Delilah Interview

She wrote her first song at 12, signed to Island records at 17 and now aged 21, Delilah (born Paloma Stoecker), has already toured the world with Chase and Status. Having been brought up surrounded by musicians, her mother and late stepfather were involved in independent record labels and her father a club in Camden, her musical influences are far reaching and helped shape her unique style of dark, sparse, soulful pop. Before her performance at M Fest we spoke to her about the album, how far she has come and living on a bus with 18 men.

How did you decide on the album name?

‘From The Roots Up’ came from a mixture of things really. I changed my name to Delilah, it was my great grandmothers name, when I was investigating the real meaning to it, it was someone who up roots and I sort of took that and played with it. ‘From The Roots Up’ just kind of symbolised the beginning of something and growth, it made sense.

It was three years in the making; did you know straight away it was finished?

You do, you mess around with it and then suddenly it’s done and your like ‘oh wait it’s all done now that’s great.’ It didn’t all come together too easily, it took a long time going back and forth but when we put that last little note in and mixed it all down it was a moment of insane cheers.

What themes do the songs cover?

I guess it’s about life. I would sum it up like that. I know it’s a very broad statement but it’s about life and falling in love and falling out of love, falling back in love again, relationships, whether it be with your friends or family, yourself, all of that.

All songs are written or co-written by you, did you consider songs by other writers?

It wasn’t even something we thought about, it was just something that I’ve always done. I signed as a writer and I continued to do that while we were making the album. I started writing a lot of these songs for myself, I wasn’t writing for an album. It was just me going through stuff and needing to express it. I was always going to write the album because it’s an album about my life.

Lone Wolf Interview

Leeds based musician Lone Wolf, born Paul Marshall, has spent the last year constructing his third album The Lovers with friends James Kenosha and Jon Fougler. He received critical acclaim for his first 2 albums and comparisons to Tom Waits and Nick Cave. The Lovers though is a strong departure from his last, a brilliant folk record, and we spoke to him to find out more about the different direction of the album and how his fans are funding it.

Your new album is being funded through fans pledges, why did you take that route?

It’s one of those things, I’ve been doing this for a little while now, this is my third record, and I always find myself having to sit on my hands a little. I’m always wishing I was a little bit more involved with what was going on, even though a lot of the time I would probably rather not be involved, it’s a weird double edged sword really. I just always really wanted to start my own record label, do it my own way on my own terms. I’ve always been vocal in speaking directly to the fans on Twitter and Facebook and email and stuff, I never hide, I always talk directly to people. I thought this was a really good way of talking directly to the fans and allowing them to be a part of it as well, so that we could all be in this together and make it our project. I just thought in this day and age where everyone is robbing Peter to pay Paul kind of thing, I thought it was nice for the fans, for them to know exactly where their money was going and exactly what every penny of that was going towards.

How did you decide what people could pledge for?

We had to do a bit of research and see what other bands had been offering. From doing a bit of a sweeping view of what other bands had done it became clearly obvious what kind of angle I wanted to do and what things I really didn’t want to do. For example I saw some bands offering things like ‘be our roadie for the day’ for £100 and I thought that’s a bit cruel on the fans. Being a roadie isn’t really the most fun job in the world, to have someone lug all your equipment around and then charge them for the privilege. I was determined that I wanted to do things that were very fan orientated and I really wanted the fan to feel, that when they pledge they really do get something personal out of it from me. I wanted more to talk directly to the fan and therefore show them that I am doing something specifically for them to thank them for pledging.

You didn’t use any piano, drums or acoustic guitar on your new record, why not?

When I did a couple of demos at home for a couple of the new songs, I don’t have access to a drum kit at home or things like that so I just played my electric guitar and I made one song by banging the back of a acoustic guitar to make the beat because its just what was there. Then I had a tambourine and made a rhythm like that, as we went further along I was going around the house banging on jars with spoons and scraping walls. I just started doing things and creating a bit of a sound bank from it of different organic percussive sounds instead of actually using a drum kit or cymbals or whatever. Then when we went into the studio I decided that I wanted everything to be kind of organic. I mean I still use instruments, I just use an electric guitar instead of an acoustic and that was just because I didn’t want to make another folk album, I wanted to make something a bit more interesting. I wanted to experiment more and let my brain do it’s thing. I use a lot of synths and a lot of electric bass and instruments like that. Before you were used to hearing an acoustic guitar with real drums generally and kind of down beat kind of folky tunes with strings. I don’t like to go over the same footprints that I’ve already trodden, I just wanted to try something new and I feel like it was the best decision that I’ve made.

