Two Ways Home 

Two Ways Home are an Alt-Country duo made up of Isabella Mariee and Lewis Fowler. Having recently released their brand new EP ‘Closet Stranger’, the pair sat down with Pete for one of his special customised question sets. Here are the responses: 

Isabella Mariee

Please identify your original home town and then describe it for us in five words

I grew up in Vienna, Austria. My five words to describe it are; beautiful, schnitzel, historic, trams, majestic.

Which musical instruments do you play?

Ukulele, Mandolin, Autoharp and Piano.

Please tell us about your song ‘Don’t Give Up On Me Tonight’

We wrote Don’t Give Up On Me Tonight in Nashville with a great artist called Logan Brill. This song really resonates with me as it’s about not making it home in time to be with your loved ones/one. Sometimes it can get tough when you are away from home for a long time.

Which cinema film has the best introductory music and why?

Series would be way easier, for example the theme for True Blood is freaking amazing. When it comes to Movies I would have to go with the introductory music to Pulp Fiction. Its just so iconic and its a great piece of music which underlines how wacky that movie is.

You get to duet on a recording with Suzanne Vega – which song do you suggest for the project? And what sort of arrangement/tempo would you go for?

Well Suzanne Vega does seem to do well with songs that have a Name in the title, so maybe a mid-tempo version of Roxanne by Police would be pretty cool.

Name a great record – any artist, any genre – with a great keyboard intro…and is there anything else you like about the recording?

When thinking of keyboard intros my mind goes straight to Clocks by Coldplay, what a great song and sound. Thinking of great keyboard/piano intros one sticks in my mind in particular; I Can’t Make You Love Me the Bon Iver version. I could listen to that intro for hours and hours and the song itself is one of the most honest displays of unrequited love ever written. It gets me every time.

What stage attire and colours do you favour?  Anything you avoid?

I love tassels in black, red or blue and try to avoid spandex.

Is there an album you can listen to all the way through in its intended sequence? (Artist/Album)

At the moment: Lucie Silvas / Letters to Ghosts

My 15 year old self: Linkin Park / Hybrid Theory

Can you dance? Do your relatives think you can dance?

I think I can dance and I believe my relatives think I’m pretty good but the real talent is my dad who has the Michael Jackson moves.

Which artist did you perhaps see without any great enthusiasm, but found that they impressed you and why?

The Staves. At first I didn’t really like their sound, saying that, I hadn’t even listened to any of their songs but I equated them with some very negative, unpleasant people who kept raving about how great they are. I didn’t really give them a fair chance until Lewis and I went to see them live at the Wiltons Music Hall and I absolutely fell in love with their music and everything about them.

Lewis Fowler 

Two free tickets arrive for a concert – who would be on your wishlist (that you have not seen before!)…..and choose an opening act, too

Bon Iver! He is a massive influence of mine but I never manage to get a ticket to his London dates. For the opening act I would have to go with The Milk Carton Kids, love those guys!

When composing do the lyrics arrive before the melody/chords?

It is different for every song, at the moment I like to start a writing session with a concept or a few lyrics, but often a chord sequence or a riff can be the inspiration for a song.

The radio is playing – what song would make you go over and turn up the volume? And which song would you run to turn OFF??

Sweet Home Alabama, mainly because he tells you to “turn it up”, I can never resist. Who would make me turn it off……maybe Charlie Puth, not a fan of that guys voice…

Jimmy Webb, Jimmie Vaughan or Jimmy Reed?  Do say something about each if you wish!

Legend, Legend and Legend.

Name two albums by any artists that impress you with their artwork.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Californication is a cool album cover, really vibrant, simple but very memorable.

Angus and Julia Stone’s self titled album. I have it on vinyl and the cover is just such a great shot.

Which recording by any artist, any genre makes – in your opinion, best use of a horn arrangement

Off the top of my head, I love the horns in RH Factor – Crazy Race. Really cool groove throughout that track and the solo has great interaction between all the instruments, they are all soloing over each other but no one gets in the way.

Vince Hill offers to play electric guitar on one of your recordings – which ‘own’ song or chosen song do you go for?

(I’m going under the assumption you mean Vince Gill, as opposed to the slightly less renowned British songwriter Vince Hill of “Edelweiss” fame). I would get him to play on a song from our new EP called Don’t Give Up On Me Tonight, it would be awesome to see what he’d play over it and there’s a substantial solo (because you gotta make the most of him!).

Have you ever gone the Talent Show route? Even locally?  – what was the result:

I once entered a talent show with a group of school friends when I was about 17. We performed a group salsa routine… since then I decided to stick to music.

Name a recording – any artist, any genre – that fades away too soon for you.

What happened to the fade out!? You just don’t get them much any more, I suppose they faded…. (don’t make the joke).  Jimi Hendrix – Little Wing fades way too soon. When I first learnt that song I can remember cranking the volume to counteract the fade out as I desperately tried to learn as many notes of that solo as possible!

Is there a book or novel that Two Ways Home would like to create a film score for?

We’d totally make a film score of The Snowman (Joe Nesbo), I think there’s a niche for creepy country music.

Pete Sargeant

(Many thanks to Isabella and Lewis of Two Ways Home for their responses and Barry at LD Communications for all of his help with this article)