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GIG NEWS: The ‘One to Watch’ is soon up on show in Manchester

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Louis Berry, a twenty-three year old hotly tipped singer-songwriting prodigy, is to headline at The Castle, Oldham St, Manchester, on 22nd Jan. He’s a Kirkby lad who’s grown up in challenging circumstances, a subject he’s been happy to discuss in his press thus far. His songs and noise speak of the channeling of those difficulties into uncomplicated but authentic rock ‘n roll, often from the classic perspective of an outsider.

He’s been compared to Johnny Cash, a hell of a burden for any young talent to carry, and I can see why, but I’d say he has more in common with Jerry Lee Lewis or maybe Lloyd Cole if he’d had a rougher start in life and a ballsier sound. Dylan, as always, is there watching from the sidelines.

His first EP, ‘Rebel’, won wide acclaim and airplay from influential types and features some cracking eager, catchy tracks. His latest EP, ‘.45’, has been similarly received and gets my thumbs-up as intelligent, gritty, classic rock ‘n roll with something to say, via cool, hoarse lyrical delivery. His efforts recently gained him the prestigious Merseyside-based, GIT ‘One to Watch’ award and championing by Annie Mac.

He’s an outspoken young fellow, proclaiming, “I want to be the biggest male artist on the planet. You name me one song in the charts right now that says anything about your life or my life. I can’t name ONE! Chart music now is just candy – it doesn’t feed your soul. An hour later you’re hungry again”. All of which is fair comment, and chutzpah/cojones can take you a long way, if you can back it up with authenticity, which I’m sure he can, whilst taking his ‘next big thing’ status with the pinch of salt it deserves.

His PR team say he’s best appreciated live, so I’m looking forward to seeing a Scouse lad win over the rock ‘n roll souls of a Mancunian crowd and know it’s going to be a good gig. It’s a sell-out date, so feel smug if you’re going, or beg and borrow away to get yourself there if you can. Expect great songs, great and grainy guitar and a rousing night of noise.

www.louisberryofficial.com
www.facebook.com/louisberry
Twitter @LouisBerryOffic
www.soundcloud.com/louis-berry

Free download: https://t.co/4Bd2Ksb92Z

GIG NEWS: ROCK. HEAVY ROCK. Saturday 20th February at Rebellion, Manchester

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Punchy vocalists and kickin’ riffs – everything from classic bluesy rock to heavy foot stompin’ goodness!

The line up on this Up From Under night is:

Manchester rock band Waking Sirena bust this bad boy open, with some classic tones and no end of raunchy attitude.

Silverchild deliver straight up 70s bluesy hard rock from Stoke-On –Trent

eySaw are a great local metal band with no end of history on the Manchester scene. Expect the energy to be getting ramped right up & more lip smacking tasty riffs!

Liverpudlian heavy metal rockers, Rain May Fall bring melodic grooves and grungy deliverance to what is a properly rock satisfying lineup.
http://www.reverbnation.com/rainmayfall

ROCK. HEAVY ROCK.
20th February 7.30pm to 11pm

Rebellion Manchester
2B Whitworth Street West
Manchester

Tickets Available on Skiddle

LIVE REVIEW: Ben Caplan, Gullivers Manchester, 8th January

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Canadian Ben Caplan is a troubadour in the Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen mould. Like those distinguished predecessors, his surreal lyrics express a keen appreciation of human absurdity, but his singing is something else. In this respect, he has often been compared to Tom Waits. Perhaps a better comparison is to Dylan’s Greenwich Village guru, gravel-voiced Dave van Ronk. He was recently remembered in the Coen Brothers’ movie Inside Llewyn Davis and described by Dylan biographer Robert Shelton as “a garrulous hairy man…topped by light brownish hair and a leonine beard. He resembled an unmade bed.”

Since the release of his debut album, ‘In the Time of the Great Remembering’, five years ago, Caplan has toured almost constantly, playing more than 1,000 shows, including Glastonbury in 2013.

Now, promoting his second album, ‘Birds with Broken Wings’, Caplan is on a European tour. This finally provided him with the opportunity to make a first-ever visit to Manchester. The chosen venue was Gullivers in the Northern Quarter, and, boy, did the heaving audience appreciate the visit!

There’s no getting away from it: Ben Caplan is a veritable force of nature, a giant in charisma who makes everything around him seem very small. His show in Gullivers’ first-floor gig-room, in fact, was rather like the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra playing in an, admittedly upmarket, airing cupboard.

