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Interview by Shane Richmond for Livewire
945.
Venue: The Waterfront, Norwich.
Participants: Shane Richmond, Willie and Pete.
SR: You've been getting a lot of press since 'Sitting at Home' are you wary of the dangers of being hyped and becoming victims of the build them up knock them down tradition?
Willie: We can't avoid it. What we can do is we can make sure that we're nothing to do with it, for example on the subject of the Wildhearts connection it's imperative to us that we are never seen to be saying "here we are, we've done this before." That's why 'King of Misery' was a limited edition single. Unfortunately what's been unavoidable is the rock press just have not let that go and it's very tiresome for the rest of us that are in the group because it doesn't actually represent anything to do with what we're doing at the moment.
Pete: Can I just point out that I'd never heard of the Wildhearts before I joined Honeycrack? I didn't know who they were.
SR: And they often present you as being ex Wildhearts as well.
Willie: I never actually joined. Ginger asked for a long time but it was one of those things where I'd been sessioning for four years in order to get out of some contractual difficulties that I'd been in up until 1990. To be perfectly honest the only reason that I decided that no, I wasn't going to join the Wildhearts full time was because I was bored shitless playing keyboards at the back. I'd played guitar with a few people here and there but I missed being at the front of the stage so much. Pure ego folks, but there you go. We've kind of reconciled ourselves to the fact that the only way we're going to get rid of that [constant repetition of Wildhearts connection] is when we're of an equal stature to the Wildhearts and we actually stand in our own right and sell records in our own right. For the time being it's a point of reference that we find very dull, we understand why people are doing it - because that's where CJ came from. If we were a brand new band I don't think the Wildhearts would even have been mentioned, people would be talking about Cheap Trick, Squeeze, the Beatles, maybe a bit of the Clash, the energy of the seventies stuff. I don't think the Wildhearts thing would have been mentioned, but because there is a Wildhearts history it gives a point of reference that every journalist can start from and that most rock punters know about. They know who the Wildhearts are so they've got an idea in their heads before they start. On the one hand that was tremendously useful you might say because it got us attention in the first place which, let's face it, we can't underestimate. We were getting press before we formed a fucking band!
SR: Did that aid you in getting a record deal?
Willie: Aided it? That's what go it. They were queuing up to sign us, it was pathetic. We could be the shittiest band in the world, and somebody out there might think that we are, I don't know, I don't actually give a toss, think what you like. The point is how fucking shitty this music industry is. Anybody that's in a band knows this to be the truth, you can send endless cassettes in, endless cassettes to these faceless A&R types in offices in London. Forget it. They come back unlistened to, they won't touch it. Why did we get listened to? Not 'cos our tape was fucking great, of course not, it's because we had an ex Wildheart in the band and they all fucking froth around you. If I sound bitter it's because I fucking am. This is a shitty, shitty industry. I've gone on record saying this plenty of times before; it's got fuck all to do with talent, it's got fuck all to do with ability, it's got everything to do with luck, plain and simple good luck, good fortune. A little talent helps you get so far, a lot of money helps you get so far but these are the small ingredients, the large ingredient is luck and timing because it's a bullshit industry.
SR: They do like to pigeon-hole bands as well.
Willie: Every band gets pigeon-holed though, don't they? And whereas we all moan that it's not fair we shouldn't be pigeon-holed we should be allowed to do what we want to do, some of us get on with doing what it is we want to do, other bands say that they want to be experimental but in fact make the same record endless times, but we all should recognise the fact that when we start out we need press as much as press need us. The only way that anybody can actually describe anything, if it's you talking to a mate about a concert that you've seen the night before you give him references if he's never heard this band, never seen this band you go, 'well they're sort of like this, they're sort of like that and that gives you an impression, that's how you start to form a judgement. The written word is exactly the same of course, they need to put references in.
SR: You are such a hard band to describe, because there are so many different aspects to your sound that I think a lot of journalists just find it easier to refer to the Wildhearts connection.
Pete: The easiest way out is just to say "a bit of this, bit of that, a bit like the Wildhearts, ex members why not?"
Willie: The ones I actually like, though again one shouldn't pay too much attention, is when people do start saying "actually they're not rock at all they're more like Squeeze." I fucking love that, that means much more to me than any number of other references because that is true, that's what we do. What we do is play pop music, the vehicle that we tend to launch this stuff on is through three guitars so, if that automatically is the criteria for calling it a rock band then that's what we have to fucking live with. Some people will look at three guitars and go "heavy metal band," "hard rock band" it doesn't matter what sound you fucking make. To me a band lives or dies by the strength of its songs and that's what Honeycrack is it's a song band and we've got a bit of reggae in there and we've got a bit of hardcore riffing in there, we've got plenty of bubblegum pop in there. The next album maybe there'll be some funk in there, something avant garde. The point is that as long as it's song based and the songs are relevant, they're done with integrity and honesty and mean something to someone then that's all that I can be happy with and assuming that Honeycrack continues on that road.... well, it's the only way.
SR: Despite being tagged as a rock band in the main, you did get on the NME Bratbus as well, didn't you?
Pete: We got destroyed for it though, didn't we, in the review. "Let's get them on" so they can have a good lashing at us.
SR: The phrase used was pub rock. Does that piss you off?
Willie: The thing is it shouldn't piss us off. What does it mean? The guy didn't like it and that was the way that he chose to describe it, it's the same thing, he could have written an endless list of references but at the NME they tend to want to write something memorable. It's as if they're all auditioning for the Guardian in their heads somewhere. It's designed for pseudo-intellectuals, you're supposed to read this bumph about the way people had their hair in the venue that night and somehow translate that as a reading of what the band were like.
Pete: It's very esoteric. Would I like to go to the gig or not, you just simply don't know at the end of the review. I think apparently he saw us once before and gave us a good slagging then as well.
Willie: It makes for more entertaining reading though. I really can't condemn it, if it makes him happy so what?
SR: They did the same thing to Terrorvision as well.
Pete: Did they? The bizarre thing is that you have to be invited to be on it, by NME. Where's the sense in that?
SR: If you had the choice between influencing a million bands or selling a million records what would it be?
Pete: I'd have no problem going for the million sales. I know Willie will have a big problem with this particular quandary....
Willie: It's a very interesting question. Not from a credibility point of view but from an ego point of view that [influencing a million bands] appeals enormously - to think that other people that were concerned with songwriting would think "yeah, that's a good songwriter." That's just pure ego, but yes that would mean more to me than selling a million records, definitely.
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