Avenue Q @ Exeter Northcott Theatre, Tuesday May 31st 2016

If you grew up from the 70s onwards the chances are you’ll have spent many a happy hour watching Sesame Street, the groundbreaking American kids show that, as well as teaching us all to count with the help of the world’s least scary vampire, also tackled some of the challenges of those tricky years between 5 and 13. Although nothing to do with Sesame Street (at least not officially, although clearly this is a loving pastiche of the show from the enthusiastic delivery of lines to the upbeat melodies and retro graphics on the TV screens) Avenue Q takes this basic template and looks at those even trickier years between 23 and...well...it’s all pretty tricky when you think about it.

Focussing on a young graduate called Princeton and his move away from home to the big bad city the plot should be pretty familiar to any Millennials out there. Armed with a degree he thinks he’s got life made but it turns out that life’s not so simple. Add a little love interest into the mix together with a porn obsessed monster, former Different Strokes child star Gary Coleman (not the real one obviously, he’s a little dead sadly), a busty femme fatale, a closet queen and several other deliciously observed characters and you’ve got the ingredients for one of the wittiest, most irreverent and fun musicals ever staged, packed with addictively catchy songs, smart dialogue and...er...the odd bit of puppet on puppet action.

Unlike most puppet shows the actors / operators are in full view throughout the action – which must be the acting equivalent of patting your head and rubbing your stomach – but within minutes it’s easy to forget they’re there (in the nicest possible way). As if that wasn’t impressive enough several play multiple parts too, notably Stephen Arden (hilarious as Trekkie Monster), Richard Lowe (you can’t help but love his Rod, as it were) and Sarah Harlington (feisty but cute as Kate and sl-utterly wonderful as Lucy) all of whom acted and sang their collective socks off. Although puppet-less the three human stars of the show also squeeze the full comic potential out of their respective roles, Araina Ii as Christmas Eve...or Clistmas Eve as she’d put it (PC this show ain’t but hell, Everyone’s A Little Bit Lacist), Etisyai Philip as the relentlessly optimistic Gary Coleman and Richard Morse as Christmas’ happy go lucky but ever so slightly henpecked hubbie to be, Brian.

Latent homosexuality, porn, racism, homelessness, poverty, suicide, shattered dreams...Avenue Q covers some pretty serious themes but somehow the writers and performers manage to find humour in pretty much everything. The tunes are instantly memorable (I’m still singing ‘It Sucks To Be Me’ a good 12 hours after the show), some of the material makes you think without being too preachy but most of all you’ll find yourself laughing out loud...genuine stomach wobbling belly laughs (see in particular The Internet Is For Porn and that puppet sex scene) in a way that few shows come close to. And if that isn’t your (Avenue) ‘Q’ to snap up a ticket in the next 30 seconds then, quite frankly, “it sucks to be you!”

Avenue Q is on at Exeter Northcott until Saturday June 4^th. Tickets right here right now! 

The Day Ends and the conversation begins...

It's been a few weeks since the latest missive from Miles Perhower and co but this little beauty's worth the wait. Interviewers and interviewees take note...this is how you do it. Miles vents what's left of his spleen once again proving to be a hugely entertaining and, this is what really counts, HONEST subject. And why don't all interviews begin and end with a little violent vacuuming eh? Dyson Die...(that's a Miss Halliwell joke for you by the way, niche I know but it made me chuckle). 

It's yer money they're after baby...

After writing / ranting about this on goodness knows how many occasions it’s depressing that, if anything, the secondary ticket market (aka bulk buying tickets to gigs, shows and sporting events to prevent real fans from buying them then ramping up the price by whatever figure you think you can get away with and flogging them to people with more money than sense) seems to be flourishing. In the latest round of insanity someone’s trying to sell Radiohead tickets for almost £6,000, or a mind melting 91 times its original face value. I guess if people are mad enough to pay it the touts (most of which are massive companies now) will just carry on regardless. Still, it gives me a good reason to stick up a ruddy great track from The Wonderstuff so silver linings and all that jazz. 

American Idiot @ Exeter Northcott Theatre - Wednesday May 18th 2016

If you’re unfamiliar with US punksters Green Day you might be forgiven for thinking this was a topical Trump based musical but no, it’s another moronic president (let’s face it a Trump win looks more likely by the day), George ‘Dubya’ Bush, rather than the world’s most famous combover that the band had in its sights on the original album and single it spawned way back in 2004.

Ambitiously conceived as a punk rock opera American Idiot focuses on three disillusioned young men from the fictional Jingletown, USA, each of whom takes a radically different path through life, fatherhood, joining the military and getting off their face on drugs. Frustrated with the general state of their nation (no change there sadly) and lives the three, Will, Johnny and Tunny, resolve to escape Jingletown and head off for the big city but Will’s girlfriend Heather drops the bombshell that she’s in the family way and he decides to stay behind. The other two hit the road and Johnny ends up taking heroin, unleashing an alter ego known as St Jimmy, whilst Tunny does his bit for Uncle Sam and enlists with predictably dire consequences. That’s the basic plot, conveniently set up to incorporate the original album’s songs without too much awkward shoehorning.  

