With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

“Clickbait Reissued” – Sally Pepper featuring Millie Manders March 29, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 3:30 pm
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Sally Pepper’s songs are powerful, meaningful message carriers that issue a clarion call to the masses. “Click Bait” in its original form a fabulous song. Now Sally has rerecorded it with some support from her bestie Millie Manders. The new version, entitled, “Clickbait Reissued”, is as punk as fuck and rocks out like a barely contained music cyclone. The song slams the press, particularly tabloids, and lays bare the lies and hypocrisy that continues to be reported as truth. The full lyrics are great but some highlights for me are “But the only thing to cause offence is your lack of fucking common sense” which is clearly aimed at the idiots and hate mongers that feed off the shit that gets published. Then there is the “You’re not racist ‘cos you’ve got a friend who’s black, But you think it’s safest if we just send them back“. which sums up everyone that I have ever heard start a sentence with “I’m not a racist but …..“. As long as the world has people like Sally Pepper and Millie Manders in it then there is hope! I will be seeing Millie Manders and the Shutup live at the Crescent in York tomorrow and one of the support acts is Sally Pepper. Will we see a fully charged live version of “Clickbait Reissued” performed by Sally, Millie and the Shutup? I certainly hope so. Incidentally is that the Shutup playing on the track?

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“Speak Medieval” – Erotic Secrets Of Pompeii March 27, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 10:27 pm
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Two years ago I had an absolute blast witnessing Erotic Secrets Of Pompeii live for the first time, at the Fulford Arms in York. In my review of that night I used the opening narration from Rod Serling’s original Twilight Zone TV Series to try and give some flavour and explanation of what Erotic Secrets Of Pompeii are like. Having listened to their new single “Sing Medieval” I think Rod Serling’s words still sum them up perfectly. Those words are “You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension – a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over into the Twilight Zone“

The new song is frantic and full of warped post punk angst and energy. The angular guitar riffs are a punky take on Tome Verlaine and Television. There is a 60s cinematic feel to the track and a sprinkle of the B-52s “Rock Lobster”. The lyrics might have been made by someone throwing all the violent parts of nursery rhymes and fairy tales into a blender and spewing them out in swirling staccato voice shots. Word pairings like “I am trickster, mischief maker” and the infectious “Here comes the chopper, to chop – to chop, chop off their head” refrain are like no other lyric and work incredibly well because of that. Thomas Hawtin’s voice and delivery is reminiscent of early Talking Heads when David Byrne’s voice was weird, jagged and other-worldly. The band are on fire in this frenetic journey through the darker parts of the world and its bloody history. Erotic Secrets Of Pompeii are a truly and wonderfully different band and one that is perfect for this century and this sad, mad world that we live in. “Speak Medieval” is simply another step to world domination by Erotic Secrets Of Pompeii.

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On This Day Action Eminem Or G.I. Marshall Was Banned! March 26, 2025

Filed under: On This Day — justwilliam1959 @ 10:26 pm
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On 26th March 2001 The toy figure of Eminem was banned by some UK shops. Woolworth’s and Hamleys refused to stock the dolls. Psychologists had warned that parents who buy the dolls for children will be inadvertently giving their approval to bad language. Well that sounds like total fucking nonsense to me!

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Wardruna – Barbican Centre, York – Saturday 22nd March 2025 March 24, 2025

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 1:02 pm
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Those lovely folk at the Modern Record asked me to review Wardruna in York at the weekend. I am always up for experiencing something a bit different, so obviously I went! I have been going to gigs for many years now and I have never seen anything quite like Wardruna. My friend from work, Eva, joined me and she loved it too a brilliant surprise! Wardruna play traditional old Norse instruments and sing in old Norse language. Check out my review on the Modern Record by clicking the link below.

Wardruna performing live at York’s Barbican Centre

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On This Day The Fabs Won And Failed To Turn Up While Elvis’ Dad Drank Lemonade! March 23, 2025

Filed under: On This Day — justwilliam1959 @ 3:02 pm
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On 23rd March 1967 at a ceremony held at the Playhouse Theatre in London, The Beatles were awarded three Ivor Novello awards. These were for 1966: Best-selling British single “Yellow Submarine”,(Effectively the ‘A’ Side of the Record Issued in 1966 Which Achieved the Highest Certified British Sales) most-performed song “Michelle”, and next-most-performed song “Yesterday”. Incidentally fact fans, the most covered Beatles song is “Yesterday,” with over 2,200 covers, according to Guinness World Records, and is also considered the most covered song of all time. Meanwhile the band’s most played song is “Here Comes the Sun” it has racked up over a billion streams on Spotify, making it the only Beatles track to reach that milestone.

None of the Beatles attended the Ivor Novello ceremony back in ’67 and the winning songs were played by Joe Loss and his Orchestra. The lead vocal for “Michelle” was sung by Ross MacManus, whose son would go on to become the professional musician Elvis Costello. In 1970, Ross MacManus recorded a version of The Beatles’ song “The Long And Winding Road” under the pseudonym of Day Costello, which spent 17 weeks in the Australian chart, peaking at number 16. He was also the man responsible for the music and vocals from the R. White’s Lemonade television advertisement theme song “Secret Lemonade Drinker”, on which MacManus Junior (a.k.a. Elvis Costello) sang backing vocals.

