| About Chris... | Nottingham is the first 'real city' that I've ever lived in, and I love it; though coming from the somewhat dull countryside surrounding the cultural wasteland that is Milton Keynes, it could be said that it didn't have to live up to much. I'm currently a post-graduate at the University of Nottingham, which takes up a pleasingly small amount of my week. In my free time, I love being creative. I can sometimes be spotted photographing strange things, and have become involved with the local music scene, though to my shame not as a performer. Instead, I've become mixed up in student journalism as the editor of the Uni magazine, Impact. People who aren't passionate about something; be it music, art, writing, sport or whatever; tend to worry me somewhat; fortunately, Nottingham offers a wealth of opportunities to immerse yourself in pretty much anything you could imagine. So please, get stuck in. |
"It was the scariest gig ever," claims Tom, vocalist and violinist in Story One, passionately. Given that this performance was in ultra-manky Radford drinking venue The Wheatsheaf, it's a difficult claim to dispute. "Somehow," he continues sheepishly, "Barney managed to break all his guitar strings, so at first we tried to go on but eventually he had to leg it over the road to get his girlfriend's £50 guitar. Bit embarrassing." Fortunately, it seems that the crowd at the Wheatsheaf didn't take it too badly, and now Story One have moved on from playing in every toilet: their most recent gig was in chic indie hangout The Social. They don't intend to stop there. The confident foursome (Tom, guitarist Barney, bassist Gerald and drummer Mike) have been hard at work, getting their name out on the street and in the press, recording an acoustic session for URN, and are currently recording a new EP in Bordeaux. "We have an all or nothing approach to the band," says Barney. "We wouldn't do it if we weren't serious about it."  | | Story One bassist Gerald |
He describes the process of getting heard as being one of persistence – after the third or fourth time pushing your music to stores and promoters, they might just get the point that you're not just doing this for fun. Tom chimes in: "even if we have to do five years of slog, it'll be worth it." Indeed, the lure of making music for a living and travelling the world playing it is a strong one, but everyone wants to be famous, and there's not much room at the top. Story One's genesis was around four years ago in Nottingham University's own Derby Hall, where Tom and Barney started out as an acoustic duo, writing songs "pretty much every night" and performing at acoustic nights in the Bag 'O' Nails, the Dog & Topper, and of course at The Wheatsheaf. In 2002, on a year out in Paris for his History and French course, Tom met Gerald ("in a gay bar", though it's worth noting that he was with his girlfriend). After discovering that they had a lot in common, they began performing in jazz cafes around Paris, and ended up winning a battle of the bands competition and getting some studio time as a prize. The producer was, Gerald laughs, "a weird 75 year-old Belgian guy" who had patented his own style of trousers and wanted to turn them into a jazz band. At this point the band received their first offer of a record deal, but rather understandably declined.  | | Story One guitarist Barney |
This patience has finally paid off – they're now in a position to work on their music full time with complete artistic independence. The process of getting signed, Barney says, is lengthy – they're still working on the details, and it began back in April. In the meantime they're practising together every day "to take it to the next level" and developing their sound, which, they feel, is vital. They want something distinctive but varied: Tom explains, "if you listen to the first four bars, you can tell you're listening to a Stones or a Radiohead song." The band readily and unanimously describe themselves as perfectionists. Live, it's clear that this has paid off. Tom's voice is loaded with emotion and their songs reveal a debt to songwriters like Jeff Buckley or Elliott Smith, albeit filtered through their own consistent sound, which is applied to a rousing cover of Grandaddy's 'AM 180' to great effect. The use of violin might seem like a gimmick, but it adds depth and drama to their material and allows for pleasing forays into discordance and cinematics.  | | Tom and his violin |
Of course, there are drawbacks to making music for a living: Mike explains that "we have to think about things we didn't before, like what to wear on stage, or what Tom's going to say between songs." He describes the experience of the record industry as being one of constantly meeting people who are out to make money; it's necessary to remain a bit cynical, but at the same time the young band has to learn as they go along. "A good lawyer is essential…they can be your best friends," says Tom firmly. Despite this though, Story One are attracting considerable attention – Jarvis Cocker even turned up at one of their shows in Paris. The future seems bright for these four young hopefuls, and their hard-work attitude seems to be paying off. Plus, who can argue with the kind of self-confidence that says, "we genuinely think that we could be one of the biggest bands" without sounding like Razorlight arch-cock Jonny Borell? This is one story that you should want to keep up with.
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