Review Fix Exclusive: Richard Grace Talks Tumbler’s ‘You Said’

Review Fix chats with Tumbler’s Richard Grace, who discusses the band’s origin, debut album “You Said” and hopes for the future.

The trio of Harry and Richard Grace and Dave Needham are hard to describe, but that’s never a bad thing when it comes to music. Thanks to poetically-solid lyrics, catchy guitar riffs and Harry Needham’s eccentric, but beautiful voice, Tumbler has something special here in “You Said.” Because of their ability to drastically change their sound, but still maintain a smooth lyrical base, Tumbler’s “You Said,” is an album for not only lovers of folk and hipster tunes, but anyone that wants sound with real depth.

Review Fix: Can you discuss how the band got together?

Richard Grace: Tumbler’s roots lie in music written over the years and played together in crowded kitchen concerts where guitars are everywhere and everyone knows the chords – songs that were written as self-expression and sometimes just for fun but never to tour or sell. Last year Harry started taking the music seriously, writing his own stuff and developing as a performer. The way these things happen, Dave came along at just the right time and the whole thing just came together.

Review Fix: The album has so many flavors. How did you guys put this all together?

Grace: There is so much material written and played together over the years. Some songs are just fun to play and sing together, while others are maybe more reflective and tell a story and work better as kind of mood-capturing camp fire songs. Genre isn’t something we’ve ever really considered – songs either work or they don’t. Over the years the ones that don’t work get forgotten about, so time is a great judge! The album ended up capturing something of the spectrum.

Review Fix: What’s the story behind Bueller? How was it written?

Grace: It’s been brilliant to see Harry start to develop his own voice as a songwriter, both musically and lyrically. Bueller arrived just over a year ago, after we started working with Dave. The song tells the true story of Harry screwing up big time, getting on the wrong train, realising and leaping off at the last minute but leaving his bag behind, so getting stranded with no ticket and no money, and ending up being rescued and taken in by a girl called Lexi. The song came together in the weeks afterwards, written on acoustic guitar. It was a happy disaster, it gave Harry a great song and a wonderful girlfriend. They’ve been together ever since.

Review Fix: What do you think makes this band special?

Grace: I guess every band is special. What makes Tumbler different I think is first the depth of material available – a lifetime of music written from the heart with no ambitions or agenda at all. The other thing that’s different is Dave – a guy with a rare combination of musical and technical ability to turn songs into records. Best of all, it seems to have just come together effortlessly. Working together is easy and fun. If there are artistic differences it tends to be about the chocolate biscuits.

Review Fix: How do you want this album to be remembered?

Grace: It would be kind of special if the album was remembered as something that was enjoyed and added a bit of happiness to the world.

Review Fix: What are some acts that have had an influence on this album?

Grace: I grew up inspired by guys like Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Leonard Cohen – there’s a directness and honesty about their songwriting that I think carries through to some of the current-day acts that the lads and I listen to together these days – people like Ben Howard, Ed Sheeran, Jake Bugg etc. But mostly I think there’s the important idea that a great song is a great song, regardless of time or genre. We can get a great buzz out of singing Sinatra’s ‘Come Fly With Me’ or Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World’ or playing the guitar bit while singing Guns N’ Roses ‘Sweet Child of Mine’. We’ve even had fun playing and singing John Lee Hooker together. I guess happy times with music is the overriding influence.

Review Fix: What are your goals for the band?

Grace: The music we’ve shared together over the years has meant a lot to us, and maybe it belongs in the public domain. The only way to find out is to put it out and see. Once it’s out there the music will determine whether there’s an audience. If there is, maybe we can build on it.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Grace: We’re already working on the next album – there is a whole catalogue of existing material to develop and play with, and Harry has some great new songs to add. For anyone who likes the first album, it would be fun to get them involved and play an interactive role as album two takes shape.