Post archive

NEWS 2010: New Model Army

New Model Army are a global underground cult band. Formed by singer Justin Sullivan in Bradford in 1980, their beginnings were inspired by Punk Rock, Northern Soul and the incendiary atmosphere of the times. Since then, they have had a long, creative and eventful journey. They have been massively influential in ‘post-punk’, ‘folk-rock’, ‘politico-rock’, ‘goth’, ‘metal’ but have successfully and strongly resisted belonging to any of these categories or genres. 2010 sees the celebration of 30 years in the business for the five piece outfit who have never lost the ability to evolve, to thrill or to challenge both live and on record. With their inspirational back catalogue of songs, they remain central to the lives of thousands of devoted fans from all walks of life spread across the world.

 

In September 2009 the band released their 11th studio album ‘Today Is A Good Day’. With a national UK Spring tour now lined up they are set to embark on nine dates during March of this year and will be showcasing songs from their most recent album and will also be including firm favourites from their extensive musical vaults.

 

Lyrically the band manage to be poetic whilst spreading a strong political message, a move that has occasionally put them in trouble with governments abroad but has never deterred their unique mentality and vision to create music and move forward together. As their name suggests the band work as an organisation with over ten former members. Their current line up features founding member Justin Sullivan on vocals & guitar, Nelson on bass, Marshall Gill on lead guitar with Michael Dean on drums and Dean White on keyboards.

 

“As powerful and uncompromising as you’ve come to expect from any NMA album ‘Today Is A Good Day’ is beautiful defiance in the face of an increasingly superficial mainstream universe." - Subba-Cultcha

 

New Model Army will be playing the following dates in March:

Tue 16 March                       BRISTOL Fiddlers

 

Wed 17 March                     READING Sub 89

 

Thurs 18 March                    LEAMINGTON SPA The Assembly

 

Fri 19 March                        LEEDS o2 Academy

 

Sat 20 March                       LIVERPOOL o2 Academy

 

Mon 22 March                    SWANSEA Sin City

 

Tue 23 March                      FALMOUTH Pavilion

 

Wed 24 March                    SOUTHAMPTON The Brook

 

Thurs 25 March                    ISLE OF WHITE Ryde Theatre

 

 

www.newmodelarmy.org / www.myspace.com/newmodelarmymyspace

NEWS 2010: The Pipettes

To support the release of their upcoming single 'Stop The Music' out 19th April, and 2nd album 'Earth vs The Pipettes' out on 28th June on Fortuna POP!, The Pipettes are taking to the road and doing a UK nationwide tour.

In their first incarnation, donning polka dot dresses and referencing the girl groups of the late fifties in the heyday of skinny tie indie music, The Pipettes had remarkable success. A top ten album in Japan where the single 'Pull Shapes' was only kept off the number one spot by J-Lo, top ten radio positions all across Europe, two Top Forty hits in the UK and a Top Ten in the US billboard indies.

They played on the main stages at Reading and Glastonbury, blazed a British trail across SXSW, conquered the world and sold a heap of records. Since then they've been working on their new album 'Earth vs The Pipettes' with legendary Martin Rushent, the semi-retired producer of The Stranglers, Shirley Bassey, and, most famously, the Human League's 'Dare'.

For details on buying tickets, please go to:

www.myspace.com/thepipettes

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg_ri_vHuUo - 'Stop The Music' audio

MySpace:  www.myspace.com/thepipettes

Website: www.thepipettes.com

TOUR DATES 

 APRIL 2010

18TH     FAC251                                  MANCHESTER

19TH    O2 ACADEMY 2                    SHEFFIELD

20TH     HOXTON BAR & GRILL        LONDON

21ST    AUDIO                                    BRIGHTON

22ND    NEW SLANG (CLUB)            KINGSTON

25TH    WEDGEWOOD ROOMS      PORTSMOUTH

26TH    JOINERS                    SOUTHAMPTON

MAY 2010

7TH      FIBBERS                    YORK

8TH       O2 ACADEMY 2                    LIVERPOOL

14TH    INSIDE OUT               DARLINGTON

15TH    O2 ACADEMY 2                    BIRMINGHAM

21ST    THE BOX                    CREWE

22ND    PARCC HALL             SOUTH WALES

 

NEWS 2010: The Futureheads

The Futureheads release their new album, ‘The Chaos’ on the 26th April 2010 through their own Nul Records.
  
The Futureheads make their return with a bold new sound at a time of uncertainty and confusion for their country and beyond. As the public face collective decisions over their future with very little clarity or guidance, The Futureheads bravely promise renewed hope.
 
The Chaos is the band’s fourth album, and arguably their most riotous to date. Following high-profile support slots with The Pixies and Foo Fighters, this four-piece from Sunderland have taken heed of these rock heavyweights and written songs that rip through walls with the scale and sheer force of their delivery. Remaining fiercely loyal to their Mackem roots, the new album was recorded over a series of sessions with long-standing friend David Brewis (Field Music), and renowned producer Youth.
 
Seven years on since the release of their earliest recordings, The Futureheads have long since outgrown scenes, shed immediate ties with their post-punk and new wave influences, and outlived many of their peers as a real British favourite both on record and live. Having originally met at college and made use of a local youth development project building to write their first songs, The Futureheads have always made the most of what they have around them. This time around it is the present state of our nation that has acted as the primary source of inspiration.
 
Reacting to the confusion around them and tackling it head-on, The Chaos refuses to compromise. If punk was all about DIY ethics, anti-authoritarian ideologies, and working with whatever is available and to hand, then The Futureheads are a punk band. Released through their own independent label, The Chaos is the band’s latest manifesto wrapped up in three-minute, heads-down, pop-informed songcraft.
 
New single Heartbeat Song is currently dominating the British radio airwaves, and The Chaos is crammed with a slew of songs equally as direct and frenzied. Combining the band’s trademark four-part harmonies with a harder-edged punk delivery, The Futureheads spit out assured melodies, with the wisdom of a band that have noticeably hardened since their inception in 2003.
 
Their country needs leading. The Futureheads are ready to lead.
 
26th April – Norwich Arts Centre                                 
27th April – Nottingham Rescue Rooms
28th April – Leeds Cockpit                                           
29th April – Glasgow Oran Mor
1st May – Middlesbrough Empire (Club night)            
2nd May – Manchester Academy 2
3rd May – Sheffield Leadmill                                        
4th May – Birmingham Academy 2
6th May – London Scala                                              
7th May – Gloucester Guildhall
8th May – Coventry Kasbah                                        
10th May – Bristol Thekla
11th May – Exeter Cavern                                          
12th May – Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
13th May – Northampton Roadmenders
 

www.thefutureheads.com <http://www.thefutureheads.com>

NEWS 2010: Bad Lieutenant

Great News....

Bernard Sumner is back, he of New Order and indeed Electronic is back with a new band but not really a new sound. Bad Lieutenant have their debut album 'Never cry another tear' and some welcome uk tour dates, the dates are:

Monday, March 15: Leadmill, Sheffield, UK
Tuesday, March 16: Garage, Glasgow, UK
Thursday, March 18: Electric Ballroom, London, UK
Saturday, March 20: 53 Degrees, Preston, UK
Sunday, March 21: Masque, Liverpool, UK

We're looking forward to the Sheffield date, the leadmill is a corking venue and should be a cracker. There's still a few tickets left for the gig so get down to their website to grab a ticket now, it's www.leadmill.co.uk Plus there's a chance to win a copy of the album too (closing date 14/03/10 - so be quick).

Here's what the leadmill say about the band....

bad lieutenant

bernard sumner heads to the leadmill with his new band

With vocals and guitar from New Order front man Bernard Sumner, Never Cry Another Tear, the debut album from Bad Lieutenant, rings with familiar joys – playing of beautifully observed minimalism and a voice of wonderfully understated north-western England soul. But there’s also a new voice to be heard, one again from that country’s north west.

Singing alongside Sumner is Jake Evans, a talented musician from Macclesfield in the UK. This Cheshire town has had a significant part in the story to date. It was the point of origin of both Ian Curtis and Stephen Morris, one half of a band whose northern rock transformations seem to resound more powerfully with every passing year. A band called Joy Division. Bad Lieutenant is built on this sainted musical heritage – centring on Sumner’s voice and guitar and also with Stephen Morris drumming on some tracks. The album also features Phil Cunningham, a man familiar from the Britpop band Marion and the most recent incarnation of New Order.

Bad Lieutenant’s blend of youth and experience, of local roots and musical futurism, is perhaps reflected in their favoured rehearsal location – at Morris’s hilltop farm where a full-size BBC Dalek (from the classic British TV series “Doctor Who”) sits in the corner of the rehearsal room. Morris is the band’s full-time live drummer, with the line-up as follows: Bernard Sumner (vocals/guitar), Stephen Morris (drums), Phil Cunningham (guitar/keyboards/vocals), Jake Evans (vocals/guitar), Tom Chapman (bass).

Evans sings lead vocals on several tracks on the album and he also shares vocals with Sumner on other tracks.  Evans is front man for the UK group Rambo And Leroy and an old friend and musical accomplice of Phil Cunningham.  Evans came to Bad Lieutenant by subtly appropriate means. Sumner first heard him sing at a birthday party. A guitar was lying around and Evans was goaded into picking it and playing a tune. He chose Neil Young’s “Heart Of Gold.” It was a telling choice – Young was a significant influence on the teenage Sumner’s approach to guitar playing. Later, Rambo And Leroy was the support group at the last New Order concert. Evans found it remarkable enough to be playing on the same bill as a band he loved. Soon after was making music with members of the same band.

The very first Bad Lieutenant rehearsals took place at the British home of Alex James of Blur. James ended up playing on bass on some tracks on the Bad Lieutenant album, something that later gave rise to excited news stories portraying Bad Lieutenant as a kind of Blur/New Order supergroup. This was wide of the truth. Sumner has long been friendly with James, a man  who markets a cheese called Blue Monday, named after the New Order hit. However, James’s involvement in Bad Lieutenant doesn’t stretch any further than his pitching in on a few recording sessions.

“We worked hard on the album and I’m proud of it,” says Sumner. “It’s also important because it gives people the chance to hear a gifted singer and guitar player who I think is very talented. This is just how I now want to make music.”

The Bad Lieutenant album was very much propagated on a DIY, locally-sourced basis. It was recorded at various home studios. The band had to be particularly pragmatic when recording at Evans’ place. His upstairs neighbour is a karate school and recording had to be co-ordinated to avoid the bellowed exhortations of the martial artists down below. The resulting album centers on crisp, streamlined, 21st century guitar music – underscored by keyboards and occasional melodica. The record includes Sumner’s seemingly effortless melodic invention, but now these familiar pleasures blend with vocals and guitar of Evans. Perhaps Bad Lieutenant can be see as a new vehicle from a celebrated manufacturer – previous technology has been incorporated, but the overall appearance is new and it’ll take you where you want to go in novel and exhilarating style.

“There is some continuity to music I’ve made in the past,” says Sumner. “But it’s also very different – because different people are playing on it.”

“With Jake singing on some tracks,” says Cunningham,  “that’s allowed Bernard to step back a bit. Bernard’s the man at the helm, getting into the production of the thing, where New Order might have had to get a producer in to keep the peace [laughs]. The album comes from a completely home-grown and DIY approach, which is very different to how a New Order album might be made.”

“I was amazed when Bernard suggested I sing some lead vocals,” says Evans. “It was a little daunting, but the whole process was also very relaxed. It didn’t take long to go from being in awe to feeling like a band mate.”

It’s maybe not surprising that Jake soon felt at home here. Taking in then and now, youth and wisdom, Daleks and karate clubs, here is a band for all seasons.

NEWS 2010: Renegades Return (aka Feeder)

FEEDER RETURN AS RENEGADES

FREE EXCLUSIVE EP FOR TICKET HOLDERS AT NEW UK TOUR

At the end of 2008 a huge chapter in Feeder's existence came to a close having just finished a massive UK tour which had seen the band rock the whole country. Having stayed with record label Echo since their beginnings (a rare achievement these days), the band had come to the end of their contract with the release of their sixth studio album 'Silent Cry' and the label was set to dissolve.  Many would view this with trepidation, but for songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Grant Nicholas this presented an incredible opportunity.  With a blank page and empty diary in front of him he felt more relaxed and excited than in years.  Suddenly the pressure of the usual single, album, tour schedule was alleviated and he was able to return to what he'd always done best - just write songs for himself without worrying about anything else.   He spent most of 2009 working away in his own time (with a few breaks for festivals) like he had done 18 years previously when he formed the band; no expectations, just writing for the pure joy of it.  Of course, he couldn't help but construct a gaggle of accomplished catchy songs - he'd always had an ear for a tune, as proven by the bands 2006 'Singles' collection selling over half a million copies in the UK alone.  But the new music he was making was less reflective, more instinctive and back to his rock roots - lots of guitars came out!

 With a healthy bag of tunes, Grant, long time band member Taka Hirose and drummer Karl Brazil, decided to road test the new tracks to the people who had help elevate the band to their lofty status - the loyal fanbase who'd been checking the website for the last year wondering what was happening. The group booked a few low key shows round the country and announced them exclusively via Feederweb.com - of course these gigs sold out immediately. They played under the name of Renegades - no old tunes (well, maybe one or two - but very old ones!) and the response was phenomenal.  It was also great fun.  The band hadn't played venues this size for over a decade and it was as exciting and nerve-wracking as it had been back then.  

So this next step sees the 'Renegades' moving up a gear into bigger venues returning to a galvanised core of fans, revitalised from the response to the initial shows and keen to spread the word.  Feeder will of course return, but this is still the loud, uninhibited and exhilarated sound of Feeder doing what they want without a care in the world.

Live:    

15 April            EDINBURGH, Cabaret Voltaire                                   

16 April            NEWCASTLE, Northumbria University                                                
18 April            SHEFFIELD, Leadmill                                                             
19 April            CARDIFF, Millennium Hall                                                  
21 April            PORTSMOUTH, Wedgewood Rooms                              

22 April            LONDON, Electric Ballroom                        

Tickets on sale now priced �18.50 except London �22 and doors open 7.30pm each night. Ticket price includes copy of the 4 track EP 'Renegades2' which features 4 brand new tracks and a video of 'Sentimental' shot exclusively by fans who attended the first Renegades shows in Jan/Feb 2010.

http://www.seetickets.com/see/event.asp?e|artist=RENEGADES / http://www.gigsandtours.com/?s=renegades

NEWS 2010: The Sunshine Underground

The Sunshine Underground have announced details of the release of their second album in early 2010. The band will also be touring the UK in February around its release.

Nobody’s Coming To Save You will be released through City Rockers /EMI on February 1st 2010 and follows their debut album, Raise The Alarm. The album will be preceded by a single, We’ve Always Been Your Friends on
January 25th.

The 10-track album was produced by the band and Barny (Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian) and recorded during a 4-week period at the Chairworks Studio in West Yorkshire. The full tracklisting is as follows:

1. Coming To Save You
2. Spell It Out
3. We’ve Always Been Your Friends
4. In Your Arms
5. A Warning Sign
6. Change Your Mind
7. Any Minute Now
8. Here It Comes
9. One By One
10. The Messiah

Still as stirring and anthemic as ever, Nobody’s Coming To Save You, adds something more – it’s the sound of The Sunshine Underground enhanced. Still laced with musical nods towards the likes of Talking Heads, the album is deeper, heavier and more expansive. And in keeping with the cultural and political times, the songs are populated by souls weighed-down with longing and anticipation while dealing head-on with the frustrations and political resentments of the UK during this moment of history.

Following a string of festival dates and sold-out tours throughout 2009, where they road-tested new material, and a number of chaotic ‘guerilla’ gigs in November which they only announced 24-hours in advance via their website, the band have announced a U.K. tour around the album release. The full list of dates are as follows:

FEBRUARY

Mon 01 Sunderland Independent
Tues 02 Newcastle 02 Academy
Wed 03 Glasgow ABC
Fri 05 Manchester Ritz
Sat 06 Liverpool O2 Academy 2
Mon 08 Preston 53 Degrees
Tues 09 Sheffield Plug
Wed 10 Stoke Sugarmill
Fri 12 Derby The Venue
Sat 13 Coventry Kasbah
Tue 16 Southampton University
Wed 17 Brighton Digital
Thurs 18 London Koko (NME Awards show)
Fri 19 Leeds O2 Academy

Tickets for the tour are available from 10am on October 2nd and are priced at £11 (except in London where they are £13). They will be available via www.gigsandtours.com
.

The band’s Everything, Right Now EP is out now and features artwork from a project run by the band in September/October inviting art submissions from their fans on the theme Your Love, Your Hopes, Your Fears – a lyric from the title track of the album.

NEWS 2010: Turin Brakes

Turin Brakes, aka Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian, have announced they will be giving away a free digital track, ahead of the release of their forthcoming album, Outbursts (out Monday 1st March).  The track, Apocolips, which is taken from the album, will be available for 2 weeks from Thursday 21st January at www.turinbrakes.com.  Turin Brakes will also be releasing a new single, Sea Change, on Monday 22nd February.

Written, produced and (for the most part) performed entirely by the two of them, Outbursts is a collection of songs that returns to the essence of Turin Brakes, and not only echoes the quiet, edgy genius of their most celebrated work, but surpasses it.  

Pop song writing doesn't get much bigger than the apocalyptic musing of the opening track – and lead single, Sea Change, which begins with the line: “Six billion backs against the wall.”   Borne aloft by a patchwork of nimble, twinkling acoustic guitar lines, the lyric avoids grand, windy rhetoric. Instead, it relentlessly counts down, like a ticking time-bomb, from the concerns of six billion people to those of just one individual – which are, of course, exactly the same.  Paper Heart an achingly vulnerable, waltz-time lament with a haunting piano and string part, dissects a relationship in which one person has the power to “rearrange the sunsets” and play with their lover's world as if it was a little stage set.  Radio Silence, meanwhile, captures a sense of beautiful alienation redolent of ‘OK Computer’-era Radiohead.  The moment of complete silence towards the end, followed by a sudden surge of sound and the majestic guitar line in the outro is breathtaking.  At other times, it is the simple power of words and tunes that give the album its distinctive emotional flavour. On Rocket Song, Olly navigates a melody line that climbs ever upwards in a delightful spiral, while Never Stops, a soulful, life-affirming mantra, with a raw, bluesy feel, sums up the enduring spirit of Turin Brakes and their uniquely thoughtful brand of acoustic music. 

In March, Turin Brakes will be touring the UK to promote the album.  Tickets are on sale now and cost between £16.50 and £22.50, but may be subject to a booking fee.  Full dates as follows :

Tue 9th March               BIRMINGHAM, Glee Club                       www.alt-tickets.co.uk   *

Wed 10th March            BRISTOL, St. Georges                           www.alt-tickets.co.uk   **       

Thu 11th March             OXFORD, Academy 2                            www.alt-tickets.co.uk   ***     

Sat 13th March              MANCHESTER, Academy                       www.alt-tickets.co.uk   ***     

Sun 14th March             YORK, Duchess                                     www.alt-tickets.co.uk   **

Tue 16th March             GATESHEAD, Sage                                www.alt-tickets.co.uk   ***

Wed 17th March            SHEFFIELD, City Hall                             www.alt-tickets.co.uk   **

Fri 19th March               EDINBURGH, Cabaret Voltaire               www.alt-tickets.co.uk   *         

Sat 20th March             GLASGOW, Classic Grand                      www.ticketmaster.co.uk *      

Sun 21st March             NOTTINGHAM, Rescue Rooms               www.alt-tickets.co.uk  *          

Tue 23rd March             SOUTHAMPTON, Brooks University        TBC

Wed 24th March            MILTON KEYNES, Stables                      www.alt-tickets.co.uk  ***      

Fri 26th Mach                LONDON, Shepherds Bush Empire        www.alt-tickets.co.uk  ***

Sat 27th March              BRIGHTON, Concorde 2                        www.alt-tickets.co.uk  **         

*          Over 18’s only

**        Over 14’s only

***      All ages

www.cookingvinyl.com / www.turinbrakes.com / www.myspace.com/turinbrakes /

http://twitter.com/the_real_TB


NEWS 2010: Ocean Colour Scene

Birmingham’s emperors of rock’n’folk Ocean Colour Scene have announced that they will be releasing a new album, Saturday, on 1st February 2010, which will be preceded by a digital single, Magic Carpet Days on 25th January.

OCS, who will be celebrating their 21st anniversary next year, have clocked up an impressive eleven Top 20 singles and five Top 10 albums during their illustrious career.  Saturday, their ninth studio album, was recorded over six weeks last summer at the iconic Rockfield studios in South Wales with producer Gavin Monaghan (Editors/ the Twang), and finds them as vibrantly tuneful as they’ve ever been.

From the opening bars of  psych-folk opener ‘100 Floors Of Perception’ - written by Simon about the on-going financial crisis - to epic climax ‘Rockfield’  (think ‘Baba O’Riley’ meets ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’), it’s a reminder than when it comes to delivering  classic rock hooks there is simply no one better.  Denim-driven boogie ‘Old Pair Of Jeans’ (written by Bennett) will delight those hankering for the full-tilt mod-pop of ‘For Dancers Only’, while Harry Kidnap’ (written in tribute to John Weller) boasts shades of North Atlantic Drift stand-out ‘Make The Deal’.   The single, ‘Magic Carpet Days’, meanwhile (key lyric: “The world won’t shake you/Knock you down and break you/I’ll steer you through these magic carpet days”) is a reminder that their belief in the Mod aesthetic of self-improvement remains as strong as ever.

Available on CD and as a digital download, the full tracklisting is as follows :

1.       100 Floors Of Perception               8.       Magic Carpet Days

2.       Mrs Maylie                                  9.       The Word

3.       Saturday                                    10.     Village Life

4.       Just A Little Bit Of Love                 11.     Postal

5.       Old Pair Of Jeans                         12.     What’s Mine Is Yours

6.       Sing Children Sing                        13.     Fell In Love On The Street Again

7.       Harry Kidnap                               14.     Rockfield

OCS are renowned for their live performances, and stole the show at this year’s V, where they were named ‘Band Of The Festival’ by BBC Radio 2 and Absolute Radio.  In February and March 2010, the band will be undertaking a 24 date UK tour, full dates as follows :

Tue 2nd Feb              OXFORD, O2 Academy                  BO:     0844 477 2000

Wed 3rd Feb             BOURNEMOUTH, O2 Academy         BO:     0844 477 2000

Fri 5th Feb               DERBY, Assembly Rooms               BO:     0871 310 0000

Sat 6th Feb              LIVERPOOL, O2 Academy               BO:     0844 477 2000

Sun 7th Feb              COVENTRY, Kasbah                      BO:     0247 655 4473

Tue 9th Feb              SHEFFIELD, O2 Academy               BO:     0844 477 2000

Wed 10th Feb           MIDDLESBOROUGH, Empire            BO:     0164 225 3553

Thu 11th Feb            GLENROTHES, Rothes Hall              BO:     0871 220 0260

Sat 13th Feb             WICK, Assembly Rooms                BO:     0195 560 3911

Sun 14th Feb            INVERNESS, Ironworks                 BO:     0871 789 4173

Mon 15th Feb            ABERDEEN, Music Hall                   BO:     0871 220 0260

Wed 17th Feb           EDINBURGH, Picture House            BO:     0871 220 0260

Thu 18th Feb            EDINBURGH, Picture House            BO:     0871 220 0260

Fri 19th Feb              STIRLING, Albert Hall                    BO:     0871 220 0260

Sat 20th Feb             MONTROSE, Town Hall                  BO:     0844 477 1000

Mon 22nd Feb           BRADFORD, St George’s Hall           BO:     0870 735 5000

Tue 23rd Feb            BLACKBURN, King Georges Hall        BO:     0870 735 5000

Wed 24th Feb           STOKE, Victoria Hall                      BO:     0870 735 5000

Fri 26th Feb              READING, Hexagon                       BO:     0870 735 5000

Sat 27th Feb             LOUGHBOROUGH, University           BO:     0150 963 5000

Sun 28th Feb            CAMBRIDGE, Exchange                  BO:     0870 735 5000

Tue 2nd March          LINCOLN, Engine Shed                  BO:     0871 310 0000

Wed 3rd March          CARDIFF, Coal Exchange               BO:     0292 023 0130

Thu 4th March           ST. ALBANS, The Alban Arena        BO:     0172 784 4488

Sun 7th March           BELFAST, Mandela Hall                  BO:     TBC

www.oceancolourscene.com / www.myspace.com/ocsmusic

 

NEWS 2010: Ellie Goulding

Ellie Goulding has come top of the BBC Sound of 2010 list, which showcases the best rising music stars for the coming year.
 
The Sound of 2010 was compiled using tips from 165 leading UK tastemakers, including top music critics, magazine editors, broadcasters and influential bloggers, who named their favourite three new acts.
 
The news follows the announcement last month that Ellie has scooped the Brit Awards Critics’ Choice prize for the act most likely to break through this year. She will collect her award live on stage at Earls Court at the Brit Awards on February 16th.
 
Ellie Goulding will release her next single ‘Starry Eyed’ on Polydor on February 22nd, followed by her debut album ‘Lights’ on March 1st.
 
Ellie Goulding Live Dates:

27-Jan-10-Tunbridge Wells-Forum
30-Jan-10-London-Tabernacle (New to Q)
4-Feb-10-Cardiff-Xbox Reverb
 
With Passion Pit
3-Mar-10-Bristol-Academy
4-Mar-10-Leeds-Met University
5-Mar-10-Manchester-Academy
6-Mar-10-Glasgow-ABC
8-Mar-10-Norwich-UEA
9-Mar-10-Nottingham-Rock City
11-Mar-10-London-HMV Forum
13-Mar-10-Dublin-Olympia
 
Headline Tour
25-Mar-10-Bristol-Thekla
26-Mar-10-Oxford-Academy 2
27-Mar-10-Birmingham-Academy 2
29-Mar-10-Liverpool-Academy 2
30-Mar-10-Manchester-Club Academy
31-Mar-10-Sheffield-Academy 2
1-Apr-10-Leeds -Cockpit
6-Apr-10-Nottingham-Rescue Rooms
7-Apr-10-Newcastle-The Other Rooms
8-Apr-10-Glasgow-King Tuts
10-Apr-10-Lancaster-Library
11-Apr-10-York-Fibbers
12-Apr-10-Southend-Chinnerys
13-Apr-10-Norwich-Waterfront
15-Apr-10-London- Heaven
16-Apr-10-Brighton-Digital
17-Apr-10-Cardiff-Barfly

NEWS 2010: The Automatic

Long time no blog, but here's to 2010 and some cool news on The Automatic...

The Automatic return with their brand new single ‘Interstate’ on 7th December 2009, marking the start of a whole new chapter for the Cardiff-based quartet. Following a three year rollercoaster ride which saw the release of two albums (‘Not Accepted Anywhere’ and ‘This Is A Fix’) and a string of top 40 singles, they return on their own label (Armoured Records) with complete control, absolute vision and total honesty.

Huge new single ‘Interstate’ is as melodic and anthemic as ever, recorded in the band’s Cardiff Studio with producer Richard Jackson, this is a song about “freedom, no stress, being away from everything and basically driving along a big long road to God knows where”. This track, like the album as a whole, finds Rob Hawkins and Paul Mullen further developing the shared lead vocal duties begun on the last album.

The release also features artwork inspired by an abstract painting by Rob on the sleeve.

Meanwhile, The Automatic are putting the finishing touches to their third album. Titled ‘Tear the Signs Down’, the new album will be released in February 2010. Before then, the band will be embarking on a twelve-date UK tour to preview a host of new material (full tour dates below).

THE AUTOMATIC ON TOUR 2010

21st Jan London Hoxton Bar & Grill

FEB

4th London Borderline

18th London Barfly

MARCH

2nd Swindon 12 Bar

4th Exeter Cavern

5th Falmouth Princess Pavillion

6th Yeovil Orange Box

7th Gloucester Guildhall

8th Oxford O2 Academy

9th Colchester Arts Centre

11th Northampton Roadmender 2

12th Stoke Sugarmill

13th Hull Adelphi

14th Liverpool O2 Academy

16th Glasgow King tuts

17th Newcastle O2 Academy

18th Sheffield O2 Academy

19th Manchester Academy

20th Leeds Brudnell Social Club

22nd Norwich Arts Centre

23rd Nottingham Rescue Rooms

24th York Fibbers

25th Birmingham O 2 Academy

27th Brighton Audio

28th Bristol Thekla

29th Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms

The Automatic are: Rob Hawkins (vocals, bass), Paul Mullen (vocals, guitar), James Frost (guitar), Iwan Griffiths (drums)

 

One against 'the man'!

Great news the christmas number is not the usual x factor rubbish!

It's actually Rage Against the Machine, now I wish I had a tenner on that in  about June, what would the odds have being?

So the facebook campaign has proved to be a winner and a massive vote against the X Factor or more importantly the gringe behind it. But truth be told it's also a pretty damn poor song at least last years winner murdered a decent song. Take note Simon and co, when you put out the winners' tune next year don't take it for granted you're gonna walk straight into the number one spot.

Next year try and get a decent singer and pick a good song!

Hooray for the internet, it's one against 'the man'... big time!

Happy Christmas!

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

 

Site Updates

Please accept our apologies for the next couple of weeks whilst we update and spruce up the site.

We're gonna make the menu's better (already in progress), delete some stuff (already done) and more some stuff about to make it easier and more relevent to the menus.

Then we're going try and tart the site up a bit...

Anyway it's going take a few weeks and a bit of trial and error but hopefully will be worth it in the end.

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Ps check out LIVE for new gig reviews of Reverend and the makers & Puressence

 

Ipone APP! General Fiasco

General Fiasco Release Free iPhone App for Fans

http://www.myspace.com/generalfiasco
http://www.generalfiasco.co.uk/


General Fiasco’s busy month continues! With a sell-out homecoming at Ulster Hall last week, storming performances at CMJ, the release of their debut single ‘We Are The Foolish’ & their imminent national tour with The Enemy under their belts the irish rockers are pleased to announce the release of their free iPhone app.

Availiable to all iPhone and iTouch users for free through iTunes and the App Store.

Interact with the band directly with this free app. Register to the GF community and send comments and pictures to other app users.


Feautures include
Concert feeds: check upcoming concert listings and use the iphone’s GPS to get directions to the venue. Fans can also comment and upload pictures from each tour date
News feed: Get news updates straight from the band to your phone
Music: Stream tracks directly with iTunes buy-links included. (Warning: streaming only works with Wifi for UK users).
Photos: Check pictures of the band and save your favorite one as wallpaper.
Video: Watch videos of the band.
Twitter Feed: The bands twitter feed straight to you phone

Set List: Reverend and the makers @ Leeds Stylus

Reverend and the makers

Leeds Stylus (Uni) - Monday, 26th October 2009

Silence is talking

State of things

Heavyweight champion

Manifesto

No soap

No wood just trees

Bandits

Mermaids

Hard times for dreamers

Open your window

Professor Pickles

Hidden Persuaders

Long long time

Yes you do

Miss Brown

He said he loved me

The end

The machine

Armchair detective

News: Flithy Dukes Single out today & Tour

TUPACROBOTCLUBROCK

Label – Fiction

Release Date – Monday 28th September 2009

www.filthydukes.com

 

BIGGER AND BADDER WITH WILEY

“Filthy Dukes bring a genre-bending brand of dirty, bleeping electronica when in full band mode. Live electro of the highest order” – MIXMAG

“Boisterous electronic pop and irresistible jack hammer disco” - THE TIMES

“Dance floor wizardry” – NME

ZANE LOWE’S HOTTEST RECORD IN THE WORLD – 13.08.09

Tim, Olly and Mark (aka Filthy Dukes) have certainly got a strong case for being the up there with the busiest men in music right now – it’s fair to say that the summer of 2009 has been a bit of a blur for the guys. Having taken in a ridiculous amount of festivals and shows starting with The Gossip in Berlin back in May and taking in IMS in Ibiza, three sets at Glastonbury, Glade, Wireless, Melt in Germany as well as shows in Istanbul, Cologne, Kuala Lumpur and hosting/programming their Kill Em All residency at Fabric…. Phew! Yes they’ve been very busy, and that’s not even the half of it!

