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Crunchy Tales of the Tadman Interview with Paul Tadman of Crunch! Paul 'Tad' Tadman is a bass player extraordinaire, he is also the man behind all those funky riffs on all of your favourite Crunch! tracks. After much harassment, Paul kindly decided to do an interview with Madness Central to talk about his career so far, his connections with all things nutty, his wild antics on the road with the Crunch! and his other projects (of which there are many). Many thanks are extended to Paul for his honest, and open responses to our interrogation. Interview by Lee "Loobyloo" Buckley |
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Madness Central: Okay, so I guess the best place to start is at the beginning. Has the bass always been your 'instrument of choice' and if so what age were you when you decided to take it up?
Paul Tadman: Hello! Yes, I have always been drawn to the bassier side of things. Most of the kids I was at school with wanted to be like Jimmy Page or Jimi Hendrix. I wanted to be Mark King, Bruce Foxton, Sting, John Entwistle, Mark Bedford and Aston 'Family Man' Barrett all rolled into one. There was a small matter of learning the notes first.
I was 13 when I used to go for lessons on a Saturday morning to a wonderful guy called Pat McEwan who taught me all he knew... I'm still trying to remember half of it! My first bass was a Rickenbacker copy made by Kay. It cost me £45 from a shop in Croydon and the neck was so bent it wouldn't play past the 7th fret [half way up]. It had a neck 'like an archer's bow'.
The 'lesson' was only supposed to be an hour long for £3. I used to get there at 11 and not leave until late afternoon.
In fact one week my first 'jam' was with Pat on Harmonica and piano [not at the same time] a couple of good friends Paul Dewdney and Gary Tracey on guitars, and Pat's work colleague Simon Law on drums. Simon went on to work with Soul II Soul. He was a great drummer. First time I'd ever tried to rhythmically 'lock in' with a drummer. We did 'My Ever Changing Moods', 'a 12 bar blues boogie' and 'Green Onions' - the first song I ever learnt. I was hooked! The neighbours weren't too impressed.
MC: I bet they weren't!!! I love Booker T & The MG's! OK, moving on, you were a founder member of legendary 80's ska band The Riffs, was this your first band or did you play with any other groups?
PT: You're right! I was a founder member of The Riffs. This all came about from a band I had at school... The Headmaster wouldn't let us play unless we changed the name. So the 'c' was changed to an 'n' and 'Funk Off' it was.
That band split after one gig [my first] at the Sixth Form disco in 1986. It's on video somewhere too. Someone's got a copy. It's not good!
It was just me and Marc Clay the drummer left. I advertised for a sax player and met 'Mac'. Marc lost interest so Mac and I recruited rockabilly Damien Knight on drums, old school pal Craig Brawley on guitar, a guy called Graham on keys and me on bass. Our first gig was at the Caterham Arms, Surrey 1988 as 'Second Opinion'. We slaughtered 'Bed and Breakfast Man' 'Disappear' 'Roadette Song' 'Patience' and a few 12 bar rock 'n' roll standards. The second gig later that year had Mark Clemence on drums. The singer was a guy called 'Kev' who had a big mullet and thought he was in AC/DC.
We soon outed him after we recorded an eight track recording at Soundstar Studios in Thornton Heath. The tracks were 'Bed and Breakfast Man', 'I'm a A Believer','Steppin' Stone' and self penned 'The Godfather' . Yes I have got the master tape! My old school mate Craig left, leaving Mac, Mark and I. I brought in Danny Bushell on keys, we also had Nick Bensberg on guitars who wrote most of our material. But we needed a new singer and a name. I put an ad in the Melody Maker for a ska singer - as we'd decided to go down that musical route... and in walks Aidan Sterling in a Prince of Wales suit and highly polished brogues. He scared the shit out of me. He was 10 years older than us and he was the man for the job. First gig as The Riffs: 26th March 1989 The New Pegasus, Stoke Newington London. Supporting The Loafers.
MC: Wow......The Riffs were signed to Link Records, which is the same label that The Nutty Boys hooked up with. Is this how you were introduced to Lee Thompson and Chris Foreman?
PT: My mate Sean Flowerdew [of the Loafers - now of Pama International] introduced me to Lee very briefly at a gig I was playing at the Electric Ballroom Dec 1989. I'd met Spider a few months previously as the Riffs supported the Potato 5 at the Powerhouse - Spider was the lead singer of the Potato 5.