The Charlatans Interview

In the 22 years that The Charlatans have been together they have endured more than most bands ever would. They have had huge success with albums like Tellin’ Stories and Us and Us Only. They have also had to face the grief of losing member Rob Collins in a car crash and drummer Jon Brookes treatment for a brain tumour. We spoke to the faultlessly affable Tim Burgess who has been the bands lead singer throughout their highs and lows.

You’ve just published your memoir, what was the most challenging part of getting that together?

It’s just that I’d never written a book before I suppose, it’s quite challenging. The fact that I don’t consider myself an author in any shape or form. I said that at the beginning of the book, which kind of blew my chances of anybody reading it. People got passed that and started to really enjoy it. An agent approached me and asked if I’d thought of writing a book, I actually hadn’t but lied and told him I had. Two years later I started writing it after a lot of false starts.

Was there anything you thought twice about putting in?

There’s a chapter on the Wu-Tang Clan that I didn’t put in. The missing chapter I like to call it. I wrote about New Order, The Clash and Paul Weller so I thought having the Wu-Tang Clan in there as well was pushing it too far. I think everything made up the book, there were bits I thought were missing towards the end but it was actually bringing it all up to date. All the way through it I was changing my mind all the time, so I think it came out quite considered. It’s got some brilliant reviews, I’m thrilled.

You are playing the Magic Loungeabout festival this year, any others?

Yeah we’ve got a few festival things. We started off with the idea of just doing 4, but it’s kind of grown a little bit this one and it’s got out of control. I’ve heard very good things about the Magic Loungeabout though.

Django Django @ Cockpit 14th June 2012

It’s another sold out gig for Django Django and tonight at the Cockpit is swelling with bodies. Movement is rendered nearly impossible with the throng of fans awaiting the band and when they take to the stage in home bleached t-shirts, arms and drinks fly everywhere.

The energy the band gives off is contagious as they bound about the small stage and smile knowingly at each other often. When they talk to the crowd between songs they are engaging and humble, there are no ego’s here. They seem just as pleased to be here as the crowd are.

The bands sound is highly percussive and throughout the set they showcase an array of percussive instruments including a humongous tambourine. Songs like ‘Skies over Cario’ create syncopated rhythms that are perfect for mass dancing and the crowd oblige freely. The tribal drumming and Egyptian melody produce an alluring and absorbing effect, the crowd in a trance. Their most downbeat track, the simple ‘Hand of Man’, has a country twang, with ethereal harmonies and warm guitars.

The music reaches every part of your body as the heavy bass crawls up your legs and guitars rattle round your head. Every song is like an aural assault as it reaches out and grabs you. The band bends sounds and blends them with contrasting melodies getting them to co-exist perfectly. They use futuristic sounding synths to add interesting textures and show that this is a band that isn’t going to run out of ideas any time soon.

Published in the Yorkshire Evening Post  

Kate Nash Interview

Summer 2007 and Kate Nash’s hit song Foundations was on constant loop on the radio.

She was one of a few London born singer-songwriters that were experiencing notoriety and she threw herself at every opportunity; she worked so hard in fact that she burnt herself out and had to take a year off.

Before the release of her third album and intimate preview tour, we chat to her about her charity work and breakdown.

Your new album is out soon, is it a departure from your first two?

I would say it’s quite a departure from my old stuff, I think. For me it feels like a pretty natural progression. It’s like when people haven’t seen you for a few years and they see you and say that you’ve changed.

You’ve been seeing yourself every day in the mirror so you don’t really realise it. It’s a bit like that. It’s quite raw and quite strong stuff. I think it’s the best work I have done so far.

You have been running after-school clubs for girls to get them interested in a career in the music industry – how did you first get involved in that?

Basically I did this panel talk for a group that supports female filmmakers. They asked me to talk about the gender gap in the music industry. I was quite passionate about that topic anyway, there were some really quite shocking statistics about the gaps that I learnt about and I wanted to do something about it.

