Let The Good Times Roll

“CHIEF! CHIEF! CHIEF!” cried the extremely animated crowd that filled a rather balmy back room of the Glasgow CCA. Everyone was smiling, dancing, cheering and possibly a little pissed. They were bearing witness to yet another storming Police Chief gig and they were loving it. For me this was a virgin encounter, I had heard whisperings of a band from Glasgow who were looking to break into the big time and from what I saw that night; they certainly had the talent and originality to get there.

Imagine Primal Scream making musical love to The Happy Mondays while listening to some filthy house beats and you’ve pretty much grasped the Police Chief sound. “It’s like dirty dancing without the romance,” exclaims lead singer Craig Wilson, Wiggy to his friends. “The cool thing about us is we all come from different backgrounds and we’ve all played different sorts of music,” interjects Col, resident ginger nutter and keyboard player, “although it’s kinda full on dance, we’ve picked up a few flavours along the way. There’s funky things going on, punky things going on, it’s quite a healthy mixed bag.” Trying to interview these guys is like taking in a performance from a bunch of over eager school boys trying to impress their parents/potential girlfriends. They’re excited about their music, what they’ve achieved so far and what is yet to come and so they should be.

Since first coming together in 2000 they have played most major UK cities including gigs at hallowed Glasgow venue; the Barrowlands. They’ve released an EP, played at T in the Park, supported Basement Jaxx (twice), Death in Vegas and most recently N*E*R*D at the MTV Music Awards in Edinburgh; where they were crowned by the rock aficionados themselves as one of the best support acts they had ever played with. N*E*R*D aren’t the only big names to send a nod of respect the Police Chief way, indeed they have been complimented on their musical stylings by Alabama 3, Lo-Fi Allstars, Snow Patrol and Primal Scream. With a resumè so intriguing, one wonders why the record companies aren’t yet beating down their door.

One reason could be that although they’ve still been on the circuit, they have had to put the band on the back burner while Craig took time out to complete his degree in time based art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, Dundee. Having just graduated with first class honours, Craig hopes to invest a lot more time in the band with a view to making music his full time career. The band are currently working on new tracks which they are hoping to release this autumn.

::: So without further ado I introduce to you Police Chief :::

Hi I’m Gee and I play the Bass.

Hi I’m Wiggy and I play guitar/vocals.

I’m Col and I play keys.

I’m El Pel and I play drums.

How did you meet?

Gee: The two of us used to be in a band together (Gee and Wiggy) then that split and we formed Police Chief. We asked El Pel to play drums and one of our pals knew Col. There were another couple of lads but they left.

What happened to the other two?

Wiggy: Personal issues, nothing really.

Col: We were hungry and we ate them.

Do you think you’ve lost anything without them?

Gee: One of them was on the decks, the other one was on another keyboard plus vocals but I think without them our sound is clearer now, we had too much muddling it up.

Why did you call yourselves Police Chief – too many run ins with the law?

Wiggy: We worked on a track called Police Chief and we just liked the name. I reckon it’s got something to do with where we come from as well; Airdrie’s a wee bit of a bad place, had a few run ins with the law.

How would you define your sound?

Wiggy: There’s bits of electro, techno, house, punk, funk its generally just a big mish mash.

Would you say you all come from a dance music background then?

Wiggy: No not really.

Gee: We all started off in guitar bands.

So what made you go that way?

Gee: Bought a sampler fired it in the PC and just found out all the different stuff we could do and it just grew from there.

Would say you were influenced by any one in particular?

Gee: Not really, we were just playing about with different types of music, different instruments instead of just guitars.

Col: I think from playing on the scene you get to rub shoulders with different artists and DJs and different bands. I guess it’s the people you familiarise with, their influence rubs off on you.

Wiggy: Its just kind of stuff we pick up, I mean I’m into stuff on the DFA label at the moment and I quite like Moody Lemon, they’re pretty good. We’re all big David Bowie fans, he’s the man, apart from El Pel, he fucking hates him!

What’s been the high point of your career so far?

Wiggy: Probably the MTV gig, that was pretty exciting. There were loads of celebrities there and bouncers…

Gee: I was about this close to Beyonce!

Col: I just giggled

El Pel: She had a six foot wide bouncer!

Did you feel her bum?

Gee: She felt mine. But yeah, any of the big gigs I mean when there’s decent people there who really enjoy it.

Wiggy: Tuts is always good.

Gee: Yeah we love playing King Tuts.

Col: One of the biggest highs I think is just seeing the reaction of people when you’re there. Our audiences tend to be quite expressive they’re mad, jumping all about the place.

What kind of people would you say listen to your music, would you say they are all dance music fans or have they graduated from the guitar school of sound?

Wiggy: Drug fuelled maddies, a lot of student types.

So who writes the songs?

Wiggy: I write the tunes then bring them in and they make up little parts or play over it, muck around until we get a sound that’s worth playing.

Do you write all the lyrics as well?

Wiggy: Yeah

Where do you get your ideas?

Wiggy: My crazy head! I’m influenced a lot by books or just things that have happened to me, things people have told me, little lines and I’ll write them all down in a book and then try and piece them together.

What’s the craziest song you’ve ever written?

Wiggy: “I shagged Colin’s bird”! I like to kinda make up wee songs and that was one I did yesterday.

Col: I seem to be a victim at the moment I get songs made up about me, a lot of slaggin’ happens in our band, I don’t know if I should be flattered or not.

Gee: It’s affectionate.

Col: It’s a big front because underneath there’s a lot of love and emotion but you know, there’s barriers and if those barriers came crashing down…

El Pel: We don’t love you!

Col: Shut up.

What would you say that you each individually bring to the band that no other person could?

El Pel: A bald head

Col: A big nose

Wiggy: Big eyebrows

Gee: Fat lips, cannae top that one! Nah we’ve just all got our own styles of music that’s what we bring into it. A tune will come in at a basic sort of level and we put our own bits to it and it becomes a Chief tune.

Have you got any stalkers or avid fans?

Wiggy: Aye we’ve got a couple. There’s these seven guys from Edinburgh that always come to our gigs in white ties, black shirts and shades and stand at the front shouting CHIEF CHIEF CHIEF CHIEF! They’ve got their own unofficial web site for us.

Col: We’re a bit worried because it’s almost like an organised religion.

El Pel: Yeah they’re a bit scary sometimes, they paid £17 to go to the Jaxx gig watched us and then left!

Wiggy: They did the same at T in the park.

I hear you’re a full time musician Col, what sort of stuff do you play?

Col: I do quite a lot, I’m quite versatile. I play keys, sax and accordion so I can be doing anything from jazz to blues. I played accordion on the Love Actually sound track with Craig Armstrong, he’s a Scottish composer based in Glasgow. I’ve got a few pieces out at the moment on commercial advertisement on radio and TV, its cool I enjoy being versatile. When I’m with these guys I get to morph, instead of doing funky stuff or jazz stuff or celtic stuff or classical stuff I’m out here doing electro stuff, I like being stretched.

So do you hire yourself out as a session musician?

Col: Yeah these guys say I’m a musical whore. I would just argue that I’m trying to survive, pay my rent but I think I’m better for it.

What about you two, what sort of stuff do you like doing when you’re not working?

Gee: I make my own tunes, electronic stuff.

Wiggy: Yeah he’s a talented bastard!

El Pel: I just like to waste time.

Are you a bit of a Richard and Judy fan?

El Pel: I’m big into Trisha at the moment.

You can catch Police Chief perform at the Glasgow School of Art on September 21^st.

Check out their website www.policechief.co.uk