This May CONTINENTAL LOVERS, SUICIDE BOMBERS and TRENCH DOGS warm up for their CALL OF THE WILD FESTIVAL appearances with a triple bill that will blow away anything you will see this year. It’s like venturing back to the glorious line-ups of the 80’s when The Dogs D’Amour and Hanoi Rocks, remnants of the New York Dolls and The Quireboys were all on the prowl. If you miss this one you’ll be kicking yourself into next year… We caught up with Ben and Joe to talk all about the Tour, Call of the wild, influences, new music, Nottingham Pubs and so much more…
The opening to this interview might sound like a bit of idle chat and it is of course, but read and you’ll see how it’s all connected… Beer, pubs, Nottingham and Stevie Jaimz are of course all essential elements in Rock and Roll…
MARK: Thank you both for talking to The Rockpit today. Chris from Suicide Bombers put me onto you. I’ve been talking to Chris for a few years now and love his work, I guess these days of the internet it takes a Norwegian to put you onto a great band from your own hometown.
JOE: Where were you from?
MARK: Well I lived in Nottingham for years before I escaped Downunder but prior to that I lived just down the road from where Call of the Wild is that I see you’re playing this year.
BEN: Where were you from in Nottingham? We’re all from Nottingham.
MARK: I lived just down Mansfield Road City end, I always do locations by pubs, so just down from The Lincolnshire Poacher, which I think is still there.
BEN: Whereabouts is that Joe?
JOE: Not as far as Kerry lives, just the Town end before it gets to The Forest.
MARK: Great days too, I used to live in Rock City practically.
JOE: Small world.
MARK: It’s a small world with a sticky floor. All the smaller with Zoom and the Internet!
BEN: (Laughs) When were you there?
MARK: When I was at Uni in the mid 80’s to the start of the 90’s really.
BEN: And there’s still some people you’d recognise floating around, I think!
JOE: (laughs)
MARK: (laughs)
BEN: Joe knows what I mean!
MARK: As long as they’re still out there supporting local live music!
BEN: Like any town I guess, some people move on, and other people stay and end up doing the same thing.
JOE: (laughing)
MARK: Every City has them. I’d probably still be down Rock City and the Tap if I was still there. Last time I was back was around ten years ago. I went into my old local and the landlord starts pulling a pint, puts it down in front of me and I’m freaking out a bit. I’ve not seen him for ten years, he did my ‘going away’ do 30 years ago and now he’s just served me what I used to drink when I was a regular.
BEN: Good memory that.
MARK: Well, he did get the beer right.
BEN: Did he only have one on or something?
MARK: (Laughs)
JOE: (Laughs)
MARK: Now that would have been far less impressive (Laughs)
MARK: After that wonderful introduction we better get stuck into the interview. Let’s start at the beginning, which of course might not be the start of things musically for you. Tell us about the Continental Lovers? How long have you been together?
JOE: About three years now as a band. And the current line-up has been around about a year – 31st March last year was the first gig as this four piece line-up. But various iterations of the band have been around three years, it started like as a solo bedroom project for me, but through peer pressure it became a band really. I’d say with the iteration we have now it’s been about a year, but me, Ben and Kerry have been playing together about two and a half years.
BEN: Yeah, two and a half, my first appearance with the band was October 2022.
JOE: Yeah, supporting Stevie Jaimz
BEN: Yeah, that was the one.
MARK: One of those guys from my day who’s still hanging around…
BEN: (Laughs)
JOE: (Laughs)
MARK: I remember seeing him with Tigertailz more than a few times.
MARK: The band has a wonderful sound, though of course I’ve only heard the singles – and that I think suits you, though I will of course order a copy of the album which I think collects the singles?
JOE: Pretty much, yeah. I resisted in putting an album out, I wanted us to be like T-Rex and just put out singles, but we got a label interested in putting out an album for us. So we compiled it all and put a few extra songs on and that’s sort of wraps it up in a nice little bow really for what we’ve done in the first 18 months. But we’re now working on new material for what will probably be an album I’m guessing.
