Clam Abuse

Now I know all you Clam Abusers will read this interview. I absolutely know it, because you’re fans of the duo and not simply because some bloke known as Ginger is involved. Well that’s good, cos this IS a CLAM ABUSE interview. Not a Ginger interview. In fact, as it’s currently 12.45am, in Dudley, Ginger is currently "with people", and so this CLAM ABUSE interview takes place in the back of the transit with the other Clamster, Alex Kane ... aye, there is someone else involved in the lunacy.

So yeah, it’s 12.45am. Various reasons meant the interview has been delayed until now. The gig has come and gone. Maybe it’s influenced what I’m going to ask, maybe not. What I know is that after this I’ve got at least an hours drive home after this, and I’ve got to get up for work in the morning. In other words, and I’m sure this is a relief to Alex as well, seeing as how he’s just spent an hour onstage, this is going to be a relatively brief interview. So, as the rain pisses down outside, a barefoot and barechested Alex sits opposite. Just passed on a couple of copies of the zine. He’s promised to send some of his own material, though whether anything comes of that only time will tell, and we’re about ready to go.

Anyway, having seen the gig, I’ll try to re-arrange some of the questions, but firstly, how would you describe what you’re doing?

Uh, I wish we knew, I wish we knew. We just play and make fun of everything, ourselves, the audience, the world, but we’re both extremely serious people, so go figure.

Yeah, kind of in this country Ginger’s got a reputation a little bit. So is this taking the piss, or sincere?

It’s definitely both, but it’s not negative. You stand on my side of the stage trying to figure what he’s thinking.

How did you get together to do the Clam Abuse thing?

The sigh that preludes the answer indicates it’s a question the man is probably being sick of asked and having to answer. Well I met some guy and if I won I was going to get to go out with Pamela Anderson and if I lost I had to make a record with Ginger. You know what fucking happens, the Cubs! One day they’ll win the world series he hollers into the tape, in reference to the baseball in the States. The Cubs will never win the world series, you should’ve bet on the Yankess surely is my informed "I’ve watched some of the Channel 5 baseball coverage" response. But I’m from Chicago though, "go Cubs come on". It’s an American affliction I think. Being loyal to your home town. We don’t suffer from that diesease in the UK. I support Liverpool after all. Not in baseball I might add.

Basically what happened was we were working on some tunes for a solo record and I was sort of functioning as a guitar player. And I gave him a CD of my band Anti Product, and he listened to it, and honestly it’s sad to say, but I didn’t know that much about the Wildhearts when I came over. And when I finally heard the music I understood what he liked about my music, cos there’s strong similarities as far as pop melodies, pop sensibility, tongue in cheek, still heavy and hard, but never stupid. So he came over to my house on a Thursday night, and we wrote six tunes in a couple of hours most of which ended up on the record. And he called me up like three days later "hey you want to make a record?" No, no I’d rather sit and just play around, cheating my ass all the time he exclaims in the way of sarcasm that Americans do so well (no, not an insult, you know how they do it on the comedy shows, the tone of voice sort of thing.) So a couple of days later I was over here, I’d known the guy for maybe like 2 months.

With all the electronics and samples and stuff ...

The way that that happened was when we got the record together and talked about it, we were just going to play some tunes together and see what happens. So then it was like "are you drunk and stoned?" ‘yep, are you drunk and stoned?’ "yep. Do you think this is a good idea?" ‘yep, do you?’ "yep. Alright let’s do it." So that is how everything happened. Initially we were going to just do like two guys playing acoustic guitar, all the guitars on the record are acoustic, there’s not one electric guitar on there, which was cool from a guitar perspective cos it like showed you more of the instrument. I mean I can get serious right here. But, um, yeah, I can’t even remember the fucking question"

About the samples...

Oh yeah that. Exactly. So intially it was going to be two guys playing a couple of tunes they’d written on acoustic guitars. and then Kieron Pepper who plays drums with Prodigy came down to the studio and all of a sudden everything went from here to here he indicates moving his hands. And everything took on a new complexion, y’know what I mean. And we filled it out, did all the funny shit that we did, and it was all done in I don’t know, maybe 7 days it took. You know, it was like fucking 18 hour days, 3 hour naps, 18 hours, 3 hours nap, just constantly cracking it out man, it was great man he clicks his fingers as he reels off the workload. The enthusiasm is evident, and he sounds just like Henry Rollins sometimes does in his spoken word shows. It was like going back home and I did a couple of sessions between recording this record and coming on tour and it was just the opposite he almost whispers the words in disgust, it was like professional and not fun, and nobody was fucked up and whatever. So yeah, the whole thing’s just been a great experience and I wish it hadn’t taken so long for me to play over here. Getting a beer at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, we wouldn’t have thought of that, y’know what I mean, we’re too busy fucking yanking on our soapsomething? (sounds like soapboogs, dunno, ain’t heard it called that before.) and driving BMWs.

