{"id":23446,"date":"2016-09-30T11:59:28","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T10:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=23446"},"modified":"2016-10-04T17:43:00","modified_gmt":"2016-10-04T16:43:00","slug":"oxford-road-show-frank-turner-drummer-nigel-powell-tours-sad-song-co-solo-album-in-amber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2016\/09\/oxford-road-show-frank-turner-drummer-nigel-powell-tours-sad-song-co-solo-album-in-amber\/","title":{"rendered":"OXFORD ROAD SHOW – Frank Turner Drummer Nigel Powell Tours Sad Song Co. Solo Album In Amber"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"in-amber-cover\"<\/p>\n

Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls drummer Nigel Powell is moving centre stage to tour the latest album by his Sad Song Co. solo project.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Multi-instrumentalist Powell, who’s also sticksman with Oxford’s Dive Dive, will be showcasing SSC’s upcoming\u00a0album in amber.<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Recorded in just five days, with the aid of\u00a0Radiohead\u00a0<\/strong>engineer Graeme Stuart <\/strong>and producer\u00a0George Shilling <\/strong>of\u00a0My Bloody Valentine fame<\/strong>, in amber<\/em>\u00a0is described as a loose concept album based around narratives of people in and around an old people’s home.<\/p>\n

Each track is\u00a0accompanied by prose writings that seek to enhance and enrich the songs and the album will be packaged with specially-commissioned photo art by\u00a0Alyssa Nilsen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

in amber is<\/em>\u00a0Powell’s third outing as Sad Song Co. and has been described as his most powerful work since\u00a0Almost Here –<\/strong><\/em> the 1998 album he recorded as part of\u00a0Unbelievable Truth<\/strong>, alongside\u00a0Andy Yorke<\/strong>, brother of\u00a0Thom<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

During a break from tour preparations, Nigel told\u00a0Matt Catchpole<\/strong> about the making off\u00a0in amber<\/em>, his seriously ‘uncool’ influences and Oxford’s tight-knit music scene.<\/p>\n

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Sad Song Co.’s Nigel Powell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Old People\u2019s homes are an unusual choice of inspiration \u2013 what made you opt for such an un-rock and roll subject?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first songs I finished for the record was Moment Of Clarity<\/em><\/strong>, which was inspired by the experience of my mother looking after an Alzheimer\u2019s patient near where we lived when I was young, and Meet You There,<\/strong><\/em> which dealt with saying goodbye to my mother on her deathbed. I find lyric writing hard, so taking those and giving the rest of the record a framework helped me focus the rest of the songs and get them finished. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0As for it being un-rock and roll, I\u2019m well past the time where I\u2019ll ever be considered cool, so I\u2019m blessed with the freedom to do whatever I feel artistically excites me!<\/p>\n

in amber<\/em> was recorded in five days \u2013 did you get any sleep? Was it always the idea to work that fast?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For this album there was a limit on the budget. I wanted to work with Graeme (Stuart, engineer) again, and work in a studio rather than my bedroom, so that dictated the timescale. Luckily I\u2019ve got very used to working fast. The early Frank Turner albums were recorded at breakneck speed, as was the album I produced for Belgian artist Milow<\/strong>. I was very well prepared, and like to focus hard, so I guess I do enjoy it!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s your third album \u2013 how do you think your music has evolved since the previous two?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is by far my favourite. Weird, given the name I make music under, but I finally understand something Andy (Unbelievable Truth singer) used to say, which was he couldn\u2019t make music when he was down. I was pretty depressed when making the first two albums (m<\/strong>iseryguts\u00a0<\/i><\/b>and\u00a0Poignant Device<\/strong>)<\/em>, for different reasons at the different times. I\u2019m in a better place now, and it seems like it made me much more able to hear the music, feel where the songs wanted to go, and help take them there. Before, I was trying to hear through a buzz. They\u2019re not bad albums, just not with as clear a vision as in amber<\/em>.<\/p>\n

How would you describe your sound for the uninitiated?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s slightly arty pop \/ rock with a melancholic tinge. Other artists who I maybe sound like a bit are Elbow<\/strong> and Peter Gabriel<\/strong>, possibly a bit of Talk Talk<\/strong>. Really I wanted to be in early Genesis<\/strong>, but that\u2019s just not what comes out when I write!<\/p>\n

What do you enjoy most – writing or performing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I suppose it has to be performing, but that\u2019s mostly by necessity because I spend the vast majority of my life on tour with Frank Turner And The Sleeping Souls, so if I didn\u2019t enjoy it it would be a miserable existence. But I do find writing very deeply internally satisfying in a way that performing sometimes doesn\u2019t satisfy. As for doing solo gigs, I haven\u2019t done any for quite a few years, so I\u2019ll have to wait to answer that until I\u2019ve done my upcoming tour!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favourite venue?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We played Red Rocks <\/strong>(amphitheatre near Colorado) this summer, and that was spectacular. But honestly it\u2019s not a venue that makes a gig, it\u2019s an audience. I played a show backing Mark Mulcahy<\/strong> in a tiny upstairs bar in Brighton some years back, there were about 20 people there and it was amazing. That\u2019s what I look for.<\/p>\n

What does Sad Song Co. give you that Frank Turner and Dive Dive can\u2019t?<\/strong><\/p>\n

With both of those bands I do have to bite my tongue sometimes on how I think things should be, because I know the way I hear things is often not appropriate to what either band does. The Sad Song Co. allows me to try and create what I hear in my head, and express things in as purely \u2018me\u2019 a way as possible.<\/p>\n

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Nigel with Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do you share your Sad Song Co. work with Frank \u2013 what does he think of it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

He has listened to all of it, and seems very appreciative, although sometimes baffled by some of my more \u2018prog\u2019 leanings. I was talking to Jason Isbell <\/strong>(US \u00a0singer-songwriter) about my album while Frank was there, and he said: \u201cYeah, it\u2019s great, although there\u2019s loads of chord changes where\u00a0I have no idea what’s going on!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Oxford music scene seems quite tight knit, with players performing in other groups and so on\u00a0\u2013 is that true or is there a lot of rivalry?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is true, but one of the sadnesses of the success Frank has had, and the subsequent non-stop touring, is that me, along with Ben <\/strong>(Lloyd<\/strong>) and Tarrant <\/strong>(Anderson<\/strong>) from Dive Dive who are also in Frank\u2019s band The Sleeping Souls, are no longer part of that community. Not that we\u2019re not welcome, but people get out of the habit of calling and saying: \u201cHey, want to play on this?\u201d after the third time of you saying: \u201cI\u2019d love to, but I\u2019m in Boise Idaho!\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you think there\u2019s a different vibe to, say London, for example?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think as a musical community London as a whole doesn\u2019t have the same thing, but it does break down into centres. So I know a number of people who play at The Monarch<\/strong> in Camden Town and know each other and help out when someone needs something, and that kind of \u2018local\u2019 scene happens everywhere in the world. Often playing shows in London there\u2019s more a sense of an audience waiting to be impressed though, it must be said. It\u2019s not always the case, but you find more people with crossed arms at the bar trying to find reasons why you\u2019re not so good.<\/p>\n

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With Andy Yorke and Jason Moulster in The Unbelievable Truth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You played on fellow Unbelievable Truth founder Andy Yorke\u2019s solo album \u2013 are you still on good terms? Any chance you\u2019ll play together again?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We were best friends before the band, and we are still so now, although I don\u2019t see him as much as I would like because of touring and him living elsewhere nowadays. I can\u2019t see there ever being any more Unbelievable Truth music happening, but we\u2019re actually just at the moment sorting out a list of cover versions for a friend\u2019s birthday, and Jason, the other member of The Sad Song Co. and the third leg of Unbelievable Truth, is in the band as well. So I think the chances we will play together again are strong!<\/p>\n

What bands first inspired you to get into music, who were your key influences?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The things that first started getting me into wanting to play are sooooo uncool it\u2019s almost not true. Marillion<\/strong> and early Genesis were big influences early on, along with Iron Maiden<\/strong>, IQ<\/strong>, Level 42<\/strong> and INXS<\/strong>. When I met Andy at school he got me into REM<\/strong>, Throwing Muses<\/strong> and Pixies<\/strong>. As a drummer I still desire to be Phil Collins<\/strong> (in 1980), or Rob Ellis<\/strong> from the early 3-piece PJ Harvey<\/strong>. As a musician and a writer I want to be something\u2026 else. Not weird or out there in order to be original, just me quietly doing my thing that is just distinct enough from everything else to satisfy my craving.<\/p>\n

Which current artists do you most admire?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sound And Colour<\/em><\/strong> by Alabama Shakes<\/strong> is a masterpiece, and probably the only thing I listen to at the moment that is related to the flavour of what I do at all. Honningbarna<\/strong> and Major Parkinson<\/strong>, who are both from Norway, are amazing as well. Warpaint<\/strong> are brilliant, and I got given an album by an American band called Looming<\/strong>, who I don\u2019t know much about but it really floated my boat.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your best\u00a0drummer joke?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Did you hear about the drummer who locked his keys in the car? He had to smash the windows to get the bass player out.<\/p>\n