Innercity Pirates: Interview

Hoxton Bar & Grill

I have a confession.  Prior to doing this interview I knew nothing about Innercity Pirates and had never been enlightened as to their music.  Usually the conscientious hack in me would of course spend time sifting through press releases and bio’s to find out more about my interviewees and their impact on the music industry thus far; preparing my questions with such finesse in the hopes I strike the right chord and get something no-one else has ever managed to uncover.  

Alas, sometimes you are caught off guard and a spontaneous interview after a few beers, or in my case rum and cokes, seems like a fabulous idea.  This and the fact that the Pirates’ manager is a well-oiled pr machine meant that on a night which gave us snow and sleet in bloody October, I acquiesced and was sold on the idea.  The next 30 minutes was interesting to say the least with the interview and the band for that matter straying into unchartered territory, a lack of structure to the questioning and somehow conversations of a smut-based nature being inescapable.

Not that I am complaining mind, the Pirates or should I say their front man Russell Toomey, gave away a lot more than you could have imagined possible and that was before he masturbated on stage during their explosive live show.  Yes you did read that right…

For the record, Innercity Pirates are natives of the country famous for leeks and daffodils, Tom Jones and The Stereophonics, but have been busily creating a stir much further reaching than their hometown of Cardiff.  In fact after a successful support tour with Hadouken, an NME vinyl of the week for white funk record ‘Ear Sex’ and 2 further single releases since, they have even managed to reap the rewards of the advertising world with their music being used for a high profile Guinness advert in the States and a Vodafone advert over here.  Not too shabby for the self-proclaimed “part-time scenesters, part time haters of the scene” who formed the outfit after meeting at the Barfly.

After a summer of touring the UK in their converted ambulance, these quirky indie popsters now have everything in place to branch out from the underground scene, hopefully bringing their mad taffy charms to the masses.  Happy Daze!!!

4ortherecord - Innercity Pirates, I apologise before we start because I know nothing about you.

Jon - So you don’t know about my false arm?

4TR - No I don’t, do you have a false arm?

Jon - I don’t really like to talk about it, actually don’t dwell on it otherwise I will get upset.

4TR – Ok false arms aside what’s with the name?

Jon – I guess the whole Innercity Pirates name came about because Russell always used to busk in the streets when he didn’t have any cash and it became kind of funny because he got known for busking in the city and kind of taking money off people.

Russell – Like a pirate, ooh arr.  Actually that’s like a farmer isn’t it?  Its arrrrrggggh me heartys, but yeah that’s how we came up with the name.  I had known Jon from bumping into him in Barfly, he told me he was a big fan of my work, we had a few drinks and it all got a bit sexual.

4TR – Was that how the other 2 got involved, a ménage a quatre?

Russell – [laughing] err no, they just kind of followed us round.

Jon – The thing is about Cardiff is that any kind of people who are into the same music and similar kinds of vibes eventually end up meeting up.  We kind of fell into Stephy and she introduced us to Dave, and that was that, we were a band.

4TR – And so you called it Innercity Pirates.

Russell – Well we were thinking about calling it Russell but these guys weren’t into it.

4TR – Did you always imagine you would sound like you do now? 

Russell – I really started off loving rock but then when we started this band like, I was really into twee, stuff like Belle and Sebastian, so the whole twee thing affected our style.  But now we have been playing loads of live gigs its gone more rock again.

4TR – I was told you sound milder on record but you kill it and really rock out on stage, especially you Russell.

Russell – Well let me ask you a question, would you think it would be wrong for me to touch my penis on stage?

4TR - Well no, I guess not.

Russell - That’s what I said, but he [pointing to Jon] doesn’t want me to touch my penis on stage.

4TR – [laughing] Well I guess it depends on how you do it, I’m not sure everyone will want a good look, but maybe if you are a bit discreet?

Jon – It’s not discreet, he’s gonna go like that [pointing at Russell who is demonstrating with his hand down his pants]

4TR – Lovely. Well I suppose it will depend on whether it’s just gratuitous fondling or whether it has a purpose?

