Jul 22
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Sweat, love and rock n’roll. Tonight’s gig, headlined by a certain William Control (aka Wil from Seattle Alt Rock legends Aiden), had it all. |
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Jun 14
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Right, mustn’t mention the World Cup... bollocks... okay that’s the last mention of it. Promise. Especially as the English team’s probably been knocked out/injured/ defected to a team with at least some frickin’ hope of winning by now. Gah! Did you see the game against the USA? Good grief. I only watched up to the point where our goalie decided to roll the ball into his own net. Genius. Speaking of (cheesy link ahoy) the USA (see, told you) tonight’s gig saw a brace of bands from way over United Stateside, kicking off (damn... bloody football) with |
Jun 04
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So it's the "The Summer Gypsy Ball" and first on Urban Voodoo Machine... They lived up to their "bourbon soaked gypsy blues bop 'n' stroll" moniker during their performance initially but really came alive during the on stage antics later on in the performance. Most notable was a dynamic double drumming display by the green bearded Booshesque lead drummer and his sidekick. Other delights of their ensemble included the intermittent appearance of a sort of 1920s ‘gong girl’ dressed in a minuscule eastern inspired costume along with Valentinoesque headdress. Her image reminiscent of an old black and white movie still. |
Jun 01
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Whilst the name may conjure up an image of a huge band of angry country folk waving pitchforks and burning huge phallic symbols made of straw Villagers is, essentially, just one bloke, Conor J. O’Brien. Attracting gushing reviews for his/their debut album, earning comparisons with such greats as Laughing Lenny Cohen, Elliot Smith and king of the cabin blues Bon Iver, he’s got himself well and truly stuck on the tastemakers ‘ones to watch’ lists. First up tonight though someone who’s in a band that’s well and truly on my own personal ‘ones to watch’ list (smooth link eh...I should be on local news), it’s John Fell from Goodnight Lenin. |
May 16
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Having previously thought of 'Folk' as being synonymous with quant country fairs, even in its most modern reinvention a genre that lends itself to being played in a natural setting (such as our very own Moseley folk festival). I was surprised and pleased to learn that a whole weekend devoted to folk, was being held at Birmingham's Town Hall. 'English Originals' a 'mini' folk festival, over a weekend in May featured the likes of folk greats Scott Mathews, Beth Orton and new to the scene Graham Coxon. I went for the Sunday helping, with performances from Jackie Oates and the band they call Bellowhead. |
May 15
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Old Albarn may be the most famous Blur-ite but GC’s been putting out all kinds of good shit over the last decade or so, culminating in 2009’s 'The Spinning Top' – an ambitious concept album that tells one man’s story from birth to death (actually, as Graham pointed out tonight it doesn’t... not really... he just said that in an interview and now it’s all people talk about... and I’ve just gone and compounded this misconception... balls). |
May 12
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I love Marina and her Diamonds (ahem!). She's everything a woman should be... Young, sexy, curves in all the right places, sassy, seemingly intellectual, talented both musically and vocally and generally just awesome! In short - she hot! And any girl that can still look tidy in a Micky Mouse jump suit certainly has that je ne sais qua! |
May 11
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Florence casually sauntered on stage suggesting a relaxing gig, but I was wrong. Wearing in a black lacy dress over knickers and vest, she kicked off her shoes quite quickly and built up more and more energy with each song. Banging on a drum at her side and jumping around on stage, the audience were soon eating out of her hand. Her interaction with the audience created a really good atmosphere in the hall, which was just the right size, not allowing the intimacy she created to be lost and not letting her powerful voice overwhelm the room. |
May 10
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Is too much hype a good thing? According to the NME The Drums are "New York's official coolest new band". Thankfully I had no idea of the hype or the NME statement proclaiming them to be so cool when watching them warm up the Civics crowd prior to the emergence of Florence and her ever-expanding Machine. |
Apr 19
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It’s hard to appreciate just what a big deal Boy George was back in the early 80’s. First of all the ‘is he a she debate?’ was, I recall, something of a national obsession, helping to catapult Culture Club into the big time all over the world. Then the drugs took hold and George was all over the papers again, this time literally fighting for life (at one point he was even outed by his own brother who claimed George had just days to live...looking at footage of the time he had a point). In recent years it’s been all about his battles with the law, culminating with what he tonight called his ‘holiday’ at her majesty’s pleasure last year. The fact that he’s arguably better known for all this other stuff right now than he is for his music is a real shame. Strip away the fuck ups (and boy, George has made his fair share) and there’s a lusciously rich vein of classic pop and dance anthems to get stuck into. Tonight, happily, George decided to do just that, covering all bases from early Culture Club through to his early solo stuff on to Jesus Loves You and right up to date with current single ‘Amazing Grace’. |
Apr 15
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Whilst the rest of the nation is witnessing the first historical (or should that be hysterical?) debate between our three ‘glorious’ ‘political’ ‘leaders’ the Hare & Hounds is playing host to a different (and much more enjoyable) brand of insanity in the form of Bavaria’s number one brass/dance/euro pop/mariachi band. Okay, admittedly there aren’t that many Bavarian brass/dance/euro pop/mariachi bands, but even if there were I think you’d have to go some to beat the sheer joyful exuberance of LaBrassBanda. |
Mar 26
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You say ‘rap’ to a lot of people and they still think of some blinged up moron banging on about how much pussy he’s had for breakfast, and I ain’t talking about no Whiskas munching ball of fur here neither. Either that or they’ll single out wannabe gangsters threatening to pop a cap in the ass of anyone who disses ‘em...other rappers, cops, their grandmother etc. Yawn. Happily of course there’s an equally rich seam of artists out there who use the genre in far more positive and creative ways and tonight was jam packed with them. |
Mar 20
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Entering the reasonably salubrious surroundings of the Academy 3 dressing rooms we’re met by two thirds of The Joy Formidable. Lead singer Ritzy’s curled up demolishing a pot of hummus and packet of pitta bread and co-vocalist and guitarist Rhydian’s sipping a beer. Drummer Matt joins us, wrapping bits of tape around what’s left of his fingers and we’re all set for a delightfully ramshackle interview (you can blame me for that...I’m no Alan Carr...I might look a little like him and I’m as camp as tits but that’s as far the comparison stretches). We start off by randomly discussing such pressing matters as floating poo, Rhyl, flatmates and Walsall before I remembered what we were there for and actually got my scrappy list of questions out. |
Mar 20
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In the week in which I discovered that Birmingham’s last remaining independent record shops (Swordfish and Tempest) are to close, tonight’s gig proved, once more, that both the live scene and new music in general is as healthy as ever. There’s something about gigs featuring new bands (by which I probably mean a band on its first album) that’s hard to beat and each one of tonight’s groups still had that mixture of excitement and freshness that, I guess, often gets knocked out of you when you’re on album number 6 and making appearances on The One Show (in between a feature on men who dress up as their favourite vegetables and a salutary warning – presented by Dom Littlewood naturally – of the dangers of sticking parts of your anatomy in food blenders). |
