The Sand Band Interview

IRR: How are you guys not on the tips of everyone's tongue as of yet? What has been the reaction to the EP so far?
TSB: We are a new band so it's good that nobody knows us yet. We've got everything to prove and nothing to lose.

The few people who have heard it really like it. I'm sure all the negative press is just
around the corner... But musicians who we respect like it so that will see us through.

IRR: How did the band come to be? Who is in the band? How long have you been
playing for?
TSB: Scott and I met when I was working in a guitar shop in 2001. He was sent there
for work experience, or something by the dole. He wouldn't speak to me for days. He eventually started talking to me when I mentioned The Verve. Then he told me he was learning pedal steal. On his last day I got his number and arranged to meet him for a jam.
When he came to my house and I heard him play, I couldn't believe what came out the
Guitar, he blew my mind. Him and Lee from the Coral are from another place.
It's a far out place, I'll never get there. I just enjoy listening to what they bring back for us.

So we started a band called The Hills of Mexico after the Bob Dylan song that was left of
the Basement Tapes. While we were just finishing our album in 2002 I got the job playing live guitar for Richard Ashcroft, He is an amazing songwriter. History is maybe my favourite song ever. Nick McCabe is one of my heroes and both Oasis and The Verve are why I play guitar. While I did that Scott joined a band called Ella Guru. When I came back Ella Guru had released an album and were touring and I was kind of lost without Scott. Then James (The Coral) called and asked if could I stand in playing lead guitar for Bill on tour for a while. I love the band so it wasn't a hard decision.
I learned more in that environment than I've learned anywhere. Each of them is amazing on their instrument and no two rehearsals are ever the same. It was an honor to be allowed to be involved in that.
The coral supported Oasis out in europe so me and alf would watch Oasis from the side every night.. If you watch something that powerful... that close and you don't wana start a band... your probably dead inside.
It was after that year that i thought i've got to do this now.

I had always written songs but after going through all that and being around James , I don't know,
I just came away with something.. an understanding. To be honest to the song and give it all you have at that moment and it will stand up on its own when its finished.

James Skelly is up there with Lennon for me. People go on about Mavers and McCulloch
but he's eclipsed both of them musically and lyrically, and all while he was younger than
both of them. He's been burning this bright since he was about 16. I don't know how he does it. Over last few years the music press in England has favored the next big thing rather than the honest songwriters and some journalists have thrown rocks from afar, but he's like any other genius.. With the rocks we throw, they build new roads for us.
After that I wrote a load of songs and Scott played on them. So here we are. The Sand Band.

IRR: I saw on your myspace you are looking for a drummer? Is there a lack of drummers
in Liverpool?
TSB: Erm. There is a lack of drummers who will play 3/4 on brushes and want be part of
the music but, there are plenty who want to wear hairspray and play fifteenths on the hi
hats… plenty of them. Too many! All the great drummers are in great bands. Ian Skelly.. (The coral) Sean Payne.. (The Zutons), there is a really good young drummer named Jay Sharrock.

Ian Skelly has offered to play on the album. If that happens it will be amazing.
It will have soul. He's my favorite drummer. There is nothing he can't play.
He's got the funk, in a folk way. He always finds the groove.

IRR: What bands have helped to shape who your band is musically?
TSB: Jackson C. frank , Neil Young , The Beatles , Calexico, Oasis , free , Bert Jansch , Elliot Smith , Nick Cave , The Verve , Low , Bob Dylan,
Nick Drake, and Leonard Cohen are sources we are always lookin'. They are in a in a place I recognize.

But also bands and artists like The Coral, Oasis , The Band , Richard Hawley, The Verve,
Cranebuilders , Elbow , Mark Lanegan , Radiohead, BRMC
are bands you see and think I want to be in that band and I wana sing/play them songs.
Then there is some music you can't get near but you have to appreciate from afar like Jimi Hendrix , Arcade Fire, Aphex Twin, Mogwai, David Axelrod, The Clash, Pink Floyd, QOTSA. I think everything you hear shapes you. I'm liking "Sex On Fire" by Kings of Leon at the moment. It's getting me up in the morning.

IRR: What's music going to sound like in 20 years? I hear a lot of laser
sounds in the future.
TSB: Sex On fire.

IRR: Do you guys believe in global warming and recycling as much as you can? Is there
a very big "Green" movement where you live?
TSB: Yes. Recycle everything. It's way forward. There is a big "Green" movement in
Liverpool.

IRR: Have you guys been able to tour much? What has been your favorite show that you
guys played?
TSB: We are just finishing the album so touring is next for us.
We are looking forward to it. Scott has bought fingerless gloves for the festivals and a
cassette Walkman for all his relaxation and foreign language tapes.

IRR: As a new band, do you guys have a formula for success? Do you have expectations?
TSB: Pick up the phone when someone rings you and treat people like you want to be
treated and don't lie, especially to your friends.

IRR: How emotionally vested are you in your music? Is it all a bunch of blood, sweat and
tears?
TSB: It's on my mind all day, every day and while I'm asleep. I cry in C sharp minor.

IRR: Does English music have a lot of influence on English bands, or do you have a lot
of other influences from other countries? What country as a whole puts out the best
music?
TSB: No country puts out the best music. It's all relevant to the listener.
Oh! You want me to say America?
Yes! No doubt about it. America puts out the best music in the universe!

IRR: Where exactly does the name The Sand Band come from? What other band
names almost became your name?
TSB: The Sand Band was made up by my son Zak when he was 4. It was the name I'd always been looking for. Before that we were called The Hills Of Mexico.

IRR: What's the best band that never got the recognition they deserved?
TSB: It's two singer songwriters for me. Jackson C Frank and a singer songwriter from Liverpool named Tommy Roberts who formed Cranebuilders. His voice sounds like no ones. You can hear his soul. It has a quality only found in the likes of Tom Waits and Mark Lanegan. His lyrics are amazing too. I can't wait to hear to hear what he does next. I wish I had his voice.

IRR: What are your lyrics about besides loneliness and love?
TSB: People and what people do to each other, and what people are afraid to say to
each other, and trying to reach a person at a certain point and a certain time. Also the past, present and future. And burning houses.

IRR: Do you have a song that was a terribly frustrating to write? Is songwriting easy for you guys?
TSB: Music comes easy. It's the lyrics. Lyrics that have weight are harder to come by but worth waiting for.

IRR: What song would you want played at your funeral?
TSB: History by The Verve or Moonlight Mile by The stones and i want everyone to cry their fucking eyes out and remember all the times they gave me shit .. ha ha ha.

IRR: How does playing music make you feel? Is it different when you play live than
when you practice?
TSB: There's nothing that comes close or ever will. Practicing is good for trying things and getting away with it, but live is were it's at.
Live is were the magic happens.. on the spot… no going back. Playing live makes you feel alive.

IRR: What does the future look like for you guys?
TSB: Like any new band starting out. It's about making great records and play amazing
gigs. Taking it to the people. You want your art to stand up after your gone. And to make people feel something. Maybe for people to hear something that they may not have heard before. I don't know. To bring people together, make them feel like they are not alone.
If we focus on the Music and not all the other shit hopefully we will make albums that people want to listen to now and when we are gone.