INTIMATE CONFESSIONS OF A DIRTY ROCK DOG

Brad Shepherd Reveals All

KINKY: This must be the closest the Gurus have come to actually releasing an album in consecutive years.

BRAD: Well, Magnum Cum Louder came out in '89. We really tried hard to make it in consecutive years and in fact it's very close. The album was well and truly finished by the end of last year.

KINKY: Are they songs that you've been playing on the last tour?

BRAD: No, not on the Magnum Cum Louder tour. But we did some shows to road test them before the recording started and we wrote some more as well.

KINKY: How does the working relationship with you and Dave operate at the moment?

BRAD: This is probably the most collaboration we've ever had. We had a nice productive coupla days when we just said, 'Well, we have to write some songs,' so Dave came over to my place and we brought out the acoustic guitars, a little practice am I have and the electric guitar and we pretty much wrote four songs then and there and they're all on the album. But they're all collaborations. Mine are Desiree and Dressed in Black.

KINKY: Do you think this is a more accessible Gurus album than previous ones?

BRAD: I can't tell… a lot of people are saying it's lit the Gurus of old and it reminds them of the vitality and even the songwriting style of the earlier stuff.

KINKY: The whole band gets a credit for producing the album.

BRAD: We all had input to varying degrees, but as you can imagine Dave's the hardest to please…in all facet's of life!! So often we'd think we'd finished a mix and he'd say he didn't like it, so we'd say 'OK, if you don't like, YOU fix it.' But it's a group effort.

KINKY: So why'd you get Ed Stasium to mix it?

BRAD: Well, I think the Living Colour records pretty much clinched it. The first album is just a killer and an album he did for a band called Soul Asylum called Hang Time is a really good record that he co-produced with Lenny Kaye…and all the Ramones stuff sounds great as well.

KINKY: Dave wrote the song about life on the road - 1,000 Miles Away?

BRAD: Yeah, that's very autobiographical.

KINKY: For all the band members?

BRAD: No, for him, literally. Doing crosswords sitting in Hamburg airport or God knows what.

KINKY: I get the impression you like touring a lot more than Dave and the others do?

BRAD: Yeah. I do. It's funny, the only thing that bugs mea about touring is all the other guys (laughs long and loudly). I'm in a weird position in that they're into football and things like that which I have no interest in, so I kinda have to put up with it, which is really stressful for me, but then me being stressed about their football is stressful to them.

KINKY: I get an increasing feeling that Gurus are unlike any other rock'n'roll band on the planet. Is that how you guys feel?

BRAD: Pretty much.