Hat Fitz and Cara delivered one of Total MK's top albums of 2014 when they cut loose Do Tell. We found it by accident, and fell instantly in blues-country love.
Music with soul, songs with passion, and an engaging on-stage stream of banter. Hat Fitz & Cara are proof that sometimes, less really is more.
The Aussie-Irish partnership return to The Stables at Wavendon this coming Friday (March 27).
Take a risk and you'll be rewarded with a terrific time of it. We speak from experience.
Cara went On Track with Total MK, with a little help from Fitzy...
The song that first awakened your musical senses
Cara: 'Banana in your Fruit Basket' by Bo Carter for Fitzy.
It was found in a milk cart when Fitzy was about 12 years old.
Mine was Otis Redding 'I've been loving you'.
I bought it when I went to London at 13 years old with my pocket money and danced to it until the tape snapped and I sellotaped it back together.
Physical or digital - how do you take your music?
Cara: Still physical, although my dear friend posted me an iPod a few years ago with a great selection of songs already on it.
I have songs on my iPhone though.
Fitzy doesn't have one, just a phone that rings and texts.
The first time you thought 'Music - this is the job for me'
Cara: Fitzy was in high school playing guitar and had his first girlfriend because he was playing guitar. That's when his bug started.
Mine was the moment I heard my teacher Mr McClennahan teach us the Ballads of Leadbelly and I was hooked on singing and the feeling I felt when singing.
Your best on stage memory...
Cara: The moment our music came together as in clicked. There was a time when we were trying to get to know each other musically and be able to transform this on to the stage keeping the chemistry alive.
The moment your music makes sense to your audience and you, those are the best memories.
And the worst gig you've ever played
Cara: The first gig we ever did was so painful for me, I was not prepared on the drums at all. After the first set I had a gentleman come over and ask where the old drummer was and why was he not playing.
I went straight to the bar, ordered a double brandy and played the next set with as much emotion as I could muster. I felt completely out of my comfort zone.
I guess this is good and keeps you on your toes. I don't regret ever learning the drums and now, five years since starting I can call myself a drummer.
What made you take up the guitar/start singing in particular?
Fitzy: It was when I was younger and I found it was somewhere I could escape to with just me and the guitar. Of course there was this point where I realised that the chicks dug a man playing guitar, but it was also getting together and jamming with the lads and learning off each other too.
Singing for me was something that had many forms as in arranging harmonies that I did on the school bus as soon as I had enough friends around then I would give each a harmony and off we would sing.
Which one song by another artist do you wish you'd have written
Fitzy: 'The Butcher of Fast Eddy' by Rose Tattoo 'cause great lyrics and there's a tragic story twist at the end. I love a song with a real drive .
Cara: 'Change is Gonna Come' by Sam Cooke. It's a revolutionary piece of writing that grabs you and takes you on a journey of hard times, yet has a certain hopefulness about it that makes you stir inside. Now that's a song I wish I had written.
And one - by yourself - which holds special significance
Fitzy: Long Dark Cloud from the Do Tell album, because it has certain significance about personal life at home as a child.
Cara: I guess it would be Power from the Wiley Ways album. It's a song I have been told has helped people through tough times
When you hear how a song you wrote helps others in whatever way, there's a sense you have done something right.
If you could step into the shoes of another musician, living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?
Cara: For Fitzy it would be R.L. Burnside and he'd change nothing, just get inside his head and heart while playing.
For me, for performance it would have to be Bessie Smith. The sadness in her voice truly transcends you inside the blues and where it comes from.
Are there any current musical influences that you might look to
Actually I have been influenced by the soul approach of Alabama Shakes.
Also Creedence Clearwater Revival for their writing and deliverance of phrasing.
Tickets for The Stables show are £10 in advance, £12 on the doors.
Call 01908 280800 for yours.
