As you may know I like my indie-rock – when I like it, come on people you know indie-rock is not my favourite sort of thing – to be raucous and ideally raw. York based band The Receivers, if this release is anything to go by, do that. Actually they do rather more than that, and it’s the other stuff that is the icing on the cake.
I was hooked from the opening fuzzed up guitar, the swaggering musical attitude, the wonderful looseness. I say looseness but it’s on the edge of ragged and full of that ‘not giving a damn’. And then there’s the vocals which come with built in sneer, a certain punky disdain.
But wait people, there is more. There is at the heart of this song a tune that is infectiously earwormy. There is an ear for what I might label – if I was so inclined, which I’m not often – as pop sensibility. It has that pop edge which doesn’t overwhelm that swagger, that attitude, and this is a very good thing.
Sometimes all I need, and I know you do too, is 2½ minutes of sheer musical joy, a blast of guitar, a tune you can sing along to, a beat you can throw some wild shapes to, and ‘Only Human’ is that. Get on it!
Unfortunately, it seems the repercussions of COVID are going to impact the music industry for some time to come. People and brands have had to try and adapt to keep working, keep engaging and to keep the lights on. What does Bear Grills say? “Adapt, improvise, survive.” Camens are doing just that and are striding optimistically into the ‘new normal’.
When a summer of festivals, an EP release tour and a number of hometown shows went out the window back in March, so did all the ticket sales, gig fees and merch sales that would’ve come with them.
Without this money, funding studio time, rehearsal rooms and everything else that comes with running a band and releasing music became very difficult. For four working-class lads from Stoke-on-Trent, this was never going to be sustainable.
It was at this point that the band began work on what would become the brand new subscription-based content platform ‘AMBASSADORS OF CAMENS’.
The basic premise was that they use the time normally spent gigging and preparing for gigs to make exclusive content in exchange for a monthly contribution from subscribers and fans.
This idea continued to evolve over the summer and resulted in a carefully thought out subscription fan club with a choice of 5 different tiers of membership. Starting at just £1.99 a month, each tier gives access to an increasing amount of exclusive content along with many other perks and benefits. Everything from live-streamed gigs, to Q+As, money off merch, handwritten lyrics, new original music, and much more! The top tier (£99.99 per month) even includes members of the band coming around to cook your dinner and mow your lawns!
Camens launched AOC on August 3rd 2020, making the announcement with a new ‘lockdown cover’ video of Ezra Furman’s ‘Love You So Bad’ followed by a post-credits piece to camera talking everyone through the new endeavour.
Singer and Bassist Scott Powell said “Thankfully, the initial response has been fantastic. We’ve had so much love and support from fans home and abroad. Some even as far away as Los Angels, California and even Mexico! It’s been genuinely humbling to see the support our fans have shown to help us through this difficult time so we can continue being a band and creating music and content.”
Everybody who signs up gets an exclusive AOC welcome merch bundle. This includes a keyring bottle opener, badge, certificate, signed photo, personal thank you postcard and stickers! And who doesn’t love stickers!?
“We began to post bundles out this week and seeing them land through letterboxes around the world has to be one of the most rewarding experiences we have had as a band so far. Every day we get tagged on Instagram or Facebook in pictures of our new Ambassadors proudly displaying their new merch!”
The band’s plan now is to invest the contributions made by fans back into making brand new music and content for AOC and for general release.
Drummer Luke Brightmore said “We want this to grow and become a real community of Camens and music fans alike. New exclusive content has already been added to our subscribers-only feed and with a steady income stream we’re able to plan ahead and move forwards as a band again and are already planning studio dates for the end of the summer.”
Camens, who released their most recent single ‘Leave Me In Pieces’ in April 2020 along with a video created during the early days of lockdown, say they have so much more to come and are simply excited to kick on and grow – hopefully in a world where we hear a lot more new music and as little of the ‘C’ word as possible!
CLUE and CPWM Indie Label Market - Scott (R) + Tony (L)
In the face of very uncertain times for the music industry, Leeds based Clue Records are hoping to add some positivity, bucking the trend of record labels calling it a day and flying the flag for the music industry in the North of England.
The merger came after Clue Records’ label boss Scott Lewis joined Leeds based artist development organisation Come Play With Me which is run by Hatch Records boss Tony Ereira. A mutual love of Leeds based genre tourists Team Picture and discussions around a split release of their debut album on Clue and Hatch led to Tony floating the idea of Clue and Hatch combining. They haven’t looked back since, with a number of new releases due in 2020 and some other exciting ideas being discussed for the coming years.
