Go Home Productions
Just for the record, why 'Go Home Productions'?
"Andy Pandy & the Exotic Lemon Love Bubbles" was a bit of a mouthful really...It was a joke at the time (2002). A bloke at work wanted to form a 'fictitional' band called "Go Home". I'd just put "Slim McShady" together & felt like sending it to XFM's Remix show but thought it should go to them under a more 'production' kinda name...It's stuck...It's more of a joke now. Ha Ha...
What are you up to these days?
Remixes mainly. Some stuff for BMG, Hed Kandi & a couple of other labels. Kasabian, Stonebridge & Alicia Keys are either in the bag or just started. Hopefully doing a major US sports show theme tune remix thing...Recently did an official remix for The Doors. "You're Lost Little Girl" from the Strange Days album. It's part of a new Doors project pencilled in for next year. Both they & Blondie have been very encouraging since "Rapture Riders".
Done something for Malcolm McLaren not so long ago, which he'd love on his greatest hits package next year...ahem. Remixed Siobhan Fahey's proposed new single & another track from her upcoming album. Some stuff for Catskills. Did a booty remix of Husky Rescue's "City Lights" single not so long ago. Looks like I'll be going to the US / Australia late this year / early next to do some live stuff...
What music are you currently grooving to?
Recently I've been playing lots of Kinks. Some Hed Kandi stuff. Quite a bit of AC/DC actually...Can't get enough of the Back In Black album for some reason...mid to late seventies Dub comps / Psych comps...I appear to be going through a Mansun phase again...depends what jumps out at me after the cats have knocked over the massive pile of unorganised CDs in the corner. I tend to keep "The Amp" music TV on all day...the odd 'new band' can sometimes catch my attention...oh, & I've been force fed that bloody Keane album. Thanx 2 the Mrs...
Which album, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite?
I've just spent the last hour or so submerging myself in the absolute sheer beauty that is Brian Wilson's SMiLE (to be released 28th Sept). After 16 years of tracking down every last inch of outtake from the 1966-1967 sessions, I have just heard his 2004 SMiLE in full. Think I've experienced every emotion throughout it...sheer f**king genius...unparalleled on all levels. At this moment in time it makes Sgt Pepper sounds like a school assembly warm up (ish)...wow..."Good Vibrations" is better than the 1966 single release, "Blue Hawaii" is a BIG surprise. "Barnyard" is intact. "Mrs O'Leary's Cow" is the monster it always promised to be..."Surf's Up" is gorgeous...The Best Album Ever (for now).
When was the last time you bought a record that was life-changing? Where did you buy it?
I don't think I've ever bought a record that has changed my life as such but when I was 6, when I discovered some records in the dustbin that had been put there by the velvet bell-bottom adorned woman, in the flat upstairs. I think she'd just fallen out with her 'lover' & had thrown out his vinyl. In the bin were 3 Beatles albums, a coverless Byrds album & the Blind Faith album with the pre-pubescent topless girl holding a polished aeroplane on the front...That Blind Faith album was probably my first introduction to 'ooh er missus' but it was Revolver / Sgt Peppers & The White Album that had the 'musical' effect on me. I played those three albums to death!!! They were far more interesting than my Stories For Children & Pinky & Perky 45's...
Which artiste, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be?
Jim Morrison......shoot me down, go on! I was always fascinated in the self-destruct types. Morrison, Hendrix, Brian Jones, Bolan etc. Living life to the full...I was heavily into The Doors while I was at college. You get the picture...
Johnny Marr is the other. When I saw The Smiths performing "This Charming Man" on TOTP in 1983, I was quite taken aback. 'Pudding bowl' haircut & Rickenbacker. He quoted all the right bands & songwriters in interviews at the time. He singled handedly made me want to play guitar in a band...
What is the biggest pain as well as greatest joy being Go Home Productions?
I came back from Denmark with a severe case of 'the shits'...now that was painful.
Can you recall the most embarrassing & bizarre thing that has ever happened to you while manning the decks? Tell us some stories, please!!!
Suppose the most bizarre was the first time I played out, which was "Bring Yer Own Boots" at Bastard (April 2003). All pre-mixed on one CD & I spent most of the time throwing "Ray Of Gob" T-shirts & CDs at people...I threw out my Adidas retro t-shirt, which I've never seen again. Ho Hum. Come to think of it, that was bizzare & embarrassing & pathetic. Had a laugh though, which of course was the main intention.
