Issue 44 / May 2014

FREE 

Issue 44 

May 2014 

We Came Out Like Tigers by Adam Akins 

We Came Out 

Like Tigers 

Liverpool Sound 

City Preview 

Hooton Tennis Club 

Glossom

Bido Lito! May 2014 3 

Editorial 

They say never meet your heroes, and I have to admit that I was a little cautious when I 

stepped in to a room of former Tranmere greats the other night. A selection of ex-Rovers players 

were convened in honour of our legendary manager Johnny King, who led us from the pits of 

anonymity to the brink of the Premier League and its bright lights and piles of cash. Now, some 

of you won’t know (or even care) about Kingy’s heroics in turning a bunch of journeymen pros 

in to a swashbuckling team that captured the imagination of a seven-year-old me, and I’m not 

going to bore you with the details now. Suffice to say, Kingy and his ’93-’94 team of Coca-Cola 

Cup and Division One Play-Off semi-finalists will always hold a fond place in my heart. 

The event, hosted by the Tranmere Supporters Trust, brought some of the players from 

that halcyon era together to honour ‘the gaffer’, and to raise funds for a bronze statue of 

the great man (which will be placed outside Prenton Park next season). I’ve no shame in 

admitting that I was welling up when Kingy entered the room to a standing ovation from the 

fans, flanked by two of his former protégés – Ian Muir 

and Pat Nevin. And I couldn’t pass up the chance to rub 

shoulders with these characters either, many of whom 

I pretended to be during back garden kick-arounds 

with my brothers (sadly stopped in 2008): Steve ‘The 

Headmaster’ Vickers, still consummately cool and now 

working in corporate entertainment at Middlesbrough; 

the wily Muiry, Tranmere’s top goalscorer of all-time, who stayed late in to the night to pose 

for photos with virtually everyone; Dave Higgins, who chatted to my Dad like an old mate 

(nice one Higgy); and countless others. 

And then the night’s guest speaker, former Scotland international and BBC Radio 5 Live 

presenter Pat Nevin, came and plonked himself down next to Craig and myself. Long-time 

readers of Bido Lito! may be aware of Pat’s erudite charms and impeccable taste in music 

from the interview we did with him in Issue 23 (June 2012), and so will be able to appreciate 

the regard in which he is held by some at Bido HQ. The wing wizard hadn’t dropped in to dish 

out platitudes on an aimless circuit of tables; instead, he came to talk music, specifically the 

playlist we’d put together for the evening’s entertainment. I can’t quite remember if it was 

Camera Obscura’s Swans or Pink Industry’s Don’t Let Go that piqued Pat’s interest, but it did 

spark a 15-minute conversation that took in Cocteau Twins, Simple Minds, U2, and whether or 

not Future Islands frontman Samuel T. Herring was putting it on or not during that Letterman 

performance (which I’m sure Dr Marc Fadden will be able to explain in fine detail…). We could 

have carried on all night. 

Characters like this - Nevin and Muir, Higgy and Vicks, Mungy, Eddie Bishop and all those 

who attended the event - are fast-becoming a rare thing in football, as overly protective 

clubs squeeze any bit of independent thought from their commodities in case they drop 

them in it in a post-match interview. This is probably why I was so made up to share a few 

words with them. And the reason why I’m prepared to make a small adjustment to that old 

adage: never meet your heroes, unless they’ve got great taste in music. 

May brings with it the annual music gluttony that is Liverpool Sound City and the start 

of festival season, which we’re looking forward to immensely again this year. We’ve tried to 

pick out some highlights for you from this year’s bill, in our preview on page 10, but you’ll no 

doubt be charting your own route through the three days of thrills and spills. See you on the 

other side, however you get there. 

Christopher Torpey / @BidoLito 

Editor 

Features 

6 

WE CAME OUT LIKE TIGERS 

8 

HOOTON TENNIS CLUB 

10 LIVERPOOL SOUND 

CITY 2014 PREVIEW 

12 

14 

16 

GLOSSOM 

HELIOCENTRIC 

THE VIPER LABEL 

Regulars 

4 NEWS 

18 

PREVIEWS/SHORTS 

20 

REVIEWS 

Bido Lito! 

Issue Forty Four / May 2014 

bidolito.co.uk 

4th Floor, Mello Mello, 40-42 Slater St, Liverpool, L1 4BX 

Editor 

Christopher Torpey - chris@bidolito.co.uk 

Editor-In-Chief / Publisher 

Craig G Pennington - info@bidolito.co.uk 

Reviews Editor 

Sam Turner - live@bidolito.co.uk 

Online Editor 

Flossie Easthope - flossie@bidolito.co.uk 

Designer 

Luke Avery - info@luke-avery.com 

Proofreading 

Debra Williams - debra@wordsanddeeds.co.uk 

Interns 

Hannah McEvoy, Ryan McElroy 

Words 

Christopher Torpey, Craig G Pennington, Will Fitzpatrick, 

Sam Turner, Joshua Potts, Alastair Dunn, Laurie Cheeseman, 

Ryan McElroy, Richard Lewis, Flossie Easthope, Josh 

Nevett, Josh Ray, Maurice Stewart, Dave Tate, Jessie Main, 

John Wise, Patrick Clarke. 

Photography, Illustration and Layout 

Luke Avery, Adam Akins, Nata Moraru, Hannah Cassidy, Keith 

Ainsworth, Tom Horton, Robin Clewley, Aaron McManus, 

Gaz Jones. 

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To advertise please contact ads@bidolito.co.uk 

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The views expressed in Bido Lito! are those of the respective contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the magazine, its staff or the publishers. All rights reserved. 

T 

WOODEN SHJIPS ------------- SPECTRUM ------------- SUUNS ------------- HOOKWORMS ------------- DISAPPEARS 

THE GROWLERS -------------- FÖLLAKZOID ---------------- PINK MOUNTAINTOPS --------------- TERAKAFT --------------- 

NIGHT BEATS ---------------- ELEPHANT STONE ---------------- MUGSTAR + MANY MORE ---------------------------------------------- 

6 + 7 JUNE 2014 

EindhovenPsychLab.com

News 

LightNight Switches On 

Proving that it’s a city that never sleeps, Liverpool plays host to the fifth annual LIGHTNIGHT festival on Friday 16th May for a 

one-night creative crawl across the city’s world class cultural offerings. The family-friendly event scopes through our museums, 

galleries and heritage sites and will be a celebration of all things art and culture via over one hundred special events. This includes 

spectacular light projections, street performances, tours, open studios and more. Fun-seekers can partake in LightNight until late 

into the night, which, wonderfully, will be free for all. Full details of this year’s events can be found at lightnightliverpool.co.uk 

X&Y Line-up Announced 

Entering its third year as a key festival for showcasing the cream of up-and-coming band crops, X&Y FESTIVAL have announced their 

latest acts due to perform in the newly renovated Liverpool Guild of Students on 11th July. Headliners HALF MOON RUN are to be 

joined by MATTHEW AND THE ATLAS, THE FAMILY RAIN (pictured), THE LITTLE COMETS, LAURA AQUILINA, CATFISH AND THE BOTTLEMEN, 

TEAR TALK, NATALIE McCOOL, BROKEN MEN, BLACK MOUNTAIN LIGHTS and RUN TIGER RUN. With many other bands to be announced 

to play across four stages, as well as a host of DJs and local talent, keep your eyes on facebook.com/xyfestival for updates. 

The Sundowners Dose Up On Medicine 

Hot on our radar this month are Wirral quintet THE SUNDOWNERS, as they release their latest EP Medicine on Skeleton Key 

Records. Recorded during sessions for their upcoming debut album at Parr St Studios with The Coral's James and Ian Skelly, it 

certainly bodes well for the band this year. Featuring title track Medicine alongside Back To You, Hunter and I Don’t Need You, the 

EP will be available on 7” and download on 12th May. The band also played live in session for last month’s Bido Lito! Podcast. You 

can see videos from the session now at bidolito.co.uk 

Dig Vinyl Mix 

The first of our monthly mixes from the vinyl aficionados at DIG VINYL is streaming now over at bidolito.co.uk, including sounds from 

MILES DAVIS, OMD and YOUNGHUSBAND (pictured). The recently-opened store, in the basement of Soho’s on Bold Street, specialises 

in a wide range of second-hand vinyl and sealed re-presses including indie, alternative, soul, funk, punk and much more. We’ll be 

bringing you a mix from Dig each month featuring some of the great records from the shop’s racks. On top of that, the Dig crate 

diggers will be writing us a monthly column in the mag highlighting some of their favourite bits of stock. facebook.com/DigVinyl 

GIT Award Winners 

The GIT Award Show 2014 stormed The Kazimier in April with a celebration of Liverpool’s thriving music scene. Taking the crown 

this year was FOREST SWORDS, AKA Wirral musician Matthew Barnes (pictured) who, although unable to attend the event itself, 

sent a word of thanks via the legendary Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry in his video acceptance speech. AFRICA OYÉ scooped the Inspiration 

Award for over twenty years of hard work in uniting a community, and LÅPSLEY was acknowledged as the first winner of the new 

One To Watch title. Head to bidolito.co.uk 

now to see a photo gallery from the event. 

Bido Lito! Dansette 

Our pick of this month's fresh wax cuts... 

Future Islands 

Singles 

4AD 

After their Letterman appearance went 

viral, FUTURE ISLANDS come out swinging 

with an album every hipster this side 

of Dalston has been championing. 

Lead singer Samuel T. Herring’s vocal 

ranging from Leonard Cohen croak to 

Americana pop croon to screamo on Fall 

From Grace, gives the happy-go-lucky 

disco punk sound a new slant at every 

turn. Listenable to excess. 

Sunstack Jones 

Bet I Could 

EIGHTIES VINYL RECORDS 

SUNSTACK JONES skip back in to our 

gaze in winsome fashion with the 

double header of Bet I Could b/w Whole 

Lot More ahead of a full album in the 

autumn. With echoes of Cults’ debut LP 

in the background, Bet I Could is laced 

with warm shimmers that will have you 

pining for the outdoors. Who said the 

sun ever went away? 

Antemasque 

4AM 

NADIE SOUNDS 

COMPETITION! 

Liverpool Psych Fest New Announcements 

Between the 26th and 27th September, Liverpool sees the return of its INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF PSYCHEDELIA at Camp And Furnace. 

Placing Liverpool on a global platform, the festival enters its third year, fast-rooting itself as a cultural landmark for the city. Latest acts 

to be announced on the diverse line-up are WOODS, SUUNS (pictured), WHITE HILLS, AMEN DUNES, WOLF PEOPLE and SLEEPY SUN, who 

join GOAT and HILLS on the bill. Teamed with a programme of non-music attractions, Psych Fest promises drone worship and expanded 

minds in abundance to its galactic following. Weekend tickets are already flying out, on sale now from liverpoolpsychfest.com 

FARM FEAST, a delicious spread of food, music, drinking and farming escapades, takes over Wirral’s Claremont Farm this 

Spring Bank Holiday (25th-26th May) and we’re giving away a pair of tickets to the weekend event. 

Farm Feast itself offers a massive range of attractions for all ages over its lush green fields, such as a Beer and Cider Festival, 

as well as Liverpool’s renowned secret speakeasy Berry and Rye purveying its luxury menu of cocktails. For foodies, there’s an 

international street market, a chilli eating competition and a chef demo stage for those looking to improve their culinary skills. 

There is also a festival-style aspect to the weekend’s live music offering, coming in the form of LIVESTOCK. Running from 7pm to 11pm on Sunday night, Livestock 

will feature performances from Joy Division and New Order’s PETER HOOK and his band THE LIGHT, as well as STEALING SHEEP and DAN CROLL (head over to page 

18 to read a full preview of the event’s musical offerings). All you have to do for a chance to win tickets to this jam-packed event is answer the question below: 

Where did New Order originate? a) Salford b) Sheffield c) Brighton 

To enter, email your answer to competition@bidolito.co.uk 

by 5pm on 19th May. All correct answers will be placed into the big pink bowl with the 

winner picked at random and notified by email. Good luck! 

Ex-Mars Volta and At The Drive-In fro 

bros Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric 

Bixler-Zavala are back with new outfit 

ANTEMASQUE, also featuring RHCP's 

Flea. 4AM, the first single from their 

upcoming self-titled debut album, is 

exactly what you'd expect from the 

duo: a bold sonic clout of spunky riffs 

and frenetic vocals that'll rock socks 

and then some. 

School Of Language 

Old Fears 

MEMPHIS INDUSTRIES 

The solo project of David Brewis of Field 

Music brings with it staggered, stopstart 

vocals and musical layering and 

an arty unpretentiousness reminiscent 

of Talking Heads or fellow Mackems The 

Futureheads. A mix of late-80s synths and 

jangly guitars, Old Fears makes us want 

to be an anxious student basking in the 

joys of pound-a-pint again. 

bidolito.co.uk

facebook.com/o2academyliverpool 

twitter.com/o2academylpool 

instagram.com/o2academyliverpool 

youtube.com/o2academytv 

Sat 19th Apr • £8 adv 

The Hummingbirds 

+ Sugarmen + Eleanor Nelly 

Fri 25th Apr • £12 adv 

Green Date 

Official Green Day Tribute Band 

Fri 2nd May • £6 adv 

6.30pm 

Elephant & Castle 

+ Book For Sunday 

Fri 2nd May • £14 adv 

11pm - 5am • over 18s only 

Horizon Bank 

Holiday Special 

ft. Radium + The Melodyst 

(UK Exclusive) + Big Worm 

+ Soul Destroyer B2B Disturbia 

+ Extremist B2B Conspiracy 

Sat 3rd May • £22.50 adv 

Fish A Moveable Feast Tour 

Sat 3rd May • £17.50 adv 

Andrew Strong 

Wed 7th May • £16.50 adv 

Martin Stephenson 

& The Daintees 

+ Helen McCookerybook 

Thurs 8th May • £10 adv 

Moulettes + Sally Pepper 

Fri 9th May 

Embrace 

Sat 10th May • £10 adv 

Kazabian (Kasabian Tribute) 

Tues 13th May • £13.50 adv 

The Wonder Years 

+ A Loss For Words + State Champs 

Weds 14th May • £15 adv 

Hank Wangford 

& the Lost Cowboys 

‘Waltzing With Wangford 2014’ 

Fri 16th May • £6 adv 

The Usual Crowd 

EP Launch 

+ Indigo Violet 

+ Factory 

Sat 17th May • £10 adv 

Guns2Roses 

Fri 23rd May • £10 adv 

Bury Tomorrow 

Weds 28th May • £9 adv 

The Riptide Movement 

Sat 31st May • £20 adv 

The Rutles 

Sun 1st Jun • £19.50 adv 

Paul Heaton and 

Jacqui Abbott 

Sat 7th Jun • £16 adv 

Silicon Dreams 2014 

ft. Tenek + Vile Electrodes 

+ Northern Kind + Future Perfect 

+ DJs Tracey ‘Electric Dream’ 

