Page 77 - ION Indie Magazine SeptOct 2019 Issue

Mal Whichelow: So, tell me about the making of the album, Andy. I understand it was completed
fairly quickly.

Andy P. Davison: Yeah, we recorded eleven songs in two days as we wanted to put out an album rather
than an EP. We pretty much just played live in the studio…in the same way that Robert Johnson would
have done -- out of financial necessity as much as anything else.

MW: I suppose if you record it that way, it's more representative of what people are going to get
when they see you live.

APD: Yeah, there's that too. I really like the blues from the 20s and 30s from the Mississippi where it
was all acoustic-based. The recordings weren't great. There was hiss on them and the quality wasn't
all that good, and so on. But I've always loved that and wanted to replicate that sort of sound to make
it more authentic. I had Andy Dye on double bass and Ewan Ashburn on the drums and we just kept
playing until we got the right takes. We did it the old-fashioned way and I was really pleased with the
way it came out.

MW: So, all the songs were recorded in a couple of takes then?

APD: Two or three takes, something like that from what I remember. It was really good because I've
had those songs a long time but they weren't really suitable for any of the bands I was playing in.

MW: Had you already decided to start The Soul Preachin' Company before your previous band
folded?

APD: Yes, I'd been playing solo gigs anyway and Andy turned up at one of them and he said, ‘You
need a double bass on that.” But I didn't know if he was serious or not, so I didn't think any more of it.
Then next time he came to one of my gigs, he said it again, so we got together and had a few rehearsals
then decided to make an album.

MW: So there was a bit of a ‘Live And Let Die’ scenario going on at the time then -- with your
new project on the go and your previous band having run its course and folding?

APD: Absolutely.

MW: Do you think that now you have a more stripped back sound; that you're focusing on the
lyrics more?

APD: No, I've always been kind of precious about writing lyrics -- from the heavier stuff to the more
bluesy songs. Words are very important to me and it's what I listen for most in music rather than any
guitar work or anything like that. I always think music is about emotion, so I want to feel something from
people's words or the music…mostly the words. I work to the principle that no line should be wasted. I
don't want any fillers in there. Like I say, I think music is about emotions, so I want to feel something. If
I listen to other people's songs I want to know what they're singing about, whether it's an event or an
occurrence or a relationship or something. I've always been interested in what people write songs
about.

MW: If you take away the music from some popular songs and just read the lyrics, sometimes
they don't make a lot of sense. But when they are heard as songs, it all works. Take the song
‘Goldfinger’ by Shirley Bassey, for example. She puts her heart and soul into making that a great
soundtrack song, but the lyrics are complete nonsense.