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You wouldn’t have thought the world of rock and roll
would have much time to bother the Guinness Book
of Records. It doesn’t have the dedication, or the
focus (mental or visual). And narcotic consummation
is somehow frowned upon. But it seems punk expert and
veteran writer (Spiral Scratch, Kerrang, Mojo, Rolling
Stone, to name but a few) Alan Parker may be doing just
that, and troubling Charles Dickens in his grave while
he’s at it. In the week between October 6 and 10 he’ll
release 3 books, a comprehensive Clash companion,
a Stiff Little Fingers song by song biography
and most intriguingly an investigation into John
Lennon and the FBI based on recently released papers.
And apparently nobody’s had such a cramped release schedule
since Charlie was going through quills like The Darkness
do cliches over a century ago. We sent him some questions
to clear some clutter from his memory…
1. Where are you now and what can you see?
I'm at home doing interviews, and although I can see
many things around the room, my eyes are currently focused
on one thing, a model of Elvis' home Gracelands, that
was just delivered in the last few minutes. It lights
up once I've been out and bought batteries for it too!
Way too cool to see anything else.
2. What was the last thing you ate?
A Peach and some Special K, first thing this morning.
3. What's worth watching on TV?
Eastenders now that Dirty Den is back, anything with
Peter Kay in it, I do enjoy documentaries, but to be
honest I'm not a huge TV person, give me 24 hours of
Sweeney and Minder re-runs and I'll be fine.
4. What's the next piece of music you intend to buy?
Probably the best of Marc Bolan, because I read about
it at the weekend, and I don't own much of his music,
so a good 'best of' should fill the gap nicely. 5. What
was the last film you saw?
The last film was 'Confidence', which I thought was
excellent, I ended up taking the girlfriend to see it
three days later. I love a good crime movie, and this
was one of the best I've seen in ages, Dustin Hoffman
is incredible in it, I'm totally sold on it.
6. If you could change one thing from the past what
would it be?
I wish deep down that I had never tried to get close
to the Sex Pistols, because as much as I loved them
for their music, as people they weren't very inspiring.
It was a very big let down, I felt quite cheated.
7. What's the most important thing you've done?
Almost certainly that would be making time for the correct
people in my life, a lot of people think that once you
get into this business, everyone else is left behind.
I'm just pleased that I kept the people around me tight.
8. What rates as the most memorable time/place you
woke up?
That would be Garden Court Hotel, London, mid-December
1998, when I woke up with the girlfriend on one side
and a famous Page 3 girl on the other. It's obvious,
but I rang every bloke I knew the next day.
9. Denim or leather?
That's a tough one, because I own mountains of both,
I guess if push comes to shove Denim, but it really
is a tough call. My favourite outfit used to be denim
jeans and a leather jacket, so I guess I'm sitting on
the fence.
10. What you doing next weekend?
I'll be in Milton Keynes with Stiff Little Fingers,
they will be playing as part of their tour to promote
the new album and book. So I'll probably get to sign
a few books, both SLF and Clash, they will both be out
by then.
‘John Lennon & the FBI Files’ with
Phil Strongman is out on Oct 6th ‘Stiff Little
Fingers - Song by Song’ with Jake Burns
is out on Oct 6th ‘The Clash (Rat Patrol from
Fort Bragg)’, is out on Oct 10th
From the CoOrdinates vaults:
Moco
British
Sea Power
Hot
Hot Heat
The
Bluetones
Erlend
Óye
The Mendoza
Line
Frou Frou
The
Warlocks
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