 |
||
 |
|
|
 |
|||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
home / latest stuff / discography / gallery / bio / press / music&reviews / tour diary / band interviews /other recordings / videos
contact & links / search this site / / / / / / |
|
|
i n t e r v i e w 2 |
|
|
|
1.What are you up to right now? I’m answering these questions………and writing and recording songs for our next album. 2.What are your present obsessions? Guitars, writing songs….. the usual obsessions. 3.Recommend a book that has truly inspired you.Why did it make such an impact? Hard to pick just one, but ‘The Silent Ark` by Juliet Gellatley will give you food for thought. Admittedly I was already ‘inspired’ when I read it, but it re-confirmed that going veggie was probably the best decision I ever made. 4.Where is home and why do you live there? South London. Because I can’t afford a country pile, and my band are here. 5.What is the album you havent got in your collection but really should have and why? I’ve got a lot of old stuff on vinyl which I still haven’t replaced with cd, so I’ll say the first Damned album, because it’s ace and I haven’t heard it for years because I haven’t had a record player for years. 6.What record recently has really surprised you with its quality.Also is there any album you own(and enjoy) that might surprise your fans. I’m seldom surprised by the sound quality of albums because music technology and production has become a fine art, and bands in the top league spend a fortune on production, which raises the bar for everybody else. I like the new Muse album,’ Black Holes and Revelations’ but can’t say I’m surprised it’s good because they are an excellent band! However, I don’t think there is any one album ever made where I like ALL the tracks, there’s always a few stinkers in amongst the gems, particularly now that record companies want the full 70 odd minutes a CD can hold filled with songs. ‘Tijuana Trumpets’ is a dark secret I’ve been keeping to myself, and Queen 2 is an even darker secret. But the truth is out now………………. 7.Who are your musical heroes? Joe Strummer, Angus Young, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Zakk Wilde, Little Richard. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
8.If you could collaborate with any musician to do a project album who would they be and why? Justin Hawkins ( Darkness), but only if he wore that catsuit made out of pants and a tiara. I think we’d come up with an album both meaningful and hilarious. Seriously, the person I would most like to collaborate with is Joe Strummer but sadly that will never happen now. I’ve always had a strange yearning to collaborate with Morrissey, we’re possibly total opposites musically but we share a belief in Animal rights and I admire him for being a unique character. 9.Name some musicians that really should be getting more attention. Do you mean favourable or unfavourable attention? If it’s favourable then it should be our lead guitarist Lumpy because he’s an ace tunesmith and a great producer. 10.Other than music,what other types of art do you appreciate? Literature 11.Besides the instrument you are known for,what other instrument/s can you play? The spoons and the bongos. 12.The first concert you ever attended was...... It was either The Slits or The Damned, unless you include school bands in the school hall. 13.When and where was the very first time you performed music? I was in primary school choir and played the recorder from age 7, so it was at school. But you could say that the first time you sing or tap out a rhythm you are making music. 14.From a performers point of view,what has been your most memorable concert and why? I couldn’t pick just one as there have been loads, and you don’t necessarily have a clear memory of the best ones. ’Wasted’ last year was a good one, I was horribly nervous for hours before but felt totally calm and in control when we went on so really enjoyed it. The on stage sound was good too, which helps, because it’s the only reference of the sound you have as a performer. The most important thing is seeing that the audience are into it, but I’m sure we’ve done gigs where I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself but the audience didn’t necessarily share the enjoyment !! Memorable in a different way was a mental gig we did in Barcelona a few years back. The hall was packed to the rafters because kids had been counterfeiting tickets and it was ridiculously hot. The front rows seemed to consist of 12 year old Spanish kids going crazy, they pulled all the monitors off stage and passed them to the back of the hall. God knows what the out front sound was like, we couldn’t hear anything on stage. We probably played really badly but the audience absolutely loved it. 15.When was the last time you really felt you were struggling in your career and faced extreme adversity? More to the point, when was the last time I DIDN’T feel I was struggling in my career and faced extreme adversity?!!!! It’s all one long struggle, I have to fight tooth and nail to keep the band going. I couldn’t have picked a more perversely unjust industry if I’d tried ! As an example, last week we had 2 London gigs booked for July. The smaller venue cancelled because we were going to play the bigger venue, and 2 days later the bigger venue cancelled