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VELVET
CRUSH
Ready
Steady GO! spoke
to Ric Menck from Velvet Crush on their last major British
tour promoting the brilliant second Creation Records album,
Teenage Symphonies To God. Since then, the band have left
Creation and released a number of classic albums on tiny indie
labels. Nowadays, Ric and Paul spend the bulk of their time
as session musicians (working a lot with Matthew Sweet) but
still make time to put out classic Velvet Crush recordings
every once in awhile.
Speaking to Ric was
so inspiring, the man is a music obsessive and his enthusiasm
for music genuinely moved me at the time. This was the most
pleasurable interview experience I have ever had. It's great
when a band can drop their ego, just let themselves go and
talk so openly about the things they love. Especially music.
Bands are often too scared to openly admit their influences,
for fear that lazy journalists will accuse them of copying
their idols. If you ever doubt that you take music far too
seriously you only have to hear how passionate Ric is to realise
you are not the only one.
Ric Menck is the wild'n'wacky,
eccentric, cartoon like character from Velvet Crush.
One of the best bands never to make it from America - FACT!
Hammering away on a stripped down to the bone drum kit he
rocks like some manic, goofy creation from the Muppet Show.
In between songs he strides up to the microphone for a bit
of friendly audience banter. He is the biggest nerd in town
but cool with it. Endearing and instantly loveable both at
the same time.
Why Velvet Crush are not bigger
than all that MTV fuelled shite that America spawns I'll never
know. Their first album was a collection of demos, their second
was a brilliant mix of country tinged blues and pure white
hot rock'n'roll but it never got the public acclaim it so
richly deserved. Ric says their label Creation openly
admit they fucked up and failed to promote the last
album properly due to Alan McGee's illness and the unsuspected
rapid rise to fame for label mates Oasis.
When talking to Ric you are immediately
impressed by his enviable enthusiasm for the cause and his
total devotion to music. Inspiring is too shallow a word to
describe my meeting with Ric! We spend ages talking about
all the greats and how Ric adores each and every one of them.
The Byrds (he talks about them as if he's a teenager in love!),
Beach Boys, Phil Spector, Country, Soul music. We can only
dream about the simple pleasure music this powerful can bring.
Such devotion shows the great divide between musician and
the media. The way Ric so eloquently talks about music, with
the starry eyed passion of a true fan is totally devoid of
the type of cynicism the music press tends to thrive on.
Since the release of the impeccably
brilliant and grossly under-rated album, Teenage Symphonies
To God, the band have been on a non-stop nine months and
counting world tour. A tour that has taken them all over the
world as well as their homeland America, playing alongside
Jesus and Mary Chain, Mazzy Star and Oasis.
It was great, 'cos I really
like their music" says Ric about playing with Oasis, "I
got on really well with Liam and Bonehead mostly, I didn't
see much of Noel 'cos his girlfriend was around and he was
mostly been in love!"
"I mean we could never
sound like Oasis if we tried but it was so inspirational to
see them because they were so commited to what they were doing.
To me it was the true spirit of rock'n'roll"
Velvet Crush are right now, America's
best kept secret. Whilst shite, bland, MTV hyped 'RAWK' bands
continue to sell millions. Velvet Crush have been forced to
linger in obscurity for far too long.
"In America it's really
important, if you want to appeal to a lot of people to get
on MTV and we aren't into the video medium that much. So we
sort of ignored it. We'd rather play one on one in clubs.
So I think it'll be a slower build there but we've sold a
lot of records and made tons of friends. I'd much rather play
in a club to people. We never gave a shit about being famous".
Ric says fame fucks you up in
the head and he doesn't think he could really handle it. He's
had the odd flirtation along the way and it's enough to realise
the craziness of it all.
"In Japan people chase
you around like we're big rock stars, it's fun for like three
days, then you wanna go out and get something to drink and
it's impossible. Like in Rhode Island, where we're from, everybody
there knows who I am and I feel I can't make it like five
feet without somebody hassling me and it's a kind of a bummer
you know? You're life doesn't get any better just because
you're famous. It's just superficial crap".
