ALT BLK ERA are going stratospheric with epic headline shows and a support slot with Tom Morello. On top of that, they have fired up the solid fuel boosters and released their best single so far. “My Drummer’s Girlfriend” is full of pop-driven punk licks and a gorgeous vocal delivery which reminds me of the Tuts and Kate Nash. Those riffs are mesmeric and stitch their way into your brain easily. I am not sure I am a fan of the potentially insane, drug-fuelled titular girlfriend in this story, but I am a huge fan of this infectious, electric firecracker of a tune from the magical and magnificent ALT BLK ERA.
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If music could kill sex offenders, abusers, and misogynists then Delilah Bon’s new single “The Internet”, would be a lethal weapon. Delilah has some sharp punk and rap influences but since her arrival, she has developed into one of the most original artists on the planet. This is the fourth single from her forthcoming second album and on those four tracks alone it is a major contender for album of the year. This is a brooding dark beat with the best Delilah ciphers so far. Speaking in the guise of female-hating keyboard warrior Harry Dick Delilah bares her fangs and aims her venom at the vile individuals that spout pathetic and worthless hate. For lines like “All these people offended by transgenders send your children to church to god-loving sex offenders” it is way above the competition and the glorious dig at professional sweaty nonce Prince Andrew is sublime. I love the way that Delilah continues to turn all the shit she takes and uses it to fight back. Good people of the world, Delilah Bon is on your side, be on hers!
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Cowgirl are Danny Trew Barton on vocals and guitar, Sam Coates also on vocals and guitar, Jack Jewers on bass guitar, and Jack Holdstock on drums. This powerhouse of a band recently released a new single, “Fading Lights”, from their forthcoming sophomore album, ‘Cut Offs’. The album will be out on 9th August and like their 2021 debut, it was recorded with Euan Hinshelwood (Cate Le Bon/A. Savage/Devendra Banhart) at Vacant TV studios in London. The single is a gorgeous marriage of garage rock, fabulously fuzzy guitar licks, Velvet Underground vibes, and harmonies that many would kill for. This song will shake up your summer party if you’ll let it. “Fading Lights” is, I believe, the true fiery harbinger of a great album!
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Tonight was a chance to see a few bands that I hadn’t seen for a while. The headliners were Pennine Suite who I last saw in January 2022. Support was from Fulford Arms Battle Of The Bands 2022 winners the Palava, I last saw them at the BOTB final in December 2022. The first act on stage was the White Roses, I last saw them in February of last year, they are not simply a rock band, they are a truly entertaining band. Each time I see them they get better and better. Vocally Eliie draws on Joan Jett’s rawness and Stevie Nicks’s completeness while Jack’s guitar is a highly original and essential part of the band’s sound. The voice harmonies evoke Fleetwood Mac. “This Town” is a great song, but the anthemic epic that closed the set was extraordinary indeed! They have a new EP due soon and on the strength of this set I reckon it will be a classy release!
The Palava have grown immensely in emotion, scope, skill, and ambition since I last saw them. Their songs have grown into more complex and wonderfully played mini-epics. There were some really great jazzy, punky, and funky licks with great use of some nicely incorporated major 7th chords in some of their tunes. They maintain an infusion of ’60s psychedelia and a pinch of 90s Indie.”Remedy” (which in its recorded version features Kitty VR) and “Lie To Me” were incredible highlights, but even those two Palava specials pale against the next single “Foreign Ground” which sounds like it will be the band’s best song to date. They looked like they were loving playing live, and that just enhanced their performance.
If I was a headliner I would not have fancied following the Palava onto the stage, but Pennine Suite raised their game and blew the fucking house down! They are a band on fire, but not just a little flame, I am talking super nova levels of heat! The set opener “Everything Begins” (what an appropriate song to start with) reminded me of the Cure. The depth of their sound grows with every gig. Louise’s keyboard licks, riffs, and motifs add huge breadth to the band. Her playing on “M.O.W.O” gives an eerie circus-like feel to the song. The new track “Manhattan” is thunderously good and needs to be a single, RIGHT NOW! Harry’s guitar was magnificent on this track and the power and drive from the mighty rhythm section of Moses and Louis is a close to perfect as you could get! The crowd was spontaneously chanting the band’s name four songs into the set. Clearly the crowd fucking love this lot and was in full voice from start to finish. There were plenty of highlights in their twelve-song set, the biggest for me was a pounding “Pass On You”. But even that was surpassed by beyond epic and truly awesome upcoming single “Tropical Fantasy”, when Pennine Suite rock out they do it like a huge bastard rock god. Frontman Nick has grown wonderfully confident over the years since I first saw him fronting the Receivers more than five years ago. He really commands his audience and the new songs are just so good. I am not sure where this thought popped up from but I would love to hear Pennine Suite do a funky cover of a Lou Reed song, maybe “Vicious” from ‘Transformer’. This was a stunning end to a brilliant night of live music.
As a footnote, I went on for a couple more drinks after the gig with Simon P from Northern Radar Promotions and Rusty and Pete from ace York band Lost Trends. Note to self, don’t do it again, and avoid a hangover from hell!
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London-based four-piece rock band Ghost Arcadia is back in the classy rock groove with their first single in 14 months, “UNDER” which hit the streets last month. It is an emotional-sounding, anthemic song with a huge sound to match the clearly massive ambition it carries. There are titanic guitar riffs, harmonic and guttural vocals from Reuben Beau Davies, and some cinematic synth patterns. This might seem a bit pop driven at times, but underneath it all it is as heavy as fuck! The band spoke about the inspiration for the track “It’s an exploration of the everyday battles we face within ourselves. From addiction to self-doubt, we all face battles at some point in our lives. The song conveys the message that even when you are at your lowest, there is still a way out; there is still a light left to guide you from the “Under”. Sometimes, we must dive into our darkest depths before we can finally find a way out.” The song is a great taster for their new EP ‘What We Become’ which will arrive later this year!
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Aside from festivals, this is one of the biggest gigs that With Just A Hint Of Mayhem has had the pleasure of reviewing. I arrived quite early and was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had a great seat. I made a couple of initial posts on social media saying that I was in Leeds to review James and that I had to sit through Razorlight first, with hindsight that was a little mean, shabby, cheap and sarcastic. Razorlight in their time attracted a degree of bad press thanks to Johnny Borrell’s outspokenness. A favourite of mine was “Compared to the Razorlight album, Dylan is making the chips, I’m drinking the Champagne” from 2004. But he was still a young man back then and the arrogance of youth and success can negatively impact many people. This is largely the classic line-up of Razorlight with Borrell as a charismatic and energetic frontman, Björn Ågren on guitars, keys, and percussion, Carl Dalemo on bass guitar and keys, and Andy Burrows on drums and backing vox. The band is strengthened further by keyboard player Reni Lane. So did I just have to sit through Razorlight? No, I didn’t, they were on top form and Borrell played to the crowd faultlessly. They played their set as though they were headlining and it was more glorious and reslpendent as a result. Newer songs like “Scared Of Nothing” hinted at a slightly poppier Velvet Underground influence. But it was the canon of hook-laden hits and classics from three top 4 albums and 5 top-ten singles. Opening with the 2006 top 3 hit “In The Morning” set the scene perfectly for an impeccably played and well-structured set. The crowd was singing along noisily from the first chorus. “Stumble And Fall” was good, but the closing three songs set the bar incredibly high, and Razorlight knocked it out of the park. “Before I Fall To Pieces” and “Somewhere Else” were stunning while the final song “America”, surprisingly their only UK number one, was stirring, emotional, and had all of us singing once again. I completely take back what I said about Razorlight before their set. This was nonpareil and sublime from a band that is back on it in a wonderful way! But I would like to say to the hundreds of people filming on their mobile phones, particularly during “America”, what the fuck are you doing? Live the moment, take in the gig, appreciate the music. You cannot appreciate a live show through a tiny screen on an electronic device. Make memories, not videos!
