Interview with The Heavy North: ”As Long As You’re Here With Me’ is a gateway to the rest of the album’

Liverpool-based garage blues band The Heavy North will release their keenly-awaited debut album Electric Soul Machine on Saturday (23 April), giving us 10 sublime tracks about love, loneliness and the pitfalls of social media.

The band comprises Kenny Stuart (vocals), José Ibanez (guitar), Andy Horrocks (bass), Ste Penn (keys), Mark Rice (drums) and Jack Birch (guitar).

Ibanez, who’s originally from Granada in Spain, describes Electric Soul Machine as ‘blues with a bit of soul, Black Sabbath and a mixture of styles’: ‘What stands out for me is that they’re all good songs, they’ve all got their own identity,’ he said. ‘I’m very proud of it, there are no fillers.’ Birch nods: ‘It’s pretty diverse from one track to the next, there’s some blues, a few soul-oriented numbers and some big riffs. There’s something for everyone,’ he grinned. Penn is laughing: ‘I think we misfired by calling our EP ‘Dive Bar Blues’, it would have been a great name for the album, that’s our sound!’

In addition to popular singles such as ‘Satisfy You’ and ‘As Long As You’re Here With Me’, the album features four new tracks: ‘The Genie’, ‘She Gets Me Higher’, ‘Better Change’ and ‘Falling Down On You’. It’s an incredible album, due to the exceptionally strong performance of each member of the band, from Stuart’s once-in-a-lifetime vocals to Ibanez’ wizardry on the guitar, Horrocks’ insanely hooky bass lines and Penn’s gorgeous melodies that underpin all of their tracks. In addition, Rice’s drumming manages to seamlessly mesh soul and rock elements and recent addition Birch infuses their live performances with some new, hard hitting and anthemic rock-laden riffs.

‘The Genie is a nod to Kenny’s son ‘Gene’, who is a cool little guy. The lyrics paint a picture of a fictional character, who is just the epitome of cool.‘

‘The Genie’ is a natural opener, a jazz-infused track that includes a trumpet line that wouldn’t be out of place in an Otis Redding song. It turns out to have been inspired by Stuart’s son, Gene: ‘Martin Smith was brought in for the sessions in Liverpool and he came up with the trumpet parts,’ Ibanez said. ‘He put that thing in the trumpet, you know, that makes it quieter?’ (We temporarily forget the name for it, it’s a mute). ‘It was like a plunger (laughs). Live, Jack and I play that part together. When we play this live, I picture a cool guy, like in Shaft (an American detective show in the 70’s), with a leather jacket. The Genie is a nod to Kenny’s son ‘Gene’, who is a cool little guy. The lyrics paint a picture of a fictional character, who is just the epitome of cool.‘  Penn agrees: ‘Kenny has said it’s about Gene,’ he said. ‘He also wrote a song about his daughter, ‘Frida’.’

As the track kicks off: ‘Let me tell you a tall story about a man, a man with a masterplan. Well, you know, he’s gonna chase down his dreams but he does not sleep, yeah.’

The addition of Birch, who joined the band in January this year, is enabling them to experiment more sonically, according to Penn: ‘It’s going to be next level with Jack,’ he said enthusiastically. ‘With Jack, we’ve known each other 10 years, we’ve played in other bands together, I love having Jack in the band.’ Ibanez agrees: ‘Before, we could always track different guitar parts but now when we play live, we can both play lead or both play rhythm guitar. We can add more stuff in, it’s much richer.’ Birch nods: ‘It was very much an experimental thing, it could have gone either way,’ he said. ‘The band didn’t need any enhancements as such, it was more just an avenue to explore. As much as I wanted it to work, I was equally prepared for it not to. With four guitars, it’s easy to overdo it. But it’s working!’

‘Satisfy You’ takes a dig at social media and online trolling and is their rockiest song to date, with echoes of Led Zeppelin. The late bridge reels you in as does Rice’s crashing drum beat and the seriously hooky chorus, underpinned by Horrocks’ equally infectious bass line: ‘We were jamming between lockdowns,’ Ibanez said. ‘I went to the control room in my studio, Kenny was jamming with Mark and he played that opening riff. He looked at me and I looked at him (he puts on a delightfully astonished face) and I was like “Wow”! That’s how it was born.’ I ask him what chords are in the opening riff and he grabs a guitar: ‘I worked on it at home,’ he said. ‘Wait, I’ll play it.’ He starts strumming and it’s instantly identifiable. ‘It’s rooted in D, and goes G to A, resolves in C, I need to practice it!,’ he joked. ‘We haven’t played it for a few weeks!’

