HEARTS AND

Hailing from what some might consider being ‘god’s own rock’n’roll county’that’s spawned its fair share of successful rock groups - Yorkshire’s newest rock band, Hearts & Souls, is releasing their five-track EP, Nights Of My Days, and, as a foretaste of a full album’s worth of songs to come, it promises to shake the bodies and move the minds of listeners who love their music forever trapped in the deep amber glow of 70s rock. Produced by The Quireboys’ Paul Guerin, there’s an intentional raucous live studio feel to this fistful of tracks as genial guitarist and lead singer Luke Smithson details the EP’s backstory: “Many years ago, there was a track I’d done. And I hid it from the people who I was recording with at the time because I really disliked the person who I was recording music with. It wasn’t working out. So, during the lockdown it was quiet, and I thought, right, I’ll do it now. That track ended up in the hands of The Quireboys Paul Guerin.” Luke takes up the reins of this tale: “There was a Jaguar dealer friend of mine, who repairs Jags, and he said to me ‘You like The Quireboys, don’t you?’ and asked if I would collect Paul to come and get his Jag. So, I went and collected him. It happened by total chance; there was no link to it. I was involved with the recording, and, at the same time, Paul naturally ended up with the track and asked me, ‘What’s this, you’ve done’?” Then fate intervened in a special way as Luke tells me: “I had the musicians there, but obviously couldn’t do anything, go anywhere and play live. It was difficult. When Paul started talking to me, he said ‘Why don’t you just take as long as you need and just get together whatever you’ve got’? And then I ended up in The Quireboys for a brief stint while Griff was away. So, the band - Hearts & Soul - was forming around all of this at the same time. It started as me wanting to record one track about two and a half years ago and everything else has happened as we have gone along.” Following Luke’s remarks, chance meetings change lives and who would have thought Luke would have fallen into The Quireboys’ ranks on one of their anniversary tours as he further reveals: “I joined to cover the end of the 30th-anniversary tour because Griff wasn’t there. It was on and off for probably six months or something like that. But I never joined as an official member. I did it because things weren’t good there,” he adds, “I don’t remember how many gigs I did, but we went out and we did it.”

Joining in on guitar and vocals, Tom Q Cusic adds more background to H & S’ formation: “Many, many moons ago I had just started on the local circuit and, much to his disappointment, I wouldn’t leave