When I was a kid, growing up in a house with Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond, and Simon and Garfunkel, the first time I ever heard Kiss's "Detroit Rock City," it was a moment of musical epiphany. It was just so vicious, aggressive and mean. It changed the way I listened to music. I've had a few minor epiphanies since then, when you come across a band that just brings something new and revolutionary to your ears.
What have been your musical epiphany moments?
One ‘day the earth stood still’ moment for me was when I discovered how Marc Bolan had turned overnight from a wimpy, hippy minstrel into the full metal guru. It was a revelation. He was getting nowhere until he turned it up and dressed it up, and then… ‘overnight success’! It was a vital lesson in not banging your head against a brick wall - if the act’s not working, change it up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUqAGoPtfto
Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?
It’s all about the sound, the hook, every time. Never the lyrics! Write a poetry book if you think the words are so important.
Who has influenced you the most?
There’s plenty of fakers in the music biz who’ll tell you can’t succeed without their help. What they really mean is you can’t succeed without them taking a cut. When it comes to dog eat dog, it’s Crufts out there. But then you look at someone like Prince – he wasn’t going to be treated like a slave any more. It was like the Spartacus movie. ‘I am Prince’ - it’s got a good ring to it.
Where do you look for continuing inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?
There’s no hidden treasure map with an X marking the spot where ‘inspiration’ lies. It’s all around, every minute and every day. Just reach out and touch.
We're all a product of our environment. Tell us about the band's hometown and how that reflects in the music?
Anytown, UK. The best thing to be said about living in a boring, grey, featureless landscape is the urge to take wing and fly away.
Where'd the band name come from?
A flight of fancy, of course. Shoot that arrow and see where it lands.
You have one chance, what movie are you going to write the soundtrack for?
Quentin Tarantino’s next movie, please! He uses music so skillfully, and isn’t averse to shaking it up (like slipping Bowie’s Cat People into his World War II movie Inglorious Bastards.) Anybody got his number?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdItU5jCCM0
You now write for a music publication (The Ripple Effect?). You're going to write a 1,000 word essay on one song. Which would it be and why?
Sweet F.A, by Sweet. Check out the live version on Musikladen – it has everything. Power, excitement, musicianship, showmanship, fashion and theatre. They paved the way for so many bands and they never got due credit. 1,000 words? I could give you 10,000!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYr1Apgiy6Q
Come on, share with us a couple of your great, Spinal Tap, rock and roll moments?
I’ll get slaughtered for this, but the truth is we fight. All the bloody time. Fists, fat lips, blunt objects and lacerations. Onstage and off stage. What can I say? It would be great to put it down to creative energy, but the truth is we’re all a bit maladjusted.
Tell us about playing live and the live experience for you and for your fans?
Playing live is a knife edge experience for all concerned. We don’t like to overplan it – let it rip and run after it is our motto. It’s like thrashing a stolen car some nights – press the pedal to the metal!
What makes a great song?
It's the opening five seconds that really makes a great song. Listen to the first five seconds of your favourite songs and tell me I’m wrong.
What one single album do you wish that you'd written or performed on, and why?
Beggars Banquet, The Rolling Stones, 1968. Could you imagine hanging in the studios in that era when The Glimmer Twins were in their Satanic Majesty pomp? Poor Brian Jones was reduced to shaking the odd maraca in those sessions – I’d have been quite happy with that, just to be there. Or joining in the whoo whoo backing vocals. Take me there!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQKkCxYIGPc
What piece of your music are particularly proud of?
That’s easy – Don’t Ask. And the next song, of course. No time to waste in navel gazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDKru9YRUrI
Who today, writes great songs? Who just kicks your ass? Why?
Check out His Lordship, especially live if you can. Pure rock and roll, 50s meets punk, dressed in smart suits. All Cranked Up is two minutes of pure adrenaline - bonkers energy delivered straight to the cerebral cortex and feet. Turn it up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc5ZyTZnQ2A
Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?
Vinyl of course - why cheat on your ears? Anything else is like buying a pair of shoes and throwing one away.
Whiskey or beer? And defend your choice
Ideally, one chasing the other - the best songwriters always come in pairs, and so do these two.
We, at the Ripple Effect, are constantly looking for new music. What's your home town, and when we get there, what's the best record store to lose ourselves in?
Leeds – and head to Jumbo Records, a mainstay for music nuts since the early seventies. Music – including vinyl of course, gig tickets and the rest. If they haven’t got it, it doesn’t exist.
https://www.jumborecords.co.uk/index.asp
What's next for the band?
That’s all going to depend on the outcome of a court case coming up early next year, the details of which I can’t really go into here. But shit happens, and whatever the outcome, we’ll come back stronger.
Any final comments or thoughts you'd like to share with our readers, the waveriders?
Rule Number One: Love your ears. You only get one pair so treat them well.
Rule Number Two: If you’re going to misbehave, don’t get caught.
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