With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

“Take Me Somewhere” – Skylights February 18, 2019

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 1:07 pm
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Those Skylights boys sneaked out another song last month. It is called “Take Me Somewhere” and it is a driving little number that showcases some excellent riffing from guitar dynamo Turnbull overlaid on to the finely tuned and powerful engine of the rhythm section where Jonny Scarisbrick on bass and Drummer Myles Soley give it real welly to add some superb rock ‘n’ roll horsepower. The song is completed by some pedal to the metal soaring vocals from Rob Scarisbrick. These boys are firing on all cylinders and this song will drive its anthemic way into your head and parallel park there along with some of Skylights other great songs. I have heard a rough mix of another Skylights song recently and that is another humdinger, which makes me look forward to a début album whenever that might be. If you like your Indie Rock with a sharp punky attitude then you need this band in your life. They play a sell out gig this Friday, 22nd February at the 380 capacity Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen in Leeds. I’ll be there, will you?

 

 

Eugene Gorgeous – Fulford Arms, York – Wednesday 28th November 2018 November 30, 2018

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 8:46 pm
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Sometimes I really need to psych myself up to go out to a gig on a week night, especially a Wednesday. But a gig hosted by Joe Coates (Please Please You) and Simon Pattinson (Northern Radar) ought to make it worth it and frankly it was well worth it! It was also great to catch up with the top bloke that is Dan Lucas, head honcho of the wonderful Boss Caine. First up was a sneaky set from one of York’s best bands, Skylights. A good opportunity for a final live show before their showcase headliner at the Brudenell in Leeds the following day (a review of that show will be heading your way very soon!). Often bands on first play like they are a support band, but Skylights blew that one away. They smashed into this like they were headliners. They were magnificent from the opening bar of “Life Line” to the loud feedback driven end to “Reverb”. Obviously “YRA” was amazing, but tonight “Britannia” stole the show for me. This was a  band totally ready to bring the house down at the Brudenell at their next gig.

Next up it was Liverpool’s the Mysterines. I must confess that I was not sure of that name, but once they start that becomes irrelevant. The noise they create is some of the best rock music that you will ever hear. The pace never slows down and “I Just Love To Hate You” is possibly one of my new favourite songs. Lia Mysterine’s voice has the passion of Patti Smith, the punk attitude of Joan Jett and the cheeky glam tone of Suzi Quatro. With a drummer channelling the spirit of Keith Moon and the Muppets Animal, alongside a bass player that provides a deep thudding underlay the Mysterines are destined to go far.

The headliners tonight, Eugene Gorgeous, should be the subject of some work by the world famous Pete Frame of Rock Family Trees fame. The singer’s brother is a part of Bull and tonight the drummer was Harry from Black Lagoons and the collective has representation from other bands too. The simplest way to describe them would be eclectic, but even that doesn’t do them justice. For me they have a lot of prime Lou Reed period Velvet Underground about them but then they put that aside with an incredible cover of Aretha’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” in which they don’t change the gender, which makes it work even better. This is the first time that I have seen them in more than two years and the VU came up in my description of them back then. I said “imagine if you will the Velvet Underground meeting the Jesus and Mary Chain at a dive bar in Twin Peaks.” well I believe that description still stands .Vocalist Paddy Beer is like the EverReady bunny fuelled by energy drinks and milk! If you love music then you cannot dislike this mightily talented bunch. I don’t think any of them are actually called Eugene but they sure as hell make the most gorgeous noise! If you haven’t caught up with Eugene Gorgeous yet then I suggest that you get yourself acquainted with them immediately!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTnDEFCy9mY

Public Service Announcement: – All photographs (except the Eugene Gorgeous name tag) were taken and edited by me using my cheap android phone from China. 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.

 

Tom Hingley and the Karpets – Fibbers, York – Saturday 3rd November 2018 November 11, 2018

