THE SHOP ASSISTANTS tend to get lumped in with all the jingly-jangly stuff that made up most of the NME’s C86 cassette, but they just sound very punk rock to me. All of my Shop Assistants records went west a long time ago but we do have this short Q&A from 1986. Singer Alex answered the questions.
“We’d rather someone said we were rubbish than not reacting at all. One review said we were just a good band and that’s not good enough. We want to be brilliant.”
Boots: “Very handy shop, though I hate the fact that, in the Edinburgh branch, you have to walk past loads of perfume counters, which stink horribly.”
WH Smith: “Pretty non-comprehensive. Their Edinburgh branch has closed down.”
Woolworths: “Ah, the wonder of Woolies. They used to have good guitars. That was my favourite shop, ‘cept the Edinburgh branch closed down to make way for dozens of crappy clothes shops.”
British Home Stores: “Good for socks. That’s about all.”
Cheslea Girl: “Laura says It’s very interesting, but not much good for clothes.”
ASDA: “Laura says yuuuch! I agree.”
Sainsbury’s: “Very English.”
Presto: “Dirty.”
Co-op: “Idealogically sound(ish).”
SPAR: “Brilliant. In Newtonmore, we used to get a mobile SPAR van coming around all the streets. They also have a shop in Durness, which is a very remote place in the north of Scotland I like.”
Kentucky Fried Chicken: “Boggin.”
McDonalds: “Puke. Utterly boggin.”
{This interview was first published in Airstrip Five fanzine in 1986]
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