The Quireboys burned brightly in the late '80s and early '90s, before disappearing in a haze of smoke and whisky. Although since returned in various incarnations, the original line-up remains the most cherished, not just to the fans, but to frontman Spike and piano player Chris Johnstone. "We had the best time when me, Chris, Nigel, and Guy was together. The last time the four of us were together, it was just hysterical!", says Spike as we sit down for a chat. Reunited under the banner of Thirsty Quireboys, Spike and Chris have reworked Guy Bailey's Thirsty catalogue into something truly special in memory of the guitarist who passed away in 2023. We caught up with the pair to discuss the project, and the past. A bit of what you fancy; Eamon O'Neill
How are you doing, guys?
Spike; Doing great, thanks. How are you doing, Chris? Which one of your homes are you in?
Chris; Hello! I'm at home in Spain.
First off, through circumstances that are well documented, most of the original Quireboys got back together a few years ago; what was it like?
Spike; I think what happened was; "well, now what happens?" I mean, it's hard to get fired from the Quireboys, especially when you started the band! But everybody was so supportive, and the one that was the most angry was Guy Bailey; he was foaming mad! But that's all in the past now, and this has been a joy to do. I'm so glad that Chris asked me to do this, just to hear Guy play the guitar and getting to hear his voice again.
Chris; Thirsty was originally Guy's side project which started around 2014, and he did three albums, working with a Russian poet called Irina D. She would write lyrics based on stories and real life histories that she'd read that moved her, and Guy set them to music. He composed some really good music, and he asked Simon Hanson of Squeeze to play the drums, and he asked me to play the bass. At this point Spike wasn't involved at all, but fast forward a number of years, and as you know, Guy tragically died two years ago, and Irina and I had an idea of putting out a compilation of the best of these three albums as Thirsty as a tribute to Guy, because that was really the last work that he did in the last decade of his life. I said it would be great to get Spike to come along as he could maybe duet on one of the songs and we can just record him and it'll just make the album more interesting.
So you invited Spike into the project?
Chris; I asked Spike and he said he loved the idea, so we went to a small recording studio off Archway Road, and as soon as he started singing on the very first song - and this is probably the first time that Guy's guitar and Spike's voice have been together in many years - the whole room was just electric. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, and it sounded so special. We thought; "well, let's try another song, and another", and before we knew where we were, we'd pretty much got a whole album of Spike singing along with Guy's guitar doing the Thirsty songs, and they really go to a different place. Spike did such a good job of like, thinking how he was going to sing each song. One song he does in a falsetto, which is not something I've heard before. It sounds marvellous, and the whole record just came out so well. It was giving me shivers.
Spike, what was it like for you to be recording those songs?
Spike; Well, none of us ever lost touch; me, Chris, Nigel [Mogg], and Guy. If I was around his house, he'd play what he was doing, and he showed me a couple of videos of Thirsty. He'd been in another band called The Peckham Cowboys, I think it was, which was pretty good, but he was like, "oh, listen to this", and I didn't really take it in that much, to tell you the truth, because we never really talked about music, me and Guy, it was just having a drink and a laugh, and I was like; "oh my god, do I have to listen to this?", and try to listen to my new album.
But honestly, you've got no idea. When I went down there, everything just flowed out of me. I could hear him, and it did give me shivers when we were in there doing it. One song led on another, and I went; "listen, can I do my take on this?" Originally I'd done the duets, but then I said, "can I do my take of how it would go?" because we wrote so many songs together in the Quireboys, and a lot of obscure songs we didn't really release, so when we were doing it, it was second nature to me, because everything's in my key.
It sounds like it brought back a lot of memories.
Spike; I felt he was there. I think about him all the time now, and me and Chris have just been to America together with the Quireboys, and we were talking about that. As we're getting older, it's a bit like my father, and then Guy; you start thinking about everybody a bit more, and the things that we've done. Me and Chris were saying that nobody knows what me, Guy, Chris, and Nigel went through when we started that band all them years ago and what happened in our lives together. It just drew back so many memories, and it was great to hang out with my old mate again.
The album sounds really great. It's got such a great production.
