Trey McLamb, Myriam Martian, Brian Oaksford and Aaron Albrecht are EYEBALL and they are from Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. Well maybe they are not actually from Raleigh, their Bio says that “EYEBALL is a collective of beings who combine their music with effects, noise, and feedback to venture beyond the astral realm of psychedelic neo-space rock.” Having listened to their new tune “Crawling Creatures” I don’t think that Bio goes anywhere near far enough. It is a sublime slice of weird, slacker drone and at times proggy and shoegazey music. If you imagine that the Doors didn’t only name themselves after Aldous Huxley’s ‘The Doors Of Perception’ but that they actually opened those doors of perception and crawled right through into another somewhat warped parallel universe. Well if Jim Morrison and his gang had done that then they would have been transformed into EYEBALL. I have said on many occasions that just being weird is not enough, but being weird and incredibly talented is. EYEBALL are certainly weird and on the evidence provided by “Crawling Creatures” they are also supremely talented. I definitely want to hear more from this lot!
The 10th birthday celebrations for With Just A Hint Of Mayhem could roll on long than Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue at this rate. Today is day 7 and I am giving you a list of the ten greatest gigs I have ever been to. This was pretty damned tough, I could have listed at least 50 or more. Obviously this is in no particular order of preference, simply chronological.
Regular readers will know that so far I have shared with you top ten most viewed posts on the blog since it began back in February 2009, the top ten countries that have given With Just A Hint Of Mayhem the most views, rock/ music related books, biographies and autobiographies, my top 10 Bowie songs, my 10 favourite bands of all time and yesterday my top ten favourite male artists. (Click here,here, here,here,here and here to view those again). Stay tuned, there are still four top tens to come after this! What will they be? Well sign up, follow or just check out this site regularly to find out! What are your favourite male singers, be they current, ancient or no longer with us? Incidentally I can tell you that the remaining top tens will be my favourite female artists, my favourite albums and my favourite singles.
So without further fuss here is the list, strangely there are no 80s gigs in there;
Jackson 5 – Wembley Empire Pool – November 1972 – My first ever gig, the J5 were phenomenal and the support acts included Junior Walker and the All Stars and the Commodores
David Bowie – Wembley Empire Pool – May 1976 – My dad wouldn’t let me see the Dame in the Ziggy years so this was my first Bowie show and the Thin White Duke smashed it. Bowie even forgot the lyrics to “Life On Mars”
Ramones – Rainbow Theatre – December 1977 – This was a New Years Eve show, the night before my 18th birthday. Da Bruddas were brilliant and support was I think from Generation X and the Rezillos.
Millie Jackson – Apollo Victoria – November 1978 – I absolutely adore Millie Jackson’s voice, her soulfulness, her playfulness and her humour. This fabulous show with an amazing band was sadly the only time I saw her live, well so far.
Earth, Wind & Fire – Wembley Empire Pool – March 1979 – This was E,W & F in their full pomp with a pyramid stage set, pyrotechnics and teleportation. On top of that they were one of the finest soul and funk bands on the planet at the time and they were supported by the Emotions.
Oasis – The Old Trout, Windsor – May 1994 – With hindsight seeing Oasis in the sweaty backroom of a pub with a capacity of no more than 120 was truly incredible. I saw that at Knebworth a few years later, but this Windsor show topped that for me.
David Bowie – Phoenix Festival, Stratford on Avon – July 1996 – The second Bowie show in the list, well I did see him ten times. If I was pushed to say which my all time favourite gig was it would be this. The subdued start with “Quicksand” was stunning.
Foo Fighters – Reading Festival – August 2005 – I have seen the Foos at festivals many times, but for me this was their finest hour. A truly perfect live band.
Jimmy Cliff – O2 Academy, Leeds – August 2014 – possibly one of the most entertaining party style gigs I have ever had the pleasure of attending. Mr Cliff seems to have perpetual motion.
Kate Bush – Hammersmith Apollo – September 2014 – I didn’t see Kate in 1978 as I couldn’t afford I assumed that there would be another tour very soon, but there wasn’t But this was definitely worth the wait.
Day 6 of the 10th birthday celebrations for With Just A Hint Of Mayhem is here. Today it is my ten favourite male artists of all time. I suspect that some of you might be surprised by some of those included. Obviously this is in no particular order. Regular readers will know that so far I have shared with you top ten most viewed posts on the blog since it began back in February 2009, the top ten countries that have given With Just A Hint Of Mayhem the most views, rock/ music related books, biographies and autobiographies, my top 10 Bowie songs and yesterday my 10 favourite bands of all time. (Click here,here, here,here and here to view those again). Stay tuned, there are still four top tens to come after this! What will they be? Well sign up, follow or just check out this site regularly to find out! What are your favourite male singers, be they current, ancient or no longer with us? Incidentally I can tell you that one of the remaining top tens will be my favourite female singers.
