With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

The Silhouettes – Fulford Arms – York Monday 26th January 2026 February 3, 2026

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 10:07 pm
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This was my fourth gig of 2026 so far, but my first at the fabulous Fulford Arms. This promised to be another excellent night of great music pulled together by Northern Radar supremo Simon P. Read on to find out if it was up there with all the other Northern Radar gigs I have had the pleasure and privilege of attending. The bill included four acts that I had never seen before and that is always a bonus in my opinion. First we were treated to a solo acoustic set from Hull’s Martin Gallagher. His covers were ace and included Queen, Jake Bugg, the Zutons, Queen, U2, Ed Sheeran, the Beatles, the Kings Of Leon and Johnny Cash. His powerful rendition of the Cash classic “Folsom Prison Blues” was spine-tingling. Aside from the covers Martin’s original songs are very special indeed, particularly “Mixed Signals” is a sad song with fathomless emotions. I spoke with Martin after his set and he is not just a great artist, but a top bloke too.

I love it when I find an artist that is difficult to fit into a genre box and next on the stage were Call It Vain and they are exactly that type of act. Their music has elements of hip hop, emo and huge cinematic ambition. The songs are perfectly constructed and a couple in particular really stand out: “Life” and 2025 single “Saturday Superhero”. The echoey jangly guitar and mountainous drums on the set closer were awesome. Call It Vain is Calum Green and at the Fully he was backed on drums by his brother. I believe that Call It Vain has the potential to become much bigger.

If Talking Heads had delved into shoegaze they might have sounded a little like Committee Of Sleep who took the stage next. They are masters of the quiet loud but perhaps slightly more lo-fi than the Pixies. As the set proceeded the sound moved up a few notches as the band proudly displayed their fine jangly pop vibes. But they also know how to rock and their rockier moments are dark and fuelled by some fucking huge solid riffs. This is a highly talented and entertaining band. I can imagine listening to them late at night in a badly lit room while nursing a JD on the rocks. They closed with a song called “Planet Of Chocolate Bars”, a great song with possibly one of the best song titles ever. I am confident I will be seeing Committee Of Sleep again.

Sadly much of the relatively small crowd had left by the time the Silhouettes took to the stage. I loved the song about selling your soul to the devil. The band have perfected the classic jangly pop guitar sound and their song craft reminded me at times of Vampire Weekend but without the African guitar influence. Vocally there were shades of Kaoru from the Dead Zoo. The drummer is immensely talented, I think he might outgrow this band. They closed the set with two covers: “I Bet That You Look Good On the Dancefloor” (Arctic Monkeys) and “Mr. Brightside” (The Killers). These were good covers but I think I preferred the originals, maybe opening the set with the covers might have worked better. This is a young band and I think they will continue to improve as they get more gigs under their belts. So overall this was another fine night of music brought to us by Northern Radar!

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“Interest Free” – Lost Trends February 1, 2026

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 12:22 pm
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I love it when a band or artist takes a different and unexpected direction, especially when it is a band I have been a fan of for a long while. Lost Trends are back with a new single which takes a funky, west coast hip hop style and they make it their own. The rhythm section are faultless and drive the track with some delightful laid back, understated funk vibes. Meanwhile Pete’s guitar is so good that it could fit neatly into something by the likes of Parliament/ Funkadelic. This is all overlaid by Rusty’s vocal which while it draws on that US 90s west coast feel, think Warren G, it maintains the English roots of this superb band.

Lyrically it is perhaps their most powerful song so far and is a comment on the state of the world we live in and the people who made it bad. Couplets like “At the food bank, gonna tank feeling really low. But you can’t make a difference if you haven’t been to Harrow” says so much in just a few words. Their last single “Takedown” was explosive in sound, this new one is explosive in voice and sentiment. I am excited by the thought of seeing “Interest Free” played live. I have played it a lot since I first heard it a few days ago. If you want to give it a spin, and by the way you NEED to, click here. Meanwhile stay alert, stay angry and be the voice of those who don’t have one. That is just a few of the messages I took from this song!

