{"id":33176,"date":"2017-11-17T07:00:13","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T20:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=33176"},"modified":"2017-11-17T07:08:15","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T20:08:15","slug":"whitfield-crane-ugly-kid-joe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2017\/11\/whitfield-crane-ugly-kid-joe\/","title":{"rendered":"Whitfield Crane of Ugly Kid Joe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cImagine if you dreamed you want to be in a band but you\u2019re not quite sure what it would be, it was that times a thousand because it was on fire, like the way it took us and took us around the world but we didn\u2019t know that, we didn\u2019t know what it was, we didn\u2019t how to react and all of a sudden we\u2019re like \u2018wow, what is this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

From release: It was September 1992. Millions of snot faced skate – surfers worldwide were cracking a few brews in their bedrooms, on beaches and in their garages listening to one album\u2026\u2019Americas Least Wanted\u2019 by UGLY KID JOE. \u2018Americas Least Wanted\u2019 was a double platinum phenomenon selling over 2 Million albums catapulting UGLY KID JOE to headlining Arenas and touring with the likes of Van Halen, Bon Jovi and Ozzy Osbourne. For the first time ever UGLY KID JOE will be celebrating the 25 year anniversary and performing \u2018Americas Least Wanted\u2019 in its entirety and Australia will be the first in the world to hear it as they kick off a National tour this December. It\u2019s time to re live the simpler times and embrace this wonderfully cathartic wrecking ball of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll energy and if there\u2019s one band that can start a party that everyone will remember, it\u2019s got to be UGLY KID JOE.<\/p>\n

In Melbourne, Australia, we gave our old friend Whit Crane a call to talk about the upcoming Australian tour celebrating the 25th\u00a0anniversary of \u2018America\u2019s Least Wanted\u2019, memories of releasing it, new music, highlights, advice, and much more.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a couple of years since we last chatted, so let\u2019s catch up. How have the last two years been for you?<\/strong>
\nThey\u2019ve been great, we put the band back together, we\u2019ve been touring, we started in 2012 we went all around the world, we played Australia in 2014 and we\u2019re bringing it all back to Australia in December. I tell you to be honest with you as long as I\u2019m being creative I feel centered and good so it\u2019s been the last couple of years have been really cool I\u2019ve had a couple of projects and it\u2019s good to have the guys back together, it\u2019s been a great last five years, 100%.<\/p>\n

So of course we\u2019re here because you\u2019re heading back to Australia to celebrate the 25th\u00a0anniversary of \u2018America\u2019s Least Wanted\u2019 and you\u2019ll be playing it in its entirety, what has it been like going back and essentially relearning and revisiting songs you may not have played for years and that were written in a much different time in your life?<\/strong>
\nWell we haven\u2019t gone back and done it yet, we\u2019ve just been on tour in Europe for a couple of months so we played a fair few of those songs on that run. I\u2019ll go back to America on November 16 to look after my Mom for Thanksgiving, then I\u2019ll go to LA and we\u2019ll go have band practice and we\u2019ll knock this out. I\u2019m pretty sure it\u2019ll be a walk in the park as far as familiarity goes, you know it feels good, it feels fluid and it\u2019s a great question I just haven\u2019t played half those songs in twenty five years but those guys have all got chops and I can sing, so it should work.<\/p>\n

Am I right in saying that Sydney will be the first show for this tour and for the playing of the album in its entirety?<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s true, that\u2019s December 3rd<\/sup>. You know what else is December 3rd<\/sup>? Ozzy Osbourne\u2019s birthday, I think the world should say Happy Birthday on that day *laughs*<\/p>\n

Set wise, can we expect any other surprises on the night, have you figured out how these shows will be structured?<\/strong>
\nWell I don\u2019t have any idea yet but you can expect some surprises for sure, we\u2019ll go in and put everything in, basically the way I like to function is you put every possibility forward and then water finds its level. So of course we\u2019ll play the record, we\u2019ll go through the catalogue, we have some great bands coming out with us, we have Dallas Frasca so we\u2019ll probably end up jamming with those guys and in each cities there\u2019s artists that we like that we may or may not jam with, but that will all show itself. So, yeah, it\u2019ll be a fun kick ass rock and roll experience, 100%.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s jump back a bit though to when you released \u2018America\u2019s Least Wanted\u2019, what do you remember about that time in 1992?<\/strong>
\nI remember it was lot, there was a lot going on, we were kids, we were really green and we were like \u201cwhat is this?\u201d we were all kind of half scared and half excited because we\u2019d never been in a studio, we\u2019d never been out of California, and we got to make a record, a full length record and we were like no way, we\u2019re making a record, how weird. We got to deal with a fantastic producer, Mark Dobson and without that dude it would\u2019ve all just fallen apart and we didn\u2019t know what we were doing, so you ask me how I was feeling it was just a lot, it was a lot of movement and there\u2019s a lot or energy. Imagine if you dreamed you want to be in a band but you\u2019re not quite sure what it would be, it was that times a thousand because it was on fire, like the way it took us and took us around the world but we didn\u2019t know that, we didn\u2019t know what it was, we didn\u2019t how to react and all of a sudden we\u2019re like \u2018wow, what is this?\u2019 Then all of a sudden we\u2019re touring with our heroes and getting to see all these countries. I think our first proper show was in Australia at The Hordern Pavilion and I don\u2019t think we\u2019d ever really played our own show in Australia and imagine that was going worldwide, so we get to a country that I\u2019d only heard about in high school or looked at on a map and you get to a country but the music had already manifested there and we were selling out these big rooms and I was like \u2018what is this? This is so weird\u2019 and it was awesome and it was overwhelming is what I would say.<\/p>\n

