Issue 53 / March 2015
March 2015 issue of Bido Lito! Featuring HOOTON TENNIS CLUB, A LOVELY WAR, MOTHERS, TUNE-YARDS, OPEN MIC CULTURE and much more. March 2015 issue of Bido Lito! Featuring HOOTON TENNIS CLUB, A LOVELY WAR, MOTHERS, TUNE-YARDS, OPEN MIC CULTURE and much more.
FREE Issue 53 March 2015 Hooton Tennis Club by Nata Moraru Hooton Tennis Club A Lovely War Mothers tUnE-yArDs Open Mic Culture
- Page 4 and 5: 4 Bido Lito! March 2015 bidolito.co
- Page 6 and 7: 6 Bido Lito! March 2015 Words: Phil
- Page 8 and 9: 8 Bido Lito! March 2015 C H I B U K
- Page 10 and 11: 10 Bido Lito! March 2015 MOT HER S
- Page 12 and 13: 12 Bido Lito! March 2015 Words: Jos
- Page 14 and 15: 14 Bido Lito! March 2015 VFor Thres
- Page 16 and 17: To take A LOVELY WAR on face value
- Page 18 and 19: 18 Bido Lito! March 2015 GIT Award
- Page 20 and 21: 20 Bido Lito! March 2015 bidolito.c
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- Page 24 and 25: 24 Bido Lito! March 2015 “perseve
- Page 26 and 27: 26 Bido Lito! March 2015 MARCH IN B
- Page 28 and 29: 28 Bido Lito! March 2015 Reviews Ju
- Page 30: 30 Bido Lito! March 2015 Reviews su
- Page 34: 34 Bido Lito! March 2015 Reviews Bi
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FREE<br />
<strong>Issue</strong> <strong>53</strong><br />
<strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
Hooton Tennis Club by Nata Moraru<br />
Hooton Tennis<br />
Club<br />
A Lovely War<br />
Mothers<br />
tUnE-yArDs<br />
Open Mic<br />
Culture
4<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
bidolito.co.uk
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
5<br />
Bido Lito!<br />
<strong>Issue</strong> Fifty Three / <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
bidolito.co.uk<br />
Static Gallery<br />
23 Roscoe Lane<br />
Liverpool<br />
L1 9JD<br />
Editor<br />
Christopher Torpey - chris@bidolito.co.uk<br />
Editor-In-Chief / Publisher<br />
Craig G Pennington - info@bidolito.co.uk<br />
Keith Ainsworth<br />
WORDS ARE WIND<br />
Editorial<br />
Some of the greatest political debate in the land takes place our in pubs and music venues, fuelled as much by a sense of indignation as<br />
by a couple of pints of Erdinger. Gassing off about how we think things should be run is natural, and should be encouraged in all instances –<br />
even from those idiots we’d rather not hear much from, and certainly not just during Question Time. Having said that, I do find it amusing to<br />
watch the Twitter spike on Thursday night when QT is in full flow, while David Dimbleby is doing his best circus ringmaster routine. Even then<br />
most of the armchair politicians settle for cramming their once-weekly rants in to 140 characters, and are happy if they just get a couple of<br />
retweets. Any contribution to political discussion is welcome, of course, no matter what the means of expression, but what does it all lead to?<br />
There was a time when people would be so moved by their political views that they’d arrange meetings with like-minded individuals and<br />
act on their shared beliefs. <strong>March</strong>es were staged, protests dreamt up, and the prospect of bringing about change was real. This was an era in<br />
which self-made fanzines and flyers, not social media, were the primary methods of expression. Nowadays our digital activists will only take<br />
to the streets if the cause has an accompanying hashtag.<br />
Bido Lito!’s humble beginnings can be traced back to that zine culture of pouring your heart out on to a page, backed only by the conviction<br />
to stand beside what you believe in. We all want everyone to agree with us (mainly because we all think we’re the only one who can see ‘The<br />
Truth’), and the idea of sharing your dearly held views with whoever will listen is as old as time itself. This democratic approach is a key pillar<br />
of our society. Whether you tweet it, Facebook it, Instagram it, or write it down in a letter that you send to your MP, it is your right as a citizen<br />
to give a shit and make sure everyone knows about it.<br />
With this year's general election – on 7th May – taking on more importance as each day passes, we thought it was high time we started<br />
addressing the wider issues that could ultimately affect the independent creative culture that is our cocoon. Starting with Emma Brady's<br />
comment piece this month (The Final Say, page 46), we are going to be having our say – and we want you to join us in this debate.<br />
The dingy, smoke-filled bar rooms and basement clubs of yesteryear were not only places where political debate was fermented, but also<br />
places where ideas came to fruition. Open Mic culture has long been a backbone of music communities across the world, serving as the ideal<br />
place for our would-be musical heroes to cut their teeth. The ubiquity of Open Mic nights means we can sometimes take them for granted;<br />
but, as our feature this month shows, Open Mic nights are an institution we must cling on to, for the raft of opportunities such nights throw<br />
up. Personally, I've never stepped up at an Open Mic night and bared my soul in front of a room of musicians, but I can only assume it's a<br />
terrifying experience; give me the interval quiz to read out any day of the week. But to all those of you who do get up, week in and week out,<br />
we salute you.<br />
Moving on; it’s been a long while since we had a mention of Tranmere in these pages, so I thought I’d bring you up to speed. The Palios<br />
regime is now in full flow, with Micky Adams leading the team away from the foot of the table, point by hard-earned point. Iain Hume is<br />
back home too, after a stint playing cricket in the Indian Premier League (at least I think that’s what he was doing). Things are steady if<br />
unspectacular, but at least they’ve sorted the hot dogs out. I just wish they’d have a similar revolution with the half-time music.<br />
We'd also like to say a huge thanks to Jack for stepping in for Luke this month on design/layout duties. It's been a pleasure working<br />
alongside him on this issue – I just hope my obsession over apostrophes hasn’t been too much of a burden!<br />
Christopher Torpey / @BidoLito<br />
Editor<br />
Reviews Editor<br />
Sam Turner - live@bidolito.co.uk<br />
Designer<br />
Jack Ehlen - jackehlendesign.com<br />
Proofreading<br />
Debra Williams - debra@wordsanddeeds.co.uk<br />
Sales And Partnerships Manager<br />
Naters Philip - naters@bidolito.co.uk<br />
Digital Content Manager<br />
Natalie Williams - online@bidolito.co.uk<br />
Words<br />
Christopher Torpey, Craig G Pennington, Phil Gwyn, Paddy<br />
Clarke, Richard Lewis, Jennifer Perkin, Paddy Hughes,<br />
Dan Brown, Josh Potts, Josh Ray, Sam Turner, Emma<br />
Brady, Maurice Stewart, Dave Tate, Alastair Dunn, Laurie<br />
Cheeseman, Naters P, Howl Rama, Christopher Carr, Chris<br />
Hughes.<br />
Photography, Illustration and Layout<br />
Jack Ehlen, Nata Moraru, Robin Clewley, Adam Edwards,<br />
Mook Loxley, Lucy Roberts, Nick Booton, Oliver Catherall,<br />
Keith Ainsworth, Jack McVann, Mark McNulty, Paul<br />
Hitchmough, Glyn Akroyd, Gaz Jones, Aaron McManus,<br />
Stuart Moulding, Christian Davies.<br />
Adverts<br />
To advertise please contact ads@bidolito.co.uk<br />
Distributed By Middle Distance<br />
Print, distribution and events support across Merseyside<br />
and the North West.<br />
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The views expressed in Bido Lito! are those of the respective contributors<br />
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the magazine, its staff or the<br />
publishers. All rights reserved.<br />
bidolito.co.uk
6<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
Words: Phil Gwyn / notmanyexperts.com<br />
Photography: Nata Moraru<br />
Holed up in front of a fire near their hometown of Little<br />
Sutton, a suburb sandwiched incongruously between<br />
Ellesmere Port’s industrial spires and the bucolic village<br />
of Willaston, HOOTON TENNIS CLUB, the Heavenly-signed<br />
next great hope for gloriously shambolic guitar music, are<br />
trying to explain what it is that makes them sound so<br />
distinctly like themselves. “You always want to struggle<br />
against your ineptitude,” offers James (Guitar), which<br />
sees his band-mates dissolve into laughter. Unperturbed,<br />
he continues, “That said, perfect’s boring. Perfect’s dull.<br />
It’s always the little mistakes that make it good.” Harry<br />
(Drums) has another explanation: “We have an old Tascam<br />
8-track. It’s got character, you know. It’s got limitations.”<br />
Having been friends since secondary school, the<br />
quartet (completed by frontman Ry and bassist Cal)<br />
have that tendency of old friends to alternate between<br />
completing each other’s sentences and laughing at each<br />
other’s explanations, but both James and Harry’s ideas<br />
make a lot of sense. Having been in bands together<br />
before disbanding and heading to Uni, they returned and<br />
began Hooton Tennis Club almost by chance. “We had a<br />
free house, and that’s where the drums were, so we could<br />
make loads of noise. So we thought, let’s get some food,<br />
get some beers, and just make some music.” As perfectly<br />
disarming as mission statements come, that ramshackle<br />
charm easily slipped into their early tunes. “Those<br />
songs got played by Dave Monks [on BBC Introducing<br />
Merseyside] really soon after we recorded them.” For all<br />
of those rasping imperfections, maybe amplified by their<br />
battered old 8-track, their harmonies were unmistakeable<br />
enough to not be missed by at least one listener to that<br />
radio show.<br />
“I remember Carl [Hunter, bassist in the Farm and<br />
creative director of The Label Recordings, the not-for-profit<br />
record label run by Edge Hill University] saying he had<br />
a load of tracks and was trying to sift through them all<br />
to find the two bands he was going to release. They’d<br />
already decided on one, but he was struggling to find<br />
another, so he went home on the Friday kind of deflated,<br />
then he heard our session on Dave Monks, and he went<br />
in on the Monday and said, ‘Right, I’ve found them!’” That<br />
was January 2014, and it was just a few months later<br />
that The Label Recordings released Kathleen Sat On The<br />
Arm Of Her Favourite Chair, a lethargic ode to travelling<br />
around Europe, cloaked in fuzz-saturated guitars and<br />
a raw intimacy that made a mockery of manufactured<br />
perfection.<br />
The wider world agreed; support slots for Childhood<br />
and Night Beats cemented their reputation in Liverpool,<br />
before Carl Hunter’s enthusiasm rubbed off on Heavenly<br />
Recordings’ (Manic Street Preachers, Stealing Sheep) boss<br />
Jeff Barrett, who signed them to his label in September.<br />
bidolito.co.uk
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
7<br />
It’s the sort of meteoric rise that could overwhelm a young<br />
band still discovering themselves, but new single Jasper<br />
is proof of a band galvanised; it’s their most personal,<br />
effusive and infectious work to date. Crucially, it was<br />
conceived and recorded in the way that all of their other<br />
tracks have been – an initial spark of inspiration fleshed<br />
out in snatched hours, before battering out the whole<br />
thing on their trusty old Tascam 8-track in their bedrooms.<br />
Although the track seems like a strangely euphoric<br />
eulogy from the first line of “we lost a great, great man<br />
today,” Ry insists that “it’s really a celebration of life.<br />
Basically, my granddad passed away maybe a year ago<br />
now. I was really sad about it because I was really close<br />
to him, and then that song just came along. He was called<br />
Jasper when he was at school – I wanted to write about it,<br />
but I didn’t want to write something that was depressing.”<br />
True to their intentions, Jasper has a melancholic edge,<br />
but its dreamy melodies and rapturous guitar parts have<br />
their own lethargic energy, and they’re rightly proud of<br />
it. Ry continues: “The take went really well, it was just<br />
one take! It was one of those moments when we were<br />
all waiting for the last note to die, and when we pressed<br />
stop on the old 8-track we were just like ‘Yes! That was<br />
amazing! Is this really happening?’” Backed by the dense<br />
fog of Standing Knees – all stormy guitars and worldweary<br />
delivery worthy of Parquet Courts – it makes a<br />
strong claim for the city’s first great single of the year.<br />
So, how do they follow it up? A boundary-pushing collab<br />
with electronic auteur and part-time Yeezus-producer<br />
Evian Christ, who James has let slip was his next-door<br />
neighbour in the musical mecca of Little Sutton? Evidently<br />
not; instead, the band have been trekking up to the other<br />
end of the Wirral to seek the wisdom of Bill Ryder-Jones<br />
after a stressful visit to Parr Street Studios. As James says,<br />
“I don’t think we were ready to go into the studio proper;<br />
we didn’t know what we were doing. The version of the<br />
next single [a punchier version of Kathleen…] that we did<br />
there wasn’t very good, so Bill was more than happy to<br />
re-do all the guitars at his place. Everyone can relax a bit<br />
more, instead of being in this big studio where you’re<br />
wasting everybody’s time.”<br />
But, as Ry interjects, this is exactly what you’d expect<br />
of a band who only released their debut single within the<br />
past year: “I remember Bill saying that we needed to go<br />
through that, to go to a professional studio and realise<br />
that that’s not what we needed to do at that time. I think<br />
we’re still finding out what we want to sound like.” That<br />
said, there’s already an emerging Hooton Tennis Club<br />
sound that’s perfectly encapsulated by the next single<br />
that they’re plotting (Kathleen..., backed by the swampy<br />
dissonance of a cut entitled New Shoes), even if they’re<br />
still exploring the outer limits of their sound and how<br />
best to get there.<br />
Asked if they’ve got further plans to record, they become<br />
surprisingly quiet for a quartet who can talk for hours<br />
with minimal encouragement. Eventually comes Ry’s noncommittal<br />
response: “In <strong>March</strong> we’re going into the studio<br />
with Bill. We’re going to be putting down tracks to maybe<br />
make a thing longer than an EP...” A piece of work formerly<br />
known as the Long Player? “Well, we’ve got thirty tracks to<br />
go into the studio with...”<br />
Despite the band’s youth and their ongoing search for<br />
the boundaries of their capabilities, they already seem<br />
like they’ve developed a depth that warrants an album.<br />
Crucially, they seem to want to actually say something,<br />
even if their message is as indistinct as their soaring<br />
melodies. Take the middle passage from Standing Knees,<br />
on which they sigh over furious, biting guitars: “Working<br />
every hour/ I’m not sure what I’m meant to do anymore/<br />
This feeling’s so heavy/ it might hit the floor.” Coming as<br />
it does straight after Jasper, their interrogation of death,<br />
(the sobering second line that follows the news is “it’s<br />
just another Wednesday”), I ask whether it would be too<br />
much to describe the heart of Hooton Tennis Club as that<br />
grim mid-20s existential angst where the discovery of<br />
mortality comes in uncomfortable proximity to the slow<br />
realisation of the mundanity of parts of modern life. “It’s<br />
that existential crisis down to a tee,” comes the reply.<br />
“It’s a huge question. But we’re trying to draw the line<br />
between being cheeky and chirpy and being ‘serious<br />
artists’ who wear black clothes and sunglasses inside.”<br />
“Someone might listen to Kathleen... and think it’s<br />
just about swimming on a nice day, someone else<br />
might think it’s about the nature of things. It’s all down<br />
to taste. We can’t comment on what it’s about once it’s<br />
out there; whatever people think is right,” says Harry in<br />
summation. Whatever conclusions you draw from their<br />
uncomfortably relatable lyrics, though, the point is that<br />
there is something there, however you choose to interpret<br />
