The Glitterati
Interview with Paul, John and Billy

(Note: The interview was conducted before the Glitterati had to pull out of Trash Stock)

The Glitterati are a wholesome hook laden rock n’ roll band with some distinct trashy, glammy elements wrapped up in a seductive live show. The last time I caught The Glitterati was on the Kerrang! New School of Rock tour (alongside the then ‘Hurricane Party’ and The Black Velvets) last year. They were just on the way to releasing their debut album and already had a strong, loyal following. I hadn’t heard anything on The Glitterati for the past few months so was really intrigued to find out what the score with things were ... so apart from two new tracks on MySpace, Trash Stock was the perfect excuse for my inquisition.

A warm summer evening in the heart of Camden, the Glitterati lads took some time out to share what they’ve been up to and what they’re hoping to get up to in the next few months. This is Nix nattering to Paul Gautrey (vocals), John Emsley (guitar) and Billy James (drums) about the new album, Trash Stock, liquid cocaine, touring and GCSE dance ...

Nix: A little bit about each of you, can be as random as you like ...
Paul: My name is Paul, that’s not very random. Ooh, I don’t know - I support Everton, a big fan of Deal or No Deal - especially Noel Edmonds! And my phone’s just gone off (laughs as he gets a text)
Billy: Everytime! My name’s Bill. I like smashing stuff and playing drums!
John: I’m John, none of your readers will know that I am circumcised.
Paul: (Laughs loudly) It’s actually true as well!
John: Ooh, I’m not sure how he knows. I’m a lover not a fighter. I’m a great lover because I practice a lot on my own (laughs).

Nix: Moving swiftly on, summarise the last few months for The Glitterati?
John: Creative. Basically we’ve just been getting our songs together for the second album. Our focus last year was really just gigging, touring and stuff. Where this year its been getting all our songs together and s*** together so that we can just go ‘bang’ like that whereas in the past we’ve always been waiting, always been playing a bit of catch up. Whereas now we’re getting ourselves in a really good place where all the songs are sounding good and are all a really good quality.
Paul: We’ve been missing playing live as well because we haven’t been doing too much of it. Last year was all about playing live for us and then we had to take the time out from playing live. So we’re just trying to get back out and test the new stuff as well.

Nix: For those that haven’t heard of you (there shouldn’t be too many in that category) what is the Glitterati in a nutshell?
Paul: We’re just an honest rock n’ roll band. We just do what we like. A lot of bands always try to be on the back of a certain bandwagon at a certain time without being their own favourite band. We’re just an honest rock n’ roll band, its all about the live shows. Apart from when the album comes out because then it will be all about the album!

Nix: Live show in a nutshell?
Paul: Exciting, loud. You’re just going to see a band that’s really enjoying it. It’s the reason that we started a band for. Its not like for all the other stuff which is really cool as well. When you start a band, the one thing you want to do is play live. It’s always been the thing that we most look forward to. Just a band that whether there is ten people there or whether its packed - we’re going to be enjoying it.

Nix: How did it all start? How did all of you guys get together?
John: The three of us have been together in bands for years when we were in Leeds. We knew Nic (Denson - guitar) from bands in Leeds as well. About a month or two after we moved down to London we got Nic in and Nic knew Jamie (Snell - bass).
Billy: Found him, found him rummaging through some bins!
John: So basically we knew Nic through friends of friends and stuff so it fell together really.

Nix: Who are your childhood heroes?
Paul: Michael Jackson! Guns N’ Roses ...
John: Harrison Ford
Paul: Hulk Hogan, all the greats really!
John: Superman, Spiderman
Paul: Iceman I was a fan of. Could do crazy s*** (makes shooshing freezing noise). All the musical greats!

Nix: So the favourite bands of all time?
John: It’s weird because there are certain bands that we like and we’ve talked about it in the past and then all of a sudden that’s like all we are. The cool thing is the five of us are all into really different things but there’s probably a core of bands that we all pretty much agree on. That’s the only common thing, but the rest of us draw onto different influences. Early Guns N’ Roses, I really dig The Who at the moment.
Paul: Anything that’s timeless bands. It always stays the same with us. Those are the bands that we like.
John: I’ve not really heard any contemporary bands like in the last year or couple of years that have really done anything for me. Everything is just like so fashion sanctuary and like Paul was saying, everybody’s just like the bands are not into themselves. They’re desperate to pitch onto this sound that people are buying. I’m not interested in that, I’m not interested in getting my tits bigger and wearing make-up.
Paul: I am! I’ve got a lot of interest in that!
John: There’s just so much b*****ks around and just so much stuff I don’t believe in for a second. I don’t think that those people who are playing it believe it for a second. So it’s just f***ing tragic because there’s just nothing good out there. Apart from us!

