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Hugh Dellar Of The Beatpack Chats With Musos Guide

 

It's been 28 years since imperishable RnB hipsters (in ye olde sense of the word) The Beatpack released their debut EP on Screaming Apple Records, recorded by Billy Childish no less. I caught up with front man Hugh Dellar on the eve of their Scottish dates.

D: Set the scene as it were, how / where and why did you get into this particular genre? 

H: I started out in a garage band Thee Wylde Things when I was 16 in the mid '80s. We morphed into The Beatpack by 1987. We were based initially in Hastings then moved to London. Simon had been in The Tyme Eliment in Huddersfield. We poached him in 1987 and started recording. We had a deal with Screaming Apple in Germany. Will the bass player joined in 1989.

D: Sounds like you all had a good knowledge of '60s garage/r'n'b?

H: Yeah. Totally. From when I was 15 or 16 I was obsessed with The Pretty Things, The Stones, The Kinks, The Yardbirds. American garage stuff. Dutch beat like The Outsiders. Totally evangelical about that music. Still am.

D: Fab. It was harder to hear/find the more obscure records back then, and of course we're talking pre-internet. I can relate to that obsession! How was the move to London? did the signing with Screaming Apple Records happen once you'd moved?

H: We moved to London to avoid getting into endless fights with locals. And to be nearer the scene. And record stores.

D: That makes sense.

H: Screaming Apple happened after Ritchie from the label saw us kill it at The White Horse in Belsize Park. He gave us some money and we recorded the EP Head On Home with Billy Childish, recorded in Red Studios in Borstal, near Chatham. That came out in '89, then the LP Could You Walk On Water, and a final 45, Not Tonight.

D: What was the scene like back then? 

H: The scene was ok. There were us and The Aardvarks. The Margin of Sanity. The Clique. But the US stuff was more where we were at. The Tell Tale Hearts, The Chesterfield Kings. We suffered from not being Mod enough for the Mod scene in London.

D: Yep. What is it with those pesky Mods?

H: Uptight types.

D: It must have been quite a whirlwind, being so young, obviously passionate about the music you were playing, putting out records, recording with Billy Childish. Why the split?

H: Long story. There was a lot of acid flying around. And E.

D: Okay ... kind of goes hand in hand with the music though doesn't it?

H: We were starting to open up to other music. Stuff we couldn't play ourselves. We played with acts who were in it to get famous and had our head turned. Grew up a bit, grew apart. Folks wanted to do other things with their lives. Girlfriends, the usual.

Our Drummer went off to travel and we all had to get proper jobs.

D: So in the interim, did you get involved with any other musical things?

H: Yeah. Will did Cee Bee Beaumont among other things. Simon was in bands. I became a teacher and lived in Asia for four years. Stopped playing music but wrote for Shindig magazine, and bought endless records. We didn't see each other much, for ages.

D: So how did you get it together again? 

H: We realised it was twenty years since the LP, agreed to meet to play a few songs from it. Realised it sounded great and went for it again. We realised how much we'd all missed it. Screaming Apple also reissued everything we'd done for them, and we did new 45's for State Records.

D: What are the differences playing now?

H: It's harder to get gigs these days as we're off the scene. We're older and uglier, but we reverted to basics. Hurt playing stuff we love.

D: Wow.

H: Now we make a record every year and hang out together. Write new songs.

D: Rewinding slightly, what would you say was the first record you heard that made it all happen for you?

H: Hard to answer. The Stones. Always. I guess. 'Get Off Of My Cloud'.

D: I was expecting something more obscure, but then I suppose that lead you to seek further.

H: Yep. Then The Pretty Things. The Outsiders. Q65 etc. Back From The Grave etc.

D: Natch! What do you think about the new generation of R&B/Garage bands such as Les Grys Grys?

H: Love them. But they love us more. They're good mates of ours. They're good people. Love the Greg Prevost solo stuff. Black Mambas. Detroit Cobras etc.

Not much in the UK though.

D: What about The Baron Four?

H: Like The Baron Four too.

D: Finally, please feel free to promote yourselves.. 

H: We've Got the new EP out. Back, Behind And In Front. It's rather good.

We can certainly vouch for that. A glowing review of their EP Back, Behind and In Front can be found here.

