STEVE DAVIS - founder of SSD Concerts - Q & A interview - Part 2

In part two of our Q & A interview with Steve Davis we touch on some of the more contentious issues surrounding the man and his gig promotions.


NE:MM: Why did Think Tank? move from Hoult’s Yard to Digital?

Steve: It’s hard to comment on this really but it was the best option for all concerned. The small shows out there suffered. Nobody want to drive out of town on a Tuesday night in the rain to see emerging bands. It has to be accessible in the city centre to work.

NE:MM: What is the current set-up - you use a mix of venues still or Think Tank? and Riverside as home?

Steve: Think Tank? and Riverside are home but we still use The Academy for big shows, The Head of Steam a lot because we love it, The Uni’s, sometimes along with the Gerogian Theatre in Stockton, Leeds Brudenell, York Fibbers, Factory in Manchester and more.

NE:MM: How did the Riverside deal come about?

Steve: The company that owned it went into administration and a close friend got Riverside. The set up there is now the best in the region for that capacity. We have some amazing unannounced shows to go in their its super exciting for all of us.


NE:MM: Why do you think Riverside is important for the city and the music scene?

Steve: Riverside is vital and I believe will bring around a new scene for the quayside; its perfect down there. The pre-bars, the parking, the setting, the hotels for bands etc, this will be the main venue in the city by September. Nobody’s favourite gig was in a 2000 cap space, seeing bands with 600 others is where the atmosphere is. Where the bands main hardcore fans are there and additional people find it hard to get a ticket. It’s got soul that building, the bands love it.

NE:MM: What future TT and Riverside gigs have you got lined up? (can you give us one exclusive announcement as a headline?)

Steve: Haha I would love to let you all in on the holds we have in the diary but can’t, but by the end of June that venue will be firmly on the map. 

NE:MM: Bigger than Interpol and Courtney Love? There were rumours of you trying to get Prince!!??

Steve: Yeah believe it or not the Prince story had some truth behind it, they wanted some warm ups for the London shows last time around, they wanted warehouses and asked about Hoults, then we didn’t hear further! And yes bigger than Interpol and Courtney Love.


NE:MM: How did the Courtney Love booking happen?

Steve: We just got offered it as an additional show to her tour when the agent heard how well the Interpol show went. I will definitely be repping that one, it’ll be great to meet her and find out what she’s like, that’s an exciting weekend for us as we have Frankie and the Heartstings the night after too.

NE:MM: Do you have any further expansion plans?

Steve: Yeah always looking to move forward, I‘d like to do more grass roots stuff but I’ll tell you more about that on another day. SSD local will be something we launch in the winter of this year in local bars etc. we also have Cult Festival to announce for August.


NE:MM: You use a few regular bands as local supports - Lisbon, Gallery Circus - are you involved in managing them at all? Any others on your roster?

Steve: Yeah we officially manage Lisbon and Gallery Circus, both are flying at the minute. Gallery Circus will be one of the bands to watch this year, they are on just about every festival in the UK the next single is something else. Lisbon ... well just wait and see where those guys go, Lisbon are going straight to the top, amazing bunch of guys, amazing tracks. This is why we got into this whole thing in the first place to try and help guys like these.


NE:MM: Some final questions - about how people perceive you
 

He's impossible to pin down / get hold of ...

Steve: Anyone who worked in a professional role who ran 2 venues, 1 promo company, managed 2 bands and had 2 small children would be hard to pin down. I tend to stay off the phone now as it wastes a lot of time, everyone who emails me gets a response.


NE:MM: He does too much. If he did 50% of the stuff he'd be able to do a more thorough job of promoting the gigs he does ...

Steve: If I did 50% there’d be a chance 50% of the bands you all want to see would come to this city, and if I did 50% I wouldn’t be giving my all. I don’t agree with that comment anymore, maybe in the past when we had the issues of Hoults to address but now we are a well oiled machine and have an ace team behind us.

KIRSTY MACCOLL - All I Ever Wanted (The Anthology)

I received this promo cd weeks ago but it’s so full of content (43 tracks) and the booklet that accompanies it is so fascinating that it’s taken me ‘til the eve of the album’s release to finally put pen to paper.

I was always a fan of Kirsty MacColl; not so much of the music but a huge fan of her as a music industry survivor and an experimental and brave artist. During her rollercoaster of a career in pop she was dropped by labels, was embroiled in contractual disputes, endured a failed marriage to a musical collaborator, yet through it all she continued to write and record spirited and infectious songs. As I say, I wasn’t a HUGE fan of the music but also wouldn’t have changed channel if ‘A New England’ etc had come on the radio.

Early MacColl meant guitar based pop songs, often with witty lyrics and catchy hooks. Examples of that are found here in abundance; ‘They Don’t Know’ (made more famous by Tracey Ullman), ‘Don’t Come The Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim!’, ‘There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis.’

