And now, the end is near, and so I face, the final countdown for 2009

Friday 18 December - as is our wont at this time of year, The Friday-Nighters met up for a pre-Xmas meal before trotting off to a gig. Sadly, due to a heavy snow fall, Chantel McGregor was unable to make it to The Roman Bath so we opted instead for Stealer at The Terrace. I've blogged them before, so I don't need to add further to my previous, favourable comments. Over the meal, the topic of 'album of the year' inevitably came up and I realised I would have to sift through my purchases for 2009 and try to put them is some kind of order.

2009 was significant for me because it was the year that my CD collection finally busted my shelf space and I've had to resort to CD storage cases instead. Looking back, I can see why. I acquired 7 CDs from alternate sources, bought 35 previously released albums (including 5 from 2008 that I needed to catch up with), and 12 brand spanking new ones. A total of 54 acquisitions. Good for music, bad for my bank account!

Whilst compiling my list I also took the opportunity to write down some 2009 releases that I still want (Santa take note), another 4 at least. The 2008 releases that I didn't acquire until this year included; Marillion, Judas Priest, Panic Room, Richard Barbieri, and Bryan Josh.

Of the pre-2008 purchases there was quite a few Thunder albums, who officially stopped touring this year, and almost the entire back catalogue of Dream Theater. I also replaced a number of CDs that I'd copied from vinyl to MP3 (I know, I should've kept the vinyl).

Obviously, all 12 of 2009 purchases are eligible for my top ten, but 2 aren't going to make it. Unfortunately, they are really good albums so their exclusion from my top ten does not imply that they were no good, only that I've got 10 others that are slightly better. So, the non-winners this year are Breathing Space with Below The Radar, and Nine Black Alps with Locked In From The Outside.

Okay pop-pickers, here's the final count down:

10 The Answer - Everyday Demons. Northern Irish hard rock noiseniks followed up their 2006 debut with more of the same. But in a good way.

9 Muse - The Resistance. Fifth studio album from these alt-rockers, this one turned all the knobs to 11. Completely out of control, massively over the top, this surely establishes Muse as the new Queen.

8 Joe Bonamassa - The Legend of John Henry. I thought Sloe Gin was a high point for this American blues-rock guitarist, but he's raised the game by an order of magnitude with his raw, trademark blues sound.

7 Steven Wilson - Insurgentes. Founder and front man of Porcupine Tree, Steven released this solo effort. Fantastic soundscapes that take you where Radiohead would have done if they hadn't gone off the rails. Genius.

6 The Decemberists - Hazards Of Love. Their fifth recent album inspired by an Anne Briggs EP of the same name. This is a rock opera, a love story of a woman who falls in love with a shape-shifting forest dweller. A jealous forest queen, a villainous rake and an ensemble of other characters add to the storyline. Can I use the word 'genius' again? Yes.

5 Lynyrd Skynyrd - God & Guns. Their first studio offering for six years, bit it's as if they've never been away. A bit redneck for some people's tastes but good for me. Superb.

4 Porcupine Tree - The Incident. It's a bit more stripped-down than Fear Of A Blank Planet, but even more unnerving for all that. Brilliant.

Into the top three...

3 Hope&Social - Architect Of This Church. You can buy this album for whatever you can afford. The minimum prices are £.01 for the download, £2.95 for a CD+postage. It's a unique selling point and basically you get one of the best albums of the year. You've got to be mad not to get it. Get over to www.alamomusic.co.uk.

2 Parade - The Fabric. You can't buy this one through normal retail outlets yet, try www.paradeband.com. It's kinda prog-indie... hell, I don't know. It's just a fantastic album and you REALLY need to listen to this.

1 Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings. Frankly, the best thing I've heard for a very, very long time. On the basis of this album I've purchased a further seven CDs from their prodigious back catalogue, and turned into a Dream Theater fan. Incredible, this will blow your mind.

Happy New Year!

Paradise, drawn in blood, twisted torn, round a lullaby, with love

Friday 11 December - I'm a bad person, I went to see Mostly Autumn on Friday 4 December but didn't blog them. However, The Druid did, so read his blog instead.

So, we went for the covers option this weekend, Copowt at The Roman Bath. We've seen these before and they have a popular following. They're not as technically expert as some of the bands we see, but they make up for this by their enthusiasm and the excellent mix of covers they do, popular stuff that gets the crowd singing along. CopOwt are a five-piece covers band from Copmanthorpe, just outside York, and consist of: Russ (vocals), Alan (guitar and vocals), Paul (guitar), Paul (drums), and Seon (bass and vocals).

So what did we get? From my addled memory and in no particular order: Dakota and Local boy in a photograph (Stereophonics), Teenage Kicks (Undertones), Buck Rogers (Feeder), Modern Way and I predict a riot (Kaiser Chiefs), When the sun goes down (Arctic Monkeys), Should I stay or should I go (The Clash), Pretty Vacant (The Sex Pistols), Sex on fire (Kings of Leon), White Wedding (Billy Idol), Hanging on the telephone (Blondie), Bohemian like you (Dandy Warhols), Hush (Deep Purple), Ever fallen in love (Buzzcocks), Cigarettes and alcohol, Rock 'n roll star and Roll with it (Oasis), Basket case (Greenday), and Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol). Jolly excellent stuff, recommended.

The fabric has torn, Can the line remain true?

Friday 4 December - a special day for me, personally and musically. But enough with the mush and let's look at the music. This was date two of a very special trio of gigs for Josh & Co Limited and their support Parade. On 14 November they kicked off at Esquires, Bedford, tonight they were at The Duchess, York, and on 13 December they will be at The Robin 2, Bilston.

The prog-rock scene in York has slowly been coalescing into a musical collective, centered around Mostly Autumn, that is spawning a variety of high quality side projects. The support band, Parade, consisted of Chris Johnson (vocals, guitars, keys), Simon Snaize (guitar), Anne-Marie Helder (vocals, guitars, keys), Patrick "Paddy" Berry (bass), and Gavin Griffiths (drums). Chris, Simon and Paddy have played at various times, for Hazzard County, an alt-country covers band whose line-up was somewhat fluid. Simon and Chris have always sought to develop their song writing skills into original material, each appearing as solo artists in their own right. Chris has been in Mostly Autumn and Fish's band. Gavin is a fellow Fish bandmate and he and Anne-Marie also feature in both Panic Room and Mostly Autumn. Are you keeping up? Just to confuse the lay punter further, Bryan Josh also came on-stage to perform the guitar solos for Diamond, and Ending.

Parade have garnered enough material already to put out an album, The Fabric, which they are touring. The album is available at gigs and will be also available retail from January through a distribution deal with Voiceprint. As far as I could tell, and I hadn't heard any of the material before, they pretty much did most of the album. Highlights for me were Start Again, a very heavy The Dogs, the lyrically superb Feedline and dreamy Ending, although I enjoyed every single track, and had no hesitation in acquiring the album. Are they prog-rock? Well, some bits are, and some are a bit more melodic. They do LOUDquietLOUD, and quietLOUDquiet. Chris and Anne-Marie harmonise together like Buckingham and Nicks. If Buckingham-era Fleetwood Mac were a bar of Galaxy, Parade would be a Green & Black's Dark 85%, brooding, dark, and much healthier for you. In terms of musical variety, I would put them closer to alt-rockers Feeder, or Linoleum. All in all, an extremely strong performance and very highly recommended. Buy the album.

During the interval there was some re-tuning and shuffling of equipment, but ultimately, it was pretty much the same line-up for Josh & Co Limited, the solo project from Mostly Autumn guitarist Bryan Josh whose first album, Through These Eyes was released towards the end of 2008. Tonight we had Bryan Josh (vocals, guitar), Olivia "Livvy" Sparnenn (vocals, tambourine), Iain Jennings (keys), Chris Johnson (vocal, guitars, keys), Patrick "Paddy" Berry (bass), and Gavin Griffiths (drums). Livvy and Iain form the core of Breathing Space, and both are members of Mostly Autumn (there will be a quiz at the end of this blog, so pay attention).

I haven't got the album (call yourself a fan?) so, again, most of the material was new to me. That said, there were some very powerful tracks; We Graze, Through These Eyes, Into Your Arms, Going Home, and Old Friends. There was lots of foot stomping and singing along to The Appian Way, which was sung twice, once for the encore. We were also treated to a couple of covers; All Along The Watchtower (the Hendrix version of Dylan's song), and Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin). Another fantastic performance and very highly recommended.

I've been this way ten years to the day, Ramble On, Gotta find the queen of all my dreams.

Friday 27 November - and we're taking a punt on three bands that we've never heard before who were appearing at The Duchess. First to take to the stage were York four-piece The Leads. They consist of: Rob Lettice on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Tim Creasy on vocals and lead guitar, Gordon Ritchie on bass and backing vocals, and Chris Corr on drums. They started off very strongly, sounding a bit like Lit. The edgy, early tracks did soften as they went on, ending up sounding like Wheezer or Busted. But hey, we all love a cheesy, catchy tune. The only bad thing I can say about them is that they had zero stage presence. Basically they were four blokes playing their instruments for us. They could have been in my front room. Anyway, definitely a band to watch out for.

