When legendary Radio 1 DJ John Peel died suddenly in 2004, it left a
musical and cultural void that has never quite been filled. As several
generations of indie-kids weaned on groundbreaking obscurities ranging
from DIY post-punk to dub reggae, techno and experimental noise went
into, mourning, it became increasingly apparent just how much Peel
changed the landscape of popular culture forever.
One of those who knew this already was writer and some-time performance
poet John Osborne, whose very personal one man homage, John Peel's
Shed, was one of the most heartfelt mini hits of last year's Edinburgh
Festival Fringe. Inspired in part by Osborne's book, Radio Head: Up and
Down the Dial of British Radio, which charted his experience listening
to a different radio station every day, John Peel's Shed was an
appropriately lo-fi geek's-eye view of a record-buying subculture which
has since gone viral.
It's only fitting, then, that Osborne's current tour of John Peel's
Shed arrives in Scotland for a quartet of one-night stands mere weeks
after the launch of The John Peel Archive. This major interactive
website will in time enable browsers to rifle through Peel's record
collection one letter at a time, opening up future generations to a
pandora's box of eclectica beyond the X-Factor mainstream. Such an
archive is vital on an emotional level as much as a historical one, as
Osborne explains.
“People remember John Peel with such affection,” he says, “and
something like this is kind of intriguing and fascinating for John Peel
fans. But I suppose there's been lots of things that have happened
since his death, like the John Peel Centre for the Arts in Lowestoft
and things like that. John Peel really has tapped into something. His
death seemed to affect everyone. I don't think there's a death that's
affected so many people. People can really pinpoint where they were
when they heard what happened, and I think a lot of people realised
just how important he was, whereas before I think we probably took him
for granted. But this site goes some way to making amends for that, and
I think it's in the right hands.”
If Osborne hadn't won a box of Peel's own records in a competition back
in 2002, it's unlikely that his ongoing adventure in radio would have
borne such fruit. This is the nub of a show that sees an initially
nervy-looking Osborne appear to grow in stature as he goes deeper and
deeper into his sonic adventure, spinning tunes and providing facts and
figures as he goes. This has been the case too, it seems, for the
production itself as it has developed.
“After the book came out, the first incarnation of the show was on my
local community radio station,” Osborne says, “and that all came
together really naturally after I'd started thinking how I'd do
something similar to the book differently if I did it live. The best
album ideas all come together really quickly, and it was the same with
this, but I never expected it to become as big as it has done. I've
done poetry gigs for the last five years, so Edinburgh wasn't unknown
to me, but I'm not an actor or a natural performer, and I'd never
written a full length show. It's also really personal, about my
relationship with John Peel and this box of records, so I needed
someone to look at it objectively in a way that I couldn't, because I
didn't really know what I was doing.”
Osborne emailed his early scripts to Joe Dunthorne, author of the
novel, Submarine, and a friend from Homework, a spoken-word night at
Bethnal Green Workingmen's Club, where both are resident performers.
Together the pair gave John Peel's Shed dramatic shape.
“There's a record played in it every ten minutes,” Osborne points out,
“so it feels like you're writing five ten-minute pieces. In a way it's
a double-act, with me and this record player doing the show together.
So overall it's become a lot better, because I'm more confident now as
a performer. The passionate bits are more passionate, and the funny
bits are funnier. It's different to when I did it in Edinburgh. I'm
more comfortable and relaxed onstage now, so in a way the hard bit's
over.”
Like Dunthorne and the other Homework residents, Osborne is one of an
increasing number of performers whose work comes from a hybrid of live
art, spoken-word and what in punk days of yore was called alternative
cabaret rather than a formal theatrical root. Just the sort of thing,
then, that might have ended up on Peel's programme alongside the likes
of John Cooper-Clarke, Ted Chippington and American monologist Eric
Bogosian.
Osborne cites the likes of Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner Tim Key, Ross
Sutherland of live poetry collective Aisle16, and ubiquitous left-field
stand-up Josie Long as his peers and fellow travellers. All three, like
Osborne, sit between several stools, genre-wise, and you get the
impression from him that this is a quirky but comfortable place to be.
“I just like things that you can't really explain what they are or
categorise them in any way,” he says. “They just do their own thing.”
Even as Osborne gears up for this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe
dates, as with many bands played by Peel who hit the big time, Osborne
is gearing up for his equivalent of the difficult second album.
“It's slightly scary,” Osborne admits, “but there are some difficult
second albums that work. I'm writing another book and another show at
the moment, and I just want to try and make enough time and have enough
energy to do something really good. I've got a lot of good people
around me who I can try things out with and talk to about stuff, so I'm
really lucky in that respect, but I don't want to rush into things
either.”
As for John Peel's Shed, “I think it's something I'll always perform,
but this year's Edinburgh dates are definitely going to be the last for
some time. I imagine I'll do it for special occasions, and I know I
really owe a lot to John Peel's Shed, but for the time being I think
it's right to put it to bed for a while and move on to something else.”
As for the great man himself, his legacy is everywhere to see and hear.
This isn't just in the ongoing archive and numerous websites
documenting the sessions and other arcana that made Peel's programme so
unique. It's apparent in a culture that in some ways seems more
prepared to look beyond the mainstream, even as sounds Peel revealed to
the world three decades ago trickle down to inspire younger generations
of sonic explorers.
“The gap left by John Peel's not been filled by an individual
presenter,” Osborne points out, “but by an entire station. That's what
6Music is about and that's what it's for. It doesn't matter whether
it's Lauren Laverne or Marc Riley or Gideon Coe presenting. You can
hear the spirit of John Peel in every show.”
John Peel's Shed, Lemon Tree, Aberdeen May 22; Perth Theatre, May 23;
Paisley Arts Centre, May 25; Tron Theatre, Glasgow, May 26; Underbelly,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Aug 7 to 12.
www.tron.co.uk
www.johnpeelsshed.com
The Herald, May 22nd 2012
ends
Comments