Kev Scott (vocals/guitars) & Jim Shea (bass) of The Cherished Times.
Hiya Kev and Jim, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. Grab a brew and take a seat.
What was life like for you before you got into music?
(Kev)
I was really young when I first got into music, I started playing drums when I was 10 and moved onto guitar a couple of years later.
(Jim)
I’ve got a really bad memory and, with my family, whenever we drift into reminiscing the joke is ‘do you remember that Jim?’ – Me: Nope! But I do remember distinctly putting my hand up music lesson at the age of 11 to learn to play the cello, I’d waited for all the violins to be picked first. After playing cello for a while I learned piano and then ditched the cello and took up bass – once I worked out how cool it was to be in a band.
‘What’s the live music scene like in Blackpool right now? Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)?
(Kev)
From what I’ve seen it’s a decent scene that would benefit from either a few more venues or venues that perhaps push original music? As with everywhere, I suppose, it’s difficult to build a following, it seems especially harder when you’re a bit older like ourselves but as you gain the trust from the venues, people do start to take notice.
It’s thriving with talent, far too many to mention, the great thing is we appreciate and try our best to support each other.
(Jim)
I think it’s always been tricky to start an original band in Blackpool, not sure why, maybe the holiday trade dominates the venue’s choices but there are some great places like Bootleg, the Waterloo and Back Stage where they are more open to a mix. Mainly, I think, because those venues are run by musicians. We do have our little community that we work with, Betty Kendrick, Harrison Rimmer and Fat Mans Corner. All great musicians to watch out for.
(Kev)
Also Lois Brooks, brilliant talent.
It seems like being a social media curator has become added to the many jobs of a musician, how do you feel about this?
(Kev)
It’s hard work, hard to keep on top of and know if you’re doing the right things, it certainly adds more pressure when you’re already managing gigs, rehearsals and just trying to be a musician. It’s a huge learning experience right? Just have to keep trying to engage with the people who already support you and add to that following.
(Jim)
I’m ashamed to say that Kev does all of this. As a bass player I reserve the right to be invisible and never more so than with the socials. What can I say, I’m working on it.
How do you manage engagement on your socials?
What’s your view on the Music industry today?
(Kev)
I like how easily accessible everything is but I do still love the romance of a vinyl, I love spending time looking at the sleeves and admiring them as a piece of art.
I hate how people (myself included) are priced out of seeing people, it’s criminal really, how can you justify nearly £200 for one ticket to see Paul McCartney or Stevie Wonder?!
(Jim)
It needs a shake up – a disruptor to come along and change the norm. Big business has taken over and we’re listening to music made by committee and soon it’ll be AI creating the content, or is it already? One thing that can’t be replaced though is seeing live bands and playing as a live band. There are some lovely people who come to see us – there is a connection and none of us want to go home at the end of the night.
Where do you feel you currently sit within the music industry?
(Kev)
Just being an honest hard working band is where we’re at, we have no delusions of grandeur, we love making music together and performing, we’d love to be bigger but fame and fortune isn’t something that’s ever on our minds. I hate referring to the band as a hobby and I never do as it’s so much more than that but essentially it does have to come after family life and full time jobs.
(Jim)
Grass roots, I guess. Genre-wise we’re Exploratory Rock. It’s not so much about being in the music industry, this is good for our mental health. Maybe we should be in the health industry!
Whats the biggest thing you have learned recently as you progress with your music?
(Kev)
Take things as they happen and learn from them,good or bad. I’m one of those people that likes to plan ahead but if those plans don’t come to fruition when expected, you have to not be disappointed, that goes for every aspect of being in a band I think.
(Jim)
Learning how the new relationships work and how to work together musically and socially is massive. So often in bands there can be clashes and issues that might not be possible to overcome. We’re fortunate that this has worked out because so often it falls apart then all that effort is wasted.
What was your best experience on stage?
(Kev)
Certainly for me, seeing people singing along to songs and seeing people taking in what I’m singing, it’s an amazing feeling. That connection you get when people are into it is a feeling like no other.
