You could see why Rattlesnake Remedy might be tentative at the thought of returning to Bedford Esquires; they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, you might say. ‘We’re not really a fan of new bands, are we?’ Dave looks around at the other members of the band when I enquire as to which new bands they’re enjoying most at the moment, ‘We’ve got a lot of interest back in the seventies and the old style – that’s just what comes out and what we play.’ Potential problem number one.
So far, the music magazines have all been kind to Rattlesnake Remedy; Kerrang! referred to their debut as ‘breath-taking and flawless,’ as if ‘one of the biggest rock acts in the world has just landed’, yet you can’t help but think that in today’s musical climate, where emo-haircuts and genre-bending-Enter Shikari-types are the medias bands of the moment, that these five rock ‘n’ rollers from Birmingham with their heads stuck in the clouds somewhere in the mid-seventies will never find themselves on the front cover of Rock Sound.
‘I don’t think we’re purposely said, “let’s make an old style of music”; we never sat down and said “let’s be from that era” or “make it sound like that”; iIt’s not consciously retro, we’re not trying to emulate anything,’ explains front man Lee Stone, ‘a lot of the time you find that the older generation really appreciate it, because it’s from their era, so they understand it. You find the kids at the shows don’t understand it. They like it but they don’t know why. They don’t understand it because Kerrang! Magazine’s telling them that My Chemical Romance are the in-thing of the minute, so they see someone playing the harmonica on stage and they don’t understand what’s going on. Really, I couldn’t give a flying fuck what the magazines say. The media, they create the bandwagon and then they all jump on it as well, so we aren’t interested in that; if they wanna say we’re great, they can say we’re great, if they wanna say we’re shit then they can say we’re shit – we just wanna play music and make records.’
In many respects, you’ve got to admire Rattlesnake Remedy’s staying power and their determination to stick to what they know best. To rock ‘n’ roll fans, and anyone who wishes they were old enough to remember the seventies, they’re a dream come true. ‘There’s kind of a core of about five bands that everyone listens to I think,’ explains Dave. To which Lee nods in agreement, ‘it generally revolves around the blues rock bands, the Led Zeppelins and your Black Sabbaths, but there’s all sorts in there really. You look in our van and see what we’re listening to and there’ll be UB40 and Norah Jones, Black Label Society and then Dr Dre and Pantera, you know, in that order. It’s just one of those things, it’s important I think to listen to lots of different types of music and then it contributes to the soup of music,’ to which Dave looks at me and in a mock-serious tone asks, ‘did you hear the Dr Dre influence in the album?’
But apart from the “fashion-factor”, the band’s retro sound and influences has other complications, ‘I think we seem to get pigeon-holed with the wrong sort of bands really, because people always want to put you with something so they can describe you. They often compare us to the eighties bands and none of us are really into that era at all. No body owns L.A. Guns records or anything, it’s just the way it is,’ explains Lee. And then comes the crunch and potential problem number two… The Quireboys.
‘We got a really bad review last time we were here,’ Lee tells me, ‘the review said that we were unhelpful wankers [not the phrase Mr Stapleton used, I feel I should point out! - CM] - we were late, because there was a miscommunication, but we apologised and we did a quick sound-check - they said we were unhelpful and second-rate Quireboys and we were doing the type of music that AC/DC did a lot better. It’s quite funny really. Second rate Quireboys! They’re a popular band and they’re well-liked but they’re not our thing. There’s no disrespect to the Quireboys, that’s just not our thing. People compare them to us because of an image. My hair’s very similar to Spike’s hair so it’s, “he’s fuckin’ Spike, he is!” – I’m not fucking Spike by the way,’ he’s quick to point out, ‘though I would, he‘s a good looking man!’
For a band who claim never to have listened to the Quireboys, it can’t be denied that Rattlesnake Remedy are certainly reading from the same hymn sheet as Bedford’s favourite rock ‘n’ rollers, whilst Lee couples the baby-faced features of a young Guy Griffin, with the fashion sense of Quireboys front man, Spike Gray. Perhaps it’s no wonder, then, that Bedford crowds are cynical.
Be that as it may, however, the most important thing to remember is that Rattlesnake Remedy are right here, right now. Their extended tours have earned them a reputation as a hard touring band, and their dogged-determination to keep doing what they love makes them one of only a few rock bands to keep plugging away at good ol’, straight-up rock ‘n’ roll. So what if it’s not particularly original? With plans for a new album later this year, and even talk of supporting Aerosmith, they’re doing pretty well for themselves, and at least they still have their feet on the ground.
‘Our job, in effect,’ expounds Lee in his particularly endearing, yet slightly confused manner (which is not unlike another, rather more high profile Brummie rock star), ‘is to entertain people, we’re entertainers, performers. If you do your job right you should entertain people, regardless of who’s there. We’re always having fun, fucking around on stage, trying to make each other make mistakes. When you’re on stage it’s important to throw the googly. That’s a cricket term. It’s a Yorker. A yorker is a cricket ball throw that doesn’t bounce, so you throw lots of short balls then you throw a Yorker, therefore they’re no expecting it. That’s important to do. Like a curved ball in baseball. We fuck around on stage and play the wrong song and it’s funny then, it keeps things fresh. If you’re having fun on stage then the audience start enjoying themselves. You start enjoying yourself more, and they start enjoying themselves more and it grows into… an ejaculation of the human soul.’
Check out Rattlesnake Remedy's website at www.rattlesnakeremedy.com and their MySpace page, www.myspace.com/rattlesnakeremedy - Their album ‘Magic Man’ is available now.