because a gig it had put on with another band wasn’t well attended. So that’s 2 gigs down in 2 days which is particularly bad for me as I earn my living mainly from gigs. This sort of thing happens all the time, and of course it’s hard to fill the cancelled date as it takes months to plan gigs. 16.What has been your career highlight to date? Probably getting our new album ‘Defiant’ finished, because it looked like it wasn’t going to happen (because of ‘extreme adversity’!!!) and it’s good to know it’s done and we’ve moved on to the next. 17.What do you believe constitutes the heart and soul of rock music? Joy and emotion, orgasms. And screaming Les Pauls. And you have to REALLY mean it. 18.The big three-your favourite amongst deep purple,led zeppelin and black sabbath.Why? Zeppelin I suppose, even though a lot of their stuff was ‘borrowed’ from the original blues it’s still raw sex, and Bonham was a fantastic tub thumper in spite of his toilet trouble (or maybe because of it). We met Jimmy Page once, he came to see us when we were in the Bombshells and bought us champagne. Luckily he was toilet trained. 19.Whats the last piece of music that put a smile on your face? Oddly enough it’s a version of ‘Black Dog’ myself and our bassist ‘Professor’ Mildred performed backstage a couple of years ago. Someone sent us a clip from a mobile phone and we’ve put it up on our web site
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
20.Whats the most daring piece of music you’ve made? Probably a song called ‘Mercy’. We never released it but it’s probably the best we’ve written. Actually Lumpy and me were mixing techno with thrash metal etc well over a decade ago. We’ve always experimented with different music styles and Lump’s always been into advancing music technology. We’re a long way away from the general perceived image of us as just bashing out 3 chords in a garage, though of course some of the best songs ever written were thrashed out over three chords. 21.Have you ever clashed with a producer/label/manager over a particular piece of music?(thats a cue for a story) I had to work with a producer many years ago who had been tea boy on a famous album and thought he was Mutt Lange ( famous 80’s producer), but was basically useless. He told me on a regular basis that I couldn’t sing and when my manager played him stuff I’d done in the past he said that I could sing then but must have since forgotten how . Then he moved on to telling Lumpy that he couldn’t play and that the intonation was out on his guitar, etc etc. Years later we realised all this was to keep the recording going for as long as possible so he’d get paid more. This guy really didn’t like women, especially ones that were taller than him, so the album was going to be a disaster whatever we did. I don’t think he works in music any more. I’ve had other clashes, but it doesn’t happen very often now. I’ve had to learn to stand up for myself as I’m the person who has to sing the song with passion and conviction and I know what works . This doesn’t mean I won’t listen to other people because you might learn something if you do, but there’s no point letting others ruin your song just because they are pushier than you. At the end of the day you have to stand by your work whereas other people can just wash their hands of it. That’s why there’s so much cheap crap on the market, if the companies releasing it had to go out on stage and promote it every night they’d be a lot more discerning ! 22.As a public entertainer,how much responsibility do you feel towards providing a role model for your fans? I feel it’s my bounden duty to always appear on stage as drunk as possible, play all the songs wrong and swear continuously throughout the set……but seriously I do feel a responsibility which is one of the reasons I don’t take drugs any more. I don’t think being permanently off your face is good for your voice, and if people make the effort to come and see you play then you should give as good a show as possible. 23.Inevitable-when was the last time you were involved in a spinal tap moment.All the embarassing details please. My life is the Punk Rock version of Spinal Tap. The reason Spinal Tap is so funny is that it is very well observed, life in the music business really is like that. Here are some Spinal Tap truths: When band members acquire new girl/boyfriends they will try to take them on tour and said girl/boyfriends will interfere in band business, be it the designing of Zodiac masks or playing tambourine. After a few weeks the musician who brought along his/her geezer/bird will wish they hadn’t and will be getting it in the ear for ignoring said geezer/bird. Most bands will have a huge turnover of musicians unless they make it big very very quickly. This is because people join bands thinking they will become rich and famous over night. Hence Tap drummers Ronnie Pudding, Stubby Joe, Ross Mc Glocklass et al merely represent the tip of the iceberg. All drummers ARE MENTAL. We had a sane one once and he was the most boring person on earth and didn’t hit the kit hard enough. It is a prerequisite of drumming that the tub thumper is at least slightly psychotic (don’t worry if yours isn’t yet, he’ll soon smoke himself into a psychotic state). We had a guy turn up for an audition once who drank his way through three cans of