The Fucking Rosehips - interviewed by the ex-Rosehips

 

We thought we'd have a bit of fun and interview Markie, Ian, Meriel and Tonieee.......here's what they said.

 

Ex-Rosehips: Of all the bands ever, why on earth…?

Markie: I couldn't grow enough facial hair for a ZZ Top tribute band and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club beat us to the Jesus and Mary Chain.

Ian: Why ever not? The songs are all fast and catchy, there's something in songs from that era that bands miss out nowadays.

Tonieee: It all started one night when I was talking to my friend Chris about a compilation of old skool indie-pop I had done for Cara (who organised the weekender we played at) and mentioned that I'd put a Rosehips song on and Chris said something along the lines of "the fucking Rosehips were awesome" and we decided to do a tribute band but Chris ultimately decided not to do it...
 

 

Ex-Rosehips: Have any of your audience actually heard of us?

 Markie: About 4 I think! The great thing is that all the rest think we're original and have just emerged with this clutch of ace poptunes!!

Ian: A handful have but I think it's quite nice for the audience as many of them are hearing the songs for the first time so it's like they are getting introduced to two bands at once.

Tonieee: Not even all the band have! There are a few old-timers in the audience but mainly they haven't, which is kind of the idea... we are on a mission to introduce the music of the Rosehips to a new generation!

 

 

Ex-Rosehips: How did you discover The Rosehips?

Markie: Take the Subway to your Suburb which also started me on a slippery slope to spending all my time gazing coyly at the ground and writing songs with titles like "Why Don't Nice Girls Like Me?"

Ian: To be honest I hadn't heard much before joining the band.  I think I'd only heard a few songs when they'd been played at indie nights.  My only excuse is my youthful innocence, I was still in short trousers and listening to Bros when The Rosehips were around.

Tonieee: Like Mark, I first heard of them from the "Take The Subway To Your Suburb" compilation

 

 

Ex-Rosehips: What’s the worst Rosehips song?

Markie: I used to lurve "Something Happened"  but it's become my least favourite after spending hours listening over and over trying to work out the chords.

Ian: That's a bit negative.  Instead I'll tell you my favourite.  I really like Designer Greed, it makes me laugh to think that the type of person that the song is about would still probably be listening to a U2 CD in their car.  I also like songs that shout "GO!"

Tonieee: I'm going to do the same as Ian and vote for my favourite which used to be "Shouldn't Have To Say" but since we've started doing The Fucking Rosehips I've grown really fond of "So Naive"
 

 

Ex-Rosehips: Have you ever grown your hair like Bobby Gillespie?

Markie: My hair was always grew in more of a 70's Michael Jackson stylee. The best I could manage was a mightily unattractive Ian McCullough meets Gene Vincent kind of affair which often caused me to utter the phrase "I wish I didn't have hair like this". Be careful what you wish for is all I can say.

Ian: Yes, I am in fact a blond, brummy Bobby Gillespie impersonator!

Tonieee: I'm going for more of a throbert look...

 

Ex-Rosehips: Can we expect you to discover Bubblegum Splash next week and never talk to us again?

Markie: The Splash were obviously a huge influence on us but I think we'd struggle to eke their oeuvre out to a half hour set

Ian: Maybe.  I think Mark wants us to do Talulah Fucking Gash first though.

Tonieee: Yes!

 

Ex-Rosehips: What can we expect from the band in the future?

Markie: My dream is to put together a whole raft of offensively named cutiepop tribute bands and put on a big festival where all the indiekids can gather and gaze coyly at the ground while giggling at the band names. In the shorter term you can look forward to us expanding to encompass the Sainsbury's in our repertoire along with yet more gems from the Rosehips portfolio. And lots of drinking. Obviously.

Ian: I'm pushing for us to entre the Eurovision Song Contest, how cool would that be? "And next we have the Great British entry: The Fucking Rosehips"  but while we are for this I guess we'll just have lots more crazy drunken adventures as we attempt to bring indie-pop to the masses.

Tonieee: I'm already planning on the Popguns 'n' Rosehips - songs by the Popguns and the Rosehips done in the style of Guns 'n' Roses...

 

Ex-Rosehips: Who are your favourite bands from each decade / era?

Markie:
60's - Sonics

70's - Buzzcocks

80's - Orange Juice (closely followed by the Rosehips of course!)

90's - Saint Etienne

00's - Fucking Rosehips!!!!

This does change on an hourly basis of course!

