Revenge of the 80s Radio - Hour 2

Many new wave fans went out to see the Regeneration Tour over the past month and enjoyed performances from ABC, Naked Eyes, Belinda Carlisle, A Flock of Seagulls and The Human League. On stage, there were also several other talented musicians who backed up the headliners. I had the pleasure of meeting one of them after the Jones Beach show and was able to listen to some of her music: Lily Gonzalez (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=180895454), who was a backing vocalist and percussionist for ABC and Belinda Carlisle on the tour (http://www.revengeofthe80sradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/lily1.jpg) Lily has been in the London music scene for several years and, along with the Regeneration Tour, she has worked with such greats as Bono, Paul Young and Dave Stewart. In addition, the U.K. native is a singer/songwriter who also records her own music (we will feature one of her tracks on this week's Revenge of the 80s Radio show). Lily's style from her most recent CD adds modern attitude while being reminiscent of old-school jazz/funk. Her voice ranges from offering an attitude of power through tracks like "Too High" and "More to Me Than Meets the Eye" to a hint of soft vulnerability as she sings "What You Are." While many of today's chart-topping female vocalists tend to shy away of instrumental dynamics and jazz riffs for fear of them taking the spotlight from their singing, Lily seems unafraid to perform with creative backing music as her talents are up to the challenge other soloists avoid. This holds especially true in the song "Your Tine Is Now" as Gonzalez sings while playing with syncopation, beat changes and an interesting mix of bass, horn and organ sounds. One might suppose all of this comes from the diverse group of influences she gives credit to on her MySpace page (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=180895454) including Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Prince, Steelu Dan, Annie Lennox and David Bowie. The songs are co-written by saxophonist Andy Hamilton, who has recently been on tour with George Michael. (http://www.revengeofthe80sradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/lily2.jpg) Currently, Lily Gonzalez is an unsigned artist, but a treasure like her should not go as undiscovered for so long. Below is some tracks from her lates CD. For more music from Lily Gonzalez, check out her MySpace page. (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=180895454) "The Girl You Love" - Lily Gonzalez "Too High" - Lily Gonzalez

We apologize for the delay:  After a short vacation and a fix of some technical issues,  our podcast from the last show is up.  We featured some classic music from the new wave era as always, including a track from the late Robert Hazard who passed away on August 5th while fighting pancreatic cancer. Hazard was known for hits like "Escalator of Life" and "Change Reaction,"  but also wrote the song that launched a young Cyndi Lauper into stardom when she covered it:  "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." We also played pieces from Madness, Devo, Animotion and more.

The podcast for out August 8, 2008 Revenge of the 80s Radio show is up (available at the bottom of the post). (http://www.80smusiclyrics.com/images/afos1.jpg) Mike Score, founder and frontman for A Flock of Seagulls, took some time away from the Regeneration Tour 2008 to talk with us. [amazonify]::omakase::300:250[/amazonify] After a brief chat about the hair, we were able to get into the band's beginnings, influences and the music. Contrary to popular belief, the band was much more than "I Ran (So Far Away)" and that famous cat ears-looking hairstyle: Although he was never a musician, Score had a creative vision for the band when he put the Seagulls together and taught himself how to play the keyboards (Score refers to himself as a one-handed player, but one-fingered in the early 80s) and write music. Despite not having the musical background that many artists of the era had, A Flock of Seagulls always managed to make sure their songs sounded unique to one another while keeping a sort of science fiction-influenced feel as a trademark. Score talks about his love for sci-fi movies and shows in our discussion. Today, Score says he is working on a solo project and hoping to release new material with the band soon. The Regeneration Tour is currently running through North America through August 31. Ticket and concert date information can be found on the official website. Also performing are ABC, Belinda Carlisle, Naked Eyes and The Human League. We also played tracks from other great bands of the era including Nikki and the Corvettes, Dexy's Midnight Runners, The Clash, The Little Girls and Missing Persons.

