South Essex collective Weirdgear may only have been cropping up on gig posters and at your local venue in recent months, but they've been making music together for a whole lot longer! Unique in that they make dance/electro music without the aid of computers, the four-piece took time from their new-found gigging/rehearsing schedule to discuss their music and the Essextronica movement that's currently spawning a host of interesting artists performing at clubs and music nights in the area...

In your own words, you make 'dance music or music to dance to without computers'. How did you come to create this kind of music. If you are influenced by any artists, who are they?
Well, in the starting phase of the band; Paul W and Lee were heavily into Detroit Techno, Old School Hip Hop / Electro and Indie Dance, things like Saint Etienne, Eric B and Rakim, Carl Craig, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, David Holmes and many others besides like early Roxy Music, Brian Eno's solo work, Talking Heads / Tom Tom Club...even Kraftwerk and the French Music Scene from Jean Jacques Perrey to François K, some stupidly obscure music too, as time has progressed all four of us just suck up a load of styles and different artists. We could simply list too many bands for words; early Human League, Daft Punk, Air – we’re off again on another musical tangent. We all have some common musical interests but have our own unique takes on what we enjoy too. Some of the earlier artists mentioned in their infancy were not making music when things like MIDI or computers were even invented, we had all dabbled with computers but found it an unsatisfactory time-consuming experience so decided to buy up as many cheap, old pieces of equipment that were readily available and allow you to interact, instantly making music. It‘s nice to have a proper band dynamic with all the joys that come with that, but no egos like lead singers, lead guitarists, mental drummers – that’s like too much stress, let alone our respective inabilities to pick up or play guitars too ( 'cept Dave!!).
Can you tell us a little about the equipment you use – do you use modern technology or rely on older synthesizers etc. to create your sound?Is your name an attempt to reflect this?
The equipment we use are all analogue keyboards, drum machines and accessible musical equipment - knobs and buttons and switches - very hands-on, so simply either Mono or Stereo jack outputs into our mixing desk - just like a guitar would plug in....the oldest piece of equipment is from about 1973 (MINIKORG 700S) then ranging mostly through the 70's and 80's collection of Roland kit, some rare and random items and finishing up with the MicroKorg from 2002 (though has MIDI capability we do use only the analogue outputs on this one). WeirdGear is a three-fold name, of which we will only divulge one!! The other two we welcome your guesses, answers on a postcard!! Yes the equipment is unusual, so yes WeirdGear has additional meaning to us..

The above extract is part of a much longer interview which appeared in issue 6 of Noisy fanzine (Winter 2007), and is still available to buy here. Weirdgear are behind Working Classes a club night that offers experimental electronica in Leigh on Sea - the next event is a 'Christmas Party' on Friday December 5th 2009, £3 entry.

South Essex five-piece Trash Monroe were one of the first bands ever featured in Noisy fanzine, and after much gigging, recording and one or two line-up adjustments, the band are still rocking stages across Essex and London on a regular basis. Below is an extract from an interview with lead singer Melany Dantes in 2005 (published in our first issue), preceded by an edited extract of a review of the band's third release, 2008's Batesian Mimicry, taken from issue six of Noisy.

“The rate at which Southend's Trash Monroe knock out new material is phenomenal - pitch up at any gig nowadays and chances are the set will consist of any number of amazing new tracks ready to hypnotise you with their beauty and ability to rock in equal measure, their latest CD, therefore, serves as a snapshot of the goth/rock band's output over the past 18 months or so, making up a valuable part of what's turning out to be an incredible back catalogue.
The band’s more recent material simply crackles with energy meaning the record really gathers pace towards the end – the frenzied ‘Sinergie’ and building live set closer ‘Venus Envy’ both manage to marry catchy melodies with heavy riffs, the latter positively spitting bile whilst whispering sweet nothings in every line ('I hate you so much/maybe we should fuck') appropriately closes the latest chapter of what will hopefully be a very long story for this incredible five-piece.”

How would you describe Trash Monroe's music to someone who hasn't heard you before?
Melany: I always say it's melodic rock, but it's got more of a punk edge to it and also it's a bit heavier than rock so it's very difficult to pin it down. I couldn't answer that - I would have to say come and see us to find out, I suppose!
Some of your lyrics are really personal - they seem to be really influenced by personal relationships, is that where you get most of your inspiration for songs?
I always write about what I've been through rather than something I don't know much about, because I think if you write about your personal experiences then in years to come that song will always mean something to you whereas if you write about someone else's experience it probably won't mean as much to you. I do just generally go from experiences I've had and relationships I've had and hope that people will relate to it in some way.

