STAIRWAY TO NOWHERE
Stairway To Nowhere is the true story of the original line-up of Birmingham band Fàshiön, 1978-80. It also has a downside.
Fàshiön toured UK and USA w/The Police,U2,B52s,Squeeze,John Cooper Clark & played w/many other top bands incl.Ramones,DuranDuran,Cramps, Stranglers Stairway To Nowhere is the true story of late 1970's Birmingham band Fàshiön. The book tells the story of how four young, unemployed working class gits from the gutters of Brum donned make-up, attitude, weird clothes and swaggered forth to escape the d
30/12/2023
Excellent review of my current band's third album. BILLIONS by THIS TWISTED WRECKAGE. Happy New Year. Luke😎
https://takeeffectreviews.com/december-2023-4/2023/12/28/billions?fbclid=IwAR1KOnJghFkpDGxalIIxtrvrZAsHSvTgbtRwY-FxI2coAZLMHLHBk5TjUjc
Music reviews- Take Effect Billions Self-Released, 2023 8/10 Listen to Billions The duo of the vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Luke ‘Skyscraper’ James and the musician and arranger Ricky Humphrey, as This Twisted Wreckage the pair make a very distinct version of punk, alt-rock and even industrial like sounds via their
04/12/2023
In the three and a half years that I've had the privilege of being in a band with Ricky Humphrey we have released 4 albums and 17 singles. By my reckoning that means we still have over 100 other songs recorded and yet to be released. (Not counting the 3 we're currently working on.)
3x10=29, by This Twisted Wreckage 10 track album
WHAT'S LUKE UP TO NOW?!
The brand new THIS TWISTED WRECKAGE album 3x10=29 will be out Nov 24th on Bandcamp (download and limited run CD) and on all major stealing services. 10 three minute bangers to rip ya face off and have you pogoing around the asylum!
This Twisted Wreckage's new album "3x10=29" is out any day now. But why the title? The Voodude explains all (or does he?)in the first comment! 🎩
30/09/2023
Top of his class at The John Cage Music Academy. Check the first comment to find out which singer was expelled from this kid's class for yodelling during silence lessons!
26/09/2023
Brand new THIS TWISTED WRECKAGE. On fire but dreaming of clear blue skies.
BURNING RED SKY
https://youtu.be/XaAEokWOdRQ?si=uvWLrBQXO8T7HM8y
19/06/2023
WHAT'S LUKE UP TO NOW?
Here's the latest single from This Twisted Wreckage - it's called SHE COMES TO ME.
https://youtu.be/IXmcM1wcxEA
Also available at https://thistwistedwreckage.bandcamp.com/track/she-comes-to-me
Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did writing and recording it! ❤️
Luke
Direct from This Twisted Wreckage to your ears and eyes - our new single
SHE COMES TO ME
Please check it out, like, share, subscribe but mostly hope y'all enjoy it! ❤️
https://youtu.be/IXmcM1wcxEA
05/05/2023
What's Luke Up To Now?
THIS TWISTED WRECKAGE third album BILLIONS is released today! Please check it out.🙏🖤
https://thistwistedwreckage.bandcamp.com/album/billions
Special edition CDs are available for purchase, as well as the download.
29/04/2023
Until our new album BILLIONS is released May 5, we thought we'd try a bit of lighter satire - here's a naughty little fun number from THIS TWISTED WRECKAGE.
https://youtu.be/NQgFzSJP4gQ
We don't need ANOTHER POP SONG
Here it is! 😁 Please share 🙏❤️
Another Pop Song by This Twisted Wreckage Another Pop Song by This Twisted WreckageCheck out our new album here:https://thistwistedwreckage.bandcamp.com/album/the-way-ahead-is-clearWritten and perfor...
28/04/2023
WHAT'S LUKE UP TO NOW?
May 5th brand NEW album "BILLIONS" from "THIS TWISTED WRECKAGE" CDs available!
https://thistwistedwreckage.bandcamp.com/album/billions
Massive thanks in advance for checking us out! We loves ya! 👍❤️
BILLIONS, by This Twisted Wreckage 12 track album
03/02/2023
WHAT'S LUKE UP TO NOW?
A BRAND NEW SINGLE.
IWISHIKNEW by This Twisted Wreckage.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=hQ0c0v0gnf0&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE
Please check it out, subscribe, share, comment - available now on Bandcamp and all streaming services. Thanks for helping keep me going!
IWISHIKNEW by This Twisted Wreckage SINGLE IWISHIKNEW by This Twisted WreckageThis track is available at Bandcamp.Written and performed byThis Twisted WreckageProduced by This Twisted Wreckage© 2022 T...
28/01/2023
WHAT'S LUKE UP TO NOW?
https://youtu.be/b4WNpEDc92Q
Here's a new video for a track from our first album EI8HT. It's called DIGGING IN THE SAME HOLE, another THIS TWISTED WRECKAGE mini-movie. Our albums EI8HT and THE WAY AHEAD IS CLEAR are available on Bandcamp. Thank you for checking us out, please share, subscribe and comment! ❤️
Digging The Same Hole by This Twisted Wreckage DIGGING THE SAME HOLE by This Twisted WreckageThis track is available on our our debut album Ei8ht available here:https://thistwistedwreckage.bandcampWritten...
