Haven’s debut album ‘Between The Senses’ stakes odds in their favour as the year’s tip for success

To predict who’s gonna make it is like playing lottery, well – with better odds. So, we put a ‘twenner’ on Haven, a Cornwall-originating band but residents of Manchester for a couple of years. After few well received releases – EP ‘’Til The End’ (which sold out in its first week of release), singles ‘Beautiful Thing’ and ‘Let It Live‘ (Top 75) – have got their debut album ready and, having lived with it since the end of October, we can tell you ‘Between The Senses’ plays like a personal album but its subjects are globally intimate. (Album review nearer the release date.)

All members of Haven are present in a small, attic room at Virgin’s London HQ that is said to be haunted; we ask singer Gary Briggs, who holds the court of verbosity, whether he’s ever had an apparition for inspiration?

“No, not really but I don’t discount their existence,” Briggs opens his can of opinions. “The main influences are many and varied but, the main point is that I spend a lot of time travelling around and attended 10 schools when I was young. My parents divorced and I had to move about which has given me a lot of material to write songs about, to understand it all and myself. Songwriting is a great vent for your frustrations, it’s the best shrink-couch in the world!”

“The only time I ever felt that,” Briggs continues without a pause, “as a listener, was with Nirvana. I used to love the anger in their lyrics and music. When we all met up it was the defining moment, we all felt the same way, it was the band that truly belonged to us, to our generation. It wasn’t an album that was passed on by our parents, family, but something grown in our own time.”

Platter of plenty

The two main components of the band met in a Penzance record shop both eyeing the only copy of Quicksilver Messenger Service’s album ‘Happy Trails’ (original pressing) but neither had enough money to purchase it. They joined their quids and got the disc before Briggs discovered that this Nat Wason was the guitar player everyone was telling him to get in touch with.

“True story about how fate plays a part,” Briggs says wryly, “and whatever you are dreaming about can become reality. Nat was a part I needed to complete the picture… I was the one who never conformed, an oddity in every group; the name of the band comes from that feeling, of four of us getting in a room and being as strong as anyone. When we play together we have a refuge from all the crap. We are lucky that we have a manager who is our friend and shields us from a lot of bulls**t. We all are open with each other and brutally critical which makes us self-sufficient.”

“The title of the album is inspired by Marquis de Sade’s writings,” Briggs suddenly states, “who said that happiness lies between the senses. I think it describes the music on the album perfectly, as well. It spreads from very melodic songs to rockers. The great thing is that it sounds like us and doesn’t have the producer’s stamp all over it.”

Shiraz of tunes

The band moved from the beautiful Cornish seaside to the industrial wreckage that is Manchester, a couple of years ago. The debut album ‘Between The Senses’ is produced by one of the city’s proudest sons – no, not Ian Brown, neither Shaun Ryder – Johnny Marr of The Smiths: For the records, Haven members didn’t move there to hook up with the guitar maestro who is really not a producer.

“There is a bar in Manchester where a lot of musicians hang out,” Briggs explains, “and we are regulars. He came in one day and our manager introduced us. We got on really well and one day we got a call from him saying he’d like to work with our band. He had been to few of our gigs and probably liked the energy that he saw, it could have been new to him… And, you know, being a musician himself it was easy to work with him. In hindsight, I think he is the only guy who could make this record sound like we wanted to.”

“It is now down to promoting and touring,” Briggs brings conversation to the end, “and learning how to do it… I wouldn’t call myself a performer, not yet at any rate, I’m first and foremost a songwriter who writes songs to sing with this band. Stagecraft is something we have to develop, naturally, and it has to be as strong as our friendships… It is the foundation of everything and without it, there is nothing. It is the ethic of the band…”

Ethics and Rock’n’Roll don’t usually go together but hey – it’s the New Year, new beginning, next musical chapter.

Tour dates:

02 February – Night And Day, Manchester
04 February – Arts Centre, Norwich
05 February – Boatrace, Cambridge
06 February – Chinnerys, Southend
07 February – Army & Navy, Chelmsford
09 February – Arts Centre, Colchester
10 February – Metropolis Lounge, Peterborough
11 February – Soundhaus, Northampton
12 February – Adelphi, Hull
13 February – King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow
15 February – Lava Lounge, Aberdeen
16 February – On Air East, Dundee
18 February – Cockpit, Leeds
19 February – Sugamill, Stoke
20 February – Little Civic, Wolverhampton
21 February – Fleece, Bristol
23 February – Barfly, Cardiff
24 February – Joiners, Southampton
25 February – Concorde II, Brighton
27 February – Victoria Inn, Derby
28 February – Rock City, Nottingham
01 March – Princess Charlotte, Leicester
02 March – Lomax, Liverpool
06 March – Dingwalls, London
08 March – University, Manchester