The Hippy Hippy Shake Company Sits Down With... Emilio Pinchi!

That's right. The Hippy Hippy Shake Company got to interview the handsome, talented, and (if his recent A-Level results are anything to go by) intelligent local acoustic genius, Emilio Pinchi. And what's better, he's agreed to open the show on Saturday the 27th at our Hippy Horror Halloween festival! After his fab performance at HippyHaze over Easter and recent acceptance into Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (informally known as LIPA) we felt ever so slightly star-struck watching Emilio perform effortlessly for a room full of eagerly listening fans. We felt even more fantastic when he agreed to a quick interview not five minutes after he came off the Sugarmill stage on the 17th August in spite of the fact everyone was pulling him in about a million different directions...

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Emilio! Thank you for taking the time to chat with us. What's the name, what's the deal, where are you from, what are you about?
I'm half Italian, hence the name... Then what is Emilio Pinchi about? Haha, well I've been in bands since I was about fifteen so for three years. But then when I was between bands, I decided to start playing some acoustic stuff, writing my own music, booking gigs and it took off from there really.

Wow, our very own Italian stallion! So how much time do you actually invest into your music?
Pretty much all I do is writing music, playing, thinking up ideas. Like I'll be out and I'll have an idea and have to put it into my phone. I'm like, 'Everybody stop. I've had an idea.' So really most of my time goes into my music and producing it, promoting it and performing it.

And you've just finished your A-Levels right?
Yes... I did music, music tech, geography and media and I got one A and three B's. I'm amazed about media... I was not confident coming out of that exam. I've never sat an exam before and thought, 'I've failed' before but I did with that. Can't believe it! And now I'm heading off to Paul McCartney's LIPA in September. I move in around the start of September and it all starts from there. I'm so excited to be moving to the centre of Liverpool.

But we're going to lose you! 
Don't worry, I'm coming back to play Hippy Horror remember, so don't worry!

Phew. Thank God for that, eh? Are you going to wear a Halloween costume for Hippy Horror. You have to.
I think I do have to don't I? Well, I'm performing on the Saturday and I think that is Dead Celebrities day so I've got something up my sleeve but its a secret. Its one of my heroes. You'll just have to wait and see...

Keeping us in suspense. It had better be worth it! Tell me who some of your heroes are then.
Radiohead are my biggest influence really. Elliot Smith is really good. I always write better when I've just been listening to Radiohead. It puts me in the mood for it. I love Nirvana too. I don't write many happy songs... those guys inspire me to write dark songs. Who wants to listen to happy songs anyway?

So since your songs are so dark and twisty, where do you come up with the inspiration to write them?
The usual stuff. I have a couple of songs which I've written for people. There is one actually which I've written for someone and I've never played it live because it would just be too hard.

Awh! Is it for a girl?
It is! I'm between girlfriends like I'm between bands...

That's sad. But I've noticed that most of your fans are girls so maybe you could just pick one...
Haha, this is true my fanbase is mostly girls. I don't know why! I've never really thought about who my fanbase is made up of before. I just want anyone that gets me to come to my show and enjoy the music. It makes me happy, But I don't know why they are mostly girls.

Oh yeah, we wonder too (*insert sarcastic stare*)... What has been the best gig that you remember playing?
I really enjoyed tonight, that was good. During one of my songs there was like, TOTAL SILENCE which was really eerie but cool. Its nice seeing people listening so intently at a gig. At one of my gigs a lady gave me £20 for my EP and wouldn't take change from me! I guess she really enjoyed the performance but that was so generous of her. That was one of my best gigs. 

How about the worst gig? Have you ever done anything embarrassing on stage?

I'm dead clumsy in real life so I've tripped over on stage when I've been in bands so many times. Worst gig ever was quite recently when I showed up to play and there was literally not a single person there. I played to the bar staff. Having said that I don't mind playing to an empty room because gigging is all about practice as well as getting your sound out there. Getting to hear yourself through a PA rather than just in your bedroom is worth it. Plus, bar staff are still people aren't they?

They are! So finally, what's your favorite The Hippy Hippy Shake Company milkshake?
The one named after me. One of the specials at the moment is called the 'Emilio Pinchi' and it has Jaffa Cake, Fruit and Nut, Toffee Sauce and Whipped Cream. It is so good! Everyone should get one!

