by
Being dropped by a major label off the back of a hit single for most
bands
would spell disaster, but not however for Terrorvision. After a lengthy
21-month
period of absence, they are back and set to burst on to the scene with the
release of 'D'ya Wanna Go Faster?' released Jan 15 and forthcoming album
released the following month. I managed to snatch a few words with front man
Tony at the Colchester leg of the recently sell-out UK comeback tour.
So what have they been up to in that 21 months absence? I'll leave
Tony to explain:
**'Well you know we fell out with EMI, then we decided to start writing
some songs really, we did a few gigs round universities and stuff like that.
Basically we wrote some songs, got some demos together and decided to ring
up
the labels to see if they wanted to hear the demos, it were quite sad really
because a lot of the major record labels said 'no we're not looking for rock
bands, we want blokes who can sit on stools singing love songs type vibe or
five
numptees dancing in a row, we don't want anyone who actually plays or writes
anything.' Erm which was quite devastating cos I've got a little lad myself
and I don't want him to grow up thinking that that's music y'know what I
mean, or that there isn't an alternative to it so y'know we're a rock band
and that's not what they were into. I don't want my lad to think that
that's all there is in the world either. So we came across a company called
'Papillion' a little indie label and there's like 8 people who work there
and they're lovely and they are really into it and we decided to write them
the best album we possibly could. The most rocking album we possibly could,
cos
we wanted to make them the biggest record label there is as well as us being
the
biggest band.'**
And being dropped from EMI, what was that like?
**'It was a celebration, 'cos we weren't getting on with them, the
people there we hadn't got any respect for them, they didn't have any
respect for us.'**
One of the songs off of the forthcoming album directly addresses this
relationship with EMI, and in a way perfectly sums up how Terrorvision feel.
this is particularly noticeable in the inclusion of the line 'There's a
party over here, fuck you over there!' The phrase 'Cooperate dinosaurs'
has in the past been used to describe the EMI bosses.**'Yer but Emi did
give us a job, a chance, they also gave a lot of chances to the rock bands
that
they have signed, and all are sort of pathetic old men, cooperate dinosaurs.
I
think that they were killing music rather than moving rock music into the
future. They were being old fashioned as well as old; they didn't know any
better. Ok when we signed to EMI 8 yrs ago, their heavy metal roster was
terrible so we decided to put pay to that, we started 'Total Vegas'
recording and EMI and the people there THEN gave us the chance to do that so
we
can't really slate them, it was the people not the company we feel out with
because when we first went there they were brilliant y'know what I mean they
were rockers!'**
_Are EMI still planning to release 'The best of.' album to coincide
with your forthcoming release?_
**'Yer, they're a big company and the people who are doing that side I
think are really quite nice people but y'know what I mean, so yer hopefully
they will get it together. But that's by the by, I look to the future rather
than to the past, otherwise we'll end up being in the past and sounding like
all those other bands that they had that we complained about at the
beginning of
the evening!'**
_Before being dropped, Terrorvision had the massive hit single
'Tequila', when a band has such a hit, there is often worry that they are
only remembered for that particular song, for Terrorvision that was never
the
case,_ *'before Tequila we were *that band that had 'Perseverance'
and before 'Perseverance' we were 'Oblivion' and before 'Oblivion'
we were that band that had 'My House'. and so on. we were playing gigs
in the last year, we were playing for an hour with songs that had all been
in
the charts, top 40 singles.'**
Conversation then turned to address the release of the new single 'D'ya
Wanna Go Faster' Seemingly more upbeat I felt it apt to find out more.
_And the new single 'D' ya wanna go faster' that's released in
January is that a taster of things to come from the new album?_
**'Yer it's defiantly upbeat, it's too the point, in your face and the
song comes from being on a record deal where they make you feel like you're
stuck in traffic and all you wanted to do was go faster, do y'know what I
mean
and get in the outside lane and zoooommm! Get a chance to do it. And the
album,
we did a thing called a proto, which in this computerised world we live in,
erm
it's sort of the way people are doing things y'know. It's probably why a
lot of music has changed because proto recordings you can do in your
bedroom.
Yer proto is computer based rather than tape based thing. So, Neil
McClelland
the producer, he were very similar to us, he's passionate about music and he
feels it, but he's also very clever when it comes to all these computerised
ways of doing things. Which to us I found frustrating because even listening
to
the thing going wack wack wack wack wack, for three hours, literally the
same
thing, was just bizarre, but at the end of it, it was all worth while
because it
were tight and had the impact and Damien DT he came down and he could look
at
the music, didn't hear it and looked at what it looked like and the shape of
it and could change bits, and zap it and do all these things. It were
amazing
really. The time it saved doing it and rewinding you're losing other things.
You can also have a set up in your bedroom, you don't need a big studio any
more.'**
At the time rumour was rife that the forthcoming album was to be titled
'Spin On It', many major music publications believed this to be the case.
