RealSoundsOK: Dork Turnspit Q&A

Your name:

Marc Nellis.

Where are you from?

Scotland but residing in Lancaster in the north west of England. Half of us live here and the other half live in Carlisle.

Name of band:

Dork Turnspit.

Who else is in your band?

Lee Dixon plays lead guitar and sings, Darren Leadsom plays bass and Rod Jameson plays drums.

How would you describe yourselves?

I'm a really nice guy. Seriously. The rest of them are very cynical and bitter. But genuine. Genuinely cynical and bitter.

Who are your main influences musically?

Our influences don't necessarily show through in this particular band. Lee and Rod played in a metal band for many years, I played in a metal band for a bit but also some indie and electronica outfits too. Darren played in indie and alt-rock bands but the sound we seem to have hit upon with Dork Turnspit is influenced, I guess, by stuff like The Lemonheads, Pixies, At The Drive In, Sonic Youth, Husker Dü, Queens Of The Stone Age, Kyuss, The Sound, Joy Division and Weezer. And loads of others that don't sound like anything we do. In fact, I hadn't even heard Husker Dü till long after most of the songs we have now were written. But fuck it, it's the kind of thing you put to attract the type of lonely person that likes Husker Dü.

What do you hope to achieve in music?

We're in it to have some fun. Ideally some exposure on a national level through radio play and by doing short tours would be great. We don't ask for much but we hope what we do will get listened to and that people will enjoy the live shows which we seem to be getting better and better at every time we play.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?

Getting to finally be in a band with Lee. We'd been talking about it for years but for many (mainly geographical) reasons it was impossible for it to happen. And laterally getting to be in a band with one of the best drummers I've known and then even more laterally with one of the best bassists I've ever known. Although having said all that I'd much rather the answer was something like Glastonbury or Reading. But it's not.

And what’s the moment you want to forget?

Getting to finally be in a band with Lee. We'd been talking about it for years etc.

If you had to choose just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?

Dork Turnspit Are Go. It has our name in the title for a start and it's also a microcosm of what we do. There's screaming and there's nice melodic bits and there's a tasteful guitar solo section that we've actually built on live. Once we record it properly it's gonna sound......different.

Where can we listen to it?