With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

Mallrats EP Launch – The Crescent, York – 8th July 2016 July 8, 2016

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:06 pm
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I had looked forward to another Northern Radar gig for some time. Simon Pattinson has never let me down with his gigs or recommendations and I have known him a few years now. But rather than keep you in suspense let me just say that once again Simon came up trumps. He has a great knack for finding and promoting great bands. When he makes it big, just remember where you read it first!

So first up tonight were the fabulously named Eugene Gorgeous. This is the first opportunity that I have had to see this spectacular band. Imagine, if you will, the Velvet Underground meeting the Jesus and Mary Chain at a dive bar in Twin Peaks. Well if you can picture that in your mind that is Eugene Gorgeous. Whilst the singer appeared to be fuelled by milk. The guitarist was something special too with and incredible talent for feedback and sustain he can make that guitar squeal!

Are you looking for a Nirvana for the 21st Century? Yes? How about a band with some dub licks straight out of the Clash and a pinch of the Strokes? Is that your bag baby? Well in that case Mice On Mars are right up your street. On top of all their other talents they have a drummer that plays like a reincarnated Keith Moon.

maven fiction

Next up were Maven Fiction, a band that I have seen in many guises before. If you like any of the following genres then you really ought to love this band; pop, funk, electronica and punk. If you also like great songs and great melodies then you really need to check them out. In my opinion it is an absolute tragedy that Maven Fiction are not bigger than the likes of Coldplay. Can we at least get them on the Apollo Festival stage next year in York Stuart Kelly?

mallrats

Finally it was the turn of the magnificent Mallrats who were headlining a gig to promote their rather excellent new EP. You can’t really ignore a band whose sixth and seventh gigs (I’m reliably informed) were at the Reading and Leeds Festivals? Frankly you can’t can you? This is a phenomenally talented young band who I hope will achieve great success. This is the third time that I have seen them and they have got better every time. I also had the opportunity to meet the drummers Dad and what a thoroughly nice bloke he is! This was another great gig from Northern Radar and it was, as usual 100% perfect. Apart from the ringing in my ears. But actually that is my fault as I stood far to close to the speaker stack for Maven Fiction’s set!

 

 

 

Black Lagoons, Broken Skulls, Mall Rats & Blind Eye – The Crescent, York – Friday 22nd January 2016 January 23, 2016

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 1:47 am
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I once again had the pleasure of attending a gig set up by the fabulous Northern Radar a.k.a Simon Pattinson. It was at the Crescent in York a new community venue that I have not been to before. As usual with Simon’s shows the quality was top-notch. I have been to many gigs arranged by Simon and so far there has not been a bad one. No pressure for next time then Simon! Tonight’s bill featured two bands that I have seen before and two that were new to me. Incidentally it was great to catch up with Jordan Bell off of Avalanche Party, Mike Harrison, Joe Alexander and obviously Mr Pattinson himself.

blindeye

The proceedings were kicked off by the majestic power trio known as Blind Eye who I have seen before, the boys were fresh from recording their EP at a studio in Manchester. They gave us a couple of new songs that in a few years I am sure will be seen as Blind Eye classics; “Stained Glass Windows” and “Vultures”. Along with some of their older songs they also performed one of their customary covers, this time it was a thunderous run through of the Beatles classic “Come Together”. They even managed to incorporate a few lines of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” into the song. This band is truly fucking awesome, their EP I am sure will be off the scale good.

mallrats

OK now I want you to imagine a band that is a cross between the Velvet Underground with all of Andy Warhol’s arty-farty stuff removed and then crossed with Nirvana. Can you picture that? Good now think of that band’s drummer being a reincarnated John Bonham (not because they look the same but that they share the same pounding power. Do you have the picture in your mind? Can you imagine the sound that such a band would make? Excellent because that band Ladies and Gentlemen is the Mall Rats. A brilliant band whose closing song “Plunge Pool” was one of the most moshtastic of the whole evening.

broken skulls

The third act on tonight was another York band that I have seen before, the truly stupendous Broken Skulls. These two brothers come across like the Kings Of Leon genetically spliced with Royal Blood and then injected with a massive testosterone booster. How can two people make such a loud but beautiful noise? I really don’t know but they do. Maybe we need to ask them how they do it. Anyway it would be fair to say that they really owned the stage during their set.

blacklagoons

I have not had the pleasure of witnessing a show by the Black Lagoons before tonight so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Even more so when I cast my eyes on the band for the first time. The majority of them have probably never seen a razor. Not because they are hirsute with resplendent facial hair but because I don’t believe that some of them have started shaving yet. But don’t let that put you off, for whatever age they are, and frankly I don’t care, they are a stunning live act. What do they sound like? That is a difficult question to answer, but it is almost as though they have invented a new genre of music which I will call Prog Punk (or possibly Punk Prog). These lads can only get better in my opinion and they are very damned good already. I tried to imagine the Queens Of The Stone Age as a school band and that captured a degree of what the Black Lagoons are. On top of that they have a reborn Keith Moon on drums and the coolest, most serious faced bass player since John Entwistle. I recommend that you check out all of tonight’s bands. No wait I don’t recommend that you do it, I order you to do it!

