With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

‘So Close (yet so far)’ EP – White Roses September 28, 2024

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 3:50 pm
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The White Roses, one of Yorkshire’s finest bands have just launched an EP, ‘So Close (yet so far)’, and on the first couple of spins, it feels like a proper grower! The EP opens with the title track, an instrumental, and it is either a brief part of an unfinished track or as I see it a kind of overture. It certainly segues nicely into the first vocal track “This Town”, a banging song that should fill the floor at every student disco in the coming months. Next up is “2:23” which has the makings of a power ballad and Ellie’s vocal here is emotional, yearning and, evokes the best of Stevie Nicks. There is some excellent guitar work from Jack on “If I Could” which is a classy slice of indie pop that drives along like a 21st-century Altered Images. I love the screaming and distorted guitar sound on the fade. Talking of fade the fifth track is called “Bound To Fade” and this one reminded me of some of late-80s pop rock sensation Shakespears Sister’s finest moments. This one was recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London. The band had this to say about that experience, “It was such a surreal experience creating our own music in the same
space as our literal heroes. Who would have thought that this little indie band from up north
would end up here? It was truly surreal.” The EP closes with a poppy, acoustic ballad called “Skeletons”, the perfect chill-out after a gorgeously infectious journey through some of the White Roses’ finest moments to date! They are probably not the finished article yet, but this band improves with every release and every gig. The future is bright white for the White Roses!

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Pennine Suite – Fulford Arms – Friday 14th June 2024 June 18, 2024

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 6:46 pm
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Tonight was a chance to see a few bands that I hadn’t seen for a while. The headliners were Pennine Suite who I last saw in January 2022. Support was from Fulford Arms Battle Of The Bands 2022 winners the Palava, I last saw them at the BOTB final in December 2022. The first act on stage was the White Roses, I last saw them in February of last year, they are not simply a rock band, they are a truly entertaining band. Each time I see them they get better and better. Vocally Eliie draws on Joan Jett’s rawness and Stevie Nicks’s completeness while Jack’s guitar is a highly original and essential part of the band’s sound. The voice harmonies evoke Fleetwood Mac. “This Town” is a great song, but the anthemic epic that closed the set was extraordinary indeed! They have a new EP due soon and on the strength of this set I reckon it will be a classy release!

The Palava have grown immensely in emotion, scope, skill, and ambition since I last saw them. Their songs have grown into more complex and wonderfully played mini-epics. There were some really great jazzy, punky, and funky licks with great use of some nicely incorporated major 7th chords in some of their tunes. They maintain an infusion of ’60s psychedelia and a pinch of 90s Indie.”Remedy” (which in its recorded version features Kitty VR) and “Lie To Me” were incredible highlights, but even those two Palava specials pale against the next single “Foreign Ground” which sounds like it will be the band’s best song to date. They looked like they were loving playing live, and that just enhanced their performance.

If I was a headliner I would not have fancied following the Palava onto the stage, but Pennine Suite raised their game and blew the fucking house down! They are a band on fire, but not just a little flame, I am talking super nova levels of heat! The set opener “Everything Begins” (what an appropriate song to start with) reminded me of the Cure. The depth of their sound grows with every gig. Louise’s keyboard licks, riffs, and motifs add huge breadth to the band. Her playing on “M.O.W.O” gives an eerie circus-like feel to the song. The new track “Manhattan” is thunderously good and needs to be a single, RIGHT NOW! Harry’s guitar was magnificent on this track and the power and drive from the mighty rhythm section of Moses and Louis is a close to perfect as you could get! The crowd was spontaneously chanting the band’s name four songs into the set. Clearly the crowd fucking love this lot and was in full voice from start to finish. There were plenty of highlights in their twelve-song set, the biggest for me was a pounding “Pass On You”. But even that was surpassed by beyond epic and truly awesome upcoming single “Tropical Fantasy”, when Pennine Suite rock out they do it like a huge bastard rock god. Frontman Nick has grown wonderfully confident over the years since I first saw him fronting the Receivers more than five years ago. He really commands his audience and the new songs are just so good. I am not sure where this thought popped up from but I would love to hear Pennine Suite do a funky cover of a Lou Reed song, maybe “Vicious” from ‘Transformer’. This was a stunning end to a brilliant night of live music.

