Whilst Nottingham to many of you would be better known as the home of Robin Hood, those of us in the know are well aware that the Nottingham region is known as one of the UK's most thriving rock districts (we always look at the gigs at Nottinghams Rock City green with envy!). Hailing from that same very region is Teenage Casket Company.

With the killer full length debut "Dial It Up", TCC showcased an ability to infuse a knack for writing killer hooks with a glam power punk rock kinda vibe. In their own words, think a cross between punk era Goo Goo Dolls, glam era Poison and Motley Crue and then The Ramones. With nonstop touring in 2006 on the back of the EP release "Eat Your Heart Out" TCC has built up a fan base that extends not only throughout the UK, but is rapidly spreadling like wildfire throughout the USA, Italy, Ireland and the far reaches of Australia!

Supposedly in the middle of taking a bit of break in readiness for a major assault touring the UK in the second half of 2007 and preparing for the recording of a new album, Milfton Rock caught up with TCC lead singer and guitarist Rob Wylde and bass player Rob Lane to find out that you can't keep a good dog down. We tracked down Wylde in the USA playing acoustic shows with Michael Sweet of Stryper fame and we found Laney busy rehearsing Bulletboys songs and preparing to play some shows with the new London based band Feetgazer.

Rob Lane (Left) Rob Wylde (Right)

How would you describe what you are all about to a blind person and how would you describe your music to a deaf person?
Wylde - Well TCC is a feel good, high energy, good time rock n roll band with the catchiest bunch of pop rock songs you`re ever likely to hear. If you dig classic "BON JOVI" and "POISON" with a punk edge, you`re getting pretty close. As a band, it`s all about leaving your problems at home, sinking a few beers, hanging out with girls and having one hell of a good time .We wrap all that up with a killer glam image and a live show with more pent up-energy than a bunch of horny 14 yr olds!. We`re not out to save the world or preach to anyone. Our sole mission in life is to make sure that everyone leaves a TCC show with a huge grin on their face. If you dont...you need therapy!!!

Laney -That's a tough one to start on - what is this, an exam?! ;) Errr, I guess the best way to do it would be to invite the pair of them to a TCC Rock Show and get them to stand next to each other. We'll bring the Rock and they can just take it all in cause we try and give a massive arena rock show wherever we play both visually and sonically!

As a band TCC are on a bit of a break at the moment, but what can TCC fans expect in the rest of 2007? Is there a new album on the horizon, any tours in the works?
Wylde - We`re getting back together in May to start rehearsals again and i can`t wait. There will definately be a full length TCC album released this year at some point but it probably wont be until the autumn as our priority right now is to get back out on the road and raise hell once more. Having said that i`ve been writing in my opinion the best songs i`ve ever written in my entire life and can`t wait to include them in the new revamped setlist/show. I think the break has done me the world of good as im feeling more driven,creative and focused than ever before. We already have a fully booked UK tour confirmed for August ,the details of which will be announced on May 1st so keep your eyes peeled. We`re also planning to tour the USA again in November and have a ton of really cool offers coming in from all over the world. We`re going to be very busy thats for sure. Lots of exciting times ahead!!!

Laney - For me it's been pretty cool to have a break from the band. Last year was very busy so it's given us all chance to take stock of where we're at right now and figure out what the next chapter of TCC is gonna be. When we come back around July time we definately need to be a 'different' band in that we've evolved, got some new songs and an even bigger fire in our bellies! There's a whole crop of new songs to be worked on and a re-vamped set so it's definately gonna be worth checking out. There'll be a bunch of announcements in May about what our plans are including tours so keep posted.

Individually though, you guys seem to be as busy as ever. Wylde, what has the response been to your acoustic shows with Michael Sweet over the USA? Laney, what have you been up to?
Wylde -The response to the shows have been awesome,especially the Michael Sweet show. We`ve already sold over 200 tickets in advance for that one so far. The main reason for doing the acoustic shows in the first place was basically due to the fact that i hate not performing. To me it`s like a drug and if i go too long without getting up on stage i start to lose it!. Its been great to get away from the UK and write songs in a completely different environment but after a while i started getting the urge to perform again and was getting bummed out about not playing. Around that time i got an email from a promoter here in Boston who`d booked the Michael Sweet(Stryper) show.