McKenzie (Bedsitland London) 

+ Dave Charles (Harborough FM) 

Sat 7th Jun • £15 adv 

9pm • over 21s only 

Drome 

ft. Ultra-Sonic + DJ Trix 

+ MC Cyanide + DJ Nibbs 

+ DJ Rob & MC Cutter 

Tues 17th Jun • £8 adv 

Andy Jordan 

Fri 20th Jun • £10 adv 

The Real People 

Tues 1st Jul • £15 adv 

Heaven & Earth 

+ M.ill.ion 

Sun 6th Jul • £15 adv 

Bam Margera’s 

F**kface Unstoppable 

Tues 8th Jul • £18 adv 

Dropkick Murphys 

Sat 12th Jul • £6 adv 

Catalyst 

Sun 20th Jul • £28.50 adv 

Steven Seagal’s 

Blues Band 

Fri 1st Aug • £13 adv 

The Blackout 

+ Pavilions + Buckle Tongue 

Sat 2nd Aug • £14.50 adv 

Reel Big Fish 

Sat 30th Aug • £7.50 adv 

The Connor Harris Launch 

Sat 30th Aug • £12.50 adv 

Mordred 

Sat 6th Sept • £10 adv 

Pearl Jem 

Thurs 11th Sept • £17 adv 

Jesus Jones - Doubt Tour 

Fri 12th Sept • £10 adv 

Definitely Mightbe 

(Oasis Tribute) 20 Year Celebration, 

performing Definitely Maybe in full 

followed by greatest hits 

Thurs 25th Sept • £15 adv 

Primal Fear 

+ Chrome Molly 

Fri 10th Oct • £14 adv 

Kids In Glass Houses 

Fri 17th Oct • £16 adv 

Hawklords 

Sat 18th Oct • £15 adv 

The Carpet Crawlers 

Performing ‘Genesis - The Lamb Lies 

Down On Broadway’ - 40th Anniversary 

Sat 1st Nov • £18.50 adv 

Gong 

Tues 4th Nov • £16.50 adv 

The War On Drugs 

Weds 5th Nov • £17.50 adv 

Band Of Skulls 

Sat 8th Nov • £10 adv 

UK Foo Fighters 

Fri 14th Nov • £10 adv 

Antarctic Monkeys 

Sat 15th Nov • £12 adv 

8pm - 1am • over 18s only 

Quadrophenia Night 

Thurs 20th Nov • £18.50 adv 

6pm 

Pop Punks Not Dead 

ft. New Found Glory 

+ The Story So Far 

+ Candy Hearts + Only Rivals 

Fri 21st Nov • £14 adv 

Absolute Bowie 

Sat 22nd Nov • £11 adv 

The Smyths 

30th Anniversary of Hatful Of Hollow - 

The seminal album played in its entirety 

Fri 28th Nov • £11.50 adv 

The Doors Alive 

Mon 1st Dec • £18.50 adv 

Rescheduled show • original tickets valid 

Professor Green 

Weds 3rd Dec • £15 adv 

Graham Bonnet 

Catch The Rainbow Tour 

Thurs 4th Dec • £12 adv 

Electric Six 

Sat 20th Dec • £20 adv 

Cast 

Tues 8th July • £18 adv 

Dropkick Murphys 

Sun 20th July • £28.50 adv 

Steven Seagal’s 

Blues Band 

Tues 4th Nov • £16.50 adv 

The War On Drugs 

o2academyliverpool.co.uk 

11-13 Hotham Street, Liverpool L3 5UF • Doors 7pm unless stated 

Venue box office opening hours: Mon - Sat 11.30am - 5.30pm • No booking fee on cash transactions 

ticketweb.co.uk • seetickets.com • gigantic.com • ticketmaster.co.uk

Words: Will Fitzpatrick / @willfitzpophack 

Photography: Adam Akins / adamakins.com

Celebrate good times? Ah, come on. Sure, things feel pretty good 

in Liverpool right now: at the time of writing, Forest Swords has just 

collected the GIT Award to national acclaim, a summer ripe with festival 

treats stretches before us and, hey, both of the city’s football teams are 

positively resurgent. But unless you’ve been holed up in a particularly 

well-sealed cave for the last few years, you’ll surely be aware that the 

bigger picture is distinctly less rosy. Jobs are scarce. Food banks are rife 

and, tragically, necessarily so. Our essentially unelected Prime Minister, 

champion of benefit cuts and big business tax breaks, believes he is 

doing the work of a god whose own acolytes depict him as an invisible 

sky man who sticks to earthly concepts of work and weekends whilst 

fashioning the entirety of existence. 

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, of course; if the BNP’s electoral 

successes of 2009 taught us anything, it’s that we should be extremely 

concerned about Nigel Farage’s increased media profile. Indeed, it 

almost feels selfish to indulge in relatively trivial pastimes like pop 

music right now. If music is ever going to mean anything, it should at 

least have the decency to reflect and confront the reality of the times 

we live in. Because right now Britain is dark. It is angry. It is sad. Right 

now, no Liverpool band is engaging with those truths more explicitly 

than WE CAME OUT LIKE TIGERS. 

“To me this record feels like an achievement.” Bassist Mykle ‘Ollie’ 

Smith is discussing his band’s new EP – twenty-four minutes of rawragged 

hardcore known as Ever-Crushed At Pecket’s Well. It is, quite 

simply, raging. “It feels like a real statement of intent. It’s angry, it’s 

fast, it’s heavy, and slow and pastoral, and it’s stark as well.” 

Vocalist/violinist Simon Barr continues: “On the last record [2012’s 

Agelessness And Lack] I think we were trying to play a style of music 

we weren’t good enough at. This time I think we’ve finally managed 

to do it right.” He’s certainly right about the latter: WCOLT’s searing, 

intense take on punk rock is nothing if not eclectic, drawing from black 

metal, screamo and post-rock dynamics. No punches are pulled and no 

skies remain unscraped by their towering intensity. If it earns them the 

epithet ‘emotional hardcore’, then that’s fair enough – an explanationcum-manifesto 

on the band’s website describes their new collection 

as “the angriest, saddest songs we have ever written.” It’s strange to 

see those two emotional states used to convey a position of strength, 

I suggest. A pensive Simon pauses for a second: “I don’t think any 

emotion is black and white. A lot of the record is sad and angry about 

the same thing – the state of capitalism in the world at the moment, 

and the terrible things we have to live with. I guess I’m angry because 

they make me sad as well. It’s good to feel strong emotions and it’s 

good to be passionate – and it’s good to be angry.” 

The manifesto also points the finger at the current state of punk 

rock, calling out unnamed bands that “fawn over pornographers” 

in exchange for appearances in nu-emo lad mags whilst apparently 

seeing no irony in paying lip service to a safe-space-focussed 

radicalism. It’s difficult not to interpret that as a sense of disillusion, 

although guitarist Fabian Devlin immediately disagrees. “We don’t feel 

let down by hardcore or punk, because there’s so many positive people 

involved in it,” he says, fixing me with a fiery, unblinking stare. “It’s just 

disappointing to be let down by the people who – you think – think the 

same as you, and find people behaving in ways that are the complete 

opposite of what you think’s acceptable.” “At the minute,” nods Ollie, 

“hardcore’s more of a fashion statement than a group of ideals that 

people live their lives by.” 

So has punk’s ostensibly political core been worn away by 

apathy? Again, Fabian doesn’t hesitate. “I think complacency is 

as dangerous as apathy. To assume that everybody in the room is 

anti-capitalist and anti-fascist, against sexism and patriarchy… it’s an 

incredibly dangerous thing to do, because you have to continually 

reinforce those ideas. As soon as you let one thing slide, you can 

lose everything.” 

“There’s a huge problem with liberalism being reinterpreted as 

radicalism,” continues Fabian. “You see it on the internet all the time, 

where people say ‘I have my opinion and you have yours, let’s all get 

along’. That’s bullshit! If your opinion is that it’s OK to exploit people, 

then you’re not fucking welcome at punk shows! It’s as simple as that!” 

To some, this will no doubt seem little more than small-scene dogma; 

a puritanical, exclusionary attitude propped up by student politics. But 

to the trio of close friends at the heart of We Came Out Like Tigers, this 

is about far more than ill-considered poses and transitory ideals. This 

is a way of life. They believe in punk rock because it nurtured them 

and provided them with an ever-growing network of friends and likeminded 

souls. It’s afforded them the opportunity to travel the UK and 

Europe, to spaces where these codified principles are not designed as 

rhetorical bullshit, but as conduits for a more egalitarian way of living. 

Disagree with ‘em all you want, but you can’t knock their conviction. 

“We talk a lot about single-issue politics,” explains Simon, shedding 

some light on the frequent intra-band exchanges of ideas. “Like just 

being a feminist, or just 

being into animal rights. I think punks often 

have the façade of being switched on – like you can be vegan, or straight 

edge – but when you look into why those things are happening, they’re 

just not looking at all. It’s cool that we have a DIY scene, but the DIY 

scene should be a place we can organise to make the world better. I 

believe in punk!” 

Surely this sense of frustration must leave the band feeling isolated 

from the vast majority of their musical peers, though? The singer 

laughs warmly. “It’s not my every waking thought. You have different 

friends for different situations; I have friends that I like to be around 

who don’t talk about politics. You can’t be angry all the fucking time, 

and you can’t just define who you are as being angry about things. You 

still have to find beauty and joy and love in life.” Fabian nods. “One 

thing punk rock has is that sense of community, and you gain so much 

from that. There’s no denying that.” 

Perhaps this underlying positivity, hidden though it may be under 

larynx-lacerating screams and crushingly bleak guitar scree, is what 

makes WCOLT such an exhilarating joy: that barely perceptible mote 

of optimism that separates them from the cry-wanking legions of 

faux-punk moaners, indicating that their sadness and anger come not 

from a place of narcissistic self-immolation, but rather a sincere belief 

that things could and should be better. It’s certainly borne out by the 

band’s endless sense of determination, as Simon sums up: “It’s hard 

sometimes, there’s so many obstacles [to overcome] to keep your 

band going. But no matter how hard it gets I’m adamant that I wanna 

play punk rock. I wanna do that for a long time. It’s not just a hobby. I 

feel like we’re just getting going.” 

So listen to Ever-Crushed At Pecket’s Well. Soak it up. Feel it seep in. 

Amidst all the darkness it so adroitly reflects, let that sense of hope 

take root. Then tell yourself: this is only the beginning. 

Ever-Crushed At Pecket’s Well is out now via Dog Knights 

Productions. 

wecameoutliketigers.co.uk

8 

Bido Lito! May 2014 

HOOTON TENNIS CLUB 

Words: Joshua Potts 

Photography: Nata Moraru / natamoraru.tumblr.com 

Overthinking is overrated. Why pick the ego of artistry when 

your mates have a bedroom, an eight-track and a handful of 

references? I’m sitting at a table with a pint, looking at a photo of 

Hooton Street’s completely unremarkable street sign. “I like the 

Os,” says Callum McFadden. It’s an everyday object, yet it’s one 

that now means more thanks to the innocuous simplicity that 

made it appealing in the first place to a band that shun pretension. 

Welcome to the world of HOOTON TENNIS CLUB, where normality 

is certainly different. 

McFadden, along with his three band mates, is almost a life-long 

member of this little club. He met James Madden on the first day 

of primary school, where they became “little buddies” and have 

remained so through the geographical demands that come with 

growing up and moving on. It’s a sign of how well these guys know 

each other that it seems redundant to ask many questions; their 

answers spill over each other wildly as they breeze over topics with 

a wry smile, self-aware enough to be a little astounded at how so 

much momentum has developed from a knock-around project. 

As knock-around projects go, Hooton Tennis Club is a pretty 

impressive effort. What started as a vague idea to record some 

scuzzy, lo-fi garage rock tunes on a Saturday last year has led to 

the band becoming the second signing for The Label Recordings, 

Edge Hill University’s innovative student-led project; alongside 

The Inkhearts, Hooton Tennis Club were scouted by The Label and 

are now benefiting from the marketing work of a dedicated team 

of students led by former bassist with The Farm, Carl Hunter. Yet, 

they couldn’t have chosen a group more wary of the process. “It’s 

not the coolest thing in the world,” admits Ryan Murphy, guitarist 

and casual romantic, “but it’s nice working with a sassy girl who 

kisses everyone. I probably shouldn’t talk about this . . .” 

This kind of exchange happens quite frequently: a comment 

blurted out and swiftly apologised for, amusing to watch as my 

interviewees try and dig out of many, many conversational holes. 

Now gearing towards their second release as Hooton Tennis Club, 

these four boys from Chester have taken a long, hard look at their 

musical palette and forged themselves a delectable identity. 

Throwing Pavement, Scott & Charlene’s Wedding and Parquet Courts 

(along with a string of obscure Australian bands) under Generation 

Y’s laconic eye, their EP I Was A Punk In Europe (But My Mum Didn’t 

Mind) fizzes with brio and ramshackle lyricism, taking the listener on 

a stroll through a handful of tracks that really capture the perplexity 

of being a twenty-something dude still in adulthood’s honeymoon 

period. Used to recording very quickly on a single microphone (there 

used to be two before they got tired of taping the other one to a 

wardrobe), it’s easy to see how the EP generates its DIY charm while 

retaining accessible pop sensibilities. Evidently, this is what The 

Label saw in the EP’s opening track Kathleen Sat On The Arm Of Her 

Favourite Chair since they jumped at the chance of releasing it as a 

standalone single in April. As if sensing that this alignment would 

compromise Hooton Tennis Club’s DIY credentials, Callum is quick to 

assert the band’s creative freedom in the whole process, revealing 

that they declined offers of studio time because they wish to stay 

as self-dependent as they can for as long as possible. Meddling on 

the mixing desk trying to fake the muddiness of retro-fetishists is 

evidently not for them. “You lose the producer and I like that,” is 

the position of singer James Madden. “When you go into the studio 

you have to do, like, thirty takes before some other guy thinks it’s 

perfect. Then again, we don’t settle on being comfortable.” They 

swap instruments sometimes to keep practices interesting, and all 

have a hand in writing, sending demos to each other on a regular 

basis – and their one-take approach stems from the rare time they 

get to spend together, in addition to aesthetic choice. 

Another kind of dedication slips into what we’re talking about. 

Take the title of the EP for instance, a cheeky nod to conceited 

angst as well as immortalising Ryan’s jaunt round the continent 

with touring giant Concert Live, where he helped to make highquality 

Robbie Williams bootlegs. James is a fan. “He’s great, man. 

