Now I must start this review with a bit of a confession early doors RHCP were one of my favourite bands, I’m talking freaky style, Mothers Milk, even into Blood sugar sex magic, where cracks started to appear, the latter-day LP’s, to be honest, I could take or leave.
Looking back the last time I saw the RHCP was around 20 years ago with James Brown as support, it was in that period when John Frushanti had just re-joined (he’s left and re-joined again since then) truth be told (again) the LP they were touring at that point Stadium Arcadium was probably the worse LP they would record, but live in Hyde park at that gig, when they turned up the heat all the funk, power and intensity was still there.
So again, this time I really did not know how they were going to come across, and what didn’t lighten the mood was this gig was right in the middle of the train strikes (I have no problem with the strikes and stand fully behind what the Union are trying to do). However, the actual infra-structure around the stadium was pretty piss poor as was the cashless systems and the Queues for everything owing to the terminals taking forever and a day to connect.
But hey-Ho, let’s get on to the music I missed Thundercat (stood in a queue) so your guess is as good as mine, and the gig took off for me with Anderson Paak and the free nationals, and what a feast of funk to start things off!! Hinting at Sly Stone but pushing Primetime Prince and the revolution to the max, they were great and apparently the crowd knew a lot more than me about them with the response and sing-a-longs to some tracks, even including a blinding version led by the two female backing singers of Nasty girl (If you’re a funk fan, you’ll know it) a great start to the day. Now my daughter with me today has grown up with the Chilli Peppers she was 5 when we attended the Hyde park gig and has followed the RHCP religiously, the band hold a lot of joint-memories for both of us.
Kicking off with a jammed intro the sound has moved up, as usual, a whole gear, before they kick in with Can’t Stop, then into Dani California and you couldn’t help but smile and get dragged in to the event, the first of the ballads Scar tissue prompted the mass singalong that could be expected, and the track that took my breath away in the early part of the set Snow from that afore-mentioned worse LP (oops), Then for me the highlight of the set, back to the old school RHCP, with Nobody Weird like me from Mothers milk and in fairness from that point the band were bang in the groove hitting hard with Californication, Black summer and from Blood Sugar sex magic Give it away, Then we move straight into the encore to the rarely played nowadays Under the Bridge and By the Way.
Are the Chilli Peppers still the band I fell in love with in their early days? Absolutely not, can they still kick Ass? Absolutely!!! Let’s hope that there’s an anniversary for ‘Mothers Milk’ due and they play the LP in its entirety (I can only dream)
East meets West as Vancouver’s Rebel Priest and Toronto’s Deadwolff are joining forces for “The Rebel Wolff Tour” from June 24th to July 2nd across British Columbia and Alberta. The tour will kick off in Vancouver, BC on June 24th, which will not only be the first date of the seven-show trek, but also the release date of Rebel Priest‘s new EP “Lesson In Love”.
Tommy Wolffe of Deadwolff adds:
“Here we go! We’re fresh off the road from our east coast tour and couldn’t be more excited to be hittin’ west coast Canada with our good buddy’s Rebel Priest! We’ve got a loud time of a tour lined up, so get ready to Double up with The Rebel Wolff Tour!
Jayme Black of Rebel Priest adds:
“More than stoked to hit the road with our East coast rock n roll family! Gonna be a greasy road trip fueled on octane and blood! Get ready western Canada! If you want blood!? YOU GOT IT!”
The Rebel Wolff Tour w/ Rebel Priest and Dead Wolff June 24 – Vancouver, BC – Have A Good Laugh Festival. *Afternoon show – Deadwolff only June 24 – Vancouver, BC – Lana Lous June 27 – Maple Ridge, BC – The Wolf Bar June 28 – Kamloops, BC – Pogue Mahones June 29 – Kelowna, BC – Missions Tap House June 30 – Lethbridge, AB – Theoretically Brewing July 1 – Calgary, AB – The Palamino July 2 – Edmonton, AB – Starlite Temple
Rebel Priest New EP “Lesson In Love” Out June 24th
Deadwolff’s Self-Titled EP (Metal Assault Records/ Boonsdale Records) Out Now!