He come out to see TCC in the USA last year on the Metal Sludge tour and really dug our band. Anyway,to cut a long story short he heard i was in the States and asked if i`d be interested in opening the show. I jumped at the opportunity and it all kind of snow-balled from there really, as i started getting emails from other venues/promoters who wanted me to play. At first i thought no-one would know who the hell i was but thanks to the power of the internet and especially Myspace i was proved totally wrong. A lot of people who saw us last summer in the States have been coming out to the shows as well as a bunch of people i`ve never met in my life before wearing TCC shirts and singing every word .Its been crazy!! .It`s something i will definately continue to do on down-time from TCC thats for sure.

Laney - I've always liked to stay busy so this break came at a good time and a lot of other opportunities opened up. I got to finish the last issue of TrashPit which always takes a lot of my time then just following that I got the chance to play bass in a new London based band called FEETGAZER which is the new project from former LET LOOSE frontman Richie Wermerling. www.myspace.com/richiewermerling Let Loose were a pretty big band in the UK around the mid nineties and had several hit singles.

Unfortunately they got put in the boy band bracket even though they were an actual band, I guess similar to what happened to Busted a few years ago. I was a big fan back then, I guess I kinda saw them as my melodic rock band at a time when that kind of music wasn't in favour. Richie is a great songwriter and really cool to work with. We've got a few gigs in the London area over the next few months then we see how it pans out with TCC's schedule. I guess the sound is a mix of bands like Snow Patrol or Orson with a bit of Robbie Williams' rockier stuff thrown in. Good commercial radio rock with a slightly dark edge. At the end of April it also looks likely that I'm gonna be playing bass for THE BULLETBOYS on their UK and Europeon Tour so watch out for that too!

Wylde speaking of the new album, you and Jamie Delerict are the cheif songwriters. Is this pretty much going to be the same process for the new album? Do you want to share any details of some of the new songs you are working on at the moment? Speaking purely from a songwriting point of view, who are some of your biggest inspirations/influences?
Wylde - Well i cant speak for Jamie as he`s been busy touring with The Dangerfields and I haven`t had much chance to speak with him as of late but personally I feel i`ve been writing my best songs to date. I have around 8 songs finished/ready to go and can`t wait for the rest of the guys to hear them. My favourites so far are `Forever yours,Forever mine` which is a summertime feel good,driving with the roof down type of song with a killer chorus and `Morphine Heart`which im proud as fuck about.We`re also going to be recording a song written by Erik Turner and Butch Walker called `Girl`.Erik actually emailed me about 6 months ago out of the blue saying he`d heard our band on myspace and dug our music.He then sent me a bunch of songs via email and said he`d be honoured if we`d record one for our next album.I couldn`t believe it as Warrant are one of my all time favourite bands!!.I spoke to him a bunch of times on the phone and met him for dinner a couple of weeks ago in Pennsylvania to discuss the logistics of recording that song.He spoke to Butch and now we have the go ahead to record that song for the next album.

Man,having Erik and Butch`s name on our CD can only be a good thing right? As far as songwriters I admire Desmond Child is the king in my eyes.It`s impossible for that guy to write a duff song and i`d love to work with him at some point down the line.His sense of pop melody is amazing and is something i always draw from when im writing.Melody is king and without that chorus hookline that literally takes off you haven`t got a song in my opinion.There`s also a swedish guy called Chris Laney who writes in a similar vein that im also digging right now.

