Hopelessly Devoted to Them

Of all the ramblings I’ve posted on Mint Custard it’s fair to say that the most read has been June’s piece on the Housemartins mini-reunion for the Radcliffe and Maconie Show and Mojo magazine. Over twenty people a day are still popping by, although I won’t flatter myself that it’s due to the quality of my writing.

However, it does warm the cockles of my heart to know that hundreds of people from all around the world care enough about Paul, Stan, Hugh, Norman and Dave to type ‘Housemartins Reunion’ hopefully into Google, looking for some good news. Sadly for them they end up at my lonely outpost of the internet with no more hope of seeing them play again than they started with. Hopefully they still got the same joys as I did from hearing the interview and seeing the pictures of a band seemingly both proud of and at ease with their past.

Paul, Norman, Hugh and Stan – Summer 2009 (with thanks again to Kipjaz for the photo)

Still, it’s understandable that the band have reservations about playing together again, even for a short while. After all, this is the band who stuck to their three year plan to call it quits at the top with the immortal words 'in an age of Rick Astley, Shakin' Stevens and the Pet Shop Boys, quite simply they weren't good enough.’ Life shouldn’t be lived in the past and reunions are rarely as good as people hope they will be. Still, you can’t help but feel that the personalities involved would ensure this was something special and not a tacky cash-in. One show at the Adelphi in Hull as a benefit would be lovely… as long as I got a ticket.

I still don’t think it will happen, but if there’s anyone from Universal Mercury reading this please take note of the huge amount of goodwill out there for Hull’s finest. They deserve better than the threadbare 2004 Best of and the opportunistic joint Beautiful South compilation Soup and I hope the great reaction to the remastered London 0 Hull 4 shows that any other gems you’ve got hanging around in the archives will be gratefully received. And not just by me…

The September issue of Mojo magazine featuring the Housemartins reunion interview is out now in the UK. It might reach Australia by Christmas… to help pass the time here’s Think for a Minute; my favourite Housemartins video and a great example of why less is always more…