In this month’s Artrocker I’ve written a New Blood feature on Sacramento-based psych-rockers Ganglians. Here’s my interview with founder Ryan Grubbs in full:

Toonwaves: Firstly, how are things going?

Ryan Grubbs: Just trying not to drown in all the tree pollen clouding Sacramento. Sacramento supposedly has the most dense tree population of any city in the world. It feels like my head was injected with sludge.

TW: Tell me about Ganglians. How did you get together?

Well about three years ago I started learning how to play a guitar and got a six-track. I moved to Sacramento about a year before that and I started recording songs at home and naturally wanted to use all six tracks but didn’t have much in the way of instruments, just a guitar, a keyboard, and reverb so I tried my hand at using vocal harmonies to propel my songs. I showed the tracks around Sacramento and got asked to play some shows. Having a bit of stage fright I knew I wanted a band backing me so I asked my friend Adrian who had an attic space nearby if he wanted to help me bring these songs into a live setting. Eventually we absorbed two people (Kyle and Alex) he had been jamming with when I would walk by his house on my way to work. Our first show was a disaster with 3 electric guitars, drums, and my other friend Mark playing keys. After that we gradually got the hang of it and started to get asked to play more shows.

TW: Where did the name come from?

RG: The name actually came to me like an arrow to the skull one day. Combining Gang of Aliens into just Ganglians and I never even hesitated and just started calling the band Ganglians. Later I found out about ganglions, and thought, oh perfect, I knew I was on the right track. I’m a gangly motherfucker to so it all just made since.

TW: You’ve described your album, Monster Head Room, as “pure naive headphone acid-pop to drive to.” Can you elaborate on that?

RG: In the past (when I and friends had cars) the times I always most connected with a song was just cruising around smoking weed or high on acid listening to songs while driving around mountain roads at night away from everything. The idea was kind of like creating an album of back to back songs that spun through all sorts of mind fields on it’s way to some indefinite conclusion at which point everything else in life just became unimportant to what was experienced in that one car ride. That was the goal but really trying to capture something like that is a little naive. It was made for us more than anyone else. We didn’t know if anyone but our friends would hear it at the time. When your high on acid your much less critical and everything becomes relevant.

TW: It feels like psychedelic experiences have had a profound infuence on you as a band. How have they shaped your music?

RG: I’m always constantly trying to chase the next high that leads to the truth of everything. Things that deepen and broaden the perspective of everything are worth seeking out. We don’t really do it for the music so much as we do it for ourselves on a personal and group level. We’re really into tripping in scenic places, the best have been in Sedona, AZ where we climbed to the top of a mountain and felt like we were looking down on a colony of Mars and Big Sur, CA where we found a small cove where the sand had literally been turned purple. I’m not sure what we learned other than that something epic is going on all around us.

TW: You’ve said you’re trying to replicate the point in an acid trip when you’re hearing angel voices. How close do you think you’ve come to achieving that with Monster Head Room?

RG: Hahah, well yeah, I actually had a pretty profound experience, after a knife hit of weed at a point in my life when everything seemed doomed and all of a sudden I started shaking my vision shattered into fractal light pieces that scattered revealing a white ocean of light and I started to feel like I was drowning. All the sounds around me began to change into a chorus of ethereal voices I still cant explain. Ever since then I’ve tried in vain to achieve the same voices I heard then, but I try my best. The sound could have been emanating from a motorcycle engine for all I know, but my head just opened up to something more.

TW: How intentional was it to structure the album like an acid trip?

RG: We had a handful of songs to start with and as we started recording things just started to be loosely structured around an experience. Every song was so different from the others that it became a roller coaster ride. The album is really uneasy in some parts with flashes of clarity but If it was all listened to as a whole it would make since, then we would ask ourselves why it had to make since, and it became a tug of war on our brains. After a week of mixing I thought we got pretty close to the childlike innocence and wonder of trying to understand what we were going through at the time.

TW: There’s a definite sixties psychedelic influence on the album. What were you listening to while you were making it?

RG: Primarily studio bands like The Millenium, Joe Meek, The Beach Boys, people that were unabashedly honest about the way they heard music and used it as therapy. They’re all children I think, it’s not cloying twee for the sake of being twee, it’s just very much music to sooth their souls and reassure them that every thing’s all right, like a caring mother would. The music was they’re mother.

TW: How big an influence were The Beach Boys?

RG: Like I said The Beach Boys are great blankey music. Brian Wilson was an expert at disarming the listener and leading them by the hand. Anyone who doesn’t like The Beach Boys needs to get in touch with they’re sensitive side.

TW: Rob from Eat Skull apparently told The Agit Reader that when you were on tour you were finding psycho-active stuff along the road and ingesting it. How much truth is there in that?

