Peter Cook by Pete Astor live at the launch party

Pete Astor single launch

if you are in London on 10th October, why not come along to Pete Astor's single launch at the Betsey

release date - Pete Astor

Earlier this year Pete Astor spent a day in the studio with The Wave Pictures’ rhythm section, Johnny Helm and Franic Rozycki.


Back in 1980 Pete Astor was in The Living Room, who went on to become The Loft, who signed to Creation – releasing the label’s 9th and 15th singles. In 1986 he was in The Weather Prophets, who released two albums for Creation. By 1990 he had gone solo, releasing another two long players for the label. 1992 saw a move to Danceteria in France for a further two albums.

After a busy start, the 1990’s were a quiet decade for Pete musically, but he returned before the millennium with Ellis Island Sound (who signed with Heavenly Recordings) and The Wisdom of Harry (who eventually signed to Matador Records).

The 21st century has seen regular solo and Ellis Island Sound releases on hip young labels, most recently Static Caravan, Fortuna POP!, Slumberland and Tapete.

He works as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster, where he teaches, researches and writes about music; in 2014, he published his study of Richard Hell and the Voidoids' Blank Generation, as part of Bloomsbury's 33⅓ series.

Peter Cook was part of a four-man group satirical stage show, Beyond the Fringe, with Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett and Dudley Moore. In the 60’s, Cook opened The Establishment club in Soho, provided financial backing for the satirical magazine Private Eye, made the tv show Not Only... But Also, as well as the film Bedazzled, both with Dudley Moore. He co-hosted Saturday Night Live, released three Derek and Clive LPs, and in 1978, Cook appeared on the British music series Revolver as the manager of a ballroom where emerging punk and new wave acts played… AND he was the Impressive Clergyman in The Princess Bride. He died on 9 January 1995, aged 57.

“When I was thinking about who to ask for new seven inches to be a part of the seventh (and final) wiaiwya-7777777 singles club it occurred to me that the person I had consistently been a fan of for the longest was Pete Astor - I came to Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman, the Spice Girls, Scott Walker and Kraftwerk much later, and I may have liked the Smiths, Peter Gabriel, the Kids From Fame and Nik Kershaw before I heard Mayflower by the Weather Prophets, but I think we can agree they have all gone off the boil a little in the last 30 years. Pete Astor, on the other hand, is always great.”

just five set of wiaiwya-7777777 2018 left

so get them while you can:

Pete Astor's records have arrived

came home last night to find these on the doorstep - the 47th single of 49

and you can get your copy here:

sleeve approvals - Pete Astor

Pete gave these the nod this week

77 days is too long - Pete Astor

When I was thinking about who to ask for new seven inches to be a part of the seventh (and final) wiaiwya-7777777 singles club it occurred to me that the person I had consistently been a fan of for the longest was Pete Astor - I came to Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman, the Spice Girls, Scott Walker and Kraftwerk much later, and I may have liked the Smiths, Peter Gabriel, the Kids From Fame and Nik Kershaw before I heard Mayflower by the Weather Prophets, but I think we can agree they have all gone off the boil a little in the last 30 years. Pete Astor, on the other hand, is always great.



back at school Jim Little gave me a C90 tape, called Demented Folkies On Speed Extravaganza, and one side was the first Weather Prophets LP - all the songs seemed to be about rain, and I loved that... still do...


back in 2015, Pete and Dave Shepherd released a new Ellis Island Sound LP - if you don't have it yet, you should!


there was the Loft too:

 
and, of course, Pete wrote THIS:

get wiaiwya-7777777 2015 for a little cheaper

partly to celebrate the final year of wiaiwya-7777777, and partly to clear some space in the flat, i'm very pleased to say that throughout May you can get 20% off the complete set of the 2015 club releases from bandcamp - just use the discount code 77777772015 when checking out



i'm sure you remember, but just in case, the full tracklisting for the seven two colour 7" singles is

1.the Fairlight Myth - Alpha November 03:31
2.the Fairlight Myth - Love Repeats 03:31
3.World Of Fox & Amelia Fletcher - Be Kind To My Love 02:58
4.World Of Fox & Amelia Fletcher - Oh My Love 03:55
5.Bel Étage - Quiet Town 03:41
6.Bel Étage - Lonesome Heartache Constellation 02:31
7.Woodpigeon & Norman Blake - Brutish Birds 03:06
8.Woodpigeon & Norman Blake - Tokyo Hotel Room 02:17
9.Fever Dream & Laura K - Ghost 04:42
10.Fever Dream & Laura K - the Squall 05:27
11.Bill and Hannah Botting - Flags and Windchimes 04:21
12.Bill and Hannah Botting - Brisbane on Everything 04:00
13.Bill and Hannah Botting - No Thank You Sir 02:30
14.the Friday Swaps - Hot Dog Race 02:27
15.the Friday Swaps - Half Past 02:09

recap on this year's wiaiwya-7777777 singles club

just a quick recap on this year's wiaiwya-7777777 singles club, as i know it can be a lot to take in - it's easy to get sevenblind to it all

so, 2015 is the fourth year of the wiaiwya singles club - each subscriber gets seven singles in the post over the year - and subscribing is the only way to guarantee your copies

to subscribe to wiaiwya-7777777 2015 (seven 7" singles)

incl UK p&p £42.00 GBP incl EUR p&p £49.00 GBP incl US & ROW p&p £56.00 GBP

add 2014 membership number

this year we've asked people to record with artists they don't usually work with, resulting in seven one-off collaborations

