Ferocious Dog

As Ferocious Dog prepare to call it a day at the end of the year, the band are taking their farewell on the road with the aptly titled “The End Is Nigh” tour. Ahead of the final chapter, I meet frontman Ken Bonsall at London’s O2 Academy Islington to look back on the story of a band that has always been about far more than music.

When I arrive, Ken is just finishing the soundcheck. He greets me with warmth and openness, and soon we settle into a conversation that takes us from Ferocious Dog’s unlikely beginnings and the story behind its name to the people, experiences and influences that shaped the band’s music.

There is humour, but also grief, honesty and the kind of lived experience that has always given Ferocious Dog its distinctive voice. We talk about the songs, the musicians behind them, the Hellhounds community and the moments that have defined the band’s journey.

As the end approaches, Bonsall reflects on what it means to walk away from something that has become part of so many lives — including his own. This is not simply a farewell interview, but a look back at the people and stories behind Ferocious Dog, and at the legacy they leave behind.

How It All Began

Rather than focusing only on the current tour, I’d love to look back at the history of Ferocious Dog.
Ken: So, how far back do you want to go?

Can you take us back to 1988? How did it all begin?
Ken: Well, my son Daniel started playing violin at school as a young eight-year-old, and he was just naturally gifted straight away. And so he was playing classical at school and things like that, and he just excelled with it. Other kids were playing Three Blind Mice. Just to—as a for instance, we went to school to watch, you know, people and we didn't even know how good Daniel were because he only practised at school, he didn't practice this at home. And they said, the kids all did Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Three Blind Mice, and it was really horrendous. You know, as kids first playing the violin. And then they said, "Now Daniel's going to play Vivaldi's Four Seasons."
And me and my wife looked at each other like, "What?" And he played it flawlessly. And I'm like, "Okay. Wow. We didn't expect that." So we just knew that he excelled in violin. So I started playing him songs like, you know, The Pogues, Levellers, and traditional Irish. And he'd listen to them once and just play them straight away. I'm like, he's just genius. This little lad can just listen to it and just play it without having to try and learn where it goes. He hears it, he's got natural perfect pitch. So he can just play. And so that's where I started, and then I started learning to play guitar and sing Levellers songs, because they were just coming out in the late 80s, early 90s. And traditional Irish, which I brought up on Irish folk songs, and Pogues. So I love The Pogues as well. So things like that and watching local Irish bands around Nottingham, and I wanted to emulate that and do what they were doing.

What was your first proper gig, and what do you remember about it?
Ken: Right. The first proper gig we ever did. we—I've got a good friend at the coal mine who were a musician in quite a good band, Pete Shields, right back in the day. And he knew that we were starting to do something, playing music. He says, "Why don't you come and support us in the next village, which were Woodhouse." And I said, "Oh, that’d be brilliant!" So, our first show. But then at the weekend, he says, "We’re doing a charity fundraiser called 'Wishing on a Star' or something like that, for cancer, for children's cancer." And he says, "Do you want to be part of it?" I said, "Oh, I'd love to."
So it's like, wow, we're starting to get like shows! We can play in front of people. And we went to what is gone now, it's Farm Foods, but it used to be the Pink Flamingo in Forest Town in Mansfield. And I've still got a video of it right back in, you know, I think it were probably the 90s, early 90s, something like that, '92. And they were the first shows that we ever really done, rather than just playing at home. And same again, some Pogues, some Levellers, and you know, traditional Irish songs. But that's the first one that I can remember. We were called Ferocious Dog because the local newspaper were there, and we were the first band on. So there were bands on, punk bands and all this through the night, all through the day. And he wanted to—he says, "Oh, I listened to you, really good, you know, Levellers devotees and Pogues and stuff like that, loved it."
And we were just a three-piece. And just a bodhrán, Irish drum, by Ian Wagstaff, myself, and then Daniel on violin. And he said, "What's the name of your band?" We didn't really have a name. We were just friends, really just getting together and playing music. But my youngest son, Lee, was outside holding my hand. And I always used to say—I used to growl at him. I'd say, "What’s … what’s this then, son?" I used to go, "Grrr." And he'd go, "Oh! A Rottweiler, Daddy!" I said, "Oh, very good, very good!" And I'd say, "What's this one then?" And I'd do the exact same growl. And he'd go, "A ferocious dog, Daddy!"
And I'd go, "Oh." And people used to—he was only—he could just speak, he was a little toddler. And people used to go, "Oh, no, that's so cute! Do it again, do it again!" And he'd do it. And he always used to say"ferocious dog". So there was like this joke, so I'm going to call my band Ferocious Dog. But we never did, because it was just a joke. But then we got asked, "What's the name of your band? Because I need to write it for the local newspaper for this charity what you've been playing for."
And I went, "Oh no, we haven’t really got a name." And my son was holding my hand there. I looked at him and smiled, down at him, and he went. and I went:"Ferocious Dog." And he smiled and he loved it, he thought it were brilliant. And we weren't going to be called Ferocious Dog, that was just a joke! Just for the newspaper. And as time went on, you know, we started playing shows and supporting other bands and getting our own shows. And I was going to change the name to something like Celtic Dog or something this or this, or I kept thinking for a long time. In the end, I never come up with anything, so it just stayed as Ferocious Dog.

