Backstage at Download Festival, Ginger Wildheart is in remarkably high spirits. Just months after revealing that he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, the Wildhearts frontman is not dwelling on mortality but embracing life with an infectious optimism that is as disarming as it is inspiring. Joined by his beloved dog Maggie, Ginger reflects on the overwhelming support he has received, the perspective his diagnosis has given him, and why he genuinely believes he has never been happier. With new Wildhearts album 'Northern Spirit' on the horizon and a career-spanning birthday celebration ahead, he talks candidly about resilience, proving doubters wrong and his determination to keep creating music on his own terms. Fishing for luckies; Eamon O'Neill
Photo; Enda Madden
Today at Download Festival, I am joined by Ginger and his very furry friend Maggie; how are you both doing?
We're both fantastic, actually. We're both very much in love and enjoying the day.
Did she enjoy being up on stage with you today?
She commands all the attention. People come up to me who liked the band for 30 years; "can I talk to Maggie?" She's the star, and I'm fine with that,
I have to ask about your health as that's been big news; first off, I was very sorry to hear about that. How are you doing with that?
I'm doing great, I'm doing fantastic, I'm doing so well that I wish that everyone could feel how good that I feel. To do that, you'd have to have a terminal disease because you get everyone to tell you how wonderful you've been and what you mean to them. It's the best feeling in the world.
That's amazing, and it's obviously spurring you on into more musical activity, too. I hear there's a new album coming.
There's an album coming out in October, November called 'Northern Spirit', and Northern Spirit is about the guts to carry on through adversity. You don't have to be from the North, but that spirit is in everyone, I think. I believe it's in everyone. You just got to sometimes look for it.
That's another great album title, and since it's been a while since we talked, I wanted to congratulate you on the last album; "Satanic Rites of the Wildhearts", which I think is the best album title you've had.
There was a few good album titles but that was one of the best ones. I'm a horror movie fanatic, what can I do? I was brought up with Hammer and Monty Python, so between the two of them, that's me.
It follows him from those other great ones; 'The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed', and obviously, 'Earth Vs. the Wildhearts'.
Another low-budget horror film!
I tell you what's not low budget, though; the riffs on that album. 'Failure is the Mother of Success' is a beast of a track.
I like riffs, and I kind of know when a good one comes, and I know when an average one comes, Yeah, I like riffs. I was brought up with riffs. I'm a Sweet, Sex Pistols, early Metallica baby.
We're both fantastic, actually. We're both very much in love and enjoying the day.
Did she enjoy being up on stage with you today?
She commands all the attention. People come up to me who liked the band for 30 years; "can I talk to Maggie?" She's the star, and I'm fine with that,
I have to ask about your health as that's been big news; first off, I was very sorry to hear about that. How are you doing with that?
I'm doing great, I'm doing fantastic, I'm doing so well that I wish that everyone could feel how good that I feel. To do that, you'd have to have a terminal disease because you get everyone to tell you how wonderful you've been and what you mean to them. It's the best feeling in the world.
That's amazing, and it's obviously spurring you on into more musical activity, too. I hear there's a new album coming.
There's an album coming out in October, November called 'Northern Spirit', and Northern Spirit is about the guts to carry on through adversity. You don't have to be from the North, but that spirit is in everyone, I think. I believe it's in everyone. You just got to sometimes look for it.
That's another great album title, and since it's been a while since we talked, I wanted to congratulate you on the last album; "Satanic Rites of the Wildhearts", which I think is the best album title you've had.
There was a few good album titles but that was one of the best ones. I'm a horror movie fanatic, what can I do? I was brought up with Hammer and Monty Python, so between the two of them, that's me.
It follows him from those other great ones; 'The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed', and obviously, 'Earth Vs. the Wildhearts'.
Another low-budget horror film!
I tell you what's not low budget, though; the riffs on that album. 'Failure is the Mother of Success' is a beast of a track.
I like riffs, and I kind of know when a good one comes, and I know when an average one comes, Yeah, I like riffs. I was brought up with riffs. I'm a Sweet, Sex Pistols, early Metallica baby.
Would you say the adversity is what drove that album, because clearly there was a big change in the Wildhearts camp prior to that.
That was all that drove that album. It was a time I didn't even have the confidence to do it, but something was pushing me to go, you know, just take the reins, just see what happens. The most terrifying thing in the world was taking the Wildhearts forward without the old band, but the old band didn't want to do it, so the alternative was quit or keep going, and so I kept going, but it was terrifying at the time. I'm really glad that I did it though.
The response has been fantastic. I don't know if anybody saw a song on an album that good coming, did they?
