Baz Warne - Part 2

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 Pt 1 -Intro | Pt 3 - Norfolk Coast | Pt4 - Suite XVI | Pt5 -Hugh, Paul & Odds & Sods

"With the Stranglers, you need 5 parts musical ability and 5 parts attitude coz it isn’t the hardest stuff in the world to play." Baz Warne 2006
The apparent decline and fractures in the band can all be traced back to the song writing. According to Hugh in his autobiographies JJ was writing and singing less which lead to friction though as '10' was the result of Hugh being the dominant force it wasn't really an advert for his abilities. As The Stranglers progressed in their post Hugh phase Paul & John Ellis became the dominant song writing partnership, changing the direction of the band albeit proposing one step too far for JJ. Commercially the band were not so hot but live they still thrived. The arrival of Baz Warne however gave a guitarist more in tune with the Stranglers sound and a songwriter to boot to partner up with JJ and renergise the band.

First a bit of history....
I was in the Toy Dolls in 1983 playing bass not guitar. I had auditioned for guitar player and got the gig then Olga changed his mind.  3 months later he rang me up and said 'do you fancy playing bass' and I said 'yeah'. I was 2 years doing that during which time I went to the States. I had only just turned 18 and that was fantastic. Those early days with the Dolls confirmed that this was what I wanted to do.

I then left and formed the Small Town Heroes who were called the Troubleshooters at the time in 1985 and we played for 13/14 years. We did millions of gigs and even won an award for being one of the only bands to do a 1000 gigs and not be signed. We then went out on the 'About Time' Stranglers tour as support.

They liked us and we toured with them again 2 years later for 'Written In Red.' 3 years later John Ellis left and they rang me up and rather than putting up an advert and being inundated hundreds of guitarist, most of whom would be crap, they were ringing up ones they liked. We had a mutual guitar tech who phoned me up and said The Stranglers are looking for a guitarist. Initially I wasn’t going to do it. I've sleppped me arse around predominantly Europe for years and by this time was married with 2 babies and my wife asked me not to. She was used to having me home again because before I was away for 8/9 months with very little return to show for it. So I rang them up and said 'thanks but no thanks'. That lasted about a day and I couldn’t believe what I had done. I was a fan of the band before hand of the first three albums. I loved the band from when I was a boy. I went to London was the last to audition and got the job on the spot. 10 days later we went to Kosovo to play for the troops.

You see they’ve got the infrastructure, management and everything and its sussed and sorted. Other bands you would get paid if and when you played. The Stranglers are not like that. I was offered a wage which for a working musician with a family is a dream come true. That was an incentive but I found that out afterwards. I just wanted to see if I could do it.
   

Did you think it was a bit of risk as the band were obviously not the force they once were and were struggling to develop a new identity?
I didn’t think they had done anything decent since the late eighties. '10' was an awful album. I suppose deep down in the back of my mind I thought I could bring something to them. I was under no illusions that it might have well since peaked but I just wanted the opportunity to play with them. They sent me four songs to learn and the legend is that I only got the gig because I could play 'Golden Brown' which Hugh Cornwell couldn’t even play and that is actually true. That’s what happened.

We weren't floundering but I was the new boy. I played a different style of guitar to John, more like Hugh in sound and vibe. John was a bit of a modern guitarist. Good guitarist but not necessarily a Stranglers guitarist. With the Stranglers you need 5 parts musical ability and 5 parts attitude coz it isn’t the hardest stuff in the world to play.

John Ellis
   

I  know they knew I wrote most of the songs for Small Town Heroes and Dave Greenfield really liked the songs. Paul had been writing a lot with John Ellis and they had become a bit a of a team although he had written with JJ as well. JJ was looking for another song writing partner so they wanted another songwriter on board.

The band seemed to be struggling with direction.
To be fair they realised that. I know there was fractures appearing and then would be healed. But that’s the same with any band. People row and argue especially in a band that is was so ferocious and prolific. But when we did those two tours with them they were still great as a live entity and had something to offer – they were loud powerful and punchy and tight. Whether you could stand and look at them and fall in love with them like in the 70/80’s was debatable. They were still filling venues and they still thought they had something to say as a live band.

 Pt 1 -Intro | Pt 3 - Norfolk Coast | Pt4 - Suite XVI | Pt5 -Hugh, Paul & Odds & Sods

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