As a footnote, I went on for a couple more drinks after the gig with Simon P from Northern Radar Promotions and Rusty and Pete from ace York band Lost Trends. Note to self, don’t do it again, and avoid a hangover from hell!

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Battle Of The Bands – Fulford Arms, York February 22, 2023

Filed under: News,Observation,Review — justwilliam1959 @ 7:38 pm
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The Fulford Arms Battle Of The Bands event for 2022 took place from 26th October to 2nd December last year with four heats followed by the final. The final featured the four heat winners; the White Roses (Heat 1), The Palava (Heat 2), The Rosettas (Heat 3) and City Snakes (Heat 4), and the judge’s wild card, I Tell Lies. It was an absolute honour to have been a judge for this magnificent contest. Obviously, as I was judging the contest I didn’t think it was fair for me to also review it. I would like to say a huge thank you to all my fellow judges and the fabulous team at the Fulford Arms who put the whole thing together. There were plenty of prizes for the winners and I am happy to offer a cheeky little extra prize for all five finalists if you’re interested. So White Roses, Palava, Rosettas, City Snakes and I Tell Lies. If you want to be interviewed by With Just A Hint Of Mayhem give me a shout!

Huge congratulations to the Palava who won on December 2nd last year. There is a video from each of the four heat winners below, including the Palava. Unfortunately, I could not locate a video from I Tell Lies, so click here to check them out on Spotify! The event was so successful that the Fulford Arms Battle Of The Bands for 2023 is even bigger. There will be six heats (the first is on 6th September), three semi-finals, and then the Grand Final on 22nd October. The poster above provides all the dates and details of how to enter. Who is up for it? I will be judging 9 of the 10 shows this time around. It would be great to see your band there, you know what to do! As a brief footnote, I enjoyed the event so much that I was a judge at a Battle Of The Bands contest at a local school, which also happens to be where I work now too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG_6CEx1bn8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDrLof40hqk&t=2s

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The Sheratons – Fulford Arms, York – Thursday16th February 2023 February 20, 2023

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:04 pm
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It seems like another age when gigs were forbidden during Covid, I am so damned happy that we are back to normal, well mostly! This show was the first time that the Sheratons, from Leeds, had played in York. This was the first date of a five-gig tour with three dates in England and a further two to come in Scotland. First up was the rather nifty and talented the Big Sleep. If Damon Albarn decided to add to his, already huge, musical portfolio and legacy by recording in a grunge style with a spoonful of prog it might sound a bit like the Big Sleep, although perhaps not quite as raw and not quite as good. This is a terrific band, but a special shout out to the drummer who oozes talent and drives the band like a wild human metronome. The second band to play was the White Roses from Leeds, this was the third time that I have seen them play in just around six months. The White Roses are not just a rock band, they are a band that always encourages the crowd to party, and we did! The singalongs and the getting down low worked really well. The last time I saw them was at the Battle Of The Bands at this very venue towards the end of last year. They were good then and they are even better now. The guitarist and co-vocalist carries the guitar hero poses incredibly stylishly, but this is not style over substance he is a bloody talented guitar player. The lead singer’s voice is occasionally reminiscent of Joan Jett. If you haven’t experienced the White Roses yet, sort it out!

