LIVE REVIEW – PERSONAL TRAINER: BAND ON THE WALL – 22/10/2026

Personal Trainer has established a reputation as one of the best live bands around. Despite loving the band’s three albums, I had not been able to see them perform until their visit to the stalwart of Manchester’s gig itinerary, Band On The Wall. As I took up my vantage point on the venue’s small balcony […]
The inevitable question arising from reading this title is, “who are the human assholes?” There are plenty of candidates. Is it anyone specific, the entire human race or Willem Smit, the band’s frontman and songwriter, accusing himself? Anyone familiar with Personal Trainer’s oeuvre thus far will not expect any definitive answers to be forthcoming as […]

ALBUM REVIEW – PERSONAL TRAINER: HUMAN ASSHOLES

ALBUM REVIEW – LONG FLING: LONG FLING

It takes considerable chutzpah to preview your first, and it is claimed only, album with what proves to be the record’s most awkward and wiry song. That is what Long Fling do with ‘Flung’ which starts with ten seconds of ominous hum that could herald the arrival of aliens on a sci-fi movie soundtrack before […]
Two albums into their career, it is already apparent that Personal Trainer thrive upon throwing frequent curveballs into the equation. Their debut, 2022’s ‘Big Love Blanket’, contained a multitude of joyous, brief songs that were ideal for their greatest champion, 6Music’s Marc Riley, to slot into any small gap preceding the news headlines. Following this […]

ALBUM REVIEW – PERSONAL TRAINER: STILL WILLING