Daily Archives: August 4, 2017

Credit: Marvel Comics

With "Marvel Legacy" under two months away and neither hide nor hair of the Richards family cropping up, it is starting to seem as though the one returning title fans most expected as part of the (un)relaunch may not happen after all.

Yes, there is a small Fantastic Four presence in the "Legacy" solicitations Marvel Two-In-One brings back Ben Grimms 70s team-up title in a big way. But the family dynamic the team once occupied has largely been co-opted by the new Defenders, which features Marvels new premiere married couple, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.

But the somewhat surprising lack of Fantastic Four Marvels literal first superhero family - in a movement designed to capitalize on Marvels roots and its decades long history led us to consider what it would take to bring the FF back in a meaningful way, as a continuing presence in the Marvel Universe and the reasons why they left in the first place.

The perception of the why of the Richards familys absence certainly seems to be that the Fantastic Four no longer connected with audiences - according to Marvel.

Fantastic Four is a title and a concept that has a lot of built in historical importance in the Marvel Universe, but to the readership of today, it doesnt resonate the same way that X-Men, or Avengers, or even Guardians of the Galaxy does right now, Marvel Executive Editor Tom BrevoorttoldNewsarama in January 2016 after the conclusion of Secret Wars, the crossover that took the Richardses and by proxy the FF off the board. Its sort of taken for granted. Its sort of seen as a holdover from another era. Which isnt to say that the characters arent great, or the concepts arent important, or that it isnt a lynchpin of the Marvel Universe, but its just the facts of the world, and the zeitgeist of today. Fantastic Four hasnt been at the forefront.

However, Jonathan Hickman, who wrote Fantastic Four and the companion FF series, as well as Secret Wars, takes a slightly different position.

Of course not, Hickman told Newsarama when asked if he agreed there was a disconnect between audiences and the Fantastic Four. Not only because my personal experience is that it's not true, but the idea behind that conceit is that the core concept is somehow broken. Which is nonsense.

"Family, Future, and Exploration, are timeless, universal concepts. Sure, they can be nostalgic, but they don't have to be. That's really the brilliance of a lot of the early Marvel characters, they were created by guys wrapping both arms around timeless themes, Hickman continued. There are some exceptions to this, of course, but for the most part almost everything Marvel owns is highly malleable and easily exploitable. I'd argue execution is the mission critical element necessary for a Marvel book to succeed. Fantastic Four is no different.

Its funny - just a few years ago there were two ongoing Fantastic Four comics, said one-time Marvel and IDW editor, now writer John Barber, echoing Hickmans sentiment. So I think it can connect with the audience - you just need the right story, and the right hook to draw people in to find out its the right story.

Kwanza Osajyefo, former DC Comics editor and current Director of Creative Strategy for PR firm Weber Shandwick (as well as writer of Black), pointed to other Marvel properties once perceived as far-fetched, saying Dont tell me a talking tree and anthropomorphic raccoon can sell but the Fantastic Four cant.

The concrete whys of the Richards familys absence have been a matter of speculation since they left the Marvel Universe in Secret Wars, but as it turns out, the actual reason for their disappearance from Marvel's publishing line may be exactly what some conspiracy minded fans have said all along - 20th Century Fox's ownership of the franchise's film rights - but maybe not for the reasons they may expect.

I think its pretty common knowledge at this point that Marvel isnt publishing Fantastic Four because of their disagreement with Fox, Hickman explained. While it bums me out, I completely understand because, well, it isnt like theyre not acting out of cause. Fox needs to do a better job there.

Hickmans reasoning seems to imply that Marvel did indeed drop the FF because of the Fox films not necessarily for financial reasons, but because the most recent reboot was both critically and financially unsuccessful, and failed to reflect well on Marvel's comic books. Marvel still publishes an entire line of X-Men comic books, for example, despite Fox also controlling that franchise's film rights.

Barber spelled it out more directly, saying Not to be blunt, but three f---ing terrible movies dont help anything.

I think the lack of a current Fantastic Four series owes a lot more to the film situation than to a lack of interest, he clarified.

But Hickman also says that the Fantastic Four didnt need to leave the Marvel Universe.

That kind of thinking runs contrary to everything I believe in as a professional storyteller, Hickman explained. It comes from a place of manipulation where an attempt is made to make the reader desire something through denial. It's hacky. It's suboptimal. It's the central tenet of all sh---y dating advice. If you want someone to care about a book, write a story they care about.