RG: Well, I got very heady and very sick after ingesting some angel trumpet at a show in Oakland. Our bassist Adrian is an avid botanist and would point out all the psychoactive plants to me that were growing around places. I learned to be a lot more discerning after that.

TW: Tell me about being detained by US customs whilst you were high on pot brownies.

RG: We were about to make our way into Canada and had some weed and pot brownies in the car, we smoked all the weed and Adrian, our friend Stevie, and I all ingested about four pot brownies. We were like that guy in Super Troopers in the beggining who eats all the special goods and someone would always be like “awww man, I know were going to get stopped I just know it” and then someone else would be like “dude, stop. you’re going to jinx us, we’ll be fine, we’ll be fine”. Sure enough because we were all worked up into nervousness we got pulled aside (probably randomly) at the border into Canada. We sat in a room while they went through the car and eventually released us after about half an hour where we were too afraid to even ask to go to the bathroom. All that was mild compared to what happened after that. They came and told us we were good to go and we got in the car all elated to be crossing into Canada. Unfortunately we took the wrong exit and ended up on the one way bridge back into the US. At the US border patrol we tried explaining that we had just got into Canada and asked if we could just turn around. The woman officer looked at us like we had drugs written on our foreheads and we had to go through the whole process again. We got out of the car and everything the officers would ask me sounded like a foreign language only angry and everything that came out of my mouth sounded like it was being stretched into infinite. Kyle said later I was talking extremely slow and kept staring up at the sky while they were asking me questions. One of the officers found papers in Adrian’s wallet and started telling us we “we’re liars” and kept turing to the other officers saying “they lied to me”. No one had any idea what was going on. This time we had to see what it was like to be detained entering into the US. It was far scarier as we were in a tiny room packed with about 20 officers with guns and couldn’t even stand up without an officer putting a hand on his belt and asking us to sit back down. We were asked about a million ridiculous questions, things about music notation they had looked up on the internet that only someone who was classicly trained in orchestra would know. After a while they said we were good to go and we went out to our car to see Adrian’s bags of herbs and seeds he had been collecting strewn about on top of the car and the trunk wouldn’t close but they must have felt really bad for accusing us because they were really nice when we left.

TW: There’s a very American acid-rock feel to your album. How do you think European audiences will take to it?

RG: I have a feeling they’re appreciate it allot more, it’s very different from alot of stuff I hear coming from over there. We’re from the capitol of California but everyone thinks were from LA or San Francisco which is about an hour and a half away so it’s hard to gage where we stand in everything. I consider it a blessing in allot of ways. We listen equally to American and European though and are curious how it’ll be received, we live in our heads most of the time.

TW: What are your plans for the future?

RG: We’re very close to having everything together to record our next album which I feel is already shaping up to be a very monumental album for us. We tend to hype our selves just talking about things but the songwriting and our chemistry together has come a long way I feel like. Other than that I literally want to meet a person from the future to ask them how it all turns out.

Ganglians‘ debut album Monster Head Room is out now on Souterrain Transmissions. The band play The Big Chill on August 7.

This week’s short and surreal Q&A comes from Dan Spooner, vocalist with emerging Smoggy indie-prog outfit Dirty Weekend:

Toonwaves: Firstly, how are things going?

Dan Spooner: Things are going in different directions all the time, but mainly hanging slightly to the the left.

TW: Tell me about Dirty Weekend. How did you get together?

DS: Much as I’d love to say we were all formed in the artificially inseminated womb of Brian Ferry’s Labrador, we’re all just boyhood friends. Cliche alert.

TW: How would you describe the band to someone who hasn’t heard you yet?

DS: Erratic falsetto vocals, Robert Fripp guitar arpeggios, Eno Synths and Animal off’ of Sesame street style drumming.

TW: Who does what in the band?

DS: I do the erratic vocals and plays bass, Mike crosses a love of takeaway food with a love of hitting guitars hard, Matty is an art loving King Crimsonite, Ben’s obsessed with Eventide Delay, Roland Space Echo and his hair. Johnny’s just the drummer.

TW: Where did the name come from?

DS: We found it in an old VW Golf. It was in between a bit of chewy and one of them porno playing cards.

TW: Who/what are your biggest influences?

DS: Roxy Music, Radiohead, The Smiths and Teesside’s run down industrial landscapes.

TW: Where do you think you fit into the North East scene at the moment?

DS: The place in between the grey matter and salted bar snacks.

TW: What are your plans for the future?

DS: World domination, pleasant summer strolls and releasing our 3rd single of the year; “Human Being.”

TW: What’s better, pirates or robots?

DS: Captain Jack Sparrow or Bender? I’d go Bender.

