There's Something You Should Know

A little something different this time around. Not an artist that inspired Elvis Costello, but an artist (quite explicitly) inspired BY Elvis Costello. 

I first encountered Wes Hollywood at my first EC concert, the May 1996 show Costello played with Steve Nieve at Chicago’s Park West. I noticed him because he was effectively in EC cosplay; he had the thick black eyewear frames, the short-cropped black hair, and even the polyester suit that EC might have favored in the late seventies. EC joked that “this guy’s feeding me my lines.” He was seated right in front. 

I don’t remember when or how I connected that strange, striking figure with his nom de music, but it was his 2001 release, The Girls Are Never Ending, that captivated me. Put late-seventies EC into a blender with Pulp, the Beatles, and a satisfying power-pop crunch, and you get The Wes Hollywood Show. It’s like watching Jim Henson perform Kermit the Frog on a talk show; you can absolutely see what’s been bolted together to make these songs, but when you listen, the result is so satisfying that the illusion is complete. 

 Back in 2001, I co-published a single issue zine called Clara Peller, which was about the strange, obscure, and weird corners of pop culture–part vulgar satire, part snapshot of a moment in time, and part distraction from the fact that me and my friends had just been shitcanned from a company that imploded around us. 

For that single issue, I interviewed Wes, which is republished below. You can find Wes Hollywood and the Wes Hollywood Show on Spotify and Apple Music; Wes himself has a release under his own name from 2018, and he’s had some DJ gigs in Chicago over the past few years, so I am hopeful he is still out there keeping the solid action faith. Maybe the time is ripe for us to reconnect. Stranger things have absolutely happened. 

Wes Hollywood InterviewFrom Clara Peller #1, Summer 2001

He doesn’t want to go to Chelsea. He’ll pump you up. His aim is true.

One look at Wes Hollywood is all it takes, and the Elvis Costello quips just start coming. There’s no denying the physical resemblance; Hollywood’s spectacles, fashion sense and hairline all seem borrowed from the original Angry Young Pop Star.

The similarities don’t end there, but they continue in the best possible way. The first album put out by The Wes Hollywood Show may have worn its EC influences a bit too close on its sleeve; you could listen through and spot the specific song inspirations as the record spun. But on their second disc, The Girls Are Never Ending, Hollywood and his cronies embrace a looser, crunch-driven approach, and the result is a power pop gem of a record that combines Costello’s literate lyricism with an unmistakable guitar punch.

Wes was good enough to engage in a brief and hopefully not too vapid E-mail interview for CP’s illustrious debut. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, pick up The Girls at http://www.solidaction.com or at finer record-selling establishments across our fine and windy city.

The first time I saw you, it was at Elvis Costello's show at the Park West in May of 1996. At the show, you were dressed as the Man, it seemed; he even remarked at one point, "This guy's feeding me my lines." Do you think it's fair to say you have an EC fetish?

I would call it a deep admiration. I had a show that night as well so it was just a coincidence that me and "the man" were both suited up. Yes, I take some fashion tips from Elvis, but in the late 80's I had long hair, a beard and Lennon specs before Mighty Like a Rose was even a twinkle in his eye.

How does the Wes Hollywood Show step up their game for their second record, The Girls Are Never-Ending?

For the 2nd record, we dropped the keyboards and added a second guitarist. The songs are a bit more power yet still pop. I think we were listening to a lot of Sloan and Cheap Trick at the time. I don't mind the fact that the record turned out to be less baroque. As far as the third record goes, tentatively titled Town & Country (named after the magazine), we've been trying to broaden the musical spectrum without losing the immediacy of our own brand of guitar-driven pop.

I can definitely hear the Cheap Trick on The Girls especially in the opening track. Power pop bliss. What kind of influences are creeping in on Town & Country?

I've always been a Pulp fan and I think it's time to let it show, as well as the Kinks circa Village Green and Something Else and the Chamber Strings too. There are many bands I wish I could sound like and although I'm influenced by many, my limited vocal range and playing prohibits me from truly becoming a rock and roll chameleon.

Tell me about the Solid Action sound.

“Solid Action” is the first song off our first cd and it's sort of the name given to the aforementioned guitar-driven pop. It's like new, new wave or millennium pop or any of that nonsensical gibberish. I sat around one day thinking of the bands that have these sort of nonsense names attached to them and I decided to create my own hoping others would embrace it. No one has.

Hey, the time is ripe for a new invented sound. How have you found Chicago to be as far as a musical scene goes? Where do you think you guys fit into that?

I like the bands (here in Chicago) that I like and abhor the ones that suck (in my opinion). There will always be good bands in any city. There were great bands in Detroit before Motown broke and great bands in Seattle before the grunge revolution; I believe that is how it is anywhere you go. Like Arthur Lee once sang, "You set the scene."