Posted on January 21, 2010 - by Editor

The Vibrators: Down Memory Lane

Words by Ayisha Khan

Photos by Luke Ball & Imelda Michalczyk

Perhaps wrongly overlooked as one of the pioneers of the punk rock genre, the Vibrators have been there and seen it all. From iconic punk moments like appearances at the 100 Club; Punk Rock Festival, supporting bands like The Stranglers, Iggy Pop and The Sex Pistols and flirting moments of mass appeal with an appearances on Top Of The Pops the band with an evolved line-up has seen 33 years of longevity with stories to boot. Their latest record “Under the Radar” released late last year is the latest step on their punk rock paths and Distorted’s Ayisha Khan sat down with vocalist Ian “Knox” Carnochan recently to dig up the past and take him down memory lane.

Ayisha: What inspired you to start a band? I recently interviewed Jake Burns (Stiff Little Fingers took its name from the Vibrators’ song of the same title) and he told me that at the time everyone had at least one good song inside them.  I know other people started bands ‘cause they just wanted to get girls. What was the reason you started one?

Ian: When I was a little kid, that’s a long time ago – it was in the 50’s – there wasn’t really hardly any rock ‘n roll. There was sort of nothing out there. You know before we’d just got jazz and big band and sort of popular music or something. And Elvis was just coming along and people like that, but there wasn’t really a lot of stuff. So anyways we started a band in school and I learned the guitar from my friend round the corner. And I don’t really understand why I did learn it, ’cause he was more into folk music. But I did and then it seemed like a really exciting thing to do at school ‘cause in the lunch hour we’d have a little practice and all that, so that was very good. Then we had a band, well we had several bands.

Ayisha: Back in the early days of the band, how influential were musicians like Chris Spedding and The Sex Pistols?

Ian: When the band started there was no punk rock you see, we were playing quite fast stuff and introducing new material and I remember I saw Spedding on the telly and then we got asked would we play with him. You know be his backing band? So we did that and we had an identity quite early on I think; after about two months of playing. I have to say when I first saw The Pistols they were a very powerful looking band.

Ayisha: You started out playing with The Stranglers – were they quite big at that time? Then Ron Watts got you involved in the ‘International Punk Festival’ which was a massive two day event at The 100 club. Would you say that was the start of punk?

Ian: They (The Stranglers) weren’t that big. Yeah we played in Hornsey Art College with them, the first gig, and I think Eddie (John “Eddie” Edwards-drummer) got that ‘cause he was something to do with it or something or maybe John Ellis (guitarist)? That’s right, John Ellis he was there one time so he got us in there. Yeah, I always said to people that that put punk on the map you see.

Ayisha: You were writing songs a lot earlier than that though, like before punk actually came about.

Ian: Yeah I was very into The Velvet Underground in the late 60’s and I shared a flat with a friend who used to be a friend with John Cale, who was in The Velvet Underground. We had all that early stuff. I was also getting it from someone else and MC5. I started writing songs and then we started this band. We did a few gigs but you just thought “it’s too extreme to get out there.” (So) it (was) sort of like greasy playing in a local pub or something, where a lot of bands played. So we did a few gigs like that and then later on we did a three-band gig in a pub in Ladbroke Grove, you know local places, and we started doing some of that material, that was alright. Actually when we did play the material, people did like it, but you just looked at England and you thought a band like The Velvet Underground cannot really play here unless they’re on a record company or something.

Ayisha: You were signed with Chris Spedding – do you think that got you into it more rather than without any sort of backing?

Ian: Yeah, sort of yeah. Some people said we shouldn’t have signed to RAK, but you know. And our bass player, Pat Collier, he was really into pop stuff and everything. You know, ‘cause Mickey Most had a fantastic record as a producer making hits and he made tons of brilliant stuff. (The Animals, Herman’s Hermits, Donovan, and Suzi Quatro and the Jeff Beck Group.)

Ayisha: I know a lot of bands at the time didn’t get signed and there was a lot of talent wasted (but then again there were some bands which were pretty shit).

Ian: Yeah I think they were very keen to sign us and all that, and Chris Spedding wanted us to do his backing, so we did that. But a bit later, I think we actually recorded another single with him so we did one with Chris Spedding, one on our own, and then we recorded another one with him. But we then moved on and signed to Epic, part of CBS, which is now Sony. And some people have said, “Oh you shouldn’t have signed to a major“, but like The Clash did and The Pistols. But now you can’t think “well, how come?”

Ayisha: And a lot of bands end up doing that, even if for a brief period.

Ian: Yeah they sort of have to. Eventually if The Pistols had carried on they’d probably be working with an orchestra or something in The Royal Albert Hall, ‘cause it seems like you inevitably have to go into that place!

Ayisha: Some labels don’t want bands releasing certain tracks because it might offend. There was a recent interview with Jello Biafra discussing censorship and labels; that it’s not even media or anything it’s actually their own labels censoring the bands.

