The Gypsy Scholars Cold Hands Interview

A Tour Announcement

Australian indie Folk outfit The Gypsy Scholars are starting the new year in the best way they can, by releasing new music. Cold Hands is the first single off their forthcoming debut EP and is symbolic of a more refined and mature sound for the band. With the talented song writing of lead vocalists James Kelly and Conagh McMahon-Hogan, The Gypsy Scholars have taken years of shows, travel and mateship and concentrated it into a release that is consistent with their story telling style, yet reveals a steady progression in the curation of their music.

Cold Hands sees Conagh take the main vocal role; his unique opera trained voice seamlessly transitions between conversational country like verses, to belting out powerful climaxes. To help celebrate this first release off the EP, the band are playing eight shows along the East Coast of the country, taking their high energy and captivating live show to major cities and towns over January and February.

2017 for The Gypsy Scholars was a massive year that included three performances at the National Folk Festival, a main-stage set at Inland Sea of Sounds and a special appearance at TEDx Canberra to a near capacity Canberra Theatre. Other highlights were a residency at the iconic Selina's in Coogee, the successful release and tour of their third single 1960s and of course heading into Garth Porter's (Sherbet) Rancom Studios in Botany in Sydney to record the EP with award winning sound engineer Ted Howard. After consistently selling out venues across their two homes of Canberra and Sydney, the band cannot wait to see the reception of their new single when they take it on the road. 2018 is shaping up to be the band's biggest year yet and below are the dates for the Cold Hands tour.

The Gypsy Scholars Cold Hands Tour:
9th February 2018 - Moonshine Bar @ The Steyne Hotel, Manly
10th February 2018 - Untapped Festival, Goldcreek ACT
16th February 2018 - Australian National University O-Week Canberra
24th February 2018 - The Polish Club, Canberra

Listen To Cold Hands: Soundcloud Stream
The Gypsy Scholars Online: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Interview with Conagh McMahon-Hogan

Question: How would you describe your music?

Conagh McMahon-Hogan: We've always found it difficult to classify our music as a certain genre or sound. Personally, I think the best way to describe it is as vibrant, explorational storytelling with smatterings of folk, rock, blues and country influences. Our music is often upbeat foot stompers with observational quips, but we also chuck in some more heartfelt and thoughtful tunes as well. All round, it's a very flexible sound which leads to a show that can really ebb and flow through multiple styles and feelings.


Question: Which is your favourite song to perform live and why?

Conagh McMahon-Hogan: I almost feel like a parent being asked to choose a favourite child! But if I had to choose one, I would say Run From the Rampage is my favourite to perform live. It's a song I wrote about the two characters from the song my mother used to sing to me as a child before bed starting to feel the pinch of the recent economic ups and downs. So I get a good dose of nostalgia when we play it. But it's also a song that rollicks along with a big chorus that people sing and dance to, which makes it really fun to perform with a crowd starting to get a bit raucous and the room starting to really bounce.


Question: How has the tour gone, so far?

Conagh McMahon-Hogan: Touring is always exciting, packing into one car with three of my best mates and our instruments is fast becoming my ideal holiday. So far we've played in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Newcastle and every show has been above and beyond what we expected from this tour. I really love the opportunity to play to faces I've never seen in places I've never been. I'm a Bathurst boy originally and had never been to Melbourne or Brisbane before The Scholars hit the road, so I am relishing the opportunity to make my first memories of these amazing cities ones full of music and good vibes. We've got a couple more shows to go in Manly and Canberra so I can't wait to see what they have to offer!


Question: If you could have anyone, in the world, attend a show, who would it be?

Conagh McMahon-Hogan: I have a pretty massive crush on Jenna-Louise Coleman at the moment so I'd be pretty stoked if I saw her face in a crowd. But to be more plausible though, I am lucky enough to have performed a number of times to the two people in the world I most want to attend my shows - my parents. Family is really central to what makes me who I am so I relish the opportunity to perform for them. As an added bonus, it shows that their investment in all my random instruments and music lessons wasn't in vain!


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Conagh McMahon-Hogan: Without a doubt I prefer performing live. I think that all of us prefer being on stage sharing what we love with people. There's certainly a rush from performing on stage but more so I find a real sense of just being in the moment. There's something almost peaceful in not thinking about what you need to do or if you forgot to put the bins out or whether you said something silly to a pretty lady a couple of years back. Instead, there's just the excitement, noise and joy of that very moment. It's great.


