The Crunch have been
steadily building a solid reputation since the release of their first album,
‘Busy Making Noise’ back in 2013. Initially, people may have been curious to
see them just because they included members of The Clash, Cockney Rejects and
Sham 69 in their ranks, but it quickly became apparent that this was very much
a band in its’ own right, with its’ own character and approach. Frontman Sulo
Karlsson is a prolific and precise song-writer, while the other band members
have plenty of room to bring their own talents to the table. Particularly live,
they’re a great rock’n’roll band, much in the style of the more credible side
of early-Seventies glam-rock (Mott The Hoople, Heavy Metal Kids, Mick Ronson
etc.)
Recently in London to play a gig at the Borderline and launch their second album, ‘Brand New Brand’, I took the opportunity to set-up an interview. Initially, they had been intending to play an instore set at the Oi Oi shop in Camden a few days after the Borderline show and I was due to speak to them afterwards. Unfortunately, on the day itself, unforeseen circumstances caused it to be cancelled at short notice, resulting in a multitude of messages bouncing backwards and forwards to ensure that the interview still went ahead. I was still expecting to meet them up in Camden, but then I get a call from the band themselves. It turns out that Sulo and Idde are staying in Loughton, so when they learn that I work in Stratford, they suggest that they meet me there as it’s in the right direction for them. Now, after all these years, this really is a first – a band coming to me to do an interview ! But it gets even more peculiar when it turns out that Mick Geggus, who wasn’t originally going to be involved in the interview, is also in the vicinity (East End, y’see…) and we all meet up by the station before strolling up to the Picturehouse Bar, where we make use of their comfortable facilities to do the interview. It also means that Mick is going to take part in two consecutive FNL interviews, as a part of two different bands…
Recently in London to play a gig at the Borderline and launch their second album, ‘Brand New Brand’, I took the opportunity to set-up an interview. Initially, they had been intending to play an instore set at the Oi Oi shop in Camden a few days after the Borderline show and I was due to speak to them afterwards. Unfortunately, on the day itself, unforeseen circumstances caused it to be cancelled at short notice, resulting in a multitude of messages bouncing backwards and forwards to ensure that the interview still went ahead. I was still expecting to meet them up in Camden, but then I get a call from the band themselves. It turns out that Sulo and Idde are staying in Loughton, so when they learn that I work in Stratford, they suggest that they meet me there as it’s in the right direction for them. Now, after all these years, this really is a first – a band coming to me to do an interview ! But it gets even more peculiar when it turns out that Mick Geggus, who wasn’t originally going to be involved in the interview, is also in the vicinity (East End, y’see…) and we all meet up by the station before strolling up to the Picturehouse Bar, where we make use of their comfortable facilities to do the interview. It also means that Mick is going to take part in two consecutive FNL interviews, as a part of two different bands…
Once we’ve all settled-down with appropriate
drinks, I start by asking Sulo about his previous band, Diamond Dogs. Athough
they made a name for themselves around Europe, not so many people seem familiar
with them in the UK,
so I wanted to find out some more about them…
Sulo : We actually played quite a few gigs in England, but not on any kind of punk scene. We were on a completely different circuit… we played three tours with Ian Hunter, with The Quireboys, the Georgia Satellites and even with the remaining members of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. We were mostly playing with bands from that kind of background, you know… British rock music from between 1970-75…
Diamond Dogs actually released a lot of albums over several decades, but although people who have been going to see The Crunch are often aware of them, not so many seem to be familiar with their music…
Mick : The audiences all know about Diamond Dogs when we play on the Continent, especially when we’ve played in Spain and Scandinavia…
Sulo : I think some of the people who come to see us in the UK know about Diamond Dogs, but a lot of them aren’t so familiar. But that’s a good thing, in a way, because we have different crowds. People in Spain come to see The Crunch because they know Diamond Dogs and that’s helped us to do quite well over there, so far. But I think, in general, people are looking at the different members in the band and thinking, I wonder what they’ll do together ? People can sometimes be very narrow-minded and try to put things into specific sections, like glam or punk or rock’n’roll, but I think The Crunch is much more than that.
