Norrish Reaction

Like sixties and seventies psych? Folk rock? Pop? Straight rock? You could throw in a few more genres, put it in a mixer and you might come close to Norrish Reaction, yet another of the Seattle entries into the album of the year pot. Unlike many bands attempting to lean on the past, this band digests the period rather than copies it, coming up with an incredibly fresh… not sound, but feel. I wish I could point to a few superstar bands of the past for comparison, but I can’t find a single one that will do the job.

Thank the gods! I am so tired of the rehashed look into the past with nothing to back it up that I could puke. This whole cover and tribute thing has got my goat. But everyone is doing it. It’s co-o-l, I suppose. To them. It’s not much more than buckets of vomit to me. Well, I shouldn’t put it that strongly. Let’s just say that fifteen musicians of stature playing Journey is not my idea of music, and it still isn’t when they play anyone else, Big Star included.

That’s one reason I love this album so much. Norrish Reaction is not playing someone else’s music nor are they paying tribute unless it is to the spark within them. The musical spark. The same musical spark that Zeppelin had when they started. And the Stones, even if the Stones did rely a lot on classic R&B tunes. Old bands are old bands for a reason and that reason is that they are old, people! Not the musicians but their music. I will take a Norrish Reaction to any one of your star-filled stages rehashing music which is not theirs, whether it influenced them or not.

These guys are original. These guys have the spark. And this album, as much as I have listened to it (and I have listened to it a lot), has not even begun to lose its edge. This is music. This is what you should be listening to.
- Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say

Norrish Reaction has been selected to join Supercuts’ “Rock The Cut” new Artist program. Supercuts has been brilliant in this creative business strategy by selecting 1,000 up-and-coming artists from around the world to be featured on their Rock the Cut music download site. The campaign’s purpose is to align artists’ passion for music with the artistry and level of attention that Supercuts offers. Supercuts will be promoting Norrish Reaction music to their consumer markets including airplay in their stores. - Supercuts Corp

I was immediately blown away by Winston's vocal and melodies, and he’s a great guitar player—he’s a shredder—he has lots of skills on the guitar. He and Bob had tons of ideas and it was a great collaboration getting Winston’s vision across. - Central Today

Having worked in some great rooms, like United Sound in Detroit, and some of the rooms in Atlanta where I recorded with jazz legend Earl Klugh, when I heard how epic the song Walked Away could be, I knew this project would benefit from having that level of quality, expertise, and technology available.
Lenny Price, World-class Saxophonist -
- Quote from CWU Publication

In organic chemistry, a Norrish reaction describes a particular photochemical reaction. It was named for British chemist Ronald George Wreyford Norrish. In rock 'n' roll, Norrish Reaction is a new, high-energy band that has just released its first CD. It’s named for CWU geology professor Winston Norrish.

“I’ve been playing music a lot longer than I’ve been in science,” Norrish said. “I started playing guitar when I was in elementary school. My parents saw that I had interest in it and they encouraged that.” - Rob Lowery, Central Washington University

There is more than meets the eye with Winston Norrish and Robert Lupton. - Hailey Nelsen, The Observer

There is more than meets the eye with Winston Norrish and Robert Lupton. - Hailey Nelsen, The Observer

It is a killer of an album if you like Pop/Psych or if you just like melody and harmony. And guitar (the guitar is amazing). And bass. And drums. And vocals. Turnidge did a hell of a job mastering. Geoff Ott did a topnotch job producing, too…Indeed, this album is going to make me cheat. While it is technically a 2012 release, I am going to slip it in with my picks for 2013. It's early in the year, but this has a good chance to end up my pick for Album of the Year. If I pick one. If I don't, it will be amongst my top picks. It's just that freakin' good. - Frank O. Gutch Jr., Rock and Reprise

Remember when I said 2012 was the best year ever in music? 2013 is even at this early date biting 2012 on the ass. Artists are lining up with what I am sure is going to be a run and a half of outstanding and, in some cases, mindblowing offerings. Rather than wait and write about them pretty much after the fact, let us dig in now in a sort of anticipatory way, shall we?

I clicked upon a bookmark titled “Norrish Reaction by Arsdivina”, arsdivina being the nom de plume (if that is even a word or phrase) of one Steve Turnidge, Seattle mastering engineer who has been the source of so many of my favorite music finds (Thomas Hunter and Sage Run being just two). Turns out Norrish Reaction is another listen-worthy artist/band under the mastering fingers of Mr. Turnidge. I’m on my first run-through of the album-long post and admit to being quite impressed, but how could I not be when the kickoff track dragged me back to the late sixties and early seventies in an AM radio/Pop way. Thousand Roads earned NR a complete listen and as I sit here, I am slowly realizing that this album warrants much more than that. If I was a music director or program director at a radio station, I would be adding Thousand Roads to the playlist with a recommendation for the jocks to listen to the complete album to find followups. Good, good stuff. - Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say

Remember when I said 2012 was the best year ever in music? 2013 is even at this early date biting 2012 on the ass. Artists are lining up with what I am sure is going to be a run and a half of outstanding and, in some cases, mindblowing offerings. Rather than wait and write about them pretty much after the fact, let us dig in now in a sort of anticipatory way, shall we?

I clicked upon a bookmark titled “Norrish Reaction by Arsdivina”, arsdivina being the nom de plume (if that is even a word or phrase) of one Steve Turnidge, Seattle mastering engineer who has been the source of so many of my favorite music finds (Thomas Hunter and Sage Run being just two). Turns out Norrish Reaction is another listen-worthy artist/band under the mastering fingers of Mr. Turnidge. I’m on my first run-through of the album-long post and admit to being quite impressed, but how could I not be when the kickoff track dragged me back to the late sixties and early seventies in an AM radio/Pop way. Thousand Roads earned NR a complete listen and as I sit here, I am slowly realizing that this album warrants much more than that. If I was a music director or program director at a radio station, I would be adding Thousand Roads to the playlist with a recommendation for the jocks to listen to the complete album to find followups. Good, good stuff. - Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say