Interview with The Gold Needles: ‘We’re like a Venn diagram with The Beatles, Byrds and Tom Petty in the middle!’

Last month, Hull-based psychedelic power pop band, The Gold Needles, brought out their third album, What’s Tomorrow Ever Done For You?, which mulls the passing of time and what tomorrow may bring in their trademark, hooky, 60’s fashion.

The band comprises Simon Dowson (vocals and guitar), Dave Burbage (guitar, keyboards and programming), Mark English (keyboards) and Carl Slaughter (bass and harmony.) English and Dowson have known each other for many years, playing in a band together in 1985. English and Burbage have been friends for 35 years. The Gold Needles were formed in 2015. ‘Simon said to me “I have this idea for a band”, English explained. ‘He’d read up on ancient Chinese folklore which says that 15 gold needles inserted into the body will achieve immortality. We haven’t tried it yet, it’s on the “to do” list!’

Interestingly, they’ve actually got a song called ’15 GOLD Needles’ in their back catalogue which they’ve performed often but have never recorded. ‘We’ll get to it one of these days,’ Burbage joked.

What Has Tomorrow Done For You? is very cohesive for a collection of songs that wasn’t initially designed to be an album, and comprises nine original songs and three covers, including The Hollies’ ‘Have You Ever Loved Somebody?’ and The Beatles’ ‘If I Needed Someone’: ‘The first in the bag was The Hollies’ track,’ Burbage said. ‘We recorded it a year ago.’

‘Most people’s idea of life has changed during lockdown, you have to live for the moment’

As the album started to take shape, the theme of time emerged as a constant motif threading through the tracks, something that is highlighted by the beautiful cover artwork featuring clocks. ‘The theme of time and tomorrow, reflections on the past and the future, you can hear bits in the lyrics about time,’ English said. ‘There’s a great picture of Harold Lloyd (an American actor and comic) hanging off a clock, which inspired us, I think it’s in New York. It’s that idea of time not waiting for anyone.’ Burbage jumps in: ‘Most people’s idea of life has changed during lockdown, you have to live for the moment.’

The title track on the album was written by Dowson last summer and perfectly encapsulates their pyschedelic, power pop sound. ‘We had a recording session and Simon had sent us a demo,’ English said. ‘We put our bits on it. Carl, you said it sounded like The Monkees’ ‘What Am I Doing Hangin’ Around’. Simon said he wrote it after a chance remark from a friend. His friend might have had a drink problem and Simon thought “I’ll put that in my memory bank”.’

As the song goes: ‘The distant look that’s in your eyes from all the time we spent reaching for the skies, the pain we felt inside our hearts, it won’t mean anything in our brand new lives.’

My favourite track on the album is the seriously addictive ‘Billy Liar’, which is loosely based on the 1963 film of the same name starring Tom Courtenay. ‘We had a lot of fun recording it,’ English said. ‘Billy Liar is one of my favourite films, Tom Courtenay is from Hull. I wrote the lyrics and Simon came up with the melody. It’s a real catchy track. Damaged Goods (a UK record label) said it sounded like a lost Sweet (a British glam rock band from the 70’s) song from ’75! Billy Liar is a bit of a Walter Mitty character. He has the opportunity at the end to go to London and start a new life but he bottles it at the last minute and his friend, who’s a girl, goes without him.’

One defining feature of their music is their ability to pair upbeat, hooky melodies with lyrics that are frequently reflective and even melancholic at times. ‘We like the juxtaposition of happier music with darker lyrics,’ English said.

‘I hope it helps people, it’s from the heart’

A good example of that is ‘Realm of the Black Dog’ which is, as the title, suggests, about depression. The synth-led intro, which leads into dog howls, could easily belong to a French film from the 80’s, but the song gets rockier – and riffier – as it moves along. ‘I wrote it, over the years I’ve suffered from depression and anxiety,’ Burbage said. ‘I found it a cathartic process to write it, I thought maybe it was too gloomy but Mark and Simon loved it. It has a great bass line from Carl. It’s also about the importance of men’s mental health and speaking up about it. I hope it helps people, it’s from the heart. There was nothing wrong in my life to cause depression but it feels like closing the curtains on your world and it’s hard to open them again.’

