Robin HOLDEN

EL: King Cheetah had already spent a couple of years based in the US before you joined them, and in fact you knew them a little, had seen them play and so on. Did you ever think that you might join the band and what did you think of them when you were an ‘outsider’?

RH: I had been working at a rehearsal studio in Hollywood for a few months when I first met them (before the addition of the definite article). I was setting up their monitor mixes. I remember the first words Robert Paul said to me: “Are you English?!” I think he was expecting that everyone he met would be Americans who would dissolve into spasms of Anglophilia… “Oh, I just LURVE your accent!! Say something else!” Unfortunately, I was probably the first of his many Los Angeles related disappointments.
Initially, I didn’t take much notice of King Cheetah, simply because there were so many bands coming through the studio that you couldn’t see the trees for the forest, and I was never in a room long enough to examine the wood. I always chatted to Robert Paul and Simon in passing, though. I remained oblivious until an art and music showcase took place at the same studio. I had heard good things about them, so I decided to stay and watch. The sound was brain-meltingly loud. I came away from the evening thinking, “I wish I could be in a band like that.” Looks like I got my wish.

EL: You went back to London with the band in early 2004 playing in Soho near the site of Madame Jo Jo’s and their Kitsch Bitch clubnight. The show was packed with friends and fans - some had travelled from France and even Norway for the show. How did it feel to meet that community and understand the millieu from whence the band originated?

RH: I don’t think I was back long enough to really ‘understand’ the whole phenomenon, and, from what I gather, there are a few key players from that scene who are permanently missing. I get the sense that something very special happened that I wish I had been involved in, and that those people who were involved appreciate and long for the freedom the club gave them more as time passes and the music scene becomes more and more filled with shite.

EL: You also have a career as an engineer and producer, how did that start and which artists have you worked with? Does this other life bring something to The King Cheetah?

RH: I honed my skills in Hollywood at the same studio. I taught myself how to tune drums, which made me very useful in the recording studio. It’s a big help when the kit sounds good in the first place! I watched and listened and, eventually, started engineering things for bands I knew around Hollywood, such as my friend Matt’s band, Bang Sugar Bang. I engineered and produced a demo for a band consisting of four 14 to 16 year-olds once. I would never have thought anything further about it, but the band, Orange, got a deal with Hellcat Records and I ended up doing the full-length album at the beginning of 2005. When I first joined The King Cheetah, I really wanted to engineer the recordings, but I held back. Nobody likes a smart-arse, especially a smart-arse bass player. The band already had a history of bad experiences with producers, and our luck didn’t change when I joined. Several tongue-biting filled sessions later, I decided to grow a pair of bollocks and suggest doing the self-produced, self-engineered thing. I think the method works for us, and I’m sure it’s only going to get better.

EL: You were born in England, but spent some time in the American school system. How do they compare, and do you think of yourself as English or American?

RH: I used to spend six months of the year in LA with my father, and the other six in England with my mother. This started to cause a bit of havoc with my grades and my social life. Neither school had enough work to put me in proper ability groups, so I was with all the thickies. Also, I had too much of an English accent to avoid getting beaten by the American kids and too much of an American twang to avoid getting ridiculed by the English kids. It was a real double-edged sword up the arse, and I had to choose one. I chose to be English, of course, because the chicks dig the accent. Also, the school I was going to in England was massively superior to the one in LA. The teachers actually cared whether or not the kids learned something. What a novelty.

EL: Do you recognise differences between the Americans and the English? I’m an Italian myself and sometimes we europeans lump all anglo-saxons together.

RH: America was founded on freedom, and the Yanks won’t let you forget it.

EL: Freedom for white people wasn't it Robin? 

RH: That was the european mindset, maybe, but England was founded on control, on knowing your place, and on beating the shit out of other countries and taking them over, and the Brits can’t make themselves forget it. Americans seem to be a lot more accepting of success, and the British HATE anybody successful. I think there’s a certain arrogance that comes with being American that the English tend to dislike from a distance, yet they all want to go on holiday to Disneyworld. (You speak very good English, by the way, Enrico.)

