Baz Warne - Pt5

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 Pt 1 -Intro | Pt 2 - Early Days | Pt 3 - Norfolk Coast | Pt4 - Suite XVI

"The band's been together for 32 years and has never split up. There should be some sort of recognition for the band for the amount of music and pleasure they’ve given fans." Baz Warne 2006
Time for those all odds and sods questions and of course this means Paul Roberts and Hugh Cornwell who both had 16 years in the band. Come to think of it the bands new album is their 16th and its called 'Suite XVI'. Spooky eh? OK enough spooky shit. This is the last time I mention Cornwell and The Stranglers and I only really did it because they were on the same bill at Guildford this year albeit different days. The way Cornwell left and the kind of sniping and commenting that's been done through the interviews between band and ex band over the years is obviously not wanted again with Paul's leaving so Baz is reticent about the whole affair. I also stress he had nothing but good things to say about Paul. No doubt things will leak out and there will be the inevitable commenting but we'll see as not telling the full story always breeds conjecture. I sense there is an untold story there as I spoke to Paul a couple of weeks after he had left the band and there seemed to be some things he wanted to say.

The inevitable nosing into Paul Roberts' departure Q
 He left with shows to do and an album 2/3rds finished. We were left with our backs against the wall and the Stranglers respond very well to that kind of thing because they’ve done it all their career. I don’t want to say too much about it. It ran its course and I know that sounds like a right fucking cop out! I’d like to think that when the dust all settles we could still all be friends. He left fairly amicably. He wasn’t kicked out or sacked. It was just a series of events. When he left I was shocked but I wasn’t completely surprised.

I don’t think he’d want to rejoin we’re getting on very well without him (and I don’t mean that in a negative way) It was amiable and he was compensated. He was asked if he wanted to stay and he wanted to leave. I won’t say anything bad because he’s a mate of mine. The way it happened was a bit unexpected and a bit sudden but at the end of the day it was a rolling snowball; a culmination of things and the more you put them under the spotlight the more blown out of proportion they become.
Stranglers V - Shepherds Bush 2006 Stranglers IV - Guildford 2006

The above is not Baz!

Have you finally slain the ghost of Hugh?
I make no bones about the fact that I’ve never met Hugh Cornwell and I don’t know him. I’m a better guitar player than he is. I'm in the Stranglers and he isn’t and he’s not coming back. (Lots of laughing). Its bizarre that he’s using the similar writing for his logo, releasing a live album with loads of Stranglers tunes on it and every opportunity he gets he's talking about the band and he’s not refuting coming back now. But the band will never have him back. The band is better now.

The Hugh Cornwell comparison irritates me when I look at reviews and they still have the gross incompetence to use old pictures and even pictures of him before Paul's time. People have even come up to me at gigs and said when did Hugh lose his hair? I'm fuckin telling you! How insane is that?

What you can’t escape is that he was the guitarist in the original line up. A formidable live entity , enigmatic, timeless British pop rock voice but he’s not in the fucking band anymore, he hasn’t been for 16 years and he’s not coming back. He'll  never come back. Hugh wouldn’t be able to handle the pace. JJ's got the vigour back again!

Bit weird at Guildford wasn't it?
I couldn’t believe they put him on. I was staggered to hear all them songs without keyboards but he’s got a right.

Does the old stuff being re-released piss you off?
To a certain degree it does but you have to hold your hands up and say this band existed for over 25 years without me and had an awfully big amount of hits. What irritates me is that they are all the same. There’s been two or three while I’ve been in the band and they are all the same.
   

The old set list fatigue question...tin hat time!!
Golden Brown….the problem is it’s the Stranglers biggest hit…you’ve got to appeal to the majority of the audience. You play to 2000 people and a quarter will be die hard stranglers fans but the rest of them?

At the end of the day not to play it is commercial suicide. The band are not as commercially revered as they used to be. A lot of people go for nostalgia reasons but you can’t play to the minority. Sometimes they just want to hear the hits. You’ve got to see the  bigger picture. 'Golden Brown' is the Stranglers 'Living On A Prayer' (noooooh! Punk77). You have to play what people want to hear.
 

Punk77: Baz  you’ve now got to change the bar now. You can’t make an album worse than 'Suite XVI'. (laughs all round) 

Baz: If you still have the drive and passion after so long then fair fucking play. Next year is going to be a massive massive year. Feet not touching the ground job. Everybody is so much more focussed.

That's your lot. As Stranglers fans we can't ask for more. Always a great live act and now back on track. Something tells me we've still to hear the best but that's probably a couple of years away so lets enjoy 'Suite XVI.

So make sure you catch the boys on tour, buy the album and single and don't ell anyone I told you but expect some surprises in the set list including maybe even 'Peasant In The Big Shitty'!

 Pt 1 -Intro | Pt 2 - Early Days | Pt 3 - Norfolk Coast | Pt4 - Suite XVI

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