This great new album from Letting Up Despite Great Faults, (great name by the way!), has all the hallmarks of classic indie music. Jangling guitars and low-key almost whispered vocals. What this band also have is fantastic songs with great hooks and superb production. “Kisses” is an excellent opening track with multilayered instrumentation. “Gorgeous” is more upbeat with well-balanced gossamer vocals. “New Ground” has a great instrumental introduction. “Gemini” opens out into a song with touches of The Cure and is more grandiose than the other tracks. Single “She Spins” has a good commercial feel and excellent hooks. “Curl” is a slower keyboard-led piece that breaks up the album nicely. “Self-Portrait” returns to the band’s calling card of jangly guitars and closes the album off nicely. A great album from a dedicated and skilled group of musicians. Written by Paul Bamlett.
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Until this show, I had never seen Crow Black Chicken before, but I have seen both the support bands before. First up was Sweet May who I saw for the first time just over three weeks ago back in March. This is a power trio whose music comes screaming out of the bleeding, still-beating heart of 70s rock. Think Thin Lizzy, Free, Bad Company, and maybe even Rainbow. Will, Piers, and Al are supremely talented in their own right and they come to more than the sum of their parts as a sublime hard-rocking unit. I want to single out one of the band for a big shout out though. There are poor drummers, there are ok drummers, there are good drummers and every so often there is a great drummer. Step up from your drum stool and take a bow Al Perry, you really are a great drummer! Particular highlights of Sweet May‘s set for me were “Deep Space” and “Insane”. The latter had the power and passion to take the roof off the venue. Thankfully that didn’t actually happen and I am very pleased to say that the Crescent remains intact.
Sweet May
Next up it was Doghouse Derelicts, another band I was witnessing for just the second time, the first was just over four weeks ago. They sounded like early Doobie Brothers with Joe Walsh on guitar and some classy Eaglesesque harmonies at times. This really feels like a band at the top of their game, although I suspect they have a fair bit more in the tank too. “Wasted” and “Where I’m From” were early highlights in a great set. At one point the band introduced a rapper, Dandy, to join them on stage. Now on paper that combination really doesn’t sound like it would work at all. But on stage, it was a fucking masterstroke. Dandy enhanced a couple of already great tunes, particularly set closer “I Don’t Care”. Given that the crowd was quite sparse, well it was a Monday night, this was a banging, brilliant set from Doghouse Derelicts.
Doghouse Derelicts
Finally, it was time for the headliners Crow Black Chicken who gave us some ace fuzzed up, bluesy, swampy, funky, dirty US deep south rock. The band is in fact from the deep south …….. of Ireland! Think Lynyrd Skynyrd, Canned Heat, ZZ Top and Creedence Clearwater Revival with an undertow of Little Feat and that might give you a little of what Crow Black Chicken sounds like. Lead singer Christy O’Hanlon has a rough-edged, raspy, soulful voice that was made for blues-rock. His guitar work was incredible too. The band is a real live force of nature. Bassist Stephen McGrath gurns every note that he rips out of his bass guitar. He plays notes that many other bass players couldn’t. The way he partners seamlessly with drummer Gev Barrett in a rhythm section reminiscent of John Bonham and John Paul Jones is sublime. It really is hard to tell sometimes that Crow Black Chicken is not an authentic deep south US band, but that does not make them copyists. They really are a fine original band that knows how to rock. I loved the song about Oliver Cromwell and the tribute to Weather Report’s late great Jaco Pastorius. But my favourite of the whole evening was a tune about cults and in particular Jim Jones. Every song was a blinder though, Crow Black Chicken‘s set was definitely all killer, no filler! Check them out NOW people!
Crow Black Chicken
All pictures, except the gig poster, were taken by me using my very cheap Chinese Android phone. The videos were found on YouTube. If the video is yours and you would like a credit or for it to be removed please let me know.
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It’s that time again. That time when you come across an artist of real originality and vision with music that just knocks you off your feet. Ruby Tingle is that artist, and with this EP she has created some magnificent tracks with depth and style. The opening track “Flood” has a dreamy Kate Bush meets the Cocteau Twins with a melancholy feel reminiscent of early Roxy Music. “Glasshouse” continues this theme with a beautifully constructed and fascinating layered instrumentation. “Coil” is slightly more upbeat with great texture. “Subkingdom” has a keyboard intro, with a touch of Lana Del Rey and a danceable rhythm. The hallmark of this EP is its mysterious labyrinth of sound. “Lagoons” itself opens with a curious subverted Madonna-style intro and uses Multiple voices. The air of mystery is very strong. The mysterious and off-kilter feel of this music marks Ruby Tingle out as a highly original artist with a clear vision for her music. Can we have the album now, please?