Its the publishers job to find a creative team with heart for the project and then get it to the right audience, added Osajyefo. Guardians of the Galaxy gave Marvel territory in sci-fi, Avengers is superhero drama, but exploratory, family adventure - thats the Fantastic Four.

Its clear which characters are absent, and thats a darned shame because I assume both Marvel editorial and fans have love for the Fantastic Four, he continued. Maybe that will be rekindled the way it has been with X-Men, but without a ride at Disneyland, their future is dubious.

When it comes to comic books, however, the Fantastic Four might just be one of the lynchpins to what Stan Lee himself described as "Marvel Legacy"'s intent of "returning to classic characters as they were originally portrayed" after all.

Fantastic Four is the birth of the Marvel Universe, explained Barber. Its the first comic published under the Marvel banner; it really started the set-up of heroes that dont always see things the same way. When Namor returned in Fantastic Four #4, it established the idea that the Marvel Universe was expansive and persistent - the stories from the 1940s still happened!

That was a wild notion. Plus, via the Skrulls and Galactus and Mole Man and Wakanda and the Microverse and Latveria the series created the foundation what the Marvel Universe was like, on Earth, below, and above. And in a literal sense of creating characters - so much came out of those Stan Lee/Jack Kirby issues, from Black Panther to the Kree to Doctor Doom to the Inhumans. Its an incredible bout of world-building and unfettered imagination.

But its the central tenet of the Fantastic Four, the guiding principle, that made them a hit in the first place that Barber says is the key to making them work in 2017 and which makes them so essential to the idea of the classic Marvel Universe.

Focus on the family, Barber said. I dont buy family being a problem with the Fantastic Four, its just a matter of figuring out and understanding what 'family' means to the contemporary world.

Youd be hard-pressed to make me believe Marvel cant light a torch under the Fantastic Four, quipped Osajyefo.

Art from 'Secret Wars #9'

But there's still the question of when they'll be back - because none of the creators talked to for this article are under the assumption that the Fantastic Four are gone forever.

"We knew a year or so out that the Fantastic Four as a property wasn't going to be published at Marvel past 2015," Hickman explained of their last appearance in Secret Wars. "When this became a foregone conclusion, then Secret Wars moved about six inches to the left to read as 'the last Fantastic Four story.' I mean, it's not, as it'll be back someday, and it's not, as it's only the Doom-Reed axis and not the entire family, but it's the best we could do because of how pregnant we were."

Back in 2016, just after the end of Secret Wars, Brevoort took the same position.

"Whether its tomorrow, or in a year, or in five years, the potential, and indeed the likelihood, is that there will be some new Fantastic Four book again," Brevoort said. "And in the meantime, those characters, for the people that love them, are still in play, and are still a factor in the Marvel Universe. But the omnipresent but overlooked Fantastic Four is not. Hopefully that absence will actually make it more valuable when we announce some Fantastic Four thing at some date in the future."

And, according to Hickman, there is one specific thing that could definitely bring the Fantastic Four back.

"Disney probably needs to buy Fox.

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Understanding FANTASTIC FOUR's Legacy & Possible Future - Newsarama

The Democratic Socialists of Americahave a big question to answer a 24,000-person strong question. According to a recent announcement, thats how many members the group claims to have, thanks in part to the interest in socialism prompted by the insurgent presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders and as a reaction to theelection of a far-right president in Donald Trump. But, as800 delegates descend on Chicago forthe DSA National Conventionthis week, the group must figure out how itsmasses of card-carrying socialists will engage in electoral politics.

Local chapters have debated how much energy to put into running for office versus engaging in issue advocacy, and whether to align with Democrats or work on building a new political party.

EnterJabari Brisport a DSA-endorsed, Green Party candidate for New Yorks 35th City Council District whooffers one potential path forward for the group.

A flyer for a New York City Council candidate forum hangs outside the Epiphany Lutheran School in Brooklyn, NY on July 26, 2017.

Photo: Bryan Thomas for The Intercept

Brisport is a 29-year-old African-American artist and activist who was born and raised in the 35th District, which includes portions of Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, and other neighborhoods in Brooklyn. In a wide-ranging interview with The Intercept, he described his motivation for running, and his thoughts on the larger political zeitgeist.