it. Taken as a whole, wrapped in their towering washes<br />
of guitar and their impassioned lethargy, it’s an infinite<br />
variety of relatable messages that prove impossible to<br />
ignore. And with that, they might just have pipped Evian<br />
Christ to the title of Little Sutton’s most exciting musical<br />
export.<br />
Jasper b/w Standing Knees is released on 23rd February on<br />
Heavenly Recordings.<br />
hootontennisclub.tumblr.com<br />
bidolito.co.uk
8<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
C H I B U K U<br />
Words: Jennifer Perkin / jenniferperkin.com<br />
Illustration: Oliver Catherall / olivercatherall.co.uk<br />
In a just world the Arts Club Theatre in full CHIBUKU swing – DJ<br />
and audience bouncing in beautiful unison – will take its place<br />
alongside the Cavern in Liverpool’s musical lore. Our city might be<br />
globally synonymous with jangly guitar music, but its lesser-known<br />
status as a hub for dance music has been, and remains, firm. Chibuku,<br />
along with Cream and Circus, are examples of Liverpool clubs done<br />
good, and have set the stage for the emergence of newer clubs like<br />
Abandon Silence, Waxxx, mUmU, Motion and Freeze.<br />
Fifteen years since its inception, Chibuku is ready to embrace this<br />
well-earned status in the only way it knows how: with a massive<br />
fourteen-hour party. What’s more, in a fast-moving, often fickle<br />
industry, the club night has achieved – if not the impossible – then<br />
at least the very difficult: not only is it still going strong, but it is also<br />
still cool. Says veteran DJ Annie Mac, who will be headlining the 15th<br />
anniversary celebrations on 14th <strong>March</strong>: “I’ve had some of my best<br />
nights out ever in the Theatre at Chibuku, both on the dance floor<br />
and on the stage. I’ve been attending the club night for over ten<br />
years and it’s still as exciting and atmospheric as ever.” Similarly,<br />
DnB don Andy C told us that he can’t wait to get stuck in to the<br />
anniversary show. “Chibuku throw some of the best parties around,<br />
and the energy from the crowd is guaranteed to be on fire. I always<br />
look forward to playing there.”<br />
From its humble beginnings right up to the present day, the lineups<br />
have remained on-trend without being trend-led, and have<br />
covered an incredibly wide remit within the dance genre, limited only<br />
by the criterion of being good. This is the kind of uncompromising<br />
passion for music that you can’t fake, and the kind that earns true<br />
affection and loyalty. Affection and loyalty from some pretty high<br />
places. Head Promoter Sean Stephenson has been working on<br />
Chibuku for longer than he cares to remember, and believes part<br />
of its longevity has been down to its forward-moving ethos. “Being<br />
able to anticipate what is going to be musically successful has been<br />
key to Chibuku over the years. Sometimes an artist takes off and<br />
sometimes they don’t, but we’ve broken many a DJ over the years<br />
and we’ve always been able to be ahead of the musical curve.”<br />
It probably has something to do with the fact that, although the<br />
club has spread its wings, it has still stayed close to its roots – as<br />
Sean says, Liverpool will always be the club’s “spiritual home”. But<br />
it’s also that the club has stayed true to the reasons the founding<br />
friends of Chibuku got together fifteen years ago: to hold the kind<br />
of party they would want to go to, free of the “Lycra and kebabs” of<br />
mainstream clubbing at the time. As Sean says: “If you want to go to<br />
an event which has lasers, ice cannons and enormous production,<br />
then you’ll inevitably be drawn to that type of event. If you want<br />
bidolito.co.uk<br />
to go to an event which focuses a little bit more on the music and<br />
is less about the bells and whistles, then you’ll go to that event<br />
instead.”<br />
The organic growth of the club is well known: graduating from<br />
a too-full room above a pub, to the intimate Lemon Lounge on<br />
Berry Street, through to its most famous home – what is now the<br />
Arts Club, formerly known as the Masque and the Barfly. It’s at this<br />
venue that none other than the much-missed John Peel played a<br />
now-legendary show for Chibuku’s 4th birthday celebrations, which<br />
he went on to describe as “just one of the best nights ever”.<br />
The magical combination of Chibuku and the Arts Club is one<br />
that clubbers and DJs alike have waxed lyrical about, but what is<br />
it that makes it so special? “Probably because the Theatre has to<br />
be one of the most intimidating main rooms in the UK,” explains<br />
Sean. “Looking out to a one thousand-strong swell of people going<br />
mad at 2am in that room with that special Liverpool vibe has got to<br />
be pretty scary. Only a handful of DJs can successfully handle that<br />
room, but those that do reap the rewards!”<br />
Fifteen years in and the club is gearing up to celebrate the<br />
milestone in style, but in no way is it winding down. In fact,<br />
Chibuku is looking towards the future with the injection of new<br />
blood, with Sean recently instated as partner and head promoter.<br />
Although Sean is relatively new to the role, he is in no way new<br />
to the Chibuku family, having started out by flyering and postering<br />
for the club, before gradually working his way up through the<br />
ranks. “My first ever Chibuku was in late 2003 when I moved to<br />
Liverpool for university,” he remembers, the memories seared in to<br />
his consciousness. “I walked into the Theatre at the old Barfly and<br />
was greeted by UNKLE playing In A State and I’ve been hooked ever<br />
since.”<br />
Under Sean’s direction the club will continue to do what it<br />
does best – show people a good time while confounding their<br />
expectations. The club has already featured on such renowned<br />
stages as Global Gathering, Parklife, Hideout Festival and Fabric,<br />
as well as more unusual locations on boats, trains and in barns in<br />
remote woodland. Sean says, “We want to spread our approach to<br />
parties as far and wide as possible over the coming years”. Chibuku<br />
will be hosting a stage at Parklife Festival in Manchester for the third<br />
time this year, and Sean says to look out for similar collaborations<br />
in the future.<br />
Chibuku will also continue their legacy of throwing a hell<br />
of a birthday party, with the three-part fifteen-year celebration<br />
scheduled to be their biggest yet. It will start with the main event<br />
at Camp and Furnace featuring three stages of typically Chibukueclectic<br />
programming headlined by Annie Mac (Furnace stage), Four<br />
Tet (Camp stage, with Abandon Silence) and Benji B (Blade Factory<br />
stage). At 10pm the festivities will move over to the Arts Club (where<br />
else), for a famous Chibuku after party. Those who are still standing<br />
can head to the after-after party at the Magnet from 4am. Though<br />
he won’t divulge the Arts Club line-up – “too big to be announced” –<br />
Sean promises big things. “You know we mean business when it’s<br />
got a nine-hour warehouse rave warm up.”<br />
When asked to sum up the club in a sentence, Sean pauses to<br />
consider his response. When he finally comes back with “expect a<br />
minor riot”, you know you’ve got no choice but to believe him.<br />
Chibuku’s 15th Birthday event takes place on Saturday 14th<br />
<strong>March</strong>, at Camp and Furnace (2pm – 11pm) and Arts Club (10pm<br />
– 4am).<br />
Head to bidolito.co.uk now to read an exclusive interview with<br />
one of the event’s performers, DJ Craze, and a series of guest mixes<br />
from Chibuku residents.<br />
chibuku.com
idolito.co.uk
10<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
MOT HER S<br />
parental involvement. “I think if Oasis ever reformed, the only way he wanted us to have a fight,” Lewis explains with glee. “Me and<br />
Words: Dan Brown / @danbrownnn<br />
Photography: Adam Edwards / @AdamEdwardsFoto<br />
I’d ever end up liking it was if all their mums re-joined the band<br />
with them.”<br />
Mothers may initially seem like a classic MTV2 noise rock act<br />
Jack went to primary school together and once had a fight in the<br />
playground because I stood on Jack’s Beyblade. That’s stuck with<br />
him for life and he thought that I was finally going to go down for<br />
through and through, but at heart their songs illustrate a stellar it… I think one thing we’d all hate is to make a cheesy video where<br />
In contrast to the psychological intricacies of artists’ self-portraits,<br />
bands giving a description of their own work is often clunky and best<br />
avoided all together. In the case of Widnes-raised, Liverpool-based<br />
act MOTHERS, the self-penned tag “noise rock power-trio” actually<br />
suits them down to the ground, and has survived a recent name<br />
change. Jack Evans (Guitar), Roanne Wood (Guitar) and Lewis O’Neill<br />
(Drums) had previously been going under the name Aeroplane Flies<br />
High, but felt strongly for a long time that a shift in emphasis was<br />
needed. “We kinda got sick of the whole Smashing Pumpkins thing,”<br />
says Lewis of their old name (also the title of a Smashing Pumpkins<br />
song). “Also, when we told people what we were called they’d just<br />
be like ‘…what? Ha!’ So we wanted something short, sweet and<br />
snappy.”<br />
The trio are signed to London-based label Snaketown Records,<br />
with whom they released an EP – Honey – in 2014, in a relationship<br />
that came largely from their rapidly-expanding reputation in alt.rock<br />
circles. The group’s fuzzy brand of US college rock draws inspiration<br />
from the likes of Mudhoney, The Breeders, Electric Wizard and METZ,<br />
but one of their key influences is perhaps a more unlikely one. “We<br />
wouldn’t be here without our mothers. We definitely miss our mums<br />
the most on tour. Well, mums and dads really,” a sentimental Lewis<br />
tells us. “We called [the band] Mothers as a tribute to the fine ladies<br />
that all brought us here… Most of the time all our mothers are at<br />
the rehearsals. There are actually four guitar tracks in our songs and<br />
two drum tracks. My mum plays drums as well as me, and Roanne’s<br />
mum and Jack’s mum play guitar with them. That’s why it sounds so<br />
big.” Flights of fancy like this, where a joke is stretched to madcap<br />
lengths, are a regular occurrence of sitting down and talking with<br />
Mothers. Their attention spans aren’t suited to serious interviews,<br />
and it seems as though they’ve no inclination to resort to chinstroking<br />
musings on something they find to be an enjoyable way<br />
of spending their time. Lewis, in particular, can’t let go of the idea of<br />
ability at being able to pile on all the fuzz without losing sight of the<br />
amazing melodies buried underneath. “I think there will always be<br />
a bit of a doom or stoner-rock element to the music that comes from<br />
our influences,” Lewis explains, “but we also like fast, nice, happy<br />
pop songs. The two just kind of intertwine and make sweet, sweet<br />
love.”<br />
When it comes to recording, the trio have a bracingly simple<br />
approach which plays to their strengths. “No metronomes or<br />
nothing, we just get in there and play our songs as if we we’re<br />
playing them live.” While hardly revolutionary, this method of<br />
recording ensures that the group don’t sacrifice the energy that<br />
made the tracks so great in the first place, as they feel that recording<br />
each component in the track separately would result in more a rigid,<br />
robotic feel. Lewis: “As much as we like big-sounding songs, we’re<br />
all for a bit of sloppiness and being a bit lo-fi… I sometimes think we<br />
sound better live than on recordings, so we just try and capture a bit<br />
of that in the studio."<br />
Their live performances can best be described as genuinely brutal,<br />
but that’s not to say that the band aren’t tight and disciplined; Lewis<br />
tells us that they still feel that their greatest strength lies in their<br />
live act. “Jack’s a really good performer and his voice is amazing<br />
for a heavy rock band. Jack and Roanne are both really passionate<br />
actually. It’s funny because I’m there sat at the back of the stage<br />
on drums but we just click as a three-piece.” A communal approach<br />
to all aspects of their work ensures that there are no egos in the<br />
band, which Lewis believes is for the greater good. “One of the<br />
kind of unwritten rules is if there’s one of us who isn’t happy with<br />
something then it doesn’t go ahead.”<br />
With care not to have their tongue lodged too firmly in cheek,<br />
the group’s low budget, almost DIY way of making videos has both<br />
incredible and disarmingly hilarious results. “We were filming the<br />
video for Honey dressed up as bees and the director said at the end<br />
the band acts all moody, with misty effects and sitting around being<br />
all arty-farty.”<br />
As well as avoiding the expectations of a tired genre, Mothers<br />
aren’t afraid to just get out there and play their music to new<br />
audiences, so it’s common for the band to simply organise their own<br />
tours. “It’s funny when you tell people at home or at work that you’re<br />
going on tour and they’re like ‘Ohh, hotels! Tour buses!’” says Lewis.<br />
“But it’s actually an old postman’s van and we just sleep on people’s<br />
floors with no heating on. But it’s the most amazing holiday you’ll<br />
ever have. Most people, when they hear the aggressive music, will<br />
think it’s all smoking dope and partying; but for us a party is just<br />
pizza and adventure time.”<br />
Their next stint on the road in the postman’s van is coming up<br />
in June, in the form of a six-date tour with their current labelmates<br />
Stilts. “They’re definitely one of my favourite underground bands.<br />
The four guys in Stilts are all super-nice dudes,” Lewis tells us,<br />
evidently excited about getting out on the circuit again. Prior to<br />
this (5th April), the band have a date with Stilts closer to home, at<br />
Maguire’s Pizza Bar. Maguire’s is a venue that the group are fond<br />
of for its very hands-off approach to its events. “It’s all very DIY and<br />
you get the freedom of setting-up your own gear and doing your<br />
own lighting. I know it sounds weird, but when you can choose the<br />
bands who are on with you and run your own night, it’s much easier<br />
and much more enjoyable… and, of course, there’s pizza,” explains<br />
Lewis.<br />
It could be said that Mothers are making noise rock fun again,<br />
by striking the balance of making great tunes whilst not taking<br />
themselves too seriously. With a full length album due out by the<br />
summer, if anyone should be taking the band seriously, it’s us.<br />
facebook.com/motherstheband<br />
bidolito.co.uk
THE MAGNET<br />
KAZIMIER<br />
KAZIMIER<br />
KAZIMIER<br />
KAZIMIER<br />
THE SHIPPING FORECAST<br />
KAZIMIER<br />
KAZIMIER<br />
KAZIMIER<br />
KAZIMIER<br />
KAZIMIER<br />
11.05 THE POP GROUP<br />
22.05 THE VACCINES<br />
KAZIMIER<br />
KAZIMIER<br />
KAZIMIER
12<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
Words: Josh Ray / @josh5446ray<br />
Illustration: Mook Loxley / mookloxley.tumblr.com<br />
In 1927, Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung had a vision of<br />
Liverpool in a dream that would go on to forever reshape the<br />
psyche of a city he’d never actually visited. Recounted in Memories,<br />
Dreams and Reflections, Jung describes “a broad square dimly<br />
illuminated by street lights, into which many streets converged.”<br />
His attention was drawn to a magnolia tree on an island in the<br />
centre of a pool, which “stood in the sunlight and was at the same<br />
time the source of light”. Jung’s companions – seemingly oblivious<br />
to the magnolia – were scratching their heads as to why one of<br />
their Swiss friends had settled in Liverpool, given the abominable<br />
weather. Taken by the beauty of the flowering tree, Jung noted, “I<br />
know very well why he has settled here.” Then he awoke.<br />
That’s the thing with synchronicity: some people are more<br />
