Magazine Research 28

Interview With Local Band 1

NOVANA

Taslima Tarafdar

Hey guys, as discussed with Sam, I'm an illustration student currently doing a project on making my own magazine, so I plan to include a double page spread about local bands and was hoping you could answer a few questions for me?

What's the name of your band? What's the origin of that name? Have you changed the band's name before?

What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your major influences?

How long have you all known each other? How did you meet?

When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?

Do you have a record label? Are you a member of any music organizations?

Where have you performed? Do you have any upcoming shows?

Which songs do you perform most frequently? Do you ever play any covers? Do you have a set play list?

Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs? Do you think these topics will change over time?

Could you briefly describe the music-making process? (What job roles each member has in making the music)

What are your rehearsals generally like? Do you have a set time each week in which you practice or are rehearsals more spontaneous?

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?

What has been your biggest challenge as a band?

What's your ultimate goal for your band? (Fame and fortune, etc)

What advice do you have for people who want to form their own bands?

Is there anyone you'd like to acknowledge for their help and support?

Any last words?

Don't have to answer them all, can be as brief as you like, don't want to hassle you guys too much!

THANK YOU!

Novana

Hi Sam.

The name of our band is Novana. We are a tribute to Grunge legends, "Nirvana" and we chose our name because we don't have our own van. it has stuck since the beginning in 2010.

Our music is obviously grunge and we do our best to play as many varied Nirvana songs as we can fit into 90 minute sets. We aim to replicate Nirvanas live sets with all of the energy and atmosphere that we can create, not some polished versions of their album recordings. Rob and myself (James) met around 2007 while we were both in separate bands on the local scene. A mutual appreciation of music as a whole but particularly grunge brought us together in the end. Sam was introduced to us by a mutual friend and we thought he would be the perfect third member of the group.

The band started in late 2010 with the aim of bringing a better tribute to Nirvana than had previously been done, and we quickly began collecting testimonials from die hard Nirvana fans as well as venues and promoters across the country. We are all big Nirvana fans ourselves, so we aim to please true fans by giving what we think the real Nirvana would give. Although I (James) do talk a little too much during sets!

Being a tribute band, we aren't signed to any labels or agencies. We just do all the work ourselves and feel much better for it!

To date we have played amazing venues such as the O2 Academies across the country, Central Station in Wrexham is a fantastic place, 53 Degrees in Preston and festivals such as Stormin' The Castle in Durham. We also play fairly regularly in Stockton at either KU Bar or Georgian Theatre. We love KU! coming up, funnily enough, we're at KU on 22nd March, Camden Jazz Cafe on 3rd April, Bristols The Fleece on 4th April, Yorks The Duchess on 5th April and then the 02 Academies in Birmingham on 11th April, Liverpool on 17th April and finally Sheffield on 25th April! We can't wait!

We tend to mix and match our set list depending on where we're playing, what type of venue it is and what type of night we feel it could be. All of Nirvana's hits will usually be played, but the set around those songs will be a complete mix up of b-sides and rarities to try to accommodate for all Nirvana fans.

Obviously Nirvana wrote these songs 20 and 30 something years ago but even for today's youth, the lyrics and meanings of each song are still as poignant as they ever were. Nirvana's songs will live on for a long time if not forever but this is why we do what we do. To promote these songs and the music to people that are too young to remember or who may never have had a chance to hear the original band.

Between the three of us being in many different bands, it became hard for us to rehearse regularly so now if we want to play a song that we may not have played in a while, we basically listen to the songs at home and just thrash them out on the night. We may not be the most talented of musicians but we are certainly tight enough and capable of hitting out songs that are so good, they're hard to forget.

Since we started, we've played that many gigs together and we play for so long that it was always going to be easy to be tight. We love playing together and we are all great friends out side of the band so it was straight forward for us to develop the connection we have when we play together.

As a tribute band, the hardest thing for us to do was to nail the right sound. Nirvana were made up of three people that had a great understanding of each other and were all amazing musicians in their own way. Dave Grohl could destroy the kit by playing so hard and fast, Krist picked out some awesome melodies on his bass and Kurt had his own way of playing his guitar, not to mention his blood curdling screaming, full of angst and pain. Add all that together and you're going to be criticised ruthlessly for trying to copy it!

Our ultimate goal is just to keep going, playing more gigs and hopefully presenting people with an opportunity to hear and see a live gig by a band that they already know and love.

If someone wanted advice from us about starting a band, I think the only good advice is to make sure the reason you're doing it is for the music and enjoyment of performing and make sure you're friends otherwise you're going to end up enemies pretty quickly!

We'd like to thank Matt Reeves for his original taking part in the group, Pat and Jody for helping us get started, and Grumpy Pete Till for being our Tour Manager, guitar tech and driver for so long. Also, we'd like to thank every promoter that has asked us to play in the past. It's nice to meet so many new people and it is largely down to these guys. Plus Jukebox Jimmy. Just cos! And we wouldn't have any work if wasn't for all of Nirvana's true fans! Thank you all for your comments and praise over the years. We hope to do you all justice! We love you all and we'll see you all as soon as we can!

THANK YOU!

Hope this is ok for you Sam! cheers

James x

Taslima Tarafdar

Haha my names not Sam, 'as discussed with Sam' - i meant i'd spoken to sam already, i'm Taz,

thank you for your help though! i appreciate you helping me out!

Novana

Haha sorry! No problem though, Taz. Thank you