Pete Astor and Keith Negus have formed the Fairlight Myth:

World of Fox has recorded two duets with Amelia Fletcher



Pam Berry and Lupe Núñez-Fernández are recording together as Bel Étage



Mark Woodpigeon asked Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake if he'd like to collaborate on a single (available to preorder from 22nd May and is released on 7th August)

FeverDream enlisted their old friend Laura K to help with the first new material to be released after their debut long player (available to preorder from 22 July, and out 7th October)

Bill Botting and his sister Hannah put together a super group (with a Tigercat, a Wave Picture and an Owl & Mouse) - out 7th November

and finally Pete Weiss recorded a new single with Chris Ballew from the Presidents of the United States of America) - out 7th Decenber

packing up records

this fancy pants package wil be on its way to subscribers in the next week or so - just packing everything up in front of Indian Summers and the Avengers (the Tara King episodes)

Release Date - the Fairlight Myth

the first of 2015's 7777777 records - Alpha November / Love Repeats by the Fairlight Myth is out today!

the Fairlight Myth records are HERE!

wia015001 - the Fairlight Myth poster

all of this year's 7777777 releases come with an A3 poster - here's what you'll get when you buy the Fairlight Myth single:

wia015001 - the Fairlight Myth release debut single

wiaiwya-7777777 is a seven inch singles club – a very ambitious seven inch singles club. 

“there’s this sadness when you can’t find it on vinyl, because it’s like it’s not proper” - Pete Paphides

Now in its fourth year (of seven), it is a celebration of the seven inch format, as well as all things seven.  210 lucky subscribers sign up, and get seven exclusive 45s in the post. The records are always released on the 7th of the month (one on each day of the week), and 77 days before release date just 77 copies are made available to purchase individually.

“The 45rpm single, the hard, black centrepiece of the teenage revolution” – Bob Stanley

For 2015 we have asked some of our favourite bands and artists to collaborate on a one off single, to try something a little different, and to prove the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. These are then being pressed onto 2 colour vinyl discs, and inserted into numbered reverse board sleeves.

“It was a piece of science as much as it was art and beauty and sex and glamour” – Paul Morley

First up for 2015 we have the Fairlight Myth - a collaboration between Pete Astor and Keith Negus.

Alpha November c/w Love Repeats - one side a call to arms, the other a warm embrace - takes some of the fresh, post Specials POP of the Colourfield, adds some early OMD synth naivety, then drops in some class A Jens Lekman scando-POP, with nod to the melancholy of Abba’s the Visitors.

Pete Astor’s career spans genre defining releases on the iconic Indie label Creation Records, writing for the NME, to publishing research on song lyrics, and a book on Richard Hell’s Blank Generation.

Astor has been making records for over 30 years, firstly with The Loft, then The Weather Prophets, then as a solo artist; The Wisdom of Harry followed and, in collaboration with David Sheppard, Ellis Island Sound. Astor has recently begun writing and playing again as a solo artist, soon to release material on Fortuna Pop!, adding to his output on Creation, Warner Brothers, Matador, Warp, Heavenly, EMI, Static Caravan, Second Language, Village Green, and now wiaiwya.

Keith Negus played keyboards for Cane (Lightning Records), in their post-punk incarnation, and The Coconut Dogs (Rialto Records), before pursuing various idiosyncratic acoustic and electronic projects as Neville Shakespeare. After further stints in obscure and eccentric combos, he drifted into higher education, and is now director of the Popular Music Research Unit at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has published numerous articles on pop music and its industry, covering issues such as musicians on television, globalization, theories of narrative, digitalization, songwriting and creativity. His books include Producing Pop (1992), Music Genres and Corporate Cultures (1999) and Bob Dylan (2008).

 “It's up to the seven-inch single to save pop music from falling into an abyss… It's time to get real again with 45 revolutions per minute, for pop's sake.”  – Owen Adams (The seven-inch turns 60 - the Guardian)

the Fairlight Myth artwork has been approved

77 days is too long - the Fairlight Myth

yep - the first single of the 2015 club is available to pre-order from today - it's released on 7th April

the Fairlight Myth are Pete Astor and Keith Negus

wanna know more? - Pete Astor

here's Dead Trumpets from his magnificent SongBox album:

wiaiwya-7777777 2015 (or wiaiwya vii mmxv) will be seven collaborations, some are one-offs, some a looking like they might become going concerns, but these records will be the first vinyl outing for each collaboration.
 

feverdream & laura k

woodpigeon & norman blake

world of fox & amelia fletcher

the fairlight myth (pete astor & keith negus)

hannah botting (owl and mouse) & bill botting (allo darlin)

bel etage (pam berry & lupe nunez-fernandez)

pete weiss & friends (tbc!)

 

the release dates will be 7th April, 7th May, 7th June, 7th August, 7th October, 7th November and 7th December, and as usual there's be all sorts of presents for subscribers:

what are you waiting for?... make sure you don't miss out and sign up HERE (and if you subscribed in 2014 you can keep your membership number):

to subscribe to wiaiwya-7777777 2015 (seven 7" singles)

incl UK p&p £42.00 GBP incl EUR p&p £49.00 GBP incl US & ROW p&p £56.00 GBP

add 2014 membership number