Adrian Edmondson Interview

Adrian Edmondson, all-round comedy legend and star of the likes of The Young Ones, Bottom and The Comic Strip, as well as straight drama such as Holby City, has given up his day job for a full time career in music.

The Bad Shepherds, his new band featuring Maartin Allcock from Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull along with a who’s who of British folk stars, play ‘folked up’ versions of classic punk songs.


How’s it going?

It’s alright. You’re my last journalist today! I feel happy now! I’ve just done loads of interviews in a row.

Do you like doing interviews?

It’s weird. Some of them work and some of them don’t. I’m just trying to work out why that is.

How did The Bad Shepherds come together then?

It’s taken 51 years! It started when I was a baby. I sort of played all the same music we’ve been playing recently for years and years and years on acoustic guitar. Recently, in some drunken episode, I bought a mandolin and started playing the songs on that. It sounded really good. I was with Neil Innes at the time and we just started playing these songs to entertain ourselves. It got better and better so I decided to get some proper folk musicians involved. It all came together very easily and it feels right. I knew Troy Donockley before, but was a bit nervous about ringing him in case he told me to f*ck off! He turned out to be really keen. He suggested Maartin Allcock and he suggested the fiddle player so we all just met up for a few days rehearsals with no obligation to see if there was anything we liked about each other and about the project and everything and it all went rather well.

Why didn’t you get Neil Innes involved?

No, Neil’s got his Fatso project at the moment, so he’s pretty busy. I’d love Neil to do it but we can’t all do everything.

According to the press release, you’re completely quitting acting and comedy. Is this true?

Never believe a press release! My name’s not Adrian. Band? Is there a band? I’m opening a new hospital. I never plan anything. I don’t plan to go back and I don’t plan to not go back. My whole career has been based around those kind of whimsical accidents that just happen. The forming of this band was an accident and Rik and I doing what we did when we first started was an accident. Accidents are great because they feel like hobbies and hobbies are fun. Eventually hobbies stop being fun, like when we got to the end of Bottom and we were going on a treadmill doing the same thing over and over again. So that had to come to an end and that’s never gonna start again. I think we stopped just as it peaked, which was good. You don’t want to carry on after that as it looks very sad. But that’s not to say Rik and I won’t ever work together again.

So, did you want to do the band for most of your life?

Well, it’s like having a new girlfriend. At first, you’re in love and you want to be with her forever. I’m in love with this idea for the minute so I feel like it’s gonna last forever. But we all know all bands start arguing and split up within about four or five years.

Do you think that’ll happen then?

I imagine it will. I’m already starting to put away little grudges in my grudges cupboard to bring up later. Ask Maartin Allcock. He was in Fairport for eleven years. He stuck it out for that long, so why did he quit then? He said if he’d stayed any longer there was one person in the band he was gonna have to kill.

What are your ambitions for the band?

I don’t want it to get enormous, but I want to be able to fill a 500 seat venue so that we all have a good time. I want to have a really good time doing it and I want the audience to have a good time. I want it to feel like a party. You can’t do that in the very big places.

You’ve paid tribute to metal with your old band Bad News and now folk and punk with The Bad Shepherds. Bad News was quite tongue-in-cheek. Is The Bad Shepherds completely serious?

Oh, no. We’re not taking the piss out of it or anything, but that doesn’t mean it’s straight-faced. I thought punk was quite funny. I thought Johnny Rotten was very humorous. A lot of punks used to make me laugh. They were very funny in their way. I think mixing folk and punk’s a bit funny and a few songs start a bit weirdly so you don’t really know what’s coming. When a song suddenly becomes 'The Model' by Kraftwerk, you think ‘where the fuck did that one come from?’

So it’s not just punk covers?

It’s kind of punk and new wave I think it was called in its day. It’s just the music of my late teens. Stuff I thought was really written but people can’t remember as being well written. Just great songs with really exciting instruments. And me, being an arsehole in the middle of it. I am the jam in the doughnut.

Various online sources say you’re friends with Shane McGowan and Nick Cave. Is that true?

I know Shane McGowan. I did a few videos with them in the eighties. Whether that qualifies me as a friend or not, I don’t know! I haven’t seen him since. Nick Cave is my biggest idol. I’ve never met him. I’ve been to see him on a few occasions performing. I absolutely adore him. He’s the coolest man on the planet. I was once in the same bar as him but decided not to introduce myself. You know when you meet really famous people you really like and they just turn out to be ordinary dickheads? Like you’re doing right now? Well, I thought ‘I’m not gonna meet him, because I want him to remain the idol that I think he is’. Him and David Bowie are the two people who come into a room and I leave. What would happen? It’s be a really stupid little conversation and they might be a bit petulant and then they’d say something really crap and ordinary and your opinion of them would go down.

How’s Jennifer (Saunders, Edmondson’s wife) doing?

She’s fine. I’m just on my way up to see her. She’s got another series of Jam and Jerusalem coming up along with another series of The Vivian Vyle Show, so she’s pretty busy. They’re doing a new pilot of the show after some development to see how that goes.

Is there any sign of you both slowing down?

Well, I’ve been on telly all year, and we’re both really busy. It’s all still pretty much go. The band’s a different direction but I’m just doing what I want to do now. We’ve only got one child left at home so we don’t have to worry about where we are now.

Which new comedians do you like?

I don’t know if I know who they are! I don’t watch any live comedy at all. I’ve always hated stand-up. I find them so boring; they go on for an hour. There’s no dynamic. Where’s the story? Where’s the narrative? Where’s the spark? I don’t know if I can help you there.

How about TV comedy?

My favourite person on TV is Harry Hill. I find him just hysterical. Watching TV Burp is the only way I can keep up with the soaps! I laugh when I see his face in a magazine even.

You didn’t rule out working with Rik Mayall again. Any idea of what you might work on if you did?

We’ve got the idea of doing something in fifteen years, which seems like a long time, I know. But we want to do something when we’re pensioners. We want it to be real and horrible. Maybe like the old people’s version of Bottom. Richie and Eddie in an old people’s home. You know when you’re really old you have a license to do things you can’t when you’re young? If you’ve got two old people, one with one arm and a pacemaker, imagine the fights! The different things you can hit each other with- zimmer frames, hypodermic needles, sticking catheters in each other’s eyes? We’ve got to wait til dementia sets in; then we’ll forget all about it!


The band is currently on tour and plays Brighton’s Komedia on Monday 1st December 2008.

Written by Nick Aldwinckle.