Brian: I believe in fanzines as an important medium anyway. Obviously, in many people's minds, we're synonymous with Maximum Speed. yes, they helped us to an extent, but I firmly believe that we had the potential talent to have come through anyway, especially if we'd been given time to develop. Truth is, Maximum Speed was very poorly written, and was far too opinionated; it helped by making names known, but didn't really expand on that. My favourite zine at the time was Makin' Time, which was wasn't actually a modzine, but loved the Mod groups and wrote about them intelligently and enthusiastically. DRC was good as well. I lost touch with them a bit during the 80's, but Shadows and Reflections was a good read.

Brian: Yes I've still got all my zines! I'm a bit of a hoarder of things anyway, and they're a great source of primary information. Some are hilariously naive, but so what - they evoke a great period. Shame that some of the staples tend to get rusty and dislodge themselves, though...

Brian: Interesting question that.....I think the attitude of the Mod 79 bands was edgier than the Powerpop groups. Unlike powerpop, Mod groups had a whole connected lifestyle. Musically though there were some common influences of course. For instance, The Beatles were an influence on BTZ, albeit a minor one (more major for Squire and Tony Meynell) but pivotal to powerpop. Having said all that, I LOVE British and American powerpop from the early 70's to the present day, and collect it big time!

This question usually has to include something about the Merton Parkas. They weren't my sort of thing, and I thought they were much better in '78 when they were The Sneakers and a more honest 60's covers band, but things went over the top at the time with campaigns against them and things. I didn't like them personally for slagging off The Chords in an interview on one occasion, but even then, Mick Talbot played on The Chords album, so they must have buried the hatchet. The Crooks were given a rough deal too, very unfairly, and I really spit my dummy out about that in the Graham Lentz book, because they helped BTZ so much, early on.

Brian: "Talking To Myself" was a great song in the set, and maybe it could still be the follow-up, now we've done it for the album, even though it's 24 years later!

Brian: Hard to think of anyone in '79 as heroes, not that there weren't any - it's just that I regarded everyone around me as peers, and therefore didn't look up or down to them. Villains - anyone who was a racist (yes, there were some), and a jealous former school friend who tried to make trouble for the band.

Brian: I'd just started college as a mature student when the organizers of Mods Mayday got in touch with me, in Oct 98. Obviously, BTZ didn't exist at that time, so I thought might be fun to get some friends together and just bash a few of the songs out. However, the more I became involved in my studies, the more apparent it was that I wouldn't have the time, and the organizers didn't seem to understand this. They also insisted on calling me "Betteridge" which I hate now. I felt that I was being put under too much pressure, so I backed out. It's a blessing in disguise anyway, because now the band IS together again, so when we play, you're getting the authentic article.

Brian: I didn't go to the event - my only regret there, is that my friend from Holland came over specially to surprise me, only to find I wasn't there! I know that The Purple Hearts did a version of Your Side of Heaven in their set, which was very flattering.

Brian: It's terrific that a lot of the '79 bands have been given decent reissues. As a music collector myself, I'm in favour of any well compiled and annotated albums. Yes, I think that a lot of the bands material has aged well, although some of the productions fell short. The fact that people who whouldn't have been old enough or even born in '79 and are still getting into the bands proves this, although I'm sometimes a bit mystified that they don't prefer the stuff from the 60's that influenced us all in the first place, as it's fundamentally better!

Brian: Album details ahoy! We've recorded 13 tracks. They're all songs from '79, but all have been updated in one way or another, so we hope there's a contemporary, timeless feel to them. It's the album we never made, the first time round - the only thing missing is the youth. If anyone is interested or remembers these titles, the tracks are: Talking to Myself/Feel So Sad About the Boys/Names & Rocks/So Young/This is my Future/Modern Boys/Peter Hall/London's Pride/I Could Be Dreaming/The Place You Live In/Youth of Today, and new versions of Your Side of Heaven and Back to Back. So it's all the originals from our 79

set(s) as well as 3 tracks that are new to me, as they were added to the set after my original departure from the group.