The band play Inside Out in Darlington with Maximo Park tonight (July 2) then The Showroom in Hartlepool on July 16.

North East no-steppers Absorb Vs Sequel release their brand new download-only single “Step One” today. Toonwaves caught up with the MC half of the duo to find out what it’s all about:

Toonwaves: You’ve got a new single coming out on Monday. Tell me about that…

ABSORB: We have a brand new digital single out today called “Step One.” The finished single is probably the fifth version of this track we’ve done which more or less represents how we go about making music. We made the first version, we went back to it, changed it, and then we went back to it again until we were both happy with the results. The idea behind the track is basically putting the message out to other rappers/MCs that they need to step their game up and the track title is all about where we are at the moment. This is just step one, the beginning of what’s to come but we’re ready to start climbing the ladder.

TW: You recently played The Sage in Gateshead. How did that go?

A: To sum it up in just a couple of words is very difficult. We were both nervous beforehand knowing that this was the biggest gig we’d both done so far but it was a real honour to play at the Sage and to be supporting an artist like Skepta was incredible!

TW: Tell me about the origins of ABSORB VS SEQUEL.

We met through a mutual friend, the singer from a band called Soul Technique, and we just started collaborating in the beginning to see what it would be like working together when working through ideas and also within a recording environment. We quickly realised that we had a mutual love of bass which meant we made good progress from the start. We knew what the other could bring to the table and it’s as exciting now as it was when we first hooked up. Our first release went under the name ABSORB (produced by Sequel) but we wanted to use both of our names so one didn’t seem to be less important than the other so rather than coming up with a totally new name (e.g. as Cee-Lo and DangerMouse did with Gnarles Barklay), the name ABSORB VS SEQUEL still enables us to work with/do remixes for other people. We can build the ABSORB VS SEQUEL brand individually and collectively.

TW: You describe your music as ‘no-step.’ Explain that.

A: We tried for a long time to explain/describe what our music was to people who had never heard it before. We couldn’t categorise it into an existing genre of music so we decided to form our own sub-genre called No-Step. No-Step is: Truck-heavy bass, electrofried-grime, bars and verses, dubstep subs, cinema strings, bass bins/headphones, vocal engine/full score and lots of guitars. We wanted a sound we could call our own. We don’t necessarily combine all of the above every time we make a track but it reads more as a list of ingredients as to what can be used to help define what we’re doing.

TW: Manchester, London and Bristol all have prominent urban scenes. Do you think Newcastle lags behind?

A: Firstly, Newcastle has a very strong indie and rock music scene but there has always been a drum and bass scene here and now especially over the two to three years, there have been regular dubstep events held in the city which have attracted some big names which is great because Newcastle was generally overlooked. In terms of grime music, venues such as Bar Beyond have taken over where the Cooperage left off in bringing some of the biggest names up here so I’m not sure Newcastle lags behind. It’s maybe because it isn’t identified with a particular genre of music (yet) whereas the other cities you named are.

TW: You’re happy to embrace guitars and more traditional ‘rock’ instrumentation in your productions. Why do you think some other artists are so quick to draw a divide between the two?

A: Through working together, we found that we were open to new sounds and keen to use song structures not generally associated with the music we’re making. The rock instrumentation used in our tracks enables us to add a new dimension to what we’re doing. If we wanted to do something which is already being widely done, we’d find it a lot more difficult to stand out so we both work along the principle that if it works, it works.

TW: Who/what inspires you both as musicians?

Our respective roles within ABSORB VS SEQUEL are totally different yet at the same time, very similar. If we’re having a bad day or even a good day for that matter, we’re both able to channel our feelings/thoughts in two separate ways; whether that be through instrumentation or words. It’s often through everyday life where we pick up inspiration and ideas which can either be used for our music with a view building on what we’ve got, stored for future use or simply destroyed.

TW: What are your plans for the future?

A: We’re both focussing on pushing the single at the moment but there are a number of ideas/options open to us after that. The next step is to either release another single or possibly release our album which is just about ready to go. We’re both keen to do more live gigs so festivals next year is something we’ll definitely start looking into. In addition to that, we’ll carry on building the ABSORB VS SEQUEL brand by pursuing solo work but inevitably, whatever we do, we’ll continue to push the No-Step sound.

For more information check out http://www.absorbvssequel.com

Download the single here: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/step-one-single/id376496457

For this week’s Q&A Toonwaves caught up with Hazel Wilde, singer with shimmering Tyneside psych-pop outfit Lanterns On The Lake before the band headed down to Glastonbury for their set on the BBC Introducing Stage tomorrow (June 26).

Toonwaves: Firstly, how are things going?

Hazel Wilde: Swimmingly, thank you.

