First of all, tell us a bit about how the band got together.

Essentially me and Ringo first met at University and formed a band.. we did ok but never made it to the release stage… we then had a big falling out and spent a couple of years in the wilderness moving from band to band when we realized.. fuck it, we belong together and we had the brainchild that is Drugdealercheerleader – music that wasn’t popular to the masses at the time (suddenly it’s now become the ‘new thing’ as people realize they need rock stars again) but music nonetheless that we wanted to play. We found a shit hot young guitarist called Neil (who played in a covers band at the time) and a succession of bass players varying from shit and useless to cool but unstable LoL!! Finally we settled on Liam… a hard drinking sex pervert who plays solid rock n roll bass!

Who would you say were the band's main influences?

We have many influences, not all of them rock / metal and each individual in the band is into different stuff. I would say that we take the best elements of rock n roll from the past 4 decades of music and mould it into something cool, accessible and energetic. It’s a multi-flavoured rock n roll ice-cream!

There are many current bands in the UK now who are playing classic hard rock, such as Roadstar, Rattlesnake Remedy and many others. Do you think the future bodes well for this kind of music, and what part do you think Drugdealer Cheerleader play in that?

As I mentioned above, this sort of music is starting to enter the mainstream and we believe the world is looking for a new breed of rock star. They’re bored with the bands that don’t take risks, that smile nicely and say excuse me when they fart…

Your song `Fireworks' was featured on a CD for the May '06 issue of Classic Rock. How did that come about and how does it feel to know that you are going to potentially be heard by a wide number of people?

We were noticed on Myspace.com by one of the Classic Rock journalists (Sleazegrinder) he picked us as the only UK rock act for that CD because he heard the tunes and thought we represented the new upcoming breed of rock n roll… he’s right too! That CD is excellent by the way – some very cool songs on there by some very talented bands…
You can check out our Myspace page at www.myspace.com/drugdealercheerleader

Is your debut single `I Don't Wanna Go To School' still scheduled for release in May, and what else do Drugdealer Cheerleader have in the pipeline?

It’s actually been put back to July due to some problems with artwork – we’re not allowed to have Drugdealercheerleader on the front cover because it might offend some of the chavs and grannies that browse the rock section in Woolworths!!! We’ve had to compromise slightly so that the cover says DDCL – but the insert / CD itself and the listing reference is Drugdealercheerleader… hilarious since the Sun can print a headline like ‘Sex monsters gang rape a herd of Wilderbeasts’ .. or sumfink!

What's your take on the whole current Emo phase, and does it make you as sick as it makes us?

Emo – Honestly I thought he was good when he got Parkinson round the neck and it’s a real shame Rod Hull died like he did… What does Rod Hull use when he does his washing? …. Ariel and Bounce……
EMO… oh sorry – yeah – boring bollocks. Cheer up you miserable fuckers!!

If you had to choose any band, past or present, that you would liked to have been in, who would it be, and why?

Ohhh there’s loads… I would have loved to have been the singer for Iron Maiden when Blaze Bayley took over. I reckon I coulda held my own there.. But if I had the voice I’d say either Led Zep or Queen – the parties and shows are legendary (the songs ain’t bad either).

What's the weirdest/sickest/most depraved thing that you have seen or done while on tour or onstage?

Ha ha – well I’ve actually vomited a couple of times and shit myself (those high notes are hard to get sometimes)… If you want to shag me after a show my advice would be to let me have 5 minutes to freshen up first! ;0)

…speaking of gigs, any plans to continue with the Gig Diaries that you currently have on your website www.drugdealercheerleader.co.uk?

We’re thinking about re-inventing the website soon. We wanna keep it simplistic but bring a bit more of a visual ‘razzamatazz’ as for the diaries page, we may feature specific gigs when something out of the ordinary happens (a kick arse rock n roll show happens every time) or we may just say to people / fans, if you wanna write a review just send it in and we’ll put it up. We’ve just started having people send pics to us so we’ll see some more of that in the near future.

Finally, anything else you want to add, or anyone you want to slag off, this is your opportunity!

I don’t like slagging off bands particularly because I always say it takes a lot of hard work and a lot of balls to get up on that stage…. Even if I don’t like the music I can appreciate the effort…. All I’d really like to say to people reading this is make sure you join our mailing list and buy the single in July – you can download it for 79p or something and then buy the CD… If 1000 people do this in the same week it will chart – now that would be interesting…. Drugdealercheerleader on childrens TV!!