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 It’s not just that the cap that seemed permanently fixed to his head (but which has now, I believe, been lost) has been replaced by a hoodie.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.

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.

Playing Musical Instruments

Saturday 31st March: Sometime over the last few days I saw Jessie J being interviewed about the BBC’s awful new “talent” show, The Voice. (Don’t get me started on it. In my opinion there is so much wrong with the format that I could fill a whole post talking about them.) One thing she said that made sense was that she didn’t like being called a “judge” because, to paraphrase, even though she might not like one of the acts, it wasn’t for her to criticise because it was likely that somebody else would like it. I hope that anything I write about bands I don’t like is seen the same way – as non-critical and certainly not as personal attacks on the act in question.

I mention this because I didn’t really like tonight’s opening act. There’s not a great deal of info about Joseph & David, despite them having both MySpace and Facebook pages, the latter with over 1,000 likes, perhaps proving that my opinion shouldn’t really be counted. A folk duo, if I had heard the vocals before seeing the performance I would have guessed (correctly) that the singer would have his eyes closed and face turned upwards. Some of the music was pleasantly relaxing to listen to but I’m afraid there wasn’t anything catchy enough to grab my interest. The addition of Simon Goff on violin and, later, James Hamilton on trumpet, added extra interest but while the final song of the set -  Rising Sun, performed off-stage in the middle of the crowd, sans keyboard and with Joseph providing just backing vocals – was listenable, I’m afraid the rest did little for me.

Hope&Social on the other hand are, as I’m sure my regular reader will have realised by now, firm favourites. The thing is, you never quite know what to expect from a Hope&Social gig and I certainly wasn’t expecting The Duchess to have been decked out with tables and candles. That’s usually reserved for folk or acoustic acts, not a band that have been described as a Yorkshire E-Street Band. I should have realised, really – with a new album of acoustic versions of songs from the previous three just released, of course this was going to be an acoustic tour. Now, for most bands, that would mean leaving most of the members behind and performing with a couple of guitars and, maybe, a shaker or two. But not for Hope&Social, ohhhh no. An acoustic tour from them involves leaving two of the brass section behind and filling whatever space is available in whatever transport they are using with practically every non-electric instrument they can find. And not only that…

“We’re even more unprepared for this than was usually are,” announced Simon Wainwright as the band took to the stage. “We did rehearse at a gig in London last night, though…” As they launched into Family Man it became obvious that something was afoot. Rich Huxley was playing a glockenspiel while Ed Waring and Simon Goff were standing behind what looked like a magician’s card table which was ultimately shown to contain a variety of hand bells, what looked like an old-style car hooter and one of those whistles that you play by pushing in a plunger. April saw Rich move to double bass (complete with tape marks to show where he should be putting his fingers), Gary Stewart playing guitar behind his drum kit and James back on violin. Both Rich and Gary were on ukuleles while Ed and James shared a keyboard for Pitching Far Too High while Cotton Wool saw Gary and Simon W on guitar and Rich on keys. You get the idea? Between every song, the band more or less played musical instruments (in the “chairs” sense), switching around and yet still not appearing to waste time and string things out. Just about the only song which received its normal treatment was Looking For Answers, with Simon performing it off-stage without the aid of a microphone, but even then the packed audience managed to change that one, singing the full chorus instead of the usual backing. There was, of course, the usual between song banter. During one song Rich wandered over to re-tune Simon’s guitar mid-intro, prompting Simon to declare that “some people would call that being a smart-arse.” “A smart-arse would have made sure it was tuned first,” retorted Rich, to the amusement of everybody. Simon also explained the band’s new rule, introduced the previous night, “anybody talking during a quiet song gets our sound engineer’s thumb up their bottom. It worked. We had a very quiet room and one very happy lady…”, which then led on to stories about his past “bottom problems”. You need to have a certain sense of humour to attend Hope&Social gigs.

The instrument free-for-all continued all through the set. Ed played the three or four notes that he knew on the euphonium during Rolling Sideways, which also included folk(ish) versions of You’re The One That I Want and House Of The Rising Son. Living A Lie was performed with just a variety of percussion while Red Red Rose saw a lady from the audience invited onto the stage to play one of the hand bells (while dressed as a leprechaun – I bet she didn’t see that coming…) The set ended with the band’s only “love” song You’re The Lighter Side Of Life. The inevitable encore started, unusually, with a cover of Yazoo’s Only You, complete with Flying Pickets backing vocals before Knotted Wood, the only new song from the latest album and then audience favourite You Can Call Me Al and A Darkness Now Is Coming. Finally, there was a second encore consisting of Eurospin, which eventually saw both Simons, Rich and Ed parading around the audience playing a number of brass instruments. Some of the notes may even have been correct.

As I said, you never quite know what you are going to get from Hope&Social. You can guarantee a few things, though – good music, laughs, and entertainment. Definitely one of the best value live bands you could see. The new album, Cotton Wool And Knotted Wood, is available along with the three excellent previous releases on the usual pay-what-you-want basis from the band’s website.

Whole Lotta Rosie

Sunday 16th October: “That’s odd,” I thought, “You don’t often see a dancing banana. Even at Fibbers…”

Five minutes earlier (a much over-used dramatic cliché but, hey, band-wagons are there for jumping on) we had been sitting next to the merchandise table chatting, wondering when the bands were going to start and, in one case, purchasing one of Hope&Social’s splendid new “blue blazer” t-shirts. Attracted forwards by a sudden burst of frenetic (and loud) keyboard playing we found Rosie – Doug Wallace (rhythm guitar and vocals), Tommy Leatherbarrow (drums and backing vocals) and Louis Leatherbarrow (keyboard and bass) – on stage and the aforementioned dancing banana in front of it, with a second dancer and, after a couple of minutes, Rich Huxley joining in. I’m not sure how to describe Rosie without making them seem awful. One quote on their Facebook page says “bouncy electro-powered party punk” and I noted that one song – Aftaparty, I think – sounded like the squalling offspring of a liaison between Madness and any Brit-pop band. What they delivered was high-energy, exciting music in a style that I wouldn’t normally listen to but which managed to draw me in and paint a wide smile on my face. It was a short set, slightly extended by the unexpected addition of I Like To Move It, but it was a very entertaining one that somehow fit with what you would expect from a band supporting Hope&Social.

Sadly, an update on the band’s Facebook page this week states that Doug has decided to leave the band. It’s a shame, really, as while the band definitely performed as a package, Doug’s shouted vocals, powerful guitar and wide grin was a big part of the whole.