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The WJAHOM Interview Podcast – David Hepworth

Filed under: Interview,Podcast — justwilliam1959 @ 12:08 pm

I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing ace music journalist, presenter and writer David Hepworth a few days ago. He has worked on Sounds, NME and Smash Hits and is the man behind Q Magazine and Mojo. He was a presenter on the Old Grey Whistle Test and Live Aid. He has also written a great selection of fabulous music books. Including his latest ‘Hope I Get Old Before I Die’ which we spoke about. You can find my review of that book by clicking here. It was a really enjoyable chat. I hope that you like it too.

CLICK HERE to take a listen to the interview.

Just a quick note. This is a Zoom recording and it has recorded my voice at a higher volume than David’s. I didn’t shout! Honest!

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“This Is Life” – Winnetka Bowling League March 16, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 9:27 pm
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Los Angeles trio Winnetka Bowling League issued a deluxe edition of last years “This Is Life” single recorded with Dawes and Medium Build. This edition features the original song, a live version and an acoustic version. Sadly, the song passed me by last summer, but I am so glad I have found it now. It is a fragile, emotional track which seems to be a stream of consciousness reflection on life. The lyrics are both simple and cleverly complex at the same time. “Like maybe death is time redirected. And hate is just the love we’ve rejected” for me those lines are the work of a genius. Especially as it is in the same song as the line “From being so broke I did sex shit on Craigslist“. The song is a mesmerisingly mellow thought provoking ballad for our times. What does it actually mean? I have no idea, but I suspect it might mean something different to everyone that hears it. I love this song and I will now power my way through Winnetka Bowling League’s back catalogue. I suspect that they may appear in these pages again in the future.

As a footnote, I discovered the band from a post that they made on Instagram about the last show of their recent tour which ended in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. What they said on that post and in the show was “Trump’s tariffs on Canada mean it would cost us 25% to bring our OWN merch / tee shirts back to America tomorrow when the tour ends. We said fuck that and gave it away for free in Halifax. Love you Canada“. So yes as we suspected there are good Americans (Winnetka Bowling Club definitely are!). Not everyone is under the orange thumb of Donold and Sissy SpaceX! Viva la revolution!

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On This Day Stinky Got A Bingo Hand Job! March 14, 2025

Filed under: On This Day — justwilliam1959 @ 10:38 pm
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On 14th March 1991 R.E.M. played the first of two nights at London’s Borderline Club under the name of Bingo Hand Job. The group were in the UK to promote their seventh studio album ‘Out Of Time’ and their current single “Losing My Religion”. The single hit number 4 on the US Billboard chart, number 19 in the UK and topped the chart in the Netherlands.

At the 1992 Grammy Awards, “Losing My Religion” won Best Short Form Music Video and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Its video won awards for Video of the Year, Best Group Video, Breakthrough Video, Best Art Direction, Best Direction, and Best Editing at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. In 2020, “Losing My Religion” became the first R.E.M. video to reach one billion views on YouTube. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017, and Rolling Stone ranked it at number 112 in its 2024 list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

The ‘Out Of Time’ album went on to top the charts in the US, Austria, Canada, the Netherlands and the UK. For the “secret” gigs at the Borderline under the previously mentioned pseudonym Bingo Hand Job members of R.E.M. were joined by Billy Bragg, Peter Holsapple and Robyn Hitchcock, who also adopted pseudonyms. The pseudonyms adopted by the band and their mates were The Doc (Berry), Raoul (Buck), Stinky (Stipe) and Ophelia (Mills), along with friends Conrad (Billy Bragg), Violet (Robyn Hitchcock) and Spanish Charlie (Peter Holsapple).

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“Hand In Hand” – Drop Dead McPhee

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 10:11 pm
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Regular readers will have read about York’s Drop Dead McPhee on these pages before. I reviewed their support slot for Asylum last month, check that out here. They have just released their first single, “Hand In Hand”. When I saw them last month I likened them to Brinsley Schwarz and I think the new track also reflects that with and added abundance of American west coast rock, particularly in the guitar sounds which are majestic and the harmonies are delightfully Byrdsian. The B-Side/ 2nd track “Ignorance And Bliss” took me back to the early days of Aztec Camera. It is a wonderful slice of bright, tasteful acoustic rock. This is a great release from a band with great potential. I expect them to appear on these pages a lot in the future!

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“Wednesday” – Pick The Flowers

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 9:34 pm
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Chloe Munt a.k.a. Pick The Flowers has just released another single, “Wednesday”. This is around a year since her last release and oh boy has it been worth the wait. This dark, haunting, mesmeric, chilled, trance-like, cinematic anthem is her best yet. The soft electro sounds wash over you and just when you think you are drowning the beat kicks in and Chloe’s gorgeous emotional vocal drags you back to the surface. This track has huge depth and ambition and it scores a perfect ten on every count. “Wednesday” would make a great addition to the soundtrack of a 21st century British folk horror film soundtrack. One of my favourite tunes of the year so far!

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