Written by Paul Bamlett.
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This was a benefit for the refugees fleeing from Putin’s war and brutality in Ukraine and fittingly was headlined by the Ukrainians, an English band of Ukrainian heritage. They are the first band to fuse western rock and punk music with traditional Ukrainian Folk Music. But more of them later as there were some rather classy support acts on first. La Rissa was the opening act, on her own rather than the usual duo as the drummer was sidelined thanks to that bastard Covid. What does La Rissa sound like? Like the legacy of the early 80s Blitz Kids. The illegitimate offspring of Steve Strange and a post-Vince Clarke Depeche Mode with David Bowie acting as midwife. She has a great selection of simply gorgeous synth sounds which at times took me back to very early Human League. Her voice soars over the music and she has some rather excellent songs. The highlights for me were “Ultraviolence” and “A Man’s World”. But the track that topped even both of those was “Eat The Rich”, which definitely deserves to be described as awesome! Get La Rissa into your lives now.
La Rissa
Next up was 1919, a band who have a considerably lengthy timeline having originally formed in Bradford back in 1980. They went their separate ways in 1984, however, thanks to the birth of streaming their early recordings saw a hearty interest in 1919 maintained. This culminated in the band reforming in 2014 with most of the original members. They have released two albums since then and appear to be building up a great following. The band’s sound has so much in it. There is punk, post-punk, and goth amongst so much more. Imagine the Psychedelic Furs forming a supergroup with the Sisters Of Mercy but only playing punk songs with passion and supported by a guitarist who sounds like a fully punked-up The Edge from U2. 1919 have some staggeringly good songs in their canon. In particular “Caged”, “Dream” and “Anxiety”. Although, despite such great competition and quality, for me, nothing could top the towering splendour of “Cry Wolf”. If you love great music check out 1919.
1919
Finally, it was time for the headliners, the Ukrainians. These guys are a truly awesome party band fusing traditional Ukrainian folk with western rock influences drawn from classic rock, punk, and post-punk. They are a band that proves very strongly the point that music is a universal language. I only speak English, but did that stop me from enjoying a set in which all the songs were sung in Ukrainian? Of course, it didn’t! The super, super-fast workout out on the traditional Ukrainian folk dance number “Hopak” was truly immense beyond words. Everyone in the crowd, particularly the hardcore fans near the front, performed their own interpretive dance to it, as requested by the band. As for me I just performed a very light Frug near the speakers. The band’s cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Venus In Furs” with Ukrainian lyrics, which might have been about drinking, was a work of genius. During a short tuning break, one of the band read out the words to the Ukraine National Anthem. Very powerful and inspiring words which show up the UK National Anthem for the vile, dull dirge that it is. There was another cover, this time of the 60s Mamas and Papas smash, “California Dreamin'” and this was a total psych fest. They played one of the first songs that they ever wrote, which is about a soldier going away to fight for his country and asking his countrymen to pray for him. As the band said the world has come full circle since then. They wrote this song 30 years ago, around the time that Ukraine became an independent state back in 1991. перемога україни!
All pictures, except the gig poster, were taken by me using my very cheap Chinese Android phone. The videos were found on YouTube. If the video is yours and you would like a credit or for it to be removed please let me know.
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This is the eleventh song in the Play It Again Mayhem series which began back in 2020. Check out the previous entries along with this new one in the Play It Again Mayhem Spotify Playlist, click here to take a listen!
This time it is a much more recent track, in fact, the second newest in this series. It is “Graduation Day” by Head Automatica, which was released as a single back in 2006. It was taken from the band’s second album ‘Popaganda’, also from 2006. The band came into being after singer Daryl Palumbo took an interest in both hip hop and British music. He felt that these styles did not fit within his band Glass Jaw’s canon of music. So as a result he put Head Automatica together. The band issued two albums, five singles, and a couple of EPs from 2004 to 2006. I have both albums on CD and I play ‘Popaganda’ a few times each year. Apparently, there is a later so far unreleased album called ‘Swan Damage’. Someone has posted a ‘Swan Damage’ FULL(non)ALBUM (live compilation)’ on YouTube, click here to check it out.
