17th February – Voodoo Lounge, Stamford
18th February – Wightman Theatre, Shrewsbury
25th February – Groove Festival, Cairngorm Mountains
25th March – Into Pitlochry, Perthshire, Scotland
11th May – Electric Circus, Edinburgh
12th May – The Tolbooth, Stirling
13th May – ABC 2, Glasgow
18th May – The Ironworks, Inverness
19th May – Village Hall, Ullapool
20th May – An Lanntair, Stornoway
25th May – The Tunnels, Aberdeen
26th May – The British Legion, Shetland
14th June – Borderline, London
15th June – Patterns, Brighton
16th June – Academy 2, Oxford
17th June – Institute 3, Birmingham
18th June – Cluny, Newcastle
20th June – Deaf Institute, Manchester
21st June – Lending Rooms, Leeds
Hailed as ‘the heroes British rock needs right now’ by the Huffington Post, the mighty Hunter & The Bear’s raw, infectious and downright thunderous output has seen them garner extensive plays on BBC Radio 6 and 2 already, as well as spots on large stages at Reading & Leeds, T in the Park and Hard Rock Calling festivals. A sold-out UK tour already under their belts, the band have also acquired prolific support slots, having toured with the likes of Eric Clapton, Van Morrison and Simple Minds respectively.
Brought up on a heavy diet of rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd, Hunter & The Bear are equally inspired by modern bands like Biffy Clyro, War On Drugs and Royal Blood and their forthcoming album offers more than a glimpse of what you can expect from their raucous live shows.
Releasing one video a month until their album release in May, there’s a lot more to come from Hunter & The Bear, the UK’s most promising rock export.
Hunter & The Bear are:
Will (lead vocals, guitar)
Jimmy (lead guitar, vocals)
Gareth (drums, vocals)
Chris (bass, vocals)
The Amazons are officially the most hotly-tipped guitar band of year after featuring on all of the biggest tips for 2017 lists. And things are still hotting up for the quartet with the release of their new single ‘Black Magic’.
After the ominous atmosphere of their previous single ‘Little Something’, ‘Black Magic’ takes a brighter, more playful approach to their revered alt-rock onslaught. Their relentless rhythmic drive continues unabated, but the track’s spiralling guitar motif immediately lays a foundation in the mind while frontman Matt Thomson adds an adept falsetto to his already mountainous vocal range.
“This song has been 3 years in the making. We had some of the parts floating around without any direction until I wrote the chorus, which gave the track focus.” Thomson marks, adding “Black magic is about the helplessness you feel when you realise the feelings you have for someone are no longer reciprocated. The despair at the awareness that there is nothing you can do to change the way they feel.””
‘Black Magic’ was produced by the band’s regular collaborator Catherine Marks (Wolf Alice, Foals, The Vaccines) and was recorded in Flood and Alan Moulder’s famous Assault and Battery studio in London. Both ‘Black Magic’ and ‘Little Something’ will appear on their eagerly anticipated debut album which will follow later in the year out on Fiction Records.
Consisting of pre-Raphaelite poster boy and frontman Matt Thomson, guitarist Chris Alderton, coy bassist Elliot Briggs and Totnes tearaway drummer Joe Emmett, The Amazons are four young men on a mission to reinvigorate rock and roll as they straddle influences as diverse as Queens of the Stone Age, Arcade Fire, Nirvana, Jane’s Addiction and Tame Impala.
The Amazons’ first show of 2017 was a short set before a tiny audience at the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios for Radio 1’s Future Festival. They’re now poised to hit the road for the following dates which include a London show at Dingwalls and a homecoming gig at Reading’s Sub89:
Renowned vocal ensemble The Swingles celebrate the 55th year of the group’s existence by releasing one of their finest albums to date, a diverse collection where Folk meets World music, inspired by their international travels and featuring collaborations with traditional artists. With creative arrangements that transport these well-loved songs into the group’s unique and rich sound world, the results are powerful and surprising.
