Aug. 14, 2021

Adam 'Tidy' Burney interview

Adam 'Tidy' Burney interview
Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
Castro podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon Castro podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon
Season 1 Diatonic Harmonica Blues Harmonica Pre-war Harmonica Pop Harmonica

Adam Burney joins me on episode 44. 
Adam is a south London boy, from Croydon. A stint playing with the punk bands of this area has helped shape his sound with an edge of Blues punk, including in his own band, The Brothers of Mothershovel. 
A big fan of pre-war style of harmonica, Adam has incorporated these techniques into a style which fits into a modern band. Characterised by a rhythmic driving sound which is infectiously danceable.
Adam has recorded some notable tv sessions including some harmonica used in the BBC TV Doctor Who series.
Adam’s latest album ‘Tidy’s Blues Sandwich’ is more of a full-on blues album, recorded with some of the great players currently on London blues scene.

Links:
Tidy's Blues Sandwich album:
https://tidysbluessandwich.bandcamp.com/releases

The Brothers of Mothershovel Bandcamp page:
https://thebrothersofmothershovel.bandcamp.com

Brothers of Mothershovel: Umcha, Umcha album review by Richard Taylor: http://www.harpsurgery.com/umcha-umcha-brothers-of-mothershovel/

Videos:

Hovel Bop video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2AhvIwtrH0

Make The Tea/On The Run Again from latest album:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=LCYqy7LxQWI&feature=share

Harpin' By The Sea workshop on Noah Lewis:
https://youtu.be/pbV21VF-yOw

Return of Jerome:
https://youtu.be/zxhgT9P9wjo

Wolfie Witcher documentary:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=135_abFUQfk&feature=share

PCP - Let The Fun Begin:
https://youtu.be/xD3lZpDTAqs

Keith Turner and Southern Sound rehearsal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDADnebDAO0


Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB

Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com  or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS
and Blows Me Away Productions: http://www.blowsmeaway.com/

Support the show

01:01 - Where stage name ‘Tidy’ comes from

01:32 - Adam is from Croydon in South London and early musical influences

02:09 - Mark Feltham was inspiration which got Adam playing harmonica

03:00 - Then dug into the blues harmonica greats

04:07 - Adam started playing harmonica aged 13, and first harmonica was Marine Band

04:53 - Learning resources of today compared to when Adam first starting learning

06:05 - Started playing with his brother and that led onto to player in bands on bass and harmonica

07:33 - Formed his band The Brothers of Mothershovel in 2004 and punk influence

08:57 - Where name Brothers of Mothershovel came from

09:30 - Great videos made for songs

10:38 - Other bands that Adam played with early on

11:44 - Playing harmonica in punk bands and how to play punk harmonica

12:10 - Has a love of the pre-war harmonica players

12:23 - Did workshop on Noah Lewis at UK Harpin’ By The Sea festival in 2021

15:02 - How Adam approaches songwriting

16:36 - Brothers of Mothershovel is Adam’s main band, with first album Lay Back and Think of Croydon

19:00 - Adam’s brand of ‘bop’ harmonica brings a strong rhythmic sense and fun to his sound

20:21 - Sings some of lyrics as spoken parts

21:04 - Used to go to see Wolfie Witcher play in London, who influenced Adam’s approach to singing

22:35 - Second Brothers of Mothershovel album, Umcha Umcha

24:42 - Richard Taylor from the Harp Surgery website, does an excellent review of the album

25:12 - Value of making albums for exposure and just capturing the sound of the moment

26:46 - Return of Jerome is a single released with another band, with a great video

28:36 - Latest album released in 2021 is Tidy’s Blues Sandwich with some great players from London Blues scene

30:14 - Brothers of Mothershovel only play occasional gigs now

31:07 - Some of the songs on Tidy’s Blues Sandwich album

33:00 - The ‘bop harmonica’ songs that Adam plays

33:56 - Chad Strentz (who sings with Paul Lamb) sings a couple of songs on the album

35:53 - Where you can listen to the album

36:22 - Adam performs in London with Italian blues guitarist and singer Marco Buono

37:13 - Other bands that Adam plays with

39:22 - Recently started playing with a ska and reggae band, The Riffs

40:09 - The decline in live music venues is making it harder to get gigs

41:33 - Session work, including playing on BBC TV’s Doctor Who

43:18 - 10 minute question

44:42 - Adam’s harmonica of choice is the classic Hohner Marine Band, and customisation

45:48 - Favourite key of diatonic

46:57 - Different tunings

47:36 - Different positions

49:04 - Embouchre

50:47 - Chromatic

51:19 - Amps

52:50 - Mics

54:55 - Effects pedals

55:37 - How has he been keeping busy during pandemic

57:17 - Future plans

WEBVTT

00:00:00.226 --> 00:00:02.508
Adam Burney joins you on episode 44.

00:00:03.509 --> 00:00:05.572
Adam is a South London boy from Croydon.

00:00:06.033 --> 00:00:13.541
A stint playing with the punk bands of this area has helped shape his sound with an edge of blues punk, including his own band the Brothers of Mothershovel.

00:00:14.102 --> 00:00:25.033
A big fan of pre-war style harmonica, Adam has incorporated these techniques into a style which fits into a modern band, characterised by a rhythmic driving sound which is infectiously danceable.

00:00:25.666 --> 00:00:31.853
Adam has recorded some notable TV sessions, including some harmonica in the BBC TV Doctor Who series.

00:00:32.493 --> 00:00:41.103
Adam's latest album, Tidy's Blue Sandwich, is more of a full-on blues album, recorded with some of the great players currently on the London blues scene.

00:00:49.094 --> 00:00:49.374
MUSIC

00:00:54.305 --> 00:00:56.567
Hello, Adam Tidy-Burney and welcome to the podcast.

00:00:57.128 --> 00:00:57.649
Hello, Neil.

00:00:57.868 --> 00:01:00.131
Thank you very much for having me on your podcast.

00:01:00.151 --> 00:01:01.351
I've been enjoying your series.

00:01:01.652 --> 00:01:05.396
So on your name, first of all, so you have this stage name of Tidy.

00:01:05.456 --> 00:01:06.697
Where does that come from?

00:01:06.736 --> 00:01:08.477
Does that relate to your harmonica playing at all?

00:01:08.918 --> 00:01:09.179
That'd be

00:01:09.239 --> 00:01:09.558
nice,

00:01:09.718 --> 00:01:10.519
but no, it doesn't.

00:01:10.620 --> 00:01:13.843
It stems back from when I moved out of home, lived with a couple of mates.

00:01:14.022 --> 00:01:20.087
It stems from a Harry Enfield smashy and nicey sketch when they referred to Noel Edmonds as Noel Tidybeard.

00:01:20.448 --> 00:01:26.055
I had a beard going on at the time and it wasn't even Tidy, but they just picked up on it And then I've never been able to shake it off.

00:01:26.094 --> 00:01:27.778
And now I've decided to run with it.

00:01:28.117 --> 00:01:28.438
Brilliant.

00:01:28.478 --> 00:01:29.019
Inspired by

00:01:29.099 --> 00:01:29.620
Noel Edmonds.

00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:33.165
You must be the first harmonica player.

00:01:33.445 --> 00:01:37.332
So you're from, you're a sort of South London boy from Croydon.

00:01:37.373 --> 00:01:38.114
That's correct.

00:01:38.153 --> 00:01:38.334
Yeah.

00:01:38.534 --> 00:01:43.262
But what was it like growing up around Croydon and what got you into music and the harmonica?

00:01:43.426 --> 00:01:44.368
I remember getting

00:01:44.409 --> 00:01:44.709
music,

00:01:45.030 --> 00:01:47.055
early music memories, getting into Elvis, really.

00:01:47.075 --> 00:01:49.040
I got into Elvis from a very young age.

00:01:49.302 --> 00:01:53.554
And then that sort of sent me into rock and roll, Eddie Cochran, Little Richard, Chuck Berry.

00:01:53.875 --> 00:01:56.462
And then me and my brother, we had...

00:01:56.674 --> 00:01:58.635
We used to get these tapes made for Spire.

00:01:58.676 --> 00:02:00.576
We got older cousins, but they were a bit older than us.

00:02:00.596 --> 00:02:01.879
They were teenagers at the time.

00:02:02.179 --> 00:02:06.563
And they used to do us these mixtapes and they used to put a great mix of rock and roll stuff on there.

00:02:06.582 --> 00:02:10.026
But they'd also put a lot of punk, new wave and rock music.

00:02:10.366 --> 00:02:14.248
And on that, on one of the tapes, there was a three, I think three, nine below zero track.

00:02:14.489 --> 00:02:18.252
And it was the sound of Mark Felton just grabbed and shook me.

00:02:18.513 --> 00:02:19.294
And that was it really.

00:02:19.354 --> 00:02:22.997
That's made me get on a bus into Croydon and buy

00:02:23.037 --> 00:02:24.157
a home marine band.

00:02:24.598 --> 00:02:24.979
Brilliant.

00:02:24.998 --> 00:02:34.991
Yes, of course, Mark Felton has been on podcast a fantastic player and has inspired a lot of players particularly in Britain yes I should imagine yeah do you remember those tracks on that on that tape which

00:02:35.252 --> 00:02:41.421
uh which inspired you I think it's one way street I think it was three times enough and it might have been I'm in a doghouse

00:02:52.437 --> 00:02:52.478
so

00:02:53.186 --> 00:02:58.175
But the sound, yes, and it still grabs me, especially when I hear Mark Felton playing.

00:02:58.895 --> 00:03:02.402
And then from there, my dad had all these old blues records.

00:03:02.703 --> 00:03:14.765
And from there, he had Muddy Waters, Big Bill Broonzy, and he had a 10-inch of Sonny Boy Williamson I, a fantastic cover, had a Mellow Chick swing on it, probably put the kettle on, Dealing With The Devil.

00:03:15.330 --> 00:03:18.536
And also he had a Leadbelly one with Sonny Terry playing.

00:03:18.556 --> 00:03:25.169
It's still, I love Sonny Terry and it was, I think, one of my favourite Sonny Terry recordings and Ain't You Glad and Good Morning Blues.

00:03:31.602 --> 00:03:35.389
MUSIC PLAYS

00:03:45.665 --> 00:03:53.932
good morning and of course Muddy Waters and Little Water as well we had some Little Water singles so I dug all those out played them and then that set me off really

00:03:54.373 --> 00:04:14.491
yeah great it's a similar story I think isn't it you hear some harmonica on a sort of more popular record or in your case you know sort of Nine Below Zero record and then you sort of dig into the past and in all those harmonica greats some of which you mentioned there so what sort of age were you when you started playing harmonica I was 13 when I bought my first harmonica and what did you say that was a marine band

00:04:14.811 --> 00:04:18.735
yeah it would have been I remember I went to a little shop in Croydon, and I remember he had one of those puffers.

00:04:18.894 --> 00:04:23.360
He put the harmonica through the puffer to make sure it was all working, and it was in the old box.

00:04:24.081 --> 00:04:25.401
I just liked playing it immediately.

