The Len Price 3 are a garage rock band from the Medway delta in the UK, home of many great rock ‘n’ roll bands like The Milkshakes and The Prisoners. It’s also the home of garage rock royalty Billy Childish. We booked The Len Price 3’s last two gigs in Dublin, both were stompers. Here’s an interview we did with their lead singer/guitarist Glenn Page. Let’s start from the beginning, when and how did the Lennies form? We got together sometime in 2001. I’ve know Neil for ages and we’d been in a band prior to this one called The Wogans. Steve was a mate of Neil’s from a band called Dr Gonzo. We had our first rehearsal in a boozer in Maidstone but we upset the landlord by being too loud. We got barred but the we booked in the next week under a different name. We got kicked out again for the same reason and it all went from there! We formed with a view to putting together a CD and playing a couple of shows for a laugh. Anyway, here we are nearly ten years later! What influenced you as a band at the beginning? We wanted to do music that was stripped down to the basics and reflected our influences, so The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who, The Clash, Ramones and all that stuff. We also wanted something in the spirit of those Medway blokes, Billy Childish, The Prisoners, Len Bright Combo etc, etc. It took a good 3 years for us to find our sound and start writing decent stuff. It’s never as easy as you might think! How do you find playing rock ‘n’ roll in a world full of boring indie rubbish? Dunno about the broing Indie rubbish but playing rock ‘n’ roll is bloody good fun. There’s nothing else like it. Being well over 25, we were never going to have any truck with the fey trappings of indiedom. We aint Snow Patrol and we certainly aint La Roux! We just want to make music we enjoy without being ponces. We wear our influences on our stripey sleeves and people can either like it or lump it. What’s with the striped jerseys? We fancy ourselves as gay sailors and besides they are very comfortable and hard wearing. Your sound is definitely influenced by Billy Childish, what’s it like living in the same town as the Garage Rock God? Much the same as living in any provincial conurbation with its share of social deprivation I suppose. We live in the Medway Towns but Billy lives in Chatham, wheras I live in Strood and Neil lives in Rochester. Each town has its own character, though Chatham has the highest chav count. Medway can be the sort of place that chews you up. I grew up learning never to look anyone in the eye in case they beat you up and never to stand out because people would take the piss. Fortunately, as a young man, I escaped the towns for a few years and got over those things. What it leaves you with though is a strong sense of wanting to be honest and genuine and not concerning yourself with false pretensions. What equipment do you all usually use? Epiphone Casino Guitar through a Vox AC30, Fender Jazz Bass through a Fender Bassman and a Ludwig Drumkit I love the sound of all your records, where do you record your albums? Ranscombe Studio in Rochester Why there? It’s close, cheap and we love Jim, the owner/engineer/producer How did you guys and Graham Day get together? He started turning up to our Medway gigs in the latter half of 2005 and introduced himself. It was all very sweet and gentlemanly. Anyway, we had him come out to the US and play a show with us, next thing we know, we’ve asked him to produce our album! What’s it like being on Wicked Cool Records? Interesting. Steve Van Zandt is a good bloke. He’s been amazingly good to us. Really supportive. You’re releasing a whole rake of singles in fairly rapid succession, what’sthe thinking behind that? They’re all crackers, by the way! I guess the label wanted to get a good promo job going with the album. Besides the album has been in the can for months. By the time we got to about October and it became apparent that the album wouldn’t be out till January, I guess they felt it was about time the public got a taster! How do you feel about the new album? It’s been a good while coming. I don’t think you’re ever completely happy with a record when it’s finished but I would say I’m probably happier with this one overall than the previous two. I’m not sure why exactly. I think it’s because of the variety of sounds coupled with the standard levels of LP3 energy and enthusiasm. Mark Lamarr told us that he thought the songwriting was particularly strong on this album whihc was really nice. 

The Len Price 3 are a garage rock band from the Medway delta in the UK, home of many great rock ‘n’ roll bands like The Milkshakes and The Prisoners. It’s also the home of garage rock royalty Billy Childish.

We booked The Len Price 3’s last two gigs in Dublin, both were stompers. Here’s an interview we did with their lead singer/guitarist Glenn Page.

Let’s start from the beginning, when and how did the Lennies form?

We got together sometime in 2001. I’ve know Neil for ages and we’d been in a band prior to this one called The Wogans. Steve was a mate of Neil’s from a band called Dr Gonzo. We had our first rehearsal in a boozer in Maidstone but we upset the landlord by being too loud. We got barred but the we booked in the next week under a different name. We got kicked out again for the same reason and it all went from there! We formed with a view to putting together a CD and playing a couple of shows for a laugh. Anyway, here we are nearly ten years later!

What influenced you as a band at the beginning?

We wanted to do music that was stripped down to the basics and reflected our influences, so The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who, The Clash, Ramones and all that stuff. We also wanted something in the spirit of those Medway blokes, Billy Childish, The Prisoners, Len Bright Combo etc, etc. It took a good 3 years for us to find our sound and start writing decent stuff. It’s never as easy as you might think!

How do you find playing rock ‘n’ roll in a world full of boring indie rubbish?

Dunno about the broing Indie rubbish but playing rock ‘n’ roll is bloody good fun. There’s nothing else like it. Being well over 25, we were never going to have any truck with the fey trappings of indiedom. We aint Snow Patrol and we certainly aint La Roux! We just want to make music we enjoy without being ponces. We wear our influences on our stripey sleeves and people can either like it or lump it.

What’s with the striped jerseys?

We fancy ourselves as gay sailors and besides they are very comfortable and hard wearing.

Your sound is definitely influenced by Billy Childish, what’s it like living in the same town as the Garage Rock God?

Much the same as living in any provincial conurbation with its share of social deprivation I suppose. We live in the Medway Towns but Billy lives in Chatham, wheras I live in Strood and Neil lives in Rochester. Each town has its own character, though Chatham has the highest chav count. Medway can be the sort of place that chews you up. I grew up learning never to look anyone in the eye in case they beat you up and never to stand out because people would take the piss. Fortunately, as a young man, I escaped the towns for a few years and got over those things. What it leaves you with though is a strong sense of wanting to be honest and genuine and not concerning yourself with false pretensions.

What equipment do you all usually use?

Epiphone Casino Guitar through a Vox AC30, Fender Jazz Bass through a Fender Bassman and a Ludwig Drumkit

I love the sound of all your records, where do you record your albums?

Ranscombe Studio in Rochester

Why there?

It’s close, cheap and we love Jim, the owner/engineer/producer

How did you guys and Graham Day get together?

He started turning up to our Medway gigs in the latter half of 2005 and introduced himself. It was all very sweet and gentlemanly. Anyway, we had him come out to the US and play a show with us, next thing we know, we’ve asked him to produce our album!

What’s it like being on Wicked Cool Records?

Interesting. Steve Van Zandt is a good bloke. He’s been amazingly good to us. Really supportive.

You’re releasing a whole rake of singles in fairly rapid succession, what’sthe thinking behind that? They’re all crackers, by the way!

I guess the label wanted to get a good promo job going with the album. Besides the album has been in the can for months. By the time we got to about October and it became apparent that the album wouldn’t be out till January, I guess they felt it was about time the public got a taster!

How do you feel about the new album? It’s been a good while coming.

I don’t think you’re ever completely happy with a record when it’s finished but I would say I’m probably happier with this one overall than the previous two. I’m not sure why exactly. I think it’s because of the variety of sounds coupled with the standard levels of LP3 energy and enthusiasm. Mark Lamarr told us that he thought the songwriting was particularly strong on this album whihc was really nice. 

2 years ago