She likes the boys in the band, She knows when they come to town, Every musician's fan after the curtain comes down

Friday 25 June - and tonight we eschew covers for some more original material in the shape of three bands playing at Fibbers, or do we? First band on the bill are a group that we've seen no less than three times before, Astrae (on MyFace and SpaceBook). They are a York-based alt-rock band (Haxby's finest) consisting of James A Hutchinson (Guitar / Vocals), Jack Beavers (Guitar / Synth / Vocals), Ali Thynne (Drums / Percussion), Rio (Keyboard / Synth), and T-Bone Malogus (Bass). As we've seen them before, you can read my previous reviews by typing their name into the Search box. Tonight there was no drummer which gave their set a sort of "unplugged" sound. James' continues to impress me with his energy and the power of his voice (think Robert Smith of The Cure). This band is really growing on me and this was an excellent start to the evening.

The next act we had also seen before, The Bitter Image. Another York-based band, their sounds have a hint of QotSA about them; heavy-ish rock, bit melodic, bit quirky. But, there's something about them that doesn't quite gel. Dom (Wells, lead singer rhythm guitar) is a bit too clean-cut for the lyrics that he sings. His neat hair cut and appearance is at odds with songs of blood and angels and demons. The other problem, for me, is that Jonny (Wells, lead guitar) seemed to be playing some excellent solos but they were lost in Dom's rhythm playing and an over-mix of the drum (Dom Smith) and bass (Jim Buck). Shame, if they didn't drown Jonny out I would have enjoyed this band so much more.

And so to the top of the bill, a Glaswegian outfit playing under the moniker of A Joker's Rage. Actually all the members of this band play in a whole fistful of other bands and AJR is just one avatar of their communal work. Their charismatic front man is Zakk Taylor, they have a fiery guitar-smith in the shape of Gary Johnstone, and Neil MacDougall (drums) and Graeme Glancy (bass) make up the engine room. There's a bit of funk, some heavy rock, some rapping, all sorts. The audience certainly lapped it all up. We were treated to a couple of covers as well; on the anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson we got Dirty Diana, and for their encore we all sang along to Rage Against The Machine's Killing In The Name. Very entertaining, but of the three, Astrae were the ones that stood out for me.

Though it's cold and lonely in the deep dark night, I can see paradise by the dashboard light

Friday 4 June - Sorry but I'm a bit behind with my gig write-ups and they may be a tad on the short side, but hey, I only started doing this to keep tabs on which bands we'd seen. Unfortunately my system fell over on this occasion because I forgot to check if we'd seen Graf Zeppelin before. We had. They were fantastic last time and just as good this time too. Playing in the Roman Bath, so free music, and hailing from Doncaster, GF are; Richard Oxby on vocals, Raith Wilson on guitar, Daz Chandler on bass, and Jon Booth on drums. They don't look like Led Zep, but they do exactly what it says on the tin, they play like Led Zep. They're flippin' brilliant.

Friday 11 June - and Bad Dog are playing in the Roman Bath tonight. I checked this blog. We hadn't seen them before. Except that we had, but I forgot to blog it. Bugger! Anyway, Bad Dog are a femme-fronted four piece rock covers band formed by Steph and Andy who formerly played as part of Steve Steinman's major theatre shows The Meatloaf Story, Meatloaf Trilogy and Vampires Rock. Together with Ben and Mike, Bad Dog put on an excellent rock show covering artists such as; Queen, Tina Turner, T-Rex, Thin Lizzy, Bad Company, AC/DC, Status Quo , Kings of Leon, The Kinks, The Beatles, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Blondie, and of course, Led Zeppelin. Very theatrical, but very, very good indeed.

This one goes out to the one I love

Friday 21 May – It's nine months ago since Skint last played at The Terrace in York. We saw them six months ago in O'Neills and thirteen months ago at The Terrace, so we're averaging catching them every six months. Why? Because they're pretty damn good, that's why. Skint are: Rich Graves (lead vocals), Stew King (lead/rhythm guitar), Ian Moore (drums), Gav Cator (rhythm/lead guitar), and Paul Teasdale (bass/vocals). Paul also plays bass in Breathing Space. They play modern indie and classic rock covers, and they do it very well indeed.

