C2C: Country to Country is looking set to have its best year yet when it returns to London’s O2 Arena from Friday 11th March to Sunday 13th March 2016.
One popular part of the festival is the pop-up stages, which showcases lots of upcoming bands and artists for both festival goers and the general public visiting The O2 Arena. One band that will be performing on The Grand Entrance stage at the front of the venue will be The Southern Companion.
Fronted by Darren Hodson, The Southern Companion put a British take on the Country and Americana genres and last year they releasedĀ their album 1000 Days of Rain.
We caught up with Darren to talk more about the band, discuss their upcoming C2C performance, and find out what he thinks about the rise of Country here in the UK.
Hello. How are you today? Where does this Q&A find you?
Hello, Iām very well thank you, Iām currently in the middle of getting ready for our Under The Apple Tree session with Bob Harris, and Iām going over the songs for the Lulu tour which starts on Wednesday.
Youāre going to be performing at C2C in March. How did you get involved with the festival and what can we expect from your performance?
We applied for a pop up stage back in November I think, weāre doing The Grand Entrance Stage at 4pm on Friday 11th.
Weāll be one of the first bands people will see as they enter the Arena site so weāre going all out with a high energy, full on, full band set of our most up tempo, up beat numbers. Thereās a time and a place for the quiet, introspective Singer / Songwriter stuff that we do but for C2C weāre gonna rock it out a little.
Country music is finally gaining real traction here in the UK. Why do you think that the genre is enjoying so much success at the moment?
I think in the UK weāve been starved of any real music from the mainstream media for so long that people are starting to look elsewhere for it, the relentless TV talent show pop and Radio 1 playlist has left people feeling isolated and disconnected with music.
I believe they want something genuine again, the idea that anyone can be a singer by going on the X Factor or anyone can make music with a computer and some autotune has, for a while taken away some of the mystery and magic.
I think people want to see musicians playing their instruments, singing live, Country music and Americana in particular has that authenticity about it, itās about songs and musicianship and plain old fashioned talent.
People often think that authentic country music can only come from US artists. What challenges have you faced as a UK country band?
Mainly thereās been no scene as such for it, therefore thereās been very few places to play Live to try and grow a fanbase the traditional way.
That seems to be changing which is great.
Your latest album 1000 Days of Rain was released in 2015. For those who may not have heard it yet, tell us about the record and the inspiration behind it.
Itās just an honest little record I made with my band, I had a bunch of songs Iād written in the couple of years since the first Short Stories & Tall Tales record in 2011, thereās some very personal, fairly dark songs on there but theyāre balanced out I think with some sweet moments. Itās an album Iām very proud of, I couldāve bottled it and stayed away from some of the heavyweight stuff I was going through but I wouldāve only been doing half the job. I find it a little strange to talk about the inspiration behind the album, I think the best way to find out what itās about is to give it a listen, itās all in there…
How did you get into country music? Which artists have inspired you in your career?
A lot of stuff I love you wouldnāt say is āCountryā as such but has country colours, bands like The Allman Brothers and The Black Crowes.
Iām a big fan of Tom Petty, Jason Isbell, Ryan Adams, I really love that Chris Stapleton record, heās fantastic.
Iāve always loved Del Amitri, I think their one of the UKās most under-rated bands.
I just like great songs, Iām not a big fan of putting bands or artists into a box with a label on it, Country music is a great place to find great songwriting but equally thereās a lot of stuff that comes under the ‘Country’ banner that I canāt stand.
Whatās the meaning behind the band name? Is there a story behind that?
When it came to naming the band I wanted it to reflect who I am and where Iām ‘at’ so to speak, Iām from the south of England but also a lot of the music I love has that american ‘southern’ kind of vibe.
Iāve always thought of music as a companion, itās there with you through all different times in your life, good, bad etc and great music travels with you in every sense. When I came up with SouthernĀ Companion it just felt right, as soon as wrote it down I then had that kind of āmeant to beā feeling, remembering one of my favourite albums growing up was the Southern Harmony and Musical Companion record by The Black Crowes so it was a sub-conscious nod to them as well i guess.
As well as C2C, youāve got a string of live dates throughout March. Whatās your favourite part about being on the road?
Thereās a lot about being on the road that is very hard, I miss my wife and daughter terribly when Iām touring but, I love playing live, whether itās with the band or solo, that connection you strive for with the audience is pretty special when it works.
Which artists are you looking forward to seeing at C2C?
Unfortunately I donāt think Iām going to get to see anyone, Itās right in the middle of the Lulu tour that Iām doing so Iāll be legging it down to London from Barrow-In-Furness to do our slot and will beĀ headed straight back up North that night for the next Lulu show.
I wouldāve loved to see Kacey Musgraves again, I went to her show at The Royal Albert Hall, sheās incredible, also Iām gutted to miss Chris Stapletonās set, I think heās gonna own that whole thing.
What else does 2016 have in store for you?
Iām out playing guitar for Lulu and doing my little guest artist spot on her tour till the end of April, weāve then got some festivalās coming up in the summer.
The Southern Companion will perform on the Grand Entrance Stage at 4pm on Friday 11th March 2016 at C2C: Country to Country. Watch the band’s music video for Crash below:
[brid video=”28636″ player=”531″ title=”The Southern Companion “CRASH” music video”]