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The infamous Garage gig
Back in 1999, One Minute played at the Highbury Garage, London for what would turn out to be the bands final Mean Fiddler gig.
Brian "Yap" Barry (vocalist) gave the following interview in the aftermath to try and set the record straight
There have been rumours that people were having epileptic fits and screaming. It was all bullshit. The 600 people that were there that night know what went down. The rest of you won't, so too bad. It was one of the best gigs of the decade and it happened to be my band. I have been to a lot of bands but the response we got was just unbelievable. I just think we've got such a good rapport with our audience now. We're about the audience. We don't ever go away believing that it was about the band. Kerrang! said that in a couple of years' time, 10,000 people will have claimed that they were there that night. It wasn't contrived, it wasn't planned. You know, we played the Borderline and a couple of pipes got broken. Water pissed out onto the floor and it looked spectacular. It looked great. The lights went out and we had to go on in the dark.
People left and went "Oh, man, that was the gig of the year," and they came expecting the sequel. I had said to the band the night before we played the Garage that people think of us as the band that destroy buildings. We don't want to encourage that as it attracts the wrong sort - we'd just attract violent people who just want to come for violence, rather than music and entertainment. So I said "Let's just ride it for a while. Let's just play a few gigs and get back on track." But before we'd even come on kids were hanging on the lights. But we are accountable at the end of the day. We did incite it, but we didn't plan on inciting it. But if you remember, there were kids hanging on the lights before I even opened my mouth. It wasn't until they threw out one of our fans that we took a stand. That's when I went "Fuck this shit" and saying "Pull the roof down!" was always tongue-in-cheek - at the same time when I said "Wreck the place!" I didn't want it wrecked. I wouldn't change it. No matter how much trouble I'm in I wouldn't go back and change it. I grabbed the moment, I've no regrets. Whoever stole the cigarettes is a wanker. I would never condone that for a second - they took advantage of a situation. So tough fucking shit to them if they get fined or sent to jail. And the lights and the ceiling coming down, obviously I didn't want that to happen either. Shit like that happens. But they threw out our fans. I mean, if they threw them out for fighting, fair enough, but the only violence that night came from security. They were violent. I heard this rumour that the kids were being beaten up outside and I said "If this is not true, then sorry guys but if this is true, you are a bunch of wankers." Then I heard at the end of the song that it wasn't true, so I said, "By the way, what I heard wasn't true, so sorry." I went up to them personally and said I was out of order.
Then a friend of mine who had been to about fifty of our gigs said that it was true and that there were people having their faces thrown onto the footpath. There were lots of stories. They threw out Chris and Ryad and I know these guys - these guys are not trouble-makers. I go out with Ryad all the time, I go to his clubs. They love violent moshing but they are some of the friendliest guys I have ever met. If you are going to throw out five or six guys for moshing, throw everybody out. You can't make an example. You either have no moshing or you allow it. So I took a stand for it. I didn't care how long it lasted, those kids were coming back in.
You always feel different the next day. I remember coming off stage seeing some kid hanging off the electric cables. I remember thinking, "Oh my God, he's going to get electrocuted." I kept thinking to myself, why didn't I stop him? There was so much commotion. I don't want to be involved in something where people get killed.
People don't realise that we're all about the kids. Eddie answers all the email. Glen got an email about a kid outside who couldn't get in. He didn't have a ticket. Glen bought a ticket for fifteen quid off a tout to get the kid into the show. He bought a ticket from a tout, and he hates touts, so that this kid wouldn't get turned away. I mean, that says something. Our band spends more time talking to the kids than any other band. We found out last week from Kerrang! that we actually get hundreds and hundreds of letters to Kerrang! asking how come all bands aren't like OMS? Our company think that we're great at PR but it's not PR - we just like doing it. We don't go out to the audience just to get a pat on the back and be told that we're a great band. We love to out and meet them to say hello. When I was a kid I always wanted to meet my favourite bands. And I always swore that if I was ever in that position I would practice what I preach. And nobody gets thrown out of our gig. But obviously we want to become successful and we want longevity and all that crap. But we can't compromise.
Rock and roll is dead. The beast has been tamed. I mean, fair enough, we're paying for the damage and we've apologised to the Mean Fiddler. I understand that people have to make a living, and I respect all that shit, but some people panic all the time, saying "Ooooh, you can't wreck a venue, but in years to come, we'll all look back on it. People now look back on the Sex Pistols and think about how tame it has all become. There's no rock and roll anymore - they're all just worried about their careers. Everything they say is calculated, knowing what to say and what not to say. I say whatever I have to fucking say and fuck anyone who doesn't agree with it. I make mistakes and I apologise for them. I've pissed off Howard Stern, the biggest fucking DJ in New York, who would have maybe played us on his show. I told him to shove his show up his fucking arse, because he exploited a handicapped girl on his show. He took the piss out of her and I wouldn't stand for that. Even though K-Rock were coming down to see my band and they're the biggest agency who would have got me onto the show. He has a three hour radio show and is the most popular figure out there. I said, America, you shove your Howard Stern up your fucking arse and never buy my records again if that's what you are about. And my company were panicking, going, "Oh my God, you can't fuck with Howard Stern," but at the end of the show they were all clapping and cheering. You can't exploit the vulnerable. I said "Shove America up your arse if that's what you're about. I know this will probably finish us off over here. That's our career gone in America, but bollocks to it if you have no integrity." It just happened to swing in our favour, and that's the truth of it. We thought we were finished and to fuck with America's biggest DJ was hard, but we can't let our career come before our integrity. That's what it comes down to.
I've been making it clear ever since that we don't want a reputation as a "demolition band" but people always remember you for your worst day. We've played all over Europe and never even broke a light bulb. We've been told so many times that we're the nicest band they've worked with. We respect everybody. We respect the doorman. The manager. There's nobody more important than anybody else as far as we're concerned. We're always happy and are always invited back to play, but people always focus on one day. I say rock and roll is dead and so fucking what. Fucking hell, whoever was there, just enjoy it for what it was. We've apologised, so fuck it. We don't wreck hotels. Bands these days are so boring. That's what will bring us to the top - our love for our fans, and we'll defend them if we have to. People need to stop worrying and analysing everything. All the rumours - people having nightmares and saying that they'll never go to another gig... fuck it - 600 people had a great night out. I'm so proud it was our gig. I hope it doesn't happen again, but I hope we have another gig that good.