Originally published by L.S. Media and Liverpool Live. March 1st 2012.
March 5th sees the highly anticipated return of The Stranglers to the o2 Academy, Liverpool. In recent years the band have had nights on stage in the city that have been talked about for weeks afterwards. This though will see the punk rock legends do a national tour on the back of a new album release for the first time in six years. Not since Suite XVIwas released in 2006 have the band come out on the road armed to the teeth with a trunk full of new songs.
The Stranglers are an institution, their music has been nothing short of inspiring to their legion of fans and after 37 years of being one of the finest musical exports this country has produced, they seem set to continue ever onward and delivering a night of highly intense and stirring music.
I was able to catch up with guitarist/vocalist Baz Warne as he prepared for the start of the U.K. tour.
It has to be said Baz, that this tour sees you clock up a far amount of miles. You kick of tonight in Leeds and then travelling straight up to Dunfermline in Scotland before heading down after Glasgow to Liverpool. Do you never get bored whilst on the road?
“Well, Jet Black (The Stranglers drummer)and his partner travel by themselves, it gives him a bit more autonomy, he likes to drive himself, he feels more free, he can go sightseeing or some visiting. J.J and myself and Dave, we travel together in a people carrier, and our security guy comes with us so there’s never a journey that goes without some laughs, you get the odd person ringing up, interviews and such. We try to have a little bit of fun and Dave plays tour guide and we deviate off and take in a different place. Touring is a pleasure and we like to see as much of the countryside, we’ve toured most of the British Isles so many times, there’s always somewhere new to see so we’re really never bored.”
I’m surprised to hear that you take calls whilst travelling, surely your time is your own on the bus?
To be honest, we prefer not to but it’s not always possible, sometimes you just have to, especially if it’s one that really need to do or someone that you’ve promised but haven’t been able to get back to. I prefer not to as obviously as there’s too much going on in the car or you lose signal but every once in a while say if we travelling back from London to Bath and J.J. is driving then its o.k.
The new album that is coming out on Monday, it’s fair to say that it’s an exciting time once again for the band and the fans. What can they expect from the new release, Giants?
“First of all, it’s been received as one of the best albums The Stranglers have ever made, which is very, very nice to hear. Other than that expect the unexpected, it’s a very eclectic in parts, we’ve got an awful lot of different bits and pieces in there. We laboured and we grafted and the quality control is really high. The production is sparingly done, so it sounds like four guys in a room which essentially it was. We’ve had four and five star reviews. It’s just an original, fresh and lively Stranglers album.”
It has been six years since the release of Suite XVI, since then you have relentlessly toured, was this all part of the plan?
“Erm, yeah! I mean, you don’t really plan in a band like this. The last time the four of us had management we did have a concerted plan in January 2011. Now we’re kind of coming to the culmination of that plan which is we’ll have had an album out and a big European tour. We just toured in May 2011 because it was incredibly enjoyable and we still think the band is relevant and the venues were absolutely packed and amazing. We still love each other, we still respect each other. Also, it’s still so fresh. I mean, we got together last Friday for the first pre-production meeting in Bradford and all the crew were there, some of whom we hadn’t seen for a while. It was all smiles and a family feeling, who wouldn’t want to work and travel? Despite what people think about The Stranglers, it’s a very friendly, affable environment to be in for most of the time! We have spats just like anybody else.”
Unlike most bands that are on the road, The Stranglers audience come across as the unofficial fifth member.
“Yeah, you have to say that a lot of people have said we look a lot happier. There’s a lot of interaction between and the bass player – J.J. Burnel. That’s the same in everyday life, we talk most days on the phone, we cook for each other, we’ve stayed at each other’s places, we’ve been on holiday together, we’re just close. The camaraderie is there which you have to have when you’ve been going for as long as we have. We travel together, we live on top of each other; money is not what Stranglers are about.”
Yeah, everyone’s been around as long as we have, the audiences have always been there and there are a number of larger than life characters. It’s never boring it’s always colourful, there’s always a quote, there’s always the aftershow, there’s always something. We’ve been receiving best wishes from all kinds of people for weeks now. We just hear the ‘Waltz’, you hear the roar and you walk out on the stage. It sounds clichéd but you know the room’s full of friction and like everyone’s back together again. There are dozens of people who do the entire tour, they do every single gig; it’s part of their lives, they build their lives around it. It’s like a spring day in March; people have made plans around the tour. People have taken time off work and you look and you see the audiences. There’s a lot of familiar faces but there’s a lot of new faces too and you are just reminded how fortunate you are to be doing it and how much respect there is for the crowd.”
I realise Baz, that obviously you need to start preparing for tonight, so one last question. What was it like to be on B.B.C. breakfast television and finding out that presenter Sian Lloyd was a fan of yours?
The funny thing about doing interviews and something like that is when word gets around – The Stranglers are in the building – the amount of people who turn up and what you didn’t see obviously behind the cameras was there were about 20 people who had come in to see us. Afterwards, John Cusack the actor ended up swapping mobile numbers with us and he said he’d been a fan for 14 years. When we were changing over for his interview there’s supposed to be a 30 second swap over feature being aired and the floor manager was going ballistic over the time as there was not supposed to be any breaks between guests and no handshaking either. John walked across the set with his hand outstretched, the floor manager went spare! Sian was flirting J.J. outrageously and it just goes to show how far-reaching The Stranglers go. She’s not much older than I am, she’s only two or three years older than me!
Giants is released on Monday the 5th March and The Stranglers play the o2 Academy, Liverpool the same evening.
Ian D. Hall