Renowned blues rock musician Ross Harding is set to release a deluxe version of his heavy blues rock anthem, “A Thousand Snakes,” which came out in March 2024.
The interview, which follows the background information, is an interview that delves into blues history. We get the chance to tell stories of the blues and gospel music; we talk about rock and about how Ross Harding is ready to build on his recent tour with blues-rock guitarist Dan Patlansky `and hit the road again later this year. We are really pleased to bring our readers this interview. Ross has been winning plaudits for his hard hitting blues rock; his single “Fire Away” now has 53k+ streams on Spotify. There is a reason for that—he’s damn good.
The first official release since Ross Harding’s relocation to the UK from South Africa, this poignant blues rock tune, “A Thousand Snakes Deluxe Version,” is a total reworking of the song, taking the original delta blues influence and heavily leaning into a vintage production style that blends an old school blues ethos with the stylistic devices of a modern blues and rock musician.
The song showcases Harding’s exceptional songwriting ability and versatility as an artist, where listeners can expect a new sonic experience with heightened production quality that adds an additional layer of depth and intensity to the already captivating sound.
Speaking about the new single, Ross Harding explained: “With the knowledge that I would be leaving South Africa to relocate to the UK, I went back into the studio to record all the music that I intended to release, and the skeletal version of the original idea remained. Upon listening to the song with fresh ears, I realized that I found some magic in it, something that the story would miss if I didn’t finish that version. So we really got stuck into capturing all the right sounds, including acoustic guitars, resonators, new vocals, and essentially re-recording every instrument to bring this version to life.”
A “Thousand Snakes Deluxe Version” also marks the first release of Harding’s upcoming EP, entitled “The Blood & The Blues,” a potent demonstration of this artist’s deep musical universe, where he channels raw emotion with a sophisticated stylistic approach rooted in the blues, classic rock, and hard rock.
We noted in the press release how the influence of the old Delta Blues men on Ross was noted. As we love to talk about music history here, it took us back to a research piece we did on Lead Belly a couple of years ago that we link at the end of this feature (we are currently researching Sister Rosetta Tharpe), and we began talking about how relevant those early blues musicians remain to us today. We do say that you should trace music back. If you love The Beatles and want to know them, follow the thread—who were they listening to? And then, who were they influenced by? But are these Delta blues musicians still important to the blues rock sound today, or is the influence waning over time?
Ross: I like that train of thought! It’s an interesting question and we need to place it in context with how much the blues has influenced modern music in general. I think it’s safe to say that some form of blues exists in all forms of popular music today, even if it is a slim line. That was the type of folk music of the day that was going to influence far beyond its roots, even though it may not have been a mainstream music form. Of course, it had its moments. There have been artists who have had huge success as mainstream musicians commercially, but the blues has always been a grassroots form and it’s always been in the roots of culture and the roots of music. It is a simple form of music—an unfathomably expressive form. That is because the blues encapsulate the time, the place and the struggle. There is a cliche, a meme where they go, “Write your own blues song, just add to ‘my baby done…’ So you need to really dive into the history and it is undeniable just how massive the impact has been. Whether or not those early artists remain relevant in today’s music world is a difficult question, but I give it an unequivocal yes because those artists became the catalyst for how we know modern music.
The baton is passed down the line. BB King’s daughter, Shirley King, told us that if you scratch the surface of any great song, then you will find the blues. She also noted how blues performers such as BB King were first and foremost entertainers, and we often lose that element of the blues.
Ross: Someone asked me recently, a friend of mine from school who had known me growing up in more of a rock-influenced youth. I was into Black Sabbath (he does a cover of “War Pigs”), Metallica and those styles of bands. Those were my first loves, those bands like Pantera; they were all at least moderately influenced by the blues in their playing. My friend asked me as I have progressed as an artist, and he has been friends with me since I first said I would be a musician. What drew me into the blues? I could answer very specifically, and it had to do with the culture and the storytelling. I love the history, getting into the mystery and the wealth of inspiration from that perspective, regardless of the music. I started getting into artists who influenced the bands I was into, and I started to get deeper. I looked at the influences of Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and The Stones. It all trickled backwards to those blues performers, so I thought to myself that if I was going to do anything from an artistic perspective that resembled something like the artists I admired, then I needed to figure out the blues. Some of the early recordings I listened to by Robert Johnson were initially hard to break into, and a lot of people who are more used to produced and polished material, modern styles of music—it is an acquired taste to a certain degree. Until you understand what these people were working with at the time and how profound their thinking was, then that comes from being familiar with the art form and the stories that went into the recordings. Then they become potent. I was probably in my early twenties and there was just no going back, I saw the guitar as art, and I wanted to find out more.