Grassroots politics runs deep in his family as does radicalism. Brisports mother is a former Black Panther. Hespent years organizing around local causes, and was an enthusiastic backer of Sanderss presidential campaign. Unlike Sanders, however, Brisport chose to end his cooperation with Democratic Party after the election.

Last year, I was really just fed up with the party, he said. After Bernie lost the nomination, I decided to moved on out to the Greens who, honestly, ideologically Im closer to and are a better fit with me. I was also tired of arguing with other Democrats over things I think are basic, like whether money influences politics.

The New York City Councils first-past-the-post elections, where whoever gets the most votes wins outright, running as a third-party candidate is tough.But because Brooklyn is so heavily dominated by Democrats,Brisport is essentially trying to introduce atwo-party competition. In doing that, hes walking a path similar to Kshama Sawant, the Socialist Alternative councilwoman in Seattle who defeated a Democratic opponent on a platform designed around democratizing wealth and power in the city.

The incumbent in the 35th District is a former art museum executive named Laurie Cumbo,who moved into the district to run for office in 2013. Brisports main ideological difference with Cumbo is their divergent approaches to developing Brooklyn.

Hers is what Ive seen called the Guggenheim Theory of development, which is that if you bring lots of really glitzy art spaces to an area, really great concert halls, really great art museums, so on and so forth, thatll bring economic improvement to the area, he noted. Which is like a half-truth. Because it brings more wealth and improvement to the area but also pushes out the poor people.

What Brisport is describing is the process of gentrification, which has swept his part of Brooklyn in recent years, drawing the ire ofAfrican-American and West Indian communitiesin the district. Brisport claims to offera more democratic form of growth guided by the local community.

Give more community control, he suggested, pointing to the redevelopment of the Bedford-Union Armory in Crown Heights. Brisport opposes plans to turn the 138,000-square-foot armory into a bonanza for private developers. Instead, he is supporting residents who want to turn the site into a community land trust. Under such a model, land development would be approved by a nonprofit controlled by the local community.

People from the community organize into a non-profit, and then you can turn over the land to them, instead of wealthy developer, he explained. They can choose who they contract out to. Maybe theyll contract out to a non-profit. Ultimately, theyll have final say in the negotiations.

That same spirit of greater localized democracy runs through the entirety of Brisports platform: From expanding participatory budgeting, to requiring police officers to live in the city, to taxing the rich to ensure a more equitable distribution of wealth and power.

One of the challenges ofBrisports run for office and for DSA, in general is defining democratic socialism in a way that Americans will embrace it as a mainstream ideology.

You tell somebody socialism without hearing somebody describe it, they automatically think government owns everything, takes away your property, he complained. Its not necessarily thinking about it as government. Its about We The People. Its about having power and agency over how things are guided.

He cited the financial crisis as an example of how a group of elites were able to negatively impact the lives of millions of people without facing democratic accountability.

In 2008, when the banks crashed the economy, we cant vote out the CEOs of those banks, we have no say over those bankers, he noted. However, if an elected official messes up the economy, you can vote them out. You have a say.

A crowd gathers for a New York City Council candidate forum inside the Epiphany Lutheran School in Brooklyn, NY on July 26, 2017.

Photo: Bryan Thomas for The Intercept

One of the obstacles Sanderss presidential campaign faced in his race against Hillary Clinton was the strong loyalty shown by older African-American voters to the establishment of the Democratic Party. The only cohort of the black electorate Sanders won was the youngest. The establishment party candidates also made strong showingsamong these voters of other ethnic backgrounds in races againstpopulists. In his re-election bid, Chicagos Mayor Rahm Emanuel, for instance, counted on strong black support to beat back challenger Chuy Garcia in his Democratic primary. Sanders-backed Tom Perriello suffered from a deficit among black voters in the Virginia Democratic gubernatorial primary.

For Brisports part, these shortfalls came largely thanksto a coordinated campaign by the partys establishment and the deep Southern tiesheld by Clinton and her husband, the former Arkansas governor President Bill Clinton.

The Democratic Party weaponized identity politics a little bit against Bernie Sanders, he said of last years presidential primary. As soon as he started losing the South, they made this whole thing of him not connecting with black voters. Which is insane. Because like, if Coke was really doing well in the South over Pepsi, nobody would be like, Well, I guess Pepsi is having trouble connecting with black voters!'

