english > Peter Coyne (THE GODFATHERS)

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Peter Coyne (THE GODFATHERS)

1. First of all I would like to tell you that I'm very happy that you come to Croatia again and ask you to tell us how it all start?

Peter Coyne: The Godfathers have toured Croatia twice before - but never with the original line-up of the band. I guess the promoter of the Rokaj festival heard we were back together again and invited us to play, so we accepted. We are all very much looking forward to rocking Croatia together. It's going to be a blast!!

2. The Godfathers have reunited their original line-up after so many years. How do you feel now when you play all your great songs again?

Peter Coyne: It feels absolutely wonderful playing great songs like 'I Want Everything', 'Birth School Work Death' and 'Walking Talking Johnny Cash Blues' with all the 5 guys who actually wrote them. We are all getting an enormous buzz from playing together on-stage again and are really enjoying the whole experience of being in The Godfathers. The Godfathers always had a fantastic reputation as one of the best live bands in the world and we don't intend disappointing anybody who comes to see us play now. The concerts we've played so far this year in the UK, Spain, Greece, Belgium and Austria have been extremely well received, the audiences love to see us play our rock and roll.

3. You all get together to promote remastered and expanded version of your first album "Hit by Hit". Do you play only songs from that album or from others, too?

Peter Coyne: The Godfathers are playing what we consider to be the very best material from the 3 albums the original line-up of the band recorded together - 'Hit By Hit', 'Birth School Work Death' and 'More Songs About Love And Hate'. So our current live set is stuffed with rock and roll classics as well as a few surprises. I can't say anymore - you will have to come to see us to find out the whole story!

4. Can we expect your next record?

Peter Coyne: At the moment we are only promoting the expanded 2 CD re-issue of our debut album 'Hit By Hit'. We are having discussions at present about whether we should record a new album together or not. We are all enjoying being Godfathers again, so who knows. Nothing is impossible.

5. What were you all doing in the meantime?

Peter Coyne: I can only speak for myself. I got married to a lovely Italian woman called Silvana/I traveled the world/I was the singer in The Germans for about a year/I wrote my first novel called 'Black Cat Nine Lives' - which I hope to get published next year.

6. Tell us something about The Sid Presley Experience and The Germans?

Peter Coyne: The Sid Presley Experience and The Germans were both great rock and roll bands. The Sid Presley Experience were very successful right from the start in the UK with great reviews for our debut single 'Public Enemy Number One'/ 'Hup 2 3 4' and a live appearance on British national TV on a famous show called The Tube. But my brother Chris and I grew sick and tired of constantly arguing with the other 2 members. So we fired them, recruited guitarists Kris Dollimore and Mike Gibson and drummer George Mazur and immediately formed The Godfathers. It was proved to be the best move we ever made. Godfathers' guitarist Kris Dollimore phoned me in about 2003 and invited me to form a band with him and Rat Scabies from The Damned on drums, which became The Germans. We wrote amazing songs together but Rat Scabies was very lazy and did not want to tour or record. So after a year together we split.

6. When they played in Zagreb 1994. I can remember, apart from that it was very very very good gig, that Peter had a very bad flu and he almost couldn't sing. Do you remember anything from that gig?

Peter Coyne: Yeah, it was a sold out concert at the Dom Sportova. The Godfathers were probably the first international band to tour Croatia after the war had finished - both Public Enemy and Nirvana had turned that tour down before us. Kurt Cobain said he didn't want to get shot - very ironic as the poor bastard shot himself a little while afterwards. It was a fantastic tour and the Croatian people loved the rock and roll sound of The Godfathers. We had a great time.

7. I'm in love with Gone to Texas, since the first time I heard it, that so un-typical song for the band. Who wrote it and who gave the idea?

Peter Coyne: My brother Chris and I wrote the instrumental 'Gone To Texas' when we were in The Sid Presley Experience and then recorded it later on with The Godfathers. It was inspired by the spaghetti western music that composer Ennio Morricone wrote for Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood films like 'A Fistfull of Dollars' and 'The Good, The Bad And The Ugly'. Our version turned out great, we were very pleased with it. 'Gone To Texas' is on the expanded version of 'Hit By Hit'.

8. Do you have time to listen music from other bands? According to you, which are the best albums released so far this year?

Peter Coyne: I can't answer that as I don't buy new music - maybe that is the answer. I am too busy catching up on all the great music from the 60's, 70's and 80's that I never bought in the first place. Apart from a few honorable exceptions like The White Stripes most modern music sounds like rubbish to me.

9. If you knew back then when you started your career what you know today, would you have changed anything?

Peter Coyne: No - I would not change a single thing. Events in life, for good or for the bad, all happen for a reason.

10. Which do you prefer, cd, vinyl or mp3?

Peter Coyne: Personally I prefer vinyl for the sleeve artwork and CD for sound/convenience. But I don't really care what actual format I listen to music on as long as the music is great.

11. What do you think about "MySpace" as service to promote yourself?

Peter Coyne: MySpace is a great way for people to communicate with their favourite bands and for the bands to instantly communicate with their fans. Check out www.myspace.com/theoriginalgodfathers - it's rocking, man!! Please leave us a message - we read them all. If you are a fan of The Godfathers look up our brand new website www.godfathershq.com - you won't be disappointed.

12. As far as I know, the only "official" cover you did is "Cold Turkey". Are there any song that you would like to cover and any artist that you would like to play with?

Peter Coyne: The Godfathers have covered many songs by other artists over the years. 'How Does It Feel' by The Creation was on our 'Unreal World' album and there are amazing live versions of The Sex Pistols 'Anarchy In The UK' and The Ramones 'Blitzkrieg Bop' on the recently re-released 2 CD version of 'Hit By Hit'. At the moment we are having a lot of fun playing our own material - but there are 1 or 2 songs by other people I'd really like to perform. Maybe we will get round to playing them soon. Apart from The Godfathers there are no other bands I'd like to be in - we are actually very, very good.

13. Can you tell us what kind of set list can we expect on Rokaj fest?

Peter Coyne: I'm not going to tell you what actual songs we will be playing at the Rokaj festival, as that would definitely spoil any element of surprise. But I can confirm we will be playing primal rock and roll and the very best numbers from 'Hit By Hit', 'Birth School Work Death' and 'More Songs About Love And Hate' and 1 or 2 surprises. It will be intense, angry and a lot of fun.

14. Tell me something I would never guess about you?

Peter Coyne; Before I was in The Sid Presley Experience and The Godfathers I used to be a music journalist writing for Record Mirror, a famous UK national magazine. I enjoyed writing very much but got extremely bored with the dull and dreary British music scene in the early 80's and thought I could do better myself. So my brother Chris and I decided to form our own groups and the rest is history!!

terapija // 23/06/2008

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