On 5th February 2016 a newly discovered species of Black Tarantula living near Folsom Prison, California was named after the late, great Johnny Cash. It was named Aphonopelma johnnycashi and was one of fourteen new tarantula species from the southern US which were described by biologists in the journal ZooKeys. Getting bitten by one of them would “Hurt”, right? Would the spider bite you “One Piece At A Time”?
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The Fully Arms Battle Of The Bands contest is back baby! After two hugely successful and titanic battles in 2022 and 2023, the truly gladiatorial music contest is back for 2024. Is your band ready, fit, and able to join the names of previous winners in the Fulford Arms Hall of Fame? How will your band’s name look alongside the Palava (2022) and Hærtstrings (2023)? Each year has had a gargantuan level of competition worthy of Valhalla, Asgard, and Olympus! Check out the poster above and get your entry in! Being a judge at the previous two contests has been among the most exciting and fun things that I have ever done, and trust me I have not led a sheltered life! Anyway, I will be dusting off my judge’s robes and legal wig ready for September to join a fabulous group of fellow Fully Battle Of The Bands Judges! I will see you there for the heats the semis and the final! Just to up the ante there is a slight change to the rules this year, where in addition to the usual set of all originals, each band will be asked to play one cover, chosen by the Fulford Arms, what a wicked wheeze that is! I have added a few videos (Chech & Chong, Jack Black, and My Little Pony Equestria Girls) which may give you some inspiration 😉
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Holly Minto, Amy Woodall, Liv May, and Harry Breen are Crawlers one of the best bands to arise from Liverpool, and let’s face it there have been some great ones over the years, right? They are one of the most social media-aware current bands and, they use that skill so well in support of what is important to them. They have previously said, “It’s really hard to find a safe space – especially for young people, queer people, and other misrepresented or underrepresented groups – and being able to do that with our platform is something we’re looking forward to exploring and breaking boundaries with” and I have huge respect for what they do. But on top of that conscience is their wonderful music, in advance of their album, ‘The Mess We Seem To Make’ due out later this month they released a new single a couple of weeks ago called “Kills Me To Be Kind.” It has a classic lo-fi punk kind of feel and it crawls (no pun intended) into your head and sets up home like it was meant to be there, and it probably was. The riffs drive it nicely and the vocals and harmonies shine so well. The lyrics are sharp and cutting. Just this part alone is lyrical perfection for me, “I heard you fucked somebody else. Despite how bad you felt. Need somebody in your bed. To drown that noise in your head. But I keep you in my mind. Though I faked it every time.” The “faked it every time” line is a magnificent payoff. I have seen them live just once so far, at the Leeds Festival in 2022, I need to change that, and I will!
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At last, Belgium has given us a better punk representation than Plastic Bertrand! F.O.D. is classic punk in a Green Day mould, in fact, they started out as A green Day covers band in 2008. By 2011 they decided to move forward with their own songs and released the EP ‘Dance To This’, they have subsequently released some great singles and five albums. There is a Green Day reference in their name, it comes from the song “F.O.D.” on Green Day’s ‘Dookie’ album, the acronym stands for ‘Fuck Off and Die…’. The band is new to me and I am glad I eventually found my way to them. Their new single “A Thousand Shots” is a fine slab of magnificently put-together pop punk. It is fast, full of excellent punk riffs and hooks, and has some fabulous melodies. If I have any criticism it would be that it only lasts for 76 seconds, but with the ability to repeat on streaming who cares? F.O.D. are Hans Roofthooft (guitar god and prime vox), Stijn de Waele (bangin’ backing vox), Pierre Janssens (bombastic bass), and Lode de Feyter (dynamite drums). A quick footnote, I actually quite like Plastic Bertrand’s “Ça Plane Pour Moi”, but it wasn’t real punk was it? Anyway get some F.O.D. into your lugholes, their new album ‘The Once A Virgin Club’ is out on 5th April, followed by a handful of European dates. The single “A Thousand Shots” is out now. The video has a rather wonderful old-school graphics feel about it, which fits the tune perfectly.
