There are no quick fixes in this life. Not even for Fixers. It’s been nearly 10 years since the Oxford quintet released their debut album We’ll Be The Moon. But now, the wait is finally over. Last month, the psychedelic rockers premiered their comeback single Altruistic Love right HERE. And today, they follow it up with the release of their long-awaited sophomore album The Sun, The Moon, The Wind, The Sea. Which makes this the perfect time for singer Jack Goldstein to take a spin through my ridiculous questions. Of course, that’s an entirely different kind of fix.
Introduce yourself: Name, age (feel free to lie), home base and any other details you’d care to share — height / weight / identifying marks / astrology sign / your choice.
Jack Goldstein, 34, Margate/Oxford.
What is your musical origin story?
Every member of Fixers came from a bunch of different Oxford bands. Some of us played in the same bands. I was in a stoner-punk band and Roo was in a sludge metal band. Musically, they were far removed from Fixers, but we all still love that kind of music. I guess, looking back, there is something similar, deep down, that links all of that stuff.
What’s your latest project?
We’re releasing our second album after nearly a decade! It’s the followup to our debut album We’ll Be The Moon, and it’s called The Sun, The Moon, The Wind, The Sea. I’m really proud of it — to me it feels like the return journey of wherever it is that We’ll Be The Moon takes you. It’s like the return to Earth but things go a bit loco and psychedelic en route and we get a bit lost along the way on different planets.
How will my life improve by listening to your music?
No idea. You’ve got nothing to lose though; there are only two albums. You can get it all over and done with in about 80 minutes and then go out into the world and tell everyone how great or shit you thought it was.
Tell us about the first song you wrote and / or the first gig you played.
One of the first songs I ever wrote was called This Crazy World We Live In and I was about nine years old and me and my friend made a band together called Toxic Waste. We were great. I might bring that song back actually — it was a massive banger.
What is the most memorable performance you have given?
It’s tough; Fixers have played so many shows. I think the most memorable ones would boil down to three for me (these are positive, not negative!)
1 | We played Sounds From The Other City Festival in Manchester and did a one-off performance of our re-scoring of Mariah Carey’s film Glitter. We re-edited and re-scored the film and turned it into an even bigger psychedelic monster than it already was.
2 | Our headline show at Modern Art Oxford where Roo lubed up a contact microphone with a load of KY jelly and shoved it down his throat.
3 | Les Déferlantes Festival in the south of France. I think we only played at this festival because Jason, our bassist, got absolutely off his brain on wine and cheese with the organiser of another French festival we were playing and basically agreed to it on the spot. It was this disgustingly decadent festival that was held at a massive villa in the south of France. I just remember being drunk out of my mind in a French villa with parrots everywhere and Sting was headlining. It was an insane mismatch of artists. We stuck out like sore thumbs. There was this hot tub just sitting in the middle of the backstage area and for some reason no one was going anywhere near it. We soon changed that.
What living or dead artists would you like to collaborate with?
This never changes. Brian Wilson is still top and always will be.
What artist or style of music do you love that would surprise people?
I’m actually an Oasis superfan. I’ve got everything they ever released, saw them live eight or nine times and can tell you anything about them. Despite their success, I still think they are underrated and much maligned. It’s classism 101. Middle-class music editorials don’t like it when working-class artists get big and stop singing about being on the dole. It’s fucking hypocritical bullshit. You see it all the time in hip-hop.
What words do you hope people use when they describe you?
Bulbous Skunk Cabbages.
What useful (or useless) skills do you have outside of music?
I can do magic tricks. Mostly just card tricks. I have a love/hate relationship with magicians. In the most part, they are awful, awful people. Even though I’m now one of them, I learned card tricks to try and fuck them over, to be honest. I don’t want another magician trying any spooky shit on me.
Tell us a joke.
What do my profitable and successful music career and ethical capitalism have in common? Neither exist.
If money was no object, where would you live?
I’d live with Sting in that massive French villa where Les Déferlantes Festival takes place.
What would you like to be reincarnated as?
A set of ballpoint pens, engraved with the initials of whomever I belonged to.
Which historic event do you wish you had witnessed?
I would have loved to have seen The Beach Boys around 1972 when they were basically a jam band and had Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar playing with them. I would have lovvved to have seen Madonna on her Blond Ambition tour. I would lovvveeed to have seen Wings live so badly. And The Beatles obvs.
What are your pet peeves?
I fucking hate it when people ask me what my pet peeves are. Seriously though, I don’t really have that many pet peeves. Racism, bigotry and class conflict don’t really count as ‘pet peeves,’ do they? I do hate it when you have a communal bowl of something like crisps or whatever and people feel the need to announce when they’re ‘just going to have one more’. Why not just have your last crisp and make that the one more without having to go through the peculiar pantomime of announcing to everyone else that you’re just going to have one more? I also fucking hate it when I tell people I’m a vegetarian who eats fish and they go ‘Oh, so you mean a pescatarian’. FYI to those people: You’re not unique when you say that and I know what a pescatarian is. I also hate anyone who becomes obsessed with making cocktails and starts referring to themselves as a mixologist. Shit. Maybe I do have some pet peeves after all.
What would the title of your autobiography be?
Viz Magazine Annual 1986.
Who should play you in the movie of your life?
I wanna play me in the movie of my life. Why is that never an option? Or perhaps every member of Fixers could swap and we all play each other? To be honest, it would be a pretty boring film. I imagine it would be more like a cookery show.
What’s your motto?
What’s your wifi password?
What’s always in your refrigerator?
Peanut Punch. It’s a really creamy yummy peanuty milkshake drink that you can buy in cartons from a lot of Costcutters and newsagents. It’s originally a popular energy drink in Jamaica and its main ingredients are basically peanuts/peanut butter, milk and sugar. How could it not be amazing? I’m pretty addicted to it.
What’s the silliest thing you believed as a child?
That, as an adult, I would gain the love and respect of my peers by having large ’70s sideburns. I don’t think it is that silly, actually.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I’d like to be able to fly. Shit, I’ve just answered the question ‘if you had a superpower what would it be’ haven’t I. Still works though.
Listen to The Sun, The Moon, The Wind, The Sea above and follow Fixers on Twitter and Facebook.
