The excellent Billy Vincent (let’s make something clear – this is the name of a band, not a solo artist), return with a new video for “St. Catherine’s Oratory,” taken from the band’s brand new EP Once On The Grand Union, released on Something Nothing Records on October 17th.
We threw some quick questions at the guys, and this is what they had to say:
You describe yourselves as ‘Dirty Folk.’ Please define this latest addition to the rock & roll lexicon for our readers.
It was the easiest way to describe our music when we started out—traditional songwriting, delivered with a punk edge…not that we were the first, just the phrase came about in conversation and stuck. It’s moved on since then though, and we’re keen not to be pigeonholed, though it’s safe to say we do sit proudly under the Americana banner.
Vinyl, CD or digital?
The purists in us would obviously say vinyl, but we’re probably all digital whores given the age we’ve grown up in. We all have records that we’ve grown up with and love, and we still buy vinyl, but it’s not exactly news to say that it’s not always available -the fact that a big deal is made of a vinyl release, often months after initial CD pressings these days, perhaps says it all. By the time some records are out on vinyl, you’ve already got the CD. Digital of course provides a whole host of new options so it also has it’s merits but when’s C90 coming back??
Interestingly, your music seems to be closely connected with all things London, yet your sound also straddles Americana. Your thoughts please.
Well, if you believe the “all goes back to blues” theory and the chain gangs of early 1900’s, then it’s hard to (and who would want to??) escape such an influence. There is a bit more to it than that, and the roots on English folk go further back, but primarily if we look to our favourite artists for inspiration, then they’ve all imbibed those musical influences which will come through. Then unless it’s a narrative you tend to write about what / where / who you know, and naturally the core of that is home…London. A Canuck on fiddle may have shoved us a bit further west as well!
Tell us a little bit about the history of the band, how you met, etc.
Bill & David go back to infants’ school, and have been in bands since they could play. Joe has been a friend of Bill and David for years but it took until Billy Vincent was being formed before we could merge paths finally. Jack & Matt have been absorbed by osmosis recommended by mutual friends and just having really similar morals and interests… we’re all really close nowadays.
What are your plans around the release of your latest EP, the fabulous Once On The Grand Union?
Well, we’ve just had the launch party which was a great success if our fuzzy heads the next day were anything to go by… ouch. We had our friends’ bands opening the show and a full house in front of us -couldn’t have gone any better really. There’s a few sessions we’re recording for online series, radio, etc. but we’re also working towards the album at the same time so it’s almost non-stop right now, not that you’ll find us complaining! There’s a good list of live shows over the next few months too, that’s in our bones so no matter how difficult, we manage to work them in around the recording schedule, it’s important.
Name 5 great works of art (music, book, painting, poetry, etc.)
Bill: Steppenwolf -Hermann Hesse
David: Artist: Jean-Michel Basquiat. Painting: Untitled acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 1984.
Joe: The Band / Martin Scorcese -The Last Waltz.
Jack: St Pauls Cathedral -Sir Christopher Wren
Matt: East of Eden by Steinbeck
What’s the first record you ever bought, (please include format and place of purchase).
Bill: Michael Jackson, Bad, 12”
David: Nirvana’s Nevermind & Guns & Roses’ Use Your Illusion 1 and 2 -same day and each on cassette tape -that was a good day. 1991.
Joe: It was probably the Muppets or something equally ‘quirky’ on cassette and I remember copying Bryan Adams (Ryan wasn’t around yet!) from the library, but the first I remember actually buying because I’d got my first CD player at the time, was Oasis ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ single.
Jack: I don’t actually remember, it could well be Bon Jovi or something equivalently embarrassing cause my uncle was well into bands like that when i was little (he bought me my first drum kit). I do however remember my first mixtape was recording The Clash, Zeppelin and Rage Against the Machine off my dad’s CD/Cassette cause they were the only cd’s he had that weren’t scratched or world music from Tibet, the Middle east or The Verve.
Matt: Beastie Boys, ‘License to Ill’.
Do you feel a kinship with any artists, past or present?
We have some great friends on the circuit, and then there’s probably too many heroes to look to that have passed us by. Anyone who decides to do this must feel some kind of kinship with their heroes, just as when you want to be footballer you think you’re George Best or whatever… it’s when you meet bands that you really like and get to know them, see what makes them work so hard and what makes them tick -then it’s easier to feel connected, to have kinship.
Please give us 5 words that sum up the band.
Bill, David, Jack, Joe, Matt.
What are the long term plans for the band, after the release of the new EP, into next year and beyond?
Our biggest task is the debut album, currently in progress and released in Spring next year, there will be two singles from that too with additional b-sides. This is the first record any of us have ever made, so it’s a really big deal to us, kind of a huge tick in our book, it’s a really exciting time.
We never stop writing so there’s no reason why we can’t start new projects soon…. we were talking the other day about maybe doing a free video only EP, just a simple stripped back affair on a couple of handheld cameras and a few mics… We have a lot of ideas like that bubbling around our heads at the moment, we can’t sit still for a second!
Before we start on the second record we’d really love to get some serious touring under our belts, that’s why any of us ever started playing in bands. We’re cooking up a plan with the record company as we speak… look out the world!
All our love,
Billy Vincent xx
