Page 13 - ION Indie Magazine JanFeb 2018

ML: I realized a long time ago that there
are so many great guitarists out there who
just aren't writing the songs that they Pictured: Paul Long
should be doing. So, I was always striving
to not fall into that trap. That's why we
don't typically write any standard blues
songs, because I quite enjoy having some
middle sections and interesting weird
things rather than just say, verse, verse,
solo, verse, more solo at the end.

PL: You can only write about your own
experiences. It would be so disingenuous
of us to write about cottonfields, all those
experiences which you hear being sung
about. We have to have our own blues,
ou
our r own upsets in life, our own difficulties.
They're different hurdles, different difficulties. To the blues guys in the States in the 30's and 40's, they were just
as real.

ION: You've received a lot of traction this year, particularly on the back of the ‘Broken Man’ album. What do
you put that surge in popularity down to?

ML: I would also say that the ‘Broken Man’ album and the variety of the styles that we go through is actually quite
a big seller for me. We don't just play…we do some slightly jazzy things, some rockier things with Prog. And then
also we do the ebb and flow of the quiet songs. It’s a diverse album, in the sense that no two songs are the same
sort of thing. Which I think that's a big selling point. It's not a typical blues album.

PL: It does seem to connect with the audience. If they're going to buy one record that's the one they buy.

ION: Which sort of leads me on the next question -- how do you feel when you're in the middle of a gig and you
know there's a real vibe going on?

ML: It's great. For instance, in the song ‘Make It Rain” -- that song can go either brilliantly or just okay, depending
on the venue that we're playing in. It's nothing down to us, it's down to the venue. If the audience in the venue is
really into it, and they're really silent that you can hear a pin drop, that's when you can really get into it. It just
makes it an extra special moment.

PL: To me it's all communication. Shows at the O2 where the band is so far away, it sounds terrible. When you get
proper communication going to an audience and band, so it becomes ‘one’ almost. There have been times when
we've played ‘Make It Rain,’ and you just look at the front row and it's just full of women sobbing.

KY: You can feel it coming from that side, coming towards us. And it does lift you without a doubt.

ION: So on the back of that, what's your favourite place that you've played?

ML: There have certainly been venues that have stuck out more -- like for instance, Skegness was a big one for us
just because of the wall of noise after every song that came towards us. It was overwhelming. I really enjoyed
Upton Festival. It was pouring rain, but they were all just smiling -- or depending on the song, crying. It was just
the fact that you can connect with that many people at one time that was brilliant. But I also do like the smaller
gigs. We do one at Baroness.