LIVE: BOXED IN – 09/02/2017

– DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – When you decide you like a band, you listen to their music and decide, “I like that”. You don’t need their influences listed and what they’ve done previously to decide if you like them. However if that was all I had to go on without listening to Boxed In, I […]
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – Support slots are a funny thing. Important in the development of any musician’s career, and often arriving with the inherited prestige of the headline artist. When I ask Tom Hickox, London singer-songwriter, about the prospect of supporting former Teardrop Explodes frontman and all-round eccentric Julian Cope, his face lights up. “An […]

LIVE: TOM HICKOX – 10/02/2017

LIVE: L.A. WITCH – 14/02/2017

– NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – I don’t revel in the idea of giving a band a bad review, but in this case I feel it’s necessary to highlight a few negative features of the support band’s performances, in order to emphasise my admiration for our headliners. Locals Witch Fever kick things off in […]
-ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – I’ve possibly not listened to Ladyhawke in about 5 years or more, not because I stopped liking her music or because she had stopped releasing music, it was just that it hadn’t appeared on my radar and I’d kind of forgotten about her. But Ladyhawke, or ‘Pip’ Brown, has in fact […]

LIVE: LADYHAWKE / ISLE – 11/02/2017

LIVE: CYMBALS EAT GUITARS – 08/02/2017

– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – Cymbals Eat Guitars (CEG for brevity’s sake) are an odd band, and odd bands, as we well know, are the best. Frontman Joseph D’Agostino has a voice that can best be described as sounding like a guy with a brilliant voice but who is suffering from laryngitis – a kind of […]
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – To say I am excited for tonight is an understatement – I am thrilled to be going to watch Kate Nash at Gorilla in Manchester. Having not released any new material for some time, or an album in an even longer time, to see Kate Nash shimmy on stage in full length […]

LIVE: KATE NASH – 07/02/2017

LIVE: VAULTS – 06/02/2017

– DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Vaults’ rise to fame is one that epitomises today’s musical landscape. The electronic trio first pricked the ears of listeners when they uploaded ‘Cry No More’ to Soundcloud. The viral hit soon amassed 100,000 plays in just one week and they were soon fielding calls to appear on the soundtrack […]
– AATMA, MANCHESTER – Death Valley Girls are a band who have steadily been attracting more and more attention over the last few years, securing key festival appearances as well as other extensive tour schedules across Europe; their presence in Manchester tonight is therefore much welcomed. Opening this evening at Aatma, the Northern Quarter’s best […]

LIVE: DEATH VALLEY GIRLS / THE 99 DEGREE – 04/02/2017

LIVE: CONOR OBERST – 02/02/2017

– ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER – I’ve always been intrigued by records that have a story behind them. When songwriting maverick Conor Oberst was advised to cancel the rest of a tour due to ill health back in 2015, he retreated to his home in Nebraska and out of boredom ended up writing a full length. After […]
When a family loses one of their own, it changes everyone in that family, for better or worse. The pain and grief can destroy them, or bring them closer together. Bands such as Led Zeppelin broke up after the tragic loss of John Bonham, but on the other side, bands like The Who and Rolling […]

ALBUM: SUFER BLOOD – SNOWDONIA