Chip Z’Nuff – Enuff Z’Nuff – Interview Exclusive
Written by Rob Watkins
Wednesday, 29 December 2010 05:00
Hailing from Blue island Illinois, Enuff Z’Nuff are probably best known for their self titled debut 1989 release which contained the worldwide hits ‘New Thing’ and ‘Fly High Michelle’. They have however continued to produce album after high standard album in the years since including 2010’s fine ‘Dissonance’ album. Bassist, songwriter and founding member Chip Z’Nuff graciously met up with yours truly in the arctic-like conditions of Prestatyn, North Wales whilst the band were in town to play the Hard Rock Hell Festival. Also sitting in on the interview and adding his wit and presence is former Throbs and current bass player with Faster Pussycat and Motochrist, Danny Nordahl, who was chilling out before taking to the stage with L.A. Guns.
Thank you for taking some time out to speak to us at Uber Rock, Chip.
Chip; Thanks Rob, really appreciate it
Danny; Hi I’m Danny….Hi Dan
This is the third time you’ve hit these shores this year, the Faster Pussycat tour in February, the tour in June which included two performances at this year’s Download Festival and now you’re here at Hard Rock Hell with selected other dates to follow. What is it about the UK at the moment?
Danny; The weather (laughing)
Chip; We were really lucky we came over here January/February with Pussycat and Dirty Passion
Danny; Dirty Pussy man (laughing even louder)
Chip; Steve Strange’s X-Ray Agency caught us and we signed with Mel Young at X Ray touring, that’s why we’re here in the UK trying to keep busy, we have a new record out here on Rock Candy Records entitled ‘Dissonance’, you know it makes sense to come over and support the record and try and remind people that we’re still out there, so if you like The Beatles and Cheap Trick come check us out.
Of course, you Enuff guys have been together well over 20 years, so to come over and play two shows at the legendary Donington Park must have been quite an honour, were you aware of the history?
Chip; Oh absolutely, we’re in the history books as one of the only bands to play two nights at Donington, it’s quite a feat to be playing on the same stage as all those great bands, a wonderful opportunity, a lot of those guys are our friends, Lamb Of God, Megadeth, Cinderella, Aerosmith, so here we are 21 years later doing it and that tour was so successful, that’s why we’re here right now.
And now with Donnie back on stage after 8 years. Having caught you live numerous times this year as a fan there seems like a musical rebirth and a very friendly relaxed atmosphere on stage especially during the acoustic show at Donington.
Chip; Yeah, it’s a great vibe. We put this band together a long time ago, writing songs, so it’s only fitting for him and I to get back together and to let the fans know we appreciate all the love and support they’ve shown us throughout the years. It’s a real trip for Donny and I to get together and make music and I think it shows when we go out and play and the fans love it too, and most bands in our position wouldn’t have come over 3 times this year, however it’s really important for us to play here and not turn our backs on you guys.
You’re not making millions of pounds so bringing your wares to Europe so often shows true dedication to the cause.
Chip; Even in the early days when ‘New Thing’ and ‘Fly High Michelle’ were hits, we’d come by here and play 7/8 shows that’s how it always was. But times have changed now, you’ll see other bands like us come over and play a couple of times a year, it’s good for the UK it’s a great audience out here you guys are our allies, that’s what my father always said, he served here in the military way back.
Congratulations on the new album by the way. It’s another strong collection of songs. You must be extremely proud of your back catalogue. As a songwriter do you think the real artists out there are being overshadowed and cast aside in favour of reality TV stars and manufactured acts?
Chip; I wouldn’t necessarily say that. There are more opportunities right now for bands to be heard, the Internet, movie soundtracks, TV commercials or someone covers your tune, a lot of opportunity, having said that we’ve had some bad luck. (laughs) There’s always been a black fog hanging over this band, not musically though that’s never been a problem.
Surprising then that newer artists haven’t covered some of your songs, you really do possess some fab tunes, and a good song is a good song full stop.
Chip; Thank you. That’s what our peers tell us and that’s what has kept us alive all these years. In the UK the same in the States there’s too much product and not enough demand, there’s so much out there it’s tough for old and new bands alike. And the way record deals are right now, Metallica, Guns ‘n’ Roses all the big bands from my era, those guys had big advances, everything was taken care of it wasn’t so stressful, you cut a publishing deal make money that way as well as your record deal. Nowadays the record companies want big sacrifices from the bands, merchandising etc, so I think it’s difficult for the newer wave of bands out there to slip through the cracks.
Let’s not forget image, that’s so important in the modern age.
Chip; Yeah, well look where we are right now it’s almost like the disco days, when disco came along we all got pushed away for a while. All the rock bands were pissed about that and now here we are it’s the same thing with the young kids bands. Look who is hot right now Justin Bieber, Rihanna, those are the big stars today. You know we have given songs to artists, Donnie and I did two tracks with Kanye West and there are countless new bands coming out right now that have recorded our songs.
Danny; And you have a side project called Johnny Rotten Jr.
