The Mummers And The Poppers-The Mummers Interview

“Lorca & The Orange Tree” By The Mummers

Free Legal Download of “Wonderland” here

Just think, if Bjork hadn’t suffered that nasty trauma to her elfin like noggin when plummeting towards Wonderland via the rabbit hole, her recent output may well have been somewhat less self indulgent and a little more palatable.  Maybe she too would have been able to produce something as magical and majestic as The Mummers “Tale To Tell”. Unlike Bjork the Mummers do not indulge in ludicrous “avant garde” squawking, shrieking or gurning,  nor do they feel the need to resort to incoherent babbling  relating their somewhat misguided belief  that they have the ability to commune with  imps, pixies  and other magical woodland creatures, and to be honest their music sounds all the better for it . The Mummers have also remembered that it’s often beneficial when writing a song to include oft overlooked necessities, for example … a tune.  There will always be artists who, when given the freedom to experiment, can produce something profoundly beautiful and by the same token there are others who, rather like Al Pachino without a firm directorial hand, will sadly lapse into laughable over the top self parody. The Mummers quite firmly fall into the former category whereas The Icelandic Princess of La-la Land has drifted dangerously close to the latter.

“Tale To Tell” is an incredibly liberating album; it conjures up memories of those seemingly endless sun filled summer holidays of yore, when life was full of magic and infinite possibilities. Yup, it really does transport you back to the days when the world seemed a place of discovery and wonder,  before you donned the blinkers of adulthood, conformed, and somehow became all that you once despised.  The album could also serve as a useful point of reference for Mark Ronson, namely with regard to “the correct use of horns”. It’s an album that combines a myriad of influences and the result is a gorgeous euphony of sound and styles that skillfully combines pop music with classical,  film scores with cabaret  and includes swathes of  swooning orchestral flourishes all underpinned by Rassia’s amazing voice . It’s the sound of a West End musical written by David Lynch and could also quite easily fit rather snuggly into the soundtrack of Tim Burton’s forthcoming much anticipated adaptation of “Alice In Wonderland”

The Mummers universe is essentially centered around London-born singer/songwriter Raissa Khan-Panni, a musician who previous musical incarnation “Rassia”, discovered that critical acclaim doesn’t always result in commercial success. When her solo work started to stutter she returned to long joyless hours of waitressing, but continued to write  and make “fairytale versions of the mundane”, for what would come to form the basis of her latest musical project. We spoke to Rassia  to find out more about The Mummers and the art of Mumming…

VP: Tell us the story of The Mummers, how the project came about and who is involved?

Raissa: ….Naturally ….
It was during a time when I went back to waitressing in a slightly bleak period of having nothing again. I was writing lyrics and thinking about creating a project that was the farthest removed from my life at the at the time, when by chance Mark Horwood sent  me an orchestrated version of a ‘Riverman’ cover I’d done. It was so perfect and I hunted him down for a year (he’d disappeared off to LA) eventually finding him in the countryside outside Brighton living in a Treehouse studio he’d built and it was full of the most wonderful instruments and it inspired a lot of the imagery in the album. So we started The Mummers straight away with a former collaborator of mine Paul Sandrone gradually expanding it to include about 20 musicians from Brighton and around.

VP:  So you recorded the album “Tale to Tell” in a tree house! One assumes this was not your average tree house!!?

Raissa: It is a wooden extension of a house that Mark built high up in between two massive Pine Trees. You access it by a steep and slippery wooden staircase and it is filled with old keyboards, harmoniums, organs and percussion instruments.

VP: You’ve previously been involved in the music business, but despite the critical acclaim, as mentioned, you went back to waitressing. Did you always believe that you would return to music? Was it a case of just waiting
it out?

Raissa:  I always knew I would return to music – in fact I never stopped, after my solo project I started experimenting with underground garage, drum n bass and house whilst preparing for The Mummers.

VP:  How would you describe “Tale To Tell” to the uninitiated?

Raissa: An intimate and personal perspective of the world that creates fairytale versions of the mundane.

VP:  What sort of music/ musicians have been major influences on your work?

Raissa: Rickie Lee Jones, my all-time favourite singer-songwriter, Rufus Wainwight’s huge sound and worldly lyrics, John Barry’s film scores, Miles Davis ‘in a silent way’ era, keyboard textures,

VP: How did you enjoy the recent appearance on Jools Holland?

Raissa: It was amazing to be a part of a show that included The Specials and Carol King, we were in awe. Scary to be performing on live TV especially as I’d lost my voice the week before. It was a total buzz however and we were like over-excited school children.

VP:  What musicians past or present, dead or alive would you love/have loved, to work with?

Raissa: Leonard Bernstein, Carol King, Freddy Mercury

VP:  What are your plans for the remainder of 2009?

Raissa: Festivals all summer, and then a UK tour in autumn hopefully, finishing the next album.

VP: What’s been the highlight of The Mummers thus far?

Raissa: Jools Holland and seeing the album racked in HMV for the first time.

VP: What are the five most important words in the Mummers’ vocabulary?

Raissa:  Tea, Train, Treehouse, Twitter (as of last week), Tea.

Links

Myspace

Official Site

On Twitter

Wallpapers

Video

“Wonderland”-The Mummers Live On Jools Holland

The Birth Of The Mummers

In Practice Not Theory –Theoretical Girl Interview

“The Biggest Mistake”-Live Maida Vale, by Theoretical Girl

The following is substantially a work of non-fiction, the introduction in no way reflects the views of  Theoretical Girl and it is based entirely on the experiences and recollections of the author. In some limited cases names of people and bands have been withheld solely to protect the immense, yet strangely fragile egos involved. Now, let us begin…..

Like any relationship, my love affair with music isn’t always hearts and flowers. Music can, on occasion, depress me. For example it’s rather exasperating when you discover that an album touted as groundbreaking and pant-wettingly original is, quelle horreur, merely an artless cack-handed cut and paste exercise in ripping-off much admired bands from your youth.  Despite the adulation and the constant name dropping of a much feted producer you soon realise the hyperbole is as hollow as an Easter egg from Netto… as empty as Maggie Thatcher’s blackened heart.  You can drape a turd in diamonds, but beneath the glittering façade it still remains, essentially, a turd.