Nix: You’ve had fantastic press from the first album. The new album that you’re going to be bringing out ‘soon’ - is that going to be different in anyway or more or more of the same from the first album?
Paul: It’s just natural for us. It’s where we are now whereas the songs for the first album were wrote quite a long time apart. The new stuff will be over a shorter period of time. I think that we’ve not made any conscious effort to go we’re gonna write ‘this type of record’ we’re just writing what we’re into, what we like. I’m sure it will be different from the first album. Anyone who liked our first record will like our second record. Don’t worry, we’re not going to come up with a techno record!
John: Basically a year of touring and the way that we’ve lived it up for the past year is going to make a difference to the songs that we write. When we first came down, we wrote about the things that inspired us and maybe things have changed a little but there’s still that being skint at the end of the day. It always comes back to being skint!

Nix: What’s your favourite song in your repertoire?
Billy: I think I favour the new ones at the moment.
Paul: It changes really. For the live set, probably “You’ve got Nothing On Me” and out of the new ones “Used by You”. They’re two of the energy songs really. It changes really. It can be on a weekly basis, or even on a gig basis. Sometimes it goes really well. I think we’ve got a really good set at the moment. We’re only playing the stuff that we really like.

Nix: So the main reason at the moment, apart from the fact that I was damn curious about what you guys have been up to recently ... is playing Trash Stock. How did that come about?
Paul: Someone got in touch with Nic, our guitarist just through MySpace probably. We’ve been doing these one-off gigs, one in London and a few in Leeds. Nottingham isn’t a place that we haven’t really played much. We’ve done a lot more in other cities so its good for us to just go there.
Billy: It also had something to do with the name!
Paul: I know a few people went last year and said how cool it was.

Nix: Anything to expect on the night?
John: Nothing is really pre planned with us. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst! If you asked us twenty minutes before we went on, then probably we could tell you.
Paul: I think it will have to be the full rock set for Trash Stock. I’m not anticipating many ballads!

Nix: I know you’ve touched over it before, but what are the main aims of playing it?
John: Is it a charity do, Trash Stock?
Nix: No, but there will be some tramps playing! (Disarm)
Paul: Some tramps! Wicked! There’s a lot of rock n’ roll bands on there. It will be good for us. It will be good for some people who haven’t seen us that are into the other bands and probably vice versa for all of the other bands as well. Some of our fans can check them out and stick with them as well. That’s how we built up our fan base playing with other bands so we’re looking forward to it.

Nix: Drink of choice?
John: Anything free.
Paul: Jack Daniels. (points to Nix’s top) Not those, drinking those (laughs). Anything that’s free as well or anything that anyone wants to buy us.
Nix: The liquid cocaine shots are lethal ...
Paul: Liquid cocaine shots?! Like real cocaine?
Nix: Nah, it’s got Peach Schnapps and Jagermeister in them ... one will probably mess you up, more than that and you’re probably not going to be walking home.

Nix: ‘Or’ questions ... JD or beer?
Paul: JD!

Nix: Groupies or partners?
Paul: (laughs) groupies! Oh, I think maybe we’ll just say mixed!

Nix: Motley Crüe or GN’R?
All: GN’R!

Nix: Classic Rock or NME?
Paul: Classic Rock of course!

Nix: Do you have any mad fans?
Paul: We’ve got a few here tonight. We had one that bought us some edible pants.
Billy: What about the one that had made the scrap book?
Paul: I was given a scrap book of pictures that she’d taken on the tour.
John: It was a big scrap book!
Paul: There were cuttings out and stuff. Bits of water bottle that we’d had on the tour.
John: There was another guy that got a tattoo.
Paul: That was cool and should be encouraged!

Nix: A fact that not a lot of people know about you?
John: Ooh, its skeletons in the closet time isn’t it? Ooh, Bill studied GCSE dance!
Paul: He might even do us some river dance tonight!

Nix: The aims for the rest of this year?
Paul: Just to make sure that we’ve got the right songs for the record. Then the record allows us to go out and do what we like which is tour constantly so as soon as we can get this nailed and make the best record we can get through all the other s*** and make sure we can record it. Hopefully we can make an album we love, the best record that we can make and just back out there.

Nix: Anything I’ve not covered? What haven’t I asked you that you would have like people to know?
Paul: Would you like me to bring in a big crate of free beer I just got off the promoter? And the answer would have been yes! A crate of JD would have been even better! I’m still into the liquid cocaine thing that you were talking about. Liquid cocaine ... and they sell shots.
John: It’s not actually cocaine.
Paul: Aww, it’s vodka isn’t it?
John: Do you want me to bring the strippers down? Yes!

The Glitterati are headlining the final night of Trash Stock (19th) so be sure to catch them. Find out more stuff on the Glitterati, including two of their new tracks on www.myspace.com/theglitterati or their official website www.theglitterati.com.

Images and words by Nicola “Nix” Crichton

© Pure Rawk 2006