When asked about the merge, Scott said “It’s a strange thing to be growing the label in this way, not something I ever really anticipated but it’s good that it’s happened naturally. In our relationships with acts we’ve released, it’s always been about being supportive, open and honest as a basis of working together. With me and Tony working together on other things, we’d already worked each other out so it felt like a natural fit! I’m really excited to see where we can go with the label and what we can do”
Tony explains “Running Hatch over the years has been a lot of fun and we’ve been fortunate to work with some great artists that we were really into. It’s hard work though! Since I started working with Scott on CPWM we came to realise that the ethos of both labels was very similar and this seemed to be a really logical progression for us both. We’ve admired a lot of the Clue bands from afar so are well excited to start working with them all now, scouting for more artists and being part of a bigger label working alongside some of the other excellent indies around the country!”
Clarifying what the merger means Scott explained that “Yeah, it’s just gonna be Clue from here on out to keep things nice & simple. Felt like a close enough fit and makes sense to focus all energy into one place”
The first release on the ‘new’ Clue Records was ‘The Menace Of Mechanical Music’, the debut album from Team Picture.
I couldn’t resist asking Scott about some of the plans for the ‘new’ Clue, “Aye, why not eh! We’ve got a new EP from Van Houten coming soon, a new signing to announce (although we can’t mention any more than that as there are other parties involved) and we turn 8 in November so we may revisit our 2012 singles club Clue Club idea but with more of a fan club type approach. Once things are happening, you’ll be first to know!”.
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I asked what was going to be happening to the existing Hatch releases – in particular the series of Wedding Present releases, “They’ll be ‘Hatch Heritage’ releases, we want to make sure we’re reflecting that Hatch released some amazing stuff. They’ll be made available through Clue soon, adding some of the releases from The Wedding Present and others to our online store”.
Clue Records probably needs no introduction to most of you, but for those of you playing catch-up. The label have released music from the likes of YOWL, Crushed Beaks, Team Picture, Avalanche Party, Van Houten
The label was started in 2012 by Scott Lewis and Ste Langton who had been friends since school. Born and bred in Stockton-on-Tees in the North East of England, they moved to Leeds at different times but ended up living together in 2007. They have often tried to skew what is expected of a traditional record label, releasing items including a pulling cracker + running Clue Club, a zine based monthly singles club, throughout 2017. Scott and Ste also host a monthly show on Amazing Radio, showcasing the best new music.
Clue have also been selected as one of four labels to receive support as part of Independent Label Market’s mentor scheme. This will include workshops, stalls at label markets and more
Hatch: The basics
Hatch was formed in the summer of 2013 out of the ashes of Brew Records by Tony Ereira and Simon Glacken (ILikePress, For The Lost PR). Hatch released music from The Wedding Present, Nine Black Alps, Then Thickens, Napoleon IIIrd and more
In recent years Hatch has released a series of session albums from one of Tony’s favourite bands, Leeds very own semi-legendary The Wedding Present, recorded for Marc Riley + Huw Stephens. Fittingly, the 33rd + final Hatch release will be a very special limited edition pale blue 7” vinyl from The Wedding Present entitled ‘Shaun Keaveny Session’, released on Record Store Day’s new 26th September 2020 date.
Magick Mountain are Lins Wilson from Grammatics and Mother Vulpine, Tom Hudson of Pulled Apart By Horses, and Nestor Matthews of Sky Larkin and Menace Beach.
Magick Mountain recorded the album over the course of 18 months at home, in rehearsals, and during limited hours at recording studios with producers Margo Broom and James Kenosha.
‘Weird Feelings’ tracklist:
1. Bart Cobain
2. Zodiac
3. Cherokee
4. Brown Bread
5. Stranger Danger
6. Colossus
7. Dream Chaser
8. Infinity X2
9. King Cobra
10. The Shitty Beatles
11. The Creeper
‘Infinity X2’ comes with a video, a collaboration between the band and Josh Brownrigg. The band say “It was self-filmed in our practice space, which involved metres of gaffa-hung green fabric, make-shift tripods, a last minute lighting ‘rig’ and a state of the art spinning cam courtesy of a 1980s’ record player and phone holder.
