Introducing...The Dawnriders

YMC chats to Dan Louch from the West Yorks based band The Dawnriders.

YMC: Who are the band members, how did you all meet?

D.Louch: Hi YMC, There’s my cousin Joe Leach on keys and organ, Danny Teale sings lead vocals, Kieran Troth plays drums and does all the percussion parts, his brother  Matthew Troth plays bass and I play lead, rhythm and slide guitar and sing backing vocals.  We met at Leeds festival. We all ended up camping together through a mutual friend, and just became really close after that.  Me and Joe have played in bands together since being kids and Matt, Keiran and Dan Teale used to be in a band together as well.  We were all on a camping trip in Settle I think when me and Dan came up with the first Dawnriders song. It was something like 3 in the morning and we were sat around our camp fire.

We kept hearing these wired noises and howls coming from the woods. We were really drunk and were just coming up with random explanations as to what could be happening in there.  We made up this weird love story about a man who has seen an angelic women wandering through the village, he follows her to the edge of the woods but she lured him in. she turns out to be a vampire and he goes up there to see her every night for weeks but then he gets caught by the other vampires and gets bitten, he loses his soul but can be with the woman he loves.  The chorus for the song is just the wailing noise we could here, or we thought we could anyway.

After that trip we started exchanging ideas and writing songs, we ended up with 6 or 7 so we played them to the others who all loved them so they joined. Now we all work on stuff together as a group. It’s a really good dynamic, everyone adds something different to the sound and all the different ideas make the songs a lot stronger musically.

YMC: Lyrics are obviously important to you as you base many on your favourite literature, is that where a song starts for you? Do you write the words then add the music?

D.Louch:  It works in a few ways really, all of us love films, books and stories, and after we wrote the first song we set out to write songs that all had some kind of narrative running through them, kind of like little films if you like but set to music. Me and Dan wrote most of the songs for the album together, but we go about writing songs in slightly different ways, we used to meet up a lot and work on songs and ideas we both had, we just kind of gelled and our different song writing styles suited one another other.  I’ve always written songs without a proper lyrical structure, Ill have a story and melody in my head with a few lyrics and a title, then ill record an acoustic version for Dan and he writes the rest of lyrics. Where as when dan comes up with an idea he usually gives me the melody and a poem and I put the music to that.  It depends really what comes first, it’s usually an emotion you feel about something in your life that’s at the heart of a song you write, and the initial lyrics kind of come from that.

 

YMC: Who are your main influences?

D.Louch:  For me its Jimi Hendrix, there’s elements of him in everything I do, along with all the old blues players like Robert Johnson, Son House and John Lee Hooker.   We all love the classic 60s and 70s artists like The Doors, Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane and Pink Floyd. That kind of California, summer of 69 acid vibe.  But saying that the last album I bought was Grace Jones’ Nightclub, theres so much music that has influenced us its impossible to really pin it down.   Dan is more into the singer/songwriter stuff from the 60's and 70's, particularly the west coast americana stuff and i think the combination of influences has given a lot to our sound.  I think we sound like the band Butch and Sundance would have been in had they not been bank robbers and got killed.

YMC: You are currently recording an album, how's it going?

D.Louch: It’s going well, we’ve got 8 tracks completed that just need a few tweaks and final mix, then we’ll probably record the last 5 tracks in the next few months.  We’ve been really lucky to work two really talented producers, Daz and Paul at Big Blue Media recordings, they’ve just kind of captured the overall sound that we wanted, they’re really good guys too.

YMC: Will this be a digital release or available on CD too?

D.Louch: Hopefully both, we’re looking to release an independent single first and then release a couple of singles and the album through a label later this year.

Find out more on http://www.myspace.com/thedawnriders

Inrtoducing...Night Herons

YMC chats to Night Herons from Leeds.

YMC: When did you start, who are the band members?

The band is:

Clare Kelly - Vocals
Joe Armitage - Lead Guitar and Synth
Chris Warr- Guitar
Tom Kelly - Bass
Will Ashton - Drums & Backing Vocals

We had the idea of starting a band after we’d  finished our GCSE’s at school. After those exams you get rewarded with an enormous summer holiday and we all played different instruments so we decided to start messing about at these rehersal rooms next to a skipyard in Guiseley. Nobody else in our year had a band or anything at that point so we thought it would be a good thing to do. Then we realised singing was a lot harder that we’d thought so we got Clare in. We knew her already and knew she had a pretty distinctive voice so it all slotted together nicely.

YMC: What are your favourite Leeds/Bradford venues to play?

