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EP: What’s The Hummingbirds’ story?<\/strong><\/p>\n TH: Our story isn\u2019t too complex! We\u2019re five childhood friends who like to make music together, and some people like that music and come to visit us at shows! It all came very naturally to us, to write together, play together and be together all the time. I think its very rare these days to find people you enjoy making music with as much as we enjoy it. We\u2019ve all played in different bands for the last few years but this feels different than the rest! We are all from Liverpool, born and raised there, played music from early teens and all knew each other through either school or college.<\/p>\n EP: Liverpool and Manchester are synonymous with good bands and good music – what do you think the secret is? Something in the water?<\/strong><\/p>\n TH: I don\u2019t know about Manchester\u2026. But Liverpool for sure. (Just kidding) both cities have had huge successes with bands, The Beatles, Oasis, The Smiths, The La\u2019s to name a few, I can\u2019t speak for Manchester, but Liverpool has such a diverse culture, with the Irish influence and the docks being a gateway to America, we always kind of kept ahead of the rest of the country in the 50s and 60s and I feel that kept us ahead. I can\u2019t speak for today because now it\u2019s so easy to access music online, and make your own that the UK as a whole is producing some really good bands, I think.<\/p>\n EP: How would you describe your style?<\/strong><\/p>\n TH: It\u2019s our own take on an Americana style I would say, It\u2019s not an exact imitation, you have to leave room for some originality or the \u2018Liverpool\u2019 sound to fit in! We are all influenced by a lot of great American artists, The Eagles, Neil Young, Dylan, John Mayer to name a few that It does show in our songwriting, but then there are the obvious English influences like The Beatles and The Hollies.<\/p>\n EP: You’re working on your debut album, ‘Pieces of You’, due out early next year. What’s the songwriting process like for you guys? Do you all chip in or is it one or two of you who write all your songs?<\/strong><\/p>\n TH: Sometimes it can be a group effort definitely, but most of the time it\u2019s between our guitarist Mic, singer Jay and rhythm guitarist Matty. It\u2019s usually chords first, or a riff, then we will sit down and try get a basic melody and some lyrics, usually verses first, but a lot of the time that order can change, if we start to play in a room together at once, we can just write a song completely in 10 minutes, then record a phone demo, Jay will take it away try and write some lyrics and when he brings it back we will mess with the lyrics till we\u2019re happy! Then another phone demo, listen again and probably add harmonies on top and start to cut the track up and mix it around it\u2019s never really too strained.<\/p>\n EP: Leading on from that, with 5 in the band, are you a democracy, or do you feel that someone has to lead from the top? And if so who?<\/strong><\/p>\n TH: I think we all would have different points on that, I feel that you do need someone to lead from the top, but that someone changes due to the task\u2026if it\u2019s logistics its Ryan, If it’s music it\u2019s Mic, if it’s time keeping it\u2019s none of us! If it\u2019s admin stuff it\u2019s Jay.<\/p>\n EP: What’s your take on the current state of the music industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n TH: We\u2019re living in a tough age of the music industry, X Factor is glamorising it, chewing people up and spitting them out (a lot of the winners just get dropped after a year) Streaming is killing the royalties for songwriters (but if you don\u2019t go on the streaming sites people can\u2019t discover your music\u2026 catch 22) There are so many people playing music now as it\u2019s become more accessible and cheaper to get into, that it\u2019s really hard to be found, sometimes it feels like you\u2019re swimming against the current. But that is also incentive to work harder and be better than everyone else around you. It\u2019s such a competitive industry these days.<\/p>\n EP: What’s your advice for anyone wanting to get into music? How would they go about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n TH: Just pick an instrument, get a really cheap one, try it out and see if you can hack it! There\u2019s plenty of free reading online, YouTube for videos and tutorials and even Skype lessons! There\u2019s never been a better time to get into music, especially at a young age.<\/p>\n EP: If you could do it all again, what would you do differently, if anything, and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n TH: I think that we\u2019re at the point we are at for a reason, and for that, I\u2019d say no, maybe some questionable outfit choices or haircuts but other than that, it\u2019s been a good journey.<\/p>\n EP: What’s next for The Hummingbirds?<\/strong><\/p>\n TH: Our next EP release, \u2018Out Of The Rain\u2019 is out November 6th and is available to pre order now from iTunes. Next year is the album \u2018Pieces of You\u2019, so we\u2019re just planning to tour around then and hopefully be on the road as much as possible!<\/p>\n EP: What question do you wish someone would ask you in an interview, but nobody ever does?<\/strong><\/p>\n TH: That\u2019s a good question actually, something about the musical composition of the tunes maybe? Why does this D7 chord appear at the end of \u2018Out Of The Rain\u2019, maybe, or something about song form? But that doesn\u2019t make for interesting reading!<\/p>\n Catch The Hummingbirds live on November 13 at Telford’s Warehouse, Chester, November 28th at The O2 Academy in Liverpool, and December 8th at London’s Barfly. Check them out online on their website<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, and Twitter. <\/a><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Liverpool 5-piece, The Hummingbirds are ready to release their first EP, ‘Out Of The Rain’ on November 6 via their own label, Gladstone Recording Co. We checked them out, to find what the buzz is all about.<\/p>\n