Should auld acquaintance be forgot / And never brought to mind?

The end of another year and so here's a round up of what I've been up to musically. I've bought 38 albums this year, 13 that were actually released in 2010, the rest being a mixture of recent and classic releases that I've only just caught up with.

Among the old stuff is material by The National, Nils Lofgren, Starsailor, Super Furry Animals, Pink Floyd, Alter Bridge, Elton John, Newton Faulkner, Transatlantic, Lacuna Coil, Astra, Thriving Ivory, Jeff Buckley, JJ Cale, Mumford & Sons, Them Crooked Vultures, and The Reasoning.

The new releases were; Mexicolas The Minerva Suite, Lost From Atlas Lost From Atlas, Hope&Social April, Cheap Trick The Latest, Engineers In Praise Of More, Oceansize Self-preserved While The Bodies Float, The Union The Union, Iron Maiden The Final Frontier, Feeder Renegades, The Pineapple Thief Someone Here Is Missing, Kids In Glass Houses Dirt, Joe Bonnamassa Black Rock, and You Me At Six Hold Me Down. Looking back over this list I can see that it's a pretty eclectic mix; power-pop, blues, prog, indie, metal, rock, you name it.

We've seen 21 live gigs this year, seven covers bands; The Mothers, Rubber Bullets, The Mojos, Graf Zapplen, Bad Dog, Skint, and Flood Damage, the rest were artists presenting original material. At some of the gigs there were supporting bands that deserve mention as well so the line up of bands we saw this year comprises; Chantel McGregor, Dorien Starre, Comply Or Die, Adam Dawson, The Union, Hope&Social, Shed Seven, Ash, A Joker's Rage, Astrae, Morpheus Rising, GUN, Hazzard County, Boss Caine, Surprise...Fire, and The Hummingbirds.

Sadly, we missing the new lineups of Breathing Space and Mostly Autumn, but maybe next year. I've noticed this year that I am leaning somewhat in the direction of prog-metal, or at least prog-something. This isn't intentional, it's just the type of music that I'm enjoying at the moment. Having said that, my top band has got to be The Union who have delivered an outstanding rock album and a blistering live show this year. Roll on 2011, I think it's going to be another good one!

I am so innocent I swear to God oh but you pressure me / And I can't help but unwind

Friday 10 December - and as we rocket towards the end of the year the music is getting sparser, but in no way is the quality suffering as tonight two of us brave the snow and ice to see The Chantel McGregor Band at Fibbers. Now I've seen Chantel five times before, usually playing in a pub, but now she is writing her own material and doing a proper tour.

The turn-out tonight was disappointing low, probably in part due to the weather. We arrived in time to catch the last three songs being played by Steve Fulsham from Hull who was doing an acoustic set without the rest of his band. He sounded good, very good, and I'd like to hear more of him so I'll have to keep my eyes open.

Given that the crowd was a bit thin, we moved right down to the front next to the barriers and in a prime viewing position. In hindsight we were probably a bit too close to Martin Rushworth's drum kit and were therefore getting the benefit of the stage sound as well as through the speakers, but hey ho. The other member of the band was Richard Ritchie playing on a lovely looking 5-string bass.

Chantel took to the stage in her M&S slipper socks and immediately swung into action. As I have previously enthused, Chantel is a superb guitarist and has a great voice to boot. I didn't manage to get a set list but I'm pretty certain that she played Bridge To Better Days (Joe Bonamassa), Help Me (Sonny Boy Williamson), Come Back To Bed (John Mayer), Up In The Sky (Joe Satriani), Daydream (Robin Trower), High (Richie Kotzen), New Day Yesterday (Jethro Tull), and Sloe Gin (Joe Bonamassa). We also had a fair smattering of her own compositions; I'm No Good For You, Fabulous, Not Here With Me, Freefalling, Caught Out, and Like No Other. I have to admit that didn't really know what to expect of her own material, fearing that she wouldn't be able to pull off sufficiently sophisticated solos, but she blew my socks off with a range of musical styles, thoughtful and sometimes funny lyrics, and guitar solos to die for.

Between the songs there was a constant, endearing stream of anecdotes; snippets from Chantel's life ranging from buying dresses and perfume that she didn't want, ribs and chips, Dr Pepper and the women's toilets.

Finally, she encored with what she called her "15 minute" song which started with Had To Cry (Blind Faith) but may have segued into something else by the end, and an acoustic version of Rhiannon (Fleetwood Mac).

We had a fantastic night's entertainment and I desperately implore readers to at least check out her videos on YouTube, but if you like virtuoso guitar playing get along to one of her live gigs. Very highly recommended.

I heard you cry in your singsong voice / We didn't have a choice but to sit and watch you die in the February air

Friday 19 November - I have to admit that I was a bit half-hearted about going out tonight as the only original music in town was at The Duchess where Dorien Starre were playing. Now I know I saw these back in September 2008 at Fibbers and I'm sure that I've seen them at The Stone Roses Bar, but they've always left me somewhat underwhelmed.

My trepidation was not helped when we arrived at The Duchess to find ourselves in an audience that seemed to consist solely of sixth formers. We felt like parents intruding at the end-of-term disco.

Anyway, tonight's support bill kicked off with Likely Lads an enthusiastic bunch of youngsters who managed to pull off a number of quite well constructed tunes even though I was unable to make out the titles. There was a tendency to slip into ska-by-numbers but generally I thought that these were rather good. They also used a word that I used to use darn Sarf but never heard before oop North; "you nuggets" (weird or strange person, usually when they have done something silly). The audience certainly seemed to enjoy them, so that was a reasonable start to the evening.

