Page 16 - Black Velvet Rock Magazine Issue 111

BV111 pg 14-19 The Rattlebacks Interview.qxp_BV111 pg 16 22/11/2024 18:31 Page 3

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And what does he hope his audience will get jammed on a little bit," Coxy recalls. "He would- be celebrated for our individuality and it's OK to
from the album, especially considering some of n't call himself a guitarist, by any means, but he be different. And, for me, that's what I get out of
the emotive subjects it contains, which we will had a guitar, which I always found very interest- music.
cover in detail in due course? ing. He was always tapping and things like that. "I am different and so are most musicians,
"I haven't actually been asked that question So I've always had an interest in rhythm and which is why we find each other. All kind of
yet. I don't really know," he responds. Giving drums. I probably think I'm a drummer in dis- weirdly the same. I'm fascinated by it, person-
himself a few seconds to consider his answer, guise, really. ally. I'm fascinated by how we're all so similar
he tells us, "I think it's important for us to write "And then, finding ‘Appetite For Destruction’ and that's why you make such strong friendships
about things which are important. We're not talk- when I was like 9 or 10 and that kind of ‘Fucking in this game."
ing about dragons and fire and bollocks like that. hell’ which changed my life. So then, Max getting
We deal with real events that have happened to a guitar, it was kind of like just a natural progres- ne of the standout tracks of
us and have shaped our lives and the things that sion of learning. You know when you're that old, O'Sidewinder' is 'Dementia Lounge', a
are around us and, ultimately, I hope that's what you're still learning about the world and about title which likely needs little explanation. Coxy
connects us with audiences. what you like and what you don't like, and I was tells us, "It's a personal subject to me with my
"You know that some of the things that we fortunate enough to find ‘Appetite For Destruc- grandfather who had Alzheimer’s and my
talked about on the record they might have been tion’, that band you really connect with and, you grandma had dementia. So, when Jack II (his
through themselves or that they can at least un- know, Max did the same. way of referring to bassist Jack Hollamby) came
derstand it. It's a part of the human condition. So "We grew up watching Queen music videos. up with the first riff that you hear, it's really dark.
yeah, it's real stuff. Real people talking about That was a thing, originally, which took us there. It's a little bit, I suppose, darker and more Sab-
real stuff. Hopefully in a framed and an interest- But, I think the real catalyst for ‘Let's pick up a bathy than what's on the rest of the album, let's
ing and articulate way. But yeah, that's, again, guitar and do this,’ was Guns 'N' Roses. So, say. I had the chorus, and I was listening to a lot
not for me to decide, but I think we've done that." without them, there wouldn't be us, and you'll of Sabbath, so that inspired it, at least in my
probably hear a lot of that in our music. It's prob- head. The thought process of trying to come up
peaking about 'The Taste’, Coxy tells us, ably a lot less than it used to be because, I think, with some lyrical content that was darker.
S“That song was written in this room. I'm that you tend to be your heroes when you first "I was sitting at work and a colleague left to
actually at my mum's this evening. I came home start, then you find your own sound once you get go and see her father in a nursing home and she
from work on a lunch break, in this very room, through it. But yeah, that's my journey with it, at said, ‘I'm gonna go see him in the dementia
to write that riff. I did it in half an hour. That song least." lounge.’ I was like, ‘Fucking hell. That's a very
kind of took 20 minutes, it kind of came to me. powerful couple of words stuck together.’ All of
Sat right where I am now. It's just funny how ood stuff, we're sure you'll agree, but a sudden, I was transported back to a time, I
these things come up when people ask these Gnow, time for some of that deeper stuff guess, a similar sort of time, when I picked up a
questions.” which we promised earlier. 'The Taste' includes guitar and I was going into nursing homes and
He tells us how he came to know Max at the lyric, ‘Burn my tongue of the taste. You can't watching my grandad and then, ultimately, my
such a young age. close your mind. So just try and silence mine.’ grandma, go through those similar things.