It took a while for the guardian of peace (bouncer) to get the patio cleared so that the doors could be closed allowing the band to start playing so we had a bit of a late kick-off, maybe 21:30. They went straight into R.E.M's The One I Love for their sound check and then they were away; Kaiser Chiefs (I Predict A Riot) QotSA (No One Knows), The Editors (An End Has A Start), Kings of Leon (Red Morning Light) Green Day (Basket Case), Blur (Song 2), Jet (Are You Gonna Be My Girl), Green Day (Boulevard Of Broken Dreams), Stereophonics (Dakota), Oasis (Champagne Supernova), Kings of Leon (Molly's Chambers), The Kooks (She Moves In Her Own Ways), Snow Patrol (Chasing Cars), Rolling Stones (Jumping Jack Flash), Simon & Garfunkle (Mrs Robinson), The Automatic (Monster), Buzzcocks (Ever Fallen In Love), Fratellis (Chelsea Dagger), Arctic Monkeys (I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor), The Hives (Hate To Say I Told You So), and Electric Six (Gay Bar).

The highlight for me was the rocked-up version of Mrs Robinson, whilst the lowlight was Gay Bar. Not necessary. They have plenty of good songs in their repertoire; please remove from your set-list. Overall, as before, highly recommended. See you in about six months guys.

A little bit of addiction, It never hurt me, it won't hurt you.

Friday 24 April – and tonight we visited one of our less well-used haunts, Stereo, the pub/venue formerly known as Speakeasy or Certificate 18 or The Bay Horse, depending on when you last dropped in. Three of us turned out to see one of our favourite bands headlining, but first we supped warm ale and watched the warm-up acts.

First to tread the boards was Robert Loxley Hughes, the front man from Idle Jack And The Big Sleep. I have it on the best possible authority that IJATBS are currently in hiatus with Mr Hughes doing his own thing and the rest of the band resurrecting side-projects such as Ishtar. So for tonight RLH performed whilst sitting on a chair, just him and an acoustic guitar (actually borrowed from GT Turbo). Now I'm not a huge fan of RLH the person, having had a run-in with him a glass of red wine and one of my white t-shirts, however, he sings with a heart-felt passion and the songs are well-crafted, ranging from lullaby soft to outright shredding metal. Believe me, I felt for those poor guitar strings.

Talking of guitar abuse brings me nicely onto the second act of the evening, Dave Woodcock And The Dead Comedians. Now we've seen these before, but only two of them on that occasion, so it was interesting to see and hear the full band. Too be honest, I wasn't much more impressed, although I did recognise a few of the songs which means that they must have been good enough to hook into my brain first time around, lots of cigarettes, and alcohol, and lost love. At one point Dave attempted to dance with a female member of the audience and finally ended up singing whilst lying on his back. As the final chord rang out, Dave chucked his guitar to the floor of the stage, an act that caused me to wince in despair.

The third act was Dan "GT Turbo" Lucas, head hombre of Boss Caine and (I think) the organiser of tonight's event. By this time the crowd was beginning to thicken up somewhat and the noise level of the general chit-chat was starting to rise. Why is it that some folk pay an entrance fee just to chat loudly to their mates and ignore the performer? How rude is that? It was clear that Dan had encountered this kind of ignorance before as his t-shirt was emblazoned with "Shut the f*@ck up, the band is playing." Not that the noise-niks took any notice so we edged ever near the stage. I'm beginning to familiarise myself with Dan's work, Smoking In My Back Yard, Leaving Victoria, and the lovely Sweet Sorrow Surrender. I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that I will have to get the album.

