Sparrow and the Workshop : Q & A

Not many bands could say they have a truly international line-up, however this particular folk-rock band most certainly do.  With members from Midwest America, Midwest Scotland and Wales, Sparrow and the Workshop are a true melting pot of ideas in every sense of the word.

It would be wrong to refer to the bands sound as anything other then truly unique, an  exciting combination of folk and rock soaked in the spirit of 50’s/60’s Americana.

Having received acclaim from such esteemed DJs as Bob Harris and being taken under the wing of BBC introducing (including most recently a slot at Glastonbury), it would seem its time for this particular band to bring their tales of heartache, jealous and broken homes to a far wider audience.

4or The Record recently got the chance to pose some all important questions to Sparrow and The Workshop for you dear reader and here are their answers courtesy of vocalist and violinist, Jill O'Sullivan.

4TR: Can you tell us how the band formed?
Jill: Nick and I actually met in Clapton, London - on a road dubbed 'Murder Mile' ... Nick lived in a place that was the only standing building on the street, and I lived in a flat complex that got featured in the Guardians 'worst places to live 2008’. Anyway, all we did was work and hardly had a moment to pursue things we love, like music and painting, so we moved up to Glasgow, which has a great artistic community, and luckily found a room in Gregor’s apartment (totally by chance). He had drums and some cool records and I had some songs and a guitar so the two of us began playing together and then brought Nick in to broaden the scope of the musical project (he plays bass, slide and electric, piano etc).

4TR: How would you describe the bands sound?
Jill: That’s one of the hardest questions for us because we don’t really go for a sound, per se. I guess we’re influenced by folk and country, but also by blues and rock, so it’s pretty broad. I guess we like things to sound guttural and emotional, and a powerful drum beat is never a bad thing in our books, neither is a really loud guitar drone from time to time. But we like to strip things back too. Journalists have compared us to Fairport Convention, Jefferson Airplane and Fleet Foxes, among others, but I’m not sure how much we sound like them, though it’s flattering.

4TR: Who writes the songs in the band and what influences your song writing?
Jill: I guess I come up with a lot of the melodies and lyrics, but it's not a case of, O.K, here's a song, now you play this and you play that. Usually, I come in with bits and pieces and then we construct the song over time as a group, and Nick and Gregor play whatever they think works and we cut and paste and add, embellish or contract when necessary. There's a lot of talking about what might work and trying out different things, and if anyone has ideas for songs we give them a go.  We also try out different harmonies and see where they work and where they don’t. So everybody has a lot of creative input. In terms of songs contents, I am influenced by those vague notions of love and hate, anger, compassion and jealousy that seem to creep into even the most rational of people’s lives. I guess in a non-religious way I am trying to grapple with these ideas and make sense out of complex relationships and power struggles.

4TR: Who are your favourite songwriters?
Jill: The list is so long, but we’ve all got pretty varied tastes and like stuff from the past and present. We all love Lou Barlow, Jeff Buckley, Johnny Cash, Brian Wilson, Chan Marshall, Smog, Jason Molina, Richie Havens, Will Oldham, and Neil Young, to name but a few. They all write their own stuff and its pretty amazing stuff.

4TR: Sparrow and the Workshop is quite a bizarre name, how did you come up with it?
Jill: It was a very quick decision, actually. We played our first show as Dead Sparrow, which was an homage to a bird my dad shot down with a bb gun as a kid, and then decided it was too depressing so we were standing in a bar and looking around for things and liked the sparrow part so thought sparrow and the workshop seems alright because it had a better ring to it, then sparrow and the Jack Daniels bottle…which has worked in a funny way since the guys build their own instruments and stages, etc. It’s a bit of a workshop at times.

4TR: One of you is from Scotland and there is a lot of exciting music coming out of the Country at the moment, why do you think this is? Is there something in the water?
Jill: It’s all the Iron Bru! It must have some secret ingredient in it because nearly everybody up here plays some kind of instrument. Also, I’m sure the grey skies and rainy days inspire many people to spend hours indoors working on songs…Though admittedly this summer has been super warm and sunny.

4TR: Your sound is definitely not like anything else around at the moment, was this a conscious decision and is it important to you to stand out?
Jill: Wow, thanks, that’s kind of you. I’m not sure if it’s a conscious decision, though. We try to be as instinctual as possible when we work on stuff. Mind you, there are times when we think, lets jazz up this beat or riff, or peel back instruments here, do this type of harmony there….But on a personal level, it’s difficult for me to write when I’m thinking of other songwriters. When we construct new songs in the practice space we try to strip away our influences and hope that perhaps they just pervade our entire beings in a sort of subconscious way…osmosis, maybe? And hopefully when people come see us they’ll enjoy the songs that are important to us.

4TR: You have received quite a lot of support from BBC introducing; do you think this has helped you in anyway?
Jill: Definitely, their support has been surprising and incredible. Vic Galloway in particular seems to have a lot of faith in us, and we have definitely been able to do some interesting gigs due to BBC introducing, like Glastonbury and live sessions and we went to London to do a Huw Stephen’s introducing show live at the Social a couple months ago. The support from DJ’s is immense and much-appreciated. Perhaps their exposure led our label and manager to find us too, and apart from myspace, it’s a really great way for unknown bands to reach more people.

4TR: What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Jill: Playing Glastonbury was pretty awesome. Going on tour with Broken Records was great too (It was our first proper tour), and being able to play at the ICA in London was a treat. British Sea Power also put on a weekend festival last year in the Yorkshire Moors, and we were fortunate enough to play at that one. It was mad.

4TR: What can we expect from Sparrow and the Workshop in the future?
Jill: Oh, I’m not sure (hopefully more new songs)…Well, we’re going to put out another short player in September or October which will have some new tracks on it and go on a little tour with it if we can. We’ll hopefully also get some kind of pyrotechnics thing set up for the stage and Nick would like a wall of guitar amps and Gregor wants to curate a gig at a roller rink.  I am just hoping for rain.

Words: Kevin Angel
Image: Press Shot

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