New Zealand music funksters and funsters SKRAM have a new single out; and with it, they have invented a new word, serendripity. This song oozes fun, and classy humour and makes you want and need to dance. It would fit perfectly alongside the Danish band Junior Senior’s 2003 smash “Move Your Feet” in any good playlist. “Serendripity” is chock full of hooks of both a pop and rock variety and in style owes some debt to the Scissor Sisters and Jamiroquai. The rap element perhaps pays homage to “Wham Rap” and Harry Enfield’s Loadsamoney character, but it works well. If the pop charts actually meant much anymore this song created by Kiwi music powerhouses Henry Ashby and Felix Nesbitt would be number one for months. The video is rather splendid too. The band has explained “Serendripity” or ‘serendipitous drip,’ as “the idea of wearing whatever you want, feeling safe and confident when venturing into the world. The act of wearing what you want, the “drip,” becomes a medium through which you express your unique identity and personality. “Serendripity” celebrates the freedom to make choices based on your own tastes, rather than conforming to societal expectations or trends.” Well, that certainly works for me!
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Is there a new Frank Turner album on the horizon? Possibly, given he released a brand new single on January 4th. It is called “No Thank You For The Music” and it sounds and feels like angry Frank is back! I am very happy about that! It is most definitely a rock number with a great pop vibe. I can see some of those lines being sung by festival choir crowds for years to come, myself included. Particularly “I don’t want to be in any gang that you’re in. I refuse to take part in gatekeeping people’s art“. I have been a Frank fan for years and this is one of his best! Apparently, Mr. Turner says this about the track, “a song about defiance, rejection of mainstream culture, pride in the underground, and staying angry as you get older.” Check it out!
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Just before Christmas Vaquelin unleashed their new single, “Centrefold” and in case you wondered, it is NOT a cover of the J Geils Band 80’s hit “Centerfold”, it is so much better than that. It is heavier than a planet. The armada of spectacular riffs stuns you into submission and highlights an air of dark menace in the music. Is this the best Vaquelin song yet? Probably! Take a listen and let me know what you think.
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Lancashire-based Ian M Bailey recently released his third album on the USA label Kool Kat Musik, following ‘You Paint The Pictures’ (2022) and ‘Songs To Dream Along To’ (2021). Ian has again been working with Scottish songsmith Daniel Wylie to write and produce the new record. Ian plays guitar, bass, drums, and some keyboards and provides the heavenly harmonies. Meanwhile, Alan Gregson adds string sections, Hammond, Rhodes, piano, and lap steel sounds.
The opening track “The Last Chime” is Beatlesesque with fine Byrdsian harmonies. This is a far better song than the awful “Now And Then” which was scraped from the bottom of the Fabs barrel last year. If you like sad-feeling songs with an underlying happy tone you will love “It’s Summer Rain”. I do, especially the ethereal jangly guitar sounds. I felt the ghost of an eastern influenced George Harrison on the delicious and delightful “Mother Nature (Giving Out Signs)”. Ian laments the fate of our planet in “The Clock Is Ticking” and adds his own positive message. It is a tune that feels like the Small Faces fronted by Just Hayward. The organ is also reminiscent of classic Inspiral Carpets. Classic blues rock sounds, maybe a bit of Deep Purple, help deliver the wonderful “She Waltzes With The Devil”. But the waltz elements give the track a nightmarish circus feel. If Ian added some yodelling to this instrumental track it might sound like something that Focus would be proud of. “Dance Around The Room” is the kind of song that leaves you with a smile and a happy feeling, and yes, I did dance around the room while it played.
One of the rockier Byrds-style tracks on the album is the hook-laden “Pray For Me”, my second favourite song on the album. A sad song about divorce, but it has such a vibrant tune. “California Desert Sundown” is a laid-back, chilled song that has an Eagles feel to it. I can imagine sitting after a long day, sipping wine while that song plays, the perfect wind-down soundtrack. Country-style rock is back in the truly heartfelt “The Sweet Smell Of Roses”, once again the harmonies are ethereal and perfect. The title track, “We Live In Strange Times” is probably my favourite track on the album. Everything is perfect here the music, the vocals, and a cracking tune. While “Country Girl” does have a beautiful country feel to it, I felt it would fit well on a playlist alongside some of Ronnie Lane’s great songs with Slim Chance. The strings are spot on here. The album closes with a kind of lament story song called “The Moon Floats On A Cloud”. This evokes folk, the best story songs, and showcases Ian’s writing talent. This is a fine album from a very talented artist. Give it a spin!
