Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in June 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
The Cribs / The Thermals
@ Portsmouth Pyramids, 6th June 2007
The Cribs are a huge band. A recent gig in resulted in sheer chaos with bodies hurling themselves at the stage and the band refusing to play unless everyone sat down. Everyone goes absolutely nuts when they perform. They’re huge, and onstage it’s riotous.
All this is lost on us types who live out in the sticks Below London (B.L.). Round here, people have heard of The Cribs and are aware that they’re meant to be pretty good, but that’s about as far as it goes. There’s Ryan Jarman, comedy Northerner; Other Jarman (Gary), the comedy Northerner’s twin; and Yet Another Jarman (the twins’ younger brother Ross). Ryan claimed to have inspired Bob Geldof to create Live 8 (we’re sorry – it’s just a shameless excuse to link to this clip) and has a habit of injuring himself badly while drunk. That’s about as much as us B.L.s know – but there’s far more to them than that.
I arrived too late to hear Brighton’s Shrag, but I was informed by a friend that I “hadn’t missed much.” The Thermals had just begun their set as I threaded my way through the crowds. They played booming, echoing rock which had some nice class melodies underneath the earsplitting noise. It was the sort of sweaty rock which makes you perspire just thinking about it. Fast-paced, they were a good act and I was rather surprised when they greeted us in American accents, having assumed they would be Northern. “Where the hell do you wanna be...” they sing. Here will do nicely, thank you.
We then spent part of the set hunting for a friend who had unexpectedly run past at the speed of light – turned out she was round the corner harassing various Jarmans. She asked if I wanted my picture taken with Gary, and turned away in disgust when I admitted I wasn’t entirely sure which one he was.
Between The Thermals and The Cribs, we were serenaded – or not – with some sort of horrendous 1980s mix tape. It included the likes of Bros, Kylie and Boy George. Surely tough rockers The Cribs weren’t responsible for this cheesy Girls’ Night In mix – were they?
Then come the headliners. “You all right Portsmouth? I’m Ryan Jarman,” says the guitarist in his laidback drawl. The crowd screams. “We’re The Cribs from Wakefield.” And then everything roars into action, like a snarling tiger which has just woken from having a dart shot into its arse and has revenge in mind. The guitar is raw and pummelling, the drummer is standing precariously on his stool and the band have obvious talent, as well as a high percentage of alcohol in their bloodstream.
“It’s good to be back in Pompey,” says Ryan, and awaits the expected roar from the crowd. “We had an ice cream on the beach earlier. I had a cherry and coconut one.”
“You don’t get that in Wakey!” adds Gary.
Ryan starts telling us that it’s great the smart people from Portsmouth are all in the same room at once. Gary tells us that Ryan has been drinking, and he’d better hurry up and play a song or we’d be there all night. Ryan Jarman is definitely the star of the show, performing bum wiggle dances and daubing his face with neon paint thrown by a member of the crowd. He then pulls off his shirt and takes a flying leap into the crowd where security perform a rescue mission and he almost collapses on the floor. For a second we worry his ankle’s given way, but he manages to crawl back on stage. On his naked back, you can see the scars when he jumped onto a table of glasses at the NME Awards some time ago.
Songs tonight include ‘Martell’, ‘Things You Should Be Knowing’, ‘Our Bovine Public’, ‘Mirror Kisses’, ‘Hey Scenesters’, ‘Shoot The Poets’, and most recent single ‘Men’s Needs’. (see the video here). With three albums’ worth of material to choose from, there was plenty to play and a surprisingly high number of B.L.s were familiar with a lot of it. As I wasn't, sadly I have no idea which track was introduced as their next single – “Who’s going to buy it?” Cheers from the crowd. “Oh. About half of you.”
It was brilliant they’d managed to round up an audience who were up for a good time and the odd bit of crowdsurfing. Everyone sung the opening guitar riff to ‘Another Number’ and plenty of climactic feedback was provided by rubbing the guitar strings along the top of the amps.
There was no encore, but the band had been on stage for over an hour so can possibly be excused on that front.
The Cribs are excellent live, end of, and I was buzzing away like a bee, albeit one with temporary hearing loss from standing in front of mega speakers all night. I’d forgotten that Ryan Jarman is currently in the new indie royalty. Big names in the 90s were Noel, Liam, Damon, Justine, Jarvis etc. Nowadays it’s Brandon (Flowers), Kate (Jackson), Alex (Kapranos), Pete and Carl, and Ryan.
It’ll be interesting to see whether their latest album can help raise their profile further, but with live shows like this, a few more of us Southerners will be turning up to see them again.
The Cribs
The Thermals
Shrag
-----
02 Wireless Festival
@ Harewood House, Leeds, 15/16/17 June 07
Anyone care to join us in feeling a bit miffed that the London leg of the O2 Wireless has received all the media coverage, while Leeds has been a bit overlooked? Luckily we were there (well, someone had to be). Here's what we saw and did...
Friday June 15th
5.30am
Native is on the train in a sulk having had three hours sleep. That’s what happens when you choose to go to a festival the other side of the country, and we have only our idiot selves to blame.
10am
We’ve already changed trains once. Due to The Midlands being entirely underwater and there being jellyfish on the line (possibly), we’ve now got a bit of a lengthy detour. Time to grab the tent, hit a few people on the head with a backpack and join the replacement bus service queue…
3pm-ish
One bus from Birmingham to Derby, one train from Derby to Sheffield, one train from Sheffield to Leeds and one shuttle bus from the train station to Harewood House, and we’re there. Yeeeah! First thoughts: there don’t appear to be crowds, just dribs and drabs of people wandering. Where’s the campsite? And where are my wellies?
3.30pm
It’s raining. Native didn’t actually practise putting the tent up and is now looking puzzled–like at the peg things. Enter one Sellotape-clad man called Barry Scott, who sees our dilemma, hears our bribes of alcohol and offers to help. (Well he wasn’t really Barry Scott, but he kept announcing he was).
4pm
All comfy. Tent dry but muddied on the inside already. Whoops. Time to stand in the middle of the campsite and shout ‘WHERE ARE YOU BARRY SCOTT?’ A cry of ‘BANG!’ reveals his whereabouts, and we join him and his charming tent mate for a spot of beer and some sweets. Cheers guys.
It’s a nice little campsite, although the ground is a little sloped and waterlogged in places already. This is the second year that O2 Wireless has come to Leeds, but the first year for camping so we’re expecting there to be a few teething troubles. At the moment, it seems a small, relaxed and friendly place, and we’re quite enjoying the (damp) vibe.
6pm onwards
Some beer, cider and rum later, and Native is slightly tipsy. Time to join a friend in the main arena. We don’t really have the chance to look around, as we’re trying not to slip in heavy mud while keeping a firm grip on our alcohol. The Thrills are playing their charming Irish pop stuff while The Scare / Little Barrie / Polytechnic are in the exclusive O2 Blueroom. We can’t get in there, being on a different mobile network. Discrimination!
The rain fails to deter the Queens of the Stone Age from their decidedly heavy, booming set which fills the Main Stage. We're unfamiliar with a lot of their work, but 'Feel Good Hit Of The Summer' is sounding amazing. They’re followed by the ultimate in cool from the bluesy, punky, raw White Stripes, and everyone is mightily impressed. ‘Jolene’, ‘Icky Thump’, ‘Seven Nation Army’ and more are all given outings, and it’s a great way to kick off the event. It's always amazing how Meg and Jack, despite only having the two instruments on stage, manage to create such a fresh and powerful sound.
11pm
It’s still raining and our friend has hours to wait for his bus home, so we try and sneak him into the campsite, cheerfully waving his ‘Leeds Festival 2006’ wristband at security. They aren’t fooled, and loudly tell him to fuck off.
11.20pm
After walking round some corners, through some mud, across a field and through some more mud, we find a hole in the fence. Get in! Our friend spends a happy hour being force-fed rum and Cheerios before leaving to catch his bus.
Sunday, 17 February 2008
Single Reviews - Jun 07
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in June 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
The Mules - Polly O
Organ Grinder Records / Kartel , 11th June 2007
Now we have a bit of a soft spot for the people we’ve interviewed. But it is easy to have a soft spot for a band whose tunes are razor sharp, spiky to the touch and impossible to hold because they roll around in your hands? Er, yes.
‘Polly O’ is a typical arty thumper where all the individual violent parts fit together like a jigsaw, albeit a jigsaw you have to hammer and splinter into place because it keeps trying to hop off the table and bite your fingers. We like their fury and Ed’s snarling, howling vocals of angst. Not necessarily comfort listening, but we’re interested in playing it at an indie disco to see exactly what jerky movements everyone would come up with. ‘Watching Polly O / I love her so’.
B-side ‘O Grandfather’ was recorded live. ‘O Grandfather untie me from this bed please’. Eh what?? Step away from that scene, thank you very much… It’s unsettling, brooding and dark, yet entirely fascinating.
The Mules
-----
Paramore - Misery Business
Fueled By Ramen, 18th June 2007
Very American-sounding, emo(ish) rock with a crunching guitar bassline and Hayley’s passionate and excitable vocals let loose over the top. ‘It was never my intention to break’. 'Misery Business' isn't too heavy, so it's going to be one for the pop punk kids out there.
It’s got plenty of crisp energy and a soft bit in the middle, so if you have been crowdsurfing / having it / body popping you can have a brief rest before dancing again to the guitar solo. It’s not life changing music but this kind of stuff is good listening and definitely still big chartwise, so Paramore are only onto a good thing.
Paramore
-----
Queens Of The Stone Age - 3's & 7's
Interscope, 4th June 2007
‘3’s & 7’s’ is the first track taken from Queens Of The Stone Age's forthcoming album 'Era Vulgaris'. has a teasing guitar hook and a pleasing rocky sound, especially on the chorus where it darkens. The song pauses shortly before the end – but there’s more to come, a nice jam part for all your rockers to bounce about to. B-side ‘Christian Brothers’ starts off as a gently strummed track ‘No bad dream fucker’s gonna boss me around.’ It’s steady but still with that classic QOTSA powerful presence. A good summer wind down song.
Also available from QOTSA is the download-only 'Sick, Sick, Sick' punching its way through all manner of walls while vocals are casually drawled over the top. It’s fuzzy, with some top, rousing guitar to get the blood pumping, the fists flailing, the head banging etc etc etc. It’s so heavy, you could probably use it to anchor a boat, while it sits fizzing away angrily in the water several feet below. Check out the howling whines and zombie backing vocals halfway though. Sick? Hell, yes. Thank goodness for that. ‘Don’t resist’.
Queens Of The Stone Age
-----
Scott Matthews - Elusive
Island, 25th June 2007
Someone's just won an Ivor Novello Award for 'Best Song Both Musically And Lyrically'. Ooh, get you Scott Matthews! According to the press blurb, he was crowned at a ceremony in Central London. Crowned! For a song! Even Oscar winners only get some sort of plastic child-friendly statuette. Don't chew it.
Anyway, said prizewinning song is 'Elusive', especially re-released for those who missed it last time round. With a dark and soft opening, the song hangs delicately in the air like a wreath of curling cigar smoke (not indoors of course). The other instruments and backing vocals sneak in from underneath quietly and the song loops in and out before gently wafting off. It's a nice experience and a calming, mature song.
Scott Matthews
-----
Scouting For Girls - It's Not About You EP
Epic / Sony BMG , 25th June 2007
Just picking up this CD, I had the urge to sing McFly's 'It's All About You' out loud. Just because of the track name, you understand. Nothing else. But I fought the urge and shoved 'It's Not About You' into the player. Turns out I recognise this from constant radio play, I just hadn't realised it was Scouting For Girls. 'She said it's not about you... It's not about you, it's me'. It's got classic piano, a catchy tune and a feeling of sweeping grandeur. 'I don't know how to love you more my friend... I guess we got nothing to say'. The chirpy tune sort of hides the disappointment in the lyrics.
'Keep On Walking' is another upbeat downbeat song which keeps up a pleasantly cheery exterior, but you know that after performing it with smiles the band are just going to sit in a corner nursing a pint and looking miserable. 'I'll keep on walking 'til the sun comes up'.
As far as pop goes, it's quite mature and grown up. 'Mountains of Navaho' has a nice fuzzy, old-fashioned dancing-in-a-pub quality and humour. 'I'll never be a guy like He-Man / I'll never be a girl like She-Ra'.
I feel a bit guilty saying it, but their unhappiness is our pleasure. And I enjoy it.
Scouting For Girls
-----
Trabant - The One
Southern Fried Records, 4th June 2007
'The One' is full of 1980s fizz and fuzz. I'm sure it'll be popular in the indie clubs. "I never wanted to be the one." The melancholy and wistful lyrics are contained within vocals almost whispered over the top of the spitter-spatter of keys and the warm music. It has a slight sense of lost and longing about it. This is the Filthy Dukes Radio Edit...
...while the album version has pretty bells, clashes and clonks throughout. This one's slower yet brimful of charm and synthesisers. The more I hear it, the more beautiful I think it sounds. The album version sounds cheaper but sweeter than the radio edit, and you just want to hold it in your hands and stroke it until everything is better again.
Trabant
-----
UNKLE - Burn My Shadow
Surrender All, 25th June 2007
'Burn My Shadow' is one cool CD, all transparency and distorted skulls. The mournful almost Johnny Cash voice of Ian Astbury intones over a break in the furious, dark and twisting music. It builds into a frenzied whirlwind of drums, vocals trying to be heard above the misty roar, tortured squeals and a bassline so raw it's obviously been barbequed by my mate Darren.
It's brilliant, but thank goodness for the quiet chants in it because otherwise I was going to rise up in inner fury and start tearing at my hair. It's not easy to listen to, but it's worth it.
Unkle
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in June 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
The Mules - Polly O
Organ Grinder Records / Kartel , 11th June 2007
Now we have a bit of a soft spot for the people we’ve interviewed. But it is easy to have a soft spot for a band whose tunes are razor sharp, spiky to the touch and impossible to hold because they roll around in your hands? Er, yes.
‘Polly O’ is a typical arty thumper where all the individual violent parts fit together like a jigsaw, albeit a jigsaw you have to hammer and splinter into place because it keeps trying to hop off the table and bite your fingers. We like their fury and Ed’s snarling, howling vocals of angst. Not necessarily comfort listening, but we’re interested in playing it at an indie disco to see exactly what jerky movements everyone would come up with. ‘Watching Polly O / I love her so’.
B-side ‘O Grandfather’ was recorded live. ‘O Grandfather untie me from this bed please’. Eh what?? Step away from that scene, thank you very much… It’s unsettling, brooding and dark, yet entirely fascinating.
The Mules
-----
Paramore - Misery Business
Fueled By Ramen, 18th June 2007
Very American-sounding, emo(ish) rock with a crunching guitar bassline and Hayley’s passionate and excitable vocals let loose over the top. ‘It was never my intention to break’. 'Misery Business' isn't too heavy, so it's going to be one for the pop punk kids out there.
It’s got plenty of crisp energy and a soft bit in the middle, so if you have been crowdsurfing / having it / body popping you can have a brief rest before dancing again to the guitar solo. It’s not life changing music but this kind of stuff is good listening and definitely still big chartwise, so Paramore are only onto a good thing.
Paramore
-----
Queens Of The Stone Age - 3's & 7's
Interscope, 4th June 2007
‘3’s & 7’s’ is the first track taken from Queens Of The Stone Age's forthcoming album 'Era Vulgaris'. has a teasing guitar hook and a pleasing rocky sound, especially on the chorus where it darkens. The song pauses shortly before the end – but there’s more to come, a nice jam part for all your rockers to bounce about to. B-side ‘Christian Brothers’ starts off as a gently strummed track ‘No bad dream fucker’s gonna boss me around.’ It’s steady but still with that classic QOTSA powerful presence. A good summer wind down song.
Also available from QOTSA is the download-only 'Sick, Sick, Sick' punching its way through all manner of walls while vocals are casually drawled over the top. It’s fuzzy, with some top, rousing guitar to get the blood pumping, the fists flailing, the head banging etc etc etc. It’s so heavy, you could probably use it to anchor a boat, while it sits fizzing away angrily in the water several feet below. Check out the howling whines and zombie backing vocals halfway though. Sick? Hell, yes. Thank goodness for that. ‘Don’t resist’.
Queens Of The Stone Age
-----
Scott Matthews - Elusive
Island, 25th June 2007
Someone's just won an Ivor Novello Award for 'Best Song Both Musically And Lyrically'. Ooh, get you Scott Matthews! According to the press blurb, he was crowned at a ceremony in Central London. Crowned! For a song! Even Oscar winners only get some sort of plastic child-friendly statuette. Don't chew it.
Anyway, said prizewinning song is 'Elusive', especially re-released for those who missed it last time round. With a dark and soft opening, the song hangs delicately in the air like a wreath of curling cigar smoke (not indoors of course). The other instruments and backing vocals sneak in from underneath quietly and the song loops in and out before gently wafting off. It's a nice experience and a calming, mature song.
Scott Matthews
-----
Scouting For Girls - It's Not About You EP
Epic / Sony BMG , 25th June 2007
Just picking up this CD, I had the urge to sing McFly's 'It's All About You' out loud. Just because of the track name, you understand. Nothing else. But I fought the urge and shoved 'It's Not About You' into the player. Turns out I recognise this from constant radio play, I just hadn't realised it was Scouting For Girls. 'She said it's not about you... It's not about you, it's me'. It's got classic piano, a catchy tune and a feeling of sweeping grandeur. 'I don't know how to love you more my friend... I guess we got nothing to say'. The chirpy tune sort of hides the disappointment in the lyrics.
'Keep On Walking' is another upbeat downbeat song which keeps up a pleasantly cheery exterior, but you know that after performing it with smiles the band are just going to sit in a corner nursing a pint and looking miserable. 'I'll keep on walking 'til the sun comes up'.
As far as pop goes, it's quite mature and grown up. 'Mountains of Navaho' has a nice fuzzy, old-fashioned dancing-in-a-pub quality and humour. 'I'll never be a guy like He-Man / I'll never be a girl like She-Ra'.
I feel a bit guilty saying it, but their unhappiness is our pleasure. And I enjoy it.
Scouting For Girls
-----
Trabant - The One
Southern Fried Records, 4th June 2007
'The One' is full of 1980s fizz and fuzz. I'm sure it'll be popular in the indie clubs. "I never wanted to be the one." The melancholy and wistful lyrics are contained within vocals almost whispered over the top of the spitter-spatter of keys and the warm music. It has a slight sense of lost and longing about it. This is the Filthy Dukes Radio Edit...
...while the album version has pretty bells, clashes and clonks throughout. This one's slower yet brimful of charm and synthesisers. The more I hear it, the more beautiful I think it sounds. The album version sounds cheaper but sweeter than the radio edit, and you just want to hold it in your hands and stroke it until everything is better again.
