This is an interview I did with my good friend Alan about a year ago. I was hoping to put together a zine but I got lazy and too much other stuff got in the way. I felt this interview was wasted in my inbox so decided to through it up here where a few more people might see it. For years Alan and Caroline put on great shows in Nottingham. Although only five or so years ago, a lot has changed in hardcore within Nottingham and the UK itself since. Shows of all UK bands in Nottingham would never get the same turnouts now and the crop of bands at that time (many on Dead and Gone Records) may never be matched. Bands like Fifty on Red, Dirty Money, Deal With It, Brain Dead, Fast Point, Cold Snap have all since disappeared. For all people involved in UK and Nottingham hardcore this is a great read. Know your history.
ME:tell me about nghc and your shows. what you guys do, when you started doing it and what motivated you.
ALAN: Well, NGHC was really Caroline's baby. It started when she moved into a massive shared house in Forest Fields, that had this massive kitchen. The first shows were house-shows, in late 2005. The first "proper" show was done under the banner of VLB! with Pete Thacker (ex Fifty On Red). It was an all-dayer, where The Legacy headlined. Brain Dead and Raise The White Flag also played. Plus Deal With It played a 2 song 'introduction' set, I think it was one of their first ever shows.
The aim was just to put on legitimate hardcore shows in Nottingham. Graham Hopper had been doing shows as "Team Tactics" and some other guys "Junior Showtime" had been doing shows for a few years.... but these were starting to wind down about that time. 593 were (and are) still going strong, but as well as hardcore, they were doing crust / d-beat / noise stuff. Round that time, like 2004-2006, Dead And Gone records used to put on regular all-dayers at The Old Angel, which were seriously amongst the best shows in the UK. Anyway, Pete became less involved in VLB, so NGHC happened when Caroline hooked up with Tom Browne and carried on putting shows at various places round Nottingham. I only really got involved in 2009. Before that, I'd done a few shows by myself, but Caroline and Tom always helped me out a fair bit, so we just decided to do it all together. The aim was to keep hardcore shows happening in Nottingham, and to support the bands that we rated and wanted to help out.
We were also keen to uphold the DIY ethic... some of the early shows were done through an "agent" or whatever, but after people like Avocado started getting more and more difficult to work with, we decided not to get involved with booking through agents like that...
ME:seeing all those shows happen in nottingham when i was in london is half the reason i wanted to move up here.
you mentioned bands like fifty on red ( who rule) and dead and gone records as being instrumental in the nottingham scene earlier in the decade. 2010 saw the end of dead and gone records and many of its bands broke up or no longer play shows. how much do you feel the landscape of hardcore in nottingham and the uk has changed in the last year or so since the label and its associated bands have become less active?
ALAN: Straight up, I think the end of Dead & Gone was a sad time for UK hardcore. The last Dirty Money show in May of this year was a massive testament to how important the label was... you saw what happened when Justice played, when Dirty Money played, when Down & Outs played... in fact when every band played. It was fucking brilliant - and they are all bands that D&G had worked with.
Talking specifically about Nottingham, the all-dayers at the Angel were some of the best shows I ever saw. Bands like On Thin Ice, The Last Chance, Deal With It, Dirty Money, Fifty On Red... these bands would get brilliant reactions whenever they played. How often do we see 100+ kids queuing up outside the Angel to get into a DIY hardcore show these days? It just doesn't happen anymore. What was also cool is how the shows would be quite mixed, with the same kids going off to totally different sounding bands. I'm not so sure if that happens so much anymore? Even in Nottingham, you have "hardcore" kids who will just go and watch a certain type of band. There's kids who bang on about hardcore all over the internet but don't turn up to a show unless a big name American band plays. Kids have talked shit on the internet for years (I certainly typed a whole lot of shit on the old Dead And Gone forum)... but it seems the difference back then was that more people were genuinely enthusiastic, so the shows were busier and perhaps more diverse. Now, I could be totally wrong about that, but this is just my experience when I compare shows these days with shows I went to say, 5 or 10+ years ago.
