The Redbook interview (full version)
Following on from my article in this months NU News the full Redbook interview.
REDBOOK TALK TO JIMMY BOWMAN
The Interview
What made you take part in the Oxjam gig? Were you approached about playing it?
Gareth: The organizer Ronni approached me about doing a set for the event and I decided to go for it an invite the band over.
Is Oxfam a cause you support?
Sam: Absolutely, last summer I played an Oxjam gig in Brecon with my old covers band. I love the atmosphere, everyone is there for a good cause, everyone is there for the music and everyone is there to help everyone else out.
Is poverty an issue close to the band's heart?
Gareth: Poverty is an issue that should be prevalent in everyone's mind when it comes to global issues. We have various charitable causes that are close to our hearts for various reasons and when we get a chance to make a contribution, like with a charity gig, we jump at the chance.
It was your first gig outside your hometown, how did you feel it went compared to playing in front of a home crowd?
Sam: It felt great, it's nice to play to a group of people that haven't seen you before and gauge their reactions to the songs. Although you probably knew a fair amount of people in the crowd didn't you Gareth?
Gareth: Yeah I knew quite a few people in the crowd. I managed to shift quite a lot of tickets but the majority hadn't seen us and some were hearing us for the first time. It's a good feeling onstage when there's a sense of needing to prove yourself, to earn the approval of a crowd. You work harder and perform better as a result!
So where did the name come from and how long have you been playing together?
Sam: We tried for a long time to come up with a good name and Redbook we kind of just liked the sound of. Apparently it's the name of a womans magazine in the US.
Gareth: Me and Sam have been playing together since we met in 2007 but only this summer have we turned into a band and shown people how serious we are about making and performing our music.
Your 2011 summer demo has a lot of different sounds going on, where do you draw inspiration from?
Sam: From everywhere. There's some Radiohead in there, some Massive Attack, some newer stuff like James Blake and
Everything Everything as well, which we both really like.
Gareth: Coming up with a riff or a hook is an organic process but the soundscape and the instrumentation tends to be shaped by what we're listening to at the time. At the moment we're liking our electronic instruments so that's really coming through but I think we may take a look at some acoustic songs in the near future which may have a totally different feel to anything we've produced so far!
Personally I thought you stood out as the strongest act of the night, a lot of the crowd compared your sound to Muse, especially
the track 'Wanted'. What's your reaction to that, would you say that it's a fair comparison?
Sam: That's one of the oldest songs we have and it was written at a time when I was listening to a lot of Muse. It probably filtered through to the music... so yeah, I'd say it was a fair comparison. I think one of the things I love about Redbook is that we don't exactly have "a sound", we can do songs in different genres and with different themes and ideas, I think we still sound like us. It also means we aren't confined to writing music in a certain style. I love playing "Running Away" live, its a proper heavy guitar song and it’s great fun for us and for the crowd but we can still play "Breathe It In" in the same set and it's like it stands out even more. I love playing that song at the moment.
Gareth: I'd say with Wanted that's pretty fair. It holds some characteristics which are Muse trade marks but with more recent tracks like "Game" and "Breathe It In" we've broken away from that comparison. I really enjoy the variety in soundscapes and pace in our set, it keeps us and the audiences on tip toes and going from such contrasting emotions from one song to the next is a real but welcomed challenge!
So what's next for Redbook? Is there another EP or album on the way?
Sam: We have at least an album worth of material. It's a matter of properly recording it. I do all of the recording and mixing myself on my laptop, so they're all essentially bedroom demos you're listening to. It's awkward at the moment as well, as Gareth and me go to Uni in Northampton and Keele, so it's not exactly easy to get together and record. We'll probably do another EP or two of these bedroom demos before looking into properly re-recording all the songs for a future release.
Where can people next see you?
Gareth: We've got some gigs to finalise and announce in Northampton and London. Also we have a few homecoming gigs in Worcester this winter, which we're really looking forward to. If you join our Redbook family on facebook.com/redbookmusic we'll keep you posted on everything that is going on.
Finally as a band where do you see yourself in a years time? Or where would you like to be rather?
Sam: Ideally playing lots of gigs, living in a flat somewhere where there is a good music scene and writing lots of songs,
recording, with a record company interested and lots of money being thrown at us. Realistically... I think I'll be happy if I'm writing lots of songs. It normally takes forever for me to write a song and they tend to come in twos. So if I have four new songs by next year I'll be happy.
Gareth: I'll also be happy if Sam writes a load of new stuff too. We've got a lot of musical ideas to get down at the moment and we're really excited about them. We'll certainly be expanding the tracks available for free on http://soundcloud.com/redbook. Once our degrees are finished it's full steam ahead and we'd like to find ourselves in the capital by hook or by crook.
