by Brandon van der Berg @vdb.brandon
The Sunshine Blues Band is a trio of musical talent, emerging through a scene that goes back over a century. Here’s the talk I had with them before their headlining show on the 11th of June at The Louisiana. Find them on Instagram or Spotify
For Fans Of Led Zeppelin, Cream and The Beatles. Read Below. Louis is an avid runner, who would beat who in a race, Will or Ollie? (Louis) Ooo! (Ollie) I don’t know I feel like I’m in the worse physical condition (Will) D’ya think? (Louis) I think I’ve seen Will play like, Wild Football, just running all over the place for a long time. What’s wild football? (Louis) Like, just chaotic football haha. So think I’d give the edge to Will. You guys played Bristol beer fest on the 9th, which is your second? Time playing the beer festival. Do you have any new beer recommendations? (Ollie) Oh there were some good ones, there were some really good ones. There was a Helles. (Louis) Arbor Ales were really good. (Will) I think I discovered that I like sour beer. It’s like a genre of beer and I had one, it smelled a bit off but it had a nice flavour. I eat lemon sometimes, I love sour things. You guys have a regular gig of sorts at The Old Duke, here in Bristol. What does mean to you as a band? (Ollie) It’s really nice, we wanted to do that immediately. (Louis) We came up with the name just envisioning it on the panels there, so it’s great. (Will) We were trying for a while so when we got it we were like “Ah brilliant!” and then we got loads more. The first song you wrote as a band was “Better with love”, now that it’s passed 2000 streams, how validated do you feel within the community? (Ollie) Well it’s always nice to see people singing it quite a lot, it seems to have caught in peoples minds. (Will) I wasn’t even there when you guys wrote it. (Ollie) Yeah, I was on 2 hours of sleep. I’d had a shift at 11pm and didn’t finish until about 7am? And we were jamming till around 10am. (Louis) Yeah! That was our first ever jam. I know “Better with Love” was recorded in-house by Louis McCausland, was “Working for the Guy” also? (Louis) Yeah, I recorded everything apart from the drums which was done by Beth Butcher, but I mixed it myself. Are there any difficulties you’ve found recording your band that differ to your time in rehearsals? (Louis) It’s difficult to capture the live sound. Our style of music and what we draw with that live. It’s always trying to incorporate that into a more modern thing, you know? It captures the vibe that way, that’s how we write. Louis, in 2021 you starred in 2 adverts for The Pearl Exchange for Street-Dancing and Yoga, why did you stop? (Louis) Are you Nardwuar or something? Haha *Group Laughs* I moved here. It was great actually. It was a foundation built up, they created this huge community after one of their family had passed away, we all just got involved as a community, I would have kept doing it if I’d have stayed. (Ollie) What is it? (Louis) It’s like this huge creation of music, of art, meditation, yoga, all that stuff. (Will) So do you know how to street dance?! Laughing (Louis) Not like, body bopping, but I can move a little bit yeah. To what extent do you feel the name “Sunshine Blues Band” limits you from exploring other areas of music? Would you even like to? (Ollie) I quite like it, blues is always gonna be the backbone of what we do. But we’re not afraid to explore what we want to do, like we’ve got some country stuff, jazzy stuff and some quite heavy stuff aswell. (Louis) We haven’t ran into that problem yet. (Will) I don’t think it’s that deep, like Bob Dylan’s go a lot of songs that are like “<Something> Blues” and it’s not a blues song at all. It’s the sort of tradition, the idea behind it. You’re a Blues band made of 20-year-olds in a city as electronic as Bristol. Do you feel much pressure to conform you sound around the city? (Ollie) Nah, people seem to like it. (Will) With The Duke, that crowds very fit. We also do a lot of gigs with indie bands or rock bands (Louis) We have the best time writing and doing it and I think that reflects and people enjoy it. Blues is full to the brim of iconic artists, if you could have anyone of them in your band, who would they be and what would they do? *A long think* (Louis) I’m scared to say anyone in rock n roll because they’re all so f*cked up haha. *Group Laughs* (Will) I’d have Duane Allman, He’s really good. (Louis) Maybe like, Ginger Baker as a drummer and like Bootsy Collins on bass? (Ollie) I want keys but I don’t know who to say. (Louis) I want to say Jerry Lee Lewis but he’s such a horrible person. (Will) Oh! Billy Preston? (Collectively) OH YEAH! That’d be cool. Being in a genre typically performed by older people. How challenging is it to navigate the blues scene as a group of young people? (Ollie) It’s a pretty different scene to a lot of others. There’s been like us, and a load of old men also playing, but it’s quite nice. They’re all really good at what they do but I think it’s fair to say a lot of our songs have way more energy. (Will) I think it’s nice to be apart of it. (Ollie) Yeah, the new generation. Every time I come to one of your shows, its always high energy and you guys are always sweating and dancing around. What do you do to make sure you have fun on stage? (Will) Oh, I don’t think we’re allowed to say that, haha. (Ollie) We’re all pretty addicted to Monster Energy. (Louis and Will) Monster if you’re reading this, send us a free Monster. We are fuelled as a band by it. (Louis) I’ve had like, the worst days ever and thought “I’m gonna completely f*ck this gig up”. Then drank one monster and it’s been the best gig ever. Not joking, it’s medicinal at this point. You’ve just started releasing your first line of T-Shirts, where can people find them? Very quickly and cheekily (Ollie) Oh, in the other room. Haha (Louis) At any of our gigs, we’ll bring them. Louis, Drumming and singing is a combination most people avoid, especially when you’re also the front man. Have you had to improve either one to keep up with the other? (Louis) I think, I’ve had to really be on my game, just playing live. It’s a lot of energy but I’ve grown up doing both often simultaneously so it’s just come together that way. I love it, really enjoy it. Will, you’re also largely a guitarist despite playing Bass in 2 local bands, which do you feel has done more for yourself musically? (Will) I’ve always played Bass and Guitar together, but I would call myself more of a Guitarist when I’m home. When I’m writing or practicing it’ll be the Guitar. But I started playing bass because I was like “There’s NO bassists” even in my little sh*tty town, so I'll get a bass. So I’ve played bass in most of the bands I’ve been in, but that’s got me out, got me gigging. So I’d definitely say Bass. Ollie, you’re a really technical player, what are some of your weaknesses as a guitarist and how do you try to make up for it? (Ollie) Errrrm, I think one of them has probably been holding back. I definitely went through a phase, like teenager age, and I was in bands and stuff, all I wanted to do was shred. I just wanted to put as many notes in as short of a time as possible. Only because It was challenging, to hone those techniques. But It’s having an awareness and maturity to know when it’s appropriate, I still get carried away sometimes but like… (Me) But that’s fun ennit? (Ollie) Yeah, it’s still very fun. I played a short game of Fill in the Blanks with the band to finish off the chat, Here is the nonsense that spilled out of it. “What makes a good cup of Tea, is a lot of not tea, because tea is grim. I always fall over, when I have it. My therapist told me to stop talking, because when I yell, I get so sweaty. I’m so happy. so very very sad. Because now I shop at asda, and can finally be free of overpriced groceries.” Find them on Instagram or Spotify
For Fans Of Led Zeppelin, Cream and The Beatles.
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