It’s equally galling when a “much loved band” reforms, gets a headline slot at Glastonbury and is then inexplicably feted as some sort of untouchable musical deity. All too soon you begin to experience the sense of bewilderment and anxiety that normally presages some truly awful event…and then it happens, unassailable proof that the world has gone stark raving bonkers as this band’s decidedly iffy albums are canonised as classics! How did that happen? ‘Cos my recollection of the very same band is somewhat different.  I remember them as little more than consummate perennial bandwagon jumpers, finally settling on a clumsy art school potpourri of Madness, the Kinks, Dick Van Dyke and Chas N Dave. But now this band is apparently regarded as the very essence of Brit-cool. The fact that the singer often ended live sets by dropping his pants and hopping about the stage like somebody with learning difficulties trying to locate a fresh roll of toilet paper is conveniently forgotten. The word is they are “The best British band since the Beatles” and “more erudite than The Kinks ”  …Even if you like the bands in question you must surely admit that their significance in enriching popular culture, is somewhat, over-egged. When faced with this seemingly never-ending tsunami of hype, tommyrot and piffle you feel the will to live draining from you .-“Ok guv, it’s a fair cop, I’ll come quietly, I’ll join up with your marching band of lemmings and make haste in scurrying  toward cultural Armageddon” …….But then you discover new music which  really deserves your attention and your love affair is reignited once more…

I discovered Theoretical Girl a while back via the good old interweb, because let’s face it, the chances of discovering anything new via daytime radio is as  slim as Anne Widdecombe’s list of potential suitors. Yes, Theoretical Girl made me realise that all is not lost, that music is still being made by good people who genuinely love what they are doing, and to give in to big label hyperbole or musical revisionists would be morally and spiritually wrong

Theoretical Girl is Amy Eleanor Turnnidge, a one woman musical tour de force whose DIY roots means she’s pretty adept at multi tasking. Why, if she’s not song writing and gigging, she’s playing guitar or bass or programming keyboards and drum machines, or arranging strings and, well, just generally getting on with making the world a better place.  Whether she’s performing her songs alone or with her sometime band The Equations she’s always good value and I must confess I am swelling with more than a little anticipatory excitement at the idea of getting my hands on her debut album later in the year.   Her tunes seem to cover the whole pop spectrum, from the straight forward rollicking post punk directness of tracks like “Red Mist” to the tender almost Smiths-esque beauty  of “The Biggest Mistake” or “The Boy  I Left Behind”.  Throw in a bit of a 60’s girl group vibe , infuse it with a  spot of  reflective, acoustic loveliness, add maybe a dash of twee, serve with  a slice of spiky post punk attitude and you have a rather delightful cocktail that will certainly refresh your musical taste buds. Yup Theoretical Girl is pretty much a cure-all for all known ills ! So if you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find her, maybe you can hire Theoretical Girl.

VP:  When did you start writing songs and how did the idea for Theoretical Girl come about?

TG: I’ve been writing on and off since I was a teenager and first heard Elastica! They were a revelation! I was in a few bands over the years, but never felt confident enough to be a front woman until I was sort of forced into it. I was in an all-girl band, complete with matching black bowl cuts and neon-colour co-ordinated outfits, when we fell out over who wrote the songs, I am control freak about writing you see, and we broke up. We had a gig that week and I didn’t want to let the guy who had booked us down, so I thought I’d throw together a couple of songs and do it myself. I couldn’t come up with a name so my friend suggested ‘Theoretical Girl’ for the time being and I never got round to changing it. So it’s all been a sheer fluke!

VP: There’s often a yearning loveliness to some of your material, regrets, mistakes, relationships gone wrong- Is there a therapeutic element to your song writing or is the subject matter based more on observation?

TG: All of my songs are based on my own experiences, but I like to disguise them a little otherwise it’d be a bit too exposing or should I say embarrassing! It is extremely therapeutic, especially as I write about things that I would struggle to say face to face.

VP: You’ve been busy recording your debut album this year, how’s it been going, when’s the release date and what’s the title?

TG: The album is called “Divided”, the title is meant to reflect the different types of music I make and the fact that most of my songs are about unrequited love or conflict of some kind. It will be out on 17th August. I absolutely loved recording the album. It was my idea of heaven, being shut away in a room, forgetting the outside world and just playing music all day and all night. It doesn’t get much better that that!

VP:  Who would you say are your major musical influences?

TG: I have so many! The main ones for this album were Fleetwood Mac, The Stranglers, Wings, Billy Joel, Purcell and Nick Drake!

VP: You’ve toured with a lot of great bands what have been your highlights thus far?

TG: My favourite on-stage moment has to be Portsmouth Guildhall supporting Maximo Park. My guitar broke and we didn’t have a roadie so I had to tell a very long joke, about penguins, to around 2000 people whilst my guitar was fixed by Maximo Park’s very kind sound engineer. I didn’t get round to telling the punch line and I still get e-mails from people, two years later, asking me to finish the joke!

VP:  You’re playing Glastonbury this year, have you been before?

TG: I’ve never been and I have absolutely no idea what to expect! It’s very exciting and very scary! It’s being run like a military operation. There are drop off and pick up points, collection areas, contact points. It’s all very bizarre but I can’t wait. We have a cellist and violinist joining us which will make the whole thing extra special!

VP:  What’s the Ipso Facto connection to Theoretical Girl?

TG: Sam (Valentine) was the first friend I made when I moved to London. She came to see me play in New Cross and we got chatting. She was in my backing band and then I asked Rosie (Cunningham) to join, which was how they met. They are extremely talented musicians and I expect them to go far!

VP:  What’s the weirdest thing that’s happened to you since you became involved in the world of music?

TG: Someone approached me in Waterstones and said ‘you’re a lot smaller in real life’. Then they walked away without saying another word.

VP: Time for the “Smash Hits” bit now. What are your favourite album, favourite film and favourite book?

TG: Easy! “Bryter Layter” by Nick Drake, the most beautiful and melancholy album ever made. “Historias Minimas”, an amazing road movie. “Les Miserables”, the greatest love story ever told shame about the war scenes though.

VP: If you had to choose a tagline or motto for Theoretical girl, what would it be?

TG: Half an inch taller than Kylie.

Links

Myspace – http://www.myspace.com/iamtheoreticalgirl

Downloads – http://www.myspace.com/theoreticalgirltunes

Acoustic Versions – http://www.myspace.com/theoreticalgirlacoustic

Wallpapers

Videos

“Red Mist” Live By Theoretical Girl

“The Boy I Left Behind” Live By Theoretical Girl

3 Gigs 1 Night- Rose Elinor Dougall, Alabama 3, Run Toto Run

You wait ages for a gig and then three come along at once!  Three gigs in one night, that was the plan, as we dispatched a team of crack(ed) reporters to Liverpool. They said it couldn’t be done, they said it was neigh on an impossibility to cover all three gigs… and do you know what? … They were right! Rose Elinor Dougall, Alabama Three and Run Toto Run all had gigs in Liverpool on the same evening …something had to give…here’s what happened…

Gig 1

ROSE ELINOR DOUGALL @ The Zanzibar Club Liverpool-12/06/2009

(By Von Pip)

It would be nice to be able to review a Rose Elinor Dougall gig without mentioning her previous musical adventures with uber pop, 60’s girl group, the Pipettes, alas, in the first sentence alone, I have failed that particular test. Suffice to say her solo material is light years away from anything written in her previous polka dotted musical incarnation, and her performance at Liverpool’s Zanzibar club confirmed she’s got exactly what it takes to make a huge impact as a solo artist.

Rose’s early bedroom demos which appeared on myspace just over a year ago revealed fragile, bittersweet numbers, laced with melancholy which centred on themes involving love, loss, and regret, and had that rare ability to appear extremely personal whilst managing to strike a universal chord within the listener. However this tone of melancholia was also tempered with a sense of rejuvenation. Like radiant sunlight finally filtering through grey nebulous clouds, the songs also contained a sense of hope and emotional renewal, of stepping into the light…or if you will, rather like sucking on a throat lozenge, the hard, seemingly impenetrable shell finally melts, and a centre of soothing honey is revealed…erm …or something!  It appears that Rose’s hard work over last 12 months, refining her sound, coming up with new arrangements for her unusually structured songs as well as working as the “grumpiest bar maid ever” have certainly paid dividends, and in conjunction with her band, The Distractions, (also featuring her brother Tom) they have polished these demos and transformed them into sparkling gems.

