Oct. 18, 2023

Paddy Wells interview

Paddy Wells interview

Paddy Wells joins me on episode 96. Paddy is based in the north of England, where he started out as a singer playing a little harp before hearing amplified harmonica, which really turned him on to the instrument. Paddy is also a freelance music journalist, having written regular articles for several music magazines in the UK, including Blues in Britain. He also wrote an article, Blowin’ Off The Dust, for the SPAH magazine. Paddy has also spent some time travelling the US, including sitt...

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

Paddy Wells joins me on episode 96.

Paddy is based in the north of England, where he started out as a singer playing a little harp before hearing amplified harmonica, which really turned him on to the instrument.

Paddy is also a freelance music journalist, having written regular articles for several music magazines in the UK, including Blues in Britain. He also wrote an article, Blowin’ Off The Dust, for the SPAH magazine. 

Paddy has also spent some time travelling the US, including sitting in with Jason Ricci, and writing two magazine articles on him.

Paddy has played in various bands in the north of England, appearing at festivals and supporting some notable names. His current band is called Dust Radio.


Links:
Paddy’s website:
https://www.paddywells.com/

Dust Radio music:
https://dustradio1.bandcamp.com/music

Music:
https://www.paddywells.com/music

Paddy’s article: Blowing Off the Dust:  Modern Masters of the Blues Harp:
https://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/modern-blues-harp-masters.html


Videos:

Lyndon Anderson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26yIoZVYuVA

Interview with Paddy on the Tim Green Blues show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yTEBIuKJGk

I’d Rather Go Blind with Poorboy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNH0Qs8GEeM

Problem and The Remedy video:
https://dustradio1.bandcamp.com/track/problem-remedy-2


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

or sign-up to a monthly subscription to the podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/995536/support

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 

Support the show

01:31 - Paddy is originally from Hull, on the north East coast of England, now lives in Yorkshire

01:57 - Sound of the harmonica grabbed Paddy from hearing it on the BB King Live In London album

03:31 - Had an epiphany the first time saw harmonica played live

04:33 - Started playing harp age 15

04:52 - Paddy is a singer as well, and singing was his main thing before he took up harp more seriously

05:10 - Started playing in bands from age 18

05:44 - Own harmonica playing really took off when obtained a Roland tube amp to really taste amplified harmonica in his own hands

06:26 - Early bands Paddy was in were blues bands, even when he wasn’t playing a lot of harmonica

07:06 - How Paddy first got into playing in bands

07:47 - Started learning harp by playing along with blues harp records and the importance of tone

09:17 - Didn’t have any formal music lessons when young, played a little guitar

10:14 - Developed singing in same way as harmonica by singing along with records

11:26 - Paddy is also a freelance music journalist, and how he got started doing that

12:22 - Started off writing for the UK Blues magazine

12:56 - Isn’t doing as much writing for magazines now as several of the printed magazines are no longer active

13:06 - Plenty of non-paying writing jobs are available, and the question of quality

13:15 - Paddy has written about different genres of music

14:12 - How writing about music informed Paddy’s own music development

15:07 - Writes own lyrics for songs he performs

15:51 - Contacts made in music industry has helped with the promotion of own material

16:30 - How publicity of music has changed with the advent of the internet

19:41 - Wrote an article published in SPAH magazine in 2016: Blowin’ Off The Dust

20:57 - Paddy’s view on keeping the harp relevant

21:21 - Lists his top twenty harmonica songs at the end of the Blowin’ Off The Dust article

21:58 - Mitch Kasmar and Lyndon Anderson

23:31 - Spent some time travelling and playing in the US, including in New Orleans, where he met and interviewed Jason Ricci

24:43 - Sat in with Jason Ricci’s band, and has recorded a Ricci-esque riff on one of his albums

25:52 - Also played in one of the last Juke Joints in Clarkesdale, Mississippi, and in Austin

26:20 - The benefits of experiencing the venues at the source of the blues, and a Brit playing in the US

27:03 - First main band was Poorboy, in the city of Leeds

28:25 - Played some festivals in the north of England and Scotland with Poorboy

28:47 - Used music scene contacts to get spots playing at festivals, with some further encouragement

29:04 - Poorboy supported Mud Morganfield and Paul Jones, and getting Poorboy played on the BBC Radio 2 blues show

30:49 - Played in the band Crosscut Saw, where Paddy enjoyed being the sideman harp player, not the singer

31:42 - Paddy is a reluctant front man at times and difference in playing harp as a sideman

32:56 - Crosscut Saw had two harmonicas with the lead singer playing some harp

33:25 - Played with the Dave Hanson band

34:41 - Had another outfit called Welter, which gets together as and when

35:29 - Dust Radio is Paddy’s current act, who have released an EP and an album, both self-produced

37:32 - Albums have been recorded DIY, and process followed to do that

38:36 - Problem and Remedy album from Dust Radio released in 2023

38:45 - Wrote most of lyrics to the songs on latest album, and influence of writers Raymond Carter and Willie Vlautin

40:08 - Writing new blues lyrics to modernise the genre and how audience responds to them

40:47 - How audience responds to original blues songs

42:48 - Other writing that Paddy is currently doing

43:40 - Ten minute question

44:20 - Uses recorded audio recordings of harmonica to include ideas into a new song

46:24 - Harmonicas of choice are the different flavours of Hohner Marine Bands, after initially trying Lee Oskars

47:12 - Has some customised harmonicas and the value they bring

48:16 - Does some set-up of harmonicas himself

49:00 - Uses some custom combs and brass combs on low tuned harmonicas and colour coded combs

49:53 - Different positions used are mainly 1st, 2nd and 3rd, with some 5th

50:53 - Different tunings are mainly minor and Country Tuning

52:21 - Embouchre: uses some puckering and some tongue block

52:58 - Overblows uses sparingly

53:35 - Plays a little third position chromatic

54:18 - Amp is mainly Fender Bassman, some boutique amps and a Sonny Junior

55:24 - Mics, and the Shure 545

56:50 - Effects pedals: slap back delay and EP booster

57:30 - Future plans

WEBVTT

00:00:00.322 --> 00:00:02.225
Paddy Wells joins me on episode 96.

00:00:03.505 --> 00:00:11.297
Paddy is based in the north of England, where he started out as a singer playing a little harp before hearing amplified harmonica, which really turned him on to the instrument.

00:00:12.239 --> 00:00:19.989
Paddy is also a freelance music journalist, having written regular articles for several music magazines in the UK, including Blues in Britain.

00:00:20.513 --> 00:00:23.899
He also wrote an article blowing off the dust for the Spa magazine.

00:00:24.361 --> 00:00:31.391
Paddy has also spent some time travelling in the US, including sitting in with Jason Ritchie and writing two magazine articles on him.

00:00:32.393 --> 00:00:37.682
Paddy has played in various bands in the north of England, appearing at festivals and supporting some notable names.

00:00:38.223 --> 00:00:40.508
His current band is called Dust Radio.

00:00:40.548 --> 00:00:43.713
This podcast is sponsored by Zeidel Harmonicas.

00:00:44.134 --> 00:00:46.177
Visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world...

00:00:46.530 --> 00:00:53.472
at www.zidel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Zidel Harmonicas.

00:01:25.186 --> 00:01:26.908
Hello Paddy Wells and welcome to the podcast.

00:01:27.368 --> 00:01:28.549
Hi Neil, thanks for having me along.

00:01:28.911 --> 00:01:31.213
You're originally from Leeds, is that right?

00:01:31.474 --> 00:01:34.477
I'm originally from Hull, but I've not lived there for a long time.

00:01:34.498 --> 00:01:38.643
I spent quite a bit of time in Leeds and now I'm currently in Hebden Bridge.

00:01:39.304 --> 00:01:40.725
In the north of England, so...

00:01:41.406 --> 00:01:42.888
Yeah, true northern air.

00:01:43.849 --> 00:01:49.436
Like myself, although you're of course from the wrong side of the Pennines.

00:01:49.656 --> 00:01:50.257
Yeah, so they say.

00:01:51.358 --> 00:01:53.341
So what got you into playing the harmonica?

00:01:53.793 --> 00:01:59.524
Like a lot of players, it was just something, the sound just grabbed me quite early on.

00:01:59.543 --> 00:02:14.936
I sort of chanced upon some blues records from my dad's collection when I was pretty young, and specifically BB King in London, which is still my favourite BB King album actually, and that's just got a couple of bits of harp on it.

00:02:15.195 --> 00:02:16.598
Was that the first harmonica you heard?

00:02:16.818 --> 00:02:19.544
Yeah, some of the first harp, certainly on record.

00:02:19.563 --> 00:02:28.778
There's a couple of little passages, one from a guy called Duster Bennett on Caledonia, I think, and another little passage by Steve Marriott on Alexis Boogie.

00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:34.830
Both of those tracks, the harp parts kind of leapt out at me as a sound that I just, I don't know, it was like nothing else.

00:02:35.234 --> 00:02:38.959
Yeah, you don't hear a lot of harmonica on BB King songs generally, do you?

00:02:38.998 --> 00:02:42.824
So he was just having a guest band with him as he toured over here, was he?

00:02:43.025 --> 00:02:43.806
That's right, yeah.

00:02:43.846 --> 00:02:48.451
He kind of assembled, it's quite a roll call of famous people actually on that album.

00:02:48.692 --> 00:02:55.140
But the passages weren't, particularly in the case of the Steve Marriott part, it's not even that complex.

00:02:55.221 --> 00:02:57.524
It's quite simple, but it just leaps out.

00:02:57.544 --> 00:03:00.587
I think it's like the placement of the harp as well.

00:03:00.627 --> 00:03:04.013
It just suddenly leaps out and I just thought it was a fantastic sound.

00:03:22.145 --> 00:03:52.853
was interesting the sound that I was hearing on the record there in terms of harmonica but then I kind of this would in a similar sort of time period when I was maybe 14 15 kind of had a bit of an epiphany when I first encountered it live at least proper blues heart this is at home in when I was in Hull and one of the local rugby clubs used to put on an annual kind of little a little fate almost, a little kind of, you know, with stalls and a bit of live music and that kind of thing.

00:03:53.334 --> 00:04:05.229
They had a band on playing, and I remember the band were called Sliding Dog, and they were just a bunch of local guys, you know, playing kind of R&B, a bit of a mixture of stuff, but, you know, kind of older music.

