Who's who in the band?
James Yardley has been a musician most of his life, mainly with bands in the South West. He's into programming and keyboards.
Richard Newton Austin - our bass player - has an enormous amount of musical talent; he could pick up a teapot and get a tune out of it!
And our vocalist is Demelza.
Demelza has a background in classical music - a far cry from the Urban scene...
She's only been singing really for the past couple of years which is kind of unusual because that's what she's really good at. The music paths she pursued in the past have not been urban types of music, either in genre or type of instruments.
 | | A very happy Demelza at the podium accepting the title of Best Urban Act in the 2004 Diesel U Music awards. |
Even in the time Demelza's been with Obedientbone her voice has changed and matured.
Demelza used to work in the local garage and the boys spotted her working there - then a mutual friend of theirs put them together.
Things have taken off for obedientbone. How has winning the award helped?
What it does is give us kudos. And perhaps that's the most important thing it can give.
It gives us substance, and means people will take us seriously. They're more likely to open the envelope when we send them our music, even if they don't bother playing it!
Are you happy to be an unsigned band?
What we'd really love is a good marketing, distribution and press deal.
 | | Richard "could pick up a teapot and get a tune out of it!" |
How important is Devon?
Devon's really important to us - it's a huge influence musically. We've all lived away and moved back and we're not in any hurry to move again.
You don't need to be in New York to make good Hip-Hop music so why can't you make Urban music in rural Devon?
And you record in a barn on the edge of Dartmoor?
It's an old Devonshire cob and stone barn which, prior to being the band's studio, used to be a carpenter's workshop.
The carpenter sound-proofed it which was very useful, and being an old building it has no right angles so the funny shaped walls and slopes help the sound. It's an ideal spot really.
 | | Obedientbone playing live at Sheffield University |
Obedientbone perform live too - which do they prefer?
Whichever they are doing at the time.
But is there a difference in sound?
That's a good point. Yes. To say it's more raw is a bit harsh because it is smooth and it is sophisticated when it's live but perhaps simpler.
It's edgier, more dynamic. It takes on a life and makes you want to bounce around - it's more invigorating playing live and it's something we're trying to do more and more.
Is it difficult to find venues to play in this neck of the woods?
It's not easy to generalise and say 'well it's not jazz, it's not punk, it's not rock 'n' roll, it's not drum and bass - but it has all those elements within it'.
That's makes it very difficult for people to identify and for a promoter to say 'OK yeh, we know what kind of crowd we'll attract'.
I think people need to see us to understand us - but that's a bit of a catch 22. The song that Obedientbone have chosen to demo is called 'Aware'. You can listen to it by clicking on one of the links at the top of this page.
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