“I Know We’ll Never” Live

The only lo-fi element to the evening’s entertainment was a rather limp, wet lettuce of an audience (come on Liverpool wake up to new music) but it didn’t affect the bands performance one jot, they were quite superb.    “Another Version Of Pop Song” kicked off proceedings in fine style, with the band hitting top form straight away; current single “Start/Stop/Synchro” sounded wonderful live and new tune  the rousing “Carry On” should definitely be a future single.  Rose’s songs are not always the most straightforward, and one imagines they can be quite challenging to perform; therefore it was to the bands credit that the live versions actually seemed even bigger and bolder than the recorded versions, taking on a new dimension and filling every corner of the venue with sonic beauty.

“Carry On” Live

Roses influences were evident (Broadcast, The Cocteau Twins, The Sundays and My Bloody Valentine) but the band are already developing their own unique style in no small part due to Roses hauntingly beautiful voice, which was never really fully utilised in The Pipettes- It’s a voice full of  wistful  loveliness and on  tracks such as “I Know We’ll Never” one feels she could coax tears from a statue, whilst  when singing numbers  such as “Carry On” her tone shifts from contemplative introspection to exhilaratingly defiant, somewhere between Harriet Wheeler and a less belligerent Susan Ballion.  The final song “Fallen Over” really highlighted the bold direction I hope the band will continue to take, all searing guitars, mellifluous vocals, swirling keyboards and pounding rhythms. If the band continues to make such rapid progress one imagines Kevin Shields will be sobbing into his pillow, consumed envy…. Utterly, gobsmackingly, brilliant!  Roll on the album…. 9/10

“Fallen Over” Live

Set List

Another Version of Pop Song

I Know We’ll Never

Come Away With Me

Start/Stop/Synchro

Find Me Out

Carry On

To The Sea

May Holiday

Fallen Over

Myspace

Interview

Meanwhile at the same time, on the other side of town ………….

Gig 2

ALABAMA THREE – Liverpool Academy One-12/06/2009

(By JK)

I set out with great expectations of Alabama 3 having discovered them at Glasto 2005 when in my quest to get down the front for Roots Manuva I arrived half way through their set.  Now if someone had tried to explain Alabama 3 to me – “Country acid house gospel” they’d have probably lost me at “Country”.  Yet the weird combination of genres works, and works well.   But that’s the strength of a festival, you go and see someone you like and they have an off day, then you wander past someone you’ve never heard of who end up becoming a minor obsession.

“Woke Up This Morning” Live

I was dazzled by their stage show – seedy looking reverends, cowboys, cowgirls taking it in turns to take the mic, they even had can-can girls for one of the songs.  The stage was alive with energy, awash with colour, and when the opening beats of “Mao Tse Tung” began – so loud you could feel it in you bowels, I was hooked and it became my Glasto highlight of 2005.  Next time I saw them was Glasto 2008.  No elaborate stage show this time, but a lot of banter from the Reverend D Wayne Love kept it entertaining.  No “Mao Tse Tung” though.  If you go and see New Order you expect them to play “Blue Monday and “True Faith,” A3 played “Woke Up This morning” so why no “Mao Tse Tung”? Still, I met countess randoms over the course of the weekend who had come to the Jazz World stage for a cider, and left preaching the Alabama 3 gospel.  They are that good live when on form.

If they are that good at Glasto, mid afternoon when a lot of the audience haven’t a clue who they are and just happened to be at that stage, how electric would one of their own gigs be, with a room filled with the faithful?  Roots Manuva was chalk and cheese between Glasto 2005 and his Kentish Town Forum show soon after, both in terms of atmosphere and performance.  Was this going to be the gig of my life?

“Temptation” Live

Let’s cut to the chase.  The answer is sadly a resounding NO. Maybe  I’m being unduly harsh having such high expectations, but the band just looked jaded and bored, the atmosphere never really got going, and the sound was a bit iffy in places.  To be fair, most of their set was taken from the “Coldharbour Lane” album – they must be sick to death of that album now, and it showed.  There was no elaborate stage show, the banter was minimal, and once again they didn’t play “Mao Tse Tung”. Yes the Reverend D Wayne Love had his trademarked stoned look, Zoe looked and sounded damned hot, and brownie points for the sentiment of the “F*ck the BNP” rant, if none for originality.  But that’s all the show had to recommend it, and I expected more for my £16 plus booking fee.   The audience seemed to be enjoying themselves, and there was a good turnout, which is by no means ever guaranteed in Liverpool.  But I was hoping for an atmosphere akin to when one of the local football clubs wins, sadly that didn’t happen.   Now I’m just hoping they do a blinding secret gig at Glasto that will restore my faith.

RUN TOTO RUN – Korova Liverpool -12/06/2009

JK: “That doesn’t look anything like Run Toto Run, even after this many pints” …..

VP: “Maybe the effects of touring have taken their toll? They don’t look themselves at all…they look a bit haggard, and erm well, a tad hirsute …

KOROVA STAFF: “No mates, Run Toto Run have been on, they were really good, you’ve missed them…..

JK/VP: Oh sh*t!  ……..anybody fancy a pint?

Here they are anyway , seeing as we missed em

Sleepy Head

Myspace

Interview

Generation Sex – Flamboyant Bella

“Abbi” By Flamboyant Bella

Flamboyant Bella? What sort of a name is that? It sounds like the sort of appellation  Perez Hilton would bestow on  his pet Chihuahua, or  perhaps it  calls to mind that burlesque dancer from Madam Jo-Jo’s, you know, the one who made love to you, and only you,  with her eyes … erm not that I’d know anything about that sort of thing!!  In reality Flamboyant Bella are a four piece musical outfit from Hitchin who have racked up over 1.5m hits on their MySpace page and have also topped the site’s unsigned chart.  Inevitably there will be comparisons made to the Kate / Lilly school of pop, due in no small part to singer Flo’s vocal delivery,(altough vocals are shared with James ) and  this in turn may well provoke the sort of reaction oft displayed when folk are confronted with a jar of Marmite. But if you like the idea of Kate Nash fronting the Primitives on a sugar rush  and have a sense of fun then “Flambo” (as their fans call them) may be right up your musical street. It’s great summery pop music.  A word of warning though kids, Flamboyant Bella’s songs more often than not contain some reference to sex, booze, boozy sex and sexy booze.  We feel a moral duty as a blog with a social conscience, to point out that binge drinking is responsible for all of society’s ills, so forget global warming, terrorism, poverty and MP’s expenses, having a pint is the real enemy within.   We also feel duty bound to point out that unprotected sex can have terrifying consequences – children for example.

Rather fittingly  Flamboyant Bella do produce pop that’s as catchy as Chlamydia ( minus unpleasant side effects) and show me a teenager that isn’t preoccupied  with close encounters of the drunken kind and  I’ll show you a  young Conservative.  Such predilections are all part of the normal rights of passage and of course it’s not the destination, it’s the journey that matters. So worry not about the dissolute state of this young bands collective soul, they’ll be fine and in time, excess and giddiness will be replaced by temperance and responsibility. In fact society has the perfect antidote to curb such rampant unfettered fun, it’s an institution that has been around for many years, it’s called “marriage”.

