They were formed when singer, songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Kenny Stuart and producer, guitarist and backing vocalist Jose Ibanez ( both formerly of the band 'Jacobi' ), recruited bass guitarist Andrew Horrocks, who also provides backing vocals, organist Ste Penn ( ex 'Wicked Whispers' ) and Mark Rice on drums and percussionist. Kenny had known Ste for about 17 years when he played in his first ever group when they were just starting out in the music world and has basically been trying relentlessly to get him in a band with him ever since. Kenny knew Andy through work and invited him along to their studio for a jam and, at the time, Mark was working as a session musician and Jose asked him to join. It all came together really naturally and since then they have let themselves grow organically, playing just a handful of carefully selected dates scattered around the North, including a performance at February's Deep Cuts at Phase One. Ste says, " We were really fortunate to play our first gig as 'The Heavy North' at the Night & Day in Manchester, and with it being a 'proper' gig venue, I suppose we skipped the usual teething problems bands can experience as we had a good sound engineer and a good setup." June 2019 saw them release their third single, 'Some Good Lovin'' ahead of a festival debut at Liverpool International Music Festival (LIMF) at Sefton Park and a live session & radio interview on BBC Introducing Merseyside.
Following a sold-out headline show at Jimmys, Liverpool in September 2019, the band released their fourth single, 'As Long As You're Here With Me' in December 2019 and played a handful of shows supporting 'Saint Agnes' and 'Cut Glass Kings' on UK tour dates and 'Temples' at a sold-out Zanzibar which was great and possibly their most enjoyable gig. They returned in May 2020 with the release of their 'absolutely stunning' breakthrough single, 'Lying To Yourself' which was played on BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Introducing Merseyside, and Amazing Radio. In support of the release, the band played an exclusive live lockdown session and an interview with Janice Long on BBC Radio Wales as well as being the most-watched artist performance at the first-ever Liverpool Digital Music Festival during the lockdown. Then in August 2020, the band played a live 30-minute full band set at the iconic M&S Bank Arena for the second Liverpool Digital Music Festival online streaming event, clocking up over 15.000 views on Facebook.
On Friday the 4th of September the band released their follow-up single to 'Lying To Yourself', which is 'Bring Me Love', a track, produced by the bands own guitarist Jose Ibanez at 3rd Planet Recordings and is one of four songs featured on their debut EP, 'Dive Bar Blues', available on limited edition 12” vinyl (300 copies), which was scheduled for release on Friday the 4th of December 2020.
The band released their latest single, 'No Good' on the 2nd of July 2021, the second single following ‘Darkness In Your Eyes’ from their upcoming debut album 'Electric Soul Machine', set to be released in January of next year, and is available to pre-order on limited edition 12'' gatefold vinyl now, with only 500 copies up for grabs. 'The Heavy North' have a schedule of live performances lined up for this year: Liverpool Sound City in October (1st-3rd), a headline show at Jimmy's Liverpool in November (5th) and debut shows across cities in the UK. Tickets are available on the band’s website.
It would appear that a national lockdown was a promising opportunity for this collective of passionate musicians. Once the live sector is up and running at its full potential once again, 'The Heavy North' will be first in line to demonstrate how they've honed their creative ability.
"They've been making a great name for themselves at home in Liverpool and they've got a great cool blues thing going on" - Chris Hawkins, BBC Radio 6 Music. "Powerhouse five-piece perfectly marry old school rock with soulful depth" - Dawsons Music.
see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/11/pool-of-sound-april-moon.html
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