Chris; We had Chris Kimsey helping with the mastering and the mixing and doing the remixes with Spike's voice, and he goes way back with us. He mixed our second album 'Bitter Sweet and Twisted' [1993], and he was involved in all of the Thirsty albums. One of the reasons it sounds so good is that he loved Guy, and he did the project because he always loved Guy's songwriting, his guitar playing, and he loved Spike's voice from when we worked together before. He really brought it all together, and the final mix is so strong because of him. Obviously he's like a Rolls Royce producer.
Spike; Yeah, Chris Kimsey is one of the nicest men in the world. The last time I spoke to Chris Kimsey, I was at Fish's house, actually, and we rang him up, and he was at a party in the garden. I didn't know he produced Marillion.
Spike; Doing great, thanks. How are you doing, Chris? Which one of your homes are you in?
Chris; Hello! I'm at home in Spain.
First off, through circumstances that are well documented, most of the original Quireboys got back together a few years ago; what was it like?
Spike; I think what happened was; "well, now what happens?" I mean, it's hard to get fired from the Quireboys, especially when you started the band! But everybody was so supportive, and the one that was the most angry was Guy Bailey; he was foaming mad! But that's all in the past now, and this has been a joy to do. I'm so glad that Chris asked me to do this, just to hear Guy play the guitar and getting to hear his voice again.
Chris; Thirsty was originally Guy's side project which started around 2014, and he did three albums, working with a Russian poet called Irina D. She would write lyrics based on stories and real life histories that she'd read that moved her, and Guy set them to music. He composed some really good music, and he asked Simon Hanson of Squeeze to play the drums, and he asked me to play the bass. At this point Spike wasn't involved at all, but fast forward a number of years, and as you know, Guy tragically died two years ago, and Irina and I had an idea of putting out a compilation of the best of these three albums as Thirsty as a tribute to Guy, because that was really the last work that he did in the last decade of his life. I said it would be great to get Spike to come along as he could maybe duet on one of the songs and we can just record him and it'll just make the album more interesting.
So you invited Spike into the project?
Chris; I asked Spike and he said he loved the idea, so we went to a small recording studio off Archway Road, and as soon as he started singing on the very first song - and this is probably the first time that Guy's guitar and Spike's voice have been together in many years - the whole room was just electric. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, and it sounded so special. We thought; "well, let's try another song, and another", and before we knew where we were, we'd pretty much got a whole album of Spike singing along with Guy's guitar doing the Thirsty songs, and they really go to a different place. Spike did such a good job of like, thinking how he was going to sing each song. One song he does in a falsetto, which is not something I've heard before. It sounds marvellous, and the whole record just came out so well. It was giving me shivers.
Spike, what was it like for you to be recording those songs?
Spike; Well, none of us ever lost touch; me, Chris, Nigel [Mogg], and Guy. If I was around his house, he'd play what he was doing, and he showed me a couple of videos of Thirsty. He'd been in another band called The Peckham Cowboys, I think it was, which was pretty good, but he was like, "oh, listen to this", and I didn't really take it in that much, to tell you the truth, because we never really talked about music, me and Guy, it was just having a drink and a laugh, and I was like; "oh my god, do I have to listen to this?", and try to listen to my new album.
But honestly, you've got no idea. When I went down there, everything just flowed out of me. I could hear him, and it did give me shivers when we were in there doing it. One song led on another, and I went; "listen, can I do my take on this?" Originally I'd done the duets, but then I said, "can I do my take of how it would go?" because we wrote so many songs together in the Quireboys, and a lot of obscure songs we didn't really release, so when we were doing it, it was second nature to me, because everything's in my key.
It sounds like it brought back a lot of memories.
Spike; I felt he was there. I think about him all the time now, and me and Chris have just been to America together with the Quireboys, and we were talking about that. As we're getting older, it's a bit like my father, and then Guy; you start thinking about everybody a bit more, and the things that we've done. Me and Chris were saying that nobody knows what me, Guy, Chris, and Nigel went through when we started that band all them years ago and what happened in our lives together. It just drew back so many memories, and it was great to hang out with my old mate again.
The album sounds really great. It's got such a great production.
Chris; We had Chris Kimsey helping with the mastering and the mixing and doing the remixes with Spike's voice, and he goes way back with us. He mixed our second album 'Bitter Sweet and Twisted' [1993], and he was involved in all of the Thirsty albums. One of the reasons it sounds so good is that he loved Guy, and he did the project because he always loved Guy's songwriting, his guitar playing, and he loved Spike's voice from when we worked together before. He really brought it all together, and the final mix is so strong because of him. Obviously he's like a Rolls Royce producer.
