FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
As nasty as they wanna be
Don't Runaway(s) - despite subscribing to the Girlschool of rock 'n' roll,
Fluffy have a mew that's worse than their biteFluffy with Pluto and the Earthquake Pills
At the Republik
Friday, February 28 and Sunday, March 2 (all-ages)Okay, okay, forget what I said about folk women last week. They no longer scare me. Dar Williams turned out to be an extremely approachable and personable individual (i.e. I think I could take her), and on further pontification, aren't folkies by their very nature (genetic flaw, whatever) supposed to be pacifists?
No, this week it's punk rock women. Or it was. Mini-skirted, three-chord vixens who spit and swear and drink and puke and are comfortable enough with their own sexuality to make any man feel like a boy. (Not that the trip back in this case is a long and arduous journey.) But tracking down Fluffy at an English recording studio where they're busy mixing b-sides for their next single once again puts an addlec mind at ease.
"You don't have to be an asshole," explains Fluffy bassist Helen Storer when queried about the British band's inyerface, leather-and-mace image which is in direct contrast with the polite and patient way she fields questions from a doofus.
It's a lesson she's been lucky enough to learn from the best. Or the worst. Since the loud and purroud four-piece formed back in 1994 they've been on a fast track that's seen them open for such original (old and pathetic, whatever) '70s North American and British punk rock heroes as Iggy Pop, the Buzzcocks and the Sex Pistols. While Storer specifically avoided any close contact with ugly Iggy because she'd previously had bad experiences with her heroes "shattering (her) image of them," a month-long tour of Japan with the Pistols made it impossible to not meet the true Mr. Rotten. And he didn't disappoint.
"He was as obnoxious as you would want him to be," laughs Storer. "He was Johnny Rotten. Until you got to know him and then he was actually quite a nice guy."
It's not surprising that most of the British bands Fluffy have shared the stage with are from an long-gone era in that country's recorded output. Their full-length debut Black Eye (produced by Bill Price, whose past credits include the Clash, Pistols and Guns 'N' Roses) is as close to Oasis and Blur as both bands are to an original idea. Fluffy seem to go against the grain of what the isle's popular music machine is pumping out and propping up these days - and has been for the past 15 years for that matter.
"There's a lot of good young underground punk bands in England but none are getting signed to major labels. That kind of music will always be around," she says dispelling the misconception that they and the old guard are the only ones still punkin' it up back home.
"It's all boys with bowl cuts ripping off the Beatles and stealing Beatles' melodies. Not to say that it's all bad, just that we're not interested in making that kind of music. We're more into the CBGB's type of rock 'n' roll.
"At first there was a bit of fascination with us because of the whole tabloid mentality of the British music industry and the fact that we were four women playing this type of music. That's gone now. The press doesn't pay much attention to us these days."
But I guess that's what happens when you're not sugary or Spice (Girls) and - despite how you appear - actually quite nice.
Back To Main Contents
Back To This Issue Table of Contents