1. How are preparations going for the Britrock Must Be Destroyed Tour?
It’s a fair way off, and before it even becomes a concern we have a new album to rehearse, which I’m currently writing.
I’m also finishing off recording another solo album, the follow up to Ghost In The Tanglewood. And in addition to that I’m about to embark on a solo tour that will take up the entire month of March before heading to Japan for a solo tour in April, and possibly more solo dates in Europe and UK.
I’ll don my ‘Britrock Must Be Destroyed’ hat sometime early May.
2. What are you expecting from the tour…
I’m expecting that we will have the loudest fans of all four bands.
Obviously it’ll be great to get back on tour with The Wildhearts too, after just recently having playing our first gig back together in over 12 years. We’re also taking some of our old crew out with us, so the air will be moist with nostalgia.
3. The tour announcement came out of the blue, how did the idea come about?
It was all the brainchild of our manager, Andy Farrow. He’s good at this kind of thing, after having already put Devin Townsend and Meshuggah out as a package bill which worked wonders for both bands. Andy is an old pro at making bands work hard and reap the rewards of their labour, and all I want to do with my time on this planet is work like a horse, so I think we’re going to get along great.
4. How did The Wildhearts get involved?
He asked us if we would be into doing it. We saw the venues he was proposing and said “f**k yes”.
5. What are your memories of the other bands you’ll be touring with?
I had never met Reef before, and was introduced to Gary, their singer, only the other week when doing some press. I’ve never met Dodgy. Terrorvision were always around on our scene, back in the day, so we’ve known them to say hello to each other, but even then I don’t think we ever even had a night out together.
This tour will be our courting period as far as getting to know the bands. Honeymoon fresh, as they say.
6. Any ideas what your set list is going to be for this tour?
We will play every song gets the best audience reaction, and only those songs. There will be no deep cuts or new tracks. We want this to be a party, so only the most popular, rousing and sing-along-est songs will make the set.
7. The tour expanded fairly quickly after the announcement with more dates added, lots of love out there for Brit rock?
There’s a lot of love for the 90’s in general. I guess it reminds people of a time when they had more on top and less ‘round the middle.
Thing is, at our shows our crowd still party like it’s ’95. It’s great to see them going for it like young bucks and it makes us work harder, completing the illusion that we’re all still spring chickens, and not the last turkeys in Tescos.
8. You’ve announced a few Wildhearts dates for after the tour. What are your plans for the rest of the year?
I’m hoping to record the new Wildhearts album in October, and we’re taking the Britrock tour over to Australia at some point too. If I can fit in a second trip to Japan, this time for The Wildhearts, and finish off my next solo album, possibly even release it in 2018, then I’ll be happy.
I’ll also be holdsing the annual Halloween Hootenanny in October and the Birthday Bash in December. I’m also hosting the Vive Le Rock awards. I like the way 2018 is shaping up.
9. Random curveball question, if someone was to portray your life story in a movie, who would you want it to be?
Christopher Walken.
10. Britrock must be destroyed.. why?
There wasn’t really ever such a thing as Britrock, to be honest. It was a lame cash in on the Britpop phenomenon, by desperate rock journalists of the time, eager to appear relevant, possibly even hip.
The Wildhearts had an album called The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed, the title of which we stole from the Hammer movie Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. I guess the people putting this tour together thought it was a good enough title to use for the tour. Quite flattering really.
