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Caroline
Bullen
It
wasn't just Dee or his mum who was into punk. There was also
his sister Caroline. Pictured left and right with Captain
Sensible.
Caroline lived
life to the extreme but sadly
died of a
heroin overdose in her early 20's. |
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1. How
did you come to pick up the drums?
I used to hit the sofa at home with knitting needles playing along
to music I heard on the radio and my mum’s records from when I was
about 6 or 7 years old. My favourite was that thing by Arthur Brown
‘Fire’. My mum got fed up with the holes I had worn in the sofa
arms, so she saved up and got me this really good second hand kit
from a junk shop, it was a jazz set up American Rodgers in Red
Glitter with great tone. I d love to have it now. I then joined a
military drum band at school and learnt all the paradiddles and 5
pace rolls. That was great stuff technically. This guy called Chris
Miller was in a local band and I got to know him when I was about 13
and he started to teach me. This went on for about a year and then
he joined the Damned and started calling himself Rat Scabies.
2. What
sort of music were you into before Eater?
I liked Bowie, Iggy Pop, Hawkwind and The New York Dolls. I loved
the drums in all the glam bands, and T Rex. I had this great Jimmy
Hendrix single with The Stars that Played with Laughing Sam’s Dice
on the B side that I played over and over again. My Dad had left all
these Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich albums when he disappeared that I
liked to play as well. I had spent my childhood at festivals
with my mum, seeing old hippy bands, we were a little unorthodox.
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3. When
did you first hear about Punk and get into it? Were you actually
into punk?
I went to the 100 club Punk festival to see the Damned, saw The
Banshees do the Lords Prayer with Sid Vicious on drums. I was
already a punk before Eater, but no one called them selves that
then, the press needed a label and they invented the term. I often
said I wasn’t a Punk but what I was saying was ‘fuck ‘the label, it
didn’t mean anything. Nobody then was saying lets form a punk band,
that was later, your Sham 69’s and Screwdriver, and all that old
crap. We were amongst the first few bands we didn’t need to define
ourselves as part of anything we were ‘it’ not part of it.
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4. How
and when did you come to join Eater?
Rat introduced me to Andy and I went to a rehearsal and they said
that they wanted me to join.
5. How
much did you contribute to Eater in terns of constructing songs and
image? How did Eater change with you joining the band? What were
they liked before you joined?
I didn’t write anything except a few expletives on Get Raped. The
songs were very slow before I joined. They were very Lou Reed
influenced the Bowie thing was very evident. Andy played more guitar
and we had no bassist. We were really two rhythm guitars and drums.
I said I couldn’t play that slow so it all got speeded up, we all
agreed that it was better but it meant most of the songs were about
3 mins long. We put this ad in NME for a bassist and a load of knobs
turned up and Mr Woodcock, he was very drab and spoke in this slow
deliberate voice like he had some kind of mental problem. He said
his favourite song was Johnny B Goode which in my opinion disbarred
him from joining. But he was older and I think we all thought we
might be able to tap him up for a few quid. I remember us, me Andy and
Brian, saying that he would do till we found someone better. Ian
later wore some mirror shades and was instantly changed into a
‘cool’ punk, at least that’s what he thought. There was a trend at
the time for the bassist to be the straight guy and they usually
ended up getting the sack. Things turned out different this time.
6. What
were the early days like? I can imagine they must have been
exciting? A young band, a new scene, lots of faces and places and
hope. I’ve heard that initial demos with the band were done on
cardboard boxes?
We recorded a demo in this shed at the bottom of Dave Goodman’s dads
house that Dave had a little 8 track set up in. There was no kit so
I played on two cardboard boxes. The first gigs were really
exciting. We got a mix of reactions from instant devotion to
incredulity.
|
One of the
earliest Eater pictures. Courtesy of Dee |
7. I know
Andy complains the Label may be wasn’t big enough for Eater or if
they had a better producer it could have been different. But let’s
be honest here. Most bands only got the chance to do 1 maybe two
singles. Eater got a contract when they weren’t even a band. The
Label financed 5 or so singles and an album. Other bands like Gen x
didn’t get a contract till late on. Surely you were lucky to have
had them and to have had them so early? What’s your take on this?
How did the Label treat Eater? Were the Label and Dave Goodman good
for Eater? If not why not?
We had done a load of gigs before The Label, so we were a proper
band and they never helped us get any once they were involved. They
did nothing other than a bad job of releasing our singles. Most of
our gigs were down to me and Andy. Andy used to hustle people into
letting us play, he was the sort of kid who could convince you to
give up your last fag and let him borrow your girlfriend. I just got
us loads of supports with The Damned. We had interest from better
labels, loads came to our gigs. Track Records would have signed us
they were looking for a UK Punk band but we had already signed to
The Label. The ‘Label’ thing happed very suddenly and early on. It
was very suspicious and I was never comfortable with it. All the
shit about backing from John Lydon, he was never involved. We signed
our contracts under duress, with Caruso’s cab on the meter outside.