TW: Tell me about Lanterns On The Lake. How did you get together?

HW: We basically knew each other through playing in different bands in Newcastle. When our bands broke up us lot got together and decided to start something new.

TW: How would you describe the band to someone who hasn’t heard you yet?

HW: I really hate to try and think of a label for the band. It’s sort of hard to come up with something that fits us because with there being six of us in the band there are so many influences and styles and stuff going on that when we all add things to the music it becomes a big mixture of a lot of things. We sometimes say we are ‘sparkly cinematic post-pop.’ Not sure if that’s the best way to describe us but it seems to be the easiest.

TW: Who does what in the band?

HW: We all play different things on all the songs but generally…

Hazel – singing, guitar
Adam – singing, guitar
Paul – guitar
Ol – piano and drums
Sarah – Violin
Brendan – bass

TW: Where did the name come from?

HW: I can’t actually remember. I think it was one of those points that every band gets to where you have been racking your brain trying to come up with a name and eventually you are ready to stick a fork in your eye rather than suggest any more band names…and then I think I might have seen a photo of some lanterns floating on a lake and thought ‘right, that’ll do’.

TW: Who/what are your biggest influences?

HW: Again, there are so many influences going into our music with there being six of us the list would be about ten pages long if I listed them all. We like everything from postrock stuff like to electronica and then stuff at the more folky end of the spectrum. I’m pretty sure we probably couldn’t agree on a band/artist that all six of us like though!

TW:  Where do you think you fit into the North East scene at the moment?

HW: We’ve played with a few mint bands in Newcastle but I don’t feel like we fit into any scene. We tend to just try to keep our heads down and do our own thing.

TW: What are your plans for the future?

HW: Well we’ve got a whole bunch of shows lined up for this summer so we’ll be playing live lots and then we’re about four or five songs into recording our album so we’re pretty eager to finish that off and release it.

TW: What’s better, pirates or robots?

HW: Space pirates, like Han Solo – Adam told me to say that.

Lanterns On The Lake play Glastonbury tomorrow (June 26) then The Slaughtered Lamb in London on July 2, Blissfields on July 3 before returning to the North East for Narc Fest on July 17.

This week’s Q&A comes from rising Tyneside post-punks The Bromista Technique. Here’s what they had to say for themselves.

Toonwaves: How’s things going?

The Bromista Technique: Swimmingly. We’ve made a lot of progress in the six months we‘ve been together. Our first EP, ‘1998’, is complete, which we’re really pleased with. We’re currently reworking our set in our practice room down Ouseburn, which should be up and ready for our EP launch in June.

TW: Tell me about The Bromista Technique. How did you get together?

BT: Dave, Tomma and Dale all previously played in a band called Calais Movement until September of last year, when they disbanded. Finding impossible to go for too long without a band, they vowed to get something new off the ground. After fruitlessly auditioning a few guitarists, Scott stepped in and things really clicked. Four weeks later, with four songs put to bed, we played our first gig at The End (R.I.P), giving people a preview of our four songs.

TW: How would you describe the band to someone who hasn’t heard you yet?

BT: A band whose first priority is to making honest music. Our lyrics deal with themes of alcoholism, football hooliganism, loan sharks, unsolved murder and anorexia. A combination of 70s and 80s new wave flavoured melodic guitar riffs, and delay pedal trickery give way to throbbing post-punk basslines and infectious dark drum beats.

TW: Who does what in the band?

BT: Dave – Vocals, Scott – Guitar, Tomma – Bass, Dale – Drums.

TW: Where did the name come from?

BT: “Bromista” is Spanish for “joker”, which kind of sums up our practices, but mainly because it was a fresh word we’d never came across or heard before. “Technique” was taken from “The Ludovico technique” which is a fictional drug-assisted aversion therapy from the novel and film A Clockwork Orange.

TW: Who/what are your biggest influences?

As a band, We enjoy the sounds of late 70′s/early 80′s new wave and post-punk……The Smiths, Joy Division, Gang of Four, Echo and the Bunnymen, XTC and Talking Heads.

TW: Where do you think you fit into the North East scene at the moment?

BT: Whilst we love being part of Newcastle’s music scene and playing with some of the great bands that hail from these parts; we never really plan on or strive to ‘fit in’ to it. We find ourselves wanting to chip away at the cosy little niche we’ve found ourselves, and hopefully allow our individuality to prevail and create a fresh, new dimension to the music scene in Newcastle.

TW: What are your plans for the future?

BT: Plenty of gigs are lined up to help promote our EP ’1998′ which we have just finished, and its launched at the Head of Steam in June. Some upcoming coming gigs include one in London, and the O2 Academy in Newcastle. We plan to hit the studio at the start of July in order to record our new song “Solomon”. Overall, carrying on playing live and enjoying our music will keep us all happy.

