What’s on your turntable right now?
Lowell Fulson’s – Reconsider Baby, I think his version of Tramp is the best I’ve ever heard and thought I
outta check him out a bit more. Howlin’ Wolf, always. Sunday Nights, the songs of Junior Kimborough,
Immortal Lee County Killers – Love is a Charm, The Magotts, The Rippers, Dee Rangers, The
Bobbyteens (I got a load of stuff from Screaming Apple). Loads of demos - people keep sending ‘em and
I keep listening.
Lowell Fulson’s – Reconsider Baby, I think his version of Tramp is the best I’ve ever heard and thought I
outta check him out a bit more. Howlin’ Wolf, always. Sunday Nights, the songs of Junior Kimborough,
Immortal Lee County Killers – Love is a Charm, The Magotts, The Rippers, Dee Rangers, The
Bobbyteens (I got a load of stuff from Screaming Apple). Loads of demos - people keep sending ‘em and
I keep listening.
You’re into hot rods, how did you get interested in kustom kulture?
For me it’s a purely aesthetic thing, I think those cars are the
most beautiful looking things and I could admire them all day.
I get a few magazines like Ol Skool Rodz and that, so I can
look but not touch. We don’t have that kulture over here, for
a start the engines sizes alone mean its an impossibility, the
average engine size over here is 2litres or under, you fellas
have 6, 7 and 8 litre monsters, the petrol costs and taxes you’
d have to pay to keep that fella on the road would be
ridiculous. There are a few brave souls who indulge, but they
must be wealthy.
most beautiful looking things and I could admire them all day.
I get a few magazines like Ol Skool Rodz and that, so I can
look but not touch. We don’t have that kulture over here, for
a start the engines sizes alone mean its an impossibility, the
average engine size over here is 2litres or under, you fellas
have 6, 7 and 8 litre monsters, the petrol costs and taxes you’
d have to pay to keep that fella on the road would be
ridiculous. There are a few brave souls who indulge, but they
must be wealthy.
I also love the lore of these guys coming back from WW2 and putting their energy into building fast
cars, they could have done anything they wanted, but chose going fast, for me it’s a very romantic
image, the outsiders, the pirate, the highwayman, the rebel. I have ancestors who were highwaymen
and pirates, I relate very easily to that, the path less traveled.
cars, they could have done anything they wanted, but chose going fast, for me it’s a very romantic
image, the outsiders, the pirate, the highwayman, the rebel. I have ancestors who were highwaymen
and pirates, I relate very easily to that, the path less traveled.
All this money you’re putting into the label could go toward a sweet car. Are you sure you
have your priorities straight?
Nope, but fuck it. I am gonna be buying something nice next year, a 1960s restored split screen VW
van, but I want to be use it everyday as my main mode of transport, so it’ll need to be in good
mechanical order, also I can use it for the bands.
What is your dream ride?
Just the one? Seriously Craig, this is question I could never answer with any degree of certainty.
There’s a tattoo guy in Vegas called Kent Kelley and he owns a 54 Chevy Belair chopped shaved
nosed and decked. Flat Black, Frenched lights, fucking perfect. I think Id like something like that,
but maybe tomorrow I’d like a Shelby AC Cobra, completely different but no less perfect.
Are you into mid-century design in general?
Yep, very much so, in fact 20th century design in general would be more accurate, I love Art Deco
(architecture and design), Art Nouveau, I love G-plan, post war plywood furniture, and the space
age stuff from the 60s, I love it all.
Here’s something you night not know. After World War II the British government asked all the
designers to try and make the things the public needed from plywood, as that was the one material
we had an excess of, because it was used to make propellors for Spitfires and Hurricane fighters.
Some of the designs are pure genius, so much so that they are museum pieces now and its barely
50 years ago. For a country that can trace its history back 1400 years in writing, that’s saying
something.
To be fair, I think I just love good design, even today, Apple computers, fantastic, to look at and to
use, good architecture turns an area into a livable habitat with people that use the area and care
about it, get it wrong and you’ve created a slum inside a generation.
