04-12-2009Live reviews - The Wildhearts
Five star review from the Manchester Club Academy
Following on from our Sonisphere get together, it was great to catch up with the guys on the penultimate date of their massively successful UK tour to generally shoot the shit and see how things have been going for them as they ripped up the country promoting their latest masterclass instalment in heavy poprock, the simply glowing 'Chutzpah'.
It's all smiles in the dressing room from Scott and CJ as they tell me just how good the reaction to the new album has been and just how overwhelming the crowd responses have been for them on the tour. It really does seem as though the demons from their past have been well exorcised and the band are moving through their well oiled gears with military precision. The future is bright, the future is The Wildhearts.
Club Academy is sold out which speaks volumes. It's a more intimate venue than where they usually play in Manchester, having frequently laid waste to the bigger Debating Hall over the years, however it's a minor point which is very quickly forgotten when the rabid hordes fill up the venue to capacity and the sound and energy levels go into the red. Whether the guys stride out on a massive festival stage in front of a sea of thousands or present themselves to a fraction of that in a basement venue like Club Academy, it matters not. They are as versatile as they are entertaining and with intimacy actually suiting The Wildhearts to the max, it makes tonight's show all the more special.
On a polite tour manager's demand, the lights finally go out and a looped vocoder intro tape signals the arrival of Ginger, Scott, CJ, and Ritch . The noise levels go interstellar when the band literally explode into Chutzpah opener 'The Jackson Whites' and we are off.
After much debate via their website regarding requested setlistings, it was decided that the shows would be divided into a game of 2 halves. Chutzpah would be played in its entirety, a brief breather would follow and then a 'best of' set would finish us off and as the night progressed it proved a wise suggestion.
The album on its own is a winner so when you add the added dimension of the live setting with the ferocious delivery of the band coupled the reciprocated energy of the vociferous audience it makes an exceptional formula for success and each song really takes on its own identity. Whether it be the audience togetherness borne from the likes of 'Plastic Jebus' or 'Mazel Tov Cocktail' with their massive football singalong choruses, the more subtle successes of the Sorry led 'The Only One', the sheer heaviness of 'Tim Smith' (with Ginger wishing good health to everyone) and thrashtastic precision battering from the title track or the instant crowd favourite and classic in the making 'You Took The Sunshine from New York', Chutzpah as a whole delivers on every level imaginable. Glistening with well earned sweat, our 4 horsemen of the rock apocalypse then slip offstage to ready themselves for the second half.
Cue the short break, a breather and much earned swig of whatever was being held at the time, Ginger and the boys file back onstage to commence the second half. Ginger's stage banter is wonderfully on form as per usual and he then engages his worshipping crowd with what songs they want to hear, to which he goes down his set list with a 'yep, that's on it' or 'nope that's not' and we are soon into the Mondo Akimbo A Go Go ep's 'Nothing Ever Changes...But The Shoes' and the crowd quickly endangers Gingers' vocals of being lost in the mix.
The second set is as equally electric as the first; how can it be anything else when the likes of - in no particular order - personal fave '29x the Pain', 'Sick Of Drugs', banter on drinking etiquette in Japan ("I've been to Japan 5 times and it was only on the last time that someone told me ching ching means penis in Japanese so PENIS!" �" as he raises his glass to us all)' Red Light, Green Light', more banter, this time on football to which Ginger says "everyone goes on about its not the winning but the taking part which is a load bollocks, its all about who's got the coolest strip",)assault the senses with energy, passion and precision. We also have Earth vs classics 'Suckerpunch', TV Tan and '...Headfuck'launched at us after Ginger plays barman looking after his punters with bottles of water given out to the seriously overheating front rows. The tunes and h2o are all gleefully lapped up by the baying throng before the ultimate pogo-on-crystalmeth song 'Caffeine Bomb' and the grand finale party closer of 'I Wanna Go Where The People Go'finish off the night in fine style. Whats not to like ????
Tonight, the band buzzed off the crowd who buzzed off the band who buzzed off the crowd etc etc and it was a truly awesome spectacle to witness first hand. You can guarantee in times to come, most WHs fans will bend the truth and say they were there for this 2009 tour, making the crowds for each show 5,000 plus in 1,000 capacity venues - I really do believe this is now the band's time and we all want/need to be a part of it.
Guys, you were awesome. End
01-12-2009Album review - The Wildhearts
Chtuzpah! - Could they emulate the success of the last self titled release?
