Newbury Sounds - Meet the Bands: A Dirty Soul

Get to know the bands who will be performing at our next fundraising event, Newbury Sounds!

With our next fundraising event for the Old Library Campaign now just under a month away (Friday 14 March) we have spoken to each of the bands performing on the night to learn more about them and what to expect from their performance at Newbury Sounds. 

First up is Ben Richardson, curator of Newbury Sounds and member of the band A Dirty Soul who will be headlining the event alongside the band Revenant. Here's what he had to say:

What genre of music do you play?

I think we're starting to be put in the rock category, and we're certainly a guitar band but I think the tag rock is limiting for what we actually are as a band. For me it's rock n roll, which is obviously rock/guitar heavy, but can be influenced by all sorts of genres. 

Rob and Jon are into heavier rock and metal, Ronan and I tend to lean on the more indie side of it all. I love a bit of electronic music, dance music, etc and we all like a bit of hip hop. Musically we love big riffs, melody, a groove and hopefully some thought provoking lyrics. 

I would politely argue with anyone who wants to pigeonhole us as a rock band, there's more to us than that, as you'll see with some of the newer things we're working on.

Who is your band’s biggest musical inspiration?

It's hard to pinpoint any one single biggest inspiration. Oh go on then... Kurt Cobain.

What’s the song you’re most excited to play at Newbury Sounds?

We release Rock N Roll is Dead on the day of the Newbury Sounds show on Friday 14 March. I wrote this when I saw my favourite London venue (The Borderline) closed down. I was in a bit of a whisky haze and the song came to me right outside the closed down venue, almost the complete tune just hit me. Lyrically you might think it's a bit down on the music scene, but we think rock n roll is anything but dead. It's been pushed away from the mainstream by the streaming world, but scratch the surface and rock n roll is alive and well. You've only got to look at some of the amazing bands in Newbury alone, us, No Good Sons, Revenant, The Liaisons, Who Ate All The Crayons, The Station, to name but a few. Rock n Roll is definitely not dead - as a listener, you've just got to work a bit harder to find it.

Do you have any memories connected to the Corn Exchange?

I didn't grow up here but my first memories of this brilliant venue are of bringing my young kids to see Nick Cope, an amazing songwriter. We also saw the incredible SK Shlomo and their amazing beat box show and workshop. The kids really hope they return soon! 

Jon, our drummer, fondly remembers the battle of the bands in the 00s. His band, Paradox, didn't make the final and he says it's a dream to be playing on that stage. 

Rob who plays guitar remembers seeing a jazz act called Portico Quartet at the Corn Exchange that he really enjoyed, he got to meet them and they have influenced his enjoyment of jazz and folk music ever since. 

Ronan, our bass player, remembers performing in youth theatre at Corn Exchange, he now teaches Theatre to university students, so clearly this had an impact on him!