The second band up were more like an Oasis covers band, except they didn't play covers. The Lookout are a four-piece from York consisting of Rich Wheeler on vocals, Jon Thompson on guitar, Marc Johnson on bass, and Jon Mellin on drums. In contrast to The Leads, lead man Rich swaggered back and forth across the stage like Ian Brown (of The Stone Roses) and sang up into his microphone like Liam Gallagher. Musically they sounded like a raw Oasis practicing in their bedroom. Not bad. Not as good as the first band, but still worth watching out for.

Finally, the headliners, The Crookes who hail from Crookes in Sheffield (thanks to Lynn for spotting that). They have released a couple of singles through the Too Pure Singles Club label and play a melodic, folk-influenced, Indie rock. Although, to my untutored ear it sounded like Morrissey doing 50s skiffle. The Crookes consist of: Russell Bates, Daniel Hopewell, Alex Saunders, and George Waite. I think, but don't quote me on this, that Russell played drum, Dan and Alex were on guitar, and the crooner with the bass and toy guitar was George. Sad to say that they weren't really my cup of cappuccino, but for an encore they did come amongst the audience and performed acoustic/acapella in our midst. They had great voices. For lovers of Noah and The Whale I understand.

Due to a combination of late finishing at The Duchess and early finishing at The Roman Bath, we only caught a couple of Led Zep covers from femme-fronted Remedy (who were in the Bath). They sounded brilliant and I hope we get a chance to see them again soon so that I can write them up and provide more details.

Politicians hide themselves away, They only started the war

Friday 20 November - Yes, I know I'm a bit late blogging, but there's a woman in my life who is keeping me occupied in the very best way possible, so I'm not sorry at all. Anyway up, we were out on Wednesday and, frankly, I can't do better than let The Druid tell you all about it.

So on Friday it was a case of covers all around so Andy and I plumped for Dufflegoat (and on FaceSpace) at The Roman Bath. We've seen them twice before and enjoyed them on previous occasions. Formed in 1994, Dufflegoat are a three piece rock covers band hailing from York, consisting of Roger Newton (guitar, backing vocals), Tony Gilpin (bass, lead vocals), and Paul Marshall (drums). Even on a chill winter's evening, Paul was drumming bare-chested. Brave man. The Goat do covers, but they don't go for note-by-note perfection. Rather, they take the essence of the original and turn it into something of their own. It works very well indeed.

Being the light-weight drinker that I am, my brain is a bit foggy after two pint of John Smith's finest but I distinct remember a whole medley of Led Zeppelin The Song Remains The Same, Good Times Bad Times, Rock and Roll, Cream White Room and Sunshine of My Love, Black Sabbath War Pigs, Deep Purple Black Night, The Who Won't Get Fooled Again, Jimi Hendrix Foxy Lady and Purple Haze, QOTSA No One Knows, Fleetwood Mac The Green Manalishi With the Two Pronged Crown, and they even threw in a couple of their own songs. Sadly The Goat are not back in York for the rest of this year but they can be caught on Saturday 5 December at The Bridge Tavern, Bradford, Friday 11 December at The Axe, Boston and Saturday 12 December at The Victoria Bikers Bar, Coalville. Recommended.

Once upon a time you dressed so fine, you threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?

Friday 13 November - Severe weather warning! Torrential rain! Storm force winds! Well not in York matey. We are the eye of the storm. Quite mild for a November evening, and just right for a genteel stroll into town, to The Roman Bath to watch classic rock covers band Stealer. Now the Bath can get a bit crowded but tonight it was exceptionally so, with a constant stream of tattooed ladies and baldy blokes in leather jackets. Even a guy with a shoulder bag big enough to carry a small child in. He knocked everyone flying.

Anyway, Stealer are a four-piece from York consisting of Mick, Nick, Andy and Tivvy (on drums). Tonight they played the following and more (I can't remember much after two pints of John Smith's, such a light-weight); The Kinks You Really Got Me, Lynyrd Skynyrd Sweet Home Alabama and Freebird, The Who Won't Get Fooled Again, AC/DC High Voltage Rock And Roll, Let There Be Rock and Whole Lotta Rosie, Neil Young Rocking In The Free World, UFO Too Hot to Handle, The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter, The Doors Roadhouse Blues, The Undertones Teenage Kicks, Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited and Like A Rolling Stone, and Deep Purple Black Night. All competently played and making for a very enjoyable evening. Thanks guys.

p-Pod roulette

Let's play shuffle on the old p-pod and see what comes up:

• El Salvador. Lead track from 2003 debut album Vehicles and Animals by Athlete. Released 24 March 2004, it was the fourth single from the album and charted at number 31.


• Today The World Stopped Turning. You gotta love Thunder. This version was track 6 from the 2003 album Thunder Ballads. Thunder announced a decision to split on 28 January 2009 via their website, boo hiss. The band toured Europe and Japan before returning home for the British leg of their farewell tour in July 2009. Their very final appearance took place on 1 August 2009 at around 11pm at the Sonisphere Festival, Knebworth where, thanks to another band pulling out, they were able to arrange a place on the bill at late notice and played a short final set to a packed Bohemia tent.


• Strange Kind Of Woman. Released as a follow up single after Black Night in early 1971 by rock legends Deep Purple. Originally called Prostitute, vocalist Ian Gillan said "It was about a friend of ours who got mixed up with a very evil woman and it was a sad story. They got married in the end. And a few days after they got married, the lady died." The track peaked at number 8 in the UK singles chart and appeared on the 1971 album Fireball.


• Terminal Crash Fear. Blimey, this was a blast from the past. Specifically it was track 12 from the 1996 album The Big 3 by the 60ft Dolls. The Dolls were a Welsh rock trio active in the 1990s. The album featured four singles that had been previously released and was described by the NME as "grunge mod...proto-pub metal blues of the first order". The band toured extensively in the UK, Japan and Europe, including several summer festival appearances as well as opening for The Sex Pistols at their 1996 Finsbury Park reunion gig. But they were dogged by alcohol problems, and after an exhaustive three tours of the USA in 1997, never toured again. They released their second album, Joya Magica, in late 1998 and split soon after.


• Further On (Up The Road). One of Johnny Cash's final collaborations with producer Rick Rubin, the album American V: A Hundred Highways, was released posthumously on 4 July 2006. This was track 5, actually a cover, originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen on his 2002 album The Rising.


• Liberty In Reality. Sam Brown, daughter of Joe. This was track 6 from her superb 1997 solo offering Box. Never heard of her? Bet you have. Sam provided some backing vocals for Pink Floyd on their 1994 album, The Division Bell, and accompanied them on tour to promote the release.


• Abyssyn. Track 5 from the 2009 album Stranger Inside by Richard Barbieri. Barbieri was the former synth programmer with Japan but he has been working for the last 16 years alongside Steve Wilson in Porcupine Tree.

I'm tired of being what you want me to be, feeling so faithless, lost under the surface

Friday 6 November - there's an old saying (I say it and I'm old) that sometimes you have to listen to rubbish music otherwise you don't appreciate the good stuff. Tonight, at Fibbers, I gained a good deal of appreciation for the good stuff. However, not included in that sweeping statement was the first of tonight's bands, Astrae. We've seen them before, but I'm sure they've lost a lady violinist somewhere along the way. A York-based band, they consist of James A Hutchinson (Guitar / Vocals), Jack Beavers (Guitar / Synth / Vocals), Ali Thyne (Drums / Percussion), Rio (Keyboard / Synth), and T-Bone Malogus (Bass and pineapple knot hair do). I like their music. It's alt-rock with a healthy dash of keyboards, and somewhere in the mix was the superb Outlander, and the tracks Something for Now, and L'Ost. Each song is longer than the bog-standard three-minute as the band concentrate on lengthier, crafted tunes that convince, me at least, that real thought goes into each composition.

It's downhill from there I'm afraid. Second support came from Thatcher's Bush.Again, we've seen these before and, on the strength of tonight's performance, I've no reason to change my opinion that these are basically a formulaic pub-rock band veering on the side of ska-punk. OK, I will admit that they might make a reasonable Clash covers band.

There was slight improvement (it would have been difficult to get worse) with headliners Sons Of Albion, a London-based outfit consisting of Logan Plant (vocals and famous dad), Nuno Miguel (guitars), Gones (bass) and Francisco de Sousa (drums). They are likened to Soundgarden, Audioslave and Stone Temple Pilots but, frankly, their dark and intense music doesn't really go anywhere. It just sits in a corner making a noise while Plant hops about on stage weaving his hands around like a Bollywood princess. Of course, I may have been a bit cheesed off by this time, and therefore a bit negative. Certainly, if I had to chuck my money at any band it would have been Astrae.

We were hoping for a lift to the end of the evening by finishing off in The Roman Bath. Unfortunately there was a different band playing than had been previously advertised, and whoever it was played some dismal covers with an inappropriate ska edge. All a bit rubbish really.