The second aural offering came in the form of people: in airports a 4-piece indie-rock outfit from York and Leeds. Formed in 2006 by Shed Seven bassist Tom Gladwin and singer/songwriter Paul Downes the line-up was completed in 2007 with the addition of Jimmy Greenall (guitar and backing vocals) and Ken Sayers (drums). These, on paper, sounded quite interesting but I'm afraid they never really took-off and I can't really put my finger on why. Musically they were mediocre, one song blurred into another. It was all a bit plodding, as if the whole experience was just a bit dull as far as the band were concerned and that certainly came across in their music. Sorry guys, it just wasn't that good.

I had no great hopes as Dorien Starre took to the stage. Based in Leeds, the band consists of: Leo Derevonko (lead vocals & rhythm guitar), Alex Derevonko (bass guitar & backing vocals), Ian Talton (lead guitar & backing vocals), and Andrew Ackroyd (drums & woodblock). Back in March 2010 the Duchess hosted the Hive Live competition for top local acts. The winners were Dorien Starre and this was them returning to show-off the product of the recording prize they won. Frankly, they blew my flippin' socks off. I don't remember any of the songs from my previous encounters with them, but this was like listening to a different band altogether. I believe we were treated to; Wager, Nightline, Cartel, Glances, Wolves, Dwelling, I Can't Sleep, and Soho, but there may have been more than this. Certainly this was a band on form and one that is definitely going places. Highly recommended.

Black man gotta lot a problems, but they don't mind throwing a brick / White people go to school, where they teach you how to be thick

Friday 12 November - I spend a lot of time listening to cover bands, some of which are very good, and also bands that produce their own material in genres which I'm comfortable in listening to. Sometimes though, it's good to step out of your comfort zone and try new things. Tonight was one of those occasions. Andy and I were in The Basement in York to immerse ourselves in hardcore punk. Before I start I should point out that, throughout the night, I had no idea of song titles, and could barely make out any discernable lyrics whatsoever, so you won't be getting any lists of tracks.

The first band caught us flat-footed as they weren't even on the bill and it was only thanks to a chat with 'Taffy' who turned out to be the guitarist's Dad that we discovered that they were called The Vexed. A York band, they consisted of; Bilo - drums/vocals, Dicko - bass/vocals, and Jim - guitar/backing. Dicko played bass like it was a lead guitar, Bilo beat his drums like a maniac, but Jim, although grinning like a Cheshire cat, seemed slightly out of place. Apparently he had previously played lead in a rather less punk band which meant that he wasn't sporting an outrageous hair-do or black clothes with spikes and studs.  The vocals were pretty much just shouting as far as I could make out and I understand that Dicko was later coughing blood in the toilets and that this was perfectly normal. We were located to one side of the speakers and so were saved from the full aural blast. It's not my kind of music but the audience seemed to enjoy them and were singing(!?!) along, so I guess they were ticking somebody's boxes.

The second act was one of two tonight that had crossed the Channel from France to entertain us. Monsieur Marcaille was a one-man outfit with two bass drums at and operated by his feet, and a cello electrified with some hocus-pocus. He started by whipping off his Meatloaf t-shirt and then launched into trash-metal mayhem generating sounds that were never meant to be wrung by such a classical instrument. In between each song he spat on the floor and put a single finger up to his audience, and somewhere in the middle he emptied the contents of one of his nostrils as well. So, France does have talent and Mr Cowell needs to know about this chap, the quintessential French performer.

We never even saw the third act coming. Charogne Stone, tonight's second French act,  quietly set up his drum kit and backing track machine in the stairwell up to the bar. All of a sudden the ambience was shattered as he regaled us with sub-two minute screeching and drumming of the most frenetic kind. His drum sticks were a blur to me, I kid you not. Okay, I might not like the music but I had to admire his skills as a drummer. First rate.

All of which led to the final act of the night. Originally bottom of the bill but now thrust into the lime-light came Comply or Die apparently returning from a tour of the UK following the release of their debut album. The band comprises; Smell- vocals, Gottie -guitar/vocals, DD - drums/samples/programming, and Lee - bass. The first two songs were kind of RAtM in style mostly led by Lee's superb bass licks but by song three, Gottie's high slung guitar had really swung into action and the music turned more ska-based. The final song returned to the bass-driven RAtM style but by now Gottie seemed demonically possessed and flung himself and his guitar to the floor in front of the stage where he lay twitching.

Whilst I personally won't be looking out for any of these bands again, I can see that each would appeal to their individual audiences and their performances were very professional within their genres.

Johnny's in the basement, mixing up the medicine / I'm on the pavement, thinking about the government

As a self-confessed rubbish blogger it's time for me to play 'catch up' again with two outings rolled up into one blog.

Friday 15 October - saw a well attended outing to The Punchbowl in Stonegate to see Adam Dawson singing / playing his acoustic thing. We were treated to a variety of covers, performed in Adam's own personal style, as well as some of his original material. Of the covers we had songs recorded by such diverse acts as Lady Gaga, Damien Rice, Newton Faulkner, Coldplay, Ralph McTell, Mumford & Sons etc. But I particularly enjoyed his own songs; Lazy Susan, I'm Coming Home, and the fantastic Silver Skies. Very highly recommended.

Friday 22 October - and we pass up the opportunity to see Adam again, he might think we were stalking him, to see The Mothers at O'Neills. Now we've caught them before, 10 March 2009 actually, and on that occasion we only saw the first half of their act before moving on to watch another band. Tonight we had the same option but relented to watch the entire performance, which was really very good indeed.