I watched this interview with Kathleen Hanna [of the Riot Grrrl group Bikini Kill] who is one of my heroes and she was talking about these rock and roll camps they have for girls in New York.

I really wanted to bring something like that to the UK but didn’t know how to start a camp.

I thought I could start some after-school clubs and basically picked schools that were in places that I had days off on my tour and literally went to the schools and did them a little presentation and just kept going back.

Did you see any improvements?

I think what it boils down to is confidence.

A lot of girls were suffering with self-esteem issues because of the crazy celebrity culture that seems to be getting more and more explosive in this country.

I’ve got footage of about 100 teenage girls saying they don’t think they are attractive enough to be musicians. I think that’s really sad and I think it’s really quite a serious problem that we all need to take responsibility for.

We need to stop buying into this image of the perfect culture that basically says ‘you’re not as good as these people and here is a product that might make you feel like you are getting there.’ That and constantly slagging women off for being human beings and being normal, having the same sort of things we all have. I think it’s actually really destructive.

Keane Interview

It’s been 4 years in the making but now Keane are finally ready to release their fifth album Strangeland. Having first found success eight years ago the band has battled through singer Tom Chaplin’s early drug problems whilst consistently producing number 1 albums. Newest member Jessie Quin spoke to us about his favourite track on the latest album and fitting into an already established band.

What’s your favourite track on the new album?

Oh that’s a tricky one, I think my favourite track is Black Rain. It’s a bit of a weird one, we nearly didn’t put it on the album actually, it’s very dark and ominous. It’s one of the ones that we finished later in the album because the ones that you have been working on the most you sort off….well you want to hear something new after a while. To everyone else it’s a new album but we have been working on it for 4 years.

You weren’t keen on giving yourself any deadlines for this album, how did that help the process?

I think the most important thing was getting the songs right before we started recording. Poor Tim (Rice-Oxley) basically worked his socks off until he had written 100 songs or something, until we felt there was definitely everything that we needed. But when we actually went into the studio it took us a year to record it. We just wanted to make something that was absolutely brilliant.

It’s very easy to say we wanted to make the best album we could, lots of people say that, but to make an album that you really love yourself and want to listen to is actually quite a rare thing. It’s often the case for a lot of bands going in that first you do the drums, then you do the bass and guitars or whatever and you are just ticking boxes but to make something that you are really engaged with and really love takes time. But I think it’s paid off.

How do you know when a songs finished and not to keep adding more sounds to it?

That’s a very good question as you can go on tinkering forever really. I think Brian Wilson took 20 years or something to finish Smile. I think a big part of it is making sure it’s going in the right direction in the first place. We rehearsed the songs before we recorded them and worked out different ways of playing them. There are a couple of songs, one song in particular that isn’t on the album in any way which is called Higher Than the Sun which is absolutely brilliant but we didn’t feel like we captured it properly yet so we will go on tinkering with it. The rest of the time I guess you just reach a point where if everyone thinks it sounds brilliant and no ones got any more ideas to try then you have to just put it to bed.

The Staves Interview

The Staves are three sisters known for their stunning harmonies and folk infused melodies. Although relatively new on the music scene, they have toured with Willy Mason, Joshua Radin and have just been announced as the US support for Bon Iver. To find out about the disadvantages of working with your sisters and why pop music is dead we spoke to oldest sister Emily Staveley-Taylor.

When did the three of you start singing?

We got started just singing around the house, singing to whatever mum and dad were listening to, which was a lot of Beatles, a lot of Simon and Garfunkel, just loads of sixties pop and Motown. Our parents would have parties and the guitars would come out and we would all have a sing song, it was a sociable thing to do, just to sing together. We did a gig of covers and just thought it was great, bit-by-bit we replaced the covers with songs we had written ourselves. A couple of years ago we decided to really give it a go and work hard on this.

Do you have a main songwriter?

We all chip in, it’s a fairly collaborative process really. It was strange when we started writing songs as I was at university at Manchester and Millie and Jess were both still at school in Watford. I would come home and either Jess or Millie had written something then we would kind of arrange it for the three of us and in doing that the song would change anyway. Then Jess went off to university and I moved back to Watford. It’s always been quite disjointed, it’s only been in the last year or so that we have been physically in the same place together to even get a feel of what our writing process together really is. It’s always been really different, either we will sit in a room and in 3 hours we will bash out a song completely together or it will be almost entirely one persons work, which will be brought to the table and given The Staves treatment.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of being sisters?

