Latest news with #GaryKemp
Irish Times
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Story of a Song review: How Spandau Ballet's Through the Barricades emerged from the Troubles
There's a surreal scene halfway through the latest episode of Aistear an Amhráin ( RTÉ One , Tuesday at 7pm), where the 1983 funeral of Belfast music roadie Thomas 'Kidso' Reilly is attended by big-haired pop threesome Bananarama. Two universes collided: Northern Ireland in the darkest days of the Troubles and the carefree world of London pop. 'This bubbly fun trio – why were they carrying wreathes?' wonders a friend of Kidso, who had gone to London to escape the grim reality of the Troubles and became acquainted with pop stars such as Bananarama and Spandau Ballet , then in their first flush of success as leaders of the New Romantic scene. Aistear an Amhráin is a documentary series unpacking the history of some of Ireland and the world's best-loved songs. It is the sort of show RTÉ should make more of. Clocking in at just 30 minutes, it doesn't wear out its welcome, and its selection of music is wide-ranging, with this season encompassing the old republican dirge Grace and the unofficial Cork sport's anthem , After All by the Frank and Walters. Episode three delves into Through the Barricades, the Spandau Ballet lament for barriers and prejudice that songwriter Gary Kemp reveals was informed by the shooting dead of Reilly by a British soldier. READ MORE 'I visited Kidso's grave,' remembers Kemp. He describes his dismay at the peace lines that divided Belfast by religion. 'I was shocked by the barricades stopping you crossing from one area into the next. I'd never seen anything like that. The resonance of seeing that, his [Reilly's] little photograph [on the headstone]. Very powerful [and] poignant. [It] stayed with me as an experience stronger than anything.' The episode has the challenging task of celebrating the chunky-quiffed pop of Spandau Ballet while also acknowledging the tragedy of Reilly's death – an innocent man whose killer would become the first British soldier tried and convicted of murder. 'My father had to sit through the whole trial and listen to the details, and listen to that British soldier blacken his son's name,' recalls Reilly's brother, Jim (who played drums for Belfast punk group Stiff Little Fingers). 'Make his son – who he had murdered in cold blood – out to be the perpetrator and him the victim.' The Irish influence on Through the Barricades goes beyond Belfast. In the mid-1980s, Spandau Ballet briefly became tax exiles in Dublin . In his digs in Stillorgan, Kemp was seized by a moment of inspiration and bashed out the tune over a few hours. He recalls tipping a hat to WB Yeat s with the line, 'It's a terrible beauty we've made'. 'Yeats, right,' he enthuses. Then, with heaviness in his voice, he adds: 'A terrible beauty encapsulated Ireland perfectly'.
The Independent
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Inside the Spandau Ballet feud: ‘That was a very hard meeting'
Singer Tony Hadley has described the short-lived Spandau Ballet reunion as "bloody difficult" due to his feud with lead guitarist Gary Kemp. The new-wave band originally split in 1987 but reunited from 2009-2015, when Hadley quit, citing reasons beyond his control. The former frontman said differences between himself and Kemp could not be resolved, saying: 'There's always two in a band that have a fallout and that was a very hard meeting between the two of us.' After Hadley's departure, Spandau Ballet hired Ross Davidson as the new lead singer. Kemp has expressed a desire for Hadley to return to Spandau Ballet, to which Hadley said: 'You should have thought about that before, mate.'
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Gary Kemp uses AI in music video because ‘record companies won't fund them'
Gary Kemp has defended the use of artificial intelligence in his music video, saying that record companies will not fund this type of content. The Spandau Ballet star, 65, released the video for the track This Destination – featuring fake London commuters generated using AI in a rainy city landscape – on Friday. While speaking to BBC One morning show BBC Breakfast about his new album This Destination, Kemp said 'there's no actors' in the footage, and it has been created using the lyrics in the song. He also said: 'I wouldn't have been able to make a video because people just want backstage, behind the scenes and record companies aren't going to pay for big videos, so just seemed a good opportunity to explore that.' Kemp said that he would 'draw the line', and 'would never dream of writing lyrics with AI or writing music with AI'. He added: 'Art, especially words… we listen to it and because we read it, because we don't want to feel alone. 'We want to feel there's someone else out there who has the same issues that we have and has encapsulated it in a poem or in lyric or in book, if it's a machine.' When asked about Sir Paul McCartney's criticism of AI use, Kemp said that he has no interest in generating lyrics as they 'come first for me'. 'Other people hopefully will listen to those lyrics and go understand that I'm that person too,' he added. At the weekend, Sir Paul warned on BBC One's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that young artists do not have ownership of their own music, saying 'anyone who wants can just rip it off'. The 82-year-old Beatles star also pleaded with the Government over the AI consultation, which includes plans which could allow AI firms to scrape media companies' content, unless they specifically opt out. He said that 'if you're putting through a Bill, make sure you protect the creative thinkers, the creative artists, or you're not going to have them'. His words were also backed by Sir Elton John, who told the Sunday Times the 'wheels are in motion to allow AI companies to ride roughshod over the traditional copyright laws that protect artists' livelihoods'. This marks one of three AI music videos directed by Mike Bennion for Kemp. As the latest video was released, Bennion said: 'Each of Gary's tracks which I directed videos for have a traveling motif in the lyrics and I echoed that in the visuals, but gave each one its own look. 'This one had a documentary approach. The idea was various people trying to get home on a London night bus. I was fascinated by the AI technology's ability to render convincing moving lights on glass and through condensation.' As songwriter and guitarist for Spandau Ballet, Kemp has worked on 10 UK top 10 singles and eight UK top 10 albums, with the band best known for songs such as Gold and UK number one True. His last album was 2021's Insolo.
