NOVABLOOD

Hi Mark, can you tell us a little about where you are right now?
Hi guys, thanks for having me! I’ve just got back home after meeting the guys (Paolo & Paul), to sign some limited vinyl. There’s quite a few local supporters here in Carlisle who asked us to sign their albums too, which is lovely!

That’s kind of you to say, I guess lyrically there’s a story to be told within the albums. Which I guess lends itself to listening to on a whole. The vinyl track listing was heavily thought out in order to work dynamically and allow everything to breathe. I started writing around November 2023 and can say it was mixed and mastered by May, so around 6 months. I guess it’s a relatively quick process by some standards. But it was all put together in my home studio which meant any spur of the moment writing could be achieved instantaneously. When you get a melody idea you’ve got to get in there and put it down!

You’re being compared at the moment to some of our very favourite electronic music acts. Who did you draw influence from for this record? 
Nice to hear! I can’t honestly say I was inspired by any one artist in particular, being honest. Genres, I guess are the bigger inspiration. I tend to work on the periphery of a genre so I don’t completely immerse myself in it. I feel restricted if I have to walk a particular path with a song style or structure. I just adore big melody and constructing larger than life choruses. I knew we would play this album out and about so I wanted it to work in a live capacity wether it be festival stages or small clubs. We think Destroy The Magic feels really complete in a sense of song sensibilities and accessibility.

When you play live, NOVABLOOD are a three piece. Can you tell me about your band members and any favourite recent live or dj sets? 
Yea, Novablood is myself on Vocals, Paolo Di Liberto who works the technology side for live, which is difficult as Paolo has to recreate a number of elements I’ve wrote for the album in a live capacity. He’s a very busy man on stage! He’s also co-writer of some lyrical content on Destroy The Magic. And there’s Paul Newton who is Novabloods guitarist. He’s a great texturising guitarist and brings an ethereal feel to solos and guitar melodies. One minute he sounds like Robert Fripp and then Reg Smithies of the Chameleons. Perfect! We work exceptionally well as a team and we’re all very tuned in to what the album should feel like.

We’ve been incredibly lucky this year already as our gigs meant we ticked off two legendary boxes in a matter of days. Playing Pikes in Ibiza and The Golden Lion at Todmorden. They’re just so suited to what we do. Completely at home and in our musical universe. We’re in awe and admire both spaces so much. A dream come true.

You’ve had quite a career starting with Lil’ Devious, can you tell us about that collaboration?
Yea, Lil’ Devious is where I learned my craft really. Myself and co-producer, Gary Little gained worldwide support from incredible DJ’s such as DJ Sneak / Roger and Jnr Sanchez, Danny Rampling, Pete Tong and many more. We signed singles over to Ministry Of Sound / Norman Cooks Southern Fried label, Oxyd, Stronghouse, Muschihaus, BMG, Glow of Liverpool (3Beat), 8Trax, Gung-Ho! and more. We also worked with some incredible people such as Mick Karn of Japan, Leee John of Imagination and Adam Wiles who later became Calvin Harris, whom we signed his first single under the name Stouffer.

I understand you were inspired to pick up the mic and sing in  quite a unique way…. What happened?
I just saw Adam (Calvin Harris) confidently approach his very early material as a vocalist and genuinely just thought, if he can do it so can I. I watched him grow as a producer and It was just the confirmation I needed. His work was in its infancy then but I adored what he was sending me and just felt it was time I tried out vocals. 

You are about to embark on a tour, where are you really looking forward to playing?
We’re genuinely loving the idea of all the dates currently confirmed to be honest. We feel very at home on small club stages and big festivals so these city gigs are really exciting. It’ll be lovely to head back to The Golden Lion at Todmorden once again. They made us feel so at home and really looked after us.

Do you prefer being out on tour or tinkering in the studio?
I love studio time and gigs for very different reasons so I couldn’t pick one. I guess studio time comes first or the gigs don’t happen otherwise. Studio time clears my head. It de-stresses me unlike anything else. I couldn’t be without my set up and the writing process.

What can we expect next from Mark Zowie and from Novablood? 
Well Novablood is our baby really and are going to carry on writing. Because we don’t overly commit to any particular genre of electronica, we feel the world’s our oyster musically. That’s the most exciting thing about Novablood, we literally feel we can explore anything.  My last Mark Zowie release with Sonas did really well alongside Zoo Brazil and Jamie Steven’s remixes. So I’d potentially like to collaborate with John again, it was a lot of fun and there’s some Mark Zowie tracks bubbling as we speak.

Thanks for speaking with us today, it’s been a pleasure! 
Huge thanks to DMC for giving us the opportunity to chat to you!

Buy / Stream at https://lnk.to/DestroyTheMagic