EL: Thank you Robin, it’s a pre-requisite of academic study. Let me ask you something else, you have the famous ‘white horse of Uffington’ tatooed across your stomach, why did you choose this prehistoric English emblem which was originally carved into the chalk of an English hillside?

RH: There’s a double significance to the symbol for me. The one I like to talk about first is the fact that it’s a design by an ancient English tribe, and it’s got a mystical, pagan vibe about it that is very connected to my homeland, but very little to do with the modern-day state of the place. The second, and nerdier, reason is that it appears on the front of the album English Settlement by my favourite band in the universe, XTC.

EL: Can you imagine the band ever being a four piece? Or having an American member? (laughs)

RH: Not at the moment. Personally, I’m enjoying the freedom of the power trio. It’s a great format in so many ways. You can’t lose any one instrument and still have a strong sound. Plus, getting along with each other is a lot easier with just three people. Being in a band is at least as much about compatible personalities as compatible playing styles. Additionally, I think we’re continually learning what our capabilities are as a three-piece, and I think we’ve got a long way to go before we get to the end of that avenue of exploration.

EL: You play the drums too, does it ever become frustrating to stand next to Simon Hancock? Are you ever tempted to push him off his drumstool and shout ‘No! Do it like this!!!’?

RH: Never. Simon Hancock is so good on drums that it’s a pleasure just to watch him play, let alone play in a band with him. Plus, we agree on almost all aspects of what makes a good drummer, what makes a good drum, and who our favourite drummers are. Even if I have occasion to play the drums these days, I find myself nicking his ideas anyway.

EL: People often comment on the political nature of so many TKC songs at a time when few bands are political. Is it an advantage to you to have political comment, and do you ever disagree over the band’s politics? Or maybe I should rephrase that…..do you even talk about politics in the band or is it something that is the sole concern of a lyricist who carries on regardless of and blind to your opinions?

RH: Rob is definitely the most political one, and the lyrics are pretty much his domain. However, I’m pretty sure Simon and I agree with him in most respects, and if either of us disagreed with any particular opinion that was expressed in any particular lyric, we would feel the need to speak up. Anyway, it’s not like he’s a proponent of eating live babies or something.

EL: To what extent do you share musical tastes in this band?

RH: Well, our love of The Police, Hendrix, The Who and The Stooges is pretty equal, but the range of bands we like as individuals varies pretty wildly.

EL: I see a lot of musicians at your shows, coming afterwards to ask you ‘how did you do that thing?’ or ‘what’s that bass you play?’ or ‘How do you get that sound?’ Yet you’re not really what people may think of as the traditional ‘muso’ band. You’re VERY loud, the songs are fast, solos are almost non-existent. Why do you think so many musicians follow The King Cheetah?

RH: I think it goes back to the power trio thing. There’s room for each of us to be very distinctive, sonically. We all stop playing the song at the same time, which helps. Pete Townshend once described The Who as ‘musical sensationalism’, and I there’s definitely an element of that about The King Cheetah, and it excites people.

EL: The King Cheetah uses its lyric ‘There’s nothing more beautiful than truth’ as a slogan, do you agree with this sentiment? Are you a truthful person? Do you believe in the integrity of the other two? (I could say that this will be our secret, but then that wouldn’t be very truthful of me since I want to show this interview to the entire world!)

RH: Yes, I agree with it. It may be a lofty ideal these days, but the world would be a lot simpler, although a little harsher to live in, if we all simply told it like it is.

EL: Do you ever change your music to accommodate specifically American understanding, I mean for example;….do Americans understand what is meant by the ‘squaddie’ in ‘Squaddie Meat’?

RH: No.

EL: I asked Simon this question, and I’ll be asking Robert Paul too. Are The King Cheetah an English or an American band?

RH: We’re English, but I don’t think it matters a whole lot. We come at the world from an English perspective, but we’re influenced stylistically by good rock’n’roll from all over the planet. Music transcends borders anyway. Some girl in the Czech Republic might get us just as much as a thirty-something bloke in the heart of Los Angeles or London. The energy is there, it just depends on whether you’re set up to receive it.

Simon HANCOCK

EL: The King Cheetah came to America for the first time in 2000, why did you come, and what made you decide to stay? 