We had a chat to Flamboyant Bella’s  Flo, which was a erm,  gas!

VP: How did the band get together?

Flo: Well, the bassist, Mitch, and drummer, Elliot, met in their parent’s cells, as they’re brothers. And Elliot’s been good friends with James for years. They found me, in a hairdressers and it clicked from then on.

VP:  Was it always an ambition to be involved in music?

Flo: I think it’s everyone’s dream to get to be in a band. But personally, yes. We’ve all done music for years now, so we’re very lucky!

VP: “Flamboyant Bella”?? Where did the name come from is it a person? A burlesque artist? A state of mind?

Flo: We nicked it out of a newspaper headline chronicle thing. It’s some bird from New York or somewhere.

VP:  What have you released thus far?

Flo: We first released ‘Touch’ as a single. It was attached to a Frisbee which we still sell today as it works so well. We then released our song ‘Absolutely Wankered’ but just for free for everyone, and now we’ve just released ‘Abbi’ which has done us proud, especially radio-wise.

VP: Would you care to share the strangest thing you’ve done when “Absolutely Wankered”

Flo: Ooft! Umm.. Err.. We have spitting fights in Travelodge’s when on the road?

VP:  What have you found to be the most surprising/weirdest aspect of being in a band?

Flo: Some great kids in Newcastle and a lovely lady from Brazil have got tattoos of either our artwork or lyrics. MADNESS!!!!

VP: Who are your musical heroes?

Flo: Mine is a singer by the name of Inara George. She sings in a group called The Bird and the Bee. She’s very pretty and has a lovely voice so I love her. I know James adores Blondie. She’s such an icon for sure!!

VP:  If Simon Cowell mysteriously disappeared, would anybody really care ?

Flo: I would. I think he’s genius. Some kid cut out a picture of his smiling face from a newspaper, at a gig in Southampton and gave it to me. I kept it for weeks… Then he disappeared… and I DID care!

VP:  What would you say are your worst habits?

Flo: The boys suffer from terrible flatulence. To be honest, we all fart on each other.

VP:  Five words to best encapsulate the Flamboyant Bella vibe?

Flo: Poppy, Genuine, Buff, Rude, Eggs.

Links

Myspace

Official Site

Facebook

Wallpapers

Video

“Touch” By Flamboyant Bella

“Absoulty Wankered” By Flamboyant Bella

Little Boots- “Hands” Review

“The future’s female, the future’s electro. Pop is the new indie”

Albert Einstein

“Earthquake” By Little Boots

Unless you’ve been living in a cave or possibly Northampton you will surely be familiar with the name Little Boots. Apparently the whole future of pop music rests on her slender shoulders.  I was first alerted to the existence of this musical entity by Victoria “Little Boots” Hesketh herself!  Having completed an interview with a band with whom Ms H was lead vocalist, the excellent Dead Disco (interview here), I received a message from her saying that she was sorry if she’d messed up my interview  “I have actually left the band now I hope they do well as it’s a great band and Lucy and Marie are very talented musicians. I have a new project, it’s called Little Boots but it’s still in the very early stages, it’s more pop/ electronic.” I wished her good luck and heard nothing more on the Little Boots front until… she re-emerged surfing a monumental tidal wave of hype which threatened to completely engulf her.  She was hailed somewhat absurdly, as the “saviour of pop” before she’d released a solitary tune,  sniffy critics were unimpressed and many were quick to distance themselves from the delirium that surrounded Miss Boots.  Sensibly Victoria and her team didn’t rush to release the debut album “Hands” but quietly got on with the business of producing the album they wanted to make. Now some six months after the initial bout of Boots induced  mass hysteria, the waters of pop are somewhat calmer and the album has finally arrived, the question is, does it live up to the hyperbole?  Is she the “future of pop?” Or is she a  Cbeebies version of Goldfrapp.

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding and upon listening to the album it appears the hype is somewhat justified as Little Boots comes very close to producing the prefect pop album. “Hands” is a pop behemoth, its big, its brash and it’s full of energy and enthusiasm. The choice of “New in Town”, as lead single was difficult to fathom  and although it’s a grower I still can’t shake the impression that Victoria was watching TV the day she wrote this one and the annoying  “Here Comes The Girls” ad for Boots The Chemist ( no relation) somehow burrowed its way into her consciousness. Things really kick off in earnest with the euphoric tranced out rush of “Earthquake”, indeed experts may one day declare this tune the ultimate example of how to write and produce the perfect commercial pop song.  It’s a song that grabs you by your skinny tie and hurls you around the dance floor with carefree abandon; it also boasts a chorus bigger than Blackpool tower.

Other highlights include “Mathematics” a killer pop tune, Victoria may well not know her “Fibonacci or Pythagoras” but she certainly knows the formulae for making glittering, danceable pop. “Click” is the sort of song much beloved by 80’s teen flick maestro John Hughes; one can almost imagine it playing in the background whilst Hughes zooms in on Molly Ringwald’s strangely appealing face. Molly looks reflective, as she stoically tries to recover from yet another broken heart, a single tear slowly slides down her alabaster skin…. “Tune Into My Heart” keeps things firmly in the 80’s pop arena and conjures up memories of “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” from “Footloose” unfortunately this also invokes the unwelcome spectre of absurdly mulleted Kevin Bacon, replete in tie dyed jeans enthusing “Hey, hey! What’s this I see? I thought this was a party. LET’S DANCE!” Like Thatcherism and “The Hit Man And Her” some things from the 80’s should never be revisited!

“Symmetry” features a duet with Christian Bale in Batman mode sound alike, Phil Oakey. It compares favourably with anything on the Human League’s breakthrough pop classic “Dare” and works fantastically well. Doubtless it will inspire the young ‘uns to investigate The Human Leagues back catalogue and one wonders what they will make of tracks such as “A Crow And A Baby” and “Empire State Human”

Not everything comes off; there are a couple of tracks that would surely be welcomed by Bernard Matthews with open arms. “Ghosts” for example is a real clunker; the idea may well have been to produce a slightly off kilter, kooky 80’s style Kate Bush inspired number. Unfortunately the song lumbers about with all the grace of Hagrid’s clumsy brother Grawp (from Harry Potter) before tripping over its ambition and landing on its bottom in an undignified heap.  “Remedy” is pure Euro kitsch, camper than God’s own panto dame Christopher Biggins performing “Go West” and will probably be everybody’s holiday song this year. Imagine a Lithuanian Laura Branigan performing at the Eurovision and you’re in the right ball park….But these are but minor gripes, on the whole if it’s a pure pop album you’re looking for, you can’t go wrong getting your hands on erm..  “Hands”! Unlike the personality vacuum that is the empty pop machine known as Girls Aloud, “Hands” has Hesketh’s pop vision running throughout,   like embossed letters through Blackpool rock. It won’t change your life, indeed one suspects that if you’re looking to Pop music to help initiate that sort of change, you’re looking in completely the wrong area (join a gym, read Dostoyevsky, change your job). That’s not to say “Hands” is artless or disposable, far from it, at its best it delivers highly sophisticated pop that pretty much makes Kylies back catalogue seem redundant.   It’s joyous crowd pleasing music of the highest order and doubtless will fill various dance floors up and down the country and provide the soundtrack to a cracking good night out, and do you know what?  Sometimes that’s all you need from pop music, innit?

