Brum Notes Magazine - November 2013

1November 2013

www.brumnotes.com free

November 2013

music and lifestyle for the west midlands

ALSO: An evening at the movies with Josie Long / Looking back on OxjamBrum 2013 / Win tickets to Clothes Show Live and Vampire Weekend live in Birmingham / Style tips to get you ready for winter / Your complete guide to what’s on this month

INSIDE:

Adventures in sound with All Years LeavingPlus: Frightened Rabbit / Kodaline / Stornoway Crystal Fighters / Skaters and more…

FLEXXIN THEIR MUSCLES AT BIRMINGHAM’S NEWEST MUSIC FESTIVAL

2 Brum Notes Magazine

16-18 Horsefair, Bristol St, Birmingham, B1 1DBDoors 7.00pm unless stated • Venue box office opening hours:

Mon-Fri 12pm-4pm, Sat 11am-4pm • No booking fee on cash transactions

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

10.30pm-3.30am • £4 advOver 18s only - Proof of age requiredThurs 31st Oct • £4 advPropaganda Halloween SpooktacularFri 8th Nov • £4 adv10.30pm - 3am • over 18s only

Kodaline DJ Set @ Propaganda Tues 31st Dec • £10 adv / £20 VIP9pm - 4am • over 18s only

Propaganda PrehistoricNew Years Eve Party

Fri 1st Nov • £12.50 adv6.30pm - 10pm

36crazyfists + Armed For Apocalypse + Thera

Fri 1st Nov • £17.50 adv6.30pm - 10pmSat 2nd Nov • £17.50 adv7pm - 11pm

Bring Me The Horizon + Pierce The Veil + Sights & Sounds

Sat 2nd Nov • £20 adv6.30pm - 11pm

Peter Hook and the Light Performing New Order’s “Movement” & “Power, Corruption and Lies” Live + Slaves Of Venus

Sun 3rd Nov Bastille Mon 4th Nov • £17.50 advThe Toy Dolls Weds 6th Nov • £24 advThe Boomtown Rats + Patrik Fitzgerald

Thurs 7th Nov • £10.50 advDeep Vally Sat 9th Nov • £10 adv6pm - 11pm

Ones To Watch ft. Electrik Custard, Dubcherry, Illume, Pacific, Left Below, Fake Obsession, Methodemic, Art.Is.Fiction & Kontrast

Sun 10th Nov Jake Bugg Tues 12th Nov • £18.50 advDefenders of the Faith ft. Amon Amarth Weds 13th Nov • £27.50 adv 6.30pm - 11pm

Alice In Chains + Ghost + Walking Papers

Thurs 14th Nov • £15 adv6.30pm - 11pm

Escape The Fate & Chiodos The Road to Warped Tour + The Color Morale + Cytota

Sat 16th Nov • £20 advEditors + British Sea Power

Sat 16th Nov • £9 adv[spunge] Tues 19th Nov • £22.50 advScouting For Girls Weds 20th Nov • £8.50 advThe Temperance Movement + Joshua James & Samuel Taylor

Thurs 21st Nov • £20 adv (seated)Stephen Lynch Live Fri 22nd Nov 6pm - 10pm

Imagine Dragons + Dan Croll

Sat 23rd Nov • £20 advNedstock 2013 ft. Ned’s Atomic Dustbin + Cud + Republica + DJ set from Steve Lamacq

Sat 23rd Nov • £11 adv Rescheduled show & time • original tickets valid7pm - 11pm

The Complete Stone Roses Tues 26th Nov • £22.50 advThe Lumineers Weds 27th Nov Disclosure Sat 30th Nov • £28.50 / £50 VIPHoward Jones 30th Anniversary Concert

Sat 30th Nov • £12 advMy Life Story 20th Year Celebrations 1993-2013

Sun 1st Dec • £11 advThe Doors Alive Mon 2nd Dec • £14.50 advFlux Pavilion + Datsik

Mon 2nd Dec • £10 advThe Word Alive + I See Stars + DayShell

Tues 3rd Dec • £20 advPapa Roach + Middle Class Rut + American Fangs

Tues 3rd Dec • £12 advElectric Six + Only The Good

Thurs 5th Dec • £25 adv Basement Jaxx

Fri 6th Dec • £28 adv 6.30pm - 10pm

Happy Mondays“Bummed” 25th Anniversary Tour + The Sunshine Underground + Sulk

Sat 7th Dec Courteeners Sun 8th Dec • £13.50 advThe View Sun 8th Dec • £29.50 advMon 9th Dec • £29.50 advJ. Cole Thurs 12th Dec Placebo + Toy


Peace + Drenge + Superfood

Sat 14th Dec • £25 adv Ocean Colour SceneMarchin’ Already Tour

Tues 17th Dec • £26 advRevelations: The Mission & Fields Of The NephilimWeds 18th Dec Tenacious DThurs 19th Dec • £25 advKim Wilde’s Christmas Partywith special guest Nik Kershaw

Sat 21st Dec • £22.50 advSleigh The UK 2013:The Wonder StuffPop Will Eat ItselfJesus JonesSun 12th Jan 14 • £17.50 advIced EarthWeds 15th Jan 14 • £8 advHannah TrigwellFri 17th Jan 14 • £19.50 adv6.30pm - 10pm

Lamb Of God + Decapitated

Fri 24th Jan 14 • £12.50 adv6pm - 10pm

Megan Nicole

Thurs 30th Jan 14 • £25 advCity and Colour

Fri 31st Jan 14 • £12 adv6pm - 10pm

August Burns Red+ Being As An Ocean

Sun 2nd Feb 14 • £12 advProtest The Hero+ TesseracT + The Safety Fire + Intervals

Thurs 6th Feb 14 • £20 advKillswitch Engage & Trivium

FOR COMPLETE LISTINGS PLEASE CHECK OUR WEBSITE

Fri 1st Nov • £7 adv6pm - 10pm

Kobra & The Lotus+ Santa Cruz

Sat 2nd Nov • £10 advUK Foo FightersThe No.1 Foo Fighters Tribute

Mon 4th Nov • £9 advRobbie BoydTues 5th Nov • £8.50 adv / £25 VIP 6pm - 10pm

Cover Drive+ Jade Ellis + Paighton

Weds 6th Nov • £10 advRescheduled show • original tickets valid

Young KnivesFri 8th Nov • £12 adv 6.30pm - 10pm

Absolute BowieSat 9th Nov • £5 adv Under Blackened Skies+ Malandra + Sirens + Husk + Urgize

Tues 12th Nov • £7 adv Natives

Mon 18th Nov • £6 adv Man Without Country

Weds 20th Nov • £5 adv We Have The Tonics+ The Capulet’s + Jody Capper + Lost At Home

Thurs 21st Nov • £10 adv Go Kart Mozart

Sun 24th Nov • £9 adv Akala

Sun 1st Dec • £10 adv Toby Jepson

Weds 4th Dec • £10 adv The Hoosiers

Mon 9th Dec • £7 adv Paighton

Tues 10th Dec • £6 adv Under The Influence

Weds 11th Dec • £6 adv Max Raptor & Attention Thieves


U.K. SubsSun 15th Dec • Tickets FREE from stakeoutofficial.co.uk 6pm - 10pm

StakeOut Christmas PartySun 22nd Dec • £5 adv Dirty Little Lies+ Spacement Apes + Music Like Lemons + Laughing Gravy + Mikey Marks

Mon 23rd Dec • £10 adv Dionne Bromfield Thurs 23rd Jan 14 • £10 adv Lindi Ortega+ Tom Hickox

Sun 25th Jan 14 • £5 adv WolveXhys+ Terraform + Sexwolf! + East of Arizona + Emursia

Fri 7th Feb 14 • £10 adv 6.30pm - 10pm

CashPayin’ Respect to the Man in Black

3November 2013

m e t r o p o l i s m u s i c p r e s e n t

TO U R A N N O U N C E M E N TS & P R I O R I T Y B O O K I N GS • F I N D U S O N

THU 05 DECEMBER • O2 ACADEMY BIRMINGHAM0844 477 2000 | 0844 811 0051 | gigsandtours.com

basementjaxx.com A Metropolis Music presentation by arrangement with Primary Talent International

Clean Bandit+ guests

PLUS GUESTSFRIDAY 21 MARCH

O2 ACADEMYBIRMINGHAM

0844 477 2000 / 0844 811 0051 GIGSANDTOURS.COM

THE NEW ALBUM ‘RIGHT THOUGHTS, RIGHT WORDS, RIGHT ACTION’ OUT NOW

FRANZFERDINAND.COM

A METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH CAA

Plus Guests

Tuesday 13 MayBIRMINGHAM INSTITUTE

0844 248 5037 | 0844 811 0051 | GIGSANDTOURS.COMJAGWARMA.COM

A METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH ITB

PLUS GUESTS

PJ MORTON

WEDNESDAY 8TH JANUARYBIRMINGHAM LG ARENATHETICKETFACTORY.COM GIGSANDTOURS.COM 0844 338 8000

MAROON5.COM TWITTER.COM/MAROON5A METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH ITB

SATURDAY 5TH APRILBIRMINGHAM LG ARENA

theticketfactory.co.uk | gigsandtours.com | ticketmaster.co.uk

New Album out March 10th 2014 plus ‘Live At Jodrell Bank’ DVD at elbow.co.uk

A Metropolis Music presentation by arrangement with X-ray

plus special guest

“We Need Medicine” Tour

TUESDAY 26 NOVEMBER WOLVERHAMPTON WULFRUN HALL AEGLIVE.CO.UK | AXS.COMNew album “We Need Medicine” out nowAn AEG Live & Metropolis Music presentation by arrangement with ITB

SUN 17 NOVEMBER | BIRMINGHAM INSTITUTE0844 248 5037 | GIGSANDTOURS.COM | 0844 811 0051

A METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH X-RAY

blueoctober.com /blueoctober @blueoctober

Thursday 20 February 02 Academy Birmingham

STUDIO ZOO TOUR

0844 477 2000 | 0844 811 0051 | GIGSANDTOURS.COM New album ‘Studio Zoo’ out now on CD/Deluxe CD/Download A Metropolis Music presentation by arrangement with CAA

5November 2013

CONTENTS

Regulars

News 6-7

Competitions 8

Fresh Talent 10-11

Live Reviews 33-37

Style 38-39

Food & Drink 40-41

What’s On Guide 43-46

Music and Features

Comedy: Josie Long 12

Frightened Rabbit 14-15

Skaters 16

Kodaline 18-19

Crystal Fighters 22-23

Dutch Uncles 24-25

Preview: All Years Leaving festival 26

Stornoway 28-29

All content © Brum Notes Magazine. Views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Brum Notes Magazine. While all care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of content, Brum Notes Magazine will not be held liable for any errors or losses claimed to have been incurred by any errors. Advertising terms and conditions available on request.

Goodnight Lenin unveil their own brand ale at their latest gig. Read the review on P34. Photo by Wayne Fox.

Brum Notes Magazine Unit 12 The Bond 180-182 Fazeley Street DigbethBirminghamB5 [email protected] 0121 224 7363 Advertising0121 224 7363 [email protected]! 0121 224 7364

Editor: Chris MoriartyContributorsWords: Tom Pell, David Vincent, Amy Sumner, Daron Billings, Dan Cooper-Gavin, Lyle BignonNew Music Editor: Amy Sumner Food & Drink Editor: Daron BillingsPictures: Katja Ogrin, Ian Dunn, Wayne Fox, Sinéad O’Callaghan, Jonathan Melhuish, Roy Pledger, Richard BattyeStyle editor: Jade [email protected] Design: Adam Williams, Andy Aitken, Charlotte Audrey Owen-Meehan

ConnectTwitter: @BrumNotesMagFacebook: www.facebook.com/BrumNotesMagazineOnline: www.brumnotes.com


Oxjambrum 2013 raiSES rECOrd Sum wiTh TakEOvEr fESTivalThe OxjamBrum Takeover Festival 2013 raised more than £10,000 for life-saving Oxfam projects around the world, organisers have revealed. The annual festival, now in its fifth year, took place in October and featured more than 50 local bands and artists across seven city centre venues. Among those performing were ska collective Tempting Rosie, folkies Boat to Row, Black Country metallers God Damn and alt pop combo Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam.Takeover co-manager James Hewson said: “Despite the typical rainy festival weather, this year’s OxjamBrum raised a record amount of money since its inception five years ago, with about a thousand people turning up to enjoy the day.“Birmingham has a wealth of musical talent and we were fortunate to have such a great range of bands and artists on the line-up this year.”Turn to P34 to read our review of the day. Donate at www.oxjambrum.org.uk.

lEgENdary birmiNgham NighTClub SNObS TO mOvE TO NEw CiTy hOmE Birmingham’s oldest nightclub has announced plans to relocate to a new home.Legendary indie nightspot Snobs, currently based at Paradise Circus, will move to the spot previously occupied by the short-lived rock club Vudu on the corner of Smallbrook Queensway and Hurst Street. Vudu closed in early 2012 after less than a year in business and the premises has remained vacant since.Snobs’ present site will be transformed into a hotel, apartment and restaurant complex as part of a £16m revamp.A statement from the club said: “With the building that has been our home for 41 years becoming a hotel we explored all possible avenues to stay, including the idea of soundproofing. In the end we have decided that a relocation is the best possible way to secure the future of Snobs.”Owners stressed that despite plans to double the present capacity to 1,400, it’ll be very

much business as usual.“Fear not, it will be the same music, the same prices and the same atmosphere. We will be taking all the hallmarks of Snobs with us including some of the decor.”The regular nights – specialising in indie, rock’n’roll, electro, funk and alt pop – will continue uninterrupted.“We would like to make it abundantly clear that we are going nowhere until April 2014 and that there will be no interruption to business. We will be open as normal every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday until the move.”For more information, see Facebook.com/snobsnightclub.

aNNivErSary CElEbraTiONS fOr TwO midlaNdS arT gallEriESThe New Art Gallery Walsall will celebrate the Ruby Anniversary of the Garman Ryan Collection’s first public display in the town. Back To Front: 40 Permanent Collection Gems (Nov 16, 2013–Nov 16, 2014) features work by Richard Billingham, Peter Blake, Jock McFadyen, Dayanita Singh, Huang Xu and David Shrigley.The Garman Ryan Collection was created by Lady Kathleen Ryan, wife of the artist Jacob Epstein, and sculptor Sally Ryan, and was donated to the borough in 1973, before going on show the following year.Meanwhile, the Ikon Gallery will be hosting a series of special exhibitions and activities next year to mark its Golden Jubilee. Beginning life in a small kiosk in the old Bullring shopping centre in 1964, the gallery visited Pallasades and John Bright Street before settling in Brindleyplace in 1998. Among the planned events are the returns of five key artists from the last five decades and Ikon 1980s, a dip into the era of Postmodernism. Visit www.thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk | www.ikon-gallery.org.

SChOOlS OuT fOr livE albumCritically acclaimed cinematic folk com-bo The Old Dance School are recording their next album live, at The Glee Club in Birmingham.

“We’ve done three albums now, with great production in great studios - they’re quite polished as we work on the fine details,” said Moseley-based guitarist/vocalist Robin Beatty, fresh from a successful summer of UK festivals and a mini-tour of Scandinavia.“The band’s constantly changing. We do two tours a year, and it feels like the sound changes very fast, so it’ll be good to capture this transitory period before the next studio album in the summer.”

The yet-to-be-titled live collection, set to fea-ture versions of previously recorded tracks from the past six years alongside new num-bers, will be released in the new year, with everyone who attends the show getting a free copy.“It’s only fair, maybe they’ll clap louder,” Rob-in added.

