Arse Full of Chips

Arse Full Of Chips - photo by Steve Fisher

Describe your sound...
Will:  A five-piece infectiously catchy ska band with a live show that culminates in a fully grown man getting stark bullock naked. We were once described as The Beastie Boys on acid, but it's probably more The Vengaboys on laughing gas. It's very silly.
Stan: Four competent musicians performing catchy songs you shouldn't play to your parents and me playing nothing.

You’ve changed a lot since the early days musically, do your audiences respond differently?
Will:  We used to use backing tracks, get as drunk as possible and shout words down the microphone because it made us laugh. It wasn't until later it occurred to us it might be nice to make the audience laugh as well. Nowadays people come to see us for the show; they never know what’s going to happen. I think people see it as a bit of release. Take Stan - by day he works at EON, by night he’s a naked dancer. He loves it.
Stan: When I first saw AFOC I thought it was fun watching idiots and seeing how the crowd responded. Now it’s a more musically sound evening with more participation from the audience and better songs. We win. 

What sparked off the start of the band?
Will: I bought a Casio Keyboard off Ebay one night because it was £10 and it had an auto-chorus feature. It sat in my room unused until my housemate and I stayed up late and drunk one night thinking it would be amazing going to Alton Towers without sleep. When we got there it turned out to be shut, so had to go for second best: Matlock Train Museum. It seemed such a good idea, but when we got there regretted it instantly. Cue some more booze, 4 basic chords on the Casio and The Kings Of Matlock was born. A catchy but crap song about going to Matlock by mistake led us to write a few more, and so came our debut and planned one-off, supporting The King Blues. Not bad ey? A week later The King Blues and Capdown discussed us on Radio One. We felt we should probably play more gigs…
Stan: A ginger bearded prick bought a keyboard. The rest is history.

How have you evolved?
Will: "Arse Full Of Chips are like Spinal Tap, we've had 10 different members" - I think people find it difficult to sing songs about cocks and dead celebrities and still lead a normal life. We've gone from singing over backing tracks, to singing over an acoustic guitar, adding lead, adding bass, adding trumpet, adding drums at times but the icing on this retarded cake has to be adding a weird man rolling about on the floor naked.
Stan: I think we've evolved even since I joined a year and a half ago. Lyrics are better thought out.

Explain to those who don’t know what Stan’s role is in the band.
Will: Stan doesn't play anything in the band, his success lies in his dancing. In an average set, he dances around, chases the audience, snogs them, drinks lots of booze and eventually gets naked as the day he was born. Kind of like a naked Bez who does as many rolly polly's as possible in 30 seconds, if you can picture that. He's become a celebrity in his own right, no one recognises me off stage, it's all about 'the naked guy from Arse Full Of Chips'! Because of this we’re honouring him with two songs on the new album; 'Are You That Bloke Who Gets His Willy Out?' and 'The Ballad Of Being Me' in which he tries to convince us that there's more to Stanley Mackerel than cock and balls. Trust me, there's not.
Stan: I'm an entertainer of sorts. I like to see everyone have a good time, and then take my clothes off and chase them. 

Do you ever think it’ll all end in blood and tears?
Will: It often does. I'm a bit of a perfectionist yet happen to be in a band with 4 people who just want to get as hammered as possible. In the long term I think it’ll be ok. You’re bound to get a few people not happy with the lyrics but it's usually just some twat who doesn't actually listen to the words. Sometimes upsetting a member of the audience can be as important as gaining a new fan. 
Stan: One gig in Halifax ended in blood at least. I didn't see someone had broken a glass on the floor so rolled through it and returned to the stage with my back covered in blood.

Arse Full Of Potter

What’s the most surreal gig you’ve played?
Will: we played in the same building as Neil Buchanan from Art Attack, alongside a man who played a Turnip; got kicked off stage at Glastonbudget; played a squat with Babar Luck to a family and their 2 year old baby... At Dot To Dot Stan got naked in the street outside Rock City. We also did 20 gigs in one night in peoples kitchens/living rooms. It's been odd. The crowds can be odd too; Bolton seemed to be made up of people who hadn't yet realised they are paedophiles, but had all the necessary characteristics of one. That isn't the case everywhere.
Stan: Playing Cambridge University’s ball was a strange experience. Handing bottles of champagne to the crowd is always going to be a fun night.

What are your most offensive lyrics?
Will: I don't think any of our lyrics are offensive, it just depends what kind of person you are. The word 'bum' is probably offensive to the lady that works in the Post Office, but in general I think we've been desensitised to naughty words. Saying that, I made a decision to remove our song about a certain celebrity from the internet as I don't think she'd appreciate us calling her son retarded, I'm sure he's a lovely lad. 
Stan: If someone is actively looking to be offended they'll always find something.

What’s the best reaction/consequence of your set?
Will: In an ideal world, I’d like the audience to either love it or hate it. I call it the ‘Marmite Effect’. Well, I don't, I just thought of that now. I want the audience to either be really offended and walk off or to really like us, laugh at Stan’s misshapen cock and go tell their mates about it. If people walk off, that’s as good a press as any; 'I saw this band, they sang about rape and I saw a boys bottom-hole'. As worrying as that is about society, people are going to want to see that, even if it does mean we can’t play Dot To Dot again.
Stan: After I had hung upside down and danced from the rafters in Kingston a girl said to me - "that was brilliant, it's amazing you aren't skinnier".