“After Magick Mountain bassist/artman Tom Hudson edited the footage, we handed over the reins to Josh to work his glitchy visual sorcery, using analogue video synthesisers to experiment with tripped-out trails and create the mega fuzzed-up aesthetic. With its blues, deep purples, corals and pinks complimenting Tom’s cover artwork for the single, the video becomes part of the overall visual and sonic onslaught brought to you by Magick Mountain.”
If you’ve read my review of The Attic Movement’s debut single – ‘Leave The Car’ – you’ll know that this song is guaranteed to leave me in a sobbing heap on the sofa or floor (and if you didn’t know that you’d better read that review). Given that, even though it leaves me sobbing, I love the original it was with some trepidation that I approached this remix.
A remix, I think anyway, should bring something new to a song both musically and emotionally. This remix does that.
Musically it turns it into a big banging synth-ish pop song, a dance track, a song that makes it impossible not to dance to. It’s taken the vocals and done something almost magical – voices twist and turn, intertwine in layers. There are more of LIO’s vocals, and that is a good thing. There are soaring sections, there are poppy boppy sections, it just never stops.
But what’s more interesting to me is that somehow in doing this to the track, it’s become something else emotionally. There is more emphasis on the lyrics ‘it gets easier in time’, and that along with the soaring synth-ish dance beat turns it into a song of hope, there is a chance you can be healed, you can leave the heartbreak behind and soar.
And that for me doesn’t make a remix but a new song. I love this, and I love the original. They not only provoke different emotions but tell different stories. And that is something I’ve never heard a remix do.
And look, even if you don’t get that, this is one banging dance track. It compels you to throw wild shapes around the room. Turn it up loud, prepare to get up and get down, go wild.
RADARS are new to me. They come from Hull, play hard-ish indie rock, and that is about all I know. As you may know indie-rock is one of those types of music that I sometimes have a bit of a problem with. But RADARS had me won over in seconds with this track.
RADARS’ take on indie-rock is guitar heavy, it’s close to hard rock, it’s raucous. And this I love. But I also love the fact that this song has a tune to die for, a tune that bores its way into your ears and then into your head, AND that it’s so bloody danceable, this thing has your feet tapping, it makes you want to get up and dance. It leaves you with a huge grin on your face.
The band say that they want this to become a song that people dance to kitchens with their mates and in clubs and venues, one of those songs that you all mime along to, and possibly belt out the chorus. And it does that, honest it does.
This is the band’s fourth single, and that’s amazing, it’s amazing that RADARS can make something like this after just four releases. This is a band who show huge promise, and this is a big statement of where they are going musically. Frankly I’m holding my breath for the next one..
The info
RADARS are an indie-rock quintet from Hull who were formed in late 2019, and consist of singer Jack, guitarists Dave and Sam, bassist Calvin and drummer Joe.
Drawing inspiration from Two Door Cinema Club, Foals and The Vaccines. RADARS combine a danceable 2000s indie-pop sound with distinctive guitar driven rock to fill dancefloors.
I really like Concrete Armbands. They’re unpredictable and eclectic. You never quite know what to expect from a release. You know it’s going to be fabulously put together, and brilliantly played but that’s about it. It’s an adventure, clicking play on one of their songs.
Seeing the title of this song, I thought it could either be some sort of tribute to the band of the same name – unlikely but you never know – or about the medication – more likely. It is the latter of course. Now I have a mixed feeling about songs about prescription drugs – one that oddly I don’t share about songs about ‘recreational drugs’ – in that once a drug gets to the stage where bands are writing songs about it, it’s reached some sort of ‘cult’ status which doesn’t reflect it’s actual usefulness as medication for certain conditions. In the case of Sertraline, this mixed feeling is intensified because I take it for my own mental health condition.
But enough of my personal life, let’s talk about the song.
Concrete Armbands are in heavy mode on this track. It sounds like a mix-up of grunge and, oddly, math-rock. It either grinds out heavy guitar riffs, is bright and stabby, or does that strummed guitar to heaviness that grunge does. In one of my previous reviews I said that their song sounded a bit like a heavy Sparks, and that’s what this song does sometimes.
So like all Concerte Armbands’ songs it does that ‘take a genre, then throw in something that is jaw-droppingly unexpected’.
The combined effect of this is to make something that basically makes you want to throw yourself around a room in an utterly mad way It is, as you’d expect, brilliantly put together and played.
I did make myself listen to the words, well the ones I could work out (honestly I listened on repeat for ages doing this). I’m uncertain as to whether the lyrics come out in favour of the drug, or condemn it for becoming as ubiquitous as say Prozac. There’s a kind of dual voice thing going on to be honest which may actually reflect both of these. Alternatively I may have the wrong end of the stick entirely.
