I’m dreaming, I feel like screaming/I won my woman just before she died

Saturday 26 January – Australia Day, and the sun set in a blaze of colours like wild Alaskan salmon steaks tumbling through red-hot embers, slowly to be replaced by an unseasonably mild gloom as the shoppers deserted the streets of York and the Night-people started to emerge. Narrowly avoiding a bunch of yahoos pouring out of the Mana Restaurant, I plunged through the doorway of the Roman Bath and into a solid mass of bodies. It was very crowded, probably all here for same reason as me, to see one of my favourite York bands, Freeway.

Two lead guitars, a bass, a singer, and Howard the Drummer. They played an awesome set of classic rock covers, kicking off with Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak. In a gig of two halves we were treated to the likes of; Whitesnake (Slide It In, Crying In The Rain), Black Sabbath (Paranoid), Judas Priest (Breaking The Law), Queen (Tie Your Mother Down), Cream (Crossroads), Free (Wishing Well), Bad Co. (Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love), a medley of Deep Purple (Hush, Strange Kind Of Woman, Black Night, Woman From Tokyo), more Lizzy (The Boys Are Back In Town, Rosalie). For Led Zep’s Rock ‘n’ Roll we were treated to the vocal charms of Livvy, daughter of Howard, on vocals and wearing a leather mini-skirt and thigh-high boots. That went down a treat! Tantalizing glimpse obscured by a guitar. Oh, and a drum solo from Howard. And for the finale we had a brilliant version of Guns ‘n’ Roses’ Sweet Child Of Mine, with Livvy sharing the vocals.

Oh, Mostly Brian was Hardly there.

Soapbox - Residents 1st Weekend in York, so what’s that about then? Well, as a York resident I remember previous years when the council threw open the doors of many of the tourist attractions in York so that it’s own residents could appreciate, for free, what makes our city such a magnet for visitors, and to raise awareness of our historical heritage. I was looking after my 5 year-old grandson over the weekend and was looking forward to showing him Clifford’s Tower. Except, it wasn’t free. Even with a York Card, as a resident I still had to cough up £1. And because my grandson was five, and had no York Card, I had to pay £1.50 for him. I was spitting feathers! Now I’m not complaining about the cost per se, it’s just that I was under the impression that these attractions were supposed to be free. How wrong I was. Looking over the promotion material for this year I can now see that a good many of the attractions were charging. Mind you, I guess they have to charge as much as they can at Clifford’s Tower as they have to pay the salaries of two people to man the entrance booth which is clearly only big enough for one. Hey, here’s a thought, sack one of the miserable toads and you could save enough to allow the residents in free for one weekend a year.

Cos since I've come on home, Well my body's been a mess/And I've missed your ginger hair, and the way you like to dress

Friday 18 January – and down at The Roman Bath, the band de jour is Generator, a five piece with lead guitar, drums, keyboard, bass, and a girl singer. The keyboard player also played bass and the bass player also played rhythm guitar. Now I’m not sure of their names or where they came from, but I’m sure I overheard someone saying that this was their first gig. They played in a professional manner. The vocals were a bit strained but she did make a better job of doing the male vocals then female ones. Their choice of covers was, to say the least, eclectic. Among the tunes I recognised were: Reef (Place your hands), Who (Who are you?), New Radicals (You Get What You Give), something by the Foo Fighters (I should have recognised that!), Madonna (Ray of Light), Red Hot Chili Peppers (Dani California), Talk Talk (It’s your life), U2 (Vertigo), and Muse (Supermassive Black Hole). My advice (for what it’s worth), unbutton your cardigan if you’re doing lead vocals. Overall, quite enjoyable. I’d particularly thank ‘Cinderella’ for giving me a squeeze and making the other guys jealous. Actually, she looked like Kylie so I don’t know why we called her Cinderella!

Saturday 19 January – a rare second nighter, and we were in Fibbers where FK Music Management were hosting an event to support the NET Patient Foundation, a cancer charity championed by Paul Hunter who died in October 2006. So, first band up were the, somewhat awesomely named, Megawatt Winger Avenger. I liked the band, a lot. They were heavy, but in a melodic way. They did ballads (sort of), in a heavy way. MWA are a York band formed from the remnants of Knee Deep and Forty7three, they fit the long-hair-to-head-bang-with or bald-guy-with-goatee-to-intimidate-you stylee of heavy rock. The band consist of: Tupps (Tupplington) on vocals, Rosco on guitar and backing vocals, Pedro on Drums, Elliot on bass, and Ash (Ashley) on Guitar. Stand out tracks were: Want It For Myself, Found the Trigger, B I N, and Dioschorus.

