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Goldblade

Interview par e-mail réalisée le 23.01.2007 avec le groupe Goldblade

Hello, can you first introduce yourself and your band?
There is our Line Up :
John Robb - Vocals/Guitar (JR)
Keith Curtis - Bass/Vocals (KC)
Johny Skullknuckles - Guitar/Vocals (JSK)
Rob Haynes - Drums/Vocals (RH)
Pete Brychmore - Guitar/Vocals (PB)

As for factual stuff; Goldblade were formed when ex-Membranes frontman, journalist, and some time TV pundit John Robb met up with a like minded musician in a local gym. They were joined by ex-Membrane Keith Curtis on Bass, and ex-Hounddog drummer Rob Haynes. The initial line up set about shaking up the then stagnent live music scene. Signed by Ultimate Records, they released a couple of low key singles before 'Strictly Hardcore' hit the UK national charts in March 1997. 'Hardcore' was taken from the album 'Hometurf', and the Blade set about a relentless, and still continuing tour schedule. A follow up single 'Hairstyle' was released which was made Single of The Week on BBC Radio 1, the band were invited, and appeared on Saturday morning TV; A second album 'Drop The Bomb' was also released before the bands label collapsed scuppering any chance of capitalising on their initial success. A couple of line up changes took place, with Pete GEORGEUS and Johny Skullknuckles being brought in on dual lead guitar.The band signed to a small Scottish indie, who released a ltd edition single 'AC/DC' as a taster for the follow up album 'Do You Believe In The Power Of Rock 'N' Roll', but once more fate took an unhealthy interset in the Blades activities, as this second label went bankrupt, thereby making 'Do You Believe..' virtually unobtainable.
However none of this dented the Blades passion for the live spectacle, as they toured the UK, America and Russia, being invited to appear at festivals and the like the world over. At one of these festivals; Wasted, the Blade were seen by the label bosses of Captain Oi! Records. In a break with there usual style of putting out re-issues, they signed Goldblade on the spot. 'Rebel Songs' was released in 2005 to enourmas critical acclaim, and basically has not stopped selling since, becoming the bands biggest release. In addition Goldblade have been signed to SOS Records in the USA, with distribution by Sony, which is helping them gain exposure in the States. 'Rebel Songs' has just been picked up by German label KB-Records, and we are currently negotiating with a number of labels for a Japanese release.
2006 saw Goldblade release their first live DVD 'Testify' (Cherry Red Records) filmed in Blackpool during Christmas 2005, it ideally demonstrated the experience that is Goldblade live, the eneregy, the chaos, the entire audience on stage!!
Goldblade then toured with Stiff Little Fingers, The Misfits and The Damned, in addition to performing all over the UK for their own headline sets.
Due to the unavailability of the three early albums Captain Oi! took the decision to issue a compilation CD 'Strictly Hardcore' and bundled on a couple of tracks from 'Rebel Songs' - This release has been very well recieved, though its caused the Blade to be in the enviable position of being forced to make all their albums available as digital downloads in an effort to meet demand!
As the year comes to a close they are writing new material, a few of the songs already making it to the live set, in preperation for a new album in 2007. The album will be supported with a single release and a full UK headline tour, plus a tour of America. Dates are already booked in Holland,Germany, Austria and Switzerland, so things are certainly not slowing down for Goldblade, quite the opposite as they are tipped to break through to a much larger audience in the coming 12 months.

When did you start the band?
JR- The band was formed in 1996, myself and Keith Curtis had been in The Membranes together, once they split we both went our separate ways; each to other bands and projects. In early 1996 I met Wayne Simmons in a gym, we got talking about the dire state of music at that time, and vowed to do something about it; we did - we formed Goldblade; Keith joined and, well we've never looked back!

JSK - I didn't it was going before Pete and I joined - but, it has got markedly better since the introduction of our twin guitar assault!

