With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

Sleuth Gang – Fulford Arms, York – Saturday 17th May 2025 May 25, 2025

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 8:02 pm
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I have not reviewed a Sleuth Gang gig until now. Although this was the fourth time I have seen them. I was one of the judges for the Fulford Arms Battle Of The Bands contest last year so saw them in the heat, the semi final and the final. But before I talk of the Gang known as Sleuth let me tell you about the two support acts. First up was Mooseknuckle from Leeds, they play some hard driven metal driven punk and it is so good it would be impossible to ignore even if you were ordered to. The singer prowls around his front of stage mic stand like a caged panther and what a fucking awesome punk rock voice he has. Stu, the guitarist, shows some great guitar god shapes and his riffs are immense. Meanwhile new drummer Elliot knows how to attack the drums with sublime style. This is the first time that I have seen Mooseknuckle, it won’t be the last!

Next up it was Dharma Hounds all the way from Essex. They don’t just wear their social conscience and politics on their sleeves they are clearly impassioned and driven by it. This is a band that this currently shitty world needs. The songs from their current EP are fucking awesome, particularly the title track “Nah”. They play punk like they were born to it, but they can do so much more too. They threw in some great skanking sounds with a cover of the Pioneers 1969 UK number 21 hit “Long Shot Kick De Bucket”. That part reminded of a couple of of punk bands that knew their way around reggae and ska, the Clash and the Members. The singer sings some outstanding punk vocals and in the slower almost spoken moments he sounded like Scroobius Pip. I had never heard of Dharma Hounds before this gig, now I am definitely a fan!

I has been an honour to be a judge at the Fulford Arms Battle of the Bands contest these past few years and in awarding the Judge’s Wildcard to Sleuth Gang after the semi finals there was no doubt that this was the band that blew me and my fellow judges away. As you know they went on to win it last year with a blistering set. Now they are back at the scene of their triumph to headline the Fulford Arms. What are they like? Imagine the Beastie Boys backed by Led Zeppelin with Liam Howlett producing. This was a towering set even by a band who appear to set their own musical standards so high. There were three tracks from their debut EP ‘Initiation’. Of those it was “Pity Party” that had the crowd eating out of the band’s hands. Their cover of the Prodigy’s “Omen” had an electrifying and mesmerising outing. Every song was a highlight, but if I had to pick one that stood out from the rest it would probably be a single that they released in February, “Grit Your Teeth”. If this band does not yet have your attention please tell me why not. You need to rectify this right now. Sleuth Gang will get bigger and better and I reckon they will be around for a very long while. They remain authentic, “for real” and as punk as fuck! Whose gang? SLEUTH GANG!!!!

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Holy Holy – O2 Academy, Leeds – Friday 16th May 2025 May 18, 2025

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 7:39 pm
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I first saw Holy Holy back in 2019 when they played the Barbican in York. Sadly that is now just over six years since then. But I was not going to miss this Leeds show. For those of you who are unaware Holy Holy is a band with the backbone of two David Bowie stalwarts; Mick ‘Woody’ Woodmansey a former Spider From Mars (in fact the last surviving Spider) and Tony Visconti who produced many of the Dame’s albums and contributed bass on ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ The vocalist is Glenn Gregory off of Heaven 17. Are they a Bowie tribute act? Not in the wonderfully theatrical sense that Absolute Bowie are I see Holy Holy more as a band that is keeping the Bowie legacy alive through people who were there and were a part of the whole Bowie phenomenon. The current tour poster sums it up as ‘A Celebration Of Bowie’ and that is just what it is.

While it wasn’t a sell out there was quite a big crowd and unusually I don’t think I was the oldest punter in the room. There was no support and the crowd was most definitely ready for the band. As they took the stage cheers erupted all around me. The set focused on the Ziggy years with just a handful of later songs making an appearance, notably “Heroes” and “Ashes To Ashes”. The latter had Visconti playing in a fine slap bass style, which is not his usual method. Glenn Gregory’s voice suits the material well and he was having a great time. He said plenty of times that he felt so lucky to be doing this. Glenn did not put a foot wrong his voice was perfect on every song but for me it transcended perfection on “Lady Grinning Soul”, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide” and “Life On Mars”.

