THE NONE tear up the rule book when it comes to playing fierce, whip smart, gut-punching industrial noise rock with intricate melody at its heart. They take us to the edge of post-hardcore punk but push into darker, more introspective terrain, laced with caustic urgency, discomfort and poetic beauty in equal measure- with biting social commentary, dark humour and soul-bearing honesty, their set is pure catharsis, touching on every raw edge of the human condition.
Seeing them play in January 2025 at Rockaway Beach Festival, the crowd were blown away with their visceral, melodic, whip smart energy. Members of this band are lifelong musicians and have already played on huge stages with the likes of Bloc Party, Blue Ruth, Cassels, and Frauds but have joined together; choosing to fly under the radar with this enigmatic name and boy do they deliver! It was an earth-shattering start to the festival, with lead singer Kai packing a punch with her powerful vocals, smart, searing lyrics and innate charisma. It was a raw and uncompromising set with melody at its heart. They were in full control of the breadth and depth of the music, their history and expertise informing this craft. They have a gloriously gritty underground vibe, and the warm gentle banter in between each set reminded me of early Skunk Anasie or Silverfish. Lights slashed the darkness as the bone-shaking bass propelled the explosive soundscape and depth of their sonics from thrash metal to funk. They are pioneering with their boundless vision of noise rock and we were awestruck.
THE NONE comprise of bassist Gordon Moakes (Bloc Party, Young Legionnaire), vocalist Kai Whyte (Blue Ruth, Youth Man), guitarist Jim Beck (Cassels). After seeing them smash their set at the BBC Introducing Stage at the Great Escape festival in May too, we were delighted to chat to vocalist Kai Whyte and bassist Gordan Moakes over Zoom to get an insight into THE NONE’s craft and genesis.
It seems like you’ve organically built up a cult of following without publicising yourselves and your previous success too much.
GM: There’s been a kind of word-of-mouth aspect to it, I suppose. I want to say it’s completely intentional, but it’s felt more natural. I mean, it’s not like there was like a big management company or anything. It all just comes from us, so it feels like the organic way- you just go and you do your band, and you hope people sort of get it once they hear it.
So it wasn’t necessarily a plan to keep it under wraps and to let the band grow organically? It just happened naturally?
GM: I mean, Jim, our guitarist, has always got a bit of a master plan in his head, so I’m guessing that he maybe did think that we should just start really basic. I mean, the first tour, for instance, was just like, “Who do we know?” We want to play in some small rooms. Obviously, it’s going to be brand new to everyone in that room.
Kai: And, with that first tour, we also hadn’t even announced we were a band when we were booking it, so it really was just going to people that we knew saying “We’ve got this new band. You want to take a punt and put us on a small show?” which was really cool.
GM: And it flowed from there. You know, it’s just like, what’s the organic next step?
You were handpicked for the BBC Introducing Stage showcase at The Great Escape where you blew the crowd away. That’s often a springboard for many up-and-coming bands. Obviously, you’ve had huge success before. I mean, how would it feel, going forward to have a similar success with The NONE or would you rather keep this project on; the down low?
GM: So there are different answers to that. One, the music industry has changed anyway and number two, this is very noisy music. I suppose there are bands out there that are blazing a trail? That’s a bit of a cliché but there are bands that are proving that you can be kind of noisy and successful.
Kai: Yeah, I think the way we do it has a ceiling significantly lower! haha
GM: The venues we play have ceilings significantly lower!!
GM, I don’t know that we necessarily put a cap on what we’re capable of doing. I don’t know if there’s a question to have about whether those of us who have day jobs, if there’s ever a time we would be able to quit them and do the band. But I mean, I suppose there’s that thing of what your intentions are, and then what your audience is and what’s possible? They’re all different things, right? But, yeah, we’ve just followed it.
