Ingredients for a wild night of musical entertainment – three bands up for causing a riot, a crowd up for it. This gig had both of them, fuck did it have both. Two of these bands – Distort and Electric Press – were new to me. DeadWax I’ve been converted to after my initial ‘on the fence’-ness. I love seeing new bands and after being invited to the gig by Distort, and seen the buzz about them, I was looking forward to this a lot. I was not disappointed.

Electric Press (who are from Leeds and shouldn’t be confused with any other band who might have the same name as I was when I searched on Facebook. They do have an Instagram profile) play hardcore punk/post-hardcore. And that night, if it’s true what was said by DeadWax’s singer, was their first gig. They killed it people.

Things I noticed – their singer has a great voice, the guitar was way cool and their drummer rocks, that guy is good people. And they have some great songs – there’s variety in what they do. In fact although you can identify some songs as being hardcore punk and some as post-hardcore, some kinda mix the two. Taking notes was impossible in the dim crowded Wharf Chambers so I failed to be able to take any note of the songs I really liked but that would be pointless as I liked all of them. Although I did have a slight thing going on about something I swear their drummer introduced by shouting ‘do you wanna hear some jazz’ (I may be wrong, in fact I may be completely wrong) right at the end of their set.

And, it’s a gig so this is important, they got a really great rapport going with the crowd. It was really surprising that this was their first gig, so accomplished were they. Electric Press are a band to go see, what they do is way cool.

So this is the first time I’ve seen DeadWax play after their single launch gig at Huddersfield’s Northern Quarter had me totally converted to them. So it was the first time I was able to fully immerse myself in what they do. For those of you that don’t know, DeadWax ply a mix of rock and rap, although they throw in all sorts of stuff in addition to that – soul, R’n’B, drum and bass, blues rock. It’s an intoxicating mix.

The thing with DeadWax is that not only are they a riot, and provoke riotious crowd reactions, but they can play incredibly well. I’d started appreciating their guitarist at the Huddersfield gig but that night I really got quite how good he is. The range of styles he can play is amazing. And their singer is fantastic. It’s that that makes that mix of musical styles work, it wouldn’t work if the band couldn’t play. And there’s no dead spots in their set, there wasn’t a point where I got distracted, I spent their whole set with my eyes and ears glued to them. This may be boring and predictable but go see DeadWax.

Distort are a punky band from Bingley. Excitement, frenzy was there from the very beginning. They have attitude in spades. Basically I did my ‘I was so impressed I just let myself take them in’, despite having vowed that I’d try and be a proper music reviewer

Things to be impressed by. This band can play – amid all the noise there is a serious amount of skill there. The fact that their singer is a ‘can’t your eyes off him’ frontperson – not only can he sing but he has a range of, let’s call it, dancing that has to be seen to be believed. They do that ‘with the crowd’ thing that Fudge. do. I really liked that they do dual lead vocals at times.

There is a degree of confusion in how Distort are described – they call themselves a punk band, and the description in the gig blurb said that they are punk influenced. I did take that ‘reviewer step back’ a few times during their set and yep there are some songs that I’d describe as punk and some I’d describe as punk-influenced. But all of that trying to shove them into a niche is ultimately pointless, what Distort are is a noisy, a wonderfully noisy, and riotous band.

Their set passed in a mass of lovely noisy raw raucous rock, in fact it kinda went by much too quickly. I know it’s punk to do no encores but I kinda wished they’d encored with the whole of their set again, that’s how much I liked them.

You like loud raw raucous punky music with huge amounts of punk attitude, go see Distort.

All photos on this page © Frank Roper Photography – see more on his Facebook Page

Follow Deep are one of those bands that do rock. It’s kinda alt-rock influenced I’d guess, but they throw in some indie-rock stuff just to get us all confused. In fact they throw in all sorts of things.

There is more of a bias towards alt-rock on the album, which for me is no bad thing. And it’s alt-rock that leans heavily towards the heavy. Indeed some of it leans so heavily towards the heavy they begin to sound like a heavy rock band. I think I said this in a previous review but once you start to get really heavy and raucous then the dividing line between heavy alt-rock and heavy rock starts to get really blurred.

Album opener – ‘Before The Storm’ – starts loud, it kinda starts strangely sounding like – and this is something of a blast from the past – Diamond Head. Yep it does that alt-rock loud/quiet thing but the loud is way way way heavy, and it even does something of a ‘Kashmir’ thing. The first thing you’re going to notice on this track is that the playing is cool, this is a band who know what they’re doing musically. The vocals are great. And that this is a band who are not afraid to chuck loads of stuff into a song.

