*artwork by Kate St Clare

He’s blasted his way through 5 – yes 5! – Daydream Generation compilations in a row, so I figured it was about time we got to know a little bit more about the man they call “Helter Skelter” behind the psychedelic monster that is ROLLERCOASTER. 

Smally:  So what got you started making music & how long has Rollercoaster been going? Helter: My first recollection of making music of sorts was playing the drums when I was 5. When I say drums I actually mean saucepans turned upside down, using wooden spoons as sticks. When I was 13 I loved bands liked Tubeway Army. I was a typical 13 year old who felt alienated from the norm and the dark sounds and striking images of Tubeway Army struck a chord with me. I decided to buy a synth. I ended up with a jen sx1000 monophonic synth which ever since have been attempting to get sounds out of! I use it more now than I ever did then but getting back to the question me and a friend ended up playing “live” at a school production. I think it was 2 songs we did, the talent was all his but I think I managed to find an acceptable squelchy sounds from the synth. The great thing about mono sysnths is that you only need one finger! Rollercoaster started when I was about 20 and consisted of me, 2 keyboards, a drum machine, crappy mike and a flanger of all things. I bought a 4 track and started making songs. I really wasted my time mainly due to a lack of confidence and din’t involve anyone else until I was about 25 and he was a good friend but we weren’t compatible musically. Around the last eighties I used to go up to London a lot to see bands like chapterhouse, spacemen 3, the primitives, new order and I used to bump into 2 lads who looked like the Reid brothers, usually on the platform at Reading station. We got talking, found out Andy was the lead singer in chapterhouse and John was his brother. I saw chapterhouse quite a lot at the time and they made a wonderful sonic blast, full on wah which when ROLLERCOASTER do play live will be a big feature cause i love it so much. I got talking to John and I think I suggested we get together. John played on 6-7 ROLLERCOASTER songs including “Can u Feel it?”, as featured on the Open your Mind cd and my fav ROLLERCOASTER  song “Dreambabydream” which has a great elvis sample at the end from his 68 special. I could just tell John what I wanted and he nearly always nailed it. I wish I had his talent. Upto date though and it’s just me although some kind people have helped me out over the past couple of years including Paul and Matt from Uberfuzz from Rugby.Smally: Well normally namedropping in an interview like this would be considered poor taste. But CHAPTERHOUSE!? Man, they were one of my favourite bands when I was but an introverted plukey teenager – “Pearl” how amazing is that? So where can we hear this “Dreambabydream” that you speak of?Helter: Pearl was great, had rachel goswell from slowdive on it as i remember. I loved Falling Down, again cool wah on that one. Dreambabydream is here for you whenever you want it – a very old song, it’s my pop song really. Smally: What bands do you listen to & what inspires you to keep making music?Helter: I love it when this question is asked to bands and they reel off a long list of avant garde bands that I have never heard of! At the moment I have just bought Spiritualized A&E, The Black Angels new album and I bought the ting tings single too. Constants over the past 10 years would be Spacemen 3/ elvis/ johnny cash/new order/nancy sinatra/nick cave and the bad seeds/oasis. My fav lp last year was the Aliens one which I thought was so so good, so many influences, such a wallof sound yet full of songs, melodies and very commercial. I am inspired to write better songs but at the same time I don’t practice ever. I could never pick up a guitar in front of you smally and start playing and singing. How can I expect to write better songs when I don’t practice? I don’t know! Smally: You once told me that you “only know 3 chords” – I’m still trying to decide whether you were just pulling my leg. But in the off-chance its true then how on earth do you make that gigantic Rollercoaster sound? What sort of techniques and equipment do you use in the process between song idea and the final recording? Helter: I can only play e,a,d and g actually as power chords seriously  its awful really. I have sort of mastered the one note drone, or solo using the top string but its such a bloody disgrace really. I have a hammond now which I use, usually with the tremolo effect on or if i want a dirtier sound then i will put it through a rat distortion box. For the guitars I use the ratt sometimes combined with one of the distortion programmes in