The mid point of her career was also probably its critical high point. The album ‘Kite’ contained hits ‘Days’ and ‘Free World’ whilst she enjoyed huge seasonal success with the Pogues and ‘Fairytale Of New York.’

Towards the end of her tragically short life she recorded a world music-inspired album entitled ‘Tropical Brainstorm’. The highlight of the record was arguably the Cuban influenced ‘In These Shoes’ and that track, along with many from all parts of her diverse back catalogue are contained on this near complete collection. I say ‘near complete’ because sadly MacColl’s rendition of ‘Miss Otis Regrets’ from her Jools Holland Hootenany appearance (with the Pipes and Drums of the Irish Guards) is not here but it’s the only omission I can detect.

As well as a broad and well chosen selection of songs you receive with this double cd a fantastic and lavishly produced booklet exploring MacColl’s interesting career and life with contributions from collaborators such as Jools Holland and Johnny Marr.

The whole package is a fitting tribute to a sadly missed and perhaps underrated singer songwriter.

Words: Rachel Jean 

SPEEDY - News From Nowhere

‘Lost albums’ are things of musical myth and legend, so the launch of a new label dedicated to rediscovering and setting free such albums is to be very much welcomed and applauded.

The Lost Music Club’s much anticipated first release has been patiently waiting in the wings for 17 years and the new label describe Speedy’s News from Nowhere as a “glorious slice of joyful Britpop”.

1997 was the year that gave us Songs From Northern Britain by Teenage Fanclub, In it for the Money by Supergrass, Drawn to the Deep End by Gene, OK Computer by Radiohead and the twin great fading tail lights of the Britpop movement Be Here Now by Oasis and Blur by Blur. To attempt to place Speedy’s album within this historical musical context is not particularly fair to all parties because it’s a surprising and refreshing contemporary collection of tunes. 

It’s bright and poppy but also gloriously dark in places (particularly on one of the album’s many high points, ‘I like you so much’ which is the most fun you can have while contemplating cannibalism). The album possesses a tremendous sense of humour too, name-checking, among others, Liam, Damon and Jarvis on the breakneck ‘Boy Wonder’ and sounding on the quirky ‘Karaoke King’ like a Britpop reincarnation of The Housemartins (which is no bad thing in my book!)

The album is released on Monday 7 April and, excitingly, the band are playing live to celebrate its belated release, when they may finally be able to count themselves a part of the massed ranks of Sheffield’s finest.

Words: Neil Pace

STEVE DAVIS - founder of SSD Concerts - Q & A interview - Part 1

To say that Steve Davis is a controversial figure in the local music scene would perhaps be going too far but he certainly has his supporters and his detractors. Some accuse him of trying to accomplish too much with the result being that sometimes an apparent failure to pay attention to detail can lead to disappointment. Others say that without him the local live music scene would be a far less interesting and busy one. Either way you look at it, Steve Davis is someone who is worthy of our attention and so we caught up with him recently to ask some of those questions on everyone’s lips.

NE:MM: What was your motivation to start promoting live music events?

Steve: I have always been a huge music fan and although I can play guitar this whole thing probably started from me having the want to be a rockstar. I quickly realised that wasn’t going to happen so the music side mixed with my desire to earn £ led me to promoting shows. To this day there is still nothing like the thrill of securing a big show.

NE:MM: You began as Gigs North East. When and how did it all begin and what will become of Gigs North East following the foundation of SSD Concerts? 

Steve: Gigs North East, although it was founded 10 years ago still hasn’t launched in full. It’s an exciting year for this project and there will be lots to come from it in the very near future. When I started promoting it was going to be the company promo name but we quickly started doing shows outside the region so it was shelved. The long term plan for it is great and it will be a platform and source of information for bands/promoters venues etc starting in the summer of 2014. Gigs North East will be self financed as it will stand on its own two feet due to several income streams it will develop. Generator have helped a lot with the initial stages and putting the website together. It will have an instant impact on the regions ticketing for live shows.

NE:MM: When and why did you form SSD Concerts?

Steve: SSD was formed 10 years ago or more now I wish I kept the date and our first show written down so we could tack it and have annual birthdays etc but at the start it was more of a fun thing, we didn’t know where it was going back then so everything was just thrown together and off we went. We were going to be Gigs North East but that name limits us to this region so it became SSD Concerts. It was going to be a consortium of people whose initials spell SSD but they backed out at the last minute and I had already had the logo designed so I just kept that name. It doesn’t really mean anything now the name, although people think its my initials. My Initials are actually SAD, so luckily we aren’t called SAD concerts or we’d have to put on acoustic gigs every night to make it fit : ).


NE:MM: How is SSD Concerts run?

Steve: I run it and have a small team of people I can rely on to help run the shows. I am a radiographic practitioner at a hospital for most of the week so can’t do everything myself. We’ve put on at least 1,000 shows but I can’t tell you exactly how many. 

NE:MM: You’ve had some big bands who must demand large fees. How do you manage to avoid huge losses?

