It was one of the best interviews we have ever done! Ever! A joyful fellowship, filled with good humor and melody... We have four out of five Quireboys at our table and it’s such a huge honor for us. Waited a bit, cuz they were engaged with some other magazines, got to talk to the person in charge of the interviews though (thank a lot, mate!) and he “fixed” us the best way he could! The talk was simply amazing, the members of this great band even more amazing and... and we just didn’t want it to end. “You have to bring us to Greece” they were telling us afterwards. “We’re gonna do one live show and then have two weeks of vacation... at your place”! And then it was Phil Martini’s turn... The drummer caused major laugh explosions by imitating Roger Moore and Sean Connery. Those of you listening to RockMachine (www.rockmachine.gr), you’ll hear those unbelievable ID’s... Hey, where is Moneypenny?

Interview by Costas Koulis and Dimitris Kazantzis.

Rockpages.gr : After all these years... Is it still “We are The Quireboys and this is Rock and Roll”?

Spike : That’s been from day one.

Guy Griffin : It’s always been a Rock and Roll band…

Paul Guerin : You must have seen the audience today... They wouldn’t disagree... We had a full house tonight... Everybody knew the songs... all singing along.

Rockpages.gr : I’m gonna go from day one to today and the new album... “Halfpenny Dancer”...

Guy Griffin : We’re really proud of the album. The line up is great! It’s songs we like... We’ve always done that style but, obviously, you don’t get the chance to play these songs live, so it’s nice to revisit all these songs and re-do them with all these instruments, you know, mandolins and stuff, the banjo... It’s great, it really brings the songs up... Some of the songs are better than the original ones.

Spike : Because most of the songs are like that... they were written on acoustic guitars.

Paul Guerin : That was the original...

Rockpages.gr : Would you say it was the natural thing to do?

Spike : Yeah! We’ve done some covers as well... Phil Mogg was our first manager, so we did “Love to love” for him...

Rockpages.gr : The band has huge success in the late 80’s, early 90’s...

Spike : When we started, it took five years before we got a record deal... We were touring everywhere we could, so when we got the deal, we did the best we could. I’m so proud the band is still going...

Guy Griffin : The first album was recorded twenty years ago. When it was recorded I was 22 years old... It’s been re-mastered, with the sound and everything. Back then we were young guys, playing that music. Today we are youngish guys playing that type of music... It’s not like we’re pretending, it’s the music we grew up with. It’s timeless.

Paul Guerin : It’s pure Rock and Roll. I don’t see many bands do that anymore...

Spike : It’s a privilege to come out and sing those songs.

Paul Guerin : It’s fun. If it wasn’t fun we wouldn’t be doing it. We traveled here from Belfast. We left at four in the morning to come here.

Phil Martini : You can see the reaction at the audience...

Paul Guerin : This is called “Hard Rock Hell”... Many successful bands playing Heavy Metal music. Then you put The Quireboys right in the middle of that. On paper that wouldn’t work. But the reality is that the audience... you can not beat a great song! A song will always win. You couldn’t have one more person in the room...

Spike : And we’re doing it for charity. We don’t get paid for tonight. We came in to do this for charity tonight. We came to do this because we love to play.

Guy Griffin : We’ve sold maybe more thickets than anybody else on the bill... It’s the beginning of our tour. Some friends suggested we do that for charity...

Paul Guerin : Driving to Pontin’s... It’s like going back in time... And then there’s thousands of people... it’s fantastic!

Guy Griffin : In the last year we played with Sex Pistols, Judas Priest, Motorhead... we could play anywhere...

Phil Martini : Next year we’re gonna play some acoustic shows.

Rockpages.gr : That’s what I saw... You have a bunch of dates for next year.

Guy Griffin : We’re doing some shows in March, in the UK. Acoustic... We’ll do some special shows. Then we head to Europe, Brazil...

Rockpages.gr : Is it one-off in Brazil or a South American tour?

Guy Griffin : It might grow...

Spike : We’d love to go anywhere...

Rockpages.gr : How’s it to play with a band like The Rolling Stones?

Spike : We’ve played with everybody. When you play with The Rolling Stones you realize... We toured a lot in America. When you meet people like The Rolling Stones, you realize they’re like you and me. Totally down to Earth. They are the ultimate Rock and Roll band and it was an honor to play a special show. We played at St. James’ Park – Newcastle United home – my hometown. We toured with Aerosmith! Steven Tyler was so jealous that we played with the Stones! (laughs)

Rockpages.gr : Sharon Osbourne was your manager...

Spike : Sharon was brilliant! Without her we wouldn’t tour that much...

Guy Griffin : It was gonna be a big thing but Sharon made it bigger...

Spike : She’s very influential...

Phil Martini : She was dedicated.

Rockpages.gr : How does it feel seeing all these bands, influenced by you, tour the world, make music and give you kudos for the inspiration?

Paul Guerin : You feel like you’ve done your job. You feel like you’ve achieved something. There are millions of musicians in millions of bands...

Spike : I was at the bar of this hotel... We were playing with WhiteSnake... There were these lads, telling me how much they loved my band, The Quireboys. So I said “Are you guys in a band”? And they said yes, they were calling themselves “The Kings of Leon”. I didn’t even know who they were... (laughs)

Guy Griffin : We don’t really know now! (laughs) In different parts of the world, scenes are different... You go to Germany and it’s more Metal. You go to Scandinavia, it’s really Rock and Roll...

Spike : You go to Scandinavia and you’ll see a bunch of 16-17 year old kids, with the pinstripe jacket on, the carnation... front row!

Guy Griffin : They know all the songs! Every word!

Spike : And the Internet has a lot to do with it. Especially in Scandinavia, they love us...

Rockpages.gr : So, I guess you’re ready for another twenty years.

Spike : Yeah! I’m only twenty! (laughs)

Paul Guerin : There has to be someone, to move up to Premier League and play bigger places. The Quireboys can do that because we have the songs! If you listen to Rod Stewart, Bad Company, Bob Seger, all the songs mean something to people. When we play concerts, people bring their children with them. Songs do mean something. Children that their parents listen to The Quireboys, they will take it on and we are still here...

Spike : The last album we did has sold as much as any other album. And we play the songs and people know them...

Paul Guerin : How many bands are here? The consensus is “Well, nobody sells records anymore”... But we do! It’s a great feeling...

Spike : We don’t live in passed glories... We still write songs.

Guy Griffin : The actual gig we’re doing now... Five-six years ago we put the band back together and the audience built up. At first the media didn’t want to have anything to do with The Quireboys. And now, everybody wants to. Most English bands can’t play outside the UK. The Quireboys play all their gigs outside the UK and they do one tour in the UK, which is sold out!

Spike : If you notice, the audience knows even the new songs.

Guy Griffin : The best thing tonight was when Spike’s microphone was not working. The first song... It was a bit panicking. And when it came on, the crowd went crazy. It was a great moment!

Paul Guerin : It was a great thing, when people were singing. At the last tour the crowd was (e.n. everybody goes “Ole-ole-ole-oleeee”)... Even the songs you weren’t expecting to chant...