No Hope In New Jersey

No Hope In New Jersey

http://www.nohopeinnewjersey.com
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'If we have any influences whatsoever it's wanting to be like those bands that follow their own journey as musicians,' explains No Hope in New Jersey front man Andy Garratt. 'Bands that aren't part of any particular scene. Bands that don't need to be part of a particular scene to be what they are. That's what we like.'

No Hope in New Jersey is a four piece rock 'n' roll band formed in Manchester in 2003. A string of great live performances got them picked up by Atlantic Records after only six gigs. Theirs is a direct sound that bears little resemblance to much of the city's output of the last few years. No echoes of Madchester here. No Oasis stadium bluster. Their songs contain big riffs and sly melodies but a deceptive sense of craft. Early interviews off the back of the band's first single have seen journalists try to link them to the city and fail. Manchester doesn't produce music like this. Until now that is. In fact, according to the NHINJ the only good bands to come out of Manchester are Joy Division, The Smiths and The Fall. And they don't want to sound like any of them.

'Our aim is to make music that fuses together all of our favourite bands and capture the initial excitement that we got when we heard artists like Neil Young, Fugazi, David Bowie, Metallica for the first time,' explains Andy. 'We're a reaction to cliché and formula in music. The best artists don't compromise. Instead they just follow their own little journeys.'

Singer Andy Garratt hooked up with brothers Steve (guitar) and Craig (drums) whilst they were all at college. Andy escaped to Manchester from a town near Leicester, 'The divorce capital of Europe,' he claims. The brothers (who hail from just outside of Manchester) had already cut their teeth playing support in various guises to many of the bigger bands that have passed through the city. It was great practice when it comes to playing live and gives the band a confidence way beyond expectations of one so new. After a succession of bass players the trio finally settled on Nick Fowler who has cemented the dynamic of the band; a sound that has recently been taken the band into the studio with famed producer Chris Sheldon (Therapy?, Biffy Clyro, Oceansize) to record their debut LP.

'Nick was actually the last person that we auditioned after a horrible day of auditioning people,' says guitarist Steve. 'We had to face the wall when they were playing sometimes to avoid laughing at some people's extended bass solos. Nick works perfectly with us.'
Live shows around the country have secured NHINJ quite an underground following including a fan who inexplicably (to the band at any rate) came all the way from Brazil to hear them play. They've picked up interest from Radio 1 and their videos have been shown repeatedly on MTV2. They've also gained a lot of critical acclaim from an MTV 'Spanking New Music' show where they played alongside other similar strong hopefuls yourcodenameis:milo.

After the initial excitement of touring and recording the first single the band have really knuckled down and just put down the finishing touches on their debut album. 'The way most rock music is recorded absolutely kills what it's all about,' says Andy. 'Spontaneity is the essence of what we do. We were feeding off each other in studio gaining confidence and more and more craft, and we recorded the album in two weeks with minimum overdubs.'

With the album in the bag and the band's enthusiasm at an all time high 2005 should be a great year for No Hope in New Jersey. Rather than seeing the album as an end it's really just the beginning as NHINJ's live campaign continues on. Newly energised, the band are looking forward to taking this wealth of new material out on the road. We're not the most overtly macho band in the world like, say, Black Flag in the day,' says Andy, 'but we play with the same abandon and disregard for current convention. And to my mind that's what you really want with a live band. Not this streamlined stuff that passes for punk rock.'
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