I haven't been able to find out much about the band members themselves. The vocalist is Jon Stewart who also sings with The Supermodels and the bass player is Stuart 'Stu' Fletcher (ex-Seahorses, The Blueflies, The Yards, Rick Witter and The Dukes). Of the lead guitarist and drummer I'm afraid I have no details. Jon has a superb voice and they rattled off a string of covers. To the best of my recollection we had; Take Me to the River (Al Green), I Heard It On The Grapevine (Marvin Gaye), Mr Brightside (The Killers), You Really Got Me (The Kinks), The Seeker (The Who), Sex on Fire (Kings of Leon), Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine (James Brown), I Predict A Riot (The Kaiser Chiefs), Back In The USSR (the Beatles) which segued into Jumping Jack Flash (The Rolling Stones), Subterranean Homesick Blues (Bob Dylan), In The Midnight Hour (Wilson Pickett), Valerie (The Zutons) Paranoid (Black Sabbath), Tainted Love (Soft Cell), The Jean Genie (David Bowie), The Snake (Al Wilson). Basically an excellent set delivered by a top notch band. Highly recommended.

Sing it loud, sing it sweet / With hellfire fury, stomping your feet

Yep, I've been a bit remiss with postings of late, but in fairness I have been a busy bunny. As this blog was originally set up to be simply a log of gigs we'd seen that's more or less what I'm going to revert back to to get through the backlog.

Wednesday 15 September - and we were at Stereo in York for four acts, two of whom were new to us, or were they? We kicked off with Marbled (and on MyFace ) or should that be Marble D? All a bit strange, but basically a man and guitar which he played with nifty finger-picking. None of the songs actually stuck in my consciousness at the time but in attempting to track down some details about him I noticed a few York connections in the shape of Dave (NZ) Keegan and Sam Forrest (Nine Black Alps, Boss Caine) working with him on his EPs.

The second performance came from Gary Stewart with a more folksy style of playing. Gary was joined on-stage for his third song by Rich Huxley of Hope&Social and then the penny dropped, Gary is the current drummer with H&S. Apparently most of the songs were from his debut album, Boy Cries Wolf.

Act three was the ubiquitous GT Turbo aka Boss Caine aka Dan Lucas (on MyFace). It's hard not to like GT's style of music or maybe I'm just getting familiar with it. Tonight there seemed to be some new tunes and GT was joined on stage by first Tim Fox, and then Vinny North, both wielding harmonicas and both last seen in Hijack Oscar and the Fox-North Coalition (the band, not the government formed by Charles James Fox and Lord North in Great Britain that held office during 1783).

Finally, we moved forward for the highlight of the evening, Hope&Social who blessed us with tunes from both of their albums; Architect Of This Church and April. I did bring my kazoo but it wasn't required. I did take some photographs though. Despite seeing them fairly recently, tonight they were even better than ever and flinging themselves around the stage like crazy. It was a wonder nothing got broken. The highlight, as ever, was the acoustic sing-a-long to Looking For Answers. What a brilliant evening out.

Thursday 16 September - and the first outing to the newly refurbished Fibbers to see Shed Seven on the first of their 20th anniversary home-coming gigs. This was a big bash for us and my daughters and their partners had come along as well. The venue was much bigger inside than previously and the sound quality was quite good. I knew it was a sell-out gig but it was extremely crowed inside and I strongly doubt that everyone would have been able to get out in an emergency. The air conditioning was next to useless and dribbling a constant stream of water onto people's heads. Not a good start. The support act was Chris Helme (ex-Seahorses, ex-Yards, now a solo artist) and he had plenty of local support. Two of us were down at the front and I was singing along to most of his songs. After Chris had finished the front section filled up with what seemed to be a contingent of football louts, chanting and jostling each other. We moved out to the sides but it was very claustrophobic and one of our party, being pregnant, wasn't enjoying herself. They were good, very good indeed, but when they went in at half-time we all decided that we'd had enough and left, which was disappointing because the music was great but the venue let it down. For the first half they played; Dirty Soul, Speakeasy, Long Time Dead, Mark/Around Your House, Stars In Your Eyes, Sensitive, Dolphin, Ocean Pie, and On An Island With You. The second half, which we did not see, apparently consisted of; Disco Down, Bully Boy, Where Have You Been Tonight, High Hopes, She Left Me On Friday, On Standby, Going For Gold, and Getting Better. For the encore they played Missing Out and Chasing Rainbows.

Tuesday 21 September - was our second attempt to dip our toes in Fibbers. We were hoping that it would be less crowded this time as we were off to see Manchester band Oceansize. Sadly, it was an unmitigated disaster. We set off but half way into town I got a 'phone call to say that it had been cancelled. We met up with a couple of chaps in the Blue Bell on Walmgate where we found out that the sound requirements of the band were beyond the resources of Fibbers. In an effort to get around the problems they had wheeled out the old mixing desk but it blew a fuse every time their equipment was plugged in. I also understand that there was a lack of mains sockets at the stage end of the venue. In the end the band called it off and returned, very disgruntled, to Manchester. Fibbers had to print an apology in The Press and are, apparently, working to address the problems. Not good.


