Phoning round your mates to drag them to your gigs is a task all too familiar to any band just starting out. Only when somebody you haven't known since early childhood starts turning up have you got your first real fan.

And by our reckoning, the first real Regulars fan was Mr John Hetherington, who discovered the band way back in mid-1997 - just before Paul took over from Sarah on guitar, and when tunes like Lie down and fight and These things obscure were no more than distant flickers of futurity in time's multivalent kaleidoscopic tunnel thing.

John soon became known to the band - unsurprisingly - as John the Fan, and showed up at several gigs that year before seeming to disappear from the face of the earth - or from Birmingham, at any rate.

But an unlikely sequence of events - not least of which was The Regulars' then unemployable singer Pete getting a permanent job - led to John being tracked down in 1999 to a lonely barracks in Northern Ireland, with only letters from home and his memories of The Regulars for comfort.

Here, now, for your pleasure and enlightenment, John and Pete muse on music, the military, Mexican buses, minimising work, and of course...errrrm...The Regulars. Hooray!

features

Really plugged in:
an interview with
John the Fan

Situations vacant

PG When and where did you first see The Regulars? How come you were there?

JH I first saw The Regulars at the Birmingham University Battle of the Bands competition. One of my friends was drummer for Haze, so I was there supporting them, and checking out the other bands. I was considering finding a band to join at the time - I play bass, and used to write - so I was also looking out for situations vacant.

PG So did you find one? Are you still playing?

JH Well, what happened was that I ended up playing bass in Haze for a while - they didn't really get on with their old bass player, a real Marilyn Manson type. I stayed with them for a quiet three months - things weren't working out - and then left to join up. I don't still play too much, I'm afraid; I just don't have the time. It is one of my biggest regrets about joining the army.

PG Tell us about that.

JH I left university at the end of my second year, and I joined up - as a soldier, not an officer. For most of the time since I finished training, I've been in Northern Ireland.

PG Some might think this a curious course for a Regulars fan...

JH Yeah, it probably is the road less travelled. On the other hand, I think it would be a very depressing world if someone who was a fan of The Regulars didn't join the army just because he or she wasn't supposed to. As soon as you have 'typical' fans, then you've become like a goth band or a heavy metal band - the image becomes all, and the music can come off a poor second. A few more soldiers who were Regulars fans would probably benefit the army as well - it can be a very conservative and intolerant institution at times.

Energy, passion, thought

PG Can you remember the Regulars line-up from back in '97?

JH True to every stereotype, I can't remember the drummer at all. Is he the same one as now? I could pick the rest of you out of an ID parade though...

PG We've had the same drummer all along - my little brother Chris. I think he's 'come out of his shell' a bit since then... So what did you think? Did any particular songs, or events, or band members stand out?

JH I thought that the sound was great - it was so much more energetic than the other bands, and it seemed so much more passionate than the other offerings from those three nights. A lot more thought had gone into the sound and songs...You were just better. After the rest of the singers, you seemed to have a lot more star quality, or whatever quality it is that makes you stand and watch someone as they sing. And Sarah was a mad guitar player...was she really plugged in?

PG We were all really plugged in... The soundman was some patronising southern student type, and we didn't get on stage till about 11:30 so were quite fuelled up by then. All the other bands were all-student line-ups but Sarah was the only Regular at Birmingham Uni, so I think you were the only one who voted for us John!

JH Yeah, the whole event was more a student popularity contest than anything else. I thought Haze won in the end because they played the most popular cover ('Song 2').

PG Sarah's now in a band called Bomber, singing and playing bass, and they're doing some really interesting stuff... Which 'name' bands were you most into at the time?

JH The same bands that I'm most into now: Pulp, PJ Harvey, The Smiths.

PG The Regulars get a lot of Smiths comparisons from audiences, and we don't really understand why. What do you think?

JH I don't think I would say that, either. I think that there is an entirely different atmosphere about The Regulars.

PG How did you end up seeing The Regulars again?

JH I was actively looking out for The Regulars' next gig, because I was really impressed.

PG So that's when you would have seen us at the Flapper?

JH I think so, but I couldn't swear to it! I think I saw you three or four times over about six months, but I'm afraid I just can't remember which time was which - sorry. They were all very good - I just can't remember which order.

Minimising work

PG When did you first say hello to any of the band? Is that when you got the name John the Fan?

JH I first said hello at that Battle of the Bands competition, after the gig. The second time was at Snobs at UFO - I think after a Broadcast and Pram gig at the Flapper.

PG How did you see the Birmingham music scene back then?

JH Well, I mainly saw the student side of it, which was pretty indifferent. Everyone seemed to want to be the Verve. I was really into Broadcast, who were starting to get big, and I went to see them whenever they were playing.

PG Have you heard their new album?

JH Yes, I've got it. It was really good - I'm looking forward to going to see them again asap.

PG You've not seen The Regulars for a while. What do you know about the band in 2000? How do you imagine we've changed?

JH Well, I know that you still don't play enough gigs or write enough new songs. The sound got progressively bigger/heavier every time I've seen you, so maybe there's a darker tone and more rocky sound than you began with. You probably don't namecheck Strawberry Switchblade any more...

PG You're right - that was in Shake the dust out, which we haven't played live for ages. We arrange songs with a bigger sound now, but we're still pop and we still don't do fretwank.

JH Thank God for that!

PG Do you relate to any of The Regulars' themes - like the anti-work ethic/idleness thing?

JH I'm anti forcing people to do work. I'm a workaholic though, so me condemning work would be a bit of a turkey/Xmas situation. I'm more into the idea of minimising pointless work and activity, so people can concentrate on the vital, the interesting, or the exciting...

PG Playing in a pop band being just one example. And this is exactly the idea we pick up in songs like 35 hours...

JH Yeah, exactly - work is good when it's fun or interesting or thrilling. Otherwise...

Scenes and schemes

PG Have you seen any of the bands on the current Birmingham scene? What do you think?

JH I think I saw the New Electrics at some point, but I'd be lying if I said I could remember anything about it... Because my parents live in Northumberland, I normally go there on leave, and so I can't really keep up with what is going on, except vicariously through Kerrie and Liz. [Note: Kerrie is the colleague of Pete's and Regulist member through whom John was located; and Liz is her mate.]

PG How do you see The Regulars in relation to the current scene - in Birmingham, and in the UK as a whole?

JH I'm not sure that I really believe in 'scenes' - I just don't go to Birmingham often enough to have an idea of what is going on there, and as for the UK... I just think that guitar-based music is going to become more and more of a cult thing, so that bands inside that will see old pop/rock/indie/punk/metal/goth distinctions as less and less relevant - there won't be enough fans to go round.

PG What's your favourite book?

JH There is just too many - The Quantity Theory of Insanity, maybe.

PG Favourite bus?

JH Mexican buses - fast, cheap, comfortable, and with in-drive TV.

PG What are the best and worst things about The Regulars?

JH The worst thing is that there is no Northern Ireland tour planned. The best thing...there is something so real about The Regulars on stage. With lots of bands that I see in smaller venues, you can see that they are not sure if they really belong up there - The Regulars obviously do. It isn't an arrogance thing - Mazzy Star have it just as much as Oasis. But I think that any band that gives the impression that they could have decided to be engineers or accountants (or soldiers) instead of being in a group, just cannot have anywhere near the same impact on you as a group that does. Fuck it, I know what I'm trying to say...