While I may be uncertain about the words, I’m not uncertain about it musically. I love it musically and that kind of outweighs my uncertainty about the words. This might appear shallow of me, but as I said I can’t really work what the words say in totality; so I can neither condemn or approve on a personal level.
The problem is that musically I’ve become rather addicted to this – the heaviness, the light and shade, the grinding guitar. I find myself drawn to it compulsively. Musically it’s that good, it’s brilliant.
Church of Non Believers are from Hull, and that’s about all I know. OK so strictly I’m not being honest here – I also know that they mix up lots of different sorts of music into ‘their thing’. I know this not only from the information I was able to glean from their Soundcloud Page but because I listened to all of the tracks on there.
The impression I got of these was that they do music that has a certain darkness to it, a certain moodiness. There’s an influence of post-punk electronica and, dare I say it, a hint of something Goth.
‘Cover Your Mouth’ has something of a more pop sound – dark-pop of course, but it’s musically deceptively simple and has a lovely tune.that flows out of the speakers in an oh-so smooth way. I say deceptively simple because this is music that has a lot going on, there are layers and layers of sounds that compel you to dig down into them.
But when you start to listen harder, you begin to hear sonic indicators that this song isn’t quite the smooth dark-pop song you may at first think it is. There are sounds that have you on edge.
And before you jump to conclusions this song isn’t about the current virus situation. I say you but I mean me, because I did when I first saw the title. Instead, as the band explain, the song is about‘ a future where words and speaking have been banished’.Although thinking about it the face coverings thing does restrict our ability to communicate verbally effectively, so perhaps it is about the current situation in some way. And at times it feels like we are in some sort of dystopia near future. The dystopian feel of the music reflects this.
Now it is at this point where I’m going to say, as you might have guessed, that this track has something of a retro feel to it. A feel that lies in the late 70s and early 80s. For me I hear hints of things I know but the thing is that the band use these as a starting point, not the end point.
Over the couple of weeks I’ve had access to this I’ve become bewitched by it, I’ve been seduced by it. This musical love affair has turned into something bigger, I adore this band.
This is a wonderful release that is rich in sonic reward, from a band doing their own thing, their own very special thing..
The info
Church Of Non Believers are a Hull based band who continue to mesh various musical genres from electronic to funk, from rock to country and from blues to pop to help create their unique and alternative post-rock style. Their marriage of eclectic sounds, idiosyncratic lyrics and challenging subject matter continues to evolve.
Deeaay Harrison – vocals
Phillip Mower – keyboards, guitars
Carlos Pires – guitars
James Ranson – keyboards
There are times when I’d prefer not to review something. When I could just tell you to listen to something and experience how wonderful a song is, without telling you how it sounds or why it’s so wonderful. This is one of those times.
The problem is that Faux Pas asked me really nicely to review the song and, that being my job and because I’m easily swayed by people being nice, I agreed. But I’d rather not because that’s going to ruin it for you. You’ll miss out on my experience the first time I listened to it. So if you’d like to experience that I’m going to give you the opinion of skipping to the embedded Spotify stream at the bottom of this review now. However if you’d like to read what I think about the track then you have the option of reading on. I want you to think about this, think about it hard.
Right so have you thought about this properly? This is almost your last chance to go right to hearing the song.
So for those of you that have decided to read on, here’s the review.
First, this is an alternative version, I’ve heard the, let’s call it the non-alternative version and it’s fab, it’s different, it’s gorgeous in it’s own way. If you’re lucky you might get to hear the non-alternative version.
‘Gorilla Man’ is a tribute, a tribute to Ru’s father. Ru says “Okay this track is about the greatest man I will ever know. Being completely blunt, the song is about honesty. At a time when I was in a particularly grey frame of mind, I spent a little while reflecting on some of the beautiful relationships I have had the privilege to experience. This song is my way of giving thanks to my father Andy, someone who poured an immeasurable amount of love into my childhood.
“I found myself feeling completely absorbed with fascination for his character whilst my grandmother (his mother) was in hospital. I was truly humbled and given an incredible lesson as to what it means to be a good son. As I played around with some ideas, one in particular had an innocence that brought me back to my childhood, and to my relationship with Andy. I didn’t come up with anything particularly complex in either the instrumental or the vocal, this simplicity breathes vulnerability into the track. These elements combine to ensure the message of acknowledging the struggle of those you love, whilst showing gratitude to them for the joy they have given you is infectiously poignant from the very first listen”.
