Half Man Half Biscuit
Interview by Gary Logan, 20 August 1992
Half Man Half Biscuit first emerged in 1985 with their debut
album ‘Back in the D.H.S.S’, which topped the indie charts for ten weeks and
received lavish praise from the music press. The band disbanded the following
year at the height of their popularity and a retrospective album was released
consisting of unreleased material and Peel session tracks. The subject matter
of ‘Biscuits’ songs are drawn almost exclusively from television and sport.
Songs like ‘Dickie Davies Eyes’ ‘The Bastard son of Dean Freidman’ and
‘Trumpton Riots’ combined unique subject matter, witty lyrics and strong guitar
led tunes. The band reformed in 1990 and released their third album at the end
of 1991. The front man of the band is guitarist and vocalist Nigel Blackwell,
and I spoke to him before a rare home town gig in
Gary Logan: When the band first started wasn’t it just you and Neil, the bassist?
Nigel Blackwell: Yeah, very, very early it was. It was me and Neil and a drum machine.
Did you actually play any gigs then?
Yeah, we did about two gigs with a drum machine. That was about 1983/4. But we always wanted a proper drummer.
When did the final line up come together?
Late ‘84, early ’85. We asked my brother to join, who was a guitarist, and Paul the drummer, who were already in a band. They played in both bands for a while, but their other band wasn’t really going anywhere and when that packed up they stayed with us.
Then you signed to Probe Records?
We never actually signed to them - we’ve never been signed to a record company in our lives. We just sent a tape into Probe, an 8 track demo, and they actually made an album out of that. We didn’t actually have to go into a studio to record an album, that demo became the first album.
After the success of ‘Back in the D.H.S.S’ were you approached by any major labels?
Yeah, but nothing ever came of it. We haven’t signed simply because of contractual reasons. They want you to do too much work basically, going off on long tours and doing LP’s and all that. If a record company tried to tell me what to do, I’ll simply not do it, full stop. What we’ve found now is that we could go through a major label with Probe. There’s hardly any indie labels left now, they all go through majors anyway – so it’s probably worth our while now to do that, because there’s more chance of selling your records. But I don’t want to be tied to any contract or have any pressure. I don’t mind how big we get, as long as there is no pressure and there isn’t the ‘old‘ contract thing.
You don’t really enjoy all this do you? I get the feeling that you don’t see the music as very important.
I could easily do without the music side of my life. I enjoy playing music, but I don’t need it. I get greater pleasure from other aspects of my life. But we have got to a point where it isn’t any hassle. We’re very stubborn about it and will only do things on our own terms.
You disbanded the group in 1986, when you were one of the top indie bands. Did the pressure of your success get too much?
No, not really. To be honest I was looking ahead in a way. I wanted to pack it in while we were still good, while we were still popular. I thought pack it in, get some fresh material together and then get the band back together. That way people will still remember us as a decent band, as opposed to just carrying on and being shit in the end.
You reformed the band in 1990 - did you lose a lot of that original support?
We probably lost a bit yeah. We probably lost the ‘instant’ audience
that comes about by being at the top. What’s good is that we still get a lot of
people who remember the first time coming to gigs, because we didn’t just
release any old shit the first time round. But it is surprising how many people
still turn up in Provincial towns, and we get a good crowd in
Do you enjoy touring? You seem to prefer one-off gigs to multi-date tours.
I don’t really like being away from home too much.
Geoff says that you won’t tour abroad.
Yeah. I‘ve never been on a plane you see. I’ve got this fear
which I’m not willing to overcome. I’m scared of fucking boats as well – well
not really scared, but you know. Simply because of that, I’m a big fan of the
‘Chunnel’. Get the ‘Chunnel’ built and we can just drive through and play
Wouldn’t you feel claustrophobic in the tunnel?
Well people have said that, but I don’t know. I’ve never felt claustrophobic in a tunnel before. I’d rather do that than go over on a boat or a plane.
I’ve also read that you hate playing your home town.
We never really bothered to put ourselves about here, we can’t be bothered with it all. There’s always hassle with mates pestering you to be put on the guest list. Because we don’t play here very often we are never in the local press, or part of ‘the scene’. In fact our lowest attendances are usually here.
Is it because the local people don’t want you to become big-headed?
No, I don’t think it’s that. It’s just that we somehow don’t
play as often here as much as we play elsewhere. We have probably played Leeds
and
Do you like playing festivals? – I see that you played Reading this year.
Yeah, I like playing them. At
I suppose that I better explain that Nigel is a Tranmere Rovers supporter and that the team is a major passion in his life.
The romance is going out of it for me though lately. Neil and I still go to the matches.
How much time does the band spend together?
Not that much really, it’s really just for gigs. Neil and I spend some time together watching football or writing songs, but apart from that the rest of us just meet for gigs.
I’ve always assumed that a group’s members spend a lot of time together.
No it just doesn’t happen at all. One of the band is my brother, but you don’t hang around with your brother do you? I suppose that when a group first gets together it may be like that, especially if you initially got together because you are mates. But gradually you do your own thing, go your own separate ways. I’ve just got married for instance.
What is the structure to the band? Do you meet up every fortnight to rehearse for example?
