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By: Stuart Benjamin
With a second album – Everybody Come To Church – having just hit the shops and live dates with Public Image Limited and The Fall under their belts, Evil Blizzard’s fortunes are riding high. Leaving chaos, confusion, and monstrous progeny in their wake, the band pretty much have torn up the rock ‘n’ roll rulebook and are clearly set for great things. We caught up with Stomper from the band, taking five in his dressing-gown, slippers, and smoking a pipe in his book lined study…
Everybody Come To Church is a great album, did it really only take a day to make? Were all the songs recorded in just the one take?
Yes and no. We did the first album in 7 hours, and so we thought we’d go all ‘Stone Roses’ and booked an extravagant two days studio time for our second. The first day we went in, got levels and bashed through it. We did a couple of takes on most songs but wanted to keep the live vibe. Some songs were improvised in the studio with lots of elaborate arm waving and gesticulating – the album version of ‘Stupid People’ was only the second time we’d ever played it as a band and it sounds fresh because of that. ‘Spread The Fear’ was the first take, and again the first time we’d played it. ‘Laughing Gas’ was a riff from Side, Kav and Prowler’s old band, ‘Brown Ring, that we just jammed out and it wasn’t until we heard the album that we heard it with lyrics which is odd considering it’s the closest thing to a ‘pop’ song on the album.
Some songs like ‘Balloon’ and ‘Bow Down’ have been played live in various formats and versions and so it was a case of tweaking them. We got to Saturday evening, by which time we’d had a load of cans and decided to hit the pub and went in the next day to do vocals, keyboards and some overdubs – solos and intros etc.
What did Richard McNamara (from Embrace) bring to the Evil Blizzard sound?
Clarity, in a nutshell. He knows his gubbins. We vetted him heavily on his musical taste, and he was obsessed with Maiden as a teenager and so we gave him the privilege of recording us. He’d stop us mid take if the vibe wasn’t right which as a band we’re rubbish at – we’ll just turn it up and play longer – and he really ‘got’ what the band should sound like. Things like suggesting pedals; one of the reasons the album sounds so meaty is he got Kav to use a ‘POG’ pedal which generates multi octaves of the same note, effectively turning single notes into chords which filled out so many frequencies that are missing with just basses.
The drum sound is massive and that’s all down to him. He’s a good lad who wasn’t afraid to tell us when something was sounding shit which is what you need in a producer.
Which of the songs on Everybody Come to Church are you most satisfied with? I’d say Laughing Gas is my favourite.
‘Stupid People’. As I said; brand new song, second take; bang. I love ‘Are you Evil?’ – that was the song I wanted to sound like a ‘single’ and it’s top. Rich emailed a mix of it over and I listened to it with my wife and when it kicks in she just turned round and mouthed “f***ing hell!!!” which is exactly what we wanted.
‘Sacrifice’ we’re all pleased with. We recorded it for the first album and it was AWFUL; too fast and just terrible. So we recorded it again as a single for Rocket Recordings and that version was raw and great so we wanted to do something different to the Rocket version, and threw in sequenced beats and loops and we’ve finally cracked it I think.
You say using four basses enforces quite a tough writing regime, how is it tough?
Because you can’t go up your own arse, which is something all musicians really want to do! Writing on keys or guitars you have so many more options of where a piece of music can go, but with just basses all you have is riffs and groove, and so to create something that holds our own attention is pretty tricky.
Are four basses ever enough? Is there room for more?
I think our record is 9 basses on stage. We were going for the Guinness book of records for most bassists, but then realised it may involve something resembling effort and gave up.
You don’t rehearse much – is it better to live in the moment, rather than carefully plan? Or is it just too much hassle?
We like to sail by the arse of our kegs. Kav lives in Birmingham and so when we can drag him up here it makes more sense to get drunk and do a gig than do something as trivial and futile as rehearsing.
