Boots, Braces and Break Ups...

Line-ups of bands are forever changing, for loads of different reasons. It?s sad when a member of your band ? often a best friend ? leaves, but it can also open up a whole new range of possibilities.

One such band is local Plymouth punk trio, Whole Truth. Recently, their vocalist Ralph has left, and the role of singing is now down to bassist and guitarist, Ed Hall and Charles Hinchliffe.

I caught up with bassist Ed ? cool-as blue Mohawk and dressed in full punk attire; patches and all ? and asked him about the future of Whole Truth?

What made Ralph decide to leave, and was it an amicable split?

It was his body odour. He was choking on it (laughs). Nah, not really. It was his parents; they felt that he was dropping behind on his schoolwork. But we think they are probably a little bit ashamed because they are teachers at his school, and they wouldn?t want their colleagues to think their son was anything other than what they were. Yeah, it was a very amicable split, he had to go, he'd signed a contract for his parents (seriously an actual contract) and we were sad. Quite excited though, about being a 3 piece!

Is there any chance he?ll re-join the band eventually?

Probably not. He said he will re-join in the summer, but to be honest that?s not gonna be good enough, it will be really hard to change what me and Charles will have developed by then especially because we r turning out new songs weekly. Although if he?s at gigs and Charles forgets his lines again (HAHAHAHA) he's welcome to come on for a couple of old numbers.

How are you and guitarist Charles coping with vocals?

On our new CD ("Boots and Braces") I sound crap, but on our first gig without Ralph I sounded fine and so did Charles, but he did forget most of his lyrics, although I fucked up the only bass intro in our whole set!!! It was funny cos we didn?t have a set list, so Charles turned to me after that song and said "What now dickhead?"

Are you usually that disorganised??

Um? no, but we hadn?t had a single practice in the 2 weeks since Ralph left, and Charles turned up quite late. We just need some time to get back on form. Shouldn?t be too long.

So what should we be expecting from Whole Truth in the future, aside from ?Boots and Braces??

More fuck ups! We've got some good songs coming out at the moment; we've had one in the pipeline all written just not practiced and Charles and me chat on the phone writing lyrics. There?s gonna be sum cracking songs coming out, cos both Charles and me are pretty good at writing.

Modest, aren't you?

(Grins) Not at all.

So when is "Boots and Braces" out and what can we expect from it?

I've gotta pay Charles to buy some CD's then we'll start mass producing it and there will be 90 copies available between the 3 of us. It will probably be out within the next week or so, but definitely by our next gig. It's up to us what we charge so....... (he winks and gives a sleazy look, I'm getting quite alarmed?) It mainly consists of our set though, but u can hear what we are singing! And we dedicated it to Ralph, so he knows he's still loved.

Finally, since you got your Mohawk, it's been said that you kind of resemble a cockatoo. Any comment?

Really?? I've always been told I resemble a cock, so I'm flattered, thank you!!

Written by Luce