Scraps

     After years of traveling through space and time punk rock has accumulated loads of useless barnacles on its underbelly making it slow, heavy, and nearly unrecognizable from its original form. A myriad of worthless musical offshoots that are parasitically feeding off of the punk movement have left people confused as to what that word even means anymore. In walk London’s Scraps. These three tattered young men have taken on the wearisome task of scraping these worthless elements from their music and are stripping down punk rock back to its fundamentals. By doing so, they have succeeded in resurrecting those exhilarating qualities other British groups like Eater and the Damned possessed back in the late 1970’s. Scraps have taken it back to where it started; making punk rock lean and mean once again.

Interview by J Castro

Let’s start out by telling me what everyone does in the band:

BOBBY: Scraps is Liam Rudy on guitar and lead vocals, Bobby Passion on bass and backing vocals and Kris Hood on drums and backing vocals.

You are all in other bands (Miscalculations, Gaggers) yet you said Scraps formed out of boredom. Is Scraps a side project for you guys?

BOBBY: Scraps is not a side project at all. When I say "out of boredom" I meant bored of everyday life, routines like going to work, etc. but also a bit bored of the music scene. Don't get me wrong!! There's loads of cool bands here in London playing ‘60's garage, power pop, rock & roll and so on but there isn't too many young bands playing straight forward punk while jumping around on stage. We felt there was a gap to fill there.

Is there a growing and supportive scene out there for the type of music you play?

BOBBY: In the band it's actually only Liam that's English. He's brought up in Camden, London while Bobby is from Sweden and Kris from Poland so we just met here and London is great! So much to do and there's always gigs to go to. London is full of opportunities; you just have to make sure you're ready to grab hold of them.......

You list as some of your influences The Clash, The Dead Boys and the New York Dolls. Tell me a bit about the first time (if you can recall) you heard some of these bands and how it affected you.

BOBBY: Personally these are the three bands that got me hooked on punk music. New York Dolls with their style and ground breaking music, Dead Boys with a nutter as a front man, weird lyrics and playing with more power than most bands ever will manage to reach. And the Clash; just perfection! How can you not get hooked? Watching the videos of these guys makes me so sad I will never be able to see that live.

In your band bio you say you guys listen to a lot of different things that influence your songwriting. Name one record that you think some Scraps fans may be a bit surprised you own and enjoy.

BOBBY: We can be influenced by anything around us, rather than just other bands.

The three bands mentioned above are of course pretty obvious and we wouldn't be playing the type of music we are if it wasn't for them. But personally I listen to loads of different things. Django Reinhardt, Gram Parsons, Johnny Horton or the minimal synth band Autumn just to mention a few. I also listen to a lot of obscure, cheesy, melodic 60's teenbeat music. In one way or another I’m sure these bands influence me, I’m just not sure how or in what way.

Also in your bio you say: “as a band you have the power to make so much more than just music.” Can you elaborate on this a bit? 

BOBBY: As a band there is so much you actually can do and sometimes it feels like bands forget that. It could be just going mad on art work, for instance we had Marco from No Front Teeth Records make 150 one of a kind handmade sleeves for our 7" vinyl. I mean, you don't see many album covers like Andy Warhol's banana anymore, do you?  Also, as a band you got the power to say something that can either change a person or make them feel better about something. It doesn't necessary have to be political but if a person can relate to it I think it's great.

Do you ever feel some bands waste their influence they have on kids to make a real difference in their lives or improve society somehow instead of just taking their money and buying mansions and private jets? 

BOBBY: Absolutely! Without a doubt for example One Direction could make this world a better place if they could be bothered to. We write songs about silly things sometimes but this manufactured, commercial stuff is so bland. You have seen bands changing the world before, in many different ways but I wonder if we ever will see that happen again.

You recently did a video for the song “Waste My Time.” Can you tell me a bit about it? Was it hard to pick a song to do a video for?

