I've just seen the news that Kristan James Melik, better known as in Sheffield music circles as Marcus Featherby, passed away earlier today after a short illness.
Marcus was a big figure on the Sheffield post-punk music scene of the late 70s/early 80s, putting out early releases by Artery amongst others, and the famous Bouquet of Steel compilation LP. Pulp were mentioned in the Bouquet of Steel booklet's directory of Sheffield bands before they'd so much as played a gig, and Marcus subsequently gave Pulp their first 2 gigs at Rotherham Arts Centre and the famous Bouquet of Steel all-dayer at the Leadmill. He also took the photos for Pulp's first ever music press feature, in Melody Maker in 1982.
One of my regrets about my book is that I didn't manage to get any input from Marcus. He hadn't been heard from for many years at the time, and unfortunately I ended up relying on second-hand recollections from people who'd had dealings with him, repeating some rather gossipy (and possibly apocryphal) stories that painted him as a bit of a caricature. He later re-emerged on Facebook and it quickly became clear he deserved better than that. Wish I'd had chance to talk to him.
Anyway, let's stick on some Artery and raise a glass to him tonight.
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"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
They got the train to John Perl's funeral together apparently!
He described him in Record Collector years ago as a "strange and dodgy character", while giving him credit for giving them gigs when no one else would. I'm a bit surprised he's not posted anything on Insta yet actually.
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"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"