INTERVIEW + LIVE REVIEW
Water Rats Theatre
17th Jan
2002
Text by Sarah Thirtle
Photos by Marcus O'Higgins
Freeheat
Interview
Freeheat is made from considerable stock. Take two members of indie champions The Jesus and Mary Chain, one former Earl Brutus, and a former Gun Club, put them all together, and you get a brand spanking new beat combo full of experience and passion for all things punk rock. In short, you get Freeheat.
Freeheat haven't played in the UK for about a year, and there's a lot of interest and expectation surrounding tonight's gig at The Water Rats. I was keen to fill in the blanks, so the very charming Ben (formerly with the aforementioned J&MC) gave up a few minutes of his time before going on stage for a quick chat with me. I wondered how the band first got together, and whose idea it was. "Well, Jim (Reid, also former J&MC) and I were moping around being miserable," begins Ben, "and thought it would be a good idea to form a band. Romi (Mori) and Nick (Sanderson) were friends of ours anyway, and they were doing the same, you know, looking to form a band. Then we thought, hang on, there's an idea here!" So Freeheat came into being. Almost immediately they were invited on tour in America. I swift London gig was arranged to send them on their way.
This is very much the aim with Freeheat. Set up, play gig, and away you go. In their press release they state they wish to "strip music down to its essentials." Ben explains, "we just wanted to be able to play without all the rigmarole and the hangers on." I find this an interesting point as Jesus and Mary Chain, in their day, were pretty damn big. And, as such, I imagine would have had plenty of people around them when they were playing the big gigs. The rigmarole would have been in abundance. Freeheat, it would seem, is a chance for Ben, Jim et al to return to their first love, making guitar pop songs, without the music industry machine's hyperbole. However, Ben acknowledges that, although the band is ostensibly starting from scratch, "people think you know more people in the industry then we do. They think we can just make a phone call, you know. But we're now just trying to get people interested."
Freeheat's passion for nothing but the music is oh so very similar to another band interviewed here recently - the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Indeed, there are number of links you can make between the two bands. Firstly, the sound of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is very J&MC. Secondly, Ben informed me that he was initially asked to produce the BRMC album! "They sound very Jesus and Mary Chain," conceded Ben, "but they're good, you know, I like them. I think if I'd have produced the album I would have made them sound less J&MC!" Another band that Ben is even more involved in is The Parkinsons, whom he manages. They have released a single through Fierce Panda. So I ask about other current bands, and the apparent resurgence in all things guitar-esque. "Its weird." muses Ben, "A band like the White Stripes, for example, went from playing the Dublin Castle one minute, to being all over the press the next. I mean, I think the guy in that band is great, an absolute star. But the girl, well she's a bit of a shit drummer really!" Whoah there! Anyway, this seems to be the way things work at the moment. A band can go from playing small venues, not unlike the Water Rats, to tabloid cover stories in the space of a week, practically. There becomes more printed column inches than songs. But for Freeheat their primary concern is the music, the gig, the songs, the bringing of these elements together in one place and at one time. Ben admits that it's still "a work in progress& still evolving." Well, surely that's just how it should be.
Live Review
Before Freeheat come on stage tonight large silver lettering is revealed behind the stage - "PUNK ROCK". Is this a mission statement or a reminder? As the opening chords of Baby G surge out I realise that it's both. Baby G leers and sneers with full pelt soaring guitars. Freeheat are here to unashamedly rock n roll, yet they appear like such mild mannered chaps. But the conviction is palpable. If music is indeed the food of love, then Freeheat serve very, very large portions.
Old skool indie jingly jangliness rears its head in Back to the Water. I could be watching a band back in 1991. The punk rock mission is re-affirmed in Facing Up to the Facts. Jim (vocals) and Ben (guitar) remind us why their last incarnation (The Jesus and Mary Chain) was so great. The song bites back with anger and vitriol. Jim spits the lyric "I don't wanna be happy." Being happy means no struggle. No struggle means no change. No change means.. well its just boring isn't it.
Undoubtedly one of the highlights tonight was Shine on Little Star. It's
the kind of song that could well be played in thousands
of student bedrooms. Then again, it's the kind of song
that could be written by thousands of student bands. But that may well
be the point. Freeheat want to "strip music down to its essentials." No
gimmicks or gadgets. Three chords, a couple of verses and
a chorus. Simple as.