Kai: I think we want to go as big as is appropriate at any given point in life. I don’t think we’ve got any grand plans to take over the world, but, we do kind of want to just see how far it goes- see how much we can do – you know, write good songs, play good shows, and if those shows get bigger, then that’s great, yeah, but I think we’re quite wary of trying to force that and you know, we really don’t want to get a bit too big for our boots too soon because, I think at that point, the shows become less vibey, if you’re trying to play bigger rooms, but there are fewer people there. I’d much rather play really small rooms, pack them out consistently, than play a half-full room. That’s quite a lot bigger. I think you lose the energy, you lose the point of the music. Music is made for these little rooms and that kind of tight environment.
GM: Yeah and I’ve been there, you know, I’ve obviously been in a band that’s played bigger rooms that were busy and there have been times where; we’ve over shot with venues and play to half empty rooms and and it kind of sucks the joy out of it for you. It’s not like, that’s the definition of failure by any means, but just at every point, just knowing what is within your grasp and pushing at the edges of that. And I think what Kai says about the songs is really important, because you’re only as good as your songs, and so we’re just trying to write more songs. And, you know; I think in places, there’ll be moments that are probably more accessible, but then there’ll be very ugly bits as well, if people want to hear that, yeah, great, but, you know, we’ll wait and see.
Kai: Yeah, it’s still early days.
Thinking about your subject matter, I’m just wondering if there are any recurring motifs in your work around politics or anything, and if you think that music is the best avenue to express the righteous angst at the state of our world at the moment?
Kai:Yeah, I think lyrically, I tend to just write about what’s going on around me, what I’m currently experiencing, or past experiences. Sometimes when I tell a story about something that’s happened, or just kind of want to make an observation. And I don’t think that’s always intentional.
I don’t think I sit down and go, right, let’s make this one political. I think it’s just what comes out and there’s also a lot of input from the rest of the band lyrically. I’ve not got ownership over the words. Actually, all three of the other members have been like, “Oh, I’ve got this lyric“, you know, or “I’ve got this kind of poem,” or this, these ideas that I’ve been writing down, and I’m massively influenced by them, because I get a lot of writer’s block, so having these kind of phrases and kind of ideas given to me helped me just flesh it out into a fuller song and I’m often going off the music that’s already been written as well. So the band will come up with riffs or verses or even sometimes a fully fledged song, and the energy of that music will inspire whatever I write to it.
GM:(to Kai) So do you get images? Does it give you imagery in your head- the extra sounds?
Kai: It does, yeah, the sound, rather than images. It’s more a kind of attitude or a feeling or an energy, and I’ll listen to it and I’ll move to it first, so it’ll give me a physical feeling. I’ll think Okay, how is this moving? How’s it grooving? What kind of mood is happening? What are the subtleties I can pick up? We could just say all these songs are aggressive or discordant, but I think that’s kind of very surface-level. Feels
Yeah. It feels like there’s a whip-smart poetry and underlying vulnerability to it- There’s a beauty and anger all at the same time. In My People when you sing, “Do you have original feelings or liminal feelings?” there are so many subtle textures within the tracks.
Kai: Yeah, I think musicality it is very it’s layered. You could 100% just have shouting, punky stuff over the top of every tune and that would work. But for me, personally, I think that would be doing the music a disservice, because even though it is kind of discordant and angsty, I think there is a lot of melody and a lot of intricacy. And the arrangement and the notes and the chords that are being used in songs are very intentional. It’s not just like, ‘Oh yeah, that sounds ugly, great’. I think it’s worth really diving into it and being like, What can I pull out of this, what can I accent here? What can I add here to make these other bits gel more?
So I think it’s much more intentional than it perhaps comes across on first listen and it’s part of the writing process that I really like. I think it’s quite difficult, and I can get frustrated. I think we all get frustrated, but I think the pay off is really satisfying. I think the catharsis that comes with playing music that’s visceral is enhanced by the work that’s gone into it.
