“brassneck”

The Wedding Present’s leader talks 40-year anniversaries, his own rock musical, and not dyeing his hair.

WE WERE THE first band of our generation that started to grow up,” Billy Corgan says, reflecting on the making of the Smashing Pumpkins’ 1995 grand opus, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. “The b

Rather gear collection of punky outsider artists’ BBC work recorded between 1978 and 1980.

Born in the titular Kent city in the late 60s, the Canterbury scene spawned some of prog’s most creative and quirky acts. From The Wilde Flowers and Soft Machine to Caravan and Gong, each had a distinctive sound and, in many cases, image that captured the hearts and minds of their followers. But the scene’s impact didn’t end in the 70s. Phil Howitt, Facelift editor and Hugh Hopper’s biographer, explores the new breed of progressive acts inspired by it, both consciously and unwittingly, and unearths the secrets of the ‘Canterbury chord’.

PETER GILES

SPINAL TAP’S SEMINAL 1984 DOCUMENTARY WAS A HEAVY-METAL MASTERPIECE. NOW, AS THE HAPLESS TRIO RETURN WITH SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES , WE MEET THEM TO DISCUSS THEIR COMBUSTIBLE CHEMISTRY