Bearwood Shuffle...a Sneaky 'Peaky' at our headliners!

Yeah!  Only 4 more sleeps to go until this Sunday's Bearwood Shuffle.  Not long to go now folks!

Headliners are the Peaky Blinders and welovebearwood were lucky enough to catch up with one of the band members, Richard March, to find out more about them. 

Richard, thank you so much for agreeing to an interview with welovebearwood.

Can we start by asking how long have the Peaky Blinders been together for?

We started the band earlier this year, we had been working together on a different project and we enjoyed working together so much we decided it would be nice to carry on!

The Peaky Blinders have a really eclectic sound – how would you describe your music?  Who are your influences?

We wanted to do something using acoustic instruments and we all loved the 1950s rocksteady/bluebeat style of Jamaican music, stuff like Baba Brookes and Tommy McCook, mixed in with some jazz/blues/skiffle type grooves. The band’s line up is double bass, 2 guitars and sax, plus we have guest vocalists and percussion players.

It's going to be a blinder - here's why...

Do you have an album out?

We are yet to record any material although we plan to later in the year!

What does 2012 hold for the Peaky Blinders?

As for the future, its hard to say because we are all busy with other projects as well – Brian has been on tour with his band UB40, Tim is doing some shows with his band Seeland, myself and Andy have been doing some shows together as well with another band called The Major Toms, but whenever we are available we get together and enjoy making music together.

Richard on the double bass and Brian on the sax

Where else can we see you play?

We are appearing at the Mostly Jazz festival at the end of the month and at the Botanical Gardens on July 8th as part of Birmingham Jazz week.

Are you looking forward to this Sunday’s Bearwood Shuffle?

We are looking forward to playing in the bandstand, and hope that the weather is kind and there is a good turn out! But on a more serious note, it would be great to see live music regularly appearing at the many bandstands in parks around the country.

People are very quick to bemoan the lack of opportunities to see live music and complain about the lack of venues so it would be great to see these spaces used in the way they were designed to be.

What’s the strangest venue you have played in?

The oddest gig we have played recently was at a prison but we’re not allowed to talk about it! And Brian has just been in Samoa playing at their 50th anniversary of independence!

 What does the phrase Bearwood Shuffle suggest to you?

I’m not sure, is it a local dance move?  Hopefully on Sunday we’ll find out!

Cheers Richard!  Sunday is going to be amazing!

P.S. Did you know that the name the Peaky Blinders refers to a Birmingham street gang who were around in the Victorian times.  Here's what they looked like....