Based in Bedfordshire The Occasion are no strangers to the music scene with many comparing them to the likes of The Who - high praise indeed!

Andy Sizmur possesses great front man attributes and with hook ridden solos from Andy Paris, smashing drum skills from Mick McAlpine and beating bass lines from Steve McLeod, this band should definitely be in your CD collection. With natural talent on the menu, The Occasion are fresh and raw, promising plenty of fun and funky tunes. Andy Sizmur (AS) and Andy Paris (AP) took time out of their busy schedules to chat with us.

What are your earliest memories of playing music?

AS: My earliest memory was singing over records in my bedroom. My mum used to have this record player which you could speak into.

Did your parents encourage you?

AS: No, no they didn’t.
AP: Mine did, my old man used to be in The Kinks. They taught me a few songs. That’s about it.

Who were your musical influences that inspired you to be where you are today?
AP: Edge, out of U2 is my influence.
AS: It’s weird for me, because I can either rock out like Mick Jagger or legends Led Zeppelin. I think it’s just a natural feel from some of the music that we play.

What can we expect from your album upon its release?

AS: Well…when you say release does that mean HMV? Erm…we try to record live and then I’ll put the lyrics on over the top, vocally. So, when you hear it you take it and normally hear on CD exactly what we’re like live, harder to capture the energy. To come back its different really, because you get exactly what you hear from us, no free shit, its rock n’ roll live but its also just four guys feeding the energy off of each other sort of comes out in influences. Same as any band really.

If you were to cover a song, who would it be by and which song would you pick?

AP: We talked about this didn’t we! We were going to do a cover of The Black Crowes - Soul Singers.
AS: It's more like a pop song, really. Many people would know it. The chorus is incredible!

Where can you see yourself in 5 years time and what do you hope to achieve?

(During our casual interview we are disturbed by a small bouncer type guy who could easily be the body double for Odd Job from a James Bond film, he kindly tells us to exit the area, which we are not supposed to be in!)

AS: We’d be touring, we wouldn’t have day jobs and this would be our lives. When you are putting down songs, we’re up there but there’s also a ton of wicked bands out there, there really is. It’s more or less like the lottery to be in the right place at the right time. We could sell like maybe half a million copies and then we would do live shows if you love our music.

What would your occupation be if you weren’t a musician?

AP: I’d like to be a footballer...
AS: Well you are getting on a bit!

You can check The Occasion out at http://www.myspace.com/theoccasionband

Interview by Kimberley Lewis

Freelance Music Journalist