GM : And I think that that intentionality, which I think is a really interesting word, is, is the thing that connects with people. So, you know, it’s not necessary melody that people like to sing along to stuff, right? And it’s not just a rhythm which is important and I think, even though I do say it myself, I think we have a pretty good rhythm section that’s got a groove to it and that hits people. But I think what people are responding to, whether or not it’s chaotically loud and weird and dissonant is the intentionality of it- weaving yourself into that, or finding yourself mirrored by it, or whatever. So that’s where it doesn’t necessarily matter that it’s really obnoxiously big and crunchy. I’m just thinking, because my youngest plays football. He’s in a Sunday kids’ football side, and one of the parents shared the last gig and I thought “How are the soccer mums going to deal with this?” but I do think that, rock music should be loud and hit you. So I like to think we can hit those soccer mums, as much as anyone.
Kai: Yeah, I think what’s important as well is that we’re always very much in control, we control the chaos. We’re just on the edge of it, right? It’s making sure that the music, doesn’t get away from us. That helps people to feel they can access it, if it’s not completely falling over- it’s again, intentional and controlled in a chaotic way. We just make sure that it’s got that kind of, that energy where it is, it could get away from us, but it doesn’t quite, yeah,
GM: Somebody’s just about got it on the road!
Kai: With that driving analogy, it’s like someone’s driving their car and they are in control, and they know the route really well, but they’ve never driven this fast, so there’s an element of danger!
GM: And someone’s who’s also wrestling with you while you’re while you’re driving! haha
Your two live EPs Matter and Care seem to have really captured that raw cathartic live essence. Is it true that it was all recorded live?
Kai : Yeah, we went to The Bookhouse (Recording Studio) in South London and recorded with Tom Hill, and it was all live in the room for the first EP. ‘Matter,’ I was even live in the room doing vocals. There’s a few, overdubs here and there, but all the music is live you know, it was ” just get started playing and get a good take” and that’s the one that’s on the on the final EP.
For the second EP, I recorded my vocals separately, but the music is all still live in the room, and minimal takes vocally as well. Kind of just trying to lay down a lot of feel, because at that point we are essentially a live band, and we want to kind of capture that essence- we write live. Nowadays, some people don’t write live, they’ll write into a computer and send it round, and that’s that’s not how we do it.
So we write live, we perform live, and people like that- so let’s try and capture that energy and put it out. Who knows if that’s going to change in the future. Right now, that’s what really works for us, and that’s how we feel is best in service of the songs.
GM: (to Kai) At this point, I was going to ask you, actually, when you’re talking about how you like to write, do you still prefer to take the song into your practice room and or not? How are you writing it?
Kai: Yeah, so obviously, I’m in Birmingham. The rest of the band are in London, so they’ll send me phone recordings of stuff they’re working on and to practice and write. I’ll take it to my rehearsal room in Birmingham, put it through the PA so it’s as if the band are in the room, and then get a mic and write to it like that and I still do that. More recently I’ve, I’ve done that a little bit less just because of time restraints, but I do put it on in the car. So I’ll be driving around listening to these really rough demos, trying to figure out a little melody or whatever. If I’m in traffic and as long as I’m alone, that works for me as well. But my favourite way to do it is to kind of get it loud in a room, close my eyes and act as if I’m with the band.
So did playing live give it a sense of jeopardy that made it more exciting? Did it bring that same live sense of wrestling whilst driving? Did it bring the same energy?
GM: I think so. I mean, yeah, that’s the again, we keep using this word, but that was the intention- for the experience of playing it and recording it to almost be the same thing and, you know, and then it’s just capturing that in as high fidelity as possible. Because, obviously, you can just put a phone in the middle of the room and but you’d not, not necessarily want to put that out that recording.
So, yeah, somebody like Tom, who’s very sensitive to making a room in such a way that you’re getting the best reflection of what’s happening in that room- what that sounds like to be stood in the room. You know, there’s a whole science to that, which I don’t know much about. But you know, Steve Albini gets mentioned all the time. It’s just trying to get as faithful a reproduction of what it sounds like to be in that space, you know?
It really feels you’ve captured that visceral raw live energy. So I’m wondering if spending time in America and Birmingham influenced you at all?