The response to the sleepless summer of touring has been really quite staggering with the band finding new friends in every corner, from the paying punters to Sara Cox on Radio 1 and even the ghetto-superstar Wiley. You can imagine the reaction when man himself got in touch with the band about doing a new version of TupacRobotClubRock that he could jump on! In fact the timing couldn’t of been more perfect with the plan always being to re-visit T-R-C-R after the summer. The results are huge, with Wiley’s very distinctive grime flow complementing the lyrical spitfire of Philadelphian funsters Plastic Little perfectly.

There just simply isn’t a record out there that sounds like TupacRobotClubRock, it’s utterly unique not just in the combination and use of sounds but in the collaborations that will shortly see UK legend MC Dynamite getting in on the act with a special alternative version (more on that soon). It’s worth noting the new Kill Em All Let Wiley Sort It out remix from the ‘Dukes which consist solely of Wiley’s vocal and a brilliant dancefloor re-working of the original track – simply massive!

As with all Filthy Dukes packages there is no shortage of quality on the remix package for DJ’s (it’s an added bonus when you have two of the countries most in-demand DJ’s in the band) and you can expect to hear club rock versions from Drums of Death, Oliver $, L-Vis 1990 and of course Filthy Dukes themselves.

Filthy Dukes will be touring again in November with dates to be announced soon as well joining a very impressive list of artists to compile and mix the hugely influential Fabric Live mix, which will be out in October. Listen out for their brand new remix of Ian Brown too, oh yes!

‘Nonsense In The Dark’ Tour Dates:

16-Nov-09-Edinburgh-Cabaret Voltaire

17-Nov-09-Glasgow-King Tuts

19-Nov-09-Nottingham-Bodega

20-Nov-09-Bristol-Thekla

21-Nov-09-Brighton-Audio

23-Nov-09-Coventry-Kasbah

25-Nov-09-London-Dingwalls

26-Nov-09-Preston-53 Degrees

27-Nov-09-Oxford-Academy

28-Nov-09-Leeds-Nation of Shopkeepers

29-Nov-09-Manchester-Moho Live

FREE GIG: Doncaster, Saturday 26 Sept

CIRCUIT RECORDS AT 102.6 SINE FM LAUNCH

A free celebration event to mark the FM launch of Sine FM on 102.6 across Doncaster will start in the marketplace on Saturday 26th September at 5pm


Circuit artists Darren Bell, the beaus, Slash Bikini
and Ross Cameron and the Horsemen will provide support on the night for U2-2 and the Sine DJ's

Come and join us for an historic night of fun...

"That's direct from Circuit records... need we say more?"

GIG News: The Futureheads Split Festival

New festival celebrating music in the North East:
SPLIT FESTIVAL
SUNDAY 4TH OCTOBER 2009
ASHBROOKE SPORTS CLUB, SUNDERLAND

THE FUTUREHEADS
FIELD MUSIC
BEAK
FRANKIE AND THE HEARTSTRINGS
SEA OF GLASS
PLUS The best new stand up comedians in the North East and more acts to be announced

SPLIT FESTIVAL is Sunderland’s new indie rock festival that aims to bring music fans from the whole region of the North East to Sunderland for the day. It offers people a chance to beat the post-Summer blues with a celebration of some of the city and the region’s finest bands. As well as the music there will be a cornucopia of other festival treats including magicians, stilt walkers, fire eaters, comedians, face painters and fireworks – a proper day of festivities.
 
Headlining the main stage and organising this one-day extravaganza are The Futureheads
who have well and truly put their hometown on the musical map over the last few years. Joining them and co-organising SPLIT FESTIVAL are fellow Sunderland bands Field Music and Beak. The main stage will also feature short sets from the region’s up and coming comedians.
 
Other home-grown talent on the bill includes one of the UKs brightest new flames, Frankie and the Heartstrings
(Sunderland) who are currently making major waves in the music industry, as well as ambient indie-rockers Sea of Glass (Sunderland).
 
Keeping it North East, the second stage will be curated by Narc Magazine and already on the bill are reformed punk-rockers Penetration
(Ferryhill, County Durham), Coal Train (Sunderland), Milky Wimpshake (Newcastle), Jeans goes POP! (Newcastle),O’Messy Life (Sunderland), Sona Di  + more to be announced.

Date: Sunday 4th October 2009
Venue: Ashbrooke Sports Club, Sunderland
Doors: 1pm-9pm
Ticket Info: £19.50 (under 8s free), available from Ashbrooke Sports Club, Hot Rats Records, SUN FM, Sunderland Echo, RPM Newcastle & See Tickets www.seetickets.com <http://www.seetickets.com> / 0871 230 0010

www.splitfestival.com <http://www.splitfestival.com>

Cusworth Live - Doncaster's finest on offer

Firstly well done to Cusworth Hall, Higher Rythym, Hothouse and all those with a hand in the gig as it looked and sounded superb. To those who don't know Cusworth Hall is a country park and stately home just north of Doncaster (in fact just round the corner from us) with stunning grounds.

The stage was plonked just in front of the hall with the cream of Doncaster bands opening up for the headline Sandi Thom. Ross Cameron started proceedings and sounded excellent (as normal) before Doncaster's finest The Beaus ripped up the stage. Darren Bell did the town proud with a part solo then part band performance.

Sandi Thom, whilst not been my cup of tea, gave an excellent performance despite a smaller than expected turnout. That said those present were enthusiastic and had a fantastic time.

Hopefully despite the poor turnout those who put the gig on won't be put off from doing it all again next year.

Pics from the gig are online in the photo gallery 1 on www.shaddersonline.com right now.

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Views: Oasis (more ramblings!)

So here we sit, the 3rd September 2009 as the dust starts to settle from the latest Noel walkout and quit fallout. As everyone has said ‘we’ve seen it all before  etc blah etc blah’ but this time it does seem a bit more final and like the Oasis axe is about to fall. At times like these you really don’t know what to believe, Noel has said this and Liam is supposed to have done that but as it stands all oasis.net is confirming is that Noel has quit the band but no news on Liam and the rest of the band.

 

The remaining and final dates on the mammoth world tour have been pulled including the infamous V festival, the Paris date in the aftermath of the Noel and Liam blow out and following Milan gig got canned too.

 

As I sit in front of the laptop there is still, at least on paper anyway, an Oasis featuring Liam and rent a mob (sorry Andy & Gem, but they know the score) but there’s nothing on that ‘forthcoming’ page.

 

Trouble is everyone knows that Oasis isn’t just Liam and co but it’s Noel and Liam (plus random backing band) therefore without Noel therefore it ceases to be the ‘real’ Oasis. It’ll be more like Liam flogging a dead pantomime Oasis horse for a fist full of dollars. Whether he does this remains to be seen, but there seems to be a strong opinion that Liam views Oasis as HIS band and he can do whatever he wishes with it. Anyhow, in the short term they’ll be more words than actions. After Milan a break was planned , let’s face it they’ve been on the road for at least 18 full months out promoting ‘Dig out your soul’ so the calendar would probably be pretty clear until we’d guess next summer. Between now and then there’s a shed load of time for things to settle down and air to be cleared.

 

It looks Noel’s future, short term anyway, is more obvious than his temperamental brother. Everyone is well aware of his desire to put out an album under his own name rather than under the Oasis brand, so now could well be the time to get in the studio and go down that avenue. He don’t need the Oasis roadshow for the money, it’s already provided that and the fact his name is all over their biggest hits means the royalty cheques ain’t gonna finish anytime soon neither. Long term is far less easy to read. Oasis are still the band that he made and indeed made him and Liam is still his brother, whether he likes that or not!  If he sees Liam prancing around singing his songs will he get the buzz back? Will then he be able to resist? Could he really ignore it all? McCartney still does Beatles songs live but is it really the same without Lennon and at least Noel wouldn’t have did Liam up to get him back on stage!

 

For now ‘I’m outta time’ is playing on the old stereo and it seems too damn apt. But saying all this isn’t time is supposed to heal the wounds and blood is thicker so let’s for now hold onto those thoughts and say ‘never say never’ cause the British music scene without Oasis just don’t seem right.

 

Colin  @ Shaddersonline.com

(Sepetember 2009)

 

Tour / Album News: The Boxer Rebellion

HMV and The Boxer Rebellion unite in ground-breaking partnership

In an unprecedented move, UK & Ireland retailer HMV and international Rock band The Boxer Rebellion today announce a ground-breaking collaboration that will see the music and entertainment specialist act as a lead outlet and strategic partner for the physical release of the band's second album Union.

 

What makes the deal significant is that The Boxer Rebellion have, by choice, accepted no record label backing and remain unsigned - a fact they are openly proud of. Instead, the four-piece band - comprising US vocalist Nathan Nicholson, Aussie guitarist Todd Howe and Brits Adam Harrison on bass and Piers Hewitt on drums, are on a mission "to find innovative and meaningful ways to distribute their music and engage directly with their fans, on their own terms".

 

As joint partner with The Boxer Rebellion in this venture, HMV is advancing the costs of manufacturing the CD, while also supporting the promotion and marketing of the product, in return for a share of the revenues. As part of this activity HMV will deliver significant in-store and online visibility leading up to Union’s release and will also leverage its growing presence in the ticketing and live music sectors.

 

The Boxer Rebellion received much media attention in January this year when they pre-released Union digitally through the iTunes Music Store.  Lead track Evacuate became the first simultaneous iTunes Single of the Week across its stores and was downloaded a staggering 560,000 times in just seven days. The band subsequently topped the US iTunes Alternative Charts, and by the end of their first week of sales, Union entered the US Billboard Album Charts at No 82, an unprecedented feat for an unsigned band on a digital-only release.

 

Union will be released on CD on 14th September (11th Sept. in Ireland) across HMV's 270 stores nationwide as well as in select independent music stores, and can also be pre-ordered/purchased via hmv.com and other online stores in both physical and digital formats. The release will be supported with a week of live in-store performances and album signings at key HMV stores around the country, including the flagship Oxford Circus store.

 

The Boxer Rebellion will commence a UK tour on 22nd September, for which HMV will have an exclusive window on ticket sales. Tickets go on sale at hmv.com from 9.00am on Thursday, 23 July priced £9 plus booking fee (£10 in London) – although they will also be available with the CD as part of a special album bundle for just £15 (inclusive of ticket booking fee. See Editor’s Notes for full tour details). The band most recently performed on Glastonbury’s Other Stage and will also be playing thelondonpaper’s Headliners Festival on 17th September, and Brighton’s White Air Festival on 19th September.

 

Sumit Bothra, Manager of The Boxer Rebellion comments, “To have succeeded in creating this ground-breaking deal with HMV is a testament to their passion for discovering and genuinely supporting world-class artists on behalf of their customers.

 

“The Boxer Rebellion are unlike any band of musicians I have ever worked with, capable of creating deeply emotional, accessible, and powerful albums while, crucially, possessing an incredible live reputation. These qualities were enough to approach HMV for their support and to ultimately secure their commitment – which, I’m proud to say, is exactly the way it should be.”

 

The collaboration is consistent with HMV's 'get closer' brand vision; an approach that is becoming increasingly '360' in character where customers are engaged through core channels comprising stores, online digital and live, to get them closer to the music, films and games they love.

 

HMV's Head of Music, Rudy Osorio, adds: “We're excited to be working with The Boxer Rebellion, and believe this will be a fruitful partnership. We see this as a bit of a one-off, unique opportunity for the time being – it’s really just about finding new ways to engage with customers, and, of course, The Boxer Rebellion are already well-established and have a core fanbase that we can connect with. However, if this initiative proves particularly successful, as I believe it will, then it could well create a template for future activity.

 

“There are now so many different ways for fans to discover and purchase the music they love, and we see HMV's role as an enabler of choice in an increasingly multi-channel world, whether, as in the vast majority of cases, that means working with our longstanding supplier partners to promote their artists and music or, as in this case, collaborating directly with exciting unsigned acts to give them vital access to our customer base.”

 

The CD of Union, unlike the pre-release digital version, will contain the bonus track Broken Glass, and will be powered by Opendiscâ - allowing access to a private website hosting a further bonus track Murder Ballad, as well as album instrumentals, never-before-seen interviews, and a wealth of original and exclusive material. The album will be preceded by a AA-side single/remix package on 10" limited edition vinyl and digital formats, which will be released on 7th September through HMV, the band’s own website, and independent stores.

 

www.theboxerrebellion.com

www.myspace.com/theboxerrebellion

 

The Boxer Rebellion tour dates:

 

Tues, 22 Sept – CARDIFF Barfly

Wed, 23 Sept – SOUTHAMPTON Joiners

Sat, 26 Sept – BRISTOL Thekla

Sun, 27 Sept – BIRMINGHAM Hare & Hounds

Mon, 28 Sept – LIVERPOOL Masque

Tues, 29 Sept – BELFAST Auntie Annie’s

Wed, 30 Sept – DUBLIN Academy 2

Thur, 1 Oct – GLASGOW ABC 2

Fri, 2 Oct – NEWCASTLE Other Rooms

Sat, 3 Oct – MANCHESTER Roadhouse

Mon, 5 Oct – LEEDS Faversham

Tues, 6 Oct – LONDON Relentless Garage

 

Views: Oasis... Is this the end?

Well it would appear that Noel has walked out on the mighty Oasis then, to quote the great man 'what's all that about then?!'

Is it the end of the band?

Definitely Maybe seems to be the answer. Just took a trip to the Oasis website and they are still showing that they will be playing in Milan and there's just the story that Noel has quit but nothing about that been that on the band.

Well it's a damn shame really, our love of Oasis dates right back to when Supersonic was released, we read bits on this ace new band and heard a few demo's on't wireless but it wasn't till we saw them a mere six days after Supersonic was dropped that we were truely smitten. We drove over to a free festival at Preston and were blown away by them, the tent was rocking that much that we had to hang onto one of the posts to stop being swept away!

Since then we've met Liam and Noel (very briefly) and seen the band all over the place including Preston, Liverpool, Blackpool, Sheffield Arena (multiple occassions!), Knobworth, Hull and Leeds Festival (think that's them all!). Never had a duff gig.

In fact saw them last Winter at Sheffield Arena and they just rocked plus their last album is a blooming good record.

So do I think it's really all over? 

No and Yes in equal messures. It'll be a crying shame is it is all over and without Liam and Noel it's not Oasis. But there again Noel and Liam have done all this before so I do get the feeling that they'll kiss and make up again, then twat each other some more & it goes on!

However, if it is the end then what a legacy, some masterful albums and memories aplenty. Plus I'm damn sure that Noel has got plenty of class solo albums in him so no worries there.

So I'll grab a beer and hold it aloft to Oasis (just in case it's the end)... Here's to Oasis the best british band of their generation.

Cheers 

Tour / Album News: Ian Brown


16-date UK winter tour announced for November-December 2009

Sixth studio album, My Way, released 28 September on Fiction

 

Ian Brown – NME Godlike Genius, Q Legend – today announces details of a major UK winter tour. He hits the road in late November for a 16-date series of shows culminating in a hometown performance at Manchester’s MEN Arena the weekend before Christmas. The full dates are as follows:

 

Sun 29 November           Leicester De Montfort Hall (tickets: 0116 233 3111)

Mon 30 November          Southend Cliffs Pavilion (01702 351 135)

Tue 01 December           Ipswich Regent (01473 433 100)

Thu 03 December           Bournemouth O2 Academy (0844 477 2000)

Fri 04 December             London Brixton O2 Academy (0844 477 2000)

Sat 05 December                        London Brixton O2 Academy (8PM-2AM) (0844 477 2000)

Mon 07 December          Cambridge Corn Exchange (01223 357 851)

Tue 08 December           Sheffield O2 Academy (0844 477 2000)

Thu 10 December           Leeds O2 Academy (0844 477 2000)

Fri 11 December             Leeds O2 Academy (0844 477 2000)

Sat 12 December                        Liverpool University (0151 256 5555)

Mon 14 December          Newcastle City Hall (0191 261 2606)

Tue 15 December           Edinburgh Picture House (0844 4999 990)

Wed 16 December          Glasgow O2 Academy (0844 4999 990)

Fri 18 December             Birmingham O2 Academy (0844 477 2000)

Sat 19 December                        Manchester MEN Arena (0844 847 8000)

 

Tickets go on sale at 9.30am Thursday 27 August, and can be bought online at gigsandtours.com & ticketmaster.co.uk or via the 24hr hotline: 0871 2200 260 / 0844 826 2826.

 

The shows will be the first following the release of Brown’s sixth studio album, My Way, due 28 September on Fiction. The bulk of the album’s 12 tracks were co-written with long time collaborator Dave McCracken at London's Battery Studios, where Brown and the Stone Roses recorded their seminal debut 20 years before. Lead track Stellify was debuted on radio on Monday 10 August, at the same time the video for the song was premiered online. In an unprecedented move, Fiction made the Stellify EP available to download that evening and it shot straight to #1 on iTunes. Stellify will be released as a traditional single via all retailers on 21 September on Fiction. It is followed a week later by My Way, on CD, 12-inch and download.

 

Ian Brown has been confirmed as very special guest on the main stage at the 2009 Reading and Leeds festivals on 28-29 August. He plays shows in Wolverhampton (25 August) and Oxford (26) beforehand.

 

Stellify EP is available to download now

Stellify is released as a single 21 September 2009

My Way follows 28 September on Fiction

Tour / Album News: Idlewild

 

Idlewild has announced it will be releasing its seventh studio album, Post-Electric Blues, on Monday 5th October.    

 

The album, which was available earlier this year as a limited edition via the bands website, will also feature two bonus tracksTake Away The Night Time and Take Me Back In Time (demo).  These tracks will be available to download once the album has been purchased.  The release will be preceded by a digital single, Readers & Writers, on Monday 28th September, which will feature an extra track, (The Night Will) Bring You Back To Life (demo)

 

'Post-Electric Blues' is an indie-rock album of Boss-like bombast, flecked with 70s synths and dashes of brass.  It's an album that leaps from Fleetwood Mac epic folk/rock/pop peaks into joyous Loch-side sing-a-longs. It's the sound of a deft and defiant band(completed by Rod Jones on guitar, backing vocals, keyboards; Colin Newton on drums, percussion; Allan Stewart on guitar and Gareth Russell on bass),
exploring soundscapes whilst finding hooks and generally, genuinely and
quite clearly, having a fookin’ good time.


"Album opener 'Younger than
America' was the first track we wrote for the
album," says singer Roddy Woomble. "The idea for the lyrics came from a spate watching Westerns - simple stories of justice and courage set at the 'frontier'. It
sounds the way it does because we're all big fans of Neil Young & Crazy
horse. After we'd written the song I though the record might turn into a
American sounding piece of classic rock, but it didn't turn out that way
really, especially after writing 'Readers and Writers'. The record went in
whatever direction it chose to.”


Lyrically, the punk-rock sloganeering of their earlier work has become a
mixture of poignant observational small-world imagery and universal
ponder-neering. This isn't all textural wilderness-gazing or woe is me
Morrissey-like rambling. There are a few wry lyrics because "sometimes you
need some daft lines in there," explains Roddy, "I don't that think it's
possible to have a rock song where every line is perfect, I don't think
that's the point of rock music."

 

Whilst the band were writing and recording the album, members of
their fanclub-like online community saw and heard work-in-progress snippets: "The fans of the band were part of this album and
were entitled to see the songs being written and to feel a part of them,"
beams Roddy. "They paid for them to be recorded after all. In today's
musical world when everything has to be available and instant and people get
bored quickly (far too quickly in my opinion) this album was our attempt to
get with the times. I suppose the album title reflects this. We all really
like and appreciate the fact the fans paid for us to make this album and
that all their names are inside of it."

Written in Scotland and recorded in Wales (and Scotland), Post-Electric Blues is
an album made to play live, as Roddy explains: "Most bands now make their
living through concerts, and we're no exception, so records have to be
tailored that way. With 'The Remote Part and 'Warnings...' we were writing
songs that would sound good on the radio (and live, but the radio was more
important - so we were told). There are a million new bands on the radio
waves, or digital waves, now so it's more important to us how we will sound
good through a PA system in a club and that we can play and sing it all!"


To coincide with the release, the band will be touring the UK, full dates as follows :

 

Sat 10th Oct             MANCHESTER, Club Academy

Sun 11th Oct            NOTTINGHAM, Rescue Rooms

Mon 12th Oct            EXETER, Phoenix Centre

Tue 13th Oct            COLCHESTER, Arts Centre

Thu 15th Oct            SOUTHSEA, Wedgewood Rooms

Fri 16th Oct              LONDON, Electric Ballroom

Sun 18th Oct            OXFORD, O2 Academy

Mon 19th Oct            NORWICH, Waterfront

Tue 27th Oct            MIDDLESBOROUGH, Empire

Wed 28th Oct           LEEDS, Cockpit

Thu 29th Oct            BIRMINGHAM, O2 Academy Birmingham 2

Fri 30th Oct              SHEFFIELD, Leadmill

Tour News: Wave Machines

WAVE MACHINES
"Wave Machines are up there with 2009's finest." – NME

- UK TOUR -
-      
NEW SINGLE PUNK SPIRIT ON AUGUST 31st –
** HEADLINE THE HOXTON BAR & KITCHEN ON 9th SEPTEMBER **

Wave Machines
head off on a UK headline tour in September, with new single Punk Spirit out August 31st.
 
Championed by Zane Lowe at Radio One and playlisted at 6Music, Punk Spirit
has been a Wave Machines live favourite throughout the festival season.

Glastonbury
was the first of several high profile festival shows for the in-demand live band including Electric Picnic, Bestival and main stage appearances at Green Man and Lovebox. Their critically acclaimed debut long player Wave If You're Really There was a Rough Trade Album Of The Week and summer dance-floor smash I Go I Go I Go - an iTunes Single of The Week.

UK LIVE DATES:

SEPTEMBER 9th, LONDON, Hoxton Bar & Kitchen (www.kililive.com <http://www.kililive.com/>  / 0871 230 5595);

10th, KINGSTON, New Slang @ McClusky’s (www.newslangkingston.co.uk <http://www.newslangkingston.co.uk/> );

25th LIVERPOOL, FestEvol@Academy;

29th SOUTHAMPTON Joiners (02380225612 / www.joinerslive.co.uk <http://www.joinerslive.co.uk/>  or www.seetickets.com <http://www.seetickets.com/> );

30th BRIGHTON Freebutt (01273606312 / www.wegottickets.com <http://www.wegottickets.com/> );  

OCTOBER 1st LEICESTER Sumo (01159129000 / www.seetickets.com <http://www.seetickets.com/> );

2nd PETERBOROUGH Met Lounge (01733571616 / www.wegottickets.com <http://www.wegottickets.com/> );

3rd BRISTOL Louisiana (08713100000 / www.alt-tickets.co.uk <http://www.alt-tickets.co.uk/> );

5th BIRMINGHAM 02 Academy (08444772000 / www.ticketweb.co.uk <http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/> );

6th MANCHESTER The Deaf Institute (01618321111 / http://thedeafinstitute/ticketline.co.uk <http://thedeafinstitute/ticketline.co.uk> );

7th GLASGOW Captains Rest (08448472487 / www.ticketweb.co.uk <http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/> );

8th NEWCASTLE, The Cluny (08713100000 / www.alt-tickets.co.uk <http://www.alt-tickets.co.uk/> );

9th YORK,  City Screen Basement (0871 704 2054 / Ticketweb – 08700 600 100 / http://seetickets.com <http://seetickets.com/> )

11th NOTTINGHAM Bodega (08713100000 / www.alt-tickets.co.uk <http://www.alt-tickets.co.uk/> ).

Tour News: The Maccabees

Album Wall Of Arms out now on Fiction

Summer Festivals and tour for September / October

 

“brilliant…effortless and unstudied” 8/10 NME Album of The Month Artrocker

**** The Guardian **** The Sun **** London Paper

“the meticulously evolved sound of a band aiming to bid to breathe life into British indie” **** OMM

“concise and intelligent” **** The Independent

“perfect, passionate and sophisticated pop… a fine album” The Sunday Times

 

The Maccabees have announced a major UK tour for September/October, which will see them play their first ever Brixton Academy show. The South London band released their second album Wall of Arms to rave reviews earlier this year, and it’s not just the critics who are hailing the album a triumph, Wall of Arms entered the UK album charts at number 13.

 

Wall of Arms is set to be a stand out record of 2009. Don’t miss out, catch The Maccabees live on tour and at festivals in the coming months.

 

LIVE DATES:

August

Fri 28                            LEEDS FESTIVAL, RADIO 1/NME STAGE

Sat 29                           READING FESTIVAL, RADIO 1/NME STAGE

September

Wed 30              BRISTOL ACADEMY (Tel: 0844 477 2000)

October

Thur 1                           BIRMINGHAM ACADEMY (Tel: 0844 477 2000)

Fri 2                              NORWICH UEA (Tel: 01603 508 050)

Sat 3                             LONDON BRIXTON ACADEMY (Tel: 0844 477 2000)            

Mon 5                            NOTTINGHAM ROCK CITY (Tel: 08713 100 000)

Tue 6                            MANCESTHER ACADEMY (Tel: 0161 832 1111)

Wed 7                           NEWCASTLE ACADEMY (Tel: 0844 477 2000)

Fri 9                              GLASGOW ABC (Tel: 08444 999 990)

Sat 10                           LEEDS ACADEMY (Tel: 0844 477 2000)

 

24 HR CC HOTLINE: 0871 2200 260 / www.gigsandtour.com

 

http://www.themaccabees.co.uk

Gig News: Live at Cusworth 5 September 2009

So after our constructive critism of Doncaster Live '09 we come across some fantastic news of a brand new event in Doncaster.... Live at Cusworth.

To those who aren't familiar with Doncaster,  Cusworth Hall is located just north of Doncaster and is a fantastic park and grade 1 listed 18th century country house. We know it well as it's just a short walk round the corner from us and take it from us it's a lovely place and we can't think of anywhere better to hold a gig.

So on Saturday 5 September Cusworth Hall will host Sandi Thom (her of internet gig fame and singer of the hit 'I wish I was a punk rocker').

Better than that there are the cream of Doncaster's music talent as support. None other than the sensational The Beaus plus our favs Darren Bell and Ross Cameron. Quite a impressive line up.

Price is a reasonable £12.50 per person.

For more info check out www.doncasterhothouse.co.uk and to buy tickets online see www.doncastercivic.co.uk

 

Review & Opinion: Doncaster Live 2009

Doncaster Live 2009 

 

Now we’ve been a big supporter of the free Doncaster festival for many a year and think it’s a brilliant idea but to be honest we feel it’s hit a bit of a crossroads, the 2009 line up is possibly the weakest for the last few years, last year The Levellers headlined Saturday night with The Rascals, Elliott Minor and Tiny Dancers with the Sunday given aside just for Doncaster’s finest. However, this year the main day was shunted onto the Sunday and it appeared that although the piss poor website (more of which later) was advertising 25th & 26th July nothing actually happened on the Saturday. On the Sunday the line up was to be Girl Spit, Liam and the triumphs, in fear of olive, Eureka Machines, Will and the people, The Yeah You’s, Go Audio and headliners The Magic Numbers. That’s hardly the most illustrious line up especially with the Tramlines festival not 20 miles away in Sheffield boasting Reverend and The Makers as their Sunday night headliners plus absolutely loads of stuff across multiple venues for the whole weekend.

 

Now we have to say the infrastructure for Doncaster Live is damn well spot on, plus to be fair the additions year on year have greatly improved the event. The location is really good, the stage is spot on and the big screen adds that extra professional look to proceedings. This year the introduction of dedicated bar is a brilliant addition to the established boozers situated in the Market Place and the fun fair is an expectation of the current festival goer so thumbs up on that too.

 

So where do things starting going wrong then? Well the booking of bands is the first bug bear, there doesn’t seem to be a consistent policy of what they are trying to achieve here, it’s just a bit of ‘cover all bases’ with obviously cheap bands to book. Now we know that money is an issue; it’s free, without a major sponsor and goes cap in hand to the local authority for funding but even so would they be better going hell for leather for a decent headliner then filling the bill with the cream of local talent especially as it’s slimmed down to just the one day? Then you have got to look at similar events across the north, take the aforementioned Tramlines, Middlesbrough Music Live and even an event in Stockton on Tees where they get the whole local musical community involved with loads of gigs across loads of different venues. In fact lets use Middlesbrough as a prime example, they have the open air stage but use all available venues to pack the town with punters and bands for the full day. They also have one of the best booking agents in the business, a real eye for a band just about to break plus getting loads of local bands into the act too. We believe this kind of event goes by the name ‘joined up’ where the whole town is involved, lets face it Doncaster has currently the best set of venues well ever really, surely instead of The Priory, Vintage Rockbar putting their own ‘alternative’ events on they should be encompassed by Doncaster Live and promoted with it.

 

This brings us onto the promotion of the event which is nothing short of scandalous, there’s a website which has jack on it and the line up is only published about a week before which is a joke. There is a bit of promo in the local papers but that’s it. Now take Tramlines, it’s on local Tv for god’s sake plus a decent website and national coverage via stuff like NME etc. If you look across into West Yorkshire and the fabulous (but bigger budget, as they charge) Bingley Music Live, they have a good website with plenty of info on who is playing (plus history of the event & previous bands to feature)  but they have also announced who is playing in July for a festival in September.. advance notice people! If the Doncaster Live website is up all year round get some pics on there (there were 7 people covering the event and the pics are all over the internet on bands websites, myspace etc) and make sure if the event continues into 2010 there’s more band info, event info and it’s done a hell of a lot quicker.

 

Now, I must stress I’m not saying I could do better and I’m fully aware of just how much hard graft goes into an event like this and how difficult it must be to juggle what must be a small and really tight budget. So for the record I’d like to say well done to Heather and all those concerned for getting it off the ground in the first place and keeping it going over the years. I do however stand by the points raised above and hope that the event continues next year except encompasses all that’s great about the Doncaster scene and the people behind it. So fingers crossed for a multi venue Doncaster Live 2010 featuring a shit hot headliner, some quality up and coming talent plus the cream of Doncaster’s bands. It might sound a pipe dream but by getting everyone involved god only knows what can be achieved, reach for the sky and you might just catch a piece!

 

Anyway less of the future and back to 2009 and what went down, well plenty of rain.. again. Unfortunately it seems that mother nature always gives a big two fingers to Doncaster Live and this year is no exception with at times torrential rain blighting proceedings. The numbers are down on last year too, that could have something to do with the god awful weather, the fact it’s a Sunday or the line up or even a combination of all three.

 

Anyway there’s still a good turn out when The Yeah You’s take the stage and plenty of young, female fans giving their vocal support. The singer has some charisma and a bit of a look of a young (but better looking) Rick Witter however the rest of the band look of an age they have done this before and should know better. The Yeah You’s really don’t appear to be much of anything really, watered down radio friendly guitar pop shandy. Then the do a really surreal cover of Duran Duran’s ‘Ordinary World’… why?? I’m not sure it’s really target audience nor is it that good a cover neither, proper weird. That said those clinging to the barriers at the very front of the crowd seem to enjoy it so they can’t be the devil incarnate can they?!

