King Adora Interview – Robbie and Dan – King Tut’s Glasgow – 15th December 2001
Robbie and Dan are sitting on the corner sofa backstage at King Tut’s. Various members of the PR and support band are wandering through behind them. Robyn (King Adora Land) and Kirsteen (Cooler Hula Hips) with fans Caroline and Kirsten are sitting around them. The cigarettes and pints are flowing.
Robyn – I had too many questions so I put them all in here and you can randomly pick them.
Robbie – OK that’s fine yeah.
Dan – That sounds great.
Robyn – (hold out questions) Take your pick.
Dan – Do you want to read them out?
Robyn – No I’ll let you do that.
Dan – There is a rumor currently circulating that the band have been dropped by Super-er-er-er (laughs) Superior Quality. Is there any truth in this? Robbie
Robbie – There is no truth in the rumor to our knowledge. Eh, we still get our records out, we don’t care we’ll get them out anyway. But there’s no truth in that. Why would they drop a band like us?
Robyn – Another question then.
Dan – The more the merrier
Robbie – I hope it’s not a hard one!
Robbie – What is the standard musical equipment set-up for a gig?
Dan – For a gig? What musical equipment?
Robbie – No for the rider (laughs) The narcotics! Sex toys!
Dan – (laughs lots) Joy-toys.
Robbie – We gotta a drum-kit, a bass guitar, eh two guitars, lots of wood and lots of boxes.
Dan – Yeah and that other thing.
Robbie – We don’t like that one! You can see it.
Dan – You guys are my inspiration, who was yours when you were growing up and that’s from Kat.
Robbie – Who was my inspiration when I was growing-up? My Mammy. (everyone goes awww) I dunno lots of people.
Dan – A potpourri really.
Robbie - Musically I suppose people like Bowie and a bunch of sixties stuff. So many different bands, a bit of everything really to listen to. Rock bands and everything.
Dan – And all the cheesiest of cheesy cheese.
Robbie - And MTV was my inspiration.
Dan – Yeah MTV. When it used to be good.
Robyn – Before it went crap.
Robbie – MTV 2 is good now. (puts on American accent) I wanna be a rock star when I grow up! (Laughs)
Dan – All the rap videos with all the chicks in.
Robbie – Is Tokyo Honey meant to sound like by Teddy Grandbox by T-Rex?
Dan – Erm I don’t really know.
Robbie – I’ll tell you it’s actually meant to sound like a Blondie song, I cant remember the exact title. The half idea came from a Blondie song and you’ll have to figure out which one.
Dan – Could you check the lyrics for White Noise Babies and Saffron for us?
Kirsteen – Oh yeah
Robbie – We’re not the lyrical genius. (looks at lyrics) Ehhh looks good to me. A good interpretation is what counts.
Dan – I don’t know what the words are to that one. The chorus is alright, I know the chorus.
Robbie – Hows it go?? (Laughs and sings under breathe – Dan joins in) Yeah they’re pretty good. Even if they are wrong they are still pretty good.
Dan – The problem is that we don’t know what’s in our songs.
Robbie – We don’t write the lyrics.
Dan – How do you get on with your fans? That’s from Starlover.
Caroline – That’s from me.
Robbie – Yeah we get on really well.
Dan – Yeah there’s a lot of people we see every time we come around for gigs that we kinda know by name and stuff. So yeah it’s pretty cool.
Kirsten – Any stalkers?
Dan – Eh not really.
Robbie – I mean there’s some that are a bit madder though.
Dan – There’s this girl who always used to come up to me and say “have you seen Maxi” and we used to have to tell her where she was.
Robbie – She wasn’t quite a stalker though
Kirsten – Can I just ask you if you live together? Making it easier for the stalkers.
Robbie – Yeah I share a house with Dan. Maxi lives with his folks and Martyn has his own home.
Kirsten – See when your learning to play instruments is it better to learn by yourself or get lessons?
Robbie – A little bit of both to be honest I think. It takes a while but you can have a bit of lessons, a bit of teaching yourself.
Dan – I guess lessons are good cause you need some kind of a starting place. Get you in the right direction.
Robbie – But you need to be able to get down to it and do it – practice.
Robbie – Another Question Time! Into the pink bag (chooses another question) What would say was the most fucked up moment on the tour? That question comes from Benway.
Dan – Eh I dunno. What would you say was?
Robbie – I have to admit that yesterday was quite…eh...a mad one. We got…eh…very very drunk.
Dan – (laughs lots) Say no more, nothing happened
All – (sarcastically) Yeah yeah
Robbie – We’ve been keeping our heads down this tour, we’ve been quite good.
Dan – Yeah, we’ve been behaving. We’re out of practice. We don’t remember what to do!
Robbie – Anyways we’re recording next week so we’re trying not to give ourselves any nasty illnesses by too much of anything.