00:04:05.670 --> 00:04:11.177
And the singer at first was playing some saxophone, and that was sounding cold to me.

00:04:11.217 --> 00:04:23.136
And then after that, he kind of just produced this microphone that he held in his hand, and started playing Amped Harp, which was the first time I kind of heard that coming at me.

00:04:23.516 --> 00:04:26.663
That was the moment when I kind of went, I want to make that noise.

00:04:27.386 --> 00:04:28.509
I have to make that noise.

00:04:29.911 --> 00:04:30.713
That sounds amazing.

00:04:31.041 --> 00:04:31.341
Yeah,

00:04:31.483 --> 00:04:32.684
I like us all on here.

00:04:32.805 --> 00:04:33.826
Grabbed us at that early age.

00:04:33.865 --> 00:04:36.209
What age were you when you first started playing them?

00:04:36.649 --> 00:04:38.392
Around that kind of time, really.

00:04:38.452 --> 00:04:45.182
I kind of picked it up from, I would say, 15-ish, when I bought one and started trying to play.

00:04:45.223 --> 00:04:46.384
Yeah, it seems the same.

00:04:46.444 --> 00:04:47.807
That's the same time I started playing.

00:04:47.846 --> 00:04:49.108
It's quite a common time.

00:04:49.329 --> 00:04:52.173
Yeah, formative age, I think, yeah.

00:04:52.754 --> 00:04:55.879
So you're a singer as well as a harmonica player, so you definitely do both.

00:04:55.899 --> 00:04:57.541
Did you do that from the beginning?

00:04:57.682 --> 00:04:59.944
Yeah, I was thinking about this, actually, because...

00:05:00.673 --> 00:05:07.440
At first, there were kind of two periods of harmonica playing for me that were sort of distinct.

00:05:08.002 --> 00:05:14.408
I was possibly more interested in being a singer from when I first started playing in bands, 18 onwards.

00:05:14.908 --> 00:05:19.673
And harmonica was something, I could always get a nice bluesy line out of it quite early on.

00:05:20.055 --> 00:05:24.019
But it was that thing that a lot of singers do, that they just kind of, they use it just now and then.

00:05:24.059 --> 00:05:30.178
You know, like a lot of the rock guys do, like, you know, Robert Plant and Jagger and people like that.

00:05:30.218 --> 00:05:32.343
You know, it's kind of something that just comes out now and then.

00:05:32.362 --> 00:05:35.889
And that was how it continued with me for quite a while.

00:05:35.968 --> 00:05:41.617
Harmonica was just like, I won't say a prop, but it wasn't, it was not like the main thing for me.

00:05:42.119 --> 00:05:53.278
And then later on, I had another kind of slightly, I think it was a bit of a revelation about 20 years ago when I got hold of a Roland tube amp.

00:05:53.442 --> 00:06:00.190
I'd messed about with an amp before then, just like a little solid state thing, but never really got hooked with that.

00:06:00.250 --> 00:06:11.024
But I got this tube amp, plugged a mic into that, and that was another instance when I just kind of went, whoa, that's what it's supposed to sound like, that nice warm tube breakup.

00:06:11.345 --> 00:06:21.158
I think from that point, all of my proper learning and development and the decision to sort of take it seriously as an instrument in its own right was from then.

00:06:21.473 --> 00:06:25.718
So I think in the last 20 years, that's when I've really worked at it a lot.

00:06:25.778 --> 00:06:25.978
Yeah.

00:06:26.579 --> 00:06:30.923
So when you were singing initially, were you singing in blues bands or was it more pop stuff?

00:06:31.564 --> 00:06:33.026
Yeah, it was kind of, yeah.

00:06:33.067 --> 00:06:38.091
We were always doing, even from the outset, it was quite bluesy stuff that I was attracted to.

00:06:38.533 --> 00:06:43.458
And we would do it in bands, you know, anything from kind of like, or bluesy rock stuff as well.

00:06:43.858 --> 00:06:49.384
Anything from early ZZ Top to, you know, Hendrix and Stones and things like that.

00:06:49.685 --> 00:06:50.745
It was always that kind of thing.

00:06:51.009 --> 00:06:52.632
right from right from the off really

00:06:52.911 --> 00:07:08.447
so to give people a flavor of what it's like the music scene was like in the uk then we talked to a lot of people in the us and most of them were in kind of high school bands you know they had that kind of good high school sort of music scene which i don't think we have in the uk right so how did you first start getting playing in bands it

00:07:08.927 --> 00:07:20.886
was pretty much when i'd started sixth form college and i just met a You get to know more people.

00:07:21.187 --> 00:07:22.990
You go out and start playing in the pubs and things like that.

00:07:23.192 --> 00:07:25.838
So you get to know the network of musicians in the city then.

00:07:25.959 --> 00:07:27.403
And it just kind of went from there.

00:07:27.423 --> 00:07:29.247
I kind of played ever since that, really.

00:07:47.170 --> 00:07:50.153
And so, as you say, you started getting more seriously into learning the harp.

00:07:50.192 --> 00:07:51.233
So how did you approach that?

00:07:51.314 --> 00:07:52.675
What sort of things were you doing?

00:07:53.836 --> 00:07:54.297
I think just

00:07:56.459 --> 00:08:00.822
absorbing it and realising how it was supposed to sound when it was played well.

00:08:01.744 --> 00:08:09.552
Started getting into more records like Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter, obviously The Usual Suspects and all of those guys.

00:08:10.392 --> 00:08:15.237
And just kind of starting to emulate that, recognising that tone was...

00:08:15.937 --> 00:08:19.901
was really important and those kind of fundamentals, I think, yeah.

00:08:21.124 --> 00:08:22.444
So how did you develop your tone?

00:08:23.086 --> 00:08:26.048
It was a case of just playing to records then.

00:08:26.088 --> 00:08:31.475
Like I'm sure many people have said on this podcast before, like there was no YouTube.

00:08:31.954 --> 00:08:40.464
So like you put the needle back and you just kept practicing the passages that you liked on the record and just trying to make it sound in a sense of tone.

00:08:40.524 --> 00:08:41.466
It's just as simple as...

00:08:41.985 --> 00:08:44.509
trying to make it sound like what you were hearing.

00:08:44.931 --> 00:08:46.774
But tone to me is like everything, I think.

00:08:46.874 --> 00:08:48.996
I think it's the most important thing.

00:08:49.077 --> 00:09:00.937
I'd much rather hear a player playing relatively simple stuff, but with really good tone, than I would going all over the place, but doesn't sound like he's worked his tone enough.

00:09:01.037 --> 00:09:02.499
That to me is just not as interesting.

00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:06.385
So I do think that's the most important component of it for me.

00:09:06.754 --> 00:09:08.075
Yeah, I absolutely agree with that.

00:09:08.095 --> 00:09:14.140
I mean, I think you can hear a harmonica player and probably many other instruments where as soon as you hear one note, you sort of know whether the tone's there, right?

00:09:14.442 --> 00:09:14.922
Yeah.

00:09:15.001 --> 00:09:15.663
It's so key.

00:09:16.062 --> 00:09:16.322
Yeah.

00:09:16.363 --> 00:09:16.604
Yeah.

00:09:17.124 --> 00:09:19.225
I mean, did you learn any other instruments when you were young?

00:09:19.385 --> 00:09:21.969
Any sort of formal music lessons, anything like that?

00:09:22.089 --> 00:09:24.672
Well, I never did any kind of lessons, no, for anything.

00:09:24.812 --> 00:09:32.399
I've kind of dabbled with guitar, acoustic guitar, you know, and string a few chords together, but that never really grabbed me either.

00:09:32.719 --> 00:09:37.705
It was the harmonica that kind of grabbed me right right from the start, and that's where all my effort's gone.

00:09:50.099 --> 00:09:56.886
You didn't have any singing lessons either, right?

00:09:56.907 --> 00:09:59.330
You were just sort of singing instinctively and...

00:09:59.682 --> 00:10:07.432
Yeah, I mean, singing was something I just seemed to be able to do without much thought, really.

00:10:07.452 --> 00:10:09.836
I didn't take any lessons or anything for that.

00:10:09.936 --> 00:10:13.740
It was just, yeah, I was just able to kind of make that work.

00:10:14.623 --> 00:10:21.451
Yeah, and what do you feel about, you know, singing is a common theme on here, being kind of half of good harmonica players sing and half don't.

00:10:21.591 --> 00:10:24.216
So what do you think about singing?

00:10:24.255 --> 00:10:28.701
You know, the fact that you felt you could do it to begin with, do you think it's a natural thing?

00:10:28.898 --> 00:10:31.442
talent or you know what's your thoughts

00:10:32.403 --> 00:10:54.532
i think it was just you know that was just another another case of like well i can hear what it's supposed to sound like if you're singing kind of blues or bluesy rock or anything like that so i just kind of i don't know maybe it's the uh the confidence of youth something like that you know i just thought yeah i can do that and that just seemed i didn't i didn't seem to have to think about that too much And I still don't to an extent.

00:10:54.591 --> 00:10:55.513
It's still not something...

00:10:55.533 --> 00:10:59.879
I don't approach it very technically at all, singing.

00:11:00.038 --> 00:11:03.864
I'm not somebody that kind of has to do a ton of warm-ups or stuff.

00:11:03.884 --> 00:11:07.889
I mean, I probably should in theory, but I don't kind of do that sort of stuff.

00:11:08.250 --> 00:11:10.533
And yeah, I think as an art player, it's just good.

00:11:10.572 --> 00:11:16.520
It's just good to be able to sing because if you don't sing at all, then you're probably looking at fewer gigs.

00:11:17.217 --> 00:11:20.201
It's definitely a good string to have to your bow.

00:11:20.501 --> 00:11:21.001
Yeah, for sure.

00:11:21.162 --> 00:11:23.124
It allows you to be the band leader as well, doesn't it?

00:11:23.144 --> 00:11:25.187
That's a really critical thing, yeah.

00:11:26.048 --> 00:11:33.735
Okay, so as well as playing and getting through more of your career, so you're also a freelance music journalist.

00:11:34.216 --> 00:11:35.998
Yes, yeah.

00:11:36.119 --> 00:11:36.619
What's that involve?

00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:37.759
When did you get started doing that?

00:11:37.799 --> 00:11:39.883
Is this all part of you being in bands when you were young?

00:11:40.102 --> 00:11:43.907
Not so much from me starting playing.

