G AND THE SOUND TRIBE:
THE SIX-PIECE BAND BEAMING
PARTY AND POSITIVITY
In amidst the entrance of Dryden Street Social for G and the Sound Tribe’s EP launch night, Matt Knight spoke to a couple of the band members a few moments before their performance
Dyrden Street Social hosted G and the Sound Tribe on the 2nd of November for The Apocalypse Party EP launch, a night full of unique musicians and joyful vibes.
Male vocalist George Norton explained how the six-piece band started playing as a collective, stemming back to open mic nights: “Our bass player James was running this jam night. So like every Thursday it would be an open stage anyone could rock up and play, and then I met Zach at my mate's house and I was playing Wu Tang and Zach was well inquisitive and was like, yes.”
we got G involved, and then we just did it us 3 for a bit just jamming in G’s living room.”
Female vocalist G’s dad played a big part in helping the group grow into what they are today: “G’s dad, Victor, he let us sit in his conservatory and just jam tunes out until they got good. That’s why he is the face of our EP man, that’s Victor, that’s how we evolved and grew to what we are now.”
George pointed out that the red sofa coming out of Victor’s head on the cover is the sofa they wrote all their tracks on: “Me and Zach pretty much wrote all the tunes that are on The Apocalypse Party, and we wrote them all on a red sofa.” He pointed at the sofa on the front of CD on the reception desk, “we wrote them all on that sofa.”
Zach chimed into say how his love is for mental and he hadn’t delved into hiphop too much before that.
George continued: “But Wu Tang’s the exception, he rated it and then we just got chatting. I told him about this jam night and then the next week he hit me up and was like yo, you wanna go to this jam night? I was like yeah let’s go. Took him there, we went with my uncle as well, and after that I got offered a gig from the record label that we’re on. We were like yeah we’ll play that.
“We were originally called The Lost Cosmonauts, but then loads of people had that name and we got G involved as well. Then after that it started with me, Zach and my uncle,
With the bands high energy and captivating enthusiasm, George put into his words why he thinks the band click together so well: It’s just the looseness man, we are an explosion. I mean we’re all people that are exceptional people; we are passionate, we’re not in your face people, we cater for the positive vibes of life and when it comes to the music, everything that you hold in within you can just be exploded,” the explosion being a key concept to their music and artwork, “that’s why it’s The Apocalypse Party man, this was our world blowing up. Our world was just our world till we made it into tunes and went to play them to people and it’s like an explosion of sounds.”
Pinning their sound down to a genre can be difficult as George proved: “What I’d say is listen to our music, try and pin it down and then chuck that out the window.”
Zach quickly intervened: “We’re a collective of people, there isn’t a specific genre that we went for as we all brought something to it. When we wrote the songs I would come up with like a main riff that we’d build it around, but realistically it didn’t become anything until the whole band was on it.
“So me and Norman, realistically, did do the hub of it but without Pete, or without James or without Johnny, who is our keyboard player as well, fucking incredible guy, it would be nothing. It would literally be dog shit.”
Each member of the band brings something different and unique to the making of their music, George added: “It’s a collage of different perspectives basically, it’s not like there’s one person being like, yo it’s got to be like this way. We’re all pretty loose with it. So me and Zach will write a song, we’d build the main structure and we’d get to practice and it would completely change, because everyone else has their own image of it, and then that’s what we like because everyone in our band plays a major role because they have the responsibility of their instrument.
“So instead of us being like, yeah you’ve got to play this or you’ve got to do that to make it sound this way, it’s like this is what I’ve got, how good can we make it.”
The band’s passion for music thrives the push for a music scene in their hometown of Market Harborough: “There isn’t a music scene, and that’s why we survive to where we are now because we don't care if there’s not anything going on cos we’re gonna try and make that thing happen.
Life is what you make it and when there is no music scene in the town that you’re from, you make that music scene, other people are gonna want to be making music as well and that’s what we’re about. We just want to make sure everybody has a good time and everyone’s on the same wavelength, everyone’s just enjoying life, that’s where we’re at.”
Market Harborough may not be one of the most liveliest places around, but they will always pay homage to where they started it all: “Harborough’s pretty dead at the minute,” Zach elalobrated, “there is a song about it, Home Sweet Home, big up, it’s a shout out to Market Harborough. I'm saying if you’re from somewhere like Harborough, you can move away from it, and come back, its a nice place don't get me wrong, but leave, then come back.”
This was their third time here in Leicester but a debut for Dryden Street Social, George also went onto say about their love for Corby: “We do a lot in Corby, big up Corby, Rocked Up events, YUK, they put us on. Our bass player James, he is a partner of YUK and Rocked Up, they put on the Hootenanny in Corby and they represent real sound and they’re all about the sick music man. Big up my Corby scene and Northamptonshire, they put us on there and they made us what we are today.”
