News From the Bridges – November 7th 2009

TrueBeat are looking for a new drummer!

Yes Truebeat are parting company with their old drummer (on good terms) because of commitment issues so the new guy must be dedicated and willing to go the whole hog. A car and the ability to do backing vocals are also very useful but not essential! Anyway, have a listen to  ‘em and see what you think; if you want an audition, get in touch at info@truebeat.co.uk. Catch these skasters in STAINES on Nov 26 2009  at The Hobgoblin   [www.myspace.com/truebeatuk]

WAXHOUSE are going into the STAKEOUT STUDIOS Hampton next week to start recording an EP with Chris Coulter … we wish them a pile of luck  [www.myspace.com/waxhouseband]

Melodramatic Surrey rockers ARCANE ROOTS have a new website they want you to visit : www.arcaneroots.com …. it is coming to life a bit more too with some live tracks and some demos up as well as a discography … but they would like to see more fans coming in tho! Click on, send ‘em messages, tell ‘em what you want and who you are!

Feltham eccentric yet sensible indie rockers “The Eccentric Sensibles”
[www.myspace.com/eccentricsensible]  will be  in the Studio next week to collaborate with artist Lori Sims (acoustic), on a blinding new song entitled  “Player” . . .

Indie poppers AUDIO VIDEO DISCO [www.myspace.com/audiovideodiscouk] will be playing The Fighting Cocks Kingston-Upon-Thames Dec 5 2009  at 8:00P

Guildford’s Fab Four GETSETRADIO is coming to STAINES for all you lucky people – catch ‘em on Nov 15 2009  at 8:00P at OUR FAVOURITE STAINES venue The Hobgoblin w/ 8th Time Luckie [www.GETSETRADIO.com]

Twickenham punksters ANONYMOUS TIP (who will be playing STAINES Nov 26 2009  at 8:00P The Hobgoblin W/ True Beat) have been getting some seriously strong support from radio and hot reviews from tastemakers Subba Cultcha and Music Week …

WITHOUT THOUGHT are lined up for two sparkling Christmas Shows… the first is Dec 19 2009      8:00P at Guildford – The Boileroom **Christmas Party** w/ Polar + JB Conspiracy and the VERY NEXT DAY the band plays STAINES Dec 20 2009  8:00P at The Hobgoblin (w/ Purge & Polar) [www.myspace.com/withoutthought ]

After a gob-routing shockingly successful show at the BUCKLE UP Rock Goblin, STAINES hometown’s favourite pop act MISS PINK SHOES is back in TOWN playing THE HOB Dec 3 2009  7:00P so if you missed ‘em in November come back and support this LOCAL ACT this  December.[www.myspace.com/misspinkshoesofficial]

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Sweet and frothy on top – dark and mysterious when you delve deeper – stained and smeared with a light bloom of self-belief and a love-of-life, Hollow Limit is a joyful and optimistic young band – not doom laden and nihilistic like many of their melodic metalcore compatriots.

I was fortunate enough to see their recent performance at The Hob, Staines Sunday 25th October. Sharing the finesse of Avenged Sevenfold together with the egotistical majesty of Iron Maiden, these local lads have grand aspirations and tip-top musical talent to boot.

I loved the clean vocals (not too many metalcore growls) from Dan, the dual guitar symphonies from the twin guitar maestros of Tommy Goodrick and Mike Lidiard, the rattling rapid-fire drum notes  (with plenty of radiating blast beats) from Luke Veryard and, not forgetting, the exquisite bass patterns from George Pardoe.

Yes, hardcore Hanworth head-bangers Hollow Limit nail their symphonic intentions firmly to the mast right from the outset.

Their twin lead guitars take turns to tango, the shrieking breaks and rippin’ and searing solos tending to lacerate your eardrums. It soon becomes clear that the cruel intention of this lively and lucid band is  to frizzle your brain hair,  slap a smile upon your chops and twist your insides inside-out,  whilst simultaneously demolishing your ear-drums,  in an all-out tactical assault on your mind and body.

I particularly enjoyed the ‘Bon Jovi’ sounding shallow snarling low-points and well positioned breakdowns on ‘The Devils Hour’ but my favourite Hollow Limit number has to be ‘Our Desperate Story’ with its complex metal basslines, carved and exquisitely handcrafted riffs and inventive, adventurous, twisting leads.