"Our parents met each other in the pub back We ask Coxy his thoughts on people who "So, it was just talking about that, and I was
in the 80s, as they used to be professional stunt- do close their minds or silence others, and gonna talk about it. I didn't want to sugarcoat it.
men. Through that, they got to know each other whether he has an example of someone who I didn't want to make it less horrible than it is.
better. His parents are my godparents. We're encourages others to open their minds or speak That didn't seem fair to the people that have to
both only children, so we're brothers, as far as them that has particularly impressed him. go through it. And, not just the people that have
we're concerned. So, when he got a guitar at 11 "I guess you could look at Axl Rose. He was to go through it, the families that have to go
or 10 years old, I then got a guitar. I was at 11, I that guy to me. I used to really enjoy his antics through it as well. It's not just the demise of the
think. and his onstage rants. He opened my mind to individual, it's the demise of your parents and
"But yeah, he got one, so I got the loved ones going through it.
one. And, you know, we've been think it's important for us to write about "So, I wanted to write some-
writing riffs ever since then. A lot of thing raw, and that didn't shy away
the time, in this very room. It's just “Ithings which are important. We're not talk- from that. I think I maybe lent into
come about very organically. ing about dragons and fire and bollocks like that. it a little bit, artistically, with some
"There was a time when we We deal with real events that have happened to us of the cackling that you might hear
were trading licks and things like and have shaped our lives and the things that are on it, maybe painting it like an asy-
that, trying to be, you know, the lum.
next best lead guitarist. But, ulti- around us and, ultimately, I hope that's what con- "I got locked in the reverb
mately, I found more pleasure and nects us with audiences.” - Jack Cox chamber in the bottom of a ship for
interest in coming up with the riff half an hour to do that. Kind of just
and laying that down and then I'll lost my mind in there, much to
let Max do his stuff, because it became a point lots of things. I liked his way of constructing everyone's amusement! But I felt like that's what
where he was pushing the limits of what I could lyrics and the things he talks about, and the sub- the song needed. Not because these places are
comprehend. ject matter. Some of it I really related to, and asylums; they are far from it. Bu,t it did appear
"So, we, ultimately, became a very old some of it I just found really interesting." to me to be that way when I was around that
school guitar pairing, which you might recognise He continues, “I think music helps you to age, visiting my grandparents. I was scared and
from some of our guitar heroes. I don't think open your mind to certain things. I guess every- it was a scary thing to witness. And you do hear
there are many of these guitar pairings that re- one listens to different types of music, which those laughing things and so, I think, it came out
ally exist. I'm truly a rhythm player. I have no de- may open you to different things. To me, I don't as something quite interesting."
sire to play lead, and he's truly a lead guitar necessarily trust anyone that doesn't like music! Given his experience of the subject, we ask
player, although he does play great rhythm." Doesn't matter if you like the music we create or Coxy whether he feels losing your memories is
Discussing the formation of the band, he any music in general, but people that don't like one of the worst things a human can experience
tells Black Velvet, "We did do other things. I music, I find that very interesting. and suffer, not just for the person going through
raced motorbikes. He went to university, and "We're in a very strange time. I think we're it, but those going through it with them.
then I texted him to say, ‘Why aren't we doing in a time where you can share so much but, at "I don't know. I think there are a lot worse
this?’ And, I suppose, that's the route back. So the same point of time, if you don't conform to a ways to go, for me, personally. I don't know how
yeah, the melody did call to us. It called us back narrative that is, you know, the main one, the much the person knows about what is happen-
to doing what we've been doing since we were one that is generally accepted by society, then ing, you know. I was young as well. So I don't
11 and I think it's something you can feel on the you're shunned and you're a bit of a pariah. So, really have a proper memory or understanding
record. I think it feels like a pair of guitar players I think, it's an important time for art, music, com- of it, necessarily. Maybe for the person it's not
that are connected." edy, I guess, literature, or things like that. We're as bad. It's worse for the family members, as
in a time where it's maybe more important than you say. I don't think it is a particularly pleasant
aving mentioned Max picked up the gui- ever that we can make sure we can express all way to die but, surely, it can't be up there with
Htar first, we ask if it was purely his inter- the things we feel, regardless of if that upsets or one of the best. But yeah, I don't think there's
est which sparked his own or if there was offends people in some way… Because, ulti- any winners with that disease. But yeah, it's def-
anything already burning prior to this. mately, we shouldn't be conforming to an ideal initely not in my top 100 ways to die."
"My dad had a little acoustic guitar, which he or one person's ideal. We're human. We should In the song, Coxy sings, ‘how long am I sup-
THE RATTLEBACKS