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The AltSounds File-O-Facts feature on: Andrew Wagstaff. Want to know more about this up and coming artist? Here you can find out loads of snappy facts about this new talent...
Name: Andrew Wagstaff.
Star Sign: Libra .
Place of Birth: Singapore.
Now Based in: London.
Level of Education: B.A. (HONS).
First Instrument Played: Like so many people who have passed through The Winter Olympics, I used to play bass guitar. Mine was an electric brown 'Columbus' with an inverse pointy headstock, which I eventually sold to a chap called Russell from a band called Desecrator. Russ now runs a dōjō in the West Midlands. I don't know if he still has the guitar.
Current Instrument: I am no longer allowed to play an instrument in The Winter Olympics.
Last Venue Played: The always amazing Brixton Windmill at our annual all-day festival of bands, beer and burgers 'The Great Indoors'.
Last Gig Attended: Deer Tick at The Scala. They're everything I want from a Great American Band. Cosmic country-folk songs for miles, with Kurt Cobain singing and The Replacements as his backing band.
Can't Go On Tour Without: Sending and receiving 500 emails and a massively complicated spreadsheet charting everyone's (un)availability due to holidays / health / weddings / work / lack of interest. It's safe to say that Black Flag didn't do it this way.
The Best Thing About Live Music Is: Volume, friends, drinks, the merch stand. Not necessarily in that order.
The Person I Would Most Like to Collaborate With Is: By this stage, Martin Bowman (Winter Olympics guitarist) is my rock and roll life partner. I can't really imagine making music with anyone except him. I can imagine a time when he gets tired of my nonsense and quits, at which stage I'd keep the name and recruit a tiny trio of ridiculous face-melting Finnish metallers. The fans wouldn't stand for that shit though (and I hope they wouldn't go for Marty's icy techno solo album either) meaning that the inevitable reformation shows and live album would break all Winter Olympics' box office records.
Worst Thing To Happen To Music Is: The loss of Top of the Pops. A proper, meaningful, easy-to-understand (and sort of democratic) weekly focal point for pop music. Something for bands to aspire to appear on / fight against and want to fire-bomb.
Best Thing About The Current Music Industry: Cheerfully cheap CDs.
Turn Ons: Piña coladas and getting caught in the rain.
Turn Offs: Slap-bass and jazz flute.
Biggest Influences: Pixies, Pavement, Pet Shop Boys and our producer Paul of Sound. On top of that, twenty eventful years' of hopeless hard rock fandom.
My Favourite Person On TV Right Now Is: Ned 'Atomic' Boulting.
Childhood Heroes: Daley Thompson and David Lee Roth.
When I Was Younger I Wanted To Be: A man in a band with a record out on a label I love, and exciting young music journalists asking me what I wanted to be when I was younger. These days I aspire to be Han Solo or Spider-Man.
Last Album Bought: Bug by Dinosaur Jr. Again. So now I have it on vinyl, CD (twice) and (preposterously reissued) cassette. Not sure that it ever saw the light of day on mini-disc, but, if it did, consider me in the market for a copy. It still amazes me that our own album (Profit and Loss) should eventually come out on Freakscene Records. Freakscene! I can't believe it.
Last Song Listened To On MP3 Player: *Presses Shuffle* no shit. Breed by Nirvana Live at Reading 1992. Amazing. I don't care, I don't care, I don't care I don't care, I don't care, care if it's old!
The Music I'm Into Is: The music you'll be into next year.
Favourite Current Band: The new Cut Ups album came out last week. Pippa who sings with us gets a lead vocal on it which is great. You should definitely buy it. My favourite currant (with an 'A') band is Hundred Raisins (cheers).
My Favourite Drink Has To Be: Paid for by someone else. Or, alternatively, six for £5.
My Favourite Book(s) Are: The beautifully illustrated Folio Society set of H.G. Wells' 'Classics of Science Fiction'. Editions of the world's finest literature in a format worthy of the contents.
My Favourite Website Is: Our shop. The Winter Olympics' Church of Merch — Home. When I was a boy one of the best Christmas presents I ever got was a play Post Office, where you could swap sweets for stamps. Now, thanks to the internet, I get to run a slightly more grown up version.
My Favourite Item Of Clothing Is: I have a t-shirt from the show Friday Night Lights with 'Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose' written on the front. It seems impossibly popular. Often Americans cheer and clap when I walk into bars with it on. It makes me feel like Norm from Cheers.
My Favourite Shop Is: See above, or failing that Flashback Records (both of them) in North London, cool friendly people who aren't that bothered if you're cool. Which (having worked in one) is rare for record shops.
The Best Boredom Buster Is: My mother always told me that an active mind should never be bored. Form a band, write a book, make some terrible art. Failing that, pub.
