Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (https://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: Hello Jez. Thank you for taking the time to chat with us about Noisemakers’ Guild! First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started in music.
Jez: I grew up in a very musical family. My late mother sang incredibly well and after a sherry her Christmas party piece was her impression of Yma Sumac, who was a Peruvian singer with a four octave voice. My mum could run through the scales like she was reciting the phonebook. My older sister sings really well and my older brothers both play guitar. They started out during punk and both formed bands so as a 9 year old there were always these spotty 18-20 year old youths coming around the house with guitars.
I’ve always been fascinated by the shapes, colours and the sounds of the guitar. One can never have too many guitars I find.
Having two older brothers with big record collections shaped me. ‘A Farewell To Kings’ 
by Rush. That lit a fire in me aged 11. I got this really cheap Spanish guitar for Christmas and started to learn chords and stuff from books out of the library. Then as we had a four-speed turntable at home I’d borrow records from the local library and slow stuff down. I taught myself.
Classic Rock. Dire Straits, Thin Lizzy, Yes, Rush, Pink Floyd, MSG, etc. The other brother was into Joy Division, Gang of Four, Red Guitars, The Chameleons, Syd Barrett and Tom Petty. So my guitar style has always been this car crash mix of the two. I’m melodic but I like textures and atmospheres.
A top tip for vinyl lovers, if you slow down 70’s Rush to 16 rpm it actually sounds like Tool…
PD: Tell us about your history on the music scene and how Noisemakers’ Guild came about?
Jez: I’ve been in and out of bands for most of my life apart from a 10 year period which I always refer to as my lost decade, where I was living in the South-East of England hanging around doing bad drugs and listening to some truly terrible dance music.
In the mid-noughties I played guitar in Heroes of Switzerland who had a very brief chunk of media attention and minor critical acclaim. We were a hybrid of Dreampop meets Classic Rock, a little bit like bands such as Swervedriver & Catherine Wheel but heavier. We did a lot of Club AC30 and Goonite club shows in London, and put out a single and then an album, Comfort In Fear.
Nowadays loads of bands have decided to do the heavy shoegaze thing. But we were doing this 20 years ago, but I left them in 2008 to join another band, due to musical differences. We eventually reformed, but musically it always frustrated me. It was a very dense thick sound.
I’ve known Lee Heir, Noisemakers’ Guild singer, for over 15 years. So we talked about doing some writing. Just more plaintive music. We wrote some tunes between Covid lockdowns, including Eyes Wide Open and Time In The City, which are still mainstays in our set. Kikey Kumar came in on drums, recommended by a musician we worked with. Then after a few false starts, Kevin Munson who’s one of my dearest friends, joined on bass. That really elevated us, adding a real groove to what we do.
We get people dancing at gigs, which is great fun. We even had a conga line at the last Derby show.
PD: Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music Noisemakers’ Guild play – what do you tell them?
Jez: It’s song driven soulful alternative rock. In the 21st century no one gives a shit about
genre anymore. We’ve toured with artists as diverse as an Italian synth pop act and an Americana influenced country rock band. In both cases the audiences liked us. So I think if you like good songs and a band that really plays live without all the laptops and click tracks, you’ll love us. We actually try to entertain.
PD: You currently have your debut single The Story out. Tell me about the work that has gone into making it a reality and what the song means to you.
Jez: It’s one of Lee’s best lyrics. It’s a salty tale. That idea of being taken in by someone quite charming, but who is ultimately extremely dangerous, is a universal experience. We recorded it at Dubrek Studios in Derby with Jay Dean. Initially all live on the floor. They have a great sounding room there, especially for drums.
But Lee wanted it to have big choruses, so I’m singing backing vocals on it, while he does the harmonies. As it’s a recording I had the luxury of overdubs so I put a Spanish guitar figure on it as a little tribute to my 11 year old self. Plus there’s an acoustic guitar strumming along to the electrics. I’m very into colours and textures on guitar. The idea of just bashing out something on a Les Paul and a Marshall depresses me. That has its place. But I think audiences deserve more from guitarists. It’s not 1967 anymore.
