Noisettes
Think: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Band of Gypsys, White Stripes
Noisettes infobytes:
* ‘Noisette’ is french for ‘hazelnut’
* The Noisettes supported Muse in 2006
* We’re not entirely sure if they’re Noisettes or The Noisettes. Everyone seems to keep changing their minds. So we shall call them ‘ze Noisettes’, to play it safe…
Who are ze Noisettes?
Ze Noisettes are fronted by the supremely talented and beautiful Shingai Shoniwa, a vocalist and instrumentalist who sings like Billie Holiday on PCP while patrolling the stage like a hardass warrior with an eye for fashion. She is not afraid to wear a large toy drum round her neck instead of a necklace, or to sport just one giant silver false eyelash. Shingai howls and soothes, gives you goose bumps and shoots soul into your main arteries.
Dan Smith, the second line of defence, wields his six stringed axe around the stage like a dervish, building driving rhythms into soaring riffs as he sets the stage and the hi-fi alight. Bringing up the rear is Jamie Morrison, a drummer so heavy with his sticks and skin that only the most observant person would notice he is more hair than man. Yep, Dan and Jamie are two hairy guys that could easily vaporize a dog walking in front of the stage with their rhythmic rock and sleazy blues influenced undulations alone.
Ze Noisettes are from London, England and started in 2003 when Shingai and Dan (formerly of the band, Sonarfly) began writing, playing and hanging out more intensely then before. They met Jamie in December 2003 and went straight into the studio to record their 4 track debut “Three Moods of the Noisettes!” due to be released mid summer 2004 on Side Salad Records.
Their music is schizophrenically comtradictive. One minute rough, raw and explosively dramatic, the next, detached, calm and serene. Shingai is a seriously powerful blues/punk voice which still trips and flutters beautifully, and she sounds amused when she’s singing – she’s got a lot of joy and punchy vitality to her. She also has a liking for climbing on to PA systems and applying tribal markings on her face, and who wouldn’t?
Anyone has has seen ze Noisettes knows they fly without a safety net in every performance. They’re possibly more intense live than the White Stripes…