It's been 28 years since imperishable RnB hipsters (in ye olde sense of the word) The Beatpack released their debut EP on Screaming Apple Records, recorded by Billy Childish no less. I caught up with front man Hugh Dellar on the eve of their Scottish dates.

D: Set the scene as it were, how / where and why did you get into this particular genre? 

H: I started out in a garage band Thee Wylde Things when I was 16 in the mid '80s. We morphed into The Beatpack by 1987. We were based initially in Hastings then moved to London. Simon had been in The Tyme Eliment in Huddersfield. We poached him in 1987 and started recording. We had a deal with Screaming Apple in Germany. Will the bass player joined in 1989.

D: Sounds like you all had a good knowledge of '60s garage/r'n'b?

H: Yeah. Totally. From when I was 15 or 16 I was obsessed with The Pretty Things, The Stones, The Kinks, The Yardbirds. American garage stuff. Dutch beat like The Outsiders. Totally evangelical about that music. Still am.

D: Fab. It was harder to hear/find the more obscure records back then, and of course we're talking pre-internet. I can relate to that obsession! How was the move to London? did the signing with Screaming Apple Records happen once you'd moved?

H: We moved to London to avoid getting into endless fights with locals. And to be nearer the scene. And record stores.

D: That makes sense.

H: Screaming Apple happened after Ritchie from the label saw us kill it at The White Horse in Belsize Park. He gave us some money and we recorded the EP Head On Home with Billy Childish, recorded in Red Studios in Borstal, near Chatham. That came out in '89, then the LP Could You Walk On Water, and a final 45, Not Tonight.

D: What was the scene like back then? 

H: The scene was ok. There were us and The Aardvarks. The Margin of Sanity. The Clique. But the US stuff was more where we were at. The Tell Tale Hearts, The Chesterfield Kings. We suffered from not being Mod enough for the Mod scene in London.

D: Yep. What is it with those pesky Mods?

H: Uptight types.

D: It must have been quite a whirlwind, being so young, obviously passionate about the music you were playing, putting out records, recording with Billy Childish. Why the split?

H: Long story. There was a lot of acid flying around. And E.

D: Okay ... kind of goes hand in hand with the music though doesn't it?

H: We were starting to open up to other music. Stuff we couldn't play ourselves. We played with acts who were in it to get famous and had our head turned. Grew up a bit, grew apart. Folks wanted to do other things with their lives. Girlfriends, the usual.

Our Drummer went off to travel and we all had to get proper jobs.

D: So in the interim, did you get involved with any other musical things?

H: Yeah. Will did Cee Bee Beaumont among other things. Simon was in bands. I became a teacher and lived in Asia for four years. Stopped playing music but wrote for Shindig magazine, and bought endless records. We didn't see each other much, for ages.

D: So how did you get it together again? 

H: We realised it was twenty years since the LP, agreed to meet to play a few songs from it. Realised it sounded great and went for it again. We realised how much we'd all missed it. Screaming Apple also reissued everything we'd done for them, and we did new 45's for State Records.

D: What are the differences playing now?

H: It's harder to get gigs these days as we're off the scene. We're older and uglier, but we reverted to basics. Hurt playing stuff we love.

D: Wow.

H: Now we make a record every year and hang out together. Write new songs.

D: Rewinding slightly, what would you say was the first record you heard that made it all happen for you?

H: Hard to answer. The Stones. Always. I guess. 'Get Off Of My Cloud'.

D: I was expecting something more obscure, but then I suppose that lead you to seek further.

H: Yep. Then The Pretty Things. The Outsiders. Q65 etc. Back From The Grave etc.

D: Natch! What do you think about the new generation of R&B/Garage bands such as Les Grys Grys?

H: Love them. But they love us more. They're good mates of ours. They're good people. Love the Greg Prevost solo stuff. Black Mambas. Detroit Cobras etc.

Not much in the UK though.

D: What about The Baron Four?

H: Like The Baron Four too.

D: Finally, please feel free to promote yourselves.. 

H: We've Got the new EP out. Back, Behind And In Front. It's rather good.

We can certainly vouch for that. A glowing review of their EP Back, Behind and In Front can be found here.

Catch The Beatpack at McChuills in Glasgow tonight. Support from Johnny & The Deadbeats and at thee prestigious Franklin Rock 'N' Roll Club tomorrow, supported by organ grinding commotion-ists The Sensation Seekers.    

