With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

Cowgirl (Fulford Arms 6th Birthday gig) – Fulford Arms, York – Friday 10th January 2020 February 2, 2020

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 5:33 pm
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The Fulford Arms is such a great venue and it really feels like it has been here for a long, long time. But remarkably this show was in celebration of the Fulford Arms’ sixth birthday and it was a pleasure to be a part of it. It was a proper bargain too, five acts for £5. First up was Miles with an excellent solo set using a £30 guitar and a free phone app as his only backing apart from his wonderfully ethereal vocals. New song “Well” was very classy and “The Gap”, which Miles admitted he dropped earlier into the set than usual, was epic. But the highlight for me was “Aspirin” I really love that tune. Thank you, Miles, for a wonderfully chilled kick-off to the party!

Next, it was the turn of metal power trio Redfyrn. Imagine Kate Bush fronting a punk-influenced very heavy metal band with an added sprinkle of early PJ Harvey that is just one description of Redfyrn, but there are so many more. They are a band with great songs, none more so than “Silent Water”. This is a band that deserves to be heard. Their whole stage persona comes across as a little understated but they pack a hell of a punch, especially drummer Leo. This is definitely a band to keep an eye on.

Percy, another of York’s finest took the stage next and this would be the third time that I had seen them in just over a year. They have a new album coming out later this year and judging from the live takes on some of the new songs and the demo versions that I have heard it will be darned good. Their last album, ‘Sleeper’s Wake’ from 2018 was excellent, I reckon the new one will see them step up their game once again. If you like the Fall or anything Mark E Smith was involved with then you will love this lot, in fact, if you love your music with a punk attitude, a pinch of prog and at times political then you will adore Percy! The highlights for me, as expected, were the Brexit related tunes; “Unicorn” and “Will Of The People”. I can see the latter getting played a lot during 2020.

Probably one of my favourite current bands are My Wonderful Daze. Their appearance on the bill at the Fulford Arms on 10th January marked the fifth time that I had seen them in six months! They played at my first ever gig promotion at the Crescent just a week before this show. I was really pleased to see that vocalist Flowers a.k.a. Chloe’s voice was back to full strength after the cold and sore throat at the Crescent. Not that there was any dip in the quality in the previous weeks set mind you. The played some pounding versions of the tracks from their recent EP, ‘Guilty Party’. One of the many things that I love about this band is their overpowering energy, they don’t build to a crescendo, they start with one and keep it at that level for their whole set. Chloe showed great personality when dealing with tonight’s technical issues too; faulty microphone and a broken bass string! I don’t know when the first My Wonderful Daze album will appear, but I am so looking forward to it and to seeing them on stage plenty more times too!

Headliners were another rather excellent York band, Cowgirl, tonight was the third time that I have seen them and in fact the second time in just a few weeks. Their scuzzy, dirty and sometimes feedback-driven garage rock is reminiscent of the Jesus And Mary Chain, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and one of my favourite US bands, the Detroit Cobras. Many of their songs have an underlying electric blues feel, but one that is distorted with punk attitude and noise. I also see a young and more vibrant Velvet Underground in Cowgirl’ swagger and stage presence.  Small sweaty venues like the rather excellent Fulford Arms were made for bands like Cowgirl. Check them out now, that is an order!

 

All the photos apart from the gig poster were taken by me on my cheap Chinese android phone. The videos were all found on YouTube if one of them is yours and you would like a credit or for me to remove it please let me know. 

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“Starting Over” – Heartsink

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 4:43 pm
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York band Heartsink have a new single out today. It is called “Starting Over” and it is a pop-punk powerhouse of a tune. It takes the best elements of classic US pop-punk and filters it through a very British vibe. It is an earworm with a classy rhythm section making the rock engine purr and some very powerful riffage. Jake’s vocals are yearning, powerful and spot on! The production on this tune from Ben Stuart Brown is first class.

Heartsink are twin brothers Zac and Jake Roughton on drums respectively. The pair are aided and abetted in their long term plan to dominate the pop-punk world by  Kiel Hodgson on Guitar and bassist/ vocalist Bryn Portas. The boys have been around a while as a band and on the evidence of this track alone, Heartsink are a pretty well oiled and slick machine. A few more anthemic tunes like this and festivals will be falling over themselves to get them on their line ups. You can catch them tomorrow supporting Roam at the Basement in York, I might be there myself!

Check out the tune via YouTube below and click here to find it on Spotify!

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“God Is An American” January 12, 2020

Filed under: Observation,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 3:46 pm
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There was I just randomly searching for stuff as part of researching a different blog post and up pops this. A great cover of David Bowie’s “I’m Afraid Of Americans” by Dweezil Zappa. While Dweezil doesn’t take it too far from Bowie’s original it is still a pretty good cover of one of the Dame’s best later-period songs. Bowie released it as a single with plenty of remixes (from Photek and Nine Inch Nails) and it was included on the 1997 album ‘Earthling’. Although it did make an appearance on the ‘Showgirls’ soundtrack a little earlier than that. What do you think of Dweezil’s take on the song?