00:11:43.966 --> 00:11:46.590
From a young age, I'd always kind of...

00:11:47.138 --> 00:12:10.624
fervently consumed the music press from Kerrang! you know about the first issue of Kerrang! that was like 1980 I think and then kind of Q magazine and onto things like Uncut later on and I always kind of consumed those magazines and I've always had an interest in writing anyway You know, that's kind of what I was good at at school.

00:12:10.884 --> 00:12:16.931
So I just thought I'd like to get into actually writing for these magazines and do it myself.

00:12:17.010 --> 00:12:20.595
And eventually I just got in touch with the right people and started to make that happen.

00:12:22.116 --> 00:12:25.740
So was this something you're doing as a job or more as a sideline?

00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:27.001
Both, really.

00:12:27.022 --> 00:12:32.048
I started off doing quite a lot for the Blues magazine, the now defunct Blues magazine.

00:12:32.508 --> 00:12:34.530
When that started, I wrote for every issue of that.

00:12:34.890 --> 00:12:37.433
And it kind of spread a little bit out from there up.

00:12:37.730 --> 00:12:43.423
Like I was saying about getting in with a network of people earlier on, it's a similar thing.

00:12:43.744 --> 00:12:49.477
Once you're in, then a lot of people are writing for several different titles.

00:12:49.938 --> 00:12:52.785
It kind of spreads out a little bit then.

00:12:53.086 --> 00:12:54.429
And that enabled me to be doing...

00:12:54.754 --> 00:13:09.578
quite a bit of it do i'm actually doing less of it now and that's that's primarily because lots of the print titles have closed it's like a dying industry really so um there are fewer titles to go at at least if you want to get paid there's plenty of stuff to do which won't pay you

00:13:09.839 --> 00:13:24.566
yeah like so much these days it seems to be more and more isn't it used to get paid for stuff now you don't know yeah absolutely you've written about different genres you know rock country blues right but you were writing for the blues magazine is that one of the strings to your bow, what you were writing for, and you were covering different genres?

00:13:25.105 --> 00:13:30.653
I tend to only, or I try to write for the stuff that interests me personally.

00:13:30.692 --> 00:13:33.515
So that would include, of course, the blues stuff.

00:13:34.216 --> 00:13:42.206
But I also, in any kind of roots music, I'm comfortable writing about Country Magazine, which is also now folded, was really good.

00:13:42.687 --> 00:13:48.254
So I did quite a bit of interviews and some feature work for them.

00:13:48.642 --> 00:13:53.634
And rock magazines, of course, because I was a rock music fan.

00:13:54.056 --> 00:13:59.450
So I've done stuff for Classic Rock and Planet Rock when they had a magazine and titles like that.

00:13:59.490 --> 00:14:02.177
I've done quite a bit of rock music stuff as well.

00:14:02.216 --> 00:14:03.340
But I see

00:14:03.379 --> 00:14:05.566
that as all sort of interchangeable.

00:14:05.761 --> 00:14:10.847
And so this involved you going to lots of gigs, writing reviews on gigs, interviewing the band members, that sort of thing?

00:14:10.967 --> 00:14:12.250
Yeah, all of that, yeah.

00:14:12.470 --> 00:14:15.113
How do you feel that informed your own music development?

00:14:15.413 --> 00:14:16.494
I'm not sure, really.

00:14:16.514 --> 00:14:19.298
I mean, I was kind of doing it alongside anyway.

00:14:19.317 --> 00:14:27.486
I was already an active musician then, which I think helped in getting me started, because I kind of was coming at it from both sides, I suppose.

00:14:28.107 --> 00:14:40.921
I knew the language of how these magazines wanted to present it, and I I was also a musician myself, so I kind of knew how to write about it and what was the kind of things that people wanted to hear.

00:14:41.061 --> 00:14:44.884
Yeah, so you also write, I think, CD reviews.

00:14:45.004 --> 00:14:48.908
I've done a ton of reviews, yeah, countless reviews for albums,

00:14:49.129 --> 00:14:49.308
yeah.

00:14:49.769 --> 00:14:52.312
Yeah, so I think all that's got to rub off, hasn't it, to some extent?

00:14:52.331 --> 00:14:57.037
You know, you're reviewing albums, you're thinking about what works, you're kind of analysing songs.

00:14:57.057 --> 00:14:59.779
I think that's got to seep through, hasn't it, to come through in your own music.

00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:02.302
Yeah, it probably does, yeah, yeah.

00:15:02.977 --> 00:15:05.941
I mean, so obviously you said you like writing as well.

00:15:06.162 --> 00:15:11.206
And so you write some of your own lyrics to your blues songs that you perform.

00:15:12.408 --> 00:15:21.238
Yeah, I mean, especially now, the current stuff, which we'll probably get onto, the Dust Radio stuff, that's all original material.

00:15:21.719 --> 00:15:25.623
And it's really the first time that it's been a band.

00:15:26.024 --> 00:15:31.509
I mean, that's not to say we don't do some cover stuff in the live set as well, but the records we put out, it's all...

00:15:31.874 --> 00:15:34.056
our own compositions, you

00:15:35.197 --> 00:15:40.022
know, so, yeah.

00:15:48.830 --> 00:15:49.730
And

00:15:51.613 --> 00:15:57.318
what about the promotion side, you know, with what you, again, you've learned from magazines and reviews and all that sort of thing.

00:15:57.379 --> 00:16:00.522
Is that something you think you've, you've learned and been able to use?

00:16:01.025 --> 00:16:03.328
Well, I've got some good contacts.

00:16:03.428 --> 00:16:13.881
I mean, that's why I'm able to do most of the, or a lot of the PR myself, because I kind of know the right people to send it out to now, or some of them.

00:16:13.961 --> 00:16:23.634
I'm not saying, you know, it's always good to have more, of course, but the contacts that I've made from writing have enabled me to get my own stuff covered, definitely.

00:16:23.874 --> 00:16:25.395
So that has been an advantage, yeah.

00:16:26.116 --> 00:16:27.519
Yeah, yeah, definitely get some publicity.

00:16:27.940 --> 00:16:29.402
You know, and that's important, right?

00:16:29.422 --> 00:16:33.427
I mean, how do you think things have changed now about people publicizing themselves?

00:16:33.447 --> 00:16:35.610
You know, as you said, the magazines are dying off, right?

00:16:35.671 --> 00:16:37.153
But they've still got online presence.

00:16:37.173 --> 00:16:38.715
Obviously, it's all online these days.

00:16:38.836 --> 00:16:44.003
So what do you think about the scene from that perspective and, you know, what people should do?

00:16:44.462 --> 00:16:45.764
In terms of what people should do, I

00:16:45.985 --> 00:16:46.504
don't know.

00:16:46.524 --> 00:16:52.350
I think it's a constant struggle, I think, promoting yourself.

00:16:52.910 --> 00:16:56.695
And you just have to be constantly present.

00:16:57.275 --> 00:17:01.399
And I'm not actually naturally inclined to be like that.

00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:07.144
I'm not the sort of person that can constantly be chucking stuff out there and making videos.

00:17:07.786 --> 00:17:09.166
It's just not my personality.

00:17:09.247 --> 00:17:13.243
So I don't really have any Solid advice for that.

00:17:13.284 --> 00:17:17.270
I think you just need to be visible, I think, and present.

00:17:17.371 --> 00:17:18.733
But to what extent, I think.

00:17:19.174 --> 00:17:22.019
Some people are much better at just being there all the time.

00:17:22.039 --> 00:17:23.321
I don't find that.

00:17:23.663 --> 00:17:24.964
That's not too natural for me.

00:17:25.666 --> 00:17:27.390
And what about the kind of music press...

00:17:27.650 --> 00:17:48.272
in you know in general about the magazines folding and same with newspapers right you know they just do not sell like they used to do and people just read stuff on their phone and it's largely unpaid so maybe you know the quality of writing is going to be lower in some cases because we haven't got kind of professional people doing it so definitely definitely is in some areas yeah what's the view on on that side

00:17:48.634 --> 00:18:00.006
yeah i mean i think it's this is where we are isn't it but i do think it's i do think it's a shame i think i think you we've lost something through there being fewer magazines, there was just something about it.

00:18:00.086 --> 00:18:09.826
It was always kind of exciting to me, like getting the latest issue of something, and that's where you got your information from, and having that kind of tangible thing.

00:18:10.207 --> 00:18:11.789
I used to love that.

00:18:12.193 --> 00:18:14.496
that's just not how people consume anymore is it

00:18:14.935 --> 00:18:25.705
it's like a definitive source wasn't it it's like yeah it might have been much less of it but it was kind of like yeah there was like five choices and they were the ones you know whereas now there's like a million choices right and it's um

00:18:25.945 --> 00:18:47.905
yeah i mean and that was where like that was where i would see things like glastonbury advertised before like it seems unimaginable now but like glastonbury used to just be some ads in the back of a magazine you know and you could i'm going to sort of i'm talking about early 90s something like that you know you can you'd still go and walk into a record shop and buy a Glastonbury ticket kind of like two weeks after they went on sale.

00:18:48.185 --> 00:18:55.712
And that was just from ads in the back of a magazine, because not that many people knew about it, or it wasn't nowhere near as widespread now.

00:18:56.273 --> 00:19:08.425
And like you mentioned, I think the quality of some of the magazines that are predominantly used in volunteers, sometimes the writing can be reflected in that, I think, too.

00:19:08.705 --> 00:19:09.648
Yeah, and that's fair enough, right?

00:19:09.669 --> 00:19:10.730
It's not the full-time job, right?

00:19:10.750 --> 00:19:14.201
And they're often just doing it in the evenings, you know, they're not doing it full-time through the day.

00:19:14.221 --> 00:19:14.761
Yeah, of course.

00:19:15.083 --> 00:19:16.145
Completely understandable, isn't it?

00:19:16.165 --> 00:19:18.070
But yeah, I mean, it's going to impact, isn't it?

00:19:18.372 --> 00:19:19.515
Yeah, absolutely.

00:19:19.996 --> 00:19:21.420
They're not getting paid for it as well, right?

00:19:21.800 --> 00:19:22.001
Yeah.

00:19:22.306 --> 00:19:25.469
but yeah, we're in a world of self promotion and the internet these days.

00:19:25.509 --> 00:19:26.730
And like you say, that's the way it is.

00:19:26.809 --> 00:19:29.011
And, um, we're fighting for attention.

