Liverpool and its surrounding areas that make up Merseyside have a lot to be thankful for when it comes to music. Nowhere it seems is the abundance of bands so heavily noticeable as the city of Liverpool that The Beatles, the likes of The Icicle Works, Gerry and the Pacemakers and Space and a whole load of other groups and singers called home and in which the last ten years the new breed of musicians have come to regard as the place where it is good to be from.
In 2008 the city became the European Capital of Culture and once more saw the eyes of the world thrust upon it. Now 50 years since four lads, who went onto be become the biggest iconic and cultural thing on the planet, released the song that would make them superstars these new musicians are finally making their words count as they sing about a very different time but with the same beating heart that inspired their musical forbearers to conquer the world and put make Liverpool the centre of popular culture.
Joe Symes & The Loving Kind are one of these new breed that has built up a steady following in Liverpool and for who, given the right backing and support, will go on to show that Liverpool is as diverse and musically interesting as anywhere else in the U.K. The band have just had one of the biggest nights of the career so far as they played at the o2 Academy, Liverpool at the Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds official after show party for which the praise was fully deserved.
The band consists of Joe Symes, Colin White and Dave Skilling and as the sound of Network Rail announcers give the multitude of passengers the information they need to be on their way. After the normal opening greetings and shaking of hands, both Joe and Colin tell me why they already know the path they are taking.
Obviously it is just the pair of you here today, so could you tell me how you two came together and how the band took shape?
Joe: “Well me and Colin have been mates for a while, we share the a lot of influences in music, you know. As John Lennon said of Ringo Starr, you only got to look at him to know, that’s me and Colin to a tee. It’s not a case of no, no, no, it’s yes, yes, yes. The other band member, Dave, he came through a mutual friend.”
Colin: “We also tried through social networking sites.”
Joe: “When we had the first rehearsal, we played one song and I said right you’re in. It has just gelled so well and the fact that we are massive Beatles fans anyway and there is loads of stuff that we all had in common in terms of films and cult T.V. shows. Dave said when he heard the track World At Your Window he said in his words **** me, he said it reminded him of stuff like that which was cool because that was we are into. Also the thing about that track anyway is that it has a sort of swing feel to it.”
Colin: “I was going to say John Barry, very, very John Barry. It is just the feel, I remember the first time Joe played me that song just on a guitar I said it is a Bond theme (laughs). It has got that extra symbolism to it. It has the feel of those classic music scores which John Barry used a lot, The Persuaders theme tune and a few other things for example. I still think we might re-record it one day with strings, I don’t know, that would be the cherry on top for me. Even in its present status it’s very of that genre, I think Joe said it was like spy music.”
Joe: “The thing about it is the music now includes Colin and Dave. A lot of the songs I wrote before the others came on board have been worked on by them now including the ones on the E.P. I was doing the vocals, we listened back to them; they were honest with their opinions. The songs are more like lounge jazz. I’m writing new songs but their interpretations and contributions are great.”
What were your music influences when you were growing up?
Joe: “My influences include Sinatra, Motown and Colin likes Benny Goodman, Quincy Jones and Miles Davis – all the jazz greats. I love classical stuff too – Bizet, Rachmaninov, folk as well – Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, I like film composers – John Barry, Lalo Schifrin. It all goes hand in hand – music, film and television. You know when something’s good when your feet start tapping, its good music then that’s all that matters. For me on a personal level, a great song can be played on an acoustic guitar. It doesn’t matter what that song is like, whether it’s done in rap form, hip hop, country, psychedelic jazz fusion or whatever you want to call it. If you can still play that song on an acoustic guitar, it is a great song. You take a Beatles song like Nowhere Man, you could do that in whatever way you want and pick up a guitar and go!”
Colin: “We got comments at a gig in Manchester a few months ago and I was outside having a cigarette, a guy said “you know you played that acoustic track, you could hear the quality, I’ve seen bands play with a full line up of guitars, bass and drums and then you see them acoustically and something’s missing. There’s quality lost in it but with you guys, there was quality with just an acoustic guitar and a set of bongos!”
Joe: “You take a Burt Bacharach song like Walk On By – that song is fantastic just on an acoustic guitar, even a song like Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On, just on piano and bass! We had people come to our gigs who have said they couldn’t get to sleep last night our songs were in their heads so something must be right! We must be doing something right to get comments like that!”
Colin: “I was listening to Darlin’ by the Beach Boys, it’s got a nice beat to it. I saw them on Later recently after they’d sacked the original members! I saw Brian Wilson dong Smile with Good Vibrations and it still sounded great and he did Pet Sounds with the same line up with the full horn section, it sounded unbelievable.”
As you are both from Liverpool you will have seen a lot of changes in the city. How do you think that has changed the city?
Joe: “You come into the city centre and you see a lot of money’s been invested there and because Liverpool is a cultural city we’ve got the best buildings in the country. It’s a pity about those eyesores next to the Liver Buildings – what were they doing? It’s like the old Council – they knocked down The Cavern, which is an actual crime, knocked down the building where NEMS was (Brian Epstein’s music shop), national landmarks! Go to all The Beatles’ sites in Liverpool, what have you got left?”
“The city’s changed unbelievably in the past ten years and Capital of Culture was good promotion. You don’t see the really rough areas, they sort of get brushed under the carpet, it is bad for the investors.”
Colin: “I also think it’s a pity a lot of the venues are closing down. It’s an absolute crime, new bands and new music – where are they going to play if there are no venues? Not everyone is into the X Factor, American Idol or Who’s Got Talent? The city is on the up but it should be for the right reasons. Not for like other reasons which I’m not going to say!”
Joe: “They closed The Jacaranda and The Masque down where a lot of people were involved like a community. Some places have closed down but others like The Lomax have been refurbished which is a great thing. On the plus side, that’s a venue that had a big influence in the city and now it’s back again, It’s been back for about eleven months now and it’s really started to pick up again over the past few months. There were a lot of bands over there for the Mathew Street Festival weekend so it’s balanced but with a few going and one coming back, it helps that there’s some positive things coming out of the negative ones.”
Time is short when people have a voice they need to air and it was with reluctance that I said goodbye to Joe and Colin. Both men of musical and Liverpool passion but for fans of Joe Symes and the Loving Kind news that they will be releasing their second E.P., Fallen Down, in November on Truly Independent Records is welcome and something great to look forward too.
You can catch the band on the following dates at these venues:
The Crescent (Salford) Saturday 13th October.
The Zanzibar (Liverpool) Saturday 27th October.
Night And Day Cafe (Manchester) Saturday 10th November.
The Lomax (Liverpool) Friday 16th November.
02 Academy (Liverpool) supporting Steve Cradock Saturday 8th December.
The Lomax (Liverpool) Saturday 22nd December
Ian D. Hall