Trabant
-----
UNKLE - Burn My Shadow
Surrender All, 25th June 2007
'Burn My Shadow' is one cool CD, all transparency and distorted skulls. The mournful almost Johnny Cash voice of Ian Astbury intones over a break in the furious, dark and twisting music. It builds into a frenzied whirlwind of drums, vocals trying to be heard above the misty roar, tortured squeals and a bassline so raw it's obviously been barbequed by my mate Darren.
It's brilliant, but thank goodness for the quiet chants in it because otherwise I was going to rise up in inner fury and start tearing at my hair. It's not easy to listen to, but it's worth it.
Unkle
Single Reviews - Jun 07
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in June 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
Aqualung - Cinderella
Epic / Sony BMG, 11th June 2007
Soft tinkles herald the start of 'Cinderella', then a giant rainbow of an entrance, swooping and flying along. Sounds like he's singing underwater with a helmet on. There are all dramatic pianos and giant crashing boulders of beats. As the music turns angsty and powerful, operatic angelic ooohs fill the song.
And I just discovered Mr Aqualung (Matt Hales) is from Southampton, so he's practically a neighbour (give or take ten miles or so).Full of life and sections, it's juicy and powerful. A modern power ballad perhaps... It's taken from album 'Memory Man', out now.
Aqualung
-----
The Bees - Listening Man
Virgin Records, 11th June 2007
The Bees are from the Isle of Wight, and we have a feeling we caught them at the festival a couple of years ago. Skip to the present, and here's 'Listening Man'. Laidback, jazzy and with a beautifully quaint feeling to it. This song is one which literally drips summer heat.
B-side 'I Still Got Your Number' is a old-fashioned, piano-slapping and guitar-sliding singalong which bobs along aided by Beach Boys-style harmonies. Both songs have a sense of charm and peace to them, which is quite sweet really.
The Bees
-----
Crowded House - Don't Stop Now
Parlophone, 25th June 2007
Now I don't know a lot about Crowded House, except that they can probably afford even less room space nowadays, property prices being as they are. Ho ho hum.
First thoughts - gentle. Oh, someone's borrowed their kid's glockenspiel while someone else is wielding a battered guitar. "Another pleasant day in the countryside / has ended up in tears on a stormy night / cos you can't follow my directions home." They've obviously been on one or two trips in my car, I can tell ya. It's all very nice. You get the feeling this lot don't ever get angry with anyone, they'd just go 'Oh, you shouldn't do that', then smile nicely and give you a cake.
Although writing a song about your sat-nav leading you astray is very cutting edge indeed, the song has something old-fashioned and familiar to it. It builds up to a near thunder, but there's nothing threatening or offensive about it. It's gentle and typical Crowded House.
Crowded House
-----
Gareth Gates - Angel On My Shoulder
19 / Universal, 18th June 2007
Imagine you’re dressed in flowing robes/dress and are running down a corridor in slow motion. Now you pause to look at your tear-stained face in a mirror and catch sight of your torn clothes. Perhaps you brush some hair out your eyes, and carry on. Still in slow motion of course. No, you’re not Bonnie Tyler. If you had any sense you would have put this on the CD player to accompany and indulge your miserable flight.
‘There’s an angel on my shoulder making sure I’m all right’. Mournful pop with a delicate plinkyness rising and descending. As far as dramatic pop ballads go, it’s quite sweet and although it probably appeals to emotional mums and over-excited teens rather than sweaty indie kids, I didn’t dislike it.
Gareth Gates
-----
The Knife - Heartbeats
Brille, 25th June 2007
'Heartbeats' is said to be considered 'one of the most influential electronic pop records of the past few years'. This live version was recorded in Gothenburg. There's still the dripping icicle synths and depressing bassline with kooky vocals telling the sad tale of heartbreak over the top, but there's something lost in this live version. It's still a beautiful song on its own right though. It's like a stunning piece of glass, all shines and jagged edges, and one you have to handle carefully for fear of dropping it. Who cares what's in fashion musically when this is sweetly and painfully tottering along?
The Knife
-----
The Levellers - What A Beautiful Day
Rhino, digital only, 25th June 2007
‘What a beautiful day / I’m the king of all time.’ Was this really released ten years ago? I still have it on a compilation CD I bought, along with other '97 classics Bentley’s Rhythm Ace ‘Bentley’s Gonna Sort You Out’, PF Project 'Choose Life', Bran Van 3000 ‘Drinking In LA’, Fat Les ‘Vindaloo’ (erm…) and all that jazz on it. The arse-end of Britpop was still kicking about, with everybody’s new albums darker and less easy to get into (Pulp, et al).
How does 'What A Beautiful Day' fare? Still very evocative, sweetly plaintive and slightly aching. It’s one of those songs that was full of reminiscing when released, meaning it couldn’t date and rendering it timeless. The violin still brings a little folky, teenage tear to our eye and vocalist Mark Chadwick's reedy vocals still waver.
‘And nothing is impossible in my all-powerful mind’. I’m daydreaming now, and I’m just going to give this five stars for being the best damn thing that Levellers ever did (though as it’s actually the only thing of theirs I know, I’m no expert on the matter). As five albums are being reissued on July 2nd, now's the time to find out some more about them.
Incidentally, one of our designers once managed the incredible task of being thrown out of a Levellers gig. He was crowdsurfing...!
Levellers
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in June 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
Aqualung - Cinderella
Epic / Sony BMG, 11th June 2007
Soft tinkles herald the start of 'Cinderella', then a giant rainbow of an entrance, swooping and flying along. Sounds like he's singing underwater with a helmet on. There are all dramatic pianos and giant crashing boulders of beats. As the music turns angsty and powerful, operatic angelic ooohs fill the song.
And I just discovered Mr Aqualung (Matt Hales) is from Southampton, so he's practically a neighbour (give or take ten miles or so).Full of life and sections, it's juicy and powerful. A modern power ballad perhaps... It's taken from album 'Memory Man', out now.
Aqualung
-----
The Bees - Listening Man
Virgin Records, 11th June 2007
The Bees are from the Isle of Wight, and we have a feeling we caught them at the festival a couple of years ago. Skip to the present, and here's 'Listening Man'. Laidback, jazzy and with a beautifully quaint feeling to it. This song is one which literally drips summer heat.
B-side 'I Still Got Your Number' is a old-fashioned, piano-slapping and guitar-sliding singalong which bobs along aided by Beach Boys-style harmonies. Both songs have a sense of charm and peace to them, which is quite sweet really.
The Bees
-----
Crowded House - Don't Stop Now
Parlophone, 25th June 2007
Now I don't know a lot about Crowded House, except that they can probably afford even less room space nowadays, property prices being as they are. Ho ho hum.
First thoughts - gentle. Oh, someone's borrowed their kid's glockenspiel while someone else is wielding a battered guitar. "Another pleasant day in the countryside / has ended up in tears on a stormy night / cos you can't follow my directions home." They've obviously been on one or two trips in my car, I can tell ya. It's all very nice. You get the feeling this lot don't ever get angry with anyone, they'd just go 'Oh, you shouldn't do that', then smile nicely and give you a cake.
Although writing a song about your sat-nav leading you astray is very cutting edge indeed, the song has something old-fashioned and familiar to it. It builds up to a near thunder, but there's nothing threatening or offensive about it. It's gentle and typical Crowded House.
Crowded House
-----
Gareth Gates - Angel On My Shoulder
19 / Universal, 18th June 2007
Imagine you’re dressed in flowing robes/dress and are running down a corridor in slow motion. Now you pause to look at your tear-stained face in a mirror and catch sight of your torn clothes. Perhaps you brush some hair out your eyes, and carry on. Still in slow motion of course. No, you’re not Bonnie Tyler. If you had any sense you would have put this on the CD player to accompany and indulge your miserable flight.
‘There’s an angel on my shoulder making sure I’m all right’. Mournful pop with a delicate plinkyness rising and descending. As far as dramatic pop ballads go, it’s quite sweet and although it probably appeals to emotional mums and over-excited teens rather than sweaty indie kids, I didn’t dislike it.
Gareth Gates
-----
The Knife - Heartbeats
Brille, 25th June 2007
'Heartbeats' is said to be considered 'one of the most influential electronic pop records of the past few years'. This live version was recorded in Gothenburg. There's still the dripping icicle synths and depressing bassline with kooky vocals telling the sad tale of heartbreak over the top, but there's something lost in this live version. It's still a beautiful song on its own right though. It's like a stunning piece of glass, all shines and jagged edges, and one you have to handle carefully for fear of dropping it. Who cares what's in fashion musically when this is sweetly and painfully tottering along?
The Knife
-----
The Levellers - What A Beautiful Day
Rhino, digital only, 25th June 2007
‘What a beautiful day / I’m the king of all time.’ Was this really released ten years ago? I still have it on a compilation CD I bought, along with other '97 classics Bentley’s Rhythm Ace ‘Bentley’s Gonna Sort You Out’, PF Project 'Choose Life', Bran Van 3000 ‘Drinking In LA’, Fat Les ‘Vindaloo’ (erm…) and all that jazz on it. The arse-end of Britpop was still kicking about, with everybody’s new albums darker and less easy to get into (Pulp, et al).
How does 'What A Beautiful Day' fare? Still very evocative, sweetly plaintive and slightly aching. It’s one of those songs that was full of reminiscing when released, meaning it couldn’t date and rendering it timeless. The violin still brings a little folky, teenage tear to our eye and vocalist Mark Chadwick's reedy vocals still waver.
‘And nothing is impossible in my all-powerful mind’. I’m daydreaming now, and I’m just going to give this five stars for being the best damn thing that Levellers ever did (though as it’s actually the only thing of theirs I know, I’m no expert on the matter). As five albums are being reissued on July 2nd, now's the time to find out some more about them.
Incidentally, one of our designers once managed the incredible task of being thrown out of a Levellers gig. He was crowdsurfing...!
Levellers
Album Reviews - Jun 07
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in June 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
Trabant - Emotional
Southern Fried Records, 18th June 2007
Horses. Electronic fanfares. Nursery chimes. During the first track, I did expect someone in a 118-118 running suit to appear triumphantly in front of me. Trabant's album 'Emotional' is something of an experience. And the album itself is something of a pop-up majesty once opened, which I’m very impressed about. Don’t let the slightly homo-erotic cover (if your idea of homo-eroticism is skinny, bearded men from Iceland) put you off buying it.
‘Maria’ comes which a squelch, a yelp and some industrial fighting sounds. The guitar is sharp and full of spiky attitude. The immediate comparison is Electric Six, but Trabant is better. It’s fun and rocking electro stuff. 'Nasty Boy' sounds a bit like that cheesy tune which is always used for horror games. It’s pumping. Shouts and yelps over the top. ‘I Love You Why?’ lollops in with electronic guilt and embarrassment, female vocals coming in lustfully over the top.
This one takes a while to die down, and then there's slapping percussion, screams and a definite sense of reggae and blues. ‘Pump You Up’ is a melangerie of twiddles and twirls, and Loving Me’ is a larger than life song with a dancing bassline. ‘I know you can’t stop loving me,’ croons singer and performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson, and we can’t help thinking that he’s right. ‘Galdur’ is an experimental line jazzed up and remixed differently at every turn.
‘Emotional Meltdown’ could possibly be what the band suffer every gig after plugging in all that electronic equipment – if you see it smoking, run! This one has a power ballad start, albeit a power ballad with someone skating across the middle and buzzing, while all around trees fall down and cars explode. It’s certainly melodramatic, and never ceases to be entertaining.
Next comes ‘The One’, currently still one of our favourite songs of the year, and you can see the video here if you're interested. ‘Arms’ is another retro popper, twinkling in music and the high quavering vocals. Then it rocks out and has a key change. According to their MySpace, they have a lot of glitter in their live shows and we can easily imagine that pouring out the skies to this one.
It’s a class album. If we could give it half points it would be 4 and a half. 'The One' of course gets 5 by itself. Like we said, don't let the cover put you off. This is full of life, buzzing, twinkling, popping and clanging its way into an electro-rock party.
Trabant's website
-----
Tiny Dancers - Free School Milk
EMI, 11th June 2007
Free School Milk. That was phased out when Tiny Dancers were far too tiny to be dancing, before they were born in fact; before I was born too. Forget 'Margaret Thatcher, milk snatcher', our playground rhyme of choice was 'Margaret Thatcher, throw her up and catch her. She's dead'. Charming. Anyway, having launched Ms T out of the way, here's the debut album by Sheffield-and-the-surrounding-area's latest upstarts.
The drums of opener '20 To 9' put me in some kind of thoughtful reverie, thinking of milk and biscuits at playschool. This song has a delightful retro sound to it, full of the grandness of some 1960s pop songs but with modern guitars. It builds and swells into a joyful, optimistic bubble. 'I guess my time has come to destroy your life'. An excellent start. Single 'I Will Wait For You' comes bobbing along cheerfully. There's something sweet and touching under the lively surface. There are also cute, almost old-fashioned and slower parts. 'Baby Love' is chirpy and shimmery with Beatles-esque chord changes. This album is full of positive uplifting tunes. 'Shame' has a twinkle in its step - and is that a Stylophone we hear? 'Ashes And Diamonds' is slower and heavier, while 'Bonfire Of The Night' is a simple singalong tune.
'Moon Song 2' starts frantically before everyone settles down in the forest to hear one man and his guitar, with everyone else joining in later. It's plaintive and thoughtful, and slower than the others but one of the album's stand-out tracks.
This is followed by the familiar reassuring guitar-pop tones of recent single 'Hannah We Know' which we recently described as 'impossible to dislike'. 'Hemsworth Hallway' starts cute and smiling with almost country-style, smooth guitar before the demented sparrow of a finish. 'Sun Goes Down' is almost too cute and quirky for its own good, with handclaps and twirly bits. Final track 'Deep Water' starts as a sparkling stream before turning into a dramatic whirlpool of a track (apologies for the water jokes).
'Free School Records' is well produced thanks to John Leckie (Muse, The Stone Roses) and nothing seems out of place. This album isn't as lively as you'd possibly assume from the singles, but it's very endearing and cheerful, like a good friend. Now, where can I get some free milk and biscuits from...
Tiny Dancers
-----
The Who - Then And Now
Polydor, 11th June 2007
'Then and Now' is The Who's ultimate Greatest Hits album, repackaged and updated to include a song from ‘Endless Wire’ (‘It’s Not Enough’).
I have been unkindly referring to this as the CSI: Who album, as approximately 80% of the songs on here feature on the crime programme’s soundtrack (I’m regularly informed it’s just the three, rather than 80%. Maybe it just feels like it after all those reruns).
‘I Can’t Explain’ comes in with its timeless chords a rallying call to all mods throughout the ages. ‘My Generation’ needs no explanation really. If you haven’t heard this before, then you’ve obviously just been deaf for your entire life. ‘The Kids Are Alright’ has an endearing quirky, retro swoop to it. Plenty of the band's singles have been omitted, showing this CD is including only the finest Who vintage. From the lively ‘Pinball Wizard’ to the gentler waves of ‘See Me, Feel Me’, from the call-and-answer of the charmingly rough 'Substitute' to the electronic and driving rock of 'You Better You Bet' and 'Who Are You?', there's plenty here to keep your interest.
Handily all the tracks are in date order, so you don’t have to rack your brains working out what came first (or you could just look at the booklet inside, you numpty). For me, highlights are ‘See Me, Feel Me’, and I’m a little too young to remember them but from my early TV years and repeats of ‘Sounds Of The Sixties’ I have a soft spot for ‘I Can See For Miles And Miles’ from ‘The Who Sell Out (By Selling Their Songs To CSI)’. They seem to have aged with more grace and normality than fellow Sixties/Seventies legends the Rolling Stones (most of them look as though they've been freshly embalmed) and the Beatles (Paul seems a bit too godlike, and where's Ringo?)
The Who are one of those megabands, just miles above others and still going successfully with key members of the original line-up, unlike many bands whose only original member is the guy-on-the-left-with-the-triangle-type thing.
Listening to the songs in current times, most of them have that engagingly quirky Sixties-ness about them as well as the roar of the famous Townshend windmill. Although in places heavy, it still keeps its intelligence. But any album which features ‘My Generation’, ‘Pinball Wizard’, ‘Baba O’Riley’ and ‘Who Are You’ is a classic, and this is one for any music fan who feels they don’t know quite as much about The Who as they’d like. It’s a thundering introduction to the band and a reminder of how classic yet relevant they are. They'll be selling one or two more of this CD after their Glastonbury appearance, methinks. Now excuse me while I wrestle the rest of the Native team for this particularly copy.
Visit The Who's website
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in June 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
Trabant - Emotional
Southern Fried Records, 18th June 2007
Horses. Electronic fanfares. Nursery chimes. During the first track, I did expect someone in a 118-118 running suit to appear triumphantly in front of me. Trabant's album 'Emotional' is something of an experience. And the album itself is something of a pop-up majesty once opened, which I’m very impressed about. Don’t let the slightly homo-erotic cover (if your idea of homo-eroticism is skinny, bearded men from Iceland) put you off buying it.
‘Maria’ comes which a squelch, a yelp and some industrial fighting sounds. The guitar is sharp and full of spiky attitude. The immediate comparison is Electric Six, but Trabant is better. It’s fun and rocking electro stuff. 'Nasty Boy' sounds a bit like that cheesy tune which is always used for horror games. It’s pumping. Shouts and yelps over the top. ‘I Love You Why?’ lollops in with electronic guilt and embarrassment, female vocals coming in lustfully over the top.
This one takes a while to die down, and then there's slapping percussion, screams and a definite sense of reggae and blues. ‘Pump You Up’ is a melangerie of twiddles and twirls, and Loving Me’ is a larger than life song with a dancing bassline. ‘I know you can’t stop loving me,’ croons singer and performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson, and we can’t help thinking that he’s right. ‘Galdur’ is an experimental line jazzed up and remixed differently at every turn.
‘Emotional Meltdown’ could possibly be what the band suffer every gig after plugging in all that electronic equipment – if you see it smoking, run! This one has a power ballad start, albeit a power ballad with someone skating across the middle and buzzing, while all around trees fall down and cars explode. It’s certainly melodramatic, and never ceases to be entertaining.
Next comes ‘The One’, currently still one of our favourite songs of the year, and you can see the video here if you're interested. ‘Arms’ is another retro popper, twinkling in music and the high quavering vocals. Then it rocks out and has a key change. According to their MySpace, they have a lot of glitter in their live shows and we can easily imagine that pouring out the skies to this one.
It’s a class album. If we could give it half points it would be 4 and a half. 'The One' of course gets 5 by itself. Like we said, don't let the cover put you off. This is full of life, buzzing, twinkling, popping and clanging its way into an electro-rock party.
Trabant's website
-----
Tiny Dancers - Free School Milk
EMI, 11th June 2007
Free School Milk. That was phased out when Tiny Dancers were far too tiny to be dancing, before they were born in fact; before I was born too. Forget 'Margaret Thatcher, milk snatcher', our playground rhyme of choice was 'Margaret Thatcher, throw her up and catch her. She's dead'. Charming. Anyway, having launched Ms T out of the way, here's the debut album by Sheffield-and-the-surrounding-area's latest upstarts.
