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VIDEO & TOUR NEWS: Jamie Lenman drops video for ‘Adamantium Rage’, November 2019 dates

30 Sep 2019

JAMIE LENMAN has released a video for ‘Adamantium Rage’, a track taken from his recently released covers album ‘Shuffle’. The track is a reinterpretation of the theme music from his favourite computer game, the 90’s coin-op classic ‘Wolverine Adamantium Rage’. In a bizarre twist of coincidence, Jamie had ACTUALLY tried to cover the same piece of music back in 1995, and recorded it on a tape cassette recorder.

“I’ve loved comics since I was very little and my first love was always batman, but when their excellent cartoon started in the 90s I became obsessed with the x-men, and wolverine was my favourite. I watched the show, I read the books and I played the games, which is where this theme is from.”

“The little girl in the video is very much my younger self, it’s definitely autobiographical. As a kid you’re powerless, but these heroes gave you power. The x men said, ‘that power is inside of you, waiting to come out’. It was a wonderful feeling and I’ll always love them for it.”

“We filmed it in my DOP’s home town, starring his daughter Flo. After some initial reluctance, she conquered her natural shyness and gave a stunning performance. Her dad says she hasn’t been the same since, and I’m sure the creators of those characters would be proud to know that they helped her find that power. She also managed to negotiate a twenty-pound acting fee, which is more than I’ve ever got for being in a music video!”

JAMIE LENMAN will also be heading out on tour in November on his ‘Shuffle’ UK run, with dates running from Nov 5th through to Nov 30th – ending at The Moth Club in London. Tickets are on sale now, support TBA soon.

JAMIE LENMAN UK headline dates (support TBA):

Tue 05 Nov – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
Wed 06 Nov – Birmingham, O2 Academy Birmingham 3
Thu 07 Nov – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
Mon 11 Nov – Bristol, Thekla
Tue 12 Nov – Cambridge, The Portland Arms
Wed 13 Nov – Southampton,The Joiners
Mon 18 Nov – Brighton, Patterns
Tue 19 Nov – Norwich, The Waterfront
Wed 20 Nov – Gloucester, Gloucester Guildhall
Sun 24 Nov – Edinburgh, The Caves
Mon 25 Nov – Newcastle, The Cluny
Tue 26 Nov – Manchester, The Deaf Institute
Sat 30 Nov – London, MOTH Club

ALBUM & TOUR NEWS: Amy Studt new album ‘Happiest Girl In The Universe’ out 4th October, dates October-December 2019

LSF Staff Writers

30 Sep 2019

Singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist, AMY STUDT has announced that she will release her eagerly awaited new album ‘Happiest Girl In The Universe’ via the Crocodile Laboratories label on the 4th October 2019.

‘Happiest Girl In The Universe’, recorded with Hatcham Social’s Toby Kidd, features eleven bold, intimate and heartfelt tracks including the singles ‘Sleepwalker’ and ‘I Was Jesus In Your Veins’ together with the albums eponymous titled closer . Haunting cinematic pop that recalls the drama of the late Scott Walker, the new long player is a narrative diary of depression, hope and redemption and is without doubt one of the most personal and innovative collection of songs that is likely to surface this year.

With parents who are both accomplished classical musicians, Amy Studt’s future as a performer was always inevitable and from an really early age she was a proficient pop musician, playing piano, oboe and guitar. A special talent, at a mere fourteen years of age she was signed to Simon Fuller’s roster of artists and then quickly picked up a deal with Polydor Records.

At sixteen she released her first single, ‘Just a Little Girl’ which charted at number 14 in the UK pop charts and reached number 1 on US radio play. Her second single ‘Misfit’reached number 6 and this was soon followed by her debut album ‘False Smiles’ which went on to sell 260,000 copies. Leaving Polydor in 2004 at the age of eighteen years, Amy stayed out of the public eye for a while, but in 2006 it was announced that she was working on a new album and she’d re-signed to Simon Fuller’s new 19 Entertainment Indie label. A new album ‘My Paper Made Men’ was released in 2008 and after a couple of more singles and the album becoming a cult collectors item, Amy again withdrew from the limelight to a cottage in the countryside.

Shying away from the spotlight and constant touring, she built her own recording studio and spent time playing the odd low-key show and writing and recording the songs that have eventually formed the ‘Happiest Girl In The Universe’ record. Returning with a darker and more soulful sound, she is one of the most innovative artists around and is creating some of the most beautifully and inspirational music in the UK right now.