15/11/2022
Had a great time talking with Neil Saint about the early days of my band Fàshiön music. He starts the show off by playing TECHNO SAVAGE by my current band This Twisted Wreckage. More to come about TTW. Thanks Neil.
RETROPOPIC 777 - LUKE SKYSCRAPER: MY EARLIEST DAYS, FASHION & PRODUCT PERFECT Alongside music from The Kinks, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Clash, Roxy Music, The Police, Duran Duran. The Cramps and Fashion, The Saint of RETROPOPIC RADIO talks with Luke Skyscraper about his earliest days in music including his time as the founder member of post punk group Fashion. Where do...
15/07/2022
Fàshiön Live on "Look! Hear!" -1979 Fashion perform the song Product Perfect live on Look! Hear! (1979) Show host Toyah Wilcox. (Song copyright Fashion, video copyright The Beeb)
Hey everybody - Luke Skyscraper James and Ricky Humphrey's band: THIS TWISTED WRECKAGE ARE BACK!!!
https://this-twisted-wreckage.com
Check out our new website for 3 HOT new songs and videos and much more
06/05/2022
Tomorrow I will be doing an interview with The Post Punk Monk. We'll be talking about the Fàshiön music releases on Easy Action Records. There may be some talk of unlikely episodes that weren't included in my book Stairway To Nowhere, as well as news of my latest band This Twisted Wreckage! https://postpunkmonk.com/2022/05/04/record-review-a-focus-on-fashion-phase-one-gives-us-fashion-music-reissued-and-expanded-uk-2xcd-part-3/
06/08/2021
WHAT'S LUKE UP TO NOW?
GO TO SLEEP / TELESCOPES by The Ghost of Luke James is NOW available on Bandcamp.
https://lukeskyscraperjames.bandcamp.com/album/go-to-sleep-inc-telescopes
Please consider listening and, if y'all like it, purchase and download.
Many thanks from Luke Skyscraper James and Eric S. Anderson
GO TO SLEEP INC./TELESCOPES, by Luke Skyscraper James 2 track album
From the new book about John Peel's shows. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/28/good-night-good-riddance-review-john-peel-david-cavanagh
Fiction Factory by Fàshiön music
Fiction Factory by Fàshiön music from the never released 2nd album. Images are from Birmingham, New York, and Los Angeles
https://youtu.be/oXyY-T7nXIY
FICTION FACTORY was a track recorded in 1980 for the never released 2nd Fàshiön music album. Images are from Fàshiön's journery from Birmingham to New York t...
Narc 'n' Scabs Last Gig
The sci-fi sequel to Stairway To Nowhere! https://www.scribd.com/document/41632105/Narc-n-Scabs-Last-Gig
scribd.com An excerpt from my sci-fi novel "A Walk In The Dark" ... which would make a jolly good movie if everyone I'd like to be in it wasn't dead!
FASHION - DO IT IN THE DARK.wmv
Cassette tapes of rough mixes from the never released 2nd Fashion album (we were working on it when I "disappeared" ) include this song "Do It In The Dark". Video has shots from mainly New York shows 1979 including CBGBs with Patti Smith.https://youtu.be/cUi9dcETfcE
http://www.bgitpress.com DO IT IN THE DARK - Another lost original line-up Fáshiön music song unearthed-images are from CBGBS and The Diplomat Hotel, NYC 197...
The Photos-Luke come back
One of the biggest compliments anyone ever paid me. After I did my runner from Fashion, The Photos recorded this track. Produced by Tony Visconti. It has a sample of our first single Steady Eddie Steady at the end. https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2F7A0DTELh8F4&h=ATOWhCZnI8wETj6rCXkPTmHMNDjBsNqRbDUzXAi1COZB1il4mtTneGJwlnbYBGP-FRo1tusxHUsKrOHnAKoWJOD9Fxg85vUHeEqI4jyUfmMYdZf7rMoYxhgFC9crIJzfc5D1i7hspKv57VyBnwZJFauL&enc=AZPRGas8D1XiufOaYm2zUXHtU7nhAu1mv36ax1_GUCHtRo1sjI4mCr3Iy98pIJMYWO3--n9aVH3y9cR9GeeTY-ZozuksYQGvKSHKd00A5wgBeiOSc5lGWjXa-pkYbW2afRC5Wv-i6if5z7NvtLJEZvHCCeEQk2fXpZbCMRyd4trXt-Vvq9tEqCpxdcmYKiORY3WCbB-RSYO-mdjUkafFPpDrk5pUhFzi7ZnzfC370a0SXN6GUaT-6n-VmYDT-Hiz9alVQEh1y5GjgUjongCRctvGBjwyVl_bpFxwXHD7c7qFzms8_Ga1jwWcncS6wRyCXTXWqwJMByfuujc4HRCpflpJuDQLx_B_SmTX9aQ7BdIaWMUvyBJxSU2HV3EkrAW8nkcYHGuWQ-6wybvBa8xGbg7KDmlp3IuqrPxJFJjabt1IOQ&s=1
Power pop
Here's a Faulty Products band catalog cover from late 70s. A pre-computer paste-up job. Notice that just below "Fashion" it says "sods" - little comment on how we were thought of by our label! ;) We were!