It’s not really fair of me to try to review People In Airports as before they took to the stage I had moved towards the back of the venue to chat to another friend. Staying there for their performance I couldn’t really see of hear them clearly. Suffice to say that nothing really enticed me forward. From where I was standing, it sounded like a fairly bland performance and I couldn’t help thinking that, given the headliners, it might have been another of those evenings when the support acts were the wrong way round on the bill. I’ll leave it at that and hopefully give them a more considered review if I catch them again.

“We've been accused of not taking our last couple of gigs seriously,” announced Hope&Social frontman Simon Wainwright. “Last Friday we jogged on the spot for fifteen minutes, which was good. Unless you were in the audience…” This less-than-startling “revelation” came a few songs into tonight’s set. A few songs that were interspersed with the usual H&S shenanigans, including references to a band member’s current ailments (suffice to say we were informed of this in case bass player Simon Goff had to leave the stage quickly and as a warning to stay away from his Mum’s cooking), an allusion to guitarist Rich Huxley recently electrocuting a sensitive part of his anatomy and what he likes to do with it and two hairdryers (it was at this point that I started crying with laughter and got the beginnings of a stitch), the opportunity for some of the audience to discover what wonderful odours were present in Simon and Rich’s blazers and Simon ad-libbing a rendition of “There’s Only One Gary Stewart” along with a section of the audience dressed in tank-tops and and adorned with false beards, much to the apparent embarrassment of the drummer.

And it didn’t stop there. There was indeed jogging, although it didn’t last for fifteen minutes before trumpeter James Hamilton led Rosie and Katie the rest of the brass section (Rosie and Katie) into the audience to encourage some of us to jog on the spot. This eventually brought cries of “next song!” from the Gary Stewart appreciation section, who had been told that they couldn’t stop running until the song had finished.

That’s the beauty of a Hope&Social gig – you don’t just get music, you get thoroughly entertained. With three albums under their collective belts and Sleep Sound heavily promoted on the last tour, tonight was almost a Greatest Hits tour. The set had been shaken up quite a bit and included songs from all three releases. Sadly, there was no sign of Simon taking to the audience with Looking For Answers but we did get the likes of Rolling Sideways, Sleep Sound, Red Red Rose, The Road Never Lies, Marching On Through and Gary Stewart’s rendition of You Can Call Me Al all delivered in the customary style of a band that genuinely enjoy playing together. Hope&Social may not take their gigs seriously, but they certainly take their music seriously and it is that combination that means that, however many times you see them, each performance seems as fresh and original as the last. They are easily one of the best live acts around at the moment and I can’t recommend them highly enough. Go, give them a try – their albums are available on a pay what you want basis here and you can even download them for free. For the full effect, though, go see them live.

Pelico Crossing

Monday 16th May: There are some bands that I like so much that not only will I go to see them as often as I can (even if the last time was only a matter of weeks ago) but I will also try to “sell” them to other music fans (and anybody else that will listen or who just happens to be standing in the way of my voice…). Tonight, however, is the first time that anybody has ever listened to one of my recommendations. Hopefully, the headliners won’t make a liar out of me.

Unfortunately, due to a desire for a decent drink and the vagaries of knowing when acts are due to start at Fibbers, Roy, Richard and I missed the start of Nick Tudor’s set. I say unfortunate for two reasons – firstly I like to think that I give all acts an equal listen and secondly because this one was actually very good. Nick himself looks like a cross between Paul Weller and Liam Gallagher and postures a bit like Mick Jagger. Tonight playing with a drummer and bass-player, Nick gave us some pretty good vocals and impressive guitar work. The handful of songs we heard included (and I’m guessing at some titles, here) the rocky Bring Me Down and Tears Roll Down as well as the slower, but equally good, Brick By Brick. The final, epic song of the set started out with hints of Oasis before turning into second half of blistering, effects-laden guitar. Definitely an act I wouldn’t mind seeing again.

It is, perhaps, a little unfair to judge local band Pelico on the basis of tonight’s performance as, from where I was standing (my usual spot, a bit in front of the sound desk), I could barely hear a thing over the noise of the large, ignorant section of the audience who insisted on talking shouting to each other over the music. It’s a shame because, from what I did hear, the band sounded as if they could be interesting. A four-piece comprising of Brian (vocals), Nick (bass, vocals and percussion), Rob (drums and percussion) and Ash (vocals and, unusually, acoustic guitar) they play an indefinable and unusual (in my experience) sort of folk rock, with nice vocal harmonies. Manfully battling on against the ambient noise and looking only slightly annoyed at the lack of attention they were getting, they gave us Passing Places, Sleeping On The Floor, Who You Are and something which I noted down as Fine, but might actually have been Fly, featuring Ash on lead vocals, along with a much more catchy song which may have been called Throw Me A Lifeline. Strangely, between songs they were applauded and cheered by more people than who seemed to be listening, including people standing behind me who can’t have heard a great deal and I can’t help but think that they were, perhaps, the wrong sort of band for tonight’s crowd and that they might, in fact, do better at a more intimate venue.

And so to the headliners and, being honest, the band that the vast majority of the crowd was here to see. Micky-taking, banter, laughs, blue blazers, audience sing-alongs, superb music and an impromptu line-dance from the brass section… Yes, it has to be Hope & Social, back in York to promote their third studio album, Sleep Sound, which was released last week on the usual pay-what-you-want basis (available in physical and download forms from their website and from no good record stores…) and, less than twelve hours later was already number on on Bandcamp. It’s no mean feat to get nineteen people, as well as instruments for an eight-piece band on a stage the size of the one at Fibbers but, opening with Sleep Sound itself, Hope & Social managed it by inviting a choir on stage with them. There was the usual banter between songs as Family Man was followed by old favourite (and, apparently, my daughter’s current second favourite song) Pitching Far Too High and then a return to new material with Rolling Sideways. You could almost see the idea cross Simon’s mind when, instead of taking to the front of the stage to deliver the crowd-pleasing Looking For Answers, he wandered out into the crowd to deliver an excellent acoustic performance “in the round” and show exactly what a superb natural voice he has. After that we were treated to Marching On Through, which was amusingly and almost seamlessly morphed into My Girl and followed by another new song, The Road Never Lies, which not only started a round of “musical instruments” (as opposed to chairs) by having drummer Gary Stewart on keys, but also showed that the band can take you from hilarity to lump-in-the-throat in a heartbeat. Gary also got time in the spotlight when he was allowed to infiltrate the middle of Red Red Rose with Paul Simon’s You Can Call Me Al, which he sang while also drumming. Abba’s Take A Chance On Me also made a brief cameo towards the end of Red Red Rose. Another new song, Fast Train, ended  a set which had already overrun but there was no way that we were leaving without an encore (“Or we could riot,” enthused Simon, fist pumping) and after a very brief call for “More!” and a quick check with the sound desk, the band returned for the banjo-led A Darkness Now Is Coming before some band members worked the crowd, selling copies of the new album. Despite only including one song from the first album and, obviously, favouring the new material, this was a nice mix of old and new.

