All pics by Gabriel Mckenna whose Insta is @angeloforigin
Nottingham duo Champyun Clouds, consist of Neil 'Nail' Tolliday and Asa Hudson, they recently launched their album Branched Out at Rough Trade and it was a belter gig. Sunday night gigs are never the easiest but the guys put on a great show and I managed to catch up with them after for an interview.....
Many thanks for the interview guys, can you tell me about your backgrounds and influences? Nail - Music was something I responded to from an early age and has been a daily constant since I can remember. I always knew I wanted to do something musical.
I started off by taping music off the radio, making my own mix tapes and also making edits of songs using a tape to tape machine. I got a keyboard for Xmas when I was 13 and taught myself to play it. I was in bands with mates as a teenager and eventually met people who worked in studios through a job I had working at a rehearsal space. Made house music and techno throughout the 90s then met Simon Mills and formed Bent. Did that for a few years then had a period of “inactivity” for a while. Met Asa through working at Rough Trade in Nottingham and we eventually decided to work together in January 2021, now here we are.
Asa - Same as Nail in regards to responding to music from an early age. I started playing guitar and bass when I was 9 and then slowly shifted into exploring other instruments and first started recording music when I was about 14 on an old 8 track my uncle gave me. Ive recorded a lot of solo material over the years and also have had various projects with other artists that interested me. Im inspired by a great deal of musicians and figures over the years and would need to write a book on who they are to name them all. But I guess my main musical inspirations would be the Beach Boys, Can, Spacemen 3, The Groundhogs, Boards Of Canada to name a few.
Has lockdown impacted on your creatively at all?
Nail - Lockdown actually made us work more, in fact we’ve not really made anything in the same room yet. So if anything it kinda helped us be so prolific.
Asa - Yeah lockdown was great for us creatively. It was hard to cope with life in general every now and then when lockdown got more intense but with Champyun Clouds I felt I could channel all that into the music and try and rid myself of all the bad vibes going on and to hopefully make music that resonates with people in a positive way. People were/are sick of hearing artists sing about covid and lockdown in a literal sense and I think its a tacky cash grab with no real content or passion. I felt the music should feel like true escapism, no one wants to be reminded of the shit time they’ve had to endure at the minute.
Are you currently involved in any other projects?
Nail - I’m still a part of Bent and we are working on a new album. Champyun Clouds has been my main focus for the last 9 months to a year really. We have a third album ready to be released, probably in August 2022. I also still release house, techno etc stuff under different aliases, not to mention an electronic dub album themed around calculators coming out this year too.
Asa - Its just been Champyun Clouds for me really which has been my mantra and will continue to push it as far as it will take us. I put out a 12” early last year and I released my 3rd solo album too this year entitled “Quixotic Rhythms” which I recorded late 2020 and felt it needed releasing. I may record some more solo stuff at some point in the future but after doing it solidly for 10 years it got slightly depressing and feel what I do with Nail is a gift I want to hold onto for as long as possible.
Where can folks get to see/hear your music?
Nail - Spotify and all good record stores, I also have 2 Bandcamp sites, Neil Tolliday and 89:Ghost, plus the Champyun Clouds Bandcamp is good for exclusive content / releases.
Asa - Spotify and Bandcamp for my solo works and listed other projects
Can you list your social media links?
https://asamusics.bandcamp.com/
Twitter - @champyunclouds
Facebook - https://m.facebook.com/champyunclouds/
Insta - @champyunclouds
What's next for you?
Nail - Champyun Clouds, Bent, Smoke, Nitroman, DJXUKLZ, maybe more!
Asa - Champyun Clouds, Champyun Clouds & Champyun Clouds!!
Is there a final message for the readers?
Thanks to all who have supported us this far, we really appreciate it.