Dan – What is the earliest childhood memory you can remember?
Robbie – Erm banging my head! (Laughter) I only seem to remember bad things, y’know what I mean. I was at school and fell over cutting my head open and there was loads of blood. It was horrible.
Dan - Eh, mines would be probably when we got a dog one day.
Robbie – I think we had a dog as well and one day I came in from school and it was gone. And my mum said it had gone to a farmhouse.
Dan - Is that what she said?
Robbie – I don’t know if it’s true or not. Lets reach into the bag for another question.
Dan – Do any of you read music? Eh…
Robbie – Yeah a bit.
Dan - No I cant read from it and play.
Robbie – Nah not at the same time. I can read it though.
Dan – The Nelstar’s alright isn’t he?
Robbie – Yeah he’s quite good.
Dan – Right what have we got here. What’s the most obsessive thing a fan has ever done to you? That’s from Donna.
Dan – (laughs) Ehhh I don’t know. Erm nothing really. Matt had his socks stolen the other day.
Robbie – No nothing really. Come on fans your not doing very well! Come up with something a bit mad!
Dan – How tall are you all? From Kathrine. What all together?
Robbie – If you lay us all in a line and measured as all together.
Dan – I dunno, I’m 5’10 I think, maybe 5’11.
Robbie – How tall do you think I am?
Dan – Your about the same. Matt about 6’2 or something. And the Nelstar…
Robbie – Nelstar is two and a half feet, Maxi is 14 feet, I’m about 12 feet and Dan’s about 11/12 feet as well.
Kirsten – Who in the band has slept with other members of the band?
Robbie – What who in the band sleeps together? None of us. We have slept together I mean but there’s no sex involved, just cuddles.
Dan – Who would you all say was your favorite author/lyricists? From Benway. Dunno.
Robyn – This is your chance to sound intelligent
Dan – I reckon Eminem is pretty good. Eh, favorite author, whose your favorite author?
Robbie – Erm I dunno. Erm I don’t really read that much.
Dan – Who wrote your Atlas?
Robbie – Oh the Atlas is quite good. I like Ben Curtis. I dunno, I have to think about it.
Dan – I generally don’t read. OK which of you share a house together, from Kathine.
Robbie – I think we answered that earlier on.
Dan – Eh me and Rob share a house.
Robbie – Martyn lives in a caravan. We have another flat mate Roseblade Shankles, a sitar player.
Dan – How old are you and when are your birthdays?
Robbie – I’m twenty-(coughs) My birthday is 10th April and I’m twenty-three. And I’m an Aries and I’m interested in…..*laughs* its like Blind Date!
Dan – I’m twenty-two and my birthday is the 27th July and I’m a Leo. (roars) (much laughter and roaring)
Robbie – Matt is twenty-*coughs* and Martyn is twenty-*coughs* and I don’t know when their birthdays are, I’ve forgot.
Dan – Matt is 4th January, Nelsta is 26th October.
Robbie – And that’s all the questions!
Kirsten – Hang-on. Do you ever feel that you are caricatures of yourself in the media?
Dan – Not at all.
Robbie – We tend to be ourselves no matter what we do.
Kirsteen – Are you ever going to play a longer set?
Robbie – Possibly. We are doing a long one tonight – eleven songs! You check most bands set-lists and your going to get about eleven songs.
Dan – Its quality not quantity you know what I mean?
Robyn – Robbie, I’ll give you a chance to redeem yourself after the joke you told me last time I say you.
Robbie – What one was that?
Robyn – About the bees in the zoo and the monkeys.
Robbie – No I cant do any better. You can never get any better than that joke, put it in again. That’s a good joke.
Dan – You’ll get good jokes off Maxi.
Robbie – No I haven’t got a good joke, I’m sorry. (pause) Oh hang on I got one.
Dan – Dear god
Robbie – Right a man walks into a bar with a dead giraffe over his shoulder. He goes over to the corner and dumped it on the floor. So he goes to the bar and says “one lager please” and the barman says “you cant leave that lying there” and the man says “its not a lion, it’s a giraffe.” laughs loads
Robyn – That was terrible.
Robbie – OK there’s these bees in this zoo….
Dan – (starts telling a joke then forgets it)
Robbie – Wait, I cant remember that bit that goes on the end that makes it funny.
Dan – What the punch line?
Robbie – That’s the one. Have you got a joke?
Robyn – No, mine are terrible.
Kirsten – What does one blonde’s leg say to the other? Nothing, they never meet. What do blondes do in the morning? Go home. They get worse laughter
Robbie – They are better than mine! Anyways we like blondes – I’m doing my bit for them just now with these bits (shows blonde stripes in hair)
Robyn – Right that’s us out of questions now. Thank you very much, your free to go!
