Madness go One Step Beyond for Carlisle United

Last updated 13:33, Thursday, 02 October 2008

Brunton Park is no stranger to madness on the pitch – now the pop superstars of the same name have re-recorded one of their biggest hits in tribute to Carlisle United.

Carlisle United Youth Team players recreate the Madness walk. Left to right, Ryan Bowman, Tom Aldred, Andrew Cook, Conor Tinnion, Sean Law and Mark Gillespie

The new song – by Madness – will be played for the first time on Saturday when the Blues take on Tranmere Rovers.

United’s stage announcer Steve Dunn approached the group to ask if they could record a new version of One Step Beyond – the title track of their debut album.

Steve said: “We’ve used the song One Step Beyond for the team to run out to but we’ve always cut the intro off.

“From Saturday the new song with the intro ‘Hey You, Don’t Watch That, Watch This – Carlisle United at Brunton Park’ will be broadcast to the crowd over the loudspeaker and I’m sure it’s going to be a huge hit with the fans.

“We play the song at the moment but I miss off the intro. I’m going to try and time it so that as they come up the tunnel and onto the pitch the intro will boom out. It’s going to be brilliant.”

Steve hopes the club’s newly formed link with the Nutty Boys will continue.

He said: “I want to get them to Carlisle to perform on the pitch. That would be fantastic. It would just create such a buzz. I’m going to milk it as much as possible as it gives such a positive vibe.

“They have re-recorded the song’s intro for nothing which is really good of them.

“I know Chas Smash is a real supporter of a charity for children with severe learning disabilities in Ibiza.

“I’d like to put on a concert in Carlisle to raise cash for that charity or to have a collection at the ground.”

The album One Step Beyond was released in 1979 by Stiff Records, and it marked the arrival of one of the most popular bands of the era.
The first single from the record The Prince – written in homage to the band’s idol Prince Buster, went straight in to the charts, and the follow up singles One Step Beyond and My Girl confirmed the potential shown by the fun loving group.

Next year sees the 30th anniversary of One Step Beyond and Chas said: “There are big plans for Madness as we celebrate 30 years at the top. We will have more news on what we’ll be doing to celebrate our anniversary shortly.”