Lyric video here www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6Rkx0ZJowc

Q. The album is eclectic, with a variety of musical styles but Country Blues is certainly a standout from the rest in terms of rhythm and tempo. Can you tell us about the songwriting process for that one?

KI. The first roll-outs of the song were solo on the upright piano at Acoustify open-mic in Hammersmith - before I let the band hear it. I recently listened to the recording of one of the early band performances of the song from our set at The Troubadour in 2017, and even then, we played it as a slow, but rhythmic ballad. Since then the tempo crept up. It’s not the fastest Hellfire song but it’s up there - speeding it up allowed these great guitar licks to work around the keys and sax. There’s a great Fender Rhodes at La Chunky. It’s a simple song so lends itself to that treatment. We were aiming for a 70’s disco Stones swagger, - to get people to dance, this was the vehicle. When we do play it’s usually Saturday nights, not standard americana Wednesdays … so we want people to leave thinking they’ve had a laugh, a cry and a dance .

Q. The line about counting planes in the sky. Is this a metaphor for something else or are you a secret plane spotter?

KI. Come to think of it .... I do have a plane spotting app on my phone. At the peak of lockdown in May, it often showed the whole of Scotland with not a single plane overhead - I find the lack of planes as interesting... So yes it’s metaphoric. When the song was written, in the very unrock’n’roll Kew Green, you could look east across London and see 5 or 6 sets of landing lights stacked up coming into Heathrow.

Q. Neither country nor blues nor country blues. Does the title relate to the lyrics or did it just fit the meter of the song?
It just fitted in, the intention was to write a country soul song, but it grew from that. I guess the protagonist is stuck in a high-rise and longing for the open spaces.