00:19:29.051 --> 00:19:29.291
Yeah.

00:19:29.332 --> 00:19:36.739
So, um, obviously, you know, you've looked at different genres and I've seen, you've got some articles on your website, which I'll link to Nick Curran and Steve Earl.

00:19:36.778 --> 00:19:41.343
And so again, not just blues guys, you know, different genres.

00:19:41.583 --> 00:19:54.535
So an article, uh, which is, um, which you wrote for a spa magazine, it's, uh, I believe in the autumn or, uh, fall, as they say in the U S and in 2016 is, uh, an article called Blowing Off the Dust.

00:19:55.135 --> 00:20:04.326
And this is all about, you know, how the harmonica needs to keep relevant and people need to have a new voice, you know, a unique voice and not just kind of, you know, copy the greats.

00:20:04.887 --> 00:20:06.730
So, yeah, tell us about this article.

00:20:06.830 --> 00:20:18.345
Yeah, that was the premise of the article and it was a really good one to write because it was, like you say, it was just about the instrument being kept kind of relevant and moving on while still honouring tradition.

00:20:18.526 --> 00:20:26.731
So I got to speak to lots of players that were suitable for that kind of for that kind of article you know so it was it was a good one to do yeah

00:20:27.393 --> 00:20:44.957
so yeah so that that article is available online as well i'll put a link on to that so people can read it so i mean what about the conclusion of that discussion about you know keeping the heart keeping the heart modern and relevant and you know having your own voice and what do you think i i sort of

00:20:44.977 --> 00:20:52.294
broadly agree with that like for me the most interesting players or some of the most interesting players are the guys that I can...

00:20:52.315 --> 00:20:56.601
I know that that traditional stuff is in there because I can hear it.

00:20:56.681 --> 00:20:58.083
I can hear the foundation of that.

00:20:58.723 --> 00:21:03.771
But they're kind of pushing on and forging their own sound.

00:21:04.333 --> 00:21:09.421
They're kind of the most interesting players to me, some of whom are in the article, actually.

00:21:10.041 --> 00:21:15.871
There are many, many guys just emulating Little Walter down to every little nuance.

00:21:15.931 --> 00:21:16.932
And that's great.

00:21:17.232 --> 00:21:17.413
That's...

00:21:17.794 --> 00:21:20.997
but it's less interesting to me than the guys that are doing that sort of thing.

00:21:21.416 --> 00:21:27.142
As part of this article, you list what you see as 20 essential harmonica songs, which is music to my ears.

00:21:27.201 --> 00:21:29.864
It's one of the reasons I started this podcast.

00:21:30.065 --> 00:21:34.008
I was always on this search for the kind of best harmonica songs, and then it's in my collection.

00:21:34.028 --> 00:21:37.171
So I see you listing the 20 essential harmonica songs.

00:21:37.730 --> 00:21:38.511
So that's really interesting.

00:21:38.531 --> 00:21:40.574
That's at the end of me just picking a couple out.

00:21:40.594 --> 00:21:44.676
I know you like Mitch Cashmore and a song by him called Nickels and Dimes.

00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:49.161
So

00:21:59.551 --> 00:22:00.613
what about Mitch?

00:22:00.633 --> 00:22:04.076
Yeah, I mean, he kind of embodies what I was just talking about, actually.

00:22:04.116 --> 00:22:12.746
In Mitch's playing, you absolutely know that he's grounded in that traditional stuff because he wouldn't be able to play...

00:22:13.314 --> 00:22:14.675
to that sort of level otherwise.

00:22:14.736 --> 00:22:18.101
But, like, what he's doing is totally his thing.

00:22:18.721 --> 00:22:23.690
And, like, I would know it was him in 30 seconds, you know, which is often the mark of the best players, isn't it?

00:22:23.869 --> 00:22:25.833
But, yeah, he's a really good example of that, I think.

00:22:26.714 --> 00:22:27.977
I just think he's a fantastic player.

00:22:28.356 --> 00:22:28.538
Very

00:22:28.637 --> 00:22:28.917
unique.

00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:31.782
You mentioned Lyndon Anderson, who's a UK player.

00:22:37.250 --> 00:22:41.758
MUSIC PLAYS

00:22:47.425 --> 00:22:51.431
Lyndon, for me, is one of the best players in the UK.

00:22:51.451 --> 00:22:54.775
And he is underrepresented, I think.

00:22:55.556 --> 00:22:58.940
Also, by his own admission, he's not a great self-publicist.

00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:01.962
He doesn't really, you didn't always see his stuff coming up.

00:23:02.243 --> 00:23:04.967
But he is a fantastic player.

00:23:04.987 --> 00:23:10.854
And he has that same thing going on of like, in some ways, it's a little bit similar to Jason, what he does.

00:23:11.298 --> 00:23:13.421
I think he's a really good player, yeah.

00:23:13.981 --> 00:23:16.704
Yeah, and you've got a Paul DeLay song on there.

00:23:16.806 --> 00:23:19.970
We've talked about Paul DeLay on here quite a few times.

00:23:31.125 --> 00:23:40.862
You've also spent quite a lot of time travelling around the US and this part of your career your research into writing and meeting some of the players and doing some of the interviews.

00:23:40.883 --> 00:23:42.825
So yeah, tell us about your travels to the US.

00:23:44.307 --> 00:23:50.915
Yeah, I've kind of, I've had a few trips out there, but predominantly in New Orleans, I guess, is where I spent the most time.

00:23:51.936 --> 00:24:03.373
And that has allowed me access to some fantastic musicians and did some writing for Offbeat magazine while I was there, which is kind of the city of music magazine.

00:24:03.712 --> 00:24:09.792
So yeah, lots of great stuff came out of those travels, both, you know, musically and writing much, really, yeah.

00:24:10.473 --> 00:24:14.199
Yeah, and you spent some time with Jason Ritchie in New Orleans.

00:24:14.259 --> 00:24:18.865
You did an interview with him for Blues in Britain magazine as a result of going there, yeah?

00:24:19.326 --> 00:24:22.068
Yeah, I've done a couple, I think, now with Jason.

00:24:22.088 --> 00:24:23.250
Yeah, Jason's a friend now.

00:24:23.711 --> 00:24:27.195
I've met him a lot of times now, and I've done...

00:24:27.556 --> 00:24:28.577
Yeah, the last interview...

00:24:28.993 --> 00:24:33.577
I think it was one of his favourite music sports in the city for Blues in Britain.

00:24:33.878 --> 00:24:34.378
So that was good.

00:24:34.419 --> 00:24:39.243
We got to hang out and just go to lots of these places and talk about why Jason liked him and things like that.

00:24:39.564 --> 00:24:42.105
He's always a great interviewee.

00:24:42.246 --> 00:24:43.448
He's never short of stuff to say.

00:24:43.968 --> 00:24:47.010
And did you perform with him on stage, sir, in the stand?

00:24:47.651 --> 00:24:49.413
Yeah, I sat in with his band.

00:24:49.653 --> 00:24:51.634
That's when he had the bad kind together.

00:24:51.654 --> 00:24:55.298
I sat in with them at Cheeky Wawa in New Orleans.

00:24:56.038 --> 00:24:58.821
I got to sit in with a few people, actually, which is great.

00:24:59.105 --> 00:25:08.980
I do notice on one of your songs from your Dis Radio album, which we'll get onto shortly, South of Nowhere, you play a lick which is, I think, pretty reminiscent of Jason's style.

00:25:20.238 --> 00:25:20.317
Yeah.

00:25:23.362 --> 00:25:27.288
So is that something you deliberately worked on Jason Lick, you think that came out?

00:25:27.628 --> 00:25:28.790
Not really for that, no.

00:25:28.830 --> 00:25:28.971
That

00:25:29.010 --> 00:25:32.215
was just, I don't know where I kind of heard something like that.

00:25:32.236 --> 00:25:35.441
I mean, maybe that's just wandered in subconsciously.

00:25:35.461 --> 00:25:36.824
I mean, that's how it happens, isn't it?

00:25:37.845 --> 00:25:42.031
I didn't really have the idea to learn a lick per se.

00:25:42.071 --> 00:25:43.294
That's just kind of how that happened.

00:25:43.490 --> 00:25:45.032
How that solo came out for that song.

00:25:45.534 --> 00:25:45.835
Great.

00:25:45.875 --> 00:25:50.044
So, yeah, you did some other gigging and moving around the US then, did you?

00:25:50.124 --> 00:25:52.269
And got to play out there quite a bit?

00:25:52.509 --> 00:25:52.890
Yeah.

00:25:52.950 --> 00:25:58.622
Like I said, I played in Clarksdale as well, sat in with some people at Red's.

00:25:58.817 --> 00:26:18.674
juke joint in Clarksdale which is one of the last remaining sort of genuine juke joints so that was a real bucket list thing to play in there and Ground Zero Blues Club as well which is Morgan Freeman's club and I've done a little bit of playing in Austin as well so some of the spots that are great for blues playing I've managed to wangle myself in somehow.

00:26:19.695 --> 00:26:29.746
Great stuff yeah so people do that quite a lot you know they go across to these places like you say go to these clubs get to sit in you know is that something you think has helped your music as well your harmonica playing

00:26:29.865 --> 00:26:42.231
yeah definitely you're going back to the source aren't you so that's why it's so good so you can sort of you can kind of feel it in places like that that's why it's good to good to just absorb it and if you get a chance to play that's all the better

00:26:42.512 --> 00:26:46.622
and as a British person you're well received on the harmonica over there

00:26:46.982 --> 00:26:53.913
yeah as long as you are nice to everyone then mostly they'll be nice back is my experience

00:26:54.634 --> 00:27:12.711
yeah great yeah so let's get on to your recording career we're going back so you said you started playing in bands around 18 and singing and picking up the heart a little bit later so the first band I've got you down is with Poor Boy which is a Leeds based Chicago blues band so is that one of your main your first kind of main blues bands after a few earlier attempts

00:27:13.171 --> 00:27:28.371
yeah it was really I just I had just moved to Leeds and I decided that when I got the What I wanted to do was put together kind of a pretty classic blues band and wanted to play some of that and get stuck into some of that more Chicago-y stuff.

00:27:41.912 --> 00:27:42.973
I got that off the ground.

