
Showcase: Northpaw
Published on November 27th, 2012 | Jonny Abrams
Hampshire rockers Northpaw have just written their new EP, so Rocksucker fired them over some questions to find out a little bit more about them…
What’s the line-up of the band? How did you all meet, and how long has the band been going for?
The line up is:
Charlie Grout-Smith – Vocals
Spencer Huet- Guitar and Vocals
Andy Allen- Drums
Jack Robinson- Bass
Josh Irvine – Guitar
We all went to school together and played in different bands around Alton, Hampshire. All our separate bands split up and we formed Northpaw through it. We have been playing as this band for just under a year.
How would you describe your music, if pushed?
We tend to say on person with sore having and someone without having a conversation at a school talent show. But realistically we would say it’s heavy and aggressive but balanced evenly out with a soft and emotive edge.
Where are you based, and what do you use to record with?
We are based in Alton, Hampshire and our drummer built his own studio in his back garden so we usually use that to demo all our songs. Equipment wise we tend to use Gibson and Fender Guitars, Orange and Mesa Boogie heads and Mapex drums with Zildjian cymbals
Are you signed to a label? If so, how did you come to their attention?
We haven’t yet, we prefer having complete control over everything so have taken the DIY root. If an offer came and we were in a good position we would definitely be interested!
Is there a full album in the works? If so, what can you tell us about it? (Feel free to be as abstract as you like…)
We haven’t begun to think about an album. We are still recovering from writing our new EP! I can elaborate about the EP though. We wanted to have a concept of fear throughout it. We had five tracks and with five members we didn’t want to try and write meanings to the songs as a collective as the only thing we would have in common would be to write about trying to make it as a band. We wanted to go down a more personal root. In order to achieve this we allowed each member to posses a song and so now each track means something to the individual. One song is about fear of never having self-acceptance and another is about trying to escape from the habits and traits you are brought up with.
Where can we hear your music online?
We will be releasing “Trepidation” digitally on Monday the 28th of January 2013 so will be available through iTunes, Spotify and streamed on our Facebook. We have our song “Face Needs” on our Facebook and YouTube right now. www.facebook.com/northpawofficial
Which have been your most exciting gigs and/or overall moments so far? Got any more coming up? (Gigs, that is…)
It has to be our hometown show at a small pub in Alton. We are quite new so haven’t played to many big crowds but it was amazing to have so much support. Having people in the crowd singing and even crowd surfing was magical.
One of our members is at university so we usually don’t play one-off shows and only tour in his holidays. We hit the road in January with Death of an Artist and Try me/love me so that should be a lot of fun.
Are there any obscure and/or up-and-coming acts that you’d like to recommend or give a shout-out to?
The ones to look out for are a few bands from Guildford such as Polar and Palm Reader. Also check out our friends in Violet and Golden Tanks.
Finally, if you were forced to spend the rest of your days in solitary confinement, but were allowed to bring the entire works of five different artists along to tide you over, whose would you choose?
We don’t need five. Just give us Carly Rae Jepsen.
Northpaw, thank you.