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Interview: Stornoway

I arrived at Oxford Town Hall to be met by Stornoway’s lead singer Brian Biggs, who I would later chat to, carrying two guitars in his left hand and a keyboard stand in his right. Stornoway have now cemented themselves into the hearts and minds of the people of Oxford whilst also succeeding further afield with the success of their infectious first single ‘Zorbing’, the first, and only, performance of an unsigned band on Later with Jools Holland, and a hotly anticipated second album in the pipeline (due March 11th). They appeared roadie-less for the second of two sell-out nights playing to a home crowd. This sort of authentic attitude, often attributed in clichéd terms to many new and trendy bands, is evident throughout the whole afternoon and into their second gig in as many nights at the impressive Town Hall.

Briggs and I fell into the interview, making chitchat about the conservation of ducks, the subject of his PhD from Oxford. There he met Jonathan Quin, the band’s keyboard player and co-songwriter. Although Briggs tells of his “love of Cowley” where he and the band still live, he’s apparently “never settled” and has a love of things more “naturally dramatic.”

This seems to be a constant backdrop to the life of Briggs, one which “works its way into the songs as nature, the weather and seasons which act as a backdrop for the stories.” This, he says, is a key part of the anticipated second album Tales of Terra Firma, which conjures up images of a “new explorer” for him personally, and deals with “more weighty experiences through a bigger sound.” It’s been three years since the band’s debut album, Beachcomber’s Windowsill, in which time they’ve been “getting to grips with being a grown up”, but with these weightier experiences the band seemed to have now settled into their Oxford life beyond academia.

The band’s attitude to their success is nonchalant. I ask Briggs what he thinks of the mainstream folk revival and being compared to bands such as Mumford and Noah and the Whale. The genre’s re-emergence “has definitely been a helping hand”, but he admits they feel no pressure to emulate others – “if those bands didn’t exist, we’d be doing exactly the same thing.” Once the first album’s promotional tour was over, Briggs was thankful to be able to “leave the public eye”, to return to Cowley with “no pressure to write poptastic hits and be able to continue with what we wanted to do.”

This low-key approach was later shown in the second of the band’s gigs at the Town Hall that was simply brilliant. The general buzz of the venue suggested a yearning for Oxford’s own, with a sense of exclusivity at what would undoubtedly be a gig to remember. This was reinforced by the band’s choice of venue, something Briggs had earlier said was a deliberate choice as it is a “beautiful building creating a great atmosphere.” Although the band love playing to a home crowd they admit to an added sense of pressure. “Even though they’re onside, they’re our longest serving fans and we want them to like the new songs.”

If this pressure was still felt, it definitely wasn’t shown as they stepped on the stage to rapturous applause. Throughout their set, their sense of individuality and creative independence shone through with weird and whacky instrument choices such as a saw and spoons. The insertion of ‘November Song’, a short acoustic number, was stunning earlier in the set and, as they neared the encore, similar expectations begin to surface which were definitely met, by the band rushing offstage only to re-appear behind the audience in the gallery, this time in four-part harmony. They then rushed back onstage for Quin to play the mighty town hall organ.

Then followed departure into a prog-rock, Emerson, Lake and Palmer style, epic with a certain element of irony beaten only by Briggs’ rendition of The Proclaimers ‘500 Miles’ in the sound check earlier on. This segued into ‘I Saw You Blink’ and ‘Watching Birds’ to end. Over in a flash, this was a gig to remember and one I definitely will. Briggs appeared both quick-witted and contemplative throughout the set.

I’d asked him for some advice and about what Stornoway had in store for the future. His answer now seemed particularly appropriate:

“Don’t send anything out until you’re completely happy with it, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of second chances in music. And yeah, I want to be massive in Liechtenstein”.

No doubt they will.

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