Articles

Hannah Dean

Recently dubbed County Durham’s answer to Grimes,

Miss Dean is mixing up a new wave of offensive AND ambient electro.

Standing across the room from me is Hannah, surrounded by wires of all kinds, records, CDs, tapes and decks. She’s engrossed in the switches, hunched over and dipping her head, which her pink and orange hello kitty headphones balance precariously on top of, occasionally she comes back to earth and looks up, “I don’t do this in a way most people do” she says, referring to the noise she was spinning and twisting. “I like to play around with sounds that are weird and undiscovered so they create something new and fresh, y’know? My music is about stone cold individuality and uniqueness and spreading the right message to everyone, that you should just be yourself and not care what the man thinks you should be.”

I quickly found that this strange teenager was going to be huge, just because of how she looks and how much effort she puts into her work and projects, how you can see the music flowing through her as her whole body literally rocks back and forth in time to the ambient tunes that are dispersing from the amps around the room. “I put everything into everything I do because its all or nothing, there is no in-between” and you can tell as I am transported into another world by her newest single “future rust” which is a subtle nod to Foals whilst taking the record to a whole different genre and style, making it grimy and slow. A vibe that was thick and translucent quickly filled the room until it was almost overwhelming to be there. The EP is slow and chilled out, but has bursts of excitement and frustration, “I cut down on a lot of the narcotics I was taking and I wasn’t in that hyped up state I used to be in, I was mellow and calm and I guess that kind of transpires in my music”. When I ask Hannah how she got into producing music, she tells me, "when I was younger I wanted a milkshake business, but I was going out with this guy that fancied himself as a bit of a DJ, and he was sh*t, but he invested in all these decks and systems and stuff to make his little venture a bit more legit y'know? Apart from the crap mixes he made, it looked fun, so I got him to teach me the basics, but it took me two hours to download iTunes, but after that, I kinda sort of made it up from there, mixing my own stuff when he wasn't destroying my ears with his 'house music', I’m all about chill vibes and the occasional metal and I don't need that sh*t In my life, when we broke up he gave me the equipment as a sort of peace offering I suppose, but I think he had just moved on to something else, so yeah, the music just kind of took over," she also added, “My dad was a massive influence on me growing up, he listened to a lot of Joy Division and The Smiths, and he taught me that music doesn’t have to be acentric to make an impact on someone, which is why mine is so stripped back and minimal I guess.”

This music is honest and naked, stripped back and grown up, so far from the seventeen year old girl stood in front of me with an edgy haircut and double denim. Laughing she said, "I want everyone to like my music, even if they are old or still in school, why should they be deprived of all this?” With generic beauty something Hannah doesn’t care for, her half shaved, short fringe and jet black hair combination make a statement to everyone that she couldn’t care about what people make of her and her music, and why should she? “I’m all about vibes and angels, everything has a different vibe and that’s cool. I feel like I’m really in touch with another level of consciousness and I believe I’m the only one who has access to it. Angels man, I’m not even lying.”

 “I love my fringe, it’s a part of me,” she tells me when I asked about her extreme haircut, she also added that she is addicted to eye drops when I showed her some of the images we chose for this feature. When I asked her what her plans for the future were, she told me of a tour in the next few weeks, playing small pubs and house parties, “small time stuff”. But she also explains how she is working on creating the album artwork for her “groovy” LP that will be out early next year and be, followed closely by a world tour “I love drawing radged stuff like goblins and ghosts when I’m bored, so that’s most likely what will be the cover artwork, but I’m really excited for the tour I love to travel, but normally I don’t plan where I’m going to go to, I like to just go places without an agenda and just let things find me, so this will be weird for me.”

“I find a good way to deal with how I’m feeling is to put it into music, so I don’t have to feel it, I can just listen to it y’know? I like that people can listen to my stuff and find joy in my sadness that makes me happy. I like to really connect with my fans through social networking and stuff, I want them to know me as a person not just an artist and appreciate that I’m just like them, like this one time I met this girl at one of my gigs and we really clicked, she’s like one of my best friends now and gets involved in my shows and stuff. I like how I can still keep my feet on the ground when it comes to my fans as I get more and more recognition in the industry, like it’s weird how I’m friends with artists I’ve been listening to for years, like I met Dave Grohl last month, that’s crazy to me. I’m just praying I could meet Morrissey one day and maybe collaborate with him and Hot Chip.”

Throughout this whole interview I was astounded at how down to earth Hannah Dean actually is, I walked into the room thinking she would be pretentious and airy, when in true fact, she is smart and real and unaware of how good her music actually is, her EP Future Rust is out on November 1^st and if you don’t buy it, you are seriously missing out.

On Wednesdays we wear black

With every season comes a new colour palette, but black is BACK AND here to stay.

Black is back. Well, it begs to question, did it really leave us? Was navy or brown really ever the new black? Course they weren’t, they lack the class, flattery and sophistication that black can give, there is nothing better than an all-black outfit. Designers are pushing and tempting us with bright colours and prints all over the catwalks, but without the presence of black in our outfits, surely we would be missing something?

All black is very city, and word on the street is it goes with everything, sadly though I have to admit this is a widely accepted myth. Not everything goes with black, and it’s easy to make the mistake when following this rule, so I encourage you, don the one. The all black outfit. Black on black on black. Follow the greats like Dolce & Gabbana, DSquared2 and Jean Paul Gaultier, I dare you. Edge away from the Gothic vibe and dip your toes in the sophistication pool, layering is the key to pulling the look off, and once you’ve mastered the art, it’s a style that keeps coming back into the forefront of fashion year after year.