Catch The Beatpack at McChuills in Glasgow tonight. Support from Johnny & The Deadbeats and at thee prestigious Franklin Rock 'N' Roll Club tomorrow, supported by organ grinding commotion-ists The Sensation Seekers.    

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Buckfest 2015 : The Interviews, Part Two

 

Continuing my dig into the motivations of the bands involved in Buckfest 2015 here are the final interviews from the day. Firstly here's Joe, singer and guitarist of The Phlegm.

DS - Joe, why are your band supporting this event?

Joe - We love playing – I suppose there are a few reasons why we are playing Buckfest this year; we had so much fun playing last year that we jumped at the chance to play again! We are also playing because we love the other bands that are playing, and we know them very well. It’s a great chance to see a bunch of great bands, who are also our friends. It’s also a good opportunity to try and reach out to the Glasgow crowds and widen our fanbase.

DS - What can we look forward to from The Phlegm?

Joe - We're playing at the Banshee Labyrinth in Edinburgh on the 30th (October) with Random Scandal supporting the Devil Jocks on their Halloween tour – which we are really looking forward to! In addition to that, we are hoping to get into the studio very soon to do some recording.

Later on I sat down for a few words with Becca' guitarist and vocalist of The Creeping Ivies

DS - Hi Becca, what decided you and the band on playing Buckfest this year?

Becca - We've played the event before and it’s always a great time. McChuills is a good venue and the crowd are always really into the music so that makes it enjoyable for us!

DS - And what does the near future hold for The Creeping Ivies?

Becca - We're playing McChuills again for a Halloween show on the 30th (the Witches' Sabbath 2015) with Fanny Pelmet And The Bastard Suits. We're also playing London on 11th November at Oslo supporting Shannon And The Clams so we're very excited for that!

Recording-wise, we're currently planning a new album. We have a huge amount of new tracks so hoping to get them recorded over the next few months.

Stevie, Organist of '60s garage punk combo The Kosher Pickles was next on the list for a blether.

DS - Evening Stevie, why are the band playing this year’s Buckfest?

Stevie - It’s an invitation to play that you don’t turn down without a really good reason. We’ve know The Rage a good few years so if you get an invite to play with them you say, “yes please”. I think we did the first one and maybe the second in the 13th Note.  

I guess the main incentive is knowing you’re going to be playing to a receptive crowd. The Rage pick all the bands. You pretty much know that everyone’s going to be on a similar wavelength. I think all the other Pickles had heard the Phlegm before but I hadn’t - I thought they were ace. So you hear new stuff and it’d be odd if you didn’t like it.

DS - Anything in the pipeline for The Pickles?

Stevie - We’ve got a gig in McChuills on Halloween. I think we’ve bought giant cobwebs and we have our lights and stuff so that’s a fire waiting to happen!  It’ll be a good laugh. Really we’re just in this for good times.

Recordings, well we’re really slow at putting stuff out. We did a split 7” with The Bucky Rage a couple of years back so that’s kicking about and there’s the odd track on the internet. We’re hoping to get some recorded stuff finished off soon and we’ll probably put that on bandcamp, do some CDs to hand out at gigs etc.

Last up I had a sit down with Carl Brick, who performs as The Locarno Big Beat.

DS - Carl, could you tell us why you are supporting the Buckfest this year?

CB - I've been playing Buckfest for what must be at least 5 years or so however this is the first time I've played as The Locarno Big Beat - in fact that's the first gig ever. 

I suppose that's the attraction of Buckfest - it gives a platform for artists that want to do something slightly outside the box. There's also the fact that I've a lot in common with the guys who organise it, they are a good bunch who I've shared stages with and performed with for many years. My first gig in Glasgow as Charlie Rivers And Thee Boatmen was at a night organised by The Bucky Rage - some 10 or 11ish years ago.

The Locarno Big Beat is a recent wee side project to my main musical ego - Charles Randolph Rivers' Slim Rhythm Revue

DS - And what does the future hold for you right now? Can we expect any recordings in either of your guises?

CB -I'm playing Kilmarnock next Saturday [October 24, The Granary, 8pm] and have just finalised some recordings which I'm currently looking to put out ... So watch this space as they say!

Thanks once again to all of the acts at Buckfest for great performances and for taking the time to submit to questioning.

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