features

Paul Warren from Monkey Boy - 2nd September 2001 How's things with Monkey Boy at the moment? Things with Monkey Boy are going great at the moment. Moving very fast, tours, album coming out, quite a bit of press. Being kicked out of my house so I won't have anywhere to live when we return from touring.... but yeah, all is cool. Skippy wanted me to ask you.... what time did you get out of bed today?! er.........about 11am. I know, far too early, eh? Are you happy with your debut album, 'Tales Of A Travelling Circus'? Why should we all rush out and buy it? Very, very happy! It's the best thing we have ever done. I've had problems with the EP's (as I'm sure a few of you out there have too). They were recorded and mixed badly (mainly our fault), they were played badly (our fault again) and most of the songs I don't think are any good (not our fault, I blame my English teacher). The album has a few re-recorded versions of the songs we do like from the EP's as well as some great new ones. It's all gold my friend. Punch me if I'm wrong, but to me you've never quite captured the energy of your live shows on CD - have you done that with this album? You are 100% right there, yeah I think we have. It sounds like we do live, that's for sure. It's hard to judge the album ourselves after spending so much time recording and mixing and all the anal nit picking we do, so we sent copies to friends we know will give us honest feedback. It has all been good. I think we got the sucker this time! You've never really been a 'metal' band, yet that's where you seem to get much of your coverage from - are / were you surprised by this? Yeah, because we didn't think we would get any press because we are too heavy to be indie for the NME, Melody Maker etc., and not heavy enough to be metal or hardcore. So yeah, surprising. That's the best thing about being in Monkey Boy, we are always being surprised at the support so many have given us. The fanzines have been the best. If any out there want to send us copies of their zine for us to give out on our 2 month tour then please get in touch. How did the Rock Sound cover CD track come about? The first time they got in touch and asked us if they could use a track which was nice. The second time (out now kids! features Fish For A Quid from the debut album as well as a great track from touring pals - Zen Guerrilla) we got via our new press agent. To really get a bit bigger and make a living out of this lark we had to get a press agent. Do you feel part of any scene or community? You don't really 'fit' anywhere. Or is the main point that you play your own music, regardless of anything else going on around you? We do feel part of a scene in a way, but it's mainly a group of bands who are friends and all play different kinds of music. Guess we are part of the underground scene if we are part of any. You've attracted loads of different comparisons and weird attempts at describing what you sound like, but do you recognise yourselves in any of the reviews? For what it's worth I thought the Melody Maker quote was pretty much the closest. (For those not paying attention, they said "...kind of like something slammed together in a garage and then sent clanking out into the world totally ill-equipped to deal with modernity but still armed with enough saw-tooth do-whats and oojimaflips to see off way more state-of-the-art competition") Yeah I like that one too. A lot of the time when we read our press, even when it's good, I feel it doesn't describe us right and it sounds like a different band to me. We play music based around Blues and Punk, that's all it is, some get so caught up in making it sound COOL and WACKY that they forget we are just a band. A band I hope people think makes good music. Some go over the top with the 'MAD INSANE BASSPLAYERS, MAD INSANE DRUMMING VOCALIST, MAD, INSANE, MAD, INSANE, THEY'RE MAD YOU KNOW!' We are not mad at all. What's mad about it? "Oh my word, they decided not to use a guitar and used a bass instead, that's mad!". I want us to be known as fun rather than mad. How was the concept of Monkey Boy born? It's not exactly an obvious format or sound, and it's definitely not contrived. Thank you. 1995. Mark played bass, I played drums. Our friend Disco Stu also played bass. Didn't go out to be different, all three of us just wanted to be in a band. Believe me it really didn't work when we started it. It took us a good 2 years to get to grips with it, but at the time, and even to this day, we are just caught up in the idea of making music and don't care for all the other bullshit. Do you find that people either fall in love with you or simply just don't get it - I don't see much middle ground with you? That's it, it is a love or hate thing. Which is good I think, because at least we know where we stand. I don't think people 'don't get it', they just don't like it, which is fair enough. What made Brother James stand out from the other millions of would-be Monkey Boys? Just his real love for our music and music in general. I wouldn't say he was into the same music as we are but it was his passion for loud music and the fact he is top bassplayer with a sense of humour. Are you pleased with how the band has progressed, both in terms of the music and the amount of people who know about you? Yeah I think so. I didn't want people to hear our stuff until we felt we really had something good, but unfortunately it didn't work like that. I've stated many times in interviews how much I dislike our early recordings. If I had my way I'd burn the lot and let the album be the starting point for Monkey Boy fans, but hey, what can you do? We learnt a lot of things from putting out sub-standard EP's, which made us a better band in the long run. Would you ever consider signing to a major label? Or is Lockjaw just about right for you - a good size, well-run and you've always got on well with TTN? I know it's all very punk rock to say "no fuck that" but I don't really know unless it was offered. If it was a good deal then YEAH, but it is never a good deal, so NO. Lockjaw is great, why would we want to sign to a major? We get to go on tour, put out records and make a bit of cash. We make more money than new bands signed to a major anyway, and it's all done on our terms. But let's be honest, we wouldn't be touched by a major even if we wanted to. Bands wanting to be signed should check out our links