Catching up with Swing Out Sister

Every cloud may have a sliver lining but rarely is it full of volcanic ash. However, this was the case for British sophisti-pop-jazz duo Swing Out Sister. In 2010, just as the duo’s singer and songwriter Corinne Drewery and keyboardist and composer Andy Connell were about to set off for a string of U.S. tour dates, Eyjafjallajokull erupted over Iceland. Its debris cloud caused the largest interruption to air traffic since WWII. Tour cancelled. Rather than waste the material they’d prepared, SOS turned their sliver lining into a 25th anniversary CD/DVD. Private View (Shanachie) is a renewing of vows to their beloved hits with a stripped-down acoustic sound backed by lush new arrangements.

Shortly after Swing Out Sister’s tour bus rolled into NYC on the group’s current U.S. tour, Drewery and Connell took a few minutes to talk about

On the occasion or her 60th wedding anniversary I once had a woman tell me in confidence that the secret to staying together so long was that “sometimes you have a take a little more than you really should.” What’s SOS’s secret?
Corinne Dewery: We don’t analyze. It’s just what we do, and we don’t spend too much time worrying about how much we “really should” take. Take as much as you need, as long as there’s still enough for someone else to do the same.