The podcast for this week's Revenge of the 80s Radio show is up. With the upcoming final Police (http://www.thepolicefile.com/) concert in New York, we invited Lynn Goldsmith (http://www.rockandrollphotogallery.com/), the famed photographer who put together the 2007 book The Police: 1978-1983 featuring a huge collection of her work with the band as well as quotes and insights from the members. Our interview with Lynn kicks off the second hour of the show. The Regeneration Tour 2008 began its run through North America, so we played a track from each of the performing artists: ABC, Naked Eyes, Belinda Carlisle, Naked Eyes and A Flock of Seagulls. Also, it was the 27th anniversary of the launch of MTV, which played a big role in the success of several new wave bands; we played tracks of some of their most remembered videos. [amazonify]0316005916[/amazonify]During our interview, Lynn Goldsmith talks about her time with The Police, who were up and coming when she started working with them. She was there when a record executive thought the song "Roxanne" was gong to be a flop through their big years into the time when they broke up in 1983. Her several candid and behind-the-scenes shots capture the band members as they were humans and not as members of "the business." Part of the profits for the Police: 1978-1983 will go to help the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation (http://www.mhopus.org/), which puts musical instruments in the hands of young people whose schools do not have the resources; Copeland is a board member of the organization. Lynn Goldsmith has photographed several recording artists throughout her career, including the B-52s, Devo and Bruce Springsteen. Her website, www.rockandrollphotogallery.com (http://www.rockandrollphotogallery.com/), showcases her work, as well as behind-the-scenes unreleased Police videos. While many know Lynn Goldsmith for her photography, she also recorded a series of inspirational music videos under the name "Will Powers." We are going to have her back in the near future to talk with us more about Will Powers and the Will Powers Institute. Her videos were featured on USA Network's "Night Flight" and known for their ahead-of-its-time computer graphics work combined with dance choreography. Here is her video for "Adventures In Success:"

The podcast for our July 25th show featuring our interview with Terri Nunn is up and now available at the bottom of this post. Terri is best known as the former lead singer of Berlin. She is also an accomplished solo artist, a writer, talk radio personality and a devoted mom. Some fans might remember Terri was an actress in her younger years, appearing on shows like "Lou Grant" and "T. J. Hooker." She was offered the role of Lucy Ewing in "Dallas," but turned it down to get into the music business. (http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h31/BuckheadBetty/terri_acoustic4.jpg) [amazonify]B000294RRQ[/amazonify] Terri talks about the decision she made to sing after being offered the breakthrough TB role eventually played by Charlene Tilton, which wound up being the right one for her, but also fortunate for fans of new wave music in the early to mid-80s. Terri tells Revenge of the 80s she wanted a band with a different sound rather than the countless mainstream bands out there in the late 70s and early 80. She finally met John Crawford, Berlin's creator. Although part of the L.A. music scene in that time, Berlin's sounded more like something out of the London alt-synth bands taking over the charts across the Atlantic. Their first album, "Pleasure Victim," brought them both controversy and a fan base that would start to propel the band to becoming new wave icons. During the interview, we also talk about: * How it tool some time for fans of LA's new music scene to catch on to Berlin * Berlin's rise, their music and the videos. * Why, shortly after their first @1 U.S. hit, Berlin broke up * Terri's work as a solo artist * Other projects Terri is involved in now, including a new solo CD scheduled to be ready by 2009 Terri also recently released a new acoustic version of "Sec (I'm A...)" to be played in an upcoming documentary called "Naked Ambition" about the porn industry. [amazonify]B000B5KQYY:right[/amazonify] She also contributed a chapter to the upcoming book Cherry Bomb and has enjoyed recent stints as a talk radio personality so much that she's looking at the idea of having her own show. Terri is also involved with the several benefits put together by the supergroup Camp Freddy, which inspired her to put together a female version of the project called "Girls Might Out." We will keep you up to date on all the future Terri Nunn news on Revenge of the 80s Radio and this blog. Speaking of Camp Freddy, I had previously posted an excellent performance of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" by Terri. Here it is again: Our interview with Terri Nunn kicks off the second hour of the show. We also played some Berlin classics, a track from her 2006 CD 4Play and music from other great artists of the era including XTC, INXS, Ultravox and The Boomtown Rats.

