Bashee playing magician sitting lotus on the floor

Friday 28 December 2007 – it was just starting to spit with rain as I left the house. I paused for a moment, Should I go back for my big coat? And, in a rare moment of common sense, I did. Just as well as the heavens opened on me as I walked into town and by the time I arrived at the Roman Bath I was saturated, with wet jeans clinging to my legs like a schoolgirl crush. We were here tonight to listen to Syncrownized, a York band that I had heard of, but never heard, despite the fact that they have played Fibbers before.

Syncrownized are billed as a power trio and consist of Leon Banks on vocals and lead guitar, Ben Darwin on vocals and bass, and Tony Batchelor on drums.

For the first ten minutes or so we were graced by the presence of Rick Witter and one of his Dukes, bass player Stu Fletcher (also of The Yards). Rick didn’t recognise me, the last time he saw me he was very, very drunk!

Back to Syncrownized and they played a bevy of rock classics. The ones I remember were: Jimmy Hendrix (Foxy Lady, Purple Haze, All Along the Watchtower), Cream (Sunshine of my love), The Jam (Town like Malice), Chuck Berry (Johnny B Good), Stevie Wonder (Superstition) with that famous drum solo in the middle, Neil Young (Rockin’ in the Free World), Beatles, Rolling Stones (Sympathy for the Devil), The Undertones (Teenage Kicks). They were brilliant, Highly recommended.

Take off your hat/Kick off your shoes/ I know you ain't going anywhere.

Friday 21 December – and it’s one of my current favourite York bands, Freeway, playing at the Roman Bath. After last Friday’s influx of inebriated festive revellers, I was a bit wary of the crowd but although it was pretty darn packed, and some of the folks were a little the worse for drink, everybody behaved themselves and we were able to enjoy the band.

Freeway played a fine selection of classic rock covers; Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Whitesnake, UFO, Queen, Free, Bad Co., a medley of Deep Purple, etc. The performance was tight with the band members playing really well. In what has become something of a set-piece in their act, Livvy Sparnenn, daughter of drummer Howard, and front femme of Breathing Space, stepped up to the mic to deliver the vocals for a ZZ Top track and Led Zep’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll”, which also featured dad Howard in a drum solo. Top stuff, and highly recommended. Oh, and Mostly was there, well, Hardly.

Here's Livvy in action with Breathing Space.....

Eight days a week, I love you/Eight days a week, Is not enough to show I care

Friday 14 December – well, OK I’m writing this on Monday, but please don’t shout at me because I started a three-day headache on Sunday and it’s peaking at the moment. Anyway, back to Friday, and we were in the Roman Bath not knowing quite what to expect from “The Jet Blacks”, who apparently play covers and guitar instrumentals from the ‘50s and ‘60s. There was a Terrance “Jet” Harris who played in The Shadows, and I later found out that their second single, released in 1959 under the name of The Drifters (they changed their name because of the US band) was “Jet Black”/”Drifting”, two guitar instrumentals. Oh, and Jet Harris formed a band called The Jet Blacks. Phew!

Somewhere I stumbled across some information about the lead guitarist playing a Gretsch guitar and being the owner of a B&B in York, but I’m blessed if I can find it again. Sorry. Anyway, they were extremely good, playing a selection of oldies but goodies; Shadows (Apache, F.B.I.), Monkees (I’m a Believer), early Beatles (Eight Days a Week), Buddy Holly, Jim Reeves... It’s surprising just how many I knew, but then I am 352 years old!

The evening was slightly marred by the itinerant Christmas revellers popping in, dancing, falling into a microphone stand, and being chucked out. But it seemed very good natured and the bouncer took it all in her stride. Yet another fine evening spent soaking (in the music) in the Bath.

Roger’s Rockin’ Round-up of 2007

Now I’ve bought a few albums this year, and pretty much enjoyed them all, but which were actually released this year? I had to grub around in my CD stacks to pull them out and apparently I only bought five albums that were actually released in 2007. Mind you, every one was brilliant and I have no hesitation in recommended all these. If you haven’t got them, stick them on Santa’s list immediately!

Album: Fear of a Blank Planet

Artist: Porcupine Tree

I took a bit of a punt with this one and it paid off in spades. This is a masterpiece of modern progressive rock.

Album: Minutes to Midnight

Artist: Linkin Park

I’ve got a couple of Linkin Park albums already (Meteora and Hybrid Theory) so I thought this was going to be good, and I was not disappointed. Another excellent album from from my favourite Californians.

Album: Puzzle

Artist: Biffy Clyro

This was very much a shot in the dark. The fourth album from three Scottish lads, the recommendation for this came from one of my youngest daughter’d friends (thanks Ian) and is full of fantastic songs. I think I may be delving into their back catalogue in the New Year!

Album: Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace

Artist: Foo Fighters

I was blown away by the double album In Your Honour and couldn’t see how the Foos could top it. At the first listen it appeared that they fallen short of the high standards that they’ve set themselves. But, after playing it a couple of times, I can honestly say that this album is definitely up there with their best.

Album: Sloe Gin

Artist: Joe Bonamassa

Now I knew this guy was good, but somehow I’ve never gotten around to buying any of his albums. By chance I heard the title track on a sampler CD and ended up parting with my plastic. If you like blues, and I do, this is probably the best release of the year.

Walking side by side with death/The devil mocks their every step

Friday 7 December – the drizzle settles on York’s charcoal streets as, unobserved, the cosmonauts of rainbow consciousness roll into town. Light treads the step as one slips from the darkness of his own space/time, into the tallow-lit halls of the Roman Bath. Yep, it’s party time! And the band this week is, The Blueflies. A York-based three-piece specicalising in Free/Cream/Hendrix covers. The Blueflies consist of Miles Gilderdyke on guitar and vocal, Gavin Ewing on bass guitar, and Trevor “Fatha” King on drums and backing vocals. Miles cut his teeth in the ‘80s with Zoot and the Roots (which also featured Snake Davis of M people) and has worked with artists such as Ben E. King, Ron Wood, and Jools Holland. Gav started playing bass in a band with Miles 20 years ago when still at school. He also played in Zoot and the Roots. Trev was born in 1949 and got his first paid gig at 13 years old. He backed old stars such as Danny Williams, Tony Christie, Dorothy Squires, Max Wall, Freddy Starr, Faith Brown, Bill Maynard etc. He met Miles in the early 80s (he was his milkman!!), and has played on and off with him and Gav ever since. As Miles had decided that this was to be a Christmas show, each tune was suffixed by a cheesy Christmas Carol. Hmm, might have been better to wait until after the applause, or even better, just a quick five minute set of carols. Anyway, it was all done in the best of spirits and they are a jolly fantastic band to watch. Throughly recommended.

Saturday 8 December – the winds of Thor are blowing cold, but it’s nice and warm inside Fibbers as we get ready for tonight’s line-up. I’d not heard of any of the bands but the write up sounded pretty good and it was only £4 to get in. First up was Record Department, a four-piece from Leeds comprising Jonny (Guitar, Kaoss pad, vocals), Pinnell (Drums), Jon (Guitar), and Ryan (Bass). Uh, what’s a Kaoss pad? Well, it’s a small touchpad MIDI controller, sampler, and effects processor for audio and musical instruments made by Korg, as used by Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead), Matt Bellamy (of Muse who has one embedded in his guitar), Brian Eno, and many more. Jonny (of Record Department) has his mounted on a street bollard and he alternated between singing and playing his guitar and twiddling with the pad. He looked like a madman dashing about but the chaos (ha ha) worked and they make a brilliant sound. Even better than that, my dears, the band handed out free sampler CDs (I got one of course) with three of their excellent songs on: “Peace and Quiet”, “Great Expectations”, and “White Lies”. I liked this band. The trouble was, were the other two going to be better, or worse?

Ding, ding. Round 2 (not a very sly reference to a boxing match that never reached the second round on Saturday, and one where our man came second in the early hours of Sunday). It’s York band Apply the Brakes, and really, they should have. They played everything at about twice the speed it should have been, so everything sounded the same. The only respite was the final ditty which started slow, went a bit faster, and ended slow. The band consisted of: Tom Nightingale (Fast guitar/vocals), Danny Stacey (Fast lead guitar), and Freddie Cornes (Drummer boy). There was a poppet wandering around handing out CDs but I kept my hands in my pockets.

And finally, for your delight and delectation....Arcadian (cf Arcas, the son of Zeus and Callisto. Accidently killed his mother while she was a bear and Zeus put them in the sky as Ursa Major and Minor). Er, excuse me but there isn’t a link. No, that’s because there website is just a holding page and therefore neither use nor ornament. This band was first seen poking its heads over the parapet in the 2006 Battle of the Bands, Round 1 Heat 5 at Certificate 18. Singer Jim seemingly wanted to start a fight with the mic, staring it down every time he approached it and drummer Mike cheerily swung his head around in sheer pleasure of playing. But the only number that really worked was the bluesy final song. They were better than Apply the Brakes, but not as good as Record Department and I wasn’t hanging around to see if there were any CDs on offer. There’s more music on to be found tonight...