Of course the original source material’s pretty awesome with the title track itself, Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, Wake Me Up When September Ends and Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) arguably amongst some of the best songs of the noughties and this particular cast, to borrow a suitably American phrase, knock every single number right outta da park. From the titular opening number there’s enough energy on stage to power Jingletown itself with some particularly energetic muscle tearing brain damage inducing punk rock thrashing about that'll make you want to tear up the theatre seats and join ‘em onstage. Hell yeah, now that’s an opening. American Idiot’s made for a theatre like the Northcott too. Relatively intimate with no raised stage and a sound system that’s capable of making your vital organs vibrate like they’re in a food mixer you’ve got an immediate connection with the action that’s almost impossible to achieve in a bigger venue so even if you’ve seen American Idiot a dozen times you won’t have experienced it like this.

There are some West End worthy performances too, with Amelia Lily as Johnny’s feisty but caring love interest Whatsername (that’s actually the character’s name by the way...I’m not losing my marbles) and Lucas Rush channelling his inner Keiths (Flint, Allen and Moon) as Johnny’s wickedly self destructive alter ego St Jimmy. 

Making, as far as I’m aware, his professional acting debut singer songwriter Newton Faulkner was a revelation with some beautifully nuanced moments, notably Act 2’s drug taking scene, painful to watch but wordlessly capturing the loneliness and desperation of addiction which ain’t easy without making it all seem a little OTT. Almost unrecognisable after chopping off his trademark dreads for a recent video he does a pretty good ‘dude’ accent too. 

Of course his vocal talents are what he’s best known for and in particular he gives some of the more reflective songs like Boulevard of Broken Dreams a vulnerability that even gives the original a run for its money (by a convenient twist of fate Newton’s first group was a Green Day covers band too, not a lot of people know that...unless they look at Wikipedia...but that’s cheating).

Like all great shows – and this is a real belter – the whole cast perform their socks off though (actually that’s the one item of clothing that Newton’s left with for part of the show but you get the point) backed by a proper kick ass live band that’s worth the price of a ticket on their own.

Sell your granny (too much...okay, maybe just pawn her for the night then) and go see this show right now, you’re guaranteed...oh go on then it’s predictable as hell but let’s just say it anyway... the ‘time of your life’.

American Idiot is on at Exeter Northcott Theatre until Sunday May 22^nd. Tickets right here (grannies not accepted as payment...). 

All photos courtesy of Darren Bell.

The Midlands Roots Explosion Volume Two

Sadly Brum's always undersold its musical heritage, from giving the world heavy metal thanks to the mighty Black Sabbath, through to some of the bands that defined the 80s, step forward Duran Duran and Dexys Midnight Runners, and on to more recent gems such as the criminally underrated Mistys Big Adventure, Goodnight Lenin, Miss Halliwell/The Day Ends and many, many more. Of course Brum also played a huge role in reggae with Steel Pulse, Musical Youth and UB40 all achieving global success but many other bands released some awesome cuts back in the 70s and 80s that perhaps only made it as far as City Road (that's a niche Brum reference for you right there).

Thankfully some of these gems from Brum and beyond (all Midlands based though) have been collected and remastered in a brand new series of releases called The Midlands Roots Explosion, Volume One came out last year and Volume Two's set to drop this Friday on double vinyl (if one form of music HAS to be heard on vinyl it's reggae). You can grab a copy right here via Reggae Archive Records. Highly recommended. Here's a little highlight...

The Stone Roses – All For One

I guess if you’re going to leave 22 years between singles you’d better make your comeback a belter and, judging by the general consensus of opinion a few days after its release, The Stone Roses new single All For One has missed the mark a little. I’m a Roses fan, the debut album was a stone cold classic and when I finally caught them live a few years back at the pissfest that is V Festival they were on top form. In the cold light of day (and lord knows I've given it plenty of spins now) All For One clearly isn’t a classic, but then again neither is it the complete bag‘o’shite that some people are claiming though. It’s just a dumb (lyrically in particular) – but pretty catchy – pop song that’ll no doubt have the lager louts and ladettes throwing their cans of Carlsberg in the air and singing themselves hoarse at the live shows. Any resemblance to the Dogtanian and the Three Muskahounds theme tune is purely coincidental...

Gregory Porter - Don't Lose Your Steam

How did I miss the new Gregory Porter album, Take Me To The Alley?! Good grief...that's the fractured multi-channel blink and you'll miss it Instagrammalammadingdong world we live in I guess. Anyway fortunately I was in a car tuned into Radio 2 last week (let's rocccccccccck!) and caught the single from it in which young Gregory funk things up a little, advising us not to "lose our head of steam". Er...wise words.

As a bonus here's his soulful tribute to Prince from a recent Later...show. Lovely, lovely stuff.

Vinyl scoop...The Jacksons - Lovely One

One of the benefits of the vinyl revival is a bit of a rebirth for record fairs. Oh dear...dangerous. I've been to a few down here in Devon and it's ruddy easy to stagger out with a bagful of buys. Last Saturday's haul included a stack of Jackson 5 albums in various states of decay (I think the previous owner may have eaten their dinner off them...found a pubic hair too so presumably they snacked naked) but I did manage to listen to this track, Lovely One, through the snap, crackle and pop and it's a belter. Turns out it was a single back in 1980 but it must've passed me by at the time. Anyway if you've not heard it you're in for a bit of a treat. Enjoy!
 

Nigel Thomas – Travelling Man

10 years. That’s how long I’ve been writing this blog. 10 ruddy years. Lord knows how many acts I’ve seen in that time but, for a while at least, a gig a week wasn’t uncommon and once or twice I even hit the dizzy heights of four in a row. I know...hardcore eh?

