LIVE: JESCA HOOP – 28/06/2012

– LEAF TEA SHOP, LIVERPOOL – As you arrive at the venue for this much anticipated show you can sense, even at the bar that something big is going to happen. There is an aura about Leaf this evening and that is clearly down to the queue building up well before doors. First to the […]
– KRAAK, MANCHESTER – This is my second night in succession at Kraak, the schedule here this month isn’t all that busy but quality seems guaranteed. Hey! Manchester have put together tonight’s lineup to celebrate the launch  of Easter‘s debut album ‘Innocence Man’, which was released a few weeks ago through White Box recordings. Gladly, it’s […]

LIVE: EASTER – 22/06/2012

LIVE: GHXST – 21/06/2012

– KRAAK, MANCHESTER – One of my favourite scene’s in cinema history: Fight Club – Tyler and Co. walk through the bar down to the hidden, dark and dingy basement where grown men choose to punch each other for fun… Tom Waits ‘Goin’ Out West’ is on the jukebox. Entering Kraak when a rock band […]
THE HMZ RITZ, MANCHESTER Now Wave gigs regularly promise plenty of bands and no fillers, as with tonight’s quadruple bill. The thankfully renovated Ritz is starting to get a little sticky underfoot again, due to spilt beer. At £4.35 for a pint of Guinness, I’m not wasting a drop. Psychedelic dark punk pop rock band […]

LIVE: BEST COAST – 17/06/2012

LIVE: FEAR OF MEN – 17/06/2012

– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – I had the pleasure of catching Brighton based outfit Fear of Men as part of the wonderful Sounds From The Other City Festival which took place in Salford last month, and it was their simplistic indie pop melodies that won over my heart and have refused to leave my head […]
– VARIOUS VENUES, MANCHESTER – Back for its third year in Manchester, Dot to Dot has come along tremendously since it started in Nottingham in 2005. Ever since then they have continuously created compelling line-ups, bringing some of the best new and upcoming talent to an exciting inner-city environment. This year’s line-up is certainly no […]

LIVE: DOT TO DOT FESTIVAL – 04/06/2012

LIVE: CURSIVE – 04/06/2012

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – While the rest of the nation is bopping away to the legends of pop strutting their stuff outside the Queen’s gaff, we’re in town’s most luxurious subterranean pit for something altogether less bombastic. “Hey, I’m Kevin Devine from New York…” the slender troubadour onstage announces, “did you guys revel […]
– ISLINGTON MILL. SALFORD – I’m not usually one for forward planning but I felt quite gutted that I couldn’t go to the SAVAGES gig at the beginning of the month due to it being sold out (how does a few months old, pretty unknown, four piece all female band sell out in a city […]

LIVE: SAVAGES / HIGH PLACES / DIE HEXEN – 30/05/2012

LIVE: THE MELVINS – 30/05/2012

– MOHO LIVE, MANCHESTER – After discovering the latest release of The Melvins EP ‘The Bulls and the Bees’ (a free download by the way) I was on the hunt to find the tour that follows, and to my delight they were coming to Manchester’s Moho Live, four long years since their last visit to […]
– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – Savages, an all-girl four-piece based in London, has been much-hyped in some quarters, but as I head to Salford’s Islington Mill for the band’s second gig in the city within the space of a month, I’m determined to keep an open mind. Despite the girls only playing their first gig […]

LIVE: SAVAGES / HIGH PLACES / DIE HEXEN – 30/05/2012