Could you tell (for the thousandth time, I imagine) the story of the band?
Louis: Yes, I met Andy very briefly when I was 16 and I came to Rushden for the weekend to get alcohol poisoning. I met him again some years later when I started dating his sister. I then started hanging out with Andy and Mike when they were playing with The Nerve. We all got along so well that we decided to form a band after all our other commitments had faltered and our bands had become not...
Andy: Louis and I were also in the mythical Vibraphone. I left Vibraphone after we had a major motorway accident in Spain. Two years later, they split up and Louis joined The Morticians as bass player. When The Nerve split up, Mike and I decided we wanted to form a power trio and that’s when I called Louis. We had our first rehearsal in January 1996 and the first song we played was ’Together’
How are you considered in the British music scene (fans, media...) now? I know you have a stellar reputation in some country like Spain but none in your place of birth... Do you think that the British audience is a bit hard to place or maybe they aren’t able to distinguish a good band from another?
Louis: I guess we are not really considered in the UK. We have tried to get ahead in the UK pop world, but gave up after a dismal residency at the Dublin Castle in Camden, London. Seven months on the trot playing to the same 20 faces did us no favours ultimately. We were by this point getting good reviews in Spain and we decided to concentrate on the Spanish market. I think we were just plain unlucky on our home turf as the majority of people who actually caught our live shows or bought our records were more than just impressed.
Andy: Louis is right. The people who’ve seen us play in the UK really loved us but there’s no way we can make it work here. We don’t fit into any of the music business stereotypes. Besides, why play in Nottingham and Bristol when we can play in Santiago de Compostella and Bilbao?
Is out there some good band that deserves our attention? Which are the artists-bands you like in this hip-hop dominated 2005 world?
Louis: Well, you just have to read our previous interviews for this answer. Of course we have been listening to Teenage Fanclub, You Am I, The Jayhawks and Elliott Smith at different stages over the past nine years. I can’t think of any band that a Bronco Bullfrog-buying person would NOT have heard of? Go to Pop Madrid and see what they suggest.
Andy: I’ve been listening to Ron Sexsmith a lot lately. I like his simple songs and smokey voice. That Hal song ’Play The Hits’ is very good indeed.
In your wonderful interpretation of sixties guitar-pop music it’s easy to hear the influence of some classic band like The Beatles, The Who and the best 67/68 British Psychedelia... Is there some band, event or concert particularly important for your musical.. formation" as you where growing up (I know you also love Badfinger, The Prisoners, Kaleidoscope UK...)? And what about Louis and Mike? Do they have some particular/different taste that in some way influences the sound of Bronco Bullfrog?
Louis: I grew up listening to Adam & The Ants, I loved them. However, I don’t see their influence. Mind you, I did throw a starter motor through a pub window whilst drunk last weekend. Seriously though folks, I get influenced by all sorts of shit from Aardvark to ZZ Top. We all have a few diverse things in our collections.
Andy: We always thought of ourselves as a mixture of Badfinger and Nazz with a bit of The Creation and The Move thrown in. Then we saw You Am I and copied them for a while. We all love British 60s psychedelia and I guess that’s been a major influence on some of our songs and ideas. Like Louis says, we are influenced by everything we see, hear and eat .. even if some of it is awful. My favourite single is ’Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)’ by Edison Lighthouse. See what I mean?
I can’t avoid a question about the lyrics... In my opinion you represent very well the perfect ..pop world.. if you know what I mean... Quiet life, love and simple dreams rule, don’t they? But the thing I most like is the contrast between some melancholy lyric and the multicoloured painting created by your music... Are there particular situations that help you build the songs?
Louis: There has been the odd song written about girls who like to use the individual members of Bronco Bullfrog as lavatories. There were a few songs on Emporium Days about changing lifestyles, moving away from certain situations, people, places and even boozers. The influences can be of a very personal nature, but there will always be the odd song about a fictional character who likes pork pie sandwiches for his tea.
Andy: That..s the best way to do it. A sad, introspective, mournful lyric coupled with a ridiculously catchy, upbeat, bubblegum tune. We also like to use words that aren’t very rock ’n’ roll. Louis used the words phonograph, pleasant and scarves in ’Song About To Leave’. Ray Davies said he’d rather use the word lavatory than the word pinball in a song.
A few days ago I was noticing in your website that Andy has written over 90% of the songs (I already knew you where the main songwriter, but I didn’t know they where writing so little)... In which way the contributions of Mike and Louis change the songs during the rehearsals?
Louis: Sometimes we might change a line or even a word in the lyrics. In ’Planet Janet’, ’looking’ became ’laughing’ in the chorus from somebody’s suggestion. Arrangements are sometimes worked on in rehearsals but on the whole the songs will be finished beforehand. I guess things like backing vocals, bass lines etc are worked .. the writing. 90%? I’d have said 87%!
Andy: When we formed I was the only one who had any songs so I suppose I became de facto songwriter. Then, when I ran out of ideas after a couple of records, Mike and Louis stepped in and wrote some songs too. We don’t tell each other how to play the parts which means we can all contribute equally to each song .. that’s what gives them that unique Bronco sound!
In pure commercial terms, which is the album most sold in the shops? And how many copies do you usually sell? I know it isn’t absolutely enough to make a living...
Louis: I have a feeling that the third LP (The Sidelong Glances Of A Pigeon Kicker) sold the best. I think it may have been around 3000 copies. No, it isn’t enough to make a living.
Andy: I have no idea.
I know you are going to tour Spain again, how was the response for your dates the last time? Have you got some project about touring Europe and maybe (yes, please!) Italy?
Louis: The last tour of Spain was real good fun and I personally felt that we were there with nothing to prove only to play and enjoy. I tipped a bottle of red wine onto my white T-shirt whilst pratting about in a restaurant.
Andy: We almost broke up in August so I think people were very happy to see us go back for more shows in October. It was a blast .. it always is in Spain.
Your last work, What People Did Before TV, for the Rev-Olà label, is a compilation of some of the best BB songs... who came out with the idea of doing this greatest hits? Joe Foster? When did you start collaborating with him?
Louis: Andy has had dealings with Joe in the past and I think it was part Andy’s enthusiasm and part Uncle Joe taking pity on us as a band that led to the comp. We worked with Joe on Oak Apple Day in Spain with Joe as producer. I think Joe wanted to get back into the fold as a producer and figured it would be easier with somebody he knew. I don’t know enough on this subject to say for definite what was suggested or by whom.
Andy: I met Joe and we became friends and now I work for him! He liked the sound of Bronco Bullfrog and suggested that we do a CD for the UK because nothing had been released here until then. When we told Joe we were going to record our new album in Madrid he said he..d like to come. It..s not every day you get a world-class record producer offering their services! Joe knows about all kinds of music so we could say things like ’can we have a Raspberries guitar sound?’ or ’make us sound like The Easybeats’ and he’d know exactly what we meant.
OK Andy, I’ve bothered you enough, say what you want to the readers of
Marmalade skies (that’s the name of the ’zine...quite classical, isn’t it?)....
Louis: Thanks again, if you want I’ll send you a copy of the ’zine... I hope my English was comprehensible enough... I’ll be in touch shortly anyway... To all you readers out there in Italy: Thank you for buying this magazine and please send me Italian progressive rock re-issues (CD or vinyl) to my home address.
Andy: My friend Jim has a fantastic website called Marmalade Skies. The address is www.marmalade-skies.co.uk
Ciao!
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