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EP.10 Knats
53 Plays13 days ago
Pete is joined by Geordie Jazz maestros, Knats for an in depth chat about their new album "A Great Day in Newcastle" - a beautiful depiction of working class life in the North-East set to Stravinsky-esque orchestral arrangements and frenetic horn solos all glued together by poignant yet witty spoken word.
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Transcript
Introduction and New Album Discussion
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey folks, Pete here from Ishmael Ensemble. Just out walking the dog after a bit of summer rain. It's been beautiful hasn't it?
00:00:14
Speaker
This month I'm delighted to be joined by the Geordie Jazz Giants, Nats, to talk about their new album, A Great Day in Newcastle.
00:00:29
Speaker
Which
00:00:32
Speaker
has kind of brought a new level of appreciation and recognition for not only Nats, but music from the North East.
00:00:44
Speaker
The area seems to be having a moment. Of course, you got Sam Fender, Mercury Awards, MOBA Awards.
00:00:55
Speaker
Yeah. It seems to be... The time to be in the North East. We chat about their new record, which I think is amazing.
00:01:08
Speaker
It's got a real beautiful kind of orchestral flow to it. feels very much like a piece as one that meanders through stories of
00:01:27
Speaker
guess mainly working-class life in and around Newcastle, delivered with poignancy and wit in equal measure, and just celebrating a generation of artists whose time it is to shine, really.
00:01:46
Speaker
It's produced by Geordie Greep, of Black Middy fame, and has been co-signed rather unexpectedly by jim Moyer, a.k.a. Vic Reeves,
00:01:58
Speaker
and Geordie Legends Sting. Much to the band's surprise. um We go into that and much more. And yeah, it was great to chat to them.
00:02:11
Speaker
So without further ado, this is Catching Light with Nats. Enjoy.
Band's Rise and Influences
00:02:43
Speaker
Hey everyone, this is Pete from Ishmael Ensemble and I am delighted to be joined by Ferg and Stan from Nats. Hey guys, are you doing? Alright, how's it going? Yeah, good thanks, good.
00:02:57
Speaker
How's the weather with you? It's currently chucking down my rain here in Bristol. Are you both in London, is that right? but yeah We are indeed, I'm in Surrey Quays and Fergs and Isle of Dogs. Yeah. It's probably windy but it's not raining so you can't really complain.
00:03:12
Speaker
Mate, welcome to the UK. yeah I mean, from my perspective you guys having ah a bit of a moment right? I mean, i feel like you're doing this and all this stuff keeps happening and and it's amazing to to witness. It's just nuts man, like it's just absolutely mental. i um We've obviously been doing this since we were like kids. King isn't here, but um like me and King like grew up as childhood best friends.
00:03:38
Speaker
I him when I was 10 years old and we started like an OctaMonkey's tribute act. I learned how to play guitar and met Ferg a little bit later. But basically, like me, King and Ferg have been doing this for like probably coming on in six years, to be honest, it maybe five years.
00:03:52
Speaker
Since Ferg was 15 and you're 20 now, aren't you? five years and like yeah just this record is just people just really love it which is awesome all this great stuff's happening and <unk> it's like a dream you know yeah yeah i mean it's so so good i can't like overstate how much i love it it it's kind of kamazi washington the epic but if he was you know majorityy from newcastle I just got this like you know that kind of snapshot of a of a scene and the orchestration and it's really like mature and really like I don't know i'm blown away by the by the orchestration on it particularly like the opening and stuff it's just so like uh I don't know just seems so aware of what it's trying to do and say I don't know is it thank you man That means a lot. yeah I put a lot of thought and thought into it.
00:04:45
Speaker
yeah and It just kind of kind of built itself in a way. and well i just i was just so focused on writing for so long that kind of by the time we got to the studio, this monster just kind of erupted out of it and just ended up being just this solid concept
Jazz Concepts and Inspirations
00:05:01
Speaker
and everything. you know Yeah, yeah, totally.
00:05:03
Speaker
And it is it seems so like pure and honest as well, I feel like. It seems weird, but often that's lacking in jazz or like jazz adjacent music, you know, because yeah like the irony is that it kind of started as this music for a people that didn't have a voice and yeah wanted to express something. And then somehow on the way, it kind of got lost in virtuosic playing and kind of, ah I don't know, the music from a technical point of view. but Yeah, I think it's the UK scene kind of lacks that, like just...
00:05:35
Speaker
i don't know, I think like the people making like records, like back in the day, were like, we'll make like a record. I feel like nowadays, like the art of like the record is kind of like being lost in a way. Where it's like, you know, you put you write like your tunes and write, you know, try and write some bangers and whatever, in the studio, record it. But it's not like much thought about like the project as a whole. Because I think we've always been very much like, feel free to step in, Ferg.
