NOCTURNAL DICTIONARY: TATE HILL

A decent and fruitful way to spend two minutes of your life would be to listen to this joyous instrumental track from Nocturnal Dictionary. Recorded live at The Starms (see the review below), it features clapping and a massive saxophone. Top tune.

Nocturnal Dictionary are:

George Elder: Guitar and vocals

Niamh Readman: Drums

John Magson: Bass
Max Crossling: Saxophone

THIS IS THE NORTH - WE DO WHAT WE WANT

NOCTURNAL DICTIONARY AND MOONWRECK LIVE AT THE STARMS: 16:05:15

Ghostly shadows of raindrops were scattering the pavement and gradually drying in the sun when I set off to walk to The Stakesby Arms. It's quite a few years ago since I last made that journey to watch bands play, and we're talking about the days of Jon The Dog and One Way Path here, when the back room of The Starms seemed like a little sweat filled coal bunker.

It was the same night as The Mighty Boro were playing Brentford in the Championship play-offs semi, so the bar was full of punters eagerly spurring on the Teessiders. Needless to say The Starms is now a completely refurbished, clean and airy pub. The drinks were cheap too. Because it's situated on its own in a residential area it's the ideal place to put bands on, being within walking distance of anywhere in Whitby, yet unlikely to be plagued by opportunist hen parties or drunken yob gangs from Pontefract.

Hey! Hey! We're The Nocturnal Dictionary!

The back room where the bands played was stuffed with a nice cross section of the local populace and, as a consequence, boiling hot. There was no separate stage, which I like. In a room of such modest proportions there is no need for a raised area and being on the same level as the bands somehow adds an air of intimacy.

I remember when I lived in Nottingham going into some kind of cellar bar to see a local band called Savoy Grand. What struck me about them was their braveness in allowing space and silence to intervene between the notes. It certainly wasn't rock music, because there wasn't enough of it. A lot of it was a kind of electrically charged emptiness. Nocturnal Dictionary had that same mesmeric quality about them, which is either a calculated conceit or something that has naturally evolved as they've started playing together.

Nocturnal Dictionary have obviously spent time arranging the building blocks of their music, and it shows. From what I recall the first song seemed to be a solo for guitar and vocals, a fairly skeletal opener, but focussed and intense. Unconventional instrumentation in the form of various saxophones coupled with a searing flute intervention from Izi (I think), kept things interesting and rather marvellously melodic. Intriguing and fun and serious at the same time.

A band showing restraint by not jumping about much

One that stuck was the tune Tate Hill, which begins with synchronised clapping and then opens out into a tuneful homage to one of Whitby's favourite inclines. I was talking to Shepton about never having seen anybody tease the drums with brushes at The Starms before, and he replied that Nocturnal Dictionary play with that thing you don't see around here much these days. What's it called now?...Oh yes, restraint.

At one point the bass player's hands became struck down with cramp. Vigorous finger exercises were required to get everything moving again, but all was well in the end. I loved them (the band that is, not the bass player's fingers), and I hope they bravely keep things pared down and stick with their vision.

Moonwrecking across the universe

I was a tad sceptical after speaking to Moonwreck about whether they could recreate that swirling envelope of blissed out sound, sculpted so carefully for their recordings, in the context of a live performance. The answer was they did. It was down to playing loud, but crucially not too loud. Oh, it could have so easily dissolved into a mush of undifferentiated slurry, but it remained glowingly vibrant and shiny instead.

Rich Wastell uses more pedals than the entire Tour de Yorkshire. They sit there on stage with their little LED lights blinking. I think he could play a chord, nip to the bar to fetch a pint and then come back with that note still ringing out, such is the joy of sustain. If a band is noticeably reliant on technology, the key thing is that it is not an end in itself, but rather at the service of the songs. In other words the music must come first, as indeed it does here.

Songs like Indio and The Plain see the four members of Moonwreck intermesh to bring pleasure and the occasional pang from a vibrating tooth filling. At one point an iPad was used for a little synthy addition to a song. When it didn't quite work first time, everyone looked at Shepton, which was amusing. It all worked out in the end though, and correctly configured music was soon sweeping into the ears of eager soundheads again with its customary Golden Syrup texture. To cap it all, going into the bar for air, a quick glance at the big screen relayed the fact that Middlesbrough had won 5 - 1 on aggregate.

I went home happy clutching a free Moonwreck CD given to me by Rick, which is currently living in the car stereo, such as it is. Didn't get a chance to speak to any of Nocturnal Dictionary though, maybe next time?

Basically a blistering success all round and The Starms is back on the map, it was the kind of night that makes you glad you live in Whitby and glad that, to steal a phrase from David Peace's Red Riding trilogy, 'This is The North - we do what we want'.

