According to their story Swedish band Sunnan came about by accidents of fate and a series of unlikely encounters during and post pandemic. Their sound is cinematic in inspiration and ambition. They describe their new single, “Sail (Lady In Waiting)” as “the manifestation of a new genre“. I am not sure that I agree with that statement, at least not yet. Their influences seem to draw on a wide range of great music; US West Coast rock, Dance music, Byrdsian harmonies, ELO style hooks and classic blue eyed soul (think early Hall and Oates and perhaps Robert Palmer). This track is sophisticated soul music at its finest. It evokes old school but is clearly set in the 21st century. This track is from their second album ‘Spaghetti Soul’ due out sometime later this year. Based on “Sail (Lady In Waiting)” I reckon the album will be rather special!
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I think this is perhaps the third or fourth Bowie tribute act I have seen since I first dipped my toe into the Bowie tribute waters back in 2016. This is the first I have seen that comes direct from the west end. Based on my poor experience at the music of Fleetwood Mac Concerts by Candlelight in Ripon a couple of days ago, the west end badge is not necessarily a good thing. However the Bowie Experience were stunning. The seven piece band were supremely talented and pulled off the Bowie sounds wonderfully. The set was obviously full of the big hits but also some lesser played songs like “Station To Station”, “TVC15” and “Blue Jean”. The songs ranged from 1969 to 1986 and given the proximity to the tenth anniversary of Bowie’s passing it was an emotional night.
The costume changes ranged from Ziggy through the Thin White Duke to the Serious Moonlight look and were carried out in perfect time and Laurence Knight who is Bowie in this group even gave a shout out credit to his dresser. The costumes were classy and looked pretty authentic too. Knight pulls off the idiosyncratic Bowie dance moves better than most. It was a show full of huge highlights and energetic singalongs. The obvious crowd pleasers were drawn from Bowie’s superstar phase (“Let’s Dance” and “China Girl”) but the best moments for me were the previously mentioned deep cuts and a soulful “Sorrow”, an ace “Young Americans”, a full on glam stomping “Rebel Rebel” and a towering, emotional romp through “All The Young Dudes” to close a fabulous night. I would certainly come to another Bowie Experience gig and if you’re a Bowie fan the you should too.
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This was my first gig of 2026 and after witnessing Bowie by Candlelight at this same magnificent venue last year I was looking forward to it. According to the publicity this is a show “direct from London’s West End” and would feature “a spectacular cast of West End Singers and epic live band” providing “a landslide concert, jam packed with Fleetwood Mac hits as you have never heard them before!” Having been there, at least for the first half of the show I can agree with some of those statements. It was indeed an epic and extremely talented live band. However vocally it was hit and miss. The female vocalist (I think her name may be Georgia Carling) was superb and pulled off some great Stevie Nicks sounds. The male singer with the long hair was pretty good too. But the other two male vocalists were, in my opinion, superfluous and often struggled to hit the vocal highs of the other two singers. This hugely lowered the quality and excitement of what I was hoping was going to be stunning and memorable night. These two gentlemen appeared to have the stage presence of a pair of mannequins. While the band and two of the singers were very good this was overall an incredibly disappointing evening. We left the show after the interval and there were a few other people who did the same. Maybe this show should have stayed in the west end of London!
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This was not the first time I had the opportunity to witness the musical phenomenon that is the Apocalypse Disco so I knew what to expect. Where they as great as usual? Read on dear reader to find out. First I need to tell you about the rather spiffing support bands.
First up it was Still Moving, an incredibly talented band. The drummer strived for absolute perfection and probably came within a hairs breadth of it. The lead singer’s voice reminded me of a young Grace Slick at times. Their original songs, particularly “Through It All” were very promising. The band’s choice of covers were very Marmite for me. Their take on “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” was fabulous, mesmerising and lava hot. Meanwhile their Oasis cover, while technically great, was bland. Why do so many bands feel the need to cover Oasis? Anyway aside from that Still Moving are undoubtedly an excellent band. Their closing song nailed their burgeoning reputation. It was a tumultuous finish with a strong Jefferson Airplane vibe flowing through it.
Next up in the penultimate slot it was Forever Texas, a band who supposedly don’t play very often. That is not apparent in the powerful punchy set. This was metal tinged punk full of power, passion and a healthy pinch of anger at the world. Musically it was as if John Cooper Clarke wrote the lyrics and Lemmy wrote the choruses. This was a tsunami of mighty riffs which laid siege to your ears in a very good way. The drummer was a talented and tasty performer and held the band together well. I loved their song about flag shaggers. (In case you wondered it was certainly not in favour of flag shaggers!) I am most definitely a Forever Texas fan!