Yeah, it sticks. And it's the nicest story about a band name I might have ever heard.
Ken: And once, obviously, you know, as time went on, we just stuck with the name. And you can't— once you've got the name, you can't change the name, that's it. And I'm so glad that we did, because of the story behind it. Now that Lee's no longer here, he named the band from, you know, from an early age, so. It's nice. It's a nice connection.

If you’re comfortable talking about it, how did John Newbury’s death affect you and the band?
Ken: It was really hard because he was a really good friend. We knew—we knew he was troubled. And you could also say that leading up to his death, we were on suicide watch anyway, so. we'd take it in turns to go and check on him and. We knew that he was struggling, mentally, you know, and he started saying things like, you know, people were watching him and you know, the government were in his, sockets and things like that. So. I mean, I've never took drugs so I don't know, but we knew that there were things that weren't quite right with him.
And he'd already tried previously to take his own life. And you couldn't make it up, you know, but we couldn't be there 24/7. And in the end, you know. And the worst thing about it, he was the nicest bloke you could ever meet. And drum-wise, he was absolutely perfection. He was just such an amazing drummer. He lived for drums. That was his life, all life. And yeah, he was sorely, lost and, and missed when he, you know, he ended his life. But I even wrote him into a song. I don't know if you know.

Which one?
Ken: Crime and Punishment. Mhm. So. no, Criminal Justice, sorry. I always get them mixed up. Criminal Justice. Ah. So if you listen to the second verse, John Newbury was a travelling man, he had no fixed abode. Yeah. So I had to write him into a song. Just. just a nod to our drummer who took his own life. So. Things like that, you know, it—they've been part of Ferocious Dog for a long time, so. you know, and back in early days, you know, coming to terms with people taking their own life, so.

Finding Their Sound

Your first full-length album came out in 2013, many years after the band began. Why did it take so long, and what made that the right time?
Ken: It's one of them things of a band, when you first start out as a band and you're scraping things together, you got no money behind you. You're just a bunch of lads getting together trying to play music, playing in local bars, setting your own PA up, trying to beg, steal and borrow microphones, PA that you can't afford just to go out and buy. So, you know, you're not playing straight to music venues. So if you know somebody who's got a PA and somebody who's got some mic stands and somebody. and that's how we first started in Ferocious Dog. We didn't have no money, we're just so. say if we— you went out and you got paid £100. Wow! Back in them days, we were like actually—what, actually paying us to play? Wow! And it were things like that. So you weren't going out for tickets and things like that, it was just playing in bars and you get paid. Most of that money just went on beer. You know, so, and that were it.
You were just enjoying life and just learning your trade. It came to whereabouts when we started taking it more professionally, and we'd do a show or a gig in a pub where we'd split the money, and then we'd do the next one and we'd put it into a bank account for Ferocious Dog. And so that we could then try and get some money behind us to buy things for a band and also record. And so what we did, we got to where we got enough money to do a cheap recording. We go to a recording studio, a local studio, one were in Worksop, another one in Mansfield, and another one in Wolverhampton that we found as time went on, till we got enough money and then we'd go into a studio. Now, when we record an album now, it take months and months and months. You don't—it's a complete different system. When we turned up for the first time in Worksop to do a tape recording, we'd just recorded it, and we'd probably get five songs done. That's because that's all we had and that's all we could afford. And we'd get everything done probably one day. So you can tell how raw the sound were. And all we did then, we waited.
probably did that in spring, or the next year we'd earned enough money to do that again. And then we had like two EPs. So that first album is two EPs that we stuck together. Because that's when I started writing songs and wanting to make it as a stand-alone. But the first recordings, we were doing like cover songs and, you know, just cheap recordings and beg, steal and borrow some, you know, recording time in a studio somewhere for fun because we were new to it. We didn't know how to record albums. Obviously as time went on, I still look back at that first album which was absolutely cheap as chips recording, two CDs, two EPs pushed together, because that's all we could afford. And the sound from that first album.

Is this the Ferocious Dog one?
Ken: Yeah, the Ferocious Dog one. The first—the first album.

Yeah, it's—I love it because you really hear it's—it's—it's rough, it's real. Yeah.
Ken: It's rough, yes. The next one, as like years went on, two years went on and Daniel took over the band, we knew that the first album was an absolutely amazing album, song-wise. And to beat that, it's your second album syndrome. So Dan said, "Well, let's go to a proper recording—a major recording studio." And that, I think, cost about £21,000 to £23,000. So we worked, worked and worked our socks off to save money with the band to go to record at Vader Studios in Stratford-on-Avon, just outside Stratford-on-Avon. Because he'd recorded Stereophonics, The Wonder Stuff.
So we thought if we get that sound and to work with John Terry, recording it at this amazing studio where we went to stop for a full week, just recording. Completely recording for a full week, and then you have to go back and then go back to finish off and do other things. But for a full week just recording. And it were unheard of because we were still an unsigned band, all that money were our own. And I look back now, we didn't need to go. the experience was good because we were just still making it up as we went along. We didn't know, I was still writing songs while I was there at the studio. You know, we'd not even practised them. I listen to them songs now and we play them completely different. To, you know, and that's the thing about different band members coming in, they change their bits on the song. And which I like, I do—I do advise them: make it your song now. You don't have to stick to how it was recorded. But recording-wise, if I put them two records together, and I love the—from with our album, I love the first album, it's rawness.

