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This is becoming a bit of a habit, writes Krissy Elliott… heading towards an interview location, to find my intended victim heading away at fast pace from the rendezvous, plagued by pre-gig chaos… As I sauntered towards Camden’s Underworld to meet Ricky Warwick, phone in hand, about to make the call so he could meet me at the door…. There he was, hurrying up the street, looking like an anxious man on a mission. Turns out it was a dead guitar tuner, grrr. So after a couple of false starts we made it into the dressing room backstage to fiddle with guitar strings, reminisce about Tommy Tee, and ask the all- important Almighty question…
OK, I’m still struggling to cope with you without the hair – you were one of my poster boys back in the day!
Ricky: No, really? I haven’t had the hair for a long time… I did try to grow it back last year but it was a real pain in the arse, so I went, like, heh, now I know why I cut it off! [Chuckles].
We’ve had a pretty humid heatwave this week, how are you coping?
R: Well, I live in LA now so I’m used to the heat, but it’s so sticky in London… it just drains you.
I agree. It was pretty warm at Tommystock in Frome last week [benefit gig with New Model Army for the late manager Tommy Tee]. It was a fantastic show. Do you have any figures as to how much money was raised for Tommy’s family in the end?
R: Thanks very much, glad you enjoyed it. I think it did really well, up round the ten or eleven grand mark.
That’s fantastic. Do you have a special memory or story about Tommy you’d be happy to share with us, given that Tommy was your manager for such a long time?
R: Yeah, one of the best ones ever was pre-The Almighty, when I was in New Model Army and we played the Hard Rock Café in Dallas. I was about twenty years old and having the time of my life. I was talking to this really pretty girl, and Tommy comes by and says, “Bus call, ten minutes! Make sure you’re on the bus!” And of course I’m chatting away to this girl and maybe half an hour passes. The girl goes home, and I walk round the back of the Hard Rock Café to get on the bus – no bus! So I’m like, “Yeah, very funny Tommy!” thinking they’ve moved the bus.
And that was when there were no mobile phones! [We laugh and shake heads].
R:Yeah! So I’m walking around looking for this bus, and I ask one of the security guards “Have you seen a tour bus round here?” and he says, “They gone!” And I say, “Nah, you’re joking!” and he says, “No. They gone.” And I’m like, “Oh shit!” So I’m sitting outside in nothing but a pair of shorts, it’s like ninety degrees. I didn’t have any money, nothing. And the next show is in Phoenix. And I’m going, “What the fuck am I going to do?” I just sat there, I was nearly in tears, I didn’t know anybody there… About two hours later the bus just pulls up and Tommy comes running out, so upset, you know? Saying, “Do you wanna hit me, you can hit me if you want!” and stuff like that. And I said, “What the fuck?” and he said, “I thought you were in your bunk!” and blah blah blah, etc. Having a drink and so on! I was alright about it, I saw the funny side. But that’s the kind of guy Tommy was, he was upset because I was.
So it’s fair to say he was a great guy who took his job seriously, and really looked after you all?
R: Absolutely. It was just a shame we had to have that gig, if you know what I mean.
[At this point a photographer man comes in requesting more pictures of Ricky at the end of our session to support his earlier interview, which overran. I can’t remember the website he worked for, but next time he can maybe knock? We let him leave, then continue…]
 I interviewed Justin in the chaos before the gig and he said The Almighty had reformed especially for that gig. But you had a tour booked at Christmas that was cancelled due to promotion problems. Have The Almighty split, or are they still a band? What’s the story?
R: Well, I don’t know. Floyd walked away when all the gigs went tits up at Christmas and said that’s it. The Tommy passed away, which was tragic, and we were like, we have to do this show… asked Floyd if he was gonna do it and of course he said yes…Floyd’s very much a part of the band and Tommy was managing us. And then we did the show in Frome and I said “Is that it then?” and he said, “No, I really enjoyed it!” So I don’t know. He’s coming to London, so maybe I’ll ask him, “Are you in the band or not this week?” [Laughs] So I don’t know, and I’m really not thinking too much about it at the minute, I’m so concerned with the solo stuff right now. The album’s come out, I’ve been on tour since the start of the year, and going right through till December. This is what I love doing! I’m so proud of The Almighty, very honoured to have been in the band, to have been part of the band. I love talking about it and what it stands for, everything like that. But I don’t wake up and go “I wish we could get The Almighty back together!” That’s really on the back burner at the minute. There you go, a long answer for a simple question!
