(Left to right - Davey, Tony, AJ and Chris)
New Generation Superstars have received nothing but praise from promoters, critics and fans alike, stating that they are one of the most original bands on the rock circuit. You can easily pick out their influences but they have a very distinct, original sound that is catchy and addictive - they rock hard and loud with crunchy riffage and powerful vocals.
The Nottingham based four piece have had a fair few high calibre support slots with the likes of LA Guns, Robin Black, the Distillers and Vain under their belts. When you think about all the different bands on offer to the rock masses, its quite remarkable to see that New Gen have a really wide and dedicated fan base. They’re also a big hit with other bands on the scene at the moment which is quite odd as one might assume that its ‘winner takes all’. Its safe to say that “New Gen Rocks” (dot com, which is their web address)” isn’t an empty statement - they do ‘exactly what it says on the tin’!
Sitting on a pub bench outside the Dublin Castle in Camden - a humble AJ (vox and guitar), Davey (lead guitar), Tony (bass) and Chris (drums) bequeath to you, all that is New Generation Superstars. They talk to Nix about their freshly recorded material which has been produced by Alan Smyth (who produced the Arctic Monkeys album), tour carnage, strange fans and a band pants drought in Bradford.
Nix:
A little bit about each of you, welcome us into the world of New Gen.
AJ: I’m AJ
Davey: My name is Michael Caine ...
AJ: I’m AJ, I’m lead vocals and guitar. I can’t
do anything right, a lot of people call me “Mr. Wrong”. Nah, to
be fair - I’m just the guy at the front, the rest of the boys are actually
the band.
Davey: There is four of us.
Tony: I’m Tony and I play the bass and I keep Aaron out
of trouble, sometimes.
Davey: I’m Davey and I’m new to this!
Chris: Chris, and I’m drums and I do what I do!
Nix: How did all of you guys
get together?
Chris: New Generation Superstars started a couple of years
ago to a slightly different line up than it is now. The original, original line
up probably a bit longer.
AJ: The original line up consisted of a guy called GJ Star
who played lead guitar. He was “Mr. Angry Rocker” from the Saahhhhhhfff
(South, emphasised). We used to call him “Mouth from the South”.
Mr. Ian, bassist who’s good friend went through a bit of trouble and had
to leave the band through personal circumstances which was a big loss until
the only man that could fill his shoes was Mr. Tony here. The wildest hippy
you’d of ever seen, a guy called Tom on drums - it was just that they
had other commitments and other roads to go down. The metal, the rock still
burns strong in my blood so I have to carry on! Next in the lineup from these
boys, would be Tony. After Ian had to leave for personal reasons I was really
distraught because the way he played was just inspiring because he’d have
a few drinks, then get on stage and then turn into a monster of a rock star.
I just thought that there was no way that I was ever going to fill his shoes.
Then, just perchance, about two or three weeks after he’d told us he’d
have to leave I bumped into Tony at a shopping mall -
Chris: Was he in Tescos? Maybe it was the lingerie shop
AJ: So while I was NOT loitering, at all
Chris: Not raiding through the three for a five pound knicker
bin
AJ: Nah, I said to him through general conversation “Tone,
what are you up to” he says “Oh, I’m thinking about
maybe getting into a band”. Tony comes down to play, and it just
gelled. Then a few weeks after that going through stuff - its just been happy
ever after since. We had a few problems with a drummer after the crazy hippy.
It wasn’t that he didn’t have enough commitment, it was that he
had enough commitment to being close to amphetamines, smoking - which for him
was cool, but it wasn’t doing any good for the band and it was doing us
a lot of damage so he had to go. We had a long gruelling time trying to find
a new drummer. We more or less made our mind up about another guy called Colin
- who was alright, another hippy but he got the right idea.
Davey: Hurry up with it, it’s gonna rain! (Clouds start
to get murkier overhead)
AJ: It’s a long old story, I have to explain it!