***NOTE - Wordpress is not allowing me to put up the podcast as playable on the blog without download at this time. It is now only downloadable at this point. We are still attempting to fix these techinical difficulties. On Friday night's Revenge of the 80s radio show, we featured our interview with Phil Oakey of the Human League (http://www.thehumanleague.net/). The band is coming to North America in August as part of the Regeneration Tour (http://www.regenerationtour.com/). The podcasts for each hour are at the end of this post; our discussion leads off the second half of the program. (http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h190/hallreis/HumanLeague2.jpg) [amazonify]B0007X9U7Y:right[/amazonify]When Oakey was recruited to join the first incarnation of the Human League by old friends Martyn Ware and his partner Ian Craig Marsh, he never sang nor was able to play any instruments. It was likely his presence that had the two bring Oakey into the fold. The band, however, did not last long. Ware and Marsh departed to form Heaven 17 (http://www.heaven17.com/access.html). Oakey built a new Human League lineup -- the one that became famous with major chart success in the U.K. and the U.S. Today, Oakey, Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall remain together as the core of the band and still tour to packed concert venues. During the interview, we talked about: * The Human League, pre and post Ware/Martin * The irony of Oakey, Ware and Marsh each finding success after the latter two left * How the core of the band remained together and strong even through some extremely lean times * The Regeneration Tour and new Human League projects. The Regeneration tour runs August 1-31 in North America and includes the Human League, ABC, Belinda Carlisle, A Flock of Seagulle, Naked Eyes and Dead or Alive. Concert dates and ticket information can be found on the Regeneration Tour website (http://www.regenerationtour.com/). During the show, we also played music from bands including the Time Bandits, Voice of the Beehive, Strawberry Switchblade and Kim Wilde 7/18/08 Show - Hour 1 7/18/08 Show - Hour 2 w/ Phil Oakey Interview

Click here to listen to Revenge of the 80s Radio LIVE 7-9pm Ea>stern US time (http://nick8.surfernetwork.com/Media/WTBQ.asx) Tonight on Revenge of the 80s, we talk with Phil Oakey of The Human League (http://www.thehumanleague.net/), who are gearing up for the Regeneration Tour, (http://www.regenerationtour.com/) which begins on August 1st. (http://www.oxfordcitylife.co.uk/images/news/08omhuman_v03.jpg) Phil had been with the band since his old buddy Martyn Ware asked him to join his band with Ian Craig Marsh, formerly known as "The Future" in the late 70s. After Marsh and Ware departed to form Heaven 17 (http://www.heaven17.com/access.html), Oakey put together a new Human League in 1980. The lineup included singers Joanne Catherll and Susan Ann Sulley, who remain with Oakey in the band today. The Regeneration Tour (http://www.regenerationtour.com/), which runs through August in North America, also includes ABC (http://www.abcmartinfry.com/), Belinda Carlisle (http://www.gogos.com/), A Flock of Seagills (http://www.myspace.com/aflockofseagulls), Dead or Alive and Naked Eyes (http://www.nakedeyesmusic.com/). Dates and ticket information can be found on the Regeneration Tour website. Also featured on tonight's show will be music from artists including Kim Wilde, The Time Bandits (http://www.thetimebandits.com/), Echo and the Bunnymen and Voice of the Beehive. Revenge of the 80s Radio airs live every Friday night 7-9pm on Q99.1FM in the Hudson Valley, NY and on www.revengeofthe80sradio.com; Wednesdays 12noon Melbourne, Australia time on 87.6FM "Radio 80s" in Korumburra, AUS and our podcast will be available on Saturday.

ABC (http://www.abcmartinfry.com/) is considered the defining group for the New Romantic style of music that was first popular in the U,K, before sweeping into the states. The style, the smoothness of the sound and (as our guest Martin Fry put it) the big choruses are what drew people to the new wave splinter genre. Fry was our guest on Revenge of the 80s; the podcast for the show is on the bottom of this post. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/content/images/2007/01/15/martin_fry_203x152.jpg) [amazonify]B0015YFOK6[/amazonify]Martin Fry and ABC (http://www.abcmartinfry.com/) have a new CD out, Traffic, which is set to be released in the U.S. later this summer. We played a track from the new project, "For the Very First Time," which is already a hit in Britain. The band will also be part of this year's Regeneration Tour (http://www.regenerationtour.com/), which runs thruogh August in North America. Dates and locations can be found on the Regeneration Tour's website (http://www.regenerationtour.com/). During the interview, we talk about the new project, as well as: * Fry's musical influences, including the Motown style * His cool suiits * A short stint on a reality TV show * Why ABC stayed as popular as they did through several different musical phases * Other future projects The interview leads off the second hour of the show. We also played classic tracks from artists including Monte Video and the Cassettes, The Cramps, Kate Bush (http://www.katebush.com/) and The Little Girls (http://www.myspace.com/caronmurray), who will be in the studio in August to record a track for the upcoming Jonathan Richman Tribute CD.

