A Few Words from Spacehog

Four englishmen relocating from Leeds, England to NYC, have stirred up the sounds once pioneered by David Bowie and the charismatic nature of Ziggy Stardust. Jonny Cragg (drummer), Royston Langdon (vocalist / bassist), Antony Langdon (guitar / vocals), and Richard Steel (lead guitar) unite to form Spacehog. They play melodic rock n’ roll with somewhat of a retro element. Cragg was kind enough to share a few words with me while in NYC.

SLUG: What was your incentive to come here?

Spacehog: I was bored in England and I was taking too many drugs. I was playing music but I was spending more time taking drugs I realized.

SLUG: You were making a living there?

SH: I’ve always made money playing music.

SLUG: Did you become friendly with any people on the scene now [in England] that are also rising in terms of rock groups?

SH: We did some tours in a band I was in, we opened for the [Stone] Roses, but that’s about as far as it goes. I don’t know any of those Oasis guys or Blur or any of that lot. I don’t really hang around in that football hooligan thing.

SLUG: Do you like Blur, their music?

SH: I like their music. I don’t really understand their attitude — its just to me, it seems to be incredibly xenophobic. I don’t see the point in behaving in that way — the world is just too small a place. You’ve got to get out, you’ve got to see people, meet people, and you’ve got to make some attempt to understand what makes them tick and what makes them different from you. I think it’s a classic English attitude that I see time and time again — you really notice it when you’ve been away for awhile. It’s that whole we’ve arrived, we know where it’s at, we are the fashion center o the universe—the fact is, it’s not anymore. Britain’s got alot of things to offer — they’re lacking in a bit of humility sometimes—they could learn a lot from what goes on in other countries. It’s bands like Oasis, I love them, but they’ve got a lot of growing up to do. To me they’re acting like a set of school kids.

SLUG: Britain is always trying to export their thing — it’s a music competition.

SH: Britain at the moment is trying to export this notion of Englishness which doesn’t really exist anymore. They’re trying to offer this kind of like ’60s-influenced whimsy music — what is that? Does it exist anymore or is just some sort of retrogressive figment of someone’s imagination. I just found that was very constraining.

SLUG: Jonny, Royston and Antony Langdon and Richard Steel from Spacehog.

SH: I came over with any agenda to play drums at all. I was managing this espresso bar and I met Antony, he was from Leeds. He said my brother’s coming over, why don’t you come over for a cup of tea and a jam. When his brother got into town [from England] we did. Royston, his younger brother, had all this incredible stuff. The next thing as far as our line-up goes was to get Richard, he was a friend of mine from Leeds. That was it really — four lovely lands from Leeds in the East Village [NYC].

SLUG: Did you stay in NYC?

SH: We didn’t leave Manhattan.

SLUG: Did anyone get sick of you?

SH: No. All the people around were saying, ‘man you should play a show a month and you should really promote it.’ We were like, ‘you don’t really get any better by playing one show a month — you don’t really improve as a band.’ Different people come to see you at different venues.

SLUG: Inspirations?

SH: Nice food, sex — a good hearty shag always puts a smile on my face! NYC is a constant source of inspiration. It’s hard work making ends meet here and stuff. You should’ve seen it this time last year. Man, we were the saddest bunch of retrograde hobos you’ve ever seen in your life. No one had any money, no one had any jobs. It was Royston and Antony coming around my house huddling around his housing project’s Christmas tree. It was pretty grim.

SLUG: What pisses you off?

SH: When someone leaves the dust and maybe two or three flakes in the bottom [of a Cornflake cereal box] and just leaves it in the cupboard—this is so irritating. It doesn’t happen all the time, but when it happens, I get very cross.

SLUG: Think you could rearrange about the band?

SH: I’d have Antony play the trombone ’cause I think he has yet to find his vocation! Royston wears way too much lipstick for my liking. I start looking at him in a funny way after a few beers.

Read more from the SLUG archives:
Written in Blood: Hard Music for A Hard World
Interview: Son Volt