I joined the band when they were a 2 piece – Side and Prowler – and I said they were great but lost all the bass when Prowler fell into his solos, and so I was duly recruited. Side booked a gig and a rehearsal, but neglected to tell me they were in that order! So I did my first gig completely blind. It was ace. And we’ve pretty much kept up the same ethos.
So is there an Evil Blizzard master plan? An evil plan, if you will.
If we told you, you’d have to be part of it. Do you want in? It promises to be fun…
Which bands have been the biggest influence of the Evil Blizzard sound?
Half the band are from a ‘rock’ background and half from the aftermath of punk so we’re talking Sabbath, Stooges, Pistols, Hawkwind, PiL, Killing Joke, God Machine, Motorhead and the like, but also Krautrock, 70s dub, Funkadelic, Genesis and Abba which all have made a mark in the band somewhere or other.
What was it like touring with The Fall? Mark E Smith has a bit of a temper – did you fall out?
He was almost disappointingly nice. He was a top bloke; at the second gig he found out we weren’t paid anything other than beers for the first gig – which was all we were expecting – he got his wallet out and gave us £300 of his own money. He’s his own man; at one of the gigs Side went over to say hello and Mark replies ‘f*** off; I’m in a meeting’ and proceeded to stand there, totally on his own, smoking fags.
What was it like playing with Public Image Limited? That John Lydon’s a bit of a character isn’t he…
It was top. ‘Metal box’ is such an influence on us so it was great to play with them. John is really quite shy and gets terrible stage fright and so we didn’t see much of him before the gig but after he had a natter with Stomper and Mopman. Great gig though and Lu, their guitarist, is keen on sorting more so fingers crossed.
You recently worked with Mamuthones (on the split LP Collisions) are there any other bands/artists that you’d really like to work with?
Yes and no. We’d love to have time to play and record with other bands but we struggle to get the time to do our own stuff. There’s some great bands we’d love to do stuff with; Bad Guys would be great with their guitar onslaught and we’ve also had Super Fast Girlie Show playing live with us in the past which was ace; that’d make a great recording if we could all make a racket together.
I’d be really keen to do stuff with more IDM artists too, FourTet would be a dream.
Tell us all about Mop Man?
Where do you start?!? We met him playing in London; he was the caretaker at the venue and came on during the set trying to tidy up our mess. We approved of the cut of his jib and bundled him into the back of the van where he still lives. He suffered horrific injuries in a drug test that went wrong and the bandages are actually joined to his face skin. Little known fact: one of his legs is hollow which is handy at customs.
Where do you get your boilersuits and masks? Can fans buy them at gigs?
Our outfits are designed by various people; Vivienne Westwood made mine and Blizzpig’s was made by Wayne Hemmingway. Kav’s new ‘denim’ look was created by one of Right Said Fred; the drummer I think. They’re not available for sale yet, though we are in negotiations with Primark.
Speaking of fans, you’ve built an incredibly loyal fanbase over the last couple of years – did you ever think that folks would take Evil Blizzard to their hearts so quickly?
Of course. I’m amazed we haven’t got our own TV show by now. Our ‘fans’ are mental. Deranged. We love them. So many of them have come to so many shows they’re just mates now; each gig is a party where there’s usually at least 50 people there who know each other and that definitely adds to all the chaos and tom-boozery.
What’s the weirdest thing that has happened at your increasingly weird live shows?
For me it has to be being sick mid song inside my mask – good old projectile that splashed inside everywhere. That was definitely a high point of my life. Apart from that – where do you begin? Every gig seems to draw all the freaks out the woodwork. We had a load of people that we didn’t know turn up as the Chuckle Brothers at PZYK last week. No-one batted an eyelid.
Finally, it’s the fifth day of the zombie apocalypse, you have to use whatever is to your immediate left as an improvised weapon – what have you got?
I’ll be fine on that count then. I have a large spade, two packets of pork scratchings to lay a scent and a partially finished portrait of Larry Grayson. Survival intact.
