WATCH: Knats’ Stan Woodward Goes Off With Wild Bass Playing and Bizarre Effects

This is my first experience with Knats and I am completely blown away.

The band recently shared this session from Green Man Festival 2026, performing “Wor Jackie,” “G.O.D.” and “Bowling Ball.” I am not entirely sure how to describe what happening. It is jazz. It is fusion. It is weird. It is heavy. And the bass comes at you like a train wreck.

At the center of it all is bassist Stan Woodward, playing a vintage Gibson EB 3 and he is absolutely abusing it. His tone goes from huge and dirty to completely unhinged as he piles on effects and tears into the instrument (solos included). Woodward has said his main vintage Gibson is a 1968 model he found on eBay. The neck has broken three times on tour but he still calls it the best bass he has ever played.

That heaviness is a big part of Knats. Woodward and drummer King David Ike Elechi lead the Newcastle group, whose self described “Geordie Jazz” mixes jazz fusion with drum and bass, punk, electronic music and rock. Their second album, A Great Day In Newcastle, arrived in May and leans into that intensity.

I went into this knowing nothing about Knats. I came out wondering what just slapped me in the face.

This is wild.