Northern Scene by ninaelarge

NORTHERN SCENE

By Nina Large

northern scene ‘Northern Scene’ is an in depth exploration into individuals in the North East music scene. The North East is where I grew up and the live music scene has become a very big part of my life. I am very proud of my roots, as are many people from the North. The North East music scene is very small compared to the likes of music capitals such as Manchester and Leeds. However, over the years venues and musicians have battled with lack of funding, small population and little recognition to pull the live music scene back up to its glory years. Although there is still a long way to go until the live music scene in the North East is widely recognised as successful, people from the North are already celebrating their passion and support for live music every day. This project will explore and celebrate people in the region who have a passion for the live music scene and have stories to tell about their experiences. The making of ‘Northern Scene’ came at the time of the global coronavirus pandemic. Musicians and photographers from across the region came together to put forward their own work to make this book possible. In a time of uncertainty, this project has been resilient and has overcome obstacles and transformed ‘Northern Scene’ into a book that many people feel they have become a part of. Each person shown in this book has had the chance to submit photographs, old and new, that they feel best represent themselves and the stories they want to tell – making this project special to each and every person involved. We hope that when you read this book you get a real feel for the North East music scene and those who make it what it is today. *All photography by Nina Large unless otherwise stated

@northern_scene

https://ninaelisabethlarge.wixsite.com/northernscene 3

COntents Fiona Duncan

p. 6

Jay landman

p. 56

Phillip Lawrence

p. 20

andrew muckles

p. 60

Patrick Gosling

p. 26

charlie soulsby

p. 64

Connor franklin

p. 30

ben richardson

p. 68

lidya balaban

p. 32

ethan burford

p. 74

kyle mccalum

p. 38

jonny wilkinson

p. 76

j.spinkz

p. 42

melanie berman

p .80

andy szandrowski

p. 46

greg semple

p. 84

Fiona Duncan Slalom D were started sometime around 2017 by Craig Macbeth. He never really intended Slalom D to be a band that played live but he wanted to record songs to release digitally. After a few line-up changes he was pushed by newer members of the band to consider playing gigs. Craig was a very outspoken bloke, a very political activist who worked with homeless people. However, he wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a natural front person and really struggled performing live. We have that in common. Slalom D started gigging with Gary Roberts on guitar, Tony Lindstedt on bass and Iain Murray on drums. They soon established themselves as a hard hitting, political punk band with songs about mental illness, the Greenfell tragedy and Sunderlandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s industrial history. They were extremely popular with their home crowd and began branching out for gigs. Craig became an excellent albeit reluctant front man and their gigs were electric. The atmosphere was always exciting. Unfortunately, last year we lost Craig and Slalom D lost their driving force and lyricist.

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s where I come in.

I was a good friend of Craig’s and shared his passion for politics. The band were booked at the Ivy House to play a gig in the May after Craig’s passing and as a collective, we decided to go ahead with the gig. Six of his friends would sing two songs each and the gig would raise funds for a local radio station that had always championed the band. It was a fitting send off and a great night to remember our friend. I sang two songs despite never ever singing before or being on stage. When we all went home that night we presumed that was the end of the band. However, the next morning two members of the band turned up at my house and said they’d like to continue with me as the vocalist. I was blown away and very dubious, I had no talent whatsoever and certainly no experience.

“I said yes mainly to keep Craig’s memory alive and do his words justice”

Craig had some brilliant songs and it felt right that there was a way people could still hear them. After saying yes, the band dumped me right in the deep end. They had a recording session booked for two days later and a gig at the O2 Academy in Newcastle two weeks later. It was a massive shock but we did it and I’m really proud of the single we produced and how the gig went. The single features some of Craig’s spoken words on it so it’s fitting that we are both on that release.

It felt like a baton had been passed.

So my gigs are into double figures now. I still find it massively nerve wracking but it is getting a bit easier. I love that we still get a reaction to our message and that people want to see us. It’s great to see so many women in our audience too - Slalom D are a real equality band and I think having a female singer really emphasises that. We’ve written five new songs, which was another challenge as I’d never had to do that before but so far so good. I’ve written about the refugee crisis, a song called G.L.A.M (go look at me) about women fighting to be safe and 588 about Russian female bomber pilots in World War II. It still amazes me that anyone is interested but I’m loving writing and trying to reach people who might be isolated or struggling. I love that feeling of unity you get at gigs when you are with people who feel the same as you about injustices and social issues. I loved it as an audience member and I love it even more as a singer!

