Jam Luckhurst interview with: CATTLE & CANE

Cattle & Cane are continuously moving onwards and upwards. From playing T In The Park, their single being nominated ‘single of the week’ by News Of The World and now with their debut album on the way, they are on the up. With their folky, Irish, pop sound they are a step off big acts such as Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons. Their single ‘I Will Rise’ is out on the 24th June to give you all a taster of what’s to come. Jam Luckhurst caught up with Joe & Helen to get the low down

Jam: Hello! Thank you for speaking with me guys.

J+H: It’s no worries at all. Thank you.

Jam: So, when did you two start singing together?

J+H: Quite a few years ago, we started doing open mic nights together, events in the communities, and we started really getting in to it when I was 14 and Helen was 11 so it’s been a while!

Jam: How did you gather the rest of the band together?

J+H: I started writing songs but then we realised we needed musicians, Helen plays piano and we would just shed Beatles songs in our room for a while. Then we found Joe who learnt guitar and I was best friends with Paul in school and he’s a drummer so that worked out well.

Jam: You were selected to perform at T In The Park in 2010, how did that come across?

J+H: At that point, we had only been playing for about 2 to 3 months and it was all going really well at that point, we were receiving a good reaciton from gigs from our home town and then we had an email from the BBC which was so surreal. It was so exciting as well and we’d never played at a big gig before so we were all nervous but so excited.

Jam: Did you gain a few fans and get noticed more after that?

J+H: Well after T In The Park it wasn’t as if we were suddenly a world wide band, we played in Glasgow, Scotland and also Electric Circuit which was really cool. To be honest, T In The Park was a great platform for us, we learnt so much after that gig and after that we’ve received a good reception in Scotland a lot.

Jam: Is there any particular reason why Scottish fans love you?

J+H: Well I think it’s because of the Scottish sound we have, we have an acoustic folky type of sound that everybody seems to love. Also, I think Scotland are quite proud of hosting their own festival there, however it was so difficult actually getting to the stage! By the time we got there we had about 15 minutes to set up and we were carrying our amp, the lot. So that was cutting it fine!

Jam: You’re not doing too bad with sold out shows, features from BBC6 and a ‘single of the week’ award from News of The World, do you ever rest?

J+H: Yes actually, to be honest this year our goal has been to write our album and finish it, instead of playing loads of gigs we’ve been focused on making sure all our songs are perfect and that is so important. We want to give ourselves the best chance we have and to make an impact. As we’re signed to Sentric, we’ve been working with those guys closely because we need a level of direction to make the next transition. They’ve massively helped, they’ve been our constant liason.

Jam: Your new single ‘I Will Rise’ is out on the 24th June, what is it all about?

J+H: Well we went to Wales to record a few songs, and we wanted to release this to give everybody a taster of what our album is about, to see what people think about our new sound, we’re going on tour with Half Moon Run from Canada who have come off tour with Mumford & Sons so that’s also a big step for us.

Jam: Where do you get your best reaction from the crowd?

J+H: Well obviously our home town Stockton-on-Tees in the North East, everybody asks us where it is, we’re putting it on the map! It’s a lovely place, our local shows are the best because all of the crowd know our lyrics so we don’t have to sing anything. We also like playing in Newcastle and Scotland.

Jam: Have you got any plans for after the album?

J+H: Well after the transition, we want to do a few more support acts, play more of our own shows as well and do a few headline acts as well, and we definitely want to play at some festivals.

Jam: What festivals would you love to play at?

J+H: Glastonbury, that would pretty much be the highlight of our career I’d say! But at the moment, we’re making steps in the right direction so hopefully we’ll get there.

Jam: Good shout, leading on from that… Any artists you’d love to perform with?

J+H: Fleetwood Mac and Fleet Foxes for sure, I also love Emward they’re a big influence of ours. We’d also love to play with Mumford and Sons of course.

Jam: Thank you very much, it’s been a pleasure you two.

J+H: And thank you too.

Jam Luckhurst-McCord

@jamluckhurst