The Temperance Movement–Fibbers, 19/06/13

I wasn’t going to go to tonight’s gig. I had thought about it but, with tickets already bought for the busiest few weeks of my gig-going “career”, this one hadn’t registered highly enough with me to convince me. Until, that is local troubadour Dan Lucas (you may have seen me enthuse about his work as Boss Caine) mentioned that I would probably like them “ a great deal”. That was good enough for me. The fact that my gig-buddy for the night, Shaun, told me that he had already seen them a few days earlier in Wakefield, been blown away by the performance and was probably going to see them again in Leeds was just icing on the recommendation cake.

Tour support Samuel Taylor, originally from Sheffield, was already on stage when we arrived from the pub, but I think he was still on his first song, so we hadn’t missed much. The former frontman of Dead Like Harry and roadie for Nerina Pallot, who he supported on her 2011 UK tour, has more than a hint of a Dylan-esque nasal tone to his vocals, although Taylor’s are better, less grating. (I’ve never been a big fan of Bob’s voice.) The acoustic guitar and mouth-organ only served to heighten the comparison. His set was comprised of a nice mix of songs – opening slowly before livening things up a bit and then moving on to a a nicely gauged quiet/loud combination. Another of those engaging frontmen, he explained the story behind A Friend And Accomplice – it being inspired by an inscription to a deceased friend in a walking book written by his father – and you could tell that it was a very personal song with the lyrics coming through as highly emotive. A much livelier drinking song followed and then another that was very reminiscent of Dylan before the set ended with its liveliest song, Waiting For Nothing. All too often (although, it has to be said, less so these days) acoustic guitar acts fail to hold my attention. Taylor, though, was different and interesting enough to keep me entertained and provided a nice start to the evening.

When I saw …And The Hangnails a few months back, they did very little for me. Brash and noisy just about summed it up and I wasn’t particularly looking forward to seeing them again. However, the start of their set, slow, quiet and atmospheric, however briefly before the power, noise and shouty vocals came in, grabbed my attention more than I expected it to. Maybe it was the smaller venue, or the more closely-packed crowd (maybe it was even a better soundman) but tonight’s set was a lot more listenable to than last time. I caught hints of 70s blues-rock in the vein of Led Zeppelin (with less subtlety), The Doors and, at one point, Muse. The music was still loud, with frantic, chest-pounding drums and loud vocals. Occasionally, the music gave the impression of a jam-session with odd little guitar snippets being dropped into the main tune. There’s an incredible amount of noise and energy for a two-piece band and I’m not sure whether it was the heat inside Fibbers or just a bit of showboating that led both Martyn and Steven to shed their t-shirts for Fear Only Fear, the last song of the set, but it did get an appropriate reaction from those further forward in the crowd than me. Meet Me By The River, with its more Bluesy feel, remains my favourite song of theirs (and the only one that I can work out the title of) but, despite the set being a bit relentless in its power and a bit too samey overall this was a much better and more entertaining performance than last time.

By the time The Temperance Movement made their way onto stage, Fibbers had filled up nicely and I was getting a similar feeling to when I saw Kodaline here – that of a band that I had only just heard of but who were possibly destined for great things and that, somehow, I’d missed the very beginning of a wave of interest. Initially mixing simple, instantly catchy rhythms with a massive amount of twitchy energy from frontman Phil Campbell – he sang the second song as though somebody was pumping a thousand volts through him - the first impression I got was of The Band. The third song, with it’s harder, heavier sound, saw Campbell producing vocals in style more reminiscent of AC/DC. There was some good-natured heckling from the crowd during a pause between songs had Campbell explaining, “We all shout in Glasgow” before giving us some quite stunning soulful and quiet vocals during Pride, the title track of the band’s EP. One thing that’s evident is that there is no showboating or overblown pomp, but Pride includes a subtle guitar solo which serves to build the song to a brilliant end section which, in turn, leads into Ain’t No Telling, another rockier track in which Campbell returns to his more gravelly vocals. Smouldering was more mellow and subtle with another lovely musical build-up. Unlike some bands, there is very little movement around stage by the guitarists and bass-player, primarily because each one is somewhat tied to a mic for backing vocal duties, but they all still manage to somehow give an impression of movement and a definite feeling that they are having a good time on stage. I don’t think I’ve seen many wider grins than that of Nick Fyffe (bass) and Luke Potashnick (guitar). There’s further evidence that the band are better known than I expected when the audience need little encouragement to sing along during Know For Sure, which segues nicely into the ballad Shine On and more audience participation. Microphones are despatched with entirely for the next song and Campbell, even without amplification, gives a powerfully expressive performance. Trouble returns to the heavy and hard sound, it’s an anthemic sing-along and the closest to grandiose we have got tonight, but it still manages to stay on the right side of overblown.Take It Back sounds like Blues-based Gospel Rock, if that’s even a proper genre “We’re gonna leave you with this one,” said Campbell during it’s introduction, but nobody is fooled and after a short time the band return to the stage to close out a performance lasting just over an hour and give us Serenity, which somehow seems to bring forth a combination of slide and steel guitar sound without either being in evidence.

The Temperance Movement have been described as “Next great rock and roll band”. Dan himself said they are “the best rock ‘n’ roll band in the country at the moment” and Shaun was enthusing about their sound and energy on the way to the gig. I can’t disagree with any of the above. I got the feeling that this is a band on the verge of something which may just bring great rock and roll music back for a new generation, while reminding us oldies of what it used to be like. And with the news that the band have this week signed up with Earache Records and that an album will be released in the Autumn, that “something” might be very close.

Black Lit City–Fibbers, 07/06/13

Three local bands for the princely sum of five English pounds? Always worth a punt, especially if you have seen and enjoyed two of them before. Even better, it actually turned out that there were four bands playing…

First up were The Valmores, the epitome of youthful enthusiasm fronted by Nathan Foley a young Elvis Costello look-alike. Their first song was a bit shouty and repetitive, but energetic enough that drummer Nathan Watson broke a drumstick during it. The two Nathans performed a brief jam session, filling time while guitarist Rufus Genn want off in search of a capo before continuing the set with a mixture of styles. The second song was a sort of punked-up 60’s pop, while I’ve Got The Blues, which about sums up the lyrics and the next track had more of a classic pop/rock feel to them. That latter saw bassist Andy Durham, up until that point possibly the most nervous looking person I have ever seen on stage, move to guitar and vocals which, admittedly, seemed to liven him up a bit. As a frontman, though, he couldn’t match Foley’s easy-going style and confident repartee with the crowd. The melange of styles continued after Foley re-took the mic, with the penultimate song opening with something bordering on heavy before scaling down to a more indie-rock sound while the finale had a very interesting structure. And with that, the shorter-than-advertised set was, inevitably, over too soon. The Valmores may not quite be the finished article at the moment, but they aren’t far off and there is a lot to like even now, especially for those (like me) who like watching drummers, as Watson made some impressive drumming look easy.

I struggled to work out how to categorise the music of Maginot the, let’s say, more mature band that were up next. Opener South America was somewhat funky and fast-paced while Chasing Ghosts, despite its quieter opening, ended up defying my expectations of it being slow and melancholy. Pretty Pretty, a “Monday-morning bus journey love song”, followed and I was still no nearer working out who they reminded me of. Then came “The Job Centre Song”, a light, slightly humorous, maybe satirical and, perhaps, a little political song about how staff in the titular establishment treat their “customers” and the first thought that popped into my head was “Billy Bragg!”. (Actually, I had previously had a hint of Frank Turner, but my experience of his output is limited to his appearance at last year’s Olympics opening ceremony so I wasn’t sure. He is listed as one of the band’s influences, though.) There was more humour apparent in Tip Of Your Tongue, a great song about music and simply enjoying playing it, a sentiment I could empathise with even if not from the same perspective. I wonder how many other songwriters can relate to the lyric “songs are life caffeine in my blood”? Thomas was another engaging frontman, both appreciative of the audience (who, it has to be said, seemed to be standing much further forward and being more attentive that your average crowd) and self-deprecating at the same time – “The problem with you all standing this close is that you can see that I’m basically playing the same four chords. This lot carry me so much.” Another personal song, this time Ink about being “f*cked over” by a friend was followed by Casino, with its background funkiness emphasised by a short bass solo in the middle. Overall this was a very enjoyable performance by a band I’ve not come across before. Maginot say they aim to get people dancing and thinking, with music for self-reflection and good times. Well, I’m not sure about the thinking, but they certainly brought a smile to my face and a kind of rhythmic swaying to my body.

The bands seemed to be flying on and off stage tonight. We were already well ahead of the published schedule when Samatha Cox’s haunting vocals started in what I incorrectly thought was a sound check until the rest of the band burst in. On paper, at least, Faraday Concept should have been my favourite band on tonight’s bill. They are the closest thing to a progressive metal band that I have come across in York – think the darker parts of Dream Theatre and the heavier parts of Opeth, but without Cox’s replacing the more growly tones employed by the latter. Sadly, tonight they were badly let down by the mix and, from where we were standing (right at the front) the vocals were barely penetrating the music. We could see that Cox, brooding and mysterious on stage, was putting a lot of passion and power in, but could hear very little. (Which was strange because the sound for the rest of the bands was pretty much spot on – maybe it was just that Faraday Concept were so different from the rest of them.) The music, on the other hand, was coming through loud and clear. Epic track followed epic track and, by the fourth song, drummer Josh Ridley was soaked in sweat and near collapse, pleading with Cox to “get on with it” as she took longer introducing the next song than he wanted her to. Ollie Brant’s guitar and Tony Ferguson’s bass combined on some pretty stunning and atmospheric instrumental sections, at times the darkness lifted a little and there were hints of Pink Floyd (although, admittedly, that could just have been because I had been listening to them all day). Seven Deadly Sins was the last track to feature Cox’s vocals before she left the stage to the boys for a short instrumental finale, ending a good set which could and should have have been so much better – my review of the last time I saw them makes note of how good the vocals were and they are definitely a lot clearer on the Time EP, which the band are currently giving away at gigs. Hopefully, they will be back soon and will be better served by the mix. 

