Folkmaster - Who’s been the greatest musical influence and why?

Well, there isn’t any one influence; it’s really just a string of people that have impressed me with their sort of depth, originality and intensity. Stretching right back to the first set of people that really impressed me, and right down to the records that I hear on the radio today.

Folkmaster - Who were those first people that impressed you?

I think when I started off Blues hit me between the eyes, people like, B B King and Albert King. When I started playing the base it was this very easy kind of blues base to play, but I got into lots, and lots, and lots of other kinds of music. Punk in a big way and then World Music. I joined the Oyster Band in 1988, and then there was this enormous world of folk that opened up. I’d always been aware of it, but I hadn’t come across anybody that was part of it, and I didn’t quite know how to get into it. All of a sudden there was this huge world of music and back catalogue to listen to and to influence you, all the Irish stuff, all the English stuff, you know, and then the stuff from overseas as well. I mean, there’s just so much music out there that the air if just thick with it and you just have to take as much of it as you need. There’s a fantastic amount of great music.

Folkmaster - If you could be one person in history, who would it be any why?

I think I’d have liked to have known what it was like to feel like Johan Sebastian Bach, just to know what it’s like to have that much music in your brain, a cantata every Sunday, yeah, that would be interesting.

Folkmaster - Where do you think the future of the music industry lies?

It’s always going to be vibrant, it lies ultimately with people and with changing technology. It’s always been like that even back in the last century when new instruments started coming in like piano, melodeon, then recorded sound and radio, then vinyl discs, CD's, and now internet radio and MP3’s. It’s always going be a mixture of technology and of energy, basically the energy of people.

Folkmaster - What’s your favorite movie and why?

I’ve got a lot of favorite movies, I think one of my all time favorites was Seventh Samurai. I am a big fan Kurosawa. The best film I saw recently was American Beauty, I thought that it was really good, a really hopeful modern film with a philosophy that was well up to date and relevant.

Folkmaster - Can you tell us anything about the new album or forth-coming album?

The new album called "Here I Stand" and it’s the first album we've done on our own label, which is called Running Man Records. We recorded it last year and it took us about six months to record. It was actually recorded in lots of different studios with some of it recorded on our gear at home. It’s the longest album we’ve ever made, it’s about an hour long, and it’s also sort of the most diverse in a way, it’s got some of the best stuff we’ve ever done.

Folkmaster - You got some airplay, as well didn’t you, on radio 2?

Yeah, it got some airplay here in the UK. It got quite a lot of airplay abroad as well, and so far we’ve had four singles taken off it that have gone to radio in the various countries. In fact we've just done a single for Sweden where we re-mixed one of the songs "Ways of Holding On". We've collaborated with a very good Swedish singer, called Emma Hardelin, who sings with a group called Garmana and also with a group call Triakel. That was a nice Swedish/English Folk, Folk Rock collaboration. The next album will not necessarily be of the same ilk as "Here I Stand", I think it’ll be something quite different. We’re going into the studios in a month to do some demos for the next album.

Folkmaster - Can you give us a flavor of it?

No, not yet. We tend to start off with a lot of different ideas, and then try and get a direction, we chuck out an awful lot of stuff, and particularly the stuff we have at the beginning of a project. We might have ten ideas when we start an album, one of those will get used for a track and then we’ll put another twenty in and so on.

Folkmaster - Where was your most memorable live performance and why was it so special to you?

The Oyster Band have been lucky enough to play a lot in Spain and have had better success in Spain generally. Spain includes the Canary Islands and a few years back we played at the Womad Festival on Las Palmas. We were quite well known to the Spanish audience there because of the good radio coverage in Spain. The stage was on the beach and we went on at Midnight, and played to a crowd of 40 to 50,000 people with many hundreds of them standing in the sea. The full moon rose over the horizon as we were playing and it was almost like a biblical experience. Spanish audiences are fantastic and they’re so revved up before you even start, they’ve all got their hands in the air before you even go on stage which means that you start off at a level you normality only get to at the encore stage of most other concerts. That one we are all agreed will take some beating.

Also on a personal note, two nights ago, we played the Carlton Halls in Bristol, which was where I actually saw my first gig when I was about fourteen and to actually go back and play there myself was just a great experience.

Folkmaster - If you could use one of your songs to promote something which one would you choose and why?

We’ve got a song called "On The Edge" which is a rant against globalization and in particular against McDonalds. We travel quite a lot to different countries and more and more you see this sort of uniformity creeping in. You used to be able to travel around England and find really good café on the road, and now there are all Little Chefs or Happy Eater and McDonalds, you see McDonalds everywhere. You can go into the Arctic Circle and they’ll be a McDonalds that’ll serve exactly the same food as you get in New Zealand. What is the point of that, you know, it takes away all the fun of traveling and all the differences between the countries and the food’s shite anyway.

Folkmaster - When you’re not involved with the band what do you spend your time doing?

Well at the moment I’m wrestling with lots of machines like my new computerized recording gear and trying to get computer literate.....

Martin Carthy (MBE) Enters the room ...

Martin - Excuse me, have I left anything in here, I don’t think I did. If I have it's a brown Scarf. (Folkmaster - this was really funny at the time, it’s a sort of you had to be there kind of thing and a nice touch to the interview. For those of you interested, no… Martin didn't leave his scarf in the dressing room)

Exit Martin Carthy (MBE)

Chopper - I’m naturally quite an outdoors person, and one of my passions apart from music is shooting long bows. I’ve got several long bows and try and get to my local archery club as often as I can. I live in Sweden for part of the year and so far have spent two months there this winter. It's a nice place to go and write music and it's quite peaceful. I like getting out in the open and walking round the forest and fishing through the ice and stuff.

Folkmaster - If you could sit next to anyone famous at a diner party who would it be and what would you ask them?

I’d like to sit next to Tony Blair and ask him why with such a big majority he feels so insecure that he has to keep picking on people on the dole and asylum seekers. I would also like to ask him why the trade unionists make him so paranoid and why he cant have more confidence in them. I’d like to tell him that, you don’t have to be that paranoid.

Folkmaster - What was the first single you ever bought?

I think it was Atlantis by the Shadows.

Folkmaster - What luxury would you take with you to a desert island?

I think it would be knife, because if I had a knife I could make a long bow and musical instruments and other stuff.

Folkmaster - What is your favorite Oyster Band album and track?

It changes all the time. My current favorite track is ‘I’m on the Edge’ because it’s sort of relevant and It’s fun to play on stage every night. As for my favorite Oyster Band album.

Enter John Jones..

Chopper - Holy Bandit takes a lot of beating.

John - Yeah…

Exit John Jones

Folkmaster - If you could be remembered for one think what would it be?

I’d like to write a really, really great song. The same sort of subject as I’m dealing with now but get it right, really nail it.

Folkmaster - What is the most outrageous thing you’ve ever done?

Well a long time ago, I was in this punk band called "Amazorblades", we were on tour with a band called "The Darts" and they hit number one in the middle of that tour. They had a big party with all their posh record company and publishing company people and me and Den, Den Hegarty who since has gone on to be a great TV presenter had a fight with a fire hose and succeeded in soaking an entire party.