section which has a good Albini rant as well as a few others that should put anyone off wanting to be part of a major label. There are so many people out there doing their own record labels now that you don't have to be on a major to get your records out to people. It's egos and wannabe rockstars (same thing?), or kids that are fed so much shit by the press, that want to be on majors. That's a bit sad because the music doesn't seem to be the Number 1 issue. Too many of our friends have been through the major label bollocks and some of the stories are beyond belief. Example: I won't name names, but things like Labels saying "You can be the next ASH and we will be 100% behind you, or you can carry on doing the punk rock thing and we will do what we can" - what they didn't mention was they were not going to put out any of their records but still put them into studios to record to make it look like they were doing something until the contract ended. Or other friends of ours who were doing their own thing and were taken to see a SOULFLY show and told "We want you to sound like that". Or labels paying £10,000 on a week-long tour (which of course the band were paying for in the long run) of the same venues that we play, which we can get down to £1000 or a lot under in costs. Or our friends who were told that the label was getting in a guitarist to write stuff for the band instead of the current one they had. Oh yeah, and the one they had could play it live but they wanted a different one on the record.....great, cheers! I could go on all day! It's such bullshit! You've said that you could never get mainstream success, cos you're too leftfield and not business-oriented enough, but how far do you think you could go with your particular music? We could go far enough to make a living out of it, I'm sure of that. I'm quite happy with the way it is. We never set out with a plan. We just want to record and tour, so anything else is a real bonus. Are you looking forward to the tour with your old mates Tribute & This Girl? Yeah, can't wait. The LOCKJAW TOUR! (details via skippyscage gig guide) The best thing about being on Lockjaw is that all the bands are great and are such cool people. We all hang out when we can, not just when we tour together. Monkey Boy seem to be one of the hardest touring bands in England, how do you survive and make ends meet? We all do a bit of work between tours, be it agency work or whatever, and when we tour we make a bit of money which goes back into the band. It's hard, very hard, but we manage it. This is one of the many jobs in this country where you are not thought of as a professional. We get paid to provide a service to clubs and venues, but it is not seen of like that here. You go to Europe you don't get that shit! Do you still love the slog of being on the road for most of the year, having to really do it all by yourself? Like that message you put on the skippyscage messageboard, asking for floor-space in Scotland - that's a crazy thing to have to do at all, especially so close to the gigs actually happening! Love it! You get a real sense of achievement, if you work hard then it will pay off. Different town, sometimes different country everyday. New people, new places. I really do love being in this band. For all the bad things there are a 100 great things about it. Yeah it gets rough sometimes, but I've had more great experiences while being in a band for 6 years than I have my whole life. By the way, if anyone can put us up in Glasgow please get in touch! (via nonotthevanagain@monkeyboy.co.uk) Do you ever fear that your songs and musical ability will be over-shadowed by your comedy antics? What musical ability? I thought we were just about comedy antics! No not really, because the music comes first. All the live comedy stuff just comes about from not wanting to play the same thing the same way every night. When you have been touring a few weeks it gets a bit dull (to me anyway) if it is always the same, so we try to do something spontaneous every now and then, sometimes it works and sometimes we end up looking like twats - but hey, it's all rock and roll until someone loses an eye! What's your record number of false endings to a song? Have you ever managed to catch out any of your bass-players (Mark, Stu, James, Sam & Crawford)? Not sure of the record number but get on the phone to Roy Castle! The number is 666 I think (add +44 if calling from the UK). Yeah, caught them lots of times - even when they catch me I manage to make it look like I got them! We don't do it as much now. I think it's good the first few times people see us, but I would get bored with a band that did it every single time. The next set on tour won't be as disjointed, but who knows what we will come up with after a few nights. What's the best heckle you've had? Good heckles are rare, I can't remember a heckler that said something worthwhile. The best hecklers contribute something to the set, something you can work with. The worst ones shout drunken rubbish and piss everyone off. At the Krystal Math All-Dayer in Aldershot, you said that you and Khyam from Ursa were having some kind of affair. Would you like to tell us more? No that's between me and loverboy.....nah only joking, just a joke at the time. Thought it would be a funny joke, was it funny, was it a joke? It's a joke right...............so it was a joke then........yeah. Of course, we'll believe you. Thousands wouldn't. So... what bands would you have playing a gig for your last night on earth? Now you are talking Steven! But it would be an alldayer.... Captain Beefheart, John Lee Hooker (RIP - Ed), NoMeansNo, Fugazi, The Jesus Lizard, Presidents of the United States of America, Monkey Boy. What is next in the plan for world domination? Lunch Do you have anything else you'd like to say? Yes please. Thank you, it was fun. Feel free to correct my grammar. Anyone interested don't forget our album is out on September 10th and it is better than the EP's and is a good record if I don't say so myself.......this is not a trick! **You will now click towards Monkey Boy, where you will find images, full mp3's of the band, interviews, reviews, biog, releases, flyers, hate mail, messageboard, mail-order, live dates, info on the Aquatic Ape Theory, monkey boy stereo, loads of links to bands and fanzines. Go on then, get to it.... Steve and of course on this site at Monkey Boy