Dan Evans is the band’s fresh cheeky-faced ‘cockney looking’ front-man (he looks like a character from those 1970’s ‘Confessions of a Window Cleaner’ type films – you can just imagine Dan shinning down the drainpipe with his shirt-tails flapping between his legs, because the headmistress’s husband -  known to us as ‘the colonel’   – has just arrived home unexpectedly …  you can then picture him having to hastily make off in the nearest possible vehicle – in this case a milk float – just before the Colonel appears blustering and red-faced at the door, weilding a shotgun.) His charmingly fresh
vocals tend to add clarity and counter-points to the intricate musical compositions whilst his cheeky boyish grin, mop of golden hair, and innocent smile adds to the bizarre sense of ‘Britishness’ that pervades the overall style of this group.

If you like metal and you are looking for an authentic British equivalent to Avenged Sevenfold, with a capacity to produce astonishing, twisting and turning aural landscapes where grungy gravely low chords are cut through by exciting high points, then your are gonna just lurve Hollow Limit.

See ‘em now before they become too old!

© Neil_Mach
October 2009

Link:

http://www.myspace.com/hollowlimit

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The quixotic charm of The James Warner Prophecies is that their music contains a myriad of styles, oeuvres and impressions – much like J-Rock -  but theirs is less disposable pop in style and more harmonic indie in ambition. Thus we get thick slices of American Punk (i.e. think ‘Bad Religion’) laced generously with Brit indie folk sound reminiscent of ‘The Magic Numbers’.

So with The James Warner Prophecies you get melodic singing together with hardcore drum beats and haunting flute.  Yeah, I know it shouldn’t work. But it does.  Just.  Sometimes you feel poised on the edge of something a little too grand and opulent to be really honest …  but then the twinkle-in-the-eye  gentle humour of the band shines through,  and the result is an agreeable love fest of sound and virtue.

Benign Rasputin-like figure Joe Brown is the mighty front-man power-house lead singer/guitar of the band. Striding about the stage looking like a kindly ginger version of Edward Teach (the notorious pirate) – with an enormous burning red beard and a savage glint in his cruel eye. Instead of cutlass and sword, though, we get electric mandolin & guitar – but the results are similarly battle hardened with an abundance of inventive fireworks from the fret-boards and vindictive encounters with the spiteful strings of the mandolin.

Bringing some calm and beauty to the proceedings, Kate Rounding plays a mournful flute on many songs, plus the haunting chords on Korg. I understand Kate also adds violin to the mix – but we didn’t see her fiddle at The Hob. Lanky long-haired hippy Matt Anthony adds some low inventive and, ultimately, reassuring bass to the songs and the ‘Noel Fielding’ look-alike Dan Williams in assured and competent on drums.

The band moved ruthlessly from song-to-song keeping up the pressure and starting with an appropriately named tune ‘Braincell Piracy’ before launching into ‘King of The Killers’, then onto ‘Judas Stone’ and ‘The Itch’. The big end to the show was their ‘Set The World on Fire’ track (the unimaginatively named) ‘Mandolin Song’. This song has some fierce fretting from Joe (on mandolin) with audacious flares of light and fire from Kate and plenty of pounding crashing percussion from Dan and Matt. A truly exciting and heart pummelling joy of a song.

From my own point of view, I would prefer something a bit more languid and soulfully helpful from Kate (at times it seemed like her contributions were repetitive and almost go through-the-motions routine in content) and I would also like a little less sympathy from the band for the folk-country traditions of their home county (Derbyshire) and a little more hard driving rock from the ensemble … but that is just my personal taste.

Overall, though, the band makes a positive contribution to the Rock / Folk Rock scene. The band members are a jolly hardworking crew with a capable and naturally talented energy. I Strongly recommend that you see their live show soon.

© Neil_Mach
October 2009

Link:

http://www.myspace.com/thejameswarnerprophecies

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I have to admit I have been a regular Frankie fan for over 30 years but I must say that this production of the cult Rocky Horror Show is one of the best I have seen.