BEN: I think Joe hit it on the head, it sort of draws a line under that material and draws it all together – where you can listen to these 13 great songs. It’s sort of paved the way for us to work on some new bits and see what happens. To me it’s ‘all killer no filler’ Rock and Roll you know.
JOE: (Laughs)
MARK: I hear lots of things that I love in the mix, but it’s got a very English twist though I hear things like New York Dolls, it’s a nice mix, very upbeat too. You describe yourself on your website as Glam Punk, but there’s a bit more to it than that.
BEN: Well it is like a melting pot of influences isn’t it. I guess we do go by that label and we all like the same stuff but there’s other influences we have individually. So when we work on a song it has everyone’s individual touch on it. And that makes it sound original and a lot of fun. We’re influenced by all your 70’s Glam Rockers and whatnot, Punk Music, some of us like Hard Rock and we’re all massive fans of Cheap Trick and bands like that. But what I think brings it all together is that everyone likes a massive sing-along tune. And that’s what I love about the album, everything’s got a hook – you can sing along to every chorus and that surely is what it’s all about – a song is there to be sung, surely.
JOE: I’d say from a songwriting perspective I’m all about The Heartbreakers: Johnny Thunders Heartbreakers and Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers – that’s how I think when I write anyway.
MARK: You definitely get that New York Dolls vibe in there and I’m old enough to have seen Johnny a few times. The main reason I wanted to talk to you today though is the Tour – it’s just the sort of package that would get me to travel halfway around the world with a bit more notice! I’ve just been introduced to your music, but I love Trench Dogs and Suicide Bombers. How did the tour come about, how did you put this all together?
JOE: Suicide Bombers I’ll be honest are quite a new band for us, we didn’t really know a lot about them until this tour got put together. We know Trench Dogs and we love those guys – their last record was great. But it all came about through our manager. We we’re meant to be touring with Andy McCoy last year – we had a ten-day tour booked with Andy – tickets were selling fantastic and then about two months out he decided he wasn’t going to come.
MARK: That’s very Andy.
JOE: Very typical Andy McCoy. And we were gutted because we absolutely love Andy and it would have been amazing. So this is almost like a bit of a replacement for that in a way. It has the same kind of vibe, the same sort of feel to it – I think our manager wanted to get us out playing the same sort of venues we would have done with McCoy really. So, we thought rather than find another legacy act we could find a couple of bands that haven’t perhaps been to the UK too much. Trench Dogs have been a couple of times and played a few shows, Suicide Bombers have never been. So, it’s three bands that are kind of different but who share some similar influences. It’s a great package really.
MARK: Let’s hope it gets the support because for me it’s a fantastic line up.
BEN: Oh it is, obviously I love our music and what we do but Trench Dogs have been on my radar for years and I know I can speak for our bass player Kerry too, who I think has a good rapport with Andy – their two albums are absolutely fantastic – they are great songs. And great guys. And all three bands go so well together. Like Joe I’m knew to Suicide Bombers but I’ve been talking to Chris who is a great guy. I was talking to him about bean earlier. One of my favourite dishes is a good baked bean dish. And he approves of that baked bean dish.
MARK: (Laughs)
JOE: And with out limited budget we’ll be on the beans every night!
BEN: So now that I’ve told him this – that’s all Chris is going to eat on this tour – he’s only allowed beans. (Chris if you are reading this skip ahead NOW!) If I catch him eating anything else he’s going to get slapped! (Laughs)
JOE: (Laughs)
MARK: I will ask him about beans when I talk to him on Thursday… or maybe I’ll keep it a secret…
BEN: (Laughs) You can tell him about the beans, just don’t tell him I’m going to slap him if he eats anything else.
MARK: Maybe check his bags and pockets for fårikål when he arrives… (a hearty lamb and cabbage-based stew that is often cited as the national dish of Norway) I will leave it as a surprise.
