The Union is an acclaimed new band formed by Luke Morley and Peter Shoulder
Luke was lead guitarist, chief songwriter and producer for Thunder from the band’s inception in 1989 until their split in 2009. Pete was the vocalist, songwriter and musical rudder of Winterville. He is one of only three British artists (the other two being Eric Clapton and Peter Green) to win a W.C. Handy Blues Foundation award, presented in Memphis in 2006 for co-writing the American Blues Song of the Year.
I caught up with the pair after their storming show at Islington’s garage last month. They provided some fantastic insights into improving as a guitarist, playing at your best, being creative, setting goals and dealing with criticism.
The Rock Star Method: What made you learn guitar?
Luke Morley: There was always music playing in the house when I was a kid. Beatles, Dylan. The Stones etc. so I guess that has something to do with it but the thing that really made me want a guitar was seeing Hendrix on TV setting fire to his Strat and smashing it into pieces. As an eleven year old boy I thought ‘that looks cool’.
Pete Shoulder: Hearing the Nevermind album by Nirvana when I was eleven years old. I can remember the music really excited me and I was feeling things that I’d never felt before. I wanted to be able to male those kinds of noises myself.
RSM: What’s the best thing about being a musician?
LM: Being paid to do what you love is a rare privilege and I do!
PS: Doing what I love to do as a job. Being allowed to be creative everyday.
RSM: Do you have a vision of what you still want to achieve in music?
LM: Nothing specific really. I just want to keep making good albums and putting on good live shows. It’s a matter of always challenging yourself if you want to keep improving and there’s no reason why you can’t keep getting better.
PS: There are so many goals that I want to achieve. Particularly with my writing and singing. I would like to leave behind a huge body of work that touches on a lot of different genres of music.
RSM: Before gigs do you visualise or imagine them going well?
LM: Fortunately I don’t suffer from nerves or stage fright so I guess I always think they’re going to go well.
PS: You always hope that a gig is going to go well, but you really never can tell. You can go onstage in the foulest of moods, tired etc and go on and do the best gig of your life. It’s a strange old thing.
RSM: Do you have any specific goals?
LM: I’ve played in just about every major venue in London apart from the Albert Hall so doing a show there would be good.
PS: At the minute, selling out theatres in the UK would be great.
RSM: “You Know My Name” is a powerful combination of dramatic lyrics and a huge riff and sound. What inspired the song?
LM: The Stones’ ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ made me think about what it would be like if God wrote a song about himself and YKMN is an attempt at exactly that.
RSM: What is the best state of mind to be in to write a song?
LM: Any. As a writer you need to be able to motivate yourself and sometimes it means pretending you feel a certain way even if you don’t.
PS: A fearless state of mind. I think writers block is nothing but fear of writing a bad song.
RSM: What is the best state of mind to be in to play at your best?
LM: Relaxed but not too relaxed. Never drunk or under the influence….
PS: You need to be relaxed , which is sometimes quite hard. But when I’m relaxed I sing and play much better.
RSM: How do you deal with negative criticism?
LM: I ignore it as its usually motivated by forces or prejudices I can’t control.
PS: You’ve got to remember that there are people out there that really love what you do, not everybody is going to like you. It comes with the territory.
RSM: Do you hold any beliefs that help you to be successful?
LM: Only that a beer should be cold and a woman should be warm!
PS: We are very true to ourselves. We only make the kind of music that we want to make. If the two if us get excited by a song we’ve written, it’s job done.
RSM: How did you know that your creative partnership was going to work?
LM: We had ten years practice working together before we started The Union so I guess it wasn’t much of a leap putting a band together.
PS: We’ve been friends and worked together off and on for nearly ten years. So it felt very natural to start a new project together. That’s probably why it works so well.
RSM: Do you have any advice for people learning, or wanting to improve on, the guitar?
LM: Watch people you like or would like to emulate and practice, practice, practice. Eventually you will develop your own style naturally.
PS: Learn your favourite songs from tablature. Also jamming along to backing tracks really improves your lead playing. Try and get out and play gigs as soon as you can. You improve so much quicker when you’re out there doing it.
0 comments:
Post a Comment