We don’t tend to play in Bradford as much as we used to in the earlier days for reasons unknown. In Leeds there’s a load of great venues to play. We’ve played at the Cockpit a few times which has always been really good. The Elbow Rooms is another good one, too. I think as long as you’re playing to a room which has an atmosphere or is relatively full then the prestige associated with the venue you’re playing in doesn’t really matter. 

YMC: How would you describe your music?

Describing your  own music when you’re in a band is never easy because whatever you say, it comes off as sounding a bit pretentious and egotistical. None of us share the same taste in music really so we all have different ideas when we write songs. I think if all the members of a band share precisely the same musical influences then there’s a danger that they just become a sort of distant tribute act which is never good.

YMC: Who are your influences?

Our influences vary massively between us all. Clare’s a fan of Fleetwood Mac and that kind of style whereas Will leans towards pop – even though he’s confessed to us on numerous occasions that Mick Fleetwood is his style icon. Then we’re into a load of bands in-between those styles really.

YMC: You've had some gigs in London, has this been positive?

Playing in London is useful. It’s great experience to play in places that you’ve never played before because that way you don’t become accustomed to one venue in one city. I think people there are perhaps more into seeing live music in London but at the same time they’re crippled by choice.  If they don’t like you they could walk next door and see another band playing. Playing in London can often sound more glamorous than it actually is, too. Some people hear the word ‘London’ and think that automatically means you’re doing well, whereas you could quite easily book a gig down there and it could be purely your band playing to a man behind a mixing desk in a grotty venue. Luckily that hasn’t happened to us so far though, whenever we've played there we've had good feedback and the crowd have been quite responsive and complimentary .

YMC: Do you have any plans to record anything?

We’re recording again in mid-February.  I think we’ll do two or three new songs which are sounding promising. They’ve both got quite integral guitar parts and a bit less synth which is good because I think synth music is sort of taking over at the moment so it’d be beneficial to go against the grain and record songs with massive guitar choruses and hooks. We’ll just see what happens when we record next and then see where that takes us and hope for the best.

Find out more on http://www.myspace.com/nightherons 

Introducing...The Kamen

YMC chats to The Kamen's Drummer Chris Lewis

YMC: Who are the band members and how long have you been playing together?

CHRIS:  THE KAMEN are an amazing blend of four musicians based around South Yorkshire.
Paul Jackson – Vocals
Scott Jordan – Bass & backing vox
Mark Rendi – Guitar
Chris Lewis – Drums & backing vox

YMC: Who are your main influences?

CHRIS: We have a wide range of influences. We can't really say a main one. Everything from AC/DC to Foo Fighters, My Chemical Romance, Ramones, through to Journey, Mr Big and Black Stone Cherry. We couldn't possibly name just one!!!

YMC: You are getting ready to release your debut album, has this been a positive experience?

CHRIS: The Album hasn’t come together in the usual way but over a period of time, rather than writing all the songs then going in to record them all at once. There has been some frustrations because of member changes and time limitations but overall it’s been great and I’m happy with the songs.

YMC: Will it be available on CD or download, what can we expect from it?

CHRIS: Our management have decided to hold on to it just for the moment.
We will have an EP available shortly on digital download but for now the hard copy will be for Radio and industry promotion only and may be released later.

The lead track will be “ALIVE” plus two other tracks and a brand new acoustic version of “Alive”

We have a company in America who is waiting to promote the album but nothing is decided at the moment.

YMC: Are you having an album launch or do you have shows planned to accompany the release?

CHRIS: We’d love to have an album launch party and I’ll be speaking to The Boardwalk and The Corporation when we are ready for release.

YMC: What can people expect from a live show?

CHRIS: Since we have been rehearsing as a four piece with Scott (our new bass player) there has been a touch of magic on the band. The chemistry is right and we’re all excited about gigging again. You won’t be disappointed!!!!

Find out more on http://www.myspace.com/thekamenrock

Rhubarb Bomb Relaunch

The Rhubarb Bomb is a recently relaunched fanzine produced in Wakefield, YMC chats to Matt about the fanzine and forthcoming launch night.

YMC: You have relaunched the Rhubarb Bomb magazine, how did you get involved with this?

Well as you may know, the Rhubarb Bomb has been around for a few years now in one form or another. Dean knew the previous editor Benno quite well, and had written a couple of bits for the last couple of issues he put out, and I'd been in touch with regards to writing for subsequent issues.

Then one day I got a text from Dean (we've been good mates for years outside of the Bomb) to say that Benno had, basically, handed over the reins to him, having suddenly had enough of doing it for one reason or another, and would I like to come in on it and see what we could both make of it?

We sat around for a few days letting it all swish around in our heads, then spent a boozy afternoon in the pub sketching out our "manifesto", trying to work out what we wanted to put into it and how we thought we'd be able to make it all work, then we set to work on our first issue.