00:04:25.422 --> 00:04:28.466
I really enjoyed the feeling of it, really, and I was off.

00:04:28.526 --> 00:04:29.286
I just stopped.

00:04:29.387 --> 00:04:40.298
I just enjoyed making a noise on it to start with, and I didn't know about keys, so I put on the Sonny Boy Williamson 2 record, and sometimes it sounded a bit better than others.

00:04:40.358 --> 00:04:46.863
I had no idea about different keys and stuff like that, but I think that was probably quite a common problem as well for a players of that generation.

00:04:47.490 --> 00:04:52.976
Yeah, it's very different nowadays, isn't it, with the internet and being able to find all this information around.

00:04:53.257 --> 00:05:01.449
The question I ask quite a lot is, what do you think about the difference between then and now about the way that our generation learns and nowadays?

00:05:01.968 --> 00:05:05.394
It's incredible, especially when you're looking on Facebook.

00:05:05.514 --> 00:05:11.262
The standard is incredible, players these days, and it must be attributed to all those great teachers out there.

00:05:11.502 --> 00:05:13.584
But I'm quite happy with the way I learn.

00:05:13.625 --> 00:05:17.370
I like learning things myself and getting it wrong, and I wouldn't change that.

00:05:17.505 --> 00:05:19.307
I like the trial and error way of doing it.

00:05:19.569 --> 00:05:22.892
How I practice now is exactly how I practiced when I started, really.

00:05:22.913 --> 00:05:25.476
I put on the old records and you try and keep up.

00:05:25.617 --> 00:05:30.463
And the more you listen to those classic records, the more you hear, the more you discover, the more you find.

00:05:30.543 --> 00:05:32.045
And I still find that exciting.

00:05:32.086 --> 00:05:38.014
If I listen to Little Walter and Sonny Boy or Sonny Terry in 15 years' time, I'm going to hear more different stuff.

00:05:38.074 --> 00:05:39.516
And I still find that exciting.

00:05:39.536 --> 00:05:41.017
So I've no plans to change.

00:05:41.473 --> 00:05:43.935
Yeah, I think there's a lot of good and bad, isn't there?

00:05:43.956 --> 00:05:46.918
Obviously these days there's loads of resources and it's brilliant.

00:05:46.939 --> 00:05:50.040
There's lots of online teachers, loads of online resources to learn from.

00:05:50.081 --> 00:05:50.781
So that's great.

00:05:50.822 --> 00:05:54.384
But I think there's some things to be said, isn't there, for sort of that learning yourself.

00:05:54.564 --> 00:05:55.947
I think you've just got to find what's good for you

00:05:56.007 --> 00:05:57.127
and everyone's got different ways.

00:05:57.247 --> 00:06:02.012
So like some people learn scales and that's good for them, but I don't think that would work for me.

00:06:02.312 --> 00:06:03.432
It's what works for you, isn't it?

00:06:03.452 --> 00:06:05.014
I think as an individual player,

00:06:05.053 --> 00:06:05.314
really.

00:06:05.714 --> 00:06:06.975
And so you started playing at 13.

00:06:07.536 --> 00:06:09.077
So what was your journey then?

00:06:09.158 --> 00:06:12.882
Did you start playing with a friend or did getting to your first band well my

00:06:12.901 --> 00:06:42.353
brother called my brother's a couple years younger than me and he took up guitar lessons so we used to make it's definitely the roots of the brothers of Mother Shovel there we used to make a lot of noise in our bedroom so that was my first playing with anyone else probably about 17 I think I did a bit of a school band as well when we did covers I did play bass for that and I used to play get the harmonica out for a couple of songs and then I joined another covers band playing bass as well and did the same first band I joined I think it was my first pub gig was a band called the CB Blues Band and it was led by an old fellow called Colin Bannigan.

00:06:42.394 --> 00:06:45.338
He was a boogie-woogie pianist, and he'd been around in the 60s.

00:06:45.379 --> 00:06:49.625
I think he played with all the old guys back then, I think Alexis Corner and that generation.

00:06:49.766 --> 00:06:51.668
Yeah, and he was good, and it was a good little band.

00:06:51.709 --> 00:06:55.875
We played in First Bubbing Croyd and a few gigs up in Greyhorse in Kingston.

00:06:56.036 --> 00:06:58.279
And that was very good, yeah, and I just really loved it.

00:06:58.321 --> 00:06:59.502
I just loved playing in a band.

00:06:59.723 --> 00:07:06.093
I think I've always been in a band since of some form.

00:07:06.113 --> 00:07:15.165
MUSIC PLAYS Thank you.

00:07:18.434 --> 00:07:32.425
went in this year and just did a live recording and I also did a duet with Colin he was playing piano we did a harmonica and piano duet recordings as well but I'm not sure where that is probably on a tape somewhere it was probably I don't know how probably it was about 18 then I think

00:07:33.307 --> 00:07:39.291
you mentioned there your your own band is called the Brothers of Mother Shovel when did that band form

00:07:39.932 --> 00:07:49.588
that was way about 2004 2005 I think when we formed the Brothers of Mother Shovel when I was living at home my brother Dan he got into hardcore punk.

00:07:49.649 --> 00:07:55.408
So he liked Fugazi, Husker Du, And he liked The Clash and all the punk bands, you know, English punk bands.

00:07:55.709 --> 00:08:02.314
He used to practice downstairs, almighty noise coming from downstairs in the living room with his bass and drums.

00:08:02.574 --> 00:08:04.416
I wanted to join in and they let me join in.

00:08:04.456 --> 00:08:05.617
And it could work.

00:08:05.838 --> 00:08:07.779
The tunes they were doing, the harmonica could work well.

00:08:08.019 --> 00:08:10.942
So I think that was definitely the roots of the Brothers and Mother Shovel.

00:08:10.982 --> 00:08:12.944
Then he had a band called Wogan's Wig.

00:08:13.124 --> 00:08:14.045
They did a couple of gigs.

00:08:14.444 --> 00:08:16.706
And then after that, we formed another band.

00:08:16.887 --> 00:08:18.009
Well, I'll spell it for you.

00:08:18.028 --> 00:08:19.389
We were called ARSE.

00:08:19.670 --> 00:08:31.521
That was, again, it was sort of punky with a bit of blues feel but it's always a bit of a punk it's punky edge and then we become munch then with the human z's and then we became the brothers and mother shovel it's always with my brother really

00:08:31.983 --> 00:08:47.799
yeah and you play this as you mentioned that you play this kind of form of blues punk almost in a way it's kind of raucous and uh and rootsy and this kind of punk feel about it as well so uh and also that's sort of similar to nine below zero as well is that something you drew some inspiration from

00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:57.149
oh most definitely yeah i always like the fact mark felt and whatever you chuck at him he can play over the top and he always sounds like Mark Felton and he always sounds good and that was always very inspiring but yeah.

00:08:57.590 --> 00:08:59.711
What does the name Brothers of Mother Shovel mean?

00:08:59.912 --> 00:09:07.961
We had a song called Give Me a Shovel and I like the word shovel and we had a bit of a brainstorming and we come up with that as a sort of ended up that as a name.

00:09:08.260 --> 00:09:13.386
It hasn't really got a meaning but we have you know we've got a mythical character Mother Shovel and we've used her in our video.

00:09:13.746 --> 00:09:17.010
And your brother your brother's in this band so the brothers is it comes from that?

00:09:17.250 --> 00:09:22.996
A little bit yeah yes yeah I think so and the other fellas we yeah we just we like to give it a family feel the band

00:09:23.297 --> 00:09:44.200
and you got this image which is a sort of mentioned South London sort of image to it you know you're wearing bowler hats you know you're kind of some great videos you've made with that band which are quite often on you know kind of around the streets of Croydon or South London and then you know sort of going on commuting on the train and so you've sort of gone for that sort of South London feel to the videos that you make in the image

00:09:44.580 --> 00:09:58.636
yeah we like the bowler hats we're always Law and Hardy fans bowler hats perhaps comes from there yeah we're very fortunate that some of those videos you're talking about were made by three different people and they're all friends of the band and they're all very talented and they they did the business for us so we're very lucky

00:09:58.878 --> 00:10:16.701
yeah no it's a brilliant image and i'll put some links on to uh some of the videos that you've made with that band and uh they're fantastic videos well i really love the the hobble bot video which has got this this sort of giant bowler hat that you're all running underneath

00:10:26.466 --> 00:10:31.854
Yeah, I think that's the favourite of many, I think, the Hovel Bot one, yeah.

00:10:32.073 --> 00:10:33.154
Yeah, and a great tune as well.

00:10:33.235 --> 00:10:33.375
It did.

00:10:33.395 --> 00:10:35.018
I don't think the people of Croydon didn't look too

00:10:35.038 --> 00:10:36.019
impressed when we were making it.

00:10:36.119 --> 00:10:36.840
We had a good time.

00:10:37.280 --> 00:10:38.383
Yeah, yeah, I bet you did, yeah.

00:10:38.903 --> 00:10:43.288
And before then, you played with a band called Keith Turner and the Southern Sound.

00:10:55.086 --> 00:10:55.166
Yeah.

00:10:57.826 --> 00:11:01.153
Yes, I think there was another band.

00:11:01.214 --> 00:11:02.566
I was in Wild and Fancy.

00:11:02.605 --> 00:11:02.807
That was...

00:11:03.169 --> 00:11:05.591
That was probably one of my most busy bands I've ever been in.

00:11:06.011 --> 00:11:13.938
We had a double bass player, Rockabilly, and a brilliant Alan Higgins on slide guitar and guitar vocals, and Matt Davis on double bass.

00:11:13.979 --> 00:11:16.000
And we used to busk in Croydon, Sutton, Bromley.

00:11:16.081 --> 00:11:18.123
And we used to, you know, in those days you could get more gigs.

00:11:18.163 --> 00:11:20.205
So we were getting sometimes three gigs a week.

00:11:20.325 --> 00:11:22.846
And that was a good little sound because we didn't have a drummer.

00:11:22.886 --> 00:11:26.169
So I've certainly worked on my rhythmical playing with those fellas.

00:11:26.629 --> 00:11:30.192
And after that, I think we probably split up in the early 90s.

00:11:30.413 --> 00:11:44.028
And after that, I was more into sort of the punk band in another punk band in Croydon called PCP Punk Start sort of type band and then I wasn't really in blues bands for a while really and then yeah but the Southern Sound it certainly got me back into playing blues Were

00:11:44.048 --> 00:11:46.309
you playing harmonica with these sort of punk bands?

00:11:46.690 --> 00:11:51.095
Oh yeah all the time yeah always harmonica yeah So how would you describe punk harmonica then?

00:11:51.294 --> 00:11:52.275
How did you approach that?

