Primal Scream, rabbits, swords and devilishly dark electro. Andrew Weatherall bas been there and done that. He prefers a lower profile these days and a bit of the quiet life recently moving to a bunker up north. Even so, the self-styled ‘chancer’ has anew Two Lone Swordsmen opus, with partner Keith Tenniswood, a few final tweaks from completion.

 In a makeshift office in Holborn, Jockey Slut finds him his usual anecdotal and irreverent self, ever ready to take the piss out of his musical mis-adventures. Over to you readers.

That film you were in. Shit, wasn’t it?

Clare Smith, Birmingham

"Never saw it to be honest with you. I kind of got a feeling that it might not actually be that good (laughs). No disrespect to all those involved. There was a premier on at ten o'clock in the morning which meant me getting up at about eight. So I knew I wouldn't make it. When it went to video it was great because quite a few people in nightclubs had seen the film and did like to point out the fact tome. I think what sold it was all the people that thought I was a knobhead wanted to pay two quid to see me getting a smack. It was very popular with a certain section of the community.”

Do you ever go to clubs you’re not playing at? If so, which ones?

Jon Roberts, Leeds

“Not as often as I should do. If you’ve been in the studio all week listening to loud music sometimes the last thing you want to do is go to a club. Sometimes I’d rather watch ‘A Touch of Frost’ or something. My one vice is shit TV. It’s cheaper and a lot safer than heroin. Club 69 in Glasgow I’d probably go to and Pure in Edinburgh.”

Why were you so into rabbits?

John Thomson, London

“I wasn’t into them at all, the good lady wife at the time was a big rabbit fan. We hooked up with Bastard Bunny which I thought was a really good cartoon which led to photographs with rabbit masks. It all seemed a good idea at the time [laughs]. I felt slightly vindicated when Daft Punk later went on to be photographed with frogs masks.  I wasn’t just a knob in a rabbit’s mask after all then.”

Why did you refuse to remix U2 on the grounds that they are corporate rock, then remix Texas?

Maurice Leahy, Herts

“(Incredulous) Hey? What? No, I didn’t not remix them on the grounds that they were corporate rock at all. I can’t even remember why we didn’t do it in the end. I think it was just one of those stories that gets out of hand. People like to create a bit of a divide. Texas, well I really like that song. I thought it was an all right album, it didn’t offend me and that track was pretty cool. One per cent of the reason was probably so that two years later people would send me questions saying why did you remix Texas?”

‍

What was more important in music, punk rock or acid house?

F O’Donnel, Cornwall

“Well, purely because punk rock came first you’d have to say punk rock. That was the first movement that said, all right, so you can’t play an instrument but just go in the studio and make a noise. Acid house took that further but the technology made it even easier than punk because you could make a studio in your bedroom or council flat or anywhere. The acid house scene was punk plus machines.”

Who was the best guest you had on at Sabresonic?

Richard Crighton, London

“Probably Richie Hawtin. I enjoyed the old Chemical Brothers when they played on the roof of the cloakroom at the end of the club and no one could work out where they were.  Yeah, but Richie had the whole place in absolute uproar. That was the night when the ‘You ain’t seen me’ bloke from ‘The Fast Show’ was down there off his cake and he actually felt his way along the walls to get out the club.”

Who would you most like to work with?

Jane Grant, Aberdeen

“Myself. I just want to get a studio in the basement and make a noise. So me.”

You said once you’d give all you have done to have been Joe Strummer in 1976. Do you still think this and what do The Clash mean to you?

J. Maloney, London

“I can’t remember if I did. The word ‘tosser’ springs immediately to mind. I really do hope I didn’t say that and if I did I want to hear the tape. At the time The Clash meant quite a lot but I haven’t listened to a Clash record for years. I’m more interested in tomorrow than in 15 to 20 years ago. Ok, I’ve got ‘Straight to Hell’ tattooed on me arm but it’s just part of a misspent youth.”

Do you carry any Lucky Charms?

