Issue-47-May-2015

M - I'm half way through transcribing the diaries presently,
the next book will cover January '90 to summer '94, that's the
plan at least. This batch of diaries are far more detailed than
the last lot, I think I was writing much of it at the time with
intention to publish it at a later date, so it's gonna have a
different feel to the first book. This second book also details
the decline of the band in '94, so it's not as bright and breezy
as the first. We'll see... there are a few positive angles to this
one that I didn't have a my disposal with the first book, for
instance by 1993 I was regularly writing short stories, I have
yet to cast my over them but hopefully they are good enough
to include.
(SLAP) S - Obviously you're playing a much-anticipated gig
at The Cube in Malvern with Erica Nockalls, so what can
people expect from your set? Will any Vent 414 or Hairy On
The Inside tracks slipped into the set?
M - You never know, there's a lot to get through these days,
I've got quite the body of work behind me
now. It's not unheard of for us
to play songs from either of
those albums, I guess you'll
have to wait and see.
S - You've also
released a handful of
albums with Erica
Nockalls, how does
that material go
down with the
Photography: Brian Appio
typical Wonder Stuff fan? Do they embrace the folkier material
and is the stripped down sound something you're more
interested in now?
M - I don't actually think those two albums that Erica and I
have done together are folky or any less rocking than Wonder
Stuff records. We play less and less of those songs these days,
mostly because we played them so much when we first
starting touring together and we now find ourselves looking
further back into the Wonder Stuff's catalogue or indeed
songs from the most recent TWS record, "Oh No...". They'll
come back around again I'm sure.
S - You're also performing at one of our local festivals -
Wychwood with The Wonder Stuff this year, is this part of a
tour and have you a busy festival season with the Stuffies?
M - We're playing that acoustically, with Dan Donnelly, our
new guitarist. It's a great festival Wychwood, we've always
had a good time there. We're not doing too much with the
band this year, other than recording, we're saving it up for an
action packed 2016, the year of our 30th anniversary. There
are full band gigs this year, but as I said, mostly we're saving
it up for '16.
S - During your busy schedule do you get the time to
checkout any other bands or new music and do you ever hear
your influence?
M - I never hear our influence, other people tell me they do,
but I never have. Perhaps because I'm too close to it and hear
what we do differently to other people. I'm always in the
market to hear new artists, but I have to say, as I get older it
becomes ever more difficult to engage with younger people's
music. I too often feel that newer artists ware their influences
too loudly on the sleeves, that always equates as laziness and
a lack of any actual character to me. It's hard to get past that.
S - Personally I think your diaries should become mandatory
reading for anyone who wants to chase a career in music, can
you leave us with one piece of advice for any budding
musicians, bands or performers out there?
M - Yeah, easy in this climate... don't bother, the World has
moved on. Rock'n'roll music needed to happen in the 50's,
there was a new generation that didn't live under the cloud
that the two world wars had battered previous generations
with, they had privilege and a fuck pile of energy: rock'n'roll
was the result. The same musical model was employed again
when a future generation didn't feel so privileged, Punk Rock
was born and reflected brilliantly how undermined a
generation of kids felt. Since then thousands of people like
me have been trading off those musical movements and to
be honest, I'm amazed it's lasted this long. Now young people
in the West have it easy, it seems to me that their biggest
problem is not having enough hours in the day to pursue their
leisure activities. Music is not central to youth culture
anymore and likely as not, never will be again. Sure, everyone
likes a tune to tap their toe to, but alongside everything else
on offer to us in the digital age... music has been relegated to
a side show, a side show to be plagiarised, trivialised and
ultimately, monetised. I didn't get into music to make money,
but making music has sustained me financially over the last
30 years and I'm very lucky to be able to say that. I fear with
the coming of the digital age, the age of the internet, whatever
you chose to call it, that isn't now, and will be less so in the
future, the case for a lot of people like me. It's a damn shame
is what it is, but I suspect the old idiom of 'don't give up your
day job' is more prophetic now that it ever was.
Thank you MIles, we look forward to seeing you and and
Erika in Malvern on the 22nd...
SLAP MAY 29