Taking Off: KNATS

Twenty-twenty-four was quite the year for self-described ‘Geordie Jazz’ evangelists KNATS, bursting out of the North East on a wave of word-of-mouth excitement about their tough, muscular mix of jazz and UK club beats. From getting a stage promotion at Love Supreme to touring with acts like Geordie Greep and Eddie Chacon, it’s been one leap forward after another, and you can feel the energy fizzing off the screen when I meet founder-members Stan Woodward (bass) and King David Ike Elechi (drums) with their trumpet maestro Ferg Kilsby via video-link from their Newcastle headquarters.

How’s 2025 shaping up?

“2025 has been class so far!” says Stan. “First two singles are out, there's a special edition vinyl for the record, a launch party at The Lubber Fiend in Newcastle on 28 February, then a headline tour to be announced. It seems like there’s a lot of excitement at the moment.”

So what is Geordie Jazz?

“It’s constantly evolving. I’m big into composition and a lot of the current music I hear lacks the kind of melody and strong movement I hear in late 19th century romantic music like Satie or Rachmaninoff. So that’s a big inspiration. Then there’s our love of jazz and the tradition of improvisation and excellence on your instrument. Then for the grooves – it’s all about British dance music! Roni Size, Photek, LTJ Bukem – my dad was a DJ – and Garage and House.”

Let’s talk about your bass playing, Stan. “When I write basslines I’d rather go for something simple and strong, and let King make it interesting” King interjects. “I’ll try and split what happens at the top end and the bottom end of the kit, get some variations and bounce off the basslines.”

Back to Stan: “But when it comes to blowing, that’s where the jazz comes in. Everybody in the band has to be able to kill it when they solo - we’re inspired by all those great jazz musicians we listen to. And that’s where the Americans sometimes have the edge: UK bands have great grooves, but often the Americans have the killer blowing. We want to bring both – like Weather Report and Yussef Dayes combined.”

What’s the back story?

“Me and Stan met in Year 7 Maths class!” says King “We joined a local rockschool and determined to start our own band – we tried everything, indie, reggae, metal, you name it. But jazz is what turned our heads. It was so hard to find like-minded people in our area to start a band with. We found Ferg via a YouTube video of a local youth big band and took months tracking him down!”.

“The West End area of Newcastle didn’t really have any live music going on,” says Stan “All our peers were just into Gabba. When we were kids it was just me and King that loved this music - we only really had each other. We’d meet up to listen and motivate each other to discover new music – Miles, Mingus, 1970s fusion.”

“It wasn’t cool to play an instrument, and there wasn’t any grassroots scene for black music,” says King. “I learnt a bit by watching the gospel band at church every Sunday, but we had to discover everything for ourselves. We went through a phase just making beats for rappers under the name King Knats.”

“I never really saw any live jazz until I went to London,” says Stan. “We learnt by ear, listening to records and watching YouTube, and then when Ferg joined he could help us get the ideas down. It was so exciting to finally meet someone who was into the same things.” Ferg adds, “My school had a great music programme thanks to my teacher Dave Hygnet, and my dad’s a big prog and jazz fan.”

“We were just so happy to have other people to play with!” laughs Stan. “We rented up a little studio for £50 a month and we’d just play all day every day.”

The new record features some new friends – Tom Ford, Anatole Muster, Parthenope and other connections they’ve made on the London scene: “We wanted to go all out - there’s strings and horns and everything we wanted”. But when playing live it’s the sheer energy of the quintet that dazzles.

“We supported Geordie Greep on his UK tour – it was amazing! Every date sold out, to a completely new audience - I’m a Black Midi fan and I just contacted him on Insta and he went for it” says King. “And it was great to work back-to-back with Eddie Chacon - he’s a legend. We were out for nearly a month with a gig every day!”

What's driving the live show?

Stan has the last word: “The live show is all about the energy and the passion – everyone on stage really digging it, pushing it with nothing to lose and not being afraid to properly go for it and show what you’re feeling. It’s like a punk energy – playing your heart out and letting everyone see it. There’s nothing shy about us!”