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 5:51 pm
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This night would mark my second opportunity to see the rather brilliant Skylights from York and also serve to remind me of just how old I am. Why the latter? Well I realised that the first time that I ever saw Tom Hingley was at the Reading Festival in 1990 when he was the lead singer of the Inspiral Carpets. They headlined that year and no doubt I also caught a glimpse, without knowing, of their guitar tech; a young Noel Gallagher. That is nearly 30 years ago! Anyway enough of all that reminiscing how about I tell you about this gig at the Crescent? Well first l I should apologise for missing the Feds who were first on the bill. The ticket said 8 p.m. and I got there just before that only to find that the Feds had hit the stage at 7:15. Oh well I will need to catch them another time. The second band on were Apollo Junction from Leeds and they are purveyors of fine, quality pop rock. The audience was not a bad size at this point but everyone was congregated around the two raised spaces leaving the main floor empty. However this did not deter Apollo Junction who had already suffered one setback as their keyboard player, Sam was too unwell to join them. Not only were they not deterred they were positively inspired with three of the band; Jamie, Matt and Ben coming on to the floor to continue their set. Drummer Jonathan was left on his tod on the stage. This is a band with a hell of a future. They are Gareth Bale’s favourite band don’t you know!

Apollo Junction

The immensely talented Skylights were up next to play what is possibly their last show in York for sometime as they will be operating out of Leeds going forward. So did they play like it was their last home town gig for a while? They sure as shit did, they totally owned the audience and shook Fibbers to its core. There is no slow build up with this band they hammer you into submission from the opening bars. They are able to do that for a number of reasons, first their songs are anthemic, memorable and sit in your head after the first listen. Secondly this is one of the tightest bands around. Myles and Jonny on bass and drums  are a powerhouse rhythm section with what seems like an innate ability to achieve perpetual motion. Meanwhile it is in the live setting that you really can appreciate what a latent talent Turnbull has as a guitarist. His riffing and soloing swirls over every song more akin to the contribution of Johnny Marr to the Smiths or Bernard Butler to Suede. Add to that the stylish and very British rock vocals and a stage presence that draws from Liam Gallagher (back in the days when Liam was great) from  front man Rob and you have a potent combination of potential greatness! “YRA” and “What You Are” were most definitely particular highlights for me.

Finally it was time for headline band Tom Hingley and the Karpets. I have been an Inspiral Carpets fan for many years but while I have seen them with and without Tom I had never seen Tom on his own. Mr Hingley’s opening statement was a heartfelt plea or perhaps more like a strict order to “GET TO THE FUCKING FRONT” over the sounds of “Commercial Reign” from 1990, and it worked, everyone moved forward as one. I suspect that everyone in the crowd was glad that they did move as well because that is the place to experience something as marvellous as this. All of the greatest Inspiral Carpets songs were aired; “She Comes In The Fall”, “Dragging Me Down”, “Bitches Brew” and “I Want You”. That last one made me realise how much the world misses Mark E Smith who contributed vocals to the original release. The set would have been incomplete with what is for me the greatest song the Inspiral Carpets ever recorded, “Saturn V”. I gave myself a sore throat singing along to that. There was an excellent cover of “Tainted Love” which was interestingly preceded by a few bars of the Joan Jett/ Arrows hit “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll”. The evening was brought to an emotional close with the emotional roller coaster of “This Is How It Feels”. A quick special mention to bass player Ste Pearce who kindly topped up my plastic wine bottle from his bottle of white wine from the rider. Tom Hingley is a supremely talented performer who knows his audience so very well. I met him briefly at the merch stand after the show where he kindly signed the book and CD that I bought. Based on the show tonight and that brief meeting I reckon Mr Hingley is a top bloke!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTnDEFCy9mY

Public Service Announcement: – All photographs were taken and edited by me using my cheap android phone from China. 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.

 

 

 

Skylights – Promo CD – September 2018 September 8, 2018

Filed under: News,Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:53 pm
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I was lucky enough to be on the mailing list for an excellent 7 track promo CD from the talented Skylights from York. I am very familiar with two of the tracks; “What You Are” and “YRA” which I have previously reviewed for this blog. Both of these are now accompanied by a couple of excellent videos (see below) and are almost instant anthems. On the basis of those two tracks alone it is clear that this is a tight band with a potentially bright future. “Nothing Left To Say” has the same anthemic qualities as the previously mentioned tunes and will be released with an accompanying video next month. They definitely have a DNA link to the better parts of so-called BritPop. Most notably here in “Take Me Somewhere” in which I can hear the melodies of Cast and Dodgy with perhaps the delivery of Oasis at their prime. On top of that the riff here has a late 70s power pop like quality at times.