A truly engaging live performer, Amy Studt recently played a triumphant ‘Sold Out’London show at Old St Pancras Church in July and will hit the road this Autumn for a string of live dates in support of ‘Happiest Girl In The Universe’ – full dates listed below.

DATES

October

5th – Elsewhere, Margate (In-Store)
9th – Victoria Dalston, London (Album Launch)
19th – Ventnor Exchange, Isle Of Wight (In-Store)

November

28th – Lending Room, Leeds
30th – LIVE, Wakefield

December

2nd – Hug & Pint, Glasgow (w/Penelope Isles)
3rd – The Castle, Manchester

ALBUM TRACKLISTING

01. ‘ I Was Jesus In Your Veins’
02. ‘Let The Music Play’
03. ‘ Sleepwalker’
04. ‘Overdose’
05. ‘The Water’
06. ‘One Is The Only Number’
07. ‘This Time’
08. ‘Different Coloured Pills’
09. ‘Violently With Love’
10. ‘Troubles Coming In’
11. ‘Happiest Girl In The Universe’

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Website: http://www.amystudt.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amystudtofficialmusic/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmyJaneStudt

Crocodile Records:

https://www.facebook.com/crocodileRCRDS
http://crocodilelaboratories.com/

EP REVIEW: Attic Attack – ‘Lostalgia’

Frank

30 Sep 2019

South Yorkshire’s Attic Attack are new to me. This is their debut EP. They play rock, rock in that classic rock way with a kind of bluesy edge at times. It reminds me of all sorts of good things from, what I might refer to, as my youth.

EP opener ‘P.Y.M.W.Y.M.I.’ sets out their stall. It’s heavy but it’s not heavy heavy. It has guitar solos that take me back, way back. The guitar is great. As are the vocals which are way up there in the mix people. But and this is crucial this track has a tune. It sounds – if I really have to say this, and my helpful friend told me I had to – a bit like a cross between Gillan (go look this up people) and Whitesnake, at least to my rather ancient ears.

OK so ‘Flow’ is a bit bluesier. Listening closely – which I do I promise, I always listen really closely to stuff I review – there’s some clever drumming touches going on. And in all its heaviness there’s tune. There is also a rather fantastic guitar solo. However it is with ‘Reverie’ that I’m somewhat surprised, for here is something with a kinda country rock feel. It’s a rather nice surprise, a great surprise, to be honest. This does have it’s heavier moments but they’re not jarring, in the context of what the band do they make sense. And there is a rather fab, and tasteful, solo.

EP closer ‘Face’ is a heavier thing based on a grinding riff. And although riffy it still has a tune. This is a great thing. I like a tune (I also like out and out noisey riffing rock but at times I like a tune OK?).

I’ve made what Attic Attack do sound completely retro – the clue is in my use of the phrase ‘classic rock’ if you didn’t pick this up – but this is isn’t entirely true. The thing is that with modern production techniques ‘classic rock’ doesn’t really sound like the rock that ‘classic rock’ is influenced by, it’s cleaner, it’s sharper sounding. It sounds a bit like it but, and this is true for Attic Attack, it obviously can’t help but be influenced by what came between then and now.

As an aside – present day classic rock sounds, as my helpful friend mentioned, how you remember rock back in the day sounding, but when you go back to it it doesn’t sound like that that at all. There were some things that at the time I thought of as being the heaviest things I’d ever heard but revisiting them they don’t sound that way at all. Sometimes this can be somewhat disappointing, to be honest.

Anyway aside over, back to the review. In that classic rock sound of the band I hear hints, small hints, of alternative rock. This gives what they do a modern edge.

I rather like this EP – the playing is great, the songs are fab. I rather like the fact that the band have resisted the temptation to freak out – and there are points in the tracks where they could do that – but instead have stuck to producing something that is heavy on the tunes. You like classic rock, you’ll love this.

VIDEO & SINGLE NEWS: Pretty Addicted drop video for new single ‘Mother’

Frank

27 Sep 2019

The first of three videos promised by the Dance-Punk outfit before their 2020 release of new album ‘Soul For Sale’, ‘Mother’ is a mix of dark, heavy bass, smash-hitting dance beats and Vicious’ signature harsh punk vocal style packed with so much attitude it could barely fit into 4 minutes!

It’s a dark taste of things to come from the self-proclaimed only Clown in the village and it should keep you HOOKED until album drop!