Spike; Yeah, Chris Kimsey is one of the nicest men in the world. The last time I spoke to Chris Kimsey, I was at Fish's house, actually, and we rang him up, and he was at a party in the garden. I didn't know he produced Marillion.
It's a really personal album, and you guys are tied right back to 1990 and 'A Bit of What You Fancy'.
Spike; We started in '84, '85 I think, so we know each other so well, and I've got to tell you, Irina's lyrics are just outstanding on this, and I could see where Guy was coming from on the songs. I hadn't heard it a lot before, I must admit, but once I got into it, I was like; "oh my god". If he was alive, he'd go; "sing it like this. Sing it there. I'll do this, I'll do that", and I did sing in falsetto on one of them, and in the back of my head I was like, he would have said to do that, because he knew I could sing falsetto. I was just after doing the last Quireboys album, 'Wardour Street' [2024], and all that was such a massive part of him, and his knowledge of everything, but keeping everything basic and simple. That's why I love the Thirsty album; there's not one song this over three minutes, I don't think.
Chris; I know! That was his great thing; it had to be a three minute song, and he would just kind of shape it. That was part of his songwriting thing. He would get it all in three minutes. He thought, if you couldn't get it in three minutes, it wouldn't be good enough.
Spike; Chris, if you remember, '7 O'clock' didn't have a chorus for years, but anyway, it was like; keep it short and simple.
Anyone not familiar with what this album is about, they might think it's this remorseful, sorrowful thing, but it's anything but; it's got rock and roll swagger all over it.
Chris; If I had to describe it to any Quireboys fan, I would say that it really has got the essence of the Quireboys from the earliest days. It's got the magic of Guy and Spike being together, it's got Guys's song writing ability, but what's a little bit different from Irina's lyrics is that the themes are a bit different, so it's not the sort of rock and roll stuff that we did traditionally back in the day. It's the essence of the original Quireboys, but with something a little bit different, and I think if people give it a listen, they'll really like it, and they'll understand.
I'm glad you mentioned Irina's lyrics. The title track, for example, 'God Bless America', has got a real standout lyric to it.
Chris; It's incredible, isn't? It's a real life story. It is the story of Rosemary Kennedy, who was the older sister of JFK. She was a debutante when Joe Kennedy was the British ambassador in the '40s and the '50s. When she was a teenager she was subject to mood swings and would lose her temper occasionally, and it gets quite extraordinary. Her father, Joe Kennedy, who was thinking about perhaps she might go out and get pregnant, or she might do something to disgrace the family name and upset her brother's political careers, and without telling her mother, he arranged for her to be lobotomised by a surgeon called Mr. Watts. He lobotomised her while she was still conscious, and this is the absolute truth, he asked her to sing 'God Bless America' while they were drilling, and when she stopped singing 'God Bless America', they stopped the drilling. Then she was left incontinent with the mind of a two year old. You couldn't make this up, but if you wanted a metaphor for how messed up the United States is, you couldn't really imagine anything like it. So the song tries to distill the essence of that story in two minutes.
You've also got 'Albatross', which is now one of two songs in rock about Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, with the other being Iron Maiden of course.
Chris; I don't think Irina had heard the Iron Maiden one. I don't think I've heard the Iron Maiden one, actually.
Spike; I'll have to listen to that. Has that got Bruce Dickinson on? Actually, Steve Harris was on the [Monsters of Rock] cruise.
One of the tracks I really love is 'Mercury Rising'.
Chris; I actually wrote that one. That wasn't a Guy song. The backstory to that is the bass line of the main thing is a riff I heard when I was on an airplane. I was on a flight back from the USA, and I heard an African track with this bass line, and then I kind of put it away, and I figured it out. Then for the other part of it, it's a strange thing, as it's actually in a five four time, and that is from a song called 'River Man' by Nick Drake. I just put the two things together, and I ran into Guy and Guy would normally never do anything in five four, but I said; "just do this", and so we put it down instrumentally, and then, as always, Irina came up with some great lyrics. And Guy's guitar part with the slide, what he did to it is quite extraordinary.
Spike; I never knew that until today, Chris. The last song that I heard you write was 'You Can't Hide From My Heart' [early Quireboys demo]. That was a wonderful song.
