What was the original spark that encouraged you to start creating music together?
Paul and I (Andy) used to teach together in the Music Technology and Television department at Sandwell College in the West Midlands UK. We had previously been in separate bands before working at the college and during the following years we performed regularly on each other’s tracks in the studio’s.
Later Paul left to work for Bourneville College in Birmingham, while I stayed on at Sandwell, unfortunately we lost touch for a while. In the mean while I managed to gain a publishing / distribution deal with Andrews UK and started releasing music under the Pseudonym of “Relax Listen”. In fact, a track from the first Relax Listen album “Gallery a collection of pictures” called “Classic Durasic” was used by German YouTube gaming channel “Broken Thumbs” as their Intro music. The knock-on effect was the track went on to iTunes chart in Germany, France, and Luxembourg.
Eventually we both retired from teaching and when we did meet up again, we decided to bring our musical ideas together, Paul brought songs into the partnership that he had previously composed, some with lyrics written by John Dietrich. John and Paul grew up together and attended the same school in Tipton and I met john while we were at the college. I already had a stock of recorded material which Paul then supplied the lyrics to as well as adding guitars. Nowadays when either of us comes up with an idea we will work together during production until we are both satisfied with the outcome.
In 2016 we released our first collaborative work along with Andy’s instrumental tracks on the “Relax Listen with friends” album and because we were happy working together, we decided later that year to release our first fully joint album with a separate Andrews UK contract and called ourselves “HnH music”, we titled the album “Reflections” and in 2017 we followed up by releasing “This other world”.
Unfortunately, our name HnH music clashed with another band similarly named and people had difficulty locating us on the download sites. To get around this problem we released our third album “Roads we take” as “Harper n Hubble music” in 2021. However, the name change disconnected us from our first two albums in the online stores, so to get around this problem we decided to re-mix, re-master and re-release the albums in 2022 and this solved the problem.
Which brings us up to date with our current Harper n Hubble album “Academic Life”.
Congrats on your new release, ‘Academic Life’. Can you give us some insight into the title song?
We decided to use “Academic Life” as the first track of the fifteen featured on the album as it sets the mood for what’s to come. Paul had initially composed this track a few years earlier with John’s lyrics.
So as to bring all our work together under Harper n Hubble music eight of the tracks on the album came from the “Relax Listen with friends” album, but for this release we have either re-recorded / remixed and re-mastered them and then added the other tracks over a number of months.
We have been working together for a few years now and have developed our own style and techniques for writing, recording and producing, in fact everything is in house until we send it off to Joe at Andrews UK who then publishes and distributes our work. Academic Life and the rest of the catalogue are available from all major download sites.
Your music interweaves so many different styles and sounds. If you could collaborate with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
We have many influences from our era, Paul would if it were possible team up with Lennon and McCartney to name just a few of the following artists: David Bowie, The Eagles, Brian Ferry & Roxy Music would have been a good one for both of us, I will also add Colin Blunstone, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd.
We do however jokingly say that to perform our music live we would need to go on the road with Jeff Lynn and the Electric Light Orchestra to re-produce our work.
What’s been your favourite musical experience to date?
As we have both been in bands previously, we have had different experiences over the years.
Local artists have previously performed Paul’s songs around the country, he also co-wrote and played a part in a rock opera at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He has also sessioned on (musician) friends tracks too.
Andy: “My former bands previously supported some major UK artists, we used to perform at some large concert venues dotted around the country, although remembering back, the stage lights used to obscure everyone in the audience after the first few rows and a lot of the venues and stages looked very similar to one another. Although this is a common phenomenon which usually only shows up when the vocalist gets the name of the town wrong. My favourites gigs were at the smaller intimate venues which we played when we first started out”.
In addition, it’s always a pleasure to see our work up on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify YouTube as well as the other download stores.
Where are you based? Can you tell us how the music scene there has inspired your sound at all?
We are both from the Black Country which is just outside of Birmingham in the West Midlands UK, although Paul has now moved to Shropshire.
The Black Country got its name from the industry that grew up in the area during the Industrial Revolution. The local factories used to manufacture products made from iron and steel, the area was also known for its coal mining as well as it’s iron and steel production, but now much of this has disappeared.
We also used to have a thriving pub rock scene where you could go to see live music in a number of public houses around the area. Unfortunately, these gigs no longer exist except for the odd one, most have either closed and been demolished or turned into eateries. Although we have played live on radio, as well as being interviewed and featured.
These days if you want to see live music you have to go into Birmingham or to the newly re-opened Wolverhampton Civic halls which have been closed for refurbishment for the last few years.
If you could perform at any venue in the world, where would it be and why?
With modern technology it is possible to play at home and still be seen by the rest of the world.
It always depends on the audience size; they need to feel comfortable and be able to hear everything. Personnel past experience has shown that even top acts don’t get this right.
We would rather perform to just a handful of people in a small venue who will be able to listen and appreciate what we are playing, than a large empty auditorium with bad acoustics and visibility.
Finally, have you got anything to share regarding upcoming gigs and what have you got planned for 2023?
At present there are no gigs in our vicinity available for artists who perform their own original music. If you are a tribute act sounding just like Queen or Abba, then there is work in the clubs. However, we do, perform the odd cover song but in our own style and are open to any reasonable offer to play.
Having released Academic Life a few weeks back we have already started our new project (as yet untitled) with a number of tracks recorded so far.
Our website carries our latest exploits with Twitter and Facebook links as well as our info and music, we can be found at https://www.harperhubble.com
