It took a while but Rob got to chat to Sohostruts very own Jonny Magus, from the ashes of leeds Popsters The Mighty Uptight to the Freebooting Profiteers Jonny Spill the Beans..
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in a place called Tingley, which is just a few miles outside both Leeds and Wakefield.
What are your early influences, in particular musical influences? Are there any particular songs that stand out?
I grew up on a diet
of The Beatles, Abba, Motown and Queen, these were the records my mum
used to play all the time. I think the first record I wanted to buy was
Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd, which most young school kids
of the time did. I was really into Adam and The Ants, The Police and Madness
as a kid, but I also liked the electro/new romantic style stuff, especially
Soft Cell and Human League. I wasn’t really obsessed with music as
a teeny bopper, until I heard the Stone Roses She Bangs The Drums, that’s
when it all changed for me. I was about 17 when I heard them and it was
like the band that I was waiting for just dropped into my life. That is
the moment when I started to explore music properly getting into mod/soul/indie/garage
rock etc…etc…etc… The moment I actually wanted to be in
a band was when I saw The Wedding Present live for the first time. The
excitement of a live gig blew me away, so I just wanted a piece of that.
When did you start to play music?
Even though I started to get obsessive about music when I was about 17, I didn’t really start to play guitar until I was 22. I joined a bunch of lads who had a bit more knowledge than me, but wanted someone to help out on rhythm guitar. I had managed to learn 5 chords, but it seemed enough to get me started. Basically I joined a band called Sleepwalker even though I couldn’t play. Carps the lead man of the group showed me how to play the guitar and the rudiments of song writing, for which I’m very grateful. This was all around the Britpop time and we did quite well as a local Leeds band. We were a proper upbeat guitar pop band. Luckily I learned how to play pretty rapidly and listening back to recordings of the time, we were a really good band and were petty unlucky not to get further. It was a really exciting time to be involved in music the mid 90s.
You were an important part of another Leeds band - The “Mighty” Uptight. Tell me a bit about them.
After I left Sleepwalker
I started floating around musically, but I did put together a band called
Pushstart with Simon Fletcher. We went through a million line-up changes
and lots of heartache. Eventually we settled into a stable line-up and
by this time we had changed our name to Uptight. Uptight had a harder
garage sound with a modish tinge; we were described as a savage Small
Faces. It was a long hard road, and we slogged at it for 5 years, gaining
small successes with various releases on small labels and getting some
good reviews out of the USA. We did very well on the garage rock radio
shows across the US, but it just never seemed to happen for us to take
it to the next level. We hammered away for five years, but then half the
band quit. This was the time to give up or start all over again. 
The Freebooting Profiteers
How did the Freebooting Profiteers get together?
The end of Uptight was a real a blow, but Travis my fellow traveller and organ grinder in Uptight wanted to carry on doing some sort of music, so The Freebooting Profiteers were born. Travis had decided he’d had enough of stroking his Hammond, so he went back to caressing his guitar axe. Jonny Fox joined the ride through a mutual friend as he wanted to get back into playing bass after a long lay off. We found Jefferson with a pair of drum sticks and his birthday suit, but he made a good racket, so he was in.
For those who haven’t heard you, can you describe your sound.
We’re still figuring that one out, but I guess we’re a power popped up rock’n’roll band, mixing up melodic tunes with a bit of raucous rumbling.
How did you develop the Freebooting Profiteers sound?
We’re still developing as a band, but I think we’re just trying to mix up strong rhythms with catchy tunes and hopefully leaving an impression with the listener. It is still pretty spontaneous at the moment; we throw all our ideas into a pot, stir it up and see what happens. Hopefully a decent tune will be the result. I think we try to mix my Rickenbacker guitar sound with the crunchy sound that Travis plays. Jonny Fox plays driving melodic power pop style bass runs and Jefferson pounds away making it sound large.
Are any of the songs autobiographical?
On the debut EP ‘Lame In The Brain’ I think Mile End is about Travis being totally disorientated after falling asleep on the Tube in London and the surreal panic that it can cause. Narcotic Splinters is autobiographical on my part about dealing with poor health and bad emotional stuff, but done in an upbeat Small faces style for some reason. Lame In The Brain is a good rant which I thoroughly enjoy singing, ha ha.
What is your experience of playing the songs live?
Still early days, but overall our songs seem to go down well, and we’ve been getting pretty good reactions all round. There’s no specific group of punters that dig us, both the young indie kids and old mod and rockers seem to like us. You can’t really argue with an upbeat sound played with enthusiasm.
You have a pretty strong mod tradition. Is that how you see the Freebooting Profiteers?
I’ve been into the mod thing for a while and Jonny Fox is mad into the Jam, but I wouldn’t say Freebooting Profiteers are a mod band. Travis and Jefferson are more into rock, so we’ve pooled are common ground and this upbeat and poppy rock’n’roll sound is where we’ve hit. We’re not afraid to admit that we dig and take influences from the 60s and the late 70s and try to give it a modern twist.
There’s a quote with the band. "Where life has no value, a deadly tune,
sometimes, has its price. That is why the ‘Freebooting Profiteers’ appeared” . Tell me a bit about it.
One of my favourite films is ‘For A Few Dollars More’ the great spaghetti Leone Western featuring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and the maverick left wing actor Gian Maria Volonte. At the beginning of the film there is a caption about bounty killers. I love the film and I thought I’d rejig the motif from killing for cash, to a killer tune. It is my little tribute to Leone and an outrageous piece of ambitious egotism on our part.
Other bands
Do you have any musical heroes?
Jonny Magus – Bob Dylan
Travis McDougal – Sex Pistols
Jonny Fox – The Jam
Jefferson – Led
Zeppelin
Are there any new bands out there at the moment who you particularly like?
The bands I really dig are still with the mod/garage genre. I love The Lost 45s UK, The Maharajahs from Sweden and The Len Price 3 from the Medway Delta. In the mainstream I love the Coral and fine under rated band called The Great Northwestern Hoboes. The band I most obsess over of late is The La’s. I’m into a real big Mersey beat kick at the moment.
Is there anyone who you would like to support, or you would like to support you?
I would love to support The Small Faces, but that ain’t gonna happen sadly. In modern terms probably The Mooney Suzuki, as they’re great fun and an awesome rock’n’roll band.
Other areas
Have you any heroes - living or dead - in other fields?
My all time hero is William Blake, poet, artist and radical visionary. He was an artist who carried on against all the odds, even when the whole world was laughing at him. Look at his reputation now; I think Mr Blake has had the last laugh. William Blake is a great example of a great human being,
What about other art forms? Have any books or films had a big influence you?
Films are a massive influence on me, especially Leone movies. My favourite actor is James Cagney, the greatest actor of the 20th century. If we can catch any of his anarchic energy in our tunes, I’ll be very happy indeed. Michael Moorcock and his crazy novels are a major influence too. It is through some of his recent novels that I came up with our name. Moorcook seems to be on a Dick Turpin trip of late, which is very cool.
Future
What are your plans for the future? Are you working towards Freebooting world domination?
A Freebooting universe would be cool. I think we’re gonna keep working towards that killer tune that will take us to the next level.
Desert Island
And to conclude the dreaded Desert Island Disc question. If you had to take one record, one book and one film (assuming you had a DVD player) with you what would they be?
Revolver – The Beatles
Complete Works of William Blake – William Blake
Once Upon A Time In The West – Sergio Leone