Killing Joke are proud to announce ‘Killing Joke – Follow The Leaders’, a very special UK show at the Royal Albert Hall on March 12th, 2023. Killing Joke will be performing their first two albums in their entirety; 1980’s self-titled debut album followed by their second album “What’s This For…!” “We are living in the most dangerous period in human history in which extinction from nuclear war could happen in the next twelve months. If we make it, then Killing Joke at the Albert Hall in 2023 will give great meaning and comfort to all of us. Come share a moment in history with the prophetic and legendary Killing Joke.” Dr. Jaz Coleman.
Tickets for “Killing Joke – Follow The Leaders” at the Royal Albert Hall go on sale on Friday 1st July via:- myticket.co.uk/artists/killing-joke
Killing Joke are currently working on a new album, following the release of ‘Lord Of Chaos’ EP via Spinefarm Records, their first new material in over seven years.
Killing Joke is very much music as ritual – raw, uncompromising and precisely-targeted lyrically; proof that Jaz Coleman, Geordie, Youth & Big Paul, the original Killing Joke personnel, are currently delivering the best and most relevant material of their career, with no mellowing or softening of the edges getting in the way. With collective nostrils flared and righteous anger carried torch-high, Killing Joke continues to take their music of resistance to fresh levels, both in the studio and out on the road. Follow the leaders……………..
It’s got to be close to two and a half years since many of us originally purchased tickets for tonight’s show. Such are the unprecedented circumstances that tonight’s headliner is now touring a completely different album to the one we would have seen him touring originally, but such is the sense of joy that surrounds us all tonight that this is all finally happening I bet Jesse could have played a set of countrified acoustic Clash covers (more of which later) and no one would have batted an eyelid.
Tonight’s line up is indeed an all-acoustic affair, and I’ve never seen the Le Pub stage look quite so barren, resembling something more akin to the set up for a stand-up comedy show than a rock show. But rock it most certainly does (there’s an obvious Val Doonican gag right there but tonight I’m bigger than it), especially when we have local lad James Mattock opening up proceedings. James, you may or may not know, has been in bands such as White Trash, The Computers and Sharks and is currently fronting post punk outfit The Violent Hearts. So, to see James sans band (and normally a quite raucous one at that) is something of a unique situation indeed, however as soon as he opens his mouth any initial concerns I may have had about him maybe not connecting with an audience here largely to enjoy music with (shall we say) a more American bent, are promptly put to bed.
Yes, the largely all new set of songs are pretty much unknown to both myself and the audience, but that doesn’t stop James from receiving very healthy applause for his repertoire, which subject matter wise ranged from songs specifically designed for the lovers in the audience through to his rather obvious (and quite understandable) loathing of Tory politicians, something which manifests itself in the shape of the glorious gothic loop pedal driven tirade that is ‘The Lure’. There are times during James’ relatively short set when I can still clearly hear the underlying punk influence, but this is all topped off with a pop sensibility that actually has me thinking of Dog Man Star’ era Suede, especially during the sombre ‘Anything But Evil’.
Apparently, the songs aired tonight are going to be forming the base for the next Violent Hearts album, which on the strength of this performance promises to be a very interesting proposition indeed.
Having already received a rave review on these hallowed pages from brother Ben Hughes I have to admit that the prospect of seeing a singer/songwriter probably more at home in the surroundings of the Grand Ole Opry than CBGB doesn’t exactly fill me with excitement, but then as I’ve never seen Kelley Swindall live before I’ve never experienced the absolute joy her music can bring to an evening. Straight out of NYC but born and raised in the American south Kelley’s live show is (structure-wise at least) not unlike tonight’s headliner, in so much as its not just about the songs, but the story behind those songs, so forgive me if I almost choke on my beverage when set opener ‘Alight Alright’ has Kelley quoting Milton and talking about life’s many paradigms. I mean this is Le Pub right? All joking aside, this balls out approach immediately has me won over, even before a note is honked on the spit ruined first harmonica of the night. The storytelling brings a real punk rock spirit to the likes of ‘Spring Street Dive’ whilst during ‘Refuse to Be Blue’ Kelley clearly wears her Georgia-born heart on her sleeve, sounding not unlike a modern-day Patsy Cline.
