From time to time, one of our contributors will recommend an artist/band they think deserves your attention. No record labels, PR companies, bands or band’s management will ever have made these recommendations. It is simply one music fan putting their taste on the line in the hope of sharing good music. The questions are intended to give just a basic introduction to possibly your new favourite artist/band.
So without further ado, let’s crack on with another introduction, in which Silent Radio’s Vic recommends Hey Bulldog for your audible delectation.
Hey Bulldog Live By Steve Hampson
● Who are ya?
Hey Bulldog. Rob (guitar/vocals), Matt (bass/bvs), Ben (drums)
● Where are you from?
From around Manchester mostly, although we did import Matt (bass player) from Kent!
● How long have you been doing what you’re doing now?
The band was started by me (Rob) on my own a few years back and the three of us have been recording and playing live together as a band for nearly five years.
● Is being a musician your full time job?
Not yet…
● Are there any obvious influences in your music?
Being primarily a guitar, bass and drums setup you might hear a lot of late 60s and garage rock stuff, being named after a Beatles so is a big hint too. So Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Can, The Kills, Neil Young, TY Segall
● Are there any not so obvious influences in your music?
We are influenced a lot by Radiohead, probably more in terms of songwriting and production than sounds/style.
On our new single ‘Al Lupo’ there’s stylistic elements of The War On Drugs and Thee Oh Sees, but the repetition in the vocals and starting them off in a lower register then going higher in the middle of the song to build energy was definitely directly inspired by Thom Yorke.
● Any musical Guilty Pleasures? Come on you can share, we’re all friends here!
One of the best podcasts I’ve listened to recently was an American one called pods and sods which went through album by album all of The Bee Gees’ work from 1967-1974.
Aside from the massive unbelievably great tunes like “I Gotta Get A Message To You” and “To Love Somebody” there’s lots of great little forgotten album tracks that are well worth checking out, songs like “Lemons Never Do Forget” or “Melody Fair” are very much of their time but amazing tunes. Even more well-known songs like “More Than A Woman” are beautiful and meaningful and as good as pop songs can get.
It’s a shame that The Bee Gees aren’t appreciated as being a part of a Manchester music history, any other city would have a museum dedicated to one of the biggest selling act of all time…
The Lucid Dream
● Apart from yourself of course, what other band/artist would you recommend our readers check out?
We all really like The Lucid Dream, they’re one of the few bands that keep developing and expanding their sound and always put on a really good live show, we played with them at The Deaf Institute in Manchester last year which was really special and we’re heading down to The Victoria in London to play with them at the start of April too.
Another couple of favourites are Deja Vega and Freakout Honey who are great live bands that people should go and see, we’ve picked them to play with us at Night People in Manchester on Friday 13th as part of our ‘Al Lupo’ single release which comes out the following Friday 20th April
● Tell us about the defining moment when you thought ‘Fuck, yes I want to be a musician!’
As a little kid I can remember coming downstairs in the middle of Top of the Pops and hearing this amazing guitar riff from the song ‘Rest In Peace’ by the American rock band Extreme and just thinking I want to be able to make that sound… it wasn’t until years later that I actually got a guitar! .
● Does what go on, on tour, stay on tour?
When we played at Solfest Festival up in Cumbria near Carlisle two years ago, I left my guitar stand on stage so sadly yes… something’s do stay on tour forever!.. 🙁 #rip
● What’s your most favouritist gig (as a gig goer), like, ever?
We all went to the Secret Garden Party Festival a couple of years ago and that was an incredible experience, the whole vibe was amazing, it really introduced me to a lot of new acts especially more dance oriented ones, seeing Caribou play in that setting was a really special moment.
● Who, in your wildest dreams would you like to collaborate with/be produced by?
I think working with Jamie Hince from The Kills would be really interesting and a good fit for us as we are all big fans, he clearly knows a lot about old school guitar music at the same time as trying to do new and interesting guitar based stuff. So it would be great to see what he would bring out of us.
● Best place for people to find out what you are up to?
Probably Facebook Facebook.com/HeyBulldogmusic
And twitter Twitter.com/Heybulldog and we do have a website too Hey-Bulldog.com
● Anything to declare?
Last year we went to play a festival in Italy, we drove down the whole south western coast and across Northern Sicily in beautiful red hot August weather, to play a gig of a lifetime in an outdoor amphitheatre; the gig was incredible, playing with a full moon shining down on us throughout the set.
Whilst we were there we were obviously posting a lot of stuff on our Facebook and Instagrams etc about what an amazing experience we were having.
The post that got the most likes from the five days we were there was a photo of Matt in a supermarket holding a watermelon!
Co-founder, Producer and Presenter of the weekly Silent Radio show. Part of the Silent family since 2010.Over 10 years experience of working with national, award-winning youth charities and in the creative industries. She’s the former Deputy Director of NOISEfestival.com, Europe’s leading promoter of emerging creative talent. Here she helped secure new creatives secure massive media exposure (BBC R1, 1Xtra…), showcases at mega impressive locations (Downing Street, V&A...) and kudos from the best in the business (Brian Eno, Boiler Room, Peter Saville…).She also flies the flag for women in the media as Director of Manchester’s independent music website Silent Radio and co-Founder, Exec Producer and Presenter of the Silent Radio show on MCR.Live; Further radio includes BBC 5Live, BBC Radio Manchester, plus the odd bit of TV Production Management with international broadcast credits (BBC, ZDF / Arte, Smithsonian…), she also dabbles with playing records to people and her first podcast is currently in pre-production.Bestest gigs: Pulp, Sheffield Arena, ’12 | Micah P Hinson, Sheffield Lantern Theatre, ’12 | Dream Themes, Manchester Star & Garter, ’14 | Patrick Watson, Manchester Gorilla, ’15 | Less Than Jake, Nottingham Rock City, ‘01 | Frightened Rabbit, Manchester Deaf Institute, ’12 | The Decemberists, Manchester Academy, ‘11 | Passion Pit, Manchester Academy 2, ‘09 | Iron and Wine, The Ritz, Manchester, ‘08 | The Verve (with Beck), Wigan Haigh Hall, ‘98 | Take That, Manchester Eastlands Stadium, ‘11 |Worst gig: Fall Out Boy, Manchester Roadhouse ’05 (subject to change)
