Oxford's 'Alternative Faux-Pop' bringers Stornoway are back in play with the new album Bonxie, which hit stores on Monday. The release has been named after the Hebridean Sea Bird and opens with the contact calls of Brent geese - just one of 20 species of birds whose calls have made it onto the album.
But then frontman Brian Briggs is also a Dr of Ornithology. The band believe this work shows their passion for wildlife and birds more than on previous work, but it still has more than the odd smidgen of fun.
Ahead of their date at The Stables on May 4, Brian went On Track with Total MK...
The song that first awakened your musical senses
'I am the one and only' by Chesney Hawkes
Physical or digital - how do you take your music?
Physical. I'm a bit old fashioned, but you can't beat having the whole album package. But I'm probably biased because I know how much time we spend on our own artwork!
The first time you thought 'Music - this is the job for me'
When I came back from a two week hike alone in the Appalachian mountains to find that we'd been offered a record deal and an appearance on Later..with Jools Holland!
Before then it was always a hobby in my mind.
Your best on stage memory...
Performing on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury after having stood dreaming under the bare iron frame a few years before. We were first on the Saturday so strictly speaking Coldplay supported us!
And the worst gig you've ever done
In our early days we played a local gig where the two other bands and the sound man failed to show up, so we were forced to play for an hour and a half to a crowd of…two people! The silver lining was that one of those two people was a BBC radio Oxford presenter who subsequently got suspended for two days for devoting an entire show to Stornoway!
What made you take up the guitar
My dad had a 12 string guitar (rarely played) at home with a warped neck - pretty much impossible to play, but I tried! Then I got a nylon 6-string for my 16th birthday and it was so easy by comparison I learned the chord shapes pretty quickly after that.
Which one song by another artist do you wish you had written?
Sometimes by James
And one - by yourself - which holds special significance
Fuel Up is a song which really wrote itself and seems to strike a chord with a lot of people.
If you could step into the shoes of another musician, living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?
I'd be quite interested to be Jay Z for a day…and a night…
Are there any current musical influences that you might look to?
I like the sound of Songhoy Blues a lot, and we have two South African band members, so its a direction we could try exploring.
And any genre of music that you simply can't stand?
Opera. I lived with an opera singer once and never again.
Finally, plug your Stables show. What can the Wavendon audience expect?
We will play a mix of old and new, linked together with amazing atmospheric field recordings of birds and other wild soundscapes.
The new album is really fun to play live so we can't wait to hit the road!
To book tickets for The Stables show visit www.stables.org or call 01908 280800.