Yeah, that’s the good thing… although each member obviously has their own style, there are also influences going back further and involving things that the individuals may not have really played before. Certainly things like Mott The Hoople can be heard in there, which is hardly what many people would expect from former members of Cockney Rejects or Sham 69…
Mick : Oh yeah, I’d definitely say so…
Sulo : I think Mott The Hoople are still very under-rated, compared with other acts from the Seventies. For me, ‘Roll Away The Stone’ was one of the best pop songs ever made… much better than ‘All The Young Dudes’. They were fantastic because they could mix great melodies with a harder edge…But they’re just one of the influences in The Crunch and I think that’s what makes it special. Instead of just sounding like things we’ve done before, we’re picking-up on influences that you probably wouldn’t expect.
Sulo : We actually played quite a few gigs in England, but not on any kind of punk scene. We were on a completely different circuit… we played three tours with Ian Hunter, with The Quireboys, the Georgia Satellites and even with the remaining members of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. We were mostly playing with bands from that kind of background, you know… British rock music from between 1970-75…
Diamond Dogs actually released a lot of albums over several decades, but although people who have been going to see The Crunch are often aware of them, not so many seem to be familiar with their music…
Mick : The audiences all know about Diamond Dogs when we play on the Continent, especially when we’ve played in Spain and Scandinavia…
Sulo : I think some of the people who come to see us in the UK know about Diamond Dogs, but a lot of them aren’t so familiar. But that’s a good thing, in a way, because we have different crowds. People in Spain come to see The Crunch because they know Diamond Dogs and that’s helped us to do quite well over there, so far. But I think, in general, people are looking at the different members in the band and thinking, I wonder what they’ll do together ? People can sometimes be very narrow-minded and try to put things into specific sections, like glam or punk or rock’n’roll, but I think The Crunch is much more than that.
Yeah, that’s the good thing… although each member obviously has their own style, there are also influences going back further and involving things that the individuals may not have really played before. Certainly things like Mott The Hoople can be heard in there, which is hardly what many people would expect from former members of Cockney Rejects or Sham 69…
Mick : Oh yeah, I’d definitely say so…
Sulo : I think Mott The Hoople are still very under-rated, compared with other acts from the Seventies. For me, ‘Roll Away The Stone’ was one of the best pop songs ever made… much better than ‘All The Young Dudes’. They were fantastic because they could mix great melodies with a harder edge…But they’re just one of the influences in The Crunch and I think that’s what makes it special. Instead of just sounding like things we’ve done before, we’re picking-up on influences that you probably wouldn’t expect.
The thing that brought you guys together,
initially, was a book being published in Sweden which featured chapters on
all of you. Of course, as it’s only been published in Swedish, so far, I doubt
if anyone has seen it here in the UK…
Sulo : Well, we are working on a translation, so hopefully it will eventually be available here. It’s actually a really funny book, the kind that people can enjoy even if they’re not into music, like the people who enjoyed ‘Fever Pitch’ even if they weren’t into football… Anyway, there was a launch party in Stockholm when it was published and Mick, Dave and Terry came over. There was a band playing, but later on we all jumped up and played a few songs together… Terry actually played his first Clash song since 1982 ! Afterwards, it was Dave who came up with the idea that maybe we could form a band together. Somehow, it all happened really quickly from there…
Mick : It just came together very organically.
Sulo : I’m always writing songs so I had plenty of material to put forward…
Mick : He’s very prolific, he’s writing a new song every ten seconds ! The idea was that we’d all meet up in London and try to record 3 or 4 songs, just to see how it went. But it quickly turned into 13 or 14 and suddenly we had enough for an album. But it was very easy and we all found out that Sulo was a great songwriter. The stuff he was giving us had everything that we liked. Idde came in, at first just to help out with the backing vocals, and it developed from there. There was just a really nice chemistry between us, no fuss and no hassle, so we all realised we had something here. I mean, I knew Dave from the old days, but I’d never met Terry, even though he grew up in Mile End, just along the road from me.