BOBBY: “Waste my time” is one of our favorite songs to play but also sums us up very well. We're not here to waste our time, we don't have time for bollocks, we're just in for a good time and if you're not... well, see ya later ha ha!

No Front Teeth Records recently released your debut 7”.  Did Marco and NFT have a part of reigniting the punk scene in London a few years ago? It seems that any good band that comes out of there lately is connected to The Gaggers or NFT in some way or another. 

BOBBY: I don't have words for how thankful we are to Marco and NFT!! They just released our debut EP and as I mentioned before Marco did these amazing handmade sleeves for us. He's been helping us out in every possible way, when it comes to filming, recording, everything! And the amount of cool stuff they put out on NFT is unreal! We are lucky to have this label in London. They put out anything cool really, so sometimes they put out bands you’d never heard of and the next day they put out the Stitches.

Where are some places people can go or log on to and get their grubby paws on your music?

BOBBY: Best place to buy our EP is obviously at one of our shows! But if you can't make it, you can first listen to it at our bandcamp: https://scrapslondon.bandcamp.com/

and then order it online from No Front Teeth: http://www.nofrontteeth.co.uk/

What’s in the future for Scraps; touring, more recordings?

BOBBY: We got a few London shows booked, one supporting the Vibrators. We’ve got enough material to record a full length, which we will start soon. Touring, well, that's what we love doing! So at the moment we're looking into a couple of mini tours around Europe and for next year if everything works out, USA west coast!

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/scrapslondon

Bandcamp - https://scrapslondon.bandcamp.com/

Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/scraps-london-punk

Scraps - "Waste my time" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTnvl5wz4nY

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The Boys

     In all honesty, I was debating whether or not this interview needed any sort of introduction at all. I mean this is The Boys, but in all fairness, I decided to write one anyway. When people say, “This band needs no introduction,” The Boys really don’t. The Boys are arguably the best, most seminal, and highly influential and one of the most critically underappreciated punk, pop, power-pop bands of all time. Casino Steel and Matt Dangerfield were arguably the Lennon/McCartney of UK punk and had the songs to back it up. Yes, far more bands got the accolades, but before The Boys unplugged their amps in 1981 they had released four of the best LP’s ever (The Boys, Alternative Chartbusters, To Hell With The Boys and Boys Only). So after thirty-three years, The Boys are back with Punk Rock Menopause, their brand new LP. Does this mean it could be five for five?

Interview by Ed Stuart

Who’s answering the questions?

Matt Dangerfield

Who is currently in the band and what instrument do they play?

Matt Dangerfield, guitar/vocals

Casino Steel, keyboards/vocals

Honest John Plain, guitar/vocals

Can you give a brief history of The Boys?

The Boys were born in September 1975 when I left Mick Jones and Tony James’s London SS to form a new band with ex-Hollywood Brats keyboard player Casino Steel. My old art college friend, guitarist Honest John Plain, was soon recruited and in 1976 Kid Reid on bass and Jack Black on drums completed the line-up. After just a handful of gigs, we were the first UK punk band to get an album deal when we signed up with NEMS Records. After two albums with NEMS we moved to Safari Records and released a further two albums with them.

What bands did you have in mind when starting this band?

Having grown up in the sixties, the best music from that decade was a major influence but this was a new era and I envisaged us being a cross between Velvet Underground and Hollywood Brats. Later, when the first Ramones album came out, that was also an influence.

How did the idea come to get the band back together and record Punk Rock Menopause?
We had been playing live gigs together again since 2000 when we reformed to play Japan. There had been many offers for us to reform over the years, which we turned down but Japan was interesting as we’d never been there. Also, a major Japanese punk band called Thee Michelle Gun Elephant had covered a couple of our songs and suddenly we were selling lots of records over there.

The idea of making a new album was occasionally discussed but I was always the most against doing it unless I thought it could be as good as, if not better than, our previous albums. This time though, after a day in the studio knocking around a few new song ideas with Casino and John, for the first time it seemed to me that there could be a new Boys album and now there is.