Yeah. It's not as polished, but that is Ferocious Dog.
Ken: Yeah, exactly. But you learn that over time.

Yes, and actually, that was the one that really hooked me because in the beginning, I thought they sound a little bit like The Levellers, obviously. By—like, like the early Levellers, you know? They have become, for me, too polished and too commercial at some point.
Ken: Yeah. We—I mean, people—I know because we're good friends with Levellers, and people always say, "Oh, Ferocious Dog just a poor man's Levellers." We're nothing like The Levellers. I do it from an Irish side, my politics—I'm not an anarchist, I'm a socialist. Me and Mark always fall out over politics. Whenever we get together, we always talk politics, we always fall out. And agree to disagree. But because we come from different spectrums, you know? I'm a socialist and coal mining and, you know, it's—and been active in unions for the firefighters, you know, I've been on picket lines and stuff like this, and been active. So that's my creative part coming out of me, what I want to write about, even through, you know, the generations of years of working-class struggle. Where The Levellers don't sing about that.
They sing about things that are, you know, the injustices that they see. Yeah, completely different. And respect to Levellers, you know, because they got me hooked in the first place, that I wanted to do that kind of thing. You know, the fiddle-based, and it was just lucky that we had Daniel as a fiddler. And, you know, as from a young age, he was just amazing. And I think Jon Sevink said it himself when we played and went on tour with them, that Dan's probably the best fiddler he's ever played with. And they did the, What You Know fiddle-off, and it just goes 100—gets faster and faster and faster when we played at Birmingham. And I knew that Daniel—he had—he had another three years in him to go faster and faster, but that's Ferocious Dog, you see.

Ken: The one thing about Ferocious Dog is, even on this tour, the songs are still stupid fast. It's one of them things that if we play them faster, we get more songs in. That's how we look at it.

In the early 2010s, you shared stages with Mark Chadwick. What did you take away from that experience?
Ken: I've always liked. the first time we ever played with Mark, with front Levellers, was our local village, and it were our bassist who owned it. So they booked Mark Chadwick to do a solo show and I thought, oh, brilliant, you know what I mean? Amazing. We've known each other for a long time, and it's always good to bump into him, as good friends and contemporaries, especially in music, you know, people you look up to. And what we got, the—obviously the slot to support Mark, which is your dream.
You know, these are your idols, you know, growing up and learning music, that I was singing Levellers songs. So then I says to Mark, I said, "Right, if we drop all our Levellers songs, and we don't put any of them Levellers songs in the support act, and then at the end, if we could come on as your backing band, and you sing them songs, like, you know, What You Know and Riverflow and other songs, you know." I says, "and old ones that we put into our repertoire, if we leave them out and then do them at the end, we can all do it together." And he goes, "Brilliant idea." So we did. And then Mark at the end of it goes, "Wow! Oh my god, I've never played my songs that fast!" I tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Welcome to Ferocious Dog, Mark, welcome to Ferocious Dog." Because that is our signature.

Ken: The faster the better. It's never slowed down.

Yeah, and I think it was definitely an unforgettable experience, wasn't it?
Ken: I think 2016, when we got booked to do their full tour, Europe tour and UK tour, which was a massive tour for us, the first proper tour we'd ever been on with somebody. And obviously, you know, your idols as well to go. And we knew what it could do for Ferocious Dog because a lot of these Levellers fans had never seen Ferocious Dog. And then to go on tour, and I think at the time, I think it's what The Levellers needed.

Ken: To be, because their manager or agent said, "The reason I booked Ferocious Dog." and this is what he said, I don't know whether it's true, he says, "The reason I booked Ferocious Dog is because you know exactly what you get with Ferocious Dog. 100 miles an hour." Right, and it's full-on committed all the way through, you know? And we should have played for an hour, but Gaz Brookfield, a good friend, right, he's been supporting, and he wanted to come on the tour, so we said if we lose a quarter of an hour of our set, we don't mind it to bring him on to the tour, you know, for free. And he didn't get paid, you know, he wanted to do that, obviously, that's why he went on tour and things like that.
So, yeah, I think at the time, it was win for both of us, for The Levellers because I think they upped their game. And you got—you got people talking on social media saying, you know, all this about Ferocious Dog are going to blow Levellers off. And I'm like, "Hold on, these are my idols you're talking about, that ain't going to happen. Do you know how good The Levellers are? That's why I'm here in the first place." And I said, and every show, The Levellers absolutely blew it out of water.
And I'm—and I'm hopefully they did it because of Ferocious Dog. Because they knew that Ferocious Dog were giving 100 miles an hour, 100% every day, because that's what Ferocious Dog do. So if you've got to come on after that, you've got to up your game, you've got to be at the top of your game. And for me, The Levellers were, every show, absolutely magnificent, they were brilliant. And they just blew me away every show. Even the ones where Scott had to drop in and play drums for two of the shows at Barrowlands and at Leeds, I think it were. You know, but still, they carried it off impeccably, they were brilliant. And that, I look back at that tour, and that was probably one of highlights of me being in Ferocious Dog, to tour with Levellers. Because they're just good friends and they're just brilliant band. So, yeah.

