The Lost Trades Interview
Hello “Lost Trades,” thank you for joining us! Give us a brief history of how you formed and what your goals were when you first started the band?
Before we formed, we were three individual singer-songwriters all working on the same scene in the west country. We’d become friends over years of playing the same venues, and had started collaborating a bit, usually in some form where it was a solo gig for one of us, and the other was adding a little extra accompaniment. Then one time, Tamsin needed a bit of a backing band, and Jamie and I (Phil) both agreed. Once we started putting the three part harmonies together, we knew we were on to something special and made it an official new band. I think at the time, we just wanted to see what sort of magical sound we could produce and try to get our friends excited. It soon became apparent that we could take it a lot further.
How did each of you start playing and how old were you when you joined your first band?
Jamie: My Dad taught me my first chords when I was little and I dipped into it from time to time. I didn’t join a band until I was in my 20s - a country harmony band with my brothers.
Phil: I was 7 when I started singing, and 11 when I first picked up a guitar, I formed various bands at school and have always been in a band or performing as a solo artist ever since.
Tamsin: I was about 12 or 13 when I first picked up the guitar. My Dad lived on a canal boat and my weekends were filled with lots of towpath campfires with many people bringing guitars and instruments along for jamming together. I had an urge to join in and so my dad taught me power chords and 12 bar blues to start with. I then discovered songwriting but was very shy to share them until I did my first gig at about 22 years old! I’ve always played solo until we formed The Lost Trades and it was a big (but fun and worthwhile) adjustment for me to play with other people.
How have your musical goals changed from when you started this band, to where it is now?
We’ve achieved far more in those 3 years than we thought we would. We didn’t dream our debut album would spend 8 months in the Official Folk Chart for instance. I guess our goals are always to (a) continue to make great new music and (b) reach more people. By that definition our goals haven’t really changed, but how we measure them maybe has.
Did each of you always know what type of music you wanted to create, or has it changed over time?
We all love different types of music, and The Lost Trades is a slightly different style from what we were each doing solo before the band. For instance I have more of a rock/indie background and Jamie earned his musical stripes in a country band. I guess the constant is the guitar… it’s always guitar music.
Is “The Lost Trades” able to provide a living for all of you or do you each have jobs on the side?
We each do our own things, Jamie is a filmmaker. Tamsin does woodcraft, carvings etc. I have a home studio where I can do session work, remote mixing etc. Often those skills will cross-over; Jamie makes all our music videos, Tamsin makes some of our quirky wooden merch to sell at gigs, and I record and produce our albums.
You’re in the midst of a 21-city tour of the UK – how is it going so far?
It’s been great fun so far. We’d spent months in the studio, but live performance is an important part of who we are, so it feels a bit like coming home. We love visiting new places and exploring the English countryside between gigs too. It's great to connect with humans face-to-face again, sometimes it's people who have never heard us before and other times it's people who have followed us online for a while but never seen us live, and ofcourse it's always lovely to see some of our regular followers too.
How long did it take you all to put this tour together?
Anything behind the scenes in music takes longer than you’d like it to and many of the venues book a year in advance, so I guess we’ve been planning it since Spring 2022. We’re already booking dates for a tour in 2024!
Tell us about your writing process – is it the same every time for each song, or is more like a flash of lightning, unexpected inspiration?
It varies a lot, because there’s three songwriters in the band. Generally, one of us will come up with the bones of a song. It could be anywhere between 50% and 90% finished. Then we’ll finish it off together, making suggestions and working out the harmonies. Once the vocals are settled, we’ll work on instrumentation.
Have you guys done any co-writing with people outside of your band? If so, how did it go?
Jamie:I wrote some stuff for the albums I made with my brothers and written songs for my older brother’s solo projects since. I’ve also written a little with a producer friend of mine in Switzerland. To be honest, I always found writing with other people a bit like pulling teeth but with The Lost Trades, we’ve found a way that works really well and is relatively painless.
Phil: A little, although not a lot. Before The Lost Trades, I found it very difficult to co-write.
