Tuesday, February 06, 2007
The Ultras
"Where did the name come from?"
You know it's a question you are always going to be asked as a band. Often the real story is a bit lame so it can be good to have an official story. I'm not sure what the official story for Joey Ultra will be, but possibly I'm going to now ruin the opportunity to make one up by posting the real story.
During the World Cup we spent a lot of time in the Great Expectations pub. Every time England had a weekend match we'd head down there early in the day armed with every paper published that day and take over the entire no-smoking area. There were a whole bunch of us, including most of the future members of Joey Ultra, most of Rebus and various other associated friends, partners, relatives, friends of friends and friends of relatives. It was a great time. During one or more of these long days of drinking, which had the additional benefit of dulling our senses to the awfulness of England's football, the idea of a new band was mooted.
Lead guitarist Paul C had recently left Ecoute because he was going to move to America with work. That never happened so he ended up bandless. Bass player Sam and I had been in Müf but that was in an indefinite hiatus as lead singer/guitarist AK took things seriously with his other band White Sunday. My girlfriend Ann wanted to play drums and we had the core of a band. All we needed was a singer.
The first applicant for the role was Rebus associate Joe (of no band). The latter part of his name clearly qualifying him for the job. He said he could sing, it was sorted. Band complete. All we needed was a name. Joe wanted to be called The Ultras, after the hardcore Italian football supporters groups. They've been in the news a lot recently after some of them blew up a policeman last week, the entire Serie A season has shut down as a result. I wasn't so keen. Whilst it sounded pretty cool, I didn't like the association and I didn't want to be in a "The..." band.
Someone, and I can't remember who, then said that if we were "The Ultras" we could all do the Ramones thing and have the surname "Ultra". Mikey Ultra? Paul Ultra? Joey Ultra?! So that's where it came from. In the end, Joe didn't want to be in a band after all so we drafted in Binz, who decided it was time he gave rock'n'roll stardom a shot.
Now we just need to condense that into a catchy response for a 5 minute radio interview.
You know it's a question you are always going to be asked as a band. Often the real story is a bit lame so it can be good to have an official story. I'm not sure what the official story for Joey Ultra will be, but possibly I'm going to now ruin the opportunity to make one up by posting the real story.
During the World Cup we spent a lot of time in the Great Expectations pub. Every time England had a weekend match we'd head down there early in the day armed with every paper published that day and take over the entire no-smoking area. There were a whole bunch of us, including most of the future members of Joey Ultra, most of Rebus and various other associated friends, partners, relatives, friends of friends and friends of relatives. It was a great time. During one or more of these long days of drinking, which had the additional benefit of dulling our senses to the awfulness of England's football, the idea of a new band was mooted.
Lead guitarist Paul C had recently left Ecoute because he was going to move to America with work. That never happened so he ended up bandless. Bass player Sam and I had been in Müf but that was in an indefinite hiatus as lead singer/guitarist AK took things seriously with his other band White Sunday. My girlfriend Ann wanted to play drums and we had the core of a band. All we needed was a singer.
The first applicant for the role was Rebus associate Joe (of no band). The latter part of his name clearly qualifying him for the job. He said he could sing, it was sorted. Band complete. All we needed was a name. Joe wanted to be called The Ultras, after the hardcore Italian football supporters groups. They've been in the news a lot recently after some of them blew up a policeman last week, the entire Serie A season has shut down as a result. I wasn't so keen. Whilst it sounded pretty cool, I didn't like the association and I didn't want to be in a "The..." band.
Someone, and I can't remember who, then said that if we were "The Ultras" we could all do the Ramones thing and have the surname "Ultra". Mikey Ultra? Paul Ultra? Joey Ultra?! So that's where it came from. In the end, Joe didn't want to be in a band after all so we drafted in Binz, who decided it was time he gave rock'n'roll stardom a shot.
Now we just need to condense that into a catchy response for a 5 minute radio interview.
# posted by Mike @ 09:28 
