MILES HUNT INTERVIEW

As 2008 drew to a close, Rob Stokes of the Room 512 website, conducted an interview with Miles and here it is for you all...

Rob: You've finished the first two dates of the Eight Legged Groove Machine 20th Anniversary shows in Birmingham and London. From an audience perspective, they sounded great and you all seemed to be having a brilliant time. Twenty years on and the songs still sound as great (or, indeed, better). Guessing your answer but how was it for the band and what were your highlights from the two shows?

Miles: I don't go much for 'highlights', I just go into it with the intention of making it all good and that's exactly how I came away feeling. There was a hell of a lot there for Mark & Dre' to get through, but they've never let me down before & they most certainly didn't on the nights in question. Same goes for the audience, it's a rare occasion indeed when a Wonder Stuff audience doesn't deliver, they were superb at both shows.

I loved finally getting a version of 'The Animals & Me' that sounded up to scratch, same goes for 'Rue The Day' & 'Some Sad Someone'. It's been years since 'Some Sad Someone' got an airing & it was a first for 'Rue The Day'. I thoroughly enjoyed having to put some real effort into those songs. By the time we finished the 'ELGM' songs & associated b-sides I started to regret that we'd promised another set of other toons, I was pretty knackered & ready to get a party started if I'm honest with you!

 

R: What prompted you to re-record the Eight Legged Groove Machine to celebrate the event and how did Mark, Erica and Andres approach the recordings? Was there ever any temptation to record the tracks differently or did you feel it vital to the credibility of the release that you kept as true as possible to the original performances?

M: I think I explained this in the sleeve notes on the new version of the album. It seemed like a perfect way for Dre', Mark & Erica to learn their parts before we got into a rehearsal studio, it was a bonus that recordings came out sounding pretty good too.

 

R: Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently on the original album that you'd have liked to do now?

M: Not at all. The original version of the album captures us perfectly for where we were & what our intentions were at the time. I think it's a fucking great album.

 

R: Do you have a favourite track on the re-recorded album?

M: Hands down it would be 'The Animals & Me'. Dre' got a great groove going & Erica added some lovely violin parts. A few people have suggested to me that we should release it as a single in '09. Were we living in times that people actually gave a fuck about singles I might even be tempted.

 

R: When you listen to the tracks on the ELGM album and then you realise that you were only about 18 or 19 at the time, there is some pretty serious songwriting going on in there. How did you approach writing lyrics at the time and has anything (other than life experiences) changed in the way you write them now?

M: I always was a precocious little fucker… no surprise then that some of the lyrics sounded older than my years. I think, in my naivety, I just went with well trodden subject matter. As it said on the original sleeve "Girls, cars etc… It's all that game" (or something like that), I had only just emerged from behind the drums when I wrote the lyrics to that album & had very little, given my age, to talk about. I just wanted to strap it on & rock. The content of the lyrics wasn't really my main concern at that time, although I knew that Morrissey had raised the bar as far as writing rock'n'roll lyrics went, so I just tried to pepper the lyrics with decent one liners & strive for amusing titles. There's not much of me in those lyrics, I didn't want to invite the world to get to know my inner workings at that time, still don't. However, these days I do tend to get a little closer to home in my writing, but as a cathartic experience.

 

R: You spent almost a week rehearsing for the ELGM anniversary dates at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios near Bath. From comments other artists have made, the studios are supposed to be amazing. How did the time go (why no videos?!) and did you get to meet the man himself?

M: None of us got to meet Peter, but everyone that we did meet there, that is connected with the place, were wonderfully kind & helpful people. I gotta say that Mr. Gabriel has created something very special in Real World, I'm not so sure I'd wanna share it with oiks like us were it my creation!

 

R: Earlier in the year, producer Mark Ronson said in an interview for a Sunday newspaper that he was a fan of the group - apparently he says that "'Golden Green', 'Radio Ass Kiss' and Cartoon Boyfriend' are still really good.". He also says that he always used to see you playing live whenever you played New York. Some of the latter stuff in the 90's from the Construction album worked well with a horn section (thinking primarily of the Cardinal's Error Mix of Hot Love Now but applies to other tracks also). If he came to you and asked to re-record one of your tracks, would you be willing and which one would it be?

M: That was really nice of Mark Ronson to name check us, I was really happy to read that. He could take whatever he likes of ours as far as I'm concerned, I'd love to hear a reworking of anything of ours, by him or anyone else for that matter. It's not something that has happened much to us. Whenever I've covered another person's song it is because I absolutely love their work, I think it would be the highest praise to have someone cover us.

