You’re just a face in the crowd/A tiny hole in a cloud

Thursday 27 March – Wrong night, wrong place, but somehow it works out right. Thursday sees two of us at The Junction and I have to admit to being a Junction virgin, still the staff were very happy to direct me through the correct set of doors so that I could sample their musical offerings. Up until recently I had a fixed idea in my head that The Junction only entertained punk and hardcore bands, but I’m pleased to be proved wrong, as tonight’s show was about to prove.

I arrived at the tail-end of the first act, Hot Recruit, and was pleased to find one of my favourite beers, John Smiths, on tap. Luvvly Jubbly. Then I parked myself towards the rear of a rather spacious room to watch the band’s final two tracks. Hot Recruit are a four piece from Yorkshire that met at York College and jammed together in the village of Rufforth, just to the north of York. The band consist of: Luke Beddows (vocals), Alec Wright (bass), Dave Rax (drums), and Tom Warden (guitar). I recall one of the tracks as University Challenge, but to be honest, and only on the strength of those final two tracks, they had that generic Arctic Monkeys/Maximo Park style of frantic guitar sawing and scattergun lyrics.

The second of four bands billed to play tonight, were The Corrections, a London-based five piece that comprises: Joe Winter (vocals), Matt Winter (guitars, keyboards, brother of Joe), Guy Connelly (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Gavin Ellis (bass, vocals), and Matt Watson (drums). Now these were a completely different kettle of kittens and we were baffled as to the lukewarm reception the crowd gave them. Each song was different, multi-layered textures of guitar and keyboard work, contrasting vocal styles, clear vocals, and even some weird drawing of the infinity symbol on what seemed to be a blackboard at the rear of the set. White Dog was an indie-prog epic in the stylee of Radiohead. Apparently, Barcode will be the first single (due for release on 7 April 2008) to be taken from their forthcoming debut album Repeat After Me on EMI Records. With an infectious, staccato opening guitar hook, Barcode immediately draws you into the sound. Joe Winter’s soothing yet effortlessly powerful vocals, yearning even in their more urgent and energetic moments. This is a taut, energetic track, which in three minutes deceptively shifts from a slow-burning melancholy groove to a euphoric final call to arms. Another excellent track was Now we have gone. Think, Wire, Arcade Fire, but yet genuinely new-sounding songs that you can’t quite place in any category. Highly recommended and well worth the entrance fee on their own.

Sadly, I can’t say the same for the third band, Young Believers, a Folk/Beat/Rock ‘n’ Roll combo from York who are: William Sharpe (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar), Tom Reeve (vocals, acoustic guitar, bass), and Chrissy Hunter (drums). At times the vocals evoked a memory of Bob Dylan, but generally this was urban rhymes played by Chas and Dave in a folk style. Of the tracks I can recall were: Cross Examination, Wings of a Grasshopper, Waiting for the day, and Little Something.

Make Model - A bunch to watch out for

And finally, headliners Make Model, who are also available on MyFace. Hailing from Glasgow this outfit consists of: Ray "The Biz" Black (drums), James "JC" Cameron (bass), Gordon "RG" Skene (guitar, vocals), Lewis Gale (guitar, vocals), Ken (guitar), and Aimi Gold (vocals). Billed as Alt/New wave folk, they actually sound like a mad fusion of BiS, Altered Images and some gigantic prog-rock monster. One song, I think it was Czeck Neck, started with Aimi twiddling away on keyboards as the guitars cranked slowly into life. Gradually the song gathered momentum and Aimi and JC were singing, and then it suddenly veered off into King Crimson territory, before ending abruptly. Brilliant. They also played their debut single The LSB and, I think their new single, The Way, and I also recall Over and Out, and Saturday night Obsession. Totally brilliant and definitely worth paying money to see them again.

