sound of the suburbs

This is the first and only photo you'll get to see of me on this blog, the date it was I taken I'm not quite sure of, what I do know is it is from the first half of the nineties, and is of me doing my best Stevie Wonder impression during my radio show. And the reason for the photo? Being the resident English jock on the station I often got the job of interviewing touring bands, this included such names as Thom Yorke, Jarvis Cocker, Poison Ivy, Neil Hannon, Bret Anderson, Martin Carr, Pete Shelley, David Gedge, Nina Persson, Brian Molko, Sheryl Crow and the list continues...............Now if any of you have ever conducted an interview you will know full well that it's success depends on many different factors which are influenced by both parties for example an interviewer who does not know his subject matter or for that case does not have much sympathy for them, or the out right fan bordering on stalker both of these examples are a recipe for disaster. One must remember that touring bands are called upon to give interviews on numerous occasions everyday and will often be subjected to the same list of questions so when you are working for a small provincial radio station the motivation is not always 100%. Now one of the interviews that always stuck with me was that with Roddy Bottum, probably the best ever name for a gay keyboard player, from Faith No More who were due to play our humble 1000 person hall that night. Now I would not consider myself an expert on the group despite having played 'Epic' to death a few years earlier, I can remember that this was when record companies were still sending out vinyl and so much had our copy been played that it became unplayable ands so we bought a new copy, a hit! Like many others I was quite taken by their mix of rap and rock but my knowledge and interest really went no further. So I was not expecting much from the interview, chance was I also had a hangover, the result was an hour or so spent in the company of a highly entertaining man who had to be dragged from the interview by the tour manager for the soundcheck, while I was off to edit the interview. The gig was great it was was one of those where a band used to playing large venues plays in a small intimate hall and is sold out well in advance, which tends to lend itself to a very electric atmosphere, and I can assure you the evening was hot. The band disintegrated by the end of the decade but not before another hit with the live favorite 'Easy' which on disc was a rather turned out to be a rather straight cover of the Commodores old hit, still it does prove that rockers can be crooners.