RojBlog

2011 Retrospective

2011-12-21T13:16:00.000Z

Tuesday 20 December – It’s been a greatyear in music for me. I attended 19 live gigs, 1 rock festival, and bought 40albums of which 12 were actually released this year.

Of the live gigs I managed to pack in; 98Pages,Boss Caine (twice), The Blueprints, The Buccaneers, Sombre, Missing Kids, TheABC Club, Glass, Dorien Starre, The Bitter Image, Panic Room, Marbled, ThePepperhearts, The Mothers, These City Walls, Dinosaur Pile-Up, The Xcerts,Japanese Voyeurs, Blind Pilot, The Decemberists, Hope&Social (3 times),Andy Gaines, Jeniferever, Panic Procedure, The Tiny Eyes, Marcus Bonfanti,Sandi Thom, Nick Tudor, Pelico, Marc Atkinson, Dream of Apollo (twice), David RBlack, Panic Room, Chantel McGregor, Patrick McCallion, people:in airports,Rosie, The Union, The Pineapple Thief, and Playing The Pilot.

In the summer were we down in London forthe Sunday of the High Voltage Festival and got to see; Black CountryCommunion, Dream Theater, Heaven’s Basement, Love Fungus, Michael Schenker,Saint Jude, and my all-time favourites Thunder. It really doesn’t get muchbetter than that!

The non-2011 releases that I purchasedreflects, I guess, my eclectic taste in music. For easy listening there’s;Sandi Thom, Florence and The Machine, Billy Joel, and Rihanna. Some good oldrock; Guns ‘n’ Roses, Clapton and Winwood, Chickenfoot, Linkin Park, JoeSatriani, Alterbridge, and Black Country Communion. I also bolstered mycollection of Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree as well as dipping my toe in themore esoteric waters of; Anathema, I Like Trains, Orpeth, Jeniferever,Amplifier, and a second helping of The Pineapple Thief.

All of which brings me to the albums of2011 that I, personally, decided to part money for, and I guess I ought tobring some kind of ranking into play here.

Outside of the top 10 are a couple ofalbums which, although I wouldn’t call them duff, they don’t get played as muchas the others; Into The Wild by Uriah Heep and A Grounding In Numbers by Van deGraf Generator. Neither of these lived up to my expectations. Heep’s offeringwas no where near as good as Wake The Sleeper, and VdG were a name from my pastthat didn’t live up to the hype of the music press. The actual top ten albums Iwould recommend to anyone, so let’s press on:

10 Crystal Sounds by Thirteen Senses.This is pretty much more of the same from the Cornishmen, which is not a badthing because I really like them, so I’ll describe it as ‘workmanlike’.

9 Wasting Light by Foo Fighters. I’m leftslightly confused by this album because it is good, very good indeed, but thereisn’t a single track that has hooked into my brain. How does that work?

8 The King Is Dead by The Decemberists.More quirky alt-Americana from a band that delivers and entertains in equalmeasure.

7 Grace for Drowning by Steve Wilson.Great prog-ness from the master himself. The music press can’t get enough ofthe man but he didn’t make number one for me. Pah! I spit in the face ofpopularity.

6 A Dramatic Turn of Events by DreamTheater. Awesome album and we got to watch them live at High Voltage which wasbasically musically nirvana for me.

5 Siren's Song by The Union. I just lovethis band; Luke Morley’s superb guitar and Pete Shoulder’s incredible voice,what a combination.

4 Like No Other by Chantel McGregor.Brilliant debut album from the pocket-sized lass from Bradford who is finallygetting the recognition that she deserves.

3 Dust Bowl by Joe Bonamassa. I’ve prettymuch got most of his recent albums in my collection. I’m constantly staggered bythe number of ways that blues can be played and still sound fresh anddifferent. Top stuff.

2 Black Country Communion 2 by BlackCountry Communion. More Bonamassa-ness, this time in the form of top-notchsuper-group BCC which also includes Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham, and DerekSherinian. But, top of this year’s Xmas tree, parp de-de-parp (trumpetblast)...

1 The Octopus by Amplifier. Ye gods thisis great stuff. More prog than you can shake a mellotron at and a bargain asit’s a double CD worth of soundscape-y, pretentious (in a good way), gorgeousmusic.

Have a very Happy Xmas and a great NewYear.

Hail to the Thief

2011-12-15T13:23:00.002Z

Wednesday 7 December – I’m going down with man-flu. I could feel it in my bones. My whole body ached. I’ve lost my appetite and trust me, that meant something’s seriously wrong. But nothing, no nothing, was going to stop me from getting out tonight.

We arrived a little after eight o’clock at Fibbers, just in time for the start of the support act, Playing The Pilot. PLP are a York-based group defining themselves as Indie/Alt-rock. Their line up consists of Kat McHugh (lead vocals), Felix Manders-Wilde (guitar/vocals), Ryan Noble: (lead guitar), Matt Davies (bass), and Jack Fisher (drums). When she sang, Kat had a pretty good voice. The real problem for me was that their songs usually ended up with her doing a white girl rap in the style of Lilly Allen, which really didn’t do justice to her voice. The guitarists pretty much seemed to do their own things pumping out tinkly math-rock style riffs, while Jack and Matt propelled the songs along with strong drum lines and workman-like bass. The most memorable track for me was Your Face In The Mirror.

PLPs act was slightly marred by an issue with feedback into the singer’s microphone, either from the bass or drums, and I’m afraid that the soundman hadn’t fixed this problem by the time the headline act took to the stage. Why were The Pineapple Thief playing York? Well, it turned out that, although they are a Somerset band, bass player Jon Sykes is actually a local lad. TPT consist of Bruce Soord (guitar/vocals), Jon Sykes (bass/vocals), Steve Kitch (keyboards), and Keith Harrison (drums). They play prog-rock in the soft/loud/soft style with carefully constructed time signatures that sweep you from one passage of music to the next.

The set consisted of a mixture of tracks from their latest album, Someone Here Is Missing, and a lot of new material. From their current album I certainly recognised; Nothing At Best, Wake Up The Dead, The State We’re In, and Preparation For Breakdown. The majority of the new songs were presented with a lead acoustic guitar which is at odds with their current album but in line with their earlier work Tightly Unwound. Whether the tracks are utilmately ‘beefed up’ for the new album or remain as they are, they still sounded fantasic on a first listen.

For many of the songs the transition from soft to furious loud meant that it was difficult not to shuffle your feet (dancing I think they call it) or head-bang along to the heavy rhythmic sections. Think of a mad collision of Radiohead, Procupine Tree and Pendulum.

Their encore consisted of a current track, a very old one and a very new one, possibly being called Burning Pieces, and likely to be the opening track to new album. A superb gig and I sincerely hope that they will be bringing their new album on tour to York in the not too distant future.

Re-Union

2011-11-03T12:09:00.001Z

Wednesday 19 October - yes, I know I’mbeing a bit tardy with this one, but we’ve been very, very busy recently whatwith our boiler finally given up the ghost and stuff. Right now, regularreaders (if I have any left) will recall that mid-October we had a rash of gigsstarting on Friday 14 and ending with this one, so expectations were naturallyhigh. In a change from the usual, we were at The Duchess,a venue that I’ve always had a soft spot for.

We arrived fashionably three songs beforethe end of the first support band, Mad Dog (andon FaceBore, and MyFace),possibly an allusion to the album by John Entwistle. Anyhow, I very much likedthe cut of their jib, a bit like York's own 98Pages. Hailing from London, theyconsisted of ; Tommy Smith (guitar/vocals), Matt Johnson (bass guitar), and BrendanLleak (drums). This was a very impressive start to the evening.

It would have been an act of kindness tohave swapped the support bands around, something that Paul Blue of Fighting Wolves alluded to himself. It seemedthat most of the audience agreed with him. Personally, I would have liked tohave caught more of Mad Dog's act. Not that Fighting Wolves were bad, it’s justthat their brand of nu-rock didn’t somehow fit in with the hard rock feel ofthe other bands. I quite like heavy, I quite like a bit of screaming, but itwas all too much and my ears quickly tuned out. Sorry guys. Fighting Wolvescome from London and consist of; Mark Easton (drums), Paul Blue (vocals/guitar),Micky D (vocals/guitar), and Dougie (vocals/bass). See how I put the drummerfirst? I don’t think it’s fair that they are always billed last in a list.

And so to the main event of the evening,the return to York after almost exactly a year (they were last here on 30October 2010), The Union. OK, maybe, as aThunder fan, I’m a bit biased, but last year they toured a superb debut album(The Union), and this year they were touring another brilliant offering(Siren's Song). Being fans anyway, we had pre-ordered the album and already hada few weeks of listening under our belts before this gig. Notwithstanding, theband blew our socks off with a powerful and energetic set comprising the bestof songs from both albums. I always find it amazing how much better good bandssound live.

For the uninitiated, The Union consist ofPete Shoulder (ex-Winterville) on vocals and guitar, Luke Morley on vocals andguitar and Chris Childs on backing vocals and bass (both ex-Thunder), and DaveMcCluskey on drums and pretty bloomin’ awesome!

Time to flex my memory muscles and seehow much of the set list I can remember… The band came on to Part of The Union(The Strawbs) then immediately went into Watch The River Flow. This wasfollowed by two songs off the new album; the incredible and slightly heavy,Burning Daylight, and the lyrically superb Black Gold. Back to the debut againfor Saviour and Easy Street, before another new one; Blame It On Tupelo. Wethen had; Lillies, Obsession, The Remedy, Cut The Line, and Black Monday. Thenthey played the title track from the new album; Siren's Song. For their encorewe got two more songs from the first album; the ballad-y Come Rain, Come Shineand their single Step Up To The Plate.

For me this was definitely 'gig of theyear'. I would highly recommend both albums and jump at the chance to see themagain live. Superb!

Entangle me in verses of poetry, Avert my gaze from the darkest of darkest days

2011-10-21T13:33:00.000+01:00

Friday 16 October – If there’s one thing that you can expectat a Hope&Social gig, it’s the unexpected! And so here we are at Fibbers,slightly wetting ourselves with anticipation of a great night out.

The first support band are Rosie from Pateley Bridge, consisting of; Doug Wallace (vocals and rhythm guitar), TommyLeatherbarrow (drums and backing vocals), and Louis Leatherbarrow (keyboards).It’s hard to describe their style of music so I can do no better than quotesomeone else who said “bouncy electro-powered party punk”. It’s not as bad asit sounds. Despite the fact that I don’t really go for electronica as a musicalgenre they certainly had me tapping my toes, and dare I say it, swayingslightly to the music. They also seem to have a small entourage of crazydancers, one dressed as a banana, who fling themselves about a bit in theaudience. It was all very good fun and quite entertaining.

The second support band was people: inairports who we had seen before inNovember 2010, and not been much impressed with on that occasion. Formed byex-Shed Seven bassist Tom Gladwin, they also comprise singer/songwriter andguitarist Paul Downes along with Jimmy Greenall (guitar & backing vocals),and Ken Sayers (drums). Sadly they sounded pretty much as they did nearly ayear ago, a tired string of Jam-esque indie pub-rock songs. To be honest, Iwould much rather have an extended H&S set.

With three albums under their collectivebelts, Leeds-based Hope&Social have a widerange of material to call upon. Please don’t expect me to reel off a completetrack listing of all the songs that they delighted us with, because their actis so much more than just the songs. There was the running on the spot, thebearded Gary Stewart a-likes, the banter with the audience, the maniacalpounding of keyboards and super-heavy guitar riffs, barber-shop styleharmonies, brass section, sing-alongs… you name it, it probably happened. Ifyou’ve never seen this band before, do it. If you want to listen to them, youcan do it online, for free. And , if you want to buy their music, you can, andyou only have to pay what you want. Crazy? Only if you never get around toseeing/hearing them. But, I do not like green eggs and ham. Try it, try it, you will see...

It's been one week since you looked at me, Cocked your head to the side and said I'm angry

2011-10-18T08:47:00.000+01:00

Friday 14 October – We haven’t been outto watch bands recently, just a bit busy with other stuff at the moment, butthere’s a lot of good music about this month and we are determined to catch asmuch as we can.

Four of us turned out tonight at Fibbersto watch Chantel McGregor. My party arrived at about eight o’clock just in timeto catch the final three songs from Patrick McCallion. OK, he was one man and his guitar, but he sounded fresh andenthusiastic. I think one of the songs was called Neon Lights, one I amreliably informed was One Week (by The Barenaked Ladies’) and his finaloffering was a medley of covers woven into each other. This left Chantel with agood two hour set to fill and I have to admit that I was really looking forwardto this, and we moved right up close to the barrier for an optimal viewingposition.

