About Us
About Mark D - guitar/songwriter
Mark is the founder member of Fat Tulips – he started the band as a musical young upstart, in Peterborough, England, in 1987, coaxing a friend of his, the elusive Sarah C., to provide vocals on his songs. They released a flexi-disc entitled “You Opened Up My Eyes” the same year which was well received in indie music circles. Mark moved shortly afterwards to the East Midlands city of Nottingham, where, a few years later, he re-formed Fat Tulips with the full line-up we know today and they brought his amazingly catchy little ditties to a wider audience around the underground pop world. He was born and raised in Peterborough, in eastern England and is a veteran of many other independent bands before and since Fat Tulips. He now resides in Nottingham, is a connoisseur of antiques and ceramics and is married to the lovely Tully. He’s a Peterborough fan, therefore, still a total nutjob! He still has the music in his soul.
The Mark Interview
M: Got married , got a house and did a bit of wheelin' and deeling!
M: I have a cat called "Pussy" who likes cream.
M: Yeah Yeah Yeahs , Jet , Rocket From The Crypt , Tindersticks , The Clash , Underworld , Kathryn Williams , Savoy Grand , Chemistry Experiment , Majesticons , Public Enemy , Lemon Jelly , Royksop , Avril Lavigne , Wu Tang Clan , ATR , Idlewild , Sebadoh , The Rachels and Chicks on Speed.
M: Swings - I prefer the ups and downs to the rounds and rounds
M: Fave actor is Divine (RIP) , actress would have to be Winona still.
M: I like to think that I know a little bit of every sexy person!
M: If said quickly, Venus and Uranus are always a good bet - but you get nice chocolate from Mars so it;s a tough shout. Earth is probably the best - I like a bit of mud.
M:To be honest, every plaice I have ever been to has been a bit fishy.
M: Winter - girls look nice in sweaters - more to the imagination!
M: A Scooby one.
M: I speak fluent French , German, Russian and Hungarian. I am a bit rusty on the Italian though.
M: Billy Childish "I'd rather you lied" , and a big Taschen "Scandinavian design" book
M: Las Vegas - the funnest artificial place in the world!
M: St Ives in Cornwall
M: Water
M: Probably a sprained muscle playing football last year.
M: "Pink elephants and lemonade" from Madonnas "Dear Jessie".
M: Tully (wifey) just read me a little poem which I thought you might like:
M: "Everythings either concave or vex,
M: So whatever you dream will be something with sex!"
M: Cute, eh?
M: At the moment blue as we have lots of nice blue glass in there.
M: Boat - I never did have very good sea legs - even when I was in the Navy.
M: The green mile with Tom Hanks
M: I gave up after watching some of Big Brother 3 last year - I suddenly realised that I had spent the last 10 minutes of my life watching someone mow the lawn - never again!
M: I used to Like "Tiffanys Big City Tips" (on Satellite)
M: Sadly thats gone now so it must be "6 feet under".
M: There is a site without porn????!
M: Well I would probably go for a Charles and Ray Eames 1950's sofa by herman Miller , or perhaps a nice Robin Day settee??
M: Yes - I too pay as little tax as I can.
About Sheg - vocals/guitar/songwriter
Sheggi originally joined the Tulips as a rhythm guitarist in 1989, but took over on vocals too, a week before the band’s first gig, when then singer Katie Keen, left the group to pursue an academic career and the band had no time to find a replacement. Sheggi ended up being the vocalist for the remainder of the Tulips career. Sheggi was born and grew up in Glasgow in Scotland and like some of her other Tulip colleagues, has played in a couple of other bands before and after the Fatties, most notably The Melons, where she wrote the songs and played guitar. The Melons played shows around England and completed a couple of live sessions for BBC Radio One. Sheggi is legendary within Fat Tulips for writing the shortest songs known to mankind! In recent times Sheggi lived in Lower Manhattan for a period of ten years where she had a semi “respectable” job at New York City’s Rockefeller Center.
The Sheg Interview
S: Becoming an American.
S: I have Finn-the-destroyer-cat and Spike-the-kitten, cute and naughty.
S: Fuzzy emo pop and country. Orange Juice has been making a resurgence.
S: Swings. Definitely swings. I only have to be on a roundabout five seconds and you get to see what I had for lunch. Swings are cool.
S: Vincent D'Onofrio. I could watch him read the phone book.
S: So big a list. So little space.