amenable to it than others, and it was no coincidence that Jung<br />
dreamed of Liverpool. When the book ended up in the hands of<br />
local entrepreneur Peter O’Halligan, it quickly became apparent<br />
that the city was more than willing to buy into the idea of<br />
synchronicity, the collective unconscious and the Liverpool dream.<br />
It was a bleak time for the area: the recession gripping the rest<br />
of the country particularly resonated in a Liverpool yet to recover<br />
from the blitz and the “Four Lads Who Shook the World” had<br />
left little behind; the shortsighted council had even filled in the<br />
Cavern.<br />
The Bootle dream merchant wasn’t going to need any help from<br />
the council, however, far from it. Taking to where Mathew Street,<br />
Rainford Square and Temple Court meet – the place he interpreted<br />
Jung’s dream to be – Peter leased an old fruit warehouse in 1974<br />
and moved in with his cousin Sean. The modern incarnation of<br />
Jung’s Liverpool dream was born and, long before the Sex Pistols<br />
declared there to be “No Future”, the first signs of punk started<br />
to emerge – not the trouser-obsessed punk of London but a very<br />
scouse, DIY ethos in the face of an obtuse and oppressive council.<br />
Lack of opportunity no longer became a limitation as the city’s<br />
youth began making their own and O’Halligan’s warehouse soon<br />
became a hub for free thinkers. With a thick stench of patchouli in<br />
the air, Aunt Twacky’s offered up a response to Kensington Market<br />
and, upstairs, O’Halligan’s parlour-cum-café became a meeting<br />
place where unemployed dreamers and schemers could mill<br />
around over one pot of tea all day. “It was a space where you could<br />
talk, dream and think the impossible,” recalls Larry Sidorczuk, who<br />
moved into the parlour soon after Peter. “Just having a cup of tea<br />
and a sandwich became an event,” explains Deaf School manager<br />
and co-founder of Eric’s Ken Testi. “It was served in a nautical<br />
fashion because the O’Halligan boys and Charlie Alexander were<br />
all wearing Swiss navy uniform.”<br />
When faced with opposition, the response was often surreal.<br />
Called into court for refusing to pay business rates on the<br />
warehouse, Peter O’Halligan appeared at the stand dressed in his<br />
finest prison garb, complete with ball and chain. Unfortunately<br />
the judge didn’t have a sense of humour – not even cracking as<br />
much as a smirk when Peter pleaded not guilty… So O’Halligan<br />
faced six weeks in Walton prison. When he returned, however, the<br />
debt was wiped. And as his warehouse parlour became THE place<br />
to go for cutting edge poetry, music, art and comedy, it became<br />
known as the Liverpool School of Language, Music, Dream and<br />
Pun.<br />
“We pretty much moved in on Peter’s invitation,” recalls Enrico<br />
Cadillac, frontman of the seminal Deaf School. “It became our new<br />
rehearsal place and general hangout.” These rehearsals became<br />
gigs in their own right and it was there that the band struck their<br />
lucrative deal with Warner Bros. “Derek Taylor sat on a wooden<br />
THE LIVER<br />
ue, Mic Language, Music<br />
chair in front of us with tears in his eyes,” Enrico explains. “I guess<br />
[it was] because he fell in love with Deaf School right there but<br />
also because of the street we were in, maybe [it was] his first time<br />
back there since his Beatles days.”<br />
There definitely was a sense that something had been<br />
reawakened on that street, particularly on 6th June 1976. On a<br />
blisteringly hot morning, Peter and Sean married Jeannie and<br />
Lynn before a plaque was unveiled which read, “Liverpool is the<br />
pool of life C.G. JUNG. 1927.” A bust of the man himself was atop,<br />
naturally. The Mathew Street Woodwind Ensemble, the Mathew<br />
bidolito.co.uk
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
13<br />
POOL DREAM<br />
, Dream and Pun ue, Mic<br />
Street Brass Band, Deaf School and Yachts then took to an outdoor “It was all so postmodern it was untrue; it was Monty Python,<br />
stage set up on the street. This was the first of three annual it was the League of Gentlemen,” remarks Chris Bernard. “Peter<br />
Jung Festivals that brought the idiosyncratic shenanigans of the O’Halligan is the funniest fuck that’s ever walked the streets of<br />
Liverpool School out onto Mathew Street. At the final festival in Liverpool when it comes to surreal, avant-garde comedy.” It was<br />
1978, the Bridewell Studio’s Charlie Alexander jumped from a fifthfloor<br />
loading bay into a giant can (painted skip) of Bird’s custard. in Liverpool and set up the Science Fiction Theatre, making<br />
towards the end of the summer of ‘76 that Ken Campbell arrived<br />
Chris<br />
stage manager. They would go on to create “the most remarkable<br />
play staged on Planet Earth”, but that’s another story for another<br />
day.<br />
Even though there was an incredible will to push art to<br />
its limits, there still needed to be some money coming in and<br />
a certain bank manager – now on the board at the Everyman –<br />
proved key. “Everybody who was sensible enough banked at the<br />
same NatWest at the time. You’d never on the whole planet find<br />
a bank manager like Mike Carney, he’d back virtually anything,”<br />
explains David Knopov, recollecting the time he paid off his<br />
overdraft with a piece of artwork.<br />
Now, Jung would have been the first to tell you that as all this<br />
was happening, the idea had entered the collective unconscious,<br />
so it is highly imaginable that similar creative pockets were<br />
springing up across the world. However, you need only take a look<br />
at the school alumni to see that there was something particularly<br />
special about this place. From Bill Drummond to Ian Broudie, Holly<br />
Johnson to Jayne Casey, everyone who frequented the warehouse<br />
seems to have found some kind of divine inspiration and it wasn’t<br />
just in the arts either: one resident, Andrew Chamberlain, went<br />
on to become a renowned palaeontologist/archaeologist at<br />
Sheffield University.<br />
Even more profound however, was the influence the Liverpool<br />
School had on the city. “There’s always a spin-off. Each one<br />
spawns the next,” Urban Strawberry Lunch’s Ambrose Reynolds<br />
explains. “I would have never dared to do the Bombed Out Church<br />
thing, but when I saw O’Halligan saying ‘We wanna do this – if<br />
the council don’t like it they can fuck off’, it sparked something<br />
in my mind.”<br />
Taken over by Martin Cooper (now head chef at Delifonseca),<br />
O’Halligan’s parlour became the Armadillo Tea Rooms and took<br />
on a new life. “The Armadillo, Probe and Eric’s were like the<br />
Golden Triangle of Liverpool punk,” notes Bernie Connor, whose<br />
early years were shaped by his time in Aunt Twacky’s. “At an age of<br />
discovery it was just incredible; I learned more there in a fucking<br />
afternoon than I did in five years at secondary school.”<br />
Move forward to the early eighties and Kif Higgin’s Urban<br />
Stress and Earthbeat carried the baton for the Liverpool School<br />
but in a much more politicised way; healing many of the scars<br />
of the Toxteth riots with music, community work and fervent<br />
activism. Comparisons between the Liverpool School and<br />
MelloMello would be more than superficial, too. When Ken<br />
Campbell’s carpenter, Greg Scott Gurner, dreamed up the idea of<br />
a multi-hub café, he was instructed to come to Liverpool by the<br />
late great playwright. When MelloMello closed in 2014, it was only<br />
a matter of months before a new creative space in Water Street<br />
was revealed. And that’s the thing: no matter how hard it gets<br />
squeezed, the Liverpool dream never relents. The city continues<br />
to attract those with an insatiable desire to create something,<br />
and the punk, DIY ethos born in O’Halligan’s warehouse still<br />
permeates almost every corner of the city’s creative underbelly<br />
today.<br />
Go to bidlito.co.uk now to see a gallery of Larry Sidorczuk’s<br />
photos from the Liverpool School Of Language, Music, Dream And<br />
Pun.<br />
bidolito.co.uk
14<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
VFor Threshold<br />
SECRET SOUNDS<br />
feat. Natalie McCool / D R O H N E / Silent Cities<br />
Words: Josh Potts / @joshpjpotts<br />
Hark, what beast comes to drag our neighbours through the gates of<br />
spring into joyous pastures? Why it’s only the fifth annual THRESHOLD<br />
FESTIVAL, an event that’s becoming something of a trendsetter in<br />
Liverpool, a three-day celebration of our smartest grassroots creatives<br />
and an excuse to legitimately knock back enough craft beer to<br />
permanently curl a moustache. Last year’s sci-fi theme had its moments,<br />
but this time the organisers are letting the line-up speak for itself,<br />
broadening the reach of their enviable tendrils to ensure our dynamic<br />
locality is more present than ever. This home-cooked confection of<br />
music, art and performance, spread across half a dozen venues in the<br />
Baltic Triangle, announces the festival season before anyone’s had the<br />
chance to shake off those winter blues. So start shaking! Here are a few<br />
of the highlights you can look forward to . . .<br />
MUSIC<br />
With a mightily impressive roster of local artists packed in to the<br />
bill, headline status at Threshold V falls to a few pesky out-of-towners.<br />
AKALA (pictured) is sure to be a major draw for the casual urbanite and<br />
anyone else with a penchant for smart, tongue-boggling hip hop. Having<br />
long ago trashed the label of Ms Dynamite’s brother with his emotional<br />
intelligence and amazing freestyle skills, the London-born rapper is<br />
now a pillar of the UK scene. His 2013 album The Thieves Banquet was a<br />
cogent attack on the evils of dictatorship and political hypocrisy without<br />
sacrificing his famed lyricism, while his follow-up, a graphic novel/<br />
performance hybrid, was nothing less than a trawl through entire aeons<br />
of societal corruption.<br />
Another big name making their mark will be NUBIYAN TWIST, a<br />
twelve-piece mash-up of musicians and DJs walking a thin stylistic<br />
tightrope through jazz, Latino and Caribbean-inflected funk. Fronted by<br />
the timelessly effervescent Nubiya Brandon, their raison d’être borrows<br />
from so many corners of world music that you’d be forgiven for checking<br />
your passport stamps before turning up. Luckily, Nubiyan Twist are just<br />
too damn to be ignored, since they’re practically unable to turn in a show<br />
that doesn’t leave people grinning like loons. Of course, if you’re a true<br />
regional patriot, LIMF Academy Ones To Watch SUB BLUE and SOPHIA BEN<br />
YOUSEF will be knocking out their neo-soul arsenal as they’re fixed ever<br />
closer by the bright eyes of stardom, just as ETCHES and MUTANT VINYL<br />
hope to further their rise to the top of the city’s musical chain. Elsewhere,<br />
VYNCE, BLUE SAINT and the uncategorisable PADDY STEER offer depth and<br />
assurance to a busy programme.<br />
Words: Josh Potts / @joshpjpotts<br />
VISUAL ARTS<br />
Because bashed livers and eardrums are not everything in this world,<br />
Threshold V is giving our peepers a bit of a treat, too. The new Liverpool<br />
Craft Beer space will be hosting work from some of our finest local<br />
artists, including ROBERT FLYNN’s ongoing Metamorphosis series. Having<br />
dabbled in a number of solo and group shows in the past, Flynn’s current<br />
muse resides in our modern anxiety with body image and the thankless<br />
quest for perfection. His photographs tap into the surreal quality of<br />
transcending one’s physical form as the demons of insecurity nip at our<br />
backs. Meanwhile, RADAR COMMUNICATION, or Mark Chapman to the<br />
alias adverse, will be returning to exhibit his latest digital collages. As<br />
Flynn interprets hidden desires of the mind, Chapman turns his attention<br />
outward, finding accidental beauty in what many would consider prosaic.<br />
Inspired by creative renovation in warehouses and bygone industrial<br />
spaces – a perfect match, then, for Threshold’s pop-up mentality – his art<br />
is swamped with texture, symmetry, and abstraction, filtering materials<br />
through the eyes of someone in love with urbanity. For the Threshold<br />
crowd, that might just be a lens we already share. Heartily recommended.<br />
FILM<br />
As if Threshold’s chest-beating wasn’t loud enough, it’s roped in<br />
someone else to do it for them. Brett Gregory’s third documentary in<br />
his Beyond… collection, Liverpool – Beyond The Beatles, aims to hold a<br />
spotlight to Liverpool’s music scene as it stands today, combining talkinghead<br />
interviews, lush panning shots of that distinctive waterfront, and<br />
discussions about whether bands are still trying to live up to You Know<br />
Who. Rest assured that the soundtrack, video footage and interviewees<br />
will all be top notch (look out for Bido Lito!’s very own Craig G Pennington<br />
in full pontification mode). After its well-received premiere, those who<br />
missed out can expect a portrait of the familiar from the inside, spliced<br />
with the same affection Serious Feather Productions imparted on<br />
Manchester and Iceland in other cinematic scrapbooks.<br />
Threshold Festival takes place between 27th and 29th <strong>March</strong> across a<br />
variety of venues in The Baltic Triangle. Full line-up and ticketing details<br />
can be found at thresholdfestival.co.uk.<br />
What do you get when you combine an acclaimed solo artist,<br />
a pair of ambient electro-heads, and one of the most purely<br />
gorgeous songwriters to come out of Liverpool in a decade? Fuck<br />
knows. But this collaboration, taking place in an undisclosed<br />
venue, has got us seriously excited. Since our hands would be<br />
hacked off and fed to monkeys if we said any more, we asked<br />
NATALIE MCCOOL if she could spill the proverbial beans.<br />
Bido Lito!: Obviously there’s an element of secrecy<br />
surrounding exactly what’ll go down at this gig, but can you<br />
give us any clues? Will it be improvised or rehearsed diligently<br />
beforehand?<br />
Natalie McCool: An element of both, I think. We'll be having<br />
a few rehearsals to lay the groundwork for sure, but it's always<br />
good to keep things fresh<br />
BL!: When did you first come up with the idea of<br />
collaborating?<br />
NMcC: It was Sally Nulty who initially approached me to<br />
collaborate with D R O H N E and I thought that would be a<br />
really great experience. Then [festival organisers] Chris and<br />
Kaya approached myself and Simon [Madison, Silent Cities] –<br />
they heard about our collaboration on the Daydream track and<br />
really wanted us on board for Threshold, too.<br />
BL!: I’m interested to know what can be gained from<br />
combining all of your different styles – D R O H N E, for example,<br />
are quite separate from yourself on the musical spectrum.<br />
NMcC: I think collaboration is really important – I actually<br />
think we are all very different from each other and I think that<br />
will really work. It's good to experiment as much as possible<br />
outside of the sphere of your own project, and to be versatile in<br />
that way. I believe it opens more doors of possibility.<br />
BL!: Would you agree that Threshold’s laid-back, communal<br />
atmosphere is something special for performers to witness?<br />
NMcC: Threshold is a fantastic event – it's unique because<br />
it combines arts with music, which attracts quite a wide<br />
audience. Last year's show was brilliant – I played solo, which is<br />
something I really enjoy because it enables me to connect with<br />
the audience in a different way. There was a great atmosphere,<br />
which goes across all the Threshold events I've attended.<br />
BL!: In the spirit of the piece, tell us a secret…<br />
NMcC: I used to speak about myself in the third person when<br />
I was a baby, calling myself “the baby”. When I woke up in my<br />
cot I would stand up and shout down the stairs: "COME AND<br />
GET THE BABY!"