American singer Haley AKA Haley McCallum FKA Haley Bonar is in Glasgow to play the BBC Radio 6music Festival. She and her band were here last October touring her recent album, Impossible Dream. If you’re wondering about the change of name, there’s a blog about it here. TL:DR? A bunch of people were being dicks about her surname. Those people are obviously not Irish or Scottish. Packie Bonner is an Irish hero and he's a hero here in Glasgow where he played with Celtic FC. There are biographies of him downstairs in the Barras market. It definitely wouldn’t happen if she were a man. It's a shame.

“I don’t think it’s a shame” counters Haley, “I’m not changing my name because I’m ashamed of it. I’m changing my name because I want to take my mother’s name. It doesn't change anything about my heritage. I’m honouring the matriarchy over the patriarchy for the second half of my life. It's absolutely not a shame.”

She has worn an individual path, releasing records herself and through indie labels, “I like to keep things moving. I don’t want to stay on anything too long. I’ve released a record every other year for the last ten years but I don't usually tour for an entire year. This time it has been almost a year. So I find time to do other things and keep myself busy.”

“This tour is a little over two weeks. Not quite as long as the last time. But after this I’m going to continue working on a book of short stories. That's where my next project is.” She’s a keen writer but the book is new territory for her. “I’ve read at shows. I’ve put a couple of stories out on my Facebook page or my blog in the last few years but I’ve never published anything. I’m getting less terrified of it as it becomes a reality. I’m a writer and I’m familiar with it but I’m not a novelist, and I’m not about to be one, but it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do. I’m working towards getting some kind of publishing entity involved, and an editor and all these things. It’s really exciting. I just need to find time to work on some of the stories. I try to get some done when I’m on the road but it’s not easy.”

Not content with her solo work, the book, and her band, Gramma’s Boyfriend (“We've made two albums and we're just beginning the third record now.”) Haley is eyeing a new direction for her music to complement the new moniker, “I’ve also been working on some pop music. I’m going to release my first ‘Haley’ record this year. It’s a goal, a loose goal. I’ve a lot of other irons in the fire and goals to accomplish. I’ve been working with this producer. His name is Lazerbeak. He’s with Doomtree, a big hip-hop label in Minneapolis. I’ve been sending him the stems for different songs that I’ve worked on with other people and my own demos. He’s been adding things. We're collaborating back and forth. I want to release something that’s completely different than the last few records. I’m not really sure if it will be a full-length or an EP, but I’m working on it.”

Haley is on tour now:-

Apr 03 The Cluny, Newcastle,

Apr 04 Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich,

Apr 05 Thekla, Bristol,

Apr 06 The Dome, London.

Dawson Reigns first emerged on the international stage half a decade ago with the rock drive of Enjoy The Ride. The Canadian songsmith returned after an extended break with the irrepressible single 'Love Was All You' before playing a handful of intimate UK shows. He's currently out on a UK-wide tour, showcasing his rock country sound, and is about to release the single 'The Night Ain't Even Over Yet'. Musos' caught up with him for a wee natter before he hit the road.  

MG: Hi Dawson! You're about to head out on a tour of the UK [22nd - 31st March]. Are you excited?

DR: I’m very excited to be back on my next UK tour so early in 2017. The UK is a major part of my touring so expect to see me a couple times each year going forward. Having country rockers like The Rising and BCMA Male Artist of the Year, Gary Quinn, joining the tour definitely takes the show up a few notches. It’s gonna be a full night of music that any country music fan will enjoy!

MG: What is it about performing in the UK that you enjoy?

DR: I love everything about the UK! I love the people, the cities, the food and the pubs! My one living grandfather is from Sheffield, so growing up I heard about his years in England and the history of the country and, yes, the food. Roast beef, potatoes, yorkshire pudding and meat pies were a regular for me growing up. As a performer I appreciate how welcomed the UK country music fans, UK country artists, radio and the media have made me feel. You don’t know what to expect until you get here and do your thing and it’s been great from the start! I plan on being back a couple times every year.

MG: You are a Canadian based in Nashville creating a cross-genre sound. What are your ambitions?

