The Oxford Dictionary describes locust as:
noun
A large grasshopper with strong powers of flight. From time to time it migrates and causes extensive damage.

In a way, this insect shares a work ethic with American metallers Machine Head. Their last release, 2007’s The Blackening, sent them on an extensive tour which included several treks across the world, during which they rubbed shoulders and shared bills with Metallica, Slipknot and Heaven & Hell. Such tireless globetrotting cemented them as one of the best, most defended and most sought-after bands in heavy metal, vocalist Robb Flynn recently revealing his fear for the fans’ safety amidst the intense frenzies that the band invokes in their live audiences. Now, after a well-earned rest and with the release of new record Unto The Locust, the destructive Californians are ready to swarm the world once again.

Taking a four-year gap between releases can be a risky affair for a contemporary band. Fame is a fickle mistress and, in a seemingly constant stream of new talent, it would be unsurprising if she were to find a new dancer partner. Machine Head fans, however, simply grow hungrier, seemingly never satiated by the band’s semi-regular visits during the lengthy gaps between albums.
“Our process is that when we’re on tour, we’re on tour, and, when we’re finished with that tour cycle, we write.” drummer Dave McClain tells WheelScene. “After The Blackening tour, we went our separate ways for a while. Robb and Phil have families, so they had spent some time at home. A few months later, we got together and started piecing together ideas that we’d came up with over the three years on tour.”
The end result is a tour de force of crushing grooves, wailing guitars and sneering riffs but, while it’s unmistakably the same band, the cogs of the machine have been oiled and are now turning in new directions. It opens with layers of haunting Gregorian chants and ends with a choir of children, while sandwiched between are classical melodies, folksy flirtings, and edgings into darker territory.
“It’s not ‘The Blackening Part II’.” insists Dave with confidence. “It continues our progression over the last three records. That’s something we haven’t really had a chance to do, since pretty much all of our other albums have had a line-up change of some sort. It’s great to have the same four people for so long. It’s like a sports team; you have the nucleus of the good players, you go on to win, and then you bring the same people back next season.
“We never really talked about a direction. We knew that we’d be feeding from the evolution we’ve gone through since [2003’s] Through the Ashes of Empires, but we had naturally improved as songwriters and had new elements coming through which set the tone for the whole process.”

The Head have never an act to be shy and reserved about their opinions, and this offering is no different with its insights into the obsession, madness, betrayal and desperation present in today’s world. Perhaps the best example of this is their 2007 track Aesthetics of Hate, written in response to an article in which conservative writer William Grim insulted murdered Pantera guitarist ‘Dimebag’ Darrell Abbott. Flynn’s rebuttal of “you son of a bitch / I hope you rot in Hell” was obviously a popular one, as the song was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 50^th Grammy Awards that same year. This lyrical honesty is what Dave believes inspires such devotion in fans.
“I think the stuff that Robb sings about strikes a chord in a lot of people.” he muses. “They’re very emotionally-charged lyrics, and I think people hear that honesty in his voice. They hear music on the radio and have no emotional attachment to it, but we’ve built ourselves on our interaction with fans. During our concerts, whether you’re by the soundboard or on the balcony, Robb, as a frontman, can make you feel like part of the show.”
The singer also donned his producing hat once more, focusing his “very strong vision” to shape the album into one that, in time, may prove to be their definitive work.
“Robb wasn’t credited on the albums with other producers, but he was always basically co-producing.” reveals Dave. “He’s very headstrong and will take that producer out of their element. I think having an actual member at the helm has the best results for a band.”

Early winter will see the band play South America before touring through mainland Europe and ending the year on these very shores, shaking the foundations of arenas from London to Glasgow with Bring Me The Horizon, DevilDriver and Darkest Hour in tow. The drummer seems happy about this.
“Dude, I absolutely love the United Kingdom.” he drawls, pausing for emphasis. “I’m super happy that it’s at the end of the tour. No matter where we play there, every show is insane.”
He pauses again, this time to reflect.
“It’s weird; for as long as we’ve been doing this, you’d think that we’d be on autopilot sometimes, but we try to challenge ourselves. We try to make it exciting for ourselves.”

And, if Machine Head are looking forward to the future even half as much as their fans are, that mission is already well and truly accomplished.

Jonny ‘Itch’ Fox finishes off a hamburger in an underground dressing room in the heart of Glasgow. A few hundred miles may separate him from his native London but, apparently, very little distinguishes the inhabitants of each city from another.
‘People are different everywhere. There are nice folk and dicks no matter where you go.” he laughs, swivelling his chair away from the mirror.
He would certainly know, having spent the last few months touring Europe with his band The King Blues. However, ‘band’ is too insultingly broad a term. Their sound, particularly on latest album Punk & Poetry, is a hard one to define: a pendulum of punk, hip-hop, ska and folk, swinging between cheeky pop sensibilities (the bittersweet harmonies of Everything Happens For A Reason) and compellingly unsettling vitriol (the snarling call-to-arms of We Are Fucking Angry). That’s not to mention the poetry juxtaposed with their more energetic offerings, the lyrical themes of which range from Itch’s respect for women, despite his inability to understand them, to his tongue-in-cheek branding of certain politicians as fascists.

