Andrea's Music Column

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Andrea interviews Syncratic - 14th November 2003

Syncratic interview

Croydon grunge rockers Syncratic have recently released a demo CD containing tracks Living Wreck and Solitude.

"We decided to form a band on New Years Eve 1998 after watching Rocket from the Crypt at Glastonbury," said Gary Courthold, Syncratic rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist. "We were still at school then; we bought our instruments the summer after and learnt how to play them." Syncratic are influenced by Nirvana, Rocket of the Crypt, Green Day, Feeder and Foo Fighters.

"We were originally a punk band called Rehab," said Chris Goodwin, lead guitarist. "We changed the name to Syncratic because Rehab didn't represent our grunge sound. Plus, there is already a band in the States called Rehab."

Gary and Dan Mongey, drummer and backing vocalist, write the songs and they tune up during practise. "We are in a heavy period of writing new material at the moment," said Gary.

"The songs that we write are based on personal influences; is there any other way to write? My favourite song is called Cromniomancy and I wrote it three years ago, on the way back from New York. I dug it out and we are going to use it." Syncratic have provoked awareness from the Sutton media; The Guardian have given their gigs a few good reviews.

"The gigging venues in Croydon are overcrowded because there aren't that many of them," said Gary. "We have been restricted to the number of gigs that we can play and this is limiting our fanbase. We also find ourselves playing sets with punk bands, or bands that don't take themselves as seriously as we do. This problem is made worse by our lack of transport to move to different areas."

Syncratic came 4th in Battle of the Bands competition at Guilford University in March 2003. "Grunge rock wasn't what the judges were looking for," said Gary, "this was made clear by the three piece synth-rock band that won the competition. We used this show to develop our stage presence."

"We have been through the stage of heavy promotion for the band and sending out the CD to everyone. Chris saw an advert on dotbands.net for a Nickleback documentary for Focal Point Television and we sent the CD off to them. They are going to use both Living Wreck and Solitude on the film and it should be distributed in stores such as HMV, Virgin and Amazon by early next year."

I've lost count how many times I have listened to both tracks on the CD. Solitude is perhaps my favourite - Gary's voice bends and curls superbly; almost painfully around the unabashed grunge guitar.

The interlude is fantastic and removes Syncratic from their Nirvana emulations. Living Wreck is more up beat than Solitude with a lot of predictable riffs. I found myself humming it for the rest of the day and becoming annoyed because I wanted to hum Solitude instead. Good stuff, though.

I can't wait to see them play live. See more of Syncratic on their website www.syncratic.com

Want to send Andrea a message ? Email Andrea@ukevents.net

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