1/ Newsletter [ Back ]

Newsletter Spring 2005
My apologies for leaving the site for so long without giving you all an update. I aim now to put that right. It has been a tumultuous two years for me. Back in February 2003 I joined the contemporary dance company PROTEIN DANCE (http://www.proteindance.co.uk/), as a singer, actor, songwriter and narrator for their ground-breaking show "THE BANQUET" (http://www.proteindance.co.uk/master.htm). After a lengthy rehearsal period we toured the UK and Europe for the best part of year, culminating in a show at. The Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. The show dealt with Darwinism and the British class system, among other things, and was both humorous and challenging. I wrote two new songs for THE BANQUET, Out of the Soup and One Step up the Ladder, and got to work with a dear friend of mine, the composer, performer and multi-instrumentalist David Coulter (http://www.younggodrecords.com/Artists/DavidCoulter/default.asp), and it marked the first of three consecutive collaborations with him. I have always been a fan of contemporary dance, and it was a thrill to work with this talented international team of performers and choreographers.

Protein Dance. Richard Strange in White Suit, in The Banquet

Early in 2003 I was approached by a Japanese promoter, Kiyohiro Shiroya, to do a spring tour of Japan performing DOCTORS OF MADNESS (http://www.doorag.f9.co.uk/doctorsofmadness) songs. I explained to Kiyohiro that it was neither practical nor desirable to re-assemble the band 25 years after our break-up, but told him that I would like to play the songs to a Japanese audience. I approached David Coulter and asked if he would be prepared to accompany me to do some shows featuring a selection of Doctors of Madness songs. He agreed, and simultaneously Kiyohiro e-mailed me to say he had found a local band, SISTER PAUL, (http://www.k3.dion.ne.jp/~sis.paul/) who knew every Doctors of Madness song, note for note. The opportunity was too good to miss, and David and I flew out to Tokyo in April 2003. After 3 days rehearsal in Tokyo with David and the three-piece band, we played four storming shows to fabulous audiences who seemed to know all of the songs, even though the Doctors broke up before many of them were born! It reminded me how good some of the Doctors material was, and the buzz of playing it again with a fresh line-up gave me a taste for music again.

Click here for the full Doctors of Madness in Japan pictures

>

With a slice of good fortune rare in the business I work in, no sooner had I finished the tour with Protein in early 2004 than I was asked by the US theatre director Robert Wilson (http://www.robertwilson.com/) to take part in his theatrical collaboration with Tom Waits (http://www.officialtomwaits.com/main.htm) and the late William Burroughs http://www.hyperreal.org/wsb/), THE BLACK RIDER, which would premier at LondonÕs Barbican Theatre in May 2004. It would then travel to San Francisco for an eight-week Summer run at The American Conservatory Theatre, and then on to the Sydney Theatre for the Sydney Festival in January this year. I have been a fan of WilsonÕs for many years, since I first saw Einstein on the Beach, his hugely original and influential collaboration with Philip Glass. I was thrilled and flattered to be asked to join his company. My anticipation of the project was only heightened further when I was told that Marianne Faithfull would be playing the eponymous anti-hero.

The Black Rider story is a Faustian tragedy of a young clerk, Wilhelm, who does a deal with the Devil (Marianne Faithfull) to buy some magic bullets, in order to win ther approval of his sweetheartÕs father, a hunter who has avowed that his daughter would never marry any man but a hunter. Needless to say the deal turns sour, and the girl is accidentally shot dead by Wilhelm on her wedding day with one of the DevilÕs magic bullets. Since William Burroughs accidentally shot his own wife in Mexico, and the story is loaded with references to heroin and addiction, there was plenty to get oneÕs teeth into, and working with Wilson was a revelation. He is one of the modern geniuses of theatre, and I would urge any of you to see any of his productions for his mastery of lighting alone.

The style of THE BLACK RIDER is very expressionistic, rather like a 1920Õs German silent movie, with the entire cast in white face make up, and all the movement and stage- set heavily stylised.

Click here for the full Black Riders Gallery

>

It was wonderful being in San Francisco for so long- I played a few music shows at The Hemlock, with my friends David Coulter and Kate St. John (http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/card/0,,496425,00.html) from The Black Rider Band and a great punk cello player from Seattle called Bonfire Madigan Shive(http://www.killrockstars.com/bands/factsheets/bonfiremadigan/) helping out, and those nights were hugely enjoyable- they were the first music shows I had done in San Francisco since 1980! I even got to do a duet with the American actor Matt McGrath (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0569847/), who played Wilhelm in The Black Rider, and played the lead in Broadway productions of Cabaret and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. A truly lovely guy with a pure, clear voice and the most scurrilous line in gossip.

Click here for the full Hemlock Gallery

In December 2004, between the San Francisco dates and the Sydney dates for the Black Rider, Coulter and I returned to Japan once again, and did another four shows of Doctors of Madness songs with Sister Paul, with concerts in Tokyo, Fuji and Nagoya.

On returning to the UK I did a one off evening with my old friend TV Smith (http://www.tvsmith.com/) (late of The Adverts) in Leeds, where we played songs both separately and together. It was a great evening, and to all of you who helped make it possible, and who travelled so far on a filthy night, THANK YOU!!! TV has always been a great song writer, and his performances are full of the most amazing zeal, commitment and integrity. He is an example to us all to keep the torch burning bright.

The Black Rider played 20 shows as part of the Sydney Festival in January 2005, and I enjoyed the time I spent there. January in Australia sure beats January in South London! David stayed on to do the Hal Wilner Leonard Cohen tribute shows at the Sydney Opera House, with the likes of Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker and Beth Orton singing CohenÕs great songs. By all accounts the concerts were monumental.

In 2005, a new CD will be released in the USA on 7 Records (http://www.7recordsmusic.com/News2/index.php). Entitled This Is War! The CD will feature a dozen songs written and recorded over the past couple of years. Some appeared on the Happiness album, All Banged Up!, some didnÕt. I hope you will enjoy it.

There is talk that The Black Rider will go to Los Angeles in 2006, but that all seems a long way off. I am about to start work on a novel, some new songs and possibly a new film.

I promise to keep this site updated in future!

Thank you all for your emails, letters and messages of support. Who knows, I will maybe even do a few gigs in the Spring/Summer...!