London rocksmiths The November Five have had ‘You Had Your Chance’, from last year’s If You Are Satisfied You Are Dead LP, reworked by Macclesfield producer Urbantronix, and are giving it away for free – have a listen and get hold of it below:
Head over to the band’s Facebook for updates, but in the meantime, we thought we’d take the chance to talk to the band’s Julian Marszalek, who you may also know as a seasoned writer in these pages.
What have The November Five been up to of late?
Julian Marszalek: Following the release of the acclaimed debut album, If You’re Satisfied You Are Dead, and spring tour in support of it, we’ve been busy writing new material for its follow-up. We’ve hit a real purple patch and have written about ten new songs but we want to get about 15 completed before we return to the studio later in the year. We’ll be performing about five of them on our brief upcoming tour. The dates are:
JULY
Fri 19 – Ye Olde Rose and Crown, Walthamstow, London
Fri 26 – Cloudspotting Festival, Slaidburn
We’re opening for Clinic at Cloudspotting and the bill includes King Creosote, Wolf People and Haiku Salut. We’ll then be playing The Stow Music Festival in Walthamstow on September 6 and we’re lining up dates for the autumn.
Tell us about this remix.
JM: The remix of ‘You Had Your Chance’ came about when our drummer George Phillips was approached by remixer Julian Higginson, aka Urbantronix. They’re old friends from Macclesfield, and having heard the original version of ‘You Had Your Chance’, Julian asked if he could remix it. Some bands get pretty touchy about this stuff but we gave him an open brief and told him to do what he saw fit with it. I’ve got to say that we were really amazed with the results – all the of the song’s key elements are present are correct but Julian’s also stamped enough of his own personality and vision to make it into something new. We might well do some more stuff with him in the future. In any case, we’ve decided to give it away as a ‘thank you’ to all our supporters and to alert people to Urbantronix’s undeniable talent.
How’s the new music shaping up?
JM: The new music is shaping up really well. Since the departure of founder member and guitarist Chris Maciejewski who left to live in the desert in Nevada with his wife, we’ve been working with our new guitarist Garry James. This has altered the dynamic in as much as the new material is sounding more melodic but without losing any of its sonic power.
The new songs are very much a reaction to the times we live in and among the topics tackled are the abuse of children by members of the Catholic clergy and the cancer of racism and the unwarranted demonisation of immigrants. The lyrics that Joe [Cribbins]’s been writing are probably his best yet. We’re all really excited by the new material.
What are your plans for the rest of the year?
JM: All being well, the plan is to get the new material properly bedded in through live performance before going back into the studio towards the end of the year to start work on the new album.
What are The November Five’s favourite remixes?
JM: In terms of our favourite remixes, we’re huge fans of Andrew Weatherall’s work and his Andrew Weatherall Vs The Boardroom comps are regular post-gig fixtures in the van. Moon Duo’s Circles Remixed is another one that goes down particularly well round these parts. We’re also hugely fond of dub remixes by the likes of Lee Perry and our drummer George Phillips and I really bonded, among other things, over our love of Scientist’s Rids The World Of The Evil Curse Of The Vampires album. Strictly speaking, it’s not a remix album but it comes from that vibe.