Anyway, way back in 2006 when I was a fresh faced 36 year old (ahem) one of the first bands I reviewed and got behind were The Foxes, purveyors of classic English pop who bravely gave up their ‘proper’ jobs in a bold attempt to make it in the evil old music biz without the aid of a net...or label. They had the tunes. They had the energy. But, and this is something that’s all too familiar sadly, they simply didn’t have the luck that springs some bands to fame and fortune and denies others the success they deserve.

But now the band’s lead singer, Nigel Thomas, is back, back, back with a brand new solo album that’s a winning mix of indie rock and more stripped back folkier stuff. Opening number Fever’s all old school Hammond organ, stabbing guitar and white boy blues, Ghost Hunter adds a little skank swing to affairs and the album’s title track features some gloriously dirty guitar solos. The mellower material’s just as strong, in particular the folk tinged 5476 Miles and the lullaby lilt of Que Sera (shades of Lennon at his most loved up and blessed out solo best).

Recorded and mixed by Luke Oldfield (before you ask, yes, Mike’s son) it’s an accomplished collection of songs from a man whose own musical journey has hopefully only just begun. 

Physical copies (CD and Vinyl!) of Travelling Man are available right here. It’s also available via Amazon and iTunes. 

Gigs you MAY want to catch...

Yep, it’s almost May already, Bank Holidays ahoy and this weekend if you’re in Brum there are a trio of cracking gigs to catch. Okay, so the first one is on Saturday which is still technically April but ‘Gigs you APRIL want to catch’ made no ruddy sense at all. Anyway, it’s a triple header featuring the live return of The Bourgeois Four and the continuing sonic adventures of The Day Ends. 

You'll also enjoy the cheerful insanity of Mr Tom (Top to his friends) Peel. It’s a mere fiver to get in with all proceeds going to Kings Heath Action for Refugees AND you get a copy of The B4’s debut album before anyone else in the universe. Result.

Next up on Sunday May 1^st Goodnight Lenin hit The Sunflower Lounge to road test some new material. 

Support again comes from the busiest man in show biz, Mr Tom Peel. Also on Sunday it’s Swingamajig in Digbeth which goes on until...well Monday breakfast time by the looks of it so maybe you can fit both in if you’re feeling energetic/bonkers. Rumours that Mr Tom Peel is also playing there are as yet unconfirmed but I wouldn’t bet against it.  

Jungle Book @ Exeter Northcott Theatre, Tuesday April 26th 2016

Coming hot on the heels (or maybe that should be paws) of the new movie version of Jungle Book this production’s as fresh as a just picked prickly pear, rebooting the whole thing for a modern audience with a rapping bin man called Baloo, Bagheera the graffiti artist and pack of skateboarding wolves. Yep, we’re talking the urban jungle here, transplanting Kipling’s well loved classic to the inner city streets, which sadly may well be a much more dangerous place for a young Mowgli these days.

Combining street dance, rap and circus with banging beats it’s a bold and fast paced show that cleverly weaves the threads of the original into something new whilst adding a little social commentary (‘the suits’ portrayed almost as automatons and the obvious issue of inner city gang culture for instance) into the mix. There’s relatively little dialogue, arguably the story’s well known enough to get away with this and a handy scene by scene synopsis given out to the audience fills in any gaps, which frees up the cast to put on some mighty impressive physical displays. 

Using street lamps as poles there are some particularly brave face first slides stopping just an inch or two from the ground which, if they went wrong, could well result in Baloo (winningly played by Stefan Puxon) having to sweep up the performers teeth at the end of the show. The ring work’s strong too with a dizzying set of spins from Mowgli (the instantly engaging Natalie Nicole James) at the end of Act One that would leave most mere mortals needing a lie down for a month or two and a beautiful piece with the equally talented Nathalie Alison as Kaa the snake. Sssssssssssssssssstunning.

Her nemesis, Shere Khan, menacingly portrayed by Dean Stewart (who looks like he’s been carved out of granite) pops some equally impressive moves and the whole cast enthusiastically throw themselves around the place throughout the performance whilst neatly reflecting their particular animal spirit, in turn echoed in the music accompanying their scenes. Ending on a suitably positive note with Mowgli finally finding her voice the whole audience were roused from their seats by Baloo for a little boogie, huge fun for the young...and the young at heart.  

Produced by London’s award winning Metta Theatre, expertly directed by Poppy Burton-Morgan and featuring performers from Cirque du Soleil and Zoo Nation Jungle Book’s an invigorating, hip (hop) and smart adaptation that's littered with lovely subtle touches (Baloo’s broom as a mic stand, his interaction with the audience after the interval and some simple but very effective puppetry behind the baby Mowgli). Trust me on this one, you ‘Khan’t’ afford to miss it.

Jungle Book is on at Exeter Northcott Theatre until Saturday April 30^th. Tickets available right here right now. 

A low blow for Highbury Studio

Another sad day for music following the announcement that Brum's legendary Highbury Studio is to close. Having played host (for both recording and rehearsing purposes) to Duran Duran, UB40 and Ocean Colour Scene amongst many others over the past 35 years or so it seems as though it just can't survive in a world where you can record pretty much anywhere on a ruddy mobile phone. Of course as any vinyl junkie knows a proper recording studio stuffed full of vintage analogue equipment is a rare and beautiful thing so it's particularly sad that, just as plastic's fantastic again, the old place can't be saved. This is pretty much as close an Brum gets to a Sun Studios and yet I bet Birmingham Shitty Council won't lift a finger to save it, too busy knocking down modernist masterpieces and spunking millions on a frankly pointless tram system in a misguided attempt to ape Manchester eh? Oh well, at least we still have the music and the memories...no matter how careless the City might be with them.