Public Service announcement all the pictures were taken by me and the videos are courtesy of YouTube. However I couldn’t find a Mall Rats video, so if you can send me the link to one then feel free to do so 🙂

 

 

The Who – First Direct Arena Leeds – Tuesday 2nd December 2014 December 4, 2014

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 12:18 am
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Fifty-years-of-The-Who

I finally got to see the Who play live on Tuesday 2nd December 2014 at the First Direct Arena in Leeds. I have always been a little reluctant to see them given that two key members; John Entwistle and Keith Moon are no longer with us. But my good friend John Williams convinced me to go by describing the band as one of the greatest bands to see before they die! The Standard Lamps filled the support slot very well. Clearly an accomplished band that sound retro with touches of perhaps the Jam and Ocean Colour Scene.

the-who

The Who started as they clearly meant to go on with “I Can’t Explain” followed by “Substitute”. This was a set list overloaded with Who classics including many of my favourites; “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, “Behind Blue Eyes”, “Pinball Wizard”, “Magic Bus”, “Who Are You” and “Baba O’Riley”. For me the peak was “5:15” which is my favourite ever Who song from 1973’s classic album ‘Quadrophenia’. There were even outings for the somewhat underplayed “Join Together” and “Squeeze Box” among many, many more.

the-who-2013-02-1606_abh_7875sml

There was an amazing film clip of John Entwistle’s magnificent bass playing and film and vocals of Keith Moon’s “Bell Boy” again from ‘Quadrophenia’. There was even time for a live rendition of the mini rock opera “A Quick One While He’s Away“. The band was on stage for well over two hours and the band very ably supported Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend. For me the stand out players were Pino Palladino on bass and Zak Starkey who was truly magnificent on drums.

who-600x450

Daltrey was having a few problems with his ear monitors. I don’t know if that resulted in the lack of an encore or whether one wasn’t planned. So we had no “My Generation”. But that really made no difference to what was an amazing show. I am certainly glad that I went.

Please note that none of the pictures or video used in this blog was taken by me.

 

YHR Radiowaves Gig 3 with Maven Fiction, Stone Ugly, IO and Deep State Collective – Fibbers in York Friday 19th August 2011 August 20, 2011

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:11 pm
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I took the opportunity to visit Fibbers in York on Friday night for an excellent gig organised as a benefit for York Hospital Radio by a young man who I think will go a long way and be very succesful in band management and music promotion. His name is Simon Pattinson, this is the third gig organised him that I have attended and frankly he has a great record in getting hold of some terrific bands and tonight was no exception. So when you hear him described as the new Harvey Goldsmith, remember where you read it first!

First band up was The Deep State Collective. They had to limit themselves to a relatively hastily arranged acoustic set after their guitarist had to pull out due to illness. I heard a whisper that the singer wasn’t feeling too good either. If the latter was true then this dude is a real trouper! Their set was pretty accomplished and they clearly have some good songs. Jules and Chris, I thought you did an excellent job, I really enjoyed your set. As for the litmus test, well I would definitely go and see this band again. Check them out if you get a chance!

Deep State Collective

I was joined at the gig by another friend of mine; big shout to another Simon and his lovely wife Marie. Hello Mr & Mrs Hernaman. They missed the first band but arrived in plenty of time for IO who were next on stage. This was apparently their first live gig, which is kind of hard to believe given how well they played. The singer is Ollie Webb formerly of Swimwear Juniors and the drummer is Sam Ford once of the band One Night Only. Sam is a truly wonderful drummer, like Keith Moon spliced genetically with Animal from the Muppets and I mean that in a really good way. The band was really tight and seemed bloody well rehearsed. The singer was also a rather spiffing percussionist too. Do they sound like anyone else? Possibly, Simon H reckoned he detected an element of Echo & the Bunnymen. We also agreed that they would be a great draw at Freshers week in any University town in the country. I hope these guys go on to bigger things and personally I believe they will.