So in no particular order, other than Johnny Nash has the greatest singing voice there has ever been in my opinion here are my top ten male artists; Johnny Nash, David Bowie, Frank Turner, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, Jeff Buckley, Neil Young and John Lennon
I do not believe that there has been a better vocalist in my lifetime than Johnny Nash. I absolutely love the soul and clarity of his vocals. If I believed in them this man would have the voice of an angel
I was a David Bowie fan from the moment I saw this iconic Top Of The pops performance of “Starman”
Gotta love Mr Turner and “I won’t sit down, I won’t shut up, but most of all I will not grow up” is a mantra for life. well it is for mine anyway!
Sure he got bloated and died young and his post army 60s output was often very poor there is no denying that Elvis was an incredible singer.
It took me a while to appreciate Mr Zimmerman but now I think he is a genius. “Hurricane” is probably my favourite Dylan song. I love how the anger and passion comes through.
Another artist taken from us far too young, Marley was a talented genius and deserved the title of the first third world superstar.
I love Stevie Wonder so much that I can just about forgive him for “I Just Called To say I Love You” and “Ebony And Ivory”
How hugely successful would this Buckley bloke have been had he not died so young? A world straddling superstar in my opinion. Has there ever been a voice like this before or since?
Mr Young takes no prisoners and does things his way, sure some of his stuff doesn’t work but the vast majority of it goes way beyond just working.
John Lennon has always been my favourite Beatle and I love so much of his solo stuff, apart from “Imagine”, I really can’t stand that!
Well it’s official I have now seen Frank Turner more times than I saw David Bowie! How come? Well obviously David Bowie is no longer with us, but also Frank is one hell of a talented performer. Before I tell you about Mr Turner’s performance let me say a little about the excellent support acts. Firstly Grace Petrie, she is a supreme talent; smart, funny, topical, self-deprecating and a great singer songwriter. For just one person with a guitar and a crowd that had come to see Frank Turner she owned the stage. Did anyone who had not heard of Grace Petrie before this night leave having not become a fan? I doubt it. She was fucking awesome. Her treatise on protest singers, or the lack of, “I Wish The Guardian Believed That I Exist” was pertinent, serious, satirical and funny all at the same time. She proved that she can also do happy songs with her ode to her niece, “Ivy” the line about missing Kasabian at Glastonbury rather than Dolly Parton is hilarious and worth the price of admission alone! It was a short set, but every song was a winner and left me wanting to see and hear more from this fabulous woman.
Next up were a band that formed in Arizona back in 1993, Jimmy Eat World. Not so many years ago it is likely that they would have been way above Frank Turner on the bill. Their name comes from a drawing in crayon from guitarist Tom Linton’s younger brother Ed showing another brother Jim, pushing the Earth into his mouth. The band’s pop punk sound has aged well and Jim Adkin’s vocals still hit the spot. There were many highlights in their eleven song set; “Futures” and “Bleed American” but perhaps the best was saved for the last song. A blistering, crowd pleasing romp through stone cold classic “The Middle”, the band’s biggest hit released way back in 2001.
Frank Turner was very much on form, he is great on his own with just a guitar, but when backed by the magnificent Sleeping Souls he reaches stratospheric levels. Ben Lloyd on guitar, harmonica and mandolin, Tarrant Anderson on bass guitar, Matt Nasir on keyboards and Nigel Powell on drums are real heroes that drive this set to enable Frank to pull off yet another amazing show. Some of the newer songs are for me a little soft and I am not sure that I like a loved up and contented Frank as much as an angry Frank. But there is no denying that he has a canon of truly wonderful songs. I could never tire of “Photosynthesis” and I believe that “1933” will be a future classic. The acoustic interlude was wonderful and as always “Long Live The Queen” brought tears to my eyes as I remembered those people who left us way too soon. “The Ballad Of Me And My Friends” was among the many crowd sing along highlights. After that acoustic sojourn the Sleeping Souls returned with huge bombastic effect with “I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous” and “The Next Storm”. There was hardly a bum left on a seat for those and when the main set ended with a stirring run through “I Still Believe” everyone was jumping and given the sound of the audience singing I suspect that there were many sore throats the next morning! Obviously there was an encore and the best part of that was for me the heartfelt and meaningful plea to “Be More Kind” and the full on rock stomp of “Get Better”. Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls get better every time I see them and I can hardly wait for the next time!
