Rob: I`ve been listening to the CD and it sounds like you have a lot of blues roots going on...
Bill: Yeah Well I`ve been getting more and more into that stuff in the last few years...yeah, I just wanted to get back to the basics...you know the stuff that kicked it all off for me...
Rob: Yeah, it`s worlds apart from what Carcass was doing...
Bill: Yeah- it is in a way but I mean...being honest this is what makes sense to me...it wasn`t like it felt I went through any massive change or anything it just feels like I just moved actually over the years...going back to Carcass, I quit that band five years ago I think less people would expect me to be doing something fairly different I mean it would be ridiculous if I came back doing something identical after five years...
Rob: Right...How did Firebird come about?
Bill: Well... I`ve been trying to get a three piece band in this style for a long time and I played with different people and did different things but none of it was really satisfactory... and eventually when the Japanese label Toy Factory(?) approached me, I decided -well, I`ll ask my favorite two players and you know, if they`re available then we`ll have a good line up..weirdthat`s really what happened and I knew it was a bit wierd to borrow musicians off other groups or whatever...I just really wanted to find the two best people I could think of...
Rob: Right and that is the bass player from Cathederal and the Drummer from Spiritual...-
Bill: Spiritual Beggars, In the case with Spiritual Beggars...Ludwig is full time with them at the moment but we replaced him or whatever...
five or six months ago with another Swedish guy called Tom...yeah and he`s fantastic like Ludwig you know a really old school drummer---fantastic ...lot of swing- there really aren`t too many that can play like that anymore...
Rob: You mean like that 6/8 swing?
Bill: Or...that kind of thing or just whatever he plays has this really great feel and I fdon`t lot of drummers who really into the contemporary thing-- I don`t know I just do`nt think they have much feeling behind their playing.
Rob: So now that you got Thomas is that going to help not hold you up from going on the road?
Bill: yeah... it was actually kind of thrown at us because we were asked to go to Japan with Spiritual Beggars and support them...so we were in the situation not only where Ludwig would have to play two sets... the other problem was that the Beggars were going to be on the road for 5-6 weeks beforehand so we wouldn`t of had any time for rehearsals... no way we could do it...The Beggars manager was telling me for some time that we should get a different drummer, and he put forth Thomas...
Rob: So how did you hook up with the Music Cartel?
Bill: That`s actually kind of weird because I gathered it`s only just now coming out in the states and it was recorded over a year ago...It came out in Japan really quick-it was out before Christmas, then we had weird of a wait over here and it was released over the summer... and then the states is just coming out... It`s a bit wierd, staggered, I don`t know it seems to work out OK because we got some really good reviews here in England and that was something I was just not expecting...
Rob: You guys must of recorded some stuff in the meantime though...
Bill: No, we`re actually going to fairly soon...
Rob: Is it a full-length?
Bill: Yeah- we`re doing another album... Yeah I mean I don`t want to get in the situation where a lot of bands only do one record every two years...I think if you`re a band or musician or whatever it`s not really too hard to come up with ten new songs a year...
Rob: Sometimes it can be though if you have a lot of things going on, or your in multiple bands...
Bill: yeah...that`s true, but I just feel like that it`s something you ought to do... to show a lot ofreallyress... I guess the buisness doesn`t want people to do so much of that anymore...They really want to work every album as they can...They don`t relly count 12 months as long enough to really squeeze what they can out of each release...
Rob: How would you describe your sound?
Bill: That`s a tough one... I want to say very much back to the roots but not retro... I wouldn`t say that we`re a retro band...
Rob:I thought of you guys as sort of a heavy `Cream` sort of sound...
Bill: That`s interesting... I have heard that before...interesting...