Steve: By sending the right offer for each band, it is easy to offer the earth for most bands but most of the time you would be surprised what they actually get paid. I look at each artist as a long term relationship, you never make money on the first show you do with most emerging artists. I tend to look at each artist as a 5 show relationship you will lose on the first 2 but make on the last three. Its getting harder now though as artists are getting catapulted from the bottom to the top in 5 minutes nowadays, so by the time we have lost on the first two shows Zane Lowe has blasted them to stardom and the big boys like SJM and Kilimanjiro have taken them off us.

In part 2 of the interview we ask Steve about why Think Tank? moved from Hoult’s Yard to Digital, how the Riverside deal came about, Interpol, Courtney Love, Prince rumours, what plans he has for the future and his response to criticisms about his style of promoting. 

LIVE AT LEEDS FESTIVAL 2014 - Special Preview

Live at Leeds is in its eighth year and after 2013’s event boasted appearances from the likes of Everything Everything, AlunaGeorge, Rudimental, Laura Mvula, Pigeon Detectives, Peace, The Staves, Savages, it’ll have to go some this time around to match last May’s festival. Taking place across various venues in Leeds over the May Bank Holiday weekend v.2014’s line-up hasn’t quite the same level of ‘headliners’ but we think that there’s plenty of strength in depth which is worthy of special consideration, so here is our guide to those lesser known bands and artists on the Saturday ‘wristband event’ schedule.

  BLAENAVON at Nation of Shopkeepers 1.00pm
We were alerted to this three man band from Hampshire    over 2 years ago by the excellent ‘Crack In The Road’ online blog and have been eagerly awaiting the chance to catch the precocious teenagers ever since. Though still at school (!) they’ve crafted some beautiful indie rock befitting experienced veterans and have drawn comparisons to early Wild Beasts. We reckon they’re pretty special.


  THE WITCH HUNT at Leeds Uni ‘Stylus’ 2.00pm

Fans of The Kills need to check out this Leeds trio, formed around heavy guitar licks and the piercing vocal talent of lead singer Louisa Osborn. Live at Leeds has a habit of supporting local bands and here’s a great example of that ethos paying dividends for wristband purchasers because this is a band who have grown enormously as a live act over the last year or so and seem ready to stake a claim for serious recognition. If we were  label A&R scouts we’d be at this one. 

 THE MEXANINES at The Cockpit 3.00pm

Back in the summer of 2011 we saw a Bradford 3 piece on the BBC Introducing Stage at Leeds Festival. They were one of the highlights of a weekend that included Elbow and Interpol, despite their youthfulness and relative inexperience. The band played a kind of blues infused indie rock, the blues element largely emanating from the rich lead vocal of James Brander. They’ve since added keys and sax to their sound and we’re looking forward to hearing how they’ve developed. When we caught up with James recently he was looking forward to LAL. “We are really excited to be playing at this years live at Leeds festival! We are very lucky to have landed a great spot at the cockpit this time around and if it's anything like the last time we played we know it's gonna go off big style!”


 LYLA FOY at Leeds College of Music 3.30pm
You may know Lyla Foy by her previous moniker ‘WALL’ but she reverted to her own name recently before signing to label Sub Pop for the release of her beautiful debut album ‘Mirrors The Sky’. Lyla deals in simple, minimalist and melodic pop. Leeds College of Music could be the place to stop off if you’re looking for a relaxing break in the middle of a hectic schedule. 

 GALLERY CIRCUS at The Packhorse 5.00pm

North Easterners need no telling about the identical twins who make a bigger racket than many full bands. The twins are energetic and engaging performers armed with killer hooks and soaring vocals. One half of the ‘anti-garage’ duo Graeme Ross can’t wait to play the festival: “I think the line-up looks great this year and we're delighted to be playing. It will be our first show in the city and couldn't have asked for a better one. We will be playing some new material and our new single Club house killer will be released in the same month.”

  GAMBLES at Holy Trinity Church 5.00pm
If you’re younger than 50 this is the closest you’ll ever get to seeing and hearing Bob Dylan in his prime. Actually, that’s a bit of a disservice to Matthew Daniel Siskin whose simple songs with beautifully crafted lyrics deserve to be appreciated on their own merits. We’ve been tracking his progress from the off in late 2012 and he’s possibly the artist we’re most looking forward to catching at the festival. Thumbs up to the organisers for putting him on in such a beautiful setting. We predict he’ll have many more disciples after the May Bank Holiday weekend. 

EVA STONE at The Cockpit Bar 6.30pm

The one thing all of our featured artists have in common it seems is a precocious talent and 22 year old Eva is possibly the best example of this, singing with a mature, smokey, bluesy voice of situations that you’d swear she could have no personal experience, except for the fact that her delivery is so authentic. A native of the North East she recently headed to the Capital where she found new management and a new impetus. The future looks bright for this talented young singer/songwriter. 

