Saturday night in Newport, and with the GLC on the home leg of an extensive UK tour, Antonia LeVay and Anna Bryl took the opportunity to join the boys for a pint and a chat in the Murenger before they took to the Corn Exchange stage. The tape ended up being about as chaotic as you’d expect, but Buzz managed to get some pearls of wisdom about Cliff Richard, Robbie Williams, P. Diddy and so forth.
Ahead of your concert, celebrating 20 years since the release of the Greatest Hits album – how’s it all going?
I like that. Concert. Can we use the term pop concert? We like calling it a pop concert. It sounds more fun.
Cast your minds back 20 years to that album cover. What was that all about?
It was taken round the back of here, near a car park, but none of the people on the cover are us. If you look at it, it’s all our mates – at that time no one actually knew who GLC really was and we thought it’d be funny if it was just other people on there. We’ve got our mate Ollie the Pea. Misty’s [aka GLC member Mystikal] brother. A lad who does scuba diving now, who ran off with someone else’s missus and didn’t pay rent. We don’t mention Carl.
Wasn’t the inspiration to form GLC from another band?
The Beatles. Yeah, we probably ripped it off. The Beatles had the greatest hits and we knew that they had done well. Everyone likes the greatest hits of the Beatles. The people in America couldn’t relate to eight random people outside the front of a car park in Newport, so we had to tie it into something that they recognised.
Why did the Americans relate to you so well?
The natural charisma and the charm of it. I mean, look at this, you see these guys. Look at them. Can you feel that? He’s smelling his own gas. They love that over in America. They all smell their own arse. You know what I mean? I’m not one to question them. It’s hands across the water. We’re all united by music. We’re pumping gas in America.
You released six albums before that Greatest Hits album.
(P Xain) I can’t remember. Eight albums? And that’s why we eventually ended up doing a gig – we’re in a band and we hadn’t done a gig, so we had to do a gig. Then it all just kicked off.
So where did your initial influence come from?
(P Xain) It all started pretty much with lots of mistakes. This very pub, the Murenger in Newport, is where we all used to hang out and drink. They used to have a Ridge Racer driving game. We’d spend hundreds of pounds coming in here, absolutely nutted, playing Ridge Racer to see who could get the best score on it, and somehow that ended up with us making music. They also had a jukebox. We found out there was a button on the bottom of it. When you press it, it would eject the song. So, like, whenever anyone put on Suede.

How has your stagecraft developed?
Over the years the stagecraft we’ve developed is sensational, it really is – that’s what brings people coming back for more and more and more. We cross a lot of generations; it’s usually when the mothers start crying that we know we’ve really got there. Very educational. We were playing in Bristol once and two really small children, about three and four, came running up to me and Adam and went, “my mam’s got a penis!” Just like that. I looked at the parents and they were like, it’s alright for today. If they say it any other day they’re getting a clip, but we bring the family together.
Then there was that time in 2005 when the FAW asked the GLC to play at the Millennium Stadium before the Wales-England game… and you dedicated Your Missus Is A Nutter to David Beckham. So what exactly happened post-match?
(Eggsy) There’s a long story behind that. Very long. [Victoria Beckham] was in the crowd. She came up to me afterwards. She said, “do you want a fag?” I said, “I’m a professional, I’m not smoking before a show!” She genuinely loved it. David laughed. I ended up in Spain with David for about a month – he’s got a villa with his own bar built into the living room – they’re a lovely family. I can vouch for this.
I spend every summer with Cliff Richard in Portugal – we drink wine on his vineyard. It’s not quite as believable as the David Beckham story, but it was a good try. I know Cliff… lives with a priest. Well, he left the priesthood to live with Cliff Richard. True story. They’re very good friends. Nothing else happens. They’ve got separate bedrooms.
Has Cliff come to see your concert? Sorry, pop concert?
