DEVIL'S ISLAND featuring Beggar.
Welcome to this weeks edition of Devil's Island! Every week we maroon a band or artist on the island and see what they get up to, how they cope with being all alone on a small island in the middle of the ocean. It's not your average desert island and we'll see just how each person copes with the extreme conditions.
This week when we arrived at Devil's Island we found London based riff juggernauts Beggar sat on the beach. Having recently released their killer album 'Compelled to Repeat' on APF records we thought they were on COVID-19 lockdown. Turn's out they were actually stranded on our island.
How did they cope with life on Devil's Island? Find out now...
Welcome to The Razors'e Edge and our somewhat lovely, warm desert island. Don't worry about it's name I'm sure it's not as bad as that would suggest.
So you're marooned here on this island, but before you ended up shipwrecked you chose one album that you couldn't live without. Which album did you each chose and why?
Charlie: I was going to bring Thou’s The Archer and the Owle because it’s one of my very favourite records, but actually given how lovely the weather is on Devil’s Island I’m going to bring Stevie Wonder’s Innervision so we can all have a nice time.
Jake: Yeah I was rushing up onto the fore deck trying to get a good view of the descending apocalypse, and there happened to be a copy of Earth’s The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull stashed under my trunks.
Just behind that palm tree is a shack for each of you to stay in, with enough space for you to put up a poster on the wall of one album cover. What album cover do you each chose?
Charlie: I’d put up the poster of Alice Coltrane’s Journey in Satchidananda or Universal Consciousness because I think that seeing her every day would improve my level of consciousness and oneness with the universe and make me a bit less arsey in the mornings.
Jake: House in the Tall Grass by Kikagaku Moyo would have to be up there: a monochromatic, but psychedelic landscape that would probably provide some relief from all those tiresome tropical hues.
There's also a bar on this here island. But alas each of you only get to chose one drink for the entirety of your stay. What's your tipple of choice?
Charlie: Pale ale! But if I had to choose just one… one of the Kernel Brewery ones!
Jake: The romantic in me imagines needing neat rum on ice, a la Hunter S Thompson in Rum Diaries, but the truth is that mine’s a crisp, dry lager.
Your suitcases were lost when your ship sank, but you each managed to salvage one item of band merch. Whats the merch and for what band?
Charlie: It would be the bootleg Slayer shower curtain I used to have because I really miss it and it turned every shower into a brutal Reign in Sud-type experience.
You're sat on the island thinking "I'm stuck here on this island with my bandmates for eternity"... who would you rather have been shipwrecked with?
Jake: I met a guy in a strange place once who had at various times been a Mexican government security agent; a pizzaiolo; a Venetian Taxi driver, and a professional Jazz trumpet player. I reckon he has a few more tales he could tell me.
Charlie: Any other people ever.
There's a walkman in your pocket, on the tape inside is the recording of the one live show that stands out for you. It could be any show, from any band, anywhere in the world. What show is on that walkman?
Charlie: Maybe it would be Led Zeppelin at Royal Albert Hall. That recording sounds fantastic and it’s a wicked set list. Bet it would sound alright on a Walkman too.
Jake: Yob from Hellfest 2019. They played mid-afternoon in big and breezy tent that was half empty; people were strewn like leaves across the grass and the show was transcendental, so it’s gotta get my vote here.
You're getting desperate, you decide the only course of action is to put a message in a bottle and hope someone finds it. Your message could be to any member of any band, but should be the one musician most suitable for a rescue attempt. Who is it?
Charlie: I would address my message in a bottle for the attention of Mr Andrew Field of APF Records, because he could just hop in the APF helicopter and airlift us out of there.
Jake: Elton John.
You've been stuck here for a while and food supplies are running low. There's only one thing for it... which fellow band member gets sacrificed to help the others survive?
Charlie: It’s a shame there’s no real go-to fat guy in this band because that would make this easier. Maybe it would be Jake because the stuff he cooks and eats is so healthy and delicious that I think he would taste the best. I wouldn’t want to be the one trying to catch and kill him though.
Jake: I think Abe would make for a calming meal.
Charlie: I don’t know man, I imagine him being a bit stringy.
Finally, when the ship sank you each managed to save one person from the wreckage. That person is the one musician that has influenced your career the most, shaped your way of thinking and your outlook on life. Who did you save?
Charlie: Maybe I would have saved Mark E. Smith, not that he has influenced anything I’ve done, but I think on a desert island his snarky wit and constant inebriation would really come in handy.
Jake: Strangely, I’d go for Brent Hinds, because his noodling is some of the coolest shit I’ve ever heard, and would love to hold him hostage long enough to teach me how to do it.
Thanks for your time. We hope you get back to dry land before you're next due out on tour!
Thanks! Maybe we’ll stay here after all that.
As we sailed away from the island we left boys enjoying the sun but we couldn't help wonder where the other two guys were. Had they sacrificed them for survival already?
Beggar's 'Compelled to Repeat' is out now of APF Records.
ICYMI - check out the review of the album here.