‘It’s one of our fastest ones, it’s almost got a punk tempo’

I say that although the song is about the pitfalls of social media, it could easily be a gentle dig at the music industry and Penn agrees: ‘Yeah, it definitely could. We didn’t intend to put it out as a single but we decided we would when the vinyl got delayed. It’s one of our fastest ones, it’s almost got a punk tempo.’

As Stuart belts out defiantly: ‘I’m not here to satisfy you. I’m not here to satisfy you. I do what I want, I say what I want, I write what I want, I know right from wrong. I’m not here to satisfy you.’

‘To The Wind I Go’ is one of the highlights on the album, mashing up 70’s glam rock, a whole lot of soul, some inspired harmonica playing from Stuart and heavier, crunchier riffs that provide the backbone to the track. Interestingly, the lyrics are quite different in some places to the ones that Stuart initially wrote, according to Penn: ‘The lyrics have been a big part of how the album has been crafted,’ he said. ‘On the back of the album, there’s a QR code that takes you to Kenny’s old, handwritten lyrics, some of them aren’t very accurate now (laughs). We thought it would be a nice touch for people to see the process and what they looked like originally.’

However, it is live that you fully appreciate what makes them so magical and how tightly they work as a unit. Such is the power of Stuart’s voice onstage that he has the room in the palm of his hand. Their energy didn’t let up once at any point in the set when I saw them at The Fiddler in London in February and it was unquestionably one of the best – and most polished – gigs I have ever been to. ‘As Long As You’re Here With Me’ is a natural set – and album – closer. It’s got such a deep rooted old school vibe – think classic Sam Cooke – that it’s hard to believe it wasn’t written in the 50’s, although, ultimately, it’s a tribute to blues legends like him from that era, who created their own unique blend of gospel, blues, pop and rhythm & blues. You get completely lost in it live, it’s over before you know it, and the almost six minutes of playing time feel like a fraction of that. It’s a performance that stays with you long after the night is over and is still my favourite track on the album.

As the song kicks off: ‘All the lonely people trying to make it work. I don’t know how to feel, there’s not much love in the world.’

‘It’s such a lovely track about the world falling apart but as long as you’re here with me, everything is good’

Last time I chatted to Stuart, he described it as ‘a throwback track inspired by Sam Cooke and Otis Reading’: ‘It’s my favourite genre. It’s such a lovely track about the world falling apart but as long as you’re here with me, everything is good,’ he said.

They released it as a single in 2019 but it has been transformed into something even lovelier with the addition of the strings on Electric Soul Machine: ‘We put the strings in the song, the sax and the trumpet,’ Penn said. ‘We made it grander. We couldn’t turn down the opportunity to record with our friends at the Northern String Quartet.‘ Ibanez sums it up perfectly: ‘It’s fun for us when we play it,’ he said excitedly. ‘It’s slow, 50’s, 60’s old school but there’s a blues explosion at the end.’ Birch agrees: ‘It’s a magnificent thing,’ he said. ‘It projects the way that Kenny’s singing.’ I say that it packs a real emotional punch live and makes you want to hug the whole room and they all agree: ‘We play it long enough for people to hold each other,’ Ibanez said. ‘You see them moving closer. We start to play but before you know it, it’s over, it goes in a flash.’

At this point, Horrocks joins our Zoom and starts chatting enthusiastically about ‘As Long As You’re Here With Me’: ‘It starts out really slow, quite the ballad, it’s the one that everyone wants to hear so we normally close with it,’ he said. ‘Then it gets rockier. ‘As Long As You’re Here With Me’ is a gateway to the rest of the album, it gives people a taste for them tunes. After lockdown, we had to all go back into José’s and play them all together. When we played ‘Falling Down On You’, I hadn’t heard it for 8-9 months (laughs) but it comes back quite fast!’

‘Darkness In Your Eyes’ could easily be a Black Keys song, from the addictive shredding at the start to Ibanez’ heavy yet melodic solo around halfway through. ‘It started with that opening riff based on a blues scale,’ Ibanez said. ‘I wanted to write something you could dance to. Dave Grohl once said “When I look out at the crowds when we play, everyone is doing this (he bounces in his chair),” I wanted to make people do that (laughs). It’s very driven!’

Essentially, the track is about the feeling of loneliness that can result in craving attention from the wrong people and about the importance of trusting your instincts to know when others may not be what they seem, something which comes across in the lyrics: ‘You go to the bathroom to clear your mind. Looking inside yourself to see what you find. You get high because you’re feeling low. All dressed up with nowhere to go.’