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We have been publishing our Mayhem Top 20 Artist Chart for a while now, so it’s about time we hit you with our top 20 song chart right? We promised you this in the last Artist Top 20 and here it is! The inaugural Mayhem Top 20 Song chart. Who will be on the hotlist? Who will be number one? Read on to find out! Well it won’t be a traditional old skool run down from 20 to 1, we thought we’d hit you with number one first and it is………. Prairie Brigade with “Is This How The World Ends”. York singer-songwriter Rubby Addy is a close second with her gorgeous tune “Roadkill”. Meanwhile, Bang Bang Romeo follow up their chart-topping of the Mayhem Artist Top 20 appearance for March with a very respectable number three placing. The oldest release on the list is “Metal Guru” by T. Rex at number 20. Eight of the artists who featured in the Mayhem Top 20 Artist chart for March also feature on this list. We would love to hear your thoughts on the Mayhem Song Top 20 Chart as we hope to make it a regular feature. Check out the complete list below.
1 Is This How The World Ends – Prairie Brigade 2 Roadkill – Ruby Addy 3 Cemetery – Bang Bang Romeo 4 Edge Of The World – Last Of The Fallen Angels 5 Ride Home – Katy Hurt 6 You Belong – Set Your Sights 7 Mansard Roof – Vampire Weekend 8 ROCK$TAR – Police Car Collective 9 Sunday – David Bowie 10 Colourful White Lies – Electric High 11 Pieces – Revivalry 12 I Thought I Knew It All – Marq Electronica 13 Wilder Days – Morgan Wade 14 Barbara Streisand – Phonomatiq 15 Fool Britannia – The Undercover Hippy 16 Rhubarb – Childcare 17 I Wanna Be By Your Side – Na’eemah Harper 18 Little Bit Broken – Hattie Briggs 19 If You Get To Hell First – Fury 20 Metal Guru – T Rex
We love our readers so much we have even created a Spotify Playlist of the Mayhem Song Top 20 for March 2022. Click here to give it a spin!
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On Saturday 2nd April and Sunday 3rd April, the first (and hopefully not the last) York Life Festival took place on Parliament Street in the centre of York. It was free for all residents and visitors and was organised by Make It York. Activities took place for up to ten hours each day and included music, poetry, theatre workshops, instrumental workshops, face painting, comedy, and dance. Sadly I only made it for the last part of the second day but I couldn’t let it go unnoticed by With Just A Hint Of Mayhem. I arrived just after the magnificent Hyde Family Jam finished their set on Sunday. The turnout was pretty big, despite the somewhat chilly temperature. It was nice to see all of York’s fabulous range of music venues getting some good promo with posters and handouts throughout the weekend; The Fulford Arms, the Crescent Community Venue, the Vaults, the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM), York Barbican and Forty Five Vinyl Cafe. The crowd contained a veritable who’s who of anyone who is involved in the York music scene. Firstly three of the key players behind this event were there, obviously, Simon Pattinson (Northern Radar), Chris Sherington (Fulford Arms), and Harkirit Boparai (The Crescent), and I bumped into all of them! As well as meeting many of the band members of the Sunday performers (Trueman and the Indoor League, Bull and the Howl and the Hum) I also ran into Pennine Suite (who had played the previous day), Chloe (Please Remain Calm), Zac (Heartsink and Fulford Arms ace doorman), Andy and Paula (PERCY), Nathan (rock photographer extraordinaire) and many others. The incredibly cold temperature meant that I didn’t take my usual copious notes, however here are my recollections of the three bands that I did see.
First for me were Trueman and the Indoor League. Fronted by the titular Sam Trueman this band gets better every time that I see them. They really put on a show in almost a revue-style akin to the E Street Band. Regular readers will know that I have referred to them as like a pound shop E Street Band, but that was meant as a compliment. With more of the blood, sweat, and tears they put into their performances and some lucky breaks I can see them playing arenas one day. Next up was another fine York band, Bull, who released their wonderful debut album ‘Discover Effortless Living’ last year. As well as selections from that first class platter the band treated us to a few new songs, one of which suggested that Bull have hidden talents as an ace party band! The headliners on Sunday were perhaps York’s greatest band, although there is plenty of competition. I am talking about the Howl and the Hum. They played an amazing set at the iconic Minster last year which is available on most streaming platforms and frankly it is a scale above awesome. Their set was out of this world with the whole band firing on all cylinders. The new tunes bode really well for the sophomore album when it materialises. The highlight for me though was perhaps one of the best songs ever written, “Hostages”. This festival definitely needs to be an annual event going forward, where do we sign up to make that happen? We need to know! Bring on York Life 2023!
