Ian Prowse, first came into the public eye in the early 1990's as frontman with the indie folk rockers Pele, famous for some energetic live performances and plenty a decent tune. He agreed to be the first to complete our 'Confessions of a former indie star' Q&A. He talks about his time in Pele and also his current band Amsterdam who are performing the Pele album 'Fireworks' in Liverpool on March 5th and London 21st May. Also check them out at 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX-afD1eVis 

Which Indie band were you in and what did you play?

Pele. Frontman.

How would you have described them as and how did others describe you!

I wanted us to be a poppier version of the Waterboys 'Fishermans blues' era crossed with and a Scouse take on Springsteen. We mainly got tagged as a Dexys style band though, think the curly black hair had something to do with it.

How many albums did you record? Now were they on a proper ‘indie’ label or did you sell your souls to the devil and sign to a major? Were your records any good and are they worth a listen now?

Recorded 2 albums and 1 live one for a major, Polydor. We were never an indie band nor were we ever on an Indie label. The idea of 'Indie' was applied to any young band of lads playing guitars, which when you come to think of it is fucking ridiculous. 'Cud' were 'Indie', Family Cat were 'Indie'. We weren't. Both albums still stand up coz the songs are good. I still play them as part of our set to this day.

How were you treated by the British music press, did you fall victim to their ‘build them up knock ‘em down’ policy?

The press ignored us as best they could. Steve Lamaq once told me it was because the first single (Raid the Palace) went straight onto the BBC Radio 1 Playlist and that was the end of any chance of NME backing. The quality of the music (or indeed, its sentiments) never once came into it. Sounds, Melody Maker and even the NME were forced to give us great live reviews but none of them championed us, they were too busy dissecting 'Gene' B sides. I sometimes wonder which council offices the people from all these bands work in.

Did you manage to get onto Top of the Pops (before it was criminally axed) and as many indie bands of the time did you do a kids Saturday morning show and if so what was that like?

We did the Saturday morning shows 3 or 4 times. It was excruciatingly embarrassing. I wanted (and still want) to be in the Clash but once the weekly music press had made up its mind to give 1000 Yard Stare the coverage we had to do all the other stuff to push the records.

What do you remember of the touring circuit, did you partake in the whole rock and roll lifestyle? Any good stories you wanna share (or go on!).

We started touring the second we got signed. We didn’t stop for 5 years and I still reap the rewards of all that slog to this day. People have stayed with me and my music and I'm convinced it's because we put in the hard work at the very start. It helped tremendously that I love going on the road. If it was up to me I'd get on a tour bus right now and not get off till the day I died.  I'm still the only person I know who has thrown a TV out of a hotel window (7th Floor. Glasgow Trust House Forte, 1992). We were a drinking band. Did we partake in the whole Rock and Roll lifestyle out on the road?...I did yeah....and then some... times 10. Still waiting for the knock on the door :-)

What was the biggest and also the best gig you did?

Supporting Iggy Pop in Portugal to 30,000. We ate him up for fucking breakfast. Phoney old rocker.

Conversely what was the worst gig of your career and why?

Somewhere in a barn outside of Taunton. An 'Indie' club. About 6 people turned up all with Levellers tops on. Though that was the worst Pele gig, we did an unmentionably bad one later on with my next band.

A member of The Tansads wrote a book about their time as a failed indie star, have you fancied writing about your time as an indie star?

The Tansads supported us on many occasions; they always had that northern air of grim misery about them so I’m not surprised one of 'em wrote a book of abject despondency.

Do you ever get recognised as a former indie star? What was the weirdest fan thing that happened to you whilst you were an indie star?

Yep people are always telling me about the shows they came to. I love it, it's cool. None of the weird things the fans did (and there were plenty) were as weird as the people in the band.

What were the reasons behind your bands split and were you glad they did so?

The A & R guy who signed us left the label. The new guy wanted to make his mark. It was 'suggested' I did a solo album. 'I don’t wanna be George fucking Michael' I stupidly responded. The rot set in there, it took another 2 years and a whole heap of legal wrangling to finally kill us off.

What have you done post indie stardom?

Errr... Formed a better band and wrote better songs. 'Amsterdam' have hit the top 40 (Number 32 with 'The Journey') performed live 4 times on the Janice Long show, been Elvis Costello’s band, duetted with Elvis for EMI, written 'Does this train stop on Merseyside?' which was John Peels second favourite song and taken to Number 1 in Ireland by Christy Moore, released 'Arm in arm' which was voted 14th best album ever out of Merseyside by Liverpool.com, drove them mad at Glastonbury.... Pele never did any of that.

Do you miss the ‘old days’ of indie stardom and are you still in contact with your former band mates?

Not at all because I've carried on being what I'm here on earth to do and you tend to appreciate and enjoy things when ya get older.

Nostalgia seems to be fairly decent box office at the moment. Have you joined the boom of reformations / would you consider ‘getting the old band’ back together?

We've all met up in the past 2 year and it was fun. They play music in a very specific way which I enjoyed re-visiting, Robbo the Hammond player is a creative genius/head the ball. There was a certain amount of everyone feeling they needed to put it to bed so we did 2 gigs which were as bonkers as they ever were back in the day. But ultimately people know me more for Amsterdam now so there's no point in it going any further.

There also seems to a current vogue of playing albums in their entirety, what do you think the attraction to the bands for doing this?

It's a symptom of economic and artistic crisis within music. The industry is fucked because of free internet music and the new bands don’t seem to be able to conjure up new melodic twists out of the classic 3 and half minute pop format.  So people are looking back to classic albums. To be fair to the older artists even albums which weren’t that commercially successful are suddenly sounding like artistic gems compared to many contemporary album releases. Remember the days when all 12 songs were brilliant, whatever happened to that concept?!

Finally how would you want your former band to be best remembered?

Well I see Pele as part of a life’s work (which began with bands before Pele). It was a great time because it’s how I got my first break and I'm proud of what we did, especially the gigs. I've done 3 albums since those days though and am now working on a 4th so to me it’s just part of my story, no more no less.

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February 2011