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Formed by brothers Aled (guitar & vocals) and Brennig Clifford (drums & percussion), Henry’s Funeral Shoe have been treading the boards for over ten years now. One of the most powerful and visual bands bubbling under the surface, they have just released their latest album ‘Smartphone Rabbit Hole’, and we caught up with Aled to talk about the album, working as a duo, and just how far Wales can go in the Rugby World Cup. Read on..
New album ‘Smartphone Rabbit Hole’ comes ten years after debut album ‘Everything’s For Sale’, when you formed the band, did you expect to reach your tenth anniversary?
Not at all. The band started by accident so it’s a complete fluke we got this far. Didn’t even realise its our anniversary. Thanks for reminding us, we should have a party.
A party sounds like a good idea! Ten years is a long time, apart from the obvious what’s different about Henry’s Funeral Shoe in 2019?!
We’re a better band and certainly a better live band. We’ve had thousands of miles and thousands of gigs to hone our craft. We’re different as people now but the objective is still the same, write the best songs we can and have the most fun we can playing them live for people.
The debut album was followed up by ‘Donkey Jacket’ in 2011, ‘Comfortable Skin’ in 2014, but then quite a gap until ‘Smartphone Rabbit Hole’, was there any particular reason for the gap?
Well, between that time we’d had a few managers, UK booking agents & publishers, so with all that business stuff and trying new strategies with those companies & people, the writing took a back seat. The business end & and all that nonsense is very time consuming. We do everything ourselves now & that means funding everything from recording, duplication, PR & outlay for tours. So, we thought it best to play to as many people as possible to gain a bigger audience before our next release.
Onto ‘Smartphone Rabbit Hole’, it is rather special isn’t it! You must be buzzing with how it came out? How long had the songs featured been brewing for?
That’s very kind of you to say. To be honest, I’m a little taken back to how well its been received. ‘High Shoulders Everywhere’ has been in our set around 3 years, maybe. We’ve tried a few of them live a couple of times but they’re all brand new.
The album title, and the cover, suggests an observation on the over-reliance of gadgets, rather than having an actual conversation with someone in person. Is one of you guilty of this? Or both of you, or none of you?!
Everyone is guilty of this right now. I got the idea for the title driving past a bus stop one morning. There were a load of college kids and pensioners waiting around and EVERYONE had their head in their phone, the only one who didn’t was a very young teenage boy who was reading a book. He looked so out of place I couldn’t believe it. I had to double back to have another look just to etch that image in my mind. It was a huge hardback book. He looked awkward and uncomfortable fighting the wind to hold back the pages. Would’ve loved to know what book it was. Whenever I drive or walk past a group of people now the most interesting are the ones who aren’t on their phone. With a world of distractions at their fingertips they chose to look around. Used to be the people with funny haircuts or clothes were the odd ones out. Now its those who look up. Hence the location of the album cover. Its an old bus stop next to an old pit in our village. Back in the day that would’ve been the place where people made idle talk, friendly chat or observations if they were standing alone etc, so having two people in such a place and engaging in nothing but their phones was a juxtaposition I liked & its clearly gonna change again soon because of the rapid pace of technology. Could be our next album has us in VR headsets. Ha!!
You never know the way things are going! How does the state of the world in 2019 influence your songwriting?
It hasn’t to be honest. I still have the same wonders and curiosity as I did as a child and curiosity is everything.
The addition of horns on the album was a pleasant surprise, were they always planned?
Yes, we had horns on a song on our EP but we wanted to feature them on this as much as the song allowed
‘Damn Right I Mean It’ has such a strong swagger to it, what’s the story behind this one?
It’s a dark song. Certainly easier to play than talk about, but the idea is to kick you in the bollocks everytime you hear it. I always blow my voice playing it live so we’re working on getting it in the set early.
‘Right Time’ is one of my favourites on the album, there is a fantastic John Fogerty meets The Band vibe about it, have you seen the incredible all-star collaboration that Robbie Robertson did for ‘The Weight’?
Very kind of you to say so. I used to cover ‘The Weight’ in my solo acoustic set. The Maple singers sound glorious on that song. Its incredible.
It is incredible, such a strong celebration of a classic song. Back to you guys, does the fact that there are only two of you bring any added pressure in the studio, who do you use as a sounding board?
Not really, we do all the writing before going into the studio, time is money baby. Ha! we record at Sonic One studio in Llanelli and Tim, who owns and runs the place is a wizard, if there’s something we’re not sure of we run them by him or, if there’s a certain sound we wanna try or looking for he can get it.
Going from the studio to the live setting, how much harder do you have to work with it just being the pair of you?
They’re all written before going in and we’ve tested them live so the studio is pretty straight forward. The arrangements don’t change because we record everything on our phones first to get the arrangements how we like them. Some songs we don’t/cant play live because the need horns or additional guitar or, we do a live version of a certain song, but that gives the listener different ways of enjoying the music….we hope.
Which band out their touring at the minute do you feel would be, musically, the perfect band for Henry’s Funeral Shoe to open for?
White Denim.
Good choice! ‘Side Effects’ is a great album. What is the most frustrating aspect about the music business for a band like Henry’s Funeral Shoe?
Not getting enough festivals and gigs. We don’t have the budget to pay for radio pluggers, so we need to play as many gigs and festivals as possible to reach an audience. We do have radio friendly songs but we haven’t the funds to push them in the way that’s needed.
Sadly there is not enough spare cash around for everyone to go to every gig on the bulging circuit. How can Henry’s Funeral Shoe stand out, and convince punters to spend their money on you rather than the band playing the next night?
I’m not much of a sales man to be honest, but we’ve gigged with a strange variety of acts including, KISS, Status Quo, Wilco Johnson, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Jim Jones Revue, The Sonics and hundreds of other great bands, and for two little blokes on a huge stage we’ve always managed to hold our own. We’ll give you 100 percent rock n roll or your money back
That is a strange variety of acts! Speaking of gigs, where and when can Joe Public catch you next?
The gigs for rest of the year are in this country so we have the priory centre in Abergavenny on Saturday October 26, EVI Ebbw Vale Saturday December 6, Jacks, Aberdare Saturday 20th December and hopefully some November gigs before that.
Lastly, how far can Wales go in the Rugby World Cup?
To the top of stairs holding the trophy aloft in joy showing the world how victory looks and sounds.
Thanks for your time Aled, best of luck with the album, we love it!
Thanks for making the time for us, we appreciate the support.
Connect with Henry’s Funeral Shoe – here.
Interview – Dave
All live images – Dave Jamieson
