23rd January 2001
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Don't take the requests for The Wildhearts to
reform too personally, 'cos I and a fair few others think that you're doing
just great as you are. If you've felt even a tenth of the vibes that are coming
off the Wildhearts Mailing List then you know that every single one of us is
110% behind you no matter what you do!
David Waddell
Thanks, man, I'd hoped you guys would come around when faced with proof that The Wildhearts weren't that great. Y'know, we were good, but this new lot are the fucking shit, man. And just look at the reaction!
Are you pleased with very single and album you've
made?
Jimmy Andersson
To be honest, I'm proud of everything I've done in the past. Death to false modesty.
I was wondering what you thought of the now defunct
band Faster Pussycat. Not withstanding that Taime could barely sing, every so
often one of their songs seemed to capture something special for me.
Graham
I thought they were pretty crap, really. The first album had some nice moments of almost English sounding rock 'n roll... but they went off the boil pretty quick. Seems like a typical LA thing to do.
I noticed some words of thanks to Johnny
Cigarrettes in the notes of Black Leather Mojo - I take it this is the same
journo who writes for the top mag Loaded? My question is: how did you get to
meet him, and can we expect to see you appearing in platinum rogues or, better
still, the Greatest Living Englishmen section of Loaded soon?
Wayne
Charlton
Johnny interviewed The Wildhearts in New York and really told it how it was. Since then everything he has written about the band has been purely based on the songs / attitude / merit of the band... something sadly rare in music journalism. Don't get me wrong, I like OTT scribes, rabidly bigging up bands / artists, as much as the next reader (you don't want to know how dull a lot of these 'muso' people really are, believe me). But it's still really inspiring to have someone spend a little time trying to figure out what these musician folk are truly about, exposing the rubbish for what it is and standing by the diamonds... balls on table. Oh, and he also lost it big time watching AC/DC, when we were supporting. Losing one's cool is sometimes just the coolest thing anyone can do!
When you're playing guitar, do you use any sort of
effects (digital or stomp boxes), or do you just go straight from guitar to
Marshall? What type / model of Marshall do you generally use?
Matt
Hickerson
I'm just not very technical. I just plug in and turn it up loud. I just got a 'Slash' Marshall and it seems to be nice and loud so I like that one.
I love to listen to your lyrics because you're an
amazing writer. I was wondering, what do you think is the most meaningful song
you've written?
Chris
I have tons yet to be recorded, but of all the ones on release I'd say Bad Time To Be Having A Bad Time was pretty meaningful at the time, and still creeps into the picture every now and again.
What's the most beautiful song you've ever heard? I
love the songs that touch you so deep that you cry, like you can feel every
word. Music is extremely important to me. Without it, without you, the world
would be much duller.
Chris
There are just too many to choose from... Steve Earle' My Old Friend The Blues, Cocteau Twins' Pearly Dew Drops, This Mortal Coil's Song To The Siren, Maria McKee's I Forgive You, Dolly Parton's A Few Old Memories or I Will Always Love You, ABBA's My Love My Life, Dr Hook's If Not You, The Korgis' If I Had You... oh man, I could go on for days and still not get to the end of the list. Download that lot from Napster then ask me for a few more suggestions.
Sonic Shake is a fantastic
opener. Is the very beginning of it inspired by Queen's Live Killers version
of We Will Rock You?
Mike
It's inspired by all of the greatest moments in rock history, We Will Rock You live being one of them, for sure.
Now that you've signed up with Sanctuary
Management, is there any chance of SG5 getting the support slot on the next
Iron Maiden Tour?
Andy Holmes
I can't honestly see that happening. Sanctuary wouldn't want their new clients blowing their old clients off the stage now, would they? That's bad business!
Favorite Fulci film? I was just listening to
splattermania - shouldn't all music be like that? Anyhow, I personally think
that The Beyond pisses all over Zombie.
Jon Durnian
My favorite Fulci movie is The Beyond. I just looooove that spurt! (Though Don't Torture A Duckling had some pretty meaty bits.)
I saw the 'at home with' feature that you had in
Kerrang! a couple of months back, and I was wondering where you got hold of the
Iggy & The Stooges poster that was on your wall.
Andy
B
I picked it up from a little store in LA that sold original posters from that time. It seems that the spirit of Iggy is following me around. One day I'll meet him and he'll probably be the first man I ever wanted to have sex with. But then again probably not.
I got the SG5 album on import and it's the best
thing I've bought off the Internet ever, and well worth the import price. I was
just wondering if the album was in normal tuning as The Wildhearts were always
tuned down half a step.
Steve Mackle
Well spotted. I recorded the whole album in 'concert pitch', but live I always play one step down for the heaviness.
Why did you re-record Just Stay as And The Bullshit
Goes On?
Mark Leatham
I was heavily into Steve Albini and Frank Zappa at the time, and I loved the fact that they never wrote love songs... so much so that I was inspired not to write them as well. Nowadays I'm more comfortable with the idea that love doesn't exist, that you have to create it, so I don't write too many love songs now either.
SilverGinger 5? I take it that the '5' isn't
related to the number of band members!
Samantha
Well done! So you noticed there are only four in the band, then? I'm not sure what the 5 stands for, but there sure are a lot of people telling me to drop it, so it's gotta be a good thing in the long run.
At the end of the Fishing For Lukies re-release,
you have looped laughter running over and over for 26 minutes-ish. Presuming it
was The Wildhearts giggling away, could you possibly elaborate on what you're
laughing about? I don't really know why I want to know, but it's been annoying
me for ages.