I’m sorry, but people reading this want to know, I want to know!
R: I just don’t know, and I do get asked that question every day. There’s just no definitive answer. I don’t want to say no, because I do enjoy playing with the guys, I do enjoy being in that band. But somebody needs to move, somebody needs to say “Right, we’re gonna make a new record,” book rehearsal rooms, that’s when the work starts, when it starts to overtake other stuff and become a focus of your life again. I just don’t think anybody’s prepared to do that at the minute.
So what do you get out of the solo work that you don’t get from collaborations? Circus Diablo [with…] was something you enjoyed and then departed from, The Almighty have been successful, but now on a back burner. Your new album Belfast Spaghetti [much laughter].Sorry, Belfast CONFETTI ! I keep getting that wrong because you are touring with Eddie Spaghetti [Supersuckers], dammit! [We keep laughing]. Obviously now I think of the guy as Eddie Confetti! Anyway, your new album is good; it’s also completely different to the kind of material The Almighty produced. Do you find that writing solo allows you greater freedom? What do you get out of it?
R: I think it’s completely different in the fact that it’s acoustic based and I can go into territories I wouldn’t go with The Almighty. But you know, it’s still very much Ricky Warwick, it’s still got the edge and the attitude, and everything like that. I just enjoy the freedom. I enjoy the freedom to do whatever the fuck I want and not having to ask three other people if it’s ok, if they like this.
Some would think that’s a selfish approach to take.
R: Yes, maybe it’s selfish but I don’t care. It’s one of those things, when I hear songs I hear them completed, it’s my song. If I give them to other people, they’ll give their input, sometimes it brilliant and sometimes the song gets better; but sometimes you can have a really good idea you really believe in and other people might not wanna hear it or they don’t like it, and it destroys you. I simply don’t have that problem any more. I just go and fuckin’ do it, you know… and if it doesn’t… if it falls flat on its face then it’s my fault! I take the full blame, no problem. The fact that a song has to stand up on its own, I stand up and play it with just an acoustic guitar, there’s nowhere to hide, so bad songs don’t get through. You’ve gotta have a song that keeps people’s attention, keeps them interested in what you’re doing. You have to play your guitar better; you have to sing better, you have to come across on stage better. I think you should push yourself way more, rather than if you were standing up there with a wall of noise, you know?
So you really enjoy that kind of challenge?
R: Yeah, I still get nervous before I go onstage for a solo show, in the way I used to get nervous in the early days, before the Almighty shows. But now it’s my show, I’m excited to play it and I’m anxious, but I sit there before I go on and I’ve got that nervous adrenaline going. That’s great, it always used to drive me when I was a lot younger, it gives me that buzz.
Do you think that independence has made a real difference to how you can write, how you can run your career now? After all, times do change.
R: Yes, definitely. I have no real overheads. Going on the road for me is a box of merch[andise], my acoustic guitar, my little acoustic guitar amp, and a bag of clothes. That’s it. You know, I can stay in cheap hotels, even recently, I’ve learned a whole new respect for do-it-yourself ethics. I’ve no patience for any whiney fuckin’ little musician now, who complains about the roadies, or this, that and the other. I’m like, how hard is it to fuckin’ plug a guitar in? I’m shattered when I come off stage, but I still pack my own stuff away, but I still make it out on time to sell the merch, sign stuff and talk to people. Well, what are you doing? You’re not digging a ditch or down a fuckin’ goldmine, you should be honoured and blessed that you get to do this for a living every day. I’m not being facetious or conceited by saying that, it a great job! You should be out there meeting the people who come to see you and buy your records, you should be finding out what they want, what they wanna hear, what they like, what they don’t like. That’s what it’s all about.
Well, what a quote that was for a recorded interview!
R: Yay! [Laughs].
So is it fair to say that you subscribe to a similar idea to New Model Army, about doing everything for yourself?
R: Well yeah. I mean, I still have a manager and a publishing deal; I still use a record company. That’s the old school, great. But I’ve just recently got with a management company after the last seven years of managing myself because I was getting up in a morning, getting on the computer, and then I hadn’t touched a guitar in, like, two weeks! And at the end of the day I really wanna play my guitar, you know! So that’s why I had to let it go a bit, to concentrate on playing more and writing music. I’m hands-on, one hundred percent, with everything that’s going on. Even down to driving myself.
Doesn’t life get exhausting, working like that?