The kids are united: The King Blues (Itch, second from right)

And it’s on streets like the ones above that this auditory regime was formed.
‘You couldn’t get Radio 1 where I grew up. There were just pirate stations coming in from every angle, playing all kinds of music.’ explains the frontman, lighting an after-dinner cigarette without a second thought for the smoking ban. ‘There was no Internet to download from. So whatever the people around you chose to play, that’s what you listened to.
‘The six of us in the band don’t agree on a lot of music, but I think it’d be boring otherwise. There isn’t a genre I don’t like – each just has good and bad stuff.’
Its impact on radio is not his only observation of the World Wide Web.
‘The mainstream media had so much control before social networking. They could demonise protestors so that everyone would turn against them, without realising that the problem was higher up. Thanks to the Internet, we can talk to each other and tell the other side of the story. We’re powerful now more than ever.’
And this is where the other side of the band’s story starts to show: their politics. Growing up around the streets and squats of the capital, Itch witnessed the social and political injustice faced by those at the bottom, but channelled his feelings into positive energy through activism and music, all in the name of the underdog.

The street poet imparts his wisdom.

‘Education is a vital thing that everyone should be entitled to.’ he states, when told about the increase in tuition fees at the University of Stirling. ‘Right now, only the rich can afford it. There’s something incredibly wrong with that. It’s all part of the worker-and-boss divide. What inspired me most after the student riots was the fact that workers and the unemployed came out to protest too. They realised that we’re in this together. I think students need to realise their personal struggles are part of something much larger. Sharing your struggles with others makes you far stronger.’
He drops his fag to the floor and stamps on it like it was a Tory Government.
‘Because, even when being political, you always need to have some humanity.’

Bands come and go. Some make it big and are hyped ad nauseam. Others pack a punch to a cult following, but never climb the ladder. This is, however, the first time in many years that an act has felt so important. The King Blues are entirely unafraid to hit out at the world’s wrongs, but not from the top of an ivory tower or from a Hollywood mansion like today’s shameless stars for whom global warming is a profile-booster. Instead, these are the heartfelt words of an honest group of people who relate to how unfairly tough life can be, but who aren’t reserved in urging the idea that you can make a difference, that you can shape your own future, and that it’s okay to smile all the while.

At least two things have been unexpected for Gomez; their name and their success.

Their first gig, in 1996, saw the lads leave a sign reading ‘Gomez’ outside the venue to direct their friend, who went by the name, to the show. This led to the audience believing it to be the band’s name, a moniker that stuck. A short while after that, the quintet recorded a demo in Southport, an area that most of them could still call home, with their families still living there. With the help of Virgin-owned Hut Records, this tape evolved into their debut album, Bring It On, which instantly catapulted the band onto the stages of major festivals and earned them the 1998 Mercury Music Prize, over the likes of Robbie Williams – the UK’s most successful solo artist. It went triple platinum, selling over one million copies, a notion that vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist Tom Gray incredulously calls ‘ridiculous’. Thirteen years, five full-length releases and no replacement members later, they prepare to release Whatever’s On Your Mind.

‘People always remark at how well we did at the start and say that nothing compares to our first album,’ explains Tom, ‘But I think if people actually compare our early and recent work, they’d have a very different view of it. I don’t think it’s a question of our music being as strong, but a question of whether or not people are interested anymore.’
Their music is hard to define; sitting somewhere between indie rock sensibilities and raw blues recklessness, Gomez have always been resilient in their post-grunge innovation.
‘I certainly feel like we’ve never really deviated from experimentation.’ says Tom of this, as though speaking in oxymorons.

The band spent three weeks recording the new album in Haunted Hollow Studios in Virginia, then tied up loose ends at their own homes. Living far apart, sending songs to each other has become routine for Gomez over the last five years, but a technique that Tom reckons they have perfected for Whatever’s On Your Mind. The fact that ideas find their way to the music from different parts of the world sheds some light on the eclectic feel to the band’s records.
‘It took about a month to put together.’ reveals Tom of the new album. ‘A big factor was that we had the songs completely arranged before going into the studio, so we didn’t waste any time or money. With the last record [2009’s A New Tide], we sat around the studio scratching our arses a lot.’
And why the title?
‘We want people to get over whatever is getting them down. It’s upbeat; we want to make the listener happy and put a spring in their step.’
It would be difficult to argue that they will not succeed in this mission. From the chilled refrains of the title track (‘Please hold onto your heart of gold/While you struggle against the cold’) to the snide bounce of Options, the newest offering sounds set to be a life-affirming smorgasbord of tumultuous instrumentation and tales of space, both inner and outer. The positive qualities of the songs may be a result of the band getting along famously during the recording sessions.
‘Everyone was getting on with each other and being nice, which, in a way, made it the easiest record we’ve ever made in terms of creative input.’
Is getting on with each other rare for Gomez?
‘Well, for it to last from start to finish while recording an album is quite rare for any band!’’ he laughs.

When it comes to bands (whether they get on with each other or not), many would say that we live in a time where, due to the rise of the Internet, only the most compromising and accessible of artists will get the attention and support of the fatcats and bigwigs, leaving the rest to die out in the depths of the underground. Some would say that this has given birth to a new era of independent music where the unsigned scene is more tightly united than ever. Tom would probably agree with the latter.
‘People are lucky now; when we started making music, there weren’t a lot of bands doing interesting things with song form and sound, whereas now we’re kind of in a golden age of exciting, interesting music, whether it’s the retro idea like Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear, or the vibe of Caribou.’
Do these exciting new bands spur Gomez on?
‘There are definitely bands around that get me excited, but I don’t question whether or not I need their inspiration to make records. I make music as a compulsion.’ he states firmly.
And with this, he confirms that Gomez, like their varying music, are in a limbo between commercial success and integrity-fuelled independence. Whether Whatever’s On Your Mind lives up to their debut is yet to be seen, but it’s evident that, for the band, this is neither here nor there.
‘We try new things. That’s what Gomez have always been about.’

