. a T S H R T PI magazine
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WEDNESDAY 13 Trick or Treat with the Head Ghoulscout
Interviews with Jim Rose Circus, Miles Hunt, Sugarcult Todd Jensen DLR Band/Sequel, Neil Leyton, Feable Weiner - plus CD & Live Reviews
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As this new issue was coming together I realised that some people who may have read the magazine before might find some of the bands and artists featured are a little different to those I've covered in the past. Have I already turned my back on the glam rock which TrashPit so heavily championed early on? Hell no!! Hard Rock, Glam Rock, Cock Rock whatever you want to call it will always be the main focus of this magazine but what I wanted to achieve when I started to put this magazine together was to not let it have any real boundaries - the only music I wanted to cover was good music - whatever 'genre' it might fall into. What this new issue does represent though, and what I feel very fortunate to have done, is bring you interviews and features on some of the most influential and entertaining people who I have
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come across in the past few years particularly Todd Jensen, Miles Hunt and Jim Rose. These are people who I have watched perform from the audience and never dreamed I would get the opportunity to speak to and put their words into print so I hope you can find the time to read what they have to say and maybe like to find out something more about them and what they do. So bring it on, let me know what you think. We've got some really cool things lined up for the next few issues and some other great things are also in the pipeline to expand TrashPit into other 'areas'! First off, anyone in the Nottingham area should get themselves down to out first TrashPit gig in January, check the back page for info and stay tuned for other stuff on the way!
• TRASHPIT Issue 6 - Winter 2004 • Editor - ROB LANE • All Articles, Reviews & Photographs by ROB LANE unless otherwise stated. © 2004 For What It’s Worth Promotions Wednesday 13 Pics courtesy Roadrunner Records • Todd Jensen Pic - Gerri Miller • Sequel Promo - Michael Dahlstrom • Hardline Promo - Neil Zlozower • Wonderstuff Promo - Tony Bartolo • Sugarcult Promo courtesy of Goldstar PR • Jaret Reddick - Roy Goodall • FULC - Jamie Campbell Danny Vaughan - Jane Ushwell • Van Halen pic - vhnd.com • Neil Leyton Promo - fadingways.com • Jim Rose Circus Live - Antony John
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w e v i D Re s AntiProduct Acousti-Mosh Live White Devil Music
AntiProduct are a band with many faces, many personalities and many colours (some of which are brightly UV like!) and the Acousti-Mosh show which they often undertake is a gig like no other. The band manage to create the most monster of sounds in an acoustic setting but it's also these shows that really allow the bands pop sensibilities, soaring harmonies and huge choruses to come to the forefront. This 6 track CD magnificently manages to capture this in style but also throws in some priceless Alex Kane ad-libs and crowd interaction which Diamond Dave would be proud of. Few bands in the charts can boast hooklines the size of 'Goin' All The Way' and 'Best Day of Your Life' and it's a wonder AntiProduct don't incorporate songs of this steller quality into their full-on, metallised set to balance out the heads down riffs! Want a crash course in how to be heavy as fuck but still manage to get the kids down the front singing their hearts out as if at a pop concert? Then check out this slick piece of cool! 8/10
Peter Blast Explode Big Bang/Sopro When rock and roll runs through the blood it's there forever and that can be no truer than for Chicago rock veteran Peter Blast. Having a career spanning twenty five years of smoky bars, late nights and copious amounts of rock excess, Blast has pulled all this together to produce his latest album 'Explode'. Perhaps wearing his influences a little too early on with a cover of the Stones 'Paint It Black' as the second track, it does at least give no false illusions about the man and his music. The tracks saunter along with a head nodding, cigarette in mouth, blues induced pace occasionally stepping up a gear for more in your face rock workouts such as 'As Sharp as a Knife' and the KISS / Alice Cooper styled 'Orange Sunrise'. Laced with sprinklings of production magic from EzN's Chip Z'Nuff and Blast's never ending spit and swagger ensure that whilst 'Explode' occasionally fails to live up to it's incendiary like name and instruction to 'Play Loud' it still has enough fuel to light the fire of fans of bar room guitar sleaze. 6/10
Bowling For Soup A Hangover You Don't Deserve Jive / Zomba / BMG I've never been a big fan of long albums as my attention span is very short. I get bored easily so if an album of almost 20 songs is to change my mind then it has to be seriously good - this one is! Perhaps 'seriously' is the wrong word though when it comes to Bowling For Soup. Officially the most fun band on the planet, the Texan power pop kings deliver everything and more on this album and add a big fat capital 'F' to the word Fun! Each track captures the personalities and humour of the band and smears them all over every chorus. Easily the most happy album you'll hear all year, perhaps ever, means that some aren't going to find it easy to swallow but what's wrong with having a smile splattered all over your face?! At times though it can be an incredibly touching and sentimental record with songs 'My Hometown' and 'Friends O Mine' showing another side of the band and deliver a genuine dose of heart felt feeling in Jaret Reddick's vocals and lyrics. Everybody needs to lighten up and feel good and this is without doubt the very best way to start! 'Seriously' priceless! 9/10
Bubble Rock N Roll Hell Basementboy Records / Cargo The definition 'Rock N Roll' has been overused way too much and many bands are branded as having it in huge doses by the media as well as shouting about it far too much themselves. Bubble on the other hand have earned the right shout it the loudest. Spilling attitude and volume in the sleaziest way possible yet still holding onto the magic ingredient that makes a good song, the LA three piece once again lay it down plain and simple on this, their third album. 'Rock N Roll Hell' is straight ahead no nonsense guitar rock delivered with a solid passion and excitement. Share Ross' vocals are as husky and sexy as ever particularly on 'Down n Out in Hollywood' and the album jumps along at a frantic pace. Never really challenging, at times perhaps forgettable, but always with an in your face big screw you to anyone who doesn't take notice. 6/10
Bullet For My Valentine Bullet For My Valentine Visible Noise Recent years have seen young bands adopting the classic metal stylings of bands such as Iron Maiden and bolting the harmonised twin guitar sounds to bone crunching, throat wrenching chants and 'emo' stylings to make an impression on the both the charts and underground rock come indie scene. Now forerunners Lost Prophets and Funeral for a Friend are currently being bitten on the heals by Welsh neighbours Bullet For My Valentine who whilst trying to shake off comparisons to their counterparts the similarities are very evident. This is not necessarily a bad thing as Bullet For My Valentine certainly deliver the goods in a big way particularly on 'Curses' which really showcases Matthew Tuck's vocals against a gritty Metallica tinged arrangement and feel. Throughout, the band effortlessly pile everything they have into the songs on display but maybe have yet to channel such copious amounts of aggression and energy into an inevitable signature song. For now though Bullet For My Valentine should easily make waves on this powerful debut. 6/10
Dharma Drive Audio Porn EP Fortune & Glory A true feast for the ears is on show for all to indulge on Audio Porn, the debut release from one of the freshest sounding bands this country has produced for some time. Dharma Drive grab hold of a fresh yet familiar vibe and allow their songs to cruise along at a dreamy pace before lifting into scarily slick chorus after chorus without sacrificing any of their credibility or charm. At times the songs adopt a post grunge groove on opener 'Gimme The Keys, others grab a Wannadies euro pop edge like on 'Puddle Song' and some even find themselves attracting a nineties Wonderstuff slant such as 'Dillon'. Matt Terry's vocals hold the varying musical personalities together with his larger than life vocal style which heralds a Spacehog injection. Certainly a collection of songs that give enough clues to suggest that something huge may well be on it's way here. 8/10
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CALLING ALL UNSIGNED / NEW BANDS TrashPit will be running a new column featuring unsigned and new bands in future issues. Send demos / CD's to the address at the front of the mag.
8 Idle Hands Wot? No Ace? BND Records Being able to release a full length album independently by the time you've barely left school is quite an achievement. What's an even bigger achievement is when your songs outshine a vast majority of the music currently causing a stir in the music press. 8 Idle Hands have done just that with this collection of timeless and dare we say 'mature' rock songs that mould together the gravelly rasp of The Stereophonics (when they rocked) and the punk backbone of The Ramones and Blink 182. Songwriting is at it's highest on tracks such as the massive singalong of 'My Way' and the Beatles-esque quality of 'Love'. The band can also equally add humour and a cool quirkiness to tracks such as the Presidents of the USA fuelled 'Gremlins' and trash punk of 'The Jerk'. This impressive debut is only really let down by an unpolished production which comes to the fore when everything else is so excellently presented and performed - inevitably perhaps the only thing really outside this young bands control. Once the major label deal comes beckoning then it's time to watch out! 6/10
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www.trashpit.co.uk The Erotics All That Glitters Is Dead Cacophone Records
According to the album sleeve notes, New York based three piece The Erotics are already banned from playing in your town. Real fucking shame cause I'd certainly like to see them come deliver some of the balls out, glitter splattered rock which litters this record. From the get go The Erotics introduce themselves as 'The Space Age Mafia' and they're 'Coming after you!'. It's all dumb ass, eye liner smudged glitter punk trash picking up where Pretty Boy Floyd could no longer handle the pace and it's all good believe me! 'Fast Cars & Porno Stars', 'Supermodel Suicide' and Tuff-like 'Death of the Party' sum up the bands 'No instructions needed to Rock' attitude and outlook with their early Poison meets Takac era Goo Goo Dolls sound and feel. Perhaps the bands town ban hasn't spread to this side of the Atlantic so with a bit of luck they can get their selves over here soon and bring the party along with them. 7/10
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Hideous Sun Demons Hideous Sun Demons Magna Carta Instrumental albums are always going to appeal to just a small majority of music fans but don't be instantly put off here if that's not your bag. The standard of players making up the HSD line up is enough to make you give this album a try. Primarily the core unit of David Lee Roth's touring band, The Hideous Sun Demons are made up of drummer Ray Luzier, bassist James Lomenzo and guitarist Toshi Hiketa. Opening numbers 'Elevation' and 'Rain' aren't too far removed from Vai-era Roth and at times it's surprising to hear sounds that wouldn't be too far out of place on modern day rock albums by the like of The Lost Prophets. Twelve tracks of purely instrumental music is lightened by the varied playing of the three scarily talented musicians. Effortlessly chopping and changing styles from Rock, Funk and Jazz in a similar way to which Richie Kotzen did on his Mother Heads project makes this more of a musical journey rather than the marathon fret wank that many musos would pull together as a chance to show off!