 

Blimey it’s over to Go Audio to get cracking and raise the bar then and right from the off they do just that. They look the part, energetic frontman who is somewhat easy on the eye but knows a tune or two and a brilliantly dipsy looking keyboardist who is wearing flip flops of all things! The musical path is well trodden but when indie guitar pop rock is done right and with some verve you can’t beat it and Go Audio are up there with the best of the genre. They play with energy and real conviction plus they have a damn fine arsenal of tunes too. The weather hasn’t perked up none but Go Audio really heat up the stage and the crowd are well up for it, in fact too up for it in some cases which actually ends up with some police intervention which leads the band to comment on how it ain’t everyday they get the cops watching their gigs! Great stuff which is a top fillip for the headline act.

Tonight The Magic Numbers walk the stage ramp trodden previously by The Bluetones, Wedding Present and last year The Levellers. Unfortunately for them the weather takes another turn for the worse and by the looks of it the younger fans here for The Yeah You’s and / or Go Audio have already exited stage left, still there’s a hardy bunch left out in the rain. The last time we witnessed The Magic Numbers were likened them to a Lincolnshire family outing which to this day remains our favourite shadders quote (which is why it’s been used again) and they don’t seem to have changed none in the intervening years, still beards aplenty (we’ll refrain from the obvious ‘and that’s just the girls’ gag). In fact they seem to have been away from quite a while so it’s good to know that there’s still life in the old dogs. They try to lift the crowd but their brand of melody based indie pop doesn’t really lend itself for a rousing sing song, it’s more laid back and relaxing and more in keeping with a pleasant summers evening and a cold beverage! So for the vast portion of their set the crowd really isn’t lit up but there’s still a few highpoints, no great surprise that they are both from their highly successful and acclaimed debut long player. ‘Forever Lost’ is a fine tune but when the ante is upped and the tempo flowing (like the rain) ‘Love me like you’ still remains a pop classic. There’s still some good new tunes aired which suggests The Magic Numbers can continue along nicely, away from the pop fashion and in their own way. Not the most exciting of sets but solid enough and so ends another year of Doncaster Live, here’s to 2010!

 

Free Download news: McIntosh Ross

McIntosh Ross, aka Lorraine McIntosh and Ricky Ross of multi-million selling Scottish group, Deacon Blue, has announced it will be giving away a free track ahead of the release of its new album, The Great Lakes (released 28th September).  The free track, Bluebell Wood, will be available to download from Wednesday 22nd July until Wednesday 5th August at www.thegreatlakes.co.uk.

 

After more than two decades in and out of Deacon Blue, the pair decided they wanted to make an album - together. Not an album as part of Deacon Blue. Not a Ricky Ross album with Lorraine popping up on backing vocals. But an album which the two of them could call, justly and equally, their own.   The rules of engagement were kept to a minimum. They would both write and both sing. The songs would be beautiful, meaningful and simple – no unnecessary chords or complicated changes. And the couple would go somewhere other than Scotland to record them. “We knew what we'd get if we did it here in Glasgow,” Ricky says. “We thought if we go somewhere else and get different people to work with we'll come up with something that will surprise us.  We wanted to record music together that was completely fresh.”

 

‘Somewhere else’ turned out to be the Red Star Studio in Silver Lake, Los Angeles and the ‘different people’ were a group of players steeped in the finest traditions of Americana music. Mark Howard was hired to produce. He has worked in the studio with Bob Dylan and Tom Waits and produced Lucinda Williams's Top 20 album, World Without Tears. With Howard's help Ricky and Lorraine hand-picked a band that included drummer Steven Nistor (Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse), bass player Daryl Johnson (Emmylou Harris, the Neville Brothers) and the great Doug Pettibone (Lucinda Williams's guitarist) on pedal steel and banjo. Completing the line-up was guitarist and backing vocalist David Scott (of The Pearl Fishers), an old friend of Ricky's and Lorraine's from Glasgow, who produced Ricky's last solo album, Pale Rider.

 

The result is The Great Lakes by McIntosh Ross, an album of supreme melodic grace and spiritual purity which combines echoes of the duo's Celtic homeland with the alt.country twang of  the American south – a seamless blend of Caledonia and California, if you will. “I don't think we consciously thought of Scotland or America,” Ricky says. “It was more to do with the kind of songs we wanted to sing. These became more folky as the writing went on, while the more mainstream pop songs got disregarded. The main thing was that if it didn't seem like a genuinely significant song to both of us then it didn't get on the record.” 

 

Available on CD and as a digital download, the full tracklisting is as follows :

 

1.       The Great Lakes                          7.       Walls

2.       Winter Is Coming                          8.       Your Straight Man    

3.       Bluebell Wood                              9.       Mount Juliet

4.       All My Trust I Place in You             10.     Silver And Gold

5.       Gloria                                         11.     Oh The Dark

6.       A Passing Place                           12.     This World Is Not My Home

                                                                                     

With Deacon Blue currently on an indefinite hiatus, bar the occasional get-together for special gigs such as this year's Liverpool Summer Pops festival, Ricky has branched out as a songwriter, and written songs both for and with a variety of artists including James Blunt, Ronan Keating, Will Young, Nanci Griffith, EG White and Jamie Cullum among many others. Lorraine, meanwhile has launched a parallel career as an actress, appearing as a regular character in the Scottish soap River City, the current BBC drama series Hope Springs, and in several feature films.  The irony is that singing is now more central to her life than ever before. “I sing all the time,” she says. “I sing more than Ricky. He couldn't survive if he could never write another song, but I simply couldn't live without the singing.”

 

 

www.cookingvinyl.com / www.mcintoshross.com / www.myspace.com/mcintoshross

 

Review - TWIN FALLS - we will begin to flicker

Review: Twin Falls – We Will begin to flicker

 

You’d never guess this splendid six track ep is the debut release by Twin Falls, it’s a beautifully crafted collection of indie pop folk tunes that are endearing to say the least. There’s a wonderfully laid back alt country vibe but with many of the songs containing multiple instruments (aside from the traditional guitar, bass and drum combo) there’s some stunning soundscapes to reveal in. ‘Janie I will only let you down’ has the best title and kicks off proceedings with strings aplenty adding a great background atmosphere whilst there’s a corking tempo and some inspired understated vocals, sets the tone in some style even if it lasts only two and a half minutes. Influences cited include the likes of Magnetic Fields, Ryan Adams, Wilco, Sparklehouse and Vanilla Ice, the last of which we assume is the joker in the pack. ‘Matter of the heart’ has a more serious tone with affected vocals, edgier bass and a deeper vibe and shows they have more strings to their long term bows. ‘New Years eve’ returns to a lighter laid back groove without any vocals at all, ahh the art of the instrumental. ‘Chunk Honey’ has the vibe that makes Mojave 3 and The Thrills so damn interesting to get into. Whereas ‘Scientist’ does the whole soundscapes thing after a most lowkey start but another endearing tune to end the ep off with. ‘We will begin to flicker’ represents of the finest debut ep’s to come out of the capital in quite a while and we look forward to plenty more in the future, a pretty damn bright flicker and there’s no doubting that.

 

Festival News: Indietracks

ART BRUT ADDED TO INDIETRACKS FESTIVAL HEADLINERS

 
Flamboyant art-punk superstars Art Brut have been announced as an additional Sunday night headliner for this year’s Indietracks festival. The festival takes place at the Midland Railway in Ripley, Derbyshire on July 24-26.

The band will join headliners Teenage Fanclub, Camera Obscura, Rose Elinor Dougall, Emmy the Great and Au Revoir Simone at this year’s festival. Over 50 bands will play across four stages, with other bands playing including BMX Bandits, Lucky Soul, Frank and Walters, Help Stamp Out Loneliness, Butcher Boy and Manhattan Love Suicides.
Art Brut are fronted by the charismatic and controversial Eddie Argos, once described by the NME as “Britain’s best post-Jarvis pop star”. The band lit up the music world in 2004 with classic pop singles ‘Formed A Band’ and ‘Good Weekend’, and recently released their third album, the confident and confrontational ‘Art Brut vs Satan’, produced by The Pixies’ Frank Black.
 
Helene, described by ex-Cocteau Twins and Bella Union head honcho Simon Raymonde as the ‘greatest lyricist in Britain right now’, and acclaimed Berlin electro-rock duo Stereo Total have also just been added to the bill. The full band timetable and stage times can now be viewed at http://www.indietracks.co.uk/Pages/schedule.html

This year, the Indietracks festival will also introduce its ‘Workshop Wigwam’, hosting a wide range of fun activities. Festival-goers will have the chance to make jewellery with the cult label Tatty Devine, write a song with The Smittens’ Colin Clary, get crafty with the Craft Guerrillas and The Bunty Collective, find out about making clothes with Eithne Farry, and win some serious prizes in the poptastic pop quiz! You can view the workshop timetable at http://www.indietracks.co.uk/Pages/workshops.html

This is the third ever Indietracks festival, which is being held at the Midland Railway in Ripley, in the heart of the Derbyshire countryside. The site houses a whole range of lovingly restored steam diesels and locomotives. Festival goers are allowed to have unlimited rides on the steam railway over the weekend and full access to other railway attractions including a farm and museum.


This year, Indietracks is teaming up with legendary Elefant Records as part of the indiepop label’s 20th anniversary celebrations. The Madrid-based label, which was launched by Luis Calvo in 1989, has picked a number of bands to play on a special Elefant stage over the course of the weekend.
Weekend tickets cost £55, day tickets cost £30 and both are available to buy from Ticketweb or by calling the railway direct on 01773 747 674. 
 
The Indietracks line-up is as follows:

FRIDAY 24 JULY:
Au Revoir Simone, Rose Elinor Dougall and one band to be announced.

SATURDAY 25 JULY:
Camera Obscura, Emmy the Great, La Casa Azul, The Frank and Walters, Butcher Boy, Wake the President, Cats on Fire, Manhattan Love Suicides, Fitness Forever, Alaska, King of Cats, Speedmarket Avenue, Mighty Mighty, The Lovely Eggs, Poppy & Friends, One Happy Island, Pete Green and the Corporate Juggernaut, Sucrette, Friends, Labrador, Kevin McGrother, Little My, Ray Rumours and The No-Ideas, Modular, Downdime and The Rocky Nest.

SUNDAY 26 JULY:
Teenage Fanclub, Art Brut, Lucky Soul, Gordon McIntyre, BMX Bandits, Tender Trap, Pocketbooks, The School, The Smittens, MJ Hibbett, Help Stamp Out Loneliness, Disasteradio, Le Man Avec Les Lunettes, Roy Moller, Nick Garrie, Zipper, Ste McCabe, Moustache of Insanity, Hong Kong in the 60s, Loyal Trooper, Cola Jet Set, Loyal Trooper, Countryside, Let’s Whisper, Northern Portrait, The Specific Heats, The Marshmallow Kisses, Eux Autres, Bonne Idee and The Understudies.                 

To view the latest festival line-up, visit the Indietracks website at www.indietracks.co.uk.

 

Setlist: ATHLETE @ Leeds Cockpit

Full setlist from London lads' cracking gig at Leeds Cockpit:

Superhuman Touch

You got the style

Half Light

Shake Windows

Hurricane

Black Swan Song

Tourist

One Million

Magical Mistakes

Westside

24 Hours

The Getaway

_______encore_____

Light the way

El Salvador

Wires

 

FESTIVAL NEWS: TRAMLINES @ SHEFFIELD

What is Tramlines?

The idea behind Tramlines was simple. Take over a weekend, fill the whole of Sheffield with music and showcase the energy and diversity of the Sheffield Music Scene.

It was a simple idea which the musical godfathers of Sheffield took up with a passion. Matt Helders, Jon McClure and Toddla T – signed up immediately and got to work bullying the musical industry into supporting Sheffield – the music city. And so on the last weekend of July – the city of Sheffield will be filled with music. Every local band worth seeing – who isn’t on tour will be there. The curators musical friends and family will be putting on a show. And to top it all – with the generous support of the council and Hallam FM, there will even be a massive outdoor stage on Devonshire Green.

The enthusiasm was infectious – and attracted outside help - the global legends Ibiza Rocks jumped on board, the massive music website Drowned in Sound and Camden Crawl aficionados – Adventures in The Beetroot Field also signed up.

So with a boat load of peer pressure and the generous support of Sheffield City Council and our sponsors, Tramlines was born.

And best of all – it is free for everyone. July 24th - July 26th – its completely free and will be on all over the city.

Get on Board.

Latest News

Reverend and The Makers have confirmed they will be headlining a legendary climax to Tramlines 09 and Sheffield Music City. Support will be provided by The La’s, the seminal Liverpool band whose debut album was released
almost 20 years ago.

Jon McClure - better known as the Reverend - is relishing the chance to perform to the band’s biggest ever home crowd, with a 5,000 capacity sell-out guaranteed on Sunday July 26th.

The Devonshire Green Stage will be curated by John McClure and Captured for prosperity thanks to media partner NME Radio.

“As soon as I heard about the festival, I was desperate to get on board. I knew we’d need something special, so I
talked to Drew and Lee and they agreed to reform the La’s at the event. That was my big (but not only) festival
surprise. On top of that, though, I wanted to showcase some of the great bands coming out of Sheffield, so as well as myself and the La’s you’re gonna see some Sheffield bands that deserve to be seen.”

“It’s gonna be legendary.”

Further proof of the curators’ commitment came when Matt Helders confirmed his attendance:

“I just had to persuade the lads to rearrange the schedule a bit. No way could I miss this event.”

Matt will be headlining his own showcase on the Saturday from DQ, the spiritual home of the now legendary
taste-making Threads club night. Supporting Matt on the night will be The Rascals and Milburn’s Joe Carnell on his first solo venture.

Newest curator on the block, Toddla T, will be kicking off the headline programme with his End of the World line-up (featuring Martello, Oneman and Toddla himself) as well as a set from the incredible DJ Zinc.

On Saturday, the Devonshire Green stage will be hosted by Hallam FM, with Little Boots, Pixie Lott, The Yeah Yous and The Noisettes amongst the highlights on their family-friendly line-up.

The Tramlines festival will incorporate at least 25 venues across the city. In conjunction with the week-long
celebration, Sheffield Music City – a diverse collection of outdoor stages and performance areas - will showcase the variety and cultural mix of Sheffield’s musical community.

Drowned in Sound, Adventures in The Beetroot Field and festival-openers Ibiza Rocks are all also soon to announce their full line-ups for the event. Fringe programmer and manager of The Harley, Sarah Nulty, believes the festival promises a unique inner-city experience:

We set out from year one to create a cross-city festival that would showcase Sheffield’s extraordinary musical variety and depth. The initial line-ups already demonstrate our intent. There are more big names to come but it’s as i
mportant to me that we showcase breaking artists from across the genres, from live hip-hop
(courtesy of The Tuesday Club) to rock, or from reggae and dub to bassline. Our aim is to celebrate the music that makes Sheffield tick. Expect endless variety in every available musical space.

Keep watching!

Lineup

Confirmed so far:

Reverend and The Makers // The La's
The Rascals // Little Boots // Pixie Lott Toddla T // Martelo // DJ Zinc // Errors
The Noisettes // The Yeah Yous // Maps
Johnny Foreigner // The Rumble Strips
Rolo Tomassi // Rodney P // The XX
The Chapman Family // Slow Club
Man like Me // Skint and Demoralised
Kid Acne // MPHO // Banjo or freakout
Oneman // Detroit Social club // Navvy
Futurecop! // I Monster // Shake Aletti

Dead world leaders // Backhanded compliments
Munch Munch // Pygmy globetrotters // Alvarez kings
Joe Carnall and the book club // The Violet may
The Crookes // The Yell // The Swines // Calenko
La folie //
Elephant keys // Pistola kicks // King Capisce

Plus loads more soon

Competition News: Wave Machines & Coxon GIG!

 Wave Machines
   
 
  
Competition: 100 pairs of tickets for Wave Machines iTunes Festival gig up for grabs 

 

 Wave Machines are from Glastonbury with good news: 100 pairs of tickets to give away for their gig at this month's iTunes Festival.
 
 The show takes place on July 23rd at Freedm Studios, The Roundhouse, London. A winning entry gets you not only into Wave Machines gig at 6.15pm but also a show by Graham Coxon, later that day, in the Roundhouse main space.
 
 Just answer the following question to be in with a chance:
 
What stage did Wave Machines play on Sunday at Glastonbury this year?
 
 a: John Peel Stage
 b: Queen's Head Stage
 c: Park Stage
 
 Please send an email with your answer to: wavetickets@googlemail.com 
 
 The competition closes on July 17th. The winners will be contacted by iTunes with details of how to get their tickets.
 
 Please note that the gig is exclusive to competition winners - you won't find tickets on sale anywhere, so be sure to enter!
 
 Good luck if you do

NB - This competition is run by Wave Machines & Itunes and not Shaddersonline.com, any problems contact them & not us - good luck!

SETLIST: The Hours @ Sheffield Academy

Full eight song set list from the Kasabian support slot at Sheffield Academy June 28th, 2009.

Set list states Kasabian tour June / July 2009 - same every night??

Love is an action

Narcissus Road

Come on

Ali in the Jungle

Never see you again

Icarus

People Say

Murder or Suicide

Festival News: Bingley Music Live

Check this out, details announced of the Bingley Music Live Festival. If you've not been before it's well worth a visit, the venue is superb and the line up is excellent, see below:

Saturday 4th September

DOVES 
The Zutons 
Ocean Colour Scene 
The Sunshine Underground
Detroit Social Club
TBC
The Moons
Local Band   
Local Band


Sunday 5th September

EDITORS
Calvin Harris
Reverend and the Makers
The Futureheads
Howling Bells                           
VV Brown
White Belt Yellow Tag
Local Band
Local Band

Weekend Tickets (£25) are selling fast get yours at http://www.facebook.com/l/;https://www.seetickets.com/bingleymusiclive

Friday 4th September - FREE admission.
The Undertones with support from Toploader, and local U2 tribute New 2.


Shadders news - Devon breakout!

Hi - long time no blog mainly as we've just taken a well earned break away down to the South West.

Just have to say that this has to be our fav part of the country especially with a decent spot of weather too.

A few years ago we toured Cornwall, this time we based ourselves near Bideford in North Devon (about 25 miles from the Cornwall border). With the sun a shining we managed to spend plenty of time beach side at Westward Ho and on Widemouth Beach. That aside we managed to visit Padstow, Bideford and Barnstable plus some blatant mad country road driving in the zed.

Now firmly back in Yorkshire we managed to check out The Hours / Kasabian at the Academy at Sheffield last night and there's some cracking pics awaiting to get uploaded... check the gallery later this week for these.

Later

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Essential Yorkshire Festival News!

We're happy to report that Doncaster Live and Bingley Music Live both return in 2009.

Doncaster Live (ex Doncaster Music Live) returns to it's usual venue outstide the Market Hall on Saturday 25th July and 26th July. Although there is no mention of booked bands as yet if last years format is continued (and why not it worked rather well) it'll be a ''high profile'' out of town headliner on Saturday night followed by a day of local bands on the Sunday.

Blooming good news is that once again it's completely free.... hooray!

Check out the website www.doncasterlive.co.uk

Bingley Music Live 2009 is bigger and better than ever. Taking place Friday 4th September to Sunday 6th September it adds the Friday day on for this first time in 2009.  The Friday is completely free (hooray) with a weekend ticket for Saturday and Sunday coming in at just £25.

Bands confirmed are Doves, Calvin Harris, Futureheads, Reverend and the makers and Ocean Colour Scene plus loads more not yet confirmed - it's gonna be a big ticket this year and is set in a fantastic bowl venue.

Check out the website at www.bingleymusiclive.com

Gonna be a good old Yorkshire summer and make no doubt of that!

And the winner is.......... MOTD Competition winner

A big well done to Kevin Morrison from Aberdeen who answered our very easy question of 'who is the current underachieving manager of Manchester City', it is of course Mark Hughes (hooray...not!).

The Match of the day album is in the post to Kevin as we blog.

It is a quality album and there's some great tunes amongst the 40 tracks, heavy weight stuff.

Check out the album review elsewhere on this site, full track listing is on the previous competition blog entry, check those out. 

Finally a big thanks to Kate @ Quite Great for sorting this out, much appreaciated.

NEWS: HARD ROCK CALLING UNSIGNED BANDS COMPETITION

The Unsigned Band Review, a new site that offers advice to new bands from recognised industry professionals from a range of disciplines, are selecting 4 bands from their talent pool to play at the Hyde Park calling festival this month.

Bands have until this Friday (June 12th) to enter through
www.unsignedbandreview.com  on the ‘Artist Sign Up’ page and 4 lucky winners will join The Killers, The Kooks and Howling Bells as part of the Friday shenanigans.

Unsigned Band Review have teamed up with Cancer Research UK and their ‘Busking Cancer’ campaign (http://www.buskingcancer.co.uk) to offer 4 busking locations at the busiest parts of the festival to play in front of thousands- with all proceeds going to Cancer Research.

The bands will be chosen by UBR’s team of music industry experts and the decision will be based on who they consider to be uber talented, exciting and ready to get their music out there. The chosen bands will be announced on the 12th June on
www.unsignedbandreview.com.

Unsigned Band Review’s team of experts includes industry players from all parts of the music business and includes Simon Gavin (Universal), Simon Hargreaves, Olivier Behzadi and more.

The ‘Busking Cancer’ initiative is fronted by Rod Stewart and Suggs and further information on the campaign can be found at
www.buskingcancer.co.uk.

 

FESTIVAL NEWS: Festibelly

LIVE:
JAMES YUILL
MICACHU & THE SHAPES
MAN LIKE ME
LAUREL COLLECTIVE
THE OPERATORS
COLOURING IN
THE PEPYS
REGGAE ROAST FEAT. BROTHER CULTURE
ROB COWEN & THE DISSIDENTS
BRASS ROOTS
JAZICA
TARRBABY
RWD


DJS:
SOMBRERO SOUND SYSTEM
FEAR OF THEYDON
ITCHY FEET DJs
ALEX PARSONS

After the sell out success of 2008, Festibelly have developed their boutique festival for another wonderful weekend this summer. Set in the peaceful surroundings of the New Forest, Festibelly provides a chilled day, party night time, camping and - what so many festivals lack - intimacy, with a capacity of only 1000 people.

2009 features musical performances from some of the most exciting talent to emerge from the indie, rock, pop, acoustic, and reggae scenes. After his astonishing 2008 performance, Festibelly welcome back 'folktronica' wizard James Yuill as headliner. Signed to Moshi Moshi Records, James has released a plethora of hits, such as 'No Surprise' and 'This Sweet Love' gaining huge support from BBC Radio 1 and was even an iTunes track of the week.

The strong line up continues with Rough Trade signings Micachu & The Shapes, grime pop upstarts Man Like Me, critically acclaimed ensemble Laurel Collective and future-romantic pop group ColouringIN. They are joined by London's favourite reggae party, Reggae Roast who will be 'dubbing' it alongside live performances by Brother Culture and the heavyweight 9-piece brass band, Brass Roots.

More festival antics will be provided by local hero's, The Operators, East London indie-outfit, The Pepys, Tarrbaby, Jazica, RWD, Rob Cowen & The Dissidents and a fierce selection of DJs including Sombrero Sound System and Sunday Best's Fear of Theydon.

If that wasn't enough Festibelly 2009 will be engaging your other senses with activities including Secret Wars hosing urban artists battling it out in the form of a tag-team competition on a giant wall.

Festibelly also supports neighbouring traders and provides delicious and sophisticated food from local sources, catering for both meat eaters and vegetarians. The Festibar will also be stocked with a plentiful supply of soft drinks and alcoholic beverages. Festibelly provides clean toilets (something highly commented on last year, as some of the best ever seen at a festival) with washbasins, mirrors and lighting. Festibelly has a safe and friendly atmosphere and welcomes people of all ages.


Date: 9am, Saturday 29th August - 1pm, Sunday 30th August
Tickets: £25 + booking fee (includes camping) from ticketweb.co.uk
Location: Undershore, Lymington, Hampshire, SO41 5QA
Capacity: 1,000

festibelly.com

FESTIVAL NEWS: Glade Festival

Not only is Glade Festival moving to a new site at Matterley Bowl this year; they have also given their website a complete overhaul.

The all-singing, all-dancing Flash and HTML website will surely lead the way as a template for other festivals.
Traditionally, the Glade Festival website has always been in plain HTML but this year they have decided to enter into the realms of full interactivity by creating the ultimate pre-festival experience allowing the user to virtually explore all dimensions of the Festival before even stepping foot on the site.
With easy features and great functionality the sites main highlights are:

• Traditional navigation – the simple menu buttons sit at the top of the page making it easy to navigate - even for a technophobe
• Movable map – by clicking and dragging you can explore the actual festival site, familiarising yourself with the space before you get there - thus saving time
• Timeline – situated at the bottom of the page, by dragging the slider across it will show you who’s playing on what stage and when. You can do this for each stage. It will also tell you who’s playing at the same time as one of your favourite artists. This information will be updated as they get closer to the festival
• My Schedule – within the Timeline section of the website you can create your own schedule by adding as many artists as you like. Print it out and take it with you to the festival - ensuring you don’t miss your favorite artists.
• Music – tracks from the artists are streamed on the site
• Food – information about the food on the market stalls is available so you’ll never miss out on your favourite falafel, pie, or crepes.

Oh and you can win tickets for you and a friend by spotting the Vaudevillian who is a dastardly fellow causing a nuisance... He appears at certain places at certain times and if you find him you can win two free tickets to this year's Glade Festival right there and then. Simple.

The Website was designed by Urbian, a Cape Town based design company.

Tickets for this year's Glade Festival cost a mere £125 (the same price as last year). All tickets include free on-site camping. Camper & caravan tickets cost an additional £45. Tickets are also now on sale for the VIP boutique Tipi camping area too.

The Glade Festival won Best Dance Festival at last year's UK Festival Awards and is a 10,000 capacity event, visited by dance music and free spirited aficionados from around the world. gladefestival.com

Date: Thursday 16th - Sunday 19th July 2009
Tickets £125 + £7 bf from gladefestival.com
Children / Teenagers: Under 12's free if accompanied with an adult. 13 - 15year olds are allowed but must be accompanied by an adult - tickets cost £125 + bf.
Location: Matterley Bowl, Winchester, Hampshire
Capacity: 10,000
Entrance: gates open midday Thursday 16th July
Hours: Thursday midday - late | Friday midday - 4am | Saturday midday - 6am | Sunday midday - midnight [subject to licensing] Bars will be open 24 hours a day.

WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! 40 TRACK MATCH OF THE DAY ALBUM... NOW!

WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN!

WANT TO WIN A 40 TRACK CD FEATURING SOME TRUE INDIE / ROCK GEMS???

Well enter our Match of the Day album competition if you do.

To celebrate the launch of the Match of the Day album we've got  a copy to give away... FREE!

For a chance of winning this stunning album, email us at mail@shaddersonline.com (or click on the contact us page) the answer to this easy question....

Question.... Who the the latest underachieving manager of Manchester City (the only football team to come from Manchester according to the song and the fact U****D come from Salford!)?

So get emailing now, the MOTD album could be yours!

Check out the info & tracklisting....

Match Of The Day- The Album

40 Anthems for Home & Away

Release date: 9th June 2009

 

IT IS THE PERFECT GIFT FOR FATHER’S DAY AND INCLUDES A BONUS DVD OF 100 GREAT PREMIERSHIP GOALS!

 

Sony Music is releasing the ultimate in compilations ready for Father’s Day. Match of the Day: The Album features iconic tracks that have played a great part in the soundtrack to football highlights over the years.

 

Launched in 1964, Match of the Day has become an institution across the UK and THE must watch show for any football fan. It is the programme that provides the biggest dual viewing for both fathers and sons.

 

Over the years the show has been hosted by numerous presenters, the memorable including Jimmy Hill, Des Lynam and of course the current host Gary Lineker. The show still enjoys viewing figures over the 4 million mark and can count its success on not only its fantastic football highlights but great use of music. Starting with the anthemic theme tune, the show uses both classic and contemporary tracks which the album has brilliantly encompassed. A must-have for football fans and a great gift for Father’s Day.

 

Full tracklisting:

CD 1

 

1.       Foo Fighters-  Best Of You

2.       Oasis- Supersonic

3.       The Killers- Mr Brightside

4.       MGMT- Time To Pretend

5.       Stone Roses- Waterfall

6.       Glassvegas- Geraldine

7.       Script- Breakeven

8.       The Enemy- We Live & Die In These Towns

9.       Hard Fi- Living For The Weekend

10.    Gossip- Standing In The Way Of Control

11.    Specials- Gangsters

12.    Pulp-Do You remember The First Time

13.    Clash- Rock The Kasbah

14.    Travis- Why Does It Always rain

15.    Zutons- Valerie

16.    The Coral- Pass It On

17.    The View- Same Jeans

18.    Embrace- Ashes

19.    The Farm- All Together Now

20.    Baddiel & Skinner featuring The Lightning Seeds- 3 Lions

 

CD2

 

1.       Kasabian- Underdog ( From The Sony Bravia TV commercial)

2.       Manic Street Preachers- A Design For Life

3.       Doves- Black & White Town

4.       Ting Tings- That’s Not My Name

5.       Kooks- Naïve

6.       Primal Scream- Come Together

7.       Metro Station- Shake It

8.       Hoosiers- It’s a Shame About Ray

9.       Athlete- Wires

10.    Franz Ferdinand- Take Me Out

11.    Editors- Blood

12.    Feeder- Buck Rogers

13.    The Jam-Strange Town

14.    Only Ones- Another Girl, Another Planet

15.    Undertones- Teenage Kicks

16.    Mott The Hoople- All The Young Dudes

17.    Thin Lizzy- The Boys Are Back In Town

18.    Nickleback- Rockstar

19.    Lightning Seeds- Life Of Riley

20.    New Order-World In Motion

 

 

 

Competition terms....

Only one entrance per person allowed.

The correct answer must be emailed to mail@shaddersonline.com

Competition closes Sunday June 14th midnight.

We reserve the right to cancel the competition if we don't receive the prize from the record company etc etc

 

 

FESTIVAL NEWS: 1234 SHOREDITCH FESTIVAL

LONDON’S FINEST SUMMER SOCIAL
ANNOUNCES FIRST WAVE OF ARTISTS

BANDS STAGE:

ADVERT // A GRAVE WITH NO NAME // AN EXPERIMENT ON A BIRD IN THE AIR PUMP // A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS // BANJO OR FREAKOUT // CC-SB // CHROME HOOF // FACTORY FLOOR // FLASHGUNS // HATCHAM SOCIAL // IPSO FACTO // KASMS // LION CLUB // O CHILDREN // POLLY SCATTERGOOD // PROJECT: KOMAKINO // RELICS // S.C.U.M // SILHOUETTE // SLOPPY SECONDS // SUNDERBANS // TELEVISED CRIMEWAVE // VEGAS WHORES // THE WARLOCKS // WILD PALMS // ULTERIOR // VIDEO NASTIES
 
ELECTRONIC STAGE:

**K // AUTOKRATZ // BOY CRISIS // DEATH TO THE KING // JOE & WILL ASK // KOOL KIDS KLUB // KRAZY BALDHEAD (ED BANGER) // LUNG ROTTER & SEVEN // MODEL FOR MEMORY // MICRON 63 // THE LOVELY JONJO
With many more to be announced soon…

SUNDAY 26TH JULY 09: SHOREDITCH PARK: LONDON: 12pm-9pm

£15
Includes entrance to all day festival and ten after parties

www.the1234shoreditch.com
 www.ticketweb.co.uk   // www.seetickets.com

"THE1234 Festival It is about stylish bands, stylish fans, stylish sounds and having a great time”- I-D Magazine

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Continuing on from the phenomenal success of its first year. The 1234 Festival returns for its second outing on Sunday 26th July, bringing with it a whole host of the best new genre defying bands and Dj’s over three stages at its much loved stomping ground of Shoreditch Park nestled in the heart of London’s East End.
 
