This interview was conducted at the Adelphi in Hull on Thursday 25th January 1996. Funbug were on tour with 88 Fingers Louie and at the end of the evening we did the following interview with... well the band and everyone else in the bar! It was a rather arduous task transcribing the drunken ramblings of myself, Sam and the band amongst the perceptual laughter and innuendoes, but what follows is the best I could decipher.
RICK: First of all introduce yourselves and tell us what each of you do in Funbug ?
JASON: (In a mock accent) Alright, I'm Steve Rees I play the bass and I drive the band around - that's the only reason I'm in the band... I'm Adum, I think I'm cool! I'm a total wanker, I'm just a drummer - unimportant... (Back in his normal voice) Oh Hi, I'm Jason, I play the guitar and sing - I'm the one all the girls fancy.
SAM: So is that why everyone comes to your gigs ?
JASON: Yeah.
SAM: So you're the heartthrob?
RICK: With the dreadlocks!
JASON: Sexy baby!
RICK: Ok, I believe in the not so distant past you were or part of you were in Identity. How did Funbug originate or did it just evolve from Identity ?
JASON: Hmmm...errr...
SAM: You've done alot of interviews haven't you - I can tell!
JASON: Yeah, very drunk interviews..
RICK: They're the best!
JASON: Er, yeah, Identity was me and Steve and his brother Malcom, who use to play drums. We sacked him and he went to be T-shirt seller for the Senseless Things and stuff like that. It was like, musical differences. He wanted to mellow out and we wanted to stick to being shit. (Enter Russell of CHARRED REMAINS Fanzine)
RICK: Hey, Russell ask a question ?
SAM: Yeah, intervention by Russell - go on get yourself in there.
RUSSELL: Hang on, Hang on... (Things then start to degenerate into silly jokes, sexual innuendoes and discussions about new Revelation band Texas Is The Reason.)
RUSSELL: What about your Beetle ?
JASON: The Beetle's gone, I had to sell it - I needed the money for the Dickies tour. EVERYONE: Ohhhh!
SAM: That's a beautiful car.
JASON: Yeah, I sold it for 150 quid to a mate. It was a jeans buggy and I put the window-screen through. 1600 GTi...
SAM: Have you got another car then ?
JASON: Oh yeah, a Mini Clubman. Elhele - The Mexican Mini! He's currently off the road, 'cos I can't afford the road-tax. It's a bit of a cunt actually.
RUSSELL: I've really brought the state of this interview down, now.
JASON: I never got to finish the Identity story, but who gives a shit anyway! (Russell departs)
RICK: How many dates are on this tour and how's it going?
JASON: There's 9 dates and it's going good!
SAM: Is that how good it is ?!
RICK: Oh come on that's a bit boring, emphasise a bit ?
JASON: Urrrgh! 88 Fingers Louie, they think they're good - we think they're shit!
Naaaaa...Top blokes. Last night, we went on-stage with these Babe-tops they're selling - you know the tight girlie T-shirts - and we rolled our shorts up so you could see our pants. We played like that all night and I fell off the stage. I was so embarrassed, I did this jump and I missed the fucking stage.SAM: Can we just add, we're glad your bassist had his underpants on tonight! (during Funbug set, Steve became detached from his shorts courtesy of one of their roadies!)
JASON: What the ones with the sweaty ring piece at the back. (Enter Mac from SCARPER)
MAC: Rick, ask him!RICK: Ask him what ?
MAC: About shorts ? in this weather !
JASON: It's because I get a real sweaty arse and 'cos your jeans get real dirty and holes in your knees when you roll about on the floor.
MAC: Yeah, but ask him about S.H.O.R.T.S ?
JASON: Well I gave my answer about S.H.O.R.T.S.
RICK: Are you satisfied Mac ?
MAC: Noooo!
JASON: Well, the reason I wear shorts is so I look American and every one will think "Hey these guys must be on Fat Wrek-chords, I better buy their CD".
RICK: So it's a marketing strategy ?
JASON: Skate-shorts! That's why we do it to look like skaters. (Mac departs as the conversation turns to the easy-access benefits, of shorts, to parts of your anatomy and wellies!)
RICK: Any on-tour stories, skeletons in the cupboard or dodgy habits to reveal ?
JASON: Haaaaa..
SAM: Too many?!
JASON: Errr... yeah! Last night we got the singer of 88 Fingers, whose a bit of a straight-edge boy, grabbing a bottle of cider going like "Cider, Cider!". We got the singer fucked-up on booze. (Enter Steve)
RICK: Can we now introduce the bassist, whose name is ...
STEVE: Steve..
JASON: He's not the bassist, he's the glorified driver!
STEVE: I'll just stand here and look stupid.
RICK: We're talking about dodgy habits...
STEVE: Adum has very smelly feet which can be pretty annoying, especially in the van. He takes his shoes off and when the heater's blowing...
JASON: We go out and get sober! We inject soberness in the morning, to get through the day.
STEVE: Jase has a very annoying habit of having to brush his teeth everytime he like leaves the house.
RICK: So how many tubes of toothpaste do you get through a day?
