Credit: Gregory Nolan

The Mules are about to play ULU so frontman and drummer Ed Seed, guitarist Duncan Brown and bassist James Lesslie are wisely sampling some cheap beer in the union bar. That is about as predictable as this band gets. None of this London five-piece is what they seem… For example, James also runs the Organ Grinder label and captains the acclaimed collective Fireworks Nights while Duncan has just recorded a solo LP inspired by William Blake and has just completed the feature film ‘The Tragedy of Albert’. Then there’s Tim the keyboardist who has just written and conducted the film’s orchestral score, works as a trainee conductor at the Royal Opera House and runs a choir on the side. That’s on the side of playing in The Mules. And Fireworks Night. And it doesn’t end there.

Might The Mules be high achievers? With characteristic understatement, James simply says, “Well, I don’t think any of us is the sort of person who says, ‘all right, I’m quite happy playing bass in one band and going getting drunk around the country.’”

“But that’d be all ri-ighttttt,” suggests Ed ironically.

“Well, that’d be fun - for a few weeks,” James concedes.

So how did our young friends Seed, Beedle, Brown, Burke and Lesslie start out on their quest? Being at Oxford had a lot to do with it. “It really has a passionate local scene,” recalls James, “We had to earn our stripes. It took a while for people outside the University to decide they liked us. It meant we got to be ‘all right’ before we foisted ourselves on the scene.”

These Mules weren’t about to hang around in bars batting their eyelids at label A&Rs though; James set up Organ Grinder Records instead. “It was very much born out of the sense of community in Oxford,” he says. “Lots of friends were in bands and I was getting Firework Nights together at the same time as The Mules were forming. I was fortunate to have some resources and time. I didn’t want us to have to wait around for someone to say we could be a band. We just wanted to give ourselves a place where we can indulge our hyper-active imaginations.” He looks down and smiles to himself.  “In a way I was incredibly naïve. How hard can it be to set up a record label?” James mocks himself in a comically gormless voice. “It’s been a really steep learning curve. I’m really proud of where we’ve got to.”