Sparks are touring – playing England in June – and with a new (and 28th) album, Mad!. Russell Mael looks back at the first shows he ever saw and played which entails …

… sitting on the floors of LA clubs watching Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Move, the Faces, the Who and Tyrannosaurus Rex.

… his Mum taking him to see the Beatles in the Hollywood Bowl among “10,000 screaming girls”.

… “there was a faux honesty about the Laurel Canyon bands – ‘it’s just me and my guitar’ – whereas the British acts had the clothes and put on a performance. Which is just as honest.”

… what Todd Rundgren saw in the early Sparks.

… Edgar Wright’s “love letter” movie ‘The Sparks Brothers’ and how it’s expanded their audience.

… rehearsing for four months to perform all 21 of their albums in their entirety in 2008 (in Islington) and the people who came every night.

… playing pizza parlours in the ‘60s – “we were paid in pizza”.

… and how the Mael brothers’ creative relationship has worked - indeed thrived – for over 60 years.

Sparks tour dates and tickets: https://allsparks.com/

Order Sparks’ new album Mad! here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/MAD-Sparks/dp/B0DY9JD1TX

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