My parents had a ’65 Mercury Comet convertible when I was a kid. I grew up in Germany
where they were teachers and that thing really turned heads. They hate themselves for
selling it in the 80s.
I bet they did, that was a beautiful car, do you remember being in it? It still had a hint of the 50’s
aesthetic. Was it because they moved back to the states? Mainland Europe has a lot more of these
things, due to the US army bases in Germany and the price of petrol won’t kill you.
Living in the Detroit area I see a lot of great vintage American automobiles; are there
many in the UK?
You lucky bastard, there are a few, but, you don’t see them driving the streets, car shows and
things you would see them, but the car shows over here are more men with beards rather than men
with tattoos. I love that about American culture, the coolness. We don’t have that, that’s why its very
attractive to me, when you where learning about being cool from the Fonz, so was I.
What do you think of the Mini Cooper?
I love it, another example of great design and it deserves its iconic status, that’s something we do
see a lot of over here, and I get a kick out of it when I do. There’s also a great Northern Ireland link
to the Cooper. In 1964 Belfast man Paddy Hopkirk won the Monte Carlo Rally in the Mini Cooper,
that was the first of 3 times it won it. The new Coopers are good as well, they drive fantastic, they’ve
kept the fun of the original.
Back to music, what is the five-year plan for Motor Sounds?
Keep on putting out great music, but the priority is in five years I would really need to be making
some money at it. I’d like to be full time and making a salary, Im not at the minute, although I am full
time. I can’t afford to do it forever without getting some money back, but I reckon I’ll be there before
5 years is up. I’d also like to get our clubnight established in a permanent venue either in Belfast or
Lurgan, and have a ready supply of good venues across the country to send touring bands.
Any bands we should be looking out for (besides Rock ‘n’ Roll Monkey and the Robots of
course!).
Of course, yeah, your album is fucking great, the more I listen to it the more I hear, the album that
keeps on giving, but apart from you, the Jooks of Kent from England, a great wee garage blues
outfit, Arty Zyph from England as well, these kids that just tear it up, great energy. There are a
couple of bands from Dublin, The Things and Stagger Lee, they’re fantastic, The Revillions and
The Urges, all great. I wish I had a lot more money to put all these great bands albums out. I’d put
them all out now.
have your priorities straight?
Nope, but fuck it. I am gonna be buying something nice next year, a 1960s restored split screen VW
van, but I want to be use it everyday as my main mode of transport, so it’ll need to be in good
mechanical order, also I can use it for the bands.
What is your dream ride?
Just the one? Seriously Craig, this is question I could never answer with any degree of certainty.
There’s a tattoo guy in Vegas called Kent Kelley and he owns a 54 Chevy Belair chopped shaved
nosed and decked. Flat Black, Frenched lights, fucking perfect. I think Id like something like that,
but maybe tomorrow I’d like a Shelby AC Cobra, completely different but no less perfect.
Are you into mid-century design in general?
Yep, very much so, in fact 20th century design in general would be more accurate, I love Art Deco
(architecture and design), Art Nouveau, I love G-plan, post war plywood furniture, and the space
age stuff from the 60s, I love it all.
Here’s something you night not know. After World War II the British government asked all the
designers to try and make the things the public needed from plywood, as that was the one material
we had an excess of, because it was used to make propellors for Spitfires and Hurricane fighters.
Some of the designs are pure genius, so much so that they are museum pieces now and its barely
50 years ago. For a country that can trace its history back 1400 years in writing, that’s saying
something.
To be fair, I think I just love good design, even today, Apple computers, fantastic, to look at and to
use, good architecture turns an area into a livable habitat with people that use the area and care
about it, get it wrong and you’ve created a slum inside a generation.
My parents had a ’65 Mercury Comet convertible when I was a kid. I grew up in Germany
where they were teachers and that thing really turned heads. They hate themselves for
selling it in the 80s.
I bet they did, that was a beautiful car, do you remember being in it? It still had a hint of the 50’s
aesthetic. Was it because they moved back to the states? Mainland Europe has a lot more of these
things, due to the US army bases in Germany and the price of petrol won’t kill you.
Living in the Detroit area I see a lot of great vintage American automobiles; are there
many in the UK?