For more than half a century, The Swingles have pushed the boundaries of vocal music. The seven young singers that make up today’s London-based group are driven by the same innovative spirit that has defined the five-time Grammy® winners since they first made waves in the 1960s. At a time when a cappella is more popular than ever, The Swingles are recognised as masters of their craft.
The seeds of Folklore were sown at last year’s London A Cappella Festival, which the group curates. The concert featured the UK premiere of Ili-Ili Tulog Anay, an arrangement of a traditional Filipino lullaby. “It took us back to an unforgettable tour of the Philippines in 2013, but we weren’t expecting our London audience to connect with it as strongly as they did,” explains bass vocalist Edward Randell. “That moment of connection set us off, excited to dig deeper into folk music traditions from around the world.”
With a bottomless well of material to draw on, they started thinking about their own personal stories. “Our new tenor Jon, from New York, brought us a song from the American Civil War. Clare took inspiration from her childhood in East Africa, Jo from her Portuguese roots, Sara from a honeymoon spent in Arctic Finland. We were looking for stories and melodies that that spoke to us, even across language barriers.”
“As much as we’ve loved discovering unfamiliar dialects,modes and time signatures,” alto Clare Wheeler picks up the thread, “we have been most struck by the universal themes we found. Every culture uses music to mark life’s defining moments. And in the year since this project’s inception, world events have made it seem particularly timely. The simple idea that different cultures can and should learn from each other, that our common humanity defines us more than the country we call home – we believe this more strongly than ever.”
The Swingles launch Folklore with a concert on 30 March, at London’s iconic folk hub Cecil Sharp House. Aptly, it was a trip to the library at Cecil Sharp that yielded The Undutiful Daughter, a never-previously-recorded English murder ballad and the album’s opening cut. The group’s vocals intertwine with harp and fiddle from Scottish duo Twelfth Day to create a spellbinding seascape. Twelfth Day will guest at the show, along with instrumental folk trio EFFRA. Expect a celebration of global harmony – in every sense of the word.
THE SWINGLES are: Joanna Goldsmith-Eteson / Sara Davey / Clare Wheeler / Oliver Griffiths / Jon Smith / Kevin Fox / Edward Randell
Record release live shows:
29 March: Manchester, RNCM
30 March: London, Cecil Sharp House
31 March: Buxton, Opera House (Arts Pavillion)
‘Folklore’ track listing:
The Undutiful Daughter (feat. Twelfth Day) – England
Lovers’ Desire – Afghanistan
Bonas Dies, Comare – Sardinia
Ili-Ili Tulog Anay – Philippines
Unmade
Nem Às Paredes Confesso – Portugal
Mo Li Hua – China
Bučimiš (feat. Trichy Sankaran) – Bulgaria/India
Nochen’ka – Russia
Malaika – Tanzania/Kenya
Sinä Täydennät Minut
Hard Times Come Again No More – USA
“A snarling beast of an outfit. Fully loaded with anthemic charm… unrelenting thirst for crunching guitar licks and huge, resonating guitar licks to die for” – Kerrang!
“A decent cut of big, British metalcore… we could be looking at the scene’s next breakout band” – Rock Sound
Today, south Wales five-piece When We Were Wolves return with their first new track in three years, ‘The Gift Of Hating Me’. With a band name that is apt now more than ever, the track and video embodies the wolf-spirit showcasing ferocious, wild and abrasive growls, sheer brute-force and gore, juxtaposed by emotional vulnerability seen in soft melodic vocals and intricate guitar work.
“We knew our next batch of music had to be a step up for us. Due to some lineup changes last year, we were pretty quiet, so we wanted to let people know we are back and in a big way.
