Aaron Duff (Hector Gannet)

Aaron Duff is the singer, songwriter and the driving force behind one of the North East’s most successful bands, Hector Gannet. He has sold out Hexham’s The Vault three times in a row.

Aaron’s work is strongly identified with his hometown of North Shields and he writes about aspects of his life there and the area’s history. But his songs are far deeper than those words suggest – carefully written, dealing with personal issues that we all experience and filled with melodic twists. Add to that Aaron’s continuing urge to evolve the arrangements of the songs and the instrumentation of the band, and you begin to appreciate the quality of his music.

I spoke to Aaron at the Engine House, a small venue in North Shields that is highly valued by grass roots musicians, shortly after his return from performing at the prestigious South by Southwest festival in Texas. We spoke about how the band came to be, how important it is for a performer to be true to himself, the inspiration for and challenges of songwriting, and the forthcoming Hector Gannet album The Great Shakedown.

This episode includes three singles from the album – The Jetty’s End, A Stitch in the Fold and Seven Signs.

You can find Aaron’s music on Hector Gannet’s Bandcamp page and there is information about the band and tour dates on its web site https://hectorgannet.com

I’d like to thank Mark Elliott of noredindian artist management for his help with putting this episode together.