Hey Rocky welcome back to Suits. Now a lot has happened since we last spoke and cleared up the old Wrathchild days so, let's move on into your new territory of coolness. OK, so when we last spoke Wildside Riot were still a living breathing force and there was only a brief mention of your intentions for a new Wrathchild. So, take us into why Wildside Riot stopped and why did a new version of Wrathchild become the destination for your present musical venture.
Rocky Shades ; Hi Darren, Wildside Riot was the best band I’ve ever been in, great friends, hugely talented and my true rock brothers. While Wildside Riot was contemplating and writing for a second album, my band said to me "as we are covering certain Wrathchild songs in the set why don’t we trade under the name Rocky Shades Wrathchild and do some shows featuring the most desired and asked for Wrath tracks while we’ve been Wildside Riot"? After playing a few shows, I noticed Stan Wood’s (Marc Angel) version of Wrathchild (the eternal bitter thorn in my side) had imploded and disbanded so I actively kept a close watch on the trademark (which was stolen off the original band in the first place) which, I have always desired. As Rocky Shades Wrathchild was doing ok for itself I carried on playing shows under the banner Rocky Shades Wrathchild but then a major American management company pointed out to me that all trademarks for any of the Wrathchild entities died in 2019! So I found to my utter amazement the Wrathchild trademark was up for grabs which I jumped on post haste. Knowing its last owner was a very bitter and twisted ex band member I wasted no time and got commissioned a new take on the logo and name artwork, not a million miles away from the original but different enough to make it legal.
Then I / we started trading under the name Wrathchild. It should come as no surprise that under this name with no prefix or suffix we were offered a better class of work. Because the core of Wrathchild is Wildside Riot and we all love the songs on the Wildside Riot album “No Second Take” we have no qualms putting one or two songs from that record in the Wrathchild live set.
OK cool so your line up was Wildside Riot but then you added Jay (Pegg) to the mix. Tell us how Jay got involved.
R . S ; Wildside Riot showed me two guitars are more powerful than one so I’ve always desired a second guitarist for Wrathchild but it had to be the right one, somebody who brought something new to the mix and that’s where Jay came in. Jay Pegg is our "GIF" (geddit?!) from the gods! He is a major contributor to our new songs. He is a friend who plays in two local bands the Schemers (a brilliantly entertaining punk commercial covers band) and The Dead Marshes. I saw him a few times and thought he looked cool in a way that was different to us so when Bret (Patrucci) quit during the recording of the E.P. ("Still Here In The Freakshow") because of musical differences, Jay was the first guitarist we tried out after we finished recording the E.P. The band took to him immediately which saved a hell of a lot of time auditioning loads of guitarists (a necessary but tiresome task) so we asked him to join. He gets on so well with everyone and is a very good-looking talented guy. Am I worried about a better-looking person eclipsing me?....Nah I'm Rocky Shades and the rest speaks for itself ha ha ha. So now we have a glam sleaze core with the attitude of punk, I guess you could say were the oldest glam punks on the planet.
OK, so with a steady line up it was time to move on. So, with the Wrathchild legacy truly in yours and every fan’s mind, when it came to sort set lists out was it straight forward or was it a bit of give 'n take? Did you try some songs you thought would be great and they didn't turn out too well and then others that you didn't think about became staples for the live set. Take us into the thoughts about what to play and how did those thoughts manifest into titles on a set list.
R . S ; The answer to this question shows you that I am no dictator when it comes to the running of the band. We chose the Wrathchild songs in a very diplomatic way and at present we still don’t play all of my favourites. The first choice of material came from the fans we asked the fans what their five favourite Wrath songs were from the first three albums and made a list. These came out as 1. “Nuke” 2. “Trash Q” 3. “Stakk Attakk” 4. “Too Wild To Tame” and “Kick Down The Walls”. Next I asked each band member to name their favourite three outside of this list and made a wish list. This got us “Biz”, “Shokker”, “Long way” and “Do What You Wanna”. Then I asked the band to pick two fave Wildside Riot songs then we cross checked and made a list. Lastly any new songs we write get rotated into the set gaps but they are always dependant on what time we have. We always ask our fans if they would like us to play any songs not on the current list and make a list. We are the most diplomatic band I’ve ever worked with.
Awesome to hear that you and everyone else are totally in sync and things are on a positive springboard to your collective futures.
R . S ; When I first got together with the Wildside Riot boys they were caught between nostalgia icon awe and diva trepidation. They suspected I might be up my own arse but having got to know me for real they realise no one lets a band breathe more than me. I put my oar in on just about everything, but the band is a democracy. We vote on things and judge accordingly. Some of my historical antics amuse my boys immensely, and one of my guitarists had a top hat made that reads, "Shades eats knickers" and wore it at gigs. I think if you can rip the piss out of yourself then you can laugh when other people do it, and we rip the piss out of each other constantly and never take offence.
OK it would be a miss not to talk image with, let's face it, the face and image of U.K. glam past and now present. You have had a few different looks since Wildside Riot and up to now. So, take us into the mindset of your ideas and how they turn from dreams into reality.
R . S ; The mind set behind the things I do is a scary concept. If I get an idea it just pops into my head, and then I just put it into visual form.
I’ve worn bondage gear, punky gear, glammy glitzy gear and my latest look is a space age cowboy complete with six-gun shooter microphone and holster.
My band usually do their own thing when it comes to image but with Wrathchild they dress with attitude, I’m very proud of my boys. What I never do is copy anyone. Wrathchild looked like we did back in 1980 before that look was even accepted. We were viewed and treated like freaks the kids your mom told you not to play with. Now when people look at it they embrace the nostalgia free of the pain.
Image discussed now let's get to the music. When we spoke before we touched on your influences then but what has remained with you and what other spheres have had an influence on your writing in the present.
R . S ; Present music tastes I am still fuelled by classic punk and proto punk which impacts in my writing. I still play MC5, Anti Nowhere League and Sham 69. I also follow the numerous multi-talented Scandinavian bands like Crashdiet and Cruel Intentions, but I don’t let their music influence my writing. Wrathchild’s take on music is fun and full of attitude and this is the only criteria to the writing. You won’t get any political shit or over serious stuff, the songs for the new album feature a lot of history and thoughts from my jaded past. Out of the newer of the punk bands I am well into and play all of the time my favourites are Desperate Measures and New Generation Superstars. I was always the punk in Wrathchild and considered the band more fun punk than glam. As you know I was in the punk band legends Discharge for a nano second during their confused punk turns to rock phase and was very happy to hear they’d returned to all guns blazing music which is where they belong. I admire any of the punk bands who did not give up any of their punk roots at any stage like my friends Vice Squad. I’ve followed them ever since I met and befriended their leader and vocal powerhouse Bekki Bondage, and I knew their guitarist Paul when he was in the band Virgin the U.K's answer to Angel.
Yes, well, old punk was born from the disgruntled glam fans, so they are very close relatives and have a kinship for sure. OK, so Wrath were always known for their hooks and catchiness. When you are writing does the piece have to have a hook first and then build from there or does it occur in different ways. Take us into that process and how it differs from the past.
R . S ; Our songs have always come from one of us having an idea be it a set of written words and a wish list tune or a main riff then everybody in the band puts their blood into it. Take “Freakshow” Gaz, our drummer played me a guitar riff and said to me,” I’ve got an idea based on a particular song” which he tells me, I then think how I would sing said song as though doing a cover version, then I say, “how would Rocky Shades sing said song?” Then I put my touch on it, and hey presto it turns into a new idea. My second method which some of our new songs were born from come from ideas I have in my head. I totally musically complete it in my head, so it becomes a conscious entity like I’d learned it from a real album track. Then comes the hard part for a non-instrument playing individual... I have to take what I’ve got in my head and make the band understand where I’m going with it. The song composing process comes much quicker if the vocalist can play piano or acoustic guitar. I can’t so I have to improvise and compromise. The third way is the band, or some members have a tune they used to play in either a past band or during time spent with a past band and I relook at the lyrics or outright change them. Regardless of the bullshit Stan spouts about writing everything, all of the original Wrathchild songs came about in this way. I could talk you thru every piece I added to is supposed full written songs.