PA have had a great year, reaching 101% on their album crowdfunder thanks to their loyal train of “Crackheads”(fans) and they have played a stack of shows including a packed out room at this year’s Rebellion Punk Festival, making Devolution’s “Top 5 bands of the weekend”; them stating “Who would have thought that an act like Devolution favourites Pretty Addicted would find such a welcoming home among the spikey haired punks at Rebellion festival?.. it’s not really surprising the dance goth have found a home in Blackpool.”

SINGLE REVIEW: Brooders – ‘Mindfield’

Frank

27 Sep 2019

It’s a while since I reviewed a release from Brooders – ‘Down’ back in July – so I was looking forward to giving ‘Mindfield’ a spin. Was I disappointed, no way, no fucking way people.

In case you’re not up on Brooders, they describe what they do as psych-grunge. ‘Mindfield’ is perhaps slightly more on the psych side than the grungey heavy on the riff side of the band but it’s not a quiet thing. This thing has guitars to die for, guitars that are heavy on the fuzz. It kinda does that quiet loud thing, and in the quieter bits it’s psych to the max – weird noises, fx’ed vocals.

In fact this track soars, it has a building quality to it, a build that builds to noise – noise of guitars pushed to the max.

It drills its way into your head and sticks there, I have become addicted to the wash of sound, of noise.

This track is brilliant, it’s fantastic, get to it people.

The info

This single is supported by HELP MUSICIANS UK through their Do It Differently fund and will be the fifth single release of the year from the band with one more remaining to tie up their six-single year.

Talking about the new single, the band explained: “The song is a struggle between senses and sensibility. It screams to be heard but it’s like a tree falling alone in a forest. Mindfield is about thoughts and expression that come with an external perspective.

“In love and in life, sometimes you are blind to seeing that something is going wrong. It can be a very difficult thing to observe how twisted the world is becoming when you are truly wrapped up in a way of life that is very narrow sighted and seemingly normal. Sometimes you need to step back in order to see that you are becoming the very thing you work so hard not to become.

“Some say it’s difficult to speak your mind. So, let your mind do the speaking.”

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BroodersOfficial/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/BroodersBand
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/broodzbandz/
SPOTIFY: https://spoti.fi/2MefuAr

You can find out more about Help Musicians UK and what they do on their socials:

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/HelpMusiciansUK
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/HelpMusiciansUK
WEBSITE: https://www.helpmusicians.org.uk/about-us

SINGLE REVIEW: Sweetness – ‘Sing, Don’t Shout’

Frank

27 Sep 2019

A while back – it seems an age – I reviewed the band’s single ‘Pretty’ and was hugely impressed. I’m not disappointed by this release from band, hell no.

Sure this song has something of a Smiths’ thing going on, but there’s indie there as well. There is also a rather wonderful raggedness in what they do. Guitars are garage-y and also surf-y in places. The drums pound out a surf-y beat. The singer sings in a wild joyful way.

But when it drops out, and it does briefly, there is something rather pretty about that dropout. But it revs up again, those drums come in and pound, the guitar rushes in.

It has the feel of something recorded at the end of a wild rehearsal session. It has a perfect imperfectness. Sometimes you want your music on the edge, the ragged edge, of falling apart, and ‘Sing, Don’t Shout’ has that. I adore it for that.

It leaves you full of joy and smiling. And exhausted, if you feel moved to throw yourself around your room, and you will. And there is something good, really really good, about music that leaves you feeling like that, and this definitely does. Get on it, people.

TOUR NEWS: The Bluetones Autumn 2019 dates

LSF Staff Writers

27 Sep 2019

With their debut album ‘Expecting To Fly’ entering the charts at No.1 upon its release in 1996 (and going onto sell more than a million copies), two more Top 10 albums and thirteen Top 40 singles including the ‘Bluetonic’, ‘Slight Return’, ‘Marblehead Johnson’, ‘Solomon Bites The Worm’, ‘If’ and ‘Keep the Fires Burning’ have all contributed to cementing the band as one of the original Brit Pop pioneers.

The band’s members are Mark Morriss on vocals, Adam Devlin on guitar, Scott Morriss on bass guitar, and Eds Chesters on drums.

From Glastonbury to Top Of The Pops, The Bluetones did the lot and toured with everyone from Radiohead to Bruce Hornsby & The Rangebuilding up a worldwide fanbase. Finally, after playing more than 10,000 shows in more than 73 countries, they’re back for more.