We quickly dashed (well, strolled) into the city centre and the roman Bath where Smart Move were playing. I was sure that I’d seen these before but there was a different drummer last time. Tonight they had Howard “the drummer” Sparnenn (he of Breathing Space and Flight fame) on skins. Smart Move bill themselves as a Rock/Funky covers band, but fortunately it was way more Rock than Funk, the closest was a bit of Average White Band. Smart Move normally consist of: Dave Smith (Vocals/Guitar), John Greenwood (Vocals/Bass), Andrew Bone (Vocals/Lead Guitar), and Steve Jackson (Vocals/Drums). Despite missing half their act we were treated to a good selection of covers and had a jolly good time. They are another band that I would highly recommend anyone to see.

‘Cos I didn’t catch you name, and I know it sounds insane/But I got reason to believe I was meant for you

Star date – Monday 3 December 2007 OK, it’s not the weekend. I didn’t go out at the weekend, but this is it… the main event…. Thunder live at Sheffield City Hall, oh yes!

We’ve been anticipating this for months. It was youngest daughter’s twenty-first birthday treat and she had no idea what we are doing. I’d bought her Thunder’s latest EP, Six of one…, and hidden the tickets inside, tricksy Hobbit. You should have seen the look on her face, she was over the moon. So after lunch on Monday we piled into the car and headed way down south to brave the one-way system and car parking facilities of the Steel City. The AA route directions fizzled out when we hit the city centre but luckily I was fitted with the latest in-car navigation aid, Sam-Sam, which successfully located a 24 hour parking space practically across the street from City Hall. Having a couple of hours to kill we browsed a few shops and ate a hearty tea at The Museum public house.

On the dot of seven thirty we surged through the seasonal German market and into the building. Stopping briefly to pick up a programme and t-shirt, then it was onwards and upwards to the balcony where we took our seats. I know, a rock concert with seats, it’s all a bit pants, how we suffer for our art. The support act was Lauren Harris (daughter of Iron Maiden’s co-founder and bass player, Steve Harris) and her band looked suitably aged and gnarled, whilst Lauren was a leather-trousered, bare-footed, pixie skipping around the stage. All her songs were new to us and were a bit samey-sounding, but she did a ballad that we all liked, and See Through and Steal Your Fire also registered as pretty damn good. Then it was a quick dash to the toilets before the Thunderous Ones came on-stage.

On the stroke of nine the lights dimmed and we were treated to some stormy music and thunder and lightning effects. Then Thunder entered to a tremendous roar and everyone was on their feet down in the bear pit. They played practically the entire Robert Johnson’s Tombstone album, some old favourites; Backstreet Symphony, Like a Satellite, Dirty Love, River of Pain, Low Life in High Places, and Harry setting them off on Better Man. They also played a new track off the EP, Chain Reaction. They have such a huge catalogue of songs to pick from that they were bound to miss a few of our favourites, how many can you pack into a one and three-quarter hour show? The whole audience was singing along with all the songs and we were all clapping and dancing. The whole gig was probably up there with Genesis, Deep Purple, and The Boomtown Rats as one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Rock on!

Five on a night out – Enid Blogton

In which the Famous Five discover a musical cave and visit a ginger-pop shop

It was nearly the end of term and Julien had been sent to pick up his cousin, Bets, from her boarding school. Bets was pleased to see him as usual and gave him a great big hug. “How come you’re here to pick me up?” She asked. “Well, I was supposed to be meeting with my family, but the plans have all fallen through.” He replied. “Hey, how about if we go on an adventure tonight?” He exclaimed. “Oh no,” said Bets, “I’ve got a jolly lot of homework to catch up on. You go with your friends.” So Julien quickly wrote a message to his friends, tied it to the leg of a pigeon, and released the bird into the gathering winter evening.

It was about eight o’clock when Julien arrived outside of the cave, known to the locals as Fibbers. Venturing further in, he soon met up with his chums: Dick, Anne, George and Timmy. Dick thrust a bottle of lemonade into his hand, “This is a jolly wheeze,” he said. It was said that at certain times of the evening, when the wind and the waves were just right, the cave produced eerie sounds, almost musical, and tonight the conditions were just right. The first noise was remarkably like Ishtar, slowly building up into their 50 minute long work called “The World We Loved Shimmers In Flames”, except it only lasted for about 25/30 minutes so was probably the abridged version. This performance also had Dick Cheney doing a voice-over in one section, giving a speech about terrorism, but Julien couldn’t make out who was doing the talking. “Crikey. That was good”, uttered Timmy. There was a period of quiet in which the chums caught up with each other and then the cave starting making noises again, shorter bursts of noise, of a droning nature. It sounded remarkably like The Falling Spikes with their hypnotic drums/bass, shimmering guitar/keyboards, and vocals delivered as if heard whilst dreaming... “Oh blimey,” said Dick, “I almost nodded off then!” But there was no nodding off when the next noise started. It was the The Warlocks, with two drummers. They are currently touring their sixth album “Heavy Deavy Skull Lover” with its ominous acoustics and full-on fuzz melt-down. In fact the noise was so heavily distorted that it was difficult to tell if that’s was how it was meant to sound.

The Five staggered out of the cave. “Leaping lizards, I’m glad we’ve escaped from there,” said Dick. “I need a ginger-pop, let’s go and buy some,” said Anne. So the Five made their carefully up the cliff path and along the quiet lanes to village. “It’s awfully dark,” said Timmy, “did anyone remember to bring a torch?” “No need,” said George, “we’re here now.” And sure enough they had arrived outside the Old White Ginger Pop Shop. It was terribly crowded when they got inside, but the Five managed to find their friend, the Russian lady spy, Legs Elanavitch. Legs told them that Tom, the pop shop owner, had been forced out of business by a big lemonade factory, and this was his last night in the shop. “The rotters!” Exclaimed Dick. There were lots of Tom’s friends there, including a jolly country band called Hazzard County. As this was Tom’s last night lots of people who had played in the band came up and had a go. Tom even had a go on the drums himself! There was one chap, Joe Johnson (of Shed Seven) sporting a very nice haircut, just like Julien’s, but he seemed a bit distracted and didn’t really know the songs they were playing so he let Rockin’ Richard have a go instead. It was a fantastic night and Julien drank lots of strange drinks; mixtures of raspberries and apples, apples and oranges. Then everybody wished Tom “Good Luck” and the Five left to stand on their favourite corner street in the village. It was very late when Julien arrived home, nearly 2 o’clock in the morning, and he had to sneak in through the pantry window so that he didn’t wake his parents. “Crumbs that was a spiffing night out.” He thought as he drifted off to sleep. “I wonder if we will have such an exciting adventure next weekend!”

And as a million faces go by/You’re gonna find a new connection/On that you can rely

Friday 16 November. And down at the Roman Bath Freeway are playing. Now we’ve seen these before and they were jolly good last time. They do classic rock covers and feature Howard the Drummer. They must have started around nine because I got there about a quarter past and they were already on ‘Wishing Well’. The evening was greatly enhanced by a few pints of John Smiths. Not that ‘brewed in Warrington’ nonsense, but a batch brewed back in Tadcaster using water from the artesian well beneath the brewery. That’s better!

Anyway, back to the band. As per last time they did a stonking set of covers, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Bad Co. Free, Iron Maiden, Thunder, AC/DC, and Queen. The highlight was in the second half when Livvy (that’s Howard’s daughter, the singer out of Breathing Space), was inveigled into singing to Led Zep’s ‘Rock n Roll’ and Howard did his drum solo in the middle. Also in the crowd, Mostly Brian was mostly hanging about and chatting with his mates.

If you want check out Freeway for yourself, they are currently booked to play the Roman Bath on Friday 30 November and Friday 21 December. I’ll definitely be there for 30 November; I have a date, with a lady!

And the time will come when you see we're all one/and life flows on within you and without you.

Friday 9 November. Whole Lotta Led playing at Fibbers, sounds like a really great night. I’ve seen this band before and they were top-notch. The band consists of Nick Ferris (lead guitar, acoustic guitar and theramin), Geoff Hunt (bass guitar, mandolin and keyboards), Graham Twist (drums and backing vocals), and Lee Addison (vocals and harmonica). Actually, it was a bit disappointing as Lee struggled with his Sennheiser in-ear monitoring system that kept cutting in and out, so half the time he was singing flat. The drum and guitars were excellent. Nick and Geoff did a huge guitar duet on ‘No Quarter’ that seemed to go on forever, and young Graham’s masterful drum solo in the middle of ‘Moby Dick’ was a real highlight. But despite a very supportive crowd, it seems the band were a bit frustrated as they didn't do an encore.

