In Search of The Needles

Posted on 22nd Aug 06 by Contributor | 0

Artist: The Needles"""Interview
Author: Jason Golden

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The Needles" hailing from Aberdeen" are Dave Dixon "guitar / lead vocals"" Paul Curtiss "bass"" Richey Wolfe "keyboards / vocals" and Johnny Wolfe "drums / vocals". Their approach to making music draws from the likes of Gene Vincent" Eddie Cochran and The Kinks" classic rock"n"roll" fresh as the day it was born. Current causing a stir on the UK"s musical airwaves and with their debut album " In Search of The Needles" due out soon" Drop"d caught up with lead singer Dave Dixon to get the low down"

So sum The Needles for me in one sentence"
The Needles is a pop group like they used to taste.

Where and when was your first show" and how did that come together"
Our first show was in our hometown of Aberdeen at an Internet caf". That was back in the day when it was only Goths that knew about the Internet and we"d yet to discover the forth chord. Now we know about all sorts of chords and everyone has a website. The years have not been wasted.
The show came together cause although we weren"t Goths ourselves" we just knew a Goth.

What"s the current scene in Scotland like" Bands like yourselves and ShitDisco are showing some real promise"
Living in Glasgow as we do now you see all manner of fine groups. Its always had great venues and audiences for gigs which I think helps the scene a lot" and there"s loads of energy coming from bands and people around bands to get off their arses" stop moaning and make records. Current favorites include The Marsial Arts" Titus Gein" The Owsley Sunshine" The Low Miffs" PopUp and The Starlets.

Ye have been described as a cross between Buddy Holly" The Clash and The Beach Boys yet the music sounds fresh and modern. Tell me" were ye exposed you to a lot of different styles of music at an early age"
We"ve always shared a love of glorious pop magic and kick"ass rock"n"roll and have generally found much of contemporary music wanting in these departments. Maybe our love of music came from our parents but I"m not sure. They do like some awful rubbish sometimes.

How does the band approach the whole song"writing process"
Paul Needles generally comes up with the melodies and I try my best not to ruin them with my whingeing about girls that don"t fancy me or good times I don"t have.
Occasionally I"ll have a brilliant song about a ghost who makes people uncontrollably tell jokes or a duck that knows the truth. These songs will never see the light of day" though" as Paul Needles wouldn"t know genius if it pissed on his breakfast. Which it frequently does.

When is the album coming out" How did it feel to finish the debut album"
It feels pretty good now that there"s a bit of distance between the process and the article. I couldn"t listen to it for a while without only hearing what I didn"t like about it. I"m pretty chuffed with it all in all though.

I know the band is due to tour the UK soon but do ye have any plans to come to Ireland"
We"d love to come Ireland. Hopefully Ireland will have us sometime soon.

Your live shows are known to be wild affairs. Can it take a lot out of you"
I guess it"s always a case of tapping into the energy of the music itself and letting that feed the physical energy required. Bit of a chicken/egg business I suppose but we"ve managed it somehow.

On your ideal tour which bands would ye have as support"
King Liar And The Brutes. No question about it.

If you could have covered any song what song would it be" And why"
We do a storming Blue Bayou by Roy Orbison. Not sure why exactly as its already pretty bloody great in the first place" which is often the problem with doing covers.
We may yet find a good song and make it great. We"ll keep you updated on our progress.

Do you have an all time favourite album/artist" You got to pick one"
It"s hard to say favourite album as a lot of my favourite artists are from an era before albums were the thing. A lot of my favourite albums are collections of singles eg. Elvis" Buddy Holly" Sam Cooke" Flamin" Groovies so I dunno really.
If the Needles were one brain its favourite album would probably be A Hard Day"s Night by the Beatles. But I don"t think it"s as good as The Best of Buddy Holly. It"s pretty good though.

Who are you listening to at the moment"
A new guy called Dan Sartain who sings about snakes. That and Led Zeppelin 4.

What have ye got planed for the next few months"
Heaps of gigs punctuated with ill health and arguments. Maybe a wee bit of sightseeing as well if we find the time.

Finally" What"s the best advice you would offer any aspiring bands out there"
Don"t let the bastards get you down. Always carry a clean towel.

The Needles release their debut album "In Search of The Needles" through Dangerous Records via Pinnacle on 4th September. To find out more log on to their extremely cool web"site www.theneedles.net or to hear a few tracks before the album is released check out www.myspace.com/needlesuk