Vintage: 60Ft Dolls–Mike Cole Q&A

A look back at the 60Ft Dolls, in 1995 they were still signed to Rough Trade, before signing to Indolent Records, releasing their third single ‘Pig Valentine’, not long after this Q&A.
With the Welsh band complete with a couple of god singles and a slew of live performances to remember. No wonder then, that this attracted Sue Collier to chart 60Ft Dolls rise as Radio 1 favourites with both Peel and Lamacq extoling their virtues.
From Newport, Gwent the 60Ft Dolls are a band at the forefront of new ‘Welsh revolution’. After coming third out of sixty-six bands ‘In The City’ unsigned bands category; the dolls have also supported the likes of Oasis, Elastica, Boo Radleys and Dinosaur Jr. They also jumped on the ‘Brat Bus’ and toured, NME style, with Verruca Salt, Marion and Skunk Anansie,

The debut single, ‘Happy Shopper’ set many-a-tongue wagging and brought Mike Cole (vox/bass), Richard Parfitt (guitar/vox) and Carl Beven (drums) to the close attention of the A&R kind. Recently signing to Rough Trade, they have released a second single, the double A side White Knuckle Ride / No. 1 Pure Alcohol’ which are both gritty 60’s style melodic songs about life as they know it. In the middle of their own headline tour, lead singer, Mike Cole took time out to give us the story so far.

Is it true that most of the Newport bands had the support of local venue TJ’s, as the place to start out from?

“Mainly, yeah, not just TJ’s, but the promoter behind it, who’s been doing it for ten years. TJ’s is a good club y’kmow, it’s brilliant. He doesn’t charge you for playing there; he just lets you get on it. It’s really relaxed. Plus there is no other ‘real’ venue in Newport. Another thing is that I think a lot of the bands here just get on with it and concentrate solely on the music and don’t give a shit about anything else.”

How did the ‘O was A Teenage Gwent Boy’ CD come about? (60Ft Dolls track ‘London Breeds’ on I Was a Teenage Gwent Boy)

“The Gwent Boy’ CD came about a Newport fanzine called Frug! And Andy the guy who runs it got together…It basically came from the fact that there were so many bands in Newport. He (Andy) thought something should be put out to show this.”

Are you going to continue living in Wales or are the bright lights of London calling?

“We’re still based in Wales and always will be.”

So you don’t feel part of the whole London scene?

“No, not really, no, We’ve always stayed away from that sort of thing and taken a back seat. Y’kmow if they want to see us, they can come here to see us on our own terms in our own area.
That’s the one thing we did not like about the Manic’s, they’re a great band they have done well, but they always denied that they were Welsh because they felt it was this hideous thing – If you came from Wales. It just shows ignorance though doesn’t it?”

(Sue ignores the request to agree, as we have been recently talking to the Manic Street preachers all about Blackwood and Wales)

Do you feel that Newport has a strong scene?

“Yeah, there are loads of bands about Newport. I think you have named a few, but there are a lot of bands coming now, kind of school age bands. There is a band called Vader, they’re good and there’s another called Disco. These are really young people who that have seen us and others and decided to do it for themselves.”

Is music the only thing that matters to you then, as a band?

“Definitely, everything else takes a back seat, everything. The music and the people who come to see us. That’s all we’re really doing it for, ourselves and the people that enjoy it. The people who don’t like it, they can f**k off, we don’t care about them. We’re not going to start manipulating the media and inventing personalities for ourselves, it’s just the music and that’s it. Style’s fine, but we are not in the fashion business.”

Are your live performances and the energy behind them a major part of what 60ft Dolls are all about?

“Yeah, I think you want to be entertained and you want to see a good band, then come and see us. I’m not being conceited, or anything, but I don’ think there are many bands in Britain that could follow us on stage at the moment, we’re pretty energetic. I’m not going to walk around throwing false modesty about, because, yeah, I think we are a god live band.”

In your songs you seem to sing more about what you know and where you’re from, leaving out any political messages, is this true to say?

“We are not overtly political or anything and we haven’t got any huge messages ‘cos I think that can be really condescending, We are serious about what we sing about, but I don’t want to impose rules upon people ‘cos we’re all about entertainment at the end of the day.”

When’s the debut album due?

“it will be out early next year (1996) We’re going to start recording the demos after this tour ends. We’ll take a few months off to record and maybe write a few more songs but we are not going to put any of the singles on the album. It’s just going to be fresh new material. It’s a bit boring when bands all their singles on an album. Elastica was great but it seemed to be just a catalogue of all the singles they put out in the last year and a half, which is a bit boring. I’m not picking on Elastica or anything ‘cos I think they are a great band. Oasis are pretty much the same. I just don’t think don’t think that is what a good album is about; releasing it in fragments before the album comes out, it’s a bit stupid.”

So your aim as a band to be just constantly moving on?

“Yeah, exactly. That’s what it’s all about, getting everything behind you and moving on.”