With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

‘New Phase’ – PERCY May 27, 2024

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 1:51 pm
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West Yorkshire Superheroes and one of York’s greatest bands, PERCY are back with a new album, on 10ft Records, and despite the concerns of one band member (due to the lateness of reviews, including this one) it is most definitely not pants! It kicks off with some really dark riffs, appropriately given the title and subject of “Sink Estate Satanic Rites” which mentions classic horror author Dennis Wheatley. The video contains some essential UK horror movie tropes too. The deep bass rumble that powers “Blackout” is reminiscent of Jah Wobble on early PiL tracks. The title track is a punchy, angular, post-punk powerhouse that got me thinking of the Stranglers at their peak. Colin’s lyrics throughout the album are idiosyncratic and out-there, and frankly, no one else could create something close from a lyrical perspective. The circus-like keyboard motifs on “Thinking Of Jacking It In Again” would fit perfectly in a really warped David Lynch-style horror film. This is eerie, emotional and perhaps the closest PERCY has ever come to showing a Beatles influence. If you link hard post-punk and ghost stories then “Last Train To Selby” is right up your street! For me, this is the pinnacle of a great album which contains some monumentally mountainous musical peaks within it. I suspect that “Do You Think I’m On The Spectrum?” is a brutally honest take on those whose superpower is being neuro-diverse. Either way, I feel that I want to play this to some of the kids that I work with who are on the spectrum.

The band was born in 1996 and this is the fourth album since original band members Colin Howard (guitar and vocals) and Andy Wiles (bass) were joined by Paula Duck (keys) and Jason Wilson (drums) in 2017. I believe that it is an album that sees the band developing into something really special. Many people, myself included, have made easy and obvious comparisons with the Fall. But on this new album, PERCY are heading way beyond that and maybe in thirty years, people like me will be comparing new music to PERCY. “Greedy People” will be a PERCY live staple given its anthemic power. “I Can Hear Orgies” is probably the most PERCY track on the album, can you think of any band that could even dream of a title like this? It has a well-rounded power-pop feel, especially in the soft-to-loud guitar work. The sound on “You Never Know” draws on some fine early 80s alternative music that would have been an instant classic on John Peel’s show. A reggae remix of this would be something worth hearing I think. At almost six minutes long “Afterlife” is perhaps the most ambitious track on the album and feels cinematic in its ambition. The slowish tune is based around some classy keyboard loops and understated bass lines all underpinned by some perfect syncopated stick work from Jason Wilson. I think “Afterlife” will become one of the best PERCY songs ever laid down, after a few plays it is easily my second favourite on this record. You can purchase the album and also choose to buy a huge selection of the PERCY back catalog on Bandcamp. So what are you waiting for? Click here to spend a few bob on some great sounds!

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“ICU” – PERCY August 5, 2022

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 5:19 pm
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A few weeks ago west Yorkshire Superheroes PERCY released a cracking single, “ICU”, from their latest album ‘Monorail’. We reviewed that album a while back, click here to read what we thought. The new single comes with a dark, comedic, psychedelic, animated video which features the band in a kind of warped wooden tops cartoon form. It is a great song and the video is genuinely out of this world, in more ways than one! The video was created by Hot Frog Animations who also produced a great video to accompany my favourite PERCY song from 2020, “Will Of The People”. “ICU” is a finely honed, yet chaotic, slice of post-punk vitriol that could only have been made by a great British band, which is exactly what PERCY are. The band has been playing a few live dates to promote the album and they will be playing their first London gig in around twenty years on August 27th. They have a 4.30pm slot as part of the Camden Rocks fringe. It will be at the Fiddlers Elbow (1 Malden Rd, Greater, Chalk Farm, London NW5 3HS). Scoot on down to Camden/ Chalk Farm on that date, you won’t be disappointed. Sadly I can’t make it as I will be at the Leeds Festival, but I really do think that as many of you as possible need to be there. If you go, then tell PERCY that Bill from With Just A Hint Of Mayhem sent you! 😉

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‘Monorail’ – PERCY June 22, 2022

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 10:49 pm
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The brand new PERCY album comes out this week on Ten Foot Records and I have had the pleasure of listening to it a lot over the past couple of months. Have the West Yorkshire Superheroes delivered? Read on to find out dear readers. The album starts with perhaps one of the most wonderfully weird songs Percy has recorded so far, “Chunks”. No one writes lyrics quite like Colin, do they? I think this song is about how the powers that be try to mould people into bland equally sized chunks as though we are all the filling in a shitty Fray Bentos pie. Next up is “ICU” which if John Peel was still around would be a banker for inclusion in the Festive 50 for 2022. I have heard this song played live and I think this will become a Percy classic with Colin’s unique vocal style and some excellent post-punk riffage. Paula’s keyboards on “Midnight On Broadway” evoke a dark 60s cop show that might have been soundtracked by the Doors. But in reality, this is dark music for the 21st Century. After a few listens “Dry Your Tears” is the track on the album where the whole band comes together perfectly, this one is a real grower. “Disinfect Me” feels a bit goth-punk, especially the rhythm section which drives this track like a finely tuned racing car. I can imagine this being played in a nightclub scene in a very modern vampire tale or maybe even a remake of ‘The Hunger’.

