In Conversation with The Dodge Brothers
The Dodge Brothers have been playing together for over two decades. The skiffle-blues band creates work that harks back to the days of early rock and roll. Led by Alabama-born guitarist and vocalist Mike Hammond, the ensemble also features celebrated film critic Mark Kermode on double bass and harmonica; renowned silent film accompanist Neil Brand on piano; Aly Hirji on rhythm guitar and mandolin; and Alex Hammond on percussion. Together, they produce a rich and ever-changing sound that transports audiences to an earlier era. They’ve played in venues around the world and on some of the UK’s most illustrious stages, including Glastonbury, The Royal Albert Hall and on Jools Holland. This November, they’re performing as part of Beyond the Frame, a series of live events that run alongside Aesthetica Film Festival. Their music will accompany the silent film Beggars of Life (1928), producing an electrifying live score that breathes new life into a century-old story. We spoke to Aly and Mike about why silent film has such an enduring appeal and what they’re looking forward to at Aesthetica Film Festival 2025.
A: Take us back to the beginning. How did the four of your start playing together as a band?
MH: I first met Mark Kermode in 1990, and we talked about how much we liked Elvis and that kind of 1940s and 1950s rock and roll music. Then, about five years later, his wife was teaching with my wife at the University of Southampton. We were having dinner and Mark said “well you like this type of music, and so do I, why don’t we start a band?” We sat at the piano and sang all the songs we really liked and just went from there. We played in a pub for quite a long time, before Aly joined the band.
AH: It was about 10 years later that I came onto the scene, I met Mark and I was into films and music and we just got on really well, so he said “my band play on the first Thursday of every month at the local pub, do you want to come down and have a listen.” It was just Mike and Mark at that point, and they were brilliant. I came from a sound engineering point of view, so I ended up doing their sound for a while. We were all in the studio and they needed an extra acoustic guitar, because Mark played double bass and Mike was on electric guitar. So I joined in, and then late on, when Mike’s son, Alex, was old enough, he also became part of the band. He’s a very talented percussionist, so we gave him a washboard the day before we were going to film a piece and said “right, learn this.” And then it was the four of us.
A: What is it about this genre of music that resonates with you?
MH: Mark was in a skiffle band before The Dodge Brothers and I really liked the early American stuff from the 1930s. I’m from Alabama, so I grew up with this type of music. When we were first in the band, we learned about 150 songs. Then we started writing our own stuff, but we wanted it to sound like they were from this period.
AH: I’m a bit younger that Mark and Mike, but I was brought up on Elvis. Everything originated from that genre. You listen to music now, and it comes from the early blues stuff, you can’t get away from it. You can’t help but tap your feet to this music, even if you think you don’t like it. More than anything, it’s just really fun to play.
A: You’ve played hundreds of times in venues across the world. Do you have one performance that stands out as a highlight?
AH: I’ve got to say when we played the Royal Albert Hall, which was the day after my son was born. He was actually due on the day of the concert, but he arrived a day early. For four guys from the New Forest to be playing somewhere as iconic as the Royal Albert Hall is nuts, who would’ve thought.
MH: We’ve played lots of gigs in jazz clubs around London, and recently we did one in a tiny club underneath a pizza place. Those are really intimate and we love playing them, there’s something about it where you feel like you’re in a 1930s speakeasy. They’re really amazing. But we also play big festivals like Glastonbury, Kendall Calling and Latitude, and those opportunities are always unexpected because we’re just doing what we love. That’s the key. When you see us play, we’ve been told, it really comes across that we’re just having fun. We played in the biggest opera house in Austria this year as part of a film festival, and again, we’re looking at each other while we’re playing thinking about how lucky we are to be able to do this.
A: Tell us about the introduction of silent film. How did this come about and why did you decide to make it part of your performances?
MH: I’m a silent film scholar. I taught at the University of Southampton, and I’ve written books about it. I was at a silent film festival in Italy and my friend Neil Brand, whose a pianist, and I were sitting in a café and he said “I’ve seen you guys play, and I know you like to play songs about trains. I’ve got the perfect film for you. Would you be willing to have a go at playing them?” I said yes and we scored a film called White Oak, but then we quickly moved on to Beggars of Life, which is full of trains, hobos, murder and love. It just suits up down to a tee. I took my research and applied it to doing the music for this film, and that’s what we’ll be doing in York.
A: What are you looking forward to about coming to York and being part of Aesthetica Film Festival?
MH: I love being part of film festivals, they always have such a nice feeling. Plus, York is a fabulous city – I actually met the love of my life there. My wife grew up in the city and I jump at the chance to come back and visit. It’s the first place in England I really got to know as an American and I love it. I once took my kids to a pantomime at the York Theatre Royal and it was great, very memorable. York is a magical place.
AH: It really is, and it’s very cinematic in that sense. So it’s the perfect place to have the film festival and it’s great that we’re going to be a part of it. We’ve never played there, so that’s really exciting. The really nice thing about having a festival somewhere like York is that you can walk about, you can meet people who are there for the same reason and talk about the films, it has a really lovely feel to it.
A: Aesthetica Film Festival brings together music and other artforms alongside film. What do you think this kind of crossover adds to the experience?
AH: I think it’s really important. I love going to see live comedy, it’s one of my favourite things to do alongside film and music, and I know Sophie Duker is performing, who is absolutely brilliant. There’s something special about these different art forms coming together, and I think a lot of times, performers can’t be divided into one category. We’re an embodiment of this. Mark’s a film critic and Mike is a scholar in this world, and then we’re playing music to film. When you add live music to a silent film, it’s a wonderful experience. The band can just disappear, and that’s the goal for us, for people to stop noticing us and get engrossed in the action. It creates a third space, something that isn’t just music or film but something more. I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s like two plus two equals five.
MH: When we’re playing, even though our backs are to the audience, you can feel when they’re engaged with the movie. There’s a sense of how they’re responding and reacting to the scene, and it makes it a magical experience. That’s how silent films would have been experienced by people when they were first released, it was local musicians playing to the films that had come to their own, so audiences in London would not have heard the same soundtrack as one in York.
A: What does being part of The Dodge Brothers mean to you?
MH: We’re like a family. So it means a lot in that sense. We’ve been doing this a long time, and we all have other jobs – well, until I recently retired – so doing this comes from loving it. If you can bring a smile to an audience’s face, then that’s a good contribution to the world, isn’t it?
AH: We’re The Dodge Brothers, and it does feel like we’re brothers. We spend Christmases together, we do birthdays together. It’s like a family but these are the ones we have chosen. I think that’s the key. Lots of bands that have been together for a long time end up hating each other, but we’re all still genuinely friends.
A: What’s next for The Dodge Brothers?
AH: Well, other than coming to York, we’re playing in London, Cambridge and Norwich before we do some of our annual Christmas concerts local to us in the New Forest. Mike calls it the “never ending tour,” because we’re always gigging somewhere. We’ll keep doing it until we can’t do it anymore.
Words: Emma Jacob
Join us for Silent Cinema & Live Score with The Dodge Brothers at York Theatre Royal on 6 November. Book Your Tickets Here.
Discover the full Beyond the Frame programme here.
