Our final guest this evening is a Fan Choice and Chaos Award nominated musician who many would say is a rather under-rated artist, however he has made some form of positive impact with his music over the three years that he’s been involved in the music industry. He released his third studio album in July, along with it came two successful singles and a series of live performances in the states throughout August and into early September, ladies and gentlemen … Brandon Caulfield!

A soft Spanish acoustic introduction is played by the studio band as Brandon casually walks out onto the main set wearing a primarily denim based outfit, complemented with scarfs and a hat, he smiles and raises his hand somewhat timidly as the studio audience applaud and cheer at his entrance and he makes his way over towards the host and evidently the seating area where the interviews take place, upon arriving at the seated area he places an outstretched arm in the direction of the host and the two shake hands before settling themselves into their individual seat amid the audience applaud and the fading of the acoustic Spanish guitar influenced introduction.



Brandon, welcome to the show, it’s great to have you here.

“Well thank you, it’s a pleasure”

Now you say that, but I’d imagine … certainly from the things that I’ve heard about you that it’s not quite such a pleasure.

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about”. [chuckles lightly]

Well, it’s been said that you dislike or are perhaps uncomfortable with this sort of thing.

“You mean … live TV?”

Yeah, well any form of public attention to be honest.

“I’m alright with it … It’s a little unnerving, I guess”

Why is that? I mean, your career is based around live performance, so I’d imagine it would be a breeze

“I think there’s a certain about of control on my part when it comes down to live performances though, I’m in control when it’s my own thing … here is slightly different, I mean it’s a late night chat show, what’s the worst that can happen, right? [laughs a little] … I think it’s the expected onslaught of questioning, but I’ll manage to get through it.” [smiles a little]

Well, I shall go easy on you this evening.

[laughs] “That’s awfully kind of you sir”

No problem at all, let’s talk for a moment about your album, a truly remarkable piece of work especially in this day and age of over-produced music, ‘Tales From The Heartlands’ sounds like a modern rock record that’s somehow been made the way they used to … now I was of the opinion that those days are long gone.

“As was I, but you know … A group of guys called ‘Misery Loves Company’ recorded an album earlier in the summer, a friend of mine, Ms Grace-Summers [laughs] was raving about it and telling me all about how I have to listen to this record … anyway, I was planning on travelling across the country in a day or two in order to spend a relaxing and somewhat romantic weekend in Indiana with someone … newly married … you get the idea [audience applauds and laughs] and Ellie sent me this album, I thought to myself, “Well Hannah likes a bit of southern rock, we’ll try this thing out” and i dunno if it was the situation … driving across the country in the sun with my girl by my side, all the while, sound tracked by this anthemic guitar fuelled music but it blew me away, truly. Modern music doesn’t do that for me but those guys found the element and essentially made me pick up the guitar a week later, I was re-inspired by what I had heard.
You know? … it was old-school but it was for this generation, it was Tom Petty for the next generation”

Well that’s certainly a good thing that you find influence from a modern-day peer of yours, it came off of the recommendation of Ellie-Grace, she’s a lovely young girl, we’ve had her on the show in the past, are you both close?

“Yeah she’s a wondrous young woman, very down to earth. We’ve known each other for a little over a year, she’s close with the family you know? … Lovely young girl, she’s like the little sister I never had [laughs]. I liken her to a very young Emmylou Harris, she’s got that ability to put her deepest thoughts and insecurities of love and life into her music, ya know? … She’s not afraid to talk about her difficulties in understanding the world and she tries to make sense of it in her music, she’s one of the good ones.”

Well that’s certainly nice to hear, your latest album was your most successful release to date, what was it about that release that made it stand out more than your previous two?

“I’m not entirely sure of that, perhaps ‘Heartlands’ was considered more accessible than my other things, perhaps there was a promotion strategy that worked more in its favour, I doubt that’s the case [laughs] … I refused almost every promotional venture offered to me but you know … I just think it was a better, more fully-formed record”

But you seem to be constantly labelled with the “underrated” tag, is that a source of frustration at times or is it something you just accept.

“It is what it is, I’d rather be underrated than overrated. There’s a bunch of people that listen and look out for my music and that’s great. I like to think that I’m generally known first and foremost for being a musician, whether underrated or not but the underrated label is absolutely fine with me.”