Sulo : But Terry knew Dave, as they’d played together in The Cherry Bombz… My main doubt was whether Terry would want to continue playing with us, as he really hadn’t been playing drums for 20 years. But I asked Dave what he thought, and he said, he thought Terry would be into it, so we asked him and he said the same thing… ‘Yes, I think so !’
Idde : It was funny when we had the Book Release party, because he was sitting behind the drumset as if he was thinking, ‘Well, let’s see… how do you play drums ?’ But then, the next moment, it was ‘one, two, three, four’ and he was straight off !
Mick : He shook the rust off quickly, and now we can’t stop him !
You were talking about the songs you first brought to the studio… had they all been written specifically for this band or were any of them a bit older ?
Sulo : No, they were all written with this band in mind. It was a kind of challenge, because I wanted to make an album that I would want to buy if I was a fan of these people. So I had to think, how would I want them to sound if they started playing together ? In the end, I think I wrote 22 songs and we recorded the ones that seemed to work the best. We recorded them over several sessions, three or four songs each time, which really gave us a chance to choose which songs we wanted to play and decide which ones worked best to complete the album.
Sulo : Well, we are working on a translation, so hopefully it will eventually be available here. It’s actually a really funny book, the kind that people can enjoy even if they’re not into music, like the people who enjoyed ‘Fever Pitch’ even if they weren’t into football… Anyway, there was a launch party in Stockholm when it was published and Mick, Dave and Terry came over. There was a band playing, but later on we all jumped up and played a few songs together… Terry actually played his first Clash song since 1982 ! Afterwards, it was Dave who came up with the idea that maybe we could form a band together. Somehow, it all happened really quickly from there…
Mick : It just came together very organically.
Sulo : I’m always writing songs so I had plenty of material to put forward…
Mick : He’s very prolific, he’s writing a new song every ten seconds ! The idea was that we’d all meet up in London and try to record 3 or 4 songs, just to see how it went. But it quickly turned into 13 or 14 and suddenly we had enough for an album. But it was very easy and we all found out that Sulo was a great songwriter. The stuff he was giving us had everything that we liked. Idde came in, at first just to help out with the backing vocals, and it developed from there. There was just a really nice chemistry between us, no fuss and no hassle, so we all realised we had something here. I mean, I knew Dave from the old days, but I’d never met Terry, even though he grew up in Mile End, just along the road from me.
Sulo : But Terry knew Dave, as they’d played together in The Cherry Bombz… My main doubt was whether Terry would want to continue playing with us, as he really hadn’t been playing drums for 20 years. But I asked Dave what he thought, and he said, he thought Terry would be into it, so we asked him and he said the same thing… ‘Yes, I think so !’
Idde : It was funny when we had the Book Release party, because he was sitting behind the drumset as if he was thinking, ‘Well, let’s see… how do you play drums ?’ But then, the next moment, it was ‘one, two, three, four’ and he was straight off !
Mick : He shook the rust off quickly, and now we can’t stop him !
You were talking about the songs you first brought to the studio… had they all been written specifically for this band or were any of them a bit older ?
Sulo : No, they were all written with this band in mind. It was a kind of challenge, because I wanted to make an album that I would want to buy if I was a fan of these people. So I had to think, how would I want them to sound if they started playing together ? In the end, I think I wrote 22 songs and we recorded the ones that seemed to work the best. We recorded them over several sessions, three or four songs each time, which really gave us a chance to choose which songs we wanted to play and decide which ones worked best to complete the album.
You recorded the first album before playing any of the songs live… did the
fact that most of you were unfamiliar with the material before going to the
studio cause any problems ?
Mick : Nah… nothing seemed awkward or difficult at all. It’s all been a walk in the park. Everyone was totally at ease with one another and we’ve all been in this game for a long time, so there were no surprises and no shocks. We can handle whatever comes and I’m sure we’ll carry on doing so.
At first, Idde was just helping out with backing vocals…
Sulo : Yeah, but then we decided it would be good to sing a duet on ‘Little Bit of Grace’…
Idde : I’d actually been playing in the band at the Book Launch, so I had been there from the start. When they did their second recording session, I came over to London just to add backing vocals but that ended up with the duet. Then they asked me to help out at their gigs, playing keyboards and singing, so that just continued until they asked me if I’d like to join the band full time.
