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Metro Riots - Danny Fury
Article written by
Ged M - Jan 11, 2005
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Metro Riots are a young South London band who, with Ludes, Special Needs and one or two others are putting passion, fashion and fun back into rock’n’roll and are shaping up to be one of the big noises of 2005. They have released one three-track EP, ‘And So….The Tyrants Were Loose’, on Genepool Records (http://www.genepoolrecords.com). Now, they’re working even harder on gigs and recordings for release in 2005. The band is a favourite of John Kennedy on XfM’s excellent ‘Exposure’ show and have a download of their session for him available from their siteathttp://www.metroriots.com/interest.htm. We spoke to their guitarist and fanatical music fan Danny Fury in January 2005.
SXP: Who’s in the band and how did you get together?
Danny: Damo (one name…like Cher) is our singer, Danny Fury - guitar, Oliver Parker - drums, Sam Ray - bass. It all started with me and Damo just wanting to be in a band more than anything. Without wanting to bore you with my ‘Uncle Albert “in the war….”’ routine, me and Damo left school at 15 and just LOVED the idea of making our own music. We always had a musical background, being massive fans of The Velvet Underground and Bowie and since we had no qualifications, it was sort of imperative that we did. We started working in this newspaper factory which was boring as hell, partly because the newspapers were Japanese so you couldn’t duck off for five minutes to have a sly flick through Razzle or other great British publications. Oliver and Sam started part time work and it was mine and Damo’s job to teach the pups a thing or two about labelling and shipping papers; with our help they became the best. We had a stereo in the corner that used to blare out blues music all night, really loud and this Blind Willie McTell tape was on. Sam was pretty silent but Oliver was a big fan of old blues music, he started interrogating us and we hit it off straight away. The next night, Sam, without saying a word came into work with an acoustic guitar, sat down and started to play ‘Mannish Boy’; all the while he’s looking over at me and Damo, kind of musical flirting. The next week we were in a studio in Bermondsey, no band name, no idea, just a handful of Sabbath and Zeppelin songs to cover.
SXP: When and why did you change your name from The Base?
Danny: Initially, The Base was picked as a kind of working title. Next thing we know: “do you wanna do a few shows at my club?” from some shady bad-breathed promoter. It was important for us to be taken seriously but, where everything was rushed, we just got a little complacent, wrote a few slow singalongs and thought we had time to develop. I always hated the name, and thought I would share it with the band; when I did, I found they all agreed and so we went away, wrote five names each and picked one the next day. So with a good band name, we thought we would get some half decent songs.
SXP: Having first seen you at the Paradise Bar in New Cross, what does it feel to be part of the South London music scene? And does it still exist?
Danny: When we first started, the South London scene that we knew of consisted of ‘lads’, real Loaded readers, getting as out of it as they could on funny looking pills off even funnier looking gentlemen, then getting up on stage to play David Gray and Chilli Pepper covers badly, if you can imagine that. It started changing for us when we became very close with the Ludes and saw there were some bloody amazing bands doing the circuit. We went around gigging everywhere we could - north, south, east and west and met a band who were very influential to our sound called White Man Kamikaze. To this day, I credit them with the direction we took. When we returned to South London, we had our sound nailed down tight. Really fuzzed up blues music.
We met with Cathy, Davey Mulks and Wayne who run Pop Of The Tops and realized they were THE nicest, most genuine music fans and we wanted to gig for them. Along with Tim Perry who runs the Windmill in Brixton, Cathy, Mulks and Wayne are real fans of live music and we couldn’t have cared less if they promoted a gig on the Isle of Sheppey, just so long as we got to play in a nice atmosphere to good people. I wasn’t really aware if any of the bands who played these places were native to South London so when there was a thing saying ‘SOUTH LONDON SCENE’ I was kind of…‘oh, I didn’t know that them lot came from South’. My idea of the scene is it isn’t just the bands but the aforementioned promoters who should get the credit for it. It really is good promoters that the music business lacks, some are just plain greedy. They should take a leaf out of the book of Tim, Cathy, Mulks, Wayne and another bunch that have been so helpful to us - Louise, Alison and Rosie who run Rock Against Racism.
SXP: More widely, do you feel any affinity with the post-Libertines bands that have sprung up under that spurious “London’s Burning” banner?
