Directly from British land here you are Exploders, Zen Motel, a band which achieved to reach my appreciation as far as the one of my sweetheart, who's also posed their main song writer Lee Wray a bunch of questions. These English guys, with their debut full-lenght titled "Trasform and Escape", have exquisitely mixed various hints of sound, sealing from the electronic wave to join rock's coasts in a fresh and pretty original way. So here you are our interview to Lee: check it out!

Hi Lee and welcome on "The Rock Explosion"! Why don't you start introducing Zen Motel to our Exploders?
Hi everybody! I'm Lee Wray. The band is up since just one year. Me and Neal, the drummer, were both in Johnny Zhivago, which were pretty popular in UK. We toured and played shows with Backyard Babies, The Wildhearts, Nashville Pussy, Icarus Line etc etc. After the band split, Neil and me formed Zen Motel to bring some twisted rock'n' roll to the world.

Listening to your album, "Transform And Escape" I've been very deeply impressed by your sound, not easy to define, which sometimes has some hint
of psychedelic arrangements, while in some other song it seems to be more similar to the dark wave, also considering the lyrics. How would you describe your sound if you had to explain it to the ones who never heard a note from you?
I like to think we are a rock 'n' roll band, but with a darker side than most. Think The Pixies meet Motley Crue, with a sour twist.

Which band or artist has with works, look or attitudes mostly contributed to make you decide to become rockers?
The Cult and The Stooges were the first two bands that really made me want to join a band. Once I discovered them that's all I wanted to do with my life, getting a normal job after that just wasn't an option. Since then, all music that's performed with honesty and passion has been an influence.

Can you make a brief track by track voyage in your album, explaining inspiration source and meaning of the songs?
I think the songs are open to different interpretations, and I like to keep it that way. Hopefully they will mean something different to everyone that listens to them.

Is there any song of yours you like the most, and if so, could you explain us the reason?
"All For Nothing" because I didn't know I could write a song like that, and all of the second album which we are writing at the moment.

Personally I prefer "All For Nothing," because of its refrain, resigned and sad, but also "Another World", even if my favourites are "Please Be Cruel" and the darkest "This Happens Forever". But which song works at best during your live shows?
"Devil Song". We always end the show with that track and then invite members of the audience on stage. So more often than not, it ends in total chaos, which is how we like it.

How does the creative process work like in your band? Who writes the lyrics and who composes the melodic lines and arrangements?
I usually write a song and show the other guys, and then we work together on the arrangements. Some come together in a matter of minutes, while others such as "This Happens Forever" take a few weeks to take shape.

I really appreciate the artwork on the cover of you cd. It has made me think to a similar image on the last Red Hot Chilli Peppers greatest hits and also
to the famous poster of the "Rocky Horror Picture Show". From where does the idea of those red lips derive? And what about that bathtub full of blood on the back cover?
The front and back covers are supposed to represent different ways a human can transform and escape to a different reality, whether it be with make-up and clothes as on the front cover or death as depicted on the back. The front cover is actually a picture of a transsexual prostitute my girlfriend found in the red light district in London. The rear picture was taken by the photographer Ilona Sagar, I'm not sure what her original intention was for that picture, but that was my interpretation.

A couple of your songs mention in their titles Angels and Devils. Which is your attitude towards religious, supernatural and fantasy concerns?
The angels and devils are just used as metaphors in the songs. I'm not a religious person, but I think that people should be able to freely believe in what ever they chose, as long as it is their choice, not enforced, and harms no others.

If you had to realise a cover song, which one would you like to reinvent in your own brand sound?
We are working on some covers for the second album, I don't want to give too much away but one is by the American Goth band The Cruxshadows.

Which is the last album you bought? And which has been the last concert you've been at?
Last album I bought was "Spend A Night In The Box" by The Reverend Horton Heat. I normally go to two or three shows a week, the last one being Electric Eel Shock in London.

Before entering on stage is there some ritual you use to do?
Just before we go on stage I usually end up trying to find Neil my drummer who has a habit of walking around the venue talking to people and forgetting
what time we are on!! So no time for rituals!

Can you tell us some anecdote or something particularly odd or memorable happened during one of your live shows?
I think it was when we were on tour with the band AntiProduct. Alex, their singer used to smash microphones on his head, the results of which left
flesh and blood on the microphone heads. After a few days of this we opened the boxes containing the microphones to find maggots has infiltrated and
were eating his flesh!!!

What's your opinion about Internet and exchanging music on-line, sharing mp3 files and so on? Which are the most positive and negative aspects according to you?
I'm all for sharing music, and Internet has given an extra voice to everyone who makes music.

Favourite drink and your top 5 album of all times:
Red Wine, Guinness and Bourbon. Top 5 Albums for me:"Surfer Rosa" by Pixies, "In Utero" by Nirvana, "Funhouse" by The Stooges, "California/United Kingdom" by American Music Club, "Blues For The Red Sun" by Kyuss. Top 5 albums for Neil (Zen Motel's drummer): "Appetite For Destruction" by Guns and Roses, "Dookie" by Green Day, "Generation Terrorists" by Manic Street Preachers, "In Utero" by Nirvana, "Violator" by Depeche Mode. Top 5 albums for Alex (Zen Motel's guitar player): "Scared Straight" by New Bomb Turks, "Appetite For Destruction" by Guns and Roses, "Slave To The Grind" by Skid Row, "Earth v's The Wildhearts" by The Wildhearts, "Never Mind The Bollocks" by Sex Pistols.

Now a silly gaming question: just add adjectives and/or comments near the following words:
Frank'n Further: Rock star!
Bondage: ouch!
Lucifer: George W. Bush!
Manson: Charles!
Immortality: Elvis!
Blue Angels: Shake that ass!
Gothic: Whitby!
Grotesque: George W. Bush (again!!!).

Well guys thank you so much for your cooperation. We hope to see you performing in Italy sooner or later. The interview is over and now you are
allowed to send greetings, insults or whatever you like to our readers...
Thanks Italy for your beautiful art, cars, scenery, food and women. I salute you all. Now go check out our website at www.zenmotel.co.uk.

Intervista realizzata e tradotta da Margherita Realmonte
Photos by Ilona Sagar & James Tomlinson