We then moved on to the Mucky Duck where, what was billed as (proper) Hazzard County turned out to be Simon Snaize and the Hazzards, as Mostly Chris was playing with Mostly Autumn at the Mostly Opera House (this link looked a bit dodgey when I tried it). Still, the Hazzards were on good form doing a sublime ‘Who Do You Love’ with George Harrison’s ‘Within You Without You’, plonked in the middle. Blooming awaesome! During the evening I had three pints of Black Sheep (1 for ewe, 1 for ewe, and 1 for ewe) and was feeling no pain whilst assisting a young lady from Dewsbury on a pre-'hen night' night to purchase a bottle of wine. I failed to ask her name, as usual, but I hope they all had a good time on Saturday.

You keep me coming but you just ask for more/The clocks ticking there’s a hole in my heart

Sunday 4 November. Oi, it’s a work day tomorrow, you can’t go out on the town! Oh yes I can. A trip down to Fibbers, I’ll only drink J2O, honest guvnor. Sadly I missed the first band but I will at least give them a mention, Untitled Music Project. Sorry chaps. I believe they trawled all the way from Birmingham for me to miss them.

Next up were The Dirtys. Very loud. The vocals were a bit Kings Of Leon and the lead guitarist was very good, although a tad too distorted for me. Clean up the sound and it could have been Slash on guitar. Really. I’m not sure who was who but the band (according to their MyFace page) consisted of Kyrill, Gee, Keiran, and Martyn.

Finally, the headliners, The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster. Now these were VERY loud and VERY fast. Hailing from Brighton, this band have been around since 1999 and is currently comprised of: Guy McKnight (Vocals), Rich Fownes (Lead Guitar), Marc Norris (Rhythm Guitar), Sym Gharial (Bass), and Tom Diamantopoulo (Drums). Their weird name comes, apparently, from a car once driven by Winston Churchill, and a couple of the band members are Buddhists, so a nice bunch of chaps really. The music is psycho-billy punk, thrash played at the speed of bands like Trivium. Which goes a long way to explain why their first album, ‘Horse of the Dog’, only lasts for twenty five minutes although it still fits in ten songs. Guy is a scary… well guy. During their opening number (I’ve no idea what it was called) he hurled himself into the crowd where he tossed and turned for a few minutes before being gently deposited back on the stage. Nor was this the only time he went crowd-surfing, and in the middle of the act he came down amongst the audience, clambered over a railing (nearly kicking over a table full of glasses) and then made his way back again, singing/growling/shouting all the time. One of their songs, ‘Mister Mental’, was featured in the movie ‘Shaun of the Dead’, the film also contained posters and other references to the band. The band is working on their third album due for release in late 2007/early 2008. Sorry chaps but I won’t be parting with my plastic for that one.

Saturday 3 November and I’m up bright and early to start the Xmas shopping. OK, it’s a bit soon, but you’ve got to start sometime and when you can only shop at weekend it cuts down the options. My David Gilmour 2-disc DVD of ‘Remember That Night’ plops through my letterbox at lunchtime and I spend an extremely pleasant afternoon watching the whole, breathtaking performance. Brilliant.

Friday 2 November and a rare appearance by the full Hazzard County line up at the Old White Swan. Yes, Mostly Chris is in attendance and the place is heaving because Country John appears to have invited all his mates along. John Smiths is a no no, mine’s a pint of Black Sheep, thank you! The Hazzards are brilliant, as usual, a full on Dylanesque show plus an almost psychedelic version of ‘Who Do You Love’. This is how Friday nights should always be. Sadly, although the full line up is playing again next week, Whole Lotta Led are at Fibbers so I will only be catching the second half of the Hazzards. Well something’s gotta go.

Hailed brilliant, another conversation/but they couldn't touch your Hemingway

Thursday 2 November and it’s a mid-week sortie to Fibbers to check out the new Arctic Chiefs, er, Kaiser Monkeys, er, you get the picture. First up is the Duels, a five-piece from Leeds; Jon Foulger (vocals, guitar and keyboards), Jim Foulger (his brother, guitar), Jon Maher (bass and shouts a bit), James Kirkbright(drums), and Katherine (Jon and Jim’s cousin, keyboards, bells, branches and violin?). Duels formed from the ashes of band SammyUSA. Their first limited edition single ‘Potential Futures’ was released on the Transgressive Records label on 18 July 2005 and featured on the Fifa 2006 soundtrack. Their first album, ‘The Bright Lights And What I Should Have Learned’, was released on the Nude label on 31 July 2006. The band have since parted from Nude and this gig is part of their ‘The Barbarians Move In’ tour in advance of their new album of the same name. Their new single, ‘Pressure on You’, is due for release on 7 November 2005, bugger, too early! Duels toured with Graham Coxon, The Rakes, The Kooks, Kaiser Chiefs and The Zutons. They have played the V Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals and opened the Main Stage at T in the Park in 2006. Apparently they’ve been together since 2004 and it certainly sounds like it. They are a tight band with the instruments producing a rich and complex sound that was breathtakingly good for a support act. My only disappointment was that there was no CD on sale at the back of the room; I was ripe for a purchase.

The next band had drawn its own group of devotees. I Was A Cub Scout are a two-piece from Nottingham (I can’t help saying Dottingham, as if I have a blocked nose; it’s from an old TV advertisement featuring a character called Malcolm.) IWACS consist of William Bowerman (drums) from Collingham, previously in Sixteen Hours, and Todd Marriott (vocals/synths/guitar) from Long Bennington, previously in Through Winter, both punk bands. Their first single ‘Pink Squares’ was released on 27 November 2006. They played over pre-programmed keyboards and frankly they need a third band member. How can you improvise when playing over a karaoke track? A bit disappointing really, a bit like Athlete (who I like) playing in their bedroom when they were spotty youngsters. A bit emo, a bit techno, a bit rubbish.

Finally, the star turn, the new saviours of music, iForward Russia! Oh dear. The vocalist moved like Kate Bush on speed and had a voice resembling Justin Darkness Hawkins. All their tracks (bar one) sounded the same, the double-time ska that is the trademark of so many bands these days. Apparently it’s called math rock. iForward Russia! Feature Tom Woodhead (vocals/synth), Whiskas (guitar/synth/shouts), Rob Canning (bass), and Katie Nicholls (drums/shouts). Musically, it's rock built on jabbing guitar lines, scrabbling chords, bruising rhythm-section riffs, jarring dissonances and irregular meters. The band formed in early 2004 from Leeds band The Black Helicopters, of which Tom and Rob were members. They joined siblings Katie and Whiskas (previously of Leeds band les Flames amongst others). In April 2005, they released ‘Nine’, a split 7-inch single with This Et Al, released on guitarist Whiskas' label Dance To The Radio. They’ve toured with We Are Scientists and played alongside The Automatic, The Long Blondes, Howling Bells and Boy Kill Boy on the 2006 NME New Music Tour. Their first album ‘Give Me A Wall’ was released in September 2006. Each track has a numerical name which allegedly indicates the order in which the tracks were written. Most of their output since GMAW has had conventional non-numerical titles. They are currently working on a new album ‘Life processes’ which is due for release shortly. Their track ‘Nine’ was featured on the soundtrack to the 2007 PSP game Burnout Dominator. In a slight support band link up, Katie remixed IWACS’s single 'I Hate Nightclubs'. The video for ‘Eighteen’ features cameo appearances from members of The Pigeon Detectives, This Et Al and The Playmates. The only track that sounded different, and that I liked, was the finale, a slow burning, torch song in the style of Four Day Hombre. I’m sorry, but if I wanted to hear 4DH (who I highly recommend) then I will go and see them, or play their excellent CDs.

And they're all made out of ticky-tacky/And they all look just the same.

Sunday 29 October. Just a quick round up of this week’s goings on... There’s no more word from the Police on the “hideous assault in the middle of York in broad twilight” saga. It makes me despair. I’m not surprised, but I should be!!! (Steps up onto soap box) I want to recycle as much as I can, but York council don’t collect plastic around my way. Ooh, I could take it to a recycling centre (and add more pollution as I go, grr.) They won’t recycle tetrapak drinks cartons, except at a recycling centre either. (Steps down again.)

Anyway, we celebrated my grandson’s fifth birthday on Saturday (it was actually on the previous Monday but we like to keep the kids confused in my family.) This coincided with a flying visit from my sister and her husband who were on their way back to Kent after visiting their daughter in Scotland, and stopped off for a few days. We had an enormous Chinese take-away on the Friday evening (and again for breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, yum, yum). Then went ten-pin bowling on Saturday, where I was beaten by an eight year old girl for whom the ball weighed almost as much as she did! Back to Chez Moi for nibbles, pizza and a birthday cake that middle daughter had made in the shape of a wizard’s hat, with stars and moons, and surrounded by spiders and worms.

All of which is a round-about way of making excuses for not going to the PO club on Friday evening to see the Breathing Space CD launch. I’m really sorry for not being able to attend, especially so since the fabulous Angela from Mostly Autumn/Odins Dragonfly was there. I’m grateful to “I” who send me a report of the event. He took his missus and was so impressed that he came away with 3 CDs; both Breathing Space/Iain Jennings CDs and a 13-track one of Amberstone (Paul Teasdale, the bassist with Breathing Space.) Apparently they encored with Mostly Autumn's The Gap is Too Wide. Oh, see me weeping into my keyboard!

