Tell us about yourselves and what you do?
We’re ahab. We play harmony based roots and country music. We all live in Hackney in East London but are from all over the country. Seebs is from Glasgow, I’m from Edinburgh, Luke is a Leamington native and Dave is from London. When we’re not touring we are usually writing or rehearsing, when we’re not doing that we usually hang out in Dalston.
How did you get together?
Dave and I were playing together as far back as 2004 and recorded an album titled ‘a.h.a.b’ in 2008 which we didn’t really tour as we both had meltdowns while recording it. We did a few shows up and down the country and then basically withdrew into drinking and hanging out with other musicians while we got over the recording process.
While all that was going on, a guy from Tootsies in Nashville somehow got a copy of the record and decided to invite ahab to come to Nashville to play a residency during CMA fanfare week. At that time Dave and I talked and realised that we didn’t want to go and do that as a duo, seeing as how Dave had recently started messing around in the studio with Luke and Seebs and was enjoying it, we asked them if they’d like to go to Nashville to play the shows, and they said yes.
We then spent two weeks having far too much fun, playing three shows a day and spending the night with new friends and other musicians at bars like Three Crow and Red Door. It was a really special time for us as our first ever show was in Nashville. Up until then we didn’t really know if it would work but it did and we were committed to becoming ahab as you now know it from that first show in Nashville.
We then came back to the UK and started busking on Brick Lane. The crowds that began to appear were such a surprise to us that we decided to film one of our busking trips and put it on YouTube. The organizer of Fairport Convention’s Cropredy festival saw one of the videos and booked us to play the festival on the Saturday afternoon which was a really big break for us. We’d been playing to crowds of about 50-200 people up until that point and Cropredy is 20,000 die hard music fan and the rest has happened since then.
What is your current release?
Our ep. KMVT is available now. Our album will hopefully be out next year.
What is the best part of being in a band?
The best part of being in a band is being able to do something that makes you happier than anything in the world, every day and have people come to see you do that and get something from it themselves. Infact, everything about being in a band is a blessing. I get to spend my time driving around with my buddies, playing music that we’ve written together, working and meeting all kinds of different people from different backgrounds and countries, talking to people that have experienced something because of what we do. I mean, there are very lonely and depressing moments and there are arguments and such but generally, just being in a band is the best thing about being in a band.
What is your most significant moment yet?
The moment that has been most significant to me was having Bob Harris watch our Cropredy set from the side of the stage. It was exciting and scary as hell. Actually, I have just remembered a real “wow” moment.
During the summer we were fortunate enough to be able to go out to Europe and play two shows with Grant Lee Buffalo in Amsterdam and Copenhagen. The crowd at The Vega in Copenhagen were really into our set, there were probably 1500 people in the venue and at the end of the show the lighting guy put on the full crowd spotlights while we were walking off the stage and there was just a sea of hands and faces. I’m not lying when I say this. My only thought was “Shit, that looks like a Nirvana video”. So that was probably my most significant moment so far.
What are your biggest musical influences?
Deer Tick, Woody Guthrie, Bon Iver, Neil Young, The Meat Puppets, Ryan Adams, Townes Van Zandt , Crosby – Stills – Nash.
What venue/gig do you most want to play?
I’d love to play to a sold out Union Chapel.
What is your best/favourite song you have written?
My favourite song we’ve written so far hasn’t been recorded yet, we do play it at shows though, it is called ‘Love’.
What’s your favourite album of this year?
Bon Iver – Bon Iver
What does the next six months have in store for you?
We’re supporting Bellowhead on their November tour then we’re writing all of December and Demo’ing in January, followed by loads of shows. Then we’re off to Australia and so on and so forth.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Fingers crossed, not dead and still touring.
What’s the best thing about Americana-UK?
It’s about songs, and if you don’t like songs, then there’s something wrong with you, and you write about us, which automatically puts you in my good book.
