Northampton's Alex Novak ready to take listeners on four decade journey with career retrospective

Mercurial 1978 – 2018 is released in May and will feature 20 tracks from The Venus Fly Trap, Isaws, Religious Overdose, The Tempest, Attrition, Nova State Conspiracy, The Den and Spore.

While many of Novak’s bands have released multiple albums and compilations over the years, this is the first time he has released a compilation bringing tracks together.

“It’s been quite a while. I don’t see any new Venus Fly Trap albums in the future, so it’s time to take stock and reflect,” he said.

“This is the first time I’ve done a complete career retrospective - this will be a sampler of material for people to delve further if they wish.

“I decided to start with The Venus Fly Trap as we are a functioning live band.

“Then we start chronologically with the Isaws, my first band, formed in 1977 while I was at Northampton art school studying graphic design with my brother John who was at Weston Favell Upper School.”

When Isaws disbanded in 1979, Novak joined up with Richard Formby in Religious Overdose.

“It was a departure from the punk / new wave of Isaws and into more post punk territory between The Fall and Cabaret Voltaire,” he explains.

“The original line up used a drum machine before we added Isaws drummer Pete Brownjohn.

“It imploded in 1982 as Richard ended up going back to his native Leeds where he set up a recording studio with another former art student, Alaric Neville.”

Novak’s next project was The Tempest with Mark Refoy, John Luccibello, Alan Emptage and Mick Packwood.

The band recorded a session for Kid Jensen on BBC Radio 1, received airplay on John Peel’s show, The Damned’s Steve Strange called them ‘the sound of 1984’ and they supported Bauhaus at Hammersmith Palais.

Following success with The Tempest, Novak – who runs the record shop Spiral Archive - returned to Northampton and formed The Venus Fly Trap with his brother and former art school student Tony Booker in 1986.

“Things moved quickly for The Venus Fly Trap, building on what I had learnt from previous projects,” he explains.

“We were on a label within six months and doing a lot of gigs in Paris and northern France.

“We played with a lot of different artists including Pastels, Mission, Christian Death, John Cooper Clarke and Chills.

“There were some interesting venues. Locomotive, next to Moulin Rouge, Gibus (also in Paris), Deptford Crypt which was under a church and Dave Vanian’s venue Alice In Wonderland.

“We did three albums Mars, Totem, Pandora’s Box, singles for Danceteria and a live album recorded in Prague.”

The Venus Fly Trap continued to play across Europe and record more albums for European labels.

“Over the years, the line-up has changed numerous times like a snake shedding its skin,” Novak explains.”

However, it has been consistent since the turn of the century and based around Novak and Andy Denton.

Explaining his inspiration, Novak says: “My main themes for songs have drawn on film and cinema, a soundtrack for your mind and especially sci-fi mythology and the human condition.”

Mercurial 1978 – 2018 is released on CD and download on May 8 via Glass Modern.

Novak will be playing launches at Duffy’s in Leicester on May 2, at The Black Prince in Northampton on May 8 and the Three Cocks in Kettering on May 16. More dates are due to be confirmed.

For more details, visit https://glassmodern.bandcamp.com