Rick Reeder
The laughing at the end of FFL was caused by me smashing a bottle for a sound effect and then asking if I can do a second take. The laughing itself belongs, mainly, to a lovely bloke called Pete Winkleman, who owns Linford Manor studios where we were recording.
How about releasing some more material?
Ben
I would like nothing more than to record some new material, and if everything goes right we should be doing that very soon. If you don't hear anything soon then you know it didn't work as planned and I'll be asking you if you want fries with that burger.
Have you considered using keyboards as a way of
fleshing out the already great live sound?
Kris
Coverdale
Yeah, that would be cool, but the guy would have to have something new to offer the grey world of keyboard players. Some crazy guy that also played percussion and screamed into the mic would work...
I was wondering, what's usually the first thing you
do after a gig?
Jimmy Andersson
Collapse, if it was a good show. If it wasn't, I usually throw stuff around and wait until the person responsible walks through the door.
Were you angry with somebody before you set your
guitar on fire at the Astoria? People say that you argued with someone behind
the stage.
Jimmy Andersson
This is all rubbish. I wanted to light it, he wanted to light it... he won. We're all big kids at the end of the day.
How do you write your songs? Obviously I don't want
any trade secrets, but do you wait for a melody to hit you? Do it alone or with
band members? Think of an inspiring topic and write around it? I'll need to
know how to write good songs to be famous.
Matt
Lancashire
My songs kinda write themselves. Don't get me wrong, I'm the one that's gotta feed my brain with experiences and topics to write about. But the rest of the process sort of works on a principle of auto-compose, where the tune is sufficiently catchy as to lodge itself in my brain. Statistically, my brain is very similar to everyone else's, so the tune should work with them too. Unfortunately, people tend not to need this stimulation as much as I do and buy something that has a better promotional team working behind it. Basically, to write good songs you have to get out there, get your heart broken, fall out with some people, speak your mind, become unpopular... whatever it is that you're good at. Just remember, there are no more than five good songs in the average boring bastard, and three of them you've heard before. Life feeds the creative mind, but it's usually the most traumatic of times that carry the best menu.
What songs on your own do you rate the most?
Kev Page
I always like the latest one I've wrote the most. As for the others, I guess I like the ones that make the crowd go nuts. I used to get really bored with writing and just stick loads of bits in that sounded like they wanted to be there. That kind of writing is very easy (really) and quite impressive to the listener, but a little dull for the writer. One of the most long-lasting and pertinent songs I've written is 29 x The Pain. That was a B-side and is so simple that it took about ten minutes to put together. Just goes to show that you can't tell what people are going to like, so just make sure that everything you write, and record, you actually like yourself.
What was Red Light - Green Light all about? It's so
adaptable.
Mark Goodchild
Yeah, that was what I wanted. It's a song about boredom and doing something about it when surrounded by people that just talk about how bored they are. There are doers and there are talkers... and there are wankers. And doctors. Basically, there are so many people whose trade ends in 'rs' that it's not even worth thinking about really.
What was the song that you sang on in Grand Theft
Audio's set at the Astoria? Who's it by?
Paul Boots
It's called As Good As It Gets and it's their own song, they just never play it live. I think it's gonna be a hit, personally.
I noticed at the Astoria gig that there was some
filming being done - there was even some audience microphones on the speakers.
What I want to know is, are there any plans to release a live video of the gig?
It would be fantastic if you did!
Katie Southall
I'm not sure about a whole live show, I just wanted to have the whole thing filmed just in case this thing becomes popular and everyone in the industry goes 'shit, we got no footage', and the whole thing falls apart. Believe me, this kind of thing does happen!
Does it annoy you that fans argue about which
Wildhearts song(s) you should play?
Eddie Hassett
Yes and no. I mean, I did write all the stuff for The Wildhearts, therefore I'm gonna get it more than Danny or Ritch. But on the other hand, it'd be nice for people to want you to move on. Hey, they're the audience and they buy the tickets so it's my job as an entertainer to give them what they want. It ain't a bad life, really!
I heard a rumour you may be writing a book. Now, I
for one would be very interested in reading a book like
that. Any news, or is it something you're just adding bits to when you're
travelling?
Velvet Presley
I wrote one, about The Wildhearts. I did it in a 'clean-up' period when I had loads of time with nothing to do. I couldn't get the most essential interviews and, to be honest, Sanctuary told me that no one would give a shit about it, so I decided to scrap the idea.
How come you chose to play the same Wildhearts
and Super$hit 666 songs at both London shows?
Paul
Pomerantz
Because we had no budget or time to learn any new ones. With two members of the band living in Sweden it gets very expensive to do shows, and rehearsing is almost impossible to arrange, at least as easily as it would be if we all lived in London. Don't worry, we'll be doing some different songs when we rehearse for a tour.
I thought I'd let you know that on Ebay right now
there's a couple of bootleg recordings from your recent shows selling for a
bunch of money. You can rat them out if you like and they'll shut down those
auctions. Have you considered selling your own bootlegs? Devin Townsend has
done it for both audio and video recordings of a few of his shows. I think it
worked out well for him since his fans, like me, have no reason to buy
unauthorised boots. We get a better product from him, and we also get to
support him!
Doug
Selling my own bootlegs? Nah, I don't even like listening to them let alone charging people for it! The Ebay shit is just the way of the world. Start getting into that and before you know it you're Metallica, giving fans shit for buying this product and not that product. Napster = free. Metallica box set with a couple of bit 'n pieces in it = £100. SG5 bootleg from Ebay = $60. SG5 bootleg from Paolo the Punisher = £5... it's all about research and taste, and also whether you've got too much fucking money or not.