The intro to “I Want” comes across as real classic rock. But then when Paula’s synth organ sound gives the song a desecrated church feel and Colin’s vocal kicks in you just know that this is Percy on top form. I bloody love “Rock A Hula” it has an eerie circus vibe about it and I reckon it needs to be included on the soundtrack to Rob Zombie’s “Munsters” film. “I’ve Been Down” is another Percy classic in waiting. The stutter in the chorus brings the song a dark and sinister pop feel. Jason’s drumming is sublime on this. Next up is a song named after a street in York. The tune has a menacing spoken vocal and a hypnotic synth motif that hooks into your brain at super speed and refuses to leave. Is the song actually about the street? Honestly, I have no bloody idea, but I do know it’s a great song. Tucked away at track 10 of 11 is the magnificent “What Lez Said” which I think is possibly Percy’s finest song to date. It drives along as though it is being performed by a strange version of the Kinks that somehow fell into our dimension from a warped parallel universe. If Carlsberg created a Percy tune it would be this one. The album closes with “Last Chance Saloon” which has “play me as a weird interlude in a Tarantino film” writ large all over it. When I eventually get my arse into gear to start producing an internet radio show I might just have to beg Percy to let me use this track as the regular intro/ theme music for it. I thought Percy’s ‘Seaside Donkeys’ from 2020 was a brilliant album and believed it would be hard for the band to better it, but they have fucking done it! ‘Monorail’ is a great album and definitely a contender for album of the year!

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A Christmas Message From PERCY December 20, 2021

Filed under: Christmas Message — justwilliam1959 @ 6:06 pm
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For the second year in a row, those West Yorkshire Superheroes PERCY have sent all the readers of With Just A Hint Of Mayhem a Christmas message.

Here is what they have to say! “Happy Christmas everyone and a hard-rockin’ New Year from Percy. Live opportunities were rare for us in 2021 and we want to thank all the venues and punters who braved the circumstances to keep the live music scene in York alive. We are a busy bunch and as well as putting in the hours growing our hair long we have managed to get together and write a brand new album that we plan to bring to you in the early Spring. It is a fast-paced set probably reflective of us all being wound up tight all 2021… The working title is ‘Chunks’ which is about living in a big pie. Yep, a big pie. That is Percy for you.

You can have a listen in to that track live recorded in October at the Crescent by clicking here a few other new tunes from that set on the channel too.

have an awesome New Year everyone.
Percy

Follow PERCY on Twitter for news of the release and gigs @percybanduk

You can listen to and buy Vinyl and CDs at the PERCY Bandcamp site, just click here!

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“Will Of The People” – PERCY May 1, 2020

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 9:17 pm
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West Yorkshire Super Heroes PERCY have just released a rather splendid video for my favourite song from their current album ‘ Seaside Donkeys’. The song is “Will Of The People” and the video is an incredibly angry and pertinent animation which shows Boris Johnson in the light he really deserves, i.e. a bad light!

Check out my review of the album here and click here to order it.

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‘Seaside Donkeys’ – PERCY April 14, 2020

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 7:57 pm
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West Yorkshire Super Heroes Percy are back with a new album next month, the much anticipated follow up to 2018’s ‘Sleeper’s Wake’. I loved that last album, how does ‘Seaside Donkeys’ shape up to it? Well pretty well actually. The album kicks off with what may be a statement of intent, “Back In The Swing”. It has a sixties garage rock feel to it but with more classic post-punk vocals. I can also feel the presence of the ghost of the Velvet Underground too. Next up is “Rubbernecking In The UK” whose organ-like keyboard intro and refrain comes across like a demented Inspiral Carpets with whiney John Lydonesque vocal. A very, very British song that is as good recorded as it is in the live setting. There is an underlying menace to “Carpe Diem” which appears to be a satirical look at the worst of consumerism and living off of credit cards. My current favourite song on the album, perhaps driven by having seen it performed live a few times is “Will Of The People” which I believe is a future single. The rhythm section of Andy Wiles on bass and Jason Wilson on drums are on overdrive while giving the track a pulsing beat. It has the perfect cynical punk takedown of Brexit, is it still relevant? Of course, it bloody is and it is also a song that had he still been alive Mark E Smith would have cut his hand off to have written!