8/10

Myspace

Official Site

“New In Town” By Little Boots

Wallpaper

Music News /Downloads/Videos w/e 05/06/2009

Paloma Faith, Metric , Isa & The Filthy Tongues,  Free Downloads, Rose Elinor Dougall, The Rokettes, Run Toto Run

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PALOMA FAITH

Some 18 months or so ago we interviewed Paloma Faith, we recognised a singer of immense talent and breathtaking imagination (interview here) and were wowed by her early demos.   Paloma has  interesting career arch,  an ex magician’s assistant, trained contemporary dancer, St Martin’s college alumni with an MA in theatre direction, performer in burlesque shows and actress, but music has always been her primary love. She is finally due to release her debut single “Stone Cold Sober” on 15/06/2009 which  can be ordered here . Her album “Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful? Is released on 26.09.2009. The wait is almost over….

Official Website

Myspace

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METRIC – SICK MUSE

Metric release their second single from the brilliant “Fantasies” album . “Sick Muse” is melodically sweet yet thematically bitter, one which seethes with vitriol and sarcasm while at the same time brimming over with pop hooks and instantly memorable tunes aplenty. With Haines’ pithily observing in the chorus that “Everybody just  wanna fall in love”, “Sick Muse” comes on like a cool breeze on a hot summer night with razor blades in it.

Official Website

On Myspace

Interview With Emily Haines

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ISA & THE FILTHY TONGUES

“Big Star”

The bands last single New Town killer featured in NME magazine ‘10 Tracks You Must Hear’ and the single signals an epic return to the UK music scene in what is proving to be a hugely successful year. If you enjoyed the last one then the bands latest offering “Big Star” may cause you to soil yourself with excitement as its fantastic. At times sounding like  Siouxsie at her most imperious fused with Debbie Harry this emerges from the darkness to dazzle.

Myspace

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THE LEGAL FREE STUFF

The Mummers vs Passion Pit | ‘Sleepyhead’  Now this is well worth a listen www.soundcloud.com/stayloose/sleepyhead_the-mummers-vs-passion-pit

Royksopp | ‘The Girl & The Robot’ (Chateau Marmont remix) http://soundcloud.com/stayloose/the-girl-and-the-robot-chateau-marmont-remix

Alessi’s Ark | ‘Simple Man’ (Lynrd Skynrd cover) http://soundcloud.com/stayloose/alessis-ark_simple-man-cover

Ain | ‘Sunday’ http://soundcloud.com/stayloose/ain_sunday

Moby | ‘Shot In The Back of the Head’ http://www.moby.com/

Hockey | ‘Learn To Lose’ (Labyrinth remix) http://soundcloud.com/stayloose/learn-to-lose-labyrinth-remix

Kleerup | ‘On My Own Again’ http://kleerup.net/free-download-on-my-on-again

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THE ROKETTES

BURN BABY BURN

Debut Single released June 29^th on Delicious Records (Available via itunes and all major download sites)

The Rokettes are an indie band from East London. ‘Burn Baby Burn’ is their debut single, and is to be followed by the release of their first album in September this year. El, The Rokettes front woman, has gained national fame performing under the name of Elena.

El is accompanied by Ben Walker on guitar/bass and Merjin Royaards on drums.

Think “Plastic Letters” era Blondie after gargling razor blades- which is no bad thing!

www.therokettes.com

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ROSE ELINOR DOUGALL

R.E.D. is throwing a launch party this Monday 8th June at London’s Luminaire in celebration of new limited edition single ‘Stop/Start/Synchro’ which arrives next week through Elefant Records Singles Club and has been  lavished with well deserved  praise. Forget handclaps and dotty pop, she’s long left that behind. Live, she plays with her band The Distractions that build a fuzz filled, hard rocking psychedelic wall of sound alongside Rose’s soaring vocals. Great time to catch her before the release of upcoming debut album ‘Without Why’.

http://www.myspace.com/roseelinordougallmusic

Interview

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RUN TOTO RUN

Well we’ve had the Mummers Vs Passion Pit,  now check this cover, lovely eh?

They are currently on tour check their myspace for dates

Official Site

Myspace

Interview

Liverpool Sound City Music Festival 2009

Liverpool Sound City Music Festival 2009

Liverpool’s Sound City Festival, still only in its second year is already being talked about as a possible future rival to Austin’s SXSW.  This year the city played host to over 400 artists performing in more than 30 venues across the city.  My mission was simple, to bend space and time and attend every show…..well not really. But I did manage to get to a few.…

One of the problems of a festival such as this is the logistics, it can be frustrating working out your itinerary only to discover in a moment of head slapping “D’oh” style clarity that two bands you really want to see clash. Couple that with the headache of a gig finishing within minutes of another starting on the other side of the city and it means you really need to be a highly organised, well oiled machine, and I was erm… certainly “well oiled” …One idea floated over a beer or eight involved looking into the feasibility of commissioning a convoy of rickshaws manned by a team of highly trained midgets, replete with Beatles masks to ferry gig-goers between venues, other brainwaves included the introduction of a flotilla of amphibious yellow submarines or the offer of  free piggyback rides  provided by members of  ever  freindly Zutons!  Funnily enough my Sound City experience began when I inadvertently bumped into Abbi Harding and ended with me staggering down Parr Street singing “Sinful” and “The Story of the Blues” with Pete Wylie…but without further ado let us proceed to the musical highlights of Sound City 2009.

TITUS ANDRONICUS & TOMMY REILLY

The first live music experience at this year’s fest came courtesy of an ear shredding sonic cacophony courtesy of New Jersey’s Titus Andronicus in Liverpool’s Barfly. Imagine The Clash colliding with Nirvana at a chainsaw expo (which is not necessarily a bad thing.) The band seem to be having quite a time in England, from being mistaken for hobos by doormen at a venue in Brighton, to sleeping on fans couches and floors around the UK. However such experiences are merely part of the rich tapestry of glamour and luxury that makes being part of a rock n roll band such a draw! At tonight’s gig none of the bands songs quite manage to catch the imagination like the noisy thrashing splendiferous roar of  their self titled single, (called, surprisingly, “Titus Andronicus”), but there’s much to admire in a set that  certainly matches energy levels with  volume ….After the performance  I  weave my way from the venue, ears still bleeding from the ferocity of the guitars and decide against seeing another loud American, in this case Hollywood actress turned rock babe,  Juliette Lewis (whom I had spotted earlier procuring what appeared to be huge feathers in the city centre, doubtless to make some sort of  rudimentary “tickling stick” in tribute to tombstone toothed  Liverpool “comedian”, Ken Dodd.)  Instead I  wander  into the nearby  Zanzibar Club to catch  Scottish singer songwriter Tommy Reilly, who I am told, is to release his Bernard Butler produced  debut album  in the none too distant future. Tommy provides a nice mix of acoustic pop with bluesy folk undertones and seems a likeable young fellow; in fact this was probably just what the doctor ordered after having my senses battered like erm… a horseshoe on um…the anvil of rock by er…the mighty sonic hammer of Andronicus.