NOCTURNAL DICTIONARY

MOONWRECK
SAVOY GRAND: A Trained Dog

MOONWRECK: LUNAR DRIFTING

A swift glance at the Moonwreck posters for the gig at the Starms on Friday 15th May tells you there's something different going on here. None of the DIY punkiness we're used to in band flyers. Not that there's anything at all wrong with that, but in its place we have a line drawing of the moon with craters, ridges and a carefully chosen, clean, open typeface announcing the band. There's very little clutter but a lot of thought.

That philosophy carries over into the music too. Swathes of shimmering guitar velvetness with silver flecks of melody picked out in vapour trails. Songs with titles like Tasting Everlight and Can we Begin Our Lives Again? were performed live on Bob Fischer's BBC Radio Tees Introducing show on Saturday 25th April, and they filled my headphones jolly pleasingly, I can tell you.

Moonwreck members are all called either Richard or Mark in one form or another, which kind of makes it a bit confusing at times. Anyway, here's the line up.

Rick Stead: Vocals, guitar and synth
Rich Wastell: Guitars
Mark Anderson: Drums
Marc Wilson-Blackburn: Bass, guitars and vocals

As their gig with the rather unusual Nocturnal Dictionary is swiftly approaching, I interviewed Mark Anderson and Rick Stead to try and learn more about what keeps them in such a steady orbit.

THE SOUND

Popwatch: How long have you been rehearsing together, because you emerged pretty fully formed as far as I can see?

Rick Stead:  Three of us starting playing together last April, then the four of us as a full band from late summer.

PW. Who was the last to join?

Mark Anderson: It was Marc, but Rick and Marc and Rick and Rich Wastell had been collaborating for sometime before we all got together.

RS: I used to be in a band previously with Marc and we continued writing stuff together.

PW: Was that distinctive sound a calculated move, or did it just emerge when you started playing together?

RS: It's mainly a result of Rich's pedal board!

MA: For me it was the coming together of two different styles of songs. Post rock with a poppy shoegaze undercurrent. I think Marc and Rick write with pop sensibilities whilst Rick and Wastell have the post rock thing going on. Blend them together and you get Moonwreck.

PW: The band Sebadoh was mentioned?

RS:  Yeah Mark and I first started jamming together after going to see Sebadoh in Manchester.

MA: Me and Rick are big Sebadoh, Pavement, Pinback, Dinosaur Junior fans.

RS: Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine definitely enter the equation too.

MA: I think the Moonwreck sound is much more a UK MBV, early Ride etc. We do try and get some Trail of the Dead in there too though. The sound is everything to us. We want it to sound like a wall of music enveloping the listener

PW: It doesn't sound very DIY, although I hear you record in a kitchen sometimes?

MA: A kitchen and lock up garages.

PW: Do you make use of the resonance of the rooms you record in?

RS:  To an extent, but it's mainly down to post-production tricks, like drowning it all in reverb. Marc is quite into his production and spends a lot of time getting that sound on the home demos.

PW: With such reliance on post-production, does playing live pose sound problems?

MA: I think we're on a learning curve playing live

RS:  The combination of tube amps and massive pedal boards helps us to achieve the live sound. We'd employ our own sound guy if only we could afford it.

THE WHITBY SCENE

PW: I'm looking forward to the Starms gig. Nocturnal Dictionary are very interesting. They use some non-rock instrumentation. I like that.

MA: Yes almost quite Pavement-esque which we like.

RS: Incredible considering their age - something really different too with that jazz edge.

MA: It is a great time for Whitby bands. Six played on Bob Fischer's BBC Tees Introducing last week. That is certainly something to be proud of for the town.

RS:  I can see a festival on the horizon, or at least a resurrection of Whitby Now.

PW: Bob Fischer is currently championing Whitby bands, and the great thing is none of them sound the same. Why do you think there's a sudden blossoming?

MA: Bob has been fantastically supportive and is a great bloke.

RS:  It seems to come in waves with Whitby, there were loads of bands about when I was at college. Having places to play again has definitely helped the scene too. We didn't really have any options a few years ago, now there's the Starms, Reso, Friendship, Little A, etc. I guess that's what's inspired you to start the blog again too?

PW: That's right. It was seeing your poster for the Starms gig, and then seeing Genetix UK play, despite concerted attempts from the goths to derail everything. I thought this is brilliant. Get blogging. People care, don't they? People in bands really do it for the love of it. There's not much of that about in other walks of life these days. I admire that.

RS:  We're looking forward to organising a gig with Genetix soon, they emailed us some of their demos - great to see a predominantly female band too - really refreshing for Whitby.

MA: The whole band thing is a hard slog but very rewarding. We played a gig in Leeds on Friday night which meant leaving work early, loading gear in torrential rain, playing, supporting the other bands, loading up getting back to Whitby at 1am and not a penny earned. That is doing it for the love!

PW: That's what it's all about I think. Every band in Whitby has been there.

It's not all about getting signed up and all that rubbish is it? It's about getting your sound out there.

MA: Exactly Chris, it makesyou more determined. There is no going through the motions when you play. It's about getting the sound out there. We are doing something a bit different and people seem to like it.