There’s a point during ‘You Can Call Me Darlin’ If You Want’ where you could hear a pin drop, such is the power of Kelley’s performance (and I must give credit to tonight’s audience who were in the very best of order for all three acts) and what better way to end a show than by celebrating the fact we are all, whether we like it or not, going to die. Kelley Swindall made many new friends here tonight, myself included and I’m sure she’ll make many more as her UK tour extends through to the middle of July.
Author: Johnny ‘Honky Tonk’ Hayward
Jesse Malin is a performer that can do this live business anyway, anywhere, anyhow. Be it rockin out with a band or with his buddy Derek Cruz on keys and guitar or all on his lonesome. I’ve seen him do all permutations and in all sorts of venues from intimate clubs like tonight or in a field at Hyde Park or in bigger venues and he never gives less than 100% with varied sets of deep cuts and crowd-pleasers Jesse is an awesome performer with a heart as big as Manhatten and it beats out the rhythm any pace he wants.
Tonight is the opening night of his tour that takes in Glastonbury and with himself and Derek Cruz taking to the stage at 9.15 prompt Jesse was one of the first Americans to fly the nest post covid and along with his band turned in the finest live performance of 2021 bar none. Tonight whilst it was stripped back to the duet it was nonetheless powerful as he flew through his repertoire of solo records dipping in with stories that both made us laugh and with his tributer to the recently departed legend that was Howie Pyro before dedicating ‘Broken Radio’ to our fallen brother. His introduction was heartfelt, sincere and truly emotional and it was an inspired choice to dedicate to Howie. RIP.
The evening kicked off in style with ‘Hotel Columbia’ followed by a chilling rendition of ‘Cigarettes And Violets’ and you could hear a pin drop from the packed-out audience who to be fair were a refreshing School night crowd who were respectful for Malin & Cruz and there was pretty much no chatter and very little mobile phone distractions just people taking snaps which is cool. the pair cooked up a rousing rendition of the Pogues classic ‘Fall From Grace With God’ before dipping in to the pre covid album ‘Sunset Kids’ and the beautiful ‘Room 13’. The pair were locked in and creating some majestic sounds between them as the first of the Covid ‘Sad And Beautiful’ record as ‘Crawling Back To You’ was aired as Malin said the last time he saw Tom Petty was days before he passed away it was his last ever performance. The stories were coming thick and fast and really added weight to the songs before they were played. ‘Turn Up The Mains’ rocked and Rolled even without the electric band kicking it out of the speakers.
Jesse then aired a golden oldie in the shape of ‘Wendy’ from the superb debut. Malin also alluded to a rerelease of the debut with bonus tracks etc even though One Little Indian re-issued this as a double album in 2016 I’ll happily take it with new fresh ears on some of his finest post D Generation tunes. It was then Malin told us about his time spent with Howie Pyro and his emotional recollections of their time spent in NYC and JEsses feelings when he found out he passed whilst Jesse was touring Europe. It added weight to the evening and some extra depth to an already awesome song in ‘Broken Radio’ the single that featured Springsteen which also came with a pretty humorous tale about its release.
‘She Don’t Love Me Now’ was a song I always thought was when Malin really hit the Strummer vein in feel more than anything else maybe as he was writing it Strummer tuned in his antenna from his celestial Ghetto Box and sent PMA over the ether. With time ticking on and Cruz moving from piano to guitar adding different flavours to the sweet music we were getting ‘The Year I was Born’ sounded beautiful and countrified. It was easy to get lost in the music tonight another of those “Special” Jesse Malin nights its becoming a thing.
