The Webb Interview, 22 July 2020

We managed to catch up with The Webb, that goth, techno, punk, genre crossing and totally entertaining duo who hail from the Wirral. DLW set the questions, Marc and Becki answered.

DLW... Fun question to start off with,  if you guys were wrestlers, what would be your wrestler names? 

BECKI... I don't know much about wrestling apart from Big Daddy, so I'll be Mash Potato. 

MARC...Same here, so I'll be Gravy ( to go with the mash) . 

DLW...Where did the name, The Webb  come from? 

BECKI... We fancied a short name and were both huge Gary Numan fans, so we took his surname ( and it kinda also conjures up cobwebs, which i like) 

MARC... It does confuse some people though, they think it's our surname and often spell it with one B (like a spiders web) 

DLW... When did you form The Webb? 

BECKI.... in 2012 

MARC... There was no grand plan to start a band together, it just happened. 

DLW....So did it happen by mistake? 

MARC...Well yeah, I wanted somewhere to keep up my drumming even though I wasn't in a band at the time. I built a soundproof room within my garage. It soon filled up with musical instruments,  amps, microphones etc. My son Connor would jam with mates and I'd record stuff on a Tascam recorder. I played drums, bass, even had a go at leccy guitar. Later I got s synth and a leccy kit cuz it's easier to record drum beats that way. 

BECKI..... I joined in plinking and plonking on my dad's old Yamaha keyboard,  giving these new tunes an 80s pop vibe. I eventually plucked up courage to give singing a go. 

DLW.... How did you end up  going put and gigging? 

MARC..  We recorded 10 original songs and gave out free cds at gigs , it was from this we got offered a slot in an alternative night called Hardware at the Retro bar in Manchester.

BECKI.... That was back in May 2013.

DLW... Did you play drums at that gig Marc? 

MARC...Nooooo,  I had all the music recorded on a backing track. I actually chose to play the bass at our first gigs. It made a nice change from being sat down behind a kit for all those years. 

DLW...And how was it singing first time? 

BECKI.... It was ok... I was strangely nervous but my "Don't give a shit" attitude kicked in. I did stand still on stage for the first 5 minutes as no one had plugged the smoke machine in ... Marc went off stage to chat to his mate but I stayed put..  like a goth lemon , holding my umbrella, and wearing a veil over my head. 

DLW... How do you go and get gigs? 

MARC... We've never actually asked for a gig... the only one I did put us forward for was opening for Lene Lovich,  in 2015, cuz I knew Tony who ran the Zanzibar.  

DLW....Any other famous support slots? 

BECKI.... We did support Crazyhead in Leeds in May 2019...  they were mildly famous. 

DLW.... Do you do any covers? 

BECKI...Yes we do The Exploited's Dead Cities.  We used to do Electricity by OMD ....but got bored of that as it was too similar to the original.  

MARC... Dead Cities works so well we've  kept it in the set. It was funny that it did piss some punks off though (see comments on YouTube) but I'm proud we turned one of my favourite punk songs into something completely different! 

DLW.... Any other covers you do??

MARC... Not in the set.. but there is a compilation available free on bandcamp called , wait for it, " Covers Collection!" 

BECKI... Imaginative huh? Bands we covered  include Siouxsie and the banshees, Dead Kennedys and Action Pact. 

DLW.... Does all your music go on bandcamp?? 

MARC...it's all there apart from 1 album (In a dark place) ... that's still owned by a record company GOTHIC WORLD RECORDS. 

BECKI....We do sell physical cds at gigs. 

DLW... You have full albums? 

BECKI.... Yeah ... Two 10 track cds.... In a dark place,  plus Truth Delay.  There might be some still available in Skeleton records in birkenhead . They're back open btw. 

DLW... Did you have much planned before lockdown kicked in? 

MARC.... Funnily enough we were trimming down gigs for 2020... focusing on festivals but yeah both Nice n Sleazy and Rebellion both postponed til 2021 now. 

BECKI.... We're waiting to hear about HRH Goth festival... that's still booked for this September,  1 night in Sheffield,  the other in London.  

DLW... You've been drumming for MDM again, how's that going? 

MARC...  Yeah I agreed to play the reunion show in Leeds,  which btw was 14th March so just in time before pubs closed!! I did have to get some stamina back so I practiced a lot.  

BECKI.... It was great to hear all their old songs again, and be in the audience. 

DLW…. Did you have any tickets to see bands that got cancelled because of covid?? 

MARC.... Just John Lydon at the Gladstone in Port Sunlight . 

DLW.... Back to the Webb now, favourite gig?? 

BECKI....It has to be, for me, last years Nice and Sleazy when we closed the marquee stage and made it a Halloween event (yes in May!!) We had clowns in the audience and on stage... plus Halloween treats and decorations. 

MARC .... There's always some gigs that flow better than others and for me that's down to the on stage sound. But I generally love them all.... from a corner on the floor in a tiny pub to big stages with full light shows.  

DLW.... Do you only mainly play punk gigs? 

MARC.... In the beginning it was mainly alternative/electro bands we played with but we soon caught the attention of goth promoters. Then in 2015 we got on a punk gig in the Star and Garter in Manchester. This was down to DaveFungal punk , who you interviewed recently.  He reviewed a cd we sent him and he loved that we were dojng something different , and still keeping it DIY. I did look at the crowd and think these wont like us, but when we finished there was an actual queue for our merch. So proof we were punk enough!! 

BECKI... I think we are lucky to play to different types of audiences.... Marc and I are not the only people to just like one style of alternative music, so it's great to meet like minded people. 

DLW...  Finally what question would you ask yourselves? 

MARC.... Is there a particular year you'd like to have been involved in (if you had a time machine!) 

BECKI... If you were big enough would you agree to do Top of the Pops or would you refuse?? 

MARC... The answers are 1979 and yes, we would love to do TOTP’s......

Words: DLW, Photos: Adrian Wharton and RBY

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWebb.band/

Bandcamp: https://thewebb1.bandcamp.com/

YouTube: Youtube

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