Well, that got the evening off to a great start, but I sometimes get a horrible feeling when the first band is that good, maybe it’s downhill from here on in. Certainly, discovering that bottles of Newcastle Brown were retailing at £4 a pop, spirits were sinking fast. Next up were Sidewinder a 4-piece from Leeds. Brothers Nick and Chris formed Sidewinder back in 2004 as a rock cover band under the name Make Like Audio. The current lineup is: Nick Robinson on lead vocals and lead/rhythm guitar, Lee Kitson on lead/rhythm guitar, Chris Robinson on drums, and Paul (Dirty Burty) Burton on bass guitar and backing vocals. OK, there were superb widdly guitar solos, but the vocals were very muddy. Some of the song didn’t actually end, they just merged into the next one. A cross between Guns ‘n’ Roses and Motley Cru. It was a bit confusing and chaotic. I won’t be rushing out to see these guys again soon.

Finally, the headliners were Tidal Fury, a York band consisting of Graham on guitars and backing vocals, Mickoss on guitars and backing vocals, Fin on bass, and Ste on drums. I enjoyed Lay Down And Take It, Tidal Fury, and Dance Like You Mean It. They also covered AC/DCs Whole Lotta Rosie, but overall I liked the first band best.

Undeterred, we sped across the cobbled streets to The Roman Bath where The Fog (not to be mist) were playing. We only caught the last three-quarters of an hour of their set, but they did a range of covers that they played really well: Who (Substitute), Stealers Wheel (Stuck In The Middle With You), The Zutons (Valerie), Scissor Sisters (Take Your Mama Out), T.Rex (I Love to Boogie), U2 (With or Without You), Bryan Adams (Summer of ’69), Beatles (I saw her standing there), Kaiser Chiefs (I Predict a Riot), Proclaimers (500 Miles). You get the idea.

Gypsy woman told my momma, before I was born/You got a boy-child comin', gonna be a son-of-a-gun

Friday 11 January – following a feverish exchange of some, frankly, psychedelic messages, we finally plumped for a visit to the Roman Bath, without knowing who would be playing. Talk about pot luck! It turned out to be the Pete Gilgan Band, a five piece Rock/Blues and R&B (from the '50s and '06s, not the modern rubbish) outfit with a keyboard player that sounded like Jon Lord himself. I don’t have much information about the band except they come from the Whitby/Teeside area and have played the Darlington R&B Festival, Whitby Music Port Fringe Festival, and the Guisborough R&B festival.

Back to the music and I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t recognise most of it although they did songs by; Peter Green, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Muddy Waters’ Hoochie Coochie Man, and Nina Simone’s Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood (made popular by The Animals in 1965.) It was excellent stuff and I thoroughly recommend everyone to see this band. In case ‘Cool Cat’ Ian is reading this, we were blessed with the presence of the Family Sparnenn, and you missed Livvy in her thigh-high boots.

As my usual source of Roman Bath gigs appears to have dried up, I took along some post-its and a pencil and scribbled down some forthcoming dates for your diaries:

• Friday 18 January – Generator (a band from Sheffield)
• Friday 25 January – Cop Out (recommended by a lady before her husband dragged her away)
• Saturday 26 January – Freeway (don’t miss these guys, especially you ‘Cool Cat’)

New Boots and Panties – well, the first of my 2008 purchases actually. They were 2 for £10 in HMV so I couldn’t really go wrong, one was an album I’d been meaning to buy anyway, and the other I had heard of and wanted to give them a try.

First up was Massive Attack’s 2006 singles collection, Collected. Yes, I know it’s trip-hop, but even I have heard and liked half of these tracks. Good Buy.

• Safe from Harm (featuring Shara Nelson)
• Karmacoma (featuring Tricky)
• Angel (featuring Horace Andy)
• Teardrop (featuring Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins)
• Inertia Creeps
• Protection (featuring Tracey Thorn of Everything But The Girl)
• Butterfly Caught
• Unfinished Sympathy (featuring Shara Nelson)
• Risingson (Containing excerpts from The Velvet Underground song I Found a Reason)
• What Your Soul Sings (featuring Sinéad O'Connor)
• Five Man Army (featuring Horace Andy)
• Sly (featuring Nicolette)
• Live With Me (featuring Terry Callier)

My second purchase was A Beautiful Lie the second studio album from Thirty Seconds to Mars. TStM are an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California, featuring actor Jared Leto as the lead vocalist and playing rhythm guitar, his brother Shannon Leto on Drums, and Tomo Miličević on lead guitar. What an excellent album, highly recommended to those of an alt/indie/grunge persuasion.

So though I'm a working man/I can ruin the government's plan

A Happy New Year to all my readers and here is a round up of my weekend and some tidbits from the rumour mill for you.

Friday 4 January – and I was a bit dismayed that I was unable to locate listings for gigs at the Roman Bath from my usual sources for this month. Not to worry because on Friday we were off to Fibbers to watch Sneakypeeks, the band formerly known as Cohesion.

