Sunderland'-born Stranglers frontman Baz Warne on returning to the North East with new band Wingmen

Q: The Stranglers completed a successful UK tour earlier this year. Has this made you reappraise your decision to retire from touring?

A:: We never said that we would stop playing live. The only thing that we said was that we would stop playing such big tours as we have done in the past. We will do little clusters of gigs and festivals.

We have our 50th anniversary in 2024 so we need to think about what we’ll do for that. We will be playing in France and Spain this year and will also be going down to Australia and New Zealand and then some festivals but nothing in the UK until 2024. We haven’t decided what it will be yet, but it will be something.

Q: Wingmen is a new band you have formed with Paul Gray (The Damned), Leigh Heggarty (Ruts DC) and Marty Love (Johnny Moped). How did this first come about?

A: I knew Leigh as we’ve toured together many times of the years and I knew of Paul but I didn’t know him and I didn’t know Marty either. One day in summer 2020, Leigh called me up and said this guy called Marty had got in touch and he was part of the rhythm section in a band with Paul Gray of The Damned.

Of course, my ears pricked up with that and he said that he’d been invited to join the band and was asked who he’d most like to play with and he said, me. He called me up and I just said aye, OK. It was as simple as that. Within 24 hours we had a band.

Q: Track “Oh, What A Carry On”, is your ode to Brexit. As a musician, how has this impacted on you and touring?

A: I think any touring musician will tell you that it’s been incredibly difficult. There’s been the reintroduction of the old style carnet that we all prayed was a thing of the past.

When I first went abroad with the Toy Dolls in the early ‘80’s we needed a carnet for each border we crossed and we regularly fell foul and sometimes they’d have all of your gear out on the tarmac before we could go anywhere. It’s impacted a lot but fortunately now, the crew deals with that but speaking to them it’s proven to be very difficult.

Q: How do you feel about the record ahead of its record ahead of its release?

A: It’s out on CD on 27th January. There’s a limited edition of white vinyl and the pre-orders are doing very well. We are all very excited about it and can’t wait for everyone to hear it.

Q: How would you describe the Wingmen to those who have yet to hear you.

A: I don’t think that we sound like anyone else, but there is a Stranglers leaning there and some have said they’ve heard ‘Strawberries’ era of The Damned as well as a little bit of the Ruts too.

As a youth, I was always a lover of Angus Young and Malcolm Young of AC/DC where one played from the left and one on the right. So Leigh and I took pains to do that. Me and Leigh are very similar and our tastes are very close too and we worked closely to make it a power Pop Punky and heavy in some cases.

Q: You’re out on tour later this month for a series of shows. Are you looking forward to playing these new songs live?

A: It’s going to be interesting. I’ve never toured at this level for 25 years, sitting in the back of a van with a load of sweaty roadies, we’ll be helping to load the gear in and sharing hotel rooms.

It’s all part of how it started so it’s nice to be able to go back there. We’re doing nine small club gigs so we’re just dipping our toes in the water. Over the summer our parent bands are quite busy but, in the autumn, if this goes well, there’s already talk of doing some dates although it may be an unmitigated disaster but I don`t think it will.

Q: Will you play the whole of the album?

A: There’s only 10 songs on the album and another one that didn’t make the album that’s equally as good that we were saving as a single so there’s only 11 original songs so we’ll have to pad it out with covers and other bits and pieces.

We’ll do the whole album, pretty much in sequence and will pepper it with cover versions including some of the more obscure songs by our parent bands, so there’ll be ‘No More Heroes’ or ‘Golden Brown’

Q: Of course, you have a date in Newcastle on 24th January. Being a Northern lad, you must love playing these shows?

A: It’s always great to play up in Newcastle and I have some good natured banter with the fans about football with me being a Sunderland fan. Playing at the City Hall last year was lovely and I got an incredible reception from them when I walked out on stage so of course I’m looking forward to playing in Newcastle again.

Q: Do you get the chance to go to many matches these days?

A: We did have a tradition of going to the opening match of the season with my Dad, son and whichever of my brothers was around but I lost my Dad six years ago but I did go at the start of this season but I haven’t been since although now they’re in the Championship they’re on the telly a lot more so I do watch those games.

They’re doing great but I fear that Amad will be recalled back to Manchester United any day now because he’s just so good. At the start of the season, I’d have just taken staying up and consolidating but now we are chasing the play-offs.

Q: Is your aim to continue the Wingmen as long as you can when your schedules permit?

A: Without a doubt I’d like to continue as it has gone incredibly well so far. One of the nicest things was, because I was busy with The Stranglers, I hadn’t listened to the songs for months, then I was faced with making decisions about mixes and I was pleasantly surprised how great they sounded when I heard the songs again.

I would like to think we will continue but if it is just a one off then it’s just one of those things. I’d like to do some more shows but time will tell after these nine that we are doing this month. Fingers crossed.

::Wingmen play at The Cluny on 24th January. Wingmen’s debut album is released on 27th January.