It’s early Friday evening in London’s Camden Town, and while street cafés and pubs are buzzing with folk enjoying the warm and sunny weather, I’m about to experience a very different kind of buzz. Britain’s favourite ragamuffin rock ‘n’ roll band The Quireboys will be playing a much anticipated acoustic gig in the renowned Jazz Café tonight. As if it wasn’t thrills enough, I am about to meet with the band’s charismatic frontman, Spike, for our scheduled interview. More thrills were to come when the friendly PA ushers me upstairs and into the venue’s secluded bar area (what an appropriate interview setting for two barflies!) and introduces me to one of rock’s most charismatic creatures. With his trademark bandana, heavy eyeliner and silver earring, Spike looks every part the charming gypsy rogue we love him for; while his white shirt, pin-stripe jacket and crucifix dangling from his neck stand in intriguing and almost elegant contrast.

He is undoubtedly a star, yet his laid-back attitude gives the impression of a drinking buddy rather than a guy too concerned with his image. With an impish smile on his face, a pint next to him and speaking with a broad Geordie accent, Spike drifts into a relaxed pose to reveal his fascination for acoustic music. Music-News’ Claudia A. is all ears!

Music-News:
Spike, what prompted you/the band to release an acoustic album and to embark on an acoustic tour?

Spike:
Well, I tell you, with the Quireboys we always had a bit of a country edge since we started. The initial idea for this album was to sell more shows for the fans. You know, do something a little bit different, do a few covers; do some old songs in different versions… so it just snow balled from then on. Plus, you get to a certain age were you’re allowed to sing country. A lot of my friends from Atlanta and Nashville, you know, ten years ago they would say, “You’re too young to do a country album. You don’t know what life is about.” But now I’m old enough and wise enough. (Grins)

MN:
How have fans reacted to ‘Halfpenny Dancer’ as well as the shows so far?

Spike:
Absolutely brilliant to both! Everywhere we played so far and I mean we’ve only done about two or three shows, the reaction was brilliant. And we got a full band today. We got a violin player, we got a pedal steel guitar, we got a sax and a banjo and more – there will be nine of us on stage tonight!

MN:
How did the band decide which of the older songs should get an acoustic makeover and also, how were the cover versions decided?

Spike:
Well, obviously one cover version we’ve done is the UFO song ‘Love To Love’. Phil (Mogg) is part of my family. He was also my first manager. I love him to death, and Nigel (former Quireboys bassist), we’re still very good friends. On the covers that we’ve done, I wanted to play some songs acoustically first by myself. I just put them down to see if everything would work. I didn’t tell the band I was going to do ‘Love To Love’ because I knew that Griff (Guy Griffin) would go “What you’re doing that for!” But when I played the songs and let everybody hear how it sounds singing them, then everybody was blown away. So that’s why we’re doing the covers that we’re doing.

With the songs that the Quireboys have done before, like ‘There She Goes Again’ and all those songs, they haven’t been played for a long time. We’ve played ‘King Of New York’ live the other day and it’s been getting such a great response, I think it’s gonna be released as a single in December. It’s such a beautiful song and people forgot about it, so we gonna re-record it and redo it with a pedal steel guitar and a fiddle. When you hear it tonight, you’ll understand how it should be done. That’s the thing when you do an album, you’re in the studio and you play and try different things, but everybody always thought we didn’t have a clue, because they just thought we’re having a drink and stuff. Thing is, we knew exactly what we were doing. And especially now as we get older, we know what people want to hear from The Quireboys. That’s what we’re doing now.

MN:
Tell me about the album sleeve image, was it your idea?

Spike:
That was my idea. What it is, it’s a gypsy thing. Based on the halfpenny gypsy girl dancer, like, in the old days, gypsies used to have a penny hanging from their headscarf. My family all go back to that era, so I thought what a cool thing to do. Well, it was my mum’s idea actually. The caravan, it belongs to my family. My mum was there when I did the photo shoot and actually on the cover, you can’t see that I’m holding the dog on a leash. I said, “Look, the dog’s been cut off” and she went mad, haha! So the horse is in the picture but the dog, it was a Jack Russell, is not. (Roaring with laughter)

MN:
If Sharon Osbourne would still be your manager, would she embrace the acoustic concept?

Spike:
You know, I was twenty-two when Sharon managed us and Sharon did a great job for what we had to do, basically. That’s all I’m allowed to say, I don’t want my legs broken. (Laughs).

MN:
On your European tour, why do you play only one show in Germany this year?

Spike:
Oh no, we have more shows added to play there; ask our tour manager. I asked myself the same thing, because we always do really well in Germany. We obviously also play Scandinavia a lot and we do really well there, too. Basically, we play wherever people want to hear us. It’s like this year, we’re going to Brazil for the first time, so that’s a huge thing. Or for example France, we hadn’t played in France for ten years until last year. People didn’t think there were many shows booked but we sold out every night. You know, it’s great that it has all come back again.

