This evening we will be speaking with two of the members from Ockhams Raiser.

CB: Hello guys, I hope you are all doing well this evening.

Guy Davies: Hi Corey, yeah things are good here despite the cold, we have just
released 2 new tracks and are stoked!

CB: So, have you been playing a lot of shows lately? I saw that your
myspace page was giving you a bit of trouble with posting gig information

Guy Davies: Yes a few shows over the last month, the last one we played was a
charity gig and it was a blast, we got some radio coverage from it too,
the radio controller thought we were original and full of
passion…….a great compliment for us.

Damian Etherington: The festivals over the summer were a blast and we are finding
momentum building very well.

CB: I know a lot of bands here in the states are concerned about the
current economic situation bringing down show attendence. Is this a
major concern in the UK? Or, are fans typically pretty supportive
despite the economic trends in your part of the world?

Guy Davies: I have to say fans are generally supportive despite economic
concerns here in the UK, good music is a form of escape and freedom so
we want to keep providing good vibes no matter what! People have less
money to spend on going out, so bands can tend to suffer at ‘grass
roots’ level, it seems that big bands are still well attended though.

Damian Etherington: It does take a lot of work so people know about gigs, etc but
agree with Guy for sure, people love to feel good and love good
music.

CB: So, I read that you were in the runnings for album of the year by
Radio 6 International for 2008. Can you comment about that for the
readers?

Guy Davies: Yes we are high up in the running order to win!!! We got to 4th the
last I checked.

Damian Etherington: Yea it was a great opportunity. Radio 6 chose a number of artists
that they had played earlier throughout the year and had listeners vote.
It was cool to have a larger audience hear our track In The Evening and Radio
6 International have been great with their support. Unsigned artists really
need more things like this.

CB: Are you looking at getting back into the studio again any time soon?

Guy Davies: For sure yes, there is so much material evolving from the band and
we feel the quality of the song-writing is improving with time, the 3 of
us have been playing for a long time but we are still learning how to
get the best from our instruments!

Damian Etherington: We’ve also just won a month long radio competition which means
we received 3 days in a studio so we’re looking forward to recording
soon. We won a festival slot too!

CB: What was it like recording the first album? Were there any memorable
moments that you would like to share with your fans?

Guy Davies: Yes the first album was recorded in a stone walled pub! the drinks
were still on the wall behind the bar but somehow we resisted
temptation! It was great because we recorded live with the vocals put
down separately. We managed to churn out 6 songs in a weekend but
ideally we like more like 2-3 weeks to lay tracks. More recently we have
multi-track recorded in the studio that has recorded all the Manic
Street Preacher albums and The Automatic’s song ‘Monster’ That was
awesome……..go listen…..

Damian Etherington: There was tons of raw energy over those 2 days and it definitely
brought the band closer. The 2 new tracks are “With Me Now” & “Can’t
Force It” and we are finding people are loving the tracks.

CB: Your sound really does have an original feel about it. What I often
find to be quite interesting is that musicians tend to be more partial
to one song, but your fans will tend to be partial to another song that
ends up becoming what they use as the defining element of your signature
sound. And i know that can sometimes be a bit frustrating for artists,
because we often find out many years after the fact that the audience
really did have a different connection with the music than the artist
might have intended. So, do you feel that your fans tend to connect with
your music the same way you do?

Damian Etherington: That’s a great question Corey and what I love about music is the
limitless way it connects with people. Each member does have certain
songs they like or feel represent the band and we are always concerned
that our songs come from our heart, and they do! With respect to our
audience, we love to share our passion of music with people. This is one
of the reasons we are a band. The conversation that is created between
us and the listeners seems to be right on and we always feel the vibe of
the audience at gigs and festivals. This is a great part of music! We
have been privileged with people writing to us expressing their love for
a certain song and that’s always great, no matter the song.

So I’d say the connection is a 2 way street with lots of activity!

CB: In closing, is there anything you would like to say to your fans
that we didn’t cover earlier?

Damian Etherington: We look forward to seeing you at a gig soon and be sure to go
onto our www.myspace.com/ockhamsraiser and look us up on Facebook as we
love to chat with fans! Our 5 song EP is available on the website.

Guy Davies: We like to get as much feedback as possible so go listen and we’ll
be here to receive comments and suggestions.

CB: We’ll have to do this again sometime. Thank you for taking the time
to talk with us and I hope your album does well.

Guy Davies: Thanks Corey, take it easy…

Damian Etherington: Great Corey. We look forward to speaking again and here’s to a
fun 2009!