We last saw Chantel back in December 2010when she played a good deal of her own material that would make up her debutalbum, Like No Other. It seems as if I’ve had this album for ever but I seemrecall that it was only released in April. In fact, this has been a great yearfor Chantel so far; she won Best Young Artist at the British Blues Awards.Chantel’s band, as last time we saw her, consisted of Martin Rushworth on drumsand Richard Ritchie playing a gorgeous looking 5-string bass.

The set kicked off with Bridge To Better Days (Joe Bonamassa) which segued into New Day Yesterday (Jethro Tull). After that I was a bit mesmerised by her superbguitar playing. Among the covers I recognised Up In The Sky (Joe Satriani), Sloe Gin (Joe Bonamassa), Daydream (Robin Trower), High(Richie Kotzen), Red House (Jimi Hendrix), Rhiannonand Landslide (Fleetwood Mac), and Had To Cry Today (Blind Faith). From herown material we also heard; Like No Other, Fabulous, Caught Out, Screams Everlasting, I’m NoGood For You, and for the encore, Freefalling.

Chantel and the band are so comfortablewith their material that on a couple of occasions they asked the audience whatthey wanted to hear. I’m sure that all the songs were on the set list, but itmade everyone feel involved in the performance. Between songs Chantel regaledus with quirky glimpses into her life, all of which endeared her even more toan audience that loved every second of her playing.

I did manage to fumble my mobile ‘phoneout a couple of times to capture some video footage, but only succeeded invideoing my foot twice and her once with no sound. Duh! Oh well, you’ll justhave to trust me when I say that you really, really must see this girl livebefore she transcends to stadium gigs and you’ll have missed your chance to say“I remember when she first started and I saw her…”

Die a little more each day, need a vision or a tourniquet

2011-09-14T13:26:00.000+01:00

Friday 9 September – and the firstmusical outing for me in a long time. The Summer festivals mopped up a lot ofthe good acts from the gig circuit this year, but the closing months look asthough they are going to be busy as I took the opportunity to get tickets forno less than four dates over the next two months.

We met up at the Black Swan on PeasholmeGreen, all of us reluctant to pay the exorbitant prices charged in Fibbersthese days. When we arrived at the venue the audience was very thin on theground even as the support act kicked it. I assumed that the majority ofpunters were coming along later. All of which is not to say that the support werepoor, because I for one really enjoyed them.

David R Black hail from Manchester andconsist of; David R (guitar/vocals), SaritBlack (bass/backing vocals), and Paul “Pai” Williams (drums). David R himself looks a bit like HeathLedger's The Joker, but without the makeup, so Heath Ledger with The Jokershair I guess. I haven’t heard any of their material before. David's vocalsstarted off sounding a bit like Brian Molko but seemed to get stronger as hewent on. By the time he got to Signals, a brilliant track off their Heart AndStars album, he was sounding like Peter Gabriel. I caught the names of a coupleof other tracks; Ezra (from Secret City) and No Code (also from Hearts AndStars). Sarit provided a very heavy line of bass riffs and backing vocals thatwere a tad too indistinct in the mix for me, I would have liked to have heardmore of her voice. Meanwhile, Pai thumped out a rich mixture of rhythms,sometimes simple, sometimes complex, that drove the songs along.

As the introduction music started forPanic Room I took a brief glance around and was amazed to note that there wereprobably no more than 40 people in the room, a very poor turnout for a Fridayevening. Panic Room, whom we’ve seen a couple of times before, are; Anne-Marie Helder (vocals, rhythm/acoustic guitars), PaulDavies (lead/rhythm/acoustic guitars, backing vocals), Jonathan Edwards (keyboards),Yatim Halimi (bass), and Gavin Griffiths (drums). I’m not completely au faitwith PRs material but did recognise; I Am A Cat, Dark Star, Satellite,Sandstorms, and Bitches Crystal (a cover of the ELP song). There was a new track,I think it was called Promises, that will feature on their third, as yetunnamed album.

Anne-Marie vocals were on top form, justifying herwinning “Best female vocalist of 2010” by readers of Classic Rock presents Prog.Paul noodled effortlessly, his guitar looking minute in his huge hands. Thehighlight for me though was Yatim and his superb bass playing. His stylereminds me of Pino Palladino or Mick Karn, coaxing a fretless bass effect froma clearly fretted, six-string bass. Top music, but a shame that more peopledidn’t turn out to see them.

Fairport report - fair

2011-08-25T14:10:00.000+01:00

Here's a quick review of 2011's Fairport Convention Cropredy festival from guest blogger andy_glos:

Fairport Convention Cropredy 2011 report - Festival was very good (as usual) apart from UB40 (grim MOR white reggae, in fact we left before the end - an exceedingly rare event). Seasick Steve was like he always is, but was greatly enhanced by having John Paul Jones play bass, mandolin and possibly keyboards (don't remember that bit) for entire 90 minute set.

Horslips and Home Service were excellent. As for Coral - greatly impressed with their delivery and musicianship. As for the scouse "thanks" in between songs - hmm. They appeared a bit out of sorts, on stage between songs, at being at a festival of folk-rockers of a certain age, drinking Wadworths real ale. But an excellent set. So good I ordered a CD off Amazon. Travelling Band (second on on Friday) - fantastic. If you can, catch them. I have seen them twice now. The MC/compere was raving about them on Saturday still.

Sadly Geoffrey Hughes (old Corrie and Heartbeat) the usual MC was quite ill and couldn't make it.

Dylan Project - very good - especially if you like Dylan which I don't. But Yvonne is happy as she found out Dylan and Mark Knopfler are playing together in at the MEN Arena, Manchester on 10 October and she managed to get a ticket when back from the festival. £67 though!

Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts - pretty good, she is the child of the Pink Floyd guy - the one who isn't in jail.

Hayseed Dixie - punk, bluegrass, rock, hillbilly ... - a few covers - good show

Richard Digance - good as always.

Blockheads - fantastic show and musicians. Even the singer sounded like Ian Dury and dressed in a weird way. I think a lot of them might be originals.

Badly Drawn Boy - avoid - nice voice but he has got a lot of chips on his shoulder and a bit foul mouthed for a friendly festival. Nice voice and guitar but he has blown it for me. Badly Swearing Boy more like.

Fairport Convention themselves - excellent, and nice to include entire concept album John Babbacombe Lee in the middle of their 3 hour set. Please can Fairport play Sloth again one day?

Danger! High Voltage

2011-08-10T10:42:00.001+01:00

Sunday 24 July – Saw two of ourtroupe in London for the second day of the High Voltage Festival 2011. The mainaim of the day was to see Thunderbut there were a number of other great acts on at the Main Stage as well.

The afternoon started early when Top Gear’s James May introduced a bonusact, Love Fungus. Now I’ve neverheard of these guys before and apparently this was the first time that theyperformed together in twenty years. Mat ‘Mush’ McIvor (Vocals), Mark‘The Bone’ Rabone (Lead Guitar), Dennis ‘D’ Day (Rhythm Guitar), Ben ‘JimMorrison’ Upton (Bass Guitar) and Ian ‘Kel’ Kelly (Drums) put out five or sixinstantly forgettable tunes. I can only assume that they were some sort of pubpunk band in their previous existence, it was just a bit of a waste of time forus though.

The afternoon proper kicked off with a band that I’veseen a few times in York, Heaven’sBasement, but this was the first time I’d seen them since recent bandchanges. In February 2010 vocalist Richie Heavanz left and was temporarilyreplaced by Johnny Fallen. In February 2011 Aaron Buchanan took over on leadvocals, and rhythm guitarist Johnny Rocker left, reducing the band to a fourpiece. The line up for the High Voltage stage was therefore Buchanan, SidGlover (lead guitar; backing vocals), Rob 'Bones' Ellershaw (bass guitar; backingvocals), and Chris Rivers (drums). Their set was absolutely storming, pullingthe very best off their two EPs and more; CloseEncounters, Can't Let Go, Misunderstood, Leeches, Reign on My Parade, andthe awesome Executioner's Day. Theseguys need to get an album out, so that I can buy it! A superb opener (I’m notcounting Love Fungus) to thefestival.

Next up were SaintJude who, being on their home turf, drew a decent crowd. Fronted by LynneJackaman, they delivered a rocky set including; Little Queen, Garden of Eden, Soul on Fire and Southern Belles. But, they failed to overshadow the dynamism of Heaven’s Basement who had set a highstandard for the following acts.

The smell of nostalgia was in the air for the next act, Michael Schenker, who was promoting hisTemple of Rock album due to bereleased later this year. He had a new band line-up, not MSG, which included Herman Rarebell (ex-Scorpions) on drums and Michael Voss(Ex-Casanova and Silver) onvocals. They opened, predictably, with IntoThe Arena followed by Armed And Ready,then a Scorpions track, Another Piece Of Meat. There was then achange of vocalist, Doogie White (Tank)for a new track; Before The Devil KnowsYou’re Dead, which bodes rather well for the album. Voss then announced“for the next 4 minutes, we are going to rock you like a hurricane” andon-stage came Michael’s brother, Rodulf Schenker to perform the next two songs;Rock You Like a Hurricane and Hangin On. Schenker closed the set withtwo UFO songs; Rock Bottom whichfeatured UFOs own Pete Way, followedby Doctor Doctor with Jeff Scott Sotoon vocals (Talisman, Yngwie Malmsteen and Journey) plus all the other guests. Itwas chaotically brilliant, and the fans certainly enjoyed themselves. I haven’tbeen a huge fan of MS but heimpressed me with his brilliant guitar work and sheer over-the-top-ness.

And what a way to get you prepared for the next band. Forso many of thousands of rock fans who headed to High Voltage on Sunday, thisset was the reason for their trip. That was certainly true for us. All day I'dnoticed a huge number of folk sporting Thundert-shirts, I myself was resplendent in a Harry James as the devil in almost mintcondition. Then AC/DC's Thunderstruck started playing, and theyall gravitated towards the main stage. I stayed where I was, ensconced in thegrandstand, a prime viewing platform. As the band took to the stage they got amonstrous reception and right from the opening notes of Back Street Symphony the entire crowd sang along with every word.The crowd went crazy, at first because it is a cracking tune and everyone wasdelighted they were playing, but more so because of the sound issues. It cutout several times and on the third occasion the cries of dismay were so badthat Luke Morley threw his cowboy hat to the floor. Thankfully the soundmanwoke up or there might have been a riot. Even when Bowes’ vocals were sorted,Luke Morley’s guitar was painful low in the mix.

But Thundersuccessfully overcame such technical obstacles to carry their set on pure joyand enthusiasm alone. There’s something to be said for putting on a show with asmile on your face and never have five guys appeared to enjoy themselves somuch. We were treated to; Back StreetSymphony, River Of Pain, Higher Ground, Gimme Some Lovin', The Devil Made Me DoIt, Love Walked In (I admit it, I cried during this one), I Love You More Than Rock 'N' Roll, andDirty Love. Their final song turnedinto an extended crowd sing-along with the audience split into sections tryingto out-sing each other. Pantomime? Probably. Brilliant? Definitely. The bestday out a rock fan can have. Bowes’ voice is still incredible and Morley’sguitar playing must put him at the top of any list British rock guitarists. Godhow I miss these guys.

Hey, the festival wasn’t over yet though, my favouriteblues guitarist, Joe Bonamassa, was in the next band, Black County Communion, along with Glenn Hughes, Derek Sherinian,and Jason Bonham. This is one band where the individual performances really domeld into a sum greater than its parts. The sound problems were never far awaymind, and there were times when Derek’s keyboard simply couldn’t be heard, butoverall this was rock raised on a plinth for the world to behold. With just twosuperb albums and a handful of live shows under their belts, most of theaudience must have struggled to recognise most of the set, but BCC play with such class andprofessionalism that you can’t help but be reeled in by the performances. BCC played an abbreviated version oftheir current headline set; BlackCountry, One Last Soul, Crossfire, Save Me, Song of Yesterday, The Outsider, ManIn the Middle, Joe Bonamassa’s own TheBallad of John Henry, and a cover of Deep Purple’s Burn. I also understand that Joe Bonamassa put in a guestappearance for Jethro Tull’s encore of LocomotiveBreath.