The Bluetones are promising a sensational set of shows this November as they plunder their incredible body of work one more time, playing their most popular songs.

Catch The Bluetones live:

31-Oct-19 Glasgow The Old Fruitmarket
1-Nov-19 Carlisle Old Fire Station
2-Nov-19 Sheffield Leadmill
7-Nov-19 Birmingham O2 Institute 2
8-Nov-19 London Shephers’d Bush Empire
9-Nov-19 Leeds Stylus
14-Nov-19 Nottingham Rescue Rooms
15-Nov-19 Bristol Trinity Centre
16-Nov-19 Exeter Lemon Grove
21-Nov-19 Guildford Boileroom
22-Nov-19 Worthing St Paul’s Arts Centre
23-Nov-19 Norwich Waterfront
28-Nov-19 Leicester O2 Academy 2
29-Nov-19 Manchester O2 Ritz
30-Nov-19 Middlesbrough Town Hall

Tickets available via www.myticket.co.uk

FESTIVAL NEWS: Leeds’ big band queen Ivy Benson honoured at Marsden Jazz Festival

LSF Staff Writers

27 Sep 2019

When we think of big bands of the 1940s and 50s we might think of Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw – usually men. But in her day, Leeds musician Ivy Benson and her all-female swing band, Ivy Benson And Her All Girls Orchestra were as famous as all of them.

Ivy Benson rose to fame in the 1940s, topping the bill at the London Palladium and eventually becoming the BBC’s resident dance band leader in 1943. After Europe’s liberation in 1945, her band was specifically requested by General Montgomery to go and entertain the troops. Over the years, hundreds of women played in the orchestra.

Born in a pub in Holbeck, Benson’s father was a trombonist at the Leeds Empire and taught her to play the piano and clarinet. Her father had grand plans for her as a classical musician but as soon as she heard a Benny Goodman record she decided on a swing career and, while working in the Montague Burton factory in Leeds, she saved up to buy her first saxophone. She, reportedly, performed locally as “Baby” Benson.

Benson died in 1993 and in 2011 was commemorated with a blue plaque erected by Leeds Civic Trust in Cemetery Road, Holbeck.

The Crissy Lee Orchestra commemorates Benson and her music at this year’s Marsden Jazz Festival (11-13 October) in a special gig, A Tribute To Ivy Benson, on the Friday night.

Crissy Lee performed with Benson’s band for more than a decade as well as with names including Dinah Washington, Fats Domino, Tom Jones, Lulu and Eartha Kitt. Her own band The Beat Chics supported The Beatles on tour. More recently she led the Skinnerettes, the house band on the Frank Skinner Show.

Festival artistic director Barney Stevenson says, “We are thrilled to be welcoming drumming superstar Crissy Lee to Marsden. Since joining The Ivy Benson Dance Band at the age of 17, she has been at the top of her profession for six decades. Her hand-picked band, which includes sixteen of the finest female jazz musicians in the UK, including star vocalist Jacqui Hicks, promises to be absolutely spectacular.”

Crissy Lee Orchestra perform on the Concert Stage at the Parochial Hall as part of Marsden Jazz Festival on Friday 11th October, at 8pm.

Tickets: £25 general / £12.50 age 17-29 / £1 age 16 and under. Tickets can be purchased at http://marsdenjazzfestival.com or over the phone 0800 6125649.

COURSE NEWS: Gary Yershon Music Composing for Film Workshop – 11th-12th January 2020 – London

LSF Staff Writers

27 Sep 2019

This will be an exceptional opportunity to learn in a practical and interactive manner with Academy Nominated composer Gary Yershon, known for his work in Mike Leigh’s “Mr. Turner”, ” Happy-Go-Lucky” “Another Year”, “Peterloo” and “Topsy-Turvy”.

In this workshop you will have the chance to approach the different angles of what it takes to be a professional composer, how to guide your career in search of success and obviously how music score influences a film narrative, how the work in streamlines between the director and the composer, among many other topics.

This 2 complete days intensive workshop is strictly limited to a maximum of 25 participants, you’re advised to register fast to guarantee your place. The workshop fee is £459, but until the 4th of October there is a Discount of 33%, costing only £299. The workshop will take place in London, UK, on the 11th and 12th of January 2020.

For more information and to register please visit the workshop’s page here

ABOUT GARY YERSHON

Garyʼs career composing music for drama spans 40 years and encompasses scores for the leading UK theater companies, West End and Broadway productions, radio, television and film.

