GIG REVIEW: THE JAPANESE HOUSE IN NEWCASTLE

Like most people, I first heard of The Japanese House early last year through social media. The fact that Amber Bain and her band’s visual identity was mostly made up of atmospheric landscapes and desolate imagery, and the sudden arrival of debut single ‘Still’ captivated my interest immediately. The ensuing online hype and quick collection of fans after the release of hugely successful ‘Pools to Bathe In’ EP meant that my expectations for the live performance were high, and I wasn’t disappointed.

After seeing the gig live for the first time at the Barfly in Camden late last year, I met Amber and (after one or two wines) encouraged her to come to Newcastle next time she was touring. On a rainy Saturday, my intoxicated wish came true. I was prepared for a similar performance this time at Amber’s O2 Academy set, her very first time in the city, but wasn’t anticipating the sense of fresh excitement that was evident upon entering the venue. 

An eclectic crowd whistled and cheered at the sight of the band, and even as the singer made her way through lesser known tracks, the impressed claps and calls were unwavering. Amber’s confidence in her performance has come along leaps and bounds since the last gig I attended, and rightly so. The pulling together of her trademark layered harmonies and unlikely sound effects live is no mean feat, but one which she pulled off effortlessly.

As she made her way through her portfolio, interweaving melodic, upbeat tracks like ‘Cool Blue’ with the likes of darker, emotional ‘Sugar Pill,’ her band’s support was a credit. The low-key set was evidently well polished and the crowd were visibly leaning in to get closer to the hypnotic sounds produced by the 3 musicians.

While it’s fair to say Amber is a woman of little words, with just a brief chat on stage, she did stop to gratefully thank the crowd for their attendance, with exclamations of it being her favourite gig on the headline tour so far. It was a pleasure to get the chance to be a part of The Japanese House’s project and have a chat with her afterwards, and from the evident adoration displayed by the crowd in Newcastle, I don't think it’ll be the last we see of her.

Sara x 

INTERVIEW TWO: JOHN WAUGH

A few months ago, myself and Katie were lucky enough to interview John Waugh on behalf of Newcastle Gig Guide and hear all about his newly released EP, Flight. You can read the interview below, and download the EP here.

During Gig Guide’s second meeting with John, there’s an air of excitement and a genuine sense of passion behind every sentiment expressed by the Newcastle based musician. He meets us to discuss the upcoming release of his debut EP, Flight, the first solo endeavour to be produced by the talented saxophonist. We’re dying to hear all about it, and dive right in talking about timing, inspiration and exciting plans for the future.

You’ve spent time touring with The 1975 and working with The New Standard, how have you found the time to put together this EP?

With touring, a very small percentage of that time is actually spent playing music so you get a lot of time in dressing rooms, or on flights or on a train. I had a lot of spare time even though the schedule was really busy so I was able to write bits and pieces while being on tour. Since being at home in January I’ve had a lot more time to kind of refine those ideas and work with musicians, because up until then all the ideas I had either existed in my head or just on my laptop. So really, for the most part it was just working on it here and there and then piecing those ideas together while I was at home.

If you could describe the EP in three words what would they be?

Naturally it’s quite eclectic and there  are parts of it that are decadent as well, so really quite lavish and over the top. There’s a little bit of self-indulgence but not to the extent where it’s really arrogant or anything like that. So I think eclectic, decadent, but hopefully it still remains quite humble. I think I can stand by those three words.

So where do you get the inspiration for composing from?

One of the tunes I wrote for Stu’s band, called Fillmore, was inspired by San Francisco and specifically a venue. That often is the case – travelling is quite a big influence and that makes sense as well with the timing of writing a lot of this. I was travelling around the world, which is a very inspiring thing to do regardless, so to kind of feed that in to this EP was really cool and quite natural. The name was really influenced by the timing of everything, and the experiences I had and the people I met travelling.

How would you say your time specifically touring with The 1975 influenced this EP?

Just being around them really influenced it, obviously they’re musicians too and they love music just as much as I do so we’re always sharing music. There’s a lot of common ground there in terms of the stuff we listen to and all draw an influence from. I think if anything, it just heightened everything I love about music and it just distilled a little bit more self-belief in me as well because they have so much belief in what they do and they’re so ambitious. You see it work for them so much so naturally that inspires me to have enough faith so that if it does all fall apart or someone doesn’t really embrace it the way you’d expected it doesn’t really matter because you’ve got so much out of it yourself. It also made perfect sense with the exposure of touring to do the EP now when I had about 6 months away from working with the band and to have something with my name on it when I start touring again just makes a lot of sense.