Caplan’s backing band, The Casual Smokers, preceded him on stage. On this occasion, they comprised singer-songwriter Taryn Kawaja on backing vocals, piano and melodica, Ringo Starr-lookalike Jamie Kronick on drums, and Jordan Stevens on upright bass.

Caplan’s appearance prompted a stadium roar from the tense crowd. His capacious curls tastefully knotted in a cherry-like chignon, his magnificent beard bristling with the welcome, thrashing an acoustic guitar, Caplan launched straight into the title track of his new album.

This is a song that recalls Dylan’s ‘Highway 61 Revisited’, with its introductory lyric: “God said to Abraham: ‘Kill me a son’.” Caplan’s chorus has: “I climbed up the mountain just to kill my son.” The tune, according to the writer, is about “taking ideas to their fullest potential, not necessarily good ideas”, and seems inspired by the so-called Islamists of ISIS.

“Bring me birds with broken wings, Men with all the answers,/People who have killed, Give me incurable cancers,” he sang. “I want that hopeless-dream depression, Punishments without a cause,/Give me impotent obsession, And disregard for laws.”

Incidentally, the cover image of Caplan’s ‘Birds with Broken Wings’ album tells us a great deal about his purpose as a writer. It’s based on a painting by the 19th century German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich called the ‘Wanderer above the Sea of Fog’. Caplan stands in for of ‘the wanderer’ in the image. The point, I would suggest, is that Caplan, like Friedrich, is concerned with contemplating the mess of the human condition.

But, like Dylan and Leonard Cohen before him, Caplan also writes great love songs, and ‘Beautiful’, from his first album, provided a tender foil to the bitter irony of his opening number in the show. ‘Drift Apart’, a breaking-up song from his new album, followed.

With ‘Deliver Me’, we were back to ‘I’ve had it up to here’ mode, with its summation of the world’s sad ways: “And you always eat the mother after drinking her milk.”

But things aren’t always that bad and Caplan soon had the audience singing their hearts out with ‘I Got Me a Woman’. Cue a change of pace as our hero laid aside his guitar and took to the piano for ‘Belly of the Worm’, a cheerful ditty celebrating humanity’s final coming-together at The End: “Don’t succumb to despair/Fill your lungs with the air/And we’ll meet in the belly of the worm.”

Caplan stayed at the piano for ‘Down to the River’, no doubt to underline the point that we should always make the best of a bad job: “You gotta rage against the dying of the light/Live for the moment that’s left.”

Pause for a moment just to allow me to say what a wonderful audience we were. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a gig with so much affectionate banter between star and fans. ‘Manchester’, as ‘Ben’ persisted in calling us, made sure he ‘felt the love’ and the man responded in kind.

The upshot was that, by now, Caplan was almost completely bonkers in the extremity of his performance – in the most charming way, it has to be said – returning to the guitar for his wild rock dirge on the touring musician’s separation from his loved one, ’40 Days and 40 Nights’.

This proved to be the grand finale to an unforgettable show, one which, naturally, the rapturous audience refused to accept. Not unwillingly, Caplan was persuaded to return to the piano for an encore of the barn-storming ‘Stranger’ from his first album. This is a song that speaks of a young man first recognising himself as an artistic outsider. As such, it presaged his new album with its theme of the Wanderer.

You have to hand it to Caplan: he really knows how to round off a performance to make it whole. We’d gone from where he is now as a songwriter all the way back to the very beginning. Clearly, there was nothing more to sing, nothing more to hear. It was time to go home, still glowing from a great night out!

GIG NEWS: The Stone Foxes – Tour Preview

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Hailing from San Francisco, California, The Stone Foxes are bringing their exhilarating kick-ass take on blues rock to the UK for the first time with a ten date headline tour. Kicking off in Bristol on February 3rd the band will be touring in support of their new album, ‘Twelve Spells’. This is available digitally now on iTunes and is getting a full physical release in the UK on March 18th. The band have drawn comparisons with The Black Keys and Kings of Leon with their blend of crunchy rock riffs and lean blues swagger.

Despite this being the band’s first trip to the UK they have already built up a formidable following here with over 6 million listens on Spotify. Over in the States they have supported the likes of Cage the Elephant, the aforementioned Black Keys and even the legendary ZZ Top as well as appearing at major US festivals such as Outside Lands and Voodoo. The Stone Foxes have had their raw roots-rock used on the soundtracks of shows like ‘Sons of Anarchy’ and the US remake of ‘Shameless’ not to mention an ad campaign by rock n’ roll fuel Jack Daniels. They have acquired a great reputation as an energetic and tight live act so this tour is definitely not to be missed.