 

R: Your new solo album is coming out in February but I understand you've not even finished recording it yet! Is this because you've had such a busy year with touring both with Erica and with The Wonder Stuff or are the ideas flowing so well that you've got too many tracks to choose from for the final track listing?

M: By nature I am a pretty idle fucker & if there is an opportunity to down tools then I'm yer man. In saying that, 2008 was an incredibly busy year for Erica & I. We toured the UK constantly, did 5 weeks in the US with Wayne Hussey, obviously did The Wonder Stuff shows in July & October and throughout all of that we were writing & recording our new album, 'Catching More Than We Miss'.
I'm happy to tell you that we finished the mixes for the record on December the 18th & it will be available to buy at our acoustic shows from 'Shared' (Jan 30th '09) onwards. It'll turn up in shops & for download sometime in the Spring.
We did write far more than we have used on the album, unlike 'Not An Exit' where we released everything that we recorded. It was very different to how we made that album, in so much as we took a year over writing & recording it, 'Not An Exit' was done in about 4 weeks. However, 'Catching…' sounds like the perfect follow on to 'Not An Exit', I was really happy with that record & didn't think that we needed to stray to far from how that one sounded. Of course we left it to the last minute to record the final parts, like the vocals & violins, we even wrote a new song on the very last day of recording called 'Head To Head' & that has only left me wanting to write & record more as soon as possible.

 

R: Prior to the album's release, you've got your first Shared event coming up in January. What first attracted you to the idea of making it into a mini-festival and inviting lots of other acts along - and was it easy making decisions on who to approach for the line-up. Was there anyone you would have liked to have included but they couldn't attend for one reason or another?

M: 'Shared' is gonna be a very special occasion & I'm genuinely thrilled with who is taking part in this first event. They were the first people that I approached & I feel honoured that Wayne, Roddy, Nick & Katell all said yes to me on first asking. I was stunned to be honest. Obviously I would've loved to have had Damien Dempsey play, but I knew that he had other plans for Jan '09 so I didn't even try to twist his arm, but he is someone that I hope will do another of the 'Shared' shows later in the year.
How did it come about..? Janice Long actually suggested to me that The Wonder Stuff should play the newly refurbished Birmingham Town Hall for the ELGM 20th anniversary shows, but when we looked into it it turned out that the Town Hall people weren't looking for rock shows. But they were very keen to have Erica & I do an acoustic show. The Town Hall holds a special place in my heart, it was the scene of the first gig I ever went to, Slade in 1977, and so I wanted to do something a little more adventurous than a straight forward acoustic show with Erica, the idea was born there.

 

R: On Not An Exit you included a wheelbarrow on the instruments used in the recording process (which track was it used on btw?) and on the Hairy On The Inside you stuck a microphone out of the window at Vic Reeves' house to get the effects on Send Me Onions. Are there any unusual instruments on this one and did you manage to get the play the mandolin that Erica's parents bought you last year?

M: Ahhh… the wheelbarrow…. It took me years to perfect that. It's used on 'Look My Way', trivia fans… Erm… this new record, lemme think…. I did use the mandolin that Erica's folks got me last Christmas, it's on 'Tell Yer Story Well' & 'Catching More Than We Miss'. I got myself a resonator mandolin too, once I learned to play the one Martin & Louise got me, it sounds great. Also I got a 12 string acoustic for this album & we have a guest percussionist, Mark Davies, playing on a track called 'Plans In The Sky' – which incidentally Erica does a lead vocal on! So there's plenty to look forward to on this one.

 

R: When your write songs - either musically or lyrically, are you conscious of whether the track would work well for your own work or be better for a full The Wonder Stuff recordings?

M: Everything I write these days is for me & Erica, to be able to even think about writing for The Wonder Stuff again would take Malc doing some writing first, to set the pace, as it were. I love finding vocal parts to Malc's demos. In fact I love hearing Malc's demo's, they never fail to excite me. So if it's a new TWS album yer after, then start badgering the boy Treece.

 

R: You've had a busy year playing almost 80 gigs either as with Erica or The Wonder Stuff. What have the highlights of the year been for you and do you enjoy touring a lot more now than you used to do?