Mulligan at the Wasp synth. Another of Richard Galbraith's excellent photographs from our gig with The Police at Cains Ballroom, Tulsa, OK 1979. BTW check out Richard's unique photo book on the band Kiss http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/richardgalbraith
Some excellent photographs from the Fashion gig with The Police at Cains Ballroom, Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1979. Many thanks to photographer Richard Galbraith who FB page has a wealth of wonderful shots of the many bands who played the venue! Read about this gig in my book Stairway To Nowhere: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/lukenow
Backstage encounter with Police guitarist Andy Summers at Hammersmith Odeon (as it was then) during our support on Message In A Bottle tour 1979 http://www.lulu.com/shop/luke-james/stairway-to-nowhere/paperback/product-22533806.html
Fashion and The B52s- Lyceum, London,1979
STAIRWAY TO NOWHERE by LukeSkyscraper James
BUY HERE: http://www.lulu.com/…/stair…/paperback/product-22533806.html
Later that week, there are two reviews in particular of the B52s Lyceum show in the music press, one in Sounds and the other in NME. I clip and carry these reviews in a vain attempt to remind myself that the whole media circ
us is just a load of old bo****ks.
Sounds then, proclaims that on that night’s showing Fàshiön are the true hope for the future of pop music, while the B52’s are a bunch of lame, squawking ducks. Our songs and musical abilities, our stage show, vocals, and style are praised to the heavens...
“Luke stepping around the stage like a vacant giraffe crooning some of the finest vocals this side of Nat King Cole ...”
NME, on the other hand, who’s stance is to loudly disagree with anything Sounds says, laudsthe mighty B52’s and lays waste to Fàshiön’s performance, calling us shallow and contrived, ...
“These jesters probably think that theirs is the future of music.”
Well all subjective bu****it aside Nick Kunt, yes we do actually. Or is it going to be yours? What’s that? You don’t play an instrument? You can’t sing? You haven’t written any songs? You’re not in a band? Well, not to worry, yow marmy fekker, your ego’s obviously big enough to take you right to the top sans talent. What a load of dick!
Fashion and The Cure- Marquee Club - 1979
STAIRWAY TO NOWHERE by LukeSkyscraper James
BUY HERE: http://www.lulu.com/shop/luke-james/stairway-to-nowhere/paperback/product-22533806.html
Excerpt #10
“It’s mobbed out there.” Miki says as he sidles into the backstage corridor that is the Marquee Club dressing room.
The narrow space is cluttered with instrument cases and jostling bits of The Cure. I suppose that must make us The Disease then, eh?
“I wouldn’t bother mate,” I tell Robert Smith.
He’s sitting next to me daubing lipstick around his gob. His hair alone takes up half the dressing room.
“I mean I used to use the old lipstick as well. But I was just leaving it on the microphone. End of the first number and I wasn’t wearing any, was I. Waste of time and money.”
“You mean you actually let the microphone touch your mouth?” he asks. "Do you have any idea some of the places all the other mouths that have touched that microphone have been?"
I consider possible answers to this question.
“You see, I told you it was me taking all the risks up there.” I tell Dik, who’s sitting on the other side of me, losing a hair teasing competition with Smith. “And he’s killed an Arab, and all, so I bet he knows whereof he speaks.”
We play a blinding set, perched on the edge of a stage that towers above a boiling pit of punks, and get two encores; but the DJ only let us play one before he bangs on a record. Luckily, the old spitting as a sign of approval is dying down a bit – but at the Marquee we are so far above the crowd most of them probably couldn’t have reached us anyway.
STAIRWAY TO NOWHERE
Installment #9
When Mulligan answers his front door I think for a second that he’s gone all geisha, white-face in his latest attempt to look different, but then I realize it’s just the effect of the UV light bulb in his hallway. He’s decked out in a zebra stripe shirt, black leather trousers, and Docs, his hair is a platinum firework. He’s shaved his eyebrows off again. Along with my fluorescent white teeth, fingernails, and dandruff, I step into Fàshiön HQ.
In the living room, I see he’s added a fourth TV set to the stack of tellies balanced precariously against the back wall.
“You want to try getting a toaster and vacuum cleaner up there as well, John. Dead multi-media that’d be.”
Drummer Dik Davis looks quite dapper with backcombed, jet black rats nest hair, sporting a new mid-blue suit, dotted here and there with primary-color geometric shapes, and Docs. His eyebrows are drawn a good two inches above the ones he’s shaved off. He’s chopping out tiny lines of white powder on the chipped glass coffee table.
“Tut tut. Who’s a naughty boy then.” I chide.
BUY BOOK HERE: http://www.lulu.com/shop/luke-james/stairway-to-nowhere/paperback/product-22533806.html
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