Sulo : We’d already recorded four albums together, as a duo, in Sweden…
Idde : We’ve released four albums since 2010, which is really a lot. But as we were saying, he’s writing all the time, so there’s always a new song to work on.
Having a line-up that features members from other bands that are already well-known, do you think people have different expectations when they first hear about you ?
Mick : I don’t think so, because everyone in the band has got such a rich and varied back catalogue to their name. I mean, think of all the bands Dave has been in … not just Sham 69 but also Lords of the New Church and The Cherry Bombz. And Terry, most people think of The Clash, but he was also in Gen X, Cowboys International and even Black Sabbath for a while. The Rejects have covered every bloody style of music from Punk to Bluegrass and from Blues to Heavy Metal. Sulo and Idde have their own background, so really, this was always going to be one massive melting pot. I don’t think anyone should have had any pre-conceived notion of how it would sound.
Idde : Sulo might write the songs to begin with, but then everyone adds their own things to them.
Sulo : Yeah, it usually starts with just an acoustic demo without any definite arrangement, so there’s always plenty of space for everyone to add what they have. I’ve always thought that’s the way it should be with this band, and it made things even easier with the new album, as by that point I kinda knew how we would sound together.
Mick : Nah… nothing seemed awkward or difficult at all. It’s all been a walk in the park. Everyone was totally at ease with one another and we’ve all been in this game for a long time, so there were no surprises and no shocks. We can handle whatever comes and I’m sure we’ll carry on doing so.
At first, Idde was just helping out with backing vocals…
Sulo : Yeah, but then we decided it would be good to sing a duet on ‘Little Bit of Grace’…
Idde : I’d actually been playing in the band at the Book Launch, so I had been there from the start. When they did their second recording session, I came over to London just to add backing vocals but that ended up with the duet. Then they asked me to help out at their gigs, playing keyboards and singing, so that just continued until they asked me if I’d like to join the band full time.
Sulo : We’d already recorded four albums together, as a duo, in Sweden…
Idde : We’ve released four albums since 2010, which is really a lot. But as we were saying, he’s writing all the time, so there’s always a new song to work on.
Having a line-up that features members from other bands that are already well-known, do you think people have different expectations when they first hear about you ?
Mick : I don’t think so, because everyone in the band has got such a rich and varied back catalogue to their name. I mean, think of all the bands Dave has been in … not just Sham 69 but also Lords of the New Church and The Cherry Bombz. And Terry, most people think of The Clash, but he was also in Gen X, Cowboys International and even Black Sabbath for a while. The Rejects have covered every bloody style of music from Punk to Bluegrass and from Blues to Heavy Metal. Sulo and Idde have their own background, so really, this was always going to be one massive melting pot. I don’t think anyone should have had any pre-conceived notion of how it would sound.
Idde : Sulo might write the songs to begin with, but then everyone adds their own things to them.
Sulo : Yeah, it usually starts with just an acoustic demo without any definite arrangement, so there’s always plenty of space for everyone to add what they have. I’ve always thought that’s the way it should be with this band, and it made things even easier with the new album, as by that point I kinda knew how we would sound together.
Talking about some of the songs on the first
album, I was wondering whether some of the lyrics in ‘Yesterdays Boys &
Girls’ (‘rewrite the book, start listening…’) were referencing the book that
brought you all together ?
Sulo : No, I wasn’t thinking about that, although now you mention it, that does sound good ! But the song is more about recycling things. Like, the youth of today will be the ones in charge in twenty or thirty years and things are always going to be like that… You see these hooligans running around on the streets today, but in twenty years time they might be running the country !
‘Gangster Radio’ talks about the fact that so many bands or musicians don’t get a chance to have their music played to wider audiences these days…
Sulo : Yeah, and that’s so true. A lot of great music doesn’t get played on the radio, and I’m not necessarily saying it about us. You know, there are records being released now that might turn out to be the most important song for a generation, but they’re not getting played on the radio. I’m not so sure how it is in England, but in Sweden we have one woman in charge who decides what songs will be played on the main radio station.
