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BiTS: Tell me about your formation of what actually has to be one of my favourite

British bands, the Jake Leg Jug Band. Were you instrumental in forming it, or did it
coalesce from something else?

LW: The man who formed the band actually, funnily enough, just walked through my

door five minutes before I answered the phone to you because we're just off to a gig
in Bristol tonight, and his name is Duncan
Wilcox. He's the band leader and he started a

Duncan Wilcox band about 11 years ago now. They did three
albums before I joined in a quick period, but
there was always a lot of turnover in members

because, as you know, with musicians, people get
busy, and they've got other things on and all that.
So I was living in South Wales at the time, seven

or eight years ago, and I got this call from Duncan
asking if I could dep on a couple of gigs down on
the South Coast. I went and did these gigs, and

they were in beautiful theatres down on the
South Coast with a sea view out of the dressing

room. We were signing autographs during the
break. They went out and treated me to a curry after, and in hindsight, they were
grooming me [laughs]. And the next thing I knew, I was in the band and playing a
load of shit-holes.

The thing with the Jake Legs that I love is that all of the songs are from the 1920s and
30s, but we don't play songs that people know generally. We do the odd tune. We'll
play ‘Making Whoopee’ or a couple of other songs. ‘Midnight Special’ we do. But

generally, we're trying to revive songs that have almost died in terms of their live use.
Bands aren't playing ‘I Can't Dance (I Got Ants in My Pants)’, down your local pub. So

it's great fun, and for me, it's been a way of trying new things as well because the
harmonica is just one little thing of what I do with them. I'm playing all the toys, all
the novelty instruments. I'm playing washboard, jug, various kazoos. I’ve taken up
the saw recently, the musical saw, although how musical it is, is up to the audience,

and the comb and paper, and I've got a whole list of things I want to try as well. So
yeah, it's great fun.

BiTS: Sounds like wonderful fun that you have.

LW: Yeah, it is, and I hope when people come and see us that comes across and I think
generally from the feedback we get, it's a bit of light relief. At the same time, we're

serious about putting on a good show, and we're serious about musicianship, but
you're not going to get a stage full of stony-faced grumpy people when you come and
see us. You're going to get a good laugh and you're going to get me jumping around

and larking about like an idiot basically, which, for me, that's what I want to do. I want
to go out and entertain and have fun, and hopefully, that comes across to the audience.