FIBM:
What's new, what have you been up to lately and what's in the future?
Rocky Shades: NEW IS THE PRESENT NEGOTIATIONS WITH FORMER WRATHCHILDREN MARC, EDDIE AND FIRST GUITARIST PHIL ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF A SORT OF REUNION. I JUST WANT TO GET UP ON STAGE AND PLAY THOSE CLASSIC SONGS OF OURS AGAIN, BUT THE OTHERS ACTUALLY WANT TO BE A WORKING BAND INTRODUCING NEW SONGS ETC.
I'M NOT AGAINST THE IDEA AS I HAVE WRITTEN IN MY SONG VAULT OVER A HUNDRED UNLOOKED AT SONGS, WHICH RANGE IN TYPE FROM THE ANTHEMIC CLAP YA HANDS, STOMP YOUR FEET STUFF, TO SOME CLASSIER CLEVER DEEP LYRIC STUFF. YOU MAY NOT THINK IT BUT I AM ACTUALLY A GOOD SONG WRITER, I CAN PUT THE ICING ON ANY MUSICAL CAKE, WHATEVER GENRE.
LATELY…..IS THE FACT THAT I AM TRAVELLING THE WORLD WITH MY BIRMINGHAM BLUES BROTHERS TRIBUTE BAND (WHY BLUES BROTHERS?....THE ORIGINALS WERE SO COOL...ITS MY ALL TIME FAVOURITE FILM NEXT TO ENTER THE DRAGON....ITS SO MUCH FUN, AND I NEEDED AN ALTERNATIVE MUSIC VENTURE FROM MY PREVIOUS VENTURES THAT I COULD USE AS A PLATFORM TO BE AS WILD AS I STILL AM).
THE FACT THAT AT PRESENT I DON'T REALY HAVE THE TIME TO INVEST IN A NEW ROCK BAND, MIGHT BE THE REASON THE OTHER WRATHCHILD MEMBERS HAVENT SECURED MY SERVICES.
MY PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS AT RELAUNCHING MY MUSIC CAREER RANGED FROM LEADING A 13 PIECE SOUL BAND WHICH I INHERITED ACCIDENTLY WHEN THEIR SINGER DUMPED THEM COZ HE WON HIS ROUND IN STARS IN YOUR EYES, (HE CAME NOWHERE IN THE FINAL, AND HAD TO GO BACK TO THEM WHEN I LEFT TO FORM THE BLUES BROTHERS),
TO THE OASIS VERSION OF A SOCIAL CLUB BAND (IM NOT TALKING TRIBUTE IM SAYING WE HAD REAL BAD ATTITUDE AND USED TO FRIGHTEN THE TYPE OF AUDIENCES THAT CAME TO THE CLUBS).
WE WERE REALLY GOOD THOUGH.
THE FUTURE IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS I JUST DON'T DANCE WITH,
IF I KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN THE FUTURE I MAY HAVE SACKED OR SHOT SOME OF THE ASSHOLES WHO BROUGHT THE WRATHCHILD EMPIRE TO ITS KNEES, BEFORE IT WAS TOO LATE.
SO REGARDING THE FUTURE I JUST WAIT TO SEE WHAT IS AROUND THE CORNER, I KNOW IM OFF TO KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIA, AUSTRALIA, AND IM PRESENTLY IN TALKS WITH INDIA AND CHINA WITH THE BLUES BROTHERS, BUT ON THE ROCK FRONT I MAY HAVE TO PUT ANOTHER BAND TOGETHER IF I CANT GET WHAT I WANT FROM THE WRATHCHILDREN.
LANCE HAS CHANGED HIS MUSIC TASTE TO THE POINT THAT I CANT EVER SEE HIM PLAYING OUR OLD STUFF AGAIN…..SAD BUT UNFORTUNATELY TRUE.
FIBM:
Tell us about how Wrathchild formed. What year? How did the band meet? Etc.
Rocky Shades: WRATHCHILD STARTED WITH AN AD IN THE EVENING MAIL IN 1980
MY WIFE WHO WAS ONLY MY GIRLFRIEND BACK THEN FOUND AN AD ASKING FOR A GOOD LOOKING, TALL, OVER THE TOP FRONTMAN( WELL TWO OUT OF THREE AINT BAD), TO JOIN A BAND WITH A RECORDING CONTRACT IN THE WINGS, MUST HAVE OWN TRANSPORT.
THE BAND CONSISTED OF "MARC (STAN) ANGEL, PHIL (TIGER) VOLKINS, BRIAN (THUNDERBURST) PARRY AND WERE THE REMNANTS OF A BAND CALLED "SINNER" WHO HAD JUST DONE OK IN A LOCAL BATTLE OF THE BANDS COMPETITION.
