FAC-2 John Dowie by Ian McCartney

[Seaside]

John Dowie
by Ian McCartney (aka The Fac-2 Owners' CLub)

Welcome to the seaside - aka the c-side - you are now 3 sides in and have been catapulted into the brand new world of Factory Records, the needle making its way thru these three tracks; Acne, Idiot, Hitler's Liver - past the second run-off iteration of an important word: "everything".

Welcome to the seaside: it's the end of the 1970s, but not the end of the pier. That Factory chose John Dowie for this quarter of A Factory Sample, in light of what came to pass, is telling. Telling what?

Look at the song titles and run-off inscription, and listen to the songs again and tell me this isn't some kind of anti- manifesto for a future unplanned.

Anyway, here in 2008 apart from cropping up in the unlikeliest of places like the WFMU station manager's blog (complete with MP3 download), there isn't much Dowie on the web, or anywhere else for that matter.

So I thought I'd drop him a line and see what he said:

Music Questions

1. Factory and John Dowie - who chose whom...?

Astonishingly, and unprecedentedly, they (or rather, Tony Wilson) chose me. I lived near Manchester at the time and used to play gigs at the russel club, which was a forerunner of the Haçienda which they built after I moved to London. I think Tony Wilson had a side going spare as he only liked three bands.

2. Was Martin Hannett as otherwordly (i.e. mental) as people seem to assume these days?

I didn't know him well enough to say. I had the impression he was separated from the rest of us by a wall of very thick glass.

3. Inevitably I am going to ask about Joy Division. Did you hang out with Joy Division, were they a good laugh?

I didn't hang out with them. I used to nod hallo to them when we did gigs together. They certainly didn't strike me as being a "good laugh", although they perhaps are now, given that they're older and wiser and (some of them) alive.

4. Do you own a copy of the FAC-2 pre-release version which was limited to 20 copies and came in a blank paper sleeve with a small- scale mock-up of the artwork?

This is news to me -so no, I don't own one. I believe though, that you can buy Vini Reilly himself for £150 -).

5.You have stated that "Even die-hard completists don't want" the Fac 19 release It's Hard to be an Egg.

Well, I think that's maybe a bit self-deprecating. For one thing, I bought a copy off eBay for £3.50 a while back, and very good it is too. How many were pressed?

I don't know how many were pressed. I do remember Tony Wilson moaning that he had a vast pile of them in a warehouse somewhere.

And poor Alan Erasmus had to go to a market and get a load of chicken feathers, then painstakingly stick them on to the records, one feather at a time. I bet he knew exactly how many were pressed.

There is a man in America called Andrew Beaujon who formed a band called The Eggs in honour of the single so something good came out of it. He sent me all his stuff and very good it is too.

6. Some thoughts on Tony Wilson, please ...?

I really liked him. I hadn't seen him for something like twenty-five years and was very cross with myself - I read in the paper that he was ill and God told me to write to him, but the devil told me not to and stupidly I listened to the wrong voice. however, a couple of nights ago I dreamed that I met him and we had a BIG HUG so I'm hopeful that he has forgiven me.

Comedy Questions

1. Jerry Sadowitz reckons no-one's funny any more. Is he right?

No.

2. Has Edinburgh killed stand-up? it's become a behemoth, most comics are careerists, and careerism, to me at least, ain't funny. Whaddya think?

It is what it is. I know who to blame for it and where she lives. I take comfort in the thought that young men and women have a career option open to them which didn't exist a few years ago. the forlorn, the bullied and the rejected can still have the last laugh.

3.You no longer do stand up - what are you up to these days?

The only ambition I have left is that my children's character, DOGMAN, is seen by as many children as possible and vice versa. I'm working on that but it's slow slow very very slow.

4. Should hecklers be killed?

Hecklers have saved my comedy career more times than I care to remember.

5. Which Leonard Cohen record makes you laugh the most? I'm torn between The Songs of Leonard Cohen and I'm Your Man. That monkey with the plywood violin gets me every time...

I'm extremely fond of: "and I raise my glass to the awful truth/which you can't reveal to the ears of youth/except to say it isn't worth a dime"