Interview with Riley and Emma Rugg By Cilla

In October last year, Hulls most talented female singer/songwriter Emma Rugg accompanied the brilliant West Midlands band Riley on a 5 day visit to Oneonta, Upstate New York. With the backing of Mi5 Recordings mi5recordings.co.uk and in association with BBC Radio Humberside's Raw Talent, Raw Talent Website the British performers were to play in an Mi5/Vines Restaurant Acoustic Concert.

The event, hosted by James Gandolfini (Tony from The Sopranos) at his Oneonta restaurant, Vines was a major success - Emma and Riley caused a storm. The 4 piece band, Riley also managed to squeeze in 3 radio interviews, 2 acoustic sets and 2 telephone interviews while they were in the States. Riley are Stef Clift (Bass, Vocals), Sam Martin (Drums, Percussion, Piano, Vocals), Dave Robertson (Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Mellotron), Andrew Grainger (Lead Guitar).

Now they're all preparing to return to New York State in March where they've been invited to perform on several dates. I sent Emma and Riley some questions about their visit to the USA. Here's what they said (I think Andy Grainger answered on Riley's behalf) …..

How did you feel when you got on the plane to leave UK? Riley - Excited but on the whole tired and feeling a little sick after a dodgy Manchester airport breakfast! Emma Rugg - Quite relaxed actually, when you sit on a plane you're forced to just sit there, it sort of gives you time to think, which is great but after 7 hours can become a bit tiring, especially if you have an over-active imagination.

I can't sleep on planes so I was awake the whole time thinking about what it would be like in New York, watching everyone else nod off and trying to get the people on the aeroplane to give me more cups of tea because I don't drink milk in tea and the people only fill your cup up halfway so you don't spill everything.

What was the scariest thing about the trip? Emma Rugg - The flight on the way back, to be fair was pretty turbulent but the scariest thing was the fact that it was 5:30 in the UK when we got back, I think we had been awake for two or three days?

Riley - Trying to find the house we were staying at! We thought we had found it (door open as we were told it would be) - walked in - switched the lights on - shouted hello and then realised we were in the wrong house - we ran out - it was 2AM! All the houses in the area we stayed looked like houses from Scream or Deliverance or any scary movie you've ever seen. They were also getting ready for Halloween and there were some scary looking pumpkins and scarecrows hung up which from a distance looked like human slaughter - scary!

What was the most exciting thing? Riley - Probably being in a restaurant and hearing our song 'Sit Up' played on the radio - also meeting so many crazy Americans and getting such a fantastic reception at the gig.

Emma Rugg - Being able to go out there, the unknown, as ever, new situations, and the fact that we were going to America to play our music to people, the enthusiasm of all of the people involved was great, we met some really vibrant characters which made our trip even more interesting. What's America like? Emma Rugg - America is huge, too large to really imagine, people seem to live faster there, people seem to be more open there, you feel as if you can go up to anyone and talk to them. continued below

www.thisistheworld.com Get in touch. Email your Articles, Stories, News, Fiction and Poetry to be published on www.thisistheworld.com to: contributions@thisistheworld.com

Interview with Riley and Emma Rugg continued By Cilla

I once saw a guy on the underground in London singing and dancing on the train to his walkman, that made me think of America, at the time I imagined that that would be something people there would go in for doing more than we would. All the people looked at him as if he was really odd, in America I think if you did that it would be seen as the norm. When I got there, I felt that America is a more receptive country. I feel that the music could be more successful there.

Riley - Very crazy, many crazy people - like Britain on Acid!! Were the people friendly? Riley - Very friendly- when they find out you're British it's like being a celebrity - we made many friends. Emma Rugg - They were, we met some brilliant characters, they all looked after us too which was nice and we talked with a lot of them and got to know them a bit while we were there. Everyone we met was so excited about us all playing there and it was good to see blatant enthusiasm for British music, a lot of the people we had talked to turned up to our gig, which was great.

Did anything funny happen? Riley - We were warned from day one that Oneonta had loads of swingers, married women and college students and we met them all! We all had our own adventures - but on the last night after the gig I (Andy) ended up driving some American girls car all the way out to the woods where we all went to a swingers party. We got there and the house looked like the house from Scream!

We go in and there's stuffed animals everywhere- and cabinets full of shot guns - and loads of naked people in a hot tub upstairs! There were swingers, married women and college girls, all hanging around digging the English boys! But we were fairly well behaved (ha ha ha)! That was one strange night - but again the people were fantastic if a little weird (and naked).

