The Regulars - July 2000

The Regulars describe themselves as a pop band with guitars. They are from Bearwood, on the western edge of Birmingham but more about that later. We meet up on a sunny Saturday afternoon in July and begin the quest for a city centre pub without dictaphone debilitating music levels. We finally end up in the sumptuous surroundings of the Bacchus Bar beneath Birmingham's Burlington Hotel. The place can't quite decide whether it's a Roman Temple or a medieval castle! The menu is full of such delights as "smoked salmon with lemon and chive creme fraiche, capers and quails eggs". Pints are shared as we get underway.

Pete Green (singing and tambourine) met Stu Fletcher (bass, singing and shouting) in 1993. Pete was an undergraduate in Brum and Stu was knocking off his housemate. As Grimsby Town and West Bromwich Albion supporters respectively, they quickly forged a bond. (Meanwhile, the autocratic, infuriating genius manager Alan Buckley flitted eccentrically between the two clubs, followed by a considerable number of playing staff!) One hazy summer night in 1995, they went out for a beer and ended up getting, as they put it, "chuffing tonkered." Back at his flat, Pete played Stu a load of his songs on a suitably battered acoustic, and the inebriated Fletcher made a pledge that was to profoundly influence the course of his later life. As he was to describe it later: "I said, 'I'll be your bass player,' even though I couldn't play a thing!"

Pete graduated shortly afterwards and left Birmingham, only to return in 1996. He held Stu to his ill-advised vow. Pete's brother, Chris (drums) arrived soon after and the band started gigging in mid-1997 with various temporary guitarists. "We had other people in the band," says Chris, "but it just didn't work out."

The Regulars' top 5 places in Birmingham

1. The Dog, Hagley Road - not strictly in Birmingham but only a stone's throw away

2. The Green Room, Hurst Street - Great food, curly fries a particular favourite.

3. Sputnik, Temple Street - Dodgy 80s music on a Friday night.

4. Downstairs in Tempest Records, Bull Street - best selection of 7" vinyl in the Midlands.

5. Mr. Egg, also on Hurst Street - egg and chips starts at 99p, full monte for £3.50.

At the time it seemed like every band in Bearwood were seeking the mercurial talents of Rob "Chopper" Harris (guitars and singing) but Stu was intelligent enough to secure his lifetime commitment to The Regulars on Boxing Day 1997 while the latter was drunk and pissed up on booze. He recalls, "I'd just left my previous band and when they aproached me I said 'Why not!'"

Perhaps surprisingly for a band for whom missing their last bus home constitutes rock 'n' roll debauchery, the alcoholic recruitment theme was to recur. When he first met Pete, Paul Roach (guitar) had just returned from a funeral. He was unable to stand up, still less string together a phrase of English. The day was won, nevertheless, by their shared love of Ready, Steady, Cook. It's hardley a Magnificent Seven (or five) style story but i'm sure the eventual Hollywood version will look good adding in a few half truths and a couple of scandalous lies.

Three demo tapes were recorded along the way: Touched By The Hand Of Nod, No Lights For Miles and Tired All The Time. In 1998 the band were approached to release a single by newly formed local label Bearos Records. After a quite extraordinary 18 months or so of prevarication, procrastination and general faffing about, Lie Down And Fight was released in July 2000. There was a tidal wave of relief from Regulars fans - not to mention the bloke in Tempest Records who was getting fed up with said Regulars fans pestering him. Lie Down And Fight is described by the band as "an anthem for the workshy, and a raucous hymn to public transport"

5 Places The Regulars miss

1. The fantastic chippie down Needless Alley - home of the chip baguette much favoured by Stu and Pete.

2. The Ship Ashore - Now a pile of rubble. Watering hole for pop and soul kids.

3. The Pot of Beer - "God rest it's soul...it got Firkinised!"

4. Sinatras - home of the mid 80s shambling scene.

5. New Street Station - "It used to look like King's Cross before they built the shops over it.

The Regulars don't really sound like anyone - which means they have been compared with everyone. "We've been compared to The Smiths and The Pale Saints," says Chopper, "..also The Sex Pistols but I can't quite see that!" "Pulp, The Bluetones, The Stone Roses," continues Pete. "I don't think we sound loads like any particular band. People tend to talk about the Sarah Records thing but that's more to do with the fact that I walk around in Sarah Records t-shirts. I can see what people are talking about in terms of the melodicism but Chopper and Paul give us such an intense guitar sound that I don't think the comparison is that valid. If people came along to see us expecting a stereotypical Sarah band I think they'd be quite suprised."

"We don't fit in musically with the Pram, Plone, Avrocar kind of thing that's happening in Birmingham," says Pete, "And we certainly don't fit in with the horrendous blight of "Cod-Mod" which curses the local scene to this day. When the band began we didn't think that there would necessarily be an audience for guitar pop. We just thought that we'd do it and see what happened."

Since 1997 The Regulars have worked hard(ish) at the local gig circuit - to the extent that they now get people turning up to see them who haven't been their mates since early childhood. "There's always one or two people at our gigs that haven't heard us before," Pete continues, "There is the audience there, it's been salutory...life affirming, that guitar pop is a sound that won't go away - it's not just a case of fashion." They have recently earned support slots with such luminaries as Whistler, The Butterflies of Love and Mo*ho*bish*o*pi.

The Regulars' top 5 Birmingham bands

1. Slade

2. Black Sabbath

3. ELO

4. Novak

5. The Starries (or Jameson - they can't decide and have run out of choices!)

"We build our image, if we build an image at all," says Pete, "on being a bunch of lazy bastards and this probably means that a lot of our fans are lazy bastards as well. Which is all well and good, but then when you want people to come out and see you they'll probably just put the kettle on instead!"

The band have fully embraced the new on-line technology, "You've got half the music industry running about like headless chickens," says Stu, "it will all setle down eventually"."It's got a kind of Punk DIY ethic to it," continues Pete, "Any one can get out there on the net and promote themselves without having to go through promoters and record labels and all that. However it's probably not as democratic as it's supposed to be now that the money men have got involved. If you do free stuff like mp3 it means that you have to give people an incentive to buy the record like making the design as nice as we can or dropping in a lyric sheet or a free tea bag! Like everything else you just have to see how it unfolds."

"Bearwood - it's lovely," says Stu. "It's full of food." "Placed as it is right on the edge of Birmingham," explains Pete, "it's got the cosiness of the Black Country, without the small town mentality.We're surrounded by hotels and guest houses along the Hagley Road. People are always coming and going and I think that's made it a friendly place" "Best pizza place in the world," continues Chopper, "though it's a bit lacking in pubs - there's one truely great place, The Dog, and the rest are really mediocre." "The Dog closed for refurbishment for a while," explains Pete. "It reopened in December and the whole of Bearwood was holding it's breath - we were all quite relieved, it has retained most of it's old character."

The Regulars Fantasy Tribute Album

1. "University of Rain" performed by Motorhead.

2. "35 hours" performed by Pavement.

3. "Lie down and fight" performed by Britanny Spears.

4."North Star" performed by Puff Daddy (or Arthur Lee!)

5. "Once you get past Hayborough" performed by Will Smith

6. "October we take it back" performed by a jazz band with word spoken by Jeanette Winterton.

This is their pop manifesto as delivered by Pete:

"If you remember the reason we have indie music - that honesty and melody matter more than clothes and airplay - then you might be interested in The Regulars. And if you've ever shivered in a bus queue watching and wondering as a million cars crawl by, each carrying one person to the next hour of their smoother and easier life, then you're already a Regulars fan!"