FORCE IT

Will you please welcome from England ......

Jack of Diamonds

the new cd by UFO tribute band

1. Lettin go
2. Only You Can Rock Me
3. Prince Kajuku
4. Doctor Doctor
5. Lights Out
6. Oh My
7. Chains Chains
8. Natural Thing
9. Time On My Hands
10. Doing It All for You

Force It
are
Carl Bateman
Simon Boardman
and
Gary Lee Varty

Remember the 'Only UFO Can Rock Me' tribute album, which was ok, but was put together by session men who were doing it all in a day's work and not cos they worshipped UFO or cos they wanted to keep the flag flying for our boyyyys?

Well, now for something completely different ..... The Jack Of Diamonds album recorded by English UFO tribute band Force It

Blimeyyyyyyyyyy, I know I sometimes go over the top and say things rawwwwwwwkkkkkkkkkkk when they actually only rawwwwkkkkkkkk, but this one rawwwwwwwwwwwkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkks and rolls and blasts and bangs.
It just proves that if you listen to the right stuff for long enough you can be totally faithful to the original cos you know the music inside and out, and when you play it with lurve, it reaches the parts that other UFO covers just can't reach.

You can tell these lads love UFO, and the UFO sound, and the atmosphere you always got at the 70s UFO gigs. They definitely re-create all that on this album. Blimey, they even sound like they're wearing spandex loons and have dodgy haircuts.
The guitarwork is blistering. If I didn't know better, I'd say they'd taken a bootleg and overdubbed it with Simon's voice. Nahhh.... they wouldn't.....would they? Simon even sounds frighteningly like Phil sometimes - especially in the vicious spitty-out bits.

My usual take on covers of any band is yeh, I'll listen to it once, just to see what it's like, but I'd sooner listen to the originals. But here, that's not the case. Blimey, is that an accolade or what!

OK, here's a chat I had with Carl, about Force It.

I love to hear these songs played and sung so faithfully and respectfully, and I also like the running order which includes songs that you don't get on a UFO setlist - and they all sound so fresh, so live, and so real. These three fellas certainly do the songs justice - from the first few bars of Lettin Go right through till the end of the final track, Doing It All For You, there is never a moment when you think they shouldn't have bothered. It's all good!

I've gotta be honest and say that before I started listening to this cd I wasn't expecting it to have anything other than a bar-band sound. But it's really professional, it's certainly a creditable performance, and it really is just like being there!
My guess is that the real UFO would be very impressed with these three lads.

I'm gonna stick my neck out here and give it a 9.5 outta 10, cos it's a real feelgood album, and they deserve to be really proud of it. Stunningly Good!

Hi Carl - first of all, tell us about the line-up, what your background is, and what you all do within the band. I read on the excellent (but sadly no longer available) MGAB website about how you all got together, but tell us in a bit more detail how you decided to form Force It.

Right then, here we go. Force It is ... myself on drums, Simon Boardman on guitar/keyboards/vocals, and Gary Varty on bass.
We decided to form 'a band' after me and Sly (Simon) bumped into old mate Gary at a UFO gig - Walk On Water at Bradford St. Georges in February 98. We all go back a long way, old school mates. I've known Sly from about 12 years old - we went to guitar lessons together. Gary I've known from about 14 - he came to our school midway through the 2nd year after moving from Leeds. I suppose the three of us first got together about that time (early 80's). We would go to a mucky, damp, old cellar beneath the Methodist chapel in the town we lived in, and jam to UFO songs 'til our fingers bled! We were in and out of countless different bands and line ups (not always the three of us together) throughout the 80's. After a long period of inactivity, mainly due to other commitments (work, families, mortgages - you know the sort of thing) I got in touch with Sly to inform him of the life-saving news ... UFO were back in town! It must have been about a year since we'd last got together, and probably at least 2 since either of us had heard anything from Tez (Gary). He'd moved since we last saw him, and neither of us knew, or really cared where the hell he was! Suffice to say that me & Sly and a few other old boys from the 'hood went along that night (which I have to say was one of the best nights of my life) and low and behold - there he was, on his tod in the bar, dressed like an accountant! He'd got a ticket from the touts for the balcony. F*** that we said, as we man-handled him down to the front row.
UFO were simply brilliant that night - the best I've ever seen 'em - the inspiration from that performance was what started it all off again.

