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ROCK N DOLE

Wheatus frontman Brendan Brown reveals fans could hear Teenage Dirtbag live for last time as the band could go BUST

The group are on a UK tour but Brendan has admitted they may have to sell off their instruments and equipment

WHEATUS frontman Brendan Brown has revealed fans could hear iconic track Teenage Dirtbag live for the last time - as the cult band could go BUST.

The group are currently touring the UK , but Brendan has admitted they will have to sell equipment when they get home.

 Brandan reveals money worries despite having a clutch of hit singles in the early 2000s
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Brandan reveals money worries despite having a clutch of hit singles in the early 2000s

He says: “Touring properly is very expensive, you’ve got to make ends meet and you do it any way you can - and one way to survive is liquidating quite a bit of our stuff when we get home.

“A lot of people who assume we have money also wouldn’t want to be in this game in first place as it’s a struggle, there’s an extreme misconception of a band like us just keeping it alive and doing our thing.

“We never got rich, never got used to being rich, we might have been had Teenage Dirtbag came out in 1988 rather than 2001 - but the music revenue system is very different now.

“We treat every tour like it’s the last time, because it always could be and that’s just the way things are.

“We will definitely have to sell stuff after this tour, a tour costs £100,000 to get there and come back in one piece and the margins are very small, if it pays itself we’re lucky but more often than not it’s in the red and we sell some of our gear.

"I’ve only ever felt the need to plan for the worst.”

 Wheatus still bring in big crowds - but the singer says the cost of touring takes its toll
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Wheatus still bring in big crowds - but the singer says the cost of touring takes its toll

Despite fears over the band’s future, Brendan can’t help but be excited about returning to Britain.

He loves the fans and can recall their very first show at T in the Park 2001.

The singer says: “I remember vividly T in the Park 16 years ago it, was crazy, it was pretty epic in a tent.

“It was heaving and I remember thinking the whole thing would collapse, then something similar at Barrowlands happened a few months later - I remember the sweat mist, like a Scottish fog over the crowd."

 One Direction did a cover of Teenage Dirtbag last year, exposing a new wave of young music fans to the iconic anthem
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One Direction did a cover of Teenage Dirtbag last year, exposing a new wave of young music fans to the iconic anthem

After One Direction did a cover of Teenage Dirtbag last year, he thinks one of the biggest songs of the last 20 years has reached even greater heights.

He said: “They introduced it to a whole new bunch of kids, we look forward to being there for them and feel like there is a genuine interest in rock bands.

A tour costs £100,000...we will definitely have to sell stuff after this tour

Brendan Brown, Wheatus singer

“I think they did a good job, it was nice to hear it on a big stage like that, we never had that set ourselves, the big pop stardom thing.

“It’s a pop rock hit always on some radio station and I’ve had it happen to me before when out shopping with my girlfriend and it comes on, it’s really weird.”