Q: Hey, can you tell us a bit about where you come from, and what made you want to start a career in music?
A: we’re from The steel city of Sheffield UK, It’s a city with a rich musical heritage and has produce some massive artist in the industry, I personally wanted to be in a band as soon has I heard the Beatles, I knew I didn’t want to do anything else.
Q: And what other artists have you found yourself listening to lately?
A: we all listen to a lot of different stuff but if you’re talking about current music I would say the glass animals are one of my favourites at the moment, such a great band
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences, and why the name ‘T.C & The Hoodoo Shakers’?
A: My first love will always be early Rock n roll, Chucky berry, Elvis, little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis , Carl Perkins and all those cats, but I really fell in love with music when hearing the Beatles and then Bob Dylan and the band, I guess they opened more possibilities.
The name T.C & the hoodoo shakers I came up with one day while trying to think of titles for this new musical project, I like the mysterious nature of New Orleans boogie woogie, I’m not really a religious man but I like the idea of good vs evil, the righteous fight and the practice of hoodoo Unified enslaved Africans Of diverse origins in America, In my opinion there was no bigger fight and it brought people together in a positive way, A hoodoo shakers is a spell jar used for good. I thought the name sounded pretty cool and every time I hear it or see it it gives me a personal sense of power, hope and love.
Q: You have just released your new single, ‘Calling of the blood’. Is there a story behind it?
A: calling of the blood was our debut single, it’s a song about following the heart, even if your head says don’t! You have to satisfy your soul . We all have things we want to do and anxiety can creep in a put doubts in your mind, I’m saying do it anyway!
Q: Can we expect a new EP or even an album from you in the near future?
A: we have been releasing singles on streaming platforms like Spotify and our latest release comes out on the 16th September, we have made a limited run of an Ep called ‘nothing’s dead until it’s buried’ and is available on bandcamp, it contains the first 3 singles , it’s for people that prefer a physical copy and you can get the singles early. Once the Ep’s are gone we won’t be releasing any more so it’s quite special if you manage to get a copy.
Q: What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
A: it’s about positivity albeit in a aggressive sounding way, it’s dirty bluesy rock n roll, you gotta mean it.
Q: Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more?
A: I’ve learnt not to expect anything, sure we all want more but you’ve got to do it because you love doing it and not think about the cost, it’s more important to fulfill your soul.
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: I never try to write a song, I generally pick up my acoustic guitar and play a couple of chords and I know within a minute or two if anything is happening, if it isn’t then I put it down and walk away. I never force or chase anything, I never have any idea of what I will write, when it comes it happens quick, a chord progressions or a rhythm will star to form and a lyric will pop out of nowhere, the weird thing is that in that moment I always end up writing 2 sometimes 3 songs at the same time and switch between them. I’ll normally have a couple of verses and a chorus to each one and then walk away, I’ll then soon come back to finish them and I have to read what I’ve done to try to understand what my subconscious was saying and have to write more lyrics in keeping with the theme or what the songs seem to be about, in my opinion those are alway my worst lyrics, the ones that come out of nowhere are always the best. Then I make home demos and send them to the band and we go in the rehearsal room and everyone puts their own feel and parts together, we then go in the studio.
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: I will be the first to admit that I feel I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder, growing up in a poor single parent family on a council estate things weren’t always easy and losing a few loved ones along the way made me quite bitter internally, I found both my grandmas/nans dead when I was a child. Later in life I met my wife and we had a child that had some serious health problems and had major surgery, all that fuelled my inner anger and maybe that’s why the sound of my music is the way it is, I don’t know. I was angry for a long time but I’ve learnt to let things go, I realise that people have it a lot harder than me, I’m loved and I love and that is really all that we should concern ourselves with.
In music I think the hardest knock is being ignored, we all want to be liked, we all want to connect. If it happens then value the people that do feel something from your work.
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
A: I do believe the things that happen in life can teach us to be better, stronger. In music I’ve had some amazing moments, I have had some awesome intimate shows and also played in front of thousands of people. A couple of major wins for me was having Dan Baird of the Georgia satellites play bass live on a couple of my songs, that was a special moment for me as he’s a legend ! He had a song ‘keep your hands to yourself’ that hit no 2 in the billboard 100, he’s lived the dream and then stood on stage with me! Lucky bloke 🙂
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