Rockezine.com interview with Raging Speedhorn on Jan 17, 2003

with Tony Loughlin on Jan 17, 2003

With a thunderous new record out, Raging Speedhorn are about to embark on a European tour. The day before they leave their hometown Corby I talk to guitarist Tony Loughlin.
		The reactions on the new record are quite positive.
		Tony: It’s been received very well. Even by radio stations and press we didn’t expect to be enthusiastic. We’re really happy with that.
		The production of the album was done by Danny Schuler and Billy Graziadei as well as Joe Barresi (Queens Of The Stone Age/Fu Manchu).
		It was amazing to work with them as we’ve grown up with Biohazard. And Billy and Danny were really, really great to work with. We’ve toured with them and got on very well and became friends. But when we split up with our management there was a delay in the recording; and we finished it with Joe Barresi, who did a great job as well. And he was great to work with as well.
		The record was recorded in England and the US. Not the easiest (or cheapest) way to record an album.
		We started recording in England but after the delay Danny and Billy had to start practicing for a tour and we all went to the US. It was a good experience to record abroad and in a different studio. But it was expensive, yeah. When Biohazard had to go on tour we went back to England and flew Joe Barresi over to finish the record with us.
We still try to be noisy!		The song ‘Welcome To Shitsville’ is about the band’s hometown Corby. So, we wonder, what’s wrong with Corby?
		Most people in England like England but they don’t like the place where they live. It’s a boring town and it used to be quite violent. There’s nothing to do, no practice place, no support from the local government. But after touring England we realized there’s worse! Ha ha!
		The album title ‘We Will Be Dead Tomorrow’ can be interpreted as both as a nihilistic as well as a ‘seize the day’ statement.
		I guess it’s more ‘seize the day’. When we split with our management the band almost split as well. And now we know it might happen, one day it will.
		Musically Raging Speedhorn are heavily influenced by seventies rock but the sound is very much metal. That’s why they have all kinds of fans.
		It’s completely across the board really. There are older fans, one was even in his sixties and one guy celebrated his 58th birthday at one of our shows. But there are a lot of 18-19 year old kids as well. It surprises us that the younger people get it as well. We didn’t really expect that. Our music is a real mix of what we listen to. That can be the occasional pop song but I mainly listen to older music. AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, that kind of stuff; but also Black Flag.
		The band is known for wanting to be the noisiest and most annoying band around. Is that still the case?
		We still try to be noisy! And we’re outgoing in our attitude; we get different when we’re together. We started out as a side project actually, almost four years ago. I was with Gordon (Morison, drums) and my brother (John Loughlin, vocals) in a band but that wasn’t very serious. And Frank (Regan, vocals), Darren (Smith, bass) and Gareth (Smith, guitar) were in a band and they were serious. We started a project together and about a week later their band split and they asked us to form a band.
		With two singers every song is approached differently. They write their own vocals while the guitarists write most of the music.
...it’s trial and error and look what works best...		The way it works changes. Sometimes they (the singers) do one line each, sometimes one does the chorus, sometimes they mix it up. It’s like our music; it’s trial and error and look what works best. The music is mainly written by Gareth and myself; and the singers write their own vocals, but it doesn’t mean anything without the rest of the band.
		The record has been released on Steamhammer, maybe not the label you’d expect to sign a band like Raging Speedhorn.
		Well, they have Motörhead as well and we’re big fans of them. And they have Lynyrd Skynyrd and we’re big fans of them as well. Steamhammer treats us really well and we get on with them.
		How does it work out, playing in a band with your brother?
		It used to be me and John, but now we’re with five brothers. Not in a cheesy ‘I love you’ kind of way. Not all the time it’s easy; we fight like brothers and we get along like brothers.
		The tour is just about to start.
		I leave tomorrow morning for six weeks. We tour Britain and some of Europe. On the last four dates we’re supporting Ministry and the rest of the tour we’re headlining. We’ve toured Europe before with Biohazard for four weeks and with Amen for a couple of shows; and with Mudvayne, and a couple of shows with Slipknot. We’ve just done bits of Europe. We like touring. We’re a live band and we write records in between.
		Tony promises Raging Speedhorn won’t be boring to watch.
		We try and have fun, it’s not like it’s a party but sometimes we get close! There’s nothing worse than a band that stands still and plays the album note for note. Then you might as well stay home and put on the record. We try to put on a bit of a show, do what the people expect; and what we want to do.
(Walter de Korver)