Colin Anderson obviously didn't like my comment "Steven Wells will be first against the wall when the revolution comes!" comment, so I thought I'd clarify. I don't give a damn whether people like Belle & Sebastian. I really don't care. I'm not snobbish enought to say I want them to be mine, and don't want anyone else liking them, nor am I silly enough to think that a few plays of "Legal Man" will make them stars. My beef with Swells was the incredibly bad way he handled the so-called "interview" with Stuart. (And remember folks .... Swells has defended The Bluetones ... so getting high and mighty about B&S's apolitical nature is a little rich.) Stuart called Swells to try and justify the comments he raised at the press conference. He did so coherently, and Mr Wells was not really able to have a proper dig at him while he was speaking, and instead used the sneaky ploy of making his final point well after Stuart had hung up and gone off to do something creative and interesting. It's the journalistic equilivant of a stab to the back, and in direct contrast to just how *nice* Staurt has been in his recent interviews. (Defending Fran from Travis, saying fairly nice things about STEPS, all things considered, etc. etc.) Basically, I think that Swells, and the NME, feel threatened because Belle & Sebastian doesn't *need* the NME. Recently the music press in general, and NME in particular, have taken great delight in building up and tearing down bands. Look at both Gay Dad and Ultrasound as bands who were lauded and then torn into all in the space of about six months. It's difficult for bands to avoid playing the game, however, as the NME and Melody Maker are the most comprehensive gig guides, and pretty much the only major network for getting *any* publicity as an unsigned band. Belle & Sebastian have done things a little differently though. They have a reasonably large fanbase who expand, to a large extent, by word of mouth. There has been little hype (until recently), yet TBWTAS did remarkably well in the album charts when it was released, and has one on to sell a fair amount of copies. People have fallen in love with B&S without B&S really having to play the game - do interviews, photoshoots etc. They have a good website, their fans find out information about them through their labels mailing list, and can buy their albums directly from Jeepster. Much as Mr Wells seems to be attacking Stuart for not taking more of a stand, I get the feeling the real reason is that he wants to feel important as a "critic" or part of the "social consciousness" or something. And pandering to bands like Primal Scream makes him feel like he's doing something worthwhile by dragging along on their coat tails. Good for Primal Scream. I agree with about half of what Bobby says, but just saying I agree with them doesn't make *me* a revolutionary. I guess my question for Steven Wells is, just what do *you* do to make a difference? Lawrence Mikkelsen http://www.akn.quik.co.nz/mikelsen/aboutme +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "peculiarly deranged fanbase" "frighteningly named +-+ +-+ Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+