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This was one of thousands of gigs across the country supporting Independent Venue Week (IVW). While it is important to show support and solidarity for your local independent venues please do it all year round and not just during IVW. This is the only way that the grassroots of UK music will survive. Support your scene! So this is an important week for live music and that was evidenced by the presence of 6 Music’s Huw Stephens and BBC Radio York’s Jericho Keys alongside many of the great and good from the York music scene. Headliners were NewDad who released their debut album on 24th January. But more of them later as there was a rather special support act, the sublimely talented Kindelan who hails from this fine city. This would be the fifth time that I have seen Laura Kindelan play live which puts her just behind Gene, David Bowie, Avalanche Party, and Frank Turner in the list of acts that I have seen the most times! I have seen her play solo, with minimal accompaniment, and with a full band. Tonight she was ably supported by an incredibly talented rhythm section and a backing singer with a heavenly tone. Four of tonight’s six songs were from her most recent EP, ‘You Can Reach Me If You Try’. The new songs definitely have a modern R&B and jazz vibe, but when played live Laura takes them in a direction that only she can. Her songs are stunningly good in recorded form, but live they become almost alive themselves. I have previously compared Kindelan to Jeff Buckley and that still stands, she will, I believe, mature into the kind of artist that Buckley would have become had he lived. “Hazel Frustration” was incredible, “Can’t Sleep” was immaculate as was a new song “Know You”. Kindelan gets better every time I see her, will that ever stop? I suspect not!
Kindelan at the Fully Arms January 2024 (Picture by Charlie Daykin)
Headliners NewDad are touring on the back of their new album ‘Madra’ which follows two classy EPs and some fabulous singles. The band was formed in Galway. Ireland in 2018 when Julie Dawson, Áindle O’Beirn, and Fiachra Parslow were in secondary school. Apparently, it was a way of avoiding solo performances for their Leaving Certificate practical music exam. Fourth member Sean O’Dowd joined the band a little later. The NME has compared them to The Cure and Beabadoobee. I can see those comparisons but I can also hear references to the likes of the Sundays and possibly the Cranberries. On their heavier-sounding songs, I sense a bit of Sleeper and Elastica. The new album is good, but live the songs are even better. However, I felt the sound mix was a bit off for much of the set with the vocals appearing way too low in the mix. This improved though, particularly for “White Ribbons” where the mix was spot on, the song was gorgeous and the performance exquisite. NewDad appeared in the Mayhem charts for January, so I am definitely a fan. I will certainly be seeing them again.
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The Proclaimers search for the young soul rebels in their own way!
Here comes the first in a new, occasional series from Mayhem, Weird Music Facts. We are kicking off with a story that links the Proclaimers to Dexys Midnight Runners! Apparently, the Proclaimers’ early demos to record labels were funded by Dexys’ Kevin Rowland. (Thanks to Popbitch for this wonderful snippet). A copy of the demo tape that Rowland helped to fund found its way to the then indie darlings the Housemartins who then invited the Proclaimers to support them on their 1986 UK tour.
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On 4th February 2024, Alice Cooper (formerly Vincent Furnier) turns 76. The first Alice Cooper album came out when Mr and Mrs Furnier’s son was 21. He had previously released some singles as a teenager in The Spiders (nothing to do with Bowie) and Nazz. On Alice’s 32nd birthday, the iconic New York Disco Studio 54 had to close down following its owners, Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, being convicted of tax evasion. Schrager eventually received a presidential pardon. The final night, February 4th, 1980, featured performances from Liza Minelli and Diana Ross. The building that housed Studio 54 had originally been designed as an opera house in 1927.
