Interview: The 99 Degree

Something is rumbling up north...sweeping the indieboys aside on the Manchester pub/club scene, The 99 Degree are making waves with their psych/surf take on 60's based garage punk. They were recently given the accolade 'New Artist of the Day' on the Louder Than War site and deservedly so. Melding spaghetti western guitars with 60's fuzz with lashings of Dick Dale and Johnny Cash....and that's just one track. Many names have been thrown around with regard to The 99 Degree's sound; The Cramps, The Growlers, The Las, Country Teasers and Captain Beefheart amongst others...that's some roll call! The band (Joe Sartini - vocals, Phil Turner - guitar and backing vocals, Paul Fetherstone - bass and Craig Trickett - drums and backing vocals) have seen their fanbase grow and hopefully they will spread their fuzzy love further afield than the North West of England. On hearing the track 'Dead or Alive' (see video below interview) I knew I needed to find out more about this band, and Phil and Joe were kind enough to spare some time to answer some questions.

Hi guys...can you give us a brief potted history of The 99 Degree?

Phil: Me and Joe had wanted to do something together for a while. I'd wanted to do something where I got to write the music I wanted and send the finished structure over to Joe for him to do his thing and write what he wanted over it. We started meeting up to go over what we had and it came together pretty quickly and we knew we wanted to take it further because they were songs we'd want to hear.

Joe: So we needed to get some more people on board and we wanted our mates so it would be a band, like a gang rather than a music project. So Paul has been my mate since we were kids and is a really good guitarist too so we wanted him on bass and Phil had known Craig since college and we knew we wanted him as drummer cos he adds so much and they'd done stuff together before.

P: We got our first gig after four practices with Craig living in London and commuting. So by the time he'd moved here in July we'd had more gigs than practices and were writing bits over the phone to be played live before we'd practiced.

There have been many names bandied around with regard to your sound - The Cramps, The Doors, Beefheart, Morricone, Country Teasers....a heady brew! Is this a fair indication of the band's influences?

P: Well.... Yes and no. That's all in there but so is a lot of stuff that's not being mentioned. With our songs I'm writing the music so that's all stuff that has influenced that side of things but not necessarily what's influenced Joe lyrically. The two are separate to begin with so even the same song the influences might be very different at times. All those mentioned are things I listen to though.

J: I'm happy to say "yeah, that's it, that's what it is" and go along with it. That's the sound I’m writing to. I'm proud of those people being mentioned because it's not just a thrashy, prangy guitar sound like every other band so it's what people are saying about us; that we sound like surf, psych and garage rock and that's what it is. Which is why we're being seen as so authentic, people hear that in it hopefully and it's what I'd want it going down as.

P: Yeah, it's all in there somewhere and it's good when people are telling us at gigs that we sound like The Cramps and old surf and garage bands. I'm not sure I want to give too much away on the actual influences side. I'd sooner people read into it what they want and see what they can hear in it and say "well, it sounds like that...". We've usually heard whatever people mention so you might be right. But stuff gets mentioned to us as influences sometimes and we've never heard of it before. As long as the people saying it are mentioning because they like what we're doing then that's great. Might give us some new stuff to check out too.

J: We both put our side into it and Phil was more into that stuff to begin with but we're now listening to more stuff that's the same. Like I used to be into Kasabian as well as that side of stuff but I can't listen to stuff like that anymore. And I would sight stuff like Ian Curtis & Joy Division but Phil wouldn't. A lot of people when we started were mentioning things like Mersey Beat too but that never gets a mention anymore. I think with most other bands around it's easy to say they're pigeon-holed as lad-rock and other things we don't want to be, but they're struggling with us.

P: We're evolving, so it's going to keep changing too. The only reason Joe wasn't into garage bands and everything else before is because he hadn't heard it. And he loved it all from the first time I started playing stuff to him. Now we're both listening to the same stuff J: Yeah, with people saying we sound like The Doors, The Cramps, The Fat White Family, The Growlers etc, sometimes they've mentioned ten bands that one song sounds like.

