“The Beatles meets Simon & Garfunkel meets Scissor Sisters meets Bon Iver meets Mumford & Sons meets Serious Child meets Andy Ruddy”
Serious Child & Andy Ruddy
turn the music down
Last October, as airline pilots continued to stack the shelves of Tesco’s, and performers re-invented themselves as online tutors in the absence of live work for the foreseeable, the Government offered us all a piece of not so Sage advice…
When they gave us Fatima, they told us “the arts is not a strategic sector. Forget all your years of training and development, the 10,000 hours of practice, the dedication of your whole life to your art, and think about a job in Cyber”. Rethink. Reskill. Reboot. Indeed.
For songwriters Alan Young (Serious Child) and Andy Ruddy, Fatima’s next job was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It was time to write “Turn The Music Down”. Time to document all the times that they got well-meaning advice to get a “real job” and all the frustrations that come with being an artist of a certain age, from not being able to buy a house to being over the hill at 23.
The single, taken from the forthcoming album Talk About The Weather, is part of a unique and fascinating project that has seen two artists of different generations and musical backgrounds, come together and explore what unites people of different age groups in British contemporary music. For the songs, they had a basic rule – each one had to be about something. A topic, or an emotion, that appealed them and would be of interest to other people of all different age groups.
Due to the COVID-19 restrictions the album was written completely interactively on Zoom and Google Docs across 8 months of Thursdays. The actual recording of the album also provided some challenges which included Andy having to sing his parts in a wardrobe surrounded by his partner’s coats! Rock n Roll!
Dates for a September 2021 UK Tour will be announced shortly, and the guys have confirmed that they will be joined by Kirsty McGee, who’s song ‘Sandman’ featured in Danny Boyle’s fil ‘Trance’.
SERIOUS CHILD
Serious Child is songwriter and roots musician Alan Young from West Sussex. He draws from a wide range of acoustic musical influences from folk to pop to bossa nova to explore the world around us with a poet’s ear for emotion and a comedian’s eye for everyday detail.
“brimming with vigour and style” ???? RnR
“the year’s first home-grown album of depth, vision and commitment” ????? Spiral Earth
“taking acoustic rock to new levels” ???? Maverick
“a jamboree of versatility and melody”, Featured Album of the Month, Folk Radio UK
ANDY RUDDY
Andy Ruddy is a 31-year-old singer songwriter from Bradford, currently working for the charity Give A Song performing to vulnerable people in lockdown. In 2015 he released his debut album ‘Everything Is In Order’ with the help of ex-Shed Seven musician Fraser Smith. It was a surprise hit, peaking at No.6 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart.
The following year he was nominated for ‘Best Unsigned Male’ at the Best of British Unsigned Music Awards and by 2018 had released his second album ‘Vital Signs’ which charted at No.12.
His more recent music has featured on the series finale of BBC 1’s The Syndicate and been played at Bradford City, his beloved home team.
Talk About The Weather – The Album
Released 3rd September 2021
“The phrase ‘talk about the weather’ has become symbolic for us in terms of doing this album together. We are two very different people from different generations- but we’ve found common ground in talking and writing these songs. Each song only exists because both of us were able to find interest in the concept and contribute. The writing process has worked well because we both have given it our all. It is a very even and joyful collaboration.”
www.fourleftfeet.co.uk/serious-ruddy
