Wrinkly Rockers Club / Oz & Trucker Diablo (TD) backstage at Steelhouse 2024

Interview was after their opening set on the Friday, and on the day of the ‘Bernie Fest’ at Steelhouse.

Primary talker was Simon (Haddock), then Tom (Harte) & Jim (McGurk), with less input from Terry (Crawford) and also some input from Daz and also the TD Road Manager (name unknown, apologies)


Transcript (edited in parts)

OZ - It's working!

OZ - So, we're doing it officially now, thanks for sparing the time. We really appreciate it. I saw an e-mail yesterday fom AJ, and here we are! .......what was the crossing like?, because I went to Roryfest a month or so ago you know. Was it good? Tiring? And did you get some kip before today?

TD - Yeah, three hours, we got two cabins. So, we got on at half one this morning, and we're off at like six. So, we've got three hours sleep. Dublin to Holyhead…… four and a half hours crossing. Yeah, cool. It's good. We can do that shit in our sleep.

OZ - I suppose it's in your game. Do you know what I mean?

TD - If we don’t want to fly over here, it's a necessity. We haven't got the helicopter yet!

OZ - I think you went down pretty well, myself ….It was a good turnout, wasn’t it?

TD - Yeah. Well, the signing tent sort of ran after us. It was fucking packed. We actually said it’s around 15 minutes over your time, you’re eating into King King's time. Not that we want to offend anybody. Yeah, yeah. Not that we want to offend anybody. But, I mean, it’s great for an opening band that can demand that.

OZ - Yeah, it was good, I mean, I came to this festival last year, and I would say it was a pretty good turnout. On a Friday for the first slot, I would say.

TD - I think everybody's ready to go as well. Everybody's had a few beers, a couple of whiskies, and they're ready to hear something.

OZ - Have you played this festival before?

TD - This is our fourth time. Fourth time, yeah.

OZ - I only (first) came last year. So, four times that much! So, you've got a bit of a following then?

TD - Yeah, we’ll be over here doing a lot of our own shows and a few more. I feel like we're back here in two weeks. For Firevolt. Yeah, Firevolt, and then up in Galashiels. For a headliner, then back again in late October.

OZ - Yeah, I think I saw you guys at Rockstock and Winter’s End.

TD - Oh, yeah. Last year, that was pretty good.

OZ - That went down well, I thought.

TD - We just loved it. Yeah. And I think, you know, the people know we're not, you know, we're not just, like, out and about just to be fucking party and rock star-y. Yeah. We just love it.

OZ - Looks like you're enjoying it today?

TD - Absolutely. We do. We do. And I think that it comes across. I think that, you know, the people, well, that's what it looks like, know that we're genuine, you know. We're genuinely having a great time. You know. This is our holidays.

OZ - I haven't been doing this sort of thing for very long. So, when I started interviewing people and stuff like that, I'd write down what I thought, I’d just write down how I felt, and I was advised to put people into categories (for reader information), you know. What do they sound like? What are they? So, I can't work that out with you guys, So, the question is, what inspires you? Because I could hear Megadeth, or I could hear Metallica, or I could hear the Wildhearts. I could hear all of it.

TD - Everything, yeah. Everything from Cheap Trick, Lynyrd Skynyrd (Leonard Skinner!), to Tedeschi, Trucks Band!

OZ - I think you've answered the question! …. ‘Everything’!

TD - In 2008, when we started this band, and our ethos was, you know, we don't have a sound. Yeah. Whatever riffs appealed to us, and whatever sounds good, whether it be a melodic riff or a clean, nice riff for a ballad, or a heavy fucking Slayer riff. Yeah. If it's trucker, it's trucker. Yeah! So, there's no, you know, no set of rules for writing. So, and as long as we can play the riffs. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because we're getting on a bit!

OZ - Do you see any alignment with Monster Truck?, the US band….

TD (& Daz I think) - Can I tell you a funny story about that? Technically, these guys were right before Monster Truck . In Belfast, I was at a gig, and people thought Monster Truck were supporting. Big, huge arena, in the Odyssey. And the people sat down in front of me and went, oh, Monster Truck are supporting. I've seen them in the Diamond Rock Club. They were actually confusing us (TD) with Monster Truck!

