4th October 1999
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Kick Danny's ass and get the Wildhearts back
together for Chrissakes! This band is just too incredible to let it fall
through the cracks.
Sam
Weller
By that I take it you haven't heard The Yo-Yo's? Give them a chance, man. They're fucking great. Wildhearts RIP.
Just wondering... why not do a UK Wildhearts gig
and allow the fans to pay for it? Perhaps any fan who contributed could get a
free ticket? The more fans who contribute, the bigger the venue.
Mark Leatham
Next...
So, The Wildhearts would play in this country for
copious amounts of cash? How about if we, your loyal supporters, put up the
money ourselves? There are bound to be plenty of venues interested.
Ben
OK, I think it's time to settle this once and for all. Are you all listening closely? Then I'll begin... THE WILDHEARTS ARE NOT, I REPEAT NOT, PLAYING ANY SHOWS IN BRITAIN. PERIOD. NOT FOR NOTHING. END OF TRANSMISSION.
Which are your favourite Lucio Fulci movies and
why? Our fave ones are The House By The Cemetery and Don't Torture A
Duckling (since Barbara Bouchet is so fucking gorgeous!!!!).
Alessia and Giorgio
Yeah, Barbara Bouchet is gorgeous. She still looks pretty amazing now. My favourites will always be The House By The Cemetery and The Beyond, but I love the gore in Don't Torture A Duckling and The Naples Connection. Nightmare Concert also has some cool splatter. And the head drilling from City Of The Living Dead and the eyeball gouging from Zombie Flesh Eaters take some beating. He's the god of gore and he made all of those movies just for me!
What's the deal? One minute I read that
you're clean, the next you're talking about Jack Daniel's and beer.
Just how much do you use the sauce and what constitutes a problem? Fuck, I may
have one!
Sam Weller
Being clean, I would imagine, could only happen with the arrival of kids and fatherhood. For now, as long as I can stop and start at will I figure I've got a decent hold over it. Binge and purge and all that jazz.
When The Wildhearts played in Milan in 1996
supporting AC/DC, you sang "I wanna be where the cunts like YOU are buried
six feet underground." Was it because you disliked the audience, or have
you always changed the verse on this song live?
Alessia and Giorgio
We always changed our lines to reflect what had been going on in the day. Chances are I was singing it to Danny who was a smack addicted arsehole at the time. Don't get me wrong... he's fine now and I love him like a brother, and if anyone else called him that I'd kill them.
Are you looking forward to the material Chris
McCormack and Ritch are going to be producing soon?
Michael Sachs
I've heard some of the stuff that Chris and Ritch have been doing and it rocks like a bag of badgers in a sauna. And let it not be forgotten that Chris is the new member of a band that Ritch and Ralph Jezzard formed over two years ago.
Since your voice is so chameleon-like, what songs
did you sing and what songs did Alex sing on the Clam Abuse album? Did you
sample Geri's voice in Message To Geri?
Sam Weller
Alex sings I Think I Love You and various bits of For That Girl, Sunday Driving and Falling In Bed With You Again. No we didn't sample Geri's voice. That's highly illegal.
Did the line "you know there's always
someone more fucked up than you" in She's So Taboo inspire the song of
the same name?
Tara
Stockford
No, it was the other way round. I stuck the line in there to make it look like we were fans of ourselves. Which isn't completely lying, to be honest.
Can you please tell me the meaning of "Cold
patootie tango"? Tango is a kind of music that was invented in my country,
Argentina.
Juan Pablo
"Cold patootie tango" means fucking a sexless, frigid woman.
In my opinion, your music is the best out there.
I've never left a CD in my disc changer for two years. Ever. Not even my
beloved Pet Sounds. But Fishing For Luckies wins the prize. Anyway, you
recommended Puffy. Since I respect your music so much, I'm willing to buy
other tunes on your recommendation. Which Puffy disk should I buy?
Sam Weller
Puffy are very great but they do sing in Japanese. I'm not sure if I love them because they remind me of the many fine times I've had in that fair country, but if you wanna check them out try Jet CD. If you want a surefire winner then try and get a hold of some Cardiacs stuff (I'd personally recommend On Land And In The Sea, but Tim Smith (voice, guitar, songs, producer... well, pretty much The Cardiacs) recommends Sing To God Parts 1 & 2 or their latest, Guns. You can either send away for info to: Alphabet Business Concern, PO Box 202, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, KT1 2QT, or try using the Internet (just type in cardiacs.com or alphabet.com). I'd personally suggest that everyone reading this does the same, as this band are so fucking good they will be one of your favourites. Just expect something bizarre and you won't be disappointed. And by the way, they really rock too!
Do you still do kick boxing? I heard that someone
taught you in Thailand.
Dan
Bourne
I haven't had a chance to keep up the kick boxing as much as I'd like. I was continuing up until I left America but the western version of kick boxing is very different to the Thai style, which involves much more leg work and less 'boxing'. I reckon that Thailand is the only place to really get into it, as it's an essential part of their youth culture and therefore taken much more seriously. I'll no doubt get back into it when the timing is right.
Since you travel so much, what do you do with your
music collection? How much music do you travel with and by what means to you
listen to it?
Sam Weller
I receive so many CDs that I don't really need to carry around much, but I always have Strapping Young Lad with me just in case I get withdrawal symptoms. I usually listen to stuff on a CD walkman, but only if it has speakers. I hate headphones.
I'm one of your many obsessive fans, and have
been blessed with the chance to see The Wildhearts twice. You are the best
British songwriter of your generation. I would like to know what you think of
my other big rock hero Billy Corgan's music. Oh, and by the way, you do the
best B-sides ever - Show A Little Emotion, 29 x The Pain, Mindslide...
wow.