PS: This isn't a pop at the people who've been trying to keep the place going for the past few years, it's a case of use it or lose it I guess.

PPS: Maybe Jack White or Toe Rag Studio's Liam Watson would like to take it over?

PPPS: Or how about Duran Duran divert a million or two back into the place...

Purple Reign

Just about to hop in the shower last night at 6.15 and stuck on radio 4 (yeah I know, rock ‘n’ roll eh?) as someone announced that 'prince' had died. Prince? Prince Charles? Prince Charming? Prince Foghorn of Monaco? It didn't occur to me for one single second that it was THE Prince, someone I’d grown up with and been lucky enough to see live less than two years ago and who, at the time, looked like a man half his age. It was only when they mentioned the word Minneapolis that it clicked and I ran downstairs in my boxer shorts and sat shivering watching the TV as the story broke, too 'gobsmacked' I believe the phrase is, to move.

If you grew up in the 80s Prince was one of the holy trinity of global pop stars – the other two being Jacko and Madge – and it’s incredible that only one of them is now left. No cause of death has yet been announced and, apart from a slightly macabre fascination, that really doesn’t matter. What is important is that this year we’ve lost two of popular music’s defining talents (Bowie being the other of course) leaving the whole world a much less colourful place.

Few artists have been as prolific as Prince, I think I heard that he’d released 39 studio albums since his debut in 1978...or more than one a year...and that’s frankly astonishing, especially as some were doubles or triples. Legend has it that he recorded a song a day too and apparently there’s a huge stash of unheard stuff in a vault at Paisley Park so, the music biz being what it is, ‘new’ material from Prince might well be trickling out for years or decades to come. 

It’s a bit of a cliché but, like Bowie, he really did seem other worldly. Short and slight with a speaking voice that often seemed on the verge of vanishing into a fragile whisper, onstage and in the studio he out-dressed, out-played and out-sang pretty much every other pop star around and, for many of my generation in particular, he was our Hendrix, Bowie, Brown, Presley and Wonder all wrapped up in one. RIP Prince. x  

Klaus Nomi - Simple Man

Picked up a vinyl copy of the Klaus Nomi album Simple Man a couple of weeks ago (for a ruddy quid!) and only just got round to playing it. I've been a fan for years but never really heard the full on Nomi in all his fantastic plastic glory. Majestic. His death at the age of 39 (sadly one of many gay men who fell to AIDS back when it was pretty much a death sentence) robbed the world of a truly extraordinary talent. Oh to have seen him live eh?

Just for the record...

I have mixed emotions about Record Store Day now. On the one hand it's ruddy brilliant that it gets people into actual real Record Shops and hopefully spending a little dosh, on the other it seems to attract some of the same bottom feeders that snap up tickets for gigs they have no intention of going too just to make a fast buck...or pound as we say over here. I was only really after one record, a tasty pink vinyl 12 inch of Soft Cell's seminal Sex Dwarf (which is as good an excuse as any to post up 'that' video') but given that there were only 500 copies in the whole universe unsurprisingly there weren't any in Newton Abbot by 9.15am. Plenty on eBay now though, funny that eh? Oh well, I cheered myself by snapping up ten albums for a tenner in the local market, including a mint copy of Carole King's Tapestry. Here's a pleasingly enthusiastic live performance of arguably the album's highlight, I Feel The Earth Move...probably that sex dwarf at it again.

Thank you for the music...

On the eve of Record Store Day 2016 it's a good enough excuse to highlight a trio of tracks that are currently floating my boat, a couple of which you may have heard if you're permanently plugged into 6 Music and one of which is probably as fresh as daisy. Enjoy!

Swingamajig 2016!

For some inexplicable reason I never made it along to Swingamajig when I lived in Birmingham and now I’m 160 miles away in Devon it seems unlikely that I’ll make it this year. Ahhhh the evil pang of regret. Ouch. I say inexplicable because Swingamajig seems pretty much designed for me, a lover of all things vintage (hell, once you turn 40 you ARE vintage), gypsy punk and decadent (yep, I always got for the Old Rosie in Spoonies...it's how I roll...or fall over in some cases). It’s been going a few years now, developing the kind of fervent following that marks out the truly great festivals from the corporate ball sucking chaff and this year’s instalment (May 1^st, Digbeth) looks better than ever. Tickets right here, right now...who knows maybe I will make it after all...hmmmm.

Dodgy Dave...

It's been pretty nauseating watching people who have unimaginable sums of money to the average working man/woman/transgender trying to justify stuffing shit loads of cash into overseas 'trusts'. Yeah fine, it might not be illegal but how do these people sleep at night? Oh, right...very comfortably I guess. Anyway, I just stumbled across this track from Dodgy, a band that's supported more good causes than most and one of the few groups around these days that have an opinion on stuff that matters. It seems as though it was written and released last year but it's particularly appropriate right now. I'm not naive enough to think that things will ever change but the day we stop kicking against the pricks in some way will be a dark day indeed.

PS: And yes...this is the same Dodgy that released this little gem. Bring on the summer...

Kioko - Hotline Bling

Cracking cover of the Drake track from Brum's very own Kioko. Speeding it up a little, adding a dubby dusting and biggin' up the brass it's so much better than the original (in my 'umble opinion) and that's ruddy rare in a cover version. Enjoy!