Finally, it was time for the main course of the evening from James after a splendid and tasty starter from Johnny Borrell and the boys. How many other bands formed back in 1982 are still selling out arenas and releasing stylish new original music regularly? Tim Booth and Jim Glennie have been a part of the band since it was formed 42 years ago, while four of the other members have been a part of James since the late eighties. The band has been an influential and important part of British music since its inception and has been ever-present apart from a short hiatus at the start of this century. I have seen James a few times over the years, and they always put on a show, so I was expecting something good at the Leeds First Direct arena. The band started modestly enough with a song that is nearly 40 years old and is about a character from Iggy Pop’s “Lust For Life”, “Johnny Yen”. The set was nicely littered with songs from the new album ‘Yummy’, eight tunes from the album were included in the 20-song set. The highlights from those were for me “Our World” and a spectacular stomp through “Life’s A Fucking Miracle”. Tim Booth made his first of many crowd-surfing excursions during that one. Booth’s own brand of dancing was clear throughout the show. No one dances with such unbridled fun and bendiness as Mr. Booth. He dances like nobody is watching but he absolutely knows that we are! “Butterfly” was beautiful, and this was the first time the band had performed it live. Before they took the stage there was an announcement saying that James would rather you did not use your mobile phone during their show. I wholeheartedly agree with that! But Tim Booth did make a concession when he introduced “Mobile God”, although I am not sure many in the crowd appreciated the irony in that. The older songs were, obviously, well received, especially the final two pre-encore tracks “Come Home” and “Sometimes”. The huge back-of-stage screen used some kind of AI (I assume) to turn the band into weird robotic characters, the really entertaining part was when they did the same to the crowd. Booth orchestrated the crowd singing an acapella take on “Sometimes” with an almost heavenly and ethereal crowd choir singing “Sometimes when I look in your eyes, I can see your soul” in almost perfect unison and harmony, with occasional support from the band and the four obscenely talented members of the Manchester Voices Inspirational Choir. The band left the stage very briefly before returning for a four-song encore beginning with “Way Over Your Head” from ‘Yummy’ and “Beautiful Beaches” from ‘All The Colours Of You’. Then it was time for “that song”, yes, the perennial anthem of the ages, “Sit Down” and clearly no one did sit down for it. We all sang along as loud as possible though. The song was stopped shortly before the end to help security and venue staff deal with a medical emergency in the crowd, with a compassionate and empathetic Tim Booth telling us what was happening. After they restarted most of the band sat on the front of the stage to listen to the crowd continue to sing this timeless tune. Booth then informed us that we were now on ‘Fergie Time’ which meant another song could be played. That song was “Laid”, perhaps my favourite James song. What a magnificent way to end an epic and dazzling set from a band that goes from strength to strength, even after all this time. I left Leeds an incredibly happy man after this show, I suspect everyone left with smiles on their faces. Roll on the next tour!
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Hannah Collins a.k.a. SCENE QUEEN takes Bimbocore to a whole new level on her debut album, ‘Hot Singles In Your Area’, which hits the pink streets on 28th June via Hopeless Records. It is stacked full of good stuff including some collaborations with WARGASM, The Ready Set, and 6arelyhuman. Whatever excites you, whatever your kink is there is something on this record for you. SCENE QUEEN says this about the album “I wrote an album about growing up in the early 2000s but not exploring my sexuality until my 20s with all the messy and chaotic situations you find yourself in when you’re trying to find yourself and your own power.” She is at the vanguard of feminism and could probably bring down the patriarchy on her own given the power in her metal/ emo/ punk/ pop anthems. To look at her you might think Barbie, and yes the look is there, but the strength is so much more like G.I. Jane.
The album kicks off with “BDSM” (I told you there was something for every kink, right?) This is a full-on metal assault with nasty, dark pop vibes. This could be the Bimbocore national anthem. Her voice is so strong on this, what a way to open. The 2023 single “18+” tackles head-on the prevalence of so many bands being misogynistic and apparently happy to use underage girls. The chorus is like Gwen Stefani on steroids with a hook that Babymetal would kill for. Misogynists and predators are going to be scared shitless when they hear “Whips & Chains”, especially when they hear the lyric “gonna nail his dick to the wall of shame” It is a glorious metal pop song, which sadly won’t be heard on mainstream radio. Another totally anthemic single from last year plays next on this record, “Pink Push-Up Bra” This tune takes metal to a mountainous new level that many of SCENE QUEEN’s male peers are probably afraid to go to. These riffs are as hard as fucking hell! She showcases her signature style when she lays into circle jerkers everywhere with “Mutual Masturbation”. This chorus was hanging around in my head for days after I listened to it. WARGASM adds something to “Girls Gone Wild” but it is still full-on energetic femme fatale fury from the high priestess of Bimbocore. The guitar solo screams hard and slaps you in the face.
“POV” is another collaboration, this time with the Ready Set. It is first-class rap metal with riffs ripped straight from the early 70s glam rock peak. The title track “Hot Singles In Your Area” starts out like a cutesy country ballad, and then it rips out the beating heart of Nashville’s finest as its sonic attack throws you from one side of your padded cell to the other. Speaking of country, SCENE QUEEN goes metallic dosey doe on “MILF”. Maybe there will be a Bimbocore country album in the future, I reckon it would outclass Beyonce’s leisurely stroll in Ole Opry territory. I would love to hear Madonna tackle a SCENE QUEEN song, perhaps “Amateur” would be a good place to start. “Stuck” featuring 6arelyhuman was a single earlier this year and it encompasses everything that a song needs to top every chart in the world. Sadly this world is full of shit so that ain’t gonna happen. But an electro-dance remix of this track would be awesome. SCENE QUEEN is an ambassador for sexual freedom and that is perhaps never more clear than on “Finger” a song that extols the virtues of self-pleasure. If you like dark, dirty, sex-fuelled, dance vibes you will fucking love “PEG”. The guitar shredding on “Oral Fixation” is a DEFCON 1 event. This has the influence of PEACHES all over it. Appropriately the album closes with a song called “Climax” it is a Bimbocore power ballad that gives you just enough time to recover from the aural blitzkrieg of the album, before spinning it again! SCENE QUEEN has metaphorical balls of steel and is not afraid to question and challenge, misogynists, haters, and genre purists. She stands up and fights angrily and passionately for LGBTQ+ people and anyone unfortunate enough to have fallen through the cracks in this often vile world. Even if you don’t know it yet, you need SCENE QUEEN in your life and you need her NOW!