A mate I was at school with, he’s selling merch tonight - he took a week’s holiday just to come on the road with me! It’s great, I’ve got my buddy, I’ll book the hotel every night, feed him and buy him beer, he loves it, loves the buzz. I get some help. It doesn’t happen every time, often it’s just me on my own. But that’s sometimes a big problem. A simple thing like checking in to a Travelodge, right? You’ve got two boxes of shirts, a guitar, an amp, a computer, and a bag. You don’t wanna leave them in the car. That’s six runs. And you’re staying on the second floor of a Travelodge. That’s six runs up and down to your car. And that’s before the gig. Then you gotta load it all back into the car, and go do the gig. Then you get back to the hotel at one o’clock in the morning, you’re sweaty, you’re knackered, you haven’t had time to change your clothes. Then you gotta load it all back up to your room. Then you gotta do it all again the next day! And then you gotta do that for, say, three weeks! On your own!
So having help like that is really great then.
R: It’s true it is. But you get to do the greatest job in the world!
Given that no-one makes a fortune playing the smaller venues, how do you manage to make ends meet performing in this way?
R It’s all about keeping your costs down. At the end of the day, I make an okay living doing this. That’s because there are no overheads. merch goes very well. On a good ticket, on a good show, I’m spending maybe fifty or sixty pounds a day on expenses, and the rest is going in my back pocket.
Nice. Would you say you are mellowing with time, more laid back about things, so this way of working is more possible for you?
R: I think we all mellow over time. I mean, certain things still make me angry but the difference for me is my family come before anything now, whereas if you’d asked me that ten years ago it was music, music, music! Music’s number two. You know, with a passion. But the family, making sure they are OK, making sure everyone’s alright, and spending as much time as I can with them is number one now.
But you are scheduled to tour right up until Christmas! How do you manage to balance the two under circumstances like that?
R: It’s just really hard. I have an incredibly understanding wife who’s a brilliant lady, and she supports me the whole way which is amazing. That’s the one drawback of doing what I do. [He shrugs sadly]. A couple of weeks here and there is OK, but I’m doing four, five, six weeks of touring. It’s just horrible.
Have you got kids at home to consider now as well?
R: Yeah, I’ve got four kids! The only way to do it is, when I’m at home I’m with them the whole time. That’s it, I wanna be with them every day, and every minute that I can when I’m there. Which is great because I get to spend all day with them. But it’s really hard, we’ve got real little one at the minute, she’s only twenty months, I feel awful, you know?
Would you say that’s the major down side to what you do then?
R: It’s the only thing I hate about what I do, is that I have to leave them for such long periods of time. But there’s gonna come a point where I won’t have to tour so much. But I guess I will have to worry about that then!
To be fair, kids are very adaptable…
R: Yeah, and to be honest at the minute I’m really going for it so maybe soon it will get to the level where I can start making a few choices, like saying that I don’t need to go and do sixty dates in the UK to make sure everyone’s clothed and happy for the next six months. Maybe I’ll just need to do twenty. So that’s what I’m working towards the whole time.
 What has been the best moment of recording Belfast Confetti for you? [Ricky’s phone rings at this point, so he answers it and I sit, gazing at the wonders of a dressing room at the Underworld…]
R: Sorry about that! Just really completing it, and all the little stories I had, putting them into the songs. Mentioning places I grew up. And writing The Arms of Belfast it was the last song I wrote for the album. It was very much an afterthought, but there was room for a very upbeat, positive anthem for Northern Ireland on this record. And it was one of those ones that are written in ten minutes, the best ones always are. A real sense of achievement. What I did was, I played it, and one of my daughters came in and she heard it. Within two seconds she was singing it and I thought yeah, that’s it, that’s the one.
Is there any chance that you might consider moving back to Ireland?
R: There’s always a chance, maybe when the kids are older and things change, we might move back there. My wife really likes it over there as well, so I wouldn’t rule it out in the future. Who knows?
So… plans for the future would be more of what you enjoy?
R: Yeah, touring, touring, touring. It’s the only thing I really know how to do! If it ever gets to the point where I don’t enjoy it any more then I will stop, and try and do something else. And whatever that is – I don’t know!
Many thanks to Ricky for cramming so much press into such a chaotic period of time. And yes, of course the guy came back for his photo, and of course I took it for him. What can ya do, eh? Belfast CONFETTI is out now on Global Music.
Krissy Elliott
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