Time Warp

Well, perhaps not better… but certainly more fun.

Since bursting on to the 1980s in a riot of muscle, menace and manic riffage, they ripped through the spandex silliness of Thatcher’s decade like an alcoholic bull in a china shop of fragile egos and wafer-thin bouffanted commercial rock.

Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction, to give them their full name, were the cultural revolutionaries of rock, with their post-apocalyptic biker look influencing every self-respecting metal band who followed.

Formed when budding philosopher Zodiac Mindwarp and guitarist and poet Cobalt Stargazer were introduced to each other by their (cough) ‘exotic dancer’ girlfriends, they were everyone’s image of what a big bad band should look and sound like.

Their album Tattooed Beat Messiah is a classic of good-time rock, with Top 20 single Prime Mover instantly recognisible to anyone who walked this earth in the decade of Filofaxes, Rubick’s cubes and striking miners.

Motley Crue proclaimed Zodiac Mindwarp their favourite band and borrowed heavily on their grungy look, while the band also found themselves co-headlining arenas with Guns’n’Roses and Iron Maiden.

Another fan, Alice Cooper recorded the Mindwarp tune Feed My Frankenstein, which was later performed in the film Wayne’s World.

It’s rare for bands as hedonistic as Zodiac Mindwarp to stick the course, however, so their reappearance 25 years on has raised many an eyebrow. And no one is more surprised than the band themselves.

“It’s been great for us,” says Mr Mindwarp – aka Mark Manning, in his broad Yorkshire accent. “We’re playing the O2 venues, which is nice. We’ve been playing the Rat and Spitball for the past 10 years, and had forgotten what it’s like.”

So what happened? “Well, we did a great record and that catapulted us up a notch; I think people were surprised to hear something half-decent.”

He admits it has taken a while to bounce back.

“We didn’t give up – well, me and Cobalt didn’t anyway. We may have had a fallow period but we are now back on track.”

So what has the man, who once styled himself ‘High Priest of Love’, done during the band’s hiatus?

“I wrote several books and had several divorces. I have always been rocking, though – it’s just that no one noticed. Me and Cobalt have always been writing, it’s just that a lot of it wasn’t very good!”

While Zodiac and Cobalt (Geoff Bird) have been a constant, the band has seen a bewildering number of entertaining and colourfully-titled characters move in and out of its ranks. Who could forget artists like Kid Chaos, Slam Thunderhide, Trash D Garbage, Suzy X, Tex Diablo and Robbie Vom?

Suffice to say, Zodiac, Cobalt, drummer ‘The Cat’, and bass player Jack S seem to be here to stay – and have been pleasantly surprised by the loyalty of their fans.

“We are lucky that way,” says Mindwarp, who now lives in New Orleans, Louisiana (“because of a lovely woman”). “We were never a band that sold out, we just did what we liked – unfortunately not a lot of people liked it… in fact a lot of people didn’t like it.

“We were never a band who wanted to make money – though, strangely, we are still massive in Sweden. If we go there we can afford sandwiches, beer and everything!

“We’ve had a chequered career, I suppose you’d say, but it’s all been great. You’ve got to have a positive outlook – so for us every meal is a banquet and every bird is Marilyn Monroe.”

So how has life on the road changed for these bad boys of rock?

“Well, we are fatter and have less hair,” he says. “But then, the people who turn up for the gigs are older and have less hair too – though now some are bringing their kids along.”

Surely they still manage to raise hell, though? “Hell?” he laughs. “We try but we don’t quite get there. We get as far as purgatory and get a bit tired.”

But he hasn’t resorted to tea and biscuits yet. “I prefer a whole bottle of vodka and passing out in front of the telly,” he laughs. “It’s funny after shows though, as people see our bass player Jack and think he’s me. But then he looks more like me than I do these days; I look like his dad!”

Despite appearances, Zodiac is a true intellectual and an artist of note.

He has written books with his friend, artist, musician and provocateur Bill Drummond, from the KLF, and has developed a passion for Rupert – yes, the yellow-trousered bear made famous by illustrator Alfred Bestall.

“I paint canvases of Rupert pictures in a studio in my house,” he says. “It’s not very intellectual, but I like it. They are quite psychedelic – and the characters remind me of our band – you know, we’ve got Algy Pug playing guitar, Pong Ping on drums and Raggety on bass… “They are very strange though. For such a normal bloke, Bestall did some far-out cartoons.”

He also has a fascination with history. Zodiac’s latest album We Are Volsung is a celebration of the Norse tradition.

“I love Scandinavia,” he says. “And that’s not just because they’ve got the most stunningly beautiful women in the world.

“It’s one of my favourite places. And, unlike my unlearned colleagues in the band, who have absolutely no interest whatsoever in anything other than the contents of their pants, I like reading about its history.”

Such a blend of hard rock and history is surprising, but, like the band, it works.

And says Zodiac, it gives him yet more opportunity to do what he loves. “It doesn’t get better than playing live,” he says. “You can’t have more fun than this - running around like a bluebottle and chasing your tail like a Scotty dog!

“I love it and I have no intention of giving up.”

* Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction play the Oxford O2 Academy tonight. Support comes from Desert Storm and Komrad.

Tickets are £13 from ticketweb.co.uk