Page 5 - Black Velvet Rock Magazine Issue 114

BV114 pg 04-09 CJ cover Interview.qxp_BV114 pg05 12/06/2026 21:02 Page 2

Feed The Soul
BlackVelvetMagazine.Com - 5

he UK is home to some fantastic bands and talented musicians. Some are
Tlucky enough to sign global record deals, tour the world, reach mainstream
chart status and achieve worldwide recognition. One musician who has accom-
plished more than most, and is still here to tell the tale, is CJ Wildheart, founding
member of The Wildhearts, Honeycrack and The Jellys, who is now a well-es-
tablished solo artist, with eight solo studio albums under his belt. His latest
album, ‘DEViL’, released on June 26th, is packed full of raucous punk ‘n’ roll, and
sees the Colchester-born artist look back on his lengthy musical career and who
he is at the core of it, plus the state of the world and the sad loss of his parents.
Getting in touch with CJ, we chat to him about the taste of fame, the art of being
free, diva-ish behaviour and more.

J released the single, ‘One Of The and the platform, and how privileged we were to There’s a song on ‘DEViL’ called ‘Diva’. CJ
CBoys’, at the end of March. It’s an hon- be put in that position. So, yeah, when I tasted sings ‘I’m not a diva’. We ask if he’s ever done
est, reflective look back at a life in music. He fame, it’s not just ‘I got it all wrong’, we all got it anything remotely diva-ish.
tells Black Velvet that referring to himself as ‘one all wrong, and it’s well documented, and no one “Yeah, millions of things,” he replies. “But
of the boys’ is him saying that he’s just a normal, would look at that band and say, ‘Yeah, that is that song was about when I was accused of
everyday person, the same as anyone else. the formula for success.’” being a diva for asking for a bottle of water and
“Anyone that gets up on stage and expects Hindsight is 20/20, so they say. And, despite a towel. I got accused of being entitled,” he
people to pay and watch them up on stage, everything he’s achieved in the rock world, he laughs. “And I just wanted to say to the idiot who
whether it’s a musician, an artist, a comedian, says that if he could change anything, then he said that, ‘You have no idea’. I come from a band
an actor, you’ve got to have an ego, because wouldn’t be a musician at all. who are some of the biggest divas on earth!
you, straightaway, believe you’re better than the “One of the things I believe in is that you When you get a certain degree of success,
person on the other side of the barrier, on the firmly choose roads, you make decisions, you sometimes it goes to your head, you know, so,
other side of the stage, and they’ve got to pay make choices. Whether they’re good or bad, you when you have your tantrums, they are going to
to come and see you perform. And, basically, have to still believe in what you’re doing. I never be like full-blown ones. But we’ve made diva re-
when you strip that all away, if you’re still per- look back and go… The only thing I would quests and stuff like that, but, asking for a bottle
forming and you’re still up on that stage, then change, if I could go back, is, I wouldn’t be a mu- of water and a towel, if someone thinks that’s
you’ve got a problem. And I’m basically saying, sician, I’d be a chef now, and you’d be interview- diva behaviour, they need to get out a bit more…
when that curtain falls, I’m just one of the boys. ing me in my restaurant, or one of my hang around with some real divas.”
And it’s also a metaphor for someone coming to restaurants. That’s the only change in my life, is The entertainment industry, one would
the end, the last part of their career, the last part I wouldn’t go down the rock ‘n’ roll path, but, all imagine, has more than its fair share of divas.
of their life as well, just looking back and realis- the mistakes, all the good things we did, all the CJ says, “When you get to a certain level,
ing, it doesn’t matter what I’ve achieved or what bad things we did, all the great things we did, you’ve got a lot of people around you, doing stuff
I haven’t achieved, at the end of the day, I’m just they were done for a reason. But they were for you. When you’re touring with a full crew,
like everybody else.” done. We weren’t forced. No one held a gun to you’ve got PR people, a manager, you’ve got
With a career that saw CJ joining London our head, ever. No one’s ever held a gun to my cooks on the road with you, people setting up all
rockers Tattooed Love Boys in the late 80s, it head. All the things I’ve done, all the mistakes your gear, you don’t need to touch anything. Ev-
wasn’t long before the guitarist formed The Wild- I’ve made, all the things I’ve got right, have all erything’s there. Your rider’s there. Whatever
hearts with frontman Ginger in 1989, a band that been under my own steam, and no one could you want, it’s on your rider. And they’re like your
has achieved 13 UK Top 40 singles, and 2 UK have changed that course or kicked us off that servants, basically. They’re doing everything for
Top 10 albums. Looking back at that, he sings road; that’s the road we chose to go down.” you, so that affects people. If you live that way
in ‘One Of The Boys’, ‘When I tasted fame, I got Does he think that a lot of musicians get for a very, very long time, when you’re not in that
it all so wrong’. We ask what he got wrong. things wrong in the early days, when every- environment, and take yourself away from the
“Just about everything,” CJ replies. “There’s thing’s new and fun? Is it part and parcel of environment, you’re kind of expecting the same
a privileged club in the music world. Not even a being a young musician to make mistakes? treatment as well. One of the things that is really
percentage of all the musicians in the world get CJ replies, “It depends what genre you’re in, grounding, especially for me, was, although I
to sign big record deals, get to tour round the but we came from that rock ‘n’ roll background. spent many, many decades touring at a certain
world, get in the charts, get on the radio, TV… There was no way on earth we weren’t going to level, and having crew and stuff done for me, I
it’s a very exclusive and very small club. And, if go and emulate people we used to look up to as spent an equal amount of time having to do stuff
you’re fortunate enough to have signed very big kids. We were gonna do drugs, we were gonna myself as well. The last tour I did, the Ricky War-
record deals… I’m not talking about small get high, and get drunk. We were gonna be bad wick tour last year, I was driving the van, I was
deals… big record deals to big corporations, you boys. It was destined. That was the road we selling the merch, roadieing myself and playing
get a machine behind you. And what you get is were walking down. But there comes a point in the band. It’s times like that where I realised
thousands and thousands and thousands of when you’ve got to knuckle down and you’ve got that, as much as there’s been diva-esque mo-
people all over the world working to try and to play the game if you want to progress. Even ments in my life, my feet are firmly on the
make your music really, really popular. And, if the baddest bands in the world, the ones who ground, and they’ve always been stuck on the
you don’t embrace that machine, and you fight became very, very famous, they played the ground.”
against it, then, ultimately, you’re stabbing your- game. You’ve got to. And we just didn’t. I think
self in the eye. You’re mugging yourself. I was a the biggest mistake The Wildhearts made, was n ‘The Art Of Being Free’, another song on
member of a band who constantly mugged blaming our record labels for us, when we I‘DEViL’, CJ sings, ‘I’ve gotta get away, get
themselves. And we were given endless should have really looked at ourselves and put away from here. If I had to stay, I think I’d lose
chances. I felt myself and everyone in that band our hands up and said, ‘Yeah, we were mup- my mind’. The song looks back at that life of rock
didn’t appreciate the chances we were given, pets’, you know?” ‘n’ roll mayhem. He tells Black Velvet, “In ‘The

CJ WILDHEART