The Ponderosa Glee Boys have become something of a Liverpool Institution and their December shows have become one of the year’s highlights.
It’s a shame then that this damn pandemic is putting a stop to this year’s trip. This is even more of a shame when you realise that they would be playing tracks from their forthcoming album, Demigods of Bedlam.
Their long awaited (over 40 years in the making!) debut album Wake Up was an unabashed triumph and one of last year’s very finest records, so we here at Sun 13 are practically salivating at the thought of a second long player. The demos that lead singer Carl Eaton has been leaking out have only made the waiting more unbearable.
The overall feeling of the demos is of intense, claustrophobic songs full of lyrical dread about the times we live in.
Carl lives in Australia these days, so the time the Glee Boys can spend together recording and gigging is limited at the best of times, never mind when Covid19 is forcing us into smaller and smaller lives.
This is one thing that makes their gigs so special, there is a real sense of their appearances feel like an event, a rare happening that you absolutely have to be it.
The Ponderosa Glee Boys are one of Liverpool’s best bands, and we hope that they can come back to our stages as soon as lockdowns permit.
In the meantime, we got in touch with singer Carl over the ether and subjected him to a set of our fiendish 13 questions.
Read on to find out more about being told off by your daughter, death threats from America and pissing in water pistols.
1. Where are you and what are you doing and how is that working out?
“At the moment I’m on the Gold Coast in Australia. Just got out of the recording studio working on the last 3 songs for the Demigods of Bedlam album. Recording time has been very limited since Covid so its taking longer than we anticipated. I’m healthy and safe and lucky enough to be enjoying the sunshine and cold beer so not complaining. Spending more time with my family has been a bonus as well.”
2. How have you been coping with the lockdown situation?
“Lockdown here I imagine was the same as most places around the globe though they seemed to have managed it a lot better than most places as they acted early and Queensland has been relatively lucky.
Borders are still locked down here between states and no international flights which will stop me travelling back to the UK this year. I’ve used the lockdown time to be more creative and hopefully that will be reflected with the album.
Lockdown has opened my eyes to how poorly some governments have reacted but that’s not much of a surprise.”
3. Who is the nicest ‘celebrity’ you’ve met?
“The nicest celebrity I’ve ever met is a hard one but would for me would be fellow Liverpudlian Joe (Jose’) McLaughlin from Gerry and the Pacemakers.
He kindly played additional guitars on a few of the tracks on the AWAKE album last year after we met him in Australia where he now lives. He loves everything Liverpool and is a beautiful human being.
He is extremely talented on many instruments and I love talking to him about his life. We still keep in touch.”
4. When did you last get into an argument?
“I try my best to keep out of arguments these days, I think you get smarter with age but the last one I had was in the form of a personal message on messenger with the person finding my lyrics not to his political taste and threatening to kill me If we ever went to America.
I don’t think the chances of that are likely as we would be refused visas haha.”
5. When did you last shout at the TV?
“Liverpool Leeds game at Liverpool’s defense.”
6. When did you last consider quitting social media?
“All the time. There are so many people who need to be shaken to Wake Up.
I love it to keep up to date with what’s going on the to be fair. I don’t post much personal stuff anymore, just the odd PGB related stuff and a few like on friend’s posts.”
7. How would you describe yourself?
“I think I’d say over the years I have become a better person. I might upset a few people with what I say but I think I’m honest and I stand up for what I believe is fair and right.
Hopefully I’m not wrong.”
8. What words of warning would you give your younger self?
“I’d tell myself not to pack in the music for 35 years, I’d have written a few hundred master pieces by now.”
9. When were you last told off?
“My daughter tells me off all the time about my music taste.”
10. What’s your first memory?
“My first memory is a hard one but I have a memory of steam trains at Mersey Road station and being afraid of the smoke.”
11. What’s your guilty listening pleasure?
“You to me are everything by the Real Thing .. Is that bad?” (No it isn’t!)
12. Tell us a secret
“We used to piss in water pistols and spray the audience with them at Eric’s when some punks used to start the spitting thing.”
13. Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. Is there anything else you’d like to say?
“I’d like to wish everyone all the best and hope they all get through this global nightmare. We look forward to playing over in the UK again as soon as possible.
The album Demigods of Bedlam is fantastic so far and we hope to get it out in a few months. Its been hard getting studio time and with Covid the band haven’t been able to get over to Australia this year.
I’ve had to play most of the instruments which has allowed me to experiment more. I’m really proud of where its at so far and I think there will be a few shocks in there.
Big Love to all X”
Sun 13 