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Patch and The Giant

I had the pleasure of chatting with Angie Rance of Patch and the Giant recently.   If, like me, you have never come across this band you will have two opportunities to see them in our region soon.  Firstly at Cambridge folk Club at the Golden Hind and then at The Cult Café in Ipswich as part of a tour launching their long awaited debut album ‘Everything We Had we Stole‘.  I spoke to Angie the day after their song ‘The Beggars Song’ was played on Mark Radcliffe’ Folk Show on BBC Radio 2…        

How important are national radio air plays in a world of streaming, downloads and social media?

Good question that, but yes it is very important.  We were very pleased with being played, it is another way of getting your music out there and perhaps particularly so for a folk audience who tend to be radio listeners as well as surfers.

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The Name – Patch & The Giant – where did it come from?

Everyone asks that!  To be honest it’s just a name.  Maybe because our songs come from a long story telling tradition you might think there was a deep meaning, but no.  But I can tell you the exact moment that we came up with it – it was at a Bellowhead concert.  Sadly we were there as paying fans and not their support act or anything like that.

To my shame you are a new band to me – how long have you been together and what brought you together?

We have sort of evolved since about 2010.   We have been through several changes of band members, all very friendly – nothing unpleasant.  We have sort of grown organically – I liken it to one of those family patchwork quilts that gets passes down through families and added to over time.

Who would you say you draw your influences from?

No one place really, our influences come from all over and I think you can hear that in the different tracks on the album.

For a quintet you make a pretty big sound – trumpets on Beggars Song – is that a result of clever production or ca your audience expect a similar sound live?

Well at the beginning of the tour we have some friends helping us out to help reproduce that big sound.  I myself love playing different instruments but obviously can only do so one at a time.   But even with just the five of us we can make a big sound.

The album “All That We Had, We Stole” was recorded in Easter 2015 – and you are just releasing it now.  That sounds like an awful long gestation period, is it?

Yes it does doesn’t it but effectively we recorded it complete in three days but have spent time getting the boring stuff right – like production and distribution – taking our time so that it was right for us.

Do the songs sound different to you now than they did when you recorded them (or are they like growing children – they mature without you noticing?)

No, not now.   When we recorded them we did change some of the songs that had been in our set for maybe four or five years.  We’d try different things which we thought sounded good.  Then when we listened to them on playback realised that they sounded so much different – and we liked it.   Some might say we are fickle but we’re not!  (laughs)

If you could share a stage with any act, who would it be?

Oh – we would all come up with different answers to that one but for me it would be Bellowhead.  We’d have to give the audience ear plugs because that would be a massive sound!

Album tour dates:

  • 10th Feb  LONDON – The Brewhouse (ALBUM LAUNCH)
  • 11th Feb  BIRMINGHAM – The Victoria
  • 13th Feb  MANCHESTER – Gullivers
  • 15th Feb  YORK – The Basement
  • 16th Feb  SHREWSBURY – Hole In The Wall
  • 17th Feb  CAMBRIDGE – Cambridge Folk Club
  • 18th Feb  IPSWICH – Cult Café
  • 19th Feb  SURBITON – The Lamb

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