With the sun now setting it was time to break out theflasks of tea and coffee as we settled down to the headline act, two hours of Dream Theater. With the advent ofdarkness, the stage lighting became a focus for the fans further down the park.Luckily, we were able to appreciate the lighting and the performances of thefigures on the stage as we were so close. It was a truly incredible show. Theykicked off with Dream Is Collapsingby Hans Zimmer, from the soundtrack of the film Inception. Then we had; Undera Glass Moon, These Walls, Forsaken, and Endless Sacrifice. Four great tracks from four different albums. Wewere then treated to a drum solo from Mike Mangini before the band came back onstage for Ytse Jam from their firstalbum (Ytse Jam is Majesty spelt backwards, Majesty was the original name ofthe band). In fact we got tracks from each of their albums as this was followedby Peruvian Skies and The Great Debate. Next, a new track forme, the single On the Backs of Angelstaken from their forthcoming album, ADramatic Turn of Events. Then CaughtIn A Web, followed by two tracks from MetropolisPt. 2 (it’s difficult to just get one track from this album as they tend tomerge into each other); Through My Wordssegueing into Fatal Tragedy. Finally,we got The Count of Tuscany fromtheir latest album. Of course, the arena erupted and the crowd bayed for more,and the band came quickly back for their encore: Learning To Live. What an absolutely top couple of hour’sentertainment. High Voltage Festival 2012, here I come!

You don't get up to much. And nothing comes of it. And nothing ever gets you down.

2011-06-28T14:17:00.004+01:00

Friday 24 June – now we almostnever watch a band on consecutive occasions, but there’s a first time foreverything as we find ourselves headed to The Golden Lion in York to watch Dream OfApollo. I think I’ve only been in this place once before and itcertainly didn’t strike me as the best place for listening to live music, butwhat do I know? There was a square-ish area towards the back where a band couldplay, a bar down one side and the rest of the floor space was taken up withpews, tables and stools. There was no natural area in which we could stand tolisten to the band so we started off as far away as it was possible to get butdirectly in front, hoping to get the best from the speakers.

It was a miserable night, middle of an English summer,with a chill wind blowing through open window, and later pouring down withrain. The set kicked off with Vicki doing a solo spot of three songs; Mine, ForMy Lover (Tracy Chapman), and Boats And Birds (Gregory And The Hawk). Don’t be fooled by myencyclopaedic knowledge of the set-list, I snapped it on my ‘phone at the endof the gig. By this time we were frozen and had moved up into the central bodyof the pub. It has to be said that the acoustics weren’t great and the majorityof the punters were desperately talking louder to make their conversationsheard of the noise of the band, or watching the tennis on one of the screensdotted around the place.

The full band started their set withAnatole, a song very much in the style of The Decemberists with powerful,story-telling lyrics. I remembered this one from the first time we saw the bandand thoroughly enjoyed it. Whilst they do throw in the odd cover, most of thematerial they play is original and absolutely excellent. The set continued withSanctuary, Someday, In A Manner of Speaking (Depeche Mode), Leander, Home (whenAndy Murray won his match and a huge cheer went up), Jolene (Dolly Parton), andthe epic Free with which they closed the first half.

During the interval band-friend Marteen took to the stageand gave us another three songs in which I detected Radiohead’s High And Dry.

For the second half we had managed to move a littlecloser still and had an unimpeded view of the stage. The sound quality was alsomuch better closer to the band, who played; Regrets OfThe Devil, Children, Hold Me, Too Lost, Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash), andmy personal favourite, Sandman.

I was half expecting an encore, well one does these days,but the rest of the audience didn’t seem bothered so it never happened. Thevenue did the band no favours. They are good, stonkingly good. Vicki’s voice isgreat and the rest of the band are enthusiastic and technically excellent. Bestof all, they really seem to enjoy themselves. They undertake a mini-tour in July,full details on MyFace, ending up at Fibbers on 10 July which sadly I willmiss as that’s the day after I get married. They pop up again in August at theGaltres Festival at Crayke, but I’m sure we’ll catch them again before then.Very highly recommended.

I bet I'd move just a little further down the line

2011-06-08T11:50:00.002+01:00

I've been pretty rubbish at keeping this blog up-to-date, basically because I'm in the throes of selling my house and there are too many other things that need doing. Once that's out of the way I can concentrate on my forthcoming nuptials so please bear with me and I'm sorry if updates are a bit patchy. On the plus side, The Druid is doing a fine job of blogging on behalf of our little group.

Friday 27 May - and we found ourselves in an old haunt, The Old White Swan, to watch Marc Atkinson. We last saw Marc ages ago in The Terrace when we had youngest daughter and her now-husband with us. On that occasion he was letting the audience shout out the titles of their favourite songs and, if he knew them, he played them. Now he has a pre-printed and laminated list of songs that cover a huge number of genres and tastes, so there's something for everyone.

What Marc doesn't do is play and sing in the style of the original artist, instead he puts his own spin on the songs and makes each one his own. He plays the guitar very competently and his voice is big enough to rise above the general hubbub of a busy pub. The audience appreciation for Marc was such that he played well past his allotted time and it was half midnight before we spilt onto the street and headed home. The Druid has a full set list of what Marc played. Highly recommended.

Friday 3 June - We were struggling to find anything of interest but Andy was wanting to go somewhere so we took a bit of a punt with a band we'd never heard of at a venue not formerly noted for putting on live music, Dream Of Apollo at the Yorkshire Hussar.

From memory, the Yorkshire Hussar was only notable to me as an infrequent lunchtime haunt that sold a variety of different meals served in giant Yorkshire puddings. The front bar is cramped at best, there is a snug with room for up to four people, and I could only imagine that a band would have to fit into the back bar.
When we arrived we saw that about half the back bar was taken up by the band's kit. We started the evening leaning on the bar but quickly moved over to the fireplace so that we weren't impeding any drinkers. The lead vocalist, Vicki Mack, started the ball rolling by singing five song, just her and an acoustic guitar. Four were covers, the fifth, appropriately called Mine, was her own. She looks like Sheridan Smith and sings a bit like Stevie Nicks, great vocals.

The rest of the band then took to the stage… area; Winston Sanders on guitar, Rhys Bevan on bass and Jamie Bradley on drums. The tone of the music changed dramatically with the band putting out full-blown rock, and even a bit of prog-rock on a track with more signature changes than I could count. I especially liked their Sandman which I had heard briefly on MyFace and which, after encouragement from the audience, they played as part of their encore. There were a couple of covers thrown in but most of the material was original and extremely good. I rarely like tracks on a first listen but was spellbound by their entire catalogue. For a full set list head over to the The Druid's grove. I would definitely like to hear the band again soon and can't wait for them to put out an album.

Phosphor-coated smile

2011-05-19T12:16:00.007+01:00

Monday 16 May - I know it might seem like a cop-out but The Druid has done such a good job of detailing the gig at Fibbers with Hope&Social, Pelico, and Nick Tudor, that it's not worth me bothering. So nip over to his blog and instead.

I wake up to the dawn I’m a stranger in my bed / With one eye on the circle sun I raise my weary head

2011-05-05T14:16:00.000+01:00

Friday 29 April – I’m constantly amazed by the fact that, despite my large CD collection and wide taste in music, there are still many excellent artists that I still haven’t stumbled across yet. A case in point arose tonight when three of us (later joined by another two) braved the warm spring air to venture into The Duchess to see Sandi Thom.

Support came from a former guitarist and co-writer from Thom’s band, Marcus Bonfanti. My heart sank somewhat at the sight of one-man-and his-guitar but Marcus immediately blew my socks off with a blistering set of Blues with ferocious guitar work and a huge voice. I’m guessing that the majority of his set was drawn from his album What Good Am I To You as he played the title track and at least two others that I caught the names of; Give Me Your Cash and Sweet Louise. Excellent stuff and highly recommended.

Sandi then took to the stage along with her band; a keyboard player, bass and lead guitarists and a drummer. Sandi has a great voice and is complemented by a set of high-energy musicians. The set consisted of tracks taken from her three albums, but concentrating on her latest release, Merchants and Thieves, plus a few covers thrown in for good measure.

Of the original material I certainly caught Shape I’m In, Runaway Train, Belly Of The Blues and title track Merchants and Thieves. Obviously we got I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flower in My Hair), but nothing like the original. Marcus came onstage to assist on guitar for This Ol’ World. Of the covers we were treated to House Of The Rising Sun and Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain. In fact the whole sound of the band was very much in the style of early Fleetwood Mac, and that’s no bad thing. Very highly recommended.

They are leaving now, to the sound of beating wings

2011-04-18T13:25:00.001+01:00

Friday 15 April – and we are down at Fibbers tonight for a bit of post-rock, ambient shoegazing. I love my shoes, the toes are so shiny! Four of us were out tonight, The Druid being accompanied by a work colleague, Richard. Now during the winter months it’s been pretty cold in Fibs so we normally turn up in jumpers and coats. Tonight of course it was quite warm and, in true Fibbers style, the air con wasn’t on, so we had to strip down to shirtsleeves. Ho hum, on with the music.

The first band onstage were Panic Procedure. Hailing from York the band formerly known as Conspiracy Of Many consist of; Hayley Jackson (vocals), Nick Broom (guitar), Ed Walker (guitar), Luke Symonds (bass), and Mike Watkins (drums), although I believe that Luke had a last minute substitute, so don’t quote me on this. They played reasonable rock, Nick Broom in particular stood out with superb guitar playing. Sadly, Hayley’s vocals came across as muddy and fairly monotonal. I’m not sure if this was due to the PA but it did detract from the rest of the band. She could have done with some backing vocals to add variety but the chaps seemed a bit shy of approaching a microphone.

Next in support came a band from Scarborough, The Tiny Eyes. These are: Karl Wei (guitar), Carl Linsdell (vocals and guitar), Mat Downes (bass) and Paul Mason (drums). Their high slung guitars immediate made my hackles rise as this is generally the modus operandi of scattergun strumming, post-punk, noiseniks, not my favourite cup of cocoa. But stay my fluttering heart, they weren’t as bad as I thought, in fact Carl’s voice was pretty awesome. To me they came across as a mix of The Libertines and Blur so it was interesting for me to note that they quoted these, among others, as their influences on FaceSpace. Certainly they their choppy guitar style was Libertine-like but their lyrics were Blur-clever in content and delivery. They produces songs in a variety of styles among which I enjoyed and mentally noted; The Mad Hatter, You’re The One and something about …By The End Of The Evening. I was pleasantly impressed.

And so to the headliners, imported all the way from Sweden for tonight’s delectation were Jeniferever. The band are: Kristofer Jönson (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Martin Sandström (guitars, backing vocals), Olle Bilius (guitar, bass, keyboards, backing vocals), and Fredrik Aspelin (drums, backing vocals), but there was another bass player as well for tonight’s show. With three albums under their belt, this tour was showcasing their most recent offering Silesia. There are obvious parallels in their music to fellow North men Sigur Rós, but Jeniferever are a little less tinkly and a touch more loud. The Druid likened them more to Engineers and I agree with him on that. I didn’t note any of the song titles, I was too busy enjoying myself to be honest. I did notice that the songs that were introduced as being from the current album were more accessible, more immediate, more ‘pop’ if that’s possible with this genre of music. Personally I enjoyed the other tracks, presumably from the older albums. I love the way that repetitive chord sequences are built upon in successive layers of drum ‘n’ bass, keyboards and guitars, into a rich tapestry of noise, the lyrics almost secondary as the voice adds another layer of texture to the overall sound. Absolutely fantastic, highly recommended and I’ve ordered an album to boot.

PS Panic Procedure have pointed out to me that it was Ed that couldn't make it and he was subbed by Tony Capstick. Thanks PP.

A Dales Diary

2011-03-28T13:31:00.000+01:00

Monday 28 March - I've been on holiday in The Dales and figured that you might like to know what I've been up to. Then again, maybe you couldn't care less, but I'll tell you anyway.

We had been down in Bournemouth and arrived back home late on Thursday. We rose early on Friday and repacked our bags for the Dales. Then we did a quick food shop as the cottage was self-catering. It was just over an hour's drive away, at a place called Fleetham Holme near Reeth, and we arrived just in time for lunch. There was a "welcome" pack waiting for us with breakfast cereals, milk, eggs, cheese, butter, orange juice and a bottle of wine. That was very thoughtful. We packed away our own groceries and had some lunch, then set off to explore a little. The cottage is one of three at the bottom of a 25% incline from a single track road, perched on the side of the south side of Swaledale. We decided to walk further up the road to see what we could see. After about half a mile we left the road and struck off left along a bridleway through a succession of stonewall enclosed fields. We eventually reached a field that bordered moorland near the top and we could see an artificial turret-like building high above us. The back wall of the field had tumbled down so we went through it and headed up through the heather to investigate. When we finally got to the top there was other track and we were no wiser as to what the ruined building had been. We later found out that it was an old lead mine working, so presumably the track was for hauling away the material from the mine. We then descended back to the cottage just in time for tea. The cottage had a wood-burning stove in the front room so while Lynn was preparing the meal; I went out to the woodshed and chopped some logs up for fuel. Not being used to wielding an axe I managed to send a log spinning and bashed my knee, I've a lovely bruise I could show you. In lighting the fire I managed to set off the CO detector which I then had to disable. After tea I re-enabled the detector and we cosied up on the sofa to watch some TV.

