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Branding their mark on the British country music scene, the
North West's own John McCane and The Breed have never been as busy
as they are today. Why The Last Of The Breed…for several years
while many of the bands on the British country music scene were
following the progressive trend of artistes such as Hal Ketchum
and Alan Jackson, John and his four-piece band drew greatly on the
60's - 70's music of Ronnie Millsap, George Jones and Merle
Haggard, playing some of those less remembered songs that are
instantly recognised and drawing and exclamation of "haven't
heard that one for ages…now that's what you call real country
music!!!"
Though John McCane and The Breed have played the British
country music clubs for many years, a change of line-up around 3 -
3½ years ago brought about a more positive attitude to the music
from McCane and the band. John and the boys have just released
their second album with the curious name of 'Area Code 0161'…being
the telephone area code for Manchester where John lives and was
brought up. With two recent major British country awards under his
belt, I had a chat with John who gave me a little more insight
into the band.
"What it is, is finding the right fellers that are able
to travel…so they've got to be committed! It's not
so much the musician's point that they've been hand-picked from,
but they are easy to get on with and easy to work with and as
they are fine musicians anyway, I've been very, very lucky!
We've won two country music awards over the past year…The People's
Country Music Award for Band Of The Year and the UK Country
Radio Awards for Best Single, which took place in February 2003,
but voted for 2002. The single was "Wrap My Arms Around
The World" which was first recorded in the early 60's by
Narvel Felts…with Narvel being an old rock 'n' roller first
and foremost."
John McCane's second album has just been released which has
taken 14 months of hard slog to put it together. "A lot of
hard work has gone into it, recording it in Ireland. Of course I
have a studio band as well as my band on the road over here. You
have the likes of Jim McVie who is Dominic Kirwan's musical
director and Steven Smith who is an absolutely wonderful bloke to
work with and a great musician….that man can play absolutely
anything! He has so much competence and confidence, he is just an
absolutely gifted musician."
Besides several covers, the album contains two tracks solely
written by John and two numbers from British songwriters; being
Ray Grundy with whom McCane co-wrote "Running Round In
Circles" and "Afraid" by Tony Ainscough, well-known
as half of the British country duo Louisville. "Sitting
back and looking at other British musicians and artistes on
the British country music scene over the years, I've found that
anybody that seems to write a full album never ever gets anywhere.
That's because I think people just look at the albums and if
they don't recognise any of the numbers they don't buy it full
stop…they want familiarity! The key to it is you've got to be
able to do it live on  stage.
Deliver it from the stage and if they like it they'll buy it,
that's the top and bottom of it!" Whereas the first album
I put three numbers that I'd written on it, with this one there
is five new numbers. I've written two myself, co-written two
and of course one by Tony Ainscough. So there are three different
people involved….Tony Ainscough, Ray Grundy and my keyboard
player Pete McDonald who have written or co-written the numbers.
I've put five on this time…I thought it might be a bit cheeky
to put more on, but maybe on the next album it might start creeping
up (which I'm already planning). It takes years to do it and
a lot of money…you've got to be confident and do it with conviction.
It is not something that I'd like to look back on in later years,
thinking I should have done this or that. All right maybe I
should have made my move 10 years ago, but saying that I think
the time was right now. I've matured a lot as a musician and
as a person!!! Musicians are fickled people and it's knowing
how to handle them…there can only be one boss at the end of
the day.
Playing for private parties, the Irish scene along with the
British country music scene, John McCane and The Breed can turn
their hand to a wide variety of music. To further substantiate
the quality and professionalism of John McCane and The Breed;
when I was married almost two years ago, the first band that
came to mind to book to play at my wedding…you've guest it John
McCane and The Breed.
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