ANGELS FEVER

Rip It Up, Issue 173, 1 December 1991, Page 14

ANGELS FEVER

As far as rock acts go down this end of the world, they don't come much bigger than the Angels. Cited by the likes of Guns N’ Roses and Motley Crue as a major influence, the Angels have been an integral part of the Australasian rock scene since their formation in 1976.

Now releasing their tenth album, Red Back Fever, the band show no sign of relenting in their assault on the public conciousness. In a rare quiet moment, vocalist Doc Neeson was cornered and forced fo answer a few burning questions, like why is there such an obsession with spiders on the new album? ; “It wasn't so much with spiders as with what spiders do, so it was more with sex and life and death. The point is that the female redback kills her partner after she makes love to him, and that seemed likean interesting idea for rock and roll.” Rock and rollis certainly a fair description of Red Back Fever, which is a very simple, direct album with a strong R'n'B feel to it, almost a return to roots for the Angels, although not deliberately according to Neeson. “| get a real bluesy feel off it too, and | think there’s a lot of Rhythm and Blues stuff through this album but not from any special descision, just from the chemistry of the songwriting and the way the people involved worked.” : The next stage of the work has been one the Angels are well accustomed to: touring. They make it here in late December, while in

Australia this time around things have been a little different in that a DA of the album was played before the band came on stage, which seems like a strange idea. ] “Well that's the Angels for you! No, it worked out very well, we play the album and extracts from the book by the redback spider expert Randolph Echt. Rick our guitarist found the book which dates back to 1904, so we've got excerpts on the female redback and album tracks which we play before we go on stage. Everybody gets to hear the album so when we're playing new stuff, the crowd aren't hearing it cold, they’ve got some context for it." Not all of Neeson's time has been devoted to work around the album though, he’s somehow found time o a little extra-curricular work. “I've done a year’s psychology papers by correspondence. | like to keep my brain ticking over and I'm interested in that subject because I'm interested in how people behave. Up onstage you get to see some prefty extreme examples of human behaviour when you look out into the audience, actually | suppose the audience get to see the same when

they look at the stage!”. One of the more unusual ' examples of behaviour from the Angels camp has been the emergence of an off-duty band who play covers, and who will let anyone sing with them for $10! : “Well, we've got a band which is our jamming band, it means we can play, but without having to worry about the whole Angels fouring machine going out on the road. We call it Youse Guys because a fan once came up to us and said ‘Last time | saw youse guys, you were shithouse, but this time you really carved it., and it sort of stuck. Its just a jam band really, we play old blues or whatever. Its a good way to relax and be able to play whatever we want.” Covers bands seem to be taking over the Australian music scene though, and original bands are finding it hard to get a shot. This is particulary bad for the classic pub. rock circuit which has produced Cold Chisel, Johnny Diesel, Kings of the Sun and of course the Angels themselves through to the likes of the Johnnys, but now seems to consist of nothing but Doors covers bands. . ; ~ “There's a lot of tribute bands here, there’s even two Angels bands on the road at the moment! | don't know why there’s so many covers bands, except maybe because if's always so tough for original bands that people end up in covers bands because it's easy money. Some are very good at being covers bands, but to me, bands who play covers are on their way to becoming

original if they're any good, so if's just a way of working and enjoying your roofs. | don't like seeing tribute bands get all the work, but | guess there’s a market for the stuff. Most of the bands are aimed at rock groups, which indicates there’s a market for that sort of music, but radio aren't reflecting that.” The Angels have definitely shown support fo young original acts, even to the extent of putting their tracks on the B-side of the ‘Dogs Are Talking’ single. Neeson is pleased to hear that the bands featured in New

Zealand, Nine Livez and Shihad, hpvg both gone on fo release

singles and experience some chart success.

“Yeah, that happened here too. On the back of ‘Dogs’ was Baby Animals who are doing really well over here and they've just got an international deal. | think its relly important that you put something back, basically you've got to recycle things and give new groups a start, because that's what keeps rock and roll going. Its like being a farmer who dosen't put anything back into

the soil, he just keeps taking from it and the result is nothing can grow. These ‘Golden Hits' radio stations are like tribute bands in a way, they don't want to take a chance on anything fresh so they just let others make a song a hit so they can one day call it a golden oldie and play it then. | think it really important for groups or anyone who's been in the industry for a while to help up-and-coming acts as otherwise it’s just like being a parasite, eating up what feeds you.” MAURICE JAMES