After the celebratory blowout that was the 30th anniversary of rock at Donington Park, everyone has just about recovered in time for another weekend of reckless abandon at Download Festival 2011.

Once again, the admins have taken the lid off the bubbling pot of raw talent that is the forums and served up a banquet of musical delights in the form of The Boardie Takeover.

Offering little bands and DJs the chance to perform with the big boys and to provide the entertainment before the festival truly kicks off, the Takeover stands as a visual and visceral tribute to the rock ‘n’ rollers who shape Download into what it is.

Getting the party started with a nu metal-tinged set, DJ Soundwave is overjoyed to be returning to Download for the second year running.

“Last year was good, of course, but this year the tent is bigger, so the crowd’s bigger, so the energy’s bigger… everything’s bigger and better!” he exclaims.

The Leicester disc jockey made such a splash in 2010 that he was invited to perform the previous day too.

“I played Slayer and the crowd went mental and someone got their nose broken,” he says, almost in disbelief. “I got told off for that, and for passing out a bottle of Jack Daniel’s!”

Scolded he may have been, but what’s rock ‘n’ roll without a little danger? By the time his first set of the night is over, it’s time for the first band to step up and show that they’ve got what it takes to join the big league. Take it away, Stone Circle.

The Brighton four-piece play inspiring progressive death metal, juxtaposing crushing chuggery with sombre, quiet melodies, their talents earning them a slot at Bloodstock Open Air Festival last year.

“It was really stressful,” says guitarist Tom Skelton. “They were really on-it in terms of change-overs, whereas here, things are a lot more chilled out.”

Comparisons to Opeth are easy to make, thanks to Stone Circle’s effortless bleeding of tempos and styles (and because vocalist Joe Ashwin has a look of Mikael Åkerfeldt about him too).

The clean, introspective guitar whisperings and reserved croons are mesmerising, but it’s when behind their heavy, sonic walls of noise that this band truly shine.

With long musical passages free of vocals, they run the risk of losing the interest of a festival crowd in the mood for a party, but they remain captivating and never boring.

But how was it for them?

“The crowd were great, and we had a really nice sound on stage too,” says Joe, seemingly not as overwhelmed as you’d expect someone who’d just played Download to be.

His tone is one of confidence, however, and not of disinterest. “We try not to have too many expectations before a show, but it really was good fun.”

With an album out on Glasstone Records and a music video soon to be released, the future looks bright for Stone Circle.

First, they’re going to enjoy a weekend seeing System Of A Down and Rob Zombie, although Joe, with a grin, claims he is going to get so drunk he doesn’t care who he sees.

DJ Apocalypse’s reaction couldn’t be more different to Joe’s.

“Bloody hell… it’s Donington! Fuck’s sake… it’s Donington! It’s amazing!”

After a brief panic when he thought his kit had malfunctioned, he was able to relax and get into the swing of things.

“I have a few residencies like my night, Assault, in Nottingham, but Download is the biggest and best thing you can do. So far, everyone’s been lovely and everything’s been really chilled out.”

If he’s this excited now, how is he going to be when the bands start tomorrow?

“This is the best Download line-up in years!” he exclaims. “I can’t wait to see Hyro Da Hero and Clutch. I’m torn between Frank Turner and Rob Zombie on Sunday though; I’ve never seen Rob Zombie, but I love Frank so much…”

His worries are nothing compared to that of Aceldama – it’s their turn to get up in front of this ever-growing, ever-drunkening, ever-critical mob.

The female-fronted Brummies have nothing to fear though, as they prove themselves to be a hard-hitting, ten-legged rock animal.

They expertly walk a line between soulful, melancholic hard rock and big, dumb, old-school metal shoutalongs, never once tripping or stumbling too far into either self-indulgence or ridiculousness.

Metal And Beer sounds like it was written for the occasion, while a galloping cover of The Pointer Sisters’ I’m So Excited sees flames erupting from the ends of the lads’ guitars. Yes, seriously.

“The crowd were brilliant!” smiles vocalist Leanne post-gig. “To look out and see them enjoying themselves, hands in the air, wanting more… wow.”

“It was beyond all of our expectations,” adds six-stringer Ian.

The band have had the pleasure of performing at Metalcamp in Slovenia, but at the same time had the misfortune to clash with power metallers Hammerfall – not an act you want to share a time slot with on the continent.

Tonight, however, all focus was on them, and the festivallers certainly aren’t left disappointed.

Leanne’s excitement is unfortunately marred by having to work tomorrow, but after that she can return to enjoy the weekend.

And, despite their album Seduce, Deceive and Lead Astray currently being mixed and mastered, drummer Paul is about to leave the band, so they’ll be looking for a replacement.

“The suitable candidate must be able to put away a 24-pack in less than three hours.” they state firmly.

And where do they get such a name?

“It’s Aramaic. It literally means ‘fields of blood’ and is to do with Judas betraying Jesus,” offers Leanne.