The soft almost US East Coast rock acoustic feel to “The People Who Drank Themselves To Death” makes you think of the Eagles but with Television’s Tom Verlaine playing the guitar and producing. “Love Song” is and as the sixth track, of ten, may be the one that opens side two of the vinyl copy. It was bundled with the first single released earlier this month. It has another John Lydon PiL vibe with elements of Rock Druid Julian Cope in Colin Howard’s vocals. This will drive the moshpit mental! I can hear Dr. Feelgood, Ian Dury and Magazine in “A Little Trouble In Big Lils” the song almost oozes the smell of stale beer and fags underpinned by keyboards from Paula Duck worthy of Dave Greenfield at the peak of his Stranglers career. Colin even gets a semi yodel in toward the end. You don’t hear that sort of thing very often these days. Jason brings his full Keith Moon to the drum stool on “Rictus Grin” as he seems to follow the fuzzy warped guitar of Colin Howard. This tune will be a wonderful drunken singalong at future Percy gigs.

Talking of drunken singalongs next song to arrive is effectively the title track “Seaside Donkey”. It has an even more acoustic feel than “The People Who Drank Themselves To Death”. The song features a laconic elegiac violin motif which gives it the feel of being a drinking song, although perhaps a rather maudlin drinking shanty. Album closer “A Better Life” has a loose early Pulp feel to its sound and is somewhat uplifting in a strange way.  Percy are most definitely back with a bang. ‘Sleeper’s Wake’ was good but ‘Seaside Donkey’ is a whole new level. Punk, post-punk, US Garage, UK pub rock is all rolled into those menacing, satirical, maniacal, dark and twisted tales of life that Percy fans have come to know and love! If you miss out on this album then you really are a seaside donkey! NEWS FLASH: You can buy the vinyl album now! Click here to place your order!

 

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“Seaside Donkey” – PERCY March 31, 2020

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 7:10 pm
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The new album from York’s finest post-punkers PERCY, ‘Seaside Donkeys’ will be out in May, well COVID-19 permitting. Anyway, if you feel that you can’t wait that long for another PERCY fix they will be issuing a single from the album this Friday, 3rd April. It is called “Seaside Donkey” and will be bundled in this release with “Love Song”. I can picture massive singalongs occurring when “Seaside Donkey” gets played live, I will certainly be shouting my lungs out next time I see this excellent band live. The song has a slightly more acoustic feel than what we have come to expect from PERCY but put simply it is a great song! It even features a laconic violin motif which gives it the feel of being a drinking song, although perhaps a little bit of a maudlin drink, at least for me. “Love Song” is a complete contrast and rocks in a very John Lydon PiL vibe with a Julian Cope feel at times in the vocals, a song built for a heaving mosh pit! As a taster for the album these two tracks will almost certainly make you want to own it when it is issued, it will even be available on vinyl! If you want some music to ease yourself through this incredibly mad world then try PERCY!

If you want to be among the first to own the album click here now! While you’re waiting take a listen to a couple of tracks from their last album.

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Percy – Fulford Arms, York – Wednesday 19th December 2018 December 20, 2018

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:33 pm
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My last gig of 2018 was an appearance by York’s own PERCY off the back of their rather spiffing new album ‘Sleepers Wake’. I had the pleasure of reviewing that LP last month, just click here to see what I thought of it. But before I say any more about Percy I should tell you about the blooming bountiful support bands they put on the bill. Firstly it was Freek from Hull and York. This mightily talented duo blast out some stupendous blues based rock which for me is rooted in the best that old school rock had to offer; Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, the Yardbirds and Cream. On top of that they have a kinship with grunge and punk too. But I would love to know where Ellis Best’s monumental voice comes from. Freek also have an innate sense of fun which is epitomised in their closing song “Killer Moth” which is about……. a killer moth! The Rems were next up featuring three of Pompey’s finest musicians, including Steve ‘Bodge’ Duffield one of the founders of the sublime Beta Band. I felt so much eclecticism in their sonic assault which was blended with some perfect post punk vibes. Vocally I could hear tones of Joe Jackson in his pomp and even the much maligned Tin Machine. The latter was particularly strong on the jagged, punked-up “Pills”. The Rems are the sort of band that leaves you wanting more after the first time you have seen or heard them (and probably after the second, third and fourth time too). I definitely want to hear more from them!