They should! Well thank you for the interview Mr Pinchi, we thoroughly enjoyed your performance tonight.
Thank you for coming :D

***

And with that, Emilio breezed back into his friendship group as if he isn't one of the most promising musicians that Stoke-on-Trent has to offer. As if it wasn't nice enough that Emilio used his post-performance buzz to provide us with a fun and energetic interview, he also handed us a complementary copy of his current EP. It's all we've been listening to for the past couple of days and we can honestly say that we can't wait to be swaying along in the Hippy Horror tent to Slow Down and Sunday Night. He's like our very own version of an Ed Sheeran/Noel Gallagher combo, but better and we absolutely love it. Check out his SoundCloud page and send him a Tweet for a copy of the EP at @@EmilioPinchi This guy is going places. See him at Hippy Horror on the 27th October at 11am before he blows up into a world-wide super-star...

TICKETS ARE SELLING OUT FAST SO MAKE SURE YOU HEAD INTO THE HIPPY HIPPY SHAKE COMPANY IN NEWCASTLE OR HANLEY, MUSIC MANIA, OR HARASS THE BANDS AND GET YOURS NOW. £6 FOR FRIDAY NIGHT INCLUDING CAMPING, £14 FOR SATURDAY OR SUNDAY DAY-PASS INCLUDING CAMPING AND JUST £26 FOR A THREE-DAY CAMPING TICKET. 

Love and milkshakes

The Hippy Hippy Shake Company

The Hippy Hippy Shake Company Sits Down With... Sea Based Turtles!

On the 17th August, The Hippy Hippy Shake Company checked out who would be playing at the Sugarmill and we were pleasantly surprised to see that one of our favorite Stafford-based bands was headlining the night. We are of course talking about Sea Based Turtles. We discovered this band for the first time a few months back and were automatically hooked. We were super happy to have them agree to perform at HippyHaze back in Easter and after their fantastic performance (which included two broken guitar strings, a big old bunch of energy and a cover of the Gorillaz Clint Eastwood) we were just dying to ask them to perform for us again.

It may please you HippyHazers to know that Sea Based Turtles have agreed to return and play for us at our Hippy Horror Halloween event! So we moseyed on down to their Sugarmill gig the other night and grabbed five minutes with the Joe S (bassist), Joe R (Drummer) and Sam (Guitarist) pre-performance. Here's what we found out...

***

Thanks for giving us a few minutes before you perform! Where are the others?
Sam: Missing.
Joe R: They're not here. They've nipped off... They've gone somewhere. *Slightly nervous look*
Sam: They should really be here. We're performing in ten minutes and we are two band members down. Standard.

Oh... ok, well I'm sure they'll get here in time. Meanwhile, let's find out a little about Sea Based Turtles, eh? Let's start with a simple question. Where did you guys come from? Bar 'the sea.' Obviously.
Sam: We started at university. We just started jamming together and before we knew it, Sea Based Turtles were born. It was Joe S that came up with the random name... We're still not sure why. It was interesting when we started out really because we all have such different influences that we weren't sure for a while how our music would sound. Eventually we found our voice though.

Ok, so speaking of influences, who are your biggest?
Joe R: Block Party, Foals and Chilli Peppers for me.
Sam: Anything funky. Jimi Hendrix.
Joe S: James Brown.

Did you enjoy performing at HippyHaze?
Joe R: We loved it.
Sam: We wish we'd stayed and camped for the whole thing. We've just heard so many rave reviews about it.
Joe S: It's just so nice seeing so many local bands getting together with different types of music.
Sam: We were suprised at having such a big crowd because we're from a bit out of the area as we're all Stafford uni students. We had a great time. We can't wait for Hippy Horror!


Speaking of Hippy Horror, as it is a Halloween event, you MUST dress in Halloween costumes...
Joe R: Yes definitely. I want to go as V for Vendetta.
Joe S: Well, we did a music video a while back called Dracula where we were all dressed like vampires so we might have to crack those back out again...

Oooh, like on Twilight?
Sam: NO. My skin will not be sparkling, I'll tell you that right now.


So what's a typical Sea Based Turtles fan like... only, we've noticed there are a lot of girls in your crowd?
Sam: A dancer!
Joe R: A nutter.
Joe S: Anyone really, anyone. We don't want to pigeon-hole things too much because we think anyone can like our music really.

What have you been working on since HippyHaze?
Sam: Our album will be out in time Hippy Horror so we've just been working on getting that finished up.


What has been you best ever gig? Apart from HippyHaze of course!
Joe S: The best gig we probably did was a small gig at the Grapes in Stafford and it was absolutely rammed. It was a really good gig, so packed!