Russell – Well the song is called ‘Fuck love and hate, lets masterbate’.

Jon – I personally think people can use their imagination cant they, they don’t need to see you fondling yourself and enjoying it!

Russell – Believe me I will be using my imagination when I’m doing it.

4TR – And what about the rest of you, are you going to be touching yourselves at the relevant point in the track

Dave – Well I will be behind my high hat and wouldn’t have the available hands.

Russell – Yeah so Dave will be struggling to do it and Steph hasn’t got a cock.

[all laughing now]

Steph – Well I gave it a go but it didn’t work for me, the bass gets in the way.

4TR - Well the cock talk has been enlightening and I’m looking forward to the show more than ever now, but getting back to your music, what have you put out so far?

Jon – We have released 3 singles this year.

Russell – [still laughing] They were called “anal sex”, “masterbate”, and “big dick player”  

4TR – Oh my god, you are obsessed, in that case are you really going to masturbate on stage?

Russell – Am I going to have a massive what on stage?  

[all laughing again]

Jon – Alright enough with the masterbation talk.

Russell – Yeah you need to remember you’re not interviewing Ron Jeremy.

4TR – [trying to restore the interview] Ok so 3 single releases thus far and I heard you got some good airplay and feedback from the Radio tastemakers that matter, plus some cool support gigs.

Jon – Yeah pretty much.  The last single ‘Lets Go DISCO’ got played by Zane Lowe and we were on the 6-music player list for 6 weeks.  We have also just finished a tour with Hadouken and supported Little Man Tate, which we loved.

Russell – We also did a Club NME tour and went to some glamorous places like Hull haha and for our first single release we had vinyl of the week in NME. 

4TR - Always an accolade!

Russell – Well if anyone still reads it.

Jon – We have just been gigging loads and we went into the studio.  Our last single (DISCO) was recorded with Jim Lowe who has done stuff with loads of bands like Foo Fighters and Stereophonics.

4TR - Ok well what do you want people to walk away from an Innercity Pirates show saying about you?

Jon – I just want them to enjoy it and have a good time, you know like enjoying the music, having fun.

Russell – I want them to say they were alright they were wicked, that’s all really

Jon – I think when we were doing support tours and playing with other bands the main thing was getting people who had never heard of us to hear our show and by the end of it they were coming up to us and liking it and buying our cds.  Then the second time around on tour we find that places we have been before we get more people coming back to see us again.

Russell – And they tell their friends, and they tell their friends and then they tell their friends, and their friends…

Dave – and on it goes!

4TR – Will you be releasing an album or another EP in the foreseeable future?

Jon – The album is definitely next on the agenda

Russell – Yeah we are doing our album in January in Monnow Valley in Wales where Led Zeppelin recorded an album; you know all the greats go there.

4TR – Any particular producers or artists you would like to work with?

Jon – Probably Dr.Dre [laughs]

Russell – Jim Lowe or anyone from Big Hit records

Jon – I definitely want Dr Dre, but I’m not sure he is available yet; we need to get our manager onto it.

Russell – Actually he is definitely available, he just doesn’t like you.

Jon – Well him or Quincy Jones

Russell – Quincy Jones? He is actually dead.

Jon – He’s not dead, he’s just old

4TR – Quincy Jones is definitely not dead. 

Russell – Really? Oh well if your out there Quincy give us a call.

4TR - So how do you go about writing the bands material?

Dave – Well Russell is the lyrics man.

Jon – Yeah he’s the head honcho, he writes the music and the lyrics

Russell – I am like the Sporty Spice of the band, or actually more like Ginger Spice.

4TR – Neither or them wrote the lyrics either, in fact I’m not sure any of them did.

Russell – Didn’t they?  Well Ginger had the biggest shoes anyway.

4TR – What do you write about?

Russell – Touching cocks basically

[laughing again, the cock talk gets them every time]

Russell – I got a song actually called ‘When his willy touches my face’ and it goes “when that willy touches my face I rub it all over my face, when that willy touches my face I rub it all over my face”, it’s a rap song actually.   