Back for 09 with a fully heaped serving of infamous1234 East End musical mash up magic and good times shenanigans, this year sees yet again the best bands, the best people, the best location, the best of everything one festival can bring- all rolled into a jaw dropping bonanza price of just 15 English Pounds which includes the all day festival and also ten after shows and parties in Shoreditch.
 
Brought to you courtesy of 1234 Records main man- Sean Mclusky, The 1234 Festival is an essential addition to the UK’s Festival scene providing a proper showcase and meeting point for the UK’s musical tribes and creative minds pushing the boundaries of the music scene today.
 
1234’s inaugural Festival was London’s best glam-racket and saw 15,000 reveller’s descend upon Shoreditch on one of the hottest days of the year to witness the likes of Har Mar Superstar take to the stage in his pants and Fab Moretti perform exclusively for the masses.
 
This year is no exception, with the hottest bands de jour such as S.C.U.M, An Experiment On The Bird In The Air Pump, Ipso Facto, Hatchem Social, Flashguns, Kasms, Televised Crimewave, Ulterior, Chrome Hoof and Lion Club leading proceedings alongside the finest Dj talent on the electronic stage bought to you by the likes of Autokratz, Boy Crisis, Kool Kids Klub, The Lovely Jonjo, Death To The King amongst many others performing over 3 stages and specially curated tents. With some very unique 1234 headliners and guests to be announced shortly, the 1234 offers musical eclectism at is finest with something for everyone on a fine summer’s day.
 
After the sun goes down on Shoreditch Park the 1234 continues onwards into Shoreditch centre as it hosts the festivals ten post parties and after shows at hand picked specially curated venues including Hoxton Bar & Grill, Electricity Showrooms, Bar Music Hall, Queen of Hoxton, Old Blue Last, Catch, Cocomo, The Joiners Arms and Mother all included in the insanely cheap price of £15 and transforms Shoreditch into a pivotal party Mecca for a night of balmy summer mayhem for 1234 revellers with the good times rolling on into the early hours.  Full after-party curators and lines ups and venues will be announced shortly so watch this space!
 
The 1234 Festival is a place to kick back with mates, see musical creativity at its best, party the night away, see and be seen, without the need for silly fancy dress, steep ticket prices or long queues for bars and toilets. Let yourself be put in the inspiring hands of the world’s best music talent as you get your best Sunday rock on at London’s coolest summer outing by far all in the heart of the most creative diverse area of London.
 
All this and more for just £15 at the UK’s most forward thinking new music festival. www. the1234shoreditch.com
 
HEADLINERS, FULL STAGE AND PARTY LINE UPS WILL BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY.


LISTINGS INFO:

THE 1234 SHOREDITCH FESTIVAL
DATE:
Sunday 26th July
VENUE: Shoreditch Park, London
TIME: 12-9pm
AFTER PARTIES: Hoxton Bar & Grill, Electricity Showrooms, Bar Music Hall, Queen of Hoxton, Old Blue Last, Catch, Cocomo, The Joiners Arms and Mother Bar
TICKETS: £15 including entrance to ten after parties.
 Available from: www.ticketweb.co.uk / 0844 4771000 // www.seetickets.com / 0870 2643333
INFO: www.the1234shoreditch.com / www.1234records.com

Festival News: STANTON CALLING

STANDON CALLING REVEALS FRIENDLY FIRES AS SATURDAY NIGHT HEADLINERS

ALSO JUST CONFIRMED: FREELAND (LIVE) | GOLDEN SILVERS | MUMFORD + SONS | THE ALIENS |TOMMY SPARKS | N.A.S.A. | THE INVISIBLE | DELPHIC | THE FONTANAS | BABYHEAD | DETROIT SOCIAL CLUB | DENT MAY AND HIS MAGNIFICENT UKELELE | THE FABULOUS PENETRATORS | PULLED APART BY HORSES | BANJO OR FREAKOUT| ARK PEOPLE | FLASHGUNS | CHANCERY BLAME & THE GADJO CLUB | FIVE MINUTE POP PROMO | LULU LAMPSHADE | DOWNTOWN WOLVES | ANNIE D

 

Friday 31st July – Sunday 2nd August ‘09

Standon, Hertfordshire

www.standon-calling.com

Ticket Price: £89 weekend camping

Booking Fee: £2.50 per ticket goes to the charity Phoenix Futures

Theme: Space

Capacity: 3000


Standon Calling is a perfect example of a small festival getting it absolutely right’ VIRTUAL FESTIVALS

‘Top Pick’ SUNDAY TIMES FESTIVAL GUIDE, 2009

‘A 3,000 capacity gem of the UK Festival scene’ THE GUARDIAN FESTIVAL GUIDE, 2009

 

 

The line up for Standon Calling just got bigger with Friendly Fires, Freeland and Golden Silvers confirmed for this year’s ultimate space-themed festival! They join headliners Femi Kuti and Positive Force, Ladytron and Tony Christie for the most delectable festival of the Summer.

 

Fresh from the triumphant success of their self titled album Friendly Fires are set to headline the main stage on Saturday night at Standon Calling.  With the album going Silver in the UK, the band were nominated for a Best Breakthrough Award at the South Bank Awards and for ‘Best Dancefloor Filler’ at the NME Awards earlier in the year. One of the most exciting live acts around Friendly Fires are poised to release their new single ‘Jump In The Pool’’ on XL next week. Stepping straight off the plane from OZ Friendly Fires make their triumphant return to Standon and are rumoured to be releasing an all new track at the end of the summer.

 

Not ones to rest on their laurels, organisers of Standon have also confirmed Freeland (Adam Freeland’s live incarnation) for what promises to be an unmissable epic live performance. The band have just released their new album ‘Cope’ featuring none other than Tommy Lee (Motley Crue) on drums, Twiggy Ramirez on bass, Tony Bevilaque (Distillers/Spinerette) and Joey Santiago (The Pixies) on guitar. With a huge sound and jaw dropping visuals this is a band purpose built for the festival stage.

 

Also appearing on this stellar line up are NME favourites and band of the moment The Golden Silvers. Having just released their debut long player ‘True Romance’ to rave reviews the Silvers will join Florence and The Machine on their sell out UK tour at the end of the month. Other new confirmations include London folk sensations Mumford and Sons, N.A.S.A, The Aliens, Tommy Sparks, The Invisible, Delphic, The Fontanas, Detroit Social Club, The Fabulous Penetrators, Pulled Apart By Horses and many more.

 

And elsewhere in our galaxies, we present: Intergalactic dressing up competition, Stranger Than Paradise’s CCCP Cosmonaut Training Centre, Hot air ballooning, Rockaoke, Salena Godden's Book Club Boutique tipi, Skandalous! presents: Intergalactic Red Light District, Underwater Disco, Beach Hut Karaoke, Heritage Arts’ Heliocentre live theatre experience, Extra-terrestrial experts from CERN, Astrological Blind Date with alien Cilla and loads more to be announced.

 

With the site set in rolling countryside only 35 minutes from London, Standon Calling is easily accessible by train, car or coach and is the musical picnic you and your friends have been waiting for.

 

FULL LINE UP:

FRIENDLY FIRES | LADYTRON | FEMI KUTI & THE POSITIVE FORCE | TONY CHRISTIE  | THE WHIP | SUN RA ARKESTRA | ED HARCOURT | EASY STAR ALL STARS | GOLDEN SILVERS | FREELAND (LIVE)| CHROME HOOF | PALOMA FAITH | MICACHU &  THE SHAPES |  MUMFORD AND SONS | EDDY TEMPLE-MORRIS | SON OF DAVE | NOSTALGIA 77 | THE ALIENS | TOMMY SPARKS | DAVE HASLAM | N.A.S.A | BABYHEAD | WE HAVE BAND | CASIOKIDS | THE INVISIBLE | DELPHIC | CHEW LIPS | THE FONTANAS | SELFISH CUNT | DETROIT SOCIAL CLUB | DENT MAY AND HIS MAGNIFICENT UKULELE | THE FABULOUS PENETRATORS | PULLED APART BY HORSES | JOSH WELLER | JONQUIL | MR. DAVID VINER | DELIRIUM TREMENS | FIRST AID KIT | A. HUMAN | ARK PEOPLE | THEY CAME FROM THE STARS I SAW THEM | REVERE | BANJO OR FREAKOUT | TIM TEN YEN | GABBY YOUNG & OTHER ANIMALS | FLASHGUNS | YOUR TWENTIES | HOOK & THE TWIN | LOUIS BARABAS & THE BEDLAM SIX | CITADELS | CHANCERY BLAME & THE GADJO CLUB | THE LANGLEY SISTERS | YES SIR BOSS | CAT & MAX | FIVE MINUTE POP PROMO | DISASTERADIO |  LULU LAMPSHADE | DOWNTOWN WOLVES | ANNIE D

 

 

A beginners guide to the Standon Calling phenomenon..

 

  • Standon began as a birthday party for founder Alex Trenchard who wanted to create an intimate weekend of ultimate fun for his friends. Standon grew solely by word of mouth and now people come from all over the UK for its friendly atmosphere and killer line up.
  • Our kids or area will get bigger this year to coincide with Head Honcho Alex becoming a father! Kids can expect an interactive fun filled experience with the emphasis on education and discovery.
  • The festival is a not-for-profit event that raises money for Phoenix Futures; a charity who support victims of drug and alcohol abuse across the UK.
  • Festival goers will often wake up on Sunday morning to find a detox juice at the door of their tent; courtesy of Standon HQ
  • The toilets at Standon have wooden doors, paintings on the walls and lights round the mirrors. Yes folks, better than your one at home!
  • Top secret areas at Standon change each year and revellers are unexpectedly led there when they least expect it..
  • You can walk around the whole festival site in under half an hour.

 

Free Download News: Coldplay Live album

Coldplay will be giving away an exclusive live CD, titled LeftRightLeftRightLeft to all fans attending the Viva La Vida summer tour beginning May 15th, the first date of the band’s North American tour and at every remaining live show in 2009.  The CD will also be available as a free download during the same time period through their website http://www.coldplay.com.
 
“Playing live is what we love” say Coldplay. “This album is a thank you to our fans – the people who give us a reason to do it and make it happen.”

 Released in June 2008, Coldplay’s album Viva La Vida charted at No. 1 in 36 countries, including the UK and the US, and was the Top Selling Global Album of 2008 according to IFPI, the body that represents the recording industry worldwide. It is also the top-selling digital album in SoundScan history.
 
The track listing for Left Right Left Right Left is as follows:
 
1.    Glass of Water
2.    42
3.    Clocks
4.    Strawberry Swing
5.    The Hardest Part/Postcards From Far Away
6.    Viva La Vida
7.    Death Will Never Conquer
8.    Fix You
9.    Death And All His Friends


The group play four stadium shows in the UK/Ireland  in September with Jay-Z as special guest (excluding Sep 18 at Wembley when they are supported by Girls Aloud).
 
 The dates are:
 
SEP 12    MANCHESTER OLD TRAFFORD CRICKET GROUND
SEP 14    DUBLIN PHOENIX PARK
SEP 16    GLASGOW HAMPDEN PARK
SEP 18    LONDON WEMBLEY STADIUM (SPECIAL GUESTS GIRLS ALOUD)
SEP 19    LONDON WEMBLEY STADIUM


www.coldplay.com

News: Futuresound / Leeds Cockpit Competition

Summer is peeping round the corner and that turn of the season heralds the annual Futuresound Competition, offering West Yorkshire bands the phenomenal prize of playing Leeds and Reading Festivals. The Cockpit is now on the lookout for local acts to take part in the annual competition which showcases the best regional talent in a battle of the bands style competition to win the coveted festival slots.

For the second consecutive year the overall winner will play on the Festival Republic Stage at both Leeds and Reading Festivals, which has previously featured performances by Kasabian, Bloc Party & the Arctic Monkeys. The five runners up will also get the opportunity to play at both festivals on the BBC Introducing Stages.

The success of The Pigeon Detectives, Grammatics, Sky Larkin, The Kaiser Chiefs and The Sunshine Underground has shown Leeds to be a hotbed of new musical talent, and promoters of the Cockpit & Futuresound are aware that the city has loads more top acts to offer. This competition is the opportunity for local bands to get noticed at one of the UKs major music festivals.

The competition is now in its ninth year. Last year saw a huge amount of top quality entrants with Fran Rodgers, Dinosaur Pile Up and These Monsters coming in the top six acts.

The competition will take place over 10 dates, running from the end of June and over the course of July featuring a three band line-up at each date. All gigs will be judged by three judges from within the Leeds music industry.

Full details about the competition, conditions of entry and application forms can be found on www.thecockpit.co.uk from Monday 11th May. The deadline for entries will be Friday 29th May.

Any queries about the competition can be sent to andy@thecockpit.co.uk

Setlist: The Hours @ Sheffield Leadmill

Full set list for The Hours @ Sheffield Leadmill on Saturday, 9th May, 2009.

These Days

Icarus

Narcissus Road

Come On

Car Crash

Ali in the Jungle

Big Black Hole (acoustic)

Think Again

People Say

Murder or Suicide

---------------- Encore ------------------

Back when you were good

See the Light

Festival News: BERT HERDER FESTIVAL

Take a look at this, it sounds pretty cool... in fact just looked at the website and it looks really fucking cool!!!!

BEAT-HERDER FESTIVAL

The Ribble Valley, Lancashire

3rd - 5th July 2009

Early Bird Tickets all SOLD OUT!
Remaining tickets can be bought at £60 via:
http://www.beatherder.co.uk

THE FESTIVAL

Now in its fourth year, the Beat-Herder Festival (3rd, 4th, 5th July) is set in beautiful woods and farmland beneath Pendle Hill and overlooks the 3 Peaks of the Yorkshire Dales. At a capacity of only 5000, it is a unique, intimate, and friendly experience, spiced with artistry, the best music, and theatrical nonsense.

Formerly a best-kept secret, Beat-Herder is smaller version of events such as Bestival and Glastonbury. 2009’s early bird tickets sold out in 3 hours, 20 minutes.
Tickets are only available from the Beat-Herder website.

The festival is fully independent and self funded
, building on work from over the last 10 years and its origins as a free party within the Northern scene. It remains a DIY ‘handmade’ production, helped by the input of friends and volunteers. Split into four areas, the Main Arena, Lazy Way, Toil Trees, and the Lazy Meadow, within these are eight musical pockets, numerous cafes and bars (4am licence).
Food and drink (including alcohol) can also be brought onto the site.

THE MUSIC

The musical talent this year ranges from Reverend And The Makers, The Whip, Beardyman, The Filthy Dukes, Utah Saints, Banco De Gaia, and the Dub Pistols, to 808 State DJs, Krysko, James Yuill and many more.

THE SPECTACLE

In addition, the event’s reputation for art, theatre and spectacle continues, via installations and wacky props. There’s Mikey’s Tea Shack, a rustic building situated within the woodland. A secret room in the woods accessed by a long tunnel, a vodka bar that requires thirsty people to lie on their bellies to be served, a trick or treat booth, and beyond. Artists include Paul Hitchen and Hugh Jart (Glasto and Bestival letter creators), graffiti crews such as Bestjoinedup, the Mutoid Waste Company, costumed acts, stilt-walkers, the Ladybird Project kids area, a techno barber, workshops for all ages, comedians, and much more (please see the full line-up below).

THE ETHOS

Beat-Herder’s organisers (including builders, joiners, plumbers, gardeners and electricians) stick rigidly to an eco-friendly and green ethos, recycling reclaimed timber, materials from house clearances, donations, and skips to build the site infrastructure and the many ‘objects’ and sculptures that are a unique feature of the festival. These include a cube that holds a 36 ft maze, the shower blocks, the VJ booth, an underground bar, and many more. In addition, each artist performer receives a handmade flower box, with plants grown from seed and their logo painted onto it.

THE TALENT

Mainstage:
 
Reverend and The Makers
Beardyman
The Whip
Filthy Dukes
Young Punx
Dub Pistols
Banco De Gaia
Nucleus roots
Loonaloop
Biscuit Head and The Biscuit Badgers (comedy musicians)
Voodoo Trombone Quartet
Monkey Wrenchers
Shoshin

Woods 'Toil Trees':

Sugarbeat Club ft Utah Saints, Meat Katie, Ali B, Toni Jarvis, Mooquie
Punks Jump Up
808 State Djs
Men in Masks
Krysko
James Yuill - LIVE!!
Toil Soundsystem DJ's
Tilley & Killawattz
DJM
Skank2skank soundsystem
Celt Islam

Trailer Trash:

Underground Roots featuring Bongo chilli and Danman
Dead Silence and The Real DS
DJ Baliuk + RMKO (Ukraine)
Shean P (Disconotdisco/BBE)
Trailer Trash DJ’s
Rusty Staples

Stumblefunk:

Pendle Coven
Mr psik
Knob jockeys
Ken Evil
Xander
Caul Bearers
Live film re-score by Animat
Johnny clash
Unbalanced jack
Electrosluts
Se7en
Pete Mangalore
Lost Property
Longshot
Freaky Bitches
Dave Witchdoctor
Smokey Tentacles Shisha Lounge:
Techi
The Hang Project
Lazy Habits
Rum Jig
Lewis Garland and The Kett Rebellion
Brooke Sharkey
Woodnote

The Beat-Herder and District Working Mens Club:

Captain Hotknives - (Comedy musician)
The Eggs On Sticks Theatre Company
Andrew Barry
Eddie Earthquake and The Tremors

Bushrocker Hi-Fi:

Mikey Don
One Love (Lancaster)
Messenger (Edinburgh)
Eden Dub

++++++++
 
Festival Artist - Paul Hitchin (Liber8designs)
bestjoinedup - amazing graffiti artists who do many club nights in Leeds
LML paint team - more great graffiti artists
The ladybird project - kids area + loads of workshops for all ages
Hugh Jart - the creators of the famous Glastonbury LOVE letters and BESTIVAL and artistic veterans of the UK festival scene
Mutoid Waste Company - Glastonbury and Fuji Rocks amazing mad max style sculptures and crazy contraptions
Inta Africa - The UK festival circuit's biggest bus-full of drums and workshops to go with them.
Floorspace - roaming madness and silliness in costume
The Pandemonium Collective - more roaming escapades
The Company Contrary - Stiltwalking fun
Lost Frosticles - Stiltwalking madness from the veterans of Megadog's club nights
Bubble man - filling the site with his bubbles from his crazy contraption
Techno Barber - techno haircuts for the mad max fan+
loads more workshops, a fancy dress theme of Animals or a Lancashire Hotpot!, range of cafes, flags, banners, showers, amazing views and lovely people.

THE FACTS

Adult tickets now £60, kids tickets (under 12's) £5, Campervans £10  - + booking fee
No dogs on site ANYWHERE!
No glass in the main arena
Site opens midday on Friday 3rd July. (pitch tents and set-up)
Festival begins/opens - 17:00

http://www.beatherder.co.uk/site/location-map/

 

Shadders Update: Jukebox returns!

Hi

Just a quick note after an ill fated attempt a while ago the shadders jukebox made a welcome return online last night!

As a tester check out shadders: The Lee Griffiths page and there's a jukebox on there containing two cracking griffo tracks; Falling and Meet me Halfway.

So as well as a nice pic of the lad, our normal gubbins on why Griff is such a staff you can have the pleasure of listening to a few tunes. Also check out the interview from a few years ago, still a cracking read.

Anyway, we'll be contacting a few of our fav new & unsigned bands in the next few weeks with a few to getting more tunes on the website.

Let the jukebox roll.

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

News: The Rhythm Factory 15th May

Peter Doherty, The Paddingtons, Red Roots, Melody Nelson and more, come together in remembrance of Jonny Rhythm @ The Rhythm Factory, 15th May, 8pm – 4am.

 

The Rhythm Factory is immensely proud to announce a special event in memory of legendary London promoter Jonny ‘Rhythm’ Sedassy. An integral part of The Rhythm Factory’s long, proud history, the much-missed Jonny helped launch the careers of numerous high-profile bands including The Libertines, The Noisettes, The View and many more during his hugely successful five year career with the legendary East London venue.

 

This evening will feature live sets by top names that played at the venue on their way to the top, on Jonny’s promotional bills, and are appearing at no cost to help make the evening a success. This impressive line-up features; Peter Doherty, fresh from the release of new album Wasteland / Graceland, The Paddingtons, Red Roots, Melody Nelson and more. Also, behind the decks there will be a DJ set by top secret celebrity DJ duo ‘Team Disgusting’, whose identities will remain top secret until the doors open on the night.

 

Jonny Sedassy passed away on March 16th of this year after a battle with Bowel Cancer and spent his last days in the Michael Sobell Hospice in Oxford. This evening is to raise awareness of the Michael Sobell Charity and to raise money for the hospice with all proceeds from ticket sales going to the organisation.

The purpose of the charity is to support the Sir Michael Sobell House Hospice in providing palliative and end of life care to the residents of Oxfordshire. The hospice currently costs over £3 million a year to run, much of which is raised through the support and generosity of individuals and companies throughout the community.

The Rhythm Factory and the Sir Michael Sobell Hospice would like to thank all those who are giving their time to support this evening.

In memory of Jonny ‘Rhythm’ Sedassy.

Tickets are £25 in advance from www.ticketweb.co.uk or direct from the Rhythm Factory, 16-18 Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1EW, 020 7375 3774. £30 on the door.


Website.. www.embrace.de

Calling all Embrace fans....

Check out this fan site from Germany, yes there's a load of german on it but there again there's loads about Embrace plus loads of pics & setlists too.

Well worth a look.

www.embrace.de

NEWS: The Brute Chorus

The Brute Chorus will be releasing their fourth single All The Pilgrims on Sunday the 31st of May. Recorded live at The Roundhouse on February 28th this is the first of all the songs recorded that night, to be released into the public domain and is a taster of more to come as the release of their debut album draws ever nearer.

The band rehearsed non-stop for four weeks above a Dalston pub in preparation for the live album recording and enlisted the help of Mercury nominated producers Choque Hosein (Black Star Liner) and Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Gogol Bordello, PJ Harvey and Sons & Daughters) for the project.

A firm favourite among fans and recorded in one hit in front of a sell-out crowd the song blends yet more of the band’s influences for this punked up rockabilly stomp that compares sexual desire to the fervent worship of a saint, in this case Joan of Arc (…'in her bob hair cut’…), and finds the band ‘…laid out in the power and babbling in tongues…’ ; imagery that vicar’s son, songwriter James Steel, witnessed first hand at prayer meetings as a teenager.

A band of unique style and merit, The Brute Chorus have already toured England and Scotland extensively this year as well as recorded a live set for The JD Sessions due out on Channel 4 on May 29th where they dueted with Sons & Daughters’ front woman Adele Bethel on their song The Cuckoo & The Stolen Heart.  Currently in the process of booking their summer tour you can see The Brute Chorus’s amazing live show on these dates over the following weeks:
 
24 Apr  CAMDEN CRAWL   *Headlining The World’s End with an additional secret         headline show tba
29 Apr   The Fleche d’Or, PARIS  *with The Rumblestrips   
02 May  LIVE AT LEEDS   *at Leeds University
03 May  The Stockroom, Sheffield *with Lord Auch
03 May  MAPs Festival, Manchester  *Aftershow party
15 May  THE GREAT ESCAPE  
26 May  The 100 Club    *All the Pilgrims single launch show  
18 July   2000 Trees Festival  *headlining the second stage

Hear a snippet of the new single at http://www.myspace.com/thebrutechorus and look out for the band’s live performance recorded earlier this year at the JD Set in Glasgow which will be broadcast on Channel 4 on 29 May.

New Band Competition!

(inter)National competition to help out struggling new bands!

Glamour Kills Clothing (the New York based clothing company that already sponsor bands like You Me At Six) are running a competition for a new band to win a sponsorship for a whole year from them!

This will include loads of free merchandise which will no doubt be of great help to the hoards of 'not-so-rich' new bands touring the country. Competing bands are being asked to write the Glamour Kills Clothing company a theme tune and post the track on their MySpace page!

The competition represents a great opportunity for bands to get noticed by an international brand and the winning band will receive heavy promotion as well as the perks from GK!

Full details at www.glamourkills.com - the closing date is May 10th

FESTIVAL NEWS: Hop Farm Festival Line Up News

HOP FARM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES IT’S 1st LINE UP DETAILS

Vince Power’s Hop Farm Festival is set to return in 2009 with a spectacular bill of acts. The 1st of which were released today. 

Saturday’s line up includes - Pigeon Detectives, Echo and The Bunnymen, Florence and the Machine, Noah and the Whale, Howling Bells, Etienne De Crecy, Dr Lektroluv, D.I.M, Jape, The Twilight Sad, Let’s Wrestle, The Good The Bad.

Sunday’s line up - Paul Weller, Editors, Doves, Super Furry Animals, Mystery Jets, Ladyhawke, The Rifles, That Petrol Emotion, 2ManyDJ’s, Scratch Perverts, Alex Gopher, Burn the Negative, R.S.A.G. 65 Days of Static, Dananananaykroyd.

More major acts will be announced shortly.

Vince is delighted to announce that this year Hop Farm Festival will go ahead on the 4th & 5th of July, especially as licensing issues had held up this year’s event unnecessarily.  This year will be a two-day festival, with camping, set in the grounds of the picturesque Hop Farm, Paddock Wood, Kent.

The Hop Farm Festival returns as a truly unique experience, exclusively themed as an event totally free of ticket registration, with No VIP areas, No Branding or Sponsorship.  This year the festival offers a weekend experience of boutique camping, top-notch food and traditional ales, with some of the best artists playing over 3 stages.  It is a festival for festival- goers, returning live music to its roots, where music lovers turn up and enjoy the same experience as every other ticket holder.  Weekend tickets are £125.00 inc camping and parking and with day tickets at £65.00, its one of the cheapest festival tickets available.

For all the information on this years event go to their brand new website that goes live at 12pm 09.04.09 : www.hopfarmfestival.com

Vince Power said:  “After some delay due to our licensing issues, we have managed to get a great line up off the ground in time for 2009, with an expected audience of 20,000.  I’m very pleased with the bands, over 70 across the weekend, and £125 for a weekend ticket inc camping and car parking, making this the best value festival ticket this year.  I’m looking forward to the weekend in July”

This year’s festival will define itself as an ‘un-missible event’ on the summer calendar.  With several stages playing host to some of the greatest acts playing live at the moment as well as some the best talent coming up the ranks.  The Hop Farm Festival will offer something for everyone including 5-a-side celebrity football, fun fare and campsite entertainment.

To Book Tickets please visit www.seetickets.com.

NEWS: Alex Empire Mini Album / Mini Tour

After the critical acclaim of 2008’s, ‘The Golden Foretaste of Heaven’, Berlin’s favourite anti-hero, Alec Empire releases ‘Shivers’, a 5 track mini album that serves up as a little taster for his highly anticipated new album out later this year.

This is the most recent output from The Hellish Vortex, the production team founded by Alec Empire and Nic Endo.  THV is based in a studio warehouse space in the centre of Berlin; it’s design reminiscent of Kubrick’s, ‘Space Odyssey’.

Last year, Empire announced a change in direction, a departure from his signature digital hardcore sound and called it – “The Sound of New Berlin”. This sonic revolution has brought about an influx of hipster collaborations in the form of Raveonettes, who got their single remixed by Nic Endo and Alec’s mutual pairing with one, Patrick Wolf, who’s Berlin musings have led to the hotly tipped single, ‘Vultures’. Blogosphere and NME favourites, Big Pink have also appeared on a few tracks off the new album.

Alec Empire's output has never been higher and more diverse than over the past months. Those who remember him as the industrial noise terrorist he once was when he appeared on the cover of Kerrang! magazine many years ago, should think again. Never one to be pigeon holed, Alec has worked with a myriad mix of artists like Thurston Moore, Jon Spencer, Dan The Automator and Definitive Jux bad boy, EL-P for example.

The track ‘Baby Skulls’ is the perfect representation of “The Sound of New Berlin”. This is electronic music the likes of which you have not experienced before. Berlin is the city with the most hedonistic club nights anywhere in Europe. A city that doesn't allow compromises when it comes to getting your next kick. The only way to survive and evolve is to keep on reinventing yourself to stay ahead of the pack.

‘If You Live or Die’ features Big Pink's Robbie Furze on guitars and a Big Pink remix is also on the cards.

This is Alec’s revolution and 2009 looks set to be the year of the Empire.
 
‘Shivers’ will be released on digital format (iTunes has a full live concert as a "bonus" feature) via Eat Your Heart Out Records, and will also be available as limited edition special packaged CD.
 
Track listing:
1)   Control Drug
2)   Shivers
3)   Baby Skull
4)   If You Live Or Die feat. Robbie Furze from Big Pink
5)   1000 Eyes (Film Version)
 

Past-Present-Future Tour 2009:

Alec Empire and Nic Endo present a special tour this year playing material from ATR to songs from the next album.
24th April             Bang Face Weekender             Camber Sands
1st May                        The Underworld                        London
2nd May            Satan’s Hollow                                    Manchester
3rd May            Ivory Blacks                                     Glasgow
5th May                        The Waterfront                                    Norwich
(Tickets available through www.flagpromotions.com and www.ticketweb.co.uk)
 
Out now:
Alec Empire’s ‘Bass Terror’ (20 tracks from his early break core rave era, vinyl tracks first time in digital format)
 
Alec Empire wrote scores for four films in 2008:
1.    Tadanobu Asano's, ‘224466’, Asano is well known from films such as ‘Electric Dragon’, ‘Ichi The Killer’, ‘Mongol’.
 
2.    The highly controversial film ‘Chaos Days’, a film based on the German Punk scene in which the lead character shoots a corrupt policeman. The film has literally caused riots when it premiered across Germany and made headlines in the German tabloids. (
http://www.eyho-blog.com/2008/10/07/chaostage-premiere-causes-riots-in-hannover-last-weekend/) It will be released in over 50 cinemas in Germany this year. As the 10th anniversary of Atari Teenage Riot's legendary performance at the May 1st riots is draws near
(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ab7Dksqfnw), the police expect more outrage, especially in this current climate of crisis.
 
3.    Russian cult photographer and director Miron Zownir's, ‘Phantomanie’ with legendary actor from Werner Herzog films, Bruno S. The preview at this year’s Berlinale Festival left the audience shocked and polarised. Zownir and Empire had created an audio and visual nightmare experience, which has been rarely seen on screen, coupled with lush, textured shots of Berlin. The film is currently being overdubbed in English language and can be seen at international film festivals later this year.
 
4.    Austrian director Richard Wilhelmer created his film ‘The Golden Foretaste of Heaven’ based on Alec Empire's album. Empire and Endo wrote the music for it and appeared in the film. It premiered at Austria's ‘Diagonale Festival’ and went down like a storm. Tickets sold out within the first hour. The mini album ‘Shivers’ features the film version of ‘1000 Eyes’.

Free Downloads News: ART BRUT

Art Brut have an exclusive new track up for free download on their website www.artbrut.org.uk. The track "Weird Science" is taken from the recording sessions for their new album "Art Brut Vs Satan" due out 20th April. The Art Brut website is the only place this will be available.
 
