HPBC Records and Tight Lines Present: Fergus Quill’s Noise Ensemble

A few moons ago now, an event came together that brought a lot of disparate musicians under one roof to form a single (strange) sound. The person at the helm was Fergus Quill, a man who many many have come to know for his ability to produce strange and interesting ideas.

Fergus Quill led an assembly of musicians from the very fine Leeds DIY jazz and indie music scene and features members of the following groups: Joshua Zero, Skwid Ink, Mamilah, Nice People, Sah, Tall Talker, Shaku and Spacey Basement Cult among others. Joining Fergus, was Hamish Dixon. Hamish has helped shape a bunch of Leeds’ best new records recently and spends lots of his time in the same house as Fergus, generally making sounds and experimenting with odd things. He’s rumoured to be the ringleader of a recent attempt to bring together the finest range of rocking horses in the north. He’s no stranger to strangeness. 

The product of that time was put out on a cassette, and put out by HPBC records, the label that has sprawled from Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds – the petrol station turned art space, gig venue and general Leeds artist & musician hangout. The label is home to Vipertime, and has put out a bunch of releases now, with Mansion of Snakes, Skwid Ink (a collab with Leeds independent record label Tight Lines) and To Be Here Now – a collection of new music from across the Leeds jazz scene.

Following the album’s release on cassette last year, it has now been made available for digital release, which is accessible via this link.  A virtual listening party took place on the 22nd June in support of the release, organised as a collaboration between Hyde Park Book Club & Tight Lines. 

The album was recorded in an overnight session at Eiger Studios. The ensemble used the facilities and the reverberate main space to capture the essence of the noise created.

Will Lakin is at the centre of much of what Tight Lines do. To capture a bit of an idea of what’s going with the release and generally across the scene, we organised a very lockdown friendly Zoom call between Jack, Will, Fergus & Hamish. You can watch that now, here:

“Everybody contributed compositionally and emotionally and it was a beautiful experience,” says Quill. “The album is the culmination of some half thought out compositions by myself alongside a selection of my friends foolish and brilliant enough to agree to stay up all night to make them happen.”

Will Lakin of Tight Lines added:

“The audible wonders of this bonkers record will be accompanied by a complete set of visual treats too. We’ve enlisted Leeds’ finest eye catchers and movers to make sure your optical nerves get nervous. Expect to see works from Mike Winnard (Snake Oil), Jamie House (Endless City), George Addy (Moholo), Ruby Portus, Noiak (Shaku) and the man himself, Fergus Quill.”