'We don’t make art to be easy.' Alt-rockers Noisemakers' Guild are in the spotlight

PLEASE TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF…

I’m Jez Sullivan. I play guitar in Noisemakers’ Guild, a soulful song driven alternative rock band from the East Midlands. We formed after myself and singer Lee Heir formerly of the indie rock band Prime started writing together, and have been together with our current lineup of Kevin Munson and Kikey Kumar for about 20 months now.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEW SINGLE

The Story is our debut single. A salty tale about meeting a charismatic but ultimately dangerous person. I think it’s one of Lee Heir’s best lyrics. It’s big and anthemic but there’s enough musical stuff going on. It’s just a great introduction to the band. There’s a big singalong chorus, flamenco guitars. What more do you want?

WHICH SONG WOULD YOU SAY SUMS UP YOUR SOUND THE BEST?

I love the new track we are working on at the moment called Sailors Lost & Found. It sounds like a James Bond theme done by Echo and The Bunnymen, the music is very haunting and Lee's vocal is very atmospheric. The stuff we have available now was all recorded before our summer tour with Denver’s finest Ryan Chrys & The Roughcuts. Playing 8 shows in 7 days really elevated everyone’s skill level, and we’re a much better live band now than before, so I’m looking forward to being back in the studio next month.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO MUSIC?

I’m the youngest of four kids. My Mum was an amazing singer. She used to do an impression of Yma Sumac, the Peruvian singer with the five octave voice. That was her party piece. My older brothers got me into guitar as a teenager. I joined my first band at 17, never stopped. Well, stopped for a decade and listened to some terrible drug-addled rave music. But otherwise, I’ve always loved playing the guitar.

WHAT DOES TYPICAL WRITING AND RECORDING DAY LOOK LIKE?

Writing is always a collective process. So someone might come in with an idea. We’ll play around with it, then someone else might write another part. On one of our songs the verse came out of a jam. But then our bassist and drummer wrote the middle eight and I pulled the chorus off of an old idea I’d recorded on my phone. There’s no set process. Then Lee will often rearrange parts or write new melodies. If something isn’t working, we put it away for a bit and just keep trying new ideas.

HOW DID YOU GET YOUR BAND NAME/ STAGE NAME?

Originally Noisemakers’ Guild was supposed to be a loose collective of musicians and filmmakers collaborating. A bit like Ezra collective… But it’s ended up being a four piece lineup for now. So it’s kinda stuck.

WHAT HAS BEEN THAT HARDEST THING ABOUT YOUR MUSIC JOURNEY SO FAR?

I get the sense that we aren’t the darlings of our local scene. There’s certain gigs I know it’s unlikely we’ll get asked to play, despite performing 20+ shows this year including an 8 date UK tour which took us up to Scotland and back down to London. Especially how we’ve seen audiences react on a national level. I mean if people are that scared of us, maybe they’re backing the wrong horses?

WHAT'S BEEN THE EASIEST?

Nothing is easy I’m afraid. But we don’t make art to be easy.

WHAT WOULD YOU DOING IF YOU WEREN'T MAKING MUSIC?

I’ve always wanted to rob a bank. No violence. Just a stylish caper: especially as we bailed them out in 2008. I’m in my Clooney period now.

WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN?

Years ago another much older musician told me that I should try to be the best version of myself and that a playing style would evolve from that. It’s weird because for a long time I felt out of step with other musicians. But I’m glad I stood my ground. No one needs another Noel Gallagher, so yeah. Be the best version of yourself. My guitar playing is a weird mix of atmospheric textures and post-punk vibes mixed with a classic rock, blues based melodicism. But I feel that I sound like me, even when I’ve been in different bands.

WHAT'S NEXT?

We are recording an EP at the start of the year and we have more live dates.

PLEASE ADD ANY SOCIALS SO WE CAN SHARE

It’s all available at linktr.ee/noisemakersguild , new videos, interviews and songs, so enjoy!