The Novellos

Out of all the bands on the Sons Records roster The Novellos are to spearhead the launch of revolutionary internet music site “sonstream.com” on March 5^th 2012.

An intoxicating mix of Soul, Indie and Beatlesque Chutzpah they are perhaps the most exciting young band in the UK today; the four lads from Stoke indeed have a very similar charm to the fab four from up the road in Liverpool.

The Novellos are an English, four-piece Indie group formed in Stoke on Trent taking influences from 60’s music, soul and late 70’s US punk music.

The group has earned a reputation for their frantic live performances and their sporadic yet sensational single releases.

Origins

The Novellos first rose to prominence in March 2008 with their first single release ‘The Lady Is Not For Turning’. Written by Mike Thomas with additional lyrics & music contributed by Seb Clarke, founder of Sons Ltd and producer of the track. Championed across Radio 1, 2, 6 Music and XFM “The Lady’s not for Turning” peaked at No3 in the Indie Charts in March 2008.

The Novellos met at Newcastle under Lyme High School in North Staffs. Mike Thomas on guitar and vocal duties, Adam Steele on bass, Richard Dodd on guitar and keys and Daniel Ellwood on Drums.

The Novellos signed a one-release deal with Clarke’s record label Sons Ltd in 2007 and immediately began work on their first release ‘The Lady Is Not For Turning’. It quickly became apparent that drummer Ellwood found studio work difficult and as he had already committed to attend university in September, was replaced by Eddy Gillespie from Leek based band Silent Call. ‘The Lady Is Not For Turning’ proved to be a record of this transition; it has two drum takes on the mix - both Gillespie's and Ellwood's.

Dodd was next to leave The Novellos, subsequently to be replaced by two more members of ‘Silent Call’ Phil Gillespie (brother of new drummer Eddy) on Guitar and Sam Walker on Hammond,

The first 6 months of 2008 saw breath-taking success for The Novellos following the success of “Lady’s not for Turning”. The musical and professional partnership with Seb Clarke grew; Clarke's band This Is Seb Clarke and The Novellos enjoyed more chart success backed by extensive touring across the UK and three sell out Showcase events for the SONS Ltd label. This profuse year culminated in a Radio 1 session at Maida Vale Studios for Steve Lamacq’s ‘In New Music We Trust‘ show and the extension of their contract with Sons Ltd.

However by late 2008 it became clear to everyone that Phil’s heart was still in his own band ‘Silent Call’ and he and The Novellos parted company. The development seemed only to cement the bond between the now established four piece and 2009 saw the release of ‘Not So Sure’. Changes in how the Indie Charts were compiled however meant that despite selling 3 times as much as “Lady’s Not for Turning” “Not So Sure” only reached number 12. Sons Ltd Label owner Seb Clarke had been predicting for some time that the internet was to have profound and devastating repercussions on ‘micro-indie’ record releases and this somewhat disappointing chart position gave much credence to his calls for a complete re-think for all associated with the label…

All ‘Novellos’ releases and gigs were cancelled for 2010 (including a slot at Glastonbury!!! ) and then also in 2011. Instead, the four piece concentrated on building up a catalogue of studio work ready to release and promote upon the launch of new internet-music concept SonStream.com in 2012…