Getting back together?

2nd May 2008, Andy Partridge announced during a short interview with Mojo, that XTC will be back together before the end of the year ...

Helium Kids

Q. Hi Andy,My ex brother-in-law states that you used to come around his house in Dean Street in your very early days as XTC and rehearse and generally mess about.He also had around 4 or 5 old cassettes labelled XTC that he said were of you practising in his front room. His name is Keith Bell - does this ring true to you?I haven't seen him for years - the tapes are now in his Mums loft apparently!Colin A. Oh mister Colin,your ex bruv outlaw is telling you porkies. Never rehearsed in Dean street,used to hang out in my girlfriends flat above ArtDEANS motorcycle shop,but thats one road down and under the bridge.Thats the only DEAN connection that I can think of. Out of all the places the Helium Kidzwith a Z please used to rehearse that address is ringing no Keith Bells. If there really are such tapes i'd be very tickled to hear them,but I bet they were made somewhere else,such as Hook village hall or in the garage of a roadie or front room of our London based singer Steve,that sort of venue.Get in that loft and call his bluff.Andy

Loop-de-loo

Q. Hi Andy Continuing with a series of surrealistic questions while I was watching a little ray of sun passing through the window and making a stop in my little job.. have you ever figured out what happened, if you didn't have that breakdown in Paris while the band was almost at the top, or it was a final situation? Do you consider yourself sort of Renaissance Mid-age troubadour (Trovador)? Recently a bought a sampler (my dog make a piss on it after I sampled his barking) do you consider it (not the dog!) a valid musical instrument?

What's in a muse?

Q. Hi Andy, Are you still inspired by listening to John Lennon?Steven A. Mister Steven,mister Steven,when he folds sheets they are quite even.Well thats the musical content out of the way,now down to the serious matter in hand.I have to be honest with you old chap,I dont own any of Lennons solo recordings,only the Beatle material.Who, along with everybody else,I found inspiring/uplifting/humourous/fan quenching etc. at the time.These days I tend only to listen to the Beatles on a technical front,as in "how did they do that particular thing musically or sound wise?" People wrongly think i'm a Lennon fellow purely because of the specshis are a different shape to mine and i've worn this style almost continuously since 1957,quite a while before he thought they looked groovy.But in truth i'm more of a McCartney man.More melodic than Lennon,equally as inventive,more innovative and the powerhouse behind the fabs from 1965 onwards.Oooh!,he had a better haircut than Lennon too.Truth be,if Macca had been murdered instead,we would have seen his saintly stock rise in the heavenly trading index and maybe Lennon would have been rightly pilloried for making such a stinker album as Double Fantasy.Let the arguments commence! Be well.Andy

Selling dreams

Q. Hi again:I supposed the answer for my last mail was NO, I need to buy the Heidi's tale first version according to my brother, you better read an ancient (Franco era) Spanish tale about What's the difference between a musician and a dog the answer is (obviously) : the dog knows when get quiet. Circular times on its essence and shapes leads to the same, answers and questions they both take a long time to come but surely are the samecommunication doesn't matter perception. Music talks me about frontiers and mood states, I saw a photographic show in the public library about the 80s and 90s era, and I thought the lost years I spent. Surely and I hope you don't have to sell your dreams to see fame drew in the other people's faces.

Red silk pantaloons

Q. Hi Andy I used to work with you many years ago in the record department at Bon Marche (now Debenhams).

Are gigs bad for your health?

Q. Hi Andy,Heard you some time ago on Mark Radcliffe's night time show a while back, not his show with Stuart Maconie, you were talking about TINITUS amongst other things and that you probably aquired yours as a result of "accoustic shock". I also have Tinitus, possibly from to many loud gigs, do you have any advice on how you control it? and what can irritate it, diet, alchohol etc..Regards,Viv Gough (Mr) Wootton Bassett.

Going solo

Q. Hey andy my name is Alex and I was wondering if your supposed solo album was gonna be song like on XTC or stuff improvised like Monstrance?Thanks for your time, and thank you for filling my ears with the greatest music ever written.Alex A. Dear ol' Alex,you seem like a smart bunch.This rumoured solo album of mine is just that at the mo,a rumour.Started inadvertantly in an interview with Billboard by Robyn Hitchcock,who i'm working with on and off at the moment.Although I have the basic idea sketches of about 350 songs i'm not sure that I like the direction any of them are going in. Partly a desire not to repeat myself and partly a lack of confidence mixed with a dash of healthy disgust about the business of music.Once I get my head sorted out on this matter there'll ether be a solo record,or not.Sorry that I cant be more definite ol' chum but my skip of a brain is in a bit of a muddle at the moment on the next record front.Its probably hormonal.

Driving along in my automobile

We've been compiling a 'Desert Island Discs' type music collection for our joint 50th birthday and needed some tracks that we only owned on 8 track.

Do you have a copy of Fly Fishing by JR Hartley?

Do you have a contact number/email for the Wootton Bassett band UNCLE JACK please?

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