P: And people can read what they want into anything can't they. You know what? We've got nowhere with this question have we.... it's still yes and no!

'Dead or Alive' is a fantastic track....garage rock with a psych-y surf-y vibe.....is this your 'sound' or would you prefer not being pinned down to a particular genre/style?

J: Thanks! The foundation is yeah. That's not to be ignored. We put our own sprinkle on it but I'm very proud we're not known or thought of as an Indie Band. I wouldn't want Indie being something we're associated with. We're a Psych, Surf Garage Band. I don't want us to be pigeon-holed but that is very much the foundation of what we do but we have everything that makes it our own at the same time. I like knowing that's the foundations.

P: Yeah, I'm reluctant to call us Psych because at times Psych can be a bit self-indulgent and serious. Whereas we are writing songs first and foremost. But we are very proud of being given those tags because they are all in there, it's not a lie. There are a lot of bands we're hearing around at the moment who are throwing those tags out about themselves and they just aren't those things. They’re just the latest buzz words people want to be associated with.

J: They're just Oasis fans who have formed a band and need a description!

P: They're indie bands wearing surf shirts and playing Fender Jaguars!

J: It's just lad rock again like everything else around here has been for at least ten years.

P: So we're happy to both go with that description and prefer not being pinned to just that. We have a lot of songs in the pipeline, probably around 30 we're going to be happy with when they're done. And the newer stuff that's been written is more ambitious than the early stuff. Structure and sound-wise. It's harder to get those ones out live when you're playing to people who maybe haven't heard you before but hopefully they will make an appearance sooner rather than later. There's everything from the droning ,doom kind of sound of space-rock to Beach Boys influences to bits of Motown. But we're really happy with what we have right now too.

J: I think it'll be hard to pin us down to one specific genre. At the moment, that's a good description of our sound but it might not stay that way.

Will it be getting a physical release at some stage?

P: It might. The problem is we haven't been going for very long and at some point we'd like to get a record label and if you sell every demo you make to make a few quid as a lot of people are doing; then those songs are gone. We're trying to be protective over what we have because we think what we have is good and a bit different.

J: There's so many bands now who by the time they have an album it's made up of a load of tracks people already have, plus a few other ones that they rush together. And once one person now has it; the song is pirated out of control and all over the internet. We've put the full finished version up on Soundcloud so people can listen to it whenever they want anyway.

P: Our idea at the moment is that if someone wants a copy on CD and we are happy for them to have it they can have it for free. It's not that we want to make a fortune at some point. It's that we need a bargaining chip to hopefully get to a place where we can do this full time. Obviously if we get a bit further down the road and that's not happening we will look at maybe releasing Dead Or Alive properly but with another song or two as a physical thing like on vinyl release maybe. We'll also look at funding an album ourselves in the same way a lot of bands are doing now.

You gig regularly around the Manchester area. It strikes me that the North of England seems to be producing far more psych/garage bands than the south...is there a reason for this?

J: Yeah, it seems that way but it's not really.

P: What I think we have is far more bands who label themselves as psych and garage but then sound like just another indie band. It's like a badge they can award themselves but then forget to work on the music side and just sound like The Kooks. And no-one needs that.

J: There are exceptions. In Manchester there are some good bands going under that banner who are doing good things like The Watchmakers and Cabbage but there are also a lot who just call themselves psych!

P: Manchester for us is a difficult place. It's a city that has this reputation for being somewhere new music thrives but in reality there's a lot of people stuck on the bands from the past who then form bands very similar to them, and there are people who are happy to watch that and never move on. And it sells tickets here so a band like us has to go with the few people who are putting on the good stuff. And there are some great promoters who are putting on some great nights with proper bands which is what we're looking to now.

J: Really we don't want to be known as a band from Manchester. I love the place but a certain sound is associated with here and that's just not us.

