Influences
The artists that influence my sound
The Fratellis
I am heavily inspired by the mash of genres on display in the Fratellis music. Blues, country, alternative rock, madchester, gospel and celtic music stuck into a blender and cranked up to 11, so you can see why I love them.
Pulp
Cliff Richard
and the shadows
My Gran introduced me to Cliff Richard films of the 60s like The Young Ones and Summer Holiday. While the films themselves never impressed me, I was enamoured with the production and Hank Marvins playing on the soundtracks.
The creative mastermind behind Pulp is Yorkshire's finest... Jarvis Cocker whose awkwardly confident style has greatly inspired my lyrics and singing. Another member of note is Russell Senior whose melodic violin inspired guitar playing is offset to punk, grunge and britpop bands of the time.
The smiths
The Smiths were the best 60s band to form after the 60s. There is a beautiful irony to Morrissey's poetically gloomy lyrics about working class life in manchester sung over Johnny Marr's jangly imitations of The Shangri Las and Nile Rogers. The rhythm section of Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce go outside of the conventions of drumming and bass playing to follow Marr's guitar, and the wall of sound created sounds more like a Phil Spector arrangement than the four piece band playing.
The stone roses
Every member of the Stone Roses is a master of their instrument. Ian Brown sang passionate lyrics about love, religion and working class existence with a nonchalant tone at odds with his lyrics and sugary melodies. Mani's simple but flawless basslines were at the same time solid and hooky, they provided the foundation for most of the bands tracks. Reni is one of the greatest swing drummers of all time, and producer John Leckie said that The Stone Roses debut was the only record in which he never used a metronome. John Squire shines throughout their debut from the atmospheric improvising of I Wanna Be Adored to the 4 minute guitar solo outro of I am the Resurrection.
Paul Weller
Paul Weller's career has been long and varied from the punk of The Jam, The synthpop of The Style Council, and the many genres he explored within his solo career but he has always retained two things... he's always been a mod, and he's always had an in your face attitude and intensity. Weller penned more than his fair share of the greatest songs of all time such as Thats Entertainment, Ever Changing Moods, Wild Wood and The Changingman. Along with Paul McCartney and John Lennon he is the third artist to make a number one record in five straight decades, not bad company.