Friday 28 March – It’s my birthday on Monday, twenty-one again. Some of us were out for a meal (daughter going back to University on Saturday, hence the celebration on Friday) at the Bombay Spice in Goodramgate. I forget just how good the food is in there. I had a Chicken Puddina, fantastic flavours. Afterwards we trotted along to The Roman Bath, to meet up with the other guys and watch Mojo, a blues covers band. Right night, right place, wrong band. For some reason they had been switched, Prime Example were playing and Mojo had been moved to Saturday. Whilst I had no problem with the songs that Prime Example were covering, the use of keyboards to cover up for a lack of guitar soloing expertise just wasn’t doing for me. The final straw was the ruination of Whitesnake’s Fool for your loving. So taking our ears in both hands, we legged it to The Terrace where the crowd was very thin indeed, but the music was being provided by Marc Atkinson, an acoustic guitar and a stool. We’ve not seen Marc before although he is a regular face around York. He has a strong clear voice and plays an eclectic range of covers: Pink Floyd (Comfortably Numb, Wish you were here), U2 (The streets have no name, With or without you), Maroon5 (She will be loved), Semisonic (Secret smile), Snow Patrol (Chasing cars), Del Amitri (Nothing ever happens), Seal (Crazy), Beatles (Little help from my friends), Crowded House (Take the weather with you), Muse (Black Holes and Revelations), Nickleback (How you remind me), something by One Republic, just some of the covers we managed to remember. What a top night.

Why does it feel like night today?/Something in here’s not right today

Storm with someone's missus lending a hand on vocals

Friday 14 March – Here we are, stuck on the horns of a dilemma. Both the Bath and Terrace have covers bands playing, and the write up for both is good. We toss a coin. The Roman Bath it is, to see Storm. Sorry Fifty-50, catch you next time.

Storm are an 4-piece from Huddersfield. Ian plays keyboards (Korg N364) and took over fronting the band in 2001. Aden is the guitarist/secondary vocalist; he joined the band in 2003. Nelly joined recently and bangs the drums. Rick has played bass since 2007.

The boys played a great set including, but not only: AC/DC (Whole Lotta Rosie), Van Halen (Jump), The Jam (Town Called Malice), The Darkness (I believe in a thing called love), Prince (Purple Rain), The Who (Won’t Get Fooled Again), Bryan Adams (Summer of ’69), Thin Lizzy (The Boys Are Back In Town),The Undertones (Teenage Kicks), U2 (Where The Streets Have No Name), Wilson Pickett/The Commitments (Mustang Sally), Chuck Berry (Johnny B Goode), Bon Jovi (Bed of Roses) Buzzcocks (Ever Fallen in Love). Plus a whole host of other tunes done as medley’s.

Its easy to forget what a great night out can be had at the Bath: good music, efficient bar-staff, excellent beer, and no entrance charge.

Saturday 15 March – Do you like Johnny Cash? I think most people have heard at least a few of his songs, and I’m pretty sure that hardly anyone could object to a hour and a half listening to his music. Hence we end up in Fibbers to see Hull band Keep It Cash who delivered a brilliant collection of songs from the Man In Black: Jackson, Boy Named Sue, One Piece At A Time, Orange Blossom Special, San Quentin, I Walk The Line, Ring Of Fire, Folsom Prison Blues, This Thing Called Love, Never Picked Cotton, The Tennessee Mare and, of course, Man In Black. Well, that’s the ones I recognised/remembered. The band consist of Dave Burnham on vocals and rhythm guitar, Ted Kay on lead guitar, Andy who plays upright and electric bass, and Steve on drums.

Creeps in my head/Have all gone to bed

Wednesday 12 March – A mid-week excursion to Fibbers to watch one of my current favourite bands, The Mexicolas. But there are three support bands to wade through first....

I arrived a little way into the first band’s set and Cool Cat was already propping up the bar. Kid Gloves are a five-piece from York consisting of: Oliver Regan (lead vocals and tambourine), Rory Brown (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), Adam Skalski (bass guitar and backing vocals), Robin Moss (drums), and Dan Thompson (lead guitar). They have recently released an EP called Osbaldwick. The second song I heard was a non-too-shabby cover of the Kings of Leon’s On Call, but I’m afraid most of their material was a bit Indie-by-numbers; Revolution, Home. Their one good song was She Ain’t My Girl, which I believe is on the EP.

So, next up were Red Chevrons, another five-piece from York consisting of: Nick Stephenson (vocals, guitar), Rob Rhodes (guitar, backing vocals), Glen Pepper (guitar), Andy Wardell (drums), and Max d'Alquen (bass, cool surname). I’m sad to report that they didn’t seem to enjoy what they were doing, there was no conviction in the vocals, and the performance was very lacklustre. Songs included: Fall and Rise, Maybe Someday, Rock and Roll (which wasn’t at all), and something about “Never Forget My Name”. They sounded like a weedy cross between Oasis, Shed Seven and Snow Patrol. Come on lads, put some welly into it!