Ian: Yeah well, I mean they’re a commercial company aren‘t they? I mean if I had a band and they wanted to have loads of swearing on the record and they were terribly negative about not getting any radio play, you’d sort of say to them, “Well look – if you ain’t gonna get on the radio…” and then, you know, a few years later they’re going, “We haven’t made any money”. So, you know, it’s a “your own fault sort of thing.”

Ayisha: I want to go back to the punk festival we mentioned earlier; I know there was a bit of controversy at that event, with Sid Vicious throwing a glass at someone? There were a few instances like that and that got the whole punk thing banned there.

Ian: Yeah yeah, allegedly Sid, nobody knows. The journalist wrote up all the terrible things. I think they were shocked at that instance ‘cause I think a girl lost her eye or something and it wasn’t very nice and Eddie had to help someone out with a bloody big cut in his throat, he could have died. Anyway, the press wrote it up and then we all lost loads of work but Pat Collier, he said, “Don’t worry, the work will come back ‘cause people are interested in the band“. So, the work did come back.

Ayisha: When you went on to headline at the Roxy Club, did that happen just after the festival?

Ian: Yeah well we were always working. Eddie and Pat Collier used to go out all the time looking for work, driving round to pubs to get us work. They did put an enormous amount of effort in and we were quite popular so we got off with loads of work you see.

Ayisha: Would you say that was because a lot of your tracks were R ‘n B covers, not exactly what hard-nosed punk bands would do?

Ian: Yeah well when we started, I’d been playing this other stuff and writing it. The first line-up of Vibrators, we just got together and we wanted to work straight away so everyone’s going, ”What do you know, what songs?” and we were like “Er Johnny B Goode”, you know all that stuff.

Ayisha: What was the reaction to you at The Roxy Club then; did everyone love you?

Ian: Yeah they did. We used to play there and also this other place, Rock Garden. We were there quite a lot and I think one time at The Roxy Club, we might have had to do three sets, ‘cause there was nobody there. It was a fairly relaxed kind of place so it was sort of easy to play there.

Ayisha: Did that help get you on the map?

Ian: No we were sort of already there. At that time we were starting to play loads of gigs. I think very early on we did about 126 gigs or something. I was saying to people that every time The Pistols did one gig, we’d done like twelve. We were going all over the place.

Ayisha: Did you have much of a relationship with The Sex Pistols at all?

Ian: You just used to see them at gigs really and we played a couple of gigs with The Pistols over in Holland, but generally (we‘d) just sort of seen them in the dressing room a bit. And I think they used to go out clubbing and I think we were all working or something. We never had any money (laughs). But you would see them and also Eddie he drove Bazooka Joe’s band and like that’s The Pistol’s first gig and all that.

Ayisha: And then you went on to tour with Iggy Pop – that must have been pretty big. How did that get together then?

Ian: That was big. I think our manager there was my cousin and they put us on that bill. And I think we were very suitable, though other bands were probably alright for that too. But I think lots of other bands would probably go “Argh we’d love to do that”; you know they’d want to be on that!

Ayisha: You were one of the original ‘76 who cut the way for the punk genre at the time. Why do you think you’re overlooked as the ones who jumped on the band-wagon?

Ian: I think because we’re very self-effacing people. We don’t do “right we’re here” and we didn’t have managers really, well although we had a manager he didn’t really get us to do that kind of stuff. So I think that’s part of it. We weren’t sort of clamouring for attention. You have to have a bit of attention. We just sort of went out there playing and that got us attention. You know ‘cause like the gigs were usually really busy and you know with TOTP (Top Of The Pops) and all that stuff.

Ayisha: Yeah I was going to ask about TOTP. You had the hit ‘Automatic Lover’ reach the top 40, and then your second LP was no. 33. Did you really need the publicity when you had got those hits out?

Ian: It just sort of came along and people go “Oh you’re on TOTP!” And like, when you’re a kid that was entertainment then – “I can’t believe you’re on TOTP!” So I thought it was exciting.

Ayisha:  Were you aiming to get into the top 30 like a pop band or did it just happen?

Ian: No we never really. At that time, we were just doing the material and I was just writing the stuff and we just played it. The first album was a mixture of everybody writing so that was a very good album. It was never aimed at the charts; we just wrote the stuff and played it. When you start a band, in those days, nobody knew anybody in a famous band. You just have these little songs and you go out and play them. And then when something happens you’re terribly surprised, terribly surprised you get loads of work and all that.

Ayisha: There are bands which have been banned from TOTP – at the time they weren’t allowed to sing certain lyrics.

Ian: Well you also get people in the band that want to dress up sort of poppy and stuff. Out of all your material, of course, only the poppy stuff is going to get shoved on the radio (laughs).

Ayisha: That’s what the Peel sessions were about.

Ian: Yeah, they played the other end; you know they’d never let us play ‘Nazi Baby’ on TOTP (laughs).

