By Jeb Wright
Sticky Boys is a band from France that love all things AC/DC. This band consists of pure rockers who are fans as well as musicians. There music is three chords, lots of distortion and tons of guitar solos.
Discovered by The Donnas and Nashville Pussy, the band is on a mission to return real loud rock music to the masses. The bands new release, This is Rock ‘n’ Roll on Listenable Records is a throwback to the era of rocking parties in the parking lot before the show even began music. They have the licks, the attitude and the chops to pull it off. Now it is just up to the rest of us to listen.
Read this interview, then buy the album and start banging your head as Sticky Boys are here to make sure the rock and roll party never dies.
Jeb: You are described as three hairy rockers on your website. That is not the best image I want to think of…is that the best you could do? I just get a bad image in my mind when I hear that… maybe three rockers or something would have been better. Your thoughts?
SB: [Laughs] Yeah that’s true that it looks bad; can’t disagree with you there. Actually, we’re just three lawless kids that want to kick good old rock and roll and not care about anything else. Names, biographies, that matters of course, but if you want to get an accurate image of what we are, just wait till we come there and show you how we do it on stage. See that grin on your face and feel that energy that fills you up. Now you know who we are!
Jeb: While we are at it.. STICKY BOYS? Sticky from WHAT? Not sure your name doesn’t make me want to take a shower!
SB: Sticky in the sense that we’ll STICK to your heart forever from the second you see our shit on stage, man. And from the first seconds of our album This is Rock N Roll! And then, of course, sticky from how wet and sticky we are after rocking for only a couple of songs, so you can imagine what it is like after playing the next ten.
Jeb: All joking aside, you guys fucking rock. I sense this band is on a mission. What is your mission?
SB: Our mission is to bring the long lost fun and positive energy of rock and roll back to the people of the earth. We were kids/fans before we were musicians, and we’ve been looking for a great young band of rockers that knows how to spread the fun to the crowds and rock out with the highest energy level. We didn’t find it, so we decided to do it ourselves. Many of those bands take it way too seriously. Rock and roll is, and must be, the biggest party on earth. All of us kids have to hold hands together and bang our heads and sing along. That’s what it’s all about.
Jeb: You are in France but you are an American band? Or you are a French band that was discovered in America? I am not sure which is which…just tell me how you got discovered.
SB: Well, we were raised in France on American music. That makes us international bastards, right? The discovered stuff is simple actually. The very first people to believe in us, and to push us further than we could even hope, were those two American bands: The Donnas and Nashville Pussy. They gave us that self confidence that fueled us to raise crowds of kids on rock and roll right here in France. So, when we came back to conquer the French people we could then meet and team up with these great partners. When you have faith in your mission you can spread the word of rock n’ roll and people will listen.
Jeb: You worked with recording engineer Francis Caste. How did that come about? Rumor has it you kidnapped him.
SB: Yep, we sure did! We were looking for the best and we found the best. We came to him and got him to start recording our stuff. We locked him with us in his studio, and forced him to record [laughs]. But, you know, the Stockholm Syndrome showed up very quickly, and he begun to love us very deeply, and he’s now one proud member of the team.
Jeb: Tell me how you exploded the Virgin Megastore and Hard Rock Café and derailed the Palladium bus? I want all the dirt.
SB: That’s basically what happens whenever we rock it on stage. I don’t want to sound too much like a self-loving guy [laughs], but yeah, when you can fill up with this crazy fun energy that comes from this great music, then you can feel every part of your body shining and moving to the beat, as well getting straight into a great mood and satisfying the appetite for fun and love, then you can change the look of any venue on the planet and completely take over. From the moment the magic shows on stage, the crowd goes wild and you can feel the power of rock all over the place; up, down, and side to side.
That’s what happened right in the middle of the biggest French record store, “Virgin Megastore Champs Elysées” in Paris. They hired us for a showcase and right away they could see how we could turn the store in a temple of rock. It was the same with the Hard Rock Café when they invited us to play for their 20th anniversary. And it was of course the same with Bus Palladium as well. That venue had invited us to play one of our very first shows; after that, they invited us to play some more, and then kept asking us back again and again and again. We’re very proud of that, we really are; it is just such a huge place, and even the Beatles played there in the 1960s. It’s a big deal for sure.
Jeb: Did anyone ever tell you that your guitar sounds a tad like AC/DC?
SB: A tad like who? Come again? I think I might have heard of that band, but I can’t remember what kind of music they play, or if they are even any good. All joking aside, yes, of course we have been told that over and over again, and we are proud of it. We don’t try to hide our influences or the kind of music we love, or to twist the reality of who and what we really are.