00:11:52.596 --> 00:12:22.494
Yeah all I've ever practised to are the old blues guys really and that's the sort of style I play I just found it easy to put into this music that we come up with really especially when you've got someone like Sonny Terry the energy he's got is you know that's perfect for punk music with energy and isn't it really so it wasn't I didn't find that difficult the other music at Harmonica I really like is the old 1920s players and the Wizards from there all their trains and their big sounds they used to get that energy as well i found i could incorporate into these bands i was playing with

00:12:22.894 --> 00:12:33.182
yeah and uh because you did a workshop at the uk event harping by the sea so you uh you did some tracks of noah lewis and he played with a cannon jug stompers yes

00:12:33.462 --> 00:12:49.962
one of my favorite players noah lewis and aside from his harmonica there's so much to learn about being in a band and how to play in a band and when to lay off and how to embellish songs and how to help them along and then and how to come up front and do your solo and he's playing really shapes those those recordings he did back in the 30s.

00:13:05.346 --> 00:13:11.871
And it's not dissimilar to what Little Walter did in Muddy Walter's band.

00:13:11.912 --> 00:13:17.336
It's that being a good band player, really, backing up and, yeah, and helping the song, giving it colour and shape and form.

00:13:17.395 --> 00:13:23.822
So, yeah, definitely a big influence on me, especially with these bands I was in, in the sort of 90s and early 2000s.

00:13:24.101 --> 00:13:27.044
Yeah, those pre-war players, they're very technically very good, aren't they?

00:13:27.065 --> 00:13:31.928
And they do some things that are, you know, less orthodox than we're used to with the sort of 1950s blues.

00:13:31.948 --> 00:13:35.312
You know, there are some similarities, but they play a lot of topical music.

00:13:35.312 --> 00:13:38.316
top-end stuff, some fast runs, some technical moves.

00:13:38.875 --> 00:13:42.740
You know, what is it about, you think about the style of those players and, you know, the difference of later?

00:13:43.101 --> 00:13:48.327
Well, I mean, it was like D4 Bailey, if you hear his playing, he sounds like a whole band he's knocking out on his harmonica.

00:13:48.347 --> 00:13:50.090
And that's always been a big influence for me.

00:13:50.289 --> 00:13:53.494
And a lot of those players were like that, very orchestral, those players on those

00:14:02.466 --> 00:14:02.605
records.

00:14:02.625 --> 00:14:06.398
MUSIC PLAYS The End

00:14:06.785 --> 00:14:09.607
It's the same for the guitarists.

00:14:09.648 --> 00:14:12.490
You go into different areas, they were playing different things, weren't they?

00:14:12.510 --> 00:14:16.394
Different tunings and harmonica players in different areas had their own style and different sound.

00:14:16.433 --> 00:14:21.177
So I think it was more variety because probably there was less communication wasn't available then, was it?

00:14:21.239 --> 00:14:24.120
So there was definitely more variety on those 1920 players.

00:14:24.160 --> 00:14:30.346
And I suppose when records come out, people would be copying players on the records and it's a bit more of a uniform sound, perhaps.

00:14:30.466 --> 00:14:32.948
I think it was magical about those 1920 players.

00:14:33.249 --> 00:14:33.828
Yeah, incredible.

00:14:33.869 --> 00:14:37.393
First Positions, Jay Bird, Coleman, Al Watson I've been listening to.

00:14:37.452 --> 00:14:38.494
Incredible players.

00:14:38.653 --> 00:14:39.294
Yeah, I think you're right.

00:14:39.315 --> 00:14:40.875
I think absolutely that, isn't it?

00:14:40.916 --> 00:14:46.402
They didn't have the basis to sort of copy other players and they sort of come up with their own sound very uniquely, don't they?

00:14:46.442 --> 00:14:48.083
Which is what's really nice about them.

00:14:48.104 --> 00:14:51.268
Sonny Terry, I think he's a classic example of that, really.

00:14:51.408 --> 00:14:55.052
What you hear, you know it's him immediately when you hear that sound coming.

00:14:55.351 --> 00:14:58.855
So do you do any solo pieces yourself based on that pre-war style?

00:14:59.155 --> 00:15:02.158
Yeah, I do practice along to those and I try and play them.

00:15:02.379 --> 00:15:30.889
I notice when it comes to songwriting, I write songs on the harmonica completely on the harmonica really once I've got it I'm happy with it I chuck it at the band especially with the Brothers of Mother Shovel I throw it to them and then we'd knock it into you know into the Brothers of Mother Shovel song really and because they've got different influences I might take it somewhere else and I've always liked that I've never been too precious with what I've come up with and it's good to hear it go somewhere else perhaps because the Brothers of Mother Shovel the guys in the back they're not all they like blues but they're not they've got other tastes as well and it goes somewhere else perhaps

00:15:31.389 --> 00:15:41.400
So when you're writing songs on harmonica how do you approach that you're coming up with a melody on harmonica or you and then putting some lyrics to that and then playing what sort of fills between the lyrics or how do you approach that

00:15:41.780 --> 00:16:07.548
well normally it's just the tune really and i practice a lot i'm praying i'm walking around potting around or i'm walking down the street and you stumble across a riff and oh i like that and then you play it and then you're naturally you might just go somewhere else with it and then sometimes it takes longer than others sometimes it'll come quickly but yeah that's how i do it really i just stumble across them a lot of the time the risk because you're playing so much and something you say sometimes quicker than others sometimes it'd be a it It might be a couple of years.

00:16:07.609 --> 00:16:11.475
I'll patiently wait till something else fits in with what I've come up with.

00:16:11.956 --> 00:16:17.283
I mean, the style of a lot of your songs you play, you know, you play sort of quite hard driven.

00:16:17.302 --> 00:16:23.071
We talked about this punky edge, you know, this kind of quite repetitive licks, which really drive the energy of the sound, don't they?

00:16:23.131 --> 00:16:24.393
That sort of approach to your music.

00:16:25.254 --> 00:16:25.936
Yes, definitely.

00:16:25.956 --> 00:16:26.436
Yeah, yeah.

00:16:26.876 --> 00:16:27.277
I like that.

00:16:27.317 --> 00:16:27.557
Yeah.

00:16:28.258 --> 00:16:30.721
Trying to get the groove, really, trying to get a good groove on.

00:16:31.322 --> 00:16:34.267
Yeah, it certainly gives them a lot of energy, yeah, definitely.

00:16:34.366 --> 00:16:36.188
It makes them really effective sounding, yeah.

00:16:36.590 --> 00:16:38.972
So again, back to the Brothers of Mothershowers.

00:16:39.134 --> 00:16:44.500
This is your main band, yeah, and you released your first album in 2014, Lay Back and Think of Croydon.

00:16:45.121 --> 00:16:45.743
That's correct, yeah.

00:16:46.183 --> 00:16:47.225
What about that title then?

00:16:47.745 --> 00:16:50.330
Well, yeah, we had to try and put Croydon on the map.

00:16:50.690 --> 00:16:54.312
That was a live, we did that live, that album, which I enjoyed.

00:16:54.352 --> 00:17:00.118
There's a couple of overdubs here and there, because the violinist, he's a brilliant violinist, but he did the drumming, he's a brilliant drummer.

00:17:00.258 --> 00:17:01.980
Sometimes when we do gigs, he does both.

00:17:02.500 --> 00:17:05.423
For that recording, I think he did some overdubs with his violin.

00:17:05.603 --> 00:17:06.763
So that was a live recording, yeah.

00:17:06.824 --> 00:17:11.367
So at that time, we were very home, we were doing lots of gigs, so it was quite nice doing a live recording.

00:17:11.548 --> 00:17:12.788
So it was live in the studio?

00:17:12.989 --> 00:17:14.411
That's correct, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:17:14.990 --> 00:17:19.615
Like you say, a lot of fiddle on there, and it's great, very effective with the harmonica, the fiddling.

00:17:19.714 --> 00:17:20.655
I do like the sound.

00:17:20.655 --> 00:17:21.277
of it together.

00:17:35.521 --> 00:17:44.950
I quite like playing tunes and lots of people are interested in harmonica playing, fiddle tunes and that sort of things on harmonica.

00:17:44.970 --> 00:17:48.153
So is that something you're interested in and that's bringing the fiddle in?

00:17:48.532 --> 00:17:52.797
Because you don't tend to play fiddle tunes, I don't think, too much yourself, do you, on the songs?

00:17:53.458 --> 00:17:53.998
No, no.

00:17:54.919 --> 00:18:30.934
Brother Dan, he had a friend, Johan, who's a man on the violin and he says, he just invited him round for one, we went regularly practice just in the kitchen and he turned up one and it was spooky because he just joined in as if because they're all our own songs but he just joined in as if he's been playing with us for years really he just intuitively knew where to go and the next week he'd come along he'd play the same songs and he'd play them completely different but it would still work he was he's a superb musician he's listening to what I'm playing and he'd always I would lead and he'd play behind me but he was he's a brilliant player and it's great having him there it helps you play better of course if you've got someone like that doing that

00:18:31.015 --> 00:18:38.003
behind you no yes great yeah and again it definitely gives it that Americana take edge of that album yeah it wasn't intentional it just happened

00:18:38.044 --> 00:18:58.013
really but as soon as he turned up we thought well he's got to stay with us so

00:19:00.354 --> 00:19:06.019
And a song which is really characteristic of the sound, certainly the Brothers and Mother Shovel Band, is this Shovel Pop.

00:19:06.439 --> 00:19:13.065
Is that where you, you know, the first of this type where you're playing this, you know, as I mentioned, this kind of really infectious sound, you know, quite repetitive riffs.

00:19:13.585 --> 00:19:19.510
You've got sort of phrases that you're speaking in the background as sort of, you know, as behind it as well.

00:19:19.550 --> 00:19:22.212
And that's a sort of really characteristic sound of the band, isn't it?

00:19:22.834 --> 00:19:24.494
Shovel Pop, that was based on Dr.

00:19:24.515 --> 00:19:24.795
Ross,

00:19:25.276 --> 00:19:26.016
I Feel So Good.

00:19:26.256 --> 00:19:29.859
But we couldn't quite get it, so we just did our...

00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:39.230
her own thing with it really but it was based on the dr ross track fantastic player so

00:19:40.034 --> 00:19:42.895
Yeah,

00:19:51.263 --> 00:19:53.326
that's the thing I think people forget about blues really.

00:19:53.425 --> 00:20:04.935
Really, it's dance music and that's what the original form, that's what it was for and the slow ones were just to give the musicians a bit of a break but they played for people to dance to and you can hear that with Dotter Ross and yeah, it's great.

00:20:05.056 --> 00:20:07.238
It's a great groove and great killer riffs.

00:20:07.417 --> 00:20:07.557
Big

00:20:07.597 --> 00:20:08.318
influence, yeah.

00:20:08.659 --> 00:20:11.069
And talking about your songwriting, did you So you write...

00:20:11.201 --> 00:20:14.904
what most, if not all the songs, there's quite a lot of them are instrumental, aren't they?

00:20:14.964 --> 00:20:20.490
But with, and then some of them have these kind of like almost spoken parts by you, haven't they?

00:20:20.970 --> 00:20:21.151
Yeah.

00:20:21.471 --> 00:20:21.911
What about that?