You sit in your big house baby, you drive your fancy car

Friday 30 October - before I get down to the nitty-gritty of music, I'm afraid I'm going to have to drag out my soap-box and indulge in a bit of a rant. On Friday 30 October the news broke that Professor David Nutt had been asked to resign as chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs after claiming in a paper that alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than many illegal drugs, including LSD, ecstasy and cannabis. The paper was based on a lecture he gave in the summer and had been published by one of the UK's leading university departments of criminology.

So, bad enough then that the government are not interested in listening to scientific advice, but to sack the man for criticising their policy, in a land that prides itself on freedom of speech, is surely a step too far. But, I was appalled when watching The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday 1 November, when Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson said, "Well I think to find yourself in a situation like this is very controversial. These things are best sorted out behind the scenes [my italics], so that the government and their advisers can go to the public with a united front." (Courtesy of the BBC website). In fact Mr Marr asked Mr Donaldson twice if the professor was accurate in his claim, and Mr Donaldson avoided answering on both occasions. Clearly the CMO wasn't prepared to put his job on the line and admit anything. It seems that our government would rather the public weren't aware of these anti-establishment views. Personally, I'm not in favour of re-classifying ecstasy from class A to class B (essentially, one of the thrusts of Nutt's paper), but I would rather I had all the facts on which to base my opinions. I don't want government controlling my opinions by feeding me only information they want me to have. This is 2009 not Nineteen Eighty-Four.

OK, rant over, here the music stuff. We had a full turn out of The Friday-Nighters as we were in the Roman Bath to watch our favourite artist, Chantel McGregor and her band; Martin Rushworth on drums and Alex Jeffrey on bass guitar. Regular readers will know that I've run out of superlatives to describe the awesome guitar playing prowess of this pocket-sized dynamo. You won't believe me when I tell you that she plays like Hendrix, unless you're actually seen her. But she doesn't just play covers of all the guitar greats; she elevates these covers and makes them better than the originals. She is simply stunning. I'm normally pretty good at playing "spot the song" but I struggle with identifying some of them. Of those that I did recognise were; Bridge To Better Days and Mountain Time (Joe Bonamassa), Help Me (Sonny Boy Williamson), Up In The Sky (Joe Satriani), Voodoo Chile, Red House, and Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix), Daydream (Robin Trower), One Of These Days (Ten Years After), Had to Cry Today (Blind Faith), Lenny (Stevie Ray Vaughan), High (Richie Kotzen), and New Day Yesterday (Jethro Tull). You can check out videos of her performing on YouTube. Please do it. Maybe I'll see you down the Bath on 18 December 2009, that's the next time she'll be playing in York.

After the gig we stood chatting outside the Bath. Andy had finally decided to make his way home and had unlocked his fold-up bike, ready to set off. Just then, Chantel and her parents emerged from the pub and Chantel wanted to have a go on his bike. Unable to resist a pretty face, Andy relinquished his bike to her and she hitched up her skirts and began wobbling around St Samson's Square. The early morning air was filled with her laughter as she shrieked, "Mum, Dad, can I have one for Christmas?" What a lovely lass.

Hey, You're not the first, You're not the last, To hold me back

Monday 26 October - It's a school night but when there is a very good band in town, you just have to make the effort. On my way to The Duchess I walked passed Fibbers where I was surprised to find a couple of policeman lurking near the concrete steps around the back of the Stonebow. Puzzlingly, there was another PC hanging around at the St Saviourgate end of the passage where the front entrance to The Duchess is. I later found out that a Barnsley man had climbed up onto the scaffolding and was threatening to jump off. We never realised he was there, and tragically, he did finally jump to his death at 13:50 on Tuesday.

Back to the gig, and the first support band was Ghosts On The Intercom, a York-based three-piece consisting of; Tom Robinson (Guitar and vocals), Alex Woolgar (drums), and Rich Morley (bass). Tom is from the school of guitar players who likes to wear his instrument like a necklace, affording him the opportunity to spider up the frets with his right hand, performing hammer-ons, pull-offs, and still picking out notes from the chord. It looks flashier than it really is, as evidenced by the fact that he did it for almost every guitar solo he played. That said he was actually a competent player. The vocals were way too shouty for me. Lyrics were completely wasted, something about "feed me a stray cat"? The whole set was very jangly on the ears, with one song sounding pretty much like another. Andy liked them though.

We also agreed to differ on the second band, Sucioperro, another 3-piece, but this time from Ayr in Scotland. The band are; JP Reid (vocals and guitar), Fergus Munro (vocals and drums), and Stewart Chown (bass). They produced an almighty bass sound that made my clothes vibrate. I like it when my clothes vibrate. These were very heavy, and yet surprisingly tuneful, a bit like York's own With One Last Breath. I did manage to make out the titles of a couple of tracks; Dissident Code, and You Can't Lose (What You Don't Have). I think Andy found their black arm-bands with red crosses on them, slightly unnerving.

And so to the head-liners, ManchesterNine Black Alps, who consist of Sam Forrest (vocals, guitar), David Jones (guitar), Martin Cohen (bass), and James Galley (drums). We've seen them twice at The Duchess and they perform superbly to what appears to me to be a loyal York fan-base. Certainly Sam originally came from York, and the band have strong ties to the city. When we saw them last they were touring material from a forthcoming album, Locked Out From The Inside, which they have just released. By tonight this material was fully integrated into their set, which still draws fairly heavily from their debut, Everything Is. NBA are an English Nirvana. Sam growls Cobain-like, while James drums with vast energy. The guitar-work of David and Martin is enough to wake the dead, yet melodic, sometimes as soft as down, yet a volume never dipping below eleven. Bass and lead guitarists even swap for the final two tracks, just because they can. The band came on-stage to the strains of the theme from Antiques Roadshow. Outstanding tracks for me were; the superb Heavier Than Water, Salt Water, and Burn Faster, grunge-stomp Vampire In The Sun, trouser-shaking Every Photograph Steals My Soul, and spaced-out Cold Star. Hell, I liked them all. This was a first-class gig and I dug into my pockets for a copy of their latest album to add to my collection. Very highly recommended.

Tuesday 27 October - Continuing on my much extended weekend, we are out again on yet another school night, this time at The Basement Bar. The evening kicked off with two-fifths of Sheffield band David Woodcock and The Dead Comedians, specifically; Dave (former frontman of punksters Taste Of Shotgun) on guitars and vocals, supported by Chris Saunders on guitar. Most of the songs they played revolved around cigarettes and alcohol, or love lost. Dave sang with a Waits-style growl and invoked images of Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. I missed most of the song titles, except for the outstanding City Lights.

Not a bad start to the evening that had been organised by the second act, Boss Caine, aka GT Turbo, aka Dan Lucas. A York musician, Dan writes and plays music in the Americana style. He has vocals like Neil Diamond, very bass, very smooth. Again, I missed the titles but the songs went somewhere along the lines of; Smoking In My Back Yard, something about Lady Macbeth, Kinda Loving, Anyone Here Seen Hank?, and the highlight for me, Sweet Sorrow Surrender.

The Basement Bar is a very intimate (small) venue, so there were probably only about fifty people tops. But tonight they were hosting a big act, Hope&Social. H&S come from Leeds and regular readers will know they consist of; Simon Wainwright (vocals, guitar, piano), Rich Huxley (guitar, vocals, piano), Jason Miller (bass), and Ed Waring (keyboards). They are currently joined on drums by Mark Ashwell. Sadly, this was Jason's penultimate gig with the band. After a final gig in Leeds on Thursday, he will be hanging up his bass in favour of his family.

Tonight they played most of their album, Architect of this Church. They kicked off with the super hand-clapping Living A Lie. After this they revealed that most of the band were suffering, in varying degrees, with colds. Ed even confessed to a "runny bottom." Sweet. Moving swiftly along, they polished off Stuck Like Glue, Sunlight Hold Me, Drink The Drink, and Red Red Rose. Then they exhorted the crowd to invoke the spirit of Rod Stewart for Stay With Me. It doesn't sound like a huge set-list, but each song was elongated to its maximum and the set was extended with tuneful links between the tracks. Nonetheless, it was all over way too quickly. Rich and Simon came back for an encore sans a PA system. Looking For Answers is a great track that allows for lots of audience participation, and how we participated! It was a great show and at the end Jas came around the audience selling copies of the album, using their pay-what-you-want model of distribution. Please, go and see H&S, or buy their album, for how ever much you want, or download it, or just go and see another band, but just get out there a support live music!

All I ever wanted was a reason to be happy, Happiness can be so hard to find.

Friday 23 October - In the mid-eighties, New Orleaner Tony Green and tea chest bass player Dennis Johnson collided at London's Covent Garden to form the core of busking band, the Gutter Brothers. They toured with the likes of Jools Holland and Dr Feelgood, and signed with Elvis Costello's Demon Records. The band split in 1993 and Dennis died in 2002. Since then the band has played the occasional one-off show and recently embarked on something of a mini-tour, culminating (for us at least) tonight at The Duchess. Given that they were billed as a skiffle band I was somewhat relieved to see a wash-board onstage, although unsure as quite what to expect musically.

Support tonight was billed as Tom Cawte and guitarist Dave Thornley, both of Babe Shadow, who performed an acoustic set, presumably of Babe Shadow material. They both played and sang competently, although I didn't recognise any of their material. It was a kind of rocked up folk. If I had to pigeon-hole them, they would probably get filed next to Noah & the Whale.