GM: Well, I was in America for six years. I did play a bit, but I was more or less retired, in a way, from the playing or the experience of the music industry that I’d had. So I’d gone to this level where I was just like a hobbyist at that point and so I missed playing, coming back and being in the room with people, and rediscovering an urgency to it. Because, you know, this will happen to everyone. I mean, we’re all going to get older and potentially have other commitments in life, whether that’s family or work or other things to get through into your 40s. It’s one thing, if you’re Coldplay, and there’s a lot of money behind what you do, and you can go out and do it, but for a lot of people who are musicians, that’s the time when you start to close shop, and you’re playing less, and maybe you’re just going jam with some friends. But you don’t have a gig, or you just play a few pub shows, and you’re doing covers or whatever, I don’t know. But for me, I really missed that, and coming back to London, as I did and playing in the room with musicians, again, for me, was really important. It was really something that I’d really missed, so that on a practical level. There was also a question about Birmingham, so I’m interested to know how that fits in.
Kai: I’m Birmingham born and bred. I’ve never lived anywhere else. I’ve travelled around a bit, but this has always been my home. And I think for me and people my age, I’m 32 now- I’m actually the odd one out. Most of my friends have been off to Uni or they’ve moved to a different city but I think my continuity of location does affect my perspective. I think that I do bring that into the writing and I think even I can get a lot of comments on my accent while singing, and I just don’t really know how I’d do it any other way.
My voice sounds neutral to me. So to kind of express myself musically with this voice and with this accent comes very naturally. And potentially that could have been a different case if I had lived somewhere else, or, you know, gone to uni at 18 in a different city. Well, I could have developed one of those uni accents, instead, I went to a Polytech at 25 which was pretty local to me.
I feel like my feet are firmly on the ground, and that I am free to say and do what I want. I don’t wonder what people are going to think of me. I’ve been here forever, so I think there is an element of safety, and I don’t have to kind of convince anyone of myself here and I do feel it sometimes when I go to a different city that I’m a little bit more nervous and, apprehensive. I’m like, oh, what’s the vibe here? and “Who do I have to be for them to get on board with what I’m doing?” which is interesting.
GM: I think that there’s a wider point there about how the music industry has gone and that actually, working class voices have been squashed out of the music industry, because nobody can afford to make music in the way that you could thirty years ago. That’s one reason why a lot of music becomes sort of formulaic and kind of bland and all kind of into this mush.
It all sounds the same because different voices, different dialects, and all these things have just been erased. So, yeah, I mean it’s less and less easy to be a band from somewhere that’s not London now because it’s just a sad truth of the matter. And then you go to London, and there are a lot of bands and, you know, and …How do I put it? There’s other wealth there that’s helping them to be part of youth culture- to fund it.
Kai: I think with London being the centre of the industry in this country, a lot of young people are told, “Well, this is how you how you make it as a band, you move to London, you get get involved in a management company, reliable, and they’ll tell you what to do. Don’t worry about it” and that’s kind of anti-artistic to me. I don’t really think anybody should be telling you what to do in terms of art. I think it really should just be an expression of your perspective. I don’t care if you’re wearing a really cool leather jacket and, you swan around, really nonchalant. That’s not art to me. It’s not really a perspective that I’m interested in
GM: But if you’re a young band it’s this or nothing. Well what are the options if I just stay in my hometown?
Kai: I suppose I do have the privilege of being from the second city. It’s not like Chipping Norton!
GM: If Jim were here, he would say there’s just as many working class people in Chipping Norton. It’s not all the Jeremy Clarksons! haha
Kai: Yeah. I meant that in a way, that there is less opportunity in Chipping Norton to break into music, to get people’s attention than there is in Birmingham, at least, with shows, without leaving my hometown.
You’ve got the whole home of Heavy Metal in Birmingham too
Kai: Yea, there’s a lot of culture in Birmingham, which is part of the reason that I think I’ve never felt the need to leave. I’ve not been stifled. I’ve not been desperate for culture and like minded people, because it’s a big industrial city but it’s, still, very different to London. So, yeah, I think I lucked out being here and being comfortable here and finding opportunities and community. You have to try to find it, but once you do, it’s kind of there.
