THE BYKER GROVE FAN CLUB

SOPHIE POWERS / FASHION

THE KIT LIST THE BYKER GROVE FAN CLUB

INTRODUCTION

Hey, we're The Byker Grove Fan Club, A Post Macho Noise Pop Trio from Bath consisting of Connor (Guitar) Huw (Bass, Vocals) and Louis (Drums).

We sound Like a much angrier Talking Heads, or a much softer Mclusky, either way, is acceptable. Our gear Choices are generally pretty straightforward, usually just loud, LOUDER.

GUITAR AMPS

Connor: I got really into using duel amps a few years back and haven't really looked back since, it’s an incredible sound when you get the balance right.

Currently, I'm using an 80s Roland JC120 combo and Selmer Treble n Bass from the 70s going into a really beautiful Zilla 2x12 cab. I don't really know much about amps beyond "big speaker make noise" but I seem to have gotten really lucky with the combination and I can't really see that setup changing… plus it looks cool and everyone knows music is 90% about looks and only 10% talent.

BASS PREAMP

Huw: Probably the most interesting thing I use is my Rusty Box.

It's essentially the preamp section of an old transistor amp that Shellac and Jesus lizard used to use called the Traynor ts50B.

The amp sounds like grinding metal, and as such probably isn't everyone’s cup of tea.

Unfortunately, if it is your cup of tea, it can be a hard amp to get your hands on as it's pretty rare, and for a long time there wasn't much on the market that sounded similar. Enter the Rusty Box, letting you live your Albini fantasies all day long. It's not for everyone, but it is for me, and I love it.

DRUMS

Louis: I use a Tama Granstar with a 22” kick drum, 13” rack tom and 16” floor tom. The snare is a 13x5in Ludwig Supraphonic. I like the deep heavy birch shells as they produce a very loud and full tone which works great for our chaotic live sound. The Supraphonic snare is a tried and tested classic, you don’t even need to tune it and it still sounds good! For my cymbals, I have an 18” Istanbul Xist, 20” Paiste 2002, 21” Zildjian sweet ride and 15” Light Hi-hats. My setup is left-handed, right-footed, and played open-handed. This was never intentional and really came about from a lack of knowledge when I was a kid trying to teach myself, I watched footage of bands playing live on TV, tried to recreate it and got it wrong! Now it has just sort of stuck with me.

TOUR ESSENTIALS

“We Like To Party” by Vengaboys, essentially the 4th member of the band in any car journey we take. Nothing can get you quite as pumped for a sweaty noise show as the horrendous horns at the beginning of this 90s staple. I can’t really imagine us hitting the M4 without this absolute classic queued up somewhere down the playlist. “Happiness is just around the corner” - Kim Sassabone (I had to Google the lead singer's name).