Natterers

Photo: Benn Goodall

Name, where are you from?
Emma. I’m from Yorkshire. I am an ecologist and own a houseplant shop. I also sing in Natterers - a hardcore punk band from the North, UK.

Describe your style in three words?
Surfy hardcore punk.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
One that springs to mind at the moment is Pulp at Auto Festival at Magna in Rotherham in 2002. Fantastic venue, awesome sound and an incredible set for their “last” gig.

I need to mention Alden Tyrell at BLOC Festival 2010 too. I was completely sober and very tired, but the music, people and atmosphere made it feel like I’d taken all the drugs. Other highlights of that festival were Autechre and Radioactive Man - mind-blowing! I went to BLOC 5 years in a row from 2007 - 2011. An amazing electronic festival at Pontins and then Butlins. It all went a bit wrong when they moved it to London, but I think it’s back on track now! I was introduced to electronic music by John Peel. I remember hearing Autechre for the first time on his Radio 1 show, and it was the first time I didn’t really understand what I was hearing... WHAT IS THIS MUSIC?

If you could be on the line up with any two bands in history?
Germs and Dead Kennedys in Los Angeles in 1979... And we might as well add Black Flag (with Keith Morris on vocals) and X to the bill as well! All these bands are massively influential on Natterers.

Which Subcultures have influenced you?
Punk was the biggest influence on me growing up - mainly punk (and mainly The Damned!) with a touch of ska/rocksteady. I almost failed A-level Music because I wanted to do my main project on ska and rocksteady, the skinhead subculture from the 1960s through to 2-Tone but it wasn’t on the curriculum (they thought music stopped in 1910) I did it anyway, against all the advice from my teachers and then got a skinhead feather cut! And unsurprisingly, I failed that bit, but luckily I was pretty good at playing the flute, so my performance aspect of the A-level pulled my grade up enough to get me into university (I studied Music at Goldsmiths College). Hearing Riot Grrrl bands was also hugely influential on me in my late teens - not particularly musically, but it was very empowering music for a young woman.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
That photo with Debbie Harry, Viv Albertine, Poly Styrene, Siouxsie Sioux, Pauline Black and Chrissie Hynde. I’d gatecrash that tea party then go to a gig with all six bands later that day.

Of all the venues you’ve played, which is your favourite?
With Natterers, it is probably Brudenell Social Club in Leeds. We’ve played the Main Room and also the Games Room, but not been back since the extension has been finished. It’s changed a lot since I first went when it was probably an equal mix of local residents there for bingo and karaoke and students there for drinking and music. It’s definitely evolved into a music venue now, and a fantastic one at that. The sound has always been excellent both on and off stage. Two of my favourite gigs there as a punter in recent times… probably ESG and T.S.O.L - both bands looked like they were having the time of their lives which is really refreshing to see with bands that have been going for many years.

Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
Delia Derbyshire. The music she was creating in the 60s sounds futuristic even now. And it was all analogue - tape and scissors. Incredible. I worked at BBC Maida Vale studios for a couple of years, digitising quarter-inch tape, shellac and vinyl for a digital archive project and our studio was the old Radiophonic Workshop studio. I was in awe of the place every single day. Kraftwerk are often cited as the ultimate electronic pioneers, but I’d give that crown to Delia.

Having asserted themselves as one of the most promising emerging bands on the underground UK hardcore punk scene, Natterers' debut album 'Head In Threatening Attitude' is out now. The album was mastered by Geza X, known for his work with Dead Kennedys and Black Flag.

Find out more at natterers.bandcamp.com