Tamsin: I have done a little bit of co-writing but mostly just for fun. I find it interesting to write with other people and have fun with friends if we don’t take it too seriously, but also, I know I can be a bit of a control freak when it comes to my songs. Luckily with The Lost Trades, we’ve been friends for so long that we feel very comfortable writing together and I really trust them with the songs I bring to the table because I know they will do them justice.
I'm listening to “Petrichor” right now, love the acoustic tones, the harmonies and the feel. Tell us where you recorded it, how you tracked it, and how the project came about?
Thanks. We’re very much an album focused band, so the second album was inevitable really, because we felt the first collection of songs had run its course and we needed to freshen everything up. As I mentioned earlier, I have a home studio, so the majority of it was recorded and mixed there. We all had individual commitments outside the band while we were recording, so it was done “a bit at a time” where Jamie or Tamsin would come over to the studio and record their parts. It was a different way of working from the first album, where we were all present most of the time.
How does this project differ from your debut, “The Bird, The Book & The Barrel”?
The first album was the sound of us finding our feet, so the songs have more of a singer-songwriter identity, albeit performed by a trio. This time around, we’re a lot more comfortable with each other musically, and that’s brought out a more collective sound. People have struggled to pin down the “main” songwriter for many of the songs on this album, where it was a bit more obvious on the first album, who’d brought what to the table.
Your harmonies are definitely a strong point for the band, how do you approach arranging and tracking them?
Generally we’ll have a “lead vocal” which is already set in stone, then we’ll sit around and find the other two lines. This is one area of the band where all three of us need to be present, because we’ll bounce ideas off of each other. We’ve discovered that each of us has a slightly different style of harmonising, and there’s usually one harmony line which is “obvious” to one of us, then whoever the third is will try to fit around that. Sometimes it comes really easily and sometimes it can be a real challenge. We’ll also then do some final alterations when it comes to recording and we hear clashes, or things we think we could improve.
You’re definitely influenced by that Laurel Canyon sound, is there a current folk artist that you’re particularly fond of?
We’re all really keen on a band called “Flyte” who do amazing harmonies, and folk-tinged indie-rock. The folk scene in general is pretty vibrant at the moment.
I find a great deal of folk artists have never gotten into Tim Buckley, or even know who he is. Who are the unsung heroes of the genre that you feel deserve more attention?
Jamie: I’ve been listening to a lot of bands like ‘Bear’s Den’ and ‘The Oh Hellos’ lately. My background is more country than folk so I’m shamefully undereducated in the folk genre.
Phil: To be honest, I could reel off loads here. I think Glen Hansard is a criminally under-rated folk singer, as is Tom McRae.
Tamsin: Who is Tim Buckley? Just kidding…. I mean I think there is so much talent that slips under the radar, just head down to your local music venue or hunt the smaller stages at festivals and it’s easy to see how much talent is not getting the hearing it deserves. It amazes me how many people haven’t heard of Townes Van Zandt, Pentangle or even Sandy Denny who were quite big in their time but are now not so well-known as the likes of Joni, Paul Simon etc.
If you had the opportunity to place any song from this record into a TV show, or movie, what would it be and why?
Well the song “Daffodils” is inspired (musically) by the soundtrack to the movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou”. We’d love to see George Clooney lip syncing to it!
What were your primary instruments for tracking (makes and models), and do you use different rigs for your gigs?
Our acoustic guitar is a Gibson J45 (2016 model), the bass is either a Rickenbacker 4003 or an Ibanez Talman (short scale). We use the Gibson and Ibanez live.
What excites you about the music industry today, and what makes you angry the most?
The ease with which you can find a worldwide audience for any given niche is really exciting. The UK is obviously our strongest market, but we’re getting a good amount of attention from the US, as well as places like Brazil and mainland Europe. I get angry when I think about how music and the arts are being taken away from our education system here in the UK in favour of more academic subjects. It’s undeniable that arts education is key in developing things like teamwork, appreciation of the bigger picture, critical thinking. I could go on…
COVID really screwed up your debut release – tell us what happened.
Yeah, we formed as a band at the end of 2019, and spent months developing a set of songs we could take on the road. Our first ever tour date was 13th March 2020, which was the day before the UK government first issued advice to stay indoors and not socialise. We ended up canceling every other gig on that debut tour.