“We’re now in 2017, sat on a tonne of material with a lot of songs to choose from, but we decided to write a separate stand alone single to give people a taster of where we are at musically. Lyrically it’s a big middle finger to many people. Past members who have dragged our name through the mud, people who have tried to break us as a band and as people. I’ve had a very tough few years and struggled with my mental health. Thankfully to a few close friends, family and my love of music I pulled through it all, so this song is my way of putting all my feelings towards certain people and that dark stage of my life on the table and laying it to rest so to speak. I want people to be able to listen to this song and apply it to their own lives and really connect with the message, I had it in mind that it would be the type of song you would stick on after a shit day and feel better after a few listens. Years ago I remember a friend saying to me “don’t give them the gift of hating you” and that saying has really been relevant recently. All in all it’s a song about doing your own thing and not caring what people think”
– Mitch, vocals
The band have a short live run of dates and have been confirmed for Fat Lip and Camden Rock Festivals this summer, and have a tour announcement in the works for later this year.
With two EPs to date, 2013’s ‘The More Things Change, The More We Stay the Same’, the success of these releases fuelled a formidable touring period not for the faint-hearted, including support to the likes of Devil Sold His Soul, Yashin and The Blackout.
Subsequent years were challenging for the band as multiple line-up changes set the band back in their tracks. The trials and tribulations that came during this period however nourished a progression in their musical identity, and 2017 sees the pack hungrier and stronger than ever before. A statement of things to come later this year, THE GIFT OF HATING ME showcases the new life that has been breathed into WHEN WE WERE WOLVES. Expect to hear more soon.
Mitchell Bock – Vocals
Aled Davies – Guitar
Kieron Dix – Guitar
Jason Care – Bass
Tom Connolly – Drums
Tour Dates
06 Apr – Manchester Retro
07 Apr – Corby The Hut
08 Apr – London Surya
09 Apr – Swansea The Scene
03 Jun – Camden Rocks Festival, London
29 Jul – Fat Lip Fest, Bristol
The record, coming out this Friday, is currently streaming via Stereogum: “the aesthetic varies wildly and wonderfully from track to track, each song having its own hermetic seal but somehow still melding cohesively as a body of work,’’ and raving reviews are already pouring in, Uncut calling it ‘’Eclectic and confident’’, Pitchfork saying ‘’Plants and Animals have created something beautiful’’ while Mojo states : ‘’This all-analogue-recorded LP packs woody, indie skiffle, warming pop soul and that rare thing, a bassist (Nicolas Basque) whose playing is conspicuous for all the right reasons.’’
Eight years after their debut album Parc Avenue (2008), Montreal based and Polaris Music Prize nominated artist Plants and Animals’ newest evolution, Waltzed in from the Rumbling, is set for release June 10th on Secret City Records. Similarly recorded to tape, the new album embodies the raw musicianship characteristic of the group, while injecting symphonic crescendos, lyrical balladry, and metamorphic song developments. This is Plants and Animals’ most soulful and inventive collection of music yet. Eleven soundtracks fit to accompany leaps taken, ships sailed, dark water and pink skies.
The influences of the new LP are far and wide : the broken soul of Van Morrison; the off-kilter geometry of J Dilla; the dark, French funk of Serge Gainsbourg; the fire of John Coltrane’s quartet; Messiaen’s synaesthesia; the quirk of Angelo Badalamenti. The result is pure Plants and Animals, wide open with room to move.
‘’Eclectic and confident’’ – Uncut
‘’Plants and Animals have created something beautiful’’ – Pitchfork
‘’This all-analogue-recorded LP packs woody, indie skiffle, warming pop soul and that rare thing, a bassist (Nicolas Basque) whose playing is conspicuous for all the right reasons.’’ – Mojo
‘’The aesthetic varies wildly and wonderfully from track to track, each song having its own hermetic seal but somehow still melding cohesively as a body of work.’’ – Stereogum
Feb 24 – The Globe – Cardiff
Feb 25 – The Fleece – Bristol
Feb 26 – Brudenell Social Club – Leeds
Feb 28 – Village Underground – London
Great vocals – check. Monster guitars – check. Well written meaningful lyrics – check. Clever arrangements – check. Sounds like a band playing live, just the best live sound you’ve ever heard – check. Fine, fine ballads – check. All round great playing – check.