The Old Dance School are live at The Glee Club Birmingham on December 3. P

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7November 2013

fiNal SwaN SONg aNNOuNCEd fOr wEST brOmwiCh arTS CENTrE ThE publiCWest Bromwich’s ill-fated arts centre, The Public, marks its final days with a Celebra-tion Week taking place this month. Highlights of the free programme, which aims to acknowledge “the people who have made the Black Country venue such a vibrant and valuable community hub”, include a day of acoustic acts, spoken word and comedy, and a rock-flavoured night courtesy of promot-ers Judegstock and Now We Are, starring Crazy Horses, Shana Tova, Vault Of Eagles and Jade And JP (November 15). The Public Scrapbook (on now) sees artists responding to the venue, while Black Country Touring/The Rep’s Eat! explores personal accounts of what, when and why we eat (Nov 12-15). The doors finally close on Saturday November 16 with a day featuring local musicians, dance groups and theatre performers, including The Busby Babes. The building is due to re-open in September 2014 as a sixth form college.Celebration Week runs from November 11–16. Visit www.thepublic.com for more information.

iN briEf

Adam’s Restaurant has become the latest Birmingham restaurant to win a coveted Michelin star. Head chef Adam Stokes now joins the likes of chefs Glynn Purnell (Purnell’s), Richard Turner (Turner’s) and Luke Tipping (Simpsons) in helping to make Birmingham the most starred UK city outside of London. Adam’s 25-seater Bennetts Hill venue only opened in the spring, and offers set five and nine course taster menus priced £45 and £75, as well as a lunch menu.

The Vine in West Bromwich has scooped a national award for its famous curries. The family-run pub, situated on Roebuck Street and featuring an indoor BBQ, prides itself on its chicken tikka. It has been named Curry Pub of the Year in the National Curry Week Awards.

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SEvEN big hiTTiNg ElECTrONiC muSiC NighTS aNNOuNCEd Electronic music specialists Ec-lectricity and festival and clubbing super-brand GlobalGathering have announced a series of seven big hitting shows. The autumn/winter season of club nights will take place at Digbeth’s The Institute under the banner of Seven: After Dark Electronic Series.

The run kicks off on November 2 with Part One featuring drum’n’bass guru DJ Fresh, the man credited as grabbing the UK’s first dubstep chart-topper, Louder, back in 2011.He’s followed by Radio 1 DJ and talent spotter Annie Mac (pictured) on November 16, whose Annie Mac Presents (AMP) show features live performances by Need U (100%)’s Duke Dumont, Cyril Hahn and “Newcastle soul girl” Lulu James.The latest instalment of Annie’s AMP compilation series, the fifth, is the first to be released in the US and Australia, and mixes tracks by Chase and Status, Rudimental, London Grammar and A$AP Rocky.Laidback Luke, recently seen collaborating with the likes of Martin Solveig and remixing tracks for Calvin Harris and Robin Thicke (Blurred Lines) takes to the stage on November 29, with 90s Big Beat legend Fatboy Slim arriving on December 6 for with his Eat Sleep Rave Repeat tour show. Part Six sees a rare outing for Nicky Romero (Dec 20), plus Don Diablo, Audiofun and PROJ3CT, and the series concludes with a yet-to-be-announced New Year’s Eve spectacular (Dec 31).

For more details visit www.globalgathering.com or www.facebook.com/Eclectricity.

ChriSTmaS COmES Early aS markET rETurNS TO CiTyBirmingham’s famous Frankfurt Christmas Market returns to take over the city centre once again from this month. The annual festive extravaganza, alongside the accompanying Craft Market, runs from November 14 to December 22. Open daily from 10am–9pm, expect the usual array of hand-made crafts, toys, bags, instruments, cosmetics from around the region and the world, plus artisan food and tipples from micro and independent breweries, including crepes, mulled wine, pretzels and sausages. Expect the singing reindeer to be in full voice too. Nearly 200 stalls will fill Victoria, Centenary and Chamberlain Squares, and New Street.Visit www.facebook.com/BhamChristmasMarket for more info.


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Clothes Show Live celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, with the 2013 instalment featuring over 500 leading fashion and beauty brands, catwalk shows, celebrities, bars, and inspirational fashion demonstrations. Take your seat in the Alcatel One Touch Fashion Theatre, hosted by Henry Holland, and watch more than 40 models and dancers showcase the latest high-street, designer, boutique and couture fashion collections on the world’s largest catwalk. Recreate your favourite catwalk styles with the help of industry experts, enjoy make-overs, style transformations and inspirational trend reports, plus enjoy shopping from all your favourite brands all under one roof. The star-studded event will also welcome the first ever Take Me Out Live, hosted by the king of dating, Paddy McGuinness, plus contestants from Britain And Ireland’s Next Top Model will be holding autograph sessions and strutting their stuff.We’ve teamed up with Clothes Show Live to offer one lucky reader and their ‘plus one’ the chance to attend the year’s most prestigious fashion event, absolutely free. To be in with a chance of winning tell us:

Who won Series 9 of Britain And Ireland’s Next Top Model?Email your answer, name and address to [email protected]. The winner will be chosen at random from all the correct entries and notified by email. Full terms and conditions at www.brumnotes.com.Deadline for entries is November 29. Clothes Show Live runs from December 6–19 at Birmingham NEC. Tickets are £25 (NUS), £28 (standard) and £40 (platinum). For more information, visit www.clothesshowlive.com or call 0844 5811 256.

wiN fivE pairS Of TiCkETS TO SEE vampirE wEEkENd livE iN birmiNghamVampire Weekend head out on a five-date UK arena tour this month, with their first stop at Birmingham’s NIA on November 12. The tour follows the global success of the band’s acclaimed third album Modern Vampires Of The City, which debuted at number one in the US album charts, the band’s second consecutive US number one album. Vampire Weekend will be joined by special guests Noah And The Whale.Tickets for the show are £25.20 and £31.92 (+BF) but we’ve got five pairs to give away, worth more than £300.

On which Vampire Weekend album would you find the single Diane Young?

Email your answer plus full name, address and mobile number to [email protected]. Deadline for entries is November 8. Winners will be notified by email.

WiN ticketS to clotheS ShoW live

9November 2013


Words by Amy Sumner and chris Moriarty

“We wanted to re-brand planet Earth,” explains vocalist and guitarist Tom Hewson of the origins of band name, Hoopla Blue. “The idea was, if an alien were to discover the Earth for the very first time, what would they call it?”“We tried a few different names before Hoopla Blue,” continues bassist Mitchell Baines, “but that was the name that made sense. It was either that or ‘The Tom Hewson Experience’.”Crafting beautifully intricate works woven through with juxtaposi-tion, Hoopla Blue combine refined musicianship and haunting vocals with a looser yet soft overlay. Live, they’ve already supported the likes of Widowspeak and Temples, and with a performance which at alternate moments both completely captivates and beguiles yet enchantingly energises, the band easily justify their success so far.“Neither Tom nor I ever really fancied being the classic frontman,” says guitarist and vocalist Adam Tomes of the band’s setup. “And the songwriting is in partnership so that probably carries through to the performance. There are four frontmen in Hoopla Blue though, we’re just the ones with microphones.”“We’ve often been compared to groups we’ve never listened to,” says Tom of the band’s unique sound, “The Sea and Cake, Aztec Camera, acts like that.” With just two tracks available to listen to on-line though, the poignantly tender Holy Ghost and the utterly charm-ing Seams, Hoopla Blue are keeping their cards close to their chest.“Holy Ghost has been with us for a few years so it always made sense to record that one first,” says Adam. “In contrast, we recorded

Seams shortly after writing it, but both songs were born from a simi-lar sort of world-weary frustration.”“There’s dark and light in both songs,” adds Tom, “I think that’s the thread that runs through everything we do.”Effusively atmospheric, engaging and actually just completely stun-ning, make sure to see Hoopla Blue live at your next opportunity.

Hoopla Blue play All Years Leaving festival at the Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, on Friday, November 15.

“It was pretty smooth really,” says lead singer Matt Pinfield of the transition of Young Runaways to new outfit, Drakelow. “Young Runaways ground to a halt to-wards the end of 2012 and we felt that we’d reached a ceiling with it all to be honest. We did

some cool things in that band but it became a bit difficult to sustain. We had three months off from all band-related activities, I wrote a load of new songs and at that point everyone seemed keen to start working on something again.”Having played only a couple of shows to date under this guise (in-cluding a support slot with Landshapes and a beautiful OxjamBrum performance at Cherry Reds last month), Drakelow are sounding out their musical territory slowly but surely. But if audience response

is anything to go by, they’re hitting all the right notes and we can happily expect even bigger things to come.“The most important part of what we do is the songs themselves because everything starts from there. The arrangements are built to serve the melodies. We don’t start out with a sound that we’re aiming for particularly, although the tone of the song will lead us in that respect. Everyone is feeling really comfortable with contribut-ing ideas and that has added a great deal to the overall sound and the presentation of the live performance.”After uploading the pop-tinged Swallowing Diamonds in early Oc-tober, the band’s second single, Amber, will be ready at the end of this month.“The new single is the first song we wrote that I felt really nailed all the elements we’d explored individually in other songs. We re-corded it pretty quickly, mostly live, at our rehearsal room and then did a few other bits and pieces back at my own studio. The song is partly fictional, partly autobiographical and one of the few songs that I’ve written where it all hangs on a single character.””

Drakelow are live at The Victoria on November 29, to mark the release of new single Amber.

drakelow drakelow.bandcamp.com

facebook.com/hooplabluehoopla blue

11November 2013

The best new material from Birmingham and beyond.

hOTliST

“I really enjoyed that gig,” says lead singer and guitarist Joey Smith of the band’s su-perb slot supporting 60s prog legend Ar-thur Brown last month. “The ironic thing was that it was my birthday and I had tickets to see him anyway before we were booked to play it. So for Arthur to come and talk to me afterwards and tell me that he’d listened to some of our stuff and he really liked it, that was the biggest birthday present anybody could get me.”Playing their first ever show in August this year, 60s psych experience The Exploding Sound Machine are doing very well for them-selves indeed. And rightly so. With a throw-back look and sound that they manage to keep taciturnly contemporary, they’re inject-ing a uniquely flamboyant splash of individ-uality into Birmingham and they’re doing it entirely in their own way.“We’re all massively influenced by the 60s psych sound but we still want to be a mod-ern band, and I think that we do try and give it a contemporary edge – a lot of the struc-tures are pop structures. There’s no point

doing it exactly as it was done then though because we might as well be a covers band,” Joey explains.If you’ve not had chance to see them live yet then you must do so – The Exploding Sound Machine are an experience to be completely immersed by.“There are two types of frontman,” says Joey, “the mean, moody and mysterious one and the guy who wants to interact and be the entertainer. I think I probably fall more into the latter category. Because I want to build a scene, I don’t want people to feel like it’s us and them, I’ve always wanted to share it. Hopefully that will come and I’ll be able to get people involved because with the look and the lights etc, we try to build a show and a performance, we want it to be a spectacle.”

The Exploding Sound Machine headline the Brum Notes November Issue Launch Party at The Bull’s Head on November 7 with support from Village Green Machine,Swerve and Noir. Entry is just £3 on the door.

ThE TwaNgThe WobbleIt’s The Twang but not as you know it. The Wobble showcases an engaging new direction far removed from the lad-dish indie of their early days. A brood-ing slow-burner of a track with subtle sprinklings of electronica and darkly spacious guitars. thetwang.co.uk

viCTOrGreen RibbonA passionate vocal pierces the in-troductory wall of feedback before breaking into a driving noise rock and grunge-indebted two minutes 16 sec-onds of atypical time signatures in this debut track which is every bit as power-ful on record as live.soundcloud.com/victorband

babypiNkPetrichorFour minutes of pedal-powered grunge pop in this second number from Ba-bypink. A farewell lament beginning with a smattering of raindrops and end-ing on a crescendo punctuated by a rhythmic backing vocal – a dreary day never sounded so fine. soundcloud.com/babypinkband

yOuTh maNBad Weather EPDebut EP from Birmingham punk noise trio Youth Man. The five track EP clocks in at just under 20 minutes and is the powerhouse short-player the group have promised to deliver from the start. Beginning with recent single Heavy Money, the record then moves to the minute-and-a-half thrash of Insipid be-fore the dark and brooding Salt gets it into full swing. Inshallah follows and the record is brought to a close by Wide Awake, a slow burner and the band’s quietest tune. Packed to bursting with attitude through the punchy vocals and driving musicianship comprising it.Out Nov 17, youthmanband.com

prEviEw ThE playliST

ONES TO waTChSilhOuETTESChannelling the spirit of M83, Radiohead and Sigor Ros, Wolverhampton’s indie/electronic outfit Silhouettes celebrate the release of their debut single through Integ-rity Records with a live show at The Ac-tress & Bishop. Watch them: November 14, The Actress & Bishop, Birmingham

bOviNEAfter a glorious year soaking up rave re-views for their debut album and whipping crowds into a frenzy across the country, Bovine march back to their home city for a co-headline show with Antlered Man, showcasing their blazing hardcore and modern metal anthems. Watch them: November 6, The Flapper

The Exploding Sound machine

Photo by Richard Battye


On reaching her 30th birthday, indie’s favourite stand-up Josie Long confronted her quarter-life crisis by making two short films. Dan Cooper-Gavin catches up with Josie as she prepares to bring the films to Birmingham’s Electric Cinema.

The Road is Long

Josie Long’s two new films, Let’s Go Swimming and Romance And Adventure, are comic shorts mired in dissatisfaction, wanderlust, disenchant-ment and ennui. In them, the central character, named Josie, decamps to the “indie theme park” of Glasgow in a doomed attempt at a more fulfilling life. Sure enough, there’s a strong autobiographi-cal element to the films.

“I had this crisis and I lost faith in the life that I’d built up, and I went through a big breakup,” says Josie. “The impetus to write the first film was I felt like I wanted to write about how sad it was. The first film was really rooted in my life, and I used bits of stand-up that I’d written about what I was going through. And then the second one, we’d established the ideas and the characters, and then we liked the idea of imagining both characters 18 months on, a little bit different, but more or less the same people. So yeah, there’s definitely a lot from my life, but I would say I was lucky, because my life is probably a bit better than that, I suppose! Less bleak, certainly.

“When I wanted to write these films, it was part-ly because stand-up is so ephemeral, and even if you record a DVD of what you’ve done, it still doesn’t quite capture what it really is. And so when you’re finished, it’s gone forever, really. So with the film, I like the idea of making something that, in its final form, it’s really useable and it can last a little bit. Just for my own sanity, you know? That’s the thing that was starting to get me down. I was like, ‘Fuck, I’ve been doing stand-up for, like, 10 years solid, nearly, and fewer people have seen my stand-up shows than have seen me do badly on a panel show!’”

Let’s Go Swimming in particular cements Josie’s indie-pop credentials, featuring cameos from none other than Belle & Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch and ex-Arab Strap frontman Aidan Moffat.

“I love Belle & Sebastian, I think they’re brilliant,” she says. “Stuart’s just really cool. I was just made up when we managed to wangle him and Aidan Moffat, I just couldn’t believe our luck. Stuart and his wife came to my stand-up show in 2011, and obviously I lost my mind, because I couldn’t believe that he would come to my show.”

For the nationwide Let’s Go Adventure Tour, Josie and director Doug King have hand-picked an itin-erary that calls in at their favourite independent cinemas, with Brum’s Electric Cinema being a particular highlight.

