The Needles - Fire In The City The Needles

The Needles, active in the late 1990s, were a fistful of energetic and powerful punk rock. The band, dealing with the gruelling schedule of recording, touring and daily life, split, exiting the stage for the final time but leaving a legacy of great rock songs behind.

Recently there have been signs of a resurgent interest in the band, with the Newcastle band Bear Park covering Teenage Bomb. Dave Powell said of live performances, “Well if the records are well received we are hopeful of reuniting the band for a couple of gigs or so - I know Eric is really keen to get the band back on stage, would be fantastic wouldn't it?”

A major influence on the band was producer Mark Nicols. The production values Nicols brought to the band developed their sound from raw sugar cane, rough at the best of times, to a high-octane, take-no-prisoners rock 'n' roll.

The original band comprised Dave Dixon, Paul Curtiss, Richey Wolfe and Johnny Wolfe, united by a shared hatred of the same things as school friends. When self-confessed ‘loser’ Dave Dixon and ‘teacher’s pet’ Paul Curtiss decided to do something with their lives, they roped in the only other person they knew who was into the same music, Johnny Wolfe, laying the foundations for what would become The Needles.

The fiery three-piece played their first gig at an Internet café in April 1996. After several pub and club gigs in their hometown of Aberdeen, they coaxed another friend, Richey Wolfe, onto keyboards. With the line-up complete they were ready to take on the world. Richey made his debut with the band at Aberdeen’s Lemon Tree… with his leg in a plaster.

Long-time Needles supporters, the newly formed Lithium Records, headed by Mark Nicols, approached the band in April ’98 and asked them if they wanted to record a single. They did. The result was Teenage Bomb. Dave, on the band’s writing style, said, “When we started, so many popular bands were writing wanky, ironic songs that didn't mean anything. We just wanted to strip everyone down to their raw emotions and make them burst into tears and burn their record collections for being so futile and pointless.”

Teenage Bomb was a success, capturing the live spirit of the band. It was short, straight to the point, and pricked up the ears of music lovers and radio stations around the country and abroad, flying out of record stores far and wide.

“There is no perfection. We are artists, we strive on chaos.”

The band finally split in 2007 to pursue new projects. Dave, Paul and John went on to form The Hidden Masters with Nic Denholm (Owsley Sunshine) and former Bangtwister bassist Alpha Mitchell. The Hidden Masters went on to record the album Of This And Other Worlds for Rise Above/Metal Blade Records and perform backing vocals on Trembling Bells and Bonnie "Prince" Billy's 2012 album The Marble Downs.

Singer Dave Dixon later went on to front The Shiverin' Sheiks, who released the debut single Guided Missiles on BrewDog Records in 2013, while bassist Paul Curtiss (née Milne) formed London-based psychedelic pop band The Magnetic Mind, which released the 7" single Maybe the Stars, Maybe the Sun on Heavy Soul Records in 2012.