Interview by: Mark Lacey
No stranger to rock n roll, Joe Maddox built a strong reputation as one of trashy rock’s emerging vocalists and songwriters through his time with the Breakdowns. However, if that was his apprenticeship, the creation of Continental Lovers, has seen his status elevate to that of master craftsman. The band’s sound is built on the foundations of New York Dolls, Hanoi Rocks, Iggy pop, with the added spice of UK favourites Dogs D’Amour and the Quireboys Ad so it is no surprise that the band are now touring alongside their influences, and carrying the torch for the next generation.
MyGlobalMind.com talks to Joe Maddox, guitarist Ben Webster, bassist Keri Sinn, and drummer Ace Carlton.
“It’s a cycle. 25 years ago, you had bands like Backyard Babies who were big and doing lots of great stuff. 25 years before that, you had Hanoi. This stuff comes around in a generation, and gets rediscovered again”.
MGM: Continental Lovers are still a relatively new band for some fans, new to the band, so how would you describe yourselves to someone who’s not seen or heard you before?
Joe: The best live band in Britain at the minute! Musically, we wear our influences on our sleeve, so we’re like a classic New York Dolls, Dogs D’Amour, trashy, glam punk band. Lots of melodies, lots of hooks, lots of low-slung guitars. For me, it’s all about the hooks. Don’t bore us, get to the chorus type stuff, really.
MGM: The origins of the band go back to 2020, and you released some early recordings out around the time of COVID. It looks like this was pretty much a solo endeavour for you, Joe, in the beginning.
Joe: To be honest, this was a solo project. I finished with my previous band just a week before COVID, and I decided I was going to retire from music, like you do when you finish your band. Then after about two weeks, I decided I was going to play music again. But I didn’t want to be in a band anymore. Bands did my nut in, so I wanted to do a bit of solo stuff; play all the instruments myself, and then put a few bits out and see what’s what. I did that, and because everyone was bored shitless during COVID, there was quite a lot of interest in what I was doing. From that, I started getting a lot of people asking me whether they could be in a band with me, which was really flattering. The band didn’t exist until the end of September 2021 when we played a one-off show in London. I thought, that’ll be it; I’ll just do one show. Then we got offered quite a lot of gigs after that. I say we’ve been going two years, because the first year was just playing a show here and there, and trying to write material together. It’s been a revolving door of different people in the band. Then in June /July 2022, Keri joined on bass, and that’s when we started settling our line-up. And Ace joined at the beginning this year. So, the four of us have been playing together for a year now. And we’ve been pretty solid since then.
MGM: How did you guys all meet? You’re mostly from Nottingham, and Nottingham has been the beating heart of the UK rock music scene. Were you guys all mates before this?
Ace: I’m not from Nottingham; I’m from Scarborough. They dragged me here by pain of death. I was quite happy doing my thing up North. It was all beautiful women and beaches. I went to a gig one night to see the Dogs D’Amour, of all bands. They were playing in York, which wasn’t that much of a stretch away from the sand. So, I thought, why not? I went down and there’s the crowd …. the static background people, much like, Simpson characters. All of a sudden, in walked Ben, and I said, are you in a band? I’ve always been in lots of bands for a long time. But you’d always see these odd characters out and about, and I’d be thinking, he’d be my guitarist or he’d be my bass player. I thought, who are you? And are you in a band? And he went, yeah, I’m in a band called Continental Lovers. I went, I’ve never heard of you.
Ben: I think we probably spoke about two sentences. Had a fag together, and it was like, enjoy the band. See you later.
Ace: It wasn’t too much longer before Keri messaged me on some social network. He’d been poaching for a while. My ex-girlfriend told me he was after me and I thought, alright, I’ll avoid that guy then. I’m not looking to get into any more bands or any of that. Then one night they all turned up at a gig I played in Nottingham, and I couldn’t say no. It was like Guns N Roses or something, but I wasn’t in them. I was like, what? You haven’t got a drummer? They were like, no, we’re looking for one. I was like, well, fucking sign me up. Where’s the pen? And that was it.
MGM: You cite your influences as bands like the New York Dolls. You also have nods to Mike Monroe, the Ramones, and the Sex Pistols. Your music is very punky at times. You guys are not old enough to have experienced those bands first time around. How did you first encounter their music?
