INTERVIEW ARCHIVE # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
THë Eighties Matchböx B~Line DisaStêr - Readers! Which ‘Morning Has Broken’ do you prefer? Both have something fairly nebulous to do with He who always has the first letter of his name capitalised, but that’s where the similarities end. There’s the “Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden / Sprung in completeness where His feet pass” one, sung in dulcet tones during earnest strum-a-longs at Church Camp. Or then there’s THë Eighties Matchböx B~Line DisaStêr one, which features Guy McKnight hollering “He was born on Christmas dayay / He’s comin’ to getchoo whether you like it or not” over brain pulping, fist-pumping speed surf guitars...
“I was really getting tired of the whole girl band / boy band thing with the air-traffic control things on their faces and the bellybuttons... ugh”, The Bangles’ drummer/vocalist Debbi Peterson laughs, glad that rock is back just in time for her band’s triumphant return to the public consciousness after almost fifteen years away. “Oh yeah, well I love all that [new rock] stuff, all rock bands with guitars are okay by me, I think that’s great”...
“I do think what we do is relevant, I think we’ve had our fingers on the button for the past twenty years”, says Chumbawamba vocalist Alice Nutter on the release of their 11th studio album, Readymades, “but you’re not particularly required to have your finger on the button at this point in time, you’re just required to shut up and look nice”...
Listen. What’s that tinkling sound? No, it isn’t a new Mike Oldfield album, it’s the sound of millions of indie lovehearts smashing into a million pieces, for when the Dandy Warhols’ latest video-clip aired, thousands of indie girls [and boys] threw themselves on the living room floor in tears. Courtney Taylor-Taylor – alternahunk extraordinaire – had cut his gloriously indie hair into a Mohawk. Well, guitarist Peter Holmstrom has a confession to make: “I actually encouraged him to do it”, he snickers conspiratorially...
New Zealand rockers The Datsuns have been heralded with a frothing fervor by the NME as “Heroes Of The New Rock Revolution”, which has rocketed them to stardom - but how do the band feel about the moniker, or for that matter, The New Rock Revolution? “Well”, says guitarist Phil Datsun, “I don’t think there is one”...
Here’s how it works: unless you’re performing the freak-show of ‘girls behaving badly’ á la Courtney Love or the non-threatening virginity of Britney Spears, take a number, baby - we’ll call you.
New! Electric Six - The second his call is connected, Electric Six lead singer Dick Valentine is ready for action. Or something. “Okay where you at?” he yells in a speedy Detroit accent. In Melbourne, Australia. “You’re where?” Melbourne. Australia. “Oh, Melbourne, yes! Okay, yes. Okay, right.” Okay! “Okay, go ahead. I’m in the United States!” Anywhere in particular? “Yeah, let’s go; let’s kick it off!”...
Frenzal Rhomb front man Jay Whalley once infamously declared Frenzal Rhomb to be “the punkest band in the world” - and in a marketplace glutted with Dolly Magazine-friendly groups such as Good Charlotte and Busted, the claim starts to look truer and truer – but do they still (or did they ever) believe it to be true? “Oh, fuck no!”, Whalley laughs uproariously...
Gerling - “Yeah, it’s a bit naff and cheesy. But it’s better than Bobby Brown or something like that”. Burke, one third of audio-terrorists Gerling, has been getting into electroclash. But isn’t it just the clothes-shop version of the sort of culture/sound-jamming that outfits like Aphex Twin and Gerling have long championed?...
Aus-rock stalwarts Grinspoon recently returned from a successful maiden tour of the UK, where they played to rabid crowds of… Australians? “A lot of ex-pats turned up that had either seen us, or heard of us from their Australian families and friends, so it basically felt like we were playing in Australia”...
“Well, I’m drinking right now”, laughs Monstrous Blues’ guitarist Paul Hausmeister at 11am when asked about his plans for the immediate future, “and I’m going to Speedway tonight… then we’ll start the tour in Wollongong”. It’s party in the front and business (in the back) as usual for the band whose motto could well be described as: Be Excellent To Each Other, and Party On Dudes!
Mark Murphy, guitarist and vocalist for Melbourne band Moondriven, agrees with the members of Spinal Tap – the saddest chord is E-minor. “And D-minor”, he laughs, “Just the matching of yearning in the lyrics with particular chords”. For Murphy is a modern Romantic, and he’s not afraid to admit it. “What we’re doing is quite unfashionable”, he admits...
In a swanky nouveau cuisine joint, Riff Random front man Raph Brous cuts sick and rails against Dad Rock, boring punters, and expensive garlic bread...
New! Sleepy Jackson - The Sleepy Jackson’s Luke Steele has been called many things: genius, mad-man, saviour of rock and roll – but perhaps the best way to understand the man is to let him speak for himself… You Am I - What
golden sound bites does You Am I drummer, Russell Hopkins, have to offer
about playing with the Rolling Stones? “Yeah, it’s gonna be…
it’s just… you know, I can’t…uh…”
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