(Eggsy) Yes, five or six times. No, he hasn’t. That wasn’t Cliff Richard. Robbie Williams did come to see us in America, and we wouldn’t let him in. I went out back for a cigarette, because to tell the truth I’m not that enamoured with Robbie Williams. He asked about doing a song with us, and we said we don’t really want to; I said he could do some backing vocals and then he got upset.
Walk us through the dynamics of the band.
(Eggsy) You know how the Simpsons has Groundskeeper Willie – he’s Groundskeeper Billy [gestures to GLC member Billy Webb], and he does my country pile. We’ve known each other since we were about 12 – it’s quite easy to get on when you know everything about each other. We row all the time. Like any good relationship, we’ll bicker, moan and complain, and then we all just get on with it. I tried to smother Misty with a pillow in a hotel once. But he’s still alive.
And highlights? What’s been the highlights, so far?
(Eggsy) Last night was good. The hotel we were in had stopped doing breakfast when I woke up. I had a word with the woman and she said, “look, I’ll get you a couple of eggs and some toast and a cup of coffee.” She didn’t charge me. It would have been 15 quid. 20 years we’ve been in this game.
Evolution of your music… has there been any?
You take the four key swear words, then you rearrange them to a beat and a different BPM. It’s a mathematical formula and it works. We’ve got some pop songs… some of them are clean. We did a song about Lidl, that was family-friendly. The world’s forever changing.
You used to be fans of P Diddy, did you not?
No! Hey, come on now, you’re not gonna get a scoop here. There’s one thing about Diddy – take a look at his mouth. You can always tell a person by his mouth.
What’s in your playlists?
Wired For Sound by Cliff Richard. Best of the Beatles. Opus, Live Is Life… our music is the best, so we just listen to our own music over and over again. I’ll tell you what is good right now – we’ve got two bands on tour with us, Chroma and Getdown Services. They’re lovely bands. They’ve both left their jobs and they’re going full-on touring!
So what do you guys talk about?
With all the social media going nuts, it’s all about content. If you can provide quality content – which we can’t – then you keep going and everything’s fine. We have in depth conversations about going to the toilet. [TV ad voice] “Graham has quite bravely battled his way through haemorrhoids for several years. Graham’s had an intimate bottom procedure, which we’ve all experienced in our own way. But there are a lot of people out there who do have intimate bottom procedures. Graham would like to offer help. If you are struggling with any bottom problems, write to Graham The Bear, care of Goldie Lookin Chain. Everyone will get an answer. Don’t send photos, he doesn’t need that much.”
What does your rider look like?
Well, it changes over time. We’re taking the sandwiches off and we’ve got Pot Noodles coming in. And, of course, Chizz – a creamy energy drink. When you’re a band as big as this, brands come to you and they want you to represent them. There’s the possibility of doing a tie-in with an aftershave fragrance called Glunge, which is really good.
Best gig?
Last night – because we’re still alive. Birkenhead. Birkenhead rocked. The roof came off! Four people rushed to hospital, but they’re OK. The whole tour has been really good. It’s sold out. Black Grape in Newport was probably my favourite gig ever, or Rammstein in Switzerland. Every song was full of pyrotechnics. I saw [American indie band] Bonny Doon in the Welsh Club a couple of months ago – they were just, like, tuning their guitars up, looked at each other, went “you alright then,” and then just started playing. Brilliant.
Any messages you want to get out there to society right now?
Don’t smoke in bed. Always wash your hands. Be kind, be nice. It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice. Hold hands. Don’t swallow chewing gum.
And if there was anything you could change or influence in the world right now?
Adam [Hussein, GLC OG]. Definitely Adam. Change Adam. It’s never going to happen, but stay strong. Stay scummy.
Any last thoughts?
GLC 2025 tour, get your tickets now! All on sale. Right, we’ve got to go and do a soundcheck. Thanks very much.
Goldie Lookin Chain: You Snows It, Corn Exchange, Newport, Thurs 19 Dec.
Tickets: £25 (sold out). Info: here
words ANTONIA LEVAY / ANNA BRYL
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