We’re starting to get really amped up and excited for you guys to come back down under and back to New Zealand, because it’s been a little while. Having listened to ‘Shapes of Midnight’, the new record, I’m really amped to see you guys live again becuaes this feels like it’s almost back to the roots of Uncle Acid, it’s very guitar driven. Was this something that you intended with this record when you went out to record it?

Kevin: Yeah, it was, you know, after the last records which was more synthesizers and acoustics and things, I wanted to do something that was more back to the guitar, and actually I wrote some of this at the same time that I was writing The Laura Blue. So I knew which direction I was going to go, and everything like that. It’s nice to be able to pick up a guitar again and just kind of go for it, you know?

Obviously you’ve been in this thing for quite some time now, where you’ve talked about the Laura Blue stuff. Is there any point where you actually start writing and coming up with ideas and go, actually maybe this is an Uncle Acid, maybe this needs to be something else?

Kevin: yeah, now and again that happens. But actually, for that album, for the most part, I felt everything worked within the frame of Uncle Acid still. And you know, I know a lot of people had real issues with that album, but it still fits really well within the world of Uncle Acid.

But, as you say, there’s been other songs that I’ve written that I just think that ‘this cannot be used for Uncle Acid’. It’s too, you know, whatever, poppy, or too, you know. But I’m a pretty good judge when it comes to that sort of thing.

This record was also recorded at a studio which a lot of people equate to The Beatles and Abbey Road, and you guys have been dubbed ‘The Evil Beatles’, I don’t know how aware of that you are! But what was it like to go into that space knowing the history of it?

It can be pretty intimidating when you walk in and see everything that’s exactly how it looks, you know, it’s been the same since it opened. Everything looks the same, they’ve got all the same equipment there if you want to use it. But, we knew we only had 3 days to work, so you just king of put it to the side and say ‘alright, we need to get on with this,’ and you know, crack on, and that’s what we did. We just put our heads down and went for it.

You talk about how they have all the gear there, because you went in there, as I understand it, with a few recommendations from a book regarding what The Beatles used, and you wanted to try and capture some of that sound, so you used some of those microphones. Were they the ones that were on site, were they used in the Beatles sessions?

Yeah, yeah they were all used by them. They keep very good records of everything that was used, you know. Which mic, serial numbers that we used on each session and things, so you can easily use whatever you want, really. And they keep very good care of it. They’ve got huge maintenance departments and things like that there.

I just like the idea of having this old sort of historic equipment and really pushing it to the absolute limits of its capabilities, slamming it with fuzz and obviously trying not to break anything. There was a couple of mics that we were told ‘you shouldn’t really use this because it’s way too old, and the style of music that you play could end up damaging the microphones’, so they made a couple of suggestions for different mics to use. But for the most part, we just used all this ’50s equipment, and you know I think it sounds great.

Yeah, it does! I mean, it’s a big part of that Uncle Acid identity though, right? That retro sound. You guys sound very ‘analogued’, for want of a better term.

Yeah, we’ve always tried to go with that. I think it fits our sound perfectly. You know, it kind of ties in with the aesthetic of the band and everything like that. So it just works for us, that kind of style.

Given that it was Abbey Road, and you’ve been dubbed ‘The Evil Beatles’, was there any temptation to record a cover of Helter Skelter while you were there?

Actually, I didn’t even think about that. Weirdly, kind of wish we had now. But yeah, we were just do focussed on getting this done, we need to get it as good as possible. So yeah, we were very sort of ‘one issue’, that was it.

I know you’ve name-checked in interviews about the new record, ‘Shapes of Midnight’, and you’ve name-checked Edgar Allen Poe as well, but you sort of talked about things you see going on in the world that make you angry. And I guess, you know, as somebody who’s obviously a horror fan, that’s king of where, you know, whether it’s Stephen King or Edgar Allen Poe or whoever, that’s effectively what they’re doing with their writing, right? They’re sort of reflecting shit that’s going on now, and putting it into a different place, so it’s able to be dealt with.

Exactly. You know, in ‘The Mask of the Red Death,’ it was something that was relevant at the time that it was written obviously, and it’s still relevant over a hundred years later, which is crazy. But again, it’s something that I’ve always tried to do with all our albums, you know, I’ll be influenced by things that I see, and what’s going on, but then I’ll sort of hide it in these sort of elaborate stories.

So a lot of the time it gets kind of hidden, but I suppose if you dig deep enough, you might be able to find that the true meaning of the songs, you know, underneath the layer of, you know, the carton that’s sort of pulled up and pulled over.

I think you’ve done a great job of that, because I listen to songs like ‘House By The Grave’, which is obviously the opening track of the album as well, you know, and things like that. I actually spoke to the guys from Green Lung a couple of months ago with the release of their album, and they kind of have, I guess, a similar aesthetic in a way, but they seem to me at least, and that’s not a criticism, but just a take that they seem more ‘Hammer Horror’, wher you’re more Rosemary’s Baby, Wicker Man, The Omen, if you like. Just a little bit darker, a little bit grittier. How big of a horror fan are you, and do those correlate, for where you think it sits?