So they’re a Christian band?

“No, we just like the name!” she hastens to add, “And, since it begins with A, we’re always at the top of the list!”

Hopefully that’s top of the list of bands for Andy Copping to one day add to his festival line-up but, regardless, tonight they’re certainly at the top of something: their game.

Emerging out of the 1980s UK glam scene, Tigertailz lit up the pages of the metal press in a burst of neon colour, jagged guitars and perhaps the best hair out of any of their British or American contemporaries. While often only linked to subtle-as-a-brick anthems like ‘Love Bomb Baby’ and ‘Livin’ Without You’, the Welsh quartet showed that deep down they were a hard rocking force to be reckoned with, through the likes of later albums like 1991’s ‘Banzai!’ and 1995’s ‘Wazbones’, the former even featuring Metallica and Megadeth covers.

They split up in the mid-‘90s before reforming almost ten years later, only for 2007 to see the sad and untimely death of bassist Pepsi Tate. The band, including founding guitarist Jay Pepper and best-known singer Kim Hooker, however, soldiered on, recruiting bass player Sarah Firebrand and drummer Robin Guy, and releasing a new live album last year, encapsulating the timeless quality of their genre-defying music.

Speaking backstage at the Cathouse in Glasgow, Scotland, Kim and Jay took the time to give an insight into life in the band.

l-r: Kim Hooker, Sarah Firebrand, Jay Pepper, Robin Guy.

You’re almost at the end of your UK tour. How has it been?
Jay [Pepper, guitar]: Most nights have been great. There hasn’t been a really bad show; a bad show for us if the sound isn’t great, and there have only been one or two of those. The rest have been fantastic.
Kim [Hooker, vocals/guitar]: Something that we kind of forgot is that how much easier it all becomes when you do five or six shows in a row. It all becomes like second nature and you become a better band. I’m more familiar with the set now than I ever have been.

‘Bezerk’ is hailed as your breakthrough album. Does it feel like twenty years since it was created?
Jay: It seems like a long time ago, yes, but playing the songs is like riding a bike – it all comes back to you quickly. It was a lifetime ago that we actually wrote and recorded the songs though, so you just do what you can to make it feel as fresh as possible. As for career highlights, some of the festivals we’ve played since our reunion have been brilliant. I enjoy things a lot more nowadays, doing them at our own pace.
Kim: I’m exactly the same; I can’t honestly look back on the Bezerk period and feel that I enjoyed it more than today. Back then our lives depended on it, but now it’s something we do purely because we love it.

Tigertailz have been credited as being one of the definitive British glam metal acts. Is this something you still identify with?
Kim: I never did identify with it, to be honest. I always thought we were just a heavy metal band. Our influences growing up were the likes of Judas Priest, Accept and Black Sabbath. That’s what I listened to, and that’s what I still listen to.
Jay: It’s understandable that people will always identify with your image and pigeonhole you before they’ve even heard a note of your music. Luckily, this time round, I think we’re changing people’s perceptions of us. For example, we played Hard Rock Hell [in Prestatyn, Wales] three years in a row because people wanted to see us.
Kim: When it comes to image, I just couldn’t imagine being in a band and going on-stage at night looking exactly the same as I did when I arrived in the afternoon. There’s nothing in that for me at all. Even bands like Metallica have an image – they just have a different image from us. We’ve never considered not getting dressed up before a gig, and we never will.
Jay: Yeah, it’s entertainment! It’s a theatric. When you go to see a show, you don’t expect to see people in jeans and t-shirts. A lot of fantastic bands do dress like that, but our deal is that you get a show, like it or not.

Women in metal is a subject that has been documented ad nauseam, but does having a female member change Tigertailz’s perspective in any way?
Kim: Well, the problem for us was that we thought Pepsi was irreplaceable. Then it occurred to us, let’s not try to replace him, so a female bassist was perfect because no one will compare the two.

What changes have you observed in the music industry or live scene since your inception in the 1980s?
Kim: Well, one good thing is that people don’t get fucked over by record companies as much anymore. Back when we were making ‘Bezerk’, we were always driven by record companies who used to demand singles, and that’s why the songs on it range from ‘Sick Sex’ and ‘Heaven’ to stuff like ‘Love Bomb Baby’. Nowadays we just write what we want to write, with no one telling us how to sound. The pressure’s off, and that’s a change for the better. I think the Internet has a lot to do with bands feeling like that now.

What about the calibre of bands nowadays?
Kim: I don’t really go out of my way to listen to any bands, they tend to come and go out of my life, but generally I think that bands seem to play a lot better these days. You get fifteen-year-old kids who can play very well, and that wasn’t the case when I was that age.

Has your fanbase changed in twenty years?
Kim: On this tour I’ve realised that, yes. There are people that weren’t even born when we started who are getting into us.

Is it satisfying?
Jay: Well, hopefully it’s a testament to how good our records were. It’s really rewarding when eighteen-year-olds who weren’t part of the scene at the time get into the music years later.

What are your plans for after the tour?
Jay: We’ve got a few more shows planned. We tend to cherry-pick those and only do the ones we really want to. But, apart from that, we’re looking to record a new album later this year. I’m not sure whether it’ll actually be out this year though.

