.
The judge is not bound to follow any terms of the plea agreement, but prosecutors have said they will ask for less than the maximum possible sentence.
Perry died aged 54 in October 2023. He had struggled with addiction for years, but released a memoir a year before his death during a period of being clean.
He had been using ketamine through his regular doctor as a legal, but off-label, treatment for depression, but in the weeks before his death had also started to seek more of the drug illegally.
Perry bought large amounts of ketamine from Sangha, including 25 vials for $6,000 (£4,458) in cash four days before his death, prosecutors said.
Read more:
The Hollywood drugs network exposed by Perry’s death
Obituary: The one who made everyone laugh
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What Perry’s death says about Hollywood
Sangha, described by prosecutors as the “Ketamine Queen of North Hollywood”, is now the fifth and final person to plead guilty to charges connected to the supply of drugs to the Friends star.
The actor’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, an acquaintance Erik Fleming, and a physician, Mark Chavez, all agreed to plead guilty when the charges were announced in August 2024.
Another doctor, Salvador Plasencia, initially pleaded not guilty and had been due to face trial alongside Sangha, but changed his plea in July.
Sangha and Plasencia had been the primary targets of the investigation.
The three other defendants: Chavez, Iwamasa and Fleming pleaded guilty in exchange for their co-operation, which included statements implicating Sangha and Plasencia.
Perry had bought ketamine from Sangha after he was led to her by Fleming, prosecutors said.
On the day of Perry’s death, Sangha told Fleming they should delete all the messages they had sent each other, according to Sangha’s indictment.
Sangha is due to be sentenced on 10 December.
The other four defendants are also still awaiting sentencing.
Perry was one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing in Friends – which ran on NBC between 1994 and 2004.
He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for all 10 seasons of the show.
The Friends stars were among around 20 mourners who attended his funeral in November 2023, according to TMZ.
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