Yeah, I mean for me, it’s like every sort of album has a different kind of subgenre, I suppose. I mean, Bloodlust was quite ‘Hammer Horror’, but then we moved on from that. And then we did more of, as you say, sort of a ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, maybe, kind of thing, and we’ve kind of gone on the ‘Giallo’ thing on The Laura Blue, and sort of post-apocalyptic thing with Wasteland. So there’s always been different sort of subgenres of horror that we’ve tackled in some way.

And I always found that more interesting and also kind of more challenging, in some ways, to write becase you have to think of different environments every time you start an album. But that’s part of it, that makes it exciting and you know, rather than just sticking to one sort of time period or genre. I think it’s nice to explore different styles in some ways.

As the main lyric writer for this band, have you ever been tempted to put the guitar down and pick up a pen, and have a go at writing, whether it’s a short story or a novel? Is that something that’s kind of on the radar for you?

Yeah, I’d love to have a crack at that. The Laura Blue was kind of like that, because I’d come up with this story and then I had to condense it down, obviously, and then got it translated into Italian, got all the actors involved and things like that. So that was kind of a small step into that direction.

And it was very enjoyable, and a lot of hard work obviously, especially dealing with actors, and agents for actors, and things like that, but that was all part of it, and I’m glad that we had a go at that.

That is stretching the medium I guess, to it’s tenth degree, right? You’ve taken that as far as you can, in a lot of ways.

Yeah, and you know, a lot of people thought we were going to continue in that style, but you know that’s just impossible. You just can’t keep making albums like that, it’s impossible to do really.

Given you’re travelling all the way around the other side of the world to come play in Australia and New Zealand, how do you deliver that stuff live, and is that a consideration when you’re recording, or is it ‘alright, let’s work out a set list, how the f*ck are we gonna play this’?

Yeah, it can be quite difficult. You know, sometimes you think about it when you’re writing and you think oh, that’s going to be difficult to pull off, but most of the time it’s just, oh, we’ll deal with it later. But you know, we’ve got so much stuff to choose from in terms of back catalogue, and I always just want to make sure every album is represented in the live set. And that’s kind of what we’re going to be going for you know, on this upcoming tour. Just making sure every album has one or two songs from it, keep everybody happy.

Keep it real on me, that’s the impossible task, right! And there’s always some guy at the back yelling out ‘play some Slayer’ or something, so you know, that’s how it goes!

You’ve been to New Zealand a few times now, and obviously you’ve got a fan base here, but outside of that, what keeps you coming back?

I love New Zealand. It’s one of those places, it takes so long to get there, but when you’re there it feels like it’s been worthwhile. It’s such a beautiful country, and our ex-Bass player, Dean Miller, he’s from New Zealand and he lives there again, Moved back probably 10 years ago or something. So, it’s always good to see him. We always hang out when we’re back, and we’ll be doing that again when we’re back in December, so I’m looking forward to it.

Yeah, we’re looking forward to having you back! Now I did ask people to submit questions, if they had a question for you, and I’ve got a couple here, if you don’t mind.

A lot of people are big on the horror vibe that you’ve got. If you’re going to recommend either a movie or a book, in terms of the horror genre, what would they be?

One of my all-time favourite horror films is The Witchfinder General, with Vincent Price. You know, that was the one that sort of, I mean, that really inspired Blood Lust. You know, just that whole vibe. I just think that’s one of the greatest movies of all time, and Vincent Price is amazing in that film.

So that’s one I would recommend, and I would also recommend maybe an Italian movie, The Killer Reserved Nine Seats, that’s a good one. Pretty obscure, kind of set in an old movie theatre, and there’s a killer on the loose. It’s quite humourous in some ways, but it’s a good, good movie.

Yeah quality. Someone else has asked, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much of a c*ck is Damon Albarn?

Hahaha, well, I wouldn’t want to say it, but you know, that was an interesting time. But you know, we’re professionals, so we rise above it.

Well, at least one party did, right! And you know, you’re coming to New Zealand, mate, hopefully we can catch up and have a beer and have a chat face to face. What’s your poison these days?

I like, well, a real ale. I don’t know if you have real ale over in New Zealand, but I suppose it would be, craft beer maybe would be sort of an equivalent. But I like the darker styles, so any kind or porter, stout, but i’s a little bit too hot to be drinking black beer over in New Zealand, so anything that’s got a lot of flavour I’m big into. But yeah, normally it’s beers from smaller breweries. I quite like that.

Well, when you get here, and if you’ve got an afternoon to go for lunch, get them to take you to Galbraith’s Alehouse. It’s the old Auckland library as it used to be, and it’s now a microbrewery. But it’s English style beers, so it’s pulled pints and that sort of stuff. They do other stuff as well, they bring in guest breweries to have stuff on tap as well, but if you want real ale, they’ll have real ale.

Oh fantastic, that sounds perfect, thanks very much for that, I’ll be there!

No problem, I’ll meet you there. Kevin Starrs, from Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, thank you very much for your time, really looking forward to the show, and maybe having a cheeky pint at Galbraiths with you as well!