You lucky bastard, there are a few, but, you don’t see them driving the streets, car shows and
things you would see them, but the car shows over here are more men with beards rather than men
with tattoos. I love that about American culture, the coolness. We don’t have that, that’s why its very
attractive to me, when you where learning about being cool from the Fonz, so was I.
What do you think of the Mini Cooper?
I love it, another example of great design and it deserves its iconic status, that’s something we do
see a lot of over here, and I get a kick out of it when I do. There’s also a great Northern Ireland link
to the Cooper. In 1964 Belfast man Paddy Hopkirk won the Monte Carlo Rally in the Mini Cooper,
that was the first of 3 times it won it. The new Coopers are good as well, they drive fantastic, they’ve
kept the fun of the original.
Back to music, what is the five-year plan for Motor Sounds?
Keep on putting out great music, but the priority is in five years I would really need to be making
some money at it. I’d like to be full time and making a salary, Im not at the minute, although I am full
time. I can’t afford to do it forever without getting some money back, but I reckon I’ll be there before
5 years is up. I’d also like to get our clubnight established in a permanent venue either in Belfast or
Lurgan, and have a ready supply of good venues across the country to send touring bands.
Any bands we should be looking out for (besides Rock ‘n’ Roll Monkey and the Robots of
course!).
Of course, yeah, your album is fucking great, the more I listen to it the more I hear, the album that
keeps on giving, but apart from you, the Jooks of Kent from England, a great wee garage blues
outfit, Arty Zyph from England as well, these kids that just tear it up, great energy. There are a
couple of bands from Dublin, The Things and Stagger Lee, they’re fantastic, The Revillions and
The Urges, all great. I wish I had a lot more money to put all these great bands albums out. I’d put
them all out now.
How soon till I get that new Routes record?
Very soon, I hope to have it tomorrow, its fucking great by
the way, you’ll love it.
What is with Chris Jack’s incredible voice; what is
his secret, is there gravel lodged in his larynx?!
I know its mad, the thing is I’ve never spoke to him all our
contact has been via email, so for all I know he might talk
like that.
Very soon, I hope to have it tomorrow, its fucking great by
the way, you’ll love it.
What is with Chris Jack’s incredible voice; what is
his secret, is there gravel lodged in his larynx?!
I know its mad, the thing is I’ve never spoke to him all our
contact has been via email, so for all I know he might talk
like that.
THE ROUTES
You distributed my record and now one from Japan. I’m not complaining here, but why not
more local stuff?
Quality mate, I’m not one for giving the local kids a record just because they’re local, fuck that, if its
good enough I don’t care where it’s from, and I can only afford to put out so many records a year
anyway, so every record counts. 95% of all music is shit anyway, its trying to find that good stuff. Id
like to put out some stuff by a couple of the Dublin bands I mentioned, they’re as good as anybody
out there. The Childish Thoughts are good enough but too lazy and The Keepers are the same, I'm
not slagging these boys of, they’re all my mates, I drink with them, play cards with them and I love
them musically and personally, but its true, If I put out their records I'm gonna end up with a shed load
of ‘em unsold, because they’re not out there gigging, touring and pushing and that’s no good. I don’t
have a media department, that’s down to everyone involved, that’s why I like working with Chris Jack
from The Routes, apart from having an amazing album, he’s out there hustling, trying to get his
record sold, its for his own benefit after all. I mean, I haven’t even gotten hold of the record yet and if
Chris asked me to put out his next album, I’d do it, because I know Chris will do everything he can to
sell it. A lot of bands could learn a lot from him. My margins are so tight that if I don’t sell an album the
whole pack of cards could fall down. So having a good album isn’t just enough sometimes, sad but
true. I’m a musician, first , but now I’m a small label boss, I see things from the other side, and its tight.
Put it this way, I can think, right now of 6 bands whose albums Id love to put out, and would, but I don’t
think they’d sell due to inactivity on their part. There’s no excuse these days, the internet has made a
level playing field for us all. If your not prepared to promote yourself, then by God you shouldn’t
expect someone else to do it.