00:20:21.951 --> 00:20:26.394
You know, that, that sort of your approach to singing those and them in those kind of almost kind of spoken parts

00:20:40.928 --> 00:20:41.067
to them.

00:20:41.087 --> 00:20:41.167
Yeah.

00:20:41.167 --> 00:20:42.750
I clean my

00:20:42.769 --> 00:20:42.950
head down.

00:20:42.970 --> 00:20:44.290
I'm not really a singer as such.

00:20:44.652 --> 00:20:50.238
If I come up with lyrics I'm happy with, use them with conviction, it works okay, I think.

00:20:50.357 --> 00:20:51.759
And that's what I tend to do.

00:20:51.798 --> 00:20:52.859
Yeah, and obviously talking.

00:20:53.161 --> 00:20:56.124
I like the fact that talking on records is good.

00:20:56.163 --> 00:20:59.386
Yeah, one of my earliest, just after Elvis, was Ian Durian.

00:20:59.406 --> 00:21:03.551
When I heard him, I can remember seeing him on Top of the Pops and I was absolutely blown away by him.

00:21:03.571 --> 00:21:13.923
And also another fella who I should mention is when we were younger, we used to go and see Wolfie Witcher and his brewing Camden used to play Saturday afternoon, one o'clock till five.

00:21:14.083 --> 00:21:18.448
Fantastic harmonica man, fantastic performer and great comedian as well.

00:21:18.508 --> 00:21:29.500
His band used to play blues, ska, New Orleans, R&B, Otis Redding tracks, and Wolfie, underneath all the clowning, his harmonica was a brilliant, soulful player.

00:21:29.539 --> 00:21:33.844
And he'd be playing along to Otis Redding tracks perfectly, but a great, great player.

00:21:33.884 --> 00:21:38.269
But he sang in a London accent as well, which was, it was refreshing really.

00:21:38.308 --> 00:21:39.329
He sang in his own voice.

00:21:40.431 --> 00:21:41.853
Definitely an Yeah,

00:21:41.913 --> 00:21:49.961
and I think the sound you get with the band is, you know, you talk about blues being important, you've always played to blues, but it definitely has that modern sound to it.

00:21:50.021 --> 00:21:52.523
It doesn't really sound like necessarily just a blues.

00:21:52.884 --> 00:21:55.326
You'd have thought it'd be quite commercially appealing as well.

00:21:55.366 --> 00:21:57.549
You know, it does sound almost poppy in a way, doesn't it?

00:21:57.569 --> 00:22:00.051
And it's a really good use of the harmonica in that

00:22:00.071 --> 00:22:00.853
setting.

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.000
.

00:22:11.023 --> 00:22:11.933
Woo-hoo!

00:22:16.801 --> 00:22:33.997
try yeah and so there's a lot of influences it wasn't just a blues influence me and my brother always like the who and we like punk and everything really and and scar and you know we just like all sorts of music really so we did you know try and incorporate whatever we could really it was without being too contrived about it i think we just wanted to see what

00:22:34.017 --> 00:22:34.517
happens with it

00:22:34.557 --> 00:22:34.837
really

00:22:35.617 --> 00:22:57.700
in 2017 you released another uh album um yeah just five tracks on this one but yeah another one from the the brothers of mother shovel and uh some great some really good lyrics on this one so um for example you talk about Oxbridge Chumps which is talking about how certainly in the Britain how all the top jobs go to all the people who've been to all the private schools yeah so there's some political comment in that

00:22:57.799 --> 00:23:13.316
one Oxbridge Chumps

00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:22.446
Yeah, well, Bubba Dan wrote that one.

00:23:22.487 --> 00:23:22.968
Yeah, yeah.

00:23:23.048 --> 00:23:24.630
I think they're great lyrics, actually.

00:23:24.769 --> 00:23:24.910
Yeah.

00:23:25.230 --> 00:23:25.431
Yeah.

00:23:25.891 --> 00:23:29.936
And then you've got Brian, which he's also got some righteous lyrics about.

00:23:29.957 --> 00:23:32.759
Is that inspired by the life of Brian, the Monty Python film?

00:23:32.779 --> 00:23:33.039
It is.

00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:33.881
That's my brother

00:23:33.901 --> 00:23:34.082
again.

00:23:34.122 --> 00:23:35.282
He wrote those lyrics.

00:23:35.323 --> 00:23:36.484
Yeah, that is definitely...

00:23:36.865 --> 00:23:38.727
Yeah, it's inspired by Brian.

00:23:39.288 --> 00:23:41.250
But you're doing all the singing on the album.

00:23:41.730 --> 00:23:43.673
No, my brother, he sang...

00:23:44.097 --> 00:23:50.532
brian and he sang uh oxbridge okay and i yeah i think i sang the other tunes on that on that cd yeah

00:23:50.973 --> 00:23:55.743
yeah so so a good one and and shell life another one with a great sort of overdriven sound on the

00:23:58.049 --> 00:24:16.814
harmonic so I think all my harmonica on that is acoustic.

00:24:16.994 --> 00:24:18.469
It's all recorded in my brother's house.

00:24:18.753 --> 00:24:25.279
What we did on a few of those, we doubled up the harmonica because I do a few takes and then we think, hang on, if we put them together, that sounds good.

00:24:25.319 --> 00:24:26.861
So there was a bit of that going on.

00:24:26.901 --> 00:24:31.265
It's not too much effect, but we did double up a bit on the harmonica.

00:24:31.625 --> 00:24:32.566
It wasn't alive at all.

00:24:32.605 --> 00:24:34.367
We did that for people doing their different parts.

00:24:34.448 --> 00:24:36.368
I mean, they could really, you know, it's not always easy.

00:24:36.429 --> 00:24:38.851
People got jobs and families, but we got around to it.

00:24:38.871 --> 00:24:40.593
And yeah, my brother did a great job mixing it.

00:24:40.853 --> 00:24:42.654
And also, yeah, really pleased with that album.

00:24:42.914 --> 00:24:45.396
That was the one we sent to Richard at the heart surgery.

00:24:45.497 --> 00:24:47.959
He does a really good review of it on his website.

00:24:48.078 --> 00:25:11.884
I'll put a link for that great because we you know as all bands do we sent the cd off and i sent it to richard taylor down at his harp surgery he went crazy for it it was great it was really nice and he wrote a cracking review he really i think he really got a suss with that review and that led us to playing at the harping by the sea which is yeah i think the band all agree it was our favorite gig was played at harping by the sea with um with victor piotas and roy mcleod that was a great night for us

00:25:12.204 --> 00:25:20.973
i mean what about the that you know the value of making albums and you know getting yourself some exposure and it leading on to to other things It's difficult, but at the end of the day, we

00:25:21.015 --> 00:25:21.694
enjoy doing it.

00:25:21.714 --> 00:25:23.176
And that was the most important thing.

00:25:23.376 --> 00:25:26.500
And we've got that CD done and we've got the videos done.

00:25:27.622 --> 00:25:29.483
Yeah, as much as anything, getting it down is good.

00:25:29.503 --> 00:25:35.069
But it does give you a certain, well, it gives you something to send out as demos, if nothing else, doesn't it as well?

00:25:35.289 --> 00:25:37.731
But, you know, making albums quite often isn't cheap, is it?

00:25:37.771 --> 00:25:39.894
And, you know, you've got to take the time and effort to do it as well.

00:25:39.974 --> 00:25:40.454
That's right.

00:25:40.494 --> 00:25:40.955
Yeah, yeah.

00:25:41.276 --> 00:25:42.457
Yeah, great to get them down.

00:25:42.497 --> 00:25:44.980
But yeah, I think more and more people are having to make their own.

00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:46.501
And it's, you know, it costs quite a lot.

00:25:46.521 --> 00:25:47.863
It can cost quite a lot of money.

00:25:47.923 --> 00:25:48.624
So, yeah, it's interesting.

00:25:48.624 --> 00:25:50.906
the value of CD or albums these days.

00:25:51.188 --> 00:25:51.729
Yeah, yeah.

00:25:52.329 --> 00:25:57.778
Okay, and then you released a sort of single with them as well, Can't Catch Me.

00:26:06.651 --> 00:26:14.142
Can't Catch Me

00:26:17.890 --> 00:26:20.652
that off one of the existing albums or did you record that again

00:26:20.992 --> 00:26:41.911
again that was we I think there's two versions that we did it on the first album as live and then again my brother did it at his house yeah we just took a bit of time with that and yeah it's nice I like both versions actually they're both different it was a good job I think it was a bit more layered and we got a friend another friend of ours Alan to sing because I tried singing it and we knew we'd been in band with Alan before and it got him to do the business

00:26:42.151 --> 00:26:47.855
yeah and you did some other singles you released so Return of Jerome Return of Jerome was that

00:26:47.855 --> 00:27:08.588
was part when I joined the Southern Sound there's a record shop in West Wiccan called Rolling Records run by Steve Willis he had a word with Wayne Hopkins double bass player to tell him to put a band together Wayne's he's a very experienced double bass player been on the rockabilly and rock and roll scene for years and he picked these players he put a band together so he had me On harmonica, we had Ian Dollar Bill.

00:27:08.910 --> 00:27:11.212
Check out his one-man band stuff.

00:27:11.232 --> 00:27:12.433
Dollar Bill was fantastic.

00:27:12.755 --> 00:27:13.496
He was on drums.

00:27:13.675 --> 00:27:17.080
Tony D'Avolo, superb guitarist, who was on my last album.

00:27:17.560 --> 00:27:19.864
And Andy Wren, who's another great guitarist.

00:27:20.204 --> 00:27:21.006
And Wayne on bass.

00:27:21.185 --> 00:27:24.931
And he put his band together and we did an album as a sub and sound.

00:27:25.131 --> 00:27:27.413
And then Steve wanted me to put out a single as well.

00:27:27.535 --> 00:27:29.897
So that's where Return of Jerome came from.

00:27:30.157 --> 00:27:32.080
It was based on Bring It To Jerome.

00:27:32.280 --> 00:27:34.584
I was trying to do that, but again, couldn't quite nail it.

00:27:34.743 --> 00:27:36.046
So we sort of changed it around a bit.

00:27:36.130 --> 00:27:41.414
and in the studio and we yeah and come out with slightly different sort of yeah a song of its own really

00:27:41.775 --> 00:28:02.893
yeah no it's great and again i implore everybody listening to check out the video to this so i'll again i'll put a link on the front of the podcast page so uh the video is great as i mentioned it's recorded at a train station and you've got your baller hat on you and you're there playing on monica and the great thing is dancing ted people have got to watch that video to check out dancing ted it tells about dancing ted yeah jerry's

00:28:02.932 --> 00:28:11.780
his name jerry brill he's fantastic i was playing in that video i could hear and wheezing and struggling for breath as he was busting his moves.

00:28:11.881 --> 00:28:13.461
But he did a fantastic job there.

00:28:13.623 --> 00:28:14.363
Yeah, it's great.

00:28:14.403 --> 00:28:16.065
So explain to people.

00:28:16.204 --> 00:28:19.788
So he's on a train station, this kind of commuter sort of feel about it.

