Novustory are a fantastic alt-rock band from Lancashire. Fresh from her work at the location where the group record - Esche Haus Recording Studio in Blackburn - their singer Imogen caught up with Prime singer Lee Heir for a conversation about her and the band’s musical background, methods and inspirations and their new track ‘Edible’…
Imogen Rosemary: James can deal with them from now. They’re just doing a voice over thing so it shouldn’t be long but I thought they needed me and they don’t so I can be free now if you wanna ring!
Lee Heir: Sounds great to me. Real life is pretty busy for you at the moment! How do you find time for songwriting and music making?
IR: I decided I wanted to be a full time musician and I see songwriting and making music as part of my job. Plus it helps that songwriting can occur at any point in the form of voice notes. I can be sat having dinner and feel inspired and I'm getting my phone out to sing little melodies into the phone microphone to revisit in the studio. I regularly sit down at the piano at work or at home and jam out chords so I'd say I'm constantly writing!
LH: It always helps when you have somewhere where you can be focussed and get some inspiration also.
IR: Aye definitely! I work at a recording studio, so it's perfect really. I'm constantly in a creative environment.
LH: Sounds great. Is that your home town? I noticed you have a gig coming up with Sister Shotgun, I actually met their singer on a trip to Birmingham once, really pleasant.
IR: Kinda, I'm from Clayton-le-moors which is about 10 minutes away. The lads are from all over. Ben (Cross - guitar) is from Blackpool, Chris (Horrocks - bass) is from Wigan and James (Duckworth - drums) is from Bury but we rehearse and mainly record in Blackburn. Yeah we can't wait for that! With Fear Me December too who we've played with before. That'll be an awesome gig!
LH: December is worth fearing for sure. Too much socks and underwear and meeting up with relatives you don't like and pretending to like them. So tell me about the last single 'Monster'? The video and production are outstanding on it, super slick, but in a good way. What inspired the song?
IR: Hahah so true. However I'm one of the weird ones... I absolutely LOVE receiving new socks. Especially fluffy ones! Thanks so much (for the compliment), we've worked really hard to make sure everything we're putting out is high quality so that means a lot! The song has a bit of a strange initial inspiration, but the general message I want people to take from the song is to not let themselves be victim blamed. If someone is making you feel like you're the problem and you know you've done nothing wrong, don't keep it to yourself, speak up, tell people, and don't let someone make you feel like you're the monster in a situation when actually it's the other person that's a monster.
LH: That's a great concept. In any part of life, it's easy to let the way you live be judged as crazy when in fact it's often other people that cause the issues. Did you write all the lyrics yourself or is it a collaborative effort with the band?
IR: Yes, exactly. I wrote all the lyrics, yeah.
LH: I write the majority of the lyrics for Prime and as soon as I heard your music I had a very clear, personal idea of what you wanted to express. Even if I wasn't fully sure what inspired the theme, I knew it was real and had a very personal edge to it. How about the horror style video, who came up with the concept?
IR: The horror style video was a joint effort. The song is called ‘Monster’ and we knew we were going for a halloween release so we wanted to incorporate something spooky and we wanted to portray the idea that you can be eaten up by your emotions and fears. The video suggests at the end that we're taken by the zombies which kinda signifies that you can let someone else's negativity consume you. It almost has a dark ending but the lyrics hopefully represent to people listening that it doesn't have to end like that!
LH: That sounds like a great message. Are you all horror fans? Zombie films are life... My best friend Jon has a huge collection of some of the most obscure Italian zombie shit you can imagine ha ha.
IR: That sounds awesome ahha. I speak for myself when I say I'm a huge horror fan but I'm not actually too sure about the lads! I know one of our close friends Amy Hazel who does our artwork (and is an incredible tattoo artist) is a horror fan and she collects weird stuff too! It's very interesting to look at!
LH: I will check out more of Amy's work she sounds cool! So, you sent me your latest song called 'Edible', a track with a very varied sound instrumentally, with modern and electronic textures.
IR: We're very proud of ‘Edible’.. it's out now! Get streaming! (Winks)
LH: Looking at your social media, everything is of a great standard and you don't seem to over-gig either, but the shows you play are very good with complementary groups. How important is it compared to your early days that you play the right gigs with the right bands compared to before?
IR: It's really important to us that we play with bands who 'compliment' our sound and performance like you say. We've been shoved on lineups in the past opening up for acoustic artists, or we'll be playing after a metal band…and it just doesn't make sense. It leaves an audience feeling jarred. So we decided we wanted to do fewer, better, more thought out, quality gigs as opposed to gigging everywhere and everywhere just so we could say we'd gigged.
LH: It's very easy to do that though, play with groups that aren't of the same standard, as musicians or people. We all love to play but I admire restraint in a band, and it's about knowing your worth too. So, what do you have in the pipeline for the new year, any exciting plans?