‘Alive’ is something of a mix, a fantastic mix. Look it’s a great rock song. It has a fab tune. And it throws some great backing vocals into the mix.

What can I say about ‘Sweet Innocence’? It’s basically sleazy to the max. It does that quiet/loud thing. But the vocals, even in the quiet bits, are pure heavy rock stylee. It does grinding bass, and squealing guitars. It’s fab stuff people.

So for the first surprise – ‘Press Rewind’ is something of a poppy indie tune. Coming after ‘Sweet Innocence’ this is fairly shocking, and it had me confused. It even features synth FFS. I mean what are this band does to me. The thing is that even though it’s a shock it’s cool, it bounces along and has a tune to die for.

Following this with a an almost blues-rock track – ‘Hearts In Hands’ – is something of a jolt to the system. But this track is cool, way cool. It has great dual-ish vocals and guitar that rocks big-time.

‘Lifeline’ does that slightly poppy rock thing, it’s light heavy rock, if you get what I mean. But it features this wonderfully grungey bass heavy guitar, and way cool bass dropouts. And it features the first appearance of saxophone – yep I said saxophone. This unless you know the band have a sax player comes of something of a surprise. But it’s great., that sax break makes the track.

‘Steal A Flower’ is almost pure alt-rock, yep it’s heavy again in the loud bits. And the band throw in this hugely effective but strange twisted vocal bit with synth. It’s this sort of stuff that make Follow Deep stand out.

‘Paradise’ I guess is somewhat indie but wait, it isn’t it suddenly hits us with something that is strangely post-hardcore and then something that is so way out there it needs to be fucking heard to be believed. It’s at this point in the album I began to wonder quite what Follow Deep are on (and could I have some please).

‘Start A War’ features sax, raucous post-punk sounds, not so raucous post-punk sounds, what sound like female backing vocals, strange art-rock sections, sections that sound like slightly doomy metal. Sounds a mess, it very definitely isn’t. In fact it’s brilliant.

The fantastically epic (look it’s over 7 minutes long) ‘The Same’ starts off as an acoustic ballad and then bursts into heavy alt-rock life, before a sax break, a quiet brilliant vocal section, then a soaring alt-rock section and then the most amazing guitar break. It is incredible.

I started listening ready to dislike this album but before long I found myself loving it. Follow Deep do music that isn’t easy to put into a niche. You have them pegged as a heavy alt-rock/heavy rock band and they hit you with ‘Press Rewind’, you accept that and then you get ‘Start A War’ something that is just so… out there. I love bands that do that, that just do what they want without trying to shove themselves into a restricted genre niche.

The music on this album is inventive, has a style all of it’s own, and is fantastically well played. If you’ve not heard of Follow Deep, now is the time to listen to this.

BUY // https://bit.ly/2OUJRN1
STREAM // https://ditto.fm/will-you-still-love-me
WATCH // https://bit.ly/389QLpf

The info

Follow Deep are a young, emerging indie/alternative rock band from Hull. The band has a heavy yet unique sound – mainly due to having a saxophonist in the mix – that brings an energetic quality to every stage they step foot on.

Highlights so far include:

• Supporting King No-One and Holy Moly & The Crackers
• Single “Suffocating” being played on the introducing show on BBC Radio Humberside
• Releasing a debut EP – “Bad Influence” – on all major streaming sites
• Playing a first international international gig in June in Kharkov, Ukraine
• Playing a first headline tour of the UK, heading to Nottingham, Sheffield, London, Leicester, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Hull

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followdeepuk/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/followdeepuk/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-pEIzIN0O1VRWkZ-wbCNyQ
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0pi2JVymYDQ1helz6Z1AOg

I’m sorry but this is another of those ‘I didn’t expect to like this but I do’ releases. I don’t really know why I’m apologizing for that, I just feel I have to. It’s not that I’m going off the usual noisey and/or difficult music I usually rave about, it’s just that I seem to widening the range of music I really like.

Up until I heard this, Submotion Orchestra were something of an unknown quality to me, I’d obviously heard of them but without hearing a song, track or even part of something from them, I’d tagged them as a band I just won’t like. This isn’t very open minded of me but let’s be honest we all do this sometimes, we all just sometimes assume that we won’t like a particular band or artist. This was an object lesson for me not to do that.

Submotion Orchestra’s cover of Robin S’ 1993 hit ‘Show Me Love’ is just the most chilled thing I’ve heard in ages. It leaves you feeling gooood people. And it really isn’t the usual sort of thing I like at all. But this has totally captivated me.