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Chloe Munt oozes talent and following some absolutely stunning tracks in recent years when fronting My Wonderful Daze and Please Remain Calm she is back as her solo alter ego Pick The Flowers. Her new single, “Jigsaw”, is haunting and emotional. Chloe’s musical versatility has no bounds and this new song shows her skill as an electronic artist. She certainly doesn’t allow herself to be genre-boxed, this tune is very, very different from her previous bands’ much heavier output. I would love to hear a dance remix of “Jigsaw”. I think it would work really well. Check out this gorgeous tune now! It is available on all streaming platforms.
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Regular readers know I have shown disdain and been somewhat disparaging about X-Factor and its predecessors and similar “talent” shows. However, there have been a few exceptions that came close to making me rethink those views. But even Harry Styles, who I believe is an incredibly talented artist has moved me to change my mind. He is one of the exceptions produced by the show in my opinion. Have there been others? Will Young is excellent and, Girls Aloud were ok, but the new album by Rebecca Ferguson, who finished second to Matt Cardle on X-Factor in 2010 and pushed One Direction to third place, is bloody good. More of that in a moment. As with all finalists she released a top-ten single, “Nothing’s Real But Love” off the back of the show. She followed that with four UK top-ten albums from 2011 to 2016.
Rebecca performed at the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, her home city, last year
Since then she has suffered terribly thanks to the extreme misogyny that sadly still exists within the music industry. She has used that experience to push for change in the industry and has appeared before a House Of Commons Women and Equalities Committee, whom she told that she was “fleeced” both “financially and morally” by executives and others in positions of power, whose “disgusting” conduct was part of a “rotten” culture. She added, “Unfortunately there is a bullying culture to make artists behave how people want them to, often for others’ commercial gains.” The committee heard that Rebecca was pressured into signing contracts; was denied royalties and medical attention; had personal and professional relationships deliberately wrecked; and was forced to carry on working after collapsing through exhaustion and having a miscarriage. She is one of the driving forces and key voices behind a new body called the Creative Industry Independent Standards Authority (Ciisa), which will investigate complaints in the music, film, theatre, and TV industries. Rebecca has also said “For so long, I harboured those secrets for very powerful men about what they were doing to me, and the truth of what was happening to me is it was a form of abuse. In fact, it wasn’t a form of abuse, it was abuse.” adding “The sad reality is it is an abuse that many creatives – be it models, actors, musicians or singers – go through, and we harbour the secrets“.
Rebecca has written, recorded, and released the new album, ‘Heaven Pt. II’ independently. I exchanged a few comments with Rebecca on Twitter when I saw her announce the album’s release. I said that I have huge respect for what she has done in calling out the misogyny, abuse, and vileness that exists in the music industry, but that I wasn’t a great fan of her music. She suggested that I at least give the album a spin, so I did. If I had listened to it earlier it might have made it into Mayhem’s top 20 albums for 2023. It is an album that exudes emotion, and highlights struggle but has incredible strength and positivity throughout. This suggests to me that Rebecca Ferguson is not just a talented singer-songwriter and performer but also a wonderful human being. Overall the album is a fabulous slice of modern R&B, but it has so many other influences and themes. There is also pop, electronic, and hip-hop among others.
I think I might target one of these dates!
The album kicks off with “Digging For Gold” a song with a message of hope in adversity. The lyrics are inspirational, “I’m just surviving by the skin of my teeth but tomorrow’s just another day” kicks off the chorus. The production on this track is perfect. Next comes “I’m Going To Love You” which wears it’s gospel influences with pride. Rebecca’s voice is deeply soulful here and at times has a feel of one of her heroines, Aretha Franklin. “From Now On” has a guitar sound that made me think of New Order. Lyrically it perhaps deals with some of the things that Rebecca has been through, “I figured I’ll take my chance and choose the life I want“. “Shallow Breathing” is an epic power ballad and it feels like a celebration of being loved. The vocal performance from Rebecca on this song is stupendous, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I even shed a little happy tear. If you like listening to songs with a 100% positive vibe, then play “I Have A Dream” It will lift you, I promise. If the Spice Girls ever decided to reform and record new songs they should definitely cover “Diamonds In Her Shoes”, although they might do the song justice I doubt that they would be able to top Rebecca Ferguson’s supreme performance. The hook and chorus stick with you long after the song has ended and I love the strings. I felt that “Found My Voice” sums up how Ferguson felt when she finally decided to move on up and do things her way. Once again there is a magnificent gospel feel and how can you not love this track. I am not sure how personal “Hollywood” is, but is a cinematic pop-rock tune that would make a great single. “Run Rebecca” is a fun song with some wonderful rap input and feels like Rebecca is showcasing her lack of fear in her life now. The album closes with “You Don’t Have To Leave” and frankly I didn’t want to leave this collection of gorgeous tunes, so I played the album again and again! I don’t know who the musicians who played on the record are but the music throughout is spot on. Ferguson appears to have worked with several co-writers and producers on the album, but for me, that simply enhances her own talent. Give this album a try, you will not regret it! Rebecca says that this will be her last album, I hope that is not true.
