About to gift the upcoming Homeless World Cup its official anthem, Cardiff rockers Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard are hitting the ground running. Ben Woolhead catches up with frontman Tom Rees.
Selling out Clwb Ifor Bach, appearing on Soccer AM, supporting (and getting a Radio 2 shout-out from) Noel Gallagher – you’ve had quite a couple of months. What’s been your highlight?
Selling out Clwb would be the main highlight of the lot! Playing with Noel and being on the telly is of course absolutely mental – but nothing ever quite compares to playing a show with the Cardiff gang! People were climbing on the ceiling, and we hosted a boxing match in the middle of the show – absolute madness.
How did your involvement with the Homeless World Cup come about?
I think a bit of divine intervention came into play in the form of our Lord and Saviour Michael Sheen, as Michael had caught wind of our first single and was apparently a big fan! He asked us to be involved, and considering the cause and how important it is to all of us, we were honoured, especially as homelessness is becoming such a deeply penetrative problem across the country and more specifically in Cardiff. The opportunity to be involved meant that we could hopefully make a little more noise about the tournament, and in turn allow for more people who have experienced homelessness to get involved and access help.
What makes a good football anthem? Are there any you wish you’d written or that you drew on for inspiration?
I think football anthems fall into the same category as Christmas tunes. I’m not sure if you can class it as a football anthem, but I wish I wrote I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day by Wizzard.
In John Lennon Is My Jesus Christ you pay tribute to your musical heroes – who’s your footballing hero?
Contrary to popular belief, if that belief exists, I’m not very football mad, though I was a big fan of Gabriel Agbonlahor when I was a young boy – don’t ask me why. I decided I was going to start supporting a football team about two years ago, so at random selected West Ham, though it’s safe to say my interest in them dwindled after a fortnight – it was never the same after they moved to the new ground.
Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard form a five-a-side team: who’s in goal, who’s up front and who’s your ringer?
Ethan’s in goal – he’s actually a really good keeper. I reckon Ed’s our ringer. We’ll bang Zac up front – why not? And then it would probably be best to keep me on the bench.
What’s a good place you’ve been recently?
It sounds a bit high society but there’s a vineyard in Abergavenny called Sugarloaf Vineyards. It’s at the foot of Sugarloaf Mountain and they make all of their own wine – it’s delicious and cheap and beautiful and makes you feel like the Lord or Lady of Abergavenny.
Homeless World Cup, Bute Park, Sat Jul 27 – Sat 3 Aug. Info: www.homelessworldcup.org