I did half the tour in England. He comes out on a conveyor belt.” 

Really, a conveyor belt? How many Robbies are there? “A zip wire,” 

Ryan clarifies. His friend laughs. “Yeah, that’s what I meant.” 

It was Ryan’s experiences meeting “a lot of fit girls” that inspired 

. . .And Then Camilla Drew Fourteen Dots On Her Knee, a languid 

paean to a hippy chick from Berlin. Apparently Ryan boasted of his 

conquests months later to his manager’s wife and was promptly 

fired, having unintentionally explained many late starts and a date 

missed while he was shacked up in Milan. For other songs, the 

focus on females is less specific (aside from the titles), and can be 

chosen with the same randomness as the street sign and tennis 

spot that gave the band its name. Much Quicker Than Anyone But 

Jennifer Could Imagine borrows from Supergrass, while I’m Not 

Going Rose’s Again was born from a terrible party attended by 

Harry Chalmers, the driest member of the group. Ask what was 

so bad about it and the response is “Reggae music, bad food and 

it was cold. Very cold.” He could be joking, but since the original 

epithet for their first label release was going to be Overly Long 

Titles With Girls’ Names In, I get the sense that any laughs to be 

had are merely inseparable from spades of bromance. 

Not that serious measures aren’t being taken to put Hooton 

Tennis Club on the radar of purists everywhere. Having only played 

a single gig as HTC, the next few months will usher in several 

opportunities for the band’s charm offensive to work overtime, 

including a prime spot on The Label Recordings showcase at 

Sound City, with more appearances to be announced. A live session 

on Dave Monks’ radio show was the break that got them noticed, 

sparking a positive trend that has just seen them land on the 

NME Radar page. However, the screaming adoration of thousands 

of groupies is hardly likely to follow from this exposure, which 

suits these four slackers just fine. “You see people take this so 

seriously,” Harry says, right before Ryan launches into the idea 

of hiring tennis players to cater for their audiences. “Oh, and Cal, 

remember when you joined the BNP?” And we’re off again . . . 

Kathleen Sat On The Arm Of Her Chair 

is out now via The Label 

Recordings. 

hootontennisclub.bandcamp.com

NEW GIGS 

ANNOUNCED 

– 

TOUMANI & SIDIKI 

DIABATÉ 

Tuesday 27 May St George’s Hall Concert Room 

The finest Toumani collaboration I have heard since his classic work 

with Ali Farka Touré.’ (5 stars) The Guardian 

CATRIN FINCH & 

SECKOU KEITA 

Wednesday 8 October St George’s Hall Concert Room‘ 

‘Something quite different, a really intriguing collaboration... 

it works so beautifully together – a beautiful album.’ 

Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2 

BELLOWHEAD 

Monday 10 November Liverpool Philharmonic Hall 

‘Dazzling reinvention of tradition.’ The Guardian 

JOHN GRANT 

WITH THE ROYAL NORTHERN SINFONIA 

Saturday 22 November Liverpool Philharmonic Hall 

‘Grant’s rich voice dovetails beautifully with the silvery synths.’ NME 

Liverpool Philharmonic Hall 

Box Office 0151 709 3789 

liverpoolphil.com 

Booking fees Online/Phone Orders £1.50 per ticket administrative fee applies + 75p per 

order postage fee (if required). In Person No fees for payment by cash or debit card. Credit 

card orders incur a 2% transaction fee. Cheque orders are subject to a 70p per order charge. 

Media Partner

10 

Lose 

Yourself 

In... 

LIVERPOOL SOUN 


Words: Sam Turner / @samturner1984 

This month, our city will once again be transformed. For one 

weekend we won’t think about 

family rows, rubbish 

collections, essay deadlines, kebab shop 

opening times or football (as much): 

LIVERPOOL SOUND CITY 

is set to 

take over your life. The 

musicloving 

community 

will emerge on 

to the city 

streets 

like 

the 

undead; 

car parks will 

be meccas to this 

year’s indie darlings, 

the Anglican cathedral will 

become, well, a cathedral, but 

to KODALINE 

instead of The Almighty, and every venue 

and almost-venue will become alive 

with the best music 

on the planet. Who’s excited? 

It’s our duty at Bido Lito! to help you traverse these new 

musical avenues and alleyways. We’ve cast our eye over this 

year’s glittering roll call of artists and picked out some acts that 

may transform your weekend; hell, some of them may even 

transform your life! 

First off, the marquee names this year offer variety, intrigue and 

fantastic CVs: we will see ALBERT HAMMOND JR’s return, as The 

Strokes axeman comes to these shores in support of a third solo 

release. Last year’s AHJ EP was of a typically high standard, even 

if the records produced in his day job aren’t to everyone’s tastes 

(nowadays at least). An elder statesman in the post-indie band 

solo stakes, GRUFF RHYS has been relentless since the inimitable 

Super Furry Animals went on a hiatus. He comes to Sound City on 

the back of a typically innovative project: American Interior is an 

album, film, book and app about Gruff’s “investigative concert tour” 

tracing an ancestor who sailed to America in 1792. Another artist 


Factory Floor 

who’s charting his own solo course apart from his regular band is 

Doves frontman JIMI GOODWIN. Doves fans can rest easy though, 

as Goodwin’s debut record Oldludek 

(released on Heavenly 

Records) doesn’t stray too far from his usual path – unless you’re 

still a staunch Sub Sub fan. JON HOPKINS sails to Liverpool (well, 

gets a bus probably) to further investigate the inner-workings of 

electronic music, which we’re fairly ecstatic about. The Londonbased 

producer, famous for working with Coldplay, Brian Eno and 

David Holmes, plays Nation on Thursday (1st May). 

Back in December The Kazimier saw what it was like to 

reverberate to swathes of industrial electronica courtesy 

of FACTORY FLOOR, and they (and us) can look forward 

to the same thing all over again on Friday (2nd May). 

The post-1am slot will be perfect for the latenight 

rave element in this year’s Sound City 

crowd, though if you prefer something 

a little more visceral then Belfast’s 

AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR 

could be just the tonic for 

you. Athletic and supple 

in their performance, 

the quartet bring a 

more considered edge to 

the post-rock genre, and their 

reputation precedes them. And 

on the subject of innovators, the 

RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP continue the 

trailblazing work of Delia Derbyshire and 

Daphne Oram which began in the BBC’s 

Maida Vale studio, bringing all of their 

audio manipulation to life in a stunning 

live context. 

Further scientific explorations into 

electronica that will be greeted with 

open arms by a large section of the 

city’s music fraternity will come 

from MIXHELL, AKA former 

Sepultura drummer Igor 

Cavalera and his wife 

Laima 

Leyton. 

The Brazillian 

duo 

spearhead 

the 

Gruff Rhys 

international 

contingent at this year’s 

festival with their ultraaccomplished 

musicianship 

and electro grooves. Staying 

below the Equator, Kiwi COURTNEY 

BARNETT has an early contender for track 

of the year in History Eraser, and the garage rockstress will be 

cashing in on her anthem at The Kazimier on Thursday night. 

Fellow antipodeans THE CREASES are a typically obscure diamond 

unearthed by the Sound City bookers. But with the Brisbanites’ 

signature on a Rough Trade contract, and a litany of jangly guitar 

pop gems, they won't remain obscure for long. If obscure is 

your bag, then check out the indigenous folk stylings reimagined 

by NOZINJA. As part of Shangaan Electro, 

the South African artist, producer and DJ put on 

one of the shows of the year last summer in 

The Kazimier Garden. For Sound City he is 

back to bring the African street party 

to The Kazimier club. 

If you were having a street 

party you wouldn’t invite 

Brighton 

noiseniks 

ROYAL BLOOD. The 

garage rock duo (yes, 

another one of those) have 

earned their place set apart 

from a saturated market with 

tumbling onslaughts of precision 

racket: bring your earplugs to The Garage 

on Friday night when they’re in full flow. 

THE WYTCHES are another set of rockers from 

the English Riviera bursting on to our radio 

waves with little manners. The neo-grungers 

have proved themselves an exciting prospect 

with tunes in the shape of brutal singles 

Gravedweller and Beehive Queen. Slightly 

more unassuming but no less exciting 

are WOLF ALICE, a North London 

foursome dealing in uplifting 

indie rock which fuses some 

of the structures of grunge 

with a folkie aesthetic. 

JUNGLE are another 

band with little 

respect 

for 

genre 

boundaries: 

enigmatic 

duo J and T made 

waves with the superb 

video for Platoon last year. 

Hopefully they will bring sixyear-old 

break-dancing star Terra

D CITY 2014 


Jungle 

to The Factory on Saturday (3rd May). 

It’s been rich pickings for the Sound 

City bookers when looking for acts to 

represent our local scene this year. 

They’ve done a sterling job in 

plumping for EX-EASTER 

ISLAND HEAD, ALL WE 

ARE, 

NINETAILS, 

and 

CIRCA 

WAVES 

among 

a 

plethora 

of 

other 

Merseyside 

mavericks. The city’s 

more 

experimental 

bent will be catered for 

by EEIH and Ninetails both 

playing Nation on Thursday, while 

Circa Waves will prove Liverpool is 

still capable of producing pop of an 

international calibre, and All We Are will 

bring the party on Saturday. VEYU look 

set 

to continue their gorgeously meteoric 

rise as they take on the Parr Street Car Park on 

Thursday, while ETCHES top off a great local 

bill at The Cavern Club on the opening 

night. All and sundry will welcome 

BIRD back home on Saturday night, 

as they open proceedings at 

Liverpool Cathedral after 

completing a tour 

with the legendary 

Rodriguez. 

Music 

isn’t the 

only 

area of 

the 

arts 

thriving 

in 

Nozinja 

Liverpool. 

Gary 

‘Horse’ 

McGarvey’s 

SCREENADELICA 

exhibition boasts some of the best gig posters produced in recent 

years. Tear down your sixth-form Scarface poster and replace it 

with one of the dozens on offer: we’ve got our eye on a lovely 

print by designer That Girl too. Dozens of screen prints will be on 

display at The Black-E over the weekend, and the venue will also 

host the Screenadelica stage, which has been the site of many 

a raucous moment over recent years (not least when two of the 

Bido editorial team nodded off during Bo Ningen’s blistering set 

last year). In conjunction with Liverpool Biennial, there will also 

be a chance to get hold of some exclusive pieces in a private art 

auction. A limited edition print by Richard Woods and an exclusive 

poster from Antony Gormley’s studio signed by the artist will be 

among the pieces on offer. Celebrated artist and illustrator Nick 

Rhodes and his team will also be on hand creating incredible 

live murals and pop-up sculptures across the festival site, 

and there will be an opportunity for new and unsigned 

talent to showcase their wares at Busker’s Corner in 

Wolstenholme Square., hosted by Merseyrail Sound 

Station 

Beyond the city streets, Sound City will also take over 

the Mersey Ferry on Saturday afternoon where punters can 

take Gerry Marsden’s favourite commute to the sounds of THE 

SPLINTERED UKES, THE HUMMINGBIRDS and THE GENTLEMEN 

ROGUES. After all that you’ll probably be in the mood to buy 

some music – fear not, it’s covered: Wolstenholme Creative Space 

is flinging its doors open once more to host Worth The Waxxx, 

Sound City’s vinyl fair in conjunction with Waxxx and Ramone 

Records. Here, all you vinyl junkies will be able to get off by rifling 

through over 6000 rare gems and forgotten favourites. 

So, there’s pretty much no escaping – just strap on your 

wristband and get lost in Sound City. 

Liverpool Sound City runs from 1st-3rd May. 

Pick up your copy of the Bido Lito! Sound 

City Daily every morning of the festival 

for up-to-date news, interviews and 

reviews. 

liverpoolsoundcity. 

co.uk 

Conference 

Into its seventh year, the Sound City Conference will again 

run alongside the music festival, with industry insiders 

chewing the cud of what’s going on in the business today. 

This year the theme is music, football and style with an 

incredible line-up of keynote speakers: on Thursday, founder 

member of 90s college rock legends Sonic Youth THURSTON 

MOORE will be talking to Dave Haslam about his career as a 

celebrated alternative innovator. JOHN CALE (pictured) helped 

to invent alternative music in the 1960s with Lou Reed’s The 

Velvet Underground and will be in conversation with The 

Quietus’ John Doran on Friday. FIFA Presidential candidate 

JEROME CHAMPAGNE makes it a hat-trick of internationally 

heralded names, as he comes under mild interrogation from 

sports correspondent James Corbett. 

Further to these behemoths, a host of other industry faces 

will conduct conversations around the burning issues of the 

day. On Friday, The Farm’s singer PETER HOOTON chairs a 

conversation on Social Media and the Democratisation of the 

Music Industry, and the Cult of Vinyl will be debated by ANDY 

VOTEL (Finders Keepers) and Death Waltz Recording Co.’s 

SPENCER HICKMAN. Creation supremo ALAN McGEE explores 

the Significance of Independent Record Labels on Friday, and 

Super Furry Animal Gruff Rhys will be talking to Mancunian 

motormouth JOHN ROBB. A series of ‘How To’ sessions will 

look at the rise of serious music in video games, demystifying 

live touring and making money from PPL among other equally 

hot but differently-shaped potatoes. 

John Peel World Cup 

Perennial nearly-men Deportivo Bido Lito! will be donning 

the famous claret and blue strip again to make amends 

for last year’s final defeat in The John Peel World Cup. The 

5-a-side football tournament is fought out between such 

illustrious opponents as The Farm, Cream and reigning 

champions 80s Casuals in Liverpool ONE's answer to Camp 

Nou – Chavasse Park. This year there will be a suitably samba 

atmosphere courtesy of BRAZILICA FESTIVAL who will provide 

the soundtrack. Roy Hodgson is not appearing in person but 

is reportedly sending a scout. 

bidolito.co.uk

12 


First 

Glossom 

Of Spring 

Words: Laurie Cheeseman / @lauriecheeseman 

Design: Hannah Cassidy / hannahcassidycreative.tumblr.com 

Spring is in full bloom, you can feel it in the air; it’s possible 

to venture outside for the first time in months without that third 

jumper, the day lasts longer than four hours and something in the 

air makes it feel different. It’s a perfect day then to meet up with 

those effervescent new kids on the block GLOSSOM, in the prime 

first-date territory of Leaf. 

It’s been a while since Glossom’s first date, when Anthony 

Kastelanides (Vocals, Guitar, Keyboard) hunted down Gareth 

Dawson (Drums) in town to muck about with some instruments 

and watch the Fugazi documentary Instrument. Despite having 

been together only a matter of months, and played only a 

precious clutch of shows since these precocious beginnings, the 

band have accrued a lot of love and hype from around the city. 