TW: What’s better, pirates or robots?

BT: Pirates, Dale’s DVD collection is full of them!

The band play The Dog & Parrot in Newcastle tomorrow (June 21) and The O2 Academy on June 25.

Our quickfire interview with Nick Tomlinson, guitarist with hard-hitting North East power-pop four-piece Styles Make Fights:

Toonwaves: Firstly, how are things going?

Nick Tomlinson: Great thanks, we’ve just started working on a follow up to our EP from November last year ‘While You Can, When You’re Young’, and we’ve been getting really good feedback from the EP and our last few gigs. We’ve played to some decent crowds supporting Ted Leo & The Pharmacists and The Automatic recently and everything seems to be going well.

TW: Tell me about Styles Make Fights. How did you get together?

NT: Three of us went to school together and we’d been in a few bands before, notably The Pimps who were a live hip-hop group that tried to fit as much smut into the lyrics as possible and jump around like idiots. Having grown up a bit we started Styles Make Fights, initially with a different singer (who left the band to move to London) and a much more ‘indie’ sound. The band had basically stopped till we met James and we started rehearsing again, did a few gigs, a load of new tunes and it’s carried on from there.

TW: How would you describe the band to someone who hasn’t heard you yet?

NT: Energetic, unpretentious rock with interesting lyrics, classic melodies and great drumming.

TW: Who does what in the band?

NT: James is the singer and plays keyboard, Peter plays bass, Adam plays drums, and I play the guitar and come up with most of the ideas for the tunes.

TW: Where did the name come from?

NT: We’re all big boxing fans and the name is a boxing term meaning ‘If A beats B, who beat C, it doesn’t mean that A would beat C’ because their respective styles will work differently when placed against each other. We though it would be an apt name for a band trying to blend a few styles together… and also that it sounded really cool.

TW: Who/what are your biggest influences?

NT: Getting into Nirvana was the thing that made us want to be in a band in the first place and we love a great pop hook whoever sings it, but the biggest influence on our actual sound is probably Idlewild – the combination of loud, grungy guitars, classic melody, interesting lyrics and pure energy on stage.

TW: Where do you think you fit into the North East scene at the moment?

NT: I don’t think we’ve ever considered ourselves part of any greater North East scene, we’re happy doing our own thing. We put on our own shows with bands we like from round here like Baskin’s Wish and Brilliant Mind and if people like it or consider it part of something bigger, then great.

TW: What are your plans for the future?

NT: We’re putting a couple of tracks out as free download and we’re gonna do a gig to promote it in July. At the moment we’re working on tracks for a new EP that should be out in the autumn, which should be a massive improvement on everything we’ve put out before.

TW: What’s better, pirates or robots?

If there were such things as robotic pirates, they would dominate the world. I can just imagine one kicking the shit out of Roman Abramovich whilst commandeering his yacht.

Download the band’s While You Can, When You’re Young EP from their Bandcamp page here:

http://stylesmakefights.bandcamp.com/

Quirky North East indie-poppers Brilliant Mind unleash their debut single “Our Osprey” on Monday (June 7) as a beautifully packaged limited edition cassette complete with badge, mini-poster and photograph of one of the band’s favourite South East Northumberland industrial industrial estates. To celebrate, they’re holding a joint launch party at The Cluny 2 with O’ Messy Life (who are releasing a brand new EP) tomorrow night (June 4). Toonwaves caught up with frontman Calum Lynn for the lowdown.

Toonwaves: Tell me about the new single.

Calum Lynn: We’re releasing a new single on the 7th of June, and it’s called “Our Osprey”, backed by a track called ‘March’. It’s our debut and I’m pretty proud of it, I must say. I’ve been putting the release together over the past few weeks, which has been surprisingly stressful for such a modest release, but it feels like the only proper thing I’ve done in years. It’s nice to have created something which is potentially pretty cool. I think everyone is pretty sick of it, mind- I made my friend Jennifer spend ten hours printing all the covers (until 3am), and dragged my little brother around industrial estates making him take photographs for at least eight hours. It’s 2:30am and said brother has just finished doing the text and layout for the inlay cards. He’s supposed to be revising for his GCSE’s.

TW: What’s the story behind the lyrics?

CL: Our Osprey is a story set in the village of Boat of Garten, near Aviemore in Scotland. Me and James visited it in 2007 and discovered that the village is incredibly proud of its Ospreys, and even has a dedicated ‘Osprey centre’. Ospreys are fantastic birds, but growing up there I imagine it all becomes a bit trivial, and the fact that people only visit the village to do birdwatching is something which deeply upsets the girl in the song. And so she grows to hate where she lives, though it’s not because of “the absence of a regional sports team, it’s not the overwhelming lack of a social scene: it’s our osprey”. But by the end of the song she realises that the grass is obviously not always greener on the other side, and that she’ll be faced with trivialities wherever she goes. “March” is a song about grief.

