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/

Britpop survivors The Bluetones are playing new venue Durham Live in (you’ve guessed it) Durham tonight (March 13). Why not get on the mood with this classic clip of the Hounslow-based outfit performing “Slight Return” on TOTP in their mid-nineties heydey.

Support at the gig comes from rising North East indie starlets Brilliant Mind.

The Bluetones also play the O2 Academy in Newcastle on April 15.

Check out the band’s website for all their other listings:

http://www.thebluetones.info/

The boys have also just announced details of their forthcoming sixth studio album A New Athens, release date to be confirmed.

Legendary indie label Fierce Panda‘s brand new Zip It Up EP is available to download on iTunes now featuring the extraordinary “Leave Your Friends Behind” by Toonwaves faves Brilliant Mind. Grab it here:

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/zip-it-up-ep/id356736122

The band are supporting Britpop survivors The Bluetones at Durham Live on March 13. Check out the Facebook events page here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=325082081921

Listen to Generator‘s Joe Frankland chatting about North East music on BBC Introducing. Keep your ear out for local faves Brilliant Mind (pictured) and plenty of plugs for Evolution Emerging.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/b0089jhs/Sunday/console/

Here’s the tracklisting for Fierce Panda‘s forthcoming compilation featuring Tyneside indie-poppers Brilliant Mind:

1.BRILLIANT MIND ‘Leave Your Friends Behind’
2.THE CROOKES ‘Yes, Yes, We’re Magicians’
3.THE HEARTBREAKS ‘Jealous, Don’t You Know’ (demo version)
4.HOODLUMS ‘Not A Love Song’
5.IDEALS ‘These Seasons’ (demo version)
6.THE MOLOTOVS ‘One Up On Me’
7.SKETCHES ‘This Sir Is War’

The EP is released on February 22. Brilliant Mind are playing the launch party at 229 in London on February 24.

Tyneside-based indie-poppers Brilliant Mind are busy putting the finishing touches to their debut single scheduled to land in late spring.

To be released as a digital download, the single will also be available as an ultra-limited cassette complete with badges, posters and other goodies.

In the meantime, you can grab all of the band’s demos plus a couple of tracks from a recent gig at The Cluny 2 here:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/ggsxox

The band are also playing at 229 in London on February 24 to celebrate the release of Fierce Panda‘s Zip It Up EP.

A few weeks ago I interviewed Brilliant Mind frontman Calum Lynn for an article for BBC Tyne. Here’s our chat in full. You can read the finished article here.

Toonwaves: Firstly, how are things going?

Calum Lynn: Things are okay. I’m unsuccessfully looking for a job at the moment- turns out you even need a degree to operate a photocopier these days. However, I got my bike fixed the other day, so it’s not all doom and gloom.

TW: What’s been happening with Brilliant Mind since our last chat?

CL: Not much, really. We recorded another demo in June, which sounds alright, but I was away for most of the summer, and then Joe was finishing off his degree so it’s only really since the start of October that we’ve been playing music again. We played a really enjoyable gig for Oxjam at the Boathouse a few weeks ago, and I’ve been writing quite a bit. We’ve got a new song in the set, too.

TW: You’re playing North East Beat Unsigned. How did that come about?

CL: Well, ever since New Vinyls we’ve been very involved with Generator, playing quite a few gigs for them, I actually met half of New Vinyls at a band workshop that Generator put on in 2004. Joe from Generator asked us to play at the Spearhead event back in May, which was fantastic. And then we were offered the North East Beat gig at the Discovery Museum! We’re all really excited about it- I’ve been visiting the Discovery Museum since before it was even called that (so pretty much for as long as I can remember), and I also think that the North East Beat exhibition is brilliant, it feels special to be a part of all that. It’s refreshing to be playing a gig with other young bands- there don’t seem to be all too many bands our age gigging around here.

TW: Give me a bit if background on the band for readers who haven’t heard you yet.

CL: Well, we’re a five piece band, four of us are from the North East and Kate our keyboard player is from Hull. We formed about 10 months ago after disbanding our previous outfit, New Vinyls. We played our first gig in March, recorded a couple of demos, wrote some more songs, and we’re all getting counseling to help us cope with the fact that The Cooperage has closed down.

TW: How would you describe the band’s sound?

CL: When we started, we decided that we didn’t want to try and create a “new” sound. I think that’s a very unhealthy ambition for a band, something like that can only come with time- unless you’re very lucky, which we’re not. When we were still New Vinyls, I became very aware that I was only writing dull indie pop tunes, so I stopped writing songs altogether and tried to make us go down a rather misguided 70s disco fusion route in a very contrived effort to do something ‘different’, much to the horror of the rest of the band. Eventually I realised that perhaps our songs were good enough to stand out from the crowd without boasting a ‘groundbreaking’ new sound… and here we are. Brilliant Mind. That is not to say that we’re content to rip off bands. We each have really rather differing tastes in music, and we’re in no way trying to replicate a particular band, decade or era. We simply play guitar based pop music, with good songs, which is what matters.

