12th May 2000
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Your new music is quality stuff, but the truth
is, it's not a patch on the music The Wildhearts made - that's the best music
I've ever listened to. Is there any chance that you'll reform The
Wildhearts?
Mike Stubbs
Unless I get involved in a bad accident which renders the idea of change redundant, then the answer is absolutely not. Just wait until you hear the new shit - it'll make the whole picture make sense. Trust me, I know what I'm doing.
I've just read that you'll no longer listen to
bands' demos. I'm sure I speak for many fans when I say that this is a real
shame. I'm in a band who have finally been getting some attention in the form
of a little bit of national airplay and coverage in the music press. You are
undoubtedly our biggest influence: you've shown that music is about
entertainment and having the best fucking tunes! It's funny how all the bands
we end up playing gigs with turn out to be pretentious arseholes who've formed
a band merely as a vent for their ego trips. Please don't let the words of a
few stop you from sharing your opinions with everyone else.
Tony
Saunders
I wont let it stop me sharing my opinions, it's just that for a while there I thought I was in the position to actually review people's work. I am not, nor will I ever be, in that position. It's not for me to tell people what I think about their music - this could have a disastrous effect on their confidence (witness our Mr X). I don't wanna promote anything on this web site but encouragement and humour. Mr X proved that some (however few) are affected in a seriously negative way by criticism, and that's not the way I want this site to be perceived. There are many negative sites on the Net (I know, I love some of 'em - check out stileproject.com) but, unless I feel that someone deserves it, I don't like the idea of this becoming one.
Who was that playing harmonica on the
Super$hit stuff?
Gav
That was Peder from Backyard Babies. He's a mean fucking harp player and took the smile off my face when I heard him blow. Those Swedes do tend to churn out some decent talent when it suits 'em.
Were The Wildhearts ever influenced by
NoMeansNo?
Joel, James, Ben & Dai
By the time I heard NoMeansNo we where on the verge of splitting up. But they are fucking great, and if we had heard them before then I'm sure we would have ripped them off.
When will the SilverGinger 5 album will be
released in the UK?
Joel, James, Ben & Dai
I still don't know when the album will be released in the UK, but I promise, swear and cross my heart that I won't keep it a secret from you guys when I do find out. Keep your eye on the 'news' section.
1) What's the meaning of p.h.u.q.?
2) How's your friendship with Devin Townsend? Are you planing to do something
together?
3) Can you tell me where I can buy the If Life I Like A Love Bank single?
Juan Pablo
1) Part Hetero Ultimately Queer, Pink Hairdo Under Question, Parents Hiding
Under Quilts, Penguins Hate Underwater Quicksand... I don't fucking know.
2) My friendship with Devin Townsend is a very strange one.
3) Do I look like a shopkeeper?
Do you have any blood brothers?
Amy
I once 'bonded by blood' with CJ. Does that count?
Do you remember the last gig you did at
Wolverhampton? Four guys mooned at you and you applauded. Well one of them was
my boyfriend! Are you going to come to Wolverhampton when you release the new
album? And I love Scream and The House On Haunted Hill!
Kez
Of course. The Midlands has become a sort of second home for me. Scream is for babies and The House on Haunted Hill is a comedy. Try some hardcore Italian horror for the full effect. The Beyond by Lucio Fulci would be a good place to start... but don't complain if they fuck with your head and give you nightmares. That's what horror is supposed to do.
Was your song News Of The World in any way
inspired by the Queen album of the same name? What did you think of Freddie
Mercury as a frontman?
Robert van Gameren
No. It was inspired (as I'm sure the Queen song was too) by the British Sunday newspaper. It wasn't one of their best albums anyway. But Freddie was the greatest frontman of his time for a while. He enjoyed the job, you see.
Would you like to be asked to go on the BBC
pop quiz Never Mind The Buzzcocks? I think, with your knowledge of pop music
and your quick wit, you'd be excellent for the show!
Robert van
Gameren
Sounds like a good idea, but maybe I'd better get a record out first so people know who the ginger fucker sitting on their telly is.
