Hot Feet’s music lives and breathes in the countryside. ‘Wood House’ was written in a small cabin on the east coast of Sweden and recorded in a remote studio in the Scottish Highlands, only accessible by boat. The five songs are set, however, in the Cotswolds where Marianne (vocals) tends to goats and sheep when she’s not playing music, and Lachlan (bass) builds dry stonewalls. The band draw together a diverse range of musical influences including delta blues, sixties folk and world rhythms. Clamorous in places, delicate in others; sometimes offering raucous, earthy uproar and a wistful, yearning narrative within the very same song. The EP ranges from stomping gallops to tender ballads, and has been lovingly and impressively produced by Pete Roe, long-time side-man of Laura Marling and a gifted songwriter in his own right.
Hot Feet Are: Marianne Parrish – vocals, Jack Page – guitar, Rob Pemberton – drums, Lachlan McLellan – bass
01 How did you get started in music?
We’ve all been playing music in one form or other from a very young age. Coming from musical families definitely encouraged this through our early school years and then onwards.
02 Where did your direction come from?
Our parent’s records were some of the first influences we had, and by the time we met we had all come from quite different musical backgrounds. Since then our tastes have merged into the sounds we find ourselves making today.
03 Who were your major influences and inspirations and who do you despise?
Our earliest influences as a band were artists like Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Bert Jansch and Davy Graham… we found ourselves often looking to the past for inspiration. These days we’re trying harder to keep tabs on new sounds coming from all over the world and incorporate these colours and rhythmic ideas into our music where we can. As for who we despise, well that’s quite a strong word! We’ll keep our friends close and our enemies closer!
04 What inspires you to make your current type of songs and sound?
We’re very lucky that our hometown, Stroud, is a very vibrant and artistic community with beautiful surroundings, where the people and places provide us with a lot of inspiration to work with.
05 What can someone who has never seen you live before expect from your live shows then & possibly even now?
We’ve phased out a lot of the acrobatics in our live show due to health and safety restrictions. The circus animals and magic tricks also had to go. These days you can expect strong grooves, flashy fingerstyle guitar playing and lots more vocal harmonies than before. And maybe some baaaa-d sheep jokes!
06 How do you begin your songs? What types of themes and subjects do you deal with?
Songs often start with a riff or vocal melody and build up from there. The lyrics deal with all sorts of topics, a lot of which are personal to Marianne but could be applicable many. Nature is a common theme, often used as a sort of looking glass through which these personal situations can be perceived.
07 How did your music evolved since you first began playing?
What started out quite delicate and rooted in the folk tradition has now got louder, bassier, boomier. Bigger amps and bigger drums have developed our music into something much more varied, and opened opportunities for a fuller sound. We still keep some of the softer songs in our set though, and there will always be room for them.
08 What has been your biggest challenge? Were you been able to overcome this? If so, how?
Getting our first record done. The process from start to finish was a good challenge, and probably the most exciting and rewarding stage of our musical careers so far.
09 Do you play covers? If you could pick any song, which would you like to cover most and why?
We used to play a few covers when we started out, our favorite was definitely King of The Swingers from the Jungle Book!
10 Where did you envisage being in five years time?
Who knows. We enjoy playing music together so hopefully still doing that. Hopefully we’ll have our own band van by then!
11 Who would you most like to record with?
We love the idea of an international collaboration somewhere along the line. We’ve all been listening to a band called Tinariwen at the moment, from Mali. A band like that would be cool to work with.
12 What should we be expecting from you in the near future?
Hopefully it wont be too long until we’re back in the studio and we’ll be touring this year as well as playing some festivals over the summer. Look out for Jack’s own hand-made guitar that he should finish before then, and couple of new instruments on the stage!