However, he also said Sanders should have adjusted his approach to appeal to a wider set of voters. Bernie also is a little bit guilty, he conceded. At some point, he failed to move things outside of an economic lens. I think he was asked this one question at a debate that was like, whats your biggest blind spot as a white person. He said, when youre white you dont know what its like to be poor. I dont know how he got to that conclusion.

I love Bernie. I would vote for him 10 times. But Im not sure what he was going for with that statement, Brisport continued. I think his bigger blinder was seeing so much from an economic lens, when you do need a mixture of an economic approach and an approach toward marginalized groups. When I said weaponized identity politics earlier, I dont mean to say Im anti-identity politics. I understand their role. Its a double-edged sword. Its something to be addressed not something to be used as character assassination.

Brisports criticism matches that of Khalid Kamau, a DSA-backed socialist candidate who won a city council seat in South Fulton, Georgia, in the spring.

I love Bernie, but I think where his campaign failed I dont think this is a personal failure of Bernie, but perhaps of the people that were around him and advising that campaign is that there wasnt enough attention paid to people of color, Kamau told Truthout in March. I am not sure that people of color who were in that campaign were listened to the way they should have been.

New York City Council candidate Jabari Brisport (second from left) meets with constituents following a candidate forum inside the Epiphany Lutheran School in Brooklyn, NY on July 26, 2017.

Photo: Bryan Thomas for The Intercept

Going forward, Brisport believes the best way for democratic socialists to build a truly multi-racial movement is to show up and support communities of every background.

DSA is multi-tendency. Its electoral but also fighting lots of different battles: housing, immigrant justice, climate, labor rights, strike solidarity, education, he explained. What theyve been really great at doing is going into these conflicts where the community is fighting. And not only allying themselves with the local community, but amplifying them and also taking a backseat. Not like coming up and saying, Were DSA, were running this. But also saying how can we amplify what you do?

New York Citys 2,000-member strong DSA chapter has put its money where it mouth is in diversifying the movement. So far, both of the candidates it supports for city council races comes from non-white backgrounds. In addition to Brisport, DSA voted to endorsethe Rev. Khader El-Yateem in his Democratic primary in Brooklyns diverse Bay Ridge neighborhood. El-Yateem is a Palestinian Christian and a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign a bold stance in a city known for its stridently pro-Israel politics.

El-Yateem is Trumps worst nightmare. He supports immigrants, is Arab-American and explicitly refuses to take money from developers, NYC-DSA Co-Chairwoman Rahel Biru said in a statement.

Brisport has seen the difficulties in organizing people of different ethnic backgrounds into one movement firsthand. He pointed to disputes between Caribbean-Americans and Jewish-Americans in Brooklyn over housing as an example.

Theres a general sense in the community that the Jews are buying up the land and controlling everything, he said of complaints hes seen in the Caribbean community. Which is upsetting. He added, Its almost like what I saw Trump do. He saw peoples real concerns about an economy that was failing them and shifting it over to Muslims and Mexicans.

Brisports goal is to end racial infighting and unite his diverse district behind democratic socialism.

What I tell people is gentrification isnt caused by white people, its caused by capitalism, he said. If you de-commodify the land and you take the profit motive away, then we can actually fight against this.

Top photo: Jabari Brisport, a 29-year-old actor-turned-activist-turned-member of the Democratic Socialists of America, poses for a portrait in Brooklyn, NY on July 26, 2017.

See more here:

Jabari Brisport Is Running For City Council to Bring Democratic Socialism to Brooklyn - The Intercept

Mick Jagger: both he and Jeremy Corbyn are frauds when it comes to Brexit. Photograph: Henry Romero/Reuters

In the days following Theresa Mays triggering of Article 50 last March, Mick Jagger sat down to write a pair of songs that would capture the anxiety and the unknowability of a post-Brexit UK.

The songs England Lost and Gotta Get A Grip were released last week. They are both hideous. It behoves a future generation to commemorate in musical form that the day Sir Michael Philip Jagger got woke about Brexit was the day that rock music died.

I went to find England, it wasnt there. I think I lost it in the back of my chair. I think Im losing my imagination. Im tired of talking about immigration, sings Sir Mick over a beat that could only charitably be termed as funk-like.

The realpolitik of Brexit is addressed in the final verse of England Lost: I had a girl in Lisbon, I had a girl in Rome, now Ill have to stay home. Which is as cutting a take on the EUs freedom of movement directive as you are ever likely to hear.

