REEF Interview with Gary Stringer.

Place Your Hands on.... Gary Stringer, frontman of REEF!

PrimalNoise caught Gary for an exclusive interview to discuss their upcoming reunion tour in April 2010!

Reef had a mighty and impressive 10 year reign of being Britpop/rock superstars until finally deciding to call it quits in 2003, leaving many fans wanting more. Now Reef have reformed and are back to play just over a week of shows to an eagerly awaiting fanbase, still just as enthusiastic to drink them up! Tickets to the shows are selling fast, many already sold out!

PrimalNoise wasted no time infiltrating the mind of Gary Stringer, vocalist to the iconic-band-for-Brit-surfers. He talks to us a little about the reasons behind their recent decisions and expectations of their April tour!

PrimalNoise: What can fans expect from your upcoming shows?
Gary Stringer: You know, to be honest... I can't really remember exactly what we used to do, 6 years is quite a while, really. For a start, I guess whatever songs we play will feel fresh and new to me. I think that, combined with the emotions of getting back on stage, doing something that I love after such a gap, will be something quite exciting. I'm really looking forward to it.
I dunno exactly what songs we'll play each night, but we've made a 25 song list so far. All the songs we're gonna play are off the five studio albums we've made, then we're probably gonna add four or five B-sides on aswell. I should imagine we'll play all the top 40 hits that we had, the popular songs, so yeah, I'm really looking forward to it!

PrimalNoise: Have you written anything new specially? Will there be any surprises?
Gary Stringer:Well no, that's not really what this is about. If you can imagine... since we stopped in 2003, I've been working with the bass player, Jack on various things. I've been doing a band called ThemIsMe and also an acoustic album which I'm recording now as we speak. So we've been pretty tight.
Apart from Jack, I haven't really seen the other boys very much. We sat down for a curry a couple of months ago, and we all started chatting. We felt comfortable enough to start talking about maybe doing some shows. Not much later, about a couple of weeks, Hank, our manager, basically said we've been offered us these shows. Really, it's come from that point of view. I think it's a bit premature to start talking about new material. I know the other two guys have just come back from Canada, so everyone's got a lot of things going on.
When we stopped with Reef, at the time I thought 'That'll be it. We won't do that again'. So, when we all got together and it was obvious that it was comfortable and cool, we thought... maybe we should at least perform some music again. So that's where we're at now and we'll see how the gigs go. We've got 6 shows in 8 days. It's a surprise to me, that it's selling so well, I'm absolutely over the moon! Especially just from an emotional point of view, we're really stoked, and it means a lot. I'm looking forward to doing them. We've been offered a couple of festivals, in the Isle of Wight and Cornbury... And we'll see how it goes after that, really.

PrimalNoise: When you guys split up, what were the reasons behind those decisions? Are those reasons all resolved now?
Gary Stringer: It started to feel, in the last 6-9 months, like work. For 10 years, it felt like the biggest laugh of our lives. I was 19 when we started Reef, and 30 when we decided to call it quits. So for 10 years we had songs going up in the charts, albums selling really well... going all around the world, having the best laughs. We were right in the mix, playing all the big festivals, going to Japan, America and all through Europe...doing really well. So, we had a right laugh. I wouldn't have changed it for the world, it's brilliant. It seems the music scene has changed, not necessarily for the bad, but i'm glad we were involved back then..
So yeah, the last 6 months, I think it was about 2003 right before Christmas, we were just coming back from Los Angeles and we recorded the last 5 songs which ended up on the album 'Together', which has about 9 of the top hits that we had, with those five new songs and maybe a couple of others, that we realised somewhat that we were not happy. We could tell that Dom wasn't happy. We started work in January... and we were supposed to be going out to Japan, but Dom left at that first rehearsal. So we kinda decided to do the dates we'd agreed to do. We went to Japan, and then did a tour of the UK, but at the end of that we sorta just came to the end of our tether and said "Look, lets just knock it on the head". I didn't want it to become a job, y'know? We enjoyed the fact that Reef was a laugh and we were able to make a living, doing something creative and doing something that we love... and i didn't want to just be going through the motions... Like a lonely band on a tour bus... so, I think it was time to call it quits. I think everyone felt the same way, for different reasons maybe, but I'm sure everyone was on the same page.
PrimalNoise: They've all been resumed now, I presume...?
Gary Stringer: Yeah, well... i don't think there was any major wounds. No major huge fall out. Band was a little bit uncomfortable at times, it just... kinda run its course really.

PrimalNoise: What's your personal favourite Reef album or song? Is there anything that you're particularly proud of?
Gary Stringer: Yeah, I really enjoyed, and this sounds strange, having said what i've just said... but I really enjoyed the 5 songs that we recorded for 'Together', I thought they were great. That's what made it so weird at the time. I thought we just recorded some amazing music and we were offered a full fifth album by Sony, but we could only really come up with and agree on five songs to be able to play and record. That's why the Greatest Hits came out, so all those things sorta added to the downfall of the band. But I really, really love those five songs. 'Stone For Your Love' - Was great. 'Lucky Number' - I love it. I love 'Glow', there's a lot of good stuff on 'Glow', and 'Replenish' I like a lot of it. You know, it's funny actually, I drove to London last week and I stuck the Reef CD 'the best of' in my car for the first time since the band split. I've heard little bits on youtube and stuff like that, but never actually sat and listened to what we did. I was stoked. I was really happy with it. The stuff off 'Rides' I thought sounded really cool... and even not recognising a couple of them, I at least recognised most of them. *laughs* So I was really happy with it.