Joe: I think the best music always resonates, and lasts a long time, so it doesn’t matter however long ago it is. I’ve got a huge Elvis tattoo in my arm. He died years before I was born. But this music lasts because it’s got quality to it. A lot of those bands like Monroe, Sex Pistols, etc …. they’re timeless rock n roll. I’m the oldest member of the band, and our ages span about 13 years between us. But we all like the same stuff, and all the stuff we like is from before we were around anyway. For me, I just got into this music through the Wildhearts. All the stuff that Ginger would talk about, and all these bands that he loved, I thought, I’m going to go out and discover these bands and read the books that he’d recommended. And that’s how I got into a lot of it.
Ben: It comes from being a kid as well; listening to your dad’s CD collection or his vinyl collection or whatever. But you hear the staples like the Ramones, Sex Pistols and then you go down the rabbit hole of the internet, finding other bands that are related in a way or took influence from that. I started hanging out with Keri 10-12 years ago, and he’s got a mental knowledge of all glam punk rock, and we just sat there with a bottle of whiskey. He’d go, Ben, have you heard this? Before you know it, you’ve just got this mad catalogue of all these great bands.
Keri: Music nerds, that’s what we are.
Joe: I’d known Keri remotely for a few years, but I’d never really heard him play. I always thought he looked great. But the thing I always thought was really cool about Keri, is that he had a really fantastic knowledge of music and was into really interesting, cool bands. I thought, I want to be in a band with people who like the music that I like. I think that’s how we all got together because we have a lot of shared interests.
MGM: With Ginger, and the Sex Pistols both playing shows right now, and other bands like the Gypsy Pistoleros, City Kids and others doing well on the live circuit, it seems like glam punk pop is really making a bit of a resurgence. Why you think that might be?
Joe: It’s a 20-25-year cycle, I think. 25 years ago, you had bands like Backyard Babies who were big and doing lots of great stuff. And obviously, 25 years before that, you had Hanoi. I think this stuff comes around almost like in a generation, and gets rediscovered again. There aren’t a lot of bands around doing it at the minute, actually. And also, not in the UK. Hopefully, there’ll be more soon.
Ben: These tunes and these influences, they are timeless in a sense. Maybe people have just started rediscovering it and listen to it a bit more, and it’s become a bit more prevalent.
Keri: I don’t give a fuck about genres or sub-genres, really. The spirit of it has to be there. And, as long as that’s there, that’s it. Call yourself what you want.
Ace: What’s been really nice for me personally is we just went to Finland and played a gig. It was an eye opener for me, as I’ve played in the UK for 10+ years in different bands. Some nights you have a good show and that keeps you going. But when we went over there, it was a different world. It was full of people who dressed like us and wanted to hear music like us. They all turned up and had a really good time. It was really nice to dress up in the silly outfits we do and go over there, have people turn up, and not be ridiculed or feel out of place. It’s nice to see that it’s expanding in other parts of the world, probably more successfully than the UK. It’s really funny, because they all want to come over here and do it, because in their eyes, they’re watching bands like the Wildhearts and Dogs D’Amour and assuming that stuff still happens over here. But I think it’s a bit like a wife swap. They’re thinking, I like a bit of her, but she’s actually a nightmare. If we could swap, I’d sooner move on there. But it’s nice that it’s growing anywhere, really. It’s been nice to play alongside some of our heroes, like the Dogs D’Amour and the Quireboys, and encapsulate that pocket of people that still like music like that. And also, that don’t ridicule us for the silly scarves and jackets we wear.
MGM: You’ve just released a new album, which looks like a compilation of the various EP and tracks you’ve previously released digitally. Why did you decide to do that?
Joe: I kind of didn’t want an album to come out. It’s more of a compilation of everything we’ve done so far. In the seventies, you’d get these bands who’d release singles, and their first album would always be a compilation of all their singles, like “an introduction to”. It feels a little bit like that for me. It’s almost like drawing a line under everything we’ve done now and putting it all together as one. It’s something that we can sell at gigs and online and make some money. But really, I’m always looking for what happens next, and what we record next.
MGM: Looking at your Bandcamp page, many of the songs that appear on this album might well have been recorded by some of your former line-ups. How much of this album features all four of you?