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“Streets of Minneapolis” – Bruce Springsteen January 31, 2026

Filed under: Rants,Review — justwilliam1959 @ 2:23 pm
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The rise of strident fascism under a vile wannabe dictator of low intelligence in the USA is beyond shocking. Many people hoped Trump was done after an abysmal first term. But then millions of Americans voted for him a second time in 2024 with an agenda based on the divisive far right doctrine in ‘Project 2025’, which I am sure many of his cult members didn’t (or couldn’t) read. I did read ‘Project 2025’ and like many others we saw what was likely to happen in the USA. Everything that is occurring now was from that playbook; splitting NATO, threatening allies, attacking sovereign nations, using soldiers on the streets, deportation of American citizens and so many other Nazi style activities. Is Trump a Russian asset? I think he probably is. His admiration and hero like worship of Putin is sickening.

Trump has so far got away with this because the vast majority of his cabinet are more stupid, but no less evil, than he is. There are exceptions and one of those is Stephen Miller. I believe that he is pulling the strings of power as Trump plummets further into an addled abyss driven by dementia and who knows what other ailments. I hold no sympathy for Mr Trump’s clearly deteriorating health and I hope that he and is cabinet are faced with hard justice for their actions. All Americans need to wake the fuck up and thankfully millions of Americans are. The mass protests against ICE on the streets of so many US cities gives me hope for the future. A government that kills its own citizens and lies about it needs to be toppled. A president that cannot speak coherently nor do simple arithmetic needs to be sacked. You have to wonder how many of his cabinet, his associates (I doubt that he has friends) and family are in the Epstein files. Let’s hope that all is revealed very soon. Is Trump a pedophile? Based on the evidence so far and a desire to hide so much of it I would say 100% yes.

Anyway I could rant on about demented diaper Donny for ages, but that won’t solve anything. But protest will. The mostly peaceful protests against Trump’s gestapo a.k.a. ICE haven’t resulted in martial law yet. In fact the violence and brutality shown by the proud boys of ICE has slowly begun to turn opinion against the Mango Mussolini. What is needed is an inspiring protest song and Springsteen has delivered it with his latest release “Streets of Minneapolis”. It shows the Boss at the height of his passion and anger against a fake king and a vile regime. He calls out King Trump and the likes of Miller and Noem. This is more angry than Bob Dylan was on “Hurricane” and more eloquent than the bristling rage of early UK punk. I have also read that some MAGAs in the US have said they no longer like Springsteen as he has “gone political”. The Boss? Political? How the fuck did you not notice that he has always been like this.

Many other artists have been vocal about this administration including Rihanna, Adele, Neil Young, Beyoncé, the Rolling Stones, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and Celine Dion, who have publicly disavowed his campaign’s use of their work. In addition the estates of Sinead O’Connor and Tom Petty have called for Trump’s team to stop using their music. Neil Young has now given his catalogue of songs to Greenland, another territory that was at the top of Trump’s annexation/ invasion wish list. Others that have spoken out against the tangerine tyrant are Pharrell Williams, Linda Ronstadt, Philip Glass and Nickleback. In a separate action a group of artists including Mick Jagger, Lorde, Sia, Blondie, Sheryl Crow, Green Day, Lionel Richie, Elvis Costello, Keith Richards, Steven Tyler and Rosanne Cash in collaboration with the Artist Rights Alliance, have signed a letter demanding that politicians seek permission before playing their music at campaign rallies and public events. I am sure there are many other artists that have also taken action. I would also like to thank the NFL for booking Bad Bunny and Green Day. I believe there will be an anti Trump release from one of my favourite artists, Delilah Bon soon.

Let me end by saying that Trump is widely hated in the UK and Europe whatever you hear from those pathetic sycophantic news channels in the USA. FUCK TRUMP, ICE OUT and take the World Cup and the Olympics from America! Let’s keep fighting until we ring the bells of freedom from this tyranny!