First act on were Girls Can’t Dance, a Leeds based band, four students brought together by their love for music and lack of funds (isn’t that all students?), blending gritty guitar, energetic drum and bass, and vocals that I couldn’t quite hear. They started as a five-piece called Bad White People in January 2007 building up a reputation by doing house parties in Leeds. In May 2007 they parted with one of the guitarists, Mike, and changed their name. The current line-up is: Kieran Kearns (Vocals), Paul Stevenson (Guitar), Olly Stork (Bass), and Joe Jones (Drums). To be honest, they were a bit too Strokes/Bloc Party for me, with lots of oo-oo-oo’s, ah-ah-ah’s, and do-do-do’s in the vocals.

Band number two on the hymn sheet were The Layfields, a York-based (they formed at York St John University) four piece indie band that have been together since March 2007. The band are: Oliver Grabowski (Guitar/Vocals), Toby Pottas (Guitar/Vocals), Jonny Wylie ( Bass Guitar), and Ian Hird (Drums). Like, GCD, The Layfields use the ‘Jam’ style of guitar playing so loved by the likes of The Libertines and the Arctic Monkeys. I’m sorry guys but it’s a bit samey sounding, you’re wearing your influences on your sleeves.

And finally, The Sneakypeeks who started life in late 2005 as a four-piece outfit under the name Cohesion. In September 2007 they decided to change their moniker after shedding one of their band mates. The current line-up is: Paul James (Vocals/Guitars/Keys), Matt Goodbody (Bass/Vocals), and Rich Clark (Drums/Vocals). Paul, a qualified primary teacher, is a classically trained musician who, in addition to guitar and keyboards, also plays violin, piano, saxophone and banjo. He’s also acquired some bagpipes, so watch out! Rich also plays violin and piano and is in his final year of a Sports degree. Matt is originally from Leeds and is also in his final year of a degree at Uni. Previous to joining Matt was the bass player with 'No Right Turn' a four piece punk rock band. The Sneaky’s are currently recording an album which is expected to be released in early 2008 on Yorkshire-based label Voltage Records. One song in and Paul had already bust two strings on his guitar, so while he fannied around re-stringing and tuning, Rich gave an impromptu drum solo. Nice one Rich! This was much more like it. Each tune was different, the vocals were much clearer and the whole effect was much more professional. Standout tracks were: Hard Working Girl, Damn Right, This Place, and In The City. What an excellent evening, but it wasn’t over yet! By this time I was feeling no pain having quaffed three nearly-pints of Black Sheep and acquired a purple glow-bracelet, so we strutted up into the centre of town and the Roman Bath....

Things were certainly lively in the Bath as punk covers band The Spunksters were in the final half hour of their set. The Spunksters were formed in 2005 by Mal and following a few regime changes, now consists of: Mal (Guitar), ‘Mad’ Andy Watson (Drummer), and ‘Jolly’ Jonny Fletch (Bass). They are a punk covers band and we managed to catch a rabble rousing selection such as; Sex Pistols (Bodies, God Save the Queen), Frank Sinatra/ Sid Vicious (My Way), Undertones (Teenager kicks), Clash (White Riot), Sham69 (If The Kids are United, Hersham Boys), Harry Lauder/Rolf Harris (Two Little Boys – written by Theodore Morse and Edward Madden), and Toy Dolls (Nellie the Elephant – written by Ralph Butler and Peter Hart). By the end of the set I was pogoing as if I was back in the ‘70s, great stuff. I also think I saw Andy (The Crow) Smith the bass man from Mostly Autumn lurking in the background, but I may have been mistaken/too drunk to see properly.

Oh, here’s another review of the same night

Saturday 5 January – now according to the gig list in the Roman Bath, The Summits were supposed to be playing today, but it appears that they were playing second fiddle at Fibbers, hmm, strange. Anyway, we now needed to try and find some music for a Saturday night. Nothing at The Stone Roses Bar, and the Old White Swan was deader then the Old White Dodo, but The Habit was displaying a steamy window so that was an encouraging sign. In fact it was the Two Bobs, named because, well, both their names are Bob. Bob One plays the acoustic guitar; Bob Two plays the violin/electric violin/bass. Their music? Well, Irish jigs and Scottish reels, songs like; The Wild Rover, Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower, The Strawbs’ Part of the Union, Irish Rover, Lindisfarne’s Meet Me on the Corner, you get the idea. It was brilliant, and a bit sweaty (it’s only a small venue), and there really wasn’t room for the Crazy Dancing Chick, but she danced anyway and narrowly avoided falling on her backside. I didn’t drink quite so much but it was 01:30 before I got home, dirty stop out!

Tidbits – the music scene in York took a knock on Sunday 6 January, when Certificate 18 closed its doors for the last time at 3pm. It’s the first local victim to fall foul of a national slump in small venue ticket sales. Whilst Indie bands can generally find outlets for their music, C18 was unique in York for providing a platform for Hard Rock, Goth, Heavy Metal, and New Wave Punk. The owners, Punch Taverns, are keen to find a landlord who can continue operating the venue for live music.

So, been to the Old White Dodo recently? Nor me, in fact the word on the hop-vine is that they had to close the sports bar due to a lack of people. Twits, they couldn’t just leave it alone could they?