Spike; We started in '84, '85 I think, so we know each other so well, and I've got to tell you, Irina's lyrics are just outstanding on this, and I could see where Guy was coming from on the songs. I hadn't heard it a lot before, I must admit, but once I got into it, I was like; "oh my god". If he was alive, he'd go; "sing it like this. Sing it there. I'll do this, I'll do that", and I did sing in falsetto on one of them, and in the back of my head I was like, he would have said to do that, because he knew I could sing falsetto. I was just after doing the last Quireboys album, 'Wardour Street' [2024], and all that was such a massive part of him, and his knowledge of everything, but keeping everything basic and simple. That's why I love the Thirsty album; there's not one song this over three minutes, I don't think.
Chris; I know! That was his great thing; it had to be a three minute song, and he would just kind of shape it. That was part of his songwriting thing. He would get it all in three minutes. He thought, if you couldn't get it in three minutes, it wouldn't be good enough.
Spike; Chris, if you remember, '7 O'clock' didn't have a chorus for years, but anyway, it was like; keep it short and simple.
Anyone not familiar with what this album is about, they might think it's this remorseful, sorrowful thing, but it's anything but; it's got rock and roll swagger all over it.
Chris; If I had to describe it to any Quireboys fan, I would say that it really has got the essence of the Quireboys from the earliest days. It's got the magic of Guy and Spike being together, it's got Guys's song writing ability, but what's a little bit different from Irina's lyrics is that the themes are a bit different, so it's not the sort of rock and roll stuff that we did traditionally back in the day. It's the essence of the original Quireboys, but with something a little bit different, and I think if people give it a listen, they'll really like it, and they'll understand.
I'm glad you mentioned Irina's lyrics. The title track, for example, 'God Bless America', has got a real standout lyric to it.
Chris; It's incredible, isn't? It's a real life story. It is the story of Rosemary Kennedy, who was the older sister of JFK. She was a debutante when Joe Kennedy was the British ambassador in the '40s and the '50s. When she was a teenager she was subject to mood swings and would lose her temper occasionally, and it gets quite extraordinary. Her father, Joe Kennedy, who was thinking about perhaps she might go out and get pregnant, or she might do something to disgrace the family name and upset her brother's political careers, and without telling her mother, he arranged for her to be lobotomised by a surgeon called Mr. Watts. He lobotomised her while she was still conscious, and this is the absolute truth, he asked her to sing 'God Bless America' while they were drilling, and when she stopped singing 'God Bless America', they stopped the drilling. Then she was left incontinent with the mind of a two year old. You couldn't make this up, but if you wanted a metaphor for how messed up the United States is, you couldn't really imagine anything like it. So the song tries to distill the essence of that story in two minutes.
You've also got 'Albatross', which is now one of two songs in rock about Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, with the other being Iron Maiden of course.
Chris; I don't think Irina had heard the Iron Maiden one. I don't think I've heard the Iron Maiden one, actually.
Spike; I'll have to listen to that. Has that got Bruce Dickinson on? Actually, Steve Harris was on the [Monsters of Rock] cruise.
One of the tracks I really love is 'Mercury Rising'.
Chris; I actually wrote that one. That wasn't a Guy song. The backstory to that is the bass line of the main thing is a riff I heard when I was on an airplane. I was on a flight back from the USA, and I heard an African track with this bass line, and then I kind of put it away, and I figured it out. Then for the other part of it, it's a strange thing, as it's actually in a five four time, and that is from a song called 'River Man' by Nick Drake. I just put the two things together, and I ran into Guy and Guy would normally never do anything in five four, but I said; "just do this", and so we put it down instrumentally, and then, as always, Irina came up with some great lyrics. And Guy's guitar part with the slide, what he did to it is quite extraordinary.
Spike; I never knew that until today, Chris. The last song that I heard you write was 'You Can't Hide From My Heart' [early Quireboys demo]. That was a wonderful song.
Another track that jumped out at me was 'Chaos'; it's got that great spoken word intro from Guy reciting Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress', and there's some serious shredding going on.
Chris; Well, Guy just had that book on his shelf, and that literally just came from that. I said; "just read the prolog", so he read it, just have something over the intro. But his guitar playing is absolutely fantastic. It's some of the best guitar playing I've ever heard him do. And the backing vocal, there's a little bit of Lynn Jackman in there, and she's obviously a great singer, and Spike has done a wonderful job with the lyrics. I mean, it's come out marvellously.
