CK:  Hey Harry!  What's up?
HA: Not much. Lots of things.

CK: That's kinda vague!  You're a man of many talents:  a singer, songwriter, guitarist and also trumpet player.  Is there one that you prefer over the other?
HA: It changes all the time. But I started as a jazz trumpet player, and my love for that music has carried me through all my other experiments... It's hard for me to say what I like best, they are all part of the same thing.

CK:  You've been playing the trumpet since you were twelve.  I played for half a year, when I was twelve, the only girl in the trumpet class!  Any advice for those who wish to learn?
HA: The thing is to imagine the sound in your head, before you try to play the note. Also, confidence - and accepting that on the trumpet you will always make mistakes, because it's a hard instrument. You have to learn to make the mistakes sound good.

CK:  Perhaps one of your greatest known projects is The Cat Empire.  What else do you have up your sleeve?
HA: Lots of things. It's all just music. I have no idea what makes one band famous and another band a wedding band. Some of my favourite musicians play to empty rooms.

CK:  What will we get to see you perform at Red Bennies with the Harry James Angus Band?
HA: The old songs. Jazz standards with beautiful melodies and decades of nostalgia wrapped up in them.

CK:  Who are some of your greatest influences, musical or otherwise?  What is it about them that you aspire to?
HA: Billie Holiday was the best, I think. When we think of great art, we think of Beethoven or Bach, and we think of concertos, or symphonies, and also of novels and giant sculptures, and sumptuous gilt-framed paintings. But Billie Holiday was the queen of investing all the qualities of a great work of art into a three-minute pop song. If only all three minute pop songs could be like that.

Harry James Angus Band will perform at Red Bennies on Thursday 23rd, Friday 24th, and Saturday 25th September