(from TUSC ‘Zine 2011)
Tusc: I’m Here with three members of Babies Three; Jim, Paul and Daniel
Daniel: I’d like to mention we are sitting outside in the freezing cold in Margate’s sea front.
T: So, can you tell us a brief history of the band before we get into the reforming thing…
Paul: We started in the late 90’s as a copyist punk pop type of band, threw members out then Jim, Alex and Daniel joined and we started to get good. When our drummer Russell joined we decided to take it in a more emo-ish of direction, we were still copying what we were listening to at the time
T: This was the late 90’s was it?
P: Yeah 1999 is when we got our sound together and when I say emo I’m talking Mineral or Sunny Day Real Estate that we were taking inspiration from. The thing that turned me onto it was an early Boy Set’s Fire album, a short while after that we started to discover our own sound thanks to Jim’s talent and later after our first European tour a genius thing started to happen in that we started to write songs as a band that we happened to think were original and we really enjoyed playing them without copying any one too much. And then we split up. Me and Jim had a falling out and there was a problem with musical directon, but pretty much it was over a girl.
T: It was a very emo way to split up.
Daniel: We did carry on for a little while with Ross.
T: Yeah, let’s name drop Ross who is currently playing guitar in Man Hands.
P: We carried on for a bit but it was never really the same, no offence to Ross whose talent is amazing and is a very good looking man. We battled on for a year or so after Jim had was gone but it just wasn’t right. And then we splintered into many different bands. That’s the early history. Done.
T: You have had a few attempts at getting the band back together though right?
Jim: We give it a go once a year.
P: Three attempts in the last Four years I think. Yeah, me and Jim have healed from what we fell out over. Various things stopped it coming together be it musical direction or we couldn’t get it together for practices. The usual band nonsense.
T: Now you’re older do you have work commitments and other family commitments.
P: It’s only really an issue with Russell. Originally when we got back together it was with Alex, who was in the original ’99 line up but he’s got children and he couldn’t fully commit and Russell is in the same situation. In the long term he’s said that its cool if we wanna take things more seriously we should get someone else. At the moment though there is no need to as we are still working on new stuff.
T: And of course now you have a new member.
J: The new member is called Chainy Rabbit, that’s not his real name by the way.
D: Has he said what his real name is?
J: It’s something silly like Eugene. I can’t remember…. Jermaine, that’s it. He’s a guy who makes some pretty interesting music. He’s a real musical thinker, not the most technical player but he is someone who thinks about music in a real interesting way and listens to lots of weird minimalist stuff. I was playing in a band called Mumdead with him before this. So yeah Chainy is our new bass player and he’s replacing a guy called Steve Jedrick who in my opinion was in the definitive line up of Babies Three around 2001. It’s a shame not to have Steve here with us now but he’s one that is even more complicated to talk about.
T: Have you written any new songs with Chainy?
D: Yes, two. But one of them is so long it may as well be three songs. I was excited and posted about it on facebook but then someone deleted it.
P: It was an accident.
D: I just feel like I am being censored all the time, I have so much that I want to say and I am just not being allowed to get it out there. Jim never lets me bring my songs into practice.
J: it’s because they are too good and I am jealous.
P: With the two new songs the long one (Polytheist Mind) starts off all Jesus Lizard like and then goes into unknown territory for us, very slow, very doom, a bit weird. It’s sludge almost, although so far people that have heart it so far have been like. ”Meh….. It’s a bit long”.
Paul’s wife in the background: People meaning me!
Everyone: (laughs)
P: The other song (Brethren Of The Free Spirit) is quite up-tempo, a bit like where we left off last time. I don’t like it when bands get back together and just play old songs. I can’t stand that.
J: Unless you’re Kiss
D: Or Iron Maiden.
P: Kiss and Maiden never split up.
T: But people from that time like me are expecting you to be like a Babies Three cover band.
P: We may play three or four old songs.
T: if you didn’t play old songs then I’m not going to watch you, ever.
P: With time some stuff that we loved back then sounds cheesy and horrible to me now.
D: We tried to play Eleven in practice and it just plodded and had no feel.
T: Some things are of their time and belong to that era.
J: It’s like listening to dated stand-up comedy, you can’t get the joke because it’s not of this time.
D: Good analogy.
T: What are the vocals going to be like in this new Babies Three?
P: Well, come first practice I had decided that I was never going to scream anymore and as of now I think it’s best if I never sing anymore. So it’s all pretty screamy. Whenever I try and sing I get Henry Rollins stuck in my mind and just end up yelling and shouting anyway.
T: So just before we wrap things up here because it’s getting really, really cold, Jim, tell us a bit about your solo project?
J: It’s not a solo project. To call it a solo project is like when Paul Stanley from Kiss and the others went off and did solo projects.
P: Good times.
J: I just make music and I am pragmatic about it. One thing doesn’t supersede another. It’s called Rough Comforts and it is just me. I play everything and record everything.
D: Pretty much like Babies Three then.
T: It’s not heavy, it’s like folk music right?
J: It is completely different music; I wouldn’t call it folk music. If you say folk music to me I think of traditional folk music which has its own conventions that I don’t apply to my music but the instrumentation is folk. It uses guitar. The way I sing is maybe influenced by people like Robert Wyatt and Kate Bush. I sing in my real accent, it’s not Americanised. I don’t want music to sound conceited but at the same time you do have to have a stylistic approach and that was the hardest thing for me to realise, took me three years to figure it out.
T: Finally Daniel, unlike the other guys you didn’t join any other bands after the split. Why was that?
D: I would play guitar from time to time at home but it always just made me miss Babies Three.
T: They were like your lover? Was it like you were so in love with Babies Three that after that nothing compared?
D: Well, I played for a bit in (Margate locals) Slingshot Around The Moon but it never felt as awesome. It needed Russell on the drums. I missed that. He was such a powerhouse and would lift everything up because he was so fucking….. bangy. Um… I did an interview once before in a skate park in Bristol but I didn’t talk much because I broke my ribs and um… my rib was broken.
Eveyone: (laughs)
Below filmed on a phone I think is the footage from BABIES THREE’s first show back together.
lostinrock 