Johny 'Skullknuckles' Vincent was guitarist for the League between from December 2008 to 2010. He performed on the brilliant Skull & Bones single.

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1.    Please could give us a bit of background info on yourself (where you were born/raised/educated etc)?
Johny "I was born, raised and educated in Manchester – strangely enough both of my schools have now been demolished, one is even a Salford Van hire car park in the shadow of Strangeways prison"

2. From what age did you start to become interested in music, which bands were you into?
Johnny "I was always aware of music, I think the radio must have been on all the time when I was a nipper. First song I ever remember liking was Yesterday by the beatles. Favourite early bands would have been Queen, Slade, The Sweet and Suzi Quatro. My favourite band of all time are Hanoi Rocks."

2.    When did you learn to play the guitar, and did you have lessons were you or self-taught? What were your influences?
Johny "I got my first guitar at about 13 and got taught 4 chords by legendary Mancunian guitar teacher Dave Shamarat and thought that will do for me and the rest of my bad guitar habits were self-engendered. Alex Lifeson, Johny Thunders and Andy McCoy are probably my favourite guitarists."

3.    You joined John Robb's punk rock band Goldblade in 2001, and were part of that lineup for 9 or so years, but where you in any other bands before that?
Johny "Prior to that I was in many bands including the Mighty prog/experimanteal theatrical band Lord Mongo, The studio only Rap Rock London based outfit Narcotic. I was in the last line up of the Manchester cult space glam metal band Sacred Alien from which I formed my favourite band the glam Punk White Trash with Sean Canning the singer of Sacred Alien

 

4.    How/when/why did you leave Goldblade to join the League.. and how did that all come about?
Johny "I felt Goldbalde had gone as far as they could. We were running out of creative steam. Dave (Nato) phoned me up out of the blue one December? And asked if I wanted to go down for an audition. The league looked like more fun than Goldblade so I said why the hell not

 

5.    Where you a fan of The League before you joined?
Johny "I loved the first album, I loved it’s non political fuck the world, fuck everything attitude. Other than that I was reasonably unaware of their other musical efforts

 

6.    You replaced Jez on guitar.. do you know why he left?
Johny "I believe he became disillusioned with The League but I honestly don’t know for sure. If I was told, I have forgotten.  

 

7.  Can you remember when it was that you joined.and what are your memories of your first gig with ANWL?
Johny "Oddly enough I don’t remember when must be 2010-ish, a long time ago it was (I bet you know better than me) I was never really one for paying attention. – I am pretty sure my debut was in Wakefield at Warehouse 23, other than that I don’t really remember anything. Just another gig.

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8.    How did you get along with Nick & the rest of band - what were they all like to work, on both a personal & professional level?
Johny "The others in the line up were Shady and Nato – they are two of the nicest guys I have ever been in a band with. Lovely blokes. I got along well with everyone, no arguments, no fights. Pretty good I seem to remember.

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9.    You recorded the brilliant Skull & Bones song during your short time with the band – but who wrote the music & lyrics for that track? When & where was this track recorded (which studio?), and were any other tracks recorded/demoed whilst you were in the band?
Johny "Skull and bones was written by Lars Frederiksen (that bloke from Rancid). I don’t remember when but it was recorded in a studio opposite where Nato had his Drum College and where we rehearsed. We only recorded the one tune sadly."

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10.    The Skull & Bones single was never released on actual vinyl.or cd (at that time) but available as a free download - why was that? Also the song was promoted with a video - what are your memories of that session?
Johny "No idea why it was a free download. Perhaps to avoid paying royalties? I honestly don’t know. I had forgotten we even made a video for the song. Your question reminded me. I had to watch it on Youtube to remind myself what it was all about. So, I have no real recollection of doing it".

11.    During your time in the band, was it only UK shows that you performed.. or did you tour overseas?
Johny "We did a 3 week US tour and we did quite a lot of Europe and Eastern European work too."

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12. Do you have any favourite shows.. whilst you were in the band.. any particularly memorable/standout gigs?
Johny "I always enjoy gigs. One gig is the stand out gig for all the wrong reasons. I always insist on setting up and tuning my own guitars. But the league had roadies so I let Little Tom tune my guitar. I always leave a plectrum in the strings so I know where it is. Tom tunes my guitar with the pick in the strings so when we launch into the opening number after the drama of the intro tape and the dimming of the house lights – I am woefully out of tune. Ha. Way to start a gig.

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13.    When & why did you leave the ANWL? (What was your final show?)
Johny "Nick decided it was time for me to go, as usual, can’t quite remember when. I think my last show was some place in Germany."

 

14.    What are you doing nowadays, musically (do you have a link to current music projects etc).
Johny "After being in “other peoples” bands I decided to do my own thing. Planned purely as a studio project to release the huge back catalogue of songs I had written I formed “THE KOPEK MILLIONAIRES” – I eventually bowed to pressure and have taken the band out live including slots at Rebellion, Strummercamp and Punk For Pam festivals. Currently we have released 2, 7 track mini LPs “Heartaches and Hardons” and The Dirty Beef Hands EP” and a full length album “Hopes and Dreams and Goldfish” plus a few singles. We are currently working on a new 7 track Mini LP as yet untitled. Musically I am happier than I have been since the White Trash days but with it being conceived as my band it falls to me to organise gigs and everything else and to be honest all that bores me so it often doesn’t get done which is why we play live so rarely. (if you know of any managers, please pass my details on)

https://thekopekmillionaires.bandcamp.com/