“That’s one that I’ve got a really good relation-ship with,” says Josie. “I’ve known David [Baldwin, programmer at The Electric] since I started stand-up shows. He came to my first stand-up show when I was, like, 24, and he’s always been really

great, helping me and championing me. We ran some shows together as part of the Birmingham Comedy Festival at the cinema, so I’ve got quite a longstanding relationship, doing silly things at that cinema. I love performing there. Tom [Lawes, managing director] had this vision for it and he put all his life and everything into making it happen, and now it’s so successful and so beautiful. So yeah, we’re really chuffed about playing the Elec-tric Cinema.”

Josie will be present at the screenings, deliver-ing a live intro performance and participating in an audience Q&A afterwards. “I really like tour-ing around and I really love the idea of coming and seeing the screenings,” she says. “Actually, I love it and I hate it. I love the idea of coming and seeing if people like it – and then the idea of coming and people hating it is making me feel sick. Because at least with stand-up, you can change it while you’re going along or you can address what’s going on, but with the films, it’s like, ‘There they are…!’”

But even though film may be Josie’s main focus at the moment (“I’m kind of obsessed with it”), fans of her stand-up shouldn’t fret. “I think I’m never, ever going to not want to do stand-up. I love it so much. I’ll never be one of these people who’s like, ‘Thank fuck, I never have to do stand-up again! See you later, I’m on the gravy train!’”

Josie Long presents The Let’s Go Adven-ture Screening Tour at The Electric Cinema, Birmingham, on November 9.

“ Stuart Murdoch’s just really cool. I was just made up when we managed to wangle him and Aidan Moffat, I just couldn’t believe our luck”

Film & Comedy

13November 2013


new songs, unveiled in September as a welcome follow-up to Pedestrian Verse. So, has it been infl uenced by the success of the album?

“Maybe subconsciously we were infl uenced by the success of it but not in any other way I’m sure,” says Scott.

“Most of the material was written after Pedestrian Verse came out but we used the same cramped studio space in Glasgow and used the same producer who we always work with. We didn’t want to go to some studio in LA or work with a fancy producer – that’s just not who we are.

“The Woodpile is about that night you felt utterly out of place, alone, awkward and cornered,” he continues. “All any of us want in those instances is for someone we care about to come and take us away from it all.

“It’s escapist, but also claustrophobic in places. I like the idea of contrasting a big, confi dent piece of music with lyrics that express uncertainty and vulnerability.”

To support the EP the band will be heading out on the road throughout November, including a show at The Institute in Birmingham on Novem-ber 11. But after their latest tough touring sched-ule comes to an end, it seems Frightened Rabbit will be enjoying in a well-earned break, with the band’s frontman eyeing up other musical projects of his own.

“I think after this EP and the touring, which will probably end this time next year, the band will defi nitely take some time off, take stock of what we’ve achieved,” Scott explains.

“I’ve got plans for a solo record and am actually exploring some soundtrack stuff which is really exciting. We’ll probably be sick of seeing each other by then anyway – it’s an unfortunate but very true fact about constant touring.

“The only thing to do in those circumstances is try to remind yourself how lucky you are to be in that position. There are also the little things, things like seeing The National live every night. I’m a massive fan so to watch them was an absolute joy.

“That and the music. Keep making new music and keep getting it out there.”

Frightened Rabbit are live at The Institute, Birmingham, on November 11. The Woodpile EP is out now.

“This last year has been really exciting for us, it has seen things really take off,” refl ects frontman and chief songwriter Scott Hutchison. “We’ve been getting bigger and better shows, but we’ve worked really hard for it.

“We’ve had some incredible moments and getting this far has given us a real sense of achievement.”

A large part of that can be attributed to top 10 album Pedestrian Verse, which has helped the band match their critical acclaim with commer-cial success.

“I have to admit I don’t listen to the album at all but I’m hugely proud of it,” Scott admits, rather sheepishly.

“We are all proud of it, we worked immensely hard on it so when people say nice things about it, it’s nice to hear. It’s defi nitely more important if real people say they like the album, rather than critics or the industry, that’s a lot of pressure off you right there.

“And that’s the good thing about releasing an EP – there is a lot less pressure. When you write, you can be more free, try out different things, differ-ent sounds.”

That EP in question is The Woodpile, a four-track offering featuring the title track plus three brand

What a year 2013 has been for Selkirk quintet, Frightened Rabbit, releasing fourth album Pedestrian Verse to rave reviews, playing some of the biggest shows of their lives, supporting The National on a sell-out US tour and earning hordes of new fans along the way. Ben Russell talks to a band who continue to go from strength to strength.

In theheadlights

“ It’s escapist, but also claustrophobic in places. I like the idea of contrasting a big, confi dent piece of music with lyrics that express uncertainty and vulnerability.”

15November 2013

new songs, unveiled in September as a welcome follow-up to Pedestrian Verse. So, has it been infl uenced by the success of the album?

“Maybe subconsciously we were infl uenced by the success of it but not in any other way I’m sure,” says Scott.

“Most of the material was written after Pedestrian Verse came out but we used the same cramped studio space in Glasgow and used the same producer who we always work with. We didn’t want to go to some studio in LA or work with a fancy producer – that’s just not who we are.

“The Woodpile is about that night you felt utterly out of place, alone, awkward and cornered,” he continues. “All any of us want in those instances is for someone we care about to come and take us away from it all.

“It’s escapist, but also claustrophobic in places. I like the idea of contrasting a big, confi dent piece of music with lyrics that express uncertainty and vulnerability.”

To support the EP the band will be heading out on the road throughout November, including a show at The Institute in Birmingham on Novem-ber 11. But after their latest tough touring sched-ule comes to an end, it seems Frightened Rabbit will be enjoying in a well-earned break, with the band’s frontman eyeing up other musical projects of his own.

“I think after this EP and the touring, which will probably end this time next year, the band will defi nitely take some time off, take stock of what we’ve achieved,” Scott explains.

“I’ve got plans for a solo record and am actually exploring some soundtrack stuff which is really exciting. We’ll probably be sick of seeing each other by then anyway – it’s an unfortunate but very true fact about constant touring.

“The only thing to do in those circumstances is try to remind yourself how lucky you are to be in that position. There are also the little things, things like seeing The National live every night. I’m a massive fan so to watch them was an absolute joy.

“That and the music. Keep making new music and keep getting it out there.”

Frightened Rabbit are live at The Institute, Birmingham, on November 11. The Woodpile EP is out now.

“This last year has been really exciting for us, it has seen things really take off,” refl ects frontman and chief songwriter Scott Hutchison. “We’ve been getting bigger and better shows, but we’ve worked really hard for it.

“We’ve had some incredible moments and getting this far has given us a real sense of achievement.”

A large part of that can be attributed to top 10 album Pedestrian Verse, which has helped the band match their critical acclaim with commer-cial success.

“I have to admit I don’t listen to the album at all but I’m hugely proud of it,” Scott admits, rather sheepishly.

“We are all proud of it, we worked immensely hard on it so when people say nice things about it, it’s nice to hear. It’s defi nitely more important if real people say they like the album, rather than critics or the industry, that’s a lot of pressure off you right there.

“And that’s the good thing about releasing an EP – there is a lot less pressure. When you write, you can be more free, try out different things, differ-ent sounds.”

That EP in question is The Woodpile, a four-track offering featuring the title track plus three brand

What a year 2013 has been for Selkirk quintet, Frightened Rabbit, releasing fourth album Pedestrian Verse to rave reviews, playing some of the biggest shows of their lives, supporting The National on a sell-out US tour and earning hordes of new fans along the way. Ben Russell talks to a band who continue to go from strength to strength.

In theheadlights

“ It’s escapist, but also claustrophobic in places. I like the idea of contrasting a big, confi dent piece of music with lyrics that express uncertainty and vulnerability.”


Wheels of FortuneWheels of FortuneWheels of FortuneSkaters bring their New York swagger back to the live stage in Birmingham this month. Expect it to be “drunk, loud and fast”, they tell Amy Sumner.

It seems New York’s Skaters are a band that enjoy Februaries. After forming in late 2011 and releasing debut EP Schemers to a pretty positive response in the February of 2012, they followed it up by signing to Warner Bros in February of this year – and now their debut full-length album is slated for release in February of next. Still, Novem-ber seems like it’s a pretty fun month in store for them too as they tour the country with Deap Vally.

But it’s an intriguing timeline that led Skaters to where they are now, especially when you consider that their founder members were divided by the Atlantic Ocean and spent the early days trading demos between LA and London before meet-ing half way.

“I was in Los Angeles when Josh [Hubbard, guitar] and I met at a party,” explains lead singer Michael Cummings. “We had one of those conversations about starting a band that people have all the time and nothing really comes of it. We said goodbye – he was going back to London and I was on my way to New York and he said, ‘I’ll be in New York in November, I’ll see you there’. I didn’t think we were really serious about it. But he called me on October 31 like ‘hey, I’m gonna be there tomor-row at 4 o’clock’. And that was that.”

Going on to recruit drummer Noah Rubin, Skat-ers were born. “It doesn’t really have to do with skateboarding though, the name,” Michael clari-fi es. “It more kind of reminds me of my youth and the attitude towards skate town culture. It just has this youthful energy to it.”

Having all been in various bands before (The Paddingtons, The Dead Trees, Dirty Pretty Things, to name three), this time the boys were able to speed the entire process up.

“It moved a lot faster this time because of those past experiences and because we knew what we had to do – we knew what baby steps we had to take. We were able to skip a lot of stuff that bands have to do because we’d done it all before,” Michael confi rms.

Described by the NME as ‘everything we wished The Strokes still epitomised’, Skaters are a very New York band creating a very New York-centric sound.

“I write about my life here in New York and about things that happen to me,” explains the frontman. “A lot of that debut EP is stories – we were all bar-tending so we all had a lot of crazy experiences to talk about. But in terms of musical infl uences, they’re kind of all over the place. Josh is more into punk – The Clash and The Sex Pistols and The Libertines. I’m a more American version of that, preferring bands like The Ramones and Television.”

Signing to Warner Bros records however is not something you’d associate with every alt-punk band’s agenda.

“That came about because they came to one of our shows,” says Michael, “it was all very unplanned – we didn’t shop around or anything.

We just started playing shows and people were into it and came to those shows and it got bigger and bigger and then we did a show and a bunch of labels came out to it – it was very unsolicited but it worked out.”

Now nearly a year down the line and Skat-ers have recorded their debut album and are preparing to release it early next year. It was laid down at Electric Lady (the studio built by Jimi Hendrix), as Michael explains. “We chose to record there because we could record on the roof – there’s a lot of light which was good for us because we were recording in the winter. It wasn’t really about the Jimi Hendrix connec-tion but the place does have a great energy to it – you can tell that a lot of great records had been made there. It’s totally fi nished now – the fi rst single is about to come out and the record drops February 24.”

And what can we expect from their Birmingham show?

“I like it a lot in Birmingham – the people are good and a lot of our buddies are from there like Swim Deep and JAWS. It has links with Splashh too so it’s a good place to be. The show will be drunk, loud and fast.”

Skaters are live at the O2 Academy 2, Birming-ham, on November 7, supporting Deap Vally. New single Deadbolt is out on November 18.

17November 2013

Wheels of FortuneWheels of FortuneWheels of FortuneSkaters bring their New York swagger back to the live stage in Birmingham this month. Expect it to be “drunk, loud and fast”, they tell Amy Sumner.

It seems New York’s Skaters are a band that enjoy Februaries. After forming in late 2011 and releasing debut EP Schemers to a pretty positive response in the February of 2012, they followed it up by signing to Warner Bros in February of this year – and now their debut full-length album is slated for release in February of next. Still, Novem-ber seems like it’s a pretty fun month in store for them too as they tour the country with Deap Vally.

But it’s an intriguing timeline that led Skaters to where they are now, especially when you consider that their founder members were divided by the Atlantic Ocean and spent the early days trading demos between LA and London before meet-ing half way.

“I was in Los Angeles when Josh [Hubbard, guitar] and I met at a party,” explains lead singer Michael Cummings. “We had one of those conversations about starting a band that people have all the time and nothing really comes of it. We said goodbye – he was going back to London and I was on my way to New York and he said, ‘I’ll be in New York in November, I’ll see you there’. I didn’t think we were really serious about it. But he called me on October 31 like ‘hey, I’m gonna be there tomor-row at 4 o’clock’. And that was that.”

Going on to recruit drummer Noah Rubin, Skat-ers were born. “It doesn’t really have to do with skateboarding though, the name,” Michael clari-fi es. “It more kind of reminds me of my youth and the attitude towards skate town culture. It just has this youthful energy to it.”

Having all been in various bands before (The Paddingtons, The Dead Trees, Dirty Pretty Things, to name three), this time the boys were able to speed the entire process up.

“It moved a lot faster this time because of those past experiences and because we knew what we had to do – we knew what baby steps we had to take. We were able to skip a lot of stuff that bands have to do because we’d done it all before,” Michael confi rms.

Described by the NME as ‘everything we wished The Strokes still epitomised’, Skaters are a very New York band creating a very New York-centric sound.

“I write about my life here in New York and about things that happen to me,” explains the frontman. “A lot of that debut EP is stories – we were all bar-tending so we all had a lot of crazy experiences to talk about. But in terms of musical infl uences, they’re kind of all over the place. Josh is more into punk – The Clash and The Sex Pistols and The Libertines. I’m a more American version of that, preferring bands like The Ramones and Television.”

Signing to Warner Bros records however is not something you’d associate with every alt-punk band’s agenda.

“That came about because they came to one of our shows,” says Michael, “it was all very unplanned – we didn’t shop around or anything.

We just started playing shows and people were into it and came to those shows and it got bigger and bigger and then we did a show and a bunch of labels came out to it – it was very unsolicited but it worked out.”

Now nearly a year down the line and Skat-ers have recorded their debut album and are preparing to release it early next year. It was laid down at Electric Lady (the studio built by Jimi Hendrix), as Michael explains. “We chose to record there because we could record on the roof – there’s a lot of light which was good for us because we were recording in the winter. It wasn’t really about the Jimi Hendrix connec-tion but the place does have a great energy to it – you can tell that a lot of great records had been made there. It’s totally fi nished now – the fi rst single is about to come out and the record drops February 24.”

And what can we expect from their Birmingham show?

“I like it a lot in Birmingham – the people are good and a lot of our buddies are from there like Swim Deep and JAWS. It has links with Splashh too so it’s a good place to be. The show will be drunk, loud and fast.”

Skaters are live at the O2 Academy 2, Birming-ham, on November 7, supporting Deap Vally. New single Deadbolt is out on November 18.


Did you know that Kodaline lived in Moseley? Don’t be fooled by that girl-wooing Irish twang – these boys are practically B-Town! Well, sort of. If you squint. Ah, sod it, we’ll claim them…

“Yeah, we lived there for a year, and we actually just moved out on Sunday,” says Steve Garrigan, frontman of said indie-folksters.

“Our original label, B-Unique, they suggested we move there. We spent a lot of time in Highbury Studio, with John Mostyn. We just chilled out, there are great people everywhere. The Hare & Hounds is a great place too.

“We were torn between us whether to move away or not, because we got so attached to Moseley and Kings Heath. I think they kind of stand alone as their own little spot. They’re very artsy, or some-thing… I dunno.”

This year has been a big one for the Dublin four-piece as, following the release of their full debut, In A Perfect World, they seemed to rocket from nowhere directly into the public consciousness.