Is it the first time that you’ve played live with a backing tape?

Oh for both of us.

How do you feel doing that?

Honestly, it’s good and bad, good and bad. It’s good cos it’s the begining of something, it’s bad because you just want to look around and see the drummer going "I ... don’t ... have ... any ... more ... energy .. but ... I’m ... going ... to ..." y’know, and it just fires you up. So from that aspect, I think it would be nice to have a band to feed off of, but just for the sheer audacity and madness of it, doing it like this and not making any apologies y’know, it’s definitely exciting. And we’ve both been playing for a while so it’s something new, even if you risk falling on your face. Honestly speaking, we always fall on our face constantly.

Well it seemed like you fell on your feet tonight.

Actually, I didn’t feel that, I kind of felt off balance. I didn’t really feel like we had the crowd.

Well, I’ve seen a few bands here, and it’s strange. It’s a nice big venue but for some reason they put the bands on late and people are tired by then well from what I’m aware, the people from say Birmingham have to get trains and a bus, and the last ones are while the bands are still on, say at 11. Oooooh. Oooooooooooh. Very interesting. The crowd here tonight was bigger than I’d anticipated for this place. That’s because we’re fucking huge man, we’re Godzilla.

So I wondered how you felt then seeing an actual drumkit here today with Sack Trick turning up?

I miss having somebody to yell at in the drummer. Because you always blame EVERYTHING on the drummer. So now it’s blame it on the drum machine? No know it’s blame it on the a dat.

So do you see Clam Abuse as something that will continue as a side project between you?

We hadn’t really figured that out yet, I mean both of us kind of work all the time as hard as possible, in different continents. But I mean it’s been a great experience and I know I get addicted to great experiences, and it’s really been fun and certainly been a challenge. And that I think is kinda the point of making music, for all those reasons. We’re always fighting, which is great, bickering constantly. So, who knows, who knows.

Ginger once said in an article over here that every now and again, every rock star including himself needs a good slapping.

Oh god, first of all I didn’t know he was a rock star. But if there’s anyone that needs a slapping it’s that guy. Yeah. It was kind of borne out of some Kerrang! articles that accused him of being a "rock star" whether he is or not. Well there’s really no such thing as a rock star. And it’s weird to because over here, and I’m just thinking now, but over here the musician is, uh, um, I mean I haven’t needed to lift my suitcase since I’ve been over here. And I’m from Chicago, I don’t know if you know anything about Chicago Illinois, but we’re just all just fucking (fungus, punters?), we do everything ourselves. so in a way it’s kind of weird that people are so anxious to pamper you and stuff. But it’s definitely not where I come from where it’s like ‘It’s ok, I’ll do my own laundry, just do whatever you’re going to do’. So whatever, rock stars to me don’t really exist, they’re just musicians with whatever level of success they obtain it’s still just that same fucking guy. It’s just that now they’ve got a car.

For me it’s when you can get close to them like now to do an interview. There’s some bands I won’t even bother trying for because I know all the channels you’ve got to go through, and some are just "too big" for this kind of thing.

Yeah the danger for anyone that’s a musician, regardless of what level you’re at, is that if you start taking your amibtion and all that shit too seriously, Kurt Cobain, I LOVE that guy’s music. But what a fucking pinhead. Just stop playing, go somewhere, you got a fucking kid, just chill out, smoke some weed and relax, y’know what I’m saying. If something starts sucking so much that it drives you insane, all you’ve got to do is walk away be a man, be a grown up. Figure it out, I’m not into this, my chick’s driving me crazy, blow her off.

It would’ve seemed the obvious thing to do.

Yeah you can always change your what you’re doing. I mean if you hate your job, get another one. Don’t take it so serious, y’know what I mean. It’s just, life is beautiful, but it’s just life. That’s all it.

Time to turn thoughts to one of my pet subjects - the industry. So, the obvious one is what one thing would you change about the industry?