I absolutely love his last studio album and tonight ‘State Of The Art’ never sounded so damn good and it was weird that there were only two of them on stage and no rhythm section kicking this one down the line. We had a fake end of the set before the fake encore where we’re treated to a bit of acoustic boogie as ‘Meet Me At The End Of The World’ made way for a rather splendid rendition of the Mick Jones classic ‘Stay Free’ before leaving us with ‘Solitare’ that was played to an epic respectful silence, spellbinding stuff.
These are weird times kids but it’s fantastic that we still have regular visits from artists as talented as this, who roll into town, do their thing sprinkle a bit of Rock n Roll magic, kick out the jams then get the hell out of dodge but, promise to return with a band in tow and play the whole of the debut album. Bring it on I say and I’m already counting down the days. It’ll be another emotional evening and 100% entertaining and 100% PMA paid on til the next time. Brilliant stuff, I love live music I do.
Following on from the success of last year’s “I’m A Believer” CD single, which reached the Top 10 of the UK Heritage Chart, Finnish label Woimasointu will release a new double “A” side 7 inch vinyl single from The Boys on Friday 8 July 2022.
The single will come in three different versions including two Special Limited Editions.
Version One: “SHE’S THE REASON” c/w “(There Ain’t No) Just One Beer” & “I’m A Believer”. Green vinyl with free Boys sew on patch and new picture sleeve, individually numbered 1-100.
Version Two: “I’M A BELIEVER” c/w “She’s The Reason” & “(There Ain’t No) Just One Beer”.Blue vinyl individually numbered 1-100.
Version Three: “I’M A BELIEVER” c/w “She’s The Reason” & “(There Ain’t No) Just One Beer”.Regular black vinyl issue.
Copies of all three versions of the single are currently available to order in advance from Woimasointu Records by emailing Hannu at info@woimasointu.com
*To promote “She’s The Reason” a new promo video of the single has been recorded, featuring The Boys legendary rhythm guitarist/vocalist Honest John Plain. The video is due to be released on 18 July.*
*The Boys will be performing electric & acoustic sets at Rebellion 2022 – They will also be interviewed on the Literary Stage at 7.50pm on Thursday 4 August*
“And now the end is near and so we face the final curtain”… or something like that. After completing the A-Z and then having a bazillion compilation albums come out, Two A-Z complete CD box sets, singles comps, live comps, covers Albums, 10” reissues. It’s certainly been a fantastic time to be a UK Subs fan (Even if it’s been heavy on the bank balance) we’ve arrived at the point where I believe the band has said time is being called on their recording career. Live shows are coming thick and fast and showing no sign of relenting.
If this is indeed to be the final record under the UK Subs monicker for Charlie and the boys then it’s fair to say they are going out in style and leaving us with a piece of work that stands tall next to their very best album and I sincerely mean that because ‘Reverse Engineering’ is an absolute fucking belter.
Charlie sounds better than he has for 20 years (the covid downtime must have helped his voice recover from all those hundreds of shows he didn’t have to sing at and if Alvin was paid by the note he’d be a millionaire. The songwriting is shared out and Straughan steps up and delivers one of my favourite Subs songs for many a year in ‘C60 Audio’ but more of that laters. The middle section of this album is some of the best Subs writing for years with the thumping ‘Hoist The Sail’ with its raw guitar intro and gang vocals as Admiral Harper rallies the shipmates for a battering ram of a verse that hacks and slashes towards the solo. Great stuff. It’s only the starter for the upbeat ‘Kill Me’ I know you wouldn’t think it by the title or the lyrics but the tempo and playing are excellent. It’s one of those happy-go-lucky Subs tracks. ‘Political Amo’ is an Oliver penned track that rushes out the blocks. As you’d imagine it’s a sprightly number with a modern feel to it with a strong melody.
There are a pair of Alvin-sung songs next with a smoldering ‘Slavery’ hitting you like a HGV. If you’re not familiar with Alvin’s style of songwriting now then let’s just say this one is uncompromising and full of big groove as the rhythm is rock solid and Alvin’s vocal is similar to his former employer Mr Pop and if this was to appear as a new Iggy single people would go nuts about it, the reality is, it’s laid to rest at the thick end of a UK Subs album that’s how good this record is.