Which Ferocious Dog album was the hardest to make, and why?
Ken: Albums are albums. I think, I don't know. Kleptocracy were completely different where I had to write all the songs, with Dan leaving. I've always wrote more songs on every album than Dan, so I'd always say to Dan, because I'm not one of these who sits at home writing songs, and I used to—Dan used to get to wind up, I used to say, "I'm not a songwriter." Right, and he goes, "Dad, you are!" And I say, "Well, I'm not, really, because I'm not constantly thinking, 'Oh, that's a brilliant line, oh, that sounds good, I'll write that down for when I write a song,' because I don't."
But when Dan says, "Right, we're go—we're going to write a song, we're doing an album, start writing, " and I say, "How many songs do you want?" Because then he'll say he's doing three or four, and then I'll do seven or eight, or you know, and then we'll have traditional, and Les do a song, or Kyle do a song. So I know how many songs I had to write, and I want to know no more, no less. I'd write that many songs. But I'd have the ideas of what I wanted to write about. So I knew the uprisings of here, the risings of that, the—this or the that in social, you know, like. and there's even some where like Dan—like start writing brilliant songs like Ruby Bridges.

Ken: But he'd never finish them off. So I'd have to finish them. If you ever listen to Ruby Bridges, he wrote the start of it, it was his song, but he never finished it. So I finished it off for him. So I—if you listen to the lyrics, it goes more onto the civil rights movement.

Ken: In the end. Where to start with, it starts as a good song about Daniel sitting in a class with a little black girl, and everybody refuses because it's Ruby Bridges, because she's black. And Daniel can't understand that, so he's willing to sit in this class with her. But that—them two verses, I think that's where it ended, and then the other three verses is more about the story of what—which I wrote, and about the civil rights movement. Dan never finished it. So it's things like that, compromises where Dan'd write a brilliant song and a brilliant riff and stuff like that, and I'd say, "Hey, finish that song."

When you write a song, do you usually start with the idea and lyrics and build the music around them, or does the music come first?
Ken: So, no, I listen to tunes. So if sometimes I'll—I used to sit with Dan and say, "I've got a tune. I've got a tune." I've listened to an Irish tune and it's—it's a really nice hook or a riff. Traditional Irish, all this, and do—what do you think to that? Slayed the Traveller.

Ken: Right, so that one came from that riff. Right, so I found that riff and I wanted to write a song to that. And I always wanted to write about Slayed the Traveller, which was an idea that came from Nick Burbridge, who from McDermott's Two Hours, who was like the front runner for The Levellers starting way back, you know, back in Brighton in the day, they were a big band. And best friends with Jeremy Cunningham. Who also wrote songs for Ferocious Dog, is a good friend of ours as well. But he wrote a song called, Move on, Malloy.

Yeah, right, Malloy.
Ken: I love that song. So the story about the troubles in Ireland always following you and you're always moving on, moving on, being moved on, as a traveller in a caravan, an Irish coming over to England, and then the troubles are still following you and things like that, and you've still got to fight hard when you're moving to a village and they're wanting to move the travellers on and they come, you know, with the militia, mob-handed, and you've got to be able to fight your way out and things like that. And it's always about the travellers being moved on and moved on. So I wanted to write my version of Nick Burbridge's song, Maloy.

Ken: So it's things like that where I get an impetus or an idea of wanting to write a song. But then I'll get a strip of melody that has got the hook to do it, and then I'll fit a song, write a song, lyrics around that. another one is like one of the first songs I ever wrote, Quiet Paddy. Only came about from The Pogues' Young Ned of the Hill. I love that song, it's one of my favourite ever Pogues songs, Young Ned of the Hill. Funnily enough, it's not even Shane MacGowan singing.
But I love the idea of what it conjures up in my mind of when I listen to that song. About being burnt out, being, you know, out of your village, and, you know, the English coming in and raping and pillaging and killing everybody and burning everybody out, especially in Ireland, you know, the atrocities we did there. And turning it round where they get a group of militia and they take on, and against all odds, they beat the army.
You know, when they shouldn't do, and that is Quiet Paddy. So that's my version of Young Ned of the Hill of The Pogues, I wanted to do that one. So that is Quiet Paddy. And I wrote that when I were in Ireland, traveling round in Connemara. So.

That's actually interestin'. You already answered half of my questions.
Ken: I do think—I do think that all the albums really are all the same.

No, no, no. Not at all.
Ken: No, I mean the recording process. Once you've got good musicians, the recording process is near enough the same, and we've over the years, we've perfected—Dan knew the Ferocious Dog sound he wanted, so he took control over that. I just—I'm not a brilliant singer, but, you know, I—you can hear my voice.
If I sing, it's Ken. And so that's—that's sticks out. And but I'd always say we struggle in recording as well to get me to sing pitch-perfect because I'm not pitch-perfect. It's, you know, it's quite a struggle. But yeah, you know, that's what. You know, that's what makes it. Yeah.