Let's put some things into perspective here. There are definitive moments in history that are forever etched in the annals of time. In the 11th century, King Canute believed he was the most powerful being in the world and thought he could turn back the tide. In the 18th Century, Edmond Halley's name was put to the revisiting comet that comes round every 75ish years. We have the Pyramids in Egypt from up to 2150BC in our world history, the birth of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece around 776BC, Christmas from the birth of Christ, an ex First World War trenches soldier and house painter named Adolf Hitler leading the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, JFK's assassination in 1963 and the Twin Towers atrocity in 2001.Then, at the end of August 2009, we were given "Chutzpah".
Right from the off, opener 'The Jackson Whites' pulls out a Tyson from out of the Blue and it did indeed meetwith a sickening crunch. Heaviness, catchiness, hooks, extreme singability - if that's even a word - all in 3 mins 26 seconds. What a band, what a song !!! What becomes immediately apparent from the first millisecond is that Chutzpah is a 5 man presentation, Jacob Hansen's production succeeding in making the downtuned Wildhearts sound absolutely stadium rock MASSIVE. Ginger's songwriting/'storytelling to music' talents have been well documented so I'll go down a different line. Whereas in the past the Wildhearts used to be, for want of a better description, Ginger and his pharmaceutical backing band of problem children, the band (finally in the 'truest' sense of the word) now sound like the Encyclopedia Wildheartia Britannica of music genres. Take track 2, Plastic Jebus for instance. Elements of Nine Inch Nails anyone ?When was the last time you heard a Wildhearts tune being described like that ? Begging for the live environment, the chorus of "All we are, are broken pieces" is ridiculously huge with Scott's backing vocals really shining through, which leads nicely into the slower, more passionate Sorry led first (download only) single 'The Only One'. Ive heard this tune being called The Wildhearts' take on Emo which I've got to be honest doesn't sit well with me at all, however if every song Scott pens for them is this soulfelt and catchy, bring it on, large portion.
'John Of Violence' is a more traditional WHs sounding outing with a strong driving opening beat, further breaking down into the slower more deliberate melodic harmony chorus with Ginger and CJ's vocal marriage again working wonders together, further reinforced again by that man Sorry. 'You are proof that not all women are insane' screams next single, all 2 mins 49 of it. With its marvelous line of 'She'll drink most guys under the bar, then not get sick in the back of the car'coupled with its woah woah oh oh, its a straight up live classic, plus I cant wait to see how the boys would finish the song in the live environment with its Frere Jacque quirky nursery rhyme-esque conclusion that actually had my 14 month old little girl laughing her head off and clapping wildly !!Sounds odd yes but believe me, somehow they make it work !!'Tim Smith' brings with it The WHs own version of a Royal Artillery fire support mission such is the sheer heaviness of itsinitial delivery, Ginger's vocal lines moving effortlessly between a hardcore style bark (has he been affected by NYHC with New York, the Mother, adopting another wandering son perhaps?) and his more trademark velvet tones as the song's structure dictates its requirements.
'Low Energy Vortex' comes wafting in on the tails of a warm and welcoming ivory tinkling piece which progresses into a harmony not a million miles away from PHUQ's 'In Lilly's Garden' and it can only be described as beautiful. Again, the production really shines brightly on this track, or should that read it makes the track shine brightly...whatever, it's the cat's tits and I defy anyone outside Arkham Asylum to say otherwise. As we sadly get closer to the end of the album (already??) with track 8, it instantly became one of the (many) personal album highlights the album produced. Its one of those songs from 'Him' that gives a brief insight into his life that just simply hits the button, nails it, pops the cork etc. However you want to say it, it just does it. 'You took the sunshine from New York' oozes from the speakers with Ginger and CJ's vocals sounding as warm and silky smooth as the voice of the immortal Cadbury's caramel Bunny with a solid metronomic heartbeat underneath them courtesy of Ritch who, it must be said, plays an absolute blinder throughout the whole opus. He's outnumbered, but never outgunned.
The swaggering, anthemic 'woah oh' band chanting 'Mazel Tov Coctail' gets 'a whole lot of shakes going on' during Chutzpah's penultimate 3 mins with a guitar intro that Keith Richards would tip his hat to. The song gives me the feeling of finally being out of time on the final night of a brilliant holiday that you don't want to end, your flight home is in 3 hours and you've only just managed to get the attention of that girl you fell in lust with on day one round the pool and the barman has just shouted time.
