“It must be wonderful to live like you do… To have respect from
everyone that you know… To have surprises waiting outside your door…
When you come home to answer your telephone.” Ah, such delightful words
and music to from Coventry’s hidden gem to many FUN BOY THREE, a tasty trio consisting of Terry Hall, Neville Staple and Lynval Golding of THE SPECIALS.
Deliciously 27 years later, those 3 alongside all original band
mates, minus Jerry Dammers, came to Japan to bath in a 30-year
anniversary reunion global tour in promoter Creativeman’s massive 10
year anniversary SUMMER SONIC festival that coalesced three decades of sound and vision confections.
Golden Silvers - True Romance
From those legends to one’s in their beginnings, London’s tasty triumvirate of Gwilym Gold (vocals, keys) and Ben Moorhouse (bass, vocals) and Robden Alexis Nunez (drums) as GOLDEN SILVERS passionately carry on the swinging swagger tradition on the Island Stage Day 2 of SUMMER SONIC’09 in promoting their debut album True Romance.
Getting back to their temporary home base camp in Tokyo within the
cavernous Makuhari Meese complex, these three seamlessly divulge
favorites in sports, superheroes, recurring pleasures, pyrotechnics and
more:
THIRSTY: It’s amazing what they and their collaborators do…
Gwilym: Yeah, I want to get one of those too. Is it good quality?
THIRSTY: Oh yeah…great quality. And this thing, the mic for my IPod,
was only 5000 yen… So like $50USD or maybe 30 pounds or something like
that.
Robden: But hold on there. Is that all you need there?
THIRSTY: Yeah man, that’s all you need and you’re good to go.
Ben: Wow.
THIRSTY: This is all being registered.
Gwilym: It’s all being recorded?
THIRSTY: Yep and I’m now going to give you a bag here with goodies inside and the questions will come from there.
Gwilym: Is that the bag? (Eyes wide)
THIRSTY: Oh yes. So here’s the deal, we got the Patagonia bag and you grab an item from it and we’ll start with the drummer.
Robden: Can I have a look?
THIRSTY: Yeah, take a look, whatever. Just grab something man.
Ben: Ah, come on, you gotta grab the tennis racket.
Gwilym: Nah, it’s more of a badminton racket.
THIRSTY: Okay, so the question for you is, it’s summertime and we have
beach activities going on in full, football (soccer), volleyball, etc.
and well, what’s your preferred summertime sport?
Robden: Um…Badminton. I used to play as a kid all the time with my dad…
THIRSTY: Really?
Robden: Yeah man. And ah um, I’m pretty good actually too (beaming). I
love badminton man and it’s easier than tennis, a lot easier than
tennis. So I’m into badminton (with a wide proud smile).
THIRSTY: So how did this all come about?
Robden: It just happened naturally you know. It just happened really, just like the drums. I just kind of picked it up.
THIRSTY: So did you just think…”Um… I’m pretty much going to be Buddy Rich.” I mean, he’s insane, just disgusting.
Robden: Yeah he is.
Ben: He’s into Buddy Rich.
Robden: Yeah well, I am, but not too much. But obviously he’s got
techniques. He’s got this one hand roll you know. Most people need
both.
THIRSTY: For sure. Indeed. Okay, next item…
Gwilym: Ah…
THIRSTY: There you go (he pulls out a Mexican-wrestler style mask, but
actually it’s Japanese and handmade in Kamakura, Japan).
Gwilym: Nacho Libre.
THIRSTY: Nacho Libre all the way. You got to put that on.
Gwilym: Nah…I’m not going to do that (shaking his head and looking both ways).
Ben: It’s not your style (big grin).
THIRSTY: Fair enough, but who’d be the most natural superhero for you?
Gwilym: It’d probably have to be The Silver Surfer.
THIRSTY: Why?
Gwilym: Because um, that’s what the band was named after… in a sense.
THIRSTY: Right on man. That’s respect. Go ahead Ben…
Ben: Okay...What’s this?
THIRSTY: Ah, Charade… Great movie.
Ben: Japanese?
THIRSTY: Yeah, the Japanese version.
Ben: I haven’t watched it unfortunately.
THIRSTY: You’ve never seen it?
Ben: No.
THIRSTY: Ah, then you can keep it.
Ben: Ah mate.
THIRSTY: Seriously. My pleasure and my question to you is what has been the biggest charade?
Ben: The biggest charade?
THIRSTY: Yeah.
Ben: Um… The biggest charade… Getting to know what the music industry is like.
Gwilym: It’s all a bit of a charade.
(All nodding in agreement as their eyes revisit their experiences)
THIRSTY: Ah, the Hello Kitty bubbles. You’re putting it on your crotch. That’s good.
Robden: Keeping it close (smirking cheekily as the others laugh).
THIRSTY: Ha-ha! So, right now, if you could blow bubbles to anybody, who would it be?
Robden: Ah man… It’d have to be you. For giving me a present as a thank you.
THIRSTY: Oh, come on, seriously man. There are so many ladies out there and I am sure you know…
Robden: (chuckling as he passes the bag over to Gwilym).
THIRSTY: But thank you. Okay Mr. Thelonious… What you got there?
