We Chat to Jez Sullivan of Noise Maker’s Guild Ahead of Their Show at the Chapel

Hi Jez! You are returning to live performance in 2024 at the Angel Microbrewery on 13 February with your brand new project Noise Makers Guild. Tell us more about the group and how it all came about?
Well I was in Heroes of Switzerland from 2004-2008. Then I left the band and moved down south for a few years. I returned to Heroes in 2017, we did a few gigs, but I’d become rather frustrated with the direction. Everything was very dense musically, and at times I felt I was fighting for frequency. So I was talking to my mate Lee Heir, then singer of Nottingham rock band Prime, just about the idea of writing music that was more plaintive. Stuff with space to breathe in. So, after a couple of sessions we wrote some tunes together, and it was great, as Lee has such an original voice, a nice rich baritone. Then Covid stopped play. By the time the world got back to normal, there wasn't much desire in Heroes of Switzerland to continue. So it became a case of just getting in a room and trying to forge something new. 

So after that, NMG finally got into a rehearsal room?
Lee knew a good bassist who brought in Kikey Kumar, a really musical young drummer, who established himself quickly. So we all jammed and wrote and it flowed very nicely, with everyone playing for the songs. Musically NMG is a band for now. In the 2020’s no one gives a shit about genre or tribalism. That old rubbish has gone and I’m glad. Musically we have such varied tastes and there’s no restrictions.

Musically, what would you say each person brings to the table?
Well, Kikey and Lee are like walking encyclopaedias of rock. They know everything. So there’s no fear of an idea. The first song we wrote in a room was Stranded, which melds an almost heavy metal riff into a post-punk chorus. It reminds me of Public Image Ltd. But you can dance to it. Kevin, our new bassist is like that too. He’s as likely to be listening to King Tubby and Roni Size as he would be Black Sabbath. So there’s no finger wagging on what we can write. When I was living down south I was briefly in this typical careerist indie band and fuck, it was depressing. I used to study the stains on the walls of this rehearsal studio in Brixton simply because I was so bored. Whereas now with NMG, rehearsals are laughter filled experiments and we record everything. 

And your own vibe on guitar?
My own guitar style has always been this car crash of melody and textures. I think after a while I realised I have a guitar style and there’s no point pretending to not be myself.

Sounds like we are in for a treat on 13 February! Heroes of Switzerland were highly touted as a 'next big thing' on the London based Club AC30 shoegaze label after the early EP you released. Then a few years after you parted ways with the label, I thought your Comfort in Fear album was highly underrated. Why do you think the wheels fell off your momentum, and what would you say are big differences between the music scene now and back in the late 2000s when you were at your previous peak?
With Heroes I think there was a bubble of interest, but in some ways others around the band expected us to pander more to the whole Club AC30 and Goonite scenes. I remember we were asked to cover a Swervedriver tune for a compilation album, and much as we all loved that band, no one wanted to do it. Also we were self-managing and that’s a difficult one sometimes. Plus juggling things like kids. Two of the band were fathers and that’s never easy, fitting the rock around adulting. But in hindsight I have a good memory of that band, as they were lovely blokes and we’re still friends.

Do you think it's harder or easier for breaking bands now?
God, I'm not sure I’m even qualified to say, beyond an observation (about the music industry). I guess it’s about YouTube now. But I sort of find it depressing. It seems to be the commodity no one values, especially with these new streaming rates. It’s like the people in suits have won and that’s the problem. There's no Peter Grant-like characters fighting for the artist: If someone hung the CEO of Spotify out of a window, royalties would probably go up! That’s what someone like (Black Sabbath manager) Don Arden would have done. 

What would you say the difference is between Nottingham and Midlands audiences and London ones?
I think the cliche that people are friendlier in the North and Midlands is true. Also, the way other bands behave on bills. I used to hate playing London gigs where people would try to drag out their sound check time, like they’d read some music business manual on how to be unpleasant to others. It should be about making a great night for the audience, and every place deserves to be entertained. 