Brian: There's been stacks of hard work involved over the last 18 months - and 99% of it has been Sams as far as I'm concerned.He's spent hours on his ProToolsstudio, playing, overdubbing, mixing, doing all the drum tracks (Andy was a bit late back on board to drum - he'll be on anything in future) and generally being Enfield's answer to Spector without the homicidal tendencies. I'm privileged to be involved with such a huge musical talent. My singing was the easy bit, and that was a lot of fun. The 3 of us have finally started rehearsing for live work recently, and we've locked into place incredibly quickly. It's actually been emotional for us - we keep looking at each other when we're playing or singing cos we're thinking "is this really happening"? For instance, When Andy first came to play the "diddle-iddle-ee - b-boom-boom-boom" drum roll at the beginning of "Your Side" it was important for me to witness this! All that's holding us back now really is a regular bassist, now that Mal's given up playing and lives in France. We hope this will be rectified shortly.

Brian: As mentioned, we've re-done "Your Side of Heaven" and Back To Back". It seemed daft not to do them, as we'd done all our other stuff. I especially love the new version of Back to Back, as I think it's a huge improvement on the original, and a bit of a "psyche-out"!

Brain: Sam's already looking ahead and talking about a 2nd album with all-new tracks! He's written loads of songs in the intervening years; I've listened to quite a few, and identified at least 3 or 4 as total BTZ material, and that's just for starters. On top of that, I've written 2 songs myself (my first since I was 16 - I must have been inspired)! - Sam likes the lyrics, and he'll be putting music to them.

Brian: The web has been vital. It's no exaggeration to say that it's changed the course of my life. Without Jim Cooper's website, Back To Zero would never have reformed, and all the good things that have followed from there wouldn't have happened. I love Q & A - type pages where people can help each other with obscure questions about forgotten bands and records - totally up my street! It's also great, of course, that a band or info site can go online and be able to spread their music wherever they want on the planet. It's true of the entire Internet of course, but the Mod sites are a great example. Two things I don't like - a couple of the sites are so elitist that you feel you shouldn't be reading them if you're not in front of a computer with the right clothes on; and the inevitable "flaming" in forums, which is a waste of cyberspace.

Brian: Sam's married to the lovely Jeanette, with 2 daughters - he's an Estate Agent, and is also heavily involved with Chicken Shed, which is a famous theatre that does a brilliant job with young people. Andy - single, and works on big computer contracts. Me - single, gained a degree in History in 2001, deferring an MA in London Studies until I've got the money, working long-term temp in a local council, and using my research skills to help friends with various projects in which I share the enthusiasm. Last year, I was involved with a great club called Pleasure Island, which was an "open band" night in North London where groups could get up and play 3 songs without having to book. I compiled and ran a weekly music quiz there! I met some of my closest friends there, and now it's finished, I miss being part of something that helps and encourages musicians, which is something I've always loved to do.

Brian: It's taken us 2 years (or 23, depending which way you look at it)! but the gigs are on their way! We'll be warming up, all being well, with an acoustic-y type show in May. It's something a bit different, and hopefully it'll show that whilst we acknowledge, celebrate and defend our past, there's no way that we want to pretend it's 79 and we're still 17/18. Then, in Summer hopefully, it'll be time to really go for it with a big London show. We have to fit the BTZ stuff around the rest of our lives, but it has become an hugely important part of our lives again. And as I said, album number 2 is on the drawing board, it would seem! We're gonna be starting a mailout bulletin soon, so check for any updates on our site. Thanks to everyone who's shown interest and support, and last but not least, Congratulations to Jimmy our Webmaster and Sue, on their recent happy event.

stevethemod@hotmail.com

Brian Kotz Interview (Part One)

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many thanks to Brian for this interview!

page added Sunday March 16th 19.00