So you’d rather not be seen as a figure of celebrity, I mean you’re surely well positioned to be a fixture of media attention, a known and relatively wealthy musician, a pop-star wife and a home in California. I’d imagine it would be difficult to not be a fixture within the media.

“Not really, there’s the guy that performs his songs onstage and does the occasional interview and if that guy is being talked about in magazines or online for a concert that he’s recently performed or a single that he’s recently released then that’s completely fine, that’s part of the job and I understand that and I’m absolutely fine with that, but then there’s the guy that spends mornings, afternoons and evenings with his wife be it at home or outside, then that’s where the line is drawn. An intrusion on that side of things is where it starts to become unacceptable, that part of my life is not available for public consumption.
There’s got to be a level of trust and respect, I fully understand that if I attend a red-carpet event with my wife then there’s gonna be some form of attention on the both of us, that’s just part of the industry that we’re involved in, but when we’re out buying groceries or taking a walk along the beach front on a Sunday morning then I expect to be allowed to enjoy those moments without flashing lights and such and from experience I think that the paparazzi or whatever you want to call them, they understand that to and they allow myself to get on with living my life.”



I think it would be fair to assume that living in California is perhaps not the most ideal place for someone that doesn’t quite agree with the celebrity culture to live in.

“Yeah, it’s a pretty odd place to me sometimes. Send me to Alaska or an Amish country in Indiana, I’d be more likely to fit into their way of living [laughs] … But you know, it’s convenient for us because our careers generally center around this city … the way that I look at it is that California is a home for us now that we’re putting focus on our careers and maybe … when our focus shifts in a different direction then a more conventional place to call home could be looked at.”

So you’d not exactly expect to live in California for the rest of your life?

“I dunno, I’d certainly like to have the option to find a place to call home that has an entirely different culture from the one that I’m now living.”

And would the prospect of having children and creating a family of your own have an impact on that situation.

“Most definitely, it’s not something that is particularly urgent. There’s no rush to start a family but when that time comes then it’s important for me to be able to step back from the industry and enjoy the fruits of having a family of my own.”

But there’s no rush for you to become a father.

“No, myself and Hannah have spoken about that possibility and someday, yeah of course it’s gonna happen but it’s not something that should be rushed. I think for some young people, having a child these days is seen more as a fashion statement than anything else, it’s a sad state of affairs that it’s now rare for a child to be brought up in a family home and is instead brought up in a broken one. So, although it’s something that has been spoken about between myself and my wife, it’s not something that will be rushed.”

Lets’ move back to the topic of music if I may.

[Laughs] “Please do”

You recently finished the brief North American tour in support of ‘Heartlands’, how did the touring go for you?

“It was great, it was nice to get out and perform these new songs and I think I’m in a place now where I find it more comfortable to be performing onstage and look forward to it a lot more than I certainly used to.”

And can we expect to hear of some more dates in the near future?

“I’d like to head on over to Europe and do a bunch of shows out there because it’s always been something that I’ve enjoyed doing, places like Italy, France, Holland and Ireland all seem to create the most memory’s from touring and so it’s always a pleasure to go to Europe and hopefully that will be a possibility before the end of the year.

And perhaps new music to come again soon?

“Actually yeah, I’ve had a couple of days in a studio recently with a bunch of musicians that I enjoy working with, just throwing some ideas together and I’m working on some new songs which are looking pretty good right now, I think there’s maybe six or seven tracks that are almost fully formed, so things are moving rather quickly. It’s probably been my most productive period as a songwriter recently and there’s a good chance that there could be more new music coming very soon, things are certainly positive right now.

Wow, it would appear that you don’t ever stop making music, is there any indication of the sound of the new music?

“I don’t think that it’s gonna be very unnoticeable from my previous album, maybe slightly more emphasis on the country and Americana element, I think there’ll be more instrumental variety if those early studio sessions are any indication, I’ve got a couple of guys from Dublin that have played fiddle and another that’s been playing the banjo on a few tracks, so I’d say that’s likely to be a feature of the latest songs that I’m working on, I think that it’ll certainly be a slightly more raucous energy but again it’s at a pretty early stage.”

Well I’m sure that your fans will be looking forward to hearing these new songs in the near future. Thank you for your time … ladies and gentlemen, Brandon Caulfield!