Interview: Nigel Mogg, The Quireboys

TIME TO PARTY…

Those rollicking rock n' roll merchants THE QUIREBOYS have indeed made their mark on the British rock scene this year. A couple of hit singles and a well received debut album A Bit Of What You Fancy has launched them into the 'big time.' No longer restricted to the confines of the sleazy Soho scene the boys have packed their bags for pastures greener. Success after success – from the Marquee to Hammersmith Odeon in the space of 6 months! A prestigious Stones support slot in Newcastle and now the honour of playing Donington for the first time. Their pace of progress is phenomenal!

Bassist Nigel Mogg spoke to RIFF RAFF on the hotline from Boston USA and reaffirmed the situation.

"Well, it was like a dream come true really. Spike's dad rang up Spike and told him that the Stones had added one more date in Newcastle. Spike reckoned that we could do it so we phoned up Sharon (Osborne) and she sorted it all out for us. That's the power of Mrs O for you!'

Sharon Osborne is probably one of the best managers in the business. Management these days is so important, isn't it?

"It's one of the main things really. It's probably more important than the music! If you haven't got a good manager you'll get nowhere. EMI, our record company, they've been really good too! We were a bit worried at the beginning with what they were going to be like and all that sort of stuff, but on the whole it's worked out really well."

What sort of venues have the band been playing Stateside?

"First we started off doing some club dates on our own. Sometimes they were practically empty and other times they were completely packed out. We've been opening for a band called LA Guns who are quite big on the live circuit. So we played some really big shows on the east coast."

What sort of buzz have The Quireboys got out there?

"It's quite good, but the country's so f**kin' big any sort of buzz is restricted to a few towns. In England we had the whole country going ape-shit when we started! Stateside New York and Toronto are pretty happening places for the band. In fact we've gone gold in Canada already.”

How much radio-play are you getting?

"We had a hell of a lot with Seven O'Clock and now we're trying to push I Don't Love You Anymore. In fact we do quite a lot of radio station interviews because we sound so different to the rest of the stuff they play all the time! We're booked up until December anyway; touring Europe with Whitesnake, then we come back to America in September."

Do you miss the London scene at all?

"No, not really. I suppose it's exactly the same!"

What was the band reaction to the Hammy Odeon show you did back in April with the brass and string sections?

"Yeah, we enjoyed it. We'd done two Town and Country dates before that so we felt it was time to do something a bit different! I’m not sure if we'd do it again because it was so much hassle – it was really hard work. I think it was worth doing just for the shock value. We had to do it really in order to build up our reputation! They're thinking of putting us on at Wembley Arena at Christmas."

What? Headlining? Gulp!

"Yeah, I'm not too sure about that myself. I think we could do it, but I don't think we should do it just yet! It's far too big."

What sort of warm-up shows will you be doing for Donington?

"We'll be doing a festival in Ireland with Aerosmith – that's our warm-up really! Aerosmith did ask us to support them at their possible Marquee warm-up, but we opted out for a variety of reasons. Donington is going to be good for us because MTV are going to be doing a live Headbangers Ball. The whole show is going to be good for our credibility, especially in America! I'm looking forward to it a lot because it's the best rock festival you can possibly play. Donington is gonna be one hell of a show!"

Mark Crampton
Riff Raff
July, 1990

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