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Vagabond – City Screen Basement, York – Friday 23rd January 2026 January 26, 2026

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 5:03 pm
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Those wonderful lads from Vagabond invited me to review their headline gig at the City Screen Basement and I was never going to turn down an offer like that was I? This would be the third time I will have seen Vagabond perform in just over a year. This was a sold out gig. Where they any good? Read on to find out dear reader, but first I need to tell you about the support bands. All three bands were so young that the venue had a dry bar, that was a new experience for me! First on stage were District! and incredibly this was their first ever gig. I sensed a degree of nervousness at the start, however they seemed to work through those nerves quite well and became more confident with each song.. Some of their original songs have a perky pop rock vibe and display a lot of promise for the future. Their choice of cover versions was inspired. Especially Radiohead (“No Surprises”) and the Arctic Monkeys (“When The Sun Goes Down”). A quick aside, how the actual fuck is that Arctic Monkeys song 20 years old?

The second band was Some Lions, another young York band. They provided us with a fantastic rock onslaught from the opening instrumental through to the end of their set. I have a couple of special shout outs. Firstly the lead guitarist who played like someone who has been around for years. All his solos were inventive and absolutely bang on. But the drummer shone even brighter, he was undoubtedly the most energetic sticksman I have seen for a while. But it wasn’t just the energy, at times it felt like he was the band’s engine room and that engine was a highly tuned Rolls Royce. Their cover of Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In The Name” hit the heart of the zeitgeist of our times. It also drew some of the biggest mosh action of the night. This band have the potential to get so much better and they are damned good already!

Finally it was time for Vagabond and they hit the stage like the owned it, in fact more like they owned the city, no scrub that, this set was played with the intensity of a band that believed they were headlining a stadium. Fin had a “gimme your hands” moment with the crowd early on. (Bowie scholars should get that reference!) The crowd, can I call them Vagabonders, are somewhere between adoring fans and acolytes. This is “their” band and they are here from the very beginning of what I believe will be a phenomenal journey. At their roots and in their hearts Vagabond are clearly a punk band, but they have so much more. It is a solid and curious amalgam of the traditional and the modern. Punk, pop punk, power punk and funky punk to list just a few. They drew some significant mosh action too, with the mosh charge being led by the aforementioned Some Lions drummer. In a set full of highlights the pinnacle for me was probably “Freddo Fantasy”. They entertained us all with the awkward stylishness of launching t shirts into the crowd. They were riotous, rambunctious, brash, roaring, strident and were enjoying themselves immensely. They have a healthy amount of arrogance, which works perfectly. If Vagabond continue to develop and improve at this pace they will become not just a band, but a rock phenomenon. Vagabond “mean it maaan”!

At the end of February (27th in fact) Vagabond will be headlining the first Love Music Hate Racism gig at this very venue under the banner of Love Punk Hate Racism. Fin modelled one of the Love Punk Hate Racism T Shirts in their set. They will be supported by the Blair Bitch Project and Sweeping Statement. Look out for much more about that gig in these pages soon!

All of the excellent photographs are courtesy of @bandograph

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“Ghost Within” – The Fair Attempts January 25, 2026

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 12:20 am
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“Ghost Within” is the new single from Finnish dark electro powerhouse the Fair Attempts. It rides on the crest of a darkwave tsunami on a surfboard constructed from Stygian gothic tones, solid industrial hooks. It is haunted by the living spirits of Trent Reznor, later Depeche Mode and Gary Numan. The opening few bars drive into your very being with an insistence that it is impossible to resist. I am still singing the chorus in my head even hours after listening. I am reliably informed that the song examines your internal monsters: negative self-talk, doubts, pride before collapse, and the subtle ways the human mind feeds on its own fear. The song portrays self-awareness as a mirror maze, where reflection offers no clear exit. The Fair Attempts frontman Timo Haakana says this of the track “This is a theme I’ve touched on in other songs because it’s something I struggle with. Ghosts may be coming to get you, but there’s one already inside you“. This hard hitting and heavy rocking tune fits the band’s dystopian aesthetic perfectly.

