Cardiff Meltdown Archive Project 1986 - 2011 and beyond

04/03/2025

https://paulcourtneyclarke.substack.com/p/ec5485f7-69ef-4bd6-902f-a2c98558379b?postPreview=paid&updated=2025-03-04T00%3A24%3A27.515Z&audience=everyone&free_preview=false&freemail=true

31/01/2025

The Sun Kings have just released a video for their glorious new single 'B-Sides and Rarities'. Love both the song and the video! And ashamed at selling off my awesome vinyl collection (the fruits of doing an MA in the music and language of Rock Song at Keele University) decades ago to fund my Cardiff to Bristol downsizing.

If ever there was a Meltdown in a band it's the Sun Kings. Both in the intoxicating range of genres and influences in their music, and also in their roots in the 25 years of Meltdown - from Railroad Bill in the late eighties Chapter years, through Wonderbrass every Xmas Meltdown in Clwb Ifor Bach in the Nineties through to Junior Bill in the Milgis Yurt in the 2000s.

New Single by the Sun Kings on Country Mile Records(D Nichols/Sun Kings)LYRICS:Sometimes it's chance, sometimes selectionSome things don't fit with my collec...

29/01/2025

HOUSEMATES CALL OUT

Cardiffians! And adventurous Bristolians

What are you up to on Wednesday March 5th 2025? I ask because I'm heading down from the East Midlands to my home town of Cardiff to see a revival of 2023's acclaimed HOUSEMATES (4 stars in the Guardian), and I'm inviting you to join me.

Why? For one - It’s a brilliant telling (four stars in the Guardian) of how a friendship between Alan, a long term inmate at Cardiffs scandal ridden Ely Hospital, and Jim, a student volunteer sparked a global revolution in services for people with learning disabilities, including the closure of and an exodus from dehumanising institutions into supported accommodation. ‘A local story with a global impact’ as the Guardian noted.

For two, if you were a regular at Cardiff’s legendary Meltdown club at Chapter or Clwb Ifor Bach in the late 1980’s/90’s, you may well have encountered the original real life Alan (who sadly died a couple of years ago) who when freed from Ely became a regular Meltdown goer, stage invader and Spasms / River Ghosts guest vocalist. Alan is brought back to life gloriously as one of the two lead characters in Housemates.

I’ve already booked tickets recruited a small posse of other friends to join us on the same night, some who knew Alan and / or were part of that period of service transformation, and a couple who just love brilliant, inspirational theatre. Would you like to / be able to join us? If so just book a ticket on the Sherman website for 7.30, Wednesday 5th March. And if you’d like to meet up with others before and/or after the show let me know and I’ll invite you into a What’s App group devised for that very purpose.


"This is a local story with a global imprint. It took place only a stone’s throw from the doors of the Cardiff theatre in which it movingly, rip-roaringly plays out, and it might better be called a revolution for how it changed the lives of neurodivergent people around the world.

A friendship builds between Jim and Alan Duncan (Gareth John), who has Down syndrome and yearns to live in his own home – and be in a band. Mansell first begins taking the group out to the park and then petitioning doctors to grant greater freedoms.

In 1974, after years of campaigning by Mansell, five people from Ely hospital came to live with him as “housemates”. That “experiment” gave birth to the current model of supported living, first in the UK, then around the world. It is an astounding story, entertainingly and movingly realised"
https://www.shermantheatre.co.uk/event/housemates-2025/

Sherman Theatre and Hijinx Housemates 2025 Made at Sherman Made at Sherman Theatre Written by Tim Green Directed by Joe Murphy and Ben Pettitt-Wade ACCESS Sat 22 Feb - 7:30pm Captioned Mon 24 Feb - 7:00pm Captioned Tue 25 Feb - 7:30pm Captioned Wed 26 Feb - 7:30pm Captioned Thu 27 Feb - 7:30pm Capti...

28/01/2025

Just in case you missed her at Meltdown on Sunday 21st July 1996, top floor Clwb Ifor Bach, the superlative Ani DiFranco returns to Cardiff at the New Theatre in July. We at Meltdown booked her early in her gloriously independent DIY career on her first UK trip. Since then she's created a tsumami of superb songs, winning a Grammy in 2004, while combining her music with powerful campaigning for a spectrum of peace and social justice. Unmissable then and now.

16/10/2024

Back in 1973/4 my sister Margaret and her best friend Andrina encouraged her brother Pino and me to get together for a jam. We were all still at school, me sixth form, Pino 2tears younger.

I was just managing to finger-pick Ralph McTell and Simon & Garfunkel songs. Pino had already mastered classical guitar and was exploring a range of genres from folk to funk on acoustic and on his double-necked 6 and 12 string electric guitar. Despite the disparity it was fun jamming, accompanying St Mary’s Church’s Folk Mass Choir on Sundays, and playing the odd gig at St Mary’s church hall with his and my sister on backing vocals.

Our most prestigious appearance as a foursome was in a Cardiff Castle function room playing two songs for ghe Lord Mayor of Cardiff at a charity gig. We played ‘Sandman’ - b-side of America’s ‘Horse with no Name’, and ‘Love Song’ - a Lesley Duncan ballad later covered by Elton John.

