Misty's Big Adventure

>How did Misty’s Big Adventure originally come together? What inspired the name?
Misty's was originally a three piece, formed by my friend Julian Bowditch. He left after a year, but me and Sam carried on. First we got a couple of people in, and then we just started adding members. Everyone who joined was a friend, or a relation. This has kept down the squabbles and egos! The name comes from a Magic Roundabout annual from 1968.

>Who’s in MBA? What qualities do you each bring to the band?
Well I sing and write and have a load of toys I incorporate into the songs.. Then Sam plays drums and engineers most of our recordings. I consider him my co-writer because a lot of my songs just wouldn't work if he didn't work out how to join different bits together! Then my brother Matthew plays the bass.
He likes to be known as the bass section. Lucy and Hannah play Saxophone and Trumpet and they're twins. The brass is obviously a big part of our sound. They kind of play 30's screwy jazz and rocksteady style brass. And sometimes a bit of free jazz just to annoy people! Our keyboardist is also called Lucy
and she's an amazing classical pianist, and then I get her to play dumbed down piano parts. Jon, or Jek, plays guitar with an insane amount of enthusiasm! Mr DJ Feva adds scratching and samples to the chaos. And then there's the legendary Erotic Volvo who can dance to anything. Why, nobody really knows.

>How was Erotic Volvo born?
He was left on our doorstep. We've just had to deal with it.

>What inspires you musically? What motivates you to do music?
Any music from any genre that is different, funny, clever, or insane. I like Raymond Scott, Joe Meek, Julian Cope, Moondog, Faust and Tommy McCook. And the last couple of years, my biggest inspiration has been Outsider Music. Music made by crazy people! I do music because it makes me happy doing it, and I like making the people who come see us play happy too.

>Do you have a day job? If so, what is it and how do you manage to fit your music endeavours around it?
I'm lucky enough to be living off Misty's and my solo stuff at present. I'm pretty nocturnal. Sleep in the day, record at night.

>If the musical world was ideal, it would…Recognise creativity, rather than egos, postures and money driven rubbish.

>Suggest a publicity stunt to increase the Misty’s Big Adventure profile
Hmm, don't know! I'd like to do a school tour where we'd go round the country just playing for 5 to 10 year olds. I reckon headteachers would make good promoters. You'd make sure you got to the soundcheck on time!

>Should bands make the effort to give their audiences something more than just the basic songs?
Depends on how good the basic songs are!

>How did you end up working with Brute Force?
I bought an album called 'Confections of Love' by him and became a big fan of his music. I met up with him in New York and we decided to do some gigs together.

>Do you plan to record with Brute Force?
We started doing some recordings in the summer, but we haven't had chance yet to finish them.

>What other future plans do you have for gigs and recordings?
We're doing some gigs with The Zutons, and hopefully playing in Europe in March. We're also recording our next album, 'The Black Hole'.

>Do you prefer doing your solo material or working with the group?
I like doing both! My solo stuff allows me to be more experimental, but I like playing live with the band. And it can be good to have the bands input.

>What do you consider your best achievements in music?
Doing a Peel Session. And finishing 'The Solar Hi-Fi System'. It was a proper slog having a budget of nothing!

>What more would you like to achieve with your music?
Make a living for everyone in the band so we can keep playing music and make ever improving albums.

>What, with regards the UK music scene, upsets you?
Too many haircuts, too much fashion, few good radio DJ's, big mainstream companies controlling what everyone gets to hear, and bands playing it too safe. The music scene needs a shake up. More messages and more ideas. EVERYTHING is too controlled!

>What, with regards the UK music scene, delights you?
The eccentrics! Pram, Broadcast, People Like Us, Dog Food and Bearsuit to name a few.

>What are you passionate about in life, apart from music?
I like strange films. My favourite film is 'The Holy Mountain' by Alejandro Jodorowsky. And cheaply made films where the acting's really bad and the director is really stretching the budget. I also like pink doughnuts and moaning into the early hours about various facist politicians. This is like a lonely-hearts column! Probably wouldn't get many replies!

> What is/was your favourite children’s book?
The Twits by Roald Dahl. Dark stuff!

>Recount your favourite Christmas…Why so good?
I can't really think of a favourite Christmas. To be honest they all roll into one. Always nice to see the family. And my Dad still gets me Dandy and Beano annuals.

>Any other words of wisdom for VP readers?
Don't get addicted to pink doughnuts.

www.mistysbigadventure.co.uk