Posts Tagged The Ghost of Electricity
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May 21, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 206 Split Enz
I saw them at some key gigs in their strange career. At the Great Ngarauawahia Music Festival when they were Split Ends. I was fourteen and like most people there to see Black Sabbath but I do remember they were interesting. Dressed pretty much like everybody else there – a much different spectacle than what […]Archive
May 1, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 205 Stop the World
I think it took me over ten years to write this song. I know I started on the verses in 1980 after the demise of Negative Theatre. I’d read an interview with Steely Dan where they talked about mu major chords and I played the A, E, A, D, C#m, D, A, E, A pattern […]Archive
April 23, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 204 The Set List
It was where we got our name from in the first place The Spines very first gig We’d been unable to decide from a long list of terrible attempts It was a packed University hall at lunchtime orientation Malcom McSporran was going to introduce us and he asked me what we were called I looked […]Archive
April 16, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 203 Visions of JoHannah
“But Mona Lisa must have had the highway blues You can tell by the way she smiles” Bob Dylan I’ve said it before – It’s hard to talk about the act of painting without appearing pretentiousArchive
April 3, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 201 Tora Tora Tora 2018
The big highlights were all musical ones for me this year. We played first up in the late afternoon sun. Tim and I had travelled over together, talking old times and catching up. We have all this history. He had been the drummer that replaced Caroline in the earliest days of the band and then […]Archive
March 6, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 199 The Show Must Go On
It was a stinking hot day We were lined up to play At 4.20 My legs seemed to be healing up But still tender and sore Post opArchive
February 26, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 198 You Will Walk
I have had this problem with my left leg for some time It makes it difficult to walk very far And it started just after we finished mastering Epidural I’ve got the operation on it tomorrow To free the flow of blood…Archive
February 19, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 197 Second Time Around
I know I’ve been quiet lately The last year’s health problems flared up again and kind of laid me low This time around I didn’t take myself off to the hospital I just tried to deal with the problems from home and finally go looking for a doctor my own Meanwhile I didn’t feel I […]Archive
January 29, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 196 Ska
I think it was the killer basslines that hooked me in and the attitude as much as anything. When I first moved to Wellington in 1980 I guess I was still writing folk songs. Louise and I had found work at the Art Centre and I felt under pressure to write. That first Specials album […]Archive
January 22, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 195 Wigan Street
Over the Christmas period there was a fire on Wigan Street in a factory that had asbestos in its roof. I got quite a shock when I saw it on the news – we had lived in the building through the wall right next door for several years. All through Ang’s time at Wellington high […]Archive
January 15, 2018 by Simon Sweetman