How and
when did you form and who
influenced you?
We started Graveyard
Johnnys in October
2007 for a one-off Halloween gig
in our local, word got around
that it was a good night and we
started to get more gigs. Things
just carried on from there
really.
What's the
guitarist situation now? Is Broughton
from Rock-It Dogs
/ Coffin Nails a
permanent member now?
He's always been a stand-in for
us since the very first tour but
he's not ours full-time. He's a
busy boy. Plus he's just been
diagnosed with RSI in his
wrist from cracking himself off
to Cathy Barry films too much.
We're using three different lads
on guitar at the moment just
filling in as and when they can.
We're open to having a full-time
third member definitely but
we're not gonna rush into it
this time.
What
happened to Liam and
Jimmy?
Liam doesn't really
enjoy being away from home too
long, he's a great musician and
a good friend but once we
started playing twice or three
times a week and going on long
tours you could tell he wasn't
completely happy so we all
decided it'd be best to get
someone else in. Jimmy
jumped into Liam's
shoes straight away. We had just
signed a record deal and
a publishing deal, there was
dates booked all around Europe,
he couldn't believe his luck.
However he was on a different
page to us, musically and just
in general. We found ourselves
still rehearsing the same
songs with him after being in
the band a year and still not
playing them right. We rushed
into having Jimmy in
the band and it was a mistake. I
feel sorry for him that he got
mixed up with us, it definitely
wasn't right from the start, we
had some good times though, I'm
sure he enjoyed some of it and
so did we.
It's been
over three years since your
first CD, the mini-album
Streetblocks and City Lights,
when's the new album out?
It's looking like the end of
November, we've only really
got started on writing and
recording it in the past few
months even though the gap
between this record and that
first EP is so large. All our
time previously was just taken
up with gigs and sorting other
shit out. It feels good to
finally get stuck into some new
stuff.
What label
is it on and how did you get the
deal?
The album comes out on the
German label Wolverine
Records. In 2008 we signed
with a different German label
but after a while we weren't
really happy with how things we
going with them and decided to
walk out. There was no hard
feelings it just wasn't right
for us. Word got around as it
does and a couple of labels
showed interest. We decided to
work out a deal with
Wolverine simply because
they're one of the hardest
working labels in the world.
We're really proud to be a part
of it and things have worked out
great. Some things definitely
happen for a reason.
How well
did/does
Streetblocks
& City Lights
sell?
We were blown away with how well
it sold, especially because
there was NO promotion
whatsoever for it. We literally
got it pressed, sent it to one
magazine for a review and then
to three radio DJs and managed
to sell out 2000 copies. We
thought they were gonna last us
a lot longer than they did. We
soon blew all the money on
expensive chicken burgers and
lapdancers, maybe we'll be a bit
more careful with the funds from
the next one. The downloads
still sell on iTunes
and Amazon etc but
there's been talks of
re-releasing it properly in the
future as a collector vinyl with
bonus tracks etc. There's
definitely a few ideas.
Were you
happy with the sound on it?
Yeah it was pretty beefy, it was
recorded entirely live as well
apart from lead guitar overdubs
so the producer definitely did a
good job. We didn't really have
a vision of how we wanted to
sound at the time either so we
just sort of let him loose.
Where's the
best place you have played in UK
or in Europe?
There's been loadsa good places.
Sometimes the worst venues get
the best atmosphere and it works
the other way around too. You
can never tell how it's going to
go until you get up there on
stage and start smashing it. The
general rule seems to be that if
the sound engineer knows what
he's doing then the gig is going
to be good. It's good to play to
people who don't know what to
expect too. We get a buzz out of
kicking the fuck into everything
and playing as hard as we can
and some people find that really
strange.
Any
funny on the road stories to
tell us?
Our mate Divers is
always worth a laugh, for a
while he was doing merch for us,
he was fucking useless at
selling t-shirts coz he was
always too pissed to talk but he
is such a laugh to have around.
The first time we went to
Finland for a few gigs we had a
day off in-between the gigs and
naturally we all spent it on the
piss, well Divers
actually did drink some piss
that day but that's another
story! Anyway, we were all drunk
as hell so we went back to the
Hotel for an afternoon snooze.
Divers woke up around
8pm and was convinced it was 8am
so he headed downstairs looking
like death covered in liquorice
booze and piss and was demanding
breakfast with the staff of this
unusually posh hotel. They
insisted he eat from the evening
menu and he couldn't understand
why. "What's the matter with you
people!? I just want a bloody
sausage!" They asked him to
leave anyway and he came back to
the room ranting, it was only
when we told him it was
night-time that he sat down,
sparked another Karhu and had a
laugh about it! The poor staff
and guests probably thought we
were some typical, pisshead
idiot Brits on tour. They were
definitely right! There's so
many stories from that trip.
Tom was on top form too,
you'll have to ask him about it.
What does
the future hold for
Graveyard Johnnys
and any chance of you playing
North Wales in the future?
Well we're gonna get this
album done and dusted and pretty
much go on tour then for the
rest of the year, we might make
some more music videos and a
DVD, we might re-release the
first EP, we might start work on
the next album, we might someday
be able to get a new van, who
knows. We're just gonna have fun
with it while it lasts. It'd
be good to come to North Wales
one day yeah, we're near there
soon I think in a town called
Helsby, you should come John,
the Milkybars are on me.
