The Nouvelles

The Nouvelles are a Belfast fronted hardline independent band based in Lancashire.

Not joining the mainstream indie music scene, they played a main role in the downfall of the Manchester pay-to-play regime, and under A1M Records sold out Manchester venue Band on the Wall in Fall 2016.^[1] They have been played multiple times on BBC Introducing.^[2] They were named one of the top BBC Introducing North bands of 2015 in 2016 by BBC Radio Lancashire ^[3] and won a place in leading BBC DJ Tom Robinsons Fresh Faves several times including his elite list in Fall 2016.^[4] A refusal to play South by Southwest was countered by In The City appearances, and major indie festival indie stage appearances such as the Tom Robinson stage at a sold out Wychwood.^[5] Active due to other commitments for 5 years between 2007 & 2017,^[6] they have released several records fully DIY with the help of A1M Records, and DIY selling out of Piccadilly Records in 3 hours after taking a sarcastic full page ad in the NME. Appraising the work of Guardian music journalists David Sue and Mal Wyatt,^[7] they resented their "Rising" tune featured prominently in the mainstream media, such as on the front cover of all regional Guardian Media Group publications.^[8]

The tune by the Stone Roses "Beautiful Thing" lists various Nouvelles songs and responds to criticism Nouvelles gave the Roses for their comeback tune "All For One". "Sisters must have missed ya / I don’t want to steal your Shine" was referring to the Shine song offered to Ian Brown when he lost his band Stone Roses by Nouvelles teamster and Wigan songwriter Trevor Standish, and the BBC North multiple played "Sisters of the World" song - the 2 tracks listed on Nouvelles' soundcloud page at the time. The Stone Roses spent the days before the release with copyright lawyers. At the end of 2017 sources in the underground indie scene reported that the Noel Gallagher tune "Holy Mountain" was not a take on his brother Liam Gallagher but a take of the first track on the Nouvelle's whitelabel album, a track called "Baby Doll", and that Gallagher was advised by his team in Belfast to change the lyrics to "Butterfly", having used exactly the same lyrics as the Nouvelles song earlier in his song. One Nouvelles member is from Belfast (where the Gallagher album was produced) where he works in the Northern Ireland peace process.^[9]

The band released the most sold record for the Euro 2016 Finals for the Northern Ireland football team as featured with Black Grape by the BBC ^[10] a tune which was also selected for Match of the Day.^{[11] [12] [13] [14]} The song has been under consideration to become the new Northern Ireland football national anthem. These links to the punk or minority football scene have also seen them play live at Fc united of manchester. They released "Lemon 17" for Record Store Day in 2017 as a free download as the band claimed "the music mafia" had taken control of the event.^[15]

The band accepted an invite to play as special guests for The Charlatans at their May 2017 Manchester Oldham Street Takeover album launch gig, before guests were removed from the bill by Manchester council due to a bomb at the Manchester Evening News Arena several days earlier.

A May 2017 record released on A1M Records entitled "Music From The North" featured 2 tracks from the band.

After this Nouvelles were booked to play the main indie music festival Kendal Calling in 2017 where they appeared on 29 July 2017, with original guitarist Dean Bailey opening for the band, who played a 4-piece set.

The group completed their album in December that year.

References