34 | September 18, 2014 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

the critical list: more hot ticketsBOOKS

Andy MillerWRITER, editor andbookseller Andy Millerrealised he’d gotten toa point where he’d tellpeople he’d read this bookor that, when in fact, hehadn’t.

Or he thought he had,but then realised – afterspouting an opinion – thathe’d never so much asopened a copy.

So, in the interest ofbeing more honest, betterread and a more roundedhuman being in general,he embarked on a missionto read the classics:the big ones, the bookseveryone blabbers onabout.

A Year of ReadingDangerously: How FiftyGreat Books SavedMy Life, is the result.A collection of essays,thoughts, blog posts andtheories, it recounts hisjourney taking in the highsand lows of Middlemarch,Pride and Prejudice, Warand Peace, and all therest, ultimately asking:what makes a classic a‘classic’ and what do wegain from finishing thebooks we think we oughtto?

Grill him on hisdiscoveriesduring this Ely LiteraryFestival appearance.

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Change your life by reading withAndy Miller, Ely Literary Festival,Tuesday, September 23 at 7.30pm.Tickets £6-£7 from (01353) 645005 /toppingbooks.co.uk.

HONEYBLOOD duo – Stina Tweeddaleon guitar and vocals and ShonaMcVicar on drums – come with

choppy locks, a beautiful Glaswegian burrand songs that make you want to leap andrun and thrash about.

They play loud, colourful garage rock stuffthey’ve named “crunch pop”, presumablybecause they’re as bright and fun as a bowlof crackling Lucky Charms (and, if the videoto their track Super Rat is anything to go by,they do like to play with their food).

The pair met after moving in similarGlaswegian music circles for several years.Finally, after many a near miss and beingprompted by friends, Stina finally accostedShona in a bar, they “jammed out” somesongs and then things began to very swiftlykick off. They’ve toured with CourtneyBarnett, recorded their self-titled debutalbum with legendary producer Peter Katis(The National, Interpol), and are makingmore than a few magazines sit up and takenote.

In less than a year, you’re definitely goingto want to be able to say you saw them playa tiny gig at The Portland Arms that time…

So, Stina, had you always planned to bea super streamlined two-person band?

“It was never meant to be that way, it wasmore the fact then when we started playingthe songs, we started getting offered shows,and we were like, well we can’t find anyoneelse to play with us, so why don’t we justplay by ourselves?”

That definitely seems to have workedout for you so far.

“We were surprised by how much noisewe could make for just the two of us!It didn’t seem like it sounded as bad aswe thought it would. So we just went ongigging and now we’re here: there’s thealbum, we’re going on tour. It’s an on-goingprocess really. I think if we did find someoneit’d have to be a special person, but theopportunity is there for someone…”

Can you explain where the band namecomes from?

“Honeyblood is a really lazy Hallowe’encostume that I made the year before I wasin the band, which consisted of me makinghomemade blood out of water, corn flour,red food dye and honey. I pretty much put itin an empty water bottle and then just spat itover myself and over other people! Ha ha! Itwas very easy to make, although it does ruinall your clothes.”

Is it true you started out recording yourmusic in a bathroom?

“It is true. The thing you wanna do whenyou start playing new music is hear whatyou sound like. For us we had limited ways

of doing that. So we went to our friend’shouse and we set up the drums in thebedroom and set up the guitar in the

hall, and then I sang the vocals in thebathroom (laughing), and we just put the

microphones all-round the house and wejust recorded it like that!”

The last year must have been a bit of awhirlwind since then?

“It’s been a pretty fast two years, definitelyand we have done a lot of things that

really, now that I look back on, it’s abit mind boggling.”

What’s been the maddestmoment so far?

“I think going to America torecord the album. We literally gottold we were doing that and thenwe were away, so it wasn’t like aplanned thing, it was literally: hey,you’re going to America! And itwas the first time we’d been toAmerica as well so, I think that,when you get the opportunity torecord a debut album and youget sent to America to do it andyou’ve never been to America,that was a pretty crazy thing tohappen.”

