Hailing from Newport, South Wales, Strawberry Blondes released their debut album, 'Rise Up' in 2007, which showed off a neat line in melodic punk in the same vein as The Clash, and followed it up in 2009 with the 'Fight Back' album. With so much many people suffering from unemployment and poverty, 'Blondes main-man Mickie Stabbs says, 'What do love songs mean to those people? Nothing! That's why we'll never write a love song.'
The following interview with Mickie (vocals/guitar) was done sometime in 2010.
First things first, how did the European tour in February go?
Mickie: The tour went great and we really noticed the difference in Europe with this album. It was our first time in Poland and the Czech Republic, so it's always exciting to tour a country for the first time. Just like the Germans, the Poles and the Czech's are real nice people and they love their punk rock so it was great to get out there and play for them. It was pretty cold though. It was -25 when we were in Poland.
Following on from that, how was the Titail Rock festival in Belgium in April?
Mickie: It's only a small youth festival but they got about 5,000 people out for it and they partied like mad. We had a great weekend. I think it was only the second show that Josh from Criminal Mind had played with us. He'd flown out with us to Paris a couple of weeks before to play his first show with us at a days notice. All the bands went down great but the stand out band for us would have to be The Porters from Germany. They're like a German Flogging Molly.
You have earned yourselves a reputation as a band that puts the miles in touring wise. Did you make a conscious decision to slow things down for the next few months?
Mickie: We made a decision back in the spring to only play a few festivals this Summer and tour the UK and Europe in the Autumn. For a start it's impossible to compete with the World Cup and secondly the recession is hitting the live scene really hard. People just haven't got the money that they had and it shows when you see how many venues are closing and how many promoters have decided to call it a day. I think the recession has forced us a band to be more careful in the decisions we make and what we can actually do. It's the same for this band as it is everyone else; we're all just trying to survive. But we've stayed busy and the next Blondes album is almost written.
In the current economic and political climate, do you think that the original spirit of punk is coming to the fore again and that 'punk' as a musical movement is more relevant now than it has been for years?
Mickie: I think punk has always been relevant. All the bands we listen to have always been those that are not afraid to write songs about the things that actually matter in the world. As a band we've always been politicized, I just think with this album we've become more focused and we wanted to capture the mood of the time. With these songs we wanted to express the anger and frustration of living in the bleak and decaying cities of Britain.
So can you see punk breaking out into wider society again like it did the late 70's and early 80's?
Mickie: I don't know, this is a hard one to answer. The mainstream radio, TV and media is always going to ignore punk, which in today's media obsessed world is always gonna make it hard for punk to break out in a big way.
You take a great deal of time over your lyrics and raising the ills of society....
Mickie: It's very important to us. The reason the album is called 'Fight Back' is because it's time for people to wake up and fight back against the things that are wrong in this world like racism, poverty, sexism, political correctness, homophobia and censorship. Prejudice and intolerance are evil words. These are dangerous times that we live in. Fascism always raises its ugly head at times of recession and I think it's important we learn from the past and fight it head on. We're a product of where we come from. Have you ever been to South Wales? It's like a fucking third world country. Thatcher destroyed all the coal mines and steel works in the Eighties and all that's left now is dereliction and unemployment. No one ever made postcards with pictures of Newport on the front. If they did, it'd be all shit and rubble.
Do you think that the media, when talking about punk music, still tends to focus on the old groups instead of commentating on the bands that are current now? If so, do you think this makes things harder for newer punk bands such as yourselves to get noticed?
Mickie: It shouldn't be about whether a band's new or old, it should be about whether a band is good or bad. Some of the older bands still around are making great records and playing great live shows and some are just shit, but that equally goes for new bands as well. I think the only criteria to how relevant a band is should be how good they are.
Benji left after the European tour. How is the search for a new permanent bass player going?
Mickie: Yes, our last European tour was Benji's last tour with the band. He got a new job and felt that he needed to be at home more than our schedule could allow. It was sad to see Benji go but we understand it's hard juggling being in a band and life at home. We've decided to take our time finding a permanent replacement and just get our friends to help out for now. Josh, from Criminal Mind, has being doing a great job for us playing bass since Benji left and he looks pretty certain to be playing with us for the near future so we'll see where it goes from there.
