Miscellaneous - Interview

  by Olga Sladeckova

published: 10 / 2 / 2005

intro

New punk group Dead Fly Buchowski have recently signed to Beggar's Banquet and have just released their debut single 'Blackout'. With their debut album on the way, singer Roddy Campbell speaks to Olga Sladeckova about the group's rise

The Scottish-Austrian-English-Irish band Dead Fly Buchowski formed in 2002. It was no more than a love for music and a great desire to express themselves that brought its members ,singer Roddy Campbell, guitarist Tom Davis, bassist Michael Thorpe and drummer Simon Hofer together. With influences such as the Small Faces, the Kinks, the Stone Roses and the Charlatans they play raw and assertive music full of fiery passion that they spice up with punk attitude. Some press have compared them to Black Sabbath. Others have called them a response to the White Stripes. Make of that what you will... 2004 was a very successful year for the band. Not only did they find themselves a record label in the shape of Beggars Banquet, but they also came to the attention of MTV2, were featured on a Radio 1 session and the Scottish BBC. All of that contributed to a great start to 2005 when in January the band release their debut single ‘Blackout’. They hope to follow this with an album in the spring. Pennyblackmusic spoke to Roddy Campbell, about all of this and more on the night of the single's release at London Barfly at which the band also performed a set. PB: Is Dead Fly Buchowski the first band you have been in ? RC: I’ve been in other bands before but nothing serious. PB: You all come from different parts of Britain. You are from Scotland, Tom is from Ireland, Michael from England and your drummer Simon is from Austria. How did you actually meet? RC: I first met Tom at one of the Glasgow Unplugged nights. I met Tom there and then we also met our drummer Simon there. Michael, our bass player, at the time lived with Simon and that’s how we all got together and started playing. PB: How did you come up with the name Dead Fly Buchowski? RC: There is no clever answer to this. Simon and Tom came up with it. I’m not quite sure how the story goes but think they heard someone in a bar saying it in some strange context and just picked up on it. PB: How do you write your songs ? RC: I write a lot of lyrics but our collaboration is very organic. We improvise a lot and everyone adds something to it. PB: What music you are into? RC: I like the Small Faces, the Kinks, John Martyn and stuff like that. PB: You come from Scotland. Are you into Scottish bands at all like Primal Scream? RC: Yeah, I was born just outside Glasgow. I do like Primal Scream but also bands like the Stone Roses and the Charlatans. All four of us like similar bands but also have our own favourite bands which influences our music a lot as well. PB: You have just put out your first single ‘Blackout’ on Beggars Banquet and will put releasing your debut album ‘The Land Of The Rough’. RC: Yeah, that’s right. We are really glad to have such a great label and to work with people who have such a great belief in us even though we haven’t really achieved much so far. PB: What is the song ‘Blackout’ actually about? RC: It’s mainly about people doing same stuff over and over again. It’s about people who get stuck in a rut and who do the same thing all the time. That’s what blackout represents for me. Even seeing the same people and going to the same places all the time and not discovering anything new. Perhaps a lot of it also relates to London I guess. PB: Could you tell me more about the album ? RC: It’s going to have 10 tracks and will last just over 45 minutes. I think that’s just the right length for a debut album. tt’s also good length fora vinyl LP, which it will be released on as well. We are really excited to have it on vinyl. It’s really good that we are with Beggars because they are a well established label with wide distribution so lots more people will be able to hear our music. PB: How did you come up with the title for the album ‘Land Of The Rough’? RC: That came from Simon or more exactly from his dad. His dad sometimes comes to visit him or rings him up to see how he is doing and often asks him “How are things in the land of the rough.” Meaning the weather but also in London things can be quite rough. PB: Do you have a favourite song on ‘Land Of The Rough’? RC: I really like ‘Blackout’. We now have a new version of it as well. I think it we will put that on our second single. There is a song called ‘The Way She Goes’ which I really like. It has a lot of my heart and soul in it. I think that’s what music should be about. It should be about something that means a lot to you and when you hear it you should feel that moving feeling right down in your stomach. Real music should be about something that is eternal. I think our generation expresses itself in music a lot. PB: The artwork for the single features a half naked man holding a sword and fighting people standing below him. Who did the artwork and why did you decide to put that on the sleeve ? RC: The artwork is designed by my friend Keith Robinson. He is an art graduate. I wanted a sort of Eastern block and propaganda feel to it. We are not a political band at all but I just thought it might just work well with the music. It has the same feel and is quite striking. I guess the media don’t really care about things like that but we wanted something nice that we all liked. RC: Since it’s the first time you released anything officially, what is it like to actually see the single in shops like HMV or Virgin? RC: It’s really exciting. It’s really cool. When we started our band it wasn’t because we had any great ambition. We just wanted to play music and have fun. We didn’t have any expectations. And when it happened it was just great opportunity for us. It’s great that so many people can hear it now. It will be in every record shop in the UK . Beggars Banquet have such a great reputation. They really believe in their bands and support them. PB: You hear a lot of stories from bands that get signed to major label, release one single and get dropped or even if they remain on the label they don’t get treated well. RC: Yeah, majors just sign them to a few singles and then they drop the band. No one is going to pick them up if they were just dropped by major label. I think Beggars can see our potential and that we are great band now. It’s a great attitude. They are just honest and that’s the main thing. PB: You also did an MTV2 gig ? RC: That’s right. We did that in Glasgow at the Barfly there. It was another great opportunity to have that exposure. We played our song called ‘Black and Blue’. We have been very lucky on opportunities and people have been really nice to us. PB: What are your plans for the near future? RC: The first thing now is to put out our second single and then the album later in spring. It’s hard to predict what will happen then but we would love to play in Europe and hopefully do some festivals in summer. As for now everything is coming along quite nicely. PB: Thank you. RC: Thank you.

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