IR: We’re currently planning a UK tour, amongst multiple singles that we have already recorded and that are in our live set.
LH: I've noticed you were gigging with Bang Bang Romeo this year? They won the best band award at the Yorkshire Grass Roots Awards that I attended recently in Bradford the other week. Must make you pleased that another technically excellent female vocalist fronting a rock band is making good ground with their album and doing some big shows?
IR: Yeah those guys are a huge inspiration for us. Their live performance is incredible and their songs are truly from the heart. They're an awesome band and we're dead proud to have supported them. We'd love to share a stage with them again soon.
LH: Who are your all-time inspirations and what got you to the point that you wanted to sing? Just the creative love of doing it and improving or something else?
IR: The lads love Muse, Royal Blood and Metallica and I love Paramore and Dream State. I’ve always wanted to sing so I’ve just never really done anything else!
LH: When was your first gig proper with your band?
IR: Our first proper gig was in 2015 at Rebellion Festival in Manchester. I was terrified and barely moved and was so self conscious and hardly performed at all! We’ve changed a lot since then!
LH: Ha ha! Thats a big gig to start off with! What was your live or studio experience before that?
IR: We’ve all performed and recorded for various projects over the years before we became a band. This ain’t our first rodeo!
LH: What was the Eureka moment when you thought "I want to be a performer”?
IR: I had a temporary blip when I was deciding what to do at uni where i had a choice between going to Manchester University and studying psychology, and going to the Royal Northern College of music and studying singing. And one day I just thought “do I wanna work a 9-5 for the rest of my life in a field that my heart isn’t truly in?” And that was it. I went and started a degree in music and I haven’t looked back since. That was nearly 6 years ago.
LH: Looks like the choice paid off! Thanks for chatting with me for primeband.co.uk … Now it’s time for some wine…
IR: Thank you Lee, my pleasure.
Novustory - "Edible" is out now on Spotify/MP3.
Prime UK Band - 'Art / Facts' compilation is out now. CD version is out in December.
Links:
Novustory can be found at:
www.facebook.com/Novustory / Twitter / Instagram : @Novustory
'Edible' can be heard at:
https://open.spotify.com/album/1KlqtdavE3u0f2hPadN1Sc?highlight=spotify:track:2d7YjXPxpHK02fzoaDZvp0
Monster" can be seen at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkg4fac5tG0
Lee Heir of Prime UK Band is online at:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ukprime + Twitter / Instagram: @primeukband + Youtube: @badfridaypictures
Spotify 'Art Facts' Link:
https://open.spotify.com/album/2GocqlOhEgW5hoL4exwxrJ
Imogen Rosemary: James can deal with them from now. They’re just doing a voice over thing so it shouldn’t be long but I thought they needed me and they don’t so I can be free now if you wanna ring!
Lee Heir: Sounds great to me. Real life is pretty busy for you at the moment! How do you find time for songwriting and music making?
IR: I decided I wanted to be a full time musician and I see songwriting and making music as part of my job. Plus it helps that songwriting can occur at any point in the form of voice notes. I can be sat having dinner and feel inspired and I'm getting my phone out to sing little melodies into the phone microphone to revisit in the studio. I regularly sit down at the piano at work or at home and jam out chords so I'd say I'm constantly writing!
LH: It always helps when you have somewhere where you can be focussed and get some inspiration also.
IR: Aye definitely! I work at a recording studio, so it's perfect really. I'm constantly in a creative environment.
LH: Sounds great. Is that your home town? I noticed you have a gig coming up with Sister Shotgun, I actually met their singer on a trip to Birmingham once, really pleasant.
IR: Kinda, I'm from Clayton-le-moors which is about 10 minutes away. The lads are from all over. Ben (Cross - guitar) is from Blackpool, Chris (Horrocks - bass) is from Wigan and James (Duckworth - drums) is from Bury but we rehearse and mainly record in Blackburn. Yeah we can't wait for that! With Fear Me December too who we've played with before. That'll be an awesome gig!
LH: December is worth fearing for sure. Too much socks and underwear and meeting up with relatives you don't like and pretending to like them. So tell me about the last single 'Monster'? The video and production are outstanding on it, super slick, but in a good way. What inspired the song?
IR: Hahah so true. However I'm one of the weird ones... I absolutely LOVE receiving new socks. Especially fluffy ones! Thanks so much (for the compliment), we've worked really hard to make sure everything we're putting out is high quality so that means a lot! The song has a bit of a strange initial inspiration, but the general message I want people to take from the song is to not let themselves be victim blamed. If someone is making you feel like you're the problem and you know you've done nothing wrong, don't keep it to yourself, speak up, tell people, and don't let someone make you feel like you're the monster in a situation when actually it's the other person that's a monster.
LH: That's a great concept. In any part of life, it's easy to let the way you live be judged as crazy when in fact it's often other people that cause the issues. Did you write all the lyrics yourself or is it a collaborative effort with the band?
