Midlands musical ringleaders, The Novus, not only shoot from the hip but were shooting a video for their latest single, when they were interrupted by gun shots! Probably not even the most surreal day in their story so far, to be fair.

More on that, to follow, but if you’re not on board with The Novus already, get involved. A star shaped ride that starts with ambitiously rhythm, riff and tune sparked rock songs and wow-the-crowd live performances – they have the “IT” factor. 

Summer 2020 single, ‘Man On The Bridge’ is out now to flail about to and roar along with. It continues their all-thriller-no-filler release CV. It was produced and mixed by this documentary’s ominpresent Wizard Of Wolverhampton, Gavin Monaghan, at the legendary Magic Garden Studios. 

“We wrote this song in the van on the way home after we came down from Stourbridge to play a gig in Camden and saw this old guy (in his underpants when we saw him) dancing his heart out by the bridge at Camden Lock and apparently he’s been doing it for years.”

I have a soft spot for Stourbridge (about 15 miles from Birmingham City Centre). Me best mate is from there. We met as kids, snarling at each other. Music united us as an odd pairing, we are still extended family, decades later. During that time, this century, The Novus were born and punk life will never be the same. They’ve DIY-reset the music game. Heck the 1970s would probably have given them a TV show! I have caught them at London gigs; grinned, “danced”, sang along and this is one of the tunes that sets off my off-key-warbling.

‘Man On The Bridge’ was originally a 2019 cassette mix track the band made of emerging West Midlands bands. It was discovered by BBC Introducing and played by Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1. Fair play, it’s an immense tune.

Now the song gets it’s first official release. Originally pressed on vinyl by Flying Vinyl and available, now, on the bands own #JOINTHENOISE imprint on 7” and across digital and steaming platforms (with a Lockdown Demo of ‘Castaway’).

Investigation of the band’s composition and arrangement skills, let alone their self-marketing (and one hundred per cent from scratch historic event creating), and a live charisma to hopefully experience as soon as possible layers on audiovisual rewards. Foundations of a solid wall of sound, professionals. Bandcamp supremos : https://thenovus.bandcamp.com/ and never short of ideas.

Like many artists, they are discovering novel ways to make distanced videos during lockdown and extra creativity was necessary when considering what to put together for ‘Man On The Bridge’. 

The song is based on a man who can be seen regularly dancing at Camden Lock , who the band spotted when in London for a gig.

They found footage of the actual man on YouTube and approached the Czech film maker who filmed it. He gave permission and put a shout out on the Idles AF Gang Facebook group to find an editor. All that was needed was some footage of the band to include.

Front man Connor Hill described what happened next:
“Itt was a complete shock to us. We were trying to stick to social distancing guidelines with Tyla filming me at a distance and exploring rural Stourbridge for something resembling a bridge that contrasted to the Camden setting. We stepped off what we thought was a public footpath into some fields and then heard an almighty ‘crack’. We thought it was a car backfiring back on the road or might have been an air rifle, then the second bang which was a lot louder and saw something rattle the leaves of a tree. We thought shit! and legged it as fast as we could as it looked like a ‘get off my land’ episode that might have escalated”

(In the video’s second verse where Connor is furthest away in the field, you can see his head turn after hearing the first shot!)

Needless to say the video is superbly crafted. TheZineUK team are fans of The Novus visual gallery (and, in fact, they designed our most recent picture book cover). A living art installation and exhibition, makes this band genuine Ones To Watch. Right? Right.

More lynx and look out for that video! https://facebook.com/thenovusband/

Words: Caffy St Luce