With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

Catch! – Fulford Arms, York – Monday 24th February 2025 March 4, 2025

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 6:56 pm
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I try to never pass up the chance to see a band or artist that I have never seen before, so this was an easy choice. There were four bands on the bill, none of which I had seen before. This was another gig put together by the delightful human known as Simon P for Northern Radar. I have been going to Northern Radar gigs for many years now and Mr. P has never let me down with the bands and singers he puts on. Did that change with this gig? Read on to find out!

The first to take the stage was the Expression, vocally they made me think of Lene Lovich and Siouxse Sioux to name just two. The band were as tight as hell with a dark post punk feel to their sound. Their original songs were good and show a potential for greatness with perhaps a little more work. The cover of the Stone Roses “I Wanna Be Adored” was superb, but the Mazzy Star cover was an absolutely sublime highlight. They closed their set and nailed their grunge credentials to the wall with an immense cover of Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box”. This was a great set to kick the night off.

Next up it was the Fruity Pebbles, a band largely born from the remnants of some Huntington School 6th Form bands from recent years. A truly eclectic range of covers which ranged from Abba to Chappell Roan via Stevie Wonder, Amy Winehouse and others. Their original tune “Smooth” is a neat, summery, jazzy pop song which is likely to get better and better the more they play it. They showed their chops as a great band, once again very tight. But it was the brass section that showed themselves to be tighter than the proverbial duck’s arse. Front man Oscar, who wasn’t meant to be fronting this set, is a true trouper and a born performer. If he is not working in music or entertainment in the future then frankly the world is fucked! The Fruity Pebbles know how to party and they party hard!

Strip were next and they are full of effervescent pop punk energy. While their originals were good their covers were truly stunning, especially the bombastic opener, a fiery run through of Green Day’s “American Idiot”. Who knew that song would still be so relevant now, some twenty years later. Strip delivered perhaps the best mosh fest of the night. This lot are fucking good indeed!

Finally it was the turn of Catch! to hit the stage. They are a York Uni band that are talented purveyors of melodic pop rock with an undercurrent of prog in some songs. They have an additional vein of classic 90s bands like Republica and Elastica running through a number of their songs too. Overall they have a wealth of close to awesome songs in their cannon. Sadly by the time Catch! arrived on stage the crowd had shrunk a little. Why do so many people up and leave after “their” band has played? But who cares, Catch! truly captivated everyone who chose to stay. The vocals were perfect as was the more than tidy rhythm section. A special mention to the lead guitarist who never dropped below stunning with his magnificent arsenal of riffs and solos. Party driven fun made the moshing last a long while and the A Simple Plan cover was anthemic and delightful. Apologies in advance for the bad Dad joke/ pun, but you really need to catch Catch! soon! Click here to check out their latest EP on Spotify.

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‘Hope I Get Old Before I Die: Why Rock Stars Never Retire’ – David Hepworth March 3, 2025

Filed under: Book,Review — justwilliam1959 @ 8:45 pm
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David Hepworth is a talented, world class music journalist. He began his career in journalism writing for the NME and Sounds (two of the classic UK music “inkies”). He joined Smash Hits magazine in 1979, and having turned it around financially and made it profitable, became its editor. He was behind the launch of a number of very successful music related magazines including, two of my favourites, Q (1986) and Mojo (1993). He has written for the UK newspaper The Guardian. He was a presenter of the long running BBC music show The Old Grey Whistle Test. He has been on other TV productions too, more of that later. Hepworth has also written some great books about music and the social history associated with it. I have read many of them; ‘Never a Dull Moment: 1971 The Year That Rock Exploded’ (2016), ‘Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars 1955-1994’ (2017), ‘A Fabulous Creation: How the LP Saved Our Lives’ (2019), and ‘Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There: How a Few Skinny Brits with Bad Teeth Rocked America’ (2020)

Now he has a new book, ‘Hope I Get Old Before I Die: Why Rock Stars Never Retire’. This is a tome that describes rock music’s third act. This is the sense that rock and roll never died, as predicted in the fifties and early sixties, but neither did so many of the young people (mostly men) that played a part in rock’s continued longevity. Back in 1965 when a 21 year old Roger Daltrey sang a 20 year old Pete Townshend’s classic line, “I hope I die before I get old” in the Who’s biggest hit single in the 60s, “My Generation” who might have guessed that they would still be performing the song in the 21st century. Daltrey is now 81 and Townshend is 79. Hepworth was one of the anchor’s of the broadcast of Live Aid in 1985. Hepworth’s new book begins at Live Aid with the sight of Paul McCartney closing the British leg of the show. Macca was seen as the grand old man of rock. Back then he was just 43. Now, 25 years into the 21st century we have many rock stars that are way beyond pensionable age. This is definitely not something most of us imagined back in the 60s and 70s. As a result many rock stars have become a part of the establishment with many receiving knighthoods and other royal honours.