Thursday 30 October - and with some trepidation we headed for Fibbers again, this time to see The Union. Once we were inside, things weren't too bad. The air conditioning appeared to have been fixed, the second bar area was curtained off, it wasn't so crowded and certainly not as hot. Bar prices were through the roof though at £4.80 for a bottle of Peroni and a small coke. Support came from GT Turbo but he was more or less finished by the time we got there. Now, technically speaking this was a double headline as Ricky Warwick had the show booked but The Union piggybacked on it at his request. Because he was playing solo he went on first. Ricky is probably best known for being in The Almighty and is the newly appointed lead singer of Thin Lizzy. Most of his songs appeared to be from his latest album, Belfast Confetti plus his latest single The Whiskey Song. Although he played acoustic, he played with vigour and energy. He's gonna make a hell of a front-man for t'Lizzy. Brilliant. And so to the main event and we were right down at the front but there was no jostling down here. No giants with big hair to stand in front of us. Altogether a much more enjoyable and appreciative crowd.

The Union consist of Luke Morley (ex-Thunder) on lead guitar and Pete Shoulder (ex-Winterville) on second lead and vocals. For the tour they were joined by ex-Thunder bassist Chris Childs and a drummer whose name I believe to be Dave McCluskey. Apologies if I'm wrong. They came on to Part Of The Union (The Strawbs) and immediately belted out most of their eponymous album bar except that they excluded Amazon and played a new track, Rollin', instead. The final song of the encore was a cover of Proud Mary (written by John Fogerty and first recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival). The middle eight turned into a highly entertaining 'guitar war' between Morley and Shoulder. Most of the audience seemed to be fans already and there was plenty of clapping and singing along. Luke's guitar playing was sublime and Pete has a truely fantastic voice. This was quite possibly my gig of the year. Highly recommended.

Play the best song in the world, or I'll eat your soul.

Friday 10 September - Good music in York seems to have been a bit thin on the ground over the last couple of weeks but tonight we are in the Royal Oak in Goodramgate to see Adam Dawson perform. Adam joined Breathing Space as their new guitarist in July of this year. Tonight he was doing a solo gig, singing and playing acoustic six- and twelve-stringed guitars, mostly covers.

This was the first time we'd seen Adam although The Druid had caught him in July. Adam is an affable chap with a great sense of humour. He was quite happy doing covers on request if he was familiar enough with the lyrics or if he could get the audience to join in with him, which we did. Everyone loves a sing-a-long.

From memory, Adam treated us to; The Cave, Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons), Mr Tambourine Man (Bob Dylan), Hotel California (The Eagles), Space Oddity (David Bowie), Rule The World (Coldplay), Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol), Poker Face (Lady Gaga), Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd), Shine (Take That), When You Say Nothing At All (Ronan Keating), Tribute (Tenacious D), Streets Of London (Ralph McTell), Wild Rover (Trad.), Dream Catch Me (Newton Faulkner), Wonderful Tonight, Tears In Heaven (Eric Clapton), Dedicated Follower of Fashion (The Kinks), Use Somebody (Kings of Leon), I think it was Take A Chance (Magic Numbers) and two renditions of Lazy Susan (Adam Dawson) one of which was demanded as an encore.

Adam has a fantastic voice and a great guitar style. I haven’t caught the new incarnation of Breathing Space yet but look forward to doing so. I’ll also be looking out for more solo gig from the boy Dawson, highly recommended.

Do all that I can to heal you inside / I'll be the angel on your shoulder

It's been a while since we've been out in York on a Friday evening, partly because Fibbers is closed for refurbishment and partly because The Duchess doesn't seem to have much going on. All of which reduces us to watching covers bands at either The Roman Bath or The Terrace. That's not to say that other venues such as The Basement or Stereo have been lacking, but none of their acts has actually caught our eye, or ear.

This week however, we were pleased to see that Rubber Bullets were playing at The Terrace. Now we first encountered these guys back in April this year at the same place and were very impressed at the quality of their singing/playing and the material they cover, quite unlike most of the cover bands we watch.

Rubbers Bullets are 5-piece from York comprising Eddy Andersen on vocals, Dan and Phil Hardcastle on guitars, Andy Miller on bass, and Mark Lee on drums.

Tonight they gave us (not in this order); Rock 'n' Roll Star, Supersonic, Cigarettes and Alcohol (Oasis), Shoot The Runner, Underdog , Reason Is Treason, (Kasabian), Jailbird, Get Your Rocks Off (Primal Scream), Geraldine (Glasvegas), North Country Boy (The Charlatans), She Left Me On Friday (Shed Seven), Sun Goes Down, Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, Fake Tales of San Francisco (Arctic Monkeys), The Bucket, Molly's Chambers (Kings of Leon), The Riverboat Song (Ocean Colour Scene), Sally Cinnamon, She Bangs The Drums (Stone Roses), Song 2 (Blur), Common People (Pulp), Love Is The Law (The Seahorses), and Golden Touch (Razorlight). Every song was performed extremely well and made for a fantastic night's entertainment. Highly recommended so check them out.

You're all I have in this teenage twilight, Your golden hair and pale blue eyes

Sunday 4 July - I know! Sunday! It's mad isn't it! But it's for a good reason, Ash are playing in the Duchess. Now the last time I heard these live was way back at one of the Leeds festivals, when we couldn't actually get inside the tent to see them and had to sit on the grass outside and listen. They were so loud that it really didn't make much difference, and frankly, tonight was almost the same, very loud, and very hot indeed.

We got all the greatest hits; Lose Control, Goldfinger, Girl From Mars, Kung Fu, Oh Yeah, Let It Flow, Angel Interceptor , Lost In You etc. A couple of their new singles, which I didn't recognise, but enjoyed anyway. And a few, more extended, dance-like tracks; one I didn't catch the name of, the other was Twilight Of The Innocents, extremely good, and I don't like dance music. Without doubt this was the gig of the year for me and my ears were still ringing two days afterwards. Fantastic.

