01-03-2008, 10:11 PM
1. How did you discover rock/metal music?
I was listening to the radio one day and I heard "All Apologies" by Nirvana. I can still feel the tingle that went down my spine...I had NO idea music could sound like that (in a GOOD way!). I can remember sitting on the floor of my bedroom almost crying at how good it was. So I got hugely into Nirvana...Pearl Jam, REM...then met a boy who liked the Wildhearts and Metallica...and it all just escalated from there really!
2. If you listened to rock music at school did you publicly display it?
Yes. By the time I was 15 I LOVED rock music but I went to a conservative Church of England school...in the school year of about 200 students I guess there were 8 or so of us who found each other - and then the only link was Metallica whoa couple of us liked. Many of the others were Indie kids - but we stuck together - safety in numbers! We were, of course, geeks and freaks. A label I'm quite proud of now - being that has got me where I am! I remember now the boys in my class laughing at me because I had pictures of James Hetfield and Ginger - and whatever else I had cut out of Kerrang and Raw - all over my folders. All the other girls had things in pastels and teddy bears. Of course I was a grunge kid so mostly for non-uniform days I was the same jeans and a huge baggy jumper (with the obligatory baggy Kurt Cobain t shirt) pretty much all the time. I only threw the big baggy jumper away last year (and even then it was under protest...but the other half insisted a jumper that was older than I was probably needed to go...with hindsight he was probably right - it didn't exactly smell that great. But I wouldn't admit that to him!).
3. What was your most memorable concert(any band) and why?
There's so many...I could tell you a million tales about AntiProduct or The Wildhearts and associated bands...but probably a couple of Devin Townsend gigs at Rock City before anyone knew who he was and there was barely anyone there, so the gigs were amazingly intimate. Also, Motorhead's 30th Anniversary show at Hammersmith was on my...24th birthday - was memorable for me personally and certainly the loudest thing I've ever experienced in my life.
4. Musically speaking, if you could go back in time to one particular year, what year would it be and why?
Any year that AC/DC played Donington. The one band on my list of "must see bands" I fear I will now never see
5. What's your fave food?
Fish, chips and gravy, with two slices of buttered bread on the side, and a pot of tea.
6. What's your fave TV shows or film?
TV...I will watch anything - I'm a complete TV junkie - BUT I'm always doing something else whilst watching - playing guitar, on the computer, writing lyrics etc etc - even reading. I particularly love...Red Dwarf, Dinnerladies, CSI Miami (although it's not as good as it used to be), The Sweeney, Frasier - and snooker and darts. Films...it doesn't NECESSARILY have to have Johnny Depp in it, although I love the Pirates trilogy and Sleepy Hollow. The Birdcage (remake with Robin Williams). Broken Flowers. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels...
7. what kind of books do you like to read?
I'll read anything - I'd much rather be reading the back of a cereal packet than be bored. I like Terry Pratchett, the Maigret series, and I still love Roald Dahl. Non fiction wise I'm trying to learn more about the world - so at the moment it's the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery. I want to learn something about poetry this year, so also, I hope, poetry...
8. Aside from GMT what are your other fave bands?
Of note...The Wildhearts. AntiProduct. LSD. Devin Townsend. Metallica. Iron Maiden. Motorhead. The Who. AC/DC. Jane's Addiction. The Ramones. Miles Davis. Rammstein. Nine Inch Nails. Nirvana. Marilyn Manson. Strapping Young Lad...plus...
9. How many rock shows/concerts/gigs have you attended?
I have NO idea. I followed AntiProduct around the country for the best part of 3 years. I've probably seen them 50-60 times. (And that's a conservative estimate). Aside from that I've lived in Nottingham and London, so I've never exactly been starved of live music! Maybe 300?
10. What's your claim to fame?
A chap called Bernie Torme once visited a pub I was running (he came with another chap called Rob Grain) to be interviewed. Very friendly they were too
(I'd like to say ...and thus GMT was born...well, nearly!)
Playing with Alex Kane in the Ramonas for Clive Aid, and again with Alex for New Years eve, when I didn't know his new songs, and improvised an 'acoustic' drum part with a towel, a microphone and a tambourine.
...I was also on BBC Choir of the Year when I was 15
I was listening to the radio one day and I heard "All Apologies" by Nirvana. I can still feel the tingle that went down my spine...I had NO idea music could sound like that (in a GOOD way!). I can remember sitting on the floor of my bedroom almost crying at how good it was. So I got hugely into Nirvana...Pearl Jam, REM...then met a boy who liked the Wildhearts and Metallica...and it all just escalated from there really!
2. If you listened to rock music at school did you publicly display it?
Yes. By the time I was 15 I LOVED rock music but I went to a conservative Church of England school...in the school year of about 200 students I guess there were 8 or so of us who found each other - and then the only link was Metallica whoa couple of us liked. Many of the others were Indie kids - but we stuck together - safety in numbers! We were, of course, geeks and freaks. A label I'm quite proud of now - being that has got me where I am! I remember now the boys in my class laughing at me because I had pictures of James Hetfield and Ginger - and whatever else I had cut out of Kerrang and Raw - all over my folders. All the other girls had things in pastels and teddy bears. Of course I was a grunge kid so mostly for non-uniform days I was the same jeans and a huge baggy jumper (with the obligatory baggy Kurt Cobain t shirt) pretty much all the time. I only threw the big baggy jumper away last year (and even then it was under protest...but the other half insisted a jumper that was older than I was probably needed to go...with hindsight he was probably right - it didn't exactly smell that great. But I wouldn't admit that to him!).
3. What was your most memorable concert(any band) and why?
There's so many...I could tell you a million tales about AntiProduct or The Wildhearts and associated bands...but probably a couple of Devin Townsend gigs at Rock City before anyone knew who he was and there was barely anyone there, so the gigs were amazingly intimate. Also, Motorhead's 30th Anniversary show at Hammersmith was on my...24th birthday - was memorable for me personally and certainly the loudest thing I've ever experienced in my life.
4. Musically speaking, if you could go back in time to one particular year, what year would it be and why?
Any year that AC/DC played Donington. The one band on my list of "must see bands" I fear I will now never see
5. What's your fave food?
Fish, chips and gravy, with two slices of buttered bread on the side, and a pot of tea.
6. What's your fave TV shows or film?
TV...I will watch anything - I'm a complete TV junkie - BUT I'm always doing something else whilst watching - playing guitar, on the computer, writing lyrics etc etc - even reading. I particularly love...Red Dwarf, Dinnerladies, CSI Miami (although it's not as good as it used to be), The Sweeney, Frasier - and snooker and darts. Films...it doesn't NECESSARILY have to have Johnny Depp in it, although I love the Pirates trilogy and Sleepy Hollow. The Birdcage (remake with Robin Williams). Broken Flowers. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels...
7. what kind of books do you like to read?
I'll read anything - I'd much rather be reading the back of a cereal packet than be bored. I like Terry Pratchett, the Maigret series, and I still love Roald Dahl. Non fiction wise I'm trying to learn more about the world - so at the moment it's the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery. I want to learn something about poetry this year, so also, I hope, poetry...
8. Aside from GMT what are your other fave bands?
Of note...The Wildhearts. AntiProduct. LSD. Devin Townsend. Metallica. Iron Maiden. Motorhead. The Who. AC/DC. Jane's Addiction. The Ramones. Miles Davis. Rammstein. Nine Inch Nails. Nirvana. Marilyn Manson. Strapping Young Lad...plus...
9. How many rock shows/concerts/gigs have you attended?
I have NO idea. I followed AntiProduct around the country for the best part of 3 years. I've probably seen them 50-60 times. (And that's a conservative estimate). Aside from that I've lived in Nottingham and London, so I've never exactly been starved of live music! Maybe 300?
10. What's your claim to fame?
A chap called Bernie Torme once visited a pub I was running (he came with another chap called Rob Grain) to be interviewed. Very friendly they were too
(I'd like to say ...and thus GMT was born...well, nearly!)Playing with Alex Kane in the Ramonas for Clive Aid, and again with Alex for New Years eve, when I didn't know his new songs, and improvised an 'acoustic' drum part with a towel, a microphone and a tambourine.
...I was also on BBC Choir of the Year when I was 15