OZ - That was what my question and that’s great (you could shut your eyes and just listen!)

TD – We’re (it's) big. It's heavy. It's got that thing going on. But it’s not that heavy. like, as in like, you know, fucking Pantera heavy, but it is at times, but it’s got plenty of weight behind it. Does that make sense?

OZ – Yes, definitely

TD - You know what I’m saying? Someone said years ago, it was ‘Muscle Rock’. And we thought that was a good term!

OZ - Yeah. That’s a good name

TD - It's Muscle Rock. You know. So, I don’t know who it was who coined that phrase!

TD (Daz) - I said it actually. It was me. I coined that phrase, Muscle Rock!

OZ - Yeah. I don't like that badging, but, yeah, if you're looking for a word/phrase, that's a good isn't it!

OZ - I was sitting on the loo this morning, and this question came to me!

TD – That’s where the best Riffs come from, yeah!

OZ - So, have you ever met Bernie?

TD - Yeah. Ten years AGO…. 2015?......and it just so happened, Tom had already. But it was my first. Tom had bought the Bernie Morrison PRS signature model guitar. There was a whole chitchat about that. He (Bernie) was such a lovely guy to talk to. He just kept talking.

OZ - He had a great relationship with this place. Genuine guy, I think. I never met him personally, but a great guy.

OZ - So you've been going quite a while, haven't you?, around 16 years …..any highs and lows?

TD - It's all lows , right? (humorous!)

TD - We supported the Foo Fighters, that was probably the biggest thing.

OZ - So where was that?

TD - That was in Belfast, there was a big show in Belfast. We also supported Thin Lizzy on the last Lizzy tour, and also Thunder too.

TD - You know what the highs are? The highs are getting away.

TD (Jim) - It's nice when it's with a band that you hooked up to and you loved ……or on a bill where you get to sort of run into somebody that as a kid you loved.

TD - Jim actually got to lick Blaize Bailey's nipples….. (or Blaize Bailey licked your nipples!) Blaize Bailey signed my nipples. I thought it was a lick!. This is how rumours start!

OZ - So Blaize Bailey who was with Wolfbane?

TD (Jim) - For me, when I was a kid, Wolfbane were like the best.

OZ – I saw him last Friday at Maid of Stone, he’s in good shape, he had a heart attack, didn't he?

TD - Triple or quadruple bypass or something.

OZ - He looked pretty good and sounded pretty good too.

TD – The lows …. I think the pandemic killed our momentum, like everyone.

TD - And I think now, as I said before, I think this year has really, picked up ….. we've only really started to recover our momentum back again. So, I think for 2025, hopefully they’ll be better things ahead.

OZ - Are you still working/do you have to do another job, or are you doing this full time?

TD - Oh, well, we're all working. That's why we enjoy this time away so much, and we hope it shows on the stage.

OZ - Well, I think it does, personally.

TD - You know, it's never a fucking hassle. That's for sure. It's not. This is our, like, golf. This is our happy place. You know what I mean?

OZ – Yes, fully understand that, I’m not into golf, but I understand what you mean.

TD - But you know what I mean? I mean, guys like businessmen, they work, you know, good work, you know, hard workers, but then they get their golf trips away. So this is our happy place, you know. So far, we all, you know, we all gel as a team. You know, there's very rarely ever any, you know, bad words or whatever. Because we're just so fucking happy to get out of the house. There's no place we’d rather be than in our company.

OZ - Yeah. Sounds cool

OZ - I was over in Ireland in May/June with my wife at the Roryfest etc

TD - Oh, you went to Roryfest?

OZ – Yes!, also up to the North Coast etc

OZ – Where are you guys from?

TD - The middle of Northern Ireland, do you know the big lake in the middle?

OZ - I do. Went past it, yeah.

TD (Daz I think)- They're underneath it!

OZ - So you all live in the same town?

TD – No….. we're about 10 minutes or so from each other, and from Belfast originally. Us four guys, we all sort of grew up in the same sort of area.

TD - Did you ever see Rory live?

OZ – No, bugger! ….. I had a ticket to see him at Canterbury University and he didn't turn up! .....and that was before any mobiles/social media etc. ....1980/81 I think. But it’s my fault, because I could have in the 70’s/80’s …., but didn’t!