Spike; You know what? I never knew that either. I bought Guy that book, actually, for Christmas.
While we're talking guitars, would Guy have used open tunings?
Spike; Never used open tunes. No, we never did.
Chris; He would always use regular chords without numbers [fifths or sevenths, eg].
Spike; When I was doing the new Quireboys album, I said to Luke [Morley]; "I can't get my head around open tuning", and I was trying to play in open tuning, and Luke went; "did you ever write any songs in open tuning with Guy Bailey?" I went; "actually, no". He says; "well, why the fuck are you trying to start now?!" I was like; "good point!" You've got to remember, when we first started, there was just one guitar. There was only Guy, and Luke had seen us play with just one guitar, and then obviously there's been a couple of people, obviously Tom Gold was in, and then Ginger joined, but even when we would do that, Guy would go; "look, you play this bit, and I'll play this, but do not deviate from what I'm showing you to play". Guy was so knowledgeable about music and different things like that. His thing was always; "let's not go to the minor if we can help it", or; "let's not use chords with numbers in".
Chris; His style was based on a kind of rhythm and lead joined up thing, and I know what he listened to, because I knew his record collection when he was younger. He would listen to Steve Cropper on Otis Redding Records, and he'd listened to Wilco Johnson on Dr. Feelgood, and Keith Richards, and so it would be a kind of rhythm and lead in one, joined up. That was very much his thing,
Spike; That was the whole reason when we got the Quireboys back together, just have one guitar again, to let everything breathe. That's how Guy always wanted it, and I think it sounds a million times better with just one guitar anyway, because that's how it always was to me.
Chris; Very much about Guy's sound. That's what I love about the Thirsty record; because you have got that thing where Guy's sound is the way he plays, which was so much a part of the songs that we started with.
Spike; You hear people talk about this all the time, especially guitarists, but Guy'd got his own sound, and it didn't matter what guitar he played, it would sound like him. He would plug into his 25 watt combo with that Pacific [guitar] and it's a bit like when you hear Ronnie Wood or something. When Ronnie played on my album ['100% Pure Frankie Miller', 2014] and there's no effects, nothing. It's just how they play. When we used to play the Quireboys and have the Marshall stacks, sometimes he'd just have his 25 watt combo behind. You can definitely tell Guy, I mean, even Luke says that not many people can do what Guy did, because when you are so brilliant at the guitar, you always overplay but his solos, when you listen to the solo of 'King in New York', 'I Don't Love You Anymore', or things like, they're so basic, and just beautiful, something you whistle, something you sing.
Chris;I think that's because he's such a good songwriter. He composes, so when he does a solo and he's playing his guitar part, he's thinking like he's composing.
Spike; When we did '7 O'clock' with the "bap bap baps" and the "woos" and all that, I would never have thought of that; that was all from him. And he knew the harmonies, he knew what to do, even with a cigarette in his mouth.
Chris; Well, Guy just had that book on his shelf, and that literally just came from that. I said; "just read the prolog", so he read it, just have something over the intro. But his guitar playing is absolutely fantastic. It's some of the best guitar playing I've ever heard him do. And the backing vocal, there's a little bit of Lynn Jackman in there, and she's obviously a great singer, and Spike has done a wonderful job with the lyrics. I mean, it's come out marvellously.
Spike; You know what? I never knew that either. I bought Guy that book, actually, for Christmas.
While we're talking guitars, would Guy have used open tunings?
Spike; Never used open tunes. No, we never did.
Chris; He would always use regular chords without numbers [fifths or sevenths, eg].
Spike; When I was doing the new Quireboys album, I said to Luke [Morley]; "I can't get my head around open tuning", and I was trying to play in open tuning, and Luke went; "did you ever write any songs in open tuning with Guy Bailey?" I went; "actually, no". He says; "well, why the fuck are you trying to start now?!" I was like; "good point!" You've got to remember, when we first started, there was just one guitar. There was only Guy, and Luke had seen us play with just one guitar, and then obviously there's been a couple of people, obviously Tom Gold was in, and then Ginger joined, but even when we would do that, Guy would go; "look, you play this bit, and I'll play this, but do not deviate from what I'm showing you to play". Guy was so knowledgeable about music and different things like that. His thing was always; "let's not go to the minor if we can help it", or; "let's not use chords with numbers in".
