HEAVY PARADISE, THE PARADISE OF MELODIC ROCK!: INTERVIEW : ROB WYLDE OF TEENAGE CASKET COMPANY

Interviewed by Vassilis Hassirtzoglou
Date : September 2013

Teenage Casket Company is back with a brand new album and it's about a record with attitude! The mastermind behind T.C.C. is guitarist/composer Rob Wylde who, also collaborates with the legendary glam band of Tigertailz. Rob is back to Heavy Paradise to share with us a lot of interesting things about T.C.C., Tigertailz and his future plans. Enjoy!

Heavy Paradise : Hi, Rob, and welcome back to Heavy Paradise for this interview! Since our last talk, a lot of things have happened in Rob Wylde’s life. A new record with T.C.C. but also a new work, EP, with the legendary Tigertailz! You must be a very busy person lately Rob!

Rob Wylde : Yeah I certainly am but I like to keep busy, keeps me out of trouble!

Heavy Paradise : So, let’s start with the new Teenage Casket Company’s record “Still Standing”. I have to say that I really enjoyed every single minute of it! in my ears, it sounds like a modern version of Poison’s or even Every Mother’s Nightmare release which is a very good thing. How do you describe your sound Rob?

Rob Wylde : Well it's no secret that we're huge fans of late 80's American Rock. Those influences will always be there, but we're also massive fans of power pop and straight ahead pop music. I like to think that we take the best elements of all those genres, throw them in a blender and TCC's sound is the end result. So many bands who are influenced by the 1980's thing still sound like it's 1988 and that's the last thing we want. We tip the hat to that genre but I think our sound is fresh, vibrant and relevant for 2013.

Heavy Paradise : How long did it take you for the recordings of "Still Standing” and are you satisfied by the final result?

Rob Wylde : The whole process took way longer than we'd wanted to be honest but that was down to the financial side of things (this album was self funded) and also the availability of the studio that we were working at, which started to get heavily booked up during the middle of last year. We thought about working in different studios to get the album done quicker but we wanted to keep the continuity and overall vibe going throughout, so in order to do that we had to wait around quite a bit in between sessions. We also approached the whole recording process differently this time. In the past we'd book a block of time, go in and bang the album out in one go. This time we recorded one song at a time, building the songs in the studio and a lot more time and work went into the actual production this time around. It was a relief to finally get the album finished but we are all more than happy with the end product. It's been worth the wait.

Heavy Paradise : In a post of you at FB, you mentioned that you put heart and soul on this new record, which, imho, reflects on each and every song of “Still Standing”. Do you believe that this record is the best thing that you have ever recorded so far?

Rob Wylde :Thanks. A hell of a lot of work went into this album right from the song writing right up until the finished product. I really dug deep when writing the album too. I was keen for the band to evolve and move on. So many bands just keep repeating themselves and put the same album out over and over again, and I didn't want us to do the same. The thing is, as you get older you go through a lot more in your personal life and therefore you have a hell of a lot more to write about. When I was writing the "Dial It Up" album, my life consisted of getting laid, having a good time and not much else! 8 years later, it's a slightly different story. I've also improved as a song writer and we've all naturally improved as musicians, so it's important to capture that. There's still enough reference to our past, but I think this album shows a hell of a lot of growth and maturity and the reviews we've been getting seem to have picked up on that. It blows everything we've done before out of the water.

Heavy Paradise : I guess that as with the previous T.C.C. albums you wrote all of the songs or did you have a little help from the rest of the band?

Rob Wylde : On the first 2 CD's Jamie Delerict was still in the band. He wrote a couple of songs on those releases but I still wrote 90% of the stuff. Now I'm the sole songwriter. I bring in completed songs and the rest of the guys then add their input and style which is when they become TCC as opposed to Rob Wylde solo songs.

Heavy Paradise : From the new album, are there songs that you love most? Is there any song that comes out of personal experiences? When you write a song what are the things that inspire you?

Rob Wylde : All the songs come from personal experiences in one way or another, but a few go a little deeper. The big ballad "Make It Through The Night" being one of them. That's probably my favourite song on the album. It was written whilst I was going through a hellish divorce and I think you can hear the pain and despair in that song. It's a song that I think a lot of people will be able to relate to and it's good to get something positive out of a very negative experience.