Woody’s drumming has not dimmed with age he is like a Duracell Bunny metronomic miracle and for me is still one of the best living drummers. The band were tight and clearly well rehearsed. Apart from Visconti, Woodmansey and Gregory the band has some hugely talented musicians. Guitarist James Stevenson nailed Mick Ronson’s almost untouchable playing from those heady Ziggy years. Janette Mason comes close to matching Mike Garson’s style of playing, particularly on the ‘Aladdin Sane’ songs “Lady Grinning Soul” and “Time”. Meanwhile Jessica Lee Morgan contributed some great 12-string guitar, stunning saxophone and backing vocals.

It was Glenn Gregory’s birthday and he was presented with a cake which was topped with rocket (the leaf vegetable, not a spaceship or the Guardians Of The Galaxy character). After the band and the audience sang Happy Birthday to him he passed it to a lucky fan in the front row. But I heard later that the cake was returned to Glenn. The band closed with a mountainous “Moonage Daydream” before returning for an encore. The first song in the encore was Bowie’s 2013 single “Where Are We Now”. Gregory recounted a story of singing happy birthday via phone from David Bowie from the stage of a Holy Holy show in New York in 2016. From that high he was stunned when he heard just a few hours later that Bowie had passed away. It was a truly heartfelt and soulful rendition of a later years Bowie classic. Tony Visconti then described his first meeting with David in the late 60s and Woody talked about life with the Spiders. He said that Bowie was in the stars but he Mick and Trevor were proper grounded Yorkshiremen. David could also pull off a very good Yorkshire accent. After that rather entertaining interlude Holy Holy smashed it rocking out to “Rebel Rebel”. This was an incredible gig and I hope to see Holy Holy again soon. There are still five dates left on this tour, get yourself to one of them if you can!

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Lene Lovich – Fulford Arms, York – Friday 2nd May 2025 May 17, 2025

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 3:41 pm
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The last time I saw Lene Lovich was back in 1979, nearly 46 years ago! Then it was at the Hammersmith Palais. This time it is in one of my adopted cities finest venues, the Fulford Arms. Before I tell you about her York show I need to tell you about the two support acts. First on stage was the Insect. Imagine, if you will, the Sisters Of Mercy spliced with a pre-mega fame Adam and the Ants and crossed with a happily angry and definitely not oh so quiet Bjork. Their sound is a brilliant fusion of glam and goth, This was not just about the music this was also a gloriously full on performance. The singer somehow reminded me of Fulford stalwart and kingpin Chris Tuke, I wonder why? 😉

Next up was the much touted and hyped the Gospel. They sound like Birthday Party period Nick Cave working with Bryan ferry and being produced by the ghost of Jim Steinman. The sound comes across as a percussive rock opera for the 21st century. Initially, while their songs are very good and superbly executed I felt they all sounded a little bit samey. I also felt that the drums were a little too loud in the mix. However from the point they played an incredible goth gospel style cover of Madonna’s “Like A Prayer” they exploded into another universe. Did I not hear the early part of the set properly? The slightly slower pace of the song that followed the Madge cover was eerie, predominantly driven by the ‘Psycho’ shower scene style string sound. This song also had a wonderful female vocal with ethereal soulful fragility. They closed with a cover of Cockney Rebel’s “Tumbling Down” which was breathtakingly good. I think I need to listen to more of the Gospel.

Finally it was time for Lene Lovich. She wore a dark gothic style black veil as she was escorted to the stage through the fired up punters. It might be a very long while since I last saw her play live but she still has the knack of making her set of glorious songs exciting. There was not a duff song on display. Whilst many in the crowd went apeshit for huge 1979 smash “Lucky Number” the highlights for me were “Blue Hotel”, “Monkey Talk” and “Angels”. Although the hairs on the back of my neck were raised when the spectacular “Supernature” was played. I feel that Lene has always possessed a great sense of her immense talent and who she is without any sense of arrogance. She doesn’t just dare to be different she has, to paraphrase David Bowie and “turned to face the strange” and making otherness her home. At times you could imagine that Lene was in fact a Sally Bowles for these times with nods toward a 1930s Gin Palace. She seemed to be enjoying herself immensely too. I do not intend to wait so long before I witness Lene Lovich again! There are still a few dates left on this tour, if you can still get a ticket the do it!

