Deep Sound Channel

I arrived early and their guitarist was late.  Colm O'Hanlon (drums), Rich Kis (bass & djembe) and I were sat in the Golden Fleece on a cold Saturday afternoon waiting for Dave Tweedie to convince his Escort that his presence was required elsewhere.

This slight delay to proceedings gave me an opportunity to ask Rich what a djembe is (it's a West Coast African drum) and to discuss the band's website.  Apparently Dave is responsible for maintaining it, but unfortunately his computer isn't functioning correctly (or words to that effect) so the website is slightly inaccurate.  Daniel Barbinel (clarinet) is no longer in the band as he has moved to France and Paul Bratt (percussion) only plays with them occasionally.

Dave rolls in apologetically, so without further ado and a poised pen I delve into the minds of Deep Sound Channel...

The guys have known each other for some years; Dave and Rich met when they were sixteen and living in Kidderminster, they fell out of touch but became reunited years later in Worcestershire. At this stage, Colm was already in another band and friends with Dave. Dave took Rich to see Colm perform a gig, they were impressed enough to arrange for the three of them to meet up and `jam' together. Thus Deep Sound Channel was born. They were all unemployed at the time and so could practise virtually all day nearly every day of the week (with their first gig being in Leeds), this has since been limited to practising for a couple of times a week for 4-5 hours due to gain of employment.

All three members write their music together but avoid labelling themselves within one specific genre.  They are obviously an instrumental band, who consider themselves to possess a unique style that varies significantly.  They find that people approach them following a gig, who have concentrated on a particular attribute to their sound which appeals to them; therefore feedback is positive, if inconsistent.

Who are your main influences?
"Miles Davis, Radio Dubb, Wayne Krautz and Gong."

What are the pros and cons of being in a band?
"Pros are we get to have a lot of fun, visit new places, play good gigs to good people and sometimes get free beer! Cons are we have to do a lot of hard work and preparation and are not getting paid for it.  Being in a band also takes up rather a lot of time."

What other Nottingham-based bands do you like?
"We're big fans of Sutt Line Cheef (live dance), Papastachio (jazz rock/dance) and Grain (blues with acoustic guitars)."

Which Nottingham venues do you enjoy playing in?
"Rescue Rooms, The Maze (we did last New Years Eve there) and The Frog and Onion are our favourites."

Do you consider Nottingham to be a good city for bands such as yourselves i.e. venues, promotions, general interest etc.?
"There could always be more interest but it is a funky city with a vibe similar to Bristol's. We recorded our demo at Clarendon College and have good contacts here, it's a good springboard. There are a lot of musicians here so it's easy to get favours; Colm is actually using a friend's kit!"

What are your hopes and fears for the future?
"Hopes are to develop our fan base, although whether we play to 10 people or 200 people doesn't really matter as long as they all enjoy our music but we'd like the band to continue growing at the rate it currently is.  Colm would like to own his own drum kit! Fears are of the band losing our momentum and fizzling out but we're all committed so we can't really see that happening."

Where would you like to be a year from now?
"We'd like to have a full diary of gigs to play including Glastonbury.  We're going to take some time off gigs for a bit now while we write some new material; we only have an hour and a half's worth at the moment and need some more as we've been playing the same set for a while now.

Have you got a discography or any new releases you'd like to mention?
"Currently we only have an EP available with Kebab King (full song), Babayaga (excerpt) and Trains (excerpt) on it.  You can get hold of it by contacting us via our website or asking us at a gig, we are considering setting up Paypal on our website to enable people to purchase it that way."

What can we expect from you at LeftLion Presents on Friday?
"Full on twisted darkness! We'll be doing our usual up-beat frantic music with its 'spacier' moments, there'll be improvisation too so our gigs aren't all the same and generate interest.  We're looking forward to it."

I thanked Deep Sound Channel for their time, wished them luck for the afore-mentioned gig and we parted company. They went to practise and I went to type up my scribbled notes from an interesting cold Saturday afternoon in the Golden Fleece. Next year I hope to see their name on the bill for Glastonbury...

www.deepsoundchannel.co.uk