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“They told me it’s all over now, but my life’s just begun”

Filed under: Obituary — justwilliam1959 @ 3:23 pm
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Sometimes a piece of news just passes you by, doesn’t it? I was reading Record Collector magazine this week and discovered an obituary for Iain Sutherland of the Sutherland Brothers’ fame. So I am very sorry that this write up comes so long after that sad event. Many will remember this Scottish band, that Iain formed with his brother Gavin in 1968 then called New Generation, for their 1976 hit “Arms Of Mary”. They joined forces with Quiver in the early 70s and had moderate success in the USA, single “(I Don’t Want to Love You But) You Got Me Anyway” reached the Billboard Top 50, but failed to chart in their native UK. Gavin Sutherland also wrote another great song for the group, which sadly failed to chart, that song was “Sailing”, which was covered by Rod Stewart and went on to become one of his biggest hits. Incidentally, for many reasons, Rod Stewart’s cover of “Sailing” was my Dad’s funeral song back in 2001. But for me, my favourite song by the Sutherland Brothers and Quiver was 1973 single “Dream Kid (July 32nd)” which was also the title track of their album that same year. In fact “Dream Kid (July 32nd)” is one of my favourite songs of all time, I really can’t pinpoint exactly why, but I love it and it makes me feel happy whenever I hear it. It was played a lot on UK radio in 1973 and I was gutted that it never charted. I still have a vinyl copy of the album. Iain died in November 2019 aged just 71, which really isn’t that old these days. RIP Iain Sutherland.

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“And nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls” January 9, 2020

Filed under: News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 8:49 pm
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Some interest and irony in seeing climate change denier Marvin Lee Aday a.k.a Meatloaf taking part in Veganuary, especially as he has rejected calls to change his name to Veganloaf or Nutloaf. But to each their own, right? Anyway, Meatloaf has been big on vegetables before, well at least his music has; Sussex University used his ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ in a study in 2000 to see if rock music helped vegetables grow faster. Well, guess what, apparently it did make them grow faster. Let me have all the Meatloaf vegetable song title puns you’ve got! I’ll start with “Two Out Of Pea Ain’t Bad”!

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Dame David’s 73rd Birthday January 8, 2020

Filed under: Observation,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 8:31 pm
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Today, had he been alive the Dame a.k.a David Bowie would have been 73. Incidentally he had the same birthday as Elvis Presley. The King would have been 85 today. So as a little celebration of Bowie’s birthday how about we kick off with a song that he allegedly wanted Elvis to record; “Golden Years”.

Enjoy the videos and if you’re attending Absolute Bowie at the Crescent in York on 17th January, I’ll see you there! Let me also tantalise and tease you with another Bowie event that I am planning, it will be in York in the next few months. All will be revealed soon! Love on ya xxx

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With Just A Hint Of Mayhem Presents A Gig For SASH – The Crescent, York – Friday 3rd January 2020 January 7, 2020

Filed under: Observation,Review,WJAHOM Gig — justwilliam1959 @ 6:36 pm
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This is not really a review in the truest sense, more of a little tale as to how, as With Just A Hint Of Mayhem, I promoted my first gig. The idea gelled quite a while ago, I had wanted to do something to celebrate my own 60th birthday (1st January 2019) and the tenth birthday of my With Just A Hint Of Mayhem blog (9th February 2019). But for various reasons I took a lot longer to get things moving so, in reality, I suppose the gig celebrates my 61st birthday (January 1st, 2020) and the blogs eleventh anniversary next month (9th February 2020). One decision I made early was that this first, and possibly only, gig would be for charity. Mostly because I felt that if it went belly up then people might be more forgiving. I chose SASH as it is a charity close to my heart for far more reasons than I have time to go into here. SASH is a youth homelessness charity that works across York, North and East Yorkshire. They provide invaluable help to young people aged 16-25 who are facing homelessness.

The Receivers – Picture-Copyright – Charlie Kirkpatrick

After that all I had to decide was which bands I wanted on the bill, easy peasy, right? Well not quite, one band I was keen to have play agreed to be there and then had to pull out for logistical reasons, sadly the band broke up towards the end of last year too. So that left three out of four to secure for the night. A year ago I said to Rusty, the singer from Lost Trends that I was planning a charity gig, with no prompting he said: “we’re in!” With a stern straight face, I replied: “I haven’t asked you yet!” But obviously Lost Trends then became the first band to be pencilled in. Would I be able to secure the next two bands? Well, that part wasn’t too difficult and from initial conversations, it was clear that the Receivers and My Wonderful Daze were very keen to help and to play at the Crescent on 3rd January. After some advice from people who know their stuff (thank you Joe Coates and Simon Pattinson) I dropped my original wish of four bands on the bill to three. So now all was set and I embarked on a social media campaign of promotion. I was concerned that upfront ticket sales were low, but everyone kept telling me that there would be plenty of walk-ins on the night. Thankfully all those people were right and we had I think something like 80 – 90 people there on the night.

