{"id":5425,"date":"2013-11-01T14:10:16","date_gmt":"2013-11-01T14:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/?p=5425"},"modified":"2018-02-08T19:26:31","modified_gmt":"2018-02-08T19:26:31","slug":"kirk-brandon-by-richard-jock-watson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/kirk-brandon-by-richard-jock-watson\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirk Brandon by Richard \u2018Jock\u2019 Watson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"jock\"<\/a>Richard \u2018Jock\u2019 Watson<\/strong> started the infamous Limited Conspiracy Fanzine<\/strong> in his hometown of Glasgow in the early 80s at the tender age of 16 or 17. All these years later he has kindly offered to share selected pieces from it with Eyeplug<\/strong> and it\u2019s readers so that folks can re-discover what would otherwise be a lost culture of pre-internet, pre PC, tablet or Smart Phone Fanzine Culture,<\/em> that was present in every outpost all over the UK and beyond. All of it driven with passion, obsession and alienation on often borrowed pennies, on stolen typewriters and moody photocopiers and a \u2018DIY not EMI\u2019 love for the bands of that time. Limited Conspiracy<\/strong> interviewed some pivotal and influential Artists, some of them sadly no longer with us. We pay tribute to the pioneers, grafters and innocence of this Fanzine era that has been all but lost to history.<\/p>\n

Kirk Brandon<\/strong> from The Pack\/Theatre of Hate<\/strong> had a newly formed band called Spear of Destiny <\/strong>with a new LP and sound, Richard \u2018Jock\u2019 Watson <\/strong>spoke to him in the early 1980s. \u00a9 LC.<\/strong><\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong> Could you tell us about the New LP?<\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> The new LP is very round and it\u2019s got a hole in the middle and it plays at 33rpm (Spoken in a very bad Scottish accent,  I instantly knew Mr Brandon was a joker at heart). But on with the show – No seriously! Actually it\u2019s a very jolly little Album, nothing too depressing on it!<\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong> What\u2019s the difference between this and \u2018The Grapes of Wrath?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> It\u2018s played very well and it\u2019s more me that it\u2019s ever been. I\u2019ve finally got it together and it sounds like what I\u2019ve always wanted to hear, it\u2019s what Theatre of Hate should really have sounded like.<\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong> Do you still listen to the old Theatre of Hate<\/em> records?<\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> I don\u2019t sit around thinking about what I used to do, I just sit around and write new songs!<\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong> Do you care about having hits?<\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> No I don\u2019t care, we get really good numbers at our Gigs now, the people are coming and we\u2019re on the way up again, so I have no complaints!<\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong> You seem to be constantly Touring?<\/p>\n

No we\u2019re not, well not really, that a fallacy put forward again by the NME, their excuse to have a dig. We\u2019ve not toured in a long time, we have done 15 dates a while ago and now we\u2019re doing these 10 dates and that\u2019s it for a long time. Most people tour England at least a couple of times, but you don’t listen to the Papers and what they say \u2013 they are irrelevant, they don\u2019t bother me in the slightest!<\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong> What do you listen to in your spare time?<\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> I listen to Ska Music, I love Ska and Blue Beat. I also like Church Music, Robert Johnson of the Delta Blues as they call him, I also like Prison Music!<\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong> The Ska thing does that include Two-Tone?<\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> Well yes as well as the original Blue Beat, but Two-Tone I really like!<\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong> What is your connection with Boy George?<\/em><\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> Well I helped put his band together for him, Jon Moss<\/em> and another friend of mine \u2013 I gave them some time and the rest is history really!<\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong> Are you not sad that Culture Club<\/em> has had all of that chart success and that you haven\u2019t?<\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> No, I see it this way, I told them they would be big, the biggest thing in the world as far as \u2018Pop Music\u2019 is concerned. They didn\u2019t believe me! But they got a lot more bottle than most of these people and actually think a lot, they are not cabbages you know!<\/p>\n

RW: <\/strong> So who is?<\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> Well a lot of people allow themselves to be.<\/p>\n