IO

It was a tough choice but I think the next band just shaded it from the headliners as my favourite band of the night. They were a York based band known as Stone Ugly. This female fronted quartet know a lot about stagecraft, production values and image. They built their entrance up with a piece of the Willy Wonka movie (starring Gene Wilder) and some dry ice (or maybe a smoke machine). The whole band also had some fab red stripes running the length of their faces from hairline to chin along the line of their right eye. Pretty damned effective too. In a bizarre twist of fate I was actually drinking Red Stripe beer all night too! What did they sound like? Well for me there was a big helping of Prog Rock served up with a dollop or two of New Wave and Post Punk sounds. I loved their song “Can A Leopard Change It’s Spots” Jenna, the lead singer has a really versatile and powerful rock voice. Does she sound like anyone else? To me maybe Siouxse Sioux, Hazel O’Connor (thanks to Simon H for that one) and possibly Karen O off of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I reckon these guys would go down a storm at Reading and Leeds.

Stone Ugly

The headliners were Maven Fiction. Their mainman was the lead singer from the Shadracks when I saw them a while back. Maven Fiction’s sound is much less jangly indie pop and much more electronic with a possible heavy influence from Mike Skinner off of the Streets. Regular readers will know that I have long been a big fan of the Streets. The counter vocals from the female vocalist were a brilliant counterpane for the lead vocal of Mr Maven Fiction himself. That can’t be his real name can it? His Mum was also there and there was even a suggestion that she might do a Pans People, sadly she didn’t! Back to the music though, I really like this new direction and I rushed to buy the CD they were selling at the end. An E.P. for just £1, that’s a real bargain. It’s bloody good too, it’ll be on my iPod very soon. The band was joined briefly by Jenna off of Stone Ugly on tambourine.Mr Fiction also has some has some real balls; he finished his set by stepping out into the audience with just an acoustic guitar. He didn’t only sing bloody well but he even got us all singing along. They have a few gigs lined up in New York. Good luck with those shows guys and I’ll be back to see you again some time I’m sure.

Maven Fiction

All in all an excellent night, just a pity too many of you didn’t make it. You’d better be there next time, because we know where you live! 😉

Maven Fiction

 

“Now I don’t mean to bother you but I’m in distress, there’s a danger of me losing all of my happiness” August 19, 2009

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 10:17 pm
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Johnny Nash, Don Webster, Billie Joe Royal and Terry Knight on the Upbeat TV show

Johnny Nash, Don Webster, Billie Joe Royal and Terry Knight on the Upbeat TV show

I reckon this may turn out to be quite a short post but I couldn’t let this auspicious day pass without wishing a very happy 69th birthday to the supremely talented Mr Johnny Nash. I don’t know which record companies own all his rights now but if you’re reading it’s about time more of his stuff was issued on CD and I’m not talking about yet another greatest hits package! Johnny was born John Lester Nash Jr in Houston Texas on 19th August 1940. Regular readers of this blog will know that I have posted about Johnny a few times before as he is and always will be one of my favourite singers of all time.

I believe that he now lives in Jamaica which is quite fitting as he became the first American to record reggae in Jamaica back in the 60s. I first got into him when I heard his excellent version of Bob Marley’s “Stir It Up“. It was that which also got me into the late great (ls & gs are back again!) Robert Nesta Marley. Johnny was influenced by the late great (ls & g sback with a vengeance now!) Sam Cooke. In fact he recored and had hits with two Cooke songs “(What A) Wonderful World” and “Cupid” If you’ve never really listened much to Johnny do yourself a favour and get yourself a copy of one of the many greatest hits packages available, you won’t regret it!

Johnny appeared to be a big fan of...... grass! ;-)

Johnny appeared to be a big fan of...... grass! 😉

And to make this post just a little longer I’ll add just a few onthisdays for your pleasure. Starting with those well known pensioners the Rolling Stones. On this day in 1964 the Stones played the first of six nights at the New Theatre Ballroom in Guernsey in the Channel Isles. On the very same day the band were told that they had been banned by British United Airways (presumably a forerunner of British Airways) from flying with them, presumably due to bad behaviour. Click here to see some pictures of the Stones soundtracked by what is in my opinion one of their finest songs “Gimme Shelter”

Mick knew he would never be as good a guitar player as Keef, but he would always be the best at making fart noises with his microphone

Mick knew he would never be as good a guitar player as Keef, but he would always be the best at making fart noises with his microphone

On this day in 1967 the Beatles had their 14th US number one single with “All You Need Is Love“. Backing vocals on the song were provided by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Keith Moon, Graham Nash, Marianne Faithfull and Gary Leeds off of the Walker Brothers. Elvis Costello played a reasonable cover of the song at the Wembley leg of Live Aid in July 1985.