Do you ever feel your music

Hollie McNishCAMBRIDGE poet and spoken word artist Hollie McNishis releasing a collection of poems - as an album.

12 of her poems - pithy, outspoken, inspiring andalways strong - have been chosen to feature, performedon one disc plain, and on a second disc set againstmusic.

The album, her debut and the firstof its kind, is called Versus and hasbeen produced by fledgling indielabel YUP! and it was recorded atLondon’s Abbey Road Studios.

“Digitally its poetry and music hityou from every which way,” we’retold, with a mix of styles rangingfrom more classical tones topieces heavy with bass.

More than anything it aims toattract the attention of peoplewho love poetry, andconvince people that thinkthey don’t, that there’s alittle bit of something foreveryone in spoken word.

Versus comes off theback of a year of intensetouring, 4 million YouTubefans and the approval ofbig names such as TimMinchen, Pink, DavinaMcall and the legend thatis Benjamin Zephaniah,who said of Hollie: “I can’ttake my ears off her”.

You’ll be able to buyVersus from Monday,September 29 but can pre-order it on iTunes.

NEW MUSIC

Glasgow two-pieceHoneyblood are morethan going places,they’re absolutelyrunning wild.ELLA WALKERcatches up withsinger/guitarist StinaTweeddale on rolemodels and recordingin the bathroom

gets overshadowed by people going onabout you being an all-female two-piece?

“We get more interest because we makeso much noise for being two people! I thinkit’s exactly the same as not having a bassplayer. You could interchange the fact that,oh there are two girls! Or, they don’t havea bass player! I guess it’s just an interestingfact about us. I don’t think we get too muchmore interest because of it.”

So being labelled a girl band of sortshasn’t had too much of an impact on whatyou do?

“I’d hope we hold some inspiration for

other girls who are musicians in a positiveway.”

Do you think teenage girls need somenew role models?

“Yeah, absolutely. I think more girls shouldplay guitar and drums in general! Whenwe’re on tour or away doing music stuff,we are always a minority, just because thereare more men in music. It’s more a guy’ssphere, still, today. I would always, alwayssay there should be more girls picking upguitars and picking up drums and playing.”

Why aren’t more girls getting involved?“I really don’t know because for me, and

Hon

eybl

ood

POETRY

Cambridge News | cambridge-news.co.uk | September 18, 2014 | 35

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“I’d hope we hold someinspiration for other

girls who are musiciansin a positive way”

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Green Mind presents Honeyblood,The Portland Arms, Wednesday,September 24 at 7.30pm.Tickets £7 from wegottickets.com/greenmind.

HONEY BE GOOD: Stina Tweeddale,right, and Shona McVicar of Honeyblood

I know for Shona as well, we were alwaysinto it. I can’t see why you wouldn’t be! Ha.When we started we were like 12, 13, andit’s just stuck with us.”

Who are you listening to at the moment?“This morning I’ve been listening to that

band Alvvays, their new album is so good, Iabsolutely love it. It reminds me of CameraObscura. It’s like if Camera Obscura movedto California instead of Scotland.”

Who would you like to collaborate with ifyou could choose anyone?

“This is a difficult one. We just collaboratedwith Melissa Auf der Maur (of Hole and

Smashing Pumpkins) who is probably one ofmy biggest influences. But I would chooseKim Deal (The Breeders, Pixies). I think shewould be the coolest person to work with.”

And finally, a tricky one, where do youwant to be in five years?

“Yeah, oh gosh, I don’t think about fivedays’ time ha ha. We always say that we areextremely always confused and totally baffledby how well received Honeyblood has been,and we take everything at face value and aregrateful for what we’re doing. So we neverever have a premonition of what’s going tohappen. We don’t even speak about it.”

Really? You musthave some hopes…

“We just go, this isgood we’ll just go forhow long we can gowith this and we thinkit’s pretty ridiculousthat we get to do itin the first place sowe’re not going to jinxourselves! I hope we’re still doingmusic and I hope I can look back in fiveyears’ time and think wow, I’m really proudof that album that I made. Fingers crossed.”

e still doing