I guess one of the main advantages is swapping clothes and all that stuff. It’s just nice to spend time with people who know you inside out, who you don’t have to explain anything to, you just look at them and they know, you never really need to talk about it, what’s going on in your head or what you think about a song. It makes things work quicker because you don’t have to go into it. Also if you are really annoyed, which happens, you can tell them pretty forcefully and know that it’s going to be alright, I wouldn’t talk to my friends the way I speak to them. The disadvantages are that you fight, you squabble all the time, over what music to listen to in the van or what songs we should play, everything that kids squabble about.

Miles Kane Interview

Miles Kane was in danger of always being known as Alex Turner’s mate after they got together to form The Last Shadow Puppets when Kane’s two previous bands had collapsed.

He fought back and his debut album showed the music industry that he was an artist in his own right. After a successful tour he is back with a new EP and writing his second album. We chatted to him to find out how his life has changed in the last few years and how he lost confidence after his second band broke up.

What’s the feel of the new single?
It’s called First Of My Kind and it’s going to be out in April for when we do this tour, it was written at the back end of last year on tour and when we got back from Australia we went into the studio and recorded it. It was a toss up between this song and another one called Woman’s Touch but we went for this one and I am glad we did as it turned out great. It was a track where we could try things and we got brass on it and a gospel choir. It was a bit of an experiment really but it turned out okay.

It feels like you’re not holding anything back on this track?
Yeah, not at all, that was something that I wanted to get across because lyrically it’s a bit of a statement. I think all the songs that are coming through are like that at the minute. I don’t want to hold back at all, I really want to let it go and be full-on, that’s just because it’s the way I’m feeling.

Did you feel like you had a point to prove with the first album?
I definitely did feel that and the people around you believe it but some people didn’t. I think it’s turned a lot of heads and that feels great, but you’re only as good as your last record. We have come to the end with that one now and I’m thinking ahead to the second record. I want the second one to beat the first one.

Professor Green Interview

Stephen Manderson aka Professor Green has been credited with giving the UK’s hip hop scene a much-needed boost, managing to cross over from being an underground grime artist to having two highly charting albums and finding a celebrity girlfriend. 

You have just got back from Australia. How was it?

Australia was wicked, the shows were incredible. The crowds over there, they’re not spoilt, so they really go for it.

How far along is the third album?

I don’t ever really stop recording. I don’t get that much time to do it but over Christmas and New Year when everyone was taking time off I just knuckled down and got about eight songs done.

Have you approached this album differently from the first two?

I think I’m more comfortable and confident in what I do. I am not anywhere near complacent though. I just think I have kind of found my voice and I enjoy the process a little bit more because of that, but nothing that much has changed.

How does it feel when fans say your music has helped them through a rough patch?

It’s quite scary. It’s a lot of responsibility isn’t it?

It’s a weird one, when Read All About It [the song is about his childhood and his father’s suicide] first came out I remember a girl who tweeted me saying it inspired her to reach out to her father. Whether he replies or not is fine, because of me she has made that effort. She didn’t ever want to be in that position where she hadn’t taken that last chance, whether it ends up hurting her more or not, at least she has made that effort. I never expected anything to affect anyone in that way.

I will be honest with you, making music is quite selfish. I’m not out here trying to save the world. For me it’s quite cathartic, which in a sense is selfish – it helps me figure out a lot. Putting things on paper helps me make sense of what’s going on inside, talking to people has never really been that much help to me. Even though it’s helping people, it’s still quite a selfish act.

Bad for Lazarus - My Muddle

 

Putting Bad For Lazarus new single ‘My Muddle’ into a genre isn’t easy and that’s because it really doesn’t belong in one, apart from ‘fucking awesome music’.  The band themselves are made up of a tapestry of ex-members of Nine Inch Nails, The Eighties matchbox B-Line Disaster and UNKLE so maybe that goes someway in understanding the musical mayhem pouring from them. The band say they sound like Motown Hell “because we like Motown and we like Richard Hell” and that’s probably as accurate a description as you are going to get. The adrenaline of punk meets the groove of Soul, add in some determined heavy guitars and rock vocals and you have the start of what the band have created.