The podcast for our July 4, 2008 Revenge of the 80s show featuring a re-broadcast of our interview with Rose MacDowall is up. Rose is best known as part of "Strawberry Switchblade," one of four bands she had helped form through her career. These days, Rose's beautiful voice can be heard as a fixture in the UK independent music scene. She is currently working on a new solo project (http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b262/uncle_alex/switchblade_japan_airport.jpg) [amazonify]B000BZPS0Q[/amazonify] During the interview, we talk about Rose's life, career and how she and Strawberry Switchblade bandmate Jill Bryson handled their lightning-quick success in the U.K. Rose discusses growing up in Glasgow, her family being forced to move from their home and how that affected her as a young girl. We also talk about her recent career, song writing, her other bands and the upcoming album. During the show, we also played tracks from artists including INXS, Wall of Voodoo, Mental As Anything and Madness.

The podcast for our 6/27 Revenge of the 80s Show Featuring Dale Bozzio is up. Dale is best known as the singer and a fouding member of Missing Persons, a band that was not only ahead of its time, but is considered by many music historians to be true icons of thw L.A. New Wave scene. Missing Persons was founded by four talented people who came straight out of the world of Frank Zappa: Dale, Terry Bozzio, Warren Cuccarillo and Patrick O'Hearn. The band's musicianship may have been underrated at the time, but had been deservedly recognized in later years. (http://www.nightwindcreations.com/dalenecklace02.jpg) Dale is not only a unique performer, but an energetic, captivating and engaging person to talk with. [amazonify]B00133KDTQ:right[/amazonify] She is still working hard, and recently released a a new CD, "Live From the Danger Zone," earlier this year. Last year's "New Wave Sessions" was a huge success as well. Dale now lives in New Hampshire with her family and dog, who makes a guest appearance in the first part of the interview. During our conversation, we talk about: * How Dale met Frank Zappa and how much of a role he had in molding her and the rest of who were to become Missing Persons as musicians * How Dale developed her unique vocal style * Why she disppeared for some time from the musc scene shortly after her first solo album, "Riot In English," produced the hit "Simon, Simon." * How she wanted to be a movie star before giong into music * Her new CD, some rumored unreleased material and upcoming projects -- including a book I am looking forward to the release of Dale's book after talking with her about it. She discussed it briefly during the third segment of our interview. [amazonify]B000VAQWZQ[/amazonify] We also featured some classic Missing Persons songs, a track from "New Wave Sessions," and a live "Walking in L.A." from the 2008 CD "Live From the Danger Zone." During the rest of the show, we also played music from other great artists of the era including Voice of the Beehive, Doug and the Slugs, The Alarm and Paul Kelly. The VOTB track was from the rare CD "Bee Sides," a compilation of previously unreleased material, songs on the flip sides of their singles and alternate recordings of a couple of tracks from "Honey Lingers."

This week's broadcast of Revenge of the 80s featured an encore presentation of our earlier interview with Tracey and Missy Belland of Voice of the Beehive (http://www.voiceofthebeehive.com/). We talk about hwo they got started after moving from sunny California to London, their careers and what they are doing now. Also, Missy's new line of fairies will be out soon on her website: Made in Heaven By Missy. We also featured tracks from the Red Rockers, Nikki and The Corvettes, Madness and a new one from the B-52s.

The podcast for our 6/13 Revenge of the 80s Radio Show -- featuring Annabella Lwin (http://www.annabellalwin.com/)-- is up. The main part of the discussion is about how she is working hard to help raise awareness and encourage donations to help the people devastated by Cyclone Nargis in Yangoon, Myanmar, Burma -- where she was born. Our interview with Annabella leads off the second hour of the show. ***NOTE: In addition to the podcasts of each houur of Revenge of the 80s, we posted a special podcast with only the portion of our intervnew with Annabella where we discuss Myanmar Relief (http://www.annabellalwin.com/images/bowwowwow-9811.jpg) While we hear various reports on what is going on there, Annabella (http://www.annabellalwin.com/) sheds some light on the Burmese government's point of view and how relief organizations are donig good work in Myanmar. She also recommends groups where donatoins can be made which go directly to relief efforts in cyclone-ravaged regions -- they are listed on a special Myanmar Relief Links page on the Revenge of the 80s Radio website/blog (we added several more) (http://www.revengeofthe80sradio.com/?page_id=81). If you would like to help, these are legitimate international disaster relief and response organizations who need the money to operate, the links lead to their donation websites. You can also find these sites on Annabella's MySpace page (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=242323880). Here is a video of some recent developments in Myanmar from UNICEF: Not only is Annabella trying to raise awareness and encouraging donations, she is currently workign on a two very special Myanmar relief projects: a benefit concert and a CD with help from some friends in the music business who will also donate their time and talents. We will keep you up to date on the progress. Annabella also reveals some very good news concerning her father, who was in Burma at the tmie Cyclone Nargis hit, but was not in the devastated Yangoon area. We also premiered Annabella's latest single, "L.O.V.E." and talked about her career from how she was invited to audition for Bow Wow Wow through her work as a solo artist -- and how she might have been an airline stewardess. Annabella is currnetly working on putting together the benefit CD and concert. We will bring you the latest news on these projects as they develop. Our page with links to Myanmar relief organizations' donation pages is here (http://www.revengeofthe80sradio.com/?page_id=81).

