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!