Rob Wheeler appeared on stage for his acoustic set to an excited crowd no doubt waiting to see the local lad perform. Rob was accompanied on stage for his 9 songs set by Stephen Tams on keyboards & Elizabeth Birks on backing vocals, he played a mixture of songs from his debut album 'Little Ghosts Full Of Songs' from last year & his new album 'Luxury of Time' that will be released early next year.
Read MoreThere is nothing better than a well-constructed and immaculately curated package tour and tonight's sludgetastic double header of Corrosion of Conformity and Orange Goblin is made even more appetizing by the inclusion of cult stoners Fireball Ministry and Leeds’ Black Moth. The latter are shoved on ten minutes after opening and initially have a mere smattering of a crowd, which is a shame as this is slick doom done remarkably well.
Read MoreThe gifted Marcus King Band play to a sold out Night and Day Cafe tonight. Punching well above his years Marcus King is already a star with blues music lovers due to his exceptional guitar prowess. His debut album ‘Soul Insight’, released in 2015 had all and sundry getting their knickers in a twist due to his age, 19 years old, being too young for the quality of the songs on that release. Strong connections with Warren Haynes (produced their second album, The Marcus King Band) and Derek Trucks from the Tedeschi Trucks Band who King opened for on TTB Wheels of Soul Tour in 2018 gave the band much needed exposure.
Read MoreI am often struggling to comprehend if we will ever have decent motorways in the U.K. I had it all planned and set off earlier than most occasions but the gods of travel decided otherwise tonight. After having spent an hour stuck on the M57, it became quickly apparent that no matter what, I would be a no show for the supporting act, Kansas City based electro-deathcore fusion item The Browning. Being always on the look out for new bands and missing out on support acts makes my blood boil and must admit that screaming a few times in my car was more than therapeutic.
Eventually, I made it to the Academy Club in Manchester on a rather busy night for a Monday. The Student Union building reception is surrounded by over-emotional youth bringing drama to the scene as ambulance staff arrives for reasons unknown.
Read MoreWayward Sons marks the second (or to be honest third or even fourth) musical coming of former Little Angels frontman Toby Jepson. Their debut album ‘Ghosts of Yet to Come’ emerged last year and was an enthusiastic and passionate collection of well-crafted and highly charged heavy rock songs. Live they display that same energy, lust for life and authenticity that made their first album stand out from the crowd.
Read MoreIn your mind’s eye draw what you think the stereotypical Hoxton dwelling uber hipster looks like and voila you have Gold Keys. They wander on stage giving the distinct impression they are about to accept an award for creating the trendiest of trendy hairstyles or the hoppiest craft beer ever and then precede to be rather subdued Radiohead copyist. I was expecting vim and vigour but what we do get is, to be brutally honest, rather dull.
Read MoreOver the course of an hour and a half Evil Scarecrow provide one of the most enjoyable stage shows I have seen this year. There are more props and special effects than most Sci-fi movies and yes its more Plan 9 from Outer Space than Star Wars but that’s part of the charm. We get battling robots, drumming skeletons, aliens, UFO’s, massive slugs, NASA spacemen, robotic crabs, one of those huge inflatable men you get outside car showrooms and guest appearances from Link of Legends of Zelda and Chun-Li from Street Fighter 2. They may all have been lovingly created with Papier-Mache and sticky back plastic in someone’s garage but the effort that Evil Scarecrow go to make their show a riot of colourfulness and wackiness puts most other more ‘serious’ bands to shame.
Read MoreEnslaved and High on Fire make for interesting tour bedfellows. The former are the thinking person’s Black Metal band. Pedalling an intricate, complex and subtle take on a musical genre that can be rather harsh and one dimensional. On the other hand High on fire are the drinking persons Doom band, offering up a guttural, primitive and brutally direct take on what an often be an introspective genre.
Read MoreDue to children and trains I miss the first ten minutes of openers Inter Arma, given that they manage to traverse a good twenty-odd genres and musical touchstones in the four tracks I do see (it could have been six, they did rather blur into each other), I could have easily missed their takes on Nu-country, Bolivian folk and Hi-NRG dance. What I do see is a collusion of Doom, Black, Post and Prog metals with a splash of Faith No More and generous glug of Pantera. It's not bad at all and the introspective Prog breakdowns (which see vocalist Mike Paparo reverentially kneel in front of the drum kit) makes it stand out from other identikit Blackened Doom acts I could mention.
Read MoreI’d literally just clicked send on the Just Eat order, the anticipation of a large chicken kebab swirling around the axions and synapses. Was I droolin? Then that little ping and a blue message “I’m on my way”. What? Why are you on your way? What purpose? I check the ROCKFLESH calendar, clear as a bell, Oct 1st - Sons of Apollo. I quickly throw a t-shirt and hoodie on and dive out. Johann’s late for a gig I thought was tomorrow. He roars down the street, I’m already missing the kebab. The rain has turned the roads black, slick and shiny. Distorted brake lights multiplied in the windscreen. After a few death defying, maybe law breaking manoeuvres, we are at the familiar side street in Manchester city centre. The Academy 2 is the epitome of a box auditorium. It looks like a glorified Punch and Judy stand.
Read MoreA midweek gig in Manchester on a Tuesday Champions League soccer night is always a blessing for me. When one half of the city is in a stadium and the other glued to their TV screens to watch guys chasing after a ball, it generally means getting there should be a doddle. But for live bands, Tuesdays are more of a predicament and as I get through the door of Rebellion, tonight is no exception for the Cambridge quintet The Treatment who is halfway through its UK tour.
Read MoreFinally reaching the third installment of live music this week, I head tonight to the Arts Club in Liverpool City Centre. I had been there recently, attending the Russian World Cup troublemakers Pussy Riot. But this evening the performance is set in the smaller and more intimate room up the stairs; Jaret Reddick’s 5 U.K. shows Heartache & Hilarity tour or in other words '‘songs on acoustic and a few stories in between’.
