Band gets back to basics to bring soul to life in their music; Live funk and soul music is still alive and kicking in the North East. Paul Loraine speaks to one musician determined to bring a slice of the Sixties and Seventies into the 21st Century.

THE steady advance of technology means musicians have seemingly limitless options when they arrive at the recording studio.

But while for many bands, deciding which effect to add is the cause of many a headache, one North East group has a very different focus - stripping away the gloss of production.

Newcastle-based Nick Pride and the Pimptones have been preoccupied with capturing something of that pared-down, raw sound you hear in soul records of the 1960s and 1970s.

Their debut album - It's the Pimptones - is a collection of original funk and soul tunes penned by Nick and performed by some of the region's best players in the style.

Nick, on guitar and vocals, is joined by Ian Paterson on bass, Oz Cassidy on drums, Dave Wilde on sax and flute and Alex Leathard on trombone.

Nick said he has been encouraged and inspired by other artists who have recently tried to emulate the soul sound of 30 or 40 years ago.

He even went as far as to research the recording techniques and microphone placement favoured by artists of the time.

"At a really young age, I got into a lot of funk stuff like James Brown and Aretha Franklin and a lot of other soul music," he says.

"But more recently there are other bands going for that old sound, like

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and Amy Winehouse.

"It's really a new twist on an old sound." So what is it about the rawness, or the relative lack of production, that appeals to fans of soul music? "It's maybe just the sound of a bunch of musicians in a room.

There's something really pure about that which you lose when you get more technical.

"You really have to rely on a great song and a great performance rather than papering over the cracks with effects." Nick, 34, who plays every Saturday at the Durham Gala Theatre in another of his outfits, Jazz Girl, hand-picked the members of the band after making mental notes of their abilities when gigging together over the years. He and Ian also feature in the North East 'supergroup' Sharks Took the Rest with Beccy Owen on vocals - a band that impressed during their headlining slot at The Journal Culture Awards last month.

"It's quite easy to put a band together when all of your best mates are really good musicians," says Nick.

"I had worked with Oz in a funk band called Rubberneck and with Ian and Dave in other bands and I thought to myself: 'I want these people involved when I get my own band together'.

"I have been in a lot of bands where I have been the guitarist and this is the first time I've got a band together to play my music.

"It started out as a side project and quickly became the main thing everyone in the band was doing."

The album, which is set to launch tonight at the Head of Steam in Newcastle City Centre, ranges from out and out funk in True Fact and Inswinger to jazz in If you See Kay, even veering into reggae territory with Bring it Home.

On another of the tracks, After Forever, Nick called on the talent of local singer Laurie Shepherd.

"That song actually started life as an instrumental," said Nick.

"The album is a lot of young men playing funk and the album needed something pretty-sounding on it. It's really nice to have a female voice on there.

"I never quite know if there's a new soul scene up here that wasn't there before, or if things like myspace mean that it's easier to find other people with an interest, no matter how niche it is. What

I'd like to happen with the album is for funk DJs to play records off it.

"It's quite a specific sound - we're not looking for a major deal or anything. It's quite a specific audience who are really into their funk... and we just hope they like it.

"I think people in the North East are actually quite inclined towards soul music. It's a party city and we're playing party music." .. It's the Pimptones is available from selected outlets in the North East, including RPM on High Bridge, and tracks can be downloaded from www.stropic.com.

For more information on the band... and to hear a few samples from the album, visit www.myspace.com/nickprideandthepimptones

CAPTION(S):

ORIGINAL Nick Pride and the Pimptones are, from left, Nick Pride (guitar and vocals); Dave Wilde (sax); Ian Paterson (bass); Oz Cassidy (drums); and Alex Leathard (trombone).