Anyway, on to the headline act, Gutter Brothers, who were joined on-stage by one of the Babe Shadows, who played guitar and harmonium (a keyboard instrument where sound is produced by air, supplied by hand-operated bellows). I think bass player was Steve Turner, and he played electric bass guitar as well as an electric upright bass. The rest of the band consisted of Tony Green (vocals and washboard), Chris Cawte (guitar), and Jeff Walker (on drums). Musically they played a mixture of heavy be-bop, hi-energy skiffle, R&B, and quite rocky material. The former seemed to stem mainly from their early stuff, principally drawn from their first album Isometric Boogie. The rockier stuff I think comes from their later albums, and in particular, the 2008 album El Krusho. Highlights for me where the tracks; Everlasting Shining Peace of Mind, and Stand Up, Little Jesus. Tony was a real performer. I really didn't have a clue what this band would sound like, but I'm pleased I turned out. They were brilliant and I highly recommend seeing them.

These girls fall like dominos, dominos

Friday 16 October - Sorry, there was a bit of radio silence last week as I was at a wedding. Anyway, I'm back to normal this weekend as we kick off at Fibbers with, apparently, one of the top ten British blues guitarists of all time (according to Guitar & Bass magazine). Support tonight came from Mark Wynn a York chap who plays in the troubadour tradition, a bit like Bob Dylan or Woody Guthrie. I didn't recognise any of the songs he played/sang, but he sang clearly and strongly, and his playing was excellent. I think he plays around York fairly regularly and I would recommend looking out for him.

There was a rather noisy element to the audience, but these were swiftly drowned out by the headline act, Matt Schofield and his band. Matt was born in 1977 in Manchester but grew up in Fairford in Gloucestershire. These days he is based in Canada and typically performs with an organ trio, a slightly unusual format for a blues band. He is currently touring his 2009 album Head, Tails & Aces with a four-piece featuring Jeff 'The Funk' Walker on bass, and replacing Evan Jenkins with Alain Baudry on drums. The fourth band member is organist Jonny Henderson who plays a Hammond organ, performing bass lines using his left hand, and playing chords and lead lines with his right hand. All very clever stuff. I was a bit sceptically about the whole "top ten best blues guitarist..." blah, blah, but as the set unfolded Schofield did indeed produce some blistering guitar solos the likes of which made my jaw ache as it was dropped open for so long. I didn't pick up much of what he played; there was Betting Man, effectively the title track from Head, Tails & Aces, All You Need, and Lights Are On, But Nobody's Home, a cover of an Albert Collin's track I think. It was an exceptionally good gig and I thoroughly recommend that you try and catch Matt on tour. Researching him afterwards, I noted that he has also co-produced albums of another British blues guitarist that I've seen relatively recently, Ian Siegal. Ian is also gracing the boards at Fibbers, sometime later this year.

As we had an early finish, we sprinted gracefully across town to The Roman Bath to catch the last half hour of The Penetrators. Not the old punk band (actually the first live band I ever saw), but rather a classic rock covers outfit. A four-piece outfit from Hull, The Penetrators consist of Andy Bolder (guitar & vocals), Ian Bolder (guitar & vocals), Haydne Carter (bass guitar & vocals) and Mike Wright (drums). They were playing Genesis' I Can't Dance when we arrived, and our ears were treated to a bit of AC/DC, Whole Lotta Rosie, The Who, Won't Get Fooled Again, ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin etc. We've yet to catch a full set by these guys but they sounded pretty darn good to me.

Saturday 17 October - Always on the listen out for something new, Saturday found us in the bowels of The Duchess. Well, me at least. 'A' was attending a call-out from work and was a little late in arriving. In fact he missed the first support band, Idiot Savant. I'm not sure there's a category box for these chaps. It was all a bit Divine Comedy gone completely avant-garde. Art-rock? No idea. It was different, let's just leave it there.

The second support act were We Fell To Earth an electronic rock band from London, of which the main performers are Wendy Rae-Fowler and Richard File. Dave Okumu and Leo Taylor of The Invisible play drums and guitar on the debut album, but I'm not sure if they are part of the touring band. File joined UNKLE after DJ Shadow left and subsequently met up with Fowler whilst working in LA. The UNKLE influence is retained in the work of WFTE, it's millennium-era post-trip-hop with File and Fowler as Tricky and Shirley Manson. The drums are tom heavy and there are stray bleeps and bloops in the spaces between the drums and vocals. It's polite, well-produced music, but a bit too middle-class to be worthy of the label "interesting".

The headliners, on the other hand, were a complete different kettle of kittens. The Big Pink are an electro-rock duo from London, Robertson "Robbie" Furze (vocals, guitar) and Milo Cordell (programming, keyboards, synthesizer, vocals). For the live tour they are joined by other musicians who provide bass, percussion, and backing vocals. I think they also had multi-instrumentalist Daniel O'Sullivan with them, ferreting about in a metal case, pushing buttons and hitting things. I guessing that most of the material they played was from their debut album A Brief History Of Love, released in September 2009. I also understand that they are supporting Muse on tour in November 2009.Their music is a bit like Spiritualized, or Spacemen 3 (I've not heard SM3 so the comparison comes from 'A'), a cross between trance-dance and drone-rock. I remember one track, Count Backwards From Ten, but the others passed me by so I couldn't identify individual tracks. This blissed-out electronica is not normally my cup of Yorkshire but I thoroughly enjoyed this band so that must make them pretty good. I'm also listening to quite a bit of drone-rock at the moment, although I would have put TBP at the fringe of the genre, so I was probably more receptive than I might otherwise have been. This was a great end to a great weekend of music.

My fear has gone, I’m fake

Tuesday 6 October - Yep, it was a school night, but The Druid and I were out at Fibbers to see a band that came recommended. As we arrived there was a chap, Ian Ellwood I believe, who had just started his set. One guy and a guitar, always a difficult setup I think. He did some covers, some songs I didn't recognise with scatter-gun lyrics. His vocals weren't particularly expressive and his guitar playing was up there (or down there) with mine. So, no great shakes. Still, it takes guts to perform in front of a crowd.

The next support came from Sketches. Are those necklaces they are wearing? No, they're just high-slung guitars. Sketches are a four-piece from Leeds consisting of Matthew Hutt, James McBrien, Luke Rogers, and John Arkell (James, how about changing your name to Mark?) They play a mixture of styles; some big and angry, some urgent indie, some kinda emo, soundscape stuff. At times their frontman's vocals and guitar playing sounded like early Coldplay, a bit Yellow. Interesting sound, and a band I'll watch out for.

Now, the headliners were the Engineers, due to support Porcupine Tree at Leeds O2 Academy on Thursday 8 October. Simon Phipps is the singer, Dan Macbean is the guitarist, Mark Peters is the bassist, and Sweeney is the drummer. Tonight they were also joined onstage by a female vocalist, sorry, I've no idea of her name. The mix was very much in favour of the keyboards, which rendered most of the vocals inaudible. What I can say is that they sounded tremendous. The keyboards set up a canvas of sound against which the drums splatter and the guitars paint huge swathes of sound. It was shoe-gazing, blessed-out, synth-rock of the highest order. I'm guessing that most of the tracks are from their latest album, Three Fact Fader (penultimate track was The Fear Has Gone), although at least one, One In Seven, was from their eponymous debut album, Engineers. I've already ordered a copy of Three Fact Fader. Superb stuff.

My hair's turning white, my neck's always been red, my collar's still blue / we've always been here, just trying to sing the truth to you.

Friday 2 October - kicked off a game of two halves. Tonight we were at Fibbers for a speculative punt on a band neither 'A' or I knew, Second Skin, essentially a set of The Chameleons' songs from their studio albums from 1983-6 (Script of the Bridge, What Does Anything Mean? Basically, and Strange Times) featuring original drummer John Lever, and front-man Mark Burgess. First though, we had to endure Thatcher' Bush. TB delivered plodding formulaic punk rock 'n' roll which, frankly, wouldn't have been out of place in the back room of some smoky pub at the turn of the 80's. So, bit of a duff start then. Fibs started to get quite crowded at this point, and there was a quite a mass of people heading for the front. A few mohican-style hair cuts and a whole bunch of guys on what appeared to be a bouncers night out. Even some of the women looked as if they filed their teeth and sported tattoos on their knuckles. We lurked at bar level.

The name Second Skin comes from track four of The Chameleons' first album. Artwork for their first three albums was produced by their guitarist, Reg Smithies, now an artist of some renown. I thought I'd never heard of them before, but I was wrong. I remember them covering Bowie's John I'm Only Dancing, although I'm blowed if I can find a reference to them releasing it as a single. On the other hand, the rest of the audience knew every single word to every single track and bellowed along in a great sing-along session. It was all very strange. I felt like we'd gate-crashed a private party. I quite enjoyed the music and it was delivered in a technically competent fashion by the musicians. Burgess was a passionate and demonstrative front-man, a joy to watch him in action. I can't say that I'll be running out and buying any albums though.

