interrupting yr broadcast: hummingbird

interrupting yr broadcast: hummingbird

The life of a lone troubadouress pounding the miles between gigs up and down the nation’s motorways is a solitary one. It’s hardly surprising that three singers who have experienced that life over the years might seek safety in numbers. However, the combination of Amy Wadge, Edwina Hayes and Cathy Burton – the triumvirate that makes up Hummingbird – is anything but a good few women huddling in a corner; it’s three talented singers pooling their collective experience, entertaining audiences across the country and having a blast in the process. Trevor Raggatt caught up with them to hear their thoughts on the viable alterative to “girl bands”.

* * *

The last six months have been busy ones for Hummingbird as they soldiered on through their first extensive UK tour with a long (though alas not hot) summer of festival gigs and the release of their debut album, Tougher Than Love. There had been a trial run of the format at the tail end of 2006 – a mini-tour with Rosalie Deighton completing the line-up next to Wadge and Hayes. Duty called Deighton elsewhere, and that’s when Cathy Burton joined as a permanent member and momentum really began to pick up.

Amy: That was something that was talked about around the beginning of last year. We weren’t sure of the line-up and all those other things, but we – the original three – knew each other from around the acoustic circuit. So we’d done stuff together. Actually Cath was in the frame to begin with for the first Hummingbird tour, and so when it came time to make a change she was a natural choice – I’d known her for some time and I said to her way back that she’d be perfect for it.

Edwina: Yeah, we knew that Rosalie wasn’t staying right from the beginning of the last tour, due to her other commitments. So we knew from then on that it was always going to be a different line-up – pretty much from the start.

Amy: It’s opened up musically since Cath arrived – and that’s no disrespect to Rosalie – but it’s open things up in terms of instrument choice. I think it’s more diverse in this format.

Cathy: Yes, because Amy and I can swap around instruments, play piano and stuff.

Amy: It is weird though, because from Eddie and my point of view we feel that Hummingbird didn’t really belong to us last year. We had a big team, were doing lots of things like showcases and that, and actually we were battered by the end of it. But this year it’s been all about the music, about writing, about gigging. So for us now, this really feels like the band and that Hummingbird Mk 1 was really like the preparation for the band. So I think that since Cath has joined now it belongs to us, like the three of us.

Edwina: But really it’s quite difficult to draw comparisons because that was a short period: we only did a ten-date tour. And most people who’ve seen us now never heard what we sounded like before.

One thing is certain, the change of personnel has changed the band’s sound, seemingly making the harmonies around which the band’s sound is built even more expansive.

Amy: Yeah, and I think that’s why Cathy was always up there on the list, because we wanted someone with a really defining voice. And Cath has the sort of voice that when you hear it you just know it’s Cathy Burton. So, musically, for me and Eds that was the clincher – Cath does have such a killer voice and it’s totally different from ours.

Moving from the past to the present, it’s clear that over the course of the tour the band has palpably gelled as a unit.

Amy: It’s amazing the difference between the first one and now. We had a run of five or six gigs back to back and the difference that made to us as a band was amazing. You get a synergy going between you where you just know what the other one is going to do. And of course that only comes with time.

Cathy: Yeah, we only had one bad gig, in Glossop, where we all had to share just one mix. It was a terrible PA, it was just chaos…so we did what was basically just a blind gig really. And that was really throwing me in at the deep end just four or five gigs into the tour. Particularly when I felt I was on catch up, still having to learn all the songs. So to go through a gig like that and get through it I knew, “Okay that’s it. I can cope with this!”

Amy: And the reviews have been really good and we sold out so many places.

Edwina: It’s been lovely; really, really good. Well, apart from Glossop! Actually to be honest, it’s been quite overwhelming. After every gig we’ve been getting emails and MySpace messages from people saying how much they loved it.

Cathy: Yeah, it’s been great talking to people afterwards as well. There was a woman just the other night and she was saying how inspiring she found the whole thing. Amazing!

Between all the busy touring (not to mention their own solo careers) the trio found time to record their debut album, Tougher Than Love, with the exotically named Mighty Vibrations production team.

Amy: Basically they’re the guys behind Sandi Thom, and we’ve all known Sandi off and on for ages. Frankly, it was really cool to get out of London to do it…and they’ve been brilliant. The great thing is they’ve been so accommodating because I don’t think the three of us have ever been in the studio at the same time recording – hardly at all! So when Cath could because of Izzy [her young daughter] she’d go in, or when Eds could make it down ‘cos she’s got further to come…or me…we just pop in. And they’ve been great about it.

Edwina: Yeah, it’s all worked. And it’s been really happy and easy and felt really organic.

The album has a distinctive sound, with influences from pop to folk but with a country tinge evoked by the three-part harmonies. Do they see themselves as a bit like the female Crosby, Stills & Nash?

Amy: Yeah, the Dixie Chicks, Crosby, Stills & Nash…yeah, exactly.

