TARD We always all liked bands that were exciting and loud and energetic but really we didn't set out with much of a 'plan', we were just good friends that happened to have been in two bands that broke up around the same time so it was more that we all wanted to be in a band with our drinking buddies rather than try to create a specific sound. We're still better at boozing than playing but you know, it gives us an excuse to tip a few and make fools of ourselves in different places around the country.

SCRUFF I think we always wanted to sound the way do now, it just took a while to get it together. It was working with the right producer that helped us to get the sound I'd always heard in my head, what we wanted to sound like.

MICKEY The way we sound now is probably pretty much what weve always aimed for. As Scruff says, maybe we would have been at this stage much earlier if wed have changed drummers and had the right producer!

TARD Basically if something can go wrong then it usually will, but that's ok because, like I mentioned before, we're all friends and to me that's the most important thing so we just deal with whatever happens and move on, it never becomes too big of a deal and we can always just laugh it off. We've had the lot, labels going bust, vans breaking down, records getting released the day AFTER we get back from tour, the list is pretty much endless.

SCRUFF We do have bad luck but maybe we're more open about it and broadcast our bad luck where other bands just keep their mouths shut. After growing up with the Adicts and seeing some of the troubles they had, ours are small potatoes.

MICKEY Its true that were not afraid to tell people about all the crap that happens to us but I think the timing of some of it has had an effect on where we are now. Its nothing that Id personally lose sleep about though and were probably a better band for carrying on and like Wolfie says, laughing it off when most other bands would quit.

TARD We warned him and warned him not to get involved with us since everything we do is either cursed and doomed to failure, or we're just lame and never get our shit together, but still he wanted to put something out so what can ya do? It is good being on the label, Mark's a nice guy, really enthusiastic and he does a great packaging job with his releases, and plus we already thought the UK Base web-site was a really cool idea so we didn't have to think twice about it really. Just hope our curse doesn't rub off on him.

BL: Whats your favourite and least favourite release (of your own) and why?

TARD I don't really think about our stuff like that, I never play anything of ours at home, it's like once something is recorded then it's done, who wants to hear it again? I can't say I'm massively into the new one, I like a couple of the songs on it though and do like both the albums too. If I had to answer this question, and it appears that I do, I suppose I prefer the faster punkier songs and don't so much like the slower ones, but I understand you have to have some diversity in there. I have fun playing more or less all our songs but listening to them once they're on tape or on sale, nah, not so much.

SCRUFF 'All We Have To Do Is Stay Together' is probably my least favourite, I like the song but we hadn't found our sound and it doesn't kick like the newer records do, with Rupert Coulson producing. My favourite would be either 'Amstradivarius', the album we haven't released yet, or 'Tribulations', it's hard to say which one I like better.

TARD Always find questions like this tough because I always forget to mention bands I really like, but off the top of me head I'm definitely a fan of Blocko, the Morons, Operation Nail Bomb, Girlscouts, W.O.R.M, Griswalds, Panic, Goober Patrol, Stuntface, Whizzwood, loved the Identity#1 album, shame they broke up, I like the new Annalise record, the new Barberskum, new Two Day Rule, and there's some good local bands like Nemo, Violent Playground, Red Flag 77 of course, pretty good new one called Blue Gandhi too. Actually lately there's been a lot of good UK stuff I've been sent for review, things have improved a ton in the last year or so. In At The Deep End have snagged a bunch of them as it goes, the 'Amped Up' comp is a really good example of the goods things happening in this country right now.

SCRUFF Blocko, W.O.R.M, Mahoney, I think I like all the bands we've promoted in Ippo, after doing the Topless America club with Wolfie and getting bands through his fanzine nobody's been a let-down live. It's just that without the US funding there is for production they maybe just can't quite compete on the recording front.

SCRUFF Yeh, a little, but it's the same in America as well I'd say. I think a lot of young bands wanna copy the big bands like Green Day and NOFX but they'd maybe do themselves a favour if instead they listened to Richard Hell or The Cars or something like that, just to change things a bit. They might find they come up with a better mix or something.

MICKEY Scruff now writes most of the songs. In the early days Wolfie would contribute most of the lyrics and I used to write the occasional tune. We all have our individual input though and add our own bits and pieces.

SCRUFF I used to write the music first and I'd sing into a Dictaphone whatever melodies and lines came to mind, fill up a tape's worth and then go back to the start and fill in the gaps. Some of the accidental words that come out on the first run-through sometimes stick. Lately, after my divorce and other girl problems, I've been writing lyrics all over the place for the first time.

TARD Ha, 'music career', good one. Have never ever considered it to be a 'career', I know what your saying and what you mean, that your not talking about it in a fiscal way or whatever but still, that's something I've never thought about. To me it's just something we do because it's what want we do, it's inside us and we just have to do it and since we've been buddies for something scary like 15 plus years it's like it's just part of our lives. But am I happy with it? Yeh pretty much, I've never been one for getting loads of press in shit like the NME, Ive always preferred zines, Ive never wanted to sign to a major label and never will so yeh, things are going more or less about fine, we play some shows, do some recording sometimes, get songs on comps or release a record of our own every few months, that's ok. And yeh we sure have the 'thirst' all right, basically we've learned that it's best to do anything we can to weasel out of headlining so we can get our set over with and then concentrate on the important things, namely boozing and, after that, a bit more boozing. Lovejunk is as Lovejunk does and as long as it keeps being fun we'll still keep going, I mean it's not like I wanna be 40 and playing because I always thought seeing bands full of old men was embarrassing for all concerned but that's a long way away as yet and for now yeh, we have a lot of laughs and probably all the best times in my life have been more or less band-related so we'll just keep going with the flow.

SCRUFF I still have a definite thirst. Because it's taken us this long to get the right producer and drummer, to sound how we've always wanted to sound, there's lots of material we wanna play and ideas we still want to try. So I would say, since we did the 'Punkinvasion' comp and Paul joined us on drums it could have been a new band, like the old Lovejunk ended and the new one started, so it doesn't seem that long, it's almost like before we were a different band. At some point I'd love to make an album as diverse in style as the Replacements' 'Let It Be' or something like that. And if all this means I can somehow get to meet Jessica Alba it will have all been worthwhile.

Lovejunk c/o

64 Chatsworth Drive
Rushmere Park
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP4 5XD
ENGLAND