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In October 2005, I
interviewed one half of The Wolfmen,
Marco Pirroni. The full interview
is still waiting for clearance (yawn). So sod Marco for a while...
But who's that
next to him?? Chris De Niro!? You ready Chris?
Ha ha… You talkin’ to me? (Adam in 'good earth' B
Side Babies… very good…)
Well I'm ready. In fact before we
get going, some Ant fans still refer to you as Chris De Niro,
and some as Chris Constantinou. Would you rather they
drop the De Niro part over 20 years on?
Don't give a toss… whatever they prefer.
You and Marco have a new EP (Jackie
Says) due out on August 14th 2006 via Damaged
Goods Records. It's to be released as a digital download and as
a four track, 10" slab of vinyl. Do either of you own a turntable
then?
Ha ha ha ha - you really caught us out. Marco may
have one but mine is in my mum’s attic.
Are there plans to put it out on CD?
I hope so.
You've been
recording demos of The Wolfmen tracks for a few years now and
even though the Northern Soul/Glam Rock influences have their
own unique appeal, how do you look back on those demos now the songs
are 'in the can'?
Some good new stuff, some crap… but some of the
earlier stuff still sounds good. Like Kama Sutra! I
was trying to work out what it was, that MP3.
(You'll
learn what MP3 he's referring to a bit further on)
Choose three of
your songs that mean the most to you personally - even if they have
yet to be finished or even planned for release.
Hmmmm… I like "Kama Sutra", "Nothing
To Say To You" and I like "Black Siberia". I
dunno, loads more but that’s all I can think of now…
What is the usual
process you use for writing songs? Would Marco send you
an idea he's been working on and you add to it with lyrics?
Talk us through a typical example.
Go up to Marco's. Wake him up and we go for
coffee. Then we talk shit for a while. Go back to the studio and
he might scratch his arse and say "oh, I had this idea, it's
probably crap but…" and then play it and it’s great. We work on
it. I come up with some lyrics and a melody and that’s the
beginning process anyway…
What does Chris Hughes bring
to a track that you and Marco cannot?
Chris Hughes I suppose is the obvious answer!
But that’s lazy… hmmm… think I’ll be lazy…
Do you think
you'd ever assume a larger(!) role as a producer? If not, why
not?
Me and Marco do and have produced the majority of
The Wolfmen material, along with Steve Musters.
I recently (without permission)
knocked out a remix demo of a Wolfmen track called Kama
Sutra and sent it to Marco. After ignoring it for a while,
he eventually said it was shit (when pressed). I've attached it to
this question - do you agree with him?
Well Marco says most things are shit so I wouldn't
take offence!! (I didn't) Did
that answer your question or should I be taking over from Mr
Blair? Mr Blair is a cunt don’t you think? I actually quite
liked your mix!
In your interview on
Steve’s Ant Blog, you mentioned that you "may play
live at some point". It's no big secret that Marco isn't that
fond of touring, so how did you pull that one off?
We drug up Marco with Opium, straight jacket him,
pack his bags and guitars and put him on the tour bus. When the
drugs wear off and he has played his first gig for a while and we
are backstage and Kate Moss is sitting on his lap telling him
what a cool guitarist he is, and that she used to have a poster of
him on her bedroom wall and would he like to come back to her place
to show her how to play a G chord. He wakes up in the morning with
the lovely Kate Moss next to him, his mobile ringing, tour manager
screaming at him "where the fuck are you?" and coming to pick
him up… All that and having to not think or do any mundane things
for a few months (apart from playing guitar live for 45 minutes a
night ) -- he remembers that touring is not so bad after all…
You've played alongside Marco during
the Friend Or Foe, Strip and Vive
Le Rock tours. It looked a gruelling schedule. Was there
any point where you thought, "do we have to play this song again?"
Hmmm… obviously some songs we played I thought that
from the start of the tour! Not many but probably one or two, not
so much on the Vive tour but definitely on the Strip tour!
So what kept you going back in those
days?
Didn't need anything to keep me going – it was easy,
and fun!
And what keeps you going now you're
20 years older?
Ha ha ha… I have a secret Viking potion!
How do you relax when you're not
being a Wolfman?
I don't really see being a Wolfman as not relaxing,
all the same really.
If you could
choose anyone alive today, who would most like to collaborate with?
Me and Marco are making our list out at ze moment so
will keep you updated.
Did the Wolfmen ever record a demo of
the Ant track "Dirk Wears White Socks"? If not,
was it talked about or planned?
No we didn't, but yes it was talked about.
Obviously we all know you played bass
on the Vive Le Rock album, but what stood out for you
when listening to the remastered tracks released last year?
That the Vive Le Rock album could or
should be mixed again.
Apart from crap
remixes of Wolfmen tracks, what gets under your skin, makes your
blood boil, or blow a fuse?
Selfish small minded, small-hearted fuckers! And
soggy chips.
The way music is
promoted today has changed considerably over recent years. The
Wolfmen seem to embrace the download culture of today. What are
you views on this?
That we are very clever! Ha ha!…
You can't beat
holding a product in your hand in my view, but do you feel a time
will come when downloading will be the only way to buy new music?
I totally agree with you on this one and no I don't
think it will ever be download only, for sure.
Everyone seems to
have a
MySpace site nowadays - fans and artists, including
The Wolfmen. Do you think this is just a fad? Or is it a
'band' wagon that more musicians should be jumping on?
I don't know, but until Ian Peel (our PR guy)
mentioned it to me and Marco a few months back I didn't know what it
was. Doesn't seem like a bad thing - anything that broadens your
audience has to be a good thing...
How does
MySpace help The Wolfmen? Is it because of all the
pictures of sexy babes that remind you of your Ant gigging days?
Ha ha ha… did you ever come back stage during the ant
gigging days?!
You and Marco collaborated on a track
for me, Panzer
Mädchen (based on the Deutscher Girls
riffs) and also on
Werewolves Of London for Mantra II. Was
this ever considered as track for The Wolfmen, and if so, will we
ever get to hear a version of it?
As far The Wolfmen goes, we do those tracks by
ourselves and we are kind of into getting a cohesive (oooohhh not
used that word for a long time!) sound together for each album, so
the tracks link up and have the same vibe. The collaborations we do
is something separate entirely.
A close friend of
mine has a strange (yet strong) desire to obtain Marco's
toothbrush. It slipped my mind during my interview at his place,
and she won't rest until she has it. Is this something we can leave
you to sort out next time you're invited round for coffee and
biscuits?
Will do! In exchange for some Belgian chips with
mayonnaise and a beer?
I'm afraid we'll
have to leave it there as my Dad wants to put the car in the garage.
A good place to park up I reckon!
I'd like to extend my thanks to Chris De
Constaniro for taking the time to answer these difficult
questions. If only he'd extend his answers, haha. Also
thanks to the man behind the scenes, Ian Peel for
coordinating this and supplying the stills from the video.
Carty, July 2006
The Wolfmen.net
site
The
Wolfmen on MySpace
Jackie Says video on Channel 4 site
Jackie Says EP news from
Carty News Now
Damage Goods site - The Wolfmen page
Chris Constantinou interview on Steve's Ant Blog
Marco Pirroni Interview 2004 by Carty
Marco Pirroni Interview 2005 by
Carty (snippets)
Carty Interviews Index
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