I thought we'd begin this story in Hemel Hempstead—your birthplace. When did you move to London? I moved when I was about 1 to a little village called Frimley - about an hour outside of London. I didn't move to the city till I was 18, but before that I used to go a lot - mainly to see concerts. What's your earliest memory of music having an effect on you? My dad's a pianist and a crazy inventor; the house was full of keyboards, speakers, drum machines - all of which he'd made from component parts. Plus, he spent about 10 years working for EMI so we had tons of records of every imaginable flavour. My older sis was a muso before me, so between those two I had plenty of inspiration! On the morellomusic.com site, you mention writing songs and playing music as early as your junior school days. Tell us about some of those bands and the music you were playing during those early years. The Bumbos! That was my first gang at junior school - when I was 6 or 7. I wrote a ton of songs but it was all in my head - I couldn't actually play an instrument then (I was just starting on the drums.) My first gig was with the Frimley 'feeder' Brass Band, playing the bass drum. I cracked under the pressure of my first rehearsal and burst into tears! - how embarrassing. You named your solo act "Morello" after your childhood hero, drummer Joe Morello. When and how did you discover him and what was it about his work that affected you so? Around the same sort of time - 7 or 8 maybe - my dad played me this single "Paradiddle Joe" ( a paradiddle is a type of drum rudiment) featuring Joe Morello on drums. I think I was just learning paradiddles at that time and here was someone doing incredibly musical, exciting things with them! - so he made quite an impression. He's just an awesome, all-round jazz drummer. You also play piano--is this the instrument you use when you're writing? What other instruments do you play? Yeah, pianoforte all the way baby! Frets have always made me fret. I do all the percussion stuff and sing, a little harmonica on a good day. So you formed the first incarnation of "Morello" in 1996 and actually worked with producer Chris Vivian to put out a 9-song promo LP in 1998 entitled "Jackpot". How did you come to work with your fellow bandmates? What was a live Morello show like in the early days? They were all mates from college, or friends of friends. I wanted to avoid the obvious Jamiroquai comparisons ('white guy doing funky soul music with a horn section') so instead of trying to look 'street' we all wore black suits with skinny black ties - kinda like the Motown Revue! I didn't play keys in the band then; I just jumped around at the front. How were you making ends meet? On music alone or were there "day jobs" involved? I was teaching and trying to get any paid gig I could, including busking. I got the Spiritualized gig for two months and that kept me - and the band - afloat for a while. In 1998 you received a call from another London-based band, Minibar, who had just scored a record deal and were moving to Los Angeles...and they needed a drummer. I can't imagine being faced with this kind of decision. Was it a difficult one to make in the end? Yeah it was difficult. I spoke to a lot a friends about it, including some older mates who'd lived in California. They all said, 'you GOTTA go; you can always write and perform your own music there too.' But it was heartbreaking to break up the band. This wasn't your first trip to the United States, As you mentioned already you toured with Spiritualized prior to this. I'm sure you have lots of fantastic stories from this tour-but if you had to sum it all up in a theme song, which one would you choose? California Girls: "I wish they all could be Californian..." Ok, so back to Minibar and moving to California. That was a big move—was it a culture shock for you? What do you remember about waking up for the first time in not only a new bed, but a new country? You know, the weirdest time was before the move, having all these vivid dreams of living in another country. You've talked about benefiting from the inclusive music community in Los Angeles-—which was very different from the more competitive atmosphere back home. How important would you say this has been to your own resilience as a musician, and that of Minibar? We couldn't have made it here without 'a little help from our friends.' The same goes for my record. Living in the "entertainment capital of the world" and having experienced life with a major label could ruin the magic of being an actual music fan. Do you think it's had a negative effect on you in this way? Have you seen any live shows lately that have made you feel like a giddy music fan? It's important not to confuse Music with the 'music business'; one is as essential as breathing, the other will consistently piss you off. I loved seeing Ron Sexsmith on the Wallies tour; he blows me away. It was great meeting and hanging out with Nadine recently - they're great to experience live too. You've put out two albums and an EP with Minibar since arriving in LA. "Road Movies" in the Spring of 2001, the "Unstoppable" EP in 2002 and "Fly Below the Radar" in the summer of 2003. Lots of things have happened in those four years—some good, some difficult, no doubt. What are the 5 most memorable turn of events that have made you feel like you're exactly where you should be? Driving down PCH into Santa Monica for the first time, blasting the Beach Boys on the stereo. Listening back to all the basic tracking of 'Road Movies' in one crazy all-night session at the Village Recorder; like climbing a mountain and being able to look down for the first time. Playing with so many of our heroes; the Wallies. the Jayhawks, Wilco— and also Brit bands we'd admired for ages like Teenage Fanclub and Grand Drive. The First Trampoline gig -— a life-affirming experience and so great to feel part of a larger community of musicians. The release gig for 'Radar' at the Troubadour; one of our finest gigs to date, yeah! Sometime around the release of your first album, you met The Wallflowers. How did that happen? Were you fans of their music at the time? All credit goes to Ben Peeler, Mad Musical Genius. He was playing with the 'Flowers at the time (touring 'Breach') and offered to pass on a cd, saying 'they're gonna love this, they're gonna want to take you guys out on tour with them.' We said 'yeah right'...but that's what happened! We didn't really hear about the Wallies till we came to the US; 'Horse' made such an impression that we sought out T-Bone [Burnett] to produce our record. Continued on page 2