The Idol Dead have been playing punky rock ‘n’ roll for the last 9 years. For some reason, I’m new to the band so must have been looking in the wrong corners for my next fix of rocking tunes. They claim their songs are catchier than Ebola with melodies sweeter than sugar-dipped strawberries but there’s much more to the band than their music – meaningful lyrics, intelligent in thought and a strong desire to give back to the fans, the scene and others that have helped them along the way.
I meet up with them before they play The Snooty Fox in Wakefield. The band have just launched their fourth album, which although still full of riffs, their trademark song craft and rock ‘n’ roll swagger, it is perhaps less immediately accessible than their first three and takes a few spins to really get the full impact. I suspect in 10 years time, this could be the one album that really stands out from the rest, both musically and lyrically.
I ask the band how they feel about the end result of new long player, “Tension & Release” …
Polly : We were quite worried about it and how it was gonna be received. It’s not 10 party songs but people are listening to it more and more and the hooks are revealing themelves. The riffs are still in there, it’s still Idol Deady but a bit more grown up.
KC : There’s a few surprises in there that we wanted people to find at the time of it coming out and it worked. It’s just where we were at the time when we were writing it. We had a lot people saying “how are you going to better the last album, which was “Hollow Point Curses”.
KC has described the album as being about “… rising above the turmoil that life presents. Take the sleepless nights and give back a reason to wake up”.
Tim : We just did whatever came along. We enjoy the songs now. The thing is, they might not be immediate but the longevity of the songs is hopefully there. There’s some growers but there’s still some immediate stuff on there. I think it’s quite a varied album, which is something we always try and do – we always try to add a lot of dynamics.
KC has described the album as being about “… rising above the turmoil that life presents. Take the sleepless nights and give back a reason to wake up”.
The subject matter is certainly darker than previous releases. I assume this has come from personal experiences of band members. Was this something that just happened when you started on the new album or did you set out in this direction?
KC – It was something that was happening around the time. Polly separated from his wife. From prior experience, I saw signs in him, that something was going wrong and we needed to rectify that, whatever way we could. Polly was writing a good half of the songs around the time that he got help, then the rest of the songs have a more positive aspect to them, like “Heart On Sleeve” when he was starting to get better.
Polly – They called it The Fall and Rise of Polly Phluid
I think the next album will be about global politics – it’s bloody hard to ignore at the moment. We tend to write about what’s going on around us.
Did you find it therapeutic writing it?
Polly – It was definitely a cathartic process. It’s mostly my words on this album. “Heart on Sleeve” was a bit different, where KC wrote the first verse and then asked me to answer it. Also, when Tim was bringing some of the riffs in, I was thinking “this is quite a slow, dark riff – I can’t really sing about hookers and blow with this”. The albums tend to have a theme about them, like “Dark Little Hearts” was when KC and Tim were going through similar sorts of stuff. “Hollow Point Curses” is seen as more of a party album, and we were all in good places at that time. “Tension and Release” coincided with my problems. I think the next album will be about global politics – it’s bloody hard to ignore at the moment. We tend to write about what’s going on around us.
Tim – We’ve received a lot of positive feedback about the content of the new album, especially with KC’s idea to put Samaritans’ details on there (UK charity aimed at providing emotional support to anyone in emotional distress, struggling to cope, or at risk of suicide) …
… Samaritans are actually currently targeting male suicide as a massive issue that needs sorting.
I guess the album was pretty well finished when Chris Cornell (Soundgarden) and Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) took their own lives. Does the album seem in any way more important and relevant after these high profile suicides?
Tim – That was a coicindence. We’d already finished writing the album when Chris Cornell took his own life
KC – When Chester Bennington died, that hit me hard. It actually happened the night we went into the studio to finalise the masters. We went in to celebrate finishing the album and one of our producers saw that Chester had died on a news feed on their phone – it kinda took the fun out of the night.
You know, every time you put your head on the pillow at night, you’ve won.
Despite the dark subject matter, there is a real positivity within the songs with total “fuck you, I’ll beat anything you throw at me attitude”. Is that from coming out the other side or more a statement of intent and message to others?
Polly – It’s kind of both. If you’re suffering from these problems, you’re winning battles, not wars. You know, every time you put your head on the pillow at night, you’ve won. Overall it’s a positive album because it is about getting through those things and fighting back and I think it’s been received in that way.
Tim – The think I like about it is, when we asked people on our fan page what their favourite song is, they pretty well came up with the whole spectrum. Some more than others, but all 11 songs got a mention. It shows the wide range of people that we’re catering for. As a band we’ve all got different tastes but we come together and create something that’s quite unique.
KC – What was really important for me was that we didn’t come across as preaching.
From a musical perspective, the blackness is wrapped up in some awesome rock ‘n’ roll tunes. We talk about two tracks in particular, the first being “Happy Now ?”
