THE SECRETS OF THEIR SUCCESS

Fast Facts:

Pursuit: UK Country Album of the Year winners

Definition of success: “To see a number of people singing our songs back to us and seeing how the songs affect them.”

I feel like I ought to be something of an expert observer when it comes to success, an authority almost, given the wide range of subjects I’ve studied. And yet, just like those cosmologists who study the far reaches of space, I feel like I’m missing the full picture without a glimpse, at least, of success in its formative moments. It’s like: I want to be there when someone is just coming to form. So I thought about where to start, and of course you could pick anyone from any field and say, ‘there’s a chance this person might make good one day,’ but really, what would we learn from that? What I needed was a subject or two who had some kind of officially recognised potential; someone who had achieved something but was likely to go on and achieve – well, a lot more. Step in BBC Radio 2 and resident expert, in this case, on all things country: Bob Harris. By and large, if Bob is interviewing a musician and running a feature on them for his show, you can fairly assume said musician is going to find success somewhere down the road. Not only that, but this outfit has appeared on BBC1 Breakfast television and radio, and performed live on air to Sir Terry Wogan, no less. I know, it’s cheating a bit but I’m no authority on music: why should you believe my humble predictions alone? So here we are: currently on tour around the UK and Ireland, I give you the hugely talented, indisputably auspicious: Ward Thomas.

The band consists of twin sister singers Catherine and Lizzy Ward Thomas, and Lizzy took time out of a non-stop tour to answer a few questions. Hailing from a farm in Hampshire, England, four-thousand miles from Nashville, Ward Thomas didn’t exactly lay down the classic foundations for building a country and western act. So how did it all come about?

“We’ve performed our whole lives growing up,” Lizzy explains. “For example, we played at the local pubs, family parties and school concerts. We used to sing classical songs in a choir at school and that is where we started harmonising. Catherine was the alto and I was the soprano. We then got introduced to country music such as the ‘Dixie Chicks’, ‘Miranda Lambert’, ‘Zac Brown Band’ and so on by our cousin who came to live with us from Canada. We completely fell in love with the genre and realised this was what we wanted to do. We loved the way the songs told stories and that’s what brought us to write about our own stories in the country music genre. We’ve been writing, recording and gigging for the last four years and it’s been the best four years. So to answer the question we play country music inspired by our British experiences. Every venue is different, we’ve played at places like the ’12 Bar’, to places like ‘Bush Hall’, to places like ‘Little Rabbit Barn’ which is a barn in Essex made into a venue. We love seeing many different places.”

Lizzy and Catherine might have been influenced by the big country acts, but their inspiration came from sources much closer to home:

“Our whole family have been very musical. Our parents were in a band together playing old Seventies rock classic covers such as ‘The Beatles’, ‘Simon and Garfunkel’, ‘Blondie’ and so on. So we’ve been influenced by all sorts of music from the word go really. We then went on to sing together through our whole school period. We were in every choir and did duets together. So we loved to harmonise and we were glued to country music when it was introduced to us. I’d say our main influences were and still are ‘The Dixie Chicks’.”

Coming together as a band officially in 2012, the sisters have been touring all month with another home grown country band, The Shires (watch this space for more on them) and earlier this year released their debut album From Where we Stand,  recorded in Nashville. To say life has been hectic for Ward Thomas is an understatement, but what does that translate to on a day to day basis, and what sacrifices do they make?

“It takes up most of every day as our approach to music is seen as a full time career. When it comes to sacrifice we obviously sacrifice our time away from home and our time spent with friends. However, we obviously try to fit those things in whenever we can.”

I wonder if there’s such thing as a typical Ward Thomas ‘day-in-the-life’…

“We’re currently on tour so a typical day on tour would be an early start, radio interviews at midday, then arrive at the venue at two to set up all our equipment. We would then a do sound check, have a bit of downtime, warm up, make up, then go on stage to perform. We then go to our merchandise stand to sell our Albums, T-shirts, and so on and meet the fans. When it comes to a day when we are not touring every day is different. We are either song writing on our own or having sessions with other songwriters in London. We have meetings with our management team, organise marketing, answer emails, social networking and writing our newsletters and blogs for our website. We also have our singing and guitar lessons and play during the day.”

A little break from the stock questions here, given that we’re exploring the concept of success in the making: where do Catherine and Lizzy hope to be five years down the road?

“It would be great to be making more albums and carry on touring – maybe being on a big world tour ha ha!”

As I type this transcript, I’m listening to two of the tracks on From Where We Stand: Way Back When and Push for the Stride, and I can tell you that wish sounds well within their grasp. It’s not my place to offer advice – that role I reserve strictly for my guests – but if you’re ever going to listen to anything I say make it this: go to the Ward Thomas website and check out some of Catherine and Lizzy’s tracks. Honestly, you’ll be blown away.

I ask them what ‘success’ might look like to them and, again, their answer strikes me as somewhat prescient:

“I think it would be to see a number of people singing our songs back to us and seeing how the songs affect them. “

As you know, I like to ask my guests which of their successes gives them the most satisfaction and I’ll be honest: I wasn’t sure it would be an appropriate poser for someone with their biggest achievements still ahead of them. Well not so Ward Thomas, who’ve already seen their talents recognised on a prolific stage which next year will host the likes of Taylor Swift, Paul Weller, The Who and The Kaiser Chiefs.

“At the moment it would have to be playing at Hyde Park. It was a very surreal moment seeing all those people enjoying our music and really getting into our set.”

With such a bright future looming I can’t imagine Catherine or Lizzy have any regrets – still I have to ask, with such a frenetic lifestyle, do they have cause to envy those who follow a more routine pursuit?

“No, the career we’ve chosen has been what we have wanted to do our whole lives and we have never imagined anything different.”

You can’t argue with that, can you? So what advice do the sisters have for the rest of us?

“Never give up hope, if you really want something I believe that you can achieve it. It’s to do with determination.”

My sincere thanks to Ward Thomas for taking the time out of a very busy schedule to talk to us here at The Secrets of their Success. My appreciation, also, to Sara French of Republic Media for arranging this interview.

If you’d like to hear some of the tracks from the Ward Thomas debut album From Where We Stand (and you really should) you need to head over to their website at wardthomasmusic.com  

For social media, you can follow Catherine and Lizzy on Twitter @wardthomasmusic and Facebook at facebook.com/Ward.Thomas4

Finally, the album From Where We Stand is out now and available on Amazon: