Jumping from an article in the Detroit Metro Times, about The Damned performing in Detroit, I was reminded of the session with Brian James, March 11th 2011 at Kingston College. The John Sinclair Beatnik Youth session.
It was unforgettable and overwhelming, the sound, the characters around. The detailed liner notes of the CD listed all those on the session, and includes an extensive contribution by Mick Farren. My google search returned the usual AI summary, and I continued to “ask more questions”. The results below are accurate to my understanding, but then again, my remembrandts r’ a bit fuzzy.
The rather simplistic, straight ahead facts about the session and musicians and tracks get it down. I’m reminded how I’ll never get to play on a live session like that again! Not least because Brian James and Keith Levene and Mick Farren and George Butler and Howard Marks and John Sinclair are no longer around, but…their recorded music and words and inspiration live with us, through us and all about us. If you don’t know find out. Testify!
There’s still a lot of other musicians and contributors to Beatnik Youth who are not mentioned below, such as the drummer George Butler (who I had to nervously follow) and Howard Marks. Jesse Wood is also on the album! Holy smokes. What a band.
To hear what it’s all about, or support visit:
https://johnsinclair.bandcamp.com/album/beatnik-youth-2
All Love, Steve Fly
“The creation of Beatnik Youth was split into two worlds: a legendary live “wall of guitars” session, and a long post-production layering process done by producer Youth and engineer Michael Rendall, who integrated external guest samples and studio tracking. [1, 2, 3]
The comprehensive list of musicians involved in the album is divided by their location of contribution: [1, 2]
🏫 The Kingston College of Music Session (Live Tracking)
These musicians gathered in person on March 1, 2011, to lay down the massive, live improvised grooves that formed the instrumental foundation for tracks like “Brilliant Corners”, and “Sitarrtha”. [1, 2]
- Brian James (Guitar – The Damned / Lords of the New Church)
- Keith Levene (Guitar – The Clash / Public Image Ltd)
- Alan Clayton (Guitar & Vocals – The Dirty Strangers)
- James Sedwards (Guitar – Nøught / Thurston Moore Group)
- Steve Fly (Drums / Project Management) [1, 2]
🎛️ Post-Production & Studio Additions (Not at Kingston College)
These artists contributed either by having their work sampled and re-contextualized by Youth (often pulling from overlapping studio sessions), or by tracking their vocals/instruments directly at Youth’s private home studio: [1, 2]
Jesse Wood – Guitar.
Youth (Martin Glover) – Played bass on all tracks, programmed electronic layers, and acted as the main producer.
Michael Rendall – Keyboards, synthesizers, and engineering.
Bobby Gillespie – Lead vocals/guest vocals on “Culture-Cide” (pulled in from Primal Scream sessions).
Primal Scream – Provided programming and instrumentation for “Culture-Cide”.
The View – The Scottish indie rock band provided the prominent backing chorus hook on “Culture-Cide”.
Howard Marks – Spoken word vocals on “War On Drugs” and “Culture-Cide”.
Zodiac Mindwarp (Mark Manning) – Guest vocals.
Mark Stewart – Guest vocals (The Pop Group).
Robb Spragg (Larry Love) – Vocals on “Culture-Cide” (from Alabama 3).
Angie Brown – Insidious soul choruses and backing vocals.
drummer Steve Fly (Steven James Pratt) recorded his primary contributions during the March 1, 2011 session at Kingston College of Music. He served as a main drummer, project manager, and executive producer for the Beatnik Youth project. [1, 2]
He plays drums on the following tracks:
- “Brilliant Corners”
- “Change My Life”
- “Sitarrtha” (where he uses dampened sticks on the toms)
- “Red Dress (Ruby My Dear)” (where he provides a softer, ambient jazz texture using brushes) [1, 2]