With lyrics on the two songs about fake news, lunatic political leaders, refugees, Isis and, everyones favourite, metadata scams, Jagger has been saluted by a supine music press for becoming politically charged and capturing the zeitgeist.

Whenever a figure from the world of showbiz or politics (and the distinction is now blurred) engages with a political talking point for profit commercial or otherwise we need to see receipts.

Jagger may be anxious about Brexit now but just a few weeks before the EU referendum last year he was a lot more sanguine about it, telling Sky News that Brexit would be beneficial to the UK in the long-term.

But as a vocal supporter of Margaret Thatcher so much so that he held private meetings with her when she was in office he would think that way about Brexit.

His concern about England on his new songs is touching. This is the England he ran away from to take up residency in France in 1971 when the then Labour governments tax regime didnt suit his enormous bank account.

And hes kept running: since the 1970s the Rolling Stones have had their multi-millions managed out of Amsterdam to reduce their tax. Its working out quite well for them. Figures released in 2006 showed the Stones paid $7.2 million in tax on earnings of $450 million a rate of 1.6 per cent.

Its just as well that paying a drastically reduced tax rate on your earnings in a foreign country for most of your career doesnt disqualify you from writing politically aware songs about your own country.

Like many a rock star Jagger would do anything for his country except pay tax in it.

In the idolatrous world of showbusiness you can say or do what you want with impunity no matter how inconsistent or hypocritical your words or behaviour may appear to be. The political world is more circumspect or used to be according to Simon Kuper of the Financial Times, who last week cast a cold eye over the rise of the political fan.

He writes: Donald Trump and Jeremy Corbyn have fans, Hillary Clinton and Theresa May dont. The political fan is a poorly understood modern phenomenon. Political fans reason a lot like sports or music fans.

Corbyns rapturous reception at this years Glastonbury Festival is described by Kuper as an event unprecedented in British political history. At Glastonbury 2016, many festival-goers wept openly on the Friday morning as the EU referendum result filtered in.

This year, not only did Corbyn receive a heros welcome while speaking on the main stage but over the three days of the festival crowds spontaneously broke into chants of his name. There was more than a touch of the Papal Mass in Phoenix Park about it.

Like Jagger, Corbyn is seasoned campaigner who knows how to artfully dissemble. Addressing the Glastonbury crowds, he was touchy-feely in excelsis in every child there is a poem before erupting into paroxysms of platitudes about the environment, peace and love. He didnt once mention the B word the word that had reduced Glastonbury to tears the previous year.

But when he was talking to the grown-ups on an ITV political show just weeks previously, he outlined in stark terms how he wanted a hard Brexit and how clearly the free movement of people ends when we leave the European Union and there will be managed migration. The dog-whistle term, managed migration, has been in every UKIP manifesto since 1999.

As with Jagger on his new single, Corbyn is opportunistically and cynically getting down with the youth vote without disclosing some important facts such as that Jezs voting record on the EU is up there with the rabid right of the Conservative Party and has drawn effusive praise from Nigel Farage.

In Britains previous referendum on EEC membership in 1975, Corbyn voted to leave. He was one of the architects of Michael Foots 1983 Labour manifesto which promised to pull the UK out of the EEC immediately. He voted against the Maastricht Treaty, against the Lisbon Treaty and in 2011 crossed the floor to vote with hardline Tory MPs in calling for an EU referendum.

In March of this year, he imposed a three-line whip on Labour MPs to prevent any of them from voting against Theresa May triggering article 50. Back in the day, we used to call that democratic centralism.

That article 50 vote brings us back to Jagger and the reason he wrote his Brexit blues. Born within a few years of each other in the 1940s, Jagger and Corbyn were nice middle-class boys who went to grammar schools.

If for one the future held sex, drugs and rocknroll, the other had to make do with fair-trade coffee, protest demos and speechifying.

But both headlined Glastonbury. And both are frauds when it comes to Brexit.

Im sorry to hear youll have to give up your girl in Lisbon and your girl in Rome, Mick, but as you said yourself, Brexit could be beneficial in the long term.

And Jez, there is indeed a poem in every child. Even the migrant ones you intend to manage.