Starring David Bedella as Frank ‘N’ Furter who, in my humble opinion, is the best Frank since, well since Tim Curry – this touring production is essentially the same show as the 2007/8 show but with a few  tweaks and tassels here-and-there.

In this show we have Haley Flaherty as Janet (she recently toured in Mama Mia!) instead of Suzanne Shaw (from Hear’Say) … and if I am honest I think that Haley does a better job playing Janet – who has to transform from uptight hometown virgin to sexy vampish diva before your very eyes (similar to the character Sandy in Grease.)

Ainsley Harriott was our guest ‘criminologist’ (narrator) with his bulging eyes, chubby faced grin and none of the normal pomposity that comes with the character. As it happens, Ainsley did a very fine job and the crowd were delighted.  Magenta was played by Australian Kara Lane, and she played the character with more slinky, sassy style and a darn sight more sexily than I have ever seen before.

Bright-as-a-button Columbia was played by Ceris Hine. Our Brad on the night was  played by understudy Stuart Ellis and the small but perfectly formed Rocky was played by Dominic Tribuzio (High School Musical.) This glossy acrobatic Charles Atlas styled ‘monster’ bounced around the stage with enormous gusto. A nice touch was that Rocky first appeared to the audience as an ‘airfix’ model complete with Village People accessories.

It is hard to imagine that the Rocky Horror Show first came to the stage in 1973. Since then tens of millions of fans around the world have dressed up to act out, sing-along and heckle the actors in the show and also at special get together  film showings.

Nowadays rice and water pistols are forbidden in the theatres (but I once went to a production in Key West, Florida where the management gave each member of the audience  a large ‘party bag’ containing every prop needed for all the one-liners and the ‘in jokes’.)

But the show is not caught up in a celluloid jam- and this 2009 production is a spicy, fresh and frequently naughty jaunt into an erotic, freaky world … cool enough for the noughties audience to enjoy. It is a measure of the sophistication of the 21st century audience that the famous bed scene is now appreciated as a hearty joke for the whole family to enjoy, where internet-educated grans sitting alongside their teen grand-daughters, and chuckle along together to the sexual innuendos involving oral and anal sex and activity tantamount to rape. Back in the Seventies, when I first saw this show, the scene was considered to be shabby and scandalous enough to earn the show an ‘adults only’ stamp of disapproval.

For those of you who have not seen the show (and I was sitting next to two older ladies who had never seen the show or even the film before – so they are still out there)  the second half fairly zips along and is almost a ‘rock opera’ rather than a musical, using only songs  and very few words to paint the pictures. The band, directed by Steve Hill (Wicked, Mama Mia! etc) is above and to the rear of the stage (rather than in the pit) and this elevated position is also used for some of the solos and gives the stage the atmosphere of a sleazy club. The band was vulgar and bold enough to get the audience hot and alive and very much in the mood for dancing. The band pushed out the sounds in great waves when required.

The big numbers of the show are the famous Time Warp ‘theme tune’ (you must have heard that) and Frank ‘N’ Furter’s entrance song ‘Sweet Transvestite’ but I have always also loved Eddie’s ‘theme’ (in this production Eddie is played by Nathan Amzi) for it’s sheer joyful celebration of rock n roll life. “All he wanted- Was rock and roll porn. And a motorbike.”

On the weak side (I thought) were Riff-Raff (played by Brian Mcann) who lacked the ‘other worldly’ quality of Richard O’Brien’s character and whose voice was a little too wispy for me, and Brad – who seemed like a little lost bunny rabbit constantly dazzled by the headlights.

This show is definitely value for money and I guarantee that it will put a smile on your face and a glow in your heart for days and days after … … one of the striking things about this show (which explains its longevity and it’s loyal fan-base) is that it truly brings out the best in people. Folk are never happier than when dressed up in silly pantomime clothes and joined together to sing and dance to some doo-wopping, good old fashioned rock n rolling show-tunes.

Oh, and if you if you intend to catch this show as it tours the UK, please please make an effort to dress-up … even if it is just by wearing a red feather boa.  This advice is for your own good, because nothing, absolutely nothing feels worse than being the only ‘straight’ boy or girl (or as they say in ‘mortal’) at a Rocky Horror Show. You have been warned.