Edwina: I must admit I haven’t heard anything quite like that sound before. People may put in that kind of country bag, but I don’t think it is. Maybe more Americana or acoustic?

Amy: I suppose I’m quite Americana influenced, and Eds, you’re quite country…

Cathy: I don’t know what mine are…roots? Alt-country, I suppose.

Despite all three members being accomplished songwriters in their own right, the majority of the songs the album were provided by the production team. Why is that?

Edwina: That was because of time, mostly. We wanted to get something done quite quickly and we really liked the songs they had there and presented to us. We had a listen and chose the ones we liked. We thought they were really fun. They just really seemed to suit our voices.

Amy: And of course at the beginning, particularly when Cath joined, we were all busy and gigging so we were never in a position to do any co-writing. It’s only now that we’ve had the chance. When it all started we were thinking, “Well, how are we going to do this? How we can get an album out? How you go to get it all together?”. So the fact that there was somebody who was around to give us some songs made it that much more straightforward – it meant we could just get on with it. Whereas now, I think the next album will be totally different.

Cathy: Yes, but it’s all about having good songs, and if we haven’t written them that doesn’t necessarily matter. A good song is a good song. And if you like it, why not.

There is one co-written song on the album, the closing tune ‘Hold On’.

Cathy: Well, we got this phone call that we had to write another song. The mix of the album was going to happen the following week and the producers felt that even though we had done more songs than the album required it still wasn’t quite right. So they said, “Can you do a co-written one and see what comes out”. They really wanted to focus on our voices more and less on the arrangement, something less instrumental. So we had to come up with something really quick. The next day we were actually up in London together for a photo shoot.

Edwina: We’d all come up the night before and slept together in one room in a Travelodge and we had to be there are some ridiculously early time. But then we got there they said, “Oh, we don’t need you ’til 11″. So we thought, “Well, we’ve got an hour or so, let’s just get the song down.”

Cathy: Yes, we wrote it quite early on and it just came together once we’d agreed on a subject matter. It just came very quickly. And we all really liked it too. It seemed it was what we all wanted to write about and it just popped out, just like that.

Amy: Yeah, it really fits. It’s absolutely about the fact that we are women of a certain age and no mistaking. That’s the thing about this band, it’s a “lady band” not a “girl band”! [howls of laughter around the table]. At no point are we trying to be a sort of pop thing. The song was just down to touring and everything…our lives, because Cath has a child, and the rest of us have other…

Cathy: …priorities, I guess? Different priorities.

The ladies were something of a staple of the festival season this year with slots booked in at Cropredy, Greenbelt and the big one, Glastonbury.

Amy: The festival season is great…everyone wants to do it. It’s one of those things that as a solo artist most of the time you get a year on then a year off.

Cathy: It’s a bit more fast-paced. They’re shorter sets, no soundchecks, it really keeps you on your toes. But the reception from a festival is a little more exciting as well because they may not be coming particularly to see you, or they may be seeing you for the first time just by chance. So the possibility of picking up a whole load of new people at the same time is very exciting. On the other hand, of course, people can also walk away and go “Oh, what are they like?” [laughs]

With such a focus on the group, how are they planning to balance Hummingbird with their own solo careers?

Amy: Well, of course that’s the big question really because all of us…certainly this year, it’s got to be the year of Hummingbird. But like everything, if we just kill ourselves this year with Hummingbird it’ll need to naturally have a break. So all of us are still doing solo bits and bobs. To be honest it’s not set in stone; I suppose we’ll just roll with it and see what happens.

Edwina: I think it’ll naturally fall into place. We’re planning to another tour later in the year so we can kind of pick and choose what we do around that.

Amy: What it comes down to is that we’ve all been absolutely killing ourselves over the years gigging. And as much as I got to the stage where I’m really happy with what I’ve got and I’ve never ever been about “I got to hit the big time”. We’re all now at this point where people tell us things and we go, “Sure…yeah, yeah, whatever” and when it actually happens, we can’t believe it. It’s healthy for us because were all ‘healthily cynical’, which means we don’t get carried away. We’ve all been around long enough to be a little bit cynical about certain sides of the music industry…been there, done that and got numerous T-shirts. You know, we’ve been told all sorts of things and some things have come true and some things haven’t. The only thing we can control ourselves is doing the gigs. We have such a laugh. I think the fact that we are the age we are means that we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We haven’t had a single gig where we’ve been “serious”. 

It’s really funny because when we’re on stage it’s just Cathy, Eds and Amy having a bit of a laugh. And honestly, we don’t know if it’s brilliant or not, but we just like it and we really love doing it. There’s such a chemistry going on. You know, we try to go out there and be like the UK’s Dixie Chicks or a female Crosby, Stills and Nash, but every evening we end up more like ‘Loose Women’ on ITV or something!

Trevor Raggatt
originally published October 3, 2007

Written by: Trevor Raggatt

Tags: amy wadge, cathy burton, edwina hayes, hummingbird

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