Your old band, The Blues Experimentation Society, was making serious headway when it
imploded. Are there recordings available?
No, not really, I have some stuff, if anyone wants it I’ll gladly send them a CDR, but just hold off until
the Bonevilles get some stuff together in 2007, the only thing that’s changed is the drummer. It’s a
shame what happened there, we where making headway indeed, but you gotta get on with the people
you work with, especially when there’s only two of you, and we, it turned out, were tolerating each
other, its shows you how good the band was, because we tolerated each other for 3 years. But
eventually we ended up in a “Fuck you,” “no fuck you” situation. But I’m glad because it couldn’t have
continued the way it was. There was an atmosphere.
Word is your band, the Bonevilles, has found a drummer; is there a full-length album in the
works?
Yep an old buddy of mine Kevy Neeson, I played with Kevy a few years ago in a blues band I was in,
the drummer at the time pulled of a weekend of gigs and Kevy stepped in last minute. The first gig, he
puked up in the middle of the set, but never stopped playing and the second gig he was so drunk he
can’t remember anything about it and it was his birthday (which he never mentioned), but he carried
on playing and never made mistakes. So I bumped into him a few months back in Belfast, it turned out
he was dying to get in with a band as he’d gone through a bit of a barren period, so I asked him to
come and have a jam, see how it goes, but I was actually secretly auditioning him, and it was great, I
immediately asked him to join full time and started planning gigs. Then a week before our first gig
together (supporting The Things), which was only a couple of weeks ago, he cuts his hand up in an
accident and has to have surgery to save it. Its gonna be at least April before he’s ready to play. It’s a
pisser, but it could be a lot worse, for Kevy. He’s a real trooper, he came to the Stagger Lee gig I
organized and wanted to get up and play a song with his hand all fucked up, I told him to just get
better first, there’s plenty of time for all that. He’s as hungry as a wild dog. That’s good.
For the linguists in the audience that may be curious, can you explain your unique spelling
of Boneville?
Easy, the correct spelling was taken already, some frigging cover band. But I kinda like the way the
emphasis on the word ‘Bone’. Because of the spelling people do ask how to pronounce it
So, are we going on a little Bonevilles/Rock ‘n’ Roll Monkey tour this summer?
Wouldn’t that be great. I’d love to do it mate, if you're up for it. I’ll need to get planning for it very soon
though. We could do a couple of gigs in Ireland and nip over to Europe for a few more, that would be
fun. In fact, The Routes are now talking about coming over to Europe in the summer, wouldn’t that be
fun, a Motor Sounds Records triple bill.
One last, important question: What is your local beer of choice? (All we know about here
are Guinness and Harp.)
Jesus, Harp, that stuffs piss man, don’t touch it. Seriously, I wouldn’t drink that if I were dying of thirst.
Guinness is good though, I actually try and drink German beers, they really got their beer thing down
with the purity laws and all that, you can drink loads of it and not get a hangover. All our brewerys got
closed down a couple of hundred years ago by the British government to prop up the Scottish
Whiskey industry, that’s why you have loads of Scottish whiskeys and not so many Irish ones when we
used to have loads as well, (I think we’ve only two or three now). My local beer of choice is
Smithwicks, its really nice, brewed in Kilkenny, give it a go.
MOTOR SOUNDS RECORDS
--Craig Campbell
February 25, 2007
more local stuff?
Quality mate, I’m not one for giving the local kids a record just because they’re local, fuck that, if its
good enough I don’t care where it’s from, and I can only afford to put out so many records a year
anyway, so every record counts. 95% of all music is shit anyway, its trying to find that good stuff. Id
like to put out some stuff by a couple of the Dublin bands I mentioned, they’re as good as anybody
out there. The Childish Thoughts are good enough but too lazy and The Keepers are the same, I'm
not slagging these boys of, they’re all my mates, I drink with them, play cards with them and I love
them musically and personally, but its true, If I put out their records I'm gonna end up with a shed load
of ‘em unsold, because they’re not out there gigging, touring and pushing and that’s no good. I don’t
have a media department, that’s down to everyone involved, that’s why I like working with Chris Jack
from The Routes, apart from having an amazing album, he’s out there hustling, trying to get his
record sold, its for his own benefit after all. I mean, I haven’t even gotten hold of the record yet and if
Chris asked me to put out his next album, I’d do it, because I know Chris will do everything he can to
sell it. A lot of bands could learn a lot from him. My margins are so tight that if I don’t sell an album the
whole pack of cards could fall down. So having a good album isn’t just enough sometimes, sad but
true. I’m a musician, first , but now I’m a small label boss, I see things from the other side, and its tight.