I find it hard to describe Hope & Social (I wish I had come up with “A Yorkshire E Street Band”, but somebody else beat me to it) and easy to enthuse about them. All three of their albums are superb, but they are even better (and excellent value) live. Entertainers in every sense of the word, their gigs are always included as highlights in my annual round-up and, while tonight may have been a bit subdued by their usual standards (and definitely compared to the last time we saw them) it was still head and shoulders above most bands. They work hard, they play hard and they have a superb attitude towards music. It’s fairly obvious that I can’t recommend them highly enough and would urge anybody reading this to at least download and try out some of their stuff. You can do it genuinely for free – they don’t even ask for your email address. Oh, and for the record, debutante Richard was impressed and is already talking about seeing them again…

The Boss Hopes To Take A Gambell And Gaines A Superb Gig

Friday 25th March: It’s a sell-out at the Basement tonight as a favourite band (with all ages, judging by the audience) returns to York to headline what is being billed as an extravaganza. Sadly, one of the support acts, the excellent Dave Woodock and the Dead Comedians had to pull out at nearly the last minute, leading to a change in the line-up.

Standing in for the Dead Comedians, but further down the bill, is Rob Gambell, ex of Hijak Oscar and currently hailing from Canterbury. Playing acoustic guitar, Rob opened with a folky, country number which turned out to be a cover of William Elliott Whitmore’s Take It On The Chin, following that with what I think was another cover – Ben Harper’s Power Of The Gospel – and then If A Letter Makes It Better (Krissy and the Jackdaws). Switching to his own compositions, he sang Mama, I’m OK then Bucket and finished with another cover – Townes Zan Vandt’s If I Needed You. Rob used a variety of guitar styles and had a nicely clear voice along with an affable, almost nonchalant stage persona. The overall impression was of somebody singing around a campfire rather than at a gig. Personally, I found his covers to be more enjoyable than his own songs, despite the slightly humorous lyrics of Bucket, a song about loving somebody enough to look after them, which seemed to involve making sure they had something to throw up into. A pretty good start to the evening.

Rob was followed by Andy Gaines, ex of Cardboard Radio and The Runaway Sons and now a solo artist (and, I think, creative photographer and designer). No less affable, but slightly more bumbling (in the nicest possible sense of the word – “I have an EP for sale, but I have no idea where you can get it from. Just search for my name on the internet, something will come up…”) Andy seemed to be constantly trying to hide a huge grin underneath his extremely floppy fringe and was clearly having fun on stage. There was a nice mix of styles in his songs, most of which I didn’t catch the titles of. A “country-ish” number was followed by one that I can only describe as Billy Bragg sings about York. The Lights People Leave On was a jangly, catchy little number, while The Hand You Once Held was a passionate, almost angry song both musically and lyrically and was, in my opinion, the best of the set. He finished with The More Things Change, a much gentler folky song. Given Andy’s contributions to music around York, I’m surprised that this is the first time I have actually seen him perform. Hopefully, it won’t be the last. Oh, and for anybody interested, the EP is available from here.

I have waxed lyrical about Boss Caine a few times in the past but usually it’s GT Turbo/Dan Lucas performing solo under the name (presumably to avoid confusion when trying to sell CDs at gigs). Tonight, however, we were promised a few guests, making it a performance more akin to the musical collective of the name. GT started the set on his own with the song that I still don’t know the title of, but which I think is probably The Kind Of Loving (or something similar) before playing a brand new song – Ghosts And Drunks - which had been written for him by the wonderful Joe Solo and which will feature on the next album. It was a lovely yet melancholy tune which, like the best of GTs songs, both paints a picture and fits him perfectly. Another old song – Dead Man’s Suit – followed before Adam Rogowski, over from Russia, joined him on stage to provide a second guitar during Dreamer, a song which benefited from the harmonies of the two guitars by sounding more like the album version. (Roy commented that it was the best song of the evening up to that point and, as far as I know, didn’t revise his opinion.) Andy Gaines and Dom Smith then joined the pair for a welcome live debut (at least for me) of the brilliant Santiago, followed by another favourite of mine, Leaving Victoria. I have to say that I’m not sure whether the occasional sounds coming from Dom’s keyboard or Andy’s slide guitar (?) added anything to the songs, but I’m never going to complain about hearing them live. Everybody Loves You More When You’re Down On Your Knees (dedicated to “the prick currently running the country”) was another new song to me and included Vin North on harmonica, then Andy returned to the stage for the more upbeat Sha La La, a song which is at least partly about the demise of Cardboard Radio. Much was made tonight (albeit somewhat less than seriously) about the downbeat and, perhaps, depressive nature of GT’s songs. Admittedly, about half of tonight’s set was somewhat less than upbeat but, to me anyway, even the downbeat ones aren’t necessarily depressive and while some may be about the sadder parts of a life lived, they do show that it is possible to come out the other side and, maybe also show the cathartic effect of writing. Whatever, the songs remain some of my favourites of recent years and the makeup of tonight’s set, with its mix of new and old, regular and rarely heard provided a freshness to an artist that I never tire of seeing perform.