The People Behind Ferocious Dog

Ken: Yeah.

The line-up has changed several times over the years, including in 2022. How difficult is it to find musicians who can do justice to the material, particularly the violin parts? Sam, for example, is an exceptional player.
Ken: Yeah, when you get good musicians, and that is—I mean, if you look at the band now, they're all amazing musicians. So you've got to have somebody fast enough on the violin to play what Dan's already recorded. Plus, then to go on and record his own on Kleptocracy, which I had to write all the songs for, with Dan not being there. Which, you know, I did. I think, 13 songs I had to put on that album, and all I did was lock myself away for two months in my bar on—in my garden, and I just stayed there and just wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote until they were all finished. That were it. but having like Luke on drums is just phenomenal.
He's a human drum machine, he is phenomenal. You know, we were just lucky that he lived local in Kirkby. We've always been blessed with brilliant drummers in Ferocious Dog. for Kyle to come back, he joined us when he were a young kid, and then went off to do his own thing with The Outlines, his own band, then came back. And I was so happy when he came back because his punk ethos fits the band as well. And, you know, we were lucky to get Les Carter from a massive Carter USM to be our electric guitarist, and he is just amazing, the same punk ethos, you know, guitar, sound. And then, you know, like on bass, you listen to Nick on bass, it's just it's just not fair how good these musicians are. You know, it's not fair. And then Sam is just—he's just like, you know, world-class. Anything he picks up, he just plays it so good and it's not—and so fast.

Ken: He could be the son of Aly Bain, and that's—I've always said that, is he is the son of Aly Bain. You know, and I love to put them two together because they are—you don't—you don't wake up one day and think, "I'm going to play the banjo." The banjo picks you. And if that is, it's like when Johnny Leonard was in as well, you know, is a massive music, you know, everything he picked up he could play, accordion, penny whistle, banjo, mandolins, he just play them all. You think, "How can you be so good?" You know, and from Ellis, and Johnny, and then to Sam, just perfect. Johnny Edwards when he came in—Johnny Edwards, I must say, was pivotal in the writing of The Hope album.

Ken: Absolute masterpiece. So when you listen to songs like 1914.

Ken: That's Johnny Edwards.

Oh.
Ken: He came up with the guitar for 1914, and it's like, and the idea behind 1914, that was all Johnny Edwards. So, and people don't realise that halfway through recording that album, Dan walked out, and he came back, you know, as he does. He has tiffs, and the pressures on, you know, when you're recording albums. That's being in a band, pressure were on. And so what do we do? So, well, we carry on because he'll come back, just leave him, you know, talk to him, he'll be fine, he came back, and he did, right? But if not, we'd had a gap. So me and Johnny just carried on writing songs, writing songs, rehearsing, getting new stuff, trying this. So when Dan came back, there weren't that gap. You know, so we just carried on flawless. And you listen to The Hope album, it's an absolute work of art. But you—a lot of the recognition goes to Johnny Edwards as well, to coming up with the tunes.

Actually, during the making of The Hope, I had the chance to spend three hours with Johnny.
Ken: Amazing.

He did this. *Pointing to my Hellhounds tattoo.*
Ken: Ah, wicked! Like I gave him, when I packed in tattooing.

Ken: Right? I gave him all of my—everything that I had over the years, thousands of pounds worth of tattooing equipment, inks and everything, I gave him."You can have them." Because that way, it'd stop me—I'd never have to tattoo again because people'd always ask, "Ken, will you go out of retirement for one more tattoo?" And I say, "No, I got—I can't." But by giving it all to Johnny, who was just starting, and such an amazing artist, now you see it, and see your tattoo is amazing. Yeah, well done.

Well done.
Ken: Yes, brilliant. But yeah, such a—such an amazing talent. And, you know, I take my hat off to Johnny Edwards for The Hope album because he was absolutely amazing on that.

Yeah, in these three hours, he played me the recordings you had already made, and it was so amazing.
Ken: See, you can see where the songs came from.

Yeah, exactly.
Ken: And that were down to Johnny. He was amazing.