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“Worst Trimester” -peach|melba May 10, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 9:44 pm
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From it’s sparse but powerful bass driven opening chords “Worst Trimester” grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let you go until the song is over. This is the single that LA/ Brighton duo peach|melba released last month. I played it on repeat so much I still have the marks on my neck, but trust me the pain was worth it. This is a fucking awesome track. Much of the instrumentation is lo-fi but the bass has other ideas , like pummeling you into submission for one. The song is about the politics of pregnancy and is a shout out to downtrodden women, LGBTQ+ and other minorities across the globe. The lyrics are spot on and carry weight, passion, anger, frustration and a degree of humour. My favourite line is “Queer people struggle to adopt, struggle to fund IVF, struggle at the school-gates, struggle with the legal rules.
We’ve been put in concentration camps, we’ve been sterilised, and still our kids achieve more at school“. That sounds more than legit to me! The song also features on the iconic queer NETFLIX minidoc ‘Sperm
Donors Wanted’.

This is 21st Century Riot Grrrl and I reckon that Kathleen Hanna would love this. peach|melba told me in an email a few weeks ago that if you’re a fan of the Lambrini Girls (I am) you need to check out peach|melba, and that is definitely true! They write, record and mix everything themselves and the video that accompanies the song was shot in one take on a bus. These two are not just talented, they are mega talented! The band have said “We swear on your mother’s life to release a new song every six weeks until world peace has been fully achieved“. My 89 year old Mum might not like the music (she doesn’t, I checked) but she wants world peace too. The next scheduled peach|melba releases are;

“Fell In Love With Godx” June 9th, “Dykes” July 21st, “Have A Latte” September 1st and “Sound Of Violence” October 13th. I have heard next months release, “Fell In Love With Godx (She Was Really Fit)” and it is damned good! I know that peach|melba will feature here again, watch this space!

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Matt Goss – Barbican York – Friday 25th April 2025

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 5:35 pm
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Those lovely folks at the Modern Record asked me to review Matt Goss when he came to York last month. Having not been a huge fan of Bros I was intrigued but not excited. How did Mr. Goss do? Click here to read my review on the Modern Record site, while you are their check out some of the other fabulous stuff that they post!

Photo by John Hayhurst (Snapagig)

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Superconductors – Craven Brew Co 3rd Birthday – Skipton – Saturday 26th April 2025 May 5, 2025

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 3:18 pm
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The Craven Brew Co is a cask led brewery with a delightful taproom and award winning brewers. In April they celebrated their third birthday with a music driven mini festival which featured an array of talented covers bands; Hazjak, 1960 Four and Superconductors. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see all the bands. I was there for Superconductors to see my mate Andy play drums. This was only their second or third gig, but it seemed like they were far more of a seasoned band than that. To say that Superconductors are versatile would be an understatement. They play punk, pop, rock and glide effortlessly from one genre style to another. Their seventeen song set was vibrant and included songs from the 60s right through to the 21st Century. While some people danced, everyone else sang or tapped their feet.

“Rosalie”, the Bob Seger song that was a hit for Thin Lizzy kicked off proceedings and it set the tone for a set that never stopped rocking. There were plenty of highlights including “I Fought The Law”, “Basket Case” and “London Calling”. They even played a version of Abba’s “Does Your Mother Know”. Who knew that a song like that would work so well when played by a bunch of middle aged blokes? Covering the Barenaked Ladies classic “One Week” was a challenging and brave move which the band, particularly the singer pulled off perfectly. Apparently it took him three months of dog walks to learn the lyrics. A magnificent set was closed with a rousing romp through Leeds favourites the Kaiser Chiefs “I Predict A Riot”. My lasting memory was an authentic take on the Ruts smash from 1979, “Babylon’s Burning”.

The playing was pretty immaculate throughout, I was very impressed with the guitarist who moved effortlessly from one style to another. In my opinion a covers band has to have talent, passion, a sense of fun and skill in selecting the right tunes. Superconductors scored top marks in every one of those categories. I have seen many covers bands over the years and not many were as good as Superconductors. The band take their name from a Rush song but I also took a look at the definition of the word. A superconductor is a type of material that, when cooled to a critical temperature, can conduct electricity with no resistance or energy loss. The band are cool, hit a critical temperature from the start, were electrifying, no one resisted their entertaining show and they did not appear to lose any of their abundant energy despite playing for an hour. If you are looking for a covers band in the Leeds area or Yorkshire then look no further than Superconductors!

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“Don’t You Know” – The Unnamed Band April 30, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 10:33 pm
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I have been lucky enough to see young York music funsters the Unnamed Band a couple of times and each time they showed a lot of promise. Their delivery of some great classic rock cover versions were ace and their self penned songs were good but needed a bit of polish. Well they have had the polish out and “Don’t You Know” is so well buffed that it screams to be heard! If you love a hard driving funky rock song then look no further. If the Unnamed Band ever need a name, on the strength of this release, I would name them the Fucking Good Band!

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“Takedown” – Lost Trends April 29, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 4:17 pm
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One of York’s finest bands, Lost Trends, don’t release new stuff very often. But when they do it is always fucking good! New single “Takedown” is no exception it explodes into action from the first note. At times it sounds like the Killer’s with a harder edge. Rusty’s voice is better than it has ever been weaving from Brandon Flowers to David Byrne via John Lydon. Pete’s guitar screams like a banshee newly released from its chains. Drum and bass rumble like the after shock of an atom bomb. You need to play “Takedown” loud on repeat until you convince the neighbours to play it too.

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“Settle Down” – Apollo Junction (with Briana Corrigan) April 22, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 9:54 pm
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Apollo Junction seem to have an ability to up the ante with every release and there new single takes their talents up yet another notch. “Settle Down” is dripping with humongous hooks and pumped with pop passion. The AP lads are joined on this song by Briana Corrigan, formerly of the Beautiful South and a wonderfully talented solo artist. The band are extremely proud that Briana chose to sing on the song. The track has a slightly gentler feel than some of their more recent releases and is the vanguard of their next album which is due out this summer. In my view the song ponders a nostalgic reminiscence of a sunny sky blue past we remember but will never get back. For me this is accentuated with lyrics like “Here’s a thought are we ever gonna get away. In this town faces never change. We were born to streets that already knew our name“. That last line really resonates with my memories of my own early life. You need this track in your life!

Jamie, the band’s lead singer had this to say about the tune “This song means so much to us as a band and we feel it really shows a brand new side to what we can do, having Briana’s voice on it was something that we suggested very early on, but never imaged that we would make that happen! She sounds incredible on it and we are very very grateful to her for choosing to sing with us“. Briana also had something to say about the new release ““Settle Down” is a song that I just had to sing on, I travelled from Ireland over to the band’s studio in Yorkshire and we spent a wonderful day together recording and hanging out. I am a big fan and firmly believe that this song and the album they (Apollo Junction) are making is something very special. I am sure that my fanbase and theirs will really love what we have done together“. This has certainly raised excitement levels for the new album for me, how about you?

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“BLAIR!” – Industry Standard April 18, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 10:31 pm
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There is so much ignorance and apathy regarding climate change and environmental collapse. We should be thankful that some people are speaking up about it rather loudly. Industry Standard‘s new single “BLAIR!” highlights lead singer Gaby’s stress, worry, fear and concern about our planet. It is a powerful call to arms as Gaby repeats the songs mantra “Is She Gonna Make It“. The song is an absolute fucking cracker, and I am not talking about a cheap firecracker. I am talking of a cracker so explosive it would have sent Katy Perry and her Blue Origin pals beyond the known universe. Now that is a good thing right? Especially for the environment!

The band are the aforementioned lead singer Gaby (Gabriella Gonzalez) and three punk powerhouse musical henchmen: Phillip Stakem who knows a great riff, Oliver Jackson whose bass playing could start an earthquake and Tim Sketchley who plays his drums so hard I hear that Elvis heard them in his secret base on the moon! I reckon if you love Scene Queen and Casseyette you will adore Industry Standard. The video, directed by Ben Garnet, is a dark Barbie bad bimbo apocalyptic cartoon horror film and it is so very good in the way it communicates a serious message and entertains in parallel. The song actually appeared a few months ago, but you lot mostly ignored it. To mangle the great Liam Neeson’s line from ‘Taken’ (2008), “If you don’t ignore it this time and play it loads that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you do ignore it again, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kick your sorry ass” You have been warned!

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