1)
When did you start? |
The
band started on 8th Feb. 1976 and did its first gig
supporting the Stranglers on March 11th. |
2)
Did you meet the Pistols? |
Yes,
we supported them at the 100 Club in 1976, and at the
Paradiso in Amsterdam for two nights at the beginning
of January 1977, with the Heartbreakers as well. |
3)
What's your best album? |
It's
probably got to be PURE MANIA as that's the one that's
sold the most and the record that most people love. |
4)
We didn't think you guys still existed? |
The
band was only off the road for a year or so. It reformed
in 1982 and has been going ever since, touring and making
records. |
5)
Have you guys made any more records since the first
ones? |
We've
made another fourteen studio albums since PURE MANIA
(1977) and V2 (1978), plus singles and loads of compilation
albums, and albums of demos. Check out the discography.
|
6)
What's your best song? |
It's
probably got to be "BABY BABY", that's our
most famous song I think. |
7)
What's your favourite or best ever gig? |
That's
difficult to answer, but maybe one of the gigs in the
old Marquee in Wardour Street. |
8)
What are all your influences? |
Knox:
Iggy Pop, Velvet Underground
Pat Collier: Gary Glitter, etc.
Eddie: Rolling Stones, The Beatles
John Ellis: Peter Green, etc. |
9)
Why don't you play certain songs in the set? |
We've
recorded fourteen albums. With about fourteen songs
per album that's coming up to two hundred songs. We
only play about twenty two a night, so something's got
to give. We try and change the set around a bit, and
put in new songs, even though sometimes you feel that
all some audiences want to hear is the "old stuff",
i.e. the first two albums. Soon the new songs become
"old songs". Without doing new songs the band
would be treading water I think, and also I like to
think the fans like to hear new songs. Maybe one day
though we could do a '77 VIBRATORS TOUR - just playing
the old stuff. |
10)
Wrong facts? |
We don't come from Canvey Island (sometimes they say this in reviews/promo).
Although we were doing lots of songs like "Johnny B. Goode" when we started it was
just to quickly get the band up and running. I'd been in previous bands: DESPAIR
- 1973-4, LIPSTICK - which played Mondays at the Elgin Arms in Ladbroke Grove
in the autumn of 1975, Joe Strummer's 101ers were playing here as well
on the Fridays, STILLETTO - 1975. These bands were playing "Whips
and Furs", "Sweet Sweet Heart", "Claws In My Brain", "She's The One You Need", etc.
which were later recorded by The Vibrators. (There is an albums worth of this material
which I will try and get released soon. "Sweet Sweet Heart" from 1973 is released on a
compilation called Glitterbest on RPM Records (RPM 265).) Before The Vibrators John Ellis
was playing in BAZOOKA JOE (which also had Adam Ant, and Richard Wernham, later Ricky
Slaughter drummer with the Motors) which Eddie was driving for. In 1975 they played at
St Martins College of Art, and the support band was The Pistols doing their first ever
gig!
|
|
(Questions
answered by Knox.) |
