Interview: The Telephones
The Telephone's 'Hummingbyrd' is one of my favourite tracks of recent months - a lovely mix of 60's psychedelia and West Coast grooviness (I reviewed it here). I recently caught up via email with Andy Richardson (AR), Glen Price (GP) and jim Widdop (JW) from the band and, being the top lads that they are, they very kindly agreed to answer some questions.
Thanks for taking the time to do this guys, for those who don't know The Telephones, can you sum up the band in 3 words?
AR: In the early days , I always said we were ‘rattle ‘n’ roll’, because we were a very rhythmic band, and very ‘stripped back’, so the rhythm and percussion was key to our sound. Since Jim joined, it’s added a fluid, versatile element- we can be expansive now, in terms of our sound. I’d say now, it’s more like ‘Modern-Psych-Blues’ or ‘Cool- liquid- Blues’. But that’s just the way I hear it… I guess Jim and Glen might have a different take on it.. ;)
JW: #independent#modern#psych
GP: I would describe the telephones as All Good Lads !!!
How did you all get together?
AR: Well, we’re a six piece, when we’re all together, and the history of the line up is layered, to say the least. But the origins of the band were in 2006, after the break up of a band I was in called ‘BohumilVana’ (a Derby / Nottingham outfit, that didn’t gig that much, and released one E.P. called ‘With/Without’, to mates only). I’d been working away, and my wife had just had our 3rd child. I just didn’t have the time or energy to do a band 18 miles away (in Notts) so, I started doing acoustic gigs, and the person most interested in helping me was Jay (Marriott). So we started gigging and I came up with the name (The Telephones) . I had quite a few songs. We wanted to sound rootsy, 60’s and rustic. We loved The Byrds, Dylan, The La’s, The early Beatles sound, The Kinks, Small Faces, The Who, and more contemporary neo-psych bands like Shack and The Coral, The Stands. Matt Paton – drums (of The Sons, and BohumilVana) joined on drums, and we found a bass player (Craig Norris ).Matt is an excellent drummer. Brilliant. He stood out. Craig was really enthusiastic! He was a novice really. We supported John Power (The La’s, Cast) and Mark Morris (The Bluetones)and we also supported The Troubadours. We recorded 3 tracks for a little CD (‘Flash of light E.P.) and it sounded pretty good. We booked in to record an album with Isi Clarke (bassist and producer with BohumilVana) in her brand new Studio at Grange Farm, near Wisbeach.
We hit problems before we got there, bassist Craig Norris had RSI, and he couldn’t quite play the lines we needed, if we were going to do an album. Sadly, we had to let him go. And (then) new bass player Gary Sitlington hadn’t learned the set. Oh, and Isi (Clarke) hadn’t finished the studio. Heh, we should’ve pulled out really, but we ploughed on. By then it was March 2008. We started 8 songs, and got the majority of the parts done in one or two takes, but we had to compromise, due to time and money restrictions. Jay and I went back in June / July to do a few overdubs on vocals and guitar. The result was ‘The Bridge’ , an 8 song mini album. It had ‘Graceless Bird’ and ‘Flamer’ and ‘Atoms’ on it. Graceless Bird was probably the stand out track. We didn’t release it, just sold at gigs.
We gigged a fair bit, Glen (Price) joined on drums after Matt (Paton) left . In fact Tris(Alsbury) did 3 gigs with us while Glen learned the tunes, then Glen was in. Gary did gigs with us supporting Tom Hingley (Inspiral Carpets) and a band called ‘My drug Hell’ (who are really good.) Gary (Sitlington) left after that. We then got Ant Morley on bass, and we gigged and practised a lot, we got tight, went back to Grange Farm, recorded about another 6 or 7 ‘live in the studio’ songs, (The King, Exile, Milling Machine, Orange Kagool and a few more) and we sounded pretty tight then. Ant is an awesome musician (Mr. Clean) , he picked up a Hofner bass, and played it like John Entwhistle and Macca! We were fairly tight, but very rugged, with a rough edge. We got a fair bit louder too! We started to sound and look a bit more like The Who than The Kinks. We’d improved, but we weren’t all getting on. It was mad at times. People kept leaving for a couple of days or weeks, then coming back. By Dec 2009, we’d decided to release ‘Favourite songs’ (40 copies on CD ) and then disband. I remember Jim (Widdop) and Tom Kitchen being at that last gig. We sold all 40 then broke up! Glen , Ant and I carried on as ‘Mantis’, then as ‘Brontide Alley’, and wrote many new songs, gave it a good go, but it was hard to keep the momentum going. Some good times though. Dan Shilcock helped out on guitar.
The Telephones re-formed in 2012, but Ant left in the Autumn of that year, to be replaced by Paul Whittington ( Eskimo Fires, Burdock, Ejector Seat, Wwolves). We started to sound good, with Paul’s backing vocals adding another dynamic. We played ‘Osfest’ and ‘Ynot’ in Summer 2013, which is where I bumped into Jim, who said that the brilliant Fontanna Instincts( who played a brilliant set at Ynot) were ending. I said to Jim (who wasn’t playing 12 string in any band..)you know what Jim, 12 String would sound ace in The Telephones.. and we organised a jam. Jim had a similar riff to the Hummingbyrd riff at that first Jam. I said “play that again Jim”, and knew it was ace. We started recording in Derby , at AF sound, in Jan 2014…
JW: I joined back end of 2013 after my old band Fontana Instincts disbanded. Andy had been inviting me to do some guitar with The Telephones previously but circumstance conspired against us.
GP: I met up with a bass player one night and we spoke about putting a band together !the telephones played that night in the same pub and I thought they were brilliant! I got chatting with the lads and then I auditioned for the band and the rest is history :)
What's been the reaction to the 'Hummingbyrd' single?
AR: Pretty good!!! We’ve had some good reviews! (Yourself, The Sunday Experience, Shindig! Magazine, and ‘A Beat City Diary’ Blog. BBC Radio Derby played it (once, so far.) I’m really pleased with how it’s going! It’s been a lift for us as a band! Me, Jim and Paul Kirkley (promoter) have been pushing it out there a bit. We still need to sell a few more vinyl copies though! ;)
JW: The single has been well received - BBC radio play, a very favourable 3* review in Shindig! magazine, hummingbyrd placed on a fruits de mer compilation, festival offers and lots of internet radio play.
GP: A great reaction when it's played live and sounds great too on vinyl.
There's a definite sixties vibe to the single, Kinks, Beatles etc with some west coast Byrds thrown in as well as 80's Paisley Underground. Who are your influences, as a band and individually.
AR: I think my exposure to ‘psych’ music started when I was listening to The Beatles ‘Blue’ album (1973) which spans 1967-1970, and the Beach Boys ‘Pet Sounds’ (not quite as ‘psych’, but glorious harmonies!) when we went on long car journeys (To Wales or The Lakes) in 70’s and early 80’s. I was just a kid, and loved it. Still do. Strawberry Fields, Lucy in The Sky.., Within You, Without You, All Across The Universe. In 1989, I heard ‘The Stone Roses’. I think I played that album constantly for about 3 years, and all the singles and ‘B’ sides. Waterfall, Don’t stop, Fools Gold..pure psychedelic pop-dance! I went to ‘Spike Island’. I love The Stone Roses socio-political take on the Situationist art movement, that influenced the 1968 Paris Riots, and their artwork was Pollock-flecked genius! Loved it. I also listened (and saw – a lot) The La’s and the Happy Mondays, The Inspiral Carpets,and The Charlatans etc. I love ‘The La’s’ (by the La’s).
