We caught up with Alan (guitar and lead vocalist) from Radio Generation...
WHO ARE YOU?!
WE PLAY NEW WAVE COVERS WITH A COUPLE OF COUNTRY CLASSICS THROWN IN FOR GOOD MEASURE
WHERE DID IT ALL BEGIN?!
I STARTED PLAYING GUITAR AND BASS WHEN I WAS 13, A LONG LONG TIME AGO. I’VE CHOPPED AND CHANGED BETWEEN THE BASS AND LEAD GUITAR QUITE A BIT OVER THE YEARS BUT HAVE SETTLED ON THE 6 STRING FOR A WHILE AS IT GIVES ME MORE OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW OFF.
WE ARE ALL ORIGINALLY FROM CHINNOR IN OXFORDSHIRE AND WE GOT TOGETHER IN 2015. MYSELF AND PETE - BASS AND BVs - HAD BOTH BEEN IN A COUPLE OF BANDS TOGETHER IN THE EARLY 80’S AND MARK - GUITAR - AND RAY - DRUMS AND BVs - HAD ALSO BEEN IN THE THEIR OWN BAND TOGETHER AT THE SAME TIME IN THE SAME VILLAGE. WE WERE KINDA RIVALS.
WE WERE ASKED TO PERFORM AT A GIG IN 2015 COMPLETELY UNREHEARSED AND SOME OF US NOT HAVING SEEN THE OTHERS FOR OVER 30 YEARS!
THE GIG WAS BRILLIANT AND WE DECIDED TO FORM A BAND ON THE SPOT.
HAVE YOU PLAYED THE CROOKED CROW?
YEP, WE PLAYED THE CROW BAR JUST BEFORE LOCKDOWN AND ALSO WHEN THE RESTRICTIONS WERE IN PLACE.
THE CROW BAR IS AN AMAZING VENUE, WE LOVE THAT IT IS A MUSIC VENUE RATHER THAN A PUB THAT ALSO HAS MUSIC. IT MEANS THAT THE PUNTERS ARE THERE FOR THE MUSIC AND NOT SKY SPORTS ETC. IT'S ALSO THE ONLY VENUE WHERE WE HAVE BEEN ASKED TO TURN IT UP! THE STAFF TOO ARE FUCKING GLORIOUS.
THE FIRST TIME WE PLAYED WE WERE ABLE TO PLAY OUR FULL ELECTRIC SET WHICH WENT DOWN A TREAT. WHEN LOCKDOWN FIRST HAPPENED WE QUICKLY REALISED THAT WE WOULD HAVE TO ADAPT IF WE WERE TO GET ANY GIGS AND WE COMPLETELY OVERHAULED OUR MATERIAL SO WE COULD PLAY ACOUSTIC STYLEE.
IT WORKED AND LOE, THE HEAVEN’S PARTED AND WE PLAYED SOCIALLY DISTANCED GIGS.
STRIPPING THE SONGS BACK SO WE COUD PLAY THEM ACOUSTICALLY WAS A REALLY INTERESTING EXERCISE AND HAS MADE US PLAY BETTER. YOU CAN’T HIDE BEHIND A WALL OF NOISE AND ANY ERRORS STICK OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB, NOT THAT WE MAKE ANY OF COURSE…….
HOWS THE LOCKDOWN BEEN?
LOCKDOWN HAS BEEN SHIT BUT IT HAS BEEN FOR ALL OF US. I THINK IT HAS SHOWN US ALL HOW IMPORTANT LIVE MUSIC IS AND THAT CONNECTION YOU GET FROM BEING AT A REALLY GREAT GIG.
UNFORTUNATELY I THINK A LOT OF PUBS THAT HOSTED LIVE MUSIC WON’T REOPEN
AND IF THEY DO, MUSIC WON’T BE TOP OF THEIR AGENDA. I THINK GRASS ROOTS VENUES LIKE THE CROOKED CROW BAR WILL FLOURISH, I THINK WE WILL ALL BE DESPERATE TO HEAR A LOUD LIVE BAND AGAIN WHERE YOU CAN HAVE A DRINK AND THROW SOME SHAPES - EVEN WAVE YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR LIKE YOU JUST DON’T CARE - WE ALL NEED IT.
MAYBE THINGS WILL GO A BIT MORE UNDERGROUND, I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR ANOTHER PUNK ROCK SINCE ‘77 AND MAYBE THIS IS THE TIME THE THOUGHT OF A WORLD WITHOUT LIVE MUSIC IS UNBEARABLE.
THE JUICY BITS..!
OUR FAVE SONG CHANGES EVERYTIME WE PLAY BUT A PRETTY CONSISTENT ONE IS ‘I WANT YOU TO WANT ME’ BY CHEAP TRICK.
‘I WANNA BE YOUR DOG’ ALWAYS GOES DOWN WELL AT THE CC BAR AND ‘TEENAGE KICKS’ GOES DOWN WELL ANYWHERE.
I WOULD LOVE TO COVER THE ‘MINDER’ THEME TUNE BY DENNIS WATERMAN, MAYBE WE WILL ONE DAY!
WE HAVE NEVER DONE A BAD GIG BUT AS A PUNTER I AM GETTING INCREASINGLY FRUSTRATED WITH TWATS FILMING AN ENTIRE GIG ON THEIR PHONE - BE THERE FOR THE MOMENT YOU PRICK, RATHER THAN SHARING IT WITH YOUR PATHETIC ‘FRIENDS’ ON FACEBUM.
MY FAVOURITE JOKE: Daddy balloon looks at Baby balloon and says “Son, it’s time you slept in your own bed, your getting to be a big boy now. ” Baby balloon pleads with Mummy & Daddy balloon but they insist that he sleeps in his own bed, they even take Baby balloon shopping and get him his perfect bed. So Baby balloon tries to get off to sleep in his
own bed, but he cannot sleep and lays awake. Once he is sure Mummy and Daddy balloon are asleep, Baby balloon sneaks in to Mummy and Daddy balloons bed, but he can’t fit in…
He releases a bit of air from Mummy balloon and tries to fit in, but that does not work. So he releases a bit of air from Daddy balloon and that still does not work….. So he releases a bit of air from himself, and fits snugly in between Mummy and Daddy balloon. He wakes up in the morning to find Mummy and Daddy balloon both very angry. Daddy balloon says to baby balloon ” We are really very disappointed with you Son – You have let your Mother down, you have let your Father down, and worst of all, you have let yourself down”
I DON’T REALLY WANT TO PUNCH ANY SINGERS IN THE FACE BUT I WOULD GIVE LAURENCE FOX A DAMN GOOD KICKING.
WE WOULD HAVE LOVED TO HAVE PLAYED AT CBGBs IN THE 70’S, BUT, HEY, WE STILL GOT THE CROW BAR!
WHO WOULD WIN IN A FIGHT - A WOTSIT OR A WHEAT CRUNCHIE?
WHATS THE FUTURE HOLD?
MORE GIGS
DEVELOPE THE ACOUSTIC SET
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WRITE A MUSICAL BASED ON THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WEE JIMMY CRANKY
MORE GIGS
WORLD DOMINATION.
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