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The Nova Saints - Newfoundland. A track by track guide....
Sugar Coated
Dom Gallagher (guitars): It was a song that after we started practicing it, we all knew it would be the first track on the album whenever we were to record one. It's a bit of a strange track in that it’s very linear and it hasn't got your classic pop structure...
John Banks (bass, vocals): It hasn’t really got a chorus.
Dom: But it doesn't need to. It’s got a very strong lead vocal line and there are riffs being played by all the instruments throughout the track, so over time you listen to it you'll always find something different about it, something that you haven't noticed before. I think it’s sometimes a track we all take a little for granted and forget that this was the track that set us on our way.
John: Yeah, it’s weird because it’s like the quintessential Nova Saints song – the Nova Saints sound – but it’s not really anything like any of our other songs.
High Roller
Dom: I remember Steve coming into the band room one day with the rhythm guitar and vocal for this track. Like most of our songs it came together really quickly and before we knew it we were all playing this track and we had worked nearly all the parts for it.
John: Actually, to be fair, the bass line took a fucking age to come. I never really worked that out until we actually came to record the take that ended up on the Draft EP. There’s also a version knocking about online somewhere without Steve’s chorus vocal on it. I’ve no idea where they got that from...
Dom: We always naturally put this track after Sugar Coated - two quite different songs yet they work really well together.
Take It Or Leave It
John: The seed of both this and Sugar Coated came from Tom. It’s funny because I’m always ragging on him that’s he’s obsessed with the ‘rules’ of music and that songs have to follow certain structures, but he’s probably responsible for two of our most unconventional songs!
Dom: During one of our random recording sessions in our practice room (when we used to just press record and see what happens) we found this piece of music of Tom’s on the computer, which we thought had some potential. After trying to turn it into a song, we found that it lost something and so we just kept it as a piece of music that we could use in our live set. We always thought it would work on the album and we were all pleased with the results.
Whirlpool
Dom: People are always surprised by this track as its one that people wouldn't initially say would be one that we would have written.
John: Scott from Northern Star reckons it sounds like ‘Carnival of Light ‘era Ride. I took that as a compliment - as it was meant!
Dom: I believe there are some very beautiful sections of music in here. It’s a track we hardly play live as we can never do it justice
John: I hope we’ve done it justice here. I would have liked it a bit more Byrdsy. Us in the band love it but I’m not sure everyone will get it. I dunno, I’m just a pessimist! It’s our album though so fuck ‘em!
Dom: One day I'm sure we we’ll nail it live too and hopefully that day will be soon.
Slow Down
John: The first time I ever heard this track it had been demoed pretty much to completion. I knew straight away it would be in our set from then on. A proper ‘shivers down the spine’ moment.
Dom: Tom and Matt did it in an afternoon, we all went in to have a listen, started to play it and that’s really it, it’s hardly changed since the day we first played it.
John: I did put in the vocal line for the second half of the verse. Matt was initially sceptical as he thought it sounded like “Vindaloo” by Fat Les. I probably shouldn’t have admitted that as that’s all you’ll hear now. At least the sitars are in keeping with that theme...
Dom: The vocal on it is great and it’s very much a 'singalong track' if I dare call it that. It’s one that as soon as people hear it, they are able to sing it back to you which is always nice!
The Draft
Dom: I had written this piece of music for a track one day, it had the guitars, bass and drums recorded. John came in, changed the drum pattern, more or less mumbled into the mic making it distorted and that produced The Draft.
John: It started off more Black Rebels or Dandy Warholsy. I just made it more Stoogesy.
Dom: Its one we always play live and as soon as the drums kick in, it makes my hairs stand up.
What Does It Feel Like?
Dom: This was a very early track that we had written, but we never really played it live as we felt it slowed down the set, but we always knew it was going to be on the album. We just started playing it one day and it really came from that. This is the first time we have really put this track down and so to hear it back was great and it’s another that people wouldn't have thought we had in us, but it really works within the album.
John: This might be my favourite song on the album.
Indian Summer
Dom: John had worked out this riff and a couple of the parts for the track, but he was struggling to get a vocal line for it to do it justice.
John: I had the verse but not the chorus. In fact I think the verse melody was the original chorus melody. I moved the verse over to the chorus and came up with the Teenage Fanclub-style chorus.
Dom: This is a really important live song for us and I hope we have captured the live feel for the version on the album.
Lights
Dom: During early stages of songs when we didn't yet have titles for them, we'd just come up with some random things to ensure we remembered them. “Lights” was called “Monday Song” as we originally wrote it on a Monday…..mental hey?
John: There was also a “Saturday Song” and I think a “Sunday Song”.
Dom: It’s another that has hardly changed since that first day we wrote it and its has been included in our live set since.