The cottage, although originally built in 1694, was fully equipped; it had an electric oven and halogen hob, all the pots, pans and implements you could think off. There was a shower room, living room and kitchen downstairs. The kitchen still had stone storage shelves. The upper story had a lounge area, which we called the solar as the sun beamed straight into this room, and a huge bedroom. Of course, when it was built people were a bit shorter than today and whilst Lynn managed okay I was constantly banging my head on the stone lintels over the doors and the wooden beams in the ceilings. In the end I walked around the cottage in a permanent stoop. Lynn was in fits of laughter. Water from the cold tap was like the melt from a glacier!

The curtains in the cottage were lined and very thick, and with no light pollution from outside, the bedroom was pitch-black, you couldn't tell if your eyes were open or not! Anyway, at 06:20 on Saturday morning we were awakened by an "a-lamb" clock; it was bleating in the field alongside the cottage. We scoffed a cooked breakfast and then planned our day out. At this stage the weather was a bit iffy but promising to be better the following day so we decided to check out the nearest village, Reeth, and then we drove out to Richmond just to explore the town and its castle a bit. The Swale also passes through the centre of Richmond and tumbles over rocks there which made for some nice pictures. There was a market in full swing and, after a tasting session, we bought some raspberry & redcurrant jam and lemon curd. It turned out that they were made in Elvington near York, duh! We had fish 'n' chips for lunch on a bench in a churchyard, and the cod was particularly tasty. I was on the lookout for a pair of slippers as I was finding the stone flags in the cottage very cold underfoot, so we bought some from the Edinburgh Woollen Mill shop and Lynn bought a new fleece. When we got back to the cottage I noticed that the slippers were a tad snug and I then discovered that I had held them upside down and bought a pair of sixes, not nines. Double duh!

On Sunday the weather was looking very nice indeed. We had a couple of walks that we wanted to do and we thought it best to start with a gentle four and a half mile circular stroll going up and around the north side of the dale. We parked at Reeth and set off following the directions on our crumpled bit of paper, only half trusting it, but secure in the knowledge that we had a proper map just in case. We crossed the Swale by a small suspension bridge and then swung left entering the village of Grinton and then back out into open countryside. We passed through High Fremlington and then the gradient started taking us up. About two hours into the walk we lost faith in our directions thinking we had walked too far along a footpath, so we backtracked and climbed back up a slope called Cuckoo Hill so that we could see the lie of the land, consult our map, and eat lunch. It turned out that the directions were sound; we just needed to go a little further along the path before turning back along the river. We set off again and found the turning with no problem. Once back in Reeth we pottered around the village for a while and then set off back to the cottage. At no point in our travels so far had we got the faintest glimmer of a signal from our mobile 'phones so I just turned mine off completely. I was getting the hang of the fire by now and didn't set off the alarm this time.

On Monday it was brilliant sunshine again so we decided to try the second walk. This was a five and a half mile circular but we decided to extend this by walking from the cottage along a footpath that ran outside our back gate, this would add an extra two miles. We set off after another big breakfast and joined the walk proper at Scabba Wath Bridge. A farmer was coming over the bridge on a 'moon-buggy' loaded with sheep feed so we stopped and watched him drive into a nearby field. The sheep and lambs immediately charged from the adjoining fields towards the farmer, all except for one sheep that had a limp and was plaintively bleating as it desperately hobbled towards him. I'd never make a farmer, I just wanted to pick the poor thing up and carry it to the food. Anyway, we crossed the bridge and bore left towards Fleetham then right onto a footpath that doubled back and took us high up through the fields again. We passed over Barney Beck Bridge and into the tiny village of Healaugh, then gently descended into Reeth again. We stopped off at the King's Arms for a drink and then sat on a bench at the top of a rise in the centre of the village to eat our lunch. Then it was back down to the river and, following its course to the right, gradually rising up until we reached a road that led to Askrigg up and across open moorland. The road then dipped down to Scabba Wath Bridge again and we continued onwards to the cottage. By this time I was sunburnt so as we sat out reading our Kindles in the late afternoon sun I had to wear a hat to stop me from burning any more.

Tuesday was our last full day so we decided to visit the Wensleydale creamery at Hawes. This entailed a rather hairy drive over the top of Swaledale and down into Wensleydale via Askrigg and Bainbridge. The route was hairy because part of the way was very winding and we were enclosed by high drystone walls, so going faster than 20mph was likely to propel us into the front of another vehicle, or the back of a tractor. Where there were no walls, the right hand side of the road fell away like those roads you see in the Italian Alps. Scary stuff. Anyway, the creamery itself was fairly interesting; we watched a film on cheese making, went through a little museum of dairy farm in the Dales, and watched the actual process from a viewing gallery. As it was approaching lunchtime we visited the café area and had some sandwiches and a drink. Then we went around the cheese shop where you can sample all the different types, and buy some, obviously. I went for a blue cheese and an oak smoked Wesleydale, Lynn had one with stem ginger in it and another containing Mexican spices. We browsed the gift shop for a while and then heading into Hawes itself for a wander around the town which was very picturesque. Finally, we headed back to the creamery, jumped in the car and drove back over the top of the Dale back to the cottage.

We were a bit sad to leave on Wednesday as we quite liked the idea of being on our own and just doing what we wanted to do, but we packed our bags and waved goodbye to the cottage. Then we drove towards Arkengarththwaitedale (I may have exaggerated the name for comic effect) where we intended to take lunch at The Charles Bathurst Inn, a popular 'foodie' pub in the area. We arrived before the pub was open so set off across the road and down a footpath that took us about halfway up the side of the dale. There we found a rocky outcrop and sat down to admire the view. The road below us wound its way up the opposite side of the dale, heading over the top and on towards Barnard's Castle. We saw that the pub was opening and so descended for lunch. We had had another large cooked breakfast and weren't terribly hungry, so we just had a mushroom, tomato and mozzarella baguette with side of salad and chips; very tasty indeed. After that we made our way home, which seemed like a foreign country really with even the rural areas looking very built up compared to where we had been staying.

It was back to work, back to reality on Thursday and Friday. We were out at The Basement in York on Friday evening to see our favourite band, Hope&Social. They didn't disappoint and we had a brilliant night out. Ed 'Hombre' had trouble with his amp and it was making dolphin noises. During one song Si forgot that it was his turn to play which led to an hilarious "do I do this bit then?" moment. There was plenty of singing along and even a Mexican wave in the audience with a Zumba Zumba at one end and Ooo Ooo at the other. I'm not going through the set-list for you but there were songs from both albums; Architect Of This Church and April. Both are available as PWYW but better still go watch this band live, you won't regret it.

Tell me why you lied, And what it is you do to keep your eyes all shiny

2011-03-14T13:34:00.000Z

Friday 11 March - was a complete departure from the norm for us as we travelled into Leeds to see The Decemberists at the O2 Academy. This was a somewhat bigger venue than usual for us and we arrived reasonably early in order to get prime position near the front of the crowd. Support came from Blind Pilot, an American indie folk band based in Portland, Oregon. They were perfect warm up showcasing songs from their debut album 3 Rounds and a Sound with Fleet Foxes-style harmonies and breathy-voiced vocals.

The Decemberists are also an indie folk from Portland but they have no less than six studio albums to their name and are currently touring their latest one The King Is Dead. The band consist of; Colin Meloy (lead singer, guitar, harmonica), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (Hammond organ, accordion, melodica, piano, keyboards, synthesizer, harmonica), Nate Query (bass guitar, double bass), John Moen (drums, backing vocals, melodica), and for this tour they have Sara Watkins providing Violin, backing vocals, and more guitar. After a brief light 'n' sound theatrical prelude the band launched into Shiny from their 5 Songs EP. This was followed by three tracks from the new album; Down by the Water, Rox in the Box, and Rise to Me. Next they re-visted older material with July July!, The Bagman's Gambit, Annan Water, Won't Want for Love (Margaret In the Taiga), and the epic The Island: Come & See/The Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel the Drowning. Quite how they managed to include excerpts from The Hazards of Love, basically a concept album, into the set is a testament to their musical talent. Then we had another three new songs; Don't Carry It All, Calamity Song, and This is Why We Fight, with Military Wives from Picaresque added into the mix.

For an encore they played two more old numbers; Red Right Ankle (Her Majesty the Decemberists) and Sons and Daughters (The Crane Wife). We even got a second encore when they finally rounded off the gig with June Hymn (The King Is Dead).

This was definitely the gig of the year for me and I can heartily recommend that you try and catch them on tour, or failing that, buy one/more of their albums.

It's been a long hard year, with many ups and downs / and now the summer's here, and we can all come out.

2011-03-10T14:12:00.000Z

Friday 4 March - now, I'm sorry but I've been really busy at the moment with decorating my house so there's only time for a quick splash 'n' dash of a roundup of our latest outing. This was a RockSound showcase taking place at The Duchess and from the start we all felt the need to grab a pair of free ear defenders from behind the bar, the noise was way too loud. Support came from These City Walls who seemed pretty average to me, which is to say that there was nothing striking about the music, lyrics or stage presense that left any lasting ;memory.

There were three bands being showcased and apparently they take it in turns to be the 'headline' act, so we kicked off with Dinosaur Pile-Up, an alt rock band hailing from Leeds, comprising lead singer and guitarist Matt Bigland, bassist Harry Johns, and drummer Mike Sheils. Musically they reminded me in parts of Nirvana, and Ash, definitely a grunge thing going on there. That said, there was variety in the styles and delivery of each song and I enjoyed them so much that I actually bought their 2010 album Growing pains from the merch stall at the interval. Very good indeed.

This was a bit worrying because it was looking as if my wallet was in for a bit of a battering. Not to worry though, the other two bands weren't a patch on DPU. Next up were The Xcerts a three-piece from Aberdeen; Murray MacLeod (vocals & guitar), Jordan Smith (backing vocals & Bass), and Tom Heron (backing vocals & drums). I'm pretty sure that most of their set was drawn from their album Scatterbrain but none of the material stayed in my head long enough to register before it was blasted out by the next song. The volume was doing nothing to endear me.

The 'headline' act was Japanese Voyeurs, London based and comprising; Tom Lamb (guitar), Johnny Seymour (bass), Romily Alice(vocals/guitar), Steve Wilson (drums), and Rikki Waldren (keyboard). Once more the sheer volume of noise deadened any redeeming factors. Romily looked like a young Avril Lavigne but had a voice like fingernails on the classroom blackboard. Their material was pretty much Paramore with very little variety between each track. If I sound dismissive, I'm sorry. I'm sure that I'm doing these bands (part from DPU) a disservice by my lack of enthusiasm but I really struggled to hear much beyound the volume, and I'm not some miserable old goat, and I have listened to some louder bands who still managed to get their music across, so there's no excuse.

I've looked under chairs, I've looked under tables, I've tried to find the key, To fifty million fables

2011-03-03T12:11:00.000Z

Friday 25 February - no original music this week, we are happy to settle for decent beer and a covers band, so that'll be at The Roman Bath then. Apparently there's a band called The Pepperhearts playing tributes to The Beatles and they certainly seemed to be popular as we have to queue up to get in as the pub was so full. After fighting our way to the bar and coming away with an armful of beers we took up station to watch/listen to the band amid a constant river of folk streaming in and out of the front door, and en route to the rest rooms. The Pepperhearts were good, they certainly recreated the sound of the Fab Four as far as humanly possible, but the material began to sound a bit samey and it dawned on us that they didn't seem to be able to break through 1965. It was all the very early stuff, which is OK if you like 2-3 minute songs, but 1965 was the year that The Moptops spread their musical wings and transcended every other band. Maybe the later years were to be featured in the second half of their performance, but by half-time we were jaded and decided to move on.

As so it was that we found ourselves in O'Neills to watch The Mothers. Now we've seen these before on a couple of occasions but tonight they are sporting a new vocalist and a chap on keyboards that looks suspiciously like a refugee from Hijack Oscar. Nonetheless, we were treated to a fine selection of old and (relatively) new covers including Take Me to the River (Al Green), You Really Got Me (The Kinks), Superstition (Stevie Wonder), The Seeker (The Who), 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), In The Midnight Hour (Wilson Pickett), Paranoid (Black Sabbath), Tainted Love (Soft Cell), The Jean Genie (David Bowie), and many more. Top stuff.

