Thanks so much to Bruce and Ian for the interview! I wrote about Beware the Green Monkey not too long ago. Happily both Bruce and Ian got in touch to tell me the story of their band!
++ Hi Bruce and Ian! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? How are you handling these Covid-19 times? Still making music?
Ian: Just chilling out in the apartment, chatting with old mates on Zoom, and yes, a little bit of music making on the sofa. We have just been allowed out by the Authorities after 7 weeks of very strict lockdown. Nice to walk around again outside without being hassled by the police or the army.
Bruce: Pretty much the same as Ian but in a cottage in Colne. Like Ian I’ve been keeping in touch with family and friends via technology and shopping regularly for my parents who are self isolating due to their age. We can go out in the UK and to be honest it’s pretty much the same for me as I’m quite a home bird now.
++ Ian you moved to Tenerife, right? How are you liking it there? How’s your Spanish? Have you been in bands there? What about you Bruce? Are you still in the UK?
Ian: Tenerife is fine. Nice weather all year round and an easy going lifestyle. The Canary Islands are an interesting place to visit or spend time discovering. Occasionally I have done some impromptu gigs with friends. It’s more about having fun and making a noise than being a great band. I have worked with a variety of singers, brass players, blues/rock musician friends and so on who have contributed to recordings or just turned up at gigs and played.
The music scene here is not what it was a few years ago. Down to problems such as drugs and noise a lot of the “real music” venues were closed down and now it’s just tourist fodder so I mostly don’t bother going to see music live these days. We are off the beaten track and it’s Spain so we never get any decent English language bands playing here. I got a freebie to see Simply Red’s “Farewell Tour” a few years ago. It was on a golf course and the band were about a mile away as they had overestimated how many people would want to pay for the VIP seating that was about 20 rows deep. So about 2 people were up near the stage and the rest of were somewhere in the distance. Surreal gig. Personally not a fan myself but hey, it was free ha ha.
My own music, or a small selection of it, can be found here:
https://soundcloud.com/warburger-1
Bruce: Yes I’m still in the UK in the sae area I’ve lived in for the last 50 years. I do yearn to move to the Mediterranean as recently I have discovered I am half Cypriot. I was adopted as a baby to an amazing family but after a DNA test I’ve found not only my heritage but also 10 brothers and sisters! Amazing really.
++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?
Ian: My first musical memories was my parents record collection…lots of country and western and ballad stuff for my dad plus a couple of my mum’s Beatles LPs.
I started as a drummer. A friend needed a drummer for his new wave band and never having played I said I would give it a go. Turns out I was OK at it. Then I fronted a rock band, just local gigs when we were about 15. After that I picked up the guitar.
The first song I learned to play was Stairway to Heaven. A friend knew the first 4 intro guitar phrases and I worked out the rest by just playing along. It was a good one to start with, it has a bit of everything so if you could master that you could play pretty much anything.
Bruce: Like Ian to was The Beatles, I still absolutely adore this band and had the privilege of working for them a year or so ago (more on that if anyone is interested) I also love most prog rock bands ie YES, Genesis etc…. But also Floyd, Zep and all the classic bands from that golden era. I do play guitar but not well enough to preform on stage but I strum away whenever I get the urge to play.
++ Where were you from originally?
Ian: A small village near Stockport.
Bruce: A small village near Burnley
++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?
Ian: BTGM was formed in around 1986 at North Staffs Poly where I was a design student. In my halls of residence I found a guy named Paul with a bass guitar and started jamming with him. We decided we need a drummer and rumours led us to the door of Jon the drummer, also a student (partially) and he was up for making a noise with us. We all liked bands like Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Rush so we had some common ground for making music.
We had a few guitar players, percussionists, singers etc all come and go, it was a non-serious venture but we did a few gigs at the Student Unions and bars around the city.
Bruce: I met Ian & Paul through Jon Turner the drummer in BTGM. We were in a cover band together when I was 17 and one evening Jon played me a video of the track ‘Beware the Green Monkey’ that Ian had made whilst at Poly. Jon was performing on the track and the video was animated, it just absolutely blew me away and from there I suggested that perhaps this band could reform with myself having a ‘go’ at singing. Quite a hard ask as Ian, Paul & Jon were doing this years ago at Poly and I was just some cover band young singer with daft ambitions. Mark Jezierski was a great keyboard player who I’d known for a few years and was really eager to play with, he joined the band after myself when we’d been offered a full UK tour back in 91 with another local to me band ‘The Millltown Brothers’ Have to sayI felt pretty guilty asking to be the lead vocalist but glad I did and we all got together and made an attempt at stardom.
++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?
Ian: Mostly songs were just written, either by myself or Jon, and we just worked it out and rehearse together. We jammed a little but mostly ideas were brought in to be worked on.