Fortunately it was a game of two halves and by my second pint of Landlord, and Cool Cat’s second hand-pulled Tetley’s, band number three were treading the sticky boards. A noisy group in front of us were progressively moving back towards us so, thinking laterally, we moved in front of them. They were last seen talking themselves backwards into the toilets! Manifesto are a four-piece from York consisting of: Adam Molzahn (vocals, percussion, mouthorgan), Ben Molzahn (guitar, vocals synchronised surnames), Will Cook (bass, vocals), Tom Cook (drums, synchronised surnames). Now these were much better. Adam sings in a style reminiscent of Robert Smith of The Cure, or Martin Rossiter of Gene (well, not quite, Rossiter does have one of the best voices on this planet, IMHO). I couldn’t make out what the songs were called, but some seemed to be something along the lines of Just not happening, and Let’s pretend/There’s something there. I’d like to hear this band again.

So to the main event, and the crowd at Fibs was a bit thin tonight, maybe because it was a Wednesday, maybe because The Mexicolas haven’t received the publicity they so richly deserve. Shame on you! Anyway, we shuffled down near the front for the maximum volume experience. The Mexicolas are a power trio from Birmingham, consisting of: Jamie Evans (vocals, guitars), Del Carter (bass, backing vocals), and Tim Trotter (drums, percussion, backing vocals). Jamie fronted several bands (Lukan and FIN) and started working with the likes of Nigel Kennedy, Ruby Turner and Brian May. He has toured and supported the likes of Alice Cooper, Def Leppard, Thunder, Rachel Stamp and Wheatus. Touring took its toll and Jamie returned to the UK and hooked up with TT, and a little later, Del. The band name comes from when Jamie was taking a flight in America and the inbound flight ticket read; Mexico-LA. The name stuck.

My high anticipation of this gig was not unfounded, and the band played practically every track from their beautifully crafted debut album X. The volume was LOUD, but they delivered clear (gruff) vocals and instrumental work that exceeded the high production values of the album. Absolutely first-class. Big In Japan with its early-Police stop-start dynamics. Easy Smile with its Byrds-like harmonies, which Jamie says “reveals to a few people from the past that all smiles were forced more often than not”, Spies “I’m trying to say how it feels to be in the same room as someone, but be somewhere else altogether in my head”, Belong – “finally accepting that something’s are better left alone, you can’t force happiness.” They didn’t bother leaving the stage for the encore, but just played on. The only disappointment was that they didn’t play the haunting Times Infinity, one of my favourite tracks off the album. Cool Cat was so impressed that he bought a copy as we made our way out. Best gig of ’08, so far.

The wise man reads both books and life itself

Tuesday 11 March – so what is it that makes us pick up a book from a shelf and decide that it would be a good read? I’ve no idea. I read the blurb for Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora, and thought “ah, yet another generic fantasy novel, how boring.” Book I of the Gentleman Bastard Sequence, I hate books in a series. I don’t like the idea of making an emotional connection to a set of characters just to line the author’s pockets with gold pieces. The cover looked interesting, very dark, gothic almost, complex, sort of like a twisted Venice.
Head: Shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.
Heart: Buy this book.
Heart won of course, and I’m so glad it did.

Set in the world of the shattered Therin Throne Empire and its descendant states, the tale follows the antics of young professional thief and con artist Locke Lamora and his comrades. It’s a gripping read with a wonderfully detailed world and characters. Lynch’s writing style is very easy on the eye but extremely immersive. The last time I felt so engaged with a world setting was China Miéville’s excellent Perdido Street Station. Each time I had to put the book down, it was a real effort to tear myself away. The complexity of the scams pulled by the Lamora and his gang keep you engrossed, and there is a perfect sense of comic timing. The language is a bit pithy, and there is a degree of violence and gore, but nothing gratuitous. I cannot recommend this book highly enough - suitable for adults and older children.

Going off piste a bit, it seems that Lynch was discovered back in 2005 when an editor at UK Orion/Gollancz read some early pages of his novel on Lynch’s blog and promptly signed him up to a multi-book contract. The film rights to LLL were sold to Hollywood producers in 2006. The Gentleman Bastards is a sequence of seven books following the life of Lamora over 15-20 years, and Lynch has said that there will be a sequel series set some twenty years on, with new characters, that will also be seven books long. There’s forward thinking for you! In August 2006, Subterranean Press confirmed that they would be publishing three novellas by Scott Lynch set in the same world. The first two to be entitled The Mad Baron's Mechanical Attic and The Choir of Knives. Gollancz will be releasing them in an omnibus edition entitled The Bastards and the Knives in May 2009.

