Digital Opium is from London, the nicer one in Ontario though. They released a cracking single called “Make Ya Dance” a couple of months back. I am slowly catching up on reviewing stuff that I have been sent and these guys have sent me at least six emails asking me to take a listen and I am pleased to say that I did. Their blurb says their influences are as diverse as the Beatles, the Black Keys, and Harry Styles. I can hear some tiny elements of those artists, however, the biggest kick for me with this track is how it takes some of the finest UK glam tropes from the early 70s and weaves them into a 21st Century Indie Disco anthem. “Make Ya Dance” is a glam stomper and proud of it and yes it does make you dance!
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Fran Ashcroft is a producer who has worked with some great artists including Damon Albarn. He has just released a single taken from his forthcoming sophomore album, ‘The Songs That Never Were’. It is called “Waiting For The Britpop Revival” and it is a truly original piece of work with overtones of ‘Hunky Dory’ era David Bowie and Pulp in their full pomp mid-90s phase. It has a simple pop psychedelia style and a chorus that simply won’t let you go. It has been on repeat tonight here at Mayhem Towers! It even comes with a B-Side which is a mostly spoken-word history of the song’s origins. The lyrics are bloody hilarious, take the Oasis line for example, “don’t talk to me about Oasis, that’s a shit band name if there ever was one.” I bloody love this song, but seriously we really don’t need a Britpop revival, do we?
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Avalanche Party are back, this time with a tour diary film montage that details their eventful trip, and it was a trip, around Europe with …& You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. The subtitle says ride the hell train, but the film shows that they rode the hell bus, or rather they didn’t, as that jumping jalopy failed to jump on too many occasions. It is quite a stark and intimate recording of events, and a ten-minute film showing what being on that tour was like gives you a feel but not the full experience. Will there be a Director’s Cut? Sometimes it feels like an updated visual version of what I believe is the greatest rock ‘n’ roll book ever written, Ian Hunter’s ‘Diary Of A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star‘. I have watched it twice, and something new has jumped out at me each time.
This is shaping up to be a great year for Avalanche Party. A few live dates are coming up later this month and their sophomore album ‘Der Traum Über Alles’ is on the near horizon. For me, it is already pencilled in as a contender for album of the year. Take a look at the film and get Avalanche Party into your life in whatever way you can!
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Holly Minto, Amy Woodall, Liv May, and Harry Breen are Crawlers one of the best bands to arise from Liverpool, and let’s face it there have been some great ones over the years, right? They are one of the most social media-aware current bands and, they use that skill so well in support of what is important to them. They have previously said, “It’s really hard to find a safe space – especially for young people, queer people, and other misrepresented or underrepresented groups – and being able to do that with our platform is something we’re looking forward to exploring and breaking boundaries with” and I have huge respect for what they do. But on top of that conscience is their wonderful music, in advance of their album, ‘The Mess We Seem To Make’ due out later this month they released a new single a couple of weeks ago called “Kills Me To Be Kind.” It has a classic lo-fi punk kind of feel and it crawls (no pun intended) into your head and sets up home like it was meant to be there, and it probably was. The riffs drive it nicely and the vocals and harmonies shine so well. The lyrics are sharp and cutting. Just this part alone is lyrical perfection for me, “I heard you fucked somebody else. Despite how bad you felt. Need somebody in your bed. To drown that noise in your head. But I keep you in my mind. Though I faked it every time.” The “faked it every time” line is a magnificent payoff. I have seen them live just once so far, at the Leeds Festival in 2022, I need to change that, and I will!
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At last, Belgium has given us a better punk representation than Plastic Bertrand! F.O.D. is classic punk in a Green Day mould, in fact, they started out as A green Day covers band in 2008. By 2011 they decided to move forward with their own songs and released the EP ‘Dance To This’, they have subsequently released some great singles and five albums. There is a Green Day reference in their name, it comes from the song “F.O.D.” on Green Day’s ‘Dookie’ album, the acronym stands for ‘Fuck Off and Die…’. The band is new to me and I am glad I eventually found my way to them. Their new single “A Thousand Shots” is a fine slab of magnificently put-together pop punk. It is fast, full of excellent punk riffs and hooks, and has some fabulous melodies. If I have any criticism it would be that it only lasts for 76 seconds, but with the ability to repeat on streaming who cares? F.O.D. are Hans Roofthooft (guitar god and prime vox), Stijn de Waele (bangin’ backing vox), Pierre Janssens (bombastic bass), and Lode de Feyter (dynamite drums). A quick footnote, I actually quite like Plastic Bertrand’s “Ça Plane Pour Moi”, but it wasn’t real punk was it? Anyway get some F.O.D. into your lugholes, their new album ‘The Once A Virgin Club’ is out on 5th April, followed by a handful of European dates. The single “A Thousand Shots” is out now. The video has a rather wonderful old-school graphics feel about it, which fits the tune perfectly.
