Andy Howells chats to Blind River Scare

Who are you and how did you come together?

Tim Manning (Guitar, Vocals & Songwriter) met Chris Tweed (Lap & Pedal steel guitar) when they were both playing a local festival, Tim solo and Chris in a Bluegrass band. Some cross over musical references and a few rehearsals led to the idea of a new Blind River Scare line-up.

Stuart Loosemore (Bass guitar) was the sound engineer at a radio session Tim did in Swansea. Meeting up again when Blind River Scare playing as a duo shared a bill at The Norwegian Church in Cardiff with a Swedish singer/songwriter, Stu was her bass player for the tour.

Tim and Keith Boast (Drums) have been friends for many years and played in a previous band together.

Where are you from?

Band members are originally from Wales, England and Ireland but are now all South Wales based. (Newport, Cardiff, Swansea & Magor)

How would you describe your music style?

Original Americana & Alt-Country influenced bitter-sweet songs about life, love, loss, redemption and damnation. .

What’s been your best live experience?

Blind River Scare in different formats are now fast approaching 500 gigs played, so live experiences good and bad have been many.

The best gigs are the ones when we've shared a bill with acts we like and would be happy to pay to see such as Clem Snide, Midlake, The Deadstring Brothers, Mark Eitzel, OX, Fionn Regan, Vetiver, Peter Bruntnell , Lucy Wainwright Roche, Elliott Brood, Leeroy Stagger, The Rockingbirds, etc

Can you tell us about your new album?

The New CD is a six track EP called ‘The Point Of No Return’ recorded at Towpath Studios by Mike Hopkins and out on our own Creosote Records label.

There's some rootsy sounding songs, some out and out country and some mellow songs.

It’s available to buy or download from www.blindriverscare.co.uk or www.blindriverscare.bandcamp.com

What can people expect from your forthcoming appearance at The Welsh Perry & Cider Festival?

Caldicot Castle is a perfect setting for a festival and Newport based Soundbase provide a great stage and sound set-up.

Blind River Scare will be playing Sunday 25th May (1.00pm) with a full band line-up and will be playing songs from the new CD together with other originals.

People can expect a fantastic weekend of entertainment and a huge choice of amazing cider and perry ... Tickets via www.welshcider.co.uk

Where can we see you live?

Next week-ends gigs are -

Saturday 24th May – HowTheLightGetsIn Festival, Hay On Wye (Trio, 3.00pm – The Pavilion Stage)

Sunday 25th May – The Welsh Perry & Cider Festival, Caldicot (Band, 1.00pm – Main Stage)

There are always plenty of upcoming gigs and radio sessions listed on the website, including a mini tour in June.

There are also links to the social media sites if people want to keep up to date on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

www.blindriverscare.co.uk