Journalist Haji Mike interviews Kevin Sutherland about Liberty�s tour of Cyprus and of course, that court case
Hi Kevin, been wanting to do this interview with you for some time and finally got round to organizing it�.so here goes�When was the band liberty formed?
Kevin Sutherland
Summer of 1986
Haji Mike
What was your aim back then?
Kevin Sutherland
Youthful desires of fame and success and to be respected most of all by my mentors and artists in my record collection.
Haji Mike
To what extent do you feel you�ve accomplished this?
Kevin Sutherland
I've had the fantastic privilege of working in the studio and live on stage with many artists in my record collection. I am also now told by various governing bodies in the legal and music profession that a recent High Court case involving my own band Liberty fighting for the right to continue using the name Liberty has set a new precedent and created new case law; therefore on the basis of us winning the trial we have immortilised our band Liberty as it will constantly be referred to in case law long after we've gone.
Haji Mike
You once had a harrow experience of touring in Cyprus some 10 year ago � please elaborate on this in your own words
Kevin Sutherland
Our "Cyprus Adventure" as we call it, in some ways was some of the best years of our life. It was a sense of frustration, fun, anxiety and adventure all in one. I would say it was one of the bands first tests as a unit that would determine how we cope away from home with no manager there to deal with things and pay the bills etc. We auditioned in London for the trip through a Cypriot/London based promoter who arranged for us to play as the resident band in a new Club in Nicosia. When we arrived in Cyprus it came to light just how new this Club was; it hadn't been finished being built yet! Straight away we thought things weren't quite right with the organisation of things but braced ourselves for the ride of our lives. A series of accommodation problems led us to one of the most memorable of our hotels. It soon came to light that all of the activity surrounding our hotel were actually ladies of the night! We were staying in a whorehouse and I leave the rest to your imagination; but I was good - honest! Other hotels were infested with roaches and all kinds of funky things; our first impression of Cyprus wasn't the best it could be. The work on the Club eventually finished. We played a few nights then things went horribly wrong. The Club got sold overnight, lock, stock and barrel; YES with all of our instruments inside! We had to somehow get into this Club to rescue our equipment; we were now left in a foreign country with no manager, no money, dodgy accommodation, no food and no Club to play in. Our promoters then decided to do a disappearing act for a few days leaving us to decide what to do next. A young couple, who had recently moved from London and had opened up a small supermarket, befriended us and took pity on us, by feeding us daily there were about ten of us in all. They did this because they were so disgusted at what had happened in their country. They looked after us stating that they would get their money back from the promoters, as they would have to show their faces at some time. They resurfaced after about 3 days or so with smiles on their faces like nothing at all had gone wrong, saying "we've got new gigs for you" and moved us into somewhat nicer accommodation. This was more like the Cyprus we expected, but still felt very uneasy about the whole thing. To this day we do not know if the Supermarket couple got their money; God bless them. We played in other Clubs across the island, bouncing from one to the other not making any money at all, so we were literally playing for pleasure. It was good to see pictures of us in the odd CY magazine and banners on the street, though, and always vowed to return one day and do it properly. We made great friends on that trip who are still friends to this day, and often reminisce about those days. I am proud to say Liberty are still together 16 years later recording new material and full of life (live and liberated!!) Towards the end of the trip our ever-faithful promoters disappeared again due to problems arising yet again with bills etc. I basically think they just got out of their depth with the whole thing and the more they tried to fix it, the more it went wrong. Lord knows how many bills went unpaid through accounts they had set up and promised to pay. We had to somehow get ourselves to the airport for a night flight which for the record, was our second attempt to leave the island. The first time we tried to leave the airport it was closed for repairs, this stretched our survival resources, as we had to spend more time in this country with no money. I felt very responsible and somewhat helpless as the head of the band, but there was also this part of me that felt like a small child, lost in a supermarket shouting for help. When we finally got flights confirmed by rescheduling our return tickets, we made a night time exit to the airport. We got hit with a bill for over �1,000 in excess weight, I somehow managed to blag our way onto the flight, claiming it had been authorised by a high ranking airline member of staff who had approved our luggage on our way out. The flight back to London was practically empty and we felt great relief to be back on home soil. The strange thing is, after a couple of weeks, we actually missed the madness of not knowing, "what next?"
Haji Mike
Would you ever play here again?
Kevin Sutherland
We would love to play in Cyprus again; despite our earlier experiences. We love Cyprus and the people.
Haji Mike
How did you find out about your name being exploited by a bunch of pop fakesters and what was your first reaction?
Kevin Sutherland
I first found out about the band "LIBERTY" whom we now know as Liberty X, in one of the UK's daily national papers called The Mirror. I thought unless the past 16 years of my life has been a dream, my band is called Liberty. We had the recordings, magazines, press, radio play and high profile music biz people, radio stations, TV companies to prove our claim to the name. I was in shock, I thought this had to be a joke, but soon found out it certainly was not!!!
Haji Mike
Are you happy with the outcome of the case? Did it kind of set any precedent
Kevin Sutherland
We are very happy with outcome; justice has been done. V2 Records checked the National Band Register, acknowledged worldwide, asking them to do a search for bands with name Liberty. It was reported back to them of our existence and four registrations of the name, linked to my band. V2 were notified of possible action against them before the release of the their bands first single under the name of "Liberty". V2 chose to ignore advice and continued to infringe upon our already established name. We had no lawyers for approximately the first five months and had to represent ourselves at the High Court. Nearly nine law first thought we hadn't got a chance in Hell, hence they refused to represent us. This was the scariest time of my life, but I held it together through the love and support of band members, more notably David Lyall, Guitarist for Liberty and legal secretary friend Evelyn Roberts and Artist KayJay. They were instrumental in helping to prepare all of the heavy paperwork that engulfed my life. Even the Judge commented on how well put together our paperwork was. The trial ended in January and the Appeal that V2 lodged was dropped by them in June 2002, approximately after a year of fighting. If I had lost I would be now heavily bankrupt along with David Lyall. Truth and the Grace of God brought us through.
Haji Mike
What�s Liberty up to these days � where are you playing � what recordings are in the pipeline
Kevin Sutherland
Liberty are currently finishing new material re-mixing some older, unreleased stuff, working with other acts in the business as producers and players on albums etc. We are back in rehearsal shortly getting our own live show together which is where we are really in our element and have the edge over a lot of acts in the UK. As soon as we check schedules we want to get live again soon. We are also talking to some labels.
Haji Mike
You�ve played with a huge and impressive amount of people over the years (as Liberty and as an individual musician). Who left a lasting impression on you and why.
Kevin Sutherland
Highlights for me are: playing Wembley Arena with Liberty - twice with Wet, Wet, Wet, playing in front of lots of important folk outside the White House USA with Heatwave, working on Basement Jaxx's chart topping single, "Red Alert", winning our High Court case. I could go on really, loads of great memories over 16 years of being in the business.
Haji Mike
Thanks for your time
Kevin Sutherland
Thanks a lot Mike
This interview appeared as part of a feature on Liberty in 'The Cyprus Weekly' on:
13 Sept 2002 (Part 1: Liberty Making History)
20 Sept 2002 (Part 2: Liberty Nightmare)
www.cyprusweekly.com.cy
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