Obviously, it's difficult to say how much of this perceived decline is a direct result of Dead & Gone's demise...in fact it's impossible to say. I happen to think that the "Dead And Gone years" coincided with a really good time in hardcore generally. And I'm keen to stress that there are most certainly some awesome things happening right now. I mean, Carry The Weight are really putting out some great records. And the dudes who run it are always a pleasure to sort stuff out with. And Feast Of Tentacles (based here in Nottingham) have put out some brilliant records, and add a lot to the scene here by doing so. There's also Grot records up in Leeds who repressed that Voorhees record, and will no doubt go on to put some bangers.
ME: what's the best show that you guys have put on? and who was your favourite band from that era?
ALAN: I know it's a cliche, but picking a favourite show is really hard... Outbreak at the Old Angel in 2006 was a great show, then Down To Nothing / Internal Affairs in 2007 was awesome too.
If we had to pick one show, it would be the house-show in 2007. Army Of Flying Robots, Fast Point and Brain Dead all played brilliant sets. So many people turned up and had a good time. Plus it was one of the first times Caroline and I properly hung out.
In terms of UK bands from that era, Brain Dead were always incredible live. Fast Point were always fun to watch too... if you've ever seen that video of them playing the Cricketers Arms in Sheffield, you'll know what I mean. I loved Nothing Done too, On Thin Ice, Justice... it's too hard to pick one favourite from that era.
ME: ok since this zine has a kind of uk in 2010 theme, what have you been digging from this year? any records hardcore or not that you have been struck by? show of the year?
ALAN: I can give you my top 3 shows of the year if that's okay? In no real order I would say, Floorpunch & True Colors in Leeds, the Voorhees reunion in Leeds and the last Dirty Money show at the Underworld. Also Crowd Control, who get better every time I see them, they played an absolute blinder in Nottingham this year.
As for records, the Crowd Control LP is ridiculous. (I know they're not from the UK but it's too good to not mention.) Was the Never Again 7" released in 2010? That was well good. So was the split with Ironclad, both sides of that were absolute bangers.
ME: i think it was released right at the beginning of the year. but good answers regardless. i know you are a big forest fan, it has been a good year for them. will you go up this season?
ALAN: Overall, it's been a good season. We're in the play-off places, and our last result was a fantastic 2-0 win away at Cardiff. It's perhaps not as good as last season... we were regularly putting 3, 4, even 5 goals past teams this time last time round.
And I don't think Forest will go up. The squad isn't good enough to finish in the automatic spots, and I don't think there's enough of a ruthless streak to win the play-offs either.
ME: i know you are a fan of away days and pies. you even have a blog dedicated to the two. where's the best place to go to an away match? and where are the best pies? what makes a good away day? and what makes a good pie?
ALAN: My top away day last year was probably Peterborough, cos we took over 4,000 fans and packed out the terrace behind the goal which made for quality atmosphere. I also enjoy Yorkshire away days, Sheff Wednesday, Barnsley, Sheffield Utd etc.... There's no love lost between Nottingham and those South Yorkshire clubs, so it always makes for a lively day out. Also, most of those clubs have more traditional grounds (rather than out of town bowl-shaped stadiums).
As for a pie at the footy, it has to be chicken balti. A good pie is one that is not too stodgy, and has a good amount of filling / sauce (too much filling and it's difficult to eat, too little and you're basically just eating pastry).
The best pie I've had was at Hillsborough, it came with mushy peas and gravy. I want to get to more non-league games where they often sell pies from local butchers rather than the chain brands like Pukka etc
ME: thanks alot dude, that just about cover it! anything else you would like to add?
ALAN: Well yeah, we'd like to say thanks for the chance to talk about stuff and reminisce haha. Hope the zine turns out well, I'm looking forward to seeing it. Also, it's always good to say thanks to everyone who helps out and makes it a pleasure to be involved.... they know who they are. But most of all, massive thanks to Ian Boult.