<strong>2015</strong> HIGHLIGHTS<br />
THE UNTHANKS<br />
Sunday 1 <strong>March</strong> 7.30pm<br />
–<br />
RUMOURS OF<br />
FLEETWOOD MAC<br />
Thursday 5 <strong>March</strong> 7.30pm<br />
–<br />
‘A CURIOUS LIFE’<br />
& LEVELLERS -<br />
(acoustic)<br />
Friday 6 <strong>March</strong> 7.30pm<br />
–<br />
DR JOHN<br />
and the Nite Trippers<br />
Monday 9 <strong>March</strong> 7.30pm<br />
ONE MAN<br />
BREAKING BAD<br />
performed by Miles Allen<br />
Tuesday 24 <strong>March</strong> 7.30pm<br />
–<br />
CALEXICO<br />
Friday 1 May 8pm<br />
–<br />
DYLAN MORAN<br />
Saturday 2 May 8pm<br />
–<br />
THE FULL<br />
ENGLISH<br />
Tuesday 5 May 7.30pm<br />
REGINALD<br />
D HUNTER<br />
Sunday 10 May 8pm<br />
–<br />
STEWART<br />
LEE<br />
Tuesday 2 June 8pm<br />
Wednesday 3 June 8pm<br />
–<br />
ELVIS<br />
COSTELLO -<br />
DETOUR<br />
Monday 15 June 8pm<br />
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall<br />
Box Office 0151 709 3789<br />
liverpoolphil.com<br />
Image The Unthanks<br />
bidolito.co.uk
To take A LOVELY WAR on face value is a deceptive approach. Shy,<br />
understated and purveyors of the kind of post-Belle & Sebastian<br />
blend of self-effacing indie pop so often maligned as twee, it’s easy<br />
to place them firmly amidst that tedious huddle of the gratingly<br />
timorous – the kind of artificial ‘alternative’ concocted by a satchelwearing,<br />
ironically-bearded 44-year-old charged with sucking any<br />
hint of personality from Renault’s latest ad campaign. This fourpiece<br />
are profoundly not so. Rather, their early recorded work and<br />
embryonic live performances show signs of an assertive zealousness;<br />
an enthralling absorption of left-field musical tradition from Bush to<br />
Bowie to Banhart, distilled into a firm individualism that’s anything<br />
but imitation.<br />
In short, there aren’t many bands that sound much like A Lovely War<br />
– in their native Merseyside, essentially none – and on the subject of<br />
their contemporaries the band are more naturally drawn to discussing<br />
what they’re not. “Well we’re not really indie rock, are we?” muses<br />
guitarist Chris Keogh on the subject. “[The music] is in opposition to a<br />
Words: Patrick Clarke / @Paddyclarke<br />
Photography: Robin Clewley / robinclewley.co.uK<br />
bidolito.co.uk
lot of the Liverpool scene.”<br />
“I don’t think we’ll ever be singing about the Liver<br />
Birds,” says bassist Patrick Hughes on their place as a<br />
‘Liverpool band’, “but I think you do get a lot [from the<br />
city] subconsciously; as opposed to just singing about<br />
the city, you pick up a lot just from being here. There’s<br />
always music, there’s always gigs in Liverpool, always<br />
things to see; you can have Africa Oyé, then you can go<br />
out and see metal gigs. You pick it up.”<br />
The result on record is in a sense indefinable; on<br />
their debut EP proper – November’s self-titled fourtrack<br />
effort – the group careen from synth to accordion<br />
to frenetic, vaudevillian stretches and off-kilter hits to<br />
the heartstrings, and they themselves struggle for the<br />
catch-all adjective. “It’s quite poppy, but it’s not pop…”<br />
offers Patrick. “The influences are quite mixed,” his<br />
brother and drummer Liam adds. Ultimately it’s singer,<br />
keyboardist and chief-songwriter Sean Keogh, brother<br />
to Chris, who makes the best stab at it. “I think we just<br />
want to be weird. Different. There’s no point in not<br />
doing that musically… When we started I just wanted to<br />
be doing something I thought was interesting.”<br />
Interesting is certainly the word, and the group are<br />
unafraid when it comes to flexing their offbeat muscles.<br />
In their younger days Patrick, Sean and Chris were<br />
members of a live ska group, and cut their teeth across<br />
a series of inconsequential toilet-circuit gigs. “We were<br />
all fairly young at that point; we were all under 20. We’d<br />
have to sell X amount of tickets and pay to play. Thinking<br />
of it now it was crazy; they were just taking advantage<br />
of us as we were so young.” The long-term results have<br />
still impacted on their sound, however, particularly in a<br />
ska-influenced offbeat tone to a lot of the tunes. “With<br />
Autumn Leaves Us Blue [lead single from the recent EP],<br />
the time signature is just… weird. Sean’s played it on his<br />
own a few times and people have got up to dance, and<br />
they’ve just not been able to. I like that, though; there’s<br />
gotta be some sort of confusion,” remembers Patrick.<br />
The sense of idiosyncrasy surrounding the group<br />
doesn’t dent their passion for their peers either. As if<br />
their sound wasn’t indefinable enough, there’s the<br />
potential of the group hooking up with a local hip<br />
hop artist; though at the moment it’s a collaboration<br />
that’s in its formative stages. “We’ve been talking about<br />
getting involved with him,” says Patrick of the potential<br />
plans, “maybe jam with him. Just jamming, then we’ll<br />
see what happens. I think it’ll be quite interesting with<br />
our poppy kind of sound and his vocals. That’d be kinda<br />
nice.”<br />
It’s fair to say the group have come a fairly long<br />
way since those early days of ska. Now with a couple<br />
of gigs as a full band under their belts, the group are<br />
fast ascending to the top of the local radar. “It’s good to<br />
have recorded the music, got the buzz and then started<br />
playing it live as opposed to what we used to do in<br />
Liverpool,” points out Patrick of their approach. “We<br />
spent a lot of time doing these crappy gigs – they were<br />
good fun but just in front of our mates. We’d play them<br />
every week and nothing would really happen.”<br />
Until university scattered the group, the two pairs<br />
of brothers had spent almost their entire lives in each<br />
other’s company. “All of us were into music; we all<br />
played in different bands. We all played different gigs<br />
together but people went to uni and stuff and the<br />
bands just stopped,” recalls Patrick. Time passed, shortlived<br />
student bands came and went, until, as Patrick<br />
continues, “There was this time when we were all in the<br />
same place and we started A Lovely War. We did some<br />
gigs together, just me and Sean. It was really good fun<br />
but we needed a band – it felt like there was a lot more<br />
we could do – so it was really good to get Chris playing<br />
guitar and singing, and Liam on drums.”<br />
The fortunes of A Lovely War are undeniably on the<br />
rise, yet the group still retain an animosity for the state<br />
of Britain’s cultural opportunities for unestablished<br />
artists. “Music and art isn’t treated as a commodity like<br />
any other job is, and that’s a problem,” says Sean on<br />
the subject. “We put so much work into this band, and<br />
people can assume that that somehow doesn’t count,”<br />
agrees Patrick. “We’re making money for other people,<br />
and somewhere along the way it’s become acceptable<br />
that that’s just the way it is.” “It’s sold to the bands as if<br />
they’re being given all these opportunities, rather than<br />
‘you’re making us money’,” his brother adds.<br />
“It’s so much easier now to record yourself and get<br />
yourself out there; that’s changed things a lot,” Liam<br />
continues, and it’s a state of affairs that’s helped<br />
immeasurably with his own outfit. It was the video for<br />
Autumn Leaves Us Blue that saw ears initially pricked,<br />
even though they barely had a finalised line-up; since<br />
then, their EP has become a fast favourite for all of<br />
an alternative sensibility, representing the quartet’s<br />
steady rise. As a live backbone begins to assert itself,<br />
we can only hope that ascent is a long and continued<br />
one for these understated instigators of the kind of<br />
individualism this city sorely needs.<br />
soundcloud.com/alovelywar<br />
bidolito.co.uk
18<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
GIT<br />
Award<br />
<strong>2015</strong><br />
Now in to its fourth year, the GIT AWARD is set<br />
bidolito.co.uk<br />
to once again applaud the cream of Liverpool’s<br />
latest musical exports, while also shining a light<br />
on some of the city’s lesser-known gems. Behold,<br />
on the page opposite, the twelve nominees who’ve<br />
been shortlisted for the <strong>2015</strong> Award. Ahead of the<br />
ceremony – set to be held at The Kazimier on 4th<br />
April – we catch up with a few of the accolade’s<br />
national judging panel, to find out how the<br />
city’s current musical crop are perceived outside<br />
Merseyside.<br />
By way of celebrating what has been another fine<br />
year of musical creativity on Merseyside, the <strong>2015</strong><br />
edition of the GIT Award has left no stone unturned<br />
in compiling its final shortlist. These twelve nominees<br />
represent a fine cross-section of where they city is<br />
at right now, and the list boasts some pretty major<br />
players. And it took a crack team of judges, with both<br />
local knowhow and national expertise, to finally decide<br />
on who would be in the GIT Award <strong>2015</strong>’s dirty dozen.<br />
As a member of the sixteen-strong judging panel this<br />
year, let me assure you that it was far from an easy task.<br />
When I joined the panel – as a local judge alongside<br />
head judge and Award chief Peter Guy, Mike Deane<br />
(Liverpool Music Week director), Victoria Smith (Arts<br />
Club manager), Yaw Owusu (LIMF creative director) and<br />
Words: Christopher Torpey / @CATorp<br />
Steve Miller (EVOL and Sound City booker) – I thought I<br />
had a pretty good idea of what was going on and who<br />
I’d likely be voting for. But even I was surprised at the<br />
strength and breadth of the two hundred-plus long<br />
list that was circulated around the judging panel as a<br />
starting point for our deliberations. And I wasn’t the<br />
only one pleasantly surprised.<br />
“The sheer diversity on display in Liverpool is<br />
incredible,” says Clash Magazine’s Deputy Online Editor<br />
Robin Murray, one of the Award’s national judges. “Truly,<br />
there's little I can say to do it justice. The breadth and<br />
depth of talent is intimidating and I just hope that we<br />
– as the judging panel – can give the wider world a<br />
flavour of what's going on in the city.” Award-winning<br />
music journalist Simon Price was also impressed by<br />
the variety of music presented to him on the long list<br />
this time round. “I didn't realise there was such a strong<br />
scene [on Merseyside] for hip hop/R&B/grime until<br />
I got involved with this process. A lot of my favourite<br />
nominees came from that side of things.”<br />
Having attended the GIT Award Final for the last<br />
couple of years and been “passionate about its ethos”,<br />
journalist, blogger and Amazing Radio show host<br />
Shell Zenner was delighted to be part of the judging<br />
process this year, and has been heartened not just<br />
by what she’s heard, but also by the platform the GIT<br />
Award has become. “The process to me has solidified<br />
the confidence that it's not where you're at, it's the<br />
potential you have, too – whatever the genre, whatever<br />
the type of music or artist you are,” Shell tells me,<br />
evidently brimming with enthusiasm. “You will be heard<br />
and considered. This year we've pitched commercially<br />
viable artists against leftfield heroes, and even those<br />
taking their tentative first steps into the industry. It's<br />
seriously heart-warming and exciting to see what will<br />
happen in the future.”<br />
Music journalism has come a long way in the past<br />
decade, and regional stereotypes – in terms of sound<br />
at least – are gradually becoming a thing of the past.<br />
The erosion of the idea that certain regions only<br />
produce certain types of musicians is a welcome one,<br />
with Merseyside a prime example. “I don't think there's<br />
any one dominating flavour in Liverpool's music scene,<br />
which is partly why it's so creative,” agrees Robin<br />
Murray. “It feels like right now the city is a great place to<br />
make music, with musicians supporting one another in<br />
whatever bizarre concoctions they dream up. Sure, The<br />
La's and The Coral were great bands, but there's more<br />
to Liverpool than that.” Shell Zenner agrees, and is<br />
proud of the final shortlist that the judging panel have<br />
settled on. “To say all the artists from the area sound<br />
like [The La’s and The Coral] is completely incorrect:<br />
Circa Waves are a stadium indie band in the making;<br />
Låpsley is an electronic genius who’s carrying the<br />
electronic torch forward from last year’s winner Forest<br />
Swords; Esa Shields is completely far-out and it fills me<br />
with excitement to see his live show; and then you've<br />
got the stunning sound of the incredible Jane Weaver,<br />
whose latest album topped the Piccadilly Records<br />
album of the year list in 2014. Liverpool and its music<br />
are not to be pigeonholed!”<br />
Dot Levine – Head of Campaigns and Communications<br />
at UK Music, which represents the collective interests of<br />
the UK’s commercial music industry – has got to know<br />
Liverpool pretty well over recent months, thanks to her<br />
dad (record producer Steve) setting up his new home<br />
in the city. Her experiences judging this year’s process<br />
have instilled in her a renewed vigour for a region that’s<br />
always been proud of its musical chops. “Liverpool is<br />
a city full of music lovers and music makers – people<br />
who are always trying to listen for something new and<br />
exciting, and music makers creating something new<br />
and exciting. Liverpool’s scene breathes life into the<br />
industry – it’s full of people who are the lifeblood of<br />
our vibrant and diverse UK music industry,” she reveals.<br />
From my own point of view, selecting the final<br />
twelve artists to be shortlisted has been a satisfying<br />
experience. I’m as convinced as anyone else that this<br />
city is as good as any other at creating and nurturing<br />
musical talent; what the GIT Award nominees for <strong>2015</strong><br />
show is that we have deep reserves of high-class skill<br />
in our midst, and we’re right to praise it. Now we’ve just<br />
got to pick a winner. Any ideas?<br />
The GIT Award final ceremony takes place at The<br />
Kazimier on 4th April.
Circa Waves<br />
Circa Waves have marked themselves<br />
as one of the UK’s biggest music<br />
sensations, with a nomination for Best<br />
New Band in the 2014 NME Awards.<br />
D R O H N E<br />
A subversive mystique adds a dissonant edge<br />
to the work of this electronic duo, who have<br />
signed with O Genesis Recordings and supported<br />
Factory Floor in the past twelve months.<br />
All We Are<br />
The lithe, rhythmic grooves on this<br />
trio’s debut, self-titled LP have not<br />
only won them a legion of fans, but<br />
also heaps of international praise.<br />
Esa Shields<br />
Gulf<br />
Hooton Tennis Club<br />
An acid pop polymath who has long been<br />
a fixture of Liverpool’s underground music<br />
community, Esa Shields’ experimentalism<br />
is finally getting the praise it deserves.<br />
A quintet with the music world at their<br />
feet, Gulf ’s light-as-a-feather cosmic pop<br />
has had the music press and industry<br />
buzzing about where they’ll go next.<br />
Close friendships and swaggering,<br />
lo-fi warmth are part of the fabric of<br />
this quartet, who are signed up to the<br />
respected label Heavenly Recordings.<br />
Låpsley<br />
Jane Weaver<br />
Roxanne L Jones<br />
Widnes-born Jane Weaver has found<br />
her groove with sixth solo album The<br />
Silver Globe, which meshes celestial<br />
shoegaze with a touch of krautrock.<br />
Holly Låpsley Fletcher’s sparse, dubby<br />
compositions have seen the Formby<br />
teenager sign with XL Recordings and win<br />
the inaugural Blog Sound award for <strong>2015</strong>.<br />
A bold, sassy delivery typifies the<br />
approach of this Toxteth-born singersongwriter,<br />
who fuses vintage soul<br />
sensibilities with contemporary pop.<br />
We Are Catchers<br />
The Sundowners<br />
These five Wirral musicians channel a<br />
vintage, summery vibe in their hip-shaking<br />
rock revivalism, which has seen them<br />
play Glastonbury’s Introducing Stage.<br />
The Domino-released debut album<br />
of melancholic Scouse troubadour<br />
Peter Jackson is a wistful collection of<br />
Beach Boys-esque yearning pop.<br />
Xam Volo<br />
Twenty-one-year-old Sam Folorunsho<br />
is a fast-rising star soul star whose selfproduced<br />
EP Binary In Blue showed a<br />
flair for super-slick hip hop beats.