We were fortunate in that Jon’s house also doubled as our rehearsal space, poor neighbours!
Later on Jon’s Dad had a room up in Lancashire that we had as a permanent practice room. At first we would make the trip up there at weekends, me from London and Paul from Manchester, then eventually we decided that work was boring so we thought we would give rock and roll stardom a shot, packed in our jobs and decamped to Lancashire, which is where eventually we met with Mark and Bruce.
Bruce: The creative process was very much driven by Ian & Jon, both outstanding songwriters!!! Ian and Paul being graphic designers put the finishing touches with merchandise, cassette sleeve designs, gig posters etc… this was a time where your t-shirts were as important as the music you created, and we had two cracking designers knocking up some really strong designs, we sold tons of merch.
As Ian stated, we had our own practice room that myself, Jon and the cover band we were in built (with bits of carpet on the walls, and it was as damp as a rain forest in there) we used this room as the base for our rehearsals.
++ What’s the story behind the band’s name?
Ian: The name refers to the African Green Monkey. In the 80s when the AIDS epidemic appeared there were many (probably inaccurate) theories around where it came from, and the Green Monkey was one of them.
It became a song and “concept album” which is lost in the mists of time and also I incorporated the music and ideas into a series of Public Information videos that were used by the Terence Higgins Trust to raise awareness. So really we have always been a band for an epidemic, ha ha.
When we were trying to come up with a name for the band BTGM was proposed by the guys. I was not keen, it’s a pretty crazy name, but I was outvoted and we got stuck with it.
++ You were managed by Hugh Beverton who at some point had a small part in Doctor Who. How did you know him? How was working with him? Any fun anecdotes you could share?
Ian: The night before we played a London gig that was apparently to be attended by 14 major record companies we were playing in Peterborough. A couple of us stayed with Hugh at his friends house. In the morning as we were all waking up we heard cries of distress coming from the bathroom and someone shouting “Help me!”. Hugh had managed to put his foot through the bathroom sink, slicing a nice big hole that required a trip to A&E.
At the gig that evening he turned up with a plaster cast and a crutch for our Big Night.
We didn’t get signed that night. Not Hugh’s fault, and to be fair he was just as prone to calamity as the rest of the band.
We did get a development deal from East West records, the result of another ill fated gig where we drove the length of the country to be greeted by an audience of one person sat a long way away at the back of the room we were playing. Fortunately that one person was Ed…something…a record exec who liked what I heard.
Bruce: Hugh was a real gent, he was so behind the band and spent his hard earned money trying to get us a deal. Hugh very sadly died several years ago of brain cancer the same condition which cost Mark our keyboard player his life also. Both Mark & Hugh are in our thoughts very much, we miss them both.
++ So how come there was no releases by the band? Was there any interest from any labels?
Ian: Yes, but at the time music was becoming more about the Acid Dance scene and bands like us were not that viable a proposition for record companies.
Bruce: In the days we were around you needed a record label to release music, it was all about distribution and without a label you were pretty much dead in the water. We did have major interest but I think we were just too eager for a deal and labels in those days needed to see bands that really didn’t care about the industry aspects, ie they wanted bands that said NO and we would have signed anything. I think our chase for the deal was the wrong way to run the band, we should have just made great music which I believe we did and let the rest happen naturally.
++ You did record some demo tapes, right? How many did you make? Who produced them and where were they recorded?
Ian: We recorded stuff in bedrooms, rehearsal rooms and occasionally in The Shed studio near Stockport or Flame Studios in London.
++ Something that surprised me that even though you didn’t release a record you did make two promo videos, one for “Precious Time” and another for “In My Time Dying”. How come did these happen? Who made them? And where were they filmed?
Bruce: Precious Time was an ITV / Granada production. Every Friday after the local news they’d highlight a band. This spot was utterly important as it was all about Manchester in those days and the bands on the Friday night spot were all signed ie The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays etc… I think we were the only unsigned band to ever get that spot. It was filmed in Sefton Park in Liverpool and due to The Milltown Brothers who’d also been on the show and their connection to Burnley Football Club they assumed we all loved football. I know Ian is a fan of Man City but I was an outlander with Burnley Football Club ie I just wanted them to do well for our local area. I’ve never played football but that is apparent from the shots within Precious Time. It was a very fun day and we loved the exposure, it really helped make the band a more serious set up.
Ian: The In my time of Dying video was filmed in London by a guy called Jon Harris, a friend of Paul, who later went on to a sparkling career as a film editor known for his work on Snatch, Layer Cake, The Descent, Stardust, 127 Hours, The Woman in Black, The Two Faces of January and T2 Trainspotting.
There was a lot more footage filmed in Highgate Cemetary but for some reason that did not make it into the video.
