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There was a real buzz in the Zanzibar on Friday 27th April, fans eagerly waited for No Hot Ashes to rock the stage to a crowd of bouncing heads and euphoric smiles. The venue, itself, was really fitting for such a band, with the word edgy coming to mind and the crowd, relatively young, stood close to the stage, excited that there wasn’t a barrier between themselves and rather crushable frontman, Isaac. I didn’t quite know what to expect when the band walked out, the extremely intimate venue was new to me and I was curious as to whether this audience was the type to scream, as if a twelve-year-old kid was about to see their favourite boyband or whether this audience was perhaps, mature and would just clap and sing along. However, when the four piece casually appeared in front of our eyes, it was like an old friend was in front of us. There was a natural stage presence from the boys, one that made me feel comfortable – the constant crowd participation made these lads seem so humble, but yet I was about to find out that they were so insanely talented as well.
The band, from Stockport, are known as the bad boys from the block, with lyrics like ‘Maybe if I wake up in the morning and see sense I’ll feel better, I’ll feel better, I’ll feel better. And the cars drive faster than your mouth can speak. I feel so ugly, I feel so weak and I’m bored, no I’m bored’ that just portray the dark edge within the boys’ song writing that has been inspired through their own experiences. I feel that a Liverpool crowd could relate to the songs played on Friday night, with No Hot Ashes basing a lot of their music on their working-class lives – ‘All of us have had to work extremely hard to get to where we are and even now it’s still the tip of the iceberg. Even down to affording our instruments and equipment we’ve had to be patient and play a lot of shows. We hope our music can resonate with people in that sense’. It was when I saw the deep veins in Isaac’s neck, pumping whilst he sang when I knew how much preforming meant to these boys, it was really quite inspiring to know where they’d come from and how far they had to work to get to where they are, but it’s clear to see their fight isn’t over yet.
Radio 6 music presenter, Chris Hawkins, described No Hot Ashes to be the equivalent of Franz Ferdinand meets Happy Mondays and I couldn’t agree more, with song titles from their recent EP Skint Kids Disco, like ‘Skank’, ‘Goose’ and ‘Belly Aches’ proving that these boys could be mistaken for Shaun and Paul Ryder, but the upbeat and juxtaposing happy tempo is only similar to hits like ‘Take Me Out’ and ‘Do You Want To?’. As talented as other members Luigi, Jack and Matt are, it was hard to keep my eyes off seventeen year old Isaac, as he danced around every bit of the stage, even making me feel out of breath! It truly is quite remarkable the young age of these boys, with a loud confidence and incredible talent, the band played with every ounce of energy in them, but once again it was Isaac’s voice which blew me away – how he managed to sound so good whilst enthusiastically prancing around the stage, I’ll never know and the loud screams of ‘Whoop!’ and ‘Bing!’ down the microphone proved that he wasn’t going to let the audience lose his attention!
To anyone who has not heard of the No Hot Ashes, they describe themselves to be ‘Funky, boppy & sweaty’ and they certainly weren’t wrong, but perhaps their modesty got in the way of adding incredibly talented to the list as it’s seriously hard to ignore that. I was worried with their previous gig at Manchester Club Academy, which was sold out, that the boys wouldn’t be satisfied with a smaller crowd, but the energy put into their set was spine tingling and I was envious of their fresh faced adrenaline rush, considering they’d already played a handful of shows on this tour. Their final number ‘Goose’ was probably a highlight moment as fans danced their fishnets off knowing it was their last opportunity with the band, but the electronic sounds within their most recent single, ‘Skint Kids Disco’ was unforgettable too.
It really is worth checking No Hot Ashes Out, big things are sure to come for these guys if they carry on, but with an almighty set prepared for Liverpool’s Sound City Festival on the 5th-6th May, I’m almost certain they’re bound to pick up a lot more fans who will be eager to hear new music as soon as possible, because I know I definitely am!
We were lucky enough to speak to No Hot Ashes, find out below what they had to say to us!
Purple Revolver: I’m super excited to be attending your gig at the Zanzibar, but I know you must be even more stoked for your performance at Sound City – What can you expect from the Liverpool crowds?
No Hot Ashes: We’re very excited for both, last time we played Liverpool (The Magnet) it was insane. The crowd were incredible and it went off so we’re hoping for more of the same.
P: Personally, I’ve loved listening to the likes of ‘Bad Crowd’ on your most recent EP, but what has the response to ‘Skint Kids Disco EP’ been like overall? Have you found that young people have been able to relate to it?
NHA: ‘Bad Crowd’ is one of our personal favourites as a band, we feel it shows a different side to us but generally overall it has gone down really well with our fans and everyone’s singing the words back to us a the shows. In the past few years we’ve been really lucky to have attracted a really young, cool & switched on fanbase so we are very grateful for that. We feel through our own experiences they can really relate.
P: Who would you class as your musical inspirations? Has that artist shaped your music into what it is?
NHA: The likes of Nile Rodgers, The Doobie Brothers, James Brown & Bootsy Collins all go down as big inspirations for us. They’ve totally shaped our band and how we wanted to make our crowds dance.
P: Why is it important to you to perform songs about young working class life? Have your own experiences inspired these tracks?
NHA: We’re just being honest and truthful and sticking to our roots. All of us have had to work extremely hard to get to where we are and even now it’s still the tip of the iceberg. Even down to affording our instruments and equipment we’ve had to be patient and play a lot of shows. We hope our music can resonate with people in that sense.
P: On a lighter note, do you have a musical guilty pleasure? An artist that you love, but we wouldn’t expect you to!?
NHA: Too many to list….ABBA, Dua Lipa, Natasha Bedingfield & Cher to name a few.
P: You must be exhausted from entertaining fans across the UK! What is your most favourite thing about performing to large crowds (and more recently, sell out crowds!)?
NHA: We’re still quite fresh at the moment but maybe ask us again at the end of summer and it’ll be a different response! We love playing shows to all crowds, it’s our favourite part of being a band. The sell out shows are amazing, especially the hometown Manchester shows which have now hit the 1000 mark. It’s such an adrenaline rush playing to that many people you just can’t really take it all in at the time.
P: For anyone that hasn’t heard of No Hot Ashes, how would you describe your music in three words? And, who are you often described to sound like?
NHA: Funky, boppy & sweaty. We were recently described by Radio 6 Music presenter Chris Hawkins as “Franz Ferdinand meets Happy Mondays” we quite liked that.
P: Finally, tell us what we can expect from No Hot Ashes in the future? Clichè but where will you be in five years time (other than five years older!)?
NHA: With any luck we’ll be constantly touring and outputting new music & have released a debut album maybe.