Given an early finish we ventured across the road to The Terrace where The Melodicas New Reed were playing. Again, we'd never heard of these guys, but hey, the beer's much better than at Fibs. They hail from Leeds and Runcorn (Hashman aka "Ash", the drummer, was the Runcorn connection) and featured a slip of a girl, Cath, on flute which caused our eyebrows to rise slightly. They played a mixture of reggae, funk, soul, blues, jazz... well, anything and everything really. Even though we normally loathe funk with a passion, this group managed to make it sound acceptable. I can't tell you what they played, because it was all their own material, but it was a great end to the evening. Recommended.

Saturday 3 October - The Druid and I were out to see Idle Jack And The Big Sleep, a York band that we seem to keep missing. There was only one support band and while they were setting up we rested our aged bones by sitting at a table up near the mixing desk and lighting console. We didn't stay there long. Lost From Atlas started playing and immediately the whole room was in their thrall. It was like some amazing drum solo accompanied by guitar and bass (Liam Ledgeway was on drums, Dan Gallagher on guitar, and Orlando Lloyd on bass and artistic design.) They played fantastic, tight, post-rock instrumental math-rock. Dan plays with a distinctive tappy guitar sound and the band were constantly switching time signatures or at least giving that illusion. They reminded me somewhat of a band we never see anymore, Ishtar, who seem to play just one track for their set. Co-incidentally, Ishtar are a side project of Idle Jack... Anyway, Lost From Atlas kindly provided me with a free EP featuring the cracking Tom Robinson Must Die. Their debut album is due to be launched on November 14 at Fibbers, definitely a date for my diary. A band not to be missed, highly recommended.

And so to the headline act, Idle Jack And The Big Sleep. Their front man, big-hair, reminded me of someone and when he removed his sunglasses I recognised him as Rob Hughes, a chap who had once spun around rather too quickly in Fibbers and spilt his red wine down my t-shirt. That was the first and last time I ever wore a white t-shirt on a Friday night. I don't bear grudges though. This six-piece York band comprises the aforesaid Mr Hughes on vocals, guitars, theramin, banjo, Stylophone, and megaphone, Rob East on bass, Mike East on rhythm guitar, Jacob Hammerton on lead guitar and effects, Simon Himsworth on drums, and Matthew Hardy on brass; although there were two additional brass players on the stage as well. The sound was pretty unique, varying between rock, prog, metal and all stations in-between. The live show was dynamic and energetic. Sometimes the vocals took centre-stage, at others, the music flew off a dark tangents, painting vast aural soundscapes. Fantastic stuff and, again, highly recommended.

On the thirty-first floor a gold-plated door / Won't keep out the Lord's burning rain

Friday 25 September - kicked off a weekend with potentially fatal consequences for my liver; two nights of beer and music, and a stag 'do'. We started at The Roman Bath where I met up with A and two of our American cousins. We were there to watch Full Tilt, a heavier-than-yer-average-covers-band, a four-piece from Bradford comprising: Derek Moulson (Lead vocals & guitar), Jim Croisdale (Lead guitar), Andy Bucaltizn (Bass guitar), and Darren O'Grady (Drums). Relying on my dodgy memory I can recall; AC/DC (Whole Lotta Rosie, Highway To Hell), Deep Purple (Black Night), Puddle of Mudd (She Hates Me), Kinks (Really Got Me Going), Guns 'n' Roses (Knocking' on Heaven's Door), Whitesnake (Fool For Your Loving), Cameo (Word Up), Lenny Kravitz (Are You Gonna Go My Way), Ozzy Osbourne (Crazy Train), Metallica (Enter The Sandman ), Blur (Song 2), and Judas Priest (Breaking The Law). There were more, but after three pints of John Smith's the memories slip away like cobwebs in a breeze. For an encore they did Rage Against The Machine's Killing in the Name, not for the faint-hearted but certainly a crowd-pleaser. Highly recommended.

Sunday 27 September - Saturday slipped by in an alcoholic fug of fine ales, fish and chips, and crowded bars full of posers (that'll be Kennedy's and the Slag and Luggage then.) And, so to Sunday where I rehabilitated my body by gently soaking it in Theakston's XB and listening to more music at The Duchess. The first band were already playing as we entered. The Troubadors (On SpaceBook) are an electro-acoustic due from West Yorkshire, comprising "Big" Steve Chapman Smith and "Lil'" Andy Healey. The sound was mixed superbly, and we were treated to a set of folky sort of protest songs, in a style reminiscent of Lindisfarne or The Strawbs. I remember one song called Lost Faith, about the loss of faith in our politicians, another, Broken Bridge about mine workers in Pontefract (Ponte Fractus means broken bridge in Latin and Old French, but Smart Alecs might want to read this article as well.) Anyway, they finished with a cover of The Rolling Stones' You Can't Always Get What You Want, with Steve on an electric mandolin. Top stuff.

For round two, we had a completely different outfit, The Dark Roads. They sounded like Johnny Cash sung by an Indie band. Fantastic songs; Let Go Love, Redwood Hill, Lazy Eye, Santa Fe, and something possibly called Speedball Blues. Highly recommended.

Finally, the headline act, Band Of Heathens. Now it was a bit of a shame really, because these five guys had travelled all the way from Austin, Texas, to play for about fifty of us. In the words of the band, "it would really suck if there were, like, twenty less of you." However, the small crowd made up for numbers by being particularly vocal. BOH consist of: Ed Jurdi (Guitar, Keys, Harmonica, Vocals), Gordy Quist (Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals), Colin Brooks (Guitar, Dobro, Lapsteel, Vocals), Seth Whitney (Bass, Vocals), and John Chapman (Drums, Percussion). They started the set with a cover of the Flying Burrito Brothers' Sin City. After that I started getting a bit paranoid, I was seeing signs of Christian Fundamentalism everywhere. The band's monitors covered a sign "the duchess" so it read "he de..uss" (He is God?) and there was a song with Hallelujah in the chorus, and another about letting the light shine it. There was a bloke in front of us who writhed about as though possessed. It was OK for A, with his mop of white hair he looked like an angel; me, I was wearing a t-shirt adorned with a glow-in-the-dark grim reaper. I could have been swinging from a gibbet by the end of the evening, especially when they sang Hangin' Tree and lead vocalist Gordy fixed me with a steely glare! Things settled down about half-way through the set and I relaxed into the music; Cornbread, Jackson Station, and more. Again, a thoroughly brilliant band and one I would heartily recommend. In fact I would have been quite happy to part with a tenner to watch any one of the three bands that played. What an excellent night.

I kiss you with my apocalypstick / I kiss you and the world is mine

Friday 18 September - and a great line-up of music this weekend that kicked off at The Duchess with three bands, two of which I'd never heard of. The Druid, Andy and I were joined for the evening by my niece who was up for The National Bat Conference at the University of York. The Druid and I had to coordinate our arrival as I had his ticket, and I managed to let him know that I was outside the venue by accidently sending him a blank message instead of calling him on my mobile. Such is my mastery of modern technology!

Anyway up. First band was Satori who turned out to be singer-songwriter Stewart King with a bunch of musicians who are helping him tour his album, called Satori. They played a stonking set. To say it was heavy rock would be to deny the diverse nature of the songs. Some were very 'eavy, some more bluesy, and all delivered with assured and dynamic vocals. Standout tracks for me were definitely; If You're Going Through Hell, Keep Going, and the brilliant S.A.R. So impressed were we that the Druid and I bought an album apiece at the bargain price of just £4. On listening to the album on Saturday morning I have to say that I was underwhelmed by the production mix. The sound focuses much more on King's voice and the instruments are almost incidental, especially the guitars. In fact, the only track that really compared to the live performance was S.A.R. King's MyFace site does admit to a poor quality recording studio that has delivered a far from a professional product. So, great live, but I can't really recommend the actual album. The price probably reflects what you get.

Round two saw Leeds/Harrogate band Kasiuss take to the stage. Kasiuss started life as a two-piece but their ranks have now swelled to four, probably because the original two members found it impossible to musically multi-task live. Certainly they were a bit heavier than Satori, but they also carried off their tunes with a slick professionalism. The Flame, Killing Time, and City Lights were stadium-sized guitar rock anthems. More interesting was Rain with superb keyboards and a tempo that had my feet tapping. On the other hand, vocals were showcased by the slower-paced Midnight. Apparently they are currently working on an album, and I would certainly be interested in getting that. They are also supporting ZU2 (a U2 tribute band) at The Duchess on Saturday 24 April 2010.

And so to the headline act, Panic Room a band whose members comprise current and ex-members of Karnataka, Mostly Autumn, and Fish's band. Their first album, Visionary Position was released in 2008 and yet only three songs from that album made it onto tonight's set list. They kicked off with three tracks from their forthcoming Satellite album; rocker Freedom To Breathe, a groove-laden, big-chorused 5th Amendment, and a dark, moody Yasuni. The mood was lifted with the first VP track, Reborn and then we heard another new one, Go, rather too funky for my liking, but a demonstration of the wide range of styles that the band can deliver. The mid-point of the set, Blood Red Sky, was taken from vocalist Anne-Marie Helder's solo EP. It started quietly before turning into a heavy behemoth of a track. I Am A Cat was possibly their weakest performance, a quirky piece of fluff at odds with their usual material. This was followed by the second VP offering, Elecktra City, with its sci-fi, robotic theme. Then three more new tracks; heavy metal Black Noise, groove/rock Sandstorms, and intense metal Dark Star. The last was definitely my favourite of the evening, which bodes well for the new album. The last song was the hypnotic, Apocalypstick, full of eastern promise and the final VP track. For their encore we were treated to the forthcoming title-track, Satellite, a spacey epic ballad and a perfect end to the performance.