It’s slightly ironic that Faraday Concept had a very different sound to the rest of tonight’s bill as the last time I saw Black Lit City they occupied the same slot on the bill and I said the same thing about them. A five-piece last time I saw them, tonight keyboard-player Dorin Botez seemed to be missing, which was a shame as last time out the keyboards and guitar seemed to be vying for lead instrument role. Maybe it’s a new line-up – the band haven’t played York for a while and tonight also introduced a new bass player. The “atmospheric, expansive songs” that I remarked on last time seemed to have been downgraded slightly to more snappy pop/rock songs. Somehow the impression was of a party band and Steve Lee’s apparent desire to come across as a Mancunian or, perhaps, a Lancastrian (his vocals had occasional hints of an Oasis tribute band while his general demeanour between songs reminded me a little of Peter Kay) didn’t help. It’s not that Black Lit City are a bad band – they played an enjoyable set and I certainly wouldn’t shy away from seeing them again – but there were, in my opinion, better bands (one on the night and one on paper) on the bill. Once again we were treated to a variety of styles from the soul/funk of the opener to the slower Beautiful Mind with it’s nice guitar line from Alex Staples. A touch of Blues/rock in the middle of the set saw the band stepping up a gear and was followed by the nicely chilled out Wintertime Blues and then something both lighter and faster (I really must start asking for set lists…) before the set ended with Paris To London, which didn’t sound quite as folk-rocky live as it does on Soundcloud.

Overall, tonight was another good-value gig of the sort that you used to get more of when I first started sampling the York music scene. To be honest, you can barely go wrong with four bands for a fiver, but it’s especially good when all four bands are good at what they do. Nice to see another reasonable crowd out supporting local music and also nice to see members of the various bands sticking around to support each other.

Sworn Amongst–Fibbers, 06/06/13

The impression we got when we entered a nearly empty Fibbers tonight was that, apart from us, most of the rest of the audience were members and friends of the bands. If I’m honest, I was only there for one of the support bands and knew nothing about the other two on the bill. In hindsight, I should maybe have done a bit of research.

It might have been the lack of crowd that made Scarborough’s The Antiquity seem reluctant to take the stage and kick things off. After finally being cajoled on, twenty minutes after the advertised start time, there was much shuffling about and lots of warming up from Gary Stephenson on drums before a recorded intro led into their first song. Well, I say song, vocalist Joe McEvoy seemed to be barking (or, perhaps, burping) into the microphone. There was little indication of anything that could be described as lyrics. This style carried on throughout the set, with McEvoy putting so much power into his vocals that he seemed to have to squeeze his body to get extra air out. I’m only guessing but I doubt that these were love songs and were more likely about death, destruction and the need for Strepsils the morning after a gig. The music was thunderous. There was a chainsaw sound effect in the middle of one song. At one point one of the guitarists looked to be doing something interesting, playing along the neck of his guitar, but I couldn’t pick whatever he was doing out of the mix. The blessedly short set of just five songs, all of which sounded very similar to me, was over almost before it started, although there was an unexpected bonus of a brief, somewhat dark, melodic section in the middle of the last song. Andy, who is usually better at pre-gig research than me, couldn’t help but laughing at the performance. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that The Antiquity are a bad band, they just play a style of music I don’t like. That’s not their fault, is it?

Apparently, it’s over two years since I last saw InSpades.Inc. “I think we might stick out a bit,” frontman Stewart King confided in me before they took to the stage. And it wasn’t just the shirt, tie and waistcoat worn by dapper-from-the-waist-up drummer P.G. Branton were a world away from the muscle-shirts sported by most of the rest of tonight’s performers. Ghost In The Mirror set the scene – heavy but not brutal with vocals that were your actual singing, rather than just growling. Andy’s feet were already tapping, a good sign. The music is definitely heavier than I remember but not excessively so, with some of the older songs being re-worked for this set. The previous melodic leanings are still in evidence, though, if not quite so prominent. Each song seems to include an impressive instrumental section and P.G.’s drumming gets more and more frantic as the set proceeds. When Sucker Punch is introduced, I mention to Andy that I like it, then find that I barely recognise it in its new form. It’s still a good song, though. Tempting Fate, with its brief, semi-doom-laden opening seems to epitomise the new direction, while latest single DNR, a powerhouse of a song in recorded form, ends the set in style, showing that metal doesn’t have to be simply a wall of noise and that being able to hear the individual guitar lines is possible.

I’ve learnt recently that, in the right circumstances, “cookie monster” vocals aren’t necessarily a bad thing. Sworn Amongst, with their Cthulhu-inspired stage banners, are practitioners of this particular style but, musically, they provide none of the subtlety of, for example, Opeth. Their music is full of brutal riffs and power-drumming but one thing is certain – however good fans of The Antiquity might think that band is, their near-neighbours from Hull are much more accomplished, have a more mature sound, bags more energy and a lot more stage presence. To my ears, they still produce noise, as opposed to music, but it’s a better noise. It’s heavy but there is music underneath. The problem is that it is relentless, all one level, with little relief. The band are tight and the vocals, while mostly growls to these untrained ears, give the impression that they contain lyrics rather than just sounds. On the rare occasions that songs were introduced, we were able to pick out the titles within the lyrics. There were occasional glimpses of noise-penetrating guitar solos but, apart from those, the entire set was an brutal onslaught with barely a break between songs, impressive in its intensity but, just like the openers, this style of music does nothing for me.

Hope And Social–Fibbers, 28/04/13

Two acts, diametrically opposed in terms of tone, that I will never tire of listening to share tonight’s bill.

Much is made of Boss Caine’s somewhat dour demeanour and miserablist air but, in my opinion, he is one of York’s finest songsmiths and quite probably the city’s hardest working troubadour. So much so that, unless you are able to get to one of his regular open mic nights (Sundays at Dusk), it’s getting harder to catch him play a local gig as he is more likely to be found travelling the length and breadth of country (keeping Megabus in business while simultaneously raging against the fact that the default number of passengers on their website is zero) to various venues and festivals. He must be doing something right as he was recently featured, live in session, on Whispering Bob Harris’ show on Radio Two.

Tonight there’s something different. It’s not just that the cap that seemed permanently fixed to his head (but which has now, I believe, been lost) has been replaced by a hoodie. Nor is it the bemused grin he flashes when, before starting his set, he is suddenly assailed by a loud blast of feedback. No, it’s the fact that the normally solo Dan Lucas, heart and soul of the Boss Caine “brand”, has been joined on stage by two other, un-introduced as far as I can remember, musicians – one on double-bass and the other on violin. The latter in particular brings a superb atmosphere to Ghosts And Drunks, a typically downbeat song about walking the streets in the wee small hours. I can never understand how people can listen to A Kind Of Loving and still think that there is nothing lively in Dan’s repertoire – maybe it’s just that even this more upbeat song is performed in what has been described as his “heartbreaking baritone”. Well, there’s nothing he can do about that but the song always gets my foot tapping anyway. The sound tonight is, I think, the best I have ever heard during a Boss Caine performance (we can even hear what Dan is saying between songs – the sound guy must be working miracles) and, for a change, he seems to have attracted a particularly attentive audience. There’s still chatting back at the bar but most people are paying him the courtesy of listening and the songs are getting the appreciation they deserve. With two and a half albums now released, Dan is varying the set quite a bit and I think this is the first time I have heard Man Overboard played live. Some songs do remain the same, though, and Self Medication Blues segues, as usual, into Murder On My Mind, during which the double-bass is used to provide a particularly dark backdrop to  an already dark song. Just when I think I know all the Boss Caine songs, Dan throws in a surprise with one I haven’t heard before at all – something about Lady MacBeth – which will, presumably, feature on one of the two new albums he has in the pipeline (three if you count the acoustic, fully solo one being worked on at the moment). The final song of the set, the brilliant Leaving Victoria, sees the band joined on stage by Rich Huxley who adds electric guitar and backing vocals, grinning as he cheekily changes the chorus to Leaving San Francisco to another song that benefits from the almost improvisational violin line. This has been one of the best Boss Caine performances I have had the pleasure to see and hear and even one of his harshest critics admits to me that the addition of the extra musicians went a long way to improve the experience.

Hope And Social could never be described as dour, downbeat or any related simile. They put the fun into live music and it should be law that everybody has to see them perform at least once. Even Andy, who has generally avoided them since they regenerated, Doctor Who-like, from their previous incarnation as Four Day Hombre, has decided to give them another chance tonight. Unfortunately, while we moved to the very front of Fibbers, he popped out to make a phone call and, except for a brief glimpse, that was the last we saw of him until the end of the gig and so we couldn’t gauge his reaction during the set. As the band set up, frontman Simon tries valiantly to get the whole audience to move away from the bar, closer to the stage. Not for the usual reason of filling in empty space – Hope And Social always seem to attract large numbers – but, presumably, simply because it’s a better way to experience the band.