The Fair Attempts was founded by Finnish artist and producer Timo Haakana and his wife Starwing. Apparently every song from the Fair attempts is rooted in the fictional universe created in Starwing’s novel ‘Dreaming Your Dream’. This song is cinematic in scope and ambition. It is the perfect soundtrack toe keep us safe and entertained as the world in its current state drifts towards an inevitable apocalypse. Let’s hope that we don’t experience that apocalypse, but if we do listening to the Fair Attempts and “Ghost Within” will certainly help to sweeten the pain. You need to experience the “Ghost Within” to help you banish and exorcise your own ghosts within!

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Mayhem Virgins – Nell Davies January 23, 2026

Filed under: Mayhem Virgins — justwilliam1959 @ 8:31 am
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This is the 27th entry in the Mayhem Virgins series which has been running since 2018. Here is where we showcase artists that have never featured in these pages before. This time it is the turn of Cornish singer songwriter and in her own words a “One-woman riot-grrrl band” Nell Davies. The first time I came across Nell was via a post on her Instagram page about her being “A DIY artist with no money living in the middle of nowhere in West Cornwall. I Can’t compete with the nepo babies and I wouldn’t touch AI with somebody else’s bargepole. So I thought, fuck it! I’ll film a video all by myself in a derelict barn for a budget of zero“. The video was for her rather classy single “Never Ever Ever” released last November. Apparently Nell found £91 worth of scrap metal when she cleared the barn out and suggested that this video might be the only one ever to have a negative spend budget!

Her songs are full of humour, anger and are impeccable observations of 21st century life. Nell’s music has been described as classy indie pop, but I think it is so much more than that. It is indeed very classy and her songs exude everything that is right about great pop music. The hooks in her songs aren’t there just for show. They hook into your temporal lobe, your cerebellum, and your amygdala/hippocampus and stay there long after the song has ended. Nell has the spirit and attitude of punk oozing from her musical pores. Her new single “Out Of This World” encapsulates her rising talent perfectly and it is one of the six songs included on her EP ‘The End Of The World Or Whatever’. I have just ordered a copy on CD, get yours here via her Bandcamp page. I love discovering great new music and I am so glad I chanced upon the music of Nell Davies. She is gathering a lot of press and radio attention and has supported some iconic artists including Evan Dando and Wendy James. Get on board the Nell Davies music train now, you will not be disappointed!

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‘i miss when monsters were only shadows’ EP – tiLLie January 15, 2026

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 9:31 pm
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tiLLie’s new five track EP is out now and it contains some of her best music to date. It opens with “off the hook” a lo-fi instrumentally sparse track with a brutally honest lyric which, for me, describes someone on the edge of a mental breakdown. Next up is “steve” which I believe is a perfect musical painting of the music industry patriarchy. The titular Steve is the everyman male musician who has it easy, certainly a damned sight easier than equally or more talented women in the industry. The riffs rise high and hard and there is a palpable anger in the song. Lyrics like “Wonder what it’s like to live a day in his life. I was born barefoot and he got a hot ride. I just hope I wake up as Steve in my next life” sum up the difficulty of being a talented female in today’s music industry.

The remaining three tracks collect three classy singles originally released last year, kicking off with “wake up and smell the bacon”. The vocal hooks in the chorus scream emo driven punk and stay with you long after the song stops. Is the subject what it’s like to live in this mad world we find ourselves in and that many of us struggle to cope with? I think it is. “earn a living” is currently my favourite song of the five. It showcases tiLLie dealing with the haters and downturns with the confidence of her obvious ability and great friends. The words here are powerful, I particularly love the lines “Maybe I Should Sacrifice The Very Thing That Saved My Life. Nah Fuck That, Something That Good Doesn’t Come With A Price“. The EP closes with “superhero” which is perhaps the poppiest tune on the collection. This is a dark love song which is about a love that is wanted but not yet attainable. This is a classy EP and it is clear that there is a great and bright future in tiLLieworld!