Where did most of the production happen?

A friend of mine who I used to work with in Leeds, Lee Roy,  did a lot of front of house and studio engineering for the bands I was playing in, and I moved up to Newcastle around the time he’d just got a job in Newcastle College so I was able to get access to a studio through him. A lot of the tracking and recording was done there – most of it happened in Newcastle. Most of the guys I’ve got playing on the EP have their own recording facilities at home so they’ve been able to record it and send stuff through. That’s all happened in the North of England; if it hasn’t been in Newcastle it’s been in Leeds or Huddersfield so it’s been quite local.

You’ve mentioned that you’d describe your EP as eclectic, so what different kinds of music would you say influences you?

A lot of old soul and RnB and that kind of music scene inspires me in terms of harmony and how chord progressions are pieced together, and how the fundamentals of groove are built. The thing that I really wanted to do with this EP was to have a core live band but then embellish that with live electronics and ambience. One of the people me and the guys on tour listened to a lot is a guy called John Hopkins, we got his new album and when we were on tour in Europe we listened to him a lot in the dressing room. He’s amazing at orchestrating electronic sounds and making them sound extremely musical, for example he could sample someone sitting on a chair, and take that audio apart and make that into a percussive kind of groove. It’s not that my EP sounds like that, but there are definitely elements of embellishing the live band, and I suppose it’s eclectic in that regard.

What do you find are the main differences performing your own songs or playing with another band?

I think if you’re playing with another band and you’re working collectively as a unit then you have a kind of pack mentality. I don’t really get nervous when I play with The 1975 because it’s not just about me obviously. You’re confronting the crowd and playing for them as a unit, whereas when you’re playing your own music and you’re the face of something there’s a different kind of responsibility there. As much as I still kind of feel responsible playing with other people, I’d be way more nervous playing a tiny gig with my own music than playing in front of 20,000 people with the 1975.

Do you have any plans for the future? Maybe another EP or more work with The 1975?

Yeah, I’d love to release an EP of my own music on a yearly basis. I’ve started working on a new EP already! The first one is written and I’m halfway through recording it and now I’ve got some draft ideas that I want to finish working on and get recorded next year. I’m not really sure if I’m allowed to say much so I probably shouldn’t, but my calendar is pretty full next year and I’m meeting up with the guys over summer to play on some of their tracks which I’m excited about.

When do you reckon the EP is going to be ready?

That’s a really good question; I keep pushing it further ahead. Ideally I want to have it finished before I go away, so towards the end of July and if not, then September – it’ll definitely be released this year, which I know is a huge space of time. I haven’t got any management and I’m not signed to a label so I’m the only one pushing it, and there’s 19 people who are creatively involved so there’s lots of people I’m trying to get in a certain place at a certain time. For the most part, the other guys are involved in other projects and some even have a wife and kids, so it’s hard to fit in a studio session. It’s definitely getting there though and starting to take shape, and it’s really grown a lot since being a collection of ideas on my laptop. It’s amazing, when you bring an idea to life and give it a live energy it’s so satisfying, regardless of how many people hear it.

INTERVIEW: JOHN WAUGH

In a cosy little jazz café, tucked around the corner from the O2 Academy, I order myself a gin and tonic before climbing up the stairs to the intimate room set to be the venue for tonight’s gig. Newcastle based jazz band The New Standard are playing, featuring John Waugh, a talented saxophonist most widely known from his recent tour with The 1975. I find John sipping a drink at a table next to the red velvet curtains and atmospheric fairy lights which frame tonight’s stage, and after a strong sip of my drink I finally say hello. After a slightly surreal recollection of “are you the girl that tweeted about tonight and commented on my Instagram?” (yes and yes,) I ask John a few questions. It’s worth mentioning that despite his rise in exposure of late John is still incredibly down to earth and willing to speak, even when my friend Maisie spills an entire glass of Pinot over him, herself and the floor. One promise of gin to replace the lost wine later, we continue our chat:

 











So you’ve been playing the saxophone for 15 years, how did you get into that to begin with?

