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: Paul is away at present so it’s just me Andy.
Paul and I come from the West Midlands in the UK and have been involved in music for a number of years, both being on the road (with different bands) during the 70’s. We met in the mid 80’s when we both worked in education, teaching in the Music, Broadcast and Television studios at West Bromwich College.
Q: Did you have any formal training, or are you self-taught?
A: We are mainly self-taught in music and production; I was lucky enough to work with a few popular British artists, producers, and engineers during the 70’s who were previously well known in the 60’’s, I watched and learnt their techniques.
We started producing music in the analogue era, recording directly to multi-track tape with only a spring reverb and tape loop for effects. As you can tell we are “Old School”. I have been releasing instrumental music for a number of years under the “Relax Listen” brand with fourteen Relax Listen albums currently on release, and Paul and I have just released our fourth Harper n Hubble music album together.
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences, and why the name ‘Harper n Hubble music’?
A: Our music influences are wide ranging, Paul is mainly influenced by “The Beatles” but he lists others such as Bowie, Roxy Music, Sting etc, etc, etc, while I would say that I have a wide influence ranging from Led Zeppelin to Colin Blunstone.
After a number of years Paul left the college and went to work for Bourneville college in Birmingham (UK) while I stayed on at Sandwell College (formerly West Bromwich College). Unfortunately, we lost touch with each other until after we had retired from education in 2016.
When we did eventually meet up again, we decided to combine our ideas and later that year we released our first album “Reflections” as HnH music.
I remember Paul had a file full of lyrics and finished songs, he also used to write with a long-time school friend of his john Dietrich, who he introduced to me when we worked for the college. Some of John’s lyrics are featured on both “Roads we take” and the latest “Academic Life” albums, recorded and produced in the Harper n Hubble style. In December 2016 we released our first album “Reflections” and then followed this up in the summer of 2017 with “This other world”.
During 2021 we rebranded ourselves as “Harper n Hubble music” for our third album “Roads we take”, unfortunately using a different name caused a separation of the first two albums, so we decided to re-master and re-release them in 2022 as Harper n Hubble music, which bought our work back together in one place in the online stores.
Because we both write and produce music, we used our surnames (Initially only our initials) and the “n” in the middle is short for “and” because where we come from our dialect shortens some words. On reflection, because of where we come from a lot of spoken words get shortened!
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind the album title, “Academic Life”?
A: The album title gives a nod to our previous careers, working in Further and Higher Education, some of the lyrics also reflect this.
Q: How has your previous experience in education influenced your music and song writing?
A: Paul is the main lyricist for Harper n Hubble music and has written the vast majority of them, along with half a dozen or so of Johns lyrics, although I did pen the lyrics to “Lady”.
Even though we attended different schools in different towns, we both knew girls at our schools who were winners of beauty contests and that’s where the idea alone for “Beauty Queen at seventeen” came from, both songs are featured on the “Academic Life” album.
Education is just one of the many things thrown into the melting pot of life which we use to write.
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: As mentioned earlier we are “Old School” and our listeners tend to be of a certain age. One columnist said that “People grow into our music”, another described our music as suitable for driving home.
All I can say is have a listen and make up your own mind.
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: Creating music is something we just do, it’s in our blood and it’s great that we have been given the chance to get it out there. We are mainly studio producers and spend a lot of time on each track. To re-produce our music live we would need the support of ELO (The electric light orchestra). If your interested Jeff let us know? We do all come from the West Midlands though.
To be honest, if we did this for money, we would have been out of business years ago, our only hope is that a listener finds us and likes what we do and then tells their friends, who tells their friends and theirs.
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: Paul sits with his guitar and pen and paper in the Shropshire countryside. While I am in front of my keyboard and mac in the Black Country, any music I come up with I Google Drive across to Paul and he brings his songs for us to develop on our studio days which are usually on a Monday at my house.
Once Pauls Guitar and vocal tracks are laid down, I tend to leave it a day or so giving my ears a rest, then add drums, keys, strings, and more backing vocals. I will leave the track alone for another day, then mix the track, sending it off to Paul via the Google Drive once it’s ready. This gives Paul a chance to listen to the track and when he is here on our next studio day, we have opportunity to either add or re-record any parts. I then perform the final mix a couple of days later again with fresh ears.
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: Most musicians get used to the attitude of “ignore them and they will go away” I liken the music industry to a brick wall and the only tool you have is a tiny hammer to break through.
Us older musicians also come up against the ageism problem, the one benefit though is that we have the experience to spot a dodgy contract a mile away. I have visited both major and independent UK record companies in the past and have seen their attitudes first hand. You are just a product in their eyes and nothing more, if you don’t fit into their product range then you don’t get in. It’s, have you got the right image for us and how much money can we make out of you. Yes, you do become cynical when you’ve been at it a while.
Publisher / Distributors are the next tier who you are more likely to get a deal with, normally a 50/50 distribution deal and they get your work up on the worldwide stores and stations.
The final problem is that your music can’t be loved or even hated if people don’t know it’s there. The Majors do however spend heaps of money letting the public know that their artists music is available.
So, Hi Folks “Harper n Hubble music” are here and can be found at:
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
A: In the past we have performed (separately) at many different sized UK venues with different bands and audiences, but our proudest moments having spent the last eight or nine months (or longer) producing our latest project, is finally seeing it out on release.
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