Another band that I never tire of seeing are Hope&Social who, even while recently performing more or less the same songs (new ones are just around the corner with the promise of a third album to be released in May) maintain a freshness and originality with their humour and what can only be described as on-stage antics. Opening the set with Living A Lie, with the audience joining in the frantic clapping opening, Simon seemed to forget that he, usually, performed a middle section on the keyboards, turning to stare at the brass section before exclaiming, “Do I do this bit?” Staged? Who knows. Bloody funny? Definitely! And that really set the tone for the rest of the evening. Pitching Far Too High was followed by a reminiscence of Simon hitting one audience member in a rather private area with a soup ladle (something which resonated with me given how close I was sitting to the business end of Rosie’s trombone…) A superbly extended version of Sunlight Hold Me included such delights of Rich seemingly trying to play guitar while cavorting around like somebody seen under a strobe light, Ed playing the keyboard with his palms and Simon managing to somehow prevent his microphone falling over without actually handling it. Compared to the set so far, Ripples Rock My Boat was performed uneventfully, which is not to say not brilliantly (if you see what I mean), although it might have been during it that a shout of “Zumba” (apparently “really good” in South Yorkshire) from the audience totally confused Simon. Normal service was soon resumed though when, during Red Red Rose, Simon felt the urge to get the audience involved in a Mexican wave backwards and forwards across the room, with Rich adding the suggestion that, at one end, the audience shout “Zumba, zumba” while at the other they shouted “Ooo, ooo”. Not only did we all comply but, in true pantomime fashion it developed into a competition between the two halves of the room and was soon followed by more audience participation as Simon got everybody responding to chants along the lines of, “I say Zumba, you say Ooo ooo. I say Zumba, you say Ooo, ooo, I say Zumba, you say <insert audience shouting “Ooo, ooo” here>”. Believe me, it works better when you are there. There was more to follow as the now ubiquitous acoustic version of Looking For Answers had us joining in the backing vocals for the chorus without any prompting – it has always been as much a song from the audience as it is from the band. Rich and his banjo weren’t quite ready for the beginning of A Darkness Now Is Coming which, somehow, led to Simon singing the first verse of Bon Jovi’s Living On A Prayer when Rich did start playing, before eventually giving up and singing the correct song. Add to that Ed playing an impromptu solo on his broken amplifier, matching hilarious facial expression to sounds something akin to dolphins singing while Simon Goff practically collapsed in hysterics, and James playing the trumpet between his legs (and seemingly to experience some dizziness afterwards) and you have yet another unique performance of a familiar song. The set ended with Marching On Through before continuing (or ending again) with an inevitable encore which was the only song of the evening that none of my group recognised. I’ve said before that you don’t see a Hope&Social gig, you experience it. They seem to get better every time I see them and, inevitably, this was the best so far. Truth be told, I doubt I’ve done it justice. If you fancy trying out their music, both albums are available on the above link on a “pay what you want” basis. Alternatively, if you read this and know me, ask and I’ll copy them for you (the band actively encourage it). Both albums are very good but, to be honest, the best way to experience Hope&Social is to see them live.

2011 – A Personal Preview

Friday 25th February: With no plans to attend a gig this weekend (never fear, though, I have one planned for Monday…), I thought I would treat my faithful reader(s) to a preview of which albums I’m looking forward to so far this year, along with one or two that I hope will see the light of day sometime in 2011.

So, in no particular order, here are my “must buys” so far…

First up is Out Of An Ancient World, by Marc Atkinson’s Riversea. I’ve seen Marc play live a couple of times and have both his solo, acoustic albums, but this has all the hallmark’s of a big project. Ex-York resident (and biggest Dr Who fan… ever!) Marc will, once again, be playing acoustic guitar and has been joined by Brendan Eyre on keyboards, along with a whole host of guest’s (from the York area and further afield) to provide the rest of the music and backing vocals. I’ve heard just the one track, played live back in December and haven’t taken advantage of any of the preview clips available on MySpace or dotted around Facebook but, with the project billed as acoustic/progressive/rock, as well as with the amount of talent to be found in the project, there’s something about this album which is calling out to me, helped in no small part by the stunning cover by Ed Unitsky. Out Of An Ancient World was due to be released around Easter time, but I think that may have slipped slightly recently.

Marc is also involved in Sangreal, the second release from the new, third version of Mandalaband. This album sounds very much a concept piece, as were the first three, and tells the story of the Holy Grail as seen in the Romano-Spanish version – the history of the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper (as opposed to the King Arthur version). Marc seems to have upped his contribution from the last album, providing lead vocals for five or six of the fourteen tracks and backing vocals for others. The album also includes the last song Woolly Wolstenholme (Barclay James Harvest) recorded before his death last year. The previous album, BC – Ancestors, was one of my favourites of recent times and the newly re-mastered re-releases of the original 70s albums may sound a little dated now compared to the prog rock being released today but that doesn’t matter to me (after all, I’ve only just discovered Camel and Caravan…)

I like to think that I’ve been a fan of Chantel McGregor from the beginning of her career but I know that, although I first saw her live while she was still playing The Roman Bath, with no entry charge, she had been performing for quite some time. On a personal note, she was the first artist to put a link to this blog on her website, an act that I was honoured by. The pocket prodigy plays guitar like nobody else I have seen and now, after completing her degree, she has had the time to concentrate on writing her own music and has recently been recording her debut album which is due for release in April. Some of the new songs have already made it into her live set and sat comfortably with the Hendrix, Cream, Trower, Fleetwood Mac, Bonamassa, etc. covers that she was known for performing. With details of the recording being blogged on a daily basis, we are promised the likes of a “13 minute epic”, a “swampy, bluesy thang” and “progging it up a bit”. The only downside is that we won’t get Chantel’s rambling monologues, usually about dresses, take-away food or equipment malfunctions, between songs. (Unless she goes down the Seasick Steve route, of course…)  If you are a fan of the blues, this is one album you must look out for.

The first and, so far, only time I saw Haze play live was back in 2003, in the Bay Horse (now Stereo) in York and they were, therefore, my initiation into the world of live prog-rock. A magazine review of a more recent gig jogged my memory and alerted me to the fact that they were still around, if only sporadically. I had a brief email conversation/trip down memory lane with bass-player and vocalist Chris McMahon before buying a copy of a double live CD from their 30th anniversary tour, only to find that some of the songs had been lodged in the back of my brain for all those intervening years. Now performing more regularly  as Treebeard, a more folky, “heavy wood” ensemble, Chris recently decided to write a new Haze album, their first studio album since 1987’s Stoat And Bottle, although an album named Haze was released in 1994 by World Turtle (Chris and his brother Paul) and contained material that would have been on Haze’s third album. A new album so soon after I get in touch? Coincidence? Almost certainly, but I’m still looking forward to it.

As the year goes on, there are bound to be other releases that I look forward to as eagerly as the ones above, they are just the ones I know that are on the horizon. I also know that Hope & Social have started work on their third album, but that’s as much detail as I have at the moment.

If I could have a wish list, however, it would probably include the following (some of which may be in the pipeline already):

A second album from Boss Caine – it’s hard to imagine a better album than last year’s The Ship That Sailed but if main man GT Turbo can put together another mix of old and new and manage to include some of my favourites from his live sets, it might just be possible.

A debut from Stolen Earth – formed from the ashes of the recently disbanded Breathing Space and featuring the writers of the new songs we heard live during that band’s final gig back in December Stolen Earth are, arguably, the most exciting new band in York at the moment. I don’t know whether the band has enough output for an album yet, but they are trying to get on the bill for this Summer’s Cambridge Rock Festival and, I’m told, are aiming to put together some demo material to help promote the band.

A second album from Parade, or whatever they are going to call themselves to avoid confusion with the same-named pop band. New material is being written, but a release date (and new name) has yet to be announced.

A second release from blues-rockers 98Pages – they will almost certainly always be better to see live than listen to recorded but the new songs performed recently are part of a batch that have been written with an eye to either release a second album or a series of EPs. My vote goes to the album format.