The drums of opener '20 To 9' put me in some kind of thoughtful reverie, thinking of milk and biscuits at playschool. This song has a delightful retro sound to it, full of the grandness of some 1960s pop songs but with modern guitars. It builds and swells into a joyful, optimistic bubble. 'I guess my time has come to destroy your life'. An excellent start. Single 'I Will Wait For You' comes bobbing along cheerfully. There's something sweet and touching under the lively surface. There are also cute, almost old-fashioned and slower parts. 'Baby Love' is chirpy and shimmery with Beatles-esque chord changes. This album is full of positive uplifting tunes. 'Shame' has a twinkle in its step - and is that a Stylophone we hear? 'Ashes And Diamonds' is slower and heavier, while 'Bonfire Of The Night' is a simple singalong tune.
'Moon Song 2' starts frantically before everyone settles down in the forest to hear one man and his guitar, with everyone else joining in later. It's plaintive and thoughtful, and slower than the others but one of the album's stand-out tracks.
This is followed by the familiar reassuring guitar-pop tones of recent single 'Hannah We Know' which we recently described as 'impossible to dislike'. 'Hemsworth Hallway' starts cute and smiling with almost country-style, smooth guitar before the demented sparrow of a finish. 'Sun Goes Down' is almost too cute and quirky for its own good, with handclaps and twirly bits. Final track 'Deep Water' starts as a sparkling stream before turning into a dramatic whirlpool of a track (apologies for the water jokes).
'Free School Records' is well produced thanks to John Leckie (Muse, The Stone Roses) and nothing seems out of place. This album isn't as lively as you'd possibly assume from the singles, but it's very endearing and cheerful, like a good friend. Now, where can I get some free milk and biscuits from...
Tiny Dancers
-----
The Who - Then And Now
Polydor, 11th June 2007
'Then and Now' is The Who's ultimate Greatest Hits album, repackaged and updated to include a song from ‘Endless Wire’ (‘It’s Not Enough’).
I have been unkindly referring to this as the CSI: Who album, as approximately 80% of the songs on here feature on the crime programme’s soundtrack (I’m regularly informed it’s just the three, rather than 80%. Maybe it just feels like it after all those reruns).
‘I Can’t Explain’ comes in with its timeless chords a rallying call to all mods throughout the ages. ‘My Generation’ needs no explanation really. If you haven’t heard this before, then you’ve obviously just been deaf for your entire life. ‘The Kids Are Alright’ has an endearing quirky, retro swoop to it. Plenty of the band's singles have been omitted, showing this CD is including only the finest Who vintage. From the lively ‘Pinball Wizard’ to the gentler waves of ‘See Me, Feel Me’, from the call-and-answer of the charmingly rough 'Substitute' to the electronic and driving rock of 'You Better You Bet' and 'Who Are You?', there's plenty here to keep your interest.
Handily all the tracks are in date order, so you don’t have to rack your brains working out what came first (or you could just look at the booklet inside, you numpty). For me, highlights are ‘See Me, Feel Me’, and I’m a little too young to remember them but from my early TV years and repeats of ‘Sounds Of The Sixties’ I have a soft spot for ‘I Can See For Miles And Miles’ from ‘The Who Sell Out (By Selling Their Songs To CSI)’. They seem to have aged with more grace and normality than fellow Sixties/Seventies legends the Rolling Stones (most of them look as though they've been freshly embalmed) and the Beatles (Paul seems a bit too godlike, and where's Ringo?)
The Who are one of those megabands, just miles above others and still going successfully with key members of the original line-up, unlike many bands whose only original member is the guy-on-the-left-with-the-triangle-type thing.
Listening to the songs in current times, most of them have that engagingly quirky Sixties-ness about them as well as the roar of the famous Townshend windmill. Although in places heavy, it still keeps its intelligence. But any album which features ‘My Generation’, ‘Pinball Wizard’, ‘Baba O’Riley’ and ‘Who Are You’ is a classic, and this is one for any music fan who feels they don’t know quite as much about The Who as they’d like. It’s a thundering introduction to the band and a reminder of how classic yet relevant they are. They'll be selling one or two more of this CD after their Glastonbury appearance, methinks. Now excuse me while I wrestle the rest of the Native team for this particularly copy.
Visit The Who's website
Album Reviews - Jun 07
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in June 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
Beastie Boys - The Rat Cage
Parlophone, 25th June 2007
The Beastie Boys are back, they’re – instrumental? Where’s the punky hip hop shouting? As someone who's only real knowledge of the group is repeated plays of '(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)' and 'Intergalactic', this was a bit of an adventure of the mind. This is actually the band's first full album of new instrumentals, so is likely to surprise a few more people yet.
The album kicks off with ‘B For My Name’, a real retro 1970s cop show of a tune, thudding and jazz juicing along. It’s surprisingly laidback and not what I was expecting at all. ‘14th St. Break’ feedbacks its way into your imagination, with the aid of some cymbals, beats like raindrops, and a guitar which sounds like a lazy bee. Then it descends into some 70s organ, and I feel like dancing by making my fingers into scissors and passing them before my eyes – left, right, then left again...
‘Suco De Tangerina’ has a Latin buzz about it, still with that sexy bass and some reggae influences too. ‘The Gala Event’ is dreamier but there’s something mildly suspenseful about it. ‘Electric Worm’ – the wormy crawling is from the party bassline, while the guitar has a real acid tip. ‘Freaky Hijiki’ has elements of soul and jazz piano to it.
‘Off The Grid’ buzzes and saunters. This one develops a real intensity and strength partway through, making it sound very good indeed. ‘The Rat Cage’ is a key bass song which gently trickles in mysteriously and bobbly.‘The Melee’ is another hot weather sounding, jazz piece. ‘Dramastically Different’ (interesting word use there…) sounds like jungle computer game music, accompanying you as you leap between levels and collect points, Crash Bandicoot style. Yeah it’s a while since I played video games…‘The Cousin Of Death’ has a mean streak, a real buzzsaw sound and squeal with a brief thrash ending. ‘The Kangaroo Rat’ is the final track, one note hovering above the landscape in a shimmer of heat.
It’s an interesting record, and certainly not what I was expecting. Grown up, funky, relaxing and serious, it’s a background album with style and is remarkably chilled. We think it would be good at a late night indie club. You can’t sit in a pall of smoke any more, but after a few drinks and you’re squashed onto the comfy sofas making eyes at the barflies and trying to look cool, this will be on.
Beastie Boys
-----
Ghosts - The World Is Outside
Atlantic, 18th June 2007
There's something quite comforting and snuggly about Ghosts. 'The World Is Outside' is their hotly tipped debut album, and a nice slice of perfect pop cheesecake it is.
It opens with 'Stay The Night', which we think is one of the most perfect pop songs we’ve heard in a long while. Sweet and a little cheeky with quirky musical changes you weren’t expecting and a big warm ending. ‘I think of you, my heart beats a little louder.’ ‘Musical Chairs’ brings you right back down though, with soft mournful tones and is reminiscent of ‘An Ordinary World’ during the chorus. When we spoke to Ghosts, they told us they love to put in different chord changes to mix songs round and keep the listener on their toes, and they certainly have here. It starts off plain, then becomes a beautiful puzzle, with soaring melodies.
Current single ‘The World Is Outside’ is a smooth, commercial radio song ‘We can do anything… open your eyes’ sings Simon Pettigrew over a very sharp 1980s synth. ‘Ghosts’ pounds along with feeling and descending airs. It’s slower and gentle, though still manages to leave you feeling slightly drained at the end of it. ‘Mind Games’ is a bit of a power-pop ballad – not power-pop as in the crap kids’ punk sense, but as in the breadth of emotions and musicianship.
‘Something Hilarious’ despite the slightly ominous name, rolls along with charm and drama. ‘Stop’ is energetic, with remarkably high synths that you’re not expecting after the previous track, in fact it even turns ever so slightly disco halfway through. I don’t enjoy it quite as much as the others, but I’m sure it’s good live.
‘Over-Analysis’ starts as a hot rocker before turning back into a typical gentle Ghosts song. ‘Further And Further Away’ is another we have a particular soft spot for. It’s calming and just sweeps you along into a fluffy yet moody parcel.
‘Wrapped Up In Little Stars’ is another peaceful ballad before Jonny Harris on drums gets a little over-excited.
Final track ‘Temporary’ is hidden away after a short pause, so hope it lives up to that feeling of expectation. It’s grand, poetic, and gorgeous. ‘I don’t need anyone to write a song about’ sings Simon. There’s some good production on this album. Whereas on something like the well-received Pigeon Detectives album ‘Wait For Me’ a few of the sounds and mixes don’t seem to sound quite right, here everything fits in beautifully and nothing sounds sonically out of place.
Ghosts are bound to lapped up by lovers of Coldplay, The Feeling etc. It’s beautiful, moody and eccentric pop, and it cheers me up no end.
Ghosts
-----
Siobhan Donaghy - Ghosts
Parlophone, 25th June 2007
Here’s the second album from Siobhan Donaghy, ex-Sugababe and now solo singer. Her first record was 'Revolution in Me', released on London Records four years ago. We haven't heard it, but 'Ghosts' can only be a step up. The cover photograph is complex and stiff, showing Donaghy posed almost as porcelain on a chair holding a delicate cup. Red lips and hair against a Victorian-style dress. Everything is a little starchy, serious, almost odd and unreal. Does the music reflect this?
I would say it does. It’s full of hoops and loops. Siobhan has a beautiful clear voice. This first track is slightly Muse in its etherealness before the soft mattress of synth begins. The echo and reverb has an exciting effect on the crisp feminine vocals and the sudden silence of the finish is a bit of a stunner. Recent single ‘So You Say’ wafts in on a cloud of optimism and luxury while the vocals bubble slightly before exploding into what our reviewer described as ‘fluffiness’. It’s feminine but not weak, it’s strong adult pop for those sophisticated types.
‘There’s A Place’ is a gently strummed drifter of a track, the kind to make you kick off your shoes and lie somewhere comfortable while the vocals soar around you. ‘Sometimes’ is almost Kylie in vocals, with a definite sneer, while ’12 Bar Acid Blue’ has more attitude and the electronic beeps and twirls and acoustic strums mean it’s barely recognisable as blues, but listen closely and you can hear the chord progressions. Cleverly done, as most blues is incredibly obvious, but this is souped up.
‘Make It Right’ demonstrates her sweet voice while swaying and sloping like Lily Allen’s older and nicer cousin. ‘Coming Up For Air’ is heavy and dark with a sense of self-pity and loneliness hidden beneath the warm tones of the music. ‘Goldfish’ seems to exist in a pretty girly bubble all of its own. ‘Medevac’ is quite hard-going with a chant and outrageous keyboard notes before the bassline kicks in and gives the song some backbone. This is one of the album high points for me. Then it’s back to the cosy cloud enveloping ‘Halcyon Days’ and the album closer ‘Ghosts’, another twinkly, twangy sourdrop of a sherbet with backward-sounding chants.
So what can you expect? Soft songs, artistic and magical in their creation and deftly executed. The songs are different and I think cleverly written. It’s pretty grand stuff, a step above everything else. Whether that will bring commercial success, I couldn’t say. But if you like different and grown up singers such as Feist or possibly Robyn, you’ll enjoy this.
Siobhan Donaghy
-----
The Stills - Without Feathers
Drowned In Sound Recordings, 11th June 2007
'Without Feathers' is the second album from The Stills, following on from their debut some three years ago. I'd heard vague rumours that they were good, but that's all I knew and had no idea what to expect from this album. ‘In The Beginning’ is like a menacing black stallion, trotting in proudly with head raised high, before some Queen-like guitar chords are thrown out. Then the songs turns into something very joyful despite the occasional bit of chaos. ‘Our hero never turns around’. The addition of some organ turns this into a fun, pacey, song, a real musical kick up the ass. Don’t confuse it with the plain cumbersome New Rhodes song of the same name. It’s a really fine song, though at almost six minutes perhaps a bit lengthy for an opener.
‘Destroyer’ is another full song with joyful brass, almost Kings of Leon guitar strums. ‘Helicopters’ has some random piano sections and is slower, preferring the slow and strong approach. ‘The House We Live In’ appears to be making use of an accordion or something, giving an unusual sound like a French folk song with rock/pop vocals, before the mellow backing comes flowing in. ‘It Takes Time’ has military drums and comes flying in at super-speed, before gliding to a halt and dismounting gracefully then striding around in glitter platforms. It’s quite uplifting.
‘Monsoon’ has a fuzzy fart of a bass and church organs before the slappy percussion starts. ‘No-one’s ever sorry ‘til the bitter end.’ ‘She’s Walking Out’ features a wrenched throaty vocal in pain that his girl is leaving. ‘Oh Shoplifter’ is almost Phil Spector ‘Wall Of Sound’ with gentle harmonised vocals and a massive sound.
For some reason, ‘Outro’ is at number nine out of 13. I don’t quite understand what that’s all about, but I’m sure they had their reasons. ‘Halo The Harpoons’ features some pirouetting pianos, while ‘Baby Blues’ has feminine vocals (which I believe are courtesy of Emily Haines) to provide some sweetness. ‘Retour A Vega’ is in French so I'm not entirely sure what it's about. It bobs about gently like a little boat of students having a fun cruise. ‘Mountain’ has drum rolls and a sense of grandeur and enormity about it. ‘The mountain catches fire and melts the snow. Now the river carries us home’.
This album is a lot gentler than I’d expected, but there’s a lot behind it. The general feel of this album is uplifting, deep, indie rock/pop. It’s summer but it’s raining, and this is what you listen to to make things seem a little better.
The Stills
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in June 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
Beastie Boys - The Rat Cage
Parlophone, 25th June 2007
The Beastie Boys are back, they’re – instrumental? Where’s the punky hip hop shouting? As someone who's only real knowledge of the group is repeated plays of '(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)' and 'Intergalactic', this was a bit of an adventure of the mind. This is actually the band's first full album of new instrumentals, so is likely to surprise a few more people yet.
The album kicks off with ‘B For My Name’, a real retro 1970s cop show of a tune, thudding and jazz juicing along. It’s surprisingly laidback and not what I was expecting at all. ‘14th St. Break’ feedbacks its way into your imagination, with the aid of some cymbals, beats like raindrops, and a guitar which sounds like a lazy bee. Then it descends into some 70s organ, and I feel like dancing by making my fingers into scissors and passing them before my eyes – left, right, then left again...
‘Suco De Tangerina’ has a Latin buzz about it, still with that sexy bass and some reggae influences too. ‘The Gala Event’ is dreamier but there’s something mildly suspenseful about it. ‘Electric Worm’ – the wormy crawling is from the party bassline, while the guitar has a real acid tip. ‘Freaky Hijiki’ has elements of soul and jazz piano to it.
‘Off The Grid’ buzzes and saunters. This one develops a real intensity and strength partway through, making it sound very good indeed. ‘The Rat Cage’ is a key bass song which gently trickles in mysteriously and bobbly.‘The Melee’ is another hot weather sounding, jazz piece. ‘Dramastically Different’ (interesting word use there…) sounds like jungle computer game music, accompanying you as you leap between levels and collect points, Crash Bandicoot style. Yeah it’s a while since I played video games…‘The Cousin Of Death’ has a mean streak, a real buzzsaw sound and squeal with a brief thrash ending. ‘The Kangaroo Rat’ is the final track, one note hovering above the landscape in a shimmer of heat.
It’s an interesting record, and certainly not what I was expecting. Grown up, funky, relaxing and serious, it’s a background album with style and is remarkably chilled. We think it would be good at a late night indie club. You can’t sit in a pall of smoke any more, but after a few drinks and you’re squashed onto the comfy sofas making eyes at the barflies and trying to look cool, this will be on.
Beastie Boys
-----
Ghosts - The World Is Outside
Atlantic, 18th June 2007
There's something quite comforting and snuggly about Ghosts. 'The World Is Outside' is their hotly tipped debut album, and a nice slice of perfect pop cheesecake it is.
It opens with 'Stay The Night', which we think is one of the most perfect pop songs we’ve heard in a long while. Sweet and a little cheeky with quirky musical changes you weren’t expecting and a big warm ending. ‘I think of you, my heart beats a little louder.’ ‘Musical Chairs’ brings you right back down though, with soft mournful tones and is reminiscent of ‘An Ordinary World’ during the chorus. When we spoke to Ghosts, they told us they love to put in different chord changes to mix songs round and keep the listener on their toes, and they certainly have here. It starts off plain, then becomes a beautiful puzzle, with soaring melodies.
Current single ‘The World Is Outside’ is a smooth, commercial radio song ‘We can do anything… open your eyes’ sings Simon Pettigrew over a very sharp 1980s synth. ‘Ghosts’ pounds along with feeling and descending airs. It’s slower and gentle, though still manages to leave you feeling slightly drained at the end of it. ‘Mind Games’ is a bit of a power-pop ballad – not power-pop as in the crap kids’ punk sense, but as in the breadth of emotions and musicianship.
‘Something Hilarious’ despite the slightly ominous name, rolls along with charm and drama. ‘Stop’ is energetic, with remarkably high synths that you’re not expecting after the previous track, in fact it even turns ever so slightly disco halfway through. I don’t enjoy it quite as much as the others, but I’m sure it’s good live.
‘Over-Analysis’ starts as a hot rocker before turning back into a typical gentle Ghosts song. ‘Further And Further Away’ is another we have a particular soft spot for. It’s calming and just sweeps you along into a fluffy yet moody parcel.
‘Wrapped Up In Little Stars’ is another peaceful ballad before Jonny Harris on drums gets a little over-excited.
Final track ‘Temporary’ is hidden away after a short pause, so hope it lives up to that feeling of expectation. It’s grand, poetic, and gorgeous. ‘I don’t need anyone to write a song about’ sings Simon. There’s some good production on this album. Whereas on something like the well-received Pigeon Detectives album ‘Wait For Me’ a few of the sounds and mixes don’t seem to sound quite right, here everything fits in beautifully and nothing sounds sonically out of place.
Ghosts are bound to lapped up by lovers of Coldplay, The Feeling etc. It’s beautiful, moody and eccentric pop, and it cheers me up no end.
Ghosts
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Siobhan Donaghy - Ghosts
Parlophone, 25th June 2007
Here’s the second album from Siobhan Donaghy, ex-Sugababe and now solo singer. Her first record was 'Revolution in Me', released on London Records four years ago. We haven't heard it, but 'Ghosts' can only be a step up. The cover photograph is complex and stiff, showing Donaghy posed almost as porcelain on a chair holding a delicate cup. Red lips and hair against a Victorian-style dress. Everything is a little starchy, serious, almost odd and unreal. Does the music reflect this?