But officially as far as Lee & Chris are concerned, yes, Link was the key...
From what I understand Chris and Lee submitted the 'Crunch!' album to Mark Brennan and Lol Prior at Link Records where the Riffs were signed as part of the Ska Revival of '89 that really happened underground. The Link guys suggested it'd be a good idea to tour the album and my name came up in conversation as bass player.
Chris phoned me and I thought it was someone having me on. I turned up to the 'audition' with Mac [Riffs sax player who was going to try out on sax] expecting to see a street filled with a long queue of bass players and I was the only one. Had a chat with Chris and Lee about bass playing and Chris put on 'Burn Rubber' by the Gap Band and I did some slap bass all over it. He handed me a copy of the album and said learn that we'll be rehearsing in a couple of weeks. Mac bottled out and Sexy Steve jumped on board right at the last minute.
MC: I understand that you then had to make a choice between the two bands. What made you decide on The Nutty Boys?
PT: Yes I did... I'll be really honest here and say it was an easy choice to make but a very hard decision to carry out.
The Riffs were effectively 'my' band... and it was developing into something I wasn't entirely happy with. We had recorded our first album 'Who Wants It?' and a white label single then the usual arguments and petty squabbles that plague most bands at some point were becoming far too common place and I'd had enough of trying to please everyone as usual.
It was 14th February 1990... I couldn't play both gigs - they were both miles away from each other [in more ways than one] So...either play a gig with the Riffs or the Nutty Boys - I knew which direction I wanted to move ahead musically and the Nutty Boys was more of a challenge and where I wanted to be.
Having said that I phoned each of the guys in the Riffs in turn and told them the dilemma I had.. some of the guys were really helpful and supportive others not so. It broke my heart when I left The Riffs - but it was something I had to do. If it wasn't for The Riffs I wouldn't have done ANY of the things I have done since.
MC: If Madness could be described as "all the fun of the fair", the Crunch! could certainly be seen as a much darker side of this. How would you describe the work of the Crunch!?
PT: Hmmm.......... Good question... We're the bunch of herberts hanging around behind the bright neon lights that you can't quite see; eclipsed from the glare...waiting to untie the guide ropes on the big top, nick your candy floss and pop your balloon on the way out. Matron!
But you'll go home with a big smile on your face. Oh yeah!
MC: What an excellent description! Did Chris and Lee already have all the songs ready for you to go and record or did you have more input as a band in the writing and recording process?
PT: Pretty much so. Chris would write all the tunes on his sequencer and post them out for the rest of us to learn. Sometimes Lee would put a scat vocal over or some sax, known as the 'Egg and Bacon' sessions. Just ask Lee or Chris. As we rehearsed them, as with any song the tunes would grow. One example of this is when we were recording 'It's OK, I'm a Policeman' and we didn't really have a bassline... Ian Horne was producing and Phil Payne our sound man suggested I play the line similar to 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick'- which I did after a couple of takes.
MC: Isn't 'Hit Me' one of the most difficult bass parts to learn due to it having 16 beats to the bar - (I seem to recall Norman Watt Roy mentioning it somewhere)?
PT: Yes, it is a difficult piece to learn - it's also my favourite bassline. When I recorded our adapted version for the 'Policeman' track we actually slowed the track down slightly so I could fit the notes in.... I'd never played it before - it just saved time. Ian Horne put his arm around me and said don't worry about it - we've done that before! Of course now I can play it faster slower - upside down any way you like... it's easy now I've got used to it! No pressure...!
I must say I reckon Norman Watt-Roy is one of the best bassists we have around - he really is a national treasure - if you haven't seen him play - then you should check him out. He's just amazing.
MC: You once described the other band members in the Crunch! as the older brothers you never had. This is clearly apparent when you've spoken about some of the wild antics that you used to get up to back in the early 90's when you were touring regularly. Is it true that you once played in Paris for the French premiere of 'The Doors' movie and Lee arrived dressed as a coffee table?
PT: They are like my older brothers... don't see them all very often, but when we meet up it's just like family. The 'Doors' premiere was on live French TV and we'd just done some press after the 'L'Olympia' gig and we all had a few shandies each. Lee didn't have anything to wear and all our gear was at the other venue being packed away. So I suggested Lee go on as a coffee table pointing to a table in the corner with some Gingham material on it. Chris borrowed a guitar, I borrowed a 'Beatle' style Hofner bass... as the curtain went up I was playing 'Day Tripper' and we blasted through Magic Carpet and Daydreamers with Lee singing "Wetdreamers" it was hilarious.