Freek

the Rems

Tonights headliners Percy are now at Percy Mark 3 having formed originally way back in 1996. They took a break in 2005 and spent a couple of years as the Nielsens before becoming Percy again. Colin Howard on guitar and lead vocals and Andy Wiles on bass and backing vox have been the core of the band since 1996. They are now aided and abetted by Paula Duck on keys and Jason Wilson on drums. One thing that seems obvious about Percy is that they really seem to enjoy playing and they are a tight unit in the live environment. Any act that can succeed in a small but fabulous venue like the Fulford Arms has to have some special magic about them and Percy have an abundance of it. If you were a fan of Mark E Smith you will love Percy, but while they might be influenced by the Fall they are refreshingly original. Their songs are all brilliantly told stories (“Alice Stone”), simple vignettes on life (“Off The Meds”) or fury venting political comment (“Why Are You Still Here?”). It was a great set that found the perfect cadence from the off and never dropped in either pace or quality. Particular highlights for me were the grungy quiet  to loud and at times Pixies-esque “Hep” and the venomous put down of Brexit and all the lies that surround it, “Unicorn”. If you have never seen Percy live then you are in for a treat when you do. This will most definitely not be my last Percy gig!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqX4gT1OzhM

Public Service Announcement: – All photographs (except the gig poster) were taken and edited by me using my cheap android phone from China. (Watch this space for some top classy photos from me next year!) All videos were found on YouTube. If one of the videos is yours and you would like a credit or for it to be taken down please let me know.

 

‘Sleepers Wake’ – PERCY November 15, 2018

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 10:55 am
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The first track on the new PERCY album asks “Why Are You Still Here?” and many may ask that question of a band who have been around since 1996 with no major league success so far. Well having listened to ‘Sleepers Wake’ I feel I can answer that question. It is because they are fucking brilliant and they epitomise tenacity and perseverance. Andy Wiles the bands bass player and some time drummer (although not at the same time) said to me that PERCY were often referred to as the greatest band that you have never heard of. That phrase has a large element of truth in it and if you check this bunch out I am sure you will agree. The aforementioned track “Why Are You Still Here?” has what is in my opinion on of the best lyrical couplets of 2018; “with your massive gob and your wayward knob”. Does it get better than that? Maybe not but it sure as shit maintains a huge level of quality throughout. Post Punk might be one way to describe them and acolytes of the Fall might be another. However I see them as all of that plus so much more ingenious originality and they keep the flame of Mark E smith burning better than any other band.

The opening bars of “Alice Stone” are for me reminiscent of Elvis Costello’s Attractions on “Watching The Detectives”. The band is as cutting as the attractions and as funky and smart as the Blockheads. The organ playing is almost Doorsesque at times. Does anyone use the term Hep to denote something that is hip these days? well while for most of us Hep died in the sixties it is still very much in PERCY’s vocabulary as evidenced by the soft loud riff driven thrash of “Hep!”. The first few seconds of “Teutonic” feels like it will take a Krautrock direction but it goes somewhere completely different. It is a simple song but with the power and impact of Blur’s “Song 2”. There is also a Graham Coxon feel on “Enlightenment” too. The sonic journey on some of the songs on this album takes me back to those heady days of 1978 and the first incarnation of John Lydon’s Public Image Limited, most notably on “It Is Time” where some of Colin Howard’s vocals sound like a Dalek on speed, but in a good way.

Just when you think PERCY are into a full on post punk style groove they smash into you with a wild slice of psycho-billy workout called “Exploding Head” and frankly my head is on the verge of exploding with pure enjoyment at this point. Later on the band go full on menacing with “Juicy Fruit”. Album closer is possibly the most relaxed, melancholy track on this fabulous collection which evokes sixties experimentation of the likes of Syd Barrett. The musicianship on display here is stunning, from the driving force of Andy on bass and Jason on drums to Colin’s superb guitar and the supreme keyboard journeys and flourishes of Paula. This album deserves wide attention and I hope that it receives it. You can help that cause by clicking here and visiting this excellent ‘listen and buy’ site and deploying your credit card or PayPal account. It won’t cost you much, just have a few pints less on Saturday or go without lunch tomorrow, you know it makes sense

I am really looking forward to witnessing the PERCY phenomenon in a live setting soon. Check them out, you WILL NOT be disappointed! There are still plenty of opportunities to see them, so get your arses off of your seat and get out there;

Friday 24 November 2018 Sheffield TBC
Wednesday 05 December 2018 Wharf Chambers Leeds, UK
Wednesday 19 December 2018 Fulford Arms York, UK
Thurs 31st January 2019 York Fibbers
Sunday 03 February 2019 O’Riley’s Hull, UK
Friday 08 February 2019 Chameleon Arts Cafe Nottingham, UK
Saturday 09 February 2019 Head of Steam Newcastle, UK
Thursday 21 February 2019 Night & Day Café Manchester, UK
Saturday 6 April 2018 Fulford Arms (TBC) York, UK