Please give a brief history of the band, including current line up.
September 1996 the original members of the Rong'uns (Paul-Bass,
Andy-Vocals, Simon-Drums,Gaz-Guitar,Colin-Guitar) were at a party at Paul's
house and talked about getting a band together for a laugh. At the time Paul
and myself were in Sarcasm but were getting a bit frustrated at only getting
together every now and then. We'd only been together for a few weeks when
Gaz on guitar left to do this hip hop (The FBI Crew) band that he'd been
involved with for a while. Jan 1999 Simon was to leave the band making way
for current drummer Gaz. Jan 2000 Andy left the band and at the moment I'm
doing the vocals for the time being. We have a saxophone player now called
Kiymm but she is only playing on the Ska stuff.
Discogrpahy.
At the moment the only thing out is the demo "the Rong'uns,
Ain't right." Which we all feel doesn't do us justice. Although we are booked
in the studio this weekend (April 29-30th)to record our debut ep.
Has any band member played in other bands, if so what?
I've already mentioned that Paul and myself use to be
in Sarcasm, well Gaz is also ex-Sarcasm as well as having played with The
Glory. Apart from that we've all been hanging around in Leicester bands for
years now. I am also in a Leicester band called The Flaps who released a
split single with Leicester band Stash last year on my label Nigel Records.
What is the best gig 'Rong Uns have ever done and who else
was on the line-up?
This is one of those questions which I find difficult
to answer because we always seem to enjoy the gigs that we play even if we're
crap cos it's always fun and with a name like ours people don't seem to mind
in the least.
If you could see any band play live, either of the past or
present who would it be?
I saw the Sex Pistols at Finsbury Park a couple of years
ago and really enjoyed it but I would have loved to have seen them in the
early days before Sid was in them. When I started listening to the Sex Pistols
it changed my whole view on life. (The rest of the band may disagree with
some of my answers).
Describe punk at the beginning of the 21st century.
Punk changes all the time i.e. the clothes, the people
the bands but for me it's still the same thing that has always driven me
and that is to get out there and be part of something that you can just be
yourself and give the big finger to authority. There are different views
held by different "Punks" and I think that is what it should be "individual" and
that's why we tend to avoid preaching in our lyrics we just talk about what
pisses us off, if you agree fine, if not then it's still fine.
What is the best sentence you have ever heard, that someone
has managed to get into a song's lyrics?
Another question with a million answers. The one that
always springs to mind immediately is Seventeen by the Pistols the line when
Johnny goes " I can't even be bothered ". There's just something about how
he says it.
Do politics and music go together?
Yes but too often it can split people rather than bring
them together. As I found in the early 80's punk was split into different
sections depending on your politics.
Plans, gigs and releases planned for 2000.
Well I've already mentioned that we're about to record
an ep which will be released a.s.a.p. and then we're looking for gigs in
the UK for over the summer and then we are hoping to go to Europe and meet
up with some old friends from the Sarcasm tours, But we'll see what happens
when the ep is released.
Any final comments?
On behalf of the Rong'uns I'd like to say a big thank-you
to everyone who's been in the band and everyone who's written to us, got
gigs for us and thanx to all the people who come to see us play it's your
support that keeps it going.
If anyone has any gigs for us we'd be happy to hear about them. Contact me
at colin@nigelrecords.co.uk
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