MN:
You frequently turn to your hometown Newcastle for lyrical inspiration, what is it that inspires you about the city?

Spike:
(Spike begins to answer the question by teaching me how to pronounce ‘Newcastle’ with a Geordie accent).
Oh, we played there last night, well, the night before. Everyone came, my sisters, and all the gypsies… reading my fortune, haha. You know, I don’t sit at home and play the guitar every day. What I do is I write stuff down all the time and then when someone says to me “We have to do an album” I have everything ready. That’s the way I’ve always done it. Or that’s how I basically do it. And I also do stuff with Griff, who is one of the best songwriters ever. I know so many musicians and I’m reading so much in the press every day about other bands going “Uh, I’m writing this and I’m writing that every day” and I say to myself “Hey, don’t bullshit.”

MN:
What else inspires you to song writing?

Spike:
Everyday situations, like someone says something to you in a bar or somewhere and you go “Ah, great idea for a song…” You know, when I came up with ‘Halfpenny Dancer’, which is the title song on our current album, you couldn’t sing that line as a chorus. So you have to turn it into a bit of a love song, and maybe some of the lyrics are a bit corny, I don’t know. But one thing, it’s always from the heart. I got over 500 songs published believe it or not, and I couldn’t even remember writing half of the songs.

You know, take for example ‘Mona Lisa Smiled’. Griff gave me the title, and I changed the lyrics so many times. That was based on Salvador Dali, believe it or not (who famously painted himself as Mona Lisa). I heard a story that a friend of mine in Barcelona told me about. When Salvador Dali died, he was meant to hold his hand uphill in his grave, so when his wife died, she was supposed to hold his hand next to him. But she died first, and their family wouldn’t put them together. The line ‘No public display of affection’ in my song refers to that, because you weren’t allowed to hold anyone’s hand in Barcelona or Spain during that time. Showing public affection just wasn’t allowed. Most people think of the song as a love song, but it’s actually a real sad story. But obviously, everyone will make up their own version of that song but people will probably be shocked when they hear what it’s really about. It’s the hardest I ever worked on a song but I’m thankful that I did, because it turned out so beautiful. And we’ll be playing it tonight.

MN:
How do you feel about the MP3 revolution, or recording live concerts on USB-sticks?

Spike:
I think it’s wonderful. The Quireboys are doing that. Although me and computers… try to have a computer in a gypsy caravan, haha!

MN:
The Quireboys are the ultimate good-time rock ‘n’ roll band in the vein of The Faces or Mott The Hoople. Any particular good-time experience that stands out?

Spike:
You just mentioned Mott The Hoople. When Mott The Hoople reformed, I sang that night with Joe Elliott. And Joe Elliott used the Quireboys as his backing band and he done all the Mott – not Mott The Hoople – but Mott stuff, and I sang ‘Career’ that night. After the show, I went back to the hotel and I was up with Ian Hunter in his hotel room until seven in the morning drinking champagne. So it was a wonderful experience for me. And Mick Ralphs became a very good friend of mine because of that; he’s a great guy.

MN:
What other bands do you admire?

Spike:
Well you know, I would love to go see a band like The Quireboys, I just would love to go see a band like us. We just play simple and what I call English rock ‘n’ roll, basic and with great musicians. I’m so pleased that people still come to see us and we’re packed out every night we play, so I can’t complain.
But my favourite band are The Rolling Stones and you know, I got to play with the Stones in my hometown in Newcastle at the football stadium and I also played St James Park with the them. AC/DC I really do love as well; I have a wide selection in music. I think what happens is that every night, your music influence is gonna change. When you’re nineteen or twenty, you don’t really pick up anything else, do you? You have your favourites and that’s that. But yeah, we all like the Stones and soul stuff, that’s us. But then, I love ragtime, too – I play ragtime guitar. You never see me play the guitar in The Quireboys but otherwise, how would I write the songs. But on stage I have two brilliant guitarists, so why would I need to play? (Laughs)

MN:
Of all the Quireboys songs, which one is your favourite and for what reason?

Spike:
It would be ‘King Of New York’ and we played it the other night in Newcastle. I think it’s a song that was really overlooked by everybody and when you hear it tonight, it’s a beautiful, beautiful song. It’s dedicated to my father. When you write something, you don’t always realize why you’re writing it – but I realized it when my dad passed away. I think that ‘King Of New York’ is probably one of my favourites. We haven’t played it for fifteen years and as I mentioned before, you’ll hear it tonight.

MN:
So many thanks for taking out time for this interview! I know you’re real busy getting ready for the show now, so see you guys downstairs.

Spike:
Thank you for the interview and enjoy the show!