"3 Colours
Red"Pete Vuckovic - lead vocals/bass guitar
.....Chris McCormack - guitars/backing vocals..... Ben Harding - guitars/backing vocals
Keith Baxter -
drums "
ROCK: Was your first single "This is My
Hollywood", a turning point for the band in the music world?
CHRIS: In England, Koran and stuff were touting what happened
there, and a lot of people wrote about us in England and in rock magazines.
Something was happening. You could sense something. Major record labels were
looking us up and coming down to see us play and offered us ridiculous record
deals and at the last minute just dropping out, because it was such a hard time
and people were getting fired and that was all weird. So, every time we got
that close to a record deal, the person got fired. It was just bad luck you
know. So we were just messing around and waiting for the vibes disappear. So we
released a single with them and published a small independent just to get
something out there to build a profile so we could go on tour and stuff. It
sold so much; it's like people were just dying for something. So, it was just
good timing and once that happened we got onto the charts and went to the top
ten and stuff which was amazing, for four weeks. The record companies were just
falling all over us, so we had to say the right things and really cool it. We
had meetings with record companies and we're going to give you all this money
because you are a good band, but we don't think you're going to sell many
records, because it's not a good time. Fuck off, I'm going to be huge. If you
don't want to be hearing this before you even put a record out. Have some
faith. So, Alan McGee came along to see us play and he just says, "Look,
you could be next biggest rock band. You could be the Led Zeppelin for the
'90's". Everybody's going and we want to sell our records, is what we want
to do, so you know, and he taught me how we can have control and say what we
want, and we say what we want to do, which is the perfect situation. We have a
good working relationship with "Creation" since the beginning.
ROCK: How different is your new album "Revolt" from "Pure"?
CHRIS: The first album was a lot more
straightforward pop songs, more or less, and use every hook. It's like you sing
along before the end of each song. This one is a little bit deeper. You've got
dig a little bit. Again, once you've actually heard it a couple of times, it
just stays in there and it's like a big hooks and courses. You do need to dig a
little deeper, but I think it's a much more better sounding record. It's a bit
louder.
ROCK: In England, were you popular right from the beginning?
CHRIS: Kind of, yeah. After our single made like 20-22 on the
chart, the second single went top 20, they were all top to 20-30 singles on the
first album. The album was top 20, so we did all the popular TV shows. We have
been really popular in England for a long time, for one album. The second
album's, "Beautiful Day" is number 11. I think it's the biggest EP
single that Creation ever had, even better than "Oasis".
ROCK: Your song "Beautiful Day" gets a lot of airplay
here in America. How about England?
CHRIS: Everywhere, yeah. In England and Europe. I understand that
takes a long time to create something, weeks and weeks, it's work really well
and it's we're getting quite a lot of play, and this tour has been a really
good success. We've enjoyed it.
ROCK: Who do you listen to?
CHRIS: I listen to every kind of music. I'm a big Bob Dylan fan.
Pete listens to Mick Jagger. You never hear much punk music on the bus.
ROCK: Is the song "Paralyse" a good example of your
real intense type of music that you play?
CHRIS: I think so. I wrote that song for the audience. I never
write songs for fans. I wrote that song for a gig environment. I just heard
do-a-de, I just saw the crowd do it as soon as had the rhythm in my head, so
that was the vibe to that song. So every song can be different and it's a
million different emotions and everything. You can give out your song from a
drumbeat. Basically, it just can come from anywhere, so you can't be sure when
you write your song. But, I always write songs for myself, cause there is so
many types of fans. You have one fan saying we love "Paralyse", we
love all your hard stuff, you know "Age of Madness", and things. You
have the others saying oh "Beautiful Day",
"This is My Time", and other favorites, so you can't say, "hold
on a minute, I'll write songs for you". Pete and me write all the songs
and we are very different personalities, very different songwriters. So you are
going to get two sides of the band anyway. And then we don't want to be writing
the same kind of songs, and that's why such a different album.
ROCK: Do you and Pete Vuckovic have different writing Styles?
CHRIS: We are very different. Even as a band, Ben and Keith bring
a lot to the band as well, but they are very different personalities. We come
from four corners of England, all very different upbringings, and we come
together as a band. Maybe that's why it works, there is some kind of spark
there. It's definitely something in. None of us think the same or are the same.
ROCK: Where did you meet Pete Vuckovic?
CHRIS: When I met Pete, he was living in Birmingham and I was
living in London and some guy who we both knew, said maybe you two should work
together. So we started sending each other our tapes because we were both
unemployed, just making our music. So I used to send him a tape of music. I
used to write music on a 4-track. Pete had the same kind 4-track. He used to
sing on it and send it back, and then I would yeah, and we would swap it and
write songs backward and forwards. When we had saved up enough money to meet,
when he came down to London, we would start rehearsing.
ROCK: What do you feel about the labeling they give bands
nowadays, names like Punk, Alternative, do you think it's finally run it's
course and people should accept the music for what it is?
CHRIS: I hope so, because I think it's about time that it
happens. We are not ever going to say we are a punk band, or just a rock band
that can play, or had that kind of energy that punk hard, and punk was such a
fashion thing. Maybe, it was just like a tide, I mean, the whole thing about
punk was to think for yourself, to be an individual. In the mock sense, you
were very punk, but in the sense that if I have my hair spiked up, doesn't mean
I'm a punk.
ROCK: Do you have time to write on the road?
CHRIS: There is no time to chill out at all. We get a week off to
write a song, or 2 songs, or 3 songs, then we have to go to Europe for 3 l/2
weeks and then we go to England, and do a job here, and then we go to Japan and
Australia, and do all the festivals in Europe in between.
ROCK: Did you play the big venues?
CHRIS: We toured the big venues with Bush, Metallica, Marilyn
Manson, and Aerosmith, with 80,000 people. We can totally adapt to that as
well. We can play on any stage. The bigger the better for us.
ROCK: What were your main influences?
CHRIS: It could be anything. We grew up on the
"Pistols", the "Clash", and the "Buzzcocks". The
band grew up on real thrashers, like "AC/DC", like
"Slayer", "Metallica", and all those. We really love all
the real heavy stuff. I love Bob Dylan and I love P.J. Harvey. \
ROCK: Now that you're taking off and getting well known, does
writing come easier to you?
CHRIS: I think it's harder actually. Because you get less time to
do it. You don't have as many things to complain about. The first album was
about "I'm broke, I've got no money, you know, this is shit, but, hey
let's fucking get pissed anyway". The new album is like "well we have
a few quid now, and we can afford a good drink. Fuck it; let's have a good
time. We can afford cocktails now instead of cheap lager".
ROCK: So basically your first album was kind a party
album? Are you still keeping that momentum?
CHRIS: It's a celebration of the philosophies. It's a celebration
of being fucked up, everyone. Hey, I'm fucked up. Yeah, so am I. So let's have
a party. Everyone's a bit fucked up, everyone is. No matter how rich you are,
no matter how well you think you're doing, you still are crushed now and again.
We're all in the same boat. We just celebrate the fuck that it's not always.
You can make the best of what you've got some days and make the best out of a
bad deal.