00:28:19.827 --> 00:28:24.271
And this guy comes along looking on disapprovingly as Adam is there playing the harmonica and singing.

00:28:24.711 --> 00:28:31.298
And then he sort of, as the song goes through, he can't help but start dancing to the song and he busts some great moves, doesn't he?

00:28:31.317 --> 00:28:32.679
So it's a great watch that video.

00:28:32.699 --> 00:28:32.959
Yeah.

00:28:33.179 --> 00:28:33.960
You've got to watch it.

00:28:33.980 --> 00:28:34.881
Yeah, I love the video.

00:28:34.901 --> 00:28:36.061
Yeah.

00:28:36.226 --> 00:28:37.686
And then you just released an album.

00:28:37.807 --> 00:28:41.349
You just put an album together in last year, in 2021.

00:28:41.490 --> 00:28:43.972
So this is called Tidy's Blue Sandwich.

00:28:44.432 --> 00:28:47.536
Was that recorded before the pandemic started or during it?

00:28:47.895 --> 00:28:48.497
No, no.

00:28:48.696 --> 00:28:48.856
I

00:28:49.336 --> 00:28:56.103
always fancied doing what I've done with the Brothers Mother, coming up with songs and throwing them at a more blues-based band to see what happens, really.

00:28:56.143 --> 00:28:58.505
So it was a similar sort of thing to the Brothers Mother Shuffle.

00:28:58.684 --> 00:29:02.169
I got my songs and I chucked them at these fellows I've seen.

00:29:02.209 --> 00:29:06.112
Tony Dive, who I've mentioned before, we hit it off...

00:29:06.192 --> 00:29:07.353
immediately when we play together.

00:29:07.373 --> 00:29:11.357
He's a fantastic guitarist, very creative, and we always play well together.

00:29:11.397 --> 00:29:12.479
So I wanted Tony on board.

00:29:12.798 --> 00:29:16.363
I've got Marco Bruno, who I've started playing with in the last few years.

00:29:16.383 --> 00:29:19.546
Again, get on very well with personally and musically.

00:29:19.705 --> 00:29:20.586
I've done a few gigs with him.

00:29:20.626 --> 00:29:22.469
He's great, very good blues guitarist.

00:29:22.730 --> 00:29:24.632
And I wanted them, it would be good to get them together.

00:29:24.672 --> 00:29:27.674
And there's a drummer, Loris Peverani, a fantastic drummer.

00:29:27.694 --> 00:29:31.838
I've seen him around, played with Steve West and Jake Vegas, great player.

00:29:32.099 --> 00:30:04.413
And Orlando Shearer, another someone I've seen in the last few years on the sort of blues scene in London fantastic double bass pass I thought if I get these guys together I chuck my songs at them let's see what happens and that's what I did I recorded them I had the songs up my sleeve I recorded them on my phone and then I just put them you know put them on whatsapp because it was the pandemic and the restrictions we couldn't rehearse really so put the studio dates and we went in rehearsed them the songs then laid them down so two sessions two day sessions and we did four songs on each day I was really very happy of how it went the guys were brilliant really

00:30:04.714 --> 00:30:08.845
yeah and like you say you got together some of the great players off the London Blues scene.

00:30:09.105 --> 00:30:09.226
Yeah.

00:30:09.627 --> 00:30:13.820
Are you aiming to have a separate band of Brothers of Mother's Shoveler or is that just a one-off?

00:30:14.690 --> 00:30:17.873
Long before the pandemic started, we went into lockdown, really.

00:30:18.472 --> 00:30:19.994
We decided to hibernate.

00:30:20.414 --> 00:30:22.737
It was getting a bit difficult for us all to practice every week.

00:30:22.797 --> 00:30:28.001
And we just decided to knock the gigs on the head and just get together occasionally for social.

00:30:28.241 --> 00:30:34.586
We have been doing, we do a once a year kids charity event at the Oval Pub in Croydon, which we have great fun.

00:30:34.626 --> 00:30:38.810
We do a lot of silly games and we might get another artist to play.

00:30:39.131 --> 00:30:41.854
And we always play about five o'clock in the afternoon so we can play for the kids.

00:30:41.894 --> 00:30:44.015
And that's become quite a regular thing now for us.

00:30:44.055 --> 00:30:46.057
And we're hopefully we'll get it going again next year.

00:30:46.116 --> 00:30:47.438
So we don't want to split up.

00:30:47.558 --> 00:30:48.358
We'll keep it going.

00:30:48.479 --> 00:30:51.642
But hopefully we tie these blues sandwich, the name of the band.

00:30:51.842 --> 00:30:54.144
I'm looking to try and get gigs with that outfit.

00:30:54.284 --> 00:30:55.105
Definitely, yeah.

00:30:55.244 --> 00:30:59.148
Yeah, and as you say, it's definitely got a bit more of a blues feel about it.

00:30:59.209 --> 00:31:02.991
Like you say, those guys definitely blues players with it.

00:31:03.031 --> 00:31:06.674
And you did an album launch in the Oval Pub in Croydon in July.

00:31:06.855 --> 00:31:07.296
That's right.

00:31:07.375 --> 00:31:08.876
Yeah, and so a few of the songs in there.

00:31:08.896 --> 00:31:10.117
So you've got Mudball Mooch.

00:31:14.362 --> 00:31:14.622
Mudball Mooch

00:31:15.009 --> 00:31:27.165
Thank you.

00:31:27.298 --> 00:31:30.441
It's definitely a sort of Little Walter sounding song.

00:31:30.480 --> 00:31:32.563
It's certainly the most Little Walter I've heard you playing.

00:31:32.603 --> 00:31:35.884
Is that something you did a bit with trying to get a Little Walter type instrumental?

00:31:36.266 --> 00:31:37.086
Yeah, definitely.

00:31:37.126 --> 00:31:37.386
Yeah.

00:31:37.406 --> 00:31:39.048
I worked all that whole song out.

00:31:39.087 --> 00:31:40.429
It's not unlike Little Walter.

00:31:40.449 --> 00:31:47.055
He would have just played everything off the cuff, trying to give it a big band feel, trying to sort of always like big bands and count Basie.

00:31:47.154 --> 00:31:50.018
I wanted to try and give that sort of feel to the song as well.

00:31:50.298 --> 00:31:59.487
And I can't deny the other influence on that track is two of my sort of favourite players, Paul Lamb and Steve West Western, definitely an influence of them on there, try and take what you can from these great players.

00:31:59.626 --> 00:32:01.329
You've got a song called A Nod to Noah.

00:32:01.349 --> 00:32:02.592
So is that Noah Lewis?

00:32:03.071 --> 00:32:04.513
Yeah, that is definitely us.

00:32:04.795 --> 00:32:05.415
It's got two ways.

00:32:05.455 --> 00:32:07.598
I've got my boys called Noah as well, and he's a teenager.

00:32:07.659 --> 00:32:10.122
So sometimes we communicate just by nods these days.

00:32:10.182 --> 00:32:14.989
So there's a little bit of that, but it's also, I play a bit from Devil in the Woodpile.

00:32:15.009 --> 00:32:23.801
I sort of mix that into the, and also the main riff, I didn't actually, the main riff of it as well, I was listening to Springdale Blues and he just plays it.

00:32:24.066 --> 00:32:27.113
which I use as a main riff.

00:32:27.294 --> 00:32:29.819
So yeah, it's definitely influenced by his playing.

00:32:41.809 --> 00:32:41.950
Hey, hey!

00:32:49.538 --> 00:32:51.942
And it will start

00:32:52.082 --> 00:32:54.085
aiming for a bit of occasion feel on that as well.

00:32:54.464 --> 00:32:55.346
Yeah, yeah, it's good stuff.

00:32:55.527 --> 00:33:01.316
And then you do these, we touched on them a little bit, you do this hip-hop song, which, you know, you've done a few songs like this.

00:33:01.336 --> 00:33:07.605
We mentioned the hobble bop and you play this sort of style of, you know, what you would call kind of bop harmonica.

00:33:07.704 --> 00:33:09.067
You know, what's your approach to that?

00:33:09.208 --> 00:33:11.029
And, you know, how would you describe that style?

00:33:13.453 --> 00:33:13.534
Yeah.

00:33:24.354 --> 00:33:31.359
It's got to come from Sonny Terry and those 1920 players, again, because they're just playing on their own, really, holding the rhythms.

00:33:31.539 --> 00:33:35.083
I sort of work off a rhythm, get the rhythm going, and you can work the riff off the rhythm.

00:33:35.262 --> 00:33:36.344
I think that's what I do there.

00:33:37.345 --> 00:33:39.186
Yeah, and if you put it on top of a band, it's great.

00:33:39.207 --> 00:33:40.228
You can go places.

00:33:40.548 --> 00:33:41.669
They're very infectious songs.

00:33:41.769 --> 00:33:42.690
I really love those songs.

00:33:42.750 --> 00:33:46.792
And I think, you know, it's kind of a unique sound to your playing that, not jazz bop, is it?

00:33:46.834 --> 00:33:48.555
But it's this kind of, you know, dancey type.

00:33:48.575 --> 00:33:49.075
Yeah, yeah.

00:33:49.215 --> 00:33:50.817
Rhythmical sort of bop playing, isn't it?

00:33:50.997 --> 00:33:51.176
Yeah.

00:33:51.436 --> 00:33:52.919
Use it to dance to, I guess you'd say.

00:33:52.939 --> 00:34:01.948
Yeah, well, that's, yeah, that's hopefully yeah that's that's the aim yeah and you've also got uh chad strength singing a couple of songs so he's a singer who sings with paul lamb yeah

00:34:02.008 --> 00:34:26.215
chad was fantastic yeah that day yeah because i my vocals i thought for a whole album might be pushing it a bit because me and my brother used to take turns so i think the songs i chose for him it wouldn't work so well i think the songs i sing on this yeah i think i'm happy with the ones i i do sing on but those songs it needed it needed someone like chad to do the business and he certainly did he i sent him the songs on tape he breezed into the studio and and he just knocked them out perfectly.

00:34:26.534 --> 00:34:29.159
And it was really nice to hear you're singing my lyrics.

00:34:29.239 --> 00:34:30.561
And he sort of owns the lyrics.

00:34:30.641 --> 00:34:31.541
He was brilliant.

00:34:31.902 --> 00:34:33.864
Yeah, no, he's got a great voice as well, hasn't he?

00:34:33.885 --> 00:34:34.786
So great to get

00:34:34.827 --> 00:34:35.027
him on.

00:34:35.067 --> 00:34:35.768
He sings anything.

00:34:36.708 --> 00:34:40.313
Whatever he sings, he sounds like Chad, and he's fantastic.

00:34:42.356 --> 00:34:51.550
¶¶¶¶

00:34:57.121 --> 00:35:01.465
So you recorded this at the studio, this Buffalo recording studio, yeah?

00:35:01.545 --> 00:35:02.266
Yeah, it was good.

00:35:02.306 --> 00:35:03.286
Yeah, we had a great engineer.

00:35:03.306 --> 00:35:04.588
He was a very laid-back guy.

