Who are the members of Vice Squad and what do they do?
Paul 'Lumpy' Rooney, plays lead guitar and co-writes most of the songs with me. Wayne Firefly plays bass and sings backing vocals and Bongo Bastard hits things with wood.
What kind of music do you consider the band to play?
Punk Rock, in all it's many forms.
How and when did Vice Squad begin?
By the time Vice Squad formed the first wave of punk had started to fade so we were around at the time of the second wave. There were a lot of very young kids getting into Punk then. I saw an advert for a female singer in Revolver Records in Bristol and went to meet the original guitarist Dave Bateman (now deceased) and drummer Shane Baldwin. I was the only applicant who could sing and I had a fairly outrageous DIY image so I was in. Mark Hambly then joined on bass.
How did you get the name Vice Squad, and was it the first name chosen?
I came up with the name 'Vice Squad' because it had a hint of sleaze and the 'Squad' part made me think of a small army of Punks. The rest of the band liked it so it stuck. I can't recall if we came up with any other names, though initially we were 'The Vice Squad' but the 'the' got dropped.
So do you guys stand for anything?
I can only speak for myself, I stand for Animal rights, Social Justice and Rock 'n' Roll among many other things.
Who are your most influential bands/people?
We aren't influenced musically by any one in particular, but there are lots of people we admire, and not necessarily for their songwriting or musical ability. I like Joe Strummer, Little Richard, Janis Joplin and Angus Young, and I love Bruce Lee. Obviously he has no musical influence but his fighting spirit has always been an inspiration.
What is your favorite venue to play at and why?
It's hard to say as the experience of playing an open air festival like Mighty Sounds in the Czech republic is completely different from playing The Key Club in Hollywood, which is itself quite different from playing a small club like the Gaff in London, which was sadly closed down to become a coffee shop. We've had great gigs at all of these places and they have one thing in common: the audience was brilliant.
We've enjoyed every gig we've played this year, from the most intimate, sweaty pubs to big festivals in front of thousands of people. It's a constant struggle to keep the band going and there seems to be an undending amount of work for Paul and me because we have no manager or record company, but lately the hour we spend playing and the time spent meeting people who come to see us makes it worth all the hassle.
Do you have any crazy stories from touring?
Not playing at the British Invasion at the Orange County Pavillion in 2006 because of the ' riot ' was truly crazy. It was a huge disappointment for us to travel all that way and end up not playing, but we weren't hurt so it's those who were injured that we felt sorry for most. We were told that a small fight broke out in the audience and that's what triggered the police response. The press reported it in a way that said all punks were rioters, perhaps someone in power just wanted to stop punk gigs in the area, who knows? The place was full of tear gas and people screaming and running. It was a great shame as there were small kids there as well as adults, and people who were in the audience say it was made a lot worse because of the police over-reacting.
On a more cheerful note we had a great time playing at Ratrock in Belgium in September this year, in spite of the heavy rain. The stage was soaking and we had to play a second set because one of the other bands had to pull out at the last minute. By the time we did the second set the rain had got even heavier and we were standing in several inches of water. We were lucky to get through the set without getting electrified. The audience loved it in spite of the downpour and were dancing in the mud under umbrellas or getting soaked to the skin.After the show we went back to the hotel where our drummer dropped his pants and used the shoe buff to polish his nether regions.
What is your favorite song to play at shows, and why?
I like singing 'Are you looking at me ' and ' Sniffing Glue' and playing/singing ' Defiant ' and ' Punk is the Blues ', these 4 always go down well with the audience. The first 2 are interesting to sing because they're melodic and the last 2 are in-your-face Punk and I can really let rip on them. I still enjoy singng the old lyrics I wrote like 'Last Rockers', 'Stand Strong' and 'Out of reach', they are still relevant today.
Are you currently working on material for a new album?
We're about to press ' Punk Rock Radio ' the follow up to ' London Underground ', It's the most heart-felt album we've ever recorded, the songs are about controversial subjects such as the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes in South London and corruption in the corridors of power but we've also written some funny songs to lighten the mood, like 'Him Indoors' and 'LA Low'.
You can hear some of the new songs here:
Do you have any upcoming California tour dates?
We've had lots of offers for festivals and shows in the USA, Canada and South America so we are hoping that we'll be back playing in California in 2012.
Any last words or comments?
Please visit our website for gig updates/tour news
We also have a Facebook page:
Thanks again for doing this for us!
We really appreciate it!
No problem, it's a pleasure.
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