TCC are a band in which you guys virtually do everything. Book tours, promotions, release your stuff on your own record label etc. I am sure you would love to have all that lifted from your shoulders so you can concentrate solely on the music. But are you at the stage now where you are pretty happy that you don't need to be signed to record label to ensure success??
Wylde - No not at all.To be honest the whole reason we took a break was because of that. It became a 24/7 job and more hard work than any 9-5 day job could ever be.It began to become a real strain on us physically and especially financially. I mean don`t get me wrong we`re not complaining but at the end of the day we`re musicians and our job is to write/record killer songs and put on an awesome stage show. Not to organise every single last minute detail of EVERYTHING!! Nobody in this band comes from a rich family so everything we do literally comes out of our pockets .If we want to record an album we all have to somehow raise a couple of grand each to do so(usually by using countless credit cards that are all now maxed out!). If we want to go out on tour we have to spend weeks and weeks stuck to a computer emailing venues and promoters. If we want to promote our music/tour etc....once again it`s all us,us,us and it can become incredibly tiring when no-one is there to share some of the workload .I think we`ve done an awesome job so far of promoting TCC all around the world single-handedly but there`s only so many doors you can open without a major force behind you. We`ve all come very close to bankrupcy for the sake of the band and thats no lie!! Don`t get me wrong im not trying to sing a sob-story here as this is the life we choose to live and will continue to whatever it takes to get our music out there .It`s just that at times its really frustrating when you see a band who can`t write a single fuckin` song to save their life buying studio time and their way onto high profile tours with daddy`s money. The one good thing is that everything we have/will achieve-we deserve as it`s been the 4 of us (no-one else) who have made it happen. So in answer to your question,are we looking for a deal/management??....FUCK YES!!!

Laney - It's a weird business to be in and I guess if you work it correctly you don't really need the big record companies to do that for you, although yes, it would be nice to just have to worry about the songs and the live gigs and have everything else laid out for you. That said we've earnt our stripes and doing it yourself you really do appreciate everything that you've got that much more. I always say that just because some fat guy behind a desk who hasn't a clue about what's good happens to see you as the flavour of the month or next big thing and signs you up - does that immediately make you a 'proper' band?? We're at a position right now because we've worked hard and earnt it - if we become more successful then great, if not, well at least we did it our own way and gave it our very best shot.

From what we know of the UK music scene, we always think of it as a very fickle beast....much like your cricket team!! Do you think in general the UK scene/people GET bands like the Teenage Casket Company?
Wylde - When we first appeared on the scene back in early 2004 there weren`t that many bands out there doing the kind of stuff we were doing. Then almost over night there was a whole explosion of bands doing the party rock thing again when it became `cool` to do so. Now there seem to be a million of Guns n` Roses/Motley Crue wanna-be`s out there who think that having a bottle of jack daniels and a low slung les paul is a given right to be succesful.The whole concept of writing good songs to go along with the image seems completely alien to them. The whole reason bands like Guns n` Roses and Motley Crue were successful in the first place was because they wrote killer songs and had an image/attitude that went along with their songs. Don`t get me wrong there are a couple of decent bands out there, but right now i`d say a good 80% is bullshit to be honest. At the end of the day i love bands with an image....fuck me,I spend more time doing my hair and make up than my girlfriend and mum put together but the music always has to come first and i think a lot of the UK audience overlook that.

Laney - The UK music scene has always been both good and bad. It's always evolving and something new is always coming out. I guess we don't really fit in though as our music has always been geared to the

American radio rock sound of the late eighties and nineties which to be honest, never really exploded over here like it did in the US. But, because of this it also gives us our own individuality and a lot of people have hooked onto that. I can't tell you the amount of times people have come up to me at gigs with great compliments saying how refreshing it is to see a band like us, both in songs and live performance. We don't fit into the current sleaze scene that is popular or the punk and indie circuit but we always turn a few fans at gigs like these. Again, I guess we're just doing our own thing and if people enjoy it then that's great.