For me and my musician friends over here in the States, COVID really took the wind out of every sail – a lot of us even stopped practicing – did you experience the same thing?
Obviously our initial reaction was exactly that, really deflated, but actually we quickly reassessed the situation and started writing more songs so that we were ready to hit the ground running as soon as things opened up. We did a lot of virtual events too, where we would video our individual performances and stitch them together for our online audiences.
What musical guilty pleasure do each of you have? ;)
Jamie: I love a good cheesy pop tune - ABBA, Wham!… stuff like like that. But I don’t feel in the least bit guilty about it!
Phil: I don’t really believe in guilty pleasures. You like what you like and that’s fine. I’ve always loved a good pop song, for instance. It may not be cool, but there’s a merit to it.
Tamsin: I do love a bit of old-school emo metal sometimes. Takes me right back to my teenage years! Give me some System of a Down, Linkin Park, hell…I’ll even take some early Nickleback for good measure! Oh also love a bit of 90’s hearthrob rock… Aerosmith, Bon Jovi… Yes please. And if you ever need someone to recite every single song, word-for-word, from Alanis Morissettes Jagged Little Pill album, then I’m your gal!
You may have answered this with the last question, but what is your favorite genre OUTSIDE of this one?
Jamie: I don’t think I have a favourite genre. I like anything that makes me feel something, whether that’s country, folk, thrash metal, classical or hip hop.
Phil: I was teenager in the 90s so I will always have a massive love of all things britpop and indie.
Tamsin: You know what? I used to really hate country music. I used to find it far too cheesy, but after a Nashville trip a few years ago I realised it’s pretty much just folk music with an American accent and now I can really appreciate the songwriting.
Have any of you toured over here in the States before? If so, what was your experience like? If not, where would you like to go and experience? (You guys would kill it in Nashville, btw!)
We’ve not, and would absolutely love to! Obviously we’ve got that West Coast 60s sound going on, so that would be an obvious destination. But yeah, Nashville, New Orleans… there’s so many great “musical” cities out there!
If you could play any venue in the UK, what would it be? Same thing for the US, Australia, and South America.
In the UK, we’d love to play at the Royal Albert Hall, it’s so iconic! It’s pretty much impossible to say for any of the other countries you mentioned because just to play there at all would be a dream come true!
What's been the best gig you've been a part of and why?
Jamie: There have been so many great gigs, it’s difficult to pin down the best. A Memorable one for me though was supporting Mark Chadwick from The Levellers at The Cheese and Grain in Frome. He was a lovely guy and we went down a storm with all his fans.
Phil: I got to support one of my all time favourite bands, The Bluetones. Their audience was totally into what I was playing, and it was a night I’ll always remember.
Tamsin: Yes, that Mark Chadwick one was brilliant and it was huge for me as I grew up with the Levellers as one of the soundtracks to my teenage years. A solo gig that springs to mind is when I got to play with a pop-up orchestra! It was incredible to hear one of my songs with a 16 Piece Orchestral arrangement behind it, it actually moved me to tears in soundcheck (managed to just about hold it together on stage though!).
What’s the best venue to play in your hometown?
Ah no, we’ll upset some good friends if we pick a favourite. Instead I’ll just say that the next local gig we’re playing is in a place called Chapel Arts Centre in Bath, which is lovely, and run by wonderful people. But there’s load of lovely venues nearby and the scene is full of supportive folks behind the scenes making it happen.
If a band comes to your town, where should they grab a bite to eat?
Jamie: New Society in Devizes.
Phil: Bristol is full of places, but I’d recommend getting yourself to St Nicholas Market and checking out the street food places there. So much choice, such great quality, such cheap prices!
Tamsin: We’ve got some gorgeous little village pubs around Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. I love the Crown at Frampton Mansell if you want something a little more fancy. You can’t beat a proper quaint little English pub! Also, we found this incredible Indian restaurant in the middle of Swindon called Chaat Cafe. It's a really un-assuming city building from the outside, but Inside is a little family run independent business with authentic Indian food and they do the best Dosa I’ve ever had! Makes my mouth water just thinking of it!