00:06:00
Speaker
But there's like, we've always been interested in the idea of like, an album is just like a whole work and um i would find it hard to put something out especially after the first album which i was like just quite you know like disappointed with like the second how i was really like sure i wanted to have like a a solid piece body of work which like fits together in the same you know world like melodically harmonically and conceptually as well um i think yeah people aren't thoughtful enough about that as a concept tunes are a bit too throw away in my opinion
00:06:35
Speaker
I feel like all of our favourite albums are kind of super distinct. Like you said, Bodies of Work, like a world within themselves. I don't know, like all the Mingus albums and Herbie albums and Teemo albums that we're really into, stuff like this.
00:06:49
Speaker
like They're all super self-contained, I guess. Yeah, yeah. And like Capture a Time as well, I feel like. Yeah, definitely. There's that Mingus album, you know that album of the Black Saint and the Sinner Lady.
00:07:01
Speaker
That album is such a great example of like that vibe. where i mean That's basically like classical in its form. Where you have you know like four pieces of music that are all 10-15 minutes long.
00:07:15
Speaker
but all of the themes and everything you hear come back and then like part D at the end is just this like epic like collation of all the themes. Yeah, just this, I just love this idea, you know, think it's amazing.
00:07:29
Speaker
h And I think like, you know, when we talk about like a snapshot of time, it's almost harder to do now because you've got all the technology at your disposal. It's so easy to get like stuck in it, you know, in the kind of producer mindset and like, yeah and I don't know, just trying to harness the technology, but forget about the kind of people or the musicianship. Whereas this feels like a record made by people, if that makes sense. like everyone I think the process as well is part of it like where I don't really have any production chops like at all.
00:08:01
Speaker
i I know how to from like working with Jordan we've gotten a lot better at like producing in the studio. So we did it the other day for like a new single. You're like, we'll go in and we'll like record the tune like raw. And then we know how to do like the producer role of like making it sound good.
00:08:18
Speaker
It's in overdubs and like what needs specific mixing. But like, I don't have a clue how to like use logic or anything. yeah So all of all of the music from the album I wrote like on piano into like MuseScore, onto like just the score.
00:08:32
Speaker
And then we'll get together as a band arranger. And I think that's kind of part of it. It's bit more of like an old school way. well just I don't make Logic demos. I play just like MIDI demos to like my friends and stuff.
00:08:43
Speaker
I talking about it's like last night I was at the bar and i I was saying it's like if you ever have a late at night when you're like drinking and you'd be up until like four or five, there's always a point where we all get hammered and we're like check this new tune out and you play it and it's just midi.
00:08:56
Speaker
It's not like a fancy logic demo, it's just some like musical midi. Funny man. But that's great like being able to see the vision melodically because I think, start you know, I kind of do the producer thing, also play sax, you know, I get so caught in that demo-itis thing of making tunes and then like nine times out of ten that always just becomes the tune yeah and I don't know that's a confidence thing of like being able to hear and see the vision beyond that horrible sounding MIDI patch or whatever that's exactly what i feel like if all of the tunes like from the record which made it when I'd write written them on musical was like know it sounded like bad on musical but i could very much be like I knew that this is going to be a bad thing Like if it sounds good on musical, it's going to sound great in person. That's my motto.
00:09:46
Speaker
So me and Ferg keep sending each other like from album three, we've been like writing some stuff. We keep sending each other like MIDI back and forth on like voice messages, which makes it sound even worse. Like this new tune now. in a sec And it's like. Also means you've got confidence in each other. Cause I guess that's where I struggle is like,
00:10:09
Speaker
oh, if I show something to someone and it sounds rubbish, then that immediately like devalues everything I'm trying to do. But being able to confidently share something like that yeah so if you're with your bandmates and know that yeah they can do a good job is is amazing. yeah
Themes in Music and Personal Connections
00:10:24
Speaker
It's a scary thing. I mean, it's just writing, and it's just so exposing, isn't it Especially if the topics are like personal as well. Some topics on the record which are like obviously super personal to me and it's like always intense to, you know, share that with like people who you like look up to as well. yeah You know, like if you're musicians in your band who you like really respect,
00:10:45
Speaker
like to bring them a new tune and be like, we're going to play this. you You're always thinking like, oh, what did what do they think? Do they like it? or versus it Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And how how does that relationship work with the words? Because, I mean, it's a lot of, it's Cooper Robson, right? The the yeah poet on a lot of it. Is that...
00:11:02
Speaker
you kind of telling him stories and him articulating them or is it kind of mixed? Is it all your stories? is it you know it was more it was It was more themes than stories. So it'd be like I'd have a chewing idea and I'd be like I want to talk about alcoholism and then we'd like chat about out like whatever like our experiences with it. yeah or we talk about like prison or whatever like i had a family friend spent a bit of time in prison when i was younger and stuff like that and i would see them and go and see them when i was a baby and we would talk about this and then he would kind of form his own way of telling that story yeah that there's like a different perspective on it with carpet doctor he eventually kind of like he talks about the metamorphosis of caterpillar into a butterfly and and like coming out of
00:11:42
Speaker
Jail and rejoining society again, treated like a human again, how that process us is like confusing and difficult. I think yeah we just worked really collaboratively, but I didn't write any of the words. That guy's such a genius. you know Beads of sweat cascade from skin.
00:12:01
Speaker
Sinews, punches, pistons. The furnace hung us. Its palate honed to men enlisted for wrist strength and persistence. or jockey.
00:12:29
Speaker
War Jackie as well for me is like, I don't know, just so immense as a piece of music. you know Dynamically, it's like amazing walls of sound, but also like in the production as well, where it goes into that like double voice thing and it gets like super intense. But yeah, the delivery is amazing. and I like yeah love it.
00:12:47
Speaker
Yeah, it's so like evocative, you know, that whole like asbestos lungs and stuff. I don't know, it's that forgotten generation for me. I grew up just south of Bristol and there's a lot of similarly old like mining areas, but they all closed you know like three generations ago. So there's this whole... yeah yeah There's this weird like local pride of mining history, but no one's actually alive to remember it. Interesting. And then it kind of went into like printing and print works. and Right. Equally, that all ended. It was really weird, actually. i remember was kind of all around Brexit. And the guy who owned the print works in the village I grew up in, he basically he moved the business to Poland.
00:13:28
Speaker
Right. But he was like an English businessman. But like that immediately just made everyone hate, you know, like the Polish. It was like, the Polish have taken our jobs. And it's like, no, yeah yeah a rich English man has like cashed in and made loads of money out of this. And,
00:13:43
Speaker
That's a working class xenophobia, which is quite sad. Yeah, that's bit of a diversion, but hear that so much in this record, which is so riff. It's nice to hear how people have related to it on their own. It's obviously very Newcastle, well, like northeast century. Totally. It's like part of our lineage. My granddad was a miner.
00:14:01
Speaker
yeah he was a but he was a potash miner and was similarly um i would imagine fergus what relation to it as well a little bit i mean my grandparents were still working we all come from that lineage of you know just essentially manual labor of different forms whether it's mining or My dad was like ICI and like steel, my mom's steel works and all of that side. Yeah. Yeah, it's funny. It was just an interesting perspective to take in that music because people don't really talk about.
00:14:32
Speaker
It's all love songs. I was thinking about this the other day. I was just like, listen to all the new music. Like would say like 90% it is love songs. I can't remember the last time I heard a charts tune which isn't about like a significant other or like one thing. And I was just like, that's so... like it's like, ah you know, love a good love song. Who doesn't? But like, come It's been done, hasn't it? Talk about something else, dude.
00:14:54
Speaker
It's so boring. Like, surely they must be boring. How do you find the inspiration to talk about this all the time? Do you what mean? It's like... Come on. let It's so refreshing as well because it's like...
00:15:09
Speaker
And what i love and it's similar about, don't know, being in the Southwest, there's like, you know, this serious cultural and kind of like social history, but everyone's still able to have a laugh about it, which I love. And I feel that also comes across. It's like the music is super deep, but it's all, it's not tongue in cheek, but there is a kind of humor. and ah it's I think tongue in cheek, it's it's there's elements of tongue in cheek on the right. Yeah, definitely. where like you know even in the intro poem like where cooper's talking about this like heroin stuff he still manages to put it across in a way which is like you know light-hearted like yeah there's no point where like whoa that's really dark it hits hard but you know then he talks about pickled onions and he still talks about kebabs and like you know i think if you see the like the live show as well the live show is very much that vibe like i hate the performative vibe
00:16:00
Speaker
um it's just so lame like yeah we're having fun on stage like we're messing about we're like smiling we're all friends like there's no point and fa in faking it you know yeah and the same as the records so i just don't want to do anything from which is not genuine and i genuinely love to do what i do i love like all the boys so you know it's just fun at the end of the day there's a young lad down the way
00:16:27
Speaker
pugilist with tight fists like that meme of Arthur Lives on the type of street you wouldn't clock on your strava He's two parts child, three parts chava The type of Billy Elliot to wear a ballet clover
00:16:46
Speaker
He skives with his lass They skip class to get off their lips Blast out their brains on a sewn off shot glass The pupils that die late And the students that die early They found substance in abuse He got a ring for a finger A bracelet for his ankle And chains for leaving the hoose Half his life in the nick And then I'll see him out awake And he's nicking pickled onions Off me paper plate And he says son Don't do what I've done And he's back behind bars before the setting of them He might never learn But you know what?
00:17:24
Speaker
Us lot, we've got seven bridges to burn So we'll be that friendly tone on the phone and we'll get the wheel another turn From Romans to ructions with roundheads to reavers Ship workers, steam preen, steel sheep as Sheera Put ponies turned cold dogs Thatcher, the Ashmi era It's cheaters muck but I couldn't hold it diarra Summock between the cream and the drips and drabs Picket line scabs and crasta
Jazz Scene Critique and Musical Influences
00:17:59
Speaker
crabs Come on the mags, how are the lads?
00:18:02
Speaker
As they wear and sundling sells duty free tabs Sides picked like jumpers for in pleasure
00:18:31
Speaker
for joy 52,000 make the ground shake Make no mistake Magpies Magpies
00:18:52
Speaker
How have you felt the move to London? Because I think like one thing in Bristol anyway, we always kind of, you know joke a bit of like how serious the London thing is. and And I think that's maybe something that's lacking in the London jazz thing is that kind of sense of humour. And I don't know. oh man Like massively. Yeah. I mean, it's like we moved down here like four years ago now. Yeah. We moved to like three. i am Yeah.
00:19:17
Speaker
And yeah, you just it's just noticeably like people just want to be super, just act kind of very blase, just like casual. You see you just little walk into 91 living room on a Friday and just be like everyone wearing their shades, you know, on stage.
00:19:34
Speaker
And it's just, man, it's lame. It's so lame. Don't get me wrong. There's some awesome bands here, some great musicians. i think just the jazz scene in london in general especially the one that like kind of we come from like as in the you know the fusion side of things yeah just just a bit dead to be honest we were talking about this the other day this is like you had this thing whatever like 10 15 years ago you know nabaya ezra and all of that's moses boys like what's happened since then like to us like yeah it's apart from like you know corto alto yeah a regular
00:20:11
Speaker
What's happened in those 15 years? Because I think if you go into like all the venues and see the same stuff, it sounds exactly the same as it did 15 years ago. Yeah. I mean, we always kind of found it funny that we got tied in. You know, it's obviously been massively beneficial to be considered part of the UK jazz boom or whatever. you know week So we've been going like 10 years. Yeah.
00:20:31
Speaker
Yeah, definitely rode that wave and you know had those kind of people really you know backing us. But yeah equally, we always felt like a bit to the side of it, you know much more kind of electronic kind of leaning. And like the Bristol thing, you know very much influenced by Portagehead, Massive Attack, ah you know the stuff that's very much in the ether in the city. But yeah, we we always kind of found it funny, the association. And then there's like the proper old school jazz heads in Bristol, kind of like, what?
00:21:03
Speaker
They're not jazz. But yeah, equally, you're just playing music from the 50s, note for note. And like, surely that's not very jazz either. I don't know what it is, but yeah, you're right. You know, actually, I feel like we just wanted that. Especially now, we just want that kind of well separation from the idea of like jazz you know it's just like so it just doesn't i't i don't care about whatever genre you want to call it like you can brand it as jazz but it's like you know it's equally like rock as it is jazz in my yeah interesting um it's just music like i don't care well you talk I've heard you talk about rock a bit. like well Obviously, that's another very broad genre of music, but what kind of music from the rock world do you well i think do you take influence from? Right now, we're just listening to a lot of metal stuff to be honest.
00:21:56
Speaker
but like you know um i mean Tigran's more there's a bit of a weird one but Tigran Hamasian is like our favorite artist in the world basically right now you know right no what's oh man he's just like he's this Armenian pianist he makes kind of like jazz metal vibe i don't know how else combined with like Armenian folk right Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Been listening to a lot of like Slipknot and like Sabbath and, um, there's this band Carbomb, all this like kind of yeah crazy proggy stuff.
00:22:28
Speaker
Um, I was in time with a romance for like three hours yesterday as well. Absolutely. But I love it. Um, well I think it's just like Newcastle is just kind of a rock rock rock is in the blood of, yeah but you know, like Bristol is very much like, like you say, you've got Porter's head and and all this. Yeah.
00:22:44
Speaker
We don't, have that vibe. We have like a rock vibe. We've got like Brian Johnson and Sting, you know. Didn't I see you was at your gig the other night or something? Did I swear I saw your video? Yeah, Sting randomly just shouted us out in an interview. Yes. It's like, oh, saw this band. They're like, what?
00:23:03
Speaker
I don't know where he saw us. I don't know where he saw us, but I was like, fair play, man. Yeah, it was crazy. that it's just We keep getting shout-outs from random like celebrities. yeah Like, you know, Jim Wire, Vic Reeves. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Vic and Bob. like just yeah vi Vic made a post about us.
00:23:20
Speaker
Just like, I never normally do this, but check this band out there. They're awesome. And I was just like, what? I was in the night out, and I like looked at my phone, and i was just like... This is mental. That is mental.
00:23:30
Speaker
I mean, they're the right people. I mean, maybe less. I don't know. Is Sting hometown hero still? Is he? Yeah, Sting's a Gordie as well. Wouldn't say he's a hometown hero. I don't know, Ferg. What do you think?
00:23:41
Speaker
Yeah, he's he's done the odd thing coming back. Yeah, lives in France or something now. He has done Ferg. Yeah, he's a bit like, it's just on that musical, The Ship, where he's like doing a rerun of it, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I remember seeing an interview that he was like, he talks about when he left Newcastle and he he like hated it and he like wanted to be completely separated from it. And then as he's got older, he realized that he loves he loves his hometown.
