An interview with Smoove & Turrell ahead of their Bristol show
Posted on: 08 May 2017We get a word in with Jonathan Scott Watson (aka Smoove, above left) ahead of his band's stopover in Bristol this week. Get the lowdown everything you need to know about Smoove & Turrell before their show at The Fleece on the 11th May.
Give us a brief history of Smoove and Turrell; when did you meet and start making music? What have been some highlights of your musical journey?
I was signed to Acid Jazz records in 2008 producing my solo music and carving my name as a globe trotting DJ. John was in a folk duo called The Stevies and needed a demo recorded. I met John's wife at uni and she introduced me to him.
When we initially started we weren't working with musicians, we were a duo really. That’s how it kind of started, because we were predominantly using samples and things developed further from there, working with the musicians from the live band to showcase the album. Then we realized the live band was a whole different beast in itself. We went from playing small pubs and venues to travelling all over the world playing to thousands of people at huge concerts and festivals. We now have a superb team which looks after our PR, artist management, record label and tour management.
Which different qualities does each member bring to the band?
At first the live situation was just a way of showcasing our first album but the live band evolved and is a different beast altogether now. The band members Andy Champion, Lloyd Croft, Lloyd Wright and Mike Porter are an integral part of writing new music and performing live. We take huge inspiration from watching our audience reactions to certain songs in the live set, which often reflects our studio recordings.
How would you describe the noise that you make?
Northern Funk music with lashings of soul and hip hop beats.
I understand you have coined the term ‘Northern Funk’ to refer to your music; have you been heavily influenced by the Northern Soul movement?
Northern Soul is something we feel the inspiration from, but we would never claim to fly that flag as our own. Our musical backgrounds are very different; I was into hip hop, funk and boogie when I was a teenager, and the art of cut and paste music had a big influence on me, which is evident in the way I make music today. John listened to a lot of soulful Rock stuff like Joni Mitchell, Cream, Free and Led Zeppelin. The other members in the band have such diverse backgrounds, ranging from heavy metal to jazz, electronica to punk and industrial techno to progressive rock. All of these elements definitely affect the way we approach writing and performing music.
You released your fourth album, Crown Posada, last year. What is new about this record and what have you done differently?
I guess all of these years of working with amazing musicians, we decided we should let these guys write music. It was an experiment recording the live drums and a lot of electronica. Mike Porter’s got a load of vintage keyboards, the new guitar player has got loads of weird effects on a pedal board so we really experimented with stuff like that.
There's songs like '50 Days of Winter’ which is all written around a bass line that Andy composed. It's basically a slap back delay and instantly it sounded something like Depeche Mode would do. As a producer I sort of heard what he was doing when he was writing and said, "That would sound great quite stripped back and synthy". That’s us pushing the boat out.
When you put it all together you’ve got your northern funk stuff, upbeat stuff and your mellow stuff. When you put it all together and put Johns voice over it, you don’t really notice how different some of the songs are musically. The thing I like with Smoove and Turrell is we can really get away with that, we can really jump styles of music or genres. We claim our own sound because John's voice masks all of that.
Every album we make has to be an evolution from the previous one but we didn’t want to change our sound too drastically in fear of upsetting our fan-base but it definitely has a more mature sound and feel. Crown Posada is another exciting chapter in the story of S&T.
All artists needs to push there own boundaries but it needs to be a happy medium, I personally don’t feel anything has drastically changed apart from the fact my production skills might have improved somewhat, although I’m always striving to reach that goal that keeps on getting moved!
What are the challenges and benefits posed by operating as a band in the North East of England?
Our message is clear; we are down to earth, working class lads who love to write music from the corner of our globe. I think the way we speak also confirms our identity, which can often have a certain charm to people who are not familiar with the North East region.
It’s our region that keeps us grounded actually as there is something surreal and fantasy like about travelling around the globe so when we return home to our wives and kids it brings us right back to earth! Being true to ourselves has never been more so apparent.
Which other bands are sounding good in Newcastle at the moment?
Grey Tapes, Rob Heron and The Tea Pad Orchestra.
Where is good to eat, drink and dance in the Toon?
Billy Bootleggers, Crown Posada, Dat Bar, No28, Jazz Café, River Beat, House Of Tides , Broad Chair,
How would you define the role of ‘happy’ funk and soul music like yours in today’s unhappy social climate?
Everyone needs to dance and shake the blues away even if its just for one night!
Are you excited for your show at The Fleece in Bristol? Is it a city that you enjoy visiting?
Bristol has it all, its incredible city full of character and culture we always love visiting and playing live in Bristol!
Smoove and Turrell are playing at The Fleece on Thursday 11th May, get your mitts on tickets here. For more from the band, check them out on Facebook.
Article by:
An ardent Geordie minus the accent, Sam seemingly strove to get as far away from the Toon as possible, as soon as university beckoned. Three undergraduate years at UoB were more than ample time for Bristol (as it inevitably does) to get under his skin, and so here he remains: reporting, as Assistant Editor, on the cultural happenings which so infatuated him with the city. Catch him at sam@365bristol.com.