The Hellhounds — More Than a Fanbase

When did the Hellhounds become more than a fan base and turn into a real community?
Ken: Back in early days. I can remember, we played down in Brighton, and Jeremy Cunningham were there from Levellers and Nick Burbridge from McDermott's Two Hours. We couldn't believe that they took time to come out and watch us at The Haunt, the old—before it were knocked about and made new, the old Haunt. And beautiful venue down there, proper grassroots. And I can always remember seeing Jeremy with his dreadlocks, he were dancing right—we had merchandise set right at back, you could see because it were well-lit up. And he were hot and sweating, like mosh pit were being brutal, and you could see Jeremy dancing about, his dreadlocks flying about all over. And he stayed down there, near merchandise. And I can remember talking to him after, and it were him who said that it were summat special. Right? He says, "You know, the Hellhounds, " he said, "what you’ve got is summat special." And I said, "Well, no, it's only the same as what we had with Levellers, because we used to tour round and, you know."
I've got my new model army tattoo this side and a Levellers tattoo on this side. And I says, "It's only the same as what we had then where we looked out for each other and we'd all meet up and go to shows and we'd hitchhike together and, you know, get on road with us kit bags and stuff like that, and sleep anywhere. You know, what—we're all, you know, look out for each other." And he goes, "Yeah, yeah, we had that with Levellers, " so, "but what you've got with Ferocious Dog is that and some more, it's special, it's something different." And I were like, "Well, whatever, " like, I didn't really buy into it, I just thought he were just being nice. But then he did say, right, he says, "And I'll tell you for why, Ken." And he says, "Because of you."
Right, and they were Jeremy's words, I'm not making this up, he says, "Because of how you are, how you take time with people. And we've seen it when we went on tour and things like that." They were waiting for me to like change, you know, like Big Brother. You start off somebody trying to be somebody and then you change, you can't keep it up.
And when you've done a full tour, even right at the end, they said, like, "How do you do it, Ken?" - "What?"
He says, "You are the most tolerant person when people want photos and they say, 'Oh, Ken, will you sign this?' or there's somebody at gate—at door, Ken, you know, will you go down and see them? They said will you go and sign the so-and-so or the wheelchair or go and sign the pot or something you said you'd go and have a chat with them." Said, "Oh yeah, no problem. Yeah, 2 minutes and I'll be down." And they were like, "We expected it to start with, and then it to drop off where you went, 'Oh, for god's sake.'" Like, you didn't, Ken. You carried—He says, "That is you.
You do take time for people, even when at festivals and you can't walk anywhere because everybody wants a photo or to talk to you, you know, because you stand out with your mohawk and." He says, "But it's because of how you are that the Hellhounds are how they are." And I'm—I'll never forget Jeremy saying that, and I just—you know, I thought that, oh, he's just saying that. But over the years, I do think there is something in that. You know, it's got to come from somewhere, there's got to be a catalyst somewhere. Like me doing the food drops or doing this or, you know, my struggle and being proud to say that I nearly committed suicide but I got help, and I'm willing to stand there like tonight, you know, to say that yeah, I struggled, I thought I was strong, I weren't. But I'm still here because I went to talk. And once a grown man who was up 30 years in a coal mine and a great mohawk, you know, who don't look that kind of person, can show his vulnerability and not be scared and saying, oh, proud, that I can say that.
Oh, if I'm—I'm proud that I cry on stage if something upsets me, I'm emotional. As, you know, somebody who's, you know, been boxing and stuff like that, and can look after himself. If I can still be emotional but people can see that, that's—you can see Ken, and I think people do buy into that and stuff that I write about as well, you know, and things I've been through in life where I'm not scared to talk about these things. And I think that comes over, so for Jeremy, yeah, I think he got that right. It's not just—it's not just me, but it's about the old thing that the band brings, and then once you're in, these vulnerable people who do follow Ferocious Dog have got a family. So they're not on their own. And we've always said, you know, like if you're coming to Ferocious Dog, you're never alone, you're part of a family. Yeah, you're bound to get, there's what we call dickheads along the way who don't quite get it.

Ken: And it looks bad on Ferocious Dog. But that's through getting bigger and bigger, that's what you do, you attract people who don't quite get it. But the core from the very start of the Hellhounds, they've all looked out for each other and they've all been the salt of the earth. And what I used to like to say, and see it in the mosh pit, if you had dickheads in the mosh pit, the Hellhounds would sort it out and say, "Not in here, thank you." They would police it themselves. And I'm very proud to be myself part of the Hellhounds because that's what they did themselves. I didn't have to say, "Sort him out." Or, you know, like, even to where we're doing a song and if it kicks off in a mosh pit and people start fighting, we will stop. We could carry on the song, we're musicians, no deal to us, let security sort it out.

But it is to do with us because we feel that, and I don't want people to go away from a Ferocious Dog show with a bad taste in their mouth, and somebody's started on them and they don't want to go to live music venues anymore to watch bands because this can happen, say, "Oh, I'm scared now. I—it—to go out because somebody was drinking in mosh pit and took liberty with somebody." So we stop and say, "Look, we don't have that, stamp it out, either shake hands or move apart, because we don't—we don't accept that in our mosh pits." So, thank you very much. Right, and then we'll carry on the song. Or if we see some injustice, we'll call it out. If we see a woman being groped or somebody being inappropriate to one, we'll stop the song and say, "Stop. Right. Security, get him out. Just seen what you've done." We will call it out if we see it. And that, I—and I think that is the old thing about making people feel safe to come out for especially Ferocious Dog shows. I mean, we've had our problems over the years, but you're bound to get them when you get sell-out shows and, you know.
These things happen, but it's same with other bands as well.

Mhm. The only other band I’ve experienced something similar with is New Model Army, actually.
Ken: That's a different—The New Model Army family, it's—it's different. It's different, but it's. The militia is different. Yeah, the militia is different and they're quite tribal.
With the—with the own little tribes inside the tribe of militia. So, yeah, that's always different with New Model Army. And I've got good friends there, you know, but I do I've been in the mosh pits and I do know what it's like if your face don't fade, don't fade. And it is a shame.