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This was one of thousands of gigs across the country supporting Independent Venue Week (IVW). While it is important to show support and solidarity for your local independent venues please do it all year round and not just during IVW. This is the only way that the grassroots of UK music will survive. Support your scene! So this is an important week for live music and that was evidenced by the presence of 6 Music’s Huw Stephens and BBC Radio York’s Jericho Keys alongside many of the great and good from the York music scene. Headliners were NewDad who released their debut album on 24th January. But more of them later as there was a rather special support act, the sublimely talented Kindelan who hails from this fine city. This would be the fifth time that I have seen Laura Kindelan play live which puts her just behind Gene, David Bowie, Avalanche Party, and Frank Turner in the list of acts that I have seen the most times! I have seen her play solo, with minimal accompaniment, and with a full band. Tonight she was ably supported by an incredibly talented rhythm section and a backing singer with a heavenly tone. Four of tonight’s six songs were from her most recent EP, ‘You Can Reach Me If You Try’. The new songs definitely have a modern R&B and jazz vibe, but when played live Laura takes them in a direction that only she can. Her songs are stunningly good in recorded form, but live they become almost alive themselves. I have previously compared Kindelan to Jeff Buckley and that still stands, she will, I believe, mature into the kind of artist that Buckley would have become had he lived. “Hazel Frustration” was incredible, “Can’t Sleep” was immaculate as was a new song “Know You”. Kindelan gets better every time I see her, will that ever stop? I suspect not!
Kindelan at the Fully Arms January 2024 (Picture by Charlie Daykin)
Headliners NewDad are touring on the back of their new album ‘Madra’ which follows two classy EPs and some fabulous singles. The band was formed in Galway. Ireland in 2018 when Julie Dawson, Áindle O’Beirn, and Fiachra Parslow were in secondary school. Apparently, it was a way of avoiding solo performances for their Leaving Certificate practical music exam. Fourth member Sean O’Dowd joined the band a little later. The NME has compared them to The Cure and Beabadoobee. I can see those comparisons but I can also hear references to the likes of the Sundays and possibly the Cranberries. On their heavier-sounding songs, I sense a bit of Sleeper and Elastica. The new album is good, but live the songs are even better. However, I felt the sound mix was a bit off for much of the set with the vocals appearing way too low in the mix. This improved though, particularly for “White Ribbons” where the mix was spot on, the song was gorgeous and the performance exquisite. NewDad appeared in the Mayhem charts for January, so I am definitely a fan. I will certainly be seeing them again.
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The last time I saw ABC was at the now iconic Hammersmith Odeon show in November 1982. Now more than 40 years later I will be at an ABC gig again. Once again, it will be with a full orchestra, the Southbank Sinfonia, conducted by Anne Dudley. I believe that the ‘Lexicon Of Love’ is synonymous with orchestral pop music and the album is the finest example of its kind. Trevor Horn’s production on the original album was exemplerary and Anne Dudley’s orchestration was sublime. That is why I was so pleased to see that it was her conducting the Southbank Sinfonia Orchestra on this tour. I know that Martin Fry is the only remaining member of the original line up still performing as ABC, but to be fair he was always and still is the face of the band. While this show was mostly about a full run through of ‘The Lexicon Of Love’ there was always going to be more songs from the ABC song book, and that is what the first set was all about. We were treated to some absolute classics including “When Smokey Sings”, “The Night You Murdered Love”, “Be Near Me”, “One Better World” (Fry’s take on house music), “How To Be a Millionaire” and a particular favourite of mine, “Ocean Blue”. There were also some fab tracks from ‘Lexicon Of Love 2’, I thought “Viva Love” was a great performance.