Slalom D performing at the Ivy House, Sunderland. March 14th 2020.

Roy Robinson, Fiona Duncanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s partner, watches from the crowd in the Ivy House pub, proudly recording Fiona perform.

Roy Robinson at the Ivy House, Sunderland.

Phillip Lawrence (Philth Like) I first got involved in the current hip hop scene in the North East about 4 or 5 years ago. I’ve written and recited poetry since I was a little boy and was first exposed to rapping in a North East cadence back in 1999, 2000s, at some local shows put on by some mates; it was like a light going off in my head. I never shared my shit back then. Life moved on until a few years ago when I was introduced to some of the new North East members by one of the older heads and one of my longest standing friends One10%. In meeting them I started to get invited to jams and events and I’d jump up on the open mic sections at the likes of Independent, Arch 16, the Sage, as well as others. Rapping poems that had been written without a beat in mind. People seemed to dig it and I’ve been perfecting my craft ever since.

Probably one of my funniest stories to date was the buildup to the Devlin gig. So, I was supporting Devlin last summer and I turned up with Lydn out of SQUARMS and KV$HNOODLE and we go backstage and a couple of the other support acts were in one of the green rooms. On the table is a bottle of Hennessy and some bottles of coke in the fridge. Now, between me arriving and the promoter coming into the room, that bottle of Hennessy got opened and a couple of glasses were poured, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not saying anything more on that.

Later, the promoter started going berserk, shouting, “who’s helped themselves to Devlin’s rider?” Anyway, I jet out of there, go for a mingle and say hi to a few familiar faces and go back after 10 minutes to see Lydn sitting in the other green room doorway, the promoter screaming at him, asking what’s in his cup - and Lydn is just laughing in his face. Next thing the promoter is threatening to knock him out and Lydn is just like, “go on then!” All the while, KV$HNOODLE is absolutely taking the piss with the drinks that were in the fridges, also not for us!

So, picture me grabbing Lydn by the shoulders and pulling him through the doorway before any proper drama escalated... And that was my first experience of hanging out with 50% of SQUARMS. The rest of the night was hella messy!

*Photography by Ryan Yates and J.Spinkz 24

Patrick Gosling I’m a singer - songwriter from South Shields in the North East of England. I’ve been playing in bands in the North East since I was about 13 but only recently as a solo artist. My previous band, before going solo, were called Far Pacific and over the 5 years we were actively gigging we managed to gather a small but loyal following. In my time playing gigs and being an active member of the North East scene, I’ve made some great memories. Like my first gig with my first band, I got hit in the face by the bass player’s guitar right before we were meant to go on stage. I had to play the gig with my eye pouring of blood.

I remember in late 2015 Far Pacific played a stripped back acoustic show at the 02 Academy 2 in Newcastle. I can’t remember what the gig was in aid of but I remember it being a quality gig until it ended in injury. At the time me and the lads were heavily into The Killers first album and were covering their tune ‘Smile Like You Mean It’ in the sets. Also, at the time I was convinced I was Yannis from Foals and started making a name for myself for getting in the crowd. During ‘The Killers’ cover I decided I was gonna go full Yannis and climb the barrier to the crowd. During my climb my foot slipped and I ended up getting my ankle twisted round the barrier; I reckon it defied physics. Whilst in absolute agony I continued singing the song like a good frontman would. Once I had managed to wiggle my ankle free I climbed back on the stage limping. The lads in the band never let me live it down, despite the sprained ankle.

*Photographs suplied by Isaac Newham 28

Connor Franklin I started drumming when I was 5 and fell in love with it more and more and I grew up. Now I am a part time drumming teacher and play in the band, Sunkings. We are an alternative rock band and fairly new to the scene. The best part of being involved in the music scene in the North is meeting other people and hearing their music; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s amazing the kind of music some of these people come up with. I remember my first gig with the Sunkings, we were supporting some other North East based bands at nightclub, Independent. I remember all of us chilling after soundcheck and drinking and getting to know each other. You make some great friends by gigging together.

There is so much enthusiasm in the way that people in the North East perform.

*Photography by Gemma Dobson 31

Lidya Balaban I first joined Thieves of Liberty in 2016 and since then we’ve released two singles and an EP.