Tortured spirits cry / fear is in their eyes / ghostly images die

2011-02-16T12:08:00.000Z

Friday 11 February - and three of us are out tonight at Fibbers to see a band that we know are going to be good. First of all though there was support, apparently garnered at the last minute, from another chap that we've seen before, Marck Whiley aka Marbled (and on MyFace). I last saw Marck supporting Hope & Social at Stereo. His songs didn't latch into my consciousness at the time and on this occasion it took a little while for me to twig as to who he was. Tonight he was using a double mic with echo on one of them which gave an added layer to his singing, and he has a great voice. The problem I have is that his songs tend towards the miserablist, and that can make for a dull set. However, he did leave the stage and come amongst the audience for a couple of songs, including a Valentine's Day number which he used to serenade a young lady. The second unplugged song was The Beat Goes On about comparing songs and bands to those he heard in the sixties.

The headliners tonight were Panic Room (and on MyFace). The current line-up sports a new bass player in the form of the energetic Yatim Halimi who joins top prog vocalist/guitarist Anne-Marie Helder, lead guitarist Paul Davies, keyboard player Jonathan Edwards, and drummer Gavin Griffiths.

Now at this point I have to confess that I only own their first album, the extremely good Visionary Position and a lot of the set was taken from their 2010 album, Satellite. This is by way of excusing my lack of knowledge of the songs that I heard.

They came onto the stage amid smoke and twiddly lights (in the capable hands of Andy "The Crow") and some rather sonorous music from what sounded like a brass band, before crashing into Freedom To Breathe. This was followed by some top prog tracks from Satellite before the first track that I recognised, the robotic Elektra City, followed by Reborn. Apparently the band are writing new songs as they tour and one of these was the outstanding Song For Tomorrow. Towards the end we had Apocalypstick and a cover of Bitches Crystal. Originally from ELP's 1971 album Tarkus, Panic Room had recorded a version that was due to be released as an disc of ELP covers by Classic Rock magazine. Due to copyright publishing problem the disc was never released, which is a shame. The set closed with the intense metal track Dark Star and spaced-out epic ballad Satellite. For an encore we got another just-penned song that the band think might end up being called Promises, it's that new! Very highly recommended.

Panic Room are very much a band waxing so it's unlikely that will we see their likes for a good while in York, unless the new Barbican pull their fingers out and start booking some decent acts. I can but hope.

Can you remember remember my name / As I flow through your life

2011-02-11T12:29:00.000Z

Friday 4 February - and three of us assemble at The Duchess for beer, bands, and tales of broken cars.

First band of the evening was The Bitter Image, a four piece from York who nearly blew my ears off with their first chord. Boy, were they loud, and yet they were also very tuneful and the vocals were crisp and clear. Stylistically I would label them as heavy rock, a bit like QotSA, but that doesn't do justice to the variety of their melodies. This was no band of shouty brothers. I've seen these twice before and they are definitely improving with age. Recommended.

The second band, Dorien Starre (and on FaceBok), we last saw back in November last year when they delivered a blistering set. Tonight was no exception. 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). Leo has real stage presence and distinctive vocals that lift him from the sea of average singers. The band are building a real canon of quality material, from old stuff like Obsessive Compulsive, to their latest song, LCD. They must have enough now to seriously consider putting out an album. Note to band: I'm waiting with baited cash. But to put me on I purchased their excellent EP. Highly recommended.

This was turning into a top evening's entertainment and I was eagerly awaiting the final act, Glass (on MyFace and FaceBok). Glass are a three-piece band from York comprising; Alexander King (guitars/vocals), Andy Curry (bass/vocals), and Dan Whiting (drums). We were a bit unsure what to expect having read reviews containing the words "Gothic", "Dark", "post-punk", and "theatrical", but it all sounded mysterious and exciting.

The band burst into their first track and I was left a very puzzled bunny. There were keyboards and an extra layers of drums, synthesized I think, but clearly no such instruments being played on the stage. They were playing over a backing track, and I felt somewhat cheated. Alex was sporting a trilby and the drum kit was arrayed with disco lighting lines. So, not dark, not gothic, more like Duran Duran for the naughties. This was electronica verging on dance. It was tight and there was no denying the talent in the individual band members, but the initial shock of them playing over a backing track and a substantial wedge of their material being dance-orientated left me cold and I never really got into the music. Disappointing.

As I assembled this blog I realised that I had seen Glass before, back in the middle of 2009, and enjoyed them then. The line-up has changed since; Andy Curry has moved from synth to bass, and they've lost original bass player Jim Stafford. At that time I tried to convey a sense of their sound by describing it as having a whiff of ABC and a gothic Roxy Music. Ah, those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end.

We lost the skyline, we stepped right off the map / Drifted in to blank space, and let the clocks relapse

2011-02-02T12:24:00.000Z

Friday 28 January - and it was a full turn out tonight to watch three bands that were entirely new to us. As an added bonus the bands were playing at The Duchess so there was decent beer on hand and a generally nice atmosphere. There have been a few alterations to the venue since we were last in, most noticeably the open area to the right, as you look at the stage, has been enclosed. It was a wasted area anyway, so no loss to the venue size.

Tonight’s first band were Sombre. I could only find two names, Luke Saxton and Robert Green, but there were three of them so I'm guessing that mystery man was the drummer. Anyway, they come from York and reminded me somewhat of an English Sigur Ros or Fleet Foxes, very much in the shoegazing genre which I do enjoy. The vocals were clear and the keyboards put to good effect as a background to the guitar playing. Just when they sounded as if they were beginning to sound a bit samey, they changed the tempo to round off thirty minutes of very enjoyable music. A great start to the evening and a band that I can highly recommend listening to.

Next up were Missing Kids, a two-piece that I assume come from the York area, as that's mostly where they seem to perform. Mr D'Mudie sings and play guitar, whilst Miss S'Anderson drums and provides backing vocals. The vocals were muffled, clearly they couldn't blame the sound system, their songs were full of dreary riffs and never went anywhere. It wasn't so much that the wheels came off, they were never on in the first place. It was a miserable set with pregnant pauses between each song punctuated by needless strumming.

We were hoping that the final band were going to lift the evening. The ABC Club (and on on FaceSpace), a 5-piece from Leeds with a fair bit of hype surrounding them. The band are; Zandra Klievens (vocals), Jordan Radcliffe (guitar), Jack Haigh (bass), James Burkitt (drums), David Barber (guitar). Musically they played well, Klievens came across as a bit 'Morrisey' with her thick sweater, arms behind her back, and motionless stance, but she sang well. The performance was strangely stilted. It appeared that the drummer and the lead guitarist were the only ones who actually wanted to be there, the rest just seemed to be going through the motions. When I judged them to be about half-way through their set, I nipped off to the toilet and when I came back they were gone! It seems that the rhythm guitarist had put his instrument down, the lead guitarist had flung his to the floor and they had all stormed off in a huff. All very unprofessional and I can only think that there is some unresolved tension within the band. Just a bit rubbish really.

So, a bit of a strange evening but we did get to hear one outstandingly good band, Sombre, so not a complete waste of time.

Here's my debt to you, I wanted to say I breathe for you / But you are a world away, a world away

2011-01-25T13:34:00.000Z

Friday 21 January - Musically, there hadn’t been much to tempt us out so far this year, but tonight we were off to Fibbers to see four bands that I’d seen before, so I was pretty sure that we were going to enjoy ourselves.

I’m still not happy with Fibbers as a live music venue. It has no character and the drinks are exorbitantly priced. Anyway, we arrived about half way through the first of four acts, Boss Caine (Dan Lucas). The crowd was a bit thin on the ground but those that were there made up for their lack of numbers by the volume of their chat, all of which left Dan struggling to be heard and reduced his songs to a rather lacklustre drone, even when accompanied by Vin North on harmonica for the last two or three songs.

The second band to play were The Blueprints. Now I’d not seen these since early 2008 and the band have undergone some changes since then; Stuart Allan (vocals and guitar) and Russ Broadbent-(drums and vocals) still form the core of the band, with new (to me) boys Mark Waters (bass) and Tom Williams (keyboards and vocals) joining them. Their style of playing was also greatly improved. I quite liked them previously but tonight they really blew my socks off with their up-lifting, indie music and slightly squeaky vocals. Recommended.

Band three were one of my favourite York bands, 98Pages (and on FaceSpace), a power blues trio consisting of Martyn Fillingham (guitars and vocals), Jase Brooks (bass), and Andy Black (drums). Their debut album Broken Homes And The Halfway House was released in 2009 and since then they have added an enormous amount of new material to their canon of work. I only recognised about three of their songs. The new stuff is louder, darker, cleverer, but there’s more soft material too, edgy, moody. Martyn speaks of wanting to release some EPs and maybe another album this year; well he has plenty to pick and choose from. This band is really taking off, very highly recommended.

The headline act tonight was The Buccaneers. Originally a three piece consisting of Andre de Gaye (guitar & vocals), Leo Wild (bass), and Jonny Gatenby (drums & vocals), their ranked swelled in April 2010 with the addition of Vin North (acoustic guitar & harmonica) previously of Hijak Oscar. On previous occasions I’ve been somewhat underwhelmed by The Buccaneers style of garage R’n’B and I’m afraid to say that was the case tonight. Maybe it was because The Blueprints and 98Pages were so good, maybe it was because the clubbers had started trickling in early and were busy chatting away, oblivious to the fact that a live band was playing. Whatever, I simply felt a bit disappointed. Sorry guys.

Top five albums of 2010

2011-01-05T12:17:00.000Z

Having mulled over my 2010 album purchases, I think I'm ready to declare my top five, except that I'm going to be awkward and have six and a special mention. Hey, they're my rules OK?

The special mention goes out to We're Here Because We're Here, the eighth studio album from Anathema which was released in 2010 but I didn't get it until 4 January. It's an extraordinarily beautiful album with multi-layered vocals and weird time signatures that just ticked every box for me on the very first listening. If I'd bought it in 2010 it would be in my top six, but I didn't.

So here are my top six album purchases of 2010:

In at six; the eponymous debut album from Yorkshire soundscapers Lost From Atlas. Instrumental math rock is alive and thriving in the hands of this late teen trio who how show a maturity transcending many of their peers who might have settled for a comfortable life of repetitive monotony. It's fantastic to see new blood producing such high quality material.

At five; The Minerva Suite the second offering from Mexicolas. Hot on the heels of their outstanding debut, X, comes this not quite so outstanding but nevertheless fantastically good bit of alt.indie from Jamie Evans.

Number four in the chart; Black Rock by Joe Bonamassa, the tenth solo album release from the 32 year old blues man. A finely crafted melange of originals and covers of songs from Leonard Cohen Jeff Beck, Otis Rush and Willie Nelson. Each track is magically transmuted into Bonamassa's unique style and polished to a high gloss.

Into the top three; Someone Here Is Missing, the eighth studio album by The Pineapple Thief and sporting cover art by Storm Thorgerson. Nine tracks of their trademark bittersweet progressive indie rock. Each song is tightly constructed and exquisitely recorded as Bruce Soord pours his heart all over his sleeve and into our ears. It's not all about the lyrics either, in between the words the rest of the band flexes quiet and loud like a musical muscle. Set the volume to 11 and stick your ears between those speakers.

Just missing the top slot, so that'll be number two then; April from Leeds fan-friendly band Hope&Social. Released on a pay-what-you-want basis this is another great album from the artists formerly known as Four Day Hombre. There's cheery great lashings of verve and energy, sing-a-long choruses, just a smidge of melancholia, then more dollops of Northern pep and wide-eyed musical wonders. But, don't just listen to the music, go and see the band live, they're even better and so much fun. Truly a joy to listen to.

And so to the number one; another eponymous debut, this time from The Union. The Union are a new band formed by Luke Morley, formerly the guitarist for legendary UK rock band Thunder, and ex-Winterville vocalist/guitarist Peter Shoulder. The album consists of twelve Americana-influenced songs with, as you might expect, superb vocals and outstanding guitar work. But don't be thinking that the tracks sound the same, oh no, each is a mini-masterpiece from the all out rock of Step up to the Plate, to the blues slide of Come Rain Come Shine, and the more stripped down acoustic tracks such as Lilies. They picked up The Classic Rock Award for Best New Band and ChildLine Rocks chose This Time Next Year as their first official charity single. Definitely the best album of 2010 and definitely the best live gig that I've seen in a long time.

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

2010-12-29T15:45:00.000Z

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

2010-12-15T12:48:00.000Z

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

2010-11-26T09:09:00.001Z

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

2010-11-16T12:31:00.000Z

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

2010-11-01T14:22:00.000Z

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

2010-10-05T12:03:00.002+01:00

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.

