The Savage Nomads
London, England, United Kingdom | INDIE
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Savage Nomads
What the Angel Said EP
(Alaska Sounds, 2010)
With sparkling reviews and endorsements from the likes of Mick Jones, Don Letts, Mojo magazine, and many others, it was with veracious curiosity that I first spun What the Angel Said, the debut EP from London boys Savage Nomads. And truth be told, upon first listen I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. To me, the tunes fell a little flat. The energy in the music felt lacking, and the jingle-jangle of the guitar reminded me far too much of the two-dimensional likes of Vampire Weekend and other such indie-pop of the moment. All which left me wondering: What were all these other people hearing?
However upon a second, more introspective observation, I discovered another side to this set of songs—a poignancy that had before gone unnoticed, lost in amongst repetitive riffing. There were words here that cradled a shadowed underbelly to the five-track disc and gave way to an underlying current of something much more unique.
Lead singer and songwriter of the group Cole Salewicz, an English Literature major, certainly has his own way with words. He crafts images of real situations and connectible emotions, bringing them to the surface of his songs with clean, learned linguistic lines. Take for instance, a highlight of the album: “Part Two.” Coming in at just over a minute long, this brief spoken-word piece is an eloquent last-time love letter laid over the street sensibility of beat pauses and hip-hop rhythms. It’s a somewhat surprising juxtaposition of language and style, one that is certainly ripe with relate-ability.
Musically, the EP packs a few surprises as well. The closing track, “An Empty Chair”, opens with a tight, groovy drum and bass pairing, only to lead off into an unexpected meld of high harmonies and hoots and finish with a smattering of Danny Ash style guitar-pedal pings. As a listener, you never quite know where you stand with this one. In its slight departure from the rest of the pop sound on the EP, it’s certainly a song that keeps you on your toes.
At the end of the day (and after a few more listens), What the Angel Said feels like an excavation: You have to do a little digging to find its heart, but when you do, it was worth the journey. - Crawdaddy
Discography
Oct 2010 - What The Angel Said EP.
Great reviews in the Mirror and Independent plus strong support on 6 Music, BBC London and Kerrang radio
Watch the video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bynrw6j68
April 2011 - The Magic Eye single
Hear it at http://soundcloud.com/alaska-sounds/the-savage-nomads-the-magic
June 2011 - Coloured Clutter album
Photos
Bio
‘We’ve always been interested in everything,’ Cole Salewicz defines the eclectic, endlessly varied sound of The Savage Nomads. For Cole, drummer Billy Boone, bass-player Josh Miles, and guitarist Joe Gillick, it’s an endless quest to find the next tune that leads onto something new for them. ‘Music is very liberating, and in it you can find all of life’s truths. When we realized that, we decided we never wanted to play anything that sounded the same as other people. We wanted to incorporate all different ideas into the sound: there are too many influences to name.’
Ostensibly a guitar-based group working in the fields of pop and rock’n’roll, the south London-based Savage Nomads is a deeply creative situation: anarchically measured and infinitely ramshackle, mouthily righteous and instinctively poetic, their deceptively melodic songs written and played with loud, clangorous hearts. ‘We use melodies and harmonies to make our songs’ lyrics enter your mind,’ says Cole. This approach is perfectly exemplified by the killer title-track of their What the Angel Said EP.
The Savage Nomads were inspired to perform as a serious act after Clash founder Mick Jones urged them to play support at one of his Carbon Casino events in Notting Hill in early 2008.
Playing as support act to Carbon Silicon proved a success (Mick invited them back 4 more times) and gave The Savage Nomads confidence to move along. The shows led to a residency at the 12 Bar Club in London’s Denmark Street. The addition of guitarist Joe Gillick seemed oddly expected and dramatically correct, turning the band into a dynamic four-piece. ‘With his innovative, unique playing and his great enthusiasm and desire to write, Joe took us up another gear, and cemented us as a group we were really pleased with,’ says Cole Salewicz. ‘Joe really appreciates any sort of sound, he’s like a sound detective – he knows that in any sound you can find something you like.’
Onstage The Savage Nomads are a bombardment of aural and visual information, action painting and performance art, disrupting composure and complacency. Enveloped in an atmosphere of wild dread and laconic pleasure, assured belief and almost audible grins, their live sets are sustained by a steamy-sweet pace of musical crosscutting and interlocking sequences: one subtle shake of the kaleidoscope and the entire pattern is changed, as on The Shamanic Verses, one of the five tracks on their What the Angel Said EP.
Their album Coloured Clutter is due for release in June and will surprise a few people with its ecelctic mix of rock, dub, strings, brass, guest vocals...oh hell you'll just have to hear it. Single The Magic Eye will preceed it. mixed by Mike Crossey. Expect big things....
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