So when I heard that Cardiff Music City had scheduled a celebratory interview and gig with by now bass guitar global legend Pino Palladino at the College of Music and.Drama, I had to be there (with my sister). As a nostalgia trip, a grateful recognition of how his early musical adventurousness sparked mine, and in celebration of how his musical passion, genre hopping enthusiasm, love of collaboration and dazzling inventiveness mark him as one of the greatest bass guitarists of our time.

Here are some snapshots of the stunning trio he assembled.

27/09/2024

More on Tanya Walker - her account of winning the global Talent is Timeless award in 2023.

I hope this letter finds you all well in your lives. Saskia suggested I write a little bit about why I entered the Talent Is Timeless competition and what I now hope to achieve following the competition. To begin, I would firstly like to thank Saskia for her creation of the Talent is Timeless initia...

25/09/2024

A Meltdown mainstay back in the Noughties both as singer with Flow Motion, and in her own right, Tanya Walker has since not only become a catalyst for music making in the Valleys, leading the Alive and Kicking Choir among a swather of other Community music initiatives, but a has also recently won the global Talent is Timeless award for her superb songwriting. The combination of choir and song craft is awesome - and here's one festival gig you can experience that.

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbmfestivals.com%2Ftickets%2Ftanya-walker-plus-the-alive-kickin-community-choir-brecon%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0IUUxyvPjKZHvh2czm6YRcw6TSxu5HAFDPyRXYC_DKOqzWGVe3ImhtrAI_aem_n_Fa8EcdqhS3qV62FPkAWQ&h=AT1O_DVfhpk8Jc92HmifBDZIrEZxdHsnraiX5lX-mA_qrcOsHONyKjkM5UTnZ6LPG9FF0QaQsz1So7b8WV4g_4EUKyedST--OdhNLs_j7IyeFKE_3SVSn7_ov1vnFbRryjamYhVeqLg8SRsFDaYYLh8&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT2x8Lwd_qSGDxsP-E0yo4QJO2jDEZw9MWh9ytHrhINfB6JWwpME5PHl_uQtSBd8ei8n1kUZgn0Tl_IJDWUK3-K64AOERzQ2sL9bh991C2Haw7dyqwz_1bnubysdB2BbOCxc2wA8dAD0fKFoSxg3NLNLMa5n_FSIOk0Uhf-asaGeBGjjfFIVew

‘From the moment the melody sweeps you off your feet, you’re transported into a world where every moment is a triumph, regardless of the highs or lows’ Music Charts.Uk April 24

25/09/2024

Dear Cardiff friends. In case any of you are going to this up and coming gig, would be lovely to see you.

Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff, Mon 14th October. In the early seventies I played my first significant gig as a singer-guitarist - a two song set for the Lord Mayor of Cardiff in a room in Cardiff Castle - with an extremely talented guitarist friend and my and his sister on backing vocals. Within a few years PINO PALLADINO had switched to bass guitar and moved to London, and over the years since has become a legend, globally, for his pioneering sounds and styles, and his infinite adaptability in service of whatever artist or genre he’s playing with. Which extends from the melodic and moving fretless bass that opens Paul Youngs Wherever I Lay My Hat, to the contemporary genre hopping delights of Beyoncé’s 2023 track II Most Wanted, via BB King, Simon & Garfunkel, D’Angelo, The Roots, Elton John, Kirsty McColl and zillions of others.

This concert = part of Cardiff City of Music - is a combo of gig and interview (by Huw Stevens). And I’m thrilled to have nabbed two of the last fifteen tickets for myself and my sister Margaret. Any other Cardiff compadres going?

18/08/2024

Congrats Mr & Mrs Mr and Mrs Clark Ltd

"What a treat... to relax in Rogers’ informal company, engage in a bit of light cultural exchange, hear snippets of a full and searching life and soak up the good vibes emanating from someone who is comfortable in their own skin." - The Scotsman

Full review (£): https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/edinburgh-festivals/edinburgh-fringe-theatre-reviews-a-history-of-fortune-cookies-a-brief-history-of-difference-4744819?state=&r=5579

A Brief History of Difference
📍 Summerhall, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
📅 13-25 August (no show 19 Aug), 4.15pm
Audio Description by Megan Brooks 20/08
BSL Interpretation by Claire Anderson 22/08
🎟️ bit.ly/ABHODsum

The Riverfront Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru | Arts Council of Wales Wales Arts International - Celfyddydau Rhyngwladol Cymru

17/08/2024

My first album Ô Seasons, Ô Castles came out 30 years ago today. I was playing at Wetlands in New York City that night, opening for Jeff Buckley who’s album Grace came out a week later. This is the cover of the promo album, Laurent Mellet took the photo along with the one on the album cover that was released.

29/12/2023

In 1986 the Spasm Band were already well established as a superb r&b band when their bassist Ade Adrian Roper and I started Meltdown nights every Sunday in Chapter Bar. In the course of that first year they were instrumental in luring Laverne Brown into a one off experimental Meltdown set switching his genre from Soul to Blues (it was a glorious experience). They also headlined our first ever Christmas Meltdown at the climax of which Dean Proctor and other members of amazing young indie-pop band Thieves joined them onstage for a roof raising rendition of Green Green Grass of Home in Chapter Theatre.

Also that year the Spasms harmonica maestro Howling Howard joined Ade and I and blues guitarist Pete Mathison to form the River Ghosts - later joined by Spasms drummer Martin Espley.

The Spasm Band