PD: Making music and being creative can be a very positive experience and can be very good for the mind. In what way has making music had a positive impact on your mental health over the years?
Jez: Greatly. Being completely candid I’ve had some long running mental health issues that didn’t really come to a head until maybe seven or eight years ago. Having therapy was probably one of the most positive experiences. But playing the guitar is still the best thing I ever did. I’ve been in bands since I was 17, I’ve worked with so many great musicians over the years and even the very brief chunks of session work I did – playing live with a Bhangra group and then recording with a psychedelic artist, for example. It all makes you into a more well-rounded person, especially in this current culture where the billionaire owned media is literally trying to incite a race war in order to avoid paying tax. I’m not frightened of people who don’t look like me. It’s sad that some are so easily manipulated.
PD: What have been some challenging aspects of making your music and how have you overcome them?
Jez: I think the problem is the gatekeepers that are just looking for exploitable people. So there’s no point in even trying to persuade them. As an independent band, we only have limited cash. So for example, we spent our original video budget for The Story on doing a debut UK support tour last summer. I’m glad we did. It was 8 gigs in 7 days, with a couple of matinee shows thrown in. But we came out of it a much better band. We’re about to record an EP and as much as I’m going to love making music. Studios, mastering, artwork, PR…There’s a whole load of business decisions on where we spend the cash. What format do we put the music out on? How do we promote it?
PD: How do you handle the online aspects of being in a band? Promoting across several different social media platforms, how do you make this part of things enjoyable, and fulfilling, for yourself and the band?
Jez: I do my bit and try not to take myself too seriously, as do the other members of Noisemakers’ Guild. What does frighten me is all the misogyny female artists are experiencing online. I’ve seen it with a few now. I’m a real fan of Chloe Slater, who gets tons of hate. There’s also a band in Nottingham I’ve seen with just two female members in and they get a lot of needless online negativity from middle-aged white blokes that we as four guys have never experienced. I just don’t understand these people. Don’t they have mothers or sisters?
PD: Outside of music, what do you like to do to relax?
Jez: I love travel and exploring places with my camera. I did photography at college and I kinda use it nowadays as a mental health tool. Just before the Ukraine war started I went to Pripyat and Chernobyl. Which was both an amazing and humbling experience. I also love taking sleeper trains across countries. I’ve done pretty much most of Europe.
I even had a gun pointed at me on the Budapest to Venice sleeper. Which is the one featured in the second James Bond film, From Russia With Love. You have to go through Croatia and Slovakia which do these really OTT border checks. The dining car did terrible food, I think I ate roadkill with salad, it certainly wasn’t chicken. But on the positive side they were doing double whiskeys and mixer for just 55p. So I didn’t eat, I got trollied and 
passed out on a toilet. I awoke to a man hammering on the door screaming ‘Kontrol! Documents!’ Over and over again. So I opened the toilet door and found myself at the business end of a Glock 17 with a very nervous looking young Croatian border guard at the other end. I managed to both evacuate my bowl and sober up simultaneously in record time. Who says men can’t multitask, eh?
PD: Speaking directly to listeners – what content can they invest in and where can people find you?
Jez: Just bang Noisemakers’ Guild into your preferred search engine or socials of choice. We have a Noisemakers Guild linktree which has all the links to streaming, Bandcamp and our YouTube sites. So there’s a 4 track live set on YouTube and all the tracks are available to stream on the platform of your choice. Plus merch at our Bandcamp. We do a wicked metal pin badge. Plus T shirts etc. As a live band we’re uninterested in being the local heroes. So we play out nationally and there’s always a gig on the horizon. We’re in Sheffield playing as I talk to you. Leeds is at the end of January, followed by a Spring tour, so come join The Guild.
Noisemakers’ Guild links:
Band/Artist location – Nottingham UK
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