THE SONGS

PW: Can we speak about songs? How do the songs start?

RS:  I'll tend to take a riff written by one of the others lads and come up with a melody to fit, lyrically I tend to write something that I feel is fitting with the mood. We'll share stuff together online via dropbox. I try to shape the words to fit the songs but give them meaning at the same time. One of my main aims is to not write things that sound cheesy.

PW: Who do you admire as a songwriter, as opposed to a band?

RS:  I'm massively influenced by Billy Corgan's early work with the Smashing Pumpkins, but after they reformed I really don't like what they've done.

PW: What is the next step for Moonwreck, which is incidentally the title of a series of three dodgy sci-fi books by Raymond L. Weil? A review for one said 'unintelligent fun in space', which I rather like the sound of

RS:  Apparently the books are terrible! We only found out about them after Googling once we came up with the name.

MA: For me it's to get this EP recorded. We'll hopefully release it ourselves. We hope to record at Greenmount studios in Leeds soon. It's an analogue studio.

PW: That should sound monumental. It would be so excellent if you could release it on vinyl. Those room-filling-reverb-worshipping bands sounded great on vinyl.

MA: We love vinyl and also the packaging that goes with it. It is as much the experience as the music. I've been an avid vinyl collector for many years. Rick can vouch for that.

RS: Yeah! Mark's record collection is incredible

PW: Who designed the beautiful logo and posters, because they look brilliant.

RS: That was me, I'm a digital designer by trade - websites, apps, etc. I'm a big fan of minimalism in all forms of art.

Goodnight Moonwreck.

MOONWRECK website

HIGH RESOLUTION

Unfortunately I missed the gig at The Resolution last night due to Ellie being out on orchestral duties in Scarborough. Also I didn't know it was on until Chris C got in touch to ask if I was up for it.

Anyway, here's a pictorial record of the bands in the order they appeared on stage, and to cap it all off there's a competition.

All photos are by Chris Corner.

Genetix UK

Transcended

John Doe's

COMPETITION TIME

Can you see through their disguises and name these four regulars of the Whitby music scene?

If you can, stick your answer on a postcard addressed to Popwatch and mark it 'Alan Boyes, Jason out of Transcended, Mike Ockroy and Rob Savage Mystery Competition'.

Good luck.

EARLY EVENING LO FI HI JINX

GENETIX UK LIVE AT THE WELLINGTON

The date is 26th April 2015 and it's Goth Weekend. We watched the Goths play the Gazette this afternoon and they lost 4-0. It's a bit overcast, but the snooker's on and the town's full of black clad narcissists and ever so slightly pervy looking blokes with expensive cameras and anoraks. There's a gig at the Welly tonight featuring Genetix UK, a band I'm ashamed to say I've never seen live. I decide a steady stroll down to the pub at around 8pm on a Sunday evening, ready for a half past eight start as advertised, would be a grand way to finish off a weekend.

A video camera wedged on top of a speaker

 I think it was about Ronnie O'Sullivan 4 - Stuart Bingham 8 when a shock announcement arrived via the interweb. The goths had decided they wanted their special disco, which was due to occur after Genetix UK had finished their set, to start early, and now the band would have to go on at 6.30pm.

Keeley 

Schedules were reorganised and I had to set off with tea barely having had time to settle. Arriving at the pub the band were just setting up, and to be honest it felt like the middle of the afternoon. Drummer Steve wedged a video camera into a gap in one of the fixed speakers which point towards the dancefloor for audio-visual documentation of the performance.

Steve 

Genetix UK are a tight, compact unit and they played straight through from one end of the set to the other with barely a gap to catch breath. None of this ten minute wait between songs for the guitarist to tune up again or for the adjustment of settings on pedals. In fact I don't think they used any pedals at all. Momentum never sagged and there was no energy drop-out.

Emily

Two guitars and a bass and a drum kit, and everybody doing vocals in various combinations, I mean what more do you want? Hyped up dirty punk doo-wop harmonies injected into no nonsense, snappy songs about local people, places and events that fizz and then detonate. These firmly ground Genetix UK into the peculiar undercurrents of life in modern Whitby, as opposed to the mythical Victorian theme park construct that the goths deem to visit twice a year.

Rachael

Keeley, Steve, Emily and Rachael just bloody nailed it with a big black nail of bubblegum punk joy that irked some goths, so much so that one was actively discouraging people from coming in to see a band who was not one of theirs. To be fair though, some were drawn into the intense accuracy of it all. I was listening to Genetix UK do When You Go Down Town on Bob Fischer's excellent wireless show recently, which sounded fine, but not as good as the experience of having your ears cleansed in a pub with a vibrating bassline.

So we clapped, the band packed up and the goth disco started, with all the weirdness you might expect from a shadowy, death fixated sub-culture. It kicked off with Martha and the Muffins on Echo Beach and followed it with Kim Wilde's Kids in America. Radical.

By the way, Dave IS amazing.