It was great that you originally only released both Matter and Care EPs on Bandcamp. Was that a conscious decision?
GM: Yeah, it was the conscious positive rather than a conscious negative. So we start here. We know that’s where we’ll at least start a community of sorts not knowing how big it would be and you know who all your listeners are on Bandcamp. Ultimately, we certainly know who all the people are who are buying because you can check. I mean, the Spotify thing is a thorny one, but you know there again when you want to talk about ceilings.
There again, this is an evil. I’ll put it that way. Whether or not you see it as a necessary evil, is a slightly different part of the answer. But in terms of the positives, yeah, Bandcamp is a positive experience and and I suppose we haven’t just kept our music on Bandcamp, it’s now in other places, but at least you build it from there upwards, rather than the other way around. That’s probably how I’d answer that.
Kai: Yeah putting things just on Bandcamp to start with was a positive step for us. With Spotify and the streaming services, the music’s treated as a unit of product. It’s not, it’s necessarily a song that moves people or intended to. It’s just one of millions, maybe billions, of other units of product that they want to steer in the direction that makes the motion money. So having that as the foundation of our entry into the world probably wouldn’t have sat well, I don’t want to say spiritually, but I think kind of existentially.
I think when things are on Bandcamp first I think, “Okay, this is kind of where we want to be.” The industry will push us wherever it can wherever it tells us we have to go. But I think, our loyalty is with Bandcamp.
GM: Well, for now. The problem with all these tech platforms is that, they’re on shifting sands all the time, morally. There are cooperatively owned, like, platforms and Bandcamp’s not that It just takes one guy selling it on to some other platform, bigger thing, and it’s suddenly turns in something else. So yeah, there’s no guarantee with all that.
Kai : Unfortunately, there never was, yeah and then the nature of capitalism in general, it’s not that it’s necessarily, you know, Bandcamp’s fault that they get brought out by a bigger entity- capitalism is such that they are forced to do things like that.
GM:v Well, yeah, but sometimes the people who put these platforms together, their aim, ultimately, is to get out and make money. However, a good at all it is, yeah, so yeah,
Kai: There is no ethical consumption, etc, etc, but there are better ways to do it with
GM: I was gonna say, there’s always that question of, if you have a problem with capitalism, why are you selling stuff? I’m not gonna necessarily get into that, but we should have stuff. Is always my answer that we should have stuff and music is one of the things that we should really, really, really have.
Yea, it’s necessary for nourishing the soul. During lockdown, that was one of the main things that we needed to keep us going, wasn’t it?
So, your ‘Matter and Care‘ debut EPs have just been pressed to vinyl for the first time and you’ve kept it exclusive with unique sleeves art work and hand numbered variants there are only 250 white and black sleeve editions so fans are going to have to snap them up fast!
Kai: Having a limited amount of copies kind of allows us to draw a line under it, once they’re gone, and say, ‘Okay, this is the very beginning.’ This is the birth of THE NONE. Okay? This is, our very first output, and now we’re working on an album so we don’t need to be defined by those first two EPs. It’s like, Yes, we did that. It’s done. That’s kind of our infancy but we don’t have to continue to come back to that and continue to push that when we’re actually growing as a band and making new music. Our sound may shift so I think just leaving it there and moving on, allowing the fans that were that have been there from the start, to have this little special thing that maybe other people will have to discover in the future and not necessarily get their hands on. I think it’s quite nice to have, like a little, a little prize.
100%. I thought I’d got there first when I saw you at Rockaway Beach but there were hundreds of people there before me!
The white sleeve edition will be released through Bandcamp only while the black sleeve edition is only available through select indie retailers .THE NONE play live at Mutations Festival on Saturday 8th November.
Follow THE NONE here: THE NONE Bandcamp instagram YouTube
LIVE DATES
Nov 8th – Brighton, UK – Mutations Festival-
Feb 7th – The Hague, NL – Grauzone Festival
April 11th – Brussels, BE – SLUUR Festival
Photo Credit: Aaron Thompson
