Christmas came early this year for me. Never did I think that Me First and the Gimme Gimmes would be playing Dublin, and never did I ever think I'd get to shoot one of their shows! Well, that all changed last week when they played the Academy in Dublin on a cold, damp, Monday night! I've been a fan since 1997, when one of the lads I worked with, brought in a copy of Have a Ball . It was love at first listen! I did manage to catch them live back in 2019 when they played the O2 Forum in Kentish Town , London, and it was every bit as good as I'd hoped, but it paled in comparison to Monday night in Dublin. So, how did it come about? Well, back in 2013, I interviewed the band for a now defunct Irish website called Chunk.ie . Over the years, I've stayed on their PR roster, so I took a chance and emailed my contact there. Lo and behold, a few emails later and all was sorted, I was down to photograph the show. How was it? Brilliant, amazing, fantastic,...
Originally published 21/10/2013 on Chunk.ie
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats. That’s a name you won't forget in a hurry. What's the story behind it, presuming there is a story...
Its about a psycho killer who thinks he's God and then goes out into the desert to start his own death cult.
I've been listening to Mind Control for the last few weeks and I've been trying to classify your sound, but failing miserably. It seems to flit between many different genres. Having said I have noticed that the album does go well with Queen of the Stone Ages latest opus, Like Clockwork. How would you guys classify yourselves?
Its hard to say. There's elements of rock, metal, pop, psych....
Cambridge is noted for many things, education, boat races, and most recently, Silicon Fen. It's not exactly known worldwide for producing hard rocking bands. What happened with you guys? Are you all Cambridge locals or did you meet there at college?
No, none of us are from Cambridge. I just happened to live there when I started the band with some friends. There aren't many musicians in Cambridge. Its a small place, but its not a musical place at all. A lot of people in the Cambridge scene hate me because I'm always slagging the place off, but that's fine. It's recent track record speaks for itself. Venues closing down, music licenses getting revoked....its just not a healthy place to be in a band. Now, the band is really based in London which is where I found the best musicians.
Mind Control is your third studio album in 4 years, that's a pretty impressive record. How do you work in the studio? Who's the main creative genius of the band or is it, as Roy Keane would say, a team effort?
Well, I write all the songs. I would still say its a team effort, but at the end of the day I suppose it comes down to what I want. We mostly go for a live sound in the studio. Just crank everything up till there's smoke coming out of all the amps and machines, then hit record.
I've bought your album (no freebies here!) and it's bloody amazing and I'm looking forward to seeing you guys here in Ireland later in the year. Is this your first time to play in Ireland? Will you have some time to sample the good life here?
I hope so! A lot of my family were from Ireland but this will be our first time there and its always been top of my list of places to go to. Looking forward to it.
Some light hearted questions to finish up with...
Simon Cowell, god’s gift to the music industry or the spawn of Satan sent from hell to ruin rock and roll?
Spawn of Satan. I actually walked past him in London recently as he was getting out of his ridiculous 4x4 and I can tell you he looks every inch the cunt in person as he does on TV.
Every band is guilty of writing bad lyrics at one stage or another, what's the worst you've come up with?
'I'm the devil and I'm here to do the devils work'. Horrible lyric.
Robin Thicke has recently shown that having scantily clad ladies in your video can make a catchy song an international hit. Can we expect similar videos from Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats?
Our videos are pretty sleazy as it is but I suppose we need to try harder!
And that's it, the Q&A with Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats is over. Many thanks for taking the time out of your hectic schedule and we look forward to seeing you live later this year.
Thanks a lot! See you soon!
Check out Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats on their website, Facebook and YouTube!
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats. That’s a name you won't forget in a hurry. What's the story behind it, presuming there is a story...
Its about a psycho killer who thinks he's God and then goes out into the desert to start his own death cult.
I've been listening to Mind Control for the last few weeks and I've been trying to classify your sound, but failing miserably. It seems to flit between many different genres. Having said I have noticed that the album does go well with Queen of the Stone Ages latest opus, Like Clockwork. How would you guys classify yourselves?
Its hard to say. There's elements of rock, metal, pop, psych....
Cambridge is noted for many things, education, boat races, and most recently, Silicon Fen. It's not exactly known worldwide for producing hard rocking bands. What happened with you guys? Are you all Cambridge locals or did you meet there at college?
No, none of us are from Cambridge. I just happened to live there when I started the band with some friends. There aren't many musicians in Cambridge. Its a small place, but its not a musical place at all. A lot of people in the Cambridge scene hate me because I'm always slagging the place off, but that's fine. It's recent track record speaks for itself. Venues closing down, music licenses getting revoked....its just not a healthy place to be in a band. Now, the band is really based in London which is where I found the best musicians.
Mind Control is your third studio album in 4 years, that's a pretty impressive record. How do you work in the studio? Who's the main creative genius of the band or is it, as Roy Keane would say, a team effort?
Well, I write all the songs. I would still say its a team effort, but at the end of the day I suppose it comes down to what I want. We mostly go for a live sound in the studio. Just crank everything up till there's smoke coming out of all the amps and machines, then hit record.
I've bought your album (no freebies here!) and it's bloody amazing and I'm looking forward to seeing you guys here in Ireland later in the year. Is this your first time to play in Ireland? Will you have some time to sample the good life here?
I hope so! A lot of my family were from Ireland but this will be our first time there and its always been top of my list of places to go to. Looking forward to it.
Some light hearted questions to finish up with...
Simon Cowell, god’s gift to the music industry or the spawn of Satan sent from hell to ruin rock and roll?
Spawn of Satan. I actually walked past him in London recently as he was getting out of his ridiculous 4x4 and I can tell you he looks every inch the cunt in person as he does on TV.
Every band is guilty of writing bad lyrics at one stage or another, what's the worst you've come up with?
'I'm the devil and I'm here to do the devils work'. Horrible lyric.
Robin Thicke has recently shown that having scantily clad ladies in your video can make a catchy song an international hit. Can we expect similar videos from Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats?
Our videos are pretty sleazy as it is but I suppose we need to try harder!
And that's it, the Q&A with Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats is over. Many thanks for taking the time out of your hectic schedule and we look forward to seeing you live later this year.
Thanks a lot! See you soon!
Check out Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats on their website, Facebook and YouTube!