 
Published: December 02, 2008 5:26 PM EST
By: Isaac Davis Jr., MBA
(Juniorscave.com)
New Music Spotlight
So Shush
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So Shush
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This next band has been writing and recording together since 2000. The group, So Shush, who are from the United Kingdom, consist of a two person band members, Carole Smart and Ian Drumm. What will draw you to their music is their unique sense of how their music sounds when one hears it for the first time. Now the two of them took some time from their busy schedule to speak with us at Junior's Cave Online Magazine and JC Internet Radio.
Isaac: please take a moment to elaborate on who you are and your upbringing.
Carole: I'm Carole Smart; I'm a songwriter and singer for So Shush.
Ian: I'm Ian Drumm; I'm a songwriter and play guitar and keyboards for So Shush.
Carole: My name is Carole Smart. I was born and raised in Whalley Range Manchester. At an early age, I was really into music. With having an older sister there was always music playing in our house. I was brought up on The Beatles, Hollies, Merseybeats, Kinks etc - The British Invasion. The love of this music has stayed with me till this day. I joined my first band when I was fourteen. We were playing a mixture of Punk, Pop and Rock - Great fun. I can remember one of our first gigs was at The Factory - a club that the late Tony Wilson owned. He helped and encouraged me a lot early on. Since then, I have been in numerous bands and have met some wonderful people. One of which was Morrissey ex of The Smiths and a legend in his own living room now. I joined So Shush a few years ago as the lead vocalist and songwriter with Ian.
Ian: I was born in North Yorkshire, UK - I came to Manchester as an acoustics student in the nineties. Manchester still had a buzz after the likes of The Smiths, Stones Roses and later Oasis had become international phenomena. When not studying and later working in acoustics, I was playing guitar, keyboards and writing songs for a five piece indie rock group. We did a lot of gigs, generated some interest, played Manchester's famous Hacienda and featured on an indie compilation CD - one night Evan Dando and The Lemon Heads turned up to a gig of ours while they were on tour here. He sat with Carole who wasn't our singer at the time. They even borrowed our instruments for an impromptu performance. A couple of years later when our band and the Manchester scene in general had lost momentum me Carole started writing and recording together calling ourselves Shush and later So Shush.
Isaac: Was there any one musician that spoke to your heart so profoundly, you were inspired to do your own thing?
Carole: Initially, it was female vocalists in general, especially Sandie Shaw.I also adored Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Carole King all with a somewhat different vocal range. Bands that I love are T.Rex, The Beatles, Badfinger - and my favourites The Hollies who I see in concert regularly even now. I am a big fan of The British Invasion Bands, like I've said the retro feel of the music is definitely me.
Ian: I'm a huge Rush fan (the band - not the gas bag). I really like a lot of indie too (The Pixies, Lush, My Bloody Valentine, Sugar, Belly, etc) but my first love is the kind of progressive rock that makes a lot of people cringe (Rush, Yes, Early Genesis, etc). I especially loved the way Rush could be so cinematic and spectacular with their music - it'd take me to other places.
Isaac: Which singer/group would you say you would most like to do a duet with?
Carole: Definitely The Hollies, that would be my ultimate dream. I have always adored their songs. Today, they have a fantastic vocalist named Peter Howarth and I could see myself doing a duet with him and the boys.
Isaac: What singer/songwriter do you most connect with?
Carole: Tony Hicks of The Hollies. He used to write a lot at one time and his musical compositions are a joy. His style of writing is very similar to mine. We are both romantics at heart.
Ian: Ugghh - duets - cringe!
Isaac: Out of your entire song collection that you've written thus far, which song(s) would you say is/are the most personal/meaningful to you?
Carole: 'I Believed In You'- I wrote this song very quickly indeed. Everything fell into place. It pretty much wrote itself. I am still very proud of it.
Ian: 'You Know' is very personal to me - it's about finding the right person after a whole load of bad relationships.
Isaac: Which singers/groups do you enjoy/like from some of today's music genres?
Carole: The 'newno2' and 'The Last Shadow Puppets' are two excellent bands. The newno2 are on MySpace - as we are - and they recently posted a comment on our page - Nice one Dhani And Oli.
Ian: To be honest, I stopped following the charts years ago. The bands getting the all the hype these days sound like musical dishwater to me. Most of the new bands I really like are unknowns I've heard via the Internet radio stations and MySpace - for example, check out Pinewood Derby from Boston.
Isaac: What charities are you involved with or support and why should people get involved?
