Uncut – October 2023

Tom Waits, David Bowie, Sinéad O’Connor, the Breeders, The Coral, Warren Zevon and much more

By Michael Bonner

Tom Waits, David Bowie, Sinéad O’Connor, Neil Young, The Breeders, The Coral, Warren Zevon, Margo Cilker and more all feature in the new Uncut, dated October 2023 and in UK shops from August 10 or available to buy online now.

All copies come with a free, 12-track CD of the month’s best new music including tracks from Wilco, Teenage Fanclub, Jaimie Branch, PG Six , Buddy & Julie Miller, Slowdive and more.

INSIDE THIS MONTH’S UNCUT

TOM WAITS: Step right up for a Tom Waits extravaganza! First up, Keith Richards, shares memories of his close friend and occasional partner-in-crime – “When Tom and I met it was like falling off a log…” Then, we dig deep into Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and Frank’s Wild Years – a groundbreaking trio of albums, full of devilled blues, crepuscular weirdness and moonstruck laments – in the company of Waits’ closest collaborators to discover the untold stories behind this audacious artistic year zero.

DAVID BOWIE: When David Bowie took the Ziggy Stardust tour to Hammersmith Odeon for the final time on July 3 1973, the fans came in their thousands. Fifty years after the gig, and with a new version of DA Pennebaker’s film in cinemas, we speak to fans, Spiders, Bowie’s friends and future punks about one of rock’n’roll’s most famous shows.

THE BREEDERS: The Ohio originals are celebrating 30 years of the still-thrilling Last Splash with a top-spec vinyl reissue and American tour. Here, the band and their peers establish why “Cannonball” and “Divine Hammer” remain such potent weapons – and why, despite Kim Deal’s upcoming solo album, the ‘classic’ Breeders line-up that made them are stronger than ever.

THE CORAL: Poised to release their 12th and 13th albums on the same day, the Mersey maverick explain how Cillian Murphy, John Simm and a 1948 Fender tweed amplifier joined the cast of their latest double feature. As frontman James Skelly observes, “you can go anywhere, in your mind…”

WARREN ZEVON: In this unpublished interview from 1990, Zevon talks frankly about the mingling of chaos in art and life, to writing rock ‘n’ roll, and the attraction of songs about mercenaries – however select the audience for that may be. “When people say to me, ‘Don’t you wish you were popular with more people?’”, says Zevon, “I say no.”

MARGO CILKER: At 30, Margo Cilker has already lived several lives, documenting them engagingly in her crisp country-rock songs. From her childhood home in Santa Clara, California – the of her new album title – via Cornwall, Bilbao and Carolina, she seems to have found some semblance of stability on a horse farm in the Pacific Northwest. But for how long?

AN AUDIENCE WITH… TERRY REID: He helped assemble Led Zeppelin, got loaded with Bowie, and Chuck Berry stole his amp – Superlungs has seen it all…

THE MAKING OF “ON WAY GLASS” BY MANFRED MANN’S CHAPTER THREE: ’60s hitmakers turn their back on pop and summon a colossal, brassy groove.

ALBUM BY ALBUM WITH CHARLES LLOYD: The pioneering saxophonist’s long musical journey: “I don’t live in the past”.

MY LIFE IN MUSIC WITH THE WALKMEN: Frontman Hamilton Leithauser on his earliest musical gurus: “I’ll defend Jim Morrison to the death.”

REVIEWED Slowdive, Pretenders, Wilco, Allison Russell, Jamie Branch, Buck Meek, PG Six, Sparklehorse, Cardiacs, The Runways, Neil Young, Pulp, Echo & The Bunnymen, T.Rex and more

PLUS Sinéad O’Connor, Twink, End Of The Road Festival preview, Tymon Dogg and introducing former Youth Poet Laureate, Kara Jackson.

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