The best thing when
interviewing new bands is always to start at the beginning.
Though it's hard in the case of Birmingham's Johnny Foreigner
to determine where the beginning actually was. Rumoured to have
formed after a meeting at a stamp convention, drummer Junior
explains that he joined the band before it ever had a drummer.
"The band was already named by Alexei and an old guiatrist,"
he explains.
"We've kind of stuck with it really," replies Alexei.
"I'm sure Alexei knows why," answers Junior.
"Why? Because I couldn't think of a better name quickly
enough," laughs Alexei. "I liked the idea of 'Johnny
Foreigner' a lot of the neighbours at the time were using the
expression. It works very well as a band's name. It's just hard
to explain it to taxi drivers and people not from England."
"Of course if you Google it you get a lot of National Front
stuff. So it’s not the best idea for a name like that,"
advises Kelly.
"Ah but the bigger we get the better we’ll be in
the search engine results," says Junior confidently.
"The band was falling apart a bit. We had a couple of gigs
to do and so we just got Kelly for those and she ended up staying,"
explains Alexei on Kelly's involvement with the setup.
"Hang on, you make it out like you wanted me to stay or
go away," laughs Kelly. "It was fun," she continues
smiling. "It was chaotic," she adds after Junior explains
that she had to learn the whole set within in a week for a Barfly
Christmas gig. >>
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