Davey: (all posh) Anyway, I lived in this house!
AJ: Anyway, we’d just made a decision and right at the
last minute the GJ got a call from a little squeaky voice saying “oh
is there still auditions for the band?” and he was like “oh
yeah, come down” and it was Chris.
Chris: By the way, I don’t really have a squeaky voice!
I’m a man, and this is a man’s band!
Nix: Either that, or he’s cut down on the helium intake
(laughs)
AJ: He told us the bands that he was in to and then we gave
him a bunch of stuff. He came back on the Sunday and again, it’s been
happily ever after since. GJ left last year after about 18 months of struggling
to commit. It wasn’t an easy decision for him and Davey had already been
told, or rather asked and he said that he was interested. Yeah, so basically
at the end of the Vain tour last year GJ said that he couldn’t commit
to it anymore and he was leaving and hanging up his guitar. Davey stepped in.
This is the best line up that the band has ever had. It’s stable, everybody
going in the same direction, same level!
Nix: Thus that’s the story of New Gen
Davey: The whole story!
AJ: Not the WHOLE story because it was Spinal
Tap - we couldn’t keep drummers for about three years!
Nix:
What would you say are your main influences?
Chris: I think its best if we all answer that one individually
because I know that although we’re in the same rock genre but everyone’s
got their own kind of background.
AJ: For me, I had a really good childhood. Growing up with
an uncle that was into heavy metal and an uncle into punk so I had a good mix
of everything. I like the old school British rock like Sabbath and stuff. But
I’m more influenced by Kiss and Dead Boys. So either end of the scale!
Tony: Everything! Everything from classic rock like Iron Maiden,
AC/DC right up to some good LA rock like NoFx and everything in between.
Davey: Sleazy things, all the old 90's sleaze metal. Guns N’
Roses would be a blinding one but if they weren’t so famous, because that
would be just cliche. Dangerous Toys, Bang Tango. Really, just any sleaze rock
that was about at the time.
Chris: Myself, similar to Tony really. I like loads of different
genres but mainly bands like the Ramones, MC5, The Stooges and Scandinavian
rock n’ roll bands like Backyard Babies and the Hellacopters. Any bands
with a real passion, going out there and doing what they do best. Bands that
cross over a bit, like we do in our shows - taking that kind of influence and
bringing our own influences in - that is New Gen.
Nix: What would you call
New Gen fans in a nutshell?
Davey: Nutters
AJ: Hooligans
Tony: Lonely and bored!
AJ: All joking aside, I wouldn’t say that we have the
biggest following but the following that we have got is very loyal. We’ve
made a lot of friends. A lot of friends we’ve made over MySpace and through
basically playing a lot of shows, we’ve had a lot of people. I think its
important to be genuine to the people that you want to like you.
Davey: One of my first shows was LA Guns at Nottingham. There
was a lot of people that had come down to see LA Guns but they also wanted to
see New Gen.
Chris: That’s an interesting one. After the gig, by the
merch desk we’d sold a load of stuff and we were actually being asked
for autographs. Being able to stand by LA Guns and do that. For us, people taking
that interest in us was really good. Particularly in the last year or so, well,
since September time when Davey joined. We’ve gone all over the country
and people that saw the gig first time round have come back and they brought
friends with them.
Davey: With MySpace, people are starting to hear about us.
There’s a whole nucleus of people on MySpace that want to listen to you.
Then turn up and watch you.
Nix:
Who’s the main lyric writer?
(AJ nods)
Chris: Aaron and Tony do a lot.
Davey: Mainly Aaron (AJ), this is the Aaron James project!
AJ: (laughs) I don’t have artistic strops! Its not fair
to say that any individual does. We work together as a team and that’s
why it works so well.
Chris: It normally starts off with a riff or a groove. Someone
will bring something into the room and we’ll take that and build upon
it. I’ll add a drum beat, or Tony will add his base line then we’ll
take it from there. We do what we do, we don’t try and write anything
in particular. Our kind of style is big riffs, big choruses, sing alongs, shout
outs - that kind of thing. Its just what we do, we don’t try and emulate
anything or write anything in particular. Everyone brings something into the
mix.