Read MoreIt’s the second part of a trilogy of live rock viewings this weekend and tonight I am heading to Hangar 34 in Liverpool for the djent founding father SikTh. Situated in the middle of the rejuvenated Baltic Triangle, the venue lends itself well to the dance scene happening most weekends. Now that our familiar rock venue, the Krazyhouse has closed its doors and is unlikely to be developed into a new rock club, Hangar 34 have recently taken up the mantle by picking up the occasional metal gigs here in scouse land.
Read MoreThe red Audi screeches to a stop outside my door. I jump in, Johann is drumming the steering wheel. He is super excited and roars up the road. Manchester can’t come soon enough. I’d already been warned that Europe are a first love. Still integrity and all that. No one is fast enough and Manchester’s myriad of perma-road works aren’t helping. Doors open at 7:00pm so a 7:30 kick off isn’t unlikely and there is the usual gauntlet of getting in to run. The Academy has a large pool of staff so we don’t get recognised as press quite so quickly. There is also the matter of the little jaunt between parking and entry. All aforementioned problems evaporate, a smooth entry and we are at the bar. King King are due to start at 8:00pm. This is the start of Europe’s European tour.
Read MoreWe’re in Wales, well Buckley, on a wet Saturday night on what feels like the start of winter. The accents in the queue are thick with wool. Why the queue? Technical difficulties are holding back the doors. I always wonder why they don’t just let us in, they’re not keeping a secret from us. We know how bands sound check. The bar is still working.
Johann is nervous, I missed the deadline for last review, by some way, a gig I requested. There is talk of interlopers, a support slot for the headlining act. I don’t blame him, I’m a naturally lazy fucker and he’s not. I must be a pain in the arse to know.
With no particular expectations as to what the evening may bring, I am, tonight travelling down the M56 to the Tivoli in Buckley. Once again, as well as photographing I am back on penning duties. Rock writers these days are as unpredictable in their delivery as a deal for Brexit.
Blaze Bayley is currently on a 4 date mini UK tour before heading for the continent, showcasing his latest release “The Redemption of William Black”, the final instalment of the trilogy “Infinite Entanglement”. Blaze Bayley is infamous for being the guy who was a lead singer for a decade in the band ‘Wolfsbane’ with no notable success (compared with his peers of the late 80s). That is, until Blaze got to be that guy who was picked to replace Bruce Dickinson; Iron Maiden lead singer during the mid 90s Just for a couple of albums whilst Bruce Dickinson was going through a bit of a midlife crisis, being an airline pilot, writer in no particular order. Anyway, I digress.
Read MoreSo with jaunty anticipation, I bounded into Johann’s car knowing only one thing, tonight’s gig is in The ‘Pool'. Normally we find ourselves hurtling against time to get to Manchester, not tonight. A quick stroll of the Audi’s ever aging frame and we are in the city. Heebie Jeebies has seen a few radical transformations. The early nineties saw it as a Jazz bar, replete with stoned philosophy students and blues clarinet players. As the city’s nightlife boomed into the early 2000’s it became another student gaff with no discernible musical direction. So it is with tremendous relief that we come to see EBGBs has transformed into a rock and metal bar. The upper, main bar is decorated sparcely in the saloon style. While beneath the street lurks a brick bare cavern. It’s a fantastic venue for live music that could easily measure up to Rebellion given time. The show started at 7:30.
Read MoreIt’s starting to become de rigueur, to shoot for a racing jaunt into Manchester. Manchester's live scene is so far ahead of my own city’s it is depressing. The Frenchman is in good spirits with a bit of long overdue good news in a what has been a fairly awful year for both of us. The car seems in good shape despite a quick check under the hood. Neither of us have been to the Albert Hall before and as ever, we are absurdly early. It sits in a row of upmarket bars on the north side of Deansgate. They have completely overlooked the plus one request and just confirmed the photographer. After some negotiation I get in on a press pass. The venue is upstairs. The Hall lies somewhere between a hollowed out church and a unused court. It has high sided balconies and is all dark wood. Bars line either side of the theatre and are slightly overpriced even in the live music realm.
Read MoreI venture for Rock far out West tonight to Buckley, a small town stuck between the Town of Mold and the larger Chester. Tivoli is one of those venues you wouldn't expect to do well when it comes to rock concerts purely based on its location. As some of you, my oldest followers will know, I have been many times to Chester's Live Rooms and more often than not, it has been a struggle for them to get 50 people in there. I arrive in good time to The Tivoli, the old theatre/cinema from the 1920's which is rather empty and as I wait patiently for the support band under no less than 6 disco balls, I have grave concerns regarding the demographics and live attendance in North Wales. In a corner, Mind the mental health charity sets up a stall selling CDs to fundraise, I manage to pick up a Stone Sour and a Stereophonics. At the merch stall, the support act from Stoke, Headsticks is offering the most varied items you can put your band name on, while the Wildhearts team is trying to figure out which boxes to open.
Read MoreThe groove has gone. It’s been a month, a long time in rock and roll. Friends have fell out, families argued, jobs have changed and life has stamped it’s leaden boot over everyone. The countdown begins, a tradition that might cut short this escape one day. Johann is agitated, tense probably hungry. There’s a rasp in my voice, I’m lethargic from doing fuck all, all day, every day. I can feel Hyde’s shadow creeping through the axons. I want the bands to be terrible, I want the pressure in my head to burst out of my hands and evaporate the keyboard. It’s at this point Johann points out we have fifty miles in the tank and the coolant is leaking out, but he has a 16 seater death wagon somewhere, lurking in our near future.
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