Whitfield Crane credits the Download festival with launching Ugly Kid Joe's comeback in spectacular style.
He’s back at Donington today with Godsmack’s Lee Richards, playing as Richards/Crane on the Jagermeister Acoustic Stage. It’s their first-ever performance to an audience after an exclusive appearance on TeamRock Radio yesterday morning.
Crane tells the station: “Ugly Kid Joe played Download two years ago. That was the tip off point – was it gonna work or not? We played the second stage, and miraculously 60,000 people came and said, ‘It’s on for you.’”
As a result the band have gone from strength to strength. Crane reports: “We’ll go in the studio in the next couple of months and knock out some new music and go out on the road.”
He admits he’s only now beginning to value something his mother used to tell him. “When I was young I would say, ‘I’m really lucky,’” he recalls. “She always looked at me with a really stoic stare and go, ‘You create your own luck.’
“I’m just kind of understanding what she was saying. You do the heavy lifting, you get the music done, you get your artwork done – do what needs to be done and your luck will appear.”
That attitude is also in action with Richards/Crane, who’ll release their first studio project soon.
