Following on from the DIY or Die post, it seems ironic that today saw the sad news that the most stubbornly independent rock an label our generation make this announcement:

“It is with great sadness that we are reporting some major changes here at Touch and Go Records. Many of you may not be aware, but for nearly 2 decades, Touch and Go has provided manufacturing and distribution services for a select yet diverse group of other important independent record labels. . . . Read More

Steve Albini

“Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit.I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed.”

Steve Albini is revered throughout the punk rock world as the antithesis to the corporate, money hungry record ‘industry’… Some think his views are skewed and tainted by his own previous bad experiences, but when it comes down to it, Albini has spent more time than most picking up the pieces of bands left by Major Labels. . . . Read More

!_ARCHIVE POST

First published August 2007 in
Doncaster Live Magazine.
By: Adam Irwin, Ruth Offord and Richard Cook

Wedding Present

Next up at Vintage Rock Bar are The Pilgrim Fathers, but we head off to the main stage to check out The Wedding Present. A couple of people walk off not impressed, but we’re enjoying ourselves and stick around. With good reason too, for although lead singer David Gedge seems more subdued than usual the band are sounding huge, tight, professional and surprisingly hit friendly. An energetic romp through top 40 single ‘Kennedy’ gets the front rows bouncing, and the boy Gedge even gets into it for long enough to throw a few rock shapes over his guitar.

Despite it being undoubtedly Gedge’s show, the rest of the band sound fantastic, the bass is a constant kick in the chest, the drums are frantic and everything walks the fine line between collapse and triumph that makes the Wedding Present such an exciting live band. A brief exposition on the spiritual importance of . . . Read More

!_ARCHIVE POST

First published August 2007 in
Doncaster Live Magazine.
By:
Adam Irwin, Ruth Offord and Richard Cook

Ego Parade

We’ve all had enough of acoustic acts now, and want to feel some of the thrill of a full live band. So it’s off to the main stage in the Market Place, where we arrive approximately half way through the set of local boys Ego Parade. The crowd is huge, much better than was expected so early in the evening, and Ego Parade don’t disappoint, with a flawless set of bouncy future-pop hits in waiting. The crowd lap it up, the band look happy enough to burst, and we’ve just discovered that you can buy cans of lager outside The Masons Arms. Result.

From here on in,things are a complete blur. We manage to gawp as the crowd fall into the world of OPM even after they played ‘Heaven is a Halfpipe’ and a group of teenage boys attempt to start a riot. Surprisingly not because their blend of hip hop and reggae is surely a crime, but because they’re still giddy from the lemonade earlier in the day.
. . . Read More

!_ARCHIVE POST

First published August 2007 in
Doncaster Live Magazine.
By:
Adam Irwin, Ruth Offord and Richard Cook

Attention! Let’s get this clear from the start. Anyone looking for informative and insightful commentary about the Doncaster Live Festival, look away now. You can’t expect us to spend 12 hours in the vicinity of all the pubs in Doncaster market and not get ridiculously sloshed. As we sit down to write this on the Monday after the festival, our recollections of the weekend are somewhat hazy, and we’ve just made the discovery that half of our notes have disappeared. This then, is a very fractured, almost certainly made up in places, bluffers guide to Doncaster Live 2007.

It all starts sedately enough. We head to Vintage Rock Bar to enjoy an afternoon of gentle acoustic performers, before the main stage frivolities to come later. However, it’s 1.30pm, the time scheduled for the first act and the only sign of life in Vintage Rock Bar is a barmaid, and a handful of quiet drinkers. There are no acoustic guitars, and no recognisable faces. The place quickly starts to fill up though, and only a little later than expected we have our first act.

Guy Honeymoon

“We have seen the future of rock n’ roll, and his name is Guy Honeymoon”. Mr Honeymoon pleaded us to put that in the review before his set, so there you go Guy, that’s a few beers you owe us. He may not be the future of rock n’ roll as we know it, but he knows how to knock out a tune. Kicking off with old favourite ‘Wrong Side of the Tracks’, he doesn’t let either us or himself pause for breath, racing through his set at 100mph. Where Guy succeeds is in melding his love of Red Kross-esque powerpop with old school country, the results giving us a taste of something a little different to your normal hum-drum singer/songwriters.

This is the first time we’ve seen John Fontanelle do his solo thing, and this afternoon he’s in fine form. The quirky, lo-fi indie pop of his band The Fontanelles translates brilliantly to just voice and guitar. The sound for his set isn’t ideal, his voice often getting lost in the mix, and the set is far too brief for our liking, but he’s on to a winning formula and we’ll certainly be making the effort to catch him again. Set highlights? Old Fontanelles tracks ‘DC Soap’ and ‘Ecstasy’, ‘DC Soap’ sounding particularly fine.

John Fell

The beer is flowing freely now, despite our protestations that we’re working and have to pace ourselves (honest). Things are starting to get a bit hazy, but next up, if memory serves correct, is Ryan Lightfoot, formerly of Libawalks. Whereas John Fontanelle struggled to get his voice heard at times, Ryan has the opposite problem, with his vocals clear as a bell but the guitar almost non-existent above the chatter of the crowd. From what we can make out, it’s nice inoffensive pop with a summery, 60s’ish vibe. Not bad, but nothing to get overly excited about either.

After Ryan has finished, we decide to take a break and get some food to soak up the alcohol. Before we go, we catch a couple of songs by a gentleman calling himself ‘The Beast’. He must be well known because the crowd in Vintage Rock bar visibly swells as he begins his first track. The songs we hear are grungy, blues based numbers, with ‘The Beast’s vocals a Joe Cocker-esque growl. Obviously a talented chap, but we’re hungry! After a quick trip to KFC, and a detour via Wetherspoons for a quick whisky, we head back to Vintage Rock Bar and The Beast is still playing! We see him bring out a harmonica for one song with more than a passable resemblance to prime Bob Dylan.

Continued… Part Two >>

Download free mp3s

Many of the bands that have donated tracks for review and inclusion on the jukebox have been kind enough to allow us to let their material be downloaded FREE.

Terms and conditions of this download are available HERE

August 2009

Click the zip icon to download a bundle of tracks kindly donated for your enjoyment… See below for featured bands

GU Medicine | Bring it to heel
Copycat Vigilante | Kill my ambition
Three Torches | Cold hard cash
Airburst | Indie kid
Skullbone | I aint never
John Fell | DC Soap (live)
Ben OFM | The nick of the time (live)
J*R | Here’s hoping
James Foy | Never had it so good>

Psychobilly punk frontman Lux Interior dies in LA.

Interior (real name Erick Lee Purkhiser) died in an an LA hospital yesterday from an existing heart condition, he was 60.

Best remembered for his  outrageous stage performances,  Interior’s brazen, often half-naked performances are ingrained into the retina of anyone who was lucky enough to catch one of  their infamous live performances. The Cramps became a cornerstone of the 70s New York punk scene.

Bands have . . . Read More