As an addendum we’d suggest for an authentic Leeds indie experience you check out local favourites THE WIND-UP BIRDS at a fringe event at Milo’s. The band take the stage at 11pm we understand. Their debut album ‘The Land’ was one of our favourites of 2012 and we hear good things about the soon to be released follow-up.


As if that wasn’t enough there’s some great bands and artists of greater repute playing this year’s Live At Leeds, our pick of which would be THE HOLD STEADY, YUCK, GEORGE EZRA, MARICKA HACKMAN, LANTERNS ON THE LAKE and ROYAL BLOOD.


On the night preceding the Saturday wristband event there’s also BLOOD RED SHOES playing The Cockpit and following the release of their brilliant new album we’d recommend catching that if possible. 

Words: Russell Poad

Photos: Daniel Robson (The Witch Hunt & Gallery Circus)

Photo: Caroline Briggs (Eva Stone)

PAUL THOMAS SAUNDERS - Beautiful Desolation

I've listened to this album at least ten times before putting proverbial pen to paper. I wanted to give it every chance to impress itself on me because I have a great deal of time for the artist, who I saw in concert at Northumbria University back in October 2013 when he (and his band) outshone a stellar bill. Also, I absolutely LOVE the song 'Let The Carousel Display You & I' which somehow fails to make the debut album; indeed it's probably my favourite song of last year. 

So, what's my beef with Beautiful Desolation? It starts really well with the gorgeous 'Kawai Celeste' on which Saunders' voice floats above a soaring landscape of guitar and synth. The lyrics are hard to decipher due to the vocal treatment but it's not a song to study. rather one to lose yourself to. This makes it rather an odd choice for opening track then, you might think; usually these sort of songs are reserved for the climactic ending right? Yes, but that's the issue I have with this album - all of the songs could be the final track to another album - they all transport the listener to a higher place where mood matters over all else. But that simply doesn't work for a whole album ... not for me at least. 

Individually there are a some great songs here - 'Good Women' sounds like a top-notch Rhye song - perfect for a slow snog at the 80's disco, whilst 'In High Heels Burn It Down' would probably have pushed the aforementioned LTCDY&I for my record of the year had it been released in 2013 and as a standalone track. That's the real shame of this album for me, some fantastic songs are made to sound ordinary because of the company they keep; there's too little light and shade, way too much production and way way too much euphoria. It's a bit like having a strong roast coffee and spoiling it with 6 sugars. 

Even when the wall of noise abates somewhat, as on 'Santa Meurte's Lightning and Flare' the production is so sickly sweet that you'd be hard pushed to differentiate it from any of the other songs on offer here. 

I really hate not loving this record. I may ration myself to a track per week for the next 10 weeks and then re-appraise but for now I have to conclude that it just contains too much of a good thing. I hope the band visit Newcastle again soon so I can apologise in person and witness another great live rendition of these songs. 

Words: Russell Poad

ABBA - Waterloo (40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

In 1974 ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest with the title track from their second studio album, Waterloo. To mark the 40th anniversary of the win and the album's international release it's getting a 'deluxe' re-release on 7th April. 

Some of the songs will be familiar to all of a certain age; 'Hasta Manana', 'Ring Ring', 'Honey Honey', 'Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)', and the title track. The reason we remember these songs (and perhaps none of the others) is that they have tremendous melodic quality. The lyrics may seem a little simple and dated but a good tune never grows old. 

Sadly, the quality control department were out to lunch when some of the other tracks made it onto the record. Particular mention has to go to the truly awful 'Sitting In A Palmtree' on which Bjorn takes lead vocal (so imagine a Swedish man attempting to emulate a West Indian to an irritating reggae influenced musical backdrop - excruciating). 

So, the basic album is about 50% great and 50% awful but this isn't the basic album, it's "DELUXE"!! So what else do you get? Well, multi-linguists are in for a treat as you get 5 versions (yes FIVE) of the tile track - French, German, Swedish, English and Alternate Mix. Then there's foreign language versions of Honey Honey and Hasta Manana and a remix of Ring Ring. I think it's fair to say that this is a bit of a completest's dream but for the rest of us it may seem a little bit too much of a good thing. 

Apparently there's a DVD release to co-incide if that isn't enough for you! 

Words: Rachel Jean 

SPACE & REPUBLICA at O2 Academy, Newcastle - 19th March 2014

Cards on the table. I approached this gig with some concern. The only Space song I recalled from the 90's was ' Female of the Species' which I'd never liked purely because of the way in which vocalist Tommy Scott delivers the "is more deadly than the male" part of the lyric; for some reason it's always grated on me. My problem with Republica was that I only recalled 'Ready To Go' and whilst I liked it, I also thought it had been played to death and so I wasn't eager to hear it again. I also had a bit of an issue with the pairing of what seemed to me two very different bands. Would it work? 

The O2 Academy (2) was a good venue for the gig. By the time Space took to the stage it was nicely full and a jovial party atmosphere existed amongst the predominantly 30-50 year old and slightly merry crowd. 