All photos, apart from the gig poster, were provided by rock photographer extraordinaire John Hayhurst at snapagig.com
More 10th birthday list shenanigans for With Just A Hint Of Mayhem. Today it is my ten favourite bands of all time, although as with other lists this might be different if I did it again next week! Obviously this is in no particular order. Regular readers will know that so far I have shared with you top ten most viewed posts on the blog since it began back in February 2009, the top ten countries that have given With Just A Hint Of Mayhem the most views, rock/ music related books, biographies and autobiographies and yesterday my top 10 Bowie songs. (Click here,here, here and here to view those again). Stay tuned, there are still five top tens to come after this! What will they be? Well sign up, follow or just check out this site regularly to find out! What are your favourite bands, be they current, ancient or defunct?
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 10th birthday celebrations continue with another top ten. Today it is my ten favourite songs by the Dame a.k.a. David Bowie. Regular readers know that I am a big fan of the former Mr Jones, who incidentally has been tagged on my blog more than anyone else. I would love to hear what your own favourite Bowie tunes are. This time. Regular readers will know that so far I have shared with you top ten most viewed posts on the blog since it began back in February 2009, the top ten countries that have given With Just A Hint Of Mayhem the most views and yesterday rock/ music related books, biographies and autobiographies. (Click here,here and here to view those again). Stay tuned, there are still six top tens to come after this! What will they be? Well sign up, follow or just check out this site regularly to find out!
This top ten of my favourite Bowie songs is definitely not in order of preference and if I did it again next week it would most likely be different. In this list there are seven songs from the 70s, one from the 80s, one from the 90s and one from the 21st century. I have also excluded “All The Young Dudes” which I consider to be the greatest song Bowie ever wrote. I left it out because other than a demo and live versions he never formally recorded it. So without further adieu here is the list and don’t forget to let me know your own favourites. Love on ya x
It’s time for part 3/ day 3 of the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 10th birthday celebrations with another top ten. This time rock/ music related books, biographies and autobiographies. Regular readers will know that so far I have shared with you top ten most viewed posts on the blog since it began back in February 2009 and yesterday the top ten countries that have given With Just A Hint Of Mayhem the most views. (Click here and here to view those again). OK but what about your favourite tunes and stuff I hear you say? Don’t worry there will definitely be plenty of music in the coming days including things like my top ten favourite singles, albums, bands and more stuff too! There was also a lot of music on yesterday’s post and with this book post too.
The book list is in no particular order, other than Ian Hunter being number one!
Diary Of A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star – Ian Hunter – an honest and very funny stroll through Ian Hunter’s early 70s diary
My Thoughts Exactly – Lily Allen – Lily opens her soul in this very honest and hard-hitting autobiography
Rod – Rod Stewart – probably the funniest autobiography that I have ever read
Life – Keith Richards – Keef proves how great a raconteur he is and that he remains a fan boy when it comes to the blues greats
Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys. : A Memoir – Viv Albertine – Easily among the best music related autobiographies ever written. Viv is sharp open and full of confidence
England’s Dreaming – Jon Savage – a detailed and colourful perspective on how the UK punk scene arose and its wider impact on social norms and social history
Scar Tissue – Anthony Kiedis – Kiedis tackles relationships, drugs and success. His description of an encounter with the Dalai Lama is proper laugh out loud
Last Train To Memphis: The Rise Of Elvis Presley – Peter Guralnick – this shows the human side of a young man from Tupelo who met with unprecedented success at supersonic speed. Almost scary at times
Hammer Of The Gods – Stephen Davis – if even half of these anecdotes are true then Led Zep are still truly legendary
Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties – Ian MacDonald – an in-depth analysis of the Fab Four and their impact on pretty much everything in the 60s and beyond
Here we go with part 2/ day 2 of the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 10th birthday celebrations. Regular readers will know that yesterday I gave you the top ten most viewed posts on the blog since it began back in February 2009 (Click here to view that again). Today I bring you the top ten countries that have given With Just A Hint Of Mayhem the most views. Don’t worry there will be plenty of music in the coming days including things like my top ten favourite singles, albums, bands and more stuff too! Don’t forget that you can also find us on Twitter and FaceBook .
So on with the countries who have visited the site most often
USA 173,833
UK 116,030
Chile 27,682
Germany 26,344
France 22,616
Canada 19,208
Mexico 15,273
Spain 14,654
Australia 11,828
Brazil 8,475
Incidentally there are a handful of countries that have never visited With Just A Hint Of Mayhem, well at least not yet. If you can make it happen for Svalbard, Western Sahara, Bujumbura, Chad, Turkmenistan, Kosovo, Djibouti and unsurprisingly, North Korea. There are also thirteen countries with only one view each in 10 years.