The UK Subs aren’t signing out quietly with a whimper as ‘Statement’ testifies. They’re out of the trench and taking it to the enemy leading the charge, galloping along with this as the soundtrack again with some mighty fine musicianship with the guitar right up in the mix hacking and slashing away like a maniac – exciting stuff!
It’s not all galloping charging about mind. The intro for ‘The Night Holds The Key’ is low-key and restrained but it’s short-lived. The vocals leading to the chorus are superb and another classic Subs song unfolds. The record signs off with a real thumper written by Charlie. ‘Waiting For Godot’ with a cool verse-chorus set up where the band joins on the title repeat. its a more measured tempo that’s a fantastic way to wrap this album up. Go out with a track every bit as strong as the opener ‘Bad Acid’ that shows the UK Subs are still one of the very best the UK has to offer on studio recordings. They came out swinging over 40 years ago and sign off an incredible catalogue of records with ‘Reverse Engineering’ every bit as vital as at any period of their illustrious career. Trust me when I say ‘Reverse Engineering’ is an essential purchase. Get your mitts on a copy by any means necessary. Superb stuff just Buy it!
Buy Here or for those in the UK Time and Matter have limited copies Here
UP THE BRACKET 20th ANNIVERSARY 2LP, 2CD, DIGITAL & BOX SET(featuring 65 previously unreleased recordings)RELEASED OCTOBER 21ST 2022LIVE SHOWSManchester / London / Bristol / Cardiff / Edinburgh+ 4 UK Festivals
To celebrate the release of their astonishing debut album, Up The Bracket, The Libertines are releasing a 20th Anniversary Edition on multiple formats, through Rough Trade, on October 21st 2022.
In addition to a remaster of the original Up The Bracket album, produced by Mick Jones (The Clash), the Super Deluxe Edition also includes a remarkable 65 previously unreleased recordings including many original demos, radio sessions and live recordings all helping to chart the making of Up The Bracket, plus a live recording from the 100 club in 2002. It also contains a 60 page book with a foreword by Matt Wilkinson, new interviews with the band by Anthony Thornton and many unseen photos and memorabilia.
To coincide with the release the Libertines will be performing the album in its entirety along with a selection of choice nuggets from their peerless back catalogue. For the Wembley show, for one night only, the band have chosen two of their favourite bands from the class of 2002 to support them – The Cribs and The Paddingtons. Also on the bill will be rising star, and darling of the Arsenal terraces, Louis Dunford, along with recording artist and DJ, Amazonica, on the decks. The full dates are:
JULY
1st Manchester Castlefield Bowl
23rd London Wembley Arena
30th Bristol O2 Academy SOLD OUT
AUGUST
5th Cardiff University Great Hall
8th Edinburgh O2 Academy
The Libertines also appear at four UK Festivals this summer: JUNE 24th Pilton, Somerset Glastonbury Festival SOLD OUTAUGUST6th Bingley Bingley Weekender28th Portsmouth Victorious Festival SEPTEMBER 2nd Coventry Godiva Festival Tickets for all shows are available Here
Up The Bracket 20th Anniversary Edition is available to pre-order Here
Super Deluxe Box set – strictly numbered limited edition of 4,000:
Vinyl ‘Up The Bracket’ (Remastered),’Live at the 100 Club’, 7” blue vinyl ‘Up The Bracket’ and 7” red Vinyl ‘Time For Heroes’ (in their original sleeves), 2 CD’s of Out-takes, Demos, Radio sessions and live recordings, cassette of 20 early demos, DVD including HD versions of ‘Up The Bracket,’ Time For Heroes,’I get Along’ & exclusive bonus footage and a 60 page Book.
Deluxe Double Vinyl, ‘Up The Bracket’ (Remastered) and ‘Live at the 100 Club’ on black and Indie store exclusive on red vinyl.
Deluxe Double CD, ‘Up The Bracket’ (Remastered) and ‘Live at the 100 Club’.