That is a shame. Because I'd like to think that in Ferocious Dog, everybody's face fits. Whether it's you've been to every show that we've ever played or it's your first time, you're a Hellhound. There's no—Yeah, yeah. There's no initiation where you've got to be drag—dragged over Brecon Beacons and waterboarded just—and have a tattoo to be a Hellhound. If you don't like tattoos, don't matter, you're still a Hellhound. It does not matter. That's how I—how I look at it anyway.

And I absolutely agree with Jeremy. When I moved to the UK in 2017, I was going through a difficult time personally, and then the pandemic hit. I was really down, and the only thing really that helped me from week to week, and your Thursday sessions on the sofa were the one thing that kept me going.
Ken: Thursdays. Sing-along with Red Ken on Thursdays. Do you know how many people have come actually and said, "Thank you for the lockdown sessions. It saved me." And I say, "It saved me!" Doing it and having to think of what songs and whether to do just traditional songs or just to do these songs or just to put Levellers songs in or Pogues songs in, do a full night of Pogues songs, you know, because you can't just keep singing the same songs over and over again. So that's why I chucked myself in the deep end to sing a song that day I'd just learned off the internet and you can see me reading the words why? Because it's fun! You know, we.

A G-clamp, if you have no capo.
Ken: Yeah, a G-clamp a G-clamp on because I couldn't go out and buy in—all my stuff were in storage, so I made a G-clamp. And things like that go down in folklore history of, you know, getting you through that pandemic. The amount of people, though, have come up to me and said thank you for the lockdown sessions. But I did, honestly, it saved me as well.

Ken: You know, I look forward to every Thursday to play.

The End of an Era

This is the sad part for me: when did ending Ferocious Dog first become a serious conversation?
Ken: About seven years ago.

Really?
Ken: Right, and it's not my wife's fault, but I did promise my wife that I would retire. we've been foster carers for many, many, many years. And Dylan, who was our—one of the young lads who we had from a very young age stayed with us all the way through, lovely lad, and he went to college and then, once they get to 18, they can't be foster kids anymore because that's—they're now adults. And we don't do adults, we did for children, which are minors. And he went to university in London, and that was going to be our retirement. So you can't just say, "Now, " I had to activate it and tell them two years ago that I would be finishing now. And that also when I went to move from—I've always lived in Warsop, mining village, and in Nottinghamshire, and we moved to the countryside, just me and my wife, a little rural place to—and if I live for another 20 years and I get to 80, you know, I've done well for somebody who's had 30 years in a coal mine. I've, you know, and 30 years as a musician as well. So, it's time just to take a back seat from constant touring because all these times when I'm on tour and all around the world and Europe and touring, my wife's not with me, she's at home looking after the kids and the dogs.

Ken: And then we—I come back. She don't know what I'm getting up to, and especially in this industry, it's rife, you know? There's always drinking, you're always partying, anything could happen. So I've all—always got to think that she trusts me when I'm away. So, she's stood by me for all them years, the least I can do is when I said I'd retire, and she said, "You'll never do it, Ken. Ferocious Dog is too much part of your life and it's too big, you cannot walk away." And I said, "I promise you, I will retire." And here we are.

What are your plans for life after Ferocious Dog? I can’t imagine you simply putting your guitar away—might there be the occasional show, even something more low-key?
Ken: No. There's definitely—There's definitely something happening, life after Ferocious Dog, but not on Ferocious Dog scale. It's mainly the touring, constant touring. And when you're in a band like Ferocious Dog, it's not fair on the rest of the lads just to do a few shows.

Ken: Because it's their livelihood.

Ken: So they can now go on to find other bands and get their live—because they're brilliant musicians. I will do something, I'm a musician, but I won't be constantly on the road. So that, and my wife knows that and she says she can—she'll look forward to that, you know? Because it's like coming to every show, she would get bored. You know, but if I'm doing say one a month, a solo show or something, or with friends, Ken with Friends.

Ken: Or something. Going back to my roots of doing folk music. That's how we first started as a three-piece. You know, I might get together with friends and do a three-piece somewhere.

Ken: You know, who knows? Watch this space.

What, if anything, will you miss about life on the road?
Ken: Rubbish food, living in green rooms. People don't—don't understand, you have think it's really glamorous life on the road, it is so tiring, and by the time I get to the end of a tour, I am absolutely— all rest of the lads are shattered. Halfway through a tour and we're getting about halfway now, and we're all shattered. But, of course, there's going to be—life on the road is like every show is just pure adrenaline. I've never done drugs, I don't get drugs, so, you know, I have to make my own way of getting up, especially if you get where you get a cold or something or you're not feeling well halfway through a tour, you can't cancel shows, you—the show must go on.
So, which we were like last week, we were—everybody were poorly last week on the bus, on the tour bus. So, as soon as I get onto that stage, or like 5 minutes before, the adrenaline kicks in. Oh, and that's it. You know, I'm jumping about like a lunatic. That's Ken, I can't help myself, it's like you can't half do a show and just stand there and just go through the motions. That's not Ferocious Dog, so that's the one thing I will miss, and seeing all the people at front, the Hellhounds.