From the opening song I realised I'd misjudged Space. Their performance was very credible and confident. Not at all 'revivalist' in feel. New songs blended well with old favourites and whilst I still can't fully appreciate 'FOTS' I did recall and enjoy others that had slipped from my mind including 'Neighbourhood', 'Avenging Angels', 'Me & You Vs The World' and of course (how COULD I have forgotten) 'The Ballad of Tom Jones'  complete with projected Cerys Matthews looking and sounding very good indeed. Of the new material 'She's in Love With the Boy in the Bodybag' stood out for me. Quirky and entertaining in a good way. 

In the short time it took for co-headliners Republica to take the stage a few of the Space fans had departed leaving me to conclude that maybe others had shared my misgivings regarding this rather odd amalgamation. 

The band's opening song was good and had my feet tapping but around 4 songs in it all started to sound a little 'samey.' Also it occurred to me that lead singer Saffron seemed a little nervous, waving to the front row like they were long lost friends who might be relied upon to return a confidence boosting smile.  Thankfully, as the set continued confidence seemed to grow and by the time the song everyone had waited for ('Ready To Go') arrived the band had truly hit their straps. 

I left feeling that perhaps I'd be better off suspending judgement next time. Whilst the billing of these two bands together didn't quite work I'd had a very enjoyable night and left with a renewed interest in Space's back catalogue.  

Words: Russell Poad

Photo: Mike Noble

INTERPOL at The Riverside, Newcastle - 16th March 2014

The word ‘Riverside’ in musical terms is synonymous with Newcastle folklore and while the location may have changed, it was with intrigue I headed to the opening show of the new ‘Riverside,’ to see Interpol.  I must say I was largely impressed with the venue; it’s spacious, airy and the high ceilings allow for the sound to travel rather than reverberate.

            The support act, Newcastle’s own Warm Digits took to the stage a little later than advertised, but as they rolled into what became a forty-five minute rolling track the crowd completely took to them. For an instrumental two-piece they created a fantastic array of sounds and the sheer energy of the drummer who was relentless in his playing was admirable to the say the least, and the ovation they received thoroughly deserved as the mix finally came to an end.

            The main event though was Interpol, and by now the venue was packed out. One of the big advantages to Riverside is its size, and while I wouldn’t like to speculate at the attendance I would suggest similar to that of The Cluny, but with a town center location, definitely an advantage.

            They took to the stage opening with Say Hello To The Angels which they ploughed through flawlessly and quickly following it up with Evil. Such a popular track so soon into the setlist settled the audience into the groove and this continued with fellow ‘Antics’ track C’Mere. This rapid fire opening to the set allowed the band to sample the water with the first of three new tracks they would play during the show, My Desire. It was well received, as were the other two, Anywhere and All The Rage Back Home and the setlist as a whole was solid and performed immaculately, highlighted by The Heincrich Maneuver, Obstacle and closed out with Slow Hands.

            One thing I would say about the show, is that Slow Hands seemed a good way to end out the show, and send fans home happy, however the band came back for an encore. I’m loathe to criticize such a thing but I can’t help feeling that the encore was lackluster and probably the weakest part of the show. However, this is of course no more than picking for the sake of picking. Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable show. 

The band showed they certainly still have it as they go off to headline the NME Tour, while the venue shows that it could cement its own place in Newcastle’s music scene to follow its oh so famous namesake. 

Words: Ian Mason

Photo: David Wala

FUTURE ISLANDS - Singles

Their debut album Wave Like Home was released way back in 2008 but Baltimore-based Future Islands only lost their live TV virginity two weeks ago. The band performed ‘Seasons (waiting on you)’ on The Late Show with David Letterman to rapturous applause from the presenter and audience, swiftly followed by online media praise.

Watching that performance was the first time I had ever seen the band in the flesh and lead singer Samuel Herring stood out as a strikingly eccentric individual. His Simon Cowell pants belted above his waste, twisting, shimmying and fist pumping to the Synthpop rhythm of his band, with an unflinching eye contact. It’s hard to think of a frontman with that much stage presence at the moment. As a YouTube comment puts it, ‘The only way that performance could have been more sincere is if he started crying, fell over, pissed himself, then floated up to heaven’ (quite the compliment).  However, what stuck out most was the man’s thespian croon. There’s a haunting moment where he lets out a growl of devilish ferocity, not dissimilar to a Death Metal or Hardcore Punk frontman and grabs the air with such neck-tingling conviction you believe he’s literally hanging onto something.

The version of ‘Seasons (waiting on you)’ that made it onto the band’s latest album Singles, doesn’t contain that peculiar moment, but it doesn’t really matter. A warm eeriness to their music still exists, in tracks like ‘Back In The Tall Grass’, which wear’s romantic nostalgia of the American sort, proudly on its sleeve. Herring’s lyrics are parables on the human soul; they seem to favour possibility over pessimism, but never make it too obvious. ‘I’ve seen the way that bodies lock and bodies tend to break’ he sings over ‘Light House’, one of the more anthemic moments on the album.  