00:27:43.458 --> 00:27:59.182
fairly quickly that was back when like you still put adverts up in music shops on a bit of paper and pinned them to the wall looking looking for guitarists baseball etc etc that's how i found that band mainly through like just the old school way of advertising

00:28:00.705 --> 00:28:03.230
you know the music shops are closing as well these days i know

00:28:03.589 --> 00:28:04.451
yeah yeah

00:28:04.471 --> 00:28:11.413
that's another thing is it going to stop And how was the blues scene, or at least the blues band, received in Leeds and surrounding areas?

00:28:11.913 --> 00:28:12.635
Yeah, pretty good.

00:28:12.675 --> 00:28:20.751
I mean, there is stuff to go at around there in the north, some of the places that are still going now.

00:28:20.771 --> 00:28:23.257
So we managed to get gigging pretty quickly.

00:28:23.682 --> 00:28:28.009
And we used to do, you know, we would start up on the festivals and stuff.

00:28:28.269 --> 00:28:31.496
That's when I first started playing Kong, which I'm still playing.

00:28:31.776 --> 00:28:33.157
And we'd go to Dundee.

00:28:33.259 --> 00:28:37.826
That festival doesn't exist in the same way anymore, the Dundee Blues Festival.

00:28:38.186 --> 00:28:39.328
We used to go up there every year.

00:28:39.368 --> 00:28:40.671
That was a really good one.

00:28:41.472 --> 00:28:44.397
Mary Port Blues Festival, that also doesn't exist now.

00:28:44.858 --> 00:28:46.602
So, yeah, we used to get around, yeah.

00:28:46.978 --> 00:28:48.864
And how did you get your foot in the door at the festivals?

00:28:49.224 --> 00:28:53.538
Again, just finding out who the person was and some tenacity, I think.

00:28:54.321 --> 00:28:59.096
Just keep plugging away until they say yes or no.

00:29:00.738 --> 00:29:01.218
Yeah.

00:29:01.419 --> 00:29:03.740
Doing demos and things like that and sending them off.

00:29:03.961 --> 00:29:06.262
And so you supported some, you know, some big action.

00:29:06.282 --> 00:29:08.265
You supported Morganfield, I believe?

00:29:08.285 --> 00:29:09.786
Yeah, a couple of times, yeah.

00:29:09.986 --> 00:29:11.247
Is that when he was touring up north?

00:29:11.346 --> 00:29:15.790
He was, I think we did, we supported him once in Keithley and then again in York.

00:29:16.230 --> 00:29:24.759
So that was really good to do, yeah, because, you know, we got to support an act like that and then when we'd finished we went to get to enjoy the band as well.

00:29:25.499 --> 00:29:28.162
Yeah, did he have Steve Weston playing when you were

00:29:28.741 --> 00:29:28.961
supporting?

00:29:28.982 --> 00:29:34.009
He did have Steve, yeah, Steve's a friend of mine as well so yeah it's always good to hear Steve play yeah of course

00:29:34.431 --> 00:29:39.019
yeah and also Paul Jones who's the you know player over here in the UK again

00:29:39.378 --> 00:29:59.660
yeah yeah we supported when he's with the well it's the blues band isn't it So that was good.

00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:01.125
Yeah, we met Paul.

00:30:01.425 --> 00:30:04.715
And in fact, that's how I managed to get on.

00:30:05.017 --> 00:30:09.592
This is when he was still doing the Radio 2 Blues show that Gareth is doing now.

00:30:09.833 --> 00:30:12.541
And I was able to actually put a CD together.

00:30:12.673 --> 00:30:25.233
in his hand so i didn't have to go the route of like you know trying to send it to various people i just literally gave it to him and said you think you might play something off this you know so that worked because he did play as a few weeks later on

00:30:25.294 --> 00:30:30.102
oh brilliant yeah so did that have any impact getting played on the blue sean radio too

00:30:30.643 --> 00:30:41.935
it was just a good bit of publicity really you know for us so you definitely yeah if you can you know if you can say that that's that it's been on Radio 2, and it all helps, doesn't it?

00:30:41.996 --> 00:30:42.817
You know, it's all PR.

00:30:43.519 --> 00:30:44.661
Yeah, definitely, yeah.

00:30:45.281 --> 00:30:48.906
After that, you played with a few different sort of outfits.

00:30:49.127 --> 00:30:50.349
I've got Crosscut Saw.

00:30:50.369 --> 00:30:54.175
Was that one of your next bands, also a sort of blues band based around Yorkshire?

00:30:54.656 --> 00:31:00.105
Yeah, I mean, I kind of already knew the guys in Crosscut while I was still doing Poor Boy.

00:31:00.417 --> 00:31:01.818
That's a long-running band.

00:31:02.039 --> 00:31:08.445
They've been on the go for, I don't know exactly how long, but a long time, you know, with some line-up changes along the way.

00:31:08.727 --> 00:31:16.694
But really well-respected band in Yorkshire in the north, and it's got that quite, it's quite a hard-edged sort of bit of a Mississippi vibe that they do.

00:31:17.115 --> 00:31:18.115
So I already knew them.

00:31:18.757 --> 00:31:22.701
What I enjoyed about that was I got a chance to be a sideman.

00:31:22.901 --> 00:31:25.564
I really like just being a sideman as a harp player.

00:31:27.266 --> 00:31:27.486
MUSIC PLAYS

00:31:42.786 --> 00:31:47.097
sometimes a little bit of a reluctant frontman to an extent.

00:31:47.157 --> 00:31:51.570
I mean, I still do it, but I enjoy just as much being the guy at the side.

00:31:52.071 --> 00:31:53.977
Yeah, takes some of the pressure off, doesn't

00:31:53.998 --> 00:31:54.038
it?

00:31:54.057 --> 00:31:57.346
Yeah, and I think it's just a slightly different way of playing as well.

00:31:57.386 --> 00:31:58.189
You just get to...

00:31:58.625 --> 00:32:03.152
Decide where you're playing and you're not having to think about being the singer as well.

00:32:03.332 --> 00:32:05.654
And you just kind of like listening to the band.

00:32:05.734 --> 00:32:10.461
It's a really good discipline for just listening to the band, you know, when you're at the side.

00:32:10.882 --> 00:32:16.450
When you do that, you know, as opposed to being, you know, the singer and harmonica player, does that help, you know, with the placement of the harmonica?

00:32:16.470 --> 00:32:19.814
What are you sort of thinking about what the singer wants from you when you're a sideman?

00:32:20.134 --> 00:32:21.616
It's just serving the song, isn't it?

00:32:21.676 --> 00:32:25.422
I mean, it's just as important not to play.

00:32:25.857 --> 00:32:46.909
as the playing parts I think and I think that's I think that is a discipline that's it's really to the fore when you're playing as a sideman and not stepping on vocal lines and just interjecting As a harp player, even if you are a singer as well, front of the band, I think it's really good practice to have some time playing side man.

00:32:47.288 --> 00:32:49.051
It definitely helps with your playing, I think.

00:32:49.511 --> 00:32:55.480
You know, comping and just having that range of tools kind of available to you, I think.

00:32:55.821 --> 00:33:00.087
And did I read right that you had two harmonicas in this band sometimes?

00:33:00.848 --> 00:33:04.413
Yeah, because Alex, the front man, also plays harp.

00:33:04.738 --> 00:33:10.186
He also plays guitar and sings so that he just uses the harp occasionally.

00:33:10.207 --> 00:33:15.434
That gave us like, you know, there are a couple of songs where we would kind of like have them both going.

00:33:15.915 --> 00:33:18.680
Yeah, the kind of Julian Harmonica's thing always goes down well.

00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:24.849
Yeah, and like, you know, we could get a pretty big sound getting both of those going and that was fun to do as well.

00:33:25.281 --> 00:33:28.286
Some other bands you play with, you play with a Dave Hanson band?

00:33:28.707 --> 00:33:32.271
Yeah, I've known Dave since first moving to Leeds as well.

00:33:32.372 --> 00:33:35.336
And he was like really pushing his album at the time.

00:33:35.356 --> 00:33:43.828
And so he just, that was one of those where he kind of just got me on to play because he could kind of hear that there was some heart would sound good on this particular track, you know.

00:33:43.909 --> 00:33:46.613
So I played on his album and did some live shows with him as well.

00:33:47.213 --> 00:33:47.835
So that was good fun.

00:33:48.234 --> 00:33:51.920
Yeah, and this song, there's a song called Joanna, which has got a video.

00:33:52.942 --> 00:33:53.021
Yeah.

00:33:56.930 --> 00:34:07.003
So yeah, it's quite a nice video to watch.

00:34:07.023 --> 00:34:09.166
What was that like, making a video?

00:34:09.507 --> 00:34:11.009
Yeah, it was good fun, actually.

00:34:11.028 --> 00:34:16.898
I think the kind of narrative part of the video had already been done, like the kind of story parts.

00:34:17.177 --> 00:34:20.021
But I think the cutaways are just what's playing live, as I remember it.

00:34:20.202 --> 00:34:22.465
That was just a day of like, yeah, mime into the track.

00:34:24.248 --> 00:34:25.670
And that all being cut in, yeah.

00:34:26.402 --> 00:34:29.090
Yeah, it's easier to mime in a harmonica because you can't see your lips move.

00:34:29.331 --> 00:34:29.873
Yeah, exactly,

00:34:30.032 --> 00:34:30.253
yeah, yeah.

00:34:31.577 --> 00:34:36.413
And then another outfit, which you were, you know, a certain singer and harmonica player, is a welter.

00:34:36.833 --> 00:34:40.766
Yeah, that was, in fact, I met Matt...

00:34:40.898 --> 00:34:46.248
when we did the video shoot for the track we were just talking about for Dave Hansen.

00:34:46.608 --> 00:34:50.476
So I met Matt there, Matt Baxter, who is a great Leeds-based musician.

00:34:50.797 --> 00:34:53.141
And this was kind of something we just put together.

00:34:53.161 --> 00:34:59.652
We said, should we just put a duo thing together that we can just pick up when it fits in with both of us?

00:35:00.130 --> 00:35:01.150
It was like a side project.

00:35:01.751 --> 00:35:09.842
So we just kind of got it together quite fairly quickly and said, we'll just do, you know, whenever we can just fit the odd gig in here and there, we'll just do that.

00:35:09.942 --> 00:35:14.467
You know, we did some live video recordings as well, which were good.

00:35:29.762 --> 00:35:34.461
Okay, so your current act and your main act now is called Dust Radio.

00:35:34.742 --> 00:35:38.940
It's a duo, what you sometimes have a drummer with you as well.