Why did you choose that name rather than, for instance, Phenomenomenomenonom - just couldn't spell it, huh? Yeah, exactly - you seem to have the same problem! No, I dunno really. I think 'Force It' was my idea, after we realised that we couldn’t continue to book ourselves in as ’UFO’ for the rehearsal rooms!

How do you get round the problem of there only being three of ya? Are you still looking for a Paul Raymond lookeelikey-playeelikey etc., so that you can do some live gigs? More than anything else, we would love to play some live gigs. We advertised extensively for a vocalist and keyboardist/guitarist, and although we had a few enquiries and did a couple of auditions, we didn’t find what we were looking for, so really the decision was made for us, unfortunately. We then decided that we should go it alone, as by this time we had got a pretty tight set together and felt confident that we could overcome the lack of personnel in the studio.

What are your favourite UFO tracks (a) to listen to, and (b) to play. Chuffin' Nora, what a question! Blimey, that's tough... I think personally, to listen to.. er.. I've always loved 'Lights Out' (off Strangers), and um.. 'One More For The Rodeo' - fantastic vocals. Also, 'Born to Lose' off that album. I think 'This Fire Burns Tonight' is a great song, as is 'Profession Of Violence' - spine tingling!
To play - I love playing the rhythm guitar part to 'THTH' , and I always insisted on playing the bass to 'Rock Bottom' in the early days in the cellar! As for the drums, god I'd happily play 'em all. 'Hot n' Ready' is a good rocker for the kit, so is 'Lettin Go'. I also like doing 'Pack It Up and Go', but them two don't really know it properly! 'Kajuku's' a good laugh to play 'cos it's fast and loose... 'Let It Roll' (which almost made it to the cd) is good to play, but quite knackering!

Which UFO album does it for ya the most? I reckon for me, the two either side of Strangers (Obsession/ NPTR) are probably my favourites. I also think that High Stakes is a great album, and very underrated.

Gary Varty

What was the first UFO gig you ever saw? Can you explain how UFO makes you feel when you see them play live? The first time I saw UFO was at reading in 1980 at the tender age of 13. My older cousin, who was also a big UFO fan took me.I was hooked. Which was the best gig?The best one, as I mentioned earlier was the WOW tour gig at Bradford in 98 - first time I'd seen 'em with Schenker. They were truly awesome from start to finish.

What was the most recent UFO gig you saw? And what are your thoughts about Manchester and beyond? The last time I saw them was the night before Manchester. the 3 of us had gone up to Newcastle and met up with Mike Pincher in the bar beforehand. they were ok - I find it difficult to watch/listen to them with un-familiar faces in the ranks. Any how, we hung about afterwards and got chatting to Wendi, and then just as we were about to leave, Pete, yes Pete, pops out of a side door and heads for a waiting cab. However, we manage to accost him first and get to have a little chat and a couple of piccies with the great man - unaware that it was all kicking off inside with Schenker and Spike!
I was appalled when I heard about the Manchester thing - I felt so bad for Phil in particular - he is a true pro and deserves much better. I didn’t have a particularly high opinion of Michael Schenker before this happened with all the shit that's gone on in the past. I remember I phoned Mike Pincher and pleaded with him to call Phil, and get Chapman back into the band - f*** the lawyers!

What about MSG? Do you relate more to UFO or MSG? I think I may already have answered that one!! I bought the first 2 MSG albums after UFO, and I think I nicked the 3rd one off Tez! After that, I didn't bother with any more. These days, I really couldn’t give a toss what Schenker does outside UFO. I think his best stuff in all capacities is well behind him.