Idde : And then they divide them in A-list, B-list and C-list, so very few songs will actually get played and most of the time it will be just those same ones again and again. Which means it’s no fun listening to the radio anymore.
Mick : Over here, since John Peel and the very few people like him, there really is no-one that will take a chance on the radio anymore. Even the so-called Rock stations are all so predictable… they’ll announce they’re going to play some Thin Lizzy and there’s loads of great records for them to choose from, but it’s always just ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ yet again and even that just gets boring.
Idde : It used to be that everyone who presented a radio show got to play their own choice of music, so you’d get to hear all different styles. But it’s not like that now.
Sulo : We used to talk about things being mainstream back in the Eighties, but compared to that, the mainstream now is just so narrow. So that’s what ‘Gangster Radio’ is about… you know, if something isn’t polished enough or isn’t trendy, it just won’t get played on the radio, even if it’s a really great song.
Mick : It’s like the Emperors’ New Clothes… At the moment it’s all this Urban Hip Hop stuff. I mean, there’s some good stuff in there, but the majority of it is just repetitive rubbish that’s trying to copy the last thing that was successful. It’s become so hip to endorse that style that the producers are falling over backwards to support it, even though maybe only 20% of it is actually quality stuff. But they can’t be heard to say that in case they get it wrong and are seen as missing the train.
Sulo : And in the music press, you have all these ‘classic rock’ magazines, but we probably wouldn’t get featured in them because we’re not a Blues-based, hard rock band from the Eighties, or some horrible sleaze rock from LA… I mean, you look at something like Mojo and you think, how can it keep going ? Are there any more pictures of David Bowie they haven’t already had on the front cover ?
Sulo : No, I wasn’t thinking about that, although now you mention it, that does sound good ! But the song is more about recycling things. Like, the youth of today will be the ones in charge in twenty or thirty years and things are always going to be like that… You see these hooligans running around on the streets today, but in twenty years time they might be running the country !
‘Gangster Radio’ talks about the fact that so many bands or musicians don’t get a chance to have their music played to wider audiences these days…
Sulo : Yeah, and that’s so true. A lot of great music doesn’t get played on the radio, and I’m not necessarily saying it about us. You know, there are records being released now that might turn out to be the most important song for a generation, but they’re not getting played on the radio. I’m not so sure how it is in England, but in Sweden we have one woman in charge who decides what songs will be played on the main radio station.
Idde : And then they divide them in A-list, B-list and C-list, so very few songs will actually get played and most of the time it will be just those same ones again and again. Which means it’s no fun listening to the radio anymore.
Mick : Over here, since John Peel and the very few people like him, there really is no-one that will take a chance on the radio anymore. Even the so-called Rock stations are all so predictable… they’ll announce they’re going to play some Thin Lizzy and there’s loads of great records for them to choose from, but it’s always just ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ yet again and even that just gets boring.
Idde : It used to be that everyone who presented a radio show got to play their own choice of music, so you’d get to hear all different styles. But it’s not like that now.
Sulo : We used to talk about things being mainstream back in the Eighties, but compared to that, the mainstream now is just so narrow. So that’s what ‘Gangster Radio’ is about… you know, if something isn’t polished enough or isn’t trendy, it just won’t get played on the radio, even if it’s a really great song.
Mick : It’s like the Emperors’ New Clothes… At the moment it’s all this Urban Hip Hop stuff. I mean, there’s some good stuff in there, but the majority of it is just repetitive rubbish that’s trying to copy the last thing that was successful. It’s become so hip to endorse that style that the producers are falling over backwards to support it, even though maybe only 20% of it is actually quality stuff. But they can’t be heard to say that in case they get it wrong and are seen as missing the train.
Sulo : And in the music press, you have all these ‘classic rock’ magazines, but we probably wouldn’t get featured in them because we’re not a Blues-based, hard rock band from the Eighties, or some horrible sleaze rock from LA… I mean, you look at something like Mojo and you think, how can it keep going ? Are there any more pictures of David Bowie they haven’t already had on the front cover ?