Danny: We’ve never had the know-how or funds to have ever moved in them circles. For instance, there could be one of the bands playing the Death Disco and while we would have loved the opportunity to go and network our arses off to try and gig within their musical community, we just couldn’t afford it! All we have money for is rehearsals, guitar strings and travel to gigs. We have played with some of the London’s Burning bands and they have always been really nice to us but I suppose I’m glad that we weren’t included because we are very ambitious and want to become a lot more than a strictly London band. My only gripe is that they didn’t do their homework enough to add the bands that are really ripping it up in London at the moment. Bands like Special Needs, Ludes, Crash Convention and I wish I could say White Man Kamikaze but they’re no longer together.
SXP: What (music, films, books) inspires the Metro Riots?
Danny: Blues, blues, blues! You can slap on as much black lipstick, add as much distortion and sing about sacrificing virgin goats all you want but you cannot get more down, dirty and evil than Leadbelly’s voice! Although one of the greatest bands to us is Led Zeppelin. Boy, do we love the Zep! Sometimes I think that if Zeppelin had a more punk ethic, for example the 210 hour solos with a violin bow…..out the window!.....sometimes I think they would sound like Metro Riots. I like to think that anyway. As for films, there is nothing better than the role that Daniel Day Lewis played in Gangs Of New York, ‘Bill the Butcher’. I could’ve had that damn role! I bore the band silly with impersonations of him. The most influential film on a few of us in the Riots though would have to be Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. Depp is a genius. The greatest books have to be rock biogs, one in particular is a book called ‘Please Kill Me’ by Legs McNeil. It’s an oral history by the ORIGINAL punk groups themselves charting the rise of the Velvet Underground to the fall of Johnny Thunders. Couldn’t put it down.
SXP: If the Metro Riots could play a gig with anyone (dead or alive), what would the ideal line-up of bands be?
Danny: There would be the obvious choices like Zeppelin, Hendrix or Blind Willie McTell but I speak for everyone in the band when I say I would love to play with bands like White Stripes and The Black Keys. Love ‘em both. Saying that, it’s pretty much a dream come true every time we hook up with Crash Convention, Special Needs or Ludes because you hear the sound of a timeless band in their early stages. A bit slushy and sweet, I know but it’s always a great night guaranteed…..if Zeppelin are busy.
SXP: In your photos, the band has some great facial hair and looks pretty smart. Is image important to the band?
Danny: Definitely. Like I say, we’re very ambitious and want it all, so we live, breathe and wear our band. If I was around when The Stones started, I would’ve gone to a gig, seen Keith and just fainted because he looked so good. It’s important to be influential sonically and visually because then the group becomes more than a band, they become a lifestyle.
SXP: Are you pleased with the way that the ‘And So…The Tyrants Were Loose’ EP turned out? And are you happy with the reaction to it? – John Kennedy seems to be strongly behind you.
Danny: Firstly, enormous love and appreciation must be given to John Kennedy, a real music fan and a lovely bloke. Now, when we recorded our EP it was basically our old manager saying, “people dig you, now record something”. Pretty easy we thought, the trouble was it was decided upon by the manager, recorded and released in the space of a few days. One of the songs wasn’t even in the set anymore, but because we were so rushed we had to stick it on there from a previous demo. We are our own biggest critics so were papping ourselves. I loved how ‘Lured Into Roulette’ turned out but basically thought we would be branded garage rock, 2002 wannabe tripe. John Kennedy loved it though! It was then that I had another listen and thought ‘well it is pretty good’. Saying that, I really can’t wait to give him some new recordings because they really will be amazing.
SXP: What have we got to look forward to from the Metro Riots in 2005?
Danny: We have just been snapped up by Roger Sargent and David Standen who are managing us now. They really have so much planned like tours with big bands, more recording, etc. Where they are such heavyweights in the industry, people are starting to sit up and take notice, it’s a very exciting time for us. Roger and David also have just given us so much confidence to develop so along with touring and recording we’ll be rehearsing some new material. We also have a gig at The Coronet, Elephant and Castle with, I think, Razorlight for them lovely folks at Rock Against Racism sometime in March and if it’s anything like the last, promises to be fantastic. I know we are releasing a single very soon through Rough Trade. Roger brought James Endeacott to see us when we played Goldsmiths and he loved it immensely. Apart from that, we look forward to not having to worry where the next pouch of Golden Virginia is coming from!
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