Who is answering the questions?
All of us!
Kitty- Lead Vocals & Guitars
Jonyx- Lead Guitar, Additional Vocals and Artwork
Federico- Bass, Backing Vocals and Production
Torben- Drums
How did Novacrow originally form?
Kitty: The four of us united through a combined thirst for heavy riffs and a love of acting like idiots onstage. It evolved from a project of mine and Jonyx’s and we found Federico and Torben after moving to Liverpool.
How did you get to the band name Novacrow , and what does it mean to you?
Jonyx: It happened when trying to help fellow band Tigerpunch come up with their name. The idea was to pick an animal and then poke blindly at a dictionary for a second word to see what stuck, when ‘Nova’ popped up. You could call it fate, or just the product of a booze-fuelled literary expedition.
For an unfamiliar reader, how would you describe the sound of Novacrow?
Kitty: We’re a satisfying blend of hard rock, metal and sleaze. Think Joan Jett with zombies.
Federico: I’d say we’re more like a tantalising choir of sexy angels whispering sweet nothings in your ear. Coincidentally, that’s also how I’d describe our image.
Touring wise, what are you getting up to this year?
Federico: We are releasing our EP and then have lots of gigs lined up all over the UK, with plenty more to come. Already announced are:
SATURDAY 27 February, Engine Rooms, Skelmersdale.
SATURDAY 12 March, EP LAUNCH, Parr Street- Studio 2, Liverpool.
SATURDAY 19 March, The Nib, Cornforth.
SATURDAY 16 April, The Crew, Nuneaton.
FRIDAY 22 April, The Lincoln Imp, Scunthorpe.
SUNDAY 24 April, The Fox & Goose, Southport.
SATURDAY 7 May, The Rifleman, Stalybridge.
SATURDAY 14 May, MOSH AGAINST CANCER festival, The Magnet, Liverpool.
www.novacrowofficial.com events for more info
Can you give us a couple of personal touring highlights since your formation?
Torben: It has got to be Green Jellÿ (previously known as Green Jellö) for me. We supported them last year and the atmosphere was amazing. The crowd were so enthusiastic and the performance put on by Bill Manspeaker and his punk rock puppet show was incredible. There is something about a mosh pit where nobody can see anything through the giant foam masks they are wearing which is indescribably awesome.
Federico: I loved our single release for Fight The Horde!!! We played the (now sadly closed) Lomax with our buddies from Tigerpunch, and the whole show was one big party. The venue was packed and everyone was having a blast, then Tigerpunch came on with inflatable balloon animals and invited us all on stage, it was pretty damn crazy! I can’t wait for our EP launch show in March, because we are going ALL OUT and it will be one hell of a night. We’ve got bands, burlesque and we’re going to be doing zombie face painting- to match the music video we released a few months ago for Fight The Horde!!! <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iDOKrZ20YE> It will be on the 12 March 2016, at Parr Street Studio 2 in Liverpool. You can grab a ticket at: www.novacrowofficial.com/ep (ONLY £3!)
How does a song normally come together for Novacrow?
Kitty: With all of the tracks on our EP, I initially wrote the melodies, guitar parts, lyrics and the structure, then we’ve added to the songs as a band. In some of our newer tracks, the other members are getting a lot more involved, so I’m excited to see where collaborating takes us. Once you start playing tracks live, bits inevitably evolve or change. Other things happen by magic, like the kazoo solo. We incorporated that into our track Fat Frog, after we added a sweetass kazoo solo into a cover of Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’ and the crowd went crazy.
What can you tell us about the themes & influences behind your upcoming EP ‘Black Syrup’?
