Nocturnal Dictionary are a young Whitby band that I first saw supporting Moonwreck at The Starms. They've appeared on Bob Fischer's BBC Tees Introducing radio programme and they gig seemingly relentlessly on the local, and not so local, circuit.
On a sunny, late afternoon in early September I met three of Nocturnal Dictionary in the beer garden of The Plough on Baxtergate. Surely it's the cheapest pint you can get in Whitby? The lager was £2 and one of the bitters (Sovereign I think) was £1.80.
The core of the band (because they have been known to use guest musicians for various roles) comprises four members. Dave Magson, the bass player, was unfortunately absent because he lives in Filey. However drummer Niamh, sax player Max and singer and guitarist George were all present and correct.
.....
ORIGIN
(noun) the point or place where something begins
Max I've known George and Niamh for years.
George We
went to primary school together at St. Hilda's.
Niamh Never
did I imagine we'd be in a band together.
George We
didn't see each other for years afterwards.
Niamh I
only played the recorder back then.
George At
our primary school they had recorders, and at the end of the music lesson the
teacher would dip them upside down in a bucket of bleach, and the week after
they'd still be in that bucket of bleach. She'd just pass them out and you
could taste bleach from inside the recorder.
PW Is that
where the song title 'Blunt Bleach' comes from?
Max Oooh!
That's a good idea! Now, for the record, yes it is.
George Niamh
used to laugh at anything when she was younger. We'd just be sitting at a
dinner table, and I'd say just anything. She'd start laughing.
Niamh I
don't know what it was, it just happened. I'm still like that now. It's just a
band.
PW My
daughter Iris, she played with you all in that schools big band. You played
Happy,
the Farrell Williams song. She's nine and she played clarinet.
George I'd
like a clarinet in the band.
Niamh It's
good fun playing in a big band.
Max The choir seemed to ruin it a bit.
PW So
who's the teacher in charge of that then?
Max Bob
Butterfield.
PW He's a
legend, isn't he?
Max He's a
fucking legend. Oh man. Oh, he's my man. I love Bob.
George I
guess I'm the outsider compared to you two 'cos like I never did music at
school on an instrument. I don't like the philosophy of it. When you're doing
it at school, you just link it to school and it becomes something you have to
do like homework, and I just don't agree with it.
I think when you make kids read at school it becomes a chore, but they should enjoy reading. It's the same for instruments as well. I think it's good that you can do music at school, but I don't agree with the way it's taught. It's too rigid.
I think when you make kids read at school it becomes a chore, but they should enjoy reading. It's the same for instruments as well. I think it's good that you can do music at school, but I don't agree with the way it's taught. It's too rigid.
PW You
think it should be more freeform?
George Definitely.
I can't read music, It's good to read music, but I don't think you need to
necessarily.
Max Niamh
can read fucking drum tabs.
George I think the best
way of learning an instrument is by playing other band's songs.
PW How did
you learn to play? Just by picking it up and teaching yourself?
George I had
lessons for a bit. I think you have to try and write songs that are similar to
your idols' and then slowly figure out your own style.
Suddenly an extremely noisy plane passes over the pub beer
garden and there's some debate about whether this has any significance. George suggests the possibility of a rogue paparazzi drone. Max seems convinced it's been sent by Nick from The Pier to sabotage the interview.
PW It's
been a lot quieter though than that last interview with The Pier at The Little
A, hasn't it Max? I had to wade my way through the sound files on that one.
There were all these drunken people gobbing off in the background.
Max That
was hilarious. Nocturnal Dictionary are a better band than The Pier, and that's
on record. We've got our last gig tomorrow as The Pier.
We go on to discuss how the band coped with a gig at The Rifle Club, a Chamomile Records Showcase, despite drummer Niamh having an injured hand.
.....
CORPORATE IDENTITY
(noun) the way an organisation is perceived by its members and the public
Niamh, Max and Dave with George at the front |
George Our bass
player Dave covered, and then we got our friend to play bass.
Niamh He did a
really good job on it.
George But he's
not really one of us, he was good, but it didn't fit really.
PW He did
his best?
George He
fitted musically, but not personality wise.
Max You had
tears in your eyes at one point.
Niamh Yes.
It was very emotional.
Max Niamh
got emotional.
PW There
was a photograph of you watching.
Max Was it
you that took it?
PW No it
was Jon, Jon Horne.
George Who
wrote that review?
PW Yes. It was a good review. He's a good writer.
PW Yes. It was a good review. He's a good writer.
George Oh,
that weird review, where he's like "There should be more t-shirts and
CDs".
PW He's
got a point though, hasn't he?
George I
don't know. I don't think he has. He discussed about us not introducing bands,
but it's more like just friends, so we all knew each other. It's not like we're
trying to be... we're just like a community playing for each other. We didn't
need to introduce each other.
PW It was
a showcase though, a public gig so anybody could have gone?
Max I was
at Leedsfest and they had an MC during the day and, I don't know, I don't think
it
fits. It gets a bit formal, I like a chilled out gig.
George It's too formal and corporate having an MC.
Max Chamomile
Records isn't exactly like this big record label thing is it?
PW What
exactly is Chamomile Records then?
Niamh It's
just this thing
George We
put a compilation out on it of our friends. Tom Found and stuff, but it's just
a moniker to have gigs under. We don't want to have headliners.
Niamh It's
quite a cool name.
Max Yeah,
Chamomile Records. I like that
George But
when we release our album, because we're going to record it soon, it's a label
to put it out under instead of self releasing it I guess.
PW But
you'll still be releasing it on your own label?