IR: Yes, exactly. I wrote all the lyrics, yeah.
LH: I write the majority of the lyrics for Prime and as soon as I heard your music I had a very clear, personal idea of what you wanted to express. Even if I wasn't fully sure what inspired the theme, I knew it was real and had a very personal edge to it. How about the horror style video, who came up with the concept?
IR: The horror style video was a joint effort. The song is called ‘Monster’ and we knew we were going for a halloween release so we wanted to incorporate something spooky and we wanted to portray the idea that you can be eaten up by your emotions and fears. The video suggests at the end that we're taken by the zombies which kinda signifies that you can let someone else's negativity consume you. It almost has a dark ending but the lyrics hopefully represent to people listening that it doesn't have to end like that!
LH: That sounds like a great message. Are you all horror fans? Zombie films are life... My best friend Jon has a huge collection of some of the most obscure Italian zombie shit you can imagine ha ha.
IR: That sounds awesome ahha. I speak for myself when I say I'm a huge horror fan but I'm not actually too sure about the lads! I know one of our close friends Amy Hazel who does our artwork (and is an incredible tattoo artist) is a horror fan and she collects weird stuff too! It's very interesting to look at!
LH: I will check out more of Amy's work she sounds cool! So, you sent me your latest song called 'Edible', a track with a very varied sound instrumentally, with modern and electronic textures.
IR: We're very proud of ‘Edible’.. it's out now! Get streaming! (Winks)
LH: Looking at your social media, everything is of a great standard and you don't seem to over-gig either, but the shows you play are very good with complementary groups. How important is it compared to your early days that you play the right gigs with the right bands compared to before?
IR: It's really important to us that we play with bands who 'compliment' our sound and performance like you say. We've been shoved on lineups in the past opening up for acoustic artists, or we'll be playing after a metal band…and it just doesn't make sense. It leaves an audience feeling jarred. So we decided we wanted to do fewer, better, more thought out, quality gigs as opposed to gigging everywhere and everywhere just so we could say we'd gigged.
LH: It's very easy to do that though, play with groups that aren't of the same standard, as musicians or people. We all love to play but I admire restraint in a band, and it's about knowing your worth too. So, what do you have in the pipeline for the new year, any exciting plans?
IR: We’re currently planning a UK tour, amongst multiple singles that we have already recorded and that are in our live set.
LH: I've noticed you were gigging with Bang Bang Romeo this year? They won the best band award at the Yorkshire Grass Roots Awards that I attended recently in Bradford the other week. Must make you pleased that another technically excellent female vocalist fronting a rock band is making good ground with their album and doing some big shows?
IR: Yeah those guys are a huge inspiration for us. Their live performance is incredible and their songs are truly from the heart. They're an awesome band and we're dead proud to have supported them. We'd love to share a stage with them again soon.
LH: Who are your all-time inspirations and what got you to the point that you wanted to sing? Just the creative love of doing it and improving or something else?
IR: The lads love Muse, Royal Blood and Metallica and I love Paramore and Dream State. I’ve always wanted to sing so I’ve just never really done anything else!
LH: When was your first gig proper with your band?
IR: Our first proper gig was in 2015 at Rebellion Festival in Manchester. I was terrified and barely moved and was so self conscious and hardly performed at all! We’ve changed a lot since then!
LH: Ha ha! Thats a big gig to start off with! What was your live or studio experience before that?
IR: We’ve all performed and recorded for various projects over the years before we became a band. This ain’t our first rodeo!
LH: What was the Eureka moment when you thought "I want to be a performer”?
IR: I had a temporary blip when I was deciding what to do at uni where i had a choice between going to Manchester University and studying psychology, and going to the Royal Northern College of music and studying singing. And one day I just thought “do I wanna work a 9-5 for the rest of my life in a field that my heart isn’t truly in?” And that was it. I went and started a degree in music and I haven’t looked back since. That was nearly 6 years ago.
LH: Looks like the choice paid off! Thanks for chatting with me for primeband.co.uk … Now it’s time for some wine…
IR: Thank you Lee, my pleasure.
Novustory - "Edible" is out now on Spotify/MP3.
Prime UK Band - 'Art / Facts' compilation is out now. CD version is out in December.
Links:
Novustory can be found at:
www.facebook.com/Novustory / Twitter / Instagram : @Novustory
'Edible' can be heard at:
https://open.spotify.com/album/1KlqtdavE3u0f2hPadN1Sc?highlight=spotify:track:2d7YjXPxpHK02fzoaDZvp0
Monster" can be seen at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkg4fac5tG0
Lee Heir of Prime UK Band is online at:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ukprime + Twitter / Instagram: @primeukband + Youtube: @badfridaypictures
Spotify 'Art Facts' Link:
https://open.spotify.com/album/2GocqlOhEgW5hoL4exwxrJ
Primeband.co.uk
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