Kitty: I tend to focus my song-writing around themes, or if a particular phrase or image sticks in my head. ‘Fat Frog’ is named after a shitty drink from a Liverpool nightclub and the lyrics describe a particularly grim night out. Musically, I wanted something with a gigantic chorus and a bass riff hook that makes you want to thrust your pelvis uncontrollably. ‘Fight The Horde!!!’ is about zombies, inspired from when I was playing The The Last of Us. The guitars, melodies and harmonies came together so easily and this is one of my favourites to play live. I also love this track because the music video, which was filmed in the style of a bad zombie movie/Scooby Doo episode, was a lot of fun putting together. ‘Set in Stone’ and ‘Colourless’ fit together as a pair and I wanted to create a real contrast to the rest of the EP. I wrote the lyrics after reading a lot of Haruki Murakami, who uses a lot of interesting images of space and colour in his novels. 9) What can you tell us about the writing & recording process for this EP (where it was recorded/who produced it etc!)
Federico: I produced and engineered the whole EP. Because I’ve been producing the band’s previous releases and demos, working on this EP wasn’t necessarily something new but rather an improvement on what we had already achieved in terms of production. I knew exactly what kind of sound we were looking for, so I could focus on getting the best performances out of the other guys in the band. (The second something is even remotely funny in the studio, Kitty can’t sing more than 3 words without cracking up with laughter, so that has to be taken into consideration, haha.)
How did you get to the title ‘Black Syrup’, and what does it mean to you?
Kitty: Black Syrup is a description of the texture of latex. The lyrics are deliberately vague. It’s one of my favourite tracks to perform live, as it’s one of the few songs that I put down my guitar and get to prowl around the audience. It’s got a great sleazy burlesque feel to it.
How would you say the sound of Novacrow has grown/changed since you first started out?
Kitty: I put together the first Novacrow demo with a very different style of project in mind. It has definitely evolved and I’m excited to see where we take things next. I was trying out a far more bluesy-style rock band, with multiple female vocalists, but I’m far happier with this. I love the freedom with writing for Novacrow, because there are no restrictions of genre. I don’t worry if something is going to sound ‘too heavy’ or ‘not heavy enough’.
Also, how did the EP artwork for ‘Black Syrup’ come together, and what does it mean to you?
Jonyx: For me, ‘Black Syrup’ conjures up images of sexy black latex and freak show themes, so I wanted to create artwork to reflect that. The artwork of Batman was a big influence in style, particularly the animated series and comic books. After trying a few colour schemes, I loved the contrast between the green and purple, it gives a nice toxic feel and is very eye-catching.
What do you want ‘Black Syrup’ to do for the representation of Novacrow?
Kitty: We’ve deliberately picked a solid set of really diverse songs, so listeners can get a good indication of what the band is about and try and capture the (delicious) flavour of our live shows. There’s heavy riffs, juicy harmonies, fat choruses and a kazoo, what more could you ask for?
Federico: It’s gonna show people that we’re not just a bunch of amazingly good looking individuals, we’re also a bunch of amazingly good SOUNDING individuals.
What is the music scene like to be a part of in Liverpool?
Federico: Like anywhere, it has its ups and downs, but ultimately it’s pretty great. Some people may not get our tongue-in-cheek attitude, but we’re getting a lot of interest now.
Kitty: Liverpool is quite an unusual city in terms of its music scene. It seems like nearly everybody here is a musician and a lot of the local promoters have their work cut out. As a band, it just means you have so much more competition and you really have to go all out to make a name for yourself. We’ve had so many fantastic shows here though and are finding ourselves becoming involved in really exciting upcoming projects.
What sets you apart from other upcoming bands?
Kitty: We put on a fun and ridiculous show, but we’re not just a novelty band. We put a lot of care into the material and then we are free to be stupid performing chimps onstage. Putting on a memorable show is SO important, because you need to give people a reason to want to come and see you!
Torben: Let’s not offend the chimps.
What else can we expect to see from Novacrow in 2016?
Kitty: Gigs, gigs and more gigs. On top of that, we will be working on new material and we’ve got a new music video scheduled, which I am very excited about.
Torben: We’ve got new songs in the pipeline, some of my favourites so far. One is a great throwback to the sleazy feel of Black Syrup, so keep an eye and an ear out!
www.novacrowofficial.com
