When I heard that Jonn & Rat from the incredibly talented 90’s indie rock band Ned’s Atomic Dustbin were releasing an album of acoustic versions of their back catalogue, I was excited. Almost as excited as the first time I dropped the needle onto the groove on their debut 12” ‘The Ingredients EP’ which I waited outside Our Price in Torquay to purchase on the day of its release.

There was always something about the band that intrigued me, was it that there were two bass players? was it the fusion of scrawling guitar, pounding drums and direct lyrics that made me stand up and take notice of this lovable bunch of West Midlanders? who knows? who cares, all I know is that almost 30 years after hearing them for the first time, they are back!

I was invited to interview both Jonn and Rat before the release of the album (which landed before Christmas) but owing to a bit of a mix up, I only got the time slot through this morning, luckily a few days ahead of the run of UK live dates.

We had a good chat about the recording process for the new album (involving the one and only Mr Miles Hunt from The Wonder Stuff), their classic T-Shirts (including the name of the spongey ink they used) and what it means to them to go out and play to a room full of adoring fans, read on for all this and so much more!

Gentleman, you’ve recently put out an acoustic album which contains some classic Ned’s tracks, how did you decide which ones to include on the album?

Rat: The tracks on the album are essentially a good blend of all 3 Ned’s Albums that we felt the most confident with. I was conscious to make it this way when I was working on the acoustic interpretations.

Jonn: I left it mostly up to Rat – he’s done all of the work!

Were there other tracks on the shortlist that didn’t make the final cut? 

Rat: Yes, for sure there are more than the 14 on the album. We’ve got to keep something back for the live shows we do. I can’t recall at the time if there was a definitive shortlist, but I guess we thought these were the more mature of the catalogue on playback.

Which of the songs on the track list were the trickiest to create acoustically? 

Rat: I’d definitely say ‘All I Ask Of Myself’. The melody on the full band version comes from a blend of all parts so to strip this back and create a tune from them an Acoustic had a lot of challenges. This is also one song that shouldn’t work as an acoustic track but trust me it does indeed.

I see there’s no sign of ‘Kill Your Television’, was there a reason for not including this or are you saving it for Volume 2? 

Rat: At the moment we don’t have a working acoustic version of this song. We’ve tried a couple of variations, but none seem to work well as yet. Not saying never, but I’d want if right before we added this into the repertoire, as with any other songs.

You’re playing a bunch of live dates as a duo, which of these are you most excited about? 

Rat: To be honest, all of them. There’s less pressure on these live shows as a duo than there is with the full Ned’s band, well for me anyway. We have the attitude that if we fuck up then so be it. We tend to keep score each gig between us on the error count and encourage the audience to laugh with us.

Jonn: All of them always.

Did you consider adding an acoustic bass to create a trio or was it always just you and Rat? 

Rat: It’s quite difficult to get us all in a room at the same time these days and initially, it was just a couple of songs Jonn and I did together for a Facebook Live performance with Miles and Erica for the first ‘Love From Stourbridge’ Tour. We’d never say we wouldn’t add more to this in the future but at the moment we’re quite happy as a Duo.

I saw you in the early days when you toured with The Wonder Stuff and also at Reading Festival in 1991 and remember it being great show, what are your favourite memories from the early days? 

Rat: For me it was the first time going to other countries and meeting people. Getting my head around things like fans thousands of miles away knowing who we were when it only seemed like 5 mins since we first stood in a rehearsal room together in Stourbridge playing pubs locally.

Jonn: Same here – I remember marvelling at fans singing words back to me that I written in the middle of the night drunk…

I fondly recall the variety of t-shirts that you used to sell at shows, whose idea was it to focus so heavily on them?

Jonn: Before Ned’s were getting anywhere, I fought off the family and authorities demand for me to get a ‘proper job’ by joining a government scheme for start-up businesses. It was called Enterprise Allowance and my company was called ‘Grebo Garb’. I passed myself off as a band merchandising company and I did produce a couple of runs of t-shirts for local bands. It got me in touch with a local printer who was up for giving me a leg-up and that guy became the sole printer of all UK merch at our very height in the 90s! It’s not coincidence that ‘Tank’ who approach us to be our manager was also merch-seller for The Wonder Stuff at the time. The power of the t-shirt was very strong in us right from the beginning…

I wanted to ask you what the ink was that you used for the shirts as it was a raised ‘puffy’ style print, never seen that before….tell me your secrets!

Jonn: The aforementioned printer introduced us to this new ink called ‘expandtex’, otherwise known as ‘puff ink’. We just thought it made sense with the ‘globbiness’ of the logo and gave our shirts a bit of a USP I guess!

Do you remember how many you actually created and did you ever keep one of each design?

Jonn: I lost count at 120! I think between us we probably do have one of each but I can’t imagine us ever emptying our respective lofts to collate them all in one location!

I’m hoping that you’ll have some ‘Neds Acoustic Dustbin’ shirts on sale at the shows?

Jonn: You’d better believe it! They’ll be quite different from the shirts you’re used to in line with the vibe of the acoustic thing being very different. We might even consider white… I have the slogan sorted already but I’m not showing my hand yet!

You recorded the whole acoustic album in just 4 days with Miles Hunt from The Wonder Stuff at the helm, how was it working with Miles in the studio? 

Rat: I had a great time. I was quite nervous at first in all honesty as I’m not that confident in my own abilities as a guitarist, especially on an acoustic guitar. Working with Miles, a seasoned acoustic troubadour, and hearing the output from day one with the equalisation Milo had worked on for months for the acoustic guitar sounds that he’d used on his Custodian Album definitely boosted my confidence. It was certainly as pleasurable and relaxing time spending the evenings just sitting around and chatting about all sorts whilst swapping music findings was something we’d never done before and was most enjoyable.

Jonn: Miles was so easy to work with and we got so much done in such a short time – I did all of my vocals in one day! That’s more like the way I like to make an album.

Some friends saw you play at the Shine On Weekender in November at Minehead, apart from everyone being a bit older, do you still feel the same buzz when you take to the stage to play live? 

Rat: I do for sure. It’s a great feeling to look around on stage and see the other chaps all having a great time with something we together created over 30 years ago.

Jonn: I live for gigging. It’s just the best feeling and we’re so lucky that our fans just keep on turning out for us.

Which of these do you prefer, the early days, playing live to people who were yet to discover you and growing a fan base or playing live these days to a room full of adoring fans who have followed you for years? 

Rat: We’ve noticed on the recent Love From Stourbridge Tours we’ve done that there is a younger element in the crowd who are discovering us for the first time.

Jonn: The challenge these days is to convince the fans that we’re not past it yet! I have to hit the gym for weeks before we play but that’s a great incentive to look after myself at that age when I could very easily give in to the ‘spread’. I see every gig as a challenge – no laurel-resting here!

Lastly, please tell me which bands or artists that you are listening to at the moment….

Rat: Public Service Broadcasting, Barrett Martin Group, Portico Quartet, Mammal Hands.

Jonn: The National, Wolf Alice and Leonard Cohen’s posthumous album.

We’d like to thank Rat & Jonn for sparing the time to chat to us and we look forward to hearing some cracking reviews from their upcoming live shows in due course.

LIVE DATES

24th Jan Manchester, Day & Night

30th Jan Bristol, The Exchange 

31st Jan Wolverhampton, Newhampton Arts Centre

8th Feb London, Lexington

Tickets for ALL SHOWS can be purchased HERE