Turns out there’s not much of a music industry in Newcastle. Perhaps, consider Sean and Ewan of Dose, that isn’t such a bad thing: “Newcastle is isolated from London and the corporate world of the music industry down south…This makes it difficult for any band to branch out of the area, so I feel the scene has become very introspective, which is a good thing as it means bands are constantly influencing each other.”
Dose’s particular brand of “noisy art rock” might be unique in the region but they’ve found plenty of kindred spirits: “there is definitely a cohesive group of musicians who feed off each other”. It’s also given them a chance to distance themselves from the political culture of London’s alternative scene: “Despite being politically involved as individuals, we’ve always kept current affairs separate to our music – our lyrics focus mainly on introspection and our own emotions.”
There are trade-offs though. Sean notes that “the area is extremely deprived of creative spaces to work in”, making it difficult to find somewhere to develop their music. They ended up in an empty loft space above a garage full of vintage army tanks. Obviously. “It included all the luxury utilities from running water provided by the leaking ceiling to its very own fungi garden in one corner. There was an abandoned bedroom seemingly frozen from the ’70s in the room next door – its furniture stagnant as the walls and ceiling crumble around it. This became the main inspiration for [debut single] Furniture.”
It might be grim up north, but watch the video for Furniture and you’ll see that there’s definitely life outside the capital.
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