Gwilym: Well, some very specially packaged Marlboro’s.
THIRSTY: Yes you do and one’s only available in Japan. Now, what’s the
definitive smoke? And what I mean by that is what makes you crave for
more?
Gwilym: Oh, not actually smokes.
THIRSTY: Well, it can be smokes.
Gwilym: Um… Crave for more… Hmmm… Ah man, that’s so stoned pretty deep (eyes swirling around).
Ben: Yeah.
THIRSTY: Okay then, what movie can you not resist? You can watch it again and again and again? A guilty pleasure so to speak.
Gwilym: Um… I’m trying to think. Truthfully… There’s not really many
films that I’ve watched that many times. Guilty pleasure? Um, it’d
probably be… I dunno… I mean you said what film would I watch again and
again…
Ben: Well, what little bit of a YouTube clip would you keep not watching, you know?
Gwilym: Well, basically, mainly at the moment, I have been watching
Bill Hicks. Yeah, this clip I keep watching is… Actually there’s two:
It’s where he’s talking about people working in advertising and
marketing and basically he just says, “Kill yourself.” And
another one is where when someone heckles him and he just kills him.
Just totally lays into him. He’s a poet.
THIRSTY: He’s the man.
Gwilym: So it’s not really a guilty pleasure.
THIRSTY: Al right, your turn.
Ben: Ah-ha! The nose, the nose, the nose…(glasses and nose disguise)
(All laughing)
Gwilym: That’ll go good with the wrestler mask.
THIRSTY: Disguises. What do you think is the most obvious disguise?
Ben: A big one?
THIRSTY: Yeah sure, a big one or let’s make this personal: What has been your biggest disguise?
Ben: Probably gripe. You know, just like, taking the piss on people,
you know, not caring what they make of you, just like for your own
entertainment really. Yeah, that’s for me.
THIRSTY: I hear you. Al right, we got 2 more, hopefully three.
Robden: Oh yes…
THIRSTY: Ah, Mr. Zog’s Sex Wax.
Robden: This is cool. Have you used this?
THIRSTY: Nope, nope, but I use that brand and you can keep that.
Robden: What do you do with this?
THIRSTY: It’s for surfing dude.
Robden: Oh.
Gwilym: Why do they call it sex wax?
THIRSTY: You tell me.
(All laughing)
Robden: Is this from California?
THIRSTY: Yes it’s from Carpinteria man.
Robden: Wow! Awesome.
THIRSTY: So what is sex wax to you?
Robden: Um… I don’t know what sex wax is man (grinning).
THIRSTY: Well, you do… I mean, what is sex to you?
Robden: Um… breasts.
Gwilym: Ah, you can’t be nice to say that randomly.
Ben: Yeah, that will just line them up.
Robden: Ah, yeah. Well, uh, I like boxers, breasts and ass and dancing.
THIRSTY: Well, honesty is the best policy. Okay 2 more… Ah, Mr.
Boston, the famed drinks book. So Mr. Thelonious, what is the ultimate
drink for you?
Gwilym: Whoa… It’s probably got to be, just, if it comes to beer, I’d
go for Guinness. For spirits, I’d probably go for whisky.
Ben: I think he meant in a deep way.
THIRSTY: Nah, nah, that’s fine.
Gwilym: (pondering) In a deep way? Hmmm…
THIRSTY: Well, you said whisky, but what kind? There’s a wide range and
back in February, here they had the world’s largest one-day whisky
festival.
Gwilym: It’s quite big in Japan isn’t it? Japanese whisky. So I’d have
to go with Japanese whisky then. The finest single malt Japanese
whisky would probably be my ultimate drink.
THIRSTY: Okay, last one.
Ben: Ah, fireworks…
THIRSTY: If you you’re going to have a fireworks party, Who would you invite and where would it be?
Ben: It’d have to be hell (all chuckling). I’d get him (Robden) to play drums probably and set off fireworks behind him.
Gwilym: Nah, actually coming off the drums, like actually on the drums
and they come off as he’s playing them. You know he sets them off as
he’s playing.
THIRSTY: He triggers right.
Robden: It’s a Buddy Rich thing.
Ben: You could actually play the drums with roman candles, one in each hand.
Robden: Keith Moon did that on TV show you know.
Gwilym: You can see that video can’t you? It went off right next to his head and fucked up his hearing.
Robden: It was like on an American TV show isn’t it?
Gwilym: Yeah.
THIRSTY: Really?
Robden: Yeah. Check it out on YouTube. It’s nuts man. Fucking hell, the whole thing just goes up (big broad smile).
To watch them blow up throughout England and beyond, answer their
call and grab your stick to reach their beach. Catch their recurring
waves of jubilation live as well as discover more about their catalysts
below that have helped them cultivate their own flowers of romance:
GOLDEN SILVERS:
FUN BOY THREE:
THE SPECIALS:
CREATIVEMAN:
SUMMER SONIC:
CHARADE (1963):
THELONIOUS MONK:
SILVER SURFER:
BILL HICKS:
MR. ZOGS SEX WAX:
All opinions expressed by Michael Lara are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of Stay Thirsty Media, Inc.
