North. Newcastle and then beyond... the train line hugs the open coastline like a limpet. Vast expanses of sand and wide open skies roll out to a cold North Sea. And then just short of the Scottish border is the fortress town of Berwick-Upon-Tweed. Isolated? Yes.

Eastern Lane are born of Berwick. Rehearsals are had in a converted farm shed out in the wilds. Even on a warm day it's freezing - on one side for a wall, there is a polythene sheet. There, Andrew, Danny, Derek and Stuart knock out their set midst an array of gas fires, oil heaters, infra-red heat lamp and a collection of borrowed road signs. A great place to pracice. No interruptions, no distractions, just an opportunity to work on songs. And what songs they are.

Midst this isolation, Eastern Lane recorded a five song demo with little expectation. They copied addresses from their favourite records. No manager and no knowledge. But one could say they got lucky. Rough Trade received the CD unsolicited. Duly intrigued, they went to Berwick and to Barrels. Come October 2001 Eastern Lane found themselves with a deal.

Late in the winter of 2002, Eastern Lane retired to the Old Station House in Akeld to record their debut LP "Shades Of Black".Derek continues, "It was kind of weird setting up in what was essentially the waiting room and knocking out the tunes whilst Iain [Harvie] got it down on tape. We spent five weeks living there. It all got a bit Lord of the flies towards the end "

"Shades of Black" is an accomplished debut Lyrically, one could look to such greats as Mo rrissey or Frame. Musically, they cover all bases: punk rock through to the twisted Appalachian country of Oldham and Pajo et al. This is music created in total seclusion; there is no scene; no infrastructure; just them and the rest of the world.

"I guess we are in to a lot of shit. Danny, Andrew and Stuart are in to the likes of Love, the Stooges, the Pixies, the Velvets and Joy Division. Me? I get most things. Take a song like "Portrait of Tuesday", for me, it's my own little tribute to the Carter Family and "Folsom Prison"-era Johnny Cash."

Love and loneliness are recurrent themes throughout the LP but all is not 'black''. "We do do happy but not in an obvious way" concludes Derek, laughing. "And we did have a laugh making this record. The album's closer "Hear the Dark" just needed a bit more black...so we set up a mic in the middle of the disused railway track and waited until two in the morning. Perfect. Pitch black. That's when we recorded it."

To date, Eastern Lane have played no more than a handful of gigs. Of those, all save for one has been in Berwick. The last was opening for the Libertines at Glasgow's King Tuts - a sunday evening; early doors; a partisan mob baying for blood - hardly makes for the most auspicious of occassions to put on one's rock n roll finery.

The songs unwind, contort and fill King Tuts. Derek, a big guy with a big heart on his sleeve, cuts loose with the guitar. His air and demeanour are life-threatening. He carries the music forward like Van the Man's younger brother. Ten songs and it's all over. The battle has been won.

 

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