© Neil_Mach
October 2009

Rocky Horror Show
Theatre Royal Brighton

Monday 26 October 2009 to Saturday 31 October 2009

On Saturday 31st October at the Brighton Sea Front the cast and many, many fans are going to attempt a ‘world record’ for

doing the longest (as in distance) Time Warp … come down and be a part.  Don’t Dream It – Be it.

Mon 02nd Nov 2009 to Sat 7th Nov 2009
Hippodrome (Birmingham)

Mon 09th Nov 2009 to Sat 14th Nov 2009
Empire (Liverpool)

Mon 23rd Nov 2009 to Sat 28th Nov 2009
The King’s Theatre (Glasgow)

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AND IT ALL STARTS with nylon . . .

It is Sunday in Staines and we witness another frenetic and electrifying concert by Arcane Roots.

This popular Surrey-based band is led by fuzzy mopped high-roller Andrew Groves with his cloying whimsical, skylarking highs and gurning crashing lows. It is like watching a glook trapped inside one of Mr Dyson’s see-through cyclones.

This ride is as gut wrenching as a trip over the Niagara Falls in a barrel. You get that sense of sublime grace and purity of spirit whilst you halt momentarily at the very edge of the precipice, but you are also very aware that in a just a few moments you will hurtle downwards, out-of-control, crashing into the destructive vortex below.

Yes, it is true that Andrew’s voice sounds like Mickey Mouse, after he has sucked up a helium balloon the size of a house, and has also been force-fed a mixture of amyl nitrate and ethanol (guzzled down with a keg of Red Bull.) And when he embraces his red guitar and begins to turbulently Flay and Play, you really start to believe that this Scissorhanded type creation is actually the work of a kindly yet absent-minded inventor who mistakenly added agricultural thrashing machines to the spindly arms instead of the normal working hands (or even scissors.)

Percussion and harmonies by Daryl and exquisite bass-lines and more texture with subtle tones from Adam meant that the smallish crowd at The Hob Staines had a lot to be pleased with. The set commenced with a howling and haunting ‘Nylon’ and grew more and more intense and fluently engaging- ending with a vastly exaggerated and hyperbolic blues number with searing and blistering guitar breaks from Andrew.

Powerful stuff. Please, please catch Arcane Roots soon.

© Neil_Mach
October 2009

Link:

www.myspace.com/arcaneroots

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East of Ealing at Bearded Theory Benefit gig SEP 26 City Club, Guildford

East of Ealing play a fun mix of roots rock fused with traditional brick built and foundry forged foundation folk.

Folk songs are commonly regarded as the songs that express something about a lifestyle that existed in the past or is about to disappear- but that sense of the melancholy does not dominate the music of EoE. Instead, their songs are a lot of fun and puns are in abundance, with musical interludes sometimes surprising the audience when they rise up without warning, like the musical equivalent of Pop-Tarts.

The band also remembers that traditional folk music is an experience shared across the world. So, like Druhá Trava or Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, East of Ealing provides lessons aplenty on the subject of how folk music has evolved into what we now consider to be popular music and how the traditions have merged, emerged and altered into the various distorted forms we now recognise, along the way.

They provide some interesting and unexpected variations, along this tortuous path, and their shared sense of fun is welcome, as is their undeniable virtuosity.

For example, in an imaginative and fun song ‘the Great Unknown’, Moorish influences prevail, but the melody just puffs along like a ska number with Balkan folk flourishes. And for those who did not know that punk rock is a direct descendant of folk music (and I’m not kidding) East of Ealing provides plenty of references to this musical criss-  crossing from the reels, hornpipes and jigs of pure folk to the analytical and sparse punk melodies that can be heard in work by the early Pogues, and even The Clash

Along the way, there’s plenty of fun in the East of Ealing musical repertoire, with puns a-plenty and twinkle in-the-eye tongue-in-cheek antics, as we try to keep pace with the myriad of tiny musical one-liners and punch lines. But the substance of East of Ealing is dances, jigs and general merry-making. And the crowd at the City Club Guildford responded to the music with a hearty gusto …. reeling, jumping and dancing into the warm evening air.

