Rogue Male came together at the end of 1983, with Jim Lyttle as the creative force behind the band. Lyttle left Northern Ireland to form his own band in London, after leaving Pretty Boy Floyd and the Gems, which was, by his own admission, the first punk band, before the Sex Pistols were even out of their nappies. With a bright idea to make a different band that would have its own distinctive sound, he put together a four piece and named them Rogue Male; which best describes them, both in attitude and belief -being outside the norm, no compromise, no conformity-the ultimate rebels. Time has certainly made the founding members a little less rebellious and they have shed their bad boy image, without it making any difference to the quality of their music.

Their music reflects a wide range of influences from The Who, Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple, Free and Killing Joke. It's difficult to pigeonhole them, as they sound like a fusion of all the music genres put together, but with a dominance of heavy metal rock and punk, taken to the extreme. With a heavy back beat and politically motivated lyrics they blend their fusion music very well. And it works. Rogue Male disbanded in 1987 and are now in the process of re-launching their careers with a new manager, Geir Miranda, and are putting together a new album. The line-up today consists of Jim Lyttle Gtr/vocals, Johnny Fraser Binnie Gtr/b/vocs, Tony Forsythe Bass/b/voc, Mauricio Chamucero Drums.

Music journalist and author, Teddie Dahlin, and photographer Tina Pammer got together with two members of Rogue Male in Oslo. Jim Lyttle, front and vocals, and Tony Forsythe, bassist, were in Oslo and had time for a chat.

In addition to playing in his own bands, Jim Lyttle has also played with: Motorhead, MSG, Girlschool, Queensryche, Wasp, to name a few. Tony Forsythe is no newbie to the music industry either with an impressive resume. He has previously recorded several albums with Gerry Laffy, ex Girls, The London Cowboys and Terror Vision, John Taylor of Duran Duran to mention just a few. Guitarist John Fraser Binnie played with Ozzy Ozbourne for three years, so these guys are no newbies to the music biz. Drummer Mauricio Chamucero batters the hell out of his drums to the heavy back beat of the music, making it almost tribal.


You started out in the late 70's in Ireland. You were in the original line up of Pretty Boy Floyd and the Gems. Was Pretty Boy Floyd your first band, Jim, or were you in Candy first?

Yes, I was living in London and I returned to Belfast, and I just wanted to start a band. I was looking for musicians, but couldn't get any. Anyway, this band, Candy, they were a show band. They did covers. So I joined this band with the intention of getting musicians. These guys were good. So I joined them and they got regular gigs. We did this for a couple of years. This was the first job I'd ever had in a band. I told the guys that I really wanted to do some pop music instead, and that I would go back to London and get together a pop band. But they actually agreed to do it. You know, I had to ask them again because it was a big change from what they had been doing, but they agreed and we became Pretty Boy Floyd and the Gems.

What was it like back then? I mean Candy/Gems toured extensively in Ireland, gigging 6 times a week - From Killarney to Donegal and played them all.

Yeah we worked hard.

I heard your manager was a knob and had booked you for a gig as 'Pretty Boy Floyd and the Gems - the new Candy'. Tell me how that went down

We were first booked as Pretty Boy Floyd and the Gems, but then someone added 'The New Candy' to the ad. Of course when we played the gig, the crowd thought they were getting Candy. Candy used to play chart music, and this punk band comes out. Of course, some of the crowd didn't warm to it.

I heard they were hugely unimpressed and bottles started flying.

Bottles and full cans of beer. Some people didn't like it and we had to have a police escort to get out of the venue. It was really bad. Our van was attacked three times.

Gems moved to London at the end of the 70's and then they split. You going one way, Jim, and the others teaming up with Gary Holton. What happened?

We moved to London to do a tour and it didn't happen. There was a lot of innuendo and make believe. The guitar player was organizing everything, a guy called Denis Forbes, and there was just false information and nothing came of anything. I was getting offers from other bands anyway so, after doing a couple of auditions for a couple of bands, I joined XRay Spex with Poly Styrene.

I loved them. Poly Styrene died a couple of years ago RIP

Did she? I didn't know that. I only played with them for a couple of months because they were crap - really dreadful

So you did various collaborations until you started Rogue Male in late 1983. How did it come about?

I'd been in several bands, and I couldn't really get my head around how unprofessional they were, for a start, and not committed to what they were doing. So I felt the need to start my own band and started to look for musicians that I could get it together with. Our first gig was just a small venue and it was packed out. Back then it just took off like wild fire, literally within a year. We started out and knew nobody, and within a year we were like 'whoosh' right up on covers of everything.

Rogue Male has a very distinctive sound. It's like a lot of genres forged together but it's basically heavy metal. Was that a clear idea that this was the type of music you wanted to make, or did it just happen? What inspired you?

Well if you look at the young bands around - black metal bands, you will see that they all look the same and sound the same. They are lost. My thoughts early on was that there had to be a certain look and sound. I wanted to take the punk thing to the extreme. So cyber punk. Punk is the main ingredient for Rogue Male.



This was late 1983, wasn't punk mainly over by then?

No! Now it's 2014 and punk is still there.

I can't really hear the punk in your music. I can feel the anarchism and the nihilism, and the 'getting off your arse and doing your own thing' stuff though. My first impression was that it was close to the stuff the Killing Joke are doing now. It has a great beat to it and good lyrics.

