DEMOB HAPPY

Catch them in Manchester at The Deaf Institute this April…

From Tom (The Drummer)

Our first show was at this legendary crumbling old venue called The Cooperage in back in Newcastle. Gone now like so many others. We were like 17, we needed a gig and no one would put us on so we put it on ourselves. It actually wasn’t bad. People showed up. We wrote a lot of our first songs pretty much for that gig and closed the show with a cover of Song for the Dead.

I was obsessed as a child with The Blues Brothers movie and my parents nurtured that interest getting me cassettes by Cab Calloway, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, loads of the classic blues and soul artists. I fucking loved it man. Then I discovered my Dad’s record collection and The Eagles, Steppenwolf, Queen, King Crimson. Blew my mind allover again.

Sexy wizard rock

Ideally I’d keep all the records dear to me. But if you were gonna strip me of all but one I’d probably keep Nicely Out of Tune by Lindesfarne in a death grip. They’re geordie folk rock band from the 70s and that album is fucking gold.

Shirley Bassey outdoor concert in like 1999. I was 8 and it was pissing it down and I loved it. The size of the production, the light show, her voice, her band killing it. I had no idea that kind of shit happened before then.