There’s bound to be more. I’ve concentrated on smaller and, for the most part, local bands, most of whom I have seen perform and some of whom I have become friends with (if only through social networking). Bigger, more “established” bands that I like are bound to be working on new albums and, when they arrive, there is a very good chance that they will be added to my collection, but the ones I have listed are, in my opinion, bands that deserve supporting. I realise I’ve leaned somewhat in the direction of progressive rock but, given my tastes, that’s to be expected. I doubt that any of the albums will be inaccessible to general music fans, though. So, if you like music why not keep an eye out for one (or more) of the albums and try something a bit different?

Late Night Socialising

Wednesday 15th September: Time for a midweek outing to Stereo to see a couple of favourites...

...but first, it's Marbled, who I last saw supporting Fish at The Duchess. I freely admitted that I wasn't taking much notice that evening and my over-riding memory was of an angry tone (I'm fairly sure it wasn't directed at those of us who were chatting at the back, but you never know) to both his lyrics and his guitar playing. So, I was quite surprised to find that tonight's act was primarily of a much softer nature with a mixture of styles, including some clever finger-picking. The vocals were much more subtle than I remembered, with only his final song being what I would describe as "shouty". Licking Electricity was somewhere in the middle of the two extremes and was my favourite song of the set. He also came out into the crowd and played The Beat Goes On, a fully acoustic pop song about how rubbish music was in the 60's, when people just went to gigs to scream at the band. A pleasant start to the evening, if not completely to my tastes.

Next up was Gary Stewart, the only act on tonight's bill that I hadn't seen before. Or had I? He did look slightly familiar. I'm sure it will come back to me... Gary started off with In The Pines, a nice little bit of delicate guitar backed by a singing voice which, at least partly due to his Scottish accent, sounded a bit more folky than most acts we see. Jekyll And Hyde was a harder, foot stomping song, while Maggie Oh was a much faster piece. Three songs and we already knew that he had variety. Joined by Rich Huxley for the third song, we also saw a bit of humour and banter coming out as well. Rich also played on Take Me Down but then left the stage for Behind The Door which was, in my opinion, too repetitive. All the songs so far had come from Gary's debut album, Boy Cries Wolf, which was released just this week. His final song, which doesn't appear on the album (and whose title I missed) featured some much more powerful guitar-playing and echo-enhanced vocals. It was also my favourite song from the set.

(Addendum - I bought Boy Cries Wolf on the night and am happy to say that, with the vocals on Behind The Door being shared with Ellen Smith, of Ellen And The Escapades, the repetitiveness is diminished and it's a much better song.)

GT Turbo, tonight in his Boss Caine persona (or is it always that way? He has so many names, I get confused.) is another favourite of mine. The only problem I have is that his songs are so good and so easily imprinted on my memory that it can feel as though you are hearing the same set over and over, even when he varies it. So, it was with some pleasure that I heard him play a completely new (to me) song, Father Time, last time I saw him. Tonight it got even better with two more new songs. At least one of these, Devils On Dean Street if I heard correctly, will be on his second album (due any time now and not soon enough). Only one song, the lovely Sweet Sorrow Surrender, came from the debut album, while Dead Man's Suit and "She Laughs At All My Jokes" (not the real title, but if you've heard it, you'll know the song) are two of his staples. For the final song, "a cautionary tale about cocaine", he was joined by Tim Fox on harmonica, providing a nice symmetry to the set as the opener, the aforementioned Father Time, featured Vin North on the same instrument. This was another brilliant, if short, set from York's very own Boss.

Finally, though, it was the band that we'd all come along to see (no offence to the others...). But who is the little guy taking up position on the drum stool? Well, it's none other than Gary Stewart. No wonder he looked familiar - it was just the lack of blue blazer and drumsticks and the addition of a guitar which had prevented us from recognising Hope & Social's drummer. That explains why Rich knew so many of his songs. Now, by this time, we had moved forward quite considerably and, in fact, made up part of the front row of the audience. Because of that, I didn't use my mobile to take any notes - partly because it would have looked a bit rude and partly because I didn't want Simon to see me and think I was texting somebody. So, titles of songs played tonight are sadly missing from this review. I can, however, remember that there was a good mix of songs from both albums (Architects Of This Church and April - both available at whatever price you want to pay from the above link) with, perhaps, more from the first album than last time we saw them.

It has to be said that, tonight, the band were on fire, playing louder, heavier and faster than I ever remember them doing in the past. Rich was practically dancing across his effects pedals, while Ed seemed to use every extremity (and more than one elbow) to play his keyboards, barely sitting in his seat. Banter was thrown around the stage like their lives depended on it with any slight mistake (and there were a few) picked up and mercilessly exploited and any chance for p*ss-taking taken without hesitation. Once again, with a small stage, large band (although the brass section was down to just two tonight), number of instruments and the amount of bouncing and spinning going on, it's somewhat amazing that nobody got injured and that nothing got broken, such was the enthusiasm on show tonight. Sadly, there were no kazoos (I'd lost mine but two of the gang had brought theirs along) but we did get the audience singalong during the usual acoustic version of Looking For Answers, which is always nice to both hear and be a part of. Hope & Social are never disappointing and tonight was easily the best gig of theirs that I've been to. A thoroughly entertaining evening which, thankfully, went on well beyond the advertised finish time.

Socialising With Dead Comedians

Saturday 24th April: It's an old venue under a new name tonight. I'm fairly sure that the last time I saw a band in this room, the building was called The Bay Horse. I was still at school and was watching a band from Bradford called Haze. That was twenty-plus years ago. Now it's Stereo and we're here for a very similar line-up to that of a gig Roj and I attended last year.

The only difference is tonight's opener. Robert Loxley Hughes was the flamboyant frontman of Idle Jack And The Big Sleep who have, we found out tonight, split up. Tonight it was just him and his (well, somebody else's) guitar, some bad experiences and the resulting songs. Hughes seems to be a bit of a tortured soul who takes his experiences, chews them up and spits them out as lyrics. One song, very emotionally performed, was about an absent friend. Another was introduced as having its roots in a long story which boiled down to "very nasty lady" (tidied up for a family audience). The guitar playing varied from minimal to as close to thrash as you can probably get with an acoustic. The lyrics were mostly clear, except for a couple of times when the emotions got the better of Hughes, who has a strong voice. This was a very good performance bit it veered just too much towards angry for my liking. However, how many times are you going to go to a gig and hear a song with the word "hypothalamus" in the lyrics? The set was worth watching just for that - although, it has to be said that this was a David Ward Maclean song.

