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Gutsy, Chewy Modern Day Folk
Newton Faulkner: Gutsy, Chewy Modern Day Folk There are some singers that it’s worth persevering with. I have to confess that when I first heard Newton Faulkner I cast him aside as predictable and mainstream with the You Tube message boards full of debates about whether he’s good looking or not (never a good indicator of true talent). But how wrong I was! Each of his debut album’s (Hand Built by Robots) 17 songs grows on you at a subtle and strangely reassuring pace. The key turning point for me was his cover of Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’. There are some songs which are so anthemic as to be almost ‘uncoverable’. I had thought this was one of them until I heard Newton’s version which opened up a whole new viewpoint on the song. I’d even go so far as to put it in the same basket as Patti Smith’s banjo-infused cover of the Nirvana anthem “Smell’s Like Teen Spirit” which if you haven’t heard yet, should be on your very next music shopping list. He applies his own modern day folky approach (and I mean that in a nice way) to this mountainous song and creates a sweetness and integrity that works really, really well. A warning though, be prepared for the acid test effect; I got goose bumps while listening. Newton hails from the leafy suburbs of Surrey in the UK. There’s no apparent drama in his background. He got hold of his first guitar at the tender age of 13 and taught himself the basics in about a year. He enrolled in Guildford’s Academy Of Contemporary Music just a few years later, a sort of school of rock and roll and suddenly found himself in over his head as he explains to Marty Duda in a recent interview. “I went to an open day thing just to meet the guys who were going to be in my class and I met people who had been playing for ten years longer than me. I just freaked out. I didn’t want to go there and be one of the worst people so I really put some time in. I had my guitar on a stand next to my bed and I wore the same pair of shorts for six months and I played guitar relentlessly. I’d be making cups of tea with one hand and doing technical stuff with the other hand.” The more I see of Newton the more I realise that what we’re seeing is not just a raw talent but a committed musician with a very healthy dose of self-confidence. In addition to his considerable portfolio of his own songs, Newton has been known to tackle such tricky tracks as Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and the Ice Age soundtrack ‘Send me on my way’ live on stage. And with that confidence comes a sense of humour which he reveals in his performances chock full of genuine, witty anecdotes and lots of audience interaction including at one gig an impromptu rendition of ‘Spongebob Squarepants’ as an encore. His live act looks exciting, intimate, entertaining and most of all never boring. Hailing from the same genre as Donavon Frankenreiter his music is sweet-natured, versatile and focussed on damn good tunes. His guitar talent is extraordinary using it to strum, drum and tap his way through chewy blues riffs. His voice isn’t perfect but it shouldn’t be. He’s gutsy, versatile and moving, and that’s what counts. And it seems it’s not just me that’s been converted. The album spent its first six weeks inside the UK top five, including two weeks at Number One, before being declared Platinum. It also secured a very tidy six week residency at Number One on the iTunes chart. Newton is playing at Galatos, Auckland on the 12th September and I, for one, will be booking my ticket well in advance. I love a good live performance! 
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