Page 29 - Black Velvet Rock Magazine Issue 112

BV112 pg 24-29 The Wildhearts Interview.qxp_BV112 pg 29 28/06/2025 12:31 Page 6

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left, there wouldn’t be a band. And, believe me, I did
try. I tried to shoehorn Chris Catalyst into the band, be-
cause I thought I was that powerless. And I realise now
that the power was all mine. And I look at The Wild-
hearts completely different now, in as much as The
Wildhearts is nothing but a community of people. It’s
a family. It always has been. Before we even had a lot
of fans, there were people that were so loyal to what-
ever it was. I didn’t even realise at the time. I was fuck-
ing pissed. But, over the years, seeing people help
each other in this community, it means that I’m part of
something that, when I was a kid, if this could have
been my life, ‘You can have fame, fortune, all the
riches that you want, or you can create something
that’s got a meaningful thing,’ and they say sometimes
that a person has two deaths. They have the death of
the body and the death of when people stop saying
their name. And, I think the name The Wildhearts is
going to be mentioned a lot longer after I’ve gone, be-
cause it has been a glue for people. We all want to just
belong. We all want to connect. And being able to pro-
vide something that has helped people connect all
around the world, anywhere people go… There’s an
analogy that people say: If you’re on holiday or move
to a strange area, walk into a bar with a Wildhearts
shirt on and someone will talk to you. And it’s this thing,
there are a lot of bands that people like, but there are
very few bands that are people’s favourite band, and,
for whatever reason, The Wildhearts is their favourite
band. It has fuck all to do with who’s in the band, it’s
the fact that the music’s good, the contact, the thing,
is real and is pure, and it’s still there. The community
make The Wildhearts. The main difference I’ve seen
from coming away is, it’s not four guys with leather
jackets on.”

oing back to ‘Failure Is The Mother Of Suc-
Gcess’. As it rounds off the album, it can round
off our interview. Does Ginger think that, in life, we all
have to fail before we succeed?
“Absolutely,” he replies. “It’s the meaning of life is
death and growth. When you live in the countryside,
you see a lot of death and growth, it really does com-
pound the lesson. But, the meaning of life is for things
to die and to fall, or to thrive, and the whole meaning
of this whole species is to thrive and grow beyond
where we are, like plants. And, I think, failure, there’s
that great Chinese proverb, ‘No one remembers you
falling down, they only remember you getting back up
again’. And I’ve become a real expert on getting back
up again. But, I think failure is essential. Again, going
back to that vulnerability thing, failure lets people know
that I fuck up as well. Fucking up is fine, don’t worry
about it. It’s not the end of the world. And it really isn’t.
And death isn’t the end of the world. Changing things,
losing friends, isn’t the end of the world. Moving home,
leaving a job, not the end of the world. But it’s the
death of something. So, yeah, I think the failure part is
where the magic is, ‘cause you find out so much about
yourself and put into practice the things you’ve been
training for. You’re not a good boxer until you get in the
ring and box someone. You can hit the bag like a mas-
ter, but till you actually box, and that’s what life is all
about. You’re not good at life until things go wrong. So,
yeah, the failure thing is fucking essential. But it’s im-
portant to get back up.”
We’re glad that Ginger got back up again. He is
most definitely thriving and has grown exponentially.
The power now is his, and ‘Satanic Rites Of The Wild-
hearts’ is where the magic is.

Visit www.thewildhearts.com for more info. ‘Sa-
tanic Rites Of The Wildhearts’ is out now.

Words By Shari Black Velvet

Studio Photos By Andy Ford
Live Photo by Louise Phillips

THE WILDHEARTS