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Megadeth The System Has Failed Sanctuary Dave Mustaine returns to the scene with another chapter in his thrash metal legacy. To the outsider nothing's really changed too much in the world Megadeth. The album artwork continues to follow a very similar theme as ever and the Mustaine angst is still very prominent which initially seems very tired. What is refreshing though is the band ditching their tinny, scratchy metal sound for a fuller and more melodic approach which becomes evident early on with the foot stomping hook of 'Die Dead Enough' which reminds me of Pull-era Winger gone one stage heavier (you're right I'm sure Mustaine would kill me for this comparison!) This continues on tracks such as 'Tears in a Vial' which adopts something of Randy Rhodes riff throughout. It's this balance of melody and metal that serves the album well and could easily pick up the legions of Metallica fans turned off by their heroes last release. The system may well have failed but Mustaine is certainly pushing the right buttons in his own band. 6/10
Magnum Brand New Morning
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High-School Motherfuckers! Want Some?
Shotsun Generation Records Originally formed as a Ramones cover band, it took little time before the High-School Motherfuckers discovered their own sound, which led to the creation of "Want Some". This concise five track album from the French based band is filled with Glam and Punk influences, from The Sex Pistols, to the Backyard Babies and Goo Goo Dolls. The Motherfuckers explosive opening track 'Rock N Roll U', and the heavily Glam influenced track 'Spider', prove to stand out from the rest. Although the inclusion of 'Blitzkrieg Bop' provides an interesting Punk Garage take on this classic song. 'Want Some' is filled with energy and lots of raw sounding attitude, and after a few listens you may find yourself singing along with the High-School Motherfuckers. Working with producers responsible for the likes of The Ramones and Little Steven, the High-School Motherfuckers may be a young band to look out for. SOPHIE REED 7/10
SPV Right from the opening self titled track, the influence of past albums such as, Goodnight LA and Vigilante are evident to hear. Bob Catley has not lost any of his vast vocal range over the years and with the introduction of Harry James (ex Thunder /Powerhouse) on the skins, this has added an extra dimension and beat to the classic band. There remains a constant, quality mix of guitars and bass solos throughout "Brave New Morning", which makes it an enjoyable album for fans of the eighties style. With Magnum and Saxon both back on the rock circuit this year with quality hard hitting solid albums, let's hope the once legendary old school of British Rock, can once again make a huge comeback. The only down side to Brand New Morning is that this is nothing that we haven't heard Magnum doing before. But then again why mess with a successful formula? SOPHIE REED 6/10
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Mitch Malloy The Best Of
No Mayers 50 Hopeless Romantic
mitchmalloy.com
Service Label
Released to coincide with his recent UK acoustic tour, this best of compilation of AOR singer Mitch Malloy's three solo albums deserves to heralded as one of the finest bodies of melodic rock around today. Malloy's stamp on the radio friendly rock crown was evident the first time anyone heard his debut hit 'Anything at All' over ten years ago and from there Malloy delivers equally on almost every track available here. Whether it be the Richard Marx / Rick Price styled ballads such as 'Nobody Wins in this War' (which makes two appearances both acoustic and electric) or the phenomanally overlooked 'Loves Own Hand' through to the epic 'Stranded in the Middle of Nowhere' and massive 'You Lift Me' it's all top drawer fist punching, lighter waving AOR done by none finer. Should any fans of bands like Bon Jovi or Danger Danger be unaware of this man's talents then you've got over a decades worth of material compiled right here in all it's glory! 9/10
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There's a million bands right now who sound like No Mayers 50. The good time, pop punk sound is everywhere and has been for some time now but the fact that NM50 hail from Germany means they have some extra character to add into the mixing pot. 'On My Own' is pure New Found Glory whilst 'Breakout' pulls together Blink 182 and Simple Plan into a head on crash of sugary guitars and choreographed pogo jumps. But it's the mixture of German accents and American styled chorus lines which makes for a cool yet innocent sound particularly on 'Oneman', '247' and hit in a can 'Girlfriend'. Following the touching acoustic night ender 'Saddest Song Ever', NM50 display no shame at baring their power ballad roots with a farewell medley of 80's slush gone punk with 'Time of My Life', 'It must have been love' and the inevitable guitar duel keyboard line of Europe's 'Final Countdown'. Sure hundreds of bands are out there doing it but No Mayers 50 are doing it as good as anyone and having great fun at the same time. 7/10
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Kee Marcellos Melon Demon Divine Frontiers
Here we have a guitar screaming album by the former guitarist of the Swedish supergroup Europe. With Kee Marcello on guitars, vocals and keyboards, Snowy Shaw on drums and Klatuu on bass, they deliver a powerfully melodic album. Instantly from the second track 'E.M.D', (the first being an intro), Melon Demon Drive serves up a very balanced mix of guitar solos and excellent vocals from Kee, in a style that at times is reminiscent of Coverdale. This self produced, guitar oriented album is a must for any fan of good guitar riffs and melodic vocals with its metal throbbing production with melodic songs. There is a great mix of old and new styles on show which makes 'Melon Demon Divine', an appealing album for all fans of any Rock genre. SOPHIE REED 8/10
Obsessive Compulsive A Demon For Every Occasion obsessivecompulsiveband.com In today's society goth, rock and metal along with dark clothing and dyed black hair will see you more mainstream than outcast and Obsessive Compulsive appear to be a direct product of this effect. There's nothing primarily wrong with the bands sound or image as it falls perfectly in balance with current hot property such as The Rasmus and Evanescence, with it's rock guitars yet crystal clear vocal delivery, and on the surface everything seems to work to good effect. 'Better Than This' holds a crunching riff backed with a solid chorus line and 'Heart Disease' more than borrows the melody to Faith No More's 'Falling to Pieces' to good effect. Unfortunately though it seems every time the band tries to fulfil their dark, edgy promise they unintentionally deliver the complete opposite with everything sounding incredibly safe and polished. Well performed and well packaged but more dirt certainly needed in the mix to shake things up. 5/10
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The Pariahs The Pariahs
The Science Fiction Idols Spooky Sugar
Fading Ways Music The Pariahs have one mission and one mission alone - to Rock! Turn up the guitars, grab a beer and get down the front are the only rules you need in this game. Whether it's released in the Seventie's, Eightie's or whenever this is proper guitar rock and roll, full bodied and straight to the point. AC/DC meets The Sex Pistols with a Hanoi Rocks good time vibe makes each song spit and sneer but with an added wry chuckle and smile to boot. 'Nighttime of Knives' struts like the best cock rock but with a Cult flavoured call to arms, 'Down Again' takes me back to the power pop heaven of my beloved Gingersol EP and 'Essential' is truly that with what sounds like Angus Young making a surprise appearance. The Pariahs could easily walk from run down bar room corner to throwing a monster arena party with open bar - just hope you get an invitation. 7/10
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sciencefictionidols.com It's a no lose situation for a band when you mix up good time rock guitars with big dumb sing alongs, the public somewhere are always gonna bite. That's as long as you do it with style and you nail that winning chorus and thankfully The Science Fiction Idols know this and they play the game perfectly. They even manage to do it with great humour and style as 'Starfire' and 'Born Beautiful' grab the traditional arrangements and harmonies of The Sweet and Slade and mix it up with added gutter trash of The Quireboys and The Black Crowes. Elsewhere, 'Ballad of the New Young Creeps' opens with a Paul Weller styled lead line before launching into a punk riddled angst anthem followed later by the piano blues and swing of 'Little Fly' which sees the band serve yet another drunken crowd pleaser. The Science Fiction Idols will no doubt be the toast of Friday, Saturday or any night out for that matter. 6/10
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Mike Tramp Songs I Left Behind
www.trashpit.co.uk Revolver Turbulence Sextant Records
Revolver is the timely return to the rock scene for ex-Slik Toxik vocalist Nick Walsh. Assembling a powerhouse band including Crash Kelly mainman Sean Kelly on guitar has enabled Walsh to step his music style up a whole level and deliver a sound not too far removed from the harder edge of Love/Hate on the album's title track through to the Skid Row, Slave To The Grind feel of 'Dead Weight'. Make no mistakes though as this is not an eighties or early nineties rock revisited reworking, Revolver are band with a solid modern day feel and sound that still manages to capture the magic of times gone by but also reworks it for today's generation. Subtler moments like 'Blue Sky' and 'Walking' counteract the guitar grunge and ruthless aggression of 'Nosebleed' to good effect and it's contrasting styles like these mixed with great gut wrenching screams and vintage hard rock cries from Walsh that make Revolver's debut an album set to truly shake things up big time. Watch out for this band should their shockwaves spread to the UK. 7/10
