The Strange Brew speaks to The Beautiful South founder member Dave Hemingway and guitarist, songwriter Phil Barton about their new band Sunbirds and debut album ‘Cool To Be Kind’.
Describe Sunbirds in 5 words?
Dave: Mature, adolescent, musical, ready and hopeful.
Phil: Honest, therapeutic, genuine, challenging and fun.
How has lockdown been for you and what’s your daily routine?
Dave: Pretty stressful, I don’t do social media or computer meet-ups, so have tended to read a lot and hope things improve soon.
Phil: Not too bad really despite having no income. I’ve been teaching myself a lot of things I otherwise wouldn’t have had time to do like Photoshop, building websites that sort of thing. Not very rock’n’roll I know, but you need it these days. I’ve even set up my own record label. The family have been together too, which has been nice. I’m not the sort of person who is ever bored to be honest.
Did you panic buy and what do you miss doing and has social isolation caused any personality changes?
Dave: Stocked up on wine if anything. I miss going out, but luckily I don’t have much of a personality to change.
Phil: No panic buying in our house! Times of uncertainty can really make some people behave bizarrely can’t it? I’m usually gigging over the weekends and that makes up a fairly big part of my social life too, but I’ve missed being in a room with other people making music. No personality changes as far as I’m aware.
Tell us about your new album ‘Cool To Be Kind’ and how would you describe your new material?
Dave: The new album (our debut album) is a collection of original songs inspired by quite a few styles which have been personal favourites over the years. Indie, Country etc and could maybe been called ‘Americana’, except that we don’t live in America. So it has that feel, but songs about subjects closer to home. Hopefully people will know what we mean.
Phil: It’s a self-financed labour of love containing 12 songs put together to introduce Sunbirds to the world! It’s released everywhere on October 30th and also available on CD only from
The album title is kind of our manifesto really. It seems that society is more divided than ever. There’s a lot of judging and mud-slinging going on and it’s just a reminder that a little bit of empathy can go a long way. It’s also a nice little tip of the hat to Nick Lowe one of our nation’s best songwriters in my humble opinion.
Musically it’s got a bit of everything, but overall I’d say it’s Americana or Alt-Country. Lyrically it’s inspired by our lives in the UK.
I’ve been extremely lucky with the way it’s all come together with the right people, the songs, the timing of it. It’s a funny thing, it sounds really corny I know, but it almost feels to me like my life has been building up to this point. It’s that big for me.
How do Sunbirds compare to The Beautiful South?
Dave: Obviously, it’s been a long time since TBS finished, 13 years in fact. Sunbirds have their own direction, different and diverse band members and comparisons are pointless. Hopefully we can create our own musical niche with good songs and we look forward to having a new audience to hear them.
Phil: I suppose this question is inevitable. Apart from Dave’s voice obviously, the only other thing I think we have in common is that we’ve both got our pop sensibilities, albeit to different degrees. I think The Beautiful South and Sunbirds are very different bands overall though.
Do you have a song on the album that means more than the others and for what reason?
Dave: ‘Stars Still Shine’ is a song which resonates with me because of the situation I currently find myself in. I’ll leave it at that, I’ll get me coat.
Phil: I’m genuinely really proud of all these songs for different reasons. The ones written alone have more personal meaning because it’s human nature to be more inward looking when you’re alone.
‘When I’m Gone’ is a song I’d been trying to write for a long time, then one day it all came out in one go! The words, the melody, the changes, everything! I sat down with a guitar, set the phone recording and four minutes later there it was. It’s lovely when that happens, lovely but rare. So in that respect it’s a bit special given its subject matter too.
What are you most proud of so far in your career and what is your career highlight to date?
Dave: I’ve been very fortunate to have quite a few highlights in music, getting on Top of the Pops for the first time was great. Having a No1 single and album was brilliant as well. As for live gigs, playing the main stage at Glastonbury would take some beating. As I said, very fortunate.
Phil: This album is the thing I’m most proud of as a songwriter. As a guitarist three personal highlights come to mind; playing Black Magic Woman with Peter Green sat about 10ft away from me, kissing Petula Clarke and Ade Edmonson calling me a rude word. Not all at the same time mind.
What music do you listen to at home and are there any particular band or albums you’re into at the moment?
Dave: There’s no one in particular I’m listening to more than others at the moment, but I just love listening to most music out there. Sounds like a cop-out, but it’s true.
Phil: I listen to anything and everything at home. I love finding new bands & artists, but having said that I’ve got albums I always go back to and still get the same inspiration, like Strangers Almanac by Whiskeytown, Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, the Foo Fighters first album, Round Midnight Kenny Burrell, Jimi Hendrix’s Band Of Gypsies album, Copper Blue by Sugar, Frosting On The Beater by The Posies, Revolver, Prairie Wind by Neil Young. It’s quite a long list.
What’s the most rock’n’roll thing you’ve ever done?
Dave: There were quite a few shenanigans back in the day. Suffice to say it was most providential that mobile phones and camera weren’t about at that time…Us and Led Zeppelin eh?
Phil: Probably best to ‘take the 5th’ as they say on that.
How different is the music scene in this modern digital era we now live in?
Dave: I must admit to being a bit (a lot) of a technophobe when it comes to music in the digital era. The band are trying hard to drag me kicking and screaming into the 21st century!
Phil: Being a bit old school I think I’m going to have to say I preferred it at it was, but then again everyone was at the mercy of the gatekeepers of the music industry in those days so it could be a bit of a cartel. Difficult one that.
The digital thing is incredible, Shazam is an amazing thing to have in your pocket and very easy to take for granted, but I do miss LP’s and singles and going to shops to discover new music. There was a certain buzz when you got a single home played it and it was killer.
When it was analogue in order to listen to an album you sat down and listened to 22 minutes of music, then got up and had to turn it over to get the rest of it. In a way that sort of trained you to listen for more than 10 seconds before feeling bored. It meant the artist had your attention and could build something and send you on a journey if they wanted. I think it’s a shame that the art of album making seems to be being eroded. You can only really do that at gigs now, but it is what it is. I think it’s called ‘progress’.
Do you have plans to perform live at some point and what do you hope audiences will take away from your shows?
Dave: There are of course plans to play live gigs as soon as it becomes possible with the current situation. It will be exciting to play the new songs and hopefully people will have a listen and importantly have a good time.
Phil: Yes. Assuming people will want to come and listen. I hope so. So far reaction has been amazing and we’re all really chuffed about that. The album ebbs and flows, it can go from being funny to sad to angry to whatever, it really mixes things up so it’s going to be fun! I can’t wait to get out there and play it!
What are your plans for the future?
Dave: Musical world domination. Failing that, getting played on Radio 2.
Phil: To keep doing this with any luck.
Further information on Sunbirds and debut album ‘Cool To Be Kind’ can be found at: sunbirds.co.uk