Is there anything you write that isn't suitable for Wrathchild and as such will there ever be a solo Rocky Shades offering?
R . S ; The only songs I write are for either Wrathchild, or the Handsome Beasts. Wildside Riot's album “No Second Take” was so varied that was my equivalent of a solo album. All of the band composed it and I had a minor musical input on ninety per cent of the album tracks. All three outlets got fed songs so there is no room for solo projects. The Handsome Beasts being a biker metal band get the bluesy orientated tracks and metal that would not sit comfortably in the Wrathchild bath.
I always thought with Wrathchild that an acoustic record would have been so cool, have you ever thought about doing one or have you tried it but just didn't work?
R . S ; My present Wrathchild have expressed a wish to do an acoustic number which we may look at after we have worked on our heavier ideas. We will just keep filling the song bank and use what works. I want to take fifteen songs into the studio to put an album together of twelve. I’d like thirteen coz that’s my favourite number, but we will see how time goes. “No Second Take” should have had thirteen songs on it but we ran out of time. So not only didn’t we record the thirteenth track we never played live again! Go figure.
As for the original Wrathchild I never ever saw Lance with an acoustic guitar in his hands in all eleven years working with that band. I just don’t think its sexy enough for him. His axe was an extension of his own rocket ha ha!
O.k. anything else you want to say to your fan’s past, present and future?
R . S ; "Why do I still do it?" I am often asked, well, I’m sixty-four years old and I’m a cool looking grandad! When I was a kid people aged between fifty and seventy were old, scary old! They had all raised children and given up any dreams and desires, they accepted their lot gracefully with minor grumbles and virtually worked themselves to death. I was a responsible father and am a doting grandad, but I refuse to give up a legacy I partly created and nurtured. My own mother was a social club singer, home help and a telephonist at night for a mental hospital and only gave up riding her Honda 90 moped when she hit her seventies. Even aged eighty-eight before she died she was entertaining the people in her warden controlled flat complex community room and instructed me to replace their old dartboard upon her death. I only have one driving force urging me on.... while I can still do it and do it in style and as long as I look good and sound good I will.
If ever I start singing sounding like I’ve been gargling Listerine and broken glass, or my stage trousers start bulging at the zip or ass or go knee saggy I have promised myself and my wife to stop. I've had a serious motorcycle injury which fucked up my back, I’ve been held up at gunpoint which tested my nerves, Royal Mail fucked up my feet and knees and I had a major stroke in 2016 which left me with slight visual impairment hence the need to wear shades 24/7 and a body temperature control gone wild which is why I need my big stage fan. I have a very bitter and twisted ex band member (who used to be a respected rock brother fighting literally by my side venue after venue when the need arose), who not only is constantly whining in the background but also constantly contacting my promoters, journalists and radio DJs causing trouble and dirtying my water! This is when he can’t even hold on to his own ex band members because he’s impossible to work with being a total megalomaniac.
I will carry on singing in the Freakshow we call the rock Biz until I just can’t do it anymore. I watched Jimmy Pursey of Sham 69 who is in his seventies blow an audience away this year, I’ve watched Animal from the Anti Nowhere League who I’ve been following since 1982 still look and sound killer this year, and I watched all of the punk legends of Generation Sex blow the audience completely off its feet last year so there is plenty of leg room for the Wrekkless one.... ME. The rock biz needs cartoon characters like me, love me or hate me you sure can't ignore me, as Dee once proclaimed " I am I’m me.... I will you’ll see".... and I aim to be for a hell of a lot longer than is socially acceptable.
And there you have it people there is no stopping the Shades! We salute the titan of trash, the demi god of sex, satire and steel and we shall sing along with him wherever and whenever we all can and rock the city down to the ground!
COMPETITION TIME!
A. "DELRUIM" L.P. SIGNED ON THE SLEEVE BY ROCKY , SIGNED ON POSTER BY ALL 4 AND SIGNED AGAIN BY ROCKY!
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THE SIGNED NEW E.P. THIS WILL BE ADDED AT RANDOM TO ONE WINNER'S LOT!
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