Eddie on the album:
 

We recorded the album in a punk-as-fuck two weeks in Salem, Oregon,”.  “I don't always enjoy the recording process - all that fiddling with guitars and drum sounds waiting for my turn to ‘sing’.  This time though, we did it just right. We spent a day getting the sound of the instruments perfect, then with all of us in the same room at the same time, with the amazing Black Francis conducting us, we pressed record, jumped around and played our songs. This is how I always thought albums were made and it’s definitely how we're doing it from now on!”

Album News: The Lemonheads

THE LEMONHEADS, who have entered into a licensing agreement with Cooking Vinyl, have announced they will be releasing their long-awaited covers collection, VARSHONS (COOKCD495), through the label on Monday 15th June 2009.

 

It makes sense that the new album from The Lemonheads sounds like a mix tape slipped to you by a music-obsessed friend anxious to turn you on to something new. In fact, the idea for the band’s new covers record was inspired by Gibby Haynes, ringmaster of the Butthole Surfers, who for years has made mixes for his longtime friend Evan Dando. “Making a good mix is an art, and Gibby has it down,” says Dando. “I thought it would be fun to share these songs with other people like he shared them with me. So I picked the ‘greatest hits’ from his mixes and covered them, along with a few other songs I always wanted to play.” 

 

VARSHONS was produced by Haynes and features Dando along with Vess Ruhtenburg (bass) and Devon Ashley (drums). The collection is filled with strange bedfellows - from G.G. Allin to Texas troubadour Townes Van Zandt and garage rockers The Green Fuz.  The Lemonheads make each track their own, with help from actress Liv Tyler, singing back up on Leonard Cohen’s “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye,” and Kate Moss, who sings over the dance groove of Arling & Cameron’s “Dirty Robot,” which also features lead guitar by John Perry on loan from The Only Ones.

 

VARSHONS unearths a pair of psychedelic treasures with “Yesterlove” – a song recorded in 1969 by the group Sam Gopal featuring future Motorhead bassist Lemmy Kilmister – and “Dandelion Seeds” from July, record collector’s Registered Landmark Band. For “Layin’ Up With Linda,” the band filters Allin’s cold-blooded tale through the swaggering country-honk of The Stones’ “Dead Flowers.”

 

Filled with obscure nuggets, the tracks on VARSHONS cut a wide swath, jumping from early British psychedelic to Dutch electronica and like all good mix tapes, you never know what is coming next.   Full tracklisting as follows :

 

1.         “I Just Can’t Take It Anymore” (Gram Parsons)

2.         “Fragile” (Wire)

3.         “Layin’ Up With Linda” (G.G. Allin)

4.         “Waiting Around To Die” (Townes Van Zandt)

5.         “Green Fuz” (Randy Alvey & Green Fuz)

6.         “Yesterlove” (Sam Gopal)

7.         “Dirty Robot” v/ Kate Moss (Arling & Cameron)

8.         “Dandelion Seeds” (July)

9.         Mexico” (Fuckemos)

10.       “Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye” f/ Liv Tyler (Leonard Cohen)

11.       “Beautiful” (Linda Perry)

* Original artist in parenthesis

 

www.myspace.com/thelemonheads / www.thelemonheads.net / www.evandando.co.uk / www.cookingvinyl.com

NEWS: The Boxer Rebellion set list

Here's The Boxer Rebellion set list from The Rescue Rooms, Nottingam (18/03/09) - note this is what it states on the set list so some of the song names have been shortened!

Semi-Automatic

Evacuate

Surrounded

Flashing red light

Spitting fire

The Absentee

Soviets

These Walls

Forces

Silent movie

All you do is talk

___________________________________

Encore

___________________________________

Misplaced

Watermelon

Tour News: Daniel Land & The Modern Painters

Our shoegazer friends Daniel Land & The Modern Painters head out on tour, details as follows (remember to check out their interview and shoegazing peice within the shadders shoegaze section)...

FURTHER DETAILS:

MANCHESTER, THE HOPE MILL - SAT 28 MARCH
Support from The Lightshines.
Doors at 8pm. Free entry.
www.myspace.com/hopemill
www.myspace.com/thelightshines


LONDON, GOO NITE @ BUFFALO BAR - WED 1 APRIL
Support from Eat Lights Become Lights, The Fauns.
Doors at 8pm. Tickets £6/£5 on door.
www.myspace.com/gooniteclub
www.myspace.com/eatlightsbecomelights
www.myspace.com/thefauns


CAERNARFON, MORGAN LLOYD - FRI 3 APRIL
Support from Yucatan, Johnny Horizontal.
Tickets: £5 on door. Doors: 8pm.
www.myspace.com/yucatanambyth 
www.myspace.com/johnnyhorizontal


BRISTOL, SECRET GARDEN @ THE LOUISIANA - SATURDAY 4 APRIL
Support from The Fauns & others tbc.
Tickets: £5.50 on door. Doors 8pm.
www.myspace.com/thesecretgardennews
www.myspace.com/thefauns


LEEDS, OPORTO - TUESDAY 7 APRIL
Support from Yucatan. Lucid Dream DJ Set.
Doors at 8pm. Free entry.
www.myspace.com/oportobarleeds 
www.myspace.com/yucatanambyth 
www.myspace.com/theluciddream08


____________________________________


BBC 6 MUSIC TOM ROBINSON INTERVIEW:

Last night we were on Tom Robinson's BBC 6 Music show, talking about the forthcoming tour and our plans for the album. The show was broadcast this morning from midnight; anyone in the UK who missed it can hear it on the BBC's Listen Again facility by going to the following link, and clicking on "Monday":

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/tom_robinsons_introducing/

Our interview starts at about 29 mins 30 secs and last for about ten minutes.

__________________________________

Daniel Land & The Modern Painters
Online store: www.danielland.bigcartel.com
Website: www.myspace.com/danielland

Daniel Land - Graeme Meikle - Oisin Scarlett -
Andrew Galpin - Marcus Mayes - Jason Magee

 

 

Festival News: CORNBURY 2009

CORNBURY FESTIVAL 2009

         JULY 11th & 12th

SCOUTING FOR GIRLS, SUGABABES, THE PRETENDERS, JOE JACKSON, THE MAGIC NUMBERS, IMELDA MAY, TEDDY THOMPSON, SHARLEEN SPITERI, EDDI READER, THE DAMNED PLUS MANY MORE

The UK’s most beautiful boutique festival continues its eclectic musical tradition as it announces the line up for  its 6th glorious year. With a fusion of indie pop Brit nominees Scouting for Girls and ‘Belle de Jour’ Imelda May, the stage is shared with inimitable girl group The Sugababes and Chrissie Hynde’s legendery rock outfit The Pretenders.

“Cornbury is a unique experience in all manner of ways”, says promoter Hugh Phillimore. “We’re immensely proud of our musical diversity and family friendly ethos. Where else could you see The Damned and the Sugababes on one bill?

The festival embraces the ‘something for everyone’ approach. From alt rockers The Magic Numbers and rising stars Teddy Thompson and Ava Leigh, to the retro classic chic of Sharleen Spiteri, Cornbury attracts festival goers from all age ranges and with all manner of tastes.

Cornbury is about its beautiful Cotswold location, fantastic food, hot air balloons, the madness of the many morris dance pageant, children’s theatre workshops, great festival shops and a huge fairground all held together by a carefully selected spectrum of top music talent. Typically English – eccentric, eclectic and inclusive – a farmers’ market with a dancefloor, a county fayre with a rock ‘n’ roll twist indeed!

 

“The Most charming festival you will ever attend” – UNCUT

“Lush rolling countryside...champagne...VIP tents – I had a great time” – Dom Joly, THE INDEPENDENT

“Set in the natural bowl of the oak-strewn, verdant slopes of the Cornbury estate, it lays claim to the cleanest, cosiest and classiest fest that I have ever frequented” – MARIE CLAIRE

“Cornbury...family friendly, with plenty of face-painting and sideshows to keep the kids happy”THE OBSERVER

 Full line up:

Saturday, July 11thh:

Main Stage:                                               The Word Stage:

Scouting For Girls                                       The Damned             

Sharleen Spiteri                                          Teddy Thompson

Magic Numbers                                           Shortwave Set           

Dodgy                                                       I Am Kloot

Boy Least Likely To                                     Amy Lavere

Relay (local school band comp win)              Kingsize 5 

                                                                The Love Trousers

Sunday, July 12th:

Main Stage:                                               Oxford Folk Festival
                                                                    Stage:

Sugababes                                                 Peatbog Fairies

The Pretenders                                           Mary Coughlan

Joe Jackson                                                       Eddi Reader

Imelda May                                                        Coute Diomboulou

Ava Leigh                                                   3 Daft Monkeys

Laura & The Tears                                     Stornoway

 

·        For all ticket information please visit www.cornburyfestival.com

·        Tickets prices:- Adult weekend with camping £110/under 16 £65, Day tickets – Adult £55/under 16 £27.50

·        Cornbury Festival is promoted by Hugh Phillimore and is produced by Cornbury Music Festival Ltd and Music Producers Sound Advice Ltd

·        Cornbury takes place on 11th and 12th of July 2009 at the Cornbury Park Estate, Charlbury, Oxfordshire, OX7 3EH.

·        Cornbury Festival is 30 minutes from Oxford and 75 minutes from London

·        Parking is free at the festival grounds

NEWS: Are you free 9th March... bring yer dancing shoes!

CALLING ALL FILTHY DUKES FANS
CAN YOU DANCE?
DO YOU WANT APPEAR IN A CHANNEL 4 MUSIC SPECIAL?


We're shooting the new Filthy Dukes 4play special in Central London on 9th March and we need Filthy Dukes fans of all shapes and dancing styles to dance for our cameras. Are you keen? Are you free that day? Each person will take about 30 mins to film.

If you are free then contact info@pulsefilms.co.uk, and send a picture or a link to your MySpace page. You must be 16 or over. You will not be paid, however there will be snacks and we guarantee it will be a laugh.

ALBUM / TOUR NEWS: Gomez

A NEW TIDE
RELEASED ON APRIL 6th ON EAT SLEEP RECORDS
 
On their new album Gomez mark a return to their freewheeling and experimental roots. With those distinctive voices, breezy harmonies, ceaselessly evolving rhythms and a melodic restlessness that sees vocals shared and verses cut in two,
A New Tide is released on Eat Sleep Records on APRIL 6th.

The whirling psychedelia of Win Park Slope and Bone Tired; the country-fried rock of Little Pieces; and the eccentric, elasticated blues of If You Ask Nicely and Airstream Driver.  Each moment born of boundless imagination and a longstanding collaborative relationship, and each as inventive and melodically addictive as those first creative milestones Bring It On and Liquid Skin.
 
Gomez have stood apart from the very beginning, earning critical praise and an ardent fanbase for their eclectic and ambitious musical tack. In October 2008, Gomez celebrated the 10th anniversary of their Mercury Music Prize-winning debut BRING IT ON, with a string of live dates showcasing the classic album.
 
With the band members now scattered across two continents, from Brooklyn to Brighton, early tracks were written and recorded individually and then merged online.   The process allowed for an open and adaptive songwriting approach, the material taking on its ultimate shape when Gomez officially convened in studios in Chicago and Charlottesville, VA, with producer
Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron and Wine).

A NEW TIDE also sees Gomez accompanied by a number of illustrious guest musicians, including vocalist Amy Milan (Stars/Broken Social Scene), bassist Josh Abrams (The Roots /Godspeed You Black Emperor!), cellist Oliver Krauss (Paul Weller / Beth Orton), and multi-instrumentalist Stuart Bogie of Brooklyn’s world renowned
Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra.
 
As ever, a wide range of styles is incorporated into Gomez’s matchless musical brew.  Flavours of Delta blues, psychedelia, and Krautrock all come into play, resulting in a musically mischievous and remarkably forward-thinking collection. In short, A NEW TIDE is Gomez at their inimitable, incomparable best.
 
Eat Sleep Records - Originally set up in 2002, Eat Sleep Records has been dormant for a number of years while looking for the right release to reignite it. Originally releasing albums by the likes of Shane Meadows co-horts Clayhill and New Yorkers French Kicks the London based label was happily re-established to release the new album from Gomez and will continue to release the finest in new and established acts from here on in.
 
UK LIVE DATES: 16th APRIL, GLASGOW, Glasgow; 17th LEEDS, Academy; 19th CAMBRIDGE, Junction; 20th MANCHESTER, Academy; 21st WOLVERHAMPTON, Wulfrun Hall; 22nd NORWICH, UEA; 24th LONDON, Shepherds Bush Empire ; 26th BRISTOL, Academy; 27th OXFORD, Academy; 28th LIVERPOOL, Academy.
 

www.myspace.com/gomez <http://www.myspace.com/gomez> , www.gomeztheband.com <http://www.gomeztheband.com>

TOUR NEWS: FIGHTSTAR

The video to Mercury Summer, the new single from Fightstar album be human, is now up on the bands Myspace pageDespite being added less than 24 hours ago, it's already notched up almost 15,000 plays across the web!

 

http://tinyurl.com/fightstarvideo

 

the first single from the album, The English Way, was released late last year and was not only play-listed by Radio 1 but was also at the top of MTV2’s MySpace Chart for 3 weeks. Mercury Summer, a highlight from the forthcoming album, is released on April 6th on 7", CD and download. It has already received upfront play from Radio 1’s Colin Murray and Sarah Cox as well as being added to Kerrang, Scuzz, NME and 4music.

 

be human is released on April 20th and the band start their headline UK tour on April 22nd, preceded by an appearance at London’s Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer Trust show on March 28th. 

 

 

28 Mar 2009

20:00

Concert For Teenage Cancer Trust - Royal Albert Hall

London

22 Apr 2009

20:00

Oxford O2 Academy

Oxford

23 Apr 2009

20:00

Bristol Bierkeller

Bristol

24 Apr 2009

20:00

Peterborough Cresset

Peterborough

26 Apr 2009

20:00

Norwich Waterfront

Norwich

27 Apr 2009

20:00

Birmingham O2 Academy 2

Birmingham

29 Apr 2009

20:00

Newcastle O2 Academy 2

Newcastle

30 Apr 2009

20:00

Glasgow ABC 2

Glasgow

1 May 2009

20:00

Preston 53 Degrees

Preston

2 May 2009

20:00

Liverpool Barfly

Liverpool

4 May 2009

20:00

Exeter Lemongrove

Exeter

5 May 2009

20:00

Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms

Portsmouth

6 May 2009

20:00

London Islington O2 Academy

London

7 May 2009

20:00

Manchester Academy 3

Manchester

 

Check out www.myspace.com/fightstarmusic for more info

 

FESTIVAL NEWS: Indie Tracks First Details

We're very, very excited to announce that Scottish pop legends Camera Obscura will be headlining this year's Indietracks! The band, who have recently signed to 4AD, are playing the Outdoor Stage, which is this year being given over to seminal indiepop record label Elefant Records as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations.


The band will be joined by fellow Glaswegians BMX Bandits, shimmering six-piece Lucky Soul, indie heroes The Frank and Walters, and hotly-tipped Welsh popsters The School. Other bands playing on the Elefant stage over the weekend include La Casa Azul, Cola Jet Set, Cooper, Nick Garrie, Single, Speedmarket Avenue, Tender Trap and Fitness Forever. Elefant is a Madrid-based record label launched by Luis Calvo in 1989. The staunchly independent label has become internationally renowned for both its championing of cult music heroes such as Trembling Blue Stars and Helen Love, and its Singles Club releases from more established bands such as Cinerama and The Clientele.


The full list of bands announced so far are: Camera Obscura, La Caza Azul, Cola Jet Set, Cooper, The School, The Frank And Walters, Nick Garrie, Single, BMX Bandits, Speedmarket Avenue, Tender Trap, Fitness Forever, Lucky Soul, The Carrots, Mighty Mighty, One Happy Island, Downdime, Disasteradio, Pocketbooks, The Smittens, Northern Portrait, Countryside, Bonne Ideé, Little My, The Pete Green Corporate Juggernaut, The Lovely Eggs, Kevin McGrother, Le Man Avec Les Lunnettes, Ste McCabe, Hong Kong In the '60s, Eux Autres, The Understudies, and Ray Rumours And The No-Eyed Dears.


Further details about these bands can soon be found on the brank spanking new website at www. indietracks. co. uk with everything else you'll need to know about the festival which runs July 24-26th.


Weekend tickets cost £55, day tickets £30 and are available now from Ticketweb (http://www. ticketweb. co. uk/user?query=search®ion=xxx&category=misc&search=indietracks&x=6&y=6) or by calling the railway direct on 01773 747 674 (9am - 5pm) - tickets bought through this way benefits the railway and have a lower booking fee.

VIEWS: THE Red Nose Day Single

Let’s face we all know that Comic Relief does a great job of raising shit loads of cash to distribute to plenty of great causes across the globe but one down side is always the bloody dross they churn out in the form of the Red Nose Day Single.

 

Now if they went for the comedy angle then fair play, novelty records for charity always get a wide berth from us but have their place amongst the charts as they are plenty of people willing to delve into their pockets for something a bit ‘wacky’.

 

But as far as we can see The Saturdays covering the Depeche Mode classic ‘Just can’t get enough’ is actually a serious attempt at covering the electro dance rock monster. Now let’s see, why!? It’s a bit like Girls Aloud taking a shed load of crack and thinking they are a serious band, it’s just not right! These two bit girl bands should stick to what they know best, Simon Cowell pant wetting and till filling pop candy nonsense.

 

So what does it sound like then, bloody rubbish! It’s still got the beat, possibly speeded up a tad but they have managed to rip out the heart, soul and guts of the tracks and replace it with love heart sweets and puppy dogs!

 

Bet Dave Gahan wish they hadn’t revived him when he hears this toss, in fact bet he wishes he was spinning in his grave right now.

 

Best ring Comic Relief and give them some cash to stop them ever playing it again, they’d raise a few bob that way I can assure you! 

 

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

 

NEWS: Free Duels album!

Yes we were trawling the interweb the other night and came across the fact you can get the 2008 Duels album 'The Barbarians Move In' for nowt!

It's not the physical CD release but MP3, if you wanna CD copy you've still gotta pay for that.

Plus this isn't a dodgy file sharing thing but actually direct from their own website, it's either to celebrate the 1st anniversary of the release or the fact they've gained a new member (what that has got to do with giving away an album for nowt I'm not sure but never look a gift horse in the mouth is what we day).

Another great idea is that when you download the album you'll also get a pdf version of the sleeve & notes. That's pretty cool.

Anyway if you want the album the link is:

http://www.duelsmusic.co.uk/2009/02/download-the-barbarians-move-in-for-free/#more-240

or the website is just http://www.duelsmusic.co.uk/

 

Review: The Maccabees

The Maccebees – ‘No Kind words’

 

This marks the return of The Maccabees, with the debut album ‘Colour in it’ gaining plenty of praise including from us at shadders towers it’s fair to say that their entrance onto the comeback trail actually is eagerly awaited.

 

When we heard ‘No kind words’ on XFM for the first time we were stunned, what an epic piece of pop music. It has all the hall marks of a great record; brilliant tune, singalong lyrics, a few stop start bits, plenty of bite, excellent ending and comes in just under the crucial three minute mark. Add atmosphere into the mix and you have a belter of a record.

 

Then there’s the fact that you can’t actually buy the song, no,  The Maccabees are actually giving it away for free, it’s available to download for free at www.themaccabees.co.uk now, hell what are you waiting for, go now (and then come back to shaddersonline.com obviously!).

NEWS: THE FLITHY DUKES

SINGLE ‘THIS RHYTHM’ WITH SAMUEL DUST (LATE OF THE PIER)
OUT 9TH MARCH

FROM THE DEBUT ALBUM ‘NONSENSE IN THE DARK’ RELEASED 16TH MARCH ON FICTION

UK TOUR DATES IN FEBRUARY: HEADLINE SHOWS AND TOUR WITH SECRET MACHINES

“Dance floor wizardry” NME  
“Three Londoners stage a dance floor invasion” THE TIMES


Filthy Dukes release their new single ‘This Rhythm’ on 9th March featuring Samuel Dust from Late Of The Pier on guest vocals.  The infectious disco-noir track has the makings of a dancefloor classic and comes with essential remixes from Fred Falke, Emperor Machine, Toddla T and Filthy Dukes own Kill Em All version.

The London three-piece of Tim Lawton, Olly Dixon and Mark Ralph first met Samuel when they put on one of Late of The Pier’s first London gigs at the Dukes’ now legendary dance rock club night Kill Em All (now a regular fixture at fabric). Samuel’s vocal was recorded in his room while his mum was sleeping next door – that’s the sound of Sam singing in hushed tones from his bedroom.

Filthy Dukes release their debut album ‘Nonsense In The Dark’ on 16th March. Recorded on the mixing desk of producer and Krautrock legend Conny Plank (the very desk that Kraftwerk used to make those albums back in the day), ‘Nonsense In The Dark’ showcases Filthy Dukes’ unique, analogue electro-indie-kraut-pop. A host of great artists also lend guest vocals to the album including Orlando Weeks (The Maccabees), Brandon Curtis (Secret Machines), Tommy Sparks, frYars, Plastic Little and more.

‘This Rhythm’ is the follow up to November’s bombastic limited edition single ‘Tupac Robot Club Rock’ featuring Plastic Little which was played across Radio 1 (including a Sara Cox SOTW) Kiss, Galaxy, Xfm, NME and Ministry FM while killing it in the clubs.

Meanwhile, their status as in-demand remixers continues apace, with new commissions for White Lies, Bloc Party and Lil Wayne cohort Kevin Rudolph.

FILTHY DUKES LIVE:

11-Feb-09         Glasgow                               King Tuts                                               w/Secret Machines
12-Feb-09         Manchester                          Ruby Lounge                                          w/Secret Machines
13-Feb-09         Sheffield                              Leadmill                                                 w/Secret Machines
14-Feb-09         Nottingham                           Rescue Rooms                                        w/Secret Machines
15-Feb-09         Bristol                                  Thekla                                                   w/Secret Machines
17-Feb-09         Brighton                               Digital                                                    w/Secret Machines
19-Feb-09         Aberdeen                             Snafu                                                     
21-Feb-09         Glasgow                               The Arches                                             Death Disco
24-Feb-09         London                                Lexington                                                
27-Feb-09         Manchester                          The Deaf Institute                                     
28-Feb-09         Nottingham                           Stealth                                                    
5-Mar-09          Reading                               Oakford                                                 FREE SHOW
6-Mar-09          London                                Fabric                                                    Album Launch Party
12-Mar-09         Hull                                     Adelphi                                                   
13-Mar-09         Sheffield                              Club Pony                                               
14-Mar-09         Bristol                                  The Lanes                                               
20-Mar-09         Derby                                  The Royal                                                
21-Mar-09         Leeds                                  The Faversham

Review: Post War Years

Fantastic! Yes it's a strange introduction but new single 'Whole world on it's head' is fantastic! Think Friendly fires mixed with Editors and you are half way to what a brilliant tune this is, one of the best of 2009 already. It has a legendary groove, a few neat effects, banging drums, unconventional vocals with a strange poppy darkness.

This is left field indie at it's best and should be a quick addition to everyones record collection post haste.

There's a blinder of a b side too, 'Flames like tinder' is a little more conventional sounding but still is quite a song. Slightly darker, keys and drums sound splendid along with plenty of backing vox.

Find the Post War Years via Chess Club records.

NEWS: ROB McCULLOCH

Bolton born Rob McCulloch proudly shows his roots every time he talks, and every time he sings. He's cocky and self-assured and he's not ashamed of that.

McCulloch's songs tap into the folk music that he heard as a boy, his dad's Elvis and Dylan records, and his mum's albums of showtunes. But his biggest influences are men from the north west who combine singing and acting and comedy  men like the so-called 'Bolton Bullfrog' - Bernard Wrigley, the Bolton poet and comedian Hovis Presley, and even stand-up comic Alun Cochrane.


McCulloch's first single 'Wandering' is a powerhouse tale of getting off your head out of boredom, in a futile search for something better going on. Delivered in McCulloch's signature raspy northern tones, reminiscent of early John Cooper-Clarke, 'Wandering' sounds like an anthem for a Friday night in any British town.


'Wandering' will be released on February 23rd on Gladrag records, to support the release Rob will be touring the UK, the dates are as follows:


February


26 February  London, Cross Kings
27 February  Leeds, Elbow Rooms 
28 February  Barrow

March

1 March - Chepstow, Five Alls 

3 March  Manchester, Dry Bar 
5 March  Liverpool, Bumper 
6 March  Runcorn, The Canal Walk 

11 March  Edinburgh, Whistlebinkies 
12 March  Glasgow, Twisted Wheel 
13 March  Mansfield, The Mill

News: The Maccabees


South London 5-piece The Maccabees ended 2007 on a wave of praise for their “consistently excellent, willfully eccentric debut” (The Observer). “Colour It In” was hailed by NME as “The best alt.pop record of 2007. No contest” and crowned Album of The Year by Artrocker magazine.

Now the celebrated gang of musical romantics are back. They have finished work on their new album and, as a taster, are giving away a blinding new track hot from the studio. “No Kind Words” will be available to download from www.themaccabees.co.uk <http://www.themaccabees.co.uk/>  following its debut play on Zane Lowe’s Radio1 show this Monday 9th February at 7.30pm. The download is a present for patient fans eagerly anticipating the follow-up to their debut.

The celebrated five-piece play their first live dates of 2009 with two club shows in London in February and an Xfm Presents at the Barfly on 5th March prior to their headline tour. They will play London’s Electric Ballroom, their first London headline since the triumphant sold-out Roundhouse show at the end of the “Colour It In” tour in 2007.

The Maccabees old-fashioned work ethic dictated an anti-rock ‘n’ roll approach to song-writing for the new record – throughout 2008, the band enforced a five day working week - cutting loose at the weekends just like the rest of us. In April, they set out on a low-key tour of intimate venues to road test the new songs. Sessions continued in the summer with a handful of special sets at boutique festivals like Underage and Beachdown. This dedication and focus has propelled them from the beginning and as a result, The Maccabees just get better and better.

A new sound started to evolve as the band focused on writing to each other’s strengths and late last year they teamed up with producer Marcus Dravs (Bjork, Coldplay, Arcade Fire) for recording sessions in the UK and Paris.

The results are stunning, as befits a band of true English eccentrics whose vision sets them apart, and beyond the confines of indiedom.

This as-yet-untitled new album will be released in May.

Catch The Maccabees live at the following dates:

Fri 20 Feb            LONDON MATTER, Wonky Pop 10pm-5am, £8 adv, £11 standard, £6 student

Thu 26 Feb            LONDON, KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES McClusky’s 9pm-2am £7, £6 w/flyer

http://www.newslangkingston.co.uk

Thu 5 March            LONDON BARFLY, Xfm Presents SOLD OUT
Thu 19 March             GLASGOW ORAN MOR (Tel: 08444 999 990)
Fri 20 March              SHEFFIELD PLUG (Tel: 0114 241 3040)
Sat 21 March            COVENTRY KASBAH (Tel: 0871 220 0260)
Mon 23 March            DERBY THE ROYAL (Tel: 01332 255 800)
Tue 24 March            BRIGHTON CONCORDE 2 (Tel: 01273 673 311)
Thu 26 March            CAMBRIDGE JUNCTION (Tel: 08450 50 8258)
Fri 27 March            STOKE SUGARMILL (Tel: 0115 9454 593)
Sat 28 March            LIVERPOOL ACADEMY 2 (Tel: 08444 77 1000)
Thu 30 April             NORTHAMPTON ROADMENDERS (Tel: 0115 912 9000)
Fri 01 May             EDINBURGH STUDIO 24 (Tel: 08444 999 990)
Sat 02 May             LEEDS LIVE AT LEEDS (Tel: 0113 245 4650)
Mon 04 May             BRISTOL THEKLA (Tel: 08713 100 000)
Tue 05 May             LONDON ELECTRIC BALLROOM (Tel: 020 7403 3331)
Wed 06 May             NOTTINGHAM RESCUE ROOMS (Tel: 08713 100 000)
Thu 07 May            NORWICH WATERFRONT (Tel: 01603 508 050)
Sat 09 May            MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2 (Tel: 0871 2200 260)
Sun 10 May            BIRMINGHAM ACADEMY 2 (Tel: 0844 477 2000)
Tue 12 May            CARDIFF POINT (Tel: 08713 100 000)
Wed 13 May            SOUTHAMPTON UNIVERSITY (Tel: 02380 632 601)


 

TOUR NEWS: ART BRUT

 

ART BRUT

Announce new single and album

Plus … UK tour dates

 

 

Art Brut has announced it will be releasing its third studio album, Art Brut vs Satan (COOKCD492) on Monday 20th April.  

 

We recorded the album in a punk-as-fuck two weeks in Salem, Oregon,” explains lead singer Eddie Argos.  “I don't always enjoy the recording process - all that fiddling with guitars and drum sounds waiting for my turn to ‘sing’.  This time though, we did it just right. We spent a day getting the sound of the instruments perfect, then with all of us in the same room at the same time, with the amazing Black Francis conducting us, we pressed record, jumped around and played our songs. This is how I always thought albums were made and it’s definitely how we're doing it from now on!”

 

The first single to be released from the album will be Alcoholics Unanimous, on Monday 6th April.  More details to follow …

 

Art Brut, who love touring (we actually have to be physically restrained to stop us playing live every night”), will be doing a 10 UK dates in April and May.   Full dates below.  Please note all ticket prices are subject to booking fees :

 

Sun 26th April               POOLE, Mr Kyps                       £10.00             BO: 01202 748 945    

Mon 27th April               MANCHESTER, Academy 3        £9.50               BO: 0161 832 1111

Tue 28th April                BIRMINGHAM, 02 Academy       £9.50               BO: 0844 477 2000

Wed 29th April              NEWCASTLE, Other Rooms      £9.00               BO: 0191 261 9755

Fri 1st May                    LEEDS, Cockpit                         £10.00             BO: 0113 245 5570

Sat 2nd May                  GLASGOW, Stereo                    £8.50               BO: 0844 847 2487

Mon 4th May                 NOTTINGHAM, Rescue Rooms   £10.00             BO: 0871 310 0000

Tue 5th May                  BRISTOL, Thekla                       £10.00             BO: 0870 444 4400

Wed 6th May                 BRIGHTON, Concorde 2            £9.00               BO: 01273 637 311

Thu 7th May                  LONDON, Electric Ballroom       £11.00             BO: 020 7403 3331

NEWS: Post War Years

Introduced in 2008 with their debut release ‘Black Morning’ EP on Chess Club (three songs that were described by BBC 6 as “A fizzing bombastic attack on the senses, with more bright ideas than most bands manage in a lifetime”), Post War Years release their new single 'Whole World On Its Head' on March 9th backed by ‘Flames Like Tinder’.

Their danceable, other-worldly synth-beat driven sound as been celebrated in clubs and basements up and down the country honing their unquestionably skilful musicianship on the live scene.

Towards the end of 2008 they took a break from recording their debut album and headed out on tour with one of this years biggest tips - White Lies.

2009 sees them support this single with a UK tour from late February through to release with some dates being a rotating headline with James Yuill and Wave Machines.

27 Jan   Forum w/ White Lies Tunbridge Wells

25 Feb   London  Lexington*

26 Feb   Brighton Audio*

27 Feb   Leamington Spa Assembly*

28 Feb   Leeds  Cockpit 3*

1 Mar     Glasgow King Tuts*

7 Mar     Be at Proud Galleries London

* With James Yuill and Wave Machines

The single will be followed by a live 4 track EP on Zarcorp – Late of the Pier ‘s imprint label in April and in late spring, the album, produced by the band and  with additional production and mixing by Graeme Stewart (Dirty Pretty Things, Radiohead, Ash, Jonny Greenwood).