At times the music feels very familiar. Second track, ‘Spirit’ owes a lot to Human League’s Dare, yet something more stirring than Phil Oakey’s monotone irks beneath Herring’s odd, soulful vocal. It allows the band’s music to transcend pop simplicity, opening up various alleyways of emotion.

Reverb is the chosen effect of a lot of bands at the moment but Future Islands use it for more than just making guitars sound a bit bigger. It washes amongst the quivering synth of ‘Like The Moon’, surrounded by tender chords and chugging clasps of bass that somehow manage to be subtle and euphoric all at once. This balance is something that the band pull-off well. 

Just as everything starts to seem a bit comfortable, that demonic vocal creeps up again, under the sludgy guitar of ‘Fall From Grace’, crawling out of Herring’s mouth, till the song slips back into shining bell chimes. 

Singles has got the heart of a lion and the mind of an outcast. Its flirtation with the darker fringes of pop is what makes it an extremely powerful album, a feat that may just push the band further than they’ve ever been.

Words: Nad Khan

SOAK - Q & A Interview

Sitting on the table back stage at the O2 Academy with the noise of Chrvches sound check rattling in the background; seventeen year old Derry singer song writer, Bridie Monds-Waton AKA Soak seemed fairly relaxed. It may have been a familiar accent- I too am from Northern Ireland- that had put her at ease or perhaps it was being surrounded by her favourite things: an acoustic guitar and a skate board- not the typical must haves for an ordinary 17 year old. But then again Soak doesn’t seem all that ordinary. Despite her early success, however, this young artist remains approachable and endearingly sweet – not at all disgruntled, which is often the case with some musicians at the end of a long day of interviewing.  So we launched in to chat about her time touring and her experience with Glaswegian tour mates, and record label owners Chvrches. 

You have recently been signed to Chvrches new label ‘Goodbye Records’; how did that come about?

“We have the same publishers, Universal. They contacted me and were like; Chrvches have a song called Mother We Share, would you like to cover it? It was basically for TV syncs and stuff like that. And so I recorded that and Chrvches really liked it and so, I ended up signing with them to release an EP.

Will there be any further collaborations between you and the band following the Chrvches remix of your song Blud?

“I don’t know, maybe at one stage we’ll write a song together or something. I really loved their remix though; iv had a remix before by Ryan Vale and it was really chilled, and they brought my vocal down to like, a male vocal- it was really weird. But when Chrvches done Blud it was so much better – it made it like a disco song”

Do you think working with Chrvches and their electronic style with change your sound at all?

Em, I think I will just naturally differ with the kind of music I make; I don’t set out to make a particular genre or anything. What it is, it is. Everything transforms when you get it to the studio anyway. But I reckon over the years I’ll probably transform into something else; but I don’t know

Coming from Derry in the North of Ireland, how do you find touring in England in comparison? 

Well I’ve only done a few tours prior to this, so I don’t really know what I’m getting myself into to be honest. We did two weeks in Europe and it was really big capacity venues; it was pretty sweet. Things like that don’t really make me that nervous. I mean like, England has much bigger venues that Ireland definitely. I mean, this is so much better than playing like Mandela- but yeah, this is strange because it’s an electronic band and I’m an acoustic artist; it’s a strange audience. It’s hard to get them to listen sometimes, but I think it’s pretty cool. I like playing bigger capacity venues though, it doesn’t make you feel so tiny.  Like, if there’s a crowd of ten, and just me, then it’s terrifying.

You’ve supported a lot of great acts in your short time; who has been your favourite act to support?

Ah, that’s hard. 

Tegan and Sarah were amazing to play with; when I was 13 they were like my heroes. I mean, they once played in Belfast and I couldn’t go because it was over 18. All my mates got fake ID’s, but my mum wouldn’t let me; so I had a tantrum.  They were really cool people.  Bombay Bicycle club were lovely to tour with as well.  But out of all of them I really think Chrvches have been the best to tour with; they’re really down to earth and like nice people to chill with.

What has been your most memorable moment of touring so far?

I guess one of the highlights would be on the European tour. We stopped in the middle of the Alps and everyone got out and we just had a snowball fight; that was pretty amazing. The whole idea of a tour is pretty special to me – going to different places and having these opportunities to see other cultures. To do all that, and get paid – that’s a highlight in itself.

As a musician coming out of Northern Ireland, do you think it’s harder for bands to make it from such a small place?

In my experience I think it worked in my benefit. But in the way that, because it was such a small place and there wasn’t a lot of music coming out of it. So when something decent came from there, people flocked to it. What happened with me was whenever I released my first EP they were getting played on radio one and all these music industry people flew over to see me.  I mean, Derry is smaller than Belfast and there is some great stuff coming out of Belfast that just isn’t getting recognition.

