New singles by The Lavetts and Novablood

This week alone, one Whitehaven-based band has released a new single, while a Cumbrian duo have revealed that their next single is due out in early May.

Whitehaven's The Lavetts have gigged across the county since forming in 2018, and released their third single on Saturday – called Can’t You See.

The band was formed by singer and rhythm guitarist Brandan Rudd with lead guitarist and backing vocalist Callum Dawson. They were joined by drummer and backing vocalist Reigan Telford, and bass player Tom Milburn.

They had their first gig in the Solway Hall in Whitehaven, and followed that up with a regular stream of gigs across the county, until the lockdown put a temporary halt to their live shows.

But they are pressing on with their song release this weekend, and hope to follow that up with an EP. When the lockdown began, they were hoping to start gigging across the country to make a name for themselves, but that plan has been put on hold during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We always aimed to do original stuff and write our own songs,” said Brandan.

“We do covers as well as originals. When we do gigs there are more covers than originals, but we are aiming to do more original stuff.”

The Lavetts play covers by bands such as The Fratellis, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Billy Idol, Rolling Stones, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Vaccines and The Kooks.

“Our gigs have been going down really well. We play all over Cumbria, and we support other bands as well. We always get invited back,” said Brandan.

Their first single, Potage, was released in January 2019, and was followed by Silent Disco in October.

“We have got enough songs for an album but it will be expensive to record. We will maybe do an EP first,” said Brandan.

Can’t You See was recorded and produced by Dave Connor of Target Sounds, who also worked with the band – who are all in their early 20s and from the Whitehaven area – on their last release.

Brandan said: “We went back into the studio right on the back of recording Silent Disco. This is a tune I wrote quite a while ago, so it isn’t a new one to us. I brought it to the band over a year ago and we’ve been gigging it for a while as well.

So hopefully a few people who’ve come to any of our shows will be familiar with it. I think it’s got to be our most exciting release to date, we hope it’s something a few people can look forward to in these times.”

You can save the track from streaming platforms through links on the band’s social media pages, on Facebook and Instagram ‘@thelavetts’. The Lavetts are also available for booking through thelavetts@gmail.com

Meanwhile, Carlisle duo Dave Beattie and Mark Baker – better known as Novablood – are releasing a new single on May 8.

Having already released EPs and singles, they are well on the way to becoming a well known name on the Cumbrian music scene, and further afield.

They are booked to perform at Kendal Calling, having made the transition to gigging last year with a performance at the Doonhamer festival in Dumfries, followed by The Thin White Duke in Carlisle.

The lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t slowed their production of electronic music.

Even before the outbreak, the two tended to work remotely, with Mark creating the songs in his studio, and sending them to Dave electronically to add the vocals. “The best part of working from home is we have all got kids, and when we have got a minute we can work on the music. It is keeping us occupied!” said Dave.

This week’s new release, Melancholic, is billed as giving a ‘blissed out, emotive and sentimental view of the human mind. A perfect snapshot, if a coincidence, relating perfectly to the current situation facing humankind as we speak.”

There are two versions of Melancholic ¬– a five-and-a-half minute full track, and a three-and-a-half minute radio edit version.

Novablood’s roots stretch back a long way, revealed Dave.

“I have been friends with Mark since the early 90s and we have collaborated on some music in the past. I used to be in bands and he used to DJ for us,” he said.

After talking over ideas, they realised that working together on music projects would work out well.

“Mark works on the music. We use Whatsapp or texts. He sends them to me, and I will give my idea, so at the moment the lockdown is no different for us. It certainly hasn’t stopped us,” said Dave.

“We record the vocals at home as well. It is a very modern way of doing it. We worked out it was just the easiest way. There are a lot more people doing it from home now. I think everything is going to change one way or another, it is never going to be the same as it was.”

After starting out playing gigs last year, Dave and Mark had hoped to play more gigs this year, inviting a guitarist to join them for live performances.

“Mark creates the music through programming. It is all made from scratch, it is all electronic organic,” he said.

“He is very focused, we have a lot of constructive arguments! It works pretty well. For something that just started off as doing a few tracks together, it has grown. We have written a lot of songs.”

Novablood’s music can be found on streaming platforms, such as Apple Music and Spotify, but Dave admitted that it’s not a money-making project.

“We are not going to get any money from releasing things. Any revenue comes from playing live and doing lots of gigs,” he said.

“We just tried it as a project ¬– we have got our own lives. If someone picks up one of the tracks and turns it into something else, so be it. We are not teenagers who are in bands trying to make it – we have got to be realistic!

“It is not the 80s or 90s any more, it is a totally different ball game now. If your song is picked up by an ad agency or a film, that is where the money is.”

Dave and Mark made a video with their first release, Keep Me In Mood. Filmed on the shore at Powfoot, they were aiming for a typical ‘Northern’ setting.

“We started on a beach and filmed each other. We made a video from that, and as a visual it turned out quite good for us,” said Dave.

They had a video made for their next release, 9192, and have had around 23,000 views so far.

“The songs have gone down well, we have had a lot of good feedback. Getting things out and getting people to listen is quite hard now. People want something straight away, and it is very disposable as well. People can pick you up and turn you off. If the quality is there we will keep going,” said Dave.

Despite releasing their new song during the lockdown, Dave does not think this will harm its reach.

“People have definitely got a lot more time on their hands, so there are more people listening to music, so it could be a good time to release it. But on the other hand the weather has been great so people have been out in their garden!” he said.

“But our music is quite uplifting, so hopefully we will get a few lockdown plays.”

Melancholic is being released on May 8 across all platforms, published by Sentric Music.

You can find Novablood on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at NOVABLOODmusic