What about the neighbors, what they gonna say/Stop little sister, gettin' carried away

Friday 23 January - The Druid and I are in The Roman Bath to watch Scandal, a band that we last saw way back in July of last year. Strangely, there was only the same two of us on that occasion as well. Anyway, the band play rock/blues covers and consist of: Ian Mann (rhythm guitar and vocals), Ady Ingleby (bass), Alan Hopwood (drums), Jamie Reynolds (lead guitar), and Paul Hopwood working the lights.

A handful of songs in and I'm confessing that I only recognised one or two that they've played so far. The druid pointed out that I said the same last time, plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose! Anyway, after that I really started remembering more and we were back in our comfort zone playing 'spot the song'. Technically, these guys are excellent. Okay, they're only covers but I know from my own experience that it's really hard to sound anything like the original artists, and Scandal do a very fine job. Highly recommended.

As per usual my memory was never going to survive three pints of superb quality John Smith's cask (no hangover this week, must be developing an immunity) and thus I was reduced to begging for the set-list. So here's a run-down of some of the great covers that we heard: Dr. Feelgood (I Can Tell), ZZ Top (Gimme All Your Lovin', La Grange, Jesus Just Left Chicago, Sharp Dressed Man, Tush, Pincushion), Lynyrd Skynyrd (Sweet Home Alabama. Freebird), Cream (Badge, White Room), Hendrix (Hey Joe, Voodoo Chile, Purple Haze), Bob Dylan (All Along the Watchtower), Willie Dixon (Hoochie Koochie Man), Stevie Ray Vaughan (Look At Little Sister), BBM (Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Gary Moore) (Can't Fool The Blues), Gary Moore (Too Tired), and Thin Lizzy (Rosalie, Cowboy Song, The Boys Are Back in Town).

I, I will be king and you, you will be queen

Friday 16 January - "Man doth not live by covers only" (Roj 8:3) and so we turned up at Fibbers for an evening of original tunes from two bands utterly unknown to us, and one that we've heard before. The beer in Fibs is disgusting these days. Tetley's Cold, I ask you, Tetley's is bad enough served luke-warm but cold bitter is a travesty that shouldn't be endured.

Musically, we kicked off with Astrae (on MyFace and FaceFriend), a York-based alt-rock band consisting of James A Hutchinson (Guitar / Vocals), Jack Beavers (Guitar / Synth / Vocals), Ali Thyne (Drums / Percussion), Rio (Keyboard / Synth), T-Bone Malogus (Bass), and Jo Wherry (Violin). To be honest, it wasn't a good start. Jack had his right arm in a cast and was unable to play his guitar so he plonked away on a mini keyboard with his left hand. James' guitar wasn't quite tuned to the same key as Jo's violin which made for a bit of dischord, and then about half-way through the first song, James' guitar went completely silent. By song two the sound was cutting in and out intermittantly and his guitar strap came adrift. OK, it was a bit of a disaster and James was seething while the rest of the band avoided looking at him and hoped the ground would swallow them soon. Normalcy was restored for their fifth and final track which we rather enjoyed. In fact, if you removed the technological gremlins, I liked the way all their songs were crafted and particularly the slightly jazz feel to songs three and four. I would definitely like to see this band on a good night so I'll be watching out for them again.

The next band were The Buccaneers, a York-based garage blues outfit comprising; Andre (guitar), Leo (guitar), and Jonny (drums). Amongst the tracks they played were Wanted Man, Maggie, Busy Waters, She's Coming For Your Bones, and Whiskey in the Jar, but their tight performance couldn't make up for the lack of musical variety between each tune. A tad disappointing really.

Finally, the band that we had seen before, 98Pages, who are: Martyn Fillingham (Vocals/Guitar), Jase Brooks (Bass), and Andy Black (Drums). Another power blues trio but this time with much more variety to their tunes, and Jase strutting around like Meatloaf-lite commanding as much stage as lead man Martyn. Think of Led Zepplin playing punk or The Who on speed. There's a freshness and rawness to their sound that suddenly makes you appreciate live music. I didn't catch the titles of many of their tunes but amongst them were: Goodbye Jo Jo, Same Old Pain, and Winter Days. At one point Martyn declared "here's one off our next album". I think he meant their debut album which is due to be launched on 13 March 2008 at The Duchess, although it's not on the What's On list yet. Anyway, recommended.