TW: You’re releasing it as a limited edition cassette. Why did you pick that format?

CL: Personally, because I listen to cassettes all the time- it’s the easiest way to make my vinyl collection portable. They’re also fun, cheap to produce and I really like the sound of them. I hate it when people go on about how those under 25 or whatever are too young to have remembered and used cassettes, and so it’s just some sort of nostalgia for a time they never experienced. It’s not like tapes died out the moment 1990 dawned. We didn’t get a cd player until the mid 90s. Cassettes were how I listened to music when I was little- I had a walkman and we only had a tape player in the car, and by the time I’d bought a portable cd player I had a four-track tape recorder anyway, so I’ve never stopped using tapes. There’s nothing to be nostalgic about!

TW: There’s been a sudden resurgence in the popularity of tape in recent months. What do think the reason for that is?

CL: Probably this so called “C86 revival” thing, which people keep trying to lump Brilliant Mind in with. It’s frustrating- C86 itself is nearly all terrible and those bands that surrounded it were rubbish too, bar maybe the Wedding Present or the Field Mice. Everyone goes on about releasing tapes, but I’m yet to believe that there is an increased number of people doing it- there’s just a few high profile releases like Dirty Projectors or Goldfrapp.

TW: You’re giving away some great freebies with the single. Tell me about the pictures of South East Northumberland.

CL: Well, I drove my brother around loads of industrial estates and made him take photos. We got some pretty funny looks from some blokes outside the Bedlington Waste Disposal unit. I just find these places intriguing- Cramlington’s ‘Industrial Zone’ seems bigger than the town itself. It’s to do with the buildings and roads, and the feeling you get being around industrial estates. I can’t really explain it, I’m just fascinated by them, and they way (in SE Northumberland) they’re sprawled across semi rural areas, on the outskirts of small towns, connected by freight railway lines. In all the hours we were taking the photos, we only actually saw a handful of people and lorries, and this was during the day on a weekday. The feeling you get is half unsettling, half sleepy.

TW: You’ve just played Evolution Emerging and the UMT Stage at Spillers Wharf for the main Evolution Festival. How did those gigs go?

Oh they were really great. The Evolution Emerging gig was slightly weak- we went on 10 minutes late because our keyboards wouldn’t work, which threw us slightly and meant we had to cut the set short. The UMT stage was great fun though- a smaller crowd than our Cumberland Arms gig, but we were all more relaxed and played much better. It was nice being on such a big stage for a change- we’re usually all crammed together in the corner of a pub or something. The UMT stage line up was dead good actually- obviously Mammal Club were mint but I also enjoyed Matadors and Hellfire Club. It’s much, much better than the old Newcastle College stage.

TW: You’re holding a joint single launch with O’ Messy Life at The Cluny on Friday. What have the two bands got in common?

CL: Well, we’re all big fans of OML… and we were both doing releases at the same time! That’s sort of it, really. We sound quite different I suppose. They make me feel nostalgic for the whole ’7 or 8 man band’ thing which had when we were New Vinyls. Although OML are much better than New Vinyls ever were!

TW: Any surprises in store for the gig?

CL: Hmm, no big surprises or anything, we’ve been too busy getting this cassette ready! But we’ll be playing Blyth again, which is a new one we did at the Evo gigs, plus another (very short) new song. A bit of a longer set than we usually do.

TW: What are your plans for the future?

CL: Well, either a four track EP (on cassette again) to release in October/November or a split 7″ single. We’ll definitely do the EP, but if we end up doing a split single we’ll just push the EP back a bit. Whatever we do, we’ll definitely be recording with Neil Bassett from room3recording again, doing the “Our Osprey” single with him was fantastic. We’d like to play some gigs outside of Newcastle at some point, too, if we ever manage to actually get any.

Order “Our Osprey” from Brilliant Mind‘s bandcamp page here:

http://brilliantmind.bandcamp.com/

If you see just one act at this year’s Evolution Emerging make sure it’s Nadine Shah. Walking a line between the funereal blues of Polly Harvey and the leftfield alt-rock of Tori Amos, the Whitburn and London-based singer-songwriter’s haunting piano-pop is guaranteed to leave plenty of punters stunned when she exits the stage at The Cluny 2 on Saturday. Here’s what she had to say for herself when Toonwaves caught up with her.

TW: Firstly, how are things going?

