It´s with great pleasure and proud I bring this exclusive and historical interview, with a band that has always been among my favorite bands and for sure among the favorite ones of those fans of the real British rock, contaminated by the 60´s Detroit thunder and the 70´s punk rock explosion. Eddie & The Hot Rods is an unique band, with a fantastic and creative melody, which is able to make you cry for love and anger at the same time, just by shifting from one track to another.


Current line up: Simon Bowley (drums), Dipster (bass), Barrie Masters (lead singer),
Richard Holgarth (guitar) and Chris Taylor (guitar)

I still keep carefully the Teenage Depression album released in Brasil in 1977 by the late label Phonogram, an Island Records licensed. This LP has been playing on my several turntables for many many times, since I bought the album around 1988. This album is for sure a good sample of what those guys from Essex could produce, by mixing pub rock and blues, flavoured with teenage revolt and attitudes inspired by masters like Iggy Pop and the MC5. But let's talk a little bit on the band´s history, before going to the interview.



Barrie Masters (vocals), Dave Higgs (guitar), Pete Wall (guitar), Rob Steel (bass) and Steve Nichols (a.ka. Steve Nicol; drums) formed Eddie & the Hot Rods in Essex, England in the spring of 1975. The "Eddie" in their name derived from a dummy the group would beat up during the course of their early concerts. Wall and Steel left the group by the end of the year; the band only replaced Steel, hiring 15-year-old schoolboy Paul Gray as their bassist.

Around this time, Lew Lewis was added as a harmonica player. Shortly afterward, the Hot Rods continued as a quartet, earning a reputation as en explosively energetic live band, thanks in no small part to their manager Ed Hollis, who turned the band on to the driving rock & roll of Detroit bands like the Stooges. Early in 1976, the group released their first single, "Writing on the Wall," on Island Records. Not long afterward, Lewis was asked to leave the band due to his out-of-control behavior; he would later form the Lew Lewis Reformer.

By spring 1976, they had become the most popular band on the dying pub-rock circuit, breaking house records at the Marquee Club during the summer. A live EP was recorded during these concerts and released in the fall. Live at the Marquee nearly made the British Top 40, and the group's following continued to grow -- by the end of the year, "Teenage Depression" became the band's first hit single, reaching number 35 on the charts, and an album by the same name became a moderate success.

"Do Anything You Wanna Do," a powerful pop single which was credited to the Rods, illustrated their new sound and became their first genuine hit, reaching the Top Ten in the summer of 1977. Although the success of "Do Anything You Wanna Do" was encouraging, the slicker record and its accompanying album Life on the Line arrived at the dawn of the punk era, which was perceived as considerably rawer and more dangerous than the Hot Rods.

The band continued to perform, but their crowds were beginning to shrink dramatically. Thriller was ignored upon its 1979 release and Island dropped them shortly afterward, and the group moved to EMI. Early in 1980, Douglas left the band, followed shortly afterward by Gray, who joined the Damned; he was replaced by Tony Cranney. In the wake of these departures, the Hot Rods released a final album, Fish N Chips, in April of 1981, but after it was ignored, the band broke up. Barrie Masters joined the Inmates and Steve Nichol joined One the Juggler.



Many times they have made front page news in the music press, appeared on Top of the Pops and have graced the national charts with anthems such as "Teenage Depression”, the TOP TEN HIT "Do Anything You Wanna Do", and "Quit this Town”.



They also do credit to a number of classic covers such as Van Morrison's "Gloria", Bob Seger's "Get out of Denver" and of course, Domingo Samudio's "Woolly Bully".



Continually touring and gigging the Hot Rods thunder onward with a new found energy. Only recently, they were featured by Mojo as one of the top 100 most influential British bands of all time. Lead singer and founder member "His Masters Voice" - Barrie Masters, stands firmly at the helm as he leads this band –Richard Holgarth (guitar), Chris Taylor (guitar), Dipster (bass) and Simon Bowley (drums) - on stage to dish out their own style of high energy R&B, each and every time leaving an ecstatic audience yelling for two and three encores.