Jon Agnar,Iceland

“No. A couple of years back – there was probably LSD involved – I used to have this skull pendant carved out of human bone, that for some reason I always had to wear when I was doing a gig. I soon grew out of that one.”

What is the best single piece of work you have done?

Richard Black, Birmingham

“If I have to be pulled upon one it’s probably ‘Carry Me Home’ on the B-side of Primal Scream’s ‘DixieNarco’ thing. It’s a Dennis Wilson song. I think that’s my finest moment.”

Have your views on jugglers changed? What have you got against them?

Graham Roberts, Liverpool

“They haven’t changed, my reaction to them has just mellowed [laughs]. I just pass them by now rather than shout things like: ‘You want money for that? Fuck off!’ as I once did to a juggler in Galway. Everyone has to have their scapegoats. If I was analysed it would probably be something I don’t like about myself and I’m just projecting onto them. Perhaps I’m a latent juggler or something.”

When did you last see Jagz and Gary from Sabres?

Lynn Curbishly, MiltonKeynes

“I had a pint of Guinness and a ham sandwich with Mr Burns a couple of weeks ago. Jagz is out in America working with Homer, but I had a very nice pub lunch with Gary Burns the other day.”

How did you stop taking drugs? Wasn’t it difficult seeing as you’re part of a scene where they’re always around you?

Chester Parks, London

“By nearly killing myself.Some people have got the sense to stop and some haven’t. I don’t want to have a heart attack in some fucking airport like I nearly did a couple of years ago. The scrapes are good for a while but you begin to realise that you’re not immortal. It is difficult and that’s why I haven’t stopped completely.”

Would you ever move out of London?

Caspar, Manchester

“Yes, in about two weeks.”

How much did you get for that Bacardi advert? Do you endorse the product?

Helen Weeks, Manchester

“Not as much as we could have. Basically what they wanted to do was put that advert on the telly, put money into re-releasing the track and do a sort of advert release and I wasn’t really into it. People think you get hundreds of thousands of pounds for adverts but we probably got a couple of grand from that tops. When I was 18 I probably got smashed as an arse on Bacardi but my drinks tastes are a little more sophisticated these days. I only do 20/20 and Blue Nun these days.”

Did you ever get groupies?

Sarah Court, Liverpool

“No, I don’t think so. My brother drives me to gigs and he’s always going: ‘Did you see [her]?’ But I’m usually too busy concentrating on the task at hand. I’ve had a couple.  One was quite literally mad and booked herself out of a private mental hospital to come and see me. I don’t know what that says. She was an Italian countess apparently, he says now being happily married and all that.”

Sabres? Swordsmen? Why swords?

Michael Bennet, Redditch

“Perhaps it’s an acid throwback thing. When I used to do acid there was a lot of 18th century imagery involved. I won’t go into detail because I’ll probably get sectioned. I just like that imagery. ‘The Dualists’ is one of my favourite films.”

Do you regret that confessional NME interview you did a few years back?

Richard O’Montelban

“I did at the time but looking back it was really funny. It was just the rantings of a coke-addicted buffoon. I was sat there saying what a tosser I was and how rubbish cocaine was having just done a big hooter full of cocaine before the interview. It was really weird because lots of girls I know thought it was really sweet. The ladies loved it so it wasn’t all bad. I nearly lost the plot because I was taking it all seriously. I don’t treat the past as a joke but it was just a mad fucking lark so there’s no point in getting upset about it. Some people think you’re a twat, some people think you’re all right. So what.”

You’re getting on a bit, aren’t you? Ever get scared?

Daniel Keen, Huddersfield

(Weatherall in stitches) “Every day, mate. You go from thinking about sex every ten minutes to thinking about death every ten minutes. I only think about it when people ask me questions like that to be honest.”

Celebrity Question!

In reference to your tattoo, do you really believe in Yin and Yang?

