To all my friends and fans in PORTUGAL….OLÁ!!!

Very much looking forward to my solo tour of Portugal in March.

I shall be playing:

COIMBRA March 5th
(tickets: http://bilheteira.fnac.pt/…/RICHARD-STRANGE-%7C-AN-ACCENT-W…)

plus

PORTO March 14th

LISBON March 16th

Songs, films, stories, requests, Q and A…

…..additionally I shall be delivering a lecture on Creativity at the Colegio das Artes, Coimbra with my friend Professor António Olaio on March 8th at 11.00

Come and say hi.

Thrilled to announce some dates for the Doctors of Madness 2018 Spring tour.

Tickets are on sale NOW for our UK tour in March 2018. Brighton, Birmingham, London. Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow… See you there!

http://po.st/DofM17

“If you have never heard the Doctors of Madness, you should. Musically they are the Velvet Underground, New York Dolls with shades of glam, hippie, prog and punk all rolled into one, yet are still totally original. Vastly underrated, they should have been huge. Pure genius”

Vic Reeves (Comedian and Artist)

The Doctors of Madness are “the missing link between David Bowie and The Sex Pistols” (The Guardian May 2017). Exploding onto the music scene in 1975 with their theatrical, William Burroughs-inspired Sci-fi nightmare, they were misunderstood by many, but those who knew understood the importance of the band’s dangerous, uncompromising approach to lyrics, to music and to performance. Among the many fans of the band were acts as diverse as The Damned, Vic Reeves, Joy Division, Joe Elliott of Def Leppard, Spiritualized, Julian Cope, The Adverts, The Skids and Simple Minds. The Sex Pistols supported them, so did The Jam, Penetration and Cabaret Voltaire. They were the first to combine the avant-garde approach of The Velvet Underground with a distinctly European aesthetic. The blue hair, exotic stage-names, the lyrical themes of urban decay, political propaganda, mind control and madness were all taken up by the punk bands who followed in their wake.

The Doctors of Madness were trailblazers, pioneers, adventurers…pushing the boundaries of rock music and theatre to see how far it would go before it bust. What happened after them was due, in no small part, to what they achieved in three short years. They may not have been Jesus Christ, but they were, arguably, John The Baptist!!!

Frontman, singer and songwriter Richard “Kid” Strange went on to make solo albums, open clubs, write a memoir, curate art events and act in dozens of films and TV programmes including Batman, Robin Hood, Gangs of New York, Harry Potter, Mona Lisa and Men Behaving Badly. He also worked on projects with artists as diverse as Tom Waits, Gavin Bryars, Marianne Faithfull, Damon Albarn and Jarvis Cocker.

40 years after the band broke up, in 1978, they are back with an incendiary energy and a passionate fury that would be the envy of many bands just starting out. Their songs are political, tender, and genuinely edgy, complex but forthright, melodic and epic, and their live shows have been critically acclaimed in the UK, in France, in Belgium, in Germany, in Scandinavia and in Japan.

Their 3 albums have recently been remastered, repackaged and rereleased in a handsome boxed set, “Perfect Past- The Complete Doctors of Madness” by Cherry Red Records, and have been discovered by a whole new generation of music lovers. The reviews have been unanimously ecstatic, from Jools Holland, through the Daily Mirror, The Guardian, Gonzo Weekly and Vive Le Rock, the music media is agreed on the importance, both historical and contemporary, of this seminal band. The Doctors of Madness will undertake a UK tour in March 2018, promoted by the UK’s leading promoter AEG Presents.

What they have said about Richard “Kid” Strange and The Doctors of Madness

“The Doctors of Madness were the best! Blue hair, sequinned eyelids, a guitar that spelled out “KID”, space-age vaudeville that tipped this 16-year old kid over the edge! One of the most original songwriters & performers of my generation.”

Joe Elliott (Def Leppard)

“18 years after first meeting him, just thinking about Richard still reduces me to a state of near hysteria…and terror. He restores one’s faith in the ability of the human spirit to soar.”

James Nesbitt (Actor)

“Absolute GENIUS. As reunions go, for me this eclipses the Velvet Underground in 1993”.

Atilla The Stockbroker

“In my Version of Rock History, Richard “Kid” Strange looms a lot larger than Pete Townsend”

Paul Morley (Journalist and Broadcaster)

“When Ziggy shagged all of Amon Duul 2 at the Berlin premiere of “A Clockwork Orange”, their divine progeny was undoubtedly Richard “Kid” Strange and The Doctors of Madness.’

Julian Cope (The Teardrop Explodes)

“The Doctors of Madness- now THERE was a band!”

Jim Kerr (Simple Minds)

Tickets here:

https://www.axs.com/uk/series/5563/doctors-of-madness-tickets?skin=aegpresentsuk

Photo of Richard Strange by Chris Walters

“An Accent Waiting To Happen”

Richard Strange’s critically- acclaimed one-man show will be touring the UK and Europe in Summer/Autumn 2017.

Featuring readings from his memoir, songs, film clips and scurrilous stories from his 40 years working in music, film, theatre, TV and the Arts.

Friday July 28th The Kino, St Leonards on Sea, Sussex

Saturday November 18th Salão Brazil,, Coimbra, Portugal

Wednesday November 22nd Kardomah, Hull

Thursday November 23rd The Castle Inn, Manchester

Saturday November 25th Kunst Gallery, Belper, Derby

Tuesday November 28th The Musician, Leicester (with Lily Bud)

Wednesday November 29th Vout-O-Reenees, London (with Lily Bud)

(tickets for London show only available here: www.richardstrange.com/mail-order)

“18 years after first meeting him, just thinking about Richard still reduces me to a state of near hysteria…and terror. He restores one’s faith in the ability of the human spirit to soar.”

