James Green and Tom Hamilton – The 45s – Uber Rock Interview Exclusive
Written by Ben Hughes
Saturday, 26 April 2014 04:00
You may not have heard of The 45s, neither had we until recently, but you will do soon as word on the streets is travelling fast. These teenagers formed a band at school with the intention of channelling the same grooves as 50’s R&B and 60’s Beat combos. Together just a couple of years they have already toured the length and the breadth of the country and sold out the legendary Oysterfleet on Canvey Island where Wilko Johnson joined them for a set of Dr Feelgood tracks.
I recently caught up with vocalist James Green and guitarist Tom Hamilton to find out all the details.
Hey guys, so for starters if you don’t mind me asking how old are you guys?
James: We’re all 17 apart from Joe the bass player who’s 16.
Wow, ok that’s pretty amazing considering the gig we just witnessed. How long have you been together as a band then?
Tom: Two years now, we met in school.
Where are you from?
Both (almost in unison): We’re from Carlisle.
So what have you recorded so far, do you have anything released?
James: We’ve got a single which came out last summer, it’s a double A side (‘It Ain’t Over/Devil Of A Woman’) and we’ve recently released an EP (‘Teenage Depression Live On Canvey’) which is a tribute to Dave Higgs from Eddie & The Hot Rods who recently died. We played the OysterFleet at Canvey Island the day after he died which we recorded live. We put a few tracks together and put them on the EP. We should have a new single coming out round about June.
Okay cool, so what are your influences generally as a band?
James: We’ve got quite a lot really, anything from the ‘20s up until now…uh
Tom: Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, early Bluesmen, Delta Blues, Chicago Blues, Soul, ‘60s music, Led Zeppelin, Dr Feelgood, The Jam, Oasis and Vintage Trouble.
Do these influences come from your parents then?
James: Not really, I watched Quadrophenia at 11 and got totally sucked in by the whole Mod thing and through watching that came bands like The Who and look at the songs they did like ‘The Seeker’ which is an old blues song. This then takes you back to all the old blues men, and when you then get into the blues you are kinda led back to where it all started from, where all the old proper music originated.
You’ve got a lot of that ‘Who’ type of energy on stage actually?
Tom: Yeah, that’s the sort of thing we try to go for.
You played here at Fibbers quite recently?
Tom: Yeah February/March time.
How has the attendance at gigs been for you, I mean these are hard times for new bands and venues like this rarely sell out it seems at the moment unless you’re a tribute act?
James: Tonight, that was quite full actually I thought (laughs).
What, compared to what you normally do?
James: No, no.
I mean for this size venue?
Tom: Well we packed one out last night.
Where were you last night?
Tom: Middlesbrough, The Princess Alice.
So, music wise what have you got done, can we expect an album coming any time soon?
James: Well, we recorded demos in January, we’re not releasing anything yet. We are speaking to people now so it depends what happens really in the near future. Let’s just say negotiations are going pretty well apparently, so we will see.
I hear you’ve got new management recently?
James: Yeah we’ve got an English one and an American one, a worldwide deal.
Do you hope to be playing out in The States soon then?
Tom: Well, maybe yeah I guess it depends really, it’s all up in the air.
The gigging schedule is warming up for the summer then?
James: Yeah we’re hoping to get busy, we’re doing quite a lot of festivals actually like The Hop Farm, I really want to do Kendal Calling a lot of my friends go to that one . Hopefully this year we’ll be doing a European tour, get to tour around Europe and go to Amsterdam that’d be cool.
Thanks guys for taking the time to talk to Uber Rock.
The future seems bright for The 45s, watch out for them when they hit a town near you soon.
http://www.the45scarlisle.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-45s-Carlisle/333649880010475
