Music Features

Upbeat, Catchy, Indie-pop funsters WurlyBurd are: Janice (vocals), Nicola (bass), Chris (guitar), Pete (drums). On 14th June they played a live session for More Raw Introducing on BBC Radio York. You can hear the session tracks here.

Asked who their influences were the band couldn't give a straight answer, but the usual 'too many to mention' isn't allowed on the show, so we made them give some names.

Janice: "There's loads, Beatles, old soul stuff, country, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash..." Nicola: "Led Zep, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Jamiroqui, anything with a great bass line." Chris: "Probably Hendrix, Led Zep, all the average stuff guitarists always say." Pete: "It's got to be The Who."

With so many diverse influences, how does the songwriting process work?

"Everyone brings something along, usually with a good idea for how they want it to sound, and we work on it together.

"We argue about things now and again. We're normally alright unless whoever wrote the song doesn't like the way it's going."

So Janice, Where did the name come from?

"I heard it on a commentary that Phil Jupitus was doing on Glastonbury. He said 'look at the big whirly bird in the sky'. Sometimes words don't mean anything, I just like how they sound. I like the word 'whirly', and 'bird'... They just fit together.

"You may have expected something profound, but you don't get that with this band... actually you do, we just don't share it."

You describe yourselves as 'laid back', do you have any big ambitions?

"I think everyone does really, deep down. Otherwise you wouldn't be doing it. But with everyone busy working it's hard to find time to write, rehearse and get gigs."