How did the band decide on Wolverine Records to release Punk Rock Menopause?

They were recommended to me by my good friend Campi from Die Toten Hosen.

The Boys have been referred to as the Punk Rock Beatles. How do you feel about that reference?

It used to annoy me in the early days but now I don’t mind it. I forget which reviewer first used that phrase but it was only because we sang harmonies live and most of the other early punk bands didn’t at the time. One of my strongest musical influences came as a teenager when I used to go round to a school friend’s house to practice guitar together on a Friday night. He came from a big Irish family and after the pubs closed all his older brothers and their friends used to come back to his house to play guitars and sing fantastic harmonies – early do wop Rock N’ Roll stuff, which I’d never heard before as well as Beach Boys, Beatles etc. That’s where I learned to love and sing harmonies.

I always thought one of The Boys secret weapons was that the band had several different lead vocals. I know early on it was primarily Matt and Duncan taking leads vocals with Casino Steel providing back-up vocals. What was the original idea behind not just having one lead vocalist?
Maybe that’s the other reason why we were labeled the punk rock Beatles! Originally, it was going to be me as the lead vocalist but I always thought it would be more interesting if there was more than one lead singer so when it turned out that Duncan could sing. I was really pleased. Also our early songs were all fast and furious and we both sang and played instruments, so having two singers helped us to keep the energy levels up on stage.

How do you feel that your songs and LP’s are seen not only as influences to numerous punk-pop and power-pop bands?

It’s always a huge compliment when someone names us as an influence.

In an interview, Duncan Reid stated that one of the reasons The Boys didn’t get airplay was because “At the time the charts used to be rigged and people used to get into the charts because the record companies, especially the majors, had the power to buy you in. Once you'd got into the charts you got onto Top Of The Pops and all the other exposure followed, so I suspect we didn't benefit from that either.” What do you think of this comment?

In our time every record company knew which record stores were used to compile the charts and those stores were targeted by fake buyers employed by the labels/distributors. But everybody was doing it. A major label could probably afford more fake buyers, but if you’re cheating in a game of poker you can’t really stand up and complain that someone is cheating better than you.

And getting airplay doesn’t necessarily mean you sell more records. There were times when we employed the best pluggers (the specialists who approach the radio stations) in the business and we got tons of radio airplay but sold bugger all. It’s what’s called a Radio Hit – radio loves it, record buyers hear it, but don’t want to buy it.

50 years ago people used to buy music and get their water for free, now people pay for water and get their music for free. In what ways do you think this affects the current state of music and would it affect the way The Boys will promote Punk Rock Menopause?

Maybe we should be bottling punk rock water instead of making records :)

We just make music and get it out there.

Other than bands using tremendous amount of social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to promote themselves nowadays, do you feel the basic mechanics of being in a band are essentially the same as when The Boys originally started?

The basic mechanics of being in a band are exactly the same but the whole music business has been flipped upside down and inside out. There are good and bad sides to that. Record Companies weren’t perfect but how intrusive and controlling is social media going to become? Whatever happens, people will continue to love making music and people will love listening to it. Social media might very well disappear up its own backside but music will always be essential and loved.

The Boys were offered a record deal after just six live gigs. Do you think that type of thing could happen again?

Yes, of course.

Which Boys LP is your favorite and why?

The first album. Because it’s like your first born child. Because it’s so instant and raw but to this day sounds dynamically brilliant. We only had a few days to record, mix and finish off writing quite a few of the songs on the way to the studio so it has a sense of urgency about it that I love. We could never recreate it no matter how hard we tried.

Can you talk the about song “Jimmy Brown?” I have read a few interviews with Boys members and all of them have remarked how great they thought this song was, but the song never made it on a proper Boys record and wasn’t released until Odds & Sods. Any reason why this was?