20<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
bidolito.co.uk
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
21<br />
“…Expect Surprises…”<br />
Words: Paddy Hughes / @paddyhughes89<br />
Illustration: Lucy Roberts / lucyannerobertsillustration.co.uk<br />
The stately setting of the Anglican Cathedral is preparing for a<br />
riot of colour on Friday 6th <strong>March</strong>, when Merrill Garbus brings her<br />
Day-Glo outfit TUNE-YARDS for a party that seems at odds with<br />
the venerable building’s sombre atmosphere. Being at odds with<br />
things is Garbus’ default setting, however, so it would actually<br />
seem like the perfect setting. Ahead of this show, which comes in<br />
the middle of a massive UK tour, the New England experimentalist<br />
took time out of her busy schedule to talk business.<br />
Bido Lito!: When did tUnE-yArDs start and were you in other<br />
bands when you were younger and growing up?<br />
Merrill Garbus: I had actually been thinking recently about<br />
those old bands. tUnE-yArDs started in about 2007. In about<br />
2006 I started writing songs on a ukulele, songs which I was<br />
originally using for a puppet show because I was originally a<br />
puppeteer. So I was writing these songs with just me and a<br />
uke, and then tUnE-yArDs sort of grew out of that. Before that<br />
I used to live in Vermont and I was in a number of bands with<br />
lots of different people. I was the back-up ukulele player, if<br />
that is even a thing, in a Vermont reggae band called Baked<br />
Earth. Eventually I moved from Vermont up to Montréal and<br />
from there I took music a bit more seriously, touring round<br />
the country with lots of different Montréal bands and, yeah,<br />
that was basically the start of me wanting to make music my<br />
full-time job.<br />
BL!: You mentioned that you’re a puppeteer… Are there any<br />
crossovers with that and your current role in tUnE-yArDs??<br />
MG: First of all, for me both jobs are about being a performer<br />
and that in itself is its own career type. A lot of musicians come<br />
into music without having a lot of experience of being on<br />
stage but you can really tell when you see the ones that do. It<br />
makes you really pay attention to the visual side of things and<br />
that is how we build our shows, with a connection between<br />
performance art and music. In the first tUnE-yArDs gigs I did in<br />
Montréal, there was always other stuff going on besides the<br />
music, but no puppets at that point. Now I realise how much I<br />
have learnt from my puppeteer mentors who taught me about<br />
being on stage and how to approach performance, and I feel<br />
that have carried all of that with me. Whether it be on small<br />
stages or whether it be in the big festivals that we get to play<br />
these days, it’s all about a performance-based experience for<br />
me.<br />
BL!: Who were your influences when you were getting into<br />
music?<br />
MG: Early on, Deerhoof were a band that I felt were doing<br />
something that was really connected to performance art. As<br />
much as I have also grown up listening to The Beatles and<br />
The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, they are the bands that<br />
everyone has heard of; whereas Deerhoof and other bands<br />
really connected personally to what I was doing and what<br />
I could be doing, and they gave me a new view on rock and<br />
roll. Dirty Projectors were defiantly one of those bands too<br />
who were also just experimenting with rock music; you know,<br />
doing weird and out-there things? But whenever people ask<br />
this question I know that I have a lot of influences but I never<br />
know what to say. I actually think that the first tUnE-yArDs<br />
album had a lot of Cindy Lauper and other 80s stuff as well<br />
as rock and roll. It helped create that kind of lo-fi sound, you<br />
know?<br />
BL!: Can you explain a bit more of how you go about<br />
creating your music?<br />
MG: The truth is that the music is always changing and<br />
it’s all a big mess. I wish there was a formula that worked<br />
every time but it’s usually just some sort of rhythm that<br />
starts everything and then that’s when I know we’re starting<br />
something… A lot of it basically starts with how I want to<br />
move to a song. With Water Fountain it began with the<br />
chorus. I had that tune in my head and had to get it out. It’s<br />
like little shards, little tiny things that need to be put into a<br />
bigger place. The lyric “No water in the water fountain” was<br />
a clue to the rest of the song and I followed it. At that point<br />
Nate Brenner, who also writes the songs, usually comes in<br />
and reflects what I have been working on, and I’ll say “this<br />
is going to work”, to which he’ll say “what about this?”, and<br />
we’ll go back and forth. One thing that puppeteering gave<br />
me was the sense of a world that you are trying to create, so<br />
the big question for me is always “What kind of world am I<br />
trying to create?”<br />
BL!: So you mention performance and space. How are you<br />
approaching the show at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral then?<br />
MG: These days people should expect a lot of bright colours,<br />
which is really fun. I think also a dynamic feel, and we’re<br />
going to bring a tonne of energy, which doesn’t just come<br />
from the musical performance. We are going to be theatrical<br />
and all-encompassing. I’ve really been enjoying making our<br />
performance something that people can lose themselves in,<br />
you know? People should come to the show and forget about<br />
their normal lives. What more do we want than to forget our<br />
normal lives for an hour a week? But it isn’t about numbing<br />
out; it’s about feeling different and changed. Maybe that is a<br />
really pompous thing to say, but it is what I think.<br />
BL!: Is it a different experience for you playing in the UK<br />
compared to the US?<br />
MG: Oh yeah. The UK has been one of our strongest allies,<br />
in the way that UK audiences are so open to different types<br />
of music and strange stuff. It’s hard to shock UK audiences.<br />
I also think that if you smash a performance and are clearly<br />
committed to your music, UK audiences will be right there<br />
with you with their energy and spirit. I think there’s a strong<br />
musical culture, especially in Liverpool, that has been going<br />
for a long time so people are very excited about new work. I<br />
love Liverpool and it’s an honour to be playing there.<br />
BL!: Festival season is also on the horizon. Do you enjoy<br />
doing lots of musical festivals or do you find them hectic?<br />
MG: Oh, both. It is a shit show in so many ways. You have<br />
to be ready for this whole new style of “one, two, three, go!”<br />
instead of a sound check and prep for the show. It can be very<br />
panicked and last minute but that adds to the energy and<br />
electricity that’s part of the performance. It isn’t the easiest<br />
thing for your system to take on but it is always rewarding<br />
for us. It feels like being in a new band sometimes, as you<br />
have a little bit more to prove in festivals, but that’s always<br />
a good thing for us.<br />
BL!: Your most recent album, Nikki Nack, seems to have<br />
been really well received. Did you approach this album<br />
differently from the other ones?<br />
MG: Well, we had more resources and I was a little more<br />
fearless with what I could try and get away with. There was<br />
room to go a little bit bigger with the sound for this album. I<br />
really wanted to challenge myself and to write differently, not<br />
just write songs on a looping pedal like the previous albums.<br />
So I tried to write longer and more composed pop songs. I<br />
also wanted to leave a lot of room for other elements that we<br />
had never used before to come alive within the record, and I<br />
think we achieved that with the record.<br />
BL!: Do you have a clear plan for what you want to achieve<br />
next?<br />
MG: I have no idea. If I knew, I would tell you. I want<br />
surprises; I want to keep surprising myself. We’ll be on the<br />
road till the end of the summer and then who knows? It<br />
could be anything. I literally have no idea… but surprises are<br />
good. Expect surprises.<br />
tUnE-yArDs play Liverpool Anglican Cathedral on 6th <strong>March</strong>.<br />
tune-yards.com<br />
bidolito.co.uk
22<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
bidolito.co.uk
pass<br />
the<br />
Illustration: Nick Booton<br />
Words: Richard Lewis<br />
/ bruisedstudio.com<br />
Photography:<br />
Keith Ainsworth<br />
/ arkimages.co.uk<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
23<br />
rediscovering<br />
open mic culture<br />
in liverpool<br />
While a plethora of new technology has provided fledgling<br />
musicians with the opportunity to get their material out into<br />
the world over the past decade, what has this meant for the<br />
grass roots mainstay of the humble Open Mic night? In times<br />
gone by, these simple but celebratory affairs would be the<br />
first platform on which embryonic artists shared their creative<br />
labours; they provided an invaluable role in celebrating and<br />
nurturing new talent. It seems that Liverpool, thankfully, still<br />
has a particular fondness and insatiable appetite for the<br />
form, as on any given weeknight scores of events take place<br />
in venues scattered across the city centre and out into the<br />
suburbs.<br />
The movement today builds on the tradition immortalised<br />
at cult New York hangouts The Bitter End, Cafe Wha?, Gerde's<br />
Folk City and, perhaps most famously, The Gaslight Cafe, and<br />
is the world depicted in the Cohen Brothers’ 2013 film Inside<br />
Llewyn Davis. Liverpool is no different; our music culture<br />
is rooted in coffee houses and jazz clubs and their open,<br />
collaborative, silo-like nature has helped create the music<br />
scene we love today. Contrary to popular belief, Open Mics<br />
are not synonymous with endless off-key renditions of Stuck<br />
In The Middle With You and ill-advised Ed Sheeran warbling;<br />
this is a dynamic, creative subculture and one which has<br />
flourished over recent years in Liverpool.<br />
Longest serving of the current nights, Out Of The Bedroom,<br />
hosted by Johnny Sands at Leaf, has run on Tuesday evenings<br />
for the past half-decade (Rufus Wainwright famously attended<br />
the evening following his performance at the Philharmonic a<br />
few years ago). The night has flourished in to a stalwart of<br />
the Open Mic scene, and Johnny, with his inimitable hosting,<br />
has become somewhat of a flame-bearer for the form. Out Of<br />
The Bedroom is now joined by his weekly Saturday afternoon<br />
session at Heebie Jeebies Courtyard. “There was a bit of a<br />
stigma with Open Mic, the kind of ‘It’s a gig for a musician<br />
who can’t get a gig’ attitude,” Johnny states. “I wanted to take<br />
Open Mic out of what was a pub – covers, kinda anything goes<br />
– and make it into a more London-type setup. The first thing<br />
was to set out a load of rules of how I’d run the night: original<br />
material, make sure the PA was the equivalent of any good<br />
gig. In London it was the same principal but it was far more<br />
high profile, people were getting up and singing their songs<br />
and record industry people were watching them.” The singer<br />
also curates a sister event to Out Of The Bedroom, which is<br />
held every couple of months and is more of a showcase.<br />
“The performers at Maison Johnny are cherry picked.<br />
Everyone who’s either played at the Heebies Acoustic Club<br />
on a Saturday afternoon, or Leaf on a Tuesday, they go on<br />
hat<br />
there.”<br />
“Over the years of doing it you see people progress from<br />
being an aspiring musician to an accomplished player; you<br />
can see them get that feeling of ‘this is what I want to do’,”<br />
he continues. “Because not nearly as many acts are getting<br />
signed and lower-level musicians aren’t given a chance, the<br />
local scene has become even stronger. Liverpool’s probably<br />
the best city in the country for this kind of scene, the way<br />
all the venues are close together. When I lived in Newcastle<br />
there were tonnes of bands in practice rooms but there were<br />
“Liverpool’s probably the best<br />
city in the country for this<br />
kind of scene, the way all the<br />
venues are close together.”<br />
johnny sands<br />
no venues. Nowhere to play and only one open mic while I<br />
was there.”<br />
Over at The Brink, as part of the organisation’s<br />
accompanying events programme an Open Mic night has<br />
been run in-house by David Barnicle for the past two years.<br />
“It’s an integral part of the musical landscape,” David states,<br />
not just of the Brink’s Thursday night sessions, but of Open<br />
Mic culture in general. “When you have songs coming out of<br />
their initial conception and you just want to go somewhere<br />
and get a bit of stage time and perform it, you use the stage<br />
as a means of practising. It’s essential to have that means<br />
of performing. Not everyone who plays at an Open Mic is<br />
gonna get to a great level, but it can be important for people<br />
who start there to learn basic skills. It’s not as if the music<br />
scene wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for Open Mics, but it’s<br />
part of that organism.”<br />
“The Open Mic is a reflection of the way the whole place<br />
works, it’s not just people in recovery,” David emphasises<br />
of The Brink, which is a recovery social enterprise, meaning<br />
that all profits go directly back into the community to fund<br />
support for those who have suffered through alcoholism and<br />
addiction. “Out of all the people who come to our Open Mic,<br />
there are probably more people who aren’t in recovery that<br />
those in it. People who may be in short-term or long-term<br />
recovery who don’t want to play anywhere else, they only<br />
come and play here. Because we do the young musicians<br />
showcase here for under-eighteens, and because we’re a<br />
dry bar, they find their way to the Open Mic as well. To be in<br />
people’s minds you only get that through continuity, that’s<br />
what gives it the profile.”<br />
Newly revived Slater Street landmark The Jacaranda,<br />
meanwhile, has recently inaugurated a night dedicated to<br />
Open Mic in the basement of the pub. “Some of the acts<br />
who get invited down to play will play a half-hour set,” Thom<br />
Morecroft – who hosts and runs the event alongside Joe<br />
Maryanji on Thursdays and Sundays – explains. “No-one’s<br />
got up and played Wonderwall so far, and it’s not like we’re<br />
going to say to people ‘Can you only play stuff from this really<br />
cool list of tracks’, because that would defeat the object of<br />
an Open Mic. Some nights will be in very hushed tones with<br />
people sat round sipping pints listening to music; others<br />
are more frenetic and everyone will get up and play three<br />
songs. Some of them go on until half-one in the morning.”<br />
Thom also believes that musicians raised in the digital age<br />
aren’t afraid of descending in to these basement venues,<br />
even when it might be outside their natural comfort zone.<br />
“SoundCloud – and the internet generally – has given a lot<br />
more confidence to the bedroom musician and has made it<br />
more likely for them to emerge from the house. However, the<br />
internet, in its infinite wisdom, hasn’t been that kind to the<br />
bar scene. You’ve got to be a bit more creative – not just for<br />
Open Mics, but if you’re putting on gigs. I think SoundCloud<br />
culture and Open Mics are natural allies.”<br />
An accompanying venture to the Jacaranda session is held<br />
at Parr Street Studio 2. “The Parr Street Acoustic Sessions is<br />
held once a month on a Wednesday. It’s a lot more formal<br />
than The Jacaranda; it’s free entry but it’s always the case<br />
that we’ll have eight acts on who’ll play twenty minutes<br />
each and the audience has to be silent. It’s more of a<br />
showcase.” Warming to the theme, Thom goes to say: “There<br />
are now way more Open Mics in Liverpool than there were<br />
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“perseverance<br />
ten to fifteen years ago. People will play a good<br />
Open Mic – even if the<br />
connotations of that are ‘Oh, it’s an Open Mic’ –<br />
rather than play a crap gig. A good Open Mic scene<br />
helps people avoid doing rubbish gigs.”<br />
The Bridewell, off Duke Street, has held an Open<br />
Mic night since November 2013, run by Iain Morley and Ben<br />
Singleton of The Buffalo Riot. “We didn’t realise there was<br />
that much of a scene out there, that people wanted it,”<br />
Iain explains. “Edgar Jones came down when we started<br />
to help kick it off. What we found was there were a lot of<br />
people booking acts, which isn’t really an Open Mic. We try<br />
and make it so that people know where you are; a constant<br />
every week to try and build up a community. Perseverance<br />
is the key,” the singer states. “People might go to an Open<br />
Mic night and realise it’s not for them; it’s all relative. It has<br />
to exist as a conduit for people playing acoustic music to get<br />
feedback, or even for someone to do it and say ‘this isn’t for<br />
me’. In between shows you’ll get singers from bands coming<br />
to Open Mics, and we’re even getting people from the first<br />
year of LIPA coming to perform. What we understood when<br />
we started doing it was that there’s already a community<br />
of people doing the Open Mics, and the more people the<br />
better.”<br />
At the other end of the city centre, the Monday Club has<br />
been a fixture of The Cavern Pub’s programme since 2011.<br />
“The Cavern came to me almost four years ago and asked<br />
if I wanted to do an Open Mic in the Cavern Pub and gave<br />
me a six-week slot,” organiser and host Ian Prowse recalls.<br />
Observing a strict ‘no covers’ policy – “I don’t wanna hear<br />
covers of Wonderwall or Sex On Fire ever again,” Ian<br />
grimaces – the emphasis on musicians’ own material steers<br />
the event away from being a tribute to the band who once<br />
played at the street’s most famous address opposite, and<br />
has become a key platform for nurturing emerging new<br />
talent. Millie Courtney, the Liverpool teenager who enjoyed<br />
a meteoric rise to top the country charts in Nashville<br />
last year, cut her teeth at the Monday Club. And the<br />
bidolito.co.uk<br />
“the internet has given a lot<br />
more confidence to the bedroom<br />
musician and has made it more<br />
likely for them to emerge from the<br />
house. I think SoundCloud culture<br />
and open Mics are natural allies.”<br />
thom morecroft<br />
is the<br />
key”<br />
comparison with New York also recurs: “We’ve had loads of<br />
people come over who’ve done the Open Mic scene in New<br />
York and said it was a similar thing,” Ian notes.<br />
Elsewhere, The Magnet is the newest arrival on the circuit,<br />
establishing an Open Mic night alongside evergreen citybased<br />
promoters Mellowtone. Hosted by Dave O’Grady<br />
– alongside a rotating gabble of storied musicians – the<br />
setup is so new the night is still only a few weeks old. “Dave<br />
McTague at Mellowtone got me down to play at the first one<br />
with a view of hosting it maybe once a month, but it turned<br />
out well [and is now weekly],” Dave O’Grady explains of the<br />
venture. Hosted “upstairs” (i.e. the street level bar of the<br />
venue) on Wednesdays from 8pm, Dave thinks that “Open<br />
Mics are the only avenue for young singer-songwriters to get<br />
in to the scene. No-one’s gonna come and book their first<br />
iain morley<br />
headline gig for them before they’ve got their shit together.”<br />
Nipping around the corner from Hardman Street onto<br />
Hope Street, you find the Bistro of the venerated Everyman<br />
Theatre, location for A Lovely Word, an Open Mic night that<br />
caters exclusively for spoken word and poetry. Taking place<br />
on every second Monday of the month and run by Bido<br />
Lito! contributor Paddy Hughes, the night continues the<br />
lineage of the Liverpool Poets (Henri, McGough, Patten et<br />
al), whose 1967 anthology The Mersey Sound became one<br />
of the bestselling poetry collections ever released. “I think<br />
diversity of Open Mic nights is crucial; they give people the<br />
chance to put themselves outside of their comfort zones<br />
and express themselves in front of a crowd,” Paddy states.<br />
“Everyone has different ways of expressing themselves, be it<br />
through singing or be it through spoken word.”<br />
With “verse, sonnets, spoken word, rap and beat poetry,”<br />
all represented on a typical night’s line-up, Paddy thinks that<br />
the aim of any Open Mic night “shouldn’t be a platform for<br />
the host to show how great he is, instead it should be a safe<br />
plinth for experienced and inexperienced artists to thrive<br />
and grow. It is vital to learn from others in order to progress<br />
as an artist. Liverpool is a hub of creative talent so it would<br />
be crazy not to tap into it.”<br />
Bido Lito! will be out and about across Liverpool’s<br />
Open Mic scene this month. Keep up to date by following<br />
@BidoLito and share your Open Mic experiences with<br />
#OpenMicLiverpool.
