It’s fair to say that, over the years, blues rock and hip-hop have been
casual acquaintances rather than lusty spouses; there was that epochal
Aerosmith/Run-DMC collaboration, erm... Kid Rock, and that’s about it.
But now Sheffield-based sibling two-piece Cellar Door Moon Crow have
melded the two into a hot, hip-thrusting alloy; a Jack White/
Beastie Boys mash-up that’s a backwards-baseball-cap-free zone.
“Nah, we haven’t got any of those in our wardrobes. Nor gold
chains, for that matter,” says drummer Tom Goodwin, laughing.
“From the start, one thing we didn’t want was to come across
as comedy,” adds his brother, frontman Phil. “We have fun and
we’re cheeky northern lads, but at the same time we are serious.
As a guitarist I’ve always been into AC/DC and Led Zep, and Tom
comes from an urban hip-hop background. We’re a real band that
has a bit of an urban edge, not a novelty act.”
The Goodwins have been playing together since they were
kids. “We’ve been in five-pieces, three-pieces, covers bands, indie
bands, you name it,” says Phil. They also own their own studio,
Fat Elephant, which they’ve built up from a single room into
a professional facility hired out to the local music community.
The other key CDMC (as they abbreviate themselves) landmark
is Honey Bee, a Sheffield blues night known for its open-mindedattitude to music and collaboration. “It’s such a great community of
musicians,” they say. “There’s no egos or anything. And it’s not just blues
rock, there’s country, folk, banjo players, harmonica players...” The
brothers have already recorded many of the scene’s artists at Fat Elephant,
and are set to produce a Honey Bee compilation, to be released next year.
CDMC’s own debut album, You Got This, has had a tortuous gestation.
The pair Pledge-funded it in 2018 and it was set to come out last April, only
for the web platform to go bust. “That put us under real financial strain,”
explains Phil. “Then we signed for a label that was going to honour
those Pledge sales, but six weeks in that deal fell apart. Then our
management managed to secure us a deal with Plastic Head, who
are finally going to put it out. It’s been some battle.”
With both that and a spot on the Airbourne/Tyler Bryant & The
Shakedown tour coming up, it’s a busy time for the pair.
But what about those fulsome, ZZ-esque beards.
“A few years ago we had an argument and didn’t speak for a few
months,” Phil explains. “Then one day Tom came round to my
house, we saw we both had beards, and it was like: ‘We really are
in tune with each other after all.’ So we thought we’d keep ’em.
Then we had some photos done, so we can’t change now.”
And as Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill would doubtless concur,
upon such choices careers are made. WSYou Got This is out now via Fat Elephant Productions. CDMC
tour with Airbourne and Tyler Bryant in November.Blending rock and hip-hop isn’t easy cookery,
but this duo might have found the recipe.Cellar Door Moon Crow
“We’re fans of all
Jack White’s bands,”
Phil explains. “His
recording techniques
are quite raw – he
just captures what he
thinks is the vibe on the
day – and they’ve given
us a strength in that
when we put our initial
recordings together we
were thinking: ‘Can we
mix and master stuff
ourselves?’ He gave us
that confidence.”FOR FANS OF...“We’re a real band that has
a bit of an urban edge,
not a novelty act.”
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