00:24:08
Speaker
it's just like, yeah, it's kind of too late now. When you were like... Where were you when we were in the gutter? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly. five yeah and see you back could do a poem about ah awesome yeah yeah I mean, there's loads of North East stuff, right? The Sam Fender stuff and that. It feels like there's a there's a big wave of attention. Like, do you feel... There's obviously the Mercury's, right? And... The Norfist thriving at the minute. um Yeah. Because you have the Mercury's, the Mobos. Yeah. um What was the other one we had? We had another big one. We had the big weekend in Sunderland. Yeah, yeah, yeah. you wont like It's proper happening and right now. It's awesome. um And so I think Sam's you know been a big part of that.
00:24:47
Speaker
um But also, yeah, there's other people as well. yeah Seems to just be taking off. It's great. It's what we need, really, in the Northeast. There's loads of venues or new venues opening, and it's great, man.
00:24:59
Speaker
What's the place we played we played that Cobalt Studios? That was Wicked. We just did our headline now. Yeah. Is it Catherine or something? The woman runs it? Yeah. yeah my My mom used to look after her kids, I've known them for a very long time. oh no they were so like because we yeah just it it was one of those gigs when you kind of been on the road for a bit and you're in these like sterile environments where like yeah no one wants to be there basically all the staff are like oh there's your stuff or whatever it you know but just getting there and they'd cooked her and her partner cooked this massive meal upstairs and like we just hung out and they were so welcoming and ah yeah It's a great venue, man. We did it for like, it was like the last show on our tour, which just finished a few weeks back, or about month back or something.
00:25:44
Speaker
And it was epic, man. It was awesome. I mean, hometown shows are always just like, you know, just crazy. Just crazy. But yeah, Cobalt was was awesome. That was where we played there, and then we went back the next morning to pick up our gear, and they were having some like LARPing festival kind of thing. You know, like everyone was dressed up as Indiana Jones doing this like...
00:26:04
Speaker
thing and we're like sure one do was yeah well that's it we were like and initially we're like oh what this is hilarious and then we're like actually they're having loads of fun why aren't we doing to do i'd like to do a lopping event at something i think it'd be fun it'd be like a bonding exercise i saw somebody like some like radio a one presenter like it was like interviewing people at ah um lopping and was just like that looks epic like dressed up as like vikings or something Yeah, yeah, yeah. Head out the weekends, get guys right, you know, with friends. It's all fun.
00:26:36
Speaker
That's the next next concept album. There we go. Take it back to the Vikings, invading the North East. Yeah. And then, yeah, I guess or you talked about the live show there. like How does that sit? Because obviously the music on record feels like very composed and and orchestrated and stuff. Is is the...
00:26:56
Speaker
an element that's much more free on stage? Are you as musicians kind of going off on one in in a jazz sense? or Yeah, I would say it's a bit of a mix. I think it's like the tunes are pretty pretty arranged.
00:27:09
Speaker
Yeah, it's pretty strict. But then, you know, we've kind of the life that's changed quite a lot recently since the last like, you know, we've kind of solidified it in Europe a few weeks ago, like the same set, but there's like bits of like free improv and stuff like that where we'd really go for it. do lot of bits on stage.
00:27:27
Speaker
we do like a lot of bits on stage we'll kind of just like start doing like random stuff with the microphones and... like kind of I don't really know how to describe it, to be honest. But yeah, there's a lot of impro there's enough improvising in the set to make it feel like a different show
Live Performances and Industry Impact
00:27:43
Speaker
every time. yeah yeah i don't know, what do you think, Fug? I'd say it's compartmentalised. There's super free elements, but then... like the tunes themselves are pretty much not necessarily true to the record because we've got like extra sections here in there and I guess it kind of extended bit sometimes but really solidified form-wise stuff and then there's like these three sections
00:28:12
Speaker
crazy moments in between. yeah i scar like It's good, yeah. It's the night it's the bet is the right amount of arrangement. ah it's not When I do Gig Switcher 2.3, just because of the my you you know the way i am, it just you know, find it can be quite inconsistent, which is obviously part of that's exactly what it is.
00:28:30
Speaker
With this, it's good because it's like the show is always kind of consistently like quite solid. You know, like we never, there's some shows where like, oh, that was terrible or whatever. But like, can it's regularly, it's like, it's really good. You know, the EU tour, like all of the shows were like solid. It was the same length set. of Well, same set order and blah, blah, blah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:28:50
Speaker
Is Cooper always with you as well? Or is that an element of the live show now? Yeah. Well, he has he did the whole UK EU tour. He was doing all the festivals with in July. and You know, it's just a budget thing, pretty much, when we can't afford people.
00:29:05
Speaker
because I mean, you know what it's like. It's like... It's rough. um yeah Thankfully all the shows are kind of selling out now, which is awesome. um We just started a second night for our Moth Club show in London. All the shows seem to be selling out in October and stuff, which is awesome. so yeah We're on a roll. It's great.
00:29:26
Speaker
Oh mate, I'm so so happy for you guys. I feel like, yeah, as i said at the start, it just feels like a real natural natural moment and it's so like honest and it kind of means you can't fail, if that makes sense, because you're never going to be caught out because it's not like a front or something. I find sometimes, you know, with records, especially when you say like...