Tension & Release by The Idol Dead
Tim – It takes us a while to hone & craft the songs. “Happy Now?” was knocked into shape quite radically from where it started out, to the 5 miutes that it is now. It’s got so many twists.
Nish – Generally, it’s a two year process because we’ve got everything else going on in our lives. We’ve all got jobs and families and literally manage to get together once a week.
The second “Christopher Hitchens Is My Spirit Animal” sounds like the Ramones & Johnny Thunders on speed
Tension & Release by The Idol Dead
Polly – It’s a proper rock ‘n’ roll tune. It’s just A, D and E. A lot of the songs are over 5 minutes. For a rock ‘n’ roll band, that’s almost unheard of.
KC – It took us about 5 minutes to write.
Polly – The great thing is, loads of people are googling Christopher Hitchens. He was an anti theist, philosopher and journalist. He tried really hard to keep the whole creationist thing out of science lessons. He’s well worth looking up …Christopher Hitchens – Wikipedia
Despite being a pretty low key band, you’ve built up a strong fanbase around the world, with pledgers from the U.S., Spain, Japan and Australia etc. helping you to smash the target which enabled you to record the album in the first place. How does that feel?
KC – Gobsmacking more than anything. God bless the internet
Tim – We’ve got a really good fanbase that supports us and tells other people about the band, which is pretty much how it’s all grown.
Nish – We don’t spend money on advertising. It’s all DIY.
Tim – We’ve never had a manager, ever. Nobody outside the five of us but now we’ve got the fans, who are our managers.
Polly – You know, first and foremost, we’re fans. When you’re up on stage, you’re a star, the minute you walk off, you’re just a fan of music. You should tell people about the bands that you’ve seen and you like.
Tim – We always watch other bands. I wish every band would do that. A lot of bands just fuck off as soon as they’ve played and don’t support others on the bill. That’s wrong. We always make a point of supporting others too.
Tell us a bit about the pledge campaign for the album.
Nish – For 16 hours, ours was the most successful pledge campaign on the planet. Erasure retweeted us because of it.
Polly – The most unusual item was butt-plugs, which came from a fan suggestion – we didn’t get many pledges for those though !!
Tim – We had fans singing backing vocals
KC – Probably the coolest was fans pledging us to record a cover of their favourite band / track. Only those pledgers have heard these covers.
I love the album artwork. Who did that and who’s the model ?
KC – The model is Faye Petto, who is a trainee tattooist for the main artist, who is Katriona MacIntosh, who does a lot of our tattoos. That’s generally her style – here’s a couple of her band tattoos – Polly and KC …
Katriona Macintosh Portfolio – Facebook
You launched the album with a gig at Eiger Studios in Leeds. How was that?
Tim – One of the best gigs of our lives and certainly the most emotional.
Polly – We sold it out. There were people queuing outside when we were getting ready. It was like a proper gig !!
KC – We had Main Grains and New Generation Superstars open for us. It was great for everyone and all the bands enjoyed it as well as the fans.
You’ve got a support slot lined up with Tyla’s Dogs D’amour sold out show in York and then another with Zodiac Mindwarp, which I suspect will sell out too. Are you looking forward to those shows?
Polly – I’ve always wanted to play with Dogs D’Amour and I really love the first Zodiac album – it’s just a brilliant tongue in cheek rock album.
KC – We’ve also got Ginger Wildheart’s Halloween Hootenanny
Tim – We’re going to Spain too and Hard Rock Hell AOR next year.
Polly, you hail from Selby, a small ex-mining town between Leeds and York. Selby has also spawned two other awesome dirty rock ‘n’ roll bands in The Main Grains and Psychobabylon. Is there something in the water there?
Polly – Me, the drummer from The Main Grains and the guitarist from Psychobabylon were all in my old band, Phluid. There’s nothing else to do in Selby but play rock ‘n’ roll !!
Who would choose to play on a jukebox ?
– The Stones or The Who ?
– P & N – The Who, T & KC – The Stones
– Sex Pistols or The Ramones ?
– P, N & T – Pistols; KC – Ramones
– Abba or The Beatles ?
All – ABBA ‘cos they’re fitter !!
Describe The Idol Dead as an alcoholic drink
Polly – Absinthe. It’s green and it opens your eyes !!
KC – White Lightning Cider. It’s dirt cheap, it does the job, it gets you drunk. Everyone’s into it when they’re doing it but it tastes like vomit going down and vomit coming back up !!
And to finish off, what would you like the rock ‘n’ roll history books to say about you?
All – We did it how we wanted to do it. We never compromised and never asked anyone’s permission to do anything. Also, we put the toilet seat down after us !!
The Idol Dead are :
Polly Phluid – Vocals
Tim Idol – Guitar
KC Duggan – Guitar
Dan Sugden – Bass
Nishan Gonsalkorale – Drums
I wish the band well for their upcoming gigs and album success. The band wish to thank all their fans for their fantastic support.