Question: What is the story behind the band name?
Conagh McMahon-Hogan: When we'd first decide to take our relationship from a couple of jam sessions at uni to the next level of band-ship, we just kind of sat around and chucked out some themes or words that encapsulated us at that moment in time. So James had just been travelling quite a bit before university and had an affinity with the word -gypsy', which to him encapsulated the idea of a free life style on the road, as well as a strong story telling and musical connection. And we met, and were studying, at university in Canberra so the concept of a scholar seemed to group all of us together. We shook hands and that was that, we left that room as The Gypsy Scholars.


Question: How did the band come together?

Conagh McMahon-Hogan: The group today took only a few steps to come into existence really. James, Joel and I all happened to go to the same college at ANU, started at the same time and lived on the same floor. So, on the first night of O-Week Joel and I had spoken about what we were studying (I was studying Music Performance at the time) as we wandered around getting settled into our new home. That night there was a toga party and I have a clear memory of Joel in a crisp white bed sheet pushing through small groups who were chatting to reach me and tell me that he'd just found someone else who was doing music! So he grabs my arm and pulls me through the path that he'd just parted and thats when I met James. The three of us started jamming and played some initial shows with another super talented Canberra musician, Bec Taylor. However, she had quite a lot on and had to focus on other projects. So we kept our eyes and ears out for a drummer. James heard rumours of this rhythmic whiz kid, Alex, who lived at a college just down the road and was also at the School of Music. -Alex' turned out to be Alec, who agreed to play with us, discovered he actually enjoyed our company and agreed to join us.


Question: What motivates you most when writing music?

Conagh McMahon-Hogan: Whenever I write I am always inspired by an event I've lived or a story I've heard or just simply an emotion that I have. However, my biggest motivation when I write is the joy I get from telling these stories to people and finding out what the words mean to them. I've actually never been such a fan of telling someone what a certain song is about to me, or what my inspiration was, before I find out what the song means to them. I really love how a song that I write about one thing can be interpreted and mean a completely different thing to somebody else. Take Run From The Rampage, for instance. To me, that song is one part nostalgia, one part opportunity missed and one part young adult imagination run wild. But to others it could be a song about love and devotion or even the thrill of throwing everything in, hitting the road and just running free for a bit. Put simply, imagination and interpretation is what motivates me to write.


Question: Which music/artists are you currently listening to?

Conagh McMahon-Hogan: I'm getting back into The Lumineers at the moment. I really enjoy their high spirited, toe-tappers. I'm also loving The Smith Street Band, San Cisco, Thirsty Merc, The Jungle Giants and The Wombats. I also go through phases of just loving a couple of songs and listening to them over and over. I have three of those at the moment; Million Man by The Rubens; California by i said yes; and Not Worth Hiding by Alex The Astronaut. But there's always smatterings of Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Mumford & Sons and Lynyrd Skynyrd thrown in my playlists as well.


Question: What or who was your inspiration to go into the music industry?

Conagh McMahon-Hogan: My inspiration comes in two parts I think. Firstly, the support and belief of the people who influenced and taught me growing up. My family always supported my music and have had so much faith in what I'm doing. It's great to be able to sing songs to them (and occasionally about them) knowing that I'm doing something they're proud of. Similarly, all the music teachers I've had have been a source of inspiration for me. Especially through my high school years. I felt that my piano teacher, David McKay, and singing teacher, Marisa Mariani-Starr, had a lot of belief in what I could achieve (even though my work ethic was questionable at times). Secondly, my love for performance and entertaining people inspires me. To see that the words and sounds I make can touch people, make them laugh and sing or make them move and be happy is really inspirational. I want to go further into the music industry to share those good vibes with as many people I can.

Question: If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be?

Conagh McMahon-Hogan: I had the amazing opportunity to perform with Andrew Farris from INXS a couple of years ago and I must say he'd be pretty hard to beat! He's an incredible musician and amazingly humble as well. I would say as a band, I would rate a collaboration with The Jungle Giants. I can just envisage a crazily high energy sound and show. As a writer though, I'm actually really excited to see what comes out of an increased collaboration between James and myself. We currently write separately and bring a finished song to the band to be arranged but I'm hoping to bring our styles together a bit more in the future.


Interview by Brooke Hunter