With beautifully effortless, soaring vocals and a timeless ability for songwriting Hot Feet are a real joy to hear.  Their blend of folk with jazz fusion sensibilities is delivered with stunning instrumental ability.  We grabbed a few words with them and asked how it all came about and where they’re going.

How did you all meet and go on to form the band?

Jack: It was about four years ago, when Marianne was in need of a guitarist to accompany her on some folk songs she was performing, so being the boy that lives two doors away who plays guitar I seemed like a good choice.

We performed a few covers here and there, just the two of us, and then as part of my A-Level Music tech course I had to do a contemporary arrangement of an original track. Bob Dylan’s ‘Tomorrow is a long time' was a song that we were already playing together so I decided to do an arrangement of it. After recording the guitar and vocals in college one day, I heard Sam playing violin in a nearby room so asked if he wanted to come and play on the track. It turned out he did a good job, so we asked him to come and play with us again. I’d played in bands with Rob (the

drummer) before, so when it came to finding a percussionist he was the first port of call. Luckily he’s an all round amazing musician.  You can hear his handy work on the piano on ‘Origami Birds.’

Marianne: I also enjoyed playing the odd folk cover of M.I.A songs, so we did a version of her song 'Fire Fire' for one of my music tech projects, realizing you can do a contemporary folk cover of a song in practically any genre (in this case, taking on a mixture of dance hall, electronica and hip-hop!) - I think I decided then that the alt folk genre would be something interesting for us to dive into, as I liked the sound we were making together. It felt original what we were coming up with; people at gigs were saying it was different to anything they'd heard before (hopefully that's a good thing!). We had some interesting responses to the M.I.A cover especially!

Jack: Recently, we realized we were in need of some bass to fill out the sound of the band, and after bumping into Ben at various local pubs…

Ben: I have a double bass and a beard so I was asked straight away to be the band granddad.

Where does your main inspiration come from?

Sam: Great players on any instrument inspire me to play. It doesn't matter what style (to a certain extent), or what instrument they play, I can always find something in there to

be inspired and influenced by.

Jack: For me, I don’t really listen to one style of music, so I draw inspiration from lots of different genres especially when listened to live. My main inspiration on the guitar would probably have to come from my friend Ben Travers, who is an incredible guitarist and whom I still learn loads from. I’d also say going to gigs is great inspiration.

Marianne: I find things that happen in everyday life inspire me to write, whether it's personal or not.  Anything from significant events like someone close to you passing away, things from dreams and memories, or things that are going on around us. Sometimes it can be from reading a book or a poem, or even going for a country stroll… fresh country air is always good! Nature can be inspiring too.  As for music, my Dad has left all his old records lying around, including lots of music from the 60's such as Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Fairport Convention, Melanie Safka ('ohh eat

your animal crackers!'), and he was always playing and singing folk songs when I grew up. Otherwise I feel inspired by mostly everything I hear as I go along; I think it all affects me in one way or another. I also brew a mean chai tea which acts as good writing fuel sometimes! Especially when we're working on something together - it's great for band bonding!

You recorded your EP at Modern World Studios with Adam Brown, what was that experience like?

Sam: Hard work and very tiring but equally rewarding!

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