It’s undeniable that black is a staple colour, whether it is worn formally to highbrow events as a sleek evening dress, to meetings in the form of a suit, or used as a casual statement by students who might team black jeans with a plain black t-shirt and jumper. From glossy to matte the trend has gone dark in the way of a black hole in the art of fashion and style and it’s easy to come about the tools you need to make the look work for you, there is no rule book, have fun with it because in the end, if you get it right, everyone will be looking at you wanting what you’re wearing. Black is very universal and one staple piece can look completely different depending on the other pieces it is paired with, so your outfit possibilities really are endless.

The little black dress is one of these staple pieces that every woman should have hanging up in their wardrobe full of clothes they don’t wear, and fashion gurus only really push the importance of that LBD, they don’t mention how a plain black chunky knit jumper, a plain black pair of skinny jeans and countless plain black tops and shirts can totally transform your look and make you look confident and stylish.

There is a reason black is back. It’s simple really; it’s classic and modern all at the same time. Who needs colour when you can stand out wearing the plainest of outfits.

REVIEW.

Tarnish Magazine reviews Geordie band Little Comets as they return to their homeland for the next step on their UK tour.

Back in Newcastle after a year and a half away, one of the Regions most cherished bands, Little Comets have matured, grown families, toured the states and are now back in the British Isles, ahead of the latest release, ‘The Gentle EP’.

They return to the o2 Academy, opening with A Little Opus, kicking off a long anticipated welcome back from Geordie fans screaming their admiration. Last time the trio graced room one of the academy was just after the release of second album ‘Life Is Elsewhere’, this time around, the boys ditched the arrogance from the previous tour and played a striped back, less elusive set, including songs from the new EP, which mellows even the large Newcastle crowd to a state of trance.

Support came in the form of Catfish and The Bottlemen, both bands oozing originality with their very quite heavy indie vibe, which warmed up the audience and kept them in good stead for the headliners.

Playing the best tracks of both their previous two records, ‘In Search of Elusive Little Comets’ and ‘Life is Elsewhere’ the Geordie lads did not fail to meet expectations, they are and continue to be a tight, well rehearsed band who love the music they play and their fans who’ve supported them since the start. This is reflected when the band’s biggest hits such as ‘One Night In October’, ‘Dancing Song’, ‘Joanna’ and ‘Jennifer’ blasted out of the amps distributed around the large venue and consequently sent the crowd into a singing and dancing frenzy.

The staging of the gig was basic and minimalistic; Even the Smallest of Comets didn’t need over confidant pyrotechnics to make the biggest of impressions.
With a very large void in the form of an encore, Little Comets ended their set playing ‘Adultery’, a personal favourite of the majority of the crowd, which left them with a ringing in their ears to the beat of the song hours later. A fantastic end to the tour.

The Gentle EP is released at the end of February.

Incoming.

Local Darlington indie/alt band capture have taken the town by storm, but now they have their eyes set on something much bigger.

With university only a few months away, Darlington boys Sam, David, Simon, Jack and James have a big decision to make, with James heading to a not-so-far-away Manchester and the rest moving to one of the British music capitals, Brighton, Tarnish Magazine interviews Capture after a jam packed, drink fuelled, charity gig to see what we can expect from them in the future.

With their recent debut EP ‘Pink’ being played all over local radio stations and on podcasts around the country, these small town boys are finally getting the recognition they need. Teamed with their 90s dress sense, they play and write indie/alternative influenced music that can’t help but get a crowd moving. With three guitarists, they give depth and add a kind of magic to their own songs and the songs they cover, such as the massive hit by Palma Violets, ‘Best of Friends’. Talking to the boys, minus Drummer James, who’s currently volunteering with children in India, they tell me about their influences in music and who’s inspired them from bigger bands such as Kings of Leon to smaller bands like Swim Deep.

Tarnish asked Sam (Lead Singer) who influences his vocals, tone and style most, and without even having time to finish our question, he answers with a massive smile, “The Maccabees”. As soon as he mentioned them it’s hard not to feel a vibe of Orlando Weeks in the singers soft but slightly husky voice. I took notice that perhaps it wasn’t just Orlando’s vocals that influenced Sam, as after the band changed from their sweat soaked clothes into their clean threads, he was wearing an oversized shirt, sambas and black jeans, an Orlando staple.

When I asked Capture what the best thing about playing their own gigs was, they all looked at each other and agreed “free drinks”, it wasn’t until Guitarist David mentioned the fans that the lads stopped fishing about in their ice bucket for the next Budweiser and agreed on that too. “It’s quite surreal seeing a crowd sing songs that you’ve written back to you, I can’t explain it but its f**cking unreal” Sam exclaims. “We don’t even cover that many songs anymore, we’ve been working on a cover of ‘Praise You’ by Fatboy Slim and that’s gone down pretty well so far, but we don’t really like doing covers anymore, it’s better playing your own stuff y’know?” Simon tells us.

Spending time with these lads in this beer garden I’ve heard tales of David rubbing pizza on his nipples on a night out in Newcastle, Jack getting lost at the bands biggest gig at Fibbers in York, and turning up wrecked and incapable of strumming his bass and the REAL circumstances of how Simon got to be the newest member of the band. However the story we wanted to hear most about was the story of what the future has in store for Capture. “This summer we have loads of gigs coming up, a few down south like Camden Crawl, a few festivals dotted about, and a few house parties. As for when we go off to Uni, we might start a fresh, a new band with the same songs or a long distance band with James still a part of it, because he started it with me back in 2012 and it would be wrong to continue as Capture without him. We don’t know yet, that’s still something we’ve got to work through when he gets back form India” Explains Sam rather solemnly.

These Lads are trying to put Darlington on the map and the future looks bright, whether they continue as Capture or venture forth with a new name, us here at Tarnish predict big things in the distance.

‘Pink’ is available for online download from soundcloud or grab a copy at a gig