In January 2004 they recorded a new album, “Better Late Than Never”. 12 all new songs, and cover art by VIZ Comic artist, Simon Thorp.

Portal: When I say "Brazil", what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Simon Bowley: When you say Brazil I think of sun, beautiful women and the best rock fest in the world. Portal: How is the band today? Who are the original members still in the band, and how are the gigs? Simon Bowley: The band is going great, singer Barrie Masters is the only original member now, but the band have just recorded a brand new album and are in the process of licencing it to different countries. And the gigs are great, we are about to start a tour of France in Oct and then back to England to promote it through till 2005. Then we go to Italy and the rest of europe follows.

Portal: In the band's early times, Eddie and the Hot Rods was considered as a part of the British punk movement. But the band insisted in stating that it was never the case. What kind of music was done by the band in the early times and what about nowadays?

Simon Bowley: In the early days the band played real fast rock/RnB music and were influenced by the MC5. Thats why the music press called us 'punk', but we were never really into the fashion side of it. Nowadays the band still play high energy rock music, it hasn't really changed much. Portal: What such bands you like to play with in the same bill and what band you would like to play with someday? Simon Bowley: We like to play with anybody who can put on a good show, we play with The Damned a bit still, but we would love to play with Aerosmith, that would be cool.

Portal: How you see the British rock and roll of today? Is there any original bands or all is being copied from past generations?
Simon Bowley: Is there a british rock and roll today? Everybody is clean living and on good behaviour. I dont think that is original. Everything has been done before, but they said that. Back in 1976, until the punk movement kicked in and I dont see anything like that ever happening again.

Portal: In 1976 the band had its first LP released, called "Teenage Depression". This album was the only material released in Brazil. Why it happened and why there was no further releases here? Simon Bowley: I have know idea why Teenage Depression was the only album released in Brazil. I guess it was down to the record company. Portal: In 1978 the band toured in the US with the Ramones and the Talking Heads. How was that experience and what was the meaning of a band like the Ramones for you? Simon Bowley: Touring with the Ramones was cool, we had already done a small tour with them before so we knew them ok. But they didn't really have a meaning for us. They were just another rock and roll band who liked to have a good time. Talking Heads were kind of different cos they didn't play straight rock and roll but we got on good with them.

Portal: Do you think this tour with the Ramones was responsible for the inclusion of your song "Teenage Depression" on the sondtrack of the Ramones Movie, Rock n' Roll High School? Tells us about it.
Simon Bowley: Yes it probably was. But there's not much of a story really. The ramones management were talking about an idea for a film and asked about the song Teenage Depression. The next thing we know it's on the film, so great.

Portal: In 1981 the band split. What were the reasons? Was there any problem with EMI? Simon Bowley: The band split because all the members had lost interest. The music scene had changed, EMI weren't interested in our kind of music anymore and people wanted to try other projects.

Portal: After 1990 the band started to release many albums and CDs on several labels. Why did it not happen in the beginning? Is it easier to deal with small labels?
Simon Bowley: The many albums that were released were done so without the band knowing, because we dont own the rights to the songs. Anybody can buy them and release the albums which is what happened.

Portal: Where the band is better? On stage or in the studio? Simon Bowley: The band is and always has been a live band. We like to record but we love to play live! Portal: Do you have plans to play in Brazil or in any other South American country? Do you know any Brazilian bands? Simon Bowley: No. There are not any plans to come to Brazil BUT we would come if an agency wanted to work with us there. And to be honest we dont know of any Brazilian bands.

Portal: Any final message for your fans down here?
Simon Bowley: Yes, we would like to say a big thankyou to all the people who still listen to our music and hopefully one day we may get to play in Brazil. Keep on keeping on!!



For more information visit the official website of Eddie & The Hot Rods

by Marcio Faveri

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