Nix: The last EP (“How
To Hate Friends”) that you produced got some really good reviews and recommendations.
What’s to expect from the next one?
Chris: We went in the studio yesterday with Alan Smyth, the
guy who produced the Arctic Monkeys. He’s really into the band. We cut
three tracks of the new single. It was just absolutely fantastic, we’re
really happy with it.
Davey: He knows his music. He doesn’t care what you play,
he’ll just make you sound good whatever happens.
Chris: He was really into it too. When you’re recording,
you look into the little window and he’s sitting there rocking out. It
was a really good experience. We’ve got a new single, with all new tracks
that haven’t been released before. They’ve been played live for
the past few months. A summer release out. September or October time, we’ll
be going back into the studio.
Nix:
You’ve played with the likes of Robin Black, The Distillers and LA Guns
- do you have any big profile supports in the pipe line?
Chris: There’s going to be Robin Black again coming back
in August, Vain again will be coming back and That’s just been pencilled
in for October.
AJ: Its going to get really busy towards the end of the year.
There’s a lot of stuff pencilled in but we’re just waiting for confirmation.
Chris: Since Davey joined, we gigged the hell out of it last
year and the past few months. We’re doing the promo for the new single.
All go again for the summer.
Nix: What would
you say is the state of the music industry at the moment?
Davey: The music industry is great.
Chris: The UK seems to be one of those markets where scenes
come and go. It will be like a cycle for a couple of years where a popular thing
will come and go. Through the use of the internet and stuff like that there’s
a lot more people hearing proper bands playing their instruments. People doing
proper music as opposed to miming to tapes. If you go back to 2001, you had
bands like the Strokes, White Stripes and the Hives - bands from abroad. There’s
a lot of UK bands taking that influence. You’ve got bands like the Arctic
Monkeys out, the Kaiser Chiefs, The Glitterati - who are quite rock n’
roll. I think it’s a very vibrant scene. There’s a lot of diversity.
There’s people checking out new stuff now. Not a lot of people are staying
in their ‘Indie zone’ for example, people are breaking out. I think
in terms of big record labels -
Davey: Corr, wind him up and set him off! I like Soft Cell!
(laughs) Culture Club, they were good.
Nix: What’s been your
biggest challenge so far?
Davey: Finding a Subway (to those unaware of the delights of Subway, deli roll
shops) wherever we go!
AJ: We’re a bit mortified actually. We’ve been
here all day and not spotted a single Subway! (To Nix) Is there a Subway down
here? (Laughs) Keeping your head above water is the biggest challenge. The biggest
challenge for me personally is getting into this band, because this band rocks.
I love these boys more than anything in the world. They keep my rock dreams
alive. There’s a lot of good bands on the scene.
Davey: Disarm! Disarm!
Chris: A shout out to The 7:21s and Firebrand too. We've played
with them and they're all awesome and bands that have been great to us.
AJ: To try and keep up with the popularity is difficult.
Chris: Doing what you do is important. Its sort of picked up
for us at the minute, we’re not letting it distract from things. Like
the labels and stuff from America doing the EP
Davey: Yeah, the big labels!
Nix: Have you had any bizarre
fans?
Chris: I think that guy that gave us the party poppers! He
p*ssed in the bin (previously a random tramp like chap was wandering around
and gave out party poppers and wandered around leering at people).
Davey: Birmingham women wanting me to sign their belly! The
first real signature I did was a belly! “Sign me belly!”
Chris: At Bradford, they always want to buy New Gen pants.
AJ: When we did the original set of New Gen panties, we didn’t
move any for months then we played Bradford and sold every pair in one night!
I think they’re loyal.
