Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
Lee Fisher catches up with the Tyneside post-rock trio on how their evolving line-up and sound helped rekindle and inform their new album that was years in the making.
Image: Parastatic by Wayne Madden
I’m in a noisy Heaton pub with Neil (Caffery) and Jon (Garrard), the two guitarists from Tyneside post-rock, post-motorik, post-everything trio Parastatic, and Valencia-born, Newcastle-based sound artist / performer Laura (Late Girl, of whom more later). And obviously what I want to know is what the hell they’ve been up to. It’s been a full decade since their last album Recall Fade Return and there’s been a lack of activity –live or recorded -since. “We did a pretty good job of being in a band with our first record in about 2012, then the second one in 2015, and we got a new drummer (Rachel Casey) in 2016.” Neil explains. “Then Rachel moved to London and we ended up working long distance. We’d gone into Blank Studios with Sam (Grant) just before COVID andwhen we went back into Blank to finish the album (Concrete Reborn) last year, Sam was looking through the sessions and he said ‘You do realise it was 2019 when you started this record?’, so if we’d got it done in 2019, that wouldn’t have been so bad -three or four years between albums. But then there was COVID.” Neil also concedes that “we probably weren’t the hardest working band, but I think we’re changing.”Eventually it was decided Rachel was too far away for it to work and Neil and Jon, who’d reconnected with original drummer Jonnie -ostensibly for another project -decided to revisit the 2019 material with the benefit of a bit of distance. Most of the 2019 tracks have been retained, but with Jonnie’s tougher drumming style replacing Rachel’s. “He brought this completely different energy. We also made a decision to try to use guitars more. More guitars, more layers.” The band are clearly really happy with the work Sam Grant did on the album, especially the way the drums sound so real. The music certainly sounds harder, more angular, than previous Parastatic releases and this is in keeping with the album’s title and overarching concept (Neil and Jon explain they always like to work to a concept –the last album was about memory), a paean to brutalism, which was in part inspired by a band trip to Berlin to see Camera.
“We love the combination of function and form, the controversy around that, the utilitarian beauty of it.”
“We were wandering around looking at lots of concrete, decided we were in love with it and that we’d write something about it.”A lot of YouTube lectures and research followed. “We love the combination of function and form, the controversy around that, the utilitarian beauty of it. Then there’s the whole Newcastle angle with T Dan Smith, trying to imagine what Newcastle would have been like if he’d had a longer career, this kind of Brasilia of the north. So I think we just got tied into the idea, loved it and realised well, there’s a lot to say about it.”Enter Laura –aka Late Girl. Parastatic have quite rightly been banging a drum for Late Girl’s work for some time, playing gigs together and even collaborating live. “We’ve really wanted to work with Laura for ages, we’re massive fans, and this was a really good opportunity.” Laura explains that the band presented her with the words for her to perform, her recitations bringing an authority and presence to the music, although she’s happy to admit the text doesn’t necessarily reflect her views. “I don’t necessarily prescribe to the romanticising of sixties Newcastle -not that the band are really doing that -but in general, as an idea. But I think it’s an interesting thing to talk about. And I do like the decay of Newcastle, I think that is part of the charm of it, because it can’t actually be utilised.”Late Girl will be joining Parastatic for the entirety of their forthcoming tour –at seven days, probably the longest they’ve done, which will finish up at Newcastle’s Star & Shadow on Saturday March 1stfor a big hometown album launch party. Plans are still taking shape but Laura will be performing a Late Girl set in support as well as joining the band for the new material. They all admit the tour will mean Laura spending more time with the band that they have in total so far, but everyone seems excited by the prospect. “I get really stressed with all the organisation of live stuff, and it justso happens that I did nothing for this!”, Laura explains. “So in a selfish way, it’s quite convenient because I get to play as Late Girl with no stress!”.