We were kids once too, and we love the legacy of that rock and roll sound; the one that we and so many people around the world were raised on and the one we still worship today. We, of course, still play the way it feels to us and do it our own way, but it is still rock and roll more than anything else. So, when it is something we truly love we aren’t just trying to put lipstick on the pig and being done with it. We live and breathe it and it comes out in what we play. Yeah, we like AC/DC, we like Motorhead, we like Twisted Sister, we like KISS, so what you hear in Sticky Boy’s music is like a big mix of it all those bands, but with our own special spice in it.
Jeb: Let your ten most essential rock albums of all times.
SB: Ouch! That is a tough one, but I will give it a try. Don’t ask me this question again tomorrow though because by then the ranking would have surely changed completely. But here we go.
AC/DC: High Voltage
IRON MAIDEN - Live After Death
DEEP PURPLE - Made In Japan
QUEEN - Greatest Hits
MANOWAR - Kings Of Metal
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE - Rage against the machine
THE OFFSPRING – SMASH
RORY GALLAGHER - Stage Struck
STATUS QUO - Hello!@
METALLICA – Kill’Em All
Jeb: Talk about the song “Rock ‘n’ Roll Nation.”
SB: That was the very first song we wrote for this album. It is the kind of anthem we would have loved to sing along with as kids in a big crowd. That’s what rock and roll is about: a big world of partying and enjoying fun and life. This song is a warm welcome to that world; our world.
Jeb: Talk about “The Way to Rock ‘n’ Roll.
SB: This song is about our struggle to show that the way of real rock and roll still exists. That’s the hard way maybe, but it’s the only true way. There’s no such thing as an easy way to make people enjoy rock and to bring fun to them. You have work for it. You have to earn it. Some people say you’re mad, some people make fun of you, some people are afraid, and some people are just jealous. But, well, after all, to hell with fear and despising because we know that in the end the fun prevails and that is the most important thing.
Jeb: “Bang That Head” seems to describe how this band looks at life.
SB: Yes, it does; you got it exactly right, my friend. If there’s something you don’t like with your life, just fix it! Things are simpler than what they seem sometimes. We’ve been under the burden of serious stuff for decades. It’s more than time to rise up and show that even when times are really hard, we can stand up for partying and rock and roll and we always do.
Jeb: Do the Sticky Boys stick to just being a loud band, or is there a bit of the adult rock star life style involved with this band? Are you doing things our parents warned us about?
SB: If by ‘rock star life’ you mean doing just what we feel like doing and not caring what people say or think, then yeah, we’re definitely living the rock star life. And there’s some stuff involved in all of this that you wouldn’t want your children to see and do [laughs]. But there is one thing that we just cannot stand, and that’s “behaving” like rock stars. We’re kids. We like to share the music and the fun with our fellow kids; that’s it. No matter whether we’re on stage and they’re in the pit, this is one big happy family.
Jeb: You guys flat out rock. Why does music on the radio suck so band and great music like this can’t get on the radio? That is NOT fair.
SB: Then start your own radio station! Things are changing. The music industry business is crashing badly, and from the ashes will raise the brave. And the brave we are. You, us, and all the kids!
Jeb: Tell me how you got hooked up with Listenable Records.
SB: They had been following the band for a while, being aware of what we did, where we played and things like that. One day we played right next to their place, because they were exactly the kind of partners we wanted. We invited them. They came. They saw the show. They inked the deal. Veni Vidi Vicci!
Jeb: What is the plan now that the album is out?
SB: Playing it on stage, again and again, wherever we can. Spread the word…fun for the masses, rock androll for the people. If you, or any of your readers, see an opportunity to get us to play in their area, please speak out. We just love it. It’s our mission, our commitment. Once we have played this debut album to the bone, then we’ll make another one. But we have time for this: THIS IS ROCK’N’ROLL has not been played enough live already; far from it.
Jeb: Any way you could package a club tour of the States with other bands maybe like Nashville Pussy and American Dog?
SB: Make it happen, mate, we’re ready and willing! No shit, that will happen someday anyways; the sooner the better.
Jeb: I mean this in a good way…I think your album is way more a true AC/DC album than AC/DC’s last album.
SB: We love Black Ice [laughs]! But yeah, thanks! This is in a good way indeed, and I can tell you we have the energy and love to take it way further. This is just the beginning of a long and beautiful love story between the World and Rock.
Jeb: Last one: If this band does not work out what will you do for a day job?
SB: This is not an option, mate; we’re on a mission that shall not fail! Now make sure to check out at http://www.stickyboys.eu/, like us here http://www.facebook.com/stickyboys and follow us here http://twitter.com/stickyboys.