In the meantime, I was so impressed that I pulled out a handful of copper pennies and eagerly purchased the next book in the series, Red Seas under Red Skies. It certainly lived up to my high expectations. About half of this book is set on the high seas and one reviewer has likened it to a cross between Ocean's Eleven and Pirates of the Caribbean. Locke and Jean are set to pull off the perfect crime when their carefully laid plans are thrown off course by a dastardly plot to exploit their talents and they end up among pirates on the Sea of Brass. Where LLL was primarily about creating a colourful and viable world-setting, this is more character-driven with the relationship between the two anti-heroes pushed to the limits and a lashing of love interest to boot, but not in a soppy way. Another excellent book, and highly recommended.

Will Lynch be able to maintain this high level of freshness and interest over the remaining five volumes? Well, crime series fiction seems to work e.g. Peter Robinson’s Inspector Banks, Ian Rankin’s Rebus, Colin Dexter’s Morse. But, it doesn’t happen very often in the fantasy genre. Time will tell, and in the meantime I’ve got five books for my ‘wanted’ list. The next books in the sequence are entitled: The Republic of Thieves, The Thorn of Emberlain, The Ministry of Necessity, The Mage and the Master Spy, and Inherit the Night.

Having finished RSRS so quickly, because I enjoyed it so much, I found myself without a book and was obliged to borrow one. Unfortunately it turned out to be Dan Brown’s Digital Fortress, oh dear. The fact that the front of the book is plastered in rave reviews for The Da Vinci Code should have set alarm bells ringing. That was a dire read and this was no better. The story revolves around the usual set of perfect people: Susan Fletcher, beautiful cryptographer with an IQ of 170, her boyfriend, David Becker (Brad Pitt) brilliant academic with eidetic memory and ability to speak six Asian dialects as well as Spanish, French, and Italian, and a motley crew of flag-waving patriots and lethal assassins. Once more, Brown has written a screen-play thinly disguised as a novel. There are 128 chapters in this book, I kid you not. The cryptology itself is very weak, he knows less than me. The end-game involves the hunt for a password to stop a computer worm (it was actually a virus, he doesn’t know anything about computers either) that I managed to work out seven chapters (that’s twenty-five pages) before the brilliant Ms Fletcher! If you want to read a book with credible cryptology then read Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. The thought that Mr Brown has taught English and Creative Writing to anyone should be a worry to anyone concerned with the future of American thriller writing. Avoid!

When there’s no future how can there be sin/We’re the flowers in the dustbin

Friday 7 March – It’s a blank weekend gig-wise, but there is so much news whizzing about that I feel I have to get it down in bytes before it’s old hat.

We start with news from Mostly Towers which basically boils down to Angela Gordon withdrawing from a full-time commitment and concentrating on motherhood, and Chris Johnson also leaving the band. On the other hand, the ranks are swelling again with Liam Davison back on guitars, Iain Jennings on keyboards, Anne Marie Helder on keyboards, guitars, vocals and flute, and a new drummer, Henry Bourne who will also feature on the new album, Glass Shadows.

Actually, we are likely to see more of Angela in York as she intends to continue to perform locally, both solo and with the York ensemble, Garland Of Flutes, and has plans to record a debut album later in the year. There is also the possibility that she might appear at Fibbers on 2 May, supporting Fairport Convention. TBC as they say.

Chris is currently touring with Fish and is hoping to grab some studio time to work on a solo album. He’s pulled out because “MA isn’t the kind of band where you can give less than 100%.” He’s probably right to do so, although he may leave a sour taste in the mouths of some MA fan. Chris has, up until his MA-Fish era, always been bigger than the bands he has played with and he needs the opportunity to stamp his mark on the fickle music business. Maybe he’ll sink, maybe he’ll swim, but he will survive, and I look forward to hearing his efforts in the future.

The Duels new album, The Barbarians Move In, was released for digital download on 13 February. This will be followed on 14 April by a 7” limited edition vinyl single of Regeneration/When The Sea Comes, and the physical album launch is scheduled for 28 April. They play at The Junction on 18 March.

