DIRT. Do you have any desire to reach a larger audience than the one you do at present?
COSEY. I don't know, it's a curious thing that as soon as your numbers of your audience or followers increase, people begin to think that it's a trend and they drop out, do you know what I mean?
DIRT. Yeah, to me it always seems that an increase in numbers brings about a dilution of ideals and ideas and purpose even.
COSEY. Yeah it does, it's weird, but to be honest I don't think I could handle it if it got that big because it would demand too much and that's not the point of it, to demand off us, I mean it demands off them and that's why I don't think it'll get big, because not that many people come to terms with the fact that they have to be themselves.
DIRT. Also, what is so precious, is that someone can write to you and get a proper reply from one of you.
COSEY. Yeah, someone wrote to us and said that his brother had written off to, who was it, someone like the Boomtown Rats, one of those groups and all he got back was a poxy badge or something and he said 'I actually got a letter' and he was really thrilled but it was really nice that he was pleased enough to write back and say thank you, all he said in his letter was thank you for bothering, I realise how busy you are, you don't have to reply to this.
DIRT. That's good, as long as people don't get in touch just for the sake of getting an answer, like that kid who keeps ringing Gen up and asking him what qualudes and valium are.
COSEY. We've got someone else as well who rings up and says 'I'm disappointed with you', he rang us up and asked us for a newsletter, we hadn't even sent them out, but he wanted his first 'cause he'd been one of the first people who'd ever written. So we sent him one and he rang back the next day and said 'I was a bit disappointed with the newsletter'. Then he came to one of the gigs and said 'I was a bit disappointed tonight' and Gen had just had enough of him and he said to him 'How can you demand so much and turn round and say you're fucking disappointed, when you give nothing in return. When you start doing something for yourself, then maybe you'll get something out of it', which is a horrible thing for someone to click on to us and then actually do something we're dead set against … nothing.
Source: Dirt 3, December 1978