大象传媒

Q: How did The Dufflebags come into existence?
A: The band formed out of a meeting between Chris Davies and Martyn Cornelius at a folk club about five years ago.

Chris is a singer songwriter who was looking for opportunities to perform his own songs and Martyn was already a veteran as far as performing in folk clubs was concerned.

Both of Chris' sons Sean and Jo also started to learn to play guitar and from there the seeds of the band were formed.

Chris would write the songs and present them to Martyn and he would breathe life into them with his own interpretation by way of playing or singing.

Paul, the owner of the local Village Inn in Exeter is a firm supporter of the local music scene and asked if we had a band and wanted to play and the answer was yes to both.

The band line-up

So now we're Martyn on guitar, mandolin and mandocello, Chris on guitar, Sean on lead guitar, Jo on bass and Graham Pickard joined us on drums.

Q: How did you come up with the band's name?
A: Just before we performed Paul asked us what our name was and Chris came up with "Ernie and the Dufflebags" although eventually the Ernie was dropped.

So it was by chance and under pressure for a quick answer!

Q: Which three words best describe your music?
A: Upbeat, harmonious and original.

Q: Tell us about the track you've chosen to demo.
A: Monkey On My Back - it's about the pressures we all have in life, everybody wants something from all of us.

Q: What do you think of the current music scene?
A: It's very good, it's varied and active with open-mic and jam sessions giving good opportunities for everyone to perform.

Taking in the scenery from on high

Q: What's your most memorable gig so far?
A: Any gig played to an audience,, it's always such a thrill!

Q: Whose records are in your collection?
A: The Beatles, REM, Stranglers, Eagles, Moody Blues, Levellers, Red Hot Chillis, Pink Floyd, Dixie Chicks, Genesis and many more, there's too many to name!

Q: If you could have three guests to dinner who would it be?
A: Mike Rutherford to talk about music, Peter Ustinov for the great conversation and Adolf Hitler to ask him why.

Q: Complete the sentence "when we become famous..."
A: We don't want to be famous, we'd rather be respected and appreciated, Chris and Graham are too old anyway...

Q: In your own words, sell yourself.
A: We are at our best when we play live. We are original with 60 to 70 of our own songs but when we play live in pubs we tend to play covers.