New name, new tunes, same hair. Majik (formerly The Magic Heroes) play Leftlion Unplugged this Tuesday...
New name, new tunes, same hair. Majik, the artists formerly known as The Magic Heroes and standard-bearers of NottsRock, prepare to take their game to the next level, but not before they leave their effects pedals at home for an acoustic throwdown at June’s LeftLion Unplugged.
What's happening in Majik's world?
At the beginning of the year we did some gigs in places we haven’t played before like Sheffield and Cheltenham, plus another couple in London. We were due to play Fifty Get Funky but we had to pull out due to injury, it's alright though because Left of the Dealer and BluMonkey replaced us that night and did a very fine job too. We have also been beavering away writing new material which is quite different to our older stuff, where we have tried to explore new musical avenues, some of which you will hear on 6 june at the Malt Cross.
You recently changed your name from The Magic Heroes, what brought that about?
It's been on the cards for a while now to be honest, mainly because there are too many bands with similar sounding names, and we don't like getting mistaken for The Magic Numbers! It's quite amusing really. When we told people we were going to be called The Magic Heroes most people were like: "that's a terrible name, you can't be called that." Now the same people are saying we should stick with it! But when everything's done it's just a name isn't it, and surely a name is what you make of it.
Your sound is pretty rock'n'roll, how will doing an acoustic set feel do you think?
We are really looking forward to it as it will be a chance for us to play some stuff that normally wouldn't fit into our set, and to show people that we have more tricks up our sleeves than they might imagine. We still might rock out at some points, we'll see how we feel on the night!
What's all the taking your shirts off about?
Tell you what, you go home, stand under some lights then run on the spot for a bit, that might give you an idea what its like on-stage! Seriously though, it does get very warm up there sometimes, so it is more out of practicality then anything else. We've also noticed other bands starting to do it recently, so it must be a good idea!
Do you think Nottingham is an exciting place to be making music at the moment?
Yeah, we love this dirty town! The Nottingham music scene has really been on the up since last years Drop In The Ocean, and we now have some really quality acts. So yeah, it is an exciting place to be making music, there's a real buzz about the place at the moment.
Do you think you'll stick around then?
Well we are planning on going on tour around the country after Summer, and generally spreading the Majik sound. But we'll be back.
What's in the Majik diary for the near future?
More songwriting. We have a home studio that we put together ourselves out of what we had lying around, plus some borrowed bits and bobs, that's really helping us come up with stuff. We are also planning a release of some kind in the summer and we have a new website which we are about to launch where you can get hold of our music and merchandise. On the gig front we have a gig at The Maze on the 31st of May. Then our acoustic show at the Malt Cross for you chaps on 6 June and then the big one Drop In The Ocean on the 11. But we're sure you've heard about that already....
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