Mersey paradise

Sand Band bassist Ben Curtis explains why he was always going to be a Liverpool supporter.

The Sand Band follow in a long line of fine Liverpool bands. Are you red or blue? I was always going to be a Liverpool fan. My great, great, great uncle actually played for Liverpool. His name was Fred Buttley. He was in the team that won the title in 1900/01, which was the first ever league championship. I've got his medal, which was passed down to me. I've also got a load of the team photos from back then. When I found out I obviously did a bit of research into it and the fella' he is stood next to in the photo is Alex Raisbeck, the captain. From what I've read he was one of the Kop's first heroes. A superstar of his time. It's boss to have that heritage. My dad, who has passed away now, was a big Liverpool fan too so I was always going to be a red. I've a brother but he's not really into football. Liverpool's such a massive football city, is it almost ingrained in the make-up of its occupants? It's hard not to be drawn into it to be honest. As a lad growing up in Liverpool it is a big part of your life. Playing football with your mates in the park and joining various teams together is all part of growing up. Then of course there's the rivalry between Liverpool and Everton, that can divide a classroom. The rivalry is nothing like as bitter as it is with Manchester United though... No, it's not to be fair. With United there's a lot more bad blood, especially with what's happened over the past few seasons. With them getting to 19 titles and then the whole Suarez/Evra thing... On that topic, what did you make of the affair? Could Liverpool have handled it better? It's a tough one. Personally I don't think Suarez meant to be racist and it was more a clash of cultures, maybe. By the same token though he should have held his hands up and apologised straight away. He's been in the country a year now and should know better. In that sense there's no real excuse. You can't say things like that but now he's served his ban hopefully everyone can move on. As a club we probably could have handled it better but it's done now. Less said about it the better to be honest. What are your earliest memories of being a Liverpool supporter? I had videos of teams of the past from the Seventies and Eighties but obviously I'm a different generation at 23. When I was growing up players like Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and John Barnes were massive and real heroes of mine. They were the best of my era, the non-successful Nineties as it were. My favourite was McManaman. What are your thoughts on the current side? How far off are you from mounting a credible title challenge? I think it's going to take a couple of years. If we still had Xabi Alonso, and we'll never get a player that good again, we'd be a lot closer. If you added to that maybe Torres playing as he did a couple of years back; two world-class players plus what we've got now we might have a chance. Losing Javier Mascherano was a massive blow as well. With them still here we wouldn't be a million miles away. I would never have sold Alonso, certainly not to chase Gareth Barry! He's definitely one of my all-time favourites. Rafa got that one badly wrong. Would you take Torres back now if Chelsea were willing to sell in the summer? I wouldn't take him back now, no chance. I'm not convinced about players leaving halfway through a season. I'd have liked to have seen him alongside Suarez though. Those two in tandem for the last five months of the season after Suarez arrived in January would have been something. What are your thoughts on Andy Carroll? Is he slowing coming good? I think he'll come good given time. He's young, he's definitely got a bit of potential. I like him when he plays up front with Bellamy but I'm not sure whether it will gel with Suarez. He's got time on his side though and I think we just have to be a bit patient. It's not as though he's pushing 30, then he'd be under even more pressure to deliver. What would you define as a success for this season? A brilliant season would be win the Carling Cup, give it a go in the FA Cup and then qualify for the Champions League. What most people will probably be content with is a cup of some description. It'll be tough to get that last Champions League place but I've got a suspicion we might just do it. I haven't fancied Arsenal for a while, Chelsea neither. I've a good feeling for the FA Cup this season too. Are you in camp Dalglish? Put it this way I wouldn't have anyone else as manager at the moment. I'm too young to have seen him live as a player but I still appreciate what he means to the city. Kenny was the star of the videos I was talking about before. I know how important he is to the club. He's one of the greatest players to have ever played for Liverpool and certainly his achievements are up there with the best of them. Do you still manage to get to the game much now the band are taking off? I used to go a lot when I was younger but I haven't been much recently. The last time I went was when we battered Birmingham and Maxi Rodriguez got a hat-trick. It's not always easy to get a ticket and it's pretty expensive to be fair. I'm a musician! My first game wasn't a classic but I don't think you ever forget your first time. It was against Derby County. We won 2-0. I think Danny Murphy got the opener. It's hard to describe the feeling you get going to the game, it's boss.Is it right the rest of the band aren't big football fans? They're not, no. Jay (Sharrock), who used to play drums for us was a fan and we used to talk about it a lot but the others aren't too bothered. It's not really a problem. We've got loads of other things in common so it's quite nice to park football talk with my other mates. What about other bands you're friendly with, are any of those big football fans? We're mates with The Coral, who are into their football. They're really good lads but also brilliant musicians. We'd love to emulate them in terms of functioning like a long-term band who consistently put out good records. To do what you love doing is something we're all striving for. One of my mates in The Sundowners, he's a big Liverpool fan. You should check them out, great new Liverpool band. You've just done a mini-album for charity that's set to be released next week 'Love Will Save Us I Hope' - what was the thinking behind that? We just wanted to do something for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust because it's a charity that's very close to Dave's (McDonnell - songwriter) heart and it's close to me as well. This was the best way we thought as musicians we could raise some money, to make a little contribution via the EP. We're always writing so these are some of the songs that maybe weren't quite the right fit for the next album. We just need to tie up a few loose ends and make sure it's as good as it can be. It's for a very worthwhile cause and hopefully we can get as many people buying it as possible. I think it's only going to be a couple of quid. It'll have about ten tracks on it, so it's a bit of a bargain. Your debut All Through the Night was released to little fanfare but wide critical acclaim. You must have been pleased with how it was received? The plan was always to stick it out there and see the reaction. It's there for people to discover while we're building in the background. Hopefully when they hear the EP, or maybe the second album, they'll come back to the first and discover it. It did well, certainly as well as we could have hoped. The reviews were amazing and it was all positive. We just need to keep cracking on and hopefully what follows will be as well received. Bands like Elbow, who stick albums out without fanfare, I've got into further down the track and then discovered their back catalogue. I've since bought them all. Your second album is out later in the year, I hear there's been some interesting faces popping up in the studio? John Head came to a few of the sessions and put guitar on a couple of the tracks. We're all big Shack fans and it's brilliant he wanted to get involved. It's a real honour coming from a great Liverpool band. Bill Ryder-Jones (formerly of The Coral) is putting strings on one or two tracks. There's a lot of great musicians involved. Jimi Goodwin has helped us out as well. He might play on one of them or sing. He's a good head to have around the place. I love the Doves, so it's great for me. I remember going out to buy The Last Broadcast from Woolworths and listening to it non-stop. It is strange (to work with one-time heroes), but they're just fellas at the end of the day. The band are all cut from the same cloth and we've all got on with the old heads who have got involved. All the proceeds from Love Will Save Us I Hope will go to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. 10 fantastic new tracks will be available for download on Bandcamp from next week. Click here for more info or visit the band's official facebook page. Great band, great cause - just buy it Check out the band's brand new video here.