ASK about bands from Tameside and the indie section may be rather sparsely populated.
Guide Bridge boasts Paris Angels but other than that, we are in the pop realms of Take That, through Droylsden’s Howard Donald and Haughton Green’s Mick Hucknall.
However, New Revolution are out to change all that and the area three of the four members grew up in plays a part in their songs.
Describing themselves as ‘almost like heavier indie’ they are gathering a real following both in Tameside and Manchester.
And as lead guitarist Zak Hadfield, who lives in Hyde, seeing what goes on around him has had an impact.
He said: “It has to some extent. A lot of the songs are about how I feel about things that are going on.
“There’s a lot of stuff about how it is to be from Greater Manchester and being working class.”
Formed after being advised to be a Hyde High School music teacher after ‘messing around playing,’ New Revolution also comprises Hyde singer Aiden James, Dukinfield’s Matthew Seddon and Loz Riley, a ‘foreigner’ from Huddersfield.
And the teenagers know being on stage brings something different out of them as Zak added: “I went on stage at school before I knew any of my bandmates.
“I went on, played on my own, came off and said, ‘I want to do that.’ When I played a gig with the band, I thought, ‘I like that.’”
Aiden said: “I’m quite shy as a person and can be quite awkward. Then when I’m on stage playing songs it’s like, ‘That’s what I’m here to do.’
“When we’re on stage, it’s almost as if we’re not the same people.”
New Revolution have recorded their first single, which should be released later this year, and the gigs are coming thick and fast.
Using one of their first venues, Staybridge’s Zeros bar, to rehearse, they also believe the scene is bigger in the area than may believe.
Matthew said: “Tameside’s helped us set off,” and they added: “There are a lot of great venues around here.
“There’s Zeros and there’s POP in Hyde, then we started branching out towards Manchester.
“There are a few Mossley bands too, Even though there aren’t as many music venues, there are a lot of bands and a lot of people interested in music around here.
“We formed when we were really young, in year seven at Hyde High School.
“We started off playing Nirvana covers and just kept going, started writing sounds and got better.
“Now we have a blend of various elements of different genres of alternative rock. Things like grunge, indie, punk.
“Who we sound like depends on the song. There’s a lot of Nirvana and Foo Fighters stuff but there’s also stuff that leans more towards someone like the Arctic Monkeys.
“Things are going well. We’ve got loads of gigs lined up in Tameside and Manchester. We’ve just recorded our first single, to start and get going.
“We’ll get it all ready then release it. It will probably be late November, early December but knowing us, it could be January.
“And playing a gig is the best feeling, especially when people get involved and start jumping around and clapping.”