However before the set concludes I overhear a conversation that makes the blood freeze in my veins. There  appears to be a  suggestion that  Mr Reilly is oft  inclined to slip “a really good cover” of  The Killers tuneless “dad-rock” dirge  “Mr Brightside” into his set, this instantly invokes my fight or flight response . I recoil at the mention of these trite Vegas show-band dandies and decide discretion is the better part of valour. In short I flee the premises like a modern day Kevin McCarthy à la “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” wailing “Look, you fools, you’re in danger! Can’t you see?! They’re after you! They’re after all of us! Our wives, our children, everyone! THEY’RE HERE, ALREADY! YOU’RE NEXT! “…. Still it was a nice set.

FIGHT LIKE APES

My next port of call is the Korova, Liverpool’s coolest bar/venue to see Fight Like Apes, who are possibly best described as “deliciously deranged” and they give the performance of the night. MayKay and the boys crash through a blistering set from their excellent “Fight Like Apes And The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion“ album. Despite singing along I’m still left none the wiser to what song’s such as “I’m Beginning To Think You Prefer Beverley Hills 90210 To Me” “Lumpy Dough or “Lend Me Your Face” are about, (then again who says they have to be about anything)….But the live experience proves to be a gloriously bonkers affair and hugely enjoyable as a result.  It concludes with MayKay being carried shoulder high through a delighted crowd …

The gig’s over and suddenly the room is spinning. …. I awake the next morning with a strange sense of disquiet, a sore head, and rather disturbingly I seem to be missing my understrides ( Tom Jones hadn’t made an impromptu appearance had he ? ) plus I have absolutely no recollection of how I’d arrived home …..Filled with post alcohol self loathing and disgust I take solace in the fact that I’m neither Jeremy Kylie nor David Cameron and this thought alone is enough to coax a smile back on my face. After the hair of the dog it’s time to “Ferry Cross the Mersey” to catch more live bands.

LEVELLOAD

My return to Soundcity kicks off with set by a band we have featured in recent weeks   Levelload  (interview here) , in Liverpool’s “Bumper”, a venue that to be honest, I’ve never exactly seen packed to the rafters and with so many other  bands on around the city  tonight’s no exception. However Levelload give a fine performance which features superb guitar work and plenty of attitude. The set includes goodies such as “HND in RNR”, “Yellow Fever” and ace new single “I’ve Been Thinking.”

LITTLE BOOTS

They say a pessimist is never disappointed and with this in mind I set off across town again, to the Academy 2 in order to catch an artist who, at this moment in time, is just as famous for a certain four letter word as she is for her music. The four letter word in question is “hype”, the artist, Little Boots (nee Victoria Hesketh).  Don’t get me wrong LB has some decent pop songs but her record label’s PR machine has whipped up a crescendo of hysteria which quite frankly, has reached ludicrous new levels of overstatement. Will she live up to the hype or crumble under the pressure of being given the preposterous title “the future of pop?” To be fair nobody can live up to that sort of hyperbole, but judging by the heaving swarm gathered here tonight, the PR machine has certainly garnered Miss Boots an army of loyal fans. Not bad for an artist who aside from a couple of limited promo offerings has yet to release a single, proper. Proof that hype maybe evil but it works on a short term basis at least.

Ted Striker Sweats!

Little Boots takes to the stage wearing, not little boots at all but high heels, complimented by a rather sexy, rather tiny, black dress, and in no time at all she has the assembled throng of adoring fans in the palm of her hand.  The place is rammed, the heat is stifling, and I start to resemble Ted Striker preparing for an emergency landing in Airplane. But guess what? Little Boots gives an exceptionally entertaining performance. If this is “pop” then call me the weasel, because Miss Boots really does engage with her audience, employs sharp, witty banter and doesn’t come across as some sort of big label puppet but a nice girl who really enjoys what she does.  And let’s face it if your handed a big opportunity by a record label you’d take it… wouldn’t you?  It’s a polished set and the highlights are predictably her best known songs, the hypnotic  Blondie meets Goldfrapp electro monster, “Stuck On Repeat” and  the disco-pop-tastic “Meddle”. Does the other material from her debut album “Hands” (released in June) cut the mustard? Will it help give Little Boots the legs to march to the top of the charts? Difficult to tell on first listen here, but there appears to be quite a few songs which definitely have the  potential to lodge themselves in the nations consciousness, not so sure if the slightly flaccid debut single “ New In Town” is  one of them but hey, what do I know?

What her performance at  Sound City emphatically proves is that she can certainly cut it live and has the ability to appeal to a wide cross section of music lovers if tonight’s eclectic looking crowd is anything to go by.  Let’s hope the record label ease up on the hype and give Victoria time to grow eh …of course they won’t, for they have been carefully grooming her to be launched as  England’s answer to  Lady Ga-Ga, ( although master of exploitation Simon Cowell would have you believe we already have one the shape of  Susan Boyle)

IPSO FACTO

I leave the stifling confines of Liverpool Academy, and am embraced by the cool night air but alas a sprint across the city centre to Liverpool’s Korova is required to catch a band I’ve wanted to see for an age. I arrive ruddy faced, dishevelled  and sweaty and grab a quick pint which I somehow manage to empty all over my  T-shirt,( all I need now, I  reflect,  is to loose a front tooth and nibble on an ear of corn!)When God was giving out cool I obviously overslept!  Ironic really as I am about to see a band who are the epitome of glacial sophistication.  Ipso Facto produce what could be described as brooding dark pop noir; they are a band whom we have long predicated will cast their formidable shadow over the pop landscape in the very near future. The NME (who make Jilly Goolden’s description of wine seem almost sane) have helpfully described Ipso Facto as “monochrome psychedelia”, which may be very clever but actually means bugger all. “So what’s that new band like Dave?”… “Well in essence it’s monochrome psychedelia in its purest form”…Erm Ok thanks for clearing that one up.

Samantha Valentine

Ipso Facto’s stylish, vampish image would have reduced me to a quivering wreck as a lad. I probably would have followed them from gig to gig in slavish adoration and eventually they would have thought “oh dear, it’s that northern yokel again with features that seem to have been hewn from a particularly unattractive, malformed potato.” But of course I’m far too old for that sort of shallow hero worshiping nonsense, I’m here for the music, Ipso Facto may indeed look great, but they also write tunes of dark brooding brilliance. On stage singer and guitarist Rosalie Cunningham is an impressive, sultry presence, who one imagines, can reduce a chap to dust with a menacing stare, or a disapproving arch of her eyebrow, as her rich, dark vocals and atmospheric guitar work reverberates around this intimate basement venue.  Bassist Samantha Valentine’s inability to remain vertical for more than a few minute at a time is certainly eye catching as she laconically lounges against walls in between prowling the stage with the feline grace of a catwalk model whilst wearing what appears to be  little more than spandex and underwear.  One imagines that if there was an award for being the coolest bassist in music, Samantha would be winning it hands down. Drummer Victoria Smith keeps time with military precision and even cracks a smile or two, as the band produce a set that is draped in dark, glittering beauty, “Harmonise” “Six And Three Quarters” “Queen Sophia’ and “You Don’t Own Me” all wow the crowd, who cant help but join in with the lyrically profound chorus on  the head banging “Balderdash”. If Andrew Eldritch and Siouxsie Sioux had produced triplets, they wouldn’t have been half as good as this band and that’s a Facto!  Definitely my highlight of Sound City and a band I really hope do well.

