Music is Love Exclusive: An interview with Chris Jones & Andrew Pearson

Music is Love’s Kirsty Strang meets up to talk about tonight’s Fund gig with Professor Chris Jones (English Department) and 2nd year student Andrew Pearson (English and Philosophy). They chatted […]


Music is Love’s Kirsty Strang meets up to talk about tonight’s Fund gig with Professor Chris Jones (English Department) and 2nd year student Andrew Pearson (English and Philosophy). They chatted about Death Metal, Rush, Jazz, shake eggs… and the Student Hardship Fund.

Kirsty: So, The Hardship Fund. There’s a lot to say there, who wants to narrow it down to a couple of sentences?

Andy: It’s something that Dry Island Buffalo Jump started up. Well, here in St Andrews anyway…

Chris: There are nationwide hardship funds, where the money is pulled between different uni’s. This is different though.  It’s a locally administrated one, unique to St Andrews, and you apply for it through Student Services.

Kirsty: So it’s to help out St Andrews’ students in times of crisis?

Chris: Yeah – I accessed it during my PhD, a lovely lady called Ailsa helped me out. It’s a great system.

Kirsty: So your initial involvement was a personal one, Chris. What about you, Andy?

Andy: I’ve been protesting about the tuition fees for a long time now. I feel really passionate about it and I guess that’s how I initially found out about the Hardship Fund, and realized what a difference it could make. St Andrews is a disgustingly expensive place to live for most students; between accommodation, HMO camps, a really expensive Tescos… it’s nearly impossible.

Kirsty: So I guess for both of you there’s a desire to boost publicity for the fund through your involvement. How did people react with the first fundraiser from Dry Island Buffalo Jump, Chris?

Chris: Well, it’s a bit of an odd story to be honest. There was a press release that went around Scotland about DIBJ, they called us the ‘Boffin Band’ it was all a  bit embarrassing! It was in national newspapers and everything. So, we had to do something… and we made a single called ‘The Credit Crunch Song’.

Kirsty:  How much did you raise with the first single?

Chris: We reckon it was around £2,000, and it’s already been partly distributed among students.  

Kirsty: That’s pretty impressive from a one-off single. Andy, you’re releasing some material, too?

Andy: Yeah. When I heard what Chris did with DIBJ I knew I wanted to do something similar, try and help it out in any way. The album should be out next semester, it’s called ‘There’ll be Flowers Next Spring’. But Music is Love are making a compilation of Student Material for the launch party on Thursday, I may be on it…

Kirsty: Ah yes! The Music is Love meets Andy Pearson + DIBJ gig. I hear you have special guests… are they remaining a well kept secret?

Andy: Ah! We’re each other’s special guests!

Chris: And there’ll be faces from the English and History Departments too! Andy Murphy, head of school, will be playing. And Jim Byatt…  I heard Patrick O’Hare plays harmonica…?

Kirsty: And tickets are…

Both: £4 on the door. Thursday night, 8.30pm, Venue 1.