Lucy to Edwin:
You come from a “Morris family„ - how important has your background been to your approach to music and what other influences have been important to you?
Well, its been a serious influence but not always a conscious one: some people have said that it‘s obvious in my playing, but others have said that ‚You couldn‘t dance Morris to that! Something I‘d love to debate! The Morris world can be highly welcoming and yet highly partisan in its dance and musical styles, and possibly as a result, you learn that the first rule is “watch the dancers„, second rule is “see rule one„. Rule three is “listen„. When you‘ve got no dancers, imagine them!
That said, I think the music and the dance went in from such an early age that quite a lot of it I‘m just not aware of. I played quite a lot of Northern Soul as a drummer whilst at Uni, and you could say that its been a common thread through all my music: I try to pick people of the floor with it.
You‘re a great dancer and you also started out as the drummer in Jabadaw - tell me about the rhythms of your music.
As I mentioned, I was (still am, just) a drummer - it‘s my first instrument, and the one I actually have some formal qualifications in (shocking!)
If on was to be technical, you could say that there‘s a lot of soul/funk underlying the way I play most instruments - a strong back beat, and bass line lead to an extent. After playing with The 14 at Uni, Jabadaw took me on, where those sort of rhythms had been established into the Ceilidh circuit, and it was a good fit.
You studied electrical engineering at Uni and you currently work in programming (i think..!) - how does that sit with playing music? I don‘t mean so much practically, as artistically. Does being scientifically / technically-minded shape the way you look at music?
It certainly helps you fix the instruments and work out how to deal with stage/studio tech: There‘s a remarkable absence of useful systems (microphones/ pickups) for folk musicians - the majority of players I know end up making their own kit.... oh you mean artistically? not really.
I learned some formal music theory, the way it was taught left it feeling proscriptive rather than descriptive, and as a not- particularly-rebellious teenager I kind of disregarded it as not being of value. Now I see how useful it can be for communicating to other musicians - but the slight suspicion that it is an elitist aspect of music has never left me, probably because I find reading music practically impossible..... and I‘m envious of those who can .
You‘re a long-time stalwart of the Manchester sessions as well as a festival-junkie, but this is your first album - what‘s it like being inside and outside the pro folk scene?
Outside - hmm. I‘ve always been a bit of an observer anyway, and watched the ups and downs, ins and outs of the scene for the last fifteen years or so. There‘s been some radical changes in the folk world, one of which has been the ability of the folk scene to support far more professionals than in the past. There‘s been some growing pains (as I‘ve seen it), but its fundamentally a good thing. Being inside it at this time, when a lot of younger people are making the music their main influences is a privilege.
What are your overall aims for the band - personally and as a musician?
Play music, be happy & drink beer :-) No, seriously, I don‘t think we could do what we do without us having a hugely inordinate amount of fun. Mind you bits of it are hard work, but its bloody rewarding.
I hope we continue to keep to that fundamental principle - if we make music that we enjoy, and we can communicate that, then other people will enjoy it too.
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