And finally, a sad bit of news. Tuesday 4 March saw the death of Ernest Gary Gygax, co-creator of the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Dave Arneson, and co-founder of the company Tactical Studies Rules (TSR, Inc.) with Don Kaye in 1973. I well remember being the proud owner of D&D First Edition rules back in 1978 when they first reached UK shores, and again, travelling to London in 1979 to purchase one of the AD&D First Edition rulebooks from the very first shipment to the UK. Yes, I was a sad Dungeon Master then, and I would do it today at the drop of a hat. Once a geek, always a geek.

So pack your shoes and bring you bags to my house

Thursday 28 February – and highlight of the month is taking place tonight at Fibbers, it’s Four Day Hombre. The first support act is Lights aka Ben Leftwich, that’s him in the spotlight, losing his religion. Well, actually he’s on acoustic guitar and, although his material is good, it suffers somewhat my not being presented in a more robust format. Even with a friend playing on acoustic bass for about three quarters of the gig, it still needs a bit more oomph. Which is a shame, I like Ben.

Second support comes from New Adventures who, frankly, I’ve never heard of before. But by crikey they’re good. Songs like, How I Got My Devil, It’s In Our Hands, A Million to One, Something Amazing. The band are; Jez (Vocals), Steve (Guitar), Raph (Bass), Helen (Keys), and Nick (Drums).

Then, it’s the band we’ve all been waiting for, and as 4DH take to the stage, we surge towards the front and I mentally cross my fingers hoping that the gig won’t be spoilt be people chatting over the music. Tonight 4DH are showcasing a lot of new material from their forthcoming album. One track sounded a bit like Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill and the band segued into Solsbury Hill rather tongue in cheek, not really being able to remember the words. The crowd loved it. We also get some old favourites; Mr M, Don’t Go Gently, 13th of the Month, The First Word is the Hardest, complete with homage to Kate Bush’s Running up that Hill. I forget just how good this band are. Can’t wait for the new album.

Friday 29 February – a day that summed up the Yin and Yang of the universe perfectly. My car was in for its three year service, plus an ABS system recall (free of course), plus a new passenger side wing mirror as broken by vandals one night on a spree that left five or six cars down my street damaged. Grrr! So that little lot cost me four hundred notes. I kid you not. On the positive side I managed to negotiate a new 08 plate car, delivery in five weeks and, most importantly, within my budget. Result!

On the other hand, Dad has been pretty bad this last week and middle daughter has scratched her eyeball, ouch. Back to this hand, and the cold that I thought I was developing mid-week has vapourised. Well done to my body’s defences.

“Just where is all this leading?” I hear you mutter. Well, tonight we were looking forward to listening to Coast at the Roman Bath. Classic rock covers played on an awesome collection of guitar hardware. Unfortunately, when we got there they had been replaced by an Americana-country outfit called Atlanta. Sorry guys but country really doesn’t float my boat. Technically, they played their instruments well, and for someone into that genre of music they were probably very entertaining, but it left me cold. So, in a fit of pique, we downed our excellent pints of John Smiths and braved the winds of Thor and the lashing rain to try out The Terrace, who have just started putting on live bands on Friday nights.

The Bath is normally filled with tattooed ladies and you wouldn’t want to spill anyone’s drink. The Terrace has a different clientele; the totty is younger and more pleasing to the eye, the chaps have spiky hair that looks as if it’s been dipped in chip fat. We struggled to the bar and were pleasantly surprised at the range of beers on offer, in particular, John Smiths and Black Sheep. The band were The Supermodels a six piece rock covers band from York. The band consist of Mick Sollitt (Bass and Vocals) played in Baseline, DV and the Clients, Jackson Cage. Currently also playing with party band Huge. Kev Harton (Acoustic and electric guitar) also played in Baseline and DV and the Clients. Dave Sykes (Guitar and Vocals) played with Overload, Jackson Cage, currently playing with party band Plan B, Jon Stewart (Vocals and harmonica) also sings with The Mothers. Dave Longhawn (Keyboards) has a strong dislike of punctuality! Tom Sollitt (Drums) hates to be on time for anything, unless its a trip to McDonalds! They did an excellent job of covering the likes of; Queen (Don’t Stop Me Now), The Who (Won’t Get Caught Again), Stereophonics (Dakota), Coldplay (Fix You), Dodgy (In a Room), Genesis (Turn It On), Van Halen (Jump), Lynard Skynard (Sweet Home Alabama), ELO (Mr Blue Sky), and U2 (Beautiful Day). That’s the ones I can remember. I did have three pints.