In your relative short time in existence, you have toured with some pretty big name bands and even gone across for a tour in the USA supported by the mighty Metal Sludge. What have been some of the more memorable moments (good or bad) from the road thus far?
Wylde -Our first tour of the USA in the summer of 2005 was really special for us simply down to the fact that here we were, a little unkown band from the UK touring the USA for the first time. I remember my parents and friends back home all thinking `we`d `made it!! ha ha... Opening shows and getting to hang out and become friends with a bunch of our childhood idols like L.A Guns, Danger Danger, Vain etc was awesome as was touring Italy and the UK countless times but the highlight so far for me was defiantely last years Metal Sludge USA tour. The whole tour was awesome and is just one big crazy blur of insanity!! It was also the first time the whole `groupie`thing really kicked into action for us.The girls all thought we were cute and liked our accents and kicking Stevie Rachelle`s ass at a hair metal quiz on my birthday was something i`ll remember for a long time and something i will never let him forget ; ) On the downside i remember Jamie and I nearly starving to death on our first tour of Ireland last June. Neither of us had a penny to our name and when i say that i- mean it!!.We didn`t even have a credit card we could fall back on as they were all maxxed out from recording `Eat Your Heart Out`.

We spent a week literally surviving on bread and water.I`ll never forget Jamie defrosting a packet of frozen jacket potatoes in the sun as it was all he could afford and me having to borrow money from both Laney and Spike to buy a loaf of bread before i passed out due to hunger. Then earlier that year spending a month on the road in the UK travelling around in my old beat up car which kept "literally" exploding on a regular basis....man,there`s so many stories. A lot of which are unprintable but i`ll write a book about our tales from the road one day ; )

Laney - Every tour we've done has been a great experience. Each tour has both good and bad shows but it's all part of the big picture and you have to take the rough with the smooth. I learnt a long time ago to not be disheartened by a small crowd - if that's you, then get out! It's not the small crowds fault if no one else turned up, they deserve the same kind of show! Some of my best memories are the tours we've done with The Erotics. Just becoming really good friends and being out there on our own terms. Last years tour with The Dangerfields was a real character building exercise too. We were out for a whole month all over the UK and I think that made us a much stronger band. Getting to play alongside or in front of some of your heroes is always a good thing though and a real fan boy thing for me! In the crowd for our last show in New York back in the summer was Steve and Bruno from Danger Danger, Acey Slade from TrashLight Vision, obviously Stevie Rachelle and the Vains of Jenna guys, Bam Margera and legendary rock photography Mark Weiss. That was a pretty cool guest list!

You guys must of had some fun hanging out with Stevie Rachelle of Metal Sludge talking about bands like Southgang, King Of The Hill, Wildside, Bangalore Choir and TRIXTER?
Wylde -Yeah,Stevie used to be one of my childhood heroes so hanging out and getting to know him was great.He was a real nice guy with a heart of gold.I spent my birthday last year in Albany with TCC ,the Vains Of Jenna guys, The Erotics and Stevie. After a shitload of drinks Rachelle challenged me to a hair metal quiz. Jamie warned him that he didn`t know who he was dealing with...but he didn`t listen and i completely annhililated him ha ha!! He couldn`t believe there was a single man on planet earth who could name/or even want to name "Bangalore Choir`s" bassist. He obviously hadn`t met Rob Wylde ha ha!!

Laney - Stevie is an awesome guy with a great business head and it's great to see things taking off for him and Vains Of Jenna! I didn't realise it until afterwards but I think he's probably one of the reasons I really like the hands on side of promotion and spreading the word about bands. TUFF were always a really hardworking band that did everything in their power to let the world know about them. Everything from posters, merchandise, their fan club - they always handled everything 100% and I think that had a big effect on me in what I wanted to do in later years. It was also cool to get to play bass alongside him at one of the shows - he christened me 'Todd Chase No. 6' which I thought was mint!

Laney we have to say that your kick ass Trashpit Magazine and Trashpit Records concept was a big inspiration in us pursuing Milfton Rock. You have some pretty big things on the horizon with Trashpit such as your very first compilation CD. How is that all coming along and what kind of stuff can we expect to hear on that CD?
Laney - Wow mate, that's a really cool compliment - thank you :) TrashPit is a real labour of love for me. I used to do a fanzine back around 1998/99 which focussed on unsigned bands in my area. When that stopped I took a few years out from writing then realised I could never find out what my faovurite bands from back in the day were up to so what the hell, I'll do it myself! There also seemed to be a brand new crop of exciting rock bands out there such as Robin Black who took the old school style of music and updated it with a new energy and modern image.