I have loved all the books by David Hepworth that I have read so far, especially this new one. I love his take on the world of music and his immense depth of knowledge of the subject. Many times I have pondered on the fact that rock stars are living to ripe old ages and still performing and producing new music. In some cases this music is the finest of their long careers. Will today’s younger rock stars last as long as the rock ‘n’ roll pension brigade? I suspect that they will and I think Mr. Hepworth believes the same. In fact he talks of the possibility of technology giving rock stars a kind of immortality. Take a look at Abba Voyage for example. If you love great music, great music writing and if you have ever pondered about how rock stars are getting so old you will love this book! Click on Diversion Books to find a place to buy it for yourself!

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“Peace” – Dr Pushkin February 27, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 10:19 pm
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Austin, TX via Bolgatanga in Ghana uber talented hip-hop artist Dr. Pushkin has just released a new single featuring Isolirium and Ataman Nikita. The release precedes his SXSW performance on March 12th. The track includes a great blend of Ghanian Kologo guitar with some great Hip-Hop and R & B beats. The lyrics seek hope but also highlight the tough journey that finding peace will take. It is an inspirational tune and I love it, especially the vocal interplay between Dr. Pushkin and Ataman Nikita! Pushkin cites 2Pac and Nas as key influences and I can hear that throughout this wonderful song. the lyrics take some perfect and well primed shots at those in power. Get “Peace” in your ears and your life now!

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GOO – Fulford Arms York – Saturday 8th February 2025 February 23, 2025

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 9:15 pm
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I am more than two weeks late with this post, humble apologies to everyone who played. But I am old school and write my notes in a paper notebook. Said notebook was misplaced, but now I have found it! This was to be the first time I had seen GOO and who would turn down the chance to see a band with such a great name? Certainly not me. But before I tell you about GOO, let me tell you about the first support band. They are a classy four piece band called Juku which according to my limited knowledge is a Japanese word meaning a school offering intensive education outside normal school hours. Juku are the new band formed by Dan and Naomi who are the duo that made the Snakerattlers such a great musical force. This is quite a change of direction for the Snakerattlers pair and they have created an immense new sound. I found them reminiscent of some of the finest 90s female fronted bands such as Lush and Elastica. I had to agree with Mr. Tuke on that point. Whilst they reminded me of those great 90s bands Juku have a much harder, punkier edge to them. I guess that the lack of interaction with the audience was deliberate, after all their socials are clear in their REJECT FAME message. It certainly added some mystique to a band that is hard, dark, deep and frankly simply fucking awesome! Such a great set despite Naomi suffering from a cold!

While the poster shows GOO as headliners they played second rather than last. This is done as a means of keeping punters in the venue when a band that is new to York plays at the Fully. What, sadly, often happens is that people come to see “their” band and then fuck off somewhere else and miss the headliners. Personally that kind of behaviour pisses me off, but hey if that’s what people want to do then fuck ’em! Keighley band GOO have endless, boundless energy and a bag, that might be deeper than Mary Poppins’ bottomless carpet bag, loaded with great songs. If you put Bis, Garbage and the Eels (when Mark Everett is in a happy mood) into a huge melting pot and then add some 21st century Beach Boy style harmonies then GOO would be the result if the pot was simmered over a light pop punk heat for an hour. The band were clearly having fun and smiling became infectious while listening to them. Later in their set they showed their versatility with a shift to a majestic post punk sound that evoked the sound of early and very raw Blondie. The lead guitarist has a latent talent for adding a gorgeous vein of classic rock vibes to the band’s sound. “Call In Sick” is wonderfully warped, weird and wacky with a chorus that I am still singing in my head two weeks after the gig!

