Gardenback – Motorway
In May 2019 I had a chance to see a young Oldham trio play an iconic Night People venue in Manchester. The name of the band was Gardenback and I had been a fan of theirs for a good few years at that point. They released two very well received singles ‘Sleepless’/’Call It a Phase’ and ‘Health & Wellbeing’ received support from the likes of John Kennedy at Radio X and generated enough buzz to start filling venues.
I don’t have to tell you how gloriously the night went. I was at the front, then actually met the musicians and photographed them on Polaroid after the gig. I got a tee and returned home being a content music obsessive. There is nothing – I repeat – absolutely nothing better in the whole universe than seeing new and exciting bands on stage.
An exception to the rule is when said bands release new songs that makes your jaw drop. And Gardenback did just that with their new single ‘Motorway’.
The band has always represented a curious mixture of garage and punk rock with an underlying psychedelic current but their new offering marks a distinct change of direction. Shredding punk elements and fully embracing psychedelic (and at times classic) rock, Gardenback morphed into a fully grown entity that has no match on the scene. Especially in the North. Bones Shake come close but that’s about it.
There`s something nostalgic in the way ‘Motorway’ is delivered – it brings back the feeling of the golden age of psychedelia of the 60s and 70s. The hypnotic rhythms, distorted vocals, mysterious lyrics like Beat poetry and themes of never ending travels. Gardenback are not the only ones trying to bring all of this back. There is a powerful resurgence of psychedelic rock on the Birmingham scene (DOXA, Raptor, Table Scraps, The Cosmics, Cherry Pickles, Sedated Society, Brain Food) or Brighton (The Psycho Relics). Yet somehow the Oldham trio place themselves at the front of the neo psychedelic renaissance.
The song is accompanied by an abstract lyric video made by Alex Bennett that only adds to the mystique of ‘Motorway’.
The retro element is just part of the new musical direction. Gardenback could easily find themselves playing American venues and nobody would suspect them to come from the old country. I`ve been looking at their lockdown sessions and could not believe how the band have changed over the course of a year and a half. These days Gardenback have more in common with the North Carolina noise/post punk scene (Polvo, Helium, Vanilla Trainwreck) than they have with Mancunian scene. Take them to SXSW and the next thing you know they are on SubPop playing a session for KEXP.
Ellis Hodgkiss, Neil Eskins and Jacob Connor have come a long way from a promising trio to a band with a unique artistic vision and a potential that should not be wasted.
In 2020 we have discussed many forms of privilege but one – the absolute pleasure of witnessing artists at the very beginning of their journey. And believe me, seeing Gardenback becoming this good is a privilege.
Malicia Dabrowicz (Vanadian Avenue)