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Following on from the rather wonderful Summer Solstice Shenanigans in June at this very venue Spirit Of The Hawk is back with a Winter Solstice Spectacular. The first of the support bands was Chiang featuring some of Bradford’s finest musicians. They smashed into a stunning, incendiary set full of punk and metal energy. I am a new Chiang fan! Next up was one of York’s best bands, Soma Crew, who supported the Summer Solstice Shenanigans. They brought their “A-Game” drone skills with a collection of tunes that flow into your psyche and make you feel good. As usual, they throw in some exquisite curveballs; grunge tones, Floyd and maybe Can. Their rich sound was enhanced on a few tracks by the addition of a slide guitar. Just when you think that Soma Crew might have peaked, they do this and you know they are still on that upward curve.
Finally, it was time for this Winter Solstice Spectacular to kick into overdrive as Spirit Of The Hawk took the stage. Once again including members of Percy and Soma Crew. This was a supreme sonic fest that showcased just how good Hawkwind once were. This was a true psychedelic trip with some heavy, jazzy, proggy sounds, and, as with the Summer Solstice Shenanigans we had our very own Stacia stand-in making some flowing dance shapes in a glittery jumpsuit. This lady knows how to interpret music with dance. Every member of the band was firing on all cylinders. The guitar playing was exceptionally good. If you had shut your eyes during the set you might have imagined that it was Dave Brock on stage. There were too many highlights to mention but I loved “Damnation Alley” and set closer to “Quark, Strangeness And Charm”. When I reviewed the show in June I mentioned a quote from New Order’s Stephen Morris, “Punk rock started because in every small town, there was somebody who liked Hawkwind.” I am already looking forward to the next Spirit Of The Hawk gig, are you?
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The Bowie Contingent is a Sheffield-based band that pays homage to the music of David Bowie. They are not a tribute act in the same sense as Absolute Bowie, where you get the full theatrical costumed appearance. The Bowie Contingent clearly has huge respect for Bowie’s music and they play it supremely well. The focus for tonight’s show was the much-acclaimed Berlin Trilogy. Although as the singer Jason said, we all know that not all of that music was recorded in Berlin. (‘Low’ was recorded in France and Berlin, ‘Lodger’ in Switzerland and New York. ‘Heroes’ was the only one of the famous album triptych to be recorded completely in Berlin.) The Bowie Contingent promised deep cuts from this era and they delivered. The band played for a little under two hours, what a show!
They played some of the instrumental tracks from the period. The highlights of those were “Sense Of Doubt”, “A New Career In A New Town,” and a magnificent rollicking version of “V2-Schneider” (yes, I know the latter has some vocal elements, but it is mostly instrumental. I really loved that the focus wasn’t on big hits, although some of those did get aired. I must applaud the Bowie Contingent for their spot-on and respectful takes on “DJ”, “Be My Wife”, “Blackout”, “Beauty And The Beast” and “Joe The Lion”. These tracks showcased just how good this band is. I know how much the Spiders From Mars were revered and they were a brilliant band, but I believe the strongest band in Bowie’s career was with him during those three albums, I am talking of the DAM trio (Dennis Davis, Carlos Alomar, and George Murray). If you shut your eyes during this set you could almost imagine that the DAM trio were in full force at the Fully Arms.
Some of the arrangements were very clever. It felt like “Always Crashing In The Same Car” was played in a slower tempo, “Sound And Vision” was more acoustic than electronic and how could you not love the slow start to “Let’s Dance”. The main highlights for me, and there were many, were the superb vocals from Jason and the piano accompaniment on “Life On Mars”, the enormous fun the band had during “Boys Keep Swinging” and “Scary Monsters” and perhaps best of all using the bass intro for “Under Pressure” as the start of “Heroes”. The latter was a work of sublime genius. Whatever you feel about tribute acts, if you’re a Bowie fan you will love the Bowie Contingent!
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Having reviewed their album a few weeks back I was keen to see the Exceptional Mr. Hyde in action. Were they any good? Read on to find out, but first, let me tell you about the three support acts. First on stage was Beck Stacey. Beck gave us dark, bluesy folk with the voice of an angel. At this point let’s not forget that Lucifer was once a fallen angel. Working with that kind of theme I believe that Beck’s tunes would make the perfect soundtrack for a classic British Folk horror film along the lines of ‘The Wicker Man’. A perfect candidate would be the rather splendid “Red”. There were many highs in this wonderful set, particularly “Devil Town” and the gorgeous rendition of Townes van Zandt’s “Our Mother The Mountain”. Hearing Bek’s set strengthens my argument for never missing a support act. Beck Stacey was 100% ace!
