Brummie rockers The Good Water playing new live session release during headline gig

The Good Water are heading back to the latest venue music to open its doors in Digbeth, Dead Wax, for a headline show – with a twist.

The Birmingham rockers are following on from their successful gig at The Sunflower Lounge earlier this month, which formed part of Discover Birmingham 2020.

But during the Dead Wax show on February 15, lead singer and guitarist Rob Clements, from Redditch, drummer and backing singer, Tom Fisher, from Erdington, and keyboard player and backing singer Stuart Webb, from Great Barr, are set to take their fans, old and new, on a special journey.

"Basically, our next release will be a live session – it lasts about 20 minutes," said Clements.

"We've already released four singles, using the classic three-and-a-half minute format, but we wanted to do something a bit different for this one.

"It will all be available on Spotify from February 7. We're not pushing it with a big PR plug but just letting people know it'll be out there soon.

"We thought it would be worth putting on a live show too, to promote our new sound, so it's tied in together with the Dead Wax gig.

"We're not sure if we're going to do the 20 minutes with some of the hits, or maybe try and stretch the session over the whole 45-minute slot.

"But playing live is where we are at our best – it's where we come to life.

"We all feel most at home playing on a stage live."

Clements said that for a music fan who had not yet seen or heard The Good Water play live, the new 20-minute live session would be a good way of learning what the band sounded like on stage.

"Playing live gigs, you hope for a few hundred in some of the local venues, if you're lucky, so this is another way of getting our sound out to more people," he said.

"It's a chance for our live music to potentially be heard all around the world.

"We came up with the idea because we didn't want to release another normal single and we didn't just want to record a live set.

"We gave ourselves a 20-minute window to record the session and the finished piece is about 19 minutes and 53 seconds, so we did pretty well!

"The session includes a bit of singles Love, which will be our next proper release, as well as some of Breadcrumbs and Apples.

"So there are little bits of the songs some people may have heard before but it is mainly all improvised.

"There a few original ideas too and it is all stretched before being put together with a few solos.

"There are also plenty of key changes and different time signatures."

Clements said the best way to appreciate the live session would be for a fan to "take their headphones, sit on their bed and then just listen to the whole 20 minutes".

"That's how I see people getting the best of out it," he said.

"It was such a refreshing thing to work on because with other singles you're more conscious of the time and how every little bit of it sounds.

"For the live session we just set up about 16 or 18 microphones, which we left all over the place.

"We had an idea of what we wanted to play and then we jammed about three or four times.

"I think it was the third recording we settled on in the end.

"Each time we did things slightly differently, changing our improvisations.

"It was our manager, Carlo, who came up with the idea during a band meeting.

"We thought about what we wanted to do for the next couple of weeks and in between we were just happy making some noise.

"Then we worked out what sections worked well together – some time there were parts we really liked but then there would be a big gap in between, so we had to work out how to fill those spaces, bringing it all together."

The Good Water also enjoyed a lively night at The Sunflower Lounge, the second weekend of January, which marked their first gig of new decade.

"The Sunflower was a great night. Anybody from the local area who is trying to take themselves seriously as a band were there. The line-ups were brilliant," said Clements.

"It was a great way of shaking off the January blues and I think the crowds really appreciated putting something like that on.

"We were supporting Paper Buoys, who were really good – it was the first time we'd seen them play.

"Our set also went really well. It was one of those were the crowd was singing back to the choruses to us.

"Just a great night and we're already looking forward to the next one."

For further information about the band, go to facebook.com/thegoodwatermusic or @thegoodwater on Twitter.

Tickets for the Deadwax gig are availabel via https://bit.ly/2Tid8DR and thegoodwater.co.uk