00:35:05.009 --> 00:35:06.409
Yeah, it was a nice feel to the place.

00:35:06.730 --> 00:35:07.291
We did it live.

00:35:07.311 --> 00:35:08.512
It's mainly live.

00:35:08.552 --> 00:35:09.672
There were a couple of overdubs.

00:35:09.992 --> 00:35:12.735
I wanted it to be live, quite like any imperfections.

00:35:12.775 --> 00:35:14.536
I think there's nothing wrong with them sometimes.

00:35:14.817 --> 00:35:16.418
I mentioned Ian Dollarbill.

00:35:16.458 --> 00:35:20.882
He mixed it for us as well, and when I sent it to him, it was bleed from all the instruments.

00:35:21.123 --> 00:35:24.826
He worked wonders, yeah, and I think it does give it an old sound, really.

00:35:24.905 --> 00:35:26.007
I'm really happy with that.

00:35:26.206 --> 00:35:45.987
Yeah, I think a lot of people approach blues albums by doing it in that live sort of way don't they and obviously it's more efficient time wise in the studio to do it that way of course because you can kind of play your songs as you as you've been rehearsing them that's right yeah yeah got a great feel about it as you say and um any particular you know setup on that i use with the harmonica for that album again no it's just into

00:35:46.068 --> 00:35:52.514
my friend the basement and my bulletini mic yeah that's that's all i wanted really and i think yeah and i did a couple acoustic ones as well so

00:35:52.835 --> 00:35:58.802
and so the album put it you haven't put it on streaming platforms but it's available i think on your bandcamp.com sides to it yeah I've just put it on we put it on

00:35:58.862 --> 00:36:04.708
Bandcamp this week yeah I think I probably will get around to Spotify at one point yeah and I've got it on CD as well

00:36:04.987 --> 00:36:27.793
yeah so people want to support you and buy the album or in CD form or online tracks from Bandcamp I'll put links on to that so they can check that out so but yeah certainly get some samples on Bandcamp yeah no it's a great album really a lot of fun as well and oh good glad you liked it so we'll touch on a few of the other people you play with you mentioned Marco Buono there is an Italian guy who plays a around London.

00:36:27.954 --> 00:36:31.880
You've been doing some gigs with him and you also played one of his albums, didn't you?

00:36:31.900 --> 00:36:34.503
It was called Acoustic Escapes a few years ago.

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.000
...

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.000
...

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.000
...

00:36:55.617 --> 00:36:59.664
Yeah,

00:36:59.724 --> 00:37:01.186
Marco, yeah, he's a great guy to play with.

00:37:01.487 --> 00:37:02.108
We get on well.

00:37:02.387 --> 00:37:08.177
He loves his blues guitar and he likes, you can tell he's studied the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s players.

00:37:08.416 --> 00:37:09.719
And yeah, we work well together.

00:37:10.019 --> 00:37:12.764
Just got one gig coming today, so hopefully more gigs with him.

00:37:13.304 --> 00:37:13.465
Cool.

00:37:13.485 --> 00:37:16.588
And so you played with a few other bands as well, you know, through the years.

00:37:16.628 --> 00:37:18.652
So you've played with the Swaggots.

00:37:22.318 --> 00:37:22.398
Yeah.

00:37:36.257 --> 00:37:41.161
That's got another one with a great video on the chain gang building a sort of train line going up as well.

00:37:41.202 --> 00:37:44.344
The 525 Express, a sort of a train feel about it.

00:37:44.664 --> 00:37:45.545
My brother did that video.

00:37:45.565 --> 00:37:46.045
Yeah, yeah.

00:37:46.387 --> 00:37:50.550
That was based on a record by the Soul Agents, I think they're called.

00:37:50.670 --> 00:37:52.572
An organ beat group from the 60s.

00:37:52.612 --> 00:37:53.632
Great, great record.

00:37:53.713 --> 00:37:55.594
And we, yeah, we based it on that.

00:37:55.974 --> 00:37:59.038
So were you just invited to, you know, to record on their album?

00:37:59.398 --> 00:38:01.500
No, that's, again, that's part of Rolling Records.

00:38:01.739 --> 00:38:09.889
And Wayne Hopkins, a double bass player, we put this, Steve Willis wanted us to put a band together who he chooses the records to do, and he chose Low Rider.

00:38:10.190 --> 00:38:15.476
We did a version of that as well, a sort of rockabilly, rocking version of Low Rider, the war song.

00:38:15.818 --> 00:38:17.159
Yeah, no, a great one, yeah.

00:38:17.179 --> 00:38:22.666
I had Lee Oscar on and talked about Low Rider with him, yeah, so a great riff for the harmonica there.

00:38:22.987 --> 00:38:28.876
And another one you play with PCP, Let the Fun Begin, a really sort of hard-driving pop song, this one.

00:38:32.802 --> 00:38:33.021
MUSIC PLAYS

00:38:49.282 --> 00:38:50.643
Yeah, that was back in the 90s.

00:38:50.663 --> 00:38:52.704
That was with some fellows who lived in Croydon.

00:38:52.965 --> 00:38:58.349
They'd seen me playing with Wild and Frantic, the blues band I was in, and a fella called John Bishop, very talented guy.

00:38:58.610 --> 00:39:01.652
He thought it'd be good to get some harmonica on some track, and he put a band together.

00:39:01.853 --> 00:39:04.896
Yeah, great fun playing gigs, a lot of jumping around on stage.

00:39:05.016 --> 00:39:13.443
I think Let the Fun Begin was probably, that was one of my first songs I wrote, and I pitched it to the band, and then John and the rest of the guys, you know, took it somewhere else.

00:39:13.563 --> 00:39:16.766
It probably wasn't how I envisioned it in my head, but yeah, I love what they did with it.

00:39:16.965 --> 00:39:19.248
And again, if you hear that riff, it's probably what you're talking about.

00:39:19.248 --> 00:39:21.831
the bop harmonica really it's a little bit of that in there the rhythm

00:39:22.490 --> 00:39:29.018
and recently I've seen you you play with a band called the Riffs who are a ska and reggae band that's right I've just recently joined that band

00:39:29.179 --> 00:40:03.215
and they've been around since I think 1989 they formed they had a sax player who unfortunately couldn't play with them anymore and they fancied a change so they I'd known the drummer I'd done recording with a drummer back in the 90s and they said let's try it with harmonica so they chucked me about 22 I think 20 songs and I've had to it's been great fun learning because I've had to learn try and learn all the sax parts i've done one gig with them we've got a few more gigs in the diary so yeah i'm looking forward to working more with them and it's good as well because i've some of their songs a lot of minor songs so i've been chance to play some third position and and play my you know second position but minor you know the minor notes

00:40:03.514 --> 00:40:25.358
yeah that's good so you got more you've got more gigs with these guys playing yeah yeah on reggae yeah that's great stuff yeah yeah how do you feel that for people who were you know looking to get out playing and maybe join some bands for the first time you know how would you advise that it sounds like you've done it is you know you've gone out playing pay basically people have seen you play you've got to know other musicians and that's led on to other things is that is that what you'd uh how you'd say

00:40:25.659 --> 00:40:52.807
yeah it's a bit worrying now isn't it i'm just looking at croydon in the 90s when i was playing regularly it was about 10 venues you could play yeah and now in croydon it's just the oval really that you can play and it's that's the way it is for everyone every town isn't it and probably not just in this country as well and it's music it seems to be on a sort of downward trajectory with a little bit live gig situation before pandemic we've just got to see what happened you're hoping that people are going to want live music when it gets back to normal again.

00:40:53.228 --> 00:40:56.612
Yeah, I think we're all interested in the impacts of the pandemic, aren't we?

00:40:56.992 --> 00:41:02.157
As you say, music was, you know, there was less live venues before and there's probably less now.

00:41:02.458 --> 00:41:02.557
Yeah.

00:41:02.759 --> 00:41:11.228
But we're all sort of hoping there's going to be a great appetite for live music, you know, as people start going out more and enjoying, you know, appreciate the live music maybe more than they did before.

00:41:11.248 --> 00:41:12.969
Appreciate what they were missing.

00:41:13.250 --> 00:41:41.264
Yeah, I mean, I certainly know in Reading, I used to have a regular monthly gig in a place in Reading and that place currently has not reopened so that's like another one which is one of the yeah you know not many pubs which had live music which yeah that's another one bites the dust there's definitely worries there um but yeah let's uh well we keep plugging away yeah see what happens well yeah you gotta keep playing you gotta keep so uh so you've done some uh some interesting session work so on uk tv and i'm probably known around the world is uh you've you've done a session for doctor who

00:41:42.065 --> 00:41:46.715
yes i was i think i was about 18 when i did that and well I was very lucky, really.

00:41:46.755 --> 00:41:50.565
My friend, Dominic Glynn, he'd been working on the series before.

00:41:50.605 --> 00:41:51.447
He'd done a few shows.

00:41:51.467 --> 00:41:52.630
He'd done the theme tune.

00:41:52.670 --> 00:41:53.932
He'd done incidental music.

00:41:54.094 --> 00:42:00.829
The character in that series, The Happiness Patrol, one of the characters was a harmonica player, but the fellow couldn't play the harmonica.

00:42:00.909 --> 00:42:02.934
So, fortunately, Dominic got me...

00:42:15.329 --> 00:42:39.806
yeah it was a great experience yeah because i had to try and sink it in over the you know i was watching it and sinking it in and also did some backing music as well yeah a really enjoyable experience yeah

00:42:39.969 --> 00:42:40.530
Brilliant.

00:42:40.550 --> 00:42:40.670
So

00:42:40.690 --> 00:42:41.090
did you get

00:42:41.130 --> 00:42:43.273
to go to the BBC studios and everything for that?

00:42:43.293 --> 00:42:45.494
No, no, it was all done in Dominic's studio at his house.

00:42:45.934 --> 00:42:46.536
Oh, still great.

00:42:46.576 --> 00:42:48.737
And is that just in one episode of Doctor Who?

00:42:48.958 --> 00:42:55.063
The Happiness Patrol, it might have been three episodes or four, I can't remember now, but it was used throughout the harmonica.

00:42:55.362 --> 00:42:59.586
It was different bits of music that Dominic composed and I played along with as well in the backing.

00:42:59.626 --> 00:42:59.726
And

00:43:00.067 --> 00:43:01.489
yeah, and you're paid by seconds.

00:43:01.588 --> 00:43:02.869
Do you still get royalties from that?

00:43:03.130 --> 00:43:04.451
Occasionally I get a check, yeah.

00:43:04.550 --> 00:43:05.271
Oh, brilliant, yeah.

00:43:05.532 --> 00:43:09.335
And you also played on another really popular UK show called Red Dwarf.

00:43:09.436 --> 00:43:09.516
Yeah,

00:43:09.536 --> 00:43:09.576
it

00:43:09.596 --> 00:43:09.936
was a great show.