Suspicious Liquid closed the show. They are a very talented York Uni band with an incredible guitarist in Danny Durie and vocalist Vanessa Toyn’s voice is spot on. Her singing made me think of what might happen if you spliced the voice of Siouxse Sioux and Dolly Parton and sent them in a psych punk direction. The vocal washed across the venue in a proggy, punky heavenly projection. Their cover of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” was operatic and outstanding. Suspicious Liquid are often epic, cinematic , anthemic and at times mesmerising. I have one small criticism, on some of the earlier songs Stephen seemed to be playing a different tune. I am not sure whether that was a sound issue or not. The highlight for me was their amazing cover of Frank Zappa’s “Muffin Man”. I had heard them play this at last years Battle Of The Bands contest at this venue. Covering Zappa takes skill and guts and oh boy did they pull it off with this take of one of my favourite Zappa tunes. Their closing song (which might have been called “Shadow Boxing”) was spilling over with finely balanced emotion and had the whole band on their best form of the night. I felt that this was a set that began without a great spark, but they warmed up and by the end they had lit their own musical Olympic torch!

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“BLOW” – Kety Fusco February 21, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 2:04 pm
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Kety Fusco is an unbridled and immensely talented musician. She has been dubbed the Queen of the Electric Harp. She was born in Pisa, Italy in 1995 and is Swiss by adoption. She has a Master of Arts in Music Performance at the Swiss Italian Conservatory. She first discovered the electric harp at just six years old. Her second album ‘BOHČME’ is released later this year and now she has unleashed “BLOW” the first single from that sophomore collection. I love music that is a bit different and properly “out there” and “BLOW” ticks both of those boxes strongly. It is a riveting instrumental track that contains more emotion than many songs with vocals. It took me to another place, it made me want to dance, it made me smile and it made me want to be who I am. It is injected with elements of classical, electronic and even dance music. This is most definitely a sound from and for the 21st century. Kety says this of the track “I sought to transform it into something wild and untamed, capable of expressing emotions that transcend tradition, projecting it toward a bolder, unknown future”. We live in a strange and frightening world and music helps me weave my way through it. If you love great music then take a listen to “BLOW”.

The video is dark and wonderful. It feels like an update on classic British folk horror films with a bit of archetypal slasher movie tropes thrown in for good measure. Kety wrote the script and also stars in the film which was directed supremely well by Studio Asparagus. This one song and its accompanying video has turned me into a great fan of Kety Fusco!

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“Born All Wrong” – Museum Of Light February 19, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 11:09 pm
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Photo by Scott Evans

Seattle band Museum Of Light have just released their third single of 2025, “Born All Wrong” on Spartan Records. The track follows hot on the heels of “Blunt Force Drama” and “Undone”. All three tracks will form a part of their sophomore album, ‘Diviner’, produced by Scott Evans, which will be released on March 14th. The song is full of earth shattering dark riffs that pound the song forward in a slow march forward. The vocals reminded me of Ozzy Osbourne at his peak. The music is dusted with some gorgeous prog moments, particularly in the final part of the track. There is a vast sparseness to the sound as the song reaches its conclusion. It gave me a feel of wide open wilderness. Is that the influence of being recorded at Ocean Sound Studios in Giske, Norway? The band made the most of their time there by taking a plunge into the icy Norwegian Sea each morning before starting to record.

The band’s drummer Rob Smith said, “As with much of Diviner, “Born All Wrong” is a continuation of all the things that interested us on our first record, just taken further.” he added “The song dives into some of the expanded sonic palette that sets this record apart from ‘Horizon’. The big riff that anchors the first half of the song was written several years ago when we were between bassists. So, we were leaning more on huge, monolithic ideas that sounded good with the guitar running through both guitar and bass amps at the same time. As one of the older songs on the album, we weren’t sure if if was going to make the cut, but as soon as we heard playbacks in the studio, we all had the same thought: ‘well, that’s definitely making the record.” This is a great song and makes me feel rather excited to hear the album!

