The New Cue #488: Michael Head of Shack interview, Lael Neale, BADBADNOTGOOD, Analog Africa, These New Puritans, Blondshell, Jenny Hval

"There's no after show when you're on the double zero."

Hello,

It’s been a big week for Liverpool. On Sunday, the city’s football team in red won some trophy apparently. The real hoodoo was broken on Friday night, however, with the on-stage reunification of Shack, the city’s greatest living band, as Michael and John Head stepped out under the lights of Liverpool’s Empire for Shack’s first live show in 15 years. A fraternal reunion for some at least the equal in magnitude as that of Oasis, including no doubt Shack’s former A&R man, Noel Gallagher.

This week, the band - which also features original bassist Pete Wilkinson, Nathaniel ‘Natty’ Laurence from Mick’s Red Elastic Band on additional guitar and The Coral’s Ian Skelly replacing the sadly departed Iain Templeton on drums - hit Glasgow on Thursday, Manchester tonight and London’s Union Chapel on Monday. Why haven’t they played together for 15 years? Substance and alcohol issues, being in one band or another with your brother for four decades, that kind of thing. But time heals. So, Ted decided to give Mick Head a ring on Monday morning to see how the homecoming show went. You can read our chat below. We’ll catch up with John later in the year, as the Shack vinyl reissue campaign continues. And if you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, it’s worth listening to the songs Shack played in Liverpool.

What else have we got today? Recommendations. Loads of them. Not sure what as I’ve not written mine yet, but you can have a listen to some of it here:

And here it is for the Apple Music crew.

I have one question for you, though. When someone works hard on something for a couple days and you enjoy that work, do you then think it appropriate to reward those efforts? You see where we’re going with this…

Enjoy the edition and spread the word if you do. Please mention that there’s no edition on Monday because we don’t work on Bank Holidays (up the workers!) but we’ll see everyone a few days later.

Ted and Niall

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Ten minutes with Michael Head of Shack

Hi Mick.
Hi Ted, morning. How are you?

Well, but probably not as well as you. Shack played Friday, Liverpool won the league on Sunday: you've had a good weekend, haven’t you?
Yeah, fucking hell. Going backwards to the game yesterday and the gig Friday, that was amazing. Ted, the gig honestly…

Talk me through it: I looked at the set list enviously.
It was fantastic. The rehearsals were fantastic! We put a good shift in for the rehearsals. Pete [Wilkinson] was up from London every week, then going back at the weekends. We were working down there at The Coral Caves, which was all set up beautifully, our John and Natty were like kids in a sweet shop with all the guitars everywhere, pedals and a great PA. So, the rehearsals were comfortable, and we were confident that the set sounded boss. We even had the day off the day before the gig to chill. But on the day, the Olympia itself is something else. Victorian building, bit decayed, they’ve kept it all pink, it's beautiful. It was great to be back in Kenny [Kensington], having a mooch around. Then a boss soundcheck and fucking hell! Looking at the audience. Right up front, a couple who’d come all the way from Japan. I only found out afterwards that they’d been communicating with my wife Saida. Honestly, the emotion of it all…mind blowing. It hasn’t sunk in even today. Saida was showing me photographs and you just realise what it's been all about from day one. You’re on a journey, a mission, looking at those photos and seeing all the emotions in the faces of people. Just blew me away, mate.

What did you do afterwards?
There wasn't an after show, because there's only so much fucking double zero you can drink anyway. Even your subconscious is, like, do me a favour! There's no after show when you're on the double zero. We chilled then we got a kebab, which was perfect. I’d arranged to be up early with the lads, so that was a good motivation.

Nice.
I think there was a good old party, but I had an early one. Playing again with John and Pete, that was my party really. And adding Natty to it, seeing how a beautiful a guitarist he is with our John. He just does whatever is right for the song, he adds what it needs - you don't know what it needs, and then he plays something, it's like, oh my god, yeah, that’s what it needs! John sussed that out as well. Then playing with Ian [Skelly], I don't know if you’ve met Ian before…

Once, about twenty years ago, for The Coral’s first single.
Honest to God, he’s beautiful. We were saying before that no one can replace Tempo [Iain Templeton] on the drums, some of the songs were so intricate in rhythm, like Carousel. It's a five eight or something! But Ian slipped in great, he’s just a lovely soul. Straight away, we were just talking about movies, books, and you’re in there with a person if you’re kindred spirits, if you’ve got similar passions.

How did you choose the set?
We had the spine from the first day. Sgt Major was always such a good opening. We were saying people will expect it, because it sounds fucking boss at the start with that drum roll. We had to get Miles Apart in, Meant To Be had to be in, Comedy, Undecided…you’ve got the set before you’ve even started thinking about it really.

You’ve got a lot of brilliant songs in your squad, some of which haven’t even made the bench, they were in the stands watching on.
Ha! I know. What are you gonna do, though? We could only play for so long. Picking a set list from 30 years of music. So…it was just a beautiful, beautiful day, you know? Then we get to do Manchester, Glasgow, then London next week. It's exciting.

Do you think you're going to record anything new together?
Well, we were talking, me, Pete and John, saying there's five songwriters in the band now. In rehearsals, if someone has a riff, I play along. Like, Natty does it, John’s always done it, Pete’s a songwriter. I'm never going to stop writing, it’s what I enjoy doing. So, you know, I've been playing some songs in the rehearsal room, new ones, new ideas which I'm really excited about. It’s a whole new canvas.

So, let's say yes. Yes, there will be a new Shack record.
You know, I love that. ‘Let’s say yes’. I don't see why not mate. It'd be fantastic. We’ve all…I'm in a different mindset, which is a big plus, yeah. We've all learnt a lot.

And everything's going okay with your sobriety? You're doing okay with that still?
All good. We were talking the other day about it. Pete been sober nine years, but he said he had a drink by mistake. It done his head in. I told him that I was sitting in an Italian reso with my wife. Saida got a glass of Prosecco and I got a non-alcoholic beer, I took a big swing and boom! It wasn't, it was like 4%. I fucking loved it! Opposite of Pete, but I know I can’t do it, all good on that. It doesn't bother me. I don't miss it.

How did you celebrate Liverpool winning the league yesterday?
I was with my son. We went for a long walk down the canal and I had to coax him with a blue slushie to get him in there to watch a bit of the game. But to celebrate, we went and met Hiro and Rie from Tokyo, took them for dinner. Beautiful saying ta-ra to them, quite emotional really. You know, such beautiful souls. They’d come from Japan just to see me and our kid on the stage again. I think for a lot of people…there was a lot of emotion there on Friday. You could see it you could feel what it meant to people. It blew me away.

How are you and John getting on?
Like we always have. Brothers. I can only talk about my relationship with me brother. We always got on. We always shared a room. I learned to play guitar from him. He came down to London, when he was still in school, we asked him to hang around, play with us. He was getting better and better and better on the guitar: that was when we were kids in the Paleys [Pale Fountains], you know. Over the years, as we get older, in our twenties and thirties…you knew us then Ted, you saw how it was - we were inside each other's pockets on tours, making albums. We knew when it was time to have a break. I needed to address a lot of things. I wasn’t going to wing life anymore, I needed to sort life. But John was always there for me in my dark days, even before that he was always there, and my sister was there too, a group of people were. But me and him are just as tight as we always have been. Ian’s been really great at knitting it all