Brendan living the rock 'n roll fantasy as Wheatus return to Inverness
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What is it about Teenage Dirtbag that has kept it so popular seventeen years on from its release?
Wheatus’s platinum-selling single – reaching number two in the UK charts when first released in the year 2000 – has remained a mainstay on rock stations and clubs across the country.
And, during their tour supporting Busted in stadiums up and down the country last year, each night saw packed crowds who knew every word of the song – "a rock ‘n roll fantasy" according to Brendan B. Brown, the band’s frontman and chief songwriter.
"I’ll never get used to the point of the show where that many people just kind of wrestle that song away from you," he explained.
"It’s hard to describe – it’s like the benevolent dictatorship of the crowd, y’know? They want it the way they want it, so that’s how it’s going to be."
Yet when the question is put to him as to how the song has remained so popular over the years, Brendan laughs and answers simple, "Well, I don’t know – I mean, I hope it’s not because it’s just been jammed down people’s throats!
"Somebody did once say to me that Dirtbag isn’t about the generation that it’s in, it’s about the process of trying to fit into it, which is sort of universal in some capacity.
"So maybe, if they’re discovering it on their own because of the cultural phenomenon of being an outcast, then that’s a good thing."
And the band will be hoping for that huge response to continue when they return to Inverness for the first time since 2011 – playing the Ironworks on Saturday.
"Yeah, it was fantastic, man!" he said of his last visit. "We’d never been up before, but the Ironworks was a memorable moment for us
"We got the chance to walk around Inverness a bit. We went to the shops, and heard some of the accents – a bit different from the rest of Scotland. It’s like a Viking outpost up there, y’know!"
The band makes their way to the Highland capital as part of their latest 32-date UK tour.
During life on the road, Brendan – now the band’s sole remaining original member – has learned how to get his hands dirty. Over the years, the singer has taken a hand in building the rigging, fixing the van, and everything in between.
That DIY ethos – that desire to do as much in house as possible – stems, he says, from a long mistrust of the music industry. "When we first came up through the club system in New York, it was the Dark Ages, man," he said. "The music industry was...I’ll just come out and say it, it was a terrible place.
"I had been ripped off a few times in other bands prior to signing a deal with Wheatus – I was afraid of that and kind of built the whole thing around the idea of surviving it.
"Because we were the type to build our own rigging and fix our own van, we survived, because we got our hands really dirty in the building of the infrastructure of the whole affair and we never got used to having anybody do that for us, which I think was very fortunate for us in the long run.
"I think that the music industry was something that we were never really good at in the first place, and we were happy to see the king die – we never really belonged in his court."
And staying removed from the music has worked in the band’s favour. "We have a lot of people that we work with that we trust. I mean, our crew are Scousers. Same with our merch person who’s from Birmingham.
"We work hard to keep the relationships alive – we want the bus driver to know that the Wheatus tour is something he’s going to enjoy, y’know? We depend on those people.
"We haven’t had a manager since 2004, and it means we can say yes to the things that we want to say yes to and there’s no middle man or anything like that. That’s how the Busted tour came about, was just me and James [Bourne] talking to each other."
And that ethos looks to stand them in good stead for the future – after the tour, the band will be putting the finishing touches to album number seven. "Yeah, the adventure continues!" Brendan laughs.
"It’s a completely unique process for us, I don’t think anybody else does things the way that we do them nor do I think that they would necessarily work for other acts the way that we’re set up – it wouldn’t be everybody’s cup of tea.
"It’s kind of part of the deal – it’s not for everybody, but I’ve wanted to do this since I was eight years old, so I don’t really see another way. I’m going to fix the truck that’ll get us to the gig, if I can."
Wheatus play the Ironworks on Saturday, with support from Mike Doughty. For more information go to www.ironworksvenue.com