“We never really expected anything,” admits Steve. “But for us, we’ve been gigging for so many years

and, even though we’re still young, we’ve really spent most of our life playing in bars and stuff. It happened gradually over the space of about four years, with a lot of rejections. It’s great – there’s nothing really more I can say.

“I mean, we’re playing a show in March at the 02 Academy in Dublin, which holds 14,500 people. It’s pretty much sold out already. It’s only been on sale for about a week. It’s been amazing how much people have gotten behind us.”

Playing live and touring is something constantly on the agenda, with slots around the UK and further

afield in Europe before Christmas. Oh, and they’re currently in America.

“On the tours, Shepherd’s Bush in London will be special, just because it’s such a famous venue. It’ll be a good craic. And there are a few dates that we’re really looking forward to doing in Dublin, at the Olympia theatre. It’s a similar sort of ‘rite of passage’ venue. And then America! We’ve been there a few times, but it’s so big. Everything is just foreign to me.”

The quivering, euphoric High Hopes shows the band at their best. A song, like others, meant to be sung back at them. Not quite Coldplay, nor Tom Odell, and never as wet as the likes of Snow Patrol and Keane. But if you like any of that lot, you’ll bloody love Kodaline. A line from the falset-to-infused All I Want suggests that, ‘our love was made for movie screens.’ But what is Kodaline’s music made for?

“It’s just honest, and very true to life,” reckons Steve. “If something happens to us, we’ll try and get it across word for word. We’ll never try and be too clever, we’ll just say it how it is. All I Want, for me, just sums up exactly what I was going through. I was watching a movie, a very bad movie, and I just started crying! I thought, ‘what’s wrong with me?’ But that was where that lyric came from.

“But it can mean that to me and then mean some-thing else entirely to another person. That’s the great thing about music.”

Their heart-wrenching, often emotionally explicit lyrical style has also lent itself to TV and radio galore, including a play on American drama Grey’s Anatomy. As bands approach these stylistic cross-roads, the option of writing stadium-friendly tunes for the masses can often be too tempting. We’re looking at you, Muse. Steve feels differently.

“I’m writing the second album at the moment,” he continues, “and I guess it’s just staying true to yourself which is the most important thing. It’ll be more defined. Some of the songs on the first album were written like four years ago. I think now we’ve a better idea of who we are.

“Put it this way, I’m not exactly gonna start swing-ing on a wrecking ball, bollock naked.”

During the touring onslaught, Kodaline will return to their second home to play at The Institute

on November 8. “Any excuse” to come back, admits Steve.

“We played The Temple in January, but we’re really looking forward to playing again. Friends are gonna come along, friends we’ve met in Brum that haven’t yet had the chance to see us live.”

But, surely the biggest date scribbled on the calendar should be some hobnobbing with Birmingham’s finest at the Brum Notes Novem-ber Issue Launch Party the night before? Housed, as per, in the band’s old haunt – the Bull’s Head in Moseley.

“Yeah, we’ve been there loads of times. Ah man, well that sounds like what we usually do in Brum anyway. Cheers for the invite!”

Erm, see you there then?

Kodaline are live at The Institute, Birmingham, on November 8.

Irish pop rock poster boys Kodaline have been catapulted into the big time with their heart-wrenching, radio friendly anthems being heard everywhere from US TV dramas to adverts for Google. But maybe it was the formative year they spent living in Birmingham’s bohemian ‘burbs that really did the trick, as Tom Pell discovers.

“ Put it this way, I’m not exactly gonna start swinging on a wrecking ball, bollock naked.”

Hearts on the Line

19November 2013

Did you know that Kodaline lived in Moseley? Don’t be fooled by that girl-wooing Irish twang – these boys are practically B-Town! Well, sort of. If you squint. Ah, sod it, we’ll claim them…

“Yeah, we lived there for a year, and we actually just moved out on Sunday,” says Steve Garrigan, frontman of said indie-folksters.

“Our original label, B-Unique, they suggested we move there. We spent a lot of time in Highbury Studio, with John Mostyn. We just chilled out, there are great people everywhere. The Hare & Hounds is a great place too.

“We were torn between us whether to move away or not, because we got so attached to Moseley and Kings Heath. I think they kind of stand alone as their own little spot. They’re very artsy, or some-thing… I dunno.”

This year has been a big one for the Dublin four-piece as, following the release of their full debut, In A Perfect World, they seemed to rocket from nowhere directly into the public consciousness.

“We never really expected anything,” admits Steve. “But for us, we’ve been gigging for so many years

and, even though we’re still young, we’ve really spent most of our life playing in bars and stuff. It happened gradually over the space of about four years, with a lot of rejections. It’s great – there’s nothing really more I can say.

“I mean, we’re playing a show in March at the 02 Academy in Dublin, which holds 14,500 people. It’s pretty much sold out already. It’s only been on sale for about a week. It’s been amazing how much people have gotten behind us.”

Playing live and touring is something constantly on the agenda, with slots around the UK and further

afield in Europe before Christmas. Oh, and they’re currently in America.

“On the tours, Shepherd’s Bush in London will be special, just because it’s such a famous venue. It’ll be a good craic. And there are a few dates that we’re really looking forward to doing in Dublin, at the Olympia theatre. It’s a similar sort of ‘rite of passage’ venue. And then America! We’ve been there a few times, but it’s so big. Everything is just foreign to me.”

The quivering, euphoric High Hopes shows the band at their best. A song, like others, meant to be sung back at them. Not quite Coldplay, nor Tom Odell, and never as wet as the likes of Snow Patrol and Keane. But if you like any of that lot, you’ll bloody love Kodaline. A line from the falset-to-infused All I Want suggests that, ‘our love was made for movie screens.’ But what is Kodaline’s music made for?

“It’s just honest, and very true to life,” reckons Steve. “If something happens to us, we’ll try and get it across word for word. We’ll never try and be too clever, we’ll just say it how it is. All I Want, for me, just sums up exactly what I was going through. I was watching a movie, a very bad movie, and I just started crying! I thought, ‘what’s wrong with me?’ But that was where that lyric came from.

“But it can mean that to me and then mean some-thing else entirely to another person. That’s the great thing about music.”

Their heart-wrenching, often emotionally explicit lyrical style has also lent itself to TV and radio galore, including a play on American drama Grey’s Anatomy. As bands approach these stylistic cross-roads, the option of writing stadium-friendly tunes for the masses can often be too tempting. We’re looking at you, Muse. Steve feels differently.

“I’m writing the second album at the moment,” he continues, “and I guess it’s just staying true to yourself which is the most important thing. It’ll be more defined. Some of the songs on the first album were written like four years ago. I think now we’ve a better idea of who we are.

“Put it this way, I’m not exactly gonna start swing-ing on a wrecking ball, bollock naked.”

During the touring onslaught, Kodaline will return to their second home to play at The Institute

on November 8. “Any excuse” to come back, admits Steve.

“We played The Temple in January, but we’re really looking forward to playing again. Friends are gonna come along, friends we’ve met in Brum that haven’t yet had the chance to see us live.”

But, surely the biggest date scribbled on the calendar should be some hobnobbing with Birmingham’s finest at the Brum Notes Novem-ber Issue Launch Party the night before? Housed, as per, in the band’s old haunt – the Bull’s Head in Moseley.

“Yeah, we’ve been there loads of times. Ah man, well that sounds like what we usually do in Brum anyway. Cheers for the invite!”

Erm, see you there then?

Kodaline are live at The Institute, Birmingham, on November 8.

Irish pop rock poster boys Kodaline have been catapulted into the big time with their heart-wrenching, radio friendly anthems being heard everywhere from US TV dramas to adverts for Google. But maybe it was the formative year they spent living in Birmingham’s bohemian ‘burbs that really did the trick, as Tom Pell discovers.

“ Put it this way, I’m not exactly gonna start swinging on a wrecking ball, bollock naked.”

Hearts on the Line

21November 2013


Blending traditional dance music from the Basque region, Africa and Mexico with modern day electronica, folk and psychedelia, Crystal Fighters are a band who like to take their listeners on one hell of a musical journey. Ahead of the band’s full UK tour this month, David Vincent takes a step back in time to hear what inspired latest LP Cave Rave.

Anyone who thinks that the concept of a rave is a late 20th century phenomenon should delve back into pre-history, reckons Crystal Fighter Graham Dickson. Like many contemporary histo-rians, he believes our ancestors enjoyed mind bending experiences in confi ned, dark spaces. “Thirty-fi ve thousand years ago, [people] were having expansive experiences in caves in the same way people do in clubs today, often on similar substances, but also naturally too,” he says, explaining why the club-friendly band’s latest album is entitled Cave Rave. “Old cave. New rave!” he laughs. “We like the idea of the mixture. We love modern dance music. The three of us met in the early days going to clubs and raves. And now we have our own Cave Rave going on.” It’s true. Back in August, Crystal Fighters head-lined their very own rave in a cave near San Sebastian, Spain, where they mixed tradition-al ‘world’ instruments with electronics for a very special concert in an historically-signifi -cant space. “The album is basically a fl yer for that gig and hopefully we’ll start doing one a year from now on. The cave had been used before for hundreds of years for different ceremonies and for the last 50 years for concerts, but not for a while.” Cave raves are an idea the band would like to expand, Graham says. "We could do them around the world, just one in Basque to pay our respects every year, and then one somewhere else as well. I’d love to do that. I’d love to do one in Africa, in one of those early caves.” Crystal Fighters came together in 2007 when American Graham (guitar/txalaparta) met Brit Gilbert Vierich in Scotland through a mutual friend and was convinced to move to London to make music. Their creativity was sparked and early tracks mashed clubland loops with infl u-ences from Spain’s Basque region (such as the use of txalaparta and txistu instruments), eventu-ally leading to their assured debut album, Star Of Love, in 2010. Several years of hard gigging has seen Crys-tal Fighters – Graham, Gilbert and Sebastian Pringle, aided live by vocalist Eleanor Fletcher – cement their reputation as a formidable and increasingly successful live act, something which has also informed Cave Rave. “I think this album has really captured that live energy,” Graham confi rms. “We’ve learned a lot of things about playing over the years. We played the fi rst album for three years, so when we started writing this album, we used that live

experience and funnelled it into this, all of what we’d learnt." Although early member Laure Stockley, a Span-iard, is no longer in the band, the remaining members were keen to maintain the Mediterra-nean links they’d established with their debut. “The fi rst album was really inspired by Basque traditional music and Basque mythology. We were lucky enough to get out there to learn more of the culture that inspired us. It was real-ly focused on an unfi nished opera from an old Basque person, who is now dead, and the lyrics were really inspired by the opera. But the instru-mentation was modern, it was London meets Basque. For this album, we went back to the country and that inspired us to continue that curve, to fi nd out more about who and what was behind Basque mythology and Basque instru-ments, and how they were developed.”

That journey of discovery led them to those cave raves, as Graham explains. “These caves were really early creative places – 35,000 years ago caves in Africa and other places were these plac-es where people documented their conscious-ness, these ideas of a collective understanding of existence developed.” Graham acknowledges their latest record, writ-ten in the Basque region but eventually record-ed in LA, leans more towards “traditional song structures” than their earlier sojourns, but stress-es “there’s also more instrumentation" as well.

"We wanted to use instruments from detached places, like South American string instruments, lots of percussion from around the world, and using them made the music sound all the more alive.” Back out on the road after a summer of inter-national festivals (“the latest shows have been really awesome,” says Graham, enthusiastically), there are already plans for new releases. “We’ve been getting some remixes in, so we might make a vinyl package to play out when people DJ, maybe a deluxe deal with extra tracks. Or we could re-do some of the songs from Cave Rave as they have loads of potential. We’re not sure when the next [studio] album will happen, but as soon as possible.” Can we expect more cave-friendly rave anthems? Graham’s not saying. “Let’s just say it will defi -nitely sound different from this one.”

Crystal Fighters are live at The Institute, Birmingham, on November 30. Second album Cave Rave is out now.

“ Thirty-fi ve thousand years ago, people were having expansive experiences in caves in the same way people do in clubs today, often on similar substances, but also naturally too”

fighting spirit

23November 2013

Blending traditional dance music from the Basque region, Africa and Mexico with modern day electronica, folk and psychedelia, Crystal Fighters are a band who like to take their listeners on one hell of a musical journey. Ahead of the band’s full UK tour this month, David Vincent takes a step back in time to hear what inspired latest LP Cave Rave.

Anyone who thinks that the concept of a rave is a late 20th century phenomenon should delve back into pre-history, reckons Crystal Fighter Graham Dickson. Like many contemporary histo-rians, he believes our ancestors enjoyed mind bending experiences in confi ned, dark spaces. “Thirty-fi ve thousand years ago, [people] were having expansive experiences in caves in the same way people do in clubs today, often on similar substances, but also naturally too,” he says, explaining why the club-friendly band’s latest album is entitled Cave Rave. “Old cave. New rave!” he laughs. “We like the idea of the mixture. We love modern dance music. The three of us met in the early days going to clubs and raves. And now we have our own Cave Rave going on.” It’s true. Back in August, Crystal Fighters head-lined their very own rave in a cave near San Sebastian, Spain, where they mixed tradition-al ‘world’ instruments with electronics for a very special concert in an historically-signifi -cant space. “The album is basically a fl yer for that gig and hopefully we’ll start doing one a year from now on. The cave had been used before for hundreds of years for different ceremonies and for the last 50 years for concerts, but not for a while.” Cave raves are an idea the band would like to expand, Graham says. "We could do them around the world, just one in Basque to pay our respects every year, and then one somewhere else as well. I’d love to do that. I’d love to do one in Africa, in one of those early caves.” Crystal Fighters came together in 2007 when American Graham (guitar/txalaparta) met Brit Gilbert Vierich in Scotland through a mutual friend and was convinced to move to London to make music. Their creativity was sparked and early tracks mashed clubland loops with infl u-ences from Spain’s Basque region (such as the use of txalaparta and txistu instruments), eventu-ally leading to their assured debut album, Star Of Love, in 2010. Several years of hard gigging has seen Crys-tal Fighters – Graham, Gilbert and Sebastian Pringle, aided live by vocalist Eleanor Fletcher – cement their reputation as a formidable and increasingly successful live act, something which has also informed Cave Rave. “I think this album has really captured that live energy,” Graham confi rms. “We’ve learned a lot of things about playing over the years. We played the fi rst album for three years, so when we started writing this album, we used that live

experience and funnelled it into this, all of what we’d learnt." Although early member Laure Stockley, a Span-iard, is no longer in the band, the remaining members were keen to maintain the Mediterra-nean links they’d established with their debut. “The fi rst album was really inspired by Basque traditional music and Basque mythology. We were lucky enough to get out there to learn more of the culture that inspired us. It was real-ly focused on an unfi nished opera from an old Basque person, who is now dead, and the lyrics were really inspired by the opera. But the instru-mentation was modern, it was London meets Basque. For this album, we went back to the country and that inspired us to continue that curve, to fi nd out more about who and what was behind Basque mythology and Basque instru-ments, and how they were developed.”

That journey of discovery led them to those cave raves, as Graham explains. “These caves were really early creative places – 35,000 years ago caves in Africa and other places were these plac-es where people documented their conscious-ness, these ideas of a collective understanding of existence developed.” Graham acknowledges their latest record, writ-ten in the Basque region but eventually record-ed in LA, leans more towards “traditional song structures” than their earlier sojourns, but stress-es “there’s also more instrumentation" as well.