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‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ – Documentary February 10, 2025

Filed under: Film,Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:22 pm
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‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ is the first authorised documentary of the globe straddling rock monster that Led Zeppelin became. It ends in 1970 with a triumphant homeland gig at the Royal Albert Hall just a few weeks after the release of ‘Led Zeppelin II’. I suspect that some hardcore fans will likely be disappointed that the film ends then. But in my opinion it stops at the point just before they came the huge rock ‘n’ roll behemoth that flew around the world on the infamous Boeing 720 named the Starship. The film works in a slow building chronological order with some great interview footage with all three remaining members as they are now. There is also some clear and touching audio of a previously unheard interview with John Bonham. The reaction of Page, Jones and Plant as they hear it for the first time is quite moving.

It has some great footage of the band playing live on a Danish TV show on their first tour, this was when they were still called the New Yardbirds. All of the band felt quite good that they were able to develop the Led Zep sound away from the spotlight of the UK music press. Jimmy Page and worked on thousands of sessions for a wide range of artists and some of those were featured. Notably Shirley Bassey with “Goldfinger” and Lulu with “To Sir With Love”. Page also enthused about seeing Lonnie Donegan for the first time and recognising that this was the spark that lit his rock ‘n’ roll flame. Robert Plant was gushing in his praise for Little Richard saying that this was the moment that rock music was injected into him, never to leave.

The making of ‘Led Zeppelin’, the first album was predominantly down to Jimmy Page. Particularly in respect of production and sequencing. Page was accompanied by the band’s manager Peter Grant on a trip to the USA to meet with Jerry Wexler and sign with Atlantic Records. Page was insistent that the band would only make albums and not release singles. They started to take off in the USA when they were picked up by album heavy FM stations who played side one and then after a short message from their sponsors flipped the album and played the whole of side two. The footage from some of the US festivals from 1968 and 1969 is stunning. A lot of the clips are interspersed with news reel to add social commentary that includes the Nigerian civil war, the election of Richard Nixon and the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Some of my favourite parts of the film were Robert Plant speaking about raising his game to become a lyricist. Alongside that is the detail that Jimmy Page goes into when he talks about the creation of ‘Whole Lotta Love’ the opening track on ‘Led Zeppelin II’. The mid section warped psychedelic breakdown and the fading of the instruments, particularly the drums from one speaker to another was not just some clever use of music and the studio. It was also a plan to make it very difficult to release the song as a single. There are plenty of things to take away from this rather wonderful film. If I had to pick one it is being reminded of just how great a drummer John Bonham was. If you are a Led Zeppelin fan you will, I am sure, see this film. But if you are just a fan of great rock music you should definitely find the time to see it. I am not sure it will work as well on a TV screen as it does on the big screen. But however you access it you will enjoy it!

This is not in the film!

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“Dancing With Ghosts” – Pink Turns Blue February 9, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 8:09 pm
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Pink Turns Blue are a classy European band who took their name from a Hüsker Dü song. They have been around a long while and they have just released the third single, “Dancing With Ghosts”, from their forthcoming album ‘Black Swan’. The album is slated for release on 28th February. The song has dark overtones reminiscent of Joy Division and a real goth feel in the chorus. The chorus seeps into your head like an unseen gas, then it stays there as you become one with the song. It is a song that is as close to perfect as it is possible to get. I love it. The lyrics deal with toxic relationships and the ‘ghosts’ that remain, in some cases long after the relationship is over.

Pink Turns Blue on stage – picture by Daniela Vorndran

The band consists of Mic Jogwer (vocals, guitar), Paul Richter (drums) and Luca Sammuri (bass). The band began in a still separated Germany towards the end of the Cold War and say they have been inspired by the likes of the Chameleons, Joy Division and goth music. Singer Mic Jogwer said this of the new single. “An exclamation to escape a complicated relationship, “Dancing With Ghosts” is a song about our difficulty of breaking out of an unhealthy bond. Some last a lifetime – and are not good for us at all. They suck all our energy, never give, always take. And whatever we do, it’s never right and never good enough. And since it’s often our best friend, mother, or sister, it feels like we owe them something, but every time we try to do something good for them, we just feel miserable and used. There is no easy way out, because whatever we do, we lose. These spirits will haunt us forever unless we challenge them and eventually manage to leave them behind. We’re Dancing With Ghosts.” I have no idea how I have not come across this great band before. But I will definitely be checking out their back catalogue in the coming weeks!

They have an extensive run of dates in 2025 in Germany, Belgium, the USA and the UK. If you can get to one of them, I reckon you should!