This a great classic rock album with something for everybody. Like an out and out rock track, you’ve got those. Like something a little bit indie rock, you’ve got it. Like an acoustic ballad, no problem. Like your rock epic, that’s there in spades.
For me this is rock album in the ‘rock back in the day’ way. It’s a band who are not afraid to mix it up. A band who make those different styles their own, and play it their way.
There isn’t a duff space filling track here, so I’m just going to pick out my favourites. I’ve come to treat these these as a story, make up your own mind on this of course (Alex from band isn’t giving anything away on this – check out our band feature).
‘Dance With Me’ is a fine acoustic ballad with almost folky feel to it. Heartfelt vocals, great playing. ‘Alone Tonight’ isn’t quite what you might think it’s about, this track starts out, well, gently – acoustic and some string sounds – and then it explodes. This is going to put you through the emotional wringer.
And now ‘Killing Me’, this is epic. The tale of somebody seeing their partner with somebody else who’s clearly ‘just more than a friend’ and the pain they feel. There’s anger, pain in the music. The vocals are pure emotion. This sums up perfectly something a lot of people have been through, I’ve certainly been there. Oh, and I mustn’t forget to mention, it has the most wonderfully fierce guitar break.
While ‘Embers (We Were On Fire)’ might be a brilliant rock track – the break in this track is pure classic rock – I urge you to take a close listen to the words. These are just not your usual rock lyrics at all. There is some seriously good guitar on this track.
‘A Prayer For The Morning After’ took me by surprise, it’s a song about drinking, and I’d guess a drinking problem. Strange then that it should be so, so beautiful.
I really like the opening track of the album ‘Aftertaste’ which has influences of sixties classic rock – there are bits where I thought immediately of Cream – with a sprinkling of 80s southern rock – say Blackfoot – in places
So my favourites take in most of the album, to be honest. It isn’t that I don’t like the two remaining tracks, I do, it’s just that those are the ones I find myself going back to time after time.
OK so this is the bit where I talk about the production, well as I said it sounds like a band playing together but there are things that raise it above the sound of a band playing on stage – the rather nice string sounds, touches of keyboards, this little guitar sound on one side of the stereo mix, some great backing vocals. Some of this isn’t obvious! It’s only on repeated listens where you’re going to spot them. But that’s another good thing, always being able to find something new in a song.
The guitar on this is .. well .. let’s just say it’s great. I was taken back to the days when I first started listening to rock music by some of it, yep, old style guitar sounds played really well. The drumming and the bass are rock solid. There’s some clever drumming going on here, it’s much more than just a beat. These are clearly some talented players.
This is a fine fine collection of songs that may vary in style but they all have something that connects them together. I said it right at the top of the review but this album has something for everyone.
Me – I wasn’t expecting to like this quite as much as I do. And now I’m just trying to work out whether I can add the whole album to my perfect songs list, sort of breaks the rules but damn it. Do I recommend this, course I do!
The album is available on all digital platforms, check it out on Soundcloud below
Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter/guitarist Jason Isbell and his stellar band the 400 Unit have announced an autumn European tour that includes 5 UK dates this October.
Isbell is putting the final touches on his highly anticipated follow up to 2015’s two-time Grammy Award winning album Something More Than Free. Isbell recorded the album at the legendary RCA Studio A in Nashville with Grammy Award-winner Dave Cobb returning as producer. Cobb also produced Isbell’s acclaimed breakthrough album Southeastern (2013).
The new, yet-to-be-titled collection will officially be the first Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit album since 2011’s critically acclaimed Here We Rest. The mighty 400 Unit is: Derry deBorja (keyboards), Chad Gamble (drums), Jimbo Hart (bass) and Sadler Vaden (guitar). Look for the announcement of the spring/summer release soon. Isbell recently posted this Teaser Clip on his Twitter.
