We reviewed “Back In Time“, an earlier song from Georgia Reed last month and now her new tune, “Honey” is with us. This a gorgeous slab of haunting electro-pop that talks of the scepticism Georgia faced when relocating to the UK from her native Australia. It has an underlying dark and gothic vibe, but like with “Back In Time” the music holds some hopeful and positive tones. Ultimately it is about having faith and confidence in what you do and not letting those who doubt you get in your way. At times I can detect the softer side of Steve Strange’s Visage and the darker side of Erasure. Georgia has a distinct vocal style that is hard to compare with anyone else and that is why her songs have such emotion and atmosphere. This is the third single released that is building towards an EP due out on 13th March. I am looking forward to the EP and with every song I have become a bigger fan of Georgia Reed!
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Bullets and Octane are possibly one of the finest heavy rock bands to evolve out of South California…ever! (OK fact fans, they actually originated from St. Louis, Missouri, but they are based in SoCal!) They have toured with an ‘A’ List of great bands including Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Sour, Social Distortion, Bad Religion, Eagles of Death Metal, Flogging Molly, Unwritten Law, Korn, Flyleaf, and the Deftones. Their new single is called “Space Lord Symphony” and it is bluesy, sweaty, grungey garage rock that is full of anthemic vocal hooks made in pop-rock heaven and guitar riffs forged in the fires of hell. I can sense some Hawkwind and Black Crowes in the sound of the song too. The energy emanating from “Space Lord Symphony” is almost palpable. Lead singer and main songwriter Gene Louis has been the ever-present driving force of the band since its early coming together more than 20 years ago. He says of his work “I believe that if you have a passion you die for it no matter what, if your stomach hurts because you’re hungry that means that you’re putting all your time, energy, and money into your passion”. His and the band’s 100% passion is very evident in the new single, “Space Lord Symphony” which deserves to be a huge hit! The video for the track, directed by Christine Fullwood, is pretty special. It takes the viewer into the weird, wonderful, warped, and wacky world of Bullets and Octane. Check it out below.
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On February 15th, 1977 bass player Glen Matlock was fired by the Sex Pistols to be replaced by John Beverly a.k.a. Sid Vicious.
On the same day in 2013, music legend and still going strong at 82 years old Chubby Checker took out a huge, $500,000 lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard for including an app on its phones and tablets that was not only named after the then 71-year-old musician but measured a man’s manhood based on his shoe size. Incidentally, I am a UK size 11 and probably proof that there is no link between shoe size and manhood measurement! Checker (a.k.a. Ernest Evans) settled the case the following year. HP denied liability in agreeing to settle with the singer but did agree not to make future use of his stage name, likeness, or related trademarks.
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Eyesore & The Jinx are very new to me and I came across them thanks to their rather splendid new single “Float Like a Jellyfish (Sting Like a Subtweet)”. What is it all about? I have no fucking idea, but it is a stunningly good track. If the B-52s, Yoko Ono, Devo, and the Moldy Peaches were absorbed into magical plasticine and molded into a band it might very well result in Eyesore & The Jinx. The single has a fuzzy feel and a weird hypnotic beat all overlayed with one of the catchiest and wackiest choruses in a long while. It is taken from their album, ‘Jitterbug,’ which is due out on 15th March.
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Mieko Shimizu‘s new single is a gorgeous slice of ambient, electro, and orchestral music which might have come from a Bjork side project. It is a haunting track that sits with you long after it has finished and after that first hit of “My Tentacles,” you will be craving another high from it. It has already garnered airplay on BBC 6 Music and is the first release from her next album, which will be called ‘My Tentacles.’ Mieko is a Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and composer based in London. Before this, she had huge success as alter ego Apache 61 and she has remixed Coldcut and the Yellow Magic Orchestra to name just a couple. She has also collaborated with Mick Karn (Japan), David Cunningham (The Flying Lizards), Nitin Sawhney, and Robert Lippok (To Rococo Rot). Mieko has played at Sonar, alongside Kraftwerk, and has supported Goldfrapp and Massive Attack at their Melt Down Festival. She is currently the artist in residence for Wonky Plonky Electronk, an experimental, electronic live event that is touring the UK throughout 2024, the next show being on 28th March at The Cinema Room at All Is Joy in London.
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This is the 21st in the Mayhem Virgins series where we showcase artists that have never featured in these pages before. This time it is the turn of the Chinaskis, a wonderful Scottish-American band, with the best bits of the music and culture of each nation included in their sound and songs. Their name comes from a character created by writer Charles Bukowski, effectively his alter-ego Henry Charles “Hank” Chinaski. The beat-up, alcoholic loser reflected Bukowski’s life like an exaggerated carnival hall of mirrors. The band initially formed in Glasgow in 2009 and until 2016 they played a succession of sweaty sticky-floored, pub backrooms on the Scottish toilet circuit. They split for an undefined, indefinite period when singer and frontman Robbie Edmonstone emigrated to Dallas in the USA in 2017.
