Words by Art Jefferson
Photography by Live Warrington
When it comes to pure, unadulterated rock & roll, it doesn’t get any better than Filthy Tricks. Based in Warrington, their sound is explosive, fostering that nostalgic feeling of when iconic bands ripped the roofs off of venues with might. Comprised of Liam Rimmer, Gerard Van Den Hoek, Chris Peake, Matty Hignett and Chris James, their no filler, nothing but the best approach to music is reflected in every aspect of each recording. It’s about the quality and Filthy Tricks have stood more than true to that vision.
Releasing their debut EP ‘Run The River’ back in 2019, the record contained the stomping single ‘Black Diamond Eyes’. The band returned in 2020 with the fiery and electric tune ‘Walk In Line’, which ended up being placed in this year’s seasonal promo video for the Warrington Wolves.
With their latest single ‘Leah’, Filthy Tricks yet again raise the bar with the mountainous song not only displaying finely polished production, but is one that will permeate the mainstream charts as well as has the ability to land adverts, television and film placement.
If this is only the beginning for Filthy Tricks, it is evident that they will leave a heavy imprint in the legacy books of rock & roll.
What is the origin of the band, including its reformation?
Chris Peake – The band was originally formed by Ged and Liam in 2016, following Ged’s return from Australia and Liam’s time spent in his late brother’s band The 66. Both came to the table wanting to channel their energy, passion and flair for music, and wanting to get their voices heard. In 2018 myself, Chris James and Matty Hignett joined the line up we have today, equally wanting to follow up their passion for music. Now, with all of us looking to make some noise, we felt like we have a perfect line up.
It feels like you guys came out the gate with this massive and grand sound. I like to call it stadium rock & roll. Can you talk about the development of your sound from the inception of the band to records like ‘Black Diamond Eyes’?
Chris Peake – We have all taken influence from different bands, places and experiences in the past, so when we came together each of us had a very diverse set of ideas to explore. We think this has really helped us get into creating songs and has given our set has a rather varied sound across the board.
Ged loves a good anthem and infectious guitar riffs – he’ll do a lot of initial song writing in his personal time and brings his ideas to the table throughout practice. We have definitely settled down with each other since 2018 and have really started to hone in on our sound – the ‘Stadium Rock & Roll’. ‘Black Diamond Eyes’ was one of the first few songs written and built up by us all in the new line up and we thought it sounded utterly bad ass, we’re glad everyone else thought that too.
Let’s talk about Warrington and the North West in general. Some of the most important bands in music have emerged from the North West, with of course guys like Ian Brown from The Stone Roses hailing directly from Warrington. How has the legacy of the region shaped you guys as a band?
Chris Peake – The North West has a fantastic history of music and it directly influences us, as we’re sure it does most of the bands that are up and coming from the NW right now. Warrington and the North West has a great industrial legacy as well and we think that this influences our sound too. (The Wire) We practice under train tracks behind a factory, so it’s a gritty industrial place. Full of fucking nails.
On top of that, Warrington is currently booming with new bands and artists. There’s currently a great community of insanely inspired and passionate bands surrounding us in Warrington. It’s great to be a part of that, keeping Warrington on the map.
Your 2019 EP Run the River was absolutely incredible. It’s again, pure, mountainous rock & roll. Literally from the production and engineering, down to vocals, it’s utterly pristine. What was the process like making that EP. Also, was this particular project recorded at Red City?
Chris Peake – Thanks! Yes we recorded ‘Black Diamond Eyes’, ‘You Call The Shots’ and ‘Sixty Two’ at Red City in Manchester. Dave there is a magician. For most of us it was our first time being in a proper studio environment to lay down multiple tracks so we enjoyed the ride as well as wanting to give it our all. We felt like after all of the hours of practicing and getting the band back on the road again it was time to give our songs the studio session they deserved. We were dead set on getting BDE (‘Black Diamond Eyes’) down and followed it up with ‘You Call The Shots’. YCTS was another song that we very first composed as the new line up, we loved getting that down. ‘Sixty Two’ gave Liam a chance to dish his emotions out and stretch his vocals in the track – made use of all the menthol crystals we were huffing whilst in there.
In 2020 you returned with ‘Walk in Line’. Again the sound jumps through the speakers. There are these fiery guitar riffs the big gang chorus, thundering drumming. There are lines like “you said your mother was a problem child.” The question is then asked about the inheritance of a wild nature. What inspired the content of the track?
Chris Peake – From the get go this track had a riotous and wild sound for us. We composed this song only very shortly before recording and releasing it, so everything about it has been pretty wild. The lyrics reflect a battle and never giving up when overcoming problems. Walk in line, stay the course, never give up.
‘Walk in Line’ is even used for the Warrington Wolves season promo! How did that come about?
Chris Peake – We first played their concourse at the start of the 2019 season though a contact of Matty’s; from that they had us return to play on the pitch later in the summer. Through the following colder months we had started working on ‘Walk In Line’, they were looking for a local band to play and soundtrack a 2020 season promo vid idea they had, ‘Walk In Line’ was a perfect fit.
Gerard, the song ‘Leah’ touches on taking a step back to make changes in the self, but is also an ode to your girlfriend. You’ve stated that you travelled to Australia to make those initial changes after previously being in a not so great place. Can you discuss how venturing there helped you to get re-aligned?
Gerard Van Den Hoek – It opened up my eyes to the world and travelling really does that to a person, you can go either two ways, you can realise that there’s more to life than getting pissed every weekend in the same town and bars with the same people for the rest of your life, or you make a change and do something different, exciting and more important.
It was a fresh start for me when I came back and after being away for so long, the crowd I hung around with in my old town (Newton-le-willows) didn’t really want anything to do with me. I become a stranger and things changed, but definitely for best and that was my main goal. I lost a lot of “friends” but I don’t give a fuck, the real people are the ones that have stood by me all the way no matter what.
How have you all been dealing with the impact of the coronavirus?
Chris Peake – Well it has seen a good few gigs we had in the pipeline get postponed, which we are obviously gutted about as we were intending to hit them rather hard around the release of ‘Leah’. However, we have been doing our best to stay engaged with our fans as much as we possibly can, posting lots on social media and performing some live streams on our own pages and across other music venue pages.
We had the ‘Leah’ release date set in stone before everything went into lockdown, so as much as we haven’t had the chance to play venues around it, it has given us something to keep shouting about and it has been good for us to see fans so engaged and giving us awesome feedback though all of this.
It has been hard at times for each of us individually, and we know its hard for many people at the minute, so by doing the live streams and sharing our music we hope that its helping our fans and followers out, and give them some hope too.
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