FUNGALPUNK INTERVIEWS |
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Jim of HOOGERLAND |
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1. So Jim baby can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about the band you are in? Oh and where is Hoogerland? Hi I’m Jim Quinn and I play bass in Hoogerland. I’ve been playing bass and guitar in bands for 15 years or so. I’ve played with some fantastic bands Jeff, Flint, Side A, The Berettas, The Mighty Booze, Urban Scum & Inspades to name a few. I’ve been lucky with music, I’ve managed to tour the UK and Europe and spent hours in the studio recording original material. I also used to work as a producer for many of the local York punk bands in my converted basement home studio and spent a while engineering local gigs. Hoogerland is a great concept. All three members were completely fed up of the scenes we had operated in, fed up of being let down and especially fed up of trying to pigeonhole ourselves. The entire concept of the band is to do things on our terms, the writing, the performing and the recording. We don’t actively book gigs anymore but we do accept them as long as we all agree we can give the gig 100% and the promoter can do the same. So far it’s been a success! Hoogerland is a town in the Netherlands, but the band is actually named after a pro-cyclist called Johnny Hoogerland. He’s a bit of a hero to us! 2. When did you first realise you wanted to be in a band and what are your earliest recollections of music? I think I was about 13 when I realised I wanted to be in a band. I was quite lucky growing up as my dad was into a really diverse mix of music so I’d listen to some decent records about that ‘n’ that. I grew up listening to his back catalogue and then got into the American alt-rock artists like The Lemonheads. Although Troublegum by Therapy was the turning point! 3. How do you feel the band you are in work as a unit and how do you organise your gigs, set lists, songs etc. This band is dead easy. We rehearse every couple of week Jason (guitar/vocals) writes all these songs and Mark (drums) and I kick them into shape until we are all happy. Because we are a 3 piece we can stuff sorted quickly, we make all the decisions together. No hassle. As we don’t do that many gigs we generally try and squeeze as much as possible into our sets. 4. The songs Hoogerland push out to me is one of those that slots between various sub-genres but never really fits in to one specific area (pop punk being mighty close though). Is this a plan and how do you plan to attract an audience with today's insular circles? Yeah, we don’t fit into a genre. To be honest we made a massive point of just playing the stuff we like not giving a shit about what other people think. We thought everyone would hate us, but we’ve been pleasantly surprised so far. 5. Pubic cushions and armpit hair throwovers - would you penetrate a diseased dwarf on a couch with these fashionable adornments and also would you pour anal slug jelly into your ears to stop TV repeats of Ironside? I used to love Ironside when I was a student! I’m more concerned with the utter shite being broadcast in the primetime slots. 6. Hoogerlands best song sir, in your humble opinion, and of course best song? We’ve got a new song called ‘I Don’t Mind’ which is going to be an absolute belter when we finish it. I think it’s Jason’s best work to date. In the current set ‘Amber’ the opener from our album is our best song. If we hit it right and if the tempo’s good and the volumes up it feels amazing to play live. 7. York, what is the scene like mate - tell us about how it compares to the wider arena and what special faces are working their pimpled arses off to keep noise alive. Also mention any bands you reckon are worth checking out and any places that are worth visiting when over that way? York’s a funny ol’ place. The scene is split four ways for me. 1. The cover bands and acoustic open mics. 2. The metal scene which is really strong but it’s very much ‘metal only’! 3. The fucking trendy scene, basically a load of nobs who change genres/band names every week and pat each other on the back. You can’t get anywhere near playing on those bills unless you willing to do some serious ass kissing (I’m not). 4. The punk scene. It’s brilliant and really healthy. Everyone is welcomed with open arms regardless of what music they play. Dan Gott (The Franceens) hosts some great bi-monthly nights called Behind The White Door which has some cool out of town bands as well as a decent mix of local stuff. The best bands in York are (in no particular order) The Franceens, The Hoolivans, RSJ, The Vexed and The Blueprints. 8. Accordion Titties - simply squeeze and play, digitized buttocks - press and perform - now tell me about 4 body parts that are worth transforming into musical instruments for Walter Wurlitzers latest venture - Skeletal Sonics Emporium? Farty Arm-pit umpahs, Clickity Cliticky arthritic joints, Constant pitched tinny tinnitus, Trumpeting?!? 9. Describe your fellow band members in 5 words apiece one which must be insect related? Mark – Lively, Radged, Bradford Stick-Insect 10. The best and worst about being in a band and your motivations in life and music? The best – hanging around with your mates and having a laugh. We got to go to Italy in the summer to play a festival we had an amazing time! 11. I opened up a tin of Quality Street the other day and 3 pieces of cheese jump out and fled as fast as their fumes could carry them. Investigations revealed that these were escapees from the local cheddar prison where newly appointed wardens are using the Double Gloucester approach and brutalising the more gentle inmates. Is cheese brutality on the up, is the whole penal system upside down and how many Dairy Lea spread triangles would it take to build a gay Song Thrush? And too bloody right! Did you hear about those vicious cheesestrings bastards? 12. Fly high, take many bags of excrement with you, drop them down and splatter attack the ground with a brown bombardment - strategically place thy turd bombs so they spell out a message to promote the cause of Hoogerland! Open your mind, don’t get stuck in one genre! |
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