We consciously went for a relaunch as our vision of the Bomb is somewhat different to what went before - we've made a deliberate effort to establish several regular features to give it a bit more structure and identity, and it's now much wordier than it ever was previously.

But essentially, the focus is still the same - what we'd call "proper" indie, with a strong emphasis on what is happening in Wakey, but also more of an attempt to cast the net further afield in whatever ways we can.

YMC: Why did you decide to stay with a printed magazine instead of an on-line one?

We're both avid readers, and love that feel of having something tangible that you can carry around with you. I mean, the way we've done it - it's printed on A5, so it's nice and compact - means you can roll it up, put it in your pocket, shove it in your bag, whatever, and just carry it around with you and dip in and out of it as you go about your daily routine.

We both love printed magazines and fanzines, we get through loads of the things, and to me a website is never quite the same - yes it's better for up-to-the-minute news, gig listings etc., but I don't think anybody ever reads the articles on a website half as closely as they do in a printed magazine.

You might say it's commercial suicide to be attempting a printed zine in 2010, but we are getting some excellent feedback, and to be honest, it's not a commercial proposition anyway - it's a free zine, and as long as we can cover the printing costs (or at least near as damn it) and don't make too much of a loss we're happy and can continue producing it. If we ever do make a "profit", we intend to plough it straight back into the zine and make it even better, maybe via the odd cover-mounted CD or something.

YMC: Where can I find it and how much does it cost to buy?

Well, the main thing to emphasise is the Bomb is FREE OF CHARGE! to anyone that wants a copy. If you check the Myspace or Facebook pages there's a full list of stockists, and we're expanding on these all the time, so do keep checking back. If we've not made it to your area and you think you can help by putting a few copies in a local record shop, gig venue, etc then get in touch and we'll send you a bundle. 

YMC: How often will it be coming out?

The aim is every three months, one for each season of the year. This is something we know we can manage without flogging ourselves to death trying to keep up with the workload. We'd like to go for it more often, but we would need more contributors onboard I think to make this viable (so if you want to write for us, drop us a line!)

YMC: You are having a launch night on 1st February, what's planned for this night?

This is something we are hoping will become a regular thing, to coincide with each new issue. It's at the Bodega Bar in Wakey (near Lightwaves!), and it's really cheap, we're only asking £3 entry, all of which goes towards printing costs for future issues of the zine.

On this occasion we've got four lovely bands playing, all of which are contributing their services for free to help us out (huge, HUGE thanks for that!).

We have Standard Fare from Sheffield, who are a girl/boy indiepop band that Dean is a massive fan of. We also have Tiny Planets, who are a fantastic new Wakey band featuring ex-members of The Old House. Thirdly, St Gregory Orange, another Wakey band signed to Philophobia Music, which is undoubtedly Wakefield's busiest and most unique label - the Orange put out a brilliant album last year and are emerging as a really interesting live proposition. Finally there's The Fur Blend, who are another new Wakefield band.

It all kicks off at 8PM, there's various drinks promotions once you're in I believe, and it'll go on until the wee small hours, and like I say, it's all for the good of the zine, we're not making anything out of it. Should be a grand night!

YMC: You are based in Wakefield, does the magazine just focus on the Wakefield scene?

No not at all. The old Rhubarb Bomb perhaps was primarily focused on Wakefield but we are keen on casting our nets further afield, while still having a strong flavour of Wakey.

We try and always have a major Wakefield "presence" in every issue, it's where we both live after all and that will never change, we will always want to reflect what's happening in our home town - but we're open to anything from anywhere, as long as it's all done for the right reasons.

So we're talking all of Yorkshire and beyond really - we've made a conscious effort to distribute copies of the Bomb throughout the country and we'd like to go even further with that if we can.

Anything made by free thinkers for the love rather than the money, and we're there.

YMC: If a venue, record store, studio, etc. would like to distribute this free magazine, where should they contact you?

Just drop us an e-mail and we'll go from there. As a general shout out, for the Bomb to prosper we *do* need people to get involved - so if anybody would like to write for us, whether it's a couple of reviews, a column (regular or one-off), or a big old meaty article, the doors are always open. If anybody wants to stock the zine, or distribute it in their area, we can sort that too. And if any bands want us to look at reviewing their demos, releases, or gigs, then get in touch, we'll be more than pleased to do so if we possibly can.

Website details are : www.myspace.com/therhubarbbombmagazine, or search for Rhubarb Bomb on Facebook and you'll find us easy enough. E-mail contact is :therhubarbbomb@googlemail.com, or message us through the Myspace.