Music > Interviews

ReWork: Revealed

07/03/24

Bowie: a musical icon whose innovation, fashion and personas completely altered the history of music as we know it.  

Whether we’ve been feeling ‘Under Pressure’ recently, or questioning if there really is ‘Life on Mars?’, there truly is a track for everyone from Ziggy Stardust himself! 

On the 15th March, ‘ReWork’ will return to the Puppet Theatre, allowing us to experience the music of The Thin White Duke as we’ve never heard it before! 

The night will see the best local artists put their own spin and ‘ReWork’ hits from the renowned career of Bowie, with Alexander Carson, Billy Lubach, Odd Creatures and W3ST taking to the stage.  

Over the past few weeks, I have been catching up with the amazing lineup, as they prepare to showcase their incredible talent and rework the vast career of Bowie. 

Billy Lubach 

One of my favourite things about our fine city is the incredible abundance of musical talent that exists- it is something that deserves to be celebrated every day! So, how did the ReWork team manage to pick just four amazing acts from our vibrant local music scene for this event (I certainly wouldn’t be able to!)? For Organiser, Kitty Perrin, it is about finding ‘four bands that are completely different styles and genres, and as unlike the artist they’re reworking as possible. This is because we want to give the audience a totally unique interpretation of the artists they know and love. We also try to book local artists that don’t get the opportunities to perform as much as they should! I feel it’s really important to do this because at these shows the pressure to bring an audience isn’t really on the artists performing. People might come to see Bowie songs, and they get incredible local artists as a bonus!’ 

The impact Bowie has had on the history of music is unmatched, influencing musicians of all ages. For Alexander, they ‘could probably write a book on this! He's been a musical zeigeist in every decade since the late 60's and I believe a great deal of that comes from his ability to draw in other, equally brilliant creatives. Like his work with Niles Rodgers, or Rick Wakeman, or Tony Visconti etc... He never rested on his laurels, perpetually looking to innovate and develop. There's an interview with Bowie where he says "Never play to the gallery" and I've always held that quote very dear to me.’ 

ReWork allows local artists to tear up the rulebook and let their creativity run wild and for Alexander, this means ‘trying to think as outside the box as possible with the direction for these ReWorks!’. 

Odd Creatures

For Odd Creatures (who compared themselves to ‘something like a ferret, stoat or weasel. Something full of anxious energy, curious, likes to play and smart’!), they have been drawing inspiration from Bowie himself, as he  ‘himself said that an artist should never play it safe and always take risks. Swim out to where your feet cant quite touch the bottom and you’ll know you’re in the right place. So applying this to our covers, we’ll be creatively bold with them and try and capture the essence of the songs in our own way.’  

ReWork provides a platform for the incredible acts from our local music scene to take to the stage (perhaps for the first time!) and showcase their creative process and talent. Too often, we fear making mistakes, and fail to see the creative potential experimentation truly holds. Yet, for maximalist folk artist Billy, his creative process and ‘philosophy of my music is to include every idea. I try to write each song as many different ways as I can, writing it separately on the piano and the guitar, and in different keys. I’m also really keen to include any mistakes because I think they make a song feel more alive, and sometimes the mistake is a more musically interesting idea than my own. My songs do usually start out as something improvised on the piano, and then I’ll record it and start layering and filling the dining room with instruments as I get excited about each contribution.’ 

However, it looks as if ReWork is only the beginning of an exciting (but varied!) year for this incredible lineup of local artists! Expect the unexpected (truly living up to their name!) from Odd Creatures, as they plan to record their ‘first EP. Play some festivals. Update our wardrobe- Nathan’s going to buy some red flares. Learn to juggle. A magician themed photoshoot. Build a cardboard city!’  

Alexander Carson 

For Alexander, the world is their oyster, as they are ‘currently working on my follow up album to "The Idiot." In fact I'll be playing a few songs from that new body of work at ReWork on the 15th of March. I'm hoping to start releasing that music publicly soon, but I'm allowing myself quite elastic time frames. I'll be popping up in Norwich and London over the coming months work-shopping this new material so there will be plenty of opportunities to see me perform these works whilst the clay is still wet so to speak. I work with a number of different artists and venues so I'll be travelling around Australia and the US with them later in the year (another reason for my elastic time frames!) And I was lucky enough to be asked back by BB6 Music to produce some more shows later this year following on from my "Gloomcore" show last year!’ 

So, ‘Let’s Dance’ together next Friday at the Norwich Puppet Theatre and continue to celebrate the incredible talent from our local music scene! 
If you want to keep up to date with the work (and amazing music!) of ‘ReWork’, then you can head to their Instagram (@reworknorwich).