What can we expect from it?
Kim: We’ve been writing for a while, and it will just sound like the heavier songs that we play at the moment. We’re now the band that we always were, in truth. I’ve written a few songs that could be called singles, but then I’ve thought why? I don’t need to write singles anymore. We’ll just throw a load of new songs into the air and see which way they land.
Jay: If a commercial record or single comes out of it, that’s fine, but it’s not like we’re going out of our way to write another ‘Love Bomb Baby’.
Kim: We’ve been talking about doing this album for a few years, but shows and such always get in the way of recording, so we’d like to get a record finished before we come back…
Jay: …more aggressive.

Myself with Michael Monroe (centre) and Sami Yaffa.

How has the tour been?
It’s been great. A Motörhead crowd can be really critical, but they were great with us. Motorhead have been treating us really nicely, they’re so cool and it’s been so much fun. Watching them every night is a pleasure too!

Have you played with them before?
Yes, Hanoi Rocks opened for them at three shows in Finland in 2007.

How did you come across the members for your new band?
I met up with Sami Yaffa [original Hanoi Rocks bassist] again last summer. He was with the New York Dolls and I went to their show in my home city and ended up playing saxophone with them on-stage, then we hung out for the rest of the night and I told him about my new solo album. Ginger [of The Wildhearts] came up to me at an Alice Cooper in Helsinki last December and said he’d very much like to play guitar, so he got involved and it worked out perfect.

After Hanoi Rocks split up, was it a conscious decision to continue your solo career or resurrect one of your old projects like Demolition 23?
We just thought we’d put together a new band that plays Hanoi Rocks, Demolition 23 and my solo material.

How does this band compare to your previous backing acts?
So far it’s my favourite one. They’re very strong, talented individuals.

You recently released a live album from Finland; have you found that your Finnish fans have remained loyal during the time you lived in New York?
Yeah. It’s surprising, but there’s a new generation of kids coming out. We’re having to do underage shows because of the crowds we’re attracting. It’s so cool. Their parents must have been into Hanoi Rocks the first time round.

You were an inspiration to some of the biggest rock bands ever, like Guns N’ Roses Mötley Crüe. Is that something you’re proud of?
It’s flattering to hear them say that. I’m sure they have other influences, but it’s cool if they mention me. I was jamming with Slash twice last summer, at festivals in Finland and Osaka. I broke two ribs at the latter – I slipped and landed on one of the steel bars in front of the crowd. I soldiered on though!

How was it to finally make it to Donington this year, when you played Download Festival 2010?
It was cool. It was nice to play there after all these years. We were on at the same time as Rage Against The Machine but our crowd was still really big.

Have you noticed any changes in the music industry since you started out as a musician?
Major changes – but none that really affect me. We still just play shows. Bands talk about not selling records these days due to downloading, but our fame never really translated into record sales in the first place so we had nothing to lose! (laughs)

What are your plans for after the new year?
My new album will be coming out, then we’ll be doing videos and press stuff. Will we be back in the UK to promote it? Yep – I can’t wait!

Ginger is one of those musicians who you can tell couldn’t be doing anything else with his life. Riffing his way onto the UK Britrock scene in the early ‘90s with The Wildhearts after earning his chops in glam outfit The Quireboys, he has since graced the audio world with numerous musical outings and solo projects, leaving behind a scorched trail of drugs, fights and broken Kerrang! office equipment. All of this rock ‘n’ roll excess, however, is imbued with the insignia of one of the country’s most talented, uncompromising, unafraid and integral musicians.
Most recently, he found himself playing guitar for Michael Monroe (Hanoi Rocks) who, in November this year, opened for British metal institution Motörhead on their 35th anniversary UK tour. Even a broken, infected foot couldn’t stop Ginger (born David Walls in 1964) getting up every night, and it certainly hasn’t hampered his plans to take a new band on the road in December, performing sets of Wildhearts tracks. The lyrical tales across their albums have always been brutally (and sometimes embarrassingly) honest, and make for some of the finest, most heartfelt offerings in alternative music. From stories of vegetating in front of the television (1993’s ‘Earth vs. The Wildhearts’) through the first tastes of success and drug binges (1995’s ‘p.h.u.q’) to learned, sage views on life today (2009’s ‘Chutzpah!’), Ginger has cemented his reputation as a fully-conscious, worldly observer with a knack for turning experience into what Ragnarok writer Gordy Jeans calls ‘choruses so sugary they’ll rot your teeth faster than acid-flavoured sherbet’ and ‘fantastic, crushing riffage’ in equal measures.
I caught up with the unable-to-sit-on-his-arse frontman to get an insight into the life of such a passionate player (and fan) in today’s world of rock music.

Have you enjoyed the tour with Motörhead? What’s it like touring with Lemmy again?
Ginger: I love touring with Motörhead, they’re one of the last, true rock ‘n’ roll bands. Great guys and great crew. Lemmy? I fucking love the man. What can I say? He’s the real deal. 100% authentic.

How does playing guitar and touring with Michael Monroe compare to fronting and touring your own band(s)?
Ginger: I really love being a side man as it takes away so much of the pressure that comes with being the frontman. The main difference is that the band all want to go to the bar with me now. When you’re the singer you find that less people want to hang out with you. Michael doesn’t drink, so it works for him!

Were you always a Hanoi Rocks fan?
Ginger: I loved them in the ‘80s. They were the best band around when I first heard them. No one was mixing rock ‘n’ roll with punk to such devastating effect and, live, they simply killed. I wasn’t a fan of the MK. II Hanoi with Conny Bloom [who worked with Ginger’s Silver Ginger 5 project]. I love Conny like a brother but to me Hanoi were a punk band and, with the second incarnation, they lost the punk element.