For further information, music and where to see Redbook visit http://www.facebook.com/Redbookmusic
REDBOOK TALK TO JIMMY BOWMAN
The Interview
What made you take part in the Oxjam gig? Were you approached about playing it?
Gareth: The organizer Ronni approached me about doing a set for the event and I decided to go for it an invite the band over.
Is Oxfam a cause you support?
Sam: Absolutely, last summer I played an Oxjam gig in Brecon with my old covers band. I love the atmosphere, everyone is there for a good cause, everyone is there for the music and everyone is there to help everyone else out.
Is poverty an issue close to the band's heart?
Gareth: Poverty is an issue that should be prevalent in everyone's mind when it comes to global issues. We have various charitable causes that are close to our hearts for various reasons and when we get a chance to make a contribution, like with a charity gig, we jump at the chance.
It was your first gig outside your hometown, how did you feel it went compared to playing in front of a home crowd?
Sam: It felt great, it's nice to play to a group of people that haven't seen you before and gauge their reactions to the songs. Although you probably knew a fair amount of people in the crowd didn't you Gareth?
Gareth: Yeah I knew quite a few people in the crowd. I managed to shift quite a lot of tickets but the majority hadn't seen us and some were hearing us for the first time. It's a good feeling onstage when there's a sense of needing to prove yourself, to earn the approval of a crowd. You work harder and perform better as a result!
So where did the name come from and how long have you been playing together?
Sam: We tried for a long time to come up with a good name and Redbook we kind of just liked the sound of. Apparently it's the name of a womans magazine in the US.
Gareth: Me and Sam have been playing together since we met in 2007 but only this summer have we turned into a band and shown people how serious we are about making and performing our music.
Your 2011 summer demo has a lot of different sounds going on, where do you draw inspiration from?
Sam: From everywhere. There's some Radiohead in there, some Massive Attack, some newer stuff like James Blake and
Everything Everything as well, which we both really like.
Gareth: Coming up with a riff or a hook is an organic process but the soundscape and the instrumentation tends to be shaped by what we're listening to at the time. At the moment we're liking our electronic instruments so that's really coming through but I think we may take a look at some acoustic songs in the near future which may have a totally different feel to anything we've produced so far!
Personally I thought you stood out as the strongest act of the night, a lot of the crowd compared your sound to Muse, especially
the track 'Wanted'. What's your reaction to that, would you say that it's a fair comparison?
Sam: That's one of the oldest songs we have and it was written at a time when I was listening to a lot of Muse. It probably filtered through to the music... so yeah, I'd say it was a fair comparison. I think one of the things I love about Redbook is that we don't exactly have "a sound", we can do songs in different genres and with different themes and ideas, I think we still sound like us. It also means we aren't confined to writing music in a certain style. I love playing "Running Away" live, its a proper heavy guitar song and it’s great fun for us and for the crowd but we can still play "Breathe It In" in the same set and it's like it stands out even more. I love playing that song at the moment.
Gareth: I'd say with Wanted that's pretty fair. It holds some characteristics which are Muse trade marks but with more recent tracks like "Game" and "Breathe It In" we've broken away from that comparison. I really enjoy the variety in soundscapes and pace in our set, it keeps us and the audiences on tip toes and going from such contrasting emotions from one song to the next is a real but welcomed challenge!
So what's next for Redbook? Is there another EP or album on the way?
Sam: We have at least an album worth of material. It's a matter of properly recording it. I do all of the recording and mixing myself on my laptop, so they're all essentially bedroom demos you're listening to. It's awkward at the moment as well, as Gareth and me go to Uni in Northampton and Keele, so it's not exactly easy to get together and record. We'll probably do another EP or two of these bedroom demos before looking into properly re-recording all the songs for a future release.
Where can people next see you?
Gareth: We've got some gigs to finalise and announce in Northampton and London. Also we have a few homecoming gigs in Worcester this winter, which we're really looking forward to. If you join our Redbook family on facebook.com/redbookmusic we'll keep you posted on everything that is going on.
Finally as a band where do you see yourself in a years time? Or where would you like to be rather?
Sam: Ideally playing lots of gigs, living in a flat somewhere where there is a good music scene and writing lots of songs,
recording, with a record company interested and lots of money being thrown at us. Realistically... I think I'll be happy if I'm writing lots of songs. It normally takes forever for me to write a song and they tend to come in twos. So if I have four new songs by next year I'll be happy.
Gareth: I'll also be happy if Sam writes a load of new stuff too. We've got a lot of musical ideas to get down at the moment and we're really excited about them. We'll certainly be expanding the tracks available for free on http://soundcloud.com/redbook. Once our degrees are finished it's full steam ahead and we'd like to find ourselves in the capital by hook or by crook.
For further information, music and where to see Redbook visit http://www.facebook.com/Redbookmusic
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