Does an audience reaction spur you on or change the way you behave on stage?
Will: I play off the audience, if they’re up for a laugh, we’ll give them one. We have gigs where the audience conga around, rolly polly, get on each other’s shoulders, leap frog, human pyramid... you name it. But this depends how drunk they are; which is why we have carefully decided to host our album launch at Rescue Rooms as it’s happy hour all night! We played a family festival Glastonbudget earlier this year, some people were looking angry at the nature of our songs, so Stan climbed up on the barrier and opened his arse hole for the world to see. We were shortly escorted off stage, threatened and banned from ever playing 'Europe's Leading Tribute Festival' again. It's something I'm going to have to live with for the rest of my life; we could have been up there with the Food Fighters or whoever.
Stan:It definitely spurs me on if somebody doesn't like me. Being stood naked in front of someone who hates you wondering what they’re going to do doesn't often happen in my day job. Of course it's much better if people like us, a crowds singing and dancing along to our antics always makes a better story to tell my mother.

Lickadickaday Album Launch

When you book dates, do promoters know what they’re getting?
Will: 99% of the time people know exactly what they’re letting themselves in for; Rock City even prep mop buckets at the side of the stage for when we finish(!?) I usually have a word with the promoter/bouncers to check its ok for the nudity and then we do our thing. There have been a few times where bouncers threatened to shut down festivals or beat up Stan unless he puts his pants on, but I love that, what a reason to shut down a gig, 'because the naked man wouldn't get dressed'. 
Stan: Promoters aren't usually the problem on a night that goes wrong. It's often just miscommunication with security that leads to the several threats I've received.

Have you written your album yet? Because last time I checked you hadn’t and it’s due out in a month.
Will: It's almost there, it's just a case of piecing the last few words for 'Love Music, Hate Racism, Or Else!' It's a tricky one as (A) we're discussing race in a comedy context, and (B) we're attacking a charity. It contains one of my favourite lines from the album - 'Hitler liked Chumbawumba and the BMP support Samantha Mumba', what a lovely thought. It's going to be a good few months for us, the 'Lickadickaday' tour, playing alongside Kunt and the Gang in December, and we've just confirmed playing Rock City the same night as GWAR in January. Their show upstairs finishes before ours starts, so you could say they are supporting us. You don't have to, but you could. 

How do you keep your set from becoming stale?
Will: I have too many ideas running through my head. Even if it’s new ways of choosing set lists (bananas on strings with song titles written on as Stan with pineapples ductaped to his hands trying to get them off being a favourite of mine) new outfits, new merch and new songs.
Stan: I have different costumes for gigs including 'oomph loompaa', 'fairy witch', 'Philis', 'cowboy' and will be getting new ones for the tour. Once naked I have several different methods of entertaining the audience.

Any injuries procured on/off stage?
Will: People try and punch us sometimes, but they normally miss because they are too pissed. The main 'injuries' are hangovers. Raph drinking a whole bottle of Wray and Nephews and not remember the gig, shitting through the eye of a needle, you know the usual.
Stan: I have several scars on my knees and  have cut my back and arms open doing rolly pollys. I often have trouble walking the day after a gig as I 'break dance' in the song Shoulda gone to Specsavers. 

Tour stories?
Will: Stan went mad on the last tour, completely mad. This might have been as a result of the tour, or tour had released something that was already inside him. As for Ruth, you'll have to ask her yourself... 
Stan: I became Phillis one night on tour and genuinely believed my friend Elsie had run off with Stan. Not my greatest few days.

Where would you really love to play? Or who would you love to play with?
Will: I always talked about being lowered onto the stage at Wembley by a helicopter, but I suppose that’s a bit ambitious. To be fair, we love every gig we play, for a band that sings about shitting and cocks we're not doing too bad, and we just want to keep doing what we love. I once emailed Goldie Lookin' Chain to see if they wanted to do some shows with us, they replied saying they would rather eat their own cocks, so we're probably not going to play with them any time soon.
Stan: Mariah Carey

Any more door-to-door shows (maybe some readers will host you)?
Will: Possibly, if people will have us. The last one worked because we went to students’ houses but they’ve all got jobs now so don't really want a naked man in their home. We've got this 'GWAR supporting us show' in January then we're not going to play another Nottingham show until perhaps March, so maybe then. Screw it. Email arsefullofemail@gmail.com if we can play your house, if there's enough interest, we'll do it.
Stan: Although I went along with the band on the last door to door tour I wasn't a band member. I was a Mexican time-keeper. A very drunken one.

When does tour start?
Will: We've got our launch Monday November 7th at Acoustic Rooms (Rescue Rooms) then 12 more dates around the country directly after. For the launch we've got some of our close friends to support, to make it a night to remember. It will be the first chance to hear some of the new songs and indeed the first chance to grab our new album, entitled Lickadickaday. Contrary to popular belief, we aren't homosexuals; the word Lickadickaday just makes us laugh. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a homosexual.

It’s not all ‘just a laugh though’...?
Will: It is and it isn't. It started off as a one off joke, it's now grown to something which (unfortunately) I care about and want to do right. Even though it may seem like we're all pissed on stage, and though we often are, there's also a formula for everything. I was talking to Stan about how/when we would ever end AFOC and he said 'when it’s not fun anymore'. Right now it's more fun than it's ever been. Catch our next gig and see for yourself. Take advantage of the happy hour too, it'll make it that much better.
Stan: To me the most important thing is both us and the audience having a lovely night. If we were the joke it wouldn't be fun anymore. I get to go to places I've never been and meet awesome people I wouldn't had Will never asked me to join. And I get to do it with four of the nicest people I've ever met.

Arse Full Of Chips online store

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