What are your names?
Niall Parker (vocals, multi-instrumentalist) Bob Shoesmith (drums, percussion) Harry Duns (guitar, backing vocals, videographer)
What is the band’s name?
Gravity Machine
What is your genre of music?
That’s an interesting question for us, if you ask us, it’s probably ‘Alt-Rock’ with flavours of Sound garden, A Perfect Circle and Led Zeppelin, however, since the release of our debut album ‘Red’, to our surprise, we have been warmly embraced by the Prog scene. Often appearing in Prog Magazines, Prog radio shows, compilations & charts which is all good, but we never set out to sit in any particular genre. We simply wrote & recorded the songs, and they went where they went.
Give us a little bio about you.
We have all played in bands together and separately doing van tours & gigs in the past. For a variety of different reasons, music had been reduced to hobby status individually due to life getting in the way. In 2016 Niall’s wife sadly died of Cancer aged just 42. This life changing event caused Niall to process everything back into song writing, and the lyrics and music just poured out. These songs were recorded and a selection of them went on to become the debut album ‘Red’. Fast forward to 2020 and the album has been released by popular demand and taken on a life of its own. Unplanned and unscripted we are responding to requests to make and release more music. Album 2 is on the starting grid, requests for concert dates coming in and all the usual “band” stuff we hadn’t envisaged has taken off.
What made you go into music?
It’s fair to say, like the majority of musicians, all three of us, have, at a young impressionable age had that lightbulb moment where an album, song or concert has made us think “THAT”S what I want to do”
Who are your influences?
As previously explained in the question about genre, our influences, in line with our ages and experience are vast. All three of us have huge record collections from bands & artists going back decades, it would be too hard to boil that down to one or two. Suffice it to say, anything that evokes a strong reaction, or an emotion is probably in there.
Are you a signed?
No. We’ve had a lot of interest, but we are currently unsigned and independent and actually quite happy with that arrangement. We can pretty much write what we want, in our own timescales and with the infrastructure of the music industry currently in deep freeze due to Covid it’s not been too much of a hinderance.
Your new single ‘She’s Calling Me Home’, tell us more about the single;
This is our fourth single & video taken from the album ‘Red’ released at the end of March ‘21. It has already had airplay globally including the USA, Australia and on the major UK rock stations such as Planet Rock
What is the meaning behind the single?
The song relates to that primal human instinct that everyone has to be pulled back to a home base, be it a country, community, a family or a loved one. When you are travelling, when you are caught up or side-tracked by work or events, or indeed, the loss of a loved one we all have those moments where the desire to get back to that place is overwhelming & powerful
Who did you work with on the single?
As with the whole album we are indebted to the producer from Middle Farm Studios in Devon, Pete Miles, who pulled everything together and adds a bit of magic to everything we’ve recorded so far. Also, Harry, who, with his other creative hat, produced an amazing video for it
Describe the track in two words.
Powerful. Deep
What was the writing and recording process like?
Niall wrote everything from the heart and there were, literally, dozens and dozens of ideas to choose from the hard part was how to filter all the ideas down to one coherent album! This single was one of the first and easiest tracks to emerge. The recording was made really easy by producer Pete who totally got the project and went that extra mile to make it.
Will we see a video for ‘She’s Calling Me Home’ and if so what can we expect?
Yes, there’s a video for this and the other singles over at our YouTube channel. All of the videos are themed around the Pagan history and mysticism of Dartmoor (where Niall and Harry are based) with a special guest appearance from Devonian actor, Sarah Bowden as our ‘Pagan queen’.
Will we see an EP or Album and if so, what can we expect from it?
This single is from the debut album which has been out since 2020. A second album is in pre-production and (if restrictions are eased sufficiently) a new single/EP will be recorded sometime in 2021.
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
Absolutely no idea if we’re honest! None of this project has been planned so there’s no plans or expectations of where it might go. We’re just going with the flow. One thing is for sure we will all no doubt be making music somewhere, somehow, be it in a home studio or on a festival stage, there’s no putting that genie back in the bottle
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
Music is just emotions looking for words
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
Audience participation, the buzz when the lights go down, those musical moments that tattoo themselves on your memory (a solo or your favourite song) the people you went with and that visceral response only a live band can induce.
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
We are now on the majority of social media including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & YouTube – all the links are available at our main website www.gravitymachine.co.uk or just put Gravity Machine in your search bar