I would say it does. It’s full of hoops and loops. Siobhan has a beautiful clear voice. This first track is slightly Muse in its etherealness before the soft mattress of synth begins. The echo and reverb has an exciting effect on the crisp feminine vocals and the sudden silence of the finish is a bit of a stunner. Recent single ‘So You Say’ wafts in on a cloud of optimism and luxury while the vocals bubble slightly before exploding into what our reviewer described as ‘fluffiness’. It’s feminine but not weak, it’s strong adult pop for those sophisticated types.
‘There’s A Place’ is a gently strummed drifter of a track, the kind to make you kick off your shoes and lie somewhere comfortable while the vocals soar around you. ‘Sometimes’ is almost Kylie in vocals, with a definite sneer, while ’12 Bar Acid Blue’ has more attitude and the electronic beeps and twirls and acoustic strums mean it’s barely recognisable as blues, but listen closely and you can hear the chord progressions. Cleverly done, as most blues is incredibly obvious, but this is souped up.
‘Make It Right’ demonstrates her sweet voice while swaying and sloping like Lily Allen’s older and nicer cousin. ‘Coming Up For Air’ is heavy and dark with a sense of self-pity and loneliness hidden beneath the warm tones of the music. ‘Goldfish’ seems to exist in a pretty girly bubble all of its own. ‘Medevac’ is quite hard-going with a chant and outrageous keyboard notes before the bassline kicks in and gives the song some backbone. This is one of the album high points for me. Then it’s back to the cosy cloud enveloping ‘Halcyon Days’ and the album closer ‘Ghosts’, another twinkly, twangy sourdrop of a sherbet with backward-sounding chants.
So what can you expect? Soft songs, artistic and magical in their creation and deftly executed. The songs are different and I think cleverly written. It’s pretty grand stuff, a step above everything else. Whether that will bring commercial success, I couldn’t say. But if you like different and grown up singers such as Feist or possibly Robyn, you’ll enjoy this.
Siobhan Donaghy
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The Stills - Without Feathers
Drowned In Sound Recordings, 11th June 2007
'Without Feathers' is the second album from The Stills, following on from their debut some three years ago. I'd heard vague rumours that they were good, but that's all I knew and had no idea what to expect from this album. ‘In The Beginning’ is like a menacing black stallion, trotting in proudly with head raised high, before some Queen-like guitar chords are thrown out. Then the songs turns into something very joyful despite the occasional bit of chaos. ‘Our hero never turns around’. The addition of some organ turns this into a fun, pacey, song, a real musical kick up the ass. Don’t confuse it with the plain cumbersome New Rhodes song of the same name. It’s a really fine song, though at almost six minutes perhaps a bit lengthy for an opener.
‘Destroyer’ is another full song with joyful brass, almost Kings of Leon guitar strums. ‘Helicopters’ has some random piano sections and is slower, preferring the slow and strong approach. ‘The House We Live In’ appears to be making use of an accordion or something, giving an unusual sound like a French folk song with rock/pop vocals, before the mellow backing comes flowing in. ‘It Takes Time’ has military drums and comes flying in at super-speed, before gliding to a halt and dismounting gracefully then striding around in glitter platforms. It’s quite uplifting.
‘Monsoon’ has a fuzzy fart of a bass and church organs before the slappy percussion starts. ‘No-one’s ever sorry ‘til the bitter end.’ ‘She’s Walking Out’ features a wrenched throaty vocal in pain that his girl is leaving. ‘Oh Shoplifter’ is almost Phil Spector ‘Wall Of Sound’ with gentle harmonised vocals and a massive sound.
For some reason, ‘Outro’ is at number nine out of 13. I don’t quite understand what that’s all about, but I’m sure they had their reasons. ‘Halo The Harpoons’ features some pirouetting pianos, while ‘Baby Blues’ has feminine vocals (which I believe are courtesy of Emily Haines) to provide some sweetness. ‘Retour A Vega’ is in French so I'm not entirely sure what it's about. It bobs about gently like a little boat of students having a fun cruise. ‘Mountain’ has drum rolls and a sense of grandeur and enormity about it. ‘The mountain catches fire and melts the snow. Now the river carries us home’.
This album is a lot gentler than I’d expected, but there’s a lot behind it. The general feel of this album is uplifting, deep, indie rock/pop. It’s summer but it’s raining, and this is what you listen to to make things seem a little better.
The Stills
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Interview - The Pigeon Detectives (Leeds)
After being caught interviewing their support band and not them, the Pigeon Detectives politely asked Why? Anyway, after my boss daily ordered me to interview the band I see frequently as a fan (and bribed me with a bottle of rum) I managed to get them. Although they weren't without their suspicions - see Matt's comment about 'is this a real interview?' at the end. Cheers...
It took some organising - with no help from the PR I asked Oli (in Southampton), who referred me to their tour manager. I found out who he was at the next gig (London), asked for an interview the following gig (Northampton), and caught up with them the next day (Leeds). I was in the area for their show the next night anyway. I missed most of the Live At Leeds festival shitting myself in preparation for this, terrified I would come across as an unprofessional idiot, and the Walk Of Fear up the steps of the Town Hall is still one of my most nerve-wracking moments as an interviewer.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in May 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
THE PIGEON DETECTIVES
Matt Bowman - vocals, Oliver Main - guitar, Ryan Wilson - guitar, Dave Best - bass, Jimmi Naylor - drums
It’s Saturday evening in Leeds. A couple of girls wearing band t-shirts are excitedly babbling outside the Town Hall as they shelter from the weather and wait for the doors to open. It’s grey and cold, confirming everything I ever suspected about Yorkshire.
Inside though, it’s much warmer and there’s no chance of being rained on, unless you count the water which is bound to be thrown around during the next gig. Backstage, all five of the Pigeon Detectives are sat in a semi circle, surrounded by posters they were halfway through signing. You can’t blame them for looking slightly confused; usually I’m stuck on their front row sweating and yelling, today I’m sat dry and polite with a dictaphone to one side. To be honest I was trying to avoid interviewing them because as a fan I thought it would be weird, but then The Boss, able to spot a corrupt journalist at a distance of some three feet across the table, bribed me with a bottle of rum if I did the deed.
In just under two hours, the doors will open for the Pigeon Detectives' first sold out gig at the Town Hall. If they're nervous, they're hiding it well. Singer Matt Bowman’s sat to my right, and next to him is guitarist Ryan Wilson, drummer Jimmi Naylor, lead guitarist Oliver Main and bassist Dave Best, who is looking strangely impressed at the coloured question cards scattered at random. He volunteers to go first.
The Early Years.
“We basically all started learning to play guitar when we were about 16…” starts Dave.
“I were 15,” says Oli.
“He were 15…”
“I was 17,” says Ryan. “That was just wrong really, wasn’t it.”
“That’s why I said about 16!”
“You’ve averaged it out, haven’t you?”
“I took a mean average,” Dave continues. “We started when we were about 16. Me and Oli taught each other the basics and then we kind of taught each other from Beatles books and stuff like that. We taught Matt to play guitar but he didn’t have as good technique as Ryan did, not as natural as Ryan, with his little stumpy fingers, so we just…”
They pause. The tour manager is loudly discussing important band things with some other people.
“Get out! We can’t hear a thing!”
“Get in your production office,” orders Ryan jovially.
“Go on, piss off!” They do as they’re told with a chuckle and a shake of the head.
“Ry decided one day we were going to be in a band, he just told me and Oli,” continues Dave. “After that, we decide we were gonna do some covers in Ol’s bedroom and stuff like that. That’s really it, until Jimmi met Ry when Jimmi were about 12. When they worked at Staples together. He’s only 13 now.”
Young Jimmi sits there smiling and points out he was actually about 16 at the time.
“We needed a drummer and we got him down and we decided to keep him, because we instantly fell in love with him.” Ahh.
“We’ve all been mates for quite a long time though,” says Ryan.
“Us four were mates since we were about six years old. Me and Ry were in the same class at school every year since we were about two,” says Dave.
How long has the band been going full time for? “A year,” says Dave instantly. Someone else says two years. They laugh, try to remember when they quit their jobs and think about it.
“Did you say full time?” asks Ryan. Yes.
“Actually pretty much a year.”
“We haven’t got a full time contract yet,” says Matt, possibly eyeing a legal loophole.
“If you go by us quitting our job and then being in a band for a living…”
“We had our first single out in March,” says Matt.
“…so about a year,” finishes Ryan. That first single was ‘I’m Not Sorry’, originally limited to 500 vinyls which didn’t take long to sell out. A few months later came 'You Know I Love You', which also sold out. The buzz had begun.
Didn’t I read somewhere that one of you got sacked –
“That were Oli.”
- because your bosses heard you on the radio?
“That were me,” says Matt. “I’d already handed my notice in, I had like two weeks left on my notice but they just said get out. Dave never even went back. Dave didn’t even have the courtesy to say ‘I’m leaving’.” Dave starts giggling. “You actually went to London and then never returned,” says Matt with a grin and a wave of his arm. “’I’m off to London’ – that’s the last they ever heard of you.”
Are they still looking out for you now? “Thing is they let me have that day off very nicely so I could go to London. And I just never came back,” confesses Dave.
“Coward,” says Ryan.
Oli leans over and snatches up the next card. It's a random one. You’re trapped on a desert island, who do you eat first? The answer is Ryan, because “he’s got the most flesh.” Ryan doesn’t actually look particularly unhappy – or surprised - about having his potential fate discussed this way.
“Unlucky, Ry,” says Matt. “Gingers cook faster as well. They’ve got sensitive skin, like the perfect white meat.” Someone suggests spit-roasting Ryan, and he laughs.
“I’ll leave that there,” says Oli, wisely.
Jimmi takes the next card. Wait For Me. Tell me about your debut album.
“It’s twelve beautiful songs, all catchy,” he says. Got any favourites? “My favourite’s ‘Caught In Your Trap’ and maybe ‘Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye’.”
“I think my favourite’s ‘Caught In Your Trap’,” teases Oli, mimicking his drummer’s pronunciation.
I forgot to ask why a picture of stags was chosen for the cover, but a chance reading of The Fly suggests it’s because stags spend their time fighting and ‘sleeping with other stags’ girls’, much like the late teen experiences of the Pigeon Detectives.
“We recorded it in bits ‘cause we were doing things like supporting Dirty Pretty Things…”
“That’s a lie,” say Matt and Ryan, almost at the same time. “That were well early. Supporting Kaiser Chiefs.”
“Supporting Kaisers…” Jimmi corrects himself. Are you telling me lies, Jimmi? “Yeah, I’m lying to you. We started off, we went in for about two weeks, going in for a few hours, then we went and supported Kaiser Chiefs and went back in; altogether about five weeks, but we spread it out.”
Matt and Dave are sneakily looking at question cards and putting them back on the pile.
“And then we had to go and get it mixed and stuff which took another three or four weeks or something like that,” says Ryan. “Getting it mixed took ages, like you know, it was our debut album, let’s get it perfect in every single way. You’ve got to get it recorded well but you’ve got to get it mixed well as well. Took us a while.”
Matt’s getting impatient and takes a card. Current Tour. They're nearing the end of it now, with loud and sweaty 12 dates across the UK almost complete. How’s it going?
“It’s all right. Picking up some injuries,” Matt winces. He’s very energetic onstage, climbing equipment and forever leaping/being dragged into the crowd.
Ryan starts complaining that they’ve missed his turn out.
“You can go next Ry. Carry on Matt,” says Dave, the voice of calm. He’s wearing a white shirt on which he has sewn a Leeds badge, all ready for the gig tonight.
“Tour’s going well, I think highlights so far are probably Manchester and London Astoria, that were all right.”
“Last night (Northampton) were really good, wasn’t it,” says Ryan, and Jimmi murmurs agreement. “You were at the gig last night weren’t you?” I nod.
“I’m really knackered though. I’ve got the world’s worst fucking dead leg,” complains Matt. Why, what have you done? “Don’t know. Think just a collection of knocks.”
“You know when footballers used to say they were injured for two weeks with a dead leg, I’d be like a dead leg lasts ten minutes, how can you be injured for two weeks!” laughs Dave. They all talk at once about how Matt might have done it. I had to get my glasses straightened out a few hours earlier after a crowdsurfing Matt jumped on my face in Northampton and bent them. The Pigeon Detectives laugh loudly, but don't apologise. It's an occasional hazard of gig-going.
”Headline: Matt Pigeon Sat On My Face,” jokes Matt. “Ry, I’ll get you a card. Which one do you want?”
“Any.”
“So it’s actually… You moan that you don’t get to pick and then…” Matt sighs.
What’s the best lie you’ve told about where your name comes from?
“Fucking hell. The best lie!” says Ryan. I heard somewhere you’re fed up of being asked so you tend to make up bizarre answers.
“The best one’s got to be, there’s a giant pigeon that lives in a shed at the bottom of our garden that writes all our lyrics,” says Matt. “That’s got to be the best one!” he says between gales of laughter. “Or at least the most ridiculous.”
“We do actually come up with some insane things, we find it funny though don’t we?” says Ryan.
“Didn’t we tell someone once we all went to a fancy dress party dressed as pigeons?” says Matt.
“I told someone once that Jimmi were watching ‘The Detectives’ with Jasper Carrott on TV when a dead pigeon fell out the skies outside his house,” giggles Dave.
“The best ones though are when you do the foreign interviews,” says Matt. “And you go (odd accent) ‘There’s a giant pigeon that lives at the end of our garden and writes all our lyrics” and they just go ‘Que?’” He’s putting on an interesting Spanish accent, though a native would probably disagree that it’s Spanish at all. “What? What is it, pigeon and the lyrics?”
“And they go ‘oh, ok’ and write it down!” says Dave. Fools.
Radio 1’s Big Weekend. How was it?
“It were good,” says Dave.
“Big,” says Oli.
“It were big,” confirms Dave.
“It were at the weekend.”
“On Radio 1,” says Ryan, quite rightly. They start chuckling.
“Er… no, it were good, it were like a really big festival crowd, it were quite a good warm up. They were quite a tame crowd but I think that’s because they weren’t generally loads of massive gig goers. But the front ten rows were like really having it, so it were really good.”
“The single ’I’m Not Sorry’, it went nuts right to the back, but I think that’s because it were a Radio 1 song,” says Matt.
“Someone threw a Cornish pasty at me,” remembers Dave. A Cornish pasty? “Well it were still in its packet.” Oh that’s all right then.
“We had a message on MySpace the next day, going ‘oh, I’m sorry if I offended your bass player, he looked really pissed off. It was thrown out of good’,” explains Ryan.
They all start talking over each other again, but I can hear Matt say about Dave “He volleyed it!” Were you upset you couldn’t open it because you were trying to play?
“No, I just picked it up and kicked it, but I really connected with it and it landed right back of tent.”
“I broke a £20,000 BBC TV camera that we’ve not had a bill for yet,” says Matt. “My mic lead got wrapped around it.” Anyone who’s been to see the Pigeon Detectives live will know this is not an unusual occurrence, with the lead often becoming entangled with Oli’s guitar, the drum kit and the mic stand, sometimes all at once.
“It was on them moving runners. It started running away from me and it was pulling me and I had a bit of a tug of war with it. I won and the camera lost and it just went [makes crunching noise] then ground to a halt. All these guys came running over. I was like, ooops-a-daisy.”
What sort of time were you on?
“Half one,” says Oli.
“Which were a shit time ‘cause I got out of bed at one,” says Matt. “So I got out of bed all sleepy-eyed, half one it was just, get on stage in front of three thousand people and I was like ‘Eh… what?’”
Did you have many people going along just for you?
“Yeah the tent were rammed and it emptied when we left,” says Matt. “Who went on after us? Biffy Clyro? No it weren’t, it were Cold War Kids. They looked like they had a bit of a tough time of it.”
Did you stand round and watch them? “I did,” says Ryan.
“I watched a bit,” Matt says.
“They’re pretty good,” says Ryan.
“They made me feel like I wanted to go to bed. I thought they were boring.”
“I don’t know if you noticed, but I watched a couple of bands, and the crowd seemed quite curious towards almost every band, even massive bands they weren’t going as mental,” muses Ryan.
“Best band of the day were Kasabian, I thought they were fucking ace,” says Matt. For some reason he then starts making high pitched noises at Oli, who fixes him with a hard stare before taking a drink.
I’m Not Sorry is Oli’s card, which Dave thrusts at him. “I thought it was your go,” says Oli. It's their third full release on Dance To The Radio, after 'Romantic Type' earlier this year and 'I Found Out'. I hope you’ve all bought copies of it. “I bought six so far,” he says.
“I just went out and bought three,” says Matt. “Me and Ol got busted by about ten kids in HMV buying ‘I’m Not Sorry’, then they followed us around town for about an hour...”
“Were they girls by any chance?” asks Ryan.
“Girls and a lad. Until they got the courage to ask us for photos,” finishes Matt. “Then they went to Ol ‘Are you in t’band?’ and he went ‘No, I’m the fucking guitar tech.’ It was like this 12 year old girl and I was like, oh Jesus!” They all laugh.
“This girl asked for a picture yesterday,” laughs Dave. “Jimmi came in to the end of it and I went ‘Who’s this random?’ and she was like ‘Oh it don’t matter, I love it when randoms come into pictures!’ Jimmi just looked at me and went [grumpy face] and turned around.”
“She tried to apologise later and you were just like, fuck off. She proper offended you didn’t she,” says Ryan.
Jimmi’s being called out on stage to set up the drums, but he stands up and grabs one last card saying “I’ll get this.”
“You haven’t even answered that one yet,” says Ryan. Jimmi dithers.
“Just fuck off, no-one wants you here,” says Oli.
“We don’t want randoms playing this game,” says Ryan. A few kicks are aimed, and poor Jimmi departs for work. Back to ‘I’m Not Sorry.’
“Shit song, shit name,” Matt says, which I don’t believe is the promotional tag they’ve gone with. We have a guess at where it will chart the next day. The band are going with 12, seeing as that’s what they’ve heard today. They were spot on.
“I had a dream last night that us album got to number one,” says Dave.
“I had a dream…” sings Matt, the fifth member of ABBA.
“It were pretty good.”
“What, the dream or the album?” asks Oli.
“The… dream.”
“I had a dream that I were in London and there was a massive riot, so when I woke up the next morning in London I were going, were I rioting last night? It were one of them proper did-I-riot-last-night dreams,” says Matt. And did you riot? “I didn’t. It was a dream.”
“We haven’t actually answered the ‘I’m Not Sorry’ thing yet,” points out Dave.
“We have,” says Ryan.
“Got any more questions about I’m Not Sorry?” Oli asks me. Er, no. “OK.”
Ryan picks up an orange card. “I think it’s going to say South By South West,” says Matt, who is either psychic or has been cheating. “It’s in Texas.” Shedloads of new bands playing to keen music lovers and industry bods, all in the sunny United States.
How was it? “It were ace,” says Ryan. I didn’t hear much about it – I know pretty much everyone in the industry goes, but you never seem to hear much about what happens.
“Well basically like we only played one gig out there, and some other bands paid the NME to go out there and stuff. We didn’t, so NME wrote about these other bands who paid for them to go out and just overlooked us, so you probably wouldn’t have read much about it,” explains Ryan. “We actually played a gig and it were really good.”