Musically it’s all sparse synths, almost not there skittering percussion patterns, and the most wonderful horn. It’s mellow, way mellow. And over there are gentle beautifully sang vocals. And it’s all put together so well. There are stabs of dubby sound, odd synth sounds that surprise, gently surprise, there’s nothing jarring in this track.

It’s just incredibly impressive, it’s an example of how something that isn’t flashy, or hasn’t obviously set out to show how good a band or artist is, can be fantastic in an understated way. This might almost be described as an exercise in musical understatement. It’s that that draws you in.

This is wonderful, simply wonderful.

The info

With 5 albums and 3 EPs under their belt, the 7-piece haven’t taken their foot off the gas since the get-go. Delving deep into jazz, dub, electronica and soul, their soothing, euphoric sound has won over some of the biggest names in the business. Their impeccable production and astounding atmospherics have taken them everywhere from Bestival to Glastonbury, and ‘Show Me Love’ is no exception. On producing the track, they added:

“Show Me Love’ was an absolute anthem when we were kids and we thought it would be a fun tune to cover. We also thought it would work really well with Ruby’s vocal ‘cos it has that blend of hope and melancholy that we love.”

As well as being renowned for their exceptional studio work, Submotion Orchestra are able to replicate their productions live to a staggering effect. In fact, since their cult-classic debut release ‘Finest Hour’ their tours have spanned all over the UK and Europe, not to mention headlining the 6,000 capacity Pula Amphitheatre at Outlook Festival, selling out the Barbican Theatre and The Forum for London’s Jazz Festival and even headlining the Royal Albert Hall.

You can see Submotion Orchestra Live across March and April 2020:

Thurs 26th March – London, Oval Space
Fri 27th March – Brighton, Concorde 2
Sat 28th March – Leeds, Belgrave
Thurs 2nd Apr – Bristol, The Trinity
Fri 3rd Apr – Birmingham, O2 Institute 2
Sat 4th Apr – Manchester, Gorilla

Head to https://www.submotion.co.uk/live for tickets

It’s been a while since I’ve seen or heard anything of The 99 Degree. I accept that this is my fault, they’ve played gigs and I’ve not been. News of an EP release was a very good thing. And somewhere in the far too long a time between the time I last saw them live and now they’ve acquired a new member – who plays guitar and trumpet.

For those of you that haven’t heard of The 99 Degree before, you should know you’ve been missing out people, they play kinda mutant surf and/or kinda psychobilly. You probably should know that they sort of remind me at times of The Cramps, they don’t copy them it’s just a feel, a hint, an influence; and it’s the same with that Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds sound you get sometimes.. Although they have a tendency to take off into things that sound sort of like themes to great Westerns at times.

The EP opener ‘John The Killer’ is one of those ‘mutant surf and/or kinda psychobilly’ tracks. It takes a long time to start, there’s a long instrumental intro before it bursts into raucous life. It’s wonderfully raw and ragged. It’s perfect in it’s imperfection. Vocals come at you from all sides, guitar stabs out fantastically. This reminds me of The 99 Degree I loved, that live experience.

‘Flatline’ is less frantic, you might almost describe it as a slowie. This really shows that surf/psychobilly thing. Although to be honest there hints of all sorts of things in this song. There are some frankly wonderful guitars in this track.

We are in something that has a feel of a Western theme with ‘Young Flame’. It sounds somewhat less frantic than the previous tracks but it’s still great. That Western theme sound continues with ‘Dead Or Alive’ which throws in a kinda of Theatre of Hate feel – it’s that ‘Westworld’ thing. And it is here that Stu, the new member, bursts into trumpet life. So brilliant, so good.

The final track is a version of ‘Young Flame’ that is just way way slower, more wonderfully raucous and ragged. And crucially much longer.

The 99 Degree make music like nothing I’ve heard in a long time. The 99 Degree sit in a niche, a genre, of their own. It’s so much of their own that my descriptions are probably inadequate – I’ve tried, honest I have. This is music that, as I’ve already said, is perfect in it’s imperfection. That is wonderfully raw, raucous and ragged, and crucially sleazy as fuck. Yet wonderfully played, there’s some real musical skill there.

Look, listen to this right now, do it right now, don’t delay.

The info

The 99 Degree are:

Joe Sartini: Vocals
Phil Turner: Vocals, Guitar and Stylophone
Stu Sharples: Vocals, Guitar and Trumpet
Paul Fetherstone: Bass Guitar
Craig Trickett: Drums and Percussion

Facebook: www.facebook.com/the99degree
Instagram: @the99degree
Twitter: @the99degree