But throughout the 90’s , I just started getting into more 60’s and 70’s , more West Coast ( The Byrds-( I’m now a Byrds fanatic!) , Love,(I think Arthur Lee and Love are mind-blowing..) The Doors, Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield, Moby Grape. and British Bands (Stones, Kinks, Small Faces, The Who, early Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, Traffic, July), oh And Hendrix of course! In tangent with this, I was listening to more contemporary music (Primal Scream, Spiritualized, The Verve, The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Shack, The Coral, The Stairs). I also listened to a lot of John Martyn and Nick Drake, and Dylan (Dylan is genius) . In the 2000’s I discovered some of the Paisley Underground bands, and bought The Rain Parade’s albums.
I was aware of a lot of ‘Nuggets’ bands, and some ‘garage’ bands, and more and more recently, have started listening to a lot of Freakbeatand other styles of Psych, as well as early Psych-mod crossover bands. Let’s face it, most of the 60’s bands had a ‘dabble’. The Move.The Pretty Things. I like The 13th Floor Elevators (Rocky is the man!) , the United States of America, Jefferson Airplane, Paul (Whittington) got me listening to The Misunderstood, Wimple Winch. I like Beefheart (Safe as Milk is ace! , some Zappa.) Fruits De Mer have put me onto some cracking older bands! (Clear Light to name one), and lots of new(er) bands (The Bevis Frond, Sendelica!) I heard Ty Segal and White Fence and liked that straight away.
JW: where do you start ? Beatles, Hendrix ,George Harrison , Love, Neil Young , Rolling Stones, The Byrds, Gene Clark,Tim & Jeff Buckley, Stone Roses, The La's, Ocean Colour Scene ,Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, Television, Creedance, Velvets, The Who, John Martyn, Bert Jansch, Davy Graham , Leo Kottke , Leadbelly, Martin Simpson, Debashish Battacharya , Jerry Douglas, Ben Keith, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Santana, Gomez..the list goes on...
GP: Yes I think we all love the sixtys vibe. My influence's are The Who / Keith moon was pretty awesome :) Me personally ....The Yardbirds / Oasis /Weller/Ocean Colour Scene... To name a few ....!
Jim, the sitar is a central part of the song...how did you come to learn sitar?
I was inspired by George Harrison, Ravi Shankar and later by Debashish Battacharya (who actually plays hindustani lap slide guitar) and after scouring admags for months found one for sale in Burton (on trent) and bought it & started ploughing through the tutorial book that with it came with - tuning took a lot of time but once tuned the thing just absolutely sang - it turned out to be a really good instrument with two sound gourds ornate carving. I really got into it for a while but then ended up in bands playing more guitar, dobro & pedal steel so it took a back seat for a while but if there's any sitar teachers out there looking for a student please get in touch ! jim.widdop.3@facebook.com
What's your take on the current psych revival? Music tastes are cyclical and 'scenes' always experience a resurgence at some time, but this feels different to me...a reaction to hard times?
AR: Interesting point! Could well be due to a combination of things… the global recession, political unease..? I think people have grown bored with ‘Coldplay’ and their ilk, there’s way too many average bands who have made a killing!! I’ve seen The Temples, The Horrors. Pretty good gigs. I havn’t rushed out and bought the albums. I haven’t bought a Tame Impala or Pond album yet. I like some of that stuff, but I’m more into retro sounds really. I do like both ‘Allah La’s LPs. Its not perfect, but not its pretty good! BJM have made some great stuff. White Fence are cool. Neon Waltz are good. Like what they do. The Hookworms! They’re heavy.
JW: I think the current psych revival's a good thing - Temples, Tame Impala, Allah La's are all getting it back in the limelight and who knows where it might lead?
Is it a thriving scene in the East Midlands?
AR: There are some good Nottingham and Leicester bands. I like ‘ The Cult of Dom Keller’ . What a band! I miss our old Derby Scene mates ‘West of The Sun’,(watch out for their new album!) In Derby, there are probably bands forming off the back of ‘Tame Impala’ and Temples etc.. The Third Round are worth keeping an eye out for.., not really Psych, not Mod, but there’s a nod to the Jesus and Mary Chain There is a great new band that I’ll drop the name of in the next question!
JW: East Mids music is thriving , Derby will be on the map soon...
