ON TRACK: SAFFRON FROM REPUBLICA - LIVE AT THE CRAUFURD ARMS - SHOW THIS SUNDAY

Fresh from an anniversary tour with Space, Republica are back on the road again for a select batch of club dates, and arrive at The Craufurd Arms on Sunday (May 4) evening. With a well-received recent EP and plans afoot for a new album, Republica are back with a bang. Ahead of the gig front lady Saffron got busy and shared some of her musical likes with www.totalmk.co.uk for our On Track session...   The song that first awakened your musical senses > It was London Calling, by The Clash.  It was the first 7 inch vinyl single I bought from Woolworths!  I used to cut out and collect pictures of them.  All those early Pennie Smith photos are classic too! Mick Jones came to the first ever Republica gig and gave me such good advice.  We thanked him in the credits when we released our first album.  He sent me one of his original Clash waistcoats he used to wear onstage, saying 'Well done'! Physical or digital - how do you take your music? > I still prefer to buy a physical copy.  I think the mystery has been lost to a certain extent - when I grew up the cover artwork and knowing who had produced the record were all very important.  You got an extra sense of the band or artist. Also the sound quality seemed so much better. Digital is cool, as long as it has been recorded, produced, mixed and mastered properly and you are listening through a decent set of speakers. Everything seems to be vomited out these days. Musicians should never shirk on the sound quality of their work, no matter how popular their music.  It takes a lot of time, talent, and skill to make a song sound good... The first time you thought 'Music - this is the job for me'. > It was watching The Jam at the Brighton Centre in the front row when I was 14 years old.  Paul Weller walked onstage with his guitar in a parka, great haircut and mod shoes.  The coolest thing I'd ever seen! He started singing and I thought 'That's it - I want to be you.'  Your best on stage memory... > Wow, so many!  Brilliant gigs in the US from San Franciso's Cow Palace, LAs Whiskey a Go Go, KROQ Radio, Birmingham Alabama, to Kansas City and Texas. Of course Glastonbury, Reading, Phoenix Festival, T-in the Park, V Festival...Doing Top of the Pops three times was pretty special.  I have amazing memories of my guest onstage performances with The Cure, Gary Numan, Junkie XL, Carl Cox and N-Joi too  And the worst gig you've ever done... > One of worst was in Boston Massachusetts, I think it was.  The sound system blew up and my inner ear monitor channels were on the blink. For the entire gig I had the guitarist of Goldfinger in my ears! Which one song by another artist do you wish you'd have written > One of the songs I wish I'd written is Heroes by David Bowie and Brian Eno.  The sound is grand and heroic.  A wonderful use of synths over a conventional arrangement with feedback guitar and a different approach to recording with three separate microphones.  I think Bowie is a great lyricist  And one - by yourself  - which holds special significance > Well, a lot of the lyrics to Drop Dead Gorgeous came to me in a dream, so that one is quite significant.  Also, my song Beauty Never Fades, with Tom Holkenborg from Junkie XL I am very proud of. It was Number One in many dance charts around the world and used in the film The Animatrix and A Scanner Darkly with Keanu Reeves. If you could step into the shoes of another musician, living or dead, who would it be? > Mmm, it would have to be Elvis Presley, David Bowie, Kate Bush, Stevie Nicks or Prince Are there any current musical influences that you might look to > I listen to so much music that I guess it is all an influence.  At the moment there is so much great stuff out there; Imagine Dragons, Arcade Fire, Archive, Daniel Avery's Drone Logic album is amazing. Half Moon Run, Royal Blood, Jack White's new record, the new Space album, Young Fathers, John Lennon MaCullough, John J Presley, George Ezra, Chvrches, Queens of the the Stone Age, Brode Dalle, Courtney Love's new song...our friends Tenek and Analog Angel have new albums coming soon...the music industry is not what it was, but the music is ALIVE!!!  And any genre of music that you simply can't stand? >  I'm not a fan of music with no melody.  I like roars in metal, but only in small doses  Finally, plug the tour  > After the brilliant audiences on our UK tour we are really looking forward to playing these club dates...come and join us at The Craufurd on Sunday!    Doors open at 7.30pm on Sunday, tickets are £10. Get yours from www.thecraufurdarms.com