The Stone Foxes will be touring with Bath blues duo, Bite the Buffalo, supporting on all dates.

  • 03/02 – Bristol – Start the Bus
  • 04/02 – Bath – Moles
  • 05/02 – Glasgow – Record Factory
  • 06/02 – Edinburgh – The Mash House
  • 07/02 – Liverpool – Maguire’s Pizza Bar
  • 09/02 – Manchester – Fallow Café
  • 10/02 – Leeds – A Nation of Shopkeepers
  • 11/02 – Bournemouth – 60 Million Postcards
  • 12/02 – London – Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen
  • 13/02 – Brighton – The Gladstone

The Stone Foxes: http://thestonefoxes.com/
Bite the Buffalo: http://www.bitethebuffalo.com/

LSF is launching an event listing service!

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Our FREE listings are for:

  • Bands, groups or individual performers
  • People who represent or manage ONE band, group or performer only
  • Benefit or charity gigs or concerts

Are there limitations to the free listings service?

Yes, the free service has limitations:

  • Submitted events will NOT go live immediately, they will be approved for publication before going live
  • You will not be able to delete or modify the event yourself

Click here for the listings page

Click here for instructions

Click here for registering your gig

If you

  • Represent or manage more than one band, group or performer
  • Own or manage a venue
  • Run a club night or other regular slot at a venue

Please do not use the free listings service. Packages for you will be launched soon.

Please email biginfo@localsoundfocus.com or contact us via Facebook or Twitter with any questions and we will be happy to help.

LIVE REVIEW: Andy Sheppard, Band on the Wall Manchester, 24th November

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Andy Sheppard, as one of a very few British jazz musicians to have received international acclaim, was awaited with reverent excitement at a packed Band on the Wall. I attended expecting to be treated to some classy music and impressed by some fine jazz blowing. In the event, I was charmed into a world of unexpected gentleness and left haunted for days afterwards by the delicate beauty of the music. Playing tenor and soprano saxes, instruments on which prodigious standards have already been set, Sheppard has not only earned his spurs as a player, but also established himself as a composer of a large and varied range of music and shown himself to be an innovative bandleader.

The night brought a couple of unusual covers, notably ‘River Man’ by Nick Drake, but the tunes were principally taken from Sheppard’s new album ‘Surrounded by Sea’, and the style was mostly reflective, slow and lyrical. The audience was drawn into gospel like ballads, the sax coaxing the band into lengthy musings that suggested rather than stated themes. There were few heads and middles or conventional harmonic sequences, but rather the effect relied on intense improvisations between the four musicians; virtuosic but without blistering solos. There were build ups to louder and more dramatic rhythmic passages, and times where the sax became strident – the drums and guitar agitated, or the bass figures scurrying – but the predominant mood was one of compelling softness. It may have been rather too soporific for some tastes, but it was never affectedly obscure, and it was in fact, just as other reviews had said, quite beautiful in places.

Sheppard’s full and distinctive tenor and soprano tones took a central role in the sound, but Michel Benita on bass picked out countermelodies and shaped harmonies underneath. He produced trance like growls using a bow, melodic work from the high fretboard and ringing harmonics too. The guitar, in the sorcerer’s hands of Eivind Aarset, became more of a textural than a lead instrument, as he conjured up a whole spectrum of colour. Using two feet on pedals and a free hand to shape – by means of electronics – the sounds he sustained with left hand fingerings, Aarset became a string section, a skirling bagpipe band or doubled as a keyboard player. With similar creative imagination, Michele Rabbia on drums and percussion sketched in rhythm tracks using a choice selection of hand chimes, rattles, voice synth work and even a plastic bag to surprising effect. On the kit he used hands, sticks and an interesting selection of brushes, including some that looked like long floppy fingers which he used to stroke the drums and cymbals with.

The band’s intensity was impressive in a way which noisy firework displays never are – the musicians interacted with rapt attention to each other, the roles of rhythm section and front line being abolished in favour of all voices being heard. Sheppard’s role in this was as a kind of shaman-like figure. My favourite part of his playing was when the band paused to give him the spotlight: there followed a breathy passage of intricate arpeggios which thinned and slowed to long, thoughtful phrases and silences. As he leaned in and out towards the mike (as if to share confidences with the audience) the volume dropped to little more than a sigh and he gradually incorporated a squeaky floorboard into the amplified sound. A moment of humorous intimacy.