GP: I think there's some pretty good bands around in the East Midlands and over the years we have played with most of them . The bands that have stood out to me are House Of Thieves and Tilted Smile :)
Any bands you know / have played with worth keeping a beady out for?
AR: Kite (Derby) they’re ace! Keep an eye out!! Early Velvets, JAMC, BRM..cool as ! House of Thieves.. Brilliant live. Brilliant individual musicians. More indie / blues, but they drop in Hendrix covers now and again, and absolutely smash it. They'll be big. Jim has gigged with their singer Tom Gourlay, who is Mr. Rock n Roll. The Harrowbrooks (Leicester) their single ‘Roam’ was massive in a heavy way. Big guitars. Tilted Smile are more sort of Heavy Rock / Metal – but ace, brilliant live. Savanna Bones (Burton) good band. A bit BRMC in parts!
JW: Keep an eye for House of Thieves - they are a great local band making some noise on a national level ! I sometimes gig with Tom Gourlay (lead singer) as the Paisley Brothers - good time mix of covers and originals with out & out loud shirt warfare.
GP: Keep your beady eye on House Of Thieves, they are brilliant :)
You feature on an upcoming Fruits De Mer comp (one of my fave labels!) and you play the FdM '13th Dream of Dr Sardonicus' festival in August - how did the FdM connection come about?
JW: Fdm connection.. Andy Richo & Dale Simpson I think...ask Andy. ..
AR: We’d recorded an almost finished version of Hummingbyrd. I was looking for an artist, and I spotted one of Dale Simpson’s creations. I’d known of Dale since I was a kid. He was cool as f**ck, and I thought he was hard as nails when we were kids! He’s a wee bit older than me, I was in his younger brother’s year. I I messaged him, and asked if we could buy the artwork. I told Dale that we wanted to put the artwork on a 7” vinyl single. He was great, he put me in touch with Keith at Fruits De Mer, and suggested I ask Keith about getting music onto vinyl. Keith was brilliant! He gave me and Jim loads of free advice and support!
We’ve stayed in touch, and I’ve spent some cash on brilliant FDM boxsets (I love ‘em!) Keith asked if he could use Hummingbyrd on the forthcoming ‘Strange Fruit and Veg’ compilation, and Jim, Glen and I were buzzing!!! We still are!! It’s an ACE label! We’re proud to be associated with the label, in any way shape or form!!
What's in the pipeline for The Telephones? Any plans for an LP?
AR: New bassist, Rob Manners (Bob) has just joined, as Paul is having a break from playing, and left the band. I’ve known Bob for 20 years. And Tris (Drummer / Percussionist). We’ve got a new line up. We’re going to start recording demos soon. We’d love to record an album… We’ve all got commitments. If there are any sponsors who can fund us to do an album, including time off work to record, we could have a ‘belter’ in about a month. As it is, I’d rather have a quality E.P. or mini album recorded and ready for release by the autumn this year.. maybe sooner? Jim and I have written a couple, and the whole band has literally just written another. Bob has another good tune to drop in. We’re starting this month (Feb).
GP: Andy Richo has wrote enough songs for 20 Lps !!!and there all good! I'm a fan :)
JW: LP? Yes.
Right, obligatory 'dinner party' question! If you all could chose 3 current band/artist to support you on a worldwide tour....who and why?
AR: ‘Kite’ from Derby to open up. They are such a class act, and yet so young. It would be ace to see how the come on with gigging and experience.
GP: Kings of Leon - One of my favourite current bands :)Seen them live 3 times :) The Killers - Love there stuff:) The Artic Monkeys - especially the early stuff ... There the only three current bands I know !!! Ha ha
JW: Tough one. Currently Paul Weller , Noel Gallaghers hfb and Ocean Colour scene cos i think between us all we'd draw a pretty good crowd !
Thanks again guys, and all the very best for the future?
AR: Thankyou Andy, great questions!!!! A pleasure!!