There are large portions of Eastern European sounds in the EoE tunes-  in particular in the single ‘Black Ship’, and these sounds cross-over to more traditional Romany music and then back to punk rock, like other brands of rebel music similar in style and heart to that of Gogol Bordello and DeVotchKa. Pre-Raphaelite beauty Stephanie Graffiti squeezes out some amazing sounds from her electric violin-  from Pink Floyd-esque ‘synth’ lushness all the way through to Led Zeppelin-style screeching ‘guitar’ breaks.

Jim Bean provides most of the voice and the looks (if the whole Pirate Shipmate look is your bag, baby), with a neckerchief, hearty hat and superficial smile. He plays a beautiful acoustic bass and also employs, at times, an electric squeeze-box to give the sounds more depth of image. Paul Castleman on drums, cannot be ignored. Paul is a talented drummer with a superb sense of the mischievous. Mik P plays the electric and acoustic guitars and often provides the kind of rawness and energy that lifts East Of Ealing from their trad-folk roots and prods, pushes and squeezes their sounds towards more lofty rock horizons.

East of Ealing are folksters tinged with rocker irony like ‘The Knitters’  and rockers mixed with folksy irony like ‘Korpiklaani’. I like that.  Get up and dance. Are we there yet?

© Neil_Mach
September 2009

http://www.myspace.com/eastofealing

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Alphabet Backwards at Weyfest 2009

As you ride the steam train that takes you from one stage to another,  past the rusting tractors and the baa-baa black sheep, the rickety barns and the gypsy caravans – you know you are at the golden end of summer and you have arrived at the (now famous) home grown organic fest that is Weyfest.  And when you add to this the excitement in the kids eyes when they see that ‘security’ is provided by Storm-troopers and Daleks you realise why this Hampshire Music Fest has been short listed for “Best Family Festival”.  What a great way to spend a weekend !

Sure, the big hitters were there in force on the main ‘Village Green’ stage  – Jethro Tull, Osibisa, Mungo Jerry, The Beat, Blodwyn Pig. But on the smaller ‘Old Kiln Stage’ and the on ‘Rustic Stage’ the truly precious nuggets of treasure were to be found.

Security by Stormtroopers

My favourite for off-the-wall slightly kookie band of the year just has to be ‘Alphabet Backwards’. This dramatically optimistic poppy band made the festival goers bounce and clap and jump for joy. This band is so energetic it is not true!

Their insistent Acoustic / Alternative / Electronica numbers wormed their way into the minds and hearts of the crowd. Bob is like the musical equivalent of Tarantino on Korg keyboards, James is the lead singer on acoustic guitar and Steph provides backing vocals and cosmic energy. I would defy anyone not to be singing “Primark  Primark  Primark “ to themselves after seeing this bubbly, vivacious, cute and adorable band. [www.myspace.com/alphabetbackwards]

Another of my favourites, ‘Kindred Spirit’  with their electro-folk prog-roots, also put on a fine show. I was still humming ‘The Chain’ (Fleetwood Mac) days later, but I also loved their self-penned tunes like Meta-Mor-Phosis and Dragonfire.  Band leader Elaine Samuels has a sweet yet powerful ‘Country & Western’ type  voice, well suited to the very English misty, moody and magical themes. Annie Parker adds some smoke and fire on flute, whilst Gavin Jones creates drama and majesty on electric violin. Mike Hislop on bass and Alan Barwise on drums provide the rhythm to the polished, meticulously crafted songs from this band. [www.myspace.com/kindredspiritukband]

Other highlights from the Old Kiln stage included a seven piece Moody Blues covers band called ‘Blue Onyx’ who played some of the lesser heard Moody numbers like “So deep Within You” , the 1968 single “Ride My See-Saw” , “Melancholy Man” and, naturally,  the big, well-known numbers like “I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)” and ‘Nights in White Satin” .
[www.blueonyx.co.uk]

True festival highlight and nominated by me for the ‘wacky and out-there’ award must go to the bizarre and weirdly addictive 40’s style band ‘Otis B Driftwood’. This trio (of five) who played a selection of ridiculous BBC Home radio era jazz, Latin and big band sounds- wearing a load of different comedy hats – delighted and astonished the festival crowd.

