For those of us who were teenagers in the late 80s and early 90s, last week's announcement that the Stone Roses were reforming to play some gigs and maybe record was a momentous one. I think it's fair to say that they were a big influence on us. The whimsical, summery pop of their first album tinges one of the first songs we ever wrote in about 1991 called 'Watercolour'. We were just kids, and the naive, lovelorn shuffle of that first album resonated with us as we wandered around Norfolk's pastoral landscape, falling for unattainable girls, and discovering music, poetry and ourselves. I think this recording of it from our 2004 EP retains some of that feel:
Watercolour by Nobodaddy
By the time their long-awaited second album came out in 1994, they had hardened into a more overtly rock sound. By now, we had moved on as well, with Mike studying in London and myself in Leicester, but this was a huge album for us, despite its lack of critical acclaim. It brought together the guitar riff-based rock redolent of Led Zep (who we had obsessed over at school) but retained the grooves and shuffles of the dance and club culture that we were both independently discovering at the time. It had a fantastic muscular production, with huge guitar, bass and drum sounds on tracks like 'Love Spreads', but also found time for lighter, poppier moments with beautiful, lyrical melodies such as on 'Ten Storey Love Song'. Again we both lived in the album for weeks and months, and it flooded our consciousnesses, seeping out again in the songs we wrote and recorded over coming years. 10 years later in 2004, I think the influence of their second album can be heard in the track 'Time Out of Mind', particularly in the swaggering bass part laid down by my brother Matt:
Time Out Of Mind by Nobodaddy
These days we are focused on exploring what we can do with our simpler canvas of acoustic guitars and voices, and have found a more authentic voice in doing so than we ever did emulating rock stars, but the nostalgic opportunity offered by their reunion gives us good reason to look back and remember what a big role they played in our musical evolution.
Watercolour by Nobodaddy
By the time their long-awaited second album came out in 1994, they had hardened into a more overtly rock sound. By now, we had moved on as well, with Mike studying in London and myself in Leicester, but this was a huge album for us, despite its lack of critical acclaim. It brought together the guitar riff-based rock redolent of Led Zep (who we had obsessed over at school) but retained the grooves and shuffles of the dance and club culture that we were both independently discovering at the time. It had a fantastic muscular production, with huge guitar, bass and drum sounds on tracks like 'Love Spreads', but also found time for lighter, poppier moments with beautiful, lyrical melodies such as on 'Ten Storey Love Song'. Again we both lived in the album for weeks and months, and it flooded our consciousnesses, seeping out again in the songs we wrote and recorded over coming years. 10 years later in 2004, I think the influence of their second album can be heard in the track 'Time Out of Mind', particularly in the swaggering bass part laid down by my brother Matt:
Time Out Of Mind by Nobodaddy
These days we are focused on exploring what we can do with our simpler canvas of acoustic guitars and voices, and have found a more authentic voice in doing so than we ever did emulating rock stars, but the nostalgic opportunity offered by their reunion gives us good reason to look back and remember what a big role they played in our musical evolution.