Just if we have new material. What will happen is that myself and Neil will work on some new songs.
So both you and Neil do the songs; you the lyrics, Neil the music?
Bit of both really. I used to do all the lyrics and music, but now Neil helps with the music.
Do none of the other band members fancy writing some songs?
I wouldn’t let them! (smiles)
Are you happy with the new material?
Yeah. I know it’s like every fucking band in the world, but I’m much happier with the new stuff.
The newer songs certainly sound better to me. You must get bored playing all the old songs over and over.
Yes, we’re trying to gradually change it around.
It’s like when you do ‘Time goes by’, and you call for Neil to do the bass part, and he thinks ‘Oh no, not again’!
I stopped saying “Let it happen bass player”, because you get fucking sick of saying that. But at the same time, I put myself in the punter’s point of view. There might be a lot of people there who haven’t heard the older songs like ”Trumpton Riots’ and Fred Titmus’. We stopped doing ‘Nerys Hughes’ because we were doing it all the time.
Well that wasn’t one of my favourites anyway.
We have become a little braver now, we used to play just to please the crowd, but nowadays we do it for both the audience and ourselves and throw a few new songs in at the end.
How quickly do you write the songs?
Well if Neil and myself get our heads together we can break ten songs in a fortnight. But generally we’re very, very lazy. I don’t like to pressurise myself into doing it. I’ll just wait for lyrics to come to me, then wait for a tune to go with it.
Your lyrics are almost exclusively about television culture, how much television do you watch?
Only as much as the next person, maybe not as much as some people think I do. I know that most of the songs mention characters from the television, but I’ve never really thought about it.
There’s no particular meaning to your lyrics then?
No absolutely not. I’ve never written a song that’s personal in my life, never. I don’t think that it is important. A lot of people are probably going to read something into the newer songs, because there’s bits of what appears to be serious stuff in it, but its not.
I used to like Simple Minds and U2, until they started letting politics take over and the music suffered.
Bands only become political when they become massive, when they become a stadium band. Why weren’t U2 at Sellafield when they released ‘Out of Control’ or ‘Boy’?
You never seem to get any press coverage. Does the lack of press coverage bother you?
No, because I never know what to say anyway, so it always comes out sounding stupid. At times we have had coverage …
Like when the first album came out.
Yeah, but I just found myself saying ‘I don’t really need this’, but if you don’t they seem to hold a grudge against you. Although it doesn’t matter to me, it affects the band.
When was the last time NME or Melody Maker wanted to speak to you?
NME did an interview about two years ago, but it was never printed.
What do you do when you are not involved in music, apart
from football? Do you still go ghost hunting in
No, I have done that, but not properly. I have visited those
places in
They do ‘Jack the Ripper’ tours in the East End of
Ah yes, we were going to go on one, but in the end thought
no. It’s like stately homes, I don’t want anyone to
show me round. I’d rather read about it first and do my own thing. It’s like rambling, I’d never join a ramblers club. I’d just go out
and walk myself, walk up
I know someone who does that, he just spends a week walking
over the
Yeah, it’s fucking brilliant right! There’s nothing better than taking a flask up to the top of a mountain and just sitting and drinking it. Better than any fucking tour or anything.
The simple things in life.
Yeah, it is really. I don’t do that much and mainly spend my time arsing around the house.
Do you listen to a lot of music yourself?
Not as much as I used to. I play what’s already in my record collection as they are the ‘devils’ that I know. But saying that I suppose that recently I have kept up to date with what’s going on, without actually buying stuff. I liked the last Nirvana single. I tend to go right across the spectrum, if something’s good I’ll buy it.
I find that a lot of the music today I can’t listen to. Like you, I listen to records that are already in my collection; Stranglers, Icicle Works, early Cure etc.
I think that a lot of today’s stuff can be found in earlier records. I might buy a new release and find that I’ve already got an album in my collection that reflects that. You mentioned the Icicle Works, we did play with them once at an anti-apartheid thing at the NEC years ago. We got there and were unknowns really; well we were known but were hardly Pink Floyd and we were on the bill with the Icicle Works and the Pogues, and I thought fucking hell this is a bit weird. We knew then that we were getting somewhere.
Do you go to many gigs in Liverpool?
I used to a lot, see the ‘Dead Kennedy’s and all that, but
it is very rare now that I go out.
Have you ever played with the Stranglers?
No chance would be a fine thing.
I hear that Neil is quite keen on them and admires Jean Jacques the bassist.
Yeah, Neil does like them a lot. He is more into the early stuff, the harder stuff as I am myself. I like ‘Dagenham Dave’, ‘Something Better Change’, and all the early singles. When you think about it those early Stranglers fans are going to be quite old now.
They’ve been going about seventeen years now.
Yeah, it’s a long time.
Finally, I’ve noticed that you always take a packet of crisps on stage with you, has this any deep meaningful significance?
I have like panic attacks, nothing to do with the music, it could be on a train or walking down the road. Eating crisps is just something that helps me, extra strong mints do just as well.
So performing on stage doesn’t bring on these attacks?
Although it can happen on stage, it’s more likely to happen at a match or whatever. But I’m beginning to get over it though.