Page 24 - Black Velvet Magazine Issue 99

BV99 pg22-25 massive wagons_BV99 pg24 02/11/2018 23:39 Page 3

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We don’t have a lot of free time; all our free n’t even like the band who got wind of this he begins, “and we narrowed it down to ten
time is spent doing the band, so that little bit and in the end the council got a lot of stick and we talked about it, and at the end of the
of free time which we do have, you want to for it and we got a lot of support through day, while ‘Welcome To The World’ was cer-
have a little bit of money saved up and put that.” tainly the biggest album we had released up
by and make the most of the time you do So much support that the initial target of until then and had the most press, it never
have, go on holiday or whatever.” an online petition to save the mural of 1,500 got a fair crack of the whip. Earache didn’t
Another interesting part of ‘Northern was smashed in under two hours and ulti- think so either, so they suggested taking the
Boy’ is where Baz sings of not telling the mately almost 8,000 people showed their two most popular tracks from it and putting
world you don’t want to be here anymore or support for the ‘Full Nelson’ painting. “It’s them on the new album. They said it might
telling the world the score, spilling the staying now,” Baz confirms. “We had to go seem unusual, but felt our hardcore fans
beans, not wanting to save the day or chase and apply for retrospective planning and pay would understand. There are still ten new
any blues away, but it’s also about not leav- a bit of money, but it’s staying now and it tracks for them and these are the two belters
ing someone alone. “It’s a little bit of an generated a lot of interest and support for off the old one which will now be introduced
analysis on being depressed and depres- the band. We wanted to paint it there to try to new fans. We didn’t think it could hurt and
sion,” Baz explains. and support the venue too. Pubs are closing, no-ones complained!”
Restarting his sentence, as he processes venues are closing and we wanted to draw There was a third ‘belter’ from the previ-
the correct words to explain, “It’s about attention to the place. We’ve had fans of the ous album, which the band elected not to
being here is worthwhile. I know it’s not as band go to Lancaster to have their photo bring with them onto the new record. It is an-
black and white or as cut and shut as that. taken in front of it and go for drinks in the other which has a link to an inspirational
Through social media I think you are ex- pub and watch bands and stay for the week- character though. The song in question is
posed to a lot of that and a lot of people are end, so it’s working. It’s a part of Lancaster ‘Nails’, a harder and heavier-edged song
going through a lot of hard times and that is now, so it’s pretty cool.” compared to the majority of their work on
just my take on it, it’s just a vibe I get. I think ‘Full Nelson’, which may shed some light on
sometimes people do forget what they’ve aving mentioned the importance of why it doesn’t feature on their record-break-
got. I know depression isn’t as easy as ‘Re- Hthe support of their fans we delve a ing album, but a song which, nonetheless,
member what you’ve got and cheer up and little more into the topic as it’s another which remains a current feature, and highlight, of
don’t be so miserable’, it’s a mental thing is highlighted on the album, in no small part their live set.
and it’s a nasty cycle that goes on in peo- in its opening track ‘Under No Illusion’ where However, many did not hear the song for
ple’s heads that they can’t get out of, but I Baz sings of being the ‘smiling face you’re the first time directly from the band but in-
think sometimes negative thinking can lead not looking for’ while on ‘Tokyo’ his words stead in a somewhat unusual way. For those
to it. Whatever leads to negative thinking I are a little more blunt and to the point, espe- who have little interest in the subject, profes-
don’t know, but it’s a dark road.” cially when he cries ‘they won’t play us on sional wrestling is currently enjoying a huge
the radio’ before showing his appreciation boom in the UK and one of its most popular
here are more positive elements of for their fan base and how he loves all their promotions is Progress Wrestling, whose
T‘Northern Boy’ though. The song also faces because they are ‘the fucking great- former champion for the sharp end of a year,
refers to a northern hero, which is quite apt est,’ but Baz reveals these lines and Travis Banks, for many months used the
given the success the new album had. So thoughts were about much more than just song as his entrance music. The song was
much so it took them to number 16 in the UK Massive Wagons. also played both before and after his cham-
album chart, number 1 in the rock album “I wasn’t just singing about us, I was pionship victory at London’s historic Alexan-
chart, number 2 in the indie album chart and singing about bands in general”, he tells dra Palace in September 2017.
