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.
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
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.
Goodnight Moonwreck.
MOONWRECK website
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