Part two began with the Lexicon Of Love Overture (as did the first set) before belting into album opener “Show Me”. The crowd were on their feet for “Poison Arrow” and were in mighty fine vocal form, although to be fair Martin Fry put in a stunning vocal performance. The biggest hits, “Tears Are Not Enough” and the iconic “The Look Of Love” mesmerised a Barbican full house. My favourite song from the album has always been “Date Stamp” and this was a heavenly performance of a great tune, especially the backing/ counter point vocal. After “All Of My Heart” we all wondered whether there would be an encore, there was and Martin asked if we would mind a second take on “The Look Of Love”, we were never going to refuse, were we? This goes down as one of the best performances from a long established band that I have ever seen. Everyone in the audience absolutely lapped it up, well apart from a bloke near us who came close to having a ruck and spent part of the first set effing and jeffing loudly. Also, while the programme looked good, I felt it was a bit overpriced at £20, but to be fair I didn’t need one. There are a few shows remaining on this tour, but sadly most are sold out. But if you have a ticket, then you’re in for a proper treat!
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Ethan DeBoard and Evelyn May Nielsen are the duo that is Wasting May. They are from Orlando Florida and met in High School back in 2018 and began working on music together only last year. Ethan has always had a passion for music and taught himself to play guitar. Evelyn started out as a creative writer and is the mastermind behind Wasted May’s excellent lyrics. They played their first show on September 15th last year in their hometown. Since then they have released a single, “Maureen” and an EP ‘Machine’. Wouldn’t those two words make a great band name? The Maureen Machine anyone? Anyway, they have just released a new single, “In The Pines” and it is rather splendid. It is haunting and ethereal with an occasional feel of the Cocteau Twins. The sound is minimal but also cinematic in its ambition. Evelyn’s vocal is heavenly and the guitar work from Ethan is spellbinding. I love the change to almost a completely different song about two and a half minutes in. This pair should be given free rein to soundtrack a David Lynch film. I am in love with this tune and with Wasting May. You need this track in your life!
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Sun Way Street is singer-songwriter Steven Eli and multi-instrumentalist Leor Manelis. The pair met online during the pandemic in 2020. Steven is from Ireland, and Leor lives in Colorado. They have spent the time since meeting recording songs, mostly remotely. But in 2023, the duo met face to face for the first time after Steven flew to Colorado, where they continued to record, this time in Leor’s studio and later in Colorado’s Coalesce Audio Studios. They strengthened their sound with the support of some skilled and experienced musicians from Colorado.
Their new single, “Burn It Down” came out a couple of weeks ago, and it is damned good. It has an infectious hook with indie-pop stylings and a retro 90s soft dock feel. It chugs along like the perfect hit songs always do, and it certainly deserves to be a huge hit. It is strangely different and quirky, and I hope it gets plenty of airtime. Sun Way Street are planning live shows in the US and Europe this year, I hope they play near me!
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This was the first matinee gig I have been to in many years and the final gig celebrating the 10th birthday of the fabulous Fulford Arms. It was a two-set show from the magnificent New York Brass Band, a New Orleans-styled jazz-type band from York. But they are so much more than just a jazz or brass band. They are the ultimate party band that can raise a storm at festivals, parties, weddings, and intimate gigs like a matinee birthday party for the Fulford Arms. They are an 8-piece unit including four family members, and oh boy can this bunch play. They had the crowd on their feet from the first number and kept it that way the whole afternoon. I always think a band performs better when they are having fun themselves, and the New York Brass Band were having their own on-stage party. I loved some of the brassed-up Motown tracks they played, particularly “I Want You Back” and “Just My Imagination.” The female artist medley was ace and included some Spice Girls, B*Witched, S Club 7, and Weather Girls. I also feel that their version of Bruce Channel’s “Hey Baby” took ownership of the song back from DJ Ötzi who had a huge hit, a UK number one, in 2000 with an atrocious version of the track. The second set was even funkier with some excellent renditions of Earth, Wind, and Fire and Kool and the Gang tunes. At one point we even had a very polite York mosh circle/ conga going on which was huge fun! The cover of Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” was one of the highlights for me, in an afternoon full of them. To quote from that tune, “hot just like an oven” was exactly what the New York Brass Band made the Fulford Arms feel like on a cold Sunday afternoon in January! Bring on next year’s birthday, this one was fabulous! Well done to the Fulford Arms and all the fantastic staff and punters!
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