NOVEMBER 2006 - The UK's HIP PRIESTS are a study in sex-crazed, 70's-fueled punk 'n roll debauchery. For this mimi-spotlight our own Will Broadbent will attempt to blindly guess what makes THE HIP PRIESTS so divinely corrupting. Of course, the disc he received is totally blank with no indication of the artist whatsoever. His song-by-song comments are listed below, along with reactions from the HP's Lee Manning.

Will Broadbent: Track one, "Grease Machine" - I heard a little of the BUTTHOLE SURFERS in the vocal delivery/effect here.

Lee Manning: That’s interesting. They’re not really a band we think of in our kinda frame of reference. Although a couple of us have some stuff by them. Ill have to dig it out ‘n’ see. We like to think of it more as our MOTÖRHEAD ‘Overkill’-type tune, although the actual title was taken from IRON MAIDEN's lyric in ‘From here to Eternity.' It goes: ”She fell in love with his greasy machine / She leaned over wiped his kickstart clean / She’d never seen the beast before / But she'd left there wanting more more more.” It’s about motorbikes and greasy cocks.

WB: Track two: "Juiced Up & Loose" - This is the barn burner of the bunch. The momentum doesn't stop on the whole disc. The band's live show must be physically taxing. How do they stay hydrated? I think I can hear some Angus Young in the leads on this track.

LM: The momentum can’t stop once we’ve started. That’s what it’s all about. Our live shows are like one big sweaty rock 'n roll fuckfest; physically taxing but more than worth it. We stay hydrated by [downing] pints of Jaegermeister. Obviously, any mention of the mighty ‘DC is Ok by us-although none of us are prone to wearing school uniforms, only removing ‘em from schoolgirls. It’s about nights out, heavy drinking and looking for some action of a sexual manner.

WB: Track three: "FTP" - Most of the RAMONES catalog is owned by the singer, of that there is no doubt. Joey would be proud.

LM: As they rightly should be. What self respecting punk rock ‘n roller doesn’t, frankly? As much as I'd say we have a RAMONES influence, albeit indirectly, we feel we’ve got more of a SEX PISTOLS kinda thing going on. But they (or Maclaren-whatever you like to believe) got half of their stuff from ‘Da Brudders’ anyway. Weird you should pick it up on the slowest of the tracks though. As the chorus rightly states 'everybody wants to fuck the priests’. It’s about being irresistibly hot to everybody, as we obviously are.

WB: Track four: "Young Savage" - What do you think of NASHVILLE PUSSY? I smell "ideal touring partner."

LM: We can always smell pussy alright, both the glorious Nashville kind and any other kinda as a matter of fact. I’m sure doing some shows with them would be lots of fun. I certainly imagine they like to have a good time, as we most certainly do. It’s about serial killing and fucking people’s mothers, sisters and brothers.

WB: Track five: "Ass on Fire" - Great harmonica solo. Who handles the harmonica duties? It's traditionally the singer, but I noticed that he is singing while the harmonica is still soloing. I doubt a band of this type would do something on disc that they couldn't or wouldn't pull off live.

LM: Oops, hands up to that one, I’m afraid and gotta confess it’s an overdub played by our friend and engineer at the studio, Doggen (who plays with Julian Cope and SPIRITUALIZED). He’s some amazing harmonica player and a local legend. We just extended that bit especially so we could get him to stick some real old school rock ‘n’ roll harp on there. It’s about sex. Again.

WB: Track six: "Hip Priest" - I hear ANTISEEN in here. Great job, guys.

LM: Interesting, I'd never really checked ‘em out. I’ve had a listen since reading this and they sound pretty rockin'. I'm not sure if I can hear it here though. Thanks very much anyway. It’s about drinking, fighting and fucking.

WB: Now that that's over, I'm curious. How did your old band THE DIVINE BROWN morph into THE HIP PRIESTS, anyway?

LM: THE DIVINE BROWN sadly ran out of steam after the UK tour we did in August 2004. The UK is a pretty shit place to be for the proper rock ‘n’ roll bands. The place is too small in a way and still largely lead by whatever people think is 'in fashion'. Unless you’ve got some major backing or agents etc., it’s really fuckin hard. It’s sad, but it’s the way it goes. I gravitated north to get away from the pretensions of London and the overriding scene of hairstyle lead rock ‘n’ roll and ended up hooking up with these sexy boys. Gary used to yell and throw himself about in local Nottingham garage punk legends THE X-RAYS. Prettyboy Jimmy was a neighboring guitar prodigy and knickers remover of quite epic proportions and Skintight Tim was roped in from his day job in a local gay sauna. We figure if he could beat beats as well as he could beat meat, we’d be in the money. We all thought that our combined sexual and rock n roll juices could unite to make something pretty hot-and it did.

WB: Would you say the band's sound is similar to THE DIVINE BROWN's stuff?

LM: Although some people hear similarities with DB, I think they’re very different. In THE DIVINE BROWN, our main belief really was in The Riot, Religion, Revolution, Rock 'n' roll kinda ideals we touted. I really was into the concept of rock 'n' roll as a liberating power for positive change - not necessarily politically but just even personally - like bands like the MC5 and more recently THE INTERNATIONAL NOISE CONSPIRACY. With the PRIESTS, The idea very quickly turned back into something more basic, primeval and sexual. I really got back into the idea of why the original rock 'n' roll was deemed shocking - because of its highly sexed undertones - I mean, that's what the term ’Rock ‘n’ Roll’ was derived from wasn’t it? Fucking-and probably sucking too! THE DIVINE BROWN were in to the idea of insurrection, whereas the PRIESTS are more just about out own ‘erections, and what we might do with ‘em. Its even more in your face, like rock ‘n’ roll bukkake, the oversexed, even dirtier kid brothers of THE DIVINE BROWN and the X-RAYS, drunk, fucked up on drugs and riding motorbikes.

WB: Why does the world need to know about you guys?

LM: Cos the world loves to fuck. It’s the one thing most of us all have in common-and we write more songs about this fantastic basic urge than the ‘average’ rock ‘n’ roll band. Also, our sexual drives are so dangerous that the world really should be aware of us in order that they may be safe from our filthy charms. We can't be trusted with you mothers or sisters or maybe even your daddies and brothers for that matter.

WB: So, how'd I do in guessing the band’s influences?

LM? You've got some ideas I reckon. We usually just get MOTÖRHEAD, TURBONEGRO, etc. mentioned and you heard some different shit which is really cool. As long as people are into it and it's making ‘em wanna get up, get down, fuck, fight or take some drugs and any combination of those things, it's doing its job.

WB: So, how heavy are THE HIP PRIESTS really?

LM: THE HIP PRIESTS are heavier than an 18 wheeled truckload of soggy schoolgirl’s knickers being driven over a cliff by Lemmy Kilminster. That’s fuckin heavy I can assure you. Were living it.

THE HIP PRIESTS are: Gary X Ray (vocals), Lee 'Love' Manning (bass), Jimmy HP (guitar), and Skintight Tim (drums). Their debut EP is available through their website: www.myspace.com/hippriests.