nathan foster- writer

Here is an interview that I conducted with Dean Jones, lead vocalist of the legendary Extreme Noise Terror about their collaboration with dance group the KLF and their infamous performance at the 1992 Brit Awards ceremony.

How did you come into contact with the KLF?

I was driving about and my missus got a call from “Bill from the Alf”, I was vegetarian back then and we used to do a lot of animal rights stuff so I thought it was another animal rights gig. It was mid-1991 and he left a number. He called and said he was from the KLF not the ALF, I was like “What do want with me?” He said he was in the bath listening to John Peel, he heard the music and heard Peel say it was Extreme Noise Terror. I did not know at that point that he wanted to end the KLF. They said can you make can you come and record a version of “3 am eternal” and I didn’t know the song, I’m a punk rocker! I called back and said I’ll see what I can do, and said I’d call my bandmates. They said come to Fulham and you’ll have a hotel there and he said can you do your own version of it. We couldn’t get hold of it so we just had to turn up. The first day he called me this engineer said “Do you fancy a shag with the secretary? And I went for it!” I didn’t except just two people. I’d seen them on TV, but it was hard to tell what they looked like. We just turned up and introduced ourselves and said “Sorry, we didn’t get a chance to listen to your record and Jimmy Cauthy put a Motorhead- “Ace of Spades” style lead over it and I can’t remember the producers name but I remember the studio in Fulham and we nailed the song which was supposed to be on Top of the Pops but it apparently had an “offensive” guitar sound and coincided with the Queens speech and Bill said we haven’t got Top of the Pops but I’m planning on doing the Brit Awards.

How familiar with them were you prior to the collaboration?

“They were a big chart band at the time, so I was familiar with them”

Why did the Black room not see a release?

“Bill and Jimmy did not want us to have any input into the song writing or anything. I think if they did it could have been a lot better.”

Describe your experience at the Brit Awards.

“What happened was we had a very quick practice in the afternoon and it appeared on BBC TV. We sounded good and then they cut us off after about ten seconds to go to an interruption or something. Bill originally had this idea to chop a dead sheep up onstage which we disagreed with because we were all vegetarians at the time. So, plan B was that we were to throw pigs blood into the audience and Jonathan King came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder and warned us, saying that if we did that we could get done for that as it was a criminal offence. So, Plan C was that Bill got a machine gun and fired it into the audience. Apparently, Noel Edmunds cried because he thought he shot people in the front row!”

Jimmy was using a transistor lead. Bill couldn’t rap that fast so he couldn’t perform the song properly live. When we actually played, we sounded awesome but the TV company said they found the guitar sound offensive. So, when the show was broadcast the guitar sound was cut out. We watched it in the back of the van after the show and we were gutted. I also remember we were the first band on and several people left after a few minutes.

After the performance, we left for the afterparty were security tried to grab us but I had a bodyguard so we jumped in the van and headed off!”

That was crazy. The general public didn’t know what the KLF looked like so when we arrived at the afterparty there was loads of girls screaming at me because they thought I was the frontman. They made one floor of Hilton Hotel for the party and I was necking champagne and I made love in an elevator with a girl and had this bodyguard and we had a gofer and basically anything we wanted. Billy Bragg the got us into Neneh Cherry’s penthouse. We had a deal with licencing company in Japan, Neneh Cherry heard me calling them in Japanese and she said “Are you calling Japan?” and our bass player kicked her up the arse! It was then time we left.

What did you make of the KLF’s antics after the experience?

“Well I heard when they burnt the million pounds that they reportedly felt sick for doing it afterwards. They thought that it would be worth the million pounds but was actually only worth a thousand.”

Do you have any contact with them now?

No but I’ve done interviews about it since and they’re playing a nuclear power station near my house twenty minutes from me of the 22^nd or 23^rd (of unknown month). Their original manager died and they’re now being managed by two other guys.”

“Quick Plug-My next interview is going to be on a podcast called gbh bl whiplash hosted by Sian Murphy .”

nathan foster- writer

Monday, 5 June 2017

Back after a while

Thursday, 16 March 2017

My interview with Dean Jones (Extreme Noise Terror) about 1992 brit awards peformance with KLF

Tuesday, 14 March 2017

Quick Plug in - The Gbh Bl whiplash podcast

Tuesday, 24 January 2017

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Tuesday, 15 November 2016

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Wednesday, 9 November 2016

update-back after a while

Tuesday, 11 October 2016

Orienteering with Napalm Death