Friday 2 July - and a strong turnout at the Roman Bath, not least to exchange tickets for various events. I forgot and left mine at home so I'll have to post them off to The Druid, drat. Anyway up, tonight we are blessed by the presence of a superb covers band The Mojos. Regular readers (ha ha) will be aware that we've seen these on a number of previous occasions, 'cos basically they're very, very good and we know that we will have a thoroughly enjoyable evening. I'm relying on my miserable memory here but I distinctly remember them playing; Free (All Right Now), Jamiroquai (Cosmic Girl), Bad Company (Can't Get Enough Of Your Love), Nina Simone (Feeling Good, in the style of Muse) , Toto (Hold the Line), Whitesnake (Here I go Again), AC/DC (Highway To Hell), Kaiser Chiefs (I Predict A Riot), Robbie Williams (Let Me Entertain You), Chic (Le Freak), Dire Straits(Money For Nothing, Sultans Of Swing), The Killers (Mr Brightside), Queen (One Vision, Tie Your Mother Down), Primal Scream (Rocks Off), Stevie Wonder (Superstition), The Jam (Town Called Malice), Muse (Uprising), and Jackie Wilson( Higher and Higher). There may well have been others but the John Smith's was going down too well for me to recall. Thoroughly recommended.

She likes the boys in the band, She knows when they come to town, Every musician's fan after the curtain comes down

Friday 25 June - and tonight we eschew covers for some more original material in the shape of three bands playing at Fibbers, or do we? First band on the bill are a group that we've seen no less than three times before, Astrae (on MyFace and SpaceBook). They are a York-based alt-rock band (Haxby's finest) consisting of James A Hutchinson (Guitar / Vocals), Jack Beavers (Guitar / Synth / Vocals), Ali Thynne (Drums / Percussion), Rio (Keyboard / Synth), and T-Bone Malogus (Bass). As we've seen them before, you can read my previous reviews by typing their name into the Search box. Tonight there was no drummer which gave their set a sort of "unplugged" sound. James' continues to impress me with his energy and the power of his voice (think Robert Smith of The Cure). This band is really growing on me and this was an excellent start to the evening.

The next act we had also seen before, The Bitter Image. Another York-based band, their sounds have a hint of QotSA about them; heavy-ish rock, bit melodic, bit quirky. But, there's something about them that doesn't quite gel. Dom (Wells, lead singer rhythm guitar) is a bit too clean-cut for the lyrics that he sings. His neat hair cut and appearance is at odds with songs of blood and angels and demons. The other problem, for me, is that Jonny (Wells, lead guitar) seemed to be playing some excellent solos but they were lost in Dom's rhythm playing and an over-mix of the drum (Dom Smith) and bass (Jim Buck). Shame, if they didn't drown Jonny out I would have enjoyed this band so much more.

And so to the top of the bill, a Glaswegian outfit playing under the moniker of A Joker's Rage. Actually all the members of this band play in a whole fistful of other bands and AJR is just one avatar of their communal work. Their charismatic front man is Zakk Taylor, they have a fiery guitar-smith in the shape of Gary Johnstone, and Neil MacDougall (drums) and Graeme Glancy (bass) make up the engine room. There's a bit of funk, some heavy rock, some rapping, all sorts. The audience certainly lapped it all up. We were treated to a couple of covers as well; on the anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson we got Dirty Diana, and for their encore we all sang along to Rage Against The Machine's Killing In The Name. Very entertaining, but of the three, Astrae were the ones that stood out for me.

Though it's cold and lonely in the deep dark night, I can see paradise by the dashboard light

Friday 4 June - Sorry but I'm a bit behind with my gig write-ups and they may be a tad on the short side, but hey, I only started doing this to keep tabs on which bands we'd seen. Unfortunately my system fell over on this occasion because I forgot to check if we'd seen Graf Zeppelin before. We had. They were fantastic last time and just as good this time too. Playing in the Roman Bath, so free music, and hailing from Doncaster, 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 they do exactly what it says on the tin, they play like Led Zep. They're flippin' brilliant.

Friday 11 June - and Bad Dog are playing in the Roman Bath tonight. I checked this blog. We hadn't seen them before. Except that we had, but I forgot to blog it. Bugger! Anyway, Bad Dog are a femme-fronted four piece rock covers band formed by Steph and Andy who formerly played as part of Steve Steinman's major theatre shows The Meatloaf Story, Meatloaf Trilogy and Vampires Rock. Together with Ben and Mike, Bad Dog put on an excellent rock show covering artists such as; Queen, Tina Turner, T-Rex, Thin Lizzy, Bad Company, AC/DC, Status Quo , Kings of Leon, The Kinks, The Beatles, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Blondie, and of course, Led Zeppelin. Very theatrical, but very, very good indeed.

This one goes out to the one I love

Friday 21 May – It's nine months ago since Skint last played at The Terrace in York. We saw them six months ago in O'Neills and thirteen months ago at The Terrace, so we're averaging catching them every six months. Why? Because they're pretty damn good, that's why. Skint are: Rich Graves (lead vocals), Stew King (lead/rhythm guitar), Ian Moore (drums), Gav Cator (rhythm/lead guitar), and Paul Teasdale (bass/vocals). Paul also plays bass in Breathing Space. They play modern indie and classic rock covers, and they do it very well indeed.

