From the outside looking in, Newcastle has an uproariously strong music scene. Novocastrians come in spades to share their talent with us humble foreigners, attributing their beginnings to their hometown once they land on the global stage with the best of their contemporaries. dave the band recognise this, and have taken to kicking off a fresh new series, dave the band the podcast, to open a dialogue with likeminded Newcastle artists.
The first instalment of the podcast, which you can watch below, sees frontman Noah Church chat to FRITZ, a recent triple j Unearthed feature artist who specialises in noise pop. “I get asked ‘what’s the Newcastle music scene like’ and I don’t really know how to reply”, FRITZ comments. “We’re too close to it”, Church counters. He cites partaking in dave the band’s trip to the United States with the perspective that the music in America was superior, only to realise the inimitable nature of what we’ve got going on here in the land down under. Sometimes you can’t see something special when you’re right in the middle of it.
And dave the band truly are in the middle of it. Their new album, Slob Stories, out today, has been anxiously anticipated. Recorded in the Windy City (Chicago, for those at the back) with Steve Albini, an industry legend known for his work with everyone from Nirvana to Jawbreaker, it sees the trio enter into a candid new chapter of their career. The title is a play on “sob stories”, capturing the honest essence of the three-piece in a truly relatable way. “We’re all three slobs from Newcastle who went to America to record an album”, Church concisely states. “We’re all slobs dealing with stuff together.”
