With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

Vagabond – City Screen Basement, York – Friday 23rd January 2026 January 26, 2026

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 5:03 pm
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Those wonderful lads from Vagabond invited me to review their headline gig at the City Screen Basement and I was never going to turn down an offer like that was I? This would be the third time I will have seen Vagabond perform in just over a year. This was a sold out gig. Where they any good? Read on to find out dear reader, but first I need to tell you about the support bands. All three bands were so young that the venue had a dry bar, that was a new experience for me! First on stage were District! and incredibly this was their first ever gig. I sensed a degree of nervousness at the start, however they seemed to work through those nerves quite well and became more confident with each song.. Some of their original songs have a perky pop rock vibe and display a lot of promise for the future. Their choice of cover versions was inspired. Especially Radiohead (“No Surprises”) and the Arctic Monkeys (“When The Sun Goes Down”). A quick aside, how the actual fuck is that Arctic Monkeys song 20 years old?

The second band was Some Lions, another young York band. They provided us with a fantastic rock onslaught from the opening instrumental through to the end of their set. I have a couple of special shout outs. Firstly the lead guitarist who played like someone who has been around for years. All his solos were inventive and absolutely bang on. But the drummer shone even brighter, he was undoubtedly the most energetic sticksman I have seen for a while. But it wasn’t just the energy, at times it felt like he was the band’s engine room and that engine was a highly tuned Rolls Royce. Their cover of Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In The Name” hit the heart of the zeitgeist of our times. It also drew some of the biggest mosh action of the night. This band have the potential to get so much better and they are damned good already!

Finally it was time for Vagabond and they hit the stage like the owned it, in fact more like they owned the city, no scrub that, this set was played with the intensity of a band that believed they were headlining a stadium. Fin had a “gimme your hands” moment with the crowd early on. (Bowie scholars should get that reference!) The crowd, can I call them Vagabonders, are somewhere between adoring fans and acolytes. This is “their” band and they are here from the very beginning of what I believe will be a phenomenal journey. At their roots and in their hearts Vagabond are clearly a punk band, but they have so much more. It is a solid and curious amalgam of the traditional and the modern. Punk, pop punk, power punk and funky punk to list just a few. They drew some significant mosh action too, with the mosh charge being led by the aforementioned Some Lions drummer. In a set full of highlights the pinnacle for me was probably “Freddo Fantasy”. They entertained us all with the awkward stylishness of launching t shirts into the crowd. They were riotous, rambunctious, brash, roaring, strident and were enjoying themselves immensely. They have a healthy amount of arrogance, which works perfectly. If Vagabond continue to develop and improve at this pace they will become not just a band, but a rock phenomenon. Vagabond “mean it maaan”!

At the end of February (27th in fact) Vagabond will be headlining the first Love Music Hate Racism gig at this very venue under the banner of Love Punk Hate Racism. Fin modelled one of the Love Punk Hate Racism T Shirts in their set. They will be supported by the Blair Bitch Project and Sweeping Statement. Look out for much more about that gig in these pages soon!

All of the excellent photographs are courtesy of @bandograph

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Leo Middea – Basement, City Screen – York – Saturday 24th May 2025 June 5, 2025

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 7:31 pm
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I must confess that until my good friend and colleague introduced me to the music of Leo Middea I had no idea who he was. Eva had discovered that he was playing a gig in York and having heard some of Leo’s songs on Spotify I jumped along with my wife Catherine (a.k.a. Catwoman) at joining Eva and Mollie (another colleague) at the Basement in York last month. Leo has a huge following across the world and exceeds 150,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. He has released four well thought of and wonderfully sounding albums and was the first Brazilian artist to reach the finals of the renowned “Festival da Canção” in Portugal. He also received an invite from Portugal’s Prime Minister to perform at the celebration of the Bicentenary of Brazil’s Independence. Middea is Brazilian, born in Rio De Janeiro, and currently lives in Europe, spending his time in Lisbon and Barcelona. In 2024 he finished third in the contest to select Portugal’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest with his song “Doce Mistério”. Still relatively young, at 30 years old you have to wonder how much bigger he can become in the music world.