After opening with Cotton Wool, Simon announces that the next song might include an impromptu segue, before asking the rest of the band if they know what a segue is. Although I have been right at the front for other Hope And Social gigs, this is the first time I have been at Rich’s side of the stage and he is brilliant to watch. For most of Swaddled In Dark Clouds he seems to play guitar on one leg, the other foot hovering indecisively over his rack of pedals and buttons, frequently stabbing down at one as if trying to find out what effect it gives. The band’s instruments always seem that little bit more battered than others and tonight Simon’s keyboards have a “thing”, sometimes cutting out and needing a wiggle to get it going again, as happens during One Way Home, the first of tonight’s sing-alongs. Before Sleep Sound, Simon takes time out to thank Boss Caine for his support slot, mentioning the then upcoming radio appearance, which prompts the usual brand of ad-libbed banter with references to the voices of Dan and Whispering Bob blowing speakers, Dan needing to work on his top end a bit more and a threat that if he becomes famous before them that they will hunt him down. There’s another Rich-revelation during the song – he sings on tip-toes. Motorhead’s Lemmy used to sing into a higher microphone in order to, I believe, stretch his vocal cords and achieve his distinctive vocals but I’m not sure what effect stretching his ankles achieves for Rich. While you often get insights into the various band members’ illnesses or embarrassing situations, you rarely get an insight into their personal lives. So it comes as a slight surprise that Simon introduces Family Man with a story of how, when they first played Fibbers over thirteen years ago, he met a girl and how they are still together. Hope And Social often give the impression that they don’t actually know what they are doing (how much it’s true can only be speculated on) and the usual (semi)organised chaos seemed to take over at the beginning of Boxer’s Blood, with Simon forgetting that he was supposed to be playing guitar rather than keyboards. Most of the brass section were given a break during this song, with just James involved, hunched over a glockenspiel showing how versatile you have to be to be in this band. I didn’t even notice him move but Simon pitched up in the middle of the audience, as usual, for his solo acoustic rendition of Looking For Answers, another song which makes the audience an extra member of the band while at the same time, giving their ears a rest from the lively onslaught on stage. I always wonder what a first time fan thinks as the rest of the audience join in without any signal or encouragement, but I know from experience that at least one ended up thinking it was one of the best songs he’s ever heard. Back on stage, James takes over the keyboards for Sleep Sound, only to be asked how much of the song he actually wants to play this time. Apparently, the previous time he completely forgot his section. This time he seems to get through it okay, and Simon’s vocals can only be described as beautiful. "Do you want to hear us play a song we’ve never got all the way through?” asks Simon. Of course we do, and we get the ragtime jazz sound of By The Morning Dew at the end of which he proclaims, “That was alright, actually.” Like we ever had any doubts. The keyboards start playing up again and we’re told that they are “f*cked”, Rich rips into Simon for saying that’s “like a metaphor” only to be get the obvious reply – “f*ck off, clever arse” – straight back, much to the delight of the audience. This is a band made up of a bunch of good friends, totally comfortable with banter and mickey-taking. It’s just one of their man charms. Pitching Far Too High sees the brass section playing colour-coded hand bells, seemingly concentrating hard and being directed by James all while jogging on the spot. A handful of the audience foolishly join in with the exercise, exhorting the band to “C’mon” during an extended musical interlude. It’s almost a challenge to see whether the band can extend the song longer than they can keep jogging. Next comes the revelation that James desperately wants to cover Madonna’s Material Girl (and has been seen composing an arrangement for brass in the back of the tour van). He gets his opportunity, along with the rest of the brass section and, briefly, Rich on vocals. There’s more brief cover bursts during Rolling Sideways as somebody (I can’t remember who) plays a snatch of Apache during a chaotic instrumental section and Simon decides to sing snatch a couple of choruses of Blue Pearl’s Naked In The Rain. It’s like a particularly unrestrained practice session in front of an audience and, let’s face it, that audience are lapping it up. The set seems to be going quicker than expected and Simon asks what we want to hear next. Somebody shouts for Ghostbusters, Roj gets an acknowledgment from Simon as he asks for Mr. M, a reference to their Four Day Hombre days. Eventually Back To The Green is settled on – “One of ours and we know it. A double win…” Even then, they can’t resist messing about, John slips in a snippet of Feeling Hot Hot Hot on saxophone and there’s a snatch of Free Nelson Mandela.

There is, of course, an encore. Simon once again goes acoustic, foregoing a microphone and moving to the very edge of the stage accompanied by Rich, who straddles the stage barrier, and bass-player James on violin for Eurospin, with the audience once again knowing exactly when to pitch in with the repeated “Hold your chin up high” and quite happy to keep going, changing the volume at Simon’s direction. “One more,” comes a shout from the back of the audience and the band oblige with Saints Alive. James takes to the keyboards again with Simon, playing guitar, staring at him incredulously as he bashes the already fragile instrument to within an inch of its life, necessitating running repairs and, eventually a sort of resignation from the frontman as he brings his foot down on it. Luckily James’ fingers weren’t in the way. Whether the keyboards survive remains to be seen.

I’ve said it before, but no write-up (especially one of mine) can possibly do a Hope And Social gig justice. All it can do is give you a flavour of what goes on. The best way, the only way, to fully appreciate just what a unique experience one of these gigs is is to get yourself down to one. I’m almost willing to bet that you walk away with a smile on your face.

Skid Row–Fibbers, 10/04/13

Photos included in this posting were taken by Marc McGarraghy, whose work can be found on Facebook or the Yellow Mustang website. Thanks, as always, go to him for allowing me to use them.

I often cite “heavy metal” as the musical genre I first started listening to in my formative years at secondary school. In reality, even if you discount the facts that a) a lot of the bands I was listening to were probably more rock than metal and b) I never really got into the heavier stuff of the time (AC/DC and Motorhead, for example), it was more of a dalliance before my friends ditched “heavy metal” for other genres and I decided that, rather than follow the crowd, I would simply like what I liked. In between then and now, I lost track of the genre and although there are still some examples in my CD collection, they tend to be older albums from established bands. Morpheus Rising, with their Iron Maiden influences, have piqued my interest recently but not only do I know little about which other bands are out there but, before a brief mention in AOR magazine (two issues of which I bought before realising that adding yet another magazine to an already crowded reading schedule was a non-starter), I hadn’t realised that tonight’s headliners weren’t, in fact, a punk band. In fact, it was only when reading up on them before tonight’s gig that I found out they were American…

All this is basically a precursor to say that the following review probably comes from even more of a position of ignorance than previous ones.

Buffalo Summer were already on stage, and Fibbers already pretty crowded, when I arrived. Hailing from South Wales, they have been compared to the likes of Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Free (as well as Stillwater, from the film Almost Famous). The impression I got was the blues-based rock of Whitesnake, with Andrew Hunt’s vocals definitely having a feel of David Coverdale. All the rock staples were present – the guitar solo of A Horse Called Freedom, a pounding drum-line on song that I didn’t catch the title of, thumping bass. I’m guessing that most, if not all, of the six song set came from the band’s self-titled debut album but Down To The River and Typhoid Mary were the only other titles I managed to hear. Those six songs, however, were enough to add that album to my wish list. The only criticism I have is that, contrary to some quotes I have seen, there didn’t seem to be much of a stage presence. Darren King on bass hardly moved and, towards the end of the set, Andrew Hunt looked, from where I was standing, slightly disinterested, wandering across the stage rather than prowling across it. Still that didn’t detract from the overall performance.

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Andrew Hunt and Darren King - Buffalo Summer

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By the time I Am I had taken to the stage we had moved much closer to the front. Both Rob (a very occasional gig-buddy) and I had the same thoughts when the band members started off with their backs to the audience – firstly, that this foreboded something which should be spectacular and secondly that, as a certain mobile device advert (which I seen for the first time just the night before) said, “wouldn’t they sound better facing the audience?”. Eventually they did turn round and vocalist ZP Theart joined them on stage. Despite the initially grinding guitar riff, a touch of “cookie monster” backing vocals from bass-player Neil Salmon and what seemed to be problems with Theart’s microphone (his vocals were barely audible, let alone being swamped by the music) theirs was more of an American style AOR sound and I was surprised to find out afterwards that the band come from the UK, albeit with members from the USA and Poland. Theart is, apparently well known as the frontman for Dragonforce and has previously performed in front of crowds of up to 85,000. Fibbers might have been filling rapidly, but there was nowhere near that number in tonight’s crowd. Not that that seemed to make any difference to Theart, who came across as a consummate showman, taking smiling ownership of the stage and, once the microphone issues had been fixed, producing some top-notch vocals. Again, most of the track came from the band’s debut album – Event Horizon – the hard rock of Cross The Line was followed by the slower Stay A While. Pave The Way featured some fantastic twin guitar work from Jacob Ziemba and Jake Thorsen, while Kiss Of Judas featured the band at their heaviest. Through all these, Theart had been explaining that it was OK that the crowd weren’t familiar with the band’s music as it was probably the first time we had heard it, but that there was something coming up that we would know and that would get the crowd going. He was right – covering John Farnham’s 1986 classic You’re The Voice might have seemed a strange choice, but it certainly got most of the crowd singing along and brought them to life for the set-ending Silent Genocide. Buffalo Summer had set this evening’s bar quite high. I Am I rose to the challenge and are easily one of the best support acts I have ever seen.

