A Manchester Situational

There is an extensive interview with Vini Reilly (with occasional contributions by Bruce Mitchell) by Wilson Neate at Blurt Online.

In this brief extract, Vini and Bruce talk about Tony Wilson:

BLURT: Most of us knew Tony Wilson only via his media persona; how did the Tony Wilson you knew differ from that?

REILLY: He differed enormously. He was the same only in the sense that he was very confident, but people mistook that confidence for arrogance. He was always being described as an arrogant person, but, in truth, he was one of the most humble people I've ever met. He would never consider any task too trivial. For example, I remember that on rainy, muddy nights he'd be there helping carry equipment for our rehearsals, and on another occasion he was sweeping the floor after everyone had gone home. He was different [from that public image] in many ways. He was also very, very sensitive -- extremely sensitive -- even though he had a smoke screen of a persona, which was the only possible way he could function in the face of some of the hard-core, hard-nosed businessmen that he had to deal with. And also, some of the musicians were very awkward to deal with, so he developed this persona, which enabled things to just bounce off him. You know, people would say the most disparaging things about him, and it would be like water off a duck's back. He developed that persona over the years to a point where people thought that really was him, but he was actually a very generous-natured, warm, lovely human being. People didn't really perceive him in that way -- and I don't think he wanted people to perceive him in that way.

MITCHELL: Yes, that persona was a separate thing, as Vini says. It was a stitch-on piece of work that he enjoyed -- the laddishness of it. Nice and abrasive, we thought. But it's the way he had to be, don't you think? With some of the musicians he had! But he was always stimulating and interesting. He was ever so curious and shockingly clever. All the time. You know the Kurosawa film, Rashomon? It's like the Rashomon effect. I'm one of the "viewers" that liked him a lot: uncompromisingly. Even though he could be really badly behaved, I would always support anything that Tony did. I learnt an enormous amount off him. I'm ten years older than Tony, but I would very often defer to his judgment rather than mine. So I was a solid fan, without reservations.

Read the full article at Blurt Online.

The Culture Show

If you missed it tonight on BBC2, you can catch up with The Culture Show featuring The Durutti Column via the BBC iPlayer. The programme is also repeated on BBC2 at 00:00 on 26 July.

The programme itself featured new interview footage with Vini Reilly, Keir Stewart and Bruce Mitchell, brief rehearsal footage which also featured Poppy Morgan and, interspersed amongst all that, short clips recorded on Wednesday 15 July at the first night of the recent 'A Paean To Wilson' concerts.

Vini Reilly's Paean To Wilson

Vini Reilly pays his own personal tribute in words to Tony Wilson ahead of next week's MIF shows in an interview with Paul Taylor for City Life.

An obligation to be youthful

The Gonzo Drum Master

Check out a great interview with Bruce Mitchell, "the real Mr Manchester" by Dave Simpson in The Guardian.

Things I Have Learned

There's a new interview with Vini Reilly by Alex Ogg in The Quietus under the title Always The Bridesmaid, Never The Bride with topics covering cross-dressing, Manchester City, the Sandpaper Sleeve and writing songs.

Vini Reilly's Self-Portrait in MOJO

Reilly by Vini

Vini contributes both literally and artistically to the new edition of MOJO (#186) as part of their Self-Portrait series.

Above a hand-drawn and signed portrait (see right - "Rabbit pie, yummee!"), Vini answers questions such as what his most treasured possession is (his handmade 1967 Juan Montero Aguilera guitar and his Fender custom Strat), his biggest regret (that he's never made a decent album) and what his formal qualifications are (won music prize at his Catholic boys school three years in a row).

MOJO is out now (it's the one with John Lennon and Yoko Ono on the cover) in all good newsagents.

Le Retour

Scream City 4

Calling all French-speaking fans of The Durutti Column!

From PopNews.com:

"Dans son quatrième numéro, le fanzine Scream City revenait sur la référence n°2 du catalogue du label Factory Records, le mythique double-vinyle sorti en décembre 1978 et comportant deux titres de Joy Division, de The Durutti Column, trois de John Dowie et deux de Cabaret Voltaire. A cette occasion, Phil Cleaver, l'homme derrière le label Kooky Records, qui sort les nouveaux disques de The Durutti Column, eut le privilège de s'entretenir avec Vini Reilly à ce propos. Toujours un peu vexé du double lapin que nous avait infligé le Mancunien en 2005 lors de son dernier passage à Paris, nous avons demandé à John Cooper, rédacteur en chef du fanzine Scream City (et également auteur du blog consacré à Factory, Cerysmatic Factory) la permission de publier cette interview... Dont voici ici la traduction..."

Roughly translated this means that Phil "Kooky" Cleaver's interview with Vini Reilly from Scream City 4 (the FAC-2 Special featuring Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire, John Dowie and The Durutti Column) has been translated into French and reproduced on PopNews.com after they were "stood up" by Vini last time he was in Paris in 2005.

Salut Guillaume! Many thanks for making this happen.

Scream City 4 was first published on 23 April 2008 via eBay priced GBP 2.00 + p&p (PayPal only) and is still available.