The Best Film I Ever Saw Was: Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare aka: The Edge of Hell (1987) a hokey home-made horror starring Canadian rock warrior Jon Mikl Thor. I love it unironically and completely, and implore you to track down a copy. Here's what it says on the back of the box:
My Ultimate Snack Is: Hot Cross Breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon (and optional beans) served in a sweet toasted hot cross bun. What?
The Worst Food Invented Is: Chocolate covered pretzels. Bags of these rank treats seem to get released every ten years to select 24 Hour garages, before being immediately discontinued and never spoken of again. Christ knows how stoned Cadbury's think the nation is to try and pull this shit, but the nation is not *that* stoned. See also the McDonalds McRib.
The First Thing I Do When I Wake Up Is: Apologise and try to find my glasses.
I Can't Leave The House Without: A compass my friend Katherine gave me. It's important to geographically and psychologically know where north is. Also, trousers.
I'm Well Known For: Never knowingly under-singing.
My Hobbies Are: Record shop bargain-bin dipping, non-competitive cross-country running and recording high-art hip-hop albums that no one will ever hear.
I Have A Passion For: Heavy metal. It makes Martin despair.
First Band Name: When I was a boy (and dinosaurs walked the Earth) we would spend weekends in Ceri Fisher’s parents’ cellar recording silly songs on bits of kit left around by his brother’s hippy freak-out band Frumnik Mol’m’lom. I would spend the week editing them into incredible lost tapes by bands called ‘The Fizzy Corporation’, ‘The Peasants Are Revolting’, ‘All Aboard The Eggbasket’ and try to sell them to girls at school. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Tomorrow I Will: Be filming a video for ‘Heavy Metal Ending’ with the band. We’re very lucky to have worked with some incredibly talented film-makers in the last year. It’s humbling that they take us seriously enough to give up their time and talents so freely, and hilarious to watch the ambition of their efforts become more and more grandiose. Somehow in this new one we’ve got our own plane.
My Biggest Aspiration: Is to give everybody in this band, or who has worked stupidly hard for this band, the day in the sunshine that they deserve. Even if it’s just one day. Or a bit of a day. Or half an hour on a big stage in a field somewhere.
I Think AltSounds is: Patient and kind. Thanks for your time.
WATCH // 'Fags and Girls'
Name: Andrew Wagstaff.
Star Sign: Libra .
Place of Birth: Singapore.
Now Based in: London.
Level of Education: B.A. (HONS).
First Instrument Played: Like so many people who have passed through The Winter Olympics, I used to play bass guitar. Mine was an electric brown 'Columbus' with an inverse pointy headstock, which I eventually sold to a chap called Russell from a band called Desecrator. Russ now runs a dōjō in the West Midlands. I don't know if he still has the guitar.
Current Instrument: I am no longer allowed to play an instrument in The Winter Olympics.
Last Venue Played: The always amazing Brixton Windmill at our annual all-day festival of bands, beer and burgers 'The Great Indoors'.
Last Gig Attended: Deer Tick at The Scala. They're everything I want from a Great American Band. Cosmic country-folk songs for miles, with Kurt Cobain singing and The Replacements as his backing band.
Can't Go On Tour Without: Sending and receiving 500 emails and a massively complicated spreadsheet charting everyone's (un)availability due to holidays / health / weddings / work / lack of interest. It's safe to say that Black Flag didn't do it this way.
The Best Thing About Live Music Is: Volume, friends, drinks, the merch stand. Not necessarily in that order.
The Person I Would Most Like to Collaborate With Is: By this stage, Martin Bowman (Winter Olympics guitarist) is my rock and roll life partner. I can't really imagine making music with anyone except him. I can imagine a time when he gets tired of my nonsense and quits, at which stage I'd keep the name and recruit a tiny trio of ridiculous face-melting Finnish metallers. The fans wouldn't stand for that shit though (and I hope they wouldn't go for Marty's icy techno solo album either) meaning that the inevitable reformation shows and live album would break all Winter Olympics' box office records.
Worst Thing To Happen To Music Is: The loss of Top of the Pops. A proper, meaningful, easy-to-understand (and sort of democratic) weekly focal point for pop music. Something for bands to aspire to appear on / fight against and want to fire-bomb.
Best Thing About The Current Music Industry: Cheerfully cheap CDs.
Turn Ons: Piña coladas and getting caught in the rain.
Turn Offs: Slap-bass and jazz flute.
Biggest Influences: Pixies, Pavement, Pet Shop Boys and our producer Paul of Sound. On top of that, twenty eventful years' of hopeless hard rock fandom.
My Favourite Person On TV Right Now Is: Ned 'Atomic' Boulting.