Frontiers Albums of unreleased material always tend to be patchy, unfulfilling and blatantly show why they never made it onto an album in the first place. This latest collection of songs from former White Lion frontman Mike Tramp is something of an exception with the songs sounding vital, energetic and fresh. Released as a stop gap between his next solo album and a opportunity to get the songs out of the way, the sixteen tracks on offer range from 1992 to 2002 so you could be excused for maybe hearing ideas which have maybe filtered through into other material but on the whole this is a justified release which maybe suffers a little from the way it has been pulled together. Songs such as 'Sometimes', 'Over and Out' and 'If I was Real' are stamped with Tramp's unique hard rock vocals and could easily have been amongst some of White Lion's finest songs had they been given the opportunity. If Tramp has songs of this calibre in his back catalog then his new material could easily be shaping up to a great return for one of hard rocks finest. 7/10
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Twisted Sister Stay Hungry
Butch Walker Letters
Detonator Records
Epic
Doing the almost unthinkable and re-recording one of your most successful and worshipped albums could easily mark the true death of any band but for the more than legendary Twisted Sister, the 2004 version of their classic 'Stay Hungry' album is more of a re-birth for the ultimate Pop Metal band. Following an explosive return to the metal frontline this summer, the larger than life band have totally reformed and recharged for one of the years most colourful and justified reunions Describing their 1984 original as being 'thin', Dee Snider and co. have taken it upon themselves to rework anthems the likes of 'We're Not Gonna Take It' and 'I Wanna Rock' and make them sound as big, bombastic and down right dumb as they were originally meant to be. It's not only exciting but also a tribute to the strength of the older material for how well the songs stand up today with their newly found life. Sure 'Burn In Hell' reeks of 80's metal overload but it's delivered with a passion that most younger bands today simply forget about. Add to this four brand new studio tracks and the awesome closing epic 'Heroes Are Hard To Find' and you've got a classic album getting yet another shot at the metal crown twenty years later. 8/10
No matter how good this album was going to be it was always going to struggle to live up to the expectations put upon it. Since the release of 2002's 'Left of Self Centred', rock music's hottest property Butch Walker had built up an almost god-like quality amongst his power pop fanbase. Not only could this guy deliver an all time classic solo album but he could co-write chart topping songs with the likes of Bowling For Soup and Avril Lavigne - he'd become an outright legend! So yes, 'Letters' whilst enjoyable was initially a mid paced, middle of the road disappointment. Several listens later and I'm eating my words! Walker has taken something of a side step and delivered one of the most heart wrenchingly poignant and romantic albums in recent years but has done it with so much damn style and class that you can't help but get hooked in. 'Mixtape', 'Uncomfortably Numb' and 'Promise' combine his talent for great lyrics and huge choruses that deliver on every occasion and whilst you might miss him rocking out like on his previous album his personality is as evident as ever. Album of the year? - it's sure as hell up there! 9/10
Zen Motel Transform and Escape
Various Artists The Glam That Stole Christmas
Corporate Whore Records
Perris Records Sure it's gonna be a gimmick but this festive compilation from Perris Records is a whole heap of Christmas fun courtesy of a mixed bag of glam rock artists past and present. The album is worth the price alone simply for the opener 'The Greatest Christmas Song Ever Written' by American Heartbreak and to be honest it could be just that. Not only is this one of the catchiest Christmas songs you'll hear but easily one of the finest pop metal songs of recent years. Lillian Axe follow it up with a more traditional festive fare with 'Here is Christmas' which holds numerous Steve Perry and Journey trademarks and is great eighties rock pomp! Even fillers such as Loud n Nasty's 'Christmas Time' and the cartoon cheesefest that is 'Hooray for Santa Claus' courtesy of the Fizzy Bangers can't help but raise a smirk once the sleigh bells are added for that 'genuine' Christmas feel. It's certainly a great alternative to the tired and run of the mill seasonal tunes that are gonna be everywhere for the next few weeks and it proves once again that Glam Rock can cross over and add it's sparkle and cool to just about anything! 7/10
Check in for a razor sharp ride of modern day edgy guitar pop rock courtesy of multi instrumentalist Lee Wray and Zen Motel. Along with drummer Neil Roberts and several guest guitarists, Wray has compiled a strong album of GnR - lite style songs mixed with the distorted harmony of bands like Feeder. Instant late night radio hit 'Devil Song' kicks things into gear from the start and is followed up strongly by 'Sweet 13' and the Everclear-esque 'Another World'. The album never really strays too far from the standard blue print and rarely suffers for this as it walks tall with 'No Compromise' and brief cocky splutter of 'Blue Angel'. Transform and Escape is a powerful, well constructed and delivered album that presses all the right buttons and once a more solid and familiar line up is assembled it can only see Zen Motel scaling even bigger heights. 6/10
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Todd Bringing Jensen The Rock Home Bassist Todd Jensen easily boasts one of the most impressive CV's in Rock. Starting his career from his hometown of Portland, Oregon with the band Sequel, Todd moved to LA and eventually secured the bassist slot with David Lee Roth in 1991. From here he became part of one of my all time favourite hard rock bands Hardline whose debut album 'Double Eclipse' still ranks as one of the finest rock albums of the 90's. Following the break up of the band Todd has gone on to be an integral part of touring bands for the likes of Alice Cooper, Paul Rodgers and Journey's Steve Perry. The last few years have seen him split his time between reclaiming his slot with David Lee Roth and also returning home to reform Sequel. Last year saw the release of the bands unreleased second album which was recorded back in 1983 and captures the magic of a time when melodic rock ruled the airwaves. Todd spoke to TrashPit from his home in Portland about his life on the road and how he's brought it back to where it all began. Can you tell us a bit about some of your earlier bands like American Man and Movie Star? The common thread with these bands and other projects is Tommy Thayer who now plays in KISS. Tommy's from Portland and we grew up playing in many bands back in school and at carnivals - anywhere someone would let us play. Movie Star was a band which began in Portland, Tommy was guitarist and I was the bassist lead singer, and we eventually ended up in LA as roommates for several years. We were managed by Gene Simmons but never had a record deal. From there we both went onto Harlow. Harlow formed back in 1990 but at the same time you appeared on the Doro Pesch CD - both featured Tommy Thayer and Pat Regan - what's the connection? Both bands were in the studio recording simultaneously and Pat was producing and engineering both records so there came the overlap - they needed some bass tracks on the Doro record so I ended up playing on that CD too. Harlow was a great band, when I think back on it - Tommy and the drummer Kevin Valentine (who has also done a lot of stuff with KISS) - those were my buddies, those were the guys I hung out with and we did a lot of recording and session work together, far more than just those couple of records. Unfortunately Harlow was just one of those bands that didn't get picked up, how many records come out in a year you
know and don't really see the light of day? We did a video and a bunch of club dates primarily on the West Coast but never got an opening slot on a big tour but I'm still real proud of that band and record. At what point did you hook up with David Lee Roth for the 'Little Aint Enough' Tour? I hooked up with Dave also in 1990. I had a side man gig right after Harlow with the comedian Sam Kinison who had the hit 'Wild Thing' and he just put a touring act together. I auditioned and got the gig, coincidentally with Kevin Valentine on drums from Harlow. We were playing a LA show and Roth's drummer Greg Bissonette was in the audience and he came back after the gig and asked if I'd be interested in auditioning for the Dave Tour? The rehearsals were painful though for like three months. I think we must have learnt close to fifty songs and tapered it down to like seventeen for the set. But it was a great time to be touring on that level - I think the US tour had something like twelve trucks - it was unbelievable! David Lee Roth suffered a lot of backlash during that tour which I feel is unfair. The album and tour initially got great reviews and it wasn't until grunge broke that people seemed to change. What is your take on that time?
We started in Europe and had a great run and the US tour also got off to a great start but almost simultaneously Pearl Jam and Nirvana both had albums that were going through the roof and the timing was real unfortunate. I know that in the US still to this day that's still looked at as one of the last great hard rock tours of that vein. Everything took a left turn at that point which left us with the remainder of the nineties - now today it's funny how things come around again! Most people will know you from Hardline, did you ever see that as being a long term project? I'd met Neal (Schon) when I was in Sequel. Back in the early 80's we opened for Journey and that's when I met him and Steve Perry for the first time. Deen (Castronovo) Hardline's drummer, was in Bad English with Neal and he's also a Portland guy who I grew up with and we always joked about playing the same dumps! He was calling me all the time about this new band Hardline so after the Roth shows ended Hardline happened shortly after. I definitely looked at it as long term, the first album came out of the box real strong and did well especially overseas. Then between the first and second record, Deen, Neal and I toured with Paul Rodgers on the Muddy Waters project which was a big world tour and by the time we came back to Hardline our record label MCA had a big changing of the guard and were following suit with what everyone else was doing and we lost our deal. This was all combined with a lot of other personality conflicts within Hardline but whilst it was together it was a great time and a fun band, kinda like a race car ride - didn't last very long but whilst it was together it was a really good thing.
