Welcome music fans to my second interview, this time with local music legends Ben Kench and Jon Boyle from the fantastic Beatles tribute band.
ROSS: Firstly guys, tell me a little about how you got into music.
BEN: I played a bit of guitar at school, and started singing a bit with Jim, my brother. Mum and Dad were living in Northern Ireland at the time, as my Father was in the army and was stationed there, and Jim and I appeared on BBC Radio Ulster with one of our own compositions when I was 12. We fancied ourselves as a new Lennon and McCartney!
JON: I went down the classical route. I started playing piano when I was 5, probably because my older brother and sister both played instruments and took piano at diploma level at university. I moved to Wells to teach at the Cathedral School and met Ben after about a year.
BEN: Yes, I was in Kerb with Jim and Ryan, who was our original Moondogs drummer, and we had been gigging around the local pubs and clubs for some time…
JON: That’s right, and I used to drink in the Sun Inn in Wells, where Ben worked behind the bar, and one night we were chatting about football etc. (as you do) and we got on the subject of music and then found out we both played instruments. That year Ben and Jim were booked to play one of the acoustic tents at Glastonbury and had sent a demo to the organisers. Unfortunately the recording had a piano and third harmony on it and they had no third musician for the gig, so that’s where I came in. After that I joined KERB and we started gigging, including the Glastonbury festival a couple more times.
BEN: We got quite a reputation: BMG records came down to see us!
JON: We did a gig at The King’s Head in Wells one Wednesday and they were there! After the gig they said “Brilliant, we want to sign you up, we just want to see you one time in London to confirm”. Not long after this we had a gig in Fulham and, as well as BMG, there were guys there from Virgin and some other record company. We thought this was it, our big break, but nothing really came of it.
BEN: Well we hadn’t really found our own sound at that stage. Our guitarist had a real funky style but the songs I write aren’t really funky, so it didn’t quite work. Looking back, I can see why we weren’t signed up.
JON: Nick from BMG said at the time that he really loved us, but couldn’t put his finger on why he wasn’t going to sign us!
BEN: So the band broke up around 2002. The next thing that really happened was we got together to record an album of original material in Europe which we did around 2004 which was a great experience but never came to fruition at the time. We renamed the band Safehaus and decided to organise the recording of an EP which we’re releasing now. After recording that we weren’t really gigging and we disbanded for a while, but I’m really a live musician I want to be out there, so we had a gig booked for myself and Jim, again at the King’s Head, and I really couldn’t face doing the same old covers so I decided to get another band together and pick some of our favourite songs. So we got Jim, myself, Jon, Ryan and Robin Davy and started gigging around the local area, doing all sorts of songs, including a fair bit of Beatles material.
JON: The trouble was, we were picking our favourite stuff, and we realised quite a lot of the songs were a bit dreary for the audience! They were songs we loved to play, but weren’t necessarily songs you’d love to listen to! We noticed it was the Beatles stuff that usually got the best audience reaction.
BEN: They were also the songs we performed best. So, Jon and I were chatting one day and thought that we should become a Beatles band. When we looked at a list of Beatles songs were realised how many amazing songs they wrote! So I called the band the Moondogs, from “Johnny and The Moondogs” which is what the Beatles were before they were the Beatles, went for the black suit look, and did the gig in Babcary last Easter with you Ross and have been busy gigging ever since. Ryan our drummer left and was replaced with Paul, “The Hud”, and that is where we are now. Just some postscripts to the story: Jim and I travelled to New York in December and performed a number of Beatles songs on the very spot where John Lennon was shot 29 years earlier to the second! Secondly, the Moondogs are supporting a Millfield School gig where the kids are performing Beatles songs. One of the parents met Paul McCartney at Babbington House and explained about the upcoming gig, to which he gave his blessing, so the Moondogs have been officially endorsed by a Beatle!
ROSS: Well you can’t get much better than that! What’s next for The Moondogs?
BEN: We’ve got a busy summer, including a gig at Glastonbury Town Hall on June 26th and The Strode Theatre on September 15th with the Barron Knights! The great thing now is that we’re being associated with other 60’s revival bands which means there’s no shortage of work! We’re doing parties, weddings, birthday’s, you name it’
ROSS: What about Safehaus?
BEN: Fear Inside, a song from the Safehaus EP has been on Tom Robinson’s show on BBC Radio 6, and was Steve Lamacq’s single of the week on BBC Radio 2. We are also doing a live acoustic Safehaus set on Glastonbury FM on March 11th at 6.30pm.
You can listen to the Safehaus EP and find contact details for Moondogs on:
www.wagmags.co.uk/mendip