MC: Please regale us with any other amusing tales of life on the road with the Crunch! and don't worry about embarrassing Lee or Chris either.
PT: I'd be more than happy to impart some of the antics.. here's a few:
Forming a road block in white 'fall out' jump suits at 4am along the main North South route in Eire. [Ireland 1991]
Spider not in the best of health drinking too much whisky leaving most of it on a motorway hard shoulder. [Germany 1991]
Some friendly Germans had repaired our seriously threadbare and bald flat tyre on a routine petrol stop, they gave us food and drink and wished us on our way. All was looking bright for Anglo-German relations when Gavin Watson [famous photographer] drove our tour bus into a garage awning smashing it into a thousand pieces crashing down around our ears. They took it all back! [Germany 1991]
Missing a gig in Dusseldorf [good job too as there was a riot].
Louis taking a shower fully clothed in Utrect [Germany 91].
Lee jumping in the hotel swimming pool fully lathered up from a shower. Charming! [Germany 91]
I nearly made Chris wet himself when I kept unplugging our roadie Mark's walkman headphones and then made out I was asleep whilst Mark kept checking the connection and putting new batteries in.. [Up North 1991/2]
Paynie [our sound man] taking the tour bus for a midnight spin - he couldn't drive. Ended up in an Oyster field with the tide coming in.. after we'd been thrown out of our hotel in Lille when Lee was arrested for scaling an 800 year old cathedral. [France 93]
Hiring a local villain to hot wire our mini bus after the keys were lost - we had to drive to Switzerland for a gig - missed the gig. Then drove all the way back through France with hardly any headlamps almost non stop 27 hours. [France 95]
The guys getting me at it by making sure I stayed in the bridal suite with Louis... filled my bed with lots of copies of the Yellow pages. Montpellier [France 1995]
MC: Did it ever become annoying when audiences used to holler for Madness songs all the time?
PT: Yes, after a while. Remember this was the period a couple of years BEFORE Madness reformed in 1992... so I guess people really didn't know what to expect. I mean, we used to do 'Razor Blade Alley' and 'Take It or Leave It'... not for long - we soon dropped them as new material came along. Because we are NOT Madness! Eventually the die hard fans drifted away leaving a much more mixed crowd... prepared to give us a go.
MC: I know we've spoken briefly about your favourite Crunch! tracks, 'Going Solo' for example is also a big favourite of mine along with 'Hereditary' which you never played live. Was this because you would have found it difficult to reproduce the sound?
PT: No not at all. I think it was just too slow to play live. Play it any faster and the groove gets lost.
MC: You're last live gig with the Crunch! was at the Barfly in Brighton back in May of this year. I am very pleased to say I was in attendance and thought it was a great live show. Are there any plans afoot to do some more Crunch! gigs in the future?
PT: Thanks very much! Yes.. it was a lot of fun wasn't it. More gigs? I'd hope so. It always has been a fun thing to do, so, why not.
MC: What about the unreleased stuff? Are you aware of any plans to do anything with those tracks?
PT: Nothing definite at the moment, there's plenty of it though!
MC: When you were younger, were you a fan of Madness and did you ever see yourself playing with them back then?
PT: I'm still young! Well at heart anyway.. I'm only 39! Yes, of course.. like most people of my generation I was a huge fan of Madness and the whole Two Tone thing as well as the new wave bands like the Jam, Squeeze. Happened at the right time for us... red harringtons, loads of badges...
As for playing... well, I didn't start playing until 1983, but I'd always secretly hoped to have a go...
MC: Following on from that, you've also been a stand-in for Madness rehearsals, what songs did you get to play on?
PT: 1993 was mostly new material - some of which became the bulk of the 'Wonderful' album. 1996 was mainly rehearsing the live set.
MC: Okay then, moving onto your other projects, firstly, Dubwiser. The Myspace profile describes your music as "vibrant and heavy reggae" with influences such as Public Enemy and the Skatalites. Is this another part of the music scene that you're into personally and do you have a following in Oxford where you're based?
PT: Jonas the singer runs the Myspace page, Spider and I are both in London we travel to Oxford - where Jonas and Malcolm live. Any excuse- it's a great place to play - a good crowd usually turn out for Dubwiser - especially the Cowley Road faithful in East Oxford.
