Interview: 20lb Sounds

Dan, on guitar and vocals, Gary, on bass, and Ross, on drums, make up 20lb Sounds. You may remember just last year, on a cold and frosty night at Renshaw Street that 20lb Sounds played a memorable set during the RatHole Radio event. Early on in this years Insurrection they played a set at our lovely room in FACT. I caught up with the band...

Hi Guys. You played your first acoustic gig at the Insurrection. How did it go and any highlights from the night?

 

Gary: It was interesting to play the tunes in a different way than we usually play them. 

Dan: Yeah, I joked that we were cheating with amps plugged in but it really was very different for us. It was nice to see the songs could still come across without loud distortion. That was a highlight for me.

You played a good set. One of my favorites was Jimmy Carter. I know the name is used in convenience, but is there anybody else, famous or not, who you'd like to write a song about and why?

Dan: I was trying to think of famous names but then I realised the answer, I'd probably choose my granddad. He led a very interesting life and was something of a legend to me. He was a docker in Liverpool and a strong union man, he influenced my political views a lot.

You also mentioned that people keep sending and/or telling you facts about the man himself - that is, Jimmy Carter. What is the most obscure or bizarre thing you've learned about Jimmy Carter so far?

Gary: That he is an honorary Geordie.

Ross: He was given the key to Newcastle a while ago. Hence the line in the song.

You also played at last years event at Renshaw Street. How has the band changed/developed since then and what does the future hold?

 

Gary: We had only just started back then. None of us had been in bands for years. We have all improved as players and we know more tunes now. Our set has gone from mostly cover versions to nearly all original tunes.

Dan: Yeah, we've definitely improved I think. Writing more of our own songs has been really important. I've enjoyed that a lot. Hopefully we can keep writing songs, recording them and playing gigs. Improving and growing. - If somebody else out there likes listening to our music that's great too. 

Last year we had a big Greek god looking over us. What caught your eye particularly on the walls this year?

 

Gary: The projector screen.

Dan: That was pretty eye catching. There was a video of someone at another event (possibly in America) playing an acoustic guitar while we set up. There also seemed to be a lot of interviews playing and I enjoyed that. Some of the paintings I also liked but I'd struggle to name just one right now.

Besides 20lb Sounds, what other activities do the band pursue? 

Gary: I also make drum and bass music with a friend. We call ourselves The Lone Gunmen and we have done a hand full of gigs. I also listen to Dan and Ross talk about cricket a lot. 

Ross: We don't talk about it that much.

Dan: What can I say we're just that rock and roll, talking about cricket and drinking tea. We all do different things really. There's a lot of chat about football and other sports in the practice room though I admit. I like spending too long on the Internet myself, once I turn on the computer I'm lost for hours.

Your new E.P. entitled El Bubblino is out for the people to hear. What was the inspiration behind it and will there be any new material out soon?

Dan: I wrote the song about my friend Adrian McEwen's invention Bubblino. You can find out more about him at bubblino.com, it's something of a geeky inside joke really. He's from Mexico and he blows bubbles, it seemed like a funny subject for a song.

Gary: I expect there will be a constant stream of new material. We're finding it quite easy to get new tunes together and we work together well.

Some bands are named at odds with their output. Would you say that the band name is indicative of the music you make? 

Gary: I don't think the name is representative of the bands sound at all. I don't think the band name is important. It's just that you have to have one.

Dan: I was gonna make some comment about the weight of our sound and how heavy it is, but you've ruined that argument now. There were all kinds of silly suggestions for names going round for months, but in the end we realised we just had to pick one and go with it. So 20lb Sounds it was.

The theme of the event at FACT is Insurrection. What issues in the news (or not) would you urge the people to consider seriously?

 

Gary: I would urge people to be suspicious of mainstream news and question how it is decided which stories make the news and which don't and what the motives are behind this.

Dan: That's a good answer. I'd probably say they should think about the major changes and cutbacks our government is making right now. I realise we have debts but there seems to be a lack of humanity to some of it. I wish politicians thought more about the consequences of their actions sometimes.

Is there a song someone else has written/performed that you'd love to perform yourselves and why?

 

Gary: I would rather play our own stuff and keep making new ones. If there was any song we particularly wanted to cover, we would just do it.

Dan: We've played quite a few covers since we started, but it's nice to write our own stuff I agree.

Complete this sentence. The Insurrection is....

Gary: The Insurrection is always the birth of a new corrupt system. Will this ever change?

