Page 116 - ION Indie Magazine JulyAugust 2018 Issue

Mal Whichelow (ION Indie Magazine): Thanks for having me down to your weird and wonderful studio, guys.
First off, what made you decide to form a duo rather than a full band?

Phil Goodwin: Well, we've done them all in previous bands – 3-piece, 4-piece, 5-piece -- before we did the 2-
piece. They've all been great, but when we went to the 2-piece, it's a completely different way of working.

Tom Goodwin: Me and Phil have always played together, so we're well tuned in with each other. Now we have
Fat Elephant Studios, we have a drum kit set up all the time, so we can just come in and jam.

PG: Because we have the studio, we can just come in and say, “Let's do this today!” and just smash it out.
Sometimes Tom will come in with a riff or chord progression that he likes, and we'll work on it, whether it's kept
on the keyboard or moved to guitar, depends on what feels right. Sometimes I might come in with an idea and
say to Tom, “I think this is the kind of beat we want.” Whether it's an urban beat, rock beat, or something more
chilled and bluesy, there's no offense taken. We're quite open and easy about it because there's only the two
of us -- we're happy to drop things in and out. It allows us to have that dynamic.

TG: That's the good thing about it…we can just come in and jam, and if we like what's going off, we can press
record. Before you know it, we're naming these jams and adding lyrics. For the latest song “Shanghai”, we came
into the studio and laid out the instrumental track. We added vocals later, then I thought, “Shoot, now I've gotta
sing that and play drums at the same time!” This way, we're writing for the best we can do rather than what's
easiest. Sometimes it's been hard, but it's given us the best result.

MW: You guys took up instruments at a very early age and got classically trained. You did all the grades, can
sight-read and all that stuff, and seem to be able to turn your hand to most things. Tom, you took up drums
and harp just for this band, didn't you?

TG: Yeah, I'd always carried a harp around with me.

PG: I learned guitar then started singing and Tom's just done whatever else needed wrapping around that. For
instance, a few bands ago we didn't have a bass player and for half the set we'd want organ and piano and the
other half we wanted bass. So, Tom learned bass just for that band. On one of the albums, we wanted some
violin on it, so we said, “Tom, you need to learn violin.” So, he took that home and came back a couple of days
later ready to play the track.

At this point, it may be worth pointing out something about the name of the band. Cellar Door Moon Crow
may seem like an unusual name, but not when you consider the alternative. There is a perfectly good reason
for the band's name, inspired by real life events. But Phil told me not so long ago about the pixies that live at
the bottom of his garden who break in through the back door a couple of nights a week and help themselves
to the contents of the cookie jar. And it had me thinking that had the lads been choosing a band name the
morning after one of these nocturnal raids they may have ended up calling themselves “Chocolate Biscuit Cat
Flap” -- which would have immediately rendered their street cred deader than a pirate's wooden leg. But
that's pure conjecture on my part, so forget all that nonsense…where were we?

MW: Ok, influences – do you both like the same music?