No particular reason. It was recorded in a session between albums when we were looking for a single to release. We recorded three or four (maybe more) songs in that session. We ended up releasing “Better Move On” as a single. None of the songs from that session ended up on the next album either because, as usual, we had more than enough new songs to deal with at the time. We’ve had a lot of great songs that ended up on the shelf because we were very prolific in those days – still are, as we’ve discovered making the new album and had to shelve a few songs.

Where can people hear The Boys and what’s next for the band?

On the new album or live on stage somewhere. More of the same.

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Miscalculations

     Miscalculation’s bio reads like the opening of a sci-fi film “dark, asbestos-lined basement[s] . . . and a towering loft overlooking the concrete, steel and flesh of North London” or a graphic novel that poses an overarching question such as “When the earth dies how will life as we know it sustain itself?” Besides the pondering, what Miscalculations does bring to their songs, is not just a group of talented NFT members (Gaggers and Ladykillers), is a mixed cocktail of ’77 UK punk and ’79 post-punk drank by deft individuals who might wear turtlenecks, but hide razorblades in the garment’s neck folds.

Interview by Ed Stuart

Who’s answering the questions?

Marco, lead vocalist

Where is the band from?

The band is from London, but we all have roots all over the place. I was born here, but am Italian, Mauro is from Chile, Bobby is Swedish and Shaun is English.

Who is in the band and what instrument do they play?

I sing and play synth, Shaun plays drums, Mauro plays guitar and Bobby plays bass.

In between Ladykillers, Gaggers, No Front Teeth Records and the other bands you guys are individually a part of, Miscalculations gets started. How did the band start?

Shaun and I are both in the Gaggers so we see a lot of each other and Shaun told me he was working on something a bit different and played it to me so I wrote some lyrics and Miscalculations was born. We both listen to a lot of post-punk and electro like Wire, The Units, Screamers and stuff like that and both love Scandinavian punk like Masshysteri, Invasionen, Tristess, Hurula, Vanna Inget and the Vicious so we knew exactly what direction we wanted to go in. We didn’t want to have too much of a definitive structure with this, we just wanted to see how these songs would organically develop. It was new territory for both of us.

Do you think music can still be a vital force in such a disposable age?

Definitely. I still think music is one of the most powerful things that will never go away. Every generation will be defined through music. I think the way people listen to music has changed for sure – it’s much more disposable now – but it’s also way more accessible and I think more people are listening to music now than ever before.

Miscalculations seem to dance the fine line between ’77 UK punk and ’79 post-punk like Wipers and Wire did. What were some of the ideas and bands that influenced both Miscalculations and the songwriting for the band?

Well, the most important thing was that we wanted to do something completely different to all the (many) other projects we are involved with. As well as the bands I mentioned earlier, we also love contemporary stuff like the Mind Spiders, Radioactivity, Bellicose Minds, The Spits, Generacion Suicida, Nicole Saboune, Shocked Minds and stuff like that so we naturally merged all the stuff we love without stressing too much on a particular sound or objective. We let it weave it’s way instinctively both musically and lyrically. The lyrical scope is so wide with Miscalculations which is something so refreshing for me.

The Miscalculations LP was released on Dead Beat Records. Was Dead Beat Records chosen because of the previous relationship The Gaggers have with the label? Did other labels coming asking to help with the release because of who is in the band?

I have known Tom for years so we had a relationship a good decade before the Gaggers LP even came out! I think Tom really has his ear to the ground and can spot stimulating punk very early on. He has great radar for invigorating music and truly does release what he loves and what he believes in. He puts his whole heart into the label and into each release so we knew we were in good hands. Tom approached us after the first 7” and as a band we thought it was a no-brainer to go with him and Dead Beat - we were very happy with the Gaggers LP and are very happy with the Miscalculations LP too. Yes, there were and are other labels interested in releasing Miscalculations records and we are currently talking to a few for some upcoming stuff. We are also starting a Miscalculations / NFT sub-label called Glass Eye Records for Miscalculations records.