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Jacob Ziemba, Phil Martini and ZP Theart - I Am I

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By the time Skid Row took to the stage, Fibbers was as full as I have ever seen it and the crowd were pushing forward. Having not quite made it to the very front, I found myself pinned in, next to what was inevitable going to be the mosh-pit, with little chance of being able to take any notes during the performance. Having already had water thrown over me by Theart during I Am I’s set, I also found myself splashed from behind by what I assume (hope…) was beer. The band came on to, or just after, a rendition of Blitzkrieg Bop. “That’s the last song you’ll know,” quipped my gig buddy. He was right. Heavier than both support acts the band currently boasts three original members, with Rachel Bolan (bass), Dave Sabo and Scotti Hill (guitars), being joined by Rob Hammersmith on drums and vocalist Johnny Solinger. The latter proclaimed how great it was to be back in York after so long, until Bolan, replete with chain connecting nose to ear, eventually asked whether they had played here before only to be told by the crowd that they hadn’t. Nobody seemed embarrassed. Further humour came when Sabo took to the microphone for a few words, only to be drowned out the crowd’s chant of, “Yorkshire, Yorkshire". “I don’t even know what that means,” he admitted when the chant subsided. It was getting harder and harder to concentrate on the music as I tried to avoid drunken, overweight, middle-aged men throwing themselves around the pit and, in one case, nearly skittling me over after falling at my feet – the bouncer had his work cut out with that one. Let’s Go, the first of two tracks to be played from United World Rebellion, the band’s new EP (the other was Kings Of Demolition) was hard and rocky, but mixed with more melodic interludes. The softer acoustic start of power ballad I Remember You seemed to bring the couple in front of me, who had been having a loud row before the set started, back together as the woman sang along to her partner. One song, I can’t remember which didn’t so much feature a guitar duet as a guitar duel, with Sabo and the pale, eye-linered Hill, with his Joker-like grin, playing off each other as much as playing together. Solinger, sporting Axl Rose style bandana and, throughout most of the set, sunglasses, was as confident a frontman as Theart had been, flashing devil’s horns symbols to the crowd while belting out the lyrics during a set comprised of songs from most of the band’s back catalogue (only 2006’s relatively poorly received Revolutions Per Minute wasn’t represented), as well as the two tracks from the forthcoming EP and Psycho Therapy, a Ramones cover performed by Bolan. The evening was brought to a close with a three song encore which ended with the anthemic, crowd-pleasing Youth Gone Wild.

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Johnny Solinger, Rachel Bolan, Scotti Hill – Skid Row

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Despite knowing nothing about the new bands and my unfamiliarity with Skid Row’s material, tonight’s gig seemed to take me back to the days, nearly thirty years ago, when I went to Queen’s Hall in Leeds to see such acts as Ozzy, Dio and Whitesnake. At the time, as I was just getting into music, I generally only knew a handful of tracks from the headliners and, usually, nothing from whoever was supporting. (In fact, I can only remember one support act from the time – Great White – and the feeling that they weren’t very good.) The only difference tonight was that I would probably say I enjoyed one of the supports, I Am I, more than I did the headliners. 

Four Stones Deeper–Fibbers, 28/03/13

When I first started venturing out to local gigs a few years ago, Friday nights with four local (or “smaller”) bands on the bill for a few quid ticket was one of the staples of our choices. As one of our then-party used to say, “you sometimes have to wade through the crap to get to the good stuff” but there was definitely some good stuff. Sadly those sorts of evenings, particularly on a weekend seem to be few and far between these days and that made tonight’s bill at Fibbers – three bands I hadn’t heard of and a headline act that I had previously seen only as opening support - all the more interesting and enticing for me and Andy.

Unfortunately, a slightly late train, a very busy pre-gig pub and bumping into a couple of people who we hadn’t seen for a while meant that the first band were already drawing their set to a close while we were handing our entry money over and being told by Tim that we would look “very old” in tonight’s audience. And that was a shame because, from the song-and-a-half that we did hear from Lost Hippy Time Traveller sounded interesting. Their unusual guitar sound, more mellow than rock, and nice vocals from frontwoman Aimée were enough to make us wish we had heard more from them.

It’s not often, if ever, that I try to give advice to musicians but I would definitely say that acting like The Kickstarts frontman did tonight is not necessarily big, clever or, indeed, the best thing to do if you are a small band in a small city with only a couple of “proper” venues for you to play in. The band looked almost ready to start playing when Johnny disappeared off the stage and ran outside, phone to ear, through the firedoors, coming back a minute later shouting, “Sorry ladies and gentlemen but the doorman’s being a d*ckhead and not letting my Dad in.” Much confusion, more insults and a half-hearted apology followed before the music started but I suspect that, by then, bridges had already been burnt. To be fair, the music was quite good – mainly fast punk-ish rock – and Johnny’s vocals were blessed with a voice that was more mature than he appears to be. Apart from their own songs, most of which came in two-to-two-and-a-half-minute bursts during which the music was better than the lyrics, the band covered The Misfits with We Are 138 and, I think, The Ramones with Do You Remember Rock And Roll Radio. Partway during the set, however, it became noticeable that the vocals were being “played with” and there was a very distracting squeaky sort of echo coming through. Retaliation for the earlier shenanigans? Who knows. It did appear that frontman Johnny was thrown out (or, perhaps, politely asked to leave) by Tim at the end of the band’s set.

Nocebo took to the stage next and opened with a more Indie sound and a much more complex song. Although they do play their own songs, most of tonight’s set seemed to be made up of covers with the likes of Amy Winehouse/The Zutons Valerie, The Fratellis Chelsea Dagger, and a rather weak version of James’ Sit Down – a song like that deservers power and an audience sing-along but, in this case, got neither. Thankfully, after this point things started to take a turn for the better. After an acted-out opening, Muse’s The Groove was given a particularly funky outing and The Vaccines If You Wanna saw the band upping the energy levels and segueing straight into a snatch of Bad Moon Rising before Twist And Shout both inspired some of the audience to slip on their dancing shoes and led into an impressive instrumental finale. After a fairly uninspiring start Nocebo showed that they could produce a decent set of slightly off-centre covers. Perhaps they might be more suited to a pub than the stage at Fibbers, but they would probably rock the pub. From where we were standing, frontman Sam Donley spend much of the set looking slightly startled and bass-player Harrison Puckering, appearing slightly older and a little less clean-cut than his band-mates, looked a little out of place. Definitely a band worth seeing, though, if you fancy some slightly different covers to those usually played.

A word about tonight’s audience – too many times recently have I seen Fibbers half full and thought that that was a reasonably good crowd. Tonight, however, we arrived to find one of the biggest crowds we have seen in the venue for a non-touring group for a long time. Both Andy and I commented at the end of the evening that the whole thing was reminiscent, in more ways than one, of the type of Friday evening gigs I mentioned above and it was great to see local bands pulling in such a big crowd. It did, however, mean than we spent most of the evening standing by the sound desk, just in front of the chatting bar-hoverers.

Amy Humphrys, singer and guitarist with Four Stones Deeper, tried to get those in the audience not already there to move closer to the stage. A few people moved. I last saw this band about a year ago, as first support for Morpheus Rising and was impressed if, perhaps, slightly critical of Amy’s vocals. Tonight the vocals seem to have the same issues but I think it’s because she is putting so much behind them to project beyond the music that they sometimes seem a little strained. Quieter sections during, for example, new song Let Go show that, when she relaxes the power slightly, her vocals are much better. Being honest, though, it doesn’t matter. Whatever the band were like last year, they have a much more professional demeanour tonight. It’s a polished performance, the set opening with a pumping drum and bass line, the guitars coming in slowly and the sound gradually increasing until the full power of the song is unleashed. By the second song the performance has become slightly punky and high energy. The band are clearly enjoying themselves on stage and there is no sign of nerves in front of an audience that a lot of local bands would kill to play to. A finger injury early on in the set saw Amy not only playing through the pain and sucking said finger frequently (we could see the blood from where we were at the back…) but delivering an impressive solo before hastily applying a plaster that had been delivered from the audience. Throughout the set the playing is tight with the whole band coping admirably with the various changes in speed. Most of the set is comprised of their own songs, but there is a couple of covers, including a switch to acoustic guitar for Paramore’s You Are The Only Exception. By this time we had moved closer to the stage, to find that both the sound in general and the vocals in particular were much better there. Bass player Luke (brother of Amy) provides backing vocals in places, his deeper voice providing a nice counterpoint and, from a local perspective, reminding me of Winston Sander’s backing vocals for Dream Of Apollo. Bright Lights continues the acoustic sound, with Joe Garlick’s drums providing a nice effect during the lyric “City never sleeping/Heart always beating”. This band write complex songs, full of changes of style and Amy’s cute-girl-next-door and butter-wouldn’t-melt looks belie her technical ability with the guitar, although it is apparent this time out that Tom Reed supplies a much greater portion than I previously gave him credit for. Amy ditches her guitar for an incredibly energetic rendition of Enter Shikari’s Sorry You’re Not A Winner, jumping around the stage and on and off the drum platform before declaring, “I’m knackered” ahead of Let Go. And still the set goes on. With so many bands on the bill and this being Four Stones Deeper first headline spot, we were expecting no more than forty minutes, but with Tell Me and the fast, slightly poppier Silent Generation, we are approaching an hour of a performance that has crackled with energy. Take It ends the set superbly with an audience sing-along, a mini-moshpit and a fantastic reaction from the audience. The only downside was that there was no encore.

