What’s been happening since we last spoke?
Mark: Thanks for having us back. We’ve been doing what every band does… gigging, writing, rehearsing and recording.
Darren: Good to chat again, I hope you’re well. As Mark said we’ve been doing all the usual stuff, but on top of that we’ve just started to really get a grip on our social media presence.
Mark: Oh yeah. We’re just trying little clips, with some words. We try to put something a bit funny in there too. Or short visuals for our own songs. Generally being more active.
Darren: We’re doing well, we’re gaining at least 1 follower a month across all platforms. {wink and a smile} Hahaha
Do you still have the same approach to songwriting? Your new single UNSPRUNG is more full sounding, was that a deliberate choice?
Darren: It definitely was. We wanted this song to have a full band sound so we added bass and drums, a bit of synth and our obligatory string section. But the general approach to writing the song was the same as always.
Mark: The actual writing of the song was done exactly as we’ve always done. Darren had a progression and the first couple of lines, so we sat down together, had a few drinks, and jammed the riff and melody, writing the rest of the words as we went.
Do you still have the same approach to songwriting? Your new single UNSPRUNG is more full sounding, was that a deliberate choice?
Darren: It definitely was. We wanted this song to have a full band sound so we added bass and drums, a bit of synth and our obligatory string section. But the general approach to writing the song was the same as always.
Mark: The actual writing of the song was done exactly as we’ve always done. Darren had a progression and the first couple of lines, so we sat down together, had a few drinks, and jammed the riff and melody, writing the rest of the words as we went.
Why do you write the sort of music that you do?
Mark: As always, our songs start life as just an acoustic guitar with vocals.
Darren: Then they take shape in the studio. With GROW, we wanted the album to be a journey, so it starts kind of low key and builds to the middle of the album where it’s a full band sound, and then drops back to where the sound started.
Mark: But with UNSPRUNG we wanted to start with a whole band vibe.
Darren: The difference being we didn’t have any guests on UNSPRUNG, we did all the music ourselves
Have you been performing live much? And how do you transpose the full band into your live setting?
Darren: It varies. We do play live as much as we can, wherever we can. Sometimes just as we started, but we also sometimes use a backing track to get the full album sound.
Mark: Luckily, because of the way the songs are originally written, they don’t really lose anything when we play them stripped back. Although I will say it certainly adds to the experience when we do use the backing.
Darren: We’ve been known to start a gig just us; a guitar and vocals, but finish the set off with a couple of songs using the backing track for the other instruments. We call it our digital orchestra.
Have you been performing live much? And how do you transpose the full band into your live setting?
Darren: It varies. We do play live as much as we can, wherever we can. Sometimes just as we started, but we also sometimes use a backing track to get the full album sound.
Mark: Luckily, because of the way the songs are originally written, they don’t really lose anything when we play them stripped back. Although I will say it certainly adds to the experience when we do use the backing.
Darren: We’ve been known to start a gig just us; a guitar and vocals, but finish the set off with a couple of songs using the backing track for the other instruments. We call it our digital orchestra.
What plans do you have for the future?
Darren: No real set plans as we don’t have a budget for that sort of thing hahaha. Take it day by day and keep enjoying what we do. Usually other people enjoy it too. At least, they look like they do.
Mark: I couldn’t have said it better. The important thing is to enjoy it and have fun. As far as plans go, we do what we can when we have the funds available.
Darren: Saying that, we do plan on recording the follow up to GROW in the near future. We have the songs written and ready, it’s just a case of scheduling now.
Mark: And we’re trying to get on those elusive festival slots. 2 booked so far, fingers crossed there will be more.
Darren: Nice chatting with you, hopefully catch up again in the future.
Mark: Thanks for having us, and stay safe.