“I’m Going To Get Myself To The Big Cities”
Being a rookie musician is always a hard book to read and for Blackpool folk singer-songwriter, Luke Woods, a mere pipedream is becoming a reality in the name of Bandini.
“I've been sitting on a lot of these songs for a long time and it’s about time I released something. Having had and played these songs for a while on my own, it was real breath of fresh air to get a band backing them”
Luke’s current music style has been built on a backwards travel through time. “I’ve gone through so many changes in genres. When I first really started listening to music for myself it was down to my best friends brother in primary school. He was a mosher and into Nu-Metal. About 2002 and I started to get into it too. Although my favorite had to be Linkin Park. From there I got into a lot of pop-punk, then onto indie stuff and post punk bands like Joy Division. That’s when I started looking further and further back. Looking at the musicians and bands that came before, grunge bands Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins, punk like the Ramones/Stooges. Going back further to The Velvet Underground and other acts of the 60s and the folk music of Greenwich Village in New York really stood out to me, just striped back, relaxed, really made you listen to what they were saying. Had a lot of heart. Then looking even further back I started listening to a lot of American roots folk, artists like Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly and blues artists like Robert Johnson.”
When talking about musical and lyrical influences they go down a more poetry and literature path “authors like Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and especially Charles Bukowski and John Fante. The same goes for Lou Reed, a lot of what he wrote can be interpreted as poetry” it’s a clearly-documented love for folk and 1960’s culture that gives him his musical spark.
For Luke his local area isn’t exactly teeming with fellow folk singers, “I come across a lot of acoustic acts but nothing I would consider folk, most musicians from Blackpool are brit-pop, indie and a lot of heavy metal”. As far as opportunities go for folk singers in the area there is very few places that accept the calming genre “When I first started playing around Blackpool there wasn’t much platform for new original bands to showcase their stuff, a lot of venues only really welcomed cover bands” he says “Now with the recent opening of The Blue Room and Underbar there’s hope for the future.”
There’s always something nice about quirky venues that support a range of artists, but then there’s playing in a church! “It was in Lytham, the stage was set up on the alter and the audience sat in the pews. The lights were dim; mainly candle lit and the audience was very quiet and respectful. They really listened to every act, the atmosphere was calmed and it sounded great in there too!”
So with the experience of playing in some gritty bars and a church added to the list, there must be a list of gigs Luke aspires to play “I like the idea of playing in an opera house, the audience all around and there’s not much going on, on stage to distract your attention away. Just a spot light. As far as festivals go I’d love to play Newport Festival in the US, but I would happily play any festival”.
Festival season comes pretty much straight after the release of Bandini, surely this is going to create a big stepping stone in the career of this singer-songwriter “I hope it will open more doors for me. Playing bigger venues up and down the country. It’ll also be good to have something to give to people saying, “hey this is what I can bring to you” rather than having to rely on word of mouth alone”. This will be the first full release from Luke’s solo career and for any musician the whole process of creating, recording and producing an album takes a lot effort. Especially with it being DIY. “It makes it much more intimate and personal I much prefer the idea of recording at home, you’ve got everything you need there. Although sometimes you're not as focused on the task at hand ,there’s a lot of distractions around but it’s also good because you not always constrained by time, so you can redo a lot of things if it’s not quite right and you don't have to worry about how much studio time you've got left.” Being time conscious must be a trait a musician needs when forming an album “We recorded the album over four days in December. The time leading up to that consisted of getting all of the parts down just right but it can be hard sometimes. When you think you’ve got something that sounds great then it comes to recording it and then using it in context with the rest of the song it might just not sound right, so a lot of time is used up just making it all fit together nicely. Then there’s the editing and the mixing that can be time consuming deciding on the best takes to use on the final product, luckily I've got friends who know how to do that well”. How did the “behind the scenes team” come to being a collective to help with the album? “I met Rob, who produced/mixed the album, at work, I already sort of knew him though my friends at college. I go to him to help me decide what my strongest songs are and how I could improve them. Jake I met through Rob; they have been friends for a long time. He also produced, engineered and played the drums on the album. He’s also helping me a lot in the other side of things such as promoting. Lloyd who also engineered the album again I met through Rob. Al who played electric guitar and bass on the album I only just met, he’s a great guitarist and I'm really happy with what he brought to the album. I can't thank them enough for the help they’ve given to me and this album.”
The post-album plans are already set in stone and Luke is keen to branch out more “As soon as its released the breaks will be off, I'll be gigging everywhere I can to promote it. I'm also always writing new stuff so who knows how soon it will be till I get another one out” he continues “So far a lot of the places I play have been in the northwest of the country. I'm going to get myself to the big cities and play a lot of the festivals in the summer. I'd also like to get myself into Europe.”
And finally, as far as future plans go, the image of continuing to play music and enjoy life in approximately 5 years’ time is something that appeals to Luke Woods “I just want to carry on with what I'm doing because it makes me happy. It would be nice to be successful and touring and get the opportunity to release more material. I'm really more focused on the present at the moment though the future will come regardless.”
