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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Saturday night’s alright for... listening to music

Out again and on Saturday we visited Fibbers to watch Cohesion. There were two support acts and when we arrived the first act, Lights, were already on-stage. It actually turned out to be Ben Leftwich (he of The Nicoles) who is using the name as a basis for new set of fellow muscians that he hopes to bring onboard. There was a thin line of his followers at the front of the stage, then us, and behind us a crowd of the loudest chattering idots in creation. How rude not to at least lend your ears to the artist while he performs! Anyway, Ben came down and chatted to us after finishing his set. I particularly enjoyed his last song which he told me he had written just two days before. He hopes to be in the recording studio soon.

The next act were The Station Club formed from the ashes of Sixty6 and Kryah. Mike Wilson (ex-Sixty6) on vocals and lead guitar, twins Tom and James Martin (ex-Kryah) playing bass and keyboards respectively, and finally, Adam Swales on drums. Slight echoes of The Killers I thought. Their best track seemed to be Brand New Day (I think that’s what it was called.)

The final performance was from Cohesion, Paul James on vocals/lead guitar, Matt Goodbody on Bass, and Richie Clark on drums. A high-energy, foot-stamping fusion of indie, rock and blues. Excellent stuff.

Grump of the night? People talking loudly whilst Ben was performing, and no Landlord or Black Sheep to drink. I had to make do with Worthington!

Was the evening over yet? No it wasn’t. Off we stomped to the Roman Bath where, rumour had it, a six piece soft rock band was playing. Now I don’t know if Hazzard’s rock god Richard is stalking us, or the other way around, but there he was leaning on the bar again. Hello Richard! The band were Breathing Space and the female vocalist was not only absolutely superb (at singing) but also... faintly familiar. And, there was something Mostly Autumn going on as well. She did an absolutely belter of a song called “Belief” which was dedicated to her parents. It was a little later, when I saw her mum and dad that I realised that we had stumbled upon Olivia Ruth Sparneen (backing vocalist with MA) and, on keyboards, Iain Jennings (ex-MA). We often see Olivia and her parents at The Old White Swan watching Hazzard County and I well remember watching her in the Talent For Africa shows put on at Tadcaster Grammar School (I was there to watch my own daughters, honest guv.)What a small world. Anyway, I understand that Olivia is performing with Chris Johnson (he of Hazzards and Mostly Autumn) at the City Screen in York on Monday 28 May, the last gig of York Music Live weekend.

Hot gossip, well, it was to me. Heather Findlay, of Mostly Autumn, is currently engaged to Fish (Derek William Dick who left Marillion in 1899.)