Special Brew and smoked spliffs before unleashing his own unique brand of time-keeping on us (this was after he’d fallen off his stool several times) Me and Mildred had to pretend we needed a wee so we could leave the room and laugh out of sight, while Lumpy told him that what he had played was ‘Definitely different from what we were expecting’. We had another drummer who used to live under the stairs in a ‘Hobbit Hole’ But best of all was the one that shat in the back of a hired amp and kept a straight face through an entire rehearsal in spite of the weird noises coming from the amp. Most male bassists enjoy cross-dressing, and I have a LOT of pictures to prove it. All lead guitarists have worn/will wear white pumps at some point in their career. I have a pair of black spandex trousers hidden in my bottom drawer. Band members often resemble classic comedy characters. To date we’ve had Captain Mainwearing, Alf Garnet, Sid James, George and Mildred, Abbott and Costello, Blakey from ‘On the Buses’ and Bernard Breslaw in the band. 24.How difficult is it to run a band as a democracy/functioning unit? It is very hard indeed to keep a band together, which is why most bands don’t last very long. The main stumbling block is economics, i.e if you can’t afford to put a band on a retainer then sooner or later you will be in trouble because your band members will want money and stability. You can’t blame people for trying to earn a living ( although personally I’ve lived well below the breadline for years because I make my living from music ) but on the other hand if their day jobs conflict with your band work then they can’t blame you if you replace them with more dedicated musicians. If you want to be successful then you have to put all your time and effort into music, but even if you do other people can easily nullify your efforts. The other stumbling block is relationships, I know LOTS of people who used to play in a band but are now married and being nudged out of the music business into the normal world because their partners want them to earn more, be at home more etc. I read somewhere years ago that democracies in bands don’t work, and have come to the conclusion that it’s true. Unless there is an equal division of labour then it’s not democratic anyway, and it’s highly unlikely you’ll have four members with equal song writing ability. You always get people who just do it for fun and others who are seriously dedicated. If you let the ones who do it for fun run the band you won’t last five minutes. You just have to be as fair as possible. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
25.When was the last time you were really excited about visiting a country? I was excited about going back to the States to play the Brit Invasion back in March but we didn’t get to play because the riot kicked off just as we were about to go on. 26.Ever done a gig when you’ve been really ill. Again all the gruesome details please. I spent much of the 90’s playing smoky clubs and pubs with the Bombshells and had chronic athsma, sometimes it was so bad I could barely speak let alone sing. I didn’t realise that it could kill you till I ended up in A & E. Oddly enough I think it helped to make me a better singer because once the athsma got better I found I could hold notes for ages. I’ve also done gigs on crutches with a broken ankle, which was a bit precarious. Probably the worst gig was CBGBs in 2001, I had some horrible viral infection and really couldn’t speak at all, so I just played guitar during the gig and the audience sang the songs for me. It was incredibly frustrating because I couldn’t even say ‘Thank You’ or ‘Goodnight’. 27.On tour what are your daily rituals before you get to the gig? Coffee, wash, dress, listen to band going on about how hungry they are, find food, peace and quiet till band hungry again approximately one hour later. 28.Can you pinpoint the moment you decided to become a musician? No, but it was a bad day…..!!!! 29.What absolutely has to be on your rider? Electricity. 30.What is the most extravagant thing you have purchased? Several Gibson Les Pauls. 31.Truthfully,how important is it to you is the way you look? Very important if I’m doing a gig, because people look at me. At home I am a total slob, but I feel obliged to make the effort to look a certain way for gigs. It’s probably because I take on a different persona which requires a lot of bravado when on stage. It shouldn’t actually matter what you look like, but obviously it does because there are loads of shite singers out there who’re more interested in their image than sounding good, and a lot of them are very successful. It seems to be women who want me to keep up my image, and our girl fans are very attractive so it`s tough keeping up to their standard. I like having female fans so I don’t overdo the tarting up. I think women are deliberately made to feel insecure and worthless and it’s one of the reasons the world’s a mess. All women are entered into a sort of beauty contest against their will, but if they looked at the state of the judges they’d feel a lot happier with themselves !!!!!! 