JASON: Huh, oh shall I drop the shit on you Stephen!!! He has a habit of not seeing red lights when he's driving or not using the fucking brakes - we're all imminently going to die!
STEVE: Yeah, that is a bit of a shitter!
SAM: Hey, that's like me - I tend to ignore red lights...
RICK: Yeah, I noticed that! Let's move on. You've toured the UK & Europe in the past, what
are your plans over the next 12 months ?JASON: Get drunker.
STEVE: Play shitter than we normally play.
JASON: Learn the fucking songs and have a band practise.
STEVE: We had one about a year ago!
JASON: I think we only had four in the whole year and had to record the album and write some new songs.
RICK: So how did the tour with the Dickies go ?
JASON: Oh it was cool, the backing band were ace but Stan Lee and Leonard - Fucking assholes!!!
RICK: Have they got too big for their boots ?
STEVE: Very, very big!
JASON: Cunts!
RICK: We saw them in 1990 at errr...
SAM: ...Leeds, Coliseum.
JASON: Yeah, they're still telling the same jokes!
RICK: What ? We got a video of the London gig (on the 1990 'Just Say Yes' tour) and it was exactly the same line for line as the Leeds gig ?
JASON: It was like that on the tour we heard it every night by the end of the tour we knew it word for word.
SAM: That's so boring.
JASON: The record company said " you're shit... you talk too much" but like they'd have 15 mins between each song!.... Steve Beaty of Brainless is ace..huh, huh, huh!!!
STEVE: And he hasn't got very big ears has he ?
JASON: Aggggh, titchy mate don't get paranoid even though you should!!
STEVE: We know where your fucking shorts are, don't we!
JASON: Adum's wearing your shorts Beaty.
ADUM: Your not doing this with out me yer wankers! (Enter Funbug's drummer)
RICK: Introduce yourself ?
ADUM: Hi there I'm Adum. (at this point Chris & Simon, the roadies come up and start signing beer anthems)
RICK: On to your latest release on Golf Records. Spunkier is it just a play on words for spunk and punk or what ?
JASON: No, it's spunk! It's about copping off and like topping your load!
ADUM: Shooting your fat into some chicks gob.
JASON: It's about Manfat!
RICK
: What's the deal with Golf and how's the album been received ?JASON
: Shite! Shit deal..STEVE: Basically we have to play all over to get heard.
JASON: How was the album received... errrr!
ADUM: They don't promote!
RICK: They don't ?
ADUM: No they don't do fuck all.
JASON: Damn right.
RICK: Right, your previous release was on Lookout, how did that come about and what sort
of reaction did it get in the States ?JASON: We were just drunk playing with some American band CIA or something and we turned up like four hours late pissed out of our heads and Lawrence Livermore thought we were great. So we said "we got a tape do ya want to hear it?" he said "yeah, cool"; we like said "Will you put this out?" he said "Ok!". He put it out and then we hated Lookout Records.
RICK: Did you get any records from it ?
JASON: We got like a hundred singles from him and we were doing a tour in Europe and we said to send us over two hundred singles to sell, but we didn't get fuck all off them! And we'd paid them back for the singles, it was like if your not Rancid or Green Day they didn't give a shit!
RICK: Ok, would you class yourselves as a sex, drugs and rock and roll band ?
JASON: I would really class us as a band. We're three great mates who go out, get pissed up on the way and we just happen to play a gig - which like gets in the way! Then afterwards we go and have a bit of a party.
RICK: If you could change one aspect of your life what would it be ?
JASON: Oh, a serious one now err.. I would make my cat alive, she died about two months ago (there's a collective"ohhhhhh") and it really broke my heart. I'd have my Smokey back.
STEVE: It's quiet funny this 'cos you about Adum's socks, they do need changing. I mean he's had the same socks on for the last number of years! But myself what would I change errr.. I don't really know...
JASON: Smokey ???
STEVE: Naaa...
JASON: You don't care !!!
STEVE: No, I don't care! I don't think there's anything I'd like to change.
RICK: Your happy as you are.... there's nothing wrong with that.
JASON: Apart from my cat. We'll get a proper bassist.
RICK: What is your worst intoxicated experience and which is your most embarrassing ?
JASON: I 've got thousands of them, every fucking night! Getting my dick out in public is getting a bit boring now. No, it's still my cat. Crying in public, when my cat died we went to see Mega City 4. That didn't really help, seeing as all their songs are so depressing.
RICK: Well that's about it, time to do the plug bit and anything you want to say ?
JASON: Don't buy the album it's shit! The T-shirts are alright though. Cheers for the interview Rick and Sam. Thank you very much.
Funbug are three excellent guys who have a great laugh and I don't know if this interview really portrays the fun we had but our sides were aching with laughter. Just as a final piece of info: Funbug have been invited by 88 Fingers Louie to go over to the States to do a tour with them in the Autumn - so those shorts are sure gonna come in handy in the Californian Sun...
FUNBUG, C/O 54 Lodge Road, Smallwood, Redditch, Worcs, B98 8UM, UK.