Emma Rugg - We saw a dog driving a car, or we thought we did, but it was in fact just sitting there at the petrol station waiting for this woman to bring it some coffee, that's what it looked like, but obviously dogs don't drive cars and drink coffee do they.

Also something scary happened, when we got to Oneonta, we were given instructions on how to get to the house we were staying at, so we followed them carefully, arrived at the house, Granger went in, looked around and started calling out hello, but no one answered, then I think he suddenly got a feeling that he was in the wrong house as there were family pictures hung on the walls, and the house looked lived in, it did turn out that it was the wrong house, so we all left pretty quickly and Grainger left all the lights downstairs on, he's probably being hunted down by the FBI as we speak. It turned out also, that the house we were supposed to be in was next door, so every time we drove past the house next door, we were all just ever so slightly amused.

Describe where you stayed - Emma Rugg - The Woodshed, oh my gosh, it was like any 80's horror film, Misery, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you know, eerie, quite scary and atmospheric surroundings. As it was nearing Halloween, 6ft pumpkins and straw children which everyone thought were not cute, were everywhere - it was all like some set from a horror film, but really, though!

Riley - We were in a country house that only gets used in the summer. It was in the middle of nowhere. The door was open - there was no electricity working and it was seriously cold. There was a very spooky woodshed and cellar, a hacksaw on the wall outside. The bloke who owns the house it was is a sculptor and there were these horrible looking statues all over the house. I SAW A GHOST the first night - sitting on the rocking chair, rocking away.

How did you feel when you got to the gig? Riley - Happy that so many people had turned up to see us and happy that original music was really appreciated there. Emma Rugg - Ok, we had a lot of time to kill before we played so we sound checked and went off and did our own thing for a while. The gig went really well, loads of people turned out for that, it was an amazing atmosphere and everyone had a good time. They had to move all of the tables and chairs from the restaurant so everyone could get in to watch us..

Was anyone homesick? Emma Rugg - By the end, we were just starting to settle in there so we didn't want to go home really. Riley - No, too excited. We were only away a week!

Where will you be performing when you go back to The States? In New York City, Oneonta, Albany, Binnington, Coopers town, and maybe a few other towns. Will you perform together in the USA/UK? Well, I for one am sure that this troupe of performers will knock the socks off any audience anywhere in the world! As for me, I usually go bare-foot, these days.

Check out Emmas Web site here www.emmarugg.com - includes downloads and gigs coming-up. Also Riley's site - listen to clips from their new EP/Single. Click here www.rileyofficial.co.uk AND while you're here, don't forget to enter the Riley Giveaway Prize Draw on thisisull.com - click here

Asia, Articles - Michael Standring killed for being a symbol of democracy

	by Peter Standring On the 12th of October I hope that you might to reflect on what the Bali bombing meant to some people. It is tempting for me to try make a point for the many thousands of individuals caught up in this and put it into to some geopolitical context. I have considered it best merely to give an honest, personal perspective. Read more...

Europe, Religion - Christianity: A 21st century perspective

	Part One by Lee Cassanell If Jesus had died a natural death, the church would not have had there most potent symbol, the cross or Crucifix, instead people would be wearing the effigy an old guy dead in his chair around there necks, which is not quite as Romantic an image as a Guy in a Rose Bush hat being pinned to two planks of wood. Read more...

Africa, Poetry - Mosi Oa Tunya

	by Michelle Dee Clark Smoke that thunders, masking the coming storm Young men of Chinoyi disappear Men and women tortured for telling the truth Tyrannical regime, that's what they fear And who, are they? Read more...

South America, Articles - La Patagonie Argentine

Anne Levy La plupart d'entre vous le savent, sommes rentrés depuis bientôt trois semaines, avons bien sûr interrompu la canicule.Dès le lendemain de notre arrivée, un violent orage éclatait, il n'avait pas plu depuis 3 mois sur Marseille, la température tomba instantanément de 10 degrés. La presse même accueillit notre retour. Les faiseurs de pluie étaient rentrés, même chez eux, leur don restait intact. Lisez plus...

North America, Articles - My September 11th 2001

	Moses Serruya I'd spent the better part of my working life in Wall Street, having migrated over on the software developer slave trade back in the early 1990's, so Manhattan was in effect my second home, and I had often cause to visit clients in various floors of the nearby twin towers. Read more...