Carole: I actually frequent a lot of my local charity shops purchasing books and retro clothes; Mainly Red Cross and The British Heart Foundation and of course PDSA.
Ian: At the risk of sounding like Miss World - I've probably donated the most to the PDSA (a UK animal charity) because IMO how we treat the least among us defines us.
Isaac: Have you (or would you ever consider) writing a song about any of today's particular world issues/problems? If so, what world issue would speak to you the most to write about?
Ian: We have a song called 'We are the ones who say no' that's just spent its 16th week in the top 40 of Neil Young's video chart. The lyrics are made up from the names of famous protest songs. The song's about how the news media get us excited about war as a kind of infotainment. The reality is obviously something quite different.
http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/lwwvideospage.html
Carole: Well, we have as Ian has stated. I wasn't too keen at first but when it had been written and laid down it seemed the right thing to do. The lyrics are cracking as well. Thanks Ian.
Isaac: What is the main reason why should people listen to your music?
Carole: I think our songs are totally original. I can honestly say that everyone we have composed is totally different from the other. So we don't actually have a specific formula that we adhere to. So you never know what you are going to end up with which is very exciting.
Ian: We have a huge range of influences from sixties pop, to prog rock and modern indie though at the same time we're not trying to be anyone else - I think our style is unique to us. By the way, now is a great time for indie music because a lot of bands like us are effectively bypassing the main stream, forming their own labels and promoting and distributing their music over the Internet. There's a lot of new ways to discover great music.
Isaac: What has been your main inspiration to toss out such classical music?
Ian: The late John Peel, I don't know if you've heard of him in the US but he brought independent bands to us when we were kids before the Internet.
Carole: The Late Tony Wilson. Tony used to present a programme called 'So It Goes' in the late seventies. I was a kid then, a definite rebel and he was showcasing these fantastic bands like The Sex Pistols and The Damned on prime time TV. It was what I had been waiting for!!!
Isaac: How far into the creation of a song do you share any of it with anyone? Who would you play it for? Would it be a chorus, a verse and chorus, or a complete song? How much do you let others "mess around with" one of your new songs?
Carole: I give Ian a new song on a voice recorder with lyrics and music. He will then listen to it and arrange the music as that is his forte. I wouldn't say he messes around with it - basically he is the one who will make it sound wonderful.
Ian: When I was in a full band, I'd just give them a tape with me badly singing nonsense lyrics to some basic chords. The singer would then write some words and the others would add in all kinds of breaks and solos, etc. Usually, it worked but sometimes songs would end up too long and lacking their essence. Nowadays, I often write from start to finish - with particular thought to melody structure. Carole's writes as well to so it's quite competitive. What I miss about the larger band is playing live without midi tracks, the experience of doing that with a large PA rig at a festival is hard to beat.
Isaac: Do you have to be a tortured soul to be a singer-songwriter?
Carole: No
Ian: No - you just have to be someone selfish and big headed enough to write for yourself - not for others - if you care about what other people think then you shouldn't be doing it - if you know it's good then there'll be others out there who'll like it as well. It's also handy to be someone who doodles a lot with lyrics or musical instruments because it's about catching the ideas as they come to you - not trying to force them from nothing.
Isaac: Are your songs strictly autobiographical or are they embroidered autobiography?
Carole: Embroidered autobiography. I live in a total dream world which follows through into my songs.
Ian: My songs are only autobiographical in the sense they're sometimes generic moans about the drudgery of everyday working life (Someone, Time, Lucid Dreamer, etc) - it's a Manchester tradition - we live in the UK's rainiest city. Beyond that I wouldn't be autobiographical anyway - I'm way too boring a person to sing about.
Isaac: How long does it take you to process your emotions and turn them into songs?
Carole: About five minutes.
Ian: Sorry, but I'm usually quite technical with the song writing where I let the music lead the emotion - not the other way round.
Isaac: The best piece of advice you actually followed?
Carole: Do the best you can.
Ian. Don't pack in your band and sell your instruments for a new kitchen.
Isaac: Give Shutouts to your family and friends.
Carole: Hey Vrinda, Paula, Kim, Kat, Bee, Martin and The Hollies.
Ian: Hello Mum - hi all Junior's Cave listeners.
Isaac: Last but certainly not least, what are you working on, now?
Carole and Ian: We're just released our first album (on iTunes, Amazon, etc) and have been writing a lot of new songs for our second that we'll probably release in the summer of 2009. Things are taking off for us at the moment with a lot of air play and interviews - it's a nice time to be an Indie band.
So Shush
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