King King–Fibbers, 14/03/13

It must be hard being a support band at times. When I arrived at Fibbers Hobo Joe and the Dead Cats had already started their set and were playing I Shot The Sheriff to a more or less empty room. Not that there was nobody there, but most of the attendees were standing between the sound desk and the bar and there was nobody in the front of stage area. The set was mostly comprised of Blues covers - Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Pride And Joy and a lovely swampy-sounding version of Red House from Hendrix were two that I recognised – but finished with a rendition of The Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want. Frontman Richard Tull would be recognisable by any fans of Hazzard County as “Rocking Richard” (or is that just a nickname that we used?) and, if anything, he produced even more rocking stances and little touches than during the few times I remember seeing him play with the Hazzards. Paul Winn shares vocals duties with Tull and also blows a mean harmonica or, more accurately, a number of harmonicas as he dipped into his little case for different ones between and during songs. The rhythm section of, I think, Ben Darwin and Tony Bachelor provided a solid backing, even though Bachelor at one point managed to accidentally fling one of his sticks away, narrowly missing Winn with it. A short set, certainly shorter than they like playing, but an entertaining one and one that the crowd seemed to warm to, even if nobody moved any further forward. Fans of Blues could do worse than check this band out – they will be supporting Dr Feelgood at Fibbers in October, but play full sets at other venues around York.

King King, fronted by Glaswegian Alan Nimmo – a man who looks as though he could play prop-forward for his national team but who has one of the deftest and gentlest touches on a guitar that I have ever come across – play incredible Blues.

That could be the most accurate, and shortest, review I have ever written. But, of course, I’m not going to leave it at that…

When such a large Scotsman asks, “what are you all doing back there?” you don’t answer (even if he is wearing a kilt, especially if he’s wearing boots big enough to make it look impossible for him to hit the right effects pedals on his rig…), you just move forward, closer to the stage, and pay attention. Unusually, for Blues bands that I have seen (admittedly not that many) King King are a foursome, led by Nimmo on guitar and vocals but with keyboards from Bennett Holland weaving in and out of the guitar lines and, occasionally, soaring with their unique Blues sound during solo spots. You get an indication that you are in for something special when you think that the second song of the set could easily have been a finale for the majority of other bands, with stunning guitar-playing that started out just above minimal and built to a crescendo. Little did I know there was better to come. The band are about to release their second album, Standing In The Shadows, and tonight’s audience were treated to a number of tracks from it, starting with the lovely, slower, almost mainstream, A Long History Of Love which included a keys-led section and a mesmerising extended guitar section that you could lose yourself in and that you could have heard a pin drop during. And that doesn’t happen often at Fibbers. Nimmo’s vocals were incredibly clear, even when he was standing quite a way behind the microphone. One More Time Around ramped up the tempo with its harder, rockier, noisier sound while Jealousy, originally written and performed by Nimmo’s childhood hero Frankie Miller (prompting Nimmo to wonder, “what the f*** am I doing?” when he first decided to cover it) was darker, with a great drum line from Wayne Proctor and very powerful vocals. One song with what I would describe as a more traditional Blues-rock sound featured a segue, into a much harder sounding one, which jarred slightly but somehow still worked. By now the crowd was well and truly warmed up and one group, dancing off to one side, were invited to move more front and centre but they declined. Continuing with the mix of styles the final song of the set, dedicated to Nimmo’s older brother Stevie, started out with a sound reminiscent of Eric Clapton before unfolding into some quite exquisite and sublime guitar work which, at one point, was beautifully quiet. Heart-wrenching, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I had never heard anything like it before and yet, just when you thought that the sound couldn’t get any quieter and gentler, it did. Nimmo’s plectrum must have been barely brushing the strings. This was quite possibly the most spellbinding piece of music I have had the pleasure to see performed live and, while you knew it was eventually going to build, it seemed that the audience were collectively holding there breath until it did. A ten-song set doesn’t sound like very many, but most of the tracks included stunning extended instrumental sections, meaning that those ten songs came in at over an hour and a half of music. The inevitable encore followed, but Mr Highway Man, as good as it was, couldn’t put a dent in the memory of that last piece of music.

Psychedelic Warlords–Fibbers, 02/03/13

When I saw Hawklords last year, I pointed out that Hawkwind were a band I knew very little about but would probably like (a lot). Now it seems that I have a new hobby – that of seeing ex-members of the band play live in various spin-off bands.

Opening proceedings tonight were York-based Hawkwind tribute act, Do Not Panic. Not that I knew they were either of those things before the gig, as there seems to be a paucity of information about them on-line and their Facebook biography reads like a science-fiction short story. It was only through recognising a handful of lyrics that the fact they were a tribute band registered with me. One fact I did know about Hawkwind was that, in the early seventies, the live band included Stacia, a dancer who frequently appeared topless and wearing body paint. Do Not Panic, have their own version and she’s a brave girl. Walking out in front of the stage, hiding behind lengths of iridescent and voluminous fabric and dancing throughout the entire set, she didn’t perform topless but her choice of top did, in the dim light of Fibbers, give a slight impression that she was. With six musicians and an array of equipment, the stage area looked crowded. Visually, the band’s bass player could almost pass for Lemmy while lead vocalist Tom had more of a Roger Daltrey look about him. Without any reference point, I can’t say how accurate their renditions of Angels Of Death, Spirit Of The Age or Psi Power (and those are just the songs that I at least vaguely recognised) were but, as a live act, the band seemed more than competent. I certainly wouldn’t be averse to seeing them again.

Psychedelic Warlords have been put together by former Hawkwind bassist Alan “Boomer” Davey – the first bass player I’ve noticed playing bass in the style of a lead guitar - to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Space Ritual, widely regarded as one of the best live albums ever. Their Facebook biography states that the full album will be played live at these gigs – again, I can neither confirm or deny whether that happened. The line-up on the page also lists former Hawk Nik Turner as “always welcome”. Sadly he didn’t appear at tonight’s gig. The band did, however, have their own Stacia stand-in in the form of Demolitia, who also performed in front of the stage for the first song before retreating to the stage itself where she frequently disappeared into the dressing room between songs to change her costume and bring out various props (fans, rope, swords, a whip…) to use in her dances. Breaking up the music was Julian Slawinski who, bedecked in flying helmet, white scarf and gold flecked jacket, appeared on stage to recite science-fiction inspired poetry in the manner of Robert Calvert or, perhaps, Michael Moorcock (who, Andy knowingly advised me, was really known as an SF author…) These poetic breaks not only gave Demolitia the opportunities to change her costume but, at one point, saw her running off to the sound desk to pass on a message that Davey had been frantically trying to get across from the stage. This might not have been the same scale as the full audio-visual experience of the original Space Ritual shows but, between the music, Demolitia’s dancing – which, it has to be said, seemed a little strained at times, as though she was struggling to fit the moves into the small stage area – and Slawinski’s bouts on stage, which sometimes saw him just wandering around, glaring at the audience, there was enough to watch and hear to elevate it above the average live performance. The music, while echoed in the space-rock of Hawklords (whose set, I believe, included at least one song from Space Ritual), didn’t have the relentless intensity of the latter band’s gig and certainly wasn’t as ear-hammeringly loud which made this gig a slightly more pleasant one (even though the Hawklords gig was one of my highlights of last year). Having said that, the vocals weren’t always as clear as those of Ron Tree.

The inevitable encore saw Davey asking the audience, which seemed largely comprised of leather-clad, bandana-wearing bikers smelling faintly of patchouli oil, whether they wanted a “long one or a short one”. Stupid question, really, and whatever it was they ended up playing could only be described as brilliant, powerful and (in the case of this track) relentless, with the whole band giving it their all, including Demolitia who, by now, seemed to have worked so hard that her tattoos were in danger of running.

There is still no Hawkwind represented in my CD collection but, after tonight’s gig, the time is getting closer.

Kodaline–Fibbers, 07/02/13

A bit of a strange one tonight. Andy had been recommended Kodaline by Fibbers’ promoter, Tim, but neither of us had heard of them before that. Nevertheless, Andy, on the basis of the band’s write-up on the Fibbers website, decided that they appealed and convinced me to go along (as usual, it didn’t take too much to persuade me.) Just before I set off, I watched the video for All I Want on YouTube – a video that had already had well over one million views. Not only that, but a pretty good video for a very good song.

As is usual these days, Andy and I met up for a drink before the gig. Usually on a Thursday, with Andy travelling down from work in Edinburgh, it’s a bit of a rushed affair but this time a chance encounter with Tim as I walked to the pub meant that I knew that the gig wasn’t due to start until eight thirty. So, we had time for more than the usual hasty pint.

When we finally arrived at Fibbers it was a bit of a shock to find that, not only was it already as full as I’ve ever seen the place, but that the usually curtained-off side section had been opened up. (I know that it’s not the first time this section has been opened, but it is the firs time I had seen it so.)