The Bourgeois Four – A Ninth Path

Like a phoenix from the ashes...or at the very least a slightly charred pigeon from a bonfire...one of Brum’s great lost bands The Bourgeois Four have cemented their comeback with the release of brand new album, A Ninth Path. 

It’s an ambitiously eclectic collection of, in their words, lo-fi B-Punk ranging from the New Wave-ish Celebrity Body Crisis to the dreamy epicness of The Lighthouse, all 6 minutes and 47 glorious seconds of it. For my money undoubted highlight of the whole shebang though is Meat and Motorways which somehow fuses spunky indie punk a la Young Knives at their finest with almost Sabbath-esque riffage. Now that’s something you’ve not heard B4 eh? 

There’s an album launch party at The Station, Kings Heath on Saturday 30^th April in aid of Kings Heath Action for Refugees. Tickets just a fiver right here right now AND...wait for it...AND you get a copy of the ruddy album too!

It's the Vinyl countdown...

Have you been watching Vinyl? The TV series that is, not just random records...although granted that has its appeal too. Okay, so it might not be the most original series in the world but it seems a pretty authentic portrayal of life in the record biz when there was still some serious money to be made from it all. With the rock and roll comes the sex and drugs of course and the lead character, brilliantly portrayed by some bloke called Bobby Cannavale, has spent most of season one snorting half of Columbia's finest whilst...ermm...'entertaining' various young ladies. Ahem. Anyway, after meaning to find out what the hell the theme tune is I've tracked it down, although you have to fast forward to 2 minutes 27 seconds to get to the bit you'll be familiar with. Suffice to say...cue devil horn hand gesture...it ROCKS.

The Baron's Lucky Dip # 4 The Fall - Cruisers Creek

Time for another dip into the seemingly endless boxes of vinyl that I've somehow accumulated over the years and this time it's The Fall classic Cruiser's Creek. Never seen the video before today...doesn't Mark E Smith look young eh? Remarkably, over three decades later, he's still cranking it out and if anything the old sod's getting better with age. Here's The Fall's latest missive if you don't believe me...

The Day Ends...Berk, rest and play

First live sighting of The Day Ends from last Sunday's Sunday Xpress. Soooooooooooo good. Play it loud people.

PS: You can catch 'em at Scary Canary in Stourbridge this Sunday...I'm assuming this is a venue and not a little yellow bird off its feathers on crack.

Ben Norcombe @ Whimple Front Row Club, Saturday 19th March 2016

How many other cinemas (pop up or otherwise) lay on some live music eh? So a hearty slap on the back to the Whimple Front Row Club massive for enticing Ben Norcombe along for a little pre Selma warm up slot. I’ve seen a lot of acoustic guitarists in my time but few make more inventive use of their instrument than Ben, everything from singing into the pick up, looping sounds to build up tracks, flicking the body of the guitar to create a rather bongo-tastic sound and slapping the strings with his fingers...in short if there’s a sound to be coaxed out of the thing Ben’s probably found a way to do it. Vocally there’s a bit of a Bon Iver thang going on but more emotionally intense (yep, seriously) with a throaty quaver that hints at a real vulnerability, something backed up by his admission that these days he mostly plays in front of the telly after getting fed up with just being background music in bars (it never fails to amaze me how little respect talented musicians get these days). Well, telly’s loss was our gain this evening, a beautiful set from someone with more to offer than he possibly knows. Well worth a listen.     

We’ve been here B4...

Waking up from a prolonged period of hibernation one of Brum’s great ‘lost’ bands The Bourgeois Four are back, back, BACK with this slow burning gem of a track that lulls you gently into dreamy reverie before ripping off your ears and mincing ‘em to a pulp in a guitar shaped blender. Yep...a guitar shaped blender...now there’s an idea for Dragon’s Den. Anyway, it’s ruddy great to have them back, I had high hopes for them a few years back and on the strength of this comeback it wasn’t misplaced. Play it loud. Play it often.  

Weaves a spell...

Flip me, yes, this is more like it.  I kind of hate to make sweeping generalisations but a lot of music these days quite frankly sucks balls. Not all...by a long shot...I ain’t one of those things were better in the 60s/70s/80s (...oh shit, maybe I am when it comes to the 80s...) kind of chaps, but there’s far too much wishy washy background music being made right now. That ain’t something you could accuse Weaves of. A Toronto four piece they’ve been around a few years and this little gem One More, has been plucked a-kickin’ and a-screamin’ from their debut album due out on June 17^th. Blending pop punk and garage rock (with perhaps just a touch of grunge nihilism for good measure) it’s an eargasm of a track practically genetically modified to have you pogoing round in yer pants frightening the neighbours. I frickin’ loves it. 

Richard Alston Dance Company @ Exeter Northcott Theatre, Tuesday March 8th 2016

“Dancing is a very inspiring thing that humans do. I really want to celebrate that”. This thought, mulled over by Richard Alston himself during an intimate post show discussion, perfectly sums up a beautiful evening of music and dance from his self titled company of frankly gravity defying dancers. 

Now approaching almost 50 years as a choreographer Alston’s been hailed as one of the most visionary figures in contemporary dance with a string of awards under his hat and five star reviews in his pocket (he must’ve run out of room under his hat). Tonight saw three (four if you count a brief glimpse of his current work in progress) separate performances, Stronghold (expertly choreographed by Associate Choreographer Martin Lawrence), Mazur and Brisk Singing.