P: I think we have a pretty strong identity and we sound like ourselves, at first that worked against us as it was unfamiliar but that's working in our favor now because it's marking us out. We've stuck with it because we believed in what we are doing and now we seem to finally be getting some reward for it.

You were recently 'New Artist Of The Day' in Louder Than War....that must have felt good, both the accolade and the promotion? I'm guessing that social media and the internet are pretty vital tools for unsigned bands with regard to promotion.

J: We said from the start that Louder Than War was one we wanted.

P: It's well respected isn't it. They can be tastemakers by liking something new.

J: It's credible, it's cool and their opinion in our eyes matters. They don't just review anyone so it was like we'd achieved something.

P: It's good to be able to reference it to people for things like booking gigs. We can say "here's our song and here's the article about us from Louder Than War". It does help, but maybe not as much as you'd think. Social media is a very important tool but people are starting to shy away from band’s Facebook pages now as they are becoming seen as just marketing tools.

J: Twitter has been better recently because with it being short messages people don't feel like they're being sold something. Facebook is just overloaded. There are so many bands talking themselves up on there that it’s difficult to stand out. You can describe your music but there will be so many bands saying the same thing about themselves and not necessarily being what they say that why should people believe you’re the one to give a listen to.

P: Social media is generally good because if you're genuine about what you're doing and you have a song people like then you can reach people all over the world with it. We've had people liking our stuff on Facebook from places like Chile, Italy, America, France; before social media that could have taken decades. So it's got to be good.

Any plans to gig further afield (Essex would be good :-) )

J: We will play anywhere as long as we can get there. Can you get us a gig in Essex!?

P: We are definitely looking for gigs outside Manchester. We're in Liverpool on 5th March.

J: So send any offers our way and we'll do our best.

P: The live side is what we do really. It's a lot more aggressive than any of the recordings we've done so far.

J: That ties in with social media again. We're getting messages from people from all over saying "come and play here". And we will as long as we can cover the costs.

P: That's it we'd play anywhere and we're not bothered about the pay. We just want to be able to get there and back and not be massively out of pocket. So keep an eye out, we could be with you soon.

Anything in the pipeline? What are the long term plans for the band?

P: There's a few things coming up. Some possible summer dates in Europe we're looking into at the moment to see if it's do-able..

J: Just playing whenever we can and wherever we can really at the moment. Maybe go back into the studio later in the year too P: As we were saying before, long term we would love to get a record deal but we don't know if that really happens any more. But we'll continue to play live as much as possible and see how we do and then re-assess the recording situation again in a bit.

What music/bands are rockin' your world at the moment? Any recommendations?

Both: The Allah-Las, The Growlers, Night Beats, Dead Ghosts and Fat White Family are some good bands around at the moment. The Amazing Snakeheads were great too.

P: Apart from that, mainly older stuff. Obscure old garage stuff that's old and crackly and generally unavailable never fails for me.

J: Yeah, older stuff. The Doors, always. AM by the Arctic Monkeys is still great too though. It’s changed the band scene a lot too because it was so original.

P: The idea behind those newer bands is something we identify with too. They're almost willfully uncommercial. In all honesty bands like us are never going to trouble the charts ever again so why bother going that way? We'd sooner do the extreme version of what we're doing. More bands are choosing that path now too. It's making the band scene a lot more exciting for the people who get it and that can only be a good thing.

Right, cheesy interview question time.....you're putting on a rock festival, which 3 acts (alive or dead) do you book to headline?

Joe: We’ve asked our other band member on this too…..

Craig: Captain Beefheart, The Stone Roses and The Coral

Paul: The Stone Roses, Joy Division and The Beatles

Joe: The Doors, Joy Division, The Growlers

Phil: The Velvet Underground, The 13th Floor Elevators and The Monks

Thanks a lot for your time guys....hopefully we'll all be hearing a lot more from you

Hopefully! Cheers.



More material from The 99 Degree can be found on their Soundcloud page and can be found on Twitter (@The99Degree).