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The Thing The Wedding Present’s David Gedge Likes Best: Darren Hayman

Gedgelogo1Over the course of a quarter of a century, Wedding Present and Cinerama auteur David Gedge has consistently documented the intricacies of interpersonal communication, mostly of the romantic kind. While currently writing new tunes in his tradition of celebrating romantic bliss and bemoaning lost love, Gedge is also revisiting some old flames. His label, Scopitones, last week released Live 1988, a double album of concert recordings from—you guessed it—1988, the second in a series of LPs collecting live cassettes that were sold at gigs and through their fanzine in the late ’80s. The band is also playing Bizarro, arguably the best Wedding Present effort, in its entirety during a tour that kicked off April 1 in San Diego. Gedge will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him and our 2005 career overview of the Wedding Present.

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Gedge: I saw loads of great concerts in 2009, not least of which were Dick Dale on the Santa Monica Pier and My Bloody Valentine in Barcelona. But one of my favourites was seeing Darren Hayman play at a club where I was DJing in Düsseldorf, Germany. It wasn’t a tiny place, but Darren decided to unplug his ukulele and step away from the microphone. For most people, this would have been daunting (and I do suspect it was for Darren, though I think he was helped along by the many glasses of white wine he’d consumed before the gig), but his personality filled the room without amplification. He’s extremely unassuming, but then he blows you away with his humorous and clever lyrics and amazing storytelling ability. I believe he is one of the great lyricists of our time.

Video after the jump.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmv_sCj8wCY

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