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The Rough Trade Q&A

I'll confess to being slightly disappointed. Not sure what I was expecting exactly, but I had hoped for a bit more than the presence of Martin Duffy & Phil King. No disrespect towards those two intended at all, but they have been the most visible members of the band post split (and by Phil's own admission, he was the touring bass player). Maurice's appearance has been discussed elsewhere, but I thought Gary Ainge and even Nick Gilbert (who Lawrence spoke so warmly about) might be there as well. Will Hodgkinson looked ill-prepared as well, and I got the impression he was making the questions up as he went along. And it was a bit brief, with maybe only 5 or 6 (inaudible) questions fielded from the audience (although to be fair, there did not seem to be that many forthcoming). At £3 a ticket, I certainly didn't feel cheated, but did think that a little bit more preparation might have resulted in a lot more.

On the positive side, Lawrence was on good form, my fiance thought the film clips were brilliant, and the book itself looked exquisite (bit out of my price range at £40 sadly though, I'm more your £3 from Fopp/1p used on Amazon kind of guy!), and the evening on the whole was very enjoyable.

Re: The Rough Trade Q&A

Kind of agree with what you said, I would have loved it to have gone of for much longer as Lawrence was in good form and would have loved to have heard more from Martin in particular as he was so integral to the later sound.

Gary Ainge was there though, I didn't recognise him at first, but Martin passed my book onto another bloke to sign, noticed my 'who the hell is he face' and said 'it's Gary' (and mimed a drum roll!). Shame on me for not spotting him as always thought Gary looked the coolest with his leather jacket and great hair!

Book looks great too, but noticed in discography that 'lets the snakes crinkle their heads to death' has now been retitled 'the 17th Century'. It was the first Felt album I bought and was bought without knowing who they were from a 2nd hand shop in 1986, thought the cover looked weird and the title was fantastically odd so worth a £2 punt. Doubt I'd have bought it on a whim if it was called 'The 17th Century'!!

Re: The Rough Trade Q&A

As Lawrence quoted in the interview I did with him in 2003 - "Everyone makes a mistake and that was my big one!" - referring to the title of "Let The Snakes.....". When I interviewed him the reissue campaign was still being formulated - and he did intend back then to retitle the album "The 17th Century" for when the reissues became available. He also intended to resequence "The Pictorial Jackson Review" by removing Martin's instrumentals (later to be released on a singles, B-Sides, rarities compilation) and replacing them with "Tuesday's Secret" and "When The Dawn Starts Creeping In". Because the interview was not published until the reissues had been released, and that in the end, none of the albums had been altered at all, I left out these pieces of info to save confusion.
I got there early and was chatting with Gary and Paul Kelly. Paul was telling Gary about the sequence of events and the fact that the shop had imposed a curfew of 9pm would have been a factor in the interview not being very long, but as you say, Lawrence was indeed in great form and it was a little disappointing that the chat couldn't have been at least twice as long. Gary didn't really feel up to being interviewed but he did enjoy the evening. There was a bloke I saw chatting near the counter - looking at the book this morning the guy I saw may well have been Nick Gilbert - but I can't confirm that. Dunno if anyone else can.
Also - during the interview - Lawrence spoke about him and Gary being massive fans of Subway Sect. Rob Symmonds, the original Sect guitarist (now in The Fallen Leaves) was also in attendance last night.

Re: The Rough Trade Q&A

Yeah I wondered about the 17th Century title in the book. I was going to ask about that in the Q&A bit but was too gutless.

I enjoyed the event, shame it didn't go on longer, particularly the Q&A, but was grateful for anything Felt related.

Key highlights for me: Lawrence's shiny shoes, Lawrence complaining that there were no mike stands, Lawrence's anecdote about Rosie McDowell's lizard and monkeys.

I was glad to hear Lawrence is cutting the "On the Hotdog Streets" album next week for a possible March/ April release.

It was funny how Lawrence kept acting surprised when it came to signing the books how he'd already signed them. I think he acted genuinely surprised on opening every single one!

Lee - have you heard any update of a DVD release or future screenings of "Lawrence of Belgravia" by any chance?

Re: The Rough Trade Q&A

Dunno about a DVD release - but I did hear mention of several more screenings in the country around April time.

Re: The Rough Trade Q&A

Any idea where these might be Lee? The 15 minute clip was brilliant, so definitely want to see the whole film and like Lawrence said it needs to be seen in a cinema!

On a different, not entirely relevant matter, I know that you have played with TV Personalities (my 2nd fave band), is there any recent news on Dan Treacy's condition? I just hope he's doing well as I heard it was serious, Lawrence and Dan are my heroes and it was so great to see Lawrence looking so well last night so got me thinking about Dan. Cheers

Re: The Rough Trade Q&A

I spoke briefly with Paul Kelly after the Q&A and asked him about a possible dvd release.
He said the film is going to tour round the UK in April, and then they're taking it to the States. A dvd is definitely on the cards and would be end of 2012/early 2013.

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Re Dan - best if you go on facebook and look up the page danjtreacy - his sister prevides regular updates there - so all official news comes through her

Re: The Rough Trade Q&A

Just noticed some other things in the discography.
"The Strange Idols Pattern....." includes "Crucifix Heaven" - but of course in later CD reissues the track hasn't appeared.
The "Bubblegum Perfume" CD has had its tracklisting changed in the latest reissue - but the discography only features the original one.
Two records that do not appear anywhere on the discography are the Felt 10" released by Virgin France, and perhaps most surprisingly "Absolute Classic Masterpieces Volume II". Volume One is a single Cd based on the Cherry Red years - whereas the missing Volume II is a double CD of Creation recordings.

With the retitling of ".....Snakes....." I wonder if this means the album will be reissued under its new title? Otherwise it'll be tough to put an order in for it. Maybe we'll finally see the revamped "Pictorial Jackson Review"?

Re: The Rough Trade Q&A

Another omission I forgot about - "Stains On A Decade"

Re: The Rough Trade Q&A

Hi all,
never posted here before but am a frequent visitor and long term felt fan...I went along friday night and agree with you all, it was a shame it couldnt have gone on slightly longer. When it came to signing the books I produced my mint vinyl copies of poem of the river, forever breathes and splendour of fear for Martin and Lawrence to sign. Both were in great form, martin saying to me, "look andy its Gary Ainge!" who was skulking behind the other two. All three duly signed all my stuff, altho Lawrence refused to sign the slendour of fear because he said the condition was so good signing it was ruin it!(he signed the inner sleeve) Really pleased to meet a couple of all time heros.

Re: The Rough Trade Q&A

Hey, loving the feedback on the published Felt book, good to see it's value for money. In tradition of the pricing strategy behind any book published concerning said band, I hope next one costs upwards of at least £90. Give us something of true value for the correct price.

Re: The Rough Trade Q&A

I've just uploaded a two minute segment of the q and a onto youtube that i took on my phone for anyone who couldn't make it, type in felt book launch

Re: The Rough Trade Q&A

Hi Andy, tried to search for it but no results were found. Could you give us the URL of the video? Thanks!!!

Re: The Rough Trade Q&A

Hi, sorry try it again Lawrence Felt Rough Trade Q&A

Re: The Rough Trade Q&A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcKwQkY_AZ4

Direct url. There you go.

Re: The Rough Trade Q&A

Thanks Andy & Black Ship! And many thanks to Andy for sharing this, I love that anecdote about Maurice!