The Travelling Band ooze pleasantness. Which is odd, as their songs often tell tales of depression.

In fact, their 2008 debut album “Under The Pavement” opens with a song about staring out of windows and “wishing you could die”. Fortunately, like all good, if bitter, pills, this dark subject matter gets sugar coated with sunny, 70s sounding, west coast folk with lightly finger picked guitars and gorgeous four part vocal harmonies.

Luckily, for just the promise of some lasagne, Jo and Adam busked in the middle of the Triangle at Vintage Threads. Just two men and a sofa full of instruments.

CH: So how much travelling have the Travelling Band actually done?

Jo: We tour pretty much constantly around the UK. We try to play live as much as possible because, really, I think that's how you become a good live band. I mean, you can go to a different venue and it suits a completely different sound. We like to add some variety. We can do four guys with electric guitars if we like or just do an acoustic busking thing like we're doing today.

CH: One major bit of travelling was when you went to New York to record Under The Pavement. Did you like it there?

Jo: Ha, I fully intend to live there.

Adam: It's an adult place.

Jo: Adult place. Yeah, I wouldn't raise my kids there. Unless you wanted your kids to be really good at basketball. Or handball. Handball looks pretty good. I've seen it in old 70s New York based cop movies. They pan across the skyline and there are two guys sweating and playing handball.

CH: Now your songs are quite dark, but they sound ridiculously cheery, is it a conscious decision?

Jo: I wouldn't say it's conscious but it's something I tend to do. I only really write songs when I'm deeply moved by something, mainly because I don't really have time to sit down and try and write songs, so it normally happens when I kind of need to get something out. So those moments tend to be extreme emotions. I'm not saying I'm not a happy guy, I'm pretty content most of the time, but a lot of my songs tend to have, I guess, some of my darker moments. But the music itself is different, because personally I like happy melodies. But I suppose there are a lot of songwriters who do that, who have seemingly jolly music, but if you read deeper it's not so jolly. But that's alright, I'm not a particularly depressed person, it's just a good way of letting it out.

CH: Now, you say you tour a lot, but when you play a “home-coming” show in Manchester, do you like to do something different? Is it more challenging than other gigs?

Jo: I wouldn't say challenge, it's always a pleasure. I think we like to really push ourselves when we play home town shows, because our fans who have been watching us from the start, they want to see a development. We like to give them a show they haven't seen before, like recently we did An Evening With The Travelling Band, where we set up a sort of living room onstage and made it seem like we'd just got out of bed. And then in the second half we put on like a proper rock n roll show. Then we've got the sundial tour coming up, so that'll be a different experience and then we've got plans for the rest of the year where we're going to do different things, maybe get a mini orchestra involved and stuff like that. I think it's important to constantly look at what you're doing and say how can we do this differently,  just to keep it interesting for yourself. If you just play the same set you're just going to get bored. You've got to find a new joy within the song I think.

CH: Is busking, like you're doing today, easier or harder than a full gig?

Jo: It's just different really, there's an element of sort of, excitement about it because a lot of the time, you're playing to people who've never ever seen you before so you have to impress them.

CH: And, seeing as this is a fashion event, how would you describe your style?

Adam: CRUNK FOLK!

Jo: Yes, crunk folk.

To listen to The Travelling Band, visit their myspace. The Travelling Band are playing at the Manchester Academy on The 24th April, book tickets here. 

Interview by Chris Holland. Images by Emma Doyle.

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