Davey: We love them all! Any fan is a good fan. It’s
crazy, it’s the first band that I’ve been in where people have come
up and said “I love your band!” usually, its just “I
don’t wanna know your band”
Nix: Do you have a favourite
gig?
Davey: I liked LA Guns, I thought we were rockin’.
Chris: LA Guns because it was the first big show that we’d
done together. The show was sold out, there were lots of people, the reception
was amazing. When we played with Vain, that was sold out.
Davey: Then the other week we played Rotherham with Disarm.
Chris: Rock City were good, then we did the Mean Fiddler as
well. When I was living in Reading I went to gigs in London to see bands like
Dead Kennedy’s and Wednesday 13 then less than a year later playing there.
Nix: Have you ever had a
crappy gig, one that you’d like to erase from your memory?
Davey: We’ve had plenty of them but we won’t mention
any of them! (Laughs)
AJ: We’ve always vowed never to speak of bad.
Chris: You get gigs with really bad sound, places that treat
you pants or something that’s not just right.
AJ: We’ve never had a really really bad gig. Sometimes
if you play small venues, the monitors are not particularly brilliant. Often
when you play a small venue, you are restricted to how loud you play. Sometimes
you can’t hear each other.
Chris: But sometimes if you got bad sound, that’s what
you’ve got to put up with. We just go out and play a rock and roll show.
Nix:
Have you any interesting road stories that you’d like to confess to?
(Laughs) AJ: No (laughs)
All in unison: What happens on the road stays on the road!
Davey: Don’t say that! That’s just guilt!. Like
straight away “Nothin’ happened!” (Laughs)
Chris: Davey missed out on the two tours that we did last year,
which were just carnage!
AJ: To be fair, we just drink a lot, have a lot of fun. Usually
we’re just driving. One-Pint-Wonder anyway!
Chris: The tour that we did in February last year, that was
six nights - from the second we got on the bus to the second we got off, it
was just non stop carnage.
AJ: (laughs) I can honestly say, I’ve never ever seen
so much alcohol drunk in the space of a week. It was obscene!
Chris: I’ve never seen so many people on a tour bus.
When we were in Nottingham that was pretty crazy!
Nix: On the note of carnage,
your favourite drink?
Davey: Jim Beam. Or Gin and Tonic!
AJ: Gin and Tonic ...
Chris: I’m partial to spirits so its got to be Absinthe
or stuff like that. I know I shouldn’t admit it -
Davey: Oh don’t say that! Absinthe, that makes you mad
Tony: What’s that cocktail we had in Rotherham, I quite
liked that.
Nix: A weird fact that not
a lot of people would know about you?
Tony: (in high pitched Little Britain voice) I’m a lady!
Chris: I was UK archery champion for three years running!
Davey: That’s not mad, hang on - I didn’t know
that
Chris: You learn something new every day!
Davey: Robin Hood, as you are now known!
Nix: What’s
your favourite song of all time?
AJ: A Duran Duran record (laughs) it’s true, I have a
lot of Duran Duran!
Chris: Every single song by the Ramones can be one song, because
it’s the Ramones!
Davey: (being nudged by Tony) No it’s not Manowar! I
know its Pride and Glory but I can’t remember the track. I know the song
but I can’t remember the name of it!
Tony: Sing it for us then
Chris: (laughs) Sing it on stage Davey!
Davey: In about half an hour I’ll remember it, and go
“yeaaah!”. Hmm, anything by Zakk Wilde.
Nix: Fave New Gen song?
Davey: “Always Gonna Be”
AJ: Yeah, “Always Gonna Be”
Chris: Yeah, that’s a fan favourite.Just
because its gonna be on the new EP - “One More”
Catch them all around the country - they’re everywhere, you can’t miss ‘em!. Also check out the New Generation Superstars MySpace at www.myspace.com/newgenrocks or have a look at their official site www.newgenrocks.com for everything from pictures, to merchandise (including the band panties that are all the rage in Bradford).
Words and images by Nicola (Nix) Crichton