10 Quick Ones with PHIL POOLE of DOOMSDAY OUTLAW – May 2018

According to a recent press release: “The day is finally here and the new album Hard Times from the ten-legged hard rock, blues tinged juggernaut Doomsday Outlaw has been released via Frontiers Music Srl. Coupling huge riffs and killer grooves with soaring, soulful vocals to deliver timeless tales of heartbreak and redemption, the group shows off its distinctive sound to the legions of hard rock faithful around the globe with Hard Times.” We get Phil Poole to discuss new music, influences, and more in our 10 Quick Ones…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release. What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through? Are there any hidden nuggets the band put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Our upcoming album Hard Times is 18 months’ worth of writing, recording, re-recording, testing, throwing things in the bin and starting all over again. We wanted to get to a point where we were confident we had topped the previous album, and really that was always a driving force of the creative process for this record. I think that newcomers and die-hard fans alike will get the same enjoyment from the album as the variety within it means there’s a possibility to emotionally connect with lots of different audiences. We are a rock band, but we don’t allow ourselves to constrained by any one genre or what people think we should do. Primarily, you write music for you.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

There are certain things that are just in you; a part of your DNA and what makes you who you are. Asking what got me into music is like asking what got me into football or comic books. I couldn’t pinpoint a specific moment – it’s just who I’ve always been. I can say, though, I wanted to be a musician from the age of 14. I chose GCSE music as a doss because that’s what it was – forty-five minutes to turn your brain off and do nothing. But on my first day my music teacher, being far smarter than me, realised this and asked me to stay behind at lunch and show her what I could do. Apparently that was singing as I’d never attempted to play an instrument. Ten minutes later I knew this is what I wanted. In that moment my music teacher taught me that singing wasn’t just something I loved to do in my bedroom, it was something I was good at. She was the first person to tell me that.

3. Who would be your main five musical influences?

• Red Hot Chilli Peppers, early work in particular. Blood Sugar Sex Magik is still one of my favourite albums of all time.
• Terry Reid. Quite simply he has the greatest singing voice I’ve ever heard. I’d invite anyone to go listen to a song called Mayfly and see for themselves.
• Roy Harper. Lyrically I always try and construct something meaningful. A story based on my own experience as opposed to a random selection of words that rhyme. Roy Harper taught me that. His songs are poetry.
• Audioslave. I started my first band when their album came out. That record made us want to do it.
• Radiohead. For me, the best band of all time and probably always will be.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be?

Musically I’d love to have a beautifully constructed folk song written with Richard Thompson. He has the rare ability to make a guitar come alive. But I’d maybe go for John Grant, my favourite artist right now. His song writing is second to none.

5. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before?

I wouldn’t. I’d tell them to go listen to it. Music is subjective. One man’s Lemmy is another man’s Take That. There’s no accounting for taste – music has to be experienced not explained.

6. What’s the best thing about being a musician?

It’s what I love to do, it’s really that simple. If you can do what you love then you’re doing well. Of course it’d be nice to earn a substantial living at the same time but that’s not the reason for doing it. You do it because the feeling the crowd gives is like nothing else.

7. When the band are all hanging out together, who cooks; who gets the drinks in; and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

The extent of cooking that any of us has ever done for each other is put the kettle on for a Pot Noodle, although I’m a dab hand in the kitchen when I’m at home. We actually don’t get the chance to drink that often together. Three of us live in Derby, one in Sheffield and I’m from Leicester. So we’re often all driving to gigs. As well as balancing day jobs, you just have to make it work to what you enjoy. Steve is the only acoustic player, but if he gets it out it tends to be me and him writing, any chance we get we work on new material.

8. If you weren’t a musician, what would be your dream job?

Working with animals, apes in particular. I’ve always had a fascination with them. I don’t know if that started with seeing Every Which Way But Loose at an early age but orangutans have always been my favourite.

9. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over”?

I can honestly say that there isn’t. That’s not to say I have no regrets – but whatever has happened in my life has led me to this point and made me the man that I am. And I’m happy with that. Looking back is a fool’s game, an all-consuming waste of time. It took me a long time to be able to not do that, and now that I can I choose not to.

10. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Appetite for Destruction – not just for the party but to be in the room for the pinnacle of rock music would be quite an experience. That was rock music at its finest and will unlikely ever be topped. I’ll settle for seeing them at Download Festival this summer though!

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Category: Interviews