Hardline
You've since gone on to tour with Steve Perry, Alice Cooper and again with DLR. Do you ever miss recording and touring with your own material? I suppose at times I miss it but it's been such a privilege to have the opportunities I've had. I don't look at any part of my career in the likes of 'missing' something you know? It's like 'Wow, I can't believe I got to do all these things!' I've played pretty much every major venue there is to play in the world and I've lost track with how many times we've lapped the globe, not everybody gets that opportunity so I feel very fortunate and I've had amazing experiences to remember. There was a time when I thought about getting something together but right now I'm just really enjoying being back in
Dave's band and when I'm at home I have Sequel with my mates from school. I joined up with those guys back in maybe '78 but Greg (Georgeson) and I grew up since childhood in the same group of guys like Deen and Tommy who I've played music with for as long as I can remember. People perhaps don't know you auditioned for Ozzy - is that a gig you would have liked to get? Of course, who wouldn't want to play in Ozzy's band!? That was a strange time period, I remember having quite a few auditions around that time and I went into all of them thinking it would be great just to get one of them I'm gonna be in heaven. I remember auditioning for Ozzy, Dave and Peter Frampton all within a two week period. I've now worked with Dave on and off for almost a fifteen years so I think I made the right choice. What bands do you like to listen to today? I'm still listening to and enjoying The Darkness and Jet but that's probably old news for you guys. I'm always listening for bands coming from somewhere other than America. It's so tough to break into the market here so when bands like The Darkness get through under the radar and make it onto the American scene it's really something. It's great to hear a band with those influences because it seems like ten or twelve years since a new act has made it onto the scene that has that level of heaviness but at the same time that much relevance pop wise to make it onto the radio. When did your old band Sequel return into the picture? A local Portland promoter called up our old manager and said he'd got this idea to throw a big reunion show and are the guys still around? That would have been back in the mid nineties but we've been playing regularly since about 2000. It's funny singing lead vocals again because it's like putting on an old pair of shoes because the dynamic of the group is something I'm very familiar and comfortable with. Also, we can't believe the reception we've got on the 'Daylight Fright' record twenty years after its release! Of course it's from a different time period which is obvious when you listen to it but the comments have always been 'How did this not get noticed and not picked up!?' It's been fun and we're just gonna keep pushing it. We've been nominated to be inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame. We're all very flattered and to us it's a big thing to be recognised by the State we live in. There's a committee that nominates you and they only maybe induct one band a year. It's not a rock and roll hall of fame, more of a music one so other inductees would be like conductors and stuff so not too many bands get in. Do you think you might record new material again? The timing is a little up in the air on how long we're gonna spend recording but I think within a year you're gonna see a new Sequel CD. We're gonna be releasing our third full length album which we've begun to chip away at. The last couple of years have been fun with everything that's been going on. Our lives kinda went in different directions and took different turns but when we all came back together it was the same band and frankly a better band than it ever was! For more information visit www.sequelrocks.com
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the the
wonderstuff great escape Since reforming four years ago to the cheers of thousands of music fans, The Wonderstuff brought back to the UK some of the finest guitar based pop this country has produced. Sure, even the band themselves may have considered the reunion something of a nostalgia trip - singer / songwriter Miles Hunt even dubbed it 'a trip down memory motorway' but for many people it was a chance to enjoy one of this countries finest bands back on stage and performing live. This year has seen the release of a brand new album 'Escape From Rubbish Island' which sees a change in The Wonderstuff line up but the sound is still unmistakable and also provides a perfect balance between the great Wonderstuff sound and the several solo albums Miles Hunt has released over the past few years. TrashPit caught up with Miles on the bands recent UK tour... Other than yourself and Malc Treece on guitar it's a new look band. Who did you record the album with? Luke Johnson drummed on the album, who's been in Amen for over a year. I've known him since he was about five because he's Les Johnson's son who used to manage The Wonderstuff. He lives in California now and came back at Christmas to see his mum and dad. I had some studio time booked so I asked him if he could stay and play on the tracks. The songs weren't even finished, it was just Luke putting beats down and messing about. He's an unbelievable drummer, he hits them so hard it's absurd! When we played in Manchester, Dragonfly were playing in the next room and as we pulled up all their fans recognised Luke from Amen, totally ignored us and went for his autograph! He couldn't do the whole tour so Andres Karu is now the full time drummer in the band. He produced and played drums on the Miles Hunt Club album. Mark McCarthy our bass player has been my flat mate for the last three years and he was in Radical Dance Faction and some other bunch of smack heads! He hasn't played bass in like ten years! At what point did you decide to call this a Wonderstuff project instead of a Miles Hunt album? In the beginning it wasn't gonna be a Wonderstuff album. It was actually Matt Terry the producer who said it doesn't
sound like one of my solo albums - it sounds more like a Wonderstuff album and much more up. We'd pretty much got everything in shape by the time we phoned Malc and said come and have listen, see if it's something you'd like to add to and sing on. One guy asked me if it's called a Wonderstuff album simply as a marketing ploy and I said 'Of course it fucking is!' If I wanted to make music simply and purely for the love I would sit on the end of my bed and never release a record. Once you stick a barcode on something it's commercial! I wouldn't have done this without Malc though because we've been writing and playing together for twenty three years and I was really chuffed when he said he liked the tracks. He was like 'Are we doing this just to fanny about this year because I would prefer if we did it full time' So we had that conversation and decided that's what we're gonna do. Will we hear any solo or Vent 414 tracks in the new Wonderstuff set? I still want to keep doing acoustic gigs so the Vent and solo stuff will always stay with that. I've written some new acoustic songs and you can never say never but I don't see myself doing anymore solo records. We want The Wonderstuff sound to be harder and a complete rewind to how we started out so the softer side of things I'll keep for acoustic gigs and maybe do the occasional live album with some new stuff on.
Will any new songs make it into your acoustic sets? I hope so but I understand it's always a trade off. I get to play some new things I've been messing around with but people are essentially there cause they know me for The Wonderstuff so towards the end of the set I'll give them some Wonderstuff songs. Because this band is again full time and hopefully there'll be a new album every year, it's kind of excited me again about the acoustic stuff because that can be something totally different but I will always be 'Thank you for being here, I know why you know me so here's 'Unbearable'. Are you cool with people downloading your songs? I think it's great. I'm very old fashioned in the way I approach music. Yeah, it's nice when you get a royalty cheque through the door for records sold or played on the radio and it's a still surprise. Occasionally I'll look at my bank account and think that's more than I should have! Then I see Universal have paid me a grand or something, but I never, ever rely on it. I just think the dignified way of living a life in music is to go out and play live. I appreciate not all music is for that but this is how we earn a living and I think if someone living in Kentucky USA can download 'Fistfight' for free then by the time we get over there to play he'll have told a few mates, burnt it onto a few discs and then that's our pay day! I can't see how it can do any more harm than what we used to do with cassettes. When we were growing up, in any six month period there'd be a Banshees album, a Rutts album or a Clash album released so between you and your mates you'd each get one and do the tapes. I still meet people who come up and say they've still got the C90 with 'Eight Legged Groove Machine' on one side on 'Hup' on the other! They'd taped it off a mate and used to listen to it on the bus on the way to school. I think that's great and more than acceptable. Whatever happened to the record label you set up? 'For All The Right Reasons' I did with my old mate Tank which went through Polydor and we put out a bunch of American bands - Chamberlain, Seaweed - whose records were made and we just licensed them. Tank also managed Reef at the time who really liked Chamberlain so we were trying to get Polydor to stump up money to bring them over to do the Reef tour - thirty dates, sold out theatres - it would have been so good for Chamberlain and it was very gracious of Reef to say they could do it but Polydor wouldn't put up the extra money. It was like four grand, they spend that on fuckin' lunches a week! Then they said all I'd done is license American stuff, and we said that's because there's fucking nothing in England, everything we went to see was fucking Brit Pop versions of Jarvis Cocker or versions of Oasis, it was hateful. Then as soon as the boss of Polydor told me 'As far as your label is concerned I'm a complete xenophobe and will only sign British stuff' I said 'Fuck it, see ya!'
I liked your reviews of all time albums on Amazon. I didn't expect you to be a Counting Crows fan? I didn't either! I heard the first album and I thought it was shocking! Then Michael (Ferentino) who was in The Miles Hunt Club with me said I was wrong about them and should try the 'This Desert Life' album and I think it's fucking fantastic. I loved 'Hard Candy' as well and I went back and listened to 'Recovering the Satellites'. I still hate the first album, I like the songs, I love 'Round Here', but I just hate the recording, they had one of those noodling drummers. Adam Duritz is an extraordinarily genuine bloke though, I love the way he talks to audiences in between songs, he just knows how to say the right thing. I saw about five dates in a row over in the States and he's not the cheesy guy that says the same thing every night, he's great, a fucking brilliant singer. Do you think bands today are capable of making albums that will deemed classics in the next ten years? I guess but probably not by me! I think the most difficult thing for bands today is trying to keep their deal. It seems if you don't sell 150,000 out of the box on your first album then you're dropped which is an absurd way of doing business. 'Boy' by U2 didn't do that many and we certainly fucking didn't - we didn't get to over a hundred thousand until our third album. There's just not a lot of foresight played by the labels. I don't think bands are allowed to develop into what they can become. My hope has always been, particularly what you can do with the internet these days, you can really keep costs down so bands could go back to that time when all the Scottish bands like The Shop Assistants and Mary Chain did all their seven inches and launched the whole C86 thing which we definitely benefited from. By the time the NME started looking at us they were in the mood for indie guitar bands and I think that whole movement developed into Oasis and Blur getting crowned at the end of it. I think the internet is underused by new bands, I thought that by now it would have had a much bigger impact though and taught the fucking major labels that they're not required! You write regular columns for Left Lion in Nottingham, do you ever see yourself writing your own book? I've got a mate, Martin Roach who runs IMP (Independent Music Press) who phones me up about every six months and goes 'You ready yet?' But I've got this thing in my head which is basically just an excuse for me to be lazy and not get around to it - Charles Bukowski said that no one's got anything to write about before they're forty so I've still got a few years before I have to start thinking about what I want to write about!