**'Well
what we did was like a 'Wheel Of Fortune' where it were 4 letters, then 2
letters and then 2 letters and we are doing a wheel of fortune so we can
y'know, it's a phrase that people use, as is 'Spin On It' but
isn't!'** Since conducting the interview, it was officially announced that
the album is titled 'Good To Go'.
_Even though you said the album was coming out on 'Papillion' the small
imprint group of Chrysalis, did it ever cross your mind to release the album
on
your own label, and go completely independent?_
**'Yer it did cross our minds so yer, but we at the end of the day we're
a band we're not geared up mentally that way never mind business wise. We
just, we've got the passion to put into it but that wouldn't come across in
trying to get a record shop to stock it because I don't understand all of
that. As long as, well all we want to do is get everybody to hear our music,
y'know what I mean let them decide whether they like it or not. We would
have
done yer, maybe sold over the Internet through our website or given it away
on
our website.'** Using this as an introduction, and what with the
unresolved
arguments over Napster and other such sites, I took the opportunity to touch
on
this subject area. _What do you think of the Internet's role in the music
industry?_ **'It's good, we have a web site ourselves, we keep it up to
date, y'know we're writing a tour diary at the moment, we've also got a
news section. When you've got like Napster that shares music with people, I
wouldn't like it to Napster to take the food out of my child's mouth but by
the same token it does get people to hear it and it's only a program at the
end of the day. You find that most people who complain about it are the
people
who have made the money and I think if you hear a record lets say 'enter
sand
man' right if I heard that on an mp3 I'd think that's brilliant and I'd
still buy it on the CD, plus you never know you may only get half of it
before
whoever online hangs up.'
**
_Obviously as you said you write for your fanzine and for your website,
how
important is this type of fan interaction to you as a band?_
**'It's really important of course it is, when you are away in the
desert for two years that were how we kept in contact with people and it
builds
now as we're getting closer and closer to releasing the album and as this
tour's gone on, it's built every week more people are going on our cyber
page and it's people going 'Oooh' y'know what I mean and some people are
going 'oh it's ours and we don't want new people. And that's being anal
do you know what I mean, but everyone likes to be the first though.'**
_What's the strangest thing a fan has ever done for you or asked you to
do?_
**'Well we've had all sorts of things, people send us candles, I don't
know why they would send us candles. There was this girl who had gone with
her
dad to a gig and he er, he died shortly after but he went to the gig with
her
and wrote a letter and she says that he were alive that moment, he was happy
and
she sent us this letter that were really touching. It wasn't strange but it
was the most profound thing I've ever had sent it was just a letter and
y'know I meet her at Birmingham and she said, well she reiterated it all, it
was the most powerful thing I've ever read'**
So it seems to hear Terrorvision live is to hear Terrorvision! They are
in
truth a live band. The recent tour was dubbed by many in the press as
the-reacquaint-with-fans-tour. This theme also brought up another
unavoidable
question.
So, how's the tour going?
**'Brilliant, we're three weeks into the tour, and have got two weeks
left and er it's brilliant, it's gonna be strange stopping after with it
being so intense for such a long time.'**
And as for the previously mentioned description?
**'Yer well like you said, we've been away for 21 months, we can't go
straight into big theatres and straight away. I mean we're never been sort
of
an arena band, but you can't go straight into theatres. And yet this is
basically where we started, and we feel like we are starting again really,
we've got y'know this is the best way in your faces and they're in our
faces. You get proper Terrorvision fans at the gigs.'**
_So with the New Year rapidly approaching we took the chance to have a
brief reflection period. Any thoughts on the current music scene?_
**'It sounds like the bands I've heard; they make me feel really
confident about our record that's what I can say about that. I think you
need
rock music, however it is. And the nu-metals are sort of been coming in from
America and like we've been missing for 2 years so you'll find that the
Terrorvision quality threshold that we kept up has maybe been crossed a
little
bit and not kept up to. I don't hear a Nirvana and I don't hear me 'Guns n
Roses', I hear just stuff to put people warm until we bring out this new
album. I think we use to be labelled 'Terrorvision, oh you've got long hair,
so you're not going in the Indie mags'. But I think you'll find that we
are now the alternative to all of that. And like I say I don't think anyone
could touch us at the moment. We will go on stage next to anybody, whether
it be
the top band in the pop charts or the top bands in the nu-metal charts, we
will
go on stage next to them, before them, after them whenever and we will play
and
people will see it for themselves that we're better!'**
So now you've heard it all from a band that use to brand the phrase **
'"No
Moet no showet, No Chandon no band on!" We nicked that off Sham 69!'** but
now claim to be "not as mad as we were." Ask Terrorvision to hotly
tip for the year 2001 and you may just receive this answer: **'Hotly tip
er.besides
us? Erm I think they're gonna have to get their fingers out to be hotly
tipped, I think they are gonna have to start playing from the heart and not
from
their pocket."** Along with new songs and a new album Terrorvision are
gonna
bring back this amazing sense of self-belief, they are a band who care about
their fans, their environment but above all else they care about their
music. **So
D'ya wanna go faster?!!**
