Interview Original: StretchDigital

By: Duncan Stahl

 

The Poppies have been through a lot. They've done this music-making thing in so many different guises, with so many hairstyles, on so many labels; from the late 80s Converse trainers to the sophistication of the 90s Caterpillars; from the bleeps on Cure for Sanity to the chords of Dos Dedos Mis Amigos. They've outlived so many of their contemporaries - outlived bands that were once bigger than they were. "Remember the Happy Mondays?" recalls Adam, who handles the band's keyboards, guitars and general repairs. "We've never been the flavour of the month and so maybe that's why we've been able to keep it going for 8 or 9 years." That's their secret: they've never climbed high enough to make their fall a fatal one. They've always been able to bounce back with a new style, a new sound, a new feel. It's somehow comforting to think that the Poppies might still be around after the likes of Oasis and Blur have inevitably fallen into the pit of forgotten idols.

Their ever-changing style can by no means be put down to a conscious effort to be different, but rather to a surprisingly honest schoolboy mentality. For instance, the more dance-oriented feel to Cure for Sanity is put down to their being "sick of playing our guitars," as Adam explains. "We were bored. We wanted to do something different." This somewhat light-hearted approach is evident throughout the Poppies' history (see Not Now James and Teenage Grandad) but the music press have latched onto this element, taking it far too seriously: in doing so, they've ignorantly dismissed the Poppies as a musical force.

However, Adam maintains that this light-hearted edge is important to the Poppies. "We are out for a laugh, although I haven't dropped my trousers, in, like, 7 years or so." He looks at me and contemplates this statement as if my expression had been giving away some disturbing suggestions ('What the fuck does this
bloke do in the toilet?', perhaps, or 'Hasn't he had a shag in 7 years?') - "Well, except, you know, for the loo or, like, getting undressed. What I mean is that I haven't pulled any moonies or shit like that in the street for quite a while."

Having done away with that uncertainty, we turn to their American Tour with NIN and the Jim Rose Circus. What with Dos Dedos... containing some definite industrial suggestions, coupled with the fact that the Poppies are on Trent Reznor's 'Nothing' label, it might be a reasonable assumption that Mr Reznor may have had some input on the musical content. It seems not. "He had seen us touring with Box Frenzy in Cleveland and really liked us - this was before NIN - so he trusted us in what we could do, signed us up, let us create what we wanted and we just gave it back to them." On the subject of how they were received in America the 'Grandad' became apparent in 'Teenager'. "They'd sort of forgotten about us. This is This Was was like the no.1 college album, but those kids have gone now and so all the new kids are into a lot of other stuff." Could the Poppies be showing their age? "But we soon got them going alright." Apparently not.

You've got to wonder whether or not they actually got on with NIN, what with Reznor's reputation for on-stage rage on the scale normally reserved for a John Woo movie. "We couldn't really speak to them that much - they didn't tend to soundcheck - so we only saw them after the show, when we were all in a horribly
drunken state. We helped them wash their dressing room, we drank their beers... oh, and we hugged each other a lot and that was the extent of our relationship, it's all rather hazy really." What about the Jim Rose Circus? The whole idea of the Poppies socialising with the likes of 'Lifto' and the other Jim Rose freaks is
frightening. "They were all really cool actually. Jigsaw Man, the bloke that's head to foot in tattoos - you couldn't meet a sweeter bloke... Lifto was cool as well." The Poppies' latest release, Two Fingers My Friends, is a remix album of Dos Dedos and all looks a bit dodgy. It all sounds a bit RCA - trying to milk the artists for every penny (see 16 Flavours...). "RCA weren't that bad an influence. It was only in the last couple of weeks that they put restrictions on us... they wanted us to sound more like the Carpenters - I' m serious. They also wanted us to write a song with EMF, they told us that the songs shouldn't have so many instrumental parts in them... It was only then that we told them where to go.

"But we always wanted to do a remix album. We couldn't decide what song to release as another single - it was going to be 'Cape Connection' but not everyone agreed, so we decided to release a whole remix album instead." Two Fingers doesn't try to remix Dos Dedos in any definite style, but rather includes a whole variety of styles including remixes by the likes of Transglobal Underground, Fun-da-Mental, Jah Wobble and the Orb. There's a lot of interesting bits and bobs on the album but I'm yet to be convinced that many will fork out the money to put Two Fingers next to the rest of their connection. Having said that, there's some surprisingly good work on the album and the Orb remix of 'Home' is one to remember.

The Poppies have got a busy year ahead of them: they're touring for the majority of it in Australia and again in America. "Usually we get bored too quickly, but with Dos Dedos we're planning to tour a lot." It all seems to be getting a bit serious - the Poppies seem to feel less inclined to fuck around and are actually promoting their material and Dos Dedos is a very severe, bleak record. Surely they're not going a bit professional on us? "You should stick around for a bit of a piss up," invites Adam. Professional? Not yet, but that's no bad thing.