 

Views: The X Factor fall out still out there!

While we were at the York Fibbers the other night we were browsing through The Fly freebie magazine which to be fair ain’t a bad read (and good value for money!). On page ten along side Fly on the wall is a ‘Flying high’ … ‘Flying Low’ mini feature. By all accounts the reunion of uber mardy Damon Allbran and co was the chief flying highlight but on the other end of the spectrum was the following… “Leonard Cohen’s – Hallelujah. We can’t believe X Factor crippled our love for this song. It just to be timeless. Now it’s just wank”.

 

What absolute nonsense, yes it is true the X Factor finalists versions of the classic was truly woeful but the Leonard Cohen and perhaps now more famously the Jeff Buckley versions are still timeless.  The whole X Factor debacle has proved this even further as these versions are far, far superior.

 

I’ve always said there are two viewpoints with regard to X Factor and it’s associated reality music shows (personally I always preferred the beebs Fame Academy). Firstly it brings music back to the masses, normally music shows are shoved into a late night slot, take later with Jools Holland for example. So having a music show in a mega prime time slot is a real coup. Musically it ain’t my taste at all but most programmes that go out in prime time slots on ITV / BBC1 have little appeal to me either, so I don’t usually watch them. Afterall that’s the beauty of the box, it’s comes with a remote or an off switch!

 

The other stance is more obvious; it’s just a way of Simon Cowell of making an easy buck. Well fairs fair he isn’t daft and having the rights to ‘Hallelujah’ was a masterstroke. But my view on this is slightly different, I fully understand the money making potential of X Factor but the music industry have always come up with great ideas to get the public to part with their cash and lets remember no one is forced to walk into HMV and hand over their hard earned are they! My view is that if one person hears the latest no talent off X Factor perform ‘Hallelujah’ and thinks that sounds a good song, then hears it’s a cover and finds the original and buys that then that’s brilliant. X Factor is built around the cover version, some covers are shite records already but some are great songs. So if the show introduces a new generation to the likes of The Beatles or Leonard Cohen then Simon Cowell can sleep easy in his bed with the knowledge he is doing a service to music. He is obviously going to sleep relatively easy anyway safe in the knowledge he’s feking loaded!

 

So when we listen to Jeff Buckley’s ‘Hallelujah’ we won’t be thinking this is wank because it isn’t it’s a beautiful timeless classic and no rubbish version by a no talent is going to change that.

 

Colin

 

www.shaddersonline.com

Tom View... The Devil vs Zane Lowe

I haven't mentioned my three year son on this blog before mainly because he doesn't write, perform or record albums on a regular basis!

But the other day we were watching a 'Top 40 Dave Grohl' special on TMF I had recorded (freeview plus what a godsend). And up pops Tenancious D and Dave playing the playing the part of the devil (rather well I may add) to Jack Black playing the part of the rock and roll saviour whom playing the best song in the world.

Obviously I don't want Tom to be alarmed (at the devil rather than Jack Black when he opens his shirt!) so played down the devil just saying it's a man pretending to be half man half horse and painted red, sounds more weird than trying to explain the concept of the devil that! So he thinks it's quite funny especially as Grohl rocks out with a guitar.

Anyway the video finishes and the link comes up with presenter Zane Lowe.... next thing Tom is shouting to switch it off, why? Zane Lowe is scary!!!

So there you have it Zane Lowe is scarier than the devil....fact!

Just on a musical note, just like to say that Tom's favourite song is 'Monster' by The Automatic, a song which he sings all the time (in the car, in the bath, running around like a maniac, anywhere really). There was one time he was singing it really loud in Tesco of all places and managed to get another kid to join in.... in a different isle. Rock star in the making!

Stay lucking & who's that coming over the hill......

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

 

Update: Festival guide to replace download links

As the winter turns to spring and eventually summer our minds will start to think about the best thing summer has to offer... MUSIC FESTIVALS! So we're going to bring back the shadders festival guide page.

Last year we run a listings page for small indie festivals especially featuring small local (sometimes free) events. because for us you can forget yer mega corporate 100,000 capacity events and come back to the roots of why festivals are great fun.

For us Indie Tracks was the pick of the bunch in 2008, set on a steam railway in the middle of Derbyshire it had a great laid back vibe and some brilliant indie tunes, tad of the twee side at times but headliners The Wedding Present were awesome as usual.

Anyway as the festival guide comes back online we bid farewell to the download links page, we tried to get info from bands to feature but it was more difficult than we thought.

If we do get any new info on free songs we'll post into this newsblog section, here are the ones we did feature:

Lee Griffiths

Our fav manc gobshite and voice of an angel has put his entire first album online to download for free (must to the annoyance of former label ZTT - suckers). Get it all for nowt at...

http://lee.griffiths.com/


 

Daniel Land and the modern painters

This is copied directly from their myspace bulletin:

Hey there

You can download our first ep for free here:

http://www.yousendit.com/download/Q01IaUNONEh1Yk0wTVE9PQ

The link be valid for another 6 days or 100 downloads - let me know if it runs out, we can easily prepare another one.

All that we ask is that if you like the music, please share it with as many people as possible, and point them in the direction of our Myspace! Share the link, copy the EP, whatever you fancy.

Enjoy


 

Laguna Meth

Hailing from California Laguna Meth is the brainchild of Michael Laguna, you can get the track 'Everybody loves acid on a sunday morning' purely by signing up for his irregular mailouts!

http://www.lagunameth.com/ or www.lagunameth.com/sign.up.html

'Ragged shoegazing trip' and 'not for the fainthearted' NME

'Part Daniel Johnson, part early Mercury Rev' Mojo


The Hair

One of Yorkshire finest The Hair give away the track Half Cut to celebrate supporting the likes of The Kaiser Chiefs.

http://www.leedsmusicscene.net/article/9572/ or www.freehair.co.uk


 

Review: Lily Allen

It’s true to say I’ve been a huge fan of Lily Allen (except for the celeb Dad part anyway!) but here ‘comeback’ single ‘The Fear’ is actually damn special. Musically it’s a tasty pop ditty but the beauty of ‘The Fear’ is the lyrics. Great insight into the celebrity mindset (afterall she should know with her background) and some cracking tongue in check lines too.

 

It’s gonna be a huge smash, already a single of the week on radio 1 and deserves to be too. It’s how pop should be, perfectly listenable but with a bit of bite.

 

Should take the edge off having her BBC3 series cancelled anyway!

NEWS: www.tourdates.co.uk

Tourdates are very excited to announce a brand new initiative for 2009, the Musicians’ Clinic, allowing upcoming Artists access to music industry leaders.

The clinic will be held monthly at Proud galleries in Camden, North London and will allow upcoming artists a unique opportunity to discuss the challenges they are facing in areas such as label negotiations and legal issues, merchandise strategy, effective PR, working with the press and sales.

 

In addition they will have the opportunity to have their demos critiqued by Andy Ross, former boss of Food Records,120 consecutive top 100 singles and six UK number one albums with three different artists including Blur. Andy Currently manages Bleech.

 

Andy Ross is joined by Leonard Lowy a solicitor specialising in the music industry, Mel Brown the MD of Impressive PR, Andy Allen CEO of Backstreet Merchandise and Richard Hodkinson Editorial Director of LondonTourdates magazine.

 

Leonard Lowy commented "With so much doom and gloom out there at the moment, I can't think of a better time to launch a new initiative like this. For those of us who make our living from this industry, it's great to be able to give something back. Hopefully with our combined expertise we'll be able to help steer people in the right direction."

 

Jarrod Robinson, CEO of Tourdates, added “Tourdates is delighted to have been asked by Leonard to run the event which will provide our artist community with access to over 100 years of collective know-how.”

 

Andy Allen, CEO of Backstreet Merchandise, praised the event saying "This is an excellent opportunity for artists to receive some professional advice and possibly avoid costly mistakes."

 

Mel Brown feels there is a wealth of great bands that really don’t know where to start - they don’t know what PR is or when the best time is to start a PR push or campaign. Getting an experienced PR on board early could make a huge difference to the overall strategy of the bands career.

 

The first event is on Monday 26th January 2009 with bookings being accepted on a 'first come' - 'first served' basis.

 

 Artists can book online at www.tourdates.co.uk/musicians-clinic

 

 

 

Camden based Tourdates has recently seen the successful acquisition and integration of soundgenerator.com, combining the UK’s two leading independent music communities run for and by the community itself. The acquisition represents a significant step forward for Tourdates.

Tourdates.co.uk is designed to gain exposure for unsigned bands, and to use as a platform to get them noticed. Unsigned Artists, Bands, DJs and Ensembles can create artist profiles, list their gigs, upload promo tracks and add a variety of other information.

Soundgenerator.com, launched in 2001, has become synonymous with quality music news provision. Soundgenerator.com has an archive of 10,000 band and artist profiles, an extensive picture library and an enviable reputation for getting the music news first, through a network of 20 correspondents. 

 Tourdates was founded by Dean Hill and Jarrod Robinson in the late 90’s, both of whom were avid music lovers running their own businesses. The site was initially run as a hobby and progressed from strength to strength but remained more of a blog than a community until a chance meeting between Dean Hill and Mark Beilby at Midem, an annual music market conference held in Cannes. This was the catalyst for change and completed the management team, which, in October 2005 launched the first interactive version of the site.

 ‘…Most interesting feature is the UK Unsigned Chart, a top 40 of MP3 downloads by unsigned acts, updated weekly – a great guide to new music.’  - The Independent

Every Sunday at 7pm the UK’s Original Unsigned Chart is compiled, and the band/ artist with the most downloads and plays that week find themselves at the top of the chart.

 8000 bands are already a part of Tourdates.co.uk, with over 4000 tracks uploaded. The success the site is already having in 2008, suggests it would be an excellent idea for any unsigned band, wanting exposure, to join. Bands sign up via www.tourdates.co.uk/signup, and all they need to do to be in with a chance of hitting the number one spot on the weekly chart is upload a track, and offer it for download!

The first unsigned chart was on 10th December 2006, and found ‘SP!TE’ taking the number one spot with their track ‘Shut Up’. Since then, the site has gone from strength to strength, with tracks being accessed 94,949 times in 2007, in comparison with 71,253 times in the first five months of 2008.

With the management team having envisaged the now widely touted 360 model, Beilby, along with Richard Hodkinson, formed LondonTourdates a bi-weekly music listings magazine, in early 2007. LondonTourdates is distributed at music venues across the capital with circulation exceeding 20k copies. The two organisations formed a partnership which sees the website provide listings and access to the grass roots unsigned community whilst the magazine provides high quality editorial and artist interviews.

View: Astoria - End of an era

News that the famous London Astoria finally closed it doors last night came with great sadness.

Unfortunately it's prime London site was it's downfall as it's going to be knocked down to make way for a railway station as part of the London cross rail scheme.

Anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of visiting the Astoria missed a bit of a treat, not that it was 'nice' it was like a lot of venues of it's ilk (see Liverpool Apollo and no doubt many more around the country) a bit of a dump! However it had atmosphere to burn and a great buzz about the place.

In the early ninetines we visited London on a regular basis and it was one of the venues that we visited numerous times (the other was the also excellent Brixton Academy). We also had the dubious pleasure of spending the night dancing away at one of the famous indie all nighters.

Although we've not been down for a while the news was received at shadders hq with regret, we don't want to see any class venues closing anywhere in the country.

Gone but not forgotton.

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Review & Tour News: The Datsuns

The Datsuns release ‘So Long’ a digital only single on 16th February. It’s taken from the rather fine 2008 album ‘Head Stunts’ which was a great blend of rock, garage, punk and pop with plenty of guitars flying around in all directions. ‘So Long’ itself is a high energy power punk pop blast, never too hard or poppy it’s the just the right mix of rock guitars and urgency especially weighing in at just over two minutes! Bonus tracks ‘What’s happened to me?’ is another 100 mile an hour guitar thrashing and is over and out in less than two minutes, these lads don’t hang around, mind you they pack plenty of punch in a short space of time so why bother!

 

Check them out at the following venues:

 

Sun 08/02/09 – Liverpool Barfly

Tues 10/02/09 – Hull Adelphi

Wed 11/02/09 – Newcastle Cluny

Thur 12/02/09 – Sheffield Leadmill

Fri 13/02/09 – Leeds Cockpit

Sat 14/02/09 – Birmingham Dragon Bar

Mon 16/02/09 – Gloucester Guildhall

Tues 17/02/09 – Southampton The Joiners

Wed 18/02/09 – London Underworld

Thurs 19/02/09 – Derby Rockhouse

Tour News: Morrissey

After selling out London’s Royal Albert Hall on May 11th and two homecoming shows at the Manchester Apollo on May 22nd and 23rd in 15 minutes, Morrissey will embark on a full UK Tour in May 2009 with mainland Europe dates to follow in June.  
 
As part of his ‘Tour of Refusal’ world tour kicking off in the US in February, Morrissey will start his May 2009 UK tour at Stirling Albert Hall on Monday 4th and finishes with additional London shows at Mile End Troxy Ballroom on Tuesday 26th and London Brixton O2 Academy on Thursday 28th.  Morrissey will be joined on the UK run and select European dates by special guest Doll & The Kicks.
 
Morrissey’s new studio album “Years of Refusal” will be released on 16th February 2009 on Polydor, preceded by the single “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris” one week prior. The single will be supported by two new songs “Because Of My Poor Education” and “Shame Is The Name”, the latter featuring additional vocals by Chrissie Hynde.

“Years of Refusal” was completed earlier this year at Conway Studios in LA with the late Jerry Finn, producer of Morrissey’s acclaimed 2004 UK No.2 album “You Are The Quarry”. Morrissey describes the new album, the follow up to 2006’s “Ringleader of The Tormentors” (a UK No.1), as his strongest work to date. The 12-track album includes a clutch of new songs played live in recent months including “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris”, “Something Is Squeezing My Skull”, “Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed” and “One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell”.
 
Tickets for the new UK tour dates are on general sale Friday 12th December @ 10am:

1-May-09      Omagh Leisure Centre
2-May-09      Belfast Waterfront Hall
4-May-09      Stirling Stirling Albert Halls
5-May-09      Dundee Caird Hall
7-May-09      Glasgow Barrowland
10-May-09    Liverpool Empire
11-May-09    London Royal Albert Hall
13-May-09    Birmingham Symphony Hall
15-May-09    Great Yarmouth Brittannia Pier
16-May-09    Cambridge Corn Exchange
19-May-09    Hull Arena
20-May-09    Hartlepool Borough Hall
22-May-09    Manchester Apollo
23-May-09    Manchester Apollo
25-May-09    Salisbury City Hall
26-May-09    London Mile End Troxy Ballroom
28-May-09    London Brixton Academy

Review: Third Eye

Always be afraid of the phrase ‘a whole new take on the genre’ as it rarely means anything other than they have copied a shed load of other bands! So when we placed Third Eye into the CD player after reading this on their press release we feared the worst especially as the genre seems to be goth, a genre we at shaddersonline rarely subscribe to. That said the debut single ‘Say something’ (out January 2009 via Levelsound) actually is pretty good! The vocals are shared between Hannah and Matt (who we are guessing are related as Third Eye are described as ‘a sibling trio from Monmouthshire’) and the sweet, ethereal vocals of Hannah really take the ear. The guitars are dark but mixed with those vocals it kind of works; they take the edge of the hardness. Third Eye cite major influences that include Queens of the stone age, Nine Inch Nails and The Cure which all make sense.

Whilst it isn’t the perfect finish article nor is it the best we’ve ever heard from the goth rock genre, there’s plenty to suggest that Third Eye can make the grade. Take ‘My last time’ for example, some fine dark guitars riffs and eerie vocals courtesy of Hannah do make them sound a little different.

Not rewriting the genre but plenty of promise none the less.

Update: From The Jam / The Incomplete

Hi and welcome to a new year update...

Check out the shadders interviews section for a brand new interview with Russell Hastings. If you don't know he is it's the lad tasked with filling Paul Weller's shoes in From The Jam. He does a blinding job too, never trying too hard or ending up like looking / sounding like some tribute band singer.

The interview is actually a blinding read too, check it out.

There's also six excellent (some of our best yet) pics from their Sheffield Academy gig from late 2008.

Talking of pic's & if you are on myspace have a look at a fantastic Doncaster band called The Incomplete as in their photo gallery is a boat load of our pics from their Doncaster Priory gig in December 2008. Well worth a browse.

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com 

Review: The Race

The Race return with their first single from the second long player, it’s called ‘I get it wrong’ and it’s out on the famous Shifty Disco label, oh and it’s brilliant!

 

It’s a big, big song with a big, big sound. Hints of Arcade Fire can be found in the intense guitars and left field vocals but ‘I get it wrong’ is three minutes of indie pop that reaches for the stars and bloody well grabs them with both hands.

 

If the album (In my head it works) is half as confident and intense as ‘I get it wrong’ it could be one of the of 2009.

 

Shifty Disco have a fabulous track record of releasing absolute peaches and with The Race they have hit the musical jackpot again.

 

‘I get it wrong’ the name couldn’t be further from the truth, they have got it right!

NEWS: BENICASSIM FESTIVAL 2009

The FIB Heineken Benicassim Festival is delighted to announce that the headline acts for the 2009 festival will be Franz Ferdinand, Kings of Leon and Paul Weller.

The Scottish rockers will be firing Darts of Pleasure far and wide whilst Nashville’s finest Kings of Leon will be On Call for anyone looking for a good time - and with the Modfather on board, even the man himself would gladly admit “That’s Entertainment!”

No longer a well-kept secret, the Benicassim festival is an integral stop on the summer circuit and a firm favourite with British and Irish fans. Backed by Vince Power (the founder of the Mean Fiddler Empire and the man behind The Mighty Boosh and Hop Farm Festivals) it will take place from July 16th – 19th on the east coast of Spain.

A phenomenal 150,000 people enjoyed FIB Heineken 2008, making it one of the best festivals of the summer with some of the most exciting,  exclusive gigs to have graced the Spanish mainland in recent times. With sets from internationally acclaimed artists such as; Leonard Cohen, Morrissey, My Bloody Valentine, The Raconteurs, Babyshambles and The Ting Tings, it isn’t hard to see why.

2009 will be an extra special year for FIB Heineken as it will be their 15th anniversary. Promising a stellar line-up packed with the biggest bands, artists and DJs from across the globe and a plethora of new and exciting on-site events and activities, the organisers are pulling out all the stops to make this one to remember.

The festival recently released a limited number of earlybird tickets via online ticketing giants seetickets and lastminute. These exclusive tickets will only be available to buy until January 15th 2009 for the special one-off launch price of £140 for all 4 days and include free camping between the 13th and 21st July.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year from shaddersonline.com

And a fucking good riddance to 2008 too!

The back end of 2008 has been an illness riddled nightmare for the whole shadders team, firstly as well documented on these blog pages we had a disaster with bells palsy which thankfully now seems to have gone away (fingers crossed). But then over xmas and the new year we've been struck down with proper old fashion flu which has completely ruined the festive season.

Bloody nightmare! No food, booze and enjoyment - so 2008 can sod right off and hopefully 2009 will be a damn sight more fun!

We're looking forward to some brand new bands, returning stars and also a bit of retro fun too.

So here's to 2009 - bring it on...

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

 

Venue reviews

As a further part of the shaddersonline.com review the gig guide has been removed, must admit it was never updated enough and there's better websites out there if you want gig listings. So here's the venue guide that used to feature along side the listings...

DONCASTER

Vintage Rockbar - Baxtergate

Venue – Great upstairs bar which is always a good bet for a nice pint of becks vier! The gigs take place downstairs and despite sharing the smell with the toilets it’s a good initmate space.
Best gig – It might have been sparsely populated but Sam Issac was a nice laid back occasion.

The Priory
Venue – One of the new cool venues to pop up in Doncaster over the last fews years, as famous for it’s club nights as the bands it hosts but that said they do put on some corkers including a selection of Doncaster’s finest. Best Gig - The Beaus, fantastic Doncaster band with a great display.

Leopard - West Street

Venue - The original toilet circuit venue in town that has hosted probably the most gigs of any venue in the town. Now put firmly in the shadow of new comers Vintage Rockbar (for local bands) and The Priory (for national tours).Probably best known these days as a venue to see tribute bands but still pop up with good stuff now and again. Always has been a bit of a flea pit but hey that's what these places were all about. Best Gig - There's been a few over the years. The ones that stick in the mind are Kasabian (put on by a mate of shadders!), The Cooper Temple Clause on their first nationwide tour featuring didz on vocals and 'discovering' Lee Griffiths. The Alyscamps / Darren Bell Doncaster music week gig was a stormer too!

SHEFFIELD

The Leadmill - 6 Leadmill Road. Website - http://www.leadmill.co.uk/

Venue – Sheffield’s number one for donkeys years and deservedly so, never ones to rest on their laurels they have a cracking venue, great sound and some corking club nights. They put on some pretty decent bands too! Best Gig – There’s been so many over the years including the Pulp / Wedding Present Sheffield Sound City gig many, many years ago but Reverend and The Makers @ 2007 will take some beating.

Carling Academy - 37-43 Arundel Gate. Website http://www.sheffieldacademy.co.uk/

Venue – The new big fish on the Sheffield music scene, opening in April 2008 this venue will plug the gap between Sheffield’s Octagon (at the Uni) and the Arena. With the might of the Academy group behind them and a multi million pound facelift this former nightclub can’t fail (can it?). It also boasts a Academy 2 venue which promises to showcase the best in local and new talent; the Boardwalk, Plug and Leadmill best look out. Best Gig – We were at the opening night and it’s a pretty nifty place, apart from the huge queue for the bars and near fatal jams to get out! Reverend and the makers were spot on and will take some beating!

LEEDS

The Cockpit

Venue – Set beneath the arches of the cities railway station this stalwart has two cracking venues, the best of which is the intimate bar which virtually all up and coming bands have graced over the years. When it’s a good night the sweat drips off the corrugated metal ceiling, when it’s a bad night there’s far too much chatting and ‘seeing to be seen’ but that’s Leeds for you! Best gig – Bluetones’ Brighton Beach gig of ’94 was too cool for words, Embrace ‘secret’ christmas gigs were solid and The Whip back end of 2007 was classic.

Leeds Academy

Venue - Leeds has been crying out for this venue since the old Town and Country Club was closed many years ago. Best thing is the Academy is actually a very expensive refurb of the old T&C site to put it back to a music venue from it's horrific Creation night club incarnation.

Primal Scream Gig Review

Primal Scream at The Hammersmith Apollo

Now… I may have a penchant for the slightly matured male but a man on the brink of half a century, albeit undetectably to his credit, may be pushing it ever so slightly. Saying that, after seeing Primal Scream in action last night at The Hammersmith Apollo, I sincerely doubt the word 'no' would feature very highly in a conversation between myself and Mr. Gillespie. Despite his definite position at the later stages of adulthood, on stage Bobby Gillespie still endearingly maintains the mannerisms of a slightly gangly and coy, pre-pubescent boy. His dance moves resemble those of a pensioner who, in his hey-day, danced The Twist something wicked and his minimalist approach to crowd interaction is wonderfully refreshing amongst the current barrage of front-people that would make Narcissus proud. All of this considered, it is near impossible not to find him mesmerising, even when hung statically crooning over the microphone. His, somewhat, infamous reputation for verbally abusing the crowd, or anyone that takes his fancy for that matter, keeps the audience at the edge of their seats, although clearly he was feeling rather tolerant on this particular occasion, given the fact that he does not seem to think that the token sweaty lager louts throwing beer bottles in his direction warrant even so much as an evil eye.

The pleasingly hit filled set (not difficult from a band whose career has had more hit singles than I have birthdays) begins with a: ‘Good Evening London’ from Bobby, which turns out to be his only communication with the audience, bar a couple of intermittent thank yous and a bizarre song dedication which briefly break the communication stalemate. Comedically true to form, Mani chooses his first and only words of the night, to dedicate the infectiously bass driven ’Uptown’ to ‘all of the ladies’ and, with domino effect, sparks Bobby into uncharacteristic verbal action with the bizarrely intriguing response of ‘and the lady boys’.

It is clear that much thought has been given to the visuals, which frequently and most likely intentionally, given Bobby’s slightly shy disposition, distract attention from the band themselves. The light show is an epileptic’s nightmare, which had I been alive to experience it would have transported me back in time to, what I can only imagine attending a 90s rave felt like. I am clearly not the only of this persuasion, as all around me, middle-aged one-time party lovers throw their, slightly rusty but enthusiastic, shapes.

The set draws to a close with the obligatory encore, the penultimate song of the evening being ‘Country Girl’, which gets the audience fully into sing-a-long mode before ending with a wall of guitar thrashing sound. The band leave the stage to the sound of whirring guitar feed back with Bobby’s last ‘thank you’ resonating through the room on delay.

With thanks to CARLY SLADE

 

 

 

 

Higher Rhythm Xmas Bash - Tickets still available

Got a spare opening in your calender on Friday 12th December?

Well there's the cream of the Doncaster music scene playing at The Priory and it's free!

Check out either http://www.higherrhythm.co.uk/events?id=65 

or

http://www.doncastermusicweek.co.uk/events_and_booking/product/341

According to the Higher Rhythm website we are looking at The Beaus, The Alyschamps, Darren Bell and The Incomplete plus plenty more as well.

You'll need an eticket to get in so just register online and job's a good 'um.

Well see you there!

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Get well soon.... not an illness but the band!

Rather apt that whilst under the effects of bells palsy should I receive 'Listen Ep' by the band Get Well Soon!

Well moving away from random illness Get Well Soon as notable for a number of reasons;

1, They seem to be signed to Nude Records which was the famous home to the fab Suede which died a while ago, nice to see the label reprise.

2, Get well soon sound great!

By all accounts it seems to be the brain child of Konstantin Gropper (who you would be right in thinking isn't English... Looks like he is German) and judging by the pics on the myspace page they are quite a large live band when they take to the stage, oh and he likes to dress up in a dog outfit!

Anyway, that's somewhat beside the point. Get Well Soon sound pretty damn good, quite a few mentions of Arcade Fire in media quotes which is fair as is Nick Cave, Patrick Wolf and Leonard Cohen. Dark and melancholic at times, weird but great!

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Prego

Released last monday (24/11/08) is 'Answers' the new single from Prego.

Whilst Prego might not have a name that grabs they certainly have the talent. 'Answers' is a sweeping indie rock classic in the making. Vocally it's a bit in the vain of Snow Patrol with some awesome guitars that rise them well above plenty of the melodic indie also rans.

The five piece claim it takes time to create a sound this big, we say take as long as you want if you are going to create some more moments like 'Answers' because it's a killer.

More info at www.pregomusic.com

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

The Concept: MK

What can we say about The Concept:MK? Well the concept is that all the band hail from MK which to those who don't know is the cultural hub of Milton Keynes! Fortunately the trio are now based away from the concrete cows over in Birmingham but they've taken their feelings, ideas and melodies with them and put them down on record.

The blueprint is progressive hybrid of dance, indie and electronica to create a new and fresh sound.

Fair play to the trio too as their sound is fresh as a daisy and they pack some grooves too. They cite influences from afar a field as Soulwax, The Cooper Temple Clause, Verve, The Rapture, The Doors to Portishead which is plenty to keep them busy.

We'd say if you like something along the lines of The Whip you ain't gonna go too far wrong.

Their debut EP is available now, entitled 'Outside the point ep' which is a nod back to their MK roots and best of all it's blooming well free.

To download check out - myspace.com/theconceptmk

For a physical CD (still free) email daveskyward@hotmail.com

Make sure you check them out today, a quirky idea with some solid tunes.

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Shadders news blog - how it all works

So the blog is now the shadders news blog then is it? Well how's that gonna work then?

Well firstly from now on there will be loads more blog action and that's a promise. What we'll do is if let you all know of anything of interest, that could be any of the following:

1, Gig Listings

2, Nationwide tour dates

3, Latest up and coming signed / unsigned bands

4, New singles

5, Albums that we've discovered a bit late / slipped through the shadders radar at first time of asking

6, Venue news

7, Band news or rumours

Really it's gonna be a bit of everything really.

So remember to click on the shadders news blog everytime you visit the webzine to see what's happening.

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Getting better all the time....

To quote York's fav indie darlings Shed Seven, 'It's getting better all the time.' Obviously I'm referring to the Bells Palsy that struck me down earlier in the month.

Fortunately I have now use of my left and eye and look 'normal' again, although my appearance never really was affected too much unless I smiled or talked etc. Anyway although it's not back completely to how it was it's well on it's way. So thank heavens for that then!

It's kinda knocked us back on the shadders front, as you can see there has been no recent updates but hopefully in December we'll be back firing on all cylinders. So far we've got tix in the bag for From the Jam at Sheffield Academy and also the Higher Rythem party at Doncaster Priory which is due to feature some of Doncaster's finest talent including The Beaus. Looking forward to them big time.

So bear with us during November and keep coming back in December for plenty of stuff.

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

 

Bells Palsy - bit of a setback!

Hi,

Just a quick note to say the usual updates on shaddersonline.com has come to a bit of a halt due to been diagnosed with Bells Palsy, any ideas what that is? No I didn't either!

Bascially it's a viral infection that affects the nerve endings in the ear and into the face and causes quite a bit of damage. I seem to have a mild version of the illness, as it can cause stroke like affects and make the face look a bit of a mess. Unfortunately I cannot close my left eye and the mouth is also affected making eating and drinking quite a problem. To the outsider I don't really look much different, I can tell a slight difference but only when I really look. Using the camera is a bit of a prob, at the Paul Heaton gig I had to phsyically close the left eye manually or jusy stick my hand in front of it!

However, on top of this I've had another mini flu infection so have been knackered and feeling like absolute shite.

So we were supposed to be off the Leeds Cockpit on Thursday night but had to cancel this as the doc stated that there is no cure nor treatment just plenty of r&r.

The Bells Palsy can return to normal as quickly as a couple of weeks or a few months or in fact never! Sounds like it's luck of the draw.

So fingers crossed I should make a full recovery, the odds are on my side. At this point just gotta sit back, relax and hope!

I'll keep everyone informed of the progress.

Later

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

shaddersonline.com Update & GNR Return!

Hi

Welcome to the return of the weekly update, you may or may not have noticed there was no update last week. That's cause we spent most of our time in front of the telly watching the excellent world series baseball coverage on Five, hat's off to them again for quality coverage. Fair play to the Phillies worthy winners but we'll be hoping for dramatic improvements from them damn yankees next year as they open the new ballpark in the bronx.

Anyway this week we've done a few things to www.shaddersonline.com that's well worth a look....

1, Finally got the All new myspace interview challenge page working properly, this is the latest batch of responces to our 15 generic interview questions sent across the myspace world. New up is Grovemere with recent repsonses from Factory Kids, As Tall  as trees, John Lee, Postcode, The Unfortunate Incident and Morning Lights all online in their true glory.

2, Finally we've got round to reviewing the excellent Viva Stereo album which is up online in the album reviews section, a full and extensive interview can be found in the shadders interview section.

3, We've axed the shadders incoming page, and re-badged the shaddersonline.com blog as the shadders news blog. Anything of interest, new artists and tours will go there from now on (along with our more normal rants!).