The album 'Escape from Rubbish Island' is out now on IRL Read Miles' regular columns at www.leftlion.co.uk o for more information visit www.thewonderstuff.co.uk
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WEDNESDAY 13
Horror Films and Hair Metal Horror films and Hair Metal - two of my favourite things in the whole world! Two of the things also loved by Murderdoll's frontman Wednesday 13. Never one to dismiss his love for hard rock, Wednesday even makes the guys from Metal Sludge look clueless with his knowledge for big haired rock stars. His passion for horror is depicted in his lyrics and permanent tattooed tributes to horror icons which cover his arms. This love for all things gory and glam are combined to make for a modern day equivalent of Alice Cooper. With a new solo album scheduled for release early 2005 Wednesday 13 recently brought his full on theatrical stage show to the UK for the 'Look what The Bat's Dagged In' Tour which conveniently fell just after Hallowe'en to make Trick or Treat celebrations last for a whole week longer than expected. How did you spend Halloween this year? I had a big party at my house which got pretty crazy. I've just moved so I have a bigger place now so I invited a few of my friends over and it was a really cool costume party. I dressed as a Nun and my wife dressed as a Priest! Also, I have a friend who's a cop and he came over to our house and we had a contest with alcohol breathalyses to see who could blow the highest - and I won! I blew a point 56 which is like eight times the legal limit which was amazing and I was quite proud! Have you always enjoyed Hallowe'en - what was it like as a kid because over here England only seems to be really buying into the theme. It's my favourite time of the year and should be a week long and I don't understand why it's not worldwide and that kinda bums me out cause it's such a cool time. To me as a kid it just felt cool to watch movies all month and on the day I'd be dressing up and going out for hours and hours, door to door Trick or Treating and I'd come back with a giant bag of candy which would last me all year!
Can you tell us about the guys in your touring band and is this a permanent line up? Right now we have Amen's guitarist Pig, who is filling in for the tour. I don't know if he's gonna commit to the whole thing yet or not but I hope so cause he's perfect. The other guys are just friends I know from town who I get along with and know really well who haven't really done anything like this before so it's a real step up for them. Have you written with any other writers on the new album? Would you ever consider writing material with other artists for their own projects if you got the opportunity? The new album is just my stuff. I've thought about writing with other people but it would have to be a real comfortable situation. I would love to maybe write something for Alice Cooper or someone like that because I live that stuff. I'm such a fan and I think I could write something that I'd want to hear him sing. Hopefully one day I'll be able to do something like that.
Will this be seen as maybe a new chapter following the Drag Queens, Murderdolls and now the solo album or just a continuation and progression? How do you think people will respond? It's similar to all the older stuff but it still has a different vibe to it. I think when people hear it they'll find it's a little heavier but still rock and not quite metal. I played all the guitars and bass on the album. Our bassist, Kid Kid came into the fold a little later but he does sing on the album. The drummer on this tour, Ghastly, played on there though. I like to play as much myself though. That way if I'm upset with it, it's my own fault! It's all in my head and that's how I write songs, my head is my recorder and when I get in the studio it's got to be perfect. I recorded at a place thirty minutes from my house where I did all the old Frankenstein Drag Queens records, just went back to square one and it was such a cool vibe. Whilst touring with The Murderdolls you got the chance to perform in Japan, what was the reaction from fans over there? It's like Outer Space! It's like 'Cool, we're going to tour in Outer Space!!' The fans there are so different. They have so much respect for you. Here fans will attack you, not that I don't like that but in Japan they'll stay back and be like 'Please can you sign this?' and it's like okay, come closer. I always have to get an extra suitcase to come back home to carry all the tonnes of monster toys, 'Nightmare Before Christmas' stuff - they give us everything! How do they know!? There've been numerous horror remakes in recent years - is there any film you'd like to see re-done in the modern day? What was the best one you've seen recently? I'm not against all the re-makes that are being made but it's not gonna bother me if any don't get redone. I heard they're remaking The Hills Have Eyes so I'm curious to see how that goes because that could be done really cool. I would never like to see them remake the Phantasm movies though because there's no way you can touch that. Although I thought I would actually hate the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre but I really enjoyed it. I was sat watching it thinking 'This is really good!' It took a completely different spin on the original.
doesn't get back together. I don't want to see something that's gonna make me cringe you know? Cause there definitely have been some reunions that make you want to do that. Like if Motley get back together then great, I'll go see it but if it doesn't happen I don't care. But saying that, when I saw Hanoi Rocks a while back with Michael and Andy it was just amazing because I'd never got to see them before. Twisted Sister is cool too because it's Dee Snider and whoever is playing around him he's just the best! You were a fan of hard rock at a time when it became overshadowed by grunge - what do you remember about that as a kid? Did you see it a good clean out period for rock or was you pissed off that a lot of your favourite bands fell by the wayside? I was in high school and I used to wear an Enuff Z Nuff jacket - purple jean jacket and backpatch and I had a Twisted Sister logo and a Tigertailz logo on the arm and people would be like 'What the hell is Tigertailz?!' All the other guys would be wearing Queensryche or Dream Theater shirts shouting 'Poser!' But I just always lived by those bands and the bigger the image made it even cooler so when grunge came out I just didn't get it cause all the bands who were around at that time were like 'We look cool and you guys don't!' But at the same time if you look back on it there was a handful of really good bands and then there was all the imitations. It's just like with all the Nu Metal bands, first you had Korn and you'd never heard anything like that before, then came along a billion other copycats and it was the same with Grunge too. It's just a cycle and nothing will last forever but now it seems almost like rock is more acceptable. What pisses me off right now though is that every metal band is wearing eyeliner! Like what are you doing? Where did that come from? These are the same guys who would probably hit you round the head at school for wearing eyeliner! For more information visit www.wednesday13.com
Would you like to get involved in the movie making side similar to Rob Zombie? I'd love to because everything when I was a kid was just movies and music so in a way with my songs I'm making my own movies and telling stories based on my favourites films. When I was at school I took drama class and I wrote stories all the time so it's always been a big part of me. Hopefully one day if I get bored I can do that. With the video for the new album what I plan to do is a total tribute to Ed Wood because it would be so cool and I love the Tim Burton movie. When I saw that I thought it was just great and I went back and started buying all the old movies. It came out in the early nineties and has just been a really big part of my life ever since. How about reunions - which band from when you were growing up would you like to see back on the road? It's the same with the movies, it isn't going to kill me if a band
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. . . . K U Dear
Today is singer Atom's birthday. The vocalist guitarist of Tennessee's Feable Weiner and his bandmates are supposed to be meeting me for an interview at six pm before their Nottingham Rock City show. Instead they've gone missing somewhere in town to celebrate! One hour later they return and we hook up for a chat about the bands first venture on UK soil. Later they'll hit the stage to a packed house of Bowling For Soup / Soon to be Feable Weiner fans! Their brand of Wannadies / Matthew Sweet come Beach Boys tunes easily work their magic on the Nottingham crowd as it will do all over the country. Oh, and apparently they've got nice hair! What's been the reaction to the UK since you arrived? Atom: It's been overwhelming actually. We've never played shows like this before. Josh: Nor did we know that anyone would know who we were and it's been quite the opposite. Lots of people come up saying they've seen our video or found us on the internet. Ben: We've had people waiting outside our bus since 3pm! You started the band as an acoustic act right? Josh: Atom and I actually met in South Carolina, we were neighbours, outside skateboarding wearing our Blink 182 tshirts. We started hanging out and just playing silly songs together just on acoustic guitar whilst still doing our own more 'serious' rock bands. Then we moved away to college in Tennessee and started playing the coffee houses out there on campus and a lot of kids started showing up and knowing the words. Atom: They were all really excited about it. We were just playing our corny, silly songs but they were actually recording the shows and bootlegging them and passing them around on campus learning all the words. We hadn't even recorded the songs at that point so they had the very first recordings. How did you hook up with Bowling For Soup? Atom: Two Thanksgivings ago we actually met on the interstate in Nashville. We were playing a radio sponsored show together. We ended up driving alongside each other, and I remember looking over and thinking 'Those guys have crazy hair, we have 'nice' hair, there has to be some kind of connection!' And sure enough we actually guided them into the venue 'cause they didn't have directions. Jeff: We actually bowled with them that night. Had a nice long night of bowling that ended with Eric literally throwing himself into the pins head first!
Josh: Pretty hardcore! Atom: Yeah, the pincher actually came down on top of him! ...Got a strike though! The bands humour is one of your main strengths in your songs but have you ever been misplaced with more 'serious' bands? Atom: We're actually gaining quite a death metal audience because on purevolume.com we were ranked the third top death metal band because we were just fucking around and put that as one of our genres! All the death metalheads are checking us out! Anything you want to say to the readers of TrashPit? Josh: I know your readers can't see us through the interview but our hair looks fucking great! The album 'Dear Hot Chick' is out now. For more information visit www.feableweiner.com
SUGARCULT The boundaries of music are becoming constantly more blurred. People are always struggling to categorise artists into specific genres and it seems nowadays if a band performs catchy rock songs that are upbeat or happy they're immediately considered pop punk. The same is true for Sugarcult. Their new album 'Palm Trees and Power Lines' is a collection of brilliantly styled pop tunes delivered with emotion and power that are perfectly suited for loud radio play. They're just a great rock band with much more substance than your average factory line pop punk. With their profile continually growing in the UK due to plain and simple hard work of touring and recording, Sugarcult are beginning to reap the rewards and a sold out Nottingham show proved just that. TrashPit spoke to bassist Airin about his music and the music 'business'. The band have been over to the UK numerous times, is there anything in particular you look forward to? It's always fun, the crowds here are always really good and have been since the first time we came over with Reel Big Fish. It grows and grows and it's kind of a big family. You're well known for a DIY ethic - does this come from the punk scene which that has always been a part of? I think all the bands we knew from Santa Barbara have done it that way like NOFX and it's paid off for them. I think that's the only way to be 'a band' and not rely on labels and all that other stuff because that's just extra. Do you think it's harder for bands these days to follow this route because the market is swamped with bands? It's cool cause there's room for everyone. With the internet, it's bad for the big business' but good for bands. If I was a label owner right now I wouldn't like it, but being in a band it works to your advantage. I'm even thinking of starting a label myself just putting out lots of different stuff which I like. Do you still have a big input into the way the label presents you to the public? We're still on indie labels, even though they're the bigger ones so they always take what we say into consideration a lot - far more than most major labels would! A lot of times you can lose control but we've managed to keep that. Whilst growing up who was the 'big' band in your hometown and did they ever achieve fame? There's a lot of bands from Santa Barbara like The Ataris, Lagwagon, NOFX and Toad the Wet Sprocket who've had success and they're friends of ours. Actually Marko has probably been in most of those bands!