It isn’t a song to symbolise how shit the economy is or one you are likely to hear in Starbucks but one to turn up loud and one that’s going to make you smile. It’s unadulterated, undiluted, beautifully chaotic fun. Check out the video exclusively at NME before it’s release on 7^th November, I double dare you

http://www.nme.com/nme-video/bad-for-lazarus---my-muddle/1911386920001

Producers at The Wardrobe - 15th March 2012

Supergroup Producers may look like four ordinary men, no trendy haircuts or sunglasses indoors, but the combined knowledge about music production and recording they hold is immense. Luckily for Leeds College of Music students they dropped in for a question-and-answer session ahead of their gig at the Wardrobe to regale them with stories about working with Paul McCartney and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of analogue verses digital recording.


The band was set up to have fun and that is clearly evident when they take to the stage. Although they obviously love having an audience, you get the feeling that if it was an empty room they would still play as scrupulously as this is a band that has nothing to prove. They have already cemented their place as industry greats with over 200 hit songs between them, countless awards and accolades with Trevor Horn even receiving an CBE for services to the music industry last year.


The gig is impossible to fault, as producers the sound they create is so slick that you could shut your eyes and you would think you are listening to the record. The four of them, supported by three female singers, move seamlessly through some of the songs from their back catalogue of productions and throw in a few new ones written for the album that’s released in May.

The range of styles showcased highlights how truly amazing musicians they are, with the young and energetic Ash Soan being the perfect drummer to bridge all these different styles impeccably. From the ethereal tones of I’m Not In Love to the reggae feel of The Dean and I both courtesy of Lol Crème and 10cc, there is some diva dance with Grace Jones’s hit Slave To The Rhythm and they even chuck in some Euro pop with All The Things She Said originally sung by tATu.

The new material is a heady blend of country, soft rock and funk. Full of melody and harmonies the songs have the feel of a lazy sunny day that is full of contentment and positivity.

Throughout the set you can see the friendship that has developed after working with each other through the years. They may not be the most virulent of bands, there are a few memory lapses, the gig was over by 9pm and Trevor Horn did have to tape his glasses to his face to stop them falling off but there is no denying the talent ingrained in them and it’s inspiring to watch them play live.










Published in Yorkshire Evening Post 

Emeli Sandé Interview

Having already penned songs for Cheryl Cole, Tinie Tempah, Professor Green, Leona Lewis and Susan Boyle, Emeli Sandé has already made her name for herself as a remarkable songwriter. Now she is making a name for herself as an exciting artist with her debut album Our Version of Events going to straight to number 1 on itunes, UK tour planned in April and the receiving the Brits Critics Choice Award. When we get to speak to her she is effortlessly friendly as she talks about her song writing process and performing with X-Factor.

Has everything that has happened to you in the last six months sunk in?

Not really, it’s all been happening so fast, it’s hard to really take it in. Last night I got to go home to my family home up in Aberdeenshire, moments like that I can really stop and take things in.

How did you feel the first time you saw an advert for your album?

It was quite bizarre. We were driving through London and there was one of these massive ones at Shepherds Bush. It’s crazy, I don’t know how to feel about it all, it’s almost like it wasn’t me.

You were met with some resistance from your record label when you wanted to become a recording artist, how did you deal with that?

It was difficult but I was really lucky that I was surrounded by people that really believed in what I was doing, they never really let me get disheartened by anything. Also just really believing in the music I was doing and believing in myself. It was tough at points but mainly it was the team around me.

Michael Kiwanuka at Brudenell - 18th February 2012

The Brudenell is already at full capacity when The Staves take to the stage, no one wanting to miss a minute of this night. The Staves are three sisters whose voices are as beautiful as they are, with brunette hair tumbling around their shoulders the way emotion tumbles gracefully out of their songs. There is a gentleness about them, from the way they play their instruments (guitar, ukulele and tambourine) to the folk music that seems to float out of them, and they have the audience spellbound.

As Michael Kiwanuka appears there is a flash of humbleness in his eyes that all these people are here to see him sing. Only twelve months ago he was a session guitarist and now he has millions of fans eagerly awaiting the release of his debut album. As soon as he launches into his first song you can hear what all the fuss is about, his voice so warming and smooth it wraps itself around you.