Put it this way, I can think, right now of 6 bands whose albums Id love to put out, and would, but I don’t
think they’d sell due to inactivity on their part. There’s no excuse these days, the internet has made a
level playing field for us all. If your not prepared to promote yourself, then by God you shouldn’t
expect someone else to do it.
Your old band, The Blues Experimentation Society, was making serious headway when it
imploded. Are there recordings available?
No, not really, I have some stuff, if anyone wants it I’ll gladly send them a CDR, but just hold off until
the Bonevilles get some stuff together in 2007, the only thing that’s changed is the drummer. It’s a
shame what happened there, we where making headway indeed, but you gotta get on with the people
you work with, especially when there’s only two of you, and we, it turned out, were tolerating each
other, its shows you how good the band was, because we tolerated each other for 3 years. But
eventually we ended up in a “Fuck you,” “no fuck you” situation. But I’m glad because it couldn’t have
continued the way it was. There was an atmosphere.
Word is your band, the Bonevilles, has found a drummer; is there a full-length album in the
works?
Yep an old buddy of mine Kevy Neeson, I played with Kevy a few years ago in a blues band I was in,
the drummer at the time pulled of a weekend of gigs and Kevy stepped in last minute. The first gig, he
puked up in the middle of the set, but never stopped playing and the second gig he was so drunk he
can’t remember anything about it and it was his birthday (which he never mentioned), but he carried
on playing and never made mistakes. So I bumped into him a few months back in Belfast, it turned out
he was dying to get in with a band as he’d gone through a bit of a barren period, so I asked him to
come and have a jam, see how it goes, but I was actually secretly auditioning him, and it was great, I
immediately asked him to join full time and started planning gigs. Then a week before our first gig
together (supporting The Things), which was only a couple of weeks ago, he cuts his hand up in an
accident and has to have surgery to save it. Its gonna be at least April before he’s ready to play. It’s a
pisser, but it could be a lot worse, for Kevy. He’s a real trooper, he came to the Stagger Lee gig I
organized and wanted to get up and play a song with his hand all fucked up, I told him to just get
better first, there’s plenty of time for all that. He’s as hungry as a wild dog. That’s good.
For the linguists in the audience that may be curious, can you explain your unique spelling
of Boneville?
Easy, the correct spelling was taken already, some frigging cover band. But I kinda like the way the
emphasis on the word ‘Bone’. Because of the spelling people do ask how to pronounce it
So, are we going on a little Bonevilles/Rock ‘n’ Roll Monkey tour this summer?
Wouldn’t that be great. I’d love to do it mate, if you're up for it. I’ll need to get planning for it very soon
though. We could do a couple of gigs in Ireland and nip over to Europe for a few more, that would be
fun. In fact, The Routes are now talking about coming over to Europe in the summer, wouldn’t that be
fun, a Motor Sounds Records triple bill.
One last, important question: What is your local beer of choice? (All we know about here
are Guinness and Harp.)
Jesus, Harp, that stuffs piss man, don’t touch it. Seriously, I wouldn’t drink that if I were dying of thirst.
Guinness is good though, I actually try and drink German beers, they really got their beer thing down
with the purity laws and all that, you can drink loads of it and not get a hangover. All our brewerys got
closed down a couple of hundred years ago by the British government to prop up the Scottish
Whiskey industry, that’s why you have loads of Scottish whiskeys and not so many Irish ones when we
used to have loads as well, (I think we’ve only two or three now). My local beer of choice is
Smithwicks, its really nice, brewed in Kilkenny, give it a go.
MOTOR SOUNDS RECORDS
--Craig Campbell
February 25, 2007
