Live music and touring have been on lockdown and fans as well as artists are going through withdrawals. We wanted to come up with something fun to help bridge that distance between fans and artists right now. What we came up with is something called The Lockdown Lowdown and it’s a Q&A session with fun questions for artists to answer. They’re not your typical interview questions, so it gives you a peek inside of the artists themselves. We’re big music nerds here at I’m Music Magazine and we love learning things like this about the artists that we love. We’re pretty sure that you’ll get a kick out of these, so we hope you’ll take the time to read them. In this installment, we sat down for a fun Q&A session with Gambling Hearts.
How have you been doing during the pandemic and how are you spending your time?
What an odd 12 months. We’ve been ok, for the most part. We’ve had our fair share of challenges, but no real health issues or anything. As a band, not being able to play, or even rehearse, it’s been a real drag. I’ve played a lot of guitar and piano, but then you come up with all of these ideas that you can’t explore cos you’re stuck at home on your own. As a band we’ve tried to keep in touch and have regular chats and all, but there’s only so much Zoom you can handle.
Have you been working on new music?
Yeah, I’ve played a lot of guitar and piano. I written a few songs too, so we’ve got some good stuff to work on when we finally get back into rehearsals. We’ve released 3 singles in the past twelve months, but it’s hard to do them justice when you’re not out playing live. They’re great songs, but I worry that they’ve not reached the audience that they would have had we been out on the road. The new songs are great though. A lot of the time I find that the best songs are born out of tough situations.
5 albums that changed your life:
The Beatles Red and Blue albums. I was twelve when I first heard these. They were my introduction to the Beatles. They blew my mind. Opened up a whole world to me that, up until then, I couldn’t have ever dreamed existed. Then I’d say, Oasis’ Definitely Maybe. Without this record I probably wouldn’t be in a band. The Beatles made me dream, Oasis made me believe. Either/Or by Elliott Smith has probably had the greatest influence on me as a song writer. His records are out of this world. If you told me he was an angle, or that he was some kind of apostle, I’d probably believe you. Finally, I’d go for BRMC by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. The sound of this record is so cool, and the songs are so full of attitude, so much punk and fire.
5 artists that influenced you as a musician:
Noel Gallagher. All day, every day. No one artist has had as great an influence over me as he has. His song writing, his attitude towards all things music, his self-believe and determination is second to none. As much as I adore the Beatles and Elliott Smith, Noel Gallagher made it all seem possible. Other artists that have heavily influenced me would be people like Neil Young, Ray Davies, Bob Dylan, Kurt Cobain…
Your 5 favorite live albums:
Great question! Live albums are better than studio albums, aren’t they? Paul Weller’s Live Wood is one of my all-time favourites. It never fails to lift my mood. Every track is sublime. It’s a record of a band captured at their absolute peak. Easily my most listened to live album. The Who’s Live at Leeds, for similar reasons. Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged, obviously. For me, it’s the coolest live performance of all time. Such an honest and seemingly effortless performance. The Band’s Last Waltz is another favourite. What a gig. When they play The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down…it’s something else. Finally, Neil Young live at the Fillmore East, 1970. In that performance, they are everything I want in a band. Everything.
Life on the road; 5 of the craziest/funniest/scariest tour stories:
It’s almost impossible to tell anything without it sounding contrived or cliché, or both. We’ve had a lot of very Spinal Tap moments. Will (drums) disappeared off the back of the drum riser one night. Mid-song and the drums suddenly stopped. We looked round and he was gone. I’ll never forget the confused look on his face as he popped up from behind the riser. We had a guy jump on stage one night, really drunk and mean looking. He sprinted towards me but tripped over a monitor and went flying back down into the pit. The whole place erupted with laughter. As a security guy escorted him out the whole place was chanting ‘you fell over’, haha. It was brilliant. I wish we’d capture that on film.
5 favorite movies:
Star Wars: A New Hope. The Godfather, the first one. Good Will Hunting. Rear Window. Lord of the Rings, all of them.
Best and worst advice you ever heard:
Best advice…always be kind, no matter what. It brings the best out in the worst of us. Worst advice…it’s gotta be to get back on the drink when you’re hungover. No good ever comes of it.
Strangest thing you ever autographed:
I signed a mirror once. In a pub in Camden. I thought it was a wind up, but next time I went in there were a couple of other band signatures on it.
If music was over today and you had to go into professional wrestling, what would your wrestling name be?
It have to be something like ‘The Destroyer’, something that would instill a bit of fear into my opponent, to help mask my cowardly appearance.
