Toy Dolls - Ask Olga Part 3
Hi, Olga! It's Alex from Moscow again! Thank you very much for your answers for my previous letter, I was really glad when I read them! It's been quite a while since your 30th Anniversary but anyway I would like to congratulate you with such achievement and I'm sure you'll do another 30 years and even more! I'm so happy that you're going to visit Russia in September, I'll definitely be at your Moscow show, may be I'll even make it to St. Petersburg. And I wonder if there's any chance that you could bring with you the book about Toy Dolls "From Fulwell to Fukuoka" so that your fans here can buy it? I'd really love to read it. I don't know whether a lot of people would want to buy it because it's in English, but I definitely would, and it is impossible to buy it in Russia and I don't want to order it from Amazon or something like that because it's also difficult in Russia and I don't trust our post service! So it would be great if you have some spare copies and you could bring it with you.
Well, also I'd like to ask you some other questions. Here they are:
Hi Alex in Moscow! Thank you for your email/interview!! If we have any room we will bring the book to Russia! Anyway, here are your answers!
1) Do you think that good lyrics are necessary for songs to be great? Or can a song be good but have stupid words? You see, in Russia a lot of people think that lyrics are the most important part of the songs and they won't be listening to songs if they are in foreign language "because I don't understand what they're singing" or don't have very meaningful lyrics. And most of Russian rock bands are very concerned about the contents of their songs about the messages they'd like to deliver to their listeners and stuff like that. And this concern about lyrics often influences negatively the quality of music itself. May be that's one of the reasons why Russia has never had a really great rock band. When I was a child and didn't know English at all I listened to The Beatles and didn't understand a single word but this didn't prevent me from loving their music. The same was later with Toy Dolls - I didn't know what you were singing about, but your music was (and still is) absolutely brilliant. So what do you think about that?
A: I take a long time over lyrics, (even though it may note sound like it!) It's the most difficult part of songwriting for me, its easy to write rubbish and take no pride, but I really feel its important that lyrics are of quality. Having said that, I guess the most important thing in a song is the melody to be honest, its internationally appreciated (or not!). Not sure if this has answered your question!!
2) Do you often give interviews? Do you feel the interest from musical press to your band? There are only three articles about Toy Dolls on your site from some journals or newspapers and I could found several interviews with the band over the Internet but they all were made until 2004. And there are no video interviews at youtube at all! I think Toy Dolls deserve better press support. Here in Russia there are almost no articles in the musical press about you. I remember your interview to the journal "Rockmusic" which doesn't exist anymore in 2003, and there was a short (but positive) review of you concert in "Classic Rock" journal in 2006 and that's all. Did you give an interview to any Russian journal since 2003?
A: Occasionally we do interviews, not very often however. The music press in UK totally ignores us. Most press is from central Europe or Japan. We did do a press conference the last time we came to Russia, and TV appearances, and were all were very positive. I never read reviews in the press anymore to be honest, I have been to great concerts and read terrible reviews of the same concert, and vice versa!
3) May be it's a stupid question but anyway I'll ask it. What do you think the punk is? Is it a genre of music or a way of life? And whom can you call a punk? Should a person wear some particular clothes or listen to punk music to be called "punk"? Some basics of punk philosophy (if there is a philosophy) are that one should do what one wants, listen to and wear what one likes. And basing upon this theory a punk can listen to Britney Spears, wear expensive lounge suit and work in the office if they really like it. So I'd like to know your opinion since Toy Dolls are the part of punk scene.
A: There are punk bands, playing punk music, and also musicians/bands playing totally different kinds of music, but they could all still be “Punk People!” Punk, for me, means doing as you like/wish without compromise. Most of the early UK bands wear the Punk leather jacket/spikey hair thing, One Way Sytem, GBH, Exploited etc, I think its fine, especially for the show and the music, we wear outfits too, it compliments the show, but not necessary to be a Punk at heart. A Punk can listen to Britney Spears if she or he wants to! If he or she is dressed as a Punk and likes Britney Spear but refuses to listen to her because he thinks shes “not Punk music” then he or she aint a Punk! And someone in lounge suit, in the office, could be more of a Punk than some Spikey haired guy in Punk band.
4) I think a couple of years ago you got yourself a new red Telecaster. Why don't you use it now? There were only few guitar lessons when you used it and that's all I think. So, don't you like it? Was it like with the proverb "an old friend is worth two new ones"?
A: Good question. I Used the Red Telecaster on our last tour of Norway/Sweden in 2006. Even tough I had the frets filed and pick up changed to match that of the Yellow Tele, it just wasn't the same sound, too thin and weak. I am still gonna try to get a another Telecaster that sounds like the Yellow one, of course that one has had 30 + years of sweat, smoke and beer poured on it, I am sure the sound as been enhanced because if this!
5) Some kind of music business question. You see a lot of long-lived bands like Toy Dolls have now such a huge discography with a lot of albums, singles etc. And for new fans it's really difficult to get all that stuff let alone the fact that it is also very expensive. Of course nowadays almost everything can be downloaded from the internet but that's not beneficial for the bands. I wonder why no popular band has ever made some kind of a collection of all their albums on CD in mp3-format? Let's take Toy Dolls as an example. You have 11 albums save the live ones and singles. All your albums could be put onto a couple of CDs of good mp-3 quality. Why don't you produce such a CD or double-CD officially so that your new fans can buy it? Or going further you can cram all your albums, live albums and singles onto a DVD and also add there, for example, your live in Japan VHS Video and produce it and sell. I'm sure that a lot of people not only new fans would like to buy such a collection. I think that such thing will be very well sold on the concerts. Our Russian punk band Tarakany (they were a warm up on your concert in Moscow in 1997) produced a couple of such CDs (one was a collection of all their unreleased stuff, demos, covers etc, and the other was a collection of their albums) and I think it was a great idea. So do you have any idea why don't famous bands do it and why don't you do it yourself?
A: To answer this in a nutshell, all the albums are owned by various different record companies, so it would be really difficult to get all of them to agree on a release such as you mention. I am sure this is the case with lot of bands who have been playing together for 25 years+. I guess this is one of the main reasons.
6) How on earth do you produce split harmonics??? I feel myself stupid asking it since I've watched your guitar lesson about it and the other one dedicated to Toccata where you also explained them but I still can't understand how to produce them on the guitar. I looked for lessons on split harmonics over the Internet but couldn't find any. Are they the same thing as pinch harmonics? Will I be able to produce split harmonics using ordinary pick? Or is a secret in the fact that you don't use ordinary pick? What should I physically do with my right hand? Please, please help me!
A: Split harmonics add colour and feeling and contrast to guitar playing, though they can sometimes be overplayed, as hi-lites they are great, but I wouldn't worry too much mastering them, occasionally they may just happen. Some guitar players never use them. If you are adamant about learning them just keep watching the guitar lessons on the website and zoom in! Pinch harmonics are the same thing! And yes you can use an ordinary pick, no problem! Difficult to explain in words, but only the very tip of the pick should pinch the string, your right hand fingers should be just behined the tip! I will show in Moscow if ya there!
Well that's it with the questions. Since many people are asking you about the guitar tabs I thought I could send you a link to probably the best guitar site on the web and there are quite a few of decent Toy Dolls tabs and chords. Here it is: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/toy_dolls_tabs.htm I made several tabs of your songs myself including Alec's Gone (many people are asking about that song) and Toccata and they can also be found by that link.
Cheers Alex, yeah I have seen that site, a good one!
Olga
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