He then invited all the parents to a dinner to get them to verify
our signatures but none of us read the contract. We turned up in
these long hippy wigs and big cigars and pissed about all evening.
His wife got drunk and shouted across the restaurant that he had a
small willy and he was useless in bed. Hilarious. You know we sold
18,000 ‘Outside View’ singles in a few weeks, but the Label wouldn’t
do another pressing. The distribution was shit so it didn’t make the
charts. It was like they didn’t want it to succeed.
The vinyl was like a dinner plate they made great Frisbees or ash
trays, John and Jah Wobble melted one into an ash tray at Nora’s
once while we were there. There was this one gig when Dave made a
Sex Pistols shrine on the stage to celebrate the release of God Save
the Queen, this was just farce and stupid, I didn’t want to play. I
thought we were being sabotaged and took my contract to a solicitor
that Leee Black Childers laid on for me. At the same time Ian and
Brian were out to get me. Then I was sacked. In short the Label
screwed Eater and ruined it.
8. What’s
your opinion of Dave Goodman?
Dave was ok. I liked him, but Caruso was slime.
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9. Tell
me about the internal dynamics in the band. There was an obvious
Brian/Andy link but how did the band function in terms of decisions
and songwriting?
To start with we all got together in the little flat Brian had on
the back of his mum and dads house and wrote together. Me and Andy
became good friends and hung out together a lot at the clubs. Brian
was still playing football for the school team so he needed his
early nights. His mum and Dad only let him out on gig nights. We
never saw Ian unless it was a rehearsal or a gig. I think he was
studying business at some college in Acton. |
10. How
did this change as the months went by?
Later I wasn’t involved and Ian took a key role, they really started
to do the band thing and I had my own circle of friends and just
turned up for gigs. I didn’t like the set up with the Label and Ian
being critical of my drumming so they had this meeting at Caruso’s.
I took some Mandies and drank a load of rum and turned up arse
faced, which was hilarious, but they all got really pissed off. Ian
particularly said I wasn’t good enough to be in the band. They said
I was always pissed and took too many drugs. I left the meeting
thinking that I d sorted it all out, promised to behave, and
practice more, and share my drugs, but the next day, I think, Andy
phoned me and I said I was sacked. I thought they would get over it,
but then they said that they had Rowland already lined up. I thought
he was a chump and just like Ian a grey and shallow clone of a
million other bands. I still thought they would change their minds.
When they didn’t I spoke to a friend at the NME and told them I had
left.
11. You
had the highest profile of all being as it were a ‘Busted’ style
teen dream in girlie mags! How did the others in the band view this?
How did you like the attention?
This all came about because I knew this woman who used to work for
Midge Ure when he had his Slick band getting no 1’s. She had a
contact at IPC the people who did all these girlie mags. They asked
us to do a session but we just pissed about, the one photo where I
smiled got used. They tried to get us to pose with a giant safety
pin and we wouldn’t but Andy tried to knick it and they got all
snotty and kicked us out. We thought we had effectively ruined the
shot but then it came out. We never did any more but they seemed to
have hundreds of photos all from that session. They kept popping up
in all the mags that they owned.
12. Your
mum was also an interesting character that seemed really into what
you were doing and attending your gigs at the Roxy. What was her
part in your role in Eater?
She was a mad hippy and really got into it but she had no role in
the band she was just there.
(check out the Roxy and the Year In Punk screenshots -
Punk77) |
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13.
What’s your memories of The Roxy as you seemed to spend a lot of
time down there either playing or being in the audience? What sort
of reaction did you get?
Well we sort of owned the place really, I mean everyone in the scene
Andy C, or whatever, made it so open, I felt really at ease there,
where as other clubs were still just clubs. I really liked Don Letts
and we got on, I really got into dub from listening to it down there
14. How
did you get on touring with bands like the Heartbreakers?
We never toured with them. We didn’t tour with anyone, while I was
in Eater, we just played single gigs.
15. How did
you feel about the criticism that the band got from media people
like Mark P in Sniffing Glue who put the band down as too young etc?
Well there another side to that that I won’t go into because I
really liked the other person involved.
16. How did
you get on with other bands? How did they treat Eater?
The Damned were my friends I still talk to Rat now. I knew everyone
but we weren’t really considered too cool by the Pistols entourage.