As we were saying, you hadn’t really played
live before you recorded the first album. Do you think the new album has
benefitted from the fact that you have now been playing live more regularly
since then ?
Mick : Yeah, I think it’s a much more cohesive effort. I love the first album and I enjoyed the experimentation of it, but I think this album has a more distinct identity.
Sulo : The idea was to make the softer things even softer, and the harder things even edgier.
Idde : As we’ve been playing together more often, we can appreciate each others’ strengths a lot more.
Your latest single is ‘Neon Madonna’… the lyrics seem to refer to people looking for salvation…
Sulo : It’s about how societies can grow insular and how everyone needs their own religion or something to believe in, just to get through. Sometimes I even envy people who are quite religious, because they always have something to blame, you know… ‘It’s God’s Will !’ You can end up envying that kind of blind faith even though the only thing that shines on them is their Neon Madonna… But sometimes I wish I had that kind of faith. Sweden is a very un-religious country and in fact, most of Scandinavia is that way. I was just reading this book that said that when the Christians first came to Scandinavia, they would come by boat and they would always have a Bishop standing at the bow when it was coming into land. Of course, that made him such and easy target, so the Norse would just shoot him with an arrow and then the boats would have to turn around to find another Bishop ! I guess that’s an attitude we still carry in Scandinavia ! But, to be serious, there are situations arising now because we have more and more religions coming to the country and that’s bound to create tensions. It’s become more of a political issue rather than religious one. The politicians encourage different people to come to the country, for whatever their own purposes are, but then they just stand back so that the people who already live there and those that are moving there, have to deal with the problems that it causes.
Mick : That’s what’s happened in London…there’s always been immigration but it’s been at a natural pace. But especially since Blair, it’s increased to a totally unnatural level which doesn’t allow for integration. That’s not fair on the indigenous people and it’s not fair on the people coming in. The government hasn’t thought about social cohesion at all and has just left the people in the different communities to flounder. That’s no good to anyone.
Sulo : But the politicians just do whatever they do to get elected and to get the money, that’s all it’s about. So that’s what ‘Neon Madonna’ is about… all of that in two verses !
Mick : Yeah, I think it’s a much more cohesive effort. I love the first album and I enjoyed the experimentation of it, but I think this album has a more distinct identity.
Sulo : The idea was to make the softer things even softer, and the harder things even edgier.
Idde : As we’ve been playing together more often, we can appreciate each others’ strengths a lot more.
Your latest single is ‘Neon Madonna’… the lyrics seem to refer to people looking for salvation…
Sulo : It’s about how societies can grow insular and how everyone needs their own religion or something to believe in, just to get through. Sometimes I even envy people who are quite religious, because they always have something to blame, you know… ‘It’s God’s Will !’ You can end up envying that kind of blind faith even though the only thing that shines on them is their Neon Madonna… But sometimes I wish I had that kind of faith. Sweden is a very un-religious country and in fact, most of Scandinavia is that way. I was just reading this book that said that when the Christians first came to Scandinavia, they would come by boat and they would always have a Bishop standing at the bow when it was coming into land. Of course, that made him such and easy target, so the Norse would just shoot him with an arrow and then the boats would have to turn around to find another Bishop ! I guess that’s an attitude we still carry in Scandinavia ! But, to be serious, there are situations arising now because we have more and more religions coming to the country and that’s bound to create tensions. It’s become more of a political issue rather than religious one. The politicians encourage different people to come to the country, for whatever their own purposes are, but then they just stand back so that the people who already live there and those that are moving there, have to deal with the problems that it causes.
Mick : That’s what’s happened in London…there’s always been immigration but it’s been at a natural pace. But especially since Blair, it’s increased to a totally unnatural level which doesn’t allow for integration. That’s not fair on the indigenous people and it’s not fair on the people coming in. The government hasn’t thought about social cohesion at all and has just left the people in the different communities to flounder. That’s no good to anyone.
Sulo : But the politicians just do whatever they do to get elected and to get the money, that’s all it’s about. So that’s what ‘Neon Madonna’ is about… all of that in two verses !