The podcast for our Revenge of the 80s show from 6/6/08 is up. We played a track (during the 2nd hour) from Aimee Mann's new CD, @#%&*! Smilers. The album was released on June 3rd and Mann is currently on tour to promote it. Among the artists we highlighted during the show were: Kim Wilde, Bananarama, Voice of the Beehive, Strawberry Switchblade and Haircut 100. Revenge of the 80s airs live every weekday morning on Q99.1FM in the Hudson Valley, NY (7-9pm Eastern US time) and on www.revengeofthe80sradio.com. Podcasts are archived regularly.

The podcasy for our 5/30 broadcast of Revenge of the 80s, featuring our interview with Nikki Corvette (http://www.nikkicorvette.com/), is up and available in this post. Nikki is directly credited with influencing artists and bands from her days with Nikki and the Corvettes through today -- from the Go-Gos to The Donnas, who have a line in their song "Gimmie My Radio" that goes: "...I want to be like Nikki Corvette." They were not alone. (http://www.revengeofthe80sradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/l_ea2fb7712ca0508d03f34da8562b34af.jpg) [amazonify]B00004SZGD:right[/amazonify] Nikki came from the Detroit music scene of the late 70s with bands like MC5 and The Stooges. Bomp! records re-released the original Nikki and the Corvettes album on CD in 2001 and she was soon back on the road, playing not only for her hans from the early 80s, but a new generation of fans as well. She's now with her new band, The Stingrays, who put out the "Back to Detroit" CD with her in 2005. Nikki Corvette adn The Stingrays' newest tracks are being put out by Ramo Records; they are also releasing a CD in Japan. During the interview, we talked about: * How Nikki became a fixture in the Detroit punk/rock scene before she took to the stage for the first time * How when she first started out, many rockers didn't want her band to play with them because Nikki was a woman * What she might have in common with Alvin the Chipmunk * While Nikki influenced many bands over the years, who were her influences? * What brought Nikki back into the spotlight. Amazon.com Widgets (http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Freveofthe80sr-20%2F8014%2F9ef802c7-a5af-4617-b0dd-37101900a92b&Operation=NoScript) We also talk with Nikki about her new projects, touring plans and her new band. As the Season 4 Finale aired in the U.S. on 5/29/08, we pondered the interesting Nikki and the Corvettes reference from Season 2: Remember Nikki, the actress who was introduced with boyfriend Paulo that year and quickly killed off? The "Lost" charachter, Nikki, played a TV role as a woman named "Corvette" in the show "Expose." Whilw I had not yet been able to confirm that suspicion, I do know the producers of the show do not give out names by accident (their claim, not mine). The Nikki Corvette interview leads off the second hour. We also play some of her classic tunes and new music. During the first hour of Revenge of the 80s, we played music from the top artists of the era, including The Clash, Monte Video and the Cassettes, Voice of the Beehive and A-ha.

The podcast for our 5/23/08 Revenge of the 80s Radio show is up and available at the bottom of this post. Hour 2 is the first (and not last) Revenge of the 80s New Wave Dance Party. Remember those days nights in the club? I don't either, but I do remember the music. The broadcast/podcast includes dance classics from Yaz, Alphaville, The B-52s, Blancmange and more. In the first hour, you will hear from Voice of the Beehive, REM, Red Rockers and a mid-1990s duet between Nena and Kim Wilde.