It took a while for the guardian of peace (bouncer) to get the patio cleared so that the doors could be closed allowing the band to start playing so we had a bit of a late kick-off, maybe 21:30. They went straight into R.E.M's The One I Love for their sound check and then they were away; Kaiser Chiefs (I Predict A Riot) QotSA (No One Knows), The Editors (An End Has A Start), Kings of Leon (Red Morning Light) Green Day (Basket Case), Blur (Song 2), Jet (Are You Gonna Be My Girl), Green Day (Boulevard Of Broken Dreams), Stereophonics (Dakota), Oasis (Champagne Supernova), Kings of Leon (Molly's Chambers), The Kooks (She Moves In Her Own Ways), Snow Patrol (Chasing Cars), Rolling Stones (Jumping Jack Flash), Simon & Garfunkle (Mrs Robinson), The Automatic (Monster), Buzzcocks (Ever Fallen In Love), Fratellis (Chelsea Dagger), Arctic Monkeys (I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor), The Hives (Hate To Say I Told You So), and Electric Six (Gay Bar).

The highlight for me was the rocked-up version of Mrs Robinson, whilst the lowlight was Gay Bar. Not necessary. They have plenty of good songs in their repertoire; please remove from your set-list. Overall, as before, highly recommended. See you in about six months guys.

A little bit of addiction, It never hurt me, it won't hurt you.

Friday 24 April – and tonight we visited one of our less well-used haunts, Stereo, the pub/venue formerly known as Speakeasy or Certificate 18 or The Bay Horse, depending on when you last dropped in. Three of us turned out to see one of our favourite bands headlining, but first we supped warm ale and watched the warm-up acts.

First to tread the boards was Robert Loxley Hughes, the front man from Idle Jack And The Big Sleep. I have it on the best possible authority that IJATBS are currently in hiatus with Mr Hughes doing his own thing and the rest of the band resurrecting side-projects such as Ishtar. So for tonight RLH performed whilst sitting on a chair, just him and an acoustic guitar (actually borrowed from GT Turbo). Now I'm not a huge fan of RLH the person, having had a run-in with him a glass of red wine and one of my white t-shirts, however, he sings with a heart-felt passion and the songs are well-crafted, ranging from lullaby soft to outright shredding metal. Believe me, I felt for those poor guitar strings.

Talking of guitar abuse brings me nicely onto the second act of the evening, Dave Woodcock And The Dead Comedians. Now we've seen these before, but only two of them on that occasion, so it was interesting to see and hear the full band. Too be honest, I wasn't much more impressed, although I did recognise a few of the songs which means that they must have been good enough to hook into my brain first time around, lots of cigarettes, and alcohol, and lost love. At one point Dave attempted to dance with a female member of the audience and finally ended up singing whilst lying on his back. As the final chord rang out, Dave chucked his guitar to the floor of the stage, an act that caused me to wince in despair.

The third act was Dan "GT Turbo" Lucas, head hombre of Boss Caine and (I think) the organiser of tonight's event. By this time the crowd was beginning to thicken up somewhat and the noise level of the general chit-chat was starting to rise. Why is it that some folk pay an entrance fee just to chat loudly to their mates and ignore the performer? How rude is that? It was clear that Dan had encountered this kind of ignorance before as his t-shirt was emblazoned with "Shut the f*@ck up, the band is playing." Not that the noise-niks took any notice so we edged ever near the stage. I'm beginning to familiarise myself with Dan's work, Smoking In My Back Yard, Leaving Victoria, and the lovely Sweet Sorrow Surrender. I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that I will have to get the album.

And so to the headline act, Hope&Social, who are touring their second album (not counting releases as Four Day Hombre), April. Once more they are selling their album on a pay-what-you-like basis both for a physical CD and downloads. I ordered a physical copy and was pleasantly surprised to get a download copy as well, to listen to whilst awaiting the actual CD to arrive in the post. How thoughtful was that? Anyway, I burned the download and had been playing it on heavy rotation in my car, so I was up to speed with all the new material before tonight's gig. In fact I was intrigued as the album features the Garforth Brass Band and I couldn't see how they were all going to fit on the stage. In fact H&S managed to get three into their "brass" section; James Hamilton on trumpet, Katie Hawcutt on sax (actually a woodwind instrument), and a girl on trombone who’s name eludes me. The core members of H&S; Simon Wainwright (vocals/guitars/piano), Rich Huxley (guitars/vocals/piano/rhodes), and Ed Waring (keyboards), were joined tonight by new comers on drums and bass.

The band played tracks from both the new album, April, and their previous offering, Architect Of This Church. Highlights for me included; Sunlight Hold Me with its huge crescendo of noise, Do What You Want, Red Red Rose, Pitching It Far Too High, Marching On Through, and Ripples Rock My Boat. But, besides the superb music, there's also a fantastic engagement with the audience with opportunities to sing along in the choruses and play along with tiny, plastic kazoos. There was also a completely unplugged, acoustic version of Looking For Answers with audience backing. Incredible, and quite possibly the best performance I've ever seen from the band. Please, please see them, buy an album, whatever. But don't miss them 'cos they're brilliant.

I'm on it, get on it / The troops are on fire!

Friday 9 April 2010 - Sometimes things work out better than you expect. Take tonight for example. My cursory scan of t'interweb led me to believe that we would be watching a 5-piece covers band from Newcastle at The Terrace, but no... Rubber Bullets (and here on FaceSpace) are in fact a 5-piece from York comprising Eddy Andersen on vocals, Dan and Phil Hardcastle on guitars, Andy Miller on bass, and, he bangs the drums, Mark Lee.

We were expecting the usual strains of Elvis, Green Day, ABBA, Nivarna, AC/DC, Bowie, etc. but instead were treated to a glorious selection of modern and classic indie anthems. Fantastic! The band put real effort and energy into the gig. The guitar work was top-notch and Eddy's vocals were spot-on. They were superb.

