Genre: Acoustic / Alternative / Indie
Location: Manchester, Northwest, UK
Getcha gee-tar out! All the songs are tuned to each other and chords are in the lyrics. Downloaded mp3s have synchronised versions.
Transcript from an interview with Ask Murt
Ask Murt - or Mert or even Myrt??? never could get that straight - anyway, Ask M?rt were Bill and Dunc - or is it Will these days? It's very confusing. Whatever we were called, that was us and we rocked.
Why this name?
Murt is a real person (hi, Murt, how's it going?) who can do anything. "How do you do get the jenny going?" "Dunno, ask Murt." "What's wrong with the chainsaw?" "Dunno, ask Murt." "So what we gonna call the band, then?" And that's how it happened.
Your influences?
How the music became what it was has its roots in a long, drunken night in the top barn at the Edale Bluegrass Festival getting down to Cajun sounds. We went home with the sound of fiddles, banjos and triangles ringing in our ears, and that rhythm! Of course it all worked its way into the music. Not Cajun (hardly!), not even that folksy (although we did have our moments), but certainly something in particular. It's amazing what you can do with a couple of acoustic guitars and a mandolin plugged into a Peavey Bandit.
But really it was the Crook from where it all flowed and where there once was a time (but this is no place for that particular tale).
All this happened in the early 1990's, a time of boom and recession, war in the Gulf, and Thatcher and her aftermath. Needless to say, the songs still have, unfortunately, some resonance. They have been a long time coming to light. We hope you enjoy them.
All recorded on a 4-track cassette machine in my flat with basic mics and no eq or compression, just some simple effects. Later - much later - transferred to hard disk and re-engineered. Some judicious editing to get rid of the howlers but basically you hear it as it was first done, except for "The Final Bell" which would never have existed as a finished track were it not for digital editing.
Anything else...?
Most of the songs have a Parental Advisory on them. This is not to do with bad language, etc., but because the songs deal with themes of a political and social nature which are not for impressionable minds.
And before anyone starts frothing at the mouth about censorship, this is not a ban, it's just an advisory.
Equipment used: Acoustic guitars and a mandolin or electric guitar into a Peavy Bandit. Jaw harp and odd bits of percussion, especially the triangle (that's the Cajun bit!). The fiddle on The Final Bell was put down by this guy who disappeared to pick his kids up and we never saw again. Can't even remember his name. Sorry, whoever you were.
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/askmurt/