Sunderland band Ninebanks offer up a catchy alternative sound that’ll transport you back to the good old days of early 2000s pop-punk.
The band started out in 2021 with the quartet of vocalist Jack Woods, guitarists Callum Cowie and Lewis Foster and bassist Scott Vincent, who all grew up within three miles of each other on the northern banks of the River Wear. But they expanded their boundaries slightly to Newcastle to draft in drummer Ben Morland to complete the lineup. The quintet have known each other for years, playing in various bands across the North East for over a decade.
And on the sound they’ve crafted since, Callum explains: “If you’ve never listened to a Ninebanks song before, the first thing that you’re going to notice is our catchy hook lines. It’s something that everyone that’s ever reviewed us has stated time and time again and when we play live it usually only takes one chorus to get people singing.”
Our first taste of this was their most recent single Interrupted, which was released in June. It opens up with a little riff that kicks into heavier guitars and a darting lick, which drops into engaging vocals that flow into a catchy chorus “Trying to catch a spark, We’re interrupted, Every time we talk, We’re interrupted, We both feel it and then my friends walk in.” A second verse immediately continues, with lively vocals flowing into another chorus. A second chorus gives way to chunky guitars, before dropping into a palm-muted guitar and laid-back vocals setting up a big drawn-out final blast of the chorus.
On the track, Callum told us: “The reactions have been really promising. We got the song on quite a few really good playlists to start off with and it was the first time that we had really researched the marketing side of things and how to really push the song to maximise its potential. That included actually having some kind of music video when we dropped it.”
That track follows on from Hello Sunshine, which features a super-catchy chorus “Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello sunshine, I’m sick of playing hide and seek at midnight, Rainy days can go away, The forecast calls for brighter days, Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello sunshine, Just say hello.” It also follows Little Silver, which opens up with chunky guitar chords and a little lick leading into a laid-back opening verse, and their debut single Innocent, which you can check out in the stream here:
On what inspires them to write music, Callum tells us: “We don’t have anything that we particularly write about per se. But Jack, who does the majority of the songwriting, likes to pride himself on the fact that the songs are not really about personal experiences. They’re more of a story and he likes to create a narrative around a made-up situation instead of really writing from personal experiences and we think it’s cool because we are not sure how many bands actually do that. When you listen to lots of our songs you really do get that feeling you’re hearing a story.”
Ninebanks have just finished up recording their next single, which they hope to release just before Christmas or early next year, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
You can follow Ninebanks on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Twitter and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud and YouTube.
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