50 years ago people used to buy music and get their water for free, now people pay for water and get their music for free. How do you think this affects music in any way?

It means that music is everywhere. It’s so easy now to instantly get whatever music you want either for free or at very little cost. That’s a great thing but the downside is that it does cheapen it too. Music wasn’t just about music when I was growing up, it was a commitment and, sadly,  that’s no longer a necessity – kids can now just delve into bands and scenes without pledging anything. Today its punk, tomorrow hip-hop and something else on the weekend. That wasn’t the case before because there wasn’t all this easy access – you belonged to a scene and a sound and that was it and that was so important. You searched for magazines and instantly connected with people who were wearing a shirt or a patch of a band or whatever because you knew that they had to search for those items – it wasn’t easy. There was no e-Bay, Discogs, Amazon and all the web stores that make it all so easy now.

On North London Bomb Factory’s website it states, “Miscalculations capture the cynicism, obscurity and perplexity of their surroundings and filter it down to the purest punk form” and with song titles like “Asbetos City” and “Preaching Individuality to the Masses,” how much of the lyrics have both social and political commentary? Do you feel cynicism can be used to help bring some change at all?

With Miscalculations, my approach to writing lyrics is totally different to how I write for the Gaggers or Botox Rats or Teenage Tricks or whatever. I have very specific ideas that I want to interpret in a very vague and angular manner. I put all the clues there but then it’s up to the listener to decipher and build the narrative. I always liken it to a painting. A painting is one static image that generates a thousand different reactions and sentiments from a thousand different people. They all read it differently and that’s what I aim for with Miscalculations lyrics. They are the most personal lyrics I have ever written. There is definitely some social commentary, maybe a little political too but I’m certainly not aiming to change anything or anyone.

To piggyback off the last question, there is a quote that acts like a bio/history of the band, which is “Miscalculations were formed in a dark, asbestos-lined basement in Harlow and a towering loft overlooking the concrete, steel and flesh of North London. Absorbing their environment, watching, analyzing and calculating. Miscalculating.” For those of us who don’t live in North London can you give us what that part of London is like? How did much did North London directly or indirectly affect the band’s lyrics?

I have lived in North London my whole life and Shaun has lived in both East and North London as well as Harlow in Essex. Bobby lives in East London and Mauro in South London. My environment has definitely shaped my lyrics. I am hugely influenced by the aesthetics and architecture of my surroundings. I wouldn’t say that you can instantly tell that I am from North London, or even London in general from my lyrics but the roots are there for sure and subconsciously manipulate the words.

What are some bands and/or records you are listening to right now?

Current stuff - Dino’s Boys – that LP has hardly left my turntable in months. Nightmare Boyzz, Average Times, Nicole Saboune, Buck Biloxi and the Fucks, Gino and the Goons, Criminal Code and then always listening to Crime, The Fast, Jo Squillo, Screamers, Teenage Head and stuff like that.

What’s next for Miscalculations?

A new 7” that is going to press in the next week or so and then the second full-length in the not too distant future!

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Duncan Reid

One of the things I admire the most about Duncan’s former band The Boys, is how great the band remained throughout their career.  For me, each of their albums got better and better when it seemed for many of their peers the exact opposite was happening.  They started off as punk with a pop edge and ended up with straight power pop gems To Hell With The Boys and Boys Only.  Duncan Reid’s debut solo album Little Big Head picks up right where those two albums left off.  Tremendous power pop the likes of which this earth hasn’t seen for a long time and was long overdue for.  Memorable songs with no fillers, the way our rock n roll forefathers intended it.  A friend of mine described Duncan Reid’s music as “beyond brilliant”, who am I to squabble?

Interview by Jay Castro

Let’s start with: where you are originally from and what (or whom) motivated you to want to pick up an instrument and learn how to play it? 