And so to the headline act, Hope&Social, who are touring their second album (not counting releases as Four Day Hombre), April. Once more they are selling their album on a pay-what-you-like basis both for a physical CD and downloads. I ordered a physical copy and was pleasantly surprised to get a download copy as well, to listen to whilst awaiting the actual CD to arrive in the post. How thoughtful was that? Anyway, I burned the download and had been playing it on heavy rotation in my car, so I was up to speed with all the new material before tonight's gig. In fact I was intrigued as the album features the Garforth Brass Band and I couldn't see how they were all going to fit on the stage. In fact H&S managed to get three into their "brass" section; James Hamilton on trumpet, Katie Hawcutt on sax (actually a woodwind instrument), and a girl on trombone who’s name eludes me. The core members of H&S; Simon Wainwright (vocals/guitars/piano), Rich Huxley (guitars/vocals/piano/rhodes), and Ed Waring (keyboards), were joined tonight by new comers on drums and bass.

The band played tracks from both the new album, April, and their previous offering, Architect Of This Church. Highlights for me included; Sunlight Hold Me with its huge crescendo of noise, Do What You Want, Red Red Rose, Pitching It Far Too High, Marching On Through, and Ripples Rock My Boat. But, besides the superb music, there's also a fantastic engagement with the audience with opportunities to sing along in the choruses and play along with tiny, plastic kazoos. There was also a completely unplugged, acoustic version of Looking For Answers with audience backing. Incredible, and quite possibly the best performance I've ever seen from the band. Please, please see them, buy an album, whatever. But don't miss them 'cos they're brilliant.

I'm on it, get on it / The troops are on fire!

Friday 9 April 2010 - Sometimes things work out better than you expect. Take tonight for example. My cursory scan of t'interweb led me to believe that we would be watching a 5-piece covers band from Newcastle at The Terrace, but no... Rubber Bullets (and here on FaceSpace) are in fact a 5-piece from York comprising Eddy Andersen on vocals, Dan and Phil Hardcastle on guitars, Andy Miller on bass, and, he bangs the drums, Mark Lee.

We were expecting the usual strains of Elvis, Green Day, ABBA, Nivarna, AC/DC, Bowie, etc. but instead were treated to a glorious selection of modern and classic indie anthems. Fantastic! The band put real effort and energy into the gig. The guitar work was top-notch and Eddy's vocals were spot-on. They were superb.

They gave us (not in this order); Hello, Supersonic, Live Forever, and Cigarettes and Alcohol (Oasis), Shoot The Runner, Underdog , Reason Is Treason, Club Foot, and LSF (Kasabian), You Got The Love (Candi Staton as covered by Florence And The Machine), Jailbird, and Get Your Rocks Off (Primal Scream), Steady As She Goes (The Raconteurs), Geraldine (Glasvegas), North Country Boy (The Charlatans), She Left Me On Friday (Shed Seven), Fake Tales of San Franciso, Sun Goes Down, and Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor (Arctic Monkeys), The Bucket, and Molly’s Chambers (Kings of Leon), The Riverboat Song (Ocean Colour Scene), Sally Cinnamon, and She Bangs The Drums (Stone Roses), and Song 2 (Blur). Highly recommended.

Word up everybody say, When you hear the call you've gotta get it underway

Friday 19 March 2010 - and tonight Matthew, we are down at The Duchess for an evening pregnant with the possibility of slightly-heavier-than-usual music.

As we arrived, the first band, Scream Arena were just finishing their penultimate song before launching into House of Pain, which I would certainly slot into the heavy rock category. Apparently they come from York and are currently unsigned which, given their polished performance, I find somewhat surprising.

The second band of the evening were another local outfit, but one I have so far missed, Morpheus Rising. MP consists of Graeme Tennick (vocals), Pete Harwood (guitar), Daymo Sweeting (guitar), Andy Smith (bass), and Paul (Gibbo) Gibbons (drums), although for tonight the bass was played by someone disguised as Andy Smith who I understand was in Cheltenham. The band came onto the stage to the strain's of Orff's Carmina Burana, one of my favourite pieces of music, so a good start. They gave us Save The Day, Brave New World, Fighting Man, Lord of The North, Gypsy King, and Hold On. MP bill themselves as NWoBHM - TNG (The Next Generation) and certainly I could hear elements of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden in their songs. Pete and Daymo produce a brilliant two-guitar sound. Graeme has a voice that reminds me of Ray Wilson (Stilkskin, Genesis) and he can certainly hold a note. I found the drums were mixed slightly too high which tended to drown out the guitar soloing. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed MP and look forward seeing them again soon.

