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Post by dem bones on Nov 26, 2007 20:43:10 GMT
Phil Caveney - Bad To The Bone (Headline 1997) "When the music stops, the nightmare begins ..." Blurb: The Deceivers are a rock band at the height of their powers when guitarist Scott Griffin ODs gruesomely on-stage. For co-songwriter and lead singer Jenny Slade it's a devastating loss, and she is plunged into a seemingly terminal depression that threatens to take the whole band down with her.
To get Jenny and the band back on the rails, their manager Josh Lezard books them into The Grange, a rehearsal/studio complex in the remote Welsh countryside, hoping that the change of scene will get the band's creative juices flowing again.
But The Grange is not quite the rural idyll it seems. Its enigmatic owner, Gareth Reed, has an unhealthy interest in bizarre occult practices, and far from exorcising the ghosts of the past, The Grange seems to act as a magnet for the most disturbing spiritual phenomena. And then the killings begin ...Don't know if it's me, but there's a The Dead Travel Fast quality about this one, minus moribund Marcus of course, and with the setting changed from a location shoot in Transylvania to a Welsh recording studio, the Grange (Rockfield?) The Deceivers are attempting a comeback album. They've been in meltdown for years since guitarist Scott treated the fans to a fatal onstage OD, triggering a nervous breakdown in smack-head lead singer Jenny Slade. Holed up at the Grange, the band are targeted by a poison penfriend, "The Hoochie Coochie Man", seemingly out to avenge their dead colleague. Soon the party are down by three members following two "suicides" and a bizarre "accident". Not a good time to realise that there may be something to studio owner Gareth Reed's black magic mumbo jumbo after all. Name-checks aplenty including Lou Reed's New York album, Motorhead's Ace Of Spades, Marc Bolan, Chrissie Hynde and George Thurogood & The Destroyers. Somebody is dismissed as having worse dress-sense than Jonathan Ross. As to the Deceivers' back-catalogue - they don't sound too inspiring to be honest. Album titles like Night Drive and Love Like A Hunger suggest some kinda sub-Heart outfit. Oh, and I mustn't overlook feisty music critic, Emma Savage, famous for her Stalinist stance on musicians over the age of 25. Mr. Caveney has his own website at philip-caveney.co.uk and he shares his thoughts and some background information on Bad To The Bone HERE
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Post by Dr Terror on Nov 28, 2007 23:23:16 GMT
I've read this one. Also, December - one of Phil Rickman's novels is set in a Welsh recording studio that is in a haunted abbey.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 3, 2014 8:05:07 GMT
After stop-starting a number of novels during recent bout of the lurghi, thought it best to try a rematch with an old favourite, see if I can get back into the swing.
SCOTT THE ROCKER'S DEAD AND GONE HIS GROOVIN' DAYS ARE OVER THE DRUGS HE HIT WERE CUT WITH SHIT AND NOW HE'S 'NEATH THE CLOVER BUT JENNY SLAYED SHOULD BE AFRAID THE DECEIVERS ALL SHOULD KNOW THOUGH SCOTT DIED FAST – HE AIN'T THE LAST ONE DOWN ... AND FOUR TO GO!
- The first rubbish death threat from the Hoochie Coochie Man is nonetheless a marked improvement on The Deceivers' terminally dull lyrics.
Following Scott's death, Jenny suffered a nervous collapse and moved back with her parents in Manchester, before her mother's constant nagging and whining became too much. The Deceivers have vowed to carry on with a new guitarist, Robbie Parker. Sales of their third album have increased dramatically since the wonderful tragedy and manager Jodh Lezard is keen to capitalise with a tour. It is all moving too fast for Jenny, who resents decisions being taken without her consultation, especially as she's the one remaining founder member. But she needs to get away from her parents, pick up her guitar again, particularly now the cold, waxen corpse of Scott has taken to climbing into bed with her at night. And then there's the matter of the nasty note.
The Grange sounds perfect. Hotshot producer Gareth Reed has blown the fortune he made from the Serial Messiahs' latest album on converting the former Monastery into a state of the art, live in recording studio in central Wales. As it turns out, the band only stay for four days, but the reunion is nothing if not eventful, so much so that Bad To The Bone is comprised of Jenny, detained in police custody, telling Sergeant Gill all about it ....
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Post by dem bones on Mar 5, 2014 6:53:40 GMT
Halfway through now. It's like the Midsomer Murders episode, The Axeman Cometh, when ageing rockers Hired Gun headlined the Midsomer Rocks festival at Causton and Suzi Quatro got electrocuted onstage. The band make it to The Grange minus their road manager, Mike Watton, who stays behind to commit suicide in his garage, though no surprise when the Hoochie Coochie Man claims credit for sending him to Hell. The Deceivers are even more boring than their song titles - Love's Like A Hunger, Fast And Loose, Distant Star (Christmas single) - suggest. Chris Spencer is the obligatory "mad" drummer, driving his latest Rolls Royce into the nearest swimming pool because he's so zany. Steve 'The Bear' Lampton = sensible bass player. Adrian Langan thinks he's playing keyboards in Greenslade. New boy Robbie Parker is ex of the Coprophiliacs who nearly had a hit with something called Gob Shite. He is several centuries younger than everyone else, and therefore, gets along OK with Chris's latest fiancée, Emma 'The voice of the blank generation' Savage, a punk columnist who thinks all rock stars over the age of 25 should embrace compulsory euthanasia. Tending for the earthly needs of these Demi-gods are Cassie Morgan, subservient hippy cook and her surly husband, Idris, Gareth Reed's pet handyman, gamekeeper and recording engineer. It transpires that Idris shares Gareth's enthusiasm for sex magic. The Grange was once home to Black Magician Obediah Wadleigh and his twelve disciples - "He was like a Victorian prototype of David Koresh, with a dash of Aleister Crowley thrown in for good measure" - and is supposedly haunted by a phantom monk. Jenny Slade, who sneers at the supernatural as mumbo jumbo, can't help but feel unsettled when she spots another spectre wandering in the snow - can Scott really have returned to haunt her? While everyone else visits the pub to commemorate Mike Watton's death, She stays behind to road test her producer who is better in the sack than any man she ever slept with. Maybe there's something in Odebiah's teachings after all.
I think what I like most about Bad To The Bone is that - the fab, stick-insect Emma Savage apart - even the sympathetic characters are so loathsome it doesn't matter in which order they get offed just so long as they all do.
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