In their early days the moptops were so poor that they could only afford one seat between them

In their early days the moptops were so poor that they could only afford one seat between them

And finally, on this day in 1977 the Sex Pistols began an undercover tour of the UK as the Spots. The name was actually an acronym of ‘Sex Pistols On Tour Secretly’ after they had been banned from countless UK venues due to the ridiculous witch hunt engineered by the shabby right wing UK tabloid press. Yep you guessed it I believe that the tabloids are the scum of the earth! Click here to see the Bill Grundy interview with the Pistols that led to those ‘Filth And Fury’ headlines and as a special bonus click here to see the then Johnny Rotten on Juke Box Jury

The Pistols had been banned from so many venues they resorted to playing in rubbish skips!

The Pistols had been banned from so many venues they resorted to playing in rubbish skips!

 

“You in your small corner, I stand in mine. Throw all the punch you want to, I can take them all” April 30, 2009

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 10:49 am
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Hello once again good Blog Peeps, this is the first time I’ve posted two days on the trot for ages, so I’ll try and make it a good one.

Firstly I recently reacquainted myself with the wonderful ‘KissThisGuy‘ website aka the Archive Of Misheard Lyrics. You’re probably all familiar with that classic Hendrix misheard lyric which gives the site it’s name. The lyric comes from “Purple Haze” and if you click on the song title you will see that perhaps this wasn’t necessarily the misheard lyric we all thought it was. Incidentally if you’re not familiar with this and you wondering what the hell I’m talking about the original line was ‘scuse me while I kiss the sky’ and has apparently often been misheard as ‘scuse me while I kiss this guy’. There are some excellent misheard lyrics on the site my favourite has to be the one taken from “Centrefold” by the J Geils Band, are you ready for this? Are you sure? Really, really sure? You won’t be offended? OK then here it is ‘my anus is the centre hole’ Isn’t that excellent?

Jimi prepares to 'kiss this guy'! ;-)

Jimi prepares to 'kiss this guy'! 😉

I’d like to finish this misheard lyrics piece with a comment about my Mum, she’s smarter than me in most things, but she has come up with some excellent misheard lyrics. My two favourites from her are Dr Hook’s “Sylvia’s Mother” where she heard ‘Sylvia’s mother’s dead’ rather than ‘Sylvia’s mother said’ and also Three Dog Night’s “Joy To The World” where my Mum for some strange reason heard ‘Hiawatha was a bullfrog’ instead of the actual lyric of ‘Jeremiah was a bullfrog’ Hopefully you’re reading this post Mum 😉 In defence of my Mum, I’m not perfect when it comes to misheard lyrics either. I was perhaps aged 9 or 10 when I first heard Max Romeo’s classic reggae single “Wet Dream“. being a complete innocent in those days I actually thought the whole song was in some made up foreign language. So I heard phonetically ‘lygo lygo hushy girl hushy girl lygo’ when in fact Max was singing ‘lie down gal let me push it up, push it up lie down” As you can see I wasn’t even close 🙂 The song was banned from radio in the UK for being sexually explicit, although Max did explain once that the song was about a plumber coming to fix a leak, you know somehow I reckon he was telling porkies, what do you think?

Is Max's girl waiting for the plumber?

Is Max's girl waiting for the plumber?

Anyway enough of that vulgar frivolity and onto the usual dull and boring stuff, starting with a birthday. April 30th 2009 is the 76th birthday of Mr Willie Nelson, one of the few country stars that I can actually listen to. Over the years Nelson has proved himself to be an excellent songwriter, perhaps one of his greatest songs was “Crazy” which became the signature tune of the late great (see the l’s & g’s never go away for long!) Patsy Cline. He has also collaborated with many other artists including Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Snoop Dogg and a former Real Madrid goalkeeper Senor Julio Iglesias with “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before” Nelson’s guitar is named Trigger after Roy Rogers ever present and faithful horse. Willie has said that when Trigger becomes unplayable he will probably retire. Enjoy some Willie here (ooooooooooh MATRON!) with “You Were Always On My Mind”

This is Willie Nelson's guitar, affectionately known as Trigger. It sure has been used!

This is Willie Nelson's guitar, affectionately known as Trigger. It sure has been used!

On this day in 1968 the ‘Cilla Black Show’ was launched by the BBC. Cilla apparently became the first British female artist to have her own show. The theme song “Step Inside Love” was written by none other than Sir Paul McCartney off of the Beatles!

