BABY CHAOS

by Su Chon

RAD hung out with Grant McFarlane and Bobby Dunn from Baby Chaos prior to their opening for Elastica. We had fun, laughing with Grant and Bobby and talking about the strangest things, most of which I won't reveal. And you missed Bobby's description of a haggis. I haven't laughed so hard with a band in a very long time.

Baby Chaos is not classifiable - they incorporate so many styles that I couldn't tell you that they sound like anyone else. Some good songs to catch - "Buzz" and "Breathe."

RAD: Where are you all from?
Grant: We're all from, in and around a little town called Stewarton, just south of Glasgow in Scotland. It's a fairly dull place with only about 8000 (people). There's a lot of pubs, a lot of bars, which is kind of a good thing.
RAD: Did you all know each other for a long time or how long have you known each other? How did you get together?
Grant: Well Chris and I've been like since nursery school since we were four years old. We started hanging out then. We first got in a band together when we were 16. We knew Dave from school, he's our drummer. He's not even, he's our drummer. He's not even here with us tonight, he's back in Scotland.
RAD: Oh really? Who's drumming for you tonight?
Grant: It's our friend. His name is Dave Turkell. We met Dave through school, he was playing in other bands and this relates to Bobby - he was playing in other bands as well and steal him from other bands, God knows why we wanted to steal him from them.
RAD: So how long have you been together?
Grant: As Baby Chaos, for three years.
Bobby: Three years tops.
Grant: Since 1993.
RAD: What were you before that?
Grant: Can't tell you that. That's classified information. [We all laugh]
RAD: So this is the first album that's been released? I know you've released some singles and some EP's.
Grant: In fact, we've released 4 singles, 4 EP's and then the album came out in November, it's due for release here at the end of June. But we're already working on our second album.
RAD: Oh really? Do you know when they're going to release that?
Grant: Well, it's still to be mixed, it's just all recorded. But probably next year.
RAD: I read that you guys don't like to be categorized, musico be categorized, musically you don't like to be categorized?
Bobby: It's not that we don't like to, it's like, it's too difficult to do it...
Grant: ...we can't categorized ourselves...
Bobby: ...and no one else can do it either, like comparing us to different bands, but they have trouble categorizing us.
Grant: The trouble with categorizing us is the effect of our influences that we always go back to, like some people talk about the Beatles or this band and that band, but ours are more wide-ranging.
RAD: What are some of your influences?
Grant: Everything.
RAD: Is there any particular band that you admire?
Grant: There's lots.
Bobby: Just a few bands when I was growing up, bands that I would listen to then I would get really excited about, there aren't any bands that really get it up for me now.
RAD: Even old names?
Bobby: For me, it's like Sex Pistols, the Clash...
Grant: I was a Stranglers, ELO, The Police and the Beatles.
RAD: That's a good combination?!
Grant: Pretty bizarre, eh?
RAD: What's the music scene like in Scotland?
Grant: Pretty quiet. There's not a lotetty quiet. There's not a lot of bands. I think the bands to watch out for are AC Acoustics, Whiteout, Shriek...but it's a pretty small scene.
RAD: Who writes all the songs?
Grant: Chris does all the lyrics, and we just kind of jam songs and there'll be ideas there and we just kind of hone ideas there when we rehearse.
RAD: What does the title of your album mean, "Safe Sex, Designer Drugs, and the Death of Rock n Roll?"
Bobby: It's an ironic look at the 90's. In the 60's, it was all sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. In the 80's you can't do that anymore - safe sex, drugs like ecstasy. It's an updated version, life in the 90's.
RAD: You guys don't have any messages that you're trying to get out to the world?
Bobby: Subliminal, satanic messages.
Grant: If you've got a CD player that can play backwards you can hear it. [everyone laughs]
RAD: What does your band's name mean?
Bobby: Just a band I used to play in, a band I had together before I joined this one. I just called the band Baby Chaos for some reason. I could say something, make it up, say I had it in a dream and stuff like that. Or else I drank my tea and it was in my tea leaves. And that's how it hAnd that's how it happened. But I just had pieces of paper with words on it, I put them together.
RAD: Is Scottish food really as bad as they say?
Bobby: It's great! I love my Scottish food. Watch when I get back home, I'm going to kill a few haggis. Stand up, eat up, that's what I'm going to do when I get home.
Grant: I think my favorite Scottish delicacy is deep fried pizza.
RAD: Deep fried pizza?
Grant: Yeah, you get a chet pot [I think he means a type of deep fryer] and you fling in the pizza.
RAD: So there's cheese and sauce and everything inside it?
Bobby: It's coated, and you bite in it and get tons of oil.
Grant: It's great, you should taste it.
RAD: Do you have any recurring dreams?
Grant: I don't know if I can tell you about it.
Bobby: I have a dream to tell you. Where we come from, we can't go on rollerblades cuz you just get beaten up if you try to go and rollerblade. Everytime I'm waking up from a dream, I've been rollerblading. He's always rollerblading beside me. I want to try it before I go.
RAD: Oh, you've never rollerbladed before?
Bobby: No, in Scotland, they'll catch you. It's a jessy thing ou. It's a jessy thing to do. You can skateboard but you can't rollerblade.
Grant: It's not cool.
RAD: What do you wear under your kilts?
Bobby: That's a Scottish secret.
Grant: Well, I like to wear a tartan sock, preferably in the same tartan as my kilt. Cuz it does get cold in Scotland.
RAD: And you, Bobby?
Bobby: I can't divulge that.

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