Robin Wills , guitarist and songwriter with The Barracudas

- Who are you , where are you come from ...
 Robin Wills. Born in London, travelled a bit and then went around the block a few too many times...

 - How did you come into music ? your first souvenir about that ?
 The first record I remember was The Chubby Checker EP -Let's Twist Again. I must have been 3 or 4 years old. I use to play it constantly when playing with my toys. I still have that same old copy. It has toothpaste spread across the grooves, god knows what I was trying to do. It must have been my parents' copy but I took over ownership at a young age….

- What kind of music did you listen when you were young ?
I had a sister who was 3 years older than me and my parents were quite cool. Although my dad was really into Jazz, The Beatles singles were in the house. My dad liked The Beatles, but didn’t like the Stones. My sister was the Beatle freak, so I had to get into something different. So in 64/65 I got into military music! I loved films, especially war and cowboy films, so I was recreating scenes with my toy soldiers with my own soundtracks

- First record ? first gig ? best gig ? Did you ever play in a band ?
In 1966,  on a shipping trip, my dad gave me some money to buy some music. I was 7 years old and had a feeling that I needed to be “more with it”, so I brought 3 records. The Beach Boys Good Vibrations, The Animals EP on Barclay with Don’t Bring Me Down and an EP by The Association with Along Came Mary which was probably my favourite track of the bunch. I played those records over and over…
HA…my first gig was Gary Glitter in 1972! He left the stage after 2 songs and left The Glitter Band jamming. We got the tickets reimbursed. I found out a couple of years when speaking to John Rossal what happened. Gary for something reason washed his wig with shampoo which damaged the cap, so on stage his wig kept slipping, so he had to make a quick exit!
Probably my favourite gig was seeing The Flamin’ Groovies the first time at Imperial College in London in 1976. They were so loud and perfect. As good as I hoped them to be
I was self-taught and spent hours playing a classical guitar amplified with a mic recoreded through a cassette player for distortion. It was 72/73 when I tried to do overdubs and record stuff. I had attempted to do Bowie’s Starman and failed, so I bought some bongos and tried T. Rex’s Deborah, again I couldn’t do it right. Finally I tried Slow Death and it started to gell.

1975: My first gigs playing was as a singer in a band called Lou Chrysler and The Moustiquaires. The other singer was Leo Zouridis who would later marry my sister. I later produced an album for him the 80s when he was in the Mystics. We probably played 3 or 4 gigs. I then tried to form a band playing guitar but it was hard to find kindred spirits. In 1976 I returned to London as Punk was exploding. Again I tried to get a band together but I wasn’t getting anywhere, in March 1977 I joined The Unwanted. Later that year I would meet Jeremy and the rest is well known (The Barracudas)

- Did you were in a youth cult ? for how long ? How did you come into ?
No cult. I was a Glitter Kid in 72/73. In 1974 I bought my first leather Jacket. I joined in the Punk scene in 1976, but became disillusioned by April/May 1977, so detached myself from the increasingly moronic punks

- Your past hobbies ? your best souvenirs ? does style was important for you ?
God, it’s always been music. I was never into playing sports. I can guess as a kid I was a bit of a history buff and recreated famous battles on papier mache sets with tons of airfix soldiers.
Best souvenir, Hard to say. Traveling round Europe in the early 70s on holidays, buying 60s records and having a portable record player. Playing them at night in the hotel. In fact things haven’t changed that much. I love the same records I loved back then…nothing changes much when you find what you like.Style was not as important in terms of fashion. It was always more a case of looking cool. The photo I have included is from 1972 or 73. In 74 I liked The Lou Reed look, so got a leather jacket. I also wore a US army surplus jacket with the Doctor Feelgood logo on the back…

- What kind of music do you listen now ?
Pretty much what I listened to then. I am on an eternal search to uncover new stuff that fits what I like. It is based on the 45. I love 60s Girl Group, Bonehead Crunchers and Junkshop Glam as well as some Powerpop, Garage Punk and Bubblegum. The hook is king

- Your 5 favorite records ? your favorite song (difficult !!! ) ?
My favourite song VERY EASY. Slow Death by The Flamin’ Groovies. When I heard it 72 it changed my life, where at least set me on a course to make music. I still get intense excitement hearing it now.

Other favourites to be in my top 5. Star Studded Sham (Hello), School days (Stanley Frank), Crazy Kids (Trevor White version) and Shake Some Action (Flamin Groovies again)

 http://purepop1uk.blogspot.fr/
 http://godblessthe45.blogspot.fr/