You had a highly successful acoustic set at Download Festival in Donington this year which consisted purely of Wildhearts material. Is this what sparked your decision to only play Wildhearts songs on this tour? Why aren’t you performing tracks from your solo career?
Ginger: I try to listen to the fans as much as I can, and they’ve been asking to hear Wildhearts songs played live. The Wildhearts usually tour at least once a year but right now we’re taking a long break that might or might not be permanent; I don’t know that we’ll reform. The only way the fans are going to hear Wildhearts songs live is if I play them solo. Who am I to deny people the chance to sing along to songs they’ve grown with for most of their adult lives?

How did you end up with so many guitar players on-stage with you at Download?
Ginger: Guitarmageddon was something that started as an idea and went on from there. Two guitarists, then four, then six, then ‘fuck it, let’s make it ten!’ We didn’t even know if everyone was going to show up at Download – most of these people hadn’t even met at that point! The whole thing was dreamlike, and that’s what I love about playing live: if it gets too tight or pre-planned it loses that spark for me. If it isn’t a little scary then chances are I’ll be bored.

How do you balance family life and children with so many tours and projects?
Ginger: I’m lucky to have such an understanding family who know that this is what I do. I miss my kids, but I’m in a band with three fathers who have young children, so we act as a daddy support group for each other. Every musician who’s a dad feels the same longing for home and the same determination to make each show count – why be away otherwise? Fathers usually rock much harder than non-fathers, and for longer!

You routinely keep in touch with fans and friends through Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. Do you feel social networking sites have become very significant as a touring musician?
Ginger: I’ve always tried to keep in touch with fans through answering questions and stuff, and have been active on the Internet since about 1996. These days, with so many networking outlets, it simply makes it easier to reach more people. Communication between artist and fans is vital. I don’t consider this position I’m in to be 100% about music – I’m still popular because I work on staying in touch. It keeps you humble and grounded.

You’re known as a die-hard music nut – which new bands are you enjoying at the moment? Do you take influence from bands that came after you?
Ginger: I’m loving Kvelertak and Chickenhawk with a passion. They both rock and are both insane, mixing hard rock, punk, hardcore and thrash with stunning results. I need new bands to love otherwise I’m over. I couldn’t be one of these guys who insists that music went downhill after the ‘70s. In my mind, that’s just not true. I love to educate people on music and turn people onto new bands. To me, that is the surest direction to take in order to stay informed. I get some out, I put some back. Music is a community not a charity, and if you aren’t contributing to its health then you aren’t part of any solution.

What can we expect from your own forthcoming shows?
Ginger: The Christmas shows are going to be a full electric band made up of my favourite players in the UK rock ‘n’ roll and punk scenes. We’re currently working on the set list and, although I don’t know exactly what we’ll be playing, I can guarantee that Wildhearts fans will go away happy. We’re going to take away their voices and replace them with big smiles on their faces. We’re going to make every bill a special, unforgettable night out. It’s Christmas – bring a bottle, sing along and join the fun. There’s no place like a sweaty drunken crowd singing Wildhearts songs. Trust me.

GINGER 2010 UK TOUR DATES
17/12/10 London – Relentless Garage
18/12/10 Sheffield – Corporation
19/12/10 Manchester – Moho Live
20/12/10 Glasgow – Garage
21/12/10 Newcastle – Legends
22/12/10 Wolverhampton – Wulfrun Hall
23/12/10 Southampton – Talking Heads

ESSENTIALS!
The top five Wildhearts tracks you can hope to hear in December:
1. I Wanna Go Where The People Go
The band’s anthem with a chorus that could unite Jesus and Satan. As soon as those sly opening notes creep in, the party’s on.

2. 29 x The Pain
A simple ode to all of the band’s influences. Never before has someone been so openly nostalgic with what music means to them, but the point hits home every time.

3. My Baby Is A Headfuck
They channelled the spirit of Jerry Lee Lewis for this one (even though he’s still alive) with its frenzied guitar and piano solos. If you don’t grin at the chorus, you’re dead inside.

4. Vanilla Radio
This marked the band’s return to form in the early 2000s and introduced their new confident, polished sound that still retained the ideals and charisma of yesteryear.

5. The Jackson Whites
Who says they can’t be heavy? This down-tuned stormer was the jewel in the crown of the latest (but hopefully not last) album ‘Chutzpah!’ that deserves nothing but more recognition and broadcast.

I caught up with guitarist and founding member CJ at the Glasgow leg of their UK tour to discuss the new album, touring the world, and spray-on tattoo booths…

How’s the tour going?
CJ (guitar): It’s going really, really well. It’s all a bit new and refreshing for us ‘cause we’re basically playing the whole new album every night, then coming back on and doing some old songs. The show’s in two halves, and it feels like we’re supporting ourselves! And more and more people are getting into the album and singing the words back to us. We haven’t had a bad show yet.