Next up and in the penultimate position were the Sheratons, who I believe were the headliners, not sure why they didn’t close the evening though. The Sheratons are punk with a fine pop twist, but definitely not just a pop punk derivative, they are more original than that. I have previously reviewed three of their singles, but until now the only time that I had seen them live was back in November 2018 when they supported Skylights at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds. The recruitment of a new drummer since then has added a brand new metal-influenced dimension to their already rather excellent sound. The Sheratons’ set had many highlights, notably “These Kids”, “Raving And Drooling” and the new single “Bravo”. The only disappointment for me was that they played a cover of “Ziggy Stardust” at their Manchester gig, for a huge Bowie fan like me that would have moved an excellent show up a few more notches to hugely magnificent. The band that closed the night was Balcony Plants who play swampy, bluesy, punky metal. I detected some Sex Pistols, Clash, and Damned influences occasionally. I occasionally like using superhero analogies in reviews sometimes, so here comes another of those. Balcony Plants veer towards the immensity, power, and feeling of Swamp Thing more than they do towards the cunning of Poison Ivy and I make that statement in support of a great band. There were some truly stupendous riffs and classy vocals. It is also hard to ignore the upbeat message that Balcony Plants convey too, they are heavy, heartfelt, and humble. The cover of the Madness classic “Baggy Trousers” was a total gem and took the song to a place it has probably never been before. While that Madness cover was good the Balcony Plants’ take on Jacko’s “Billie Jean” blew the place up. This is a band that everyone needs to see!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG_6CEx1bn8

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Coach Party – The Crescent, York – Wednesday, September 7th, 2022 September 12, 2022

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 2:37 pm
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This was my first visit to one of York’s finest venues, the Crescent, for some time. This was also the second gig in a row for me where I had never seen any of the bands before, and that really doesn’t happen too often. Headliners were Coach Party from way down south, the Isle Of Wight to be precise. But more of them later, there were two rather spiffing bands on before them. First up were Yorkshire-based White Roses. They are purveyors of fine classic rock sounds, but we are not talking covers, this is their own original material. Vocally is like a cross between Joan Jett and Stevie Nicks at times. The lead guitarist is a complete master of his art and plays his axe like a young Bill Nelson. This is definitely a band for the future.

White Roses

Next up was Priestgate from Driffield, which is where Spiders From Mars drummer Woody Woodmansey hails from. As soon as they hit the stage and started making their huge noise I was blown away, a real what the fuck moment. Think Bauhaus, the Damned, the Skids, and even Big Country, particularly Stuart Adamson’s great guitar work with the latter two bands mentioned. Goth, punk, glam, this band has it all and then some. Lead singer and frontman Rob Schofield has that 1,000-yard evil rock god stare down perfectly, just like Jordan from Avalanche Party. The energy that Priestgate have is the equivalent of a billion Duracell bunnies and frontman Rob is one of the best I have seen in a long while.

Priestgate

I certainly wouldn’t want to be the band that followed Priestgate, but Coach Party did and they played an absolute blinder. They entered the stage with a weird and wonky cut-up/ remix of the Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” and their set was weird, wonky, and wonderful throughout. The Isle of Wight has not been a hotbed of great rock music over the years, but I think Coach Party have the talent, skill, songs, and performances to change that. Up to now, we have seen Mark King (Level 42), Jet Harris (The Shadows), Snowy White (Thin Lizzy), David Steele (Fine Young Cannibals), Dick Taylor (Pretty Things), and more recently Wet Leg. Well, frankly they can all move over and make way for Coach Party. They are a band that uses wit and humour really well in their lyrics, but not without being able to get serious in some songs. Jess’s voice is spot on and enhances the tunes perfectly in the live environment, although to be fair the recorded versions are damned good too. There is a feel of 90s grunge in some of their tunes and maybe Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth. They worked the crowd really well too and we all clapped and sang along. This was a great set from a band that has an air of greatness and coolness about them. Highlights for me were “Everybody Hates Me”, “Bleach” and the staggeringly good “Shit TV” with its lyrics of pathos and comedy! I love this band!

All pictures, except the gig poster, were taken by me using my very cheap Chinese Android phone. The videos were found on YouTube. If the video is yours and you would like a credit or for it to be removed please let me know. If you have enjoyed this article feel free to follow the blog, or follow us on;

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