00:29:47
Speaker
it's not The album concept isn't there where you know people... Oh, God, we've got to come up with a press release. Right, what what is this? it Oh, let's like make up some trauma that this came from. or It's like the veil is so thin. And it's like as soon as you let up, it kind of is just sort of music without any substance. But this feels, from my perspective anyway, I've yet to see you live, but it it feels...
00:30:14
Speaker
Yeah, so genuine and refreshing, I think. like That's good to hear. That's the main thing. I just want to be you know i just want to kind of stay on top of just being trying to be as unique as possible. I think that's the thing.
00:30:26
Speaker
Totally. It just needs to be interesting. And I also want to break the mainstream. the mainstream the main mainstream But without doing it in the Ezra Collective way. because it's the Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:30:39
Speaker
um But I mean, the fact you've got... Yeah, like, you know, Six Music are picking it up and is side by side with those love songs, as you say. It's like... Yeah, that's... i mean, yeah, we've got B-List now for Radio Six. It's just gone up to the B-List, which is crazy.
00:30:53
Speaker
Amazing. We did some semental thing the other day we can't talk about, but it's like, that's when that comes out. That's going to be insane. and Yeah, it's it's it's getting there. And I think the words is a big part of it. I think having Cooper there gives it this like little bit of accessibility. Also kind of tappped into the rock thing a little bit more. We have that.
00:31:13
Speaker
We're trying to get that kind of, you know, that like art rocky sort of market that like black midi market. Black Country New Root. That sort of vibe, you know, there's a bit of that and then there's a jazz thing. So it's like, getting there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. was going to say, because you mentioned Black Middy, Geordie Greep's kind of involved as well. Is that is that purely because his name's Geordie or is that... is like Yeah, he yeah produced the record. So he's like a good friend of ours. We met through King. So King, it was actually when we were recording the first album, King...
00:31:45
Speaker
sent king a message on instagram because king was a huge black black midi fan and he found on jordy's personal instagram and jordy like one day was just like looking for his phone and uh saw this like drummer you know like followed him and he said oh this guy's pretty good he just sent him a message and was like hey do you want to have a play he went for a play with him um this was like kind of before the new sound came out jordy's record This was like two and a half years ago.
00:32:12
Speaker
and And then King brought me in, we did a load of trio shows. Then like he was going on tour and we were like, you mind if you know I would love to come and open? Nat's did. Then we did like three UK tours with him, opening for him. Obviously, see like over that time we became super close really.
00:32:29
Speaker
And then you know by the time was the records, we added somebody else lined up to produce it And then they randomly sent us an email and they were like, oh sorry, that manager sent us an email and they were like, hey, so this guy's gonna need 7,000 for this, another 7,000 for this. were just like, nah, not doing that.
00:32:47
Speaker
No way. um Like, we don't need that much money to for a producer. I was like, right, I was out with Jordy somewhere, like, you know, hanging out. and I was like saying to them, I like ranting about this, was like, oh this long, like you know, I'm not paying this amount of money, I feel like I've been betrayed, like they're a friend, but Jodie said, I'll just produce it for free, you don't have to pay me anything, I wanted to give it a go.
00:33:08
Speaker
We were like, perfect man. So yeah, and it turned out amazing, you know, so. Yeah, you can definitely hear that. I mean, is that, I guess, another London-ish scene? Do you feel like that's more the world you see yourselves in than the the London jazz thing?
00:33:27
Speaker
Yeah, i find that I find that world more interesting by by of by a mile, that whole windmill scene. But then it's also like, I say that, but then I'm also like, I've heard like a lot of windmill bands who sound you know exactly the same. there is that I was speaking to someone about this last night, it's like that windmill vibe is like be as weird as possible and the more weird as you are, the more gigs you get. And it's just a bit like, what? That doesn't make sense. My mate was saying he went down the other day and there was like a guy with like a it like bagpipes or something like that. There's like four dudes with bagpipes or something random like that.
00:34:03
Speaker
And then the whole crowd is just like, yes, this is epic. But the music was just random. So, you know, there's weirdness on both sides. But yeah, I would rather be associated with that world, I think, i would say.
00:34:21
Speaker
But what does it matter? How there will I be butterfly or caterpillar? Distaste on old faces mutter as I want that bite I'm other caterpillar, mother butterfly Nowhere my bread is buttered
00:34:38
Speaker
I'm not the caterpillar, I am the butterfly
00:34:56
Speaker
You're obviously working on new stuff. Is that with a similar lineup or is... Because I guess when you talk about rock, you know, I immediately think of guitars and, you know, that kind of thing. Is a that something you've dived, you know, dipped into? feel like I just, like, I don't want to make... I don't want to extend the lineup, like, for live shows anymore.
00:35:18
Speaker
Obviously, there'll be like, a lot of guitar overdubs on the record. Like, I've been playing guitar on the last few bits. We had, obviously, Tom Ford was playing guitar on... than the Great Day in Newcastle. He played like all the overdubs and stuff.
00:35:30
Speaker
and There's a few random stuff I'd like. I mean, I've been writing a lot of orchestral stuff, so there'll definitely be an intro and outro with have an orchestra with Cooper again. Something more dark, like Stravinsky sort of thing I've been working on.
