{"id":29370,"date":"2021-02-28T16:46:11","date_gmt":"2021-02-28T15:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/?p=29370"},"modified":"2024-01-24T19:09:22","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T18:09:22","slug":"interview-sheep-on-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-sheep-on-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Sheep on Drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since the beginning of the nineties, Sheep On Drugs have been delivering an incredible series of party tunes, although luck has not always been by their side, as you can read in this interview. But after eight years without new material, in 2019, they were back with a new singer, an inspired new record entitled Does Dark Matter<\/em> and more energy than ever. We have talked with Lee Fraser who, together with his band Sheep On Drugs will play at DarkMad festival in Madrid, on the 15th and 16sth of October.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u2014In an interview you said that the name of the band was about making your own mind up of what you think about drugs. How has your opinion about the use of drugs changed over the years? It has been a recurrent subject in your music.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>Drugs have been a recurrent subject in my life, hence my music. I\u2019ve never really had much of an opinion about other people\u2019s drug use. As far as my own is concerned, I\u2019ve decided everything is ok, in moderation (although the list of drugs I would take has shrunk over the years). In fact, I\u2019m pretty healthy these days. I\u2019ve changed from being a drug addict into being a responsible drug user.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014How were the beginnings of Sheep on Drugs? How did you meet Duncan X and started making music?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>I first met Duncan in 1988, when I moved into the same house as him in New Cross, London. I\u2019d recently bought some electronic instruments having decided I didn\u2019t want to work with other musicians anymore (they either didn\u2019t turn up to rehearsal or were too drunk to play properly), as my experience working in bands hadn\u2019t been great. Duncan wasn\u2019t a musician, he looked quite good and had some good ideas generally. We were both into surreal weirdness and mind expansion. We were also into \u201cacid house\u201d but were disappointed there were no bands playing this new electronic music. So we decided to make our own and Sheep On Drugs<\/strong> was born.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014So, what were your influences back then? Mainly Acid?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>Acid house as far as using machines to make the music, but punk as far as attitude, rock for the guitars and tribal music for animal sounds and exoticism.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014And how was the English rave scene from the beginning of the nineties? I guess it must have been quite wild.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>It seemed quite tame to us at the time. Some of the music was good, but the people were all automatons on \u201cE\u201d (MDMA), worshiping the lasers. They were all doing the same thing, like sheep. That\u2019s how we got the idea for the name.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Do you think that the sense of transgression and at the same time fun that we can listen in some of your albums got lost in the electronic scene with the years? Now-a days everybody seems bloody serious.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>Indeed. Sheep On Drugs<\/strong> was, and is firmly \u201ctongue in cheek.\u201d The whole idea of rock and pop stars\/idols is ridiculous. We are a parody of that ridiculousness.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Why did you call your first album Greatest hits<\/em>? Is it because you were putting there some of your singles or was it just for fun?\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>By calling our debut album Greatest Hits<\/em>, we\u2019d get into the \u201cGreatest Hit\u2019s section in the record shop, we\u2019d also be implying we were already successful. We hadn\u2019t had any hits, but we thought all of our songs should be.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014What happened with your second album? There is a change of style, losing some of the urgency of your first material. Maybe the dub influences make it look like a comedown album when the first one is, instead, a party album.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>I don\u2019t think there\u2019s much dub on \u2026On Drugs<\/em> although it was the difficult second album. You have your whole life to write the first album and about 2 years to write the second. Unfortunately, Island Records wouldn\u2019t let us use Gareth Jones to produce it even though he produced Greatest Hits<\/em>.This would have helped with the \u2018party album\u2019 continuity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, while writing our second album we had zero guidance from Island Records. Left to our own devices, we came up with the concept of a concept album. We\u2019d call it \u2026On Drugs<\/em>, so it was \u2018Sheep On Drugs \u2026On Drugs\u2019 and we kept to the concept. It was also the experimental second album. Experimentation is what we did. Both chemically and music-wise, without any input from Island. By this point our once perfect dream had been shattered by working for a major label. One example (there were many) of a dream crusher was that the label was sending out plastic lamb chops with our promo records! How cheesy. How misguided. Not cheap either. We realised at that point that we were their puppets with no real control, not even how our money was spent. We hated that. Maybe some of our displeasure got recorded onto that album. I still think it\u2019s good, though, underrated. There are some great tunes on it. \u2018Slim Jim,\u2019 \u2018Slap Happy\u2019 and \u2018Slow Suicide\u2019 are classics. We got a double page spread in Melody Maker with \u2018Album Of The Week.