They gave us (not in this order); Hello, Supersonic, Live Forever, and Cigarettes and Alcohol (Oasis), Shoot The Runner, Underdog , Reason Is Treason, Club Foot, and LSF (Kasabian), You Got The Love (Candi Staton as covered by Florence And The Machine), Jailbird, and Get Your Rocks Off (Primal Scream), Steady As She Goes (The Raconteurs), Geraldine (Glasvegas), North Country Boy (The Charlatans), She Left Me On Friday (Shed Seven), Fake Tales of San Franciso, Sun Goes Down, and Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor (Arctic Monkeys), The Bucket, and Molly’s Chambers (Kings of Leon), The Riverboat Song (Ocean Colour Scene), Sally Cinnamon, and She Bangs The Drums (Stone Roses), and Song 2 (Blur). Highly recommended.

Word up everybody say, When you hear the call you've gotta get it underway

Friday 19 March 2010 - and tonight Matthew, we are down at The Duchess for an evening pregnant with the possibility of slightly-heavier-than-usual music.

As we arrived, the first band, Scream Arena were just finishing their penultimate song before launching into House of Pain, which I would certainly slot into the heavy rock category. Apparently they come from York and are currently unsigned which, given their polished performance, I find somewhat surprising.

The second band of the evening were another local outfit, but one I have so far missed, Morpheus Rising. MP consists of Graeme Tennick (vocals), Pete Harwood (guitar), Daymo Sweeting (guitar), Andy Smith (bass), and Paul (Gibbo) Gibbons (drums), although for tonight the bass was played by someone disguised as Andy Smith who I understand was in Cheltenham. The band came onto the stage to the strain's of Orff's Carmina Burana, one of my favourite pieces of music, so a good start. They gave us Save The Day, Brave New World, Fighting Man, Lord of The North, Gypsy King, and Hold On. MP bill themselves as NWoBHM - TNG (The Next Generation) and certainly I could hear elements of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden in their songs. Pete and Daymo produce a brilliant two-guitar sound. Graeme has a voice that reminds me of Ray Wilson (Stilkskin, Genesis) and he can certainly hold a note. I found the drums were mixed slightly too high which tended to drown out the guitar soloing. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed MP and look forward seeing them again soon.

Finally, the band we were here to see, GUN. In their present incarnation, GUN consist of Toby Jepson (ex of Little Angels), brothers Dante and Giuliano 'Jools' Gizzi, and a chap on drums whose name escapes me, sorry. There was certainly a hard core of fans in the audience who knew all the words for the sing-backs, sadly I and my little group were not familiar enough with their work to do the same. I will be rectifying this by a quick visit to play.com! Basically, their performance was drawn from their first albums; Taking On The World (1989), Gallus (1992), and Swagger (1994), plus three songs from their latest 5 track EP, Popkiller (2009). The actual tracks were: Welcome To The Real world, Money, Stand In Line, Popkiller, Money To Burn, Taking On The World, Let Your Hair Down, Better Days, Seraphina, Don't Say It's Over, Something Worthwhile, Inside Out, Steal Your Fire, and for the encore - Shame On You, and of course Word Up. An extremely enjoyable evening and, as mentioned before, CD purchases will be imminent!

The Hazzards of Love

Friday 12 March - we eschewed our hunt for original music by indulging in a covers band that we used to regularly watch at the Old White Swan, Hazzard County. The Hazzards haven't played together for some time now, band members having gone their separate ways and now being involved in other projects. But tonight at the Basement Bar, for one night only, they had reformed (in one of their myriad configurations) for a charity bash. Country Jon's wife, Jayne, is taking part in the London Marathon to raise money for Shelter.

The first act on tonight's bill was Steve Kendra. Steve is a one man and guitar with the emphasis on the lyrics. This was a shame because the general hub-bub in the bar managed to successfully drown out any chance of hearing him properly, except for snatches of one song which was about his father working at the Terry's factory and having hair that smelt of chocolate. Shame really, maybe we'll get a chance to hear him properly one day.

The chatter abated a little for the second act of the evening, Boss Caine, ably accompanied at various times by Andy Gaines, and fragments of the Hazzards. We've seen him before and his music is fast becoming more familiar to me. His voice reminds me of Neil Diamond. He has an album out soon and I'm sorely tempted to order a copy

Finally, the band everyone came to see (since the background noise level seemed to die down when they took to the stage); Chris Johnson, Dave "NZ" Keegan, Country Jon, Simon Snaize, and Patrick "Paddy" Berry. Paddy alternated between an electric bass and a double-bass while the rest took turns at vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, drums, and tambourine, with Chris occasionally on keyboards.

What they played was essentially a collection of their classic material garnered over the many years they were together; California Stars (Wilco), Midnight Special (trad. Lead Belly), Forget The Flowers (Wilco), Wagon Wheel (Dylan/Secor) Devil In Disguise (JJ Cale), It Ain't Me Babe (Dylan), Across The Great Divide (The Band), Passionate Kisses (Mary Chapin Carpenter), Grievous Angel (Gram Parsons), Why?, Song Of The Old Rake (Stormwater Boys), Going To Acapulco (Dylan), The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (Robbie Robertson), Cripple Creek (The Band), Ophelia (The Band), Who Were You Think Of (Wilco), I Still Carry You Around (Steve Earle), Tell It To Me (Old Crow Medicine Show), New York, Sin City (Flying Burrito Brothers), Home Of The Blues (Johnny Cash), Everything Is Free (Gillian Welch), Don't Stand So Close, I shall Be released (Dylan), A Little Bit Of Love, Dead Flowers (Rolling Stones), Maggie's Farm (Dylan), The Weight (The Band). Most of these I got from the set list but some were thrown in towards the end at the request of various members of the audience. As always, the Hazzards played brilliantly, in most cases the covers being better than the originals. The band, and audience, were enthusiastic and really enjoyed themselves.