You’ve just released your new album, ‘Chutzpah!’, and it’s been getting very positive reviews. How was the writing and recording process for that?
CJ: We all went into a studio in York at the end of last year to start writing the album, and then went to Finland to make a demo of it. Our manager, Virpi, recommended that we work with this Danish producer, Jacob Hansen, who had worked with a band called Volbeat. She played them to us and we thought they sounded really good, so we went over to Denmark to work with Jacob for a month. We were having some vocal problems with the songs in standard tuning, so he suggested we tune the instruments down. We did, and it’s really paid off. We still sound like The Wildhearts, but there’s a much darker, heavier feel to it. I don’t think there’s a band in the world that tunes down to C and still has harmonies and poppy bits!

So does this show a new musical direction for The Wildhearts? Will you be sticking to the new formula?
CJ: Yes. It’s still us, but it’s cool that we’re discovering new things so late in our career. It’s the twentieth anniversary of the band this year.

What are some of the inspirations behind the songs on the new album?
CJ: It’s everything, really. Ginger [Wildhearts frontman] still writes the majority of the songs, but the things we sing about are the things that happen in our lives. We don’t make things up. The band’s a lot more democratic now, decisions are made as a group, and it’s good because since we band re-formed in 2001, I think this album has had the best reviews in the magazines. It’s bringing on a younger fanbase too; there are a lot of teenagers showing up to see us, and magazines are picking up on the band.

Speaking of which, you recently won the Kerrang! Award for Spirit of Independence. How was that?
CJ: It was great! Kerrang! seem to like us again. It’s about time they gave us something! Ginger and I have been to the awards ceremonies in the past, but it was nice to actually get something for ourselves and get a standing ovation from so many other bands. I had a lot of young acts that I’ve never heard of telling me how much of an inspiration we’ve been to them. Which bands? I’ve no idea what they’re called. The ones with funny fringes.

Didn’t Ginger once smash up a Kerrang! office?
CJ: Oh yeah… that was a while ago. I can’t remember why he did it. We don’t smash things up anymore!

Before the new album, you had a covers album (‘Stop Us If You’ve Heard This One Before, Vol. 1’). Is there a Volume 2 in the making?
CJ: Yeah, but I think we’ll probably do another studio album before that. We’ve left it open, so it’s something we can go back to whenever. We’ve got millions of ideas when it comes to bands to cover. We recorded the first one in about five days, so it’s just a case of if we have the time, we’ll go in and do it. Right now, ‘Chutzpah!’ is still very new and is coming out in a lot of places we’ve never toured before, like Russia and South America, so we wanna go to those places before we make a new record.

It’s well known that Ginger has had many side projects. Are you working on anything else at the moment?
CJ: I’m thinking of doing another solo album, but I don’t want to do it with a band, and I don’t know if I want to make a rock record; I might do something a bit more experimental. I don’t make much money from it, so I’ve got nothing to lose by doing something off-the-wall. I’m thinking of doing it over Christmas – I’ve got a home studio, so it’s just a matter of me getting off my arse.

Did the current recession affect you in making the new album in any way?
CJ: No, not at all. The good thing about Jacob is that he’s very cheap. He gets loads of offers from bands around the world, but he doesn’t want to leave Denmark. He’s a real family man, and he has this really weird work ethic where he starts at 9, finishes at 5 and doesn’t work on a Sunday. It kinda works, because it gives you a window of time to get things done in; once it gets to 5 o’ clock, he’s off! But because he only uses his own studio, he does offer a really good price. I think there’s a good possibility we’ll make the next album with him too, because we really liked working with him.

What’s your opinion of the current music scene?
CJ: I think music is always changing. I don’t really keep up to date with a lot of it at the moment; personally, I’d rather see a good movie or read a good book than listen to a new band. I think that too many people rely on the Internet, because it can dilute the whole music scene; you’ve suddenly got millions of MySpace pages, and it becomes too much. I really think that to be heard, you need to have a big marketing team behind you – it’s not enough to have four decent songs on MySpace, ‘cause there are loads of decent bands on there who no one has ever heard of. Profile pages are tools that can be used, and there’s a lot of hype about them, but they just aren’t enough. I feel sorry for a lot of younger bands, ‘cause there’s too much competition at the moment; when we started, it was easy to get deals just from having good songs. Nowadays you need to have everything else. Most bands kind of look the same to me these days, actually, so it’s nice when you see a bit of originality and not the likes of… what are they called, Metro Station, is it? I looked at them and thought ‘Fuck me, not another band covered in tattoos.’ They look like they’ve gone into a booth and had them sprayed on! (laughs)

New Yorker Acey Slade (born Emil Schmidt) certainly lives up to his Sagittarian star sign; he can’t sit still for one minute. Being a past member of a string of bands – Dope, Murderdolls and Trashlight Vision have all at one time counted him in their ranks – he has certainly been round the music industry block a few times. He is currently fronting his own solo project, The Dark Party, which he is touring extensively in the run-up to the release of their debut album. Standing in the cloakroom area of a dingy underground Glasgow club, and speaking in much friendlier tones than his glam-punk rockstar persona would suggest, he took the time to give a little insight into life in such a travelling circus…

Hello Acey. How has the tour been so far?
Acey [Slade, vocals/guitar]: It has been fantabulous.

That’s a good word. What have the crowds been like?
Acey: They’ve been awesome everywhere. London was great, and Dumfries was pretty good too, but tonight killed.

Any memorable people or interesting characters from this tour?
Acey: Dude, with us having the dancers between bands, it has just brought out the most colourful human beings on the planet. We’ve seen everything, including ‘boy-lesque’ dancers – boys doing burlesque dancing, which I didn’t even know existed. Such a wonderful cross-section of humanity on this tour, more than any other tour I’ve ever did. It’s been a freak show, it’s been great.

