Moriaty are Jordan West (Guitar/Vocals) and Matthew Partridge (Drums/Vocals/Ginger Hair), they grew up in Teignmouth and the 'mean streets' of Keyham.
Influenced by the likes of Blind Willie McTell, Muddy Waters, Bill Hayley, Dylan, Zeppelin, Sabbath and Muse, they fuse a myriad of genres to produce some rip roaring, filthy ass music that's guaranteed to get your toes tapping and your head nodding.
We arranged a date with them in Teignmouth, it was a nice day so we decided to go 'crabbing' on the quay. I went to get the crabbing lines, Matthew & Jordan went to get the supplies (beers) and off we went. We dropped our lines, cracked open some 'coldies' and had a good chat about recording in the deepest depths of Cornwall, owning a 'Blue Peter' badge and playing mountain side gigs to a loads of pissheads, here's how we got on....
Your new track ‘Bones’ features the one and only Chris Wolstenholme (MUSE) on bass, how did you manage to get him involved?
(M) Chris came to watch us last year in Guilford. After that he was keen to get us into his studio. We did two tracks with him. Being a bass player he has always said we should get a bass player, which we have always resisted, but he wanted to play on ‘Bones’ and we obviously were more than happy he did. (You can see the video to this amazing track below)
Steve’s claim to fame - I grew up in Teignmouth and used to help out putting gigs on in the early 90’s, one night a couple of bands ‘Gothic Plague’ and ‘Fixed Penalty’ rocked up to play, made a right bloody racket they did, appeared that they formed another band later on called ‘Rocket baby Dolls’ and then became ‘MUSE’.....
(M) Yeah its pretty incredible what they have achieved after starting in lil' ol' Teignmouth.
You’ve been referred to as ‘Filthy Indie Blues’, does this best describe your sound or would you go for something else?
(M) I’d say that’s pretty close but were open to all kinds of descriptions.
Who in your opinion has produced the ‘Perfect’ album?
(M) I think the Beatles set the bar for everyone else. They hardly got it wrong.
(J) Yeah, I guess Revolver is the ultimate song wise. But Dave Sitek from TV on The Radio has some pretty cool ideas when it comes to production. Apparently he re-wired his whole desk to get a certain sound. I also think Bon Iver’s debut is sonically perfect.
Your debut album ‘The Devil’s Child’ was released in June 2014, where was this recorded and who produced it for you? Why this studio/ producer?
(M) We recorded the album in Cornwall with John Cornfield. We recorded the record in his basement. John is a legend and knows everything you need to know about being in a studio. We first met him doing sound at one of our first cornish shows and immediately asked to be involved.
(J) Yeah his reputation is amazing, but he is such a down to earth geezer. Straight to the point and doesn’t get too involved with the music, just gets the sound right. Mat’s right he is a living legend and i always wanna work with him in some way if we can.
What was the first and most recent gig you attended as a paying customer?
(M) My first gig was the Verve in 1997 during their urban hymns tour. Richard Ashcroft was on form great gig. My most recent show was Jamie T in London at Alexandra palace. Was a rowdy affair.
(J) First was The Fugees in Birmingham NEC, last was Honey at their album launch in St Austell Brewery - hench!
You are playing/have played some pretty impressive venues already, which would you say has been your favourite?
(M) Some of the venues on our Alps tour were insane. Mountain side gigs to a loads of pissheads
(J) Leopolloza 2014 or Secret Cinema Back to the future were both amazing.
Have you played or are you planning on playing any overseas gigs/festivals in 2015?
(M) Currently in planning. Watch this space.
You name quite a few bands as your influences, if you had to name one band or act that made you want to get a band together, who would this be?
(M) Definitely RATM. They were the band i wanted to join as a youngster.
You’re a two piece and have collaborated with rappers, singers, bass players and string sections, do you prefer to do this in order to experiment more and achieve the sound you want rather than taking on more ‘full time’ members of the band?
