root salad f20 Gibb & Lucas
The demon Derbyshire duo have made a fine second CD. Tim Chipping hears about Midlands identity crisis.
I
t’s not so much what David Gibb and Elly Lucas do that’s fascinating, but the way they do it. “We play folk music but we’re not traditional,” insists David (the tall one). “I think we’re both fascinated by tradition but we don’t feel tied down by it,” clarifies Elly (the blonde one). “The way we approach the music isn’t traditional.”
Can we get this approach down to a seven syllable sound bite?
“Folk and pop but not much pop.”
David is a fan of Rodgers and Ham- merstein. That’s not a euphemism. Elly fre- quently retreats to her teenage passion for metal monsters Slipknot. That’s slightly terrifying. None of these influences are audible on either their debut album Old Chairs To Mend or their latest collection Up Through The Woods. Which is perhaps a relief. But does that mean they’re not being true to their musical selves?
“We don’t agree musically at all,” laughs David, whose mellifluous Derby - shire tenor leads the majority of their songs to date. “Even within folk music we don’t agree. The only thing we agree on is what we play together.”
Which is? “We both like Belle And Sebastian. And The Weepies as well,” says Elly, referencing Glasgow’s heart-on-sleeve indie dreamers and the US duo most often heard soundtracking sitcoms. “It’s the boy/girl vocal thing, stripped back with close harmonies.”
“I’d say a cross between Nancy Kerr and James Fagan and The Weepies,” reck- ons David.
Hooray, a folk influence. Everyone stuck in mid-gasp after the earlier mention of the p-word can breathe out. But David’s still keen to keep the trad at arm’s length.
“With the first album we were con- scious of making a folk record. We were recording traditional songs regardless of whether they suited us or not. The second album… we’ve made the album we want- ed to. And I hate saying that because it’s such a cliché. And it just happens to be quite folky because that’s the kind of things we’re into.”
David and Elly are from the Mid- lands. It is not the North. This is impor- tant. “In terms of people’s perception of England, I feel like it’s overlooked,” says David. “We’re like a blurry bit in the mid- dle. To a Southerner we’re a Northerner and to a Northerner we’re a Southerner. And so to a certain extent we don’t have an identity.”
That desire to identify with their sur- roundings informs many of the songs on Up Through The Woods. It’s a local album by local people. Opening track Jackwire is set during the Luddite protests of 1811, in the Derbyshire village of Crich.
Elly’s song Wheel Tapper goes one fur-
ther, covering not just local industrial his- tory but her family trade too. “I’m sixth generation railway family. Quite a long
way back on my dad’s side they all worked on the railways. The thought of Derby los- ing that part of its industrial heritage was heartbreaking for me. I feel a bit bad that I don’t work on the railways.”
Rail’s loss is photography’s gain. Elly’s distinctive snapping has enhanced album inlays and promo pics for the likes of Lucy Ward, Hannah James and Sam Sweeney, Bellowhead, Eliza Carthy and more. She’s changing the faces of folk.
S
“I think it’s so important. If something is striking it will draw you to it. I also make a point of trying to get people to step away from the stereotyped folk images, like lying in a field or whatever. And if someone is gonna lie in a field they’re gonna look amazing while they’re doing it.”
eemingly untroubled by the late Bill Hicks’ assertion that any musician who does adverts is off the artistic roll call, David and Elly can also be found modelling trainers for the sportswear company Gola. How? What? Why?
“When they first approached us I was really nervous,” explains Elly. “Advertis- ing? Is it gonna take my soul? But they came round for tea and were just York- shire boys who were really interested in making sure the advert reflected myself and David.”
“Gola is a British make and the whole point was they’ve taken all their designs from the 1970s and re-envisioned them,” says David, about the Born In Britain cam- paign the duo are fronting. “And our idea, particularly with the first album, was that we took old songs and made them new. So there’s an obvious match there.”
“We were photographed with our instruments. We were wearing our own clothes, apart from the shoes. It felt com- fortable.”
As do the shoes themselves, it seems, as both David and Elly are wearing them for the interview. Is it like when David Beck- ham could only be seen drinking Pepsi? “I always have my Gola rucksack,” laughs Elly, “so it doesn’t matter if I’m not wearing the shoes, I’ve still got something.”
The company has also funded 2,000 album samplers that were given out on a brand-sponsored ‘busking’ tour, taking the music of David Gibb and Elly Lucas far beyond the festival and club audiences that have been their bread and butter up till now.
Blimey. Apart from that deal Harry Cox did with Hush Puppies, folk music has never seen the like.
http://gibbandlucas.tumblr.com F
Photo: Elly Lucas
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