The upbeat numbers like Tell Me a Tale so thick with funk they are practically sticky, the slower numbers set in a dreamy rhythm of soul. His set is laden with songs that even though you are hearing them for the first time they sound familiar. All of them carry an undercurrent of sadness but it doesn’t stop them at the same time being euphoric and joyful. There are flickers of his Ugandan roots in his intonation and the use of a Hammond organ at times gives his set a gospel feel.

Near the end of the set he plays Rest, a song that just makes you want to be close to the one you love, lie in bed all afternoon and just enjoy the simpler things in life. For someone that is only at the start of his musical journey his performance holds a maturity that if developed 
properly could well cement him alongside the soul legends he is compared to.






Published in Yorkshire Evening Post

Spector Interview

Last year saw Spector deliver knockout shows at a handful of festivals and support the likes of Killers and Florence and the Machine, dazzling audiences with their powerful pop and vigorous performances. This year is set to be huge for the London based five piece as before their debut album has even been released they are being featured on ‘ones to watch’ lists everywhere. The band is obviously working really hard as when we chat to drummer Danny Blandy about the album he tells us he has been up since 6.30am so to be gentle with him.

Is the album finished?

No it’s not, we are meant to hand it in at the end of the month so hopefully the label will think it’s finished then. We have got two more things to record and then we have got to sort out all the mixes of the other things, tidy them up a bit.

Surely they would wait until you have finished it.

I really don’t know, I hope so; we only have ten days to get it done.

You have worked with a number of producers on it, what was the reasoning behind that?

In the beginning it wasn’t a conscious choice to do that but with peoples schedules being what they were there wasn’t a time when we could be somewhere two months straight. We had two months to record the whole thing at short notice. It kind of ended up us picking different people to do different songs; it’s worked out really well. It’s been interesting to work with a range of different people. I really enjoyed working with all of them; there’s not been one that I didn’t enjoy.

Band of Skulls Interview

Atmospheric Indie rock trio Band of Skulls first started their musical career as ‘Fleeing New York’ but a name change along with a more focused attitude led them to receive critical acclaim for their debut album, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey. Hoping to echo that success with their follow up, Sweet Sour, we chat to bassist and vocalist Emma Richardson about dealing with doubters and their eye-catching album artwork.

Do you approach song writing as trio?

Yeah all three of us write and with this record especially its been easier to work together. We trust each other a little more, we are able to show each other ideas and back down when someone says, “this might not fit here” or “this verse won’t work so lets scrap it”. You have to take it on the chin and get used to taking opinions from the other members. It ended up with the songs being the best they can be. It’s a good way to do it as we push each other; it’s almost a competition to write something better than you did before, better than someone else.

Do you have a musical hero you would like to work with in the future?

If dreams can come true Tom Waits would be an amazing person to collaborate with. I would quite like to meet Jenny Saville the painter. I went to Wimbledon school of art a while back, I still draw a lot and I have got an exhibition in London coming. I did four large oil paintings for this album cover and they are going on show with some of the work from the first record as well. I never thought I would get a show of my own.

Rupert Stroud - Chasing the Night

Now that more music than ever is being downloaded and the tangibility of a CD is becoming less frequent, it is really refreshing to get an album that has had so much thought put into the artwork. Rupert Stroud’s second album ‘Chasing the Night’ is wonderful in the continuity of its presentation. The website, the album sleeve, even the styling of the photographs has a 50’s jukebox feel to it.

Rupert has the label of singer/songwriter but there is much more than the expected acoustic guitar and driving vocals. Producer Will Jackson (The Pigeon Detectives, The Cribs) has effortlessly blended a mix of country, rock and folk, all linked together with Rupert’s strong voice that fits perfectly with the instrumentation used and lyrical sentiment. Hurt, hope and happiness are all on show.

On songs like ‘hate to say’ there is an emotive and tender quality to the vocals, enriched by the fact they are not overly produced or manipulated. When the songs call for it Rupert is able to reflect the darkness in the lyrics with melancholic, echoing harmonies such as on ‘no love lost’.

Rather than having as many instruments thrown onto the songs in the hope they might bring something to it, it seems as though each instrument has been specifically picked for each moment. Whether it’s a handclap on human politics or a female vocal on ’40 days and 40 nights’ each ingredient is in exactly the right place and in the right amounts.

This is a project where every element has been well thought out and a clear sense of identity has been imprinted on every aspect.