32.Rock n roll is famous for its extremes in the hair dept. Whats the worst hairstyle you have ever sported. Probably the ‘Blue Frazzled Ultra-Brillo’ circa 1983 but the ‘Platinum Bouffant Mullet-Grande’ of ’87 comes a close second. I also had hair extensions in the 80’s because some twat of a hairdresser got over zealous with the scissors, but at least they were acrylic. Nowadays most ‘celebs’ have other peoples hair glued onto their heads , I say grow your own!! It disgusts me that some poor woman from an impoverished third world country has to sell her hair in order to eat and some pointless spoiled git over here pays a fortune to have said hair glued into their own barnet. 33.Describe your strangest celebrity encounter Years ago I was rehearsing at Nomis in west London and Motorhead were rehearsing across the hall from us. We ended up in the pub together and Lemmy was sat on a bar stool next to me and attempted to seduce me with one of the worst chat-up lines I have ever heard, namely ‘I was the first one in my band to have anal warts’. Unsurprisingly it didn’t work, in spite of him insisting that my eventual conquest was ‘inevitable’ (which, just for the record, it wasn’t) and him raiding the ladies loo trying to find me. A year or so later I went drinking with him on his house boat on Chelsea Embankment. When I could drink no more and wanted to go home he ordered a taxi for me, saying ‘Hello, this is Scarlett O’Hara’…. (the name of the boat) which was pretty funny as I couldn’t imagine a less likely Southern Belle than Lemmy. When the cab came he came out onto the gang plank, shouted ‘Oi !! Fishnet face’ and flashed at me. I spent the journey home cringing in embarrassment trying to explain to the cabbie that I hadn’t slept with him and we were just mates. 34.Have you ever not signed an autograph? Yes, if someone asks me to sign a really crappy bootleg that some rip-off agent released years ago then I do sometimes say no, but the person invariably has other stuff they want signing so it doesn’t bother them. 35.Whats the biggest scar on your body and how did you get it? I have one on my forearm from a razor blade cut I did myself as a kid. 36.Have you ever come close to death.If so what happened? Possibly the really bad athsma attacks I had in the 90’s were the closest I came, though of course I didn’t realise how dangerous they were till the doctor told me how many people die from it each year. I once had an acid trip in a squat where I thought I was dead, it was quite pleasant really but feeling ghostly was probably because I was listening to Siouxie and the Banshees at the time. 37.What subject is guaranteed to get you into a heated debate? Vivisection. People who support it either don’t know much about it or have a vested interest in it. It’s boring hearing them spout the same old pseudo science I’ve listened to for years. I have letters from the Home Office telling me that animals don’t suffer much and that the law protects them. Of course people NEVER break the law and it’s just coincidence that every time someone secretly films what goes on inside vivisection labs the animals are being tormented and the technicians are falsifying the results of the experiment. People really need to wise up on this because at the end of the day it’s our health which suffers, not just the animals. There’s an organisation called Europeans for Medical Progress Trust and another called Europeans For Medical Advancement which was set up by doctors and scientists who know vivisection damages human health (www.curedisease.com) which can be contacted if you want to know more. 38.What is the last injustice you saw? Westminster Council’s proposed byelaw to ban the feeding of the pigeons on the North Terrace of Trafalgar Square. If this byelaw is introduced then the pigeons will starve or the people who feed them will be arrested. I love pigeons, I had 2 of my own a few years back. They were brain-damaged and couldn’t fly properly but were lovely creatures who enjoyed tug-of-war with one of my cats over used guitar strings. I hate people who call other animals ‘vermin’, the human race is the most verminous specious ever, we’ve managed to nearly destroy the planet, wiped out millions of other animal and plant species, the rivers and seas are full of our sewerage, we’ve filled the air with toxic gasses, stuffed ourselves with the corpses of other animals while humans in the third world starve and yet some suited tosser in an office thinks it’s ok to make laws stopping good people from feeding a flock of birds. They say pigeons spread disease but that’s bollocks, you’re far more likely to catch something nasty from your pet dog or cat and even more likely to get something nasty from school kids who get virtually every illness going, but no-one’s suggested banning schools (though the kids would be delighted if they did). At the end of the day, justice is far more important than the law, and if the law doesn’t uphold justice and compassion then it’s an ass. 39.What do you hope to achieve before you die? Vindication. Contentment. And more Les Pauls. 40.What happens to you after you die? I have a theory that you are reincarnated over and over again until you have experienced every form of life, i.e billions upon billions of times, so you’d live the life of every battery farm chicken, every insect, I would live your life and you would live mine. After you’ve experienced all these billions of lives you would be all-knowing, like God. But only if you could remember all the lives. |
|
|
|
|
|