"We wanted to use instruments from detached places, like South American string instruments, lots of percussion from around the world, and using them made the music sound all the more alive.” Back out on the road after a summer of inter-national festivals (“the latest shows have been really awesome,” says Graham, enthusiastically), there are already plans for new releases. “We’ve been getting some remixes in, so we might make a vinyl package to play out when people DJ, maybe a deluxe deal with extra tracks. Or we could re-do some of the songs from Cave Rave as they have loads of potential. We’re not sure when the next [studio] album will happen, but as soon as possible.” Can we expect more cave-friendly rave anthems? Graham’s not saying. “Let’s just say it will defi -nitely sound different from this one.”

Crystal Fighters are live at The Institute, Birmingham, on November 30. Second album Cave Rave is out now.

“ Thirty-fi ve thousand years ago, people were having expansive experiences in caves in the same way people do in clubs today, often on similar substances, but also naturally too”

fighting spirit


“ We use the phrase ‘alienating’ a lot when we describe our sound because we always worry that we’re going too pop and alienating a lot of our older fans”

It’s been a fi ne old ascent for Manchester collec-tive Dutch Uncles. Born in early 2008, the eclec-tic four-piece were part of the same movement that spawned Delphic, Everything Everything and the still-simmering-away Egyptian Hip Hop. Four years and three albums down the line and their progress, and indeed success, in marketing classical prog indie pop scattered with atypical time signatures, falsetto vocals and a whole lot of strings to the masses is a complete testament to the boys’ talent.

Having played three headline shows in Birming-ham thus far, and each time returning to the welcoming bosom of independent promoters This Is Tmrw, Dutch Uncles headline the open-ing night of their two-day All Years Leaving festi-val extravaganza, topping a sensational bill of acts including Yuck, Sky Larkin, His Clancyness, and Best Friends among others, as well as the cream of local talent Boat to Row, Victories at Sea and Hoopla Blue. In between tour dates with

Everything Everything (and mouthfuls of toast), lead singer Duncan Wallis explains their fond association with This Is Trmw.

“They took an interest in us at an early stage and we like to work with people for as long as we can really – it’s nice to establish a familiar-ity,” he says. “Every time we’ve played with This Is Tmrw, it’s been a good gig and they’re always very respectful towards us as a band. That kind of thing really does matter when you’re on the road. Plus, they’ve always curated local support bands who we’ve been really impressed with – they’ve got a great ear to the ground so it’s really good to be associated, and being billed as a headliner for this show is very complimentary.”

In January this year, Dutch Uncles released their third studio album to date, Out of Touch in the Wild. A medley of complexity, it’s the band’s most daring yet in terms of instrumentation and irregu-larity. Yet, still managing to retain that pop edge,

it garnered mass acclaim from both their fans and the critics.

“We knew we’d done a better album than our last one and that was as much as we could think about,” explains Duncan of the release, “because it’s dangerous to dream as to how far an album can take you. We were quite fl attered by the response though because we’d felt quite rushed – we actually found ourselves with six months to spare at the end of it all because we thought it was going to be released in the summer of 2012 but it turned out to be a better idea to release in the following January and then build up to the festivals. So we did feel fl attered but then in typi-cal us fashion we ended up thinking ‘imagine if we’d have taken our time’.”

Beginning by referencing artists including Steve Reich, XTC and Talking Heads as infl uences, these patterns are still easy to pinpoint with-in the sounds that Dutch Uncles are creating.

“I always ponder what it would be like to actu-ally bring lyrics to the table before the music, but it wouldn’t really work like that because the style that people have got used to is this one where the voice is an instrument.”

As we chat, not only are Dutch Uncles three dates into that tour with Everything Everything, but they’re also in the process of fi guring out the orchestration of their very own run of dates which sees them expand their records around the UK with a string orchestra. With three albums of material now to choose from, it must be getting pretty tricky to decide which of their songs make the setlist.

“We’re currently fi guring out which old songs we’re going to play with strings and which strings songs we’re going to act out,” Duncan explains. “It’s a simple formula really – you have to prioritise your new stuff. But it’s picking songs off the fi rst album which is always tricky because there’s one song from it which we all like called Feargoo, and if we ever play it, all you’ll ever fi nd is fi ve people onstage with very smug faces and then a crowd just scratching their heads. There’s always been quite a good vocal response to Steadycam but I think on this next tour we’re defi nitely picking out a few songs to put to bed – not that we don’t like them, only that they don’t relate as well to the new stuff. We use the phrase ‘alienating’ a lot when we describe our sound because we always worry that we’re going too pop and alienating a lot of our older fans but the truth is that it’s the fi rst album that splits the crowd.”

“It was kind of an eventuality of making that third album, that somewhere down the road we were going to have to re-enact all the strings that we

put into the record. In some ways we didn’t want to do it because we know it’s such a done thing – there’s always a band that comes along, plays in a church and brings some more players with them to create a whole new experience. But just because it’s a done format doesn’t mean that it’s not a good one. The string trio that we’ve got to play with us are absolutely amazing – we’ve already done a radio session with them and it was a very fun experience, which really makes every-one play better.”

There’s no Birmingham date for that particular tour, though it calls into Leicester on Decem-ber 3. In the meantime, what’s in the works for their headline performance at All Years Leaving? Dutch Uncles are a band with a number of incred-ible covers in their repertoire including Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tears for Fears), Go Your Own Way (Fleetwood Mac) and Slave to the Rhythm (Grace Jones) – can we look forward to any more?

“There’s defi nitely been talk of having a new cover although I do like the idea of beefi ng up the Grace Jones number with strings. It’s inter-esting really because our thinking behind covers is if you’re going to do one then you should do something risky because if it ain’t tricky, what’s the point? I think there’s still some more life in the Grace Jones cover but there’s been talk of another 80s classic – a prog rock epic which we’re toying with...”

Dutch Uncles headline All Years Leaving at the Hare & Hounds on Friday, November 15.Day tickets are priced £15 and available from www.theticketsellers.co.uk.

However there’s also a sonic progression to be discerned.

“We haven’t strayed too far away from the staple sound of the band,” says Duncan. “In the same vein as Steve Reich and the whole minimal classical thing, I know that Robin [Richards, bass] was particularly infl uenced by Stravinsky on the last album. We’re always still listening to that music and still discover-ing pieces which we’ve never heard before, but you have to feel like you’re moving forward with what you’re listening to. I suppose we’re not listening to music together so much anymore which has allowed us each to indulge in our own tastes to the point of guilty pleasures really. These are elements that you can’t quite bring to the band but there might be a bridge where you think ‘actually, I’ve been listening to this album for years for this one moment’ – so we’ve now got fi ve individual ears as opposed to one band ear.

Dutch Uncles return to Birmingham to headline All Years Leaving, a new two-day festival of alternative sounds hitting Kings Heath this month. And their unique brand of off-kilter indie pop looks set to be the perfect match. Amy Sumner meets a band daring to be different.

25November 2013

“ We use the phrase ‘alienating’ a lot when we describe our sound because we always worry that we’re going too pop and alienating a lot of our older fans”

It’s been a fi ne old ascent for Manchester collec-tive Dutch Uncles. Born in early 2008, the eclec-tic four-piece were part of the same movement that spawned Delphic, Everything Everything and the still-simmering-away Egyptian Hip Hop. Four years and three albums down the line and their progress, and indeed success, in marketing classical prog indie pop scattered with atypical time signatures, falsetto vocals and a whole lot of strings to the masses is a complete testament to the boys’ talent.

Having played three headline shows in Birming-ham thus far, and each time returning to the welcoming bosom of independent promoters This Is Tmrw, Dutch Uncles headline the open-ing night of their two-day All Years Leaving festi-val extravaganza, topping a sensational bill of acts including Yuck, Sky Larkin, His Clancyness, and Best Friends among others, as well as the cream of local talent Boat to Row, Victories at Sea and Hoopla Blue. In between tour dates with

Everything Everything (and mouthfuls of toast), lead singer Duncan Wallis explains their fond association with This Is Trmw.

“They took an interest in us at an early stage and we like to work with people for as long as we can really – it’s nice to establish a familiar-ity,” he says. “Every time we’ve played with This Is Tmrw, it’s been a good gig and they’re always very respectful towards us as a band. That kind of thing really does matter when you’re on the road. Plus, they’ve always curated local support bands who we’ve been really impressed with – they’ve got a great ear to the ground so it’s really good to be associated, and being billed as a headliner for this show is very complimentary.”

In January this year, Dutch Uncles released their third studio album to date, Out of Touch in the Wild. A medley of complexity, it’s the band’s most daring yet in terms of instrumentation and irregu-larity. Yet, still managing to retain that pop edge,

it garnered mass acclaim from both their fans and the critics.

“We knew we’d done a better album than our last one and that was as much as we could think about,” explains Duncan of the release, “because it’s dangerous to dream as to how far an album can take you. We were quite fl attered by the response though because we’d felt quite rushed – we actually found ourselves with six months to spare at the end of it all because we thought it was going to be released in the summer of 2012 but it turned out to be a better idea to release in the following January and then build up to the festivals. So we did feel fl attered but then in typi-cal us fashion we ended up thinking ‘imagine if we’d have taken our time’.”

Beginning by referencing artists including Steve Reich, XTC and Talking Heads as infl uences, these patterns are still easy to pinpoint with-in the sounds that Dutch Uncles are creating.

“I always ponder what it would be like to actu-ally bring lyrics to the table before the music, but it wouldn’t really work like that because the style that people have got used to is this one where the voice is an instrument.”

As we chat, not only are Dutch Uncles three dates into that tour with Everything Everything, but they’re also in the process of fi guring out the orchestration of their very own run of dates which sees them expand their records around the UK with a string orchestra. With three albums of material now to choose from, it must be getting pretty tricky to decide which of their songs make the setlist.

“We’re currently fi guring out which old songs we’re going to play with strings and which strings songs we’re going to act out,” Duncan explains. “It’s a simple formula really – you have to prioritise your new stuff. But it’s picking songs off the fi rst album which is always tricky because there’s one song from it which we all like called Feargoo, and if we ever play it, all you’ll ever fi nd is fi ve people onstage with very smug faces and then a crowd just scratching their heads. There’s always been quite a good vocal response to Steadycam but I think on this next tour we’re defi nitely picking out a few songs to put to bed – not that we don’t like them, only that they don’t relate as well to the new stuff. We use the phrase ‘alienating’ a lot when we describe our sound because we always worry that we’re going too pop and alienating a lot of our older fans but the truth is that it’s the fi rst album that splits the crowd.”

“It was kind of an eventuality of making that third album, that somewhere down the road we were going to have to re-enact all the strings that we

put into the record. In some ways we didn’t want to do it because we know it’s such a done thing – there’s always a band that comes along, plays in a church and brings some more players with them to create a whole new experience. But just because it’s a done format doesn’t mean that it’s not a good one. The string trio that we’ve got to play with us are absolutely amazing – we’ve already done a radio session with them and it was a very fun experience, which really makes every-one play better.”

There’s no Birmingham date for that particular tour, though it calls into Leicester on Decem-ber 3. In the meantime, what’s in the works for their headline performance at All Years Leaving? Dutch Uncles are a band with a number of incred-ible covers in their repertoire including Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tears for Fears), Go Your Own Way (Fleetwood Mac) and Slave to the Rhythm (Grace Jones) – can we look forward to any more?

“There’s defi nitely been talk of having a new cover although I do like the idea of beefi ng up the Grace Jones number with strings. It’s inter-esting really because our thinking behind covers is if you’re going to do one then you should do something risky because if it ain’t tricky, what’s the point? I think there’s still some more life in the Grace Jones cover but there’s been talk of another 80s classic – a prog rock epic which we’re toying with...”

Dutch Uncles headline All Years Leaving at the Hare & Hounds on Friday, November 15.Day tickets are priced £15 and available from www.theticketsellers.co.uk.

However there’s also a sonic progression to be discerned.

“We haven’t strayed too far away from the staple sound of the band,” says Duncan. “In the same vein as Steve Reich and the whole minimal classical thing, I know that Robin [Richards, bass] was particularly infl uenced by Stravinsky on the last album. We’re always still listening to that music and still discover-ing pieces which we’ve never heard before, but you have to feel like you’re moving forward with what you’re listening to. I suppose we’re not listening to music together so much anymore which has allowed us each to indulge in our own tastes to the point of guilty pleasures really. These are elements that you can’t quite bring to the band but there might be a bridge where you think ‘actually, I’ve been listening to this album for years for this one moment’ – so we’ve now got fi ve individual ears as opposed to one band ear.

Dutch Uncles return to Birmingham to headline All Years Leaving, a new two-day festival of alternative sounds hitting Kings Heath this month. And their unique brand of off-kilter indie pop looks set to be the perfect match. Amy Sumner meets a band daring to be different.


HIS CLANCYNESSThe world’s only six-piece solo project play their fi rst ever date in the city when they swap Bologna for Birmingham on Saturday night. The alias for Canadian-born lead singer Jonathan Clancy, His Clancyness act out the music that their leader’s mind creates. With elements from 70s art-punk to krautrock and with hints of glam, expect dreamy melodies, fuzzy guitars and psychedelic textures from the genre-defying entertainers.

BEST FRIENDSA surf-pop garage four-piece from Sheffi eld, Best Friends are infl uenced by the likes of The Beach Boys, Black Lips, Phil Spector and The Ramones. Creating instantly catchy numbers which are short, sharp and packing a punch, they’ve already toured with Django Django, Weird Dreams and Summer Camp. Be there on Saturday for an unforgettable reminder of the summertime.

VICTORIES AT SEAFiring proceedings off to an enchanting begin-ning, indie-electro trio Victories at Sea promise a performance incorporating highlights from their recently released debut EP, In Memory Of. Under-neath wistfully lamenting lyrics, pedal-enhanced guitar intertwines with powerful keys to create a soundscape alternately refl ective and euphoric. The dark disco begins here.

All Years Leaving takes place at the Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, on November 15 and 16. One-day tickets are £15 with limited weekend tickets £20.

YUCKAfter the departure of lead singer Daniel Blumberg in April this year, many wondered where the Dino-saur Jr and Pavement-indebted grunge-rockers could go. The answer was onwards and upwards with co-founder and guitarist Max Bloom stepping up to the mic for the recording of their second full-length record, Glow and Behold, which saw the adoption of a lo-fi and more slacker-pop sound. Having infl u-enced a cacophony of young alt rock bands since their beginnings in 2009, Yuck play a mix of their contrasting records when they headline the Saturday night of All Years Leaving.

FRANKIE & THE HEARTSTRINGSSunderland’s premier indie-rock fi ve-piece will step up to play main support for Dutch Uncles on Friday night. Respected for running their own record label and opening up a record shop in their hometown, the hard-working outfi t will teach us all a thing or two about DIY ethic as they relay their Orange Juice and Dexy’s Midnight Runners-inspired pop sound through two records-worth of critically acclaimed material.

DISTOPHIAReuniting to celebrate 10 years since the release of their debut mini-album Soda Lake, Distophia provide main support for Yuck on Saturday night. Generally agreed to have been one of Birming-ham’s most overlooked talents in the early 2000s, the alt rock four-piece will play a mix of material, including gems from their never released follow-up full length album, Beat Dyslexia. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to catch them live.

BOAT TO ROWBirmingham multi-instrumental folk outift Boat to Row will inject a local edge to the event when they take to the stage on the opening night. Firm favourites both in their hometown and further afi eld, Boat to Row have toured with the likes of Dog Is Dead and Johnny Flynn. Expect a beau-tiful and intricate set woven through with stun-ning vocals and a variety of instrumentation – and prepare to be completely entranced.