Final track Chutzpah starts with a vocoder vocal (yes they do still exist!!) of Ginger singing "Its hard to relax when the city's alive "and bang!! We are into a shit kicking WH riff and boy does the downtuning of the axes add some beef to this crushingly heavypiece of music. Its got to be up there with some of the heaviest riffing the boys have pulled out and would sit comfortablyon'07s s/t white album. Yet with the yin comes the yang and the gently fading outro is simply a breathtaking piece of music that showcases the multifaceted capabilities/talents of the band. I could listen to that piece for ever and while Im a fully paid up member of the School of Heavy, I found myself longing to hear more of it.
And that my friends is that. Chutzpah. All 30 odd minutes of it. Ive overloaded myself with superlatives to use in summary so
I'll keep it simple. Yes its short. Yes its different. Extremely good different and ultimatley, yes its been worth the wait.
Absolutely 100% worth the wait. And then some.
For those of you that will appreciate it,it will grow on you like the Elephant Man's lumpy bits grew on him. For those that wont, leave it alone. You're not worthy anyway ................
See ya in the pit
Scott G Sept 09
13-12-2008Interview - The Wildhearts
This weekend saw the guys win the 'Spirit of Independence' award for Kerrang Magazine and the culmination of an ethic that has seen them never stray too far from the public's imaginations, no matter what drug addled state's the band may have operated within. Their troubles are on offer for all, no hidden pretences or attempt to hide that the band operated for years by a mutual habit of heroin and the subsequent situations that this lead to. No matter what state of mind the band may have been in as I work my way through the back catalogue there are gems to be found on each and every album and I'm thoroughly enjoying systematically pawing over each one meticulously.
We have had a few features on the band in the past couple of month's so we thought it only fitting that the band adorned our mock cover and it was a real honour that myself a relative newbie too The Wildhearts and a lifelong fan Scott had the opportunity to sit down and spend half an hour with the guys before their hugely entertaining set in front of a packed out audience on the Bohemia stage of the Sonisphere festival at 12.45 in the morning no less. This show highlighted the love that is felt for the band by all the fans who hold Ginger and Co and the music they have given us firmly in their hearts and the band respond by being bowled over by the reception they receive, sucking it in and regurgitating it in the form of their classic hits to entertain the masses. With new album Chutzpah! Earning rave reviews and set to equal the impressive status that was achieved on the release of the last album we wanted to find out a few things about the guys, in person.
Scott: Hi guys, many thanks for taking the time to have a bit of a chat, I'm sure you've had a long day, has it been everything you were expecting?
Ginger: We haven't even had time to think; we've just been talking...
Scott Sorry: We haven't even had time to see any bands...
Ginger: It can be a bit daunting festivals, you know you're waiting forever to get on stage but we're literally going to stop talking then get on stage, so it's a good way of doing it and it keeps you away from just hitting the bar.
Scott: I was going to say, it keeps you out of trouble doesn't it. So, on an ideal day, who would you have liked to be out there seeing?
CJ: I didn't know he was playing but Airbourne I wouldn't mind, I still haven't heard it and everyone says they're just like DC and Anthrax, I have a little soft spot for Anthrax.
Ginger: Thin Lizzy obviously aren't playing because they've just split up. Mastodon, I'd like to see Mastodon
CJ: Some of these bands I've never heard of. Coheed, I don't know what that is.
Ginger: Fucked up I'd like to see but they're not on there
Scott Sorry: Zebra Head?
Scott: You missed an excellent Airborne set, up to now, they're the band you have to “do”, they do sound a lot like DC but they're more direct. Have you seen them before?
Ginger: Yeh they're great, I love them
Scott: So Scott how are you integrating yourself into the band? You've been around for a while now and you're still the newest face?
Scott Sorry: I don't feel that new anymore
Scott: Are you keeping the guys in check?
CJ: Yeh he does that!
Scott Sorry: Do I?
CJ: He wakes us up in the morning, he feeds us.
Scott: So this is a bit of a new experience for me, I mentioned before I've seen you a couple of times going back to the Honeycraft days. You've perverted my mind since 1992 with all kinds of shit you've been putting out, I can't keep track sometimes but I'm Scott and so glad to finally meet you. So what have you got in store tonight? Any surprises?