I’m from a little, historic town in England called Canterbury. It’s famous for its Cathedral which is the centre of the Church of England, the official religion here. Nothing ever happens but it was a great place to grow up. We lived on a Council estate, which was housing given to families who couldn’t afford their own place. It wasn’t rough though, or at least, it didn’t seem rough to me. We were always outside in the street, kicking a football which we were mad about, playing cricket or riding our bicycles.

As little 7 year old boys we would ride for miles on our bicycles, sometimes going to the seaside for a swim, which would take all morning to get to. We’d get hungry at mid day and knock on some strangers door to ask for a sandwich. Can you imagine today? A parent’s nightmare.

Or we’d raid the local apple farms, stealing from the trees. My little brother even managed to steal a ton of trout from the local fish farm, sneaking in there with his fishing rod. One of the bigger boys picked on him once so I waded in all tough and hit the bully. I broke my little finger so I’ve never thought it a good idea to hit anybody since.

London was only sixty miles away but it was in another universe which I moved to when I was 16.

There were only two things I ever wanted to be- either George Best, a really famous and brilliant footballer, or Paul MacCartney. I was never big or fast enough for football so it was the singing bass player route for me.

You started your musical career with The Boys in late ’75, ’76 when you were a teenager.  One of the things that separated that band from other British punk at the time was that you kept politics and out of your music.  As a solo artist do you still subscribe to this mantra?  If so why?

Well, I have so far but maybe I should have a go at it. I’m always looking for new ideas for song lyrics. I’ll have to look for a cause to bang on about. Maybe I’ll write a song about bus passes!

Do you feel like Rock ‘N’ Roll music has had, at least in part a “good guys finish last” motif.  Even pop groups seem to be getting more attention for their ridiculous behavior rather than their actual art.  Take for example when Andrew Oldham puffed up the Rolling Stones as a darker more brooding version of The Beatles, or even Jerry Lee Lewis marrying his 13 year old cousin.  Did you feel your career overshadowed a bit because the groups you were in never had anyone that purposefully cut themselves on stage or cursed on live national television? 

Well, The Beatles started out as goody two shoes, nice boys and it didn't stop them getting big now did it? The Boys were actually quite an outrageous bunch. Big party animals. Although extremely talented I think the “party at all cost” approach prevented The Boys being as big as they could have been. Much more effort went into having a good time and finding the next drink than went into being as good as we could be. Like The Faces, who had a similar approach, we were still bloody good though.

The songs on Little Big Head have a very timeless feel to them.  Have you written these songs in the last few years or did a version of them exist in rough sketch form for a long time now?

All of the songs were written in the year leading up to making the record. I'd made a record with Honest John Plain and Vom Ritchie from Die Toten Hosen called The Mattless Boys (as all the Boys including Casino Steele but not Matt Dangerfield were on it). That was the first record where I was happy with my song writing. Afterwards, I got myself some home recording software and the songs kept tumbling out. I thought they would either be for a new Mattless Boys or even Boys record as that was being planned.

Events overtook that though, so when I left The Boys, I found I had enough for an album and so made one! The two songs written after I left the band and just before recording started were Montevideo and All fall Down.

The video for the song “Aren’t Women Wonderful” features a lot of great classic movie clips.  You have also produced and financed a number of films and television shows if I’m not mistaken.  Does film influence your music a lot?  What are some of your favorite film/television projects you’ve worked on?

The video was made by a Brazilian lady called Andrea Stern who is a film student in England. I think that's why it has so many film references in it. I really like the video. It goes perfectly with the song as it has all those classic actresses in it.

Yes, I've been involved with a lot of films and TV. Many of them I wouldn't want to own up to! One I'm very proud of is Hotel Rwanda. It won many awards and was nominated for 3 Oscars. It's a true story about a man who, through circumstance and against his will and judgement, becomes a hero, saving the lives of countless people. It's very moving and leaves you full of admiration for the real man it's based on.

I went to a screening in Los Angeles where, after the film, the star Don Cheadle came out and answered questions. After a while he said "Here he is. The man the film is about." There was a loud gasp as the whole audience rose to their feet. It was a bit like going to see a Superman film when Superman comes into the cinema after.