\u2019 So the party wasn\u2019t quite over then. That ended once we got involved with Invisible Records.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014After that album you started q collaboration with Martin Atkins. How did you meet him? You worked with him in some of his projects: Pigface, Rx and The Damage Manual. Was it easy working with him?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>What had happened is that Polygram had bought Island Records. Any band that had any money owing (from advances) to the record company was dropped, which was quite a few bands. We\u2019d just had a UK top 40 hit with \u2018From A To H And Back Again,\u2019 so it made no sense to let us go and wasn\u2019t anything to do with us. We didn\u2019t feel that we\u2019d had all of our 15 minutes of fame, so we then formed the \u2018Drug Squad\u2019 label, to continue. After that we came across Martin Atkins. I think Duncan met him at some gig in London and he offered us a contract. Dodgy, of course, we signed. It was quite easy working with MA, as long as he likes your work and as long as you know he\u2019s the boss. He always comes across as if he\u2019s your friend, very convincingly, but he\u2019s not.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u2014Now that you were talking about it, what happened with the Drug Squad label? You only released a couple of singles, right?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>We created our own label after our job on the major label came to an end. In hind sight, thinking Duncan and I could run a record label was fallacy. It was like bleeding money. We weren\u2019t very good at it. We managed to release 2 E.P.\u2019s Suck<\/em> and Strapped for Cash<\/em>. These 2 releases were combined to make Double Trouble<\/em>, our first release on Invisible Records.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Do you think being part of Invisible Records, in hindsight, was good for the band?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Not good for the band as it was. It was working with Invisible Records that stopped Duncan from ever playing again. Martin Atkins and his office manager tried to blackmail Duncan into signing a new contract while we were on tour in 1998. Duncan didn\u2019t sign (good man) and consequently didn\u2019t get paid. Consequently he couldn\u2019t pay his rent (which was a prerequisite for him doing the 6-week tour) He, along with his heavily pregnant wife were about to be made homeless, out on the streets. He never forgave Invisible Records for that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014In One For The Money<\/em>, there is a clear influence of Drum \u2019n\u2019 bass. How did you get into that \"\"style? Are you still interested in the dnb scene?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>I was listening to DnB pirate radio back in the mid 90s and thought how psychedelic it is. It attracted me, so I started incorporating it into SOD<\/strong>\u2019s sound for the album One For The Money<\/em>. One of my personal favourite tracks on that album is our DnB cover of the Velvet Underground<\/strong> song \u201cWaiting For The Man.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Continuing with Drum \u2019n\u2019 bass, one of your side projects is called Bagman, and you released two albums Wrap and Trax\u2009\u2014\u2009What can you please tell us about them?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>After Duncan left SOD<\/strong>, I didn\u2019t think I could continue with the band, so I started Bagman<\/strong>. This was a solo DnB project. It was refreshing working alone without recording any vocals for a while. It only lasted for a couple of albums as I wanted to start up SOD<\/strong> again with another singer. I felt SOD<\/strong> had a name that I could maybe attract more fiscal renumeration from than Bagman<\/strong>, which was (and maybe still is) very underground. At that point I didn\u2019t realise that soon, selling music wouldn\u2019t make any money for anyone anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014In 1997, the band released a remix album, entitled Never Mind The Methadone<\/em>. In the album there is a remix by Teho Teardo, an Italian experimental musician: How did you get the idea of having him in the album?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>That came from Martin Atkins. No doubt Teho Teardo<\/strong> had done some work for him before this, so was roped in to do a remix of our track.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014In that album there is a song with Pigface, you were part of the band, right? How do you remember the experience?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>I was never officially part of Pigface<\/strong> although I did stand on a stage with them a couple of times. The track on the album was a cover of \u201cBack In Black\u201d by AC\/DC<\/strong>. It was Martin Atkins idea that we should record it just before we went on tour. We recorded the music and singing, Martin got it mixed in his studio while we were on tour.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Grace Jones did a cover of the band. Were you interested in her music? You met her, right?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>I love Grace Jones<\/strong> and was amazed she wanted to do a cover of\u00a0\u201cTrack X,\u201d which she retitled \u201cSex Drive.\u201d I guess it helped us having been signed to Island Records by Chris Blackwell. My only disappointment was that Sly and Robbie<\/strong> didn\u2019t play on her version. We did meet her. I got a call in the rehearsal studio in New Jersey. The tour manager passed me the phone and said it was Grace Jones<\/strong>! it was her alright. We chatted for a few minutes and arranged to meet up that night in her flat in Manhattan. I went there with Duncan and our soundman. We stayed there all night, had a great laugh and left the next morning to start our US tour.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014And the unavoidable question about Duncan. How is he doing? He retired to start working as a tattoo artist. Has any of your tattoos been done by him?