The music industry? I’d give me lots more money he laughs, lots more. Tons more. Um, just so that I can get a better studio. I don’t know, the main thing that pisses me off about the music business, and I understand that it’s a business, which is the other thing, all these bands that are always rallying against "the man" like Pearl Jam and Rage Against The Machine, they’re sucking corporate cock way more than anybody. So all the posturing and stuff although I definitely see it being noble in its motivation, but on the other hand it’s just bullshit posturing. Even if they believe. So the industry is what it is. It’s a sick, disgusting, dirty, pathetic game for a bunch of rip-off con artists who will do anything to fuck the public, the musician and the guy in the office next to him all. They will do anything. They’re all scared little pussy sheep. That’s given. Basically Warner Bros, or whatever label, is General Motors, and there’s a chain of command, and everyone’s a pussy, and you’ve got to not make any decisions so that when the shit falls it doesn’t fall on you blah blah blah blah. Everybody’s a pussy. Given that and taking that out of the equation, the only thing that’s really grotesque ... at this point the van door opens and a conversation ensues between Alex and one of the roadies. As the door is shut again, we try to return to things, I still don’t have a shirt though. But the thing is the follow the leader mentality. Where if there’s an original thought, encourage it, let it grow and let it bloom and share it with people. I can only say about the United States, but there’s one band after another that sounds exactly like the last band, and it’s all just sad. It’s all just commerce. But that’s the nature of the thing. So the only thing you can do as an artist is maintain the integrity in what you do, and after you’ve written the song and you’ve recorded the song, you just give it to the world and you let the shisters and the assholes do with it what they will. That way you don’t go crazy and you’re still true to your art.

You say "giving the music to the world", do you consider the Internet making it in a way almost free if the artist chooses.

Oh yeah absolutely. Sure. It’s only a tune. I’ve been doing it all my life and barely got paid. So hey, whatever, give it away. As long as they hear the song, that’s how I feel.

So you don’t think the record companies should try to ban all this stuff?

No, I think the record companies are just an extension of Satan. So whatever, I have no sympathy for the industry. It’s the thing we’ve all chosen to be in, and hopefully there’s somebody making music that just loves music and wants to share it with everyone.

There’s another one over in the UK, chart singles you used to be able to have 4 tracks on a single. And then last year they reduced it to 3, with one reason being that it was putting too much pressure on bands to come up with the b-sides.

Oh fuck that bullshit. That’s a bunch of bullshit. It’s all lies.

If they’re a band and they can’t write 3 songs then surely, exactly. If they’re a band, here’s some more tunes - fine y’know.

Remixes. How do you feel about them?

As long as you get your version, and then you give it to someone else and they can do their version. Anybody that’s inspired by your work, go for it. To quote a great American.

Ah, not keen on them myself.

Ah they’re cool man. Fuck up the song. Have fun.

You mentioned Pearl Jam and Rage earlier. Does politics have a place in music?

Yeah, but as long as it actually changes something. Like when the Beatles said All You Need Is Love, you believed that. But when Rage Against The Machine says "oh I’m so fucking opressed" you just go ‘well so the fuck am I man, lift me’, y’know. So there is a place for politics because life is politics, just talking to people is politics but at a different level, so yeah, communicate what you feel. It’s all politics.

One of the things that seems to be coming through with the Clam Abuse fun, and then there’s the image. Do you have impression on bands like Coal Chamber ...oh Coal Chamber he laughs, those guys crack me up. What a sad fucking, I haven’t heard them I’ve got to say, but I’ve seen pictures. And there’s just some people that do not look scary. And they’ve got them all in one band. It just seems like ‘oh I’m going to get arbitrary piercings and paint my face all weird and stuff’, and there’s like nothing behind it. There’s nothing, like Marilyn Manson, yawn, but still you look at the guy and go ‘well I know he’s fucked up no matter what’ and if he has to wear a mask to express how fucked up he is then God bless him. But I mean those guys you just look at them, and the other one, Cradle of Filth, c’mon, like you don’t think nobody heard of Marilyn Manson pal. It’s like some guys live in a cave and they’ve ripped Marilyn Manson without even knowing it.

Sometimes it all feels like style over substance. And I think there’s a fine line.

Well as far as Clam Abuse goes with the make-up and stuff that’s just I dunno why we do it he laughs. But you can see that it’s kind of a piss take and humour without being too serious about it.

I think it is. Aren’t those guys funny. I mean like that singer guy, he’s always like adopts a deeper growl, ‘hi, man I’m freaking you out’ and that guys just so, I don’t know if they’re big or anything, no, they’re not, yeah he just seems that explains it. He just seems like a guy that never got chicks never had anything like whatever going for him so he saw some scary video of a rock band and just aped it.

Have you heard of or seen Slipknot? No I’ve not. There’s like 9 members in the band and they all wear masks and identical jump suits. Oh I’ve seen pictures. That’s cool. That’s alright. That sounds kind of Devoish to me, and I love Devo.