Chris; His style was based on a kind of rhythm and lead joined up thing, and I know what he listened to, because I knew his record collection when he was younger. He would listen to Steve Cropper on Otis Redding Records, and he'd listened to Wilco Johnson on Dr. Feelgood, and Keith Richards, and so it would be a kind of rhythm and lead in one, joined up. That was very much his thing,
Spike; That was the whole reason when we got the Quireboys back together, just have one guitar again, to let everything breathe. That's how Guy always wanted it, and I think it sounds a million times better with just one guitar anyway, because that's how it always was to me.
Chris; Very much about Guy's sound. That's what I love about the Thirsty record; because you have got that thing where Guy's sound is the way he plays, which was so much a part of the songs that we started with.
Spike; You hear people talk about this all the time, especially guitarists, but Guy'd got his own sound, and it didn't matter what guitar he played, it would sound like him. He would plug into his 25 watt combo with that Pacific [guitar] and it's a bit like when you hear Ronnie Wood or something. When Ronnie played on my album ['100% Pure Frankie Miller', 2014] and there's no effects, nothing. It's just how they play. When we used to play the Quireboys and have the Marshall stacks, sometimes he'd just have his 25 watt combo behind. You can definitely tell Guy, I mean, even Luke says that not many people can do what Guy did, because when you are so brilliant at the guitar, you always overplay but his solos, when you listen to the solo of 'King in New York', 'I Don't Love You Anymore', or things like, they're so basic, and just beautiful, something you whistle, something you sing.
Chris;I think that's because he's such a good songwriter. He composes, so when he does a solo and he's playing his guitar part, he's thinking like he's composing.
Spike; When we did '7 O'clock' with the "bap bap baps" and the "woos" and all that, I would never have thought of that; that was all from him. And he knew the harmonies, he knew what to do, even with a cigarette in his mouth.
I wanted to talk a little bit about those early days. Spike, I can see a gold disc for 'A Bit of What You Fancy' behind you.
Spike; There's a platinum one there as well. Actually, I took that out once, with Krusher [Joule, DJ, designer and Journalist] - actually, no, that's my mum's one - but with Krusher, we took it out when I first got it, because I give Krusher one because of Kerrang!, and we took it out and played it. He says, "do you think it'll play?" So we put it on, and it was Nat King Cole 'Unforgettable' [laughing] You've got to remember that Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra build Capitol Records [who the Quireboys were signed to]. You can always tell on the gold album how many grooves are on it, and to see if there's the same amount that's on your record. But that's what they used to do. I don't know about the CD. It would be a bit sad if they gave you somebody else's CD!
What was that like having that success? A number two album, and four singles, signed to a major label.
Spike; Yeah, Phil Collins, I'll never forgive him {Phil Collins's '...But Seriously' kept the Quireboys off the top spot in February 1990]. We done Top the Pops with him as well. The shite, keeping us off number one! In fact, what Chris says the whole time to me was; "you know what the problem with the Quireboys was?" Me and Guy only wrote number twos [laughing]!
Hey, man, can you imagine it? I mean, I moved to London, working on the building site. I got Guy a job on the building site with me, that's how we first met. But you didn't expect it, we just went with the flow and had such a good time. We have had the best time when me, Chris, Nigel, and Guy was together. The last time the four of us were together, it was just hysterical, because nobody knows what we went through, from them real early days of being in the back of the old van and playing universities and doing everything that you can.
Chris; We did. I would also say that it wasn't just like suddenly being on Top of the Pops; we kind of took three years, and every time we went around, there'd be more people at the gigs. Then we got the independent deal, we were on the Chart Show, we were up in the indie charts, and then all the labels in the States wanted to sign us. We were opening for Guns n' Roses when they came over and did their first year growing up bit by bit, so we didn't suddenly go; boom, 1990, Top of the Pops. It was growing up over every year, and it got stronger and better.
You played at Donington in 1990 with Whitesnake, Aerosmith, Poison, and even Jimmy Page was there; what was it like backstage?
Spike; Me and Jimmy ended up being really good pals, especially when we're doing the second album.
Chris; Don't forget, our road manager was Richard Cole [former Led Zeppelin tour manager], so we had a very good intro with Jimmy Page.
Spike; Richard and Guy were best pals. They were always very close for years. Yeah, Richard Cole was wonderful. We went through a lot of tour managers.