For Record Store Day on April 22nd, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit will release the special vinyl only Live from Welcome To 1979. The album features six songs, with five covers, performed live at Welcome To 1979 studio in Nashville and recorded directly onto lacquer. The tracks include The Rolling Stones’ ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’ and ‘Sway’, John Prine’s ‘Storm Windows’, Candi Staton’s ‘Heart On A String’, Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Atlantic City’ and Isbell’s own ‘Never Gonna Change’.
October dates
Wed 25th MANCHESTER, Albert Hall
Thu 26th GLASGOW, O2 ABC
Sun 29th BRIGHTON, Brighton Dome
Mon 30th LONDON, Roundhouse
Tue 31st BIRMINGHAM, Symphony Hall
They met a few weeks ago and started playing together. Together they recorded a cover version of a very famous Bollywood song and filmed a video which is released via social media on Valentines day.
Sponsorship from Radio Sangam – an Asian radio station based in Huddersfield – was forthcoming after they visited the studios and played a live acoustic clip. There is quite a buzz locally and in Pakistan about the release.
Radio Sangam are putting on the first ever live Bollywood music concert in the Odeon Cinema in Huddersfield on 23rd Feb. Sher Yar Khan as well as another popular Bollywood singer will be performing and The Suitcase Dwellers will be playing their versions of some Bollywood classics and then joining Sher Yar Khan to perform the live debut of the song and showing the video on the big screen.
Crews from 4 Pakistani TV stations are coming as well as radio and press and a live radio feed of the show. This is a big deal.
The Suitcase Dwellers say “We are musicians from two completely different backgrounds, communities and cultures. Our music is very different yet our shared love and passion has brought us together and we have created something together that we are very excited about and we think lots of other people will be too”.
The Nu Soul event covered just about every genre out there. The music took on a life form of its own fuelled by influences from: jazz, funk, hip-hop, latin, afrobeat, soul, house and drum n bass. The genres covered just about everything with a groovy beat and the audience, just about anyone with a will to move their feet.
Up first were Necktr, a nine piece soul band on a mission to modernise jazz by drawing on influences from afrobeat, latin and hip-hop. The band formed in 2016 but are already making a name for themselves as one of Leeds’ up and coming diverse jazz bands. You can catch them at Belgrave Music Hall alongside Nag Champa on March 5 2017.
Necktr
Following Necktr, filling the stage with just one less band member were the eight piece soul group Tetes de Pois. Another horde of musicians to rise from 2016, Tetes de Pois have already caught some attention with their uptempo cover of ‘Stepping Into Tomorrow’, originally by Donald Byrd. The band exudes talent and there is absolutely no chance of missing it with all their attention focussed on blasting out powerful percussion. Each band member demonstrates a great talent for their prescribed instrument whilst coming together cohesively to create a sound that soothes the audience and encourages them to become involved with the music further than as a mere spectator. Whether you’re looking to loose yourself in the sobering sound of the sax or are looking for a beat that’s going to compliment your dancing without shattering your ear drums, Tetes de Pois can provide.
Tetes de Pois
Performing last for the bands were seven piece jazz (and everything else) tribe, Nag Champa. Watching Nag Champa perform live is like throwing seven random ingredients into a bowl blindfolded, mixing it all together and ending up with a cake capable of winning you the Great British Bake Off. By no means is that what they’ve done but the seven Leeds College of Music attendees manage to incorporate sounds from a variety of different genres, composed across 7 instruments and vocals to create a unique sound that looks easy to create, is easy to listen to but in reality involves more graft than is imaginable. The sharpness of each musician and ability to play as one whilst mastering their personal composition is what gives off the air of ease. This ease is what propels to audience to feel so free to move along to the rhythms without analysing them too much; to the crowd it doesn’t matter how they’ve done it, just that they have. Their stage presence is also a point to be admired, between remembering their own parts, timing it with the rest of the band and being ogled by a crowd beneath their feet Nag Champa manage to maintain a group charisma which makes them approachable beyond the stage. You can read more about Nag Champa in our feature
The crowd were treated to a lively night of soul, funk and jazz by Necktr, Tetes de Pois and Nag Champa. The good vibes and relaxed atmosphere remained through the night and all three bands did a great job of supporting one another and supporting the night by once again showing Leeds has a lot of talent just waiting to be discovered.
