video interviews
 

 

 

 

 

WARRIOR SOUL

Warriors At Warwick

(Kory Clarke Interview - Taken From Black Velvet 5 - Aug 95)

By Shari Black Velvet

After a storming Warrior Soul show at Warwick University, Black Velvet headed backstage for an interview with Mr Kory Clarke.

 

 

 

 

 
 

The band were on their second tour of England in less than three months. Why two consecutive headline tours? we begin by asking.

Kory: "Well, the headline tour was to come back as an encore for the Almighty tour, where we only had forty-five minutes to play and we didn't get to play all the stuff that people wanted to hear. So we came back and we did that swing and we went and did Germany and Holland, Switzerland, Italy, France and then we came back here to do Camden Palace really. To do London as our final stop before we went back to New York. Between that, there was some space and we thought why don't we go out and play some places we've never played before, like do four shows. And we had a bet with Kerrang! that we wouldn't do that gig for £20 at that one place. And that was great, and this is great, and Monday night will be great at another college, and then we do Camden Palace. I don't really consider this a tour, I consider this a movement into new market."

Earlier on Kory had been telling us that they would return again in June. "We're going to be on a Kerrang! tour with Clawfinger, Misery Loves Company and Headswim." Kory says "I think it's one of the coolest places in the world. It's fun to watch people when the sun comes out here! For the first time all year, and they walk around and they turn all pink! Everybody you see are all pink! I get along with most people here. They have my sort of nature."

Kory explains that English fans are different to American fans. "I think the rock people at this point in time are more open-minded, and I think that rock is resurging here right now, since the start of the year. It's a new kind of rock - Oasis, The Stone Roses, The Wildhearts, a lot of bands like that, and the punk bands that are playing here. I think it's a new kind of rock, it seems to be vital, it seems to be interesting, and it's more interesting than what's going on in the clubs, the techno clubs and the hip-hop clubs. The people on stage are tripping people out and they don't have to be on a record or a tape, there's more action. I think people are having more fun with it, and fashion has gone away from what was coming out of America, from the West Coast and Seattle, nobody's dressing down anymore, there's no more the black leather jacket, it's not hip anymore with the guys with the beards and the long hair. It's all fading and now we're getting more and more colours and shining, it's more exciting and psychedelic."

Because of that, a lot of glam fans are turning on to Warrior Soul. How does Kory feel about that?

"Great. They should be into our band. There are Hardcore Punk fans into our band, there are heavy metal kids into our band, and now there are starting to be dance kids into our band, because the music and the look and the vibe works with everybody. They know that we're having a great time, and in consequence, they have a great time. And everyone gets together. And it reminds me of the time that Hanoi Rocks brought everyone together here years ago. We're very fortunate to be in this position right now.

We move onto the subject of record companies. As Warrior Soul only moved in with Music For Nations with this latest album 'Space Age Playboys', we ask Kory what he thinks of them. Are they a good record label to be with?

Kory: "They're the best record label to be with right now. I wish we could tap into a large bank and be able to finance things a little bit harder and put pressure on the BBC and NME and Melody Maker, but we don't have those resources. We're doing the best we can with the resources we have. I'd rather have people that don't have unlimited resources than the ones that have unlimited resources who don't work at all. MFN works as hard as they can to help us out.

Warrior Soul's support band on the last tour was a fellow MFN act, Apes, Pigs And Spacemen. What does Kory think of them and other support bands? Does he get to see any of their sets or hang out with them?

"We did quite a bit with Apes, Pigs And Spacemen. I consider Paul and the boys all friends and they're really great artists." Kory praises. "Their attitude is amazing. I would love to work with them again at any point. I think people should go see 'em."

And from 'Spacemen' to 'Space Age Playboys'. Kory says he hoped to achieve a lot of things by writing the album. "X Factor was moving into a new realm on this record, so was I, so was Pete. And one of my objectives was to be able to stretch out lyrically to a new way of singing, a new approach lyrically. I think I could say for everybody, our overall approach to writing this was, we wanted each song to have the potential of being a radio single and be able to get out there, because after we did 'Chill Pill' we got out all that Hardcore artistic stuff that was not very commercial at all, and we were in the mood to write more commercially. So that's what we tried."

And our final question - I ask Kory "Is there one question that you are never asked in an interview, that you wish you were asked?"

He laughs. "There are questions they ask, that I wish they wouldn't ask, I can tell you that! But, actually no, you might want to talk to X about that!" At which point our attention turns to X, who is sat drinking beer a few metres from us. I repeat the question and X answers "Yeah - What would I like to be in my next lifetime?". Kory laughs.

We're intrigued. What would his answer be?

"A rock." he madly proclaims! Kory laughs again. We ask why and Kory replies, "Oh boy, have you got enough tape!?!" I had, but I'll leave it to your imagination to figure out for yourselves why exactly X wants to be a rock!

 

Copyright: Black Velvet Magazine. All Rights Reserved.

Please note that all articles, photos and other items on this Black Velvet website are owned and copyrighted by Shari Black Velvet/Black Velvet Magazine unless otherwise stated and must not be used elsewhere under any circumstance. Articles in Black Velvet Magazine should not be put online without the express permission of the editor.