Roskilde Festival was bizzare I suppose. Meeting Scissor Sisters & Franz Ferdinand was cool. The gig was excellent. 18,000 punters who totally had a great time...very special...a sea of pogoing Danes during "Ray Of Gob" was hilarious...
The First of Go Home Productions:
First album you ever bought = Black Sea by XTC (with my own money) & Grease - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (with my mum's money)
First movie you watched that gave you severe wood = Planet Of The Apes (1968 version). Charlton Heston approaches Zira for a kiss (just before he rides off with hot 'pre-historic' chick Nova, to shout "God damn you all to hell" at the statue of liberty) & she has this kind of sexy 'ape-like' look on her face...*is this disturbing enough?*...funny how the Tim Burton remake took that one 'look' & applied it to Helena Bonham Carter for the entirety of the movie & left me with exactly the same effect! Sexy chimps...hmmmmm. Nah, it was probably Disney's Snow White actually or Confessions Of A Taxidermist.
First book or mag you read that was awesome = Tarzan Of The Apes Fortnightly (Williams Publishing) 1971-1975 was a great series of comics. Look In & Jackie were great. Jackie was a girlies mag but I used to buy it to collect the series of Osmonds posters that ran for however many Osmonds there were in the Osmonds, each week. I loved A Clockwork Orange, Alien by Allen Dean (Foster). So yes, in answer to you question Krazy comic was the first mag I read that was awesome...
First concert you went to with a different agenda, other than listening to the music = Probably going to see Curve at the Camden Underworld circa 1992. I fancied Toni Halliday, the singer...
First mash-up you heard that made you wanna do boots = "A Stroke Of Genie-us" by Freelance Hellraiser
What do you think is the 'secret ingredient' behind a GHP boot?
My wife's cooking & the liquid available at the Dunnings Bar in Upper Watford. Damn!...the secret's out...
Any boots you wished you've done but didn't?
Ultra 396's "Whoops! There Goes My Remedy" (Tweet vs The Black Crowes) springs to mind after we did our Strictly Rockers thang. It's a great combination & I'd always planned to use "Remedy".
How has the success of "Rebel Never Gets Old" & "Pistol Whipped" changed you?
Made me stay down the pub for an extra pint of Strongbow...Both those records have been fortunate enough to get me more work etc. Those records have not changed 'me' as such...
"The older the geezer gets, the better are his boots..." Discuss...
Who is this 'geezer'??? Thinking about it, my favourite 'bootlegs' seem to be done by musicians who've played the circuit a few years ago & have stumbled their way into this arena...they seem to be close to, or just over 30...LOL...age has no relevance...37 isn't old...40 is.
Let's play word association. We mention a name & you give us your thoughts...
Audio Junkies = Jed
Tony Montana = It's not his real name...
GYBO = GAYBO (& the fact that most people I meet from it, still pronounce it that way!)
Pitchfork = Media
Cassette Boy = (The genius that is) "Fly Me To New York"
Steve Jones = Guitar hero & the best DJ in the USA
Lindsay Lohan = Behave! She's young enough to be my daughter...Eliza Dushku anyday...
MTV Mash = Er...if you're strapped for cash...
Cabin Essence = Part of the genius that is SMiLE...can't wait for Sept 28th...
Hillsong = Never heard it, any good?
Which decade do you consider its music the sexiest & why?
The Seventies (& just into the eighties). 1976-1982 was sexy for me, both in being there & with hindsight of the singles & albums released. I adored Debbie Harry & Chrissie Hynde in equal measures! In the seventies, girls looked like girls & boys looked like girls. Damn sexy eh!