2010-09-13T15:55:00.000+01:00

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

2010-08-23T13:51:00.001+01:00

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

2010-07-09T10:26:00.000+01:00

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

2010-06-28T12:14:00.001+01:00

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

2010-06-17T11:54:00.000+01:00

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

2010-05-25T14:36:00.000+01:00

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.

2010-04-29T12:14:00.001+01:00

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!

2010-04-13T12:05:00.001+01:00

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

2010-03-22T15:20:00.001Z

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

2010-03-16T12:17:00.001Z

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

2010-02-23T11:51:00.002Z

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

2010-02-08T13:20:00.002Z

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

2010-01-14T12:31:00.001Z

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.

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

2009-12-20T13:45:00.002Z

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

2009-12-13T13:40:00.000Z

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?

2009-12-05T13:28:00.001Z

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.

2009-12-02T13:17:00.000Z

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

2009-11-24T20:00:00.000Z

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?

2009-11-14T14:51:00.001Z

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

2009-11-11T14:35:00.001Z

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

2009-11-02T19:09:00.004Z

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

2009-10-29T13:14:00.003Z

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.

2009-10-27T13:41:00.001Z

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

2009-10-20T13:13:00.002+01:00

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

2009-10-07T16:22:00.001+01:00

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.

2009-10-05T11:14:00.003+01:00

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

2009-09-28T20:10:00.002+01:00

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

2009-09-22T12:12:00.001+01:00

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

2009-09-15T10:57:00.002+01:00

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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

2009-09-07T14:08:00.002+01:00

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

2009-09-02T13:39:00.002+01:00

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

2009-08-25T13:10:00.001+01:00

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

2009-08-03T20:06:00.004+01:00

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

2009-07-27T15:28:00.001+01:00

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

2009-07-20T18:43:00.000+01:00

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

2009-07-13T19:41:00.004+01:00

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

2009-07-07T11:37:00.002+01:00

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.

This southern cross is full of holes/Frozen and over

2009-06-24T15:06:00.003+01:00

Monday 22 June - yes I know it's a school night, but we're out to watch Nine Black Alps, the post-grunge/indie quartet from Manchester. But first of all we get to sample the delights of The Federals and Airship.

The Federals are a York band that we've seen before and I'm sure there were more of them on that occasion, but tonight just the two; Jim Feakes (guitar, vocals),and Jack Holdstock (drums). They sound like The White Stripes playing garage, or The Stooges. Its frantic stuff with barely a pause for breath and the volume is high tonight; 'A' resorted to ear defenders very early on. A lively start to the evening, although a bit samey sounding.

Next up were Airship and I was expecting (dreading?) more of the same. I was wrong. Airship hail from Manchester and the line up is: Elliott Williams (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Marcus Wheeldon (guitar, vocals), Steven Griffiths (drums), and Tom Dyball (bass). The songs were much more structured and rich, shimmering sometimes like Sigur Ros, or plunging into a dark corner of a cave inhabited by The Cure. The keyboard playing sometimes wandered off into another dimension and had us turning to each other and muttering "Hawkwind". I managed to catch the titles of a few tracks; Kids, This is Hell, and the gloriously guitar-laden Call It Science. Excellent band, well worth listening out for.

And so to the head-liners, Mancester-based NBA consists of Sam Forrest (vocals, guitar, he comes from York don't yer know), David Jones (guitar), Martin Cohen (bass), and James Galley (drums). Now I've not heard much from this band since their 2005 debut album Everything Is which was what prompted me to see them first time around. Since then they've released Love/Hate in 2007 which didn't do so well. They are currently touring their latest offering, Locked out from the Inside, which is due for release in autumn this year.

Malevolent guitars, amps set to eleven, drumming as if to save your life, Martin (bass) getting really intimate with the nearest wall. They made enough noise to wake the dead. Tracks from the new album littered the set which basically spanned the best bits of their first two albums. Frontman Sam Forrest has the voice of Kurt Cobain but injected with high octane energy that fairly spits out from the stage. Title track Locked out from the Inside. was an ear-battering thrill, Heavier Than Water and Burn Faster were delivered with gut-wrenching intensity, get Your Guns, Shot-Down, and Not Everyone were ten times better than listening in your front room. Of the new stuff, Vampire In The Sun was a filthy grunge stomp, Every Photo made my trousers shake, and Cold Star was a fuzzed out, freaked out trip. Awesome stuff but we felt slightly cheated by the lack of an encore. Highly recommended.

I said let's all meet up in the year 2000/Won't it be strange when were all fully grown

2009-06-23T13:46:00.001+01:00

Friday 19 June - and the start of a rather busy weekend. We started the evening at The Duchess but sadly the headline act, An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump and one of their supports, Not Cool, had pulled out of the gig. Undaunted, we hung around to see how the other two bands would turn out. First on were Screaming Banshee Aircrew, hailing from London/Leicester/Leeds, and consisting of Mister Ed (vocals and theatricals), Jo Violet (bass guitar, violin and vocals), Chris Banshee (guitar, drums and vocals), and Neal Unreal (guitar, synth, drums and vocals). I don't think these are their real names! SBA are a Goth rock band in the finest tradition of black outerwear.

Their set kicked off with Mr Ed quoting from Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 1 when the witches say "Double, double toil and trouble" and then we're away on a rollercoaster of intense guitar noise, and soaring violin as Mr Ed stalks the stage frowning at the audience like a demented child-catcher come to claim his prize. I think it was Chris who started on the drums, standing up and pounding away in a manner reminiscent of David Barbarossa (drummer with Adam and the Ants), but Chris and Neal took turns at drumming during the set. Lyrically, SBA reminded me of Bolan before he sold out commercially. Sonically, there was more than a touch of Billy Idol, but Jo's near operatic vocals save SBA from close comparison. I didn't catch the names of any of the songs but would definitely turn out to see them again. Excellent start.

Second and finally, came Glass a York-based four piece that I would place somewhere in New New Wave. Glass are; Alexander King (guitars, vocals used to be in AKP), Andy Curry (synths, vocals), Jim Stafford (bass), and Dan Whiting (drums). Dressed in suits they came with a whiff of ABC about them but when the chiming guitars and rumbling synth sounds kicked in it was clear that these were a new order of art rock, a Gothic Roxy Music, an avant grandeMagazine (is that possible!) Their Unique Selling Point was that every song ended in a shuddering wall of white noise which then segued into the next song. From an audience perspective it made it difficult to know when to applaud, and we really wanted too, honestly.

Both bands were completely different from our usual fare, and both were worthy of further listening. However, this left us with a goodly portion of the evening still left and so we trundled across town to The Roman Bath where covers band The Big Picture were playing. I'm not entire sure where they come from, certainly oop North in our neck of the woods. TBP comprises; Shawn McHugh (drums, vocals), Mike Parker (guitar, vocal), and Charly Peace (bass, vocals). We enjoyed a well delivered selection of covers, mostly from modern indie bands; Kaiser Chiefs Ruby, I Predict a Riot, Kings of Leon Sex on Fire, Kinks All Day and All of the Night, You really got me, Oasis What's the story?, Blur Song2, Pulp Disco 2000... you get the idea. A nice change from the usual covers we hear.

Say your prayers little one/Don’t forget, my son/To include everyone

2009-06-15T19:30:00.005+01:00

Friday 12 June - we couldn’t decide on a single venue this week, so The Druid ended up at The Duchess to watch Ezio and Aimee J Ryan, (see The Druid’s Thoughts for a review) whilst A (plus newbie L) and I headed for Fibbers to see three bands. It was almost a replay of last week’s gig as the audience, and the bands, were very young, probably 15/16 years of age. This meant that there was a lot of youngsters running around squealing and hugging each other.

Anyway, as the first band took to the stage, we settled in to see what would unfold. Thrive are a four piece from York. According to their FaceSpace entries their names are; William George Cunningham Blackstock (vocals, bass), Robert Henry Anderson (guitar), Jamie Alexander David Wade (guitar), and Jack William Joseph Leaf (drums). I have to say that songs such as; Marmite Memories, Going Nowhere, and Potential to Succeed, certainly proved winners for me, the drumming was superb, at points nearly tribal, the bass was brilliant, and the vocals had good dynamic range often lacking in younger people. So, a great start to the evening.

Sadly, I wasn’t as impressed with second band, Littlemores. I’m guessing that they are from York. The band consists of Conor Hirons, Kai West, and Jack Williams. Now I don’t mind a bit of ska/punk, but a whole set delivered with monotonal vocals really doesn’t do it for me. Here is a band that needs to develop some variety in their songs.

Was this going to be a gig that starts good then goes downhill, or could the last band salvage our approval? Nothing so black and white. Headliners The Standbys have at least their bass player from York, and I suspect the rest are as well. They consist of; James Barton (vocals, guitars), Helgi Clayton McClure (vocals, bass), Matt Ashby (guitar), and Joel Batty (drums). Billed as Alt Garage/Rock they produced interesting songs, significantly better then the Littlemores but never reaching the heights of Thrive. Still, great value for a fiver!

As we had an early finish, and hoping to catch up with The Druid to see how his gig went, we headed for The Roman Bath to catch the second half of DSQ a very popular covers band. So popular indeed that we had to queue up outside until a few people exited, The Bath was packed to capacity. DSQ is basically a band formed by workmates at Castle BMW in York, the name an abbreviation of Dave Stanley Quartet (except there's six of them!) I’m not sure about their current lineup, certainly they have Mickey Adamson (vocals), and Dave Stanley (guitar). Mickey we recognised as being the vocalist from 80's band Flight. In 2006 they had Rob (guitar), Rainey (bass), Nick (keyboard), and Shaun (drums), but we semi-recognised the keyboard player, quite a young chap, as possibly playing in Free Spirit (thanks Ian). We got a good sprinkling of well-played covers; Van Halen Jump, Snow Patrol Chasing Cars, The Beatles Standing There, Def Leppard Animal, Van Morrison Brown-Eyed Girl, Steppenwolf Born To Be Wild, Bee Gees Staying Alive, Wild Cherry Play That Funky Music, and a highlight for me, Tom Jones Delilah. The last song was played in the style of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band who covered Delilah in 1975 (when it reached 7 in the UK Top Ten) and was memorable for me for Zal Cleminson’s evil “ha ha ha” bit, fantastic!

No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century, that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space.

2009-06-08T19:43:00.001+01:00

Friday 5 June - we've seen a lot of covers bands recently so tonight we dipped our toes in the younger local scene with four bands at The Duchess. We missed the first band, The Strides, sorry guys. More disturbing was the average age of the audience which left us more mature folk looking like mums and dads at a school disco.

Anyway, band number two took to the stage to the delight of the screaming children who insisted on hugging each other and jumping up and down in delight. Dressed In Their Best come, I think from York, a four piece consisting of James Shaw (vocals/rhythm guitar), Danny Petrie (lead), Robbie Johnson (drums), and Shane Hunter (bass). They sounded like a very young, raw Jimmy Eat World but with a more fractured way of playing their songs. The sound was a bit muddy, this seemed to apply to all three bands tonight, but there were definitely a couple of reasonable tunes in there and the drumming was particularly good.

Next up were The Gilligans a band we've missed on previous occasions. Five cheeky chaps from York; James, Mike, Ben, Andy (the drummer I think), and Rince (Tyler?). It was difficult to concentrate on the music given the games of British Bulldog and sliding across the floor on your knees that the males in the audience were indulging in. That doesn't scan very well but I think you get what I mean. There was a good tune in there somewhere but I might have missed it.

Finally we heard The Station Club, a four piece, rock/indie/new wave band from York. The band are: Mikey Wilson (vocals/guitar), Tommy Martin (bass), Jimmy Martin (synths), and Dan (drums). These were much better than their predecessors, especially towards the end. They started, I think, with Streetlights a new song, and somewhere along the line they played Let's Start Again, Stars, and Only We Know. They rounded off with what was, for me, their best track, Brand New Day.

Given the youthfulness of the audience, it's not surprising that the gig ended fairly early in the evening so 'A' and I made our way to The Roman Bath where we were expecting to see Angerbart but when we got there the Bath it was bare so we dashed down Parliament Street to The Terrace instead. Tonight singer/acoustic guitarist Marc Atkinson was playing. Marc provides a list of songs he knows and lets the audience select their favourites from the list, so you get to listen to exactly what you want. He plays a good mixture of Crowded House, James Blunt, Van Morrison, Snow Patrol, Bon Jovi, Seal, Don Mclean... There wasn't a lot of people in The Terrace, the silenced TVs showed some boxing and highlights from the Twenty20 England match against the Netherlands (oh dear). The beer was good and Marc's playing provided the perfect backdrop to a chilled out end to the evening.