The last time we saw Dave Woodcock And The Dead Comedians, there was just the two of them performing (Dave himself and Chris Saunders on guitar) and both Roj and I commented that we would like to hear what the full band sounded like. Tonight we got that pleasure, as Chris Murphy (piano), Andrew Wood (drums) and Lee Bradley (bass) were all on stage. We were treated to songs from last year's album release, Omaha High Low, as well as new ones from a forthcoming album. Songs about gambling and love, drenched in alcohol and wreathed in cigarette smoke (metaphorically, obviously, this was in indoor gig...) The music is a sort of mix of rock and roll and country, with a lovely steel guitar sound and the couple of songs that I remembered from the last gig had, quite obviously, a fuller sound. It was an energetic performance, with Dave gesticulating and dancing round the limited stage area. Indeed, at one point, he actually took the microphone into the audience and ended up singing while on his back. In another "rare song" event, the band played one song about Dave's hometown - my guess is that there can't be many more songs about Rotherham than there are about the hypothalamus... Anyway, I'm happy to report that the full band is a whole lot more enjoyable than the cut down version we saw previously. So much so that I bought myself a copy of Omaha High Low.

Regular readers will know that I'm a big fan of GT Turbo (a.k.a Boss Caine) and tonight saw another solo performance of songs from the album The Ship That Sailed. GT wore his annoyance on his chest (and back), with a T-shirt proclaiming "Shut the f*ck up, the band are playing". Sadly the message didn't get across to all members of the audience and, even after moving away from the group doing their best to define themselves as "loud and annoying", we could still hear them over parts of the performance. GT's set was comprised of what I assume to be his current standards, including my favourite Leaving Victoria and close second (though not on the album), Smoking In My Back Yard. Like Hughes, GT's songs are based on his experiences, not all of which are good. Unlike Hughes, there is a lot less anger on show. I've mentioned before that his songs have an immediate effect on me and I was able to sing along (silently, for the most part) to most of them. There's not too much more I can add, except to say that, somehow, GT's voice, which is usually superb, seemed a lot stronger tonight. I'm assuming that was something to do with the acoustics or the mixing.

As good as the previous acts were, we were mainly here for one reason - Hope & Social's return to York. They are one of our favourite bands and are currently promoting their second album, April, which is available from the above link, using their usual "pay what you want/can afford" method. Honestly, try it - you can download it for free (if you really can't afford to pay anything), they are a totally inoffensive, very talented band and I can't think of any reason not to like them. What's the worst that can happen? Right, plug over.

Tonight, the band, with very new drummer "he doesn't know half the songs" Ian, and new bassist James Hamilton and a three piece brass section, all of them resplendent in the now obligatory blue blazers. The stage looked very crowded and I was beginning to fear for the safety of both the audience and band members given how little space there was for both the trombone and Simon's guitar-playing. Thankfully, by the end of the night, there were no injuries and the brass section quickly mastered getting off and on stage quickly.

You don't see Hope & Social perform, you immerse yourselves in the performance. Whether it's singing the chorus to Red Red Rose, laughing at Rich and Simon's jokes and antics, performing the backing to Looking For Answers, engaging in banter or (and this is a new one to me) being part of the kazoo orchestra, you are a part of the gig. Tonight was no exception. As well as songs from the new album, we heard some from Architects Of This Church, including a proper acoustic version of Looking For Answers which seemed to be brought forward in the set to give Rich some time to sort out his pedal problems. As usual, some of the songs as performed live are quite a bit different than as recorded, with some very heavy extended musical sections, but they work just as well in both versions. The added brass also provided a new dimension to some of the songs, especially when they remembered to play... I don't think it's possible to see a bad gig from Hope & Social, but I do know that tonight's was the best I've seen so far.

Bands In The Basement

Tuesday 27th October: Tonight it's a first trip to the Basement Bar for me, to see my current favourite "local" live band. As it's name suggests, the bar is in the basement of York's City Screen cinema. It's a strange set-up, with the stage area being almost as big as the audience area. The are a few tables, lit with candles (very intimate), including one which is almost on the stage itself, an impression only heightened by the fact that you have to go around or over the barrier separating stage from audience to get to it. Roj and I, both getting somewhat used to going out during the week, positioned ourselves at a corner table and settled down for the evening's entertainment, with me for one hoping that the hour's delay in opening the doors didn't mean that I had to rush off to catch the last bus home.

First up were two fifths of Sheffield band Dave Woodcock and the Dead Comedians, namely Dave himself on guitar and vocals and Chris Saunders on guitar. They are playing a series of gigs to promote Omaha High Low, their album due to be released in November. Dave sings with an almost growl, painting pictures with his lyrics and producing songs which could be the North England equivalent of Springsteen's quieter, more parochial output. Highlight for me was City Lights (which is lucky as it is also the only song title I can remember...) Chris's backing guitar almost gave the impression that he was ad-libbing as, at times, the two sounds didn't quite seem to match up, but they always worked. An enjoyable, if not standout, set and it would be interesting to hear the full band line-up.

Next on the bill was Boss Caine or, more accurately, GT Turbo, from York. (Confused? The explanation is on the linked MySpace page.) Categorised as Americana, Country and Blues, this is a singer/guitarist with a rich, deep, mellow voice and songs about hard drinking and drugs. Again, like the first act, his songs evoke images of Northern life - Smoking In My Backyard was a standout for me. Other songs tonight included Lady Macbeth, Sweet Sorry Surrender and a cover of Has Anybody Here Seen Hank (originally by The Waterboys). This is the first time I've caught this act but, hopefully, it won't be the last.

Finally, the band we had turned up to see - a cold-ridden, Leeds-based Hope & Social. I have waxed lyrical about H&S's album, Architects Of This Church, before and still urge anybody who hasn't bought it to do so. Tonight's set was comprised mostly of songs from that album, although there was one that I didn't recognise. Although they didn't perform the full album, the songs were proper live (by which I mean extended) versions, including one which was preceded by the strains of Prefab Sprout's When Love Breaks Down. There wasn't a duff song in the set but the instrumental ending to Sunlight Hold Me was incredible. Along with the welcome return of comedy interludes (I'm never sure whether these are rehearsed or ad-libbed), audience participation is encouraged at H&S gigs and tonight we sang along with gusto to the chorus of Red Red Rose and (without encouragement) joined in impeccably with the "whoa whoa" section of Looking For Answers (performed acoustically by Simon on guitar and vocals and Rich on backing vocals, as the performance had gone on longer than they were allowed to use the PA system.) For a band whose various members were either dosing themselves with Strepsils or in imminent danger of having to rush off stage (you really don't want to know...), this was another superb performance, retrospectively tinged with a little sadness when I found out that it was bass-player Jason's penultimate gig with the band.

