INTERVIEW: SRGents
Ahead of their show, “Un Je Ne Sais Quoi”, at The Kings Arms in Salford on October 9, where SRGents will be spinning tricks with their winning twist of Anglo-Gallic charm, we catch up with Gary (or is it Peri?!) and find out how life treats such an unusual trio. Hi Peri, how are you today? – Very well, thank you very much.What do SRGents have planned for the near future? – We have an evening of frivolities planned for Saturday, October the 9th down at the... Read More
LIVE: 3OH!3 – 28/09/2010
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – Who said pop was dead? It’s a drizzly September evening and the dancefloor of the humid broom-cupboard known as Academy 3 is seeing more action than Darren Day’s grotty bedpost. Scores of teenagers brandishing glowsticks, make-shift banners and Gladiators-style polystyrene headwear are foaming at the mouth at the thought of a night at a gig without Mum and Dad. Bieber and Gaga blare from the speakers, and a collective sing-along of ‘Bad... Read More
LIVE: MGMT – 26/09/2010
– APOLLO THEATRE, MANCHESTER – Midway through ‘The Handshake’ a beer sails through the air and hits the drummer on the head. He glances over his shoulder, sticks his middle finger up at the unattentive, bored audience and, like the consummate professional he is, finishes the track. After which he again sticks his middle finger up at the crowd and storms off. The guitarist jokes: “Well that’s Manchester isn’t it?” Isn’t it just? Twenty metres ahead of... Read More
LIVE: THE VASELINES – 23/09/2010
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Managing to ram so many people into such a small space you can see how The Vaselines got their name (wince). Just on the off chance that there was any call for yet another petroleum jelly related pun when discussing the Glaswegian outfit… The Vaselines, Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, are yet another act of yesteryear to have reformed recently, though we’re told that they did do a gig in Manchester in 2006. “And there were about... Read More
LIVE: WILLY MASON – 21/09/2010
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – The first time Willy Mason toured the UK, he was a fresh-faced 19 year-old from Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Armed only with a guitar and a small rucksack of clothes, he slept on floors and sold roughly-mixed demos of stripped-down, Dylan-esque odes to politics, society and the love of a good woman with wise-beyond-his-years conviction. Six years on and times haven’t a’changed much. Cherry-picked by Bright Eyes stalwart... Read More
LIVE: LIAM FROST – 20/09/2010
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – There’s a Ziggy Stardust moment at tonight’s concert, about half way through. Liam Frost – who seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself on stage -suddenly says, between songs: “this is the last time I’m going to be singing these songs and doing this for a while”. I pretty much spit my Guinness all over the back of the fine young gentleman stood in front of me… it’s the last time you’re going to do what in a what now? A... Read More
LIVE: RAGHU DIXIT – 19/09/2010
– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – As I wander through the half-filled, refurbished environs of The Band on the Wall, I gaze up at the Indian dropout, hippies onstage who seem to have been sent here through a time warp from the 1960s (via the 1980s). Decked in washed out, bleeding baggy clothes, string necklaces, flowing hair tumbling down to the bassists waste, the man on the middle left is playing a solo on an electric violin through a wah-wah peddle while the drummer... Read More
SINGLE: Dinosaur Pile-Up – Mona Lisa
‘Mona Lisa’ is the first single from Dinosaur Pile-up’s forthcoming debut album, Growing Pains. The Leeds three-piece makes no qualms about their love of the Foo Fighters, and this single certainly makes a fitting tribute.From the get-go there’s a pervading US, 90s feel; the late 90s particularly, where grunge metamorphosed into jock-rock. And like that latter period there’s a marked lack of the grunge era’s defining anguish, and consequently any real passion. However,... Read More
LIVE: JOANNA NEWSOM & ROY HARPER – 18/09/2010
– THE PALACE THEATRE, MANCHESTER – It’s hard to believe that the Saruman lookalike in the floral shirt in front of me is the same Roy Haper Led Zeppelin wrote a song for called ‘Hats Off to (Roy) Harper’, who sang on Pink Floyd’s ‘Have a Cigar’, and who reportedly inspired Kate Bush, Pete Townsend and a host of other well-respected musicians – though it is easy to see that he inspired Jethro Tull. I’ve only seen that deranged circular eye movement once... Read More
LIVE: RECKLESS LOVE – 18/09/2010
– MOHO LIVE, MANCHESTER – While the probability of a full-blown glam revival is close to nil, the world will always clear a space in its diary for a balls-out good time. The difference with Reckless Love is that rather than simply exhuming crudeness, tonight’s party-loving Finns call on a wide range of 80s rock influences. Giving a pumped-up Moho Live the complete cycle of their self-titled debut album, the four-piece get off to a potent start with ‘Feel My Heat’,... Read More