We’ve played to empty rooms and to packed out O2 academies and everywhere in between. I would have to say one the most stressful, funny gigs would have to have been the Glasgow show of the Fuelling The Fire Tour. If you know my band you know our bass player Sim is a very polite person, always kind and a little shy but gets along with everyone and wants to help etc you know the type. Sim also very rarely drinks and when he does it’s in small quantities because he’s just good like that. However, on this one occasion we finished our set and went back to the dressing room and with this being a Fireball sponsored tour you can imagine there was a lot of free drink at every show.

I hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t noticed that he was gone until I went down to socialise only to find him drunk as a skunk and visibly annoying one of the headline band members so I took him back up to the dressing room where he proceed to fall off his chair and land in the bin. He fell asleep there for about 20 minutes. Once he came round he started leaving the room and coming back about 30 minutes later. I figured he was just going to the toilet until he came back after the 8th time crying. Turns out heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d actually been going to the other bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dressing room to use their toilet, talk to them and take some drink from their rider. Understandably by the 8th time one of them had lost their temper with him and told him where to go and Sim was devastated with this. I also had to stop him going back up there a further 3 times after this because he wanted to apologise which I knew was best to wait until the next day.

*Photography by James Sharples 34

At the end of the night we were heading to the after party but Sim couldn’t stand up so we decided to take him back to the hotel. Our tour manager, Steve, told us he wasn’t driving us because if Sim was sick in his van, he would have to pay for damages so we ordered an Uber. The entire time we’re waiting for this Uber Sim is going on and on about how much he’s looking forward to the after party, regardless of how many times we’d told him he wasn’t coming.

So we get the Uber to where we were staying, as we’re getting out Sim shouts “Thanks Steve” to the driver who was most definitely not Steve. We carry him up the stairs, get him to bed take his shoes off for him with him giggling and squirming the entire time. We set up a bottle of water and a bin for him and make sure he knows where the toilet is. Finally, just as we’re about to leave, he stops us and comes out with “wait, wait, wait guys I’m not going to go to the after party I think I should go back to the hotel now” then immediately falls asleep.

Good idea Sim.

kyle mCcallum Growing up in the North East of England has it’s ups and downs. I kinda started playing guitar as a mistake but it’s ended up being the best mistake I’ve ever made. If I hadn’t started playing guitar I wouldn’t have ended up where I am today, and I wouldn’t change that. There’s loads of great bands from the North East chasing that music dream essentially. However it’s shaded by the likes of well known cities in England; from the likes of Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and many more. I do believe though, that this is changing slowly but surely. This is amazing because I believe it’s ready when that top explodes off. One of my best experiences so far has got to be when my band, The Strands, supported Larkins. We weren’t prepared for the impact it had on us. From the minute going on stage all we could see was heads, the venue was that packed! That was really a magical moment for us; it’s made us want to taste more and drives us to chase that dream even more. It gave us a really big eye opener to if you put your heart and soul into anything, anyone can achieve anything. You just have to want it enough. 38

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The music scene in the North East is like a fizzy drink ready to explode.â&#x20AC;?

J. Spinkz After growing up in Sheffield I decided to move to Newcastle late 2017 to live with a friend. It took me almost a year to find local rappers and the ‘SceNE’ in general. After performing at different open mic events across Newcastle, Gateshead and South Shields I have made many friends and met some incredibly talented people.

I have also been lucky enough to work with a lot of them and now, thanks to the people and the music, Newcastle feels like a second home. An experience I’ll remember forever happened on an open mic night. There was a very heavy set bloke there who I’d say was somewhere between late 30’s early 50’s.

“He went absolutely mental during my set.” When I was performing my song, ‘Lanes Change’ he took his shirt and shoes off and danced his head off. It was quite hard to tell if he was very intoxicated or just loving my set.

*Photography by Matt Imlah 42

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have been playing in punk bands since I was 15 years old. The first band that made any kind of impact was Holy Racket and recently I started on a side project of my own called The Last Gang.â&#x20AC;?

Steve Straughan from U.K Subs at The Ivy House, Sunderland. Steve joined U.K Subs in 2016 after former guitar player, Jet, passed away. 44

Andy Szandrowski I was born in 1964 in London, I lived in Nottingham for 5 years while doing my degree and then 2 in Stoke before moving to Sunderland in 1990. My dad, who listened to opera music, bought me my first single in 1975 Funky Gibbon by the Goodies! I started buying my own records in 1979. My musical influences came from listening to John Peel on the radio, Top of the Pops on TV and my brother who is three years older than me. I remember him playing The Sex Pistols and The Clash but they were â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;his bandsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; so I had to discover my own.