(M) We have always been open to making our sound as big as possible and we have lots of friends who like to play so when we write a new tune sometimes there is space for more sounds.
(J) It's sort of horses for courses. If the song needs something else, we’re not confined. Equally sometimes you don’t need to add anything.
Tell me a fascinating fact about either one of you?
(J) I have a green Blue Peter badge.
Smaller, local music venues are closing down all over the place, do you think this is because less people are going out to watch bands?
(M) Yeah that's definitely the case. It’s important not to overplay your own town because people will come to one gig on a Saturday but Wednesday, Thursday. Not happening. People need to be excited about going out. And it’s like 8 quid for 20 cans these days so bargain. No one has the time or money to go out all the time.
What are your views on the use of smartphones/tablets at gigs? Would you ever impose an all out ban on them at your shows?
(M) I don’t think there should be ban but if you're using your phone at a gig to share a picture of a cat then probably leave it at home.
I chat to a lot of bands, many of these are releasing material on audio cassettes, now, when I were a lad, that’s all we had (as well as vinyl), do you ever think we’ll see the return of audio cassettes in the shops?
(M) It would be great and there is a chance. Vinyl has come back on the scene so we can only hope. I also hope Paul Gascoigne comes out of retirement.
What advice would you give to a band just starting out these days?
(M) Play gigs, have fun, be positive at all times.
How has social media benefited you in getting your music/message out there? Which platforms have worked well for you?
(M) When we started Moriaty the social media thing was kicking off so we have used it to our advantage and our fanbase as grown for that. Of course Facebook and Twitter have been very positive and has helped us reach companies like the BBC.
Can we expect any new material from you in 2015?
(M) We plan to release a series of singles in the next few months as well as a Hip-Hop EP with the Scribes.
We were having a bad time at the quay, all the beers had gone, it was starting to cloud over and Jordan was threatening to throw in the towel, I suggested we decamp to The Cellars Bar for more beer and some cheesy chips. We gave the crabbing lines to some kids and headed off through town to the pub. Beers were ordered, chips were en route and we thought it was only fair to put Jordan and Matthew through the quickfire question round, here goes....
CD or Vinyl?
(M) Vinyl (however I have more CD's)
(J) Vinyl
Acoustic or Electric?
(M) Electric
(J) Both
Car or Motorbike?
(M) Car
(J) Car
Glastonbury festival or Reading festival?
(M) Glasto!
(J) Glastonbury
UFC or WWF/WCW Wrestling?
(M) I only follow Macho Man Randy Savage (we checked up on him, he died in 2011 so unsure which channel Matthew has been watching...)
(J) WWF of course.
Tattoos or Piercings?
(M) Tattoos
(J) Agreed
Beards or no beards?
(M) No beards. Sick of them.
(J) Agreed
Mad Max or The Terminator?
(M) The T1000 of course.
(J) Yep
Camping or Camper Van?
(M) Camper van.
(J) Van, who would choose a tent over a van if they had the choice?
Recording Studio or Stage?
(M) If i had to pick one studio.
(J) Studio - unless we had an army of roadies. Then i’d choose the studio again.
iPhone or Android?
(M) Android
(J) iPhone - due to the betterness.
Fender or Gibson?
(M) Fender
(J) Depends what mood your in.
Mac or PC?
(M) PC
(J) MAC
The Jolly Sailor or The Devon Arms? (Teignmouth Pubs)
(J) Cellars
Meat Loaf or Paul Potts?
(M) Meat
Star Trek or Star Wars?
(M) Star Wars
(J) Star Wars
God or Google?
(M) Google is god isn’t it?
(J) haha
We'd like to thank the guys for taking the time out of their hectic schedules to come 'crabbing' with us, I would just like to add that 'crabbing' is in no way related to 'dogging' which is a totally different pastime altogether.
We wish them every success for 2015 and hope to get to one of their live shows in the near future. In the meantime, go check out their debut album, it's called The Devil's Child and can be ordered from iTunes