GP: Cheers Andy ,all the best
JW: Cheers
The 'Hummingbyrd' single is available from The Telephones via their Facebook page or the Ppaj Facebook page but the quickest way is to email telephoneenquiries@aol.com and they will send thru' a Paypal link. Go get it!
Thanks for taking the time to do this guys, for those who don't know The Telephones, can you sum up the band in 3 words?
AR: In the early days , I always said we were ‘rattle ‘n’ roll’, because we were a very rhythmic band, and very ‘stripped back’, so the rhythm and percussion was key to our sound. Since Jim joined, it’s added a fluid, versatile element- we can be expansive now, in terms of our sound. I’d say now, it’s more like ‘Modern-Psych-Blues’ or ‘Cool- liquid- Blues’. But that’s just the way I hear it… I guess Jim and Glen might have a different take on it.. ;)
JW: #independent#modern#psych
GP: I would describe the telephones as All Good Lads !!!
How did you all get together?
AR: Well, we’re a six piece, when we’re all together, and the history of the line up is layered, to say the least. But the origins of the band were in 2006, after the break up of a band I was in called ‘BohumilVana’ (a Derby / Nottingham outfit, that didn’t gig that much, and released one E.P. called ‘With/Without’, to mates only). I’d been working away, and my wife had just had our 3rd child. I just didn’t have the time or energy to do a band 18 miles away (in Notts) so, I started doing acoustic gigs, and the person most interested in helping me was Jay (Marriott). So we started gigging and I came up with the name (The Telephones) . I had quite a few songs. We wanted to sound rootsy, 60’s and rustic. We loved The Byrds, Dylan, The La’s, The early Beatles sound, The Kinks, Small Faces, The Who, and more contemporary neo-psych bands like Shack and The Coral, The Stands. Matt Paton – drums (of The Sons, and BohumilVana) joined on drums, and we found a bass player (Craig Norris ).Matt is an excellent drummer. Brilliant. He stood out. Craig was really enthusiastic! He was a novice really. We supported John Power (The La’s, Cast) and Mark Morris (The Bluetones)and we also supported The Troubadours. We recorded 3 tracks for a little CD (‘Flash of light E.P.) and it sounded pretty good. We booked in to record an album with Isi Clarke (bassist and producer with BohumilVana) in her brand new Studio at Grange Farm, near Wisbeach.
We hit problems before we got there, bassist Craig Norris had RSI, and he couldn’t quite play the lines we needed, if we were going to do an album. Sadly, we had to let him go. And (then) new bass player Gary Sitlington hadn’t learned the set. Oh, and Isi (Clarke) hadn’t finished the studio. Heh, we should’ve pulled out really, but we ploughed on. By then it was March 2008. We started 8 songs, and got the majority of the parts done in one or two takes, but we had to compromise, due to time and money restrictions. Jay and I went back in June / July to do a few overdubs on vocals and guitar. The result was ‘The Bridge’ , an 8 song mini album. It had ‘Graceless Bird’ and ‘Flamer’ and ‘Atoms’ on it. Graceless Bird was probably the stand out track. We didn’t release it, just sold at gigs.
We gigged a fair bit, Glen (Price) joined on drums after Matt (Paton) left . In fact Tris(Alsbury) did 3 gigs with us while Glen learned the tunes, then Glen was in. Gary did gigs with us supporting Tom Hingley (Inspiral Carpets) and a band called ‘My drug Hell’ (who are really good.) Gary (Sitlington) left after that. We then got Ant Morley on bass, and we gigged and practised a lot, we got tight, went back to Grange Farm, recorded about another 6 or 7 ‘live in the studio’ songs, (The King, Exile, Milling Machine, Orange Kagool and a few more) and we sounded pretty tight then. Ant is an awesome musician (Mr. Clean) , he picked up a Hofner bass, and played it like John Entwhistle and Macca! We were fairly tight, but very rugged, with a rough edge. We got a fair bit louder too! We started to sound and look a bit more like The Who than The Kinks. We’d improved, but we weren’t all getting on. It was mad at times. People kept leaving for a couple of days or weeks, then coming back. By Dec 2009, we’d decided to release ‘Favourite songs’ (40 copies on CD ) and then disband. I remember Jim (Widdop) and Tom Kitchen being at that last gig. We sold all 40 then broke up! Glen , Ant and I carried on as ‘Mantis’, then as ‘Brontide Alley’, and wrote many new songs, gave it a good go, but it was hard to keep the momentum going. Some good times though. Dan Shilcock helped out on guitar.