And as Shirley King noted, the Delta Blues sound did not come from nowhere. Listen to them and they draw from Gospel, as did singers such as Nina Simone and performers such as Elvis. Modern rock is really black music repackaged from gospel and blues and resold.
Ross: Absolutely. It really is. Just look at the history of music and it has to do with cultural appropriation, although that is a loaded and difficult term. There is an acceptance of these different influences from all over and that is what creates something unique when there are tons of influences all coming together in the same area of musical form. Then it is portrayed and listened to by the people, and they become part of the mass culture. Let’s face it, Gospel is all about preaching the word and celebrating it, and the blues are the same. So when we go out for a gig, we are off to preach now! It is all in that realm.
Turn to the music of Ross Harding now. As a guitarist, we wondered how Ross viewed the guitar solo. Is he more on the Frank Zappa side, where every night is a musical adventure and even his band never really knew what was going to happen, or on the opposite end of guitar mastery with someone like Brian May, who is note-perfect every time?
Ross: The guitar solo is a very expressive tool musically, and it also moves in trends. It wasn’t uncommon to hear guitar solos in 1980s pop songs. It was a fashionable thing to do: For example, Bowie had Stevie Ray Vaughan and Michael Jackson had some fantastic guitarists in his time (Orianthi, David Williams, Eddie Van Halen and more). The solo itself takes on different elements, and the comparison between Zappa and May is interesting because they are both brilliant but polar opposites in that regard. There is also a big difference between the live environment and the studio environment. I tether on the tightrope when performing live. Basically, we rehearse as hard as possible to get the music to the highest possible level we can, so we can then go to the gig and break the rules! My band can get mad at me because we will spend all the time rehearsing, and then on the night we will change and do something else. I feel the room is different from how I may have felt. I have a blueprint, and when I get into the environment, I want to connect to the crowd, so it is an artistic motif in the music through the solo. Sometimes it can go horribly wrong, sometimes horribly right! I think in a live environment, it gives the audience engagement, and it can blow you away. You can teach the audience that this is what to expect. If your audience knows they are going to a performance and it will be wild and have improvisation, they will lean on that, and it can be a useful tool. The other side is more compositional; it is a perfectionist view. I understand this too, as the musicality it takes to get everything note-for-note correct in the live environment is extremely difficult. There are so many other factors, never mind the guitar; from a singing perspective, I have had times when my voice is not working. Maybe too many shows in a row and I have to change it; I have to give myself this leniency, but the excitement and improvisation within the solo are a way for me to let rip in the live environment.
Solos are always such a part of the rock environment and drums are another aspect. Who cannot be excited by jungle drums for example? On tracks like “Blood and Bones,” the drum sound there connects so well with the riff. Does Ross involve himself with the drum side of things, or leave that to the drummer!
Ross: At the end of the day, when you play music in any form of ensemble, it is a team effort. Of course, blues and rock music is led by the guitar; the guitar is always front and centre with a few odd exceptions, such as Elton John with the piano. But generally, the guitar is centre piece, but drums have their place to shine, especially in the blues realm. From my experience in a trio playing live, it is drums, bass and guitar. Drums then become a necessary tool to create a range of emotive textures in the performance in the live scene; they have responsibility. I try not to take away from how important the collective effort is. If your bass player or drummer are sub-par, then the whole band will be. When you watch a band with a tight bass player and drummer, then the work is done already because people feel the heartbeat of the music. That is what gets people in an emotive state—how they connect to the song. The embellishments, from a guitar perspective, add another layer of emotion; the way the guitar plays is important, but the cornerstone of rock n’roll music is to have a super tight bass player and drummer.
Our favourite track of Ross’ at the moment is one called “Everything is Black” that has this wonderful heavy throbbing guitar and a signature sound in the beat. It is a well-crafted and delivered piece of music.