What do you remember most about your first ever gigs whilst a kid? In High school I did all the parties and band talent shows. My mom's an opera singer so I've always been around music. I've played most instruments - guitar, piano, drums, digeridoo, trumpet! I have an underground recording project at the moment too which is just for fun. My best friend has a studio and we just go in and play, press record and see what comes out! It's a good outlet for me. You seem to be regularly placed in the punk pop bracket and attract that kind of audience but I see you as just a great rock band? My high school band was a lot harder. To me it's just music and all about the songs at the end of the day. You can play any one song four different ways - speed it up, slow it down, change the instrumentation and it can still be a good song. We've played a lot of shows with Static X, Tim got hit in the face on stage cause their crowds didn't like us too much! It was in San Bernadino where all the big, tough guys live. It's always a challenge but we always do okay in any genre we play in. We're going out on tour with Green Day next all over the US which is pretty cool. The new album was recorded fairly quickly - are you constantly writing new material? We didn't have very long to make this record, something like a gap of about three months off after touring but it came together really easily. Tim writes on acoustic and we just get together in a rehearsal room and hash it out. We fight over it saying, no that's no good, no that's great I love it or I like my part better! For more information visit www.sugarcult.com
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Alter Bridge ULU, London
Creed sold 30 million albums world-wide and were once considered the biggest band in America. After their split lead guitarist/songwriter Mark Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips continued jamming together going on to invite original Creed bass guitarist Brian Marshall to join them on their new venture Alter Bridge. Singer Myles Kennedy, formerly of Mayfield Four who toured with Creed in 1998, was recruited to complete the band. This is a new beginning for Tremonti and co. Going back to their roots and playing all the small venues, starting a new chapter. Live the band ooze charisma, Kennedy is a great front man, he is constantly shaking and slapping hands with those near the front and comes a cross as very down-toearth and genuine. His vocals are great, reaching high and low notes in perfect tune. The guys deliver almost every track from their debut LP ‘One Day Remains’, all are performed faultlessly. The songs are deep and sincere, made for arena rockers, powerful and at times addictive. From the energetic riffage of title track ‘One Day Remains’, the infectious ‘Metalingus’, the breath taking ‘Down To My Last’ and the gentleness omitted by ‘Burn It Down’ and ‘Broken Wings’. They are much heavier live, it obviously helps having the extra guitar playing from Kennedy. A moving acoustic rendition of ‘In Loving Memory’ is followed by the mighty ‘Open Your Eyes’. Absolutely blinding, Alter Bridge have it all and more. Alter Bridge are going to be huge, massive, enormous.... PENNY GOWER
Bowling For Soup Rock City, Nottingham People seem to want to have a good time again. After years of rock music force feeding pain and angst down the throats of everyone the tide seems to have changed and people just want to have fun. Tonight there's no better place for just that than Rock City. Following the acid punk of The Feds which seems a little lost, it's down to Tennessee quartet Feable Weiner to lift the good time stakes. Although almost complete unknowns the band are instantly welcomed by the huge crowd. It's not hard to like a band with such genuine enthusiasm and with their Wannadies, Matthew Sweet, Beach Boys infused sound of multi part harmonies, cheekily stilted arrangements (and 'nice hair'), Feable Weiner are instant pop stars to the hundreds of teenage girls in attendance. Vocalist
rash
Atom's birthday is marked by a special appearance by BFS frontman Jaret Reddick who strolls on stage during 'Lameface' armed with a birthday cake and elsewhere the band do plenty to guarantee their return will be just as special. Bowling For Soup - fuck I love this band! Some people find it hard to open up to them, why I don't know. Maybe it's the comedy angle they adopt, maybe it's their non conforming image or perhaps they're just so damn happy? For me though and thousands of others that's exactly why we do like them. The comedy is not a gimmick or act, it is who the band are - it spills from their albums in huge doses and live it runs riot. I've yet to see few bands that connect so well with crowds and leave everyone with such huge smiles than this larger than life Texan band. New songs 'My Hometown', 'Ohio' in which 'Pantera want you back' (genius), and the awesome hit '1985' sound as huge as older songs 'Emily', 'Surf Colorado' and 'The Bitch Song', proving that BFS are far from a one trick unit. Donning Robin Hood hats half way through the set earns a massive cheer as does an inflatable 'Rock Hand' which arises at the side of the stage (Bon Jovi eat your heart out!). Yes, it might be cheesy and it might be sugary sweet but I loved it and I'm sure every other single person did, not just tonight but on the whole tour and when they come back it'll be just the same - maybe you'd like to join us next time?
Crash Kelly
Junktion7, Nottingham
Due to planets aligning, a million things seemed to all happen at once tonight meaning I had to try and be in a bunch of places at the same time. Two of those things were the return of Canadian heroes Crash Kelly to Nottingham and my friends stag night (not a good combination should I hope to put together an informative review!), damn, I'm not even sure how much I can remember! What I do recall is having a drunken rant with singer Sean Kelly pre-gig and my friend puking all outside the venue before taking root at the front of the stage for the entire show with his head down motionless! Oh, yeah and Crash Kelly rocked, there's no doubt about that! Crash Kelly are perhaps the ultimate rock and roll bar band whose music crosses from sweaty clubs to huge arenas with their massive choruses and high energy retro rock vibe - perfect for a drunken night out! A more solid line up featuring mainman ringleader Sean Kelly, guitarist Allister Thompson, drummer Eric Herrman and bassist Jeff Pearce, formerly with Moist, has led to a more gelled and cohesive unit. 'She Gets Away', 'You Don't Know' and the Hanoi Rocks vinyl incident inspired '11 Cigarettes' sound as crisp, slick and raw as ever and even Pearce seizes the chance to steal lead vocals on the track 'Giant' from his side project Rye. This one off UK show on the bands current European jaunt is taken total advantage of and is a mighty success. Nottingham certainly has a place in it's heart for Canadian bands like Crash Kelly as surely as the band themselves consider the city and entire country as a second home where they're always welcome. This is a guarantee that every show is warm, exciting and rock and roll as ever!
FULC
The Social, Nottingham Behind the band is a banner quoting Shakespeare in King Lear: “When we are born, we cry, that we are come to this great stage of fools”. The stage is at The Social, the fools are unknown. The first sounds we hear from FULC are those of slow, heavy breathing from their front-man as his colleagues prepare for the set. A barely audible clip of movie dialogue is played, the first and only unnecessary gig cliché found in their performance, and then the music begins. Vocals are effortlessly growled as singer, Duane, fixes his eyes on the audience; wide eyes which roll back to their whites and, for a moment, seem unwilling to blink. In between songs we’re treated to more heavy breathing, and a smile perfect for your friendly neighbourhood serial killer. The tunes are well crafted neo-grunge-rock; energetic tracks too big for The Social’s small stage. Bassist, Kris, and guitarist, Rik, make full use of what little space there is while Kook pounds the drums behind them. Duane barely moves from his spot, staring at what could possibly be his next victim. FULC’s tempo slows a little as they play “System”, while not quite a lighter-in-theair ballad it is more melodic, building to a heavier and completely satisfying finish. And then it’s back to the hard stuff. FULC should be huge, they have an undeniable stage presence, a set of extremely moshable and more importantly, listenable tunes and a look that wouldn't be out of place on the front cover of rock magazines across the globe. Expect adults to be snapping up the album when it’s released in the New Year and kids to ditch their Linkin Park and Slipknot hoodies for FULC ones. The show ends with “Wasting Away”, something that hopefully won't happen to FULC. They've been bubbling away in the underground scene for too long, it’s about time they erupted onto the world stage. TRIS WALKER
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Mitch Malloy
The Boardwalk, Sheffield
The solo acoustic show is certainly the ultimate test for the 'real' musician. All audience eyes are firmly focused on the one person meaning there's no room to hide, no frills or gimmicks and they have to entertain between songs as well as during them. Basically it's just a guitar and a voice and very few people in this world have a voice like Mitch Malloy. A few years ago the AOR legend trod this same stage with a full band and produced one the most exciting rock shows I'd witnessed in some time. It was a gig that reaffirmed my belief that good time rock music was still viable when most artists weren't bothered about entertaining. Tonight Malloy stands alone and shows why he should have been challenging Jon Bon Jovi many years ago as one of rock's premier vocalists and frontmen. His voice is flawless as are the songs performed which take in various chapters of his career tracks from the god like 1992 debut such as 'Nobody Wins in this War' and 'Stranded' through to 'You Lift Me' from 2001's 'Shine' all work beautifully in the stripped down acoustic format. For an encore several denim clad fans sat at the front in Journey t-shirts are treated to a truly inspirational version of 'Open Arms' which they attempt to out sing Mitch as if trying to re-enact and scene from the movie 'Rockstar'. Finally, as expected, we are given the classic 'Anything At All' with Malloy opting to rock out and managing to pull it off even with just an acoustic to a massive response from the crowd. However someone with this much talent performs a show, whether it be with a full band or just on their own, you can't help but be inspired and for the second time in Sheffield Mitch Malloy managed just that.
Pearl Jam
Fabulous Fox Theater, St. Louis, Missouri Very few of the rock bands that emerged as part of the "grunge" era of the early 1990's are still relevant today. Suicides, drug overdoses, and the eternally irritating "creative differences" have all but eliminated this fleeting yet powerful music revolution from the charts. One band, however, has endured, evolved, and emerged as one of the true rock icons of this generation. Pearl Jam played the fourth of seven shows on their leg of the "Vote for Change" tour. Eddie Vedder was in fantastic voice, and the music was clean and sharp. Vedder is playing more guitar on stage these days, and actually seems to have finally embraced his position in Rock Stardom. The band came out firing, rocking out heavyhitters such as "Corduroy," "Animal," and "Last Exit." Tamer but equally masterful were "Immortality" and "Love Boat Captain." Pearl Jam's second act of the evening was an acoustic sit-down. Occasional electric parts were worked in, but for the most part Eddie and company sat and offered up acoustic gems such as "Elderly Woman." and "Off He Goes." A welcome surprise during this part of the show was their rendition of "Black" and the power Vedder gave to his lyrics. Another stage exit led to another shift in gears. Pearl Jam came back out and rocked even harder, whipping out monsters like "State of Love and Trust," "Do the Evolution," and a killer cover of Credence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son." This set also featured an on-stage appearance by actor Tim Robbins and brief political banter by Vedder; fortunately the agenda did not saturate the focus of the evening and the band wrapped up a nearly two hour set with crowd-pleasers "Betterman" and "Yellow Ledbetter." This was a political show, to be sure but whether the concert goers agreed with the opinions or not, they got a great show. Pearl Jam are still a great live rock and roll band, and after all this time their greatest nemesis - themselves, even thinks so! CHRIS REED
Tyketto
JB’s, Dudley “JB’s in Dudley - A shared, dreadful experience that all British rockers, no matter what their eventual status in the pantheon of rockness, has had to experience!” - Mark Manning aka Zodiac Mindwarp. Steady on Zodiac! If it wasn’t for venues like JB’s where would the faithful rock lovers go to see their favourite 80’s & 90’s bands? Tonight it was Tyketto and JB’s was already filling up fast. Teer kicked off the evening with a solid and steady set which was appreciated by the crowd, a good warm up band, they performed professionally but looked better from the toilets. Deadline failed to keep up the momentum soon becoming ‘Flatline’ and would have been better suited as background supermarket music. Their track ‘Losing themselves’ did just that! By now a near on full capacity crowd had gathered eager to see Tyketto, who were last here twelve years ago. Tonight saw the return of the original line up from the classic 1991 debut album ‘Don’t Come Easy’. Brooke St. James on guitar, drummer Michael Clayton, bassist Jimi Kennedy and the mighty Danny Vaughan stormed the stage looking youthful showing the maturity of a band of their years. Danny bopped around with hair swinging and never kept still until his acoustic version of ‘Catch My Fall'. This is the band that should have been Bon Jovi, they played just under two hours including a good selection of songs from their history and they left the stage leaving the crowd waiting in anticipation for the anthemic ‘Forever Young’. It was much to everyone’s surprise though when they hit us with Queen’s 'Now I'm Here' and as Danny explained his love for English rock the crowd accepted it not me! ‘Forever Young’ didn't disappoint as the last song, on the last night of the tour, when Danny announced “The only reason we did it, is because it was so much fun!” I couldn’t have agreed more! JANE USHWELL
Van Halen
St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Florida
Arriving to see your all time favourite band in another country and be informed that the gig has been postponed until the day after you leave for home can be pretty crushing. Thanks to one Hurricane Frances I found myself stuck in Fort Laurderdale, Florida in an empty, rainy car park faced with a flight home in a seriously pissed off mood! The only option? a 250 mile cross state trip to the next gig the following night to see the legendary Van Halen tear things up in Tampa, Florida. Arriving early afternoon the city is ready for the show big time - bars are cranking up tunes from every era of the bands history, radio shows are running VH promotions and ticket touts are out in force. The show itself encompasses everything I wanted it to do and more (you didn't expect a critical unbiased review did you?! - this is Van Halen people!) Choosing to open with mega-classic 'Jump' means they come out all guns blazing. Thankfully for this 'reunion' with Sammy Hagar they've opted for a less predictable set than on past tours with the Red Rocker seeming happier to sing early Roth tunes such as 'Unchained' and they've also kept the show stopping 'Somebody Get Me A Doctor' with bassist Michael Anthony on vocals. Despite a somewhat dodgy sound mix the energy is undeniable with Eddie Van Halen looking like an uncontrollable teenager as he bounces across the stage throwing shapes and Hagar regularly venturing into the crowd to sign autographs for the lucky few near the front. The obligatory guitar solo is made all the more unique with the opening bars of 'Hot For Teacher' and Edward asking if the crowd minds if he 'just fucks around for a while' rather than doing the usual guitar theatrics which makes for a unique experience. Van Halen will always be a legendary band no matter what era we're in - the personalities, the musicianship and sheer hugeness of the band and the magic they create will always be viable. Let's just hope they continue for many years to come as there's a lot of life left in this monster yet.
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NEIL LEYTON Creatively Thinking
Neil Leyton is a musician's musicians of the highest degree. The Canadian label owner, artist, producer has brought together an independent record label with a unique and very modern way of thinking. In an age where copyright laws are clamping down on music fans from finding new music through friends and on the internet, Leyton has put together the Share scheme which allows songs from his label to be downloaded, copied and 'shared' between music fans with no risk of breaking copyright. Leyton recently visited the UK on the Canadian Invasion Tour along withThe Pariahs and Aceface to promote the new UK branch of his Fading Ways label and spoke to TrashPit about what hopes he has for this exciting new project. What has been the initial reaction so far to the Fading Ways label and concept of thinking? Anybody with an open mind has been really receptive to the Share theme of things and Creative Commons. In terms of the 'so-called' music industry or what I call the entertainment industry, a lot of people are fairly closed minded about any changes to the status quo and very fearful of losing their cushy major label jobs because of the competition so it's definitely an uphill battle when you talk to those sorts of people. They're pretty fascist in terms of limiting use or what we used to consider fair use - like for example if you buy a record and you want to make a copy so you can play it in your car, so if your car gets broken into you wouldn't lose your record collection - that's been completely disallowed by all these new laws! It's really a nasty climate in North America right now. But even in some major labels I've had people who go "Wow, this is an amazing idea - all the best, I hope it does really well" I actually heard about Creative Commons through an article in either the New York Times or one of the more conservative publications out in New York, but it was sort of a legal review. Strangely in the pressing of my last album 'Midnight Sun' beneath the copyright notice I'd written 'You're free to copy this record if you love it as much as we do and want to share it with a friend' This was long before I'd heard of the Creative Commons license until I read this article about this not for profit agency operating out of Harvard Law School started by a law professor by the name of Lawrence Lessig who's a bit of a black sheep in American legal circles for obvious reasons. So I just jumped onto this because it fell squarely into the same sort of scenarios which I had tried to accomplish with 'Midnight Sun'.
Are Creative Commons aware of the Share theme? Yeah, I'd basically approached them before we went ahead and started using the license and asked if this had ever been done for a physical product before? I knew it had been done on the web and a couple of labels on the internet doing it but as far as they were aware, putting the actual license on a physical record nobody had done that, so we're breaking new ground and we'll see were it leads. Do you like to have much creative / artistic control of the artists output on your label? The only thing we stipulate is that the entire catalogue be under Creative Commons which nobody had a problem with except Barry Walsh from Galore, but Barry is the most fearful creature you'll ever encounter so I expected him to be afraid of anything new. In terms of creative input No, artists make their own music and then the label gets involved if we like what they make. Are you always on the lookout for new bands or are you focussing on a small roster of artists? No not really, it's always kind of haphazard how we find artists. Like with Jim Clements, he went to school with my girlfriend and we were invited over to his place for dinner. He said he'd heard my record and liked it then he mentioned the dreaded words 'You know, I'm a singer songwriter myself'. When you hear this you think 'Oh my god, I'm gonna be treated to half an hour of really bad, sloppy folk guitar!' But he picked up his guitar and I was completely floored! I couldn't believe he'd not done a record before so I hooked him up with Steve Payne as producer and the rest is history, they ended up making this great record with all sorts of Toronto indie musicians playing on it.
group, it's led to crowds up and down the country who know the material and know the songs. I was surprised even back when I opened up for Ginger from The Wildhearts how many of his crowd were singing along. We've seen you touring with Crash Kelly in the past - do you enjoy performing with other people and playing different material? Absolutely, any chance I get I'll play with whoever invites me. Although, I feel if you're being asked to play somebody else's music you're not really being asked for creative input. If they're inviting you then you assume they like your playing stylistically so you have limits on how you interpret their material and you work with the artists guidance and don't overstep the boundaries of their records. The Crash Kelly tour was fraught with difficulties, I've known Sean a long time and he's a sweetheart but different people on the tour, not just in the band but around them, had different agendas. I think the band Sean has now is much more united than previous line ups for Crash Kelly. I loved touring with The Quireboys boys though, one of the shows Spike wasn't at sound check so I sang '7 o'clock' and Sean played bass cause Nigel was late so we both just got up and jammed away!
