Shindig 15 is like a reversable raincoat, you can wear it two different ways.
Featuring two groups at the polar opposite ends of pop music, The Hollies and Ramones, Shindig! has decided to put them both on the cover... at polar opposites. It’s a two-way cover which can be displayed either way up.

The Hollies
“We’re about as psychedelic as a pint of beer wit’ lads!”
By mid-1966 THE HOLLIES were riding high as one of the UK’s most popular and successful bands. ‘Bus Stop’ was the latest in an unbroken three-year run of hit singles at home. It topped the charts in Sweden and Canada, became a huge hit in Australia, Norway and Germany and – crucially – was the first Hollies single to go Top
Five in the states.
The next two years would see the band – one of the most inexplicably overlooked and underrated of the decade – ditch some of their showbiz trappings and embark on a brave journey of experimentation that saw them become world-class songwriters, sonic adventurers in the studio and, ultimately, a unit too eclectic to survive.
ANDY MORTEN talks to guitarist TONY HICKS and drummer BOBBY ELLIOTT about “the flower power bit”.

The Ramones
“We’re too real for radio. They play safe stuff that won’t upset anybody.”
1-2-3-4! THE RAMONES were the "bubblegum band gone bad" that stripped pop down to its barest bones, fed it on caffeine and sugar, invented punk and laid down the template for legions of future garage bands.
KRIS NEEDS got to know the guys well after covering their July 4th, 1976 Roundhouse gig with The Flamin' Groovies. A friendship blossomed and, in the first part of our two-pronged feature, Kris remembers what made The Ramones so special.
In the second part of the feature, American writer LARRY JAFFEE's previously unpublished 1985 interview with JOEY and DEE DEE RAMONE, where the guys discuss their favourite ’60s music, Rock ’n’ Roll High School and why they could never be famous in the USA.

The Bosstown Sound
PATRICK CURRAN first heard records by Ultimate Spinach, The Beacon Street Union and Orpheus on John Peel’s Top Gear radio show in the late ’60s and was so impressed that he bought the albums, unaware of the critical backlash they were already receiving.
In the first part of this encyclopaedic study Patrick introduced the notion and corruption of The Bosstown Sound, and then focused on the original slew of acts signed by MGM.
In the wake of the MGM blitz many other national labels jumped on bands from the region and, over the next eight pages we look at those signed to ABC, Capitol, Mainstream, Verve, Vanguard and their ilk.

The Incredible String Band
ADRIAN WHITTAKER talks to JOE BOYD about the highly anticipated reissues of THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND’s big four.
The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion - the ultimate psychedelic album cover?
WILL HODGKINSON ponders the moment of THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND’s discovery.

Popol Vuh
Krautrockers who worked with maverick director Werner Herzog on his film
soundtracks. POPOL VUH was the perfect musical companion to Herzog’ s skewed cinematic vision.
STUART HEANEY charts the duality between soundscape and film.

Stephen Stills
The angry protagonist of the love and peace era, founding member of Buffalo Springfield and CSN, author of the anthemic ‘For What It’s Worth’ and newly revitalised guitar god, STEPHEN STILLS talks to MIKE FORNATALE about the new Manassas
releases, hating ‘Bluebird’, not being “cranked out” and loving Neil Young.
He's far funnier than you may at first imagine...

SHINDIG! N0.15 • MARCH-APRIL 2010