Oli is still proudly sporting his sheriff badge, all the way from Texas. “I’m not even sure we went, according to the press,” he comments.
“I’m not sure we did, did we?” says Ryan.
“To be fair, it were a bit of a holiday,” says Matt. “We went out for a week, played one gig and then just sat around watching bands like Kings of Leon, Buzzcocks, Paolo Nutini, Albert Hammond Jr…”
“I think our manager said you’re out for one week playing one gig, enjoy yourself,” says Ryan.
“We got our publishing company to pay for it,” says Matt, “and we signed a publishing deal out there as well, which were nice.”
“Some great burgers,” says Dave, who knows what’s important. Worth going all the way just for that? “I love a burger.”
What do you think of your fans? asks one of my friends. “Tell him I’d like to have sex with the male fans and go shopping with the girl fans,” says Matt.
Dave reaches for the next card as fast as he can while trying to keep a straight face.
“Swiftly moving on…” says Oli.
Favourite film. Dave is happy he’s picked up this card. “Quite funnily enough, I’m the perfect person to ask that question to.”
“Mine’s Pirates of the Caribbean!” shouts Matt excitedly. “Ohh! Ohh!”
“Disregard Matt because he’s a film pleb and he doesn’t know anything about the medium,” Dave orders.
“Pirates of the Caribbean!”
“Mine’s Usual Suspects,” says Oli.
“Usual Suspects is my favourite…” begins Dave.
“I’ve already chose it. You can’t have it.” A few punches are thrown.
“Ow! Or maybe Shawshank Redemption,” Dave continues, between thumping Oli. “Or maybe True Romance…They’re my three.”
“Did you read that in a magazine?” says Oli, who I’d always assumed to be the quiet one, but who has turned out to be something of a cheeky so-and-so.
“Yeah.”
“Or do you have any opinions of your own?”
“I like Gladiator as well,” says Matt. “I like the bit where he goes (does tough Yorkshire Gladiator voice) ‘Husband of raped wife… father of murdered child…’…”
“What, that cheesiest bit in any film ever?” asks Dave.
“Yes. Then he goes ‘I am Maximus Decimus Meridius.’ And then he kills them all. Gladiator. Right film.”
“I’ve only seen it once all the way through. I just don’t like Russell Crowe, I think he’s a dick,” says Dave, and they discuss exactly how awful Master and Commander is.
“I got bored, I was like I don’t really get this,” admits Oli.
“I did but I committed 40 minutes of my life to it, I wanted to find out what happened. And I actually found out what happened,” says Matt.
“So Suzy, level with us, is this actually an interview or did you just want to come and sit in the dressing room and talk to us?” says Matt, looking at me sideways. Yes, you’re onto me. I can’t get enough of stealing Doritos from your crap rider.
Oli quite rightly points out there will be a bottle of rum waiting on my desk when I get back to work, and I think they’re a little jealous they just have warm beer. I get the feeling that after the Town Hall gig in a few hours, it will be a long time before they have to buy their own drinks again.
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The Pigeon Detectives debut album ‘Wait For Me’ is released on May 28th through Dance To The Radio.
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It took some organising - with no help from the PR I asked Oli (in Southampton), who referred me to their tour manager. I found out who he was at the next gig (London), asked for an interview the following gig (Northampton), and caught up with them the next day (Leeds). I was in the area for their show the next night anyway. I missed most of the Live At Leeds festival shitting myself in preparation for this, terrified I would come across as an unprofessional idiot, and the Walk Of Fear up the steps of the Town Hall is still one of my most nerve-wracking moments as an interviewer.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in May 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
THE PIGEON DETECTIVES
Matt Bowman - vocals, Oliver Main - guitar, Ryan Wilson - guitar, Dave Best - bass, Jimmi Naylor - drums
It’s Saturday evening in Leeds. A couple of girls wearing band t-shirts are excitedly babbling outside the Town Hall as they shelter from the weather and wait for the doors to open. It’s grey and cold, confirming everything I ever suspected about Yorkshire.
Inside though, it’s much warmer and there’s no chance of being rained on, unless you count the water which is bound to be thrown around during the next gig. Backstage, all five of the Pigeon Detectives are sat in a semi circle, surrounded by posters they were halfway through signing. You can’t blame them for looking slightly confused; usually I’m stuck on their front row sweating and yelling, today I’m sat dry and polite with a dictaphone to one side. To be honest I was trying to avoid interviewing them because as a fan I thought it would be weird, but then The Boss, able to spot a corrupt journalist at a distance of some three feet across the table, bribed me with a bottle of rum if I did the deed.
In just under two hours, the doors will open for the Pigeon Detectives' first sold out gig at the Town Hall. If they're nervous, they're hiding it well. Singer Matt Bowman’s sat to my right, and next to him is guitarist Ryan Wilson, drummer Jimmi Naylor, lead guitarist Oliver Main and bassist Dave Best, who is looking strangely impressed at the coloured question cards scattered at random. He volunteers to go first.
The Early Years.
“We basically all started learning to play guitar when we were about 16…” starts Dave.
“I were 15,” says Oli.
“He were 15…”
“I was 17,” says Ryan. “That was just wrong really, wasn’t it.”
“That’s why I said about 16!”
“You’ve averaged it out, haven’t you?”
“I took a mean average,” Dave continues. “We started when we were about 16. Me and Oli taught each other the basics and then we kind of taught each other from Beatles books and stuff like that. We taught Matt to play guitar but he didn’t have as good technique as Ryan did, not as natural as Ryan, with his little stumpy fingers, so we just…”
They pause. The tour manager is loudly discussing important band things with some other people.
“Get out! We can’t hear a thing!”
“Get in your production office,” orders Ryan jovially.
“Go on, piss off!” They do as they’re told with a chuckle and a shake of the head.
“Ry decided one day we were going to be in a band, he just told me and Oli,” continues Dave. “After that, we decide we were gonna do some covers in Ol’s bedroom and stuff like that. That’s really it, until Jimmi met Ry when Jimmi were about 12. When they worked at Staples together. He’s only 13 now.”
Young Jimmi sits there smiling and points out he was actually about 16 at the time.
“We needed a drummer and we got him down and we decided to keep him, because we instantly fell in love with him.” Ahh.
“We’ve all been mates for quite a long time though,” says Ryan.
“Us four were mates since we were about six years old. Me and Ry were in the same class at school every year since we were about two,” says Dave.
How long has the band been going full time for? “A year,” says Dave instantly. Someone else says two years. They laugh, try to remember when they quit their jobs and think about it.
“Did you say full time?” asks Ryan. Yes.
“Actually pretty much a year.”
“We haven’t got a full time contract yet,” says Matt, possibly eyeing a legal loophole.
“If you go by us quitting our job and then being in a band for a living…”
“We had our first single out in March,” says Matt.
“…so about a year,” finishes Ryan. That first single was ‘I’m Not Sorry’, originally limited to 500 vinyls which didn’t take long to sell out. A few months later came 'You Know I Love You', which also sold out. The buzz had begun.
Didn’t I read somewhere that one of you got sacked –
“That were Oli.”
- because your bosses heard you on the radio?
“That were me,” says Matt. “I’d already handed my notice in, I had like two weeks left on my notice but they just said get out. Dave never even went back. Dave didn’t even have the courtesy to say ‘I’m leaving’.” Dave starts giggling. “You actually went to London and then never returned,” says Matt with a grin and a wave of his arm. “’I’m off to London’ – that’s the last they ever heard of you.”
Are they still looking out for you now? “Thing is they let me have that day off very nicely so I could go to London. And I just never came back,” confesses Dave.
“Coward,” says Ryan.
Oli leans over and snatches up the next card. It's a random one. You’re trapped on a desert island, who do you eat first? The answer is Ryan, because “he’s got the most flesh.” Ryan doesn’t actually look particularly unhappy – or surprised - about having his potential fate discussed this way.
“Unlucky, Ry,” says Matt. “Gingers cook faster as well. They’ve got sensitive skin, like the perfect white meat.” Someone suggests spit-roasting Ryan, and he laughs.
“I’ll leave that there,” says Oli, wisely.
Jimmi takes the next card. Wait For Me. Tell me about your debut album.
“It’s twelve beautiful songs, all catchy,” he says. Got any favourites? “My favourite’s ‘Caught In Your Trap’ and maybe ‘Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye’.”
“I think my favourite’s ‘Caught In Your Trap’,” teases Oli, mimicking his drummer’s pronunciation.
I forgot to ask why a picture of stags was chosen for the cover, but a chance reading of The Fly suggests it’s because stags spend their time fighting and ‘sleeping with other stags’ girls’, much like the late teen experiences of the Pigeon Detectives.
“We recorded it in bits ‘cause we were doing things like supporting Dirty Pretty Things…”
“That’s a lie,” say Matt and Ryan, almost at the same time. “That were well early. Supporting Kaiser Chiefs.”
“Supporting Kaisers…” Jimmi corrects himself. Are you telling me lies, Jimmi? “Yeah, I’m lying to you. We started off, we went in for about two weeks, going in for a few hours, then we went and supported Kaiser Chiefs and went back in; altogether about five weeks, but we spread it out.”
Matt and Dave are sneakily looking at question cards and putting them back on the pile.
“And then we had to go and get it mixed and stuff which took another three or four weeks or something like that,” says Ryan. “Getting it mixed took ages, like you know, it was our debut album, let’s get it perfect in every single way. You’ve got to get it recorded well but you’ve got to get it mixed well as well. Took us a while.”
Matt’s getting impatient and takes a card. Current Tour. They're nearing the end of it now, with loud and sweaty 12 dates across the UK almost complete. How’s it going?
“It’s all right. Picking up some injuries,” Matt winces. He’s very energetic onstage, climbing equipment and forever leaping/being dragged into the crowd.
Ryan starts complaining that they’ve missed his turn out.
“You can go next Ry. Carry on Matt,” says Dave, the voice of calm. He’s wearing a white shirt on which he has sewn a Leeds badge, all ready for the gig tonight.
“Tour’s going well, I think highlights so far are probably Manchester and London Astoria, that were all right.”
“Last night (Northampton) were really good, wasn’t it,” says Ryan, and Jimmi murmurs agreement. “You were at the gig last night weren’t you?” I nod.
“I’m really knackered though. I’ve got the world’s worst fucking dead leg,” complains Matt. Why, what have you done? “Don’t know. Think just a collection of knocks.”
“You know when footballers used to say they were injured for two weeks with a dead leg, I’d be like a dead leg lasts ten minutes, how can you be injured for two weeks!” laughs Dave. They all talk at once about how Matt might have done it. I had to get my glasses straightened out a few hours earlier after a crowdsurfing Matt jumped on my face in Northampton and bent them. The Pigeon Detectives laugh loudly, but don't apologise. It's an occasional hazard of gig-going.
”Headline: Matt Pigeon Sat On My Face,” jokes Matt. “Ry, I’ll get you a card. Which one do you want?”
“Any.”
“So it’s actually… You moan that you don’t get to pick and then…” Matt sighs.
What’s the best lie you’ve told about where your name comes from?
“Fucking hell. The best lie!” says Ryan. I heard somewhere you’re fed up of being asked so you tend to make up bizarre answers.
“The best one’s got to be, there’s a giant pigeon that lives in a shed at the bottom of our garden that writes all our lyrics,” says Matt. “That’s got to be the best one!” he says between gales of laughter. “Or at least the most ridiculous.”
“We do actually come up with some insane things, we find it funny though don’t we?” says Ryan.
“Didn’t we tell someone once we all went to a fancy dress party dressed as pigeons?” says Matt.
“I told someone once that Jimmi were watching ‘The Detectives’ with Jasper Carrott on TV when a dead pigeon fell out the skies outside his house,” giggles Dave.
“The best ones though are when you do the foreign interviews,” says Matt. “And you go (odd accent) ‘There’s a giant pigeon that lives at the end of our garden and writes all our lyrics” and they just go ‘Que?’” He’s putting on an interesting Spanish accent, though a native would probably disagree that it’s Spanish at all. “What? What is it, pigeon and the lyrics?”
“And they go ‘oh, ok’ and write it down!” says Dave. Fools.
Radio 1’s Big Weekend. How was it?
“It were good,” says Dave.
“Big,” says Oli.
“It were big,” confirms Dave.
“It were at the weekend.”
“On Radio 1,” says Ryan, quite rightly. They start chuckling.
“Er… no, it were good, it were like a really big festival crowd, it were quite a good warm up. They were quite a tame crowd but I think that’s because they weren’t generally loads of massive gig goers. But the front ten rows were like really having it, so it were really good.”
“The single ’I’m Not Sorry’, it went nuts right to the back, but I think that’s because it were a Radio 1 song,” says Matt.
“Someone threw a Cornish pasty at me,” remembers Dave. A Cornish pasty? “Well it were still in its packet.” Oh that’s all right then.
“We had a message on MySpace the next day, going ‘oh, I’m sorry if I offended your bass player, he looked really pissed off. It was thrown out of good’,” explains Ryan.
They all start talking over each other again, but I can hear Matt say about Dave “He volleyed it!” Were you upset you couldn’t open it because you were trying to play?
“No, I just picked it up and kicked it, but I really connected with it and it landed right back of tent.”
“I broke a £20,000 BBC TV camera that we’ve not had a bill for yet,” says Matt. “My mic lead got wrapped around it.” Anyone who’s been to see the Pigeon Detectives live will know this is not an unusual occurrence, with the lead often becoming entangled with Oli’s guitar, the drum kit and the mic stand, sometimes all at once.
“It was on them moving runners. It started running away from me and it was pulling me and I had a bit of a tug of war with it. I won and the camera lost and it just went [makes crunching noise] then ground to a halt. All these guys came running over. I was like, ooops-a-daisy.”
What sort of time were you on?
“Half one,” says Oli.
“Which were a shit time ‘cause I got out of bed at one,” says Matt. “So I got out of bed all sleepy-eyed, half one it was just, get on stage in front of three thousand people and I was like ‘Eh… what?’”
Did you have many people going along just for you?
“Yeah the tent were rammed and it emptied when we left,” says Matt. “Who went on after us? Biffy Clyro? No it weren’t, it were Cold War Kids. They looked like they had a bit of a tough time of it.”
Did you stand round and watch them? “I did,” says Ryan.
“I watched a bit,” Matt says.
“They’re pretty good,” says Ryan.
“They made me feel like I wanted to go to bed. I thought they were boring.”
“I don’t know if you noticed, but I watched a couple of bands, and the crowd seemed quite curious towards almost every band, even massive bands they weren’t going as mental,” muses Ryan.
“Best band of the day were Kasabian, I thought they were fucking ace,” says Matt. For some reason he then starts making high pitched noises at Oli, who fixes him with a hard stare before taking a drink.
I’m Not Sorry is Oli’s card, which Dave thrusts at him. “I thought it was your go,” says Oli. It's their third full release on Dance To The Radio, after 'Romantic Type' earlier this year and 'I Found Out'. I hope you’ve all bought copies of it. “I bought six so far,” he says.
“I just went out and bought three,” says Matt. “Me and Ol got busted by about ten kids in HMV buying ‘I’m Not Sorry’, then they followed us around town for about an hour...”
“Were they girls by any chance?” asks Ryan.
“Girls and a lad. Until they got the courage to ask us for photos,” finishes Matt. “Then they went to Ol ‘Are you in t’band?’ and he went ‘No, I’m the fucking guitar tech.’ It was like this 12 year old girl and I was like, oh Jesus!” They all laugh.
“This girl asked for a picture yesterday,” laughs Dave. “Jimmi came in to the end of it and I went ‘Who’s this random?’ and she was like ‘Oh it don’t matter, I love it when randoms come into pictures!’ Jimmi just looked at me and went [grumpy face] and turned around.”
“She tried to apologise later and you were just like, fuck off. She proper offended you didn’t she,” says Ryan.
Jimmi’s being called out on stage to set up the drums, but he stands up and grabs one last card saying “I’ll get this.”
“You haven’t even answered that one yet,” says Ryan. Jimmi dithers.
“Just fuck off, no-one wants you here,” says Oli.
“We don’t want randoms playing this game,” says Ryan. A few kicks are aimed, and poor Jimmi departs for work. Back to ‘I’m Not Sorry.’
“Shit song, shit name,” Matt says, which I don’t believe is the promotional tag they’ve gone with. We have a guess at where it will chart the next day. The band are going with 12, seeing as that’s what they’ve heard today. They were spot on.
“I had a dream last night that us album got to number one,” says Dave.
“I had a dream…” sings Matt, the fifth member of ABBA.
“It were pretty good.”
“What, the dream or the album?” asks Oli.
“The… dream.”
“I had a dream that I were in London and there was a massive riot, so when I woke up the next morning in London I were going, were I rioting last night? It were one of them proper did-I-riot-last-night dreams,” says Matt. And did you riot? “I didn’t. It was a dream.”
“We haven’t actually answered the ‘I’m Not Sorry’ thing yet,” points out Dave.
“We have,” says Ryan.
“Got any more questions about I’m Not Sorry?” Oli asks me. Er, no. “OK.”
Ryan picks up an orange card. “I think it’s going to say South By South West,” says Matt, who is either psychic or has been cheating. “It’s in Texas.” Shedloads of new bands playing to keen music lovers and industry bods, all in the sunny United States.
How was it? “It were ace,” says Ryan. I didn’t hear much about it – I know pretty much everyone in the industry goes, but you never seem to hear much about what happens.
“Well basically like we only played one gig out there, and some other bands paid the NME to go out there and stuff. We didn’t, so NME wrote about these other bands who paid for them to go out and just overlooked us, so you probably wouldn’t have read much about it,” explains Ryan. “We actually played a gig and it were really good.”
Oli is still proudly sporting his sheriff badge, all the way from Texas. “I’m not even sure we went, according to the press,” he comments.
“I’m not sure we did, did we?” says Ryan.
“To be fair, it were a bit of a holiday,” says Matt. “We went out for a week, played one gig and then just sat around watching bands like Kings of Leon, Buzzcocks, Paolo Nutini, Albert Hammond Jr…”
“I think our manager said you’re out for one week playing one gig, enjoy yourself,” says Ryan.
“We got our publishing company to pay for it,” says Matt, “and we signed a publishing deal out there as well, which were nice.”
“Some great burgers,” says Dave, who knows what’s important. Worth going all the way just for that? “I love a burger.”
What do you think of your fans? asks one of my friends. “Tell him I’d like to have sex with the male fans and go shopping with the girl fans,” says Matt.
Dave reaches for the next card as fast as he can while trying to keep a straight face.
“Swiftly moving on…” says Oli.
Favourite film. Dave is happy he’s picked up this card. “Quite funnily enough, I’m the perfect person to ask that question to.”
“Mine’s Pirates of the Caribbean!” shouts Matt excitedly. “Ohh! Ohh!”
“Disregard Matt because he’s a film pleb and he doesn’t know anything about the medium,” Dave orders.
