2:15pm Friday 5th March 2010
What can we expect from a live Spiers and Boden show?
“We play traditional English songs and music, but we try to make them as lively and dancey as possible. We want to make our music accessible to people who have not come across that material before. It’s a fun show and hopefully interesting as well.”
What makes your sound unique?
“One of the things we try to do is make as much noise as possible for only two |people. That’s the main characteristic the big sound I would say. John’s (Spiers) background is as a DJ and we have a lot of interest in dance music and what makes people want to dance.
You have lots of other musical projects including Bellowhead and some musical theatre scoring. How do you juggle it all?
“I’m just busy! I’ve been touring with Bellowhead, then we’re straight out with Spiers and Boden and then I’ve got some dates with my own band Jon Boden and The Remnant Kings in May. Bellowhead have been taking up a lot of my time and attention, so it’s good to switch focus. There’s a lot going on, but I like to keep busy.”
Which artist past or present would you most like to perform alongside?
“Tom Waits would be top of the list, that would be great fun, also the folk singer |Peter Bellamy. Kate Bush would be good as well. That would be a good sound I think!”
What’s on your rider?
“We don’t ask for much. We both conform to stereotype and are real ale drinkers so we like to have a bottle of that each after a gig and we are both quite big coffee drinkers so we ask for real coffee, although we don’t get it most of the time! No, there’s nothing in the J-Lo category there.”
What have been your most memorable gigs?
“Bellowhead are the band in residence for the South Bank so we’ve ended up doing some pretty big performances there like the New Year’s Eve show. Shows like that are hard, but are really memorable. We do a lot of festivals which are pretty mad, but you just have to remember to look at the first ten people even if there are 30,000 or so! We did one in Scotland that was memorable for all the wrong reasons. Everyone took about ten hours to get there after trains were cancelled. It was raining and the place was like a mud slick.”
What would you be doing if you weren’t a musician?
“I was a teacher for a while so that I suppose. It was when I was starting out in music and I always enjoyed it. There’s nothing better than this job performing to audiences though.”
You grew up in Winchester. Are you looking forward to a Hampshire homecoming show?
“Very much. It’s the place where I began my music. There wasn’t a big scene, but I used to do gigs at Tower Arts. A lot of my listening was done on tapes and CDs in my bedroom, but Winchester was definitely the place I remember being when I was getting into music.”
• Spiers and Boden play The Point in Eastleigh on Wednesday.
Tickets: 023 8065 2333 or visit thepointeastleigh.co.uk
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