Sam Yaffa, bass. Rat Scabies, drums. Conny
Bloom, guitar. Ginger, guitar / vocals. Oh well, two out of four will just have
to do!
Phil Smith
Sounds like a fucking pub band.
Any idea what Ricky Warwick, ex-Almighty, is
up to? He's a cool songwriter. Maybe the two of you could work
together...
Andy
The Almighty have a new, self-titled album about to be released. And believe me, it sounds like a motherfucker of a thing. Back to form, and then some.
What is your opinion on life - eg, what the
fuck is going on? What's it all about from your position? Does it influence
your music?
Bobby T
All I see is a bunch of people trying to find a reason, and a point, while convincing themselves that others have actually found one. To me, there is no reason. That's not the point. The point is to stop thinking that we have any reason to figure out a point, and then there will be reason enough to carry on. But hey, that's just me.
I was just wondering if one of the B-sides to
Urge, Fugazi (Do The Fake), had anything to do with those bastions of political
correctness and emocore gods, Fugazi? You know, that vegan, no 'alcohol for me,
mister' bunch, fronted by mister Ian MacKaye.
John Osborn
Nah, although the song was partly written about a crummy band from England that copied us yet never admitted the fact, ultimately leading to their destruction.
What do you think of CJ's band, The
Jellys?
Adz
I think The Jellys are horribly underrated. If they were American everyone would be dancing in their millions to them. Put it this way, they kick Offspring's arse, many times over.
What was Mick Ronson like, and how did you get
to record together?
Michael Gould
Mick was, and is, the sweetest guy I ever met in this business. We became friends because of his honest love for music, beyond the limitations of what is seen to be 'cool'. This is why he'll always be regarded, by anyone that knew him, as a figure to measure up to.
What were Guns N' Roses like to meet?
Michael Gould
Very normal.
Do you believe in past lives? Or have you
lived so very much in this one you know what it takes most mere mortals half a
century to figure out? You seem wise beyond your years. Do you ever wish you
just didn't know how something felt, that you could go back to being
naive?
Kathy Moorman
I do believe in previous lives but I don't believe it makes much difference to this one - a bit like remembering previous years at school. Every day I wake up and wish that I could be happy knowing 'little' enough to just get me by. My need to know more than I need drives me crazy sometimes. We are all born equal. That means if you have a certain talent for something you are going to be born with certain limitations beyond your control. Life? It sure is a funny old thing.
As a huge fan of all things Ginger-related, I
would like to know if there's any chance of an official Wildhearts live album
being released.
Shaun Double
Our Japanese live album, Tokyo Suits Me, is sheer class. A hyper-ventilating beast of a thing with more moments of rock and roll bliss on it than Keith Richards being cloned to be in a band with Steven Tyler, Nikki Sixx and Keith Moon. It will see the light of day elsewhere one day, I'm darned sure.
If you could choose a year to have been born
in, which would it be?
Michael Gould
1957. So I could have been 16 in New York in 1973.
What did The Wildhearts sound like when they
started? Were they any good?
Michael Gould
We were shit.
I'm well impressed about Church Of The Broken
Hearted being on your album. Just one question: is it different to the original
version, and is it better than the masterpiece it is now?
Chris
Church Of The Broken Hearted is both horizontally and vertically superior to its predecessor. Superior, in fact, in every way conceivable way. Its legs are longer, it does more miles to the gallon, and it cleans up after itself. And it likes you more.
What did you reckon to your stint with The
Throbs? Why was it so short-lived, and whatever came of those blokes? The album
(The Language Of Thieves And Vagabonds) was a cracker.
Lee
Lister
My stint with The Throbs was a very miserable one. They weren't a real band and couldn't really play all that good (although Roger was / is a great guitar player). They were very bitter about nothing and had the biggest egos in New York at the time. After my unhappy stint with the Quireboys, I was beginning to think that I'd got it all wrong about bands having 'gang' vibes. I still see Danny from the Throbs when I go to LA. He's a lovely bloke.