Chris; Yeah, but he lasted longer than most of them! Yeah, you always got paid, more or less immediately whenever he went into town.
By the time you came to the second album, 1993's 'Bitter Sweet & Twisted', Grunge was in the mainstream, and the whole musical landscape had changed.
Spike; Honestly, that did not affect us at all. You've got to remember, we'd been playing for years. I was 17 or something when we started, and we had not stopped touring, and we had not stopped recording and doing the whole thing, and me and Guy were going; "we're gonna die". I mean, we could have carried on if we wanted to, but we all needed a life, we all needed a break. We didn't split the band up - it wasn't anything like that - we just went; "you know, what? Let's have a break for a while", and then that turned into what it did. Chris has got a wonderful life now, I've still got a wonderful life, but we all always remained friends. We could have carried on. It wasn't the Grunge thing that stopped us at all, and that album still sold loads. I mean, it sold great. That album was no problem with the record company or anything like that, we just were knackered, man.
Yeah, it sounds exhausting.
Spike; Imagine being on tour all your life, in hotels; that's all we done. All our girlfriends left, we had nowhere to live, and we were just constantly on tour and constantly working. We can't really call it 'work', it was the best life in the world. I got the band back together [in 2001]. I did call Chris, I called Guy, I called Nigel when he did the Sanctuary album ['This is Rock 'n' Roll', 2001], and a couple of things before, but everybody was; "why? We've done it. We've been on tour forever", and it's hard, you know? it's hard to get out of that whole thing. I obviously love it - that's why I continued.
Bringing things back to the present day, and you must be excited to be getting 'God Bless America' released.
Spike; Yeah, we're going to do a couple of videos, actually, because there's a couple of my favourite songs that I want to release.
Chris; 'God Bless America' is going to be the single when the album comes out, and so we're going to make a video, and we're going to push that and promote it together with the release of the album. I'm very excited about it. I think it'll just kind of grow, hopefully, by word of mouth, because I think it's an exceptional record. Spike sings so well, Guy's songs are so good, and the lyrics are strong. I think it's a great record, and I hope it'll just have a life of its own once it gets a push.
Spike; Honestly, the lyrical content is just incredible, I think, and when you listen to it, it's not what you would expect from me, put it that way. Irina is a brilliant lyricists, and the stories to be told, and they're just really great, catchy, lovely, brilliant songs with the style the Quireboys in there. It's the essence of the band, because of me, Guy and Chris on it.
Are you looking forward to getting out and playing some of these songs live?
Spike; I want to, definitely, but at the minute I'm going to the studio with the Quireboys. We're going to record some new songs for the tour, we've got some festivals to do, and we start touring in October, so I'm going to get a thing out for that. We're going to have a record release party for the Thirsty thing, and we'll try and play a few songs at that. I mean, Guy was my best friend, man, so I want to keep everything alive for Guy as much as I can. He was loved in the music business by everybody. He was probably the one of the funniest men you ever could wish to meet in your entire life, and he was so intelligent, so wonderful, and we both miss him like crazy.
Thirsty Quireboys' 'God Bless America' is available on 19th June 2026. Order here.
Spike; There's a platinum one there as well. Actually, I took that out once, with Krusher [Joule, DJ, designer and Journalist] - actually, no, that's my mum's one - but with Krusher, we took it out when I first got it, because I give Krusher one because of Kerrang!, and we took it out and played it. He says, "do you think it'll play?" So we put it on, and it was Nat King Cole 'Unforgettable' [laughing] You've got to remember that Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra build Capitol Records [who the Quireboys were signed to]. You can always tell on the gold album how many grooves are on it, and to see if there's the same amount that's on your record. But that's what they used to do. I don't know about the CD. It would be a bit sad if they gave you somebody else's CD!
What was that like having that success? A number two album, and four singles, signed to a major label.
Spike; Yeah, Phil Collins, I'll never forgive him {Phil Collins's '...But Seriously' kept the Quireboys off the top spot in February 1990]. We done Top the Pops with him as well. The shite, keeping us off number one! In fact, what Chris says the whole time to me was; "you know what the problem with the Quireboys was?" Me and Guy only wrote number twos [laughing]!