The EP became a reality after George befriended some guys at the recording studio that was built in Market Harborough: “So the whole time I was growing up I wanted to make music and there was nothing, there was no hub point in Harborough. All it was was me linking up with a few mates, we’d sit there and we’d just cypher with a beat on a speaker. When I was about 16 or 17 they announced the news that they’re building a music studio in Market Harborough.
“I was like shit, I was in this park that I usually chill at and then I popped down there as they were building it, and there were these two dudes Mike and Martin who were working there. I told them I was in a band and everything, told them the ways, and then eventually the whole studio got built. We needed a practice space as well so we were like can we practice here? They were eventually like yo, can you play a gig for us? Played a gig for them, then they were like shit, can you record a track you played on that gig? Recorded that, and then they were like do you know what, do you want to make an EP? We made an EP, a year later we dropped The Apocalypse Party EP and it is available now.”
Your surroundings and the people you involve yourself with can be a very motivational thing, as George went onto say about what motivates his musical drive: “I reckon it is the people I surround myself with, like me and Zach: I write music on my own, Zach writes music on his own but when we get together we create the sound tribe you know. We create the sound for the tribe, and I think the thing that motivates me is how life, life is just short, and shit, but you make the best out of a bad situation and you have the chance to create something good.”
Whilst George said how every single member of the group loves the party, G mentioned how they love to party, but party together. George stepped in: “To be able to create something out of nothing that gives people a motive to party has got to be the biggest drive of it all I think. Just to be able to to make sure other people have a good time out of something that we love to do: we love to put work in and make songs but when people come up to us and have a good time with it, and when other people other than the band can have a good time with it as well, that’s pure inspiring man.”
The conversation drifted to aspirations for the band in five years, Zach humorously answered: “I wanna be fucking inside out, upside down at Glasto or something mate, underneath that fucking triangle, imagine that, that would be crazy!” He then modestly lowered his wishes, “but that’s wishful, in five years time if I’m still doing it and I’m doing it to no one, I don’t give a shit, I’ll still do it.”
MY MAIN DREAM WOULD BE CORRUPTING THE MAINSTREAM AND TURNING THEM ALL INTO BIG DUB AND HIPHOP HEADS, BUT THAT'S A BIT ASPIRATIONAL
Ambitiously George said how that isn’t even wishful thinking and that is where the band is heading, though Zach responded: “No no, I like to be wishful you know me, I’m just a cynic to the very end, I know we might get there but for now, if all else fails, it’s fun isn’t it. That’s why I think it transfers so well to audiences because we’re having fun, they’re having fun, it’s mutual you know, that’s why I like it.”
“My main dream would be corrupting the mainstream and turning them all into big dub and hiphop heads, but that’s a bit aspirational.” George exclaimed, “just to be able to get played on the radio and to be able to tour, supporting big bands and then after we supported big bands, becoming the big bands. It’s that dream that every musician has, is that they just want to make sure they can have a sustainable career, and that’s where I see it. I just wanna be able to make sure I can make waves for the rest of my life, that’s all I care about.”
With the rate of venue closures around the UK live music could be seen at risk, although Zach thinks the complete opposite: “I think we’re moving into the golden age, you don’t make money of CDs anymore so live music is going to become more prevalent. It’s gonna be like when they used to record on tape tracks, straight up, it’s too expensive, you don't get enough money for it you know what I mean, live acts are going to become so much better.
“That’s why you’re seeing these live shows now that are incredible. You’re like woah, I gasp at all of them, basically you don’t make enough money off records no more so your live shows got to be kiss ass, so people will come and buy tickets and buy merch.”
George went onto say how their recorded tracks are near enough nothing in comparison to their live shows: “With recorded music, we put a lot of effort into that but it’s like I always tell people, it’s just a fragment of our live shows. We aren’t a recording band, we get in the studio and everyone’s like, fuck, it’s like getting in front of a camera and it just sort of shits you up.
“But then even though the recordings banging, live sets just have pure emotion of the moment, pure energy and that’s something we survive in.”
The final product of the EP is something that they are proud of as George concluded the interview: “I'm really proud of what we did as a collective, because we went from sitting in our singers dad’s house just making noise. We’d just sit in his conservatory just making noise until it sounded good, and none of us knew what the fuck we were doing we were just there trying to have fun. From that, with just the motivation to push it and trying to get somewhere with it we have managed to have signed releases to a record label, we’re getting signed to a booking agent that has people with millions of views on their roaster and then we’re getting played on BBC Radio.”
You can catch G and the Sound Tribe at Christmas time, 4/20, and hopefully main festivals next year!
The band and EP:
@gandthesoundtribe
https://gandthesoundtribe.bandcamp.com/
Matt Knight
November 8th 2018