Cilla has to duck to avoid the glass ceiling at the BBC

Cilla has to duck to avoid the glass ceiling at the BBC

And finally on this day in 1976 Keith Moon off of the Who paid nine cab drivers to block both ends of a New York street so that he could throw the contents of his hotel room out of the window. Now that is what I call rock n roll! They don’t make ’em like that any more do they?

keith had thrown almost everything out of his hotel room, except of course for the girls!

keith had thrown almost everything out of his hotel room, except of course for the girls!

 

“nothing more, nothing less, love is the best!” February 14, 2009

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 7:17 pm
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Happy Valentine’s day good people and before we start the proceedings with a classic love song here’s a useless but interesting fact. UK singer Dickie Valentine, in spite of his name, had no hits about this wonderful day for lovers, but he did have three Christmas hits in the UK charts during the early 50s. So tell me did you all remember to do something nice for your partner/ lover/ cousin (Arkansas only!)/ Sheep (New Zealand/ Wales only)? Either way, have a great day and to kick things off here are Madness with a superb love song “It Must Be Love“. You can hear the original version of the song if you click on Labi Siffre’s name too

The Nutty Boys strike a classic pose

The Nutty Boys strike a classic pose

Mr Labi Siffre

Mr Labi Siffre

So enough of the love stuff (or maybe not!) and on to the birthdays. Today would have been the 62nd birthday of the late great (l & g’s here they come again) Tim Buckley who died of a morphine and heroin overdose in 1975. Sadly his son Jeff Buckley also died young after wading into the Mississippi for a swim during the recording of his second album in 1997. If you’re a fan of the UK band Starsailor you probably already know that they named themselves after Tim Buckley’s 1970 album “Starsailor”, prior to that they were known as Waterface. I’m not a fan, but the new name is so much better. Check out Tim singing his absolute classic “Song To The Siren” Click on the song title to hear Jeff’s version of the great Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah” recently a big hit again in the UK, sadly somewhat surpassed by the Alexandra Burke version. Three of Tim Buckley’s albums feature in the book ‘1001 albums to hear before you die’ Tim quit the music business for a year in 1972 and worked as a chauffer and a taxi driver. That same year he also made a cameo appearance in the movie “Why?” with none other than that nice bloke everybody loves……… OJ Simpson
The late and exceptionally great Tim Buckley

The late and exceptionally great Tim Buckley

The final birthday for today is that of Kenny Hyslop who is 58 today. Pardon me? Did you say who the hell is Kenny Hyslop? Aaah I see, well ok then, Mr Hyslop is a drummer and found fame with numerous beat combos including Slik (of whom more later) The Skids and Simple Minds. Kenny’s first step in the music biz ladder was to join the band ‘Salvation’ with one Midge Ure, remember him? Anyway that band later became ‘Slik’ and here they are performing their UK number one from 1976, “Forever and Ever” NOT a cover of the Demis Roussos song but strangely sounding very similar to the Bay City Rollers in my opinion. This was back in the days when Midge had hair, but let’s be fair, even I did then!
Slik - Midge Ure is top left

Slik - Midge Ure is top left

back to the usual On This day format again now and on February 14th 1970 the Who recorded the excellent album “Live At Leeds” at Leeds University in the UK. A bit of an obvious title, but it does what it says on the tin and is one of my favourite live albums. Have a listen to the live version of “Substitute” from that very album. A few weeks before that recording, in January 1970 Keith Moon accidentally ran over and killed his chauffeur, Neil Boland while trying to escape from a gang of skinheads outside a club in Hatfield, Herts in the UK. Keith was famously a non-driver, I guess that proves why!
The loudest band in the world Live At Leeds

The loudest band in the world Live At Leeds

Also on this day in 1977 singer songwriter Janis Ian received 461 Valentine Cards after fans took to heart the comment in her excellent song “At Seventeen” where she claimed she had never received any. As usual click the song title to hear the song
Janis Ian

Janis Ian

Love really must have been in the air when the then very much in the closet Elton John married recording engineer Renate Blauer…. a woman! as you’d expect it didn’t last too long and Elton is now very much ‘out’ and famously gay. Incidentally you may know that he used to be called Reginald Dwight, but did you know that his real name now is in fact Elton Hercules John. The Hercules picked from the old UK sitcom, ‘Steptoe and Son’ where the loveable old cart horse was called ironically, ‘Hercules’. So there we have it, an Elton John Valentine tale, so what better song to celebrate it with than Elton’s very own “Kiss The Bride“
Elton was gutted when he saw his bill for the wedding...........<groan!>

Elton was gutted when he saw his bill for the wedding...........

And for no other reason than that it is a truly awsome pic that someone sent me yesterday let’s end with a Star Wars picture. What do you think of it?
can you feel the force Luke?

can you feel the force Luke?

 

 
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