So who are A Hawk and a Hacksaw? Myself on accordion, drums and vocals, and Heather Trost on violin and viola. What kind of music do you play?
I think our music is quite American. Who are your main influences? Bela Bartok, Moondog, Romica Puceanu, Taraf de Haidouks, Kef Time, The Kinks, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Kocani Orkestar, Derroll Adams, ICP Orchestra. Where are you at the moment? I am in New York. Our tour just finished the other night at the Lincoln Centre. We have been on tour since June, with two weeks off in Albuquerque, where we live. Your third album, 'The way the wind blows' was partly recorded in a remote Romanian village with members of a Balkan folk group. How did this come about? I am an admirer of the band Fanfare Ciocarlia who live in this village. I wrote to their manager and he agreed to meet me in Bucharest to discuss our project. I had some money saved, so I blew it on a plane ticket and flew to Romania. Henry (the manager), and I went out to dinner and discussed the glory days of Romanian music - Romica Puceanu, Toni Iordache, the Electrerecord label and such. I gave him a CD of our music and he liked it. He agreed to take me to the village the next day. I stayed there for two weeks recording and enjoying the people. They are really wonderful. You moved to Leicester around 2000, how long did you stay in the city? I left in 2004 I believe. What were your impressions of Leicester? I used to play buckets in the street for money. People were always generous. | "I apologise to those customers whose mail came so late. It is a struggle to be an American in the Royal Mail." | | Jeremy Barnes, A Hawk and a Hacksaw |
As a postman I got a lot of slack because I was quite bad at it. I once left an entire mail bag in my car for a week. I apologise to those customers whose mail came so late. It is a struggle to be an American in the Royal Mail. Also musicians have never been good at waking up early. I am no exception. I love Ultima Thule, the record shop near the train station, off London Road. Also one of my favourite bands, Volcano the Bear, live in Leicester. A great independent label is operating in Leicester, it is called Pickled Egg. I think that Leicester is like a lot of towns of the same size. It's citizens have a bit of a hard time believing that anything good can come out of it, that you need to be in London or Glasgow. That is unfortunate. | 