For anybody interested, I didn't miss the last bus, but I did have to run further than I currently find comfortable in order to catch it!

Musical Purchases

Thursday 17th September: What's this? A mid-week posting? Yes, I have realised that I've been a bit lax in blogging this year. Unless I've been to a gig, I've not had much to say and little time to say it in. So, I thought I would share my thoughts on some recent CD purchases. For the most part, these won't be reviews (partly because I haven't actually listened to some of them yet) but a bit of a ramble around my reasons for buying. So, in no particular order...

First up is Architect Of This Church, first release by Hope & Social (although they have released albums under their previous name of Four Day Hombre). If you want it to be, this could be bargain of the year - the album is available for download for just 1p or as a physical CD for just £2.95 from here. You can pay more if you feel so inclined and, as these guys are one of my favourite and one of the most entertaining live acts around, I decided to pay £5 for the CD. Most of the songs are familiar from recent live shows and, therefore, the album was almost instantly accessible to me. The opening track, Living A Lie, does sound a bit like a cross between Coldplay and the Kaiser Chiefs and I think I have referred to the overall Coldplay similarities when reviewing H&S gigs but that isn't to say that they don't have their own identity. This is a cracking album, recorded in the crypt of a church and highlights include King Of Spain, San Francisco, Looking For Answers and the sing-along song from live performances, this time performed with a full choir (the title escapes me...) These guys are brilliant performers and really deserve supporting. Go on, click the link above and buy the album - for those prices, you really can't lose.

Next up is Porcupine Tree's latest offering, The Incident. This was a bit of a shot in the dark for me but, potentially, another bargain. I generally say that prog rock is my favourite genre of music but I have recently come to realise that I'm basing that statement on a very narrow knowledge of both the music and what bands actually perform it. The Prog specials put out by Classic Rock magazine are opening my eyes to a whole slew of new (and old) bands and this is one of them.

As the opening (and title) track of this album ended up at fifty-five minutes in length, the album itself ended up as a double CD and, with a handy little pre-order code, I managed to get it for just £6.95. It arrived just yesterday and I have had a chance to half-listen to the first CD. It's probably my preconceptions but I have to say that it's not what immediately springs to mind when I think of prog, although that may be that my ideas are still mired in the past Golden Age of the genre. On first pass, this album sounds like a cross between the prog metal musical offerings of the likes of Dream Theater (although I've only heard one track by them) and the vocals of lighter prog. It's almost as thought Steve Wilson's vocals are too light for the music, but it seems to work. This one needs listening to properly and when I get the chance I suspect it will be a grower.

Bruce Springsteen is another of my favourite live acts, but from a different era - when I still bothered to see big bands in stadium concerts. Working On A Dream is his latest studio album, released with very little fanfare, early this year and, in past times, would have been an instant purchase for me. However, I haven't been that impressed with his recent albums as they seem, to me, to lack the punch of his mid-80's to early-90's albums. Consequently, I waited until I could pick this one up cheaply. Today it was in one of HMV's 2 for £10 offers. I've not heard any of this one yet and, being honest, I'm not sure I'm that excited about it. Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells is, almost certainly, his most famous album and now over thirty-five years old. This is the 2000 remastered release. I've been aware of this album since I was at school and, while I know I have heard bits of it, I don't think I've ever heard it all the way through. Again, though, it has been covered in the Classic Rock Prog specials and is probably one of those albums that should be in most (if not all) collections. Being in the 2 for £10 offer gave me the perfect excuse to add it to mine and I am looking forward to hearing this one.

Somehow, Thunder have completely bypassed me - despite being British, playing heavy metal/rock and being around for about twenty years (although just disbanded). I have, however, seen their drummer, Gary "Harry" James perform live with Breathing Space at the Night For Heroes gig and fellow blogger and gigger (bligger?) Roj raves about them having brought his daughters up on a semi-strict diet of their music. (Apparently there were tears after the disbanding announcement. His daughters were a bit upset as well...) Anyway, still in HMV's offers section, I could pass on an opportunity to purchase The Very Best Of Thunder, a 3CD set of hits, B-sides, classic album tracks and live favourites. I'm guessing I'm going to like this one.

Queen were always one of my favourite groups. There's no denying that Freddie Mercury had a fantastic voice and that Queen as a whole produced some of the best and most varied music out there. I was lucky enough to be offered tickets for what turned out to be their final tour and the Wembley gig was my first experience with stadium gigs.

I've not heard any of the material that "Queen" (Brian May and Roger Taylor) released with Paul Rodgers but I heard good things about the live shows. The Cosmos Rocks will probably end up being the last album to feature new music by "Queen" and I can't help think that I'm going to be at least a bit disappointed when I listen to it. But, being a bit of a completist (although most of my Queen material stuff is on vinyl and I don't have a record player...) and at just £3 I'm willing to take that risk.

Finally, and the soundtrack to this posting, comes The Last Waltz by The Band, and another confession that I'm a bit musically ignorant.

We used to see a band called Hazzard County a lot. They were a blues/rock/country covers band and experts Roj and Andy used to play "spot the original artists" whenever we saw them play. They used to perform a few songs by The Band, all of which I liked and I kept thinking that I should add some of their stuff to my collection. However, every time I saw a CD I put it back as I couldn't see Bob Dylan in the line-up and assumed it was another band called, errm, The Band. Today, I picked up this CD saw that one of the tracks was Up On Crickle Creek - one of my favourites from Hazzard gigs - so I bought it. On closer inspection, and with guidance from another fan at work, I finally realised that Dylan wasn't actually a full member...

The Last Waltz was a live performance by The Band in 1976 and was billed as the end of their touring career. Filmed by Martin Scorcese (oh great, something else I've go to track down...) it is seen as one of the best concert films and features guest appearances from just about everybody who was anybody at that time - Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison and many more (including Dylan).

The second CD is just about halfway through as I type this and, it turns out, Up At Crickle Creek is the only song I have recognised from the Hazzard gigs. There are other songs I recognise, including a version of Who Do You Love and the whole thing is superb.

So there you go, a run-down of my some recent purchases. A fairly eclectic mix, I think you'll agree.

A Favourite Live Act and A New Discovery

Friday 19th September: One of the things that I like about going out with the group (apart from standing outside chatting and laughing as the evening winds its inexorable way towards morning) is the opportunity to see new bands. Before I started tagging along I thought I had a wide ranging taste in music but, it turns out that, while I owned lots of CDs, the range wasn't as wide as I thought. Over the past couple of years, I have heard many new bands - most small, most local, many good and some great (and, being honest, some not so good) - and found some that I'd willingly pay money to see again and again. I'll come to one of them later...