Jon – It’s not going to be released though it’s more of a b-side

Russell – More of a c-side I reckon

4TR – What else gets the writing inspiration flowing?

Russell – We write about girls, drinking, general day to day frustrations, stuff like that!

Jon – It’s not heavy stuff it’s all just good fun time music

Russell – Yeah but we are a very serious band as you can tell, we don’t have fun though, we hate fun.  We are just spending time writing the album right now about stuff, having business meetings, writing graphs and spreadsheets, drinking Guinness, there is even a song we are doing about hermaphrodites.

Jon – God I don’t even know where he is going with this, I’m very confused.

Russell – Well hermaphrodites are very confusing Jon.

4TR – Moving on swiftly……your singles so far have been released on SuperDark, which is also your management company, so will that relationship be continuing or are you looking for a bigger label next?

Russell – [laughing] Well actually they can all fuck off ‘cos I got loads of money now anyway so it doesn’t really matter, I will never sign a record deal ever, ever

Steph - No we would, don’t listen to him, [pointing to Jon] he’s the sensible one just listen to him. 

Jon – Yeah ignore Russell, we would love a big label obviously, but I suppose with the credit crunch vibe it’s a problem and in the industry noone has really got any money these days because of all the changes.

Russell – You would have thought we would have got a sniff in wouldn’t you with all the stuff we have done so far, but nothing has happened.  On the plus side we have got publishers coming out of our ears now though.

4TR – Publishing deals can almost be better than record deals right now and you can potentially stand to make more money.

Jon – Yeah exactly, that’s what we are after really and you can have more control over your affairs.

Russell – We have also had some really good advertising deals come through, like the Vodafone advert and we are on the Guinness advert in America as well

4TR – Are you pleased about that, being welsh?

Russell – Well Guinness is Irish though.

4TR – Yes I know, I was being a bit tongue in cheek 

Russell – We are actually going on tour in Ireland next month

Jon – Yeah we are going to Dublin, Galloway and.

Russell – We also get to go to the Guinness factory

4TR – Thing is the Guinness factory isn’t that much fun actually and you have to pay for samples.

Russell – [laughing] Not when you did the music for their advert you don’t, I think there is a chance we might get some free stuff, they did invite us!

4TR - What about the Google phone advert?

Jon – Well that was for the Google Android, a bit like the I-phone and it’s an application from this company called shazam, which is a music recognition company. They are going to use our song to demo the application in front of the world’s press, so it’s pretty cool.

Russell – Yeah loads of selling out stuff, but why not!

Jon – Well I think it’s the opportunity to get our music out there to a bigger audience and that’s important to us.

4TR – So you wouldn’t consider advertising campaigns as selling out like some bands would?

Russell – Well put it this way I am quite happy not to sign on the doll again.  I mean there are loads of bands out there making no money signing on and saying “oh we are well cool, we would never do an advert” and I say well that’s because you have never had the chance you mug, if you had the chance you would lap it up you doley.

[raucous laughter again]

Jon – Lets not dwell on the adverts either, let’s talk about something else.

Russell – Look all I’m saying is if they had the chance they would

4TR - Anyone you would like to get their hands on a Pirates’ track and remix?

Russell – Erol Alkan

Jon – Soulwax, or Fake Blood, that would be brilliant.

4TR – What about other artists’ music you guys would like to remix?

Russell – Yeah would be well up for that, Little boots, I fucking love her, or Finlay Quay hahaha

4TR - Anything you want to promote in the band?

Russell – Safe sex and don’t take drugs…………on a Tuesday

4TR – Thank you very much guys, it’s been entertaining and enlightening to say the least.  What time are you on?

Jon - I have no idea, after Lesser Panda and the band playing now called My Toys Like Me.

Russell – My toys used to like me…………until I sold them at a car boot sale

Interview by Francesca Strange

Photography by Gareth Jackson – www.myspace.com/jacksonfoto

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