How do you compare American crowds with British crowds?
Acey: You can’t. United Kingdom crowds are just so much better. Music just seems to be a part of so many people’s lives here, whereas in America, it seems that they can’t be bothered with it a lot of the time. Of course, that’s not true of everyone, but here, music just seems to be a way of life.

You’re actually producing a band from Scotland, Billy Liar. How did that come about, and how is it going?
Acey: I did a show in Edinburgh with my old band, Trashlight Vision, and I always welcome any demos that bands give me. He gave me a demo after the show, and I put it on and I just had a moment; like when A&R guys hear a band and decide to sign them. It’s an acoustic punk project, which attracted me to it. It’s pretty cool, because I’ve been stretching myself out to try different styles lately, and I could never do what Billy Liar does. I’ve also been working with a band back home called His Mighty Robot, who are like Muse meets Placebo meets Deftones. A really heavy, progressive sound, but with melodic vocals. It’s great working with bands like that.

Your new band’s style is notably different from your previous efforts with Murderdolls and Trashlight Vision; you’ve adopted a more electro- and industrial- influenced sound, closer to that of Dope. Is that something you’ve wanted to do – or get back to – for a while, and how has it compared with your former bands?
Acey: Well, most people seem to really enjoy it. I think I’ve always been known for being an open-minded and adventurous person. I would never want to play the same style of music my whole life. Producing other bands helps like that, because I can get involved with acts who play things that I never could – or never would – play. The cool thing with my solo band is that it will change from album to album, no two will be identical. I admire people like Mike Patton [Faith No More frontman, also known for several musical projects of varying styles], or even Tim Armstrong from Rancid, who went on to work with Transplants and Pink. I don’t think that people are as closed-minded as they used to be, you know?

Are the fans on this tour fans of your old bands, or is your new style attracting a different audience?
Acey: I don’t know. I don’t really pay attention to that. I play music to play music. Whether I’m playing to five people or five thousand people, it’s still the same show to me.

Tell us about your new single ‘She Brings Down The Moon’.
Acey: I wrote that song years and years ago, but it hasn’t been right for any of my projects. Now that I’m doing my solo stuff, I thought it was right to bring it out, and I knew that it was a great song. The inspiration for the lyrics was a girl I knew who was just a real pure soul, the sweetest person you could ever meet. She had some bad things happen to her, it was so sad, and I just had this image of the moon coming down and taking pity on her.

How do you find a balance between family life and touring?
Acey: I wanted to make time for family more while I was working on this album – it took about a year and a half. I wanted to back down and spend more time with my family, with my wife and my new niece, but it just didn’t happen. I was never going to quit making music, but I just wanted to find a better balance than the one I had. But, I’m a free spirit, and I can’t be in one place for too long.

It’s definitely a downside to being on tour, as documented in many rock songs. Are you happy on the road at the moment, or would you rather be back home in New York?
Acey: My wife and I are getting divorced, so I don’t have anybody to go home to. There’s my mom, obviously, but I don’t live with her, and she understands. I just miss having someone to go home to, and since I don’t have anyone to miss, I just want to go home! (laughs)

How is the current economic situation affecting life as a musician? Did you have to consider things more carefully while making the album?
Acey: Actually, it was pretty easy since my writing partner is a producer and has his own studio, and we did it all there. It’s interesting, because we’re just trying to figure out how to release it now, and I’ve found that a record company is great for getting money that you don’t have, but also taking money that isn’t theirs. If they’re losing money on another band, I shouldn’t be the one paying for it, so we’ve been self-releasing our stuff and it’s been really nice. It’s been more of a challenge, because we’ve no one to keep track of how many we’ve sold and then we’re like ‘Shit! We’re all out!’ (laughs) There’s been some mistakes along the way, and ones that we didn’t foresee, but it’s been a lot of fun.

What are your plans after the tour?
Acey: We’re playing some shows back in the New York area, and we’ll probably just start to arrange some more business stuff. We have another EP coming out (‘She Brings Down The Moon’) and the album is done. Rather than tour the States, I want to write with my new band, because they’re all just fantastic, brightly-shining human beings. I actually kind’ve want to start writing album number two. Everybody’s second album always kinda sucks, because they don’t take their time doing it, so I want to have it written, maybe play some of the new songs live, and get it out that way.

Do you envision this band being as successful as Trashlight Vision, or is that something you’re indifferent to?
Acey: It’s nice because you get to a point where the finances are and stuff, but given the economy and the career that I’ve had, I don’t care, man. I mean, I want people to get into it and like it, sure, but it’s not on my mind when I’m writing.

Thanks for your time, Acey. There’s just one last question that I think everyone wants to know the answer to… what’s [Acey's former Murderdolls bandmate] Wednesday 13 like in person?
Acey: (laughs) He’s a very scary person! And there’s always the question about the Murderdolls getting back together! The truth is, if I had my way, we’d have got back together years ago, but life is perfect the way that it is just now. It’ll happen when the time is right. I’m always up for it, but whenever Wednesday is free, Joey [Jordison, former Murderdolls guitarist and current Slipknot drummer] has been busy, and vice versa, and I’ve been doing Trashlight Vision too. I’m sure one perfect day it will all come together.