++ From the video of “Precious Time” I can tell you love football! I have to ask them, what teams are you fans of?
Ian: Manchester City. I used to go as a kid with my brother and stand in the Kippax when football was just starting to boil over with hooliganism problems. Quite a heated environment for a young kid. I saw the classic 70s team full of great players but they never won much as that was also the time when Liverpool, who thumped us every time I saw them play, were coming into their period of domination. I occasionally go to the Etihad where my brother had a corporate box type thing. A long way from the Kippax but tasty food and rubbing shoulders with some City greats. Not bad.
++ A few days ago Ian posted on Soundcloud an album worth of songs of NOT Beware the Green Monkey. I am a bit confused! Are these songs recorded by Beware the Green Monkey or not? Or are these new recordings?
Ian: These were BTGM songs but I do not have the original recordings, or they were just not that great versions. There may be some stuff around that I do not have. Possibly Paul has some more, but BTGM was very much something from the past as we got on with other things. Personally I didn’t really do any music again until 2005.
So a few years later when I decided to start messing around again I didn’t really have much new material but also I felt like playing around with a few of the old songs that had something more to work with. I started writing new stuff, with no real plan to try and sound like BTGM, and my solo stuff has explored a lot of musical avenues outside of the Indie Band sound.
I did come up with a few songs that had that BTGM sound I guess so I included them as part of that compilation of later stuff but it was all pretty much recorded single handed as I explored the wonders of digital production at home.
Bruce: To be fair, Ian has kept the BTGM thing going as it really was his band alongside Jon and Paul. I love what Ian has done and I am massive fan of his music so much so I’ve just bought a mic and stand and am now collaborating on some old and I think new tracks via technology, two rooms etc… We do not have any ambition at all but it’s just fun to work with Ian on some music.
++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Precious Time”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?
Ian: It was a song written for an ex girlfriend, I don’t remember exactly what point I was trying to make ha ha.
++ If you were to choose your favorite Beware the Green Monkey song, which one would that be and why?
Ian: Pray for the Rain. Not one of my songs but one of the ones where we got to play complex music rather than just a 3 minute single. That recording whilst not perfect shows really what we wanted to be. We were always a bunch of sad prog rock fans who dressed trendy. We would probably not have got to make a second album as our musical tastes were well out of step with the music scene at the time.
Bruce: I love Pray for the Rain as like Ian said it was our journey into the world of Prog Rock which is really where we all wanted to head. For me Happy Man one of Ian’s songs and In My Time of Dying again an Ian tune are my favourites. We used to open the set with In My Time of Dying and it was always a great one to kick off the live shows.
++ What about gigs? Did you play many?
Ian: Too many.
Bruce: I’d have played loads more, I just love performing live. We did a lot of gigs all over the show including one in Camden where Suede supported us. We also played with Liam Gallagher when he was in The Rain, the band that eventually became Oasis.
++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?
Ian: We would probably all agree that Cambridge Junction was a high point. Although only the support act the audience treated us like we were the Rolling Stones or something and we got to indulge our on stage rock posturing fantasies without people laughing at us. It was the only time we ever stayed in a Hotel. We joked about throwing the TV out of the window but really we were too nice and sensible to do something like that.
Bruce: Burnley Mechanics our hometown show (well mine and Jon’s) was great and Ian can send you some of the video from that evening. We sold the venue out which was around 450. Also Cambridge Junction, that was a really amazing show! We signed so many autographs and felt like rock stars
++ And were there any bad ones?
Ian: Yes, many. Being held in the dressing room by the police after an unfortunate glassing incident in Bangor, Wales. At that stage we had a lot of hangers on. Mostly good guys who gave up their time to help roadie for us, but the entourage was getting out of hand and that was one of the nights when I realised I was no longer enjoying the ride. Probably the beginning of the end for me.
Bruce: All bands play shit gigs, we did too. The ones where it’s literally 3 people and you’ve travelled 300 miles to get there. It’s all part and parcel of being in a band that isn’t famous. We did have some fantastic one’s also.
++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?
Ian: A couple of gigs were great, but I have always preferred “the studio” so having a few good songs well recorded was a big thrill at the time.
Bruce: The 21 date UK Milltown Brothers tour. The MB’s were at the hight of their fame after releasing the critically acclaimed album ’Slinky’ so pretty much all the dates were sold out. I have some very very happy memories from this tour.
++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?
Ian: Doing nothing. An art in itself. Walking, travel. I did an illustrated story book that received a nice review from Mark Radcliffe but got nowhere. But largely nothing where possible.
Bruce: I’m still in a band, albeit a cover band. I love playing covers and performing original music at 50 is too much pressure as you need to have an objective to make that kind of music ie a deal, tours etc… which I do not have any ambition at all for.
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Listen
Beware the Green Monkey – Precious Time