The CD also showcases three demo recordings. “Britannia” is an epic melodic, fuzzed up banger that has influence from the Verve and especially the Stone Roses. meanwhile “Driving Me Away” does not do what it says on the tin, it drives you towards this rather excellent and very talented band. They show their softer side on the yearning hook-laden “Darkness Falls”. Rob and Jonny Scarisbrick on soaring vocals and pounding bass respectively are aided and abetted by supreme sticksman Myles Soley and axeman extraordinaire Turnbull Smith in a quest for greater success for Skylights. Can they do it? Well on this evidence I reckon they can. In fact with another three or four songs of the quality and calibre of those on the promo means there could be a brilliant début album on the cards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTnDEFCy9mY

 

 

Skylights – The Crescent, York – Saturday 18th August 2018 August 23, 2018

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 10:51 pm
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Any gig which has bands on the bill that you are a fan of has to be good right? Well I had very high hopes for this one. I have had the pleasure of reviewing a couple of recent songs by headliners, Skylights and a couple by another great York band Honours. This would also be the third time I had seen Honours play live. The venue was the wonderfully quirky Crescent in York. First up were a band that I had not heard of before this show, Fond. So two Scotsmen and a Yorkshire walk into a band and call it Fond. Apologies for the poor humour but I am not particularly fond of this lot. They are very competent musicians and some of their songs, particularly their set closer strive to raise the spirit of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. It is an admirable intention but one which ultimately failed for me. In my opinion this lot might be better suited to open for a Who tribute band in a small pub.

Fond

Honours were next and as they always seem to do they played a set that could easily have been from a headline slot. Two songs that are now becoming classics; “Freedom” and “Duchess” had the crowd, which included members of Hello Operator, bouncing hard. Daniel and Tom power a finely tuned rhythm section engine which under pins the riff laden road laid down by Struan. On top of that is Jordan’s excellent vocal which could power a Formula 1 car. They also showcased a new song, “Gone” which might be their next single. It was apparently not even a week old and for me it stole their set, a truly stunning tune. Once again this raises my expectations in anticipation of the first Honours album, whenever that might arise.

Honours

Tonight’s headliners Skylights are on the comeback trail and this show is a big part of that comeback. So was it worth Rob and Rob and Myles Soley returning? Damned right it was! Their first two releases, “YRA 2018” and “What You Are” sound excellent in the recorded versions but when played live they take flight with the power of a supersonic plane. There were a lot of additional vocalists in the crowd for “YRA”. Influenced by the likes of Oasis and perhaps the Verve they also put their own personality on some great songs. “Drive Me Away” singularly failed to drive anyone away and kept us all rocking. I hope Skylights stick around for a bit longer this time! All in all this was another great night at the Crescent. Thanks to Turnbull for putting me on the guest list. It was great catching up with ace York music promoter Simon Pattinson again. Mr P how the hell did we manage to drink so much?

Skylights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTnDEFCy9mY

and the crowd go wild!

Chilling in the Green Room!

Public Service Announcement: All pictures are courtesy of my cheap Android Chinese mobile phone. Except the shot of the audience, that was supplied by Turnbull Skylight 🙂 Videos are sourced from YouTube. If you would like me to credit you as videographer or to remove them please let me know.

 

“YRA 2018” – Skylights April 24, 2018

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 10:35 pm
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Too many bands and so little time! I just received a tip from an insider about a band called Skylights who hail from Yorkshire; York and Leeds to be precise. They have a spiffing little tune out right now and after a couple of listens I really love it. “YRA 2018” is the tune and the acronym describes Yorkshire’s Republican Army. As a former southerner who has lived in York for eleven years I would be happy to support the YRA!

Skylights are most definitely a 21st century band but they draw some great influence from the BritPop era, but the classy end of the so called movement. They have a swagger in their sound that evokes Oasis in their prime, a confidence in their playing that is reminiscent of Richard Ashcroft at his peak and Bobby Gillespie would be proud of this song. Skylights pull no punches with some sky reaching power riffs and epic melodies which build to a chorus that is hard to lose from your brain, not that I am trying to lose it though.

The band is Rob Scarisbrick on vocals, Turnbull Smith on guitar, Jonny Scarisbrick on bass and Myles Soley beating the drums.They have been picked up by a few local radio stations, including the fabulous YO1 and BBC Introducing. York’s own Rick Witter is a fan of this song. They are playing Fibbers on 18th August and there will be other gigs. I haven’t had the opportunity to see the band live yet, but if they can translate the power and energy of their recorded music on stage then I reckon their sets could become epic! Click here to check out “YRA 2018” on SoundCloud along with a couple of other excellent Skylights tunes.