Support tonight came from Luke Sital-Singh, playing in York for the first time. Sadly, we were so far back in the audience that we couldn’t hear much of what was being said between songs. Luke alternated between acoustic and electric guitar and his playing was subtle and understated, while his vocals were both intense and emotive. Although I can’t honestly say that there was anything at all wrong with Luke’s performance, I get the impression that I would have enjoyed it much more if I had been closer to the stage (it goes without saying, away from the chatterers…)

After a quick trip out to get another drink, we returned for Kodaline to find that, if anything, the venue was even fuller – obviously somebody had heard of the band, even if I hadn’t. Despite the crowd, we managed to weave our way closer to the front, although nowhere near as close as we could get on a normal weekday evening. Kodaline, originally called 21 Demands (and, under that name, owners of the first independently-released single to reach number one in the Irish chart) hail from Dublin, comprise of Stephen Garrigan (vocals, keys), Mark Prendergast (guitar, keys), Vinny May Jr. (drums) and Jason Boland (bass) in and are about to release their debut album, In A Perfect World. On stage, the first thing we noticed was that the backing vocals, from Prendergast, May and Boland, came across stronger than the mellow lead vocals of Garrigan and that, initially, the drums and bass were overpowering the guitar. It was during the first song that Garrigan paused to introduce the band (as Kodaline, not the individual members) and it was then that we heard the first lilt of his Irish accent. I can’t help but think that it, and the Dublin base, are what have brought on the comparisons to U2 as I, for one, couldn’t hear too much of it in the music.

Garrigan’s vocals sounded stronger during the second song, at the end of which one audience member standing in front of me was heard to declare the band as “Coldplay wannabes”. The addition of keyboards, first from Prendergast and, later from Garrigan, certainly didn’t detract from that comparison, although I did politely take issue with the guy in question, explaining that Coldplay were one of my favourite bands while, at the same time, not trying to convince him to change his opinion – at the end of the day, we were both there to experience and, hopefully, appreciate live music. Further proof that Kodaline are more popular than I expected came with High Hopes, a song which most of the audience seemed to know and there was a light-hearted moment during the next track when Neil-the-roadie, after kitting Garrigan out with a mandolin, forgot that he also needed a harmonica, for a track that sounded slightly more folky that the alt-rock of the rest of the set. Unfortunately, as is the way of these things, background noise had increased exponentially with the crowd size and, even being closer to the front, it was getting harder to hear what was going on on stage. Something that may have been called The Answer was followed by the announcement, after just forty five minutes, that the next song would be the last. Inevitably, this song turned out to be All I Want, the excellent song which was accompanied by the tear-jerking YouTube video from my earlier viewing. Needless to say the crowd lapped it up.

And that was it, an unusually short set and no sign of an encore. Tonight was the first night of a small UK tour after two nights in the US, just a week ago and three nights in Europe just before that. There is a longer tour planned for March and April and I wonder whether the few dates in February are being used as a warm-up for the main event. In a way I feel a little short-changed by the minimal set (even a second support act might have made a difference) but, at the same time, I’m glad I went along. With the album just around the corner (I will be ordering it) there’s a feeling that Kodaline could be quite big in the near future.

Toby Jepson–Fibbers, 27/01/13

I don’t think I’ve ever heard an act introduce themselves in song before. With the lyric “Oh, my name is Zak and I’m here to sing a song for you” Zak Ford succinctly and light-heartedly, if slightly inaccurately in numerical terms, summed up his role as tonight’s support act. A relative newcomer to York’s acoustic scene, he is tonight joined by Jen on cello and backing vocals, adding a pleasing twist to an increasingly crowded genre. Despite a tendency to slide along the stage the cello, at times plucked, at others played with the bow, added depth to the music, occasionally verging on adding a bass line and during one song almost sounding as though it was singing backing vocals as well. Jen’s own backing vocals were used in unusual, but not unpleasant way. Zak’s vocals are wide-ranging and emotive, as are his songs which are a mix of folk, Americana and acoustic rock. After the fast-paced opener and Heartbreakers, he slowed things down with Hold The Line and My Love before speeding things up again with When I Was Young. Feel was preceded with an extract from Attack Attack, one of the songs written for his other project, the heavy rock band River City Ransom while the set ended with an indication of one of his influences, a cover of Ryan Adams’ Two, a full-on duet and the only song not to feature the cello. A nice opening to tonight’s proceedings.

With the unusually bare stage stripped even further, leaving just a microphone stand and a chair (actually acting as a table) Toby Jepson arrived. There have been three previous York appearances scheduled over the past couple of years and I’ve not managed to catch any of them. To be fair, at least one was cancelled (another clashed with my birthday and the third with an already-planned night out for Debbie, although I think that one was eventually postponed as well). Given the previous day’s snow, tonight’s appearance was quite lucky to go ahead. “I looked out of the window and thought I’d have to put another message on Facebook,” he quipped as he thanked us for turning out. I had seen Toby a couple of times before when he fronted Gun but knew nothing of his solo output (two albums and four EPs) and, it turns out, very little of his work with Little Angels. Indeed, it wasn’t until the last song of the set – Too Much Too Young - that anything sounded even vaguely familiar to either me or Andy.

Despite his hard-rock roots, Toby’s solo gigs are acoustic. The immediate comparison that came to mind was a combination of the performance of Bryan Adams (from the mainstream) and the audience intimacy of Nick Harper (from slightly left-field). The twenty song set comprised of a mix of songs from his solo career and Little Angels, covering almost the entire history of both. Few songs were introduced, but the audience was full of dedicated fans who seemed to know each one and were quite prepared to join in with the sing-along sections. Thankfully, the vocals were so clear that I managed to identify all but two songs from lyrics I noted down. One of those two, a ballad, something about wrapping “her up in passionate arms” and introduced as “see if you remember this one” (I didn’t) was my favourite of the set, but I can’t work out what it is. There were occasional insights – My Aim Is True was being performed live for the first time, Forbidden Fruit is his favourite song, there are plans to tour with a set of some of the more obscure Little Angels songs – and flashes of humour – roadie Nigel being almost as popular with the audience as Toby himself, mention of an upcoming slot for the re-formed Little Angels with Bon Jovi at the Isle Of Wight festival leading to him poking fun at Jon Bon Jovi’s recent appearance on the BBC. As is probably obvious, most of the set was acoustic re-workings of the original rock versions, but Unfortunate Man, an anti-Death Row song written after seeing a documentary about a prisoner who was exonerated after being put to death, had more of a country feel to it. Perhaps most surprising was Just No Way To Stop Loving You. Not the song itself, which was written just after Little Angels originally split up, but the fact that it will be appearing on a forthcoming album from former Superbike champion James Toseland, which Toby is producing. A consummate performer with a great voice. Well worth seeing live and, hopefully, I will get the opportunity again.

We Could Be Astronauts–Fibbers, 12/01/13

Around this time last year, we were bemoaning the lack of cheap weekend gigs featuring local bands so it is, perhaps, appropriate that our (me and Andy) first gig of 2013 falls squarely into that category.

Screen People aren’t local. They hail from Cambridge and, indeed, bass-player Ed is still there tonight, leaving Alie (vocals and guitars) and Becca (drums and all introductions) to hold the stage. This fairly unusual line-up inevitably brings forth comparisons to The White Stripes, one of the acts on Screen People’s long and varied list of influences. Apparently, there has been an aborted plan to use a backing track to fill in the bass-lines, and Alie admitted afterwards that he was trying to remember and play them as well. I think this may be what led me to note down “quite inventive” in reference to the music, as he added the bass sections into what would have been gaps in his playing. Whether the performance suffered because of the lack of bass isn’t for me to say as I have nothing to compare it to. I can say, however, that I enjoyed their set (as did Robert Hughes of tonight’s headliners who, taking up a forward position in the somewhat sparse audience, not only cheered and applauded loudly but also gave them a particularly nice shout out during his set. Sadly, I think Alie and Becca had already left by then.) There was an occasional Ian Anderson-type twang to Alie’s vocals, which were for the most part clear, helped along a little by backing vocals from behind a drum kit which was being played with gusto by Becca. The playing was tight and contained a fair amount of variety – the background riff in Trivial brought to mind Black Sabbath while snatches of lyrics from one song brought to mind a slowed down Muse. I understand there’s an album on the way. It may well be worth looking out for.

The Holy Orders are slightly more local, coming from Hull, and were added to tonight’s bill just a few days ago due, if I heard the story correctly, to the aforementioned Robert Hughes owing one of them a favour. The set started with loud alternative rock and vocals a little on the shouty side. The standout performance came from drummer James Cooper, who was clearly enjoying himself – playing with a huge grin and drumsticks flying in and from all directions, including from behind his head and, occasionally, swinging around above it. For their second song, the band introduced a more jangly, indie-type guitar sound and, the music being on the loud side (something they seem quite proud of) the vocals were a little swamped at times. Not, however, during Breathe which, after an unusually minimal opening, eventually burst into choppy, angry life. One song started with frontman Matt Edible (!) singing from the stage barrier, eschewing a microphone and giving us a clear view nearly all the way down his throat and a much more mellow, slower opening before the song again exploded. (There was a bit of a giveaway that the explosion was going to happen as Cooper could be seen coiling spring-like over his drum kit just before the loud section.) This was a short but exciting and interesting set. This time, there is definitely an album on the way – it’s due in April.