00:35:42
Speaker
um we wanted We were talking about getting Northumbrian bagpipes player. We were talking about because we think it would just be so cool. It would tie in with and with you know with the North East and stuff. um Because conceptually, I really want to move away from the Newcastle thing now. so like It would so easily be like a pigeonhole thing. yeah yeah yeah Like Geordie Jazz, Geordie Jazz, Geordie Jazz. All we do is use this one marketing thing.
North East Roots and Career Realizations
00:36:10
Speaker
And I'd like to make a record where people appreciate it for like, without the novelty of us being Geordie's who play jazz. How do you make back home feel? They like, they they've moved to London, they don't even live here anymore. Are you kind of... No, they're super chuffed for us, you know, and especially like, you can't really be... I think before with this record, there was definitely feelings like, yeah, Nats moved to London and then like, you know...
00:36:31
Speaker
yeah whatever like they're doing well but like they stay northeast and then obviously we do this record which is just like you know for the northeast is just yeah it's amazing and obviously the reach of the half and it just put it's good for the northeast basically and after that it's kind of solidified us as just being like nah cool in my eyes it's like you know do what you want live wherever yeah it's not one about newcastle you know i mean Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, and then I think you realise with travelling and touring how small the UK is as well. Like, you kind of think you're the opposite end of the country, but you can get there in five hours or whatever. Yeah, I did like six weeks in America this year.
00:37:13
Speaker
yeah And like, it's just ridiculously big. Like, literally, like California is bigger than the whole of the UK. yeah Just California. It's mental, man. It's like, the UK is so tiny, dude. Like, but everything is the same.
00:37:28
Speaker
But then there's all these, like, you know, as you say, like, you literally cross the river or you go to Sunderland or whatever. It's a different accent. It's a different vibe. But, like, that's just mental, isn't it? The accents in the North East, there's such a difference in accents in the North East. At Hartleypool...
00:37:44
Speaker
Sunderland, and then even like different parts of Newcastle have like slightly different accents. It's so funny, man. It's it's random. Like mine and Koopa's accent is like quite different.
00:37:56
Speaker
I think we both have like quite strong accents. Koopa's is like old school Geordie accent. He's got like a 60s, 70s Geordie accent. I don't know. you know what I mean? Yeah. He's got, whereas mine's more of like a chav Geordie accent. Yeah.
00:38:13
Speaker
It's funny. Yeah, it's funny. and Amazing. Like you talk about touring, how is that? Because you're obviously all good mates and that can have its ups and downs. I don't like equally three of us went school together and, you know, kind of known each other since went to primary school with a guitarist. So...
00:38:32
Speaker
It's amazing, but that like when you're in each other's space the whole time, sometimes it's like, oh, it'd be nice, actually, if we didn't know each other and you could just happily like switch off and go to your room. Because I don't know about you, I feel this pressure to like, well, we're all mates. We've got to hang out every night and make the most of every single second.
00:38:49
Speaker
yeah but it's amazing. but Yeah, I think we're pretty we're pretty good, to be honest. I mean, like the last tour, especially, was like definitely... I've been on like a' boom with three different... Oh, so yeah, like doing tours and stuff.
00:39:01
Speaker
And I think by far our tour was the most sensible, which is funny because we're like the youngest. Yeah, right. But feel like everybody's quite switched on. I mean, like me and King are a bit of a nightmare. like in terms of like going out and drinking and stuff.
00:39:13
Speaker
But because everybody else is quite sensible. I mean, like, Sandro, our pianist, he's got a son. Yeah. So he's like pretty, you know, pretty sweet start. Like, everybody's quite tame. We're all just good pals. It just works really well, man. I think it works well.
00:39:28
Speaker
don't know, what do you think, Figg? Yeah, there's not been any any disasters so far until... Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I did another tour with some some guys from back home, like more of a jazz vibe, earlier in the year, just like five days or something.
00:39:41
Speaker
But that was like so much more chill. was like maybe one pint after the gig. And like, because we're not like... Because we're we're all like different ages. We all know each other well. We get on, but we're not like... you know, of chopping at the bits and like go out after the gig. So it was crazy that you wake up at like nine in the morning, you're not hungover, have breakfast in the hotel is crazy. It's like... Yeah. We did stage with Jordy Grieper and it was just, well, it was like every night, six, seven in the morning, you're out drinking till... And it was just like intense, man. It was intense. mean, we had a few of those on the the hour tour, but it was relatively chill. Like Berlin, we were... In Berlin, King got back at like midday the next day.
00:40:20
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, we we had that a bit. Yeah. we Well, similar, we're like I've got kids now and a few of the other guys in the band have, so we always kind of joke that we go on tour to catch up on sleep, but actually, a couple of nights in, we're like, get excited. And yeah, there's been a few of those those early mornings. I mean, it's so fun. Like...