First up Stronghold and if real life ever needed a pause button this was that moment. There’s so much movement and energy you quite frankly don’t know where to look. Inspired, Martin revealed later, by the idea of people supporting each other, the 10 dancers frequently performed in unison before breaking off into smaller groups then coming back together almost as a flock of swallows in flight. At other times bodies seem to melt into each other forming single organisms before moments of Matrix like contortions that would leave mere mortals needing traction for six months. Visually stunning and with a memorably powerful double bass driven score from Julie Wolfe the whole thing leaves you breathless...even if, remarkably, the dancers, weren’t.

Next up Mazur, Alston’s latest piece, a tribute to Chopin’s music and in particular focussing on his longing for his Polish homeland (history buffs will note that Russia and Poland had a bit of a bust up in 1830 whilst poor Fred was in Vienna, once the Russians crushed the native uprising he settled in Paris vowing never to return, sadly failing health meant he never did). Performed by two male dancers with a live piano accompaniment the piece saw them dancing together at first, then apart, then back as duo, no doubt reflecting Chopin’s own experience and his unfulfilled wish to return a free Poland. 

The climax, in which the two dancers reunited, really stirred the emotions and it’s a beautifully balanced and constructed piece that rather brilliantly brings the music, and it’s somewhat tortured inspiration, to life.  

Finally Brisk Singing, based on the music of baroque composer Jean Phillippe Rameau, was first performed way back in 1997 and still dazzles (well, you know what they say...if it ain’t baroque, don’t fix it). The most classically balletic of the trio it was a joyous performance liberally sprinkled with elegant leaps and impressive lifts that once again seem to suggest that the human form is indeed a heavenly body. With little touches and flourishes every bit as ornate at the music and some wonderfully expressive movements from the dancers it was a suitably magical ending to a soul stirring evening. Except there was more! Not sure how often they do this but Richard and Martin were joined by a couple of the dancers (again looking as fresh as daises) and a lady from Exeter Uni who teaches dance for a bit of a question and answer sesh. Listening to how each piece develops and hearing Richard’s endless enthusiasm for his craft was almost as enjoyable as the pieces themselves. In particular his description of the dancers as “huge human sparklers” (said with a theatrical flourish of the arms) was particularly apt. Magical stuff.

You can catch the Richard Alston Dance Company TONIGHT at Exeter Northcott Theatre, the last few tickets were still available yesterday evening. Highly recommended. 

Pete Williams – songs in the quay (of life)

Wonderful to see Pete Williams getting the kind of acclaim and coverage he deserves. Not only is a great lyricist and passionate powerful potent performer but (as I’m pretty sure I’ve said before) he’s a ruddy nice bloke from his head to his toes too. Just cop a load of this performance from a recent BBC Radio Scotland show. A-mazing. 

PS: Grab copies of his albums right here right now. 

Field Music / The Drink @ The Phoenix, Friday March 4th 2016

Bands are a bit like wine. Bear with me here. Some are best consumed fresh, right at the very start of their career, others just get better with age. And some...well some just make you want to vomit like that girl in The Exorcist but we’ll gloss over that for now. Field Music fit firmly in the second category with recent singles Noisy Days Are Over and Disappointed and new album Commontime coming across as a particularly strong vintage. A string of sold out tour dates backs this up and they’ve just announced a trio of big venue headline shows for October that seem set to do likewise.

First up tonight though, and carrying on the booze theme, it’s The Drink. Not sure what kind of drink, judging by the band’s ‘68 pysch meets C86 ‘dark folk’ it’s probably spiked with LSD though. Set highlight The Coming Rain has a bewitching Broadcast/Stereolab vibe to it, with a neat motoric groove to drive things along nicely. Well worth imbibing.

Onto Field Music then who kicked things off with a track, Noisy Days Are Over, that belies tonight’s impressively meaty beaty version. Keyboardist Liz in particular seemed intent on doing a little GKH (that’s Grievous Keyboard Harm) to her instrument. Now that’s how to start a gig.

A couple of tracks in David Brewis steps out from behind the drums and announces, slightly huskily, that’s he’s lost his voice. Awwww bless. When it comes to hitting the high notes on Disappointed that sounds like a recipe for...well...disappointment but, trooper that he is, somehow he manages to defy all medical science and remarkably pull off a bit of a blinder.

Throughout the set the influences come thick and fast, a little XTC here, a bit of early Genesis there, a healthy dose of Hall and Oates (especially on the new stuff), some Let’s Dance era Bowie, a little Zappa and just the merest hint of Pink Floyd. But like all great bands – and let’s make this clear, right now Field Music is a ruddy great band – they manage to whip all this up and somehow make it their own. They do a neat line in banter too, in fact throughout the night they covered everything from sounding like Kathleen Turner and the perils of playing drums in a cardie through to work place pension plans and, prompted by some of the audience who seemed to like shouting out “Haway the lads” and “Haddaway and shite” at frequent intervals, the genius or otherwise of Chris Rea.

Looking back at pre Liz era footage it’s clear that she adds a heck of a lot of oomph to the band’s live sound, musically and vocally, and if it’s been a while since you last saw ‘em, now’s definitely the time to get reacquainted. They all seem musically sharper though with early tracks like the art-prog of If Only The Moon Were Up given a sophistication and sheen that the original perhaps lacked.

Encore Give It Lose It Take It (“We’re only playing one song because it’s two songs in one...sort of!”), another oldie, is a suitably epic climax, from the opening Exorcist theme tune style motif right through to the proggier than thou second half, which once again saw brothers Peter and David make trading instruments seem absolutely effortless, even with a bit of man flu.