Richard Fearless, Death inVegas

“It’s just a balance thing. I’m not the cosmic type at all but I just think it’s natural to balance things out or you don’t appreciate them. It’s just a graphic representation of what I think is basic human nature ... maan! [laughs – adopts Cockney geezer accent]. Looked good in the tattoo shop, mate. Know wot I mean. Yin/Yang? What you on about, Bing/Bang? What’s that, then? Who was that from? Zappa Moon Unit or something?”

Celebrity Question!

Is there still a direct relationship between how records sound and the locations they are made in?

Richie Hawtin, Plastikman

“Absolutely none whatsoever. That’s probably a Detroit-angled question. It’s down to how you transfer what’s in your head into your machines. Ok, it might affect it if people in Detroit are going to a certain cutting plant and it’s affecting the way it sounds.  If you are in Detroit then ok, there is a chance that you are going to make a better record because you’re there in the heart of it. You’re getting all those influences direct whereas in Europe you might be getting them second hand. How can you share the experience of 200people in a sweaty nightclub in Detroit because it is that specific moment? You can’t take that initial spark and export it. The best writing in the world will never be able to put into words that feeling at that time. That’s imprinted on the human soul and there’s no way you can sell that.”

Celebrity Question!

Who would you have a one-to-one with?

Red Snapper

“It would have to be a certain carpenter from the Nazareth area, I think. ‘So come on, what’s going on here, then?’ I know that they hijacked what you thought so what was the real deal?Christianity? When they knock on the door I always have them in for a bit of a chat. I have certain views that I’m not going to express here about that side of things. Yeah it would have to be Jesus H. Christ just to get a few things sorted out. He'd probably knock me up a nice cabinet or something. ‘Nah, it’s all bollocks, mate. I’m just a chippy.’”

Celebrity Question!

Balearic Beat –interesting musical variation or product of too many drugs?

Justin Robertson, Lionrock

“Don’t get me wrong. I had a great time. I don’t want to diss the past or anyone involved in it but a lot of them tunes were the product of a drug-addled mind. When I snapped out of my ecstasy-induced haze I listened to some of the old tapes and thought: ‘What the bloody hell’s going on there, then? I don’t regret anything about that era, but there were some abominations walking the earth at that time.”

CelebrityQuestion!

What’s it like to be you?

SteveBeckett, Warp Founder

“Sometimes it’s fucking wicked. I haven’t got some Dave Stewart paradise syndrome where I make myself ill thinking this is so great. Sometimes it’s arse. I don’t get up ‘til eleven half the time. I go into the studio, listen to records and make a load of daft noises all day. Whenever I get pissed off I break it down into its component factors. Which of these factors don’t you like, then? Would I rather get up atone? What’s the problem?  It’s quite a precarious way to make a living though.”

Celebrity Question!

Where do you stand on dry stone walling?

Sherman, Cloak and Dagger

“Where I’m moving to there are just hundreds of miles of dry stone walls in every direction. I was thinking that whoever can repair dry stone walls has got a job for life here so I’m taking up a six-month course to learn how to repair them. I’m going to get myself a three-wheeled motor-trike to put my tools on and set up a twenty four-hour emergency dry stone wall repair service. If anything it’ll get me out in the open air.”

Celebrity Question!

Why are you so moody?

Elliot Eastwick, Paper Boy

“Popular misconception thatI liked to sort of keep up just to keep people at bay. It’s like Lee Perry. I think he just puts all that on to keep people away from him. Usually it’s just that I’m concentrating on DJing or want a drink with me mates in a club. I probably was a bit moody but I try and be a bit more accommodating these days. I have been that drug-addled buffoon who’s hassled someone myself so I try and go with it a bit more than telling people to fuck off.”

Celebrity Question!

Would you like to have any children?  If so, how many and when?

Dean O’Connor, Eye Q

“No, I wouldn't because they are the ultimate responsibility and I find gas bills daunting when it comes to responsibility. Being responsible for another human being, no I don’t think so. All my mates are like: ‘No, I was like that’ but I’m like: ‘Seriously, you don’t know me. You don’t know how rubbish I am with responsibility’.”

‍