I very much enjoyed their first album and would heartily recommend it. This was the first time that I'd seen Panic Room and on the strength of this I would also recommend seeing them live and getting the their next album. Top class entertainment. All three bands were easily worthy of headline status.

Saturday 19 September - The Druid, I imagine, probably ended up in a ditch somewhere as he was at the York Beer & Cider Festival. The more sober amongst us waited for the evening when pocket chanteuse Chantel McGregor popped into The Roman Bath to give us a tune. Regular readers will realise that I'm being ironic here. Chantel is actually THE best guitar player that I've ever seen. After seeing her I can't pick up my own guitar for weeks because I feel so inadequate. The band includes Martin Rushworth on drums, Alex Jeffrey on bass, and of course, Chantel herself on guitar and vocals. I managed to half-inch the set list, but they don't seem to ever stick to the script. What I can confirm is that they played Bridge To Better Days and Sloe Gin (Joe Bonamassa), Voodoo Chile and Red House (Jimi Hendrix), Daydream (Robin Trower), Had To Cry Today (Blind Faith), One Of These Days (Ten Years After), Lenny (Stevie Ray Vaughan), For The Love Of God (Steve Vai), and White Room (Cream). Not in that order, and there were others that I'm ashamed to say I didn't recognise. But all were played with a nonchalance that belies her virtuoso performance. I count myself privileged to be witness to these events. Very highly recommended.

Doing the p-Pod shuffle

Tuesday 15 September - Yep, I didn't make it out at the weekend so you'll have to put up with my rambling musings instead. Porcupine Tree's The Incident has just plopped through my letter-box, and Muse's The Resistance is on its way as well, so you can expect reviews shortly. In the meantime, I have recently acquired Death Walks Behind You by Atomic Rooster and Inner Mounting Flame by The Mahavishnu Orchestra.

I didn't have any Atomic Rooster material previously, but while trawling through some random recordings I stumbled across them playing at Prog At The BBC, playing Tomorrow Night and was so impressed that I acquired their second, and most successful album. Utterly fantastic. Whilst the guitar playing and soloing was superb, what really stood out for me was the keyboards. I could hear shades of Keith Emerson and Jon Lord in there. Not surprising really, as poking about on Pikiwedia I discovered that they toured with Deep Purple, and Carl Palmer drummed with them on their first album, so founder and keyboardist Vincent Crane clearly wore his influences on his sleeve. The great thing about this album is that despite being released in September 1970, it still sounds fresh and relevant today.

In stark contrast, The Inner Mounting Flame proved to be a bit of a disappointment. Whilst I can acknowledge the technical performances of the band members, I found this form of jazz fusion to be difficult to access. Each track sounded the same, they lacked a 'hook', which may sound shallow, but that's the way it is. I suspect that it'll take a few listens for this album to grow on me. I'll persevere.

So, on to the p-Pod shuffle, which is to say, I set my Zen Mosaic to random to see what played, and here it is:

1. 98 Pages - Help Yourself. Just one of the top tracks from the outstanding debut album, Broken House And The Halfway House, from these York-based rockers.


2. Seahorses - I Want You To Know. Back to the halcyon days of 1997's Brit-pop. This was the opening track to their only album, Do It Yourself and, of course, there is a York connection via vocalist/guitarist Chris Helme.


3. Gene - New Amusements. Taken from another 1997 album Drawn To The Deep End, I just love Martin Rossiter's voice. Bizarrely, as I'm writing this, I'm playing Take Off Your Colours by Surrey-band youmeatsix and Josh Franceschi's vocals are very Gene-esque. My world is full of weird coincidences.


4. Hope&Social - Drink The Drink. Track four is actually track four from Architect Of This Church, H&S's first album under their new moniker. I just love everything these guys do.


5. Ash - Innocent Smile. I think my Zen is a time-loop. From the 1996 album 1977. This was before Charlotte Hatherley joined the band. Charlotte is playing at The Duchess this Saturday (19 September 2009).


6. Lit - The Best Is Yet To Come Undone. Now this is why I love shuffle. I haven't heard this track for ages. This track is from their 1999 platinum selling album, A Place In The Sun.


7. Scheer - Demon. Irish alt-rock from 1996 album Infliction. This track was released as a single on 8 April 1997. Audrey Gallagher's vocals get me every time. Shame that their second album, ...and finally, got tangled in contractual difficulties with their label, 4AD, and didn't see the light of day until mid-2000 on the band's own Schism Records label. By that time the band had ceased to exist. I wonder where they are now?

You broke, my mouth, the bloody bits are spittin' out/Your grave, unscathed, the worm is countin' down the day

Friday 4 September - In an attempt to top up on our listening of original music, tonight sees 'A' and I at Fibbers where the headline act is doing a farewell gig, which is actually a bit Irish, if we like them, we'll never see them again! Anyway, first on the bill was A New Society, but it clearly wasn't them as it was one bloke and a guitar. We never worked out what his name was, but he was actually rather good. He sounded a bit like Damien Rice.

Just to confuse us a little more, the second and third supports bands had been switched, so the second act turned out to be The M62s. From the opening chord my clothes were vibrating. The drum (Mike C) was mixed way too loud and the vocals (Martin T) were lost in distortion. I'm sure at various points the drum missed the odd beat. On the positive side they sounded pretty good, a bit like Ash. The bass in particular, played by Chris W, was wicked, very good indeed. Martin also did some pretty nifty looking guitar soloing, but again, the sound was lost in the mix. Shame really. We've been to gigs at Fibbers before and, even with loud bands, we know it's possible to get a mix where the vocals and instrumentation are distinct, so there are no excuses. Mr Mixing desk, please take note.

The next act, Elan Vitale, didn't suffer so much in the mix, possibly because they weren't so loud. Fronted by Tommy (Joe 90 with side-burns), they are a York five-piece Indie/New Wave band with a distinctive and fresh sound. They had the energy of the Arctic Monkeys but had a darker edge. Tommy's vocals reminded me of Rick Witter in his Shed 7 days. Overall they were very tight, and definitely one to watch out for in the future.

And so, finally, to the headline act, and by this time it was getting very crowded. I had forgotten, but we'd seen Airheads before, strangely enough in September 2008, although that time it was at The Duchess. We only caught half their act on that occasion but I really liked them. This time they appeared to be a pale imitation of their former selves. Maybe it was because Elan Vitale were so good, maybe I was expecting more with the hype of a farewell gig. What was certain was that the enthusiasm of the crowd exceeded the talent on the stage. Sorry guys.

As the music had finished so early, Airheads didn't even bother with an encore, we made our way over to The Roman Bath where covers band Storm were in full flow. We entered to the strains of Green Day's Basketcase, closely followed by Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon. They did a 10 minute medley of popular covers, followed by an unnecessary version of The Timewarp, before finishing with Prince's Purple Rain and Whitesnake's Here I go Again. A very pleasant way to round off the evening.

They hang like grapes on vines that shine/And warm the lovers' glass like friendly wine

Friday 28 August - "Hey Roj. Where are you?" "Outside The Punchbowl." "Me too, I can't see you." "I'm waving my arm in the air." "I still can't see you." "Are you on Micklegate?" "Yes." "You should be down Stonegate." "Bugger! I wondered why I couldn't hear any music." And so began other fun packed evening with the Friday-Nighters.

Because of it being the festival season, we were scratching around for live music again but hit the motherlode when The Druid spotted that Simon Snaize playing at The Punchbowl. In fact it turned out to be him and his partner in crime, Dave Keegan, or NZ Dave as we like to call him. There was a disappointingly small crowd in the back lounge, only a hardcore of about twelve of us were there for the entire performance, and two of those fell asleep on each other and had to be roused by a bar-person.

I'm not implying that they were dull, far from it. They played acoustic guitars (although there were some electronic effects thrown in) and harmonised their voices very well. There was a lot of material that I didn't recognise, and some that I did: stuff by Steve Earle, the Beatles, Neil Finn, Secret Smile by Semisonic, and Guthrie's California Stars. Apparently Simon and Dave are working on an album together. It was all very laid back and enjoyable, even the beer was a bit cheaper than usual, so altogether a very enjoyable evening.

Freedom calls my name/Serenity keeps me sane/Happiness it dulls the pain

Monday 24 August ' Why no blogs? Well, 'tis the season for festivals, hence musicians are in hiding, more or less. Also, I've been on holiday for a fortnight, therefore there hasn't been much for me to blog about, or maybe I've been a bit lame in putting finger to keyboard. So, to atone for my lacklustre performance over the past three weeks, here are some reviews of music that I'm currently listening to.