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MARCH IN BRIEF<br />
ABANDON SILENCE 5.4<br />
The penultimate event of a five-part fifth birthday celebration sees ABANDON SILENCE notch up a truly earth-shaking double billing. Novel Sound label<br />
boss LEVON VINCENT (pictured) has a New York upbringing to thank for his raw brand of dubbed-out beats, which have been refined in his new home of<br />
Berlin. One of Vincent’s staunchest fans, CRAIG RICHARDS, joins him in the main room for this stellar night. Richards has realised worldwide recognition<br />
for his quirky, abstract style due to the wild successes of his fabric residency in London.<br />
The Kazimier / 6th <strong>March</strong><br />
BC CAMPLIGHT<br />
Proving that hidden gems don’t need to come from the distant past, BC CAMPLIGHT returns from a psychologically bruising seven-year wilderness with<br />
one hell of a story to tell. His third LP, How To Die In The North, feels more like a spiritual re-birth, veering from blue-eyed soul to haunting piano balladry<br />
with all the charm of Harry Nilsson. Released by Bella Union in January, the album documents Brain Christinzio’s relocation to Manchester from the fertile<br />
pastures of Philly, and shows that “the man who blew it” still retains a few of the old tricks.<br />
Leaf / 11th <strong>March</strong><br />
DUKE SPECIAL<br />
The UK’s answer to Rufus Wainwright, DUKE SPECIAL brings a cerebral edge to his typically Vaudevillian style of piano balladry. The Belfast-based musician’s<br />
theatrical style, which often sees his live sets incorporating the sounds of old 78s played through a gramophone, is steeped in the warm romanticism of<br />
music hall tradition. Since completing a year-long residency at Belfast’s Empire Hall, Duke has been running a Pledge Music campaign to help bring his<br />
new album, Look Out Machines!, to fruition. Now complete, <strong>March</strong> sees him hit the road to bring the record to life for the fans who helped him create it.<br />
Arts Club / 13th <strong>March</strong><br />
FRANCESCO DI FIORE<br />
Italian pianist and composer FRANCESCO DI FIORE has been performing as a concert pianist since the mid-90s, but his more recent work has seen him turn his eye<br />
towards abstract performance of his own compositions. VISUAL PIANO is a multimedia project that Di Fiore has developed with his partner, the visual artist Valeria<br />
Di Matteo, which weaves shape-shifting visuals around the live performance of contemporary and classical pieces. This fascinating collision of worlds is part of the<br />
Capstone’s Contemporary Piano Series, which brings a host of world-class performers to the venue this spring.<br />
The Capstone Theatre / 5th <strong>March</strong><br />
GORGEOUS BULLY<br />
A stalwart of the tremendous indie label Art Is Hard, GORGEOUS BULLY is the work of musician Thomas Crang. Since moving from the south coast in 2013,<br />
Crang has recruited a full band to help flesh out his grungey self-loathing ditties, and the results have been mightily impressive. Now based in Manchester,<br />
Gorgeous Bully have followed up their gorgeously clattering EP Nobody Hates You As Much As You Hate Yourself with a string of tour dates with Cymbals<br />
and Joanna Gruesome.<br />
Maguire’s Pizza Bar / 12th <strong>March</strong><br />
HAPPILY EVER AFTER?<br />
Prepare your flask of strong coffee and dust off that side-reinforcing corset: Impropriety’s annual IMPROVATHON is back. The theme for this year’s thirtythree-and-a-half-hour<br />
bout of non-stop, improvised comedy – Happily Ever After? – comes with a fairytale slant to it: so expect weird twists on those wellworn<br />
childhood stories, as the action flits from enchanted forests to troll-infested bridges and God knows what else. Step inside the wickedly strange<br />
imaginations of some of the UK's best improvvers in this brilliant exploration of storytelling.<br />
The Kazimier / 21st and 22nd <strong>March</strong><br />
IAN MCCULLOCH<br />
Even in a city with a music history as storied as Liverpool’s, musical icons don’t come much bigger than IAN MCCULLOCH. Famed for his laconic wit<br />
and dismissive attitude to most other music makers, Mac’s embodiment of the post-punk spirit made him a magnetic character during one of the most<br />
culturally important periods in the city’s recent history. His contribution to rock music’s pantheon of great hits will be on show here, with stripped-down<br />
versions of both his Bunnymen and solo material taking centre stage.<br />
Floral Pavilion / 19th <strong>March</strong><br />
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KILL IT KID<br />
Supping pints of Stella with music-biz legend Seymour Stein and hanging with Jack White, discussing the finer points of Blind Willie McTell, is<br />
all part of the life for KILL IT KID these days. The four-piece draw on a mean range of American deep South influences in their rootsy blues rock –<br />
Woody Guthrie, Johnny Cash, My Morning Jacket – blending them in to the kind of stadium rock anthems that’ll keep even Black Keys fans happy.<br />
Third album You Owe Nothing is their first release on Seymour Stein’s Sire Records, showing a grittier, more muscular edge.<br />
O2 Academy / 30th <strong>March</strong><br />
LIVERPOOL ACOUSTIC FESTIVAL<br />
As a celebration of rootsy, acoustic-based music, the Unity Theatre’s ACOUSTIC FESTIVAL has a fair few highlights away from the headline performances<br />
of the multi award-winning MARKETA IRGLOVA (pictured), and THE LOST BROTHERS. Workshops and masterclasses take place across both days of the<br />
event, allowing curious minds to get advice on subjects like songwriting from the festival’s performers. A record fair and a seminar series complete the<br />
programme, alongside a healthy showcasing of Merseyside’s finest roots musicians on the Liverpool Acoustic and Liverpool Live TV stages.<br />
Unity Theatre / 20th and 21st <strong>March</strong><br />
OXJAM CALLOUT<br />
Do you love music and want to make a difference? Well you can do so by becoming an Oxjam Takeover Manager and leading a series of fundraising<br />
events which culminate in a festival-style musical takeover of the city. The annual Oxjam takeover events have raised over £1m for Oxfam over the past<br />
eight years, helping to make a real change in the lives of people living in poverty across the world. If you want to be a part of a team responsible for<br />
delivering these stunning multi-venue celebrations, you must apply by Sunday 1st <strong>March</strong> at bit.ly/theoxjamtakeover.<br />
RYAN ADAMS<br />
North Carolina’s alt. rock/country godfather swaps the red carpet scrutiny for his own bit of flashbulb exposure as he tours the UK in February and <strong>March</strong>.<br />
Fresh from an album that saw him serving up some introverted acoustica alongside his trademark radio-ready thumpers (2014’s self-titled effort), RYAN<br />
ADAMS has alleviated any fears that a three-year period of inactivity would see him return ring rusty. Alongside this fourteenth studio album comes an EP<br />
titled 1984, which shows that Adams’ gobbier punk leanings are alive and well, too.<br />
Mountford Hall / 1st <strong>March</strong><br />
SLEAFORD MODS<br />
What do Miles Kane, Oasis, Kasabian and Madchester dance trio Candy Flip have in common? They’ve all copped some rather eloquent flak from SLEAFORD<br />
MODS’ gobby lyricist Jason Williamson on Twitter. This lyrical wit is a feature of Sleaford Mods’ 2014 record Divide And Exit, accompanied by Andrew Fearn’s<br />
spiky beats. What stops the whole thing from descending into John Cooper Clarke-fronting-The Streets territory is the sharply observational nature of<br />
Williamson’s vitriol: the broken and bleeding country he sees himself wading through.<br />
The Kazimier / 3rd <strong>March</strong><br />
SOUND CITY LATEST<br />
LIVERPOOL SOUND CITY’s new home of Bramley Moore Dock looks set to have a fine introduction to action over the long weekend of 21st-24th May, with<br />
a line-up that’s already causing our mouths to water. THE VACCINES have been confirmed as headliners alongside BELLE AND SEBASTIAN and THE FLAMING<br />
LIPS (pictured), while UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA, DUM DUM GIRLS and FUCKED UP also join the line-up. The Flaming Lips’ WAYNE COYNE will also be<br />
delivering a keynote address at the Sound City conference, where he’ll join former Slits guitarist VIV ALBERTINE and arch droog JULIAN COPE.<br />
liverpoolsoundcity.co.uk<br />
THE UNTHANKS<br />
Taking the rugged British folk of their native Northumbria as a starting point, sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank approach their music as a way of bringing<br />
to life the oral traditions of storytelling that have passed down over the generations. THE UNTHANKS have crafted an astonishing body of work since first<br />
appearing as Rachel Unthank And The Winterset in 2004, which includes a Mercury Prize nomination and a place on both Uncut’s and The Guardian’s list<br />
of best albums of the last decade. Their latest effort, Mount The Air, is another fine addition to this catalogue.<br />
Philharmonic Hall / 1st <strong>March</strong><br />
YOUNG FATHERS<br />
As part of the Get It Loud In Libraries programme, Mercury Award-winners YOUNG FATHERS open up their <strong>2015</strong> touring programme with a special show in<br />
Skelmersdale Library. With old school hip hop acts still popular on the gig circuit, Young Fathers’ neo-soul touches bring a finesse to the genre that’s as refreshing<br />
as it is compelling. Shortly after receiving their Mercury gong, the Edinburgh-based trio hopped over to Berlin to record their follow-up record to 2014’s Dead, so<br />
expect this set to showcase some of their newer material.<br />
Skelmersdale Library / 13th <strong>March</strong><br />
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Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
Reviews<br />
Julian Cope (Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk)<br />
JULIAN COPE<br />
The Epstein Theatre<br />
First of all, apologies are due to Urthona.<br />
Owing to phone difficulties I miss what I’m<br />
sure is a twisty half-hour of considerable<br />
noise. The West Country outfit were billed<br />
to play Atlantis?, their newest conceptual<br />
drone piece, and from what I can gather the<br />
performance has left people in an amiable<br />
mood; everywhere, fathers and sons are<br />
cracking wise in old tour shirts, bending to<br />
their neighbours, awash in the proximity of<br />
the 1980s. It’s hard to find a seat and, though<br />
it’s hard to see this kind of crowd ruining the<br />
upholstery, you’d imagine they did once, and<br />
are keen to be reminded of it. This, JULIAN<br />
COPE knows. He trades his entire shtick<br />
on the troglodyte factor of rock n’ roll, the<br />
primitive urge to beat our brains in the night.<br />
For some, his Jeff Bridges/Axl Rose getup<br />
would be as subtle as a beard in a Vice<br />
exposé, fossilising his Dude credentials<br />
whilst nodding towards his hellraising<br />
leadership of iconic Liverpool troupe The<br />
Teardrop Explodes. The setting, and his<br />
opening confession to weaving out of<br />
several traffic accidents to make it here on<br />
time, suggest this will be more in the vein<br />
of An Evening With Julian Cope than your<br />
standard show. On this front, he delivers.<br />
“I’m not one for reunions,” he says, “but I’m<br />
a solo artist now. If Kate Bush can get back<br />
together, so can I.”<br />
He is droll and self-deprecating, but also<br />
effortlessly able to enliven the stories of<br />
his back catalogue. Whether reminiscing<br />
about Ian McCulloch’s fondness for stitching<br />
acid tabs to his belt, taking the piss out of<br />
his 1984 album Fried (the cover of which<br />
has Cope zonked out in a tortoise shell), or<br />
introducing a track with research titbits from<br />
his bestselling history book, we are never far<br />
away from another touching insight into the<br />
twilight of cult stardom.<br />
Predictably, old favourites get the most<br />
attention. Sunspots bounds along on a<br />
shore of grateful voices, and Soul Desert<br />
resurrects the spirit of caravan philosophy,<br />
unashamedly aping the mysticism of<br />
West Coast psychedelics. Grizzled and<br />
gregarious, Cope can afford to let us wait<br />
for the big moments – his fascination with<br />
his former Merseyside home has long been<br />
documented, and he moves between eras<br />
like an attentive uncle keeping relatives up<br />
to date on his mischief. When he observes<br />
that rebellion makes him either get lost “in<br />
a rustic, bucolic haze” or look at a penis,<br />
it’s strangely liberating: here is a man who<br />
covets the mind as much as anybody, able to<br />
slip into the role of leather-panted guru and<br />
ask ‘How did this happen?’<br />
Inevitably, a lot of his post-90s material is<br />
only lifted by the flippancy of its execution. A<br />
long preamble to Cunts Can Fuck Off doesn’t<br />
disguise the song’s rather deliberate lack of<br />
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Reviews<br />
substance; likewise, Psychedelic Revolution<br />
sounds like a dated new-age bonding<br />
weekend, all but implying a campfire on the<br />
featureless stage. Cope’s current mandate<br />
to release an album name-checking his<br />
drinking spots around the UK is reflective of<br />
his ‘been there, done that’ attitude, and why<br />
shouldn’t it be? As a rock star, he has snorted<br />
his share of success, and as a monument, he<br />
is in full control of his legacy. We’re invited<br />
to think of a funeral – “a casket” in particular<br />
– then throwing ourselves on top. Who<br />
wouldn’t enjoy the right to say that?<br />
night run at The Kazimier, it's clear that the<br />
creative minds of the future have come to<br />
hear what PEACE have to say.<br />
Before that we have THE VRYLL SOCIETY,<br />
who open with what can only be described<br />
Peace (Gaz Jones / @GJMPhoto)<br />
as a squall of feedback that morphs into a riff<br />
(bearing more than a passing resemblance<br />
to Avon by Queens Of The Stone Age) which<br />
hangs over the audience like a muggy cloud.<br />
Their version of what I imagine they call psych<br />
is more 1989 than 1969, with crisp, Maniesque<br />
basslines propelling them forward,<br />
and a baby Bobby Gillespie on vocals. While<br />
it appears that all of their inspiration went on<br />
picking a name, this passionate – if limited –<br />
performance is well received by their peers.<br />
Peace have inspiration to burn, and are<br />
keen to bring a sense of occasion to this<br />
opening night of a massive UK tour. Singer<br />
Harry Koisser descends the stairs to the stage<br />
like a debutante, and is greeted with by the<br />
kind of screaming Harry Styles still hears in<br />
his sleep.<br />
“First night of the tour… anything could<br />
happen,” he coos as he straps on his guitar.<br />
As you'd expect from a show that sold out in<br />
hours, elbowroom is an alien concept. A sea of<br />
heads are already rising and crashing as one.<br />
It's clear that this band have all the necessary<br />
tools for promotion to the big leagues: every<br />
song has a natural launch pad for abandon,<br />
arguably none better than Higher Than The<br />
Sun, with its muscular drum breaks and<br />
soaring chorus. And in Float Forever Peace<br />
have a bona fide festival weapon, a fact that<br />
will certainly be proved later in the summer.<br />
New song Someday – from the band’s<br />
latest LP Happy People – is pretty standard<br />
balladry, most remarkable for the DayGlo<br />
Danelectro guitar Koisser chooses to wield<br />
for its live debut. Koisser dominates the<br />
stage, but he's not the only member worthy<br />
of our attention. Guitarist Doug Castle plays<br />
the starring role in the swirling, eight-minute<br />
epic that is 1998, while Harry's bassist brother<br />
Sam is Alex James reborn – hopefully without<br />
the cheese obsession or hosting parties<br />
for Diamond Dave Cameron, but more as a<br />
Josh Potts / @joshpjpotts<br />
Your Bag?<br />
Catch Ian McCulloch @<br />
Floral Pavilion on 19th <strong>March</strong><br />
PEACE<br />
The Vryll Society<br />
EVOL @ The Kazimier<br />
So this is what the Zeitgeist looks like.<br />
I’ve seen many packed shows over the last<br />
eighteen months, but it's been a while since<br />
we've been confronted by such youth. On<br />
this opening night of an unprecedented two-<br />
Peace (Gaz Jones / @GJMPhoto)<br />
bidolito.co.uk
foppish palm tree swaying left of stage while<br />
effortlessly controlling the tempo in harness<br />
with drummer Dom Boyce. Sam's moment<br />
in the sun arrives during the breakdown<br />
of incendiary closer World Pleasure, where<br />
his bass solo comes amid a clumsy stage<br />
invasion.<br />
Peace may ultimately sound like an<br />
amalgamation of all of our favourite 90s<br />
bands – a dash of Suede, a dollop of Mansun,<br />
a heavy slice of Blur – but if, as this ecstatic<br />
crowd suggests, they're destined to be at<br />
the forefront of British rock for the next few<br />
years, they have enough about them to make<br />
it interesting.<br />
Maurice Stewart /<br />
theviewfromthebooth.tumblr.com<br />
Your Bag?<br />
Catch Glass Animals @ The<br />
Kazimier on 13th <strong>March</strong><br />
equipment are ironed out, the quintet’s wintry<br />
missives hit the spot. With recent EP Ruins<br />
brilliantly capturing the band’s trademark<br />
approach of being poised at the exact point<br />
between defeatism and optimism, their<br />
elegiac minor-key synth pop translates well<br />
to the stage through spacious arrangements.<br />
Lyrically well suited to the present season<br />
of lonely, rain-lashed pavements and street<br />
lamps reflected in gutters, the deep pop<br />
of Realise successfully pulls off the same<br />
sighing ennui live as on record. Two promising<br />
