Blackbird fly high with gig in city and an ‘eclectic’ new album
ROB FIDDAMAN SPEAKS TO PROJECT BLACKBIRD AHEAD OF THEIR CITY GIG THIS WEEKEND
■ Lead singer Ming is originally from the USA. How did you guys meet?
We met in New York when I was on tour with the Specials in the late 90s. Ming later moved to the UK and we started writing music together.
■ Whose idea was Project Blackbird?
It’s probably a cliche but Project Blackbird is a product of all its parts. The music is in the main written by myself, Alan and Jamie. One of us will come up with an idea and then we all work on it. Ming writes all the amazing lyrics. We are excited to add our fifth member Eddie (Dublin) to this process now. He’s a fantastic drummer and will definitely bring something new to the process.
■ How would you describe your sound?
Eclectic. We have many influences that we bring to the songwriting process. This manifests itself in our music being fairly ‘genre fluid’. We would like to think it is thoughtful, both musically and lyrically.
■ You have just released your second album called If This Is the End. Is this album different from your debut album Endurance?
Actually If This Is The End has now been out for nearly two years and we are in the process of writing our third album to be recorded next year. If This Is The End was a natural progression from Endurance... we had permanently recruited Alan and Jamie into the band so this album brought their skills and sensibilities into the mix. The studio engineer Dave Tidmarsh also played drums for us on it and was a big influence on sound and production. We also had a large number of guests playing or singing on it, including Lynval Golding from The Specials. In some ways it was a nice way of keeping in touch with the wider musical community during lockdown. Of course, much of it was done in isolation from each other and we are looking forward to working together more as a band and in-person this time around.
■ Music gives us so many emotions. When you play and see everyone getting into your vibe that must be an amazing feeling?
It is, and we often get comments from members of the audience after the show on how the music has affected them emotionally, which is always very special.
■ I see Jon has played for the Specials. That must have been a lot of fun?
It was yes, and a great experience to travel the world playing great music. It opened up opportunities to play some amazing venues such as the Royal Albert Hall in London and The Fillmore in San Francisco. Also festivals like Glastonbury (Main Stage), Fuji Rock and Hyde Park (Olympic ceremony closing gig). I also got to meet other musicians including the Dandy Warhols who I later toured with.
■ You have a lot of support from many well-known radio DJS especially from BBC 6Music’s Tom Robinson.
We have been very lucky to get support from Tom Robinson via ‘Fresh on the Net’ including airplay on his BBC6 Music Introducing Mixtape. We’ve also been championed by Frank Benbini on his show on BBC Radio Leicester who had our track Laissons Cela Entre Nous as his track of the month when we first released it. The icing on the cake was an invite to support his band Fun Lovin’ Criminals on their European tour in October.
■ You are playing in Stoke-on-trent this weekend aren’t you?
We’re playing at Captain’s Bar in Hanley on Saturday, our last gig of the year. Then it’s all about the new songs for the next album.