REVIEW: Jekyll – ‘Wounds’ EP

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Blackpool’s Jekyll are an alternative rock four piece, with an emphasis on rock. The band formed in 2011 and were initially a trio before a fourth member joined in 2013. Since then the band have been working hard, gigging throughout the North West with the likes of October Drift and Demob Happy. 2015 saw Jekyll get a BBC Introducing Live Session and a chance to record their first EP, ‘Wounds’.

From the first track, ‘The Wounds We’ve Ignored’, it’s clear that Muse are a big influence on Jekyll. Lead singer/guitarist Joel Foster shares Matt Bellamy’s fondness for vibrato and sky-rocketing vocals and the band are similarly not afraid to move from melodic indie to thunderous rock riffing at the drop of a hat. The opening track is quiet and restrained to start with but soon picks up pace with drummer Liam Singleton making his presence known early via a busy, insistent rhythm which carries the song along.

‘Cramp’ follows with a great jittery and anxious-sounding riff from Foster and his fellow guitarist, Johnny Chatterton, before falling into a thumping chorus – featuring a line which sent me running for the nearest dictionary. ‘Suckling on the breast of braggadocio’ was the line that threw me . For those wondering, the last word in that line means ‘boastful or arrogant behaviour’,. It’s not often that rock music broadens the listener’s vocabulary, so hats off to Jekyll. The newly released music video for this song can be seen below.

Third track ‘Unspoken’ gives the band a chance to showcase a lighter side with shimmering acoustic guitars in the intro and a more melancholy tone to Foster’s voice. The rhythm section of Singleton on drums and Lewis Armistead on bass keep things moving whilst Chatterton’s guitar, the echoing tone of which is reminiscent of Johnny Marr’s work with Modest Mouse, gives the song’s chorus a boost of energy as the harmonised vocals yearn for knowledge of a lover’s deepest thoughts.

Final track, ‘Othello’, is the highlight of the E.P in my opinion. It manages to neatly encapsulate the band’s sound with a dark, almost gothic tone in places, a sinister, spidery guitar melody, a rolling bass line and rumbling drums. Once again your intrepid reviewer found himself in need of literary assistance minutes into the song – ‘querulant’ and ‘monomaniac’ anyone? A huge chorus complete with a wall of distorted guitar gives way to a bridge that finds the group at their most dramatic. The music rises to a high pitched crescendo before suddenly breaking down into a satisfyingly chunky riff as the rest of the band join in and take the song home.

As an introduction to Jekyll, ‘Wounds’ works extremely well. The production is crisp and sharp and the band are obviously a well-honed unit after four years of playing together. You can find more evidence of this at their live shows, such as the gig at Night & Day in Manchester earlier in the year which was reviewed by LSF here. For me, not really a fan of the histrionics of Muse, I was initially hesitant about Jekyll’s music on first listen, but on repeated plays the EP really opens up and reveals a band who are much more than just the sum of their influences.

Digital copies of ‘Wound’ available at https://jekyllofficial.bandcamp.com/releases
Physical Copies of the E.P. available at http://jekyllofficial.bigcartel.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JEKYLL-128051990595652/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jekyllband

Jekyll Band

LIVE REVIEW: Antony and Friends Concert, Central Methodist Church Todmorden, 21st November

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The last of these informal concerts for the year featured strings: Jonathan Whitehead on violin, Robin Pennie on viola, David Leys on cello, and Kate Findlay on double bass, together with Antony Brannick on piano who began with ‘3 Fantasiestucke’ by Schumann (Op 111), a piece with varying moods.

Bruch’s ‘Romanze in F major’ (Op 85) for viola was played sensitively but with some uncertainty. Schubert’s ‘Sonatina in D major’ (D384) was a bright and tuneful piece, well played. Last before the interval came a duo for cello and bass in D major by Rossini, who did not let the instrumentation get him down. The musicians brought out the positive and lively feeling of the piece.

The final performance was a triumph for all the musicians, including Antony Brannick’s sparkling piano – Schubert’s ‘Trout Quintet’ in A major (D667). A good finish to the season.

LIVE REVIEW: Halifax Concert Band Christmas Concert, Square Chapel Halifax, 16th December

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The Halifax Concert Band was formed in 1979 by former students of Highlands School, Halifax, and have played alongside The Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines, The Duke of Wellington’s Regimental Band and The Prince of Wales’ Own Regiment, as well as in France and Germany.

