David McAlmont and Guy Davies chat to Steve Pratt about forming a double act called Fingersnap which is touring to Newcastle.

YES, says David McAlmont, they do argue. “We see that as part of the process,” he explains. “We really enjoy what we create and create quite passionate stuff. I know I can go the distance with Guy. We always know there’s a point we will come out at the other side.”

It’s a relevant question because McAlmont, who first appeared as half of Thieves with Saul Freeman, has shown a reluctance to put himself forward in the past.

The background information on Fingersnap – his new collaboration with Guy Davies – explains that “his enthusiasm for creative expression in the music industry has already been greater than his desire to record and release under his own name”.

He’s collaborated successfully before with the likes of Michael Nyman, Craig Armstrong, David Arnold and Courtney Pine, but Fingersnap marks a new partnership with Guy Davies, a musician and songwriter who spent five years out of the music industry working in media before returning to writing and playing.

The two first met around 15 years ago when Davies was a session player and McAlmont was writing with Graham Kearns, a friend of Davies.

Their working relationship wasn’t established immediately.

Now they’re serious about making Fingersnap a success.

“We’ve worked on various projects, but not felt the need to be in a band together until now,” says Davies.

McAlmont adds, “I was messing around being David McAlmont. I was working that out of my system.

Now, for the first time, I feel I’m part of something good. After all the collaborations I feel very serious about this I’ve become more convinced I want to be part of something rather than carry it all on my shoulders.”

Davies, for his part, has come to like the attention being in a band can bring rather than remaining behind the scenes as a writer or session player. He determined after their first meeting that McAlmont was someone with whom he wanted to work.

Davies also knows that a shift in the music industry has changed things for performers. “Being locked away in a studio is self-indulgent. You have to go out and play for an audience,” he says.

“You have to build audiences up. We could be on the road for a couple of weeks and then straight into the studio. That’s the way to sell who we are.

“In the Nineties, the goal was to get a ridiculous record deal. People thought the only was to make great records so you’d spend a lot of time in the studio making a record.”

After five years away from the frontline, Davies set his sights on getting back in the music business at the start of 2010. He rejected relocating in Australia to work with old pals in favour of teaming up with McAlmont. “David’s voice was enough for me to commit,” he says. “We had both grown up in our own way and it felt right to make that commitment.

My five years at the sharp end had taught me about business, so I just applied those principles to this project.

“We needed to find an agent and wanted to tour to reach the many fans David has and reconnect with them. We then set about writing again and forming a new future, in a little over a year we have achieved all of this and more.” With McAlmont reluctant to attach just his name to any project, Fingersnap was born, with live dates in Newcastle and London launching their new Smokehouse EP.

If pushed to define their music, Davies replies “British soul duo” but would rather not. “That’s an arbitrary question – if what you do is really good then it doesn’t matter what genre you are in, whether it’s pop, soul or indie,” he says.

McAlmont is more than happy with the new arrangement. “Guy is a great collaborator and really like the idea of working with him. We have fallen into this duo. We’re not going to stop at one EP.

I’m happy this is my pension,” he says.

“There’s some great music associated with British songwriting duos. I have some great duos in my record collection and have been really intrigued by the idea. And it’s going well.”

Now Davies is keen to get out and play in public.

“It’s all about the music and keeping the momentum going. If you put in a lot of good honest work you get something back.”

• Fingersnap play The Riverside on Newcastle’s Quayside next Thursday
Finger-snap.com