Having already caught up with ROCKET SCIENCE frontman Roman Tucker earlier in the year on W&H we hooked up with the guys again only this time putting the questions to guitarist PAUL MAYBURY. The band have just started their second headline tour in the UK after wowing audiences over here with 'their spectacular live performances' on recent support slots with Supergrass, The
Vines and The Music. The first night at The Roadhouse in Manchester went well despite the humidity and heat soaked conditions. The second night of the tour at The Barfly in Liverpool is where we meet.
Now given that these guys are Australian and Liverpool Football Club have just signed Australian superstar footballer 'Harry Kewell' ( sorry Leeds fans!! ) I thought I'd be on safe ground by starting off our conversation asking Paul what he thought about the transfer! Unfortunately for me and a whole load of my carefully thought out follow up questions he replied by asking:
"Who's Harry Kewell?"
Ok, so not a good start? I ask him if he follows football at all?
P:"No not at all"
I decide to keep going with the sporting theme
B: "What about cricket then?"
P: "No I don't follow sport, never have done, never will"
An Australian who doesn't like sport!? surely not, but still I persist:
B: "what about when the Olympics were on in Sydney, didn't you follow any of what was going on?"
P: "No, I was actually living in Sydney at the time and the olympics
coincided with my decision to leave, I hated all the commercialism of it. Unfortunately, when the Olympics came to Sydney all the developers came with them and it's always the poorer areas that they develop. The bad thing about this is it forces all the poorer people out because the rents go up and they cannot afford to live there."
OK, so he's not into sport but I'm certainly picking up on a strong political vibe! I ask him whether his political interests are shared throughout the band?
P: ( laughing) "Yes I am interested in politics" relieved that I've finally stopped asking him about sport!
"...But the rest of the band don't share my enthusiasm, they give me stick for it and wind me up all the time."
I decide to leave the political arena alone and turn the conversation back to music. I'd read somewhere that the band are all avid record collectors so I ask him what's the most valuable record he owns.
P: "Well the two that spring to mind are an original pressing of Jimi
Hendrix's second album and a second pressing of "Pet Sounds" by The Beach Boys. Both of them are great"
B: "What's the record you'd most like to own that you don't already?"
P:" That's a good question, there are too many. About eight years ago I had a fire that wiped out a lot of my record collection including everyhing I owned by 'Grand Funk Railroad' so I'd really like to own those records again, they were great records."
I ask him what records he used to listen to growing up in Australia and whether there were any UK or American infuences.
P:"There was definitely a lot of American music, growing up in the 80's there wasn't a lot of good Australian bands around. I listened to a lot of Rockabilly and people like Warren Smith and Gene Vincent. In the 90's there was some good stuff from the UK, I Liked some of the Britpop stuff. It was only later that I realised there were some great Australian bands about, bands like The Scientists"
B:"When were they around?"
P:"About 1978, we actually supported them last year, it was excellent."
B:"You supported Supergrass over here didn't you? what did you make of them"
P:"I really like Supergrass, they've got so many great songs and they keep getting better with every record, we really enjoyed supporting them, all the gigs we've done here have been brilliant. We played with The Music as well and they have this thing of playing at seaside resorts and we did this gig at Bridlington. Have you ever been there?"
B:"No"
P:"Oh, it's a mad place, it's like being stuck in in the 1950's, eveything looks so old! The venue was overlooking the sea so after we played we went outside and watched the waves crashing into the wall and had a few beers, it was cool."
B:"Did you go to Blackpool?"
P:"No we've never been there"
I tell him that it is similar to what he's talking about only more tackier; kiss me quick hats, a ballroom and a tower where they've got a massive organ. A bit like Rocket Science then! I ask him if he has heard of The Inspiral Carpets; a band that like Rocket Science have a predominantly 'large organ sound'?and a band who they've been compared to?
P:"No I've never heard of them, but there's more to our sound than the organ, it's just that's what sticks out, it's rock n'roll"
Aussie man in large organ denial shock!!! but seriously there is more to their sound.
Now I couldn't resist the opportunity to talk to an Australian without
touching on the subject of aussie TV! I ask Paul what's happened to "Neighbours"?
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P:"What has happened to Neighbours? I mean I switch it on and I don't recognise anyone and that's my street, I've grown up on that street! My girlfriend keeps me up to date on whats happening. I do know that 'Toadie and Dee' get married"
B:"an unlikely partnership!" I add.
P:"Ummm, maybe, but one that works for them."
Confident that I'm on good ground I decide to take a trip down memory lane and ask him if he remembers 'Prisoner Cell Block H'?
P:"yeah, absolutely"
B:"who was your favourite character?"
P:"Bee Smith, without a doubt, who can argue with Top Dog, oh and Lizzie Birdsworth, definitely."
We both agree it was a great show and an Aussie TV cult classic. I thought I'd chance one more question on the subject and asked him what he thought of the critically acclaimed twentysomething drama 'The Secret Lives of us' shown on C4 in the UK.
P:"Ah, that was shithouse."
Oh well, two out of three good responses isn't too bad, time to move on I thought only for Paul to pipe up and continue:
P:"it's actually not a bad show in what it does for Australian music.
They've played us a lot of times on the show and they tend to play songs from more underground bands. Good songs from albums instead of singles."
B:"What songs of yours did they play?"
P:"A few, 'Being followed' was one of them"
I suggest that he's come full circle on that one and that he actually quite likes the show!.
P:"Well I suppose it's ok, but I used to live where they filmed it and we never had parties on the rooftops round there, I didn't even know that they were there!"
What's this! another aussie show that's not like real life!?
From there we discuss the hot subject of Australian wines; another area of interest for Paul. He proudly declares his love of white wine, recomending the Western Australia Semillion Blanc 'especially with food' and for red wine lovers nominating the Merlot from the same region where the 'vines are thriving' after some unsteady years. We discuss the garage rock scene in
Spain which apparently has a tradition of Aussie bands going over and doing well, in particular 'The Hard Ons' which he says is a great name for a band. Few would argue!
I ask him if he's heard anything about the current Liverpool scene, he says that he has heard of The Coral but hadn't heard anything by them. I tell him that the city is currently enjoying a renaissance and that there are many bands breaking through. He said he had heard that there was a buzz about the place and that James Brown was playing here soon. I tell him that it's part of The Summer Pops, a series of gigs staged under a tent at The Kings Dock.
Paul Weller had played the night before and The Beach Boys are due to play the following week. Paul asks me if I've been to any of the gigs, I tell him that the tickets are too expensive which is a shame because I'd really like to see James Brown and Brian Wilson.
He says that Brian Wilson played in Australia but he couldn't afford it, the tickets were 100 Aussie dollars. However, he did get to see James Brown after his mum bought him a ticket to see him when he was only 15, although he had to go on his own because none of his mates had heard of him; "they were all too busy listening to Heavy Metal!".
I finish off by asking what's next for the band. He tells me that they finish up playing here at the Leeds and Reading Festival; a gig that they're really pleased about:"it's great for the band". After that it's wait and see, maybe Spain, or maybe Sweden, another place where the psychadelic garage rock scene thrives; "I really like The Casanovas" he says. Another band he confesses to liking is current media faves The Darkness who like Rocket Science are not afraid to show their explosive side.
P:"I'd like to see them while we're here".
So who knows where the Rocket will land but if it's anything like their take off it's guaranteed to be a blast. Buckle up and prepare for the impact.
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