Caz Meets The Walnut Dash continued By Caroline Murphy

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Caz: So what sort of music influences have you got music wise, what sort of bands are you into? Malcolm: First and foremost... The Beatles, just because I grew up listening to them, not because I was around when they were, but because that was what my dad had. Tom: Lets make it a competition, band for band, I'd say The Hollies are my favourite.. Far superior to The Beatles, certainly in their harmonies. Malcolm: Yeah, not as exciting though I don't think. Tom: As songwriters, yes, The Beatles..

Malcolm: If The Beatles were meant to be a serious band, they'd have got a proper bass player. Anyway, The Who..? Tom: Yeah, I've got to agree with you on that. Malcolm: Proper songs, that's what you want. They could all play, and they could all sing well. Tom: I'll see your Who and I'll raise you a Kinks. Lets pick four bands from each decade. Malcolm: Yeah that's four from the 60's then... Caz: You missed out Jeff Beck there!?! Tom: Oh Hi Ho Silver Lining.. Rod Stewart had his best haircut when he was in the Jeff Beck group! Malcolm: We'll move into the 1970's with The Faces. Tom: Not so keen on The Small Faces, but anything by The Faces is ok by me! In the late 70's my favourite band's Squeeze. When they started off they were a really exciting unit as a band. They had something else. Malcolm: I was going to go for The Jam, but I'm going to leave that one and go for a band who as far as I'm aware, only had one hit, Secret Affair, "Time for Action", the single's actually a live recording.. It's a cracker.

Caz: So, do you write your own material then? Malcolm: Yes, when we first started, Tom wrote all of it, and splendid it was too. Actually, in the end, that's what made me decide to join the band, when he sent me a tape of the songs. But now we do it together, and most of it works. Tom: When you write together, it can either collide and be awkward, or it can take the best part of the fun.

Malcolm: This is the best thing for me, as it keeps the personality in the band. So far its been a pretty painless process.. We may yet come to blows and that'd be a true rock 'n' roll story. Tom: We could bust up with out next album release. Can we go back the bands? My favourite American band is The Shazam.. They're the best live band I have ever seen. The Shazam... out of Nashville USA. Caz: What kind of audience would you say you're trying to reach? Malcolm: It's not niche music at all. It's in your face pop music basically, because it's quite loud and noisy. People that we're trying to get to are people like yourselves who reach us through the website. The market that we're reaching is quite a small part of the mass music market. Tom: The problem with the music business as it is today is that, unless you've got a half a million marketing budget you're not going to give people a chance to decide whether they like your music or not. The more money they put into market it, the more people can hear it, then they get to make their own minds up. Turn on the radio, and the same big artists get played again and again. Unless you've got a half a million marketing budget you wont give people a chance to decide whether they like you. Malcolm: If they play our record to as many people as they can in the next week, then come back and say how many people said they didn't like it. I'd be surprised if you had more than one or two. (I hasten to add, there is an MP3 available on their site.. And is available on Vinyl Japan!)

Caz: What would be on your ideal tour rider, if you could have anything, no limits? An example being my friends 10,000 Things, who I noticed had beer and grapes! Tom: Grapes? I don't like grapes... Malcolm: Normally there's a bowl of fruit, chocolate, crisps, sandwiches... clean socks very often! Towels... Tom: I like towels, yeah. For design I'd have an Elvis towel.. A clean one.. No actually we want dirty towels (!!) but clean socks and talc..

You might like to share with your readers that I am wearing a fine pair of Loafer Chelsea boots today which are quite warm.. In the summer months a little bit of talk down there would keep them lovely and fresh, I might be in a public house and wish to put my feet on the table in front of the fire, and I don't want them to be stinky.. So.. Caz: ..and out comes the talc! Haha.. Malcolm: Don't worry, he's always thinking of other people, and what would be your best meal? Tom: I can't eat a lot before I go on. Something light, but tasty.. Malcolm: We could do with a pair of hair straighteners. Tom: Yeah and a tub of wax.. And a hairdresser! (The discussion then deteriorated into the merits of lap dancers on the tour bus before Tom reminded us that we needed a bit of decorum on this fine website.) Tom: The days when we get 6 beers for free for doing a gig we're thrilled. So it's not really about the lap dancers. Malcolm: Yeah lets get back to the realms of reality and lets just say a step up would be our own dressing room. Caz: Have you supported other bands? Malcolm: Yes... Tom: We've done a massive total of four gigs, all of which were supporting other bands.

Caz: Who would you like to support then? Dead or alive.. Tom: Shazam, just because they're absolutely fantastic. Supergrass! Some bands would say "I want to support U2", but I would say, "Perhaps U2's audience are not ready for the nattily dressed, full on..." err.. In fact they probably are...damn it! Go on, put me down for U2. Caz: I would just like to mention that Aaron here, is the guitarist of a band called 50leaves... Tom: 50 what? Caz: Leaves..

Tom: (Turned interviewer) How did you get the name? AARON: Think about it, herbs... Tom: Oh it's a drug reference! Excellent, I like a band with a good drug reference. Malcolm: I'd liked to have supported The Hollies back in the 60's! Tom: Oh no I'd have liked to have been the opening act on the Monkees and Jimmy Hendrix tour. What Jimmy Hendrix did for psycadelic shirts... our target audience would be anything from little kids to old dears. When I say "old dears" I mean about 60, my gran loves us! The Monkees headlining now, with Supergrass in the middle, then us. This completely surreal experience ended with Jimmy Hendrix somehow getting back into the fif, and the finale ends up being Hendrix, The Monkees, Supergrass and The Walnut Dash all jamming to Daydream Believer! Had Daryl been here too, I wonder how his reflections would have changed the ultimate gig - next time we'll find out! Web site: www.thewalnutdash.co.uk

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