The Band's Story
North of Elsewhere began with a fairly simple idea: write the sort of music we wanted to hear and see where it went.
The result is a British rock band with one foot in the real world and the other somewhere rather less clearly defined. The songs are written and shaped by Graham Barrett, then developed using a mixture of traditional music-making, recording, production and AI-assisted tools. The virtual members of North of Elsewhere give those songs a band, a voice and, increasingly, a world of their own.
Musically, North of Elsewhere wanders around the broad territory of melodic British rock and progressive pop, with occasional detours into pub rock, art rock and places where synthesizers, guitars and slightly questionable decisions are allowed to coexist. Influences stretch from Genesis and Pink Floyd through Elvis Costello, Marillion, Sparks, Steven Wilson and plenty of things that probably shouldn't fit together quite as comfortably as they do.
The band comprises Graham on bass and vocals, Gillian on vocals and keyboards, Steve on lead guitar, Harvey on rhythm guitar and Dave on drums. Some are more tangible than others.
The first collection of songs, Not Famous Yet, grew without much thought of where it might eventually lead. What started as writing for the pleasure of writing gradually became an album, a band identity, artwork, videos and now a steadily expanding North of Elsewhere universe.
The title probably tells you something about our expectations.
We're not famous yet.
We're quite enjoying ourselves anyway.
Meet North of Elsewhere:
Graham Barrett
Bass / Vocals / Songwriting / Production & Visuals
Graham writes the songs, plays bass and provides occasional vocals, opinions and unnecessary additional verses. Raised on British rock, progressive music and the firm belief that a song should actually go somewhere, he is the distinctly non-virtual part of North of Elsewhere. He also produces the music and increasingly develops the band’s videos and visual world, which conveniently leaves nobody else to blame when something goes wrong.
Gillian Barrett
Vocals / Keyboards / Tambourine
Gillian brings the voice, the atmosphere and, when required, the tambourine. Equally at home carrying a melody or sitting just behind it with keyboards and harmonies, she gives North of Elsewhere much of its softer edge and emotional colour. Calm, composed and generally more sensible than the rest of the band, she is therefore viewed with appropriate suspicion.
Steve
Lead Guitar / Backing Vocals
Steve handles the lead guitar work, adding the sharper edges, melodic lines and occasional bursts of entirely justified excess. He also possesses a considerably stronger voice than Graham, but firmly believes that singing merely gets in the way of the next blistering guitar solo. His role is to make things bigger, louder and more interesting, while maintaining the expression of a man who has just been told the solo needs shortening.
Harvey
Rhythm Guitar / Backing Vocals
Harvey provides rhythm guitar, backing vocals and a level of enthusiasm that occasionally outruns both timing and pitch. He has strong opinions on groove, stagecraft and, most importantly, which venues serve the better beer. Rarely the quietest member of North of Elsewhere, Harvey approaches every song as though it could be improved by playing it with a little more conviction and discussing it loudly afterwards.
Dave
Drums / Percussion
Dave was always destined to become either a rock god or an accountant. Rock divinity is taking longer than expected, so for now he keeps North of Elsewhere moving from behind the kit with patience, precision and the occasional thunderous reminder that drummers do, in fact, notice everything. He remains optimistic that immortality may yet arrive before the tax return.