S: Robert Paul had been out here a couple of times beforehand working with Ten Years After and had made some friends in the “music biz.” One of them suggested that we all come out for a vacation and maybe play a couple of shows, so we did. We had such a great time and everyone was so friendly and enthusiastic about the band we thought we should give it a go here. You have to bear in mind that at this time England was dead in the water as far as bands with guitars and drums were concerned and America was full of rock and roll. The weather’s far better too!

EL: How did you meet The Six Inch Killaz?

S: My memory of that is a little hazy as I think Robert Paul encountered them first, but they would come to ‘Kitsch Bitch’ all the time and cause absolute havoc. Kitsch Bitch is something you should talk to him about as he was the instigator of the whole circus.

EL: I believe that you played a show with them in a small English country town, what did the locals make of the two bands?

S: “I heard that they dropped the bomb on Swindon......yeah it did fifteen quid’s worth of damage” (quoting David Brent in 'The Office'). Swindon was that town and that kind of sums it up. It was one the most entertaining evenings I’ve ever had. We had been asked by this local band if we wanted to do a show in this dreadful club called “Level 3" don’t look for it, it’s still there - still shit! They asked if we knew of any other band that would like to come down and play, oh yes we knew a band alright. So we all piled into this little rented Transit van which had previously been used to move a ton of dead fish and headed down the M4. We went on first that night and we were good, although I don’t think the locals quite got us...oh were they in for a surprise...we were only the appetiser! Swindon just isn’t used to seeing boys in dresses, and the local press had written them up as an all girl rock band - so a slack jawed audience looked on in disbelief. I don’t honestly think they had any idea of what was going on, but The Killaz gave it their all as they always did, they truly were the real thing. The highlight of the evening had to be Jasmine’s apology for forgetting her lyrics...“Oh, I’m so sorry for messing the words up, I only came off smack this morning.” I nearly wet myself. The audience headed for the doors in fear and shock. I think they thought whatever we all had might be catching.

EL: You all used to hang out in London at a drag club in Soho called Madame Jo Jo’s I believe. Then you put out your records on a queercore label in LA and frequently play at The Motherlode in Boystown, I take it that you don’t have a problem with gay people then, or are you a gay band? Some of the lyrics are rather ambivalent. 

S: Gay people...straight people.... What's the difference? We all laugh, cry and fall in love...and have our hearts broken, hopefully not too often.. I really don’t ever think of things being separated like that. Are we a gay band?...does it matter? 

EL: The King Cheetah has something of a reputation for seriousness, but when I’m with you guys all you talk about are English comedians like Steve Coogan and Eddie Izzard; Are these English traits? To be so intense about music yet so serious about comedy? When I think about The King Cheetah I either picture you rocking the house to destruction or laughing all the way to the show like a gang of children. Which is the real TKC? 

S: We’re both. There’s a lot more to us than what first meets the eye. I think people are often intimidated by us because we are so serious about our music and we've got thet retirning English thing going on, but when we hit the stage there’s no holding back, everything is in the firing line, but you have to have a sense of humour about life, and the English have that by the bucket load. Sometimes we beat the living daylights out of our instruments and sometimes we’re laughing about Alan Partridge. We’re all fans of English comedy. I suppose that makes us a giggling gang of destruction.

EL: I notice that musicians of the same instrument frequently share similar qualities. By this I mean that guitarists seem to have certain things in common as do keyboard players, singers e.t.c. What are the strongest traits of drummers do you think, and what makes someone a good or even a great drummer? 

S: Drummers have to have a sense of humour to deal with all the drummer jokes that get chucked at them by our fellow musicians, but I have very rarely met an angry drummer, I guess that all the hitting gets out any aggression. As far as what makes a drummer great, it would have to be listening, and the musicians he/she surrounds themselves with. If you play with good musicians, and if you listen you become a good musician.

EL: Many other bands seem to change their lineup all the time, but you and Robert Paul have played together for 10 years now, what is the secret to that longevity? Have you changed much as musicians since you must have changed a lot as people? 