What would you say is your proudest moment with the band so far?
Mickie: I don't think there's just one particular moment that I'm proudest of. I'm proud of the records we've made, the show's we've played and the friends we've made along the way.
The following interview with Mickie (vocals/guitar) was done sometime in 2010.
First things first, how did the European tour in February go?
Mickie: The tour went great and we really noticed the difference in Europe with this album. It was our first time in Poland and the Czech Republic, so it's always exciting to tour a country for the first time. Just like the Germans, the Poles and the Czech's are real nice people and they love their punk rock so it was great to get out there and play for them. It was pretty cold though. It was -25 when we were in Poland.
Following on from that, how was the Titail Rock festival in Belgium in April?
Mickie: It's only a small youth festival but they got about 5,000 people out for it and they partied like mad. We had a great weekend. I think it was only the second show that Josh from Criminal Mind had played with us. He'd flown out with us to Paris a couple of weeks before to play his first show with us at a days notice. All the bands went down great but the stand out band for us would have to be The Porters from Germany. They're like a German Flogging Molly.
You have earned yourselves a reputation as a band that puts the miles in touring wise. Did you make a conscious decision to slow things down for the next few months?
Mickie: We made a decision back in the spring to only play a few festivals this Summer and tour the UK and Europe in the Autumn. For a start it's impossible to compete with the World Cup and secondly the recession is hitting the live scene really hard. People just haven't got the money that they had and it shows when you see how many venues are closing and how many promoters have decided to call it a day. I think the recession has forced us a band to be more careful in the decisions we make and what we can actually do. It's the same for this band as it is everyone else; we're all just trying to survive. But we've stayed busy and the next Blondes album is almost written.
In the current economic and political climate, do you think that the original spirit of punk is coming to the fore again and that 'punk' as a musical movement is more relevant now than it has been for years?
Mickie: I think punk has always been relevant. All the bands we listen to have always been those that are not afraid to write songs about the things that actually matter in the world. As a band we've always been politicized, I just think with this album we've become more focused and we wanted to capture the mood of the time. With these songs we wanted to express the anger and frustration of living in the bleak and decaying cities of Britain.
So can you see punk breaking out into wider society again like it did the late 70's and early 80's?
Mickie: I don't know, this is a hard one to answer. The mainstream radio, TV and media is always going to ignore punk, which in today's media obsessed world is always gonna make it hard for punk to break out in a big way.
You take a great deal of time over your lyrics and raising the ills of society....
Mickie: It's very important to us. The reason the album is called 'Fight Back' is because it's time for people to wake up and fight back against the things that are wrong in this world like racism, poverty, sexism, political correctness, homophobia and censorship. Prejudice and intolerance are evil words. These are dangerous times that we live in. Fascism always raises its ugly head at times of recession and I think it's important we learn from the past and fight it head on. We're a product of where we come from. Have you ever been to South Wales? It's like a fucking third world country. Thatcher destroyed all the coal mines and steel works in the Eighties and all that's left now is dereliction and unemployment. No one ever made postcards with pictures of Newport on the front. If they did, it'd be all shit and rubble.
Do you think that the media, when talking about punk music, still tends to focus on the old groups instead of commentating on the bands that are current now? If so, do you think this makes things harder for newer punk bands such as yourselves to get noticed?
Mickie: It shouldn't be about whether a band's new or old, it should be about whether a band is good or bad. Some of the older bands still around are making great records and playing great live shows and some are just shit, but that equally goes for new bands as well. I think the only criteria to how relevant a band is should be how good they are.
Benji left after the European tour. How is the search for a new permanent bass player going?
Mickie: Yes, our last European tour was Benji's last tour with the band. He got a new job and felt that he needed to be at home more than our schedule could allow. It was sad to see Benji go but we understand it's hard juggling being in a band and life at home. We've decided to take our time finding a permanent replacement and just get our friends to help out for now. Josh, from Criminal Mind, has being doing a great job for us playing bass since Benji left and he looks pretty certain to be playing with us for the near future so we'll see where it goes from there.
What would you say is your proudest moment with the band so far?
Mickie: I don't think there's just one particular moment that I'm proudest of. I'm proud of the records we've made, the show's we've played and the friends we've made along the way.