Interview by: Smudge
Cockney Rejects Legend Micky Geggus Opens Up About Heart Attacks, New Beginnings, and Punchdrunk Saints
Micky Geggus, a name synonymous with punk rock ferocity as the founder of the legendary Cockney Rejects, is back. But this time, something’s different. After a gruelling world tour with the Rejects, the guitarist decided to trade the punk rock snarl for something with more melody and “meat on the bones.” We sat down with the man himself to talk about his new band, Punchdrunk Saints, his heart-attack-inducing career, and why some traditions are better left in the past.
Mick, it’s great to have you. We’ve got to start with your past, but I’ve got to admit, this is a bit of a fanboy moment. The Wild Ones is one of my all-time favourite albums. When I heard Pete Way produced you, I had to get it. I’ve played it virtually every week since 1982.
Micky Geggus: Oh, my goodness. That’s good to hear, mate. Thanks.
Let’s take it back. You were so involved in the punk scene, but what were you listening to as a kid?
Micky Geggus: Well, the thing is, I started way before punk. The first album I ever bought was Zeppelin II. I loved the first three Queen albums, which are my favourite three albums of all time. You know, back when they were a proper melodic rock band. Nazareth, Purple—that was the stuff for me. When punk came along in ’76, I loved the guitar work, the Jonesy stuff, but I always saw it as traditional rock played slightly faster. Rock and metal was my bedrock, and that was the same for me brother Jeff and our bass player Vinnie. At the time no one could play, I guess punk was the way in and it was just built on that. You picked your guitar up and instead of playing Status Quo, you played some punk.
And we followed it on to the old football songs from over West Ham, basically, and that was it. And it was great while it lasted, but I always wanted to stretch my legs. I got very bored with it, you know, very quickly within a year of doing the same thing. So it was like experimenting with songs like ‘The Rocker’ and, you know, just trying to get more melody and lead work into it. Listening to Brian May’s work and Tom Scholtz’s out of Boston and all that, which I’ve always loved too. I always thought, and of course, Blackmore bringing up the rear, so to speak. It was always too frenetic and too fast and, you know, there was no chance to build up a rapport with the audience and stuff. And I used to go and see bands like, say, Nazareth and, you know, and U.F.O. time and time again. And I just loved the spectacle of it all as well.
“I always saw punk as traditional rock played slightly faster. Rock and metal was my bedrock.”
When you made the move to a harder rock sound with The Wild Ones, did you have to keep that quiet from your punk mates?
Micky Geggus: In a way, you sort of did. But we were always pig-headed and never did anything by halves. When I said, “Right, that’s enough punk, we’re doing The Wild Ones,” everyone agreed. A lot of metal fans at the time told me they loved the album, but couldn’t accept it because it felt like we were “pissing on their parade”. It’s ridiculous. It’s a great hard rock album.
So, let’s fast forward. You’ve just finished a massive tour with the Rejects. What prompted you to leave and start Punchdrunk Saints?
Micky Geggus: I’ve paid my dues forever, you know what I mean? I went through a period of ill health last year as well. I’m OK now, but it was, well, I had a heart attack. But, but I’m all right now, you know what I mean? I’ve got over it. I didn’t have a fucking plan going at all. My timing’s great. I always loved playing the festivals. It was always my favourite thing in Rejectsland, was always to get out and play festivals. And I’m just hoping that some promoters out there will give us a chance and let’s go out there and see what we can do. It could be anywhere on the bill. But if people appreciate what we’re doing and give us a chance to let us do it, I guess that’s all I can ask and see where it goes.
Were The Rejects continually ongoing for you?
Micky Geggus: Yeah, pretty much. I took a hiatus when we split up. I think it was about 1986, 1987 when, you know, everything went a bit crazy. EMI had screwed us for as much money as they could and then they got rid of us. Then we did ‘The Wild Ones’ and then we did ‘Quit Storm’ with Heavy Metal Records, which was like another catharsis album of sort of blues rock, like 1970-71 Humble Pie era, which everyone found a bit strange. But it was really where we wanted to go. And then I packed that in. I sort of took the commercial diving course and ended up doing salvage diving around the world for a good few years. And then came back into it. A record company said, listen, why don’t you re-record all the old Rejects hits and, you know, see where it takes you. And that was in 1999. And we went, OK. And I’ve been on the road since then. We did it and people liked it and then the gig offer started coming in. So, we just jumped on it and never stopped. In 2023 we did a world tour with the Rejects that was pretty gruelling—150, 160 dates. I was in my 60s at the time, and I decided it was time to leave. I’d done 46 years playing those songs. I was always trying to inject as much rock as I could, but it always had to have a punk hook in there somewhere. I got frustrated and thought it was time to let it go. I wanted to do what I’ve always wanted to do: form a pure rock band with “hookage” and “meat on the bones”.
“I’d done 46 years playing those songs… I wanted to do what I’ve always wanted to do: form a pure rock band with ‘hookage’
and ‘meat on the bones’.”