Alice Cooper partying with Jean Stapleton (Edith Bunker) at Studio 54
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The last time I saw ABC was at the now iconic Hammersmith Odeon show in November 1982. Now more than 40 years later I will be at an ABC gig again. Once again, it will be with a full orchestra, the Southbank Sinfonia, conducted by Anne Dudley. I believe that the ‘Lexicon Of Love’ is synonymous with orchestral pop music and the album is the finest example of its kind. Trevor Horn’s production on the original album was exemplerary and Anne Dudley’s orchestration was sublime. That is why I was so pleased to see that it was her conducting the Southbank Sinfonia Orchestra on this tour. I know that Martin Fry is the only remaining member of the original line up still performing as ABC, but to be fair he was always and still is the face of the band. While this show was mostly about a full run through of ‘The Lexicon Of Love’ there was always going to be more songs from the ABC song book, and that is what the first set was all about. We were treated to some absolute classics including “When Smokey Sings”, “The Night You Murdered Love”, “Be Near Me”, “One Better World” (Fry’s take on house music), “How To Be a Millionaire” and a particular favourite of mine, “Ocean Blue”. There were also some fab tracks from ‘Lexicon Of Love 2’, I thought “Viva Love” was a great performance.
Part two began with the Lexicon Of Love Overture (as did the first set) before belting into album opener “Show Me”. The crowd were on their feet for “Poison Arrow” and were in mighty fine vocal form, although to be fair Martin Fry put in a stunning vocal performance. The biggest hits, “Tears Are Not Enough” and the iconic “The Look Of Love” mesmerised a Barbican full house. My favourite song from the album has always been “Date Stamp” and this was a heavenly performance of a great tune, especially the backing/ counter point vocal. After “All Of My Heart” we all wondered whether there would be an encore, there was and Martin asked if we would mind a second take on “The Look Of Love”, we were never going to refuse, were we? This goes down as one of the best performances from a long established band that I have ever seen. Everyone in the audience absolutely lapped it up, well apart from a bloke near us who came close to having a ruck and spent part of the first set effing and jeffing loudly. Also, while the programme looked good, I felt it was a bit overpriced at £20, but to be fair I didn’t need one. There are a few shows remaining on this tour, but sadly most are sold out. But if you have a ticket, then you’re in for a proper treat!
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Here is the Mayhem chart for January 2024. Regular readers know that the chart is based on my Spotify listening habits over the last month. The chart is contemporary-ish, rather than just an oldies chart However, the top three “Legacy” artists are Led Zeppelin, Manic Street Preachers, and Jesus Loves You. Surprisingly for the second month in a row David Bowie is not in the top 3. There is a top ten artists chart and a top 5 songs chart. There is the usual eclectic mix of artists, including two who were in the top ten last month (Rebecca Ferguson and Delilah Bon). Only one of the top five songs is by an artist which features in the top ten artist chart. That honour goes to Lola Young at number 5 in the song chart and number 8 in the artist chart. The Bridge City Sinners are number 1 in the artist chart and Polevaulter are number 1 in the song chart. So without further ado here are those charts in full! Click on the header of the song chart for the playlist on Spotify.
MAYHEM ARTIST CHART JANUARY 2024
1 The Bridge City Sinners 2 Rebecca Ferguson 3 Ian M Bailey 4 Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes 5 Brittany Howard 6 Say She She 7 The Smile 8 Lola Young 9 Delilah Bon 10 NewDad
1 Violently Ill – Polevaulter 2 Serendripity – Skram 3 Back In Time – Georgia Reed 4 Centrefold – Vaquelin 5 Wish You Were Dead – Lola Young
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Ethan DeBoard and Evelyn May Nielsen are the duo that is Wasting May. They are from Orlando Florida and met in High School back in 2018 and began working on music together only last year. Ethan has always had a passion for music and taught himself to play guitar. Evelyn started out as a creative writer and is the mastermind behind Wasted May’s excellent lyrics. They played their first show on September 15th last year in their hometown. Since then they have released a single, “Maureen” and an EP ‘Machine’. Wouldn’t those two words make a great band name? The Maureen Machine anyone? Anyway, they have just released a new single, “In The Pines” and it is rather splendid. It is haunting and ethereal with an occasional feel of the Cocteau Twins. The sound is minimal but also cinematic in its ambition. Evelyn’s vocal is heavenly and the guitar work from Ethan is spellbinding. I love the change to almost a completely different song about two and a half minutes in. This pair should be given free rein to soundtrack a David Lynch film. I am in love with this tune and with Wasting May. You need this track in your life!
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