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The Skuzzies Taking It All On In 2011

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With their recent single on Easy Action Records, ‘Dissatisfied’ which  impressed, reports of some great nights all over London had a common theme, pick any positive garble of words and insert, normally in the second or third line, the words ‘The Skuzzies’, just as well then we caught up with the band’s lead singer Jerome Alexandre to talk of the Astoria, MySpace stalking and the future of the London three piece.

Skuzzies2The Skuzzies deserve your attention, if you like their brand of indie tinged punk, influences range from the New York Dolls, the Clash, Birthday Party and The Ramones, they would find it hard to go far wrong. But mainly it’s their narrative and music. If you’re in London, I envy you – it would be easier to see a gig by the three piece, until promoters and us the public throw even more weight behind the Shoreditch based band, it might be another month or two before we free them from the Capital.

The dirty street indie punk does not come as neat, direct as The Skuzzies. Most should remember their support slot at The Astoria in 2004 that went down a storm, to the 4000 fans, but as lead singer Jerome explains the gig was to end in a riot.
Fast forward five years, and a few stories; they are back – more writing, more gigs and now armed with a new single release, the beefed up ‘Dissatisfied’ available on Easy Action Records. I hope at long last that this is a new dawn for The Skuzzies, time something started to happen.

More musings by London’s ‘water rats’ have heralded the arrival of The Skuzzies in recent times as if they had only just blinked out from the rehearsal room just last Wednesday, Through what appears to be fresh eyes. Tonight, The Skuzzies play with gusto and purpose, close to a dozen songs that stay with you, long after that night bus journey home. The Skuzzies Are: Jerome Alexandre – Main Vocals / Lead Guitar Nick Le West – Drums Laura Hecate – Bass & Vocals

With Guitars talks to original lead singer Jerome Alexandre.

I can understand that it must have been hard to get The Skuzzies new line up together and focused, was it easy to find the Alexandre’s, Laura’s and Nick’s of this world?
"The reincarnation of The Skuzzies: "The hardest thing was trying to track Nik Le West’s number down! We had played together previously but Nik is the kinda guy who is a lone wolf and is always on the move. Eventually I tracked him down and we made a fresh start of the band. Musically, I had been unhappy with the Astoria line up because everyone had such diverse ideas. It lacked direction plus my life at that time was in complete chaos. I had to claw my way back from the fall-out of the missing years. Once Nik was onboard the whole thing became more focussed. Laura Clarke was an old mate of Nik’s, once she joined; the definitive Skuzzies line-up was complete."

After the Astoskuzzieslive1ria gig in 2004 the band must have been on a high, writers even newspaper hacks were supportive – did everything unravel naturally?

"The Astoria was a triumph of sorts as we were the only unsigned band there who gained the audience’s acceptance. It was our third ever gig and better known bands like the Towers of London were having bottles lobbed at them. From the off-set, the show had an uncomfortable vibe, like the indie-Altamont except no-one got killed, fortunately. The crowd were kept waiting for a long, long time started getting restless. The bouncers were edgy; was Peter going to play? Eventually, security started hitting the kids with clubs, who in turn jumped onstage and smashed the PA. They dragged the PA like a fetid corpse by its wires. Some fans had blood on their faces and were totally out of it. You could hear the sound of bodies hitting the crash barriers at the front of the stage. It was an orgy of violence. As we left the building, I feared for the people left in side. Nonetheless, we were applauded by the kids who’d managed to see us and then get out of there. Outside, police cars and ambulances turned up in droves. Then we had to face our own reality, our driver had panicked and gone off leaving us to carry our equipment on the bus home! But we got to meet some great people, fans who still come to our shows today. Yes it got in the papers but when you’re unhappy with the band you’re playing with what good is it? The one good thing I would say is that I knew we had entered people’s minds as I was asked time and time again "when are you playing next?"And even though we didn’t play for several years people always remembered how well we did that night and it gave me some hope."

From your profile on MySpace "In early 2007, the band recorded demo’s with Strokes producer Gordon Raphael who described The Skuzzies as ‘The best new band in London in the last 5 years’. On the strength of their demos, they signed to indie punk label, Framingo for a 2 single deal which culminated in the first release of ‘Dissatisfied.
"We constantly have problems with MySpace so I wouldn’t really advise people not to take everything that is written on there as gospel, especially as we haven’t been able to update it since MySpace modernised the site. Any current info can be obtained either through facebook or via Nina at ninaantonia@talktalk.net. The demos we did with Gordon Raphael were done when the band was in its infancy. It was fun working with him and he added keys to a track. I would see the gold record he’d got for working with The Strokes and think….well this isn’t a bad start!"

How do you meet up and record demos with Gordon Raphael? Bit of a producer! Also that is some praise, did that add ant pressure on you

Will: "I had always wanted to work with him as a producer and was a fan of his band ‘Sky Cries Mary’ long before he was a producer extrodainare! Pressure? No …Trying to scrape the fare there was possibly the most tense situation."