MY WIFE SAID THAT THEY WERE STATIONED IN A PLACE CALLED EVESHAM, I THOUGHT THE ONLY THING PEOPLE DID IN EVESHAM WAS GO FISHING, SO AFTER MUCH PERSUASION FROM MY OLD LADY I RANG THE NUMBER.....THIS IS HOW IT WENT....YOU HAVE TO IMAGINE THAT MY PIECES ARE SPOKEN AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT...
MARC...HELLO
ROCKY... I WANT TO AUDITION FOR YOUR BAND, IM CURRENTLY IN A BAND THAT'S DOING OK AT THE MOMENT BUT THEY ARE NOT HEADING IN THE DIRECTION THAT I WANT TO HEAD IN.
I HAVENT GOT MY OWN TRANSPORT WHICH MAY PUT YOU OFF BUT DON'TLET IT COZ IF YOU LET ME GO WITHOUT SEEING WHAT I CAN DO YOU WILL REGRET IT I PROMISE, AS I AM ONE OF THE BEST FRONTMEN IN THE MIDLANDS IF NOT THE UK.
NOW MARC AT THIS POINT LATER TOLD ME THAT HE WAS THINKING WHO THE FUCK IS THIS ASSHOLE…AND HOW CAN I GET RID OF HIM.
MARC.... ER....ARE YOU TALL?
ROCKY.... NOT REALLY 5FT 9" BUT IVE GOT A TALL PERSONALITY, AND
LARGER THAN LIFE CHARISMA.
MARC...ARE YOU BLONDE? HAVE YOU GOT SPIKEY HAIR?
ROCKY....NO BUT IF THAT IS A PROBLEM I VISIT THE CHEMISTS
REGULARLY (SAID SARCASTICALLY) SO I CAN DYE IT AS IT
MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE TO THE MUSIC.
MARC.... ARE YOU GOOD LOOKING?
ROCKY.....IVE HAD NO COMPLAINTS UP TO NOW, I HAVE SEVERAL REALLY
GOOD LOOKING GIRLFRIENDS SO I PRESUME I MUST BE SOME
KIND OF A BABE MAGNET AS IM NOT RICH.
AT THIS POINT MARC NOW TURNS TO HIS GUITARIST PHIL AND SAYS WE HAVE GOT A RIGHT BIGHEADED TWAT ON THE LINE, LETS GIVE HIM AN AUDITION AND PUT HIM IN HIS PLACE.
WE THEN ACTUALLY HAD A CONVERSATION ABOUT LIKES AND DISLIKES IN MUSIC AND ABOUT WHAT THEY FORSORE THEIR MUSIC TO BE AND IT SOUNDED OK.
TO CUT AN EVEN LONGER STORY SHORT, WE MET UP AT ONE OF THEIR FRIENDS HOUSES IN PERSHORE JUST OUTSIDE OF EVESHAM, THEY PLAYED ME THE DEMO TAPE OF THE BAND "SINNER" AND SAID CAN YOU SING THE OPENING SONG?
IT WAS SEVERAL KEYS TOO HIGH SO AFTER REARRANGING THE MUSIC KEY (A THING I WAS FOREVER DOING IN WRATHCHILD) WE SET ABOUT DOING THE SONG.....I BLEW THEM AWAY WITH MY SHEER VOCAL POWER AS I WAS TRAINED BY A PROFESSIONAL OPERA SINGER, BUT THEY BLEW ME AWAY WITH THEIR STYLE FINESSE AND GOOD SONGS, AND THEY WERE RIGHT THEY WERE DAMN GOOD LOOKING BASTARDS.
WHEN I JOINED THE BAND IN OCTOBER 1980 I LOOKED LIKE FRANK MARINO OF MAHOGANY RUSH, AFTER ONE MONTHS REHEARSAL AND A COUPLE OF GIGS AT EVESHAM PUBLIC HALL IN NOVEMBER 1980 AND SEVERAL VISITS TO PHILS ESTE LAUDER MAKE-UP BOX, THE NEW WRATHCHILD WAS BORN.
I THEN SPENT THE NEXT YEAR OR TWO BY TRIAL AND ERROR LEARNING HOW TO APPLY MAKE UP AND IN THE FINISH KNEW MORE ABOUT IT THAN MOST GIRLS I KNEW. WE WENT FROM THE EARLY ALICE MEETS MARILYN MANSON LOOK TO THE POISONESQUE FLUFFY LOOK IN FOUR YEARS.
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