Ask Ginger – December 2008

What is it with you and ducks? Listening to The New Flesh, one can clearly hear “We’re the duck you’ve beaten once too much”. Okay, so the lyrics on the WHs site try to mask it as “dog”, but that’s not fooling anybody. At first I thought nothing of it, but then it dawned on me… a friendly warning, 13 years ago – “be kind to your web-footed friends”! Please, tell us what you know.

Soundog

And what is it with you and the cruci-fixation you’ve seemingly developed? On The Wildhearts, you sing of Tweety, faith and Her who’s All That being subject to crucifixion. A tad brutal, don’t you think?

Soundog

Now that you have Round Records up and running, and you pretty much have complete control of releases (I presume), would you consider having another go a the Singles club idea, even if only to release the singles online as purchasable mp3s only and not on physical cds, (I guess this would be cheaper and less of a distribution headache!). If not starting the idea from scratch just release the other 18 songs that were already written before infernal f#cked it up!

BGennard

a. ‘The Wildhearts’ album is amazing, possibly the best album so far, I was just wondering were any of the songs used from the 13 or so demos recorded back in 2004 before the band split, or are they completely new?

b. If the songs on the new album are completely new, will the ones demoed in 2004 ever see the light of day even if only as purchasable mp3s?

BGennard

You have a wealth of material that’s never seen an official release, is there any chance of these songs being released as purchasable high quality mp3’s online?
I’m talking about songs like :

• The songs written for Alice Cooper
• Beer For Breakfast
• If I were you I’d Kiss me
• Same Again,
• All the Snake Demos
• (Kiss My Arse Before You Say Goodbye, Please Baby Please, Wild Wine And Whiskey, Whose Gonna Stop Lorraine, One More Night, Unsociable Emotions, The Violent Ones, Same Sad Song)
• Truth
• Church of the Broken Hearted
• Push
• U Wanna
• Just Stay

and there’s probably a whole lot more, like all the songs demoed for the proposed second SilverGinger5 album. I know a lot of the songs mentioned above are available on bootlegs etc, but I’d rather see my money go to the artist whom wrote/recorded them and get decent quality mp3s.

BGennard

There’s a chat on the Ginger & the Sonic Circus forum about the Landmines And Pantomimes tracks (Abhoria, Velvet Presley etc). I know that loads of people love those songs, but, like me, hate the fact that they never got a proper finish. Any chance you could finish them off and stick them up free on this here internet? Or even charge for them? Or just finish them and stick them on an album? Any chance at all?

whatevermort

Many congratulations, and sincere thanks for the new one (The Wildhearts) it is rather spectacular to say the least.

Does it aggravate you at all that seemingly, all of your solo efforts and band efforts are continually dissected and analysed, and each individual note, lyric, delivery style is compared and contrasted?

Keith Richard

What is that intro music played on the recent UK tour to support ‘The Wildhearts’? & if it’s the Wildhearts, can you release it in any format?

VanRad

Do you like marmite?

Michelle

Which songs are chores for you to play on tour and which do you look forward to playing??

Ady

What happened to the glass guitar with the fish in it from the “Grievous Acoustic Behaviour” show?

davejnick

And do you ever dig out that guitar we got you for your 40th?

Damian

What happened to the record deal with Gearhead ?

Sparky

To me the new album ‘The Wildhearts’ (which I really like by the way) sounds less “layered” and more lively than …Must Be Destroyed, especially the guitars. Can you confirm this is the case?

(apologies everyone for this slightly geeky question)

shockingcandy

Have the band been approached to play Jools Holland’s Later, or any other current TV music shows, and if not are you pushing your PR people to get the band on. If not, I would be interested to hear what the rationale is behind not appearing on these shows.

geordierussell

I noticed that on the Howling Willie album, and also during the encore of “I Wanna Go” recently at Milton Keynes, you played an extract from the theme tune of Z Cars. Was this a tribute or merely a coincidence? One of the TV highlights of my childhood days was the fire brigade of “Trumpton”. Any chance for your next acoustic tour that you could take a look at that wonderful guitar piece as Pew, Pew, Barney, McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb slid down the pole and jumped into the engine ready for action?

Keith Richard

OK, last question this time around [Ginger Says – No, please, don’t go. I like your name]. Why oh why such a shortage of XL T-shirts during the tour? I managed to grab a shield and radiohead T in XL, but what I really was looking for was the album cover T in XL so I can proudly fly the flag and spread the word back home. We’re not all lean mean fighting machines like the band… the large size T makes me look as though I have bigger tits than my fourteen year old Niece! How / where can I grab a couple of XL album Ts?

Keith Richard

You’ve never hidden your love for country music and in recent years it has become far more prominent influence on your songs – have you considered re-recording ‘truth’?

hansblix

1. I’ve heard that C.J. admitted that this song (“The Revolution Will Be Televised”) sounds a lot like Green Day. To my ears, it sounds like it could have been included on American Idiot.