number 4 in the vinyl album chart when it Black Velvet. “It is a hard road and it is hard “He’s a dude. That guy’s great,” says Baz
was released as well as making Massive work and you are never unappreciative of of Travis, known to wrestling fans also as the
Wagons the first band from Lancaster to anything that happens, but sometimes it’s Kiwi Buzzsaw. “We’ve talked to him and
make the top 40 in the UK album charts. We hard to keep going when you think nothing we’ve sent him T-shirts and stuff and he’s in-
ask whether this success has made the band is happening. You’re slogging away, putting vited us to go to the wrestling. He’s a lovely
local heroes in any way. albums out and you think ‘this album is bloke, a really great guy. When they con-
“No,” is the immediate response from good, there are songs on here which should tacted us to ask about using the track, we
Baz. Did it make them any more recognis- be on the radio,’ and you try and try and you sort of championed him and he championed
able in their home town? Again, “no” is the just can’t get through, and all the bitterness us as well to a new crowd and that song
reply which is delivered just as swiftly. But and despair do fuel songs and you do write being used by him introduced us to a shit-
when we ask if it changed everything, Baz songs about it. I did think when I wrote load more people. We got loads of new fans
does take a second to think and tells Black ‘Tokyo’, should I write that song, should I through the wrestling thing.”
Velvet, “I think it did. I think a lot more people write these lines? Because if it gets picked
are aware of who we are now, whether they up in the wrong way then someone could get rom one cool dude to another and
are fans or not I’m not really sure. Probably, the wrong end and think of us as a bunch of Fone of the more obvious inspirational
I’d like to think we have become part of Lan- arseholes. But at the time I was at the end of characters to be found on ‘Full Nelson’ is
caster’s history now. I think it’s a great place my tether with it all, so I just thought, ‘Fuck 102-year-old D-Day veteran Verdun Hayes,
and has loads of history and is a cool place it, I’ll write a song about it, I don’t care. If no- who is the star feature of ‘Ballad of Verdun
and had the big mural done, which was a lit- one likes it then no-one likes it,’ and as it Hayes’ after he hit the headlines in May 2017
tle controversial.” happened people liked it! when, aged 101, he became the world’s old-
Having mentioned the story of the ‘Full “It’s funny, because eventually after six est skydiver after jumping from a plane at
Nelson’ mural, we cannot resist asking Baz or seven years we managed to crack the 15,000ft in a tandem skydive, having broken
to tell us more about this remarkable story. radio thing, Planet Rock and a few others, the British record when he did the feat the
“What happened was, we were looking for they quite like us and it’s become a funny year before, aged 100. Making his achieve-
ways to promote the album and the place point now. I was talking to one of the guys ment all the more remarkable, he completed
where it’s painted is called The Pub in Lan- who writes for Classic Rock and he said ‘Oh, the record-breaking jump alongside ten
caster. It’s a live music venue where we used you’re the guy from Massive Wagons, aren’t members of his family, all raising money for
to hang out and play and we love the place. you? I bet I’m the guy who you wrote ‘Tokyo’ the Royal British Legion, including his 16-
You go to big cities these days and they are about’ and I’m like ‘Errr, no, it was another year-old great-grandson, his 21-year-old
everywhere, aren’t they? Big murals and guy!’” great-granddaughter, his 50-year-old grand-
paintings which are the size of buildings and son and his 74-year-old son.
they look great. Earache [Records] said to okyo’, alongside ‘Ratio’ both fea- Baz tells us, “I heard him on Radio Two,
us, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could find ‘Ttured on the band’s previous album, I think it was with Ken Bruce. He did an in-
somewhere to paint the album cover? So we 2016’s ‘Welcome To The World’. Baz agrees terview about him doing his skydive aged
had a word with the venue and they were on with our theory that while it is somewhat 101 and the guy is just from a different era.
board and loved the idea, so we got some common for bands to bring songs from pre- There aren’t many guys like him left, espe-
people who did it, but the council decided it vious EPs into future full-length albums, it is cially at his age and it was his character on
was an advert and we hadn’t asked for per- rare for a band to have songs repeat them- the radio. He wasn’t nervous, he was just
mission, so it kicked off a bit on Facebook. selves on consecutive albums. talking and talking and talking, you could tell
There were even people who liked it, but did- “We had 12 songs written for the album”, the interview was going on and Ken Bruce
MASSIVE WAGONS