As far as unstoppable events go, the rise and rise of INERTIA is as interesting a tale as any...
It all began in 1994 after Reza's band split up. Reza got a record deal within a few weeks and advertised in the NME for band members. He recruited Ed, who was in his previous band, and Alexys joined last year. That's not quite all there is to it, as Reza reveals after further probing...
You were signed very, very quickly. Did you already have a lot of material already written and was it just a matter of whacking it onto tape?
"No," he laughs, "Well, it was in between.
We had a few songs written and we used a couple of the old Eugenics songs
and that was it. We got a deal."
"From a big fat German called Alfred,"
giggles Alexys.
"Which we have regretted for the last
four years," interjects the still-chortling Reza,"But it was good for the
beginning."
"And they had some really good bands
on the label," continues Alexys, "..Pierrepoint, er.. were Suicide Commando
on CCP?
"No."
"Oh, well there were a lot, anyway."
Inertia are seated around a table, at the King's Head in Fulham, minutes before they are due to play. The conversation is littered with laughter, good-humoured bitchiness and off-the-record scandals, none of which, they will be relieved to hear, will be reprinted. For now, anyway...
The German label brought them out for a festival, and they went down a storm. After four years of poorly-attended London gigs, the prospect of 1000 crazed German fans screaming to see them was one Inertia relished. This was followed by visits to Switzerland and Belgium, with equal success.
Frustrated by the long waiting period
between recording and releasing material, Inertia have turned their attention
to playing live gigs abroad. They went to the States, and heard their
own records played in all the best US industrial clubs. "The [German
label boss] never wanted to invest," says Ed, "And he told us the US was
a bad market."
"He had a wife he had to buy from the
Ukraine, so he was real stingy with his money," confides Alexys.
"But America was a brilliant place.
Withing a couple of months we were offered a support with Das Ich and we
had a pretty good audience."
How did Alexyis appear on the scene?
"You were working as a waitress in a
coctail bar" deadpans Ed.
"Yeah," she agrees euphemistically.
Blushing slightly.
So then you came back to England, and have been gigging your little socks off ever since...?
"We went on tour in November in Belgium
and played a bunch of festivals," begins Reza.
"There was a huge response to us there."
continues Alexys. We were told that nobody had heard of us, same
thing with America, we were being told that no-one would come to the gigs.
To the point where the promoter wouldn't even tell us
the name of the venue, because he didn't want us to show up. But
we got there and Das Ich said "Well, if Inertia don't play we don't play"
and we got up and had an ovation at the end. So the promoter came
up to us afterward and said "Okay, you're playing the next three shows"
and that was it, like he had to swallow his pride and fuck off after that.
The size of the venues was really good and we had a really good time."
Inertia are preparing for the release of a remix album, featuring mixes by Leechwoman, Das Ich, Spahn Ranch and Ed's side-project Ethos. "I'm really pleased with the way it came out, because it's not all industrial and it's not all goth or whatever, everyone's interpreted it their own way," enthuses Reza.
Side projects are an important feature in the inertia clan, including a largely theoretical outing with Marc Heal and Raymond Watts ("Raymond's really interesting," says Alexys, "He has all these ideas and philosophies about music and stuff") and Alexys' work with Hexedene and her own new electronic project. Alexys composes her own tracks, and Reza lays down the basic tracks, leaving her to "rearrange" them. Jonathan Hexedene sends her instrumentals on cassettes for her to write lyrics to. Ed's side project is in fact his main project - Ethos, a techno act full of "short, plain but effective tracks". He builds material largely from scratch rather than using all samples.
Dayjobs for the band include law and a sale's rep for a whisky firm, but by the odd standards of some band we've spoken to, that's fairly normal. Their relationship as a band has developed in the time they've been together, as has, by all acounts their sound. Still, that doesn't prevent some interband bickering that is par for the course when your living in each other's pockets.
"...Only when Mark [guitarist] is around.
One minute he wants to sound like Republica, the next he wants to sound
like the Bay City Rollers" laughs Ed.
"Or look like the Bay City Rollers,"
grins Alexys, "And sound like the Prodigy."
The band collapse into peals of laughter.
"Mark is our part-time guitarist," explains
Alexys, "And sometimes it's difficult because he's done a lot of real paying
band work, whilst we just take what we can get. He's done a lot of
indie work."
"We're the equivalent of doing a paper
round."
"So, he's a very good musician, but
it can be hard to work with him."
Alexys, a self-confessed Spice Girls
fan wants to do a side-project with Geri - on the condition that she gets
to sleep with her. So what does the future hold for Inertia?
Alexys is first with the reply:
"It holds this pint glass. Empty."
Expect imminent releases from Inertia, who are almost constantly recording and releasing new material. Oh, and a Spice Girls Side Project or two...