John: We did transpose it though and because I couldn’t be bothered to work out how to play it two semitones down I used to have a down-tuned bass at the side of the stage that I’d use just for this song. Ahh... the decadent life of a rock star! In the end, probably during one of the 3 minute moments of dead air in our set where I was trying to swap my strap over, I realised what an idiot I must look like and learnt how to play it in the right key instead!
Dom: We all really enjoy playing this one live, though. As soon as the bass and the drums kick in we really do go for it.
I Wouldn't
Dom: I don't think any of us really got this track at the beginning, Matt had written it and we didn't think it would work. After playing it live though, we got a great response and so carried on including it in our set. John calls it our 'Sonic Youth meets Status Quo' moment and I'd have to agree with him.
John: I still don’t totally get this song! But people love it – what can I say: Matt was right!
Ten Year Silence
Dom: Including this one there are 3 different versions of this track that we have recorded. I think, though, we can all agree that this is the version we all wanted, but it took us some time to get there. Normally if a track is giving us this much grief we'd just send it to the graveyard, though with this one we just couldn't stop going back to it. It’s another that we have yet to get right live, though as soon as we do our Krautrock beauty will get its day.
John: There’s a rough mix of this track that goes completely mental at the end which I love, but in the context of the album – especially bearing in mind the ending of the song that follows it – we went for a slightly more restrained mix. We really wanted to think of the album as a whole and how that would work.
The Last Song
John: A bit like “Monday Song” or “Saturday Song”, there is a very logical reason behind the name of this track...
Dom: Believe it or not this is a love song.
John: The lyrics are almost embarrassingly romantic but also pretty sad. I wrote it for my girlfriend at the time - now my wife, so it all worked out in the end! I think it’s the maelstrom at the end that belies the fact that it’s a love song.
Dom: I remember John making a hell of noise one day (which would end up as the outro) and so I joined in. We kind of just jammed it and the first time we did, we just played it and didn't stop playing it. It’s a song we knew would only fit as the last song of the set. We always know that when we play this we just go for it, even if it’s the most terrible show we have ever played, we turn the volume up and sometimes we don't feel like stopping.
TC - It's a monster of an album - we don't want to say any more or spoil the surprise.
We've deleted our comments on each track because we're just not that interested in our own opinions on music - it's personal. It is to us & it will be to you.
Having said that, he album has it's own story & the guys tell it better.
So their tracks - their story.
But we did want to hear what Scott had to say just before the release of Newfoundland, so we'll give him the final say on the album that we know he's both so very proud of & very excited for...
"I first heard The Nova Saints early 2007. After listening to the songs on their myspace I invited them to contribute a track to our next compilation which at the time was Psychedelica 2. Unbeknownst to me John the bass player of the band already had our first compilation and they were already aware of Northern Star so were taken aback to be asked.
They were the last band to get a track back to me. I actually held off finalising the album as I had a gut feeling about them, then they came through with Sugar Coated only a week before it went to press, it was all worth it. It absolutely blew me away. I remember them being concerned if the track was good enough for the album when the reality was it was the best thing that had ever been released on Northern Star. Their passion, attention to detail and aspirations to be the best they possibly can be (without any hint of arrogance) is in line with mine.
I remember going to see them play shortly after the release of Psychedelica 2 time at the Water Rats in London in front of about 10 people yet they appeared oblivious to this fact - if they were aware nobody bothered to tell them there was only 10 people in the room - to them they may as well have been playing Wembley Stadium. It was important for them to sound the best they possibly could for those present and that really endeared them to me. They've been my favourite band ever since.
Now their debut album Newfoundland is set to be released on Northern Star. Our paths have been intertwined since the very start and we've really grown together as band and label. It really couldn't be released on any other record label - it makes perfect sense as a Northern Star album. Its streets ahead of everyone else as I always knew it would be and really is out on its own. My faith in them has never wavered - to me they've always been the first Northern Star band. Just like New Order are to Factory, or Primal Scream to Creation, The Nova Saints are to Northern Star.
To me Newfoundland is the best British debut since The Stone Roses. Forget Definitely Maybe, A Storm In Heaven or whatever the Arctic Monkeys called theirs - The Nova Saints' debut is the real deal. Its timeless, packed with great songs, it sounds more like a Greatest Hits than a debut. Every song on this album would make a killer single... and thats the way it should be. I wouldn't put it out if it was anything less. Its a classic album already in my eyes. It might now be apparent now, it might not be next week but I believe in time this will be appreciated for the classic it truly is. Right now I truly believe we're making history!"
The Nova Saints on Facebook... (http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Nova-Saints/7485767441) The Nova Saints on Myspace... (http://www.myspace.com/novasaints) Northern-Star Records... (http://www.northernstarrecords.com/)
Tags: the nova saints newfoundland steve waterhouse dom gallagher john banks matt goddard tom chillcott i wouldn't northern-star records 2011
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