Some memories you have as a photograph in your mind, and I can remember sitting down being about six when ‘This Old House’ by Shakin’ Stevens came on, and I just went mental.” At this point it emerges that lead singer of Grantura

Matthew Owen is far too cool for the high-five I’m
initiating. Perhaps he suspects me to be a fair weather fan of the Welsh snake-hipster and it is undeserved. Needless to say I’m left hanging, and boy does it sting.

Totalling six members and about 15 instruments - including a
sitar, mandolin and lap steel - Grantura are a packed-out homegrown bona fide Americana outfit.

Hailing from Shropshire by way of Lincolnshire and Ealing they are now mostly London-based except for a Whitstable dweller and, randomly, one member currently residing in Devon.

“He drives a lot,” says Owen. “I think we work a lot harder now, it’s like turn up, plug in, play your arse off for four hours.”

Fitting as much in as possible seems to be a favourite pastime (see influences list on their MySpace). Everyone from Plato to Carol King via Hong Kong Phooey and 60s Bollywood soundtracks features. They aren’t a band to do things by halves.

They are also a band who like being able to get out of London, having played Manchester’s Night & Day Cafe.
“People received us so warmly, in London people are quite stand-offish,” says Owen, and agrees that the whole ‘I could be doing something much better right now’ attitude is annoying… “but then I do the same when I go to gigs.”

Latest single ‘In Dreams’ was released in June and Bob Harris is a fan, while they did a session for Janice Long a couple of months back and are off up to Manchester again to record one for Mark Riley in preparation for their forthcoming album In Dreams and Other Stories and next single ‘Down From The Mountain’.

Four of the six - Collin, Clark, Blackman and Owen – are the predominant lyricists and songwriters. But it’s not a case of too many cooks.

“The core of the song usually comes from one of us four. We have a high quality control - with so many songs coming through they have to be of a really good standard.
“We must be sitting on 50 – 60 songs at the moment” says McCauley.

“Some we’ve had for, like, four years,” adds Owen, “but you always find something new in a song, I very rarely tire of playing songs.”

Owen has recently gotten quite into reggae, and would love to be able to write tracks like ‘Johnny Too Bad’.

“Perhaps I could be the first good white reggae artist? Or I’d have loved to have written ‘God Only Knows’ by The Beach Boys. And the song that is that mobile phone thing (imitates Nokia ringtone jingle). I saw a thing on QI that they added the last note on because it didn’t resolve itself as a piece of music. According to Stephen Fry anyway.”

Grantura have been together for about two years, with the drummer the last to join, about whom Owen was a bit reluctant at first.

“I thought it would make us too loud and we’d just end up shouting. But not all drummers are rock drummers. It was a pleasant surprise.”

“He’s pretty good at playing quietly,” adds McCauley, “the band has changed over a period too, we started off quite acoustic, we’ve got a more full sound now so it’s quite a contrast we have on the album. Not necessarily something we would have had by design but it’s worked out okay I think.”
So… “Tennessee in a hat”? This is the tagline for their MySpace ‘Sounds Like’ section. What kind of millinery are we talking? Owen thinks perhaps a wicker cowboy hat. “Rick’s got a pork pie hat, Dave wears a cap sometimes when he’s drumming,” says McCauley. “I think collectively we’ve got quite a lot of hats really.”

There’s a brief debate on the pronunciation of ‘fedora’. And a rogue barman helpfully informs us that the Speedy Gonzales hat is actually a sombrero. Owen is not a fan of the fez. “I like Tommy Cooper’s comedy though. Not down with the Jamiroquai kind of hat either.”

Owen is also quite into polka dot scarves. “ I think I own about 13. They’re all vintage except I’ve got one new one as they’ve started making them again.”

They admit to not being followers of the contemporary scene, though the Fleet Foxes album “had great harmonies”. The Kings Of Leon are one of Owen’s constants.

Elvis was a big influence on his formative years. His father was really into Motown and the Beatles, and thus so was he before the age of ten. “There was a dodgy phase, a bit of Queen, but then came the ‘Roses and the Charlatans who changed it for, I suppose, everyone my age really.”

McCauley’s Dad is Irish so it was more The Dubliners and Chieftains for him.

“Quite miserable in a way! Me and my parents were also into The Beatles. I remember hearing Abbey Road on a sixth generation tape, the warmth of it is what made a big impression on me. After meeting the band I got into the country thing too, Gram Parsons and all that. “Melody and harmony is what we’re into really. We’re mellowing out in our old age.”

Having recently played gigs at Proud and La 2 the best stage by far is at a night called What’s Cookin’ in Leytonstone. “It’s absolutely amazing,” says Owen. “It’s a room above a pub, where they have a huge picture of a Mexican cowboy, gold lame curtains, and flowers everywhere.”

“It must take them hours to set up, it’s always a good night.” says McCauley.

“And it just shows how much your surroundings can influence a gig it’s just such a joy to play there.”
Owen would also love to play Austin, Texas. “It’s like the music capital of the world, nearly every bar is like a little venue with a stage in the corner.”

Maybe next year, as for now Grantura are concentrating on their own backyard, having headlined 2000 Trees Festival ‘in a pile of mud’ according to McCauley. They’re also gearing up for their album release in September. Which incidentally is the day after my birthday. “What a week that will be,” says Owen.

Grantura play The Boogaloo (020 8340 2928) on 24 August and Filthy MacNasty’s (020 7837 6067) on 31 August 2008.