Joe: There’re four or five songs that have got all of us on it. That’s why I don’t see it as an album, because I play on everything, but not everyone does. But you see that with a lot of albums that get released anyway. The Quireboys put an album out, and there’s eleven different people playing that album. You think it’s the Quireboys, and it is, but there’s still eleven musicians on it. But whatever we do next, it’ll be the four of us. But, yeah, we’re all on ‘Connection’, ‘Let’s Go Out Tonight’, ‘Outta Sight’, ‘Wedding Song’, and then myself, Ben and Kerry play on ‘Paraffin Lips’ and ‘Make Up Your Mind’. It’s a bit of our history.
MGM: Given your history, and the changes within the band, what is it about this line-up that you think has stuck, and makes it the most successful?
Joe: Well, I think it’s a bit of a misnomer with different line-ups, because in the first line-up I had, we had a bass player called Debbie, and she had a child, so she stopped playing music. So, Keri has actually been in the band pretty much from the start. We only did four gigs without Keri. Our previous drummer, a guy called Rick, he plays in a couple of other bands, and we’re still good mates. He’s actually going to play a gig with us in November to fill in for Ace, and he’s done a couple of gigs in 2024. It just got a bit too much for him in terms of the commitment. Hopefully I’m right with this, but it feels like this line-up is a more solid, cohesive unit. We’re all on the same page. We all want to do the same thing. We’re all quite driven with it. The best thing for me about being in a band at this stage of the game that I’m in, is you’ve got to get on with each other and have a good time. Not that I didn’t get on with the other people I’ve played with, but we want to hang out. The gig is a gig, but we all want to hang out afterwards and do stuff. That’s where we make all our plans and get excited about stuff and think about ideas. So, yeah, this line-up, fingers crossed, is going to get us to the next level.
Ben: Everyone’s driven, everyone’s looking to the same goal. It’s not just turn up to a gig, set your guitar up, set your drums up, play a show, and then go, ‘alright, thank you very much. I’ll catch you next time’. We’re all hanging out together. We’re all staying together for the weekends that we’re playing, all crashing in the same room. Loads of laughs, go down the pub, go down the arcade when we’re at the beach at Blackpool. Share a hot dog and a £1 burger. Ace cuts it up into quarters for us. And just have just a wild, fun time. It’s like you’re going out with your mates and you’ve got the bonus of being in the band with them.
Joe: I think the core of us, Keri, myself and Ben, have done sixty gigs together. The three of us have played together a lot, and last year, Ace has done more than thirty gigs with us.
MGM: It looks like the band have managed to progress really quickly. You’ve played a number of the big regional festivals over the last few years, including Winter Rock Fest, Rockmantic and Rebellion. You also just talked about your recent performance in Helsinki, in Finland, where I believe you recorded another video too. What’s that all about?
Keri: We had a lot of footage and we’ve been going through it and we’re putting it together ourselves. It’s a DIY effort, isn’t it?
Ace: When I was at music college years ago, we had to do something practical and a bit academic. They gave us all cameras and sent us out, trying to film funny bits and stuff. So, I had a brief knowledge of doing that. The way I thought it would go in my head was that you have a management company to employ some multi-million-dollar film crew to follow you around in limousines. When it came down to it, let’s do something out of the ordinary. Let’s book a gig in a foreign country. Just one night only. And hopefully people are enthused about the prospect of coming down. If I was walking past a window and there was a poster in there for a band that was doing something like that, and I’d want to be part of the band’s history. We thought it’d cause a bit of a stir, and it did. It was brilliant. Everyone reacted really well. We’ve just been editing the footage now and it’s just unbelievable.
Keri: I just joined the band to be a music video director, to be honest. That’s all I wanted to do.
Ace: The best bit for me, has been sitting in the room around the computer screen and getting to see the band from a different perspective. When you’re out there having a laugh with the lads, it’s all happening really fast and sometimes you don’t really appreciate it. You’re surrounded by these amazing people and having such a laugh with these unique bunch of lads. I’m always behind the kit, so it’s been really cool to actually see how tight we are, because you always criticise your mistakes, and it can ruin a gig for you. To actually step back and see the playing, it’s a real eye opener, thinking how well we gelled together, and how tight we are on a stage, which is a byproduct of playing endlessly.
MGM: You talked about having the chance to play with some of your heroes. You’ve had dates with the Quireboys, and Dogs D’Amour. You’ve been drumming for the Dogs too, Ace?
