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VL: Yeah. Well, we would usually try and keep it fairly local, but we're in a good spot. We're in like
north of Plymouth. So we've got the Moors next to us and we've got like a lot of the area around
towards Saltash, like there's some great quiet spots and it’s quite rural out here. So it's only five
minutes in the van and we can be sort of in the middle of nowhere and we've got a really basic setup.
We've got like one microphone, and we do
Sophie Lord with Norman Watt- a quick mix job on it and put it in exactly
Roy of The Blockheads the right spot so we pick everything up and
then we just do as many recordings as we
can and pick the best one when we get
home. We've been doing that for the last
couple of years and so we've probably
racked up about 60 songs, I guess, as
videos. They're all on YouTube. I've got,
like, a playlist on my account there.
BiTS: So I guess there's enough stuff for
another album then in due course?
VL: Yeah, there's enough for another load,
but we are actually working on a studio
record now.
BiTS: Tell me something about that.
VL: Yeah, well, I guess we started in about
October last year and I've got a set-up here
at my place, like a mini home studio. So
we've been doing it here. We're not using
much in the way of drums, so it's mostly
just me and Sophie. So it's quite easy to get
away without having like a tree in the room
and all that kind of stuff. We're playing at quite a low volume and it's sounding really cool. I've got
quite a few songs I wrote that I wanted to do a decent version of and make a document of them and
put them on a record. It's been a while since I've made one, so it seems like the time is right at the
moment.
BiTS: Okay. Let's get back to your album. Did you write all the songs or is it a combination of songs
from your favourites?
VL: It's a crazy combination of stuff from over about 80 years of songs. I've got a couple of my own
tunes on there which we will revisit and do properly in a studio environment. But other than that,
I would say pretty much all of it is just stuff that we just decided we were going to do on the fly, like
songs that I've had in my brain bank for many, many years, or things that I just fancied having a go
at. It's whatever way we felt like going. I know a lot of cool songs, so there's old stuff, there's old
country blues and Delta blues and ragtime and there's more modern stuff that's a bit more 60s or
50s. Jump blues and T-bone Walker-esque stuff. There's a lot of variations because I like to play with
the vintage guitars.
BiTS: You've already said you've been playing for years. Do you ever do any practice, or is it just
performing?
VL: No, I practise a lot. Yeah, I practise a lot. And Sophie's been a good influence on me for that
because some of this stuff means that I've got to step my game up a little bit and the same with her.
So we're a good influence on each other. But yeah, I do practise a lot because I'm always trying to
be a bit better.