Norwich’s own Wooden Arms are a group of six musicians who make the most lovely music together. Swathes of delicate piano, beautiful choral harmonies and trip hop inspired beats conspire to create a sound that reminds me of an English Sigur Ros with hints of Portishead and Mozart. Tey’ve been played extensively on BBC Radio 6 Music, have recently released their latest six track album Tide and are off on tour in Europe. I spoke to lead gentleman and composer, vocalist and pianist for the group Alex Carson about meeting Lauren Laverne and their brand new album.
Can you describe the type of music you make to people who haven’t yet heard it? I’m always partial to the term Edwardian Hip- hop; another I like is Tudorian Funk. Like Parliament but with ruffs. Te honest answer is we’re not really anything specific – we make some songs that could be considered classical and we make some songs that could be considered folk. But ultimately we write modern music with some classical background and we really like a good pop song. Your album “Tide’ came out in September. Can you tell me a little about it? It’s a 6 track vinyl / CD concoction which we recorded at the Old Granary here in Norfolk by local sound wizard David Pye. Although it’s only 6 tracks it’s roughly the same length as most albums these days (around 30 mins) as we’re not one for a short ditty. It’s a mix of some old songs with very new arrangements and entirely new material. You can purchase it from us at
woodenarms.co.uk or probably just blow into a conch on Gorleston sea front andI’ll appear with one. You played live for Lauren Laverne on Radio 6 Music recently. What was that experience like? It was great - quite nerve wracking of course but overall a wholly enjoyable experience.
“WE’RE LIKE PARLIAMENT, BUT WITH RUFFS”
Lauren is by far the easiest person to hold a conversation with so it’s very easy to see why she’s so popular. It’s quite hard getting across central London at twat o clock in the morning to get set up and be ready - which can hamper the atmosphere we’re more used to with a live show but once the adrenaline kicks in it’s all the same. How did you all meet and get together? I think we were all married in the 70’s in one of those communes you hear about. I drank the Kool Aid in 1972 and the rest as they say was history. But to be fair, the mists of time have fogged that right up. I say this because the story of how we actually all met is rather dull and tedious! What’s your songwriting
process? I often ingest an unholy amount of Laudanum and then await the hallucinations. But usually that fails and I have to sit and slave over a hot piano instead. I tend to write everything at the very beginning, structure, melody, lyrics, harmonies, rough idea of arrangement. But I’m loosening my tyrannical grip on the composition now and I start to release ideas a little earlier to the rest of the band and then we tend to evolve the song naturally over time.
What are your influences as a band, musical or otherwise? For me personally, a looming unease at my own mortality and the constant consequence of my actions. Tis acts as a regular influence to get off my arse and create something. I, however, cannot speak for the rest of the band on that front. But we have quite a varied musical diet and we all ingest different things, some are more folkier and some are more classical, some are into choir-based sacred music, some are into psychedelic rock. Te scope is limitless and we’re not keen to hamper our influences to any select categories. What other local music is worth checking out at the moment? Real Life Charm are my current favourites; a very polished unique sound that is very distinct from what is currently going on in Norwich. I am also in love with Birds of Hell who is this incredibly charismatic, enigmatic, and any other word ending in ‘atic’ character who is always a delight to watch. Harry Edwards is doing something really interesting in Norwich as Well; he’s got a nice James Blake sound to him whilst also doing his own thing. I have of course always loved Sam Leonard aka True Adventures; some of his new work is very exciting and I’m honored to be part of it. What sort of local support and help have you appreciated up until this point in your career as a band? We’ve had such brilliant support from local bands and venues. Norwich is a very easy place to play shows and work on something new. It’s big enough to have plenty of stuff going on, but small enough to really feel a sense of community. Te BBC Introducing team are second to none here and we’re deeply indebted to the Birdcage constantly for being a place to allow us to work on new material. We’re also part of Escalator, which is a locally run group that works with the Arts Council to help bands get a leg up. It’s all run from Norwich Arts Centre, and they’ve been a huge supporter of us. Without them we wouldn’t have been able to make our last record for sure.
Lizz Page
Wooden Arms play Norwich Arts Centre on January 30th. Tickets available from
www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk Read the full interview at
www.outlineonline.co.uk!
20 / January 2015/
outlineonline.co.uk
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