Not a lot of bands make it ten years
The Hoosiers’ Irwin Sparkes chats to MARION McMULLEN as the band prepares to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their debut album
IRWIN Sparkes laughingly says he knew The Hoosiers had made it when girls started turning up at their concerts.
“We’d be inside the tour van going all over the country and the gigs were coming along and we were getting bigger audiences and responses,” he remembers with a smile. “We started doing little bits of TV and suddenly girls were in the audience. That had never happened before. The only females that used to be at our concerts were friends or relatives so that was a surprise.
“It was a weird one. We hadn’t changed, but suddenly the band was being treated differently. I suppose it’s like Justin Bieber or Michael Jackson. Fame is a very unnatural concept and does get in the way of artistry. When you are in the eye of the tornado it can be hard to deal with.”
The band have gone on to bring out music on their own record label and are about to embark on a nationwide tour to mark the 10th anniversary of their multi-platinum success of debut album The Trick To Life.
It reached the top of the album charts in 2007 and spawned the indie-pop classics Worried About Ray and Goodbye Mr A, which still pack out indie dance floors a decade later.
The band will be selling a new limited edition vinyl pressing and expanded two CD edition of the album for the anniversary and playing all the tracks on tour.
“It just feels like a real landmark,” explains Reading-born singer Irwin. “It’s very special and we feel very lucky people still want to see us and hear us. We have to pinch ourselves. Not a lot of bands make it to 10 years.
“They have been some personal changes over the last couple of years, things have changed with people in different times of their lives, but former bandmates like Martin (Skarendah) and Sam (Swallow) are still friends and we talk.”
The core of The Hoosiers has always been Irwin and Al Sharland and their friendship predates the band.
“I was with another mate at church and we needed a drummer,” recalls Irwin. “I was about 12 or 13 and this dirty heathen, Al, turned up. He was 14 when we met and we were the two in the group who took the music seriously and were the two practising every night.” He laughingly adds: “We needed to ... we were rubbish. We sucked big time. We’d be coming home on the last Tube at the weekend absolutely sober. It was very sad, but we’ve made up for it since.”
Irwin and Al later went to America on a soccer scholarship to play for the University of Indianapolis. It inspired the name The Hoosiers – the name for residents of Indiana – but the experience proved they were not natural athletes.
“It kind of prepared us for failure,” agrees the affable Irwin. “Al had shin splints and I had asthma and they called us Mr Wheeze and Mr Glass. And then Al fell and broke his arm. We learned from that never to take anything too seriously ... and I’m still waiting for the call to play for Reading FC.”
The sport’s loss was music’s gain and Irwin still has fond memories of the early days of the band. “There was no Instagram or anything back then it was only Myspace and I feel lucky that we still have all these fans around. Maybe it’s the fact that we just try and be ourselves and be genuine.
“There were a few stand out moments back in the early days like the first time playing a gig and seeing and hearing people singing your songs back to you. Here was something you wrote in a bedsit, a few chords, and suddenly there are people singing your songs. It’s still a thrill. We sometime stop the music and have a bit of a singalong with the audience.” He grins: “It’s very self indulgent.”
Irwin adds: “I only listened to the album recently for the first time in seven years. I was like opening a time capsule. I remember the producer wanted a high pitch although my singing register is much lower on the other albums. Part of the fun challenge for the tour is to hit those high notes again.”
Irwin also writes with other artists and recently appeared with Gary Wilmot, X Factor singer and West End performer Diana Vickers and The Wanted’s Jay McGuiness in Big The Musical based on the 1988 Tom Hanks film hit.
“I’ve co-written some plays and Al and I are working on a comedy musical based on a lot of our experience. It features heightened versions of ourselves,” Irwin points out before adding with a parting laugh: “You don’t get to play Skegness four times and not come back without any stories.”