JOE: (Laughs)
BEN: (Laughs)
MARK: Any new songs you’ll be playing on the tour?
BEN:
JOE: Yeah, we’ve got a few new songs that we’re recording at the start of May, so there will be two brand new songs in the set, possibly three. We’re recording some bits and pieces so there will be something no one will have heard, that we’re really excited about. It sounds like us obviously, big hooks, lots of melodies, it’s just great o be working on new material. We’ve been touring the album material for pretty much a year now, and like every band by the time the album comes out you’re almost sick of it because you’ve been sat with it so long. I mean we recorded some of that album 18 months before it came out so we will have new stuff that will hopefully be available at least to stream before the tour.
MARK: Sounds great.
BEN: The new songs we’ve been working on for the past month or so and I love them, everyone has contributed to the structure or brought something to the table rather than just rock up with a song and say “Here play this” so that’s been great that everyone’s had an input. And we’ve written the final structures together from a bare bones idea. Last year we played how many gid was it 40 Joe?
JOE: Yeah 40ish. Which is good for a band at our level to play that many gigs.
BEN: So we’ve played the album songs almost every week, so it’s great to be deciding what we want to play of the new songs, where we put them in the set – the creative force seems to be flowing quite well at the moment. Everyone has ideas, it’s going really well so it’s all very exciting for us.
JOE: Not that we won’t be playing the songs from the album of course that people love.
MARK: And if a new one goes down badly it’s great to road test…
JOE: Nothing goes down badly! But if it does, we never mention it again! (Laughs)
MARK: What’s the scene like back home at the minute? It seems pretty strong so many Festivals playing Rock music, so many tours it’s almost, dare I say it, like the late 80’s again?
BEN: I think there’s a good strong amount of dedicated venues in the U.K. that really want to put on bands at our level, and there’s an incredible fans base as well for this type of music. There’s plenty of people who like the sort of music we play and who are influenced by similar things really. So there’s a lot of small bands and people who enjoy bands like New York Dolls, Dogs D’Amour, Hanoi Rocks, you name it, anything Glam and anything Punk. So, the people who loved those bands 30 years ago are still keen to see a band who are doing it now. We’ve got a lot of support and we’re over the moon with that. It’s makes you want to deliver the best you can. There’s good promoters, good venues and great support.
MARK: Before we go on Ben, I have to say in all of our 16 years I’ve never had anyone who has mentioned 3 or my 4 favourite bands right up front!
BEN: (Laughs)
MARK: One of the things I love about doing what I do is that you’re lucky enough sometimes to meet the people who make the music you love and about ten years ago I got to meet David and Sylvain from New York Dolls and hang with Sylvain for the afternoon, and it was the best day ever.
JOE: I was just going to add to what Ben said – the scene is good but I don’t think there’s bands doing what we are and bringing over bands like Trench Dogs and Suicide Bombers. SO that’s great and I think because we span the genre’s a little bit we are the sort of band that can play with Punk bands or Hard Rock bands or Legacy bands. But there’s not a lot of bands that play the music that we do.
BEN: Yeah there’s definitely not as band bands playing in our niche but loads that still love it. Because let’s face it they are some of the best bands ever.
MARK: They absolutely are. Rock and Roll was never meant to be sacrosanct, verse chorus – verse chorus and a great solo gets my vote every time! But there’s the global community though now – who’d have thought that in 2025 I’d be introduced to a band from what I consider my hometown by a Norwegian guy!
BEN: (Laughs)
JOE: (Laughs)
MARK: So, let’s ask you the questions we’ve been asking everyone for the last 16 years. The first is “If you could have been a fly on the wall in the studio for the recording or any album in the history of Rock and Roll, what would you have loved to have been there for?”
JOE: I’ll go first – I’ll say ‘Pet Sounds’ by The Beach Boys because I think the creative process was absolutely insane, a mad genius at work. Some of my favourite songs ever are on ‘Pet Sounds’.