00:40:44
Speaker
ah don't know I don't know if you have this, especially coming, in you know, not not from London where, you know, i chat to to some of the London guys and it was kind of all on a plate for them. You know, they had all these amazing, like, programs and...
00:41:00
Speaker
yeah stuff available and like you could see that there was a career in music because there's hundreds of venues around you playing world-class music every yeah night of the week whereas you know growing up in ah a village or a town where there's less obvious roots into that I just feel so grateful and like, can't believe that we're doing it. And, you know, even on those, you know, loss leading gigs or whatever, it's like, yeah, I'd happily lose a few hundred quid to come and play in this amazing place. you know, tell your teenage self that you're doing that, right? It's like, Oh, it's mental. I mean, we've had that recently where I've just finished uni as of last week. So I went to Trinity and did jazz and being king and I've just finished. And now I'm like, oh my God, I'm actually like, you know, I'm living as like a musician.
00:41:54
Speaker
yeah and i'm just chilling be honest i don't have to do anything people want to talk to you and literally knocking on i'm just like but it it is crazy like they have this thing where just look back when i was like 10 year old and if me and king could see that we actually are just we are doing it we are living as like musicians with our own project oh it's just like crazy man it's crazy yeah i feel very grateful like i totally resonate with what you're saying where like you move down to london and it's like Yeah, there's all these opportunities and stuff.
00:42:24
Speaker
like I didn't even think that like being a musician as a career was like you know it's such a pipe dream. But if if you're in London, it's like obviously it's possible. you know like Look around you, look at all the people who are doing it around you. You don't even think it's like feasible unless you you see that. you know i mean Yeah, yeah, totally.
00:42:42
Speaker
And I guess, yeah, I mean, there's a there's a cultural thing there as well, like London is naturally, you know, a ah diverse place where, like, things like Tomorrow's Warriors are obviously amazing. Like, they're offering opportunities in in a different way that, like...
00:42:58
Speaker
aren't getting offered maybe for a kid that grew up on a you know a council estate in yeah exactly in the east end of london or whatever like it is amazing and but yeah i just think like that opportunity of of seeing yourself in it and and that's why i love bristol but i also kind of In a weird way, Bristol's the other side of the spectrum where it's so lazy and like such a sleepy town, that which is why all the music's just like stoner trip up or whatever. you it's like And sometimes I'm actually gagging for that bit of energy where it's like, no, let's go. do a gig and make loads of noise and you know so it works both ways for sure it's a it's a hard one to to put a finger on but i mean i think about in sport as well right that kind of i guess it's more of like a class thing you know like the next great british tennis player or cricketer is probably on a council estate but because there's no like opportunity for them like
00:43:56
Speaker
oh there's only been like one great tennis player in the UK it's like it's because it costs a fortune to be part of a tennis club or it like you know yeah and I feel like music is getting a bit like that in places and I don't know it's just so refreshing hearing you guys lot look at like you know look at the the the the pop stars of what we've got in the UK and yeah go look at what schools they went to Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. Like Brit School, for example. yeah are The three probably like biggest female artists, sorry, biggest artists in the country right now is like, you know, Olivia Dean, Ray, Lola lo Young, yeah all from London, all went to Brit School within like a two, three, like, you know, I didn't even know that place existed and you wouldn't if you were from somewhere random. Like, there's obviously like, you know, there's obviously advantages and disadvantages. It's like,
00:44:52
Speaker
i mean we've got sam fenders to be fair that's that's a good one one time there's a proper job he did it himself you know like um but yeah it's it's a bit rough man it's bit rough but it's funny even more amazing that that you're here and doing it and it's so refreshing so mean thank you guys it's a joy to to speak to you and yeah i can't say enough how much i love the record it's it's It's honestly just been such an exciting thing to come across. and I was getting to the point of feeling the UK jazz thing is done, but maybe you don't want to hear it, but in my eyes it is a jazz record and it is an amazing jazz record. and like Thank you so much, man. i appreciate that.
00:45:35
Speaker
yeah i think jazz in concept you know like free music that isn't conforming is like what it is i don't know um but yeah yeah it's beautiful and i wish you all the success with it which it sounds like you don't need because this it's going very well but yeah yeah let's cross you let's keep yeah yeah yeah you Yeah.
00:46:00
Speaker
Pleasure. Amazing. Well, thank you so much, guys. That was wicked. Don't worry, Mark. Such pleasure. Yeah, good luck with it all. No doubt, see you on the road somewhere this summer or something. You're doing loads of festivals and stuff.
00:46:13
Speaker
Yeah, we've got a big run in July. got Montreal. We've got Club Supreme. Norway, Copenhagen, but mostly jazz.
00:46:24
Speaker
Oh, wicked. kids What day are you there? I'm DJing on the Saturday, so I'll definitely swing by and say hi. they Yeah, let's catch up for sure. Yeah, yeah. yeah Wicked. All right, man. All guys. Good luck with it all.
00:46:36
Speaker
I'll leave you to it. but um Yeah, lovely to meet and thanks so much for putting the time in. Yeah, no worries. Nice to see you. Take care this, man.
00:47:51
Speaker
Bye.