Ross: I can't beat that answer.

Thank you to 20lb Sounds for an excellent show and an excellent interview. For more on the band see the link below...

http://20lb.net/ 

Interview and images by Sebastian Gahan. 

Images from the Democracy Village.

Democracy Village by Tracey Dunn:

Here are some of my photos from the exhibition at FACT. I took them at Democracy Village last June. Democracy Village was  a camp set up on Parliament Square outside the Houses Of Parliament, Westminster,London, to protest against the war in Afghanistan. 

They wanted to 'Bring the Troops Home' and'Stop the War'. There were various tents, a Peoples' Bank, an info stall,lots of flags and banners,a garden for peace, a vegetable Garden and chairs to sit on. It lasted for three months although the People of Democracy Village still regularly hold events.

See these images and more at FACT until 12th April.

Images and words by Tracey Dunn.

Saturday 4th December: Nerve 17 Launches at The Bluecoat!

Lest we forget that there is the launch of the latest issue of your favourite magazine tomorrow afternoon! We'll be seeing you there from 4pm at the very central location of The Bluecoat in the Hub. There's so much going on and you can pick up the issue in physical form as well!

Click the cover to read online!

The Nerve Centre.

The Nerve Centre: A Personal Thanks...by Kai Andersen.

I've heard much about this piece of writing, and here it for all to read:

Nerve Centre...

Throughout much of August, beginning on -unlucky for some- Friday the 13th
and finishing on Saturday 11th of September, Nerve magazine, here in
Liverpool, brought artists, musicians, poets, political activists, community
activists, philosophers, socialists, writers, illustrators, anti-demolition
protestors, techies, old people, young people, tall and short people
together, even the occasional dog sat in on discussions and at least one
gave his opinion right in the middle and stopped us all in our tracks for
five minutes with a puddle. I think I must have been there when the place
was at its fullest, I was also there for a brief moment when I think it was
completely empty too. I touched the basement and the top of the roof, I
looked upwards and outwards right across Liverpool I looked down at shoppers
from the roof, workers coming and going, I saw and heard the hussle and
bustle of people enjoying a night out.

This was a very powerful, beautiful, inspiring, emotionally uplifting
experience for me and got everymore intense, I increasingly felt drawn in
and made some new friends and reaquainted myself with some old ones too, we
chatted with passersby who'd been drawn in. The venue was an empty shop
right in the middle of Liverpool city centre, where buses screeched to a
halt, where police car sirens were heard constantly, where shoppers and
workers passed by, in, out and through the former Rapid Hardware paintshop.
The building is free standing with four floors and a basement which was
filled with the sounds of people again, everything you could have wanted was
in there except for the exchange of money, a free cup of tea or coffee was
easily available, a nice comfy chair to sit and catch your breath. An art
gallery with a difference, art was spoken about, some of the artists
regularly paid visits, Carl Fletcher was the artist in residence -so to
speak- other artists also visited regularly to chat to people -like myself-
unused to visiting the sterile and silent spaces of most art galleries.

"Do you see yourself in the picture" says a voice behind me on my first
visit, I reply "No, I'm still looking at it..." that was a first contact I
made with Carl. Many people were taking photographs, one guy started moving
my umbrella around, I was a little peeved, then he started to take photos on
a compact camera and I got it, later on we chatted, he continued to take
photos quite regularly and set up an online web-log (BLOG) about what was
going on in the centre, I took plenty of photographs myself. Another person
I recall meeting spoke with an Australian accent, I was trying to show him
where somewhere was and he got a little peeved with me at first, however
he'd been living in a tent for a few weeks, while researching his family's
history, he later on brought us some free food he'd obtained from Tesco,
"freegan" style, I later on did so myself, narrowly avoided being stopped by
the police with who knows what consequences. This Australian guy told me how
his ancestors had been transported for stealing a sheep, which ironically
wasn't much different from taking food -perfectly good food- sealed in
plastic bads from bins, morally it is no crime at all!

