TrashPit caught up with Richard Bacchus on the eve of his first UK headline tour. From being a member of the influential New York band D-Generation (along with Jesse Malin) and now a bonafide frontman with his band The Luckiest Girls, Bacchus has the priceless gift of penning infectious guitar based songs that sit effortlessly as well in sweaty rock clubs as they would on modern rock radio.
Can you tell us how this tour came about and are you excited about performing in the UK with a full electric band?
I've been itching to get back to the UK with a full band. In the past I'd toured solo twice, once with Jesse Malin and a second time with Sami Yaffa's band, Mad Juana. Jamie Delerict (TCC/Dangerfields) was bugging the shit out of me about doing electric shows and I told him to put up or shut up! I'm really excited about playing with a whole new crew. Music is a full contact, team sport in my mind, like old be-bop Jazz records.
What are you most looking forward to about the return trip - are there any places you particularly like visiting in the UK?
I left a really snazzy hat in Leeds two tours ago. You know, it was one of those situations where the bartender served too many Jagermeister drinks and the DJ played too many Thin Lizzy songs, we all got to dancing and my hat got lost in the shuffle. I believe I'm getting it back in Mexborough!
You spent your early childhood in the UK. Did that have much influence on shaping you as a person and do you have any fond memories of the UK at that time?
I grew up in Hockliffe, near Dunstable. It was a hot bed of rock fashion, so I developed my taste for head to toe faded denim early on, when I was six to be exact. My next door neighbours were of the Edwardian persuasion - Baby Blue Drape Coats, Stripey Socks gigantic side burns and greasy quiffs. They taught me everything I know about style. Deep down I'll always be a Teddy Boy.
It must have been such a contrast from that to growing up as a teenager in New York?
I left England in 1977 and moved to the West Indies (My Dad's from there). We moved to the tiny island of St. Vincent. We had a little brick house with no electricity and no stove. The food was all alien to us, if we wanted protein we had to murder something, usually something my sister and I had raised from a chick or a lamb and given a cute name like Bobo or Toby (Toby was especially tasty).
In 1979 we were dragged from the rain forest into the jungle that is Queens NY, where we learned the joys of being shot at by drug dealers on the 4th of July and loads of fun ways to screw with the various post-traumatic stressed, Vietnam Vets that littered the school yard. A couple of years later I hustled my way into a job taking pics of celebs at The Limelight in Manhattan and never looked back. My family soon moved back to the UK, I laid low till they stopped looking for me, publishing pics in the NY Post under a pseudonym.
Who was the first person to really influence you musically and want to be in a band?
Billy Fury, Hank Marvin, The Saints, Lemmy and Black Flag
What has been the response to your latest album, Jet Black & Beautiful?
The album has only been released as a digital download, people hate digital downloads. I'm talking to labels about pressing CDs, I'd really like to do Vinyl though. People seem surprised that it sounds a bit like D-Generation and I've got tonnes of positive feedback. I recently moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. Most people down here don't know my history and are taking the record at face value, I love that.
Are there any current artists that you admire and inspire you at the moment - either locally, underground or mainstream?
I'm always looking for new jams. Locally down here there's a great band the T's. My bass player Jimbo, has a great band called The Bleeding Hearts, they're like a more wise ass version of Cheap Trick, if that's possible? Rilo Kiley kick my ass, Jenny Lewis' voice makes me want to do filthy things with her. Art Brut just came through with my pals The Hold Steady, that was a sick after party. Albatross are amazing - imagine if Damo Suzuki and Michael Monroe had a baby that fronted Chrome. I like the Subways and The Rifles. We watch DethKlock on Metalocalypse on Sundays when we're supposed to be rehearsing. In a perfect world, Spongebob Squarepants and Nathan Explosion would be my roommates!
You still perform acoustically - how are you enjoying that these days compared to the electric set?
Playing solo is fun, it's similar to Stand-Up comedy except when you saunter out with your hands in your pockets to a microphone, people want to laugh, do the same thing with a guitar hanging around your neck and they want to chuck beer cans at you! I enjoy exploring different facets of a song acoustically, screwing with dynamics, dragging out pauses and pushing different accents. Playing solo is funny too, it's like being in the worst band ever, a band so bad that they just refuse to play. Whenever you screw up there's never anyone to scowl and shake your head at. Usually I pick someone out of the audience and pretend that it's their fault that I've forgotten all the words and can't play a C chord anymore.
When you perform with Jesse Malin do the pair of you sit down and work stuff out or do you just wing it?
It's a bit of both - he's the sit down guy, I'm Captain Wingie.
Have you seen an increase or resurge in D-Generation interest these past few years?
It's seems that way, in some really odd places I'd like to add, for instance, the tiny town Dalton Georgia, the carpet capital of the USA, that entire town has D-Generation haircuts and wears creepers. The kids at the drive-through at Micky Dees, Kids at the 7-11, even the wait staff at the Cracker Barrel!
Anything else you wanna add....?
Don't Forget To Boogie, Love, -The Pigs Of Uranus
Richard will be touring the UK this month.