MARK: I think over the years you’re probably the youngest person that’s given me that answer but certainly far from the only one. I probably only heard it the first time when I was about 30, because to me the Beach Boys was always my Dad playing the singles. So to hear the album it just takes it to another level.
BEN: I would say ‘Appetite for Destruction’ because for one it’s just a wicked, wicked album and it would have been great to see that be made and see the two guitar parts going down together and see how they did that playing sort of the same but different, that would have been cool. There’s actually some quite weird guitar parts on there that you don’t realise until you start to try to play it and realise it’s pretty mad how they put this together! But because everyone says that I’ll pick another, and the same year Aerosmith released ‘Permanent Vacation’ and Aerosmith are probably my favourite band of all time. ‘Permanent Vacation’ just has this special place in my heart – I got it on CD when I was like 12 and just fell in love with it! There’s some interesting and very cool songs on there. It’s Aerosmith after years of not being at the top and putting something out that was going to bring them back. And it did, and it’s just wicked isn’t it! Those are two of my favourite albums and both from that same year and period. It’s a belter of an album.
MARK: I think we have a lot in common Ben, Aerosmith probably my favourite band and you’ve already named the other three… They were just on another level.
BEN: For me it was that comeback period into the 90’s because they were the albums when I first started playing guitar. Who wouldn’t want to play guitar looking like Joe Perry in those big Hollywood videos! Playing in a weird metal tunnel and the weirdness of Living on the Edge – they were all classics! The visual and musical elements were just amazing. Throughout the 90’s the old guys of Rock were back and just better than everyone!
JOE: I think Ben’s just trying to tell you he likes Aerosmith (Laughs)
BEN: In a roundabout way (Laughs)
MARK: If you saw my Aerosmith collection you’d love it. And that to me is why this triple bill is so essential, Aerosmith aren’t with us anymore so we need to go out and find new music and that’s your job! To keep Rock and Roll alive! Let’s end with an east one…. “What is the meaning of life?”
BEN: … You can go fist Joe…
JOE: OK. I think the meaning of life is to enjoy every sandwich.
MARK: (Smiles) I like that, we’ll leave it at that I don’t think it needs more explanation.
BEN: Bang on. Wise Words. I would absolutely agree.
JOE: Take pleasure in the small things you know, don’t sweat it.
MARK: What a great way to end. All the best for the Tour, enjoy Call of the Wild. It’s been great talking to you. Let’s catch up when the new record is out.
BEN: Sound good. Before we go I do have to say I really like your measure of location. I said where were you from in Nottingham and you didn’t go with directions – you just named the nearest pub. We ‘ll have to measure everything in pubs now!
JOE: (Laughs) On Friday we did a promo for the tour which was basically a pub crawl and we promoted every god by going in a different pub!
MARK: (Laughs) I did see the start of that and was recognising some of the pictures on the walls that have certainly been there since I was last there in the 90’s! Maybe even longer!
JOE: (Laughs) Not a lot changes!
BEN: It was really mental I said to Joe we’d meet up on Friday and we planned to go to a place called 400 Rabbits in Hurts Yard (a local tequila and mezcal bar) and when we got there we decided to take all our fans on a tour of Nottingham’s pub-based artwork…
MARK: A nice bit of culture…
JOE: Some of those pubs we never go in, but it was good fun. It’s nice to come up with creative ways of getting the word out.
BEN: Although my head didn’t fare well the next day! (Laughs) It’s so much better to do things like that than just sit in front of the camera, wasn’t it Joe?
JOE: (Laughs) It was stupid, but it was fun.
MARK: Nice to start in the Sal!
JOE: We had a ‘Sexy Lilt’ in there.
BEN: It was like murky pond water! You could imagine a goldfish surfacing from it, but it tasted nice!
JOE: (Laughs)
MARK: (Laughs) Well take care, great to meet you both and all the best with the tour.
BEN: You too Mark.
JOE: Take it easy dude.