Finally it was time for the Apocalypse Disco to hit the stage. They delivered a tight, high‑energy show that feels more like a late‑night rave ritual, although there was a distinct lack of glow sticks. The musically superpowered duo of Robin and Ian gave a relentless and cohesive set, turning the room into a sweaty, locked‑in dancefloor full of acolytes of the band and their ethos. They are more than the sum of their parts, layering thick synths, driving beats and distorted textures into a dense, physical sound. Robin’s vocals ooze passion and urgency and he performs with a Jagger swagger. This towering performance played into a darkly gorgeous, neon‑lit, end‑of‑the‑world aesthetic. While their name an many of their songs communicate current and impending dystopia there is also strong theme of hope and euphoria. This is protest music you can dance to, and it implores the audience to lose themselves while still feeling that something meaningful is at stake and life is always worth living. The Fulford Arms played host to a show that was intense, sweaty and immersive. If you like your loud, cathartic and unafraid of the dark then seeing the Apocalypse Disco live is definitely for you!.
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We are big fans of Party Nails here at Mayhem Towers, she has featured on these pages a few time in 2025. So when we saw that she had released a Christmas song we, of course, had to give it a spin. It is called “Christmas Is The Deadline” and it is the kind of song that will not only be played this Christmas, but many future Christmases too. It is quite a jolly kind of lo-fi electronica song and the hooks are excellent. I think it tells the tale of how, for many people, Christmas is a huge deadline; getting food in, sending invites to family, buying presents, wrapping presents and so much more. If you get to Christmas day and you find that maybe you have forgotten one vital ingredient for Christmas dinner, just play this song, it will make you feel better, I promise you! Will Party Nails feature on these pages again before 2026? Keep reading, I know she will feature on at least one more post this year! Will it be as a part of Mayhem’s top 50 albums of the year? Maybe! 😉
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Hot on the heels of winning the Fulford Arms Battle of the Bands a few weeks ago Pick The Flowers have released a new single, “Peace”. It is haunting and ethereal with a dark vocal from Chloe that seeps deep into your soul. The track feels cinematic in scope and ambition. The production has a cut glass clarity and with added orchestration this is the kind of song that would make a classy James Bond theme. I thought Chloe might have peaked with her last single, “Wednesday”, but with “Peace” she proves that she is willing and able to go even higher! Get Pick The Flowers on your playlists now, you will not be disappointed. Also keep a look out for an interview with Pick The Flowers on these very pages very soon.
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Grape have released a rather fab Christmas song. It starts out with a lovely, unassuming jolly vibe and then the magnificent hook and full band come crashing in perfectly after 70 seconds. But not only is it a good song it is raising money for St Mungo’s, a charity whose purpose is to end homelessness and rebuild lives after homelessness. Grape is a veritable supergroup made up of members of Alt-J, Gang Of Youths and Tellison. You can stream the track for free, but why would you do that when for just £1.50 you can download it and contribute to a great charity. Check out more details on Bandcamp here. Alternatively you can donate direct to St. Mungo’s here. If you can spare even the smallest amount it will help a great cause.
Gus Unger-Hamilton who is a member of Alt-J and also a St Mungo’s ambassador said this about the release “I am extremely proud to be an ambassador for St Mungo’s and, as Londoners, we in GRAPE all feel an acute desire to help people sleeping rough as much as we can. With this song’s lyrical themes of a difficult life in the process of being rebuilt at Christmas, it felt like a no-brainer to release this song in support of the charity.”
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This would be the sixth time that I have seen Absolute Bowie perform since my first experience back in 2017. Regular readers will know that I have never been a huge fan of covers bands, however there are always exceptions and Absolute Bowie are not just the exception they are exceptional. I have seen two other Bowie tributes, David Live, is slightly closer to the Dame vocally and the Bowie Contingent are better than all the competition musically. However John O’Neill’s Absolute Bowie blow everyone away for entertainment value. You get the costumes, the costume changes, the make up, a superb very tight band and the huge talent and charisma of O’Neill himself. Tonight’s set once again began with a Ziggy Fest with the main man making all the right Ziggy moves and rocking through some seventies classics.
The band kicked off with a wonderfully dark take of “The Man Who Sold The World” and delivered some classic audience sing along moments with “Starman”, “All The Young Dudes”, “Changes” and “Rock n Roll Suicide”. The latter was apparently included after many requests from fans online. Did no one request “The Laughing Gnome”? 🙂 The band wigged out and showed just how good a rock band they are as they stormed through an extended instrumental work out on “Moonage Daydream” while O’Neill took time out for a costume change. The band behind O’Neill are Andy Marr on guitar, Telegram Sam on bass, Danny Mattin on keyboards and Alex Face on drums.