DR: I’ve had my career plans and goals set for some time now and have been checking them off over the past six years. Moving to Nashville was a big one and really the first major step in my career path. Writing with top industry writers, working with top producers and creating the business relationships I have now that allowed me to open my own independent label, Hit Maker Entertainment, are the foundations for my career and where I want it to go. Now it’s about touring as many
countries around the world annually, like the UK, and starting to establish myself back in the US as an artist to watch for years to come.

MG: Your debut single, 'Love Was All You', got a great radio response in the UK. Did you anticipate it's success?

DR: My team and I knew we had a great single with 'Love Was All You' coming out of the studio to launch with last summer. We had some good pre-release response from radio and other industry people that gave us some confidence with it. But to see radio, media and fans react the way they did in the UK has been great! The song is still being played in the UK and around the world so we think we made the right choice in leading with it off my new EP.

MG: We hear you have another single up your sleeve. Tell us about it…

DR: Another single is coming to radio real soon! It’s one that I wrote with one of the co-writers on 'Love Was All You'. It’s another high tempo, good feel, relationship story that we’re just as excited to release as we were with the first single. Definitely a good song coming outta the winter months into the spring and summer to get everyone feeling good!

MG: They are both lifted from your eponymous EP. How did you piece
together that body of work?

DR: Well along with getting Hit Maker Entertainment up and running, planning for this EP has been in the works for a couple years. Although I’ve been a little quiet on the live show side of things up until the 'Love Was All You' release last summer, I’ve been writing a lot with some of the very best writers in Nashville for this project. Also, I’ve sitting in publishing houses listening to songs being pitched to me for it as well. So you end up having dozens of songs iou’ve written and just as many collected songs from top writers in town. Then it comes down to putting the best songs on the CD or EP, be it your own or ones you collected. I think we did that with the six songs we selected for my EP.

MG: You have written a couple of the songs on the EP. How important is it for you to write your own work?

DR: I feel it’s becoming more and more important to me, and to many artists, that you have your own written songs on your projects. The songs have to mean something to me to be on my CD/EP and the more of my songs are included the more they are coming from my thoughts, my experiences or my wants. The
songs still have to be great to make it on the CD/EP, you aren’t doing yourself or your fans any favours by not putting on the best music you have be. I was
told long ago that you always put the best songs on your CD/EP even if that means fewer of your own. My goal is to keep writing with these hit song writers and every great song will be mine on the next CD/EP.

MG: When interpreting the words of others, what is your approach?

DR: I don’t really have an approach to be honest. I think you listen to a song and you either connect with it or you don’t. This is what we as artists are trying to do with our fans too. We put out music we love and we hope that they can connect with the song both musically and lyrically. So as an artist if I’m looking to collect songs for a project, I’m doing the same. It has to sound good musically to give me a feel for the song but lyrically I need to connect with it or I won’t cut it.

MG: The tour sees you team up with The Rising and Gary Quinn, which is a real cross-continental line-up. How did it come together?

DR: I’ve very excited to have The Rising and Gary Quinn on this tour. My team and I had a list of artists that we really felt would be good to join up with for this tour. We had talks with artists in Australia, the Netherlands, Italy, US and, of course, the UK. We had talked to The Rising back in October about working together so they were on our list right off the top. They have a country rock fell like me so we knew it would be a good fit. As for Gary Quinn, I got to meet Gary last October at my Gullivers show in Manchester. He was good enough to play in the line up for that show for me. Not that I need to say it cause the UK country fans already know, but he is a very talented singer/songwriter and artist that I really enjoyed listening too. Having these two great acts, along with additional local acts from
each city we’re playing in over the tour, is gonna be a full night of great music that any country music fan will enjoy!

MG: Will we see any collaboration between bands on the road?

DR: You might! This sorta thing happens quite regularly with touring acts. You have a lot of down time hanging out and it’s always something fun
to do. So we might pick a cover song or two that we all like and put on an extra little show for everyone.

MG: Lastly, if you could achieve on thing in 2017, what would it be?

DR: As far as the UK goes, I really hope to connect with people and reach more country music fans through my live shows, my social media sites and through radio.
I really hope to continue to see the radio support grow for my music. The UK is going to be an important part of my career and like I said earlier I plan on being back a couple times or more every year now.

*** 

Dawson is currently on tour in the UK and still has a number of dates to go before his final gig at The Garage in London on the March 31. To check out the full tour schedule and to purchase tickets for the shows, check out his website.