Stockport 4 piece No Hot Ashes have been making all the right noises recently. Dubbed one of Manchester`s top 20 bands to look out for, their Gavin Monaghan produced indie / funk has brought admirers across the land. Having blitzed the likes of Kendal Calling and Tramlines this year the band are set to take their live show on the road in support of their new single ‘Easy Peeler’. As they prepare to do so, we caught up with the band to find out a bit more…
Hello! How the devil are you today and where can we find you answering these questions?
Hiya good yeah – we`re currently on the 6th floor of an old cotton mill (Pear Mill) in Stockport at the moment.
Can you tell us a bit about the band for readers unfamiliar with you?
Sure – No Hot Ashes are Isaac, Lui, Jack & Matt and we come from Stockport – the music has been described as Indie/Funk Rock.
You’ve recently played a sold out show at Kraak Galleries for the Easy Peeler / Smooth (no bits) single launch. How did it feel to sell the show out?
Isaac: We have yeah – Kraak this year was the maddest gig we`ve done to date – it sold out about a week before and we`d even released tickets slightly over the capacity (shhh) – it was a proud moment and we were all on a massive buzz after coming off stage – the crowd was crazy and the room was packed.
What are your ambitions with the band?
Lui: Well we want to be doing it full time – that’s the dream – at the moment we are all juggling around jobs/university etc. So it would be nice to one day be able to pack that lot in and be able to concentrate on the band fully.
You’re from Stockport – how has the town influenced you in terms of the band?
Matt: Stockport has never had much to offer in terms of music – so I guess that’s the incentive for us to be the best we can and hopefully one day become something that the town can be proud of – with us all coming from a working-class background too that has always pushed us – we know how to graft and never expect things to be given to us on a plate.
You’ve mentioned you described as a funk / indie band. Who were / are your musical influences?
Jack: We`ve all got fairly similar yet different tastes in music but in a few genres/bands we really come together – we are all massive funk from Parliament, The Doobie Brothers, James Brown… the list goes on but there’s also a big love for your obvious big Indie/Rock/Funk bands like Kasabian, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Roses so I guess our music is a complete fusion of that. It’s not dull – it’s Indie but with a real groove you can get down to.
You seem to be evolving all the time – do you think where you are at now is the finished NHA sound?
Isaac: We`re quite lucky to be honest – we`re still young and have spent a lot of time not being taken seriously and in that time we`ve been crafting the sound – It took a few people to really bring it out in the recordings but we knew after releasing “Goose” & “Skank” last year we had made a mark on something. Don’t get me wrong we have a lot to learn yet – we know that, but we want to go forward making fresh music and trying to experiment and not get complacent so I think the sound will always be changing slightly.
You’ve got Gavin Monaghan working on your songs. How did it come about getting a big named producer involved?
Lui: It was all quite out of the blue to be honest – I got a message off the bands inbox from Gavin who was asking if we would like to record with him at his studios in Wolverhampton but I hadn’t heard of him – after a quick name google it was pretty clear that this guy was legit and had worked on albums for Editors, The Twang, Ocean Colour Scene, JAWS and many more so we very quickly got our manager to ring and speak to him about his offer – we heard he got our name through word of mouth after speaking to John Robb via his Louder Than War Magazine so it was a really proud moment for us all that our music had been recognised by someone with such great experience – we were really excited to be working with him
You’ve played Kendal Calling, Tramlines and Blackthorn festivals this year. What has your highlight been?
Jack: All 3 of those festivals were great – we met a lot of people at them and smashed every set – the stand out one deffo has to be Kendal Calling – it was our first major festival and after playing many smaller, local festivals we arrived at Kendal and knew this was another level – definitely the biggest stage we played too and probably the biggest crowd also, it was a mint experience and we hope we can do many more like it next festival season.
Do you have any new releases in the pipeline?
Isaac: We`re back writing at the moment – we like to get right back on it as soon as we release anything, I think we get bored pretty quick – so yeah there’s a few ideas going round at the moment and over the next few months hopefully we can add some fresh tunes to the set and get back in the studio as soon as possible.
What would your desert island disc be?
All: General Levy – “Incredible” – it’s been a big tune in the practice room at the moment – really gets us going and the guys a genius. Closely followed by Parliament – “Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker).
What’s next for the band?
Lui: At the moment we`re putting everything we have into pushing the new singles and getting as much exposure from them as we can – we’ve had some great help from the likes of Reverend & The Makers, Happy Mondays & Producer Jim (XFM) in doing this so we are very grateful and glad there are people taking notice of us. Looking into next year we want to be gigging a lot more outside of Manchester to new crowds and building up a bigger fan base.
NO HOT ASHES LIVE DATES:
10th October//Sound Control//Manchester (w/The Amazons)
17th October//Leeds University Union//Leeds
13th November//The Ferret//Preston (w/Dexters)
Easy Peeler is available for download via iTunes