Silly question time. If you could put together your ultimate festival bill, oooh man, and would Clam Abuse headline?

We are or? Would you? Oh god, yeah fuck yeah, what do you think I’m new. Clam Abuse would headline, Cheap Trick would be on there, The Beatles would be on there, uh, who else would be on there? Well I guess having The Beatles open for you would be enough. Cheap Trick, The Beatles and Clam Abuse headlining.

Are you a Star Wars fan? Yeah. Actually yeah I was. Do you think he should’ve made the yeah. I don’t think it was great but, have you seen it? not yet, it didn’t blow me away as much as when I was a kid, but yeah, fuck yeah. Just for the innocence and all that. I’m glad he did yeah.

Couple more. Semi-serious. All the gun shootings in the States, and how they like to blame it on the music.

You know what, my girlfriend is a teacher, she teaches high school kids, and we had an argument about that. I think actually yes, I think that music is such a powerful mean in a person’s life, I mean I’m just speaking for myself right, it’s such a powerful thing that if you’re at an age where so many things seem overwhelming, and your music is telling you that everything sucks, and you feel like shit anyway cos you got zits and whatever, you’re gay, or you’re fat or chicks don’t like you, or whatever it is, whatever that makes you not fit in is also what makes you special. And if you’re music is telling you that everything sucks, and you think everything sucks and all you’re getting on television is dead children and murdered newscasters and violence and bombing and wars, and you’re young and still innocent, and all this shits flying at you and it’s not uplifting, I definitely think you can become overwhelmed by it. And I think it’s a cop out for any musician to say it’s not their fault. I really do. Because whether or not they like Marilyn Manson, who gives a shit, but the guy knows that what he’s buying his houses with, what he’s paying his bills with and his cars, and his movie star girlfriend, he knows that’s from feeding into the worst aspects of human nature. Everybody loves a freak show, that’s cool and I get that. But he is definitely exploiting the worst parts of human nature. And if it’s some kind of weird karma thing then hey.

I think people should be able to reason about things for themselves, and if they see something in music an image like Marilyn Manson, if you can’t reason from it, then it says there’s something more fundamentally wrong.

There’s something fundamentally wrong with society but you can’t love Marilyn Manson and dislike the music business the door opens and beer arrives oh man who just turned to God.

And it’s gone on long enough now. Time to bring things to an end. If you could give one piece of advice to bands starting out what would it be.

The joke answer would be ‘buy Clam Abuse and worship the ground I walk on’. But the serious answer would be, if it’s the only thing that makes sense to you, and it’s the only thing that makes you happy and sane and it’s the only way you can express yourself, do it. Otherwise you’re in for a disappointment.

Any final words?

After a pause, yeah, buy Clam Abuse and worship the ground I walk on. That’s all I ask he laughs as I let him go to somehow try and avoid having caught pneumonia in the course of doing this interview.

Did I ever get that CD? Nah, course not.


Insight zine #1 is another zine on it’s first issue. Why is it that all the first issue zines I ever see now piss all over the effort I put out. It’s 40 A4 pages, and dealing in the more hardcore aspects of music. There’s contributions from various people, columns by Cookie of Itchy Bum zine, Ian Glasper of Stampin’ Ground / Blackfish Records and a piece on being a publicist in the music industry. The interviews in this first issue cover Knuckledust, Medulla Nocte, No Fun At All, Confusion Corporation, Out, One Minute Silence and Caffeine. The length and quality varies, but often that comes down to the band. Ed from OMS gives indepth answers, others manage one word answers. I mean, I reckon Caffeine are crap anyway, but take a sample of their interview:

Q: What does "punk" mean to you?

A: Attitude, out of tune guitars, stage diving, moshing, a total reaction to all the corporate bollocks.

Q: When you were growing up, did you ever have any feelings of alienation?

A: No

Now, it may be me, but do those two answers contradict. But see, Caffeine aren’t punk, just crap, and if the apparent interest they showed in answering the questions is anything like their commitment and attitude towards the people that express an interest in them, then they’re an utter waste of time. Mind you, No Fun At All don’t come out a lot better.

It’s all done with enthusiasm and attitude, and a nice sense of honesty with both Coma Deluxe and Sonewall Jackson having their demos slaughtered in a viscious way, plus there’s plenty of support for upcoming bands, with a fair few ads for bands demos littering the pages. A nice first issue from Charlene. Be interesting to see how the second one develops.

£1 plus an SAE from Charlene Ridley, 44 Hillview Park, Coleraine, N. Ireland, BT51 3EH.