(Jim)
Playing in Stanley Park Bandstand in Blackpool to 1000+ people in the sunshine and them loving it.
(Kev)
That was awesome, I remember dragging out the intro to our last song just so I could look around and soak it all in.
What was your worst experience on stage?
(Kev)
We had a gig in Manchester last year where my naivety showed, I thought we could fill the place, as my band did on a-few occasions in my early twenties. But times change and despite every effort, we barely sold any tickets and ended up playing to a near empty room.
It was hard to take but as I said, you learn from these experiences. We weren’t ready for something like that but if we hadn’t done it we wouldn’t have learned from it?
(Jim)
Same as Kev. But also it was the first time I’d tried in-ears and it sounded terrible to me. But as Kev says we learned from it – we had a band meeting afterwards and worked out all the issues. There was one guy at the end who said he loved it AND we didn’t know him.
Tell us something about you / each member that you think people would be surprised about.
(Kev)
Erm…… I travel to work by helicopter! I have an extreme obsession with Indian food/Curries
I also have a CD from when I was about 10 years old that has our lead guitarist on it! Who would’ve thought that 30+ years later we’d be in a band together!
(Jim)
I lived on a canal boat from the ages of 3 – 8. There was a lot of folk music and pub lock-ins … so I’m told!
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
(Kev)
Well, for me this is album number 6 but it’s the first as a band so it’s a huge change personally but for the better, it’s great to have 4 other peoples input into the songs.
As always there’s a nice blend of acoustic type stuff and some upbeat rockers. Some interesting themes running through the album, I think it’s the most open/honest I’ve ever been in my songwriting.
(Jim)
I’ve not recorded for a few years and it’s great to get back into it. Kev likes to experiment with the recordings and it’s great to hear what he’s done with the tracks when I get to listen to them. My particular favourites are ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ and ‘Bird in a Cage’ which we already do live. We’ve had compliments like ‘that’s a bit Chilli Peppers or it’s a bit Pulp Fiction. I love how people hear different things in the same songs.
(Kev)
Pulp Fiction?! Wow! Yeah I can hear that now you’ve said it. Interesting!
What was the recording process like?
(Kev)
Quite long winded, we’ve been playing the songs for 2 years or more but we changed drummers back in November and luckily he’s very good at his craft and got up to speed pretty quickly.
It’s a good example of things not always going to plan and you learn from it. We ended up recording our parts remotely and with me piecing everything together, far from ideal but that was the circumstances at the time. We got there in the end but it won’t be like that on the next album.
(Jim)
Yeah, we learnt so much from this process. Probably made every mistake in the book but the songs deserve to be heard so we couldn’t give up on them. I’m really proud of the end result.
(Kev)
I want you to be proud of it. Myself and Jim have discussed this, when you’re on the creative side, there’s kind of an inevitable point where you need to learn to put it to bed instead of keep trying to make it perfect? You hit a danger zone where you could end up making things worse.
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
(Kev)
I wouldn’t say a learning curve as such but there was a difference in that I knew I was writing with the band in mind, most were straight forward acoustic guitar, how I’ve always written but the likes of ‘Emergency Man’ and ‘Maybe it’s just me’ were written on my Telecaster with the vision of the band playing them too. ‘Gentle Light’ starts with an acapella harmony that was written very much with the 3 part harmony we had going on in the band at the time.
(Jim)
Recording with new people and getting to know how they tick is a steep learning curve but fortunately we’re all pretty reasonable. The hardest thing for me was learning to sing these harmonies while playing bass – I sunk some hours into that.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
(Kev)
Personally, I’d maybe record the bones of it all again live, together, but hindsight can be a wonderful thing?!
(Jim)
Nope. Can’t think of anything.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
(Kev)
I believe there’s something for everyone in our music, we want to share it, we want people to relate to it and enjoy it whether it’s a personal situation that we’re singing about or telling a story.
(Jim)
Music is a community not a competition. Go see live bands – particularly us 🙂
(Kev)
Well said.
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