S: The only reason bands have all these line up changes is because they can’t get on. Robert Paul and I met in a dingy basement rehearsal room in London. I had answered an ad.....me and two hundred others.....from the first moment it was musical love and recognising what we'd found we began our quest for the perfect bass player.....who turned out to be a drummer! There is no secret to our longevity it’s simply the fact that it works perfectly. It was either fate or blind luck that bought us together and I’m thankful for that everyday. The beautiful part of it all is that we have indeed changed as musicians. We’ve grown into our own style together, thats why the band sounds so good. There's often a sixth sense floating around the room when we play. We’ve come a very very long way from that basement jam together. 

EL: I’ve heard other people compare the band to so many widely differing musical groups, from Robin Trower (laughs), to Nirvana to Gang of Four. I believe that Morrissey said that you reminded him of The Jam; Who do you think you resemble, if anyone? 

S: We resemble The King Cheetah. Yes there are influences, and we get so many different opinions on who we sound like, but thats just because our combined influences are so broad. We’re not one of those bands that like one other band so much that they just become a carbon copy of them. It really shows a lack of courage and imagination. Every musician has an influence, show me one without and there’s someone who's never written a note. It’s just that it’s important to widen your perspective. We just play the music we want to play, we make no excuse for that. 

EL: You’ve relocated from London to Los Angeles. Do you prefer life in America to life in England? How do the two compare? 

S: America is very open, you always feel here that the possibilites are endless. Californians, (and by that I mean anyone who moved here) are very friendly and supportive of art. It’s cool that you play in a band, paint, make movies whatever. They’re always willing to help out. England is just very comfortable (except the weather), the area that I’m from is beautiful and has a very slow pace of life. Which I do enjoy from time to time. They are both so very different, yet the more time I spend in America I realise how similar they both are. I enjoy them both equally. 

EL: Honestly, what do you think when you listen to your own first LP (which I WORSHIP as GREAT ART by the way)? Do you like it? Are there things that you would do differently? Or perhaps make the others do differently? (laughs) 

S: I feel excited, it makes me proud that the three of us put out such a great sounding first record. At the risk of banging my own drumkit, I’m proud of the intro, just for the fact that I had no idea of how it would turn out....the tape was rolling and I just hit the things! 

EL: Your song ‘5th of 10’ was inspired by the Iraq war, ‘Thou shallt not kill’ being the 5th commandment. British troops have strongly supported the American ones, how do you feel about that as an Englishman? And I’ve already asked you if the band is gay, now may I ask if you’re christian since you’re now referencing the bible? 

S: I’m sad that England followed into this farce and I’m sad that one idiot made America start it. War is never an answer. Even for the “winning” side it ends badly. I have seen the traumatising psychological after-effects for myself with my grandfather who was in the SAS in world war 2, and this was some fifty years after the war had ended. How can a man just switch off all memory and feeling of being forced to kill and witness death? The reference to the bible is because it’s these God-botherers that are causing all the trouble. They obviously don’t follow the Bible too closely. 

EL: Has being in LA made you feel less English? Are The King Cheetah an English band or now an American one? 

S: I feel more English, I stand out like a sore thumb! I see The King Cheetah as world band. Yes we are English and we’re never going to escape that but we’re never going to sound like an American band. 

EL: Robert Paul has been quoted as saying that he hates record labels, obviously I can’t ask you to answer for HIM, but how do YOU feel about the big record companies? Are they going the way of the dinosaurs or do you dream of that big deal to make all your dreams come true? And if they are on the way out how are The King Cheetah going to get your music to people (other than by this writer doing everything in his power to tell the world that there is important 21st Century art going on right here right now)? 

S: How about a huge bank loan that you can’t afford but have to pay back by the end of next week! You may as well take that, as that’s all it is really. It’s funny but I guess as a kid watching Top of the Pops on the BBC, I always thought how great it would be to sign the big record deal with your band and do all that. But now I would run screaming, there’s absolutely no point. The big record companies have already gone to dinosour heaven. These days you can do everything yourself without the interference of some guy always asking you to make it “radio-friendly”. Now you can record your music exactly as you want to in your bedroom if you wish. The internet has opened the whole world up for everyone to share! The King Cheetah have a plan, but I’m not going to tell you what it is...you’ll find out soon enough. 

EL: Talking with Robert Paul I am often struck that almost every one of his heroes was a miserable failure in their lifetime? Doesn’t that worry you? 

S: Yes!

Robert Paul Maune