Their whole set was riddled with delicate, well-meaning and subtly dry humour … the sight of an ‘invisible man’ singing nonsense into his mike accompanied by  a group of bow-tied, trussed-up octogenarians clowning about on double-doses of Sanatogen was truly mesmerising and memorable (you had to be there…)

Be sure to book up early for next years Weyfest … I guarantee that this fun filled family festival will put a glow in your heart and a smile upon your face …. and it will set you up for winter!

© Neil_Mach
September 2009

Link:

[www.weyfest.co.uk]

Otis B Driftwood and friends

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Hypercoma -  03 September 2009

Mental Metal Mayhem at The Hob Staines

The British hardcore act Hypercoma were part of a triumvirate of metal monsters visiting the Staines music venue The Hobgoblin on 3rd September- for Metal Night hosted by BUCKLE-UP . Preceding the “Hyper” boys were ‘Avenge Thee’ and at the top of-the-bill were exceptionally prodigious local legends ‘Bloodloss’.

With HYPERCOMA the frequent luxurious key changes and outstanding melodic riffs created a windmill of dark emotions – the electric sails slicing menacingly through the fraught night air. But the band was not just dark and sinister they were also in an exhilarating and excitingly lively mood and the energy and effervescence delighted the Middlesex crowd.

Intermittent syncopated power chords (Burn the Priest/Lamb of God) ruled supreme and the thunderous rolling drums with growling threatening bass/rhythm along with the death knell of haunted voice ROU SAUBOLE (lead vocals) painted the dark textures that established the depth and mood of the atmosphere.

Hypercoma  tend to mix clean vocals intermittently with the unclean and, with the outstanding melodic riffs, (courtesy of twin leads from Matt Frost and Mat Carlin ) the result is a bit like bombastic clan-metal ( see ‘Children of Bodom’).

Double-kicks and plenty of hi hat and snare fills from Rick Murtagh on drums come with the territory but these all helped to set up and encrust the thrashingly rapid chord changes and the snarling and threatening bass/rhythm lines.

Even though the pesky and gurning ‘ Guinness Lady’ almost eclipsed Rou at times (who gradually lost his own clothes in cabaret fashion, as the debris of his garments literally fell from him)  the depth and majesty of the sounds, with their associated breakdowns and the slower intense passages, fuelled the buzz of the mosh and helped the joyful slam and the ritualistic headbanging.

A damn fine slice of progressive thrash/metal from Hypercoma if ever I heard it -  as the liquid energy from the pulsating flames of guitar filled the air.  If you like ‘Enter Shikari’, ‘Firewind’ , ‘Lamb of God’ or even ‘Korpiklaani’ – then I dare you  not to  luv this band!

© Neil_Mach
September 2009

Link:

www.myspace.com/hypercoma

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Avenge Thee + Naime – Staines Hobgoblin   03 September 2009

Called up, Unbound

At its best metal/hardcore is de-rationalised but the stubbornly experimetal sounds of Avenge Thee + Naime take it to the next level … an almost astringent hard-core mix of mutually assured distraction. Avenge Thee place more emphasis on the avant-garde shades of metal (almost jazz metal) than most other bands do. They like to create complex sound platforms with unorthodox time signatures that are both flexible and yet adaptable to the surroundings… like a mixed up protean beastie.

The band tend to explore new techniques and possibilities but always play within the limits of the stage setting and the tolerance of the public.  These guys, led, with enthusiasm by Adam Wesgate on vocals and ably supported by Marc Prentice on the guitar with Danny Westgate (bass) and Chainy Rabbit (drums) in the power plant,  give this new  metal monster a face and that face is  experimental hardcore at its finest.

The insatiable audience in the Hob, Staines were treated to several surrealistically short microsongs (under 2 mins) and a new kind of aggressively grungy thrash metal that was less smash n’ bash and more wounded soul. Adam’s extended vocal techniques were generally softer than other compatriots in the field of hardcore metal and, oft times ,  the accompanying complex weave of slightly off-tuned guitars and emerging blast-beats were a delight for the ears and brought  joy to the heart of all the jaded metal luvvas out there. There were plenty of enjoyable, slower, intense passages and these left the breathless audience moshing freely in the warm night air.

Fine metal from this promising and hard working band.

© Neil_Mach
September 2009

Link:

www.myspace.com/avengethee

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