Will Crewdson – Scant Regard/Rachel Stamp – Interview Exclusive
Written by Ross Welford
Sunday, 02 October 2011 05:30
Will Crewdson, guitarist with ’90s glam punk oddities Rachel Stamp, certainly has an impressive CV, supporting the likes of Alice Cooper, Cheap Trick and Iggy Pop, working with Adam Ant, Bryan Ferry, Tom Jones and Ceine Dion amongst others. I caught up with Will to get the details on his new project, Scant Regard, and some juicy goss, of course….
Your original brush with fame came with the glam punk band Rachel Stamp – You were so close to realising the dream, touring with Cheap Trick, Iggy Pop, and The Tubes amongst others yet you seemed to get caught up in the usual record label problems. What actually happened and, although yourself, Robin Guy and David Ryder Prangley are all still involved in the music biz, did it leave you all more determind or slightly bitter? Or maybe a bit of both?
It was the usual music biz sob story for Rachel Stamp really. Everything seemed to happen in the wrong order, major deal after four club gigs, head of A&R jumps ship before we record a note, posters all over London but no radio play apart from one from Chris Evans who thought we were the Spice Girls and turned it off after 30 seconds (true!). Then when we finally got out
of the deal and started doing things our way it started happening but we had no financial backing to capitalise on the happening-ness.
Despite all that I still feel blessed to be able to play music on a day to day basis and proud to have been involved with Rachel Stamp – it was a good, solid rock ‘n’ roll education!
You still do one-off Rachel Stamp gigs, is this through pure love or is there a chance of a full blown UK tour?
Definitely pure love. We never say never with the Stamp so who knows?
You were involved in the recent resurrection of Adam Ant; how did that come about and why did your involvement end?
I met Adam in the ’90s when he started coming to see Rachel Stamp play – he came up and did some songs with us once. Adam and the Ants were the first band I ever saw and they left an indelible impression on me.
I didn’t see much of him until early 2010 when he started doing guerilla gigs around London. I saw him do an acoustic gig at the Shore Leave club and made it my mission to try and “get in there” on guitar. It wasn’t long before we were blasting out all the old Ants stuff with a full band for most of the year.
I’m still very much up for playing with Adam but I had other commitments in the States this year which meant I couldn’t be as involved. I still play the odd gig here and there (just did one on HMS Belfast the other day) and I truly think he is one of the all time great frontmen.
You were instrumental in the Michael Ashman tribute gig at the Scala involving Bow Wow Wow, Billy Morrison, Paul Cook and Adam Ant amongst others – A massive sold-out show that I had the plessure to witness. Any truth in the rumour that Adam Ant threw a hissy fit over limos and backstage riders, somehow failing to grasp the charity angle?
Oh yeah, the Matthew Ashman gig was an amazing night all round. Adam was actually fine and dandy on the night! Can’t remember there being any rider issues but I do remember there being too many people backstage eating the crisps.
You’ve just come back from working with European alt-rock sensation Livan, supporting Alice Cooper in the States. Are the UK missing a treat in Livan and I’m imagining playing with The Coop every night must be a joy?
Livan has some great songs and a brilliant band. We went down so well on the Cooper tour that I had to check I wasn’t backing up the geezer himself some nights. Hopefully Livan will get some UK dates going soon.
You’ve worked with some true legends of the music industry including Celine Dion, Bryan Ferry and Tom Jones but it’s your collaboration with ex Concrete Blonde singer Johnette Napolitano that intrigued me (2007’s ‘Scarred’) – a great band that should have been a lot bigger IMO. Was she as great as I think or was it just another job for you?
Well, that was another labour of love for me because I’ve always admired her and been blown away by her voice and stage presence. Definitely not just another job and I’m very proud of the album we did.
Now you’ve finished that tour, you’ve been putting together a new project, Scant Regard. Who’s involved and what can we expect ?
Scant Regard, as the name suggests, is me not caring about anything or anyone else and just going back to the sounds I love in a pure instrumental way. It’s basically raw Link Wray type guitar over a full-on electro backing. I just did a couple of shows in the US and enjoyed them so much that I want to play everywhere now.
It’s also a way of saying “no – I will never be a singer – even in my own band with nobody else in it!”
Is it just a live thing?
The first album will be out before the end of the year and it’s called ‘Burnt Pop Cycles’. It will probably sound a whole lot more electronic and filmic than most people would expect from me.
The Scant Regard live shows are still pretty rocking and guitar based but I wanted to show another side on the album.
Cheers Will. See you out on the road!
Thanks Ross.
Scant Regard’s first release, ‘The Excommunication EP’ featuring guest vocals from Grog from Die So Fluid, is available now on iTunes.