The Odd Couple Hit the Road Again

PHIL CUNNINGHAM and ALY BAIN are currently embarking on their annual Scottish tour, filling venues all around the country with their inimitable brand of virtuoso music and comic patter.

ARTS JOURNAL: Phil and Aly – it’s become almost a second collective identity for you two, hasn’t it?

PHIL CUNNINGHAM: It’s true. There is no question that for many people we have become an entity called Phil and Aly, rather than just Aly the fiddle player and Phil the box player. And I think it’s also true that we play differently with other people than we do together.

ALY BAIN: There is something almost telepathic about it at times, and you only get that by playing the tunes for a long time. When there are only the two of you, you have to have really strong material to make an impact — there is nowhere to hide in a duo.

AJ: How did you two get together in the first place?

PC: We had known each other for years, and we had played informally in sessions and so on, but we’d never done a formal gig, other than one thing in London. Then Aly asked me to come in a do a duet as part of his ‘Aly Bain & Friends’ television show, I think in 1986.

AB: Following that people started asking us to do things. We put together a wee Highland tour, and it just grew from there. It started out with us doing two weeks a year, and now we do two months in Scotland alone. I think we are doing 40 nights this year. I can’t think of anybody else that works that much here. I would say overall that the duo probably accounts for about half of our working time now. It’s great, because it virtually means that we don’t really have to work anywhere else, and what we do for the rest of the year is really just what we want to do. It’s a great situation to be in.

There is a feeling that it’s somehow safe to like folk music now. When I was a kid I didn’t have a single friend who was remotely interested in the music.

AJ: Apart from last year’s ‘Best of’ CD, it’s been a wee while since your last recording, which would have been ‘Spring the Summer Long’ in 2002. Is there a new one on the cards?

PC: We’re working on a new album – we hope it’ll be ready for Christmas.

AB: We tend to leave it to the last minute when we are doing an album, and then panic and pull it all together. We are both attracted by the same things, though — we love strong melodies, and that is what the audience likes as well.

PC: It’s quite hard to introduce new material into our set, because people still want to hear the old ones. I write a lot, though, and Aly likes to play them, so I’ve usually got plenty stuff when it comes to putting an album together.

AB: You never really play a tune the same way twice anyway, and I believe that the longer you play something, the more you get into it, and the more you get out of it. They say you can’t really play a slow air until you’re over 40 anyway, so we should be getting really good at them by now. Phil writes lovely slow airs, as it happens, which is a wee bitty odd considering he is such a manic guy.

PC: There is a feeling that it’s somehow safe to like folk music now. When I was a kid I didn’t have a single friend who was remotely interested in the music. Now I go to Shetland for a workshop and there are 37 kids playing the box. When you look at the number of young musicians around – and really good young musicians at that – it is tremendously encouraging, and a total transformation from when we were starting out.
 
AJ: Phil, your next solo album has been a long time coming – any progress on that front?

PC: It’s the subject of much discussion! In fact Duncan Chisholm was giving me a big row recently about how long it has been. It is in the front of my mind at the moment though, and what I need is get somebody else involved in the studio with me.

AJ: Just to add another pair of ears?

PC: Yes, and a big leather shoe, because I find it hard to kick myself in the behind. I think a producer would act as a catalyst for a lot of stuff. I have a lot of tunes I am desperate to have on a recording, and I really need to move on it.

AJ: You do a lot of production work yourself, but now that you are living back in (or just outside) your native Edinburgh, you don’t have the studio at Crask of Aigas – how are you coping with that?

PC: I have all my bits and pieces around me. I’m getting some new software to let me work on my laptop. Being mobile is very appealing, but I do miss the studio. I miss being able to get up at five or six in the morning and go straight in there and work until 10 or so. That seems to be a very productive way for me to work, and if I had an idea, I could get it down right away.

AJ: Has that altered your working methods?

PC: It has, yes. I’m working in a different way at the moment – I phone my answerphone and sing ideas to myself! But I am definitely looking into the idea of having a portable studio that will pack into a couple of flight cases and I can take it with me wherever I want to work. The technology is moving so fast now it’s hard to keep up.

Eden Court closing is going to leave a bit of a hole in the calendar for the next couple of years, but anything that ups the ante for the Highlands is a good thing.

AJ: You two played at the closing night at Eden Court Theatre ahead of the big refurbishment there, and generously donated the proceeds to the appeal fund – do you welcome that development?

AB: We will miss it for next year, but I am glad they are doing this development on it. Inverness has grown a great deal since it was built, so it is even more important. I have nothing but happy memories of Eden Court – I remember when they were building it originally and people were saying oh, this is a waste of money and all that kind of stuff. It goes to show that if you do provide a facility like that people will support it and use it. There isn’t really anything else on that scale in the Highlands. People travel from all over to come to events at Eden Court, and it is very important for the area.

PC: That’s true – one of the things that makes it a great venue is that it is supported by such a wide range of people, and another is the staff – I am very fond of them, and they are always very good to us when we come there to play. It’s one of those places where you turn up to play and every face is a friendly one.

AB: I played there a few times with The Boys of the Lough, but when Phil and I did it the first time as a duo, that was the first time that we actually sold the place out, so that was a notable moment for us – we had been playing lots of small venues, but it was great to go in there, and I think we could probably have sold out two nights. That was a bit of a breakthrough for us.

AJ: And you see benefits from the new facilities?

PC: We both have fantastic memories of the theatre. Eden Court closing is going to leave a bit of a hole in the calendar for the next couple of years, but anything that ups the ante for the Highlands is a good thing. The smaller venue they are adding will be valuable access for young bands – it is hard to go straight onto big stages for any band, and how else will they get the experience they need?

AJ: Has the notoriously dry acoustic in the theatre ever been a problem?

PC: It has been, at least when we have done it with engineers that don’t know how to cope with it. The guys who know the hall always put in a wee bit of artificial reverberation and it helps the night along. In terms of acoustics, though, every gig you do is different, and you just have to get on with it and deal with what is there.

AJ: Anything disastrous ever happen to you at Eden Court?

AB: No, I can’t say there have been any disasters.

PC: I did have a bad moment back when I was still a smoker. We were rehearsing in the afternoon and I went to take the fag out of my mouth and it stuck to my lip. As a result I pulled off the lit end, and it stuck to the middle finger of my right hand. I had to play the gig with a huge blister on that finger – I’ll never forget that one! The gig from hell!

Phil and Aly are on tour in Scotland until early October 2005

© Kenny Mathieson, 2005

Related Link

• Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham website