The choice of songs always remains a focal point for a cover band, this is clear. Even in the early days before the current line-up was formed, there was a fairly broad spectrum of material considered. “We didn’t really have any commercial ambitions – or otherwise, honestly. That gave us carte blanche to do whatever we wanted more or less. Instruments, skills and vocals were the real limiting factors. I always envisioned us as a rock ‘n’ roll band, but I knew there would be some oddball songs, too.”
“It’s a rock ‘n’ roll band, not a free for all!” the group’s frontman exclaimed, mildly paraphrasing Ted Nugent.
In general, the band will give most things a shot with wildly varying degrees of success. “I don’t have any pointy guitars as I call ’em – and there’s a reason for that!” Pellie said. As time progressed, a few unexpected numbers got recorded. Despite his ostensibly simple rock atttitude, he explained that songs like Love Is A Red Dress or Shine On You Crazy Diamond were his idea. “I think it’s clear we all appreciate Pink Floyd and there are so many more songs we’d love to give a shot. Something like [Love Is A] Red Dress is a step outside my comfort zone, but I still get goosebumps when I hear it sometimes.”. When asked about other side projects, his expression changed to a more serious one; “That’s what happens, you know. Sooner or later you’re going to get artistic differences of opinion and then you have to work out how to deal with that. Are we going to do the song? Is it a solo project? If most of the band aren’t actually playing, do you still release it under the band’s name? You want to avoid those questions, but it’s almost inevitable.” Around the end of 2023 Bia pushed to do a couple of Eminem covers, clearly steering in an entirely different direction. These were faithfully credited to her instead of the band, though Pellie somewhat reluctantly agreed to produce the tracks and do the engineering. Similarly, Call Me The Breeze was credited to Pellie and acclaimed great success. “No, not at all” he said when asked whether he insisted on being the sole credit for the track, “I did push heavily to have it released as it meant a lot to me and I was fairly pleased with the track. It had nothing to do with ego or whatnot; Bia actually wrote the credits and the song was released before I noticed them. In retrospect, I think it would have been better to credit it to the band for publicity, but this is how it went. Sometimes I just get in the studio and bang something together in an afternoon. Then I show it to the band, and they’re sort of cornered because most of the work has been done. I don’t do it deliberately, it’s just how I work. That’s how this all started.”.
Ody also initiates his own projects and mixes down his own versions of some songs, though these tend not to be released to the wider public – in essence returning to the initial idea behind the whole recording process. “Just for my own enjoyment!” he said.
“There have been a handful of tracks that I point blank refused, one or two of which I ended up doing after all. It’s about skill, mainly. I rightly get cold feet when Bia suggests I try to do Flea from the Chili Peppers on bass!” Pellie explained, “Come back in ten years and ask me again. I know the Chuck Berry Weeks were rough on Bia, I know Ody has his reservations about a few songs, too.” he observed.
Where’s the limit then?
“Well, I said I wasn’t going to play bass, but here we are [chuckles]. Initially, I didn’t envision a female lead singer, but she really IS so much of our sound. If you would have told me a few years ago I would be playing a mandolin, sipping mead and covering Blackmore’s Night I’d have told you that you’re off your rocker! I was always thinking more of beer, Jack Daniels, electric guitars and pounding rock ‘n’ roll. We’ve done rock of most kinds, some blues numbers, a couple I’d rank as soul maybe. We’ve done oddball things, Bia of course with her rap and pop influences. We’ve touched metal. We’ve touched country and folk music. I think that maybe a reggae song would really complete the circle of viable options. Maybe one day, we’ll do that. ”