The other song I wanted to
ask about is ‘Solid Rock Steady’, which Idde sings. It’s style and subject
seems quite different from the rest of the album, but it still fits-in really well…
Sulo : We actually had a discussion about that song because Mick didn’t really like the line about ‘the power of pop’. But it was really just a word-play on ‘powerpop’, which was the style that The Who created in the Sixties. I suppose I could have used ‘the power of rock’ but nowadays people would just think of Whitesnake playing Power Ballads…
Idde : ‘Pop’ can be much wider thing and that’s what the song is about.
Mick : It’s funny because, when we recorded it, I wasn’t entirely convinced about the song, but now it’s one of my favourites on the album. I love playing it, especially live.
Sulo : I was thinking about early Blondie while I was writing the song, but by the time it was finished, I think it actually sounds more British and maybe a bit rougher than Blondie were…
It’s good that there are so many different styles on the album, but they all seem to come together as a complete set…
Idde : Yeah, there’s a real variation on the album but the songs still fit together, which is good.
Sulo : I think if people come from a more punk-background and hear The Crunch for the first time, they will probably be surprised with some of the songs, things like ‘Barricade Blues’ or ‘25 Hours A Day’…
I actually thought, in advance, that the new album would probably be a lot more direct, like your live shows. But as Idde says, it’s actually more varied than the first album, and sounds even better for it…
Idde : We used a lot of different types of guitars and instruments on this record to mix it up a little more.
Mick : It wasn’t as ad hoc as the first album, we actually thought about it a bit more, rather than just going in the studio and recording it. We must have thought about it for at least ten minutes before we went in to do it !
Sulo : It was a natural step from the first album, I think. In fact, ‘Banner of Faith’ was actually written at the time of the first record, but we didn’t use it because we didn’t have enough time to work on it. This time, we all worked on it together and made it one of the best tracks on the album.
When you play live, you usually include versions of songs from your previous bands… where some bands would do that just to cash-in on their past, it seems that you’ve chosen songs that actually fit alongside your new material, as an integral part of the set…
Mick : It just seems to feel right and not something that we have to think too much about. As I’ve said before, it’s organic… it just comes together and happens naturally. When we decided to play those songs, it just felt right and it still does. That’s how we look at it.
Idde : We play those songs as The Crunch would play them, so they don’t sound out of place.
Mick : I certainly wouldn’t want to be a band that people only came to see to hear the covers.
Sulo : The only songs we play by other bands are ones that we have been involved with. I mean, we certainly wouldn’t be playing any Clash songs if Terry wasn’t in the band. Actually, the really interesting one for us to play is ‘Russian Roulette’, because Dave recorded that with Lords of The New Church, but it was actually written by Terry and Tony James. So that’s a great one for us to play in this band…
Sulo : We actually had a discussion about that song because Mick didn’t really like the line about ‘the power of pop’. But it was really just a word-play on ‘powerpop’, which was the style that The Who created in the Sixties. I suppose I could have used ‘the power of rock’ but nowadays people would just think of Whitesnake playing Power Ballads…
Idde : ‘Pop’ can be much wider thing and that’s what the song is about.
Mick : It’s funny because, when we recorded it, I wasn’t entirely convinced about the song, but now it’s one of my favourites on the album. I love playing it, especially live.
Sulo : I was thinking about early Blondie while I was writing the song, but by the time it was finished, I think it actually sounds more British and maybe a bit rougher than Blondie were…
It’s good that there are so many different styles on the album, but they all seem to come together as a complete set…
Idde : Yeah, there’s a real variation on the album but the songs still fit together, which is good.
Sulo : I think if people come from a more punk-background and hear The Crunch for the first time, they will probably be surprised with some of the songs, things like ‘Barricade Blues’ or ‘25 Hours A Day’…
I actually thought, in advance, that the new album would probably be a lot more direct, like your live shows. But as Idde says, it’s actually more varied than the first album, and sounds even better for it…
Idde : We used a lot of different types of guitars and instruments on this record to mix it up a little more.