new cuts make their debut appearance here<br />
too: Hotel pulses with a more pronounced<br />
electronic feel than previous material, while<br />
accompanying flipside Home maintains<br />
the five-piece’s fondness for a deep-rooted<br />
melody. With the EP and single formats now<br />
mastered meanwhile, the appearance of<br />
the quintet’s debut LP on the horizon will<br />
hopefully be imminent.<br />
Richard Lewis<br />
TEAR TALK<br />
Death at Sea – Kingsley<br />
Chapman & The Murder<br />
War Room Records @ Scandinavian Church<br />
In the purple-lit glow of the Scandinavian<br />
Church, KINGSLEY CHAPMAN & THE MURDER<br />
are brilliantly well suited to delivering a series<br />
of confessionals, albeit at ear-shredding<br />
volume. This outfit sees the erstwhile<br />
frontman of The Chapman Family move into<br />
more grandiose territory than the seething<br />
indie rock his previous underrated band<br />
specialised in. Opening with a vast, theatrical<br />
piece that almost touches ten minutes, the<br />
melodramatic flourishes hinted at by TCF are<br />
given full reign here. Bringing greater focus<br />
to the singer’s surprisingly effective baritone<br />
croon, the dark night of the soul lyrics are<br />
well matched by the gothic melodrama of<br />
the music. Draped with see-sawing violin<br />
accompaniments, the new material has more<br />
than a hint of Nick Cave’s doomy narratives<br />
about them; impressive stuff for a band yet to<br />
commit anything to record.<br />
Taking to the stage to the strains of indie<br />
disco classic Rip It Up (And Start Again), DEATH<br />
AT SEA to some considerable relief have done<br />
nothing of the sort. Continuing to explore the<br />
rich seam of US indie rock that prospered in<br />
the early nineties, the quartet’s alternately<br />
tight/loose, sloppy/well-drilled sound is in fine<br />
fettle, despite their long absence from the gig<br />
circuit. Sea Foam Green, the track that first got<br />
them noticed back in (gulp) early 2012, opens<br />
proceedings. With Drag sounding predictably<br />
wonderful as ever alongside the A and B sides<br />
of last year’s excellent Glimmer b/w Shy Kids<br />
single, we have positive proof that Death At<br />
Sea are on robustly assured form.<br />
With the congregation at full capacity come<br />
10 pm, TEAR TALK take up position underneath<br />
the stained-glass windows. Unfortunately<br />
beset by technical gremlins at the top of their<br />
set, once the problems with recalcitrant sound<br />
Your Bag?<br />
Catch Rhodes @ Arts Club<br />
on 3rd <strong>March</strong><br />
SLIMKID3 & DJ NUMARK<br />
Parkertron – No Fakin’ DJs<br />
Bam!Bam!Bam! @ 24 Kitchen St<br />
One thing about the Baltic Triangle is<br />
that you never quite know what to expect.<br />
The area is testament to the fact that, quite<br />
often, not everything is as it seems. Down<br />
an unassuming narrow entry and through<br />
the doors of a badly aged building lies 24<br />
Kitchen St, one of the best new venues<br />
in the city. It has a raw appearance and a<br />
vibrant atmosphere, the perfect setting for an<br />
evening of pure hip hop.<br />
NO FAKIN’ DJs underpin the night and build<br />
solid foundations much like those steadying<br />
this old warehouse. Old school hip hop and<br />
soul sounds are the main ingredients in this<br />
potent mix and before long every head in the<br />
room is nodding. If this set is in any way telling<br />
of how the rest of the night’s performances<br />
will sound then, by midnight, we may have<br />
some neck injuries on our hands.<br />
Up walks PARKERTRON onto the stage.<br />
The Fingathing DJ, in a rare solo set, gives<br />
us a demonstration of his skills on the MPC<br />
and turntables. There are disparate styles<br />
in the mix, with trip hop and contemporary<br />
electronica entering the fray. All of the room<br />
is captivated by Parkertron’s mixing style and<br />
eclectic sample palette which makes one<br />
wonder whether he’s taken inspiration from<br />
DJ Abilities or DJ Downlow. His talent with the<br />
MPC is immense and a solo attracts every pair<br />
of eyes and ears in the room. The set is full of<br />
raw energy and originality, with Parkertron a<br />
perfect fit for tonight’s bill.<br />
It may be easy to forget just how influential<br />
SLIMKID3 and DJ NUMARK have been in the
34<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
Reviews<br />
Binkbeats (Nata Moraru)<br />
year and haven’t touched since. Inkarta is sort<br />
of like that. After months hibernating away,<br />
the only night to cater to the more esoteric<br />
dance-but-not-dance makes a stylish return<br />
in a venue increasingly used for niche nights.<br />
The (temporary?) move from The Kazimier<br />
to the Blade Factory is also an interesting<br />
choice. Whereas the Kaz lends a carnivalesque<br />
atmosphere to any occasion, the closer,<br />
sweatier confines of the Blade Factory tends<br />
to give any event a more… DIY feeling.<br />
And for Wolverhampton-by-way-of-Leeds<br />
opening act PAPER TIGER, this works well.<br />
Their “future bass music” translates live into<br />
Warp and Ninja Tunes-infused, sparkling posteverything<br />
electronica. Jazz flourishes? Check.<br />
Glitchy hip hop beats? Check. Errant MC? Check.<br />
True to the Inkarta style, Paper Tiger stay close<br />
to head-nodding and gentle bopping vibes,<br />
rather than the outright rave zest preferred<br />
by the venue’s new upstairs residents Haus.<br />
While conceptually interesting at first, this is<br />
a case of artists proving more interesting on<br />
record than on stage; while the music itself is<br />
good, it doesn’t quite have enough gravity to<br />
pull through in the live arena.<br />
The main man, BINKBEATS, is a different<br />
kettle of fish entirely. Famed of late for tearing<br />
apart and rebuilding from the ground up<br />
tracks by other dance-not-dance heroes (from<br />
Caribou to Lapalux and Shigeto), Binkbeats has<br />
landed himself a Beats Deconstructed series<br />
for Boiler Room. Live he uses a dizzying array<br />
of instruments and equipment to tweak and<br />
rearrange to giddy effect. Once again, however,<br />
this proves to be conceptually more intriguing<br />
than in the flesh; watching a man in a dark<br />
room hunched over his contraptions only<br />
works if the music itself moves you in some<br />
way beyond the intellectual. Previous Inkarta<br />
visitor Shigeto managed this through heavy<br />
use of percussive experimentation, but with<br />
Binkbeats it winds up feeling insubstantial.<br />
Considering Inkarta’s previous efforts, this<br />
night winds up a little underwhelming, but<br />
then they have been away for the best part of<br />
the year, so we can forgive them the odd wet<br />
kipper of an event.<br />
Laurie Cheeseman / @lauriecheeseman<br />
history of hip hop. Any self-respecting hip<br />
hop head will surely own copies of The<br />
Pharcyde’s Labcabincalifornia and Jurassic 5’s<br />
Quality Control. These artists have released<br />
and produced some of the most important<br />
music of their genre. There’s also the fact that<br />
Slimkid3’s The Pharcyde were collaborators<br />
with probably the most important figure in<br />
modern hip hop: the late, great J Dilla. This<br />
show is happening on the eve of Dilla Day,<br />
and feels like a monumental tribute to such<br />
an inspiring musician.<br />
DJ Numark makes an impact on the<br />
turntables as he runs through about an hour’s<br />
worth of hip hop history. His scratching skills<br />
are a treat, and the guy clearly knows how<br />
to work a crowd. He drops tracks from artists<br />
such as A Tribe Called Quest, The Fugees, DJ<br />
Shadow and, of course, Jurassic 5 and The<br />
Pharcyde. It is a fevered party as Numark<br />
makes the whole venue move and, without<br />
saying a word, has the entire crowd at his<br />
fingertips.<br />
Slimkid3 joins Numark on stage, finally,<br />
and breaks into a fierce spat of conscious,<br />
effortlessly delivered verses. Tracks such as<br />
I Know, Didn’t I, Bom Bom Fiya and What<br />
Are Words For propel the intense energy of<br />
the crowd. This duo carry a chemistry that is<br />
brotherly. This is hip hop how it should be:<br />
raw and honest with the power to unify all<br />
who listen. Slimkid3 and DJ Numark prove<br />
that they are masters of their trade in a<br />
flawless, cathartic show.<br />
Christopher Carr<br />
BINKBEATS<br />
Paper Tiger<br />
INKARTA @ Blade Factory<br />
Some things taste better when you come<br />
back to them after a while away: last night’s<br />
pizza, that novel you started a month ago,<br />
whatever album you were raving about last<br />
PAPERHEAD<br />
Holy Thursday<br />
Harvest Sun @ The Shipping Forecast<br />
It has become something of a recent rarity<br />
to wander into a venue in Liverpool and<br />
not be greeted with the familiar strains of<br />
repetition and effects-laden guitars. Despite<br />
the neo-psych movement's many pros, it is<br />
all perhaps becoming a bit much. However,<br />
in recent months the furore appears to have<br />
died down slightly, and so it’s with fresh ears<br />
and an open, willing mind that I head to the<br />
Shipping Forecast to take in PAPERHEAD.<br />
bidolito.co.uk
36<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong> Reviews<br />
Local four-piece HOLY THURSDAY make for<br />
an impressive prelude to the headliners. With<br />
luscious, two-part vocal harmonies laid over<br />
infectiously rhythmic melodies, and off-kilter<br />
organ parts, it is hard not to be drawn in. Their<br />
Beatles-esque vocal parts add a lightness to<br />
what is otherwise a dark, swaggering sound,<br />
serving as breaks for the long, cyclical jams.<br />
She stands out as a good example of the<br />
band's aesthetic, encapsulating both the raw<br />
clarity of songwriting and expressive use of<br />
psychedelic convention (a phrase which may<br />
seem incredibly contradictory) that has made<br />
their performance tonight so enjoyable. They<br />
will be a hard act to follow.<br />
Considering Paperhead had to cancel a<br />
show in London the night before due to<br />
some vehicle difficulties, you’d imagine<br />
that they would be raring to go tonight.<br />
However, the band seem somewhat<br />
subdued and reluctant; perhaps a hangover<br />
of disappointment still permeates the<br />
group after having to abandon what would<br />
probably have been the biggest gig on this<br />
leg of the tour. This lack of motivation soon<br />
spreads to the crowd, and there are a number<br />
of indifferent faces gradually moving towards<br />
the back of the Hold where they can drink<br />
and talk without having to pay too much<br />
attention to the band. Regardless of all this<br />
the songs still emerge, and there is far from<br />
anything lacking in the way the Trouble In<br />
Mind-signees sound. They appear more full<br />
and aggressive live than on record, with the<br />
vocals sinking lower in the mix and the other<br />
instruments gaining prominence. Do You Ever<br />
Think Of Me? is a well-crafted and engaging<br />
track that could have been penned by Ray<br />
Davies, and exhibits the group's well-honed<br />
songwriting dynamic, as well as their clear,<br />
musical ability.<br />
Towards the end of the set things become<br />
a bit more lively, and those on stage seem<br />
to be coming to terms with the previous<br />
night's debacle. It has been a restrained<br />
but still enjoyable performance, but it’s<br />
probably reasonable to predict that most of<br />
the audience will head home with the words<br />
“Holy Thursday” resonating more in their<br />
brains than a head full of paper.<br />
Alastair Dunn<br />
Your Bag?<br />
Catch Purling Hiss @ The<br />
Shipping Forecast on 24th <strong>March</strong><br />
NILS LOFGREN<br />
Philharmonic Hall<br />
In the pantheon of rock and roll's great<br />
backing bands, there are few that can lay<br />
claim to being as widely respected as the<br />
Nils Lofgren (Stuart Moulding / @OohShootStu)<br />
inimitable E-Street Band. Alongside The<br />
Bad Seeds, The Wailers, The Band and,<br />
indeed, Crazy Horse, The E-Street Band have<br />
proven themselves time and again to be<br />
an indispensable cadre, remaining humble<br />
in the line of duty and doing their utmost<br />
to allow the headline act to shine. They<br />
receive few plaudits from the outside world<br />
and bask in a slightly more reflective glow,<br />
but their contribution is undeniable<br />
As a solo artist, NILS LOFGREN never<br />
reached the heights of the stages he was<br />
used to playing alongside Springsteen.<br />
Beginning his career with Grin and<br />
continuing to release under his own name,<br />
he has, over the years, garnered a strong<br />
and loyal fan base, evidenced by the nearcapacity<br />
Philharmonic Hall tonight. Opening<br />
the show at the harp, Lofgren proves<br />
himself to be a charismatic performer.<br />
Shrouded in darkness, his ageing – but just<br />
as strong – voice resonates throughout<br />
the theatre, complementing his deft harp<br />
playing. Performing alongside multiinstrumentalist<br />
Greg Varlotta, Lofgren’s<br />
show runs through his own musical history,<br />
all accompanied with anecdotes that would<br />
impress anyone: the time Janis Joplin got<br />
him drunk underage; how he shoehorned<br />
a polka beat into Southern Man aged 17;<br />
and the story behind his impromptu – and<br />
now renowned – solo in Because The Night.<br />
Though a capable enough songwriter in his
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />
37
own right, Lofgren’s real talents lie behind a<br />
guitar. His liberal use of loop pedals, reverb<br />
and other various effects belie his lack of<br />
backing band and the sound fills the venue.<br />
He has a unique playing style, wringing<br />
the notes from the neck of his guitar as he<br />
dances around the stage with the real joy of<br />
a born entertainer. But, whilst we're on the<br />
subject of dancing, it would be remiss of me<br />
to ignore the not one but two tap-dancing<br />
interludes in tonight’s performance. The<br />
show so far has not been without its fair<br />
share of mildly odd moments: the Lynchian<br />
backing synths, the quasi-awkward<br />
namedropping and THAT hat, but all of these<br />
can more or less be glossed over by the<br />
talent of his guitar work. The tap dancing,<br />
however, pushes the show into the twilight<br />
zone. Why anyone, let alone a 63-year-old<br />
with a hip replacement, would feel the need<br />
to inject a tap-dance solo into the middle of<br />
a show is beyond me. I suppose in a way it<br />
speaks volumes for Lofgren’s capacity and<br />
determination for performance though –<br />
two qualities he possesses in abundance.<br />
Dave Tate<br />
Your Bag?<br />
Catch Gretchen Peters @<br />
Epstein Theatre on 29th <strong>March</strong><br />
styles employed in the making of this truly<br />
distinctive album. As the man behind Clap!<br />
Clap!, Cristiano Crisci, begins the set, there’s<br />
a palpable air of anticipation in the room.<br />
From the beginning it’s evident that this<br />
man is a seasoned live performer: the mix is<br />
furious and propulsive, where album tracks<br />
are mixed with fevered beats and abstract<br />
samples. In an engaging palette of sonic<br />
delicacies, standout tracks The Holy Cave<br />
and Conqueror come to the surface.<br />
Every crowd member in attendance is<br />
lapping up the dynamics of the set; even<br />
those who aren’t flailing wildly seem to be<br />
mesmerised by the mesh of styles. If Tayi<br />
Bebba proves anything, it’s that the cultural<br />
diaspora of the human race can be linked.<br />
Our art, even if geographically unrelated,<br />
carries an instinctual human murmur.<br />
Tonight, Clap! Clap! nods his head towards<br />
just about every musical culture on the<br />
globe. He puts a tastefully contemporary<br />
slant on afro funk rhythms and African folk<br />
music, brings elements of electronica to the<br />
table and adds a mix of soul, hip hop, world,<br />
jazz and pop to the mix. Tonight is not just<br />
an excuse for dancing and inebriation – it’s<br />
also, in many ways, a musical education.<br />
The set grinds to an end after a good few<br />
hours of pure fun. Constellations has just<br />
witnessed a spectacle.<br />
Christopher Carr<br />
CLAP!CLAP!<br />
Ambionic Being<br />
Rebel Soul @ Constellations<br />
Your Bag?<br />
Catch Al Dobson Jr. @ 24<br />
Kitchen Street on 7th <strong>March</strong><br />
Constellations offers a welcome pocket<br />
of warmth on this icy evening as AMBIONIC<br />
BEING provides an eclectic mix of soul, funk<br />
and electronica as people file into the room.<br />
At first it seems that Ambionic is a mere<br />
house DJ; someone to greet the punters. It’s<br />
simply the tragedy of being the first act of<br />
the night: you start by playing to an empty<br />
room until it inevitably fills. Sure enough,<br />
when Constellations does start to fill up,<br />
people respond to the sounds. It’s a solid<br />
mix and a bold start to the night.<br />
The following two support DJs (Josh Ray<br />
and Trueself) follow in the footsteps of<br />
Ambionic but quicken the standard pace<br />
and don some new footwear. Odd spats<br />
of afro funk horn and drum samples enter<br />
the fray and are poured into the ears of<br />
the crowd as more bodies contort in front<br />
of the speakers. A colourful myriad of<br />
images is projected on to the walls; an apt,<br />
almost tropical, abstract complement to the<br />
dynamic mix. Both sets prove to be perfect<br />
warm-ups for what is to come.<br />
Last year’s Tayi Bebba LP from CLAP!<br />
CLAP! offered a conceptual sonic tour of<br />
a fictional island. The body of work was<br />
a novel melding of seemingly disparate<br />
genres: hip hop, pop, world, jazz, funk and<br />