S: I sort of like the idea of Jupiter. I actually just like the word better than the others. JOOOOOPITURRRR!
S: Death Valley California/Nevada. Bizarre, weird, sparse, super hot and yet totally, totally cool. It's also near Vegas which fascinates me.
S: Summer. I hate winter. It should be banned. I hate the cold. Kind of unfortunate being from Scotland and all.
S: grilled cheese with salad cream (Heinz) and prawn cocktail crisps (Walkers)
S: Some French, tiny amount of German, some swear words in Scots Gaelic.
S: The third Stephanie Plum book by Janet Evanovich. I'm doing it in order.
S: In this deserted army base in Latvia just after the Russians were driven out. It was all destroyed and derelict in the middle of some woods and we found this huge statue of Lenin hidden by a tarp. There were radios and broadcasting equipment broken and lying around everywhere and holes in the roof where bombs had come through. VERY odd. I also visited some ex-KGB prison in Lithuania where I sat in a torture chamber with blood and bulletholes on the walls.
S: Yankee stadium. With a cold beer, an ice cream and about fifty large men in tight white uniforms.
S: Irn Bru. Or home made limeade. Or Lucozade. Original flavour. Skim milk.
S: Sprained my right ankle badly earlier in the year. I'd tell you how i did it but it's way too embarrassing.
S: I've seen the stuff they put inside Stretch Armstrong
S: sky blue. I love blue.
S: Submarine. Then plane. Claustrophobia and innards exploding versus falling out of the sky, it's a hard decision.
S: The Shawshank Redemption. I know it's not new but I only just saw it recently for the first time.
S: I can't stand reality TV. I don't watch any of those stupid 'Big Brother', 'Survivor' 'Joe Millionaire', 'Pop Idol' type shows. They make my blood boil.
S: "X-Files", "Six Feet Under", "Crank yankers", "Law and Order: Criminal Intent", "South Park", "Carnivale", "Homicide: Life on the Streets",
S: Fark. I love to fark.
S: Anything written by Bacharach or Andy Williams' "It's So Easy"
S: YESH. And may I shay thatsh a niesh little shomething you're almosht wearing!!!
About Paul - bass guitar
Paul is a native of Nottingham in England and has played in many diverse and unique bands since high school. He plays guitar, although he switched to bass while a member of Fat Tulips and was legendary within the band for renaming songs in a manner he could remember them better. Paul’s tracklist at shows usually consisted of such songs as “Doo doo doo doo”, “Bikeshed” and “Wagga Wagga Wagga”. Pauly is now teaching very young children, a fact which amuses everyone but surprises no one. He teaches them the joys of the guitar, mathematics and how to spell their swear words. Pauly lives in London, England with his cute, American, artist-girlfriend, Marisa and a cat called Yoko. He now plays guitar in a quaint, garage combo called “The Sinisters”, so if you’re in or around London, check them out! Paul is a lifelong supporter of Nottingham Forest.
The Paul Interview
P: I trained to be a school teacher and now I am one. I have just started my musical come back playing in two bands. The Sinisters - left handed 60s garage pop meets C86 (featuring members of Mambo Taxi, The Keatons and The Action Time) and The Cut-Outs - sunshine 60s folk pop meets C86 (featuring members of Airport Girl). The Sinisters played at my school yesterday. We had to cut out all the 60s drug references and a few swear words (arsehole, shit and cunt) We still played Get Smashed! and the kiddies loved it.
P: Barbara my cat died 2 years back. We now have a kitty called Yoko.
P: Right now it's Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music but also my usual mix of indie and 60s. Recent stuff I like is Ricky Spontane, Herman Dune, Vermont, Jeff Lewis, Moldy Peaches, The Real Losers. And of course I
P: still listen to the Gobies on a daily basis.
P: Round and round makes me vomit. Swings are a bit boring. Climbing frames rule.
P: Steve Buscemi or Elina Lowensohn
P: Elina Lowensohn
P: My favourite planets are 1 Jupiter (big great spot by jove) 2 Saturn (rings) 3 Mars (martians red canals) 4 Earth (blue green) 5 Venus (venutians, deadly gas cool, goddess of love oooh) 6 Neptune (blue) 7 Uranus (and it should be pronounced like your bum) 8 Mercury (freddie, melina) 9 pluto (i doubt it is even a planet)
P: New York City - it's like I've stepped inside my TV
P: SUMMER - beach boys, orange juice, bike rides, picnics, beer gardens, holidays, tennis winters alright christmas is great and snow is beautiful it's football season too but really no competition
P: Reeces Pieces
P: Nottinghamese - bobos, babas, dudoos, nesh, mardy arse
P: Right now I'm reading Europe A History by Norman Davies (this is too big to carry on the tube so also) A heartbreaking work of staggering genius by Dave Eggers
P: Sheggi's flat - it is the smallest flat with the biggest TV and the wildest animals.
