ROCK’N’KNOLL

Rip It Up, Issue 204, 1 August 1994, Page 18

ROCK’N’KNOLL

ite mwfe

The photographer turns up at the house where Jordan Luck is staying. Jordan is sunbathing out front. He's already a little drunk. Jordon wants all the photos taken in the house — he jumps into a cot and plays with kids' toys. He dances around to Cypress Hill and then steals the camera off the photographer. It's time to take him back to the record company but Jordan can't remember where it is and even if he could he couldn't put a sentence together to tell you.

It was at this point that I was supposed to interview him. It’s decided that it would be better to interview him tomorrow. At ten the next morning I’m waiting for Jordan and Dave Gent the bassist to turn up. They’re only 30 minutes late and Jordan doesn’t look too worse for wear. The first question is asked not by me but Jordan “Have you heard the album? What do you think of it? You don’t like it?” I change the topic rapidly. So he asks me again. There is no way to avoid the question. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think it sounds, urn, sort of 80s . . . “

“It sounds like the Cars. You’re probably right. I don’t think we’re going to sound like a 90s band all of a sudden. But you think it’s an 80s rip off?” asks Dave accusingly.

“What 80s band do we sound like?” asks Jordan, not totally nicely. Shit. Think quick. “Like early Dance Exponents?” I offer hopefully. “Oh that's alright then. We don’t mind ripping ourselves off.” Phew.

The most surprising thing about the interview is that it’s Dave and not Jordan who does all the talking. Jordan sits there nodding, smoking and agreeing with everything. It even goes so far that even when I direct a question about Jordan at Jordan, Dave answers. I can’t help thinking that Dave is Jordan’s secret mum, justifying her poor recalcitrant son.

Observe Dave explaining the postponement of the interview.

“I mean he comes over for the day — sees

that Vodka is cheap at duty free. ‘l'll have half a bottle of that’ he thinks. The record company stresses out but what do they expect? He still writes songs. It’s because of the corporate machine, because they’re a business they don’t behave like that and bands have become part of the machinery as opposed to the music. Why should we justify how we act?" Jordan nods, says “you’re dead right” half

album would have come out the same time as the “Grassy Noel Xmas Tour.” Jordan laughs: “You would think that wouldn’t you.” “We thought that at the time. But it takes a long time to go through the corporate company and get things out,” says Dave. Jordan: “Plus we piss around a lot.” On the album the guitars feedback and riffout and hum and buzz and noodle and do tre-

“We don’t mind ripping ourselves off. ”

way through, and begins a story. “It was like the year I was completely straight ...” Dave continues; “We bet Jordan $2,500 each that he couldn’t stay straight for a year. We of course were completely pissed at the time. And he did. He sat around doing nothing but listening to CDs and people were commenting on how weird and out of it he was. I suppose that’s your reputation proceeding you.” “Sometimes Jordan’s drinking really annoys me. I was fucking drunk as an idiot on New Year’s — playing one string all night. Dave Dobbyn said he was going to hit me over the head with his guitar I was so appalling. I’d be a hypocrite to say anything about Jordan’s drinking.” “I find the drinking a problem now,” admits Jordan, “because I haven’t been drinking recently. My worst thing is that I forget things or turn up really late which always pisses people off.” Their fifth album, Grassy Knoll is also turning up late. One would have thought the

bly solos all over the place. The vocals sound like they always did. Dave’s explanation of the album goes like this:

“It’s like our first album was just Brian playing guitar and we did Something Beginning With C with just Brian playing as well. Real pop hits. Then for our second album we got more guitarists in like Chris Sheehan [now the Starlings] and now for Grassy Knoll we got a bunch of guitarists in.

surely must be very disappointed about it. “NO! I found it even stronger," shouts Jordan emphatically if not quite grammatically.

“We’re successful in New Zealand because people know what they’re going to get when they see us. All those crappy old hits and a bunch of old drunks on stage. Bands make sense in their own environment and that’s why we can play all around the country. We play in Australia and the audiences go ‘What the fuck is this?’ We’re not a weird band at all but they seem to think so.”

Jordan then, seemingly at random, begins talking about an interview in Rip It Up where the writer wrote that Chris Sheehan [the Starlings] would rather cut off his hand than play ‘l’ll Say Goodbye’. “There’s no way Chris would ever say that, we’re still mates.”

Dave even played in the Starlings when he was in the UK. And Dave’s final and conclusive piece of evidence against the accuracy of the comment is that Chris Sheehan actu-

“Personally I don’t think going to Australia was a good move. ”

It’s exactly the same as it was ten years ago."

“Grassy Knoll is a lot harder and more guitar orientated — we thought Something Beginning With C was just too lightweight. They wouldn’t even release it in Australia.” They’ve been in Australia for the past year except for Dave who has just returned to New Zealand not entirely content. “Personally I don’t think going to Australia was a good move. The live scene wasn’t as good as it was in the 80s. You get a bit disillusioned driving nine hours to play a gig to 20 people. It gets you down a bit.” They haven’t had any success overseas at all — either in the UK or Australia. They

ally wrote ‘Whatever Happened To Tracy?’. Dave: “Barry was in the Exponents and the Starlings and then in the Jesus and Mary Chain. He’s just loving it all. People don’t care where they’ve been in the past.” Jordan: “It’s like being Balmain . . “Or Souths.”

And away we go. Half an hour or so later the sports discussion ends with an argument about whose song they’re going to use as the Auckland Warrior’s theme. Jordan sings his ‘Warriors, warriors, warriors . . . ‘ “It’s Clannad! It’s just bullshit,” critiques Dave and he’s right.

“We’re successful in New Zealand because people know what they’re going to get when they see us. All those crappy old hits”

Then we move on to the Auckland water shortage and Dave explains that it isn’t because of mismanagement or drought but because the bottom of the water reservoire had to be painted and so of course they had to empty it out first. I’m not quite sure if he’s joking. Dave and I explain Shortland Street to Jordan who is still living in Australia. “We should try to get on Shortland Street when we release ‘Don’t Say Goodbye’ [a duet on their new album with Trish from the Clouds, which is planned as the third single] . They’ve got this girl singer on it at the moment and we could get her to do Trish’s part and we’ll be the backing band!” Shortland Street writers please take note. We then talk about Annie and Meredith and Jordn interrupts, rather abstractly, with “But do the viewers get the joke?” And then adds “Give him some real juicy shit about us, Dave.” “I can’t think of any —- you were naked at “Christchurch?” “No. Oh yeah, but I was thinking about Mountain Rock.” “I’m well endowed aren’t I?” Jordan inquires of me politely. I’m not 100% keen on finding out and as I casually jog from the room I turn to catch Dave’s final comment.

“If you can think up any good rock and roll stories chuck them in. You can make up anything you want.”

DARREN HAWKES