The British are Coming:
My Cousin Dexter Invades American Music Charts

The second wave of the British music invasion have already landed on our shores, and are beginning to infiltrate the American music industry. With ammunition like the quirky pop masterpieces of Leeds-based rock quartet My Cousin Dexter, who can help but surrender?
I interviewed John L. Cameron, who performs lead vocals and guitar for My Cousin Dexter. We spoke of the history of the band, the origins of the name, and their American tour so far.

The Informant: I'll start out with the question that must be on everyone's mind. Where did your band name come from? Do you actually have a cousin Dexter?
John: (laughs) No, no. It's a bit of a funny story, actually. That's really my brother's name - Dexter. When we were forming the band, he kept hounding us to write a song about him. One of the first songs we wrote was called My Brother Dexter. The name kind of stuck.
The Informant: But your name...
John: Leeds, as you may know, has a pretty extensive local music scene. It turns out that there was another band named The Dexterous Bothers, and they thought that there might be some confusion. They called us up and asked that we change our name. They were pretty polite about it. At first, we thought it was a sort of joke, but then I checked up on it, and they're a real band. Pretty good, actually, but frankly, they sound nothing like us.
The Informant: You're touring the United States now. How have you enjoyed it so far?
John: I've been surprised at the positive reaction we've received so far. Pretty much everywhere we go, the kids who come to our concerts are like "Hey, you guys are great. Where can I buy your album?" We tell them that if they want to help us out, they can call up the radio stations in America and request our songs.
The Informant: Any interesting concert stories?
John: There was this one show we were playing in some town in New Mexico. I guess there's a pretty big punk scene there, and we don't really play punk music, so there were a gang of these kids hanging around outside the venue. They were yelling at us, like "Get out of the states!" and "Punk rock forever!" and "Brits go home!" Then I'm like "Listen. Us Brits invented the punk scene." Then this big kid - not really fat, but tall, probably six foot five and pretty heavy-set. He comes up with a chain, and he wants to fight me. I just say "I don't want to fight you," and walk into the club. Then about ten minutes into our set, these kids all rush the door and start throwing stuff at us. Our drummer got hit with this huge bottle, and his nose started bleeding. Then the punks rush the stage, and we just left. Then the manager of the club wouldn't pay us. He said that we didn't play the full set. I'm all "Listen. Allen has a broken nose. We can't play for these a-holes. It's not safe." He still wouldn't pay us. We just left. But most of our shows have gone pretty well. Allen found a girlfriend at a show we just played. She walked up to him and told him she thought his accent was sexy.
The Informant: So I guess you guys didn't find the states all bad.
John: No, no. For the most part, it was great. I mean, we have arse holes in England, too.
The Informant: It was a pleasure talking to you. Thanks for your time.
John: Not at all.

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