And so the night draws to a conclusion with some inevitable after show madness in Liverpool’s famous Parr Street studios  where we meet up with Pete Wylie and co. The atmosphere here is one of drunken bon’homie and the clientele includes musicians, actors, scenesters in obligatory twatty little hats, plus a smattering of folk who, if the size of their testicles was in direct proportion to the size of their egos, would have great difficulty walking …. But here I must draw a veil over proceedings as what happens on tour stays on tour (possibly, due, in no small part to the fact that people often can’t remember what the f**k actually did happen! )

Sound City has been a blast and is without doubt a festival that’s growing in stature. Maybe the organisers need to employ a little more joined up thinking, possibly add a few more outdoor gigs and stages, but that will surely come in time. There’s a definite buzz around the city when the festival’s on and music seems to be everywhere. And it’s not just for the trendy fashionistas in their skinny jeans and amusing headwear, it really is for everybody to enjoy and get involved in.  With Liverpool now able to boast some of the best conferencing facilities outside of London it appears that this is a Festival that is destined to get bigger and bigger. Hey, maybe next year “Mersey Rail” might even decide to undertake “structural works” at a time that doesn’t coincide with a major music festival.

And so this years Sound City concludes with a dynamic new take on Liverpool’s musical heritage. It sees Ringo Starr feted as a god whilst being carried shoulder high around the city centre before performing an energetic drum and bass version of his existential masterpiece “Octopus’s Garden”. This is followed by a moving recital of  “Thomas The Tank Engine’s”  finest moments, personally selected by Ringo and set to an Acid Jazz soundtrack especially commissioned by Phil Redmond and performed by  the cast of Brookside … Erm my mistake, bad acid ..Or something…… Sound City was actually wrapped up with a gig headlined by the Zutons and Sound Of Guns in one of the countries most impressive buildings, Liverpool’s majestic neo-classical, St Georges Hall and was by all accounts a triumph.  Me? Alas I was too busy recovering from the night before – sinful eh?  ………… Roll on 2010!

All Photos & Videos by Andy VP & JK.

Big love to Amy Woodhouse From Creative Cultures

Here’s…Jonny!! Jonny Cola And The A Grades Interview

“Shooting Up” By Jonny Cola & The A-Grades

Free Exclusive Downloads here -Right Click Save as (Shooting Up & Disappearing Act Hellbent & Leather Remix)

Myspace

Jonny Cola & The A-Grades have been making waves in London since late summer 2008. They have performed live sessions for Resonance FM and Earwax Radio, played high profile club nights and SE5 dives, self-released one single with lo-fi accompanying video, made jaws drop and grown men weep. Crucially, they have remembered to write some tunes.

“Disappearing Act” is their second single, a tasty three-and-a-half minute slice of dirty disco pop, complete with killer chorus, key change and calypso middle eight. You can’t say fairer than that. Expect it to be making people fall over on sticky dancefloors all summer long.

The single is available in two different download packages. The first, available via iTunes and the usual digital stores, features “Disappearing Act” itself accompanied by remixes from Hunterheck – aka Hamish from Scottish electronic maestros Swimmer One – and The Soft Close-Ups. The former essentially transforms the song into an ultra-summery, borderline Balearic stomper. Meanwhile, The Soft Close-Ups take our heroes on a thrilling eight-bit dub adventure. We predict an eight-bit dub explosion in six months’ time.

Meanwhile, the second set of downloads – a CD2 for the postmodern age, if you like – is available to download for free here. Rather than “Disappearing Act”, what you get is the song which was originally intended to be its double A-side, “Shooting Up” – a skewed Motown-tinged pop classic, co-written with David of The Soft Close-Ups (and formerly the singer in Luxembourg) – and yet another remix of “Disappearing Act”, a spiky electro reimagining by Shoreditch’s Hellbent & Leather.

Both “Disappearing Act” and “Shooting Up” are taken from The Yellow Mini, a short album released next week (June 1st) via the obscure BBA Highland label, with distribution from the less obscure Cargo Records (which means you can actually buy it in shops and stuff). The format should not be seen as indicating a lack of ambition – quite the opposite. It’s just that sometimes you can get things across more clearly in 23 minutes.

Jonny Cola & The A-Grades are determined to make a drama out of a crisis.

Here’s what Jonny Cola (vocals), Mauro Venegas (guitars), Aurora Sommer (bass) and Nicholas Bukowski (drums) had to say when confronted with a searching set of questions…

VP: Tell us how the band came into being, how you all got together…

JC: We met in a dense and frustrated crowd at Victoria Station, metaphorically speaking. Rather than queue up for a ticket from the sole working machine on the vague assumption that a train might actually be departing anytime soon, we saw our chance and hot-footed it crosstown to craft songs to live, love and die to. One day, we aim to return and commandeer the tannoy system. That’s our story anyway, and we’re sticking to it.

VP:  What’s in a name? Where did Jonny Cola come from?

JC: I used to record electropop, before it came back into fashion, under the moniker of Charly Bubbles. Jonny Cola is his older, slightly more jaded brother. The A-Grades are essentially my dream team, my fantasy band made flesh. Which is nice.

VP: How difficult is it for a band to get their music “out there” these days?

JC: It’s incredibly easy, but getting anyone to listen, or to take you seriously, is another matter. If you’re not desperately postmodern, providing a quick fix of disposable novelty, it’s hard to register in people’s minds in the gaps between Facebook messages and videos of amusing cats.

NB: Yeah, it’s not specifically difficult at all anymore. It’s all measured on your expectations of what you think should happen with it. You can create it, fund it, then make it appear somewhere for people to buy, but ultimately it can disappear just as quickly without radio play or major label funding. Even if it’s great. People’s attention spans can also be quite brief unless the idea that something is brilliant is consistently cemented into their minds with some insistent marketing scheme. I do like the amusing cats though.

VP: Songwriting… How do you choose subject matter etc?

JC: I’m not sure that writing songs on a particular subject works very well – for me, anyway. I find it more fun to start with visual and emotional snapshots, and see where things go from there. Think of it as a psychoanalytic process, if you like, or just an evasive tactic to avoid revealing too much.

VP: What do you have planned for 2009?

JC: We’ll be recording a full-length album, for which The Yellow Mini is a mere appetiser. I also plan to teach myself to hit top C.

NB: See answer below. Once we’ve mastered this, we can find out and let you know.

VP:  And, in an ideal world, apart from your own world domination, what else would you like this year to bring?

JC: A ceasefire in the wholesale demolition of London’s West End.

AS: Time travel. Not for all though, just me. And possibly you, you and you.

NB: Lifesize models of ourselves that can play musical instruments. Like Kraftwerk. I’ve decided it could be just as much fun to watch our own gigs as it is to play them.

VP:  Who are your major musical influences?

JC: Brian Eno for invention and texture, Vince Clarke for melodic genius, Bob Stanley for pop music as total art, Kurt Cobain for desperately flailing immersion, David Shah for sharply romantic lyricism, N-Trance for “Set You Free”.

AS: Too many to mention but as far as bass players are concerned, James Jamerson and Carlos D.

MV: Mick Ronson.

NB: Mark Ronson.

VP: What’s been your weirdest experience as part of a band thus far?

JC: Our first gig – from terror to elation in 25 minutes.

AS: I am hoping it is yet to come.

VP: Who would you most like to execute for crimes against music?

