What are your names?
Will Bladen & Holly Blackshaw
What is the band name?
Crooked Weather
How did you come up with the band name?
Came out of a much earlier duo act, involving myself and a bass player named Dan; Willis Weather and The Crooked Genius. It eventually evolved into Crooked Weather, for the better!
What is your genre of music?
Hmmm, we are musical magpies but somewhere between folk and not folk
Give us a little bio about you as a band and as individuals.
We (Will and Holly) make up the core of the band with a mutual taste in strange old folk music. The stripped back duo expands with Beth Nicholson (Yorkshire Orchestra stalwart) on Cello; Tom Skelly (gardener and songwriter currently residing in Scotland) on bass and Dave Tomlinson (vegan machine and equipment collector).
What made you go in to music?
It just kind of happened that way. You follow the roads that make sense at the time of taking them.
Are you signed?
No
Your brand new single ‘ Easy’, is set to release, tell us more about it. What was the writing process like?
Easy was one of those songs that just wrote itself and it’s hard to say where this kind of a song comes from. It had been fermenting away in the background for a while and ideas would come now and again when outside cutting the grass and things like that. Then one afternoon it pretty much came out fully formed. It’s probably best not spending too long thinking about where it came from.
What was the recording process like?
Good. We recorded this track a bit different from the rest of the album as we really wanted to capture the feel of the live performance. So, we rented a bigger studio for a day (Fairview Studios) and went about capturing a band take that we could work with.
Describe the track in two words.
Powerstation folk
Where can it we buy/listen to it?
We keep a handle on our Bandcamp page: crookedweather.bandcamp.com
But it’s going to be digitally distributed on all the normal platforms! The single is out on 15th March and the album, 12th April.
You are also set to release a new album, tell us more about it.
It’s called ‘Are We Lost’ and it feels good to be getting it out. There are many songs on here that we have been developing and playing on the road over the last few years and it marks our first album release in about 4 and a half years. We have evolved quite a lot in that time and so it’s good to have a better representation of where we are at now musically.
Describe each track in two words.
1. Slieve League – Special night
2. Rabbit Holes – Silver afternoon
3. Paper Roads – Sometimes tear
4. Hares on the Mountain – Crooked traditional
5. Stoney Bay Blues – Barely alive
6. Broken Art – Life’s Futility
7. Jerusalem – Dust blues
8. This is all – Travel song
9. A Gentleman’s Parting – Goodbye friend
10. Easy – Powerstation folk
Who did you work with on the album?
Rob Burgess – Producer, sound engineer and multi instrumentalist. Rob really helped us sculpt our songs into this album and between him, Holly and Will they covered a lot of extra instruments.
Beth Nicholson – Cellist. Since getting on really well when doing some session work in the studio with Beth, she’s been joining us for some more acoustic based performances since then.
Tom Skelly – Bassist
Dave Tomlinson – Drums
John Spence – Sound, mixing and mastering engineer
What shows have you got coming up?
Bournemouth, Cellar Bar – 12/04/19
Hyde Tavern, Winchester – 13/04/19
Square and compass, Worth Matravers – 19/04/19
Cafe INDIE, Scunthorpe – 24/04/19
Sheffield, Hallamshire House – 27/04/19
The Basement, York – 28/04/19
Evron Center, Filey Folk Festival, Filey – 05/05/19
Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate – 11/05/19
The Lamb, Surbiton – 12/05/19
The New Adelphi Club, Hull – 17/05/19
Vestry Hall, Cranbrook – 18/06/19
Green note, London – 19/06/19
What else can we expect in 2019?
After ‘Easy’ and the album are released then we might try and get a new single out pretty quickly. We are currently doing some work in the studio at the moment. But then there are also more shows coming later in the year and some good festivals over the summer months!
What instruments do you all play in this set up?
Holly – vocals and guitar
Will – vocals and guitar
Dave – drums
Tom – bass
Beth – cello
Who are your influences?
Bob Dylan, Roy Harper, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Nick Cave
How do you get inspiration to write songs?
Since our inception, the band have been living a semi-nomadic life on the road touring England, Ireland, Holland, France, Australia, New Zealand and America. The songs evolve as we have, influenced by the music they listen to, places they’ve seen and the people they’ve met on their travels
Where do you see yourself in 5 Years?
2024
When you’re not doing music, what do you do?
Will spends time gardening and Holly works at Hull’s legendary venue The New Adelphi Club
What was the song you listened to most that influenced you to go more in to the music scene?
Bob Dylan – It’s Alright Ma
What’s the best advice you have ever been given?
“Stay off the heavy drugs” Peter Green
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians not about the industry as an artist?
Always stay true to the love and passion that lead you to first practice an instrument
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
“Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb” Bob Dylan
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
Plectrums, Electro Harmonix Turnip Greens, Water, the right mind set, oh and i guess some instruments!
Do you have any social media accounts for readers to follow you?
