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Post by peluche on May 7, 2005 12:16:36 GMT 1
I'd like to ask the band about their musical influences. Although the SFtBH sound is mainly in a 'folk' vein, there are various rock and blues roots hiding in there ... and of course ... Don't Fear the Reaper !!
Could you share with us your influences ??
Cheers, Chris
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Post by Shane on May 7, 2005 15:16:35 GMT 1
Thanks very much for asking! Having survived the NWOBHM wars on a diet of Vardis and Saxon, I've a healthy repect for the well-turned powerchord, but in terms of writing, I always go back to the experts - Clive Gregson ("Always put the most depressing lyrics to the most upbeat tune, and vice versa..."), Boo Hewerdine ("I'm glad you like 'Patience of Angels' - all I remember about writing it was my girlfriend shouting through to the kitchen at me to keep it down as Corrie was on..."), Neil Young ("Sometimes you only need one note") and, er, Rory Gallagher - specifically the Top Priority album. Much as I aspire to the phenomenal brilliance, wit, verve and venom of Mr Richard Thompson's not only writing, but playing, I'd be hard-pressed to point to any evidence of it in my recorded work. Indeed my good chum (and drummer) Reado has been moved to comment "...and there, on the Gibson Les Dawson..." more than once after a particularly sprightly effort at going up and down the major scale during "My Sharona". Vocally, I've managed to calm down over time from a sub-Neil Young wail to a slightly more respectable John Mellencamp howl and, of course, my harmonica playing owes no little debt of gratitude to the sterling work of John Lennon on 'Love Me Do' (the other tune I can play is the fire brigade reveille from Trumpton). Of course, without brown-nosing our glorious leader too much, I'd have to say that the work of Mr James Partridge has rubbed off on me over the last twenty years or so that we've been bumping into each other, manifested not least in periodic overuse of the open-stringed Bsus4 which he showed me once at a rehearsal in 1989 and which I've been shoe-horning into songs ever since. Serious academics can learn more from a slightly out of date Pete Framesque biog here; www.james.partridge.com/thismuchfile/biog.htmlGibbon, without giving too much away is a devotee of all things Canterbury, specifically Caravan, Hatfield & The North and especially Camel, of whose oeuvre he owns a worryingly impressive percentage. Oh, and brass bands. I'm not making any of this up, I can assure you. Ooh, this is fun ;D Cheers SK |
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Post by Shane on May 7, 2005 15:20:09 GMT 1
...Oh, and I forgot to mention the most personally confessional and upsetting singer songwriter still working today Mr Loudon Wainwright III. And some of my old stuff sounds like I was trying to be Mike Scott out of The Waterboys ('Big Music' era). Which, to be fair, I was. I had the scarf and everything.... ;D
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cocker
Quite Interested
Posts: 14
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Post by cocker on May 7, 2005 20:10:48 GMT 1
Anyone else, Shane?
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Post by Mix on May 7, 2005 20:33:48 GMT 1
A lot of song-writers write about their own life experiences, do you use your own experiences when you write?
Also, which usually comes first, the tune or the words?
Mic
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Post by James SftBH on May 7, 2005 20:40:23 GMT 1
Speaking for meself Mix, yup most of the lyrics that I've written have been about stuff that's happened, either to me or someone I know. Obviously they get embellished a bit along the way, but I'm such a rebel I never bothered to get an artistic license. I hope they never send the detector van round...
Anyway the "words or tune first?" question is rather a common one, and the answer is, I'm afraid "Yes." ;D
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Post by Mix on May 7, 2005 20:44:45 GMT 1
Thanks James, I've always thought you must use 'real' life, as the songs all have the human quality, that I love so much.
Words and music? I thought it might be a 'chicken and egg' thing, but I had to ask, I'm just that kind of hedonistic gal ;D
Mic
Shane, I was asking you too sweets ;D
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Post by James SftBH on May 7, 2005 20:47:26 GMT 1
Could you share with us your influences ?? Cheers, Chris To start with The Beatles and Punk, then for many years just about anything but opera and musicals (ugh!). It won't be a surprise to hear that the last years has found me digging around in all the Americana that I'd previously missed and some of the new stuff too. Particular faves are Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Alison Krauss, Trisha Yearwood and Martina McBride. After hating country and bluegrass for so long (and with a passion, I might add) it does make me smile that these days it's so often playing in the house and the car. The Shane/James partnership is a folky metaller meeting a poppy-punk rocker and managing to agree on Neil Young and Boo Hewerdine. I have no real idea whether we play 'folk' music or not but I've got a funny feeling that we might. |
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Post by Slim Shaney on May 8, 2005 0:30:49 GMT 1
I would love to confess to being a devotee of the lyrical work of Mr Biff Byford, but, sadly, My Stallion of the Highway remains neglected and unridden. As ever, I aspire to, without ever achieving, and who could ask for more? If Neil Finn ever falls out with his brother again though, I have space marked out in the queue. A lonely vote here for Teddy Thompson as being a writer of great taste and economy is due. And Ian McNabb. The best Neil Young tribute artist bar, um, me. ;D |
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Post by Slim Shaney on May 8, 2005 0:43:04 GMT 1
A lot of song-writers write about their own life experiences, do you use your own experiences when you write? Mic Mostly - luckily, the victims don't usually find out until years afterwards, or are too polite to mention it at the time. Occasionally I'm too prescient for my own good. Or sometimes I use other characters and inhabit them for a while. "Not That Kind of Girl" being a good example. Happily, I've never been involved in a transsexual murder involving a hotel room and a lake, but hey - there's still time..... If it helps, I believe James does own a bike  Cheers SK |
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Post by James SftBH on May 8, 2005 0:49:40 GMT 1
If it helps, I believe James does own a bike Cheers SK Ah, but to write the song I thought back to a time when I didn't have a bike, car, boat..etc etc. |
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Post by Mix on May 8, 2005 23:04:00 GMT 1
Not That Kind of Girl, is already one of my favourites  But, Bless My Broken Heart is still my 'if you could only keep one' track. Reaper.......sorry, this sounds terribly sycophantic, but it isn't meant to.........Blows me away totally Mic |
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Post by Slim Shaney on Jul 15, 2005 1:50:12 GMT 1
Things just seem to sink into your mind without you really being aware, don't they? I've been driving along and spotted bits and bobs that've turned up in The Blue House from sources as uncool as Rory Gallagher, Uriah Heep...Budgie even, but nothing quite crept up on me so much as Jackson Browne's version of 'Cocaine' (no, not the JJ Cale song, although that's in there too...). If you want to hear what I've been trying to get as far as, get hold of a copy of 'Running On Empty' and play it all the way through. That's just tonight mind, just me, and there seem to be a whole lot of other people involved with ideas of their own. You'd have to ask them what they think. Or, rather, get them to post what they think.
Love
Shane
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Post by James SftBH on Jul 15, 2005 2:10:28 GMT 1
I like to think that we are the best cross between Jackson Browne and The Clash that there's ever been. But then again, I have had a bit to drink...I wonder if any of our other readers have had a similar experience?
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Post by Slim Shaney on Jul 29, 2005 19:07:41 GMT 1
A close friend recently commented that we like "the leftovers pie that you make at the end of the week using whatever's left over in the fridge, which on their own aren't up to much, but you end up with the best meal of the week..." ;D
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