If you were ever approached in a 'can anybody fly a plane????' capacity by UFO's management, how would you feel? I think I'd say "yeah, ok as long as I can play the bass in rock bottom!" no seriously though, that would be something a bit special, and I would seriously have to think about it! Dream on.... I actually offered my services in a humble sort of way to the Paul Raymond Project when that album was being produced, but they ended up using a drum machine!!!!!!!

Apart from UFO what other bands influenced you? I think the first band I was into was Blondie, their stuff still sounds great today. Clem Burke is a great drummer. I was also into the Police and subsequently Sting in later years - he is class.

What music do you like to listen to and play? I think the first rock album I bought was, wait for it....12 gold bars by the legendary Status Quo! Me and Simon saw them for the first time last year at York - we were pissed, they were fabulous! I've been a UFO nut from about '80 onwards. I was also a big fan of the Scorpions, Rainbow, Van Halen etc. Nowadays I just listen to Steps Gold - The Best Of Steps. it’s wicked! Yeh..... luvleeeee

Although the tracks on your Jack Of Diamonds album are all UFO songs, have you ever considered playing any other songs 'in the style of UFO'. If so, which ones? Do you think there are any songs ripe for that treatment? That’s a good question, and I'm sure that there are many songs which would benefit from the 'treatment'. I'm sure that, under a different producer, UFO's cover of 'Somethin' Else'on Mechanix could have been a lot better than it was. We've penned hundreds of songs over the years - Simon is a very good song writer. Thinking about it, a lot of them from the sort of mid 80's era were UFO-style-esque. I'll have to dig out some old tapes.......

Which side of the Schenker/Chapman fence are you on, or do you prefer to straddle the McClendon/Archer gatepost? I think that both Schenker and Chapman are excellent guitarists in their own right - it's fair to say that the majority of the best songs come from the Schenker era, but I just tend to favour Tonka - he's a much nicer bloke! I think Laurence Archer puts in a good performance on 'High Stakes..' and I thought Misdemeanor was, and is a great album.

OK, you're all good-lookin lads, but have you ever been tempted to go down the plastic surgery route to try and look more like your heroes? Or some Kanji tattoos? No, we're all stunning enough as you rightly say - where the hell are you looking?!!

This Jack Of Diamonds album (blimey I bet you thought I'd never get back to it, didn't ya!), what made you pick those particular tracks for it? Do you each have a favourite track from this album? We did the album in two separate sessions, 18 months apart. The 10 that made it to the studio were the ones that at that particular time we felt we were playing the best. All in all, we'd probably tried about 30 songs. As for favourites, I dunno really. I think 'Lettin Go' is a great opener though.

It's amazing how much like the 'real' UFO you sound on it. I was really impressed - I much preferred it to the 'Only UFO Can Rock Me' album. I wonder if this is cos you genuinely love the band, rather than just being session men hired to do the job. Or did you cheat and just re-sample the originals, hahahahaha.

Yeah, in a word we love the band. I think that comes through in our versions of the songs. We didn't have to scrutinise anything really, we just knew pretty much where all the parts went, and how it should sound once it was put together, we didn't argue much either...much.

If you could give Michael, Pete and Phil some advice (both individually and as a band), what would it be? Oh god, I don't know.
To Michael: Pack in all the MSG and associated spin-off shite, and concentrate on proper music with UFO.
To Pete: I love Pete Way, I wouldn’t want to change him. Yep, I'd go along with that one!
To Phil: 'RESPECT' - not advice I know, but how can you seriously expect me to give advice to King Mogg of Texas?!! He's the dude.
To UFO: Keep on rockin'

Keep on rocking indeed! And that goes for Force It too! Thanks for telling us all about it, and good luck with the album. Hurry up and get yourselves a full line-up, and get yourselves on tour. You're the boys, you've got nothing to lose! (Oh yeh, nice to see you got up and running again too!)

Order Jack Of Diamonds direct from Carl