What do you remember about the following years:
1979 = My favourite year ever for music. Punk was a fading memory & the art-school bands were discovering melody, hooks & er...disco. XTC, Blondie, Costello, Squeeze. 2-Tone, Specials, Selecter, Madness. Teardrop Explodes & Echo & The Bunnymen were almost public & singles came in colours & picture discs. In fact you could take take Franz Ferdinand, Razorlight, The Killers, Libertines etc etc & both musically & visually they would exist in 1979 perfectly...trust me. More importantly, Arsenal won the FA Cup. It was also the Mod Revival! I was a Mod. Bowling & Jam shoes were bought from Shelley's shoe shop in Oxford Street. I (contemplated) getting a parka & an RAF patch...(shudder)
1984 = Bought my first guitar. It was a Strat copy made by Satellite hahahaha...never stayed in tune! £28 quids worth of permanently tuneless plank...My Dad built me an amp. Depending on what angle this 'box' faced the bedroom window, I could pick up either Radio 1 or the local police station...Spent hours balancing a microphone on top of an upturned 'tupperware' mug in front of 'said amp...trying to record my efforts into a Sanyo tape deck. I discovered the joys of 'feedback' & grumpy neighbours. Pretty sure I was doing (failing) O or A Levels at school. Sixth Form, oooh my (all boys) school mixed in with the (all girls) school next door, Unforgettable!! After years of peeking through the fence we could finally...ahem...Frankie Goes To Hollywood & the fact that I left my mother despairing that I just spent her hard earned cash on 8 different versions of the "Two Tribes" 12 Inch. Very clever marketing on ZTT's behalf to be honest. The B-sides were all the same...I was into Hip Hop / Electro soon after. Lots of compilation albums.
1989 = Good year for music. Probably the best since '79. Stone Roses, Mondays, Primal Scream. Baggy. Acid. I played lots of gigs that year. Cider riders...life in the back of a van part one. Had an incredibly shit day job working in a warehouse with a scottish drunk...Fell in & out of love on a weekly basis...I think it was a pretty hot summer that year, hardly surprising since I never found my way out of that bloody hooded top...My memory starts to fade here...
1995 = I left Chicane after 8 years of rock n roll (in)excess. Left home, met my future wife, got engaged. Britpop! Yay...Booo...Supergrass / Verve / Dodgy / Blur / Oasis all seem to spring to mind. Menswear! Hahahahahahaha. Sleeper!!!!! What was her name? Louise Weiser??? I was 28...bloody hell...
1999 = Do you know what? I can't remember a bloody thing about 1999...
What's your favourite Saturday night record?
For many years it was "Stay With Me" by The Faces. Verve's first two singles, "All In The Mind" & "She's A Superstar" got a good airing too, including the respective B-sides "One Way To Go", "Man Called Sun" & "Feel". I wondered if anyone seriously did the 'Saturday Night Fever' routine in their black underpants? I distinctly remember a party when I was younger where the boys were forced to watch the girls do their 'country dancing' routines to the whole of "Out Of The Blue" by ELO...that was on a Saturday night & has haunted me ever since...These days it's probably Prokofiev's "Dance Of The Knights" from Romeo & Juliet...guess I like to make a grand exit...
And your Sunday morning one?
Mummer by XTC. For some reason I used to annoy the hell out of my sister (in the adjacent bedroom) with this album for many months on a Sunday morning circa 1983. "Sunday Morning" by the Velvets is far too predictable isn't it? I had a CD called Babbling Brook that I tried out on a Sunday, for that winding-down inspiring vibe. It was an hour long. In fact it was a 30min recording of a brook, babbling...repeated twice. It was meant to be relaxing but came across more like the sound of bacon being grilled, through a Boss Distortion pedal...
What's the most ridiculous rumour you've heard being said about you?
That I wear pink t-shirts, that is sooooooo untrue...
Describe the average GHP groupie.
A rock chick who is invariably a gay man & runs a record label. This is based upon email, MSN conversation & fact...probably.
What are your plans for the future?
To remember to put the chicken in the oven at 5.30 on gasmark No5 tonight...or I'll have no dinner.
I'll keep doing what I do. Interest in my stuff has been pretty big of late & it's taking me to new places, meeting new people & people I've admired as a fan of music. I'm happy to go where it takes me.
What do you think the future for bootlegs / mash-ups / remixes would be like, given that being a home musician is so easy these days?
I think they'll hang around for bit. Raise a few eyebrows. Visit a few new places. Shift a few units. Continue to piss off the purists & be laid to rest in that bootleg heaven in the sky...There'll always be a space in the music industry for an alternate 'version'.
Some GHP boots:
*Exclusive New Track*
The Vines - Ride (Rabbit Hole Remix)
Plus some old faves...
Union City Noise (Public Enemy vs Blondie)
Play Discodance (Jennifer Lopez vs McSleazy)
You can also visit Go Home Productions website here, or find out more about Mark's shoegazing past here.
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