Nadine Shah: Very well thanks, I’m in high spirits. I’m in a really good place at the moment.

TW: Tell me a bit about yourself. How did you get into music?

NS: When I was younger I was always involved in things like musical theatre, choirs etc (I never played an instrument which prevented me from writing my own songs so these provided a musical outlet for me). Two years ago I bought a digital piano, I played it often hoping that one day it would just fall in to place and all of the little black and white keys would finally make sense and I guess one day they kind of did. I wrote a song for a friend, recorded it and whacked it up on YouTube. The feedback was suprisingly positive, and this compelled me to write more and more.

TW: How would you describe your songs to someone who hasn’t heard you yet?

NS: Its difficult to be objective about my own work for me, partly because I find it a bit awkward talking about myself and partly because I am really not too sure how to describe it. I think someone put it best when they said that my music was somewhere between funerals and funfairs. I like that. My music can be quite morbid but I hope that this in itself can be uplifting…I hope.

TW: Why did you decide to pursue a solo career rather than form a band?

NS: I was too afraid to ask other people to get involved as I was too shy to play anything to anyone and was not confident enough with my musical ability to get anyone else involved. Having played quite a few live shows with just me and the piano I’m starting to learn new things, mainly how the performance could be taken to a new level with the help of some more musicians and their own inputs.

TW: Who/what are your biggest influences?

NS: My musical influences range from Scott Walker to show tunes. I think my biggest influences are the people i meet and the things they do and say.

TW: Where do you think you fit into the North East scene at the moment?

NS: I have no idea! Live is going well but I haven’t played anywhere that much including home, it terrifies me though as it is so important to me what people think back home, that’s where I’m from and is a big part of who I am. I currently live between London and Whitburn and have done for the last year and a bit. The bands that I see are very different to me though so I don’t think that I would fit into their scenes but if there are (and I’m sure there is) some sombre type stuff floating about there then maybe that?

TW: What are your plans for the future?

Just to complete the album that I’m making with Ben Hillier and play the material to whoever will listen and enjoy it.

What’s better, pirates or robots?

Ooooh pirates, definitely pirates! They’re a cheeky old bunch but I like them and I like their ruthless ways, the idea of being on the sea excites me. Robots wouldn’t be too good at sea, what if they got wet? In short, pirates. Why? Because they arrrrrrrrrre!

Shah is on stage at 10.00pm at The Cluny 2 on Saturday night (May 29) as part of Evolution Emerging.

Download “Aching Bones” here:

Nadine Shah – Aching Bones mp3

Check out her MySpace page here:

http://www.myspace.com/nadineshah

Words: Casey Spence

Whatever tickles your musical fancy this year, make sure you catch The Villeins. This Geordie five-piece (comprising three local lads and two adopted Tynesiders) are making waves through Newcastle and beyond with their own brand of vibrant rock. Loud, proud and unquestionably talented, The Villeins are not to be missed.

TW: How would you describe the sound of The Villeins?

As a band we are all individually influenced by very different genres of music, Duff, on lead guitar, is very much blues influenced, which is evident in his guitar style and sound, Sam on the drums has a heavier background and has been in metal bands before, although openly admits playing our style of music is much more of a challenge.  Front man Dave, Guitarist Andy and Bassist Gav were brought up on Britpop and Classic Indie bands, which we don’t shy away from and why should we.

We have been compared to so many bands, but we struggle to compare ourselves to anyone as we just make songs we want to hear and which we would buy, if I wasn’t a Villein I’d be at every gig, because every song we have could be sang by a field full of people at any major festival.  And that’s our greatest asset as a band, the ability to write songs which are not just catchy and memorable, but they are songs which most people can relate to, and if you take the time to listen to the lyrics you will hear words which could have been written about you, or your mate. We’re just 5 lads, enjoying and embracing life in a time where due to the economy, life in Britain has been a bit tough – and writing songs which will hopefully reach out to the right people.

TW: Where do you find your songwriting inspiration?

Front man Dave and Guitarist Andy are the main source of song writing, however it is a very individual process, for a couple of young(ish) lads we’ve lived a lot and what’s the point in living if you can’t share your experiences and views with others, just so happens that we can share them in 3 or 4 minute songs, which the majority of listeners seem to appreciate.
Girls have come and gone, but always left a song or two behind, regardless of whether they know it or not, and like pretty much anyone who has every written a song in the past and anyone who dares to pick up the pen in the future, love and tragedy are two of the greatest sources of musical inspiration there is, and when you find the music which helps you turn those words into a song there’s no better feeling.

We are also very lucky with respect to the fact we have a front man like no other, he makes every song and every set of lyrics his own and as a band we all know what each other are feeling and going through and he can convey the emotion of not just his own lyrics but ours too with conviction.