The current single ‘Dissatisfied’ on Easy Action Records, how does it differ from The Flamingo release of the single? Has the song evolved much in three years? Or is it to reminder to everyone – a reintroduction if you will?
"’Dissatisfied’ is always a great crowd pleaser, were very proud of the Easy action version, it can’t be topped. The Theme of it is more relevant than ever and where there are a billion songs designed to keep society passive and weak, there is strength in a song like "Dissatisfied."

How did you hookSkuzziesJerome up with Easy action Records? Is it a singles deal or are there plans for an album?

"Nina Antonia, our Manager, had sent some demos we had done in 2009 to Carlton Sandercock (Head of Easy Action Records)about 3 months later he suggested a meeting and voila!.What’s kinda strange is that I was reading a Marc Bolan biography at the time and as everyone knows "Easy Action" is a T.Rex song and the label are responsible for some beautiful Bolan product. Also shortly after signing to Easy Action Nina and I moved to a place very close to where Bolan’s memorial is. (Where the poor man met his demise in a car crash).Easy Action are one of the last great Indie labels, we were given complete artistic freedom."

Talking of albums – playing songs like ‘Anthem’ and ‘Rich Girls’ come across well along with the single, are there lots more in the locker? Or am I interrupting The Skuzzies mid-way through the writing process?

"There are tons more in the locker, We sometimes leave a tape recorder running and you would be surprised how many tapes full of ideas we have."

Two things hit me when checking your MySpace comments page (11/6) Roxanne T Sublett will not leave The Skuzzies alone, but does not get passed that immortal icebreaker of "hello" or "love your music" and there are some cool looking flyers at regular intervals in your comments list. Any bearing on the band’s following – viral stalkers and cool nights?

"To be honest I’ve not checked MySpace recently for the reasons I gave earlier, I have had a few Stalkers on facebook as I’m sure Nik has! I’ve also been followed from my local supermarket and had a girl sitting outside my front door…it goes with the territory. Laura doesn’t use facebook yet but I’m sure when she does she will get her fair share and I’ve had them already write to me asking about her! I’m a very private person so Stalkers is not really something I care to brag about and I haven’t the faintest Idea who Roxanna T Sublet is. However if she has been "Sublet" I suggest the original owner get in touch as I refuse to pay anyone else’s rent :)"

Onto the single, who you don’t think my review of the release, albeit a more raw version (at least to my ears) of ‘Dissatisfied’ feels like it has more than just one foot in punk and maybe a toe or two in indie… (Go on to talk too much about indie and punk, suffice to say all I did is muddy the waters). Skuzziesshot3a

"I’m a little confused by your question…Yet I would agree that The Skuzzies are influenced by both Punk and Indie and more! We listen to all kinds of music from classical onwards, although I must admit we don’t listen to a lot of new music! I think a lot of new Pop/ punk/ rock/indie music is just the purest, passive load of dross I’ve ever heard, Standards have dropped to such an extent that most of the people get excited if one bar of a song sounds good."

I have been told now by Carlton at Easy Action, one of my former writers Chris M and  Art Rocker Magazine – all passed comments like the band are great live and something to see. I only caught the end of your set back in 2008, I blame East Coast Rail, but that’s not much of an excuse. What’s the best way to get someone say based in Stockport aware of your live set – is it through the wonders of you tube, although I must point out that other social media exists, but is that the dilemma – you hope you have enough in the viral world, and struggle with the physical one; Things like the cost of petrol, and the need for good promotion and playing the ‘right’ venue and so forth? Or am I just talking bollocks?

"You’re just talking bollocks….hahah just kidding! Were hoping to come to Stockport and are currently putting together a tour, we get asked to play a lot but believe quality is better than quantity, we love playing live -just the rush and maelstrom of energy that flows is so ritualistic there really is nothing that can beat it. YouTube is great because of its global network in terms of exposure and you can choose what you want to watch instead of the television networks! However I still like my traditions too and we would have loved to do Top of the Pops or The Johnny Carson show, There really isn’t any good Music programmes left anymore in the U.K. except Jools Holland’s show."

As a good friend of Pete (Doherty), could I ask how he is doing? Is he sitting there whiling away time writing new songs? Have you managed to see him?

"Before he went inside we saw a lot of each other and he would visit my new place a lot or we would go visit him at his country house or London apartment, his management sent my letter to him in prison and I saw them at the last show we performed and they informed me he was well. I’m sure when he gets out I will get a ring from him and we will meet and have a merry old time. I count him as one of my closest friends and remain fiercely loyal; we all miss him at camp Skuzzville!"

Normally this is a stock journo question, but in the case of The Skuzzies, I think it more of import than usual. What are the future plans of the

"Future plans would basically be this number 1.Stay alive 2.Tour and record as much as possible 3.Get the Hell away from the cities and build Skuzzville headquarters mark II which would kinda be a bit like Spahn Ranch but with showers."

www.theskuzzies.com

A Live play through – add the crowd and stand well back!
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