Ace: Yeah, I think the scene itself is quite incestuous. My best mate’s just joined the Wildhearts. The Quireboys, we’ve been running around with for years. I’m in another band with a guy called Matty James-Cassidy. I’ve seen the Dogs on a couple of occasions with their other drummers. There was Danny Fury from Lord’s. Another guy called Pip, great drummer. He fills in now and again. It just came about because I play in a band with Matty, and Matty plays bass for the Dogs. I’m always there anyway, and me and Matty have a great chemistry. It was a bit of a no-brainer. I’ve been for dinner and hung out with Tyler beforehand and had a great laugh. That was it. He said to Matty, I’m gonna nick your drummer, so there I am, which helps. I’ve hung around with Spike, with Tyla, with the Wildhearts in different iterations. So, it all just comes about like that.
MGM: The Wildhearts, the Quireboys, and the Dogs D’Amour have featured so many amazing musicians over the years. The Dogs’ Darrell Bath, and Spike put out an interesting blues album together at one point, that is super hard to find
Joe: Interesting that you mention Darrell Bath, actually, because one of the things I was doing during lockdown was writing some stuff with Darrell. His girlfriend approached me; she was trying to push him to reform the Cry Babies, and asked if I wanted to be in the Cry Babies with him. So, I knew him from another band I was in. We started talking and bouncing ideas back and forth, and obviously, he passed away a couple of years ago, so nothing happened. But, it’s a small world thing, isn’t it?
MGM: You’ve already got a busy 2025 planned with shows announced in Spain, and some Uk shows with the Trench Dogs. You’ll also be performing at Call of the Wild.
Joe: I think we’ve got twenty-six gigs already booked in the pipeline, and a few more to come. We’re doing nine dates with Trench Dogs, including Call of the Wild, which’ll be wicked. They’re one of those bands that we wanted to get over here for a while. And the trade-off there is we’ll then go over to do some dates in Sweden with them as well. So that’s going to be a fantastic tour, with the two of us together, and Suicide Bombers opening as well. It’s going to be a mess!
MGM: What other aspirations do you have for 2025. You’ve got this new album, and lots of dates booked, but what would success look like for you guys over the next year?
Joe: Money would be really nice. That’s the main thing we need. Otherwise, we can’t move forward. But we’re doing a Spanish tour in February, so that’d be good. There’s a possibility we’ll be going over to West Coast of the States as well early next year, probably April. But for me, even though we’ve got a new record out and a great new single, it’s getting back in the studio, recording some new songs. I think we got some really banging new songs in the works. I’m not really an album person. So, hopefully we’ll put out a couple of seven-inch singles, a couple of EPs, and get out to a bigger audience. I think the aim really for this year was to get ourselves in front of a big audience and then do the same next year, but we’re headlining. We just want to get out and about and play. But we can’t do any of that unless we’re making money. So, play lots of shows, sell lots of records, sell lots of t-shirts, and reinvest it.
Ace: That’s a bit tongue-in-cheek. Obviously, for me, personally, the thing that I’m looking for is to get the band playing to its potential. I’m not saying it’s all on me by any means, but I think once we all got together and realised, we had a good chemistry together, we all had this energy that we’d all been wanting for so long. I never felt an energy like this. Four lads looking at each other going, hang on, we can do this. We’ve got some great tunes, thanks to Joe. Just looking at that footage, whilst editing that video, it’s been phenomenal to see the progression from the first couple of gigs I played with these guys to where we’re at now. I’m really excited to see what level we can take it to in the next 12 months, and that’s where I’ll measure the success.
Continental Lovers are performing live:
24th January: Water Rats, London
5th February: Velvet Club, Malaga, Spain
6th February: Louie Louie, Estepona
7th February: La guarida del Angel, Jerez De La Frontera, Spain
8th February: TNT BLUES, Cox, Comunidad Valencia
22nd May: The Golden Lion, Bristol (with Trench Dogs)
23rd May: The Giffard Arms, Wolverhampton (with Trench Dogs)
24th May: Hope & Anchor, London (with Trench Dogs)
26th May: Venue23, Wakefield (with Trench Dogs)
27th May: Eleven, Stoke (with Trench Dogs)
28th May: Bannermans, Edinburgh (with Trench Dogs)
29th May: Trillians, Newcastle (with Trench Dogs)
31st May: The Avenue, Blackpool (with Trench Dogs)
1st June: Call of the Wild Festival
For more information:
https://www.facebook.com/continentallovers/
https://continentallovers.bandcamp.com/music