”Satisfy You’ has a lot of power, lots of different elements, the riffs chug away to the end’

Electric Soul Machine marks the second physical release from the band after 2020’s debut 4-track vinyl EP ‘Dive Bar Blues’, and follows a succession of single releases over the last 12 months. Birch cites ‘The Genie’ as his favourite ‘to listen to and play’: ‘It’s a hell of a riff,’ he grinned. Penn says that his favourite changes depending on his mood: ‘It does change but ‘The Genie’ is one of my faves. I like to play the album on vinyl and on the car stereo. ‘No Good’ is a well crafted song, it’s one of our strongest.’ Ibanez is mulling his favourite: ‘It’s a hard one. I love them all, especially when I play them live. I love playing ‘Falling Down On You’ and ‘Satisfy You’, it rocks. You’ve got that great feedback on the guitar in the middle.’ Horrocks is nodding: ‘I agree with you,’ he said. ”Satisfy You’ has a lot of power, lots of different elements, the riffs chug away to the end. I’ve got a soft spot for ‘No Good’ ‘cos it’s the first song where I thought I could play bass. The beat is following the kick drum all the way through from the start to the end, I have to follow it all the time, that’s hard. Then the guitars come in and keys.’

Even on the tiny stage at The Fiddler in London, they played the whole set as if they were playing to a stadium, which is an intrinsic part of their appeal. Penn agrees: ‘Music leaves such an impression on you, people can see if you’re into it when you play or not. There’s me bopping around on keys (laughs). As a six piece, it was a tiny stage you saw us on. We play a venue in the Wirral that’s big and very wide, hopefully you’ll see us on one like that next time.’ I say that I actually prefer tiny stages and that I was amazed that they all fitted on it with the amount of gear that they had, not to mention the big rack of guitars and Ibanez laughs: ‘I like small stages, too. You can do back to back on the guitars (he pretends to play the guitar back to back)), it looks a bit posey!’

They all had different routes into music, although music made its mark on all of them growing up. Penn was introduced to what he calls ‘the Merseyside sound, not just The Beatles’ by his dad. Horrocks admits that he was more into football as a young kid: ‘It was the footie, yeah (laughs), I didn’t get into music until I was 14-15. My old man was a big muso, he was a big fan of the club, Eric’s – it wasn’t around for very long but I think it opened again recently. They played The Clash, Sex Pistols, Joy Division, bands like that. It was a prominent punk venue.’ Birch was all about the music, even as a kid: ‘I’m the only non-footie fan,’ he laughed. ‘I was 11 when my uncle Danny taught me to play guitar. I was a youngster through the 90’s, and took a lot of influence from my older brother who was in his ‘heyday’ around that time. So, naturally, there was a lot of indie and Britpop etc. but a fair bit of grunge and classic rock, too. When the guitar came along, it was bands like Pink Floyd, the Doors and Led Zeppelin that were the focus. As I matured, I got into a lot of psychedelic type stuff too.’ Ibanez says his parents had a record player “with massive headphones”. ‘When I was 10-15, I found out I had a great uncle who was a legend playing flamenco guitar,’ he said. ‘I had a three string Spanish guitar in the house. We didn’t have the internet then (laughs), so my dad bought me a book of chords. and got me some more strings. In high school, I asked my parents if I could have an electric guitar to play heavier chords like Jimi Hendrix. I was the rare one in my group of friends, I wanted to go and hear live music, they weren’t very interested!’

‘I can’t imagine not having a day job’

I ask them what they would miss about their lives now if they became famous. ‘I don’t think I’d miss the stressing and flapping I cause for the band having to herd the cats together,’ Penn laughed. ‘Could someone else do it if we get famous?! Horrocks is laughing: ‘Ignore what he says,’ he tells me. ‘I’d change nothing, not a bit, I’d still be one of the cats. I just love playing music with my friends.’ The others are laughing as well. ‘I can’t imagine not having a day job,’ Birch said pensively. ‘I think I’d still do that. I need my routine. If I did music full-time, I think I’d crack up!’ Ibanez agrees: ‘I’d be like Jack, still doing my podcast and drinking my coffee (laughs). Hey, if fame happens, that’s great but if it doesn’t, it’s still great, I’ll be here with my friends. I’d be the same guy.’

Their close-knit bond is evident on our Zoom and it’s something that finds its way into the studio and infuses their music as well: ‘We have those moments in the studio when you’re jamming and it’s great but sometimes they have to end,’ Horrocks said. ‘You have to go home and go to bed at some point (laughs) but then you worry that you’ll forget the bloody riff!’

(Top photo from left to right: Andy, Mark, Kenny, José and Ste. Photo credit: Andy Horrocks (senior), Blue22 Photography)