"My whole dream when
I was 14 and really started listening to rock'n'roll, I just
thought it would be so cool to make records and my biggest
ambition was to make records for a cool record company and
I thought it was great that people could hear your records
on the radio but I never put it together in my mind what fame
was. Like I didn't realise what a burden it is to people.
Now I'm 33 and if I really wanted to be famous I would have
tried a lot harder earlier on".
"In Velvet Crush we're
so goddamn lazy about all that stuff. The second the record
company tells us to do anything we do the complete opposite.
I always couldn't stand it when people we're trying to tell
me what to do in anything, at school, my parents. Maybe they
were right but I want to find out for myself, I don't want
people to tell me the way, it's boring that way".
 'Teenage
Symphonies...' sees Ric homing in on his strong country influences.
But it doesn't end there. The man is obsessed by anything
and everything!
"Not only Country but
Jazz Funk, Soul. All kinds of stuff. I'm really into the Beastie
Boys and the Roots who are this amazing hip hop band and I'm
really into Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and it'll all come out.
I like that band Cast. I used to love the La's. We played
with them one time and it was so much fun, we smoked so much
pot that night. I like that Heavy Stereo song. I love Teenage
Fanclub"'.
The magic ingredient with music
in Rics' eyes is SOUL.
'The important thing
about music, the thing that makes them last, is if they are
truly soulful. When you hear a really great song it cuts through
everything. It could be played on a synthesiser or a pedal
steel guitar or anything but what makes a record really classic
is that it has to have soul to it. It has to have feeling.
'Cos, what they are, records are a form of expression and
a way of communicating with people you know? And
I think people pick up a vibe off a record and they like the
way it sounds."
"It's like with Country,
when my father used to play it. (I thought) this is shit,
it's so square, these people are so terrible! I totally couldn't
get it. But than as I get older I thought it wasn't so terrible.
I thought this is white soul music, these guys are singing
from their hearts about real fucked up problems they have.
I mean, you can't get more soulful than Hank Williams".
What does POP music mean to you
and how important is it in your life?
"I guess, it's short
for popular, music that a lot of people like. That's about
it really. It's really important to me. I guess it's just
about everything really. I didn't have much of an identity.
The first time I remember like really getting in touch with
who I am was when I was getting into music, you know? I felt
really comfortable. The Beatles, the Byrds, they were just
like the coolest bands ever and I looked at the guys in the
pictures and I thought they just looked totally cool. In the
beginning I didn't really understand anything about it at
all but over the years. I collect records, I don't know...it's
my whole life I guess".
Why the TEENAGE angle to the
new LP, 'Teenage Symphonies to God'?
"Well it's mainly because
we're not teenagers at all any more. We're really far beyond
that but in a way, only recently I realised I wasn't a kid
any more. So those songs are sort of written I guess all about
not being young and realising for the first time that you're
not that young, you're not gonna rule the world and all that
stuff".
Why the Gene Clark cover 'Why
not your baby'?
"I don't know. I guess
I got into him when he was in the Byrds obviously. I think
it's because his voice kills me, it's really beautiful.
He's like Gram Parsons. He has this way that he sings, it
sounds so plaintive and melancholy. That song that we did,
'Why Not Your Baby', the first time I heard that I thought,
that is just the coolest fucking song".
Which do you prefer the hard
or soft music that adds to the variety to the VC album?
"Velvet Crush was sort
of meant to imply both, the words sounded good together. We
were really into both sides of it, you know? I like a lot
of stuff that's completely acoustic but I also grew up listening
to things like Mott The Hoople and Led Zeppelin. Everybody
seems to think the first album we had was a Big Star album
but it's not true for me because I was really into the Stones
and Led Zeppelin. Actually the first record I ever bought
was an Alice Cooper record".
What is your definition of soul
music?
