An interview for the big boys. I met this man in 1998 I think, Leatherface was on tour with Hot Water Music, I had already been a great fan of Leatherface for six or seven years, I met Frankie back stage and we hit it off from straight the start. He gave me his phone number and said “If you’re ever in England give me a call and you’ll have a place to stay” - I don’t think he ever thought I would take him up on that offer, about a year and a half later I was in Scotland, I called him up, I said “It’s Tom Cheshire from the States, we met in Atlanta and you said if I was in England to call you, I will be there tomorrow.” He picked me and my girl up at the train station, he was so hospitable, gave us his bed and he slept on the couch, we went on tour with them and got into a fight with 10-year-old boys on BMX bikes and hung out with an Elvis impersonator, hit many watering holes, it was a good time, years later he spent some time in Atlanta and we tried to pay him back for his kindness, I have been a fan for a while now but I am most proud of calling him my friend. I recently went to London on business, found Frankie and this is my interview; we drank in a bar called Haile’s then a sportsbar I can’t remember the name of. I hope you enjoy.

Dry Ink: How the hell are you? You’re looking skinny.

Frankie Stubbs: I’ve been doing it. Losing weight, hanging out with Gary Glitter. We went to his house the other night for a party.

DI: No way, did you really?

FS: I wish.

DI: The last time I saw you the kids were calling you Biggie Stubbs.

FS: I knew it was time to do something. I’ve just been keeping busy, that’s all.

DI: Well that is what this is about. Let’s hear it. I hear you’re working at Wembley Stadium. What’s that like?

FS: I like it lots. It’s the best job I have ever had.

DI: Who are you kidding, It’s the only job you’ve ever had.

FS: Well, that is true but I like it.

DI: Are you the sound engineer there?

FS: Not exactly, I work in the sound and electronic department. Let’s just say that I make sure all of the speakers work in the pizza stations and bathrooms.

DI: That sounds interesting.

FS: It has its advantages. I can say that I was the first musician to perfrom at Wembley Stadium when it re-opened.

DI: How did that happen?

FS: I brought my accoustic guitar down to the middle of the field and just started playing it and singing at the top of my lungs.

DI: Was there anyone there to hear it?

FS: Not a soul. It felt pretty great though.

DI: Any other advantages?

FS: From time to time I might hear a band that sounds good. I got to hear your friends Mastodon play the other night opening up for Metallica. They sounded great. I was gonna go meet them but I got into a really bad mood and went to the pub.

DI: What happened?

FS: The speakers in the ladies room weren’t working, gave me some trouble. I walked out and got wrecked.

DI: I understand Leatherface is getting back together and doing some shows.

FS: Yes we are. I have re-united with Dickie Hammond our old guitar player.

DI: How is it playing with Dickie again?

FS: It’s a love hate thing. It’s like everything, you take the good with the bad.

DI: Where are you playing?

FS: Just a few shows. We’re playing Manchester, then Leeds, then we’ll do a show in Dublin. That is it and then I will go write a new album.

DI: Great news. Any chance of you coming back over to the States?

FS: We’ll see what happens with it.

DI: Any ideas for a title of the new record?

FS: Right now the only title that comes to my head is “Spam Javelin.”

DI: I like it and I’m disgusted.

FS: Do you know what it is?

DI: I’m guessing it’s a term for cock.

FS: You got it, the old meat hammer.

DI: Can you talk about your songwriting process?

FS: It’s pretty simple. I don’t know how anyone else does it but I write 12 or 13 instrumental pieces. I get them exactly where I want them to be. I sit on them for a week or so and then I’ll give myself a couple of weeks to write lyrics and melodies to all of them. Then I record them.

DI: I am pretty sure no one else does it that way. That is pretty impressive. Your songs to me are so anthemic that I would think the words and melodies would be what you would write first. And writing the lyrics to 13 songs in 2 weeks sounds pretty insane.

FS: Once I get going it comes together pretty quickly.

DI: How do you come up with ideas?

FS: I just walk around and listen to people. I write down things that people are saying. The other day I heard a girl no older than 14 say “I’d be a vegetarian but I love to suck cock.”

DI: You’re kidding me.

FS: Dead honest truth.

DI: How are you going to fit that into a song?

FS: I’ll get it in there somehow.

DI: How much of the songs are about you and your personal struggles?

FS: Oh, a lot of it.

DI: Any examples?

FS: “He bought you flowers, I bought you drinks.”

DI: I love that line.

FS: Yeah, that was pretty personal.

DI: I imagine people come up to you quite often and talk to you about your lyrics. I know they’ve put me in a pretty good place on many nights.

FS: I don’t like when people try to understand my lyrics beacuse what a certain song means to me might mean something completely different to someone else or sometimes they are hearing completely different words. There are a bunch of songs out there that I love that I have been singing in my head for years and then when I find out what the real lyrics are I get disappointed.

DI: I thought for years on “Not Superstitious” you were saying “you’re not the spoiled type” then I found out recently that you were saying “you’re not the sporting type.” I have to say I was disappointed.

FS: See, that’s what I mean.

DI: I wasn’t that messed up about it. It’s still one of my favorite songs of all time.

FS: Nice to know.

DI: If you can’t make it over to the U.S. with the full band would you consider coming over to do some accoustic shows?

FS: That I might be able to do.

DI: Frankie, Thank you for your time. Always a pleasure.

FS: That was painless. Let’s move on to another watering hole.

Tom Cheshire is the publisher of Dry Ink. Write to him at tom@dryinkmag.com