At their best Field Music is pop with a twist, clever enough to appeal to the musos but with the kind of hooky choruses and riffs that Kanye West would give his left...and quite possibly right...testicle for. And, with new album Commontime’s sophisticated 80s transatlantic soul pop leanings he may well be tempted to do just that.  In fact in this particular Field right now frankly everything’s coming up roses.  

Mutual Benefit – Not For Nothing

If the hustle and bustle of the big wide world is well and truly getting on your wick cop a load of this slice of laid back chamber pop tinged loveliness from Mutual Benefit (AKA Jordan Lee and an ever changing collective of his buddies). It’s taken from brand new album Skip A Sinking Stone out on reliably excellent Transgressive Records on May 20^th and there’s an all too rare UK show at Bush Hall, London on April 28^th.  Ahhhhhh, now isn't that better eh? 

The Day Ends - Ripples

Yet another new track spews out from The Day Ends and this is their best yet, a visceral slap round the chops from Miles Perhower and co replete with suitably trippy video that, together with the music, is probably a pretty fair representation of what's going on inside his head. I've just been playing it on repeat for an hour or so and it's a frickin' belter...literally no one sounds like them right now and that's a very rare thing indeed my friends. Unique, uncompromising rant 'n' roll at it's very finest. Catch them live for FREE at the next instalment of Sunday Xpress, March 20th, Friction Arts, The Edge. Details right here.  

Field Music hit the road!

Somehow 12 years and six albums into their career Sunderland’s Field Music have hit the form of their lives with a brace of classic singles - The Noisy Days Are Over and the Hall and Oates-tastic Disappointed - and a critically acclaimed new album, Commontime. They’re out on tour right now too (details below), although most dates have unsurprisingly sold out (you might just squeeze in to the Exeter, Nottingham or Southampton gigs if you’re super speedy), and they’ve just announced their biggest headline shows so far with a trio of gigs in October. Buy now or end up paying £200 to some dodgy geezer on eBay.   

03 Mar - Cardiff, The Globe
04 Mar - Exeter Phoenix, Exeter
05 Mar - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
10 Mar - Brudenell Social Club, Leeds (SOLD OUT)
11 Mar - Manchester, Band on the Wall (SOLD OUT)
13 Mar - Glasgow, School Of Art (UPGRADED VENUE)
18 Mar - London, Islington Assembly Hall (SOLD OUT)
19 Mar - Southampton, Engine Rooms
20 Mar - Brighton, The Haunt (SOLD OUT)
22 Oct – Sage, Gateshead
26 Oct – Shepherds Bush Empire, London
29 Oct – Ritz, Manchester

Being the lovely folk that they no doubt are they’re sharing the love with a spanking new remix of Disappointed from super cool producer Ewan Pearson that’s 100% free to download right here right now.

Head over to The Guardian and you can stream the whole new album too! I tell you it’s like frickin’ Christmas...

Holy Pinto – Matches

Freshly signed to Soft Speak Records indie rock duo Holy Pinto celebrate with Matches their brand new single (all 90 seconds of it) that lulls you gently into pretty chilled-ville before dropping the mighty f-bomb...boom. 

A bit of a taster from their debut album, Congratulations, due out on April 8^th, pre-order it on vinyl (it’s the future) right here, right now and you’ll get a personalized jingle from the band too...and who the flip doesn’t want their own jingle?  You don’t get that from Sam Smith do you eh and he won a ruddy Oscar. 

Sunday Xpress...this Saturday! Nah...only joking...SUNDAY...

There are many things I miss about not living in Brum and Sunday Xpress is one of 'em. Possibly the most eclectic line up of music, spoken word and occasional mayhem on offer anywhere on a Sunday afternoon/evening this month's offering includes the sublime genius that is Kate Goes. If your heart doesn't melt like butter on a BBQ at the loveliness of Heartbeat then you're quite possibly dead inside. Also on the 'bill' you'll find Canard Du Jour (bill...canard...get it...eh...eh...oh never mind), Cities Prepare for Attack and Cracked Actors plus whoever else has the balls/ovaries to get up on stage to do their thang. As ever it's all ruddy free too.

Details on the suitably DIY poster above or flip on over to The Sunday Xpress Facebook page. Be there or Big Bren'll visit you in the wee small hours...

The Day Ends – The Mentality Mob

Emerging from the twisted still smoking wreckage of Miss Halliwell Miles Perhower’s new musical assault vehicle is The Day Ends and this track, The Mentality Mob, is its first missive...actually make that missile. It’s pretty fair to say that Miles’ relationship with the music ‘biz’, national or local, has been a little ‘frosty’ from time to time but The Day Ends ramps things up (or down) to absolute zero. Listing/slaughtering a series of adversaries against a blistering post punk backdrop it’s the sound of man incinerating not just burning his bridges. Like it or loath it, love him or hate him, this track’s pretty much guaranteed to provoke a reaction and ask yourself this, how often does that happen in music these days? Exactly.

PS: The Day Ends make their live debut at March’s Sunday Xpress (March 20th at The Edge...appropriately enough...in Digbeth)...light the blue touch paper and stand well back.

Taking the Mic @ Exeter Phoenix, Wednesday 17th February 2016

Second time at Taking the Mic and, if anything, an even higher standard of performances than the last one. I think we ended up with around 20 individual slots of around 5 minutes or so covering everything from Dildos to Grandmothers (insert your own Wayne Rooney gag here). Now that’s what I call variety. Plenty of regulars but a couple of very talented newbies too and a wonderfully supportive and chilled out atmosphere throughout the night. Compères Tim and Morwenna seemed genuinely knocked out by the quality on offer and quite frankly you’d need ears of cloth and a brain made of offal to disagree. The whole ruddy thing’s FREE too...two hours plus of top notch spoken word and music for FREE. What’s not to love? The next one's on Wednesday March 16th, highly recommended. 