Max Yes.
Unless we get signed, which would be nice George.
George It
would be lovely.
PW Where
are you going to make it?
George We
haven't decided. We might be going to Leeds to record it.
Max Shall
we go to Manchester? Shall we go to Salford? Shall we record in the same place
The Smiths recorded?
George Pretty
much any studio's 25 quid an hour. Got to do it all live though.
Max The
full band, we'll just play it.
Niamh That's
how it works.
George Because we're a tight group, we can do it.
Rare ND tapes |
George We're
lucky that he likes us.
PW He
likes everyone (laughs). No I didn't mean it like that. He likes Whitby bands.
Niamh He's a
good egg.
George He's
putting us on this Sunday. He's a promoter for this venue in Eaglescliff called
The
Waiting Room. In the Middlesborough Evening Gazette last week there was
like a full page of gigs there. There were pictures of the bands playing, and
we were the biggest picture.
PW Is that
because you're an interesting band to look at? You look a bit different to the
rest who are all clutching guitars and that. A saxophone and Niamh on drums.
You just look so different. At the last gig I saw you play, did you not use a
French horn or something?
George That was
a one off, that. [Nocturnal Dictionary]started off as me, Niamh, French horn
and violin. We played slower, folky stuff. Even though Niamh and me are still
in it, it is a different group now.
Max I
always think we're like psychedelic surf jazz. That's a good way of explaining
it. I'm wearing the Hawaiian shirt. We've got to be surf. George's lyrics sort
of imitate the lyrics of Jim Morrison and The Doors. Obviously he was talking
complete gobbledygook half the time, because he was on acid, but George, he
doesn't need the acid. He's just got an acidy mind.
You know the lead singer of alt-J? He took mushrooms, went to
bed on his own, he was like "Oh, I'm just feeling a bit ill", the
mushrooms kicked in and he had a bad trip. He had to take time off uni for like
three weeks, he just was fucked.
George Apparently
after he took these mushrooms the way he approached song-writing was different.
He said before that all his songs had been too clean, but after this trip it
obviously worked out for him. Not that we've done any psychedelic drugs like
that.
Max Not
yet.
George Any
bands, or any artist that relies on drugs to make art is a bit sad. I think
it's just a shortcut to what you'd make anyway.
Jon and I grew up going to Rock Against Racism gigs and the like, where band merchandise was sold for distinctly non-corporate reasons. Maybe it's a generational thing?
Whitby lost 5 - 0 to Salford City by the way. Unlike Nocturnal Dictionary they had a poor backline.
.....
THE SCENE
(noun) a specified area of activity or interest
PW Do you
get on well with the other bands in Whitby that you gig with?
Niamh Everyone's
so nice.
George Ten Foot
Tom are really nice.
Max I'm
surprised that they'd support us, because when I was playing in The Pier, we
always thought that they were big. Big in Whitby. They were pretty well
established.
PW I think
you're quite different to other bands. You approach it in a different way.
George We do
respect [the other bands] though. It's always good to have a diverse mix. In
Whitby it's hard. I read on your blog, when you interviewed Moonwreck and you asked
'why do you think lots of bands have appeared?', and they were like 'I think
there are loads of places to play', but I disagree with that. I don't think
there are a lot of places to play.
PW But if
you'd been around in the nineties, there was hardly anywhere to play. Nobody in
Whitby appeared to be playing original music. There were loads of bands doing
covers in pubs.
George Well all
pubs want is covers, which is difficult because of where we live. If we were in
a city we'd get lots of attention.
Max Middlesbrough's
good. We get lots of gigs in Middlesbrough.
Niamh They like
us in Middlesbrough.
Max What do
they call that street? Linthorpe Road? That has a lot of venues on it. Indie
venues which accept our music.
Niamh TS1 was
good.
Max Yes.
TS1, Whirling Dervish. That's the place to be.
George A lot of
touring bands go to Middlesbrough.
PW Have
you played in Scarborough?
George Well at
first we were just playing wherever we could, and mostly for free.
Niamh We were
desperate, weren't we?
George I hate
how people exploit bands and just expect them to play for free. The thing is
with bands, we do want to play as much as possible. They know that, and they
just take advantage of that and don't pay us anything.
Max What I
want is to make a living from this band.
George Not even
a living, just being able to tour.
PW You can
get signed up too quickly though, can't you?
Niamh I think
we'd be better off not being signed. The way we do it now, with George getting
all the gigs and things.
Max The
good thing about us is we can get songs, literally in just minutes.
Niamh I don't
know how. It just happens.
PW There's
obviously a chemistry. Is it between you three then?
Max And
Dave. Dave is just amazing.
George He's
phenomenal. Dave's probably the most gifted in our group as a musician. We're
lucky to have met him.
Max We have
a solid backline with Dave, and she's a fantastic drummer (pointing to Niamh).
George That's
it. A good bass and drummer, then me and Max can do what we like.
Niamh You guys
are bloody brilliant though, to be fair.
George It's not
arrogance or snobbery. It's just being self-confident. If you don't believe in
yourself there's no point.
Max That
was the problem with The Pier: Nick just wasn't confident, I wasn't a drummer
and Mat Glaisher can't play guitar.
PW A few
drawbacks there then?
Niamh You're
proper slagging them off.
Max I slag
them off all the time.
PW This
interview's going to cause mayhem. I'm going to get another drink now, but I'll
turn this recorder off first (click!).
PART 2 of this interview will be along in a couple of weeks' time. Expect more controversy, an insight into song writing and Devil's Lettuce.