You’re just a face in the crowd/A tiny hole in a cloud

Thursday 27 March – Wrong night, wrong place, but somehow it works out right. Thursday sees two of us at The Junction and I have to admit to being a Junction virgin, still the staff were very happy to direct me through the correct set of doors so that I could sample their musical offerings. Up until recently I had a fixed idea in my head that The Junction only entertained punk and hardcore bands, but I’m pleased to be proved wrong, as tonight’s show was about to prove.

I arrived at the tail-end of the first act, Hot Recruit, and was pleased to find one of my favourite beers, John Smiths, on tap. Luvvly Jubbly. Then I parked myself towards the rear of a rather spacious room to watch the band’s final two tracks. Hot Recruit are a four piece from Yorkshire that met at York College and jammed together in the village of Rufforth, just to the north of York. The band consist of: Luke Beddows (vocals), Alec Wright (bass), Dave Rax (drums), and Tom Warden (guitar). I recall one of the tracks as University Challenge, but to be honest, and only on the strength of those final two tracks, they had that generic Arctic Monkeys/Maximo Park style of frantic guitar sawing and scattergun lyrics.

The second of four bands billed to play tonight, were The Corrections, a London-based five piece that comprises: Joe Winter (vocals), Matt Winter (guitars, keyboards, brother of Joe), Guy Connelly (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Gavin Ellis (bass, vocals), and Matt Watson (drums). Now these were a completely different kettle of kittens and we were baffled as to the lukewarm reception the crowd gave them. Each song was different, multi-layered textures of guitar and keyboard work, contrasting vocal styles, clear vocals, and even some weird drawing of the infinity symbol on what seemed to be a blackboard at the rear of the set. White Dog was an indie-prog epic in the stylee of Radiohead. Apparently, Barcode will be the first single (due for release on 7 April 2008) to be taken from their forthcoming debut album Repeat After Me on EMI Records. With an infectious, staccato opening guitar hook, Barcode immediately draws you into the sound. Joe Winter’s soothing yet effortlessly powerful vocals, yearning even in their more urgent and energetic moments. This is a taut, energetic track, which in three minutes deceptively shifts from a slow-burning melancholy groove to a euphoric final call to arms. Another excellent track was Now we have gone. Think, Wire, Arcade Fire, but yet genuinely new-sounding songs that you can’t quite place in any category. Highly recommended and well worth the entrance fee on their own.

Sadly, I can’t say the same for the third band, Young Believers, a Folk/Beat/Rock ‘n’ Roll combo from York who are: William Sharpe (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar), Tom Reeve (vocals, acoustic guitar, bass), and Chrissy Hunter (drums). At times the vocals evoked a memory of Bob Dylan, but generally this was urban rhymes played by Chas and Dave in a folk style. Of the tracks I can recall were: Cross Examination, Wings of a Grasshopper, Waiting for the day, and Little Something.

Make Model - A bunch to watch out for

And finally, headliners Make Model, who are also available on MyFace. Hailing from Glasgow this outfit consists of: Ray "The Biz" Black (drums), James "JC" Cameron (bass), Gordon "RG" Skene (guitar, vocals), Lewis Gale (guitar, vocals), Ken (guitar), and Aimi Gold (vocals). Billed as Alt/New wave folk, they actually sound like a mad fusion of BiS, Altered Images and some gigantic prog-rock monster. One song, I think it was Czeck Neck, started with Aimi twiddling away on keyboards as the guitars cranked slowly into life. Gradually the song gathered momentum and Aimi and JC were singing, and then it suddenly veered off into King Crimson territory, before ending abruptly. Brilliant. They also played their debut single The LSB and, I think their new single, The Way, and I also recall Over and Out, and Saturday night Obsession. Totally brilliant and definitely worth paying money to see them again.

Friday 28 March – It’s my birthday on Monday, twenty-one again. Some of us were out for a meal (daughter going back to University on Saturday, hence the celebration on Friday) at the Bombay Spice in Goodramgate. I forget just how good the food is in there. I had a Chicken Puddina, fantastic flavours. Afterwards we trotted along to The Roman Bath, to meet up with the other guys and watch Mojo, a blues covers band. Right night, right place, wrong band. For some reason they had been switched, Prime Example were playing and Mojo had been moved to Saturday. Whilst I had no problem with the songs that Prime Example were covering, the use of keyboards to cover up for a lack of guitar soloing expertise just wasn’t doing for me. The final straw was the ruination of Whitesnake’s Fool for your loving. So taking our ears in both hands, we legged it to The Terrace where the crowd was very thin indeed, but the music was being provided by Marc Atkinson, an acoustic guitar and a stool. We’ve not seen Marc before although he is a regular face around York. He has a strong clear voice and plays an eclectic range of covers: Pink Floyd (Comfortably Numb, Wish you were here), U2 (The streets have no name, With or without you), Maroon5 (She will be loved), Semisonic (Secret smile), Snow Patrol (Chasing cars), Del Amitri (Nothing ever happens), Seal (Crazy), Beatles (Little help from my friends), Crowded House (Take the weather with you), Muse (Black Holes and Revelations), Nickleback (How you remind me), something by One Republic, just some of the covers we managed to remember. What a top night.