My Wonderful Daze – Picture-Copyright – Charlie Kirkpatrick

The running order was decided by online vote after the Receivers chose to open the show (they have a number of headline gigs coming up). In a close-fought vote, Lost Trends pipped My Wonderful Daze to the headline spot. So it would be doors open at 7:30, the Receivers at 8, My Wonderful Daze at 9 and Lost Trends at 10. I wanted to be there for all the preparation so I arrived at the Crescent at 4pm, before any of the bands ready and waiting to witness the soundchecks. Even that was exciting for me and by then I was running on pure grade adrenaline. All three bands were on top form at soundcheck aided and abetted by ace soundman Stu Bellis. The team at the Crescent were superb and I learned a lot from them for next time (yes I am sure there will be more from me!). Suddenly it was time for the doors to open and I stood by the ticket table waiting for the punters to flood in! It was more of a trickle at first but a relentless trickle which continued at quite a pace for the next hour or so.

Lost Trends – Picture-Copyright – Charlie Kirkpatrick

Before the bands came on Matt Messias told the crowd about all the great work that SASH do to help prevent youth homelessness. Every band played like they were headliners which made it a blistering night of fabulous music. The Receivers played crowdpleasers like “Saturday” and showcased a couple of new songs. Guitarist Alex had some instrument issues towards the end of their set but improvised with some maniacal Bez dancing. Flowers a.k.a. Chloe the obscenely talented frontwoman of My Wonderful Daze had an awful cold but did not let that deter her or the band from pulling off an incendiary set. The crowd had been up for a party and were wearing their bopping shoes and dancing trousers and showing their best moves all night. That culminated in the whole room grooving to those famous indie dance punkateers Lost Trends. It was a great night of punk, funk, psych, indie, metal, glam, and ROCK. It was LOUD and I loved it. Everyone that I spoke to loved it too. All three bands looked to be having great fun on stage as well. The Receivers and My Wonderful Daze offered much of their merch sales to SASH. I know that Lost Trends would have done the same but they are currently “the band with no merch”! So thanks to all the paying punters (many of whom gave their change to the charity), merch sales, all the bands turning down a rider and a discount on the venue hire fee we raised more than £400 for SASH. That is beyond my wildest expectations and it will fund 21 safe nights sleep to young people facing homelessness in our community. I cannot thank you all enough for what you helped us achieve. With Just A Hint Of Mayhem will definitely be doing more gigs!

Matt & Bill – Picture-Copyright – Charlie Kirkpatrick

As a postscript, there was an after-party of sorts at the Priory for shameless Karaoke. But while there were some true legends made into the early hours via Abba songs, Cyndi Lauper tunes and a couple of the Dame’s greatest hits, what went on at the Priory stays at the Priory. Although if you would like to pay me a fiver which I will give to SASH I will tell you as much as I can remember!

All the photos apart from the gig poster were taken by Charlie Kirkpatrick of Kirkpatrick Photography please do not share or use without permission. You can find Kirkpatrick Photography here and on Facebook. There are a few more excellent pictures from Charlie just below the following public service announcement, including some great crowd shots. I recognise quite a few of those punters! Incidentally, the gig poster was designed and made by me! The videos were all found on YouTube if one of them is yours and you would like a credit or for me to remove it please let me know. 

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‘American Dreams’ – Stonerpop December 30, 2019

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 3:42 pm
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Earlier this year I had the pleasure of reviewing two great singles from a band that was very new to me, LA-based Stonerpop. Those singles were “Night Terrors” and “Subroutine” and they are both included on the groups new album ‘American Dreams’ which comes into the world on January 1st, 2020. It was recorded in Shreveport, in the Stonerpop studio. Stonerpop is Jimmie Maneuva and Maudie Michelle who hail from the Deep South and Pacific Northwest, respectively. They formed their existential, exciting, electronic duo in 2016. The album opens with a kind of instrumental preface, “Myoclonus”. I have to confess I had to pull out the dictionary when confronted with that title. Myoclonus refers to a quick, involuntary muscle jerk. Hiccups are a form of myoclonus, as are the sudden jerks, or “sleep starts,” you may feel just before falling asleep. These forms of myoclonus occur in healthy people and rarely present a problem. In a sense, that track sets the tone as it suddenly jerks you into this moody, mind-warping collection of elegant electro tunes.  Many of the tunes in this collection would work well as a part of a film soundtrack, the cinematic scope of “The Others” suggests a really arty French Science Fiction film. Whereas “Right Place, Wrong Time” would fit more into a David Lynch Twin Peaks style universe. That track also makes great use of some sampled speech, I have no idea where it was sourced from but it works well. If you like music to move you physically then check out “House Of Cards” even those of you that prefer to remain immobile will be tempted to tap your fingers or your feet. Me? I danced around the room like no one was watching while I was listening to it! I believe that this was also recently released as a single too.