Childhood Heroes: Daley Thompson and David Lee Roth.
When I Was Younger I Wanted To Be: A man in a band with a record out on a label I love, and exciting young music journalists asking me what I wanted to be when I was younger. These days I aspire to be Han Solo or Spider-Man.
Last Album Bought: Bug by Dinosaur Jr. Again. So now I have it on vinyl, CD (twice) and (preposterously reissued) cassette. Not sure that it ever saw the light of day on mini-disc, but, if it did, consider me in the market for a copy. It still amazes me that our own album (Profit and Loss) should eventually come out on Freakscene Records. Freakscene! I can't believe it.
Last Song Listened To On MP3 Player: *Presses Shuffle* no shit. Breed by Nirvana Live at Reading 1992. Amazing. I don't care, I don't care, I don't care I don't care, I don't care, care if it's old!
The Music I'm Into Is: The music you'll be into next year.
Favourite Current Band: The new Cut Ups album came out last week. Pippa who sings with us gets a lead vocal on it which is great. You should definitely buy it. My favourite currant (with an 'A') band is Hundred Raisins (cheers).
My Favourite Drink Has To Be: Paid for by someone else. Or, alternatively, six for £5.
My Favourite Book(s) Are: The beautifully illustrated Folio Society set of H.G. Wells' 'Classics of Science Fiction'. Editions of the world's finest literature in a format worthy of the contents.
My Favourite Website Is: Our shop. The Winter Olympics' Church of Merch — Home. When I was a boy one of the best Christmas presents I ever got was a play Post Office, where you could swap sweets for stamps. Now, thanks to the internet, I get to run a slightly more grown up version.
My Favourite Item Of Clothing Is: I have a t-shirt from the show Friday Night Lights with 'Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose' written on the front. It seems impossibly popular. Often Americans cheer and clap when I walk into bars with it on. It makes me feel like Norm from Cheers.
My Favourite Shop Is: See above, or failing that Flashback Records (both of them) in North London, cool friendly people who aren't that bothered if you're cool. Which (having worked in one) is rare for record shops.
The Best Boredom Buster Is: My mother always told me that an active mind should never be bored. Form a band, write a book, make some terrible art. Failing that, pub.
The Best Film I Ever Saw Was: Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare aka: The Edge of Hell (1987) a hokey home-made horror starring Canadian rock warrior Jon Mikl Thor. I love it unironically and completely, and implore you to track down a copy. Here's what it says on the back of the box:
“Recording some new music in an isolated farmhouse, the band Triton gets more than they bargained for when something horrifying stirs in the darkness. Eternal evil haunts this place and the band members start turning into demons from Hell itself! After a day of making music – and making love – this band is starting to break up… one by one… limb by limb.”
The Worst Food Invented Is: Chocolate covered pretzels. Bags of these rank treats seem to get released every ten years to select 24 Hour garages, before being immediately discontinued and never spoken of again. Christ knows how stoned Cadbury's think the nation is to try and pull this shit, but the nation is not *that* stoned. See also the McDonalds McRib.
The First Thing I Do When I Wake Up Is: Apologise and try to find my glasses.
I Can't Leave The House Without: A compass my friend Katherine gave me. It's important to geographically and psychologically know where north is. Also, trousers.
I'm Well Known For: Never knowingly under-singing.
My Hobbies Are: Record shop bargain-bin dipping, non-competitive cross-country running and recording high-art hip-hop albums that no one will ever hear.
I Have A Passion For: Heavy metal. It makes Martin despair.
First Band Name: When I was a boy (and dinosaurs walked the Earth) we would spend weekends in Ceri Fisher’s parents’ cellar recording silly songs on bits of kit left around by his brother’s hippy freak-out band Frumnik Mol’m’lom. I would spend the week editing them into incredible lost tapes by bands called ‘The Fizzy Corporation’, ‘The Peasants Are Revolting’, ‘All Aboard The Eggbasket’ and try to sell them to girls at school. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Tomorrow I Will: Be filming a video for ‘Heavy Metal Ending’ with the band. We’re very lucky to have worked with some incredibly talented film-makers in the last year. It’s humbling that they take us seriously enough to give up their time and talents so freely, and hilarious to watch the ambition of their efforts become more and more grandiose. Somehow in this new one we’ve got our own plane.
My Biggest Aspiration: Is to give everybody in this band, or who has worked stupidly hard for this band, the day in the sunshine that they deserve. Even if it’s just one day. Or a bit of a day. Or half an hour on a big stage in a field somewhere.
I Think AltSounds is: Patient and kind. Thanks for your time.
For more information, check out: http://www.facebook.com/winterolympicsband?fref=ts
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