Neil Leyton's new CD 'Beat' is out now on Fading Ways Records For more information on the Fading Ways Record Label featuring Neil Leyton, The Pariahs, Jim Clements and Aceface visit www.fadingways.co.uk For more information on the Creative Commons License visit www.creativecommons.org
When TrashPit spoke to Ky Anto a while ago he said it was you who had the idea of putting out his solo album - what was it that attracted you to Ky's 'lighter' material? That's an incredible compliment because I'd heard Ky's stuff for years. I think Ky is a really talented side man but he's a bit like me and he's not really a side man! So whether it's doing Sassy Scarlet or his own acoustic 'Doodling On Jazz' record I know that there are two or three more records already in the can which he could release under any given name because he's so prolific and talented. I just thought it was such a shame to have those songs just sitting there and not be released. What kind of audiences do you find yourself playing to in the UK - you seem to be kind of a cross over folk and rock artist? It's mostly been rock and roll crowds but for me it's been amazing, just through the Changes One label and the Yahoo
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Jim Rose
Circus
Rock Rock nn Roll Roll Freak Freak Show Show Most of you out there will probably have heard of Jim Rose in some way or another. Whether you're familiar with his family of travelling freaks who perform all over the world doing unquestionable things to their bodies in the name of entertainment - way before the likes of Jackass! Maybe you recognise him from the X-Files or perhaps you've just heard tales of Eddie Veddar taking part in a bile beer drinking session onstage? Jim Rose is an entertainer of the highest degree, he knows how to work an audience to fever pitch with a mixture of in your face attitude, clever quips and doses of wry comedy. Learning his art from the street performers of Paris and all over the world he patiently watched and learnt before combining it all into one of the most jaw dropping shows you're ever likely to see. Exploding on the rock scene during the advent of grunge and becoming one of the staples of the Lollapalooza tour in the nineties Jim Rose has become one of the world's foremost alternative entertainers. Returning for his first UK tour in almost ten years TrashPit was lucky enough to be invited for a talk with the 'circus master' himself. What's it like returning to the UK after all these years? There's some incarnations and some evolutions within the circus that the UK hasn't been aware of so this show is catching them off guard a little bit! They didn't see us evolve into this which is a complete departure from the shows we did in the past. Also my television show doesn't air on a network that a lot of people watch so the people aren't that aware of the performers that are with me, so it's been fun. Today I don't go do things I don't want to do - I want to be here so you can practically pay me nothing to perform. I wanted to come over and I wanted to come do this tour - I was missing my England! Why has it taken so long to return, have you tried to come over in the past few years? I've done a few things like Edinburgh Fringe Festival which we stopped by and we were the top ticket in the history of the festival! To allow our career to function in the manner that we're used to is mostly in the United States but I've got a few TV show offers here at the moment and I'm a little sick of George Bush so it seems like a good time to at least look
into what I'm gonna do. I've got a new book coming out and half way through writing another which comes out next year. I've been a professional poker player now for about eight years and with my own weekly TV show I've been kinda busy. I wish I could come over here more though because I like the British sense of humour better than the comedy in the US that's for sure. Can you give us your run down on the people and personalities within the Circus? We've got Rupert who swallows and regurgitates stuff. When we first met I asked him were in the hell he'd learnt that and he told me it was in my book, and I'd explained how to do it in there. He then pulls out the book I'd signed four years earlier. Now he balances a running lawnmower on his bottom lip and we give the audience lettuce to throw at him so we can turn the stage into salad! I like that one! Then there's Big Mac - the world's fattest contortionist who's a friend of Rupert from his hometown, Bebe the Circus Queen and of course myself. Then we all take on different characters during the show so it feels like there's thirty of us!
Do new members tend to find you or do you actively seek out new performers? A little of both and a lot of none, you know?! Three years ago I came up with Women's Sumo Wrestling and so I had to go find big girls to teach them to fight. I also smoke a lot of Pot so I came up with Mexican Transvestite Wrestling! So then I had to go find some Mexicans! Girls are different to Mexicans though, they wear dildos and the first one to force it into the other ones mouth for a three count wins! I'm the referee - there's no chickens at that cock fight! A lot of stunts in the circus seem to have been passed down over time. Is there been any stunts that no one wanted to take it on as too dangerous? Well, I can't really say Yes to that. This years show has a whole segment were we drop challenges on each other so we don't really know what's gonna be taking place for about thirty minutes of every show. During that period, anything can happen to anyone! For some stupid reason I've decided to start doing some football hooligan chants as part of the show about the world's largest breasts being on display they belong to a man but there'll be nobody in the crowd that'll have bigger ones! We're gonna 'Get the Tits out for the lads!'
The Chainsaw's in the crowd stunt you did in the nineties was a real show stopper. You had the house lights go down and you all just ran around everyone with chainsaws blazing! That's the problem with that stunt, too many people were getting hurt in the audience so everyone was suing me! It was really cool to see it before we took it off the market because it was pretty scary shit. Nowadays it's too litigious a society to do that, so that's now something that'll probably be lost forever - no one's ever gonna do that again because they can't. Unless of course you're real punk rock and quite frankly we were really fucking punk rock back then. So at one point we didn't care if anyone sued us because we didn't have any fuckin' money but as soon as you've got something to protect you can't do that shit anymore. Have you kept in contact with past members? Let's see who was it, one of my favourite quotemeisters
David Lee Roth said 'Any band that has three summers together can't stand each other!' So it's probably true with circus' too! There's a few members that I'm still really good friends with and who I'd tour again for sure. Others have tried to do their own thing and for a multitude of reasons it hasn't worked for them - course they blame me for it! How did you react when programs like Jackass became hugely popular? It was really expected. I knew the Jackass kids before the TV show and I helped with it. Right now I don't really care because I'm doing a totally different show now. If they want to do all that stuff I used to do then that's great and I'm glad that someone is and keeping it alive. But if you go see their live show they can't do most of the stuff they do on TV. There's only so much stuff you can do - it's kinda hard to push a shopping cart into a bunch of fuckin' bushes when you're on stage! You're well known on the music circuit through festivals like Lollapalooza. Has there been any bands or musicians who have surprised you as being fans? I caught Billy Gibbons the guitar player for ZZ Top stealing my set list a few years back. David Bowie has really been sweet to us and of course Nine Inch Nails was a complete surprise but Trent's now a good friend. I had a weird thing happen in Australia too.
After the show we sold t-shirts and this really old looking guy with make up all over him, all smeared and sweaty, hands me a t-shirt to sign. I look at him and think 'How pathetic, an old Boy George wannabe!' This dude just creeped me out. The next day I was doing a TV show and I walk into the green room and there's Boy George wearing my fucking t-shirt - it was really him! It was cool that it was him looking like that though because someone acting like him in this day and age is a pretty creepy thing. I also ran into Eddie Veddar and he beat me out of five dollars playing pinball - I want a rematch, I'm better than him! I did Ozzy's first retirement party back in '92. Him and Sharon made the kids leave the room! You gotta realise Jack and Kelly were a lot younger then. Jack's playing poker now and getting better.
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What's next for you - books, movies, tours? I've got a book called 'Snake Oil' coming out which is an eclectic collection of bizarre information that everyone should know like 'How is it that Pimps turn girls into Prostitutes?!' What is that formula? It's in that book. Then there's all kinds of bar bets like how to never pay for a beer again. Then there's another book out next year called 'Run Your Business Like A Freak Show'. I've got enough dirt and diversification now because I'm not just doing one thing. There's a lot of people who only know me from the voice overs I do on video games, there's a whole group of people who only know me from the X Files, or who only know me from The Simpsons, then there's the people who only know me from the TV show, live show or maybe Nine Inch Nails! It's really weird. I'm staying in London for a while after this tour. I'm in a lot of trouble in the United States right now, it's not a good place for me to go and that's one of the reasons I'm over here! I get so much hate mail from Conservative Republicans about some stuff I said on CNN. I'm a little fearful until the politics change over there 'cause I talked too much about how much George Bush fucking sucks! There was a lot of people who agreed but it's funny you know, half the people in the states hate him and half the people like him - and the ones that like him like him a lot! What memories do you have of the early and mid nineties when the circus and grunge music took off? In 1991 I was doing a show at a middle eastern restaurant with belly dancers. As it was a restaurant it wasn't really set up as a venue so there were some people outside with faces pressed up against the window watching for free. So I went outside with a plastic bat so I could turn them into the show so everyone who had paid could watch me beat them over the head whilst I tried to get money out of them! One of them was Kurt Cobain, one of them was one of the guys who ran Sub Pop and the other was one of the guys from Mudhoney. We all kinda knew each other at the time but no one had broke yet. I think the only one to make it out of Seattle at that point might have been Tad. We were all in flyer wars putting flyers over each others gig posters on telegraph poles. How did the TV series 'The Jim Rose Sick & Twisted Tour' come about? (Chuckles to himself) I did a media scam and said all these networks were trying to sign me for a new reality show and I was gonna choose which one I was gonna go with the next month. Then the next thing I know all these networks are contacting me! I knew it was a no brainer, it was like let's just do that. But I don't really like the TV show, I think it sucks. I was really disappointed in the way it was edited, I only really had input in the last two episodes which were the ones people liked. I imagine your job puts a new twist on the saying there's never a bad review? Don't take offense at this but I've never seen a statue erected for a critic, only for whom they criticised. What's the ultimate stunt you could imagine doing? My goal is to stick my foot into a boat motor propeller! I put it out there that I was looking into doing it. I want to get in a big aquarium and have the motor lowered down and stick my leg in it to stop it!
Do you have plans to put out another live video show? I don't know, maybe. If people want to come to the shows with video cameras I'll let them shoot what they want. I don't really care about stuff like that. To be totally honest, I don't do anything for money other than poker which makes me so much money I don't have to care about anything else. Right before I left for this tour I nailed Ben Affleck and Toby McGuire for about £17,000, you remember Macauly Caulkin, that Home Alone punk? I nailed him for about £10,000 six weeks ago. Then there was Fred Durst for about £5,000, Dave Navarro, N-Sync.... You see I live right next to the Rock & Roll Casino The Pawns so anytime there's a celebrity showing up at the poker room they call me! Some people stalk celebrities for autographs - I stalk them to play poker! For six months out of the year though I'll play poker for seven hours a day, then I'll spend the other six months talking about it to anybody that'll listen! Have you noticed?! For more information visit www.jimrosecircus.com
daz@bingercreative.co.uk www.bingercreative.co.uk
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