Which bands did you listen to when you were young and that gave you the motivation to start a band?
JR - I grew up near Blackpool in the north west of England, my friends and I used to hang about at the local ice rink. This would have been in 1977, I was in my mid teens, I was aware from the music press about 'punk rock' but to be honest it took a long time reaching Blackpool, so when I heard The Sex Pistols 'Anarchy In The UK' coming over the speakers at the ice rink it meant even more to me; so I suppose The Sex Pistols gave me the initial motivation, and then it was The Clash, and that began the journey that we are still on today.

RH - The bands I loved when was young were The Stranglers, Motorhead, The Dammed, Killing Joke – bands with a really powerful identity both in their music and their personalities, who were aggressive yet intelligent.

JSK - All sorts of stuff when I was young - Bowie, Rush, Genesis, ELP, New York dolls, Stooges, Eddie Cochran - Rock, prog, rock'n'roll and psychedelia. My motivation to start a band was me thinking "I can do that" ha, back then I wanted to play like Geddy Lee (I was a bass player to begin with), then once I had done my first gig I knew that playing live was the most fun in the world and that was all I really wanted to do from that point on.



Can you tell us a bit more about how the band began and what was, at that time, the motivation to start Goldblade?
RH - The early Goldblade records had a lot of different influences – as well as the basic punk foundation we liked James Brown, The Meters, Captain Beefheart, The Make Up, Tom Waits and Public Enemy, and pieces of these influences found their way into the songs. As we went on though, we liked playing the faster, louder songs more and more, and so did the audiences and that made for better gigs. We still like all the other different kinds of music, but punk rock is what we love and what we do best.

JR - I had an idea of what kind of band I wanted and a whole bunch of songs ready to roll and put the band together with brother Wayne who has long since retired from this rock ‘n’ roll thing....It kind of went on from there...the motivation was to play incendiary rock n roll, a firebrand music, a punk rock....I guess we stayed pretty true to that...

Have you had any line-up changes since your beginning?
JR - Well, Wayne and Jay are not in the band anymore, Jay left to run a venue in Manchester full time and to do his band Bone-Box, Wayne left because he wanted to concentrate on his photography (which is great - he's putting together an avante garde book of photos of myself which looks fab - like computer generated graffiti art with yours truly poncing about in the middle of it all), they were replaced the demon twin guitar attack of Johny Skullknuckles and Pete Gorgeous. Goldblade is an idea and ideas cannot bedestroyed! We are punk rock, we are the revolution!



So, you guys come from Manchester, how is the Punk scene there, are there any interesting bands and cool places to play there?
JR - Manchester itself is a pretty cool city; it’s got a large student population, so is well served by clubs and venues. It’s that sort of vibrant environment that over the years has been responsible for so many good bands. If I try to confine it to punk and beyond, Manchester has given us Joy Division, Buzzzcocks, The Fall, The Stone Roses, the entire Factory movement and the subsequent 'baggy' scene. I don’t think we should just confine it to punk in Manchester, the entire UK punk scene is currently undergoing a massive revival, there are loads of bands out there, loads of venues wanting them to play, and also loads of new kids coming to the shows; every time we play we seem to get bigger and younger crowds. Maybe its a reaction to all the crap that is fed to us by shows like X-Factor, I don't suppose you have X-Factor in Switzerland, its basically a rigged talent show on prime time national TV, it doesn't find talent, it basically lessens media space for real bands; its killing new music, so I think we are possibly at the forefront of a reaction against that sort of crap.

In the month of February you will be hitting Europe for a short tour, is it the first time that you are going to play shows outside England?
JR - We have played a few festivals in Europe, in fact we have played some really off the wall places from Russia to Macedonia to Belgrade. We toured Germany 8 years ago and then got really busy in the UK playing all the time, that we ran out of time for Europe! Its great to get back out there though, our album ‘Rebel Songs’, is out now on KB-Records (Germany), and that’s going to be a big help as well...we have toured America few times a well.