“Pirates of the Caribbean!”
“Mine’s Usual Suspects,” says Oli.
“Usual Suspects is my favourite…” begins Dave.
“I’ve already chose it. You can’t have it.” A few punches are thrown.
“Ow! Or maybe Shawshank Redemption,” Dave continues, between thumping Oli. “Or maybe True Romance…They’re my three.”
“Did you read that in a magazine?” says Oli, who I’d always assumed to be the quiet one, but who has turned out to be something of a cheeky so-and-so.
“Yeah.”
“Or do you have any opinions of your own?”
“I like Gladiator as well,” says Matt. “I like the bit where he goes (does tough Yorkshire Gladiator voice) ‘Husband of raped wife… father of murdered child…’…”
“What, that cheesiest bit in any film ever?” asks Dave.
“Yes. Then he goes ‘I am Maximus Decimus Meridius.’ And then he kills them all. Gladiator. Right film.”
“I’ve only seen it once all the way through. I just don’t like Russell Crowe, I think he’s a dick,” says Dave, and they discuss exactly how awful Master and Commander is.
“I got bored, I was like I don’t really get this,” admits Oli.
“I did but I committed 40 minutes of my life to it, I wanted to find out what happened. And I actually found out what happened,” says Matt.
“So Suzy, level with us, is this actually an interview or did you just want to come and sit in the dressing room and talk to us?” says Matt, looking at me sideways. Yes, you’re onto me. I can’t get enough of stealing Doritos from your crap rider.
Oli quite rightly points out there will be a bottle of rum waiting on my desk when I get back to work, and I think they’re a little jealous they just have warm beer. I get the feeling that after the Town Hall gig in a few hours, it will be a long time before they have to buy their own drinks again.
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The Pigeon Detectives debut album ‘Wait For Me’ is released on May 28th through Dance To The Radio.
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Interview - Beverley Knight
This was one of those 'name' interviews which my bosses got all excited about because it was someone they'd heard of, as opposed to third drummer's cousin in a little indie band.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in May 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
BEVERLEY KNIGHT
We caught up with soul singer Beverley Knight in London for a chat about her charity work, touring with Take That and the joy of new shoes
It’s nice and cool in Parlophone headquarters, away from the bustle of the London streets. Inside the interview room, Beverley Knight calls me ‘darling’, kindly offers me a drink and bids me sit next to her on the sofa so the dictaphone can pick up what she’s saying.
She’s tall and slender, wearing a dark vest top and olive short skirt. Her highlighted hair is kept in place with a neat lemon-coloured hairband. Occasionally she gives a friendly wave to whoever is walking past the glass doors.
It’s lunchtime and she’s trying to eat a fruit salad while chatting to me, which proves difficult because Beverley likes talking. From an interviewer’s point of view, this is a very good thing as I barely have to say a word.
A nice and easy conversation opener is ‘Just The Two Of Us’, the reality show where celebrities were paired with singing professionals to perform duets. Beverley laughs uproariously. “OK! Yes!” I didn’t even realise she was in it until one of my friends pointed it out. “It might have passed a lot of people if they were on their Christmas holidays still, like New Year’s and that. It was interesting, I had a lot of good laughs on there.”
In the first series she was partnered with Nicky Campbell, and second time round she was paired up with Brendan Cole. “He actually helped it and made it a lot of fun because he really did want to learn about singing a song and how to express a song.”
On 'Strictly Come Dancing' he came across as a bit of a loveable troublemaker. “When people discovered I was going to be partnered with Brendan their reactions were quite severe. It was either ‘Oooh, the bad boy of Strictly Come Dancing… you’ll be in the papers, you know!’ and then other people were like ‘Brendan Cole, oh I can’t stand him’. You know what I mean?”
He doesn’t seem that bad. “No I don’t think so. And actually he’s just a man who wants to be brilliant. He wants to be brilliant and that makes him work very hard which often rubs people up the wrong way as well. But makes great viewing!"
In the end, Beverley and Brendan came second to Hannah Waterman and Marti Pellow. Beverley isn’t remotely disappointed at being runner-up. “I’m actually glad that they won because it would have been ‘Soul singer and winner of Just The Two Of Us, Beverley Knight’. Nah! I got all the publicity, without having the moniker fixed to me. I did everything as far as I could go, I just didn’t go home with the trophy, which was a bit of a blessing.
“But I was surprised at how those shows get people round the throat. I mean, folk were phoning up saying ‘You deserve more points than you got!’ and this that and the other, and ‘I really loved this performance it was amazing!’ People get into them! And I’m like (all sweet) ‘It’s just a TV show! Don’t take it so personally!”
Calm down and make yourself another cup of tea. “Exactly. ‘You sit down and have a rest’. Funny.” Would you ever be tempted to go into one of those shows as a contestant rather than a mentor? “No way,” she says firmly. “No way on this earth. I’d never do the dancing, never go in the jungle, never be in the Big Brother house. I’m not interested. The thing that persuaded me of this show was it’s me singing and I’m not being judged or anything like that, I’m helping somebody else to improve on what they’ve got. In Brendan’s case, definitely pull out what he’s got, you know what I mean! But I couldn’t do any of those shows and I wouldn’t do anything else.”
‘No Man’s Land’ was the first single off new album ‘Music City Soul’. It begins gently before sweeping into a rousing chorus, and is a beautiful song. “Thank you,” she says. “It’s a song about being in a state of limbo. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t know how this feels. If you have ever been in a relationship, you know how it feels when it comes to an end and you’re so wanting to move forward in your life. And you’re so stuck because the feelings don’t disappear overnight.
”You know the right thing to do was for the relationship to end, so you know you’re not going to go backwards into it, but you can’t get moving forwards. And I called it ‘No Man’s Land’, that feeling of, you know, ‘how do I get out of this, I’m buggered both ways’. I wrote it from a place I was in at that time. I’m not there anymore, thank Christ for that, but I’m happy-and-single-and-living-free type thing. But then I was single but certainly confused.”
It’s very cathartic letting it out through song. “So cathartic, to be able to sit down and write how you feel, and then hopefully other people can say ‘Yeah that’s me, that’s how I feel’. I’m proud of it. Also on a technical level it opens the door to the concept of what this new album’s about, ‘cause it’s so live and emotive and all of those things. So you hear that and you get an idea of the album, for sure.”
What was it like making the video? Because it looked like you walked miles. “Mmm. I didn’t really,” she says in between bites of fruit. “I walked the whole day, but I was sauntering. It wasn’t like I was marching.” In your heels. “They were wedge heels, that was easy enough on my poor little feet. It was wonderful, it was so hot. So when the breeze was blowing on me I was like thank God for that!” she adds. “The minute the breeze stopped, it was like…” Ice lollies. “Exactly. It was really hot. It was wonderful. I shot it in Cape Town, it looks like the American South.”
Yeah it does, I say in a quavering voice, after a brief coughing fit probably caused by the London air. “We went there because it’s cheaper than shooting in America, less problematic; and if you edit out Table Mountain and all the obvious South African references it could be anywhere. It has that universal appeal. I was so pleased to go over and do the video there. Brilliant.”
Any sightseeing? “A little bit of sightseeing, yeah!” she says excitedly. “Having a chance to go around and visit different places – and a little bit of shopping,” she adds naughtily. Just a little bit? “Just a little bit. Didn’t have enough time to shop, God damn it. But hey. Bloody cheap over there, which is another great reason for shooting the video over there.”
Time for a random easy question - five items Beverley always carries in her handbag. “Boring things like Blackberry, mobile. I’ve got this little mirror which opens up into a brush as well. Always, always, always in my bag ‘cause you never know when you’re gonna get sprung in Sainsbury’s by someone going ‘Can I take a picture?’ and you know it’s going to end up on MySpace or somewhere.
“That did happen to me, I was in Sainsbury’s with my housemate and this woman stopped me and took a picture. I didn’t think anything of it until my housemate shouted me: ‘Bev, that picture’s online now!’ I was like, oh my God. What else… Always got lipbalm, I have to talk a lot and sing a lot,” she giggles. “Got to make sure my lips are nice and not too cracked and horrible. Always got chewing gum, and I’ve always got a pen. Don’t quite now why. Oooh, me purse! That too.”
There’s a pause. “I’ll just have a strawberry,” she says, trying to eat some more. I apologise for making her talk too much on her lunch. How’s your salad? “It’s good! Good old fruit salad. Love it.” There’s a fruit bowl in the hall but it’s covered over with clingfilm, probably to stop pesky journalists from nicking bits. There’s a sheet over Beverley’s salad bowl as well. “Sure this isn’t exactly environmentally friendly,” she says, poking at it. “But anyway…”
Beverley, you were awarded the MBE in February 2007. Congratulations. “Thank you.” You don’t seem to be wearing it. “Er, no!” Not expecting to bump into the Queen today. “Not today. I’ve got the little medal thingy in its box at home in one of my bedrooms. That was a mad day. You have to keep it all secret and everything, so I knew about this and couldn’t tell anyone until it became official news. My mum literally slumped into the sofa and dad couldn’t speak for ages. They just were like knocked out.
“But the day itself was a proud moment for them. I kind of was more excited watching their reactions ‘cause I knew how much it meant for them. It was a really surreal day, I had to be debriefed…” So much etiquette. “So much… like walking backwards away from the monarch and curtsey and this and I’m like, well you try doing it in 4 ½ inch heel platforms!”
Can you just stand back and go: ‘You all right?’ “Yeah,” she smiles. “‘You got my album?’ But it was a great morning. I did feel proud. And when I saw the pictures that were everywhere in the press I was like ‘awww’. Everybody in my band has been coming up for what the MBE stands for, outside of Member of the British Empire. And my favourite is Most Baddest Entertainer.”
We both laugh. I ask if she’s going to get that on her stationery. “Everyone’s saying ‘Oh put it on your credit card, MBE’ but it don’t know. It’d be a bit… weird. It’ll be like (posh voice) ‘Hello I’m Beverley Knight, MBE.’ I don’t know,” she says and giggles again.
She’s received quite a few awards, including a Lifetime Achievement one, which isn’t bad considering she’s not… “An old granny.” I think it means, you can stop now. “That accolade was because with black British artists there aren’t any of my generation who have been around for a long time. Gabrielle, who I think has just stopped making music now…” She just seemed to fade out a few years ago. “Yeah. And Sade, but then there’s me who’s been consistently there so that’s more what that was about, you know what I mean. As opposed to ‘Right, shut up now, we’ll give you this gong! For god’s sake, stop making music!’ I’d like to think so anyway. I’d be mortified if it was anything else.”
Beverley is heavily into charity work. “It’s not because I’m this wonderfully fabulous, altruistic human being, it’s more like I feel compelled. A lot of my charity work is focused and based around HIV/Aids, it’s like something within me spurs me to do it. Probably because I watched - helplessly, really - as one of my best friends slipped away and died. I don’t want anybody else to go through that and I know people are going through that every single day of the week.
“But the thing with HIV, it is so unnecessary. There are measures, there are steps you can take to keep it at bay from your life, keep the risks a lot lower. And the fact that people are just so apathetic and blasé, you know? It really distresses me greatly ‘cause I’m like, you don’t want to see what I’ve seen. Some of the reactions people have to the antiretroviral drugs and when combinations stop working and there’s nothing more that can be done and that whole side of it.
"I’m like, if you knew what your life could be, you would be so careful. But people don’t, they just think ‘oh a couple of pills and I’ll be fine.’ Of course it’s not like that. So that drives me on, that thing it galvanises me to do as much as I can.” She is speaking very seriously and from the heart.
“I’d like to think I’m a nice girl but it’s more than just being a nice person, it’s something else. So yeah, and it’s so important to me. It’s almost as though the platform that I’ve been given and the greater good that it serves is the work I’m able to do.
“Is that all right?” she asks uncertainly, checking she hasn’t given a rubbish answer. Yes, of course it’s all right.
‘Music City Soul’ is Beverley’s fifth studio album and was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. According to fruit-munching Beverley, it’s a place of deep contrasts. “On the one hand, it’s this very right-wing, Republican, flag-waving – Confederate flag-waving – place, and everybody goes to church on a Sunday, and of course listens to good wholesome country music. On the other hand, it’s a musical hub of musicians and songwriters. A lot of those musicians are hard drinking and come from other cities. They were cooler than all of that and had cool stories to tell.
”I stood out like a sore thumb ‘cause I was English and black. You know what I mean, they were like ‘We don’t get this’,” she says and laughs. “’They have black people in England? Oh my God.’ It was just mad. But I really enjoyed it as well, I just found it somewhere that was bemusing at times.”
There’s so much musical heritage there, it must have been fascinating. “It really, really was. And you got things like the Grand Ole Opry where everybody in country music has been, and people who have done the country/soul crossover like Ray Charles and Al Green. It was a really interesting place to go to and had a lot of history of music there.”
Nashville is known as Music City, hence the name of the album. “It sums up a concept. I came to this album wanting to make a record that was utterly soulful, utterly stripped back, free of programming, you know, if the song speeds up naturally and slows down naturally who gives a damn. Organic in every way. And we achieved it so I’m thrilled and just the title ‘Music City Soul’, apart from having a great ring to it I think, sums up that. You know you get an idea of what you’re going to get.”
What tracks do you like best on it? Or is it too hard to choose? “It is difficult. ‘Black Butta’ is a key track which is a bit like ‘Nutbush City Limits’, it’s very up-tempo and great to perform live, everybody loves it. But then I have really enjoyed doing all the promotion where I’ve been singing. I’ve really enjoyed singing ‘No Man’s Land’ because it has this journey. It starts soft, gets very powerful then goes really quiet again. I really love that and there’s a lot in this album which lends itself to that. It’s so difficult to choose a favourite. It changes all the time.”
What was the last thing you bought? She lifts up her legs and points at her shoes before letting out joyful, almost demented laughter. They’re gorgeous yellow sandals on woven platform heels and they look oh so clean. “Big old wedges! Oh, I love them! They’re so comfy-rumfy, and inexpensive.” Yeah all these cork heels are back in at the moment and they’re so much nicer to walk in. “So nice. I like these kind of blocky heels and I never thought I’d like them. I was always like, oh God will they make my ankles look really skinny and funny. But they just look nice. Very happy with my purchase!”
They go well with your hairband, I see you co-ordinated well today. “I thought to myself, ‘Oh yellow wedges, I’ll put my yellow hairband on as well.’” She giggles.
Beverley recently supported Take That on their massive comeback tour across the UK. “I knew that would be in there!” I’m sorry. “No, it’s fine. My boys! My boys… isn’t it great what’s happening with them? It’s great and it’s wonderful and it’s unprecedented actually, I don’t know anybody who’s come back after ten years to such success.” There’s a definite Wolverhampton twang to her voice which becomes more pronounced when she says Jason’s name.
She was playing on every date on their tour and they’ve become good friends. “It was just wonderful because you don’t expect that on a tour. You go on the road, you do your thing and that’s that, thank you very much and you’re off. That was a nice bonus to have, and I couldn’t be more thrilled for them. And a great platform for me because obviously huge audiences.”
How did their fans take to you? “You know, it’s funny with us girls, because there are some girls that we just kind of don’t like and fold our arms, but I was very much one of the girls. They were excited and I was excited. I was treated really nicely. I don’t think there was any horrible… not that I’m aware of anyway! You know I’m sure if you look on some website there’ll be ‘Bitch Beverley, I hate her!’, you know something like that!”
This is what she looks like in Sainsbury’s... “Exactly. But as far as I know, it was like a camaraderie there which is great because that’s obviously what you go on the tour for.” You want it to be fun. “Yeah, you want people to warm to you and obviously discover your music that way, so it was a great opportunity for me. Really brilliant.”
Let’s finish off with a bit about Beverley's 2007 tour, which is a few months off yet. It’s a long tour, starting in October and going on through until early December. Beverley describes the tour as ‘magnificent’.“And my last show is on World Aids Day, so I’d like to do some kind of party or something which is a fundraiser as well. That would be really cool, I’m going to talk to someone about that,” she says thoughtfully.
“But I’m so excited about taking this album on the road. I’m playing a lot of places that I know really well and lots of venues that I’m very familiar with which is wonderful.” It also gives everyone time to listen to the album and learn the words. “That’s right. A new experience for me this time will be doing the Royal Albert Hall, which’ll be the first time I’ve done that place by myself. It’ll be incredible I’m sure. It’s going to be brilliant. God. What else is there to say? I don’t know!”
We have a quick chat about local rivalries – people in Wolverhampton and Birmingham tend not to visit each other’s cities for concerts, the same as Portsmouth/Southampton – and then I leave Beverley to prepare for a phone interview. I probably help brighten her day further when I unsuccessfully try to push and pull the glass door which only opens when you slide it. She’s still upbeat and cheerful despite the long hours of promotion. Most Baddest Entertainer indeed.
--------
Album 'Music City Soul' is released through Parlophone on May 7th
Website
MySpace
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in May 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
BEVERLEY KNIGHT
We caught up with soul singer Beverley Knight in London for a chat about her charity work, touring with Take That and the joy of new shoes
It’s nice and cool in Parlophone headquarters, away from the bustle of the London streets. Inside the interview room, Beverley Knight calls me ‘darling’, kindly offers me a drink and bids me sit next to her on the sofa so the dictaphone can pick up what she’s saying.
She’s tall and slender, wearing a dark vest top and olive short skirt. Her highlighted hair is kept in place with a neat lemon-coloured hairband. Occasionally she gives a friendly wave to whoever is walking past the glass doors.
It’s lunchtime and she’s trying to eat a fruit salad while chatting to me, which proves difficult because Beverley likes talking. From an interviewer’s point of view, this is a very good thing as I barely have to say a word.
A nice and easy conversation opener is ‘Just The Two Of Us’, the reality show where celebrities were paired with singing professionals to perform duets. Beverley laughs uproariously. “OK! Yes!” I didn’t even realise she was in it until one of my friends pointed it out. “It might have passed a lot of people if they were on their Christmas holidays still, like New Year’s and that. It was interesting, I had a lot of good laughs on there.”
In the first series she was partnered with Nicky Campbell, and second time round she was paired up with Brendan Cole. “He actually helped it and made it a lot of fun because he really did want to learn about singing a song and how to express a song.”
On 'Strictly Come Dancing' he came across as a bit of a loveable troublemaker. “When people discovered I was going to be partnered with Brendan their reactions were quite severe. It was either ‘Oooh, the bad boy of Strictly Come Dancing… you’ll be in the papers, you know!’ and then other people were like ‘Brendan Cole, oh I can’t stand him’. You know what I mean?”
He doesn’t seem that bad. “No I don’t think so. And actually he’s just a man who wants to be brilliant. He wants to be brilliant and that makes him work very hard which often rubs people up the wrong way as well. But makes great viewing!"