 I had a family friend who is here tonight actually, called George, and he was a really big influence – showing me really good music when I was little. Based on the kind of music I listened to, I wanted to play the saxophone and I just kind of did it in school. It was quite an easy thing to become a part of, it wasn’t a particularly great school for music but it was integrated enough for me to get lessons and not think about it too much.

Do you want to just tell us a little bit about The New Standard? How did you join together and come about?

Well Stuart [Davies] who runs the band and is the front man of it, me and him played at a lot of weddings together – a lot of function band gigs and that kind of thing for ages, so I met Stu through that and it’s just something he’s always wanted to do. He just had the idea of putting together a funk and soul band and playing lots of covers and that kind of thing. It still feels like a new project, even though it’s been going on for more than a year. We’ve only had a handful of gigs here and there so yeah it’s just a small project. It’s a lot of fun and it’s more of a labour of love than anything else.

Do you play most of your gigs with The New Standard in Newcastle?

Yeah, so far, because everyone in it is so busy doing other things. It’s usually when we’re all at home and we all have time that we get together and do gigs and so far it makes sense to have them in Newcastle rather than anywhere else.

What would you say the main differences are between playing with this band and The 1975 and what do you prefer?

They are very different, obviously, because with The 1975 there’s so much exposure in every aspect of being in a band or playing a gig. The venues are a lot bigger, but then fundamentally it’s kind of the same. A lot of the places that The 1975 draw influences from are the kind of tunes we’re playing tonight – there’s a lot of soul and old RnB music that is very much the basis of this band and it’s the kind of stuff that the guys in The 1975 love to listen to. So musically speaking, even though it is different obviously, the basis of it feels the same.

How did you find touring with The 1975 and do you have any plans to tour with them when the second album comes out?

Yeah definitely! The next time I see most of the guys anyway will be to play on the new album and then when the next touring schedule starts I’ll be playing with them again which is cool. I’m very excited. I can’t say when [the next album will be released] though!

“Haha I’ve seen the interviews - don’t worry I know you can’t tell me”

[Laughing] Haha exactly, I do know but I can’t tell you when.

Your music has had an incredible influence on your fans, but are there any ways your fans have influenced you?

In terms of The 1975 and the guys in the band I have very little exposure really, but it’s enough for me to feel slightly more self-aware obviously because you get, out of nowhere, all of this attention and everything, and I’m still really honestly not used to it at all. So it’s not so much musically, because if I’m putting something out that has my name on it I want it to be me, I don’t want it to have any other agenda. So if people like it then they like it. But then naturally because of the exposure and the attention it does change my awareness of myself if that makes sense.  But I don’t know, I’m still figuring it out to be honest. 

I think that’s all for now - thank you John. Err before you go – can we be really cringe and grab a picture?

Review of the gig available here.

CURRENT MUSIC PICKS

August was a month of discovering new musical delights.

September is a month to listen to said musical delights over and over and over again. Seriously, what is it about a catchy song? It has a way of sinking it’s teeth into you. It’s there when you hum as you make your brekkie, when you sing in the shower and even when you’re trying to sleep. Not that I’m complaining- I’m a big music lover and this month I’ve decided to share my current favourites with you lovely lot.

There are two remixes by The 1975 nestled in amongst my top picks; they’re both so different and I just couldn’t decide which one to show off. Cavalier is more of a chilled background tune whilst the Travis $cott Drive remix is a song to awaken your soul. I absolutely challenge you to not feel instantly more alive and chirpy after listening to it. Catfish and The Bottlemen are fast becoming a favourite band of mine. They’ve recently exploded onto the mainstream music scene after grafting for more than 7 years and perfecting their craft. Give their newest banger ‘Cocoon’ a listen, you won’t regret it. Other artists I’ve been watching recently are new and upcoming Years & Years, and independent producer Gallant. The wild card of the pack has to be 80’s hit ‘Only You’ by Yazoo, a song my parents know off by heart. (They were so pleased when I discovered it late one night and blasted it out from my room that they treated me to an impromptu karaoke sesh.)

Hope you enjoy my music picks and leave your fave songs of the moment in the comments, I love discovering new music.

 Sara x