The Telephones re-formed in 2012, but Ant left in the Autumn of that year, to be replaced by Paul Whittington ( Eskimo Fires, Burdock, Ejector Seat, Wwolves). We started to sound good, with Paul’s backing vocals adding another dynamic. We played ‘Osfest’ and ‘Ynot’ in Summer 2013, which is where I bumped into Jim, who said that the brilliant Fontanna Instincts( who played a brilliant set at Ynot) were ending. I said to Jim (who wasn’t playing 12 string in any band..)you know what Jim, 12 String would sound ace in The Telephones.. and we organised a jam. Jim had a similar riff to the Hummingbyrd riff at that first Jam. I said “play that again Jim”, and knew it was ace. We started recording in Derby , at AF sound, in Jan 2014…
JW: I joined back end of 2013 after my old band Fontana Instincts disbanded. Andy had been inviting me to do some guitar with The Telephones previously but circumstance conspired against us.
GP: I met up with a bass player one night and we spoke about putting a band together !the telephones played that night in the same pub and I thought they were brilliant! I got chatting with the lads and then I auditioned for the band and the rest is history :)
What's been the reaction to the 'Hummingbyrd' single?
AR: Pretty good!!! We’ve had some good reviews! (Yourself, The Sunday Experience, Shindig! Magazine, and ‘A Beat City Diary’ Blog. BBC Radio Derby played it (once, so far.) I’m really pleased with how it’s going! It’s been a lift for us as a band! Me, Jim and Paul Kirkley (promoter) have been pushing it out there a bit. We still need to sell a few more vinyl copies though! ;)
JW: The single has been well received - BBC radio play, a very favourable 3* review in Shindig! magazine, hummingbyrd placed on a fruits de mer compilation, festival offers and lots of internet radio play.
GP: A great reaction when it's played live and sounds great too on vinyl.
There's a definite sixties vibe to the single, Kinks, Beatles etc with some west coast Byrds thrown in as well as 80's Paisley Underground. Who are your influences, as a band and individually.
AR: I think my exposure to ‘psych’ music started when I was listening to The Beatles ‘Blue’ album (1973) which spans 1967-1970, and the Beach Boys ‘Pet Sounds’ (not quite as ‘psych’, but glorious harmonies!) when we went on long car journeys (To Wales or The Lakes) in 70’s and early 80’s. I was just a kid, and loved it. Still do. Strawberry Fields, Lucy in The Sky.., Within You, Without You, All Across The Universe. In 1989, I heard ‘The Stone Roses’. I think I played that album constantly for about 3 years, and all the singles and ‘B’ sides. Waterfall, Don’t stop, Fools Gold..pure psychedelic pop-dance! I went to ‘Spike Island’. I love The Stone Roses socio-political take on the Situationist art movement, that influenced the 1968 Paris Riots, and their artwork was Pollock-flecked genius! Loved it. I also listened (and saw – a lot) The La’s and the Happy Mondays, The Inspiral Carpets,and The Charlatans etc. I love ‘The La’s’ (by the La’s).
But throughout the 90’s , I just started getting into more 60’s and 70’s , more West Coast ( The Byrds-( I’m now a Byrds fanatic!) , Love,(I think Arthur Lee and Love are mind-blowing..) The Doors, Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield, Moby Grape. and British Bands (Stones, Kinks, Small Faces, The Who, early Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, Traffic, July), oh And Hendrix of course! In tangent with this, I was listening to more contemporary music (Primal Scream, Spiritualized, The Verve, The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Shack, The Coral, The Stairs). I also listened to a lot of John Martyn and Nick Drake, and Dylan (Dylan is genius) . In the 2000’s I discovered some of the Paisley Underground bands, and bought The Rain Parade’s albums.