We Could Be Astronauts are local, from York. I last saw then back in 2011 on an open air festival stage in York and liked them. They are influenced by classic and more modern rock, with specific emphasis on the likes of Led Zeppelin. Indeed, you can’t look at energetic and flamboyant frontman Hughes and not be reminded of Robert Plant (or, alternatively, Marc Bolan). At different points tonight, Hughes can be seen seemingly fighting with his mic stand (and nearly losing) and kicking it across the stage after an apparent problem leads him to switch to a different mic. It’s Stuart Fletcher’s birthday and, with drinks being brought to the stage by various audience members, there is a bit of a party atmosphere which is only enhanced by a group of female fans vigorously dancing at the front. The music is old-style, riff-driven rock with two, sometimes three, guitars playing in front of a thumping rhythm section to provide a hugely entertaining performance. The set is comprised mainly of songs from the band’s debut album, with the added bonus of a few new songs, one of which was to feature that staple of rock instruments the ukulele, which Hughes eventually gave up trying to tune and replaced with… a kazoo (!) for what was the lightest and most fun song of the set. Lost At Sea was my personal favourite of the night but something which might have been called Game Over – an angry song which, speed-wise, could give Ace Of Spades a run for its money - came a close second. The set ended with a brilliant cover of Black Sabbath’s War Pigs with Hughes using a megaphone to provide the vocal effects. There is definitely and album available but, apparently, not tonight. Shame, as I would probably have bought a copy.

Hope And Social–Fibbers, 07/12/12

Tonight was one of those occasions when there was too much good music in York. Local favourites Stolen Earth were playing at The Fulford Arms and Admiral Fallow, much enjoyed by Andy in the past, were at The Duchess, while Hope And Social were next door at Fibbers.

Regular readers know that Hope And Social are a favourite of mine and I already knew a few people who were planning on going to that gig. Combine that with the fact that I had spent the afternoon drinking - it was my work team’s (all three of us…) Christmas afternoon off – and the city centre venue was looking much more attractive than trying to get out to The Fulford Arms.

I arrived at Fibbers after Louise Petit had started her support slot and, with alcohol possibly impairing my judgement, I stayed at the back of the venue which made it hard to hear much of her set. She appears to be of the same slightly quirky style that a lot of H&S support acts exhibit, singing a kind of modern Americana while playing guitar and ukulele. Her backing band add double bass and drums and, at the end of the set were joined by Rich Huxley (of H&S) who helped in the recording of her debut EP, Fear And My Other Friends. Sorry to say but Louise probably deserved more of my attention that she got tonight.

Well before Hope And Social had taken to the stage, I had moved right to the front and was within touching distance of the stage. The band opened with Saints Alive, a track from their newly-released fourth original album, All Our Dancing Days before delving back into the previous album for Sleep Sound and Family Man. Then it was back to the new album for Let’s Be Bold before something went wrong on stage and Simon headed out to the middle of the crowd with his acoustic guitar for the now traditional version of Looking For Answers, along with the sing-along section. I can only hope that Rich, who ended up standing almost next to me, couldn’t work where the strange wailing sound that tries its best to pass as my singing was coming from…

Next, with the gremlins banished from the stage, we got a version of Marching On Through which not only included a smooth saxophone solo but also segued into My Girl, with Gary Stewart providing vocals from behind the drum kit. At any other time, this was a version which could have been a set-ender, but H&S were only just getting started. During Pitching Too High, trumpeter James could be seen jogging on the spot on stage. With the song still being played, Simon explained that they had set up races for him at every gig of the current tour (although I’m not sure whether the story that, in one town, he had to run to the corner shop and return with a copy of Razzle has to be taken with a pinch of salt…) Tonight, a young lady from the audience was invited to join him in a race to the bar and back, first time running, second time hopping and third time after swapping trousers. The crowd dutifully parted like the Red Sea under the command of Moses and the race was on, across a floor littered with plastic glasses and lager bottles. Thankfully nobody came a cropper and the “athletes” decided to swap jackets rather than trousers. As to who won… I honestly can’t remember.

There was a further sing-along section during One Way Home. Simon always seems genuinely appreciative of the audience participation and the added vocals always seem to add something to the songs rather than filling in gaps (or giving the band a breather) that can be the case with other bands. The organised chaos of Rolling Sideways was followed by the slower and emotionally-polar The Road Never Lies before Ed Waring took to the front of the stage for All Our Dancing Days. The set ended with more audience participation, this time including singing and gesturing, during Red Red Rose before an obligatory encore started with a comedy keyboard solo from Ed leading into Back To The Green and finished with Rich on banjo for A Darkness Now Is Coming.

As usual with a Hope And Social gig, there was plenty of banter to go with the music. It seems that drummer Gary may be about to tie the know and, with future relatives in the audience, there was plenty of gentle heckling before Simon pointed out that the band were actually contracted to play music, not just answer questions. There was also the requisite amount of “messing about” on stage, whether that entails band members switching instruments or something unexpected sparking a memory that has the band in stitches (in this case, a recently heard nickname for a part of the male anatomy…) Above it all, however, is that fact that this is a band at the top of their game. Not only do the performances seem to get better every time we see them, despite Simon’s oft-heard utterings along the lines of “We haven’t got this song right yet on this tour” or “I’m not totally sure I remember this one”. The wackiness and the sing-alongs add to the feeling that the band and their fans are part of one big family. I have said before that you don’t go to see a Hope And Social gig, but that you go to experience it. One thing that is evident to all the fans is that Hope And Social are a band that are not just fun to watch but is also fun to be part of.

All Our Dancing Days is available now as a physical CD or download, on the usual pay-what-you-want basis, on www.hopeandsocial.com.

Karnataka–Fibbers, 29/11/12

Photos included in this posting were taken by Marc McGarraghy, who is on a year long project to generate donations for MacMillan Cancer Support from his live music photography. More details can be found on his fundraising community Facebook Page.

A couple of years ago, I bought Karnataka’s then new album - The Gathering Light – pretty much on spec. It impressed me so much that I placed it second in my top five albums of 2010. Shortly after buying it, still relatively new to the idea that fans could actually interact with bands (look, I grew up with the likes of Queen, Genesis, Dire Straits and, more importantly, no internet…) I emailed them to ask if they had ever considered playing in York. A brief email exchange followed, in which I gave founder member and bass player Ian Jones details of some of York’s venues and he said he would look into it. Then, to all intents and purposes, it seemed that the band imploded when, despite critical acclaim for The Gathering Light, three members announced that they were leaving.

However, Ian refused to let the band die and, along with guitarist Enrico Pinna, soon started to announce new members until, eventually, a new line-up was complete and, in early 2012, they started a fifteen date tour. Later in 2012, an even longer tour was gradually revealed and, slightly tongue-in-cheek, I commented on Facebook that there was still no York date (it wouldn’t surprise me to find that York isn’t exactly high on any band’s list of potential venues, especially those that are based in the South) only to get a message back from Ian telling me that they were still trying to work out a suitable date and that I should “watch this space”. A few days later tonight’s date was added to the tour schedule. I couldn’t have been happier. Or more worried… What if nobody else turned up?

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Ian Jones (bassist and founder member)

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I should have known. While Fibbers wasn’t full, there were a number of faces that I recognised from other Prog gigs dotted around the audience, as well as Marc McGarraghy (another York music fan who had been at a few of the same gigs as me but who I hadn’t actually met until tonight) and, I found out later, at least one couple who had brought forward their trip to York in order to see Karnataka on this tour again.

The current trend of there being no support act continued, with Karnataka taking to the stage at around eight-thirty. New vocalist Hayley Griffiths (much prettier in the flesh than in some of the publicity photos) has a classical background and has toured the world as lead singer in both Riverdance and Lord Of The Dance, as well as releasing two solo albums. Her vocals have a slight theatrical quality to them and, when she sings, she can often be seen either staring wistfully into space or with a particularly expressive face, as though she is performing in a stage musical, rather than a rock band. That’s not to take anything from her performance, though. The more the set went on, the more vocal range we got to hear and, if anything, she gives the impression that she is singing directly at you. The set was a mixture of tracks from band’s back catalogue, with specific emphasis on The Gathering Light, as well as new songs that have been written for a new album, which is due to be released in 2013.

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Hayley Griffiths (vocalist)

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Musically, the live performance varied from a traditional “light” prog sound to something quite a bit heavier and rockier, especially during the new songs. Even The Gathering Light, which ended the first half of the gig seemed to be have a heavier opening than the album version. The stand-out track of the first half was The Storm, title track of the band’s 2000 album, which with its opening salvo of Pinna’s guitar over Cagri Tozluoglu’s keyboards was incredibly atmospheric. Throughout the whole evening, Tozluoglu seemed to pour his heart and soul into his playing, often appearing to be lost in the music, especially during The Journey (another stand-out track, which also came from The Storm – which I wasn’t surprised to later find out was the all-time favourite album of one person I was chatting to) which was also featured some great drumming from touring member Matt McDonough.

Having only heard the songs from The Gathering Light prior to tonight, I was glad that the album featured so prominently, especially the stunning three-part The Forsaken, with glorious vocals from Hayley before she left the stage while the rest of the band performed a superb instrumental section which featured piano and a simple but highly effective guitar section before bursting into life. Hayley returned to the stage for the third part of The Forsaken and followed it with an even better vocal performance during new song Feels Like Home. The set ended in blockbuster style with Your World, during which the sexy dancing quotient was increased dramatically. After a brief on-stage discussion the band played Tide To Fall which ended the evening on an even better note.

After the gig had finished, all five band members came of stage to mingle and chat with the audience and sign merchandise. Karnataka may have had to survive at least two major line-up changes (four of the original members went off to form Panic Room in 2006) and multiple smaller changes during its lifetime but you have to admire both the hard-working attitude and willingness to engage personally with fans of the current line-up. Hopefully, with two tour’s under their collective belt in 2012 and the new album in 2013, this line-up will stay together for a while longer.