Lay where you're laying, don't make a sound/I know they're watching, they're watching

2009-06-01T13:29:00.002+01:00

Friday 29 May - I'm starting with a couple of observations. Firstly, going back to the MPs expenses scandal; I wonder who it was in the House of Commons Fees Office that actually signed off such outrageous expenses as a duck island or moat cleaning? Maybe that person should be investigated and/or sacked. Also, I'm beginning to think that it's time to break up the three party system full of career politicians, and vote in loads of Independents.

Second observation. Despite managing to miss most of the kerfuffle about Britain's Got Talent, as one of my daughters was at my house at the time, I was forced to endure the final of on Saturday. Fortunately, the only act that showed the slightly iota of talent did win. But, it beggars belief that the rest of rubbish (a) should be considered to have any talent at all (b) is the best that Britain has to offer.

On Friday 'A' and I indulged in a double-header of local, actual talent. We started in The Terrace to watch Flashback, (and on SpaceFace) a three-piece from York comprising; Kev (bass/vocals), Pete (guitar/vocals), and Phil (drums/vocals). The band attempt to replicate the sounds of the early beat groups of Hamburg and Liverpool's Cavern Club. It was different from most of the covers band that we see, we heard such tunes as; Dave Clark Five Glad All Over, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas Do You Want To Know A Secret?, The Beatles I Saw Her Standing There, and The Rolling Stones All Over Now. They played very competently but I find '60s music lacking in variety so after our first pint we decamped to The Roman Bath where Stealer were *not* playing, instead it was our old friends The Mojos.

Always an excellent set of covers, played very well indeed. We were treated to at least the following and probably more: Genesis Turn It On Again, Dire Straits Sultans of Swing, Whitesnake Here I Go Again, Bryan Adams Summer Of '69, The Darkness I Believe In A Thing Called Love, Guns n' Roses Sweet Child O' Mine, Bon Jovi Livin' On A Prayer, The Proclaimers 500 Miles, U2 Vertigo, Queen Don't Sop Me Now, Robbie Williams Let Me Entertain You, Spencer Davis Group Gimme Some Lovin, Kings of Leon Sex on Fire, Status Quo Rockin' All Over The World. Jackie Wilson Lifting Me Higher, The Jam Town Called Malice, The Feeling Love It When You Call, Simple Minds Don't You Forget About Me, Jamiroquai Cosmic Girl, plus their usual big medley of about 10/12 songs. Highly recommended.

Oh God said to Abraham kill me a son/Abe said man you must be puttin me on

2009-05-26T13:59:00.002+01:00

Friday 22 May - and we are at a different venue tonight, The Grand Opera House in York to see one of my all-time guitar heroes, Johnny Winter. The problem I have with the GOH is the fact that it's an all-seated venue so this is starting a bit strange and I realise that I'll probably be in for a 'numb-bum' by the send of the session. Still, we are in the Dress Circle so should get a good view. Support was from Ian Siegal a British blues singer/guitarist very much on the roots side of the genre. He has a voice like Tom Waits and writes lyrics with a strong sense of humour. Currently touring with Andy Graham (bass) and Nikolaj Bjerre (drums) I think everything he played/sang were his own compositions as I didn't recognise a single song. The lyrics were a bit indistinct, possibly due to the acoustics of the GOH, I've not sat in the Circle before, but I certainly enjoyed the Mortal Coil Shuffle off his 2007 album, Swagger.

During the interval The Druid and I caught up on recent music purchases while 'A' wandered around the building admiring the architecture. Then it was on to the headline act, John Dawson Winter III, the cross-eyed albino Texas blues legend. We kicked off with an instrumental by Johnny's band; Paul Nelson (guitar), Scott Spray (bass), and Tony Beard (drums) which was very well executed. Then Johnny himself came on stage and I have to say that my heart went out to him. He looked every day of his 65 years, barely able to shuffle onstage unaided. Apparently he suffered an injury to his hip back in October 2000 following a fall. The damage was severe enough that he had to undergo surgery to correct the problem, but he seems to be suffering the effects of that injury to this day. He performed the entire set whilst sitting on a chair and using a vintage dew drop-shaped 'headless' Steinberger guitar switching to a 1963 Gibson Firebird V for the encore. For me, the Firebird has a much nicer tone, the Steinberger sounded very shrill.

He has an exquisite voice but the lyrics were once more lost in the acoustics of the GOH. To be brutally honest he didn't really seem to hit his stride until about half-way through the set when he played Hendrix's Red House. After that things definitely improved with his own Mojo Boogie, Derringer's Rock 'n' Roll, Hoochie Koo, Ray Charles's Blackjack, Larry William's Bony Moronie, The Rolling Stones' It's All Over Now, and finally Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited. As was pointed out to me later "so we've just heard an old bloke play a bunch of covers?" and I guess that's about the size of it, but it's the manner of his playing that makes it special, It's All Over Now was practically unrecognisable.

It almost seems like sacrilege but we left the GOH and immediately headed across town to the Roman Bath where Storm were playing and just kicking off the second half of their set. Storm are a 4-piece rock covers band from Huddersfield whom we've seen before. They played; Van Halen (Jump), The Jam (Town Called Malice), The Darkness (I Believe In A Thing Called Love), Prince (Purple Rain), Bryan Adams (Summer of '69), Wilson Pickett/The Commitments (Mustang Sally), Madness (Baggy Trousers), Whitesnake (Here I Go Again), Lenny Kravitz (Are you Gonna go my way), Green Day (Basket Case), and Alvin and the Chipmunks (Let's Do The Time Warp Again). The last being their nadir, a song where they insist on a female in the audience naming a rude body part for us to "put your hands on...". I really wish they would drop this from what is otherwise a pretty decent act.

She's quite the mediator/A smoother operator you will never see

2009-05-18T12:15:00.004+01:00

Friday 15 May - Sorry, I'm starting with a rant (skip rant). Just what is it with MP's expenses? I travel to work, at my own expense. I feed myself, at my own expense. I don't expect my employer to shell out for either, or to subsidise a second home nearer my place of work. OK, MPs effectively have two jobs, one in their constituency and one at the Houses of Parliament, and for some MPs these are a significant distance apart. But if I was going to another part of the country on company business, I would get travel and a hotel paid for. It's not rocket science. Parliament should designate a boundary within which the MPs constituency and the Houses of Parliament are considered 'local' i.e. no expenses are paid at all. Outside of that boundary 'remote' MPs get travel expenses between their constituency and London only. Parliament already has a canteen, so there's no need for meal allowances. There should be an apartment block (run like a hotel so they book in) for remote MPs to stay in. For those MPs who want a meal or a drink (at their own expense of course) the apartment block could be equipped with restaurants and bars and the profits from these could be used to offset the cost of the apartments. These guys and gals are clever enough to be running the country; they should be able to sort this out. Rant over.

So, Friday night at the Roman Bath and it's heaving with the detritus of the York racing crowd, blokes in their suits and women in their big hats and bigger heels, all blathered and falling over. We, on the other hand, are here to see Scandal, a covers band but one that we really like. The band are: Ian Mann (rhythm guitar and vocals), Ady Ingleby (bass), Alan Hopwood (drums), Jamie Reynolds (lead guitar), and not to forget Paul Hopwood working the lights. Scandal are, IMHO, one of the very best covers bands I've ever seen and I throughly recommend them to anyone who gets the opportunity to see them.

Dedging through my memories on Saturday morning I managed to note down the following list of tunes I heard (at least in my head): 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), Cream (Badge, White Room), Hendrix (Hey Joe, Voodoo Chile, Purple Haze, Red House), Bob Dylan (All Along the Watchtower), Willie Dixon (Hoochie Koochie Man), Stevie Ray Vaughan (Look At Little Sister), BBM (Can't Fool The Blues), Gary Moore (Cold Day in Hell), Bob Seger (Rosalie), and Thin Lizzy (Cowboy Song, The Boys Are Back in Town). The Bob Seger one was a surprise to me as I always thought that it was a Lizzy song, but I live and learn.

Keep your eyes on the road/Your hands upon the wheel

2009-05-11T15:33:00.000+01:00

Friday 8 May - and in a slight change to the norm, we are off tonight for White Beer and Stealer down at The Terrace. Bit of a cock-up on the beer front, White Beer no longer available, have to settle for the John Smith's Cask, suits me anyway. Actually, bit of a cock-up on the Stealer front because I only recognised Tivvy, the drummer that looks like Mick Aston from Time Team, from the line-up we'd seen before.

Nil desperandum, they look the biz and indeed sounded the biz as they churned out a bevvy of heavier-than-usual rock covers. I have to confess that when they stopped at half-time for 10 minute break, we legged it to The Roman Bath to check out The Players, who we hadn't heard before. Imagine our surprise to see a bloke on some decks and a bunch of 'ladies' doing The Conga. Needless to say we didn't get more than three paces inside the door before turning tail and dashing back to The Terrace.

So, onto the exciting bit where I exercise my drink-fuelled memory and try to dredge up a list of the cover tracks Stealer played, in-complete naturally: The Kinks You Really Got Me, Robert Palmer Bad Case Of Loving You, Lynyrd Skynyrd Sweet Home Alabama, The Who Won't Get Fooled Again, AC/DC High Voltage Rock And Roll and Whole Lotta Rosie, Neil Young Rocking In The Free World, UFO Too Hot to Handle, The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter, RainbowAll Night Long, and The Doors Roadhouse Blues. For the last one I have to apologise to 'A' as he was sure The Doors did it but I brow-beat him into believing it was Status Quo. In fact The Doors wrote and released it as a single from their 1970 album Morrison Hotel. Status Quo covered it on their 1972 Piledriver album. Oh well, I learn something new every day.

And we kissed, as though nothing could fall/Nothing could fall

2009-05-06T08:35:00.001+01:00

Sunday 3 May - It was a busy weekend. Yesterday we had a suit fitting for my youngest daughter's wedding, an opportunity for me to strut my stuff in jeans and an Edwardian frock coat. Very fetching. Then we took lunch at The Happy Valley Chinese café, the best Chinese food in York, and ended up at mine to watch "School of Rock" as we frittered the remainder of the day away. Sunday was bookended with bacon and eggs for breakfast and a Sunday roast for nine people for dinner (that's tea if you're not as posh what I am). Then I kicked everyone else out of the house, because tonight we had a full turn out down at The Duchess for "A Night For Heroes" a charity event in aid of Angela's Gift in memory of Howard Sparnenn who died aged 55 at 2pm on Sunday 4 May 2008 of a brain tumour.

Six bands, all of which Howard had been involved with, had come together in a celebration of his life, and there were a fair few faces in the crowd that were familiar as well. The event kicked off with Smart Move, a band set up by vocalist and guitarist Dave Smith and Howard shortly before he fell ill. In fact SM seem to consist of mostly Mojos, with John Greenwood on bass, and Andrew Bone on vocals and lead guitar. Non-Mojo Steve Jackson was on drums and I think another Mojo, Mark, was on Keyboards. They turned out a short set of classic covers such as: Genesis Turn It On, Dire Straits Sultans of Swing, Queen Tie Your Mother Down, Whitesnake Here I Go Again....

Next up were a band that we'd seen on a couple of occasions, initially when Howard was drumming for them, Freeway. These played a heavier set, stuff like: Thin Lizzy Jailbreak and The Boys Are Back In Town, Black Sabbath Paranoid, UFO Doctor Doctor, Judas Priest Breaking The Law, and a Deep Purple medley of Hush, Strange Kind Of Woman, Black Night, and Woman From Tokyo.

Apparently Howard's favourite band were Free, I thought he raised his daughters on a diet of Thunder but hay hoe. Anyway, another band that Howard was involved with was Free Spirit who consist of Garry Barrett (vocals and guitar), John Simpson (lead guitar), Gavin Paradiso (bass), John Halder (drums), and Simon Waggot (keyboards). These played covers by Free Wishing Well and Stealer, Bad Company Running With The Pack, Seagull, Bad Company, and Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, and Frankie Miller Jealousy. There were others but the pints of Landlord were beginning to rot my brain cells.

Back in the 70s, when Howard first met his wife-to-be, Jeanette, he was drumming for a band that he co-founded called Flight. The original line-up then consisted of Mick Adamson (vocals), Pete Martin (guitar), Kevin Nickson (bass), and Howard (drums). After two singles they changed their name to Bulldog Breed and Howard was supplanted by Steve Roberts. So for our fourth band of the evening Flight had re-formed, for one night only, and played some of their original material, including the 1974 singles What Am I To Do With You and It's Only Money, plus some of the Bulldog Breed material.