Hey, man, can you imagine it? I mean, I moved to London, working on the building site. I got Guy a job on the building site with me, that's how we first met. But you didn't expect it, we just went with the flow and had such a good time. We have had the best time when me, Chris, Nigel, and Guy was together. The last time the four of us were together, it was just hysterical, because nobody knows what we went through, from them real early days of being in the back of the old van and playing universities and doing everything that you can.
Chris; We did. I would also say that it wasn't just like suddenly being on Top of the Pops; we kind of took three years, and every time we went around, there'd be more people at the gigs. Then we got the independent deal, we were on the Chart Show, we were up in the indie charts, and then all the labels in the States wanted to sign us. We were opening for Guns n' Roses when they came over and did their first year growing up bit by bit, so we didn't suddenly go; boom, 1990, Top of the Pops. It was growing up over every year, and it got stronger and better.
You played at Donington in 1990 with Whitesnake, Aerosmith, Poison, and even Jimmy Page was there; what was it like backstage?
Spike; Me and Jimmy ended up being really good pals, especially when we're doing the second album.
Chris; Don't forget, our road manager was Richard Cole [former Led Zeppelin tour manager], so we had a very good intro with Jimmy Page.
Spike; Richard and Guy were best pals. They were always very close for years. Yeah, Richard Cole was wonderful. We went through a lot of tour managers.
Chris; Yeah, but he lasted longer than most of them! Yeah, you always got paid, more or less immediately whenever he went into town.
By the time you came to the second album, 1993's 'Bitter Sweet & Twisted', Grunge was in the mainstream, and the whole musical landscape had changed.
Spike; Honestly, that did not affect us at all. You've got to remember, we'd been playing for years. I was 17 or something when we started, and we had not stopped touring, and we had not stopped recording and doing the whole thing, and me and Guy were going; "we're gonna die". I mean, we could have carried on if we wanted to, but we all needed a life, we all needed a break. We didn't split the band up - it wasn't anything like that - we just went; "you know, what? Let's have a break for a while", and then that turned into what it did. Chris has got a wonderful life now, I've still got a wonderful life, but we all always remained friends. We could have carried on. It wasn't the Grunge thing that stopped us at all, and that album still sold loads. I mean, it sold great. That album was no problem with the record company or anything like that, we just were knackered, man.
Yeah, it sounds exhausting.
Spike; Imagine being on tour all your life, in hotels; that's all we done. All our girlfriends left, we had nowhere to live, and we were just constantly on tour and constantly working. We can't really call it 'work', it was the best life in the world. I got the band back together [in 2001]. I did call Chris, I called Guy, I called Nigel when he did the Sanctuary album ['This is Rock 'n' Roll', 2001], and a couple of things before, but everybody was; "why? We've done it. We've been on tour forever", and it's hard, you know? it's hard to get out of that whole thing. I obviously love it - that's why I continued.
Bringing things back to the present day, and you must be excited to be getting 'God Bless America' released.
Spike; Yeah, we're going to do a couple of videos, actually, because there's a couple of my favourite songs that I want to release.
Chris; 'God Bless America' is going to be the single when the album comes out, and so we're going to make a video, and we're going to push that and promote it together with the release of the album. I'm very excited about it. I think it'll just kind of grow, hopefully, by word of mouth, because I think it's an exceptional record. Spike sings so well, Guy's songs are so good, and the lyrics are strong. I think it's a great record, and I hope it'll just have a life of its own once it gets a push.
Spike; Honestly, the lyrical content is just incredible, I think, and when you listen to it, it's not what you would expect from me, put it that way. Irina is a brilliant lyricists, and the stories to be told, and they're just really great, catchy, lovely, brilliant songs with the style the Quireboys in there. It's the essence of the band, because of me, Guy and Chris on it.
Are you looking forward to getting out and playing some of these songs live?
Spike; I want to, definitely, but at the minute I'm going to the studio with the Quireboys. We're going to record some new songs for the tour, we've got some festivals to do, and we start touring in October, so I'm going to get a thing out for that. We're going to have a record release party for the Thirsty thing, and we'll try and play a few songs at that. I mean, Guy was my best friend, man, so I want to keep everything alive for Guy as much as I can. He was loved in the music business by everybody. He was probably the one of the funniest men you ever could wish to meet in your entire life, and he was so intelligent, so wonderful, and we both miss him like crazy.
Thirsty Quireboys' 'God Bless America' is available on 19th June 2026. Order here.
RSS Feed