Stiff Little Fingers and The Skids became some of ‘my bands’. My favourite band is UK Subs. Charlie Harper the lead singer is my hero. He is 76 and still touring after 41 years. You couldn’t meet a nicer man. He always has time for his fans. He is also an artist and painted a picture for our wedding anniversary. I love watching live music, there is no substitute. I have driven all around the country watching bands. There is also a good local scene. I am really missing live music during the lockdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The highlight for me is ‘Rebellion’, the largest annual punk festival on the planet. 350 bands on 7 stages over 4 days - although we arrive in Blackpool the day before travelling on Bob’s Punk Bus. It is a huge gathering of like-minded people having a great time, with plenty of alcohol, and some crowd surfing too.

I first dyed my mohawk red when we went to China on my honeymoon in 2015, with my second wife Di. I dyed it red because it was the colour of their flag. What l didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know was that it was the colour for prosperity.

I thought it could go one of two ways: either it would be seen as offensive, or they would love it. Luckily it was the second. I was mobbed with people wanting photos and selfies wherever we went, even on The Great Wall! The weirdest thing was when people gave me their babies to hold to give them good luck!

A couple who had travelled from Teeside to have a drink at The Museum Vaults, a pub in Sunderland where many likeminded music enthusiasts gather.

A regular at the Museum Vaults, Sunderland. He regularly attends gigs dressed as a cowboy.

Jay Landman I celebrated my 25th birthday by putting on my annual “birthday gig” at Cobalt Studios on 7 Feb 2020. I put on roughly 50 gigs a year, however, the birthday gig is always special and different. I’d never thought about doing birthday gigs before 2017. I only started because I did a favour for a friend (a Leeds-based promoter) by putting on the band Red Rum Club for their first ever North East gig. This was one of those ‘right’ decisions as the band have gone on to explode. Anyway, as such, this was the third time I’d done one of these special birthday gigs. Usually I’m running the whole thing: paying bands, sorting venue hire, and engineer fee - sitting on the door for admissions. Thankfully, one of my good friends insisted on working the door, which meant I was able to watch the bands I’d booked to play and could socialise and have a drink. After the second band had finished their set, I took to the stage to thank everyone for coming along, and to also make them aware of the variety of free cakes I’d brought along for people to help themselves to.

My friend Paul Murray had just recovered from an accident involving his spine, so this was his first gig back doing photography. He took the opportunity to take some photos of me on stage. I usually do everything behind the scenes, so it was a stark contrast to be able to go on the stage and under the spotlight; a place usually reserved for musicians.

*Photography by Paul Murray 58

Andrew Muckles While studying media at Sunderland University, through work I was able to get press access to gigs and festivals. I would go to events and interview the artists for the radio; the best of which was 2010’s Evolution festival which, if you remember, was held in and around Spiller’s Wharf in Newcastle. I’d already managed to grab a few minutes of time with local legends like Frankie & The Heartstrings, Field Music, The Futureheads, Ellie Goulding and Paulo Nutini – all perfect for a local North East radio station.

Meeting Example is an experience I’ll never forget. At the time he had only released one major single so was still on the cusp of being considered a successful artist. As a result, he wasn’t swamped with press. In fact, I couldn’t find him anywhere! Somebody told me he was in the arists tent napping, but no press were allowed. Undeterred I snuck in. He was the only person in the place, snoring away on the sofa. I wasn’t going to miss my chance so I woke him up, hoping I wouldn’t get a barrage of abuse when he found out I was just pestering him for an interview.

As it happened, when he came to his senses, we got talking and it was superb! We ended up nattering on for about half an hour about football. I was a Sunderland fan and he was a Fulham Fan, at the time our teams were in the Premiere League so we had a lot of common ground. We kept in touch for a while afterwards, I went down to Craven Cottage and met him for the Fulham vs Sunderland match and we met again at one of his gigs in Swindon. One of the proper nice, down to earth people who I met around the time who deserved all the success he has since achieved. 60

charlie soulsby I run NE Rising & Park Avenue Records. In 2018, I noticed that there was a lack of support for a growing scene of ‘creatives’, so I set out to create a page that would tend to not only the needs of one creative art - but as many as possible. It’s pretty much one big network of artists and local business. I often get to play the ‘middle man’ role. For example just yesterday my former boss asked me if I could help him find a designer for his new brand. Within a few hours he had his logo ready to go.

