Episode 38: Harry Hudson-Taylor & Seraphina Taylor

Harry Hudson-Taylor: We got into the Uber and I just started crying. Like immediately just started crying in the Uber because it was just such an overwhelming experience. Like I'd never experienced anything like that before in my life. And the Uber driver is like, are you okay? I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'm just emotional. I've just met my hero.

Josh Caldwell: Atypical daydreamers, welcome to the show. My first guests today are Harry Hudson-Taylor and Seraphina Taylor. They are siblings and the songwriting duo behind Hudson Taylor, a folk band from Dublin, Ireland. Their stories reveal the surreal highs of meeting a musical hero and how life on the road has a way of turning minor hiccups into full-blown chaos.

Harry Hudson-Taylor: So our dad was a massive Van Morrison fan. And as a result we grew up listening to Van Morrison all the time. And we've covered some Van Morrison songs at gigs before. And I think that's sort of how we ended up on his radar. I'm not entirely sure how it happened but he reached out to us and asked us to support him on a UK tour.

So we're playing these massive venues. You know, ten thousand people venues. We're supporting Van Morrison. This is like a huge deal. He's like our dad's favorite artist. He's one of our favorite artists. He's a legendary music icon. He's written some of the most beautiful songs that have ever been written. So we're playing these shows and everything's going well and he's very enigmatic and mysterious and he doesn't really like to interact with many people and doesn't really have much communication with the support acts.

So we played quite a few shows of this tour, maybe about eight or ten shows. And at the end of the tour there was one venue left, which was in Belfast. So it's a Belfast show. Obviously, Van Morrison is from Belfast. So this is a very special show for him. And we played our set and I felt the energy of the night was different somehow. And after we played, the tour manager came to us and said, Van would like to meet you.

Harry Hudson-Taylor: And I was just taken aback. I was like, wow. Like this hasn't happened the whole tour. And I thought, oh my god. So we went to his dressing room and he opened the door and he was in his dressing gown. He said, kids, come in. And we went in and there was nobody else in his dressing room, it was just him. And he was just so warm and lovely and he sat down with us and he talked to us for maybe 45 minutes just the three of us. He was asking about our music and our songwriting and our family and where we grew up and our influences. And he gave us so much encouragement and was just so generous of spirit and so warm. And then he said, I want to give you something.

And he went over to his bag and he pulled out a book, it was a collection of poetry. I think it was Seamus Heaney, I'm not certain, but I think so. And he signed the book for us. And we just thanked him and we left. And then I started to think about my dad and my dad's love of Van Morrison and how this would have meant so much to him. And I got into the Uber and I just started crying. Like immediately just started crying in the Uber because it was just such an overwhelming experience. Like I'd never experienced anything like that before in my life. And the Uber driver is like, are you okay? I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'm just emotional. I've just met my hero.

Josh Caldwell: Hey, it's Josh. Hope you're enjoying the podcast. And if so, are you wanting more road stories? Well, good news. I've got you covered. Consider becoming a patron. You'll have access to loads of great bonus stories that there just wasn't time for. And you'll be supporting a truly independent podcast. Find the link in the show notes and thanks. Now back to the show.

Seraphina Taylor: So this is a story of traveling with a band, which is wonderful when it works and pure chaos when it doesn't. We were doing a tour of the UK, I think it was maybe 2019 or so. And we had a full band with us at the time. And we were all traveling together in a splitter van, which for those who don't know is basically a van that seats more people than a standard van and has a lot of luggage space in the back.

We'd been on the road for maybe a week and a half at this point. And the tour was going really well. Everything was great. And then we played this show in I think it was Birmingham. And we drove after the show, because that's often what you do. You try to get as close to the next destination as possible before stopping for the night. You don't stay in the city because accommodation is cheaper elsewhere, and also you're trying to cover ground. So we set off from Birmingham and we're driving north, and the driver pulls into a petrol station to fill up.

And this is where everything starts to go wrong. Our driver went in to pay, and when he came back out, he realized he'd locked the keys in the van. And not only that, but we were all locked out of the van at a petrol station in the middle of the night somewhere between Birmingham and our next destination, with all of our gear inside.

Seraphina Taylor: So we tried everything. We called a locksmith and waited, I want to say two hours, for the locksmith to come. By this point it's four or five in the morning. The locksmith arrives and can't get into it. So we're standing there at this petrol station in the middle of the night, a full band, we're tired, we've just played a show, and we cannot get into our van.

The petrol station is twenty-four hours, so at least we can go inside and get coffee and snacks. And there's just this kind of resigned, exhausted camaraderie that sets in. Like, well, this is the situation. What are we going to do? And at a certain point, one of the guys in the band had the idea of calling the van manufacturer. Like the actual manufacturer of the van. And they said, well actually, we have a code. We can tell you a code and you can put it in somewhere on the van and it'll release the doors. And it was like, this is miraculous. So someone gets the code from the manufacturer, types it into whatever panel it was on the van, and the doors opened.

And I remember us all just kind of cheering and piling into the van with our coffees and just setting off again into the night. And by the time we got to where we were going, it was obviously very late. And we slept a few hours and then had to get up and do it all again for the next show. But I think what I love about that story is that it's such an illustration of the camaraderie that you develop on tour. Because when that kind of thing happens and you have no choice but to just be in it together and figure it out, there's something really bonding about it.

Josh Caldwell: I want to thank Harry and Seraphina for sharing their experiences. Be sure to check out their music and their tour dates. Find everything at hudsontaylor.com. This podcast is created and produced by me, Josh Caldwell. Music by Visual Aid, my side music project. General support and copywriting by Miranda Caldwell. And if you know someone who you think might enjoy this show, send them this episode. The support really helps. Thank you for listening, and I hope you come back next time.