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“Sail (Lady In Waiting) – Sunnan January 13, 2026

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 8:45 pm
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According to their story Swedish band Sunnan came about by accidents of fate and a series of unlikely encounters during and post pandemic. Their sound is cinematic in inspiration and ambition. They describe their new single, “Sail (Lady In Waiting)” as “the manifestation of a new genre“. I am not sure that I agree with that statement, at least not yet. Their influences seem to draw on a wide range of great music; US West Coast rock, Dance music, Byrdsian harmonies, ELO style hooks and classic blue eyed soul (think early Hall and Oates and perhaps Robert Palmer). This track is sophisticated soul music at its finest. It evokes old school but is clearly set in the 21st century. This track is from their second album ‘Spaghetti Soul’ due out sometime later this year. Based on “Sail (Lady In Waiting)” I reckon the album will be rather special!

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The Bowie Experience – Grand Opera House, York – Sunday 11th January 2026 January 12, 2026

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 9:33 pm
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I think this is perhaps the third or fourth Bowie tribute act I have seen since I first dipped my toe into the Bowie tribute waters back in 2016. This is the first I have seen that comes direct from the west end. Based on my poor experience at the music of Fleetwood Mac Concerts by Candlelight in Ripon a couple of days ago, the west end badge is not necessarily a good thing. However the Bowie Experience were stunning. The seven piece band were supremely talented and pulled off the Bowie sounds wonderfully. The set was obviously full of the big hits but also some lesser played songs like “Station To Station”, “TVC15” and “Blue Jean”. The songs ranged from 1969 to 1986 and given the proximity to the tenth anniversary of Bowie’s passing it was an emotional night.

The costume changes ranged from Ziggy through the Thin White Duke to the Serious Moonlight look and were carried out in perfect time and Laurence Knight who is Bowie in this group even gave a shout out credit to his dresser. The costumes were classy and looked pretty authentic too. Knight pulls off the idiosyncratic Bowie dance moves better than most. It was a show full of huge highlights and energetic singalongs. The obvious crowd pleasers were drawn from Bowie’s superstar phase (“Let’s Dance” and “China Girl”) but the best moments for me were the previously mentioned deep cuts and a soulful “Sorrow”, an ace “Young Americans”, a full on glam stomping “Rebel Rebel” and a towering, emotional romp through “All The Young Dudes” to close a fabulous night. I would certainly come to another Bowie Experience gig and if you’re a Bowie fan the you should too.

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The Music Of Fleetwood Mac By Candlelight – Ripon Cathedral – Friday 9th January 2026 January 11, 2026

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 6:08 pm
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This was my first gig of 2026 and after witnessing Bowie by Candlelight at this same magnificent venue last year I was looking forward to it. According to the publicity this is a show “direct from London’s West End” and would feature “a spectacular cast of West End Singers and epic live band” providing “a landslide concert, jam packed with Fleetwood Mac hits as you have never heard them before!” Having been there, at least for the first half of the show I can agree with some of those statements. It was indeed an epic and extremely talented live band. However vocally it was hit and miss. The female vocalist (I think her name may be Georgia Carling) was superb and pulled off some great Stevie Nicks sounds. The male singer with the long hair was pretty good too. But the other two male vocalists were, in my opinion, superfluous and often struggled to hit the vocal highs of the other two singers. This hugely lowered the quality and excitement of what I was hoping was going to be stunning and memorable night. These two gentlemen appeared to have the stage presence of a pair of mannequins. While the band and two of the singers were very good this was overall an incredibly disappointing evening. We left the show after the interval and there were a few other people who did the same. Maybe this show should have stayed in the west end of London!

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