Musically they are a classic guitar band in the mould of the Byrds, Teenage Fanclub, R.E.M, Tom Petty, the Replacements, and the Proclaimers to name just a few. The rhythm section is as close to perfect as a drum and bass pair can be. With Bill Spellman banging out the beat like a human metronome and Andy Lester making his bass talk. The guitar work of Nick Phelps draws some gorgeous riffs and hooks over the songs. The harmonies that enhance Edmonstone’s angelic demon of a voice are ethereal and frankly, simply wonderful. Meanwhile, Edmonstone’s lyrics are up there with the best writers. They are acidic, sarcastic, acerbic, caustic, sharp, and sometimes even soft and mellow. I particularly love “For once upon a time was a time where you made me feel so very small. But now I’m big and strong and to me you mean sweet fuck all” They launched their debut album ‘Songs For The Scunnered‘ in August last year and it is a classy collection of tunes. It was given a 9 out of 10 score in a review by Vive Le Rock magazine, and they know their rock onions! Check this band out, that is an order!
Footnote! Based on the picture of the band at the top of this post, my wife thinks that Robbie Edmonstone looks like me. That is possible given that my Dad was born “out of wedlock” in Glasgow in 1931. Could we be distant cousins? 🙂
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I am regularly wary of bands that have been heavily hyped as often they cannot match that hype in recording and performance. On that basis, I did not expect to like the debut album from The Last Dinner Party. Actually, that stands true, I don’t like ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’, I bloody love it. The album flows together like not many albums before. I also feel, particularly in this modern age of streaming, that there is not a single track here that I would want to skip. It seems the album format is not quite dead yet, The Last Dinner party has given it a great boost! Although I can sense several possible influences, this is a very original band. Notably, I can hear small references to Queen, 10cc, Supertramp, Kate Bush, Abba, and Sparks to name just a few.
The band formed in London back in 2021 and consists of Abigail Morris, Lizzie Mayland, Emily Roberts, Georgia Davies, and Aurora Nishevci. I love the huge ambition and low arrogance that means the band has included a gorgeously orchestrated overture to open the album. It introduces a cinematic scope to the whole record and makes you want to listen to the whole thing, and I have, quite a few times so far. All five of the band’s singles to date are included and the familiarity with some of those tracks does not demean in the slightest the overall quality. The immaculate “Nothing Matters” and striking “Caesar On A TV Screen” are the best of the bunch in my opinion. I also feel that “My Lady Of Mercy” rocks like an absolute hellhound and might fit onto the kind of concept album that the Who used to be so good at. “Burn Alive” has a wonderfully dark vibe and strikes me as something Florence Welch might write if she was coming out of a fight with the black dog of depression. The instrumentation on “The Feminine Urge” evokes some of the best early sixties girl group hits. Although I can’t imagine any of those groups getting away with some of the stunningly powerful lyrics like “I am a dark red liver stretched out on the rocks. All the poison, I convert it and I turn it to love. Here comes the feminine urge, I know it so well“. That said the Crystals, who once recorded “He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)”, might have got away with it.
“Beautiful Boy” is Baroque Pop at its finest and a full-on emotionally charged ballad that once again is evocative of Florence And The Machine. The shortest track on the album is “Gjuha” which according to Aurora translates from Albanian into Tongue. She has previously said that it describes her shame at not knowing the language of her mother country very well. It provides a wonderfully mystical interlude in the intensity of the flow of the record. “Portrait Of A Dead Girl” nods to a dreamlike duet between Lana del Ray and Kate Bush. Is it possible to get any deeper and darker than the album closer “Mirror”? I doubt it, it is a song with the ability to give you chills and closes this delightful set of songs perfectly with an orchestral finale to go full circle back to the overture.
So yes I am now a huge fan of The Last Dinner Party and ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’. But there is an elephant in the room isn’t there? All the talk about whether or not they are an “industry plant”. If you thought the hype around them was huge then I reckon the conspiracies around them being an industry plant are even bigger. The band has previously said that they believed that these accusations resulted from misogyny in the music industry. Following the struggles that Rebecca Ferguson, Delilah Bon (a.k.a. Lauren Tate) and others have had I suspect that this is true. In a recent NME interview the band said “If you don’t like our music, or our vibes, that’s okay! But it’s not fine to accuse us of not writing these songs or existing as a band in our own right. None of us have famous or industry parents either, shock horror!” Do I think they are an industry plant? Of course not, I doubt there is anyone in the industry with the intellect or nous to be able to create an industry plant. On top of that it would soon become obvious given the amount of people that would need to be in on it. In my view, people should dump the conspiracy theory shite and just follow what will, I am sure, become a truly gifted and great band. This is a contender for album of the year.
