Interview: Husky Tones

Local blues bands Husky Tones are launching their debut recording Time for a Change at the Crofter’s Rights on Saturday, October 24 and it’s going to be a blast. The band (Victoria Bourne the singing drummer, Chris Harper bringing the guitar, Matthew Richards rocking the bass and Liam Ward on harp) play a sharp-sounding take on contemporary blues.

The band took time out from preparations to answer a few questions for us with Victoria answering the majority ably supported by Chris. Have a read and then enjoy the lead cut from the record I Dare You.

Stax or Chess?
“Chess – home of the blues, they recorded many of the blues greats we all love now.”

Howlin’ Wolf or Muddy Waters?
“Howlin’ Wolf – 300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy”

Big sunny festivals or small sweaty clubs?
“Small sweaty clubs as they can have that juke joint feel. You can play non-stop for a couple of hours and watch the audience get crazier and crazier. On saying that, we do like festivals as well.”

How does it feel to have your first full length recording in shops?
“Brilliant. We’ve wanted to have a finished album we were really proud of, reflecting where we are at the moment as musicians and we feel we’ve achieved that.”

You now have the album to promote and a growing local following, what are your ambitions over the next few months?
“We want 2016 to be full of festivals, touring, writing and continuing to discover who we are as blues musicians and hopefully at the same time contributing to a genre that is still so full of life. Also not just at blues-based clubs and festivals – we hope to help get younger people into blues-influenced music. There is a wide indie blues movement for bands making original music influenced by but not slavishly following blues tradition. We are a band keen to find their own way in the rich and varied blues world.”

And what do you see as the longer term prospects for the band?
“Sustainability – we just want to be able to keep on going, touring and recording. The long term aim is to be able to tour Europe and then of course to make it over to the USA for some festivals. Cedric Burnside has already invited us to go over to the Hill Country Blues Picnic and to join in, but we have no money to be able to do those kinds of things at the moment.”

There are a lot of hot guitar slingers from both the US & UK touring and recording and arguably blues and blues-rock are once again very popular genres. Any bands or outfits that you feel a particularly affinity with or are you happy in your own world?
Chris: “My favourite currently touring guitarist is Gary Clark Jr. He’s got a great sound and feel, he can do all the classic licks but has found a modern touch too and that’s exactly what I’m trying to do too, find my own sound.”

You have a well earned reputation locally for your live shows, are there any bands that make you feel you need to raise your game when you’re on the same bill?
“The only person that we feel makes us need to raise our game is ourselves. You can be on the bill with some incredible established artists and they do what they do and we admire them, but if you compare yourself it’s a dangerous path that can lead to a lot of unhappiness. The main focus has to be pushing yourself to play and perform better, and it’s a constant: you never reach a point where you can go “that’s OK.” The aim is to be always working and improving no matter who you’re playing for. It’s why we video gigs to see what was good and what needs working on.”

Given the chance, what’s the one established act that you’d give your eye teeth to support on a national tour?
“It would be the Cedric Burnside Project. They’d be fun to hang out with as well. For Chris it would of course be Gary Clark Jr. He’d love to get chance to jam with him.”

Final trio of questions specifically for Victoria: singing drummers are not that common, so what are your thoughts on the following – did they influence you, do you enjoy their music? Give us some impressions starting with Karen Carpenter.
“Karen Carpenter was an amazing drummer and beautiful singer. She learned at school a military band style so she had great technique. There’s incredible video footage of her doing a 15 minute drum solo on about eight different kits. She always seemed happiest behind a kit and singing – brilliant how she got such a gentle smooth sound from her voice while drumming.”

And how about Levon Helm from the Band?
“Very much an influence, fantastic voice and he always managed to communicate over the drum kit. It’s a real shame that his throat cancer affected his voice so much in the later years.”

What about Phil Collins?
“He receives a lot of unfair derision in the press, but he’s impressed Buddy Rich, Taylor Hawkins and both of the Bonhams with his drumming skills. He wasn’t an influence for me as it’s stylistically different to what I enjoy.”

Extra tongue-in-cheek bonus drummer question: should anyone other than Neil Peart be allowed to do drum solos?
“Interestingly Neil Peart is a Phil Collins fan as well as Buddy Rich. He is an incredible player. One story I like about him is that he was asked to play at a Buddy Rich tribute night, he learned the wrong solo and he felt he was awful. To rectify this he then decide to release a tribute album and spent months learning the solos as accurately as he could get them – that takes serious conviction. I admire that and it’s why he is so good, but of course other drummers should be allowed to solo as different musicians bring different ideas. I enjoy watching someone like Cedric Burnside solo with all that raw energy, which is so exciting to see live. He never plays for too long and links it back to the song.”

For more information visit www.huskytones.com.

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