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The long-awaited Hazy Janes EP arrived this week, it is titled ‘It’s Been A Pleasure’ and it is a swashbuckling, rifftastic, loud sonic assault on the senses. But this is a good assault! The title track kicks off proceedings and Ellis and Bron come on like a two-man Led Zeppelin or Free. This song oozes blues-rock power through a swamp rock sieve and Ellis’s voice is on fire. It has an undertow of dark menace and at times the riff sounds like a demonic metal view of the Dr. Who theme. Meanwhile, Bron’s drumming encompasses everything great about British Rock with some great glam and metal drum sounds. Next up “Loaded Gun” kicks off with some eloquent blues harmonica before moving into an excellent rollicking bluesy stomp. I love the chorus hook line of “I’ve got a mouth like a loaded gun”, I am sure that many of us can relate to that! Track three is “I Find It Hard” which veers towards an electric take on the classic blues of Robert Johnson through its slow-rolling swagger. Vocals from Ellis on this tune are at his most soulful. The collection closes with “Bernadette”, not a cover of the Four Tops classic, but a mountainous original rock epic. It owes a small debt to the Yardbirds during their Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page peaks. After a few listens this is probably my favourite song on the EP. I can see this becoming a real Hazy Janes anthem in their live set. The guitar licks and particularly the drumming on “Bernadette” took me back to Dr. Feelgood in their mid to late 70s prime. Channeling Wilko Johnson and John “The Big Figure” Martin perfectly. If you love great rock music, (and who doesn’t?) get this release and this band in your head as soon as possible, like NOW! Click here to stream the EP on Spotify. There are still a handful of dates left on their Spring Tour, check out the poster below.
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Here we go with the Mayhem Artist Top 20 chart for March 2022. Many of you know that I am a keen user of a site called Obscurify. It claims to tell you how obscure your listening on Spotify is. Compared to the rest of the UK I achieved a level of 100% more obscure than other users in the UK. Although that has since dropped to 99%. Regular readers will know that it also lists my most obscure artists, (the top two of which have been there since I began doing these posts) which currently are;
Woke Up Dead (One of the two bands that have been ever-present in my obscure list and an excellent band to boot!)
Promethium (This metal bunch continues to fly the flag for great British rock and like Woke Up Dead have been ever-present in this obscure team)
PhonoMatiq – Billy Paul Williams’ a.k.a. Phonomatiq came to be here thanks to a rather strange tune called “Barbara Streisand” which I have listened to quite a lot
Heartsink -One of York’s best young bands and most definitely York’s best pop-punk band!
Muda – cinematic electronic synth-led modern classics from Ireland. I came across them purely by chance and what a find!
As for the March Top 20, only Dame David remains from the last chart, but he has been a bit of a constant from the start. Other classic artists include Barry White, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Vampire Weekend and R.E.M. But there is the first entry, straight in at number one, for the amazing Bang Bang Romeo, a band that I came to quite late. But I am so glad that I found them! They are an incredible rock band from Yorkshire and Anastasia Walker’s voice is in a league of its own! Here is that all-important top 20. There are quite a few appearances from artists that have never appeared before in addition to Bang Bang Romeo. These include Police Car Collective (I saw them at Leeds Fest last year, bloody stunning), Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip, (I was lucky enough to witness Mik in all his live glory in York a few weeks ago), Hattie Briggs (she was discovered by Alfie Boe busking at Paddington Station) and Koffee (new reggae star with great reverence for Robert Nesta Marley). Ukrainian band Antytila are in at number 16. They asked to have a live link slot at a recent Concert For Ukraine in the UK and I heard the organisers turned them down as it would have been too political!!!! WTAF???? There are even a few country artists too, Katy Hurt, Morgan Wade and Leah Blevins. At number 20 you’ll find an incredible York band, Vaquelin, check out their first album, ‘Where Dreams Hurt’! I would love to hear your thoughts on this chart. Oh and keep your eyes open for a new addition to the Mayhem Monthly Artist Chart. Very soon we will bring you the Mayhem Monthly Song Chart, almost like an old school top 20 singles chart! That one includes songs by eight of the artists in the March Artist Chart.
1 Bang Bang Romeo 2 Katy Hurt 3 David Bowie 4 Hattie Briggs 5 Vampire Weekend 6 Barry White 7 Police Car Collective 8 Leah Blevins 9 Koffee 10 Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip 11 Pink Floyd 12 Morgan Wade 13 The Surfing Magazines 14 A Will Away 15 Hard Feelings 16 Antytila 17 Led Zeppelin 18 R.E.M 19 Childcare 20 Vaquelin
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A couple of weeks back I had the pleasure of catching up with Pennine Suite front man Nick Aldous, that was on the eve of the release of the band’s rather excellent new single “Pass On You” which reached 5,000 streams in its first week in the wider world. Nick talks about band names and gigs, spills the beans on his band mates, muses about merch, T-Shirt designs (check out a rather infamous T-Shirt sported by Hugh Cornwell back in the 70s in the picture below) and chats about some of his favourite music among other things! It was great to catch up with him, click here to listen to the interview on Buzzsprout. I hope you enjoy it!
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With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 