North Sea Story

North Sea Story was a band that Christopher Standish (guitar, vocals) started in Madison, Wisconsin, with John Schkiele (guitar 1996), Jason Ciletti (drums 1996), and Chad BaDour (1996). After a few shows, Standish relocated to NYC and teamed up with Dave Brown (guitar, vocals 1998-1990) after answering his Village Voice ad that mentioned Chavez as an influence, then recruiting Rance Piatt, (bass) after complimenting his Rocket From the Crypt shirt in a sports bar, and Paul FitzGerald (drums) recommended by mentors in Punchdrunk. All new songs were written and demoed with Charles Bissell of the Wrens. Shows were played and a full length CD was recorded with Adam Lasus at Fireproof Studios. Piatt left town to teach for a semester and Josh Weil filled in on bass. Later Piatt returned and Brown left the band, after months of consideration, and a tour as a trio, Weil accepted the offer to join on guitar and vocal in 2001, During preparations to record a new album, FitzGerald, then Piatt and Weil left the band, leaving only Standish to finish the album and release it with the help of other friends of the band. Some reviews: http://www.splendidezine.com/ North Sea Story / Working for Wellness / North Sea Story's music is nice, blustery, melodic punk rock. If I wanted to, I could probably get away with applying a certain three-letter description that begins with "e" and ends with "o"...but I won't. The crashing guitars and indie rock furor you'll find here is rather unlikely to surprise you, though elements of post-rock progression in tunes like "80 Through Ohio" and "The Last Wound-UP" keep the proceedings from going too far up Boring Cookie-Cutter Rock Music Street. In addition to sounding great, this apparently self-released CD is beautifully packaged in a lovingly designed yet affordably minimal cardboard slipcase -- the sort that makes you super-eager to open it and get at the indie-rock treasure inside. Fans of Paul Newman (the band) will love it. gz North Sea Story - Working For Wellness Being an old fart, I've become accustomed to looking for influences when listening to newer bands. You may be asking yourself what that character flaw of mine has to do with anything - well, let me finish. North Sea Story may or may not have ever even heard some of my favorite bands from the late 80's, but that doesn't mean they don't fit nicely in between my Frontier and Twin/Tone albums. North Sea Story play songs with a cheerful sort of aggression. There's nary an ounce of anger on this disc, but a lot of sugar sweetness masquerading itself as post-punk, emo, or whatever else you want to tag it. I'm finding it hard to decide whether or not what they're doing is a decade out of style or if it's the very beginning of a renaissance I wasn't even expecting. "High Water Mark", with it's dual guitar interplay, pounding beat, and fist-pumping chorus, is a perfect example of what this album's all about. More or less, Working For Wellness is a soaring anthem from beginning to end. Let's hope they'restarting something rather than finishing it. Roy Acorn NORTH SEA STORY "Working For Wellness" CD (self release) I'm taking it that the North-East is going through this pop thing now a days, but it's sort of folk R.E.M/ LIVE sounding. Anyway, you've got this band...They're straight up pop, the style reminds me of what people used to consider indie-pop in the early 90's. When R.E.M. were reaching their top time and Super Chunk were getting noticed. This is not so much punk but with definite distorted guitars and rocking parts. It's a little too "MTV" sounding at times if you know what I mean but it's something i could see rub off on me if i listened to it enough. I really like a song on here entitled "Bicentennial Quarters". On this song they added violins and such which i think is good for them. You get 10 spanking songs and this is not so bad, so go check it out.(JK) NORTH SEA STORY - Working For Wellness, Self Released, CD (1999) WHEN PORTLAND OREGON'S Dharma Bums broke up in 1992 I was bummed for a year (maybe more). Listening to Brooklyn NY's NORTH SEA STORY makes up for my loss every time I spin Working For Wellness. They're not a BUMS clone. Its the uncanny similarity by both singers (Chris Standish and David Brown) to that of Jeremy Wilson--and that for me is a good thing to listen to. Even better, is that they do in fact have their own style. Dynamically the songs are set in a particular mood. One that arrives the listener at a beginning-middle-end. The drama that unfolds from rock tempo'd songs like "High Water Mark" and "Butterknife" are things of many happy returns. Same's true for the notesnatching crafty emittences of the locked down jug of "80 through Ohio." But I suppose what I like best about Working For Wellness is their ability to change moods without sacrificing taste. Delivering a spirited run of 11 tracks of guitar rock brushed slightly with an artful eye. Copyright © 2000 Green Mountain Music Review po box 391386, mountain view, ca., 940 Delusions of Adequacy First, let me say that this is one of the best produced and packaged self-released albums that I've seen and heard in quite some time. The packaging is very subtle yet attractive, and the sound quality is impeccable. North Sea Story, despite having a very emo name, aren't really emo. The band plays long rock songs with strong rhythm, dazzling guitars, and interesting vocals. Sometimes sounding country, sometimes southern, sometimes just passionate, the vocals here are mixed up front enough to shine. At times the southern feel distracts me from the music itself, but it's easy to overlook that after a few listens. "Pigeon Falls" sounds like a more rocking Jayhawks song. On this song most of all, the singer's voice sounds very southern or Americana rock. "80 Through Ohio" is quite a beautiful rock song, the guitar work just amazing here, flowing and riff-intensive, the vocals rising and falling quite impressively, building to a scream by the end of the song as the drums and bass build along. But the band proves they can play slower, prettier songs as well, such as the six-minute "Bicentennial Quarter," complete with soft and pretty guitars and strings just barely audible in the background. Similar loud rockers like "Just Like the Movies" contrast with the more restrained and quiet numbers, like "Longshoreman's Vote." Elements of popular artists like Counting Crows can be heard here, but I'm more thrilled by the feeling of bands like Sordid Humor and Engine 88. "Butterknife" is a good example of the band's style, rocking hard but slowing down at parts, the vocals strained almost to the point of a scream but restrained throughout, the guitars driving along throughout. "Open Invitation" is slow and moving, slowly speeding and intensifying, at times both pretty and intense. So, I don't really know anything about the band themselves, other than the fact that, despite the southern sounding vocals, the band is from Brooklyn, N.Y. Strings fill in the empty spaces, as does soft piano, but, primarily, NSS is a rock band. Falling somewhere between indie rock and emo rock with a harder rocking emphasis at times, North Sea Story could be a radio friendly band if they every played anyone quite this good. They would go a long way toward breaching the gap between some very different styles of rock as well. - Jeff North Sea Story Working For Wellness This is surely one of those discs that you love the second your ears here the melodic wonder. The mix of cello and repetitive guitar work reminds me of a slowed down Jimmy Eat World. Its emotionally driven heart filled music that's enough to leave you floating in space, forgetting all the pains of life. It was enough for me to forget about the surgery I had been through. The throbbing just seemed to fade, as if the music was some sort of God sent healing remedy. I might be getting a little carried away here, but I really like this music. I have only listened to the first song by this point. Its titled "Pigeon Falls" and it's certainly a masterpiece, enough to get this band popular (in what ever way moving, emotional music can be). Ooops… I put the cd player at random and I am now listening to track 10. Wow…still sounds pretty good. My guess right now is that it sounds pretty good the whole way through. Let me go ahead and change it back to track 2. Yep it sounds pretty good. The only flaw I can see is that the vocals seem sort of dull and you can't hear them very good. The instrumentation is what caught me here anyway. This stuff really doesn't need vocals, but I guess they just decided to add it in. The tone is just really nice sounding on the guitar and even though it is repetitive and some what simple (like most emo). It's addicting and very lovable. If I were to go comparing this to some other bands I would have to say it sounds most like, Pedro The Lion, Saint Sophia and slow Jimmy Eat World and Sunfactor. The strings in the music almost makes it sound like classical music only not. Actually these guys aren't just slow like I originally thought. I was just listening to the slow songs because I was still on random. They actually have a lot of diversity. See, they keep getting better and better. The vocals still aren't my favorite, but if you are more of a fan of the instrumental part of emo music, then I would bet you might want to go pick this one up. It comes in a cardboard cover, which I found to be pretty neat. I'm not sure that's the way it usually comes, but it could be. I'm also not sure who their record label is. I will have to figure it out. If you want this cd I would try emailing them or sending them snail mail. -John Best