Funny you should say that because when I first started Rogue Male, and we were looking for a drummer, I actually put 'Killing Joke ...Free...Rogue Male' So that they would know that it's not a metal band or a rock band, it's kind off a bit of everything.

You had a lot of success in the mid 80's. You did two albums (First Visit and Animal Man) and both were very well received, and then there was a spot of bother with your manager and the business side of things. What happened to make you disband in 1987? I read somewhere that the management didn't promote your band enough. Tell me about that. Did you sue them?

Yeah, we tried to sue them. We never got any royalties, we were on a weekly wage. We were touring here, there and everywhere. Money was coming in and we signed a million dollar deal, but we never got to see the books, (the accounts) even though it was written into the contract. We requested to see the books, but it never happened. It got to the point where we saw we were making all this money, but we weren't getting any of it. So we engaged a solicitor who looked through the contracts. He said the contracts were a joke, and we were getting ripped off left, right and center. He told us that there were too many things in this contract that were stacked against us. It was called 'conflict of interest', because our manager was also our label and our publisher. He hadn't told us that he owned those companies as well. So he was getting 30% as the manager, 30% as the label and 15% as the publisher. We played our last gig in 1987. We were engaged in litigation and once we started that process all the assets were frozen - even our own bank accounts. When we went to get our wages there was no money there. And we couldn't trade under the name of Rogue Male. I wished we'd known at the time that we could have done what Prince did and he went to be known as 'The artist formally known as Prince'. We could have called ourselves: formally known as Rogue Male. Anyway, back in the 80's we were crippled by bad management. We were on the cover of Kerrang, Classic Rock-on the cover of everything!

Who wrote the music?

Me. I have written the music up until now, but now Tony and I are going to collaborate.

Explain your song, LIAR. It's been in my head for days. It's fantastic how the beat changes.

Do you like it?

Yeah, love it!

It's a bit of everything thrown together; rock, pop, punk.


What is it about?

It is politically motivated. Most of the songs, even in the past, are politically motivated. We are getting lied to left, right and center by politicians, so that's what it is about.

So now you are like a phoenix-rising from the ashes so to speak - why? Why are you here?

We are here to meet you.

PUNK GLOBE:

You have got yourself new management. What are your hopes for this collaboration?

Jim:

We've had a meeting here in Oslo with a label and things are looking good. We have Geir Miranda as our new manager, who's Norwegian. We have a new photographer, Ann Finstad, who's' been taking some shots. So next year we hope to be hitting the road with a European tour.

PUNK GLOBE:

When did you join the band, Tony?

Tony:

A year and a half ago. I first met Jim back in the 80's. It was at a party of a mutual friend who knew us both and thought it would be good if we worked together. I'd only just put my own band together called Blackfox, so we only had a brief not too deep chat...

Jim:

The time wasn't right back then.

PUNK GLOBE:

So how on earth did you find your new Norwegian manager, Geir Miranda?

Tony:

We've done a few shows just to see audience reaction and to feel out our live chemistry and after our last show we definitely knew the vibe and energy was kicking, and thing had to move up several notches, and we put the word out we were looking for management. Geir got in touch through a mutual friend and impressed us with his work ethic, and came to the UK to meet with the band, which showed the kind if determination we were looking for.

PUNK GLOBE:

You've got a new drummer to. Who's he?

Jim:

Yeah we have a drummer now called Mauricio Chamucero. He looks like an Apache Indian, long black hair and lots of muscles, because we need our drummer to be strong.

PUNK GLOBE:

So are we to believe we may see another album in the pipeline very soon?

Jim:

Yeah, we have an album. The producer we are going to use lives in Budapest, Rumania, so that's a possibility we might go there. We are open to the idea. After speaking to the label this morning we might look at Norway. We don't know yet.

PUNK GLOBE:

You are very early in the process really aren't you? How many tracks have you got?

Jim:

Lots. There is enough tracks for a full album.

PUNK GLOBE:

Who wrote the music?

Tony:

Jim has been beavering away for some time and has more than an albums worth of material, plus when we rehearse, we record ideas we have captured in the moment, so yes there is plenty there. Jim's a great ideas and concept man...

Jim:

Yeah I've done this album, but from now on Tony and I will collaborate.

PUNK GLOBE:

So can we expect a different sound, or are you going to take the same sound a step further?

Jim:

We don't know. We will wait and see. I've been working on our next album and we want to get that out next year.

PUNK GLOBE:

When I was asked to do this interview for Helvette magazine, I thought you were here to play. I'm so cheesed off I can't hear you guys live. I was going to beg for a guest list.

Jim:

Well we are going to do a gig here in December. Its not all in place yet.

PUNK GLOBE:

What's the vibe now? How have you been received so far?

Tony:

I think it's all coming back into vogue. I think there are people who miss those times and want them back, and then there's the young kids who have been influenced by it, and actually want to see that kind of material for themselves. It's coming round after going full circle.

PUNK GLOBE:

You were known for your crazy stage costumes back in the 80's. Jim, you were into science fiction and it reflected in your costumes. Is this something we can expect to see more of?

Tony:

We've toned it down a bit. We may do costumes, but we don't want to look like a parody of ourselves.

PUNK GLOBE:

Tell me something that the fans don't know about you? I want secrets... spill the juice

Jim:

We'd like the fans to know that we have never sold out - we are true to form, and we are really looking forward to giving the fans what they deserve. We go our own way. We only dance to the beat of our own drum, not letting anything get in the way of doing our own thing.

Original interview for Norwegian Helvete Magazine