"You know when you're
young, to a seventeen year old kid, punk rock music that's
like soul music, you know? And then you get older and you
maybe start to slow down a little bit and start listening
to other stuff. You know I got really into country music and
to me, I would like listen to George Jones and then I'd listen
to Wilson Pickett and it's the same sort of thing, they're
both completely putting it all out. I think soul music is
anything where somebody bears themselves makes themselves
vulnerable".
Are there any songs that you
hear make you want to cry?
 "Well
yeah a real lot. Uh, I think the last one I really remember
being really torn up to was Aretha Franklin singing, the um,
shit what's the name? The one that the Flying Burrito Brothers
do, or, I can't think of the title. It's a really, really
beautiful song. Aretha Franklin, I saw her on TV and it was
kind of weird because now I don't think she's quite as great
as she used to be but when she's singing this song you could
just tell that her voice was coming from God, was coming from
the heavens and going through her body and it really freaked
me out and made me cry at the thought that somebody could
actually do that".
What is your favourite track
on the new Velvet Crush album and why?
"Well I think um, maybe
'Why Not Your Baby' is actually my favourite track because
it was the first time were we got a real groove going and
I realised that's what we want to be doing. Stuff a bit more
like that, a little more slower, a little more groove orientated.
I guess that's one of my favourites".
Who does the striking Gene Clark
like vocals on 'Why Not Your Baby'?
"That's Paul. Yeah he's
also got a lot better as a singer. In the past three or four
years we've pretty much only been listening to country music
and soul music and it's only beginning to show and I'm really
happy about that 'cos I feel it helps us have way more depth,
you know?"
How do you know what is cool
about country music? How do you distinguish between your Dolly
Partons and your Gram Parsons?
"Maybe you'll get in
to George Jones eventually, I did through Gram (Parsons).
I didn't just go and buy Country albums 'cos I never knew
what to buy. Like you say, I would hear Dolly Parton and think,
this is not good! But then the funny thing is that eventually
I got one of the first records she ever made and it's really
great! Her early records are amazing. You know what else is
weird? When I first got into listening to music I just didn't
understand country music at all. It sounded like the most
uptight, bad stuff and as I got older I sort of realised woah!
The subtlety of it, the fact that is so completely free of
any irony. I could just really get into that".
Best thing about being in a band?
"Going to rehearsals
and closing your eyes. Well the most fun I ever have is when
we're working on the new songs and it all falls into place
and I love that more than anything else'.
Who are your true friends in
the music business?
"Paul Chastain (VC singer)
who I've been playing in bands with for a really long time
and also this guy named Matthew Sweet. He has a bunch of albums
out. He and I spent a lot of time discovering music and talking
about music together. Those guys I really respect what they
think and I know if I was doing something they thought was
crap then they would tell me".
Ric and the VC boys recently
had a chance in a lifetime meeting with one of their heroes,
Roger McGuinn of the Byrds. A woman they knew from
an American record company was a best friend of Rogers wife,
Camilla and for her 20th Wedding Anniversary she got Roger
to play an acoustic set and Velvet Crush to do an acoustic
set. Ric excitedly takes up the story.
"That was a blast. We backed
Roger playing seven or eight of the Byrds hits. Good Lord,
man! I was floating up above the room! I'm not usually intimidated
by stuff but I was so intimidated. I couldn't even open my
mouth! Right now I could make eight pages of questions or
things I wanted to say to the guy and I'm standing right next
to the guy and I couldn't think of a thing to say. He
was a really cool guy and it was really fun the thing he said
afterwards, 'Man, that sounds so much like the Byrds' and
I thought 'Wow! That's the best', I couldn't get a higher
compliment than that. He's just as good now as he used to
be. He took the solo on 'Eight Miles High' and I just had
a boner, it was so hot! For weeks and weeks afterwards I couldn't
stop thinking about it. He thought our last record was really
great, he sent me this letter saying we should be really proud
of ourselves. That's what I live for. Something like getting
respect from someone like that".
What did Ric think of Roger?