Tom Dorman
I'm not a massive fan of Billy Corgan. That voice of his gets on my nerves about three words into a song. Thanks for the B-sides compliment. I'm getting a bit sick of these arse-tunnelling journalists claiming that all B-sides are substandard album rejects. We never recorded any B-sides as part of an album session. All of our tracks were done after the album recording or prior to writing a new album. I just had too many songs flying around my head to sit on existing material for very long. I personally think that our B-sides were often much better than a lot of our album tracks.
Sky Babies is one of my favourite Wildhearts songs,
especially as I've been interested in the whole UFO phenomenon for many
years now. My belief in UFOs and government cover-ups are nearly always laughed
at by my friends, including those that are Wildhearts fans. I was wondering if
you could tell me what your beliefs on the subject are. Do you think
"there's something going on"? Or do you think it's all
bullshit?
Andy Metcalfe
The older I get the more suspicious I tend to be about the possibility that it's all a crock of shit. But something always keeps me believing. Like one believes that true love or success exists. My beliefs in this subject are much more involved than it being a bunch of little guys from another planet coming to visit us (now that sounds like bullshit). And as for government cover-ups... the only way they could cover something like this up is if they were allowed to. Whatever the truth behind the phenomenon... let's face it ,any theories are pure guess work, or part of a primitive knowledge that's been long since hidden, or which we've evolved out of. We are very unlikely to find out anything while we are alive. The real answers are surely arrived at in death. So make sure you do some good things in life and don't waste time watching the stars. There's a lot of cool stuff going on down here, y'know! I believe that we will all receive what is due to us.
What do you think of Redd Kross?
Sam Weller
The guitarist that died was a good friend of a friend of mine. It's a very sad and stupid way to go. I used to love the Phaseshifter and Third Eye albums. They sort of gave up on writing killer tunes at that point.
We just found this page and put it in our
favourites. Will be reading lots about you over the next few weeks. Our nice
pal Adam in London mailed the Clam Abuse LP to us here in Mobile, Alabama for
Kitty's recent birthday. We've just heard it for the first time and
it's ace. Very different and dead entertaining on more levels than we can
write about here. You sound like you're having a bloody good laugh on
there. Will be getting lots of play in her car over the next few weeks. Good to
have you back, mate. All the best and whatever else you say to pop
stars.
Tony and Kitty
You know something? Every time I think that this web site is just about the coolest thing in my world, I start getting letters from foreign places I've never even been to. How fucking cool is that? And here's me thinking life can't get any better. Anyway, I'm busy recording a new solo album and it's a lot more ROCK than Clam Abuse, but just as tuneful. Hope you like it, but I've got a feeling you're gonna at least love it. Keep sending those letters from far away lands...this site fucking RULES.
If it's OK to abuse clams, is it OK to abuse
other shellfish as well, because I don't like limpets... horrible little
bastards. By the way, I disagree about the pickle debate. I prefer sandwich
pickle. When you're Mr Apathy like me you just don't have time to put
in all the extra jaw work that you need for chunky pickle.
Dan Wells
Bottom feeders, molluscs, Insects of the Wet, Invertebrate Little House Nickers... whatever you wanna call 'em, abuse is too good for the bastards, but abuse them if you must. It is you who will ultimately pay the price. As for the pickle debate, put it this way, you're a long time in dentures.
Do you have a computer?
Sam Weller
Not at the moment. The fucker died on me. But I'm getting a new one very soon.
I listened to Motorvate on Masa Itoh's radio
program. Great! Great! Great!!!!! I want to play that song with my guitar, so
would you please tell me the lyrics?
Toru
Hashimoto
I don't have the lyrics to Motorvate, but maybe you can get them from someone reading this. In fact, if someone wanted to write down the lyrics for all the Clam Abuse and solo stuff, there's surely a good deal in trade to be had. Extra money anyone?
Me and me brother were discussing our 'fantasy
band' line-up, and when I say fantasy I don't mean sexually! So, who
would be in your fantasy band? I'm curious, not just to see who you put in,
but who you leave out.
Jasemundo
My fantasy band would change so much every day that eventually everyone would appear in it and no one would be left out (how's that for diplomacy?). This week I would be mostly playing with Tim Smith (Cardiacs), Jon Poole (Cardiacs) and Blads (Yo-Yo's)... er, hang on a second. I am playing with those guys, so it's not really make believe, but it is fantasy!
Have you ever busked? And do you find it as funny a
word as I do. When you say it a few times it kind of loses any meaning and
sounds really silly. Buskbuskbusk. Oh, mercy. I did some busking the other day
and the filth moved me on. I wouldn't mind but I was pleasantly murdering
29 x The Pain. You would've been proud.
Jorj
Yes, I have indeed busked - through the streets of New York on the back of a flatbed truck with The Wildhearts. A recommended experience. As a word I find it as funny as pigeon, but not as funny as plinth. Keep up the good set list and don't mind the police, they're only doing their job. And what a good job it is.
I just can't get this one song out of my head.
It's the "more fucked up than you" song. Now, I don't have
the Clam Abuse record, and I don't have the money to buy it either, so if
anyone could email me the lyrics to the above mentioned song, I would be really
grateful.
Nina
And once more the demand for lyrics comes to the fore. Does anyone out there have any lyrics for this and other 'me' related stuff (oh, that sounds nice and poncey)? Why not get a swap shop-type operation going, someone? Y'know - "have complete set of lyrics for Clam Abuse album. Will swap for hamster aura or something." Go to it, kiddies, the world of trade and commerce is at your fingertips. And you may as well make the most of it. After all, you should really have skin there.