I met John Lydon later when he was in PIL and we sat up all night
listening to music and talking and we got on, I was 18 by then and
he could relate to me.
17. What bands did you rate then and what ones didn’t you?
Adverts, Subway Sect. The Pistols for the attitude. PIL were the
best thing to come out of Punk.
18. In
some interviews you have criticised the music of Eater? I found that
strange as it has survived over some 25 years and still attracts
fans from all over the world. Have you changed your opinion? What do
you think of the music you were involved in now?
I am just bitter. Eater was ok for 1977 but I want more than that
now. I hate nostalgia. I used to laugh at the blokes that wore the
Teddy Boy suits and leathers up the Kings road in 1977. I don't
really listen to punk. I don’t deny people the right to walk about in Punk uniform;
you know tartan pants and a Mohican. But that’s what it is fashion.
It’s not a statement of the magnitude of doing it in 77, when people
wanted to slash your face for being different. When I was in Eater I
made my own clothes, we all did, except Ian who got his from BHS. I
still listen to Jah Wobble because he has developed beyond PIL and
he releases a few albums a year. Although early PIL are an exception
to my nostalgia rule and I listen to them almost every day. Keith
Levene still makes great music as well and I have all his stuff and
speak to him occasionally. I really like Pigface Martin Atkins
project, he was in Killing Joke, and he’s pushed things beyond the
formula. My definition of what is Punk now is something like Wolf
Eyes the album Burned Mind. They are pushing it. I don’t like all
these bands that reference 77 Punk, its just pretence and an excuse
for not having originality or talent. I don’t want to listen to
Eater sound alikes. Why should I I’ve done all that. My own band is
really great.
19.
Another thing that comes across from interviews and quotes from
yourself is that Punk Rock had such a negative and destructive
feeling to it. Do you still think this? What did you think of punk
rock at the time?
Well after I got sacked I got into heroin and in a short time I had
no drums, no friends and had nearly killed myself. That’s what
happened to me after Eater, there was no one looking out for me I
was an outcast.
20. The
idea you get from commentators like John Savage is that you were
tired of the whole punk scene in the end and was glad to be out of
the band. How true is this?
People started to get tired of me, throwing up on my shoes and
nicking stuff from their houses. In the end I went home to sort
myself out.
21. How did
you come to leave the band? Were you angry? You suggest that you
were a large part of Eater and that losing you was a mistake. What
do you think Eater lost when you were fired? Where could they have
gone music wise with you on board?
They sacked me at the height of my powers. They lost their
character, authenticity, became too musical, too dominated by Ian’s
boring bass lines, played the wrong gigs, released joke records
about yo yo’s, lost the audience, you name it went wrong. It did for
me too; I just got out of my head all the time. With me in it they
would have stayed chaotic, let people down more often, smashed up
more equipment, played at variable tempos unintentionally during the
same song all the time, and generally been a whole lot more
interesting. They became better musically, more competent, but
really boring. Ian went on to play with old man fake Punks The
Vibrators, that says it all. Crap really crap.
22. Being
14 and having drugs and sex on tap is probably every 14 years old
dream? The speed events must have moved at must have been
frightening and then for it all to end quite a shock? Did it take
you long to get over it
At 16 I was on the dole, no qualifications, no money. I got a job
sweeping in a printing works. I had drawn and painted though out my
teens and during Eater so I took them to the local Art School and
asked if they would have me. They did and after two years I was
accepted to do a degree in Fine Art at Central in London.
23. Why
didn’t you sort out another band straight away or is as the quotes
say you were tired of punk?
I had this Band called the Dirty Works, but we just did drugs and
sat about. Then I had a band at Art School called Lenny and the
Lemons, but Lenny had acute stage fright and we could never play
anywhere but his bedroom. I played guitar in that band but just
invented the chords because I couldn’t be bothered to learn. My band
now is really the best thing I’ve every done.
24. Best
memories of Eater
Playing in Belgium.
Playing the Roxy.
Hiding from Andy’s mum for about three days in his house.
25. Worst
memories of Eater
Getting the sack.
Seeing Brian’s willy.
26.
Favorite song and why by Eater
No Brains. It was a departure. But really Outside View is true
Eater, first version with me playing.
27. If
you change things that happened regarding Eater what would you
change and why?
I’d change nothing really. I think that if we had stayed together we
would still be in the same position, thinking about what could have
been. We were too young to make it work. Maybe that’s what’s good
about Eater, we never got old and boring well while anyone was
watching anyway, and why we were the definitive Punk band.
28. Anything else you’d like to add?
This probably hasn’t made you like me. Paul Flynn was never in Eater
he was my mate from school and we were in a band when I was about 12
years old.
Did I say my band is really good. |
