Urgent spitting angst ridden energy, real punk rock - vitriolic rawness that's got places to go, people to see, faces to shout at - "you're becoming a caricature of everything you used to hate," spits the voice. (Review by Org Records)
Baxxter have grown up in public. Their drunken shambolic beginnings saw them alienate half of Birmingham. Their drummer left to play bass with Twist and along the way they picked up a stray Starrie and an extra guitarist. For those who've stuck with them the rewards have been enormous - still drunken, still shambolic but this time with tunes and attitude! The new single has received great reviews and national airplay and a tour with London band, Evangelista, is planned for June
I meet up with Greg, Russell, Steve and new boy Kieran in the middle of a mini tour, back on home turf for the night with the perils of Winchester and London awaiting them.
"Why Baxxter?" I ask.
"It's a question I ask myself all the time!" says Russell.
"Russell quits three times a week," explains Greg, "and we only
rehearse twice a week"
The band deny that they have any sort of local celebrity status. "If we
get recognised it's always by girls but they're always about 14," says
Steve. "And in a couple of years they will have forgotten us and be into
Papa Roach and all that stuff"
How famous do they want to be?
"That's a question we often ask ourselves," says Russell.
"I want to be a rock star," adds Kieran, "but not with this band
though, not with you guys!"
"It would be really nice to tour properly, to be able to afford to travel
properly," says Steve. "An Idlewild-type size is really good. They
keep out of the charts but they're really big independently and they're still
really nice guys. It's not gone to their heads."
Would fame change them?
"I don't think the drug taking would be a problem," says Greg.
Kieran has a different take on the matter, "I'd be dead in two weeks!"
Here's the problem: if you become a successful band in Birmingham people will
stab you in the back quicker than a hack journalist.
"It's true that is." says Steve. "It's a really tight knit community
and people get really jealous."
Russell disagrees, "I think the problem is that there is no community.
That's why people get jealous because it's all about success. Two years ago
it was different. It used to be really healthy, everybody helping each other
out. Bands like us, The Starries, Jameson and Distophia, everyone wanted to
play with each other, everyone wanted to hang out but now it's nothing like
that. You've either got to be saying you've got a single out on Fierce Panda
or you're nothing. It's not confrontation…"
"It isn't," adds Steve, "but when someone has had a fair bit
of attention there's always going to be criticism. King Adora have had it quite
hard…"
"They've had a real beating," says Greg, "and some of it on quite
a personal level; it seems to be really out of order. They're really nice people.
If you don't think the music's that good then OK. But it shouldn't stop you
being civil and having a beer with them anyway. It's better than just calling
them tarts."
"In America," he continues, "you seem to get local scenes that
are a lot tighter and a lot more supportive of each other. Locally there seems
to be a lot more of an affinity between the local metal bands. They've got a
lot more respect for each other. There's a national thing as well."
"The thing is that it's a lot to do with the bands. Everyone is too lazy
to do anything about it. Instead of someone saying 'why don't we meet up for
a drink and sort it', there's too much apathy. It's this whole bed-sit syndrome
of 'I've got all my records, I'll just sit at home and listen to them and you
can go and listen to yours somewhere else.' - it's not good"
It's all getting a bit heavy so let's lighten things up a bit. Tell me about
the new single.
"We don't like it!" says Steve immediately. "It's too poppy"
"It's over a year old as well," adds Russell. "There were delays
due to line up changes (with the new boy, Kieran), recording problems (we recorded
it and it was shit so we recorded it again).
"What's it all about?" I ask.
"As usual," explains Greg, "my deep and meaningful lyrics were
made up on the day we wrote the song. The title came out of just sitting in
the rehearsal room having a chat and Steve just came out with this comment about
young ladies looking quite attractive…"
"The Girls Are Looking Good This Summer"…it's cool," says
Steve. "Just like a Beach Boys' title. Everyone was happy about it and
it stuck."
I tentatively suggest that it seems to follow the self loathing model common
to many Baxxter songs. The band are unanimous that it's all down to Greg being
a miserable bastard!
What about the Birmingham audience?
"The younger it is the more enthusiastic it is," says Greg. "When
we played Chamberlain Square last year there were loads of kids going ape-shit
for it and that was brilliant. Sometimes you get an audience that just stands
there."
Or sits on the floor, I suggest!
"I don't mind people sitting at the sides but it's bad when they sit down
at the front," says Steve. "Maybe we should tell them to get up; I
could throw drum sticks at them."
Greg is horrified by the idea. "You can't do that…if you stand there
and say 'get up and dance!' You just look a twat. If I see a band where they
say 'are you going to mosh or not?' I just cringe. If people are not going to
get into it you can't force them to."
Kieran has a slightly different recollection of a recent gig, "Like when
you said 'move you Nuneaton scum!'"
"That's going to be our line for out of town gigs" says Russell 'Move
you bleep scum!'"
And so our time is up. The band are keen to catch the support band (and they've
just finished the drinks I bought them!)
"Any last words?"
"We're shit, but we're our own shit!"