When the sun shines, we’ll shine together/Told you I’ll be here forever

Friday 9 January - I guess the musical year hasn't really kicked in yet and our options for this Friday were somewhat limited, but four of us braved the frost giant's icy breath to turn out at The Roman Bath to watch Miracles and Wonders, a band that we've not seen before. I have to say that their website is out of date (July 2008) and very irritating, being full of snapshots™ that really break up the browsing experience.

Anyway, M&W are a York-based covers band consisting of Bob and Pat on guitars and vocals, and Mike on drums. That's about as much as I know. We're normally pretty good at playing 'guess the track' with covers bands but were somewhat thwarted by them apparently playing what sounds like one track and then switching into something very similar. Not the best covers band we've seen, but they did cover some slightly more unusual material, so I can forgive them. Sadly I wasn't able to blag a set-list as they appeared to be playing their selections from a book, so you'll have to put up with my memory and trust that there were other songs that I simply didn't remember.

The kicked off with two of my favourite Oasis numbers, Rock and Roll Star and Cigarettes and Alcohol. Then, in no particular order: Where the Streets Have No Name and Vertigo (U2), Paradise City and Sweet Child of Mine (Guns n' Roses), Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol), Babylon's Burning (The Ruts), Pretty Vacant, God Save the Queen and Anarchy in the UK (Sex Pistols), Ruby and I Predict a Riot (Kaiser Chiefs), Everybody Hurts (R.E.M.), Relax (Frankie Goes To Hollywood). The Pretender (Foo Fighters). They also managed a storming version of Umbrella (Rihanna) which completely took us by surprise. It really works as a rock song! There were also some songs that I couldn't remember the title of, one by U2 and one by Snow Patrol, and possibly something by Simple Minds. Anyway, that gives you a flavour of their material.

Every cowboy sings a sad, sad song

Friday 2 January - I'm all behind like a lamb's tail at the moment as my PC at home is giving me the dreaded BSOD. Anyway, Christmas is over, we've rung in the New Year and music is a little thin on the ground in York this weekend, except...

Wild Messiah (and on FaceFriend) are playing at The Roman Bath. We've seen these before and been very impressed by them. Four young chaps from Barton-upon-Humber: Mark Williams (Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar), Martin Shepherd (Bass Guitar), Glen Brown (Lead Guitar, Vocals), and Brad Brown (Drums, Vocals).

They played a mixture of covers and their own material all extremely well delivered, although I thought that they could have done with a little more volume on the lead guitar. The timing between the bass and the drums was much improved since we saw them last. Since I have the memory of a..., nope forgotten it, I blagged the setlist although they may have slipped some extra songs in and discarded a few along the way. Of the ones I didn't recognise I'm not sure if the track was theirs or a cover, but I've credited the songs to them. I hope I got title/artist right and I'm happy to be corrected if not.

I Wanna Rock (Twisted Sister), Breaking The Law (Judas Priest), Gimme All Your Lovin' (ZZ Top), Sweet Emotion (Aerosmith), Live For Today (Wild Messiah), Alright Now (Free), Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who), Miracle (Wild Messiah), Sweet Child Of Mine (Guns n' Roses), You Really Got Me (The Kinks), Beat It (Michael Jackson), Rocking in the Free World (Neil Young), Black Night (Deep Purple), Feel Like Making Love (Bad Co.), Nothing Wrong, Just Moving Along (Wild Messiah), Every Rose Has A Thorn (Poison), You give love a bad name (Bon Jovi), Fallen Angel (Poison), Detroit City Rock (Kiss), Unskinny Bop (Poison), One Wild Night (Bon Jovi), Love Hurts (Bon Jovi)

Wild Messiah are playing The Roman Bath again on 6 April 2009, and 20 July, but do check before turning up as The Bath is well known for switching acts at the last minute.

Monday 5 January - Christmas is not quite over yet. Oh yes it is. Oh no it isn't. Tonight was family night at the pantomime, so that's nine of us (seven adults, a teenager, and one child) watching Berwick Kaler in Dick Turpin, his 30th pantomime production at the York Theatre Royal. As always it was hysterically funny, barely a plot-line in sight, loads of ad-libbing, slapstick involving a water tank, a video (this year featuring Harry Gration), and a UV light and puppets sequence. Berwick was great as he always is, the villain (David Leonard in his 21st year in the role) was brilliant, but for me the best performance came from Suzy Cooper (as Alma Turpin) who gave an awesome mad routine that reminded me of QE1 (Miranda Richardson) from Blackadder II, except she was even madder and shriller!