PrimalNoise: Is there anything that you dislike, anything that you would never even consider playing again?
Gary Stringer: YES. *silence....*sinister laugh*
PrimalNoise: Can you share those with us....?
Gary Stringer: Um... No... they're probably some obscure, rare B-Sides that most people wouldn't have a clue about anyway, but yeah, there are a couple of songs i'm pretty sure i wouldn't feel too comfortable playing again. But on the whole, most of it I'm really stoked with. I mean, you look back at when you were 19 or 20 and see if there's nothing that embarrasses you when you're 35, you know?

PrimalNoise: Do you have any weird or interesting stories you can share from your time in Reef?
Gary Stringer: Anything really! Everything was just so exciting from when we started. We all moved into a house together and we were picked up by a record label and signed within 6 months! If you can imagine that as teenagers who were thinking 'that's never gonna happen'.
So yeah, lots and lots happened since we got picked up. Going over to America really early on and I was signing on at that time! So yeah, being in America and riding in a stretch-limo to New York. Can you imagine that... for a teenager? It's just crazy! Walking in and there's Kate Moss, Christy Turlington in the lobby of the hotel, and 5 months before that you were signing on. Stuff like that's quite crazy. Making records... meeting famous people.... I went to the toilet next to James Brown one night! You know... you're stood at a urinal and there's James Brown!! That's just crazy! Being around that sort of thing, it's cool.
Also fans! Especially in Japan! Around 'Glow' it was mental for us in the UK as well, with people trying to get back stage. I remember doing an in-store tour and actually having loads of people screaming at us when we came out the door. That's like stuff you'd see on the tele with The Beatles. That sort of stuff happened a lot in Japan, when we went there girls were breaking into the hotel rooms and finding out where we were, following us. All stuff like that. Just crazy, great stuff.

PrimalNoise: Who are you musical influences?
Gary Stringer: Um... Ben Scott. Perry Farrell... As a teenager I loved Iron Maiden, and Metal generally like Metallica. Well, actually not Metal generally, cuz some Metal is absolute shit isn't it. *laughs* But definitely AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath. Then I got into the Blues... R+B... Aretha Franklin... Stevie Wonder... I just, love music really. It definitely started with the likes of Adam and the Ants. All sorts of Heavy Metal, and then I moved on to all sorts of music.
PrimalNoise: Is that what made you decide to be in a band?
Gary Stringer: Nope. It was just hanging out with my friends, no major plan or anything. I grew up in Glastonbury, Somerset, I turned up at a friends house one day and we just used to hang around in his attic and do a little gag, as you do when you're a teenager. There was a drum-kit... and no talk about it, just in a week everything was all set up. I don't remember there being much warning... and I just remember hollaring over the top of it and we formed our first band. Then we put on our first gig 6 or 7 months after that. So just... stumbled into it, really.

PrimalNoise: What music are you listening to nowadays? Any favourite current bands or artists?
Gary Stringer: Um... nah, nothing really... Nothing MAJOR. Just using my iPhone and sticking on stuff that's quite good fun. You've got all your CD stuff, and vinyl, then start downloading stuff. Boney M. I got stuck on them the other day, which was quite good fun. They're a kind of retro band. Just bits and bobs really. If i hear anything good... I'll download it and look into it a bit more... Yeah. Actually, I'll tell you what... You know all that fluff around the Brits? I thought that Florence, from Florence and the Machine... Her voice, really stuck out for me, for being quality. I haven't got the record or anything like that, but just thought I'd mention that.

PrimalNoise: How's your musical and artistic vision changed since you started out?
Gary Stringer: I haven't got a musical or artistic vision, really. I love expressing myself and I love expressing myself with things i feel comfortable with, like friends. When you write songs when you're young, it's quite distinctive, and I didn't really think much more than that distinctive, major reaction to melody and music, or expressed how i was feeling, right? But, as I've gotten older, maybe that's what you'll call an artistic vision. This acoustic record that I'm recording at the minute, there's a song that's got quite a dark lyric, and yet musically it could be some sort of Hawaiian, Ukulele bop-along. That I quite enjoy... Maybe actually being aware of it. I don't know, being 'aware' doesn't really CHANGE anything. I just love writing songs, I love singing and that's about it really.

PrimalNoise: Here's a weird question, this has become our trademark question, really; If you were sent to prison, who would you want as your cell mate, and why?
Gary Stringer: Hmm.... can it be a girl?
PrimalNoise: Yep!
Gary Stringer: Martha Nimmo.

PrimalNoise: Okay, that's it! Thank you very much for your time.
Gary Stringer: And yours, thank you.
PrimalNoise: We'll be seeing you at the Birmingham show to review it.

Get your tickets now!

14 April - Water Rats, London -- SOLD OUT
17 April - ABC Glasgow - Buy tickets!
18 April - Norwich UEA, Norwich - Buy tickets!
20 April - Birmingham Academy, Birmingham - Buy tickets!
21 April - Bristol Academy, Bristol - SOLD OUT
23 April - Shepherds Bush Empire, London - SOLD OUT
24 April - Manchester Academy, Manchester - Buy tickets!

PrimalNoise would like to thank Anthea - Press Counsel PR, and of course Gary Stringer for making this happen.