RW<\/strong>: Do you mix with other \u2018Pop Stars\u2019?<\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> Well I don\u2019t, but I go to The Palace <\/em>(Camden Nightspot) because I know the DJ, Rusty Egan,<\/em> he is a friend of mine. I steer clear of most Clubs that I went to years ago because I meet a lot of cranks, there\u2019s a lot of potential aggro, I know the management of The Palace,<\/em> I have done for years, I used to go when it was called the Music Machine!<\/em><\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong> Do you like Scotland?<\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> Yes, Glasgow is the best gig in the world, so many people say it, but I am saying it\u2019s true. Glasgow is always a wonderful atmosphere, the audience are nice people, which makes a change.<\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong> The last time you played in Ayr, there was a guy in the audience giving you stick. What was that all about?<\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> Yes it was some ignorant bloke in the audience, he was sort of maintaining that I had \u2018sold out\u2019 or something? So I had to point out that to even be in Ayr that night had cost a lot of money. As \u2018TOH\u2019 side of things progressed the debts and costs got bigger and bigger, I\u2019m not whinging, and in the end, it became crippling. So I folded the whole thing up, I had to do a deal with the Record Company otherwise it was all over. It costs money to do these places. I had to start Spear of Destiny, you see \u2018TOH\u2019 was maybe sometimes slightly innocent, they didn\u2019t want to just get on and play music, maybe even their heads got a little big and they couldn\u2019t be told! I dunno? (shrugs).<\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong>  What about the future?<\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> Well I would like to produce bands, because we\u2019ve done a lot, started off bands, we\u2019re quite responsible and i think we have done quite a lot. Most of it we don\u2019t talk about. I\u2019ll carry on for a few more years or until such times as I can take it no further, just like TOH and The Pack and other bands that I have been in. But this thing is going to get big, so I\u2019m told because people enjoy listening to it, it\u2019s not commercial, but it\u2019s good!<\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong> What\u2019s your strongest track, Liberator?<\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> It\u2019s a good song and there are others that are as good as it, it\u2019s all good. I can\u2019t differentiate because I write it all, so it’s up to you to decide what is good and what isn\u2019t!<\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong> What about the next S.O.D single?<\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> The Record Company are trying for \u2018Young Men\u2019.<\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong> Do you have no say?<\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> Yes, but it\u2019s such an involved Business and so much lying goes on. It\u2019s impossible sometimes! I gave up working with the A&R department, we just go and play to people and make records for their enjoyment. That’s all I was ever in it for, to entertain. There are other things of course, but this is what it\u2019s about! I like the Studio, but I love playing live. I used to Tour 235 days a year, we Tour Europe but not America, well not yet. There was some talk of it, but I don\u2019t know!<\/p>\n

RW:<\/strong> Are you bothered by what people in the Audience say?<\/p>\n

KB:<\/strong> No I\u2019m not bothered myself, but it is a bit sad that the guy in Ayr did not want to understand. I suppose he will keep his hardcore mentality or whatever they call it these days. In a few years, he will fill bitter that he has missed the boat somewhere as far as his own life is concerned. You can\u2019t dwell on the past, never!<\/p>\n

* Kirk Brandon is currently Touring with various Spear of Destiny\/Theatre of Hate\/The Pack sets, check out www.kirkbrandon.com<\/a> for all latest info.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KB: The new LP is very round and it\u2019s got a hole in the middle and it plays at 33rpm (Spoken in a very bad Scottish accent, si I instantly knew Mr Brandon was a joker at heart). But on with the show – No seriously! Actually it\u2019s a very jolly little Album, nothing too depressing on it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":5438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,6,97,128,117,73,71,92],"tags":[121,847,851,843,849,850,848],"series":[],"class_list":["post-5425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eyeplugs","category-features","category-heroes","category-hot-plugs","category-icons","category-interviews","category-music","category-post-punk","tag-eyeplug","tag-kirk-brandon","tag-limited-conspiracy-fanzine","tag-richard-jock-watson","tag-spear-of-destiny","tag-the-pack","tag-theatre-of-hate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5425"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8566,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5425\/revisions\/8566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5425"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=5425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}