First up at the Duchess tonight, however, were the Blue Jupiters. Now, I don't listen to enough so-called "indie" music to know one style from another but some of the songs in this set seemed a little paradoxical to me - fast-paced guitars almost covering the lyrics, combined with much more complex playing during the instrumental sections. While there wasn't a great deal wrong, the songs started to feel a bit samey to me. That is until they were joined on stage by a keyboard player and started slowing things down, at which point the enjoyment went up a notch. Not bad overall but I preferred the second half of the set.

Next up were Dorien Starre, another band visiting from Leeds, although they seem to be playing York fairly regularly. It's strange that, when the band contains a rhythm guitar as well as a lead, that fast-paced style of playing sounds, to me, to be so much better. I have to say that I enjoyed this band more than the Blue Jupiters, even though they seemed to lose their way a little bit towards the end of the set - at one point lead-singer Leo seemed about to continue singing before realising that the song had ended. They redeemed themselves with a final song which I thought was superb. (If only I could remember the title...) A special mention must be given to Andrew Ackroyd who produced some of the most energetic and inventive drumming I have seen in a long time.

Which leads us to the main act - Hope & Social. This is the third time I have seen them (one in their previous guise as Four Day Hombre) and I was a little surprised by the smallish crowd that had turned out tonight. Maybe it's just that the Duchess is bigger than Fibbers and the crowd just looked smaller than usual. Anyway, it starts to become harder to write gig reviews for a band the more that you see them. I've already written about their style of music, audience interaction, general attitude of fun and even some of the songs. The guys are getting towards releasing a new album so tonight's set consisted mainly of songs we had heard before - not that that makes them dull. There is something about Hope & Social that makes them sound fresh every time. Maybe it's the general feeling that they are having such a good time playing on stage, maybe it's the spontaneity of their replies to good-natured heckling from the audience. Even the latest new drummer seemed to be having fun and fit in with the rest of the guys. This really is a top band that deserves wider exposure.

To round off the evening, we headed to our usual haunt of the Roman Bath, where Go Commando were playing covers of well-known rock songs. We caught the last few and, it's fair to say, it was a good job that there was even more audience participation going on. Apart from a pretty good version of Van Halen's Jump, the bits of the act we caught were OK, but nothing special. Most people seemed to be having fun, though.

Finally, mention of a another band that I've only just discovered. While browsing the Breathing Space website, I noticed that they were being supported at a few future gigs by Quecia (pronounced cue-see-a). Out of curiosity I checked their website and found that they had been formed in 2001, were voted best new band by Powerplay magazine in 2002 and had released two albums - This Is Where We Are (2002) and the imaginatively titled Quecia II (2004). Both are available to buy from the website or www.cdbaby.com, where you can also get both albums as MP3 downloads for the bargain price of $5 each. Given the sort of bands that Quecia are supporting - Breathing Space and Panic Room to name just two - I decided to take the plunge and downloaded both.

Unsurprisingly, this is female fronted melodic rock of high quality. There is, for me, an almost tangible thrill in coming across new bands who produce music that I like. A fair few of the bands I have come across recently have links of one form or another to Mostly Autumn and Quecia are no exception and they are just as good as any of the others. I'm not going to review the albums here as I haven't had a chance to listen to both of them properly yet. What I have heard, though, is very enjoyable.

Apparently Quecia played Fibbers a few years ago and one member says that they would love to play in York again. I, for one, would definitely be in line for a ticket. A third album is being recorded now.

Hoping for a good night out

Friday 6th April: ...and my first musical night out for nearly a month sees us on a visit to Fibbers to see a well-liked band and encounter some new pleasures.

First up was Dan Torres (or on MySpace). Dan is an indie/alt rock (these days, who isn't?) singer/songwriter from New York and was appearing with percussionist Ryan Vaughn, also from New York, who sat on and played what seemed to be a plywood box (along with a single cymbal and an array of other instruments laid out in front of him). His semi-manic style was a complete contrast to Dan's easy-going one and the latter treated us to an excellent acoustic set. With a voice which was vaguely reminiscent of Coldplay's Chris Martin, a good rapport with an admittedly small audience and some terrific vocals during a selection of songs just different from each other to be interesting, this was a very good start to the evening.

Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, we actually turned up halfway through this set. However, what we did see impressed me enough to spend money on Dan's 2006 album, Where I Stand. So far, I've only had a chance to listen to it once (and not very closely) but it is very different from his live act, being recorded with a full band - Dan tells me that coming across from New York wasn't easy with just one extra musician... Hopefully, I will post a full review soon.

Tonight's second act was The Hair, from York. This four-piece played their instruments hard and surprisingly well for such a young band. If I had one criticism it would be that they really need a lyricist. While the vocals were good and the songs catchy, the lyrics were a tad too repetitive for me - along the lines of too little verse and too much chorus. The band had an excellent stage-presence, however, and seemed to enjoy their set, not looking the least bit nervous. Extra points were gained by lead-singer Sam Robson's embarrassing-under-any-other-circumstances Dad-dancing and the use of a skateboard as a shelf above Neil Clark's keyboards.

To say that The Hair were my least favourite act of the night just shows the quality of the other two. I even contemplated a second trip to the merchandise desk until I found out that the CD on sale was just a single.

Finally, the band we had paid our money to see, sort of...

Four Day Hombre have changed their name to Hope&Social, to mark the release of some new material. Being honest, I don't see the point but, then, I'm not part of the band and I don't have a lot of history with them. Part of the reason they give is that their music has a new feel and a new way of playing. Being honest, I was surprised the first time I saw them that they sounded so different live to how they sounded recorded and, from this gig, the new stuff didn't seem too much different to the old stuff. There wasn't much of a new look, either, with Simon Wainwright wearing the same style of cowboy shirt and Rich Huxley wearing, I think, the same shirt as the last time I saw them.

They are still a very polished band who, on the basis of the two gigs I have seen, deserve to be playing bigger and better venues than Fibbers. (With an upcoming gig at York's soon to be opened Duchess, the bigger will definitely be covered. Better is looking good but remains to be proved.) They obviously enjoy playing together, peppering their set with a good dose of humour both between themselves and as banter with the audience (this time culminating with somebody, who shall remain nameless, shouting abuse at Simon after he dissed Leeds United). I don't think I've ever laughed so much at a gig as I have done the two times I have seen this lot.

Tonight the music was little short of brilliant, with special mention to Heaven Falls and Daylight Came, two tracks from the new EP which sounded absolutely stunning live.

To sum up, tonight was an absolutely top-class evening, much better than recent visits to Fibbers and head-and-shoulders above the array of cover bands that we have seen recently.