Q1 How did you start out making music?
My brother brought home a guitar one day and taught me Tracy Chapman's 'Fast Car'. I couldn't put the thing down. I was listening to her album a lot at the time. This led to me trying to learn everything I heard and loved, much to the chagrin of my poor family. The rest is history.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Life, death, relationships of all kinds, dreams, visions, people, music in many forms and an overwhelming desire to express myself.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
At the most fundamental level it's always about connecting with myself. I think songwriting is all about sincerity and you can't be sincere if you're not connected to yourself. Beyond that, ideas tend to go through some sort of filtering process, either in isolation but often/ultimately with the band.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Really there are too many to name. I'm influenced by my peers, my heroes, things I've seen, heard and read. Anything that feels true in some way tends to have an impact. I love Can, Prince, Shuggie Otis, Radiohead, J Dilla, Micachu, Alice And The Cool Dudes, We Fell To Earth, Tom Tom Club, paintings by Francis Bacon, Charlie Mackesy, Picasso, books by Olga Grushin, Murakami, Coetze to name a few things...

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Thank you for listening with an open mind.

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
This is our debut album. I hope it will help us find a broad and open-minded audience, creating a platform for us to keep developing, improving and connecting with people.

published may 2009