Jade's Music Blog

The Great Northwestern Hoboes certainly like to keep themselves busy. As well as playing a hectic gig schedule they also host up and coming night Olde Time Religion at Zanzibar. They played to a packed house for The Mathew Street Festival last month and they've got a national tour planned.

The Great Northwestern Hoboes are:

Marc Hannon - Guitar / Vocals
Stuart Irwin - Bass / Vocals
Robbie Taylor - Banjo / Fiddle / Guitar / Mandolin / Vocals
Nick Walker - Washboard / Drums / Vocals

Here they give their unique insight into life in the band...

The best piece of advice I’d give someone thinking of starting a band would be...
Marc: Read 'Lust for Life' by Irving Stone.
Stuart: And get a good haircut.

The best thing about playing live is...
Marc: When something goes wrong. You have to just fly by the seat of your pants and I don't know whether it's adreniline but we always seem to pull it off better than what we originally had planned. At the last Olde Time Religion, I snapped a string with only a couple of songs left. I didn't have a spare so Robbie passed me his guitar and picked up an acoustic for himself. The songs we were going to play weren't really acoustic type songs, so we played some old blues numbers and that seemed to get the place really swingin'!

I love...
Stuart: Paul McCartney's bass line from 'With A Little Help From My Friends'.

I hate...
Stuart: All the fevered egos and talentless wannabes on TV, lowering the standards of everything, making banality a goal.

I want...
Stuart: What I can't have. Always.

If you only listen to one song this week it should be...
Marc: 'Undecided' by Shack.
Stuart: 'The Duke Of Earl' by Gene Chandler.

The song I wish I'd written is...
Stuart: 'Portrait For Frazer' by The Durutti Column. It encapsulates my mood most of the time.

If I could be in any band, apart from The Great Northwestern Hoboes, it would be...
Marc: The White Stripes for the present. From the past I'll say The Golden Gate Quartet or James Brown's band from his show Live at The Apollo.

No-one knows this, but...
Marc: I am the little 11 year old in Steven Gerrard's book when he got the garden fork stuck in his big toe. Actually, quite a few people already know that because I carry a copy everywhere I go, and tell everyone I meet.
Stuart: Robbie has actually appeared on Parkinson, playing banjo in the Ricky Tomlinson band. And its been downhill for him ever since!

If money was no object I would...
Marc: Dispose of all the pigeons in Liverpool City Centre; they're getting cheekier by the day. I'm more scared of walking through a flock of pigeons than a gang of hoodies.

My perfect day would be...
Stuart: Spent drinking Cains in the Irby Mill pub with good company.

I dream of...
Stuart: Things that quite often end up coming true!

If I could go back in time and give myself one piece of advice it would be...
Marc: Save your pocket money son...Grand National 1995, Royal Athlete, 40-1.

My dream date would be...
Marc: Going to see Liverpool beat Manchester United with my girl.

Liverpool is...
Marc: Where we live, where we love and where we laugh.

www.myspace.com/greatnorthwesternhoboes