The set in York, which was part of a reasonably extensive 12 date UK tour, was both intimate and inclusive. Armed with just his acoustic guitar and ethereal and mesmerising voice he captivated the audience from the first note. He is abundantly talented and overflows with charisma and energy. The audience, many of whom were Brazilian or Portuguese, mostly sang along to every song. Me being one of the small band of people that are monolingual did my best but obviously didn’t know the words, although joining in with the non-linguistic vocal hooks was easy. The music has a gorgeous Latin feel and could be used to samba to. It is folk based but 21st century style rather than old school and leans nicely to a joyful funky jazz sound. Leo’s guitar playing is rooted in a kind of classical Spanish style and he shows expertise and prowess with his instrument. All of his songs are in Portuguese, apart from one which is his only attempt to write in English to date. But regardless of language I believe his songs show that music is truly universal. Leo’s songs are simply great pieces of music and he is one of the finest performers I have seen recently. If you get a chance to see him live then do it! You will not be disappointed. If you are anywhere near Montreux next month Leo Middea is playing a set at the world famous jazz festival on 6th July.

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The Basement Sessions #3 – City Screen, York – Friday 23rd February 2024 February 25, 2024

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:38 am
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This was the third Basement Sessions event put on by Navigators Art and Performance and the first that I was able to get to. Thanks to flooding and all sorts of acts of god it has moved around a bit and original headliners PERCY were unable to play, but they were represented (more of that later). It was a mix of music, poetry, and comedy which meant the thrilling prospect of six different acts. Up first was young comedian Will Glitch. He seemed very nervous but at times in his short set, he was splendiferously funny. The first music of the night was from the duo the Jammingtons Experience. They are very much “anti-rock stars” and all the better because of that. I saw them as a folk version of John Cooper Clarke with some fabulously sharp lyrics and ironic delivery. “Lost It” reminded me of the Moldy Peaches but with a much more British slant. The highlight for me was “Psychic Fight”. I spoke with the bass player later in the evening and he said that no one had written about him before, I am honoured to break that duck! Next, it was the turn of Mexican-born and UK-based poet Danae. I loved the angry poem based on Ageus and the story of the slaying of the minotaur and relating that to relationships with her father. Her second poem, “Box Of Tea” was weird, wacky, wonderful, and witty.

The New Solar Drones were the next band on the intimate Basement Stage at City Screen. The first song was a bit like Godspeed You! Black Emperor backing a 1969 period David Bowie. “This Hollywood Love” sounded at times as if Brian Molko had been hit with a music epiphany while listening to Neil Diamond. Is there another band like the New Solar Drones? perhaps not! Andy Wiles from PERCY (I told you they would get another mention) did a great job guesting on bass for the night. The instrumentation on the final song was Abbey Road album Beatlesque. Sadly there were no actual drones, maybe because they are solar-powered and it was dark, or perhaps the ceiling was too low. But this was a fantastic set even without those small remote-controlled flying robot things! Will Glitch made his second appearance of the evening and seemed just as nervous but definitely funnier in a very alt.comedy kind of way.

Jazz often gets a bad name and can be the butt of many music-related jokes, but acts like the Neo Borgia Trio smash that myth into tiny pieces. This was jazz beamed in from another dimension. They opened with a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “The Immigrant Song”. Fucking hell that was good, such a huge sound with just drums, guitar, and saxophone. They are self-confessed jazz punk in style but in their cover of MF Doom’s “Raid” they told us they added hip hop into that mix and they did it perfectly. But this is not just about breaking down barriers around jazz. The three of them are also highly skilled in applying their talents to classic jazz. The cover of Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” was phenomenal and the drum solo gave it something extra special, turning it from a plain old caravan into a Winnebago from space! The Neo Borgia Trio are three musicians who are absolutely on fire. They closed their set with a monumentally magnificent cover of a Rage Against The Machine track. Poet Danae returned for her second appearance afterwards and “The Poem About The Tree” was incredibly powerful. I think that she said it was based on some of Dostoyevsky’s work.

The night closed with Fat Spatula, a band I had seen and loved before. They opened like punkier, feedback-fuelled Talking Heads and followed that with a sound akin to Vampire Weekend on Lemmy Kilminster levels of speed. “Jesus In My Bed” now that really is a fucking awesome song. Sometimes they sound like the 21st-century bastard sons of Jonathan Richman. Fat Spatula combines a really funky sound, perhaps aided by a five-string bass, with classic punk riffs and delivery. Their music is difficult to stay still too, but this was a seated gig so while dancing was difficult there was plenty of head bobbing, foot tapping, and chair movement going on. “Lot Lizard” is pure full-octane punk….. and some! Fat Spatula are beyond doubt one of the best live bands on the scene right now. Bring on Basement Sessions #4 please!

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