I don't think anyone did. A lot of people wrote me off a while ago. There was a lot of people that wrote me off, and to someone like me, who's got a northern spirit, that's a red flag to a bull. If you think that I'm done, now we're interesting, now I'm going to prove you wrong. I'm a terrible person to write off because my past suggests that I'm going to do something fucking musical, so I just kept going, and it worked. But I ended up in this beautiful situation where I'm just surrounded by all my favourite people, they're all walking past there; there's Ben, there's Taylor, my son, there he is, gorgeous fucking man. There's Jane, my wife. I'm surrounded by just beautiful people.
It sounds like you're in a good place, and you're going to be celebrating that with the birthday bash later in the year which features so many of the acts that you've been involved it.
Yeah, but the beautiful thing is that all of the bands are completely different bands, so you get, well, I get to appreciate what went on in that time of my life, because to be perfectly honest, I don't remember these times of my life, and you know, I quite like that. But it's going to be fun to play with a lot of these line-ups that I don't remember playing with.
A lot of people will not have seen Silver Ginger Five, for example.
Well, that's the one that people are most surprised by. I'm more surprised, because I've always been asked; "are you going to do that again?" Now we're doing it again, I've been getting hundreds and hundreds of messages. I'm so happy.
Most of the bands you've been in are on the bill. One of the only ones who isn't is The Quireboys, but I guess that wasn't your band, really.
I didn't write any of the songs. I wouldn't be able to legally do it. No, I didn't write any of the songs. They wouldn't let me write songs in that band, and then they run out of songs!
You seem to be loving life at the moment, loving playing, you seem to be in a really great place.
I can honestly say I've never been in a better place in my life, and I could honestly say I don't know how anyone could feel better than I do right now. I hope that people can just feel as good as I do right now, because it's in everyone's control. You can make yourself happy, you can have some shit going on in your life, but you can change the way that you think, and that's the thing that fucks people up. So, I found that I trust myself, and I can change my way of thinking. So, even if something negative happens, I still end up in this beautiful place.
What's the plan going forward? I guess you're going to keep making more music, doing more live dates.
Well, I don't know, but I imagine it's going to be exactly the way that I've always been, which is living on my terms, creating lots and lots of music, and keeping this community of ours alive. That's exactly what I'm going to do.
That was all that drove that album. It was a time I didn't even have the confidence to do it, but something was pushing me to go, you know, just take the reins, just see what happens. The most terrifying thing in the world was taking the Wildhearts forward without the old band, but the old band didn't want to do it, so the alternative was quit or keep going, and so I kept going, but it was terrifying at the time. I'm really glad that I did it though.
The response has been fantastic. I don't know if anybody saw a song on an album that good coming, did they?
I don't think anyone did. A lot of people wrote me off a while ago. There was a lot of people that wrote me off, and to someone like me, who's got a northern spirit, that's a red flag to a bull. If you think that I'm done, now we're interesting, now I'm going to prove you wrong. I'm a terrible person to write off because my past suggests that I'm going to do something fucking musical, so I just kept going, and it worked. But I ended up in this beautiful situation where I'm just surrounded by all my favourite people, they're all walking past there; there's Ben, there's Taylor, my son, there he is, gorgeous fucking man. There's Jane, my wife. I'm surrounded by just beautiful people.
It sounds like you're in a good place, and you're going to be celebrating that with the birthday bash later in the year which features so many of the acts that you've been involved it.
Yeah, but the beautiful thing is that all of the bands are completely different bands, so you get, well, I get to appreciate what went on in that time of my life, because to be perfectly honest, I don't remember these times of my life, and you know, I quite like that. But it's going to be fun to play with a lot of these line-ups that I don't remember playing with.
A lot of people will not have seen Silver Ginger Five, for example.
Well, that's the one that people are most surprised by. I'm more surprised, because I've always been asked; "are you going to do that again?" Now we're doing it again, I've been getting hundreds and hundreds of messages. I'm so happy.
Most of the bands you've been in are on the bill. One of the only ones who isn't is The Quireboys, but I guess that wasn't your band, really.
I didn't write any of the songs. I wouldn't be able to legally do it. No, I didn't write any of the songs. They wouldn't let me write songs in that band, and then they run out of songs!
You seem to be loving life at the moment, loving playing, you seem to be in a really great place.
I can honestly say I've never been in a better place in my life, and I could honestly say I don't know how anyone could feel better than I do right now. I hope that people can just feel as good as I do right now, because it's in everyone's control. You can make yourself happy, you can have some shit going on in your life, but you can change the way that you think, and that's the thing that fucks people up. So, I found that I trust myself, and I can change my way of thinking. So, even if something negative happens, I still end up in this beautiful place.
What's the plan going forward? I guess you're going to keep making more music, doing more live dates.
Well, I don't know, but I imagine it's going to be exactly the way that I've always been, which is living on my terms, creating lots and lots of music, and keeping this community of ours alive. That's exactly what I'm going to do.
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