Chip; Of course
Danny; I’m the tentative bass player, but continue
Chip; So we find ourselves now having to come up with unique ideas to market the product. I was hanging out with Herbie Herbert (former Journey, Enuff Z’Nuff manager) he said “You guys have quite a catalogue and there’s a value to that catalogue Chip, however the songs are intimidating.” It’s pretty hard to re-produce our stuff as well as we did when we recorded those records, up until about 2002 everything was on 2 inch tape everything analogue, now it’s all pro-tools, much quicker and sounds different, you want a great sounding record you gotta go out and spend money, get a great producer and great engineer here’s a lot of politics involved in writing a great record it’s not just about writing a good song anymore. I’m glad that people are grateful and appreciative of the songs that we’ve recorded.
You’ve had your fair share of lows in Enuff Z’Nuff, tragically losing members of the Enuff family along the way, but lets talk about the highs. What was that James Cagney “Top of the world Ma” moment for you do you think?
Chip; For me probably doing Letterman and supporting Def Leppard and Cheap Trick, those were great moments for me. The Poison tour, arenas, big shows like Alice Cooper, playing with all the guys that we grew up with and loved. Although as you say we also we went through some tough times, Derek passing away in 2006 and Ricky in 2008, it’s just Donnie and myself left. I’m so grateful for the contribution those guys gave to us and I can put the records and videos on every single day and hear them and see their faces, it’ll last forever to have that memory, nobody can take that away from me, and people seem to be grateful that Donnie and I are still out there playing.
So what’s next in the pipeline for Enuff Z’Nuff?
Chip; Next in the pipeline, we’ll finish this UK run and a couple of other shows over 10 days then return to the States. I’m producing a band in the studio from Indianapolis for about a week, and then it’s off to L.A. where I go out with Adler’s Appetite and we’ll be here in the UK in February.
Cheap Trick have been performing ‘Sgt Pepper’ live recently, could you ever envisage Enuff Z Nuff doing something similar in the future?
Chip; Sure, Donnie and I would be interested in any ideas anybody has to put to us. I mean The Beatles we’d be great at that, but they have Cheap Trick they don’t need us. (laughs) I mean I’m doing that right now with Adler, doing Guns ‘n’ Roses, we’ve been in the studio doing an E.P. so we feel it’s not a covers band anymore, Adler has the best band I think doing G’N’R stuff right now, Sure Axl’s doing it, Slash does it, but Adler he’s got the swagger, he’s the best I think, big personality too and he’s put quite a group together some guys from Faster Pussycat, Quiet Riot and Enuff Z Nuff, so I’m not embarrassed going out there doing G’N’R songs. This guy has sold millions of records in one of the biggest bands of our generation, so it’s an honour to play with him, however we still wanna branch off and play our own stuff, Cheap Trick are doing that tour because they are paying bills (laughs again)
What do you do in your spare time (if any) away from your involvement in music?
Chip; Sorry what’s the question.
Danny; JRJ
Chip; Johnnie Rotten Jr, a new project I have involving Robin Zander and Biff Butler (Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath’s son)
Danny; Wait, let me answer that question, he never does not do music, but Johnnie Rotten Jr is a fuckin’ killer band.
(Chip delves into his pocket at this point to give me a copy but doesn’t have one on him, he gives his apology like a true gentleman)
Over the years you’ve always had an ever-changeable setlist, picking songs from your vast back catalogue, are there any tracks maybe you stray away from performing or songs that simply don’t work live?
Chip; No, we’d switch the set even more than we do now if we had another player or used tapes or sequencers. We don’t have that, we’re really old fashioned we just plug in and play and some of the songs require extra instrumentation so that’s why we don’t play certain tracks live. Like when Donnie played piano and we had a nice production that was great we’d slip in different songs, but we play a lot of festivals so we veer towards hard rock to suit the environment. But I’d mix it up every time we have a lot of studio material to pick from.
Is it something in the water in Chicago…Enuff Z Nuff, Cheap Trick, OK Go, the list goes on and on.
Danny; It’s Chip’s semen. (laughs loudly)
Chip; It’s a cool scene; lot of great bands coming out now it’s changed drastically. You got OK Go, the Pumpkins are still hanging in there, Trick, it’s a new scene now it really is, lot of hip-hop, lot of pop stuff coming outta there.
Well that’s it from me guys it was a pleasure and an honour. Thank you so much.
Chip; Wish all the fans all the very best and thank you.
With another great live show from the guys later on that very same day, 2010 really has been a great year for me as a fan of the band. So if you are sitting there right now wondering just what Enuff Z’Nuff might be sounding like on their ‘Dissonance’ album, why not check out the band’s Myspace link below? Or if like me you’re more of a die-hard but still haven’t heard Johnnie Rotten Jr then their Myspace link is also there for you to click away on.
All that is left for me to do is thank Chip Z’Nuff for being such a top bloke and wish the rest of guys in Enuff Z’Nuff all the best for 2011.