Apr 04 Hamburg, Germany @ Fabrik
Apr 05 Münster, Germany @ Gleis 22
Apr 11 Leipzig, Germany @ Moritzbastei
Apr 12 Cologne, Germany @ GEBÄUDE 9
Apr 25 Stuttgart, Germany @ clubCANN
Apr 26 Hannover, Germany @ Musikzentrum Hannover
May 09 Rüsselsheim, Germany @ Das Rind
May 10 Bochum, Germany @ Bahnhof Langendreer
May 16 Bremen, Germany @ Tower Musikclub
May 17 Berlin, Germany @ Lido
May 23 Nuremberg, Germany @ Club Stereo
May 24 Munich, Germany @ Hansa 39, Feirwerk
Jun 28 Izegem, Belgium @ Cultuurhuis De Leest
Aug 28 – Philadelphia PA @ Milkboy
Aug 29 – Brooklyn NY @ AMOC – Brooklyn Made
Aug 30 – Boston MA @ Sonia
Aug 31 – Montreal QC @ Casa Del Popolo
Sept 4 – Toronto ON @ Baby G
Sept 5 – Detroit MI @ Smalls
Sept 6 – Chicago IL @ Bottom Lounge
Sept 7 – Columbus OH @ Rumba
Sept 10 – Nashville TN @ East Room
Sept 11 – Atlanta GA @ The Masquerade
Sept 12 – Charlotte NC @ Snug Harbor
Sept 13 – Orlando FL @ Conduit
Sept 14 – Miami FL @ Gramps
Oct 31 Whitby, UK – Whitby Pavilion Theatre

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‘Modern Mirror’ EP – The Bricks

Filed under: EP,Review — justwilliam1959 @ 7:21 pm
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York’s very own alternative rock gang continue to furrow their unique and mightily wonderful direction with their new EP ‘Modern Mirror’. The Bricks are Guy (Guitar), Gemma (Vox), Marc (Drums) and Paul (Bass). The title track and the first song on the EP, “Modern Mirror” is dark, sharp and oozes post punk energy with Gemma’s manic performance being bold enough to make punk priestess Siouxse jealous. I can feel some solid early Sex Pistols energy and anger seeping through “A Lie”. The incessant riffage is stunning. Gemma is famous (or maybe infamous) for giving a song a title that has nothing to do with the lyrical content, that is the case, I believe, with “Snake”. The track has a bluesy, languid, punk vibe and Gemma’s voice evoke the finest moments of Lene Lovich and Poly Styrene.

The music on every track is fiery and explosive, none more so than on “Icarus”. They even throw over some great cowbell here. This song needs to be a single. “Contraption” rocks along like a punky cartoon chase with a cutting few couplets, notably “nice try, you’re boring. Nice try, I’m yawning”. This is currently my favourite track on the EP. The instrumentation on “Meantime” would fit nicely on side one of Bowie’s ‘Low’ album from 1977. There really is no one quite like the Bricks at the moment. If he were still alive John Peel would fucking love them! The EP was recorded at The Stationhouse, Armley, Leeds by James Atkinson in July of last year. It was released at the end of November last year. If you haven’t already heard it, listen now! That is an unrefusable order!

CLICK HERE to give it a spin on Bandcamp. Listen to it, stream it, or better still download it for just £5.

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“All Together On 3” – Push Puppets February 6, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 7:22 pm
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Push Puppets have one of the best names in music today and they have just released a classy new single “All Together On 3”. The band are based in the Palatine community near Chicago, Illinois in the USA. The track is a taster for their fourth album ‘Tethered Together’, slated for release later this year. The song is full of gorgeous harmonies with a reflective, elegantly fragile melancholic tone. It evoked memories of Mercury Rev and peak period Crowded House. The orchestration supplements the great rock sound on a cinematic scale. Lead vocalist and guitarist Erich Specht had this to say about the song, “I think “‘All Together On 3″‘ paints a pretty vivid picture of someone needing help out of a tough situation. This one was very satisfying to see fully realized. It has some math rock moments like phrases and patterns of different lengths keeping things interesting“. I believe the song is about seeking help, even if you don’t know how. It conjures a feeling of hope that can exist when we all pull together. The lyrics are hopeful and inspire coming together and kindness, two things that this world needs more than ever right now! This song is a first class earworm and on this evidence the album will be damned good!

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