Goldie Lookin's Chain's Eggsy talks to eGigs

Newport's favourite nutters Goldie Lookin' Chain are about to come to the end of a hectic tour. eGigs spoke to Eggsy before their Bristol gig, he was a little the worse for wear after partying hard all month. Nursing a hangover the rapper answered a few questions.

Other than being a little hungover what are GLC up to at the moment?
Right now, we're in Bristol we've got a gig here tonight, we've got another six dates on our tour left I think. Just woke up in Bristol this morning, we've had some sort of crude breakfast, of eggs and bacon in a small place on Park Street and we're just getting ready for tonight.

It's been a really good tour but during the day everybody's a zombie until we go on stage, then we get energy, then we stay up all night drinking, and then we do it all over again.

How many tour dates have you done so far?
We started on the 9th and we finish on the 1st I think, and there's been no days off, so it's just been relentless, slamming gig after gig after gig. Which is sometimes quite good because once you're on a roll that's it, you're on a roll, you know. I think if we did have a day off it might throw the momentum a bit.

Which gig have you most enjoyed on the tour?
Gig wise? I enjoyed the Scotland gig, the Liverpool one was really gig, with this tour they've all been really good. If you do a tour there's usually one or two that don't go too well, but this tour there hasn't been. Every thing's been really good, obviously you're bound to get a few technical problems with eight men on stage running around. But, it's just been great, they've been really, really good gigs, loads of people have been turning up. I've really enjoyed this tour apart from having a slight mental breakdown every day, well four or five times a day, apart from that it's been really good.

Who have you had on support, has it been the same people?
Yeah, we've had a band called Trip, who a few year's ago Killa Kela the beatbox dude he came and supported us and Trip was part of his collective. Now he's doing his own thing and has got a kind of guitar band around him now, so he's a bit less hop hop. He's got drums, bass, guitars, it's good to have a live band support us. Well, it's just good to have a good band supporting us, their album's not out for a few months yet so they're all happy to be out doing shows, and we're happy to have them with us, and we've had a few parties together afterwards. So it's all been pretty damn good.

Has the line-up of Goldie Lookin' Chain still the same as it usually is?
It's pretty much the same, but 2hats has not been with us because he's just had a baby. So we've got Graham The Bear to take his place on some of the raps. So there's only been just a slight change due to the birth of a child. Everything else is pretty much the same, everybody's got on the bus, we've all been very exciting, and we've been partying hard, so it's pretty good.

You've got a new album out, Asbo4Life with no samples how easy was it to pull that off?
Well we've been recording ever since we last toured. It's been quite a while, and we've recorded so much stuff, that's it's just kind of happened, and you obviously don't have to pay dead people, well, or live people, for using their samples. It just kind of happened, there's been a few beats, some floating around, we took them up, and we started hooking up and down beats, and we started doing stuff over them. They sounded good, and we beefed them up a bit, and it became a bit of a natural progression really. We've been doing some of the new tunes on this tour and people's reaction to them have been really good. Unless you're a bit of a train spotter it's not a noticeable thing, which is quite good in a sense, it's not like "Oh my god, what the hell happened?" It's just, "This music's still good, my head's been bobbing to it" it's like we grew pubes overnight. It just happened, but it's good to move on, and things to change.

So have you got your own studio?
No, it's all done on a Mac. It's great if you've got a computer these days you can just make music on it. For this album we had a specific house that we hired for about six months. So we were all using that to record stuff in, and then constantly recording stuff and making new tunes. If there's a computer nearby, you can even hook up a demo on a laptop these days, it's that quick and accessible now, you can constantly be doing stuff now which is great.

What can fans look forward to coming from Goldie Lookin' Chain in the future?
Well the new single, 'By Any Means Necessary' came out last week, or the week before, I've lost all track. Hopefully there's more singles to come off this album. Then there's plans to do a remix album, because we've got so much stuff recorded, and then there's plans for another original album to come out later on. So, basically more singles, a remix album, and another album to come out as well. We're keeping the old ball rolling, and the tour wheels turning you know.

What's the best band you've gone to watch live?
I'm trying to think, probably the best band that I've seen live is Rammstein, the German band. We did a big festival in Switzerland, and Rammstein played, a lot of people don't really know them in this country, but fuckin' hell they're amazing, they're absolutely amazing, it's just pure theatre you know. Every other song, it's not just a bit of pyrotechnics, it's just walls of fire cascading down, and at one point they put the keyboard player in a giant pot and killed him and ate his flesh! That was fuckin' amazing! If you ever get a chance to see them live, check them out, they are awesome.

If you weren't a musician what would you do?
Well we've been doing a bit of radio presenting on Xfm, it was on air in South Wales for six months, but then there's been a big merger and it's all been bought out. Basically all the stations got shut down which was shit. i really enjoyed doing that. I wouldn't mind being in a movie, I'd like to be in a film doing a bit of acting. We recently did a TV show for Channel 4 as well called 'Count Down To The Olympics 2012' where we went out and matched up against professional sportsmen, and that was great fun.

Anything really that's just a bit of a challenge, and something a bit different from having to work in an office. I've done so many of those jobs, that they drove me insane, anything that I don't have to work in a call centre, I'll be happy to do.

Are you ever tempted to do stand up?
People have suggested doing it before, I've never really thought about it. I suppose I could sit down and write a routine. Here's a joke, one of my favourites. How does Bob Marley like his donuts? And then the answer is, he doesn't he's been dead since 1981, which I think is fantastic. I think the main punchline is usually with jammin'. Which I think is fantastic, but I like to swing it a bit. You never know, every thing's there to try isn't it? So you never know.

For those that have seen you before what's new this time around?
Well we build a male voice choir into the show, brand new tunes, a slightly different dynamic on the stuff we've done before, and all the old classics as well. So, I'd like to come and watch the show rather than take part in it. We've got such a back catalogue of stuff now that it's great we've got so much stuff to choose from. We do mix it up a bit on this show, keeping the new ones in, and the old ones, we try to mix it up a bit each time. It should be a little bit different if you come a couple of times.

Do you still have the sofa on tour with you?
No we haven't had room on the tour bus to bring it on this tour, so it's just eight men in tracksuits and a load of bottles of beer in the corner, and that's pretty damn good.

Talking of bottles of beer is it true that you've asked to go on stage as early as possible so that you're not too drunk?
Yeah, that is true. We've had quite a few issues with that. It all kicked off in Exeter. They sell very strong cider in Exeter (at The Ship Inn), and it was a very sunny day, and some of the boys started experimenting with this stuff, and went a bit crazy. Basically, we're trying to pace ourselves and get on earlier rather than later, because it tends to get a bit messy if we're on after half past nine.

What festivals have you got planned for this summer?
Hopefully all of them. We're waiting actually, our booking agent who sorts it all out is waiting to hear, all I know for definite is we're doing Bestival, and Camp Bestival, we're waiting to hear back over V, Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds, so all I can really say is as soon as we get the dates we'll put them online. Check the myspace, facebook, and website.

Well that's pretty much it, I'd better let you get on, thanks for your time Eggsy.
Marvellous, that's great, cheers. No worries, bye bye, bye bye.

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