dubstep were just a few of the musical<br />
THE<br />
MIDNIGHT RAMBLE<br />
Dave O’Grady – John McGrath<br />
The Unity Theatre<br />
I love gigs at The Unity. There, I said it.<br />
In fact anywhere that is also a theatre<br />
is a great place for a gig, in my opinion.<br />
Why? Simply because the space offers<br />
a completely different dimension for<br />
musicians to perform in. Some can’t handle<br />
the change of the vibe and others flourish<br />
and give a more theatrical performance. I<br />
hope tonight will be the latter. It’s a sell-out<br />
show, so that’s a good start…<br />
First up is JOHN MCGRATH, a young Irish<br />
buck armed with complex instrumentals<br />
and an array of effects pedals. The few<br />
songs he trots out from his Lanterns EP are<br />
intricate and show real skill. If he were to<br />
lay vocals over a couple of them too, I’m<br />
sure the harmonies would be delightful. As<br />
his set continues, it strikes me that we’re<br />
watching a very talented guitarist, but I’m<br />
not swept away. In fact, McGrath’s technical<br />
ability is unquestionable even if his live
40<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong> Reviews<br />
The Midnight Ramble ( Aaron McManus / ampix.co.uk)<br />
performance somewhat lacks heart. And I<br />
just can’t help but notice how lost he looks<br />
amongst all of the kit in the background.<br />
As the night rolls forward to act two, we<br />
are taken to what feels like the American<br />
Deep South: it’s DAVE O’GRADY time. The<br />
Irishman is joined on stage by a couple<br />
of stellar cohorts, including his resident<br />
harmony wonder, Mersey Wylie, and Kev<br />
Mooney (bassist to Bill Ryder-Jones, among<br />
others).<br />
O’Grady’s deep mixture of funk/blues/<br />
soul is not to everyone’s taste, but it always<br />
conjures up strong imagery of dusty roads<br />
and dark New Orleans passageways. Most<br />
of his songs tonight are from his upcoming<br />
album, Sister, full of organ-esque backing<br />
music and Led Zeppelin guitar noise. Keep<br />
an ear out for Tell Me What I Want if you<br />
enjoy any kind of sonic rendering of Hunter<br />
S. Thompson’s unique style.<br />
As O’Grady and his filthy blues scarper<br />
off the stage, it’s time for the main event,<br />
THE MIDNIGHT RAMBLE, who I haven’t<br />
seen live in over two years. I’m curious<br />
to see how their performance will have<br />
changed. The first thing that strikes me is<br />
their entrance: led on by smoke and music,<br />
they’re all dressed-up smart in black; think<br />
Reservoir Dogs without the Ray-Bans. As<br />
soon as Paul Dunbar (Vocals, Guitar) starts<br />
up, I relax into his husky voice and let the<br />
saxophone solo in Something’s Wrong<br />
carry me into the rest of their Americana<br />
vignette.<br />
They look comfortable in The Unity’s<br />
space, with a performance that is together<br />
and professional. The audience join me<br />
in revelling in several tracks from their<br />
previous album, Sink The Pieces, and their<br />
upcoming album, The Cruel Blue Sky, in<br />
a set that produces such a full sound. An<br />
a capella version of High Time, which<br />
manages to stay on the right side of<br />
barbershop quartet, is another highlight.<br />
South Paw Billy is a guttural gem, and<br />
Darkest Part Of A Moment, a song written<br />
for Paul Dunbar’s grandfather, carries a<br />
heartfelt honesty through its melody.<br />
If there’s a negative thing to say about<br />
The Midnight Ramble tonight, it’s that<br />
the space seems too small for them and<br />
their Jools Holland-style show. Fellow<br />
Jools Holland fans will love The Midnight<br />
Ramble and their mix of rock and boogie<br />
woogie.<br />
Naters P / @natersp<br />
BLACKALICIOUS<br />
Vursatyl - DJ Format<br />
Think Tank @ The Kazimier<br />
Rich in beats and with a verbal dexterity<br />
that could eclipse any poxy review written
42<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong> Reviews<br />
Blackalicous (Glyn Akroyd)<br />
about them, BLACKALICIOUS are here in<br />
Liverpool to shake the foundations of<br />
the Kazimier and promote their fourth LP,<br />
Emoni.<br />
The night starts with DJ FORMAT playing<br />
tracks that have audience members<br />
grinding, dropping and salivating for<br />
some live hip hop. Before we’re allowed<br />
to get stuck in to the main act though,<br />
we’re treated to an unexpected set from<br />
VURSATYL, a rapper whose threads and<br />
spectacles have a distinct look of Stevie<br />
Kenarban’s Dad from Malcolm In The<br />
Middle. Vursatyl’s a charming act, a skilled<br />
lyricist with deep vocals, creating the<br />
perfect hype for when Blackalicious’ MC,<br />
Gift Of Gab, carefully makes it down those<br />
high stairs to an eruption of applause.<br />
There’s only one way Blackalicious can<br />
get started and that’s with a vocal aerobics<br />
exercise: you know it, the one recently<br />
rejuvenated by a scarred-up wizard on<br />
Jimmy Fallon. Alphabet Aerobics live is<br />
likely to leave most with their mouths<br />
wide open, and as the tempo increases<br />
they only get wider. So many words, so<br />
little time – all expertly delivered and<br />
clearly enunciated.<br />
Gift of Gab stands more modestly than<br />
many hip hop acts. He doesn’t pour Wild<br />
Turkey down fans’ shirts, he doesn’t have<br />
a swagger that draws attention, just a<br />
simple confidence that he is going to lay<br />
shit down and you are going to listen.<br />
He calls the crowd “Crazy ass Scousers”,<br />
who love the small recognition of local<br />
culture, and goes on to tell how “his man”<br />
Chris (Durham-born Chris Tyler, one of<br />
the night’s promoters) said “Liverpool is<br />
ghetto as fuck”. Now, do that in a Geordie<br />
accent and try not to grin.<br />
Youthful hype-men Vursatyl and Jumbo<br />
The Garbageman fill in when Gab takes<br />
a break, but he’s not all puffed out. Gab<br />
may not be as fit as he used to be, but<br />
he’s still able to rock a Freddie-Mercuryat-Wembley<br />
style “day-oh” intro to fanfavourite<br />
Deception.<br />
Make You Feel That Way and Swan Lake<br />
receive warm receptions before Gift Of Gab<br />
shows his true genius by launching into a<br />
freestyle finish, the likes of which will be<br />
hard to forget. Speaking at a million miles<br />
an hour, his face jiggling with a G-Force<br />
similar to what is experienced by fighter<br />
jet pilots, Gab shows that, for a big guy,<br />
he’s still lightning fast.<br />
As the show reaches its climax, the<br />
group encourage what turns out to be a<br />
pretty awful stage invasion, cut short from<br />
the moment it begins for fear of the decks<br />
getting knocked over. Their hellraising
44<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong> Reviews<br />
days may well be behind them, but<br />
Blackalicious prove that an act that are<br />
getting on a bit but can still put on one<br />
helluva show.<br />
Howl Rama<br />
THE WAVE PICTURES<br />
Sugarmen<br />
Harvest Sun and Bam!Bam!Bam!<br />
@ The Kazimier<br />
With their slicked-back hair, leather<br />
jackets and rolled-up Strummer sleeves,<br />
you can guess what SUGARMEN are<br />
all about before they strike a chord.<br />
They are a coiled spring of a band that<br />
unleash every ounce of their garage rock<br />
stormers with unharnessed exuberance.<br />
Looks-wise, lead singer Luke Fenlon<br />
is an exact amalgamation of the<br />
aforementioned Clash frontman and<br />
a young Bob Dylan – and sure enough<br />
these are songs which take direct aim<br />
at ‘the man’ but with enough passion to<br />
forgive any cringe-inducing lyric.<br />
While Sugarmen obviously have<br />
enough commitment and sincerity, there<br />
is no mistaking where their ambitions<br />
lie. Every song catches the impressed<br />
Kazimier crowd with at least a couple<br />
of sizeable hooks, paired with anthemic<br />
choruses that are destined to be sang<br />
back to them from front rows of arena<br />
crowds. It’s a different story, however,<br />
when considering tonight’s main event.<br />
THE WAVE PICTURES have been around<br />
for six years prolifically churning out<br />
enchanting, off-beat indie gems which<br />
subvert genre and are packed with<br />
imagination and charisma. By rights,<br />
they should be where Sugarmen think<br />
they are: Wembley Arena. But they’re<br />
not, despite loyal commitment from the<br />
likes of 6 Music aficionado Marc Riley;<br />
they remain in the shadowy realm of the<br />
cultish. Their cult following is faithfully<br />
represented tonight by a mixture of the<br />
young and decidedly middle-aged.<br />
It is perhaps The Waves Pictures’ postpunk<br />
stylings which attract the yonder<br />
end of the age range this evening,<br />
but there is much more to love. Their<br />
latest album – featuring another figure<br />
who embodies the qualities of cult,<br />
Billy Childish – is well represented<br />
tonight. Opener Pea Green Coat piles<br />
surreal image upon surreal image over<br />
a wonky garage rock hook; and I Can<br />
Hear the Telephone (3 Floors Above Me)<br />
is introduced by singer David Tattersall<br />
with typical tongue-in-cheek selfdeprecation<br />
as currently “storming up<br />
the charts”.<br />
Bassist Franic Rozycki remains silent<br />
throughout while Tattersall and drummer<br />
The Wave Pictures (Glyn Akroyd)<br />
Jonny Helm exchange engaging<br />
between-song anecdotes. There’s clearly<br />
a lot of love in the room for the Londonbased<br />
three-piece and this is expressed<br />
most vociferously in the reception for<br />
Friday Night In Loughborough from the<br />
2008 debut album Instant Coffee Baby.<br />
This vignette of small town England<br />
offers an excellent example of how The<br />
Wave Pictures fit nicely into a lineage of<br />
The Kinks, Scritti Politti and The Smiths.<br />
Helm steps from behind the kits for<br />
the oddly touching Sleepy Eye in which<br />
he moves away from the mic and sings<br />
a cappella – the song fitting into the<br />
set, Tattersall claims, to demonstrate<br />
that the band aren’t all about “macho<br />
rock”. It’s clear The Wave Pictures are<br />
as comfortable as Tattersall’s ill-fitting<br />
slacks in their place on the fringes and<br />
their call of “see you again” is met with<br />
glee by their devoted cult following, of<br />
whom I am now glad to be a part.<br />
Sam Turner / @samturner1984<br />
Your Bag?<br />
Catch The Readymades @<br />
Leaf on 19th <strong>March</strong>
46<br />
Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong> Reviews<br />
DIGGING A LITTLE DEEPER<br />
with Dig Vinyl<br />
Bold Street’s latest wax junkies DIG VINYL know a thing or two about the weird and wonderful<br />
depths of people’s record collections, and each month they’ll be rifling through their racks and<br />
picking out four of their favourite in-stock records. Keep digging…<br />
ELIVIS PRESLEY<br />
ELVIS PRESLEY<br />
What can we say about this, the record that propelled an exarmy<br />
private to the first global superstar of rock and roll? The album<br />
that defined a genre spent ten weeks at the top of the US charts<br />
and made pop music THE big player in the major labels industry.<br />
In the year of what would have been ELVIS’ 80th birthday, we’re<br />
privileged to stock a HMV first UK press of this masterpiece. With a<br />
sleeve that has been echoed on other album covers for decades, and is as timelessly iconic as the<br />
man himself, this is a true statement piece that should command a place on any collector’s shelf.<br />
Long live The King!<br />
THE<br />
FINAL<br />
SAY<br />
Words: Emma Brady / @emmabraydee<br />
Illustration: Christian Davies<br />
On Thursday 7th May our country will be taking to the ballot boxes and polling stations for a<br />
general election that many are viewing as the most important for many years. Faced with the<br />
prospect of a hung parliament and five more years of coalition rule, we think the time is ripe for us to<br />
re-consider the value of our individual voices. Emma Brady gives us her thoughts on why we should<br />
make our votes count this time round.<br />
HORACE SILVER<br />
HORACE SILVER AND THE JAZZ MESSENGERS<br />
This 1955 Blue Note Records release was an essential<br />
milestone in the formation of the hard bop style that became<br />
such an important part of American jazz. The genre had started<br />
to become exclusively associated with intellectuals and those of<br />
high social standing, but HORACE SILVER and his quartet played a<br />
huge part in returning jazz to its gutbucket bar room roots whilst<br />
still ensuring evolution in a new direction. This bluesy classic is packed full of soul, and is an<br />
aural delight that will never age.<br />
STEREOLAB<br />
ALUMINIUM TUNES<br />
This double album of EPs and rarities from the post-rock<br />
pioneers has something for new and hardcore fans alike.<br />
Cataloguing the band’s early and formative years from 1990 to<br />
1998, it serves as an ideal introduction to the group’s motorik<br />
lounge synth sound, and has enough hidden gems to keep<br />
the most avid listener hooked. Vocalist and keyboardist Lætitia<br />
Sadier’s French roots weave into STEREOLAB’s sound, one that is dreamily reminiscent of 60s<br />
yé-yé pop. We love their use of vintage Moog synthesisers too – keeping the old sounds alive!<br />
THE MONKS<br />
BLACK MONK TIME<br />
Retrospectively described as “the first punk record” and “a<br />
missing link of alternative music history”, this now-legendary<br />
album is the godfather of garage rock. As American GIs stationed<br />
in Germany, the group had little need to clean up the record’s<br />
riotous musical discordance as The Beatles and other commercial<br />
hits of the time had to after returning home from European tours.<br />
The result is a hard-hitting and still unique unity of proto-punk power beats, sliding krautrock<br />
bass and counter-culture sermons delivered by a satanic Beach Boys. Radical for its time and still<br />
inspiring new musicians worldwide, this sometimes nightmarish, always unpredictable classic<br />
deserves a place in any collection.<br />
Head to bidolito.co.uk now to stream the latest Dig Vinyl Podcast, featuring a mixture of new,<br />
old and half-forgotten classics.<br />
I have to stop myself screaming every<br />
time I hear someone say they won't vote in<br />
the upcoming general election. Every time I<br />
hear another case of under-excused political<br />
apathy, I think of our loved ones under NHS<br />
care: a bandage that won't quite stretch, a<br />
level of care that falls short of peace of<br />
mind. I think of children fed from food banks,<br />
libraries closing down. All the while, the<br />
older Labour-voting members of my family<br />
will lament the lack of money in the system.<br />
But no, there's plenty of money. The bankers<br />
intermingling far too comfortably with the<br />
politicians who make these decisions, they<br />
have plenty of money. It's enough to make<br />
you incensed. Incensed enough to vote.<br />
They, the richest in our country, hope<br />
that we believe this charade, that there's<br />
no money in the system. They rely on us to<br />
be dumb. The division between the rich and<br />
poor, how this appears to be consensus,<br />
how confounding this is – they're counting<br />
on us to give up. Meanwhile, emerging leftwing<br />
parties Syriza and Podemos, in Greece<br />
and Spain respectively, are the loudest<br />
voices there. They are heard when they say<br />
that austerity isn't necessary, isn't working,<br />
isn't fair. The consternation amongst<br />
Spaniards is coming from the same place<br />
in which our own fears lie, but there's little<br />
emergence of a coordinated leftist response<br />
in this country – our beautiful, fragile NHS<br />
is being dismantled and we're not out in<br />
the streets, right now, shouting about it.<br />
And that time that we did, the broadcasting<br />
company we own barely reported it. It does<br />
feel impossible. But holding government to<br />
account doesn't stop at the ballot box – it<br />
turns into paying attention, understanding<br />
the system a little more, imploring your MP<br />
to attend parliamentary votes.<br />
In Liverpool we have our roots in leftwing<br />
political activism, with a strong social<br />
conscience. But I checked – an alarming<br />
number of people voted for Ukip in the<br />
last European election (they received<br />
27.4% of the North West vote – from a<br />
33.5% turnout.) Ukip’s cavalier attitude to<br />
women’s issues is alarming, even if they<br />
have now parted company with former<br />
whip Godfrey Bloom, who wanted to leave<br />
it up to individual employers whether or<br />
not they offer maternity leave. It doesn’t get<br />
much better for the Conservatives, whose<br />
employment minister Esther McVey, MP for<br />
Wirral West, was embroiled in a row about<br />
the link between benefit sanctions and the<br />
deaths of people like David Clapson, who<br />
died because sanctions meant he couldn't<br />
pay for the electricity that kept his insulin<br />
refrigerated. I sometimes imagine that Ukip<br />
was created by the Tories to make them<br />
look good. But they're real, and people<br />
support their rhetoric that the only way we<br />
can move forward is to remove that which<br />
helps the most vulnerable people in society,<br />
as well as the immigrant population. There<br />
are people in this country who believe that<br />
immigrants, not bankers, have destroyed<br />
their entitlement to comfortable living. So<br />
you have to vote, because they will. We<br />
love our NHS, our children, our women, our<br />
elderly, and our disadvantaged. We have to<br />
vote, for them. As compassionate people, we<br />
have to win this election.<br />
If you’ve not registered to vote in the General<br />
Election on 7th May, sign up now at gov.uk/<br />
register-to-vote.