A touch of Madness

AFTER 25 years Madness remain one step beyond all other bands from the 1970s and 1980s. To prove the point, North London’s most famous and nuttiest pop institution have decided to embark on their biggest tour so far. The Grandslam Madness itinerary takes the band, led by singer Suggs (aka Graham McPherson) to Durham County Cricket Club’s ground at Chester-le-Street on Saturday, September 26.

In the process, the visits to major sports venues have become a trip down memory lane for Suggs, who first began exploring the UK as a (Chelsea) football fan before Madness first hit the road in 1979.

“It’ll be the greatest tour since Boadicea. We’ll be going across the countryside rampaging and pillaging. We have our people working on designing a chariot – even as we speak,” he says “If you had told me this when I was a kid I’d have laughed so loudly my socks would have flown off. Of course it’s remarkable and a privilege to still be doing this funny old business that we do.”

He points out there are probably 20 more festivals than there were when Madness began allowing the band to accrue a whole new generation by playing 40 or 50 festivals over the past five years.

“It’s been very flattering and marvellous to see so many different age groups enjoying the band. We are looking forward to this on the tour – people of all ages. I think the reason we endure is that we genuinely do enjoy ourselves. From the very beginning you could see the joy in the early videos we made and hear it in the records. The fact that we were friends before this band started is key. I genuinely think the whole spark or art of craft and creativity was a by-product of our friendship. I can’t ever remember being onstage and feeling fed up with the people around me,” Suggs says.

The band’s frontman admits that Madness gave up on touring America – “and they probably gave up on us”.

“Touring for years on end is what drains the lifeblood out of a lot of acts that I see. Each tour we do we try and make unique – and special. This one’s special because no one has ever done something like this – as big as this – at sporting venues like this. It’s a Madness madcap idea and we know people will respond to it,” he says.

Preparing for Madness appearances, Grandslam or otherwise, sounds exactly what you’d expect from the boys in the band.

“It’s like preparing for war, a war of fun y’know? A war of fun and frolics but, unlike the Romans, we are going to unleash heaven. I have a suspicion that if I didn’t have a few tequila shots before I went onstage I wouldn’t be quite as lubricated in the joints. Tequila and orange juice is the secret of keeping those limbs loose,” Suggs says.

The singer can also put his finger on why the country is crying out for a little more Madness.

“Last year I did a One Man show, about 130 performances in towns I haven’t been to since the early days. I’ve been through a few recessions and a lot of things aren’t looking good in a lot of the satellite towns outside London.

“Its a funny old cliche but Madness always seem to do better in times of recession, not that we ever wished that upon anybody. Maybe during these periods people need a bit of cheering up, and without being trite our raison d’etre has always been about livening up a dull day. That was the reason for calling our last album Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da – basically yes in several languages.”

Discussing the merits of the stadiums and racecourses the band will aim to fill with fans, Suggs admits: “Its always an odd thing, you keep expecting someone to tap you on the back and say, ‘Where’s your ticket son?’ It’s happened to me enough times in my life. It’s great we are playing places that aren’t just major capital cities, this is what we did for years in the early days. It will be nice to go back to places we haven’t been in a long time.”

Some will see the band as a safe bet for entertainment at a racecourse and Suggs admits to having a few flutters every now and then.

“I’m not a gambling man generally, but I like it when you can see the steam coming out of the horses’ nostrils and that whole thing in front of you. I do like it, but I’m terrible loser, which has been my saving grace as far as gambling is concerned. It’s stopped me getting too involved.

I did wake up with a greyhound in my bed once. We had been to a charity auction at Walthamstow dog track and there was an auction for the greyhound and we won. I came home with a greyhound, which my wife was quite thrilled about. He did all right actually – we called him Nutty Boy and he went on to win quite a few races.

“That was quite a nice time and the nearest I ever got to be an Alex Fergusonesque racehorse owner.”

Suggs reckons that some racecourses can even make him feel like royalty. “At Newmarket, I think we even had the Queen’s box or something. Our dressing room was actually where the Queen hangs out when she’s watching the races. Very charming,” he says.

Suggs links visits to cricket grounds with easy access to a pub pint. “I’m not a connoisseur, but I’m fond of a nice bit of architecture and one of the nice things about travelling around is being introduced to some nice buildings. The Good Pub Guide is a very good book to have at hand when driving through the backstreets of Great Britain, there are lots of lovely pubs. Playing Leeds is nice. Yorkshire has been very good to us – a strong audience. And Durham – the North-East is another strong area for us. They know how to party up there and we close the tour there. What a night that promises to be.”

And the secret of managing to tour with a bunch of mates the size of a football team for 25 years?

Suggs says: “There were a few incidents, it was (once) a very tribal time. Because there were seven of us and a few of our mates in a van, you would turn up to a town, and word would go around and all the local chaps would turn up thinking you were like something from football. We had a few incidents being chased or indeed chasing other people up and down the road outside venues.”

Box office: durhamccc.co.uk/news/madness, lizhobbsgroup.com, ticketmaster.co.uk or grandslammadness.co.uk