In the end, Beverley and Brendan came second to Hannah Waterman and Marti Pellow. Beverley isn’t remotely disappointed at being runner-up. “I’m actually glad that they won because it would have been ‘Soul singer and winner of Just The Two Of Us, Beverley Knight’. Nah! I got all the publicity, without having the moniker fixed to me. I did everything as far as I could go, I just didn’t go home with the trophy, which was a bit of a blessing.
“But I was surprised at how those shows get people round the throat. I mean, folk were phoning up saying ‘You deserve more points than you got!’ and this that and the other, and ‘I really loved this performance it was amazing!’ People get into them! And I’m like (all sweet) ‘It’s just a TV show! Don’t take it so personally!”
Calm down and make yourself another cup of tea. “Exactly. ‘You sit down and have a rest’. Funny.” Would you ever be tempted to go into one of those shows as a contestant rather than a mentor? “No way,” she says firmly. “No way on this earth. I’d never do the dancing, never go in the jungle, never be in the Big Brother house. I’m not interested. The thing that persuaded me of this show was it’s me singing and I’m not being judged or anything like that, I’m helping somebody else to improve on what they’ve got. In Brendan’s case, definitely pull out what he’s got, you know what I mean! But I couldn’t do any of those shows and I wouldn’t do anything else.”
‘No Man’s Land’ was the first single off new album ‘Music City Soul’. It begins gently before sweeping into a rousing chorus, and is a beautiful song. “Thank you,” she says. “It’s a song about being in a state of limbo. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t know how this feels. If you have ever been in a relationship, you know how it feels when it comes to an end and you’re so wanting to move forward in your life. And you’re so stuck because the feelings don’t disappear overnight.
”You know the right thing to do was for the relationship to end, so you know you’re not going to go backwards into it, but you can’t get moving forwards. And I called it ‘No Man’s Land’, that feeling of, you know, ‘how do I get out of this, I’m buggered both ways’. I wrote it from a place I was in at that time. I’m not there anymore, thank Christ for that, but I’m happy-and-single-and-living-free type thing. But then I was single but certainly confused.”
It’s very cathartic letting it out through song. “So cathartic, to be able to sit down and write how you feel, and then hopefully other people can say ‘Yeah that’s me, that’s how I feel’. I’m proud of it. Also on a technical level it opens the door to the concept of what this new album’s about, ‘cause it’s so live and emotive and all of those things. So you hear that and you get an idea of the album, for sure.”
What was it like making the video? Because it looked like you walked miles. “Mmm. I didn’t really,” she says in between bites of fruit. “I walked the whole day, but I was sauntering. It wasn’t like I was marching.” In your heels. “They were wedge heels, that was easy enough on my poor little feet. It was wonderful, it was so hot. So when the breeze was blowing on me I was like thank God for that!” she adds. “The minute the breeze stopped, it was like…” Ice lollies. “Exactly. It was really hot. It was wonderful. I shot it in Cape Town, it looks like the American South.”
Yeah it does, I say in a quavering voice, after a brief coughing fit probably caused by the London air. “We went there because it’s cheaper than shooting in America, less problematic; and if you edit out Table Mountain and all the obvious South African references it could be anywhere. It has that universal appeal. I was so pleased to go over and do the video there. Brilliant.”
Any sightseeing? “A little bit of sightseeing, yeah!” she says excitedly. “Having a chance to go around and visit different places – and a little bit of shopping,” she adds naughtily. Just a little bit? “Just a little bit. Didn’t have enough time to shop, God damn it. But hey. Bloody cheap over there, which is another great reason for shooting the video over there.”
Time for a random easy question - five items Beverley always carries in her handbag. “Boring things like Blackberry, mobile. I’ve got this little mirror which opens up into a brush as well. Always, always, always in my bag ‘cause you never know when you’re gonna get sprung in Sainsbury’s by someone going ‘Can I take a picture?’ and you know it’s going to end up on MySpace or somewhere.
“That did happen to me, I was in Sainsbury’s with my housemate and this woman stopped me and took a picture. I didn’t think anything of it until my housemate shouted me: ‘Bev, that picture’s online now!’ I was like, oh my God. What else… Always got lipbalm, I have to talk a lot and sing a lot,” she giggles. “Got to make sure my lips are nice and not too cracked and horrible. Always got chewing gum, and I’ve always got a pen. Don’t quite now why. Oooh, me purse! That too.”
There’s a pause. “I’ll just have a strawberry,” she says, trying to eat some more. I apologise for making her talk too much on her lunch. How’s your salad? “It’s good! Good old fruit salad. Love it.” There’s a fruit bowl in the hall but it’s covered over with clingfilm, probably to stop pesky journalists from nicking bits. There’s a sheet over Beverley’s salad bowl as well. “Sure this isn’t exactly environmentally friendly,” she says, poking at it. “But anyway…”
Beverley, you were awarded the MBE in February 2007. Congratulations. “Thank you.” You don’t seem to be wearing it. “Er, no!” Not expecting to bump into the Queen today. “Not today. I’ve got the little medal thingy in its box at home in one of my bedrooms. That was a mad day. You have to keep it all secret and everything, so I knew about this and couldn’t tell anyone until it became official news. My mum literally slumped into the sofa and dad couldn’t speak for ages. They just were like knocked out.
“But the day itself was a proud moment for them. I kind of was more excited watching their reactions ‘cause I knew how much it meant for them. It was a really surreal day, I had to be debriefed…” So much etiquette. “So much… like walking backwards away from the monarch and curtsey and this and I’m like, well you try doing it in 4 ½ inch heel platforms!”
Can you just stand back and go: ‘You all right?’ “Yeah,” she smiles. “‘You got my album?’ But it was a great morning. I did feel proud. And when I saw the pictures that were everywhere in the press I was like ‘awww’. Everybody in my band has been coming up for what the MBE stands for, outside of Member of the British Empire. And my favourite is Most Baddest Entertainer.”
We both laugh. I ask if she’s going to get that on her stationery. “Everyone’s saying ‘Oh put it on your credit card, MBE’ but it don’t know. It’d be a bit… weird. It’ll be like (posh voice) ‘Hello I’m Beverley Knight, MBE.’ I don’t know,” she says and giggles again.
She’s received quite a few awards, including a Lifetime Achievement one, which isn’t bad considering she’s not… “An old granny.” I think it means, you can stop now. “That accolade was because with black British artists there aren’t any of my generation who have been around for a long time. Gabrielle, who I think has just stopped making music now…” She just seemed to fade out a few years ago. “Yeah. And Sade, but then there’s me who’s been consistently there so that’s more what that was about, you know what I mean. As opposed to ‘Right, shut up now, we’ll give you this gong! For god’s sake, stop making music!’ I’d like to think so anyway. I’d be mortified if it was anything else.”
Beverley is heavily into charity work. “It’s not because I’m this wonderfully fabulous, altruistic human being, it’s more like I feel compelled. A lot of my charity work is focused and based around HIV/Aids, it’s like something within me spurs me to do it. Probably because I watched - helplessly, really - as one of my best friends slipped away and died. I don’t want anybody else to go through that and I know people are going through that every single day of the week.
“But the thing with HIV, it is so unnecessary. There are measures, there are steps you can take to keep it at bay from your life, keep the risks a lot lower. And the fact that people are just so apathetic and blasé, you know? It really distresses me greatly ‘cause I’m like, you don’t want to see what I’ve seen. Some of the reactions people have to the antiretroviral drugs and when combinations stop working and there’s nothing more that can be done and that whole side of it.
"I’m like, if you knew what your life could be, you would be so careful. But people don’t, they just think ‘oh a couple of pills and I’ll be fine.’ Of course it’s not like that. So that drives me on, that thing it galvanises me to do as much as I can.” She is speaking very seriously and from the heart.
“I’d like to think I’m a nice girl but it’s more than just being a nice person, it’s something else. So yeah, and it’s so important to me. It’s almost as though the platform that I’ve been given and the greater good that it serves is the work I’m able to do.
“Is that all right?” she asks uncertainly, checking she hasn’t given a rubbish answer. Yes, of course it’s all right.
‘Music City Soul’ is Beverley’s fifth studio album and was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. According to fruit-munching Beverley, it’s a place of deep contrasts. “On the one hand, it’s this very right-wing, Republican, flag-waving – Confederate flag-waving – place, and everybody goes to church on a Sunday, and of course listens to good wholesome country music. On the other hand, it’s a musical hub of musicians and songwriters. A lot of those musicians are hard drinking and come from other cities. They were cooler than all of that and had cool stories to tell.
”I stood out like a sore thumb ‘cause I was English and black. You know what I mean, they were like ‘We don’t get this’,” she says and laughs. “’They have black people in England? Oh my God.’ It was just mad. But I really enjoyed it as well, I just found it somewhere that was bemusing at times.”
There’s so much musical heritage there, it must have been fascinating. “It really, really was. And you got things like the Grand Ole Opry where everybody in country music has been, and people who have done the country/soul crossover like Ray Charles and Al Green. It was a really interesting place to go to and had a lot of history of music there.”
Nashville is known as Music City, hence the name of the album. “It sums up a concept. I came to this album wanting to make a record that was utterly soulful, utterly stripped back, free of programming, you know, if the song speeds up naturally and slows down naturally who gives a damn. Organic in every way. And we achieved it so I’m thrilled and just the title ‘Music City Soul’, apart from having a great ring to it I think, sums up that. You know you get an idea of what you’re going to get.”
What tracks do you like best on it? Or is it too hard to choose? “It is difficult. ‘Black Butta’ is a key track which is a bit like ‘Nutbush City Limits’, it’s very up-tempo and great to perform live, everybody loves it. But then I have really enjoyed doing all the promotion where I’ve been singing. I’ve really enjoyed singing ‘No Man’s Land’ because it has this journey. It starts soft, gets very powerful then goes really quiet again. I really love that and there’s a lot in this album which lends itself to that. It’s so difficult to choose a favourite. It changes all the time.”
What was the last thing you bought? She lifts up her legs and points at her shoes before letting out joyful, almost demented laughter. They’re gorgeous yellow sandals on woven platform heels and they look oh so clean. “Big old wedges! Oh, I love them! They’re so comfy-rumfy, and inexpensive.” Yeah all these cork heels are back in at the moment and they’re so much nicer to walk in. “So nice. I like these kind of blocky heels and I never thought I’d like them. I was always like, oh God will they make my ankles look really skinny and funny. But they just look nice. Very happy with my purchase!”
They go well with your hairband, I see you co-ordinated well today. “I thought to myself, ‘Oh yellow wedges, I’ll put my yellow hairband on as well.’” She giggles.
Beverley recently supported Take That on their massive comeback tour across the UK. “I knew that would be in there!” I’m sorry. “No, it’s fine. My boys! My boys… isn’t it great what’s happening with them? It’s great and it’s wonderful and it’s unprecedented actually, I don’t know anybody who’s come back after ten years to such success.” There’s a definite Wolverhampton twang to her voice which becomes more pronounced when she says Jason’s name.
She was playing on every date on their tour and they’ve become good friends. “It was just wonderful because you don’t expect that on a tour. You go on the road, you do your thing and that’s that, thank you very much and you’re off. That was a nice bonus to have, and I couldn’t be more thrilled for them. And a great platform for me because obviously huge audiences.”
How did their fans take to you? “You know, it’s funny with us girls, because there are some girls that we just kind of don’t like and fold our arms, but I was very much one of the girls. They were excited and I was excited. I was treated really nicely. I don’t think there was any horrible… not that I’m aware of anyway! You know I’m sure if you look on some website there’ll be ‘Bitch Beverley, I hate her!’, you know something like that!”
This is what she looks like in Sainsbury’s... “Exactly. But as far as I know, it was like a camaraderie there which is great because that’s obviously what you go on the tour for.” You want it to be fun. “Yeah, you want people to warm to you and obviously discover your music that way, so it was a great opportunity for me. Really brilliant.”
Let’s finish off with a bit about Beverley's 2007 tour, which is a few months off yet. It’s a long tour, starting in October and going on through until early December. Beverley describes the tour as ‘magnificent’.“And my last show is on World Aids Day, so I’d like to do some kind of party or something which is a fundraiser as well. That would be really cool, I’m going to talk to someone about that,” she says thoughtfully.
“But I’m so excited about taking this album on the road. I’m playing a lot of places that I know really well and lots of venues that I’m very familiar with which is wonderful.” It also gives everyone time to listen to the album and learn the words. “That’s right. A new experience for me this time will be doing the Royal Albert Hall, which’ll be the first time I’ve done that place by myself. It’ll be incredible I’m sure. It’s going to be brilliant. God. What else is there to say? I don’t know!”
We have a quick chat about local rivalries – people in Wolverhampton and Birmingham tend not to visit each other’s cities for concerts, the same as Portsmouth/Southampton – and then I leave Beverley to prepare for a phone interview. I probably help brighten her day further when I unsuccessfully try to push and pull the glass door which only opens when you slide it. She’s still upbeat and cheerful despite the long hours of promotion. Most Baddest Entertainer indeed.
--------
Album 'Music City Soul' is released through Parlophone on May 7th
Website
MySpace
Gig Reviews - May 07 - The Pigeon Detectives
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in May 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
The Pigeon Detectives / Air Traffic / Cheap Hotel
@ Southampton University, 21st May 2007
It’s not very often I go to a gig and find two queues, one for the over 18s (wrinklies) and one for the under-18s (kiddies). It’s even rarer the kiddies seem to be outnumbering the wrinklies, but that’s what’s happening here. I’m feeling quite old and jaded. This crowd of youths are here for The Pigeon Detectives' rare jaunt to South Coast Central.
First on stage is Cheap Hotel. The girls in the band are carving out an image for themselves as snarling, pseudo-Sapphic types, but there’s a mix of styles. Anna Calvi strides around menacingly in her tight dress and stilettos, striking her battered guitar as if she couldn’t care, all the while scowling through red lips. Bassist Ulli Mattsson, who I think has glitter on her face, balances on one leg in her red jeans with her perfectly layered hair tossing around her know-all grin. The picture is completed by unsmiling Gregg Braden on drums, tossing his drumsticks to one side and putting up with the girls repeatedly bashing the cymbals with their guitars.
They play grungy, sexy blues rock and sound like they’ve improved considerably since I saw them a few months previously. It’s just their mix of dress styles and onstage personalities seem slightly at odds with each other. At the end, Anna simply throws her guitar onto the floor and walks off stage. Half the audience clap but the rest aren’t quite sure what’s going on. Everyone’s divided, but I find them enjoyable.
Air Traffic are next. They're from Bournemouth and supported Mr Hudson and The Library just the previous day in neighbouring Portsmouth, so they have plenty of fans in the screaming crowd. Interestingly, they look like McFly but their songs are more Keane/The Feeling, with even a dash of Queen. The guitars are pretty rocky and the piano is excellent. During one of their songs, the guitarists sling their instruments over their shoulders and start beating away on two large drums, with ‘proper drummer’ sitting like a lemon for half the track before joining in.
‘Charlotte’, ‘Never Even Told Me Her Name’ and ‘Shooting Star’ are amongst the poppy, piano-led tracks which are blasted out. Vocalist/pianist Chris Wall has earplugs in so he can't hear the girls screaming for him, which is just as well because it would have distracted him somewhat. Final track ‘Just Abuse Me’ is particularly mind-blowing. Air Traffic are very good, very good indeed, and their commercial sound suggests fame is just around the corner. They go down almost as well as the headliners, with the crowd clapping for some time after they’ve departed the stage.
It’s the last week of The Pigeon Detectives’ tour, which will culminate in a few sold out gigs at Leeds Town Hall at the weekend. They last played in Southampton in July at the Joiners during the summer heatwave which left everyone crammed in the tiny room sweating their bits off. Today’s venue is considerably larger and Southern crowds are generally less manic - although by the end, dripping with sweat, it’s not much cooler.
Two tracks into their rousing, energetic indie rock and there are already crowdsurfers. Songs tonight include latest b-side ‘Dick’ead’, ‘Can’t Control Myself’, singles ‘Romantic Type’, ‘You Know I Love You’ and ‘I Found Out’.
‘Caught In Your Trap’, the song which usually results in various frilly/giant panties being thrown at the stage, is instead received with a pair of socks, leading singer Matt Bowman to label Southampton the unsexiest city on this tour. ‘Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye’ is his cue to leap into the crowd and sing to a girl who was so excited she screamed loudly in his face.
The band don’t appear too tired despite having played first in Brighton and then up in Preston over the last few days. Everyone is energetic – sometimes a bit too much so, with Matt whacking Oli Main so hard with his mic the poor guitarist writhed around in agony and was seen later that night with a glass of ice pressed against his swollen hand. Bassist Dave Best and guitarist Ryan Wilson bob around on their side of the stage, with Dave occasionally sprinting for the mic and on one occasion missing it.
‘Left Alone’ and ‘Wait For Me’ are also given (reasonably) rare outings, and their raw rockiness is able to get the crowd singing along even if they haven’t heard the tracks before. Album track ‘Stop Or Go’ is also aired, with anyone singing the words being jokingly sworn at for downloading the album illegally.
The bouncers do their best to cool the crowd down by liberally spraying us with what looks like those things you use in your greenhouse to ward off bugs. It’s a fairly good idea and makes a change from a bottle of water being slopped down your top; however if you’re a glasses-wearer then you’re left squinting through a hazy mist, and as soon as it clears they come round again.
Single ‘I’m Not Sorry’, released today and possibly the only reason a few of the crowd bought tickets, gets the biggest cheers and pushing. It’s the final song, which lets the crowd and band give it their all. The Pigeon Detectives detractors claim they’re not doing anything different to the other lad-rock bands, but if it’s not broke why fix it?
It was a brilliant and lively night. Air Traffic are very expressive and the Pigeon Detectives are so full of laddish energy. All that remained was to wipe the sweat from my face, the water mist from my glasses, then it was time to go outside and cool down a bit. Things have got bigger and better for the Pigeons since they were last in Southampton, and they’re still on their way up.
Cheap Hotel
Air Traffic
The Pigeon Detectives
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in May 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
The Pigeon Detectives / Air Traffic / Cheap Hotel
@ Southampton University, 21st May 2007
It’s not very often I go to a gig and find two queues, one for the over 18s (wrinklies) and one for the under-18s (kiddies). It’s even rarer the kiddies seem to be outnumbering the wrinklies, but that’s what’s happening here. I’m feeling quite old and jaded. This crowd of youths are here for The Pigeon Detectives' rare jaunt to South Coast Central.
First on stage is Cheap Hotel. The girls in the band are carving out an image for themselves as snarling, pseudo-Sapphic types, but there’s a mix of styles. Anna Calvi strides around menacingly in her tight dress and stilettos, striking her battered guitar as if she couldn’t care, all the while scowling through red lips. Bassist Ulli Mattsson, who I think has glitter on her face, balances on one leg in her red jeans with her perfectly layered hair tossing around her know-all grin. The picture is completed by unsmiling Gregg Braden on drums, tossing his drumsticks to one side and putting up with the girls repeatedly bashing the cymbals with their guitars.