For the second set they returned without the 70s wigs and glitter while O’Neill sported a jacket that kind of took us back to the 1974 American tour and he performed “Cracked Actor” and “Fame” back to back with an immense and superb sonic assault. After he dropped that jacket we were transported to the superstar pomp of the Serious Moonlight period. Inevitably “China Girl” and “Let’s Dance” were given an airing, but for me the stand out song of the second set was a hauntingly good “Ashes To Ashes”. The band returned for the now obligatory encore and stepped up another gear and set the scene with a fine take on “Space Oddity” before raising the roof with the double punch of “Heroes” and “Rebel Rebel”. If, like me, you are a Bowie fan with an aversion to Bowie tribute acts just put away you negativity, put on your red shoes and dance the blues to the magnificent Absolute Bowie!
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While I love seeing bands that I know and love again and again I equally love seeing artists that I have never seen before. This show at the fabulous Fulford Arms had three bands that I had never seen before. First up it was Eldermother who are a wonderful combination of harp, cello and dark heavenly ethereal vocals. They opened with a haunting, mesmerising cover of Radiohead’s “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”. Their original songs chase perfection and in most cases achieve it. Particularly “Water Wings” which apparently comes from a defunct Folk/ Black Metal project. I certainly hope that project is “refunct” <sic> one day! The working of a WB Yeats poem to music was magnificent. There was another simply spine-tingling cover. If you thought that the Johnny Cash version of the Nine Inch Nails classic “Hurt” was emotional then think again. The cover of “Hurt” by Eldermother brought me to my knees as it ripped at my heart, absolutely stunning.
Luna Cult Club took to the stage next. I feel that if Bjork was to die, and I hope she doesn’t, she would come back and haunt us in a most wondrous way through the music of Luna Cult Club. If the early Human League had been possessed by the screaming souls of every woman killed at the Witch Trials of the 1600’s then “Being Boiled” would have sounded more like Luna Cult Club than Mr. Oakey and pals. Luna Cult Club are Stygian dark goth electro in both appearance and sound. This is formed from both skill levels and musical prowess. The veiled shadowy look of the two female singers was eerie and hypnotic. Meanwhile the synth, keyboard musical maestro reminded me very much of a young Brian Eno.
Finally it was time for Dead Space Chamber Music. They are described as “a gothic / experimental / doom group. They reinterpret historical material, taking forms and melodies that are hundreds of years old and shape-shifting them into new and varied contemporary works. Incorporating improvisation and use of ‘found sounds’, and with vocals spanning medieval Middle English, Latin and Welsh, they blend elements of dark ambient, post-industrial, avant-classical, sacred chant and dark-folk in their powerful and atmospheric music.” It is impossible to disagree with that summary. On stage they convey a delightfully wonderful weirdness and I can honestly say that I don’t believe that I have ever heard anything quite like the sounds that they produce and let’s face it I have been on the planet for fucking years! If someone ever wants to do a decent remake of British folk horror classic ‘The Wicker Man’ (not like that atrocious Nicholas Cage remake) then Dead Space Chamber Music should be given a free reign to write and record the soundtrack. This band give you deep, dark, and we are talking very dark, folk with gothic incantations and post witchcraft incantations. If Stevie Nicks took a full gothic turn after appearing in ‘American Horror Story’ she might have ridden this kind of supernaturally driven soundwave. The use of a bow on the cymbals gave some very different percussive tones (and in Jimmy Page style), as did the dropping of small pebbles (well at least I think that is what it was) onto a metal tray. I also felt that from a voice perspective and in some of the songs they sounded like a reincarnated Jefferson Airplane but with a 21st Century vibe. In my dreams I forsee a Dead Space Chamber Music collaboration with Yoko Ono. Can anyone make that happen? I would definitely see Dead Space Chamber Music again. You need to check them out!
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Palindrones formed in 2020 during Covid lockdowns. Jamie and Karen used their songwriting to remain connected despite being on opposite sides of London. The newly released video to the song “Abraxas”, from their current album ‘Chapter Two: The Slender Blade’, is a dazzling spectacle that celebrates an outstanding song. The track goes from 0 to 100 in seconds and in the immense percussive moments it feels like dark drum and bass at warp speed. This is world class synthed up goth pop. It has a joyous melody that fights for space with some souped up dark sounds. The joy emerges triumphant as this song makes you dance and smile. The video features the duo and they are overlaid with a psychedelic kaleidoscopic cartoon projection that might have transported itself from Haight-Ashbury at the height of the first summer of love.
The word Abraxas has a number of meanings but in the context of this magnificent song from Palindrones it made me think of the symbolic concept in the psychological work of Carl Jung. In Jung’s theories Abraxas symbolizes the chaotic and unified totality of the Self, representing the individuation process. The journey to integrate both the conscious and unconscious parts of oneself to achieve a whole and true Self. This song is pure, beautiful, unified chaos and my true self loves it! The song will be released as a double A-side single called “Abraxas & The Brightling Star” on 5th December.
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