Page 9 - ION Indie Magazine JanFeb 2018

PL: But it was never meant to be an album -- it was just eight tracks demoed to give out to the public. We used
to make them at home and do a little cut-out sleeve. In the car on the way to whatever public playing, we'd sit
in the car folding them and cutting them out and putting them in plastic wallets. We realized that we were trying
to make so many of them, we couldn't keep up with it. So, we re-mixed it and had a proper cover made. It was
all done in a day with live vocals, live guitar solos, everything.

ML: I remember someone came to one of our gigs recently and she brought along one of the first plastic wallet
ones. It was so nostalgic. We’ve gone from plastic wallets to actual CDs. It's crazy.

Kevin Yates: I don't think any of us thought it would've gotten as far as it has or lasted as long as it has, when we
first kicked it off. But I think what's evident to all of us is that we actually enjoy playing together as a group. We
enjoy our music and we have fun creating the new stuff. I think that effect comes across to the audience and that
helps us stay in the band and move it forward.

ION: Have things developed as you hoped or expected?

ML: Not really (LAUGHS), but in the best possible way. None of us expected it to be anything like now. It was
basically just playing back-ends of pubs…and here we are now three years later. We’re playing all over the
country, which I never thought I would be doing. Also, next year, we are going international and going abroad,
which is insane for me.

ION: How does the father-and-son dynamic work in the band? Who gets the last word?

PL: It's not about who gets the last word. My first public musical experiences were playing with my dad when I
was about six. We would do cabaret at the Mason’s Hall and the Moose Club, day-care centres, hospital day-
rooms, you know. He would do his Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra and I would play the guitar. We were doing a
gig back at the Moose Hall for Basingstoke police constabulary. It’s occurred to me that it is fifty years since I
played in the Moose Hall with my dad and it came back as one big flood of memories. There was always music in
the house, guitars in the house, but the last thing you want is a pushy parent going, ‘You must practice the piano.
You must do this.’ He (Matt) did pick it up and it became clear that he was serious about it. So then, of course,
you do encourage. I was busy in my other band, 'The Riotous Brothers,' at the time, so this was the other band
that was going to do things now and then. That has turned right on its head now. As soon as you start playing, it
Is not father-and-son anymore. It’s just two musicians. It’s probably father-and-son when I am trying to get us to
leave the house and load the car
and ‘Why is nobody ready?’ But
once you got past all that bit, the
playing music is just musicians
playing. I have a respect for what
Matthew can do when he plays
the guitar like nobody I have seen
in a long time. I can say this
because I am a professional
looking at it dispassionately.

ION: How does the father-and-
son dynamic work in the band?
Who gets the last word?

Pictured: Paul Long