Hi! What was the original spark that encouraged you to start creating music together?
RG : Tom and I worked on an album previously with my old band and we had an opportunity to work together again. He’s a loose cannon and an excellent producer which is a perfect combination! Rob Cohen had been around the music scene for years so it was a great opportunity to work with him as well.
TT: Boredom and a sense of impending doom. So it was either form a band or become a door to door salesman selling spoons. Either or.
RC: I was in between projects or so to speak! and the 2nd WildCohen album was on the back burner! This is a band I was previously working on with Jody Wildgoose, so while I had some downtime it made sense to work with Rob & Tom when the discussion arrived, and write some new songs and material, so, I thought it would be great to work with new musicians that had a totally different sound to anything I had been used to, so here we are.
Congrats on your new release, ‘My Kinda Girl’. Can you give us some insight into the song?
A:
RG: Over to Rob
TT: What Rob said!
RC: ok, well, this started out as a very rough demo, at mine, a very very ropey demo, but I sent it Tom & Rob, and they could hear something in there, so they did their magic, and we all worked together as a team and worked it up the the final piece it is today, I love how it turned out compared to the demo, and I love how Tom got the final mix, the strings sound great and the vocals, and I think it has a really great 60s psychedelic sound to it! and it has been well received so far!
Are you planning to make it part of a larger release, such as an EP or album?
A:
RG: I’ll let Tom & Rob answer this!
TT: The plan with the 23 releases is that they’ll all be their own separate thing and there’s no plans to release them as an album. I suppose that these days if you want them to be an album, then you can just make up a playlist! We are however working on an album for release at some point, so you’ll just have to keep watching!
RC: I think we obviously disagree slightly on this, I do see the 23 tracks we are putting out as the 23s, 23 track album, which is coming out track by track month by month, we decided not to do an album with this or an EP, and I basically see this as an album that is coming out track by track month by month on the 23rd of every month at 23:23 uk time! our 9th one will be out on the 23rd of October, called “Oh La La La La” and will get added to the album playlist which is here : https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ft3goOI1OEkcGoQPHcNo6 – if you want to catch up with how it is all sounding, please go along and listen to this playlist, a new one will be added every month right up to the 23d of Dec 2024, as long as we can get everything to align its been a hard task so far, but, if I can secure funding, I hope we can put all 23 tracks out as a vinyl record, and also yes we do have a potential follow up album to this in the pipeline also, like tom says watch this space!
Your music interweaves so many different styles and sounds. If you could collaborate with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
A:
RG I’d love to create something with Paul McCartney. He wrote and performed on some of my all time favourite songs. But in the music jungle, the lion doesn’t work with the ant’s eyelashes. He probably doesn’t even know ant’s have eyelashes. And if they don’t have eyelashes then maybe we are the ant’s knees. Or testicles.
TT: Well, I’ve heard that Paul McCartney is good on the spoons!
RC: I am not sure what to say after those answers, ha ha! I like Paul Mccartney too he’s an obvious choice and a very talented songwriter, so yeah! would love to work with him also, but, there is a list as long as my arm of people I would love to work with, but I won’t list them all, I would also love the 23s as a unit to work with other artists in general, as I love the idea of experimenting, we already did a combination track wrote by Anita Wake (A.Wake) which was tinkered with by me and produced by Tom, which sounds great! it is also on the spotify playlist I have mentioned above!
What’s been your favorite musical experience to date?
A:
RG My personal favourite experience was performing at Keepmoat Stadium (Doncaster Rovers football ground). A packed Sheffield City Hall was a highlight too and the only gig I was nervous about. I guess the real highlight has been making music with my friends but that isn’t a rock ‘n’ roll answer haha. But it’s true!
TT: E flat major pentatonic 13th.
RC: I loved playing at the National Centre for popular music although the sound wasn’t great!, but it was a great gig, and also the Leadmill in Sheffield, that was a great venue in Sheffield to play with a great sound, also played various venues over the years in Leeds / Hull / York and London over the years! I also would love to play the 02 in London! never done that! I’d be interested in maybe doing a live streaming gig from somewhere, maybe of a new single or album live! that would be great! not done anything like that yet, and would love to play other countries too!
Where are you based? Can you tell us how the music scene there has inspired your sound at all?
A:
TT: I have never really hung around the music scene in Sheffield. I’m autistic and as such a bit of a homeboy. If there is one thing I’ve learned from it is to trust no-one but yourself and keep your wallet close to your chest.
RC: Sheffield, we are all based here, I think I have massively influenced over the years by bands I have been in from my hometown, and bands I have supported and all the bands around here, there is some really great people and bands here, some great local talent, Steve Edwards and his new band Astrels they are great! Ryan Taylor is out doing some interesting funky stuff, A.Wake (Anita Wake) who I have already mentioned is really great, Julian Jones, I know quite a few people too many to mention, all very talented, and Jody Wildgoose and amazing songwriter! you should check his solo stuff out! and I was massively influenced by the Longpigs and Slo-Mo and The Clear again so many great bands and sounds from my hometown! no scene as such but some great songwriters! and bands!
If you could perform at any venue in the world, where would it be and why?
A:
RG Glastonbury would be pretty cool, then family and friends can watch it on tv. Not sure how much fun it would be as you’re quite far from the audience. There’s something special about playing to a packed small room where the sweat drips down the walls.
TT: Stocksbridge Working Men’s Club. Why? Unfinished business.
RC: I think I would go with what I said before, 02, that would be an experience I am sure, and the royal albert hall, anywhere that has a great sound system and a good sound engineer! I would opt for anywhere if they had a good system! and engineer!
Finally, have you got anything to share regarding upcoming gigs and what have you got planned for 2024?
A:
RG Keep the momentum growing and keep the songs coming. Shifting genres and seeing where the tide takes us.
TT: For 2024 we will continue to release a new track every month on the 23rd December 2024, when we will have released 23 singles. After that? Who knows!
RC: What Tom said, and basically just concentrate on hopefully putting interesting and great songs together and keep up with the eclectic nature of what we do! and people will find us along the way! We have people that found us on the first track we did, and we are gaining people with every release we do! And if we gain enough people demanding a live show! then we will see what happens next! but for now we have to finish another 14 songs before the 23rd of Dec 2023.