Damon Wise
Currently with Deadline as Film Editor, Awards, I began my career as a freelance writer with Sounds in 1987, before moving onto NME as a sub-editor and then to Vox. From there I went to the short-lived film magazine Neon, followed by a stint at Empire. As a freelancer, my features and reviews have been published in Mojo, Uncut, The Guardian, The Times and The Financial Times, and I'm a regular attendee at international film festivals. In 1998 I published my first book, Come By Sunday (Sidgwick & Jackson), a biography of British film star Diana Dors. The follow-up, about William S. Burroughs and cinema, is still in the works.
30 articles
List of articles in the library
AR Kane, Adrian Sherwood, Tackhead: AR Kane, Tackhead Sound System: Clarendon, Hammersmith, London
Live Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 19 September 1987
THE TACKHEAD crew went to great lengths to point out that this was not in fact a Tackhead performance. So what was it? If it ...
Eric B. & Rakim: Eric B & Rakim: Paid In Full (4th & Broadway BRLP 5I4/CD)
Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 19 September 1987
CENTS, NICKELS, dimes, quarters, dollar bills... if the ringing of the cash till is truly the sound of the American heartbeat, then no one can ...
Live Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 10 October 1987
THE MAN WITH THE FULL METAL CODPIECE ...
Live Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 28 November 1987
TWO UP, TWO DOWN ...
Debbie Gibson: Astoria, London
Live Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 27 February 1988
THE LITTLE BOYS UNDERSTAND ...
Joyce Sims: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 16 April 1988
GIVEN THE fragile grace of Joyce Sims' singles to date, there is no way that their sublimity could ever be exactly reproduced live. But I ...
Boogie Down Productions: By All Means Necessary (Jive HIP 63)
Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 4 June 1988
FIRING FROM THE LIP ...
Salt-N-Pepa: A Salt With A Deadly Pepa (London FFRLP 3/CD) ****
Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 20 July 1988
READY SALTED ...
EPMD, Stetsasonic: Stetsasonic, EPMD: International II, Manchester
Live Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 1 October 1988
First winter chills ...
Cameo: I'm A Rhinestone Codpiece
Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 29 October 1988
Cameo's frontman, Larry Blackmon, explains that as much brain as brawn went into the band's latest album, Machismo. Damon Wise works out to their hybrid ...
Live Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 29 October 1988
A hot Toddy with a lump of Ice ...
Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 10 December 1988
EPMD — Erick and Parrish Making Dollars — know they're the hottest US rap act to hit the decks this year. But in Europe, they ...
Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 14 January 1989
Rap is being squeezed out of the clubs, but in New York the scene is still vibrant and growing. At its forefront is the hugely ...
Eric B. & Rakim: Eric B & Rakim: Chain Reaction
Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 18 February 1989
They're picked on for wearing gold and singled out by samplers, but Eric B & Rakim don't mind — so long as their positive message ...
De La Soul: The Daisy Chain Gang
Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 5 August 1989
De La Soul say it with flowers — and they're demonstrating the joys of rap to people who didn't even know they liked it. Damon ...
Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 9 September 1989
EPMD get voted Young Moneymakers Of The Year. They tell Damon Wise how their second LP earned them little critical favour but lots of dough ...
Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 23 September 1989
Schoolly D has given up on his gangster past to direct his rap at the problems facing black America. Damon Wise asks what happened to ...
Live Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 24 March 1990
BUNGLE IN THE JUNGLE ...
Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.: Tribal Warfare
Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 7 April 1990
Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. only became a musical force two years ago but they've been together all their lives. Unperturbed by the fate of the previous journo, ...
Live Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 7 April 1990
IT WAS the night for it. Circling the massive stage pitched in the middle of the unfeasibly large Arena, Digital Underground were doing whuttheyliked and ...
Marc Ribot: Rootless Cosmopolitans (Antilles AN 8749/CD)
Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 28 April 1990
MARC RIBOT expands upon the blues the way only the very best "white" rock musicians can and do, he has that singularity of vision that ...
Curlew, Marc Ribot: Marc Ribot's Rootless Cosmopolitans, Curlew: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 28 April 1990
MARC RIBOT'S fretwork was perhaps the most startling feature of the Lounge Lizards. Almost buried beneath the brass-heavy bursts of occasional melody it worked against ...
Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 2 June 1990
With their debut album's tales of "everyday life", L.A.'s Niggers With Attitude succeeded in taking gangster rap to new levels of outrage. N.W.A.'s Eazy E ...
Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 23 June 1990
AUGMENTED BY surplus movers, shakers, rappers and pounders, the T.R.I.B.E. swell to an ungodly 14-piece for their first London showcase. Sadly, less than half the ...
Mudhoney, Thee Headcoats: Mudhoney: Dirty Deeds Done Cheap
Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 30 June 1990
Shorn of their luxurious locks, Mudhoney have not only shattered their hairy, hard rockin' image but one of them also owns up to eating cake, ...
Primal Scream: Scream of Consciousness
Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 4 August 1990
Primal Scream broke out of the indie mould with 'Loaded', and 'Come Together' should blow the gaffe. Bobby Gillespie talks to Damon Wise about music, ...
Gallon Drunk: The curse of the drinking classes
Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 2 February 1991
GALLON DRUNK have been raising North London rafters with their lazy, inebriated howl for 12 months now. But are they rockabillies, drunks, or just a ...
Ice Cube: Kill At Will (4th & Broadway) ****½
Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 23 February 1991
IN COLD BLOOD ...
Professor Griff, Public Enemy: Public Enemy and Professor Griff: Divide and Conquer
Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 31 March 1991
Public Enemy have long been regarded as the most innovative band on the rap scene, a band whose all-important attitude has often verged on destruction. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Damon Wise, MOJO, May 2000
After nearly 80 years, HMV's flagship store is closing down. Damon Wise bids farewell to shellac discs, fancy uniforms and free smokes. ...
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