That is captured beautifully in the lyrics: ‘Anxiety and desolation, life an endless uphill climb, time it changes nothing and nothing changes time.’

Slaughter nods: ‘I’ve been through something similar,’ he said. ‘Dave and I help each other, we don’t sweep it under the carpet.’

The Beatles’ cover came about because they’d already recorded a couple of Beatles songs for Jem Records Celebrates John Lennon, which had gone down well, according to Slaughter. ‘Marty, from the record label wanted us to contribute a couple of Beatles tracks to this album and asked us if we had another Beatles track to record, we didn’t need asking twice! Dave came up with ‘If I Needed Someone’, we’d all played it in the past. We majored on the Indian feel in the track. At the start, Dave sampled Ringo’s drums. We knew we couldn’t use it but we asked our drummer to play it like he did on ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’!’

Lockdown has encouraged them to be creative in terms of recording, given that they couldn’t get into a studio. ‘We had to record it outside because of the lockdown situation,’ Burbage said. ‘On Saturday mornings, when we had 2-3 hours, and as long as the weather lasted, we’d record. It concentrated us, we knew we had to do it.’ When I ask if they recorded it in one of their gardens, they start to laugh: ‘Funny you should say that,’ English said, laughing. ‘A lot of it was recorded in my garden, I’ve got a decking area. We’ve got mobile recording equipment, so we’d get some vocals down, a bass line down and it gave me the opportunity to add keyboards later. We know a cracking drummer down south (Will Jones) and we sent the tracks through to him and asked him to play like he was in the band. Then we’d send it along to the States to be mastered. It was like a big jigsaw puzzle.’

They haven’t played together since last summer, something they all acknowledge has been incredibly hard. ‘It’s difficult at the minute,’ said English. ‘We’ve always had little projects and it’s been really hard not being able to do that.’

‘Mark’s our music guru, he puts us onto new things’

Slaughter describes himself as a ‘major’ Beatles fan and acknowledges they they have had a huge influence on the band. ‘The Byrds (an American rock band from the 60’s), I’m very much into them. We tend to go our separate ways, we’re like a Venn diagram with The Beatles, Byrds and Tom Petty in the middle!’ The others start laughing. ‘I also like The Jam, Squeeze and Aztec Camera.’ Burbage joins in: ‘I’m pretty much with Carl on that. I’ve also been a massive Bowie fan all my life. The Spiders came from Hull, they were a massive influence when I started playing guitar at 14. Mark’s our music guru, he puts us onto new things, he put me onto The Decemberists, do you know them?’ I say that I do and that I’m also a fan.

English joins in: ‘My favourite era is The Beatles and The Stranglers, the feel of how they put songs together and early Elvis Costello. Your tastes become more eclectic as you get older, you give things like Pink Floyd a chance. Carl and me talk about bands, we didn’t know but we were at the same Jam gig in December 1982, just a few days before they broke up.’

Hull has always had a very vibrant music scene, according to English. ‘There’s a ton of good music out there,’ he said. I ask them who they’d like to see playing a gig locally, if it was possible. ‘We’d see anyone!,’ Slaughter laughed. ‘We’d even see The Salvation Army band!’ English says he’d like to see local punk power pop band, Filthy Filthy. ‘They’re good fun. Or The Cartels, they’re a great band, they have loads of energy. Spilt Milk are good, so are The Vida Cult.’

If they could tour with anyone, Burbage picks Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Slaughter is thinking. ‘I’d like a few days with The Stones,’ he laughed. I tell him that I’m not sure he’d survive it and he agrees. ‘I’d like to go on tour with The Jam, for the vibe at the time,’ he added. English is laughing: ‘I have a secret ambition…to join The Damned, that Monty (Monty Oxymoron, their keyboardist) will have had enough. I’ll jump up on the stage and somehow I’ll know all the songs. The thing is, they have a history of setting their keys players on fire….’ The others are all laughing. ‘Maybe we should try that,’ Slaughter muses. ‘The queue that night would be round the block!’

(Photo from left to right: Carl, Simon, Mark, Justin, their drummer at shows, and Dave.)