Detective Instinct

Middlesbrough bands aren't bad. They just don't want to be famous. Underneath the smog near the east coast there's a thriving music scene, chatting on forums like Haxed [yes, they are still using forums] and getting drunk at The Empire on the weekend.

Oli Heffernan has played in a fair few of these bands, supporting The Fall [that's where the project gets its name], John Cooper Clarke and Future of The Left in the process. He's now making bedroom loops and - like his town's distinctive feel - sounds like none of these U.S blog artists currently twiddling solo.

Detective, Instinct uses old tapes and new friends. "I began by going through old stuff and realised a lot of it was good. I needed to do something worthwhile with it so I wrote to a few friends from bands and we began a type of online exchange" he says. Recently Oli has worked with Chemikal Underground's Radar Brothers, Jackie McKewoen of the Yummy Fur and Thurston Moore collaborators Truman's Water. The e-friendships have paid off. Ex- Minutemen/Stooges and L.A DJ Mike Watt heard the recordings and played them on the show, giving him confidence to ask some of his idols to get involved and send him their voices.

The resulting tracks are as different from each other as they are from anything else, mixed with field recordings of haunted buildings, lads on tour, and the day to day. They can be anything from Highland [Malcomn Pryce namechecking] Nursery Rhyme, 'Last Tango in Aberystwyth' to the too-smooth-for-school jazz-type jam 'Healthy Eyes'.

Now Sick Room Records are releasing the first four collaborations as a series of limited edition 7-inch EPs. Collectively titled 'Detective Instinct Presents', they are in collaboration with The Champagne (Country Teasers/Gag) Mike Watt (Minutemen/Firehose/Sonic Youth/Stooges G.W. Sok (The Ex/In The Fishtank) and
Jimmy McGee (Bobby McGees).

Buy direct from Sick Room Records

Photography by Nicky Peacock