the boss 8 track. The best sound though is the ratt into an old italian amp I have, miked up which gives off some lovely sweet feedback. I use handclaps quite alot now and tamborine. I am trying to be more refined with the use of reverb but its fair to say ROLLERCOASTER have always used a lot of reverb! I quite often add delay to vocals and drums and have been creating textures recently by detuning a radio and recording the crackle/feedback/noise then using it low in the mix.Smally: I don’t think I’ve ever said this to you, but I’m glad you brought up the subject of effects in that I’m always blown away by some of the sounds you come up with and actually feel pretty inspired myself when I hear what you’re doing. For example the multi-delay vox on “Slide It On” – that was an ear-opener. Got any tips for would-be shoegaze space rock & roll musicians out there about how to go about it? Any effects banana skins that you can suggest us mere mortals of distortion avoid?Helter: Ignorance is bliss smally! I am so unaware of what effects should do that I don’t really follow a path. I’m like a 5 yr old, twisting the knobs and flicking switches, combining pedals that sometimes work together, sometimes don’t. I think there is a tendancy with me to turn everything up too far. I sometimes feel like I need the reverb police to monitor me! I am learning to be more subtle but you know sometimes the layer of white noise that hits you is overwhelming. Smally: You’ve collaborated with Uberfuzz in the past – anyone else who has been an important part of the Rollercoaster set-up since it began?Helter: I think that myspace has been the biggest contributor really as I was ready to stop making music 2 years ago, fed up with the reactions from people to my music, apathy really. Myspace came along, I joined and thought that if I marketed the music well by finding friends that may like it then it may help. Do you know i get such a buzz when someone from Chile mails me thanking me for my songs and I end up printing up a cd for them. Stood at the post office thinking wow, someone in Chile likes my music! I have had 15,000 listens to my songs which to me is fantastic. Smally: “Slide It On” was recently played on Radio 6 – how does it feel to get some music industry recognition, and has it opened any doors for you?Helter: I was really pleased to be told they were playing it. I told everyone I knew! I haven’t actually heard it due to my laptop not liking realplayer but I heard he said some sweet things about it. I have had a couple of offers of distribution/selling my music and I want to aim to have an ep to give them to sell.Smally: Yep, Tom really liked it – I heard that show and it sounded ace to hear it in that kind of stratosphere. You’ve always been really supportive by contributing to the Daydream Generation compilations so it’s good to hear about you getting a break like that (irrespective of how fucking great the songs are). Anywhere the kids can see you playing live sometime? Helter: I liked what you were doing and saw the effort you were putting in mate so it was easy for me to want to join in. Live is my ambition – I tried about 18 months ago, got a band together and had about 7-8 rehearsals. We were shockingly loud and on the louder songs sounded a bit like loop. I had kind of forgottten about loop. There was a sort of spacemen 3 v loop thing at the time, like oasis v blur where you had to like one or the other which of course in reality was bollocks but I hadn’t listened to loop in a long time. These rehearsals made me dig out the 12 inch singles and lps to remind me that they were fucking good. I struggled really in rehearsals to get over what I wanted. I have always love bands like the velvets who can swtich from bastard garage blues to angelic heaven in the matter of seconds and so trying to explain to a drummer (who was bloody good) that I didn’t want any drums on this song was a struggle! I have a clear vision of what ROLLERCOASTER should sound like live and finding the right people to do that is difficult. I am about to start the search again though, spurred on in part by the Tom Robinson radio play. Smally: I’ve heard an album worth of Rollercoaster songs over the last year, but still no Rollercoaster album? Any signs of something materialising anytime soon?Helter: It’s an ambition of mine to record “properly” whatever that means so I’d like to but I think to do that I need at least a collaborator or band to help me along the way so if anyone wants to lend a hand then gives us a call!

Find out more about ROLLERCOASTER at http://myspace.com/rollercoasteruk

or listen to the new single:ROLLERCOASTER – Dreambabydream

CATEGORIES:INTERVIEWS, QUIXODELIC RECORDS