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Liam catches up with Jesse James before their gig in the Cavern, saving us from
our bad recording. Always practice
with new microphones, I warn you. We
were dumb enough not to.
Liam:
Please introduce yourselves and what you do in Jesse James:
Dko:
Hi I’m Dko and I play bass and sing.
Rich:
I’m Rich and I play guitar and sing.
Liam:
Where are you from and did it affect your writing?
Rich: I’m from a small town above Birmingham. I took a guitar and a
dream and clawed my way out. I don’t think it really affected my writing, but
I think where you have lived can definitely affect your attitude.
Liam: How is the tour going?
Dko:
It is going great! The crowd reaction has been really good this time. I think
because now more people have the CD they know the songs and the words. This
means they can be more into our show.
Liam: What would you say made you a great band to see live?
Dko:
Audience interaction! We talk to the crowd and involve people. We get people up
and get them really involved in the show.
Liam: What are the up sides of being signed to Golf?
Dko:
The most important thing is financial backup. This one time we had problems with
the van and Golf sorted out a tour bus for us so that we could finish the tour.
If they hadn’t we would have had to cancel the shows.
Liam: If you could have an animal mascot for Jesse James what would it be
and why?
Dko:
Squirrel!
Rich:
Well it is interesting you should ask that. There is a column on our website and
one of the questions is what kind of animals we like to fuck. There are pictures
of 7 or 8 different animals and the squirrel has got the most votes don’t
they?
Dko:
Yeah but there is a difference between shagging one and having it as a mascot.
It’s like the difference between shagging someone and having a child.
Rich:
If you combine the two then…Well maybe not…Hmmm like Woody Allen! Yeah Woody
Allen would be our mascot.
Dko:
No, no…I think a moose! A Canadian moose.
Rich:
Hmmm a Canadian moose…Dead in the road or fully functional?
Dko:
Fully functional…It would be strong yet comic.
Liam: What has been the most difficult hurdle your band has so far
encountered?
Rich:
Keeping our heads above water financially.
Dko:
Paying rent!
Rich:
Faking sanity.
Dko:
Coming back this year; stronger than we were last year and managing to stay
being a band after last year and still being friends.
Rich: Trying to avoid alcohol dependence. Because when you come off tour,
although you are not drinking huge amounts every night you just get used to
drinking volumes of alcohol every night. So you get off tour and you sit there
and you think ‘I want a beer’ but you have no reason to have a beer when
you’re just on your own in your room. Your used to trying to relieve the
boredom in between leaving the hotel in the morning and getting off stage at
night. So you tend to drink or smoke a bit of dope or whatever. So when you get
home you will find yourself doing that rather than watching the TV or whatever
you did when you were bored normally.
Dko: I like being back on tour. I’m getting back into the hotels.
It’s the familiarity. Not having to make your bed or clean the bathroom.
Rich: It’s kind of cool for hanging out as well. Because when you a do
a gig and everyone drives home they go their separate ways just like a job. So
if we are staying in a hotel then we kind of go back with some wine and some
spliff and just all hang out.
Dko:
Not like a practice where we will turn up one by one and then fuck off;
sometimes not even calling each other for days.
Liam: Name one record that will always make your day and one that would
ruin it?
Dko:
‘Clash’ – London Calling, will always make my day.
Dko:
What is that horrible Daphne and Celeste song? That really annoys me!
Rich:
Got no alibi?
Dko:
No…
Rich:
I don’t know any other ones…
Dko:
Or…New Found Glory! There is not a lot to tell them apart really though Daphne
and Celeste had a better producer.
Rich:
Earth Vs.the Wildhearts makes my day!
Rich:
Hearing ‘Busted’ makes me want to kill people! It makes me want to kill
anyone just for existing!
Dko:
You should have seen his face the other day! Something on the TV with 'Busted'
on and one of them had just bought a Porsche. Rich was disgusted that the
guy had the money to buy a Porsche. I was disgusted that he was claiming to be
17!
Rich:
If I ever see ‘Busted’ I just want to hit them!
Dko:
Or ‘Uncle Brian’…
Rich:
Oooo yeah!
Liam: Do you have any plans to take your touring to the US?
Rich:
Stuff is kind of slowly building up.
Dko:
We are going over to record the new album in America. So we are hoping there are
going to be a few dates set up around that. We have also got a Canadian and
American tour in November.
Dko:
I’ll believe it when I’m there! When we are burning the ‘stars and
stripes’ on stage! Damn there goes my visa!
Liam: Would you say it was harder to keep a band going than say a 3 piece
outfit?
Rich:
Not really because without sounding harsh about it you can loose a member and it
is less of an impact to a 7 piece band.
Dko:
Also if there are any petty personal differences, which do happen on a
day-to-day thing, then you don’t have to talk to that person you can get on
with the rest of the tour. So you can be quite happily pissed off with someone
in the band and there are so many of us you can just carry on as normal.
Rich:
It’s more expensive to be in a larger band. There is less money to go around
as well.
Liam: Did you enjoy school?
Dko:
I hated it!
Rich:
I had a great time at school!
Dko:
I had a shit time!
Liam:
Did you both go to different school then yeah?
Rich:
Yeah, we are from different countries!
Dko:
I went to 5 different schools. I kept getting kicked out!
Liam:
Ah, so you kept reliving that ‘first day’ over and over then?
Dko:
Yeah I had that first day every year! Trying to make new friends.
Liam:
Do you think you are well practiced now, are you good at getting on with people?
Rich:
Oh Jesus!
Dko:
You’d think I would be! I’m actually very shy. It takes me a long time to
start talking to people properly. Before I can talk to them properly I will
insult them, take the piss out of them and flirt with them.
Rich: In that order!
Liam: What have you
learned during your time in Jesse James that’s proved most valuable?
Dko:
Having to get on with so many different people all the time. You have to think
about what you say and do a lot you know?
Rich:
What I’ve learned over the last few years is not really connected directly
with Jesse James. It has been a natural occurrence to growing up. If I were in
my more cynical mode I would say that everyone has an agenda that they don’t
necessarily share. Also that if you persevere with something you love you will
get something from it!
Dko:
The music business sucks.
Liam:
So do you find you take from it what you need and try and stay away from the
rest of it?
Dko:
Yeah, we try to get other people to do the stuff so we don’t have to.
Liam: What is your next plan of action, once the tour is over?
Rich:
The new album!
Dko:
We are off to the USA to record the new record. We are really excited about it.
Liam:
Have you got most of it written?
Dko:
I would say about 90% of it. It needs one more song that we will probably write
when we are over there.
Liam: Thanks guys.
Rich:
No problem!