The brand new All Years Leaving festival takes over the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath this month, promising ‘two days of alternative sounds in the suburbs’. As well as Friday night headliners Dutch Uncles, you can expect a fi ne selection of up-and-coming and alternative talent. With an eclectic mix of local, national and, heck, even international acts, Amy Sumner takes you through some of the highlights.

ALL ABOARD

Best Friends

His Clancyness

Yuck

Frankie & The Heartstrings

27November 2013


Hot on the heels of full-length LP Tales From Terra Firma, Oxford’s Stornoway return with six-track mini-album You Don’t Know Anything, their second major release of the year. They describe it as representing “extremes” of their “songwrit-ing and arranging spectrum”, and while it’s true to say the tracks certainly sit outside of Terra Firma’s boundaries, the two releases are indelibly linked.

“Terra Firma took two-and-a-half… almost three years I guess,” recalls bassist Oli Steadman of the long process of fashioning a follow-up to 2010’s Beachcomber’s Windowsill. “We self-produced the record, did it all ourselves – we actually did it at my home, in the garage. We put egg boxes and carpet on the walls, to soundproof it. We took all the label advance. We didn’t spend it on a producer or anyone else, we spent it all on tea and biscuits, which lasted us for two-and-a-half years. We survived on this tiny subsistence so we could do everything ourselves.”

When the tea and biscuits ran out, Oli, brother Rob, Brian Briggs and Jonathan Ouin found them-selves with a surplus of material.

“We did 20 songs but you can’t put 20 songs on one album, nobody does that anymore, so we wanted to put 10 to 11 songs on Terra Firma, which left us with a load we couldn’t put out. They didn’t fit the mood. Terra Firma is this dark, personal album, very emotional, but these [remain-ing] tracks were more… experimental, quite exuberant. So we decided to put them out as this EP/mini-album – You Don’t Know Anything. They were all the loose ends, they didn’t suit Terra Firma’s dark mood.”

Featuring co-writes and tracks influenced by such acts as The Flaming Lips, Ray Charles, The Specials, Tom Waits, Beck, Teenage Fanclub, Gorillaz and Juluka, the decision as to what was left for You Don’t Know Anything was relatively straightforward.

“Everyone in the band knew Terra Firma had to be cohesive, it almost tells this story about discov-ery, who we are as human beings. So that shaped the selection.”

It features an established live fave in When You Touch Down From Outer Space, but Oli’s person-al favourite from the forthcoming mini-album is Tumbling Bay.

“It was the most collaboratively written track,” he says. “On the record there’s actual sounds I made on my laptop in my bedroom. Jon presented me with these chords and lyrics and I recorded this percussive loop guitar thing, which you can still hear when the instruments come in. So sounds I made in 2010 in my bedroom made it through the writing, made it through the demo, and made it onto the record. It’s a good song, it takes me back to those memories of making those loops. It’s a strange song harmonically… it’s a lot of fun. It’s a bit of a rock-up too.”

That ‘rock-up’ comes with the help of a vintage effects pedal once owned by the legendary 60s session player and Led Zep guitar god, Jimmy Page.

“That’s down to Anthony, who runs Macari’s in [London’s] Denmark Street. We bumped into him

at a festival and he said, ‘if you ever want to borrow any gear, just let me know’. When we went into the shop, there were these very rare, very experimental pedals sitting around waiting to be repaired, and Anthony said we could just borrow them for a bit. Just having them influenced the melody and tune, to hear that bit of equipment that has had that role in music… it’s so special. Spooky!”

As the band head out on a 13-date UK tour, which is also accompanied by the release of Terra Firma standout track Farewell Appalachia, Oli explains that they are already working on their next album.

“We’ll be doing super brand new stuff [on tour], maybe one or two songs per night, alongside the other ‘new’ stuff. We want to test the water a bit in front of an audience, see how they go down, and use that feedback to work on the songs. We want to be sure about the music before we record.”

And the new album could be out in less than a year.

“We might try a different approach, not get as tied up in the details as we’ve done in the past, maybe try location recording, take more of a gamble… we have about 20 new ones now that we’re jamming around to see what works best and we’ll begin recording those perhaps by the end of the year.”

Stornoway are live at The Institute, Birming-ham on November 24. Mini-album You Don’t Know Anything is released on November 11, followed by new single Farewell Appalachia on November 25.

Ahead of the release of a brand new mini-album and a UK tour Stornoway talk loose ends, tea, biscuits and Jimmy Page. David Vincent takes notes.TELLING

TALES“ We took all the label advance. We didn’t spend it on a producer or anyone else, we spent it all on tea and biscuits.”

29November 2013

Hot on the heels of full-length LP Tales From Terra Firma, Oxford’s Stornoway return with six-track mini-album You Don’t Know Anything, their second major release of the year. They describe it as representing “extremes” of their “songwrit-ing and arranging spectrum”, and while it’s true to say the tracks certainly sit outside of Terra Firma’s boundaries, the two releases are indelibly linked.

“Terra Firma took two-and-a-half… almost three years I guess,” recalls bassist Oli Steadman of the long process of fashioning a follow-up to 2010’s Beachcomber’s Windowsill. “We self-produced the record, did it all ourselves – we actually did it at my home, in the garage. We put egg boxes and carpet on the walls, to soundproof it. We took all the label advance. We didn’t spend it on a producer or anyone else, we spent it all on tea and biscuits, which lasted us for two-and-a-half years. We survived on this tiny subsistence so we could do everything ourselves.”

When the tea and biscuits ran out, Oli, brother Rob, Brian Briggs and Jonathan Ouin found them-selves with a surplus of material.

“We did 20 songs but you can’t put 20 songs on one album, nobody does that anymore, so we wanted to put 10 to 11 songs on Terra Firma, which left us with a load we couldn’t put out. They didn’t fit the mood. Terra Firma is this dark, personal album, very emotional, but these [remain-ing] tracks were more… experimental, quite exuberant. So we decided to put them out as this EP/mini-album – You Don’t Know Anything. They were all the loose ends, they didn’t suit Terra Firma’s dark mood.”

Featuring co-writes and tracks influenced by such acts as The Flaming Lips, Ray Charles, The Specials, Tom Waits, Beck, Teenage Fanclub, Gorillaz and Juluka, the decision as to what was left for You Don’t Know Anything was relatively straightforward.

“Everyone in the band knew Terra Firma had to be cohesive, it almost tells this story about discov-ery, who we are as human beings. So that shaped the selection.”

It features an established live fave in When You Touch Down From Outer Space, but Oli’s person-al favourite from the forthcoming mini-album is Tumbling Bay.

“It was the most collaboratively written track,” he says. “On the record there’s actual sounds I made on my laptop in my bedroom. Jon presented me with these chords and lyrics and I recorded this percussive loop guitar thing, which you can still hear when the instruments come in. So sounds I made in 2010 in my bedroom made it through the writing, made it through the demo, and made it onto the record. It’s a good song, it takes me back to those memories of making those loops. It’s a strange song harmonically… it’s a lot of fun. It’s a bit of a rock-up too.”

That ‘rock-up’ comes with the help of a vintage effects pedal once owned by the legendary 60s session player and Led Zep guitar god, Jimmy Page.

“That’s down to Anthony, who runs Macari’s in [London’s] Denmark Street. We bumped into him

at a festival and he said, ‘if you ever want to borrow any gear, just let me know’. When we went into the shop, there were these very rare, very experimental pedals sitting around waiting to be repaired, and Anthony said we could just borrow them for a bit. Just having them influenced the melody and tune, to hear that bit of equipment that has had that role in music… it’s so special. Spooky!”

As the band head out on a 13-date UK tour, which is also accompanied by the release of Terra Firma standout track Farewell Appalachia, Oli explains that they are already working on their next album.

“We’ll be doing super brand new stuff [on tour], maybe one or two songs per night, alongside the other ‘new’ stuff. We want to test the water a bit in front of an audience, see how they go down, and use that feedback to work on the songs. We want to be sure about the music before we record.”

And the new album could be out in less than a year.

“We might try a different approach, not get as tied up in the details as we’ve done in the past, maybe try location recording, take more of a gamble… we have about 20 new ones now that we’re jamming around to see what works best and we’ll begin recording those perhaps by the end of the year.”

Stornoway are live at The Institute, Birming-ham on November 24. Mini-album You Don’t Know Anything is released on November 11, followed by new single Farewell Appalachia on November 25.

Ahead of the release of a brand new mini-album and a UK tour Stornoway talk loose ends, tea, biscuits and Jimmy Page. David Vincent takes notes.TELLING

TALES“ We took all the label advance. We didn’t spend it on a producer or anyone else, we spent it all on tea and biscuits.”


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33November 2013

BRING TO LIGHT (DAY ONE)The Rainbow Warehouse, Birmingham25/10/13

It’s difficult to think of a more fitting way to begin Bring To Light than stepping off the low-lit streets of Digbeth into a sonic on-slaught from San Francisco black metallers Deafheaven. The commanding frontman George Clarke, poised centre-stage on a monitor, delivering searing vocals whilst wielding a mic stand like a pitchfork over the heads of the crowd, might well have had something to do with it. That and the band’s all-enveloping wall of sound contributed to a sort of discarnate suspension-of-time experience. Sleaford Mods are like nothing we’d ever seen or heard before either. With uncom-promising aggro lyrics over post-punk elec-tronica that tore society, politics and the music industry a new one – “Another lo-cal pub burnt down to the ground, I hated those fookin’ Motown nights anyway”. An-drew Fearn and Jason Williamson got some of the biggest cheers of the night.An 80-minute set from Dinos Chapman saw the Turner-nominated artist build layers of deep electronica over striking live visuals, dancing around Aphex Twin–style ambi-ent and the experimental end of Polysick. Glitchy, immersive but not wholly thrilling.

Headliners Shangaan Electro are enjoying increased profile in the UK after blowing up South Africa, the US and Europe with their high-speed dance phenomenon based on electronica that sounds like Eurotrance with added marimba. Once creator Nozinga, re-splendent in feather headdress, traditional costume and a mega grin, appeared with five dancers and singers, things went TURBO.What followed was a dizzying rush of live

PAs and dance routines. The group’s show-manship is outstanding, if a little rough around the edges, but then you try dancing at ‘ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY BPM’ as Nozinga urged us to chant. An exhilarat-ing and unique experience that had metal-heads, indie kids and hipsters grooving as one – just as it should be.Lyle BignonPhotos by Katja Ogrin

livEShangaan electro

Deafheaven


GOODNIGHT LENINPrince of Wales, Moseley25/10/13

When a performance begins in a beauti-fully illuminated tent out the back of a pub, surrounded by wood burners and the intro-ductory wails of a hand-powered air raid si-ren, you know that you’re in for something special. Goodnight Lenin have a penchant for orchestrating displays in handsome sur-rounds, in most recent times The Old Rep theatre and St Paul’s Church, and this night adds wonderfully to that list. In a testament to the band’s talent, with very little in the way of released material, they’ve gathered a crowd of a few hundred to whom they perform a stunning mix of old and new which highlights their progression from a softer folk sound (namely through old fa-vourite Wenceslas Square) to a more highly charged and generally louder Americana-tinged experience. A choice cover of The Beatles’ Come Together is beautifully en-hanced by the raw power of a vocal trio and as the wonderful Old Cold Hands draws the evening to a close, the band leave an audience who are full of admiration and of love. A completely beautiful affair from an act well-deserving of their nationwide respect.Amy Sumner

SPLASHH + CHARLIE BOYER & THE VOYEURSThe Institute, Birmingham14/10/13

Drenched in 70s New York glam rock nos-talgia with a passing nod to the vocal ten-dencies of Buzzcocks along the way, Charlie Boyer and his Voyeurs begin the night with an organ-powered super set including high-lights from their debut full-length, It’s My Wish and I Watch You. There’s also a daring two new tracks to wrap your ears around, which are every bit as promising as the older material before Splashh appear, beginning their set as they end it, with an extended in-strumental that verges on indulgent. Playing songs almost entirely from their newly-re-leased debut album Comfort, stand-outs are the singles Need It, Vacation and the sun-soaked All I Wanna Do. It’s a relatively short set from the East Lon-don four-piece but one which pleases the crowd nonetheless, which forms an oblig-ingly jubilant wall of bouncing bodies before the stage as the final chords of an evoca-tively misspent youth ring out, proving that music doesn’t have to be revolutionary to be admired.Amy Sumner

RISE OF BIRMINGHAMLibrary of Birmingham02/10/13

Taking the NME’s celebration of the ‘Rise of Birmingham’ and its currently diverse and effusive music scene as the inspiration, to-night Capsule curate a night of the city’s fin-est new talent inside the wall’s of Europe’s largest new library. Grunge-punk five-piece Victor are first to take to the stage, filling the room with fuzz-laden noise rock and a pow-erful vocal which is especially present in new track Green Ribbon. Youth Man follow, providing a reliably noisy and energetic performance including high-lights from their new EP. Ever-chaotic, they overcome instrument issues (deftly side-stepped with an extended jam), illustrating the constructive experience they’ve gained over the past year. Victories at Sea are up next, with a backdrop of illuminated cityscapes the captivating

focal point to their accompanying enchant-ing electro. As truly euphoric live as on record, highlights are No Escape, the cre-scendo of Dive and the ever-reliable Fu-ture Gold. Future disco trio Free School bring the even-ing to a climax with a performance encom-passing elements of house, electro and Balearic and guest vocals from local word-smith Savant amongst others. With a musi-cal society as inherently talented as this, we look forward to the next instalment.Amy Sumner

LEMON GARDEN + TALES + AB-SENT FRIENDS + BUG The Actress & Bishop, Birmingham01/10/13

Journeying from Middlesbrough to open up the show tonight, Bug are a hundred times better live than on record. With a selection of surf-grunge and extended shoegaze, the

oliver RudgePhoto by Wayne Fox

Goodnight leninPhoto by Wayne Fox

35November 2013

young four-piece have an audible lo-fi poten-tial. Coventry quintet Absent Friends are up next, and though they look mildly uncomfort-able, their songs don’t sound out of depth and they provoke an enthusiastic audience reaction with their best track Doesn’t Feel Like Home. Standout band of the night are Tales, noise-math duo Luke MacGregor-Dignan and James Harrison, who face each other as they play the time signatures game, daring each other to miss their cue. Powerhouse drumming sits easily alongside laptop-as-sisted numbers and enthusiasm which even-tually sends half a drumstick flying across the room – watch out for this pair. The headline slot of the evening comes cour-tesy of Lemon Garden and an enthusiastic stage invader who is eventually dealt with by a put-out parent. Sonically, this band still have a way to go in identifying what they’re aiming to produce, but a positive audience response makes for a happy ending anyway.Amy Sumner

