35+ years in music. No hype. Just strategy.

For those who thought The Quietus review of the new Boards Of Canada album was “a bit wordy” and “went on a bit”, here’s a page turner. Scream if you wanna go faster, etc.

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ALL MY FRENZ has got WILDER!

 

No Ken Campbell, no JAMs, no KLF and no me. For those who may not know any of them (I mean, you know me, just not them), “Ken Campbell was a maverick British theatre director, who served as the primary creative catalyst and inspiration for The JAMs (The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu), the music project founded by Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty.”
 

There’s a Guardian article (in the smart link at the end) that has stayed with me for years. It’s about 2 people who didn’t wait for the world to come to them. They made their own worlds, and we just live(d) in them. Have a read of the article. Bill says “Ken was already a legend in my world. Although I had never actually seen his infamous Ken Campbell Roadshow, stories about their performances loomed large in my still young and fertile imagination.”   There’s an amazing BBC documentary about it on YouTube (also in the smart link at the end).

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Anyway, back to The Guardian article.  You’ll see that Ken needs a particular kind of actress for his play in Liverpool. Bill suggests Yoko Ono…

 

“OK, we will ask Yoko Ono.” Then he rings a number. Someone answers. He asks a question and writes down a number. He phones this number. Someone answers. He asks a question and writes down another number. He does this two or three more times – after which he is actually speaking to Yoko in New York. This was not more than 10 minutes after I had half-jokingly suggested her name.

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As it happens, Yoko declined his offer to appear in the Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool’s 12-hour production of Illuminatus!, as she had to look after her new baby boy.

 

Fifteen years later, when Jimmy Cauty and I were working on the KLF track Justified & Ancient, Jimmy said what it needed was a vocal by Tammy Wynette. Now Tammy Wynette was a genuine living legend, the First Lady of Country – and the record we were making was a sort of dance-pop record with weird bits. It was the last thing you’d expect the First Lady of Country to be singing on. While Jimmy got on with the track, I went into the office and picked up the phone. Ten minutes later, after three or four calls, I am actually talking to Tammy Wynette, just before she goes on stage in Chicago. We play her the track down the phone and she agrees there and then to record the vocals with us.

 

…neither person waiting for things to happen, but making them happen.

 

In the mid 1980s, I realised I loved music enough to want to work in the industry. At that time, I thought I’d quite like to be a music journalist. Obviously, as great as what I am at writing stuff, that didn’t happen, but I did manage to make my way into EMI in the mid 90s. That only happened though, after I was made redundant from an office job, and decided I’d write to the head of sales at every record company I could find details for.  I didn’t wait either, and now you live in my world.  Ha!

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I worked for EMI until 2008. Xenomania for a year. We couldn’t wait for the world to come to us for that short period of time and tried to make things happen. In 2009, Dan Symons and I started working together, and we didn’t wait for anyone to come to us, we just got going. In 2022, I started All My Frenz and didn’t wait for anything or anyone, just made things happen.

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Fast forward to 2026, and All My Frenz is 4 years old. Continuing the conversation about country music, I’ve just worked with Kiefer Sutherland, and helped his new album do this…

 

#1 – Country Artists Albums

#2 – Americana Albums

#3 – Independent Albums

#3 – Record Store Chart

#7 – Albums Sales Chart

#7 – Physical Albums Chart

#12 – Vinyl Albums Chart

#13 – Album Downloads Chart

#31 – Official Albums Chart

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…(my second Country Chart #1 of the last few months (Rianne Downey got there first)), whilst also helping with the launches for The Mary Wallopers and Soft Cell — whilst also getting things lined up for GANS, Trampolene, M83, Trashcan Sinatras, Deco, The Guest List, Goodnight Louisa, Dead Wells, poor effort, Everyone Says Hi, Basht and more.

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But enough about me, let’s pivot back to that Guardian article about Ken, and the section where Bill and Dave Balfe need some help…

 

Dave and I explained the problem. He said it was simple enough to sort out. I asked how and he said: “Give me £100 and I will tell you.”

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So Dave and I went back out into the night to get £100. There were no cash machines in those days. There was only one person we knew in Liverpool who would have that sort of money in cash at that time of night. Obviously, he thought we were there to buy his wares. We said no, we just want to borrow £100. The interest was agreed and he loaned us the money.

 

Back at Ken’s lodgings, we counted out the notes. Ken put them in his back pocket. He looked up at us and gave us his broad grin.

 

“WILDER!”

 

“What do you mean, Ken?”

 

“I mean WILDER! That is what you need your band to be. WILDER!”

 

“Have we just paid you £100 for the word ‘wilder’?”

 

“Yes. And it is probably the best £100 you are ever likely to spend.”

 

When we left, Dave was certain Ken was just taking the piss out of us. He may have been. But that did not stop us from convincing the Teardrop Explodes and their record company to call their next – and final – album Wilder. Although it went gold, it did not solve the problem within the band. I walked away. And the band broke up. But with everything I have worked on since, I can hear Ken’s voice telling me: “Wilder, Bill, it should be wilder.”

 

…a propos nothing, ALL MY FRENZ has got WILDER! I say that in general and also in terms of 1 of 6 new services - a small, fast creative shove for when you’ve got something good on your hands, but the messaging / angle / plan isn’t landing yet. Over the next few weeks I’ll be rolling that out along with the rest of the new services — built for artists, managers and labels who want smart, practical help with releases, campaigns, and getting their stuff in front of the right people.

 

If you want your Yoko Ono or Tammy Wynette, as another of the all time great pop stars who waited for no one once said, “I’m Your Man”. That said, if you, as people have, want a James Murphy remix, that might be tricky. Unless you are David Bowie.

 

And finally, another one “without whom”, a great quote from Ian Broudie - “When I was in Big In Japan, it dawned on me that if you have a good idea, even if you’re not very good at doing it, it’ll never be a bad idea. But if there’s no idea, it’s nothing.” No Big In Japan, no JAMs, no KLF…you get the idea.

 

Full details (and links to the Guardian and YouTube) here: https://hypeddit.com/links/allmyfrenz​

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Head straight to the All My Frenz website: https://www.allmyfrenz.com/​