Introducing… Hudson Taylor

Alfie and Harry Hudson Taylor, 18 and 20 respectively, are a melodic folk-pop duo hailing from Dublin.

Drawing inspiration from their parents’ record collection – Simon & Garfunkel and Crosby, Stills & Nash – the brothers have a relaxed and uplifting sound akin to that of Ben Howard.

The Tab caught up with them after their gig in Oxford last Thursday…

Sum up your sound in a few words:

Vocal, Raw, Acoustic.

How did the Oxford gig go?

We really enjoyed it. It was our first time playing in Oxford and was a lovely crowd. Our Mum actually grew up in Oxford so she had a few friends down. We had a pretty rough sound check but we got over it and had a blast.

You played alongside Valerie June and Jake Bugg – what’s it like touring with them?

We’ve had Jake’s album since it’s been out, we’re massive fans of his music. With Valerie we didn’t know what to expect as much, but she’s great and has some really nice tunes and an interesting voice. Our music all works really well together.

During the gig you had members of the band taking photos of each other and filming a screaming crowd video…

We’re doing so many gigs at the moment that we forget what it was like.

It’s great to take a crowd video of every gig and put it up on Facebook so people can find themselves in it, a way of integrating the online side of things, but also just help us remember how great it was.

When we come back to Oxford we can watch the video and just remember how it was.

Must be tricky being brothers in a band – any sibling rivalry or squabbles?

We don’t really fight at all – sometimes we do over stupid things like food and stuff – but really there’s no time for fighting.

Touring can get quite lonely for solo artists or people without a band, but we’re always there for each other. Especially song writing, we just know where the other is going to go, it’s a connection we don’t have with anyone else.

What’s it like trying to break into the Irish music industry?

We actually started by doing a lot of busking around Dublin and Southern Ireland.

Ireland’s much smaller and the crowds are very different – even from Belfast to Northern Ireland crowds it changes a lot.

We haven’t done anything that big in London yet, but the show coming up in Shepherd’s Bush is going to big and we’ll see what a real London crowd is like.

All we really need is people on the floor who are up for a good time!

Find out more on their website or on Facebook