OxJAMBRUM TAKEOVER 2013Various venues, Birmingham12/10/13

With Moseley Jazz, Moseley Folk, One Beat and that Fusion-monikered earsore, you’d think Birmingham would be all festival-ed out, wouldn’t you? Pah! No chance. We’ve still got new music left over and spilling out off every orifice and into city centre venues, thanks to OxjamBrum.The Sunflower Lounge is the first port of call to check out delicate songstress Lauren Pryke and the raucous Jet Pack. “It’s really

hot down here,” says frontman Dennis, peel-ing his shirt off his chest. It’s pissing it down outside, mate, so at least you haven’t got to go for a walk like us.We do, and find Arcade Parade shoe-horned onto a stage the size of, well, a shoe, upstairs at the uber-trendy Cherry Reds. Songs such as Grace and Cave Of Swimmers swirl around the room, with Ollie Scott’s gruff husk doing its best to power through the melodic overdrive. Always de-veloping and always worth a watch, these boys. There is also some particularly lovely beer, but we’ve already forgotten what it’s called. Disappointing. The Bluebeat Arkestra pick up as Snooty Bobs leave off, with The Yardbird offering a slightly different vibe to its more rock’n’roll counterparts. Slow grooves, James Brown on the TV and Hayley Trower’s soothing vo-cal show off the diversity within diversity of Birmingham’s ever-adapting music scene.The bearded and hatted (someone saw the

weather forecast) Midnight Bonfires do in-deed warm folks up come 8 o’clock, mostly due to the fact there is about a million peo-ple crammed upstairs in The Victoria to see them. Energy galore contributes to a real feel-good vibe late on, setting up for the dif-ficult decision of what headliner to plump for. With seven venues to choose from since the off, the option of horcruxing yourself as in-animate objects near the respective stages still seems like a decent plan. Due to a lack of wizarding nous, we head for the safer option of Tempting Rosie back up at the ever-bouncing Yardbird, which by now is bathed in so much red lighting it looks like Quagmire’s bedroom. I Am Anushka, Youth Man, The Bombergs, Boat To Row, Layers, God Damn, the secret gigging canal boat – we are very sad and sorry we missed you. Next year it’s horcruxes. Or that thing David Bowie builds in The Prestige. Sorted. Tom Pell

tempting RosiePhoto by Jonathan Melhuish

Free SchoolPhoto by ian Dunn


MOSELEY FOLK FESTIVAL 2013Moseley Park, Moseley30/08/13-01/09/13

Sunday evening 10.30 pm and Moseley Park is echoing to the sound of hundreds of voic-es belting out the chorus to Molly Malone (“Alive, alive o!”). It’s the culmination of yet another glorious Moseley Folk Festival, the eighth to date, and here’s how it all went down...Day OneAbie’s Miracle Tonic’s mix of ragtime, swing, spirituals and anything else that takes their fancy was a joy from start to finish (if only all bands had a kazoo-fuelled theme tune), whilst Philip Henry and Hannah Martin’s song about a nail makers strike in Broms-grove in 1862 mashed up with some reggae grooves also hit the spot. Rastafolk anyone? Next up, The Travelling Band bought some sweet southern-tinged country to the sun-soaked crowd whilst up at the Tennis Court stage Tom Peel spread his own unique brand of home-grown musical insanity. Genius. How a band can make getting drunk sound so dreamily romantic is a mystery but The Lei-sure Society did just that on set highlight We Were Wasted, leaving Goodnight Lenin to wow the crowd once more with songs embracing love, loss and loneliness. It’s a mark of the band’s

collective ability that they manage to do all this and still get people singing along with Old Cold Hands’ distinctly existential chorus getting a particularly impressive response. By the time Ocean Colour Scene came on stage the park was packed. Unsurprising re-ally, this is their spiritual home and tonight they’re playing their definitive album, Mose-ley Shoals. THAT riff at the start of The Riv-erboat Song still sounds massive –“We’re playing the whole Moseley Shoals album,” remarked lead singer Simon Fowler, “so the best two songs have already been played!” He was joking of course, Moseley Shoals is right up there as a classic and the crowd (possibly the biggest audience ever seen at Moseley Folk) lapped up every note. Touch-ingly, the set finished with a tribute to the recently departed Jon Brookes (drummer with The Charlatans and co-founder of the nearby One Beat Festival) and folk legend Ian Campbell, courtesy of a moving version

of Fairport’s Meet On The Ledge.

Day TwoDay Two was another delightfully eclectic mix with early highlights Cannon Street (sis-ters Nadi and Rukaiyah) continuing to grow in confidence with some truly stunning sib-ling harmonies and tracks that straddle the line between childlike innocence and the more adult world they’re both entering.“This is genuinely the sweetest festival I’ve ever played.” Jack Savoretti’s mix of good looks and gravelly just-got-out-of-bed voice (hints of John Martyn) ensured the love was reciprocated. How sweet are The Staves? Another line-up of sisters (three this time), they’re straight outta Watford but, on the divine sounding Mexico, you could be for-given for thinking they came from heaven itself. After (or Efter perhaps?) the lullaby folk of Alessi’s Ark’s Constellations caressed the crowd, Efterklang’s lead singer chan-nelled his inner 30s lounge lizard (white suit, slicked back hair, cigarette dangling from lips), evoking comparisons with eve-ryone from Roxy Music and The Associates through to the mournful world weariness of Tindersticks. Truly great Danes. Top that? British Sea Power pulled out all the stops, decorating the stage with more branches than Greggs and jamming the set with all their hits to date. Machineries of Joy got the fans bouncing along and they remained impressively energetic through-out...especially when a giant flag-waving polar bear emerged for the chiming guitar-led singalong of...well, have a guess...Wav-ing Flags. If British Sea Power entertained, Wolf Peo-ple astonished with one of the most dazzling displays of musicianship of the whole week-end...or ever in fact. Playing heavy psych folk with riffs so dirty they’re in danger of be-ing investigated by Operation Yewtree, this band sound like the bastard child of Sabbath and Cream at a pagan sacrifice.

British Sea Power

ocean colour Scene

37November 2013

After suffering not one but two cerebral haemorrhages in 2005 there seemed to be little chance that Edwyn Collins would sur-vive, let alone walk and talk again. The fact that he’s not only doing just that but also playing gigs and releasing impressive new music again is frankly a miracle. Hesitating just a little over his introduction he launched into Falling and Laughing, all the way from 1980 – “Imagine that kids?” he observed with a chuckle. He did a lot of chuckling this evening. Who can blame him, eh? There was a huge amount of love in the crowd this evening and Edwyn and the band repaid it with a joyfully life-affirming greatest hits set (plus some equally fine new songs – check out Dilemma) that said more about the heal-ing power of music than anything you’re ever likely to witness. Day Three The third day’s always the folkiest of the three and this year was no exception. Formed

way back in 1969, Tir na nOg, a fine folk band with prog rock leanings, deserved a later slot but early arrivers were well re-warded. David Campbell was on hand to continue the proud folk traditions of late father Ian, bringing one of the songs he made famous, D Day Dodg-ers, to life and paving the way for a new generation’s folk star, Kathryn Priddy, to bewitch with her ethereal vocals and lit rich lyrics. After a flying visit to catch Dan Whitehouse’s fine brand of observational (Three Bodies) and uplifting (Somebody Loves You) song-writing, it was a quick dash back down for folk’s answer to Ab Fab’s Bubble, Kate Rus-by. That’s a compliment by the way, Kate’s between-song banter was a delight and her scatty self effacing humour belies one of the greatest female folk voices around right now. The Klatsh Klezmer Band soundtracked the by-now-traditional straw wars (basically sev-eral bales are straw are deposited in the crowd to tear them to pieces and chuck it all in the air), leaving The Be Good Tanyas to metaphorically pick up the pieces with their distinctively laid-back brand of coun-try and bluegrass. The average age of the audience at the front of the crowd suddenly dropped by around 20 years with the appearance of Lucy Rose. Set highlight Shiver was so chilled they could’ve served it in the mojitos in the cock-tail bar, whilst Lines’ chorus pierces through the verses like a needle through the heart. The Dirty Old Folkers (the name says it all) continued their mission to corrupt the na-tion’s youth and everyone else for that mat-ter with songs about wanking (Spank the Monkey) and rimming Hobbits (Lord of the ‘Rings’). Brilliantly bonkers. Whilst all of the original Dubliners have ei-ther retired or passed away, three mem-bers of its last incarnation are carrying on as

The Dublin Legends. Of course this mu-sic transcends

line-up changes. These songs echo down the generations and over the course of 90 minutes the band blazed through what amounts to a Now That’s What I Call Irish Folk Music greatest hits collection. Seven Drunken Nights, Dirty Ol’ Town, Whiskey In The Jar, The Irish Rover...you couldn’t get more Irish if you pickled yourself in Guin-ness and stuck a shamrock in your ear. The crowd sung along as lustily as ever and you’d have needed a heart made of the Blar-ney Stone itself to have failed to be moved by the mass acoustic sing-along of Molly Malone at the end.Daron BillingsPhotos by Wayne Fox

Dirty old Folkers

the Staves

lucy Rose

edwyn collins


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Offering innovative concept menswear with uniquely personal service, this has not only allowed Autograph to stand the test of time but has also seen it ranked as one of the five finest menswear boutiques in the UK by Esquire magazine, and as FHM’s Retailer of the Year in 2009.

Autograph is a truly specialist store, offering something different and much more unique than most of your high street retailers, so they’re well worth the visit either in store or online.

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birmingham street styleJoSh, 21Josh wears tan leather boots and black skinny jeans from Topman paired with a checked shirt from a charity shop and a navy blue vintage Bar-bour jacket. His glasses are Metropolitan. Josh’s style icon is River Phoenix and his favourite re-tailer in Birmingham is Urban Outfitters.

toM, 18, MUSiciAN iN PoNY & tRAPTom is wearing a River Island jumper, black skin-nies from Topman, a yellow bag free with the Guardian at Glastonbury 2013, battered Con-verse, a guitar keyring made into a necklace and a scorpion ear tunnel from Amazon. His style Icon is Serge Pizzorno from Kasabian and his favourite retailer in Birmingham is Zara.

SAllY, 18, MUSiciAN iN PoNY & tRAPSally is wearing Kurt Geiger boots with chain detailing, a Next houndstooth print skirt, a River Island jumper, a red coat from Topshop and heart shaped leather bag from Dr Martens. Her mag-nifying glass pendant was handed down from her grandmother and she wears it with a vintage Christian Dior heart necklace. Sally’s style icon is Agyness Deyn and her favourite retailer in Bir-mingham is Zara.

iZZY, 22, PRoJect MANAGeRIzzy wears tan leather loafers from Office, a printed Mango bag, a coat handed down from her boyfriend’s mum, 80s acid wash jeans hand-ed down from her mum and a H&M jumper and scarf. Her style icon is Georgia May Jagger and her favourite retailer in Birmingham is H&M.

kAtie, 24, WRiteRKatie is wearing patent black Dr Martens shoes with a H&M skirt, a black jumper from eBay, a tailored Zara coat, a green tartan scarf from a charity shop and vintage jewellery. Her favourite designer is Celine and she takes inspiration from minimalist Swedish design. Katie’s favourite re-tailer in Birmingham is COS.

chRiS, 23, AccoUNtANtChris is wearing black Topman skinny jeans, a hat that was given to him, Clarks suede black desert boots and a t-shirt and navy jacket from COS. His style icon is Tom Ford and his favourite re-tailer in Birmingham is the Kooples.

EDITOR'S PICKSphotography by Sinéad O’Callaghan


centenary bar & brasserieThe REP, Broad St, Birmingham, B1 2EPwww.birmingham-rep.co.uk 0121 245 2080

There are plenty of places to dine before a night out at The REP, but with three courses on offer for £18, eating on site just a short waddle from your seat seems like a pretty attractive prospect. Run by Searcys, also responsible for the Champagne Bar at St Pancras and the private members club at the top of the ‘Gherkin’, the £18 menu (you can also have two courses for £14 or pick from the à la carte selection after 7pm) changes seasonally. For Act 1 (that’ll be starters then) we opted for Butternut Squash Soup with Crème Fraîche and Pork Rillette. Homemade that day, the soup was rich and thick with a scattering of seeds on top adding a nice crunch to the whole thing. The generous portion of Pork Rillette (a kind of pâté) had a pleasingly smooth texture without losing its meaty origins. Capers and gherkins added some zing to cut through the rich fattiness. Safely sheltered from the drizzle and gloom

outside, Act 2 dished up a Hot Smoked Salmon Fillet with Brown Buttered Shrimps and Sea Vegetables and a Chicken and Leek Pie with Mashed Potato. Again the portion size was impressive, big enough to leave you satisfied but not so much that your zip will ping open before the interval. A nice light smoke on the fish and sensitive cooking, together with some fresh samphire, made for a perfectly balanced dish. The pie filling was exceptional with huge chunks of moist chicken and delicate slices of leek in a light but creamy sauce. Only the tiny triangle of pastry on top – which had a tendency

to crumble into dust – stopped it from being truly exceptional. As a curtain call the Peanut Butter Sandwich with Cherry Sorbet and Chestnut Mont Blanc stepped up, the former a clever reimagining of the traditional favourite, replacing wafers with crisp, nutty discs of sweet squirrel-pleasing crunchiness, and the latter a pudding well worth conquering – light chocolate sponge, a layer of fluffy mouse and a healthy piping of hazelnut paste with homemade vanilla ice cream.Service was friendly and efficient and it was nice to be able to see the kitchen in full view – no spitting in the soup here. Perfect for a pre-theatre treat (they’ll even let you have your pudding in the interval if you’d prefer – a nice touch), this place is also well worth a visit for anyone looking for good food and great value. A well deserved standing ovation all round.Daron Billings

As far as cultural institutions go in these parts, The Crooked House in Himley falls just behind your nan’s house and the Black Country Museum itself. Trick is, the pub is indeed crooked. It’s wonky. On the squiff. However you want to put it, nothing quite prepares you for

the sight of a pub which has fallen four feet into the pavement on one side.

Upon a stumble through the front door, a bar and a lounge compete for the attention

of ‘proper drinkers’, supping pints of no nonsense Banks’s Bitter alongside guest ales, which wash down one of the bar’s Eccles cakes a treat.

For those seeking a more exotic culinary excursion, the back of the pub has been converted into ‘The Crooked House Restaurant’. Though its walls are more structurally sound, the food is fittingly more off-kilter.

The entire menu used to be written in Black Country dialect, with phrases such as, ‘dow ‘ave this if yow dow lyoke stinky chaze”. It’s sadly a little more toned down now, but the quality of local fresh produce and unexpected fine dining survives.

Tom Pell

VENUE WATCH: The Crooked HouseCoppice Mill, Himley, South Staffordshire, DY3 4DA www.thecrooked-house.co.uk

Cuisine: European

Price: £18 per head (3 courses)

Service:

Atmosphere:

Food:

Overall:

Photo by Roy Pledger

41November 2013

SIX OF THE BEST…

fine dining bargains

Adam’s bennetts hill Brum’s newest Michelin-starred restaurant specialises in exuberant and imaginative tasting menus in the evening at £75 a pop. But by day you can pick up an inventive three-course lunch for the relative bargain price of £25, or two courses for £21, with sumptuous dishes such as shin of beef, on-ion sponge, salsify and horseradish.

lasan st pauls square One of the first restaurants to successfully combine Indian flavours with fine dining, La-san has been heralded by Gordon Ramsay and offers contemporary Asian cooking at its best. Expect to pay £40 a head for an à la carte meal, but the Winter Banquet menu runs every Sunday until January offer three courses for less than £20.

turners harborne high street Five dishes of Michelin-starred food for just £35 is pretty good going, and that’s exactly what you get once a week at Turners in Har-borne. The Taste of Turners special runs eve-ry Tuesday, serving up three ‘proper’ courses plus amuse bouche and pre dessert.

opus cornwall streetNow a well established favourite on the Brum restaurant scene, Opus prides itself on the freshest seasonal dishes served in contemporary style. The Market Menu gives a taste of what this place is all about and is also an affordable way to experience fine dining, with three courses for just £15.50.

le truc the arcadianOozing Gallic charm, Le Truc offers posh French nosh in shabby chic surroundings. The Pre Fixe menu is the best way to bag a bargain, with two courses such as pork ril-lette followed by a minute steak ‘avec frites’ for £13.50, or £10.95 at lunch.

marco pierre white the cube Sitting on top of The Cube, the MPW Steak-house offers panoramic views and opulence a-plenty with its plush interior and decadent champagne bar. Treat yourself to an indul-gent working lunch, with two courses for just £15 or three for £20 midweek.