After the bands the audience continued to party into the night with DJ’s Desodah and Dbrief DnB. Desodah followed the same theme of the night and kept people dancing with his jazz, funk, disco and house mixes. He made the transition from live bands to djing smoothly and set about mixing the perfect tunes to up the ante and keep people wanting more from the local soul and jazz scene.
Following Desodah was Leeds resident Dbrief DnB. Dbrief brought an eclectic mix of soulful drum and bass to the table, adding a bit more variety to the evening whilst maintaining the atmospheric vibes. The bands for the evening used their passion for jazz and varying genres to keep the night alive and the crowd moving despite covering three hours with similar music. Much like the atmosphere during the live bands Dbrief kept the crowd alive and anticipating what was next mixing a huge range of soulful DnB including the likes of; Spectrasoul ft Tamara Blessa, LSB ft Tyler Daley and DRS and a Dbrief Orchestra original. His final track ‘Kiksuyapi’, which is due to be released March 1 2017, shows his versatility as a musician and a DJ. The original by the Dbrief Orchestra combines classical piano, flute and harp amongst many other instruments to create a truly unique drum and bass sound.
Every musician that played Nu Soul at the Lending Room showed great talent, professionalism and charisma to put on a huge night for all local lovers of music and showcase Leeds’ huge amount of growing talent.
Kickstarting a new chapter today, WEIRDS have revealed a new video ‘Valley of Vision’, summoning you to a macabre dystopia. Stained with caustic guitar feedback and Wasp synthesisers, the track is taken from their anticipated debut album due later this year on Alcopop! Records, details of which are to be revealed soon.
“‘Valley of Vision’ was one of the first songs we wrote for the record. We wanted to create a pop song, and make it big, heavy and mysterious. We try to craft our songs in simple structures, and it came together pretty much in one night in our basement. The lyrics were inspired by a puritan prayer from a book of medieval Latin lyrics that I carry with me pretty much at all times, and we were fixated on the title. We’re big fans of expansive, totemic titles and ‘Valley of Vision’ summed up the feeling of the song, it has a mythical symmetry to it.
The song is about family, violence and religion, and the way these all seep into each other, so the lines become blurred. We wanted to it to be the flag-bearer at the front of the fucked up procession that is our album. The song is our crest of intent, us taking aim and limbering up – we’ve got you in our sights.” – Aidan Razzall (Vocals)
With unrelenting, full-throttled live shows at their core, WEIRDS boast an impressive set of notches on their collective touring post including Download, Tramlines, Handmade and Beacons festivals to name a few. 2017 will see the band on a short headline run in March, including a three-night London residency, followed by their support to The Wytches in April. They will then land at Camden Rocks and 2000 Trees over the summer, with more pitstops on the festival circuit to be confirmed soon.
17 Mar – Picture House Social, Sheffield
18 Mar – Rough Trade Notts, Nottingham
20 Mar – Old Blue Last, London
21 Mar – Lock Tavern, London
22 Mar – The Windmill, London
03 Apr – Boileroom, Guildford
04 Apr – Waterfront Studio, Norwich
05 Apri – The Horn, St Albans
06 Apr – Face Bar, Reading
09 Apr – Sound Control, Manchester
19 Apr – Portland Arms, Cambridge
20 Apr – Georgian Theatre, Stockton On Tees
23 Apr – Joiners, Southampton
24 Apr – Clwb Ifor bach, Cardiff
3 Jun – Camden Rocks Festival, London
6-8 Jul – 2000 Trees Festival, Upcote Farm
With a much anticipated full length debut in the pipeline, the WEIRDS nest is at bursting point, the band are hungrier than ever, ready to infest the UK.
‘Folklore’ track listing:
