From jazzy Jingle Bells to gnarly horn lines, Ford Collier of global folk collective Mishra talks us through his life in music.
The first record I bought…
Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace by Foo Fighters was the first CD I bought with my own money. I’m quite happy with that one; I still think it’s a great album, and some of the more acoustic songs in particular are great. I’m sure my parents bought me some more embarrassing CDs before that, though… I definitely had some Busted lying around.
My first gig…
Some friends of my Dad’s had tickets to U2 at Wembley that they passed on to us when I was about eight. Me and my Dad went for the experience. We couldn’t see much and didn’t stay until the end, so it wasn’t incredibly inspiring. Before that, though, I always used to sit in on the concerts at the folk festival in the village where I grew up. I didn’t know anything about the music, but I remembered being captivated by seeing the performers playing their instruments up close. I remember seeing Tim Van Eyken, who I still think is great.
The first song I performed…
The first instrument I learnt was saxophone (although I can hardly play it now), and my teacher arranged a jazzy version of ‘Jingle Bells’ for the nativity concert when I was in year six. I think it went down pretty well.
A song I wish I’d written…
‘Indignados’ by Kefaya. This band are a big inspiration on Mishra: the rhythm and gnarly horn line are kind of touchstones for us when we think about writing music. It’s groovy, catchy and the track just keeps rolling on. When a track has such a good groove, it’s amazing how long you can listen to it for.
I first fell in love with music when…
I started busking on the streets as a teen. When I started performing, I always had so much stage anxiety, but being out on the streets in front of people all day was a great low-pressure way to get over it. Me and my friends used to try things out and experiment; usually, this would end up with us trying to play folk tunes as fast as we possibly could.
One song that I can’t get out of my head at the minute…
‘Meditation’ by Cory Wong has such a good melody and is so simple. The whole track’s an instrumental arrangement of this one melody, with a lovely piano solo in the middle, and it works so well.
A record that reminds me of a specific time and place…
‘Murder She Wrote’ by Chaka Demus and Pliers. I first heard this at Glastonbury Festival in 2018 and it made me realise how much I love that particular groove. In the Jamaican context, it’s called the Dembow rhythm but it’s also called Reggaeton. It’s so addictive, the one rhythm that always makes me want to dance. I like to sneak it into as many of the tracks I write as I can.
Mishra have formed a new collaboration with international fusion vocalist Deepa Sri Shakthi and headline the Greystones on the 15th April (plus a family-friendly show earlier in the day with Concerteenies). Tickets for both shows are available here.
