Arrival at Manchester’s Night & Day Café finds Needles manager Scott Forest desperately trying to be in more than three places at once. As he relentlessly publicises their forthcoming album ‘In Search Of The Needles’ and regrets that he can’t sit in on this chat, he tries hard not to look overly concerned about the absence of drummer Johnny Wolfe (last seen heading in the direction of Gothenburg!?). There are less than two hours to showtime.
With N&D’s sound system in full effect, and the communal dressing room home to four bands this evening, frontman Dave Dixon and bass player Paul Curtiss don’t look overly concerned, agreeing that a stroll up the road would perhaps be for the best. It’s Friday night, and everywhere on Oldham Street is looking packed, but we eventually find space at the rear of the beer garden at Fringe, a bar on nearby Swan Street. So there we are, sat atop a metal beer keg apiece, soaking up the last of the evening sunshine…..
…..and then I’m immediately bombarding them with questions about the self-same album, out on 4th September. ‘In Search Of The Needles’ is a 35 minute punk orientated safari through the ins and outs of rock history – in equal parts tongue in cheek/wistful and sincere. Recorded in Cornwall, the conversation skips from balancing in a canoe to the balance between humour and sincerity on the record. Conversation bounces, rather than flows then, but we agree that nothing bounces like the group on their current tour, which sees them back in Manchester as soon as the 17th September, and also revisiting many other places along the way. Underneath the humour however, lies a deep seated intelligence, which the jokes can’t really fully conceal.
Are you pleased with the album?
Dave’s response is instant: “I think so………..” (there is nodding agreement from Paul, a general straightening of the spine, and big grins from both of them here), as the frontman continues:
“………although you have a kind of strange relationship with the actual record, once it’s finished. You’re so involved with the making of it…” -“however we were a bit frustrated – it takes a while to come out once you’ve made it” - “....but it’s probably good in a way that you get a bit of space to try and quit your head a bit, and try and listen to it as ….I suppose you’ll never get it, but like a punter almost. Would I actually like this record as a punter?” (there’s a pause for effect) “Yes, I think I would”.
Paul: “Somebody said something about once you’ve listened to something 100 times, somewhere around that – that’s the threshold – after that, you completely blank it.
To make a record, you’ve got to listen to it more than 100 times, so you never….you never really feel what you first felt when you made the music, or started making the record, ‘cos you’ve heard it so many times – so yeah (turning to Dave) I think you’re right, it’s a kind of weird relationship”.
Dave – “But I suppose you’ll never have the same relationship with your music as a punter – part of the magic is that there’s this message that you understood completely at the time of making it – you don’t understand it anymore, but somebody else has heard it, and they have a different understanding of it – and somebody else has their own understanding of it…..”
“Like your subconscious going back in time” Paul adds ominously.
Dave – “Yeah, entertaining….Our subconscious connecting with your subconscious two years ago” (adopting game show host voice) – “It’s a crazy, cosmic business, and we’ve made a cracking …33minute record”.
“Thirty two minutes and eight seconds” corrects Paul drily.
The Needles are such a live band – Do you think your view of the record reflects this?
“Well….There was a wee bit of experimentation” Dave reflects: – “We have a studio, where we added funny bits –and there’s nothing wrong with funny bits!” he states, only half in jest – “….though I think that the essential core of the songs has to sound like the way we play them. The record captures the way we sound, it sounds like The Needles, which is more than the sum of its essential parts”.
Pondering the question further, he is moved to add:
“We’ve been together a while now, and we’ve developed together as music fans as well as musicians….”
Paul has his own view of the matter:
“The way I see the group is that we have a kind of cartoon aesthetic – We’re not a sincere, serious rock band, we’re a cartoon band – although serious things happen in cartoons…..”
Dave interjects here – “…..I think the word is earnest – there has to be a level of sincerity, and music has to be delivered with emotion. “
There are four decades of influences in the record, I observe. Continuing, Dave states:
“I think that it’s maybe hurt us, in being linked to so many styles, that we’re at the mercy of certain journalists, some of whom might not get it. Though we hope that there are music fans out there who will get it”.
Paul takes up the thread thus: “The problem with that is that publications like the NME tell kids what to like, which effectively makes the music business, in Britain a closed shop – as far as indie music is concerned”.
“But hey!” adds a mock-gameshow host Dave - one eyebrow firmly and suavely raised - “At the end of the day, you can only make your album, and see what happens”.
Wise words. The joys of the internet has gotten them fans in Oz, Japan, and Sweden, and during the whirlwind of touring that is the immediate future, there are plans forming to play in all or some of these places.
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Back at Night and Day, sincerity is high on the agenda, and thankfully so is The Needles’ drummer Johnny, fresh off the shuttle, in the nick of time! On the bill first are two bands who take themselves extremely seriously. C’est la vie.
OTRA MANO (Yes, it’s Spanish for ‘The Other Hand’) were first up, and their fondness for a heavy hitting tune was uncompromising and completely without irony. As the singer, one Don Vega (no less!), rocked the keys from a sitting position, this 80’s tinged rock concoction was up and running, with a devastating three part harmony running the show from the start. Abandoning his keyboard and picking up a guitar, the lad was free to throw shapes with the rest of the band, as his yearning, burning lyrics soared and dipped during their six song rollercoaster ride ‘Quite like Us’ kicked in with more of the same, as did the catchy ‘In Love For The First Time’. Chorus hooks and earnest looks accompanied this deliberate attempt to raise the roof, and their bravery was rewarded with the appreciation of the jam-packed club.
They were swiftly followed by speaker cabinet loving, telecaster driven rockers THE SILENT PARADE. A throbbing sore thumb of an intro gave way to delicate vocals as the melodies formed a tapestry on a sea of pure emotion. Strong, sincere, and again, pitched to the bridge. The melodic parts were as fragile as the rhythm was sturdy – the bass style was outrageous, and impressive spanning the full fretboard. The bass opened their third number with gorgeous harmonics preceding the necessary subtle shifts in tempo. It was all distorted drama, and eyes-closed delivery pointing to the same space aimed for by their predecessors, and their own take aside, the classic rock ethos was similarly embraced . Was it all a bit daunting for the people present? The applause was there again, and both bands did not fail in their desire to impress, but in this heaving venue, there was a glaring, obvious reluctance to occupy the space in front of the stage.
Enter Dave Dixon & Co. Posturing from the outset, they commanded the stage with mock-intent, as Dixon prowled the speakers at the front, urging the crowd to come closer. Throwing a plectrum on the dance floor in disgust, I was delighted to see someone leap onto it excitedly, thus embracing the feel of lighthearted-ness their set was about to generate. As the mock adulation of that fan drove him to kiss the plec., and hold it aloft, so another got onto his knees and kissed the ground in front of them. This is gonna be fun.
‘Let You Down’ kicks in and for a moment sounds compressed, but within moments the apprehension has dissolved.
“This is a song about a girl I used to know” breathes Dave (out of breath), to thunderous applause, and “Neee-dllles!” in full football chant. From respect and awe, we are now in the fullest throes of wild abandon, in the time it takes to boil an egg.
‘Diane’ entwines Jack White tales in and out of the social barriers that have been destroyed, the guitar/bass duet kicking off yet another slice of perfect punk-pop. There is a banter-laden intro to latest single, the melancholy ‘Summer Girls’, which draws gasps of Costello-like admiration from the amassed and enthralled, and then we are hearing the beach boy psychedelics of ‘Poison Ivy’. There is great variety here, and all of it sounds refreshing on the back of this dynamic delivery.
What is as noticeable as his ‘backwards running’ trick, is Dixon’s lightning fast and precise guitar stylo, cleverly disguised by the mental shapes being thrown about by the band in full flow. The (literally) rocking keys churn out heaps of piano hooks along with the space mission FX, and those 1/16ths on the drums deepen the chaoic feel that, in fair play to the band and the crowd, is at no point confusing.
By the end, there are smiles etched on faces everywhere, and THE ZETLANDS have a crowd as relaxed and as receptive as you like. Perfect for their feel-good blend of R&B, and piano led blues, with lashings of the harp to wash it down. Tracks like ‘Driving Time’, and ‘I Can’t Find Sally’ are blended with ditties about streets in their home town of Leeds, and they too have their following in attendance, judging from the whooping cheers of the folks back home.
It’s been a good night, without doubt.
www.myspace.com/needlesuk
www.myspace.com/thezetlandsband
http://www.myspace.com/thesilentparadeuk
www.myspace.com/otramano
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