I went along quite regularly to engage in discussions, organised by the
Philosophers In Pubs (PIPs) group, there we were able to talk freely and
openly, without being shouted down, without being made to feel big or small,
everyone who wanted to was able to talk and be heard, no one was TALKED AT,
or spoken down to. We discussed "What is Love?" and "Which is the bigger
impact on life chances gender or class", this small discussion which had a
majority of women speakers at it, we decided mostly that class was the major
discrimination. We discussed "Nature or Nurture", whether who we are is all
decided in our DNA and genes or whether we're influenced more by the
environment, we had a lively discussion, exchanged ideas and thoughts on the
subject. We discussed "Humour in relation to the Scouser" and again the
discussion flowed freely, openly and in the spirit of wanting to listen and
learn from one another, other discussions included "The legacy of 2008,
consumerism or community?" this was focussed on capital of culture and
discussed our afterthoughts on everything most of us had felt excluded from.
Mashemon played a few sessions in the shop window, I missed that as my
routine life obviously intruded every so often to take me back to my
reality, however I caught them in the evening doing a live session inside
and was well impressed, I took some photographs and got a CD in exchange for
the promise to do something nice and help someone out.

There were films aplenty, these included one I took in on the media
propaganda created by ITN news in the late 1990s on the alledged Serbian
Death camps, for thirty minutes a full explaination of how the world was
fooled had a small audience thinking how the media lies and misleads us and
sets up the public to accept a war or military attack. Unfortunately a DVD I
had intended to show refused to work -it went on strike- which was
appropriate as it was a film about the 1984/85 miners strike made by a
Canadian company and broadcast only in Canada in 2005, which I'd supplied
three sections of video for. There were plenty of poets reading inspiring
material, also these poets were given the time and space so they could
discuss their poems, which is as equally as important.

On the last day, it started for me with a discussion about "Where do we go
from here?" everyone who had been involved or spent extended time in there
expressed their feelings on the Nerve Centre event, we discussed about
obtaining a building permanently, some of us even talked of 'occupation' of
the very building we were in briefly but perhaps that was a still a step too
far for most people. However the thought that the building could be
demolished angered and fired me up, I said I'd stepped into too many
buildings, including my own family home a boot house in Norris Green, my old
college, schools I went to, the swimming pool in Broadway that had been
demolished, to me it just provoked extreme emotions, reminders of betrayal
and loss. I felt we needed such a place as one person said "It has disabled
access, it's light, open and in the centre of town!" yes any person in a
wheel chair could have got in, as there were no steps into the front of the
building, there was even a lift shaft which might have been able to be put
back into operation, we even considered a large marquee at one moment,
discussion was lively - passionate and healthy, nobody fell out with anyone
even though we all seemed at one moment to want different things. The
discussion was followed by music and poetry.

The afternoon seemlessly merged into early event and blended into the
darkness of the night, Tayo Aluko filled an entire hour with poetry, singing
and his thoughts of many and various things, it didn't seem like an hour
because it was so full of thoughts, ideas, songs, words and inspiration. We
couldn't get the CD player to work so after a couple of musician's played
the space was naturally filled by poets, speakers and other musicians, for
some reason I found enough motivation and inspiration to read one of my
poems written in 1995 and called "Pulling Down Liverpool" about demolition
and media assault upon our city and people, it was heard inside the room and
outside by passing people, people standing at bus stops, in cars and buses.
It's the first time in over five years that I've felt inspired enough to
read one of my poems and it just felt ever so right. The day ended with a
party atmosphere, we improvised the CD player by pointing the microphone at
the speakers to amplify it and created a nice cosy vibe in the room lit just
by ambient light, a few of us visited the roof, as this would be for most of
us our last day in the building, we peaked over the edge and saw people
going to pubs and clubs, we could see the Anglican cathedral, St.Lukes
church, the "O Five One", Adelphi Hotel and even the Liver buildings.

The Nerve Centre, building and event itself took on its own life, it became
in the ownership of all the people who stepped into it, it was a revolution
in thought, word, action and deed, I was certainly choked, a little tearful
at times on the Saturday, maybe a fired up with anger because Nerve had got
a small slice but had to feed the 5,000. We'd helped one another, touched one
another's real humanity.

Saturday night merged into Sunday morning for me because my heart and soul
had never left the place, Sunday morning I was at peace with myself. I
entered the main space early and offered to help out, I gently helped to
take down some of the artwork which I thoroughly enjoyed, this was just an
continuation of the event for me, it was funny at times, I found a pair of
long forgotten shoes in a hidden location, they even fitted, I forgot to
take them off. I helped drive some of artist Carl's work home to his
home/studio we'd exchanged an item of signed artwork earlier before we'd
left Nerve Centre, I didn't know who I was going to give it to, I'd already
given out about 20 red cards with an artist/political statement from Arthur
Scargill from 1982 (still shown outside the Nerve Centre building if you
look) on one side and some of my words on the other, I also produced a piece
of installation art on the third floor "Reflections in a mirror". I dropped
Carl back at the centre, drove off and then realised I'd still got those
tight fitting 'hush puppies' on my feet, I checked my car to see if I'd put
my comfy shoes in the boot, they weren't there so I drove back towards town
again, traffic had been stopped by an Orange Lodge march down London Road, I
parked my car in one of my 'free' locations and walked back to Renshaw
Street, in I walked and there was the bag, a Farmfoods bag with my comfy
shoes in, I saw Darren pushing Penny up the street on a large trolley,
though it looked like a big skate board.