For up-to-date news, visit Trash Monroe's myspace page. There are many clips of live performances on the band's official youtube channel. July 2008 sees the band perform at the Cambridge Rock Festival and support The Wolfmen at London's 333 club.
Issue one of Noisy fanzine is now sold out, however issue 6, featuring the full review of Batesian Mimicry is still available to purchase here.
Above photo of Melany onstage taken by Shadow Lord.

Some of your lyrics have a slightly political tone, 'Asleep At The Wheel', for example, being described as "a call to arms and an attack on the apathy that plagues middle England" - are social issues what motivate you to write songs, are there other factors?
Martin: Well, both myself and Richard have studied Politics and Sociology, so it is bound to have some sort of bearing on our lyrics. But to be honest it is pretty difficult to work explicitly political themes into songs without sounding clunky, so we tend not to align ourselves with any particular movement. As much as I love the Manics, I always thought the Cuban expedition was somewhat cringe-inducing - watching as they hobnobbed with Castro whilst drinking Coca-Cola.
Although our politics are generally pretty liberal, I'd hate us to be regarded as one of those clichéd leftist bands that don't really have a clue what they're talking about. Asleep at the Wheel is as much an attack on them as anyone, I think people should just learn to think for themselves and develop their own opinions.

This feature appeared in issue 2 of Noisy fanzine (Autumn 2005), read the entire interview by downloading the issue FREE here (PDF file).

The interview took place around the time of the band's debut EP release I Burnt Down the Family Business on Fierce Panda records. Absent Kid have just released new album entitled Misadventure (February 2008) available from outlets including cdbaby.com. Please visit the band's website for more details.

Caleb's sound is rather unique, their gentle, folk-like stylings setting them apart from the majority of unsigned bands currently playing around the Southend area. Phil nods, “we like to think of ourselves as a darker version of The Magic Numbers” he adds. When asked “if their music was a fruit or vegetable what would it be and why?” Dan replies cryptically “a tomato” because it's often mistaken for/confused with something it's not. Despite being a hard to pigeon-hole, unsigned act, Caleb are doing remarkably well popularity-wise, this is probably best demonstrated online, where their myspace.com account has a whopping 36,892 friends! “We'll be friends with pretty much anyone who asks us” laughs Phil, “as long as they aren't overly evil!”

This feature appeared in issue 3 of Noisy fanzine (Spring 2006), the band were also interviewed in issue 7 (Summer 2008). The interview took place in December 2005. The band still have lots of myspace friends.

Caleb on myspace - the band have recently made a selection of songs available for free download via the site.

Photo: left-right: Dan (guitar, vocals), Phil (percussion, backing vocals) and Elyza (vocals, Keys). Photo taken by Sophia during a session at Goldmaster studios Leigh, before this interview took place.

Noisy: There's a plethora of ideas and politics in each and every one of your lyrics, including anti-Americanism, criticism of government and media etc. But if there was just one sentiment that someone seeing you live/listening to your CDs could come away with, what would it be?
Jez: Think things through!
Matt: It doesn't sound very rock does it – “be sensible”!
Jez: It's a combination of being political and living your life to the full, and in order to do that you need to know things, you need to question stuff because in the real world people will try and rip you off and fuck you over left, right and centre. That's the reality of the world and you've just got to know who's doing what and why. The feeling from the band you'd get... underdogs? Sort of a combination with the political side that you are against everybody. I think you have to feel like that to have that kind of grit, that kind of passion.

This interview appeared in issue 5 (May 2007) of Noisy fanzine. In early 2008, F451 announced their split, with frontman Jez going on to perform solo and John and Matt forming new band The Library Suits.

Photo: Jez (vocals/guitar) at The Old Courthouse, Stanford Le Hope, Essex, a few hours after this interview took place! Taken by Sophia.

You seem to be making music that's quite different from a lot of other bands in Essex - how do audiences react to you and do you prefer to play in London rather than this county?
Jesse: We've only played a handful of shows so far, but everywhere we've played, the audiences have been great. I really expected the crowds at The Dirty Water Club in London to be tough to please, just on account that The DWC only plays host to garage rock bands, so the regulars will have no doubt seen it all before, but they were great. They really seemed to like it. I definitely think we sound better live than on record. It seems to be very difficult to get gigs these days, but we do prefer London, as there seems to be a greater following for garage rock there.
Something I really like about a lot of retro/psychobilly/rockabilly bands is their use of cartoons/retro images and cult artists on album sleeves, posters and flyers - I noticed some flyers/logos on your website - who does the artwork for them and do you have any plans on getting artist(s) involved in your promotional material?
Jesse: I've done all the artwork so far, but I'd love for somebody like Frank Kozik to do some flyers for us one day. You should check out his work.

This feature appeared in issue 5 of Noisy fanzine (May 2007). Check out the band's myspace page and website for news and downloads.