And all the peacemaker turn war officer/Hear what I say

Sunday 21 October. More like one Big Second-Place Weekend. After an excellent effort by both players to get to 5-5, Ronnie suddenly seemed to get bored by proceedings and finally crashed out at 6-9. Hamilton came unstuck at Interlagos with an unnecessarily attempt to re-pass his team-mate on the outside into the Subida da Lago corner and ended up in the run-off area. He then skipped out of gear on lap 8. Lewis spent the rest of the race desperately trying to cawl his way up the field, only to be pipped at the post, denied world champion status by 1 point. Ooh, and United Northern got beaten 18-25 by the All Golds. Ho hum.

I won’t be making the Breathing Space album launch on Friday 26 October at the PO Club in Marygate as I have family visiting. Can someone let me know how it goes?

Saturday 20 October. My statement is now signed off but we had to go to the police station for my daughter’s as it hadn’t been typed up correctly and we wanted it to be right. Today is the start of one Big Weekend of sport. Oops, England lost to RSA. Well, it was a good match and I think they did really well to get to the final. Ronnie O’Sullivan is through to the final of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix and Hamilton is in P2 for tomorrow’s F1 race from Brazil.

Friday 19 October. I had the day off work today, but everything that I was going to do was cancelled, so I ended up working on my book. It was productive day in the end. Didn’t go out, so no musical news.

Thursday 18 October. The police came for our statements, now they just have to be typed up and signed. After the policeman left I had to make a trip to A&E to ferry one of my daughters and her family back home. It’s all in a day’s work!

I'm a juvenile product of the working class/Whose best friend floats in the bottom of a glass

Saturday 13 October. I had a really good day, to start with. A group of us visited the National Railway Museum, rode the Yorkshire Wheel, and ate tea at the Happy Valley café in Goodramgate. We decided to to take a taxi home as we were all quite shattered, but as we got to the front of the queue at the rank in St Saviourgate, a drunken youth punched an elderly gentleman to the ground in front of us, and then kicked him in the face. I immediately ‘phoned for the emergency services, but it was the ambulance that came first and it was only 15 minutes later that the police finally arrived. Luckily the attacker was so drunk that he didn’t have the wit to run away and various people managed to keep him occupied until the police got there, cuffed him, and carted him away. The police are wanting to take a statement from me but haven’t been in touch so far (as at Monday.) Of course, we lost our place in the taxi queue and rather than hang around any longer, we walked home. Should have done that in the first place! I hope the elderly chap (I think his name was Dave) recovers OK.

Oh, and England beat the French after all.

Take this letter to the one I love...

Friday 12 October, and there’s three musketeers abroad tonight. We are heading straight for the Roman Bath and a group called the Travelling’ Band (a reference to a track by Creedance Clearwater Revival from their 1970 album Cosmo's Factory .) The lead vocalist/rythmn guitarist is called Oscar and he looks a bit like Noddy Holder after a night on the tiles. His singing is a bit flat but they play recognisable songs and I think your ears tend to compensate for the odd duff vocal. The bass player is solid and the lead guitarist (Bernard Breslaws dad?) is very good, although some of his twiddly bits were a bit lost because he wasn’t mixed loud enough. The drummer was excellent, but for some strange reason they swapped him for the last tune (Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama) for some other guy who wasn’t really up to scratch. As you might have guessed, the repetoire was Lynyrd, Creedance, Quo mixed with some old Rock ‘n’ Roll, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Bill Haley, Roll Over Beethoven, Johhny B. Goode etc. All very entertaining.

Afterwards “I” caught the last bus home and “A” and I poked our noses around the door of the Old White Swan where “G” was propping up the bar in the usual place. Simon Snaize and NZ Dave were fronting some hap-Hazzards; the violin girl, Marty Feldman on snare drum and a chap on double bass (tell me your names and I will use them.) We only caught the last three songs. As they packed away, we debated the merits of Saturday’s England v France Ruby World Cup match. “G” and I were convinced that the idea of beating the French on their home turf would be sufficient incentive to tip the balance our way. “A” was not convinced.

Nerve gas, nerve gas, no class/I get asphyxiated/Funny how fast you faded

Dear Diary, I’m sorry I haven’t been keeping you up to date, I must try harder. So let’s go back in time (Cue wavy special FX)...

Friday 5 October. It’s Open Day at the University and your truly is wandering back to the Library after lunch. But stay! What’s that niff? It smells like gas, and it turns out that the gas smell is being drawn into the Library through the air vents. Ooops! We quickly move through the building hustling users and visitors towards the entrance, then the alarm goes off and we evacuate outselves. Resplendent in my ‘Hi Vis’ vest we ushers everyone back to the far end of the footbridge which is taped off whilst we await a visit from Transco. While standing there, repelling boarders, we even get a visit from a photographer from The Press, but there’s nothing to see so he just snaps off some pictures of the Transco van when it arrives. It transpires that it wasn’t gas at all, but rather a smell-alike cloud that had escaped from the Chemistry building. Ah, but it was a bit exciting. No musical outing this weekend.

And please don’t think me scary/Cos I’m not I’m just a rock ‘n’ roll Joe

The Quest for a Decent Pint of John Smiths – Chapter 1

In which our heroes formulate a plan, and we all know about the plans of mice and men….

Throughout the week they plotted, checking who was playing where and the possibilities of locating a Decent Pint. By Thursday they had a plan; start at Fibbers, move on to the Roman Bath, then finally The Old White Swan. There were three acts playing Fibbs, a band called The Mojos in the Bath, and who knows who might be playing at the Swan. Three pubs, surely they would find the decent Pint.

By Friday their plan had started to unravel, England were playing Tonga in the World Cup and if we won we would go through to the final eight. Fibbers was struck off the list. They didn’t sell John Smiths anyway, but the Worthington Cold might have pinched a Mention in Despatches. So, watch the first half and then meet at the Roman Bath.

“R” arrived just as The Mojos started their set, a rousing cover of Deep Purple’s Hush and a pint of JS Keg. Not bad. “A” arrived shortly after, but went for the Guinness, oh dear, not good. The Mojos were actually really good, doing a large variety of covers from bands as diverse as: Oasis, James, Queen, Van Halen, Status Quo. Sadly there was a bit of funk, Average White Band etc, but they only did two on the trot and then it was back to proper music. Thoroughly recommended. (The Mojos are: Andy Bowen - Guitar & Vocals, Jeff Smith - Keyboard & Vocals, Dan Lindsey – Bass, Phil Everard - Drums, percussion & Backing.Vocals.)

After The Mojos had finished, our heroes sprinted across to The Old White Swan, but the tables were still out and it was clear that there had been no band playing, calamity!

An early night then, and a failure to locate the Decent Pint. Still England did go on to win their game so we are through to the final eight. It’s Formula One tomorrow and Sunday and more action from the World Cup, so I know what I will be doing!

Once again a previous sin lets the Angels out, and the Demons in

Friday 21 September – sad face, Hazzard County aren’t playing at the Old White Swan – happy face, but The Stanleys are! I know this because it was written on the toilet wall (not my toilet, obviously.) Now I’ve seen The Stanleys before, in fact I’ve paid real pounds and pennies to watch them, so a freebie night sounds brilliant.

We arrive at the usual time, but it’s already really busy. I man, it’s packed to the door and there is a good deal of squeezing and “excuse me”-ing to get anywhere near my usual perch. There’s a lad playing on (plugged in) acoustic guitar. He’s doing a reasonable job, with a voice not unlike Kelly Jones (Stereophonics). I even recognize one of the tunes; Robin Hood, originally by Ocean Colour Scene (B-sides Seasides & Freerides.) His guitar sounded a bit out of tune but he had a good voice, although I never heard his name, so no five minutes of fame for him on this blog! (Unless you know who he was.)

Meanwhile, back at the bar, the John Smiths had been identified a variety that was brewed in Liverpool and not fit for Yorkshire consumption. The word is that many of the pubs in Yorkshire are simply sending it back. I’ll have a pint of Bass, thank you.

I think The Stanleys had brought all their mates along. This is a very crowded public house. As far as I know, The Stanleys have not played in York since January 2007. The first half of the set is OK. They sing and play well. They have a new drummer in the shape of “the quiet one” from Hazzard County (by which I mean Not Tom.) and the tunes are pretty good. The second half is much livelier but they seemed to run out of material as I’m sure I’ve heard at least one tune about twenty minute ago, and the encore is definitely a repeat. Stands to reason I guess, they don’t normally play such a long set. Very enjoyable though.

I notice that the Jed Thomas Band is playing on Sunday. I won’t be able to make that gig. I love this band; they just don’t know how to finish a song so they extend the ending for about ten minutes. Brilliant.

Ooo, Odin Dragonfly got 8/10 in this month’s Classic Rock… in the prog section. I’m not sure about the classification, but the score and the accompanying write up seemed fair to me.

And I'm standing at the crossroads/believe I'm sinking down

Friday and in an unusual turn of events, we started at the Roman Bath to watch a three-piece from York, the Blueflies. They played an assortment of Free/Cream/Hendrix/you name it, covers sung and played in a very professional manner. The bass guitar player was solid, the drummer was excellent, and the singer/lead guitarist was pretty much top notch. OK, he’s not Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix, but he sure plays a mean ...er, six-string plank of wood.

When the band had finished we wandered across to the Old White Swan to see what was happening. Not quite the normal Hazzard County line-up, we had Paddy on bass, Simon and NZ Dave sharing lead guitar and vocals. At the back was a violin wielding young lady and playing a snare drum, a kind of young Marty Feldman (obscure reference, just Google the name). It rounded the evening off nicely, ie I didn’t stumble into bed until a quarter past one in the morning. Check out the dates, the next full-blown Hazzard County gig at the White Swan is Friday 5 November.

PS Catch Breathing Space at The Post Office Club in York on 26 October 19:30 for the CD launch gig.

Love comes shinin’ over the mountains/Love comes shinin’ over the sea

Friday and it was a trip to Fibbers as The Hamsters Play Hendrix. Utterly superb as always, a two hour show with all the hits: Foxy Lady, Hey Joe, Stone Free, Purple Haze, The Wind Cries Mary, Highway Chile, If 6 Was 9, All Along The Watchtower, Izabella, Angel, Room Full of Mirrors. Fantastic! Catch them if you can. They are currently on tour and also doing ZZ Top covers.

A brisk stroll though the muggy evening air and we arrive at the Old White Swan. Will Hazzard County be playing? Not according to my hymnsheet. And indeed it proves correct. I believe this must be Haphazzard County, NZ Dave and Simon Snaize on vocals and acoustics, and a chap on a double bass. It was OK, but didn’t exactly set the place alight. Sometimes I think they just need to play a few more popular tunes and forget the obscure stuff. Or maybe it was because my pint of John Smiths was particularly bland. Not off, but not up to its normal standard.

Saturday and England are playing Israel. 3-0, that’ll do. After the game I end up at The Roman Bath with a proper pint of John Smiths and and a covers band called Freeway. I’m not sure of the pedigree of this band but they have Howard Sparneen drumming for them and that can’t be bad. The Smiths goes off during the evening and I am reduced to drinking Strongbow, which actually is quite refeshing on a hot and sticky evening. The band plays Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Thin lizzy, Thunder, AC/DC, Whitesnake, Bad Co., Free, Queen... you name it. Howard gives us a drum solo on Led Zep’s Roll and Roll. An excellent night out.

Blood through my veins for You/I give my world to You

Those who follow these things may have noticed the slumbering beast that is Scary recently stirring in its coffin. The Gods of Rawk, terrified of the ramifications if the monster should wake once more, plotted to nip the nascent horror in the bud. They sent imps to weaken the bridge of Scary-Roj’s acoustic guitar and he was dismayed when he found it in such poor condition the next day. He lovingly cradled the instrument and carried it to the MOR hospice for sick for guitars, but even they could not save it beyond using it for kindling. Great was Scary-Roj’s wrath and the walls did shake with his fury, but the kindly MOR wizards appeased him with a twelve-string semi-electric beauty with its own carrying coffin. And so did Roj return to Glen crypt and rested his head. But beware; soon his resting head will turn from beetroot back to its normal shade. Tread lightly, for if you wake him the ears of York will have a penance to pay and the Gods themselves will tremble before his sonic onslaught.

Oh, I wasn’t out this Friday. Watch out for The Hamsters at Fibbers on 14 September.

Lend me your ear while I call you a fool/You were kissed by a witch one night in the wood

Friday 24 August and we are at Fibbers for the Odin Dragonfly debut album launch. Arriving about 20:20 I find the place is as silent as a grave, but not because of a lack of customers, oh no. Sarah Elizabeth Dean (see also Soundsphere) is playing harp and singing on-stage and respectful punters are whispering their orders over the bar ‘cos nobody wants to be the pin that drops. As she finishes her last song, our final musketeer arrives, a bit miffed that he’s missed her. Still, more about that later.

Next up is Aimie J Ryan singing and playing acoustic guitar. She looks familiar and after a wee while I figure out that Aimie actually works here, behind the bar! Right, that’s all sorted then. The crowd is thickening a bit now and a few familiar faces are beginning to reveal themselves: Livvy Sparneen (Breathing Space and backing vocalist with Mostly Autumn) with her ‘rents and latest squeeze, Bryan Josh (Mostly Autumn), Chris Johnson (ex-Lo-beams, Hazzard County, keyboards with Mostly Autumn), and of course Angela and Heather themselves mingling with the crowd, before going onstage.

Odin Dragonfly kick off and are extremely well received, not surprising really. They rattle off almost the whole album track for track but have to drop a few towards the end because of time constraints. Heather gets a bit tearful a couple of times, sometimes the lyrics are a bit too close to home following her split from Fish last month. Angela is completely radiant (expecting the patter of tiny footsteps) and the girls keep up a lively banter between themselves and with the crowd. Overall, bloody brilliant. Of course, I bought the album and got Angela to sign it. I’m so sad.

Having left Fibbers, we ambled along to The Old White Swan. We couldn’t remember if the Hazzards were playing or not, especially having seen Chris at Fibbers. Anyway, there they all were: Chris, John, Tom and Paddy, getting ready for the second half of their set. They are, as usual, flipping superb. The only downer on the evening was the lack of John Smiths, and I was reduced to drinking Bass. Blah! As we were about to leave, we spotted Sarah Dean (the harpist) again and spent a good half an hour chatting to her about playing the harp. I never realised that there were pedals and levers for changing key. This all goes to prove, that going to the pub can be an education. Oh, and Sarah gave my mate a demo CD to compensate for missing her performance. He was very pleased.

Yes we’re happy as fish, and gorgeous as geese, and wonderfully clean in the morning

So, synchronicity? What’s all that about then? On Friday I was helping to arrange flights for a work colleague to travel to Brno for a conference. Brno is the second largest city in Czechoslovakia. Did you know that? I’d never heard of it before. Then on Sunday I was watching MotoGP, the Czech Grand Prix from… yep you guessed it, Brno!

So, meta-synchronicity? What’s all that about then? I’ve gone months without any synchronicity at all, and then along come two in quick succession. Spooky!

As you have probably figured from the lack of musical references, I wasn’t out again this weekend. Still I am looking forward to the Odin Dragonfly album launch at Fibbers on Friday.

I’m on holiday this week, working on my book and listening to loads of music; Tool, Genesis, Catherine Wheel, Joe Bonamassa, Ginger, Sigur Ros, King Crimson, American Heartbreak, UFO, Roadstar, New York Dolls, Buckcherry, blah, blah. I’m just trying to make you jealous ‘cos you’re probably at work.

Over bridge of sighs/To rest my eyes in shades of green

So, synchronicity what’s that all about then? In my last blog entry I told you all about my exciting outing to HMV where I randomly (no such thing) picked up the Small Faces’ Ultimate Collection. Then yesterday my copy of Classic Rock magazine vomitted through the letterbox and who was in the RIP section, Don Arden! Don (born Harry Levy, 4 January 1926, Manchester, England - died 21 July 2007, Los Angeles) was the Small Faces first manager, also known for overseeing the careers of Electric Light Orchestra and Black Sabbath, and being the father of Sharon Osbourne. Spooky!

Hope you got your things together/Hope you are quite prepared to die.

Yes, yes, my ears are burning; I know that I haven’t been blogging. It’s the silly season you see, everyone is on holiday. Hazzard County weren’t playing at the Mucky Duck last weekend and the other York venues looked a bit short on talent. Still I can natter on about stuff if you’re interested...

On Saturday I plundered the HMV 2 for £10 Sale and rescued a couple of CDs worth mentioning. Real blasts from the past these were. The Small Faces Ultimate Collection is a double CD with 25 tracks on each, that’s 50 tracks in total and a massive chunk of late sixties, early seventies nostalgia, absolutely brilliant. Even better than that is Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Chronicle. 20 tracks including a few covers: I Put A Spell On You, Bad Moon Rising, Down On The Corner, Travelin' Band, Up Around The Bend, I Heard It Through The Grapevine, etc. Basically a tenner well spent.

Whilst browsing in Waterstoats I stumbled across Peter Robinson’s seventeenth, and latest, crime thriller in the Inspector Banks series, Friend of the Devil. OK it was in hardback but it was half price, so the same price as it will be in paperback. Quite why Inspector Banks has never been made into a TV series is beyond me. The story lines are up there with Morse and Lewis. The Banks stories are set in a fictitious town in North Yorkshire with plenty of music and Yorkshire references, especially York and Leeds. I think that’s why I like them so much. Robinson is only five years older than me so we have pretty much the same taste in music. I’m so sad that I have the whole series at home. Throughly recommended. I’m not on commission you know!

Have you been to the carnival/I would like to see you

That was a very nice holiday, thank you, but I’m back in white. Yes, I know, normally I wear black, but this is where the story starts so bear with me. It was a full turn out at Fibbers as four of us gathered to watch Cardboard Radio’s final gig. Are we a jink? Do we only watch bands in their death throes? Nah.

CR were doing a two hour set with appearances from special guests throughout the evening. So we had the lardy cake that is CRs scatter gun sound with a light sprinkling of Led Zep covers, decorated with large dollops of Haley Hutchinson, Rob Hughes (Idle Jack And The Big Sleep), Chris Helme , fragments of Hijak Oscar and more. Very tasty.

Now is it me, or now that we are smoke free does everybody smell a bit sweaty, a bit cheesy feet, a bit incontinent? Speaking of which, I was making my way to the gents, resplendent in my white shirt, when Mr Hughes turned away from his mates and collided with me and managed to empty the best part of his large glass of red wine down my right hand side. Cheers mate!

After the party we stumbled along to the Old White Swan to catch the second half of Hazzard County’s act. The balmy evening had dried most of my wine stain out by this time and we settled in to rounding off the evening with some comfort in sound. The Hazzards did their usual sterling job, which sounds pretty bland but actual belies the fact that they are bloody good. They finished off with a psychedelic version of Who do you love which segued into Iggy Pop’s I wanna be your dog, with just a touch of Steppenwolf’s Born to be wild in the middle. It was absolutely flipping brilliant!

I didn’t get home until a quarter to two in the morning but you’ll be glad to hear that a half hour soak and a white wash cycle has restored my shirt to its original gleaming whiteness. Of course, I’ll never wear white again, ho hum.

Put on your dressing gown you won’t be going far…

Thursday is a rare mid-week treat, an outing to Fibbers for the, much anticipated, only northern UK full-band appearance for the rest of 2007 of one of my favourite bands. But hold sir; let us tally first with the support acts. Kicking off we have faces familiar in York, Hijak Oscar, featuring Mr Fox on “Our Monica” and vocals, Emma Keaveney on lead vocals (nice voice Emma!), Carl Hetherington on Keyboards, Honey Love on Bass, Dave Hartley on Drums, and Mad Mark on Lead/Slide guitar. They produce a high-voltage bluesy sound. Catch them again Friday 27 July at Fibs when they are supporting Sevenball and Bosscaine.

Next up was a new band on me, The Debuts, who come from Halifax and Leeds. The band consists of Zandra (Vocals), Jordan (Guitar), Jack (Bass), Sam (Drums), David (Guitar), and frankly, they look as if they are skiving off school (except it’s evening, and half-term, doh!) Despite their youth they play competently, although the vocals are mumbled in a Robert Smith stylee and I can’t hear the lyrics. Although that might be because of my advanced years.

The smokers now started streaming back indoors as we prepared for the main event, Four Day Hombre. We moved down into the middle of the room to optimise viewing and listening. It’s been a big 12 months for FDH, seeing the release of their critically acclaimed debut album Experiments in Living; 3 sell-out UK tours; their first European and Irish tour dates; the release of a mini-album Fight Death and a 22-date national tour with Embrace and Delays, plus a month long Canadian tour and more recently appearances in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. I you like Elbow you’ll love FDH, in fact if you have any musical taste at all you’ll love them. Hailing from Leeds, the band consists of; Simon Wainwright (Vocals, Guitar & Piano), Rich Huxley (Vocals & Guitar), Ed Waring (Keyboards), Jason Miller (Bass), Ash (Drums). They are currently recording material for a new album and we were treated to a couple of new songs and one really old one, but essentially this was Experiments in Living: Live! with each track gloriously strung out, fantastically matured and brilliantly performed. The album is great, but live it is sublime. I particularly loved the bolero that is Single Room and audience favourite Inertia.

Friday and a bit of a dilemma; do we trot, Pavlov’s dog-like, to the Old White Swan, knowing full well that Hazzard County are not playing, or do we steer our feet in the direction of the Roman Bath and a Hull band called Penetrators that play “classic rock and blues from the 60’ to the 00’s”? Well lick my own bottom, here we are at the Old White Swan and it is jammed to the rafters. What the blithering heck is going on? Landlord Tom has bought in fem-fronted covers band Under the Covers (no hyperlink, sorry). The John Smith’s and FOR (Female Orientated Rock) must had had a bewitching effect on us because, despite the crush, we didn’t seem capable of leaving. The mix of covers was quite diverse; Pink, Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac, Bryan Adams, Scissor Sisters, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Santana. I thought The Cranberries Zombies was particularly left-field and I really enjoyed that. There was a bit more funk that is generally good for me and seeing blokes dance is always a scary sight. The lead guitarist was extremely good (sorry didn’t catch your name) and the bass guitarist, Helen, was excellent. The lead vocalist had a great voice, but again, I didn’t catch her name.

I’m waiting for an angel now/to lift me up above the clouds

Friday sees a return to Fibbers to watch the much lauded indie band, Jyrojets. First on the bill is local band Lips Akimbo (that’s a local band, for local people). A bit strange in the way the band members don’t like to start playing all at the same time, or even to all finish at the same time, but the middle bits are OK in a toe-tapping sorta way. The second band on are The Federals, another York band and one that I think I’ve seen before. The bass player is very energetic and the sound is a bit like the love child of The Velvet Underground and The White Stripes.

Finally, on come the Jyrojets. You can tell that they are a proper band; they have a proper website, not just an entry on MyFace. Hailing from Scotland, The Jyrojets are: Colin Fraser (Lead Vox, Guitar), Chris Bain (Guitar, Vox), Martin Stewart (Keys, Vox), Veeb (Drums), Dougie Edwards (Bass). Their debut album is set for release late summer, and they released a single, ‘Favourite Thing About Jane’, on 14 May. They have supported some big names; Richard Ashcroft, Dirty Pretty Things, The Kaiser Chiefs and The Ordinary Boys, and played festivals in Spain and Moscow. Overall they sounded a bit like The Supernaturals, a late 1990’s indie-pop band, also from Scotland, who enjoyed minor chart success with hits such as Smile, I Wasn't Built to Get Up, Love Has Passed Away and The Day Before Yesterday's Man. Strangely enough, I saw The Supernaturals at Fibbers as well, and frankly, I thought that they were a lot better than the Jyrojets. So a bit of a disappointment, but at least it was smoke-free.

After the gig we literally ran through York, in and out of doorways, trying to avoid the torrential rain, to get to The Old White Swan where Hazzard County were just finishing off their first set. I was drenched but the thing that made the barmaid laugh was a red badge on my jacket lapel which read ASBO, in fact a promotional badge for a single by Limousine. Sitting at a table right in front of the stage area was Chris Helme (ex-Seahorses, now The Yards). Later in the evening I had a chat with Chris who was pretty shattered after an exhausting week. He left some flyers with me for The Yards next gig at The Post Office Club on Marygate, Thursday 26th July.

Saturday evening was a trip to the Roman Bath where Bradfordband Full Tilt treated us to a cacophony of rock classics, covers from the likes of; Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Bad Co., Free, Lenny Kravitz, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Metallica, G’n’R (well strictly speaking Bob Dylan’s Knocking’ on Heavens Door), and Nirvana.

Put up a fight you believe to be right/And someday the sun will shine through.

Friday and I’m not out tonight. I’d taken a flex day off work and spent the day working on my book. Completely cream crackered, so I had an early night.

Saturday I watched ‘Live Earth’ which was a bit average. Some of the acts were good, some sounded a bit weedy and rubbish. Given the serious message that the musicians were trying to get across, I was disappointed that Jonathan Ross didn’t know if they recycled rubbish in his house. Presumably he is too famous to actually throw his own rubbish away. This is probably the death knell for big charity events and I can’t say that I’m sorry.

In the evening the girls (and boyfriends) decided that they wanted to go to the cinema, so off we trundled to Vue at Clifton Moor where we watched F4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I’m sorry but I’m a bit nerdy and like these super hero films, probably because reading the comics filled much of my mis-spent youth. I really liked this film.

On the way back into town three of us got dropped off and ended up at the Roman Bath where we were treated to a superb set from Barnsley covers band, Vamp (Vintage rock through Valve Amps). Vamp are: Steve Firth (Vocals, Rhythm and Slide Guitar), Ian Wilkie (Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals), Mark “Hutch” Hutchinson (Bass), and David Wilson Jones (Drums/Percussion). They played a refreshing mix of The Faces/Rod Stewart (Stay With Me, Maggie May), Free (Alright Now, The Hunter, Wishing Well), Rolling Stones (Sympathy for the Devil, You Can't Always Get What You Want), Status Quo (Caroline, Rocking All Over the World), Diamond Dogs (Every Little Crack), The Undertones (Teenage Kicks). Needless to say there was plenty of audience singing and dancing going on. Top stuff! Highlight of the night? It was all smoke free!!!!!

Sunday was the British Grand Prix from Silverstone with Hamilton on pole position after a nail-biting during qualifier on Saturday. Massa managed to stall on the parade lap and was reduced to starting from the pits. Although he bravely worked his way back up the field, he never looked as if he was in contention. However, at the front Hamilton was under constant pressure from Raikkonen and after the first set of pit stops he had slipped back into second place. Alonso fought hard and managed to wrest even that from Hamilton, pushing him back into third. Still, nine podium places from nine starts is a formidable record.

I need some time in the sunshine...

Wednesday and I’ve finally got around to watching Seven ages of Rock, the final programme, What the world is waiting for. I haven’t ever though of The Smiths as being an indie band, although I never found them very ineresting and so never took much notice of them (oh heresy!) I guess the first time I really twigged was with The Stone Roses, not that I ever liked them either, but at the time I was beginning to be aware of other bands whose tunes were starting to grow on me. One of the clips that the programme showed was The Happy Mondays doing He’s Gonna step on you again, a tune that irritated me on two fronts. Firstly, I didn’t like the Happy Mondays (didn’t like much did you?), and secondly, the track itself was a rubbish cover taken from the very fine 1971 album Kongos by John Kongos, a South African singer/songwriter, which I owned.

Of course Brett Anderson (Suede) hit the nail on the head when he said (and I paraphrase here) that as soon as a genre of music escapes from its underground roots and becomes widely enjoyed, the big labels move in and it becomes commercialised. I personally enjoyed the first two albums from The Stereophonics, but after that they were very popular and descended into the commericla mainstream. It’s the nature of the beast I guess.

The Blur v Oasis, sorry Noel; Oasis v Blur, chart battle was, for me, the beginning of the end of that period of “indie” music, and certainly Oasis at Knebworth was the final nail in the coffin. The blip on the Radar of Rock that was BritPop was a glorious time for music, 1994/5 saw the likes of Elastica, Sleeper, Manic Street Preachers, Suede, Gene, Supergrass, The Boo Radleys, The Charlatans, The Verve, Kula Shaker, Shed Seven, The Seahorses, Ocean Colour Scene and The Bluetones, to name but a few. And bubbling below the surface were some minor bands that were producing good tunes as well; Longpigs, Whipping Boy, The Spin Doctors etc. It was flipping brilliant! Of course “indie” continues because there are still independent record labels out there but the music then moved to a harder, edgier sound with bands such as 3 Colours Red, Muse, and Feeder.

Oops, back to the programme and the series ends with clips from The Libertines, Coldplay, The Artic Monkeys, and Franz Ferdinand. Although of course The Libertines were not the first band to have played “guerrilla gigs” or impromptu sessions in their own front rooms, Scary were doing that while Pete Doherty was still in nappies. What ever happened to Scary? Anyway, a brilliant series and I shall definitely (maybe) be looking out for the DVD.

It's one o'clock and time for lunch...

I’ve not watched Seven ages of Rock yet, so you’ll have to wait. However, Friday night was fairly awesome. Four of us turned up at Fibbers to witness the last ever gig of The Nicoles. Shame! I turned up at 20:00 so I missed the first band, Milk Round Brown, so I can’t comment on them, sorry chaps. As I settled into the first few sips of Worthington, on came The Becoming Suits, and I can’t say I was terribly impressed, although the lead singer sounded a bit like a very young Byran Ferry. Next upon the stage... Limousine and a different kettle of kittens altogether. A five piece from Blackpool, I really enjoyed this band, in fact I even parted with cash and bought the album and single. Fantastic. Personally, I think they sound a bit like 100 Reasons, but they cite their influences as; Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Motley Crue, U2, Oceansize, Elbow, AC/DC, Faith no More, Jeff Buckley, Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots, The Who, YOURCODENAMEIS:MILO, R.E.M, Queen, Beatles. That can’t be bad, can it?

By this time Fibs was absolutely heaving, it must have been nearly at capacity, and the band we has all come to see, The Nicoles. On the verge of a tour, on the verge of greatness, on the verge just outside my house.... they split, and this was the farewell gig. The crowd loved it and sang along with all the songs. We squeezed about half way through the throng but stopped just short of the jumping, seething mass of youngsters. This was probably the best performance that I’ve seen them give, and for their two encore songs, they invited the audience to shout out what they wanted the band to play, Xbox and Food and Ambulance, firm favourites with everyone.

The pubs were still open when we left so we chanced our arms at the Old White Swan, just in case Hazzard County still existed. Sadly the Hazzards weren’t there but many thanks to Mike who stumbled across this link http://www.myspace.com/hazzco where I can find out when they will be playing next (13 July at the Old White Swan). Meanwhile, back in the Bat Cave.... we had NZ Dave and Simon Snaize on vocals and acoustics, a chap on a double bass, one on a snare drum, an a lady on violin. They were actually pretty good, but I got a bit distracted by three lovely Geordie lasses. Oops.

Sunday was the French Grand Prix and a jolly exciting way to spend the afternoon. The Ferrari new aero package was enough to give them the edge over the McLarens and Raikkonen zipped past P2 Hamiliton and even managed to get the better of Massa to grab the trophy. Alonso battled bravely back and managed to nick 2 points, even Button scraped one. Albers dragged a fuel hose out of the pits and was forced to retire. I can’t think why Hamilton was on a three stop strategy when everyone else was on two. With a pit stop taking about 27 seconds he would have been in much closer contention with Raikkonen and Massa, but hey ho, he did get a podium finish and he’s still well in the lead in the driver’s table. Can’t wait for next week!

Shuffling through the stores like zombies

Friday night and we are chancing our arm at the Old White Swan. Will Hazzard County be there or not? Good grief, they are! All the usual suspects; Chris, Paddy, Tom, and Country John, and by Jove they’re as good as ever. I even manage to bag my usual corner as soon as I arrive instead of waiting until it becomes vacant. Sadly, we have to leave after the first set so I don’t know if they are playing again next week. Taking a look at The Talk Magazine online doesn’t really help as there is no entry for the Old White Swan for Friday 29 July.

Having been on holiday all last week, I’m using the weekend to wind down ready for work again on Monday. Saturday is therefore a lazy day with plently of musical action in the form of snippets from Glastonbury and perfectly rounded off with the latest episode of Seven Ages of Rock on BBC2, which this week is Left of the Dial: The rise of alternative rock in the USA. I’m always a bit wary of the label “Alternate rock”. OK it was a resurgence of interest in rock in the wake of the pomp rock of the ’80, but it was hardly alternate, just more stripped back. The programme focussed on the Seattle scene which built on the work of bands like Black Flag, REM, Hüsker Dü, and The Pixies. Basically the tale revolved around the rise of Nirvana and the equally rapid downward spiral of Kurt Cobain. Overall, another jolly fine programme with my only complaint being the slightly gratuitous use of a clip from The Beverly Hillbillies.

This week I ‘ave mostly been …

… on holiday. Not going anywhere special, just doing odd jobs around the house. I’ve gravelled the postage stamp of a front garden, it should be easier for me to weed between the roses. I’ve also painted the exterior of the front bay window and the French windows, and the downstairs windows ledges (they’re sandstone you know) and creosoting the back fence. Well, it’s probably not creosote anymore, it’ll be “exterior wood preserver CE, your local council has special facilities for disposing of the product.” Cynical? Me? Never!

Hey, I’d like to say “Hello” to you folks that read my blog, you know who you are. I find it odd that anyone would want to read my ramblings, but I guess I read other people’s so maybe it’s not so odd after all.

I’m having a bit of a rock day today, listening to Lacuna Coil Comalies, Magum Brand New Morning, Linkin Park Minutes to Midnight, Kings of Leon Because Of The Times, Free Chronicles…. The latest issue of Classic Rock hurtled through my letterbox this morning, what a jolly fine read. There looks to be some interesting music that I need to get hold of (watch out play.com, there’s money coming your way.) A bit of a old one but Dream Theatre’s When Dream and Day Unite seems to be highly regarded. I haven’t got any of their stuff so that could be a toe in the water. Joe Bonamassa has a forthcoming new album called Sloe Gin. I’ve listened to a track off it, Dirt In My Pocket, definitely my cup of rosy. Finally, CR has given a rave review of Velvet Revolver’s new offering, Libertad, so I might have to put my prejudices aside and shell out for that.

Just caught up with last Saturday’s Seven Ages of Rock on BBC2 which I had to record as it clashed with Jekyll. This week it was We Are the Champions, looking at the rise of stadium rock. I was left with the impression that it’s only the great UK rock bands that can really do stadium rock (U2, The Police, Queen, Genesis, Pink Floyd, etc), the US bands either have rubbish music but great theatre, or great music but can’t do stadium sized gigs. I’m probably generalising, but it seems like a decent rule of thumb. Personally I don’t do big gigs. I once saw Wet Wet Wet (don’t laugh, I was with friends) and I couldn’t actually see them, apart from on the screens at the side. I reckon if you can only see them on screens, you might as well buy a DVD and watch it at home! (Climbs off soapbox.) Anyway, another excellent programme in the series, well done Aunty Beeb.

Out tonight to see if Hazzard County still exist. If not, UK Subs are at Certificate 18 and Fibbers has I Was A Cub Scout punk electronica. So we’ll probably end up at the Roman Bath. Ah, and I’ve got my ticket for Four Day Hombre at Fibbers on 19 July, see you there, let’s hope folk don’t talk all through the gig like last time.

The day the music died

Well, maybe that’s a bit over the top. Star-date Friday and we are off to see Chris Helme in the Basement Bar at York’s City Screen. I arrive around 21:00 just as my old mucker Rik Witter is leaving (blatant name dropping). Andy and H are already there and I’ve almost missed the first act, Rob Hughes, whose final two songs are fantastic. What a voice, what a guy. Chris is sorting out the sound and Lo! There’s Simon Snaize who sometimes sings with Hazzard County, and he’s the second act. I’ve seen Simon in action before and he is brilliant, mostly singing his own compositions (I think) but he manages to segue in a version of George Harrison’s Within You Without You. For the final act Simon takes over on the sound and Chris settles down on his stool. He performs a selection of his own compositions and Yard material; Blinded by the Sun, Hello, Pure, Stars, even a cover of Who Do You Love? A top night out, (except for the warm Boddingtons at £2.70) but still a little early when we leave so it’s a quick dash across town to see if we can catch Hazzard County at the Swan. But when we arrive there is no sign of them even having played, so it sounds as if rumours of their death may not have been exaggerated after all. Plan C and we dart around the corner to the Roman Bath to catch the final two songs from Dr Brown and neck a pint of John Smith’s cask.

Desperately seeking Tulip51

Friday evening and in a slight departure from the usual we decided to pay a visit to Certificate 18 and check out The Scaramanga Six. We figured that we would be done in time to catch most of the second half of Hazzard County anyway.

Arriving at C18 I took a quick glance at the band list, no names that I recognised, not that that means much! I turned up as the first band were playing their penultimate song. They sounded pretty good. They were Tractor Factory, a five piece from Goole. The vocalist, Mike Redford, looked a bit like a cross between Ian Dury and Robbie Williams and he had a strong voice. I wish I had arrived earlier because they were clearly a class act. The full line was: Mike Redford (vocals), Andy Robinson (guitar), Richard Wilson (guitar), Julian Read (bass), Martin Dobson (drums).

Next up were York band Stop! Motion. Oh dear, I think these boys have been listening to way too much Arctic Monkeys. It wasn’t an original sound and it wasn’t really well executed. There were a few occasions when the drummer and the guitars were slightly out of time. Nul points, sorry. The line up was: Chris Parsons (Lead Vocal/Rhythm Guitar/Occasional Synth), Thom Dann (Lead Guitar/Synth/Vocals), Mike Coleman (Bass Guitar), and Jonty Brown ( Drums).

Band three were the GST Cardinals, formed around 2005 in Hull and featuring: Dave Sinclair (Lead vocals), Matthew Edwards (Lead guitar), Alex (Rhythm guitar), Karl (Bass guitar), and Ollie Boyce (Drums). These were definitely an improvement; rock and roll with a splash of punk and Dave constantly jumping around in the audience making us all feel at home. It was a shame that the crowd were so thin. In fact it seemed as if the majority of the audience were actually the members of the other bands!

And finally, for your delectation, before your very eyes, Ladies and Gentlemen ... The Scaramanga Six! Yes really, they are that dramatic. Sort of, Rocky Horror Show collides with Beastie Boys on guitars. Lead vocals and bass are provided by Steven Morricone, looks like Emperor Ming/Derren Brown on a bad day. Extremely classy crooning and guitar work from twin brother Paul. Over there to the left is a lady, Julia Arnez, on a splangy blue guitar (I prefer my red spangly one, but hey) giving out the occasional vocal harmony. Maraca Gareth Champion (come on, that can’t be his real name) is on drums and hits them as though he’s trying to kill them. Last, but not least, Chris Catalyst (yea right) who picks up and plays whatever is closest to hand, mainly the second set of drums and the synth. He stares fixedly ahead like the mad one from Sparks. I understand that Steven and Paul hail from Weston-Super-Mare although the band in toto comes from Huddersfield. The songs are theatrical, pompous, rock at the very limit of its definition. I remember “Vesuvius” with eyes of magma, and “I Wear My Heart On My Sleeve” (didn’t Rory Gallagher do a track called that?) Deliciously sinister stuff, highly recommended.

On the way out I take the band list. Hey, I’ve had two pints and I might forget who they were, then there would be no blog! We trot down Gillygate and through Bootham Bar to the Old White Swan. As expected, Hazzard County have just started their second set so another round of beers and pin back the ears. It’s NZ Dave (acoustic/vocals), Country John (lead guitar), Tom (drums), and Paddy (bass) tonight.

Saturday. I’m not a well bunny. Something wrong with my ears... nah you don’t want to listen to me whingeing on. Anyway up, it was “Seven Ages of Rock” focussing this week on heavy metal. This is a genre that I started in and then came back to later in life. One of the first albums I ever owned was Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”, from there I progressed to Deep Purple. I managed to miss the worse of the Glam Metal brigade, Motley Crue, and the rubbishy American bands with their poddle hair. I only hooked upgain with heavy metal when Bruce Dickinson re-joined Iron Maiden. Sadly, this is a genre that spans four decades of music and there was no way that a single programme was going to be able to do justice to the entire range of music that HM has opened up. Perhaps we could have new series just for HM? A forlorn hope. Still the programme itself was extremely good and I’m looking forward to the next one. I bet there’s a DVD in the offing. I bet I buy it!

Sunday’s F1 race was the Canadian Grand Prix from Montreal. During qualifying, Hamilton managed to bag pole position, Nick Heidfeld had a brilliant bit of form that gave him P3 leaving Kimi back on P4. The Montreal circuit is pretty hairy at the best of times but the attrition rate was high and included a blood-curdling smash involving Robert Kubica. Fortunately it appears that he has escaped with just a broken leg. Alsonso slithered all over the place and ended up finishing seventh. Webber had a great race but faded towards the end. The final podium finishers were: Hamiltion first, Heidfeld second, and Wutz in third. What a brilliant and thrilling race.

No future

Saturday again, and 7 Ages of Rock again. This week the ‘Blank Generation’ looking at punk rock. Whilst I had a few albums under my belt by this time, the first live gigs I ever went to were punk: The Vibrators, The Jam, The Boomtown Rats, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Blondie, Buzzcocks, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, The Stranglers.

Whilst I can’t argue that New York was the seedbed of punk, it actually flowered in the UK. Argue all you like but you’ll never convince me that the Ramones were a bigger influence than the Sex Pistols or that Patti Smith was more interesting than the bard of Salford, John Cooper Clark.

Punk in the UK was born in the era of the three-day week, random power outages, mass unemployment, and the threat of petrol rationing. I was working in a newsagents at the time and remember hand-cranking the tills in the dark as we struggled to keep serving customers. NY never suffered like we did, theirs was never a true punk perspective.

John Lydon still comes across as the least pretentious and most honest punk survivor. Pete Shelley is still as effeminate as I remember from watching the Buzzcocks at Portsmouth guildhall on 3 October 1978. He tried to walk off stage because the crowd were spitting (unpleasant, but not unusual at punk gigs), the crowd threatened to pull the guildhall apart and the management pushed him back on and made him finish the gig. I don’t think he enjoyed himself on that occasion!

The week before I had seen Ian Dury, and the performance was interrupted by a small fire beneath the stage. The band stopped and Ian asked the audience to make way for the fire brigade. The crowd parted like the red sea, the brigade rushed in, unfurling a hose, and vanished through some small doors under the stage. Five minutes later they emerged, with sooty-faces, and left the building, rewinding their hose as they went, whilst the audience cheered and clapped their efforts. Then the band played on!

Finally, I’ll never forget 10 September 1978 when Debbie Harry wore a skin-tight suit covered in tiny mirrors and sang “Fade Away And Radiate” while lasers played over her body. Sorry, I have to go to the bathroom.

Is This It?

The rumour mill is saying that this could be Hazzard County’s last gig, or penultimate at best. What’s going on? Paddy might be playing down at the Fulford Arms, Chris is off with Mostly Autumn, and Tom is chucking his drum sticks in.

A pint of John Smith’s please. Lovely. Oh, oh. New Zealand Dave is playing the drums and Tom is strumming a guitar. That ain’t right. And is that Simon lurking in the corner cradling a pint?

Things settle down as the band form up. Tom is back on drums, Paddy on Bass, Simon appears to be an extra vocalist, Country John on lead guitar and New Zealand Dave on acoustic and lead vocals. First song “Storm windows” A country band that plays for keeps, hmm interesting choice of song. A game of two halves (a bit like the England v Brazil match taking place in the other bar, England have just scored) but definitely up to the normal high standard. The second half ends with fifteen minutes of pure psychedelica “Who do you love” segueing into “Dear Prudence”, well Simon was there.

It appears that there will be at least another gig next week. After that, who knows? The band might be transformed, might play every other week. Watch this space.