00:43:09.936 --> 00:43:10.797
get that was with Dominic

00:43:10.856 --> 00:43:13.119
again that's a sort of Sonny Terry house music

00:43:13.380 --> 00:43:24.952
brilliant yeah so yeah great to be in a really popular show certainly here in the UK so question I ask each time is if you had 10 minutes to practice what would you spend those 10 minutes doing what I personally I

00:43:24.992 --> 00:43:54.983
don't know if this is good advice but what I what I like to do for my own well-being is if I've got 10 minutes I think well I could get a Noah Lewis tune in there I'll put that tune on try and play along with that I'll put a Sonny Terry one on and then I'll probably put two Little Walter ones on and then once I've done that it's almost like praying really i've done that and i feel good for the day then i can do what i can play and play and do what i like but i like to know that i've listened to the masters and tried to learn something off them each day really so 10 minutes i could get each track two minutes 50 i might be it might be a squeeze but four classic blues songs

00:43:55.385 --> 00:44:11.302
yeah so you'll play along to four yeah four great blues songs yeah yeah yeah i think again a lot of people our generation probably did that didn't they spend a lot you know spend a lot of the time learning by playing along with records which maybe people don't do quite as much now with all the internet resources which which we touched on earlier on.

00:44:11.461 --> 00:44:16.686
So do you go to the trouble of, you know, sort of transcribing, writing stuff down, or do you just play along when you're

00:44:16.806 --> 00:44:17.387
doing this?

00:44:17.407 --> 00:44:18.369
No, I'll never do that.

00:44:18.409 --> 00:44:19.210
No, I'll just play along.

00:44:19.289 --> 00:44:21.271
And if I miss it, I think, well, I'll get it next time.

00:44:21.331 --> 00:44:24.835
I don't get too bogged down in it, you know, replicating it exactly.

00:44:24.976 --> 00:44:30.041
And it's not just picking up the notes, it's picking up how they play the notes and the phrasing and the feeling.

00:44:30.081 --> 00:44:31.362
And it's so much to absorb.

00:44:31.402 --> 00:44:35.547
And, you know, as I've discovered, the older you get, you realise there's more to absorb.

00:44:35.608 --> 00:44:37.228
So it's that really.

00:44:37.248 --> 00:44:39.731
It's so much to take from each of those classics.

00:44:39.791 --> 00:44:40.172
players

00:44:40.952 --> 00:44:46.778
we'll get on talking about gear now so what's your harmonicas of choice I've always liked the normal marine band

00:44:46.960 --> 00:45:10.166
that's my favourite I played the crossover and the deluxe I quite like them but it's never the same and I like a marine band especially once you've broken it in a bit and you get to a sweet point definitely my favourite harmonica I went through a phase of seeing different ones and spending more money and I'd always be disappointed and I kept saying I'll never do it again and then I'd do it again but now I finally I think no I'll stick with the marine bands.

00:45:10.186 --> 00:45:11.231
They're the ones for me.

00:45:11.976 --> 00:45:14.268
Do you do anything about customising them?

00:45:14.650 --> 00:45:16.347
No, but Tim Corbett.

00:45:16.527 --> 00:45:19.849
He lives nearby and he's in a band called Gentleman Tim and the Contenders.

00:45:19.909 --> 00:45:20.891
Great harmonica player.

00:45:21.210 --> 00:45:24.853
He was around my house and he noticed I had a big bag of my old harmonicas.

00:45:24.974 --> 00:45:26.494
And he said, do you mind if I take some?

00:45:26.514 --> 00:45:27.376
So I gave him a bag.

00:45:27.697 --> 00:45:30.918
He fixed up, very kindly fixed up, I mean, one in each key.

00:45:30.978 --> 00:45:32.581
I think A, B and C, A, B flat.

00:45:32.601 --> 00:45:33.922
And he did a nice little range for me.

00:45:34.181 --> 00:45:35.764
And I must say, they were very good.

00:45:35.804 --> 00:45:37.344
And I think he started doing it.

00:45:37.385 --> 00:45:40.367
He started customising and he done a great job.

00:45:40.407 --> 00:45:40.668
Yeah.

00:45:40.708 --> 00:45:41.909
So he's worth checking out.

00:45:41.929 --> 00:45:42.548
Tim Corbett.

00:45:42.730 --> 00:45:42.869
Yeah.

00:45:43.170 --> 00:45:48.494
But I think I might contact him to get one every now and then but I think I'll always stick with the marine bands really.

00:45:48.936 --> 00:45:51.257
Do you have a favourite key of Daytonic?

00:45:51.577 --> 00:46:29.463
I like an A flat actually I'll tell you why because A flat is I just like the feel of an A flat and also it's one I have in my pocket so when I'm out walking around or in the shops I can do that I haven't been doing that recently of course with my mask but I've got it and I can play it nice and quietly and if you're playing it round the house it's not like if you're bowing an F which is probably more likely to get on people's nerves in your family don't upset them too much so it's a nice key and it's i like an a flat and also one of my favorite albums is an offer you can't refuse we bought a horton that is i think absolute best most of those tracks are in a flat that's a absolute masterpiece harmonica playing especially a harmonica amp playing as well

00:46:37.494 --> 00:46:38.800
so Do

00:46:57.347 --> 00:46:59.269
you play any different tunings on diatonic?

00:46:59.809 --> 00:47:01.831
No, I did have, I think I had a natural mine.

00:47:01.891 --> 00:47:03.693
I did it for the brothers of Mother Shovel.

00:47:03.713 --> 00:47:04.954
It's called Abroz Cabroz.

00:47:05.054 --> 00:47:06.295
And we, yeah, that was great fun.

00:47:06.335 --> 00:47:09.458
And I really enjoy playing that, but I should play it more really.

00:47:09.518 --> 00:47:16.003
Cause I, even though the scale's different, I found my way around it quite easily when I probably dig that out again and start using it.

00:47:16.164 --> 00:47:16.905
But generally no.

00:47:17.445 --> 00:47:19.567
Second position is the one I really, I love.

00:47:19.606 --> 00:47:21.248
And that's the one I really concentrate on.

00:47:21.409 --> 00:47:25.112
But I, you know, I enjoy playing first and third as well.

00:47:25.753 --> 00:47:26.052
Yeah.

00:47:26.072 --> 00:47:28.295
You know, we touched on that, you know, playing different positions.

00:47:28.355 --> 00:47:29.775
Obviously you mentioned the pre-war stuff quite a bit.

00:47:29.775 --> 00:47:40.146
a lot that's played in first position and some third position you talked about with Scarban that you need to play some third position stuff on there so yeah so what about the different positions and your approach to using them?

00:47:40.568 --> 00:47:41.909
My main confidence is definitely

00:47:41.949 --> 00:48:00.728
on second position third one I like playing it but I need to get more I do it with Marco sometimes in live experiment with it live but I need to get my chops up on it but in the Scarban it's been good I've been using it and it works well because especially with the Scarban it's quite interesting again it goes back to those 1920s players when they're and those train sounds.

00:48:00.789 --> 00:48:04.452
It's incredible how many you can get that chugging rhythm, especially when it's on and off beat.

00:48:04.693 --> 00:48:07.177
I've been using it with the riffs quite a lot.

00:48:07.237 --> 00:48:09.239
And again, it's these 1920 players.

00:48:09.259 --> 00:48:11.981
They serve you well, I'll tell you, a lot of their tricks.

00:48:21.713 --> 00:48:25.597
MUSIC PLAYS

00:48:32.514 --> 00:48:34.074
Do you play any overblows?

00:48:34.786 --> 00:48:35.887
No, I don't play.

00:48:36.126 --> 00:48:39.570
At the moment, my goal is to play the notes I know and play them better, really.

00:48:39.610 --> 00:48:42.373
I'm working on concentrating on the notes I know at the moment.

00:48:42.512 --> 00:48:45.755
I'm not taking any of that on board.

00:48:45.815 --> 00:48:50.840
It's always great to hear people doing it, but I'm concentrating on the notes I know.

00:48:51.360 --> 00:48:53.641
And again, it's all to do with the players.

00:48:53.722 --> 00:48:58.166
I love all these 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s blues players.

00:48:58.186 --> 00:49:00.007
They're the ones I'm still learning from.

00:49:00.027 --> 00:49:01.789
So, yeah, that's enough

00:49:02.050 --> 00:49:02.570
for my plate.

00:49:02.750 --> 00:49:03.630
No, that's great, yeah.

00:49:04.751 --> 00:49:08.675
Ombisher wise, do you use tongue blocking, puckering, anything else?

00:49:08.996 --> 00:49:11.980
I think I mainly tongue block, but I do pucker as well.

00:49:12.179 --> 00:49:14.101
I do pucker, but it's mainly tongue blocking.

00:49:14.342 --> 00:49:16.264
I didn't know anything about that when I started.

00:49:16.324 --> 00:49:18.246
I just puckered naturally and I was just puckering.

00:49:18.266 --> 00:49:19.047
That's the way I thought.

00:49:19.367 --> 00:49:28.757
And then I had a baptism of fire when I went to see Paul Lamb back in, that was the late 80s at the Station Tavern in Latimer Road.

00:49:28.898 --> 00:49:32.340
Fantastic pub, brilliant Sunday lunchtime session, shaky Vic.

00:49:32.461 --> 00:50:44.644
He's a great harmonica player from the 60s great style great style and he fronted the band great band and then paul lamb he rocked up one day and then that was it i couldn't i just couldn't believe what i was hearing and that was when i realized there's more there's more going on from then i think i started trying to use my tongue especially he used octaves i could that that what i couldn't i could do the octaves thing but then realizing you had to do it for everything yeah so it started back then really from here lorry garman was there at that pub in the pub as well another great player and i think at that time i never realized when i heard little walters records i always assumed it was a chromatic because i couldn't really relate to what i was hearing to a diatonic harmonica and i sort of just he must be chromatic he can't do that and when i saw that paul lamb and lorry garman i thought all right it is a bit of a shock it was all like yeah he's done on a diatonic open my eyes up the tongue blocking it come from learning from those fellas are always very helpful as well

00:50:44.824 --> 00:50:50.210
yeah yeah definitely yeah yeah yeah and the you mentioned chromatic there so do you play any chromatic at all

00:50:50.751 --> 00:51:18.019
no I don't I like hearing chromatic I have played it but I'm not in gigs I've played around with it and I've enjoyed it but I don't get quite the same pleasure out of the reeds chromatic reeds as I do on the diatonic harmonica I think for that reason I think I'm quite happy sticking with a diatonic I love hearing you know hearing William Clarke Steve West Western playing the chromatic it's a great thrill but for me at the moment I'm just playing as I say concentrating on my diatonic harmonica really yeah no no Playing

00:51:18.039 --> 00:51:19.021
those notes better, really.

00:51:19.322 --> 00:51:22.364
And you mentioned that your main amp is the bassman, the Fender bassman.

00:51:22.385 --> 00:51:22.865
Is that right?

00:51:23.306 --> 00:51:24.246
Yeah, that's right.

00:51:24.286 --> 00:51:27.489
Yeah, I've had that since the 90s, mid-90s.

00:51:27.550 --> 00:51:28.371
It's a reissue.