James Nesbitt

“Strange must surely be the funniest man in London…It is impossible to spend any time within his looming majesty without being engulfed in gales of health-inducing mirth and a sense of fraternal bohemian bonhomie long lost to our crassly commercial times.”

Adrian Dannatt, The Art Newspaper

The press said :

The Independent: “A seminal figure at the crossroads of art, music, film and counter-culture”

The Tatler: “Richard Strange passes the kool acid test with psychedelic colours”

Esquire: “A hilarious romp through the last 30 years of Pop Culture, as charming and amusing as the man himself”

Time Out: “This extraordinary memoir is gloriously indiscreet”

Evening Standard: “Sharply opinionated about all that he encounters, he has the essential characteristic of self-deprecation when it comes to his role of hero in the story of a life. (This is) a very particular social history, which illuminates some of the most interesting nooks and corners of the alternative lifestyles which bloomed and withered in such profusion during the second half of the twentieth century”

The Art Newspaper: “Strange is perhaps the only figure alive who has traversed so many art, performance and music movements. He can really understand the complex interplay between the elements of glamour, trash, provocation and outrage within British culture for the last 30 years. This book is the least academic, but most intelligent and entertaining analysis one could hope to read of a very specific London milieu, whose ramifications and rewards extend across the Western world.”

Mojo: “Strange is a cultured, gregarious chap who moves through London’s gilded salons observing his peers’ foibles. He observes the glitterati with a witty eye.”

And on Radio and Television too………

Ned Sherrin, BBC Radio 4 Loose Ends: “A fascinating and very amusing read”.

Robert Elms, BBC Radio London Live: “What a life!”

Jools Holland, BBC TV Later With Jools Holland : “An extraordinary memoir of an extraordinary life”

George Melly: “A good read. Wonderfully funny and well written.”

Peter Curran, BBC London Live: “A fantastic read. Wit and truth writ large.”

James Whale, Talk Radio: “The best autobiography I have read in a long while”

What else has Richard Strange done?

Richard Strange has been robbed by The Sex Pistols

Richard Strange has sung the baritone part of Frank Zappa’s opera 200 Motels at the Royal Festival Hall

Richard Strange has been personally signed to Virgin Records by Richard Branson

Richard Strange has executed John Cleese in five different ways in just two days

Richard Strange has received a round of applause from Tom Waits

Richard Strange has spent a year digging a grave with James Nesbitt

Richard Strange has sung a duet with Twiggy

Richard Strange has trashed an art gallery with Jack Nicholson

Richard Strange has dribbled over Christian Slater

Richard Strange has wrestled with The Undertaker

Richard Strange has played cricket with Imran Khan

Richard Strange has knocked out a London Showbiz journalist with a single blow, and been rewarded with a bottle of champagne

Richard Strange has sold dirty videos to Bob Hoskins

Richard Strange has paid Depeche Mode £15 to play a half hour set

Richard Strange has asked John Lennon to do him a favour

Richard Strange has cooked shepherd’s pie for Mariella Frostrup and spaghetti with Sophia Loren

Richard Strange has had a song on Plastic Bertrand’s Greatest Hits album

What they say about Richard Strange:

Paul Morley (Broadcaster): “In my Version of Rock History, Richard Strange looms a lot larger than Pete Townsend”

Joe Elliott (Musician, Def Leppard): “The Doctors of Madness were the best! Blue hair, sequinned eyelids, a guitar that spelled out “KID”, space-age vaudeville that tipped this 16-year old kid over the edge! One of the most original songwriters & performers of my generation.”

James Nesbitt (Actor): “12 years after first meeting him, just thinking about Richard still reduces me to a state of near hysteria…and terror. He restores one’s faith in the ability of the human spirit to soar.”

Vic Reeves (Comedian) “If you have never heard (Richard Strange’s band) the Doctors of Madness, you should. Musically they are the Velvet Underground, New York Dolls with shades of glam, hippie, prog and punk all rolled into one, yet are still totally original. Vastly underrated, they should have been huge. Pure genius”

Damien Hirst (Artist): “It’s a Strange world”

Shane McGowan (Musician): “Richard Strange is a diamond geezer”

Simple Minds (Band): “The Doctors of Madness-Now There was a Band”

Jay Jopling (Art Dealer): “Richard –Stranger than Fiction”

Depeche Mode (Band): “What’s really looking forward is what’s happening at Richard Strange’s Cabaret Futura, not us.”

Sam Taylor-Wood (Artist and film director): “Richard is the best gargoyle in town”

Julian Cope (Musician and writer): “When Ziggy shagged all of Amon Duul 2 at the Berlin premiere of “A Clockwork Orange”, their divine progeny was undoubtedly Richard “Kid” Strange’

James Fox (Writer): “Richard Strange can do most things with a maniacal twist, and most cleverly, with unmatched originality: he can sing, write songs, he can act, he can show off like a six year old and he has the most dangerous sense of hilarity, sustainable in moments of deepest solemnity.”

Adrian Dannatt (Critic): “Strange must surely be the funniest man in London…It is impossible to spend any time within his looming majesty without being engulfed in gales of health-inducing mirth and a sense of fraternal bohemian bonhomie long lost to our ambitious and crassly commercial times.”