00:35:39.650 --> 00:35:46.775
Yeah, it started life as a duo and we still sometimes gig as a duo, but it's kind of expanding.

00:35:46.896 --> 00:35:51.159
We're currently sort of defaulting to like a three-piece with a bass player as well.

00:35:51.539 --> 00:35:54.182
And we've just started playing some stuff with a drummer as well.

00:35:54.262 --> 00:35:57.945
So it might, as we move into next year, it might kind of solidify into a four-piece.

00:35:58.606 --> 00:36:00.347
That's where it is at the moment.

00:36:00.487 --> 00:36:04.552
But like we kind of, we can do it as a two, a three or a four, depending on the gig really.

00:36:04.911 --> 00:36:06.072
Yeah, that's always good.

00:36:06.152 --> 00:36:09.155
And so you're playing what, this is kind of roots music, blues and...

00:36:09.615 --> 00:36:11.864
swamp and country and a bit of rock is it

00:36:12.485 --> 00:36:47.889
i call it like a blues and roots band really so myself or tom who tom myself formed the band neither of us are um kind of purists really so it's kind of veering off slightly into other areas so it's always bluesy you know but i wouldn't call it a strict blues band

00:36:48.148 --> 00:36:53.117
either so you got uh what was your first album called problem and remedy

00:36:53.336 --> 00:36:59.166
uh there was an ep before that um called shotgun shack that was the first thing we put out so

00:37:20.898 --> 00:37:22.460
What year did the EP come out?

00:37:23.221 --> 00:37:24.262
Summer 21, I think.

00:37:24.623 --> 00:37:29.090
And that got a lot of really good response from the Blues Press and things like that.

00:37:29.811 --> 00:37:32.034
Planet Rock picked a couple of tracks up.

00:37:32.755 --> 00:37:33.936
And where did you record this one?

00:37:34.478 --> 00:37:39.003
Well, that one and the one we've just released, the album, it's all quite DIY.

00:37:39.023 --> 00:37:42.047
We've just done it in a couple of rehearsal spaces, recording ourselves.

00:37:42.469 --> 00:37:45.012
We've done the whole thing ourselves, apart from the mastering.

00:37:45.413 --> 00:37:48.637
Somebody did the mastering for us right at the end, but everything else we've done.

00:37:48.737 --> 00:37:49.885
What about the setup for that?

00:37:50.086 --> 00:37:53.911
It's just like a case of initially maybe getting in...

00:37:54.465 --> 00:38:05.275
into the rehearsal space and getting the foundation of something down live, you know, just maybe just to keep the groove, the guitar and maybe some of the harp and put the vocals on after that.

00:38:05.715 --> 00:38:10.599
Once that's down, then it's just a case of like, you know, any mixing and arranging is just then done.

00:38:10.659 --> 00:38:12.782
We can do that by bouncing files back and forth.

00:38:13.161 --> 00:38:18.467
But you recorded the, you know, some of the tracks separately then that you say vocals are put on top.

00:38:18.527 --> 00:38:19.867
You didn't record it as a sort of live.

00:38:20.288 --> 00:38:21.268
Not the whole thing.

00:38:21.449 --> 00:38:33.152
I mean, certainly the foundation bit is recorded live you know the original harp stuff might be like a scratch harp track same for the vocal anything that's and then I'll go back and kind of finesse that a bit

00:38:33.333 --> 00:38:35.456
yeah very good and you're pleased with the result

00:38:35.617 --> 00:38:35.818
yeah

00:38:36.400 --> 00:38:38.905
so yeah so after this EP you released a

00:38:39.126 --> 00:38:39.166
uh

00:38:39.425 --> 00:38:41.949
A fuller album, which is called Problem and Remedy.

00:38:42.391 --> 00:38:44.375
Yeah, we put that out somewhere over

00:38:44.454 --> 00:38:44.894
this year.

00:38:45.215 --> 00:38:46.938
A lot of these songs were written by yourself.

00:38:46.978 --> 00:38:48.001
You wrote the lyrics as well.

00:38:48.360 --> 00:38:53.210
Yeah, all with the exception of there's one cover of My Walk on Gilded Splinters by Dr John on there.

00:38:53.650 --> 00:38:59.119
Everything else is original compositions and I've written, yeah, I've done the lyrics.

00:38:59.601 --> 00:39:02.164
The same across the EP and the album.

00:39:02.722 --> 00:39:05.824
Yeah, and the problem and remedy lyrics is quite a catchy

00:39:05.844 --> 00:39:07.106
line.

00:39:09.849 --> 00:39:18.918
There's a

00:39:27.148 --> 00:39:28.550
little bit of

00:39:28.809 --> 00:39:28.829
a...

00:39:29.025 --> 00:39:44.742
not a theme, but a sort of vibe that has emerged lyrically over the records, which is mostly influenced by kind of writers like, I'm a big fan of like Raymond Carver and there's another writer called Willie Velorton.

00:39:44.802 --> 00:39:56.603
I don't know if you're familiar with the band that he used to have called Richmond Fontaine, which was an old country band where he writes novels as well, which are often about slightly desperate people on the edges, you know, Things like that.

00:39:56.643 --> 00:40:04.581
I mean, I've always loved his books, and that kind of stuff seems to be coming out lyrically for this particular project.

00:40:04.981 --> 00:40:08.068
Yeah, Problem and Remedy is a good example of that, I think, the track.

00:40:08.648 --> 00:40:12.757
Yeah, so again, a topic to talk about here quite a lot, but you know, you feel that writing...

00:40:13.153 --> 00:40:17.018
new lyrics you know trying to modernize the blues is uh something you want to do yeah

00:40:17.219 --> 00:40:45.896
yeah definitely yeah i mean it's not you know uh someone like chris whitley i mean the band is named after what a chris whitley track actually dust radio he had that thing of his whole approach was he wanted to keep the the quite earthy sound and arrangements of blues music but but add it to it quite quite sort of evocative lyrics and imagery and i always really liked that I'm a big fan of his stuff, especially the Dirt Floor album.

00:40:46.137 --> 00:40:47.159
So it's kind of that kind of thing.

00:40:47.501 --> 00:40:50.369
I mean, how do you feel that original blues lyrics are received?

00:40:50.409 --> 00:40:53.177
Because, you know, my impression is that you go to...

00:40:53.666 --> 00:40:55.568
do gigs, quite a lot of people want to hear covers.

00:40:55.588 --> 00:40:56.891
They want to hear songs that they know.

00:40:56.931 --> 00:41:06.306
So by going away from blues songs, you know, that's obviously quite niche, but you know, there's certain blues songs that are known like Help Me and Hoochie Coochie Man, you know, the kind of big ones that everyone knows.

00:41:06.766 --> 00:41:12.375
But by going and writing original blues, you know, how do you generally feel you're getting, you know, the audiences reacting to those things?

00:41:12.394 --> 00:41:22.931
So far, pretty good, because I think it's just as important, or at least it is for us doing the dust radio stuff is that it's got to be, it's still got to sound groovy and have, and have hooks.

00:41:23.351 --> 00:41:25.155
So it's got to, there's got to be a tune there.

00:41:25.655 --> 00:41:29.541
And if you have that, that's the first thing that people respond to, isn't it?

00:41:29.621 --> 00:41:32.346
If you can get their foot tapping, then you're on the right lines.

00:41:32.726 --> 00:41:37.534
And then you can sort of, you can sneak the other stuff in to an extent.

00:41:37.666 --> 00:41:44.458
Whereas if the music itself sounded a bit boring and lumpy, I don't think that would happen as easily.

00:41:47.905 --> 00:42:03.635
MUSIC PLAYS so

00:42:05.478 --> 00:42:11.746
when you're writing the lyrics do you do that you know by sort of strumming yourself and the guitar or singing or playing with your guitar player or um

00:42:12.445 --> 00:42:33.106
it tends to be usually that tom will have the musical framework of something that he will then pass to me it kind of usually suggests like uh i'll see how it feels And I've always got stuff written down, scraps of phrases, little lyrical ideas and things like that.

00:42:33.166 --> 00:42:34.393
I've always got kind of notes.

00:42:35.034 --> 00:42:36.280
And then when I kind of...

00:42:36.706 --> 00:42:43.976
I'm listening to that and thinking, well, it feels like this might work for this lyric that I've got, you know, or part that I've got.

00:42:44.197 --> 00:42:45.619
And it's just built up from there, really.

00:42:45.659 --> 00:42:48.063
So it's usually music first, lyrics second.

00:42:48.384 --> 00:42:49.905
What of the writing you're doing these days?

00:42:50.025 --> 00:42:52.349
I mean, obviously the magazines have died down a little.

00:42:52.409 --> 00:42:54.012
Are you still writing that sort of stuff?

00:42:54.032 --> 00:42:55.914
Is the lyrics your main outlet these days?

00:42:56.335 --> 00:42:58.699
I'm still keeping my hand in with music stuff, but

00:42:59.340 --> 00:42:59.942
mainly...

00:43:00.322 --> 00:43:08.264
yeah i'm kind of focusing on the music stuff we're still so we just put this album out but we're already kind of moving on to the the next ones

00:43:40.257 --> 00:43:45.547
A question to ask each time then, Paddy, is if you had 10 minutes of practice, what would you spend those 10 minutes doing?

00:43:45.987 --> 00:43:56.085
I'd like to say that I'd be mega-focused and practice scales for 10 minutes and then position work.

00:43:56.746 --> 00:44:00.472
I make myself sometimes, but I tend to be...

00:44:00.492 --> 00:44:05.742
I will try and play in a few different positions and try and play things that are just...

00:44:06.177 --> 00:44:19.873
slightly different that's what tends to happen really but you know what it's like sometimes you just you just pick it pick a harp up and 10 minutes you're just playing kind of what you feel like playing without trying to structure your practice that's how it is for me anyway

00:44:20.492 --> 00:44:32.025
yeah so when you know you're working up a new song I mean you know do you have a sort of practice routine for that you know you were looking at you know bringing new ideas into a song and that sort of thing how do you approach that yeah I mean that's

00:44:32.085 --> 00:44:53.117
another thing that I will use like recorded kind of audio notes for I'll always have a stack in fact I'm just going through some of these for the next song and that can come from a practice session if I'm just playing it and something comes out like a lick or a run or something I'm thinking right I'm keeping that and I'm going to use that and I'll kind of catalogue those just in my phone you know

00:44:53.416 --> 00:44:56.500
yeah you've got a little catalogue of licks

00:44:57.400 --> 00:45:08.050
saved up yeah and a lot of that makes it onto the records actually because I think right I'm definitely placing that somewhere and then it's a song develops, I think, well, yeah.