Finally, just a quick mention of the final return of Guns and Roses, we received a review copy of the new single yesterday and it's.......... very much Axl Rose! Bizarrely although it weighs in at 4 minutes 41 seconds very little happens for a good minute. Once it does it is defo Guns and Roses, not sure why it's taken so long as it's hardly braking new ground but fans should be reassured that they are heading back in the right direction.

Hopefully next week we'll have live reviews of Paul Heaton and also our fav dancy indie types The Whip. As always.... watch this space and keep checking out www.shaddersonline.com

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Incoming now on the blog

We've decided to axe the 'Incoming' page from the webzine as we just didn't use it enough, instead we use the blog page to feature up and coming new bands as well as forthcoming tours etc. Just before deleting the age we copied and pasted the contents below....

Nephu Huzzband

We at shadders are shallow enough to take notice of bands with what can only described as ‘wacky’ names so nephu huzzband appealed straight away. Not only this we are swayed by cheap gimmicks so the fact that the promo cd of papers looks like a small vinyl single mean’t we were in hook like and sinker!

Musically it’s well up our alley, raw lo fi alternative guitar rock gives you some idea where nephu huzzband are coming from. Names like The Cure have been banded about which ain’t too far from the truth. So nephu huzzband are early contenders for name of 2008 so take our lead and take note of the strange ones! To give you a better idea of what nephu huzzband are about here are a few answers they gave us to our myspace interview challenge questions, the full interview can be found on the myspace interview page.

Who are you & where are you from? We are Nephu Huzzband, a band from Nottingham. Tom Bentley-Vocals/Guitars, Adam Popple Guitars/Vocals, Jamie Barrow-Bass/Vocals, Rob Challinor-Drums.

Have you got a website too (you can blatantly plug it), what’s it got on it and is it worth a visit? We have a dedicated download site at www.indiestore.com/nephuhuzzband where you can buy our music, which is definitely worth doing. Any exclusives and free remixes are via this site only.

If you had to pick a musical genre in which to pigeon hole yourself which one would you go for? On our myspace we’ve gone for alternative/indie/post-punk; but we’re not really down with the whole pigeon-holing of genres due the vast amount of influences we have.

What was the last CD / download you bought and was it any good? Tom – Seasick Steve – Doghouse Music, it was very good for fans of the blues. Jamie – Les Savy Fav – Lets Stay Friends which was excellent, my album of 2007. Adam – Bloc Party – Weekend in the City, it had it’s good bits, but was pretty disappointing overall. Rob – McCoy Tyner – The Greeting, an amazing musical experience.

Why should somebody buy a copy of your single / album / download and not say a couple of pints of lager? For a start, it’s cheaper than a couple of pints of lager and you’ll be able to keep it for longer as well. Plus, no one yet has been sick from over consumption of our music.

In ten words write your own press release (swearing is definitely allowed!)… Noisy progressive indie punk band playing edgy and raw music.


<Satellite – State>

Beauty in music discuss… Satellite state know you can create a beautiful sound and their debut ep shows it in abundance. Opener of the four tracker ’plans’ is a melodic success story but it’s eclipsed by the epic ‘sometimes / always’ which tries for and attains epic status, Gary Nicks understated yet stunning lead vocals shimmer over ethereal backing vox and sweeping guitars, it’s flaming awesome. They’ve been together since forming in Guilford some three years ago but they haven’t wasted a second as this EP is instantly memorable and suggests that their debut album could be one to really blast them out into space. If you have a love of Coldplay, Doves and Elbow the Satellite State will blow you clean away, sensational stuff err from Guilford!


 

Look See Proof

Like yer indie? Like to have a dance about? Like it nice and poppy? If you’ve answered yes to all of these three questions that look no further than Look See Proof. ‘Do you think it’s right’ (out via weekender records) is the kind of old skool guitar indie that fills dance floors up and down the country and if their forthcoming album is packed with more of the same then 2008 is going to be one hell of a year for Look See Proof. They may have a crap name and be from Hertfordshire but this four piece including a pair of brothers have the tunes to break out of Herts and into the indie big time.


Chris Singleton

Not really a new idea these days but here's somebody else who's digitally giving away his new album. What makes Chris Singleton differ from the like of Radiohead and The Charlatans is that this lad hasn't already got oodles of cash in the bank!

We actually know of Chris Singleton from a single we reviewed last year, pretty good as we recall too, good honest stuff. By all accounts the Irish Times from his native land has said it's some of the best pop rock you'll hear this year, which is nice.

The idea of 'giving away' came from when he was a kid he loved swapping tapes, this obviously was before the digital revolution took hold and make the old fashioned C90 obsolete. In those days it was cool to make compilation tapes of all your fave tunes (and if you had your vcr hooked up to your stereo you could 'tape' cool bits of films too) and pass to your friends.

These days obviously the concept has moved onto sharing mp3 and Chris has very kindly allowed his album 'twisted city'  to be downloaded for nothing.

If you fancy a taste then head over to www.singletonmusic.com/free/

You'll be faced by a good old virtual cassette and then can register to download the full album, music for nothing, can't be bad.


Duffy

Strange we should be including an artist that has spent about twelve weeks at number one on the incoming page but for those who page no attention to the hit parade and haven’t switched on a radio for the last six months read on, for those who have you’ll know exactly what I’m going to write next! Looking every one of her 23 years and some Duffy is the latest ‘sensation’ to plunder the past for their own ends but unlike say scaby Amy Winehouse Duffy does it rather tastefully and a little more impressively. Duffy may well borrow heavily from the sixties, but for example ‘Distant dreamer’ has also the feel of a song recorded in the golden era of female pop, it also reminds of the Specter wall of sound vibe. Then there’s obviously ‘Mercy’ and it’s motown feel, it’s just a cracking tune in any era and that’s why it’s on it’s way it be one of the biggest sellers of 2008, even by March. Bit of a surprise that Duffy and all her hype actually seems to come up with the goods and no doubt she’ll sing along to that.

 


The Electric City

The essence of a great band is good songs, plenty of energy and that little bit of something else you just can’t put your figure on… The Electric City have that little something else. ‘Dark Skies’ is a bloody cracking tune, storming guitars with a blinding vocal and a little electro noodling way back in the background adding to a big, big sound. They look the biz too with that on the verge of greatness vibe going on which all told is a winning combination, our friends electric indeed!


Doug Walker

Lets look at the background of the rise thus far of Doug Walker. Singerman wants to make it big, sees big fat mega DJ who is handed a CD, bizarrely talkalot DJ doesn’t bin it but plays it to his multi million audience and next thing Warners are coming knocking with a big fat contract. Who’d have guessed that the one song an hour that Chris Moyles would play would be an unsigned singer songwriter called Doug, fact is sometimes stranger than fiction! Play it he did several times in fact, several months later a re-recorded ‘The Mystery’ is released and even more weirdly is back on the Moyles breakfast show but this time playlist backed. The great thing about ‘The Mystery’ is that it is just a splendid song, it’s immediate and poppy as hell. The nah nah nah chorus is a bit of a letdown but the rest of the song is spot one. Fair play therefore to the big fella, looks like he’s got one right!


Paul Hourican

Ireland musically has always being a bit of mixed bag; Dana and a turkey have represented them at Eurovision and they have given us the bloody Corrs for Christ’s sake! It’s not all bad though as we found out by discovering somebody (very late it has to be said) like Damien Dempsey and in Paul Hourican we think another gem is finding its way across the Irish Sea with the latest shipment of Guinness! Strangely Paul is joined by a Corrs guitarist on record but we won’t hold that too much against him, as he’s very much the solo singer songwriter. Vocally there’s only a slight Irish lilt and musically his journey through Dublin, London and New York shines through. We have in our possession ‘Intro’ and ‘Let the enemy in’ ep’s which all told total seven tracks which suggest he has not only the vocal talent but the songwriting ability to break through, perhaps he should hand a couple of CD’s to Chris Moyles too!



The Tupolev Ghost

It’s dark, it’s loud and it’s a bit scary… it’s The Tupolev Ghost! Named after a soviet era plane that was so loud it had a tendency to deafen its pilots, The Tupolev Ghost are obviously using the same principle to their music. They use dark, hard guitars to get their post grunge, hardcore message across.  Vocals aren’t actually too high in the mix but a bombardment of music of this ilk tends to down all the talking!



Fabonacci

The flat lands of rural Lincolnshire hardly has the reputation of raising and nurturing the best musical talent however needle in the groove have unearthed a bit of gem in Fabonacci. Debut ep ’Exits’ released over a year since is dark with deep melancholic overtones. It’s an enchanting listen and one that can hold its head high amongst our finest purveyors of miserablist indie pop. We are led to believe that they are heading towards dirtier, grungier territory but follow up ep ‘Boundaries’ still has that edge that has drawn comparisons with Doves and Radiohead. Fabonacci may be unheard of now but surely as more and more people succumb to their brand of dark guitars then things will change. One of the best unsigned bands we’ve heard in a long while, take heed and search them out now.

http://www.fabonacci.co.uk/
www.myspace.com/faonacci


Steve McQueen – the come back of The Automatic

Whilst the incoming page tends to focus on the new bands that are hitting the streets here we welcome back The Automatic. After losing unique talent Pennie it and a luke reaction to recent tour it looked like the writing was on the welsh wall for these lads but Steve McQueen is 3 minutes and 38 seconds of pure indie pop heaven. It has all the Automatic hallmarks; big guitars, monster choruses and is poppy as hell. It answers a lot of questions asked, what a blinder!



Win 'From The Jam' support slot

We've just been emailed about a rather fine competition that the band From the Jam are running to win a chance to open for them on their forthcoming tour. Here's the details:

From The Jam” will be performing a nationwide tour during December, and would like to give a local band the opportunity to support them at Carling Academy Sheffield on 8 December 2008.

“From The Jam” legends, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler, will judge the competition and choose the winning band.

 

For the chance to win, please send your CD (including a contact name, address, telephone number and email) to No Third Entertainments, 1 South View, Hall Lane, Longton, PR4 5ZD.  Please note that CDs cannot be returned.

 

or email your MySpace URL address to rick@thejamfan.net

 

The winners will be announced on Thursday 20th November 2008 on the “From The Jam” website: http://www.fromthejam.net

 

For full details check out the From The Jam website, the full tour is:

 

DECEMBER 2008                 Ticket Hotline 0870 534 4444 / www.ticketmaster.co.uk

 

Friday 5th December                  NORWICH UEA                                01603 508 050

Saturday 6th December              LEEDS Carling Academy                     0844 477 2000  

Monday 8th December               SHEFFIELD Carling Academy            0844 477 2000

Tuesday 9th December              LIVERPOOL Carling Academy           0844 477 2000

Wednesday 10th December        NOTTINGHAM Rock City                 0871 3100 000

Friday 12th December                NEWCASTLE Carling Academy          0844 477 2000

Saturday 13th December            GLASGOW Barrowlands                     0844 847 2269

Tuesday 16th December             SOUTHAMPTON Guildhall                023 8063 2601

Thursday 18th December           BRISTOL Carling Academy                0844 477 2000

Friday 19th December                MARGATE Winter Gardens                01843 296 111

Saturday 20th December            BIRMINGHAM Carling Academy      0844 477 2000

Monday 22nd December             LONDON Hammersmith Apollo           08448 44 47 48

Electric Proms, NFL Wembley & City samba style!

Electric Proms, NFL Wembley & City samba style!

First up a big thumbs up to the BBC for their coverage of the electric proms, whilst I'm not a huge fan of saturday night fever the red button / bbc2 coverage of Razorlight and The Last Shadow Puppets in Liverpool was pretty good. The venues in both London and Liverpool were spot on and the sound was on the money too.

The highlight has to be the dazzling performance by Oasis. They made the others look like second division stuff in comparison to Oasis premier league winners performance. The Crouch End Chorus who performed sterling backing vocals gave the songs a new dimension but Liam and Co were in stella form, absolutely brilliant. 

Fair play to BBC for having it on TV to compliment their excellent festival coverage & Later series, just need them to add the TOTP back into their music line up and everyone will be happy.

Now onto sport, I don't actually agree with what the NFL do holding league games away from their home towns like what happened to New Orleans yesterday having to play in London but it did make a fantastic occassion and great to see it (even partly) on mortal TV rather than sky. I defo wouldn't want the Premier League to start playing Man City home games in the gulf but if the NFL are going forward with the idea there's nowhere better than Wembley to play the games. A sold out 84k in the ground and a great atmosphere, hopefully we'll see it again next year.

Last but not least a bit of samba magic as Robinho netted his first City hat trick to lead Manchester City to a deserved win hopefully they can kick on now after a bit of a sticky league time. 'Boro up next on Wednesday night, let's see some more Brazian magic.

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

shaddersonline.com weekly update & more.

shaddersonline.com weekly update & more.

Well it's Friday and time to take stock and look at the weekly update of all things www.shaddersonline.com

Big news is that we've got FOUR yes count them four ace Elbow live pics up in the photo gallery from last weekends gig at Leeds Academy. Also just added is the live review of that gig, worth a read I'm sure.

On the interview front we have added a cracker, Glasgow / Aberdeen / Leicester / Manchester based Viva Stereo has given us quite an extensive interview which is a cracking read. It's online via the shadders interview section right now.

So plenty to have a look at, remember the Shadders: Oasis page has been recently updated with album & gig reviews plus a great interview with Noel... well from one of their best tribute bands anyway!

Just a quick note to say that we've mainly been listening to albums by Viva Stereo, Oasis, Anberlin and the cracking first album by The Hours.

Well no gigs for us this weekend but it's World Series time in the weird world of American baseball so hopefully we'll be catching a few pitches of that.

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Indietracks Christmas Twee

We just got an email from our friends at Indie Tracks (who put on the best festival of the season in our humble view) regarding their xmas do, so rather than mess about here's their press release that gives the full details. If their summer festival is anything to go by this will be a corking night.

PRESS RELEASE
 
Bands announced for Indietracks Christmas event!
 
1980s indiepop legends Mighty Mighty have been confirmed as headliners for this year's Indietracks Christmas Twee event, held at the Midland Railway on Saturday 6th December, 2008. Also playing the event, which will be held at the railway station in Butterley, Derbyshire, will be June Brides founder Phil Wilson, and local popsters Mascot Fight.
 
Christmas Twee is an exciting comeback for Mighty Mighty – it's the first gig they have announced since their split in the late 1980s. Birmingham-based, the band built up a small but devoted following playing local venues in the 1980s and came to prominence when featured on the NME's C86 compilation. Signed to Chapter 22 Records, they released a string of well-received singles and the album Sharks in 1988. Continuing interest in the band then saw the reissue of Sharks in 2000 and the release of a compilation of BBC session tracks in 2001.
 
Phil Wilson, founder of C86 legends The June Brides, came out of musical retirement to perform solo, releasing the Industrial Strength EP on Slumberland Records in August this year. Influenced by Postcard-label bands, the June Brides' mix of guitar pop with viola and trumpet formed a blueprint for many of the C86 bands that would follow. In 1986 they opened for The Smiths on their Irish tour dates and were honoured in 2006 by tribute album Still Unravished, which featured covers by bands such as Manic Street Preachers and the Television Personalities.
 
The third band to join the bill are Derby popsters Mascot Fight. This four-piece indiepop/ alternative band formed in 2004 and have released one EP so far, If Cooks Could Kill. The band have received airplay on BBC Radio 1 and BBC6 Music, and an album called Pantomime Hearse is planned for late 2008/early 2009.
 
All of the bands will perform on the railway station at Butterley, and there will be free steam train riders for gig-goers in between sets. The event runs from 6.30pm til midnight and there will be DJs playing in a disco carriage on the steam train after the bands have finished. Other Christmassy fun will include a Secret Santa CD swap and a specially decorated train Santa carriage!
 
Tickets cost £15 (+£1 booking fee) and can be bought from We Got Tickets or by phoning 01773 747 674. For further information visit www.indietracks.co.uk
 

Oasis and the touts

If you take a look at the previous blog this was posted on myspace on Friday. As an update to the last comment regarding Oasis playing at Sheffield... well we were there!

On Friday afternoon I decided to give it a spin, knowing full well it was sold out and I had limited funds and no ticket I winged it off to Sheffield and got there about five to nine. It said on the Arena website that Oasis would be on at 8.45 pm but I suspected nine would be more likely.

Before going onto to mention how I got in I'd better rewind a number of years. An old school friend let me into a touting tip, if you leave it late then you can bag yourself a bargain, lets face it their tickets come kick out time are worth nothing. Touts make their money early doors, people turn up desperate for tickets and pay the price.

Anyway we've tried this a few time and were two one up on the touts, the touts beat us as they had sold out and we were left in the rain that night. Previous however, we had got two thirty quid tickets for The Rolling Stones for 25 quid and also beat them on a Seahorses gig when we got a 15 quid sold out ticket for a tenner.

So back to Friday night then, we quickly walked over to the Arena to see a group of people just in front of the place. There were obviously a number of touts and those in need of tickets. It was five to nine and we could hear Oasis weren't on.

A tout made the first move asking us if we needed a ticket, I confirmed this and a mate of his passed him a ticket, I could see they had a few left, a good sign for me. He said the price was fifty quid, I retorted I had only twenty on me and that was all I could pay. The next two minutes were the two touts bringing the price down, again and again I stated all I had was twenty pounds. Eventually with a right strop they agreed and I had a ticket, hooray we have a winner.

The ticket had a face value of £44.50 plus booking fee, result! Anyway as I stormed across to the Arena some lad asked me what I paid, twenty I said over my shoulder as he wandered across to the same tout, sure he'll be none to happy about that!

Minutes later I was inside and as I was half way round the Arena looking for my block I could hear fuckin in the bushes strike up, as I found my seat Noel was just walking on stage followed by the rest of the band... spot on!

So that's about it to say they were excellent and a full review will appear online shortly. Next time you've missed out on  a ticket just take a gamble, it might just pay off. So that's three to one to us!

Colin

Weekly update, myspace & Scotland

Alright everyone,

Just to say no updates last week as we were very much 'sans' computer, the laptop stayed at home as we venured north to Scotland. Must say that we stayed on the Firth of Clyde and it is a lot more beautiful than we expected. From where we were we could watch the ferry crossing to Rothesay, lovely! It was a bit nippy and there were a few showers flying about but we managed to enjoy ourselves. The highlight of the trip was a drive up into the hills past Loch Lomond, amazing scenery plus Lomond is one hell of looker! On our way southboard we called in at Edinburgh for a few hours, blooming cold but a lovely city.

Anyway now we are safely back in England we have got stuck back into shaddersonline.com This week check out the brand new live review of The Automatic at Sheffield Carling Academy 2 plus crap pics of the gig (taken on my mobile phone) in the mobile pic gallery. There's also a new review in the album reviews section of Live in London by Nephu Huzzband.

Onto the mypace pages, we've been updating some of the pics in our gallery and added a load of pics from our travels including a brand new one from the Firth of Clyde and oldies from Berlin, Cornwall, NYC and Dublin. Worth a look we think.

Have a good weekend, and to those who are going to see Oasis at Sheffield Arena tonight or tomorrow... wish it was me!

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Another update and Steve bloody Bennett!

Quick update, just added an excellent interview with American John Lee in the all new myspace interview challenge. Huge fan of Moz and a cracking voice, some excellent answers too, well worth a read.

Can't remember if I mentioned that there's three new manchester city / City of Manchester stadium pics added to the football galaries, available via the shadders football menu.

Onto Steve Bennett, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT PENALTY DECISION! What a muppet, the wigan player dived worse than superman but he gives a penalty, what a muppet. Then Dunnie is brought down in the box and he waves play on, god's sake.

Thanks steve!

 

 

 

Weekly update and a bit of city!

Hi and welcome to the weekly update of what's new on the webzine entitled www.shaddersonline.com

This week we added a few bits and bats so here goes...

As Tall as Trees are the latest to take the myspace interview challenge, the all new 15 generic questions and so quite good answes, well worth checking out.

A couple of additions to the album review pages and they couldn't be more different if they tried. Firstly we've had a listen to Kingskin from the south coast of England who are single handly tried to start a grunge revival and then the latest long player from David Holmes, who is more interested in creating electronic dreampop. Anyway take a look at what we think of the pair of them.

Then we've been taking a bit of time out to update the gig guide, so far we've got October and November bookings online for Doncaster Rockar, Leeds Academy, Sheffield Carling Academy and Sheffield Leadmill. More will follow shortly.

Lastly away from the webzine, we took a trip over to our spirtual homeland of Manchester last weekend and witnessed the six goal thrashing of portsmouth at Eastlands. What a result and great performance too, best I've seen them play since the days of Keegan in charge. SWP and this new Brazian may have cost £40m between them but on that showing money well spent. Obviously we then went and lost at Brighton on Wednesday night but that's City for you!

Enjoy the weekend.

Colin
www.shaddersonline.com

Missed albums blog number 2

We kind of missed one of the most worthwhile days of the musical calender when we had a paint brushes permanently attached to our hands, Independents Day 2008. A celebration of true indie talent, at the heart of it was the release of…

 

Various - ID08 Independents Day 08

Independents Day Recordings

 

Double bubble with this twin CD pack, first up is 14 tracks of the famous indie trailblazers doing their fav cover versions and on the second album said bands actually pick a track of their fav indie bands, sounds good so far, oh yeah and all proceeds to charity too. As ever cover versions are a mixed bag and this album is no different, The Prodigy’s take on the classic ‘Ghost Town’ is dreadful yet somebody like Jack Penate has done ‘Dub be good to me’ splendidly, taking the best of the original and putting his individual stamp on top of it. Tom Smith (Editors) take on ‘Bonny’ is sublime but Prefab Sprout aren’t exactly on everybody’s playlists so it sounds like a brand-new song. It’s followed by a beautiful track, British Sea Power cross the indie border with dreampop; ‘Tug Boat’ by Galaxie 500 sounds wonderful. Other notable plus points are high profile Charlatans, the impressive Infadels and indie by trade Futureheads. Possibly one of the biggest talking points of the album is the duet between Jarvis Cocker (a real left field god) and current out of there heroine Beth Ditto. Their live blast through 80’s classic ‘Temptation’ is a bit like musical marmite; you’ll either love it or absolutely hate it! Maximo Park ramble through The Go-betweens ‘Was there anything I can do?’ sounds like The Smiths which is quite unusual but very listenable. On the minus side is Jose Gonzalez good hearted but flawed stab at ‘Love will tear us apart’ and the awful guitars on Devendra Banharts murder of ‘Don’t look back in anger’ which will have Noel reaching for the valium! The second disc is well worth a spin and nice to see Rodrigo Y Gabriela pick the under rated Oceansize.

Blog Rating – All for a good cause, even the dogs don’t stop this been a valuable addition to any serious music fans collection.

 

Then we missed this gem for which we well deserve to get our hands slapped for!

 

Circuits -  Bright as Midnight

Try Science Records

 

I feel bad about not giving this a proper review at the time of release cause of two reasons, firstly it’s a damn fine debut and secondly they were the first band to complete our very own myspace interview challenge! In fact it’s still online if you want to find out what they had to say for themselves. ‘Bright as midnight’ is a bright and breezy half an hours indie guitar blast. There is a bit of the Hard Fi / The Enemy at times but they have quite a knack of writing a decent tune or two. ‘The choir invisible’ is a classic; great tempo, structure, guitars and chorus, in fact worth picking up the album for on it’s own.  Stuff like ‘Young enough not to care’ gives the impression that Circuits are the real deal, builds up to a hundred mile an hour guitar singalong romp. ‘A question mark shaped heart’ could have easily found it’s way onto Milburn’s debut album and could gain a few admirers since their premature demise. ‘Before it’s over’ comes back to the formula, slow –fast – slow - fast, has the essence of The Police which is a reference point that is often thrown at them. Finale ‘Say No say Yeah’ comes out all new wave; bigger guitars and attitude, great end to a great thirty minutes!

Blog rating – Ghosts in the machine, no class debut from Circuits.

Weekly update

Hi and welcome to another shaddersonline.com weekly update, what can we expect to have been added in the last seven or so days?

Well the infant Shadders shoegaze section is becoming bigger and better, now there is an additional shoegaze viewpoint thanks to Cath Aubergine (I do hope that's a real name!) from manchestermusic.co.uk. Plus in the shoegaze interview challenge the answers from Orange Yellow Red and Spell 336 have joined Soundpool and Veil veil vanish. They make a pretty good read.

On the photo front I've added a couple of pics from the City of Manchester stadium in the shadders football photo gallaries, many more to come. I did try and upload some old pics from maine road but they were taken on a really crap digi camera and the site refused them! All my good pics of Maine Road were taken on an old fashioned 35mm SLR camera, will try some time to get some scanned as they are really good.

In the blog you start to find enteries regarding 'lost' album reviews, regulars to the site may know that last December we moved to the new Shadders Heights HQ unfortunately it's taken some serious renovations to get in shape so whilst we have been busy beating the old place into shape we've kinda missed reviewing some stuff. So in the next few weeks we'll get some of the missed albums off the shelves, dust them down and give them a short n' snappy review through the blog. The best album to be missed out with The Infadels, seriously great stuff.

That's about it for now except to say was listening to 'Blood Music' by Chapterhouse in the car this morning, what a stunner. It mixes all that is great about shoegaze with electronic loops n stuff, I think this is where dreampop was born.

Have a great weekend and check back in soon for more!

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

 

 

Elbow -Mercury prize winners (at last)

So last night Elbow finally won the mercury music award for their fourth album. Fair play to the judges for making this decision, the right one I may add.

But why it's taken this long is beyond us. Why the 'Cast of Thousands' (their second long player) didn't pick up the award is beyond me but better late than never.

It's actually nice to see people chuffed to win something too, not arrogant cool soundbite statements but all the band to a man looked pleased as punch.

What a nice bunch of blokes too, we were fortunate enough to met and interview a couple of the band donkeys years ago (back when we were in old skool fanzine land before shaddersonline) and they were geniune people, no edge to them at all. It wasn't like an interview just more like a chat over a pint.

Elbow we salute you, if ever there was a band who deserved the mercury award it is they. Well done and enjoy the 20 grand!

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

The missed album review blog!

During the last four or so months we’ve being pretty busy doing some extensive renovations to the Shadders Heights HQ we moved into last December so a lot of stuff we received especially during the summer seemed to fall through the review net. So over the next few weeks we promise we’ll try and find these ‘lost albums’ and give them another listen and tell you what we think via the shaddersonline blog.  Here's the first selection of the good, the bad and erm the Bryan Adams!

 

The Infidels – Universe in reverse

Wall of sound

 

This is easily the pick of the album we failed to review. It’s a masterclass in how indie should be done, plenty of big tunes, singalong choruses plus guitars flying here there and everywhere. If you missed out on this first time round go out and purchase it post haste, you won’t be sorry.

Blog rating – Buy now!

 

Jill Barber – For All time

Baudelaire / Dependent music

 

Now this one’s a bit of a strange one, the album is actually from 2006 but has found an UK release some two years on. Jill Barber is Canadian and the album is recorded in Toronto. She has a sweet, sweet voice on top of some really laid back alt country. Not one to get the pulses racing but something seriously chilled out and quite lovely in parts.

Blog rating – Better late than never!

 

Robots In Disguise – We’re in the music biz

President Records

 

This is one of the worst albums of all time! It’s a god-awful dirge of Electro bullshit, sub shampoo guitars & lyrics and irritating n’ shouty crap vocals. No talent fashion no hopers of the worst order.

Blog rating - We’re in the music biz, not for long hopefully!

 

Cathy Davey – Tales of Silversleeve

Regal Records

 

Another welcome offering from Irish indie chanteuse Cathy Davey. Whilst there isn’t anything revolutionary about what Cathy Davey is doing she has got the understated indie sound down to a tee and her vocals are a sweet and endearing as ever. Another solid display.

Blog rating – One for the collection.

 

Weezer – Weezer (aka the red album)

DGC records  / Interscope

 

There’s something about Weezer that doesn’t inspire with confidence. They get a load of press and for what? Some novelty tune years ago. Well this album is a bit of a mixed bag, The single ‘Pork and Beans’ is just a bit dull and there’s loads of stuff that really fail to excite. That said there’s some tracks that will no doubt please the die hards. Doesn’t win us over and the cover shoot looks like a police line up including Kasabian, an accountant, Village People and Metallica!

Blog rating – Never did like red!

 

William – Self in fiction

Tough Love Records

 

I like and dislike this record in equal messages. The music is actually right up our street but is let down by some disappointing vocals. There’s plenty of spark in the guitars but that voice, just doesn’t fit and at times just grates.

Blog rating – sack the singer.

 

Bryan Adams – 11

Polydor

 

Named after the fact this is Adams’ eleventh album it offers no suprises, if you like bland MOR rock with little soul then this should be in your collection. If you don’t like obvious guitar rawk then we’d suggest giving 11 a rather wide berth.

Blog rating – obvious standard rawk stuff.

 

Presidents of the United States of America – These are the good times people

Cooking Vinyl

 

In a similar fashion to Bryan Adams Presidents of the United States of America offer no suprises, except fortunately they are a dawn sight more exciting! They know what they are and what they can do and that is bubble gum punk pop of the first order.

Blog rating – obvious punk pop, Americana style!

 

Kaki King – Dreaming of Revenge

Velour Recordings / Cooking Vinyl

 

Bizarrely we actually thought Kaki King was a bloke, how wrong we were. Kaki King is definitely a women and has lovely subtle sweet voice. Dreaming of revenge is a great record, understated yes but quite dreamy. In fact Kaki King’s voice has some strong dreampop elements to it. There are times where ‘Dreaming of Revenge’ meanders along without much purpose but this isn’t a white water rapids quite of an album. Take time out, put on ‘Dreaming of Revenge’  and lose yourself for an hour.

Blog Rating – Dreaming of Kaki King!

My doesn't billions of pounds make you happy!

My doesn't billions of pounds make you happy!

I am of course refering to the proposed take over by the middle eastern money men of Manchester City. If it all goes through, we are informed that it's a question of crossing the T's and dotting the I's on the contract, it should mean city joining the premier league elite league.

Obviously money doesn't buy automatic success but if City follow the Chelski model there should be silverware coming across from Salford within the next 2 - 3 years. Hell, we've waited since 1976 so I think we can hold on till 2009/10 season for a trophy or two.

This season with the return of the prodigal Shaun Wright Phillips (oh and that Brazian lad) we should bomb on in the league and hopefully in the Uefa Cup too.

Obviously I've been critical of Mark Hughes but with the money men coming I think his cards are marked anyway and next season he'll be shipped out for a 'big name'. What a shame!

Anyway, onto www.shaddersonline.com and the weekly update.

The shadders shoegaze section continues to develop and Veil Veil Vanish (from the states) are now included as the first in a series of shoegaze myspace challenge (14 shoegaze related questions!).

Also on the album reviews there's an extensive review of 'Forth' by The Verve and also from the states is one man band Unknown Component.

Remember plenty more coming up again online next week.

Cheers and enjoy the rain!

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Weekly update and welcome back shaunie!

shaddersonline.com Update & welcome back Shaunie!

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note to update you on the happenings on the music webzine www. shaddersonline. com

First up is the first addition to the all new myspace interview challenge, 15 new questions but still hoping for the diverse set of answers the original questions generated. First up to take the challenge are Morning Lights who hail from Atlanta across the pond.


Secondly, the shoegaze section is now up and running with inane ramblings from yours truely plus more interesting views from Daniel land and the modern painters who are one of the current crop of excellent 'shoegaze' bands. Well worth a read.


Thirdly, those with an interest in the beautiful game should take a glance at shadders football. We've got a couple of gallaries on there which now feature some shots from our flirtation with local boys Doncaster Rovers.
Good pics they are too!

