Description

Three years ago Bugbear and Rock N Roll Book Club were all set to welcome Madness back to their 'Ancestral Seat', The Dublin Castle, for a very special event...

So, it's North London. The 1970s. Amid a grim landscape of bomb sites, squats, public baths and rough pubs, a loose gang of misfits and outsiders started hanging out together ? riding freight trains, spraying graffiti, stealing records, clothes and musical instruments. Escaping the fringes of petty criminality, they formed a band? That band became Madness, one of the most successful groups ever, in the UK and beyond.

In Before We Was We, their first official book, including never-before-seen photos, they tell the story of how they became THEM!... Well, Covid put paid to that, but tonight we will give it another go, and celebrate Madness. Bassist and songwriter Mark Bedders Bedford joins us to explore a journey full of luck, skill and charm, as they duck and dive by day and make their name in London?s exploding music scene by night, zipping around the capital in their Morris Minor vans.

Their formative years, 1970-79, provided inspiration for many Madness classics, including ?Baggy Trousers?, ?The Prince?, ?Our House? and ?My Girl?: songs that four decades later still soundtrack weddings and funerals and inspire mass singalongs. This is the riotous coming-of-age tale of seven originals, whose collective graft, energy and talent took them from the Dublin Castle to the Top of the Pops studio and beyond.

Bedders is joined by his partner in all things Near Jazz Experience, and oft times Madness sideman, the hardest working man in show business, the marvellous Mr Terry Edwards, because today we're covering not one Madness book, but two... that being the 33 1/3rd story of 'One Step Beyond'. Author Terry Edwards is the multi instrumentalist renaissance man of head spinning multiple musical machinations...starting in pithy punk funk indie peasants The Higsons back in the early 1980s thru Gallon Drunk, Tony Visconti's Holy Holy, Madness, PJ Harvey, Lydia Lunch, The Near Jazz Experience, The Scapegoats and really, really tooooo many more to mention!

In September 1979 the debut album by Madness arrived fully formed despite half the band still being in their teens, and it remains as exhilarating, inspiring and as much fun as when people first heard it nearly 40 years ago.

Through extensive interviews with the band, as well as producers Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley, Terry Edwards tells the inside story of how Madness rose to be the most successful singles band of the 1980s in the UK charts.

Edders and Bedders will be in conversation with Tony Bugbear, who will also find time to lay on a bespoke collection of musical illustrations, a DJ set representing Madness roots, shoots, fruits and boots, including most likely a complete play through of 'One Step Beyond' plus all manner of tunes by artists referenced in both books.

Doors 7.30pm, Interview, Q&A, Book Signings Nutty DJ set all night.

Description

The Dublin Castle is a legendary pub and music venue located 2 minutes away from Camden Town tube station. It has been run by the same family for over 28 years and features 4 live bands every night as well as a great selection of beers, ciders and wines.

There are DJs after the bands on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and a fabulous jukebox in the front bar if you’re after a more relaxed atmosphere.

But what is it that makes the Dublin Castle the long-standing centre of the indie rock universe? Is it because it’s Madness’ birthplace? Because its stage has been graced by everyone from Blur, through Coldplay, Supergrass, The Killers, The Arctic Monkeys, Billy Bragg, etc? Is it because it was no surprise to see Amy Winehouse behind the bar serving costumers? Or Suggs? (who, mind you, tended to ignore costumers and serve himself) Or is it because far from being just another Camden venue it has established itself as an indie rock institution? The answer is that it’s not only because of its musical heritage that people come to the Dublin Castle, it’s because whilst you enjoy a pint, play some tunes on the jukebox, check out the live bands, get your dancing shoes on for our DJs, chat to our friendly staff or even stage-invade a little, you’re inadvertently being part of this movement the Dublin Castle leads, this cultural legacy. Expect no castle battlements. Just pure rock and roll royalty.

94 Parkway,

Camden Town,

Greater London,

England,

NW1 7AN.

020 7485 1773