My story starts a little while ago when I pre-ordered Dream Theater's new album Black Clouds & Silver Linings. Why did I do that? I've no idea. I have nothing previously by Dream Theater. I recall seeing the name, and that's it. Sometimes I act on impulse and generally it turns out good, as in this case. BC&SL is made up of six tracks, running for about 75 minutes, so that should give you some idea of what's on offer. Basically we're talking prog-metal, a genre I generally find difficult to get into, although I'm making progress with assistance from Porcupine Tree. The first listen of the album gave the impression of classical music delivered via the medium of heavy rock, in a good way. Without going into a track by track listing I can say that each track is distinctive yet comprises a mini-symphony with multiple time signature changes and solo arrangements featuring all the members of the band. The lyrics are meaningful, not too poetic, and delivered sometimes in a standard song structure, and sometimes as a spoken poem. James LaBrie usually handles the singing while atmospheric growls are provided by Mike Portnoy. The drumming runs the spectrum from non-existence to maniacal, while the guitar work is to die for. Superb doesn't even come close. Whilst every track is brilliant, the highlight for me is The Shattered Fortress, apparently the last in a series of twelve musically and lyrically linked tracks spread over their last few albums that deals with Mike Portnoy's recovery from alcoholism.

I was so blown away by Black Clouds... that I started trawling Dream Theater's back catalogue and came up with a couple of titles at very reasonable prices. First up was Images And Words which turned out to be the band's second album, the first to feature (Kevin) James LeBrie, and widely hailed as their finest moment. Sounding like a car crash between Rush and Black Sabbath, many critics regard this album as one of the earliest examples of modern progressive metal. I don't know enough about the genre to comment, but I know what I like in my wardrobe and this is it. The opening track, Pull Me Under, pretty much epitomises much of their work; just over eight minutes of heavy riffs, catchy melodies, multi-layered virtuoso keyboard and guitar work, finished off with a healthy dollop of amazing lyrics. The next three tracks are diverse and yet similarly complex with their time and mood changes. Track 5 is the monumental Metropolis - Pt. I "The Miracle And The Sleeper" weighing in at over nine and a half minutes. Clearly classically inspired these is metal heaven with heavy riffs, complex drumming and emotive lyrics. The heavy bits are h-e-a-v-y, the quiet bits are the calmest metal can be yet still be holding onto your ears. Simply sublime. A lesser album might tail off at this point, not this one. Under A Glass Moon is a meld of beauty and aggression with an epic, and I mean EPIC guitar solo. Wait For Sleep gives us a haunting pause for breath before the gargantuan finale, Learning To Live, an almost space-prog-metal track. I'm making up my own genres here.

The second DT "reasonably priced album", was Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory, a reference to the masterpiece track from the Images And Words album. Apparently DT were given full creative control for this, their fifth studio album. It is a concept album that deals with the story of a man named Nicholas and the discovery of his past life through hypnotic regression, involving love, murder, and infidelity as Victoria Page. As a story, it makes fascinating reading, a real tale with a savage twist to it that stretches from the present day back to 1928. Musically it is structured as two Acts comprising nine Scenes split over twelve tracks. The final tracks ends with static from a record player and marks the beginning of what people have called a meta-album where the last note or noise of one album is the same or similar to the beginning of the next. The Dream Theater meta-album spans four albums, from Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory to Octavarium. Octavarium ends the meta-album by having the same piano note at the beginning and end of the same album. Concept albums, by their nature, are more about the story than the music, but once I knew the story the music just me along in a very natural way. The music is, of course, stunningly superb, but it never overwhelms, and the whole thing is beautifully constructed and executed.

Summing up then... I'm so glad I bought BC&SL as it's opened my ears to a fantastic band and brilliant music. I thoroughly recommend these three albums and will probably end up getting their entire back catalogue and recommending them as well!

Little drops of rain whisper of the pain, tears of loves lost in the days gone by

Friday 31 July - Oh god how I love serendipity. There wasn't a lot going on, musically, in York tonight, so we bowled along to The Roman Bath to see Graf Zeppelin. Guess what they play? Well, we weren't disappointed, absolutely not. Yes, they do Led Zep covers. Yes, we've heard Led Zep tribute bands before, and frankly, the last time Whole Lotta Led played was not good. But these guys are awesome.

GF are: Richard Oxby on vocals, Raith Wilson on guitar, Daz Chandler on bass, and Jon Booth on drums. They don't look like Led Zep, but this isn't a looky-likey contest. In fact Richard looks more like Boris Johnson on steroids, but when he opens his mouth...

They sound like Led Zep. Richard sounds like Robert Plant. He has the vocal range and he can hold note. The other guys play like Led Zep. Raith even abuses his guitar with a violin bow and Jon does that drum solo from Moby Dick. They do all your Led Zep favourites, including the ones you'd forgotten. From Black Dog, to Kashmir, it's all there. They even did Thank You as their encore, a song that genuinely brings moisture to my eyes.

Very, very, highly recommended.

Left a good job in the city/Working for The Man every night and day

Friday 24 July - I had a little diversion on the way home from work when I stopped off at my publisher to drop off a sheaf of sticky labels with addresses on. This is for the distribution of those copies of my book that are to be posted out. David, in charge of YPS, kindly gave me a tour of the printing area where I was able to see the innards of my book all printed out and stacked on a couple of wooden pallets. Apparently, they are just waiting for the covers to be laminated and then they can start binding. He expects everything to be ready by the end of next week. I have to say that I'm extremely impressed with the service they've provided so far. It's really getting quite exciting!

Anyway, as per usual, I was out in the evening, meeting 'A' in The Roman Bath for some southern-fried covers courtesy of Travelin' Band. I get very confused about who is in this band, tonight there were six of them, probably: Steve (Crazy Horse) McLeod, Tony (Oscar) Smith, John (The Russian) Mitchell, Paul (Big foot) ???, Steve Kendra, and Mick "Broke-back" Weaver. The band's moniker is a reference to a track by Creedance Clearwater Revival from their 1970 album Cosmo's Factory.

Oscar's singing is a bit flat (like I can sing!) but they play recognisable songs and I think your ears tend to compensate for the odd duff vocal. The guitars were mixed properly this time so I could appreciate the twiddly bits as well as the bass, and the drummer (Big foot) was excellent. I think Oscar is a Stealer fan as he was wearing one of their t-shirts.

With three pints of John Smith's down my neck, I suspect my memory is a tad rusty, but I do remember them playing the following: Bad moon rising, Travelin' Band, Up Around The Bend (Creedance Clearwater Revival), Rocking All Over The World, Proud Mary (John Fogerty), Rocking in the Free World (Neil Young), Gimme three steps, Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Johnny B Goode (Chuck Berry), Old Time Rock and Roll, Hollywood Nights (Bob Seger), Copperhead Road (Steve Earle), Crossroads (Robert Johnson), Battleship Chains (The Georgia Satellites), Call Me the Breeze (JJ Cale), and I Fought The Law (Sonny Curtis).

I rounded the evening off by shouting at four young thugs who were throwing stones at people's windows at 00:30 just around the corner from where I live. Luckily the beer I had consumed provided me with an invisible cloak of invulnerability so I was able to give them a jolly good ticking off and sent them back to the mothers, all without coming to any personal harm. Little blighters!

All your eyes have ever seen, all you've ever heard/Is etched upon my memory, is spoken through my words

Friday 17 July - following last week's brilliant weekend of music, it's back down to earth with a bump. There is just one glimmer of sunshine though, The Blueflies playing at The Roman Bath.

We've seen them before, but no matter, they're a very competent covers band, and apparently very cheap. A York-based three-piece consisting of Miles Gilderdyke on guitar and vocal, Gavin Ewing on bass guitar, and Trevor "Fatha" King on drums and backing vocals, t'Flies are adept at classic rock covers by the likes of Free, Cream and Hendrix.

If they have a fault, its Miles constantly teasing Fatha, poor chap. Anyway, the John Smith's was excellent and we were treated to songs such as: Lieber/Stoller Riot In Cell Block Number Nine, The Kinks You Really Got Me, ZZ Top Gimme All Your Lovin', Hendrix Voodoo Chile and Foxy Lady, Chuck Berry Route 66, Al Green Take Me To The River, Joe Tex Show Me A Man, Free The Hunter, Led Zep Whole Lotta Love, plus many more. Highly recommended.

I've been drivin' all night, my hand's wet on the wheel

Friday 10 July - first stop on a weekend of musical treats sees 'A' and I at The Duchess where Chris Helme is headlining. Now, the supporting line up was supposed to be Mark Wynn and Tom Euesden, but unless I had a dodgy pint (highly unlikey), I'm pretty sure that first guy's name was Tim and the second support act was Tom Euesden. Anyway, if I've got it wrong, I'm sorry. The layout was a bit odd for The Duchess. Tables were spread out in front of the stage, with clusters of chairs around them. All a bit 'jazz club'.

All three acts were basically one bloke and his guitar, and the first guy; I'll call him Tim, produced a decent performance and had a nice banter with the audience. His voice was distinct, with plenty of variation, and his guitar playing was great. Tom, (the second guy) was an even better guitar player but his voice was almost monotonal, so I didn't enjoy him so much. Sorry, it was probably just his style of singing.