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>Duncan\u2019s doing OK, I see him most weeks. He\u2019s a well-respected top tattooist these days. He did most of my tattoos.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u2014In Fuck,<\/em> you became the main singer of the band. How did it feel in the concerts to be the main focus?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>The album is not called Fuck<\/em>, that\u2019s your filthy mind. It\u2019s called F**K<\/em>. It could be FUCK or FUNK or FORK\u2026. As far as being the main focus, I realised what Duncan had to go through. It\u2019s a lot harder job, being the front man, but I managed to get my head round it. I still do front some of the songs. It\u2019s a great feeling, having the audience in the palm of your hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Finally, you met Johnny in 2006. According to you,\u00a0how has she contributed to the sound of the band?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>She\u2019s got a lot of energy, she\u2019s a good keyboardist and has a good voice. A female voice, something I can\u2019t do. She\u2019s also great lyricist.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014In Medication Time<\/em> you have a song called War on Drugs, Curiously enough, I have been watching Narcos Mexico these days. What do you think of legalisation, do you think it could a solution or something negative?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>The \u201cwar on drugs\u201d isn\u2019t working but I don\u2019t know if legalising drugs is the answer. Imagine legal branded heroin on supermarket shelves, being advertised on TV. There would be a lot of new addicts and lots of new overdoses and deaths. Maybe decriminalisation is the way to go?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014What did you do during the nine-year gap without releasing new material? I read that you were remixing other artists, can you please tell us more about this?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>Not quite 9 years, but definitely 8. We released Club Meds<\/em>\u00a0in 2011 then Does Dark Matter<\/em>\u00a0in 1019. To be honest I\u2019d become disillusioned with the music industry. Ever since Napster started file sharing in 1998, the music industry has been shrinking. People, consequently, have started insisting on music being free. These days, the record industry supports a handful of acts, all of which are super commercial pop. People generally listen to music on Spotify these days, often on the free version. So where\u2019s the money? How do the musicians get paid? Streaming royalties are so pitifully small, they\u2019re a joke. That\u2019s why vinyl and cassettes are making a comeback. Musicians can attach their free music to these formats and sell the physical object. It\u2019s the only way musicians can make any money from music sales anymore. Otherwise as soon as digital music is released, it uploaded to You Tube and given away for free.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014How was recording Does Dark Matter<\/em> after a few years without releasing new song?\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>It was really inspiring and uplifting recording Does Dark Matter.<\/em> I always enjoy being in the studio and can\u2019t wait for them to open again. We have another album half finished, ready to record.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014I read on your Facebook page that the band is in the process of making a graphic novel about Sheep On Drugs. Can you please tell me more about it?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>I called it a \u201cgraphic novel,\u201d but it will be more like an illustrated book of short stories. Stories from the Sheep On Drugs<\/strong> archives. I\u2019ve started some of the illustrations and roughly written some of the stories. It will take a while to finish it, but I believe I can do it. Watch this space.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014What do you think of the English music industry at the moment?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>What English music industry? It\u2019s so small now it only supports a handful of ultra commercial artists. None of which I like. There doesn\u2019t seem to be much room\/money in the music industry for left field acts anymore. That\u2019s a real shame, I never really liked ultra-commercial pop and that\u2019s all there appears to be. I\u2019ve always preferred \u201cunderground,\u201d \u201calternative\u201d music. Unfortunately, the English music industry isn\u2019t lucrative enough to fund such bands anymore. The \u201cIndie\u201d labels that used to sign these bands (like SOD<\/strong>), no longer exist.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014How have you been living through this pandemic? I guess you also had some gigs cancelled. At least you released a single, right?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>This pandemic is a nightmare. The sooner it\u2019s over the better. We released a download single in the summer mainly to remind people we\u2019re still here. We\u2019ve also made a video for almost all the tracks on our latest album Does Dark Matter<\/em> to keep people in mind of us until we can play again. We have one more to do, then we\u2019ll have a video for every track on Does Dark Matter<\/em>. All good promo, to help get gigs when they start again.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014What can we expect of Sheep on Drugs in the near future?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>We have a new album half finished. Hopefully that\u2019ll be completed within the next year, once the studios re-open. There\u2019s some great tunes on it. I can\u2019t wait to start mixing it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014What kind of show can we expect at DarkMad?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>A fantastic show. We are so desperate to be adored on stage again, we\u2019ll guarantee it\u2019s good. You won\u2019t be disappointed.<\/span><\/p>\n