FINDING THE SAINTS
How did you find the guys for the new band?
Micky Geggus: Good friends of mine, Dennis Stratton and Dave Edwards, suggested a singer named Mark Salmon. He hadn’t really done it before, just a couple of wedding bands. I took him in the studio, and he was fucking great. He’s this six-foot-five guy with a lovely voice who can also really belt it out. We’ve also got a guy called Tim Atkinson on bass now. They’re great, laid back, and younger than me, which is good.
The new album has some heavy stuff, but also some beautiful melodic tracks. “Days of Our Lives,” “Prayer for Tomorrow”… I never would have thought you were the sentimental type.
Micky Geggus: Well, you can only think about smashing people’s heads for so long! I guess it comes with age. With the punk stuff, everything had to be street level. I’m 64 years old. I’ve been married for eight years; you just mellow. As much as I love Metallica, I also love bands like Boston, and I wanted to get a bit of variety in there. I didn’t want to be a one-trick pony.
You do the heavy stuff; you do the sleazy stuff like ‘Dirty Dreams’. Where did that come from? Is that a true story?
Micky Geggus: Well, kind of. My wife would kill me if I spilled the beans, but, you know, the usual. But it was like having the floodgates open. When I started writing it after the last two gigs at the Hundred club with The Rejects, it was like someone turned the tap on and all these tunes come spewing forth and, in the end, I had too many. So, it was a case of whittling it all down and getting it to the best sort of ten or so, whatever we’ve got there. And they’re still coming, you know. I think there’s another album in there somewhere if anyone wants it, you know. But obviously it’d be nice to get out and play this one in the meantime.
There’s a lot in the pipeline as you can imagine. And they’re great guys and they’re really laid back. And they’re younger than me, which is good. Well, I’m sure everyone’s younger than me. So, you sort of feed off their energy as well. It’s a pleasure being in a band with them. If somebody gives us a chance and we can get out there and give it our all, 45 minutes or whatever, we’d be grateful for the chance.
One of the most powerful tracks is “Come Home,” and I understand it has a very personal story behind it.
Micky Geggus: Yeah, that song was written by Mark, the singer. It’s a heartbreaking story—his son was kidnapped by his estranged wife and taken to Northern Cyprus. He hasn’t seen him since he was 11 years old. The boy’s 18 now. The song was his way of finding a bit of catharsis.
LEGENDS AND LEGACY
You’ve had a long and demanding career. Are you prepared to get back on the road and do it all again?
Micky Geggus: I don’t think I could go through the club slog anymore. I’ve played the dives forever. Last year I went through a period of ill health—I had a heart attack. I’m all right now. But I always loved playing festivals. That was always my favourite thing with the Rejects. I’m just hoping promoters will give us a chance. I don’t expect to be a superstar at my age, but if people appreciate what we’re doing and give us a chance, that’s all I can ask.
Who wrote the songs on The Wild Ones?
Micky Geggus: Well, basically, I wrote most of them and Jeff came up with the lyrics, it was the first time Jeff had really done lyrics, you know what I mean, and when he made the album, he was 16. So, yeah, he was very young, and I think he’d done a great job, you know, he went and done a little bit of coaching with John Fiddler of Medicine Head and Ray Major from Mott, and he’d come out of there after a couple and he was great, he was all over it. So, yeah, those sorts of self-penned songs, you know, all played by the band, there was no guest musicians or anything, it had to be us, you know, it was the only way we could stamp our sort of authority. But I think by the time that came out, the sort of hair metal thing had started over in America and that sort of traditional chunky rock that ‘The Wild Ones’ was for some reason almost hitting a little bit out of fashion by that time maybe, but I couldn’t stand the hair rock stuff anyway, you know, Muppet Crew and all that, I’d never got that, but we had it much better with Glam over here.
Are you always writing?
Micky Geggus: Pretty much, yeah. It’s a case of, since I came off the road, I’ve got too much fucking time for myself, what else do you do? You know, I pick up a Les Paul and start fucking round. My neighbours love me.
What about the wife? Is she like, shut up!
Micky Geggus: Oh, God, yeah! But she loves the music, which is good, you know, so I get a bit of a pass there. Yeah, if I was writing shit, she’d turn and tell me.
Finally, you’ve worked with some true legends. What was it like working with Steve Marriott?
Micky Geggus: We were doing an album, and I wanted to get Steve involved. He turned up with his entourage, absolutely off his head. He still had the voice and the art, though. We wrote a song together, but he started misbehaving. He was giving the engineer a hard time, telling him to record on a reel-to-reel. In the end, I had to get him out of the studio. I regretfully had to tell him to fuck off. I never saw him sober in the two weeks we were working together. He was an absolute talent, and it hurt me to have to do that, but he was so out of it all the time. He was a legend, though. Honestly, one of the best white-soul voices of all time. When he hit a note, you could feel it. He had that right to the end.
Punchdrunk Saints’ debut album is available now. For tour dates and more information, visit their official website. https://www.punchdrunksaints.com/
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