Photo credit James Edmond – Baz Warne, Armadillo, Glasgow March 2024
They’ve been touring the world for over five decades, and with no plans to stop anytime soon, the band are set to revisit Scotland in a few weeks as part of their ‘51’ 2025 tour. We spoke to Baz Warne about getting on the road again ahead of another mammoth tour.
Back in Scotland very soon! I must admit it’s nice to hear an English accent! (Our reporter Lauren is from Cumbria!)
Well, I’m married to a Scot, so I get that all the time – we live in Yorkshire now, but my Mrs is a jock, so I hear it all the time, every day, and it’s not bad!
Well, I guess that makes sense why you are always back in Scotland! It’s always nice to see a Scottish date when you guys tour, and you’ve had a few visits up here this year – and dates pending in Aberdeen and Edinburgh later this month!
I think he reason we’re playing Edinburgh this time around is because we played in Glasgow in the summer just gone, doing a festival. So we covered Glasgow, but last year we did the Usher Hall and a gig in Glasgow, and it was fantastic – it’s a fan coming back to Glasgow, it always is.
I will admit, as an English person, there is no crowd like a Scottish crowd; they go ALL IN!
I absolutely agree! It’s second to none, it always has been, even before my days in the band when the band used to do the old Glasgow Apollo, which isn’t even there anymore, you know, they’d come up to Scotland and have the most incredible reaction. I mean, once the Scots fans are with you, they’re with you for life, and you don’t get any bother with them at all.
Whenever we’re asked where our favourite place to play is, Scotland always makes it near the top of the list, so we’re looking forward to it immensely, as always.
Two great Scottish gigs are pending for you! It’s been 25 years that you’ve been with The Stranglers now, you must have seen quite a lot of change when it comes to touring within this time. But what is it that gets you excited to be back on the road?
I mean, we’re very privileged to be able to still do this in our age; it never leaves you. I mean, I leave home in about 10 days and we’re going to rehearse it – I’m already packing my case, getting everything sorted, and it’s like 25 years, but for JJ it’s over 50 years now – and you just have this anticipation about getting back on the road. I mean, this is a relatively short one compared to some of the ones that we have done in the past. We do 25 to 30 date tours, and we have done that for many, many years. This time we’re kind of doing a bit more of a selective run of dates. It’s so good just seeing everyone, travelling round in your little bubble and acting like a hooligan again. Genuinely, we revert to being that giddy teenager/ early 20’s anyone who says they don’t is a liar – it’s the sheer enjoyment of playing the songs – and once the enjoyment goes, when it becomes a chore – that’s when we will stop or.. If one of us gets killed, but… That’s it, we love it at the moment!
Well, that is rock n roll! It’s funny when you look at the crowds and the people listening to your music. I recently started watching The Umbrella Academy, and my ears pricked up when I heard No More Heroes – and the number of people younger than me I’ve seen share the song since – it’s like a new wave of getting younger fans to your gigs?
Of course – Golden Brown being in Snatch was a prime example of this and we’re seeing a lot of the original fans becoming certain vintage and bringing their kids and grandkids to our shows – our fans are incredibly loyal and genuinely I have been to fans houses where they’ve had The Stranglers on and these people are in the 50’s and 60’s and their kids have been brought up to listen to our music and its just amazing to see and really cool to find that fans are finding new ways to discover our music.
Back in our day, you had to queue outside a record shop or watch Top of the Pops to hear your favourite tracks, and now it’s so much more accessible.
But having fans just bringing their kids, putting them on the barrier, and you see these shiny eager faces who just can’t believe old blokes can make such a racket, it’s always brilliant to see.
Absolutely, I mean my mum and dad listened to Motown and Duran Duran.. And I’m country music daft, so the crossovers are always there!
That is an eclectic mix, but I’m here for it!
Speaking of crossovers, we’ve seen this a lot in music at the moment – artists dabbling in new sounds and new genres. I have to ask, is there anyone out there who it would be a bit unhinged, but you’d love to collab with them?
Oh, I wish I’d known you would ask this, that’s a great question, I need to have a think! To be honest with you, when you get to where we are, it’s gonna come as a surprise, but I don’t listen to masses of music – because I’ve had my entire life immersed in it. I’ll give you a bizarre example. Are you ready?
Hit me!
My wife and I sat down last night to watch the Taylor Swift documentary, now it’s not aimed at the likes of me, an old fat bald man, but she’s got something – she’s got integrity, she’s very misunderstood, I think. Alright she is privileged and didn’t struggle as she had help to get to venues and shows, butcher has talent to back it and there is something about her that I admire – I’ve never been interested is not in my type of music but when I sat and watched it I thought to myself, jere I can see why people of a certain age would have an opinion o her but she undoubtedly has talent.
You look at the gigs and the fans that she has got, and these shiny-eyed bright kids, and she is the voice of a certain generation, but it’s not my generation, but listening to her music, and I thought, you know what, she’s got it!
The Stranglers x Taylor Swift collab, I can see it now!
It’s funny because when we were in Australia a few years ago, she was there at the same time and I cannot remember what city it was but the place was just up in arms and we just shuffled in in our little tour bus – we always enjoy Australia but the town was Taylor Swift daft so wherever she goes she brings the crowd!
Touring as much as you have over the years, I imagine you’ve seen a big shift in the industry. For anyone who is looking to get their feet into the music industry, what’s your best advice?
Oh my goodness, well it’s been a few generations gone by since I started, in my day you sat in your bedroom playing your guitar till your fingers ached – which I did for 8/10 hours a day. You write your music, you put it on a tape, pop it in the cassette box and send it to the fat cat in London. Those days are well gone, I mean now with the internet, I mean you can get started straight away posting content. My best advice would be to stay true to yourself. If you are continuing to jump on a bandwagon, people will see right through it. People can spot a fake – don’t try to be anyone else, you can tell if someone isn’t being genuine, be unique, be yourself, and that’s what will make you stand out.
I know it’s the old Hackney cliche, but just stick in and keep doing what you do, whether you like it or not. Long-term careers can be forged in this way at an early age. I mean, nobody knows that better than The Stranglers. I mean, you hear our music on the radio and immediately you know who it is without a shadow of a doubt. It’s identifiable, and I think that’s difficult to achieve these days.
Oh, absolutely, your sound is well-known from the get-go, and the legacy the band has created is nothing short of admirable. 25 years in and many more to go! What does the rest of the year hold for the band?
Well, we have this upcoming tour and then traditionally we do very little over the Christmas and the Winter months, next year, 2026, is going to be a little bit quieter – there are a few things in the pipeline, predominantly in Europe at the moment. We are thinking about knuckling down – I mean, we are spread all over the place. JJ lives in the South of France, I live in Yorkshire, one of the guys is in Berkshire, and another is in the Midlands. So when we coordinate songwriting sessions, we can’t always get together. But now, as technology is our friend, we all have studios in our houses, and you can make great demos and email them over to each other. But there are some exciting things to come – we always say every year, “let’s take it easy the following year”, and then we book in festivals and tours and we just never stop.
Thanks to Baz Warne for taking the time to chat with Lauren and wish him all the best on the coming tour.
Interview by Lauren Page.
