This is a new page on the website, to give people the opportunity to ask Jez, or Kate, Andy and David, any questions (within reason) about the songs, music, instruments, gigs, past, present and future. Contact us at jez@jezlowe.com with all your queries, and we will update this page on a regular basis.

These questions were put to Jez in London the weekend prior to the BBC Folk Awards

Questions from Sandra Nossiter, Daniel Robson, and Bertie McDermot

WHAT’S THE BACKGROUND TO YOUR RECENT "SONG FOR GEORDIE" TOUR? WILL YOU BE DOING IT AGAIN, AND WILL YOU BE RELEASING AN ALBUM OF THE SONGS?

I did a series for BBC Radio 2 about ten years ago, called A Song For Geordie, and it was always in the back of my mind that it would make a great stage show. The thing is with “Geordie” songs, so much has been done with them in the past, both in terms of the UK folk scene, and in terms of the general North East music scene, going back years and years. The material is so strong and in such abundance, that there are people up there who sing nothing else, they have made a career out of it in a sort of music hall vaudeville sense. So with our show, the twist we put on it was that we contrasted a bunch of other people’s songs with my own songs. Incredible as it may seem, there are some of my songs that have been absorbed into the tradition up there, so I felt that such an approach was justified. So the thing came together quickly in the end, with Andy May handling the instrumental pieces with Shona Mooney, and Benny Graham handling the songs with me and Kate. Shona and David Delahaye are in a band together anyway, and Benny was my favourite local singer, and Andy also loves Benny’s singing, so that’s how it came together. I sketched it out, chose the basic songs, and then we changed it around in rehearsal, and as the tour went along. We got big audiences, and they just loved it.
As to doing it again, I hope we can, and if we do, we’ll probably use some different songs. As I say, there’s so much good stuff to choose from. We’ve also toyed with the idea of doing an album based on it, but again, there’s a lot of albums with these songs out there already, and the show we did also had a prominent visual aspect to it, with the archive film and photos etc., so it’s a bit more complicated.

IS THERE ANY POSSIBILITY THAT YOUR FIRST TWO SONGBOOKS WILL BE REPUBLISHED?

There are various reasons, economic mostly, why it looks doubtful that the songbooks will come out again. If it happens, it could more easily happen as a CD-rom or something. The books themselves are expensive to produce, and hard to transport in bulk to sell at gigs, especially overseas. The songs from the first book are available on-line from the website shop, in the meantime.

YOUR EARLY ALBUMS WERE DONE ON THE FELLSIDE LABEL. WILL YOU BE RE-RELEASING THEM AS “ART EDITIONS” LIKE YOU DID WITH THE GREEN LINNET RELEASES?

The quick answer is no! We actually bought the rights to the two Green Linnet albums before we could release them on Tantobie. We were on tour in America and the gossip was that the Green Linnet label was about to be sold or close down or something, so I actually negotiated buying the two albums we’d done for them (TENTERHOOKS and THE PARISH NOTICES) from a phone booth in a gas station in Providence Rhode Island! Just phoned them up and hammered out a deal by the side of the highway. But with Fellside Records, they are still a very successful company, and they still own all the rights to the first bunch of albums I did in the 1980’s, and understandably, they don’t want to part with them and leave a hole in their catalogue, even though those albums aren’t currently available. So that’s the sort of deadlock we’re in at the moment. I speak to Paul Adams, who runs Fellside, and is still a good mate of mine, every few weeks about it, but again, it’s down to money and market forces.

IS THE “SIGHT RHYMES” DVD STILL AVAILABLE?

Actually, no it isn’t. It was produced specifically for the “Round the World” tour we did in 2006, so once that was over, that was the end of that DVD. Andy May told me the other day that he’d never seen it! Too late now, I said.

THERE’S A STORY THAT YOU WROTE SOME SONGS FOR THE ORIGINAL FILM OF BILLY ELLIOTT. IS THAT TRUE?

Partly true. I think I came back from overseas and went to visit my family up in Easington where I was brought up, and they were making the film down the street from where my parents were living. There was all this stuff that they’d reproduced from the miners’ strike ten years before, graffiti and stuff, all over the place. Then the local council contacted a bunch of the local musicians, including me, saying that the producers of the film had approached them to get some local music for the soundtrack. So we had a meeting and all of us came up with stuff, but then something happened. I think the original production company went out of business, and the film was sold on to another company or something like that. Anyway, we never heard any more. A couple of the songs I’d done, I re-worked and used on an album. I think they were PROPPING UP WALLS and EASY TOWN.

WHAT ARE YOUR TOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE? ARE THERE ANY COUNTRIES THAT YOU HAVEN’T PLAYED IN, BUT WOULD LIKE TO?

The UK scene is so strong and inspiring at the moment, that I’m more than happy just to play here, but we will be going to North America in September 2008. There’s talk of Australia and Continental Europe in 2009, but nothing definite. I’d really like to travel in Eastern Canada, because everyone is always telling me that we’d go down so well there. I nearly went to Israel last year, but events got in the way. I got offered a one-off in Hawaii too, so if we can link it to something else, that would be very nice!

Tim Needham asked Kate Bramley and Andy May these questions last summer. (David DelaHaye will be added soon.)

KATE:

HAVE YOU EVER WRITTEN A SONG FOR JEZ?

I've written some songs with Jez, does that count? Sometimes steered him in to a different direction if he's been stuck with the way a song is going, and he has definitely done the same for me on occasion! We've only once sat down to deliberately write a song together and that was Little Canaan from my album that we worked on while having a rare day off on tour in Holland...

HOW DO YOU BALANCE BEING A FULL TIME BAD PENNY WITH YOUR THEATRE WORK AND OTHER CREATIVE INTERESTS

I never sleep! Actually the theatre projects took a bit of a back seat over the last five years as we were working really hard internationally with the Bad Pennies and we didn't really have time to breathe so directing plays went out the window! However with the plan to release Jez's solo CD this year it meant I could build in time to start the theatre company up again. I like doing both theatre and music but if Jez insists on taking us to Australia there's not much competition.....

WHO SNORES ON TOUR

Everyone in the van at some point or other. Especially if we get sick!

ANDY:

WHAT MADE YOU COME TO THE FRONT OF THE STAGE AND HAVE DIALOGUE WITH THE AUDIENCE?

I've always talked a lot at gigs with other projects and it dawned on me one day that it was strange not to do so at BP gigs. I think i'd got used to not speaking from joining the band and having to concentrate hard on remembering the songs. But now yes i'll step forward for a chat - if i can get a word in....

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHETHER TO ADD A FRIEND TO YOU’RE MY SPACE PAGE?

All of my myspace friends have undergone a careful multi-stage selection process....

WHO IS YOUR MUSICAL HERO?

Jez, right? Do i get a raise? That's a tough one because i admire many many musicians in different ways. Off the top of my head, here's a few - Billy Pigg (northumbrian piper)- because he brought so much excitement and fun into his playing. His tunes make the most of the pipes and there's so much character you have to smile. Or cry. Or whatever he wanted you to. Herbie Hancock (pianist) - because his career has spanned 4 decades and many genres. I saw him play a few years ago and the music was as fresh and energetic as ever. And he was still loving it.