I was aware of a lot of ‘Nuggets’ bands, and some ‘garage’ bands, and more and more recently, have started listening to a lot of Freakbeatand other styles of Psych, as well as early Psych-mod crossover bands. Let’s face it, most of the 60’s bands had a ‘dabble’. The Move.The Pretty Things. I like The 13th Floor Elevators (Rocky is the man!) , the United States of America, Jefferson Airplane, Paul (Whittington) got me listening to The Misunderstood, Wimple Winch. I like Beefheart (Safe as Milk is ace! , some Zappa.) Fruits De Mer have put me onto some cracking older bands! (Clear Light to name one), and lots of new(er) bands (The Bevis Frond, Sendelica!) I heard Ty Segal and White Fence and liked that straight away.
JW: where do you start ? Beatles, Hendrix ,George Harrison , Love, Neil Young , Rolling Stones, The Byrds, Gene Clark,Tim & Jeff Buckley, Stone Roses, The La's, Ocean Colour Scene ,Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, Television, Creedance, Velvets, The Who, John Martyn, Bert Jansch, Davy Graham , Leo Kottke , Leadbelly, Martin Simpson, Debashish Battacharya , Jerry Douglas, Ben Keith, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Santana, Gomez..the list goes on...
GP: Yes I think we all love the sixtys vibe. My influence's are The Who / Keith moon was pretty awesome :) Me personally ....The Yardbirds / Oasis /Weller/Ocean Colour Scene... To name a few ....!
Jim, the sitar is a central part of the song...how did you come to learn sitar?
I was inspired by George Harrison, Ravi Shankar and later by Debashish Battacharya (who actually plays hindustani lap slide guitar) and after scouring admags for months found one for sale in Burton (on trent) and bought it & started ploughing through the tutorial book that with it came with - tuning took a lot of time but once tuned the thing just absolutely sang - it turned out to be a really good instrument with two sound gourds ornate carving. I really got into it for a while but then ended up in bands playing more guitar, dobro & pedal steel so it took a back seat for a while but if there's any sitar teachers out there looking for a student please get in touch ! jim.widdop.3@facebook.com
What's your take on the current psych revival? Music tastes are cyclical and 'scenes' always experience a resurgence at some time, but this feels different to me...a reaction to hard times?
AR: Interesting point! Could well be due to a combination of things… the global recession, political unease..? I think people have grown bored with ‘Coldplay’ and their ilk, there’s way too many average bands who have made a killing!! I’ve seen The Temples, The Horrors. Pretty good gigs. I havn’t rushed out and bought the albums. I haven’t bought a Tame Impala or Pond album yet. I like some of that stuff, but I’m more into retro sounds really. I do like both ‘Allah La’s LPs. Its not perfect, but not its pretty good! BJM have made some great stuff. White Fence are cool. Neon Waltz are good. Like what they do. The Hookworms! They’re heavy.
JW: I think the current psych revival's a good thing - Temples, Tame Impala, Allah La's are all getting it back in the limelight and who knows where it might lead?
Is it a thriving scene in the East Midlands?
AR: There are some good Nottingham and Leicester bands. I like ‘ The Cult of Dom Keller’ . What a band! I miss our old Derby Scene mates ‘West of The Sun’,(watch out for their new album!) In Derby, there are probably bands forming off the back of ‘Tame Impala’ and Temples etc.. The Third Round are worth keeping an eye out for.., not really Psych, not Mod, but there’s a nod to the Jesus and Mary Chain There is a great new band that I’ll drop the name of in the next question!
JW: East Mids music is thriving , Derby will be on the map soon...
GP: I think there's some pretty good bands around in the East Midlands and over the years we have played with most of them . The bands that have stood out to me are House Of Thieves and Tilted Smile :)
Any bands you know / have played with worth keeping a beady out for?
