10 Questions With… A series that delves into the musical careers of some of our favourite artists, local and afar. With a particular focus on our Melodic Distraction friends and wider community, this lil natter gives us an insight into their musical escapades when they’re in their studio, not ours.
This week we sit down with jazz fusion band Olvine, who came together through the slow, delicious drip of music in Liverpool. Each player brings their own musical tastes and ideals to the project in equal measure, fusing a somehow familiar sound: odd meters meet afrobeat, jungle meets jazz, and future soul meets drum and bass in compositions that transport you effortlessly on a kaleidoscopic journey. We find out more about their debut EP 'Brady's Caravan', recorded live in November 2022 at Q U A RR Y Recording Studios.
Hey Olvine, we love your debut EP ‘Brady’s Caravan’. Can you tell us more about the process behind it?
We recorded the EP in Quarry on Love Lane over 4 days. We really wanted to track live, so we just kinda locked ourselves in there with our engineer/producer Jack Wait and went for it. Wonderful experience.
Who were you listening to a lot whilst making it?
We all have pretty eclectic tastes in music. To name a few artists that inspire us is quite difficult, but I suppose Alfamist, Joe-Armon Jones, Yussef Dayes, Jasmine Myra, Nala Sinephro. The list is pretty endless though.
How was Olvine born?
So basically, our drummer Tom was engineering The Jacaranda and Harry Jones and Harry Simmonds played a duo set. Tom invited them to the studio the day after to rehearse and then Olvine was born. Will joined a little later when we knew that we needed a bass player, he's a perfect fit.
How would you describe your sound to someone who may not have heard it before?
Hard one that. Nu Jazz meets Jungle/Psych/Ambient? I’d say just listen to the record though!
What’s your take on the Liverpool music scene? Do your surroundings have much of an influence on the music you make?
Yeah most definitely, there’s an incredible jazz scene at the moment in Liverpool. Martin Smith who played trumpet on the record has been championing it for many many years. There’s lots of fantastic local jazz acts.
When you want to watch some good jazz, where are your go-to spots?
Frederick's on a Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday of course! The Grapes on a Sunday, The Caledonia… Handyman’s Brewery has some great stuff on too. L'apertivo on Bold Street has got some lovely stuff on, that's quite new. There's loads on around town, I think you could probably find some live jazz at least once a day around Liverpool.
Regularly performing at Frederiks, what do you enjoy most about playing live? Any challenges?
Fredriks is a really cool place to play regularly. Challenges are mainly stuff like sound, there’s lots of improvising and visual cues in our live set so we all need to be able to see/hear each other clearly. When we’re practicing we all have our own headphone mix, so we’re spoilt in that regard. We always perform better when we’re out live in front of an audience though, that’s where the improvisation really gets fun.
What was the last record/tune you bought?
The Definitive Charlie Parker Vol 2 - ‘Record’.
What’s your favourite snack?
Eerrrm, anything involving bread and butter and I’m usually sold (Tom).
What else do you have planned for 2023?
We’re about to start recording our first full studio album, which is exciting. We’re planning to do loads of gigs, write an insane amount of new material and play some festivals if possible! Generally just get more established as a band and play together as much as we can.
We’ll of course be putting out new music both as solo artists and as a group, but nothing beats the fun and the energy of a live show, and as 3 little hedonists, we plan on chasing the fun.
Olvine's debut EP 'Brady's Caravan' is out now - check it out below!
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