Continue reading here:

Brian Boyd: Spare me Mick and Jez's Brexit hypocrisy - Irish Times

He remembers the early days of hope, when he was working on a weekly newspaper in Birmingham and dreaming of being anywhere else. Then theres the hard times when OCS had no money and were propped up by Steve Craddocks session fees from Paul Weller. There was the overwhelming, zeitgeist-capturing success of Moseley Shoals, a record that sold more than a million copies and put them alongside Oasis and The Verve as one of the most important bands of the times. And, of course, there has been the blur of drink and drugs, of hang-ups and let-downs, of friends and family, of familiar places and places hes known.

When OCS played the Symphony Hall, Foxy was pretty sure he was going to burst into tears. And when they headlined the Town Hall, for an emotional homecoming gig that was released as a DVD, he pretty much did.

Nah, Id trodden on a nail, Foxy deadpans.

Hell be back home for Beyond The Tracks, the Birmingham festival that runs from September 15-17.

Birmingham is one of the places thats always really kind to us. If you go outside the area, a lot of bands think audiences have a tendency to be dull. But Ive never ever found that. I think that opinion says more about the people who think it, than it does about the Birmingham crowds. The Town Hall was a really nice gig. Steve started off on the organ and people were sitting there, all around him. That was a really nice show.

And the Symphony Hall was special because we played with a string quartet. The first night was probably one of the quietest and most disappointing that we did during that set of gigs. It was a Saturday. But the Tuesday one was miles better. We thought it would be the other way round. I remember walking out and thinking I was going to burst into tears. I thought what the hell are we doing here? The Symphony Hall is such a beautiful place.

OCS work when their mojo clicks in, these days, rather than when a record company demands. In recent months, Foxy has been trying to write new songs that will form their 11th album, the first since 2013s Painting. Its an unhurried process thats devoid of the normal deadlines.

Weve had a busy year, with these summer gigs and then with shows planned at the end of the year for Australia and New Zealand and Dubai. But we need to start recording and I need to find time. I write the songs, I always have done. Then the others turn it into OCS. Steve is our musical director.

There are no concessions to modernity when Foxy is writing songs. Though OCS once released an album called One From The Modern and, like Weller, are intrinscially linked with the Mod movement, the songwriting process is distinctly Old Skool.

I sit down with an old Sony tape player, that you would have had for Christmas circa 72, with cassettes. I had to buy a job lot of because I wanst sure how long theyd be about. I got them from Asda Living, in Stratford-Upon-Avon. I play and record and just start. I just see what happens. Sometimes nothing comes and other times a song will come in minutes.

He always feels nervous before he starts, over-thinking and worrying about what might happen. For him, OCS come to life on the stage, rather than in the studio. I think bands start because you want to play to your mates in pubs and impress girls. Then suddenly you find yourselves in the studio. These days, once Ive written the song, I may as well head off down the pub for two days while theyre recording, then come back to do the vocals.

OCS were the apogee of Britpop. When Cool Britannia ruled the waves, no band had the same swagger and street cred, no band looked as smart or partied as hard. A carousel of drink and drugs seemed to spin for years as the band enjoyed five top 10 albums, and became the house band for Chris Evanss TFI Friday.

It was a lot worse than anyone can ever imagine, but it was wonderful.

Those days have gone, however. Yes, no longer. These days, I live in a village near Stratford, where I know everyone and everyone knows me. Were all friends. I spend most of my days reading The Times at the local pub, or with my friends, instead of songwriting, which is probably what I should be doing. The other boys have their own lives and Steves is down in Devon. When we started out, we were a gang. That was one of the greatest things about being in the band.

Foxy remains a roadhog. As much as he likes his village pub, hes never lost his love of a hotel room. And as the band remain popular around the world, particularly Down Under, hell be spending plenty of time in them.

We played Australia and New Zealand for the first time last year and we sold the gigs out in hours. None of us had a clue what it would be like. We didnt know if theyd even heard of us. Were going back and doing bigger places.

I like being on the road. I love hotels. Everyone says it must be a nightmare but its quite good fun. All your rooms are nice, theres a bar and theres nice food what else do you want? When we started saying in decent hotels, Id been used to living in student accommodation in Kings Heath and Moseley. I couldnt believe it, I was staying in rooms where the windows werent broken.

And yet for all of the rocknroll excess, Foxys true home is with an acoustic guitar in a pub, playing songs like Simon and Garfunkels The Boxer. You dont have to be Mick Jagger. A pint on the table, a Neil Young song and an acoustic guitar . . . thats what makes me happy.

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Ocean Colour Scene talk ahead of Birmingham festival appearance - expressandstar.com