Tell us one of your funny / horror stories from a gig - something that other musicians can relate to. ;)
Jamie: I won’t go into the gruesome details but I did once have to play a gig with an upset stomach - I’m sure you can imagine the rest…
Phil: In a previous band, we turned up at what we thought was a pretty big venue, but it turned out we’d been booked to play in the tiny basement bar, instead of the main hall. I think they thought we were a quiet duo because I played acoustic guitar but we were actually a bit punky (acoustic white stripes type thing) and had a big old drum kit which didn’t even fit on the stage! Then only about 5 people turned up to watch.
Tamsin: I lost my voice halfway through a pub gig once, so I thought it would be a good idea to get a member of the crowd to sing with me playing guitar. I asked if anyone knew the words to Dreams by Fleetwood Mac and a lovely young lady (who I think was a few drinks in…) came forward very confidently on stage. She had a good bash but it soon became apparent that she didnt know any of the words… or the melody for that matter.. although total respect to her for trying! Luckily the barman handed me a Hot Toddy and that was pure medicine for my voice and I was able to finish the gig myself!
If y’all could be a mentor to a teenage band, what would you work with them on - how could you help them?
Jamie: I’d help them with confidence in themselves - overcoming that initial fear of getting on stage.
Phil: I’d try to help them learn all the things I’ve learned over 25 years in as short a time as possible. A big thing would be helping them not to undersell themselves, which is a common trait in young bands.
Tamsin: As Jamie said, It’s all about growing confidence. I’d try to remind them not to compare themselves with other bands or artists. We’re all different and that's the beauty of music. You might be looking at others thinking ‘They’re such a better guitarist than me’ and more often than not they’ll be looking at you wishing they had your strengths. I would also say its good to find your own sound and then be confident with it! I remember some of the best advice I ever had was ‘Don’t be afraid to be good’. It's easy to be self-deprecating at gigs at first, and I used to brush off compliments and say things like ‘thank you but I messed up this bit’ etc etc… but the audience doesn’t want to hear that. Just say ‘Thank you!’ and enjoy that the audience enjoyed you, flaws and all!
Who do each of you think is the greatest representative for your particular instrument? Not the best musician, per se, but the best representative of it?
Jamie: That’s difficult to say. For all of us, the acoustic guitar is our main instrument but our styles are so different. Phil has all the music theory whereas me and Tam tend to play it by ear and not really know what it is we’re playing (we just know what sounds good). When it comes to the bass though, Phil is the master (we call him Phunky Phil!).
Phil: That’s a really difficult question… for the style of guitar I play, possibly Paul Simon. For bass, I think Mike Mills from R.E.M. is a massively under-rated bass player, and everything he does is PERFECT for the song.
Tamsin: For me it’s all about the songwriting and in my opinion there is no greater female songwriter than Joni Mitchell. I could listen to her for a lifetime and always find new meanings and feelings in her lyrics. I love her clever melancholic but hopeful stance on things, mixing in heartbreak, storytelling and even some sarcasm and comedy. For me that’s as good as it gets!
If you could have a heavy metal band cover one of your songs, what band would it be, and what song? 😉
Jamie: Faith No More - Daffodils
Phil: I can imagine “One Voice” being pretty epic as a metal song, and I’d like to hear Disturbed do it, simply because of their version of “The Sound of Silence”.
Tamsin: I would love to hear System of a Down play our song Valhalla. I think their vocals would work really well on that. Or maybe getting a heavy metal band to sing one of our happiest songs like Daffodils or Good Old Days would be funny to watch!
Of all the movies made about bands (Spinal Tap, That Thing You Do, Rockstar), which one is each of your favorite, and why?
Jamie: I love a movie called ‘Rudderless’. It’s full of great tunes but the story itself is really moving.
Phil: I love “The Commitments”, a great film, with a superb soundtrack.
Tamsin: For me it's The Jazz Singer with Neil Diamond. I love the whole soundtrack to that but also that it covers the race difficulties in America and how that affected musicians. It’s one of my favorite all time films.
Where can we find you on the interwebs, what are your socials?
Our website is TheLostTrades.com and you can find our socials under @TheLostTrades. Come and say hello!