What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.
Biog:
Tenderhooks are a banging in your face 6 piece alt rock pop blues everything but the kitchen sink originals band from the sunny south coast of England. A place called Brighton.
They craft unbearably catchy, singalong, toe tapping, hand clapping uplifting, joyous tunes. Infectious and memorable all in a current bun!
Provide us with some info about your latest release…
Our new 7 track EP called Lucky 7 was released on Friday 12th Oct. The band had a launch party/gig at The Brunswick in Hove, UK. Their performance was streamed live on Facebook.
Lucky 7 is a halfway house to the finished 13 track album, possibly to be called Stardust Memories. The band aim to have the album finished by the end of the year.
The EP is only available as a CD or on request folks can pay for individual tracks using the bands Paypal account and receive a wav and mp3 copy emailed via WeTransfer.
Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?
My influences as a song writer are rooted in my eclectic taste in all things music from blues, jazz, classical, R&B, pop, opera, rock, etc etc. Sometimes only a brief passage of music gives me inspiration or a piece of news or event in my everyday life. Combining a musical hook and fitting an interesting and entertaining lyric around it. Sometimes starting with a story line then finding a drum rhythm or piano sequence to move the idea on. Once ready the band learn the song if they live it the thumbs up and then things get changed or sometimes not. It’s always a joy to play a new song to gauge the audiences reaction. Bring it on!
In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?
I’m the singer and song writer in the band. I write music in a wide variety of genres which as a band we try and fuse into an entertaining live show. Getting folks dancing and singing along is our key objective. We try and do the same in our recordings too.
Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…
Born To Run
The Cars Greatest Hits
Cool For Cats
Deer Hunter
Alien
Goodfellas
Goldfinger
Killshot
On The Road
Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?
Performing live, I am also an actor and so I see our show as a theatrical performance. The guys in the band definitely get a kick from playing live.
Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?
It happened at our last gig. We were supporting a very established Ska band called Too Many Crooks. I asked my keyboard player to bring a smaller keyboard because of the size of the stage. He borrowed his neighbours. Unfortunately towards the end of our set the keyboard started to play out of tune! Yuk. Next time use tried and tested gear. That’s my advice.
Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?
There are many as we have released 5 albums and due to release the 6th.
The first 3 were studio albums and were in some ways more experimental. There’s an instrumental tune called Bounce on the Eco Warrior album 2008. I used a big exercise ball and bounced it and recorded the sound.
It’s quirky and in my opinion very original.
Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?
As long as I keep writing we’ll record music for Tenderhooks. As a band we want to get a bigger fanbase and enhance our reputation as an entertaining originals band with a retro vibe.
Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…
Play our title track Stardust Memories at a music festival and get everyone clapping ala Queen in the chorus. The song was inspired by David Bowie untimely death.
Curated by: Christos Doukakis
Recommended listening:
Connect with Tenderhooks:
https://www.facebook.com/tenderhooks/