Music Q&A: CoCo
and the Butterfields

What informs your music and songwriting?
Tom: I seem to have got myself into a habit of writing our songs whilst imagining we’re playing them in a stadium or as the sun’s going down at a festival! Musically, I try and reflect this and love uplifting, anthemic instrumentation. Although we have a few more sombre sounding songs, most of them are upbeat and, I’d like to think, have a positive feel. The music, I would say, is in contrast to the lyrical themes as the majority of them deal with the trials and pressures of relationships. Not necessarily romantic either.

How have you evolved as a band over the years?
Tom: This band has evolved an awful lot since its inception back in 2012. As CoCo and the Butterfields began very much unplanned, we were finding our feet and at first we didn’t give too much thought to the sound or type of music we wanted to make as a band. It was all about the live show and our aim at every gig was to get people dancing! As we took it more seriously we focused more on our recorded tracks and how we wanted to sound on a record. We’ve definitely arrived at a place we are happy with.

What are you up to at the moment artistically?
Dulcima: Currently we are deciding which tracks will be put on our first ever album. There’s over 50 demoed songs to choose from so it’s going to be difficult!

What’s on your rider?
Tom: We have always struggled to decide what our rider should be. At the moment it’s pretty boring! Beer, cider, wine, olives, gin, fruit, rice crackers and peanut butter.

Tell us your most embarrassing or surreal experience.
Dulcima: My most surreal experience was performing the wedding ceremony for a couple in the form of a rap. It was in the middle of a tattoo convention and the whole thing was televised for BBC’s Don’t Tell The Bride. That, or seeing the remains of my violin after it had been accidentally run over by a car after it fell out of our van.

What song do you wish you’d written?
Dulcima: Hello by Adele.
Tom: Cannonball by Damien Rice.

What’s your worst lyric?
Dulcima: “Find me a time machine, I don’t care if it’s blue or green. ” We’ll leave that there.