So in terms of new music we had \u2018Uglier Than They Used To Be\u2019 out in 2015, are there currently any plans for new music soon?<\/strong>
\nYeah we\u2019ll go in the studio, our guitar player Dave Fortman is also a bigtime producer, so when the stars align we\u2019ll pop in and make some new tunes 100%.<\/p>\n

You said you\u2019ve got the band back together, have you got everyone back including Shannon?<\/strong>
\nOh we have the front four, all the dudes that played on America\u2019s Least Wanted, the hard get which we got was Dave Fortman, so you\u2019ve got Fortman, you\u2019ve got Eichstadt, myself and Crockett and the drummer we have, Shannon is on tour with Godsmack so the drummer we\u2019re using is the drummer we\u2019ve had for the last five years his name is Zac Morris and he hits the kit. So it\u2019s the front four as they say.<\/p>\n

In terms of touring what does the rest of the year have in store for you?<\/strong>
\nWell we start here in Sydney on December 3rd<\/sup>, we end of December 9th<\/sup> then I\u2019ll figure out what we\u2019ll do for a month or two and then I\u2019ll do the same thing all through Europe in April and as it gets rolling forward I imagine we\u2019ll take it around the world. We have a year to do it, so I mean the response has been really cool and the main thing is that we\u2019re happy and if I can say this honestly, we\u2019re not chasing anything, or running away from anything and we\u2019re having a good time, we like being with each other and the fans are digging it and it\u2019s a good musical connection so everything\u2019s cool. So as long as everything\u2019s cool we\u2019ll just keep rolling with it and if it becomes toxic or bothersome we\u2019ll stop.<\/p>\n

So over time obviously things change but what would you say is the one thing that\u2019s stayed the same in your time in Ugly Kid Joe?<\/strong>
\nLove of music, man, the love of rock and roll music, the love of Chuck Berry, the love of Little Richard, the love of Van Halen, the love of Motorhead, the love Black Sabbath, the love of AC\/DC, that\u2019s all, the love of Lynyrd Skynyrd, all that, no one lost one millimetre of inspiration from those sounds so that\u2019s we\u2019ve always been mirroring anyway, so we\u2019re always gonna do that.<\/p>\n

Is there one piece of advice you were given when you started as a band that you\u2019ve maintained and has stuck with you throughout the years that you still go back to to this day?<\/strong>
\nYeah, be yourself. You should be inspired by things that inspire you and why not mirror that and put yourself into that and along the way because being a human is a weird gig, but the other thing that I figured out through time and space at least for me is to figure out different reasons why you\u2019re grateful, why life is good , why you can celebrate your day, your moment, your coffee, your girlfriend, whatever you\u2019ve got, and if you just kinda be yourself and figure out different reasons why life is cool, life will be cool.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s also look at highlights in the last twenty five years, has there been one moment that stands out above all the rest that can\u2019t be beaten? <\/strong>
\nWell that\u2019s a loaded question because there\u2019s a shit tonne of experiences but if you have to take it all the way back to when we were green just cutting our teeth we were in a motorhome in Florida I think we played a show with Infectious Grooves wherever we were and I was like \u2018Wow I can\u2019t believe we\u2019re on tour\u2019 as I\u2019d never been out of California and then we got the call, on the landline in some crappy hotel somewhere and our tour manager Billy Morgan came out, looked at us he was a Southern boy, and we\u2019re kids and he looked at us and he goes \u201cYou guys got the Ozzy tour?\u201d and we were like \u201cNO WAY?! Really we got the Ozzy Osbourne tour? There\u2019s no fuckin way\u201d and he goes \u201cand Motorhead\u201d and we were like \u201cYES!\u201d we were shaking, like no way did that really happen? It did happen and by the time of the tour we graduated to a proper tour bus which we\u2019d never been on and we were just so excited and there was Motorhead and Wurzel was still in the band and there was Ozzy Osbourne slaying it with Zakk Wylde, Mike Inez and Randy Castillo And so as far as like that first love it was like \u201cWOW, this is amazing!\u201d<\/p>\n

Lastly let\u2019s look ahead to the future as always, so finish this sentence for me, in 2018 Ugly Kid Joe will?<\/strong>
\nMake new music.<\/p>\n

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TOUR DATES:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sunday 3 December – Manning Bar, Sydney 18+<\/p>\n

Monday 4 December – The Zoo, Brisbane \u2013 18+<\/p>\n

Wednesday 6 December \u2013 Capitol, Perth \u2013 18+<\/p>\n

Thursday 7 December \u2013 Fowlers, Adelaide \u2013 18+<\/p>\n

Saturday 9 December \u2013 Croxton Bandroom, Melbourne \u2013 18+<\/p>\n

www.tickets.destroyalllines.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Presented by\u00a0Destroy All Lines and Chugg Entertainment<\/p>\n

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Essential Information<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Isla Vista, CA, USA<\/p>\n

Band members: <\/strong>Whitfield Crane \u2014 Vocals, Klaus Eichstadt \u2014 Guitar, Dave Fortman \u2014 Guitar, Cordell Crockett \u2014 Bass, Zac Morris – Drums<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.uglykidjoe.net<\/a>
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\nRelease:<\/strong> America\u2019s Least Wanted (Out for the last 25 years!)<\/p>\n

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