This I guess was to be the blueprint for TrashPit. The first issue kinda did just that with an interview with Robin Black alongside Danger Danger and Trixter's Steve Brown and his band at the time 40ft Ringo. Since then TrashPit has steadily grown and I hope gained something of a foothold in this new scene out there. The Compilation CD is something I've wanted to do for sometime now. It was originally due out in April but as most of these things do they get delayed for various reasons. I want it to be a great album with quality bands and songs, not just some random line up of as many tracks as I can fit on a CD - who wants to be Track 25 on a line up no-ones heard of?! So it'll be about 12 -14 killer bands, a bunch of unreleased songs including tracks from The Erotics, Red Light Rippers and Patchwork Grace and a great full colour booklet. If this proves successful then I hope to do a few more CDs too.

Laney is there anyone that you have interviewed that was just so cool that you'd invite them over for Christmas to meet the family? If so, if we are fans, could we come?
Laney - I've been very privilaged to meet a lot of my heroes over the past few years and it's great when you really get along with them and get to stay in touch afterwards.

Probably my favourite person to interview is Jaret from Bowling For Soup. He's always been so supportive of the magazine and really gets what I'm trying to do. He's a lot of fun to talk to as well and always has great stories - one of those people who I can listen to for hours so I'm sure he'd make for a fun dinner guest. And yes, you do get an invite - I'm not paying the plane fare though! I still hope to one day get the chance to talk to Eddie Van Halen and Bret Michaels - that would be a scoop for me!

Laney through Trashpit Magazine, you are obviously pretty up with the latest and greatest in new music. Do you have an up and coming bands you think we need to check out?
Laney - To be honest and this may sound harsh but it's very rare I get sent anything I really enjoy. It's not that the CD's I'm sent aren't any good but I don't think a lot of people take a look at the kind of music I cover in TrashPit. I get so many really heavy bands sending stuff in which is all fine but I'm just not into that kind of music so I'm not gonna waste my time trying to write about something I don't have a clue about! I'm really enjoyed the recent LYNAM CD which was really exciting and I'm also loving the DAMONE album (although it's been out a while) and the latest BOWLING FOR SOUP CD. I'm really looking forward to hearing more stuff from Ryan Roxie's new band HAPPY PILL too - he's a very underated songwriter.

Wylde you are a walking, talking glam rock encyclopeadia who proudly wears his influences on his t-shirts! Give us a few obscure glam rock/hard rock bands (from past or present) that we need to check out!

Wylde - Now you`re talkin`.Ok, well first up one of my all-time favourite glam bands is a band called "The Bang Gang" They released an album called "Love Sells" in 1990 and kind of sounded like Enuff Z Nuff meets T-Rex with a killer image which saw them all wear skin tight brightly coloured PVC.They called their image "Drastic Plastic"...how cool is that?.The guitarist Scott Stevens now sings in a major label band called "The Exies".Another band so obscure that even "I" can`t find their debut album on CD is a UK band called "Blue Blud".They released their debut "The Big Noise" in 1989 and sounded exactly like "Danger Danger" (my all-time favourite band)...if anyone out there reading this has a copy of this album on CD.Get in touch!!!! Then of course there`s bands like Star Star,Naughty Naughty, Swingin`Thing, Shy Tiger(Their "Feed The Kitty" cd is killer!!), Push, Erotic Suicide, Supercool (Featuring Vik Foxx,Eric Stacy) Young Gunns and many more. Incidently i also collect vintage shirts of bands like these so if anyone out there has any once again get in touch!!!

Laney tell us about your band DIP in which you play Bass. We have heard that EP and it rocks, we love the song Wombat!
Laney - Thanks again! DIP, I love to bits. I was a fan before I joined them back in 2000, which was only supposed to be on a temporary basis, and we just do our own thing. I've always enjoyed their weird mix of a million styles of rock music - be it a bit of Van Halen here, AC/DC here and hey let's throw in a bit of Faith No More or Red Kross just for good measure!

