After an extremely hot and uncomfortable rush hour tube ride (made worse by the untimely heat) I arrived at the Scala red faced and flustered, water bottle in hand. Luckily I didn’t stand out too much as there was a lot of running around being done by the tech guys and their faces were nearly as red as mine. Fortunately my interview was in a nice air conditioned bar. Although I had turned up expecting to interview Grog she was otherwise engaged. Instead I had the pleasure of interviewing Drew Richards. As we sat down to the interview Drew sympathised with my rush hour tube experience and then we begun….

Hello gentlemen. How has your tour with Panic Cell been going so far?
All good thanks, they’re a bunch of groovy fuckers just like us so we’re getting on like a house on fire!

What are your top 5 Road Rules for being on tour?
1. Jagermeister
2. Jagermeister
3. Jagermeister
4. Jagermeister
5. Jagermeister

Where did you get your band name, GU Medicine from? Are you not-so secret fans of the body’s Genito-Urinary system?
It comes from the long and lonely hours spent in the clinic after ill-advised daliances with ladies of loose moral fibre. One of us, who shall remain nameless, spent a lot of time up there as a wee whipersnapper. He still remains steadfast in his explanation that he was not promiscuous just dreadfully unlucky…

You have just released your new album ‘Lords Of Oblivion’, how does the album compare to your previous material?
When we started writing this album we wanted it to have more of a live feel. To try and take some of the studio polish of the previous two albums away and strip it back to basics. The songs are a lot more focussed and I think in comparison the our other material it feels more cohesive as an album. Jason (Sanderson) who recorded it did a great job of just sticking the mic in front of the instrument and getting a real honest sound. No bullshit just fucking rock ‘n’ roll

What stories and themes do you cover within the songs of ‘Lords Of Oblivion’?
Thoroughly selfish and nihilistic drug and drink fuelled blowouts, and the people who make life interesting. The last song is called “The Hangman Has Been Hired” which is about knowing that something really shitty is going to happen to you, like being hung by a hangman who wants to make it last as long as possible and watch you squirm on the end of the rope!

You have been teamed up with Jagermeister for some time now, how would you say they help you and other bands within the music industry?
Jager are great, plain and simple. They give their backing to bands that they believe in and help out in ways that you just wouldn’t or couldn’t get without being signed to a major label. They’re also like a quality seal, if you see a band is Jager backed then you know they’re going to be cool. And the nice people at Jager give you the stuff for free. Which leads nicely to the next question…

Do you find yourself having Jagermeister parties often during long tours?
How can you not!? All that lovely Jagermeister sloshing about it’s hard to resist. Next thing you know Me and Murray are wrestling in some roadworks. Happy times

Out of all the GU Medicine and Panic Cell on-tour family, who is the biggest partier?
Our drummer Murray got so wasted one night he ended up shitting in his trousers. Tena Gentleman for him in future I think. Bobby from Panic Cell can fuckin neck the black juice too, I have never seen a man chug so much from one bottle of Jager in all my days.

How do you feel online platforms, like Spotify, affect you and your music?
I’m all for Spotify and Last FM. I’m just glad it gives people the opportunity to listen to bands they might not otherwise have had chance to listen to. Not all bands have big budgets to spend on press and getting their name about but lots of bands have music that’s more than worthy of being out there for the public to listen to. Fuck to the big record labels

If you could have written one song, what would it have been and why?
That music that’s on TV whenever there’s a group of people walking toward the screen. You know the one, derrr derrr da. I’d be using £50’s to wipe my arse if I’d wrote that fucker.

What can your fans look forward to in 2010 from GU Medicine?
Hopefully getting out on tour as much as possible and doing some grade-A rock action. We might try and get a handful of new songs down too, there are a few riffs knocking about that need some loving attantion. And drinking, we’ll be mostly drinking booze too.

What would you say your biggest highlight as a band has been so far and why?
For a bunch of useless Barnsley cunts like ourselves we’ve done so much cool stuff that sometimes I get a hard on when I think about it. The radio1 Rock Show session was amazing, recording in Maida Vale where all the greats have recorded. Touring with Skid Row was top banana too, them motherfuckers are amazing, a different class! Nick Oliveri, Open Hand. All really, really good times and great people.

Where would you like to see yourself this time next year?
Drunk as shit, on tour, with a pair of seriously horny Japanese twins.

One last random question that we ask every band, if you could be an animal out of a Zebra and a Giraffe which one would you be and why?
Zebra

Thanks for your time; do you have a message for your fans reading this?
Keep it real, stay in school and winners use drugs.

Interview By Trigger