TD - Me and a couple of the guys saw him in 1989-90. He was ‘rocking the lock’. Yeah. Darren (Daz), what year was Rocking The Lock? …..'89. Yeah.

TD - There was Rory, Dare (Darren Wharton) and Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts. I turned up thinking, you know what, at that time I turned up thinking to myself, I want Thrash and nothing else but Thrash. You know, all I wanted to hear was Thrash Metal and I was only there because, you know, it was a place to fucking hang. Rory came on and we were all …..Who's that sounding like?...... but within five minutes we were all like….. ‘Holy fuck’ …... and that was it for life. You know? Just phenomenal. Phenomenal.

OZ – Phenomenal, yes, the best I think

OZ – The West Coast of Ireland is beautiful, but the North Coast is beautiful, that North Coast is something else actually, the first time I've been there.

TD - There's some incredible beaches and all there and the views are really impressive, yeah. But the West Coast, I love the West Coast, for me the West Coast is more gentle. But then I've done the North Coast a couple of years ago. I was going to myself, I'm being a real snob going to the West Coast! The North is every bit as beautiful as it looks.

OZ – In the Southwest of Ireland you've got those sort of fancy towns that are quite chill and you haven't got so much of that sitting up on the North Coast

TD - So there's like one shop and 30 pubs…… like you've got one grocery store and the rest of the buildings are all pubs. Church and a pub ……Church and 30 pubs. Yeah. It's like, you know, you can go all the way to the coast of Ireland and you can bring one or two beers and you get your wife to drive and you just go to the fucking coast! …. and you can just literally sit there. Yeah. And there isn't a soul until America. You know? There isn't like, you know, there is nothing anywhere. It's beautiful. It's amazing. Even in the rain and the wind and everything. It's just beautiful.

OZ – We went to Bushmills and a tour of the Distillery too.

TD - Yeah, it's nice. But I'm a fucking zealot. I like Bourbon. I don't like Irish or Scottish whisky …I prefer Glenlivet to the Irish.

(Conversation about Bourbon, and fake Tesco and Aldo Bourbon’s too!)


TD – Hope we’ve covered everything you wanted?

OZ – Thanks, yes, I had some questions written down, but this has sort of flowed, it’s been great

TD - We talked shite for the rest of the time!

OZ – I’ll edit some of that!

TD - Don't forget the new album!

OZ - Oh, yeah. I've already got that on the list …got it covered, guaranteed!

TD - Pretend we talked about it!

OZ (added) – TD new album is ‘Social Hand Grenade’; This is lifted from the TD Website;

New Album ‘Social Hand Grenade’

Social Hand Grenade is the “Stadium Sized” new album from Trucker Diablo. Recorded over the course of two years, at Manor Park Studios, this album charges at you headlong, a glorious rush of Metal, Rock and general heft. If it were a car, it’d be a gas-guzzling American hot-rod, all chrome, firebird logos and illegal exhausts, just like the full on live Trucker Diablo experience! From the one man office mosh pit crunch of 'Kill the Lights', to the closer 'What I See' and the juggernaut heft of 'Dig!' This album clocks in under 45 minutes, so you can get your breath back before you hit repeat.


OZ – Well, thanks for the chat guys….. I guess, ultimately, you'll probably see it before it goes out anyway. I'm doing it for AJ (WR’s) and he'll probably ping it back to you first

TD (DAZ) - By the way, can we all say happy birthday to AJ?

OZ - Oh, yeah, happy birthday AJ!

ALL - here we go, guys, dude, happy birthday, happy birthday, hey, brilliant, 41 again!

OZ – Anyways, I'm going to stop this, cheers for your time, guys, that was 14 minutes, great


Thanks for the ‘Tinny’ & Pasty too!


Thanks to all the guys:

Tom Harte – Vox / Lead Guitar
Simon Haddock – Rhythm Guitar
Jim McGurk – Bass
Terry Crawford – Drums

Plus TD Road Manager (name unknown)

……and to Daz (Darren) of (BDT) for making it happen!

……….and a belated Happy Birthday to AJ of the Wrinkly Rockers too!!

Oz