Ginger: We don't really do surprises, we do what we do. The show for us is more like the audience...I use the word community because when I used to go and see the Ramones, it used to feel like a community. You felt like you were part of your people, and that's what The Wildhearts audience is a bit like or I hope that's what The Wildhearts audience is a bit like. So that's really the show, them singing along, them getting behind it, and we just go on and do what we do. There's no bells and whistles to do what we do really.
Scott: Well like I said, 1992 was the first I heard of you, I've been following you all the way through in various guises. I've not come across you're thirteen album yet!
CJ: You can get it, it's out there...
Scott: Yeh it's out there but I've just been backed up with all kinds of stuff...the new album? Give us a little bit of a feel to the new album. How's it going to compare to the stuff we already know?
CJ: Well I love it, I got the master version this week. On purpose I waited until everything was mastered. Well we were listening to test mixes just to get used to it...but I absolutely love it, really love it! From once I put it on, I'm really glad I'm in this band
Scott: It's been a long road
CJ: Yeh it's good, it's a nice piece of music
Scott: Would you say it's a bit harder to get into compared to some of your earlier stuff or older stuff? Still sticking by that now you've had chance to live with it for a bit?
Ginger: I think if you expect it to sound like the old stuff, it's going to take some time to get into because it doesn't sound like the old stuff. It's got a lot of different elements. Obviously it's heavy and it's catchy but...for example, the only bad review we've had of the album so far was from a guy who was disappointed that it didn't sound like the older stuff. The good reviews have said that they're glad we're taking some chances and trying to push the band in a direction where we haven't really been before and I think, I hope, people want us to do that. Regurgitating the same old stuff time and time again...
Scott: It's got a shelf life?
Ginger: We don't want to be known as people who kept doing the same old thing. I like to think people are prepared for us to sound a little bit different...
CJ: It's very clean and precise, I mean it just sounds posh to me, it just sounds good...
Ginger: The good thing is is since doing that interview, I read a few reviews of the album and I'm delighted to say that they are all relieved that it's going somewhere different, so it's all good
Scott: That's got to be a good feeling?
Ginger: Well its great, you know you don't know, you do an album and you're like there's a few more keyboards on there than you know what to do with, there's a few more industrial bits that you didn't know...
Scott Sorry: When they were putting more keyboards on it me and CJ would leave the room like no, no,no,no, no! then when we heard it with the keyboards down, the keyboards were totally predominant, it was just not the record I wanted it to be, but then hearing how it was supposed to sound after it was mastered and hearing how the keyboards kind of complimented the guitars, and the guitars were made louder...
Scott: They weren't battling against each other?
Scott Sorry: Yeh, it was just making it more dynamic. It sounds better than any other record I've ever been a part of. The parts I thought I was going to hate turned out to be the parts I love the most.
Scott: It's going to be good. So what's with the Sinatra's? How is that going to fit into what's going on with the cycle of this music?
Scott Sorry: Erh, as fate would have it, I have two records I've played on it, that are coming out or that have come out within three months of each other so I got to find some sort of balance between the two, to promote one and the other and also be a good father and with home life and make sure that doesn't fall apart and make sure this doesn't. I don't know, I have no idea how it's going to play into it
Ginger: That's why we've got a manager
Scott Sorry: Yeh, yeh...it takes all the confusion out of my hands, I'm like you just tell me where to be and I'll be there
Scott: How does that fit in with you guys? I know you're a busy guy and have your own things going, it only seems like Ritch who's a bit left out?
CJ: Actually his Grand Theft Audio are getting together...they're doing a gig, I think it's in November...live at the NEC
Ginger: The thing is, everyone does what they need to do outside of the group and some people don't really want to do much outside the group then that's exactly what they want to do. Everyone knows how much work we need to do with this band and it's all about what you would do with five minutes off. Would you sit down and play with your kids? Would you get frustrated and want to write a song? Would you want to go and do a new album? We've all got different ways of dealing with our time off
Scott: And that will help you focus with the time when you all get together again?
Ginger: Well it does, it just makes everything seem so much more important. When you have time with your family it's really important you spend that time and intensify that time with your family and when your with the band you really have to do what you do with the group. You can't be messing around at any point in your life and I like that. That was the trouble before in the good old days is that we would do nothing but the Wildhearts and it was like, I've got some time off, I'm going to score some heroin.