So there's my thoughts... There were lots of things that happened in
between, hundreds of other people's stories, things I've forgotten about or
chose not to write here.

To Richie, Darren, Amy, Carl, Tracy, Penny who helped organise the event and
numerous others who have names, but whose faces I won't forget, a personal
thanks from me for this happening - this event - this revolution - the cups
of tea and coffee and for reigniting my artistic, poetic, creative and
political spirits.

I'll be touching Glasgow later today, Liverpool's twin city in Scotland,
which has also suffered the slings and arrows of adversity and 'cultures of
vultures' AKA Capital of Culture" -smiles better- before we did.

ta ra. . . . . .

(C) 2010 Kai Andersen - Yes even our words get stolen and appropriated by
capitalist culture vultures! 

Say no more Kai, say no more.

The Nerve Centre. 

The Nerve Centre Should Be Permanent

See a letter from an impressed visitor to The Nerve Centre:

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/views/letters-to-editor/2010/09/21/letter-to-the-editor-the-nerve-centre-should-be-permanent-92534-27307556/

The Nerve Centre.

STOK Paints The Nerve Centre.

Liverpool Artist STOK appeared from the ether and painted the front of The Nerve Centre a few days ago. It's still here, right next to the front door of The Nerve Centre and here I present a few images of STOK's mural for your attention. Street art can be like the proverbial Vegemite for a lot of people, which means you either love it or hate it. But instead of casting opinions about, we'll invite you to judge for yourself...

The Nerve Centre thinks this won't be here long, so enjoy it while it's outside our gallery!

The Nerve Centre.

Photos by Ritchie Hunter (Top) and Sebastian Gahan (Rest).

Open Mic Night Pictures.

OK, so you may noticed one or two people toting cameras like trained soul stealer's during the excellent Open Mic Night at The Nerve Centre on Friday evening. Well, the good news is that one of them was me! So, there are memories of a good night below. The small crowd at the start of the night gradually turned a mini party as friends, regulars and some new persons turned up and made the night an undoubted success. As the night got later and the lights got dimmer, my camera worked it's little self into a state and got some increasingly good shots of one of the best nights thus far at The Nerve Centre. I think we need to dim the lights more often!

A guitar in waiting for performance.

Rich Mans Ruin open up the night.

A choice cut of wit from Nerve Ends.

Shot from an angle, Lotzie Weaver in performance.

A chat by the Centurion.

Eddie Roberts ignores my flashing.

Kevin - Not Keith! - Paton.

The ever more expansive crowd assembles.

Beautiful, non?

A dance to the music of Mojo Storm.

Our Carl cracks a smile for my camera!

Mojo Rising in Black and white during the closing set.

Nucleus of Wine.

See more shots of an artistic variety here.

The Nerve Centre.

NERVE ENDS: An Ongoing Retrospective of The Nerve Centre.

This is a call out to all the lovely people of Nerve and anybody else who is interested to take part in a group work to celebrate and remember The Nerve Centre in the form of a collage piece. There is no particular criteria or process to contribute, just remember the following basics:

1. If it's related to The Nerve Centre or it's themes, it's welcome.

2. Be creative! Your contribution could be a poem, a single word, a picture, a postcard, a piece of your own work, a 3-D sculpture or anything that strikes you as fitting in with the piece.

3. Do remember to a add a thought to the box situated beneath the piece, which can be a poem, a suggestion, a wish for another Nerve Centre event, an inspired doodle...the suggestions are endless! I don't even mind the odd bit of swearing as long as it's not pointless! Go for it! These will eventually be gone through and featured in a later article or piece of work.

4. What are you waiting for? Be spontaneous and see what happens!

For inspiration, here's some images from Nerve End's generation so far:

Bring on the creative and let's make this piece a true representation of The Nerve Centre!

The Nerve Centre.