No Direction and its concepts have been active for a couple of years, with various changes along the way. Founders of the band are Lo and Wit, who (back in the first few months of 2004) co-wrote the majority of tracks on 7 track EP entitled "This Way (That Way)" (Apr '05). Material is largely written by Lo (lyrics and basic melodies) with Wit adding his funky basslines.
Changing perspective to the band members themselves...
We started gigging together whereever was possible (the usual: local pubs, mates birthday bashes, camping trips and even down the beach - anywhere we had an audience!!) , the reaction to our material was positive, and people seemed to really 'get' the songs and enjoy listening to us! The encouragement received was timed to perfection as it spurred us all on, and made us start working harder and being a bit more serious about the group and the music being created.
Whilst the three of us had started off just playing for fun, the songs were taking on a real strong identity and we were getting more and more interest with ppl constantly asking where the next gig would be etc. At the time we realised the band had a bright future, but as always a lot more time, energy and the inevitable equipment was needed - in the words of The Streets we decided to push things forward, with the aim of creating original songs with a message - a lot of time is spent experimenting and working on lyrical content - if your gonna write a song make it about somthing, empty lyrics which happen to rhyme should be avoided at all costs.
Having said that our mission statement is: To have fun, enjoy making any music we do, and make sure we're the last one's out of anywhere we play(party hard ppl!!)
New equipment was purchased and more time and energy went into practice and from there things just started falling into place. In early December Chris showed an interest in the band and joined as lead Guitarist (although he's well known for his Drumming ability!), from the moment we all met up the chemistry was spot on and he slotted into place like he'd always been there. With Chris on board we started creating a much more intense guitar sound, bringing licks and solo's to the existing tracks, and started work on new ideas together. Pretty soon Jake (the rake/snake as he is often known) unveiled an array of interesting hidden talents- one of them of course being a supremo on the drums. Since joining he has sorted out the percussion side of things, also adding a certain style and flair which fits in perfectly. He ties our songs together perfectly and was the missing ingredient to the sound we have now..
What does our music portray? A whole array of different subjects- mostly taken from an observational standpoint, and a few from situations and problems which have ocurred. Our songs tackle politics, drug abuse, love gone right/wrong, friendships, ambitions and aims, spiritual matters and the workings of the human condition!! Wow quite a list, hopefully an ever expanding one :-]
We want our sound to be as 'raw' as possible , but not conforming to any defined standards. Alternative Rock & Indie have been banded around as a description for us. Perhaps the easiest way to draw a comparison is to give a mention to those greats who influence us, some of them being The Pixies, Muse, Radiohead, Bloc Party, Alanis Morrisette, Garage, Placebo, Hole and the Smashing Pumpkins, to name only a few.
Samples of some of our original tracks can be listened to in the Audio section of our website, and the demo EP is available for purchase from our site too. Full Downloads of our UK Songwriting Contest entries are also available from Songplanet itself. These are "Twisted Love Song" - Finalist, and "Psychotic Narcotics" - Semi-Finalist. Twisted Love song was selected to be played on BBC China's focus on world music on November 2005.
Http://www.no-direction.com