The gig finally ended slightly after midnight and our feet were aching from standing for so long, but it was a fantastic evening. A shame that the Hazzards don't get together more often.

Breathe the pressure, come play my game I'll test ya. Psychosomatic addict, insane

Friday 19 February - saw a four person turnout at Fibbers when the Friday Nighters braved the chill winds in search of new music in York.

It's confession time, and I have to admit that I didn't take enough notice of the first two support bands to remember their names. In fairness, we only caught the final two songs from band #1, so I don't feel qualified to comment on them. Band #2 were distinctive in that they sported a trumpet player. Their vocals sounded a bit like Neil Hannon giving the overall impression of Divine Comedy playing in a Mexican cantina. They started with a couple of non-descript songs but got significantly better as they went on, playing competently and getting my toes tapping. I remember that the band's name contained the word "honey" if that's any help. Sorry.

Any way up, the next band were 3 Foot Ninja (and here), a young indie/punk trio based in the wilds of the North Yorks Moors/Middlesbrough area. The band is fronted by Jordan Bell on guitar and vocals, with his brother Joe on bass and Kane Waterfield on drums. They played straight-forward hardcore rock. I wouldn't class them as punk, their songs were far too melodic and their lyrics way too thoughtful "I even love your bones". They finished with a fantastic cover of The Prodigy's Breathe. Quite brilliant and highly recommended.

Top of the bill were Surprise...Fire, a five-piece from York comprising; Joshua Finn (vocals), Matthew Clarkson (guitar and backing vocals), Freddie Holden (bass), William Illingworth (guitar), and Sam Knowles (drums). They've been together since August 2008 and last year played the Leeds/Reading Festivals as well undertaking a UK tour. Certainly an energetic band with Josh clambering up the sides of the stage and at one point ejecting himself into the crowd. Even for a young band, they show considerable talent with two and three part vocals on, I think, Mountains. I didn't catch the titles of any other songs but there was plenty of musically mood changes, with picking patterns leading into heavier guitar sections, quiet spots with soft vocals, strong choruses, changes in pace, and guitar play-off between clean picking and heavy crunch.

Together we'll stand, divided we'll fall / Come on now people, let's get on the ball

Friday 5 February - There being a bit of a dearth of live music at the moment, we opted to go for something off the beaten-track and ended up in The Spread Eagle in Walmgate to listen to Sheffield four-piece R&B outfit The Hummingbirds. Now, it's been a while since I was last in this particular pub. I seem to remember having a meal there and eating a bucket of prawns for my starter. Anyway, I do recall that their range and quality of beers was pretty good and tonight that memory proved correct as I supped on pints of Marston’s Pedigree whilst Andy partook of Jennings Cross Buttock Ale, mmm.

Anyway, back to the music, and The Hummingbirds took to the 'stage' about 21:15. Actually the band; Bob "Saxbob" Swift (tenor and soprano saxophone), John "the Revelator" Houghton(five-string bass and vox), Stu "Steelman" Arfield (lead guitar), and John Scott(drums), were positioned behind some tables and playing to the front door. No worries though as we could position ourselves to see them easily enough. They were good, very good. Bob's sax playing was a tad too loud, and Stu's guitar was a bit muted, but he played like a demon whilst remaining almost perfectly still, resplendent in what looked like a Crombie coat. What style! I'm not fantastic at classic R&B tracks so I've little idea of what they were playing. For sure there was T Bone Shuffle by T Bone Walker, Double Trouble by Otis Rush, and Let's Work Together By Wilbert Harrison which was later a hit for Canned Heat and The Kentucky Headhunters for the soundtrack to the movie, Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man. Lynn and I thought that Roxy Music also covered it, but after a bit of digging I found that this was a slightly modified re-cut of Wilbert's 1962 single Let's Stick Together (same tune?) that was later a hit for Bryan Ferry in 1976. I live and learn.

Highly recommended.

When I got home that night early one morning, Seeing the note written in ink pinned to the door

Friday 8 January - and the first gig of the New Year is a covers band at The Roman Bath. Going by the moniker, Flood Damage, this York-based band consists of: John (bass guitar and vocals), Steve (guitar and vocals), Mick (guitar and vocals), and Brian "Two sheds" Thompson (drums). Due the the blanket covering of snow, they were a little late in arriving and the crowd was a bit thin. However, after the half-time interval, the crowd was more like a usual Friday night and very appreciative of the band. The lead vocals weren't particularly brilliant but there was compensation in the form of some rather good harmonising in the backing vocals, so a pretty good effort. We were teated to at least; Can't get enough of your love and Feel like makin love by Bad Company, You really got me by The Kinks, Alright now and Wishing Well by Free, Won't get fooled again and Substitute by The Who, Brown sugar and Honky Tonk Woman by The Rolling Stones, Radar Love by Golden Earring, Highway to Hell by AC/DC, Black Betty by Ram Jam, My Sherona by The Knack, Should I stay or should I go? by The Clash, Tie your mother down by Queen, Rocking in the free world by Neil Young, and Roll Over Lay Down by Status Quo. Overall, we were very impressed with the sound and variety of covers. Recommended.