PS: Preferred the upstairs venue (The Voodoo Lounge I think it was) rather than the bar where we were last time. Much easier to give the whole thing the attention it deserves when you haven’t got someone ordering a white wine spritzer and a packet of pork scratchings down yer ear ‘ole...

PPS: An impressive crowd too...they’re going to need a bigger venue at this rate.

PPPS: Someone should be recording this stuff for posterity.

PPPPS: I’ll stop now.

Tricot Tricot little stars...

If this doesn’t get your limbs twitching like you’ve been wired up to the mains and doused in water then you may well need to check you’re still alive. Tricot, four young ladies from Japan, play joyously jerky math rock with sugar sweet vocals that have a wonderful habit of suddenly exploding into a bit of a post-punk frenzy. 



Cop a listen, ruddy good stuff eh? Happily they’re over in the UK for a tour in March and...joy of joys...they’re playing The Cavern in Exeter. 

Tickets still available right here right now but this one should sell out. Tanoshimimasu!

The Baron’s Lucky Dip # 3 Kirsty MacColl – Walking Down Madison

Continuing the random eyes closed trawl through 35 years worth of record collecting today’s gem is Kirsty MacColl’s Walking Down Madison, perhaps the rockiest and most ‘street’ she ever got in a career tragically cut short by a complete and utter moron in a speedboat. A co-write with Johnny Marr and an all too rare hit single (number 23 no less) incredibly it celebrates its 25^th birthday this year and, well, it doesn’t sound too shabby does it eh?

Mark Chadwick / The Sweet Black Angels @ The Beehive, Honiton – Saturday February 6th 2016

The last time I saw Mark Chadwick I was surrounded by a couple of thousand other punters at the Birmingham Academy and he was surrounded by the band he formed way back in 1988, The Levellers. This evening he was flying solo and audience numbers were a more modest 200 or so, at least one of whom had travelled all the way from Cardiff to be here. What’s the Welsh for dedication...hold on...’ymroddiad’ apparently...hey, who says the internet’s just a vapid pool of porn and pictures of cats that look like Hitler eh?

First up though local band The Sweet Black Angels, indie country folksters with some instantly hummable tunes and a bit of an Oasis twang here and there, minus the OTT Manc swagger thankfully. Well worth catching if you get the chance.

Ambling onstage at around 8-ish Chadwick launched into what amounted to a greatest hits set that was refreshingly relaxed and informal, especially for an artist with six gold discs and a number one album in his back pocket...yep, I know...you kind of forget that don’t you? It was a timely reminder for anyone there who wasn’t a superfan (a fair portion of the crowd were judging by the enthusiastic word perfect singalongs) though just how many great tracks The Levellers have and it’s a real shame that, so far at least, they’re perhaps not held in the same esteem as, say, yer Billy Bragg, one of the few other artists for whom politics and social issues aren’t dirty words.

Despite one of the organisers encouraging him to have mid set break so he could get his merch out he played on, noting that he wasn’t “that mercantile” and that if anyone wanted anything his Skoda was parked out the back with the doors open and they could just help themselves. From anyone else this would merely sound like an amusing joke but you kind of got the feeling that he was being genuine. Bless him.

Set highlight, the truly anthemic  - and for once the word’s justified - One Way predictably went down a storm (even if it did only reach number 51 in the charts way back in 1991) and Mark even managed to inspire a mini moshpit, albeit one of the gentlest moshpits in the history of moshpits.

Gently teasing the crowd throughout the set for living in ‘Hobiton’ and having nothing to worry about apart from interior design issues (gawd knows what he’d make of Whimple...we’ll have to get him down here to find out) he blazed through the hits with the same kind of passion and oomph that he brings to the band (“I don’t know what they do in February” he mulled midset “don’t think I want to know either”) even bantering with the crowd and taking the odd request towards the end. That’s the (One) Way to do it.

Tickets for The Levellers very own Beautiful Days Festival are on sale right here, right now. 

Maurice White RIP

And so it goes on...2016 really does seem to be intent on wiping out some of the most talented souls around, this time it's Earth, Wind and Fire's founding father Maurice White, producer and lead vocalist on the utterly fabulous disco funk classic Boogie Wonderland. Now if that isn't a tune for a Friday afternoon dance in your pants then I don't know what is. RIP.

Boat to Row – Handsome Beats

Another perfect piece of post pastoral folk from Boat to Row together with a video that, now I’m living in the wilds of Devon, sparked more than the odd pang of nostalgia for dear old Brum (even if the ‘planners’ are currently doing their level best to screw it up...RIP the ‘ziggurat’).

Over the past few years Boat to Row have been quietly slipping out one gentle gem after another and Handsome Beats is another ‘string’ of beauty (and the beats), a melancholy masterpiece in fact, “we’re broken beats so scattered, some end well most of us don’t” sings lead Boatman Michael King, “so I pull open the curtain on a day when others won’t”. Coming so soon after the passing of the legend that is Mr Paul Murphy (who I believe was also an admirer of the band) that’s a line, for me at least, that comes loaded with added poignancy. Beautiful stuff.

PS: You can catch Boat to Row out on tour in February and March. Dates here!