"He's really quiet and
he's kind of weird. He's really into electronics. Our manager
had this TV and he was saying, 'my TV won't work, it's fucked
up' and Roger says, 'All you have to do is turn it on and
off a hundred times and it'll work' and we're looking at him
like he's fucking weird and he goes home and turns it on and
off a hundred times and it works!"
"He's really into electronics
and in his house apparently he has built this really weird
amusement park in the back and he has all these weird gadgets
and stuff. He's an interesting guy".
Ric says he can't pick his favourite
Byrd or even a classic Byrd period but he admits the guy who
always looked the coolest was Michael Clarke, "Him and
Brian Jones were the coolest looking rock stars of all time".
No one can argue with that! It's
fair to say Ric is a massive fan of the Byrds. Velvet Crush
have covered a couple of tracks for b-sides and limited edition
singles. The best of which can be found on the single Hold
Me Up. The band do a stormin' countrified cover of 'One
Hundred Years From Now' complete with a roving pedal steel
and reverential vocals from Paul. We talk about two other
heroes Brian Wilson and Phil Spector. The album
title, 'Teenage Symphonies From God' is a famous quote Brian
Wilson once used to describe his music.
"Brian was just a classical
music composer and what he was capable of doing was beyond
what most people were capable of doing. It's the same with
Phil Spector. I mean, they're crazy but what they get out
onto record is just simply beyond what most people are capable
of. 'Good Vibrations', you can take on so many levels. On
one level it seems like a simple pop song but if you break
it down to the elements it's the most elaborately constructed
thing in the world. He took every influence he had and poured
it into the music to create something that was new and other
worldly. I think that's his finest moment. Phil Spector, the
records sound as great now as they did then. As a musician,
if you take these songs apart, the chords man that he's put
together, they're fucking out there! I mean it's not really
as simple as it sounds. That in itself is a genius thing.
To be able to make something sound so obvious but in reality
it's not obvious at all".
Finally, Ric talks to RSG about
his musical roots. Who first got him hooked onto music and
who made the biggest impact on him?
"Well in the beginning
I was just into anything that was fucking loud and insane.
The first thing I really got into was Alice Cooper. Like his
early records. I thought this guy on stage with a snake, I
thought this is outrageous. I think the first thing that happened
was I started seeing groups for the first time on TV and I
thought, 'this is rock music' I think in my head I thought
it was all these guys that were insane. Then I saw bands and
I thought 'this is boring' as a really young kid. So I really
got into Alice Cooper and Kiss. Then I think I liked Led Zeppelin
and stuff like that".
"Then all my friends
were listening to the Beatles and I realised right away that
they were just better than everybody else. They sing better,
they write better songs. From there on out I became obsessed
with songs and stuff. Then I'd say at the time I was 15 or
16 I started to read about these groups like the Ramones and
Sex Pistols and stuff and I thought it was so exciting because
everything on the radio in America was shit. I mean totally
shit. I thought it was so cool that all these people were
saying. 'fuck you to big rock stars' and 'you're boring and
this is a bunch of shit' and I thought that was the coolest
thing. So I got heavily into punk rock when I was 14,15,16
and then that's when I decided I was going to be in a band."
"I was no good in sport,
I was no good at girls. I was no good at school. I was like
a failure in life. A fucking loser, I still am basically but
that's when I decided I wanted to be in a band. I became obsessed
with music and I wanted to know what any band sounded like.
I got bored with punk rock after awhile too because I thought
these people are just as bad as everyone else. They all turned
into rock stars as well. They all had their attitudes and
punk rock suddenly had to wear the right clothes and I thought
this isn't what it was about. It was about expression and
all this."
"That's about the time
I started putting bands together. It was fun to bash out chords
at first but then it was boring after awhile to sit there
and scream. So once again I realised that the Beatles were
the greatest and I wanted to work on songs and write good
songs. That's were I still am to this day, just trying to
write good songs".
"I think the great thing
is with music it never goes away, you have it forever and
anytime you're bummed you can put on a record and it really
can save your life. It's the best drug you can ever take".
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