Midlands rockers The Lines have just embarked on a joint-headline UK tour with The Rainband (dates here) and they’ve devised a rather novel way of deciding who gets to headline each night. Football Burp caught up with their Aston Villa-supporting front man Alex Ohm just before last night’s opening leg of the tour at London’s 100 Club – but first though, check out the video for their new single “No Illusions, No Cheap Tricks”, out Monday…
So, tell us about this sporting challenge you’ve got going with The Rainband…
We got to know The Rainband when we supported Ocean Colour Scene together in December, and we thought it would be a good idea to do a joint headline tour of the UK as we’ve both got releases on the way. We’ll be headlining the Birmingham date because it’s our home town, and The Rainband will be headlining the Manchester date because that’s their home town, but to decide who headlines on the other nights we’ll be competing in a series of different challenges, like five-a-side football, a game of pool, darts…well, hopefully not darts because I’m rubbish at darts. We’ve got a lot of press today so we thought we’d just do a simple coin toss to decide who gets to headline the 100 Club tonight, and we won!
Congratulations! Onto matters Villa, it must be pretty hard to watch what’s happening there at the moment. Presumably you didn’t want Alex McLeish at the time…?
Actually, when he took over I thought, “Give the guy a chance,” because there were too many people jumping on the bandwagon about him managing Blues and taking them down. I thought, “Let’s see how he gets on,” but…well, he just hasn’t seemed to do anything. The squad’s really week, but it’s not a great season to have for a guy who’s just come from Birmingham City. I was hoping he’d prove people wrong but he just hasn’t.
Have there been any shining lights? Perhaps some of the young players have impressed you…
That’s the good thing about Villa, they do let the youngsters come through. I’ve enjoyed watching Bannan and Albrighton – I think Albrighton’s a great player, really works hard for the team. There’s a good youth set-up there at least.
Could you name the first, best and worst games you ever went to?
The first Villa match I ever went to was against Arsenal in the League Cup in ’94, but the first match I ever went to – and I can’t remember what year it was – was Walsall v Preston North End, I believe.
The worst match I’ve been to was when we lost 3-1 at Manchester United about five years ago, and we got chased down the street as well!” The best match, and just for the atmosphere, was when we drew 1-1 at Newcastle United and we saved an Alan Shearer penalty. We were right by the Newcastle fans as well, so for that moment that’s probably one of the best matches I’ve been to.
Finally, if you had to select a five-a-side team out of all the Villa players you’ve seen, who would you pick?
Shay Given, Paul McGrath, Juan Pablo Ángel, Darren Bent and Curtis Davies.
Alex Ohm, thank you.
The Lines’ new single “No Illusions, No Cheap Tricks” will be released on May 7th, to be followed by an EP on June 25th. For more information, please visit www.wearethelines.com