Chris Peck & The Family Tree | Interview & Film

Chris Peck & The Family Tree, an unsigned ensemble with a rotating cast of musicians, have been building up a loyal following in late 2011, mixing headline gigs with support slots for the likes of Vetiver and Chatham County Line. Tim Cooper (words) and Kathy Magee (film) caught up with them in the sumptuous dressing room at the Lexington, where they invited our friend Angela Gannon to help out on an acoustic rendition of ‘I Walk Alone’. Chris told us about himself and his band and told some  anecdotes about his previous experiences of the music biz.

• When did Chris Peck & The Family Tree get together?

I guess it’s been about a year, though we’ve only been gigging since the spring. The band is mainly built up of mates from school in Essex. When we were 16 we were all in friendly rival bands, competing for the same girls at gigs we’d arrange ourselves..Anyway, we all grew up and everyone has had their own individual experiences in music. The drummer (Chris Higginbottom) was a big player in the NYC jazz scene, the keyboardist (Joe Walters) travelled the world in Stereolab for years and I had my own experience travelling the world in my last band Boy Kill Boy. Half the band I have now was trained in The Royal Academy of Music so I feel pretty honoured to be sharing the stage with them. Most importantly we have all found ourselves together again after all these years, which is why we call it ‘The Family Tree’.The band takes different shapes depending on the night, with a further extended family of musicians who occasionally join in, so every night is different if you’re in the audience… or the band!

• What’s the background to the band?

I got my big break with my last band Boy Kill Boy. It’s all I have focused on since those school bands so when I got my first deal I felt like I had earned it. We were whisked into the most famous studios around the world and basically spent about four years away from home. We sold a bunch of records {debut album Civilian reached no.16 in 2006}, saw a bunch of cities (well, as much as you can between sound check and bus call at 2am) and met a load of amazing people along the way. Driving up to Hollywood parties with Patrick Swayze and his brother; drinking way too much weed tea at Scarlett Johansson’s; and going flying (literally and er, ’literally’) with one of Hawkwind. But when all’s said and done it is just you and your songs. That is the only thing that really matters.

• What happened when Boy Kill Boy split up in 2008?

The rollercoaster ride left me feeling pretty dazed and confused. Suddenly the momentum of the machine around me stopped but my heartbeat was still going like a racehorse. That is a dangerous combination and is usually when people end up in graves. I found myself caught in a manic depressive whirl of booze and other such things that you embrace when you are constantly trying to keep the dream alive. After a while I hit the wall and needed some major support, which I received. Eventually, encouraged by friends, I started writing again and, bit by bit, started to fall in love with music again. And some of these friends joined me to form The Family Tree.

• People must often ask you why you’ve made such a radical switch in style from electric indie to acoustic folk?

I look around me and see how bands shift shape to fit trends around them. Whether it’s the nouveau rockabilly quiff or the electric day-glo colours of the early Acid House scene, all I see around me is bands hanging on to trends by their fingernails, desperate to stay in the game. I ain’t saying that you shouldn’t move with the times, but for me it’s been a more organic journey. I have been enjoying working with tools that sound the same in any room, forest, park or stage. Using instruments that don’t need to be plugged in has been a great way for me to engage purely in the demands of the song, rather than the style that surrounds it. But of course, as soon as I describe the instruments we use, I hear: “Oh, so you’re a folk band?” – so I guess there’s no fucking escape from labels! But the buzz for me is that every gig has a different line-up around a core group of band members, and each set of musicians brings out different qualities in the songs. And that is what it’s all about – the songs.

• Has the subject matter of your songs changed since you switched styles?

When I stand back and look at the songs I’ve written so far, I seem to be in the midst of writing a pretty dark album. ‘I Walk Alone’ is a love song, but it’s also a murder ballad. A conversation between two lovers, one voice from the grave and the other from the conscience of the murderer, who lost control and squeezed the life out of his lover, and in panic buried her in the woods. ‘Run Baby Run’ is a tale of a girl lost in the city, inspired by a friend of mine’s own life story. ‘Riversong’ is an ode to an old friend and an epitaph for a special person who was taken by the river that he and I lived on at the time, while ‘Way to Silence’ is a song of hope… surrounding the theme of suicide. I have written my fair share of songs about relationships, love and loss, and that will always be important stuff to me too. But the main thing for me now is to steer my thoughts away from superficial subject matter and directly address situations that have had a powerful impact on me.

• What does the future hold for Chris Peck & The Family Tree?

We plan to release a single or EP around February or March. I’ve had talks with some very exciting producers regarding an album and I’ll be talking to labels once a decision has been made. For the moment I’m just enjoying the best bit of being in a band – writing, gigging, and getting amongst a thriving music scene in the UK.

 

The line-up filmed here was: Chris Peck (guitar, vocals), Tony Land (mandolin, vocals), Josh Warren (violin), Jonny Hoyle (accordion), Angela Gannon (vocals) and – sitting it out for the acoustic number – Tom Gillet (bass). On other nights, you might expect them to be joined by Chris Higginbottom (drums), Ellen Blythe (viola) and Joe Walters (piano).

Dawes | Interview & Acoustic session

Interview by Tim Cooper | Film by Kathy Magee

In a double-header that might well have gone down in mid-Seventies LA as “One Of Those Nights” (to coin a phrase), a sold-out Borderline hosted a stunning show by Dawes and Jonathan Wilson.

On a steamy July night Dawes opened the show with their Seventies-influenced jams, evoking echoes of everyone from Little Feat to The Band, before being joined by Wilson, showcasing songs from similarly Seventies-influenced solo debut Gentle Spirit.

It was a night of tight rhythms and harmonies, loose guitar solos and keyboard improvisations. After two hours of spellbinding interplay, and in one of the worst kept secrets in town, up jumped Jackson Browne, who was doing this sort of thing before the guys onstage with him were born.

He gave the rapt crowd, including luminaries ranging from Roy Harper to Caitlin Rose, half an hour more including These Days and a tribute to Warrren Zevon before closing with – inevitably – a mass singalong of Take It Easy.

It was a magical night and it’s a tribute to the present-day keepers of the Laurel Canyon flame that both Dawes and Wilson held their own against the living legend alongside them.

Before that we caught up with Dawes backstage and persuaded them to tell us a little about themselves before playing an acoustic version of ‘How Far We’ve Come’ from their album ‘Nothing is Wrong’.