Instrumental “Rapid Eye Movement” has a repetitive bass synth underlay that sounds like a heartbeat, maybe that of a sleeping person during REM sleep. I have experienced a flotation tank and I can imagine this piece being slowly faded in to wake the participant at the end of the session. In “Dilation” Stonerpop have created a majestic musical piece that as with those mentioned earlier would not be out of place on a film soundtrack. Like a more electro Mogwai. The longest track on the album is “Ice Cold Souls” in which Maudie’s beautiful and at times robotic vocal competes with birdsong as the song builds slowly to an ever more layered crescendo, before fading to an electronic drone with sparse, eerie piano. Apart from the two singles, and I will come to those later, my favourite track after a few spins of the album is “Destiny Gang”. Jimmie’s vocal sounds like Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley through a voice melding synthesiser. Definitely a track that would sound great in a dance remix. So how about the two singles? Well, Night Terrors” is a monumental electronic painting made with sound. It has eerie, hypnotic and booming percussion, droning synth sounds and a vocal so ethereal it feels not of this world. “Subroutine” is a masterful electronic symphonic soundscape with layered percussion and a booming bassy synth riff underpinning a magnificent tune sung deliciously by Maudie.

Stonerpop say this about the album; “10 tracks that take the listener through an ethereal journey about getting stuck in the cheese wheel. The album is about confidence and the lack thereof. It’s about impostors, both real and fake. It’s about failure and the illusion of victory. Stonerpop wants to encourage people to both relax and take action.” That is definitely a vibe that I can get into. The Album Release Party took place a couple of days ago in the form of a Masquerade Party at Sal’s Saloon in Monroe, LA. The party included giveaways, art, and the opportunity to hear the album before its release. Sadly being this side of the big pond I was unable to make it, maybe next time! If you haven’t checked out Stonerpop yet then you need to do it now! How about starting by getting yourself a copy of ‘American Dreams’?

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Clutch – Leeds O2 Academy – Thursday 19th December 2019

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 9:38 pm
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This gig review was written by Phil Marsland

I had so been looking forward to Clutch at the O2 Leeds. Tickets were bought months ago, for me and my oldest school mate (both now 53!) and a pre-Christmas spectacular was planned. Two days before I got flu. Disaster. Massive fever, delirium, and doom pending massive disappointment. But I don’t let folk down. I would do everything within my power to be dosed up and present. This was probably foolish, but we made it there. Walking in during the support Graveyard to face an absolute wall of bodies and heat. I now understood the depths of my foolishness. Standing with Deano at the bar, I asked for a coke. First gig sober. Graveyard may have been good NWOCRers, but my review can’t do them justice as I was adjusting to the heat and noise and trying to stay upright. The last 2 cold and flu tablets were taken to hopefully get me through. We sidled our way to 6 back from the stage, just left of centre, and as it turned out, within bumping distance of the mad mosh.

Clutch was on, roaring “Rats” as an opener. The crowd went wild. These guys are hard southern rockin’ masters with a huge chunk of storytelling and a slice of funk. Clutch were formed in 1991 in Maryland and are 12 albums in and a real crowd favourite. Next Summer they will complete a UK festival first by playing 3 different sets at Ramblin Man in Kent. Back to the show. Neil Fallon, on lead vocals, sometimes guitar and one-time cowbell, is a crowd master. A master storyteller, performer, and actor. A southern rockin’ latterday Shakespearean performer. Never better than on “Army Of Bono” or “In Walks Barbarella”. You may choose others, and indeed there were many Clutch classics missing from their short set. But they did cram in 15 in just over an hour, including “A Shogun Named Marcus” which lit the blue touch paper in the mosh! Their encore contained their number one Spotify streamed “Electric Worry”, and the Southern classic “Fortunate Son”. And that was that. Much anticipated and much appreciated and left me wanting more. Rock n roll adrenalin got me through the flu, at least for a few hours. Onwards into 2020 and their triple set in Kent, along with a little known band called Lynyrd Skynyrd.

All the photos apart from the gig poster were taken Phil Marsland. The videos were all found on YouTube if one of them is yours and you would like a credit or for me to remove it please let me know. 

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