00:51:29.152 --> 00:51:30.273
I was never really happy with it.

00:51:30.353 --> 00:51:33.056
And I'd set it up at gigs and I'd crank it up.

00:51:33.096 --> 00:51:34.958
And when I got the sound, it sounds better now.

00:51:35.378 --> 00:51:40.083
As soon as I got it to the point where I liked it, the sound man would tell you, you've got to turn it down.

00:51:40.324 --> 00:51:43.387
And then I'd have a sound I wasn't quite happy with playing through.

00:51:43.688 --> 00:51:47.632
I got it modified the last couple of years and got no idea about the tech.

00:51:47.632 --> 00:51:52.016
But I think they've changed the bias and changed the valves a bit.

00:51:52.336 --> 00:51:53.297
And it's great now.

00:51:53.358 --> 00:51:54.259
It's got a great sound.

00:51:54.298 --> 00:51:59.385
And I've got a nice sound at a lower volume, so I'm not upsetting sound engineers, which is good.

00:51:59.724 --> 00:52:01.467
And do you have a smaller amp you use as well?

00:52:01.527 --> 00:52:01.806
I do.

00:52:01.847 --> 00:52:06.932
I've got a Honey Boy amp, which is a lovely-looking amp, which I've used for some recordings.

00:52:07.273 --> 00:52:09.795
My newest amp, which I'm really happy with, is a Quilter.

00:52:10.076 --> 00:52:10.817
It's a great amp.

00:52:10.876 --> 00:52:11.878
It's so powerful.

00:52:11.898 --> 00:52:12.458
It's a little amp.

00:52:12.739 --> 00:52:13.820
I've done gigs with Marco.

00:52:13.840 --> 00:52:15.141
I used to take it to Ain't Nothing But.

00:52:15.402 --> 00:52:16.443
You can take it on the train.

00:52:16.603 --> 00:52:17.583
You can also do bigger gigs.

00:52:17.583 --> 00:52:37.005
it's got a huge it projects wonderfully and and it's a yeah it's not a valve amp it's got a great sound yeah and i'll keep it pretty patient i don't i don't put any reverb or i keep the sound quite simple setup but yeah i'm really happy with that so it's and it's reliable as well you know it's always going to work so and i've got a lug it hasn't got the weight of the of the bass so yeah i'm really happy with

00:52:37.045 --> 00:52:41.510
the quilt ramp very good amp yeah great so it's a solid state you're saying not tube yeah yeah

00:52:41.610 --> 00:52:41.831
yeah

00:52:41.871 --> 00:52:46.905
but you're still getting you're still able to drive it quite well Yeah, and the bulletini mic

00:52:47.045 --> 00:52:47.927
works wonders for it.

00:52:48.007 --> 00:52:48.608
It really does.

00:52:48.788 --> 00:52:50.009
So yeah, very happy with that.

00:52:50.250 --> 00:52:50.990
Great, yeah.

00:52:51.110 --> 00:52:53.134
So microphones, you mentioned the bulletini there.

00:52:53.213 --> 00:52:54.554
Is that your main mic of choice?

00:52:55.135 --> 00:52:55.797
Yeah, yeah.

00:52:56.036 --> 00:52:57.378
I like that.

00:52:57.438 --> 00:52:59.081
So that's the Greg Heumann one, isn't it?

00:52:59.422 --> 00:53:00.463
Yeah, it's fantastic.

00:53:00.543 --> 00:53:01.123
Is

00:53:01.143 --> 00:53:01.824
that the small

00:53:01.945 --> 00:53:02.045
one?

00:53:02.246 --> 00:53:02.927
Yeah, yeah.

00:53:03.007 --> 00:53:03.887
I like the size of it.

00:53:03.907 --> 00:53:04.969
It's perfect for your hands.

00:53:05.170 --> 00:53:06.331
And it's got a lovely warm sound.

00:53:06.371 --> 00:53:07.713
I like the warm sound, really.

00:53:07.733 --> 00:53:12.780
I've just bought another one that's very good of a fellow called Robert Huyske, H-U-R-S-K-E.

00:53:12.880 --> 00:53:14.262
I think he's made one for Paul Lamb.

00:53:14.465 --> 00:53:16.166
And it's very reasonably priced.

00:53:16.228 --> 00:53:17.389
I bought that only last...

00:53:17.469 --> 00:53:18.289
I've got it last week.

00:53:18.309 --> 00:53:19.170
And that's great as well.

00:53:19.210 --> 00:53:23.373
It's got a bit more of a harsh sound, so it's better for more Chicago stuff.

00:53:23.534 --> 00:53:24.153
That's very good.

00:53:24.534 --> 00:53:30.760
But the bulletini suits me because I think I've got a bit of a country, especially a country sort of feel to some of my playing.

00:53:31.420 --> 00:53:32.862
I like the bulletini for that.

00:53:32.902 --> 00:53:33.663
It really helps

00:53:34.123 --> 00:53:34.163
me.

00:53:34.182 --> 00:54:04.606
MUSIC PLAYS Thank you.

00:54:06.242 --> 00:54:09.425
So you're going for a bit more of a clean sound, you think, sometimes?

00:54:09.824 --> 00:54:10.786
I like the valve sound.

00:54:10.826 --> 00:54:11.385
I just like the amp.

00:54:11.447 --> 00:54:14.068
It's not too distorted, but you're just pushing it a bit.

00:54:14.128 --> 00:54:15.869
That's the sound I like, really.

00:54:16.311 --> 00:54:18.652
When you're playing acoustically, what might you use for that?

00:54:18.932 --> 00:54:20.715
Probably the SM57, actually, yes.

00:54:21.355 --> 00:54:22.896
Which also sounds great.

00:54:22.916 --> 00:54:25.599
I was shocked when I shoved that through the bass, and that sounds great.

00:54:25.978 --> 00:54:32.224
Sometimes you get a bit hung up on the bullet mics, but really happy with the sound you get with that through an amp as well.

00:54:32.324 --> 00:54:35.146
Well, yeah, I mean, Paul Butterfield basically played an SM57.

00:54:35.206 --> 00:54:43.679
Well, he played a sure a 545 but a 545 is more or less the same as an SM57 it's just got a bit you know a slight different casing I think so.

00:54:44.280 --> 00:54:48.947
Ah right yeah I've seen I've seen Laurie Garman do that as well it sounds yeah well he's a great player it sounds great.

00:54:49.409 --> 00:54:52.393
Well I know Laurie's a big fan of Paul Butterfield so I have no doubt he's.

00:54:52.713 --> 00:54:54.036
Yeah he knows his onion.

00:54:55.338 --> 00:54:59.945
Yeah and so you don't you don't use any effects at all you know no reverb no delay at all?

00:55:00.353 --> 00:55:36.887
no I've tried I've put perhaps I've tried pedals and I just it froze me a bit I don't know why I just can't get to grips with it and I'm no as I said what I need to concentrate is how I play the reeds really that's what I'm really working on now is how I play those reeds and so that's the most important thing to me so I've got I've got no excuses now I've got I've got a great bassman I've got this quilter and I've got a bulletini so I'm not giving myself so many years I thought when I've heard these great players I thought they must have this or they must have the effects pedal and realise of course they don't so now I've got no excuses I've got my equipment and it's working on those reeds

00:55:36.947 --> 00:55:43.954
really yeah what about over the last year and a half during the pandemic what have you been doing with yourself on the harmonica well I just practice

00:55:43.994 --> 00:56:01.601
I have to practice I need to do it every day it's something I've just got to do so I've been continuing with that as I said studying the old masters I always break it down half the session will be with the 1920s and 30s masters in Sonny Terry and then I do and I've really increased my little water study because there's so much to learn.

00:56:01.902 --> 00:56:03.996
I've really stepped that up over the last couple of years.

00:56:04.277 --> 00:56:37.146
And also, yeah, obviously, you know the names obviously it's Junior Wells and the big Walter Horton James Cotton and the Sonny Boys but also you know Papa Lightfoot and Jerry McCann all those other guys there's so many you know it's great so it's a never ending supply especially now with Spotify you can find more tunes so you know I do that for an hour or so and then I'm just walking around pottering it's in my mind and I'm playing as well so hopefully you know I've stumbled across riffs and I put them on my phone so got to a point where I've got to go through my phone really and start sifting out the good ones and doing something with them really

00:56:37.505 --> 00:56:42.510
yeah that's good so yeah yeah so when you hear a good riff you like to record it on your phone so you can keep it and yeah

00:56:42.731 --> 00:56:43.893
yeah yeah that's yeah that's

00:56:44.112 --> 00:56:51.780
definitely yeah great so you're somebody who likes to as you say practice every day do you spend a lot of time practicing then each day or just something you like to do really regularly

00:56:52.081 --> 00:56:57.007
yeah I make sure I do it every day and yeah it's something I'm well being I

00:56:57.047 --> 00:57:04.994
love doing it I love it so yeah yeah it's got to be done great to hear yeah and I'm the same you know it's you have to do it don't you so

00:57:05.114 --> 00:57:17.969
yeah yeah I don't it's just something you have to I can't even explain what it is that drives me to do it but if I didn't do it something would be missing you'd probably find the same it's hard to explain but I'm glad it's there because you've just got to do it haven't

00:57:17.989 --> 00:57:26.177
you and then final question then so you touched on you know some of your plans with your new album but any other future plans coming up over the next six months or so

00:57:26.577 --> 00:57:37.050
no no it's a great thrill to me I've always wanted to do an album and I've done that now so that really chuffed about that yeah gigs I love gigs I love playing lives So hopefully more gigs.

00:57:37.110 --> 00:57:40.233
I've got a gig with Marco coming up today, gigs with the Riffs.

00:57:40.632 --> 00:57:41.574
That's going to be good.

00:57:41.994 --> 00:57:46.840
And hopefully with Tidy's Blue Sandwich, I'll get some gigs as well and see what happens there.

00:57:46.880 --> 00:57:50.844
And also, yeah, I do work on songs, so there's no rush.

00:57:50.884 --> 00:57:55.628
I haven't got any pressures, but I'm going to, in a long-term plan, would be to do another album at some point.

00:57:55.688 --> 00:57:57.692
So I've got a few tunes up my sleeve.

00:57:57.711 --> 00:58:00.474
I've got to get some more and I've got to dig some lyrics out.

00:58:00.494 --> 00:58:01.635
So they come to me eventually.

00:58:01.996 --> 00:58:05.519
I'm not prolific, but if I hang around long enough, I'll get an idea.

00:58:05.519 --> 00:58:10.184
idea and get some more lyrics so yeah that's more of the same really keep it rolling

00:58:11.085 --> 00:58:14.447
so uh thanks so much for joining me today adam tidy bernie

00:58:14.628 --> 00:58:20.434
thank you very much thank you paul and i really enjoy your show i look forward to hearing more keep it up it's great

00:58:20.554 --> 00:58:33.085
work thanks so much adam and that's episode 44 thanks so much for tuning in again it's just over to adam to play us out with the infectious style of hip-hop harmonica so