Town & Ship, two Germans who describe their music as world indie/ folk in which they combine world music and pop with influences from Latin, African, Flamenco and Gypsy music. Brighton based duo Jacob Taylor and Benno Airbenschin Schürig talk about their start, the process of writing songs and their plans for the future.
How did you meet?
Benno: We started school together in Regensburg when we were 11 years old. We met there but we really didn’t like each other, it is funnier when Jacob tells more about it.
Jacob: I used to be a ‘nerdy pumpkin’, I was an awkward kid who was very interested in music, but never played in a band. On the other hand, Benno was in lots of bands, wrote his own songs and was a skater so we naturally disliked each other.
How did you start making music?
Jacob: When we were 14 we were both invited to the same party, which was horrible since we still didn’t like each other. However, at the end of the evening we started jamming ACDC and Knocking On Heaven’s Door with a group of people there.
Benno: My band at that time was going downhill so I was looking to start a new band and that’s how we started playing in the same band, Colours of Water, and started to become friends.
How did you become Town & Ship in the way that you are now?
Benno: People from our previous band started college in different places so we all moved away and stopped being a band, that’s when Town & Ship was formed.
Jacob: We spent some time apart from each other as well, so we had separate musical experiences that we put together in our music.
What did you do in your time off from each other?
Benno: I spent 6 months in Africa. I realised there how much music is out there in the world and how much tradition and music are woven together in some countries. I wrote a few musical songs and songs inspired by non-western music which I later showed to Jacob.
Jacob: In that time I worked with music therapy with disabled children for a few months. That made me realise the importance of music on every part of the society.
What is your song-writing process?
Benno: I write all of the songs, then I show them to Jacob and when he thinks the song is good we play it live and later record it.
Jacob: Benno actually came up with a good metaphor for it the other day. Imagine Benno and me were parents and our songs were our children. Benno as the songwriter and lyricist gives birth to the song. The birth of the song is when he shows it to me and then we raise it together.
Why did you decide to move to Brighton to study at BIMM?
Jacob: We both applied for BIMM separately, I wanted to take my guitar to the next level and Benno wanted to learn more about song-writing and so far it’s the best decision we could have made as a band.
Benno: We gave up so much in Germany, we had to say goodbye to our friends and family and gave up relationships, but music is the most important thing in our life and it shows how ambitious we are. That is also why we do so many open mics, we want to play gigs and meet other musicians and we think Brighton is the right place for us to do this.
What are your plans for the future of Town & Ship?
Jacob: Since we used to be in quite a big band we feel like we have less possibilities now that we’re only with the two of us, so we’re looking for a new band now and we already found a drummer (Sam Duff) and doublebassist (George Richardson).
Benno: We also started recording songs in March and have some new songs ready to record for our CD that will come out later this year. The CD will be available on Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud and everywhere else.
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