Anyways, it wasn’t long after launching that we began putting on events on a monthly basis. These consisted of open mic nights, garage parties and charity raves. Due to the success of our open mic nights, we were able to discover a range of new local artists looking to immerse themselves into the world of North East Hip Hop, Grime and more. With the realisation that some of these artists were actually pretty sick, I pencilled in the potential idea to launch a record label to help compliment the talent that was emerging.

In 2019 we teamed up with Shutter Productions, a live video recording studio in order to generate as much business for them as possible, allowing us to discover new waves of talent and then promote them on our page. Now we are recognised as ‘playing a large part’ in the rise of the North East music scene. Last month saw the release of Park Avenue Records, which I founded with the help of my friend and artist Too Common (Tom Collins) and Mae Hyman. It wasn’t meant to launch as early as May, but with Covid-19 interrupting over 20 of our summer events, I needed something to occupy myself with during lockdown. So far we are off to a great start, the music is great, the following is increasing day by day and we have already secured 5 amazing North East artists. I’ve also managed to expand my network massively this year, mainly through my internship with SSD Concerts but also by just telling myself ‘yes’. With the label in full swing and Covid-19 taking its toll, it’s left NE Rising slightly abandoned. Feeling guilty about the whole thing, I looked over everything we have done so far. After a little while I smiled and decided it was time to redesign things. Currently I’m about halfway through everything - it’ll most likely be something we launch after lockdown is lifted to help to shine the light on us a bit.

*Photography by Matt Imlah 66

ben richardson I’m the bass player in Sunderland indie rock band Plastic Glass. We’ve been part of the North East music scene for around two years now. It’s been great. We’ve kept growing and have recently been able to play shows across the country in places like Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow. Having support from the likes of BBC Introducing, Amazing Radio and BBC 6 Music has helped us really find our feet in the scene and we are chuffed with all the support we get.

Now when asked about a funny story about the band, there’s a fair few for me to choose from but funnily enough they’re all associated with out lead singer, Lewis. Our first gig was in 2018 at Pop Recs in Sunderland. At the time we were too young to go out into town so we went back to our local pub for a couple of illegal pints. Lewis, being the lightweight of the group, has one bottle of Newcastle Brown and one jäger bomb that resulted in him running around outside.

Then he clapped out on the floor. Once a lightweight always a lightweight.

Oh and another story about Lewis being useless …. So this one time, we’re on the road heading to Manchester for a gig somewhere called The Castle Hotel. We get there and the manager asks to check our ID’s with it being an 18+ event. We all hand over our IDs and I look over and see Lewis panicking, he didn’t have his ID.

At the time it was the most stressful two hours of my life! The manager said we couldn’t play and everybody tried to sort out another band to play. In the end it was fine and we got to play. Looking back now it’s just funny that we drove three hours to Manchester to nearly be turned away because Lewis forgot his ID.

Lewis Conlin, lead singer and guitarist from Sunderland based Indie Rock band, Plastic Glass. 72

Ethan Burford I’m in the band Kickin Lilies and I work at the Bunker in Sunderland. It’s great to see new and old bands come in and out of the Bunker when I work; you never hear the same song played twice. I got into the North East music scene through wanting to progress as a musician, learn as much as I possibly could, and hopefully make a career out of it.

Although to be honest, the reason I actually picked up a guitar back in year 10 was to impress girls! The Sunderland music scene is evolving all the time with new talent arising and more venues doing gigs for local bands. I really do believe the music scene round here is going to pick up soon. I’d give one piece of advice to upcoming musicians and that’s to never use pedals with batteries and bring your own amp. A few times on stage my equipment has cut out and I’ve stood there looking like a headless chicken . Not great like.

Jonny Wilkinson I’m the bass player in the band Peace Frog. In the summer of 2019 we had been recording in St. Helens for our single ‘Ellena’. After the session on our second day of recording we were travelling down to Leeds for a headline gig at Leeds Beckett university. After already having to turn around not once, but TWICE to go and get equipment that we’d left in St. Helens, what was about to happen would leave us speechless even to this day. Driving down the M62 a notification appears on the sat nav telling us to go a ‘shortcut’ to save 7 minutes off our journey. You’re probably thinking is 7 minutes really worth it? The short answer is no, it definitely wasn’t. The sat nav took us down the most brutal of country lanes, through a small stream, then through the most terrible stretch of what seemed to be a dried up riverbed with boulders bigger than the size of the wheels on the VW polo we were in!