There is a church in LA which gave me an award as an "Outstanding Humanitarian" for my role with that film. They clearly don't know me!

With this being your first solo record, was it difficult not having a group there with you to bounce ideas off of or fill in some gaps when you arrived at a creative impasse?

When it works I think the group dynamic is the best way to make a record. It happened with the early Boys albums. Songs were written and bought to the rehearsal studio but a lot of input came from everyone during the rehearsal period. That happened less with the later albums and I think they would have been the better for it.

As I mentioned before, I'd made pretty detailed demos at home of all the songs on Little Big Head but I still had Tony Barber in the studio dissecting them and putting them together in a different way. Tony has worked with loads of people from The Buzzcocks to Nirvana. He's getting better and better as a producer and I've learned so much from him.

We've started making the second album with my new band playing on it and its sounding meaty. I would like to find a songwriting partner. It would speed the process up, but the new songs seem to be coming together fine using the old method.

The song “Rolling On” is a retrospective or your life.  You go through your personal life and career in a way that would suggest you have no regrets.  Is this an accurate interpretation or are there any one or two things that really stand out to you as wishing you would have done differently?

I can't complain about the hand life has dealt me. There have been some hard times but when I look back at all of the things I have done and all the places I've seen I know I've been lucky. And it's still going on. It's like I've been given this licence which allows me not to grow up.

I'm sitting here in Stockholm right now looking at the waterfront. Tonight a load of people will turn up (I hope!), I'll play to them, it will be great fun and during and after they will make me feel special.

If you complain about that you really are a miserable bastard!

I read an interview where you told the story of The Boys touring with the Ramones and you and Casino Steel had to teach Johnny how to play the song Baby I Love You and even come on stage and play it with them during their show.  This obviously was a huge bonding experience, because from what I’ve read those guys weren’t exactly the easiest guys to get to know!  If you could take any band/musician with you in the supporting slot on the tour who would it be and why? 

I think it was John Plain who taught Johnny to play Baby I Love you because he didn't know it. Johnny was completely foxed by the fact it had a minor chord. The Ramones didn't play those. Cas played the string parts on his organ and we sang backing vocals making us the only two people to play live with The Ramones who were not called Ramone.

The Ramones were an odd, unhappy bunch. They say "don't meet your Heroes". Very true.

I would always take TV Smith with me on tour.

A.   He's a great act,

B.   He's a great guy,

C.   I love playing One Chord Wonders with him, and

D.   There's only one of him so it’s easy.

In your musical career, you have played all over the globe many times over.  Is there a place that you consistently anticipate playing?  If so where is it and what makes it so special?

Boy, there are so many.  I can't wait to get back here to Sweden. Talk about pretty girls. And they like getting drunk too! Audiences in South America are wild and I love the Japanese. So polite and then they go mad while you play. They look after you so well in Germany, and Italians are so stylish.  I wish they all could be London fans (there's a song in there!).

What’s in store for the near or not so near future?  Any plans for another record?

We are really busy. We have tours of Norway, Germany and the UK leading up to Christmas. I'm working on getting to the US next year and in the meantime we have already started recording the next album. I've written the majority of it. We'll fit the recording around our availability and that of Tony Barber and look to get it out next year.

Coming soon is a new video of "Kelly's Gone Insane" which we will use to try some digital marketing experiments. All part of getting the name out there.

Where can people go to hear your music or purchase the wonderful Little Big Head album?

If people want a signed cd direct they can email me on duncan@littlebighead.co.uk. Otherwise it's at places like Amazon, Spotify and all the usual download places.

To see all the fabulous Duncan Reid and The Big Heads videos, go to their YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/duncanreid91

Follow Duncan and the band on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/DuncanReidTheBigHeads?ref=hl

Visit Duncan Reid and The Big Heads official website!

http://www.little-big-head.com

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