Ian: today I'd say:
60s = Velvet Underground
70s = The Ramones/Buzzcocks
80s = The Jesus and Mary Chain
90s = Nirvana
00s = Flaming Lips

Tonieee:

50s Buddy Holly
60s Donovan
70s Buzzcocks
80s Talulah Gosh
90s Melody Dog
00s Language Of Flowers

(sorry if it's a bit twee and predictable - that's just me!)

 

Ex-Rosehips: Have you got real jobs?

Markie: Yes - I play guitar with a top Rosehips tribute band called the Fucking Rosehips! In my spare time I enjoy messing around with a spot of IT consultancy. 

Ian: By day I'm the mild mannered assistant manager of a rubbish CD shop, by night I'm the super hero of the Sheffield music scene.

Tonieee: I'm a computer programmer but one day i'm going to give it all up to become a carpenter.

 

Ex-Rosehips: Biggest dread & 3 wishes?

Markie: Biggest dread is that a wasp will come within 3 feet of me

3 Wishes:

1) All wasps to be exterminated

2) Fucking Rosehips to become enormously popular worldwide and play a huge gig on the moon with the original Rosehips supporting.

3) That the Danish bloke who keeps interrupting me this afternoon with work related questions would just go away and leave me alone

Ian: My biggest dread is that I get rumbled and people find out that I have no musical talent what so ever and that everything so far has been a fluke.
3 wishes:
1. All my clothes are starting to look a bit worn out so I'd have some new clothes.
2. I wish that I didn't get hangovers.
3. An end to suffering, world poverty, babies crying and that I had a donkey sanctuary in sussex.

Tonieee: My biggest dread is dying - I'm so afraid of it that I'm considering taking up a belief in an afterlife - not because I think it'll happen but so that i can enjoy my short existence without it being spoiled by thoughts of death...
3 wishes:
1 to live in the magic garden with Dougal and Florence and friends
2 to own a robot butler who will do all the household chores and go to
work for me on days when I don't feel like it
3 aliens to visit and make themselves known but not the evil,
all-conquering kind...

 

 

 

 

Ex-Rosehips: What’s wrong with the world & how would you fix it?

Markie: Apart from the aforementioned Danish bloke and the lack of fame for the Fucking Rosehips I think the main problem with the world is that there are too many nefarious people using myriad nasty methods to send the whole place and all its inhabitants to Hell in a handcart. Short of someone impossibly charismatic turning up to convince everyone that their selfish, greedy, blinkered stupidity isn't such a great idea I don't think it's fixable. Sorry! I'm on a bit of a pessimissm tip right now!

Ian: People place too much importance on success.  I would encourage people to do more things just because they are fun.  It's better to be a failiure while doing  something that is fun than to succeed at something that you don't enjoy.

Tonieee: What's wrong with the world is human nature - there will always be people who are greedy (for money or power) and people who have hatred or fear of others who are different from them - I am now too old and cynical to believe that there is anything that can be done about it...
I do think that democracy would be made better by getting rid of
political parties and leaders - MPs would be voted for their beliefs and
abilities not because of which party they belonged to - it would mean
people having to think more about how to vote and not just going I'll
vote Labour cos I'm a bit left-wing or I'll vote Tory cos i'm a facist -
then decisions in government would be made on each issues individual
merit not just the party in power proposing something and then the
opposition opposing it... it would also make arguments about
proportional representation vs first past the post irrelevant

Ex-Rosehips: If you have a licence to kill who’s going to get it?

Markie: I was going to say Bush but that's rather pointless cos he's really only a puppet for the real evil-doers. Ooh, I know, how about that Danish colleague I mentioned earlier!! And the neanderthal Gallagher brothers. Obviously.

Ian: The guy on the Cillit Bang adverts.  There is just no need to shout so much about something that can clean a 2p! I like a bit of tarnish on my 2ps

Tonieee: I wouldn't kill anyone as death is far too terrifying but the one person most deserving at the moment is George Bush 

Ex-Rosehips: If you can resurrect one person & one thing (custom, industry, fashion, creature etc.) from history what will we have back

Markie: Good manners and a general air of politeness. Hey kids, let's all be nice to each other!!
Ian: Person = Nostradamus.  I'd like to see if he'd have predicted a Rosehips tribute band.
Thing = Spokie Dokies.  They were those things that you put on the spokes of your BMX, they were ace when I was a kid.  I'm sure kids would ditch their Playstations and become more active if their bikes had Spokey Dokies.
Tonieee: Jesus - even though I'm not a Christian or even religious but
it'd be good to teach right-wing Christians what his message really was
- he'd probably end up being targeted by the American government for
being a communist terrorist...
thing: computers having text-only interfaces - all these modern gui
interfaces are just too namby-pamby!

 

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