HOT TRAMP
Whats your favorite track on your album ' Sermon for the on believer'?
Black Dog Howl always sticks out to me, it came together very easily when we wrote it which the best songs usually do in my experience and it's heavily guitar driven. I do also have a soft spot for 'Tie Me Down' as that was a lot of fun to record.
What makes music so important to you?
It's a cliche but music is just a great form of expression. The right soundtrack will make whatever activity you're doing or emotion you're feeling that much more engaging and visceral. The two things that my favourite music tends to have plenty of is genuine emotion and attitude, it can have just one or both of those things but if it doesn't have either then it doesn't do anything for me.
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How did 'Hot Tramp' come about?
Our band 'Hot Tramp' rose from the ashes of an old cover band we used to play in together as teenagers that we basically got bored with and out-grew. After around a year apart the three of us met up, chucked out the old set and started learning the songs that got us interested in music in the first place with no real aim other than enjoying playing again. Song writing progressed naturally from there and here we are. The name 'Hot Tramp' was nicked from that famous Bowie song for no other reason than we thought it sounded cool.
What has been your best gig and why?
There have been a few for different reasons, playing festivals on big stages to lots of people is always fun but the most enjoyable for me are the small, sweaty pub/bar gigs where the audience is right in your face, you have other like minded bands on the bill and you all get an hour or so to go on and play your best stuff with no let up. Gigs like 'Swanfest' at The Swan in Ipswich come to mind.
How does music make you feel / has it ever been your therapy?
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I wouldn't say music has ever been therapy for me but I can definitely see how it could help someone going through some hard times. If you look at the most successful and influential bands in history they've usually touched a nerve with an unhappy or unsatisfied demographic that feels that the music expresses what they feel they're going through. When I listen to music it's more how I'm feeling that dictates what I listen to, when I play music I feel pumped up and liberated...hard to describe in words.