Furrow Q&A

Your name: 
Thom Snell and Richard Cartwright.

Where are you from? 
A small village in Shropshire called West Felton, England.

Name of band: 
Furrow.

Who else is in your band? 
Dr sampler SP 303 and 2 x Boss loop pedals.

How would you describe yourselves? 
Two friends who grew up in the countryside then moved to the city. It didn’t work out so we moved back home and become more creative than ever, both musically and artistically. Neither of us have ever been in a band nor could play our instruments very well. It’s the idea of pushing what we have as far as we can and seeing what we can make from something very basic i.e bass and drums. We see Furrow like making art, recording is making the piece and playing live is like exhibiting your work. Our soundcloud is full of ideas that eventually turn into songs, but we really like the idea of seeing that journey take place like looking through a sketch book. 

Who are your main influences musically? 
Sonic Youth, Husker Du, Minor Threat, 80’s R.E.M, Beat Happening, Times New Viking, The Fall, Fawn Spots, Mowbird, No Age, My Bloody Valentine, Deerhunter, Sauna Youth, Cold Pumas, Mika Miko and so many more. We take a lot of influence from the ethos and approach of bands we like as well; with some we probably take more from that than we do from their sound.

What do you hope to achieve in music? 
To keep playing shows, putting out records and playing with bands that we like. We have so many ideas when we get together. So far work and life is not getting in the way of that, but there are times when it does.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why? 
It’s not a career at all. It’s a hobby and will always be.

A highlight would be meeting Jonathan Meager of Fawn Spots and spending seven days on the road with him.

Another would be almost dying going down Snakes Pass while on tour with Mowbird in October. The tour van brakes stopped working and we could’ve killed this cyclist going down it in front of us. Luckily we got to the bottom with the van smoking from the wheels. We almost didn’t play Glasgow that night because of it. Once we got the van sorted we played one of my favourite ever shows with North American War and World Peace at the palace that is the Gold Room. We LOVE JACKSON  

Power Lunches in London we admire a lot and always love coming to play there. It’s like our little version of LA’s The Smell. Andrew (Milk Records/Gold bars) and Rachel (Trash Kit/Sacred Paws) are always kind to us.

Ben and Mike from Mowbird, who run Coastal Wizards records, have helped us record a lot of our music and has been very supportive of what we do right from the very start. 

But it's all been incredible. Since or first show with Novella in February, to playing with Mikal Croin for Upset the Rhythm, going on tour with Fawn Spots and Mowbird. There are so many wonderful people that we have met through doing Furrow. From people coming to shows, promoters giving us a chance to play and labels putting out our music.  The fact that we are doing that amazes me.

And what’s the moment you want to forget? 
Meeting Jonathan Meager of Fawn Spots and spending seven days on the road with him ha.

No I think you learn from your mistakes and it's always good to make them, even musically. While writing music it’s all very natural and due to not having any kind of musical background, we feel more free to let the mistakes come through or simply develop them into a song.

If you could choose one of your songs as an advert for your music, what would it be? 
Concrete Floor.

  

Where can we listen to it? 
https://soundcloud.com/furrowwf/concrete-floor-2

Where can we find out more about your music? 

Furrowband.tumblr.com

Anything else you’d like to say about your band that I forgot to ask? 
We have records out on Bad Paintings, Coastal Wizards and Cheese Crust records in 2013 and we tour the UK with North American War in April.