Introducing… The Coracle Band!
For my final tour of 2016, I’m delighted to announce that the all-new Coracle Band will be on tour with me, giving my songs a new, bigger, bolder twist…And we're really excited to be heading out on our first tour together in December!
Hopefully you’ll be able to make it along to one of the dates we have coming up – see the Live Page for information about where we’re heading – so you can see the band and I in the flesh, but I thought it’d be a good idea to introduce the band here so you can get to know who’s-who before the tour gets underway.
Writer, Sophie Parkes, has interviewed each member of the band and we will post the results here. Keep checking back as we work our way through the ranks.
But first up is The Coracle Band’s brand new guitarist, M G Boulter…
You have a few musical hats. What are the current musical projects you're involved in?
Aside from working with the wonderful Coracle Band, I released a new solo album in January this year and I am currently working on a follow-up EP with a band called The Froe. I have also played with my band, The Lucky Strikes, for many years and we released our fifth album last month. I get to play with lots of different acts; I'm lucky to have all the opportunities.
Can you remember when you first saw Emily perform? What made you think 'yes, this music's for me'?
Actually, the first time I saw Emily perform was in the studio recording Coracle. I think she is one of the best songwriters in the UK at the moment; she is more than a folk artist, her lyrics reach out in much broader terms that speak of the human condition. I hope she wouldn't mind me saying that!
How did you get involved in The Coracle Band?
I was recommended to Emily by her producer, Andy Bell, when they were putting together the Coracle Band for recording purposes. I had played with Rachel Newton and Lucy Farrell in gigs and sessions so they knew me and hopefully they bore witness to my good standing of character.
What roles do you perform in the band?
I play guitar and pedal/ lap steel guitars. My role, therefore, varies from providing the basic structure of the songs for everything else to hang from or I create strange and ethereal noises that help create the dark and miasmic soundscape of Emily's songs.
How do you approach an arrangement? Do you contribute ideas or does Emily state what and how she'd like you to play?
Emily is good at providing a steer about what she would like for her songs and so I work to get that for her. During the recording of the album, I would play things over the songs and she might point out a particular thing she liked. I remember on one track, 'Night Jar', I was messing around with this flamenco guitar roll which Emily liked but it was a really hard technique to sustain throughout the song so I sweated over that one. Many of the songs on Coracle have this amorphous musical quality to them and much of my role is to build that so some of my work can be quite random and unplanned as well.
Rehearsing, recording or performing live – what does it for you?
A mixture of all three makes for a happy balance. Rehearsing is fun because you can experiment and enjoy playing together, performing is exhilarating and recording allows you to build up the music that you can't necessarily do on stage. Too much of any of these can drive you a little insane though.
What can audiences expect from the December gigs?
The audience is going to hear some great stories from Emily and music that has lots of interesting things going on in it. We've been touring this year in Europe and at UK festivals so these shows are going to be the culmination of those experiences and miles travelled. I believe there are going to be some surprises too!
Tell us a secret
Now that would be telling…
Thanks, Matt! You can read more about M G Boulter on his website here and come back soon for more introductions.