So to celebrate how about a few world related songs? Don’t mind if I do 🙂
Cast your memory way, way back through the mists of time to February 9th 2009, are you there now? Well that is the day that this blog was born and now it is nearly ten years old. I would like to thank Nick Horslen for planting the idea of blogging into my head and my long-suffering wife for putting up with me and my blog (especially the stats) all that time. As of now the blog has 1,698 followers, this post will be the 1,266th, there have been 885 comments and incredibly, more than 1.6 million views! I have big plans for With Just A Hint Of Mayhem in 2019, keep your eyes and ears peeled for what happens next. In the meantime and in the run up to the blogs official birthday I thought I would delight you with ten top tens. Kicking off with the ten most popular posts so far (nine of which are from that kick off year of 2009 and all ten of them have combined views of nearly 175,000);
Regular readers will know that as a die-hard, life long David Bowie fan it took ages for me to finally cave in and see a Bowie tribute act. That particular tribute act is Absolute Bowie and 2019 marks the third year in a row that I have seen the magnificent spectacle of an Absolute Bowie show. When I first came to see them at Fibbers back in 2017 I was determined not to like them, but I bloody loved them and still do. The show is empathetic, sympathetic and a stunningly well put together tribute to the late, great Dame David. This show was very special as it featured not just the usual two Bowie’s from my experiences, but no less than four different Bowie incarnations. Obviously Ziggy and the Spiders was first, kicking off proceedings with an explosive “Watch That Man” followed by many Ziggy period classics including another from ‘Aladdin Sane’ that I hadn’t heard for a while, “Panic In Detroit”. There were many highlights in that first set particularly the perfect rendition of “Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)” including the warped jazz tinged Mike Garson piano licks from the supremely talented Alex Paolillo. When Bowie (John O’Neill) picked up the 12 string guitar I knew a treat was in store and I was not wrong, first a great version of my favourite Bowie song “All The Young Dudes” and then a crowd pleasing take of “Starman” which had the crowd singing at full volume.
After a brief interval the band returned in full Serious Moonlight mode and smashed 80s Bowie with rousing and authentic early 80s anthems; “Let’s Dance”, “Ashes To Ashes” and “China Girl”. The 80s was never my favourite David Bowie period, but it is impossible to deny that some of the songs are guaranteed party starters and the audience agreed and threw themselves into singing and dancing with gargantuan glee and amazing abandon. I am sure there were plenty of sore throats and aching muscles the next day. John O’Neill left the stage as 80s Bowie while the stupendously talented band carried on before he returned as a 90s Bowie and wowed us with “Hallo Spaceboy” and what you might call a deep cut, “Look Back In Anger” from the 1979 David Bowie album ‘Lodger’. I was intrigued about what the encore might be after the band left the stage. I was blown away. They kicked off the final three songs with a note perfect recreation of “Black Star”, a song that the real Bowie never got to perform live. O’Neill looked the part wearing the bandage style mask with those eerie black dot eyes. Taking on that song was for me one hell of a brave move, but it paid off, it was excellent and beautifully performed. How could Absolute Bowie follow such a mountainous peak? Quite spectacularly actually. Firstly with another outing for the 12 string on “Space Oddity” and a very passionate and moving “Heroes”.
Absolute Bowie were very worthy and deserving winners of the ‘Best Bowie Tribute’ and ‘Best Tribute Band in the UK’ at the Agents Association of Great Britain Awards last summer. On tonights performance they must be in with a good chance of winning many more awards. I should mention the people who form this magnificent band too. Obviously there is John O’Neill as Bowie, Chris Buratti on Guitar and as a very credible and believable Mick Ronson, Alex Face drummer extraordinaire who would almost certainly make Woody Woodmansey proud, Fabio Cascio a bass player who knows his way around classic rock bass lines and the previously mentioned keyboard wizard Alex Paolillo. If you have never seen Absolute Bowie then I urge you to do so. Even if you are like I used to be; a die-hard fan who hated the idea of a Bowie tribute. This lot is well worth the ticket price. My beautiful wife Catwoman joined me tonight and she loved it as did our good friends Nikki and David. I am sure that all four of us will be back next year!
Public Service Announcement: All the pictures, apart from the tour poster, were taken on my cheap android phone. The videos were found on YouTube. If any of the videos are yours let me know if you would like a credit or if you want a video removed.
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 