Interview: Martin Whitehead 

Although the Flatmates didn�t appear on the NME C86 tape that established the genre, they soon became part of that scene. The band guitarist was Martin Whitehead who also ran the excellent �Subway Organization � record label, putting out records by the likes of The Shop Assistants, The Chesterfields, The Soup Dragons and the Razorcuts to name a few.

It has been 13 years now since the bands final gig and on-stage-fight at the U.LU. so I caught up with Martin and asked him a few questions���..

1. What are you doing these days?

Being Dad to 2 small sons and lawyer to the BBC World Service, which together takes up pretty well most of my time.

2. You were one of the major players in the c86 scene, what bands stood out from the crowd for you?

I�ve always believed in the transience of pop music, the notion that you have to catch it while it�s great, because the very same thing next week could be crap, rather like a picked flower or open bottle of wine if you�ll excuse me coming over poetic.  Between 1985 and 1988 there was a tremendous surge of creativity with clubs and fanzines springing up amongst all the bands and some of them were fleetingly great for maybe just one gig or one record.  I remember being thrilled at some time or other by all of the Subway bands of course, but also Voice of The Beehive, Pop Will Eat Itself, The Jazz Butcher, The Loft and The Jesus and Mary Chain of course.

3. The Glasses�still big?

Hey, they were never professionally BIG.  On stage I usually wore retro styled Raybans, and besides, the Trevor Horn (or was it Timmy Mallet?) look was quite acceptable then.  Nowadays I sport a stylish pair of square, bronze Giorgio Armani glasses - as my maturity and professional status naturally require!  (In the absence of flash suits and fast cars, expensive eye wear is my sole indulgence.)

4. What�s on the turntable?

That expression is more likely to be heard in our household in respect of my sons trainset, to which the answer would likely be James the Red Engine or Gordon the Big Engine.  My CD player however has recently hosted �Live City Sounds� by Mary Lou Lord, �Is This It� by The Strokes and �Stories From The City�� by P.J. Harvey (who I remember being the shy guitarist in Automatic Dlamini, the band fronted by The Chesterfield�s producer, John Parish.

5. What are the other members of The Flatmates doing now?

Deb is a full time mum to 2 boys, living with Howard, the erstwhile Flatmates driver and roadie.  Sarah lives in the Cotswolds with her cat, Rocker plays keyboards for a band in Bristol and DJs as �Bangin Man�, Joel�s been Djing and promoting on the south coast almost ever since The Flatmates split and Jackie was at one time playing bass in Girlschool, though I haven�t heard about her recently.

6. If you were Alan McGee would you have finished Creation?

Yes, and probably sooner.  Sadly it will only be remembered as Oasis�s label by more people than remember the Living Room or the hand folded sleeves.

7. Best/Worst gig?

For the Flatmates?  I think the punch up at ULU takes some beating (excuse the pun) for sheer sitting-up-all-night-feeling-sick-thinking-is-that-the-end-of-it-all? dreadfulness.  There were one or two difficult gigs, mostly near the ends of tours where our energy was fading and we just couldn�t cope with all the little crap and problems that gigging throws up, Mannheim in Germany, Trent Poly in Nottingham and Gravesend when Sarah decided she�d had enough.  Saturday afternoon at Glastonbury I had such bad hay fever I was incoherent, and in no fit state to play.  Manchester Boardwalk the day I�d woken up with severe food poisoning and had nothing but Lucozade all day, and still had several more gigs to come that week.  Good ones?  Hull Adelphi was riotous and we got paid about 4 times what our guarantee was.  Already high on adrenaline, Me, Tim and Joel sat in the back of the van throwing fivers at each other.  Bath University where my girlfriend and now wife had promoted the gig as if the Beatles were reforming, Holland was fun, touring with Choo Choo Train was great, Freiburg in Germany was great for its tequila fuelled exuberance (strangely it was the night before Mannheim�) and the near riot at York University with the Clouds and Brilliant Corners is notable!

8. The Flatmates split up just as they seemed to be making it, any regrets?

Well I�m disappointed not to be exceedingly wealthy and dating glamorous actresses, but I reckon bands have natural lives and The Flatmates had reached the end of theirs.  I really wish we�d stayed together long enough for �Trust Me� to have come out as a single.  With a good push that could have cracked the Top 40, but we�ll never know.

9. Were the Ramones as big an influence as the T-shirts would suggest?

Yes, musically and philosophically.  The Ramones, Buzzcocks, Velvet Underground, Ronettes, first Blondie album � everything else is just garnish.

10.  The Rodney Allen single (Subway label artist) sells for �30 +�got any under the bed?

Really?  I don�t even own a copy myself.  It�s the only Subway record I don�t own a copy of.

      11.  Did Hugh Pooh Stick ever get his Soup-Dragons single? (A lyric from On-Tape by The Pooh Sticks)

He never even ordered one!

      12.  What�s the chance of a Flatmates 20^th anniversary reunion in 2005?

We�ve had a couple of offers of gigs in recent years.  Me, Sarah, Rocker and Joel are all up for it, but Deb just isn�t interested.  She just lost all interest in being part of the band after the ULU gig, and she doesn�t seem to even be curious.  You won�t believe how disinterested she is, so it�s unlikely I�m afraid.

Get the full story on www.flatmates.org.uk

Thanks to Martin for the interview.

Paul Reed