THE ADICTS: (EYES IN THE BACK) INTERVIEW

I remember when I was 19 and driving my friends around, drunk and stoned. We had “Sound of Music” blaring and they sat in horror as I filled up the gas tank with the car running. “Eyes in the back of your head” was booming and I felt this really summed up the maniacal fun of the Adicts. Are you surprised it has been 35 years?

MONKEY: Yes, and no, we should be out on good behavior soon, maybe it has been the longest party ever.
PETE DEE: Its actually been 37 years but a year here or there isn't a big deal. Time flies by. It seems just like yesterday we started, or was it last week. It's illegal to drive drunk I wouldn't recommend it.

As teens that were into football hooliganism, masturbation, and underage drinking, how did these combine into the idea to start a band with Clockwork Orange imagery and insanely well written songs?

MONKEY: The drinking was the main influence as it was 17p a pint then. I think it was 30p, to get into a game with my unemployment card, and masturbation was free but the material was not as good as now, page three has nothing on youjizz, so drunk wanker bootboys = silly/happy/fuck you songs.
PETE DEE: Everyone kid wanted to be in a band back then . For us we had a good combination footy sex drink drugs & a bit of Clocky. So, it's probably why we do it. I used to love the sound of the Fulwell end ( Sunderland ) it was like being in a band, Loud as fuck and all it needed was a Drum kit and a few Guitars. I think it was NME described the Adicts as a Terrace Rock Band. Probably the best thing I ever read. They actually got it right, all the above are what we're into, it was & still is a part of who and what we are.

With the seed planted in 1975, were you influenced by early glam acts such as Roxy Music, Bowie, and Ultravox?

PETE DEE: There were so many good influences in music. the Ziggy era was important. Slade T-Rex, Roxy, and also the Rock bands Like Doctors of Madness, Cockney Rebel, Sabbath & Deep Purple. But prior to that we had The Move, Kinks, and Free. I look back and I still hear great music. There aren't that many doing it these days or should I say turning my mind on with a good tune or great words. Ultravox were phenomenal when John Foxx was the singer. But when Midge Ure became the singer they became irrelevant & shite. We did however invent Ziggy's Bastard Son and it's a Monkey.
MONKEY: We were into all that, still are so it has always been a reference.

Do you consider the infamous live show the band has evolved over the years to be true to the theatrics of original glam?

MONKEY: Yes i think a lot of that was tongue in cheek, we don’t take ourselves too seriously either.
Pete Dee: Who knows. But we do make a mess.

“Songs of Praise” and “The Sound of Music” have the vibe of teen angst, violence, and worldly observations true to the real spirit of punk. Was the band angrier and more disillusioned in its younger days?

MONKEY: Yeah we played along with that a bit but really just developed our own philosophy of trying to have a good time no matter what.
PETE DEE: I think the younger years we displayed our rage a little more. We come from the school of hard knocks. But Has anything really changed out there. No' I will always speak out against things that bother me. It's not normal to state an opinion these days, is it?
Because people are so easily offended. Like wanky hipsters, who think they know everything and pretend they care.
They are all wankers, sitting on the fence and demonstrate by yap yap yap. Then after it goes to shit, they will blame it on someone else. They can hide behind a computer screen or a cell phone and bounce around all day long in a rubber room. Political correctness is not my fave subject. Do I sound any angrier or just smarter these days.
I tell you this I wouldn't hesitate to tell anyone what I think. Naaa I'm not angry. Not disillusioned either. I live in a world that is run by Morons. That's all. So why not write about it.

With the release of “Fifth Overture” in the 80s, the band really showed its pop/rock sensibilities, what prompted the new direction or was it unintentional.

PETE DEE: Fifth Overture was my first full production of an Adicts album, we recorded it just outside Stuttgart, in Germany. It was different, all the songs we had, were the ones, which never made the previous albums because they were too slow or shit. We had been gigging so much we hadn't really written any new songs. So it was a tricky album. The tempo was pretty laid back. a mix of all sorts. It's a great album. I just wish I had a few more days to work on it.
The direction was more of a natural process. We have never stagnated musically, because we think out of the box. We have No rules when we write music.
MONKEY: We are always trying to progress and that was where we were at that time, it’s probably our most obscure album and a bit of a surprise to some people. If that was the only album, we had ever made. I would be proud of it, and I am still even though it sometimes gets lost and hard to find.

The 1990s saw an enormous revival of Punk Rock and the Adicts released “Twenty-Seven”. Most bands from the original era were releasing subpar new outings, you released another, now legendary, essential album for a new generation that didn’t suck one bit! Was the release to show those new upstarts, back then, how to do it right?

MONKEY: No we don’t go into a creative mode with any defined agenda, we just write the songs and if it ends up making a point then so be it.
PETE DEE: Ahhh 27' Well we just knocked that one out quick. We pissed off a few people with that one. the sound of that album sucks it has no uumfff to it. Shame really because if it had ummff to it. That Generation may have got it. But we made our point, and we aren't sorry that we offended anyone. Especially God.

California seems to keep the blood flowing in the Adicts musical machine. Do you find Los Angeles more embracing of your band as a mainstay than other cities around the world, what city has the best girls?

MONKEY: LA is very solid for us, its a young audience, there is always a good vibe (see I'm all LA dude), best girls for what? We love them all, and the boys.
PETE DEE: We wrote a song called California back in 83 because we loved it so much. It is one of our favorite places to play. Ask any band out there, they will tell you the same. South America is embracing more so. I think our fans love us just the same everywhere and appreciate what we are... Women are beautiful all over the world.

Looking back at your beginnings as a pissed off punk band, are those same sentiments still relevant?

MONKEY: Not for me, can’t be angry for that long, but maybe for some oppressed kid in Malaysia.
PETE DEE: I still get angry and frustrated more so when I see poverty. Nothing has fucking changed. Yeah, I'm still an angry bastard, but not the hot head like I used to be and I cannot save the world. But I can help someway and that reflects in the music we make. I just don't like ignorance and it seems more and more people who Think' they are well off need to wake up and think about those who have nothing. We make people smile and happy, that's all right with me.

-KPM
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