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Wildhearts' Ginger |
Wildheart: love on the Rocks
PREVIEW - CAMDEN ROCKS
Underworld/Monarch/Barfly/Prince of Wales
WE’VE worn our feet out crawling round Camden and there’s months to go until the BBC Electric Proms, so there’s good news for the lazy ones who can’t bring themselves to leave NW1 – Camden Rocks is here and it’s right on our doorstep.
With a line-up including ex-Libertines Pete Doherty and Carl Barat, Ginger from The Wildhearts, Haunts, Rosie Oddie, The Paddingtons and New York Fund, next Saturday’s (June 6) one-day festival plays out across four venues: The Underworld, The Monarch, The Barfly and The Prince of Wales.
So what’s the difference between this and the Crawl? While it still carries that indie flavour, the emphasis is on rock, many of the acts have been picked in collaboration with Kerrang! magazine, and it’s in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust.
Headliner Ginger said: “Something like this introduces people to rock music they might not even have heard before. It’s great, there’s a lot of talent. The rock movement started in England. The States have always been the best at making rock icons, but we’re the best at making rock bands.”
But is there room for rock with all this cutting edge indie-electro music the Camden kids seem to love? “It’s like saying do you think there’s room for ice cream,” says Ginger. “Rock music’s established. It ain’t going anywhere. Trends come and go. The tickets that still sell out most are still Metallica and AC/DC.”
Ginger now lives in New York, but he knows Camden well, although in some ways it symbolises his lost days.
He said: “I spent most of my life in north London, most of it I can’t remember. My lunch used to consist of alcohol. For breakfast I used to go visit my drug dealer. It was a very dark time of my life. Most of the crazy things that ever happened to the band happened in Camden. On my deathbed at the age of 150, Camden will always be the craziest place I’ve ever played.
“The first gig the Wildhearts did was in Camden. We got barred from the Bull and Gate for being way too loud. We were fired one date into a tour with a guitar player from Guns ’n’ Roses because we were better, so we picketed his show at The Forum.”
Ginger’s still with The Wildhearts, but he’s got several side projects. His solo work has a more country feel and he admits to being a fan of Abba – so although the Wildhearts are candid about their hard living days he’s not as rock and roll as he used to be.
“I enjoy hanging out with my three kids,” says Ginger. “I just like to bask in their perfection.”
And what of The Wildhearts? “We’ve just finished our new album. It’s very good, the best-sounding record we’ve ever made and we’re touring in September. We’ve been around for so long, there’s an amount of telepathy but we still squabble like kids – it’s like a marriage.”
WIN TICKETS TO THE ROCKS |
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