The Blockheads – An Interview
August 9th, 2007 by sparky
Linda Spence grabbed the opportunity to quiz The Blockhead’s Mick Gallagher as the band came off the Castle Stage, after a riotous set at Eastnor on Friday night…here’s what she found out.
That set rocked, the crowd were going mad, so I just had to come and chat to you. Can you spare a few minutes for Big Chill dot net?
Yes of course I can.
Where would you like to chat?
Well let’s not go in there. They’re all gonna be stripping off in there!
Well I really loved your set and was pleased to hear your sound is still so good after thirty years.
Ahh well…
I sometimes wonder if you were wrongly categorized thirty years ago – you have such a funky sound. Would you call it punk or funk?
Ha ha ‘punky funk’ perhaps!
It’s a bit rock funk in places!
Rock funk? Yes, maybe.
Are you gigging at the moment?
Yes, we’ve just done one! Yes we’re having quite an intense year this year because it’s our thirtieth anniversary. We were, for a few years, just doing the odd gig here and there. Last year we did a tour in September, and then in January this year we did a theatre tour, and we’re doing these festivals and we’re doing a tour with Phil Jupitas in November, to celebrate our thirtieth anniversary.
Phil Jupitus! Is he doing vocals for you?
Yeah he’s gonna be doing Dury duty!! Well he’s our number one fan. He loves doing it with us, and we love having him along. So we thought for the thirtieth anniversary we’d do it officially. He’s popped along a few times and sung with us but we wanted to do it properly. Next April we launch our album and we’ve got another theatre tour.
How can people find out about your tour dates?
They can log on to www.theblockheads.com
What’s the album called?
At the moment it’s not called an anything. – Just Blockheads, It’s our thirtieth anniversary – actually that’s Pearl. Ha ha ha – its called Pearl!!
How have you managed to keep Blockheads going all this time? How have you kept that belief going? What’s the magic ingredient?
The music! It’s just an empathy the musicians have with each other, we love playing, and we love doing this. We all do other things as well but we come together to do this. It’s a bit like herding cats but we do get together eventually.
Your music is political. I love that. How are you managing to do that? There was a phase of that being a bit unfashionable. In fact, it still is, isn’t it?
Well it’s never unfashionable with us, we’ve got a voice and we’re gonna use it.
I’m really pleased to hear that. Is your new stuff keeping that faith?
Yes it’s all still going on.
Have you got any anti-war songs?
Anti-war songs? It’s all anti-war isn’t it? It’s anti-government, it’s all anti, I mean what are they doing for god’s sake?
So would you describe yourself as anarchist?
Err I suppose we’re just Blockheads.
What’s a Blockhead?
A Blockhead is someone who deigns to do something for the love of it rather than for the money.
Ah so that’s how you chose the name?
Well people call blockheads idiots but you know because they’re someone who’ll do something for nothing!
Interview by Linda Spence