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February 12th has been a busy day in music history and therefore this is possibly the longest title of any post I have ever done before. So let’s start with February 12th, 1992 the KLF took to the stage at the Brit Awards to perform their hit “3 a.m. Eternal”, but not in its original dance classic form, but wonderfully supported by ace thrash metallers Extreme Noise Terror. The highlight of the performance featured Bill Drummond strafing the audience with a machine gun, obviously, no one was hurt and no real bullets were used. It was later announced that “The KLF have left the music business“. Later Drummond and Cauty dumped a dead sheep with the message: “I died for ewe – bon appetit” tied around its waist at the entrance to one of the post-ceremony parties. The KLF remains one of my favourite acts from the 1990s.
On 12th February 2009 a nude photo of Madonna taken in 1979 a little while before she became famous, was sold at auction for $37,500. The monochrome shot was taken when Madonna was a 20-year-old dancer trying to make ends meet in New York.
As far as I know, Bono has not worn lingerie, well not in public at least. Anyway on 12th February 1997 U2 held a press conference in the Lingerie Department at the Greenwich Village Kmart store in Manhattan, New York City, to announce their Pop Mart world tour, which began in Las Vegas in April 1997. This is kind of interesting as the big U2 show at the moment is in the Sphere in Las Vegas.
Just over two years after his death on 12th February 2005 Clash frontman Joe Strummer had a train named after him. It was the Class 47 locomotive 47828 and it was made official at a ceremony in Bristol. It is a diesel train, owned by Cotswold Rail.
John Lennon became the first Beatle to appear on BBC’s Top Of The Pops show since 1966 when he performed “Instant Karma” on 12th February 1970. In 1970, John Lennon performed “Instant Karma!” with the Plastic Ono Band. The tune is one of the fastest-released songs in pop music history. Lennon wrote, recorded, and mixed the single in one session and released it within ten days. It also became the first solo single by a member of The Beatles to sell a million copies in the USA.
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This was another Northern Radar show and as I have said before, Simon P, Head Honcho of that splendid promotions company has never let me down with a dud band…..yet! Did that change at this gig? read on to find out. First up it was King Thieves with some anthemic rock with a sprinkling of blues. This was coupled with soaring and soulful vocal contributions from the guitarist and drummer. The rumbling bass lines were sometimes evocative of New Order’s Peter Hook. They played a new song, “Lucifer” which was fantastic and made me think of early-period Manic Street Preachers. A great band that is new to me.
Next was the Hangnails, a band I had seen in a previous incarnation, as a two-piece in 2014. They were called And The Hangnails back then. They have developed so much and moved forward tremendously since then, they are now playing as a three-piece. Was that Mr. Blackwell on bass and keys? The Hangnails’ new material is spectacularly good and in describing their performance I will need to use the word anthemic once again. The vocals hint at Bono, Ian McCulloch, and Tim Booth. Their songs ooze emotion and are filled with hooks to die for. A phenomenally good band!
Finally, it was time for the headliners, King Nun, who apparently have been around for eleven years. How the fuck is that possible? Were they formed in primary school? This was their first gig in York and I hope it won’t be their last. I spoke to four people in the audience tonight who had come to see them here off the back of the support slots they did for Nothing But Thieves. Their sound has some Nirvana and Pixies influences with some classic punk sound, attitude, and poses thrown into the mix. Their multiple guitar assault fired riff, after riff, after riff into the happily shellshocked crowd. They packed the power of a Panzer Division in World War Two. If they turned their power up even half a notch they might have laid waste to the venue. I am pleased to say that didn’t happen. The band’s excursions into the crowd ignited the already excited punters. They cheekily threatened jazz, but thankfully they didn’t deliver on that. But one of the guitarists was so committed to the cause he gave his blood up in the final song! After tonight I am now a huge fan of King Nun! Oh and just to confirm, Simon from Northern Radar still hasn’t let me down! It was also great to catch up with so many people that I know at this fab venue (Simon, Joe, Chris, Billie, Tim, Amelia, and many more!)
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BUKVE is the solo project of songwriter Sveinung Fossan Bukve of Bergen in Norway. He has just released a new single under the name “Gonna Get It”. It is the second single which precedes his forthcoming album due out in the spring. (“Alive” was released in January). It has a happy indie vibe which propels you to the supremely positive chorus. The opening jangly indie guitar has a faint feel of Hank Marvin in his Shadows heyday. BUKVE says that the song “bears the message that despite a hectic everyday life, you should aim to give others a chance, try to be generous, listen and put yourself in other people’s situations before you judge them harshly.” It really does make you feel good listening to it. All the music and lyrics were written by Sveinung and it was recorded in the Black Valley Studios in Oslo where it was produced by Stamos Koliousis. I am a BUKVE fan now!
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