Digital download, ‘Up The Bracket’ (Remastered)and ‘Live at the 100 Club’
Due sometime in August or September the long wait is finally over for the Gunfire Dance album on vinyl for the first time. Easily one of the finest bands of their generation Gunfire Dance had it all except for the breaks. ‘Witness To The Crime’ will see some of the band’s finest songs on vinyl LP for the first time through Easy Action Records. It features twelve tracks from the incredible ‘Blue’ through ‘Burning Ambition’ and ‘Suit And Tie’. If there is one album you should pre-order then this is it. Snooze you loose, this is a limited pressing
Alright, all you groovy cats out there on this spinning rock just waiting for some cool tunes to float by. Well, the wait is over because Frisco’s coolest cats The Richmond Sluts have only gone and turned in a long-player jam-packed full of bangers with howling Organs, string bending trickery and gang vocals for you to bark at the moon along with.
Twelve tracks of wicked twists and turns and cosmic whig-outs right from the super cool off. ‘Top Of The Night’ will ease you gently before the overdriven six-string trickery clashes with that Organ wheeze to great effect. they might be on a hyperdrive mission and if this is in the 8-track cartridge then I want to be on board for the journey.
The vocals are dripping in reverb with enough dirt and whisky soaked into every breath the delivery is perfect from the cool drawl of ‘Satisfaction (I want you)’ through the cheeky handclaps of ‘Chasing Tail’ to the smokey dream-like state of ‘The Third Eye’ its oozing quality.
There’s some Stooges gimme danger captured in the heart and soul of ‘Used’ it reminds me of The mighty Chesterfield Kings and when the band joins in it reaches a giddy high and is a mighty fine tune with all its swirling drama whats not to love?
I love it when the band just rock out like on ‘What You Gonna Do Now’ No frills just kicking back and doing what they do best. They go straight into the choppy ‘Who Knew’. They throw their own spin on the classic ‘I Don’t Need No Doctor’ and sign off a really impressive record with the road worn groove of ‘Lights Go Out’ that builds like the best groove rock Primal Scream mustered which is a cool place to nestle down in and just play from the heart and soul and leave nothing behind with its cool rhythm and building wah soloing its a top tune to end with.
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Richmond Sluts are back in the groove, and that’s good news for us all. Get on it – Tune in – turn up and whig out!
Fast-rising Italian punks SMALLTOWN TIGERS return to the UK next month for the first time since their debut shows of October 2019. The girls from Rimini turned a lot of heads on that tour and plans were quickly made for a return. Covid put paid to that, however, and the dates had to be abandoned.
They refused to delay the release of their debut mini-album Five Things, though and were rewarded with fantastic reviews across the board. The icing on the cake was an invitation from The Damned to open for them on their original line-up reunion tour. Postponed twice, those dates are finally set to go ahead in October and November.
In the meantime, the girls are booked to play the Pump It Up Powerpop Weekender at London’s Lexington on Sunday 3 July. The two-day event will also feature sets by NYC’s Baby Shakes, Norway’s Yum Yums, Duncan Reid and the Big Heads, The Speedways and more.
Speaking about the show, singer/bassist Valli says…
“It’s a wonderful time of the year over here at the Smalltown Tigers camp. First, Summer is here so we can surf. Second, after an almost three years hiatus, we’re about to come back to London. And, more important, to play at one of the most significant events we ever played in our career, the Pump It Up Powerpop Weekender at the Lexington.
“It will be great to share the stage with so many great bands, some of them for the first time and some others like The Speedways and The Baby Shakes we already shared the stage with. Moreover, the fabulous NYC girls (and boy!) The Baby Shakes were the band we opened for in Italy on our first tour ever… ah, sweet memories. Can’t wait to be in London again. It’s gonna be a blast! Be sure to buy your ticket in advance, it’s gonna be a busy Saturday and Sunday night on the 2nd/3rd of July!
“Other than that, we can’t wait to play some songs from the brand new album we’re currently preparing and which will be out next year. We think it’s the best material we ever wrote and we can’t wait to hear what you think of it. See you at the Powerpop Weekender people! Stop by and say hi!”
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