The main event, of course, was York's own Chris Helme, a tireless supporter of music in the city, former member of The Seahorses, solo performer and currently member of The Yards. Tonight Chris was accompanied by two cellists from the "Yardbirds" which added a richer layer of sound to his performance. As always Chris delivered in spades with superb guitar playing and his best ever vocal form. We were treated to a selection of his own material, some from The Yards, and even a few old Seahorses tracks, including; Rollin', Pure, Fireflies, Hello, Cars, Last High, See the Lights, and Blinded by the Sun. For his encore we had his a cappella, foot-stomping, hand-clapping song which I think is called Be my Wife. This was probably the best and most consistent performance I've ever seen from Chris. I highly recommend that you try and catch him on his current tour.

As per usual, we'd finished early at The Duchess and therefore headed off to The Roman Bath, not actually knowing what to expect this week. It turned out to be Alice in Thunderland, a metal/heavy rock band from the Bridlington/Scarborough area. This was both good news, and bad news. The good news was that their noise drove the York race-goers away, the bad was that it also drove the ladies away. The band played a mixture of original material and covers, including; Highway to Hell (AC/DC), Rock 'n' Roll and Whole Lotta Love (Led Zepplin), Radar Love (Golden Earring), and Bang a Gong (T Rex). Actually, I thought they were rather good.

Saturday 11 July - it's always a highlight for us is when we get to see one of our favourite bands, and so it was a full turn out tonight; The Druid and Debbie, 'A' and Lou, Roy and myself all in The Roman Bath to see Breathing Space. The Bath was the first place that lead singer Livvy ever sang in public (over eleven years ago apparently), and other members of the band also have strong connections to this oasis of music. Hence, we are privileged to watch the band, for free. How great is that!

The line-up of BS has recently undergone a bit of a transformation. Guitarist Mark Rowen has been replaced by Liam Davidson (of Mostly Autumn), and saxophonist John Hart has also left. Tonight Mark was unavailable and The Mostlies send on a substitute in the form of Bryan Josh, their mainman in fact. The result of all this re-shuffling resulted in a much rockier, raw sound.

We were spoilt tonight. They delivered nearly two hours of superb music, including You Still Linger, Belief, Coming Up For Air and Searching For My Shadow. The set also included several new songs from their forthcoming album Below the Radar, including the title track, but the best of which had to be the encore, Questioning Eyes, an epic, soaring track that left us all on an incredible high. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the new album.

As we were ejected from The Bath we realised that the heavens had opened above us and rain of biblical proportions was bucketing down. We dashed for the cover of Brown's doorway were we whiled away about an hour discussing: music, Tommy Cooper, and the occupation of Ireland by the Norman-English from about 1300 (and the origin of the expression 'beyond the Pale' from the self-isolating defensive barrier of a few hundred square miles around Dublin known as 'the Pale' and occupied by the royal government in Ireland). I even treated my fellow gigsters to a rendition of Steeleye Span's All Around my Hat. I'm not sure how well that went down. Meanwhile, the rain continued unabated, soaking more race-goers, mostly of the female variety, who staggered around St Samson's Square in high heels, higher skirts and clutching teeny-tiny handbags over their heads. On what fun we had. The rain didn't ease up of course, and so we eventually sped off home in our various different directions.

Image courtesy of The Druid

Judge gimme me life this morn'in/Down on Parchman Farm

Friday 3 July - So, 'the blues', that'll be one tune that loads of people have written different lyrics for then? When I say different lyrics, I mean 'I'm going down to Georgia' or 'California' or 'Parchman Farm' or 'Macclesfield', to 'see my baby' or ''cos she left me' or 'to kill ...' someone. The truth is, the blues can be played that way, but in the hands of John Mayall it becomes a Coat of Many Colours, ranging from the rawest delta variety to jazz/blues fusion, and variety is what we got tonight.

It was all a bit strange as I entered The Duchess, a little after 20:00, there were chairs laid out for the audience! I couldn't see a way through to the bar except by walking between the front row of chairs and the stage. I tripped up of course. Well, it was dark. I reached the bar to find that a very orderly queue to get served was on the other side. Fortunately I was saved as The Druid hove into view bearing pints of Theakston's aloft. We stood just in front of the bar on the left side of the seats. I couldn't bring myself to sit down, it just didn't feel right. Within minutes John appeared on stage and promptly launched into a blues number a cappella accompanying himself on harmonica.

John Mayall (OBE) is arguably the grandfather of British blues, after dallying with a couple of bands he was persuaded by the legendary Alexis Korner to enter a full-time musical career and move from the Manchester area down to London. In late 1963 the band, now called The Bluesbreakers were playing the Marquee Club. John McVie (later in Fleetwood Mac) was on bass. In fact a plethora of musical 'greats' passed through The Bluesbreakers or played alongside Mayall including: (on guitar) Eric Clapton, Roger Dean, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Harvey Mandel, Jerry McGee, Jimmy McCulloch, James Quill Smith, Don McMinn, Kal David, Walter Trout, Coco Montoya, Randy Resnick, Sonny Landreth, Buddy Whittington, Eric Steckel, Robben Ford (on bass) Jack Bruce, John McVie, Steven Thompson, Larry Taylor, Tony Reeves, Rick 'RC' Cortes, Hank Van Sickle (on drums) Hughie Flint, Keef Hartley, Aynsley Dunbar, Soko Richardson, Jon Hiseman, Colin Allen, Mick Fleetwood, Keith John (on keyboards) Dr. John (and on vocals/harmonica) Paul Butterfield. John himself is a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, keyboards and harmonica. In November 2008 Mayall disbanded The Bluesbreakers to cut back on his heavy workload and give himself freedom to work with other musicians. However, three months later a world tour with a new band was announced: Tom Cannings on keyboards, Rocky Athas on guitar, Greg Rzab on bass, and Jay Davenport on drums.

OK, these are new names to me, but digging around in their backgrounds threw up outstanding pedigrees. Rocky was a childhood friend of Stevie Ray Vaughan (I've heard of him!) and was inducted into Buddy Magazine's Texas Tornadoes two years before Stevie. Thin Lizzy wrote the song Cocky Rocky after hearing Rocky play one night. Brian May was so floored by Rocky's finger tapping style that he incorporated it on the next Queen album. He played in Black Oak Arkansas, had his own band, the Rocky Athas Group, and has toured with huge acts such as: Ted Nugent, The Kinks, Rick Derringer, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, and Peter Frampton.

Greg has played bass with, among others: Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, The Allman Brothers Band, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Black Crowes, Albert Collins, Luther Allison, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Hubert Sumlin, Junior Wells, and Jimmy Page.

Now I'm not big on drummers and their careers but Jay was mentored by Clifton James who drummed for Bo Diddley, which must have been a good start. Among others, his drummed for Junior Wells, Valerie Wellington, Pinetop Perkins, Dion Payton, 'Southside' Denny Snyder, Gloria Hardiman, Jimmie Johnson, J.W. Williams, Carlos Johnson, and most recently with Melvin Taylor where he met up with Greg.

Over the years, Tom has toured and recorded with such diverse artists as Bonnie Raitt, Robbie Robertson, Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh, Elvis Costello, Albert Lee, Juke Logan, Freddie King, and Johnny Shines, as well as legendary French singers Johnny Hallyday and Eddy Mitchell. He has also produced critically acclaimed albums for Stephen Bruton, Scott Cossu, and New Age artist Ray Lynch. Since then, he has been invited to record a total of eight albums with JM and The Bluesbreakers, including Along For The Ride, Stories, No Days Off and The 70th Birthday Concert. An official member of The Bluesbreakers touring band from 2001 through 2003, Tom has rejoined John for the current line up.

OK, that's a lot of background, sorry, but I guess the point I'm trying to made is that this was a bunch of musicians of the highest calibre and this was evident by the quality of their performance. Each song (most of which I'd never heard before) was about 10-15 minutes long, and usually bookended virtuoso performances in the middle section that were simply breathtaking. The second song was an epic jazz/blues fusion worthy of early Caravan, fantastic. JM alternated between singing, playing the harmonica, keyboards, and sometimes the guitar. At one point Greg did a bass guitar solo that was absolutely jaw-dropping. Of the songs that I caught the names of, Parchman Farm (named for the Mississippi State Penitentiary), and Dream About The Blues, were outstanding. I would thoroughly recommend anyone with the slightest interest in the blues to try and catch JM on his tour.

The evening was still young when we left The Duchess so we headed across town to The Roman Bath where The Mojos were playing. We arrived about half way through their set and, as usual, were treated by a bunch of well-known tunes played exceptionally well, including: Van Halen Jump, Whitesnake Here I go Again, Dire Straits Sultans of Swing, The Darkness I Believe in a Thing Called Love, The Jam Town Called Malice, Robbie Williams Let Me Entertain You , and as an encore: Donna Summer (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher, Guns 'n' Roses Sweet Child of Mine, and Kings of Leon Sex on Fire. Terrific stuff, always good for a sing-along, and they get my feet shuffling.