JC: I can think of a few much-hyped acts of recent times who could definitely do with repaying their debt to society. I’m far too polite to say who though.

AS: I’m against the death penalty and wouldn’t wish death on anyone, not even Rod Stewart (although I have to say I am scarred for life now and am not sure I could touch a man ever again after seeing this video –

NB: I’m much less polite. The Ting Tings, The Hoosiers, Scouting For Girls and The View are all shocking. That Rod Stewart video eases the pain though.

VP:  Tell us something nobody knows about yourself…

JC: Nah, we’re alright, cheers.

Links

On Myspace

Buy The Single

Pre-Order The Album

Wallpapers

Videos

“We’re All Going To Die” By Jonny Cola & The A Grades

Win Tickets to Secret Hockey Gig in London

HOCKEY COMPETITION – FREE TICKETS FOR SECRET LONDON SHOW

We have a pair of tickets at an as-yet-unannounced secret show by VPME faves HOCKEY at The Flower Pot in Kentish Town on Tuesday 2^nd June 2009 . Closing date for the competition is  Sunday 31^st May 2009 at midnight. The winner will be notified by email on Monday morning 1^st June. No entry questions needed. Just drop us an email here hockeysecretshow@googlemail.com with the subject line “Von Pip – Hockey secret show comp” please include your name and age .

Hockey release their new single “Learn to Lose” on Virgin records on 1st June 2009

“Learn To Lose” By Hockey

Website: www.hockeyband.co.uk

MySpace: www.myspace.com/hockey

BEBO: http://www.bebo.com/hockey

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hockey/139801470432

The Wonder Stuff Live Livepool 16/05/2009 “The Eight Legged Groove Machine” Anniversary

“Unbearable” (Live) By The Wonderstuff

My Original "Groovers On Manoeuvres" Ticket

Back in the late 80’s, the Indie scene had lost its sense of humour, it was full of pale, miserable tortured young poets who wore long Macintoshes and hid beneath their fey, floppy fringes in a look that seemed to combine a maudlin  Colombo with Brideshead Revisited.  Their music alas was often a joyless, pretentious exercise in existentialist morbidity, and well, a wee bit up its own arse to be honest.  Enter The Wonder Stuff, a bunch of unruly long haired lads from the Midlands who wrote snarling, witty acerbic pop songs and didn’t really give a flying “fook” what people thought. Fronted by Miles Hunt, an outspoken young fellow who appeared to have mastered John Lydon’s  maleovlant stare down to a tee  and who took  great delight in playing the press at their own game, it  seemed this was just what the doctor ordered.  At  last we had a band who weren’t “arch” art school poseurs but smiling assassins filled with  cynicism and armed with a clutch of  catchy, sarcastically witty indie pop/rock songs,  a band who were about to bring a splash of  colour to the depressingly monochrome late 80’s music scene.  After a string of singles they unleashed an irresistible debut album “The Eight Legged Groove Machine”. It was an instant classic, even the NME gave them a  9/10, and  the band undertook their  infamous  “Groovers On Manouevres” UK tour in order to promote the album.   I was there all those years ago at the dawn of time  and do you know what?  They were f**king fantastic live. It was the first of many Wonder Stuff gigs I was to attend over the years.

Fast forward to 2009, tonight’s show at Liverpool Academy is part of a string of dates to mark “The Eight Legged Groove Machine’s” 21st Anniversary. The “Stuffies”  may have lost a number of original members,( Rob “The Bass Thing” Jones sadly  died in  July 1993 and  drummer Martin Gilks  passed away in April 2006) but the line up still includes founding members Miles Hunt & Malc Treece.  The band arrive on stage without a word and immediately launch into the albums opener “Red Berry Joy Town” which is greeted with enthusiastic howls of delight from the audience who are definitely up for it and here to enjoy the  night. ” No, For The 13th Time” follows at break neck speed as does “It’s Yer Money ” as Miles sings “Forget Your Heart It’s Your Bank I Wanna Break/It’s Just Yer Money I’m after Baby”, rather fitting given the recent banking meltdown.  The set continues and the years haven’t diminished the bands energy or indeed Miles snarling sarcastic stage presence, and strewth ! Hasn’t Martin ” Fiddly” Bell aged well? I don’t remember him being that attractive during the “Hup” years.  My mistake, as I suddenly recall that Bell is still resident on Uncle Miles’ naughty step after throwing his toy’s out of the cot a number of years ago.  Happily his boots have been more than filled  by the elegant, classically trained violinist Erica Nockalls, resplendent in a glittering  gown that was golden, not green as she joins the band on stage.

“A Wish Away” provokes another moshing frenzy from the audience, and “Unbearable” sees the crowd go, well… ape-shit,  for want of a better word. ” I didn’t like you very much when I met  you “snarls Miles through his teeth, eyes glittering with malicious glee  as the crowd respond in time honoured fashion with   ”And now I like you even less”. As the band  seek sustenance  from their on stage drinks of choice ( bottles of  red wine) a cretinous oaf  (erm, well, me actually )  shouts “Come on Miles, play fair, lets have  ”Dizzy” to which Miles responds “Did some c*nt just shout  play” Dizzy? ” As the set progresses he also gives us the background to a number of songs,  for example “Mother and I” must be one of the few songs in pop inspired by professional Scottish midget and sometime comic, Ronnie Corbett  “Look I was young, it’s not about me,  it was actually inspired by the sitcom “Sorry” ok?” explains Miles.

At times I feel I have been transported back 21 years through some sort of musically induced  worm hole… but not for long.  I soon  realise  it’s not 1988 ,  nor am I  amongst skinny, featherweight teens and  I am brought crashing back into 2009  as a  balding middle-aged mosher, weighing at least 20 stone  lands directly on my foot.  Coincidently “Poison” is just starting and as I hop about in no small amount of  agony  I hear Miles snarling the mantra “Nobody wants to get hurt, nobody wants to hurt anybody“.  Yes, yes,  but tell that to the demented sumo who seems intent on using my foot as some sort of  spring board for his “idiot  manoeuvres”.  I hobble away cursing this klutz but am soon revived as the encore includes “Groove Machine” era  B-sides including  Hunt’s tribute to the  moon faced, man-voiced,  Rick Astley AKA God’s Own Tea-Boy.  ”Astley In the Noose” has always been a crowd favourite but apparently it’s not one of  Miles’ as he informs us he “F**king hates it” and has often thought of updating it to include that “vile creature, Robbie Williams”.

Another encore and the band proceed  to play some of their own personal favourites such  as “Circle Square” and   “Golden Green“  which Milo announces was ” the time when we  invented Country and Western”.  The evening draws to a close with the inevitable “Size Of A Cow”, “the song that made us pop stars” sneers Miles, who really seems to be enjoying himself. Once again the crowd dance and mosh wildly  as I carefully avoid the psychotic sumo whose face I note,  has turned an alarming shade of puce and who is now leaping about once more  indulging  in more of his “moves” with all the grace and agility of an arthritic Hippopotamus with constipation. But hey, he’s having fun. We all are.

The Wonder Stuff were always a great band live and tonight’s set proved they are as good as ever, here’s to the next 21 years eh ? Now that would really be “far out.

The Original Line Up

Video

“Astley In The Noose” By The Wonder Stuff

“Unbearable ” (Live) By The Wonder Stuff

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Official Site