They play grungy, sexy blues rock and sound like they’ve improved considerably since I saw them a few months previously. It’s just their mix of dress styles and onstage personalities seem slightly at odds with each other. At the end, Anna simply throws her guitar onto the floor and walks off stage. Half the audience clap but the rest aren’t quite sure what’s going on. Everyone’s divided, but I find them enjoyable.
Air Traffic are next. They're from Bournemouth and supported Mr Hudson and The Library just the previous day in neighbouring Portsmouth, so they have plenty of fans in the screaming crowd. Interestingly, they look like McFly but their songs are more Keane/The Feeling, with even a dash of Queen. The guitars are pretty rocky and the piano is excellent. During one of their songs, the guitarists sling their instruments over their shoulders and start beating away on two large drums, with ‘proper drummer’ sitting like a lemon for half the track before joining in.
‘Charlotte’, ‘Never Even Told Me Her Name’ and ‘Shooting Star’ are amongst the poppy, piano-led tracks which are blasted out. Vocalist/pianist Chris Wall has earplugs in so he can't hear the girls screaming for him, which is just as well because it would have distracted him somewhat. Final track ‘Just Abuse Me’ is particularly mind-blowing. Air Traffic are very good, very good indeed, and their commercial sound suggests fame is just around the corner. They go down almost as well as the headliners, with the crowd clapping for some time after they’ve departed the stage.
It’s the last week of The Pigeon Detectives’ tour, which will culminate in a few sold out gigs at Leeds Town Hall at the weekend. They last played in Southampton in July at the Joiners during the summer heatwave which left everyone crammed in the tiny room sweating their bits off. Today’s venue is considerably larger and Southern crowds are generally less manic - although by the end, dripping with sweat, it’s not much cooler.
Two tracks into their rousing, energetic indie rock and there are already crowdsurfers. Songs tonight include latest b-side ‘Dick’ead’, ‘Can’t Control Myself’, singles ‘Romantic Type’, ‘You Know I Love You’ and ‘I Found Out’.
‘Caught In Your Trap’, the song which usually results in various frilly/giant panties being thrown at the stage, is instead received with a pair of socks, leading singer Matt Bowman to label Southampton the unsexiest city on this tour. ‘Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye’ is his cue to leap into the crowd and sing to a girl who was so excited she screamed loudly in his face.
The band don’t appear too tired despite having played first in Brighton and then up in Preston over the last few days. Everyone is energetic – sometimes a bit too much so, with Matt whacking Oli Main so hard with his mic the poor guitarist writhed around in agony and was seen later that night with a glass of ice pressed against his swollen hand. Bassist Dave Best and guitarist Ryan Wilson bob around on their side of the stage, with Dave occasionally sprinting for the mic and on one occasion missing it.
‘Left Alone’ and ‘Wait For Me’ are also given (reasonably) rare outings, and their raw rockiness is able to get the crowd singing along even if they haven’t heard the tracks before. Album track ‘Stop Or Go’ is also aired, with anyone singing the words being jokingly sworn at for downloading the album illegally.
The bouncers do their best to cool the crowd down by liberally spraying us with what looks like those things you use in your greenhouse to ward off bugs. It’s a fairly good idea and makes a change from a bottle of water being slopped down your top; however if you’re a glasses-wearer then you’re left squinting through a hazy mist, and as soon as it clears they come round again.
Single ‘I’m Not Sorry’, released today and possibly the only reason a few of the crowd bought tickets, gets the biggest cheers and pushing. It’s the final song, which lets the crowd and band give it their all. The Pigeon Detectives detractors claim they’re not doing anything different to the other lad-rock bands, but if it’s not broke why fix it?
It was a brilliant and lively night. Air Traffic are very expressive and the Pigeon Detectives are so full of laddish energy. All that remained was to wipe the sweat from my face, the water mist from my glasses, then it was time to go outside and cool down a bit. Things have got bigger and better for the Pigeons since they were last in Southampton, and they’re still on their way up.
Cheap Hotel
Air Traffic
The Pigeon Detectives
Gig Reviews - May 07 - Best of Portsmouth, Duke Special
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in May 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
WiserVice / Emptifish / Autons /Carmen Rosa / The Aviators
@ Portsmouth Guildhall, 12th May 2007
I have to confess that despite being very much a Southerner, I don’t know a lot about the local music scene. My iPod has a Northern accent. I have been known to travel to Leeds and Sheffield to see bands. I refuse Yorkshire Tea though, on the grounds that it's not very nice. Er, anyway, these 'Best Of' showcases are a great idea to bring attention to a few of the overlooked bands in the area. Five bands for about eight quid; not bad, not bad at all.
The Aviators sound like a mix of the Stereophonics, the Hollies and Oasis, but with much more life and energy to them. They suggest starting a mosh pit with just two men in the middle punching each other, before the singer realises they’re waffling and sheepishly announces “I’m going to shut up now.” Their songs have long, rock star endings which make everyone clap, thinking it’s finished, then they continue for a few more bars, making the audience look embarrassed. A solid start to the night.
Next is Carmen Rosa. Despite the slightly feminine name, this band is All Man. (Like All Bran, but with less fibre and more nuts). My first impression was that they were an even mellower Dodgy. The band appears too cool to move much and the lead singer is all in white and looks like an icicle. It’s laidback with occasional swirls of psychedelia. You could imagine lying on your lawn in the summer and listening to this. However it did occasionally turn into experimental sounding jams which tend to be fun for the musicians but a little hard going for the audience.
The music between bands is your typical commercial indie disco, which tonight includes Bloc Party ‘Helicopter’, The Maccabees ‘First Love’ and even some, er, Razorlight, which suggests the organisers are trying to appeal to the guitar music fans of all ages rather than just your indie cindies.
The next band is introduced as the greatest band in the world ever, which is enough to make you grit your teeth and aim your plastic cup at the stage. Autons have had a track as runner up on John Peel’s Festive Fifty, which instantly sends their street cred rocketing. It’s a change of direction from the guitar-based bands, with electro fun sometimes delving into techno and teetering on the brink of the Doctor Who theme tune but without becoming too embarrassingly nerdy. The keyboardist on the far right is moving like the Young Knives’ House of Lords after an overdose of Sunny Delight. Very entertaining, and they’ve become my new favourite Southern band for their different performance and style.
Emptifish weren’t quite what I was expecting. The crowd was at its largest, with some people having travelled all the way from the Isle of Wight (I say ‘all the way’; it’s about 15 minutes on the ferry actually) to see them. It turns out the band are something of a local establishment, having been going for some 20 years, and another lot laying claim to being the greatest band in the world ever, which I wish people would stop doing.
They play punky bluesy tunes, with everyone sharply dressed in suits and wearing shades, suggesting one of them watched ‘The Blues Brothers’ one too many times. They have a classic style and a calm, mature stage presence. A few members of the crowd keep jumping up on stage to dance, although by the looks of things they once watched the band play in the late 1980s and this is the first time they’ve danced since. Even some of the band’s kids get on stage to dance. It all looks like one big happy gathering of friends, but I feel a stranger and univited to the party. Cool music though.
The last band on are WiserVice, and the crowd has completely dissipated. The singer admits it’s not unexpected. I thought it was a slightly odd stage order; if Emptifish are so popular why put them on halfway through the night? Singer Ochs lopes around the stage, rapping and singing to the smooth reggae-ish tones of the band. It’s actually quite soft and a good wind down act. The singer says ‘bodacious’ which made me think he’s not quite as cool as he believes he is, but he had good stage presence despite limiting himself to a centre circle so he didn’t trip over the wires like usual. They sound influenced by the hip hop of the Beastie Boys, with plenty of vinyl scratching (nooo!) yet smooth vocals.
All in all it was a pretty good night for Portsmouth bands, and although I don’t think my iPod will lose its Northern twang it’s reassuring to know there is some decent talent in the area.
WiserVice
Emptifish
Autons
Carmen Rosa
The Aviators
Portsmouth Scene Promotions
-----
Duke Special / Beth Rowley
@ The Brook, Southampton, 11th May 2007
Every city has those venues which people dread because there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to park. I’ve managed to somehow park up a steep side road near The Brook in Southampton and am splashing through surprisingly cold puddles as I stalk towards the venue, all the time worrying whether my handbrake is on properly or if I’ll return to find my car taking refuge from the weather in the chip shop at the bottom of the hill.
Duke Special is on tonight at The Brook. The venue is curious in the crowd it attracts; half youthful (and loud) students and half mature couples in sensible cardigans.
Support tonight is from the charming Beth Rowley, a thin wisp of a singer whose curly hair looks almost enough to unbalance her and send her tumbling from the stage. She’s backed by two large gospel singers, and together they perform graceful soul harmonies.
Occasionally Rowley converses with saxophonist Ben Castle, him playing certain notes and her singing them back. The girls sometimes start clapping along and it looks like they’re hoping the crowd will join in, but sadly they thought wrong. One particular line ‘I can’t get enough of my cloud’ seems to stick in my head above anything else. The music is beautiful and Rowley has a perfect voice, but I'm not sure I can seem them playing bigger gigs in the near future because they seem too well-suited for intimate venues.
In between acts, it’s time for me to perform the one-handed coat strip. As a lone gig-goer I have to juggle my drink, bag, coat and phone, slopping lemonade all over the floor in the process, but thankfully missing my feet.
Duke Special and band take to the stage one by one, many of them clad in almost Libertine and funereal black jackets. Frontman Peter Wilson has his dreadlocks tied messily away from his face and takes his spot at the piano, repeating ‘This happiness is out of control’ as he gazes up to the balcony with black-ringed eyes.
He’s got a good sense of humour which the crowd warms to. “I see from the pictures and the vibe that Steven Seagal played here recently?” he says and asks if anyone was there. No-one admits to it. “That was a shame,” he says with a grin. Comments regarding the departure of Northern Ireland’s football coach aren't so well-received. Wilson is a fantastic songwriter with every tune sounding from the heart and truthful. Each song is a story in different chapters with a curiously retro sound, helped along by instruments such as the accordion, timpani and clarinet. There’s a stool draped in velvet, which gives a slightly old-fashioned feel. Various musicians and Rowley come on and off for each song. A revolving door may have been a good idea.
The drummer seems to be mentally on a slightly different plane to everyone else. He plays too fast by accident then does it again on purpose. “I bet Steven Seagal didn’t have to put up with this!” says Wilson as they try to start again.
Songs tonight include ‘Portrait’, ‘Ballad Of A Broken Man’, ‘Slip Of A Girl’, ‘Everybody Wants A Little Something’, ‘Brixton Leaves’, a delicate version of ‘Freewheel’, and a rousing ‘Last Night I Nearly Died’. They're sweet and heartfelt, leaving the audience spellbound in silence. Steven Seagal makes the odd guest appearance in lyrics, and the final song leaves the band and the audience in stitches as the drummer takes centre stage armed with a whisk and a cheese grater. He then brings out a bizarre instrument made from kitchen implements which he strikes with a spoon, looking like he's about to fall off stage.
There are two encores – people just won’t let them stop. During one of them, Wilson has his eyes half closed as he reaches for the notes when an over-excited audience member cheers. He stops playing in a fit of giggles. The drummer could possibly do with some minor sedatives and being tied to his stool for the duration of the gig, but everyone was laughing away and no-one was embarrassed by his flamboyant behaviour. The humour towards the end sent spirits high and put everyone in a good mood for the drive home.
The songs are poetic and I could quite happily sit and read the lyrics. They are beautifully meaningful rather than throwaway. From the response the crowd gave, I would say Duke Special is welcome back whenever he likes.
Duke Special
Beth Rowley
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in May 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
WiserVice / Emptifish / Autons /Carmen Rosa / The Aviators
@ Portsmouth Guildhall, 12th May 2007
I have to confess that despite being very much a Southerner, I don’t know a lot about the local music scene. My iPod has a Northern accent. I have been known to travel to Leeds and Sheffield to see bands. I refuse Yorkshire Tea though, on the grounds that it's not very nice. Er, anyway, these 'Best Of' showcases are a great idea to bring attention to a few of the overlooked bands in the area. Five bands for about eight quid; not bad, not bad at all.
The Aviators sound like a mix of the Stereophonics, the Hollies and Oasis, but with much more life and energy to them. They suggest starting a mosh pit with just two men in the middle punching each other, before the singer realises they’re waffling and sheepishly announces “I’m going to shut up now.” Their songs have long, rock star endings which make everyone clap, thinking it’s finished, then they continue for a few more bars, making the audience look embarrassed. A solid start to the night.
Next is Carmen Rosa. Despite the slightly feminine name, this band is All Man. (Like All Bran, but with less fibre and more nuts). My first impression was that they were an even mellower Dodgy. The band appears too cool to move much and the lead singer is all in white and looks like an icicle. It’s laidback with occasional swirls of psychedelia. You could imagine lying on your lawn in the summer and listening to this. However it did occasionally turn into experimental sounding jams which tend to be fun for the musicians but a little hard going for the audience.
The music between bands is your typical commercial indie disco, which tonight includes Bloc Party ‘Helicopter’, The Maccabees ‘First Love’ and even some, er, Razorlight, which suggests the organisers are trying to appeal to the guitar music fans of all ages rather than just your indie cindies.
The next band is introduced as the greatest band in the world ever, which is enough to make you grit your teeth and aim your plastic cup at the stage. Autons have had a track as runner up on John Peel’s Festive Fifty, which instantly sends their street cred rocketing. It’s a change of direction from the guitar-based bands, with electro fun sometimes delving into techno and teetering on the brink of the Doctor Who theme tune but without becoming too embarrassingly nerdy. The keyboardist on the far right is moving like the Young Knives’ House of Lords after an overdose of Sunny Delight. Very entertaining, and they’ve become my new favourite Southern band for their different performance and style.
Emptifish weren’t quite what I was expecting. The crowd was at its largest, with some people having travelled all the way from the Isle of Wight (I say ‘all the way’; it’s about 15 minutes on the ferry actually) to see them. It turns out the band are something of a local establishment, having been going for some 20 years, and another lot laying claim to being the greatest band in the world ever, which I wish people would stop doing.
They play punky bluesy tunes, with everyone sharply dressed in suits and wearing shades, suggesting one of them watched ‘The Blues Brothers’ one too many times. They have a classic style and a calm, mature stage presence. A few members of the crowd keep jumping up on stage to dance, although by the looks of things they once watched the band play in the late 1980s and this is the first time they’ve danced since. Even some of the band’s kids get on stage to dance. It all looks like one big happy gathering of friends, but I feel a stranger and univited to the party. Cool music though.
The last band on are WiserVice, and the crowd has completely dissipated. The singer admits it’s not unexpected. I thought it was a slightly odd stage order; if Emptifish are so popular why put them on halfway through the night? Singer Ochs lopes around the stage, rapping and singing to the smooth reggae-ish tones of the band. It’s actually quite soft and a good wind down act. The singer says ‘bodacious’ which made me think he’s not quite as cool as he believes he is, but he had good stage presence despite limiting himself to a centre circle so he didn’t trip over the wires like usual. They sound influenced by the hip hop of the Beastie Boys, with plenty of vinyl scratching (nooo!) yet smooth vocals.
All in all it was a pretty good night for Portsmouth bands, and although I don’t think my iPod will lose its Northern twang it’s reassuring to know there is some decent talent in the area.
WiserVice
Emptifish
Autons
Carmen Rosa
The Aviators
Portsmouth Scene Promotions
-----
Duke Special / Beth Rowley
@ The Brook, Southampton, 11th May 2007
Every city has those venues which people dread because there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to park. I’ve managed to somehow park up a steep side road near The Brook in Southampton and am splashing through surprisingly cold puddles as I stalk towards the venue, all the time worrying whether my handbrake is on properly or if I’ll return to find my car taking refuge from the weather in the chip shop at the bottom of the hill.
Duke Special is on tonight at The Brook. The venue is curious in the crowd it attracts; half youthful (and loud) students and half mature couples in sensible cardigans.
Support tonight is from the charming Beth Rowley, a thin wisp of a singer whose curly hair looks almost enough to unbalance her and send her tumbling from the stage. She’s backed by two large gospel singers, and together they perform graceful soul harmonies.
Occasionally Rowley converses with saxophonist Ben Castle, him playing certain notes and her singing them back. The girls sometimes start clapping along and it looks like they’re hoping the crowd will join in, but sadly they thought wrong. One particular line ‘I can’t get enough of my cloud’ seems to stick in my head above anything else. The music is beautiful and Rowley has a perfect voice, but I'm not sure I can seem them playing bigger gigs in the near future because they seem too well-suited for intimate venues.
In between acts, it’s time for me to perform the one-handed coat strip. As a lone gig-goer I have to juggle my drink, bag, coat and phone, slopping lemonade all over the floor in the process, but thankfully missing my feet.
Duke Special and band take to the stage one by one, many of them clad in almost Libertine and funereal black jackets. Frontman Peter Wilson has his dreadlocks tied messily away from his face and takes his spot at the piano, repeating ‘This happiness is out of control’ as he gazes up to the balcony with black-ringed eyes.
He’s got a good sense of humour which the crowd warms to. “I see from the pictures and the vibe that Steven Seagal played here recently?” he says and asks if anyone was there. No-one admits to it. “That was a shame,” he says with a grin. Comments regarding the departure of Northern Ireland’s football coach aren't so well-received. Wilson is a fantastic songwriter with every tune sounding from the heart and truthful. Each song is a story in different chapters with a curiously retro sound, helped along by instruments such as the accordion, timpani and clarinet. There’s a stool draped in velvet, which gives a slightly old-fashioned feel. Various musicians and Rowley come on and off for each song. A revolving door may have been a good idea.
The drummer seems to be mentally on a slightly different plane to everyone else. He plays too fast by accident then does it again on purpose. “I bet Steven Seagal didn’t have to put up with this!” says Wilson as they try to start again.
Songs tonight include ‘Portrait’, ‘Ballad Of A Broken Man’, ‘Slip Of A Girl’, ‘Everybody Wants A Little Something’, ‘Brixton Leaves’, a delicate version of ‘Freewheel’, and a rousing ‘Last Night I Nearly Died’. They're sweet and heartfelt, leaving the audience spellbound in silence. Steven Seagal makes the odd guest appearance in lyrics, and the final song leaves the band and the audience in stitches as the drummer takes centre stage armed with a whisk and a cheese grater. He then brings out a bizarre instrument made from kitchen implements which he strikes with a spoon, looking like he's about to fall off stage.
There are two encores – people just won’t let them stop. During one of them, Wilson has his eyes half closed as he reaches for the notes when an over-excited audience member cheers. He stops playing in a fit of giggles. The drummer could possibly do with some minor sedatives and being tied to his stool for the duration of the gig, but everyone was laughing away and no-one was embarrassed by his flamboyant behaviour. The humour towards the end sent spirits high and put everyone in a good mood for the drive home.
The songs are poetic and I could quite happily sit and read the lyrics. They are beautifully meaningful rather than throwaway. From the response the crowd gave, I would say Duke Special is welcome back whenever he likes.
Duke Special
Beth Rowley
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