00:45:08.070 --> 00:45:12.255
So in the same way that I was talking about lyrics, they tend to get, they will get used.

00:45:13.536 --> 00:45:23.166
So once you're doing that, I mean, obviously recording yourself is a, is a great tool to, you know, to listen, but is that something that you, that you, you know, you're creating new, new licks, let's call them.

00:45:23.226 --> 00:45:26.750
And, you know, is that your creative way to, you know, on the harmonica?

00:45:27.411 --> 00:45:36.961
Yeah, it seems to be, even if it's something you'd, sometimes you can do things and, and you think, well, I'm going to have to record that now, otherwise I'll forget how to play it.

00:45:37.481 --> 00:45:44.192
And then you go back, listen to it, and just make sure, play it again and again and again, and make sure it goes into your brain.

00:45:44.913 --> 00:45:46.675
I find it useful for that.

00:45:47.255 --> 00:45:48.418
No, it's a good idea, that, yeah.

00:45:48.538 --> 00:45:52.744
I mean, I do record myself, but I don't really build up a series of licks like that.

00:45:52.844 --> 00:45:54.346
It's a good tip, I think, too.

00:45:54.405 --> 00:45:55.067
Yeah, it

00:45:55.106 --> 00:45:56.708
definitely works for me, yeah.

00:45:57.289 --> 00:46:02.918
And that just means that you will almost, in terms of recording, I almost always use them somewhere.

00:46:03.393 --> 00:46:05.235
So it's a good way of kind of...

00:46:05.255 --> 00:46:06.858
It builds up your vocabulary as well, I think.

00:46:08.579 --> 00:46:23.295
Okay, then we'll get into the last section now and talk about gear.

00:46:23.356 --> 00:46:25.679
So you're a Harmonica's U player.

00:46:25.699 --> 00:46:26.980
I believe you're a home new man.

00:46:27.601 --> 00:46:29.682
I am, yes, exclusively.

00:46:29.702 --> 00:46:32.445
Actually, I did start...

00:46:32.545 --> 00:46:44.235
with Leosca's alongside Hohner's when I first started buying that but yeah quite quickly it became clear that Hohner's was the one that worked for me just feels feels the best to me

00:46:44.556 --> 00:46:45.858
and which models do you like to play

00:46:46.657 --> 00:47:05.157
I really like the crossover that would be my my number one I think I have a few customs but that's a whole different conversation I think but just in terms of you know out of the box the crossover the Marine Band Deluxe and the standard Marine Band are tend to be most of that's most of what's in the case for me

00:47:05.376 --> 00:47:12.389
definitely marine band bass there yeah so yeah so what you know so what about customizers i i know you uh you've got some joe spears ones for example

00:47:13.050 --> 00:47:30.150
yeah i've got a few from joe um i've got a couple from andre as well i forget how to pronounce his surname yes that's right yeah he's making really nice harps as well Keys that I use most frequently, I've got just buyers, ones in just about all of those, I think.

00:47:30.230 --> 00:47:35.273
And then, you know, I always have backups as well, which usually kind of just standard crossovers or Marine Bandilocks.

00:47:35.675 --> 00:47:38.217
So what do you think about the value of the customized ones?

00:47:38.237 --> 00:47:40.018
Do you think they are, you know, well worth it?

00:47:40.478 --> 00:47:44.422
Yeah, I mean, I don't think you need a custom art by any stretch.

00:47:44.943 --> 00:47:51.248
And it's probably better to learn on, you know, a standard instrument that isn't customized, I think, to kind of get your chops together.

00:47:51.447 --> 00:47:53.010
But they are really nice to have.

00:47:53.030 --> 00:47:55.632
I mean, and it's more about how they feel.

00:47:55.632 --> 00:47:57.873
Do you play any custom ones yourself?

00:47:58.295 --> 00:48:02.458
I have a small number, but I generally do some setup myself.

00:48:02.840 --> 00:48:03.840
Right, okay.

00:48:04.141 --> 00:48:06.923
So you'll know it's more about just how it feels, isn't it?

00:48:06.943 --> 00:48:12.409
I mean, nobody's going to hear the difference in the audience, but it just responds better, doesn't it?

00:48:12.429 --> 00:48:15.253
And because it responds better, it can make you play better, I think.

00:48:15.753 --> 00:48:16.735
Yeah, yeah, definitely, yeah.

00:48:16.755 --> 00:48:19.036
I mean, do you do any basic setup yourself?

00:48:19.257 --> 00:48:20.818
I do, yeah, but just basic stuff.

00:48:21.018 --> 00:48:46.585
I mean, I usually find that it will need regapping and tuning a new harp I will need gaffing and tuning to some extent anyway so I'll do the basic kind of reset the action on the reeds to how I like it make sure I use a lot of octaves kind of the full range of the harp so I make sure that all my octaves are in tune and that's it really once you get into the more advanced areas of customization then it's usually somebody else that has done that for me

00:48:46.882 --> 00:48:54.034
Yeah, I mean, I think the basic setup's definitely worth it, but I mean, as much as anything, it's the time, just doing them, especially when you've got quite a lot of money, because it's like, yeah.

00:48:54.193 --> 00:48:58.061
But yeah, no, it's definitely worth doing the basic setup, I think, so yeah.

00:48:58.181 --> 00:49:00.644
Oh yeah, I think it's important to know how to do that, yeah.

00:49:00.865 --> 00:49:01.025
Yeah.

00:49:01.085 --> 00:49:02.869
Nods, you've got some custom combs as well.

00:49:03.230 --> 00:49:04.552
Where have you got those ones from?

00:49:04.932 --> 00:49:07.757
Yeah, I've got a few from Tom Halchuk.

00:49:08.226 --> 00:49:09.568
Yeah, a blue moon, yeah.

00:49:10.007 --> 00:49:16.336
I really like the brass ones for the low-tuned harps because they kind of just brighten it slightly.

00:49:16.436 --> 00:49:19.221
So like a low F or a low D, I've got brass combs on those.

00:49:19.501 --> 00:49:20.842
They kind of just ring a bit more.

00:49:21.164 --> 00:49:22.284
Yeah, that's a good shout.

00:49:22.324 --> 00:49:24.809
Yeah, with the low-tuned ones, definitely just brighten them up slightly.

00:49:24.929 --> 00:49:26.791
Yeah, they work really well for that.

00:49:27.092 --> 00:49:30.577
And I've also got, just quite recently, got some from Todd Parrott as well.

00:49:31.016 --> 00:49:33.621
They're a plastic comb, but they're kind of like a...

00:49:33.641 --> 00:49:34.202
Is it Corian?

00:49:34.222 --> 00:49:34.882
It might be Corian.

00:49:35.083 --> 00:49:36.224
But with all the different kind of...

00:49:37.601 --> 00:49:39.903
colors and things like that they just look nice you know

00:49:40.324 --> 00:49:58.324
yeah it's good that they look nice and then you know talking to Todd about you know it's also nice to be able to tell which key they are by color right that's a useful thing to have isn't it yeah it's definitely worth doing that for nothing else yeah great so you've talked about practicing positions so do you play different positions yourself when you're performing

00:49:58.744 --> 00:50:07.518
uh yeah I mean predominantly in second and third I play quite a lot of third these days Occasionally little bits of first.

00:50:08.139 --> 00:50:09.762
First, second and third would be the ones.

00:50:10.043 --> 00:50:13.568
I've just started messing with a little bit of fifth as well.

00:50:14.010 --> 00:50:17.717
But all of the stuff on record is first, second and third.

00:50:18.197 --> 00:50:22.284
The really long blues at the end of the album, No More Trouble.

00:50:22.525 --> 00:50:27.934
So that's got a couple of positions because the intro is first position on a minor tuned harp.

00:50:45.922 --> 00:50:51.769
And the rest of it is third position, mainly on diatonic with one small section of chromatic.

00:50:52.269 --> 00:50:53.331
So there's a bit going

00:50:53.371 --> 00:50:53.771
on in there.

00:50:53.972 --> 00:50:55.514
And what about any different tunings?

00:50:55.574 --> 00:50:56.114
Do you use any?

00:50:56.476 --> 00:51:02.083
Yeah, like I just mentioned, that's a minor tuned harp on the start of that track.

00:51:02.103 --> 00:51:02.983
That's a natural minor.

00:51:03.123 --> 00:51:05.547
I don't use other tunings very often.

00:51:05.586 --> 00:51:08.972
I've got a couple of natural minors, which is sometimes nice to play with.

00:51:09.391 --> 00:51:10.594
Country tuning as well.

00:51:10.945 --> 00:51:11.646
I like.

00:51:12.146 --> 00:51:12.967
But that's it.

00:51:13.128 --> 00:51:17.291
I'm not a big one for lots of altered tunings.

00:51:17.351 --> 00:51:19.373
It just doesn't really work for my brain.

00:51:19.492 --> 00:51:22.715
I just kind of need to stick with pretty much the Richter.

00:51:23.197 --> 00:51:24.617
Yeah, I know you are.

00:51:24.697 --> 00:51:29.581
But the country tuning, do you use that for just the major seventh or do you like to bend down the five draw?

00:51:29.621 --> 00:51:30.802
What's your main use of that one?

00:51:30.922 --> 00:51:32.784
I've only really just started messing with that, to be honest.

00:51:32.864 --> 00:51:34.827
I'm not really recording anything with that.

00:51:34.847 --> 00:51:39.630
But yeah, just with the raised five draw, isn't it?

00:51:39.731 --> 00:51:40.632
It just sounds...

00:51:40.911 --> 00:51:58.206
sounds a bit sweeter that would work for there's a track on the ep called fault line which is more like a that's definitely got like a country-ish vibe and the harp i'm playing on there's a little bit like you know the style of mickey rafael ish

00:52:11.010 --> 00:52:12.532
Is that a country-tuned harmonica you're playing?

00:52:12.632 --> 00:52:14.775
No, it isn't, but I'm thinking that would work for that.

00:52:15.036 --> 00:52:18.802
So I might start playing the country-tuned when we do it live.

00:52:19.742 --> 00:52:21.045
Yeah, yeah, good idea, yeah.

