- What inspired the name of the band and what are your influences?
Once upon a time a little girl decided one of her toys was called Yabbit and the other, a very little and somewhat elusive chap was called Hooby. Then I started writing songs and my wife and I thought that’s a great name for a band and off we went. It was a long time in the making though. As far as influences go, particularly on this release, think ZZ Top, John Lee Hooker, George T Thorogood, perhaps Creedence and Cream…there’s an old fashioned retro blues thing going on in the sound/ mix. This was how Roni who mixed heard it and we let him run with it. I think it works.
- How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
It can work like that yes, if something’s on your mind or you have maybe just a chorus or a lyric fragment. Other times I’ll be banging away on guitar and stuff just ‘happens’. The hard thing is keeping track of all the ideas. The times that are the strangest is someone just says something, near you or on the TV or something, and time just sort of stops, but in your head your turning it over you know….you got to write ‘em down quick or you lose ‘em though
- Why do you write the sort of music that you do?
I’ve always had a thing for the blues and rock and roll. My wife and I listen to it a lot, amongst a lot of other music. It’s very sexy music I think. This release ‘Out of Time’ is a late night listen, then you’ll get it. Also I think blues and R and B is a social thing. It’s from somewhere and has weight to it and it’s possible to express yourself quite directly through it. But you’re using a guitar/ band which is old fashioned nowadays but that doesn’t mean the song content has to be old fashioned you know? So I write about politics, or the town I live in, or making love or daft stuff friends of mine have done or a someone leaving us, but I can sing/ play them all on a guitar on my own, old style. That’s what I like to do.
- How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
This is always an interesting process. We play covers as well and balancing the two is tricky. As well as being a writer I love to kick the hell out of a Led Zep or Neil Young song which in way is more fun and can be a major distraction. Then other people are wondering where your songs are – Oops you know what I mean. I like to try them acoustically, or change the feel of them, to try to build towards a good set that holds peoples interest and takes them on a journey rather than just going song 1, song 2, song 3 blah.
- What are your plans for the future?
I have a new drummer and my old bass player, so we’re going to try some gigs again for the first time in a couple of years which is going to be fun. Also we have a lot of acoustic music ready for release soon and another album of stuff to come out at the end of the year. Busy busy!