Do you feel like a different person on stage compared with who you are off stage?
Ken: Yeah, I think so, yeah. No, I don't know, because I've never been, you know, like, breakdancer and I'll breakdance anyway, I don't care, and I don't care—looks away, background noises—I don't care who at me or anything like that, I'm not bothered. You know, and I think for—to be a frontman, you've got to have that kind of person in you, I don't care. Even if people laugh at me, you know, or whatever, I get 2,000 people laughing at me at Rock City in a couple of weeks, I don't care. Do you know what I mean? They're laughing with me because I'm laughing as well. Even if I do something wrong or muck a song up, I'll laugh. (At this moment, there’s a short interruption. Ken’s phone rings. ‘Hello, Abby … I’m doing a short interview … I’ll come out and see you shortly …’)

I have three more questions.
Ken: Right, quick!

What’s something you’re proud of that would never make it into a press release or a chart history?
Ken: I'm proud that The Hope album, when we got knocked off number 10 by Adele. She came in straight at number 10 and knocked us down to number 11 in the album charts. So, that's one of the proudest things I think. And like, we can't compete with Adele, you know what I mean? But for a little band from Notts, you know, punching it way above us weight, you know, I think that's got to be up there when Adele comes straight in with this mad—and she were all over, you know, the multi-millions behind her to push her albums and stuff. She came in at number 10. Adele, knocked Ferocious Dog down to number 11 in the album charts. I'll take that one. All day. That's a great answer.

Finish this sentence in your own words: “Ferocious Dog mattered because…”
Ken: Because it matters to a lot of people.

Yeah, it does.
Ken: That is it. You know, when you see emotional people at front crying, knowing that we're doing this for the last time. And I'll say tonight here, "So, shall we—shall we do it for one last time?" You know, Slow Motion Suicide. It's not all over until we sing Slow Motion Suicide. And then these grown people there crying. That's what it means to people, live music and a band and being part of something. It's not the band, it's part of something bigger, you know, the people they meet when they go and watch Ferocious Dog, you know, and that, you know, that is about like the tribes all coming together to watch Ferocious Dog, and then they'll go off, you know, somewhere, live in Europe, and then they'll come back again and watch us again, and meet up again and they get together. That's more of a part of it, it's—the Hellhounds are amazing.

Yeah, for me, it's—it's actually kind of a feeling of a loss because that was very special time the last years, you know, with the Hellhounds, Ferocious Dog going around, seeing you in York, and Southampton, and wherever. So, I not only met a lot of people, I saw a lot of the country.
Ken: Yes. Which is.

The Devil's Arse, unforgettable.
Ken: The Devil's Arse. I mean, that is—that's—that is one of the places you've got to witness over your life, watching a live band in—and especially if it's somebody you love like Ferocious Dog. Oh, to go—to play there, it's just, yeah, it's different gravy. It's—it's better than anywhere else, really. It’s—it’s to be, yeah.

Is there anything about the band’s history that interviewers rarely ask you, but that you wish they would?
Ken: Very good question. I think over the years of interviews, I think everything has been covered, even what cheese we like, you know, things like that. But, no. It always gets me when we have interviews and it's always, it ends up being Ken talking, Ken talk, Ken talk. Because I've been in—I started it back way back, you know, in the early days of picking a guitar up, wanting a band, you know. Daniel was a young kid, he didn't have a choice, he were in, that were it. And it's just like for rest of the lads coming, I always try and just sit back and like look at them to answer and they'll go, "Ken. Ken talk. Ken talk." And then all the—they'll ask questions about history of Ferocious Dog, and then the new—the new members of the band go, "Well, I don't know, Ken."
So, it ends up just being every interview just about Ken, what Ken says, lead singer, Ken. And it—I feel that it excludes a lot of band members, which I wish it wouldn't because, you know, they could be in here giving their point of view as well. You get Nick, he's the tour manager. I wanted him to be tour manager. I have no more say than any other band member. We're all in this together. You know, and I want their ideas, I want them to say what we do with the band, not just, "Right, just turn up and do as I'm told." It's never been like that with Ferocious Dog, it is all—I want them to be part of six of us in the band, plus merch, plus the techies, plus sound engineers. They're all part of team, it's not—it's not about Ken, it is about the band. Well, when it comes to interviews, it just seems to be like just Ken. Because I've been in it that long and like, I write the songs and.

Yeah, and I mean, you, basically, you are Ferocious Dog. You are the history. Every— everything changed, but you were, you know, the rock that was always there.
Ken: Yeah, I do understand that, but I do think at times it excludes a lot of members for interviews where, you know, they could be in here giving their point of view as well.

Yeah, I would have loved it. I would have had some questions for Kyle and Sam as well. You know, that's what it is. Another time. Another time. If there is a chance. Yes. Thank you, Ken. Thank you very much.
Ken: No, thank you very much. No, it's been amazing. Thank you very much. Cheers for spending time with me.

It’s always a pleasure to spend time with you.