The Crunch

Band of the moment, The Crunch, took a little break to chat with Music-News Claudia A. about future plans and the importance of being earnest.

The Crunch are Sulo Karlsson, (singer with Swedish blues/glam-rockers Diamond Dogs, Dave Tregunna (Sham 69 / Lords Of The New Church), Mick Geggus (Cockney Rejects), and Terry Chimes (The Clash).

Music-News:
Sulo, your current band project The Crunch actually came together in roundabout ways, and it all started with a book you co-wrote, and which was released in Sweden last year.

Sulo:
We (i.e. Swedish journalist Petter Karlsson and I) had this idea for a book about 70’s and 80’s rock stars. Petter wrote a book in 1994 about football players, so we thought of the new book as ‘Part 2’, but this time with rock stars. Because I’m touring a lot in England, I tried to fit the context and started looking for the characters we wanted. So I got pals Dave, Mick and Terry, and the others featured in the book.

MN:
The book is called ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ – does the title refer to the song by Queen?

Sulo:
Yeah, we took the title from the Queen song. Petter is actually a big Queen fan. When we decided on the name of the book, Petter suggested ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ after Queen’s first single I think. The book also contains a CD with cover versions, and that song is also on the album, but my version.

MN:
The outfit known as The Crunch (i.e. you, Dave Tregunna, Mick Geggus and Terry Chimes) obviously connected musically, for Dave, Mick, and Terry played at your book launch in Stockholm…

Mick Geggus:
We (that’s Dave and Terry) have known each other since the 70’s really, we all had the same management, and you know, we were very involved with each other as we were part of the same scene really. Then we hadn’t seen each other for thirty odd years, so when I was on the plane going over for the launch thing, Dave was sitting in front of me and at first we didn’t even recognize each other!

MN:
Are you serious? What drugs were you on that day?

Dave Tregunna:
Well, we weren’t on any drugs that day, that’s just the problem, haha! Of course, I also had played with Terry before, in another band project of mine called The Cherry Bombz, so really there’s a past connection between the lot of us.

MN:
So what sparked The Crunch?

Mick:
Well we went over to the book launch and actually put a band together. What we did is we all got up and Dave did a Sham 69 number and Lords Of The New Church number, Terry did a couple of Clash numbers, and I did a couple of Cockney Rejects numbers. We thoroughly enjoyed it, and over a few beers we decided that we’ll do it again sometime, and here we are… doing it again!

MN:
The book ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ also contains a CD, with various numbers by various artists like Robert Wyatt, Wilko Johnson, Spike Gray, Justin Sullivan and others… and you guys collaborating of course.

Sulo:
Before we went to see the artists featured in the book, we were thinking, “Which songs can we do with acoustic guitar?” Because you know, sometimes we’d end up recording in someone’s bedroom or living room. In Robert Wyatt’s case it was very difficult because his songs aren’t that easy, but I picked two. The soup song… haha, it’s a solo. The thing is, I had two songs with Robert and I said “Do you wanna do that song?” and he said “Oh no!” Then I said “What about the other song?” and he said, “No… actually, I play the songs only once… can we write a new one?” Then we recorded some piano stuff with him in the background, and he said to me “I want you to write a lyric, and it’s gonna be called ‘enjoy the risk’. Because that’s what you need if you wanna succeed in rock ‘n’ roll.” So I wrote the lyrics around ‘Enjoy The Risk’, and that’s also the name of the song.

MN:
With 14 tracks on the CD, how did you decide which one to use for the single release?

Mick / Dave:
It wasn’t really easy… They’re all good songs, very catchy and radio-friendly, and all about three minutes long. I suppose that ‘Down By The Border’ just stood out at the time. Yeah… could have been any number of them, they’re all potential hits.

MN:
After you had formed The Crunch, did you at any point have doubts whether it might be difficult to get the project off the ground, considering the current sanitized state of the music industry…

Sulo:
The thought we had about forming the band was like “This is a very good energy, this band sounds like a bunch of 21-year old kids”, you know. So, let’s try to write some really, really good songs. So we did that, that’s the way it works. So we’re not concerned at all, haha. Good music will always be appreciated.

Dave:
You can’t help but put a lot of enthusiasm into it, because it’s something that hasn’t been done in a long time and you can’t help the energy pouring it. That’s what it really is, you know. When we were in Stockholm, we all got on which is great, and then Sulo said “Would you like to record with us?” and at the time I was just thinking “Ah well, another band”. But it was only when we heard the demo that we thought the songs were really good, we all thought that. So when we came together and started recording them, it just clicked and it was so easy, and we had really good fun! Next thing was, “Ok, let’s think of a name for this project.”

MN:
So how did the name come about?

Sulo / Mick / Dave:
Terry (Chimes) came up with the name. Let’s blame him then! I said to him “Doesn’t it sound a bit like The Clash?” and he replied, “Well, is that good, hey?”

MN:
Personally, I think it sounds more like a crunchy chocolate bar…

Sulo / Mick / Dave:
Yeah, and why not? Crunch cornflakes, or like a mix of chocolate bars and cornflakes. Actually, Kellogg’s could sponsor our tour… with money, not cornflakes though. Help this rock band, sponsored by Muesli…

MN:
Who decided on the Crunch sound?

Dave / Mick:
Well that’s what I meant when I said that it’s so easy with the music, because the sound is what we do naturally. The right chemistry just happened, and it’s just our musical styles all coming together naturally.

MN:
All of you, and especially Dave, have numerous band projects going. How do you prioritise?

Dave:
Well, with Sham 69 we don’t do that many gigs, Jimmy doesn’t want to do a lot. So we only do a few ‘prestigious’ gigs and stuff like that. I have a couple of side projects going, like The Tango Pirates. Again, we can fit it in. Like Mickey with the Cockney Rejects and that, we just have to work around it. But if this projects starts to get big, then you know, some other things will have to take a backseat.

MN:
Cool! Thanks for your time guys, and best wishes for The Crunch Emporium.

(‘Keep Yourself Alive’ is currently only available in Swedish language, but an English translation of the book is in the cards.)