Iain Key’s Indie Brunch this weekend on Louder Than War Radio will celebrate Anthony H. Wilson, who passed away 17 years ago on 10th August 2007. His main show, going out between 11-1pm, will be a 2-hour mix of music released on Factory Records. In addition there will be a previously unheard 90min interview with Anthony H. Wilson recorded in early 1995 available on Mixcloud from 4pm.
Iain picks up the story… “Back in 1994-5 I was studying at Newark & Sherwood College. A fellow student, Ian Thomas, and I decided our ‘final project’ would be ‘The Incomplete History of Factory Records.’ Aiming high we got the phone number for the Factory office (then Factory Too in Little Peter Street) and called to see if there would be an opportunity to interview Tony Wilson. To our amazement it was Tony who answered the phone and was only too happy to help and invited us over to see him when we’d be next in Manchester. A couple of weeks later, on Friday 3rd March, we found ourselves, camcorder in hand, waiting for Tony to arrive back from an award ceremony in London with his then PA, Bridgit Chapman giving us regular updates on his ETA. Ian did the talking and was in front of the camera whilst my main role was to point it in the right direction and make sure it kept recording. I also had the job afterwards of transcribing it for our coursework, which meant the tape has stayed in my possession.”
“Obviously this was pre smartphones, social media, and the internet being as it is now, during the interview Tony actually talks about working with Phillips to create Multimedia CD-Roms for the next Durutti Column release! We didn’t even think to take a normal camera to take a few pictures…”
Little did Iain also expect, many years later, to writing for Louder Than War and presenting a radio show. It was only when approached by film-maker Nathan Cunningham a couple of months ago regarding footage for a forthcoming project did the Anthony Wilson VHS resurface, which Nathan’s director, Greg Bass took to digitise.
“It struck me with the anniversary of Tony’s passing a couple of months away it would be only fitting to ‘do something’ with it,” says Iain, “I wasn’t sure what to expect but wasn’t surprised that the footage that its very 1995 camcorder quality, more family home movie than broadcast standard! I was surprised that the interview lasts nearly 90 mins though. It finds Tony in a relaxed and conversational mood talking about his career as a journalist as well as Factory amongst other things. Whilst the quality isn’t perfect, it’s listenable”.
Iain does stress that the ‘video’ element of the project which led to them interviewing Tony in 1995 was more Ian’s than his. “Unfortunately, I lost contact with Ian Thomas after we’d left college and haven’t been able to find him online. If he’s reading this, I hope he gets in touch, I’m sure he won’t mind me allowing people to hear this previously unheard recording with the man who has had a degree of influence on us all, especially to mark the anniversary of his passing.”
Tune in to Louder Than War’s Mixcloud from 4pm on Saturday 10th August here
You can find Iain Key on X (Twitter) as @iainkey and see his LTW author profile here
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