TW: You used to be New Vinyls. Are you still pleased you made the change to Brilliant Mind?

CL: Definitely. I had grown very tired of New Vinyls, and I think that everyone outside of the band had too. Most people seemed to think of us as a slightly daft (using loads of instruments and giving out biscuits to the audience didn’t exactly help us in that respect) pop band who had once toured with the Maccabees but weren’t really up to much anymore. We’d been dismissed really, so it was time to move on.

TW: What inspires you as a songwriter?

CL: It sounds daft, but I find the places around where I live quite inspiring, in a boring way I suppose. I live in Whitley Bay and I really love this area, the old railways lines, and the semi-rural roads a bit further north near Bedlington and Seaton Deleval, and the slightly mysterious freight lines that run up towards Ashington. All the songs are set around here, except for Our Osprey. Every song is some form of story, so I find the settings for my songs really important, I like the fact that I could take a photograph of the exact location of each incident mentioned in the songs. Although maybe that would be going a little too far! Most of the songs are about various things which have happened to me, and a few of them are short stories I’ve written- but these are usually based on people I’ve met or things which have happened to me anyway.

TW: Where do you see yourself fitting into the North East music scene?

CL: I have no idea! We’ve been offered some ace gigs and had quite a bit of positive feedback, but I’m yet to be convinced that we’ve got any sort of following or fanbase or anything like that. We definitely haven’t “created a niche for ourselves in the local scene”, we’re not Little Comets or anything.
However, I think the scene around here is very strong and mostly friendly, and any band, as long as they’re good, can fit in.

TW: You’ve played plenty of gigs with other local bands. Any favourites?

My favourite band from these parts by far is O’Messy Life, they’re something else, I’m jealous of how good their songs are. Also I love Mansfield Holiday, they’re a really new band and they’ve only played a couple of gigs, it’s kinda like Pulp/Hefner/Art Brut/Wedding Present type stuff.
We played an Our Beat Is Correct gig at the Cluny 2 last night and every band on the bill was brilliant- Mammal Club and B>E>A>K> especially.

TW: What are your plans for the future?

Well, we’ve got gigs up until the 2nd of January… hopefully we’ll get offered some more!

Generator and Tyne & Wear Museums have announced details of the line-up for North East Beat Unsigned that takes place at The Discovery Museum on November 14. Featuring two of the most exciting bands in the region, Let’s Buy Happiness (pictured) and Brilliant Mind, the event also includes an ‘Introducing’ showcase that gives five up-and-coming local bands the opportunity to perform in front of a panel of music industry professionals that includes Tom Robinson from BBC 6 Music, Field Music‘s Pete Brewis and Narc. editor Claire Dupree.

The five successful bands (chosen from a huge pile of entries) are Black Cab Casino, The Anglo Form, Vacation Pioneers, Pink Lane and Illustrators.

North East Beat Unsigned

Saturday 14th November
Discovery Museum, Great Hall
FREE ENTRY
Doors 12.00 – 5.00pm
ALL AGES

Prancey Dog have announced details of a gig by UK indie stalwarts The Flaming Stars At The Cluny on November 21. Here’s what the NME had to say about their album Sell Your Soul To…

“The kind of class that intersperses exuberant ’50s-style swamp rock numbers with sparse ballads like ‘London After Midnight’ and ‘Find Yourself Another Drunk’, swathed in the amateurish bar-room charm of early Tindersticks. The kind of class that bungs in a couple of surf-guitar fillers (‘Blood Money, ‘Don’t Mean A Thing If You Haven’t Got The King’) without sounding like they’re students wanking over Pulp Fiction.”

Support comes from Horseguards Parade plus local indie favourites Brilliant Mind:

Our favourite North East podcast Our Beat Is Correct finally takes the music out of the bedroom and into the public arena with an all-dayer at The Cluny 2 on November 7. Featuring live sets from prominent local outfits Manila Chapter, B>E>A>K and Brilliant Mind (among others), it should be a riotous day out for all the family. Provided their fans of upfront North East rock ‘n’ roll, that is.

Acts confirmed so far:

Manila Chapter

B>E>A>K

Seamonster

The Small Screen Light Show

Brilliant Mind

Check the Facebook events page to stay up-to-date with further additions to the bill.

Download the latest Our Beat Is Correct podcast here.