Very true. Thankfully, the East Midlands scene as a whole is pretty respectful between bands. What were your favourite Nottingham shows back in the mid 2000s?
To be honest the best Heroes of Switzerland Shows were in London. We did Goonite in Islington and the Club AC30 Christmas party supporting Josh Pearson from Lift To Experience who was a lovely man. My personal favourite was playing the Bull and Gate in Kentish Town. That was just after our Comfort In Fear album had come out and the band was on good form. We did the Bodega (in Nottingham) many times. But I think that sonically Heroes was always a difficult band to mix live. So the shows were inconsistent.

You are clearly a very visionary person with a lot of creative aspects when it comes to your work, with your own photography page @JezTakesSnaps, and your recently released novel 'Martin Martin and the Death Express'. Any plans to mix together all three strands? A Martin Martin musical with photographic backdrops, maybe?
I’m not sure about visionary, but thanks for the compliment! I just find that if one aspect of my creative life is standing still, I will just go and do something else. Even if that means learning a new skill. I did photography at college in my twenties. Then I went back to it in 2009 after I left Heroes of Switzerland. I really enjoy wandering around a deserted city at 5am with a camera. I did the occasional headshot gig. But to be honest I do it to benefit my mental health above all else. 
The novel was really an attempt to document something I felt had been ignored. I’d done two decades in the privatised rail industry and found much of the journalism around it to be lazy. Either anti trade union tropes or 'leaves on the line stories'. So I wrote a satire about a train operator who is killing off their fare evaders and funnelling their estates into a bogus charity. It has a solid factual base on why the system isn’t working. But by the time I’d finished it, It had become a polemic on austerity & corporate power. I’ve just finished a screenplay for a TV pilot of it actually, so watch this space.

The screenplay sounds excellent, I will! Having worked with rail companies for years, how much of the character would you say is semi-autobiographical or based on people you have previously worked with? Obviously it's all amped up to eleven...
It’s more a comment on the last decade. About ten years ago I saw an article on middle aged men cosplaying as SS Officers at a vintage railway steam gala. So that was an inspiration for my central villain. What if you took that kind of flag shagging Boomer who loves Farage and Clarkson, and gave him a private army. So it’s not directly based on anyone... although a couple of my friends' personality traits were absorbed into some of the characters.

Haha, I knew that the story wasn't 100% autobiographical, of course! You recently visited Japan for the first time, as featured on your photography page. How did you find the trip and how excited are you to discuss it with and watch tour headliner Murdah SRVC, a manga artist submerged in the culture?
I’d never been to Japan before and to be honest I wished I’d spent longer there, as I found the whole contradictions within the culture fascinating. I mean, the toilet in my hotel had six electronic presets to wash my arse with!

People talk about it as an efficient and futuristic society, but my hotel had far more employees than you’d see in an English one. Also I love Godzilla and I think he’s like a central figure of how the postwar Japanese see themselves: As people trying to resist a force of ultimate destruction. But it was amazing. I’m starting to get into watching Sumo wrestling, and went to the third day of the championship they had and it was fascinating. It’s not just giant men pushing at each other: there’s a whole set of strategies around momentum and spatial awareness, especially with the top fighters.

I think it’s gonna be really interesting playing with Murdah SRVC, and I'm excited for the gigs, especially Nottingham on 13 February. It goes back to this idea of tribalism in music no longer being there, although some of the manga stuff is a bit out there for my tastes. But he's an interesting and original artist, so I think we’ll have a great time.

How about a Manga comic based on those bidet presets? Haha!
I’ve a horrifying feeling someone may have beaten me to it.

Thank you for your time, Jez. Best of luck with the tour.
Thank you, most appreciated.

Noise Makers Guild join the Murdah SRVC Bloody Valentine Tour on 12-14 February. Catch them at Nottingham's Angel Microbrewery, on 13 February