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First off thanks for doing this
for me and taking the time out. I shouldn't say this but I did used to like
dropping a tab while listening to Acid Bath.
Nik Fiend: Nothing wrong with that,
you are not the only one!
That's the end of my revelations now
onto yours.
How did the band start, influences etc How did you arrive at the
name Demon Preacher ?Where were Demon Preacher formed ? What was the punk scene like there ? What sort of places did you
play and with whom ? You didn't ever support the Unwanted did you ? What was the band line up ?
Nik Fiend:
Aaaaarggghhh!!! It's like digging back into the furthest
chambers
of my head! Phew.... I've even had to get out my old books of press cuttings to refresh my memory on some of this stuff, it seems so
long ago! In the beginning there were two
of us, me & Tony Gialanze, a guitarist, & we used
to rehearse in a bedroom. He was one of the few people I knew who
was into the same stuff as me. Demon Preacher was created late '75, the
name just came to me, walking down the King's Road in London. We had a
fuzz box orientated sound, thanks to Tony G's tone bender pedal. We were
joined by some mates of Tony G's - Big Tony Ward (guitar), Geoff Bedz
(guitar) & Gel Healy (drums) but were still without a bass. So in came
Tony G's bird, Sharon Mac. It was really hard to get gigs
early on. Punk was pretty dangerous at that time, a lot of
people didn't consider it to be proper music & you could get quite a lot of
trouble from just the way you looked. There was like a
little network of people, people would come into London from all over
the place to see gigs. We just enjoyed rehearsing at first, we used to
spend as much time over the weekend as possible making a racket. Our first
rehearsal place was in the crypt of a Roman Catholic church in Holloway
Road!
First gig was late '77 at which Sex Pistols members Rotten, Jones & Cook
were present. We played a number of gigs at The Roxy Club in WC2
& The Brecknock in N7, Hope And Anchor, etc. I don't
recall supporting The Unwanted, I know we supported bands
like Bone Idle & The Drones at some time but can't
remember when. I knew The Unwanted cos their drummer worked
with us for a bit, (see later) also I don't know if you know but Ollie
Wisdom who ended up in The Specimen & who ran the Batcave Club was the
singer in The Unwanted.
Listening to Royal Northern single now it sounds, if you
don't mind me saying it , pretty rough !! How did you come
to record it and remember anything about it ?
Nik Fiend: It may sound rough but I've heard that it's now changing
hands
for £38 a copy! (Laughs) All I wanted was to get a record released &
get started, I wasn't after awards for production or anything! For the first
time it was possible to put your own record out & get it distributed. But you
needed money. It took me ages to get the finance sorted
out but in the end I borrowed it off my boss at the time. He got paid
back very quickly plus a profit! This EP was released in January '78,
& featured a total slag down of The Royal Northern Hospital, in N7. We
got LOADS of press about it & it caused a really big stink! By this point
Geoff Bedz, Tony Gialanze & Sharon had left so instead we had Camilla Branson
on bass & cigarette holder, & Kevin Armstrong (who later produced
the Alien Sex Fiend ""Acid Bath"" album) played lead guitar
on the fourth track Dead End Kidz. I booked the studio (IPS
in Shepherd's Bush, in '86 we went back with Alien Sex
Fiend & recorded IT The Album there) for 2 hours,
thinking 4 songs to record, half an hour each, sorted! But
it took 2 hours to get everything plugged in & working & so forth.
Pete McGhee, the owner, let us have the extra 2 hours free. Bless him, he was
well into what we were doing. After that recording session Tony
Ward & Gerry left as they weren't prepared to go 100% with it. They had good
jobs & stuff whereas I wanted to do this full time, all the time!
How did you come to get a single deal with Small
Wonder ?
Pete Stennett of Small Wonder had heard the Royal Northern EP &
because he
had sold so many copies of Royal Northern through their shop he wanted
to put us in the studio to do a follow up single, which was ""Little
Miss Perfect"". A song about Joyce McKinney who had kidnapped a Mormon minister & had chained him up & raped him,
allegedly! By that time Joe Schmo had joined as guitarist,
I had met him at The Roxy, he was also a good
photographer. Camilla was still on bass, & Kevin Armstrong
too, who was also the producer. Drummer Paul Wilson of The Unwanted
& The Psychedelic Furs had played with us at the Stoke Newington
Open Air Festival but then went AWOL, so Max Splodge (of Splodgnessabounds
& ""Two Pints Of Lager & A Packet Of Crisps"" fame)
sat in on drums. ""Little
Miss Perfect"" is the only track that has been re-issued on CD, it's on a Cherry Red released CD called ""Best Of Small
Wonder"".Everything else is only available on the original vinyl.
Why did the band break up ?
Nik Fiend: After ""Little Miss Perfect"" the band
mutated into different line-ups, it would be impossible to
list everyone! & it lasted a while longer. We did a
lot of gigs, at The Music Machine in Camden (now The Camden
Palace) at the Brecknock, The Old Queen's Head in Stockwell, The Pied
Bull (became The Powerhaus) in Islington. Also at one point we were called
""The Demons"" & released a 2 track single called
""Action By Example"" again on my own label. That featured
Claire Hirst on sax who was later in The Belle Stars & played with David
Bowie. Then we went back to the name Demon Preacher with Razzle on drums, (later
he joined Hanoi Rocks) Boo on bass & Jim on guitar, both of whom went onto
be in The Babysitters, & Piece (later in Turkey Bones And The Wild Dogs) on lead guitar. This was the final line up. We headlined a festival
on the Isle Of Wight & took a lot of magic mushrooms. The gig was totally
mental & a fitting end to the band! When we came back, our heads had been
drastically changed & in the end we all went our separate ways, but we
stayed friends.
Are there any more Demon Preacher tracks / live stuff
unreleased ?
Nik Fiend: Yes is the short answer to that!
Looking back how do you see your time with Demon Preacher and
Punk in general ?
Nik Fiend: It was a massive learning curve. Looking back now, I'm amazed at
how people & events were so inter-linked & also how much frontI had!! I
would go & book a gig & then go get a band together! Absolutely
good fun. Even the shit bits seem hilarious now! I suppose cos I've survived it
& come out the other side. So I'm lucky really!
Any amusing anecdotes for my readers to read over breakfast ?
Nik Fiend: Lots! Around '78 we were going to do a gig on the roof of
Beaufort
Market in the King's Road. I think Jock MacDonald (of Bollock Brothers)
had organised it & there was going to be a big headliner band but
so many punks turned up that the police closed off the street & arrested
people & stopped everything. We were lucky not to get arrested ourselves.
We also did a gig in Oxford, where I jumped onto the bar at the
side & ran along it, as I went back towards the stage someone set my shirt
on fire. I went flying into the drums, they started to burn, & the curtains
as well, somehow someone put it all out & we carried on. Munchie
from Tenpole Tudor was playing bass that night. That was part of it,
playing with all different people. There was another good one at a venue
in York Way, I got halfway through the gig & wanted to liven things
up a bit so I dropped my trousers, jumped off the stage & ran around
the place, half the place emptied!
What are you up to now?
Nik Fiend: After that Isle Of Wight gig I wanted to experiment with new
things & Alien Sex Fiend was born out of that. So we're now
recording our 10th studio album called
""Information Overload"" & it'll be released on
our own label (as was the previous one ""Nocturnal
Emissions"") which is 13th Moon Records. So
strangely it some respects it's a bit like those very
early days but we don't photocopy & sellotape the sleeves together
ourselves now! (Laughs)
Liz
13th Moon Records
www.asf-13thmoon.demon.co.uk
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