CJ: I think we start touring this album in September and we're going to be going to new territories and new countries we've never played in before so it's all good and we like touring as well.
Scott: So you can do it straight down the line without doing each other's heads in?
Ginger: Well yeh that's age and it's experience...we've done the friction thing and it just makes for an unhappy tour
Scott: I've seen you in various different guises, and from the stage, that hour or whatever time you've got on stage, nothing else seems to matter, it's just like focus and you're on. I mean Danny used to be puking and all kinds...but you've all moved on from that so there's no more puking on stage?
CJ: No, no, no
Ginger: No we're there to do a job, we're there to entertain the people who have been good enough to buy a ticket to come and see us
Scott Sorry: The puking is from over exertion, not over indulgence
Ginger: You know we're so fortunate that people still come to see us and to insult them is just like shitting in your own bed isn't it
Paul: Can I ask you something, I've only just started getting into you through Scott and he's given me all your back catalogue and the past two I found really accessible, so do you find with your old and new albums you open and break into even more new fan bases?
CJ: With this album, it's coming out in a lot of different countries...so hopefully we're going to break into lots of different territories and gain more fans. Every band wants to be the biggest band in the world
Paul: I found the last two a lot easier to get into and now I've got into them I'm starting to work my way back through and you find the gems throughout the older stuff and it's a really good experience. I had the pleasure of seeing you at Guilfest and your solo thing, I thought that was really enjoyable!
Ginger: Yeh that was good
CJ: How was Lemmy
Ginger: He kinda just floated in on a dark cloud and then floated away!
Scott: They said the sound was poor...which is a sin really
Paul: It was during the day, the sound was really wavey and you had to get right to the front but sometimes you've got to work with that haven't you?
Ginger: Yeh it's festivals isn't it
Paul: At least you're in a tent tonight so you don't have to worry about that
Paul: Have you been in there yet?
Ginger: We haven't done anything apart from talk
Scott: I've just seen Coheed and Cambria in there and if it's anything like them, you've got it made already. I know what to expect but he's going to have his eyes open.
CJ: Is it the first time you've seen us?
Paul: Yeah as the Wildhearts it will be
CJ: You better stay awake then
Paul: After this I'm going to go back, get a few beers down my neck and get the party going for the rest of the night. This is the last of the working day...
Ginger: That's the best spirit to get into when we play
Scott: It's just smiles all round and off we go. How do you cope with all the people wanting to get you drunk?
Ginger: It's alright, there was a lot of people offering to buy me drinks and I was turning them down and now they don't offer to buy me drinks and I'm drinking again
Scott: Life's a circle
Paul: That's one problem about being in a band, once people find out you like to drink, you like to party, they're quite happy to facilitate you doing that as well?
Ginger: Well that was always the thing when we were on tour, we would be playing a different place every night. For them it was the night, it was a big night but for us it was just the next day and it was just kinda, fucking, every night was the big night. Everyone else kept themselves together and we would just have the biggest hangover in the world and we'd be drinking until midnight just to stop feeling like shit and it was like come on! And so the next day you'd wake up and feel like shit again and you know you're playing Glasgow so you know you've got to pull it all out the bag again. It was almost like you were just getting through the set so you could go and compete with the alcoholics. It's a bit different now
Scott: That's what Ozzy used to say though isn't it. Ozzy used to say he couldn't wait to get off stage so he could go and tear the arse out of the night.
Ginger: Well we all get it at the end of the day. We all get smart. You get smart or you die
Scott: Well that's the final curtain call that isn't it. I had all kinds of things in my head to ask you and now that you're here...
Paul: What can we expect set wise tonight? Is it mainly the new album or because you guys are headlining, so being the final act, are you going to give the party atmosphere and have a good run through?
CJ: I don't even know what the set is
Ginger: I don't think no-one knows
CJ: The manager has the set list
Paul: But it's a good mix of everything?
CJ: Yeh yeh, it's what people want to hear. We're on at 12.15 at night...forty five minutes....
Ginger: No ballads
Paul: Straight up rockers
Scott: Forty five minutes isn't a long time for a headlining slot...there's a comedy set then a silent disco
CJ: Yeh that's ridiculous, what is that?
Scott: You pay ten pound and put them in your ears and it's silent but everyone is giving it loads...it's a bit of a strange concept. Guys I know you've had a busy day..fucking hell that's a big watch...(Clocking CJ's wrist bling)
CJ: I can't see very well haha