RH - No, we have played many shows outside of Britain, although not as many as we would like. The only thing that stops us is the cost – we finance ourselves and don’t have a big label backing us - otherwise we would tour more. Some of the band’s best shows have been in places like Russia and Macedonia.

JSK - No, we have been far and wide, Russia, USA, and Europe - all sorts of places many times, so no it is not Goldblades first trip out of the UK

Let's talk a bit about your new album. Which songs are you the proudest of on this new record?
RH - 'Psycho' has developed really quickly into a live favourite, and we always start it by the audience singing the chorus on their own. Musically I like 'Everything Is Porn' and 'Stereo Gangster' – they’re both interesting songs to play. But we’re already working on the next album and I’m more excited about that now.

JSK - The new album is consistently Goldblades best effort. 'Fighting In The Dancehall', 'Black Sheep Radical' and '(War) Not In My Name' being my five tracks because they rock more than the others.

JR - I like all the songs, they all work perfectly, we wanted an album full of twisted anthemic songs and that’s what we ended up with, we wanted songs that you could go wild to live, but sing-along to as well, we wanted songs with simple choruses and clever verses, we wanted lots of quirky off the wall lyrics that said something and that’s what we got. The lyrics are really important, if you are felling bored, check them out!...Mind you just wait till the next album which are working on now...should be out in the summer, there’s some mega tunes on there!



What are the main subjects you are talking about in your lyrics?
RH - John writes the lyrics, but we are all interested in subjects beyond the usual rock and roll clichés – prehistoric life, evolution, ancient civilisations and religions. We spend a lot of time touring, sat in the back of a van, and you can only talk about music for so long, after all. One of our inspirations in this matter are The Stranglers, who wrote amazing aggressive psychedelic punk albums with really diverse subject matter.

JR - Everything! From the Victorian dancehalls of the UK to poisoning of the planet, from greed, filth and war to how we are still living in the medieval times complete with jester hats, from sex, death and revolution to mad scientists from religious iconography to revolutionary freak outs...

What are the future projects of the band right after this European Tour in February?
JR - Things are really hectic, which is good; it shows we are reaching out to people, new audiences in new areas. The main project will be the new album; we have written six or seven tracks so far, four of which have now been honed in the live set, all with very a good reaction. Right after we get back from Europe we will be heading back to the USA, can't really give many details at this time, things are still being finalised; then we have a few UK dates and then a couple of big festivals to play at. We will be back in Berlin for the Punk 'N' Disorderly Festival, and have a similar gig in Amsterdam sometime in May. For me personally it will be busy as my last book 'Punk Rock - An Oral History' will have been published in the USA, and will then be translated and published in Germany.

Do you know some Swiss bands, if you do which ones are your favourites?
JR - For such a small country, with an obviously small population Switzerland has produced a few notable bands, certainly since punk/new wave; there are the obvious more well known bands, such as The Young Gods, Kleenex, and I suppose Yello; but yeah I've been sent demos from other bands.

RH - The best Swiss band I know – and indeed one of the best bands from anywhere – are The Young Gods. I have most of their records and saw them a few times in the 80's and 90's. Other Swiss bands that I know (although I’m not really a fan) are Yello, Krokus and Celtic Frost.

JSK - The Peacocks - they are Swiss, and they are fantastic - one of the best bands around, I have all their CD's. Great players, great songs - Just great!! - Other than them I do not know any other Swiss bands. The Peacocks Rule!!

Anything more to say?
JR - C'mon lets party! Punk rock is in town! Come and see us live;

PB - Keep the punk rock faith Brothers and Sisters wherever you are. Punks, Skins and Psychobillys unite and tear it up!

JSK - "You should never hide your Rock'n'Roll pride" - and "Be your own hero"

RH - Get on to the stage and dance!

Interview : Lucien, Bastien

Plus d'infos :

Label : Captain Oi! Records

MySpace : www.myspace.com/goldblade

Site Web : www.goldblade.com

Site du label: www.captainoi.com

Interview cliquée : 18703 fois