Mick : It wasn’t as ad hoc as the first album, we actually thought about it a bit more, rather than just going in the studio and recording it. We must have thought about it for at least ten minutes before we went in to do it !
Sulo : It was a natural step from the first album, I think. In fact, ‘Banner of Faith’ was actually written at the time of the first record, but we didn’t use it because we didn’t have enough time to work on it. This time, we all worked on it together and made it one of the best tracks on the album.
When you play live, you usually include versions of songs from your previous bands… where some bands would do that just to cash-in on their past, it seems that you’ve chosen songs that actually fit alongside your new material, as an integral part of the set…
Mick : It just seems to feel right and not something that we have to think too much about. As I’ve said before, it’s organic… it just comes together and happens naturally. When we decided to play those songs, it just felt right and it still does. That’s how we look at it.
Idde : We play those songs as The Crunch would play them, so they don’t sound out of place.
Mick : I certainly wouldn’t want to be a band that people only came to see to hear the covers.
Sulo : The only songs we play by other bands are ones that we have been involved with. I mean, we certainly wouldn’t be playing any Clash songs if Terry wasn’t in the band. Actually, the really interesting one for us to play is ‘Russian Roulette’, because Dave recorded that with Lords of The New Church, but it was actually written by Terry and Tony James. So that’s a great one for us to play in this band…
With the new album only just released, you’ve
played the one-off gig in London,
but do you intend to tour to support it ?
Idde : Yes, but not until the end of Summer, maybe September or October…
Mick : The album is out, we’ve introduced it with the gig at the Borderline and everyone seems to be happy with it, so we’ll let the album slow-burn between now and then to see how it’s received.
Sulo : We’re releasing ’25 Hours A Day’ as a single and there’s a video to go with it, so hopefully that will build the interest so we can tour quite extensively in the Autumn.
Mick : I think we can do this at our own pace and in our own right. The only place where it might make sense to support someone else would be in America, and I think that might happen. But in Europe I think we’ll be fine on our own feet. There are enough people out there who will be familiar with our previous bands, plus others who will just be interested in what we’ve recorded together, so I think that will put us in good stead. It’s all going to be about building things up at our own pace, because that’s the way the music will find its’ own audience.
And, I believe, that is going to be the way that The Crunch are going to succeed. Instead of taking the easy way out and relying on the popularity of their previous bands, The Crunch are more interested in building their own reputation and integrity. They’re clearly enjoying playing together and are making some great rock’n’roll in the process. As more people get to see and hear them, the more they will establish themselves because, while not everyone will appreciate what they are doing, there will also be plenty who will enjoy the music and return to see them again. All I can say is, listen to the records and see the band live. It may not be exactly what you’d expect, at first, but once you get into it, you may well find yourself being hooked.
Idde : Yes, but not until the end of Summer, maybe September or October…
Mick : The album is out, we’ve introduced it with the gig at the Borderline and everyone seems to be happy with it, so we’ll let the album slow-burn between now and then to see how it’s received.
Sulo : We’re releasing ’25 Hours A Day’ as a single and there’s a video to go with it, so hopefully that will build the interest so we can tour quite extensively in the Autumn.
Mick : I think we can do this at our own pace and in our own right. The only place where it might make sense to support someone else would be in America, and I think that might happen. But in Europe I think we’ll be fine on our own feet. There are enough people out there who will be familiar with our previous bands, plus others who will just be interested in what we’ve recorded together, so I think that will put us in good stead. It’s all going to be about building things up at our own pace, because that’s the way the music will find its’ own audience.
And, I believe, that is going to be the way that The Crunch are going to succeed. Instead of taking the easy way out and relying on the popularity of their previous bands, The Crunch are more interested in building their own reputation and integrity. They’re clearly enjoying playing together and are making some great rock’n’roll in the process. As more people get to see and hear them, the more they will establish themselves because, while not everyone will appreciate what they are doing, there will also be plenty who will enjoy the music and return to see them again. All I can say is, listen to the records and see the band live. It may not be exactly what you’d expect, at first, but once you get into it, you may well find yourself being hooked.
