Andy Interviews...

Everything Begins With An "A"

Andy Extance et al make a sortie to the Joiners Arms to talk to a group of large northern punk-rock type people who call themselves "A"

I'll excuse you if you've never heard of "A". However, I crave your indulgence, as I've barely known them a month, and already I love them dearly. As it seems do many people, ranging from little kids who dodgily arrange to meet the band after the show, to huge great loping rock dinosaurs like The Wildhearts and Faith No More. "A" supported Faith No More on tour, you know, and keyboardist Giles Perry more than took the opportunity to tell me about it, and give me some tips about journalism on the way.

"We interviewed them for our fanzine", boasts Giles, "and asked them - `You say Faith No More, and Bon Jovi say Keep The Faith. Who are we to believe?'. We gave them all pieces of paper with the questions on. The first one, getting the serious questions out of the way first, was `If Darth Vader was your Dad, and he asked you to turn to the Dark Side, would you, and why?'."

How could something so good remain such a secret, you ask. Well, easily, reckons drummer, and Giles' brother, Adam.

"It's London Records' fault, and they admit it's their fault. We're starting again, that guy's been fired, we've had a change of management, and we're touring until Christmas, and then starting again after that. The last single "No.1" we only released 2000 copies of, so it's going to be done again, the way a single should be done, loads of copies, a proper video. The album gets rereleased on January 29th, with a remix CD with it for the same price. Then a while after that, between albums, we're going to do a punk E.P."

A formula for success, if their music has what it takes. "A" take on a genre which has produced little in the way of good music in Britain recently. The rock world is dominated by huge over-inflated bands, waiting to be overrun once more by the new wave of acts with integrity. Are "A" going to be one of the few?

"There aren't many good rock bands in Britain at the moment," says Adam, "although there are more than has been. There's a lot of stone-clad Weezers. I don't think you can second guess what's going to happen. You play the music you want to play, and if it works it works."

If you want a potted description of "A", and you want to hang on to the cliches, they are a four to the floor punk rock Jane's Addiction. If you've not heard Jane's Addiction - listen to "A" and you'll get a fair idea. How well do they bear up under the comparison?

"Jason's got a voice like Perry Farrell, you can't deny it," admits Adam.

"He's not going to change it just because people say he sounds like Perry Farrell," retorts Giles.

"He's got a high voice, and he tried to sing low once, but it was shit," commented Adam. "I don't think the music sounds like Jane's Addiction. "Bad Idea" is quite like them, but the rest of them aren't."

Giles is a keyboardist, an unusual instrumentalist for most Rock bands. This raises questions as to how much of an essential part of the band he is. What does Giles think?

"I bring a lot to the band. Gives it all kinds of scratches and samples. Saves being like all the other rock bands. Gives it bits and bobs and it means you can do what you want. We can do hip-hoppy things.

"A" managed to get their album produced by Thom Wilson, a high prestige, big bucks producer, earning millions off the producing of large acts like Offspring. "A" got him for peanuts. How so?

"He was about to do Aerosmith, for loads of money, he heard our tape and went `F... off Aerosmith, I'm doing A!' - we've got no idea why. I think we paid him sixty grand or something. His first royalty cheque came back from Offspring while we were doing it for five hundred grand."

In some eyes this brings them closer to America, where at present the world's most successful rock and metal bands come from. Clearly "A" are not trying to compete with those left over from the grunge era, but certainly have many of the groundswell of punk bands amongst their contemporaries. What do they think of their peers/rivals, and why do they play with them so much?

"I don't really know any of them," admits Adam. "Even though we were on the Vans/Warp tour with them, we didn't really mingle much. The only band we really mingled with was Cable. I like songs, with only a little bit of the sort of skate-riff kind of thing. I like songy bands. I can appreciate it, I think it's great, but...Jason's Mr. Melody, and we listen to melodic bands like the Beatles and the Beach Boys, 18 Wheeler and Teenage Fanclub."

"We played the Vans tour," continued Giles, "cos it's a cool thing to play. Our music lends itself to that kind of thing quite easily. We're doing some music for the same people who do the Day Tripper Films soon."

Moving away from the musical side and onto the more personal side, "A" were a very tight band at the start, what with three members being brothers. However, after a few months, things started to go a little pear-shaped. Hence a change between old man bassist and new man bassist.

"The old man was our best mate for five years, and he seemed to tire a bit of the band," said Adam, again. "On the Symposium tour he just didn't talk to us. For six weeks, he just didn't smile or say anything to us. We chucked him out after that, and that's the worst thing about it. It's all getting very legal now, with lawyers and stuff. Hopefully, though, as we start writing the new man, Dan, can bring something to our sound."

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