Ross: “Everything is Black” is an interesting song for me from an artistic perspective because it tackles various things. I went all out in terms of aggressiveness; it is an intense tune. It’s a track where I decided I wouldn’t hold back, and that is the form of rhythm you are talking about. It is basically taken from an old-school Howlin’ Wolf tune; it has that feel. It is a faster version of “Smokestack Lightning.” It is just done in a more modern way. What was going through my mind was that I felt super energetic with it and I felt that I wanted to go crazy. That is what I wanted to get across. It has loud guitars, loud drums and loud vocals; it never lets up all the way through. I do think there is something about that song; admittedly, from a lyrical perspective, it is a bit of a rant. It is a bit sarcastic. I don’t like, lyrically, to directly talk about politics or religion, even if I have a standpoint. I prefer to be a bit more tongue-in-cheek. There is a reason for that. I want people to escape with my music. By all means, if you pick something up in my lyrics, then ask me. But I want people to listen and escape. If you sit back and listen to a song of mine, relax, let go and have a listen. Let yourself escape from the stresses of life, get some energy and return to life.
The new single “Thousand Snakes” is, we believe, a return trip to the song with a reworking. So why the need to revisit, and what has the revisit achieved?
Ross: There are about ten songs that I have been working on for several months, including “Everything is Black” and a number of songs from the same realm. When I found out we were moving to the UK, I knew I needed to get into the studio and record music ASAP. What happened was that some took on conventional formats that I was comfortable with. I know how to get into the studio and record a heavy rock-feeling track. We have become very proficient at that. But I was starting to head down another rabbit hole, getting into my blues influences more and wanting to portray those things and pay more homage to them. That came from doing tons of acoustic performances on my own. I lacked that aspect of my music in my recorded discography, so we got these heavy tunes done, and then I returned to some tracks that I knew would take more energy from me. The first recorded version of “Thousand Snakes” is what you would expect to hear if you were at a live recording with the trio band. The loud guitar, drums, bass and vocals feel. But the actual idea was way more intricate with slide guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonies and vocals than I could do by myself. We need at least six musicians to reproduce that feel live, and so that is why we returned to the idea and I really spent time on it. It challenged me from a musical perspective, as I had to be a lot more critical of what I was hearing. I couldn’t move toward the safety of heavy rock; it required greater finesse, hence the deluxe version.
And the touring news looks interesting (see below), following on from heading out with Dan Patlansky.
Ross: I did some performances with Dan in April, when he was in the UK. We played the Cluny in Newcastle, among others and that was my first UK performance. It was an amazing experience and I loved it up north! I will be back at the Cluny in 2025, and we went up to Glasgow as well and played in an old renovated church turned into a live venue and that was so great too. Dan is, of course, a magician on the guitar and doing those shows was cool. But the calendar is getting busy and I’m finding the right musicians and settling in with the family in UK life right now, so the live focus is on 2025. But I am doing a few shows late in the year with an artist I have recently discovered called Jack J. Hutchinson and I’m looking forward to that one.
And as a last question, what was the last album you listened to and did you enjoy it?
Ross: An easy question as I listen to a lot of albums and CD’s straight through. It was “Mothership” by Led Zeppelin; it is in the car right now and I drive with my daughter so I am influencing her!
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You can stream music from Ross Harding here
By Mark C. Chambers
and
Lorraine Foley
Ross Harding Music www.rosshardingmusic.com
Thursday, October 2, 2024 (Solo Acoustic Support for Jack J Hutchinson) The Black Heart, 3 Greenland Pl, Camden, London, NW1 0AP
Ticket Link: https://www.ourblackheart.com/events/2024/10/2/jack-j-hutchinson
Sunday, February 2, 2025 A500 Music Presents The Ross Harding Band (Acoustic) with special guest Luke James Williams, Fulford Village Hall, Fulford Road, Stoke-on-Trent, ST11 9QT, United Kingdom. Ticket Price: £15.40 Each includes fees (Tickets will be onsale on Friday, August 16, 2024, at Midnight) Ticket Link: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/628146?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR06xMsd032WwY3fwn6GPoRdPaaJj40s7KTL1Y9aewejWrI33sMmbeUgdnI_aem_4peBRcviWSaOYx21R2GYCw#