Finally, the band we were here to see, GUN. In their present incarnation, GUN consist of Toby Jepson (ex of Little Angels), brothers Dante and Giuliano 'Jools' Gizzi, and a chap on drums whose name escapes me, sorry. There was certainly a hard core of fans in the audience who knew all the words for the sing-backs, sadly I and my little group were not familiar enough with their work to do the same. I will be rectifying this by a quick visit to play.com! Basically, their performance was drawn from their first albums; Taking On The World (1989), Gallus (1992), and Swagger (1994), plus three songs from their latest 5 track EP, Popkiller (2009). The actual tracks were: Welcome To The Real world, Money, Stand In Line, Popkiller, Money To Burn, Taking On The World, Let Your Hair Down, Better Days, Seraphina, Don't Say It's Over, Something Worthwhile, Inside Out, Steal Your Fire, and for the encore - Shame On You, and of course Word Up. An extremely enjoyable evening and, as mentioned before, CD purchases will be imminent!

The Hazzards of Love

Friday 12 March - we eschewed our hunt for original music by indulging in a covers band that we used to regularly watch at the Old White Swan, Hazzard County. The Hazzards haven't played together for some time now, band members having gone their separate ways and now being involved in other projects. But tonight at the Basement Bar, for one night only, they had reformed (in one of their myriad configurations) for a charity bash. Country Jon's wife, Jayne, is taking part in the London Marathon to raise money for Shelter.

The first act on tonight's bill was Steve Kendra. Steve is a one man and guitar with the emphasis on the lyrics. This was a shame because the general hub-bub in the bar managed to successfully drown out any chance of hearing him properly, except for snatches of one song which was about his father working at the Terry's factory and having hair that smelt of chocolate. Shame really, maybe we'll get a chance to hear him properly one day.

The chatter abated a little for the second act of the evening, Boss Caine, ably accompanied at various times by Andy Gaines, and fragments of the Hazzards. We've seen him before and his music is fast becoming more familiar to me. His voice reminds me of Neil Diamond. He has an album out soon and I'm sorely tempted to order a copy

Finally, the band everyone came to see (since the background noise level seemed to die down when they took to the stage); Chris Johnson, Dave "NZ" Keegan, Country Jon, Simon Snaize, and Patrick "Paddy" Berry. Paddy alternated between an electric bass and a double-bass while the rest took turns at vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, drums, and tambourine, with Chris occasionally on keyboards.

What they played was essentially a collection of their classic material garnered over the many years they were together; California Stars (Wilco), Midnight Special (trad. Lead Belly), Forget The Flowers (Wilco), Wagon Wheel (Dylan/Secor) Devil In Disguise (JJ Cale), It Ain't Me Babe (Dylan), Across The Great Divide (The Band), Passionate Kisses (Mary Chapin Carpenter), Grievous Angel (Gram Parsons), Why?, Song Of The Old Rake (Stormwater Boys), Going To Acapulco (Dylan), The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (Robbie Robertson), Cripple Creek (The Band), Ophelia (The Band), Who Were You Think Of (Wilco), I Still Carry You Around (Steve Earle), Tell It To Me (Old Crow Medicine Show), New York, Sin City (Flying Burrito Brothers), Home Of The Blues (Johnny Cash), Everything Is Free (Gillian Welch), Don't Stand So Close, I shall Be released (Dylan), A Little Bit Of Love, Dead Flowers (Rolling Stones), Maggie's Farm (Dylan), The Weight (The Band). Most of these I got from the set list but some were thrown in towards the end at the request of various members of the audience. As always, the Hazzards played brilliantly, in most cases the covers being better than the originals. The band, and audience, were enthusiastic and really enjoyed themselves.

The gig finally ended slightly after midnight and our feet were aching from standing for so long, but it was a fantastic evening. A shame that the Hazzards don't get together more often.