Have you ever had a terrible terrible terrible gig?
Joe R: Well, Hippy Haze was amazing, but Sam broke TWO strings on stage which was a bit of a nightmare.
Joe S: Oh and at one gig, both me and Sam forgot our guitar straps so we had to sit on chairs and play the whole set like that.


Oh no! So square. Aside from your Twilight-directed animosity, you guys are cool. Like really cool. I bet you get lots of attention from the ladies. Would you ever snog a fan?

Joe R: Ooooh that's a difficult one...
Joe S: Which fan?
Joe R: Yeah, it totally depends on the fan really!


So, you wouldn't rule it out? Just checking... Anyway, let's wrap this up with what your favorite The Hippy Hippy Shake Company milkshakes are...
Joe R: I had a Kinder Bueno once. *Pulls an 'Oh-yes-it-was-well-peng' face*
Sam: I had our Sea Based Turtles special back at HippyHaze as well which was so cool. It tasted so good. I might have to ask Rich to bring it back for Hippy Horror, especially for me...

Well, I'd better let you go and get on stage! Thanks for giving me the time of day :) Good luck!
Sam: Thanks :) *Rushes off with the rest of the band*

***

Let us tell you, Sea Based Turtles aren't just an extremely likeable group of boys but they are extremely talented entertainers too. Think a cross between Reel Big Fish, Gorillaz and nothing you've ever heard before and you have Sea Based Turtles. There's no doubt about it, we'll be dancing away in front of the stage. Make sure you join us on the Sunday at Hippy Horror because its going to be a performance you're not going to want to miss! Meanwhile, hit up Sea Based Turtles's Soundcloud. Our favourite song is Real Resonation. What is yours?

TICKETS ARE SELLING OUT FAST SO MAKE SURE YOU HEAD INTO THE HIPPY HIPPY SHAKE COMPANY IN NEWCASTLE OR HANLEY, MUSIC MANIA, OR HARASS THE BANDS AND GET YOURS NOW. £6 FOR FRIDAY NIGHT INCLUDING CAMPING, £14 FOR SATURDAY OR SUNDAY DAY-PASS INCLUDING CAMPING AND JUST £26 FOR A THREE-DAY CAMPING TICKET. 

Love and milkshakes

The Hippy Hippy Shake Company

We Couldn't Wait Until Next Easter... Our Next Event is Halloween!

That's right, The Hippy Hippy Shake Company is so addicted to putting on events following the success of HippyHaze over Easter and the Summer Nights this summer, that we couldn't possibly wait until next Easter to organize another biggie! So, Halloween it is.

We're calling it HippyHorror and the event will be quite as jam-packed with fantastic local bands as HippyHaze, if you don't believe us, just check out the provisional event flyer...

So those are the initial details! As you can see, back by popular demand, The Get Alongs will be headlining the first night, so once you've finished school, college, uni, work and just generally dossing around for half-term, head straight over to Foxfields Railway to enjoy our three-day-long Halloween party. 

The second night we have The Hippy Hippy Shake Company Events virgins, The Control topping the bill which is very exciting... Wrapping us up on the Sunday night will be The Rivalry, yet another fantastic local group. With such talented headliners, we're spoiling you guys big-time by having a huge group of brilliant supporting acts from returners such as 3's A Riot, Jo-Ee-T and Moral Panics, plus a variety of first-timers including Dirt Box Disco, Twinkle and the Sluts and Troops of the Mafeking, ready to pop their The Hippy Hippy Shake Company  Events cherries.

So please come along and support your local music scene and you absolutely won't be disappointed. As it will be Halloween, we have a few well-planned tricks up our sleeves which will be worth the bargain-a-licious £26 weekend ticket fee alone. Plus, don't forget, although this is a three-day-Halloween-party, you are more than welcome to camp in the field for the duration of the event. This means you don't have to watch how much you drink because you know you'll be heading home to your disapproving parents. You don't have to pay for a taxi back home after the bands have finished. You don't have to miss out on the after-band excitement because you and your tent will be right in the middle of all the fun. 

And don't forget, since we're going the whole hog with Halloween theming, we want you guys to get into the spirit too! This means costumes, pumpkin carving, alcoholic bobbing for apples, ghost story drinking games and fighting over sweets and treats which will be available at various locations over the weekend. Can you commit to that?

Do you have any other Halloween ideas we should include? Who are you most excited about seeing? What costume ideas do you have so far?

Love and shakes

The Hippy Hippy Shake Company

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