|
the Telescopes - A View Through The Wrong End
Stacy Prestien encounters the somewhat grim experience of the lipless,
faceless and astonishingly arrogant Telescopes. Altered images by
Warren Powell, under duress.
Squeezed into a cramped, sweaty 4x4 of a dressing room with 81 other
people that seem to have absolutely no other purpose but to annoy you,
(this includes the documentary crew - do us a favour with that camera
please!), we are here to interview the Telescopes. Needless to say, the
band are restless. An afternoon of interviews behind them, a sold-out
performance awaiting them, it's a one member at a time interview whoever
happens to be in the room and closest to the recorder. Steve is the
first one to speak, telling me of the true love of his life (could it be
himself?) and a few scandalous rumours about the other person he would
most like to be - Bobby Gillespie - you know the one, the one 'Bobby
Gillespie's Hair' got their name from, the one that's in that Primal
Scream band and the one who throws the worst parties ever.
Must be pretty hard to admit that Bob's more your idol than Jim is
(that's Jim Reid of course), as your presence on stage seems more geared
to the latter.
"I really don't idolise either of them. I don't model myself after them
or anyone for that matter. We don't believe in getting drunk before
going on stage. It's hard enough to concentrate, let alone trying to do
it while you're pissed. Anyway, I dance better than Bobby."
Well, just about anyone does. Do you enjoy being spat on during your
show?
"What do you think? Being slimed on by someone else's throat scum? Piss
off. I wish arseholes like that would do the world a favour and throw
themselves off a giant cliff! If people don't like the show, they can
leave! Why ruin it for the ones that want to be there? I won't play in
front of people who are so disrespectful.
Fuck 'em!"
Why not just laugh it off and continue the show for the people who want
to stay?
"It isn't funny. It interrupts the whole show anyway and those arseholes
should be dealt with. Stopping the show embarrasses them and hopefully
the rest of the audience will react"
And what, start a riot? Another (early) Reid-like way.
"We're not into repeating history in attitudes, music, or in anything we
do."
Changing the subject to something lighter, like children's television
programmes, Thomas the Tank Engine gets a big No, while Steve believes
he can still get off on the Flowerpot Men. Dave, the somewhat solemn
guitarist, leaves the room with a rather disturbed look on his face.
"This interview is going nowhere" he comments.
Is it just me or are guitarists lacking humour these days? The idea of
taking heavy fuzzy guitar sounds as something seriously new is beyond
me.
"We've never been ourselves in interviews," states Steve. "You've
caught us how we actually are. Don't you think that you got some
interesting stuff off us? If not, just make something up. The papers are
full of bullshit anyway."
Jo materialises in the room and is scratched off the missing persons
list. She anxiously looks out the window. Biting her nails, she mumbles
something about the show being sold out. Does she still get nervous
before going onstage?
"Yes, that's why I'm on my way to the toilet"
I guess the dressing room was just a pitstop. Nice taking you too.
Feeling our bedevilled stares on her back, she returns around.
"Oh, I'm sorry, that's not very social of me," she says sincerely. This
takes me by surprise, my eyes warm up. Maybe Jo isn't the pretentious
little twerp I first thought she was. Maybe she can play guitar. Maybe
she is shy of audiences. Maybe that's why her amp sees more of her front
side than the rest of us do. She has been playing the guitar for over
six years now and comes from quite a Rock 'n' Roll-supportive family.
Her parents favourite band at the moment, well, second from the
Telescopes, are the Cramps. Pretty cool, huh?
Does she get annoyed with daft questions about being the only girl in
the band and why she is not the front person like other tacky one girl
bands, like Transvision Vamp? "That extremely pisses me off. That's like
the only question that dick journalists ever ask me. 'How does it feel
to be the only girl in the band?' Why can't people see me as just
another person in the band? There is no reason to separate me out
because of my sex. We're all just friends that happen to have the same
interest in music. That's how the band was formed." (Sounds familiar,
the standard 'indie' response). She pauses for a minute to look around
the room for her misplaced bag, finding it under some girl eating a
potato. She continues. "I'm also sick of explaining why I'm not the
front person of the band since I'm the only girl. People's minds still
need to open up a bit."
So how does she feel about the lack of female presence in bands?
"There is definitely a lack of girls in bands. More girls should join
bands and not just as a singer." (Alright Jill, you've proved your
point!!!) "Learn how to play the guitar or bass or something for Christ
sake. It's not that difficult"
We let Jo make her way to the loos. The dressing room has thinned out a
bit. The rest of the Telescopes and their camera crew have disappeared
towards the stage. It's time to leave this overly-crowded sweat box for
even a larger one. Now there are over 800 students to annoy us. Fun!
The Telescopes were expecting to release their already-recorded EP
sometime in May but since their record company, 'What Goes On,' is
changing their name to 'What Goes Down,' it'll more likely be delayed.
Nevertheless, the recent signing to Creation holds promise of a
continuing future.
Originally appeared in LIme Lizard Issue 5 (April?) 1990. Copyright © Lime Lizard.
Back
|
|