Debdepan followed Beck Stacey onto the small and intimate Fulford Arms stage. I am not sure about the name, but the music is rather wonderful. This is Riot Grrrl meets Goth with the addition of slightly slower-paced New Order-style drums. Lead singer Chelsea’s voice is reminiscent of Siouxse Sioux and Patti Smith. Debdepan provided the perfect tunes to chill out after a hard, loud heavy metal gig. Based on this set I bloody love Debdepan. The final track had some weird, warped jazz tones in it and for me was one of the best songs of the night. But “The Goat” was my favourite track of Debdepan‘s set.
Feather Trade offer passionate, soulful, powerful rock vocals which reminded me of early U2, back in the days when they were still a bit edgy, and I am not talking about their guitarist. This was definitelythere in their new single “A Ready Defense” which includes a fabulous marching drum pattern a bit like U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. This was a stunning set from a stupendous band on top of their game and on peak form. Musicaaly that lack almost nothing. Emotional, soaring vocals, drums that are a hair’s width away from 100% perfection. Bass sounds that could bring down Olympus Mons, the highest mountain in our solar system. On top of all that their songs are overlaid with guitar sounds that could draw tears from the hardest of hearts, well unless that heart belomgs to a Tory MP! But fuck those scummy Conservatives, they have no hearts anyway. Feather Trade is a band that you need in your life!
Finally it was time for the Exceptional Mr. Hyde, this set was one of a number of dates that the band have put together to promote their new album ‘The Inevitable Rise Of…..’. I reviewed the album a litlle while ago and said “It is an album that bears repeated listening, and with each spin, it seems to build more power”. They have a great punk attitude and a mix of too many genres to mention, but fuck that mix works well! Bass and guitar work was exceptionally good. The band were missing their keyboard player, but the recorded parts worked well. They also don’t have a drummer, but the prerecorded drums (or drum machine) are mountainous. The srum sound on “Crash Land” stands in good comparison to the drum and bass style on Bowie’s ‘Earthling’ from 1997. The Exceptional Mr. Hyde blasted into their set with the song that opens the album, “Burn” and it was something very special indeed. A song about the earth and the environment, “She Cries” showed more care and conviction than any politician ever has. The ended the evening with a sonic explosion called “Solemn Power”. This was a great set showcasing a brilliant album!
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It is ages since I last saw the SoapGirls. Were they still as good and still as controversial? Read on to find out, but first I need to tell you about the rather spiffing support bands. Proceedings were kicked off by York’s Kiss Kiss Kill with a very heavy, feedback-fuelled barnstormer of a set. Does anyone remember the early 80s and the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM)? There must be a New NWOBHM with Kiss Kiss Kill as its vanguard and torchbearer. But their sound is not just metal, they also showcased their punk and pop sensibilities. The band was firing on every cylinder, but a special mention of the exquisite vocals from Gemma-Louise a.k.a. lil Miss. It was like a perfect splice of Suzi Quatro and Girlschool. The new Kiss Kiss Kill single “Bad Bitch” is spectacular.
Next, it was the turn of Lavire from Lincoln. This is a city that has given the world quite a few very talented musicians and songwriters, particularly Bernie Taupin, Rod Temperton, Iain Matthews, and more recently Holly Humberstone. Talking of NWOBHM Lavire would be a major part of a New NWOBHeavierHM. But again this lot is much more than just metal. Chloé’s vocals might have been forged in the mountains high above Asgard, while Aaron’s guitar riffs could split a planet in two. Check out their new EP ‘No Truth To Tell, Part 2’ it is bloody brilliant!
The SoapGirls possess power, passion and, absolutely everything else you need from a great band. They sound like Beth Ditto fronting a full-on punk band but with oodles of SoapGirls originality. “Wasted” was a huge highlight for me. The SoapGirls “mean it maaan”, probably more than the Sex Pistols ever did. Given the SoapGirls‘ stance on female empowerment, I was a little disappointed, but sadly not surprised that it was a predominantly male crowd. The band’s protagonists sisters Noemie and Camille Debray are Riot Grrrl, Girl Power, feminism and so much more writ loud. If you need a band that actually matters and cares about what matters to you then look no further than the SoapGirls.
All pictures and videos were found online. If any of them are yours please let me know and I am happy to credit you or remove pictures and videos.
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