M: I absolutely enjoy touring, more than I ever did, these days. Whether that's with the band or with Erica. It's all to do with the company you keep – like anything else in life – and I enjoy the company I keep these days more than I ever have in the past. The members of The Wonder Stuff & the associated management & crew are my favourite people in the world, if I ever said that before I was lying, or at the very least, I was trying to convince myself that I was with the right people. I'm more than half way through my life now, I don't have the time or the inclination to waste my days with people that don't feel the same way about me as I do them.

 

R: Have there been any songs you've written that you'd like to include during an acoustic performance but just don't work acoustically?

M: Nope. There are songs that have been on records that I would consider impossible to do as an acoustic duo, but that's fine. Most of the songs I've written over the years do transpose well into the acoustic setting and particularly with the new album, 'Catching More Than We Miss' that is something that I've kept in mind.

 

R: You've said on your MySpace page that you're looking into writing your first book. How's it going?

M: Slowly… Last Spring it was flowing out of me. Then my idiot fucking neighbour decided to rebuild his house, so the yard was full of builders from 8am every morning & I do my best writing before midday, but not with those gormless fuckwits staring in the window. I'll try again this year.

 

R: Your performed a while back with both Erica and Malc at the Rock Cafe in Stourbridge to raise funds for Oscar Fradgeley. Would there ever be a time when the three of you would go out on the road together again?

M: I doubt it. It doesn't really work, Erica & I have inadvertently rounded off all the square edges that the band play with & it's just a load of unnecessary bother to get Malc to figure out what it is we've done. I think Erica & I are better left to our own devices, that is until we decide to add a band to what we do, which also doesn't look very likely.

 

R: With acoustic performances for yourself and Erica already starting to be announced plus the ELGM anniversary gigs and festival dates also announced for The Wonder Stuff, it's looking to be another busy year. Is there anything else you can tell us about your plans for 2009 (I take it we're not going to get a Hup anniversary tour or accompanying re-recorded CD). A new DVD would be nice though... ;-)

M: Does anyone really give a shit about live DVD's…? I know I don't. Fuck me… what else do you want…?! A new album from me & Nockalls accompanied by a shit pile of gigs, a TWS tour & festivals, 'Shared', this bloody book I've gone & promised…. bloody hell, I'm already knackered just thinking about it all!

 

R: Have you heard anything about a second series of Underground Ernie? I remember at your London Borderline gig a while back, you said that they would be releasing a Christmas single but nothing came of that. Have you written or recorded any more material for the series, and was a full album ever recorded to accompany the series - I've got one track that sounds like it has Vic Reeves on vocals as well as yourself.

M: Yeah Vic did the original guest vocal on the title song, before Gary Lineker got involved, a very drunken affair. I think Sid Rainey, the creator of 'Underground Ernie' is working on new projects to be honest. As pleased as everyone was with '… Ernie' I'm not sure that it totally satisfied Sid's creative urges.

 

R: Vent 414... still arguably one of your finest moments and I'm grateful to Russ for recently digging out a copy of one of the sessions for me that I'd lost over time as it reminded me of just how bloody good you were as a group. It's been rumoured for a while that you may do a limited pressing of the demos from the second album which would be great. I'm one of the lucky ones to have a copy of the demos which I've had for a number of years and tracks like How Long Was I Asleep, Looking For Subtext (just brilliant!) and Viennese are still regularly on my Media Player playlist (for an I.T. geek, I'm still yet to come to terms with this thing they call an 'iPod'!). It's a question that has long been asked both on the message board and to me directly.

M: Thank you for the compliments re' V.414 – I absolutely agree with you. Funny that Morgan has ended up playing in Muse (who unashamedly stole 'Guess My God' to ruin with their mid 70's waffling), when it was his departure that brought the band to an end. It was only about 5 years after the band ended that Pete Howard confessed to me that he finally 'got it', saying that he never really liked what we did at the time. I don't know…. To my mind, that band is my great missed opportunity. Fuckin' musicians… they think they know it all when all they need to do is listen to the guy whose writing & singing the fuckin' songs! Blah, blah, blah…. To answer yer question though, I believe IRL are going to make the demo album available in '09 for download only.

 

R: And finally, I have to ask cause its a question everyone else would want me to ask... is there likely to be a new Wonder Stuff album coming anytime soon?

M: Talk to Malc.

Rob Stokes runs Room 512, an unofficial website covering all aspects of The Wonder Stuff
including Miles and Erica's acoustic work, Vent 414 and We Know Where You Live.
The site is currently being updated but still contains a wealth of information,
biographies, discographies and lots more besides...