Fresh Meat Monday - David Hughes & The Renegade folk punk band

Would you care to introduce yourself?

I'm Dave Hughes, from the west coast of Scotland (but now living in Dundee). I play folk music, mostly solo, but when in and around Glasgow it's with my backing band, the Renegade Folk Punk Band.

How would you describe the music you make?

I describe my music as punk rock political folk music. It's basically born out of playing in punk rock bands, before switching to an acoustic guitar and performing solo. My biggest influences are Springsteen, The Clash and Mischief Brew. I try to make sure that all the songs have good choruses that folk can sing a long to, and that they tell stories to make them interesting. It's a bit political, but not in an in your face "FIGHT THE SYSTEM" type way that a lot of folk-punk can be.

How did you start out making music?

I started out playing electric guitar when I was about 15, and about three weeks after picking it up I formed my first band. We were pretty rubbish, even as a school band! AFter that I played in a punk rock band for around 3 years, it then ended when we all went to different universities and so I started playing songs solo.

What process goes into the way you write songs?

A lot of times a verse or stanza comes in to my head, which I then push as far as I can and see if I can get something out of it. Then the music comes, which is usually pretty simple since I'm not a great musician (and have next to no musical theory knowledge). I then record a simple acoustic demo which I send to the band who come up with their parts. We then meet up to play a gig and at soundcheck we see what parts work together, then the song gets played. This isn't the case all the time, perhaps 80-90% though, and it seems to work.

What can people expect from your live shows?

It all depends on the type of shows. Sometimes it's a full on party mode show, high energy songs, sing a longs and smiles all around. Other times it's more subdued, with quieter songs that I have. It's different each time, which means that the band or I don't get bored. In fact, a couple weeks ago we played a gig at Sleazys where our setlist was picked through a lucky dip. It was a lot of fun, and meant that we didn't know what was coming next, and people walked away with tat from my house!

What are you all listening to at the moment?

I'm just back from an amazingly fun and exhausting UK tour with Adam Boucher and The Dead Set, so I've been mainly listening to his music. As well as this, Gaslight Anthem, Christy Moore and Mischief Brew have been getting a lot of play.

What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2010?

We're hoping to play bigger and better shows throughout the year, and hopefully get a bit of airplay from radio. We're also supposed to be having a split cassette coming out on a downsouth label with a fantastic artist called Don't Let Paris Fool You, so I'm trying to get stuff ready for that.I'm also keen to do another UK tour this September, hopefully with the band in tow this time.

David Hughes & The Renegade folk punk band - Outnumbered (MP3)


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