*Photography by Victoria Measham 76

Myself and Nathan Gooch, our guitarist, moved countless boulders to clear the way for Liam, our vocalist and driver, to be able to get the car through. Eventually, we reached the end of what Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to call a road but in reality just seemed to be more like a dried up clump of riverbed! What we thought was the end was only just the beginning, as the clutch, which had already been smoking trying to get off the road, had absolutely disintegrated. AA were called and we sat and waited for recovery for what felt like an eternity. We were so impatient, we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to sit around waiting so we tried to get the car started and by some miracle we got it moving! We got extremely excited and ahead of ourselves and cancelled the AA call out and set off again.

The car died again about a mile up the road when we got to a steep hill. We called AA again.

*Photograph supplied by Peace Frog 78

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The fella showed up and towed us to Leeds just in time for our gig but my word, what an afternoon!â&#x20AC;?

Melanie Berman I was a student at Sunderland Polytechnic University from 1981 – 1984, from Leicester. It was a depressing time in Thatcher’s Britain - high unemployment, Falklands War, Miners strikes, Nelson Mandela still in prison.

“ It was all so grey and depressing… but a heady time for youth, music and creativity.” No one had any money and we were all searching to bond with members of our ‘tribe’, so students and local punks/arty types mixed seamlessly and made friends for life. We regularly danced the night away at the Wearmouth Hall’s punk gigs. The gigs were DJ’d by legendary local lad Tommy Hair. There were other DJs too like Heroes, Annabelles, the KU Club, the Drum Club, Newcastle Riverside, Mayfair, Rockshots and many more. The Bunker Collective, still on Stockton Road, was founded with Alan Christie, who still curates the rich creative musical archive and supports new local artists to this day. I remember bands such as Dub Warriors, Patrick and Qua amongst many more.

Each Friday afternoon a few of us, who had passed auditions to be weekly audience members of the cutting edge new Channel 4 programme ‘The Tube’, skived lectures and hopped onto the Metro to Tyne Tees studios to hang out with the stars. We would dance and pose on TV while getting free access to performances from the widest variety of acts. It was presented by Paula Yates, Leslie Ash, and Jools Holland. Sometimes, after the programme finished, we would get to mix with the acts at the pub over the road from the studio. If not, we would hop back on the metro and continue our Friday night back through Sunderland.

The Ivy pub was at the bottom of my road and a regular hangout. It was a pleasure to return there in March 2020 with my partner’s band Longtooth and Wasterman, supporting my good friend Gary Roberts’s band Slalom D. After 36 years away the memories came flooding back!

*Photographs supplied by Melanie Berman

Greg Semple Longtooth and Wasterman, aka me and Karl Traae, were introduced by mututal friends back in the early 80’s, back when we were a part of the Leicester ‘Grebo’ scene.

“In 1989 Karl showed me how to use a drum machine and it all started from there.” I began to immerse myself in music and songwriting and the first ever Longtooth song was written – ‘The Healer’. Meanwhile, Karl was a member of two indie bands: ‘Huge Big Massive’ and ‘Perfume’, who performed at Glastonbury.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;In 1991 I moved to Manchester and had a brief flirt with the Manchester scene and frontline pirate radio.â&#x20AC;?

It was around this time I formed Section 47 alongside friend, Jez Q. We created dark side breakbeat music and ambient flavours, releasing music between 1994 and 1995. In 2010 myself and Karl founded the ‘Excluded Ltd’ project, working with people who wanted help to produce music such as offenders, homeless and disabled people. Excluded Ltd is now our record label. In 2018 Karl and I stepped up to become USB warriors known as Longtooth and Wasterman, with influences driven by DnB, HipHop, thumping beats and a love for punk. We are described as having:

“Hardcore beats fueled by an incendiary swagger that lands somewhere between Crass, Atari Teenage Riot and an angrier Sleaford Mods.” – Sounds Review on Facebook (23/03/19)

“It’s all about fun and unquenchable desire to entertain all who want to listen. It’s like some people love going fishing, we love to write songs and perform them.”

Acknowledgments Thank you to all of those who made this book possible! Musicians, music lovers and photographers have submitted all kinds of work to be curated into ‘Northern Scene’. Without the support of people in the North East music scene it would not have been possible to create this book. This book has also been hugely supported by photographers willing to submit their personal work to be displayed in ‘Northern Scene’. I would like to say thank you to Matt Imlah Ryan Yates J.Spinkz Paul Murray James Sharples Gemma Dobson Isaac Newham Victoria Measham for their contributions to this project. And thank you to all those in the North East who have supported this project in the making.