Interview with Late Night Marauders: ‘There’s something about the sound of the blues that gets you’

Hull-based six-piece blues band Late Night Marauders brought out their five track EP Episode One earlier this year, which chronicles family life and relationships.

The band, which has been together for two years, comprises Ruth Scott (vocals), James Wood (piano and backing vocals), James North (bass), Tom Small (drums), Simon Nelligan (trumpet) and Peter Robinson (trombone). Scott got inspiration for the band’s name from a song she was listening to by New Zealand-based seven-piece band, Fat Freddy’s Drop, ‘Midnight Marauders’. ‘I’d do the odd song at parties when people were drunk and they’d ask me to sing,’ she laughed. ‘I loved the word marauder and thought it could be a good name for a band!’

Scott writes all the lyrics: ‘I generally write the song and melody and then sing it to James and he’ll play some bits and I’ll either say yay or nay! Then we’ll take it to the band, so that everyone can add their bit. It works better in rehearsals like that.’

‘Bring Me To Tears’ is my favourite to sing, we normally end our set with it’

‘Bring Me To Tears’, one of the standout tracks on the EP, was inspired by ‘St. James Infirmary’, an instrumental track by New Orleans-based blues musician, Allen Toussaint. When I listen to it, I can hear the similarities, although ‘Bring Me To Tears’ is faster and more uplifting, benefitting from Scott’s powerful vocals. ‘Sometimes, just the sound of something will spark an idea,’ she said.

Late Night Marauders released a charming and heartwarming video to go with the song, set in a local cafe, with the waitress and businessman at the centre of the story – who is trying to woo her – played by friends of hers (link below). Wood is sitting in the corner during the video, singing very enthusiastically. When I mention this, she laughs: ‘He’s very theatrical, isn’t he?! Actually, a mate of mine, Luke filmed that. We did the video for that and ‘Hey Bartender’ over the same weekend. ‘Hey Bartender’ has more of a story to tell, it’s more like a short film. We started filming it around 9.a.m. and I didn’t get home until 9 p.m.! ‘Bring Me To Tears’ is my favourite to sing, we normally end our set with it.’

And despite the underlying message that the woman is struggling, the catchy chorus still makes you smile: ‘Give this lady a generous tip, she works crazy hours to support her kids, and hasn’t bought herself a new dress in years, and she’s so fine it almost brings me to tears, yes it does (yes it does), yes it does (yes it does), it almost brings me to tears.’

The most moving track on the EP is ‘Come Home’, which is based on her own experience: ‘I don’t sit down and intend to write about a certain subject but I was listening to J.J. Cale (an American singer and guitarist) and I just started writing this song. I was with this guy, it was a rubbish relationship, but you don’t realise it’s rubbish until you’re out of it, do you? I wrote it five years after the relationship ended and I’m so much happier now and lucky to have people around me who care. I just remember being unhappy and my dad saying to me ‘come home’ and that was it.’

The lyrics attest to just what she was going through: ‘Something inside me said you’ll never change, so I walked out the door, knowing I would’t go back, this time it was forever, when I heard my father say, just come home (come home), oh just come home (come home), don’t cry my baby, just come home.’

‘There’s a song for every emotion’

Scott grew up listening to her mum playing singers such as Elton John, Cher and Suzi Quatro in the car. ‘I didn’t listen to music much with my dad but he used to say that there’s something about the sound of the blues that gets you and he’s right. There’s a song for every emotion.’

‘Raggedy Old Man’ on the same EP was inspired by a homeless man in Hull who is often seen around the city with his bike laden down with carrier bags, according to Scott. ‘The story is that he comes from a wealthy family but that’s what he wants to do. It’s very strange. I was listening to something and heard the word ‘raggedy’…’

Scott wrote several songs over lockdown but says the hardest part was not being able to meet up with the other band members to do things: ‘When you’re on your own, you listen to your own music but when you’re with people you can get inspired by what they’re listening to and other stuff, it’s much better like that.’

Initially, the band had intended to have an official EP launch in April at the Social in Hull and then ‘go away for a bit and then come back with more songs’ but COVID-19 put pay to that.

However, they now have a new song in the works, ‘Wish I’d Caught Your Name’, about a one-night stand. ‘It’s bluesy but upbeat,’ Scott said. ‘James is always telling me to be more of a diva onstage, maybe this is the song that will finally let me do it!’

This weekend, the band is doing a gig at The New Adelphi Club in Hull. Scott cites The Quicksilver Kings as one of her favourite local bands (see our interview from last month) as well as folk group Ramble Gamble. Raised on a steady diet of classic R’n’B and jazz standards, she still loves Ray Charles, Nina Simone, Etta James and Tom Waits. ‘What I love about Ray Charles is that he never described himself as a blues singer, he always said ‘I’m someone who can sing the blues’. I would have loved to collaborate or tour with him or with Tom Waits, who is the most amazing songwriter.’

She is also a huge fan of American blues and rock singer, Beth Hart. ‘She was one of the first to win one of those talent contests,’ she said (she won US reality TV show Star Search in 1993). ‘She really struggled with drugs and booze but she’s incredible. I went to see her at the Royal Albert Hall. She sings rocky blues, her voice is insane!’

She would also ‘absolutely love to sing with Jools Holland’s orchestra’: ‘I’ve been to see them a few times and they are always so good. Also Mark Ronson, I think that man is bloody brilliant.’

(Photo from left to right: James Wood, Ruth, Tom, James North, Sam and Pete)