AR: Kite (Derby) they’re ace! Keep an eye out!! Early Velvets, JAMC, BRM..cool as ! House of Thieves.. Brilliant live. Brilliant individual musicians. More indie / blues, but they drop in Hendrix covers now and again, and absolutely smash it. They'll be big. Jim has gigged with their singer Tom Gourlay, who is Mr. Rock n Roll. The Harrowbrooks (Leicester) their single ‘Roam’ was massive in a heavy way. Big guitars. Tilted Smile are more sort of Heavy Rock / Metal – but ace, brilliant live. Savanna Bones (Burton) good band. A bit BRMC in parts!
JW: Keep an eye for House of Thieves - they are a great local band making some noise on a national level ! I sometimes gig with Tom Gourlay (lead singer) as the Paisley Brothers - good time mix of covers and originals with out & out loud shirt warfare.
GP: Keep your beady eye on House Of Thieves, they are brilliant :)
You feature on an upcoming Fruits De Mer comp (one of my fave labels!) and you play the FdM '13th Dream of Dr Sardonicus' festival in August - how did the FdM connection come about?
JW: Fdm connection.. Andy Richo & Dale Simpson I think...ask Andy. ..
AR: We’d recorded an almost finished version of Hummingbyrd. I was looking for an artist, and I spotted one of Dale Simpson’s creations. I’d known of Dale since I was a kid. He was cool as f**ck, and I thought he was hard as nails when we were kids! He’s a wee bit older than me, I was in his younger brother’s year. I I messaged him, and asked if we could buy the artwork. I told Dale that we wanted to put the artwork on a 7” vinyl single. He was great, he put me in touch with Keith at Fruits De Mer, and suggested I ask Keith about getting music onto vinyl. Keith was brilliant! He gave me and Jim loads of free advice and support!
We’ve stayed in touch, and I’ve spent some cash on brilliant FDM boxsets (I love ‘em!) Keith asked if he could use Hummingbyrd on the forthcoming ‘Strange Fruit and Veg’ compilation, and Jim, Glen and I were buzzing!!! We still are!! It’s an ACE label! We’re proud to be associated with the label, in any way shape or form!!
What's in the pipeline for The Telephones? Any plans for an LP?
AR: New bassist, Rob Manners (Bob) has just joined, as Paul is having a break from playing, and left the band. I’ve known Bob for 20 years. And Tris (Drummer / Percussionist). We’ve got a new line up. We’re going to start recording demos soon. We’d love to record an album… We’ve all got commitments. If there are any sponsors who can fund us to do an album, including time off work to record, we could have a ‘belter’ in about a month. As it is, I’d rather have a quality E.P. or mini album recorded and ready for release by the autumn this year.. maybe sooner? Jim and I have written a couple, and the whole band has literally just written another. Bob has another good tune to drop in. We’re starting this month (Feb).
GP: Andy Richo has wrote enough songs for 20 Lps !!!and there all good! I'm a fan :)
JW: LP? Yes.
Right, obligatory 'dinner party' question! If you all could chose 3 current band/artist to support you on a worldwide tour....who and why?
AR: ‘Kite’ from Derby to open up. They are such a class act, and yet so young. It would be ace to see how the come on with gigging and experience.
GP: Kings of Leon - One of my favourite current bands :)Seen them live 3 times :) The Killers - Love there stuff:) The Artic Monkeys - especially the early stuff ... There the only three current bands I know !!! Ha ha
JW: Tough one. Currently Paul Weller , Noel Gallaghers hfb and Ocean Colour scene cos i think between us all we'd draw a pretty good crowd !
Thanks again guys, and all the very best for the future?
AR: Thankyou Andy, great questions!!!! A pleasure!!
GP: Cheers Andy ,all the best
JW: Cheers
The 'Hummingbyrd' single is available from The Telephones via their Facebook page or the Ppaj Facebook page but the quickest way is to email telephoneenquiries@aol.com and they will send thru' a Paypal link. Go get it!
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