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43November 2013

KEY TO LISTINGS:M = LIVE MUSICCN = CLUB NIGHTC = COMEDYwhaT’S ON

Friday, Nov 1

M Bring Me The Horizon O2 Academy Birmingham

M 36 Crazyfists O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Kobra & The Lotus O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Casino The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Demanda The Adam & Eve

Birmingham

M No More Numbers The Asylum Birmingham

M Hope & Chance The Flapper Birmingham

M Steve Cradock The Institute Birmingham

M Dirty Bullets The Sunflower Lounge

Birmingham

M Vicious Wagon & Horses

Birmingham

M Paper Tiger Bull’s Head Moseley

M The Chinese Burn Society

The Cross Moseley

M 4Q The Wharf Walsall

CN Propaganda O2 Academy Birmingham

CN Capacity presents Hellowe’en Return of the Breaks

Suki10c Birmingham

CN Ideal Weekender Reunion Party

The Institute Birmingham

CN Break Thru The Rainbow Birmingham

CN Drumbounce & Dubstretch Fitness Present Things That Go Bounce In The Night

Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN Hot Club De Swing Halloween Special


CN Freestyle Bull’s Head Moseley

C A Few Good Comics The Drum Aston

C Paul Thorne The Glee Club Birmingham

Saturday, Nov 2

M Bring Me The Horizon O2 Academy Birmingham

M Peter Hook and the Light

O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M So Called Enemy The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Maximum Zero The Flapper Birmingham

M Mark Lanegan The Institute Birmingham

M Blaenavon The Sunflower Lounge

Birmingham

M Inner Terrestrials Wagon & Horses

Birmingham

M Youngblood Brass Band


M Bad Apes The Wharf Walsall

CN Kanyini Psy feat Liquid Ross

Suki10c Birmingham

CN The Afterparty The Adam & Eve

Birmingham

CN Seven Part One: DJ Fresh


CN FACE The Rainbow Birmingham

CN Instajam Warehouse Club

Birmingham

CN Future Music Presents Bruk Up


CN Hot Wax Bull’s Head Moseley

C Paul Thorne The Glee Club Birmingham

Sunday, Nov 3

M Bastille O2 Academy Birmingham

M One Arm Bandits The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Sean Stewart + Ian Bourne

The Flapper Birmingham

M Eddi Reader The Glee Club Birmingham

M The Free Love Club The Sun on the Hill

Birmingham

Monday, Nov 4

BiRMiNGhAM: o2 Academy, Horsefair, Bristol St B1, 0844 4772000; the institute, High St, Digbeth B5, 0844 2485037; NiA, King Edwards Rd B1, 0121 7804141; lG Arena, NEC, Solihull B40, 0121 7804141; the Flapper, Kingston Row B1, 0121 2362421; the victoria, John Bright St B1, 0121 6339439; hare & hounds, High St, Kings Heath B14, 0121 4442081; the Actress & Bishop, Ludgate Hill B3, 0121 2367426; the Sunflower lounge, Smallbrook Queensway B5, 0121 6327656; Symphony hall, Broad St B1, 0121 7803333; town hall, Victoria Sq B3, 0121 7803333; kitchen Garden cafe, York Road, Kings Heath B14, 0121 4434725; Alexandra theatre, Station St B1, 0844 8472302; Bull’s head, St Marys Row, Moseley B13, 0121 2567777; island Bar, Suffolk St B1, 0121 6325296; the Jam house, St Pauls Sq B3, 0121 2003030; ort, Moseley Rd, Balsall Heath, B12; the Asylum, Hampton St, Hockley B19, 0121 2331109; the Rainbow, High St, Digbeth B12, 0121 7728174; Adam & eve, Bradford St, Digbeth B12, 0121 6931500; the Rose villa tavern, Warstone Lane, B18, 0121 2367910; the Yardbird, Paradise Place B3, 0121 2122524; the Glee club, The Arcadian, Hurst St B5, 0871 4720400; MAc, Cannon Hill Park B12, 0121 4463232; Nightingale, Kent St B5, 0121 6221718; Scruffy Murphys, The Priory Queensway B4, 0121 2362035; the Wagon & horses, Adderley St, Digbeth B9, 0121 7721403; lab11, Trent St B5, lab11.co.uk; the Moseley Arms, Ravenhurst St B12, 0121 7668467; Air, Heath Mill Lane B9, 0121 7666646; Suki10c, Bordesley Street B5; Gatecrasher, Broad St B15, 0121 633 1520

Want your gig or club

night listed in our monthly guide? Send

details to:

[email protected]

All details correct at time of going to press.

Check with venues before

setting out.


M The Toy Dolls O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Robbie Boyd O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Turin Brakes The Glee Club Birmingham

M Liz Lawrence Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN Jam Jah Bull’s Head Moseley

Tuesday, Nov 5

M Cover Drive O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Gabrielle Aplin The Institute Birmingham

M Steve Mason The Institute Birmingham

M Bear’s Den Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Is I Cinema Bull’s Head Moseley

Wednesday, Nov 6

M The Boomtown Rats O2 Academy Birmingham

M Young Knives O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Bovine The Flapper Birmingham

M Follow You Home The Institute Birmingham

M VNV Nation The Institute Birmingham

M Sweet Baboo Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

Thursday, Nov 7

M Micky Flanagan NIA Birmingham

M Deap Vally O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Vexxen O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Luke Sital-Singh The Glee Club Birmingham

M Son Of Dave Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Brum Notes Issue Launch Party with The Exploding Sound Machine + Village Green Machine + Swerve + Noir

Bull’s Head Moseley

C Dave Fulton The Glee Club Birmingham

Friday, Nov 8

M Billy Joel LG Arena Birmingham


M Loveless Luck The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Rise Of My Empire The Asylum Birmingham

M My Girlfriend’s Last Boyfriend


M Kodaline The Institute Birmingham

M Heathen Zoo The Rainbow Birmingham

M Heathen Zoo The Rainbow Birmingham

M Magpies & Vagabonds The Sunflower Lounge

Birmingham

M The Equators Wagon & Horses

Birmingham

M The Book Club Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Kiki O’Connel Bull’s Head Moseley

M Duke + Silvershores The Cross Moseley


CN Oblivion vs Raw Suki10c Birmingham

CN Breaks & Bass The Adam & Eve

Birmingham


CN ANTICS! The Cross Moseley


C Tony Law: Nonsense Overdrive

The Glee Club Birmingham

Saturday, Nov 9

M Mendi Singh Trio Ort Balsall Heath


M Electrik Custard O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Under Blackened Skies


M Esoteric The Asylum Birmingham

M RiD The Flapper Birmingham

M Future of the Left The Institute Birmingham

M Capital Sun The Sunflower Lounge

Birmingham

M 10 O’Clock Horses Wagon & Horses

Birmingham


Birmingham

CN Ratpack 25th Silver Jubilee Anniversary


CN FACE x Illusion Recordings

The Rainbow Birmingham

CN ctrl + alt + del Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN Shelter Present DJ Rum & Sam KDC


CN UBER Bull’s Head Moseley


Sunday, Nov 10

M Jake Bugg O2 Academy Birmingham

M Lara Franklin The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M The Black Max Pirates The Adam & Eve

Birmingham

M Chris Bicknell The Flapper Birmingham


Birmingham

M Bohemian Jukebox Sunday Social


M Ingested The Roadhouse Stirchley

C Rough Works The Glee Club Birmingham

Monday, Nov 11

M Heart Of A Coward The Asylum Birmingham

M Tyler Ward The Glee Club Birmingham

M Frightened Rabbit The Institute Birmingham

CN Jam Jah Bull’s Head Moseley

Tuesday, Nov 12

M Vampire Weekend NIA Birmingham

M Defenders of the Faith O2 Academy Birmingham

M Natives O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Boy George The Glee Club Birmingham

M The Old Dance School The Glee Club Birmingham

M Public Service Broadcasting


M Bipolar Sunshine Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Never A Hero The Roadhouse Stirchley

Wednesday, Nov 13

M Alice in Chains O2 Academy Birmingham

M TRC The Asylum Birmingham

M Skinny Lister Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Kate Gee Band Bull’s Head Moseley

C Tom Stade Totally Rocks!


Thursday, Nov 14

M Chase & Status NIA Birmingham

M Escape The Fate O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Silhouettes The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

45November 2013

M Skinny Dream The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Mutya Keisha Siobhan The Institute Birmingham

M Strfkr The Sunflower Lounge

Birmingham

M Har Mar Superstar Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Monster Ceilidh Band Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

C Sean Collins The Glee Club Birmingham

Friday, Nov 15

M Thirty Seconds to Mars NIA Birmingham

M The Assist O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M The Payback The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Capture The Crown The Asylum Birmingham

M Josh Herring & The Steady Hands


M Ben Watt The Glee Club Birmingham

M Naughty Boy The Institute Birmingham

M Young Kato The Institute Birmingham

M Revolver + Jump The Shark


M Revolver + The Exploding Sound Machine


M The Scribers The Sunflower Lounge

Birmingham

M All Years Leaving ft Dutch Uncles + Frankie & The Heartstrings


M Danny & The Martians Bull’s Head Moseley


CN New Hype presents Preditah

The Adam & Eve

Birmingham

CN 7 Years of Hertz The Rainbow Birmingham

CN Fidget presents The 4th Birthday Bash Allnighters

The Rainbow Garden

Birmingham

CN Osmosis Wagon & Horses

Birmingham

CN Leftfoot Present Horse Meat Disco




C Jongleurs On The Road

The Drum Aston


Saturday, Nov 16

M Editors O2 Academy Birmingham

M [spunge] O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M The Rails The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Norm & The Nightmares

The Adam & Eve

Birmingham

M Morgue Orgy The Asylum Birmingham

M Brothers of Caedmon The Flapper Birmingham

M Fenech Soler The Institute Birmingham

M Reef The Institute Birmingham

M Cascades The Sunflower Lounge

Birmingham

M Thee Emperors Wagon & Horses

Birmingham

M All Years Leaving ft Yuck + Distophia


M Big Tent and the Gypsy Lantern

The Cross Moseley

CN Ring the Alarm Q Club Birmingham


Birmingham

CN Seven Part Two: Annie Mac Presents


CN FACE feat Deetron The Rainbow Birmingham

CN Habit vs Kitchen Disco End of Year Riot


CN Passion & Pain Reunion

The Wharf Walsall


Sunday, Nov 17

M Zee Khattak The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Retarded Rats The Adam & Eve

Birmingham

M Klasside The Flapper Birmingham

M The MP2 Band The Flapper Birmingham

M Luke Concannon (Nizlopi)


M Blue October The Institute Birmingham


Birmingham

Monday, Nov 18

M Man Without Country O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Continents The Asylum Birmingham

M The Rifles The Institute Birmingham

Tuesday, Nov 19

M Stereophonics LG Arena Birmingham

M Scouting For Girls O2 Academy Birmingham

M Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo


M So Solid Crew The Institute Birmingham

Wednesday, Nov 20

M The Temperance Movement


M We Have The Tonics O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Opheon The Flapper Birmingham

M Karnivool The Institute Birmingham

M Alice Russell Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

C Adam Kay The Glee Club Birmingham

Thursday, Nov 21

M Queens of the Stone Age

NIA Birmingham

M Stephen Lynch - Live O2 Academy Birmingham

M Go Kart Mozart O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M This Wicked Tongue + Mansize + God Damn

The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M The Batteries The Adam & Eve

Birmingham

M Rue Royale The Glee Club Birmingham

M Half Moon Run The Institute Birmingham

M Foy Vance Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Willie & The Bandits Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN Birmz is Beatdown Wagon & Horses

Birmingham

C Gavin Webster The Glee Club Birmingham

Friday, Nov 22

M Imagine Dragons O2 Academy Birmingham


M Sound Kid The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Rudie & The Revolvers The Adam & Eve

Birmingham

M Nerve Centre The Flapper Birmingham

M P Money The Institute Birmingham

M Samanta Tina The Institute Birmingham

M The Naked And Famous


M Cassette Days The Rainbow Birmingham

M Winston’s Big Brother The Sunflower Lounge

Birmingham

M Autre Ne Veut Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Great Uncles The Cross Moseley


CN Circles Present LTJ Bukem





Saturday, Nov 23


M Nedstock 2013 ft Ned’s Atomic Dustbin

O2 Academy Birmingham

M RedShift O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Looca The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Hager & The Womb The Adam & Eve

Birmingham

M The Family Rain The Institute Birmingham

M Senser The Rainbow Birmingham

M Untitled Musical Project + Youth Man

The Sunflower Lounge

Birmingham

M Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam + Ace Bushy Striptease


M Diamond Lil The Wharf Walsall


Birmingham

CN 02.31 2nd Birthday The Rainbow Warehouse

Birmingham

CN FACE feat George Fitzgerald

Birmingham

CN YO! MTV Raps Tribute with DJ Crocodile & E Double D


CN Enter The Dragon Bull’s Head Moseley


Sunday, Nov 24

M Sally Haines The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Miss Halliwell The Adam & Eve

Birmingham

M Yvette The Flapper Birmingham

M Pentatonix The Glee Club Birmingham

M Stornoway The Institute Birmingham


Birmingham

M Summer Camp Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Sham 69 The Roadhouse Stirchley

Monday, Nov 25

M Andy Allo The Institute Birmingham

M Cerebral Ballzy Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

Tuesday, Nov 26

M The Lumineers O2 Academy Birmingham

C BBC Radio New Comedy Award 2013 - Semi Final


Wednesday, Nov 27

M Disclosure O2 Academy Birmingham

M Arcane Roots The Asylum Birmingham

M Acoda The Flapper Birmingham

M Ruarri Joseph Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

C Trevor Noah: The Racist


Thursday, Nov 28

M Jack Savoretti The Institute Birmingham

M The Game The Institute Birmingham

M 3 Daft Monkeys Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Shatner’s Bassoon Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Loveless Luck The Cross Moseley

C James Acaster: Lawnmower


Friday, Nov 29

M Drakelow The Victoria Birmingham

M Citizen x The Adam & Eve

Birmingham

M Gucci Pimp The Flapper Birmingham

M The Band Perry The Institute Birmingham

M Godsized The Rainbow Birmingham

M IntroducingLive recreate Discovery


M Eat Y’Self Pretty The Cross Moseley

CN Sound System Fridays The Drum Aston


CN Seven Part Four: Laidback Luke


CN A Skafinger Extravaganza




C Lloyd Langford The Glee Club Birmingham

Saturday, Nov 30

M My Life Story O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Plastic Factory The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M U&I + Shapes + Youth Man


M Crystal Fighters The Institute Birmingham

M MMx The Sunflower Lounge

Birmingham

CN Space Disco Ort Balsall Heath

CN Scenic + Advisory present Offworld Recordings

PST Birmingham


Birmingham

CN Cream Tours: Winter Sessions


CN FACE The Rainbow Birmingham

CN Sweat 20th Funkin’ Year Party


CN Leftfoot Sessions with Adam Regan & Tom Shorterz


C Lloyd Langford The Glee Club Birmingham

47November 2013


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Brum Notes Magazine - November 2013

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Transcript of Brum Notes Magazine - November 2013