With a membership of 45 highly talented musicians the band perform a varied repertoire of music to cater for all tastes and occasions. This includes classical, popular, light and novelty items, as well as traditional marches. The band have released 3 CDs to date which are available from the band’s website: http://www.halifaxconcertband.co.uk/.

The musical director of the band, Christopher Binns is a Halifax born composer, conductor and author, and has been conductor of the band since 1996. Christopher was formerly the musical director of the Halifax Light Opera Society and chair of the Halifax Arts Council. He has written music for the Halifax Concert Band with some pieces specially composed to highlight the solo instrumental talents of members of the band. Christopher’s compositions have been performed widely and the band play some of Christopher’s own arrangements.

The concert started at 7:30pm and Christopher Binns came on to generous applause from the concert goers and launched into a routine of jokes that put everybody at ease and made for a light-hearted atmosphere.

The band began with a melody of carols which out the audience in the Christmassy mood for the rest of the night. The music was up-tempo, bright and played to a high standard with not a single note out of place. The band played enthusiastically and the changes from one carol to another carol during the melody were done seamlessly, which added to the enjoyment of the night.

The next part of the concert involved some audience participation with the singing of the first of the carols, ‘O little town of Bethlehem’. The audience sang enthusiastically and enjoyed being involved.

Another surprise in store for the audience was a raffle. Two of the band members drew seat numbers and there were two prizes. One prize was light-hearted such as a box of matches, and the other a more substantial prize such as some Christmas tree lights.

The concert then had some very special moments with firstly some superb solos in ‘The Prayer’ followed by a one-off performance from the Ladies Choir, conducted by Ann Bartholomew. This performance of ‘But I Give My Song’ was for this concert only and was sung so beautifully that the audience shouted for more! And the choir obliged with a repeat performance.

The concert continued with a mixture of Christmas classics and old favourites played to a very high standard of musicianship. At the end the audience shouted loudly for an encore and the band gave them a rousing performance of the ‘CanCan’ mixed with the ‘William Tell Overture’. The band finished with ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’, with everyone in the audience joining in.

All in all this was the perfect Christmas concert with classic songs performed by very talented musicians to a high standard. It was a event bursting with Christmas spirit and played in a professional but fun way. I highly recommend that you take up any opportunity to listen to the Halifax Concert Band live.

LIVE REVIEW: Don Broco, O2 Academy Leeds, 7th December

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Standing in a sea of people where almost every other person has a pint in their hand and is wearing dark clothing and moving to the heavy sound of alternative rock, forgive me for feeling a little out of place. As far as atmospheres go, I had never been to a gig quite like this one before.

After a string of festival slots over the summer, Don Broco – consisting of Rob Damiani (lead vocals), Matt Donnelly (drums and vocals), Simon Delaney (guitar) and Tom Doyle (bass) – took to the O2 Academy in Leeds as part of a line-up of intimate gigs in December.

The Bedford-based band was joined on tour by three support acts that each played about a 30 minute set. Symmetry took to the stage first, followed by Arcane Roots and finally Coasts. As each band came on, the crowd grew in size, making it clear who they had turned up to see. Saying that, each support act did their job well by warming up the crowd with their mix of pop-rock songs. I knew at that point that if they were anything to go by, we were in for something special with the headliners.

Don Broco most certainly didn’t disappoint. To kick off the set, they played ‘I Got Sick’ from their second studio album which was released in August 2015. Immediately bringing high volumes of energy, they most definitely rocked out on stage. It was difficult not to stand still as I found myself bobbing my head in time to the drum beat, guitar riffs and bass line.

Lead singer, Damiani, had the crowd in the palm of his hand throughout the show. Demonstrating his natural ability to control a room full of people as a good front-man should, he got the mass audience to crouch to their knees and jump up when the beat dropped during ‘Automatic’. Simultaneously, strobe lights bounced uncontrollably, reflecting the energy of the die-hard fans. I found myself singing along to the catchy lyrics of one of their biggest hits. Damiani later created a Mexican wave across the room, as well as encouraging a mob rave and a mosh pit.

As expected,, the band exited the stage after their main set, leaving everybody wanting more. Shortly returning for an encore, they ended the show with a slightly tamer track (in comparison to favourites like ‘Money Power and Fame’ and ‘You Wanna Know’). Purposely playing their newest single last, with the synth vibe on ‘Nerve’ blending well with their high vocal range, Don Broco demonstrated just how talented they are.

So although I arrived at the gig with barely any knowledge on this popular 4-piece (having only listened to a couple of preview tracks) I left with a new found love for a band that will certainly be making an appearance on my iTunes.

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