You’re such a young artist to be touring; if you weren’t here now what would you be doing?

I got to like, GCSE’s and in the middle of them I was doing gigs as close as 30 minutes before exams, and I didn’t care really – I didn’t like school at all, except for music and the artsy side. But I ended up with good result; I got more than enough to get into the Tech I wanted.  At that time I was being offered such big gigs, like supporting snow patrol. I seemed like people at tech were thinking “Why the f#ck are you getting all that?”, so it was kind of hard to make friends. But with my career going so well, and all the flying back and forth – the school said ‘you can’t stay if you’re not here more often’. So I left. It worked out better for me though, I’ve done so much and Il only get this shot once. 

Questions: Dominique Daly

THE WAR ON DRUGS - Lost In The Dream

It starts with a rattle over gentle, swirling synth keys. Then it hits; ‘like the arrival of a new day’. ‘Under the Pressure’ opens the third album from Philadelphia indie-rock outfit The War on Drugs; the follow up to 2011’s critically acclaimed Slave Ambient.

The War on Drugs is very much the brainchild of lead singer Adam Granduciel. He wrote, recorded and produced almost the whole album himself, with bandmates only briefly making an appearance on the record. That’s not to say though, that the sound of this album isn’t one of a band bound tight together.  

This is no run of the mill ‘indie-rock’ record; far from it, in fact. From the sparse opening keys and crisp drums of Under the Pressure, accompanied by Granduciel’s Dylan-esque croon (you know that one where vowels go on a split second longer than they should?), you can almost feel yourself heading off down the open road. The guitars wrap around each other, slowly but surely dragging you forward with them, building and building until you find yourself almost lost as textured keys swirl around during an almost 3-minute outro. 

Straight into the albums lead single ‘Red Eyes’ where glittering synthesisers melt into acoustic strums and electric riffs creating a Bruce Springsteen-meets-Arcade Fire style stomp. Granducial’s vocals blend together with the music, creating an extra texture.

‘Suffering’ slows the early pace down; sounding much more wistful and reminiscent than the dynamic openers. Achingly so as Granduciel asks ‘Will you be here, suffering?’ 

‘An Ocean in Between the Waves’ drags things forward again; the drums and the bass piggy backing more swirling synthesisers and Dire Straits influenced reverberating guitars. The pace builds and builds like an avalanche sliding down a mountain, culminating in a thundering guitar solo, until the brakes are slammed on to end a soaring 7-minute epic… straight in to the albums centre piece, ‘Eyes to the Wind’; an uplifting, country tinged anthem. Subtle saxophone riffs floating overhead while a sprinkle of keys flitter in and out. 

‘Burning’ carries on this alt-country styling with the ghost like synths. The album closes with ‘In Reverse’ that sees the tone of the album end as it started, with Granduciel singing about struggle and loss. Yet, through all this, it still sounds amazingly uplifting.

There’s no subtly here. This album knows exactly what it is and exactly what it wants to be. The apparent absence of anything resembling a chorus only strengthens the feeling of a freewheeling, spacious sounding album. It seems to offer something new with every listen. There are certain moments which do sound reminiscent of other artists but it would be wrong to get to bogged down in comparisons, although this could end up dividing opinion on the album for a few. For The War on Drugs fans, though, it seems like a natural successor to Slave Ambient, Granduciel perfecting sounds he’d previously flirted with. It’s a modern twist on something that may not be particularly new, yet still sounds up to date, and it’s somehow satisfying to know that music like this can still be made, every once in a while. 

Words: Darren Montgomery

SKATING POLLY - Fuzz Steilacoom

Multi-instrumentalist stepsisters Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse that make up Skating Polly are still only 13 and 18 years old. Yet listening to their third and latest album 'Fuzz Stielacoom' you’d be forgiven for thinking they’re more advanced than their years.  

There’s something about a duo that’s significantly rougher and rawer than a full band. It could be to do with the need to be heard amongst the sea of rock groups at least double the capacity or maybe just a natural result of making more out of less. Luckily, Skating Polly have a punk brutishness that bodes well with their music. They make themselves extremely hard not to listen to, thrashing their way to the top of the punk rock revivalist crop.

Opening track ‘Alabama Movies’ is a gritty ride through 70s punk, that could just as easily be a Death From Above track, with its screeching vocal of ‘Smoke I’m the water, don’t tell your doctor!’ The duo echo various other twosome contemporaries, managing to shirk off any accusations of being a kiddy band for kids. If the lyrical and songwriting maturity isn’t enough to convince you otherwise, listen to the breathy sniffs at the end of ‘Ugly’ and any sign of teen innocence is quickly discarded.

Joan Jett’s femme rock revolution is inked into the core of the girls' sound, which is an obvious but appropriate comparison to draw upon. But to restrict the girls to mainly female comparisons of the Riot grrrl tag would be unfair, as they also manage to capture the best of male headed rock and grunge, ‘Dead Friends’’ simple Pixie-esque bassline and hair-flinging chorus being a good example.