Gary was born in London in 1954. After graduating from Hull University, where he read Music and Drama, he sustained a career as an actor-musician until 1991, when he gave up the limelight to focus primarily on composing.

His theater scores include many for the Royal Shakespeare Company (where he is an Associate Artist), the National Theater, West End (including the English-language premieres of Yasmina Reza’s plays Art, The Unexpected Man, Life x 3 and God of Carnage) and Broadway (2009 Drama Desk nomination for The Norman Conquests). In 2016 he became an Associate Artist of the Old Vic Theater Company.

His is a regular collaborator of Mike Leigh. Their collaboration began with Topsy-Turvy (1999), on which Gary was musical director. Then came the scores for Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), Another Year (2010, gaining Gary a nomination as European Film Award Best Composer), the short film A Running Jump (2012), and Mr Turner (2014), for which Gary was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score, Ivor Novello Award, and an ASCAP Composer’s Choice award. He is currently working on Mr Leigh’s latest film.

Gary has written for BBC radio since 1979, his first appearances being as a singer-songwriter. Since then he has composed for many plays, including The Odyssey, Gawain and the Green Knight, The Theban Plays, The Winter’s Tale, The Eve of St Agnes, Three Men in a Boat, as well as the 2002 Sony-award winning Autumn Journal. For Radio 3 he translated and dramatised Pushkin’s Ruslan and Lyudmila, and contributed a new work, Orwell on Kipling, for the arts magazine programme The Verb.

TV work ranges from detective drama (Trial and Retribution IX & X) through theme music (The Heritage Game, The Good Neighbour Show) to children’s cartoon series (James the Cat, Painted Tails, Ebb and Flo).

For dance, his work includes Get A Move On (1994), choreographed by Jonathan Lunn at the New Performance Gallery, San Francisco; and Ma Vie En Rose (2007) choreographed by Ayse Tashkiran, directed by Pete Harris, at the Young Vic theatre, London; and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2017) for Northern Ballet, choreographed by Daniel de Andrade.

Gary curates and presents OscarⓇ Scores at the Barbican Arts Centre in London. He also works as a writer, translator, musical director and teacher.

Participant Profile:

The workshop is designed for Music composers, Musical Directors, Arrangers, Directors, Producers, or anyone interested in entering the Film Business in the music department.

Duration: 2 days,
Dates: 11th – 12th of January 2020
Location: London

CONCERT NEWS: The London Philharmonic Skiffle Orchestra to appear at Halifax Minster

LSF Staff Writers

24 Sep 2019

Fans of high energy music and comedy are in for a real treat when The London Philharmonic Skiffle Orchestra perform in the unique surroundings of the Halifax Minster during this years’ Halifax Comedy Festival on Thursday 24 October at 7:30pm.

The London Philharmonic Skiffle Orchestra promises an energetic, colourful, bizarre, tuneful and hilarious evening of musical entertainment incorporating a wealth of instruments, costume changes and numerous props. To the band the word ‘skiffle’ means ‘anything goes’, as long as it is musical, entertaining and fun. And it will always be full of surprises.

The band comprises four very talented comedy musicians all playing very unique instruments! Mike Martin will be on vocals, guitar, banjo, harmonica, ukulele and horse. Martyn Oram will be vocals, violin, mandolin, guitar, bouzouki, knee trumpet and frog. Captain Cabbage is vocals, washboard, suitcases, percussion, trumpet, saw, harmonica, accordion, dog, chicken and elephant. The Right Horrible Ronald Regan and vocals, double bass, sousaphone, trumpet, bagpipes and pig!

In addition to Britain, they have wowed festival audiences in Finland, Norway, Belgium, Denmark and Germany. Their individual experiences range from appearances on the Benny Hill Show, Kenny Everett Show, Eastenders, Vernon Kay’s ‘Five O’Clock Show’, Little & Large Show and StarWars to performing in Barnums Circus (USA).

The Minster Church of St. John the Baptist Halifax in the heart of Calderdale was built over 900 years ago. The Minster is steeped in history and today remains a place of worship and prayer, a place of hospitality and learning and a centre for mission and pastoral care. Halifax Minster promises to be a very unique setting for the Orchestra playing songs such as Learn the washboard ! Suffer canine constipation ! and Polka with a horse, frog, snake and pig!

Tickets are available from £12.50. Purchase tickets online, www.victoriatheatre.co.uk, or by calling the Box Office on 01422 351158