Ayisha: On the song subjects, you’re singing about love and relationships. How do you make such a dreary topic interesting and avoid what has turned some bands into being overly-romantic?

Ian: I think that, despite what my old girlfriend said (she always thought I wasn’t romantic, my girlfriend used to say, “Your songs are very romantic. You aren’t”) (laughs). I sort of just liked those sorts of subjects I suppose, and I liked writing about it you know.

Ayisha: They kind of come across as cheery but not necessarily like that.

Ian: I tell you what; I always find they’re the most difficult songs for me. I’m really good at writing negative songs, but if I want to write a song about ‘darling I really love you‘, I find that quite difficult a lot of the time but other people can do that much, much better than me.

Ayisha: Over the years there’s been quite a lot of staff turnover in your band. Was it just the case of other commitments coming up like with John and Pat?

Ian: Yeah that’s right, yeah. They don’t want to always be doing it and there are other things that come up, and you know the bass player, before Pete here, he moved to America. I have sacked people, but some of it was musical, ‘cause they were too poppy or something. I mean you’ve got people in the band going, “Oh I’m really bored playing in the band” in the early days and you’re kinda going, “You’ve got to be crackers!” ‘cause you’re doing these big gigs like The Roundhouse. I bet now they would give their right arm to be back in this situation (laughs).

Ayisha: Is there ever a chance of John’s return? I know he did some work on one of your recent albums.

Ian: I always thought we ought to do a tour with him one time, where he’s back on guitar for just that tour and we maybe play the whole of “Pure Mania” and stuff. I mean Eddie was really against it a few years ago going around America saying, “We don’t want to become our own tribute band.” But lots of bands do it you see, and Crass do it. You think they would be a kind of band that would be against it, actually probably half of them didn’t do it but I don’t really see anything wrong with it.

Ayisha: You’ve constantly continued to tour. I know some bands are really honest about it, saying, ‘we’re just trying to make money’, but would you also say it was an ongoing commitment?

Ian: Yeah it is. I mean we just do it. If you’re a musician it’s like, it’s a job and you just carry on doing it. I did think when I was about 50, I thought its ridiculous, someone my age playing to like sometimes loads of kids there. And I said to Eddie, “Look I’m going to have to stop doing it.” But then you just sort of carry on. It’s quite hard work, but it’s very enjoyable and lots of interesting stuff happens and all that. You can’t really think of a specific incident. There’s all sorts of, you know, stupid mad stuff (which) happens. So it’s sort of a brilliant job, the money’s terrible, but you kind of live like a king in a way, you’re really like minor royalty or something.

Ayisha: You also paint as well. What do you think music and painting share in common?

Ian: Erm I don’t really know. There was an interesting programme on the telly last night that I didn’t see but I read the thing about it and it was all about the kind of absence of beauty in art today. And I’m not sure if that relates to music, but you know how (it’s) in some of the songs we do. I think ‘Baby Baby’ is actually a sort of positive, uplifting song (which) you could say possibly contains beauty, I don’t really know. I really like painting and I really like oil paint and the actual paint itself. Yeah well I went to art school you see and I just liked painting. I feel, as a person (I mean nobody really knows why we’re here on earth or if they do they’re keeping quiet), I just feel I’m driven to do all this stuff and I wouldn’t make any major claims for it.

Ayisha: A lot of bands are marking their anniversaries – 30 years etc. Do you think seeing them in contemporary culture is a good thing?

Ian: Yeah they reinforce you being there in a way, they help you. Sometimes there seem to be lots of people (who) were in bands like in their twenties and got married, and now their kids have left home they kinda, at the age of 45, they restart the band (laughs). Fortunately though, I missed out getting married and the kids and all that (laughs).

Ayisha: Do you think punk’s really applicable now to modern bands?

Ian: I think that there’s something in punk. Basically it’s very good live entertainment if you’re into that sort of music – I think that’s very good. And I actually think, you know, when the country’s getting in a mess, and the last time that happened in sort of ‘76, along came punk so you kinda think maybe something will come along. Yeah it’s a style of music. I don’t know that necessarily punk should’ve really been carrying a message; I think it was conveniently used by bands to make a kind of political statement, but we never really did anything political.

Ayisha: Do you listen to any modern bands at all?

Ian: Yeah I do. But we see A LOT (of support bands). But I like all sorts of stuff. I like, you know, hip-hop, techno stuff, I like Lady Gaga, think she’s a total phenomenon, and she’s wiping everybody out. (Laughing)

Ayisha: Have you got any plans for more albums in the future?

Ian: Yeah, we just got one (“Under The Radar”) coming out just now. Yeah we’re going to continue making them, I mean there were a few years we didn’t make some, which was probably our fault, but I think Eddie was busy with his divorce.

Ayisha: Is that why he’s so miserable?

Ian: Nah it’s just his mannerisms, you see. He’s probably actually quite happy (laughs).