At times, the girls lift out of the scrappiness and mould something even more interesting. The folky, freewheeling ‘Blunderland’ shows the bands other side, with a bluesy vocal and stripped back strumming guitar. When the shouty teen mask slips, they reveal their musical diversity - Closer, ‘A Little Late’ is heartfelt and emotive in the way that their other tracks aren’t and is just another  reason why Skating Polly are definitely worth a listen.

Words: Nad Khan

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB at O2 Academy, Newcastle - 5th March 2014

 

 

 

There is a notorious saying that states ‘you should never meet your heroes’; I feel that the same sentiment should be applied to ‘you should never review your favourite band’. Not because you will be disappointed in their performance (they’re your favourite band for the love of god- you’re going to enjoy it!), but because you’ll inevitably be disappointed in your ability to accurately put into words just how great they really were.  This is my attempt; this was Bombay Bicycle Club. . .

It is often said of by musicians that they have been on a real ‘journey’ through their musical lifespan- normally it is portrayed as a product of a major shift  in a bands career trajectory or an extreme change in sound between albums. A lot of the time this ‘journey’ is hard to see. Not with Bombay Bicycle Club! Returning to Newcastle’s O2 Academy following the major success of their latest Album So Long See You Tomorrow, this London based four-piece’s metaphorical musical journey was impossible to miss! This was achieved with the help of some astonishingly mesmerizing visuals which were projected behind the band. Animations adorned the Academy back wall; from literal depictions of human figurines embarking on walks, runs, and boat journeys; to the wilting and re-beginning of the life of a dandelion.  All in keeping with the ever-so artsy and sensitive nature of the Bombay Bicycle Club we’ve grown to know and love since they’re first release I Had the Blues but I Shook Them Loose in 2009. So much so that even guitarist Jamie MacColl was finding it hard not to turn his back on the audience and stare up at these pictorial delights.

Getting off to an sun-drenched atmospheric start showcasing some tracks from So Long See You Tomorrow there was a short lived fear that this show was not to be the lively event that have been the previous Bombay tours. However, this fear was quashed when a selection of Bombay favourites from each previous album began to burst out of singer Jack Steadman’s vocal chords to liven up the evening. And liven up it did, to the extent that 3-piece horn ensemble The Brass Notes appeared from the side lines to rework Bombay Bicycle Club classics such as Always Like This. Breathing a new lease of energy into these tracks and proving that Bombay Bicycle Club are a band that never stop improving on their old material.

 Attention to detail on this tour was astounding, not only were Bombay Bicycle Club musically exceptional with not a note out of place, but their lighting design was intricate and beautiful. Each rendition (depending on its album) was flooded in its own colour scheme- from cool blue, melancholy tones to warming yellows and oranges that washed over every So Long See You Tomorrow track- a clear reflection of the journey taken by front man Jack through India while writing this album. A trip that’s presence can be heard within the album greatly. Accompanying Bombay Bicycle Club on this tour were the backing vocals of Liz Lawrence; a British singer song writer who has been described as “Florence without the hollering”. For the most part Liz was kept to the back of the stage providing a strong vocal harmony blending with jacks lead, but one cannot help but think Lucy Rose did a slightly better job in previous years.

The success of Bombay Bicycle Club is undeniable; they have penetrated a UK music chart which for the majority is adorned with drivel; however, what is to be respected of this band is that they refuse to settle. The determination to revisit old material, rework their style and sound to elevate their audiences experience is refreshing and appears to be injecting ever-growing confidence into once awkwardly reserved front man Jack. And I for one cannot wait to see this tours performance again in the festival season sun.

 

Words: Dominique Daly

EMERGENCY DOOR RELEASE at The Head of Steam, Newcastle - 7th March 2014

Usurper took to the stage at the Head of Steam and quickly overcame what seemed to be a little apprehension to demonstrate their unique brand of rapidly changing agit rock. It took a while for me to get attuned to it but I really rather enjoyed the last two songs especially Stand up Motherfucker. I have tried to research these guys but they seem not to be set up on the social networks yet.

The Carnabells were a huge contrast to their dark indie rock support. This was real retro rock and roll of the kind you can’t help but like. Great songs, sing-along choruses, lovely shirts and a bright stage presence added up to a highly enjoyable performance. I shall be acquiring their CD for my car, I need this.

Emergency Door Release appeared fresh from a successful support slot for The Twang at the O2 last week. The band were even more “up for it” and the chemistry between them all was infectious. Their new songs were well received with James Rooney getting the audience participating in the OH OH’s of the upcoming single Serotonin Sarah. It’s great to see this band back writing, recording and performing. They are so at home on the stage and the new material aired so far has left me wanting to hear more. The launch gig for the new single is at Think Tank on 10^th May, ending a UK tour and if these two gigs are anything to go by, it’ll be a good one.

Words: Joanne Oliver
Photo: Joanne Oliver