“Oasis got their sound from them.”
Rewind Scotland in Perth’s Scone Palace hosted some of the biggest names from the 80s. This included Liverpool’s own The Farm. Throughout their career, they have worked with other big names in music, including Paul Heaton, who was previously with The Beautiful South, and The Housemartins. Heaton ended up producing some of The Farm’s tracks.
I spoke briefly with their frontman and vocalist Peter Hooton and guitarist Keith Mullin. We discussed topics ranging from musical inspirations to the climate of the modern music industry.
Q: We’ll start off with a questions that always causes a debate. I know what the answer will be, but The Beatles or The Rolling Stones? And were you inspired by either of them process wise?
“There’s no question, it’s the Beatles everytime. They changed society, they changed everything, they changed music. The Beatles were writing their own music before the [Rolling] Stones. The Stones had their own, kind of, vision really, an R&B Blues band. I like them both, though.“
Hooton: “When John Lennon got shot, that’s when I started writing, because I was so upset by him getting shot, it’s like losing one of your family members.“
Q: Are you excited to see anyone perform here at Rewind this weekend?
Starting off by pointing at each other, Mullin and Hooton said “yeah I’m excited to see him perform” and “yeah I can’t wait to see him“. They then continued with “it’s a great lineup isn’t it, you know. Any Bell’s [Erasure] got something special. We’d love to see Squeeze. China Crisis are also well worth watching.“
Q: Are there any specific artists that have inspired you throughout your career?
“The Jam, Paul Weller, people like that. Everyone who was influenced by The Beatles. See Paul Weller would say ‘go and buy Revolver’ [Beatles album], so you’d go up and buy Revolver, and I’d never heard it before, it blew me away. And then, you know, all this stuff about punk rock is not like in The Beatles, we’ve spoken to Mick Jones [The Clash], and he loves The Beatles. It all goes back to The Beatles, they changed everything, they changed everything.“
Q: Discovery Music Scotland, the website I write for, focuses on smaller artists. Is there anyone you think, not necessarily a small artist, that deserves more recognition than they currently get? Other than you of course.
Hooton: “For me, one of the greatest Scottish groups ever are the Blue Nile. If you look on their Spotify, they’ve only got around 100,000 listeners. When you go to artists like Ed Sheeran, 75 million!” He then continued with, “PJ Moore, he’s from the blue Nile, he’s got a new album out, it’s absolutely brilliant, it’s brilliant stuff.” [The album he’s mentioning is the new 2023 album from PJ Moore & Co called “When A Good Day Comes”.]
Mullin: “Other than us? Bands like The Real People, there wouldn’t be Oasis without The Real People. Oasis got their sound from them. But they’re never in their documentaries or their books. They never got the recognition, we feel, probably they deserve, so bands like that. Half Man Half Biscuit maybe? Yeah they sell out everywhere, it’s a cult band now. But they never got the acclaim they deserve. Big Audio Dynamites, Mick Jones with The Clash, with Don Letts, written out of history almost. There’s so many groups that never made it who we think should’ve done, it’s endless, you know?“