And rightly so, we feel. 

Having initially come together as a funk/soul group, Glossom’s 

brassy, outré stylings have seen them become the go-to band as 

support on some of the Liverpool gigs at the jazzier end of the 

indie spectrum of late. As such, this has seen them share bills 

with some of the city’s more forward-thinking instrumentalists 

and forge an alliance with them. One question this prompts is 

whether or not there really is a collection of home-grown, likeminded 

bands in Liverpool right now, or if ‘scenes’ are now a thing 

of the past due to the long-reaching tentacles of the internet. “I 

mean, there’s not much of a scene in terms of actual sound or 

conventions to get pigeonholed by, but there does seem to be 

a few of us with a similar ethos, a big collaborative element,” 

Alex Cottrell (Guitar, Vocals) explains. “Other groups like Harlequin 

Dynamite Marching Band use brass too and sound like there’s no 


real band leader but other than that there’s not much in the way 

of a ‘classic’ scene, not like 90s Seattle or anything. It’s just that 

there are now a few groups whose musical ideas marry up even 

if their sounds don’t.” 

Blending in superbly with math rock legends Joan Of Arc and 

Tera Melos, as well as finding their niche alongside Southern 

and VEYU at everisland’s Aquaria behemoth, shows the flexibility 

that Glossom’s sound affords them. “It’s been really hard to find 

shows to fit in with,” admits Gareth Elliot (Bass), “but at the ones 

we have, we’ve seen some gems we’d never have come across 

otherwise. Bands like Cleft, for example.” The size of crowd they 

have played to hasn't mattered, as praise has followed them 

around at every juncture. And with such a billowing, spacious 

and damn captivating sound, it’s not hard to see why. Taking 

classic goth-era 4AD stable’s cavernous sound, Can’s funk-laden 

drive and Fridge’s jazzy looseness, whilst sounding nothing like 

any of these, Glossom mine their own path entirely – especially 

when it comes to You Did It Yourself, their reimagining of an 

unreleased Arthur Russell track. “It is something we just caught 

snatches of in a documentary [Wild Combination]; we just sort of 

expanded it and messed with it over the past few months so all 

that’s left really are some of the lyrics,” explains Anthony. “We’re 

all represented in the sound, we all bring our own thing to it: like 

folk and world has been a big thing for me; Alex brings in some 

of his classical arrangements; Gaz [Dawson] brings in a bit of jazz. 

We’re more than the amorphous sum of our influences.” 

Glossom’s brass section of tenor sax (James Orrin), trumpet 

(Benedict Ewan Sisulu Tweedie) and alto sax (Josh Philip) is, in 

Anthony’s opinion, what gives the band that extra edge. “I was 

reading Thom Yorke’s biography a while ago and they used horns 

in his first band as extra ammo, and that gives us that added 

incentive.” Later on, Alex expounds on this point further: “It makes 

it so much more fun to arrange when there is that added element 

[of brass]; there is more texture and melody to play with.” It’s a 

gamble that many bands wouldn’t make, but the more obviously 

jazzy textures it lends the music give both the audience and 

the band more incentive to just have fun. Fun is a thing many 

bands forget to have, especially when they concentrate so hard 

on getting their small collection of songs out to the audience 

with technical perfection. As gifted as Glossom undoubtedly are 

– there are few groups out there in Liverpool with the chops they 

have – it’s the soul of their small collection of songs that really 

comes across as the most important thing. 

“It takes a while to write a song, especially now we’ve been 

concentrating on practising for gigs instead of locking ourselves 

away to get stuff written. We’d quite like to explore vocal delivery 

a bit more but we can’t just slap random lyrics in; that’s why most 

of our material is instrumental,” Anthony muses. They’re cautious 

not to go down the Pavement route of delivering piles of nonsequiturs, 

most simply because they know it’s not their forte. But 

still, Gareth E reckons that more has to come from them soon, to 

make the most of their recent exposure. “Playing live has given us 

a bit of a kick. We’ve never sounded as good as when we’ve played 

The Kazimier but we need to take a step back, capitalise on our 

press.” Nonetheless, it’s so refreshing to see a band that would 

rather have a clutch of genuinely top-dollar songs rather than flood 

us with a bunch of half-baked ideas. And if Glossom’s formative 

steps are anything to go by this may take some time, but you sense 

it would be worth the wait. Just don’t go into hibernation for too 

long lads; gigs in Liverpool won’t be the same without you. 

glossom.bandcamp.com


13 

bidolito.co.uk

14 


A Day In The Life Of… The Part 

Time Heliocentric Cosmo 

Drama After School Club 

When audio innovators Graham Massey and Paddy Steer 

come together sparks tend to fly. Having locked horns several 

times in the past, recently they have found common ground 

in their mutual admiration of Sun Ra. Ahead of their new 

project’s performance at this year’s Threshold Festival, we 

sent Alastair Dunn and Keith Ainsworth along to spend the 

day with the team – band members and promoters alike 

– to soak up the essence of this special collaboration. 

Saturday 29th March 2014 

It is fortuitous and perhaps appropriate that on this Saturday 

afternoon, the second day of Liverpool's annual Threshold 

Festival, the sun god is beaming down on the Baltic Triangle, 

setting the stage for tonight's performance from THE PART TIME 

HELIOCENTRIC COSMO DRAMA AFTER SCHOOL CLUB (SATURN, 

LANCASHIRE DIVISION). The Manchester-based eleven-piece band 

have travelled to Threshold for what will be only their fourth 

outing (in various forms), but before this can happen there is 

much to be done. 

1.30pm 

To kick off proceedings, Paddy Steer, Graham Massey and 

Richard Harrison – all members of the After School Club – are to 

give a talk in Unit 51. As they make their way into the building they 

are greeted by the sight of a man in a lemon-coloured cardboard 

suit and a town crier in full garb. It is fitting, then, given the 

overriding aesthetic of the festival, that the talk will 

concern DIY music and its place in the digital age. 

This talk lasts for over an hour, with the main 

focus on the three musicians' careers to date, 

and their general musical ethos: namely, 

collaboration and commitment. It is clear 

that these ideas have laid the foundations 

for their work with the After School Club, 

as Paddy Steer goes on to note: “Success is 

putting ideas together with different people. 

We are paying homage to Sun Ra because 

of his dedication to music. He had to carry it 


through the ups and the downs, but he never lost 

sight of his vision.” 

The creation of the group can be traced back to 

last August when Steer was asked to perform at a 

Sun Ra tribute night at The Kazimier. The event was 

the brainchild of promoters A Culture Less Ordinary 

– run by Rory Mason and Ken Clarke, otherwise 

known as Rebel Soul and Audio Voyeur – and named 

Space Is The Place after the film of the same name. 

The group's origins, however, stretch much further 

back. Graham Massey explains: “Some of us in this 

band have been playing music together since the 1970s. 

There's a community of musicians in Manchester that have 

dipped in and out and some of us have a long thread.” 

Precisely where this long and knotted thread begins 

is very difficult to pinpoint, given the richly diverse 

careers of some of the After School Club’s 

members. Graham Massey’s first project, Biting 

Tongues, was signed to Factory Records before 

he founded acid house outfit 808 State. His 

musical career has seen him cross paths 

with a variety of musicians across the world, 

including Björk, with whom he worked for 

two tracks that ended up on her 1995 album 

Post. Leading an equally eclectic musical life, 

Paddy Steer is one of the original members of 

electronica outfit Homelife and has been one of the 

stalwarts of Manchester’s revolving-door music scene of 

improvisers, of which Richard Harrison was also an exceptionally 

active member. Having all started their careers in the late-70s, all 

three have amassed massively diverse contact books and CVs by 

retaining an appetite for creativity that is perhaps stronger today 

than it has ever been. 

4.35pm 

The evolution of this particular incarnation of their work 

together has been very much a collaborative experience. Though 

several of the members have known each other for over thirty 

years, one of the things I notice, as the band assemble for a 

soundcheck after the talk, is the diverse range of ages within the 

band. Nathaniel Mason, a 21-year-old who plays alto sax, explains 

how the generational gap was breached. “I was playing in a blues 

band in Manchester, and I went to see Paddy Steer play. The next 

day I told my bandmates how good he was, and it 

turned out that one of the members was his 

son. It all kind of led from there.” 

The other noticeable thing about the 

group, now in the midst of setting 

up onstage at 24 Kitchen Street, is 

the sheer variety of instruments 

on stage. With two drum kits, 

several synths and enough brass 

to satisfy John Williams, it is no 

wonder that the soundcheck is 

proving a rather complex affair. 

Amidst the noise and general 

confusion, Paddy Steer emerges as an 

impromptu orchestrator, positioning mics and turning his ear to each 

instrument individually. With the whole crew now assembled, the 

glistening horn section and rhythmic bass undertones begin to fall 

in with each other, and create a rich, sonic tapestry that reverberates 

gleefully around the stone-walled room. It is the foreshadowing of 

what promises to be a pretty special evening. 

With a couple of hours to kill before the show, the members 

head in different directions. Some walk the short distance to The 

Baltic Social bar and others are content to hang around backstage, 

attempting to dampen those pre-show nerves. Based on the 

soundcheck there should be no reason for anxiety, and Howard 

Walmsley (Tenor Sax) offers further re-assurance by reminding them 

of Sun Ra Arkestra leader Marshall Allen's congratulatory tweet 

following their recent BBC 6 Music performance. 

7.30pm 

As gig time approaches the band reassemble 

to witness Richard Harrison's 

main project Spaceheads perform. 

Both intriguing and impressive, the set 

seems to have a stimulating effect on 

the other members of the band, and 

Nathaniel's sentiments echo those of 

most musicians. “I just hate waiting to 

play.” As the final strains of the next act, 

The Harlequin Dynamite Marching Band, drift 

from the PA, Massey and co. head backstage to 

don their elaborate home-made costumes. 

With the venue now swollen to near capacity, forcing some 

on-lookers to climb onto tables for a better view, The Part 

Time Heliocentric Cosmo Drama After School Club emerge, to 

the delight of every photographer present, as a glittering and 

colourful apparition. As the crowd throbs with anticipation the 

horns begin to drone: at first it is hard to decipher any pattern 

in the sound, but as the decibels ascend, so Steer's underlying 

bass synth notes rise to meet them. The phrase spirals around 

the room, gaining momentum through its repetition, and before 

long the two drummers are in full flow. The audience, at first not 

knowing what to expect, are now fully enthralled and dancing 

joyously along to this freakish, cosmic ensemble of noise. 

It is a magnificent sight to witness such a large group of musicians 

come together as one entity. Though they have no background in jazz 

(as stressed to me by several members of the band), there is clearly 

a deep understanding of the music among the group. The reaction 

in the room is ecstatic. Through the musical performance the group 

have certainly done justice to the legacy of Sun Ra, managing to 

remain faithful to the original material whilst also introducing their 

own influence. But the true impact of this collective lies beyond 

the musicians’ skittering melodies and outlandish outfits: scanning 

the room you can see so many people basking in the majesty of 

the performance, joy mixed with satisfaction at realising an artistic 

vision. Music can often be a solitary journey: tonight’s happening 

shows what can be achieved when the shackles of preconceptions 

are thrown off and artists pull together as one. Never has an afterschool 

club been so appealing. 

soundcloud.com/massonix

16 


100 CUTS FROM 

THE VIPER 

Words: Edgar Jones 

Sleeves courtesy of The Viper Label 


THE VIPER LABEL have 

been issuing unique cuts 

of rock ‘n’ roll, early US 

garage 

and 

Liverpool’s cult 

underground 

for the past 

fifteen years. 

Founded by 

two former 

La’s – Mike Badger 

and Paul Hemmings – the label 

acts as a distillation of Liverpool at its most 

oddball, obsessive, idiosyncratic best. This month, the label 

spawns Viper 100, a compilation featuring some of the standout 

moments taken from their amassed century of releases. So, we 

asked the fantastic EDGAR JONES, one of the imprint’s most 

prodigious and prolific talents, to interview Mike and Paul about 

the label and their journey through a ton of records... 

Edgar Jones: Why did you start the label then? 

Mike Badger: Well, I had some acoustic songs. I was just playing 

and Paul said ‘Why don't we release them?’ and it was as easy as 

that, really. 

Paul Hemmings: Yeah, in about 1985 or 1986 I had the idea 

of doing a label. I always liked the Postcard [Records] label, 

the Scottish thing. I liked the original La's recordings and I was 

actually thinking of releasing them. I'm glad I didn't. 

EJ: That could have been a complete fork in the road and 

everything could have changed at that time, couldn't it? 

PH: I'm glad I didn't because I probably would have been in and 

out of studios for the next fifteen years; instead I got sidetracked 

by joining the band and then, after that, doing the Lightning 

Seeds. It reached the point where I'd probably achieved what I 

really wanted to with that band and I thought that I'd really like 

to form a label, so I asked Mike if he had any acoustic songs. We 

went into the studio and recorded them. I put the idea round to 

a few people who I knew and they said they'd love to do it and I 

thought 'Well, why not do it ourselves?' 

EJ: 

Ah, OK. I didn't realise the beginning of 

it myself. This was Viper 001, the Mike 

Badger record? 

PH: The Mike Badger album [Volume], 

which got called a sort of ‘happy Leonard 

Cohen record’, which is what I like to think 

it was. From there, we thought 'Well, that's 

OK' and it was reviewed everywhere, like The 

Guardian… 

MB: It was also helpful that it was the first 

thing that I'd done as a solo thing. When it's your 

first thing you've done since your band, people 

are more interested in it because it's like 'Oh, well 

this is what this guy's been up to', you know? After 

that, once we'd done one, that was a template. Once 

we understood design, distribution, mastering and 

production, you can let the music drive it. After that, I 

had all The La's original tapes. I didn't want to release the 

stuff that Lee [Mavers] had essentially written and that I'd 

worked on with him; they were Lee's songs, you know? But there 

was all this other stuff that was a bit more experimental, a bit 

more punk, a bit more rock and roll-y. 

EJ: It was generally a bit earlier as well, wasn't it? 

MB: Well, going from 1984 to 1986, some of it was in the set. 

We were always doing Break Loose and Open Your Heart and all 

that kind of stuff, so there was a whole body of work there that 

had never been out. 

PH: You're missing an important point there: there was six 

months with Lee working on that as well. 

MB: Well, the thing is we were like 'Let's do the right thing', but 

we may as well have said 'Let's cause a fucking big problem for 

ourselves, how big's the spanner you've got to stick in the fucking 

machine?' 'cos obviously, y'know, with Lee's fucking psychosis… 

PH: But then afterwards when it was done properly and it was 

all analogue, Lee actually loved it. 

MB: He hated it at the time because somebody actually dared to 

do something, but you can't apply logic to psychosis, you know? 

PH: The next one, which was Shack Accompany Arthur Lee Live 

In Liverpool, that was interesting because I read about Arthur 

Lee being in prison and then going down to HMV in Liverpool 

and seeing a bootleg and 

thinking it wasn't right. I 

suddenly realised I had 

a map of America and I 

found out the prison he 

was in, so I looked up 

the state zip code and 

I wrote him a letter 

not expecting to get 

a reply. 

MB: 

What's 

more, the day the 

record was going 

to manufacture we got his sleeve 

notes, and if it had have been one day 

later we wouldn't have been able to 

include his sleeve notes for it. 

EJ: Was it written on prison paper 

and all that? That would have been a 

nice touch. 

MB: [Laughs] I don't think so, it was 

typed on a big old typewriter. Arthur wrote 

the introduction and he said it was the best 

gig of his life because he loves Liverpool. 

When he was in prison, they gave him the 

booklet but they didn't give him the record, 

so he was poring over the Viper booklet in 

California or wherever he was, but he didn't 

get to hear it until he after was released. 

PH: It then just carried on from there 

and, if my memory's correct, up until 

Viper 10, a lot of them were Liverpool 

releases but then we realised we 

were listening to other music and it 

couldn't just be Liverpool releases, 

it had to diversify a bit, and it 

was then we were talking to the 

designer Steve Hardstaff about 

all the rockabilly and the blues. A 

lot of German labels had done this stuff but 

they'd forgotten that people had to listen to it. 

EJ: They were very pragmatic as well, you know, all the tracks 

were in order or they wouldn’t be a compilation of artists, they'll 

just be one and it'll be a bit soulless to listen to and that sort


of thing... 

PH: Yeah, and you know what it's like, 

you listen to different types of music: 

blues, soul, jazz. It was great putting 

that all together with Steve Hardstaff and 

those amazing ink-drawn covers. 

MB: That goes back to the Jukebox at Eric's 

album in 1981, which was loved by big massive 

music lovers. It's just brilliant because it's full 

of crazy off-its-head sci-fi western swing, dirty 

garage and r'n'b from the early-60s and late-50s, 

which was all crazy rock and roll and all that kind of 

stuff, 

and Steve's exquisite drawing. That, really, was a template in many 

ways for the first compilation which was The Ultimate 50s Rockin’ 

Sci-Fi Disc. There was an awful lot of sci-fi-related rockabilly and 

rhythm and blues because it was all in the 50s, which coincided 

with the space race. We themed it, instead of just 

banging out a compilation with loads of stuff on. 

If we wouldn't listen to it, how could we expect 

anybody else to listen to it? No fillers. 

EJ: 

That's kind of where I came on board, wasn't 

it? I gave you that song in Dovedale playground and 

I'd just like to add at this moment that Yoko Ono had 

nothing to do with it… 

MB: [Laughs] I'll never forget, because you gave us a 

tape and I took it back and put it in the tape machine, 

because it was still tapes then, and I just thought 'Alright, 

this must be a track to go on a compilation' and then I 

realised it was you. It was so authentic and so fucking real. 

There 

was about five tracks and we absolutely 

loved it and then you came on board and 

that was the start of how many, five or six 

albums? 

PH: Considering Liverpool is such a 

musical city I don't understand why 

people haven't done this before: 

documented some of the label stuff 

like the older Merseybeat recordings, 

to the 70s, 80s and 90s. It was 

Spencer Leigh who suggested doing 

the Merseybeat stuff, which should 

have been done a long time ago. 

We found the earliest known 

Merseybeat recording, I think 

about 1957, which was Johnny 

Guitar doing a Little Richard 

song. A lot of those tapes that 

we listened to from the 60s 

sounded very similar, in ways, to a lot of 

the stuff that bands like The Coral were doing. You 

can see the similarities. 

Liverpool punk scene and 

the post-punk scene and then Spencer 

Leigh called about the Merseybeat, but I was 

quite dismissive of Spencer. He said ‘Oh, I've got the biggest 

Merseybeat collection’ and I scoffed a bit at it thinking, you know, 

old fellas singing rock and roll classics and that, but when we 

went up and he started playing the stuff I had a revelation. It 

made you think what a shadow The Beatles cast over Merseybeat. 

It's never changed, Liverpool, there's always been brilliant stuff 

going on below the radar. Spencer, God bless him, had all of it, 

which was brilliant. 

EJ: What are the fondest things you have looking back then? 

PH: I think mine is obviously the first [album]: it was a magical 

album to make and just everything clicked. It was learning, but it 

was new and it was fresh. They're all special in a way or else we 

wouldn't have put them out. 

MB: They're like your babies, you know. You know yourself 

what it's like putting out records, they're like a mark of that time, 

really. 

PH: They're so intense doing them sometimes; it can take years 

to put them together and you can spend years listening to them 

and then can't listen to them for another few years after that. 

Then you pick them off the shelf and go 'That's great, I'd forgotten 

all about that'. 

MB: You get lost in a fog of what it is; you need the clarity and 

clean ears to hear what was there. 

fog. 

EJ: I was going to say, hundreds of them must be lost in the 

PH: Absolutely. You just forget and then you have to flick 

through them all again. It's great and it's good fun putting that 

together. 

MB: We're completely 100% independent and we've never had 

the financial backing within the company to chuck money at it for 

advertising and pluggers and all that. Even when we have done, 

to tell you the truth, it's never worked anyway. So we just thought 

'Fuck it' and let it have its own momentum and hope that some 

of it catches on. 

PH: A lot of the champions of that radio stuff have all gone, you 

know like John Peel, and it’s all playlisted so a lot of that stuff is 

dying out. Andy Kershaw's gone; all that is left is something on 

BBC Radio 6, maybe at two o'clock in the morning. 

so who knows? 

MB: The great thing about music is that 

it's cyclical and keeps coming round, you 

can never predict what's going to happen, 

like the vinyl resurgence. I wish we had a bit 

more financial security, I suppose, so we could do 

more vinyl as it does sound better. I think it sounds 

better, do you? 

EJ: I think CDs and everything are too clean and 

don't sound natural. Now kids are getting back into the 

stuff we were into when we were kids; coloured vinyl 

and limited-edition picture sleeves and that sort of thing. 

MB: You cherish them almost like artefacts. I can really 

see that's the way things are gonna go. CDs are even redundant 

now. People just put everything on their iPod, you know? 

PH: Even now, there's probably another five or six releases that 

we're working on, whether they're going to happen or not, who 

knows? Probably 50% of them will, so even if we wanted to stop 

we can't. You just kind of constantly record, write songs and make 

music. You're always going to have ideas. 

MB: You do the typical artist thing where you think 'I'll do one 

more and then I'll stop' and next thing you know you're doing the 

whole Status Quo 'Last Tour' thing again, because you might kid 

yourself that you're something else. If it's in you then you ignore 

it at your peril because it'll damage your health. As long as you 

just carry on being honest and it means something to you, that's 

a great thing to do. 

Viper 100 is released on 12th May. 

Mellowtone presents The Viper 

One Hundred Spectacular, 

Thursday 15th May 

at The Palm House, 

Liverpool. Tickets are £10 

and include a copy of the 

Viper 100 release. 

theviperlabel.co.uk 

EJ: I saw The Coral at a battle of the bands. I'd heard 

all about them and went to see them; apparently 

something had happened and it wasn't a good night for 

them, and I remember thinking 'this is just like the swing 

and blues tunes', they weren't being very psychedelic that 

night for some reason. I remember Tramp Attack won that 

battle of the bands. 

MB: Was that at the Empire? 

EJ: 

The Royal Court Theatre. 

MB: Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that. We'd done the Liverpool 

Cult Classics, post-Eric's music and then went through the 

EJ: Can you envisage doing 200? Can you imagine 

posting some promos from your Zimmer 

frame? 

MB: [Laughs] Who knows? 

PH: I would probably say 

'maybe'. 

MB: If anybody had said to us 

fifteen years ago that we'd release 

100 albums, I'd have thought it was 

fucking impossible. 

PH: But it was only fifteen years ago, 

bidolito.co.uk

18 


Edited by Richard Lewis 

Previews/Shorts 

ACTION BRONSON 

A chance to see a genuine 

hip hop innovator up close 

before bigger venues beckon 

when Queens, NYC native ACTION 

BRONSON visits the city in mid-May. 

With a bulging Rolodex of collaborations over the past half-decade to his name, and a support 

slot for Eminem in Oceania under his belt, the rapper releases his hugely anticipated, as-yet 

untitled debut LP later this year. 

The Kazimier / 13th May 

EZRA FURMAN 

Riding high on a wave of acclaim 

generated by last year’s critically 

applauded Day Of The Dog LP, EZRA 

FURMAN and his band The Boy- 

Friends take to the road throughout 

May. Combining gut-punch rockabilly, punk and soul into an intoxicating brew, notices for 

the Chicagoan quartet’s live shows have matched the praise heaped on the album, with The 

Guardian awarding the full five stars for their February shows. 

East Village Arts Club / 17th May 

Noise pop/indie rock 

ensemble CROCODILES journey 

CROCODILES 

to these shores late next month 

to showcase last year’s acclaimed 

Crimes Of Passion LP. Produced by 

The Raveonettes' main man Sun Rose Wagner, San Diego's premier guitar slingers have 

turned out four LPs of transatlantic-inspired, serrated pop to a burgeoning audience on 

both sides of the Pond. 

Korova / 22nd May 

Writing On The Wall Festival 

A major part of Liverpool’s cultural calendar for over a decade now, WRITING ON THE WALL festival returns 

to take place throughout May. Running with a 'Shell Shock' theme, this year’s festival commemorates the 

outbreak of the First World War, while shining a light on contemporary issues via controversial debate 

and diverse subject matter. 

This year's headlining act is a man who requires virtually no introduction: IRVINE WELSH (pictured) is the 

writer of one of the late 20th century’s most revered, controversial and (in)famous novels, Trainspotting. 

Hosted by novelist KEVIN SAMPSON, author of Powder and Awaydays, the night also features a DJ set 

from lead singer of The Farm, PETER HOOTON. 

Forming part of the Rebel Rant section of the festival, OWEN JONES, Guardian columnist and regular 

on BBC1 politics show This Week, discusses the ongoing fight against those in power, one of the themes 

explored in his 2011 book, Chavs: The Demonization Of The Working Class. Stand-up comedian, broadcaster 

and international disability rights activist LIZ CARR performs a set of her provocative no-holds-barred 

stand up. Alongside this there will be writing competitions for all ages, performance opportunities for 

local writers and a strand of events commemorating the war, its legacy and lessons for today. 

Various venues / 1st May – 1st June 

TOUMANI & SIDIKI DIABATÈ 

Leading lights of Malian 

music, father and son duo 

TOUMANI & SIDIKI DIABATÈ are 

set to play in the magnificent St. 

George’s Hall. A noted collaborator 

with Damon Albarn and Björk, Toumani returns to Liverpool to play the Concert Room 

following a sold-out performance in 2011. A true virtuoso and a superb appetiser for 

this year’s Africa Oyé. 

St George’s Hall / 27th May 

BALKANARAMA 

Something of an annual 

institution at The Kazimier, the 

Edinburgh-based Balkanarama Klub 

night has been running for half a 

decade and makes its way south to 

Merseyside this month. A reliably riotous occasion, BALKANARAMA provides a glorious mashup 

of klezmer, gypsy punk and electronica, and a party guaranteed to still be burning into the 

small hours. 

The Kazimier / 10th May 

A singer-songwriter whose star 

is definitely in the ascendancy, 

TOM HICKOX 

TOM HICKOX returns to Liverpool in 

support of his debut album. The son of 

Grammy-winning classical composer 

Richard Hickox, Tom’s background with the form comes across clearly in the baroque pop and 

studied songcraft of lauded LP War, Peace And Diplomacy, which was given a five-star review 

by the Telegraph. 

Leaf / 22nd May 

Farm Feast 

Morphing from the Wirral Food and Drink Festival with a newfound emphasis on live music, FARM 

FEAST makes a very welcome first appearance. Taking place at Claremont Farm, Bebington, on spring bank 

holiday weekend, Farm Feast retains its focus on quality local, seasonal and artisan food and drink at its 

heart, with the newly minted live music element taking place across a variety of stages. 

Live acts are programmed in a separate event for the Sunday of the festival in conjunction with Liverpool 

Sound City under the banner of LIVESTOCK. The centrepiece Livestock event boasts a headline performance 

in the shape of Joy Division/New Order legend PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT (pictured). This superb top billing 

is augmented by two great local acts: diviners of wondrous psych folk melodies, STEALING SHEEP, and 

the newfound prince of afro pop, DAN CROLL. SOHO RIOTS join these heavyweights on Livestock’s main 

stage, with more still to be announced. 

Farm Feast’s own daytime music is spread across two stages: the Courtyard Stage (programmed by 

The Dovedale Social) and an Acoustic Stage (programmed by Mellowtone). Here you’ll be able to see a 

host of Merseyside’s best emerging and acoustic talent, featuring performances from THE SPRINGTIME 

ANCHORAGE, THE CITY WALLS, MIKE BADGER AND THE SHADY TRIO, THE MONO LP'S, SILENT SLEEP, NATALIE 

MCCOOL and SUGARMEN among others. 

Claremont Farm, Bebington / 25th – 26th May 

bidolito.co.uk

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20 


Reviews 

Bugged Out Weekender (Tom Horton) 

BUGGED OUT WEEKENDER 

Pontins, Southport 

We do like to be beside the seaside – come on, 

who doesn’t – but there’s something hopelessly 

unappealing about British seaside resorts. Take 

Pontins in Southport for instance – the venue of 

choice for this year’s BUGGED OUT WEEKENDER – 

whose everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach 

to family entertainment seems about as exciting 

as a clumsy handjob: that’s to say, the prospect 

is titillating, but it’s probably going to end up 

being well shit. 

To be fair, we’d assumed The Axis Of Coloured 

Coats had gone the way of Concorde, Blackpool’s 

tourist economy and male chivalry; outdated 

models deemed unsustainable and impotent in 

a modern society. Besides, when you can book 

your family on the next shoe-string budget flight 

to Benidorm for the price of a full tank of petrol 

and a Mr Whippy, the Coats are pretty much dead 

in the water anyway. 

This begged the question: was the Bugged 

Out Weekender destined to blaze a new trail for 

Pontins’ flagship resort in Southport, or would 

the cultural juxtaposition prove to be an ill fit? 

Despite our cynicism, we decided to put our 

preconceptions in a box labelled ‘insufferable 

mopes’ and immerse ourselves in The Pontins 

Experience. After all, this year does mark Bugged 

Out’s 20th anniversary, so they were bound to 

pull out all the stops, right? 

Friday night arrives, and boy have they pulled 

out all the stops. Arriving slightly late, we get into 

the venue around midnight. I’m not sure what 

else we were expecting, but this place couldn’t 

be more Pontins if it tried: the washed-up, 

lugubrious environs, the Pleasure Beach-esque 

arcade, the grotty chippy and the corner-shop, 

all proving handy and adding a magnificently 

British dimension to a festival hosting such an 

international sound. 

Our first taste of what would turn into a threeday 

gorgeathon occurs in Room 3 – what next 

day turns out to be a pub of sorts – with the 

impeccably pleasurable stylings of FUNKINEVEN. 

Funk-laden, slinky house is the order of day 

here. Then, things really start heating up for 

Canadian maestro JAQUES GREENE (again in 

Room 3), and electroclash hero EROL ALKAN’s 

tasteful techno, disco and electro selections in 

the slightly larger Room 2, the most club-feeling 

of the three. And of course the by-now famous 

Dancing Misanthrope (look him up on Thump) 

was knocking about, sunglasses and all. 

Despite some mad hype, DANIEL AVERY’s backto-back 

set with ANDREW WEATHERALL is fudged 

pretty badly – we’re not sure that 3:30am is the 

time for any of that trippy stuff on a dancefloor 

anyway. No matter, it turns out well as BEN PIERCE 

slays it. But then, Ben always slays it. We’re in bat 

country now, and suddenly you can see the genius 

in hosting a festival here: no stumbling half-blind 

over guide ropes to sweaty, unpleasant tents at 

5am. The luxury of having a sofa to collapse on 

and keep the party going is a great fillip, until the 

burn-the-candle-at-both-end types upstairs decide 

to blast out heavy techno, five minutes after we 

finally manage to nod off at 8am. 

Within the blink of an eye Saturday dawns, and 

it seems odd that fun bikes and mini-golf should 

be used as accessories to the all-day binge, but 

virtually everything is a useful resource in the 

Freak Kingdom of the neknominated sociopath. 

To peer out of our chalet window at any given 

moment is to see a large group of semi-naked 

cage-fighter types in ill-fitting bucket hats. These 

are the studied professionals of the Big Session, 

the board members of the Banter Brigade flown 

in especially to deprive everyone of sleep. Let’s 

go and catch some of GEORGE FITZGERALD in 

Room 2, say we. Let’s queue up for a drink for 45 

minutes while Mr Fitzgerald rehashes a populist 

set-list of Boiler Room fame. Do we stretch our 

arms skywards for Beam Me Up and Nobody Else? 

Yes we do, and it’s all wonderfully cathartic. 

Once 2am arrives and we’re sufficiently 

watered, we feel inclined to make the Body 

Groove over in Room 3 courtesy of DJ EZ. And 

it’s from that high to what proves to be the nadir 

of the entire weekend in the disappointingly 

low footfall in Room 1 for SASHA; but hey, it’s 

only 5am and the road to excess does lead to 

the palace of wisdom after all. And that palace 

sounds bloody lovely: wonder if they serve tea? 

Well, as if we were ever going to make 

SKREAM’s pool party on Sunday. Despite 

gorgeous sunshine finally splitting the clouds, 

no one can face it. Three days in, and we 

realise that we can only take a battering from 

a select few, so today we’ve to choose wisely. 

Obviously, it was always going to be BODDIKA 

and JOY ORBISON. Both sucked into techno’s 

tumultuous cavalcade of beautiful, brutal beats 

over recent years – from D’n’B and dubstep 

backgrounds respectively – these chaps have 

never disappointed before, and by jingo they 

don’t let us down tonight. 

Going in to a night like this completely sober 

is always daunting, but within minutes we are 

non-stop dancing. Never before has it felt like 

our hearts were going to explode or shoulders 

drop off after four hours of dancing. We wouldn’t 

trade it for the world: and looking at the dregs 

of this society stumbling home on Monday à la 

Day Of The Dead, neither would anyone else. 

Josh Nevett / @JoshuaNevett 

Laurie Cheeseman / @lauriecheeseman 

UGLY DUCKLING 

Dick Limerick Academy 

Bam!Bam!Bam! @ The Shipping Forecast 

An UGLY DUCKLING show is a rite of passage 

for every Liverpool hip hop fan. Every couple of 

years they roll into town like the circus, leaving 

smiling faces in their wake without ever getting 

the props they deserve. 

Rikky Wiley and Steven O'Shea are respected 

titans of the battle rap scene, but their joint venture 

the DICK LIMERICK ACADEMY is yet to capture the 

imagination in the same way. However, they're 

the perfect support act here – their brand of headnodding 

humour would sure gain Ugly Duckling's 

approval, if they understood the references to 

Sky+ and Nobheads. They would recognise beats 

borrowed from Tupac and Roxy Music, although 

the most impressive were those organically 

created for Boss Powers. The mid-set invasion from 

members of The Fire Beneath The Sea may have 

as much to do with a lack of rehearsed material 

as a desire to support other local MCs, but their 

flute-flavoured beats provide some much needed 

impetus to DLA's almost apologetic onstage 

demeanour. The self-flagellation is unnecessary, 

however, as they leave the crowd nicely warmed 

up for the main event. 

Anyone unfamiliar with a live show is given 

a crash course in Ugly Duckling’s opening ten 

minutes: party breaks, rapid raps and plenty 

bidolito.co.uk

1 HESKETH ST 

AIGBURTH, LIVERPOOL 

L17 8XJ 

020 7232 0008

of audience participation. The claustrophobic 

Hold of The Shipping Forecast is evidence of the 

Californians reaching the slowly-diminishingreturns 

stage of their career, but MC Andy Cooper 

masks any disappointment with a knowing 

quip (“It's the first time we've played in an 18thcentury 

prison”). Gimmicks such as DJ Young 

Einstein's gold chain – as revered as Flavor Flav's 

clock – being held aloft in a tongue-in-cheek Lion 

King moment before Eye On The Gold Chain, or 

the tug of love with an embarrassed audience 

member that introduces Pick-Up Lines, work 

when packaged with a great song, and the 

biggest cheers of the night are reserved for 

the irresistibly catchy hits Turn It Up and A Little 

Samba. It sometimes seems that only the raw 

and therefore ‘real’ hip hop gets any credibility 

these days, but Ugly Duckling are seasoned 

performers who never let you down. 

Maurice Stewart / 

theviewfromthebooth.tumblr.com 

THE WARLOCKS 

Mugstar – Strange Collective 

Harvest Sun and Bam!Bam!Bam! @ The Kazimier 

It was all supposed to be so simple. A triple 

header of hallucinatory bands from across the 

spectrum uniting for what promised to be a 

thoroughly far-out evening. The young guns 

looking to make a name, the local legends fresh 

off a world-beating tour and the return of a quasilegendary 

underground band to top it off. A 

prospect that sounds so tantalising on paper. But, 

as they say, even the best-laid plans can go awry. 

It all starts so brightly too: opening proceedings 

are STRANGE COLLECTIVE, who are quickly making a 

name for themselves in Liverpool. Their surprisingly 

polished sound is part Thee Oh Sees, part Black Lips 

and a smattering of broader influences. They find 

themselves slap bang in the middle of the musical 

zeitgeist and there is little in their performance to 

suggest this is only their second gig. 

The second band on tonight’s show – and 

judging from the size of the applause, the one 

that most people are here to see – are local 

legends MUGSTAR. Their idiosyncratic take on 

prog and kraut has seen them have one of their 

most exciting years on record. Fresh off the back 

of a European tour supporting last-post-rockersstanding 

Mogwai, their show has been honed into 

something impressively sleek. The refined tones of 

their instruments, the proficiency of their playing 

and their enthusiasm to be back on home soil are 

all clearly evident and the crowd can't get enough. 

As they blast through their set of hypnotic noise, 

all coruscating guitars and sonorous bass, the 

crowd become increasingly enlivened. 

Here's where things get a little weird: have you 

ever been to a party where someone tells a joke 

that lands so flat it not only doesn't get a laugh 

but sours the mood of the whole evening? Not 

a pleasant experience at the best of times. Even 

worse than when the person telling said joke 

is two songs into a headline set. In an example 

of what can only be called one of the most 

misjudged attempts at stage banter I've ever 

had the misfortune to witness, THE WARLOCKS' 

lead singer Bobby Hecksher proffers an opinion 

on how "loooooouuuuud that last band" were. 

Fiercely protective of their local favourites the 

crowd take perhaps understandable offence to 

this. After this point the gig begins to nosedive. 

The performances become dispassionate, the 

tensions in the room continue to run high and the 

heckles become increasingly regular. The band’s 

confidence can be seen slipping away. After 

maybe 35 minutes, the band collapse under the 

weight of the room and with an insipid utterance 

of "goodnight" which takes everyone, including 

the rest of the band, by surprise, Bobby Hecksher 

exits the stage. Ironically, leaving the rest of the 

band to jam out their remaining tunes proves to 

be the highlight of their troubled set. It's difficult 

not to feel the slightest twinge of sympathy for 

the remaining Warlocks but if there's anything 

to be learned from this evening’s show it is this: 

know your audience. 

Dave Tate 

Your Bag? 

LEE ‘SCRATCH’ PERRY 

The Upsetters 

Ceremony Concerts @ The Kazimier 

Working behind the scenes, LEE ‘SCRATCH’ 

PERRY’s supreme contribution to music is often 

overlooked, but for those in the know he is 

rightly held in the highest regard and his return 

to Liverpool has been hotly anticipated. Arriving 

first, THE UPSETTERS’ guitarist Earl Smith AKA 

Melchezidek The High Priest, finely tunes the 

sound system, ensuring that The Kazimier is in 

sync with the Black Ark’s groove. The rest of the 

infamous house band join him for an infectious 

Shaft-esque dub tune and final soundcheck before 

Scratch descends to greet us: “Hello London!” 

As always, Perry’s clothes are as fascinating as 

his character: tonight the legendary producer is 

adorned in golden moon boots and an intriguing 

collage of a hat, tipped with a crystal ball and 

bedecked with various curiosities and treasures, 

and with more chains and sovereigns than a 

Peckham market trader. 

Catch Bo Ningen @ East 

Village Arts Club on 14th May 

Like a good cheese, Perry’s eccentricities 

have matured over time. Driving his resurgence, 

these idiosyncrasies garnered him a new global 

following as he returned to international stardom 

in the late 1990s. Since then, an expectation 

of madness has preceded Pipecock Jackxon 

wherever he ventures and, always the jester, he is 

more than happy to feed into the image. This selfperpetuating 

cycle of insanity results in a 78-yearold 

man singing Happy Birthday to a bewildered

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24 


crowd whilst hopping around - “hippety hippety, 

clop clop clop” - in front of a children’s bag 

featuring an image of Haile Selassie and the Lion 

of Judah with the words “PI$$ $HIT £$P” scribbled 

above: we’d expect no less. 

Beneath the spectacle, however, there is 

immense musical heritage; Perry’s work in his 

DIY backyard studio was at the very grassroots 

of reggae and The Upsetters are the perfect 

vessel to carry this hallowed sound. Having 

worked together since the Wailers stole away 

some of the original house band in the early 

1970s, the four-piece are incredibly tight – almost 

to a telepathic level – as they flow through the 

Arkives. Offering up warped versions of their 

own hits like One Drop and the righteous, 

riotous Zion’s Blood, as well as Ark productions 

like Bob Marley’s feelgood classic Sun Is 

Shining, the band give Perry plenty to work with 

as he switches between toasting and singing. 

He was never much of a singer and time hasn’t 

been kind to his voice, but the original Upsetter 

has held onto his rhythm and keeps the crowd 

captivated with unpredictable tangents and 

pseudo-philosophical ramblings. 

After he clambers up the stairs, the High 

Priest hypes up the crowd, ready for his 

encore. Upon his return – perhaps reflecting 

on his mortality – he proclaims “If you don’t 

see me again then no problem.” Noting that 

this could be the last time they are in his 

presence, the crowd scramble forward to meet 

the outstretched hand of the almighty dubster, 

before he concludes with Sexy Dust and an 

excruciatingly funky version of Exodus. 

Josh Ray / @ josh5446ray 

INTERPOL 

Temples – Royal Blood – Circa Waves 

NME Awards Tour @ O2 Academy 

The NME’s annual showcase sprint around 

the United Kingdom has long served as proving 

Lee 'Scratch' Perry (Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk) 

ground for many of today’s biggest and best 

bands, namely Arctic Monkeys, The Horrors and, 

some time ago, this year’s headliners INTERPOL. 

Following in these footsteps tonight are three 

bands who have garnered much admiration 

already, and a packed O2 Academy is gathered 

to see the next big thing(s). 

CIRCA WAVES are first on tonight, eager to 

certify the media hysteria surrounding them at 

the minute. They have been compared to every 

early-noughties indie band under the sun but, 

crucially, the Liverpool quartet aim to garner 

their own identifiable appraisal as indie pop’s 

brightest stars. Whilst surprisingly exclaiming 

that this is their first Liverpool gig, singer Kieran 

Shuddall seems every bit the polished and 

confident frontman as they lunge into the likes 

of Get Away and Good For Me. Championed by 

Zane Lowe and many others, it seems 2014 is 

looking very optimistic indeed for them. 

Looking to double the volume levels, Brighton 

two-piece ROYAL BLOOD step up to the stage to 

lurch into an amalgam of powerful percussion 

and pummelling guitar hooks. Sounding a bit 

Kyuss and a bit Death From Above 1979, Hole 

and Little Monster pack an almighty punch 

which trembles throughout. 

TEMPLES, having recently scored a Top 10 

album with debut Sun Structures, are up next 

to fervent anticipation from the audience. The 

kaleidoscopic blitz of crunchy, phasing guitar on 

Colours To Life and Keep In The Dark 

superbly 

affirm their rapidly increasing reputation. Whilst 

sounding a little like an imitation Tame Impala in 

parts, Temples combine Egyptian imagery-laden 

space rock with robust pop structures to produce 

a blinding live performance; definitely not the 

next Kula Shaker, we are all relieved to find. 

These kind of tours are not typically the scene 

of tonight’s main attraction, therefore Interpol 

are a surprising yet extremely admirable choice 

to top the bill, having remained distinctly 

quiet in recent years. With the promise of a 

new album and yet-to-be-recorded material 

to showcase, the legendary NYC band emerge 

onstage to rapturous, adoring applause. The 

impending, energetic surges of Say Hello 

To The Angels and delightfully dark Evil are 

executed with menace, and a tightness that 

has been ever-present throughout the band’s 

illustrious career. Appearing in customary 

suits, the band run through the undisputable 

classics intertwined with new offerings My 

Desire and All The Rage Back Home. Chugging, 

atmospheric post-punk laced with dark, forlorn 

lyrics from Paul Banks – Interpol really are 

a force to be reckoned with tonight. Crowdpleasers 

Obstacle 1 and Slow Hands bring 

their striking set to a close, leading into a wellreceived 

encore consisting of the gradually 

ascending Lights and sternly melancholic 

Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down. 

A masterclass from such an accomplished 

band seems a fitting end to the night, and 

Interpol vacate the stage looking pleased with 

their performance. A mixture of future musical 

prodigies and permanent musical class – a 

successful return for the NME Awards Tour. 

Your Bag? 

John Wise (@John__Wise) 

Your Bag? 

Catch Drowners @ The 

Shipping Forecast on 17th May 

MOLOTOV JUKEBOX 

Ceremony Concerts @ The Kazimier 

Natalia Tena is a very talented woman. 

Currently best known for her on-screen roles 

(particularly Nymphadora Tonks in the Harry 

Potter series), she has turned her hand to 

music and the results are surprising. Her band 

MOLOTOV JUKEBOX’s influences are drawn from 

a mix of Central American rhythms, teamed 

ingeniously with a hint of Eastern European 

harmony, culminating in an eclectic gypsy jazz 

feel, which they self-identify as “gyp-step”. These 

Londoners are relatively unknown, although 

they have previously made quite a buzz on the 

festival scene – in 2011 they were nominated 

for Best Breakthrough Artist at the UK Festival 

Awards. The music production seems similarly ad 

hoc and, although it’s fairly clear the atmosphere 

will be a party one, I arrive at The Kazimier with 

a curiosity and perhaps a sense of foreboding 

as to how much of their popularity is generated 

from hype around the famous lead singer. 

Almost as soon as they arrive on stage and 

strike up those first few bars this can all be 

swept to one side. Tena leads the band with 

grace and control, happily dancing to the 

carnival beats with her accordion, spinning 

round and making faces at the crowd and the 

band. Together, they’re not over-rehearsed; their 

boundless energy has a feckless spontaneity 

to it – precisely musically arranged, yet keeping 

things loose and fresh for each gig. 

Tena’s voice is very suited to live music with 

this sort of attitude underpinning it. She has a 

lot of presence (more that than technical ability), 

and she rides exactly on the wave of what she 

is capable of, without being too restricted. The 

relaxed nature complements the strength of 

her vocal, and it comes across better than in the 

nasally tone of the recordings. She and violinist/ 

vocalist Sam Apley have a fantastic musical 

chemistry, both as cheeky as each other. 

The songs are fairly straightforward in 

structure - nothing too unusual - but, although 

you may have to be quick to catch them all, the 

lyrical content is truly authentic and original. On 

top of this, the joy embedded in their informal 

charisma is completely infectious. 

Although each musician undeniably 

Molotov Jukebox (Aaron McManus / ampix.co.uk) 

bidolito.co.uk

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GET INVOLVED 

We are currently recruiting volunteers to assist with this year’s 

Above The Beaten Track festival. 

Current opportunities include marketing, promotional work and 

artist liaison. 

There will also be further opportunities to volunteer on the day 

of the event, with roles available for the festival and at the Bluecoat. 

Look out for more details soon. 

We’re also involved in events, workshops and discussions 

throughout the year. 

For more information please visit our website at 

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follow us on twitter @abovethebeatent 

join our mailing list at abovethebeatentrack@onefellswoop.co.uk

possesses plenty of talent, the things that 

really make this band stand out from others 

are their unique character, humour and clear 

delight in what they’re doing. They even handed 

out a pineapple named Eugene to the person 

who they noticed dancing the best (yours truly 

– proud achievement that). Took it to Aloha 

afterwards and they made it into a cracking Piña 

Colada. What a night. 

Jessie Main / @JessieMainMusic 

IAN BROUDIE 

James Skelly - Terry Hall - Ian McCulloch 

Philharmonic Hall 

IAN BROUDIE has a well-earned place on 

the list of unsung heroes of Liverpool music: 

not only did he achieve chart success with The 

Lightning Seeds in the 90s, but before that he 

produced some of Echo & The Bunnymen’s 

finest moments, and since then he lent his 

studio expertise to Deltasonic denizens The 

Coral and The Zutons. 

Tonight the amiable songsmith is putting on 

a special one-off concert with the Philharmonic 

Orchestra, a show that sold-out in suitably 

quick time. There are feel good vibes right from 

the off; that could be because of the treat that’s 

in store for us or could be an atmosphere of 

thankfulness as we’re all missing the Ladies 

Day carnage taking place outside. “This one’s 

about Liverpool nights when the journey home 

was more of an adventure than the night out,” 

says Broudie as he introduces Perfect. 

“My oldest friend” IAN MCCULLOCH is 

the second guest of the evening, and the 

consummate rock star’s peerless voice fills 

every square millimetre of the auditorium as he 

sets about Back Of Love and The Cutter with a 

gusto matched by Broudie’s best Will Sergeant 

impression. Broudie is a purveyor of perfect pop 

whereas McCulloch exudes rock bravado, but all 

is augmented by the superlative Philharmonic 

Orchestra who bring the flourishing emotion 

to the fore tonight: it sounds marvellous. With 

semi-gibberish tales of our host’s massive 

influence on his career, McCulloch threatens to 

steal the show before the band are left to launch 

into Sugar Coated Iceberg and we’re reminded 

that Broudie is the star tonight. 

Tonight’s Lightning Seeds feature longterm 

bassist Martyn Campbell, Riley Broudie 

on guitar and drummer Sean Payne, joined 

by Coral cohorts Bill Ryder-Jones and Nick 

Power. Broudie’s son exits the stage before his 

eponymous The Life of Riley is performed before 

the break. The first half has been so packed with 

familiar gems we’re left wondering what there 

is left to play, as a man in a Euro 96 ‘Shearer No. 

9’ England shirt loiters around the front of the 

stage checking the setlist for the second half. 

TERRY HALL and then JAMES SKELLY are 

invited on stage after the interval. Hall, sullen 

but magnanimous, tackles Broudie-penned 

classics rather than his own impressive canon, 

while Skelly delivers a rousing Pass It On in 

celebration of Broudie’s days producing Wirral 

wonderkids The Coral. 

Shearer is not disappointed: an old-fashioned 

rattle signals the start of the second-best 

football song ever written and it’s a predictably 

participatory affair. Nothing is off-limits tonight; 

it’s a celebration of uplifting, classic pop, 

whoever and however that reaches. McCulloch 

and Hall re-join Broudie for a finale of Perfect 

Day: a classic pop song written by someone 

who has had a vast influence on alternative 

music. It’s a fitting end in every way. 

Your Bag? 

Sam Turner / @samturner1984 

NADINE CARINA 

Låpsley - The Mono LP's 

ACE Magazine and No Wave @ Leaf 

Hype is a concept that the music industry could 

perhaps not function without, and serves as a 

go-to word for all music journalists. Naturally, 

the term has become overused and is often 

misleading and detrimental. Tonight's show at 

Leaf is a good illustration of the hype-machine 

in action and, surrounded by large images of 

herself, it is hard to imagine the pressure being 

felt by LÅPSLEY, especially considering that this 

is her first gig. 

Your Bag? 

Catch John Bramwell @ The 

Kazimier on 17th May 

Despite the fanfare, Låpsley is not the only act 

on tonight's bill and THE MONO LP'S deliver a set 

of fairly generic blues-rock. The addition of cello 

is a nice touch, though, and the muted staccato 

of the strings compliments the overall jagged 

sound of the band well. Die A Little Death opens 

with a melody line dangerously close to A Little 

Help From My Friends and, though this is not 

necessarily a bad thing, it is perhaps telling that it 

is one of the only memorable parts of their set. 

After a short break it is time for the muchanticipated 

debut, and with many A&R types 

paying full attention, Holly Lapsley Fletcher 

takes to the stage. Understandably she appears 

quite nervous, and informs the crowd that if 

there are any mistakes they will be “for artistic 

purposes”. As the first ambient chords from her 

Casio drift out of the speakers the audible buzz 

in the room is reduced to a hush. Any nervous 

energy on stage is overcome and translated 

into rich vocal tones and melodies. The songs 

are slow, ethereal meditations evoking feelings 

of sadness and hope simultaneously. 

Her performance is commendable and 

the music is good enough. But, despite the 

enthusiasm of seemingly everyone in the room, 

there is definitely something missing. I like 

minimalism as much as the next guy, but the lack 

of depth and inventiveness in Låpsley's songs

Reviews 


seems more a symptom of underdeveloped 

craft than a result of artistic omission. There is 

no doubt that she will do well – a quick glance 

at her SoundCloud page will assure anyone of 

that. But if there is an overarching narrative to all 

this, then the Låpsley circus is simply a reflection 

of the nature of certain music in the digital age. 

Though the night is clearly geared towards the 

promotion of Låpsley, there is in fact a headliner to 

come. NADINE CARINA emerges to a room that has, 

unfortunately, emptied considerably in between 

acts, and indeed the order of the artists on the bill 

seems slightly ludicrous. Regardless of this, Carina 

puts on a show that is mesmerising from start to 

finish. Her p@yful and interesting approach to 

songwriting and use of diverse sampling make 

for an intriguing display. The Swiss songstress 

utilises various percussive instruments to create 

a sparse, rhythmic undercurrent to her wistful 

lyrics and carefully layered key parts. Her gentle 

vocals swim in the mix and reflect a songwriting 

approach that is simple and effective. It is a real 

shame that more people haven't hung around as, 

if this performance is anything to go by, Nadine 

Carina may in fact come to the prominence she 

deserves in 2014. 

Your Bag? .05.14 

Your Bag? 

Alastair Dunn 

Catch Smoke Fairies @ East 

Village Arts Club on 29th May 

THRESHOLD FESTIVAL 

The Baltic Triangle 

The Baltic Triangle is well and truly buzzing 

for the start of another THRESHOLD FESTIVAL, 

Liverpool’s spring celebration of grassroots 

music and art. Jamaica Street hums with sound, 

giving the impression of a mesh of casual 

acquaintances rather than a full-blown party. 

Whether you’re seeing a band for the first time 

Nadine Carina (Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk) 

or just enjoying the camaraderie that is fast 

cementing the locale’s try-anything philosophy 

within Liverpool’s cultural zeitgeist, it’s an 

inspirational atmosphere. With this in mind I 

head to Siren, one of the smaller venues, where 

GAFFNEY COLLECTIVE are singing about taking 

our troubles down to the ocean. They’re bloody 

gorgeous, endearingly apologetic, bursting with 

heart and wisdom. Immediately afterwards the 

emotion in the room is somewhat punctured by 

a woman encouraging us to check our “infection 

status” at a research desk in the corner. The rain 

deems bolting out of the question, but the urge 

to get seen to is resisted. 

After managing to slip out unnoticed, I choose 

to head over to Blade Factory to witness CLOUD 

rip the rock rulebook to shreds. The band have a 

knack for dissembling preconceptions, and riffs 

reminiscent of In Rainbows-era Radiohead. Nine 

And A Half 

almost collapses under the weight 

of its ideas, and first single Pleasure 101 takes 

in scat-singing on its merry way. Cloud touch on 

Coheed & Cambria, Brand New and the early days 

of post-hardcore, showing glimmers of bashful, 

experimental oddness that is totally unique. It 

is all hung together by the conviction of their 

performance, which harnesses and runs with 

that tension. They seem unaware of the effect 

they’ve had, treating the crowd like co-captains 

on a mission to uncharted waters. 

NATALIE MCCOOL takes to the Baltic Social 

stage later on. Every head in the room swivels 

stage-ward as McCool owns her half hour, Dust 

And Coal being a highlight, an exemplar track 

full of longing and regret. It’s just a shame she 

can’t keep wringing notes out of her Gretsch 

long into the night. 

Saturday sees CARLOS AND THE JACKAL aim 

to rise to the challenge of opening one of the 

more obscure stages of the festival with a small 

crowd in the tiny Arena Gallery. Fortunately, 

they capitalise on the intimate atmosphere to 

give a charming exhibition of blues-tinged folk. 

SUN 

1st JUN 

8:00pm 

£10.00* 

Show & 2 course meal 

£22.00* served 6:30pm 

in Blue Lounge 

* 

plus 

£1.00 

per ticket 

booking fee 

THU 

26th JUN 

8:00pm 

£22.50 

plus £1.00 per ticket 

booking fee 

SUN 

10th AUG 

8:00pm 

£25.00 

plus £1.00 per ticket 

booking fee

28 


Reviews 

It’s a rough and ready performance, with Let’s 

Pretend and Dust rife with wistful charisma. 

Lead guitarist Bilston Dave really shines with 

dextrous slide guitar and measured harmonica, 

piling on lashings of character: a masterclass in 

seizing the moment. 

With a swagger to accompany his status as one 

of the more hyped acts of the local circuit, Edwin 

Pope, AKA MUTANT VINYL, takes to the District 

stage. He is every ounce the performer, with 

sporadic shifts between guitar, sax and vocals 

performed with effortless cool and consistent 

talent. Highlight Lavender presents frenetic, 

swirling saxophone riffs that rebound against 

confident vocals. His band may threaten to 

outshine him in sheer talent; their organic sound 

is expansive, warm and consistently solid. It’s a 

sense of spaciousness that underpins the aura 

that surrounds Mutant Vinyl, as the band provide 

the understated grooves atop which Pope is able 

to flex his muscles as a frontman. An enthralling 

live prospect, if somewhat lacking in likeability. 

Armed with only a trumpet and drums there’s 

a sense that SPACEHEADS know exactly what 

they’re doing: sparing on audience banter 

they launch headfirst into a spaced-out yet 

determined groove. Andy Diagram’s trumpet is 

fed through layers of loops and distortion and 

mutated into a beguiling mix of dub, jazz and 

psychedelia, on top of the eclectic polyrhythms 

of Richard Harrison’s drums. Sun Radar puts the 

crowd firmly on their feet with its joyous midtempo 

rhythms steeped in classic 90s dance. 

Atomic Clock 

enthrals with its otherworldly 

echoes, while the jazz-influenced Cosmic Freight 

Train shows the band at their most overtly 

cosmic, and also their best. 

The crowd at 24 Kitchen Street have been 

gradually declining in number as the Saturday 

night progresses, and when the time comes for 

GALAXIANS’ headline performance the venue is 

worryingly half-empty. However, those present 

are off their face in that wonderful way that’s 

only quite possible on a festival night and 

there’s plenty of space on the dancefloor with 

the Leeds-based drum/synth combo here to 

provide the perfect soundtrack. For My Shit Is 

Custom drummer Matt Woodward provides a 

pounding Blue Monday-esque rhythm while 

Jed Skinner’s bright and intricate keys simply 

bombard the crowd with hook after hook. 

Strictly Business, meanwhile, sees the duo take 

their sound into the realms of vintage funk, with 

the synths steeped in a classic 70s sound that 

Daft Punk would be proud of. 

It’s a glorious Sunday evening for THE WRETCHED 

PEARLS to blast sounds of moving spiritualism to 

an enchanted audience, as they turn Unit 51 into 

an echo chamber. Like a lot of current power folk 

artists (Smoke Fairies come to mind), the band 

strike a delicate balance between drama and 

emotional restraint, and it’s the dramatic side that 

wins out today: which is certainly not a bad thing 

when you’re this talented. By turns evangelised 

and intense, their music is absolutely huge, and 

beautiful to witness in a live setting. What’s That? 

might lean a bit heavily on picture-book lyrics – a 

lot of running around forests is endorsed – though 

simplicity never bleeds into the band as a whole: 

stirring stuff. 

Over at Siren, KATIE MCLOUGHLIN is doing 

justice to the venue’s dedication to a full day 

of acoustic acts. Charmingly innocuous, Katie 

apologises for an out-of-tune guitar midway 

through her femme-fatale shtick, and croons 

like a fallen dreamer. Later, RUN TIGER RUN 

build up steam with plenty of riffs to sharpen 

their resolutely commercial sensibility. Newest 

anthem in the making Hummingbird hits all 

the right notes: sweet and jittery, like a kid on 

a festival high. Frontman Mike Bowers, quiff 

pulled from his forehead, has a confident grasp 

on urgent, repeated climaxes built around 

accessibility. They sound full, developed to 

richness, desperate to be heard. Saturday, 

Sunday shows them at their brightest: hooks 

worm over the lively rhythm section of the two 

Dans, Piggott and Fell, who bring a light touch to 

Natalie McCool (Robin Clewley / @robinscamera) 

Bowers’ routine. This ‘take it all’ approach needs 

a crowd beyond the confines of District. Maybe 

there’s a niche in the alternative scene for such 

brazen populists, though their aggressiveness 

is fascinating. Only further reception will decide 

the terms of the band’s potential. 

The day is winding to a close and people sit 

about, entirely carefree. Unit 51 is the perfect 

place to wallow in the satisfaction of it, as the 

community salutes its mavericks. 

Josh Potts 

Patrick Clarke / @paddyclarke 

THE MEN 

Baby Strange - The Floormen 

Harvest Sun @ East Village Arts Club 

Over the course of their career, Brooklyn indie 

punks THE MEN have built up an impressive back 

catalogue of genre-spanning recorded material, 

covering everything from post-hardcore to 

country and everything in between. Touring on 

the back of their latest album Tomorrow's Hits, 

the band take to EVAC to cook up a storm. 

Opening act THE FLOORMEN come on strong 

with a luscious and reverb-drenched psych 

surf groove reminiscent of The Lucid Dream. 

The band thump their way through a selection 

of kaleidoscopic and gloriously fuzzy raucous 

psych rock tunes while frontman Buddy Keenan 

yowls into the microphone, setting the mood for 

the night ahead. 

Glaswegian trio BABY STRANGE are the second 

band on the line-up, having recently been making 

waves around the country in support of Palma 

Violets, and are now mid-way through a lengthy 

UK tour. Fast-paced, punk-tinged indie rock is the 

order of the night, which sets audience heads 

nodding and feet stomping. With an aggressive 

sound that's a little like early Black Rebel 

Motorcycle Club or The Clash, they bash out a 

frenetic and relentless cluster of grungy but 

surprisingly hummable songs including debut 

single Pure Evil, with the only minor complaint 

that could be made being that the unyielding 

barrage of cochlea-battering alt. punk anthems 

provided little in the way of variety. 

After a brief period of respite the headliners 

take the stage and the crowd shifts towards 

them before The Men launch into the fuzzedout 

sledgehammering that is openers Lotus and 

Lazarus, with an abrasive and adrenaline-fuelled 

frenzy of riffs against which frontman Mark 

Perro's vocals battle. Picking up the slack that 

Baby Strange left, the band make a downshift 

into murkier and moodier territory with the 

dreamy warble of a Hammond organ ushering 

in the beginning of If You Leave, before churning 

and rising like a sonic maelstrom of huge guitars 

and caterwauling vocals. 

Unfortunately, however, for a band who have 

their feet planted firmly in punk territory, their 

sound seems slightly divorced from their onstage 

actions, or lack thereof. There's no wild jumping 

or thrashing, and a semicircle of punters form 

at the front of the stage where perhaps there 

could have been circle pits. Instead, the band 

seemed content to stand and shuffle about, 

which detracts from the power and delivery of 

their harder-hitting songs; though perhaps it's 

not altogether surprising or inappropriate given 

the wide expanse of the band's genre-spanning 

sound, which dips its toes in punk as well as 

indie and even country Americana. 

Regardless of this, and despite the lack of 

an encore, the band are successful in satisfying 

the crowd. They mightn't have offered the best 

performance they could have, but if breakneck 

rock ‘n’ roll and expansive layers of distorted 

textures are your thing, then The Men are sure 

to please. 


Your Bag? 

Ryan McElroy 

PEANUT BUTTER WOLF 

Fingathing 

Bam!Bam!Bam! and Madnice 

Marauders @ The Kazimier 

An electric double bass – standing expectantly 

in the corner as No Fakin’ DJs waft a thick layer 

of jazzy breaks through the smoke – is the 

perfect indication that a rare treat lies ahead. 

FINGATHING haven't played a live show for 

some time, but there are no signs of rust. Theirs 

is a performance both tight and bouncy, with DJ 

Peter Parker's cuts synching nicely with Sneaky's 

ominous bowed bass and images of Greco- 

Roman grappling. The cartoons get darker, yet 

retain their humour. It's pleasing to be at a gig 

with such a visual feast on show without the 

accompanying forest of camera phones. So 

good only our eyes will do. 

Catch White Denim @ EVAC on 

21th May 

bidolito.co.uk

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30 


Reviews 

The bass and DJ format may seem unusual, but 

both elements have the spirit of improvisation 

in common, honed to telepathy over the years 

to traverse jazz, hip hop, and drum and bass 

expertly. It's these similarities that are ultimately 

relevant, matching each other, breakdown for 

devastating breakdown. Witnessing Parker in 

action is to see scratching at its most accessible; 

a drum kit or the pivot of a thrillingly elastic 

rhythm section seemingly at his fingertips. The 

humble approaches to the microphone that 

bookend this fantastic hour prove Fingathing are 

as happy to be back as we are to have them. 

PEANUT BUTTER WOLF is also happy to be back. 

Seventeen years after his last Liverpool show he 

returns, tonight supporting Our Vinyl Weighs A 

Ton: a documentary about his revered hip hop 

label Stones Throw Records. Initially it feels like 

we're at the movies; crowd movement restricted 

to necks craning to see the screens above, 

which are showing cartoons, bad TV shows and 

music videos, similar to DJ Yoda's cut ‘n’ paste 

AV style. A fellow reveller compares it to “a latenight 

YouTube battle with your mates”. However, 

as 10cc make way for a touching tribute to 

pioneer producer J Dilla which ignites the crowd, 

seemingly random selections fall into place and 

Wolf leads us to a vault of hip hop classics via 

the songs sampled. He's not afraid to stop the 

record to tell us a story, but he's smart enough 

to know what the people came for – a solid-gold 

stack of 90s hip hop classics. Big L, Big Daddy 

Kane, KRS-One, A Tribe Called Quest, Gangstarr 

and Dr. Dre are cheered to the rafters, as heads 

nod and bodies bounce. Once we're in the palm 

of his hand, Wolf breaks out the old soul classics, 

before paying tribute to the recently departed 

Frankie Knuckles with a hands-in-the-air stage 

invasion that gleefully runs over the curfew, to 

the annoyance of no one. 

Maurice Stewart / 

theviewfromthebooth.tumblr.com 

NICK MULVEY 

Eaves 

Get It Loud In Libraries @ Central Library 

As part of the Get It Loud In Libraries project, 

funded by The Arts Council and Paul Hamlyn 

Foundation, the refurbished Liverpool Central 

Library plays host tonight to former Portico 

Quartet member NICK MULVEY. Much to my own 

embarrassment, this is the first time I've been 

into the Library since the renovation. Nestled 

amongst the grandeur of St George’s Hall and The 

Walker Art Gallery, the space makes for a terrific, 

if transient, gig venue. Being entirely honest, it’s 

perhaps the draw of seeing live music in this 

unusual surrounding rather than the actual lineup 

that draws me in to attending. The plethora 

of Mulvey’s doe-eyed outdoor performances on 

YouTube did little to endear me to his indie folk 

stylings. In spite of his ostensibly considerable 

talents as a singer, guitarist and songwriter, it all 

felt a little cloying to my ears. Still, I'm nothing if 

not open to being proven wrong. 

Opening act EAVES cuts a solitary figure on 

the improvised stage. His Appalachian melodies 

and earthy voice belie his youngish features and 

his songwriting exhibits a pre-occupation with 

an older school of songwriting. I won't say he 

wears his inspiration on his sleeve, but should 

you be inclined to pull at them, the threads of his 

influences could be easily traced. Michael Hurley, 

Nick Drake and Bert Jansch all mingle, thrown in 

alongside the augmented chord voicings of Jeff 

Buckley; his vocals too lie somewhere between 

these. Eaves is a talent worth keeping tabs on. 

The vibe of the room slips ever closer towards 

the soporific as we wait for Mulvey to come on. 

The size of the amassed crowd goes to show 

that I'm clearly in the minority in my prejudice 

though. Indeed, with his debut single opening 

at 26 in the UK charts, it's clear it will probably 

be a long time before he plays a venue as 

intimate as this again. As a performer he has a 

deft understanding of his sound. The subtlety 

in his use of effects, his mellifluous vocals 

and the broad acoustics of the library give the 

performance a fullness that can often be hard to 

achieve solo on acoustic guitar. Songs like Meet 

Me There and his cover of (potentially greatest 

song ever) I Feel Love fit the feel of the evening 

perfectly. Maybe it's the atmosphere of the room 

but it's not long before his impressive Flamencoinfluenced 

guitar technique and solid, if not 

slightly mawkish, songwriting begins to win me 

over. His time spent studying in Havana has lent 

his music a Latin feel and he shares more than a 

passing similarity to José González. Both employ 

a sentimentality that’s tempered by unusual 

chord tones and interesting rhythmic patterns, 

and by the end of the set I'm willing to concede: 

if you enjoy your music soft, sentimental and 

prodigiously performed you could certainly do a 

lot worse than Nick Mulvey. 

Dave Tate 


Your Bag? 

Catch Dark Inventions @ The 

Capstone Theatre on 16th May 

BRITISH SEA POWER 

Warm Digits – Cavalry 

Evol @ East Village Arts Club 

There was a brief period, round about 2008, 

when BRITISH SEA POWER were approaching 

the margins of the mainstream; with third 

album Do You Like Rock Music? penetrating the 

top 10 and gaining a Mercury nod there was 

ample opportunity for an Elbow-esque leap 

from obscurity to the arenas. But alas it was not 

to be, and now four albums later they’re still 

amongst the intimacy of smaller venues like 

EVAC. Though perhaps robbed of the stardom 

they deserve, it’s a situation the band work 

to their advantage, cramming their spacious, 

stadium-worthy riffs into the narrow confines of 

the venue to devastating effect. 

A sound like CAVALRY’s is perfect for the tricky 

first support slot; it’s attention-grabbing not by 

aggression but by understatement, utilising a trio 

of vocalists to produce a shimmering harmonic 

assault poised delicately on top of instrumentals 

that are undercut with a consistent sense of 

movement towards crescendo. Nowhere is this 

more apparent than set-closer Lament, where 

their modest passion shines through with style to 

perfectly complement the sincere surroundings. 

There’s still an undercurrent of anticipation 

for the headliners, and WARM DIGITS decide 

British Sea Power (Gaz Jones / @GJMPhoto) 

to capitalise on the brewing restlessness 

with a bombastic electronic set that’s as akin 

to Fucked Up as it is to Holy Fuck. Crudely 

named contemporaries aside, it’s certainly an 

idiosyncratic affair, with a thundering opening 

drum solo giving way to a pulsating groove 

that commences their unrelenting set. Though 

firmly entrenched in the repetitive leanings of 

krautrock and dance, it’s far from monotonous, 

with an array of attention-grabbing sounds 

producing intriguing textures that are ever 

mutating from one to the next. 

It’s about as perfect a warm-up for British Sea 

Power as could be hoped for, a build-up that the 

headliners prolong with a lengthy orchestral 

introduction. With successive tracks Heavenly 

Waters and Fear Of Drowning they draw out a 

melancholy sound that’s delicate, serene, and 

just that little bit underwhelming. With We Are 

Sound things begin to pick up, and with older 

anthem It Ended On An Oily Stage the crowd 

surge frontwards for a sudden eruption of 

sweaty limbs and raucous voices. 

Perhaps predictably, it’s the material from 

the band’s aforementioned populist era that 

elicits the most fervent reaction, and when 

such songs get their airing the mutual elation 

is unstoppable. That’s not to say the slower, 

newer or more obscure tracks aren’t performed 

admirably, however; the measured grace of Zeus 

for example is executed with tender composure, 

but understandably it’s the band’s biggest hit 

and the one-track encore Waving Flags that truly 

sets things alight. As the already impressive 

moshpit engulfs the majority of the crowd, it’s 

undeniable that British Sea Power would’ve 

made for an almighty arena prospect but, 

judging by this performance, it’s definitely for 

the best they remain in the realms of the cult. 

Patrick Clarke / @paddyclarke 

bidolito.co.uk

LIVERPOOL INTERNATIONAl 

FESTIVAL OF PSYCHEDELIA 

26 + 27 SEPTEMBER 2014 

Camp & Furnace / blade factory liverpool 

goat. WOODS. SUUNS. 

WHITE HILLS. WOLF PEOPLE. 

ZOMBIE ZOMBIE. HILLS. 

SLEEPY SUN. AMEN DUNES. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE LUCID DREAM. ORVAL CARLOS SIBELIUS. 

SUDDEN DEATH OF STARS. TEETH OF THE SEA. 

 

 

 

 

 

PURPLE HEART PARADE. PETE BASSMAN (Spacemen 3). 

 

 

 

TRANSMISSIONS FROM THE OUTER REALMS 

PRESENTED BY 

 

 

P 

Full details and tickets at LIVERPOOLPSYCHFEST.COM

Issue 44 / May 2014

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