It was also very therapeutic to write too. The same can be said about "Without You" which deals with the same subject matter. Elsewhere on the album, the title track "Still Standing" is all about not giving up when everything seems against you. About getting up no matter how many times you get knocked down. "Kings Of The World" is a snapshot look back on 10 years of history with TCC. Then we have the fun, happy stuff like "First Night Of Your Life" which is all about looking to the future. No matter what happens, the sun will always come up tomorrow and if you stick the tough times out, eventually they get easier.

I remember years ago reading an interview with songwriter Desmond Child where he said, if you're writing about truth, people will get it and that's what I try to do.

Heavy Paradise : The first video out of “Still Standing” is the “Without You”. Is there going to be a new video in the near future?

Rob Wylde : Yes there is. We will be filming a video for the song "(You Only Love Me) When You Hate Me" in the next few months. It will also be released as a single.

Heavy Paradise : Allow me to ask some things about your involvement with Tigertailz. You guys released a hell of a record, even if it’s too short (EP). What are your future plans with Tigertailz and is there going to be a full-length album? Are you going to perform live with the Tigertailz and how is life between Teenage Casket Company and Tigertailz?? Do you have the time for both bands?

Rob Wylde : I was approached by original drummer Ace Finchum in March 2012. He told me that Tailz were putting a new line up together and for the first time, they were looking for a second guitar player. He told me that I was the first guy that he thought of which was really flattering to me as Tigertailz were big heroes of mine when I was growing up. I spoke to Jay Pepper on the phone and that was pretty much it, I got the job. The first thing I did with them was shoot the video for "Fall In Love Again" in Wales which was released as a single last summer. Then we headed out on a European tour hitting Italy, Germany and Sweden before wrapping up the year with a bunch of dates in the UK.

Earlier this year, Jay wanted to trim the line up back down to it's usual four piece and he didn't think things were working out with the bass player so he was let go and I was asked to switch to bass. This was right before we started work on "Knives". I think the new E.P is classic Tailz. Back to that old school type of sound, and I managed to get a song of mine on there titled "Bite The Hand".

Rather than releasing a full length album, Jay's idea is to release a series of 5 track E.P's in a similar way to how Skid Row and many other bands are doing things these days. People's attention spans keep getting shorter rand shorter so the idea of releasing a new batch of songs every 5 or 6 months seems to be the way to go. It also keeps you in the public spotlight over a prolonged period of time rather than releasing an album and disappearing for a few years in between. It's probably the way TCC will start to do things from now on.

As far as time goes, it's easy for me to be able to do both. Tigertailz' singer Jules Millis lives in Australia so understandably he can only come over and tour for certain periods of time and that seems to work for all of us as we all have other bands as well. I'll be on tour all over England with Tailz in November when we embark on a full U.K onslaught. I'm also off to Athens, Greece at the beginning of November to play a one off acoustic show with Jules Millis and TCC also have a string of UK dates to promote the new album before the end of the year so I'm gonna be very busy!

Heavy Paradise : Do your future plans include a new collaboration with your buddy Steevi Jaimz ? A new record maybe ?

Rob Wylde : I would love to work with Steevi again but I don't think it's going to happen. I was a huge fan of his "Private Hell" album. After I played a bunch of shows with him back in 2009 we talked about writing the follow up, which would have been great, but unfortunately he still seems to hold a grudge towards Tigertailz. When he heard that I'd joined them, I didn't hear from him again. It's a shame cos I like Steevi a lot and will always be a fan of his.

Heavy Paradise : Which would be your ideal live performance with Teenage Casket Company as the opening act?

Rob Wylde : I would say either Bon Jovi or Goo Goo Dolls. I think opening for either of those heavyweights would do us a world of good. I also think that our music would sit really well with either sets of fans. We've said it time and time again over the years, but if you were to put TCC in front of a big enough/ right kind of audience every night, we would break.We just need that opportunity!

Heavy Paradise : Closing this interview, is there anything that you like to add, a message to your fans Rob?

Rob Wylde : I'd just like to say a huge thanks for your support and interest . It means a lot.

The new TCC album "Still Standing" is out September 30th. You can pre order now at www.teenagecasketcompany.co.uk . (please buy it, so we can continue to make more music for you) All our tour dates and info can also be found there.

Also, the new Tigertailz E.P "Knives" is out October 8th and will be available at www.tigertailz.co.uk