Roman Jugg Interview

Roman Jugg Interview from The Limit Club Winter 2003.

This interview showed up later in 2006 on Roman's MySpace page, uncredited. Hmm...well at least I got a signed CD out of it.

With the news of a forthcoming solo album from Roman I decided to make an attempt at contacting him via Zingg Records for a possible interview. I got a response back very quickly from his bassist, Mark Elliott, who was kind enough to make arrangements to get me in touch with the good Mr. Jugg. Seems he's not as keen on email and the internet perhaps as much so as a lot of us are, probably a wise thing. In any case, after a few false starts (my fault....not Roman's) and Mark Elliott's kind help, I finally got the interview! The questions asked were from my guitarist/gearhead standpoint, so pardon me if that isn't your taste and you would have rather me asked questions about MCA Records, frock coats and hairspray, and whatever happened to Bryn Merrick...but hey, its my website...here's what I asked him and here's what the man had to say. The good, the bad, and the ugly hard facts from Mr. Jugg about his guitars, The Damned, Phantom Chords, how not to sound like a mess when playing slide guitar, and even...accordions?!

Q: First off, congratulations on the new solo album. I have to say, this is something I've been wanting to see for quite some time! The song on the Zingg website is great, can't wait to hear the entire album. Can you tell us more about it....when's it due out...how many tracks...did you play most of the instruments yourself or do you have a band?

Answer:
I've always planned to do a solo album but the opportunity never really never came up until now. There are old songs 10 years old, as well as new songs, the last song as written last week. There are 11 tracks in total, two covers, one of which is an old Damned song I wrote years ago "Is it a Dream" I chose to re-record it because I hated the fact it never materialised as I envisaged it but now I am quite happy with the final form. Yes I think I do have a band now. All the drums were done by Mole and Rich, Mark played some guitar, Dave (not Vanian...don't get all excited) played some Hammond and piano and Mark played all the bass.

*(According to Mark Elliott the album is due out sometime in early 2004, possibly as early as January.)

Q: What's your current guitar rig consist of?

Answer:
Same as the guitars I used to use in The Damned,a doctored Les Paul, an SG which I bought in New York, a Fender Telecaster and anything I can borrow basically. I use a Vox AC30 but all the guitars on the CD were put through an amp I bought in 1981 a Laney Session 45,very good for feedback at low volume.

Q: Can you give us a little musical background about yourself: How old were you when you first started playing and what were your first instruments? Your playing has always stretched over quite a few different styles. Who are your main influences?

Answer.
First instrument I picked up was an accordion, my father was a Slovenian refugee from WW2 and when I was born he cursed me 'cos as soon as he started playing I would crawl all over him. I learnt to play guitar when I was off school ill that was the first opportunity I could pick up my brothers guitar without getting beaten up, however he still beat me up when he found out I was better than him. I find a lot of guitarists that people hold up as icons to be very boring, I think one of the best guitarists I've ever heard in my life was Mick Ronson.

Q: You worked with a band called Dirty Water, can you tell us a bit about them and your work with them?

Answer.
I was roped in to produce them and ended up playing accordion on some tracks then they asked me to do one gig and now I've done a hundred. Its just a good excuse to get pissed (drunk).

Q: I have a copy of a CD by Canvey Island All-stars "Escape From Oil City". It featured yourself, Paul Gray, Clyde Dempsey (also in Phantom Chords), and a few others. Could you tell us a bit about that band?

Answer:
Paul you know about,Clive Dempsey was one of the best drummers I have
Ever worked with he is now back in Texas. The other two were a couple of
Rotters from Canvey.


Q: Prior to The Damned what bands were you in?

Answer:
None, well put it this way, bands prior to the Damned were like rooms I
passed through.

Q: Prior to joining The Damned were you a fan of their music? How did you end up joining them? What was it like going from keyboards to their guitarist after Captain?

Answer:
I was a child of the Punk movement and The Damned were part of a bigger
picture but yes I was a fan I thought their first album was blinding.
How I joined them is a long story I'll tell you another time. Going from keys to guitar was easy, while I liked being in the band there was always a bit of green envy in my eyes watching Captain play guitar so when the job came, job done.

Q: Could you tell us about the gear you used with The Damned?

Answer:
Masses, and it all got either nicked or taken away from me by a certain
drummer.

Q: Any comments about the Naz Nomad And The Nightmares project? How did that all come about? You've got some really great tones going on that record....what sort of gear were you using to achieve your sound then?

Answer:
That came about when Captain left. We did a gig in the Fulham Greyhound
and got an offer from Ace Records. We recorded the album in 5 days! The gear was Damned gear but we used effects to make it sound dated. At that time we were into West Coast psychadelia The Seeds, Elevators etc.

Q: The Phantom Chords of course stretched into yet other musical styles and genre. I saw you play live in Washington DC in 1993. You were using a Fender Stratocaster and a small 1X12 Marshall JCM 900 amp with a Boss Digital Delay and ProCo Rat as your only effects. Apart from the guitar, not a conventional setup for that style of music but it worked and sounded great! Was that pretty much the same set-up you used to record that first album?

Answer:
It was a Tele* not a Strat,the Boss delay was to try to create a
weird echoey sound more weird than normal reverb, it was like trying to outdo the Cramps which you cant do! The Rat pedal was good for boosting my guitar and I used to like stamping on it 'cos it was like stamping on a rat! *(Note from The Limit Club, it was indeed a Strat. I’ve written back to him about this but have not gotten a response as of yet)

Q: I could never get my Boss delay and Rat pedals to sound like that damn good! Haha! Any "trade secrets" you could share?

Answer:
Sometimes the pedal would only go so far you had to force the pedal to do things instead of relying on the pedal itself. Its all down to how you play the guitar really.

Q: What was the deal with that first Chords album never getting released?

Answer.
I got shit on!

Q: I hope you don't mind me asking... but what happened with yourself and The Phantom Chords?

Answer:
I got fed up with relying on someone who was unreliable.

Q: I saw you play some great slide parts with Phantom Chords, a technique I've found quite difficult to master without sounding like a mess...was slide playing something you were already familiar with before that or something you picked up on around that time?

Answer:
Basically slide is quite simple if you have the right guitar, by that I mean you have to raise the bridge and have the strings quite far away from the fretboard,otherwise,yes it will sound a mess.

Q: Who are some current bands your currently fond of listening to as of lately?

Answer:
The best thing I've heard this year is a new band called Jenny Hedge Cutters(also soon to be featured on Zingg). Apart from that I saw Bowie last Tuesday that's always a good crack. But I've heard rumours about a new band called Papa' Loco.


Nice one Steve. These are my abbreviations, but if you want to send me your postal address then I'll post a cassette tape of the full interview to you. Thanks again and sorry about the delay.