P: At home watching summer holidays tv programmes like the Monkees and Why don't you
P: Bacardi Breezer - watermelon
P: sprained ankle whilst teaching children to play football
P: when you die your eyes pop out your head becomes a mushy lump by the Donner Party
P: blue
P: cycling when drunk
P: the great escape christmas 1978. The bit where Ives goes wire crazy and gets shot.
P: NO NEVER!!!! well big brother a bit but not now that Sissy has been voted out
P: sopranos, west wing, bo selecta
P: www.guitartabs.cc learn to play all your favourite songs. there is even a beat happening section for those who can't work them out yourselves
P: perhaps perhaps perhaps how do you write it in spanish ??? qui sas qui sas qui sas???
P: shertainly mish moneypenny
About Matt - drums and driving
Matt, Fat Tulips drummer, only played a drum for the first time in his life at the first Fat Tulips rehearsal. For this reason he played only two drums – a big, fat, bass drum and a snare, with occasional cymbal intervention, which he played standing up. He’s been known to “enhance” the mood of a song by changing tempo half way through just for the hell of it! Matt grew up in Nottingham, England where he attended school with Fatties bassist Paul. He’s a big music fan with an extensive record and CD collection, although he had never played in a band before joining the Fat Tulips, as a young whippersnapper in 1989. He is constantly frustrated as he is a Notts County football fan but he also runs Heaven Records, likes baseball (Yankees) and eating and still lives in Nottingham, with his collection of “Toy Story” figures, the lovely Louise and their three cats, Mo, Smudge and Jess. He no longer beats the drums, but the beat lives on in his heart.
The Matt Interview
M: Basically just traveling the world in my yacht spending my millions from the record sales. The pop star life is now taking it’s toll and I have booked myself into The Priory to try and kick my drink and drug habits.
M: I have 3 cats, Morris (who was abandoned by his previous owner Sheggi when she moved to NY) and Jess and Smudge who moved in when my girlfriend did. I like pussy.
M: Low, Heather Nova, Sarah stuff (still)
M: Just got all my Clash stuff out the other day as well and gave that a spin.
M: Mostly vinyl still. I’ve got an awesome turntable and amplifier and really piss the neighbours off when I have The Field Mice at full volume.
M: Neither. I liked them animal things on a spring that just rock backwards and forwards.
M: Dunno really. I’m just downloading the West Wing but only the episodes that Danica McKellar is in.
M: See Q5 and I’ve got a bit of a thing for Davina McCall and Kristin Davis although her calves are a bit big.
M: Planet Jig. He’s my mate and is on a completely different planet to everyone else. It’s a good place to be.
M: Top of the world trade centre cos it was an awesome view and now it’s not there anymore.
M: Don’t care. It’s only bloody weather.
M: Walkers Salt and Vinegar crisps
M: People say I speak bollox alot
M: All Roads Lead To October
M: It’s a book about the New York Yankees baseball team. When Billy Martin died I nearly cried.
M: Sheggi’s bedroom. Complete chaos and enough half eaten food to feed a small nation.
M: Outside the pub with my friends drinking lovely cool lager.
M: Coca Cola. The proper stuff not of that Pepsi or supermarket shit.
M: I split all skin on my knob. Probably from too much wanking.
M: Where’s Clare Grogan Now?
M: Black
M: Public
M: Don’t be so gay
M: I used to watch Big Brother but that’s about it. Does Airline and Airport count? They’re quite good. Cheaters on Reality TV is cool as well. The presenter got stabbed recently. It was so fake I laughed myself silly. My mate Jig thought it was real the first time he saw it. Donger.
M: X-Files. Don’t watch tv. It’s shit!
M: Are there any others?
M: My sofa. It needs re-covering cos the material is torn on it. What the fucks a ‘lounge’ classic?
M: "I am not an Englishman, I was never an Englishman, and I don't ever want to be one. I am a Scotsman! I was a Scotsman and I will always be one." Fucking Scottish twat!