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Hayley Griffiths, Enrico Pinna (guitar), Ian Jones, Cagri Tozluoglu (keyboards)

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Vega–Fibbers, 02/11/12

There seemed to be a long wait between three members of Skin & Bone taking to the stage, the famous “do you feel lucky?” speech from Dirty Harry coming through the speakers and, finally, frontman Johnny Trowbridge appearing, much to the apparent delight of a vocal group of fans I can only assume had made the journey from South Yorkshire along with the band. Skin & Bone are influenced by 80s hard rock, as well as more modern, edgier bands. There was definitely a degree of Iron Maiden in their sound, which still managed to sound fresh and individual. As a frontman, Trowbridge is a little showy, in the sense that his stage presence seemed tailored to a bigger stage than that of Fibbers, but that didn’t detract from the fact that he is also very good. For a rock band, they are, musically, almost subdued. There is no over-reliance on guitar histrionics, with the first screaming solo only appearing three tracks into the set. In fact Richie Beardsley’s guitar work was, in places, simple but effective and what solos he did play ended up tantalising rather than outstaying their welcome. For me, the most interesting song was Walking Shoes which, through a couple of pace-changes, built up from a slow-burning start to a mush faster and livelier ending. Personally, I thought it would have been better to end the set with it, rather than a Chickenfoot cover – not that the latter was a bad song, but when you have one as interesting as Walking Shoes, use it to go out on a high.

Second support came from Stockholm’s Degreed, who were supporting Vega throughout the tour and, tonight, playing their first ever UK gig. There was a lot of effort put into making sure a huge banner, advertising their debut album Life Love Loss, was hung straight, with as much attention being given to it as would normally be lavished on the instruments. Eventually, with the help of some Fibbers-supplied tape, the band seemed satisfied with it and drummer Mats Ericsson promptly sat down, obscuring most of the advert… As with Skin & Bone before them (and what seems to be an increasing number of bands) Degreed came on stage to a backing track, but the twin guitars of Jesper Adefelt and Daniel Johansson gave this band a heavier sound. The vocals from Robin Ericsson, who also played bass, were very clear and Micke Jansson’s keyboards, despite sometimes being lost in the background gave the music a more melodic feel when they did filter through. Most of tonight’s tracks – including Color Me, Human Being? and Just Imagine - came from the debut album but Degreed are about to release a second and the first track they played from it tonight seemed to bring them luck of the wrong sort, as the stage lights went out halfway through Black Cat. The band played on, finishing that track before Ericsson near-pleaded for light so that he could see to play. Bravely, they attempted the next track, B.O.D. and the lights returned just after the introduction, much to the band’s almost palpable relief. Track followed track in rapid succession as the band ploughed through their set with scant pause between songs, except when Ericsson gave away a handful of free copies of Life Love Loss and a T-shirt to eager punters. Nice touch – I was too far away to get a copy and would have bought one at the end of the evening, except that I couldn’t find the band. The set ended with Arms Of Misery, which was the most melodic song the band played, slightly reminiscent of Toto. This was a thoroughly entertaining performance, despite the lighting issue and little were we to know that it had just knocked spots off the headliners. Just two pieces of advice – maybe hang the banner during (or just after) the sound-check, even if you fold it up so it can’t be seen and, if you want to sell merchandise, hang around until the end of the gig. After all, not everybody has pockets big enough to put CDs in…

I saw Vega just over a year ago and, looking back on my review of that night, I enjoyed the gig. I really like their 2010 debut Kiss Of Life. They are a lot like Bon Jovi, which isn’t a bad thing in my opinion. With a new album imminent, there was little chance I was going to skip this gig. Strangely, though, tonight didn’t hold a candle to that first time. Extra lights had been brought along and, perched on top of the speaker stacks, they seemed to give the stage a washed-out hue. The band themselves, once again a six-piece when playing live (there’s only four “official” members) looked nervous, with “new blood” Marcus (I was sure I remembered him from last year) on lead guitar being the only one apart from vocalist Nick Workman, to have any stage presence. Nick’s vocals were heavily tampered with, giving them a feeling of fakeness and each song seemed to have a “Whoa, whoa” for the crowd to sing along to or a “Hey! hey!” for them to shout. I’m not against a bit of audience participation but you can go too far. That said, the songs were performed well. Tracks from Kiss Of Life, which I hadn’t played for quite a while, were instantly recognisable the addition of tracks from new album meant that the set was longer than last time. New songs such as Bless My Soul, title track What The Hell, current single White Knuckle Ride and both album and set closer Hands In The Air, bode well for the new album, showing progression without losing sight of the melodic stadium rock sound that made Kiss Of Life such a pleasing debut. Tonight’s crowd was noticeably smaller than that of last year and it seemed to thin out a bit at the front as the set went on, so it’s possible I wasn’t the only one a slightly disappointed with the performance, especially given how good Degreed had been. I also had to question the timing of the tour – I had come out tonight expecting the new album to be available and fully intending to buy a copy, but it’s not actually released until January and the only merchandise available was a rather uninspiring T-shirt. Overall, a bit of a disappointment. Not that that will put me off seeing Vega if/when they play York again. Given the strength of Kiss Of Life and the sound of the new songs I still think there’s a great band somewhere in there, just waiting to be let loose.

Hawklords–Fibbers, 25/10/12

Every so often a band comes to York that I know I want to see, but I don’t really know why. Case in point – Hawklords… They must be something to do with Hawkwind, right? Spin-off? Tribute? No idea. What I know about Hawkwind can be written on the back of a postage stamp with space left over - Dave Brock, Space Rock, Stacia and I once had a 7” picture-disc copy of Silver Machine. But they sound like a band that I should like and probably would like if I took the time to listen to some of their stuff. Anyway, Hawklords – I bought a ticket, then did a bit of research.

Turns out the band was a spin-off, back in 1978 (when Hawkwind disbanded for a bit) and have now sort of reformed, with two original members and a few other ex-Hawkwind members. Don’t you just love bands with simple histories…?

“What time is the support on?” asked Andy as we handed our tickets over. “There isn’t one. Hawklords are doing a two-hour set,” came the reply. So we headed off to a local hostelry for a quick pint and wondered whether that was the reason that Stolen Earth had announced a few days earlier that they would no longer be supporting. Nice to hear their Soul In A Jar played as part of the background music before the gig actually started, though.

And what a gig. Slightly reminiscent of the Ozric Tentacles earlier in the year, with a similar, perhaps slightly less mesmerising film show going on at the back of the stage. As well as light patterns that drew the eyes in, this one seemed to include clips from Soviet science fiction films from the 1950s as well as what looked to be a NASA promotional clip. It was hard to look away but, at the same time, it in no way detracted from the music. Unlike the Ozrics, who played instrumental space rock, Hawklords play songs. Ron Tree’s vocals are slightly punky in style, at times the delivery reminded me of Anarchy In The UK, at others Teenage Kicks but, despite my dislike of punk music, it didn’t put me off at all. Some of the lyrics hard a slightly hard edge to them, others seemed like they had been inspired by the writings of Erich Von Daniken or any number of “proper” science-fiction authors. Tree’s performance also had an edge to it – he punctuated songs with hand gestures, at times dancing as though he was coming down off a high (or perhaps still on one), his makeup running as the set went on, giving him a more and more macabre look. For one mind-bending song about robots he donned a blank-eyed mask and performed another from underneath some sort of space helmet.

Between songs, Tree and guitarist Jerry Richards regaled us with renditions of some sort of cosmic poetry. Richard’s microphone may just have had a little too much reverb on it for him to be understood (at the end of the night, I only just made out him saying that they had enjoyed playing Fibbers and wanted us to encourage the venue to have them back) but the cadence and alternating/overlapping vocals meant that the delivery was powerful and almost hypnotic. The electronics sound effects only added to the other-worldly feel.

The music itself was loud, bone-shakingly so at times. Yet tonight saw one of the best sound mixes I have experienced at Fibbers. No matter how heavy or chaotic the music got, you could hear everything – vocals and instruments all came through. Apparently, there should have been a second set of keyboards/synthesizer (Steve Swindells was not touring due to health reasons) – I’m not sure whether they would have been necessary. Harvey Bainbridge, looking like the rest of the band’s eccentric uncle, performed brilliantly on the one set, as well as providing vocals for one track. A large portion of the two hour set was comprised of songs from the band’s new album - including the title track We Are One, Digital Age, Time Split Vision and The Ancient Ones – hardly any of which were introduced but which were performed so clearly and cleanly that I recognised them when playing the album the next day. I’m told that a number of Hawkwind classics were also played, not that I recognised anything (but tonight probably added weight to the theory that I would probably like Hawkwind’s output). IF anything the set seemed to end too quickly, before the venue’s curfew – which led to what seemed to be an impromptu jam-session which provided the most mellow section of the evening. Of course, it could just have been another pre-rehearsed piece, so fluidly did the band perform it.

Some of the crowd were obviously hard-core fans. Most of the people in front of us danced for most of the set – apparently dancing to space-rock means flailing around like a demented astronaut in zero-gee and one particularly energetic woman seemed, at one point, to be trying to batter me to death. She apologised, I moved back a couple of steps…

This was probably the most intense gig I have ever been to. It may also have been one of the loudest – as usual, I didn’t bother with ear-plugs and my ears were still ringing the following lunchtime. Despite all that, it was one of the stand-out gigs of the year so far. I’m not sure whether psychedelic hippy-punk is an actual music genre. If it isn’t, it should be. And Hawklords could be the best proponents of it.