Lastly away from the site but still on the beautiful game, we welcome back Shaun Wright Phillips back from his southern exile back to Manchester City. Boy how we need him too, the football under Mark Hughes has left us underwelmed to put it midly so the genius of SWP is much needed.


Have a good weekend.


Colin

www. shaddersonline. com

Weekly update and enjoy the sun!

Hi

Just a quick heads up (don't you just love blue sky thinking and the like!) on what's new on www.shaddersonline.com this week.

The biggie is that our fav Russians Punk TV have done an interview for us, it makes pretty good reading too (fortunately it is in English!). Check it out via the shadders interview menu.

On the albums review page we've just done reviews of the excellent second album by The Automatic and finally got round to posting the review of the not so good offering by Scars on Broadway (which to be honest is a bit rubbish!).

Finally you may notice a new menu entiteled Shadders shoegaze. This section which will be coming soon will have memories of the hey day of the scene that celebrated itself (including remembering Slowdive, Ride, Chapterhouse etc) plus we've been promised articles by Daniel Land and the Modern Painters who are on of the new breed of shoegaze bands for the take on the current shoegaze scene and a look at the american scene too. If you click on the menu there are links to exclusive interviews with Rachel Goswell (slowdive, mojave 3) and Annie Barker (american whose album was produced by Robin Guthrie).

So have a great bank holiday weekend and enjoy the sun (or more likely more rain!).

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Festivals... the final outburst!

I was talking to a good friend on Sunday about his attendance at the rather wet Weston Park leg of the V Festival. He went on about Kings of Leon and Hot Chip then just popped in that Girls Aloud had played. I was gobsmacked, even more so when he said that on Sunday Girls Aloud were playing! What on earth has happened to the UK festival scene, Jay-Z and Girls Aloud has the world gone completely insane or what!

Most of the summer I've aimed most bile at Glasto but suddenly realised that the main problem is actually V Festival, it ain't a music festival but some kind of fashion, lifestyle event. It always got my goat through the fact it's just a musical francise, a brand extension always in it for the profit and not the music. Therefore it pitches itself not at music fans but at people who want to see Girls Aloud! Shocking stuff.

On a more serious note I read over the weekend that a young music fan was sexually assaulted at the Beached 08 festival in Scarborough over the weekend. If the man who did this (who has been arrested I'm led to believe) is guilty they should literally throw the book at him. You should be able to feel safe anywhere in life and that's especially true of a music festival.

On a more positive note we saw Doncaster's The Beaus at the weekend, they were rather fine so there's a full review in the Live Review section.

Also I received the new album by The Automatic at the weekend, given it a spin this morning and at first hear it's pretty good. Full review should follow at some point this week.

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Weekly shadders update & Hughes out calls (already!)

Hey it's nearly the weekend so must be time for the weekly update for the music webzine www.shaddersonline.com

New this week includes the latest and probably last entry on the orginal Myspace Interview Challenge. This honour falls to The Sketch whose answers are well worth checking out.

You'll note on the Myspace Interview Challenge page we've changed the 15 generic questions (to take a look at the new questions are online now), so there's more info on the bands and not on X factor!

Talking of X Factor, we've added a review of the new album by Pete Brame, a damn good listen it is too. Now when we wrote it we had no idea who he was, only to find that he appeared on the 'hit' tv show and also went out with the lovely fern cotton! Still it's a good album, check out the full review in the album reviews page.

We've also added a pic of the fantastic Russian band Punk Tv from indie tracks festival, they have done likewise so check out their myspace page for one of our ace pics! Should be an interview (in English) coming real soon.

Last but not least hooray for The Automatic, the new single Steve McQueen is excellent and getting plenty of airplay. Our view on the album as soon as we get our mits on it.

On a non musical note, I went over to Manchester last night and was gobsmacked how poor Manchester City were. I don't want to overstate it but they were rubbish and let's face it city fans know what rubbish looks like with the teams we've endured over the years. I didn't really want Hughes as manager with his past & all and if that's the standard of football that's gonna be on offer this season he can take his scum medals and begger off. Right now that's off the chest I can relax...

Later

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Calling all bands... Do you give away downloads for free??

If you're in a band and give fans access to free download tracks give us a shout.

We are about to set up a page on the webzine
www. shaddersonline. com which will give music fans links into bands websites / myspace etc so they can download new music for nothing.

So if you give fans free tracks drop us a line via myspace or via email at mail@shaddersonline.com and tell us the link. Even better if you have a banner email us that and we'll feature it.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Cheers

Colin

www. shaddersonline. com

** new Levellers, Rascals, Wedding Present and Elliot Minor pics added to the photo gallery on www. shaddersonline. com **

More of Shadders' pics on the interweb!

 Just found by accident some of the pics I took of Nottingham band Headway on the internet. They can be found on:

http://virb.com/headwayband/photos

So that's in addition to the Ian Brown pics that are on his official myspace pages.

Also we had a recent pic of The Automatic printed in the West Yorkshire lifestyle magazine 'Beyond Leeds' - always nice to see your work in print!

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Indie Tracks - how festivals should be done!

We went down to an old steam railway near Derby last weekend and came across probably the best festival we've been to in years. Indie Tracks celebrated it's second birthday at the Midland Railway Centre with some great bands.

It put the word indie back into the festival market as it didn't feature you usual 'bloc party plays every festival' nonsence. They had a music policy that stood firmly away from that do did veer well into the twee musical world, not that they were ashamed of that.

The vibe was excellent, a lot of like minded individuals enjoy the sun and music. No sign of any trouble just a good time.

It had three stages, the main stage indoor in the engine shed (which did look a bit like a small B&Q store cleared out with a stage at one end! The sound was good though so no probs there). The second stage was a hgv trailer which is a cool idea then a further stage in a tin shed church, that was rammed and very hot so we gave it a miss which was a shame as it looked really cool through the window.

Anyway, we saw some great bands including Punk TV from Russia of all places and a sterling performance from Airport Girl. We went down mainly for The Wedding Present who were stunning, they never let you down live. Gedge was a miserable (and that's a compliment!) as ever on stage and they just blew the place away. Classic indie guitars from the masters.

Just one more thing... the organisers of indie tracks run gigs throughout the year, I'd suggest dropping by and checking them out. It'll be well worth it.

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Doncaster Music Live 2008

Last weekend was the third and we have to say the best Doncaster Music Live.

The big gig on Saturday night was packed but with the addition of a big screen a good view was had by all. Elliott Minor brought plenty of fans and The Levellers fans brought the average age right up!

We got there in time to ignore Tiny Dancers and then see cracking sets by Elliott Minor and the brilliant scouse outfit The Rascals. Whilst the headliners aren't exactly up our street plenty were there just to see The Levellers and they didn't let them down, proper pro's they strapped it on big time for their faithful support.

Sunday was Doncaster bands day and we managed to pop down in the afternoon for a hour or so in the afternoon in time to see the ever popular and improving The Beaus who were damn fine. We also saw a bit of The Thieves who reminded us of 60's retro revivalists The Chartists from Sheffield, pretty good though. We begged off as the tempo hit rawk with some unfortunate metal outfit.

Still a pretty decent success over the weekend, just hope they do it all again next year.

Hopefully they will be a bit more adventurous with the highlight act and not invite Tiny Dancers back!

This coming weekend it's Indie Tracks which should be a real blast, bring on the weddoes.

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Ian Brown Pics

Hi forgot to say in previous blog there are some of our Ian Brown photo's now online at www.myspace.com/ianbrown They can be found in the 'World is yours 2007' tour album.

Well worth a look as some of the other pics on there are cracking!

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Weekly updates, myspace challenge hits 50 & Doncaster Music Live

Hello there...

The weekly site updates include...

Newcomers on the Myspace interview challenge are Pop Smear (from New York) and The Listeners (bit closer to home in Retford!).

Also we've started the football galleries with a couple of Belle Vue, former home to hometown club Doncaster Rovers. Many more to follow from City of Manchester Stadium, Belle Vue and Wembley.

The Great Myspace Interview Challenge hits 50...

Yes this week the myspace interview challenge (including the Doncaster myspace challenge) chalked up 50 responses. Quite a milestone I'm sure you'll agree; some aren't great but the majority are a damn fine read and funny as hell too. Here for the record is the full list, including which page they can be found on...

Doncaster Myspace Challenge: Area 15, M101, Darren Bell, Jery at' controls, The Alyscamps, Armour for hearts, Guy Honeymoon and Little Thoughts.

Myspace Interview challenge 1: Circuits, Boz Boorer (moz backing band), Peter Hook (new order), Otherside, Circle 3, Aurora Low, Hooverdams, Vicky Stuart, Odi, The Flithy Youth, Rachel Kitchenside, Admiral Culture and Nephu Huzzband.

Myspace Interview challenge 2: The shoplifters, the lazy daylights, Andy Griffin, Beats for beginners, Miss Flag, Richard Staines, Mavis, Jam Richie, Jack Millican, This City Romance, The Rigg, The Youths, Roses Kings Castles (Adam from Babyshambles), The 66 and My Captive audiance.

Myspace Interview challenge 3: Kick Box Riot, The Moskovits, The Parish Music Box, Deltasound, My first Tooth, Daniel Land & the modern painters, Openfire, Censored, The James Cleaver Quintet, Unknown Component and The Listeners.

Hopefully plenty more to come too.

Doncaster Music Live

Just to let you know it's Doncaster Music Live weekend so we'll be down there Saturday night to sample the delights of The Rascals, Elliott Minor, Tiny Dancer and err The Levellers. Sunday is local bands day from 2pm so try and check some of the excellent local talent out, no promises but we'll try and pop down for some of that too.

Cheers & have a cracking weekend.

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com 

Glastonbury – not sold out by selling out!

Glastonbury – not sold out by selling out!

 

So it’s the Glastonbury weekend which should be the highlight of the festival calendar but it just isn’t anymore. That’s not cause there’s hundreds of festivals these days, the mega corporate V and Leeds / Reading weekenders just don’t appeal either. The trouble is that the whole ethos behind music festivals has been taken away, they are now an event, somewhere to be seen in fact the music isn’t just secondary but now way down the list of importance.

 

In fact this week on dirty Jo Whiley’s radio show they were discussing festival fashion… festival feking fashion! Here is the grim reality of Glastonbury; you are in a stinking field with 130,000 people, you piss in a hole dug in the ground, there is no running water and everyone tends to be off their tits. So what’s the fashion tip from us? Don’t bother cause after three full days of this you are going to look like a freshly dug up rotting corpse and probably smell like one too. Can you get that look in Top Shop or Primark??!

 

So anyway back to the music! So the hot topic is Jay Z headlining, I thought the big headline act closed the joint of Sunday so lets get this right The Verve are actually headlining so that’s cool by us. Anyway back to the hip hop, urban nonsense. I’m with Noel Gallagher on this, urban has no place at Glastonbury not that I’m against different genre’s of music but they have their place. For example you wouldn’t have Take That or Kate Nash headlining Download would you, well not unless you wanted a feking riot in the East Midlands! The big picture is that Glastonbury is too big and they are trying to cover too many bases and it’s starting to backfire.

 

The Eavis’ have lost the core Glasonbury ethos, it was the premier indie music festival and random freakshow, now it’s a fashion parade! As Westwood says white sneakers and mud don’t mix so next year drop the capacity; lose Lupe Fiasco, Estelle and Jay Z and get back to basics.

 

Anyhow I’ll still be watching on tv as these days I prefer a weekend where you can get a wash and not stink of corpses!

 

And it's gotta be said that The Verve were amazing on the headline slot on Sunday night.. more of that Michael!

 

Later

 

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

 

 

 

Doncaster Music Live

Quick update on Doncaster's very own festival.... Doncaster Music Live which will again take place in Doncaster market place (and various other venues round town) on July 19 & 20.

Our sources have informed us that the headline act is to be The Levellers which has to be said is a bit of a let down. Previous headliners include Sheffield's Little Man Tate, The Bluetones and last year was The Wedding Present. Now I know they aren't exactly sparkingly great headliners but we can see where they were coming from with The Weddoes; local with a bit of history and presence.

The trouble with The Levellers is that they are a spent force and have no relevence to todays music scene, it's a real shame as the organisers have missed a real opportunity to put Donny on the musical map.

I'm not stupid and am well aware that these things have to be done on a budget and I suspect the one for Doncaster Music live ain't big but I feel it may have been worth missing off a couple of the other bands off the bill ie Elliot Minor and or The Rascals and getting a decent headliner to compliment a load of local talent.

For exemple it might have been worth blowing the budget and getting a band like Reverend and the makers for saturday night, then moving Tiny Dancers to headline Sunday night and have the rest of the bill made up of the finest Doncaster home grown talent who would no doubt play for free or peanuts.

Anyway that's my viewpoint but I'll still be there supporting the event and no doubt have a few beers too!

Also must remember to add check out indie tracks festival in July - lo fi excellence!

Cheers

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

Festivals are go.......................

Now lets look at the evidence, some mega festival want you to spent over a ton of your hard earner a year in advance to see bands who haven't even been announced... err no I don't think so. It's stupid that 'event's like T in the Park sell tickets to the following years festivals the week as soon as the dust (or mud) settles on this years events. It's even worse that some muppets pay them!

We say sod these mega festivals, they have become just a money spinning exercise for big business with the same bands on a roundabout across the country. Take last year Bloc Party seemed to be at them all doing exactly the same flipping set, wow let me get my credit card to see them again this year, I don't think.

Just give them a miss or in fact you can watch the best bits on telly, bbc three has some natty coverage of Glasto, T in the Park and the Weekender festivals so save yer cash and watch them on telly for nowt instead.

So with your spare cash get yourself down to some quality local 'indie' festivals. There's some excellent free events popping up all over the country, take for example Doncaster's very own Doncaster Music Live with a decent open air stage that has been headlined by the likes of Little Man Tate, The Bluetones and The Wedding Present. Yeah so they ain't 'big' names but at least it ain't Jay-z or Rage Against the machine!! And it's all free too, so you can afford a few pints whilst you're there.

If you want to shell out a few quid here's one great festival now in it's second year and a stella idea, Indie Tracks is situated on a steam railway in Derbyshire! They have gigs over a weekend on a train, in a church and a traditional stage too. It costs about a third of yer T in the Glasto Weekender and no doubt will have three times the good times and atmosphere.

Come on leave all the corporate cattle herding mega festivals alone, give them a wide berth and go out and find something more interesting instead!

We will, I dare you to do the same.

Stay lucky

Shaddersonline.com

Doncaster Music Week

Another feather in the blooming Doncaster music scene is the introduction of Doncaster Music Week. It runs from March 15th through to a final gig featuring Sheffield's Little Man Tate on March 22nd. Inbetween there's loads of stuff going on including seminars on everything from promoting, management to a demo judging panel where new bands can bring along their music for an industry panel to give them feedback.

There's a couple of other gigs planned too, one a Raw Talent gig at the Leopard on  March 20th is to be broadcast on BBC and features some of Doncaster's bright new things.

If you want to find out more check out www.doncastermusicweek.co.uk for further details and how to apply for free tickets for most events.

Come on Doncaster!

 

THE GREAT MYSPACE INTERVIEW CHALLENGE UPDATE

Hi All

Just a quick mention of how THE GREAT MYSPACE INTERVIEW CHALLENGE is going, a dedicated page is online now with the first four responses. First up was Circuits a set of spikey punk pop types then we've had some excellent responses - really funny answers but honest too. So we'll keep sending the questions out over the next couple of weeks and keep updating the page as we go.

Looking forward to seeing some more quality answers.

Keep checking back, I'm sure it'll be worth it.

Cheers

Colin

The Great Myspace Interview Challenge

Hi and welcome from the great myspace interview challenge organised by us the music website www.shaddersonline.com.

What we're doing is sending 15 generic / questions to all the bands and musicial artists on our myspace 'friends' list. Everyone gets the same questions no matter whether it's a unsigned solo artist writing their first few songs to somebody of the ilk of Coldplay.

What we want to know is:

a, Who actually looks at their myspace page!

b, Who will actually be bothered to spend their time responding to messages posted on their myspace page.

c, Who will answer the questions honestly

d, How will the responses differ

Anyway the first questions will go out shortly and we'll set up a dedicated page on the site for the interview returns. So keep checking to see who is first to respond!

later

Colin

www.shaddersonline.com

 

 

 

Mick Jagger

I got an email the other day about the release of The Very Besy of Mick Jagger and it got me thinking about which side of Jagger gives the longest lasting impression. Is it the plastic faced, scene stealing, money grabbing elderly rocker than doesn't know when to give up or should it be the impression of a rock god who has been instrumental in making rock and roll what it is today.

Personally I'd like to think that people will think of him as the latter. He written and performed some of the best music of the 20th century and really shaped the way rock developed. Obviously the band The Rolling Stones will always be the better known rather than his solo work and that's really the way it should be but it could be worth having a listen, a full review shall be posted when we get our hands on a copy. It's out at the start of October on Atlantic and should prove an interesting and probably compelling listen.

Later

Colin

Festival season over??

Festival season over??

Well with Leeds / Reading drawing to a close that'll be that for another long summer of rain / mud and festivals then. Well no actually cause amongst these 'mega festivals' which are all much of a muchness there is a small band of small mini fesivals springing up and doing some good stuff.

Doncaster has it's own, Doncaster Music live which this year greeted a shed load of local unsigned bands along side Tiny Dancers, The Paddingtons and The Wedding Present all for a bargain price of nowt. Coventry's Godiva fesival is said to be a fantastic event and Scarborough has the 'Beached' festival.

This weekend (Sept 1/ Sept 2) sees a new one on us, Bingley Music Live which has a damn fine line up and is dirt cheap. Saturday is free and has a load of local bands plus 'From the' Jam plus The Bluetones. But Sunday has a killer few bands, headliners The Charlatans are joined by Elliot Minor, Millburn and The Twang - all for a mere £7.50!! Now that's a bargain in our book.

In our humble opinion you're better off keeping your hundred and fifty notes in yer pocket, watch bloc party perform at every blooming festival live on beeb three and get yerself out to these local events.

Stay lucky and see you all in Bingley!

Floody Hell!

You may have seen the Yorkshire floods on TV well were in the thick of it!

I had to drive home on Monday through what seemed at times like a river, fortunately the diesel car is a godsent and it handled the floods with ease and I just about held my nerve.

However, worse was to follow as Ebeck which my house backs onto went into overdrive and flooded all over the place. Behind our house usually lies a storm drain / dyke for ebeck, some common land, a railway line, some waste land then ebeck. Come 4am Tuesday morning there was three foot of water on the train line and the rest was a huge lake! The only thing saving us was the banking of the dyke. We ended up with sand bags at the doors and everything, at either corner of our estate houses ended up flooding too, fortunately we were lucky and the banks held.

The rest of Adwick le street where we live was less lucky, some streets had upwards of five or six feet of water in them, I went for a walk to see how bad it was and it was bloody awful. Church Street had a car flooded to it's roof with kids swimming down the street! In fact it was so bad behind our house we had people on jet ski's!

Looks like this weekend is going to be bad too so the sandbags stay for the moment and our figures remain well and truely crossed!

Irish times!

Welcome back from across the sea!

 

The Shadders team have just returned from our holiday jaunt where we took the trusty focus over the sea to the Emerald Isles. Whipping in 1006 miles in a mere 8 days we had a good blast to Kinsale just past Cork.

 

Whilst we had a pretty good time including a trot on the beach (my that Atlantic ocean is blooming cold!), trip way out west and a good wander round Cork City itself. Also we had a good few of the local brews, nice one Kinsale lager! But we did have a few surreal experiences including one of the leading radio broadcasters RTE2. Now there is a bloke who does the daytime slot who sounds like Terry Wogan but one day he was discussing the merits of been nu rave and emo! The following day talking at great length to a reformed smackhead about the biography about his drug and crime habits in the seventies and eighties, can you imagine uncle Terry talking about that! Then when we hit the town one night we were having a some sociable Kinsale beers and happened upon a bar featuring a raucos irish singer, not surreal you may think but the sight of a shit load of trolleyed Dutchmen wearing pink dancing and singing along was a little bit weird!

 

Highlights – Kinsale Lager! Gallagher’s Boxty House – Dublin’s finest restaurant visited on our way back. Good Weather – tan on the first day was pretty neat.

 

Lowlights – Rain, two days solid ain’t much fun!

 

CD soundtrack

Snow Patrol  

REM

The Thrills

Blondie

Inspiral Carpets

The Jam

Feeder

The Automatic

Bloody hacks!

I was at the Leadmill the other night to see Dogs & The Twang and I was lucky enough to scoop a photo pass to get in front of the barriers to take a few pics.

Now I ain't no professional but I know a good pic when I see one and the ones in the photo gallery to me and top notch (wouldn't have put them on otherwise). The trouble is I don't have a pro camera that cost a grand or owt like, just the trusty Olympus 3.2 mega pixel point and shoot that I used to take all the pics in the gallery.

Unfortunately I'd forgot how snobbish others can be, they may do it for a living or whatever but they ain't no need to look down their flaming noses.

All I've got to say I got a few decent pics so you can go ballacks!

Cheers

Colin

 

 

 

The Cooper Temple Closed!

Bad news... The Cooper Temple Clause are no more.

Music will be a worse place for the coopers split. Shadders has been huge fans from nearly day one after receiving a copy of the 'Crayons' single and seeing them on their first nationwide tour. Their blend of rock, electro and a bit of pop really hit the spot and their live shows especially in the early days were nothing short of riotious.

We'll continue to keep plenty of coopers content online and here's the final message from Dan. We'd like to add thanks for the good times!

Dear Team Cooper

It is with a sad and heavy heart that I must announce that The Cooper Temple Clause have decided to split up.

Last week I informed the rest of the boys that I would be leaving the band. As I hope you will all be able to understand, it was perhaps the most difficult decision I have ever had to make. When the only life you have ever known is that of your five best friends and the music you make, the thought of leaving that life is not one to be considered lightly and I assure you all that the decision was not an easy one to make. Nonetheless, it was something I felt I had to do. I can only apologise from the bottom of my heart for the disappointment this will undoubtedly cause many of you.

In the wake of this decision the rest of the boys agreed to call it a day and pursue other interests. Friendships are well and truly intact and the love very much remains within the camp.

We would like to take this moment to thank all of you for your support over the years and the love and acceptance you have shown us. It has been an honour to be your servants, for that is what we have been. A band is nothing without its fans, without the people who come to the shows, buy the albums and make us feel that we're not alone in the world, that there are other people out there who see the world as we do in all its wonder and absurdity. People can say what they like about The Cooper Temple Clause, but the unswerving loyalty and dedication of you guys, the ones who really matter, can never be called into question. From the very beginning you have shone brighter than we could have ever hoped, from the street teams to the forum administrators, from those of you who saw us in the Bull and Gate to those who made the earth shake at Fuji Rock on the other side of the world; we thank you all, each and every one of you. When we stood as children in front of our mirrors brandishing tennis rackets and singing into upturned golf clubs, never did we imagine the fantastic adventure we would embark upon thanks to you, the greatest fans in the world. We can only hope that we touched your hearts as much as you have ours.

Take heart and carry on, dear Team. Never be afraid to be yourselves, to be individuals, to fly in the face of common sense and listen to your hearts, to do it your own way. We made a bunch of albums. We played a bunch of shows. We met a bunch of people who changed our lives forever.

We love you all.

Thank you so much.
Yours, in absence of a cheesy line from one of our own songs to end this post,

Dan

The Cooper Temple Clause

 

 

2007 Officially has started!

January we have written off, but we've sprung to life as the snow has started falling (where's global warming when you need it). We hit our first gig of the year last weekend, the excellent +44 at Nottingham Rock City with a few more gigs pencilled in for the next couple of weeks.

We've got some quality albums to review as well, check out the website over the next few days as we post reviews of the new offerings from Fall Out Boy, Bowling for Soup, The Hours and the third long player from our big friends The Cooper Temple Clause.

So keep looking and we'll keep you posted on some top music.

Later

 

The Lee Griffiths

Hi all,

Just had some info on our friend and fav Manc singer songwriter The Lee Griffiths. According to sources that have been confirmed by a quick browse new songs have appeared on myspace for Griffo and that's something to rejoice!

To check them out see the following pages:

www.myspace.com/leegriffiths

www.myspce.com/thetlg

If you're into this myspace thingy then why not become one of Lee's 'friends'?! Go on you know you want to!

MESSAGE BOARDS ARE JUST CRAZY!

In the interest of self publicity I've put a few posts on bands message boards (Coopers, The Automatic, Kaisers etc) but the other day I put up a post on the Oasisnet message board to let people know about the Stop the Clocks page here on Shaddersonline. Obviously I was well aware that my tastes are different to other peoples, hence the reason why out of the 18 tracks only 9 or so are the same as the bands choices. However, what I didn't expect is for some loser to say that I deserve to die purely because of my track listing. A bit extreme I felt! Obviously they didn't bother to back up his rash statement with which tracks actually mean certain death if you listen to them but that would take a bit of thought which this loser is probably incapable of.

Fair play to other users of the board, one of whom thought that I should have included Live Forever and Some Might Say, I replied to him saying that LF is a fair point but I don't really like Some Might Say so I would never pick that to go into my 18 best of selection.

Just as I was thinking over the whole message board situation I was reminded that somebody was actually murdered by a nutter who had an arguement on one of these message boards and stalked them then killed them.

All I have to say on the matter is everyone has their own tastes and views, death threats however serious or not they may be aren't really that funny and some people shouldn't take these things so seriously.

It's only a bit of bloody fun after all!

Later & Live Forever!

 

 

 

Long time no blog!

Howdy out there,

It's been a while since I last blogged so thought I'd best give it a spin. Just a little update really just to say what we've been up to and what's been on the old CD player. There's been quite a few updates on the site recently including the welcome return of The Cooper Temple Clause, the review of the Barnsley show is in 'live reviews' as we speak. I've also uploaded some comedy pics I've taken with my phone (which is a must at gigs these days, in fact most people seem to enjoy watching the entire gig through their phones which I find kind of weird!). Some pics are awful (the bluetones one for example) but some are okay, anyway it's only a bit of fun. I've also uploaded a new interview with Manchester songwriter Ria Bright who also puts on her own gigs too, check that one out if you fancy a show in the Manc area and hopefully soon we'll have a brand new exclusive interview with former Catherine Wheel frontman Rob Dickinson, just waiting to hear back from the states on that one. Then to celebrate the release of stop the clocks we've dedicated a whole page to Oasis, I've already uploaded some stuff from our fanzine 'Shadders? on me Lungs?' back catalogue and then we'll do our very own tracklisting for the 'best of' album along with reviewing the bands selection.

Anyway what have we been listening to? From the archives I've been listening to Chrome the second album by Catherine Wheel plus Rob Dickinsons solo album from last year. I've also got the new Milburn and Holloways albums which I've given a spin, Milburn are without a doubt Sheffields second best band at the moment and that quite a compliment! And this morning I gave another spin to legacy, the best of Mansun which is awesome.

Anyway have a good read of the site and will blog later...

Cheers

Colin aka shaddersonline

 

Doncaster Music Lives...

Aye up long time no blog!

Just a quick note regarding Doncaster Music Live 2006, just like to say a big well done for getting it up and running. It's not perfect by a large shout but getting a free music event going is never easy and fair play to The Bluetones, Little Man Tate, Mohair and Battle for giving some quality performances.

Also coming up at Doncaster leading toilet circuit venue is the annual 'Somethings Covention' gig. These gigs feature the cream of the Doncaster music scene (and come to think of it any old nonsense who are connected to the Doncaster scene!) and is on the 12 August 2006. Tickets are £8 advance (with free CD) or a fiver on the door with no CD. Starts at 1pm and will no doubt go on until the police are called!

Also just got The Automatic's & Seafood's new album - give them a spin, well worth it.

Later

Colin aka shaddersonline

 

 

 

Cornwall and beyond!

Hello outside world

Apologies for the lack of activity on the website for the last couple of weeks this is due to a break from the keyboard down in Newquay and North Cornwall.

Just like to say what a fantastic place Cornwall is with epic scenery, a terrific cool vibe and some sunny weather. There are some top beaches packed with surfers all trying to out cool each other and half the time looking like berks when they crash and burn!

Anyway we should be putting a few updates over the next week or so, just watch this space.

Later

 

 

Ebay is ruining touting for the rest of us!

Just like to say DON'T BUY TICKETS OFF EBAY! This is not because I don't agree with touting, in fact I feel the touts do a pretty useful job but people are getting ripped off when they don't need to be.

For example I was at the Boy Kill Boy NME gig at Sheffield Leadmill last friday night, gig sold out - where can I get tickets? Ebay right.... wrong! When I arrived it was just after 7pm with the first band on at ten past, there were four sets of people outside the venue all with spare tickets, not touts just regular Leadmill punters trying to shift spares all willing to sell at FACE VALUE.

The recent Ordinary Boys tour, sold out immediately and tickets straight on Ebay, however, on the night there was literally hundreds of spares, the touts couldn't give the tickets away.

Therefore my advice is give Ebay a miss and go to the venue, some even sell returns on the night otherwise hang tight outside the venue and I 95% sure you'll be in before the band hit the stage and you might just have a few quid spare to buy me a beer!

 

Richard Ashcroft - The new John Lennon

On Saturday night I witnessed the ultimate gig, it was Richard Ashcroft at the Doncaster Dome he was quite literally on fire. Playing for an age he treated the sold out sports hall that is the Dome to treats from his excellent solo career and a number of choice Verve cuts, it was the stuff of legends. A full review will appear later this week plus some pics too.

It was only after the gig I was thinking that this northern lad from a working class background was like another true northern genius, John Lennon. He's worked with a legendary band although not quite as successful or big as The Beatles but even so Verve wrote epic tunes and were always a band on the edge of greatness. But his solo stuff is just superb and I wouldn't be at all suprised if he knocks out the next 'Imagine' on his next record, in fact I might put a tenner on it!

Let's all be different together....

The shadders team are frequent visitors to the great northern town of Manchester mainly due to our 'loyal, bordering on stupid' support of the mighty Manchester City. Between the Victoria railway station and the Arndale centre is a park next to the cool new Urbis centre, in this park gather the 'nu goths'. Now it started off as a informal meeting place for obviously a few goth types who were all friends however last time we pasted through there must have been well over a couple of hundred of them. It looked like a bloody scene from life of brian! They all looked the same, now I'm not in the business of dissing people for being themselves and trying to stamp their own personality on this cold world but for god sakes they looked like a bunch of clones - all trying to be individual together!

Kaiser Chiefs rock city

That was the headline for the local paper in and around Leeds and rock it they did. We travelled up on the Saturday to Leeds Millenium Square gig and we treated to a superb support set by Graham Coxon and a star performance by Leeds favourite sons The Kaiser Chiefs, a great time was had by all. Full review of the gig will follow in the next couple of days, also coming up soon will be a new 2006 interview with returning Cooper Temple Clause, more on that later.

 

Hooray - new shack album!

Howdy,

Just a little note to say received a copy of the new Shack album at the weekend, had a bit of listen and it sounds spot on. Full review will appear as soon as I get the reviews page up and running. Watch this space!

 

Hello and welcome

Just a quick note to say welcome to the first upload of shadders online, hopefully there is plenty to interest everyone. Also to add there's plenty more to come as we've got some photo gallaries to upload including pics of The Cooper Temple Clause, Ordinary Boys, Kasabian, Battle & more. Plus to come soon are album reviews section and a section on what we think are 50 albums you should own. So don't be a stranger come back soon!

Ps - we've mainly this weekend been listening to the Hard Fi album, Ride Live at Reading festival and the new Graham Coxon album.

Later

 

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