00:52:21.485 --> 00:52:22.547
And what about your embouchure?

00:52:22.668 --> 00:52:23.268
What do you use?

00:52:24.269 --> 00:52:25.351
I'm a hybrid player.

00:52:25.952 --> 00:52:39.152
I still use a fair bit of lip pass, but I use a lot of tongue block in the middle octave and I use tons of octave splits as well.

00:52:40.097 --> 00:52:46.065
I don't really subscribe to the dogmatic sort of you have to tongue-lock everything.

00:52:46.567 --> 00:52:48.510
I mean, you know, it's all subjective, isn't it?

00:52:48.590 --> 00:52:52.916
But, like, I just think whatever works makes it come out of you the best.

00:52:53.697 --> 00:52:55.780
And for me, it's just turned into, like, a hybrid thing.

00:52:55.840 --> 00:52:57.842
I just like to mix both.

00:52:58.543 --> 00:53:00.126
And what about any overblows?

00:53:00.887 --> 00:53:01.206
Yeah.

00:53:01.387 --> 00:53:04.030
Hanging out with Jason Richer, you picked some of him.

00:53:04.351 --> 00:53:08.677
Yeah, it was probably, like, certainly it was the likes of watching...

00:53:09.153 --> 00:53:30.382
videos from jason and adam gusso that got me using overblows but this is before i'd met jason you know because he started putting videos out i don't know 15 years ago something like that so yeah for the four five and six had found their way into my playing and on some of the recordings as well i mean i wouldn't say i use them like massively all the time but they're definitely in there

00:53:30.786 --> 00:53:33.893
Yeah, I used well-placed overblows.

00:53:33.913 --> 00:53:35.135
Yeah, that's a good use of them, yeah.

00:53:35.436 --> 00:53:39.766
Yeah, so you mentioned that you recorded a bit of chromatic on the song.

00:53:40.768 --> 00:53:42.152
Do you use that more extensively?

00:53:42.193 --> 00:53:44.077
What's your thoughts on the chromatic?

00:53:44.358 --> 00:53:47.806
I do love playing the chromatic, and I kind of just...

00:53:47.938 --> 00:53:49.739
It's just from time to time, really.

00:53:49.800 --> 00:53:54.766
We recorded Five Long Years with Paul Boy years ago, and that was a chromatic song.

00:53:54.887 --> 00:53:58.331
But yeah, it's also on this one on the current album.

00:53:58.472 --> 00:54:01.516
Just the sound of, just those big octaves.

00:54:01.615 --> 00:54:04.480
I mean, it's just sort of an irresistible noise, isn't it?

00:54:04.599 --> 00:54:05.882
I do like to play it, yeah.

00:54:06.262 --> 00:54:08.025
You like the third position there?

00:54:08.065 --> 00:54:09.487
Yeah, it's all third, yeah.

00:54:09.567 --> 00:54:17.777
I can't, the kind of, once you get into the more, you know, play the second position on chromatic and stuff, that's, I've not done, I've not mastered that much.

00:54:18.210 --> 00:54:19.391
Yeah, and what about your gear?

00:54:19.411 --> 00:54:21.775
What about amplification first?

00:54:22.237 --> 00:54:24.681
It's the Fender Bassman that I've always gone back to.

00:54:24.701 --> 00:54:28.586
Bought my Bassman years ago and I love it.

00:54:28.746 --> 00:54:31.452
It still sounds great with just about any mic.

00:54:31.992 --> 00:54:33.054
It's a 90s reissue.

00:54:33.074 --> 00:54:39.826
I've had several boutique amps over the years and kind of eventually sold most of them on.

00:54:40.289 --> 00:54:46.338
for my big amp it's still the basement and I have a Weezer ME18 as well for the smaller amp because that's quite versatile

00:54:46.900 --> 00:54:48.601
I see you had a Sunny Junior I

00:54:49.083 --> 00:55:05.086
did yeah in fact it was only quite recently when I moved the Sunny Junior amp on it was the Tronshire which was a lovely amp it was kind of still in pristine condition and just wasn't using it enough you know I was always kind of defaulting to the basement so it's like that's the one for me really

00:55:05.887 --> 00:55:12.175
so that wasn't a basement you know sort of modified basement was it not it's had a different speaker configuration?

00:55:12.416 --> 00:55:12.835
The

00:55:12.856 --> 00:55:13.456
Sony Junior?

00:55:14.297 --> 00:55:15.298
Yeah.

00:55:15.378 --> 00:55:17.681
Yeah, it was a 12 and two eights, I think.

00:55:18.101 --> 00:55:18.342
Yeah.

00:55:18.422 --> 00:55:19.682
Whereas the basement's a 14.

00:55:19.882 --> 00:55:20.143
Yeah.

00:55:20.224 --> 00:55:23.746
And I just, for me, the 10s are just about right.

00:55:24.146 --> 00:55:25.969
And microphone wise, what do you like to use?

00:55:27.349 --> 00:55:33.315
These days, it's like a good, a good crystal or strong sort of CR.

00:55:34.617 --> 00:55:39.262
I've got a couple of black label CRs and a couple of really nice crystals from Dennis Groomland.

00:55:39.650 --> 00:55:48.106
I've been using the Bullet for quite a long time now, but I was just listening back to some of those early recordings that I passed on to you, like the Poor Boy stuff.

00:55:48.567 --> 00:55:52.494
I used the show 545 exclusively for quite a few years.

00:55:52.875 --> 00:55:55.599
You can really hear it on those, like on A Driver Go Blind.

00:56:00.769 --> 00:56:00.989
MUSIC PLAYS

00:56:16.097 --> 00:56:17.521
Quite butterfield-y sounding.

00:56:17.822 --> 00:56:19.927
It's got that real, it's really punchy, you know.

00:56:20.047 --> 00:56:28.128
And I've only recently re-bought one of those because I kind of, I used it for years, just that, and then I sold it and kind of always wished that I hadn't.

00:56:28.469 --> 00:56:33.402
So I've actually just re-bought a 545 just because I like the sound of it, you know.

00:56:33.634 --> 00:56:37.119
My default is still a Crystal or a CR these days, yeah.

00:56:37.278 --> 00:56:37.519
Yeah.

00:56:37.599 --> 00:56:39.762
No, I have a 545, and I don't use it much.

00:56:39.802 --> 00:56:42.726
But yeah, it's got a lot of presence, hasn't it?

00:56:42.766 --> 00:56:43.628
Yeah, yeah.

00:56:43.648 --> 00:56:44.730
And a lot of power behind it.

00:56:44.789 --> 00:56:46.793
So yeah, I should get it out more myself.

00:56:46.833 --> 00:56:48.554
It might inspire me to give it another go.

00:56:48.835 --> 00:56:49.115
Yeah,

00:56:49.155 --> 00:56:49.757
yeah, definitely.

00:56:49.996 --> 00:56:50.898
What about any effects?

00:56:51.498 --> 00:56:53.322
I'm not a huge effects guy.

00:56:53.362 --> 00:56:56.126
I like some kind of slapback delay effects.

00:56:56.353 --> 00:57:00.739
Quite often I use the EP Booster, which I really like for just about any amp.

00:57:01.059 --> 00:57:03.222
This is the one that's supposed to be based off the old Echoplex.

00:57:03.262 --> 00:57:04.702
I don't know if you're familiar with this pedal.

00:57:05.003 --> 00:57:07.626
I can't quite put my finger on what it does to the sound.

00:57:07.706 --> 00:57:09.728
I just really, I just know that I really like it.

00:57:09.989 --> 00:57:13.132
It seems to just sort of make everything sound slightly better.

00:57:13.532 --> 00:57:21.061
But yeah, I mean, that's really, you know, I've kind of, I haven't messed with more pedals in the past and I've always kind of just ended up selling them on.

00:57:21.260 --> 00:57:25.365
So as long as I've got some, I like the delay and a little bit of boost.

00:57:25.730 --> 00:57:27.072
And that's about it really for me.

00:57:27.512 --> 00:57:28.434
Great to talk to you then.

00:57:28.494 --> 00:57:30.898
And just final question, what about your future plans?

00:57:31.038 --> 00:57:34.362
You say it sounds like you're recording a new album with Dust Radio and anything else?

00:57:34.804 --> 00:57:39.190
Yeah, I mean, that's very early stages yet because we've only just sort of got the last one over the line.

00:57:40.572 --> 00:57:44.699
But certainly as we get into next year, that's what we'll be working on.

00:57:44.860 --> 00:57:48.505
There's more stuff being passed between us now for ideas wise.

00:57:48.605 --> 00:57:51.349
So the focus will be on that for next year, I think.

00:57:51.713 --> 00:57:55.039
It seems to be received pretty well, so we'll keep doing it.

00:57:55.358 --> 00:58:00.527
And you think it helps you, you know, getting your presence and getting more gigs and you think it's pretty critical to get an album together?

00:58:00.567 --> 00:58:03.992
Yeah, just to keep the creativity going, I think, really.

00:58:04.251 --> 00:58:06.195
Just to keep the momentum of that going.

00:58:06.635 --> 00:58:08.918
So thanks so much for joining me today, Paddy Wells.

00:58:09.320 --> 00:58:09.880
Thanks very much,

00:58:09.981 --> 00:58:10.081
Neil.

00:58:10.101 --> 00:58:10.541
It's a pleasure.

00:58:10.581 --> 00:58:13.425
Thanks to Zydle for sponsoring the podcast.

00:58:13.697 --> 00:58:23.251
And be sure to check out the great range of harmonicas and products at www.zidel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Zidel Harmonicas.

00:58:24.072 --> 00:58:29.398
Thanks to Paddy for joining me today, and thanks to Peter Cook from Down Under for the donation to the podcast.

00:58:29.739 --> 00:58:33.744
There is the option to support the show with a small monthly donation of your choosing.

00:58:34.184 --> 00:58:37.570
There is a link at the end of the podcast show notes, should you wish to do this.

00:58:38.110 --> 00:58:43.597
It's been my intention all along to keep this podcast ad-free, and any small amounts really help with that.

00:58:44.034 --> 00:58:47.018
But no problem if not, it's just a pleasure to have you listening.

00:58:47.500 --> 00:58:52.268
We'll finish off now with Paddy's No More Trouble from his Dust Radio album, Problem and Remedy.

00:58:59.800 --> 00:59:19.175
Problem and Remedy Bye.