Interview with Luca Isabelle from Cowboy Prostitutes 9. august 2008
Luca Isabelle Cowboy Prostitutes
(Photo by: Robret Johansson) (Photo by: www.2starphoto.com)
Calle: Cowboy Prostitutes started out in 2002. How did you guys meet?
Luca: Well, I used to live in London and then I moved to Sweden and wanted to start a band here so bad, so I put out an add in the local music store and they answered… as simple as that.
Calle: How did you come up with the band name and why did you choose that name?
Luca: It’s also a lot simpler then what it seems: it just came to us that all of us in life (and specially in the music shitty business) are sooner or later forced to do things we don’t really want to do like a whore. And there’s no rocker who hasn’t lived like a cowboy once or twice in his life.
Crazy Cowboys!
(Photo by: www.2starphoto.com)
Calle: What got you into music in the first place?
Luca: Vibrations. When you hear live music and get those vibrations through your body… that’s why I play the bass: that’s the instruments that make the most of them… actually, to the day when I play I can still feel those vibrations shaking me up and it feels great!
Calle: Who are your biggest influences?
Luca: I wish I could name drop you some artistically big acts, but that would be a lie, so…L.A. scene form the 80s and in general anything that makes me wonna go out and have some fun.
Luca Cowboys in the sunset
(Photo by www.2starphoto.com) (Photo by: Robert Johansson)
Calle: Name 3 “older” bands and 3 “newer” bands you can recommend?
Luca: Mmmmm, I had to open a beer for this one. 3 older bands? Ok: Guns’n’Roses , Hanoi Rocks, Junkyard… but there’s so many, it feels pretty silly. 3 new ones? That’s a lot easier : there’s not that many. The Accidents (and us, of course). The 3rd one dosen’t exist yet so…
Calle: After the first record “Cowboy Prostitutes” you had problems with your record label Retrospect and you also lost two members Anders Wickström and Martin Wilhelmsson. What happened?
Luca: Let’s talk about more fun things… they all turned into trees.
Cowboy Prostitutes 2005
Calle: You lived in London for some years playing and singing in different bands. What made you return to Sweden?
Luca: Well, I’m actually not from Sweden, I’m Italian. I moved to London when I was 19 with my guitar and a pack of clothes. Living there was great and I will always consider London as “my home” in a weird way. I met a lot of crazy people and done some amazingly stupid stuff and survived to tell the tale. I moved to Sweden ‘cause I heard it was packed with great musicians and I was right!
Calle: Cowboy Prostitutes recently released a second album “Swingin’ At The Fences”. It’s a great CD and a fun cover? Who did the artwork for it?
Luca: It was a genius called David Cederlöv and as far as I’m concerned he will always work with us ‘cause he’s too good to lose.
Swingin At The Fences - CD-cover
Calle: How do Cowboy Prostitutes write the songs? Does each of you come up with ideas or do you all write together?
Luca: I write the songs as the general idea and then we all arrange it in the rehearsal room, sometimes making it a completely different song from what I had thought.
Calle: Where do you find the inspiration for the songs?
Luca: I observe the world around me.
Calle: They rock/sleaze scene seems to be “big” in Sweden. What’s your opinion on that?
Luca: I think it’s cool. As long as people have fun, it’s cool. When it becomes an obsession or (even worst) a fashion, then you have a problem and I think that’s happening in Sweden right now: the music suffers and the make-up industry gets richer.
Calle: You have toured Sweden and parts of Europe. Do you have any plans on a new tour in the near future and what about touring The US?
Luca: Sure, any tour is cool. Have you got any offers in mind?
Luca live on stage
Calle: If you could go on a big world tour supporting “a multi million record selling” band. Who would like that band to be?
Luca: Guns’n’Roses with Steven Adler on the drums. And only green Smarties in our changing room.
Calle: What’s the most fun experience your have witnessed on the road?
Luca: It was with Sonic Boom Boys: we were sleeping in a motel somewhere in Germany and I got the room with the crew ( speed freak driver, Gustav our manager and Rob Morrison, our “roadie”). Well, while I try to sleep between the roadie snoring his guts out and the driver jumping on the bed with his headphones in is ears, the roadie (Rob Morrison) get’s up in his sleep (mind you, the guy is a really mean Scottish dude with the typical ex royal marine reputation : you don’t fuck with him… actually that very night he destroyed the entire biker club we had been playing in at an amazing arm wrestling competition he himself had started)… well he decides to go for “sleep walk” and I’m NOT gonna stop him, if you know what I mean… problem is we were right by the big motorway and, hehehe, he comes back an hour later with two terrorized policemen who basically saved his life when they found him crossing the motorway in his sleep. He just went back to sleep while we had to convince the local police that it wasn’t a really good idea to come back in the morning…
Calle: Where do you see Cowboy Prostitutes in 5 years?
Luca: Hopefully playing bigger gigs and selling enough albums so that I don’t have to keep on struggling in my life.
Per (drums) Luca (vocal/bass) Simon (Guitar) Tobbe (guitar)
(All these 4 photos by: Robert Johansson)
Calle: If you could put together your dream band (not including anyone from Cowboy Prostitutes). Who would be in that band?
Luca: Axl, Duff, Slash, Izzy, Steven Adler.
Calle: What’s the best advice you can give to other up-coming bands?
Luca: I needed another beer for this one… you see, I found my favourite Italian beer (Nastro Azzurro) here in Sweden and I’m loving it! You should try it. Anyways, best advice? I’m not really the one to give advices , but , if I must: be yourselves and NEVER listen to those idiots that are gonna supply you with free drugs so that you can play even better and be more Rock’n’Roll… if it was so Rock’n’Roll what the fuck are they doing selling drugs like a rat?
Cowboy Prostitutes
(photo by: www.2starphoto.com)
And now some questions outside music:
Calle: What was the first CD you ever purchased?
Luca: When I was a kid there was no cds: The first cd I bought I can’t remember, but the first vinyl was Europe’s “The final countdown”.
Calle: What do you do when you’re not playing music? What’s your other interest?
Luca: I play LEGO (and all sorts of other games) with my four years old daughter.
Calle: What’s your favorite drink?
Luca: What I don’t have tonight: Jack’n’Coke
Calle: Do any of you have another education? I mean, what did you guys do before Cowboy Prostitutes?
Luca: I’m a sound tech. I’ve recorded our latest album in my studio.
Calle: Who is your most favorite person in the world?
Luca: My daughter, without a doubt
Calle: Any last words for the fans?
Luca: Buy music and go and see bands live!!! Music as we know it is disappearing and we (the bands, not the labels) need your support to keep it alive!! Take care
Luca in the spotlight
THE END