There's literally no real boundaries to the sound and the live show is a lot of fun. Daz, Craig and Scott are also the funniest, most random people you'll ever meet. It's kinda weird cause we've been doing this for a long time - next year is actually the tenth anniversary of the band which is nuts, but just over the past couple of years people have started to 'get it'. Whether it's a change in the musical climate and people want to be entertained again, I'm not sure, but our live shows have been getting a great response. We're currently putting together a batch of new tunes for our well overdue new album which we will hopefully be recording this summer. Check out www.myspace.com/oyah to keep updated.

A few years ago you created a bit of a buzz with the whole "Punk Rock Bon Jovi" campaign which was using "power of the people" to try and get you guys as the support for the UK leg of the Bon Jovi tour. Imagine now for a minute that Teenage Casket Company is about to head out on a world tour and you need 2 bands to support you. From the past or present, who are you going to choose??
Wylde - Simple...."Danger Danger" and "Warrant" but if I had to chose a couple of new bands it`d be "Kill Hannah" and our buddies "Vains Of Jenna"....that would be a great line-up!

Laney - Blimey, that's a tough one! Bon Jovi are out for starters cause we didn't get the support slot last year! ;) I'd sound like a real kiss ass if I said some of our friends in other bands but that would be really fun to be out there taking on the world with your own buddies alongside you. I don't know, maybe Poison and Trixter if I wanted to go for the whole hard rock summer arena package - that'd be pretty cool or being on tour with Bowling For Soup I'm sure would be hell of a lot of fun and we could all have a huge jam at the end of the night to Poison and Ratt!!

When you think of Australia and music, what comes into your head?
Wylde -The first thing that pops into my head about Australia is my favourite TV programme of all time "Neighbours".Believe it or not i`ve watched it religiously every day since it first aired on British TV in 1986.That was until recently when i`ve been living in the USA.It`s killed me not being able to tune in.I`ll have a lot of catching up to do when i get home thats for sure!!!.As far as music goes...hmmmm.Again I think of Kylie and Jason....Im sorry!!!!.Hold on a minute I remember that cool rock band called "Roxus"..ha ha add those guys to my obsure glam band list ; ) Oh and how could I forget The Veronica's, I love those girls!

Laney - I'm a big fan of Australian music - you guys really do churn out some good stuff. The first Rick Price album is one of my all time favourite albums - it's priceless AOR genius. I used to be in a band with a guy who was a huge fan of The Badloves too. It'd be really cool to get the chance to play live over there at some point - it's a great country and one I'd love to come back to one day.

Actually just before we close up, speaking of "heads", Delerict could be known as bandana, Hollinshead = beanie, Wydle = scarf and Laney = leather hat. Have you guys ever thought about getting endorsments for those things given that is what I am sure fans would associate with each of you individually, haha! Laney, we know you do have your own brand of AMP tho, haha!

Wylde - Ha ha yeah i remember talking about having our own dolls once.Like the Kiss and Motley dolls.I`d come with a selection of different scarfs you could dress me up in,Jamie would have a selection of bandanna`s,Laney would have hats and Spike would have different coloured beanies.We could all come with a string you pull in which we`d all come out with our own individual catchprases.How cool would that be?

Laney - That would be cool especially as we're all broke! Free stuff is good! The Laney name and amp is a total coincidence but one that worked out pretty good I reckon! Just wish they company would see that and take me up on it at somepoint!

And lastly we are giving you space for free speech....use it as you wish!
Wylde -I`d just like to say thanks so much for your interest.It`s websites and magazines round the world like yours that keep the dream alive for bands like us.TCC will be out on tour this summer with a brand new album later in the year so make sure you check it out,spread the word and hopefully someday we`ll get to play for you guys in Australia.
Thanks again!

Laney - Just a thank you for giving us some airtime and constant support - it's totally appreciated and amazing that our music has made it to the other side of the world! I promise that when we hit back this summer TCC will be bigger and better than ever. The very best of luck with Milfton Rock - keep up the fight!

Check out the 2 Teenage Casket Company releases available from the

TCC official website!.