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Manchester-based Cumbrian band Vacant Weekend has released a new single, “Funny Dad” following in the footsteps of their emotionally frantic single “Talk” from April this year. They have a summery indie-pop, post-punk type of vibe with some delicious light-funk riffs. “Funny Dad” is another emotionally driven tune and the band describes it as “the closest thing we have to a ballad“. The lyrics are a wonderful winding road of stream-of-consciousness words and singer Alex has a singular and highly original style. The opening lines are simple and at the same time bordering on genius, “We have no reason to be sad In spite of everything I once had. I have a really funny dad. Tell a joke to me when I’m feeling really bad” The band said this about the track “It’s just raw emotion poured into sound, and that sort of thing is only able to happen in a room you really feel comfortable being vulnerable in – being friends for most of our lives, it’s a privilege we’re always afforded. After that, the lyrics just fit into place, they’re so sparse but it’s as if most of what needs to be said is already present in the music“. This is the second song to be released from their EP which is due out later this summer on the Cosmic Glue label. If this song does not feature on one of your summer playlists I have to conclude that you have no heart or no taste, or possibly both!
If you want to catch them live check out the dates below;
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The new single from Canadian indie folk trio Wild Remedy is called “Home Song” and it is a fabulously boisterous, joyous, and spirited romper of a tune. It is about a love of the home, whether that is in your heart, being with friends, or an actual place. It is brimful of infectious hooks and the vocal harmonies are divine. It is also impossible to listen to without moving, even if it is just a simple foot tapping, you cannot stay still to this great track. It is a song taken from their debut EP ‘Songs From Home’ which is out on 14th June. The band is an all-female trio from Ottowa and the members are Amy Russett, Colleen Roberston, and Shay Mahoney.
Mahoney says of the track “I initially wrote ‘Home Song’ to poke a bit of fun at our folk genre; every folk band needs a song about ‘home’. I had the guitar melody written for a while and it just lived in my voice recordings for about six months (along with many other half-written songs). But the lyrics came one night as I took the metro home after shooting pool with a friend. I was thinking about how life might be different if I had chosen a different career path, lived in a different city, or maybe just stayed home in Ottawa after high school. But as I thought about it, I discovered that more things make up ‘home’ than we realize. And ‘Home Song’ was born from this discovery: I could wander ‘round the globe, and home would still be found in the places where – and in the people with whom – I know I belong” I am off to listen to more from Wild Remedy now and I strongly advice you to do the same!
If you are lucky enough to live in Canada (sadly I am in the UK) you can catch them live on the following dates;
JUNE 21 Westboro, Ottawa – Equator Coffee – EP release party JUNE 27 Toronto – Dakota Tavern JUNE 28 Ottawa – Live! On Elgin JUNE 29 Montreal – Petit Campus JULY 12 Ottawa BluesFest JULY 13 Carp Farmers Market (several performances) AUG 16 Elgin, Ontario – The Opinicon (several performances)
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Lily Lane is a supremely talented pop and alternative artist from the USA. She initially recorded as Lily M Halpern, her given name, until becoming Lily Lane in 2014. She is a wonderfully outspoken advocate for body positivity, women, and LGBTQ. I totally commend her for that. But I also want to commend her and praise her for her new single “I Do”. The song is a gorgeous, languid, laid-back, soulful, soft blues, and sometimes ethereal love song. She wrote the song the day after she was proposed to and had this to say about the track “I was anxious about the idea of speaking in front of people at the wedding, I’m much better at singing and performing than I am at public speaking”. The lyrics are heartfelt and perhaps show Lane baring her soul and offering her heart. She sings “They say winners stand alone so I guess that we lose, we left behind our selfish pride found our way to the truth, I told myself I’d never love nobody again, now you’re my lover and my best friend, we did it our way and now it’s my chance to say, I do”. I can see this becoming many newlyweds’ first choice song for their first dance. It deserves to be a huge hit.
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