2. Was this intentional? Maybe a British perspective on the world events they commented on?

3. P.S. You guys are WAY better vocalists than Green Day could ever dream of being

pinnick

I had a bizarre dream recently where you were climbing up a tree for charity and a load of us G&TSC Board-ers were sat around the tree watching. Then Hannah suggested that it’d be funny if we all ran away and hid so that we wouldn’t be there when you came back down. So we did, and when you came down the tree you looked a bit lost then shrugged your shoulders and climbed back up again.

Do you think this means anything, or should I just stop eating spicy food before bedtime?

davejnick

What are your favourite top 3 pop bands?

Ady

Been listening to Rooting For The Bad Guy for a while now and I was wondering is the Doctor Phibes referred to “the Abominal Dr Phibes” from the Jess Franco film? Knowing of your love for obscure horror/gore flicks I thought it could be possible. Also to further a question posted on these boards just who the hell is Falcon Eddie?

JSayonara

1. Hello Ginger. I’ve just a couple of questions for you if that’s okay.

2. The first concerns your stance on laziness/non-motivation. I’d bet that I’m not the only one who has noticed your thoughts and no nonsense stance on it. For example songs such as ‘TV Tan’ & ‘Do Anything’ as well as comments about it in interviews and in live shows coupled with your amazing work ethic made me want to ask why you feel this way. In other words is there something in your life that made you feel so strongly about the subject? (Also I’d be interested to know what drives you, especially when you don’t feel like doing anything. It’d help my rather unbalanced work ethic!).

3. Secondly I wanted to ask about the art direction of single & album covers. Most specifically the PHUQ era artwork done by D. Deen. He has a great style and has been an influence on me with my own drawings (wanna see?! Razz) [Ginger Says – Yes, I do]. I was wondering could you tell us about him, how you met him, where info can be found on him, what you look for in artists for your covers plus anything related to this matter would be cool as I always loved The Wildhearts/solo albums art direction.

RG

Would you ever consider playing Anthem as part of a set without Danny? – Obviously the “oh no, I think I’m gonna throw” line has been adopted since his departure…

Andy Roo

Do you read the forums and would you take note of requests for certain bands to appear on tour with The Wildhearts?

Rancidpunk_76

After the April/may tour, what were your thoughts on GU Medicine and Sign?

benwalton

Thanks for a superb show in Belfast. Are there any further plans for the band to come back again to hopefully a bigger venue in Belfast rather than the last 2 venues you have played? I noticed a younger crowd this time as well as healthy mix of us oldies and think that Belfast could be a potential hotspot for The Wildhearts moreso than in the past.

wez_wildheart

Just a bit of gentle nagging. 🙂

Any chance of re-recording Truth? You said a few years back that there was a possibility of it happening.. and it’s such a great track. Would be nice to see it properly released..

fluffygrue

Where on Earth did you get those freak cards that you threw at us in Nottingham?!

BenWalton

Is Scott always that sweaty?

BenWalton

Any chance of the Wildhearts appearing in the Guitar Hero game franchise some time in the future? What with downloadable content being added all the time to these games how would fans be able to go about nagging the games developers to include you guys? Heck, is it something you’d even be interested in?

Rancidpunk_76

Is there any chance of putting the videos for The New Flesh and Destroy All Monsters onto stores like iTunes? I don’t have Sky so I’m not likely to see the video apart from on YouTube and I’d gladly pay £2 to have a decent copy. I’m sure the fans would love it and you guys can get some more cash.

cjrodwell

Ok, everyone I’ve spoken to (and plenty online too) have said the recent Xmess Tour was the best ‘Hearts gig they’ve seen. So, my question is:

What was different about this most recent tour for you?

Rancidpunk_76

Why the hell haven’t the Wildhearts released Zen Reqiuem as a single? It’s a great song and a future rock classic. If any Wildhearts song was going to be a number 1, it’s this one.

Cheers for the tunes over the years, keep ’em coming.

Ben Wright

Have you injured your left shoulder? It looks wonky like mine which I permanently dislocated from my collar bone. If so, what do you do to keep it in shape and does it ache when playing guitar?

robdy2k

Which member of KISS would you be?

Which member of Cheap Trick would you be?

Would you rather bone the Donnas or the Runaways?

When are you coming to California for F##ks sake?

Rafa

It’s amazing how many multiple questions you’ve been given, so I’ve tried to break mine down…

Question 1) this surrounds the ultimate Ginger show, not “Ginger the band”, but you putting forward something from everywhere… – If you could write a set list including songs from each of your many projects, which songs would it include ? (Question 1a) which band line up would you want playing it? (and Question 1b) Which venue would you chose to play that gig if there was only one available? (Question 1c) and Why that Venue? (Question 1d) finally Why would that show work more than any other?

Question 2) Is there anything you have ever said live or recorded lyrically that you have gone on to regret? (Question 2a) if so, what?

Question 3) What made the Nottingham gig on the last tour, a show you were so visibly unimpressed with? (Question 3a) was it the early curfew time?

Question 4) Which camp are you in: Maiden’s or Ozzy’s (or rather Maiden’s or Sharon’s)?

Question 5) – sorry, a boring technical question: what amp settings do you use?

Question 6) Is there a song of yours which you feel particularly under-rated or hard-done by? if so (you guessed it, Question 6a) which one? (and Question 6b) why?

AndyRoo