Okay, hands up. I have to admit I hadn't heard of Free Diamonds, let alone seen them live, until a few days before they came into the BBC Radio Newcastle studios. But after spending half an hour in the company of Scott and Paul, I was scratching my head wondering why the hell this was. It seems that Free Diamonds have gone about making a success of themselves in the most illogical, backwards and, it could be argued, lucky as hell way. But then again, perhaps it's working out for them precisely for that reason. The potted history goes something like this. Form a band. Write some songs. Hardly play in your home town. Send off one demo during your lunch hour at work to one label. In America. The label, Deep Elm Records, puts out bands that sound nothing like your band. But they like you. A lot. So they sign you. You still don't play your home town. You put out an album. It's very good. You don't grace the covers of the local music press. You play various dates around the UK. Then you do a tour that takes in America and Europe. You find yourself speaking to James Clark on The Northern Uproar. You're going to Chicago to record your second album. Does it make sense to you? Thought not. But don't dwell on it, Free Diamonds certainly aren’t.
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