As a drummer Howard contributed to a number of bands including Flight, Rocket 3, Freeway, Inivitro, The Occasional Band, Free Spirit, and sometimes Breathing Space whose lead singer is his daughter, Livvy. BS were fielding a few substitutes in their line-up tonight; Livvy and the brothers Jennings were joined by Andy and Bryan from Mostly Autumn, and Gary "Harry" James from the legendary Thunder on drums. They were also joined by Anne-Marie Helder on flute for The Gap Is Too Wide. My daughters insisted that I got a picture of Harry (Thunder is our favourite band) but for all my efforts all I managed was a shot of him wiping his face with a towel. Such is life.

The headline act was Mostly Autumn who interrupted their current tour (2 May Holmfirth, 8 May Lincoln) to be here tonight and provided a full hour from their current tour set. They gave an impressive and powerful performance ending with Heroes Never Die. By this time my legs were aching from having been standing for over six hours. There was no encore but the audience were asked to move back a bit and a screen was put into position. The evening was concluded with a clip of film from the 80s showing Howard performing a drum solo lasting over 5 minutes. A great end to a great evening.

Love like ours was never made in heaven/Together we've achieved the murder of love

2009-04-30T14:29:00.004+01:00

Wednesday 29 April - a mid week foray into the murky world of post-punk. "Here's a dirty little ditty, you might want to go home and wash yourself down after we've finished this one..." So here we are at The Duchess (where else?) and, again, despite a house full of music I've once more found myself about to watch a band I've heard of, but never heard. How rubbish am I? Still, at least I can console myself with the knowledge that my partner in crime,'A', hadn't heard them either.

First up, and already playing as we enter, were The Idol Dead a four piece that I think comes from Leeds. They consist of: Polly Phluid (vocals), Tim (guitars), Miguel (bas), and Nish (drums). Is Polly formerly of the band Phluid? (Yes he was, thanks Carmen!) That would be bizzarre given that we saw the drummer of Phluid on our last outing.

Anyway, they played a not-terribly-original-sounding set of post-punk tunes among which I spotted Babylon, Eye Of The Storm, She's So Spooky and the finale, Church Of Hate, which they renamed tonight in honour of the headliners as Theatre Of Hate. All a bit uninspiring really; cue a visit to the bar

There was a reasonable turnout for the headliners but it was a very strange crowd; a lot of loutish ladies, and blokes who were mostly short and stocky with gelled up hair and beige jackets that they seemed reluctant to remove, plus two old giffs in the middle of course.

Spear of Destiny came onto the stage to a pretentious soundtrack overlaid with some indistinct speech, followed by a bowel shuddering bass note. SOD are a British rock band, established in 1983 by singer and songwriter Kirk Brandon and bassist Stan Stammers. It's had an ever-changing line-up through the years and currently features Adrian Portas, Robin Goodridge, Craig Adams and Kirk Brandon. Brandon had previously been in The Pack, and from 1980 to 1982 in the post-punk Theatre of Hate best known for its Westworld album. SOD are touring their second album One Eyed Jacks which was released 25 years ago in 1984 and reached number 22 in the UK album chart, their best effort to date.

As far as I could tell they performed the album in its entireity so; Rainmaker, Young Men, Everything You Ever Wanted, Don't Turn Away, Liberator, Prisoner Of Love, Playground Of The Rich, Forbidden Planet, Attica, These Days Are Gone, Rosie, and Grapes Of Wrath. They went off and then came back for a 35 minute encore which I believe featured a number of b-sides and some Theatre of Hate material including the single Do You Believe In The Westworld?

The playing was very tight, as one might expect, the vocals were a bit strangled, and the lyrics sounded a bit pseudo-Nietzschean. The songs had strange time changes but were generally strong enough to make my foot tap and body sway to the beat. There were singalong lines we could all join in with and the songs were sufficiently different that I didn't get bored over the 90 minute set, so they must have been doing something right. Will I be buying an album? Perhaps not, but I did enjoy the night out, which is always a bit of a result.

Knock, knock, knocking on Heaven's door

2009-04-28T15:08:00.002+01:00

Saturday 25 April - and I would probably have been out anyway but a lovely lady I know is the wife of the lead singer in Selby/Leeds band $lash Vega$ and she kindly provided us with flyers to get into The Duchess with a £2 discount, so we were definitely up for that!

SV are a five piece who seem reluctant to divulge their full names (you know who you are Ian), so the line-up is: Ginna (vocals), Holmes (drums), Robbie G (guitar), Mike Infinitum (bass) and Oz (another guitar). Ginna looks a bit like Brian Placebo/Keith Prodigy and used to play drums with Leeds outfit Phluid. They have recently released an album, This Is Radio Revolution, which should be available to purchase soon.

Musically they were a motorway pile-up between G 'n' R, Motley Crue and Poison, their sounds falling somewhere in the metal-pop genre. Whilst the lyrics were pretty much lost in the noise, I certainly enjoyed Vive La Revolution with its superb guitar solo, Beat The Disease, and the two songs with Batman references; Joker and Two Face (or should that be Two-Face?)

Next up were favourite 98Pages a York-bases power blues trio consisting of: Martyn Fillingham (vocals/guitar), Jase Brooks (bass), and Andy Black (drums). Basically they played pretty much all their debut album, Broken homes and the halfway house. They play superb, are better live than on plastic, and are musically very tight now. Martyn's voice in particular has a marvelously gravelly tone, or he might be going down with something.

Finally, the headliners were Heavens Basement (and on SpaceFace). Again, we've seen these before and enjoyed them previously. HB are: Richie Heavanz (vocals), Jonny Rocker (guitar), Rob Randell (bass), Chris Rivers (drums), and Sid Glover (lead guitar). Once more they didn't fail to disappoint, with Richie, a master of stage-craft, prowling the stage and whipping the crowd into an enthusiastic frenzy. Quite why they haven't managed to push out an album yet is beyond me, they certainly have enough material including; Tear Your Heart Out, Executioner's Day, Graduation, Saint Routine, Fear Of Getting Off, and Reign On My Parade. Excellent stuff.

Oh, a storm is threatening/My very life today

2009-04-27T13:33:00.002+01:00

Friday 24 April - It's the name of a three piece cover band, as well as a rude euphemism for onanism (lots of -isms here), tonight we are off to The Roman Bath to see Skin The Lizard. I arrived just as they plucked the first chord and we were immediately into Oasis' Cigarettes and Alcohol, always a good start as far as I'm concerned. 'A' arrived just after they they finished their second tune, The Police's Roxanne.

To say there was only three of them, they managed a fair range of songs and played extremely well. One feature we did like was that the speakers were angled to point into the centre of the room instead of straight ahead, which sends the sound to the bar-staff. I didn't manage to get a set list, relying on once more on my flakey memory, we did get two renditions of Bon Jovi's Living On A Prayer and two of AC/DC's Highway to Hell, plus another three AC/DC tracks, Are You Gonna Go My Way (Lenny Kravitz), Local Boy In A Photograph and Dakota (Stereophonics), Rock And Roll (Led Zep), She Sells Sanctuary (The Cult), Route 66 (Bobby Troup), two Foo Fighter's one of which was DOA, Maggie May (Rod Stewart), Brown Sugar and Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones), Vertigo (U2), and I Predict A Riot (Kaiser Chiefs).

An entertaining evening was had; there was a bunch of boisterous bravoes, one of whom had to be escorted off the premises by his friends as he was in danger of getting lumped. We also had a mysterious harmonica player who entered the stage area and played along to Rock And Roll with the band. No good reason, he wasn't known to the band, he just did it.

OK. Just a little pinprick/There'll be no more --aaaaaahhhhh! But you may feel a little sick.

2009-04-20T13:54:00.000+01:00

Friday 17 April - and once again we are stumbling across a band that we've never seen before. Although they allegedly play The Roman Bath about six times a year, we've never seen Killing Time, a Yorkshire four-piece (lead guitar, bass, drums, and acoustic/rhythm/keyboards). I've no idea of their names and can't find any details about on t'Interweb. Are they shy?

Anyway up, we were treated to a series of eclectic covers comprising as least two Pink Floyd songs which I'm ashamed to say I recognised but couldn't name. I think they were off Division Bell, one of the PF albums that I don't have. Some Dire Straits; Money For Nothing, and Sultans of Swing. A Savage Garden track, To The Moon And Back, which wasn't very well received by the audience, a bit too twee I think. Bon Jovi, It's My Life, and Foo Fighters Times Like These. Two more Floyd songs; Shine On You Crazy Diamond, and Comfortably Numb. For an encore they did an AC/DC track which I didn't recognise. As regular readers will know, there were probably a few more songs thrown in for good measure but the lethal combination my rapidly aging and John Smith's Cask Bitter renders my memory somewhat dodgy.

The lead guitar (Roger?) was brilliant, the vocals were a bit mono-tonal, but they delivered a good selection of unusual covers played in a competent manner, all of which made for a very enjoyable night out. Recommended.

And the world looks just the same/And history ain't changed

2009-04-16T13:23:00.000+01:00

Monday 13 April - a last minute decision on who was out and when resulted in our usual crowd being split between two venues. The Druid ended up at The Duchess, you can read about his exploits here. The rest ended up in The Roman Bath to watch Dufflegoat (and on FaceSpace).

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). We started the evening standing directly in front of the band, but the volume drove us off to one side where, due to the fact that it was not crowded, we still had a great view. This was the first time that we had caught the 'Goat for a full set, in the past we have only managed the tail end. Paul, on drums, is extremely good although I didn't think it was really warm enough for him to divest himself of his shirt. Roger has a penchant for adding his own twiddles to guitar solos. This actually works quite well, although it's a little disconcerting when the solo in your head doesn't match the one Roger is playing. Tony does excellent bass work but the vocals are a tad weak, or maybe the drum was too loud. Anyway, they played blistering set of classic rock covers and even managed to slip in a few of their own songs.

From my rather hazy memory they played: White Room (Cream), Foxy Lady, Purple Haze, Fire (Hendrix), Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who), Black Night (Deep Purple), Twentieth Century Boy (T Rex), Maybe Someday (Dufflegoat), and The Song Remains The Same, Good Times Bad Times, Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin). Plus a host of others that I've forgotten. Highly recommended.

I see my red door and I want it painted black/No colours anymore I want them to turn black

2009-04-08T11:54:00.001+01:00

Monday 6 April - and the final part of our extended musical weekend sees us at The Duchess once more, we have mentioned that we would be interested in season tickets! Tonight the main attraction is Jan Akkerman, guitarist with with Focus from 1969-1976, and voted 'Best Guitarist In The World' in 1973 by the readers of Melody Maker.

Sartorially, I was braving the gig with a white(-ish) tee-shirt hoping that curly-haired, foppish, muppets drinking red wine wouldn't be in evidence this evening. I was right.

Support tonight came in the form of Geoff Watson, the 'Hurricane' from Hebden Bridge. Geoff simply stood in the middle of the stage with an electro-acoustic guitar and played like a demon. Originally from Liverpool he was a self-taught guitarist at the age of 11 and now writes and performs his own original material in a mixture of acoustic, contemporary rock, folk and pop styles. Apart from Paint It Black (The Rolling Stones) he played all his own material so I can't reel off the titles of the songs, except for the last one which was Happy Holidays, previously released as a single. He was very good.

Jan Akkerman is currently touring with The Jan Akkerman Band and had already completed a 28 date tour this year before coming to the UK for an intensive 7 day/7 gig tour which ends tomorrow in Southampton. Quite how he does it at the age of sixty-two is beyond me. The other band members are: Coen Molenaar (keyboards), Wilbrand Meischke (5 string bass) and Marijn van den Berg (drums). Jan often plays one of his Framus signature guitars but tonight was using a custom Gibson Les Paul, a lovely black model with white edging. I get excited seeing Les Pauls as I own a sparkly red model myself.

I've not heard any of Jan's solo material before so I can't provide a listing of exactly what he played. I certainly recognised a couple of Focus songs: Hocus Pocus (with guitar replacing the yodeling), House Of The King, and Sylvia. There was a 10 minute break about half way through and then he bookended the second half with Zebra and More Air On A G String. For an encore he played You Do Something To Me (Paul Weller). All the songs were instrumentals, there was no attempt at singing, and the flute parts were entirely picked out on guitar. Jan was superb with his fingers darting over the frets and a plethora of effects to enhance his sound, along with his characteristic volume swells. The other musicians were also fantastic; Coen played like Keith Emerson, Marijn had a drum solo in the middle that was on a par with John Bonham; and Wilbrand effortlessly smoothed the timing transitions, picking out complex bass riffs almost as fast as Jan's lead. A very enjoyable night out.