As a musician it would be crazy to stay in one form of music- the dub side of Reggae is very enjoyable and very much in my blood. One of my favourite albums of all time is 'Heart Of The Congos' by The Congos - check it out. One of the best reggae albums ever made. Lee Perry at the controls. Enough said!
Playing reggae has become so intuitive - especially with Spider on drums... we've played together since 1990 - so we're getting to know each other musically very well. Give it a go! www.myspace.com/dubwiseroxford
MC: In stark contrast to Dubwiser's sound, Floordroppa are described as "brit funk". How do the two styles of music compare/differ? Which do you prefer playing?
PT: When you break both down to the nuts and bolts of it all... Funk or Reggae don't really contrast at all -as they are both groove based. I might not be the best bass player on the planet but I can feel it! I equally love either style because I love to play!
MC: I note that you're a big Northern Soul fan and also a keen Level 42 enthusiast. Does this cover the kind of music you're listening to these days? I take it Mark King is a hero of yours?
PT: Again - two opposite ends of the Soul spectrum... I do love my Northern Soul, Stax & Motown - my mis-spent youth down Carnaby St. I guess. I would have loved to have gone to the Wigan Casino too.. way before my time...
Yeah, Level 42 have been a huge influence on me - as have so many... it's that bass thing again. I used to do a paper round trying to save up for that first bass and amp... sometimes in the rain and I hated it. The only thing that kept me going were the Madness Reggae and Level 42 tapes I had on my Walkman.
Funk and Reggae went hand in hand in London in the early 80's... something people forget.
I'm talking Lover's Rock reggae [Carroll Thompson/Janet Kay] being played opposite Level 42, Beggar & Co and Second Image mixed with disco at the clubs - again I was too young to go.. but my neighbour used to tape me the 12" singles... along with the Sex Pistols!
I've met Mark King a couple of times and he's been very encouraging, nice guy too. I listen to a wide range of music too. My favourite album of all time: 'Songs in the Key Of Life' by Stevie Wonder.
MC: Amongst your huge range of talents, you are also an actor. Please tell us about that and do you have anything lined up in this area for the future?
PT: Someone asked me the same thing the other day. I told them I was an actor by day and musician by night. It's all performance lovvie! Just kidding. I have my feet on the ground - I'm a huge fan of Mike Leigh's work - something I aspire too. Who knows what's around the corner.
MC: What got you into acting in the first place and what actors do you particularly admire?
PT: Crunch! went a bit quiet in the late 90's and I decided on doing a film course.. I've always loved film... and as a result Emmy winning cameraman Jeff Baynes [I'm sure he won't mind me saying that] took me on as a bit of an assistant for a few jobs - so I got to see what it was all about. Jeff had shot most of the Madness videos and both of our Crunch! promos so that was the connection. In fact, it was he who suggested I give it a go in front of camera...
I admire an actor who gets up and does it because it is hard graft. It's no great surprise in being a Londoner I do like Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins and Ray Winstone. Julie Walters is fantastic too.... I do really like Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel in Mean Streets. Laurel ardy have me in stitches as soon as they come on too. My favourite current actors are two guys called Ian Pulestone Davies and Dylan Barnes... next generation!
MC: As you're no doubt aware, next year will be the 30th anniversary of Two-Tone. Hopefully this will mean lots of reunion gigs are planned. If this is the case, will you be interested in taking part in anything related to this? Do you have any future plans for playing live with any other projects?
PT: Yeah, 30 years ago! Blimey I do feel old. I don't know how I could take part as I wasn't on Two Tone! I see what you mean though, well... if it's Crunch! related of course!
Hopefully the Dubwiser gang will fire up for another round of dates and I get to launch my FLOORDROPPA boys into funky hyper space soon.........
MC: Finally, Trish would like to know if you've ever been to Disneyland and if so what was your favourite ride?
PT: Nope, never been. If they ain't got a Magic Carpet ride - then they should have. Mind you - it'd be toooooo dark for Disney !!!
MC: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us Paul. On behalf of everyone at Madness Central, we'd like to wish you the very best of luck with everything you do both now and in the future.
PT: It's a pleasure! I'm glad some one out there is interested!
Good luck with the site...
All the best
Tad ;-)
www.floordroppa.com
www.myspace.com/floordroppahq
www.myspace.com/dubwiseroxford
www.myspace.com/crunchuk
November, 2008
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