It’s at this point I’m going to ruin your first listen to the song, so it’s your last and final chance to skip to the Spotify stream.
Ru
For those of you that know Faux Pas, you’ll know that they do loud alternative punky music. And that was what I expected, and love about them.
A slight aside: It took me a while to get into Faux Pas, they grew on me. The first time I saw them I wasn’t sure. Then gradually I started to like them. And then the last time I saw them in Manchester I fell totally in love with the band.
So the song starts quietly – just simple guitar. And then Ru’s vocals come in, emotional, heartfelt. You expect it to build to something louder, something dirtier at some stage but the longer it goes on, you realise that it isn’t going to. That this is a ballad, a quiet heartfelt ballad. You realise that this song is an honest, intimate expression of Ru’s love and admiration for his father. So honest are the lyrics that it’s actually hard to listen to, that level of emotion is almost overwhelming.
So now you know why I didn’t want to tell you what this sounds like. I didn’t want to ruin the experience of hearing it without having one idea of what it might sound like. I wanted you to be a state of wonderment at quite how poignant, emotional and incredibly beautiful this song is. And at the same time surprised at how it’s not what you expected to hear from Faux Pas.
I hope that this hasn’t ruined your first listen too much. At the risk of repeating myself this is beautiful, it’s moving, it reaches into your heart, your soul.
The info
To accompany this release, in lieu of live shows, Faux Pas present an Official Music Video, a BBC Introducing live session, a nostalgic marketing campaign and a short merch run of patches raising funds for the NHS, in response to recent nurse and frontline worker strikes against an absence in pay rise, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Joe Strummer’s birthday, Friday 21st August at 8:00 PM UK time, the music and arts community is coming together for a global event to celebrate Joe Strummer’s legacy as a solo musician and singer of The Clash.
Produced by Jesse Malin, Jeff Raspe and Joe Strummer estate manager, David Zonshine, A Song for Joe: Celebrating the Life of Joe Strummer will be a two-hour event that will stream for free at JoeStrummer.com, with all donations benefiting Save Our Stages.
The night will be hosted by Jesse Malin and will feature never before seen live footage of Strummer, alongside special performances and testimonials by many of the former Clash front man’s friends and peers.
“To see so many musicians and artists come forward to honour Joe is really touching,” says Joe’s wife Lucinda Tait. “Community was always important to him. Whether it was playing music with friends, organising all night campfires, or hijacking festivals, Joe was always focused on bringing people together. Even though we can’t all be in the same room together, I cannot think of a better way for us all to feel united. Joe would have loved this.”
“This tribute to Joe is not only a great way to honour him, but to also remind people how important his message is right now,” adds Malin.
A Song for Joe: Celebrating the Life of Joe Strummer
Joe Strummer (never before seen live footage)
Albert Hammond Jr.
Beto O’Rourke
Bob Gruen
Bob Weir
Brian Fallon
Bruce Springsteen
Butch Walker
Cherry Glazerr
Craig Finn & Tad Kubler (The Hold Steady)
Dave Hause
Dhani Harrison
DJ Scratchy
Dropkick Murphys
Eugene Lutz (Gogol Bordello)
Frank Turner
HR (Bad Brains)
Hinds
The Interrupters
Jesse Dayton
Jesse Malin
Jim Jarmusch
Joe Ely
Josh Cheuse
Josh Homme
Lucinda Williams
Lyza Jane
Matt Dillon
Nikolai Fraiture
Ray Gange (Rude Boy)
Richard Dudanski (101ers)
Sara Driver
Shepard Fairey
Spider Stacy (The Pogues)
Steve Buscemi
Tom Morello
+ very special guests
Save Our Stages
The mission of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) is to preserve and nurture the ecosystem of independent live music venues and promoters throughout the United States. NIVA is making a final push to Congress to pass the Save Our Stages Act and the Restart Act in order to keep independent venues nationwide from closing permanently.
Gates of the West
Jesse Malin & Jeff Raspe created Love It To Life and the Gates Of The West shows to bring together some of the best musicians and celebrate the music of Joe Strummer and The Clash. Every show is a benefit for The Joe Strummer Foundation, Music & Memory and other charities. The six sold-out shows to date, have featured many special guests performing songs written and performed by Strummer and The Clash.
The info
The info