TW: What are your thoughts on the North East music scene?

The music scene up here is a funny one, as within the city centre it is pretty limited and not exactly buzzing.There are times when the promoters seem to only want to book you because you can pull a crowd and on the occasion where you don’t then its your fault.  We clocked up almost 50 gigs last year and regardless of how much people enjoy our music we can’t expect people to attend every gig, especially with the recession and people losing jobs, houses and businesses.

Newcastle has some quality little venues and if gigs were promoted in the right manner then we could get a scene going again, we started putting our own gigs on at The End Bar, trying to handpick the decent talent from the North East and then bring in a band from another City, and the first one went down well, but unfortunately The End Bar has ceased trading which kind of sums up the music scene at the minute.  There are companies like Generator etc which are really putting time and effort into getting the scene going again and discovering new talent, so hopefully we’ll see more companies and individuals like that trying to stimulate the scene and hopefully we’ll be at the forefront of it all.

TW: What does 2010 hold for The Villeins?

We’re actually in talks with a label about a possible single release and UK tour to promote it this summer, but its still early days with regards to that. No matter how bad we want to get our music out there to the masses the deal needs to be right and worth while.

Along with that much of the same, gigging as much as possible and in as many different cities as possible! We racked up the best part of 50 gigs last year which is almost 1 a week which is good going for any unsigned act. We supported some great acts too, including The Paddington’s, The Rumble Strips, Chris Helme, The Yards and so I am sure there will be more support slots too on the way, which is a great platform to play to people with an actual interest in music. We will be recording new material including the single which could be our first release early 2010, then we will be doing our usual rounds of local/national radio to get it aired and also to play live sessions as we have done for UK radio stations in places such as Newcastle and York, we even appeared on a few radio stations over in Switzerland – so it promises to be another busy year.

Check out the band’s MySpace page for all the details:

http://www.myspace.com/thevilleins

Words: Matthew Ketchell

France and the Habsburgs, the name is a Scrabble enthusiast’s wet dream and the band are a seriously competent four piece hailing from Wearside currently finding their gigging legs in and around the Newcastle area. Turning heads in all the right places: The Cluny, Head of Steam, End Bar, particularly heads of those who have an ear for Joy Division and The Fall – which should be everybody!

Bassist Matt Lovett explains the name was the brainchild of guitarist Gav Keen “It just came randomly, our lead guitarist is into his history and The Habsburgs were the Royal family of Austria in the war, I’m not entirely clued up but I think they invaded France!” Having previously been in The Catchpennies as teenagers the band settled on their distinctive name after the obligatory brainstorm, “there was a list of dodgy ones to be honest, I think ‘Party Electric Broadcast’ was one, we just thought FATH was a name people would remember more”.

So what’s the difference between at Catchpenny and a Habsburg? Matt laughs recalling the naivety of the bands early incarnation. “We played a random gig in Watford once for some reason, looking back at that it was completely pointless, it cost us loads, we all got pissed off with each other and we were knackered by the time we got home.”

A click onto the band’s MySpace reveals the inescapable reference points of The Fall, in the bass line, and Ian Curtis in the vocal delivery, juxtaposing the dark content you would associate with Joy Division for a more upbeat spin on the lyrics, the result is a real pleasure. They have done their post punk homework and remembered to show their working out.

FATH like what they like and are not afraid to put it out there. “We kind of know what we’re driving for, obviously it’s difficult to make music and not sound like any other bands! It’s tough to have a completely unique sound but we know the direction we want our music go in.” Matt also points out modern influences such as Franz Ferdinand, TV on the Radio and Fire Engines have played a bit part in the band’s sound.

Having spent last year for the most part honing the sound prior to booking gigs, Matt points out “we didn’t have a drummer until August and it’s kind of difficult to gig without a drummer!” Listening to the accomplished tracks on the bands myspace site would suggest FATH are a band with more than just half a dozen gigs under their belt.

Of the tracks available online ‘Photographic Heart’ has nearly three times as many plays as any other, clever lyrics, hypnotic rhythm it would be the obvious choice if the band were to test the water with a release. Sensibly, the band refuse to have their hand forced “we’ve had some encouraging contact from a couple of people interested in helping us put a record out, soon after the songs went up on myspace we were receiving offers to do shows and if we do get an offer to put something out then great but we’d want to make sure we’re happy and its right.”

Right now the band seems content to pursue their quality over quantity policy for gigging by playing busy venues renowned for putting on good music. “Our best gig so far has been at End Bar, supporting Hatcham Social. It was the most people we’ve played to and the reaction was pleasing.”

Check out the band’s MySpace page here:

http://www.myspace.com/franceandthehabsburgs